Installment #3//Body and soul series: The gourd and the worm
When I was quoting from the book of Jonah the other day, I was intrigued by the way that Jonah rejoiced over the gourd that God prepared for him. You’ll notice that all these events and turn of events in this mission…God made preparation for. He is in control of every situation and will work things out if we let Him. Point #1.
Point #2. Jonah was up the miff tree. In other words he was miffed. Still don’t get it? He was in a pout…now you get it.
Jonah was in a pout because, well…he didn’t want to be there, he really wanted to be home with the wife and kids or failing that in Tarshish which was at the other end of the earth from Nineveh. It wasn’t the end of the world but you could see it from there. You’ve seen places like that, haven’t you?
Anyway here he was stuck in Nineveh, having great success, a 100 per cent success rate as the entire city repented at his preaching; what is wrong with this guy? Everybody got saved and he’s whining about the heat. He should have been down front at the altar praying with the new converts, after all there were one hundred and twenty thousand (120,000) of them. (I wrote that figure as well as the number so you would be more impressed.)
So God prepared a gourd to give Jonah some shade while he sulked. God thinks of everything doesn’t He? Now here is old Jonah resting on his laurels, laying back and thinking, why did God save this bunch? But oh well, might as well get some shut-eye, got a long day tomorrow, (takes three days just to get out of this place) then try to find another ship back home; not everyone was looking to take this guy on board…the last crew nearly drowned. So Jonah drifted off to sleep under the gourd. I’m getting a little ahead of the story because Jonah had made the journey by this time out of the city to the east side suburbs and built himself a booth for a shelter and then he sat down to watch God destroy the place. That’s when God made the gourd for him to give him more shade. And all the while he was whining and complaining until God prepared the gourd. He began to believe maybe he should start preaching a prosperity doctrine. Next morning, the sun comes up and surprise, surprise, surprise…during the night God had prepared a worm ( a cutworm, oh I hate those things too)and it attacked that gourd so that the gourd withered and died and no more shade for our prophet. Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor?
Actually God added a little pressure because the Bible says that He prepared (there’s that word again) a vehement east wind just as the sun arose and beat on Jonah’s head, so that he nearly fainted. In fact old Jonah felt so bad that he prayed that God would take him. Can you picture the length of Jonah’s lower lip? It must have stuck out there past his nose even. He said, “it’s better for me to die than to live.” My, my, my…can you imagine? A prophet of God should be a man of faith but he is one of the most pessimistic men I have ever heard of in all of God’s holy Word.
He had one of the most successful campaigns of any preacher in history and here he sits under a withered up gourd watching to see what was going to happen to the Ninehvites, SWEATING LIKE A STUCK…WELL YOU KNOW .
Most of us would have blamed the devil for that cutworm…but it was God who prepared it and He did it in order to bring Jonah to a place where he could see the error of his ways and repent. Yes the preacher in this case needed to repent.
God said to Jonah..look boy, you had pity on the gourd, that you never created and didn’t even make it grow. It sprang up overnight and perished overnight. Not really all that important, Jonah. Not something to build a doctrine on much less a ministry. But here are souls. Where are we placing our priorities today? Are we like Jonah laboring for our personal comfort while we watch the world go to hell? God could prepare a worm you know.
As I pondered this true Bible story of Jonah, I was somewhat convicted in my thoughts, after all I have been pretty hard on Jonah, haven’t I? Really I like old Jonah for some reason or another, I guess it’s because I’m not much different than he was. I have said no so many times when someone asked me if I would teach a Sunday school class for an example. I have said no to the pastor when he asked me to be the teacher at a cell meeting that he wanted to set up in our area. I said no when asked to sing in a choir, all too many times. I have said no when I felt a prompting to visit the sick in hospital. I have said no too many times.
The Bible says that when you know to do good and you don’t do it that to you it is sin. Sin! I am thankful for the message that Jonah brings through this book and for the lessons taught.
It has taught me to repent…just now as I write these thoughts, I am repenting, asking God to forgive me…I don’t want to be guilty of complaining or any other sin. Lord, cleanse me of every evil thought, every evil deed, for not obeying You when I should have, like holding back a word from You when You are prompting me, an utterance from the Spirit….for knowing to do good and not doing it. Thank God, He has forgiven me…I thank Him for His grace.
And as for Jonah, he got an honorable mention in the New Testament from none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. I guess he made it after all.

The ripple effect: Fisher’s of men series installment #3
Have you ever thrown a stone in the water and watched the ripples from it? Of course you have. The other day as we were fishing off the wharf in that coastal fishing village I was telling you about I observed several large ripple effects as some large sardine carriers came in to the harbor laden down with herring destined for the processing plant better known as a sardine factory. (Remember that I said the wild fishing industry was almost done and you don’t see the boats anymore? Wrong again) There must have been 5 or 6 of these sardine carriers coming into the harbor if not more. When you’re preoccupied with what you are preoccupied with (a mouthful there) sometimes you don’t see everything that’s going on around you. Now that is profound! I’ll get back to that statement (about being preoccupied).
As I said these boats were laden down with fish and were coming in to the harbor one right after another. Well, I say one after another, there were a few minutes maybe between each other, but my point is that they were creating some big waves (ripple effect). When the harvest comes, and now I am speaking of the harvesting of men’s souls…it will generate a huge ripple effect yet Jesus said that the kingdom of God does not come with signs to be observed or with visible display. Luke 17:20
He goes on to say in the next verse 21, “Nor will people say, Look! Here [it is]! Or, See, [it is ] there! For behold, the kingdom of God is within you [in your hearts] and among you [surrounding you]. Vs. 22 says And He said to the disciples, The time is coming when you will long to see [even one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see [it].” Could it be that we can be so preoccupied with our own individual lives that we will not observe what is happening in the Spirit? All around us people are being saved or touched by the Spirit but we are so preoccupied that we miss God? And could it be that we become to preoccupied with our lives that even though we may long to see one of the days of revival we might miss out?
The news media will not proclaim a revival, but when it comes there will be a ripple effect. My mind goes back about fifty years approximately. The particular church group that we belonged to was a full Gospel group, in fact that was and still is the name that they go by; the Full Gospel Assembly. The kingdom of God was in that place or I should say in the people. And there was at that time a series of meetings taking place, every night of the week except one as I recall we were in the house of God and He was pouring out His Spirit. There were over 120 young people who received the baptism of the Holy Spirit in that six week revival. Actually the meetings went on for six weeks; it was a little touch of heaven. But the ripple effect is still being felt. I felt it this morning as I talked to the Lord. I saw it day before yesterday as I attended church. There were several folks there who had received in those meetings back in 1957 and they are still going on with the Lord and being a witness for Him.
There will be revival again because there are hungry hearts and God has promised if we hunger and thirst after righteousness that He will fill us. The kingdom of God is within. You can’t see it now but you will see it. Just be faithful. The only problem with the ripple is that it diminishes as time passes. It seemed like the fishing industry got revived the other day and there was a harvest and it created a ripple effect. That is what this generation needs to see.
Our generation needs to see what a ripple effect God will make when the harvest comes. Jesus said in Matthew 9:37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest indeed is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Matthew 9:38 Pray therefore that the Lord of the harvest will send out laborers into his harvestWe are the laborers and we have the commission. What shall we do?

Installment #2 in Fishers of men//the Great commission:
You will have to forgive me if I have two series running side by side, but I have so many thoughts running through my mind sometimes I get ahead of myself, hence “body and soul” and “fishers of men”. And it goes with my nature to sometimes switch the conversation….so today it is “fishers of men” I’m also hoping that Naida will interject some of her writings in to the mix. She is such a great writer.
As a matter of fact some of you may recall Naida asking for you our readers to make this an interacting blog, a Bible discussion online. Well a few have done just that and this entry today is somewhat inspired by the comments I have received on the previous blog, especially what coffee had to say. If you haven’t availed yourself of reading his comment then do so now because it is profound,( I think.) I like the part where he mentions the garbage fish. It does seem that the Asian folks like them and that would make (sculpens, or is it scalpen?) anyway what we consider to be a garbage fish a pretty popular dish considering that a great portion of the world are Asians Sometimes we look down on these folks or even other cultures and nationalities because they are different than we are. Then we need to remind ourselves as Christians living in a still somewhat Christian culture that Jesus died for everyone. Remember the old children’s hymn “Jesus loves the little children?” It says “red or yellow, black or white, all are precious in His sight” How true when we look at the garbage fish for an example and realize that so many folks like to eat them, how much more important is a soul, no matter where they have originated, no matter how ugly they may seem to us, no matter their outward facial features(the sculpen is an ugly looking fish) a fish with horns, yet. WE should fall on our faces before God and ask His forgiveness for ever making racial remarks or even making fun of any person for whatever reason, be it their looks, lifestyle, or anything that we deem out of the ordinary . Remember the story of Jonah(speaking of fish?) I can’t get over his rotten attitude, but then I can’t get over my rotten attitude sometimes either. One time God called him to go and preach repentance to some folks. Let’s read it from the book of Jonah the prophet starting at chapter 1 verse #2 ,the Amplified Bible:2Arise, go to [b]Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.(A)
3But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from being in the presence of the Lord [as His prophet] and went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish [the most remote of the Phoenician trading places then known]. So he paid the appointed fare and went down into the ship to go with them to Tarshish from being in the presence of the Lord [as His servant and minister].(B)
4But the Lord sent out a great wind upon the sea, and there was a violent tempest on the sea so that the ship was about to be broken.(C) Moving on to verse15
15So they took up Jonah and cast him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.
16Then the men [reverently and worshipfully] feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
17Now the Lord had prepared and appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.(D)
Chapter 2, verse10And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. Jonah had gone to hell it seems in the belly of that fish and now God delivered him for His original purpose and that was to preach a revival in Nineveh. As you read this story you will discover that Jonah was a racial bigot. He actually wanted God to destroy the Ninehvites because they lived such wicked lives. Look at what he says after he preached and Nineveh repented (much to his chagrin) I never could figure this one out…how he had such great success as a preacher and didn’t want it.
Jonah 3
AND THE word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,
2Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach and cry out to it the preaching that I tell you.
3So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city of three days' journey [sixty miles in circumference].
4And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown!
5So the people of Nineveh believed in God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth [in penitent mourning], from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
6For word came to the king of Nineveh [of all that had happened to Jonah, and his terrifying message from God], and he arose from his throne and he laid his robe aside, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7And he made proclamation and published through Nineveh, By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed nor drink water.
8But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and let them cry mightily to God. Yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
9Who can tell, God may turn and revoke His sentence against us [when we have met His terms], and turn away from His fierce anger so that we perish not.(A)
10And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God revoked His [sentence of] evil that He had said that He would do to them and He did not do it [for He was comforted and eased concerning them].

So God forgave them their sins and spared them. Now you would think that would make a preacher rejoice, wouldn’t you? After all he won the entire city to the Lord. Not so old Jonah. Look at what is said in chapter four.
1BUT IT displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry.
2And he prayed to the Lord and said, I pray You, O Lord, is not this just what I said when I was still in my country? That is why I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and [when sinners turn to You and meet Your conditions] You revoke the [sentence of] evil against them.(A)
3Therefore now, O Lord, I beseech You, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.
4Then said the Lord, Do you do well to be angry?
5So Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city, and he made a booth there for himself. He sat there under it in the shade till he might see what would become of the city.
6And the Lord God prepared a gourd and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his evil situation. So Jonah was exceedingly glad [to have the protection] of the gourd.
7But God prepared a cutworm when the morning dawned the next day, and it smote the gourd so that it withered.
8And when the sun arose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah so that he fainted and wished in himself to die and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
9And God said to Jonah, Do you do well to be angry for the loss of the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die!
10Then said the Lord, You have had pity on the gourd, for which you have not labored nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night.
11And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons not [yet old enough to] know their right hand from their left, and also many cattle [not accountable for sin]?
Do we well to be prejudiced against other peoples of other cultures and races? Should we not be praying for these who are lost and asking the Master to help us bring the message of the cross to the perishing. The Great commission still compels us to give of our substance and to go if He calls us and to be everything He would have us be so that we are the witness He has called us to be to whosoever will. Coffee in his summation of yesterday’s blog mentioned the fact of casting one hook into the vast ocean and trying to entice a fish to come to that one piece of bait, his words were “we expect the fish to find it”. What we did discover was that if you put more hooks on your line, you will catch more fish. Perhaps we need more hooks with more bait. Do you catch my drift(no pun intended)? Or like Jonah, are we more concerned about the gourd? Are we more concerned about our own comfort? This takes me back to the series on the sheep. The shepherd left the ninety and nine in the wilderness, left his own comfort station and went out in the darkness and the wilds to look for and to find that one lost sheep.
Sheep…fish…people

Installment##1//Fisher’s of men//the Great commission

A few days ago we were fishing off a wharf with a rod and reel in a well known fishing village in our province. It is a beautiful setting located on a harbour where at one time a thriving fishing industry existed. There is still an industry but it is through fish farming these days, not the traditional wild fish that once were so plentiful in the bay. Fishing of all different species and plentiful, however times have changed and with so many species on the endangered list, etc. the industry had to come up with new ways of raising fish, hence fish farms which are mostly salmon. And mostly controlled by one or two companies..oh well, some things never change.
We were using a rod and reel standing on the wharf as I said hoping to catch something, anything if possible and this we did.
It just so happened that I was first to catch a fish but it was a sculpen…no good for consumption, but it was a fish. It just got thrown away. Garbage you might say and you would be correct. As we were fishing my mind went to the scriptures and of course I thought about Jesus and Peter also. I felt as though I imagined myself as Peter and Jesus coming along and saying to me, “follow me , and I will make you fishers of men(there were three others with me, my wife and our two friends, coffee and c.m. Only I thought of us as Peter and Andrew, James and John (just for illustration purposes). In my minds eye, I envisioned the scene around me, Peter and Andrew, James and John ,only they were all young men, we are two married couples, 44 years and 39 years married, youth has forsaken us, but Jesus is still calling us to be fishers of men. God loves people. He probably loves fish too, but He loved people so much that He became a man so that He could die for us.
So He has designed a plan to fish for people. We used a rod and reel; we probably could have used a net of some kind. There are many methods to catch fish, whether it is within the confines of a fish farm or in the wild. It may be that you will be within the confines of a church building that you catch men(it’s a method that has been so successful in the past), or you may have to go to the wilds to catch men. Either way our one supreme goal in life should be just that. To be fisher’s of men. …to be continued

Installment #3 A NEW SERIES: Body and soul. I read something a few mornings ago that was an answer to prayer, that is to a specific prayer and it was immediate and just what I needed. And it concerned both body and soul. I had been talking to God about failures in some weak areas in my life,(pride,self,and other areas) to have victory over it and at the same time I was experiencing His touch and His anointing. I even asked the Lord, how can this be? I fail God so much and yet His presence is still with me? So I opened up a little devotional book that I read from time to time and although it had been awhile since I had used this book there on two pages, side by side and two separate entries were two scripture verses and the author’s exhortation on them.
It’s not as though I wasn’t familiar with these scriptures or that I learned some new thing about them but the two of them together and side by side as two separate thoughts (now I’m really complicating things) met my need and set me free. It settled the questions in my mind.
Firstly in 1 Cor. 6:19 it tells me that my body is a temple for the Holy Ghost to live in and that I do not belong to myself.
The second reference was to 1 Samuel 16:7 and says that man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart.
Even though I fail in this temple and fall far short of what I should be, God looks at me through the blood of His dearly beloved only begotten Son of God and when I ask for His forgiveness He does not condemn me, rather He forgives me.
“And who is he that will condemn me?” Paul asks in Romans 8:34…”it is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen , who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us,” Thank God, Jesus is praying for me that I will not fail!! And then he goes on to say, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or nakedness, or peril or sword?” That’s verse 35. Skipping down to verse 37. “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 says, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So here I am fighting these fleshly battles (such as are common to man and putting up with them) on the one hand but still experiencing His touch on the other hand and I understand that my body is a temple of God through the Spirit and I’m having a problem reconciling these two area’s in my life when suddenly I see these two scripture verses side by side and I realize that even when I fail, He still looks at my heart and sees my real desire is for Him. I do not say that I can continue in sin that grace may abound…God forbid! But I do say that even though there are areas in m my life that needs a lot of work….He still loves me. The song written by Joel Hemphill says, “He’s still working on me”. Thank God He is!I am forever quoting the words of an old song it seems…here’s one that comes to mind, “I am determined, I’ve made up my mind, I’ll serve the Lord”. It does require a determination to serve the Lord; any old fish can float downstream, it takes a fish like our Atlantic salmon to swim upstream. But you have to swim against the current. We do not have to go with the flow.
Let us make that our supreme determination :we will serve the Lord

Installment #2 Body and soul series: the blog will live on --
A few days ago Naida sent out a request for more of you to comment on our blog in order to gauge whether or not there was enough interest to continue. There has been a slight increase in comments as a direct result of her request and of course her blog that day. That particular blog had to do with study in the Word of God and that is the sole purpose of moreaboutHisWord, to stimulate folks to dig into God’s Word and study it for themselves. As I thought about her blog and the sort of poll she wanted (at my request) I realized that maybe I was being selfish in wanting more comments to satisfy my ego as a great expositor of the Word.
Maybe a little pride creeping in here?
First of all let me set the record straight…I am not a great expositor of the Word, just a heart that is hungry for the Word.
Naida was correct in saying that I have had a lifelong love affair with God’s Word(although she maybe didn’t use those same words), I do love God’s Word immensely.
I have some wonderful friends who have been faithful in commenting on this blog since it was initiated and also others who just recently have acquired a computer and have gone on line and faithfully submit comments and also are very capable in their comments, in what they have to say regarding the subject matter. So for their sake Naida and I will continue to write blogs, but more important than even their sake we will write blogs for the Gospel’s sake.
It doesn’t have to be a qualified minister to propagate the Gospel, in fact it is the responsibility of each and every Christian to promote the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We will write blogs for the encouragement of people who need encouragement; we will write blogs for people we have never met who may have lost their way and will never answer one of our blogs but we know that God has touched their hearts in some way and lifted them that day. We understand this by faith.
We will write blogs for missionaries who have indicated that they have received a lift or a blessing while they have ministered in places like Spain, India, Morocco and Bangkok and in turn have prayed specifically for us when we were on short term missions to the Caribbean and Europe.
We will write blogs for a missionary family from New Brunswick who are doing a great work in Mindanao area in the Philippines and also another great missionary family who are the offspring of a great man of God by the name of Eugene Garrett who was called to the Philippines. His roots went down deep in New Brunswick soil, his adopted home, and he established a great mission there in a place called Antipolo outside Manila. Both these missions have told me how they have been blessed by our blog.
Whether or not there are comments, we will write blogs because the Lord has given us this opportunity and I feel as I know Naida does that it is His will for us to do so. The blog lives on…My word structure is not so perfect, perhaps I should say my sentence structure and I am not highly educated I just write from my heart as God enables me. My lack of grammatical skills aside, my only purpose is to please God and this blog is one way for me to be the witness He desires me to be...RC

Installment #1 Body and Soul series
Pressing toward the goal/ press on
The other night I was doing something I usually spend very little time doing…I was watching the news on television. The particular news spot I was watching was talking about a sporting event that is to take place next year I think it said in Beijing, China. Remember it used to be called Peking. The only remembrance of that name now is a Chinese dish called Peking duck. I love Chinese food, but I can’t recall ever eating Peking duck but I’ll bet it’s good.
Back to Beijing…the sporting event, remember? The sporting event, by the way happens to be the biggest sporting event that occurs every four years in our world and they call it the Olympics. Ever heard of it? I can almost imagine someone saying “where is this guy from? Is he with it or not?” All jesting aside…the news story centered around the fact of the horrific amount of pollution (pardon me, it’s greenhouse gases now…much cleaner wording, politically correct as well). Yes it seems that there is so much greenhouse gas, oh what the heck, I’m going to call it pollution…there is so much pollution that one can hardly breathe just doing nothing let alone participate in a sport and especially at the intense level of exertion that these fine athletes perform. In fact there is 1600 percent more pollution produced in Beijing than there is in our nice clean Canadian city of Toronto. I’m glad that I live in Canada and there are laws regarding air quality, even though there may still be room for improvement.
In the third chapter of Philippians, Paul writes about pressing toward the goal for the prize. Let me refer you to some verses that he wrote in a letter to the church at Philippi: verses 12-16
“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected, but I press on” ,..let me stop right there for reflection. He has been talking about the Christian walk and how he as a man had all of the supposedly right qualifications religiously speaking but that he counted them a rubbish when he compared them to his position in Christ. He said in verses 8 & 9, “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from God by faith” He says, “I haven’t already attained yet and I’m not perfect either, but….but I press on” and in verse thirteen he says that in order to accomplish that feat, like an Olympic runner would do..”I’ve got to forget those things that are behind and reach forward to those things which are ahead.” Why Paul? And the answer resounds back through the ages :I press toward the goal…the prize…the upward call…the call of God …in Christ Jesus. Oh! Friends, don’t miss it! Do not miss the upward call by being caught up in the pollution of this world! Forget what has happened in the past…forget what’s behind you. An Olympic runner never, never, never looks back to see what’s behind him or who is behind him…he knows if he does that he will lose momentum and lose the race. They will run this race…if time lasts and I am thinking that whether or not China cleans up her air quality that they will still run in it. Because some or most have been preparing for it all or most of their lives and they do it to receive a prize…a gold medal. Silver and bronze won’t do these athletes. It has to be gold! He said in verse 20, “our citizenship is in heaven”…I ask you what greater prize than to have our citizenship in heaven? Paul says, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Are you waiting eagerly? Are you waiting with excitement, anticipating a great trumpet blast, so loud that it will wake the dead? Hallelujah!

2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

More About His Word blogspot is one year old!! This time last year, one evening at Tim Horton’s over a wonderful cupa, I broached the topic to brother Randall about putting his thoughts on the Word in a blog. At the time, I knew very little about blogs except that people used them to write their thoughts on line - usually useless thoughts - and people wrote comments. It was a new idea to Randall but he was open to the idea. During August, he was able to set it up and here we are, a year later. Over the year, 78 writings have been put on the blog, this one being number 79. Randall has done most of them – I have done only about 10.

The blog - More About His Word - has done exactly what I had envisioned last July. After going on two short-term missions trips with Randall and his lovely wife, I had become very aware that Randall had much to share on the scriptures, had obviously been a lifelong student of the Word. It seemed such a shame that we all did not get the benefits from reading his writings.

The topics and writings have been so rich, wonderful topics of - grace, forgiveness, the tower, sheep, to name a few. They have challenged me to study the Word more than I ever have before; challenged me to look at various topics in a new way.

Although I have contributed only a few times to the blog, it has also done much for both of us as writers - we have been pushed to examine the scriptures in an organized and serious way - what Paul meant to Timothy, “study”.

We are at a place of wondering if we have enough interest and readership to continue the blog, in its present form. If you have been one of the ones who, too, have been challenged to examine certain scriptures with us, or re-examine them, maybe you might leave a short comment telling us what the blog has meant to you.

Blessings to all our readers.

Submitted by Naida

For His name’s sake - Ps. 23:3 - “He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake”. With Brother Randall’s recent writings on sheep, we have all be led back to Psalm 23 to do a re-read. Beyond hearing this wonderful chapter read at many funerals, or when we are looking for comfort, we seldom spend much time in it. My attention has been drawn to the last part of verse 3, “for His name’s sake.” Let me share what my thoughts recently have been on this phrase.

Part of my summer leisure time has been in working on a “book” - or rather family genealogy - really simply a few pages of picture genealogy. It has been fun to put together some “antique” pictures of my family members from previous generations - most of whom I never knew but have been prompted to wonder about their lives.

All of this brings my attention to the scripture mentioned above. We are all taught from our earliest memories, not to bring any disgrace on the family name. Good children keep all of our behaviours and endeavours in line with this teaching from our parents. Make the family proud of you. Don’t hurt the family name.

Imagine how we would live our lives if we kept this teaching in the forefront of our minds - “for His name’s sake”. We who have been born again, are now part of a new family, with a new Father, and a new family name. I’m sure I am guilty of slipping up occasionally - maybe not so occasionally - but I do think of this often - would He be pleased with this path that I am taking? Living to not bring any disgrace or displeasure to His name - to the family name, “for His name’s sake.”

I’ve been reminded, too, of a sermon I heard in the mid-90's on a scripture in Isaiah - on “marring the face of Jesus”. Let’s take a moment to look at those powerful words. Isaiah 52:14, “Just as there were many who were appalled at him, his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness”. The speaker pointed out that already when Jesus died for our sins and the sins of the world, His face was “marred beyond human likeness” for us. She seemed to feel that as He has already paid such a great cost for us, if we continue to sin against Him, we are in affect marring the face of Jesus again, and again.

Whether or not this idea changes the context of the scripture, it is worth thinking about. How we would not want to once again “mar (spoil the perfection of) the face of Jesus” because of our disobedience to Him.

So, this is what I have been pondering over the past few days. I will work harder at bringing honour to my “family” name, “for His name’s sake”.

Submitted by Naida

Abraham, Isaac, and the sacrifice.

Over the years, I have often had the experience of the more I study, the more questions I have - rather than the more I know. This has been my experience again during this year as I have been reading through the Bible with other members of our congregation, starting, of course, with Genesis.

One of these times is with the story, or rather historical account, of Abraham and Isaac going up to Mount Moriah to sacrifice, as recorded in Genesis 22. This account is nothing short of amazing to me and raises many questions.

I have heard this story all my life, of Abraham going with his son (a young boy) to the mountain to sacrifice. On the way, Isaac recognized that they had with them the wood and the fire, but were missing the sacrifice. For Isaac to become aware of this problem, I had envisioned him to be a boy of eight or ten years old.

However, with some research, it seems certain that Isaac was not a young boy but an adult - various authors place him at least in his twenties and one, as old as thirty seven. I have tried to verify this in scripture but apparently have to go back to an original language to do so. (Writings of Josephus, Talmudic, and David Wilkerson in “Knowing God by Name”, p. 24) .

We usually concentrate on Abraham’s faith that God would provide the sacrifice. In Hebrews 11:17, we read, “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son”.

But what about Isaac’s faith - we don’t think much about his faith. But I am of the assumption that this was really a test for Isaac; after all, he would have had to comply to his father’s wishes and placed himself on the altar. His father was an old man by this time and could not have lifted him and bound him unless he had obliged his father – Abraham certainly would not have been able to do this if Isaac had decided to resist.

So, with this new information in this story, what a different picture we get. Isaac would have had to have total trust of his father. He would have had to "give" himself as the sacrifice. This seems to be a wonderful picture of Jesus.

Jesus gave himself as the sacrifice and complied with the Father’s wishes - even though He questioned in the Garden if there were any other way.

Then we should look for a moment at Isaac’s mother. Surely his mother was not part of this decision - so similar as when Jesus went to the cross. I wonder if Sarah knew that her son was about to be offered in sacrifice to God. I wonder, too, if Mary knew, really understood, that Jesus was about to die on the cross - a sacrifice for our sins.

Do you see what I mean? The more I study, the more questions I have. I guess that is part of the process of learning. Maybe this is part of the “seeing through a glass, darkly”, as mentioned in 1 Cor. 13:12 (possibly taken out of context).

Blessings on all those who are “studying” His Word along with us. Hopefully, I’m not the only one who has more questions when I have finished than I have answers.

Submitted by Naida

In keeping with the theme "the name of the Lord is a strong tower" from Prov. 18:10, there is an incident found in John chapter 8 where the Jews were charging Him as being possessed of demons and in verse 53 they issued Him with this challenge: "Are You greater than our father Abraham?...Who do You think You are?" Read it in vs. 53 Look at the response they got from the King of kings and the Lord of lords in vs. 58. "I tell you the truth, before Abraham was ,(now hang on to your hats and fasten your seat belts)......I AM!!!

I AM is eternal...He was telling these louts Before history was ....I AM!! I AM the Divine One, I AM the Eternal One, I AM is God Almighty, and HE LIVES FOREVERMORE, yes He lives forevermore! This is a clear disclosure of revealed truth....that Jesus Christ is GOD!
WHY THEN DO WE WORRY AND FRET ? Why do we get all up tight wondering what tomorrow will bring? or how we are going to get through our struggles? OR HOW WE'RE GOING TO OVERCOME SIN, A HABIT OR WHATEVER ELSE COMES OUR WAY? Why do we fret over our children? over whether or not they will succeed? Peter admonishes us "casting all your care upon Him for He cares for you" 1 Peter,5:7 Let me declare my belief today....Jesus Christ is God and beside Him there is no other...and He declares in Exodus 20:3, "you shall have no other gods before Me." No other gods...He's talking about idols; there are no other gods so it would be foolish to put an idol before Him and worship it, now wouldn't it? I repeat...there are no other gods...He alone is God and He came in the flesh so that He could save us....and He's the great I AM!!! He said to Philip when he had asked Jesus to show them the Father and they would be satisfied, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, Show us the Father?" vs. 11 "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me"John 14:8-10,11. Jesus is the great I AM!!!
You can run to Him in full assurance today that He is Almighty God.