“He Came Back.”

(Taken from the inside cover of Andrew Peterson’s music CD –
Resurrection Letters, Volume II)

After that brutal Friday, and that long, quiet Saturday, he came back.

And that one intake of breath in the tomb changes everything. It changes the very reason I drew breath today and the way I move about in this world because I believe he’s coming back again. The world has gone on for more than tow millennia since Jesus’ feet tread the earth he made. What would they have said then if someone had told them that some two thousand years later we’d still be waiting? They would’ve thought back to that long Saturday and said, “Two thousand years will seem like a breath to you when you finally lay your crown at his feet. We don’t even remember what we were doing on that Saturday, but le me tell you about Sunday morning. Now that was something.”

These many years of waiting will only be a sentence in the story. This long day will come to an end, and I believe it will end in glory, when we will shine like suns and stride the green hills with those we love and the One who loves. We will look with our new eyes and speak with our new tongues and turn to each other and say, “Do you remember the waiting? The long years, the bitter pain, the gnashing doubt, the relentless ache?” And like Mary at the tomb, we will say: “ I remember only the light, and the voice calling my name, and the overwhelming joy that the waiting was finally over.”

The Stone will be rolled away for each of us.
May we wait with faithful hearts

-AP

From the inside cover of Andrew Peterson’s music CD – Resurrection Letters, Volume II

**Postscript note:
Now you will have to get the CD to hear the music and lyrics that support the words above. I hope you will enjoy the sounds and the words as much as I have over the past few months since my dear friend, Doug, introduced me to Andrew Peterson’s music.

Happy New Year and would it not be just the grandest thing – Jesus returning this year!

http://www.groveshark.com - in search, type – Andrew Peterson - tap the search icon and then you can get started in hearing these wonderful songs from this dear gifted musician in Christ.**

“Your faith has saved you… Your faith has made you well…”

**Please excuse the English and grammar in today’s blog, it is hard to point at that which is He and I really can not physically put your eyes on HIM.**

Luke 7:36-50 and 8:40-48
Whenever I read words like these from our Savior, I have to pause and question in my heart – “your faith”? My faith? Their faith? I thought from scripture that Jesus was the author (beginner) and completer (finisher) but here He is saying to not only this one lady who anointed His feet with her very tears, but others – “your faith…”

It was not till I really pondered for quite a while what was going on here that it came clear.

In two days of reading during the morning I ran across these words of Christ. Once when the “sinful woman” anointed his feet with fragrant oil, washed his feet with her tears and kissed his feet (Luke 7:36-50). Second, when a woman touched the hem of his garment to be healed (Luke 8:40-48).

We know that Jesus did not say anything untrue or to inflate the ego. So what He was saying here was spot on and profitable for all who heard. And then it dawned on me. He was pointing everyone’s attention to what these two women had their attention on. How they got His attention too.

If He wanted to bring to the surface that anyone who really loved Him must anoint His feet with expensive oil and cry over His feet, then He would have stopped a verse or two earlier in each of these stories. If He wanted everyone to touch His garment to be healed then He would have stopped a verse or two earlier in this story. But when all eyes were on the “acts” of these two faith filled women – Jesus points out what each of us are to have – our attention, our faith, our affection – our all on HIM. It was not the tears, perfume, the touch or the robe that was key in these stories, but it was the faith that these women had. So no one could reproduce these actions to get the same results. No, the only thing (really ONE) that brings results is Jesus. Put the attention on Him no matter who is around and keep it on Him and watch what He does with that attention (faith) on Him. Faith, not what you can reproduce, or borrow, or steel, or mimic, or fake – it has to be real from HIM and personally yours. Your faith will save you. He promises to save any and all who call on Him.

“Thank You Jesus, for being the author and finisher of faith, our faith, faith from You and in You. And it is in faith we cry out to You.” Amen

BTW – Happy New Year – may we all cry Revelations 22:20 …”Even so Lord, come quickly!”

Beyond what we would ever ask or think.

This morning I read out of Luke 5. Verses 17-26 stood out to me this morning as I was reflecting on all that the Lord had done this past year. We have seen miracle after miracle and it all comes from the hand of our Lord Jesus and it also is a result of His saints remaining faithful in coming to Him for the answers. If you look carefully at this passage you may see some of the things that struck me in this passage. (See also Mat. 9:2-8 & Mark 2:3-12 – all three passages make the same point) “When He saw their faith… He said to him…”

I continue to marvel how the Lord uses the Body to accomplish His will in another’s life. He has used so many people in our lives as they prayed faithfully to the Lord for us to accomplish His will. It is like the story being rewritten daily – As He sees your faith, He does this in our lives, or says this to us, or works in us…

Then the other unique thing I see is what He does with these men’s faith. They came in faith obviously to see their friend healed and they are quite surprised as all around them to hear what they hear – “Your sins are forgiven.” Wait a minute. Did not these men have faith in Jesus to heal this man of his inability to walk? Did they not bring Him the whole way in faith to have him walk? Did they not break open the roof to put this man in front of Jesus to walk? If they could have spoken to Jesus, would they not have said, please let this friend of ours walk? But they heard something that was not in their intentions when bringing their friend to Jesus. They hear, “Your sins are forgiven.” And later they saw him walk.

Romans 8:26-28 sums up what was going on here. We come to the Lord, in faith concerning a particular situation in someone’s life, thinking that is the best we can mention to God about this person. And His Holy Spirit takes what we say and makes sense of it as well as use what we say to work out all things for good.

We continue to rejoice and give thanks to the Lord for each and everyone who has brought our names, or situations, our trials, our pain, our hardships, brought us…. Before the throne of God you brought us and He has looked upon us to do what only He could do and had in mind of doing. What a great Savior we have cry out to and what glorious King who considers everything we say in the light of His Holy Spirit.

Side note: Visited Dr. Goldberg this morning and after the examination he said that the incision is healing up well. I praise the Lord that after 5 weeks we continue to see His mighty hand at work and give Him all glory for His healing touch.

The People Were Praying.

Romans 8:26, 27 –

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do
not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches
the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for
the saints according to the will of God. (NKJV)

Luke 1:10 –

And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour
of the incense offering. (NASV)

What were the people praying about when Zacharias entered the Temple to burn incense? The Bible does not tell us but we can be certain that the Holy Spirit knew and was making sense of what they were saying before the Heavenly Father. For inside the Temple, while the people were praying outside, Zacharias was getting the instructions from Gabriel, the Angel of the Lord, concerning what was to happen. The people outside, while they were praying for Zacharias and all of Israel, had no idea what their prayers meant before the throne of God at that very moment. It was the Spirit who was making sense of it all.

So it is when you and I go to our knees to pray for the ones who the Lord Jesus lays on our hearts to pray for. We have really no way to know what that person really needs, but somehow, the Lord takes what we say concerning any given person or people and brings about His will.

During this season where we are reminded about Jesus birth in Bethlehem, let this reminder cause us to cry out, “O Emmanuel, come again soon!” The Spirit of God who searches our hearts and knows the mind of God will accomplish His will in our faithful prayers. Lynda and I have experienced it over and over again, where someone had prayed specifically for us and the Lord just does the impossible and unexpected.

We love you all and thank the Lord for our dear friends and family during this special time of the year where the world is reminded – Luke 2:7 – “And she gave birth to her first-born… Matt. 1:25 …called His name Jesus.

Not My will but Your will be done…

Was reading Mark 14 this morning and was struck again by a number of things in the last hours of Jesus’ life before He went to the cross to pay for the sin of the world and bring peace between man and His Heavenly Father, for anyone who puts their trust in Him.

Mark 14:32-42 says:

Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.”
He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.” Then He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again He went away and prayed, and spoke the same words. And when He returned, He found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him. Then He came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough! The hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.” (NKJV – www.blueletterbible.org)

What strikes me every time I read the above passage are the words “Take this cup away from Me…” (Please have mercy on the following words all you who have studied the word of God far more than this writer and understand that whatever I say after the words of Scripture above, could be suspect to heresy. Not my intention, but the word of God is the truth, anything I have to say about the word of God falls just short of His word of course.)

Many who have read this passage and have written about what they believe Jesus means by “cup” – well I will just say there are numerous views on what did He mean and what was His intentions. Going through cancer, again gives me a taste of being given something from our heavenly Father that I would have never asked for but going through what I have gone through, I can see His wisdom in some ways.

John the Baptist, when seeing Jesus, proclaimed,

“Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” And all through the OT we catch glimpses of what the Father and the Son had planned before the beginning of the foundations of the earth. Jesus came to die, as planned, on a rugged cross, shedding all of His blood, and being mocked and scorned by men. He did this with joy – (Heb. 12:2) and with full knowledge that this would happen – (Mark 10:32-34).

So I have to ask the question, “When Jesus said, ‘take this cup from Me’, or ‘let this cup pass from Me’, why would He be asking the Father to undo everything that He for joy was ready to do and why would He ask the Father to undo everything that He told His disciples would happen?” I believe He was not asking the Father to undo His death on the cross, but to undo the possibility of Him dying that very hour in prayer. His mind and His soul was very well informed with what was going to happen in the hours to come, but I believe His human flesh was so burdened and overwhelmed that any other man would have died just at the thought of what Jesus would be going through. So He may be asking the Father to take the “cup” that He had in His hands at that moment – which would have brought about His death, but not the way they had planned before nor the way prophesized. Hence – “Not My will but Your will be done.” Like He may have been saying, “this is not the way we planned it, not my will (which was to go to the cross) but Your will, which is what was taking place at that moment.” (The quotations are there not because of what He said, but to just clarify what He may have meant.)

All of this to say, in every way our Savior Jesus is so great. People die sometimes just because they give up hope. They give up the will to press on. Jesus could have done that, but He sets the example for me and for you to endure at all cost. Endure for His glory and for His name’s sake. Whatever comes my way, I want to be like our Lord Jesus and if that means going through great pain or great loss here on earth, “Not my will, but Your will be done” Amen.

Even the windshield wipers work!

So when we went to NYC to have my cancer surgery, friends of ours (George and Jamie) said, “Just leave your car at our house and save on all that parking cost, we will take you to the airport and you can just leave your car with us while you are gone.”

Little did we know by leaving our car there with George and Jamie, we would return to a detailed car (which was far from that when we left). As we picked up our now super clean car, Jamie says, “when your car is clean, it just runs better.” Clean cars are nice but they went far beyond just cleaning our car – oil change, new motor mounts, and a host of other things that we are still finding out as we travel down the road. And they told us nothing of what they did, we are just acknowledging things over and over again that are working on our old Corolla that were not working before or needed attention.

A few days ago, we found ourselves in a rain storm as we were traveling in that detailed old Corolla and noticed – “Hey, the windshield wipers are shedding the water off of the window – not like that since the day we bought it 8 years ago – they even changed the windshield wipers!”

What George and Jamie did to our car is like a picture of what Christ does for us. When we dropped our car off at George and Jamie’s house, we felt that it would be safe there and watched over while we were gone – no idea of all that they would do while it was in their temporary possession. So it is with our Lord Jesus. We surrender our life to Him thinking, He will watch over us and protect us. Never did we realize when we called on His name that He would fix any and everything in our lives while we remained apart from Him here on earth (meaning, the only closer to Him we can be, is in heaven one day). He not only prepares a place for us, but he removes every sin, gives us a new way of looking at life. He cleanse our souls up which changes even the look on our face (we smile more). He blesses us over and over again (Eph. 1:3) when all we thought was – “we will just give our lives to Him.”

Our Lord Jesus has been doing so much through the prayers of the saints, that we cannot even keep up on the symphony that He is playing through all of our lives. Our Lord is such a supplier of our every need, and here we were thinking would just drop off our life to Him when He saved us. Phil. 4:19 - But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

We have such a great debt of love to all like George and Jamie – we will spend all eternity giving thanks for everything He has done through the saints’ prayers and generosity. “Thank You Lord Jesus for all you are doing in our lives, and that we will be eternally grateful to you for those who faithfully (in His strength) watches over and supplies us with more than we would ever think our could say.” Much love to all who have been faithfully bearing our name before Jesus and His image before our eyes.

A side note of praise: It is now Tuesday morning, 6:40am and I just woke up to thanking our Lord Jesus for 4 weeks since surgery, the first night to sleep through without waking up in the middle of it, no pain med. since more than 24 hours, no bleeding and no gauze to cover the wound. Meredith returned yesterday (Monday) and we had Bethany and Kenny (and Chloe) over last night. Words are running ever so fast from these finger tips to the key board but falling way short of what I truly feel in my heart at this time. I just had to tell someone after I spoke to the Lord this morning, so I told my wife, and then on my computer it says, (you all know how this probably works but I don’t) – “Geoff is on line” (a dear friend and pastor) – I tap on the Skype button and was able to rejoice with Geoff for about a minute.

“O Lord Jesus, these years so far here on earth, how ever seemingly long or short they may be, are just a token of our love and gratitude to YOU.”

Maybe the only Cancer recovery blog site that will speak on this issue.

Been reading Mark 10 this morning and came across verses 5-12 which reads -

And Jesus answered and said to them, “Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation, God 'made them male and female.’ [fn1] ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’; [fn2] so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” In the house His disciples also asked Him again about the same matter. 11 So He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. 12 And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” (NKJV, www.blueletterbible.org)

Verse 11-12 is found in Matt.5:32 and Luke 16:18. Luke and Mark read the same but in Matthew there is, what has come to be know, an exception clause. Which those who really want a divorce run to this passage to justify their decision.

You must take the time to read John Piper’s view on this “clause” which I would agree with if we have to go through the “thick and then” of it all. (See "Links of Interest" on the left side of this blog)

But to simplify things, here is another way that Matt. 5:32 could be taken. We as spouses are to stay one with our spouse. The LORD declared it that way and intended that we remain as one. But because of sin, spouses can go astray. The LORD does not intend for those who He puts together to ever separate while living for any reason at all. With divorce as not an option and remaining faithful to one spouse, the assurance of no adultery or fornication is possible (adultery and fornication is such an affront on the image of Jesus and His unconditional love for His bride, the Church). But if one of the spouses falls into adultery, it is impossible to keep them then from committing this affront to the image that marriage is suppose to have. If one remains married to the adulterous one, then they paint a faithful picture of Jesus Christ to the one who has sinned even though they did not rescue them from the sin of adultery. It must be totally forgiven and removed by the Savior. If the one who was sinned against, has a hard heart and chooses because of the hardness of their heart to divorce the spouse who has sinned then their decision continues to destroy the image of Christ and His love for His bride the Church. It is impossible to keep the spouse from committing adultery even if they do not remarry, because the sin had already been committed. But if they do remarry, it just adds to more adultery. For once the LORD has joined two to become one, no one is to tamper with that God ordained choice.

Why do I write this as I am recovering from cancer? Because some marriages in this nation (and around the world) have distorted the image of Jesus and His Bride, the Church. The image is intended to be to this world (Eph. 5:32). With cancer, I have been so cared for, so blessed, so watched over, so helped, so supported, so strengthened, so healed, so revived, so loved by my wife and the body of Christ (the church) and the Lord has used my wife and the church to show me how important His Church is to our LORD Jesus. He has so orchestrated His will to incorporate the prayer of saints, the feet, hands, voice, gifts and talents, etc. to bring about HIS will here on earth.

The more I am with my loving and beautiful wife and His Bride, the Church, the clearer Jesus words are -“What God has joined together, let no man separate.”

“O Lord Jesus, thank You for my wife, Lynda, who You brought to me 30 years ago and sealed Your choice for us to be one over 27 years ago, when we said, “I do.”
Thank You for Your Church, Your Bride who you brought about 2000 years ago and sealed Your choice of each one of us when we called upon Your name (Romans 10:13). Never will you leave or forsake us and we too say to our spouses and to the Church, never will we leave one another, never will we forsake the assembly of one another (Heb. 10:25). For one day we will all be assembled together forever in your presence as one (Rev. 7:9)– Your Bride who You purchased with You own blood. We are eternally grateful to You, our LORD, SAVIOIR and KING, Jesus Christ.

His heavenly Resurrected body and our earthly healed body.

Praising the Lord as yesterday marked 3 weeks since Dr. Brennan surgically removed the sarcoma cancer from my body within a sterile environment surrounded by associates and other doctors who had trained for years to do what they have been gifted to do. I was put to sleep so not to feel the incision made to remove the cancer and other small body parts. I was sewn with stitches and then awakened gently by the caring staff and then watched 24 hours after to make sure all was well. That was 3 weeks ago and I am just beginning to feel less pain and more energy. Last night I took one pain pill and 12 hours took another one (whereas the days before – every 6 hours). I rejoice in all that the Lord is teaching me through these days and through His healing hands.

Now compare that sterile environment, the compassionate Doctors and staff, the small incision, the continued pain management (of all I thank God all the time for) to what our Savior went through – Filthy and rusty spikes driven into his hands and feet and then later a blunt spear thrust through His side. Not an area of His flesh left whole after the thrashing of the whip brought across His entire body. He had to bear a roughly huge cross upon his back and walk to the place of His continued sacrificed body. He was mocked and ridiculed and put to shame for all to see His nakedness.

3 days He rose again with a glorified, free from pain, resurrected heavenly body. No continue of overseeing of Doctors, pain medication, bandaging and cleansing of His wounds – for His body was made whole and will be forever more untouched by death or disease.

This is the difference between our Savior and all other men that has walked here on earth. And He is offering all who come to Him in faith the same kind of glorified body that He now has. Those who have been washed by the cleansing power of His blood by faith and have a relationship with Him. You and I love Him and He loves us, you and I are sure that one day we will no longer have a mortal body which continues to perish. We will be resurrected with a glorified body. And forever more we will no longer feel pain, sorrow, discomfort, and destruction.

“Thank you for giving us a token of what is to come by rising again and displaying yourself to those who loved you while you were on earth. We wait for your return Lord and in the mean time worship you and tell others of your great grace.”

The LORD bless you, the LORD make His face shine on you…

When our daughters were just children, many evenings I would sing to them this song by Michael Card –

“The LORD bless you and keep you, the LORD make His face shine on you… And give you peace… and give you peace… and give you peace… forever.”

And then the words would repeat over and over and over again, until our daughters eye lids went down like the sails of boat and they were off into a deep sleep.

That song is based on words from Numbers 6:24-26 –

“The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’

Recently I found a new version of that song sung by Andrew Peterson, a talented Christian musician who my dear friend (Doug) introduced me to a number of months ago. I past the song onto my now grown children – Bethany and Kenny, and Meredith and her boyfriend Alex. It is a great song to go to sleep on and it is great song to bless your children or anyone with.

You should be able to find it on the song list to the left of this page and you should be able to listen to it. And by the way, may Numbers 6:24-26 apply to your and your family and friends’ lives.

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"A side note for Bethany and Meredith - here is the original version by Michael Card on the left titled Barocha - just happened to find it on www.grooveshark.com - love you girls much and so glad that the Lord is shining down on you today."

Odd times but great opportunities.

Last night when we came home, I heard the high pitched voice of my wife cry out to me – “Jerome, there is a huge scorpion in front of our bed!" Now these little guys are not the easiest to squash when planted on the carpet. So after a number of thumps with one of my slippers, it was destroyed. Still thinking about what we learn from moments like this.

Then this evening, upon arriving home, as I open the front door, I hear sounds from the back of the house. Noticing the screen door cocked open (which we completely closed before we left the house), I walked as briskly through the house looking in every room (imagine how fast that really was while still healing from surgery.) No one was in the house. But as I investigated the latch to the back screen door all twisted, I noticed foot prints on the back patio (just happened to be raining) and then noticed the screens pulled away from the windows and one window broken as the robber(s) were trying to enter in without going through the front door. (Reminding me of the words of Jesus, “the shepherd enters through the gate, but robbers climb up some other way” John 10:1-2). They did not make it into the house. Lynda called the police and the police took plenty of pictures, dusted for fingerprints and wrote up a report. Love the officers we met this evening (Officer Marin and Paul) and was able to watch their investigation like what they do on TV but without any commercials. Praying for them as they protect our neighborhoods. My son-in-law just happened to come by to fix a florescent light in our laundry room and hung around to make door and window stoppers. We have so much fun working on small projects.

If the robbers do come back, they have the gospel waiting for them written on the broken window. We are praying for them to come to Jesus. If they do, then they would forsake such a sorry way to live. So we will wait to see what the Lord has in all of this.

Odd times like this reminded me of all Paul went through (and way so much more than we ever experience today) as he made it his life’s aim to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ into all of the world. 2 Cor. 11:24-29 (must read in full context)…in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness…

It would be worth it all for one(s), who tried breaking into our house, to come to know the LORD. And we now have a few more people we can pray for that we would never had thought of – Officer Martin and Paul, the robber or robbers, the folks who work with our insurance, our neighbor (whose house also was vandalized) and for each of you – for we know not what tomorrow may bring, but we trust the Lord Jesus who brings about all things to work our for good and to the glory of His Father. (Romans 8:26-30 – love these verses for they sum up our everyday odd times experiences and shows us the great opportunities that we are facing.)

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Just a side note – My good buddy, Ron (he is a brother from another mother), just reminded me about how our mom would leave the doors unlocked at our old house back in C-burg (she is now in heaven where the gates our opened wide to all who love Him and shut to those who reject Him). She felt if they needed something that bad… come in and take it and leave without damaging the house, but stay long enough to hear the good news that Jesus can save you from that wretched lifestyle. Jesus desires none to perish, even the thieves who try to break into houses (and sometimes succeed). Jesus demonstrated His desire that none perish by saying to the thief on the Cross – “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” So that gets me to think of another message to include on that broken window of our house…

A Day of rest and refreshment in the LORD.

Today marks the second Sunday home and what a joy it has been to be home. We love the folks in NJ and NY but there is no place like home. And I must say, that will be the case in our final home. In heaven, we will say we love the folks that we lived with for the years God gave to us on earth, but there is no place like HOME with the LORD.

We were able to attend our local church (Grace Bible Church) this morning since our return from NY, embraced by many (which every embrace is what I call real medicine), sing with the congregation to our Lord Jesus, take communion remembering our Lord’s death and resurrection till He returns, and here two wonderful messages. Smedly shared a word from Rom. 8:33ff – Because of Jesus Christ we hear this verse – “Who will bring any charge against those who God has chosen? It is God who justifies.”
Then Scott spoke from Acts. 2:1-16 (must read it for a better view of the key chapter in Acts). And then more embraces and sharing after the service.

After a wonderful dinner with our son-in-law’s (Kenny) family and extended family, Lynda needed to get a few things done without dragging this dead weight around. So we had some friends (Bill and Irmie) offer a bedroom for us to sleep in whenever the need arises due to the distance we live from what we daily do. After a quick phone call this morning, I was able to settle down for sweet afternoon nap as Lynda got few things done.

Again, this is the difference Jesus makes in our lives. They just opened their doors to me, showed me where a spare bed was (I had a choice of really two) and then closed the door and allowed me to sleep for about an hour and a half. Woke up to Lynda saying, “I am back.” Exchanged a few antidotes and off we went. Bill and Irmie are just like that – always giving with out ever expecting anything back due to knowing what Christ already has waiting for them and due to their just immense love for others. (This also happened with our dear friends Howard and Jana)

This evening we had Bethany and Kenny over for some dinner and fellowship and a video (not DVD- but VHS- still works). And then we wrapped up the day.

This was truly a sweet day of rest and the Lord is so kind in taking care of all of our needs – down to Lynda spotting a huge scorpion in our bedroom – which is another story. Another side note – the pain that I have experienced after surgery is getting less noticeable over the hours and more strength is being given during the day through the LORD Jesus.

“Thank you Jesus for rest- rest from sin that you gave to our sinful soul when we cried out to you to save us. Rest from the weeklong string of events and work. Rest from just a day filled with activities and studies. Rest along the way for Your yoke is easy and your burden is very light and You bid us to REST. We rest in You day by day. Amen.”

Praying for one another.

James 5:16 - Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

This evening a number of the body of Christ were able to meet at my brother’s house (David and Christine) to pray for a dear friend, brother, father, grandfather, bother-in-law, and father-in-law, (depending who you were in the room). We were praying for Gary and Arlene as Gary faces cancer surgery Dec. 14th. It was such a sweet time to gather together around this dear couple that the Lord has used over and over again to make great impacts in all of our lives. We were able to come boldly to the throne of God because of the blood of Christ and make our plea to the ONLY One who can ultimately heal and resolve any issue in our lives. It was sweet sound to hear various fellow followers of Jesus Christ pray who were from various churches and denominations in the valley. It gave us a slight idea of the sound in heaven as people from all walks of life and all different backgrounds and all who have one thing in common – they have called on the name of the LORD Jesus to save them, have put their confidence in Him, have turned from their sin to Him who has removed all sin and have fallen deeply in love with the One who loved us first.

Yes, tonight was an introductory sound of heaven, but in heaven there will be no plea over sickness and sin, no plea for wisdom or understanding, no plea for taking away or adding to, no plea for others that have not yet come to this wonderful Savior (who we have come to put complete confidence in). O, in heaven it will be the sound of pure thanksgiving and praise, the tears of joy and rejoicing, the sound of telling the stories of the great things He has done and the listening to HIS voice as to what He deems for us for all eternity.

Just think, as we come to a point in our lives where we say with all sincerity – “Lord Jesus, thank you for anything here in this life that comes my way. Thank you for the trials, the pain, the suffering. Thank you for the tears and the grief. Thank you for the sickness and even death.” If we can honestly (and I do believe all of us who are His will come around to this here on earth) say I am content with whatever state I am in. I find joy in all that the Lord does… How great will our thanksgiving and joy be in Heaven when all the above is stripped away from our mortal bodies and we put on, by His loving hand, immortality.

Romans 8:18 truly makes sense after going through this life here on earth with Jesus going with us the whole way: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

We are praying for you Gary. And as we pray for you, we allow God to bring all the others who are suffering like you (whether in Christ or not yet in Christ) to the feet of Jesus to do what He does best. “We love you Jesus and we trust you completely to work out all things for good to those who love you and are called according to your purpose. Amen.”

It Is Not Death To Die (song lyrics)

Verse 1
It is not death to die
To leave this weary road
And join the saints who dwell on high
Who've found their home with God
It is not death to close
The eyes long dimmed by tears
And wake in joy before Your throne
Delivered from our fears

Chorus
O Jesus, conquering the grave
Your precious blood has power to save
Those who trust in You
Will in Your mercy find
That is not death to die

Verse 2
It is not death to fling
Aside this earthly dust
And rise with strong and noble wing
To live among the just
It is not death to hear
The key unlock the door
That sets us free from mortal years
To praise You evermore

Chorus
O Jesus, conquering the grave
Your precious blood has power to save
Those who trust in You
Will in Your mercy find
That is not death to die

Original words by Henri Malan (1787-1864)
Translated by George Bethune (1847)
Music, Chorus, and alternate words by Bob Kauflin
Copyright 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)

To hear the song, go to the left side of this blog page and tap on song – It is not death to die. What a blessed song.

“…he worshiped God.” (Judges 7:15)

Gideon was one of the judges that God raised up over Israel when Israel “had no king and did what was right in their own eyes” (Jdgs. 21:25)

Now Gideon was not the most courageous of the Judges and he had a hard time trusting the Lord. But even through is lack of courage and lack of trust, the Lord used him to deliver Israel out of their sin for a season.

Gideon had some incredible times with the LORD. He met the Angel of the LORD earlier in his life and received the call to deliver Israel. He offered a sacrifice in the very presence of the LORD. He saw the Angel of the Lord appear and then vanish out of his sight in and exclaimed, “I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face!”, thinking he would die because of this. He demolished an alter of Baal in the night before anyone could catch him. He tested God twice when wanting to know if He would be with him. He used a fleece on the ground and in both cases and God did the miraculous. He heard the voice of God and was directed by God to thin out the soldiers.

But what brought about “worship” in Gideon’s heart. You would think any of the experiences above would have ended with …”he worshiped God.” But non of the above brought about worship. So what did?

Well Gideon was still afraid to go into battle against the Midianites, so God had him go down with his servant one evening to listen to what the Midianites had to say. Gideon and his servant, Purah, go down to the campsite of the Midianites and secretly spy on what is going on down in the enemy’s camp. Gideon overhears two Midianites talking (these guys would be equal today to two fellows who had no desire for God, hated Jesus followers, and wanted to conquer the world by their own ingenuity) and one tells of this odd dream he has and the other interprets the dream. Now remember these are two “lost”, “unbelieving”, “ungodly” , “unrighteous” and “self-loving” men. The second interprets the dream as “God is going to give us over into the hands of Gideon and the Israelites.” He was basically saying that God was going to win the battle.

After these words from a pagan man, unaware that a “follower of God” was listening in, Gideon WORSHIPS God. Who would figure – that is what brought Gideon to worship God and have all confidence in his Mighty Savior? – That is what it is and that is how the story goes. You must read the rest of the story to get even more humor from man’s point of view and awe in looking at what God actually does.

All of this to say, for the last few weeks, Lynda and I have been handing out cards from the students (who are pointers to Jesus) to people in NYC. We have no idea how God will ultimately use the verses they picked out to place on their cards or the words they selected to communicate a message about Jesus. But if God can use to pagan, unbelieving, self-seeking, idol worshiping Midianite men to cause Gideon to worship the LORD, how much can He also use these dear students words to minister to the countless folks in NYC. This is our prayer – May the name of the LORD Jesus be glorified and may He be loved by all who hear and learn of Him.

“If Jesus Could Use Dirt, He Can Use You.”

Those words brought laughter to the nurses in Dr. Goldberg’s office today as they read a sweet card made just for Dr. Goldberg by one of Lynda’s students in 4-5th grade.

We had a wonderful visit with Dr. Goldberg (the doctor who discovered the sarcoma cancer in my body when he operated on me about 6 weeks ago to take out a cyst and who may have been the very first in this valley to have ever operated on this type of cancer in it’s specific location.)

Dr. Goldberg and assistants (Donna and Kathy) welcomed us into the office today and Lynda and I came bringing cards made, written and signed by the students in our classes. They were touched by the sweet cards and even humored by the sincerity and honesty of these dear students. And when they all opened the one card from one of the boys in Mrs. Redding’s class they could not help but chuckle at the truth. Dr. Goldberg said after hearing this portion of the card, “These young students have it figured out way before us adults.” And “Amen” to that Dr. Goldberg! So many times we want to study that dirt to see what was in it that made the blind man see or study what that Dr. did that made us well. And the whole time it is ultimately the Savior we should be studying and placing our complete hope in, while thanking Him for whatever or whoever He sees fit to use to do the healing. That is what the students in our school did today. They thanked the people involved in the mighty work of our Lord Jesus in brining about complete healing in Mr. Redding.

Yes, Jesus did use spit and dirt to heal a man born blind. And if He could use dirt and his spit to heal a man born blind, He can use a doctor with a wide variety of gifts given to him by the Lord Jesus to heal a broken or diseased body like mine.

Here is the story in contexts:

John 9:1-6 (NIV)
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

Praise the Lord for the mighty healing hand of our LORD Jesus Christ who can choose whatever He wishes to heal men today. May we never forget or loose sight who really is the ultimate Healer - Our Mighty King and Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord.

“We Are Praying For You.”

This morning I get a text from my dear sister in TX (Vicky) with Hebrews 7:25 included in her text. We are so thankful for what Hebrews 7:25 says -

Therefore He (Jesus) is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.(NKJV).

And then this morning I am reading to one of the 9th grade classes these verse:

Romans 8:26-28 - Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (NKJV)

You have to know, when a follower of Jesus texts, writes, says, calls emails (or any other way communicates) this message – “We are praying for you…” Lynda and my heart begins to sing and we are filled to over joy at the simple but extremely profound words (effect wise) – knowing you are going to the throne of our Great God and Creator of the Universe; The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who has no limits and can do what we could never imagine and what we will always say is “Impossible”. Then I read verse like those above.

All this time we have no idea of what to even say to God concerning ourselves or even others, but He graciously not only uses your prayers to accomplish His will but the Holy Spirit is taking what we are saying and making sense of it all to assure all will work out for good and to God’s glory. We have Jesus who suffers with us in every trial and devastating experience, who also is alive to make continued, non-stop, around the universal clock intercession for each and every one of us! Now if this doesn’t excite the soul, you may need to get off of that pain medication that I was on right after surgery (that stuff really kept all emotions and pain at bay). What a great Savior we have and what great Saints around us = like you who have been so faithful in baring his image to us when you say – “I am praying for you.” Or “We just prayed as a small group for you.” Or “Our Church is praying for you both and your family.” The Saints are baring the image of our Lord Jesus Christ to us – the One who always lives to make intercession for us.

“Thank you first and foremost, Lord Jesus, for all that you had done to make our trip to NY more than we could ever have imagined. We love You and all Your dear saints and will thank You eternally immensely and for Your love to us; For the saints and their love for us. We are glad that we will have all eternity to express our gratefulness to You, Lord Jesus, and to those who were so faithful to do Your will here on earth and to continue to point us to You, our precious Lord and Savior Jesus. Amen”

“Don’t tell anyone!” A Command Of Jesus That People Were Unable To Keep.

Well as soon as we arrived home on Friday, we sailed off to sleep and our sails have been at full mast since Friday. Sunday morning we are still in the sailing mode (which we are so thankful for and the Lord knew we needed this sleep for what He has prepared for us in the days to come.) During my devotions yesterday these verses came to mind after I read how the people who witnessed Jesus resurrected. They could not keep it a secret.

There were times when people who were healed by Jesus were told by the Savior not to tell anyone. It is interesting that everyone who Jesus said this to – well it was impossible for them to obey. These dear people, though this miraculous of healing had just blessed them greatly, could not keep the first command that was issued from our Lord’s mouth. “Do not tell anyone!”

I always found this intriguing and wonder today if Jesus said to us, “don’t tell anyone about Me”, if we would find this command impossible to keep or a command that we would say – “Ok, I will be fine not saying anything about You.”

Mat 8:4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. Mat 16:20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. Mar 7:36 And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published [it]; Mar 8:30 And he charged them that they should tell no man of him. Mar 9:9 And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead. Luk 5:14 And he charged him to tell no man: but go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. Luk 8:56 And her parents were astonished: but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done. Luk 9:21 And he straitly charged them, and commanded [them] to tell no man that thing; (All scripture from www.blueletterbible.org - KJV)

Well just as the people in His days found it impossible to stay silent. We too cannot be silent on what He has done for us. And now that we have a physical example of His healing hand in our life, it is easier to make the transition from what He did (Dr. and images can show and see) to what He continues to do (that no man can see with the eyes, but all men know it something that only God can deal with) in our lives when it comes to dealing with our sin and our walk with HIM.

“O, Lord Jesus, please have mercy on us when we find ourselves impatient in telling all who we come in contact with about all that You have and are doing in our lives. We do not mean to disobey You in anyway so please give us wisdom to say what we ought to say about Your great name. Never do we want to take Your name in vain wherever we go or end up. We truly are grateful and are in love with YOU Lord Jesus! Amen.”

The LORD Jesus has been with us the whole way.

Our words fall so short in expressing thanks to all of you who have faithfully called on the Lord Jesus to continue to work out things in our lives. He truly is faithful to His word as our Lord promised in Hebrews 13:5c – “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (See also Gen. 28:15, Deut. 31:6,8 & Josh. 1:5). And with His promise to never leave us or forsake us comes great peace to our souls. (Philippians 4:6-9 – “peace of God”…”God of peace will be with you.”)

Today, I was reading from Matthew 27 (while I was rejoicing this morning again for the Lord being with us through this whole life of ours) and then I came across Matthew 27:46. Our Great and Mighty Suffering Son of God cried out with a loud voice from the cross these words (assuring us that we would never suffer in this manner); “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

God forsook Jesus, in order that even to this day, 12/2/11, we can flourish in the peace of God because He will never forsake us.

We are on our way back to AZ as I type this note. I cannot express the joy in my heart for what the Lord has done in and around us. Such gratitude swells up in our souls for the kindness and care given to us in our great trial thus far in life. Overwhelming amazement continues to captivate our minds as we think of all the saints who have called out to the Lord and how He used all of you to accomplish His great will which we are still discovering each and every day as we breath. We are rejoicing and exuberating over even the smallest of details being tightly wrapped up in His great and mighty hand.

And then we in the same great deep breath of all this that the Lord has done, exhale in deepest of sorrow what Jesus had to do for us to experience Him in the fullest. What a bitter sweet. What perplexing range of emotions?

“O, Lord Jesus, what do we say about You? How do we express Your great name? What do we say about You? How do we proclaim… You alone, O GOD, are Victorious! You alone, O GOD are great! You alone, O GOD are Marvelous! And You alone, O GOD know our names!”

Update from Bethany 11/30/11

This morning my dad met with his doctor in NY to go over the pathology report from his surgery last Tues. For now they got it all!! :) Praise God!! :) they want him back in NY in a couple of months to see if things have changed- they told him and my mom that with this type of cancer there is a chance it can come back but they are going to watch him closely. We are so thankful for such wonderful doctors and nurses! God has truly supplied their every need while being in NY :) thank you all soooooo much for your continued prayers! We are so thankful for you!!

Update 11/29/11

Tomorrow at 8:15am we are to meet with the Dr. Brennan and Dr. Wolf as a week after surgery check up and hope to hear the results from the pathology. We hope to know, Lord willing, more of when we can head home. Looking at another full day. Requesting from our Lord wisdom for the Dr.s and all involved with us and patients like us.
God bless,
Jerome

The Paradox of Sheep and the Lamb

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:35-39 (NKJV)

Although we are counted as sheep for the slaughter, I did not see some of my actions line up to Lamb of God who suffered for all His people.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth. Isaiah 53:7 (NKJV)

I found myself in my pain today, but not dealing with the pain as my Great Mighty Savior. I was to say the least - a bit irritable, hearing myself say to Lynda, “Hurry up” and then a few minutes later saying, “I can’t walk that fast- slow down.” I found my mind wandering to the pain in the area of my incision, and thinking way to much of my situation than others who are in far worst conditions (or not in worst but have asked me to pray about something.)

So different from our Savior who said very little while being shamefully beaten and blasphemed by men who vehemently hated him. I had a wife who loves me by my side all day in my pain and there to only help me. He from the cross said, “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” I had to say several times throughout the day (and I could have said this many more times) – “I am so sorry Lynda for being snippy and impatient with you while you were just helping me.” He was shoved by men and pushed to the limits. I was the one pushing and wanting my way through the day. He was beaten and crushed with destruction awaiting Him. I am cared for and pampered with healing awaiting me. He cried from the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me. I cried throughout the day, “O Lord, I have forsaken you in my thoughts and my actions today, have mercy on me.”

All of this to say, “What a wonderful Savior we have! And one day when I grow up, I want to be just like Him.” But for now, I know He is with me in my small pain (in comparison to His) and He knows how to deal with this light affliction that I am going through. O, how I long for everyone, whether you are experiencing great pain or great pleasure, pressures or peace, fear or freedom, sorrow or gladness, sinfulness or goodness, poverty or prosperity, (etc.) you and I would know this great Savior – Our Lord Jesus – better today than ever before.

Update 11/28/11 An Unexpected Turn This Evening

The Lord continues to go before us as we are here in NYC. Was able to Skype one of the Bible classes today – what a treat. We are hoping to see the students on line tomorrow. Have been able to talk with so many interesting people here in the City and to hear what the Lord is doing around them and through them (whether they see things that way or not). There are so many dear folks.

This evening Lynda talked to an Associate Dr., who is working along side Dr. Brennan (Dr. Wolf), and he felt it would be good to come over to the hospital this evening after talking to Lynda to make sure things were still on track. While waiting to see him, was able to talk to some more folks who are dealing with cancer.

To make this blog short, he prescribed an antibiotic for mostly precautionary reasons. Again, what a wonderful group of doctors the Lord has surrounded us with that Dr. Wolf would come out, probably after a long day, in the evening to look upon my condition. We just continue to thank the Lord over and over for such humble and gifted men and women- we are truly overwhelmed by the care and love that they convey for their patients.

I was telling a couple (Ross and Marjorie) this evening after our visit with Dr. Wolf, “If the Lord Jesus healed a man 2000 years ago by reaching down to a pile a dust, spitting in the dust and then taking that mud to the blind man’s eyes to make him see. How much more can He use gifted men (who He formed from the dust of the ground and will return to that form if He does not come back before) like Dr. Wolf and Dr. Brennan and Dr. Morton. These are just a few (like the sand on a sea shore if you were to view history as a whole) who the Lord Jesus has chosen to use to bring healing to this cancerous body of mine.

“We love you Jesus and can hardly wait to tell another soul here on earth of all the great things you are still doing this very day. What a day it will be when we experience seeing you face to face – yes, it is not death to die, and we long for you to return so Satan does not even get a taste of an ever so slight, momentary, seemingly victory. O Lord Jesus, please come soon! (Rev. 22:20)

A sweet song that I came across through Sovereign Grace Music Ministry.

Lyrics to “It Is Not Death To Die.”
http://www.sovereigngracestore.com/Product/M4225-12-58/It_Is_Not_Death_to_Die_LYRICS.aspx

It is not death to die
To leave this weary road
And join the saints who dwell on high
Who’ve found their home with God
It is not death to close
The eyes long dimmed by tears
And wake in joy before Your throne
Delivered from our fears

Chorus O Jesus, conquering the grave
Your precious blood has power to save
Those who trust in You
Will in Your mercy find
That it is not death to die

It is not death to fling
Aside this earthly dust
And rise with strong and noble wing
To live among the just
It is not death to hear
The key unlock the door
That sets us free from mortal years
To praise You evermore

© 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)

My Eternal King

Here is a song that I learned in college when singing with the Singing Men of Temple lead by Mrs. Fred Brown. We sang it during her memorial service and the song just ran very deep in this soul of mine.

My Eternal King

My God, I love thee, not because
I hope for heaven thereby,
nor yet because who love Thee not,
may eternally die.

Thou, O my Jesus, thou didst me
upon the cross embrace;
for me didst bear the nails and spear
and manifold disgrace.

And griefs and torments numberless,

And sweat of agony;
 E’en death itself;
and all for man
 Who was Thine enemy.

Then why, O blessed Jesus Christ,
should I not love thee well?
Not for the hope of winning heaven,
nor of escaping hell.

Not with the hope of gaining aught,
not seeking a reward,
but as thyself hast loved me,
O everlasting Lord.

So would I love thee, and will love,
and in thy praise will sing;
Surely because thou art my God
and my eternal King.

1 John 4:10
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Praying for Grandparents and relatives.

Received a text for one the students at Gilbert Christian Schools (Brielle) and she was able to pray during the Thanksgiving meal that her and her extended family had. She was asked by her grandma to pray and that meant so much to her to be able to express her thanks to the Lord and to ask the Lord to bless the food and fellowship.

Her joy concerning this experience during the Thanksgiving dinner kicked off in my mind the importance of praying for grandparents and relatives of the students who have shared over the years their stories. Many grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, cousins, dads, moms, brothers, and sisters have no idea that these students at Gilbert Christian schools spend countless hours (in totality) praying for those they love and respect. The least we can do is continue praying for these dear ones that the Lord has laid on the heart of each of these students.

Thank you Brielle, Amanda, Justin, Cassidy, Andy, Trae, Cody, Sarah, Kyle, Parker, Jarette, Joe, Abi, Micah, Jordan, Benji, Nate, Tiana, Claudia, Olivia, Madie, Raquel, Brendan, Brannon, Jaxon, Meg, Christian, Jimmy, Zane, McKayla, Becka, Caleb, Rhea, Kaitlyn, Savannah, Kari, Will, Faith, Gabrielle, Shannon, J.T., Jacob, Sarah, Nicki, Paige, and many, many more who have shared from their hearts those who Jesus so burdened.

James 5:16
1 Thes. 5:25
Col.1:9
Romans. 8:26

Great Faith

As I was laying in bed after surgery, and throughout the night after surgery, I could not help but think of two precious saints of our Lord Jesus Christ – Bonnie and Carissa. They are both in their 20s and have spent more than 10 years each in bed because of heath issues. What great faith these two have. They have joy in their hearts and are encouragement to those around them. Just check out their facebook pages and you will see the faith that the Lord Jesus has provided to these two girls who have experienced more than 10 years of what I experienced in one 24hour time frame. These two girls have been given such great faith from our Lord Jesus and they are not ashamed to let the world know how much He is with them in their deepest of trials and suffering. HE IS REALLY WITH THEM and they can testify to this truth.

Thank you Bonnie and Carissa for sharing your faith in such trying circumstances and living out 1 Peter 4:12-13 every day you breath for His glory.

Hope Lodge (Now abides Faith, Hope and Love – the greatest of these is Love)

Again we so much thank all who have gone to the Lord on our behalf. We are seeing God work out things that we never imagined our considered. From Sloan-Kettering to Dr. Brennan to AZ Heart Institute and Dr. Diethrich, The pass to go back to NY for the cancer surgery, Helmsley Medical Towers and now Hope Lodge. This is a place that the Lord has prepared through the American Cancer Society to give 60 cancer patients a place to stay in New York as they are being treated for their cancer.

The people here are so caring and so accommodating. They remind us of the words of Jesus in John 14:1-7 (abbreviated quote) “Let not your hearts be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in Me. In my Father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you and will come again so that were I am you can be there too (the best part of heaven is to be with Jesus)… I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man can come to the Father but through Me. (Those of the words from our Lord Jesus. Any person who would believe Jesus walked on the earth, see Him as one who spoke truth, did good deeds and cared for people – but not place their trust in the One who can take away their sins and provide a place for them – would in a little way be like me knowing there was a Hope Lodge that has already reserved a place for me – but I say, “I just can’t believe they would give me a place to stay free, just because I have cancer.”)

We did not even know the Hope Lodge existed but when the Lodge was made known to us, we filled out the paper (even though not exactly correctly) and then came to know and now realize there is a place like this and we are staying in it.

O for each and everyone of us to come to the full understanding that the Lord Jesus has a place prepared for us who have put our total confidence in Him to take away our sin and make it possible to dwell with Him forever! This is our prayer for any who are reading this for the first time – please consider calling on His name to save you now and for all eternity.

Update from Jerome 11/23/11

I am recovering outside of the hospital now. They released me earlier this afternoon (Thanking the Lord for that). All of the staff at the hospital were such a delight and encouragement. Saw Jesus over and over again in the kind gestures and care taken there at Sloan-Kettering Memorial Hospital.

Just an interesting side note - My brother-in-law (Grady, in Nashville area) got me into Sloan-Kettering through a Dr. Polk who is a cancer surgeon in the Nashville area and who studied under Dr. Brennan. Well Dr. Brennan had an assistant Dr. - Doctor Wolf who worked along side of him on my cancer situation. Yesterday, after surgery, Dr. Wolf asked curiously how I found out about Sloan-Ketterin and Dr. Brannon - after I told him about Grady and Dr. Polk, he said - "What a small world - I am going to be joining Dr. Polk's Surgical staff in Nashville in just a while." He literally is going to be partners with the man who suggested us to come to this hospital. Not as much as a small world as BIG GOD, I would say. So the students and I will also be praying for Dr. Wolf as he begins his practice with Dr. Polk (who I have never met, but look forward to meeting one day.)
Much love and God's blessings,
Jerome

Thanksgiving day before

Ephesians 5:20 – giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, (NKJV)

And:

1 Thes. 5:18 - in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (NKJV)

This day, Thanksgiving Day, marks another year of total thanks for all things that the Lord has brought into our lives. He is so GOOD and He is so FAITHFUL. There can be no other response from our hearts than “Thank You!”

Are you not glad that we will have all eternity to say “Thank YOU” to our great God and Savior Jesus Christ? I tell my students often, “If we can not spend 10 minutes today with the LORD of the universe, Savior of all and Sovereign over everything, what makes us look forward to being with HIM FOREVER? “ Same with thanksgiving – If I cannot thank Him for all that He is doing today (“Your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.”) what makes me think that I will thank Him for all eternity.

Practice today what we will do for eternity. Fall on your knees before Him, rejoice in the Lord, give thanks, call upon His Name, and spend time with our Lord Jesus who we say, “we can’t wait to be with Him forever.”

Update from Bethany (11/23/11)

Well folks he's out of the hospital! :) they released my dad a little while ago! :) he is doing great and is making us laugh every other second!! It's so great to be here all together! We have already been so blessed by everyone here in NYC! We are still waiting on the pathology results from the surgery (maybe fri when they see the doc again??) but God has continued to bless our trip here! Everyone has been so kind everywhere we go :)
-Bethany

Update from Bethany (11/22/11)

Hey everyone! My dad is out of surgery and has been moved into a room. The doctor said we'll have to wait until the pathology report comes back in 3-4 days to know if they got it all. He is doing great and still continues to tell everyone around him about Jesus :) all of his students made beautiful cards filled with scripture and he is giving one to everyone who comes in to care for him. All of the hospital staff has been so wonderful and totally touched by the cards! Meredith and Alex made it here safely and we are all so happy to be together!! Thank you dear friends who are praying and caring for us! We are so thankful for you and love you!
-Bethany

Update - Surgery tomorrow 11/22

Tuesday (Tomorrow) we are to show up at the hospital at 5:30am for surgery. Have delivered some of the cards that the students made over the past few days here and many (all who have received the student's cards) have been blessed and some have shed tears of joy from the students' kind gestures. The word of the Lord is being proclaimed through the cards that the students made and the coolest thing about all of this is - we will have to wait till eternity to find out what the Lord does with many of these cards. Elliot, the desk clerk at the Helmsley Medical Tower has already made thank-you letters for each of the students that made him cards. So I thought I would be unloading all this mail and am now finding I will have to joyfully carry some more mail back to AZ.

His Church continues to Preach to and Teach us.

Lynda and I were able to get up in the morning and head to lower Manhattan. From there, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and then proceed to the Brooklyn Tabernacle. For years (since the early 1990’s – I know, you students of mine think of the 90’s as I would think of the 60’s) this dear church has ministered to our hearts through song, prayer and books. Pastor Jim Cymbala has written a number of books that have encouraged me in my walk with Jesus and the need to pray a fervently as I read our Lord’s precious word. The Choir has encouraged me to sing with not just a joyful noise but with an abandoned heart to the Lord. The testimonies from the people in that church have encouraged me to praise God the Father for the continued work that He is doing through His Mighty Holy Spirit and Risen Son of God. The prayer band has encouraged me to pray not just by myself, but also to enlist the saints around me to come together to cry out to our great God and Savior. He works out His will here on earth through His people who call on His name.

Yesterday they encouraged Lynda and me again. The music, testimonies, preaching and teaching, and prayer was what we expected to see and experience. But they continued to encourage us all through the day and into the evening’s setting sun (reminding us again of the difference the LORD Jesus has made in the world today). Men and women, wherever we went in that multi-story building, would stop and pray over and for us. One pastor (Pastor Hammond), when hearing that I was in the city for cancer surgery said, “Wait right here.” Then proceeded to the side of the front stage, reached behind it, pulled out a bottle of virgin olive oil, came back to me, anointed my forehead with oil and prayed for me and my wife in obedience to James 5.

Another dear servant of our Lord Jesus Christ, (Lance, who I mistakenly thought was Tony who I met 6-7 years ago) pulled Lynda and I aside, held our hands and embraced us in prayer, calling upon the mighty Lord Jesus to look upon us and consider our situation as well as drive out all cancer from my body. He was so thoughtful too in considering Lynda’s state as my wife and partner in suffering. Throughout the day, (Ron, Rene, Mrs. Armstrong, Isaac, Lenard, and some other dear ladies) others would immediately place their hands on us or clasped our hands and pray when hearing why we were visiting NY. This is the body of Christ in action and demonstrating our Lord and Savior who we firmly believe in and trust.

So from AZ – NY we have witnessed this consistently – His body, so well bearing His image and doing as He would bid them to do. What a powerful message the Church of Christ, His bride who He purchased with His own precious blood, is preaching to and teaching us wherever we go.

People to pray for, so far, as we are in NJ and NY:

People to Pray for Along the Way

Helping together in prayer

2 Cor. 1:9-11
Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many. (NKJV)

The Lord has placed in my heart, since I found out that I have cancer and an aneurysm, to not be concerned about myself but to pray for others. Pray for others who are praying for us. Pray for others who do not know the Lord Jesus and have never called on His great Name. Pray for the sick who are mentioned in our church, Bible class, small group, neighborhood, the hospital and lodging places. Pray for students and their families, teachers and administration at our school. Pray for Lynda, Bethany, Kenny, Meredith and Alex. Pray for extended family members. Pray for our nation and it’s leaders and those in authority. Pray for the doctors, nurses, medical and support staff. The requests go on…..

As I have been doing this, Lynda and I have seen so many answers to your prayers (things that we would have never considered or thought of). So I am committed to not pray about my condition or what I should do. I believe I am instructed by the Lord to let His saints approach His throne on our behalf. I am just to do the same thing you are doing, but for you.

Jesus took our burdens upon Himself first. Then we are asked to do the same thing as Jesus Christ did and continues to do to this day – “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2

I would love to write about all the “confabulations” {you will have to look up that word that Jerry gave me years ago to use if people start loosing interest in what you are saying} that we could tell but suffice to say – The LORD is hearing your prayers and is working all things out according to HIS will as you seek Him (a mystery to me still that the Lord would choose to act upon the pleads of His children when we are not even sure what the real problems are out there. We are so thankful for the Holy Spirit, Romans 8:26, who makes sense of all we say and Jesus Christ, our High Priest Mediator who is ever interceding on our behalf.)

You saints of HIS who have born our burden, we love you and we thank the Lord for your picture of Jesus Christ to us – The One who still carries our burdens today (Psalm 55:22) and also carried upon Himself the sin of the world (John 1:29).

Saturday, November 19, 2011

We are on our way back to the beloved New York City. We will arrive and be greeted by our loved ones (Chris and Deb). We hope to run into baggage handler. He is also a preacher (Edward) who preached a beautiful sermon to me on the last day we were at the Newark airport (both in deed and literally in words straight out of John 1). It is so neat to see the LORD’s people everywhere.

Here are a few passages that have ministered to our hearts lately and which I will be sharing with the dear folks in NY & NJ. People ask about my cancer and I have a chance to give them the reason of hope that resides in us (These verses come from various students in Bible classes, Cancer Buddy Garry, Mike). Please take the time and look them up from your Bible and in context.

Romans 4:19-22
1 Peter 4:12-13
Isaiah 41:10
Isaiah 53:3-6
Colossians 1:24-25
1 Corinthians 1:3-11

Update 11/19/11 (from Deborah Hightower)

Jerome and Lynda are on their way to NYC today in preparation for his cancer surgery on the 22nd. God provided so that their children and spouses will be with them. What a blessing for them to be together during this time. In addition, through a number of miracles, God also provided a a place for Jerome and Lynda to stay during his post surgery recovery, after he leaves the hospital, but before he can return home. It is a special facility for cancer patients. The circumstances surrounding this provision can only be attributed to the hand of God orchestrating His precious favor on behalf of the Redding family.

Thanksgiving Thursday

Over the years I tried to set Thursdays aside for giving the LORD thanks for everything. Instead of making petitions and requests, I would look at any request or worldly problem as an opportunity to give our Lord Jesus thanks. My students would get into it over the years too. In past years when we would come to Thursday, I would say, “What day is it?” And they would automatically say – “Thanksgiving Thursday!” And Thursdays were some of the most special days. (I say “were” because I had not practiced that as much this year. “So classes, get ready- Lord willing, we will be bringing back Thanksgiving Thursdays.” “Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Last year’s guys get that last quote.).

Matthew 6:9-13, Luke2-4, 1 Chron. 9:11 – have to check out that last verse in context with Matt. 6:13c, it is all His word.
Here is how I practice the Lord’s model prayer on Thanksgiving Thursday:

“Thank you LORD that Your Name is Hallowed, a Name that is above every name, a Name that every knee will bow to someday and that You have given us a heart to bow to You today in thanksgiving.

“Thank You for Your Kingdom to come and thank You, that we in a small way express Your Kingdom as we respect those in authority here on earth. Thank You for those in authority, for they, without maybe knowing it bear an image of Your Kingdom to come. And thank You too, that one day YOU will return with all heaven following You to destroy all evil and usher in Your great Kingdom that we are in some way bearing in our hearts now here on earth.

“Thank You for Your will being done here on earth as it is done in Heaven. Thank You for whatever takes place today, ultimately falls into Your perfect will. Thank You for giving us a heart to rejoice in knowing that You are working all things out according to Your perfect will and for our good. To You be glory and thanks.

“Thank You for giving us our daily bread. Thank You that You are our daily Bread and if we have You, we have all we truly need. Thank You for reminding us of our need of You when our physical stomachs cry out for earthly food, and then we are reminded that our souls, our whole being, should cry out at least that loud for YOU. Thank You for Your word in which You said that ‘man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.’

“Thank You so much for forgiving our sin as we have forgiven others of their ever so small debts in comparison to our debt to You. Thank You that we hold not one thing against another and in the same way, You hold nothing against us. Thank You for shedding Your precious blood for us in order that we even can say to someone – ‘ there is nothing in my heart that would hold anything against you, because Jesus’ blood has taken care of all of our sins.’ Thank You for letting us hear – ‘As I have forgiven you, so forgive one another.’ Thank You for the gift of forgiveness and for displaying that gift so magnificently on the cross and throughout history.

Thank You for leading us not into temptation. Thank You, for You have said that ‘you shall not tempt the LORD your God’ for YOU will never tempt us but we sin when we are drawn away by our own lusts that war in our soul. Thank You for leading us in the paths of righteousness, that is how You truly lead. Thank You that You are the Great Shepherd that would never lead His sheep in to temptation but beside still waters – O, thank You for the peace that You lead us into in any given circumstance that we face. Thank You, O eternal King, thank YOU for leading us on and allowing us to follow in a heart of gratitude and praise.

“Thank You for delivering us from evil! Thank You for saying, ‘Be holy as I AM holy.’ Thank You, although we have no earthly idea how that all works out, that what You say comes to be. Thank You for not only delivering us from evil but also delivering us from our own lustful and self-filled snares. Thank You for calling us holy, saints, ones who are righteous. Thank You that You have given us a heart to understand that ‘our personal righteousnesses are filthy rags in Your sight’ and You can even use those filthy rags to accomplish Your great will which ultimately will bring about Your kingdom in which all will hollow YOU, our LORD and Mighty Savior, God forevermore.

“Thank You, in Your great Name we give thanks.”

Who are you, Lord?

Luke 8:22-25
One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” (NIV)

When I was a freshman in college, one day an attractive girl struck my attention as she was walking in the rain, umbrella over her head, and under that umbrella her eyes flashed brighter than the sun on a cloudless day. As she passed by, I said to myself, “Who is she?” She is quite attractive on the outside – what is she really like?

Well, I just happened to run into this mysterious, mind filling gal one evening while I was waiting for a car of friends to pick me up to go ice skating. Here was this gal who caught my attention weeks ago standing in the same area waiting for something. I had to know more… after introductions we discovered we were waiting for the same friends (and to this day they are our same friends). YES, I was waiting for the same friends, going to the same place, doing the same thing… What a wonderful evening! I was closer to finding out who this gal was that I was attracted to from a distance. (a little closer)

We started to “run into each other” in the reading room above the mail center and I would drink in every word that fell from her lips as I tried to act like I was up there to read my mail. (And I did appreciate every letter and card sent back then, but all seemed to become pale to the news that this girl shared daily.) Of course, I had to read my every day and what better place then there!

The summer following my freshmen year was great but her absence did not help at all from me thinking about her every day and wondering, “Why is she so much on my mind?”

It just so happened that after the long summer break we found ourselves at a friend’s house back at college. After an evening of catching up with all our friends we all departed into the evening and one of my dear friends to this day (Joey) said, “Hey Jerome, have you ever thought about asking her out for date (before we knew about courtship – just kidding my sweet youngest daughter, Meredith). And I said, “Really!” like somehow just the question was a conformation that this attractive, attention getting, schedule-altering gal would say yes to such a request!

“Would you go to church with me Sunday evening?” (How about that for a first date?) How could she deny such an innocent, un-assuming request? And she fell for it. She actually said, “YES.” (That is how it sounded in my mind.) I was able to get a little closer (6 inch rule applied back then, especially in church.) to knowing who was this gal who I could not get off my mind.

From that point on, I watched her laugh, smile, cry, sit, walk, run, study, play, and interact with family, friends and foes, in class, out of class, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Then one day I held her hand!!! Now I was getting real close to knowing who this gal was. Well I could go on from here but to make a long blog shorter – that gal, I have now watched and am getting to know more and more each day for about 31 years now. Over 27 years ago, I committed myself to get to know this gal (Lynda) for the rest of my life and the more I get to know her, the more I love her and the more I love her, the more I am fine with the understanding, “I will never know you enough but the trying to know you more is just so fun and to be loved by the one who knows me more on this earth than anyone else is so humbling and rewarding – words are definitely falling short here to express what is in my heart!”

So it is with the ONE who set His eyes on us before we ever knew it. The One who knows everything about us, even more than we know ourselves. And He is inviting each of us to know Him, but more than that – to trust HIM. And as we trust Him, we fall deeper in love with HIM (Jesus). Words are falling short again in trying to express what words do not complete at all.

“We love you Jesus! And thank You for loving us before we ever considered You.”

Perishing and Renewed

2 Cor. 4:16 - Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. (NKJV)

We were blessed last evening by a dear couple in our lives (Steve & Cristy) who had Lynda and me over for dinner and fellowship. During the course of our fellowship, Steve asked, “How can we pray for you at this time?” Wow, to think that two people would go to the Creator and Sustainer of the universe on our behalf! Well be better come up with a good request.

Lynda and I shared a few things that has been on our hearts and in the course of sharing, I was reminded that the way I am seeing things is from a whole different view point than my wife, and we need wisdom from the Lord (James 1:5)

So that thought took me back to the faithful old 1985 Chevy Cavalier that was given to us by Grady and Kathy years ago (and we drove it from about 1998-2003). I used that old car to get me from point A-B and was very satisfied with that old car. I could literally park it in the grocery store parking lot, leave the keys in it, windows down, engine running, and go and shop for awhile and it would still be there when I came out (I am embellishing the story of course). But I had no worries with that old car. If I parked it anywhere, the cars that would park beside it usually parked as far away from that dented up Chevy realizing that it did not get that way by itself.

(I am going somewhere with this). One day, after it had the windshield replaced, my daughter (Bethany) and I washed the car inside and out and after we had it as clean as possible, we got in to go for a drive. As we looked out through that new windshield, we felt like we were in a brand new car. As we drove by others though who looked at that old vehicle, some probably wondered how far that old car was going to keep going.

That is just like Lynda’s and my situation with me having an aneurysm and cancer. I am looking out from the windows of my soul, feeling renewed in the inner man by the Lord and His faithful people and Lynda looks at this outward body that is on the road to perishing (unless the Lord comes back for us all before.)

So when folks ask us how they should pray for us, it is really necessary to get both of our view points because 2 Cor. 4:16 so much applies to us (and to anyone if you think about it.)

Thank you Steve and Cristy (and they are two who represent the dear Body of Christ – local and aboard- in our lives who have been so faithful to go to the Lord on our behalf) for asking us; “How can we pray for you both?” May Lynda and I ask you who are reading this the same question? How can we as a couple pray for you? We love you much and thank the Lord for you.

“The Sign of Jonah”

Been praying for two particular Jewish men who we met in NYC during the week we were there. These are dear men who displayed every image of Jewish folks. They were dressed with the typical attire and hair done in the Jewish fashion, mannerisms and so forth…

Reading Matt. 16 this morning and saw something that I never saw before. (You who are strong in theology, please have mercy on what I am about to write and remember that I believe when we read or quote the Word of God, we have all the truth needed and anything said after scripture is suspect to heresy – so if this is the case, know I will be standing alongside you as you judge what is about to be said.) I also am reminded that the 4 Gospels were written so that we could look at the life of Jesus from various viewpoints (or facets) like a gemologists looks at a precious stone cut by a lapidary. We may have one interpretation but various applications or we may have one story but various angles at which we see the story.

Ok, In Matt. 16 (please read it for yourself and let the Lord apply what is necessary to your heart) I read about the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to Jesus demanding a sign. And after a few words from Jesus on this matter, in Matt. 16:4, we read these words from Jesus –

“A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah”…(NIV)

Now that verse above is all we need to know and we could say – if we are looking for miracles (foremost) from Jesus we are falling short of what we should be really looking for – which of course - We should be looking for Him.

But in Matt. 16, we are not given any more detail of what is the “sign of Jonah”. You have to go to the other gospels to get what Jesus meant by “the sign of Jonah.” So if I were only given these words in Matthew of what Jesus said, I may be like the Jews in Jesus day, scratching my heads and saying “what sign of Jonah”. Was it God coming to Jonah the first time and saying, “Go to Nineveh…”, or, the storm that God brought upon the sea to cause the men to finally throw Jonah overboard, or was it the storm calmed by the hand of God causing all in the ship to recognize Jonah’s Mighty God, or was it Jonah in the belly of the great fish, or the fish not destroying Jonah and ultimately spewing Jonah forth on the dry ground, or Jonah going into Nineveh and preaching to the gentile people repentance, or God staying His hand of wrath on the Gentile people in Nineveh due to their repentance and the mercy of God, or the plant that grew up to protect Jonah’s head or the plant that died in the morning causing the sun to scorch Jonah’s head, or Jonah hearing from God the lesson that He was teaching Jonah and us today through this story?

Praise the Lord for 3 other Gospels in God’s word that can help us understand what Jesus was really speaking about (Mat. 12:39-41, Luke 11:29-32) and we also have the whole OT that points us to what Jesus said, did and taught and points us to Who He is. (John 5:39, Luke 24:25-27 and the book of Hebrews)

So if we go to other scriptural passages in the Bible, we do get to know about the “sign of Jonah” He was speaking of. All of the words above and scripture above to say – “This is how the LORD calls me to pray for two Jewish merchant men in NYC – one by the name of Max and the other by the name of Jona (Pronounced “Jonah”).

Unhealthy, Unrighteous and Thankful

Matthew 9:9-13
As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.
Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (NKJV)

Distance and time tends to make the words of Jesus sometimes seem sterile to me (Like that is what He said to those “Pharisees” and about those “Tax collectors”). I forget sometimes that He is really and still talking to me. Because when I think He is just talking about “those tax collectors” and “sinners” (guys who really must have done bad things), I really am just like the Pharisee of His day. And when I thing He is just talking about those “Pharisees” (guys who must have been judgmental and self-righteous men), I am really acting just like the “sinners” in His time. I find that in some ways I am worse than either because I have somehow in my mind removed the possibilities that He is talking about me some how.

And then our gracious and loving Savior Son of God disciplines me with cancer and an aneurysm. And now I am reminded that – “Oh Lord, I need You as the great Physician who can truly only be the One who heals me and utterly eradicate/destroy this death causing illness.” And in the reminder of Him being the Great Physical Physician, I am reminded that He is also (even though He has redeemed us from all sin that was committed, is committed and will be committed), He is the Great Spiritual Physician who by His own blood, applied like the most precious and expensive ointment through faith, cleanses me from all my sin. I am awakened, that although I am unhealthy and unrighteous in my own self, He makes me healthy and righteous. Not by my works (self-righteous or self-medicated) but His work done 2000 years ago on the cross and is still working till this day through His resurrection.

The Lord does not accept our self-righteousness just like a highly trained physician like Dr. Brennan or Dr. Diethrich would not take a medical opinion that I would have on my own cancer or aneurism. I have no knowledge in these areas nor do I have any training in these diseases. We trust that the Lord has given men gifts and talents to be used in His mighty hand to accomplish His will.

The Lord Jesus does not accept our self-righteous confidence in our own flesh. His word says that our righteousness is like filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6)

He came to deliver those who know that they are hopeless in their condition and there is nothing that they can do on their own to rescue themselves. Just like I could do nothing on my own to fix my cancer or aneurysm condition.

So I am thankful that He has given me a heart to accept my sinful and sick condition (Heb. 12:1-2). As I teach the book of Romans and Judges I say to the students often, “we have to hear and acknowledge the bad news before we can really appreciate and accept the good news.”

The bad news for all of us is two fold, we are going to die (Gen. 2:17, a promise still kept by God to this day and is a historical undisputed fact) and we are sinful and unrighteous, ungodly humans (Romans 3:10-12, 23 – see how emphatic the words are in just these verses – “NONE”, “ALL” – covers age, race, gender, ethnic, religious, educational status, etc.)

So as I need help in my physical life, I am reminded that I am even more needy in spiritual life. And thanksgiving wells up in my heart because the Lord came to save the spiritually unrighteous and to heal the physically unhealthy. “Thank You, Lord Jesus, for giving us the faith to trust You to remove our sin and the confidence that You will ultimately deal with all our physical issues both now and till the day we take our last breath or You return!”

Revelations 22:20b-21, … "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.* Amen. (ESV - * Some manuscripts all the saints)

Letting Fear get the second best of him (and them).

Was reading Matthew 14 this morning. What a wonderful chapter. Many times my students will ask me, “Mr. Redding, what is your favorite book in the Bible?” And I have to say, the book that I am reading at the time. Well, today was my favorite chapter for this day.

The role fear played in this chapter is quite un-impressive to say the least, but it did strike my attention for only a moment. After Jesus had fed the 5000, He sent His disciples to cross the Sea of Galilee (Oh, please read Matt. 14 to get way more than I could ever convey in this hopefully brief blog). Then the next scene we see is the disciples struggling to get across the sea in a storm (most likely a little fear is rising) and then a more dreadful thing, a person walking on the water. But Jesus calms their fears based on poor human assumptions (“It’s a ghost.) The Bible teaches plainly and repeatedly that we are to fear God, only. Not fear what we inaccurately think of God. But just fear God.

Peter overcomes the first two fears and becomes courageous! “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” (NKJV) And the Lord simply says, “Come.” What a faith-filled, faith-impacting, faith-building word from the One who begins and completes our faith (Heb. 12:1-2)

Peter starts to walk on the water and actually is walking on the water. And then he takes his eyes off the One who gave him the faith to do what he was doing. He places his eyes on what was going on around him and in the time it took for him to have faith, he now has fear. (“Oh Peter, you are ruining the story – come on – you are going to parish because you have taken your eyes off the One who gave you faith to conquer (Rom. 8:37) and have placed your eyes on the things that cause only fear!)

But we must read on (and I am hoping you do read this for yourself). Peter does what we should do in any given moment when ungodly fear tries to creep in, gripping our hearts, or when we let it flow in like a gushing flood. He cries out – “LORD, SAVE ME!” And immediately (not “Well you should have done this before”, or “Give me a few moments”, or “Wait and learn a hard lesson”, or “Drown a little more in your ungodly fear”, or “You know fear of anything besides of Me is sin and so you will have to get over it on your own” or “What were you thinking in the first place stepping out on the water, don’t you realize this is something I am only suppose to do”, or… you can fill in any other human reasonable response.) The Bible says in Matt. 14:31 “IMMEDIATELY” (all English versions, AEV) Jesus reached out and rescued him.

This is our great Son of God and Savior – “Whoever calls on the name of the LORD will be saved” (All through out the Bible) Jesus saves those lost in sin (whether you are an unbeliever for the first time calling upon Him to save you or you are a aged believer who somehow finds yourself entangled by sin that so easily besets you.) And when He immediately saves, we have no other response than found in Matt.14:33. (I beg you to look at that verse in context, although you probably already know the immediate response of sinful men, like me, who call on the name of the Lord.)

Ungodly fear never get’s the best of a child of God, it is just another worldly tool that the Savior can use to teach us how to godly fear Him and call on Him who loves to save.