Author: Warren Berkley

Drew Carey – At White House Press Correspondences Dinner  2002

“Yeah, I read the Bible a lot, you know. It’s just crazy [the way] we celebrate holidays in the United States. I found out just recently there are so many religious holidays we celebrate here in this country that have nothing to do with the Bible at all. Real famous holidays, like Christmas. Christmas has nothing to do with the Bible.

“The birth of Jesus is in the Bible, but not Christmas. The tree is not in the Bible, you know. Gifts-that’s not there either. There’s no place where it says, ‘”Celebrate my birthday,” says Jesus.’ It’s a pagan holiday that the Romans invented that we just do. But everywhere you go, I’m telling you, I’ve seen this so many times, you see a nativity scene and there’s baby Jesus, the manger, sheep, shepherds, Mary, Joseph and Santa Claus right in the middle!”

Refer Matt. 25:31-46

I was hungry, and you formed a humanities club and discussed my hunger.

I was imprisoned, and you crept off quietly to your chapel in the cellar and prayed for my release.

I was naked, and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.

I was sick, and you knelt and thanked God for your health.

I was homeless, and you preached to me the spiritual shelter of the love of God.

I was lonely, and you left me alone to pray for me.

You seem so holy, so close to God, but I’m still very hungry, and lonely, and cold.

SOURCE: Green, M. P. (Ed.). (1989). Illustrations for Biblical Preaching: Over 1500 sermon illustrations arranged by topic and indexed exhaustively (Revised edition of: The expositor’s illustration file). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

The Big And Small World of Bible Lands … compared to?

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/big-small-world-bible-geography/

Hebrews 11:23-31

“Moses: By Faith”

Hebrews 11:23-31

²³ By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. ²⁴ By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, ²⁵ choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. ²⁶ He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. ²⁷ By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. ²⁸ By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

²⁹ By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. ³⁰ By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. ³¹ By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

– Heb. 11:23-31

The story of Moses begins with the faith of his parents, who refused to see their child murdered. They hid him from the mass extermination, protected him and apparently had opportunity to instill in him, faith in the living God and affection for His people.

So, though Moses was handed a life of luxury, celebrity status and fleshly gratification, he said “No. This is not for me. I will be with my people and refuse the passing pleasures of sin.” “He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.”

The faith of Moses set in motion the exit of the people of Israel from Egypt, under the care and providential hand of God. Then, by that same faith, the walls of Jericho came down.

Parents, protect your children and do all you can to instill in them, faith in the living God. Children, appreciate the devotion of parents. And, to all of us – we should recognize that sin offers only a temporary thrill, that is soon gone. Christians have a relationship with God through Christ, and faith is the assurance of things hoped for.

“He Made The Storm Still”

The El Faro cargo ship set out from Jacksonville, Florida on Sept. 30, headed to San Juan, Puerto Rico. A day later, during Hurricane Joaquin, the ship went missing with 33 crew members on board. Very little has been discovered of vessel and crew to this day.

Within the news sources I read, there was this: “Capt. James F. Tobin, president of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Alumni Association & Foundation in Great Neck, N.Y., released a statement Monday afternoon saying that Steve Shultz, a class of 1984 graduate of the academy, was one of the 28 Americans on board the ship, and hoping for his safe return.

‘This incident reminds us that going to sea is still a dangerous endeavor and we should continue to pray for the safety of all mariners who are on the water,’ Capt. Tobin wrote.” {Wall Street Journal: http://www.wsj.com/articles/coast-guard-believes-el-faro-sank-in-hurricane-joaquin-1444057113}

Think of the ancient mariner in Biblical times, who faced an even higher measure of risk, navigating the sea. Before the navigational technology we have, the perils of the sea were daunting.

Picture life as a voyage that involves manifold risks and unforeseen trouble. Sin can beat against us and capture us. The sins of others create inner turmoil. Trials arrive that we did not expect. Weaknesses, hardships, persecutions, calamities and death toss us to and fro. But we are not sailing through life without an offer of help that is perfectly suited to save and guide us to the harbor.

“Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters;
they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep. For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight; they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits’ end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.”

Psalm 107:23-32

Follow-up – NTSB believes the wreckable has been found, as of just a few weeks ago. Obviously – no survivors.

Malachi 1:6,7

“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name.  But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ By offering polluted food upon my altar.  But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the Lord’s table may be despised.” Mal. 1:6,7 (ESV)

Affirmation: “A son honors his father, and a servant his master.” This affirmation derives from what is common, what is understood by the reader. In that time and today, children are expected to honor their parents. Servants are obligated to their masters. This affirmation is followed by…

A Corresponding Inquiry: “If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” Based on what is commonly known, the inquiry is designed to convict the people of ignoring common knowledge, to go in their own way. God, their Father, should have been honored, but was shunned. God, their Master, should have been respected, but was dis-respected by the people.

Specifically: “…you, O priests, have despised my name.”

How? “By offering polluted food upon my altar,” and “by saying that the Lord’s table may be despised.”

Matthew Henry Observes: The prophet is here, by a special commission, calling the priests to account, though they were themselves appointed judges, to call the people to an account. Let the rulers in the house of God know that there is one above them, who will reckon with them for their mal-administrations. Thus saith the Lord of hosts to you, O priests! v. 6. God will have a saying to unfaithful ministers; and it concerns those who speak from God to his people to hear and heed what he says to them, that they may save themselves in the first place, otherwise how should they help to save those that hear them? It is a severe, and no doubt a just reproof, that is here given to the priests, for the profanation of the holy things of God, with which they were entrusted; and, if this was the crime of the priests, we have reason to fear the people also were guilty of it: so that what is said to the priests is said to all, nay, it is said to us, who, as Christians, profess ourselves, not only the people of God, but priests to him. Observe here,I. What it was that God expected from them, and with what good reason he expected it (v. 6): A son honours his father, because he is his father; nature has written this law in the hearts of children, before God wrote it at Mount Sinai; nay,a servant, though his obligation to his master is not natural, but by voluntary compact, yet thinks it his duty to honour him, to be observant of his orders, and true to his interests. Children and servants pay respect to their parents and masters; every one cries out shame on them if they do not, and their own hearts cannot but reproach them too; the order of families is thus kept up, and it is their beauty and advantage. But the priests, who are God’s children and his servants, do not fear and honour him. They were fathers and masters to the people, and expected to be called so (Judges. 18:19 , Mt. 22:7, Mt. 22:10 ) and to be reverenced and obeyed as such; but they forgot their Father and Master in heaven, and the duty they owed to him. We may each of us charge upon ourselves what is here charged upon the priests. Note, 1. We are every one of us to look upon God as our Father and Master, and upon ourselves as his children and servants. 2. Our relation to God as our Father and Master strongly obliges us to fear and honour him. If we honour and fear the fathers of our flesh, much more the Father and Master of our spirits, Heb. 12:9 . It is a thing to be justly complained of, and lamented, that God is so little feared and honoured even by those that own him for their Father and Master.

Source Ortlund Jr., Raymond C.. Isaiah (Preaching the Word) (p. 457). Crossway. Kindle Edition.

We can know, because God has spoken. Into our troubled world, God has spoken to us “from the borders of another world.”2 

Our needs go deeper than the remedies on sale in the marketplace of ideas today. Whether you are a believer or an unbeliever, wouldn’t you agree that “the solution of the riddle of life in space and time lies outside space and time”?3

No matter how many experts we consult or how much research we do, the ultimate questions of life remain unanswerable unless God speaks. And God has spoken..

2. Arturo G. Azurdia, III, Spirit Empowered Preaching (Fearn, UK: Christian Focus, 1998), p. 16.

3. D. F. Pears and B. F. McGuinness, trans., Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus: The German Text of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s

GOD’S LOVE FOR

SINFUL MAN

Frank Walton

“By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him” (1 Jno. 4:9). It is not by our goodness, greatness, loveliness, or merit that moved a holy, perfect God to work through the ages, in spite of our great failures, to reach out and rescue a race of rebels. We were dead in the vileness of sin and “without God and without hope” (Eph. 2:12). The driving force behind the dramatic plan of salvation is the loving character and initiative of God alone (Eph. 2:1-5). 

Redemptive love is undefeatable goodwill. Do we marvel at it as the most powerful force in the universe? It motivates His grace toward the undeserving, which includes all of us, in offering the best and dearest He has in His Son (Jno. 3:16). This divine power is the greatest force for change in the universe. “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God” (1 Jno. 3:1). 

We must marvel at the wonders of such love, such amazing redemptive goodwill. It persists in spite of man’s repeated failures and foolishness in the story of the Bible. He knows all about us, every secret sin, and, like the forgiving father in Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son (Lk. 15), He still wants us back! It is an optimistic, positive love that sees great potential for anyone who turns completely to God in sincere faith. It is also a tough love that beckons us to penitently do better and reach higher in humble obedience. 

In the plan of salvation, we must point people to our loving God through Christ and give Him all the glory, honor, and credit for the power to change erring lives (Rom. 5:6- 11; 11:33-36). One reason many of us are not as motivated to actively share the gospel with the lost is that we really don’t love them like our heavenly Father does (see 1 Jno. 4:19). “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 Jno. 4:8).The effective soul-winner Paul exclaimed, “The love of Christ impels us” (2 Cor. 5:14).

Knowing the infinite love of God confronts us with a choice: will I be a stagnant hoarder or a transformed channel of divine love to the lost? The love of God lifts our spirits, changes our lives, and moves us to lovingly share the gospel with lost people all around us. God’s love sent Christ into the world and offered us grace to obey the gospel and be saved. So, God’s love in Christ transforms us into loving, Christ-like people. Such divine love is the moving force in all our service for God and man. The greatest command is to love God with our all and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mk. 12:28-31). We should greet each day with love in our heart. We study 1 Corinthians 13 on the virtuous traits of God-pleasing love, which is active goodwill, and all our relations will improve. How much love is there in your heart and daily action?

The Theory Of Devolution

(Comments on Hallmark Movies In The Newsfeeds

And A Viral Tweet)

You can count on the secular aggressive left to successfully lobby all media outlets to advance their agenda. And you can count on secular aggressive left celebrities to back such efforts on social media.

We saw that play out this week when Hallmark Movies pulled an ad from a wedding planning company showing two women kissing in a “marriage” ceremony. Then under pressure, putting that ad back on the air after the lobbying.

The LGBT movement aggressively advances their gender denial campaign with bold campaigns on billboards, TV shows, movies, print media, social media and their use of government. The “tolerance” they demand is really their desire for endorsement, asking everyone to celebrate their lifestyle.

Those who accept Biblical values are accused of hate if we disagree with them. And their ultimate aim is to silence us.

(See for example the effort in California: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200ACR99)

Here is one part of the tactic. It might be called The Theory Of Devolution. It goes like this: As time marches on, we embrace the digression; we devolve toward whatever we desire, absent any higher moral standard. As this is applied, the world gradually give up standards once accepted and argue that time demands it. Time is claimed as that which puts us in position to do whatever we want. (What will be claimed as acceptable in 2040?)

This is the theory that inspired Ellen DeGeneres to tweet her objection to pulling the LGBT ad: “Isn’t it almost 2020?” Yes it is. What does that mean? As time passes, are we supposed to degenerate? I don’t enjoy thinking about a society removing solid values over time. Is there another term that follows post-modern?

What would Paul tweet? “For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those what are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.” (Rom. 1:26,27)

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