I would give anything to be able to……. Tuesday, Apr 6 2010 

Biographical and Motivational kennethbow 7:56 pm

What?

To play an instrument?

To sing?

To be a soul winner?

To be independently wealthy?

Itzhak Perlman

Itzhak  Perlman plays the violin.

He might just be the greatest violin player on earth today.  In fact, he might be the greatest violin player in history.

When he plays, it is so much more than music.  It is an experience.

Was he born with some rare gift no one else has ever possessed?

Why don’t you decide!

Every morning Perlman wakes up at five-fifteen.  He showers, has a light breakfast, and begins his morning practice session, which lasts four and a half hours. He has lunch, reads for  a while, exercises then begins his afternoon practice session, which lasts for four and a half hours. In the evening he has dinner with his family and relaxes.

This is his schedule every day of the year except on days he plays concerts.

On concert days he wakes up at five-fifteen, showers, has breakfast and then practices for four and a half hours. He then has lunch, reads for a while, exercises, and then takes a ninety minute nap. When he wakes up he gets dressed and goes to the concert venue.  They perform a sound check, and have a brief rehearsal.

Forty-five minutes before the concert Mr Perlman goes to his dressing room and locks the door.  Two security guards are posted outside his door, no one is allowed in under any circumstances!

What do you think he does?

He prays.

Itzhak Perlman prays.

He spends one minute asking God to help him play the violin that night.  He spends the other forty-four minutes praying for the people who will attend the concert that night.  He does not doubt God will help him play the violin brilliantly for the concert. Why?

Because Itzhak Perlman plays the violin brilliantly for nine hours a day, every single day, day in and day out, in an empty room,  for nobody but his God!

Itzhak keeps his part of the bargain.  He has passion, dedication and faith. Therefore he has confidence God will keep His part of the bargain.

Itzhak Perlman makes people cry when he plays the violin, and they do not know why they are crying. He makes people feel and hear things they have never felt or heard before. He shares his excitement and passion through his music.  He motivates people.  He touches people.  He moves people. He changes people. He makes a difference in people.

Itzhak Perlman has found a way to touch other people’s lives, to raise them up, to share his passion.

Listen to the theme from “Schindler’s list”, and you will feel the passion.

Several years ago Perlman agreed to attend a charity event  in Vienna, after one of his concerts. Tickets were five hundred dollars each. The guests were allowed to speak to Mr. Perlman and get his autograph.

One man entered the roped off area where Perlman was and stretched out his hand to shake hands. The man said, “Mr. Perlman you were phenomenal tonight. You were absolutely amazing.”

Perlman smiled and said “Thank you.”

The man said, “All my life I have had a great love of the violin, and I have heard every great violinist, but I have never heard anyone play the violin as brilliantly as you did tonight”.

Perlman smiled and said nothing.

The man continued, “You know Mr. Perlman, I would give my whole life to be able to play the violin like you did tonight”.

Perlman smiled once more and said,”I have”.

Itzhak Perlman at the White House

What would you give to….

  • Be a soul winner
  • Be a prayer warrior
  • Be an intercessor

I would give anything to be able to…..

Thanks for reading today!

( Perlman was born in Tel Aviv, in what was soon to be Israel, where he first became interested in the violin when he heard a classical music performance on the radio. He studied at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv before moving to theUnited States to study at the Juilliard School with the great violin pedagogue, Ivan Galamian, and his assistant Dorothy DeLay.

Perlman contracted polio at the age of four. He made a good recovery, learning to walk with the use of crutches. Today, he generally uses crutches or an Amigo POV/Scooter for mobility and plays the violin while seated.

The world falls in love with music when Itzhak Perlman takes up his violin. A superstar by any standard and a rarity in the classical field, Perlman has taken hold of the public imagination as few violin virtuosos ever have, bringing joy to millions with his playing. Having lost the use of his legs after falling victim to polio at the age of four, Perlman always sits as he plays. But he never fails to bring audiences to their feet.)

 

Burger King Got It Wrong! Monday, Apr 5 2010 

Biblical history and Doctrine and Motivational and Old Testament kennethbow 5:48 am

Burger King got it wrong.  They say have it your way.  The book of Judges shows me this is not the way to happiness or success!

The book of Judges opens to us one of the darkest times of man’s history.  The people of God should have been celebrating victories and conquering a new land.

Judges opens the window into the heart of mankind, and the picture is not pretty!

Seven times in the book the statement is made “Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord”, two times it says “Every man did that which is right in his own eyes”.  The result of that environment was catastrophic.  It further emphasis that there was no King in those days.  So every man was left to follow his own decisions.

This period of time lasted 450 years!  This period of time was as long as the entire duration of the monarchy.  Because there is one book of Judges, and six books of the Kings (Samuel, Kings, Chronicles), it is natural to feel like the Kings were a longer period of time.  Both of these time periods were 450 years.  Why?

God gave man 450 years to reveal what happens when man does that which is right in his own eyes.

The result of that time period is so abhorrent and tragic, we scarce can comprehend it.  The last five chapters of Judges are as bad and ugly as any period of history, any place on the Globe.  From this experiment and experience we can truly agree with God that it is not in man to direct his steps.

It might help to think of these Judges as freedom fighters.  The word Judge to us today speaks of courtrooms and juries.  These men, (and one woman), were liberators, fighters, leaders of armies!  They are renowned for their military campaigns.  The following is a list of Judges and their term of time.

Judge Enemy

  • Othniel/40 years                         Mesopotamia
  • Ehud/80 years                             Moab, Amon, Amalek
  • Deborah, Barak/40 years             Caanan
  • Gideon/40 years                          Midian
  • Abimelech/3 years
  • Toah/23 years
  • Jair/22 years
  • Jeptha/6 years                             Ammon
  • Ibzaim/7 years
  • Elon/10 years
  • Samson/20 years                          Philistines
  • Eli/40 years                                 Philistines
  • Samuel/20 years                          Philistines

By my addition there were 111 years of oppression and 339 years of peace for a total of 450 years of the reign of the Judges.  This is the same amount of time for the Kings!  There was 120 years of the United Kingdom, 200 years of a divided Kingdom with Israel and Judah side by side, and an additional 135 years of Judah.

The conclusion I get is this, God gave man 450 years of man doing what he thought was right on his own.  Then he gave man 450 years where a king ruled over his life.  Both time periods ended in abject failure.  Opening the door for the prophets and God’s voice being the law of man and earth.

The only successful government has proved to be when God himself rules over the affairs of men.

In the first 16 chapters of  Judges, it is all about God’s people being attacked from without.  The enemy is from the outside.  Then the last five chapters are the result when Israel turns upon herself and begins to carnage herself. The result is one of the most terrible times in all of history.

Before it is over Israel will have killed more of her own that any of her attackers ever did from the outside.  If fact, she will have killed more of her own that all of the outside attacks combined over the entire 450 year period!

What a statement God leaves on the pages of the Bible about what happens when we forget who our real enemy is and begin to war on our brothers.

In the last five chapters, it begins with the introduction of Idolatry into Israel with the story of Micah and his graven images.  The stage is set for idolatry and it takes a thousand years and a dispersion (Israel), and a captivity (Judah), to finally purge Israel of Idolatry!

The story moves on to the tribe of Dan.

This tribe is not satisfied with their inheritance so they look for new territory.  They journey east, then north, a total of about 144 miles to conquer Laish.  They rename the city “Dan”(hence the term from Dan to Beersheba).  This is not the inheritance God assigned to the tribe of Dan.

This story lets us see the terrible result of what happens when you are not satisfied with your inheritance!  The tribe of Dan is forever removed from the pages of the Bible.  The only mention I find is one descendant worked on Solomon’s temple.  Dan is never mentioned again, never included anymore in the list of the tribes all the way to the book of Revelation!

What more would anyone need to illustrate the danger of not being satisfied with our inheritance?

The book of Judges then moves on to the story of the concubine.

The woman was abused and finally dies.  Her master cuts her into twelve pieces and sends a piece of the evidence to each tribe.  The nation goes to war and the result is horrific.  Israel loses 65,000 men in the final chapters of Judges, all because they had a piece of the evidence.  The tribe of Benjamin is reduced to 400 men and almost obliterated.

I believe they would have been wiped out if not for a future son of Benjamin that would literally change the world, Saul of Tarsus.  God preserved the tribe for Israel’s first king, and Christianity’s first missionary.

The moral of the story is again so stark!  It is so dangerous to go to war over a piece of the evidence.

Was all lost for humanity?  Not at all.  God in his infinite wisdom was letting man work through the slow process of human government to help man self discover for himself his need of God.

All was not lost, for even in this morass, at the bulls eye center of the greatest carnage were faithful people who held on to God.  That is why Boaz steps onto the stage.  There was in the days of the Judges, Ruth 1.1

We will discuss that in the book of Ruth!

Thanks for reading today!

 

Some Days Live Forever! Friday, Apr 2 2010 

Family and Motivational kennethbow 9:14 am

It was a Friday afternoon, in July, 1975.

I was working for UPS. I had a little break time left so I stopped at the coffee shop. (A coffee shop is what there was before Starbucks). Most of the drivers from UPS stopped there in the afternoons.  The waitress came to my table and told me I had a phone call.

When I answered the phone, my world was forever changed.

My supervisor told me to bring my truck in immediately.  I asked what was up.  He said there had been an accident with my family and he would tell me when I got in the center.  I demanded he tell me if it involved my wife or daughter, he said no it was about my mother.  There had been an accident and she could not be located.

My mother had been murdered.

As I write this so many years later, the pain and shock is still so vivid.  Some things do not dim with time.  They remain ever fresh, pungent, alive, and painful.

The next few days were terrible. It took three days to locate her body.  Then there was the funeral, and days and days of just a blur.

Just a week before this tragedy, my mother had stood across the hospital bed of the man who murdered her and asked me to teach her a bible study.

I was so excited that she wanted to know more about God.  My mother had a rough life.  She and my father divorced when I was three.  Mom went on to marry 5 more times before her tragic murder when she was only 42 years old.  Her last husband was the man who murdered her.

He was a brute and a beast.  He was a large powerful man.  He beat my brother with a rubber hose until I did not recognize my own brother.

The night my mother asked me for a bible study, this husband of hers was in the hospital with a heart attack.  I went to the hospital. Little did I know that my mother had  a little over a week to live.

If I had known my 42 year old mother would be dead in 9 days I would have dropped everything and prayed with her.  She was a backslider with two brief sojourns in church.  Both times she had prayed through she had stayed in church just a few days or weeks at best.

But I did not know.  Neither do you.  Today is all we have.

How will you use this day?

Will you wallow in self pity?

Will you throw away a wonderful 24 hour gift locked in a mind loop of things you cannot change?

Will you allow anger to take the microphone and filibuster?

Who needs you today?  Who can you show love and approval to today?  Where can you distribute happiness today?

Today is all you have!  It is yours to spend as you choose.

My hope is you take today by the throat and demand full payment for all the zest and joy it can bring!  I pray you shake off any element that would rob you of the abundant life Jesus Christ promised us.

Honestly, I am simply amazed that you would take a few moments of your day to read this blog.  From my heart I thank you.  I do not take that lightly or take it for granted.

In a terrible way, the day my mother was murdered is a day that has lived forever in my mind.

I am glad there are other days that also live forever.  The day I received the Holy Ghost.  The day my daughter sang her first special in church.  The day my grandson won a trophy in Bible quizzing.

Sand never flows upward in the hourglass of time.  Tomorrow’s sand cannot flow through before today’s sand. I cannot place tomorrow’s gold in my purse today. Tomorrow lies buried with yesterday.  Today is all I have.

If for any reason today should be my last, then let me drink each minute to the full.  Let me savor it and give thanks.

Thanks for reading today!

 

Why does the sun rise in the east? Wednesday, Mar 31 2010 

Doctrine and Motivational and Uncategorized kennethbow 7:13 am

Why does the sun rise in the east?

There is this something about the east!  The sun rises in the east.  Jesus is returning from the east.  Many if not most great philosophers are from the east.  So what is the significance of these things being from the east?

The Apostle Paul while in his early 40’s set out on his first missionary journey.  He arrived at the island of Cyprus.  There he converts Sergius Paulus, his first gentile convert, and jettisons his Hebrew name forever.  Saul of Tarsus is no more.  The Apostle Paul, the Apostle to the gentiles, steps forward to his life work.

Many have commented on the choice of Paul over other Apostles for this world task.  Why Paul?  It is my opinion it was for his philosophy.  His doctrine was the same, his heritage was the same if not better, so it seems to me it was his philosophy that tipped the scale in his favor.

Paul was able to be eclectic when he was before high-ranking Romans, or even Governors and Caesars.  It was his Hellenistic learning and background that made him the candidate to reach the population of Asia, Achaia, Macedonia, and Galatia.

I would like to be able to witness to all people about Jesus Christ.  As I have traveled this country for the last 35 years of preaching, I have seen very few Asian people in our churches.  It is a rare occurrence.

Why has the sun not risen in the east like it has in the west?

Could it be that we have not trained ourselves to reach the eastern mind set?  Do we understand how to reach out to them? The Buddhist? The Hindu? The Muslim?  How many of us strive to understand these eastern thinkers?

Are we as exclusionary as the Jews of the New Testament? Is heaven reserved just for the American, or English and Latin-speaking peoples?  I thought I read that in that celestial city there were people there from every tribe and nation.

Are the eastern people of your area being reached with this gospel?

Let me challenge you.  Have you ever read the Tao de Ching?  It is the second most read book in the history of the world!  It is the basis of all thought and doctrine for 3/5 of the world we live in.  Many of you who read this will never have heard of it.  When I have been with many pastors, and even bought it for them, they have smiled indulgently and said people here don’t read that.

How many Apostolics could effectively witness to a Buddhist?  How about a Muslim? How about a Hindu?

I do not expect this blog to start a stampede on the bookstore, but if there are any who are interested in being the most effective witness you can I am going to recommend some reading.

The “The World’s Religions” by Huston Smith is the standard textbook used on many campuses in America.  It is a distilled overview of the major religions of the world.  It at least explains the Bagadavita, (The religious book of the Hindu faith). It explains the Diamond Sutra and the Sutra of Hui Neng (Buddist books). It explains the Koran, (Muslim book).

I also recommend the  Tao de Ching.  The version I favor is by Stephen Mitchell.  There are many versions available. The Tao is a small volume that can be read in less than an hour.  The principals in it are similar to the principals in our Bible.

For many who read this blog today, this is nonsense.  I understand that, but Paul was the best-prepared man on planet earth to reach people of diverse views.  He stood toe to toe with the intellects of Greece on Mars Hill.  He could confidently say, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is the power of God”.

Maybe it is time to consider why the sun has risen in the east every day for millenniums in our natural world, but has never risen in the east in the spiritual world!

Thanks for reading today.

 

I Have Met A Giant! Tuesday, Mar 30 2010 

Biblical history and Motivational kennethbow 10:50 am

Genesis 6.4  There were giants in the earth in those days

Archaeology has proven Genesis correct many times.  As you can see from the photo, there certainly were giants on the earth as the Bible says there were.

Yes, David really did fight a giant named Goliath.  David’s great grandmother was a lady named Ruth.  Goliath’s great grandmother was a lady named Orpah. Both David and Goliath had great grandmothers from Moab. When Naomi returned to Israel after the sojourn in Moab, Ruth came also.  Orpah returned to Moab and her great grandson eventually challenged Israel and Saul’s armies to a contest.  David defeated Goliath in the famous battle, and was crowned the giant slayer by the minstrels of Israel.

Today I want to introduce you to a giant I have personally met, and know quite well.  He lives among us.  Many of you will know him and be acquainted with him.  I wanted to point out his stature today.

His has been an amazing life.  His father was also a member of the giants.  Men of stature, height, expanse in multiply ways.  Men that affect and change an entire generation by their presence and exploits.  Men who have been undefeated in spiritual combat.  Champions without peer.  Acknowledged, acclaimed, and revered by their peers and their future generations.  Men who leave behind a trail that others may follow and find bliss.

This giant I know has….

  • Preached for 50 years
  • Been married to the same wife for 45 years
  • Pastored for 30 years
  • Has preached 910 revivals
  • Has preached 329 conferences
  • Has preached 61 camp meetings
  • Has 5 children, all serve the Lord
  • Has 12 grandchildren, all filled with the Holy Ghost (except those under 4)
  • Has one son who pastors a church of about 1000
  • Has another son who started a church that now has about 500
  • Has a son-in-law who pastors a growing church

11 years ago tomorrow, this giant resigned his church and started traveling across America preaching the Gospel.

Personally I do not know of any living man who has achieved more for the kingdom of God than this giant of a man among us!

50 years ago he preached his first sermon outside his home church in Shelbyville Indiana, for Elder Cavenous.

The trail he has blazed is well marked and easily followed.

Today, I stop and salute a true Giant of Pentecost!

Martyn Ballestero Sr

Thank you for an unbelievable life Elder!

 

There Were Giants In The Earth…Some Of Them Belonged To God! Monday, Mar 29 2010 

Biblical history and Doctrine and Motivational and Old Testament and Uncategorized kennethbow 7:23 am

Isaiah

In the eighth century BC while Homer was writing the Iliad and the Odyssey, and Lao Tse was writing the Tao de Ching, Isaiah wrote the book that bears his name.

The prophet Isaiah was a giant of Jewish history.

He is considered the Shakespeare of Hebrew literature. The New Testament quotes him more than all the other prophets added together.  No author in the Bible can match his eloquence and mastery of style and imagery.

He lived midway through the founding of the nation and it’s final destruction. He lived on the border between the Northern and Southern kingdom.  He was one of the prophets who observed first hand the fall and captivity of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

The Rabbis say that he was first cousin to King Uzziah.  Isaiah’s father, and Uzziah’s father, were brothers.  This would mean he was of royal lineage, and familiar with the palace and court life.  He certainly was the confidant and advisor to at least 5 kings.

Isaiah was not a “yes” man to these kings.  He stood against the popular tide of optimism.  His name meant “The Lord saves”.  He warned Kings repeatedly that to depend on military power or wealth or alliances or anything but God would bring disaster.

Isaiah outlived four of the kings he advised, but finally offended one King beyond the King’s tolerance. Manasseh is said to have placed Isaiah between two planks and had him sawed in half.  Thus ending the life of one of Israel’s greatest heroes.

Isaiah’s writings are about the nature of God.  It is a collection of many messages on many subjects.

His writings break down like this:

  • Chapters 1-12 warnings to Judah during their prosperous days
  • Chapters 13-23 messages to surrounding nations
  • Chapters 24-35 earth’s future and the imminent invasion of Assyria
  • Chapters 36-39 an interlude telling of crisis Judah faced
  • Chapters 40-48 prophesies 200 years into the future  (Babylon)
  • Chapters 49-55 The nation’s final deliverance through the suffering servant
  • Chapters 56-66 warnings to Judah and a view of the future

These are quick bullet references to Isaiah:

  • Began preaching before he was 20 years old
  • A contemporary of Amos and Hosea
  • Born during Uzziah’s reign
  • Called in the year Uzziah died
  • Saw the Glory of Jeroboam II (Israel)
  • Observed the fall of Israel in 721 BC
  • Influenced Hezekiah
  • Foretold the rise of Babylon
  • Killed by Manasseh
  • His book a mini Bible (66 chapter, 39,27)
  • Proclaims the coming Messiah
  • Quoted more in New Testament than all other prophets combined
  • Shakespeare of Hebrew literature
  • First cousin to Uzziah
  • Giant of Jewish history
  • Lived exactly in the middle of the founding of the nation and it’s destruction
  • His name means “the Lord saves”
  • Prophesied during 5 kings
  • Wrote same time as Iliad, Odyssey and Tao de Ching
  • Looks into the nature of God
  • He was Hezekiah’s “song in the night”

His supreme contribution was his fore telling Messiah is coming!  The nation hung onto this thread of hope until Jesus arrived.  It helped keep them through the 400 silent years of despair.  When the New Testament opens they are on point looking for Messiah.

Because he looks into the nature of God, He is our “One God” preacher! Verses like, 9.6, 7.14, 43.10-11, 44.6, 44.8, 45.15, as well as chapters 12, 35, and 53, are favorite one God passages.

When an Apostolic preacher preaches on Oneness, he invariably visits the book of Isaiah!

When Assyria threatened the nation, after conquering 200 walled cities and leading away 200,000 captives from the northern nation, it was Isaiah who stayed calm while Hezekiah panicked.  Isaiah was the song in the night with a word from the Lord.  The next morning 185,000 Assyrians lay dead, Judah was saved, and Isaiah was right!

Isaiah had heard from God and the Angel of the Lord went through the camp of Assyria and slew 185,000 men while Israel slept and never lifted a finger!

The Devil was not alone in using Giants to do great exploits!

God answered with some Giants of his own!

Of these, none stands taller than Isaiah.

Thanks for reading today!

 

I. H. Terry and the Rose Wednesday, Mar 24 2010 

Biographical and Doctrine and Motivational kennethbow 7:31 am

My pastor was a great man!  He loved the doctrine, he loved preachers, and he loved poetry!  Brother Terry would read poetry to me when I would go to his house.  For seven years his wife was bed ridden, and I would go as often as I could to sit with him.  Most of the time it was one to two times a week.

When I got there he would reach over and take up one of the two books he used the most, we would settle in for the evening and he would read.  He had this cute look that he used, he would look up to see if you were getting the meaning.  He wanted to make sure you “caught” it.

There are many poems he would read, like “Maud Muller” by John Greenleaf Whitier.  It is an incredible story of a judge riding down a country lane who stops to get a drink of water at the hand of a young maiden.  He rides on but always remembers that moment.  Both of them go through life wondering what might have been if they had married.  It is from this poem the famous line is often quoted,

“the saddest words of tongue or pen, are simply these, it might have been”.

There were other poems he loved like “Curfew shall not ring tonight”, “The face on the barroom floor”, “The hell bound train”, “Casey at the bat” and the two sequels to “Casey”.

One poem he loved very much and used to help many people is called “Let it unfold”.  He preached about it and so have others.  The man who has made this poem most recognizable is Vaughn Morton.  Vaughn Morton has preached a classic, unforgettable message using this poem entitled “Let it unfold”.

The poem speaks about just letting life unfold the way God unfolds a rose.  Brother Terry would take people, mostly young preachers, out in his back yard and hand them a rosebud.  He would insist you unfold the rosebud.  As you tried you destroyed any chance of the rose ever reaching beauty or completeness.

Then Brother Terry wisely handed you a  rose.  Asked you to smell its fragrance, look at its beauty.  And he would quote the poem.

I remember like it was yesterday the moment I stood in his backyard with broken pieces of a rose in one hand and a beautiful red rose in the other.  With a tear in his eye, that old, wise mentor said…

It is only a tiny rosebud,

A flower of God’s design,

But I cannot unfold the petals

with these clumsy hands of mine.

The secret of unfolding flowers

Is not known to such as I,

The flower that God opens so sweetly,

Would in my hands would fade and die.

If I cannot unfold a rosebud

This flower of God’s design,

Then how can I think I have wisdom

To unfold this life of mine?

So I’ll trust in Him for His leading

Each moment of everyday

I’ll look to him for guidance

Each step of the Pilgrim way.

For the Pathway that lies before me,

My heavenly father knows:

I’ll trust him to unfold the moments,

Just as he unfolds the rose.

Thank you Brother Terry for one of my life’s greatest lessons.

Thanks for reading today!

 

God Moments! Tuesday, Mar 23 2010 

Biblical history and Doctrine and Family and Motivational and New Testament kennethbow 8:14 am

A God moment……

While the Apostle Paul was on his 2nd missionary journey around 51ad, a woman

named Phoebe came and told him she was going to Rome.

Paul asked her if she would carry a letter to the church there

for him.  She agreed.   Paul set down to write a letter and what

resulted was the book in your bible called Romans.

It is a great treatise on Christianity.  The broad expanse of

the role of the Jew, and the new role of the Gentile.

In his opening introduction Paul says some things about humanity

in general.  He was at Corinth at the time, where he spent 18 months.

As he walked the streets of the second largest city of the Roman

Empire with its new shiny architecture, he saw the population, of

700,000 people.  There were soldiers, Roman officials, merchants, beggars, in fact the

whole composite of  Corinth.

He concluded several things he put in the letter to the Romans.

He concluded that all have sinned and come short of the

glory of God.  He concluded that the gentile world needed

God, and the Jewish world needed God.

He covered an interesting concept by asking what if some did not hear

the Gospel?  His answer was they are without excuse! Why?

He went on to say because there are different ways God speaks to

mankind.  God speaks through conscience, God speaks through

creation. That lets me know that God never leaves man anywhere, anyplace

without some kind of “God Moment”.

Somewhere, somehow, God confronts man and introduces himself, so

that no one will ever stand at the final tribunal of God and say I had no

Witness.

During the 35 years I have preached the gospel I have heard and seen

some of these “God Moments”.  I saw one a few days ago in a nursing

home down in Puyallup, Washington.

I went to the room of a lady who had told her daughter she wanted to pray, she was afraid she was nearing the end of her life’s journey. I went and joined the daughter, son, and two other people.  We prayed for that woman to be assured God was with her.  When we laid our hands on her to pray, it was a “God Moment”.

It was as if we had placed the shock paddles that EMTs use on her chest. She raised up off that bed and the spirit of God fell on her.

It was a supernatural moment.  We were all amazed and aware that this moment was a God thing.

Thirteen days later, death walked in that same room and claimed that woman.

That Woman was Phyllis Crandall.


Death came to claim her only to acknowledge that God arrived first, letting everyone know, that she was His child.

Thank you God for that incredible, unforgettable moment when you showed yourself as

God.

Thanks for reading today!

 

He was only 14 years old, he lived a lifelong nightmare! Saturday, Mar 20 2010 

Biblical history and Biographical and Doctrine and Motivational and Old Testament kennethbow 9:16 am

Jeremiah

Which fourteen-year-old boy in your church can you envision preaching and being God’s Mouthpiece?  That was the age Jeremiah began his prophetic work.  He then proceeded to speak to a nation who would not listen for the next 40 years.

He has been called the “weeping prophet” because of the times in his book he sheds tears.  Jeremiah prophesied while his nation tottered on the bring of captivity.

Jeremiah certainly lived one of the most dramatic lives in the Bible.  It appears he never learned to like his role.  He was reluctant and unhappy with the job God asked him to do.

God chose him before he was even born, while he was still in his mother’s womb.  His assignment was to be over nations, to root out, to tear down, to build and to plant.  The only resource he had to accomplish this task was his mouth.  His response?  “Ah Lord God, I cannot speak, for I am a child” (1.6), and he was! He was only 14 years old!

He was given the unusual directive that he could never marry, never attend a happy event or a sad event.  He was not to experience any human emotion so he would never be confused as to what he felt.  He felt what God felt!

For forty years Jeremiah gave the nation’s leaders messages they did not want to hear.  They arrested him, they imprisoned him, and they almost killed him.

Jeremiah hung on.

He let them know that the Babylonians were coming and would carry them into captivity.  He warned them that alliances with powers like Egypt would not do any good.  They ignored him and he pressed on anyway.  Jeremiah made it clear, Judah’s only hope was to renew their relationship with the living God.

Jeremiah does not impress us like Isaiah.  His book is not poetic or beautiful in imagery.  The power of the book comes entirely from the insight of this prophet’s mind.

He was living a nightmare and that nightmare was coming true.

The nation was going under!

No person in the Bible shows their feelings like Jeremiah.  He quarreled with God.  He told God he wished he were dead.  He accused God of being unreliable. And yet, he stood, never wavering!  No relationship in the Bible speaks more to me of what it means to serve God.  He continued to follow God no matter what.

I am sure he tired of the ridicule.  He continued to stand alone against the crowd.  He spoke dark things in dark times.  His message was not wanted or popular.  In the end his message proved true.

He stands greater and more important to the kingdom of God than the very Kings who detested him.

The book of Jeremiah is an anthology of prophecies given at different times.  It jumps back and forth and is not in any chronological order.  It is a glimpse into the troubled mind of a man trying to warn a drowning nation.

300 years before the nation had been split into two nations with the civil war.  Israel and Judah had existed side by side for 200 years.  Then, 100 years before, the northern nation had been carried away into captivity into Assyria never to be heard from again.  He was seeing deja vu for Judah.  This time mighty Babylon was breathing down their neck and invasion was imminent.

Bullet points for Jeremiah:

  • Prophesied during 5 kings
  • Lived through the Babylonian invasion
  • Contempories were Zephaniah and Habakkuk
  • He was forbidden to marry
  • He was forbidden to go to any social meetings, happy or sad
  • His book has no particular order
  • He was called at 14 years old and preached for 40 years
  • Tradition says he was stoned in Egypt at the end of his life
  • He was the first person to speak of 70 years, then Daniel picked it up
  • Never liked his role but he obeyed
  • His only weapon was his voice
  • He was one man against a surging mass going in the opposite direction
  • He quarreled with God and told God he wished he were dead (20.14-18)
  • Accused God of being unreliable (15.18)
  • Had no social life (16.8)

Some of his memorable messages:

  • Broken cisterns
  • Potters house (18)
  • Rechabites (35)
  • The miry clay
  • The buried sash
  • The smashed pot
  • Purchasing land for the return after the exile

His supreme contribution:

It is my opinion that Jeremiah gives us the high point of the Old Testament.  In chapter 31 he gives the turning point after 1000 years of failure as a nation.

God wrote the law on tables of stone and the nation never was able to fulfill their destiny.  It was smoke, ashes, debris, and failure.  It was time for the second edition to be written!

Abraham was called in 1921 BC.  The children of Israel entered Canaan in 1451 BC.  It had been 1300 years since Abraham’s call and 800 years since they crossed the Jordan.  The judges, the kings, the prophets, had all proved unable to stem to tide.

God called a fourteen-year-old boy.  God quarantined him from social events, and gave him the New Covenant!

1000 years of history flowed into this young boy’s heart. From that river flowed out the New Covenant that is the foundation of the New Testament.

This time God would write it not on tables of stone, but on their hearts.  Jeremiah chapter 31 becomes the foundation of all the teachings of Jesus and the Apostle Paul.

It is an incredible story of an incredible man, used by God.

It is the story of a 14 year old boy who lived a lifelong nightmare!

Thanks for stopping by today.

 

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