my burg

Bible reading for weekend January 15-17 Jan 15 -- Nehemiah 5 and Acts 15 Jan 16 -- Nehemiah 6 and Acts 16 Jan 17 -- Nehemiah 7 and Acts 17 "...they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God." (Nehemiah 6:16)  THE WORK OF GOD. With the Lord, a lot can happen in a short time! We see this in both our OT and NT readings this weekend. In Nehemiah, the Jews complete the wall  around Jerusalem in 52 days.  In Acts, we read that churches have been planted in Samaria, Syria, Asia Minor (Turkey), and now Europe (Greece), within two decades after Christ's resurrection. History records that other apostles were spreading the gospel, for example, Thomas going east towards Parthia and India. But it's God's use of the Apostle Paul and his cohorts that reveals the remarkable move of God toward the heart of the Roman empire.  In both Nehemiah and Acts we see that this work continues despite opposition from without and conflicts from within.  CONFLIC...

Bible reading for October 22.  2 Kings 3. "This is a light thing in the sight of the LORD. He will also give the Moabites into your hand..." (2 Kings 3:18)  SOMETIMES THERE ARE NO WINNERS. As a pastor I would often be called upon to help others resolve conflicts, whether in their marriages, families, businesses, or church relationships. Sometimes I found situations where nobody was in the right. Each party might feel justified in their position and want to win their case. But at times, well, you just wanted to throw all the bums out. (So to speak!) Israel's war against Moab is perhaps a case in point. The Moabites were an idolatrous people who often harassed their neighbors. Their chief god was Chemosh, but they also worshiped Molech and Baal, among others. As seen in this chapter Moabites could resort to human sacrifice. It was God's will that they be subjugated and the land be rendered infertile. (Moab's wealth and power came from their sheep industry.) The Moa...

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep [ preserve, guard ] it.  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."   (Genesis 2:15-17 ESV) "Adam had to subdue the earth and have dominion over it, and this he must do in a twofold sense: he must cultivate it, open it up, and so cause to come up out of it all the treasures which God has stored there for man's use; and he must also watch over it, safeguard it, protect it against all evil that may threaten it, must, in short, secure it against the service of corruption in which the whole of creation now groans. "But man can fulfill this calling over against the earth only if he does not break the bond of connection which unites him with heaven, only if he continues to believe God at His word and to obey His ...

"Do the Next Thing" was an anonymous poem that was  one of Elisabeth Elliot's favorites.  It's a good word for today as we often become overwhelmed with details or paralyzed with too many options.  We may want to see the outcome more clearly before we act.  Yet this poem reminds us there is a place for simple, faithful duty.  We need to act upon God's clearly-given will. "Just do the next thing..."  At an old English parsonage down by the sea, there came in the twilight a message to me. Its quaint Saxon legend deeply engraven that, as it seems to me, teaching from heaven. And all through the hours the quiet words ring, like a low inspiration, ‘Do the next thing.’ Many a questioning, many a fear, many a doubt hath its quieting here. Moment by moment, let down from heaven, time, opportunity, guidance are given. Fear not tomorrow, child of the King, trust that with Jesus, do the next thing. Do it immediately, do it with pr...

“I glorified you on earth by completing  the work you gave me to do.” (John 17:4) “Lord, grant us: in our work, satisfaction; in our study, wisdom; in our pleasure, gladness; and in our love, loyalty.”  (William Barclay)  Fred Smith reflected on this prayer, specifically the request about satisfaction in work:  “ In our work, satisfaction... ”  Peter Drucker told our son , “Let the task be the reward.”  He was saying money isn’t the the full reward.  It is a necessary component, but shouldn’t be the primary goal.  I played golf with a CEO who lost $80 million in a corporate debacle.  His comment to me was, “Fred, I wasn’t in it solely for the money.  When I am gone, what I contributed will live on in my industry."  What a pity it would have been if money had been the measure of his satisfaction. I asked Seth Macon, the retired Senior Vice President of Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company, what his greatest satisfaction was...