Tallness

He’s so tall, six months a year he goes around with snow on his head!

It’s great to have a very tall friend.  I’d want him walking by if I lived on the second floor and the house was on fire.

Abraham Lincoln’s arms were so long, they went all the way down to his wrists.

His mother was tall.  His father was tall.  His two brothers were tall.  He even had a canary with an eight-foot wingspan!

She was as tall as a six-foot three-inch pole.

Love List

“If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”  1 Corinthians 13.3

Love is:

  • Patient and kind
  • Not envious or boastful
  • Not arrogant or rude
  • Not insisting on its own way
  • Not irritable or resentful
  • Not rejoicing at wrongdoing
  • Rejoicing with the truth
  • Bearing, believing, hoping, and enduring  all things
  • Never ending

“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”  1 Corinthians 13.13

Blinded

The sad part of the Gospel news is that some people will not get it.  The parable of the sower in Mark 4 has seeds falling on the rocky ground and being eaten quickly by birds; the good news never reaches those people’s hearts or minds. 2 Corinthians 4.3-4 speaks of those who don’t understand: “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

We have had especially excellent sermon presentations of the gospel message the last two weeks.  Easter’s passage was Acts 26.1-11, where Paul is giving his defense to King Agrippa.  The key verse (8): “Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?”  The historic Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus launch the Christian church and are events of first importance cited by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15.

This past Sunday, in Acts 26.12-32, Paul proclaims his desire that all who hear him would become Christians.  Pastor Kevin used the opportunity to describe three things you do in becoming a Christian:  See, Turn, and Receive.

See – Paul’s personal testimony includes physical blinding by an intense light but then receiving spiritual sight as part of his recovery. Like the prognosis in 2 Corinthians 4, a Christian needs to see the light of the glory of Christ. Turn – Acknowledge sins before God, not just being sorry or ashamed, but repenting and turning away from the sins and turning toward God.  Receive – Forgiveness and eternal life are offered to those who believe.  Accept the free offer.

Both messages seemed so clear and obvious; how could someone not understand?  But, I know of at least two people whose response was, “That didn’t do anything for me” or “The Pastor overstates his case all the time.”

Fortunately, 2 Corinthians 4.6 goes on to say that it is God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness” is the One who has “shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”  We can pray that God would continue to shine His light where darkness now reigns.

Bad Bet

Smith and Wesson went on a safari.  The first night out, they bet a hundred dollars on who would bag the first lion.  In the morning, they went their separate ways.  Shortly a lion approached the jeep where Smith was sitting.  The lion asked, “Do you know a guy named Wesson?”

“Yes, I do,” says Smith.

The lion says, “He owes you a hundred dollars.”

Jehoshaphat’s Prayer

This is a good passage to read and pray through when facing issue(s) beyond your control.

 2 Chronicles 20.1-12

                    After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, Engedi). Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek help from the LORD; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

                    And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, and said, “O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, ‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you—for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.’ And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy—behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

 

Talk briefly about the following pairs of questions:

   What is Jehoshaphat and company’s problem? 

   What is (are) your problem(s)?

What had God already done for the Israelites?

What has God already done for you and your congregation?

   What do the Israelites ask for?

   What would it look like for you to keep your eyes on the LORD?

 

Pray, using what you have learned.

 

Dizzy Dean Quotes

Dizzy Dean was a Hall of Fame pitcher for the St Louis Cardinals and a celebrated “country” radio baseball announcer.

 

“A lot of folks that ain’t saying ‘ain’t’ ain’t eatin.”

  • In response to his critics who thought he was setting a bad example by using the word “ain’t” in broadcasts

 

“Bill Terry once hit a ball between my laigs so hard that my center fielder caught it on the fly backing up against the wall.”

 

“Son, what kind of pitch would you like to miss?”

  • What he supposedly asked a hitter he’d struck out all day

 

“You know how I say ‘Rizzuto slud into second.’ What’s wrong with that?  As for saying ‘Rizzuto slid into second,’ it just ain’t natural.  Sounds silly to me.  Slud is something more than slid.  It means sliding with great effort.”

 

“I always just went out there and struck out all the fellows I could.  I didn’t worry about winnin’ this number of games or that number – and I ain’t a-woofin’ when I say that, either.”

Comfort

2 Corinthians 1.3-7 is all about the comfort we receive and provide because of the affliction endured by Jesus Christ:

  • God the Father is the God of all comfort
  • He comforts us in all our afflictions
  • We are then able to comfort others in any affliction
  • The comfort we provide is the same as the comfort we received.
  • Our afflictions are a sharing in Christ’s suffering; our comfort is the same as provided to Christ.

Just as the gospel witness is heard and then spoken, comfort is received and then provided.