Edtucner, Author at Creation Beckons

I’m Thankful for My Church

Hebrews 10:24-25 I’m Thankful for my Church

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as we see the Day approaching” (NIV).

I’m glad and blessed to be in a local church where we do “spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” God is love, so as we spur each other toward love, we are helping each other to move closer to our Lord and Savior. Good deeds occur as the result of living in love and spreading the love of Christ. We are led in this pursuit of love and good deeds from the pulpit by our pastor, by the praise and worship we join, and not least in the conversations we have before and after services. These conversations are where we begin to apply what we have been taught. We do encourage one another also in several monthly informal gatherings. A word of encouragement and prayer from a church friend goes a long way toward lifting my spirits when I am discouraged.

We are told in Romans 12:4-5, “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ, we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others” (NIV). In our church we have people with many different skills and abilities, both spiritual and physical. When the speakers, the singers, the prayers, the cleaners, the encouragers, the ushers, the security people, the office workers, and the prophets all work together, God is glorified and people are blessed. I am thankful that in my church this happens often, and blessings flow within the church body and to the surrounding community.

A Tough Life Redeemed

Philippians 1:6 A Tough Life Redeemed

“…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it out to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (NIV).

What a gnarled and twisted tree this is. It must have endured a difficult life. Its scars show the results of the difficulties it has endured. And then it died, and it will rot and go back to the soil from which it came.

We all know people who show scars of a difficult life. Their bodies may be twisted and bent, and their hearts may be downcast. Depression can be seen on their faces; hope is nowhere to be seen. The tree, after enduring storms throughout its life, died and fell to the ground. There is no chance of making the tree straight, green, and beautiful again. It is done, finished. Not so with the man who has endured pain and difficulties throughout his life. At some point, his body will die, but if He has received Jesus as Savior, the verse above is applied. “…He who began a good work in you will carry it out to completion….” So what’s this good work? It is a renewed spirit that began when he accepted Jesus. God has a plan for each individual, a special plan just for that person. When a person has accepted Jesus, that plan can begin to unfold. Growth in the Christian life occurs and the individual will begin to get a glimpse of what God’s plan is for him or her. Once the individual learns his or her mission in life–be assured that each person has a mission–life can get exciting. The range of missions range from the well-known public speaker to the most menial task in the local church. But, make no mistake, the mission is important to both God and the Church. There are no second-class citizens or workers in God’s kingdom .

And after death, each individual will live a life of no fear, no pain, no anxiety. He will abide with His Savior eternally in a place prepared for him, his own special place in heaven. Some may ask, “But what about his gnarled and twisted body?” Once his old earthly body has finished living, his new, perfect, eternal body will take over and live in joy for eternity.

It helps me to look at this gnarled and twisted tree, and picture it as my earthly body being straightened and filled with green leaves by my Savior and Lord. God can do that, and He does do it on a regular basis.

Magnificent

Romans 1:20 Magnificent

“Ever since God made the world, he has been showing people clearly about himself. We cannot see God. But The things that he has made show us clearly what he is like. We can understand his great power that continues for ever. We can know that he is the true God. So there is no reason for anyone to say, ‘We could not know about God’” (EASY).

What a magnificent scene, and they are everywhere you look in Arizona’s Grand Canyon, either north rim or south rim. Probably the word most spoken at Grand Canyon is ”WOW!” And it is spoken in many languages. Perhaps even more often than speaking the word, “wow,” is just a speechless stare at the wonder of the surroundings. The Grand Canyon is beautiful in full sunshine in the middle of the day, but sunrise or sunset, particularly with partly cloudy skies, the place just shows off. Colors, shadows, and shapes combine to stun the eye.

This is just one of the magnificent scenes God has created on this earth. The view of Denali on a clear summer night at about 11:30 is breathtaking. The stalactites and stalagmites of Carlsbad Caverns many feet underground are amazing. Yosemite Valley experienced within the valley or seen from above is stunning. Certainly I could go on naming beautiful things, but I’m sure you can think of many others without any reminders. Still wondering if there is a God? Take a breath. Take a drink of fresh water. He provided both of them for you.

So why did God create such beauty on the earth? I believe it is for two reasons—no three reasons. I believe He loves beauty, and He obviously loves us. I believe He created beauty just for beauty’s sake, and I believe He created it for us to give us enjoyment. There is one other rather important reason for the magnificence of His creation. He wanted to demonstrate His power and His awesome intelligence. How else could this universe with all its intricacies, all the physical laws, the placement of the earth at just the right distance from the sun, the interaction of the many parts of earth to keep us in oxygen, and the interaction of evaporation and precipitation that keeps the rivers flowing. Just to keep you wondering—why does ice float, and why is it important that it does?

God created man because He wanted fellowship, and He wanted to share His love. His creation is magnificent, but He went to greater lengths to provide us with eternal life with Him. He sent His Son to earth as a human to take on Himself all the sins of mankind and to pay for them with His death by crucifixion. That’s the great gift He made available to us, but like every gift, it must be accepted to be received. To receive this magnificent gift, ask Jesus for forgiveness of your sins and acknowledge Him as the risen Son of God and as your Lord and Savior. Do it! If He made earth this beautiful, how fantastic must heaven be?

Gratitude

Philippians 4:6 Gratitude

“Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God” (CEV).

I have a great feeling of gratitude today. A situation or problem that I have been working on for about seven months was resolved this morning at about 10:45 A.M.

Gratitude is defined by Webster as “a feeling of thankful appreciation for favors or benefits received; thankfulness.” He got that right. I am thankful to my Lord for resolving this situation for me.

I am also thankful for His patience with me over this seven month period. When it began someone said that I should “just give it to the Lord.” I did, and then I “just took it back.” I didn’t do that just once or twice or even five times, but God was patient with me through the entire process. The Lord told me several times, “I’ve got this,” and I believed Him at the moment. But when things didn’t go quite as fast or in quite the manner I expected, I “just took them back,” and did it my way. I soon found out that my way wasn’t working, so “I just gave it back” to the Lord, and He accepted. Guess what? I did that several times over the seven months. I am amazed at the giants of the Bible like Abraham who waited twenty-five years for the son He was promised. Wait a minute. One time in the middle of the twenty-five years, he took matters into his own hands and fathered a child not of his wife Sara. But that didn’t work out quite right. Abraham came back to God, and the son he was promised was born. I think I detect a pattern here. First God calls us to something and we accept it. Then when things don’t go the way we want them to, we leave God behind and do it our way. When that doesn’t go well, we offer the situation back to God. Since He is a patient and loving God, He takes it back and finally brings it to resolution. The steps—1. We are called to something. 2. We accept the call and start working on it. 3. We mess up. 4. We give it back to God, and He completes it. That seems pretty simple and straight forward except that we often get stuck in the middle of step 4 and we “just take it back.” And then we start the process over again. The great thing about our Lord is that no matter how many times we “just take it back,” He is always ready when we “just give it to Him.”

Thank you, Lord, for resolving my problem, and thank you, Lord, for your great patience with me. You are so good to me!

Thankfulness

Psalm 100:4 Thankfulness

“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name” (NKJV).

It’s ten days before Thanksgiving, and I thought it was time to write about thankfulness. But then I thought that thankfulness is something we should have all year. I’m glad that our nation has chosen a time to publicly thank God for His provision, and I celebrate it, but I feel ashamed that I waited until now to write about thankfulness.

First of all, we owe our greatest thanks to God Almighty for His love that caused Him to create the universe. God is due our thanks for everything we have in our daily lives, and we owe our greatest thanks to Him for providing eternal life for us in heaven with Him.

Personally, I am very thankful to God for my wife, our three sons, our three daughters-in-law, our three granddaughters, our four grandsons, our one grandson-in-law, and our one grand fiancé. My life is full and quite blessed because of these beautiful gifts from God. Family, the great invention of God, is the glue that holds communities and nations together. When we can live together, work together, worship together, and love together, with God at the center of the family, the world is blessed.

Since I’m being personal in this message, I will state my thankfulness for my church, Faith Community Church, East, in Tucson, Arizona. We were welcomed within a minute of entering the church the first time, and the welcome was confirmed by many people before the service even started. It felt like home, and it has been so for many years. Friendships continue to grow as more people join the church. God is praised and worshipped each time people gather there. The Word of the Lord is preached and opportunity to reach out to the community is provided. It’s a good place to grow closer to our Lord and to learn how to be His light in the world.

I hope that you are blessed as I am with a wonderful family and a blessed church. If you are, thank God for them today. If you don’t have one of them, family or church, or even if you don’t have either, give thanks to the Lord and ask Him to lead you to both.

Praise and thanks to our Great God!

P.S. The church pictured is not Faith Community Church, East, but a Pennsylvania church.

Why Should I Memorize God’s Word?

2 Timothy 3:16 Why Should I Memorize God’s Word?

“All the Holy Writings are God-given and are made alive by Him. Man is helped when he is taught God’s Word. It shows what is wrong. It changes the way of a man’s life. It shows him how to be right with God” (NLV).

This property is in Montana, just outside Yellowstone National Park, so we can guess that it gets cold in the winter. We can see by this large stack of firewood that they have been preparing for winter’s storms and cold weather by storing a large quantity of firewood. When the temperature drops, they just throw another log on the fire to keep them warm. Hopefully, they have enough stored to last through winter.

As Christians, we need to gather a large of supply of Godly help to get us through the storms and difficulties of life. The best thing we can store for these dark, lonely, and stormy times is the Word of God. When we are lonely or hurting or ill, or just feel lost, we can reach for the Bible and search until we find a Scripture that helps. We can also check with a reference book for verses that are appropriate to the situation. We can call a pastor or a friend and ask for Scripture suggestions. But, there is one way that is closer and quicker, memorized Scripture. It’s immediate. We don’t have to go look for it. We don’t have to call someone to give us suggestions. If we have memorized enough Scripture, we can just ask the author, God, and an appropriate one will be suggested by Him. Memorized Scripture is a treasure trove of wisdom, knowledge, hope, love, and faith. Some of us could say, “But I don’t know any Scripture. Where should I start memorizing?” Others may say, “I’m not good at memorizing.” To both groups I can say that there are many, many systems of learning Scripture, and most of them are offered for free. Type “Scripture memorization” in a Google search. If you don’t know where to start, I suggest reading the Gospel of John. I don’t think you will get very far before you find something you would like to remember. Some people may say, “I don’t have time to memorize a lot of Scripture.” That’s okay; one verse memorized is a start, and it’s better than having none memorized.

Here’s some encouragement. Fanny Crosby had memorized the first four books of the Old Testament, and the four Gospels by the time she was ten years old. That’s impressive, but what makes it more impressive is the fact that Fanny was blind. I’m not only impressed with what Fanny did, but I am also impressed with whoever read the verses to her often enough for her to memorize them. Maybe it would be a good idea to get a partner and memorize together. My list of memorized Scripture is not very long, so I need to get a new start at Scripture memorization. Will you join me?

Am I Bold Enough?

2 Corinthians 3:7-13 Am I Bold Enough?

“Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away” (NIV).

Paul was speaking of Moses whose face shown so brightly that he had to hide it from the people after he had been with the Lord, when Paul compared this glory of Moses with the glory we should be showing because of the new covenant we have in Jesus Christ. Moses’ glow lessened as the time grew from the time he had been with the Lord. Our glow should not diminish because God, in the person of the Holy Spirit, resides with us daily—every day. We need to be as bold as this outstandingly beautiful fall tree with its bright red leaves so different from its leaves before it was changed from the green shown by all the trees. It needs to be obvious that we have “seen” Christ and have been changed by Him, and the change is bigger than the change this tree undergoes in the fall of the year. The tree stands out, proclaiming its change for all to see, but it does not force itself on those who see it. It is merely obvious that it has been changed, and it shows the result of that change in a grand manner. Lord, help me to be as bold as this tree in proclaiming the change that Jesus has made in me. No one should have to ask me, “Are you a Christian?” It should be obvious by my actions and the love I show to others. I want to be BOLD for CHRIST!

Which Way to Go

Matthew 7:13,14 Which Way to Go

“Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention” (MSG).

The poem, “The Road Not Taken,” is also applicable to the Scripture above. The most quoted verse of the poem is: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”

That also makes all the difference in the Scripture above, and that difference becomes obvious and all important at death. I can tell Robert Frost where the road well travelled ends, and where the less-travelled road ends. But I think I will let Matthew 7:13,14 do the telling. “The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.” Salvation itself is an easy step, accept Jesus Christ as Savior, and speak that aloud, and you have been saved. But those who wish a full and rewarding Christian life pursue Christ vigorously through reading the Bible, prayer, fellowship with fellow Christians, and listening to teaching from God’s chosen ministers. Do it. The rewards are well worth the effort.

One last note for those who have already accepted Jesus Christ as Savior—we have a responsibility to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. The time has come to make the “less-travelled” road the road of choice for our friends, families, neighbors, and even those we don’t like until it becomes the “very well-travelled” road. Check it out in Mattherw 28:19,20.

Water That Refreshes

John 7:38,39 Water That Refreshes

“Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory) (NLT).

I remember my father stopping with me at this spring along the New Baltimore Road in Bedford County, PA, when we went fishing. I have stopped there for a refreshing drink many times since those early visits, and as far as I know, the spring is still flowing. There is one change; the pvc pipe was not there when I was young. I’m blessed to know that refreshing water still flows from that pipe, giving a pick-me-up to anyone who stops.

The ”living water” that Jesus spoke of is the Holy Spirit that he sent to refresh us, guide us, comfort us, teach us, and remind us of Jesus’ words. The Holy Spirit is always available because He lives in us. He was put in us at our moment of salvation. The Holy Spirit can be described as a gentleman, not one to act without our permission. He will tell us what we should be doing, but if we say “no,” He will not demand it. But we miss a blessing every time we say “no” to Him. I always stop when I go by the spring where I first went with my father, and I am always refreshed. It’s always there, so if I don’t stop for refreshment, I miss it. The same is true of the Holy Spirit. He is always there, inside me, ready to bless me, to lead me on to bless others and to help me grow closer to my Lord. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for nudging me on to acts of kindness, and I pray that I will be willing the next time you nudge me to speak to someone about the great joy of salvation. Open my mouth so that the “living water” of the joy of the Lord flows out of me often..

Same Old Road?

Psalm 16:11 Same Old Road?

“You make known to me the path of life, you will fill me with joy in your presence and eternal pleasure at your right hand” (NIV).

Sounds great, “joy in your presence and eternal pleasure at your right hand.” Maybe I don’t have that every day. Maybe I don’t have that very often. If I believe the Word of God, and I am not experiencing joy and pleasure, then it must be something that I am doing, or something I am not doing. I must not be following the path of life that God has shown me. Following my path, my way, has not resulted in joy and eternal pleasure. If I’ve been doing the same old things, I can expect the same old results. If I look at my trail, it is probably worn deep like the one pictured above, To get new results, I will need to get off this old, worn, comfortable trail and strike out at a tangent, which may not be as comfortable as my old path. But before I decide on what tangent to take, I need to take the time to read God’s Word and ask God about it. It may take some time, but He will make the right path known to me. Then it is up to me to follow it. I will need to check frequently to be sure that I am following the path He has chosen for me. When I notice the same old unsatisfactory results, I know it is time to get back on His path. Then joy and pleasure along with challenges, will be in my present as well as my future.