I Believe In Miracles

John 4:43-54 (KJV)  Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee. For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country. Then when he was come into Galilee, the Galilaeans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast. So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum.  When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth. Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house. This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judaea into Galilee.

The Scriptures say much about the miracles that Jesus did.  The Scripture reading for the devotional tells us about the second miracle that Jesus did.  The first is well known: the turning of the water into wine.  The second miracle, the healing of the nobleman’s son, is only recorded here in the Gospel According to John.  It is an amazing account of the power of the Son of God, and it contains some teaching on the kind of faith in Him we are to have.  We need to believe in the Power of the Son, the Miracle-working Christ.

We find in this passage an imperfect faith and a gracious Savior. Our text says “after two days He departed from there.”  This is referring to His preaching to the Samaritan woman at the well, who learned from Jesus that He was the Messiah.  She went and told her neighbors of Him, and we are told that many came to faith in Him.  Now, He is leaving Samaria, and going into Galilee.  The Jews as a whole didn’t like Galilee.  That had a proverb, “can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  Nazareth of course, was by the Sea of Galilee.  They held it in contempt.  But Jesus loves these people; the high and mighty of the Jews may not have loved Galilee, but Jesus clearly did.  Our Lord graces them with another visit, and in a while after arriving, He graces them with the performing of a second miracle, the first having been when He was at the wedding there in Cana, where He turned the water into wine.

While He was there, a nobleman comes to Him, desperate.  Who wouldn’t be for their child?  Is there anything that would make anyone more desperate than a sick child?  But the man’s faith wasn’t all it should have been; so Jesus tells Him.  Jesus says to Him “unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”  It is a weak faith that has to have everything proved to it, isn’t it?  Faith is about trusting God when you aren’t given a sign.  Faith is about believing when it seems impossible to believe.  Receiving “signs and wonders” is not the aim we ought to have.

John Chrysostom, an ancient preacher, noted that when Jesus told him that, it should have been enough; clearly, something wonderful was about to happen. But the man still didn’t believe: He said, “sir, come down ere my son will die.”

Nonetheless, Jesus graciously healed the man, and healed the son, but He made it clear that He ought to be believed, even without the doing of miracles.  The man left for home, and his servants came out and told him his son was better: and he found out that the son improved instantly at the moment Jesus spoke the word.  The man now believed on Jesus. (vs. 53)

This miracle says of Jesus: He is God, and He is to be believed.  It shows that Jesus is more than a mere prophet, and He is more than just a Man.  He is the God-Man.

If we cannot accept the miraculous, we cannot accept the Gospel. If you struggle in your faith and can’t believe the miraculous, then the whole Gospel is something you cannot believe.  Because the Gospel itself is miraculous: Jesus Christ, died on the Cross, and was raised from the dead.  That is pure miracle.  We have to accept the miraculous if we want to accept the Good News.  We have to have faith.

As Hebrews 11:6  reminds us, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” How is your faith?  Some have said that the purpose of this passage is to call us to great faith in Jesus Christ, whatever our circumstances, whatever our lot in life, whatever we find ourselves going through, to believe and keep believing on Him.  If we truly love Him, we are going to serve Him and believe on Him no matter what is happening to us or around us, miracles or no miracles.

Do miracles still happen today? The teaching of a great many in the Church down through the years has been that many of the apostolic gifts ended with the death of the Apostles.  That is, the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, like speaking in tongues, spontaneous healing, the ability to survive snakes, poison, etc. ended with the death of the last apostle.  Is it so?  I don’t believe I can say with authority yes or no.  There are people who claim to have the ability to heal and do miracles who are just plain charlatans, no doubt.  But God can do what He wants, when He wants, and we know that He can work through His people. In humility and humble faith, I confess that I believe all the miracles of the Bible to be true, and as for today, I believe that miracles can happen when God want them to happen.  But do we have to have them?

That is the question we ought to ask! Do we have to have someone work a miracle for us in order to believe the Truth about Jesus Christ? C.S. Lewis the great English Christian wrote in his book entitled Miracles that God is not random when He allows a miracle to happen, and that most of us will live our entire lives without witnessing one.  Lewis went on to say was that miracles always seem to happen most often when there are great events happening in history, such as when there were heroic missionaries, apostles, and martyrs.  In other words, miracles seem to happen most when the Christian faith is alive and vibrant, and when the blood of many believers is being shed in persecution.  If you really want to see a miracle, then maybe you will have to live in a time like that, he wrote.  Do we want that?  Most really don’t.

Maybe we won’t witness a miracle until our faith exceeds that of the nobleman in this passage, or until the tide of persecution rises and puts our own lives in jeopardy and danger.  Either way, I think we are not to go looking for miracles or special favors, but to trust God through “thick and thin.”  We do not want the rebuke that Jesus gave to the nobleman “you will not believe except you see signs and wonders” to be true of us!

©Baptist Parson, 2009. All rights reserved.

The Briefing Library: Seven Principles of Prayer

The Briefing Library: Seven Principles of Prayer

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Another Poll

Great quote from Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry (1662-1714) is well known for his extensive commentary on the whole Bible. Pastors and laypeople alike consult him.

A lesser known book is his The Communicant’s Companion, a volume of meditations on receiving Communion at one’s church. It bears the marks of a writing style that has passed out of favor with the world, but I still like it. I expect it can still be found in used bookstores from time to time.Getting ready for Communion is an important exercise for Christians. The Apostle Paul tells us to “examine ourselves,” and a work like Henry’s is a useful tool for that spiritual discipline.

Here’s the quote:

“We ought to be in the fear of the LORD every day, and all the day long, for He is our strict observer wherever we are, and will be the judge of all persons and actions, by whose unerring sentence our eternal state will be decided; but in a special manner ‘He is to be feared in the assembly of his saints,’ and to be ‘had in reverence of all them that are about Him,’ and the nearer we approach Him, the more reverent we should be. Angels that always behold God’s face, see cause to cover their own.’”

I really like that last line: “Angels that always behold God’s face, see cause to cover their own.”

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers, and make us more humble before You.

©Baptist Parson, 2009. All rights reserved.

Birds of the Cincinnati Zoo, II

This is a snowy egret. It was perched on a zoo worker’s hand, and flexed its wings right as I snapped.

Here is an adjutant stork. I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but this is not a particularly attractive bird.Their numbers are diminishing world-wide. There are actually two subsets of this stork: the lesser and the greater, and I’m not sure which I got here. I didn’t get to look closely at the placard.

Here is another cardinal. Hey, I just happen to like the state bird.

All images ©Baptist Parson, 2009. All rights reserved.

Independence Day

Deuteronomy 10:17-21  For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:  (18)  He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.  (19)  Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.  (20)  Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.  (21)  He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.

Matthew 5:43-48  Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.  (44)  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;  (45)  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.  (46)  For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?  (47)  And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?  (48)  Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

O Eternal God, through whose mighty power our fathers won their liberties of old; Grant, we beseech thee, that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain these liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

(From the 1928 Book of Common Prayer)

Birds of the Cincinnati Zoo, Part I

This is a first of a two part posting on some of the really neat birds I saw at our church trip to the Cincinnati Zoo. We had a large group to go on June 30, and everyone had a really good time. I only saw a fraction of the birds they have. A return trip will be necessary!

A Cardinal…ok, not all that exotic, but this one was not as camera shy as the one who is always at the Good Morning Farm.

A red-crowned crane, a rare crane from Asia. These really are interesting birds, and they figure prominently in Asian myths and legends.

Peafowl were ubiquitous. They were looking for handouts. This one is an Indian peacock. Did you know they are the national bird of India? As with the Red Crowned Crane and Chinese legends, this bird is important in Indian legend and myths. I remember I once had to play one in a school play. Hard to believe, huh? It was a Christmas play, and my line was “My ancestors were in the palaces of kings, but I would much rather be in the stable with this King.” Or something to that effect. I believe that my feathers were made of green posterboard. Peafowl have one of the most unnerving calls you will ever hear–they sound like a person screaming to me.

Some specimens of Greater Flamingos. The American flamingo is a deeper “pink” color than these are, as a quick look at this link will show. These are noisy birds, too. They honk, sort of like geese.

The diversity at this zoo was astounding. The variety of plant life alone (it is a botanical garden, too) made for an amazing day, but add in the sights and sounds of the animals, and it was really something to behold.

The Scriptures teach us about the creation of the birds:

Genesis 1:20  And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21  And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22  And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 23  And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Images © Baptist Parson, 2009. All rights reserved.

Why Worry?

A paraphrase of I Corinthians 7:32 can read, “I do not want you to be anxious.”  Anxiety is not part of God’s plan for the believer’s life. Are you anxious about anything?  Someone compiled this list of statistics about worry, have you seen it? “An Average Person’s Anxiety Is Focused On…40%—things that will never happen; 30%—things about the past that can’t be changed; 12%—things about criticism by others, mostly untrue; 10%—about health, which gets worse with stress; 8%—about real problems that will be faced” (Source: www.bible.org, “Sermon Illustrations: Worry, Anxiety”).

The Bible addresses human worry in strong terms.  Jesus called worry a lack of faith. And a lack of faith is called sin in the Bible.  “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Hebrews 11:6) By implication, to worry is to sin against God. And yet, even knowing this, we do it too much of the time!  A big source of our worry is “thinking too much about tomorrow.”  But listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 6:34, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Now, your mind might race to the fact that we all have to plan and give some thought to what comes next.  Planning for tomorrow is not condemned. In fact, the Bible even commends it: “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.” (Proverbs 6:6-8)

So we have to learn the difference between “planning” and “being anxious.”  A word study might help.  Anxiety comes from the Greek word merimnao, which means “to be troubled with cares”.

Sometimes we worry about the past.  We should learn from the past, but not let it control us in the present.  St. Paul wrote, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.” Progress is mighty hard if you never do anything but look in the rear-view mirror.

Worry is never presented as a solution in the Bible for the Christian. We can live without anxiety, as Paul said. How? How is this possible? Consider Philippians 4:6, “Be careful (anxious) for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” We are counseled to replace worry with “prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, bringing our requests to God.” The biggest enemy that worry has is a consistent, structured, ordered prayer life. And the way we get that kind of prayer life is by a deliberate act of our will, making the time to do it every day, day in and day out. We say we do not have time to pray and read the Bible. Yet we make time to worry!  And we make time to eat! And we make time to sleep! And we make time for the things we enjoy!  We have to make time and take time to pray and read the Bible as an act of our prayer.  It requires an act of our will, just like everything else in life.

African-American Methodist pastor and hymn writer Charles A. Tindley was once visited by a fellow who was a constant worrier.  Out of that exchange came the song, “Leave it There,” whose first stanza says,

“If the world from you withhold of its silver and its gold, And you have to get along with meager fare, Just remember, in His Word, how He feeds the little bird; Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.”

These are good words!

©Baptist Parson, 2009. All rights reserved.

Late “Truck Patches” and Gardening by the “Signs”

Down in West Kentucky where the Parson is originally from, if you put out a late garden, that was known as a “truck patch.” I got my “truck patch” planted very early Tuesday morning:  more okra plants, squash, zucchini, and two rows of corn and “white half runners,” a green bean variety.I had waited so long because the almanac stated that June 23-25 were the best days since the first of the month (because the “signs” are correct) for planting corn, squash, and beans. Now, I’m not superstitious, mind you, but there is something to using the “signs” as they are called by old-timers to plant your garden.

My grandfather was the most devout Baptist deacon you would ever meet in your life, but he “believed in the signs” as he put it, and gardened by them faithfully.

A little background on the “truck patch” terminology, in case you are unfamiliar: the first garden planted by a rural, southern family was for the family’s own use and consumption. The late garden was a “truck patch” because it would be loaded up and taken to market via truck to bring in a little cash.

That little bit of lingo makes me stop and realize how different the sections of Kentucky are from one another. There are pronounced differences in Kentucky in language and even culture, depending on which section you are in.

Kentucky has five physiographical regions: Bluegrass, Outer Bluegrass, Pennyrile, Western Coalfields, Eastern Coalfields. Each of these “regions” within the state has its own cultural differences and styles.

You can access a map showing each region here.

My relatives think anything east of Lexington is so steep that a billygoat can’t climb it. Wrong, of course, but their mental images persist, despite my telling them otherwise.  I don’t know how many people I know from the Jackson Purchase have asked me how I like living in the “mountains.” I just smile and say “just fine.” I used to try to explain, but I finally just gave up. It is easier than explaning that there are no mountains in our county, or really anywhere near us.

I was thinking the other day that there is probably nowhere in the state that considers itself more “southern” than the folks in the Jackson Purchase at the far end of the state, though. There, you can get some of the finest BBQ you will ever eat, practically everybody knows how to deep fry okra, and you can even find cotton growing along the Mississippi River. You can get deep fried catfish that is done up “right,” and you can find lots of folks who grow peanuts in their garden…something you won’t find in the outer bluegrass.

Nobody will blink if you speak with a drawl there, or say things like

• “It’s turned plumb hot outside”
• Or if you talk about wanting to let your store bought cookies “get in order” before you eat them.  (Some folks like to let their store bought cookies get soft, or “in order” before they eat them…don’t ask me why.)
• Tobacco that is ready to be “stripped” gets “in order”  in West Kentucky, too. In the Outer Bluegrass, it gets “in case.” And, you “put up” tobacco in Graves County…in Fleming County, you “house” it.
• “Let me carry you out for dinner”–which means “Let me take you out for supper.”

Folk in the Outer Bluegrass will probably stare at you if you talk like that. Of course, you can drive 60 miles from here into the Eastern coalfields, and you’ll hear people talking about eating “chicken laigs.” Or, having “aigs” for breakfast. So, the lingo is different depending on wherever you are in Kentucky.

Here in the “outer bluegrass,” I don’t know if anybody besides me is growing a “late truck patch” or not–but I do know some folks who might haul their late produce to market in the “boot” of their car…that’s something you never heard tell of in Western Kentucky.

©Baptist Parson, 2009. All rights reserved.

Happenings around the nation…

While the Southern Baptist Convention is going on, so is a convention of conservative Anglicans (Episcopalians) down in Bedford, TX. A new, conservative and orthodox church is being formed out of the wreckage of the radically liberal Episcopal Church, and the several groups who have broken away from that denomination over the years. These varying groups are now coming together under one banner–it is good to see this happen–any time the Scriptures are upheld as God’s Word, and authoritative for today, we can rejoice!

The keynote speaker for Tuesday is Dr Rick Warren,the Baptist pastor of the Saddleback Church in California.

The man who is soon to be elected as the archbishop of this group, Bishop Bob Duncan, gave this interesting opening address on Monday. He believes that a new “Re-formation” is underway in world Christianity. I found his message very interesting, as he noted the convergence of many different parts of Christianity coming together with a renewed commitment to the authority of Scripture: the Catholic, the Evangelical, and the Pentecostal.

You can read his sermon here:

http://acnaassembly.org/index2.php/acna/page/83

©Baptist Parson, 2009.