Grafted Into the Body

Rachel wrote a great piece about Romans 11:16-24. Here is a quick excerpt of what she wrote. Rachel's blog is relatively new, but I have been visiting everyday and recommend it to all my readers.

Our Father is the gardener, Christ is the vine, those who have accepted Christ are the branches, and gentiles are the foreign grafted branches on the vine. We are one body. To believe and accept Christ allows us to be grafted into the Body. What is interesting is that Webster’s mentions the grafted branch determines the kind of fruit. I think it is wonderful the dictionary explains it this way. We are the body, but each of us has different fruit. 1 Corinthians 12, the whole chapter, talks about Spiritual gifts, our fruit, and being a member of the body of Christ. We do not all have the same gifts (or fruit), but each of us is important.

Read the whole piece here. Thanks Rachel.

Evan Almighty

Dr. Jame3s Dobson on Evan Almighty:

"..I wish it were possible to endorse and recommend this picture, but I cannot do so.

My greatest objection to the film is its use of God's name irreverently in eight or 10 instances, as in "oh my ---." It was simply unnecessary to write the script this way, and I was bothered by it. I was also uncomfortable with the depiction of our most righteous God as an ordinary man who, though endearing and warm, danced and performed funny miracles. Some people, even individuals with similar beliefs to mine, will not be offended by this presentation. But I was taught at my mother's knee that God is profoundly holy, and we are to approach Him with deep humility and reverence. The first four of the Ten Commandments refer to this divine nature, including a warning to those who would misuse His name or refer to it disrespectfully. How can I endorse a movie that runs past those boundaries, even though most others do far worse?

Finally, I was concerned about the rewriting of the story of Noah and his ark. "God," played charmingly by Morgan Freeman, told the new Noah character that the first flood occurred because the people hadn't done enough "acts of random kindness" (as in A.R.K. Get it?). God destroyed the world and its inhabitants, the contemporary god said, not to punish a wicked and perverse generation as we read in Genesis 6, but as a benign object lesson to encourage people to be nicer to each other. It was bad theology and a radical distortion of Scripture.

As for whether my readers and their sons and daughters should see this film, that decision depends on their individual interpretations and beliefs. From my perspective, it is a shame that the movie is flawed in ways that could have so easily been avoided. Nevertheless, I appreciate the fact that the producers and writers did not include the gratuitous sex and violence that punctuates so many other offerings. Evan Almighty could have been a perennial favorite."

Scientific Facts in the Bible

Here are a list of scientific facts found in the Bible, (compiled by Ray Comfort):

Jeremiah 33:22 (written 2500 years ago) - The stars in the sky cannot be counted.
Science at the time this was written believed that there were about 1100 stars in the sky. This estimation was widely accepted.

Job 26:7 (written 3500 years ago) - The earth freely floats in space.
Science at that time held the view that the earth sat on the back of a large animal.

Leviticus 17:11 (written 3000 years ago) - Blood is the source of life.
Up until 120 years ago, sick people were "bled", and many died because of the practice. We now know that blood is the source of life. If you lose your blood, you will lose your life.

Leviticus 15:13 (written 3000 years ago) - Hands are to be washed under running water.
Up until 100 years ago doctors washed their hands in a basin of still water, resulting in the death of multitudes. We now know that doctors must wash their hands under running water.

Isaiah 40:22 (written 2800 years ago) - The Earth is round.
At that time Science thought that the earth was flat. It wasn't discovered that it was round until the well documented story of Christopher Columbus.

Genesis 1:1,3 (written 3,450 years ago) - "In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth . . . And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."
Science expresses the universe in five terms: time, space, matter, power and motion. "In the beginning (time) God created (power) the Heaven (space) and the earth (matter) . . . And the Spirit of God moved (motion) upon the face of the waters."

Psalm 8:8 - Introduces us to Ocean Currents
Man discovered the existence of ocean currents in the 1850's, but the Bible declared the science of oceanography 2,800 years ago. Matthew Maury (1806- 1873) is considered to be the father of oceanography. He was bedridden during a serious illness and asked his son to read a portion of the Bible to him. While listening, he noticed the expression "paths of the sea." Upon his recovery, Maury took God at His word and went looking for these paths. His book on oceanography is still considered a basic text on the subject and is still used in universities.

All this kind of makes you wonder why people are so quick to believe what science tells them. More importantly, it points us to the all knowing power of God. God has revealed so many things to us in scripture. I wonder what we will find next that God was telling us about. I'll bet there is more Scientific Fact in there that we haven't even discovered yet.

Questions? Comments?
timmrees@yahoo.com

Hey Jesus, Here's my Golf Swing

Entirely written by Todd Friel:

Do you know who Claire Trevor was? You’re kidding? You don’t?

OK, let’s try this. Who was Nathan Meyer Rothschild? You don’t know him either? That’s strange.

One more try. Who was John Garner? Hmmmm. I guess you don’t know very much.

Or maybe there is another reason you don’t know these names. Despite the fact that most people seek after the three things these people possessed, nobody remembers mans’ conquests for long.

Hey, I think Solomon wrote about that three thousand years ago. “Everything is meaningless, utterly meaningless” (Ecc.1:1).

Claire Trevor was a glamorous leading lady who won an Academy Award in 1948. How quickly we forget. “This is all so meaningless! For the wise person and the fool both die, and in the days to come, both will be forgotten” (Ecc.2:15).

Nathan Meyer Rothschild was the richest man in the world in the first half of the nineteenth century. Unfortunately his fame could not buy his life. He died in his fifties of an infected abscess. “But if a sinner becomes wealthy, God takes the wealth away and gives it to those who please Him. Even this, however, is meaningless, like chasing the wind (Ecc.2:25).

John Garner was the Vice-president of the United States for eight years under FDR. I’ll bet he got the best table at every restaurant he visited. “He might become the leader of millions and be very popular. But then the next generation grows up and rejects him. So again, it is all meaningless, like chasing the wind” (Ecc.4:16).

Fame. Fortune. Power. Ppfffttt. All gone. A vapor. Like chasing the wind. Meaningless. John Piper recently asked, “What are you going to say to King Jesus when He judges you? Here Jesus. Here is my boat. Look at my golf swing, Jesus.”

Honestly, I don’t want to guilt you. I want to encourage you to get on board. What are you doing that will last?

Is it really that hard to hand out a Gospel tract? Are you sure you couldn't talk to a loved one about their need for righteousness? What will you tell King Jesus? “I couldn't lead someone to you because…” Because what?

Come on. Let’s all just lose our excuses and get on it. Get equipped. Practice. Pray for help. Then do it. Do something for King Jesus that will last longer than anything Claire, Nathan or John ever did. Win someone for the Savior.

Here is Solomon’s (and my) final conclusion. “Fear God and obey His commands, for this is the duty of every person. God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.” (Ecc.12:13,14)

Questions? Comments?
timmrees@yahoo.com

God is Good

It's amazing how God provides encouragement at just the right times and in just the right ways. Today, for no particular reason I was looking through some of Layne's old postings on his blog, when I stumbled upon a post entitled "God's Grace is Sufficient For Me." The post was inspired by my Grandma Dyer. I don't know how I missed it when he posted it, but this time it hit me right where it counts.

Now, without Layne's permission, here is the post:

Recently a lot of things have been going on, and it has all come together quickly. On Thursday, a good friend of mine called to inform me that his grandmother passed away. His grandmother, whom I knew and met was a wonderful person. When he and I were in elementary, occasionally we would go to her home and eat lunch. I also knew her from church. anyway. Lately I have been struggling with unemployment, Christmas, and all those wonderful things about new homes and things to do around the house. Not that we NEED to fix or replace anything, we WANT to. We want to put in a sliding glass door for example. Needless to say, these things take money. At the funeral on Sat. near the end, a remark was made about a comment Grandma used to say. That comment was simply: God's grace is sufficient for me. So this morning (Sunday) as I was preparing for church, my mind was filled with things I would like to get done around the house. After each one I reminded myself, God's grace is sufficient for me. At service, our pastor spoke on humility. That we are to be like Christ, who "stepped down" from being omni-present so that He could be human and save the lives of those whom He cared for. He came to serve and die for us, so that we may experience eternal life with Him.
I guess this really just hit home to me because in life, we want to become recognized, important, and excel in our careers. We want promotions and advancements and recognition for what we do and have done to better our own lives. While this isn't all wrong, its not why we are here. We are here to serve. We are in the service of Christ, and need to serve Him and His purpose, not our own. Now that's not to say promotions are bad, however its better to be satisfied with a smaller paycheck that allows for family time and acts of servitude, than to be rich and not have time for the real reason we are here.

As for me and my home, we will serve the Lord, because God's grace is sufficient for me.

Thank you Layne for the kind words about my Grandmother. Thank you God for the encouragement. Thank you God for people Like Layne, my Grandma and countless others to keep me going.

Questions? Comments?
timmrees@yahoo.com