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trust and confidence

 

 

For our lesson today I'd like to combine a couple of thoughts for you to consider that involve "trust" and "confidence." To see examples of these two things we only need look no further than the news broadcasts of the last few days. Unless you've been in outer space (and I'm not sure, maybe it was even there) you're no doubt familiar with the latest happenings that the news media continually blasts at us.

Things such as "health care, Cap & Trade, the Afghan war, bank failures and unemployment percentages." And, as far as "trust/confidence" is concerned, the constant updates on the affairs of Tiger Woods serves here also. That's just a few that came readily to mind & fitting to our thoughts here. I see these as things that both involve "trust" and are things that seemingly matter greatly to a lot of people.

When you look at those "things" in the news that I just mentioned, aren't they the sort of "things" that people put a lot of trust in? They "trust" the government to take care of them. They "trust" in their riches and "trust" in the banking institutions to protect it for them. A lot of them "trusted" in their jobs and have since found that "trust" to have been misplaced. In that regard, the latest numbers being reported is three million now unemployed. And how about poor old Tiger? Is it just me or do you see infidelity as being a breach of "trust?"

You know, we're going way out on a limb when we place our "trust" in other human beings, aren't we? I don't care if it's huge entities like governments or corporations or just individuals, I believe that we put a lot more confidence in them than we should. "Confidence" is a good word to use in this regards. In reality, that's what we're doing when we "trust" our worldly things to others. Saying that we're "confident" that they're worthy of our "trust."

I'd like to remind you of something said in God's Word that directly relates to what we're talking about here. Before I cite it to you, I'd also like to remind you of a phrase spoken by President Reagan in regards to the signing of a nuclear treaty with Russia: "Trust but verify." The passage from the Bible I'm going to give you now is found in Psalm 118:8-9, but I'd appreciate it if you "trust" what I'm writing here, but "verify" that I'm correct in my citation of it.

"It is better to put trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes."

I think that you can easily see that the words "man" and "princes" in that passage would cover both the areas of businesses/individuals and government. Now let's carry our thoughts on over from the secular side to the spiritual. In the secular, we're only talking about our earthly "things." A misplaced "trust" there can only cost us materially.

But, when it comes to "religion." When it comes to the eternal salvation of our "most precious commodity" - our soul, do you really want to place your "trust," your "confidence" in what some person or "religious entity" tells you is what God wants you to do? In this realm we can also use Pres. Reagan's advice and "verify" IE: STUDY God's Word ourselves and see if what we're being told is correct and sufficient to our "trust."

I'm reminded of an old TV show emceed by Groucho Marx entitled "You Bet Your Life." Think about it a moment - "trusting" your soul to what someone other than God says is the same as "betting your eternal life" on that person. I don't know about you, but I see that as the most serious wager a person can make.

If you want to think of it in the nature of wagering, wouldn't you want to "bet" the home of your eternal soul on "a sure thing?" And, I think we've already seen that, when speaking of earthly beings and entities, there is no sure thing in this world. There is no "sure" place wherein to place our "trust and confidence." Just like the Psalmist said, (in paraphrase) "you can't bet (trust) in another person or entity of higher power."

There is only one place we can place our "trust" for the salvation of our souls and that's in the One who gave us them to begin with. (Eccl. 12:7) There is only One place where we can have "confidence" that if we "trust AND obey" our soul is assured of its home with God for eternity. We can have the same "confidence" shown by the Apostle Paul when he said in 2Tim. 1:12 "...for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."

Well, I guess that, as long as we're breathing this earth's air, we have to "use" the businesses and governments of our world with our "material" lives, but never forget that these things are only temporal (limited by time) in nature. We may not have a choice in some of these earthly entities, BUT, when it comes to things "eternal" we do have a choice. And we had better make sure that we place our "trust and confidence" in the only One worthy of it.

Allow me to tie two more Bible passages together for you as a way of closing our thoughts today. Again we turn to the Psalmist for these passages.

            "Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him." (Psa. 2:12)

And then

            "Those who trust in the Lord are as secure as Mount Zion; they

              will not be defeated but will endure forever." (Psa. 125:1)

Ron Covey

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Many Invited, Few Chosen

Michaele and Tareq Salahi made headlines recently when they attended a state dinner on the White House South Lawn in honor of the prime minister of India . According to Secret Service Direction Mark Sullivan, the Salahis should have been prohibited from entering the dinner that was given by President Barack Obama.  Why?  Their names were not on the guest list!

Although the Salahis insist they were invited, White House officials state they were not.  The incident is under investigation.

Keith Wishum recently related these news items to a much more important "DINNER"…

Jesus compared God's kingdom to a wedding party thrown by a king for his son (see Matthew 22:1-14). Jesus shocked people accustomed to the idea that only the chosen could enter God's kingdom by suggesting that God has invited EVERYONE to sit at His table. "Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find," were the instructions from the king (22:9).

Yet, even in this story, there are requirements. When the king spotted a guest not properly dressed, he asked, "Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?" (22:12).

The guest had no explanation, implying that garments were available. So, the king ordered, "Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (22:13).

Apparently, it matters to God that we be appropriately attired to be His guest… *

So, how can WE enter the Kingdom of God and sit at His table?  What is the proper attire to be admitted to such a grand, eternal occasion?

We must be CLOTHED WITH CHRIST and added to the official "guest" list – the Lamb's Book of Life (Revelation 20:12, 15).

Our sins disqualify us from entering the kingdom (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10).  
But Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for our sins (Ephesians 1:7).  When we place our faith in Him (Acts 16:30-31), turn from our sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized into Christ (Acts 2:38; Galatians 3:27), then our sins are washed away by His blood, we are "clothed with Christ" (Galatians 3:27), and our names are added to the Lamb's Book of Life (Philippians 4:3).  Then we must continue to follow Christ faithfully lest our names be "blotted out" of the Book of Life (Revelation 3:5).

Keith Wishum has correctly stated: "God has invited ALL to his table. He has even provided the proper clothing. It's up to us to put on Christ so we may be qualified to enjoy the banquet."  For Jesus Himself said, "Many are invited, but few are chosen" (Matthew 22:14).

Won't YOU accept His invitation and be clothed with Christ?

David A. Sargent, Minister

 

No heat coming from furnace

Fixing the Problem For the past several weeks I have been sitting at work in a cold office.  The heater worked well last winter and I could not figure out why it would not work at all this winter.  I set the thermostat high and every morning walk into my office hoping that it has kicked on.  Sadly, it never has.  When Joe Watson came in today to look at why our heater was not working, it took him all of about five seconds to discover we had the vent turned off.  That's right, turned off. I don't remember ever turning it off, but it probably would not have hurt to look. This is not one of my most brilliant moments (sadly it has lasted about a month).  In fact I am sure no one reading this article will be too impressed with my great intellect. Actually, I am trying to figure out why I have decided to share this story with you all.  I guess because there is a lesson to be learned from this not so brilliant report.  See, it did me no good to simply have a heater in my office.  If I do not turn it on then it is just a waist of money and space.  I can hope for it to have a good effect and warm my freezing fingers but as long as it remains turned of it remains useless. My brain laps caused some uncomfortable mornings in the office and a little embarrassment; however, there are millions who make a similar mistake with much graver consequences. Most families in this country own a Bible.  They expect it to have a good result in their lives.  Sadly, that Bible stays closed too often.  It is foolish to leave a Bible unread and unstudied.  The Bible has information that can see us through this life and lead us into the next.  The Bible possesses the message that can save the souls of mankind. Yet if unread it is useless. I suppose that I am not the only one that should be embarrassed. This embarrassment does not have to last forever; my office is now warm and comfortable.  As silly as it was for me to sit in a cold office with the heater turned off it would have been much for foolish for me to remain in that condition after it was brought to my attention.  If your Bible has not been read and studied; don't be foolish but fix the problem.    --Garrett Bookout

 

Using our time and our talents for The Lord

 

 

As I've mentioned before, many times I'm listening to the radio, watching TV or reading the newspaper or a book and something catches my attention that causes me to say, "hey, that would be an interesting thought for an editorial-type lesson. And, as also mentioned before, many times these items are not enough on their own to merit a "whole" editorial, but could be combined with other small items to teach several lessons in one editorial space. Today is just such a situation. Allow me to share a few little short, and I hope worthwhile, thoughts with you that I've saved up.

The first little lesson deals with how we use our time and our talents for The Lord. And, I'll tell you my inspiration for this topic came from a TV show about "big machines" on one of the Discovery channels. While watching a giant "earth moving" machine at work I was amazed at the amount of dirt that it could move at one time. This giant earth mover will serve as an illustration for our lesson and here's how I'll do it.

This machine does exactly what it's designed to do - move large amounts of dirt in one operation. The show told how much it cost to operate this machine and the point I'm making here about the cost is, that it cost just as much to move a small amount as it does to move the amount that it's capable of. Therefore, it's a waste of time and money to not use the machine to its capabilities. What's accomplished is not what it's capable of accomplishing, yet costs as much. Do you see where we're going with this?

Every one of us is endowed (designed, if you will) with some ability/s. God expects us to use those abilities to the degree that we're capable of. Some have more ability than others, some less, but the principle remains the same - do what you can. You're not required to do something that you can't do or are not capable of, but when we don't use an ability to the degree that we are able, we're just like that giant earth mover only moving a little bit of dirt. We're not accomplishing what we have the capability of accomplishing and the effort (cost) will have been wasted because we didn't do what God expects us to do with the ability/s He's given us.

Our second lesson came to me via all of the news seen and heard in the last few weeks in both the newspapers and on TV. It's pretty obvious isn't it, that there must be an election coming up in the next few months because we see a lot of "posturing" by the various politicians on all stages of politics, especially in our local area. In considering this political situation an interesting concept crept into my little brain. One that I thought interesting enough to share with you today.

"The Concept." Suppose a member of the church had to "run for office," as in, run for membership each year. IE: Run for re-election every year. Isn't that an interesting thought? Now here's the "kicker" of this concept/thought - you're "re-election" depended on what you had done for The Lord in your "last term." This, in turn, begets the question - How would you make your campaign speech? Could you safely say, "My record speaks for itself" and then trust that you have God's vote?

Interesting thought, isn't it? Especially when you realize that God is keeping our "record" on file in what He calls the "Book of Life." (Rev. 20:12)

My next thought stems from my visit to Gettysburg National Monument back in May of this year. What an awe-inspiring event. In truth, it was almost over-whelming to a person's "normal" senses. I'll use the word "normal" here to illustrate my thoughts in this lesson. Let me just first provide you with a little scene-setting. Gettysburg was a three-day battleground that is conceded by historians as being the turning point of the Civil War. A battle that encompassed an area of about 24 square miles all around and in the town with the loss of over 50,000 casualties. In my mind, if there is such a thing as "hallowed ground" on this earth, Gettysburg certainly qualifies.

Now, let me get back to "normal senses." Before we toured the actual battlefield, Carolyn & I attended the presentation in the theater in both movie form and following that, a "virtual depiction" of the entire battle as if one were standing in the very middle of it. This is a very moving and emotional experience and you could easily observe this in the behavior and demeanor of our fellow viewers. All except for one of them and she serves me as the catalyst for this thought.

As we were filing out of the theater, having just left the "virtual battle" and seeing the horror of that battle and hearing the narrator tell about the tremendous loss of life, a teenage girl walking beside me and her family said, and I quote: "This is soooo boring. I'm soooo bored." You'll be proud of me as I held back and kept my mouth shut and didn't tell her what I thought of her comments, but you can probably guess what my thoughts were at that moment.

Here's how I tie in her comments to a spiritual lesson. I think her attitude is indicative of a lot of people, not just teenagers, today. They are "bored" with religion. They want excitement. They want to be entertained. Is it any wonder that many "religious entities" today cater to that way of thinking? IE: Don't talk about boring old stuff like Jesus and His death, burial and resurrection. Don't talk about God's love and His blessings on mankind. That's just sooooo boring.

Rather, show movies, play games or have band performances with music in the arrangement of the rock/rap genre of today. Let this pass for a "worship service" and we won't be bored and God will except it. I mean, I'm here in a "church building" and not out committing crimes so God will say I'm OK. At least I'm being "religious" and best of all - I'm not bored.

I have about as much patience with that "religious" attitude as I had with the teenage girl at Gettysburg, but I AM saying something here. I don't think God looks favorably upon those who consider the sacrifice of His "only begotten Son" on the cross for the sins of mankind "boring."

Closing thought/lesson: My wife (and many others) love to mess with genealogy. To find their ancestors and everything they can learn about them. That's OK, nothing wrong with knowing who your ancestors are and where they came from, but I ran across this little saying a while back about genealogy that I'm going to give you as a closing thought for today.

"It may be satisfying to know who your ancestors were; but it's more important to know what your descendants are going to be."

I say - AMEN!

Ron Covey

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sticking to it

 

 

For our editorial thought today I'd like to discuss the idea with you of "sticking to it." The idea of "persevering" in an endeavor with the endeavor being living a Christian life and serving, as faithfully as we're able, the cause of Christ. And, in the furtherance of this effort I'm going to cite an example from the Bible and also a few secular illustrations that I hope will help get the point of the lesson across.

Interestingly enough, the English word "perseverance" is only used one time in the entire Bible and that being in Eph. 6:18 where Paul is teaching a lesson on the constancy of prayer. But, the idea of "perseverance" is found throughout the Bible and is seen in words like "steadfastness" (Col. 2:5), "constant" (1Chr. 28:7) and even in the phrase "singleness of heart" as used in Acts 2:46 and Eph. 6:5. All of these uses and meanings are talking about one thing - being constant & steadfast in our service to God. Persevering in our belief in the promises of God.

Being a "persevering" person is a fairly easy thing to do when all is going well, isn't it? But, as we know all too well in this life, things don't always go that well, do they? We have trials come upon us in various forms and fashions that have a tendency to test our faith. Storms that hit us that prove how steadfast and sure our foundation really is. It's at these times that we have to "persevere." We have to be "steadfast" and have "singleness of heart" in being faithful and true to Christ.

Back in the Old Testament, we find God's worker, Nehemiah, tasked by God with rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. This was not an easy job and Nehemiah labored for a long time at it. You can follow this story by reading the first six chapters of Nehemiah and you'll read there that he faced a lot of adversity in building this wall.

Enemies of God's people didn't like the fact that they were back and fortifying the city. They began a campaign to stop the construction, first by ridiculing the efforts of Nehemiah and the people. One of them (Tobiah) went so far as to say that it was so weak that it would collapse if a fox ran across it. As if to say, why persist in an endeavor that seems useless.

When the ridiculing didn't work, they then tempted Nehemiah to stop his work and take a rest and meet with them to discuss the work. He didn't stop, but rather persevered on. When threats of violence and fighting came from the consortium of enemies that didn't halt the work either. The workers just armed themselves and kept right on building. Even the spreading of vicious and untruthful rumors didn't deter Nehemiah from his duty. He remained steadfast and constant. He persevered.

That's our Biblical example for our topic, so now let's look at a few secular examples of perseverance that I think all can relate to and see a parabolic type lesson.

The first one takes us back to the 1870's and a conversation between the Bishop of a denominational church's area and the President of a small religious college located in the Bishop's area of oversight. On one of his visits, the Bishop told the president that everything that can be invented has been. The President disagreed and said that, "In 50 years people will learn to fly like birds." The Bishop's reply to this was: "Flight is reserved for birds and angels and you Sir, are guilty of blasphemy!"

What's interesting about this little conversation is, first the Bishop's name was Milton Wright. And the second is, that he had two sons named Orville and Wilbur. From history we know that they were not discouraged from their belief and endeavors by the attitude of their father. To see their perseverance look at the industry that they helped pioneer.

The name DeWitt Wallace probably won't mean anything to most of you, but his perseverance in something he believed in resulted in something that is certainly familiar to all of us. See, he had the idea for a magazine comprised of a collection of condensed articles. He proposed his idea to several publishers and no one was interested.

About this time he met and married a lady by the name of Lila Bell Acheson and she encouraged him to keep pursuing his magazine idea. He mailed letters to potential subscribers and then he and Lila went on their honeymoon. When they returned they found a bunch of letters from people interested in subscribing to his magazine so he and Lila put out Vol. 1, Number 1 in February of 1922. Since that time their little magazine has grown to become the best-selling magazine in the world and is printed in 21 different languages - The Reader's Digest.

Our last secular illustration shows us again how perseverance in a belief pays off. A man by the name of Fred Smith attended Yale University and wrote a paper in his management class proposing the concept of starting a reliable overnight delivery service. His professor returned his paper to him with the following notation on it: "The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible."

I see this as similar to the consortium of kings opposing Nehemiah as if saying: don't waste your time on a useless endeavor. Or, Bishop Wright's ridiculing of the school Principle's idea that man would someday fly. Or, the publishers' rejection of DeWitt Wallace's concept of a new magazine. Waste of time and effort. Oh, by the way, Fred Smith started a little business called FedEx.

The lesson: we've got to persevere, be steadfast and have singleness of heart in what we believe in - the salvation of man through the Gospel of Christ.

Ron Covey

Self-Control

 

       Many people watched in horror yesterday as the Florida Panthers goalie, Tomas Vokoun, was slashed in the head by his own teammate, Keith Ballard, after giving up a goal.  As a result, Vokoun had to be put on a stretcher and taken to the hospital.  Thankfully, Vokoun only suffered a laceration above his ear, which required several stitches, but no major damage was done.  After watching this misfortunate event, it is quite obvious this was an accident and Keith Ballard was not trying to hurt his goalie in any way.  It appears Ballard was trying to strike the pole and inadvertently hit his own goalie (See Video Here).  However, accident or not, Ballard's lack of self-control led to a terrible decision which resulted in a tragedy.
       There are so many situations within competition where people seem to lose self-control and slam a racket down, throw a golf club, smash a baseball bat down, throw or kick a ball away from everyone else, and many others.  We have all probably done this at one point or another, myself included, but what a terrible attitude this really is.  What does this really say about us?  Is the game we are playing really worth being this angry about?  Even though it was an accident, because Ballard lost all self-control and decided to lash out in anger, he ended up taking out his own teammate.
       How would we feel if our lack of self-control lead to the hurting of someone else, or the falling away of a member?  While it is natural to feel somewhat upset when a situation does not go as planned, how we react is a completely different story.  Self-control is a very important Christian trait (1 Corinthians 9:25; Galatians 5:23; 2 Timothy 3:3; Titus 1:8; 2 Peter 1:6; etc).  Let's always strive to have better self-control over our feelings, actions, and reactions to all situations.  People are watching, so let's make sure they can see Christ in us.

 

--Brett Petrillo

 

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