Saturday, May 28, 2011

Famous People Need Friends To

Men of the Bible Series - Onesiphorus was a close friend to the apostle Paul


2 Timothy 1:16-18  May the Lord show special kindness to Onesiphorus and all his family because he often visited and encouraged me.

He was never ashamed of me because I was in chains. When he came to Rome, he searched everywhere until he found me.

May the Lord show him special kindness on the day of Christ’s return. And you know very well how helpful he was in Ephesus.

Even though you may be surrounded by people everywhere that you go, it doesn't mean that you have a good friend, someone that will pick you up and encourage you and be with you no matter what. That kind of person can be difficult to find.

The apostle Paul had people all around him and no doubt many of the people were friendly, after all he brought good news everywhere that he went and people were being changed by the gospel, they had every reason to be friendly. But would they be there when the chips were down? What would happen when the rocks started being thrown and the beating started?

Paul spent several years in Ephesus and there was a great revival there. Paul said that Onesiphorus was helpful to his ministry in Ephesus, maybe that was where their friendship began. Onesiphorus was an encouragement to Paul, he visited him and built Paul up, he was even there for him when Paul was bound in chains. Paul's popularity was probably at it's lowest time then but Onesiphorus was humble and courageous and wasn't afraid to be associated with Paul. 

When the polls are up you can ride high and enjoy the popularity but if you do not take the time to develop real friends then a day will come when the polls will plunge and then you will be left alone. Take some time to look past the shallow acquaintances that fill your Facebook friend list and establish some real friends that will be there for you no matter what.

I need to be a real friend, Lord help me to be a loyal friend that will help when the rest of the world runs away.

You might like to read: Men of the Bible blog series.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

A Hugh Promise, A Huge Opportunity Missed

Men of the Bible Series - Jeroboam said "I think that I will do it my way."


1 Kings 11:29 One day as Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh met him along the way. Ahijah was wearing a new cloak.

The two of them were alone in a field, 30 and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten of these pieces, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give ten of the tribes to you! 32 But I will leave him one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

37 And I will place you on the throne of Israel, and you will rule over all that your heart desires. 38 If you listen to what I tell you and follow my ways and do whatever I consider to be right, and if you obey my decrees and commands, as my servant David did, then I will always be with you. I will establish an enduring dynasty for you as I did for David, and I will give Israel to you.

1 Kings 12:26 Jeroboam thought to himself, “Unless I am careful, the kingdom will return to the dynasty of David. 27 When these people go to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices at the Temple of the Lord, they will again give their allegiance to King Rehoboam of Judah. They will kill me and make him their king instead.”

28 So on the advice of his counselors, the king made two gold calves. He said to the people, “It is too much trouble for you to worship in Jerusalem. Look, Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of Egypt!”

King Solomon blew it (1 Kings 11:33) by entertaining the religious practices of his hundreds of wives. God will not tolerate being in second place for too long and he told Solomon that he would take the kingdom away from his son. Instead of Rehoboam, the next king would be Jeroboam, just an average guy that was not of royal descent. Solomon was so furious that he tried to have Jeroboam killed so the future king had to go hide out in Egypt. (1 Kings 11:40)

It seems amazing from our point of view that Jeroboam would see how severely that God had dealt with Solomon for idolatry and yet he decided to use idolatry as a way of keeping his people from having to travel to Jerusalem to worship. God made a huge opportunity for Jeroboam, God promised: "I will always be with you. I will establish an enduring dynasty for you as I did for David" That's an incredible offer!

God has made amazing opportunities for us, check out a few of them in these scriptures: 2 Peter 1:4, Philippians 4:19 and 1 Corinthians 2:9. All that he requires of us is that we love him as the one true God, accept his Son as our sacrifice for our sins and that we strive to obey his word and live by its precepts.

I need to be "digging the word" each day so that I will be ready to take God up on his promises and opportunities that come my way. 

Lord help me to not take your promises and opportunities for granted.

You might like to read: Men of the Bible blog series.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Influence, Be Careful Who Does It To You

Men of the Bible Series - Solomon didn't realize that we are all under the influence of somebody.



1 Kings 11: 1 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. 2 The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel, ‘You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.’ Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. 3 He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord.

4 In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the Lord his God, as his father, David, had been.

9 The Lord was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 He had warned Solomon specifically about worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not listen to the Lord’s command. 11 So now the Lord said to him, “Since you have not kept my covenant and have disobeyed my decrees, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants. 12 But for the sake of your father, David, I will not do this while you are still alive. I will take the kingdom away from your son. 13 And even so, I will not take away the entire kingdom; I will let him be king of one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, my chosen city.”

14 Then the Lord raised up Hadad the Edomite, a member of Edom’s royal family, to be Solomon’s adversary.

23 God also raised up Rezon son of Eliada as Solomon’s adversary.

Solomon was such a wise man and yet he missed an important piece of wisdom that parents try to teach their children, we are always concerned about the people our children hang-out with, we know better than Solomon did that if you hang with the wrong crowd they will establish influence over you in a negative way. Our friends have influence over the things that we see, hear and say.

Solomon neglected to listen to God's advice, he was warned that his close association with people that were not committed to his God were going to influence him for evil. Solomon allowed himself to be swayed by his wives and then Solomon's influence affected the nation as a whole and all of Israel suffered.

I will be wise and remember to be careful about who has influence on me, especially in the area of devotion to God because that is not an option.

Lord help me to be in the world but to not be influenced by the world. I want to be in your word each day so that I will be influenced for good works.

You might like to read: Men of the Bible blog series.

Monday, May 23, 2011

The Good News Is For Everybody

Men of the Bible Series - Cornelius lived for God.


Acts 10:1-5, 33-35  At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.

3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!” 4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked.

The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter.

33 So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”

 34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.

It is difficult to imagine that a centurion, that is the Roman leader of 100 soldiers, could be a God fearing man. Imagine going to work each day in the environment that he had to deal with, the rest of the centurions probably thought that Cornelius had gone a little crazy, he was probably acting different and talking about nice things, he didn't fit in anymore.

God sent Peter to visit Cornelius and why not, don't worry about the fact that he wasn't a Jew after all he was a God fearing man who lived a life of devotion to God, a life that looked like the lifestyle that Jesus taught about. He spent regular time each day in prayer, he was generous and always tried to do the right thing.

What a mission trip that was for Peter, he stepped right into some fertile soil that somebody else had already planted, he presented the good news about Jesus and he was blessed to reap the harvest.

Despite the opposition that Cornelius probably received from his work and his neighbors he was faithful to God.

You might like to read: Men of the Bible blog series.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Not Gonna Bow Down

Men of the Bible Series - Mordecai didn't give into pressure.


Esther 2:21-23  During the time Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, became angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. 22 But Mordecai found out about the plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai. 23 And when the report was investigated and found to be true, the two officials were impaled on poles.

Esther 3:1-2  Some time later King Xerxes promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite over all the other nobles, making him the most powerful official in the empire.

2 All the king’s officials would bow down before Haman to show him respect whenever he passed by, for so the king had commanded. But Mordecai refused to bow down or show him respect.

Esther 6: 1 That night the king had trouble sleeping, so he ordered an attendant to bring the book of the history of his reign so it could be read to him. 2 In those records he discovered an account of how Mordecai had exposed the plot of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the eunuchs who guarded the door to the king’s private quarters. They had plotted to assassinate King Xerxes.

3 “What reward or recognition did we ever give Mordecai for this?” the king asked. His attendants replied, “Nothing has been done for him.”

Esther 10: 1 King Xerxes imposed a tribute throughout his empire, even to the distant coastlands. 2 His great achievements and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king had promoted, are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Media and Persia. 3 Mordecai the Jew became the prime minister, with authority next to that of King Xerxes himself. He was very great among the Jews, who held him in high esteem, because he continued to work for the good of his people and to speak up for the welfare of all their descendants.

Mordecai - A Benjamite, son or descendant of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish. He brought up Esther, his uncle's daughter, and adopted her as his own daughter after the death of her parents. Later Mordecai had become a palace official. Mordecai was among the Jews that were taken into exile

During the time of King Nebuchadnezzar, David and his friends got in a lot of trouble for not bowing down, well here's proof that history repeats itself, once again the issue of bowing down and showing respect to someone other than God comes up.

This time the Jews are in exile to the Persians and the king's right hand man gets a promotion. Haman can't stand that Mordecai is loyal to God and will not bow down to him. Over and over again Mordecai was asked to comply but he didn't back down.

Mordecai proved himself faithful time and again. He proved his loyalty to God, to the king (Esther 2:21) and after he was elevated to a high position he was still loyal to his people (Esther 10:3).

Help me Lord to stand in the times of adversity and be found faithful to you.

You might like to read: Men of the Bible blog series.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Quick, Share The Gospel!

Men of the Bible Series - Paul was ready to share.


Acts 25:23-27  So the next day Agrippa and Bernice arrived at the auditorium with great pomp, accompanied by military officers and prominent men of the city. Festus ordered that Paul be brought in. 24 Then Festus said, “King Agrippa and all who are here, this is the man whose death is demanded by all the Jews, both here and in Jerusalem. 25 But in my opinion he has done nothing deserving death. However, since he appealed his case to the emperor, I have decided to send him to Rome.

26 “But what shall I write the emperor? For there is no clear charge against him. So I have brought him before all of you, and especially you, King Agrippa, so that after we examine him, I might have something to write. 27 For it makes no sense to send a prisoner to the emperor without specifying the charges against him!”

Acts 26:22-31  I teach nothing except what the prophets and Moses said would happen 23 that the Messiah would suffer and be the first to rise from the dead, and in this way announce God’s light to Jews and Gentiles alike.”

24 Suddenly, Festus shouted, “Paul, you are insane. Too much study has made you crazy!” 25 But Paul replied, “I am not insane, Most Excellent Festus. What I am saying is the sober truth. 26 And King Agrippa knows about these things. I speak boldly, for I am sure these events are all familiar to him, for they were not done in a corner! 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do”

28 Agrippa interrupted him. “Do you think you can persuade me to become a Christian so quickly?” 29 Paul replied, “Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains.”

30 Then the king, the governor, Bernice, and all the others stood and left. 31 As they went out, they talked it over and agreed, “This man hasn’t done anything to deserve death or imprisonment.”

Agrippa II - Born AD 27/28, son of Agrippa I, was the seventh and last king of the family of Herod the Great. He was married to one of his three sisters, Bernice.

What a big show, just think of the ceremony as King Agrippa walks in with his sister/wife, all of the important people are there as they are accompanied by the military. It is a big day today, what an audience, it is so full of people that Paul will get to share the gospel with.

Paul gives his quick testimony about the good news of Jesus and tries to wrap it up by asking Agrippa if he believes. We can only speculate that Agrippa never turned from his ways to be a Christ follower, all we know is that he scoffs at Paul for assuming that there was any chance that he could be persuaded with such a quick testimony. According to Paul, King Agrippa knew a lot about the prophets and about the current events surrounding Jesus, and yet he was still not convinced.

Our lives and those around us are so busy and the opportunity to plant a seed will probably come and go so quick that I have to be ready to share the gospel quickly. 

You might like to read: Men of the Bible blog series.

Monday, May 09, 2011

Pride Will Mess You Up

Men of the Bible Series - Goliath thought to himself "I got this"


1 Samuel 17:4  Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, came out of the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Israel. He was over nine feet tall! 5 He wore a bronze helmet, and his bronze coat of mail weighed 125 pounds.6 He also wore bronze leg armor, and he carried a bronze javelin on his shoulder. 7 The shaft of his spear was as heavy and thick as a weaver’s beam, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed 15 pounds. His armor bearer walked ahead of him carrying a shield.

 8 Goliath stood and shouted a taunt across to the Israelites. “Why are you all coming out to fight?” he called. “I am the Philistine champion, but you are only the servants of Saul. Choose one man to come down here and fight me! 9 If he kills me, then we will be your slaves. But if I kill him, you will be our slaves! 10 I defy the armies of Israel today! Send me a man who will fight me!” 11 When Saul and the Israelites heard this, they were terrified and deeply shaken.

40 He picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them into his shepherd’s bag. Then, armed only with his shepherd’s staff and sling, he started across the valley to fight the Philistine.

 41 Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bearer ahead of him, 42 sneering in contempt at this ruddy-faced boy. 43 “Am I a dog,” he roared at David, “that you come at me with a stick?” And he cursed David by the names of his gods. 44 “Come over here, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals!” Goliath yelled.

Out in front of the crowd Goliath stepped out so that he could taunt the Israelites. Goliath had plenty of good reasons to be so sure of himself. He had a great physique, he probably stood in front of the mirror and admired himself and thought he was built for fighting. He had all the right equipment, he wore armor that covered his entire body and if that wasn't good enough he even had somebody that carried a shield.

It is like playing a video game and you get a bonus that makes you bigger than when you started and then to make it better you get extra armor and weapons and all of a sudden you begin to feel very powerful and your sure that you can handle anything that comes your way. But then it happens, before you know it you get the dreaded words "game over" scrolling across the screen.

Prov 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.

There is a danger in trusting in what God has given us instead of trusting in God. When we trust in the blessings of God and place our focus on the abilities that he has given to us then we become God's enemy, we trust in the created things more that we trust the creator (Romans 1:25). We have to be careful because we can be so sure of ourselves, just like Goliath was, that we put ourselves in danger of a fall.

Lord help me to always rely on your strength and to be careful to be a part of your plan instead of stepping out on my own.

You might like to read: Men of the Bible blog series.

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Are You God's Friend?

Men of the Bible Series - If he had a Facebook account, would you be on God's friend list?


James 2:23 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God

Isaiah 41:8  But you, Israel, are my servant. You're Jacob, my first choice, descendants of my good friend Abraham.

Proverbs 18:24  There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Have you ever thought about what it would take to be God's friend? I mean really his friend, not just a close acquaintance, but somebody that is really intimate? Usually we try to do nice things for the people that we want to gain as a friend but Abraham became God's friend completely out of the blue, there wasn't anything that Abraham had done to deserve the riches that God would bestow on him.

In fact Abraham blew it from time to time just like we do, yet in the long list of Bible saints he alone is spoken of as "the father of the faithful" and as "the friend of God" His obedience and his faith in the promises that were given to him was proven greater than his failures.

Just like our human friends that we try to please by being nice to them and doing things for them, God expects us to do good things for him. Not as a way of earning his favor but because we already have his favor, we cannot do anything to earn his love, our motivation to do good is because he has already loved us even when we were his enemies.

John 15:14  You are my friends if you do what I command

I want to show my love and appreciation for God by living his way. He is the creator of a better way of living and the best way that I can prove that I am a friend of God is by living everyday according to his commands.

Thank you Lord for making a way for me to become your friend, as the song says:
Who am I that You are mindful of me
That You hear me when I call
Is it true that You are thinking of me
How You love me it's amazing 
I want to live each day faithful to your plan for my life.

You might like to read: Men of the Bible blog series.