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The world that rejects Jesus must face certain inevitabilities. Jesus had a specific plan initiated by the Father. He would not veer from it. When he left the world, those who had rejected him would seek him. They could find spiritual relief nowhere else. However, their search would be in vain. In their frustration, unbelievers try to hide their chagrin with sarcasm.
Jesus paints the eternal consequences for rejecting him in no uncertain terms. Those who set him aside will die in their sins. While rejecters insist on their innocence, in the eyes of God there is no such a position. People must believe or reject the offer made by Jesus, the Son. All of us must make the choice to believe what Jesus claims or indeed die in our sins. That is not being arrogantly exclusive; it is being graciously generous. Jn8.21-27
Studied up, prayed up, ready to bring the Word to Connection Pointe Christian Church in Brownsburg, IN. It will be my pleasure to speak once tonight and twice tomorrow. Eager!
Our seminary is building a new chapel/student center. We have been without this central facility for years. The original chapel served us well and is loaded with decades of incredible memories. However, with earthquake safety measures firmly ensconced in building inspectors’ clip boards, that building was declared unsafe. Hence, it has been locked and stands idle on our Dallas campus.
We are grateful that many donors gave generously to build a new and safe building. Part of its construction is a special beam. That steel girder has been on display for all of our employees and friends to sign with well wishes, prayers, and special Scriptures. All of us in the distant campus of Houston could not make the trip up North to add our “John Hancock” to this historic construction piece.
Our solution was to ask one of our very good and reallocated former Houston Team members to sign the beam on behalf of our entire tight knit group. He wrote the inscription, “Team Houston loves DTS. Joy! John 14.14.” We are thrilled to have our mark on this piece of Kingdom history!
Unbelievers inadvertently reveal their own guilt when trying to challenge someone who is in the truth. Jesus’ enemies asked where his father was. Jesus owns them declaring that do not know the Father since they do not accept the Son. They seethed with anger and wanted to take Jesus by force and end his life, but God’s sovereignty would not allow it. Truth stays evil as God so determines his purpose. Powerful! Jn8.19-20
A first reaction by the enemies of Jesus was to be quick to judge others, including Jesus. It was clear to Jesus that his enemies judged by human standards, guidelines that they made up themselves. In contrast, Jesus was not on earth to first pass judgement. He would eventually, and he would do so based on truth not personal opinion. In fact, all future judgment by Jesus would be in perfect harmony with the truth known by God the Father. Even in this battle of truth, I find it comforting to listen to Jesus establish his veracity. Soothing. Jn8.15-18
Houston is under a Hurricane warning. Our area is under a Tropical Storm warning. We are praying for God’s merciful hand of protection as we await Hurricane Laura to hit us Weds and Thurs. Thanks for your prayers!
The news reported that a local father is under arrest. His bond has been established at a quarter of a million dollars. What did he do? He beat his two-year-old son because the toddler over a potty-training dispute. The doctors discovered not only the fresh wounds from the latest weekend beating, but old wounds from past episodes as well. How despicable! This story was so disheartening! Bullying your own helpless child to death is in the lowest category human degradation. So very sad!
Studied up, prayed up, ready to speak in our DTS-Houston first chapel of the Fall 2020 semester tonight. Eager!
There is a reality that most of us can instinctively recognize. It is called leadership presence. Any man or woman can step in front of an audience but not everyone stirs the audience with immediate confidence. Jesus had that remarkable leadership presence. He could speak or lead and immediately win the receptivity of the average person. Enemies of Jesus, however, rejected Jesus’ leadership.
When someone chooses to be an unbeliever they choose in advance to never receive the truth even when it is clear. Hence, those who chose to be enemies of Jesus never accepted his authority. Nor would they consider the validity of anything that Jesus taught or declared. It made no difference. Nevertheless, what Jesus spoke was the truth regardless of how his enemies twisted it or rejected it. Jn8
Parking was scarce. This restaurant was getting busy. We were surrounded by lively conversation, raucous laughter, and energetic background music.
Seafood was on our minds. Together my bride and I agreed to begin our meal with an oyster appetizer for two. Neither of us could even know what number we would guess if someone asked us to estimate the number of oysters we have consumed over the years. Should someone press us, then we would laugh and just be satisfied to say, “a lot”.
We added to that number recently. The baked oysters were combined with cheese, bacon, seasoning, secret sauce, and presented on a-made-for-oyster-plate. Our feast began.
There were only six oysters on the plate. One after the other we smiled and commented on how tasty and marvelous these appetizers were to our discriminating palate. That’s when my bride seemingly ignored my comments, apparently lost in a distraction.
She grabbed her napkin and took something out of her mouth. Naturally, I asked if she was OK. Then, she stared at what she put on her napkin with a, “Look at this. What is it?”
After several stabs at some logical options, we both smiled and concluded, “It’s a pearl!” Sure it was tiny but it was the first time that we have ever discovered a pearl in any of the oysters that we have enjoyed over the years. This discovery made us laugh.
We even showed it to our waiter. He wasn’t nearly as impressed as we were. So we took a picture and placed it on the oyster serving tray.
Lost in conversation and marveling at the moment, neither of us even noticed that our dinner had arrived and the service was clearing away some of our tableware. Yup, they took the empty oyster serving tray. You guessed it, the pearl vanished while we laughed again and ate our meal.
At least we got a couple of pictures and a witness of what a wonder we discovered.
Bruce Fong's Blog 