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    And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.”     Luke 24:51    In the early days of Jesus’ ministry, what did the disciples think of Him? They could tell He was a wise man by His teachings. They could tell He was a special man by His miracles. They didn’t always understand the teachings or the miracles. There was yet another big leap of faith that would have to take. Jesus is more than man. He is God. This teaching began at the Transfiguration; when man was granted just a glimpse of the glory that was His. His Cross is the door by which every member of the human race can enter into the life of God; by His Resurrection He has the right to give eternal life to any man, and by His Ascension Our Lord enters heaven and keeps the door open for humanity. On the Mount of Ascension the Transfiguration is completed. If Jesus had gone to heaven from the Mount of Transfiguration, He would have gone alone; He would have been nothing more to us than a glorious Figure. But He turned His back on the glory, and came down […]

My Dad died about a year ago. We have now been through that difficult first year of holidays and events without Dad: first Christmas, first basketball season. I was not present at the moment of his death, but I recall vividly the process. He was ill and fading for many weeks. By the time God took him he was more than ready and so was the exhausted family. I think as Christians we don’t so much fear death as the process. In the back of our minds we have concern that we will not handle it well. Will we lose faith or courage? Will it be painful? This evening at 6 in our Fearless series at Amana we will discuss Fear of Life’s Final Moments. I think it will be helpful to just about anyone. Even if you have come completely to terms with your demise, I know you know folks who have not. Please join us. \And those who missed on Mother’s Day evening, we missed you;; we understand and look forward to seeing you again tonight. Be blessed. Nick

. . . you may be partakers of the divine nature . . . —2 Peter 1:4 It is ridiculous for anyone in this country to complain about a lack of provision or to feel needy. The least of us are rich when compared with almost everyone else in the word. Further, as Children of God our provision is unlimited. One of our problems is our vision and circles are so narrow. When we compare our circumstances with the owner of the nearest mansion, we feel deprived. We don’t live in that mansion nor are we aware of the misery and lack that might reside therein. I grew up in a financially poor family. My folks had nine children. We didn’t own a car until after I graduated from high school. Yet my memories of my childhood are rich. At Christmas,  I remember how grateful we were for the one present we got to pick from the Sears catalog. Our parents raised successful children who, in general, love and serve God and who grew up to be good parents to their children.  We talk as if our heavenly Father has cut us off without a penny! We think it is a […]

. . . that you may know what is the hope of His calling . . . —Ephesians 1:18 How is the life of Jesus manifest in us? It is evidenced by how we live. How we deal with the adversity of life. How we are changed. You did not do anything to achieve your salvation, but you must do something to exhibit it. You must “work out your own salvation” which God has worked in you already ( Philippians 2:12  ). Are your speech, your thinking, and your emotions evidence that you are working it “out”? If you are still the same miserable, grouchy person, set on having your own way, then it is a lie to say that God has saved and sanctified you. God is the Master Designer, and He allows adversities into your life to see if you can jump over them properly We are here to submit to His will so that He may work through us what He wants. Once we realize this, He will make us broken bread and poured-out wine with which to feed and nourish others. What is God trying to work through us this day? We can know it by the apparent adversity we face. How […]

. . . that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body —2 Corinthians 4:10 With God there is always more. We may have come to Him after we recognized what a mess we have made of our lives and we want a second chance. We may be concerned that our lives of sin have taken us so far away from Him that hell is our destination. It is certainly true that God wants to save us. He wants our lives to be better. He had a better plan for us than we did. He wants us to live with Him forever. But He wants more for us. “We have to develop godly habits to express what God’s grace has done in us. It is not just a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved so that “the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” – We skim over those parts of the gospels that talk about Christ in us and being part of His Body. Our eternal purpose begins now. It should have begun long ago. We are here for a purpose and that purpose is to manifest Christ […]

. . . strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men —Acts 24:16 I have no trouble getting to sleep at night. It’s a nightly battle for Rosemary. I tell her  the secret is a clear conscience. This irritates her to no end and is, of course, completely unfair on my part. She responds that for me it’s a lack of conscience, a bit tough on her part. The truth is conscience is subjective. It’s not the same for everyone, but it should be. Conscience is that ability within me that attaches itself to the highest standard I know, and then continually reminds me of what that standard demands that I do. It is the eye of the soul which looks out either toward God or toward what we regard as the highest standard. This explains why conscience is different in different people. If I am in the habit of continually holding God’s standard in front of me, my conscience will always direct me to God’s perfect law and indicate what I should do. The question is, will I obey? Much of the world is in trouble because it has accepted a lesser standard than God. […]

If these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful . . . —2 Peter 1:8 God seems to enjoy surprising us. We should never expect the expected. Rose and I have been looking forward to these days in New Orleans. She came down with a virus the first night and has not been able to leave the room. This has not been what we expected. It is not always easy to make “the best” out of what does come or to be as flexible as God apparently wants us to be.  We are certainly creatures of habit. We are comfortable with the expected. The unexpected throws us off our rhythm. We need to learn to love the excitement of the unexpected. It’s really a matter of our sense of control. We have habits because we like to be in control of our schedule as much as we like control of everything else.   Your god may be your little Christian habit— the habit of prayer or Bible reading at certain times of your day. Watch how your Father will upset your schedule if you begin to worship your habit instead of what the habit symbolizes. We […]

. . . add to your . . . brotherly kindness love —2 Peter 1:5, 7 I have love on the mind this morning. I awake in New Orleans with my wife celebrating our 40th anniversary by spending a couple of days in our favorite hotel. It is instructive to compare our love now, after 40 years, to our love back then. New love is clearly blind. Our euphoria over being in love overcomes our good sense. We can see only the positives and imagine that the feelings will last “forever.” Somehow I think that is all part of God’s wonderful plan. If we didn’t have those feelings and enthusiasm, if we weren’t blinded by “love” and naive in thinking things will stay the same forever, we would probably never commit to a lifetime with another. But as those “feelings” mature over the years, they become more permanent and, indeed, more wonderful. Our love grows deeper and becomes based less on physical things and more on the entire person, the wonder of the whole gift our partner is to us. Added to that are the wonderful generations of children, grand children and greats. It is as if the newness of […]