Fifty Lbs. of Potatoes How much does it weigh?
New beginnings

The other day at our pantry, a ministry that our church body has instituted for needy people, they were giving out fifty pound bags of potatoes to anybody who could use them. These were bagged at the processing facility and the church body made them available…this is a good ministry. Afterwards I was sitting in our car waiting for my beloved when I noticed a couple carrying out their booty which included a fifty pound bag of potatoes.
The man carried them nearly all the way to the end of the driveway and I could see that he was struggling with the load that he was carrying upon his shoulder. He stopped and set them down, a distance of maybe fifty meters. I was listening to a CD from the Crabbe family singing about God’s love and I felt a prodding from the Spirit to go and pick this couple up and their potatoes and other food goods that they had just been given.
Now you’ve got to understand that this guy had tried to con me for some money one time before and we gave him an extra bag of food and besides they were not perhaps the cleanest people I had seen and so I guess that I was trying to justify my still sitting there arguing with the Lord. It was at this point that my wife came out of the church house and the gentleman asked her if she had a car…and she did not hear him as to what his request had been and it was also at this point that I lost the argument with the Lord and I said to him,” just wait there and I will take you and your potatoes home. So I picked up the bag of potatoes and put them in the trunk and told the man and his lady friend to hop in the car and we took them home, a block or two away. When we got there he let me get the potatoes out of the trunk and take them up one flight of stairs to their flat. I had asked the gentleman if he had a heart condition and he said no. So I asked if he had back trouble and he said no. And then I realized I was building a case for judging him and the Lord reminded me this morning of these words from James’ epistle.
Why do I tell you all this? . Because in the last blog entry I quoted from CH.12 VERSE 8 “If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly” There is a rule in the Bible that Jesus instituted, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The world says, “Do others before they do you.” That is not God’s way. On the flip side of the coin, it is not God’s way to take advantage over another either. Having said that Jesus has commanded us to go the second mile and it doesn’t matter that we may be taken advantage of. What matters is that we show kindness. It was Jesus, wasn’t it who said, “Insomuch as ye have done it unto these little ones…you have done it unto me?
The apostle James writes in chapter two beginning at verse
1 “My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. 2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” 4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? 7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? 8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.”Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”
Let’s not confuse what James is saying here, he is not saying that all poor people are righteous and all well to do are not righteous, he is saying that it is wrong to judge people by showing partiality. Whether rich or poor; I have heard folks put down others simply because they are well to do. And that is just as bad as the oppression of poor folks.
Had I NOT OBEYED THE Lord that day and assisted them with their load, I’m afraid that fifty pound bag of potatoes would still be weighing heavily on my conscience. Again the Word from James ch. 5 verse 17…Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin. NRSV.

New Beginnings/ The Grace of Giving

My last blog entry on new beginnings quoted from Paul’s writings to the Corinthian church 2nd.Cor. 8:1-8. The quote was taken from the NLT Bible version and reads, “1 Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters,[a] what God in his kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia. 2 They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity.
3 For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. 4 They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers[b] in Jerusalem. 5 They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do.
6 So we have urged Titus, who encouraged your giving in the first place, to return to you and encourage you to finish this ministry of giving. 7 Since you excel in so many ways—in your faith, your gifted speakers, your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your love from us[c]—I want you to excel also in this gracious act of giving.
8 I am not commanding you to do this. But I am testing how genuine your love is by comparing it with the eagerness of the other churches.
To the Romans he writes in ch. 12,” 4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
Giving as seen in theses last verses is not always financial but it should always be from the heart and it requires grace…His grace. The gifts that God gives us are not for our hording to ourselves; we are to give as He has given to us. Whether it is prophecy or serving, teaching or encouraging; or as was the case with the churches in Macedonia…extreme generosity while living under extreme poverty. Where does that leave you and I? In His grace God has given us these gifts. They are not from our human nature, they are from His nature, therefore they are to be shared with others.
It is the same message in Romans that the apostle gives to the CORINTHIANS…”since you excel in so many ways…” and
SERVING OTHERS WELL…that should be our attitude when we give…do it well! And oh…by the way, God is no respecter of persons….neither should we be.
No emphasis on prosperity doctrine here either, I don’t think they had any other motive than to help. Is that our motive in giving? Complete unselfishness…..RC

The more I study, the more questions I have. The same thing happened when I was in university - the longer I stayed, the more I became painfully aware of how little I knew and how many questions I had.

So, the same thing happens the more I attempt to study the Bible. A group of us have been studying about the Tabernacle over the past few months with our able teacher, Randall. And that, of course, has encouraged us to investigate these scriptures all the more. But as I continue to read, I end up with more questions than answers. I have been taught the Word since a small child, yet, it seems that I am no further along in the understanding of this complex book than I have ever been. However, I have decided that it is a whole-life process, and such an enjoyable learning process it is.

This blog experience has caused us to constantly examine the Word to see what we can learn and what it is saying to us personally – a wonderfully useful exercise.

This leads me, today, to share what I mean about more questions than answers. Maybe, some of our Bible-scholar readers (or just interested students like me) can lend some light on my observations - questions.

Today, in my reading, I couldn’t help but link the content of two scriptures; even though I don’t know of any connection, it is still fun to notice the similarities. Check it out and feel free to shed any light you might have on the subject.

First:

At the completion of the building of the Temple by Solomon, in 2 Chronicles 5: 12b “They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. 13The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the Lord. ...Then the temple of the Lord was filled with a cloud, 14and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.”

Then flip over to Acts 1 and 2 - in Chapter 1: 15 “... a group numbering about a hundred and twenty” ... Chapter 2: 1, “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all in one accord in one place. 2And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.”

Sounds similar to me! “120 - about one hundred and twenty; unison, one voice - one accord in one place; cloud - sound from heaven”

Any connection? Besides same God? Couldn’t help miss “unison - one accord”. All comments welcome.

Second:

In same passage in 2 Chronicles 5:10 “There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb.”

The Ark: What happened to the contents of the ark between Moses’ day and the time of the dedication of Solomon’s temple? I have started checking this out but have decided that would be quite a lengthy study in itself.

Suppose there is a connection between the tablets in the ark and the presence of God as described in verse 14?

What about holiness and the day of Pentecost? Connection?

What about holiness and presence of God in our day?

You see my meditations - I cannot help but think there is a huge connection between following the laws of God and seeing/hearing the presence of God in our day. God help us to follow closely Your commandments. Comments?

Third:

And then, what happened to the Ark? It has obviously been lost before our day but all we can hope for is that the contents (the tablets), the way to live, has not been lost in our lives and in our day.

Obviously I have been a little hesitant to share this blog - what about our readers who will think, “and we thought she knew something about the Bible”? Well, I do. I know enough to know that God’s Word to me is so much bigger than me; I realize how little I really know; I know that I have to press in harder to learn more about Him, through His Word.

Feel free to shine light on any of my questions/observations with your comments. Blessings on you all.

Submitted by Naida

New Beginnings/All about giving: a new series
When Naida and I first began to share via this blog, there seemed to be great interest; folks were commenting at the blog site as well as others who would comment via e-mail and still others who spoke face to face. And they were all positive with the exception of one self proclaimed of an eastern religion who thought I was picking on his religion. However, LATELY, with the exception of two or three faithfuls, there has been little response. We are grateful for those who are faithful.
So I thought about these scriptures that I am about to share with anyone who reads this blog. They are all about beginnings. The first one is found in 2 Cor. 8:6,
“So we urged Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace in you as well.”
Next scripture concerning new beginnings is from Galatians and reads, “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?”
One more reference from God’s Word is this one from the 1st. chapter of Philippians, “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
The first scripture that was quoted had to do with an offering-a gift and ministering to other saints …let me share with you the whole context from the NLT STARTING AT VERSE 1.
2 Corinthians 8:1-8 (New Living Translation)
A Call to Generous Giving
1 Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters,[a] what God in his kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia. 2 They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity.
3 For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. 4 They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers[b] in Jerusalem. 5 They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do.
6 So we have urged Titus, who encouraged your giving in the first place, to return to you and encourage you to finish this ministry of giving. 7 Since you excel in so many ways—in your faith, your gifted speakers, your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your love from us[c]—I want you to excel also in this gracious act of giving.
8 I am not commanding you to do this. But I am testing how genuine your love is by comparing it with the eagerness of the other churches.
This giving was demonstrated to Paul who passed it on to Titus to teach the giving principle to the Corinthians, by a church that had very little in the way of finances, in fact they were very poor, but they taught by example how to be generous.
My next quote was from Galatians 3:3 which I’ll read from the New Living Translation also, “ How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?
Speaking of human effort we have endeavored to do ths blog with the help of God and it is an offering of love, whether anyone reads it or not is not what is the most important. The most important thing is that the Lord has shown us to do it, therefore we will carry on. The last reference that I quoted is from Philippians ( which I have finally learned how to spell, thanks to the spell check) and it comes from the 1st. ch and 6th. verse and again I’m quoting the NLT, “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
You might question the correlation between these three scripture passages; what does one have to do with the other? They are about giving and they are about new beginnings. This blog , we feel is a good work because we endeavor to exalt Jesus; that is our chief aim; not about us ,therefore we will continue …we will carry on….Randall

The unknown quantity…the “X” factor. In the furor over the “Happy Holidays versus Merry Christmas” politically correct thing that we seem to think is something new, let us remember the source and perhaps as Christians realize that the world has been using “xmas” instead of Christmas for a long time.
X in algebraic terms is an unknown factor, so we shouldn’t be surprised that this world system uses it in place of CHRIST. He is not unknown to those whose lives have been changed by His transforming power. Sometimes we become fearful when we contemplate what the future holds, but we need not fear with Christ by our side and He lives in us if we have repented of our sins and by faith received Him as Savior and Lord. Even death need not be feared if we have received Him.
Franklin D Roosevelt was President of the United States for so long that they changed the law to allow a president to only serve a maximum of two terms…(for which many today are breathing a sigh of relief). He said that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself…and that is certainly food for thought but it is not entirely true. Jesus said in Matthew 10:28, “Do not fear those who are able to kill the body but fear him who can destroy both soul and body In hell. The Psalmist said “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” Ps. 111:9. The fear of the Lord will lead us to repentance and the knowledge of the One who gave Himself for us. It removes the “X” factor. It removes worry…you don’t have to worry and fret in fact the Bible tells us not to worry. Jesus said in Matthew 6:31-34 New Living Translation
31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
There is no “X” factor when you know Him.

Being faithful. For the past couple of months, my meditation has been often on the topic of being faithful.

We are all so familiar with the scripture in which Jesus is speaking - in Matthew 25:21, "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!”

Sometimes we are tempted to think of ourselves as not good enough or not as capable as others in many of the things we do - and that is the wrong thinking (in reality, sin) of “comparison-ism.”

As much as we do not want to be caught up in such a sin, the wrong thinking sometimes pops up when we are asked to do something and, suddenly, there it is - “Oh, no, I couldn’t do that” because in the back of our minds we have this paralysing bombardment of words that someone else could do it so much better.

I thought about it again today, the phrase of our Lord, “well done, good and faithful servant”. He did not say, “well done, good and wonderful singer”, or well done, good and powerful teacher”, but simply “well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

In light of this wonderful scripture and the looking forward to the time when we see Him and hear Him say, “well done thou good and faithful servant”; really, we might not all be able to be great at what we attempt but all of us can accomplish this goal. Being faithful . . . seems so small, yet, Jesus mentioned it several times, so it seemed very important to Him.

In the story of the birth of Jesus, there are many people who were not recognized as great but they were faithful. Mary was certainly faithful, to do what God asked of her. Then she was faithful to bring Jesus up and care for Him until “His time came.” She was a faithful servant of the Lord; she was also a faithful mother - remember, she was there at the foot of the cross.

Some might not think that Joseph played a great role in the plan for Jesus to be born as an infant, to grow and to eventually die on the cross for the sins of the world. But he was very much a part of God’s plan and was careful to be a faithful servant; protecting Mary, providing for the child and, at one point, even fleeing to protect the “plan of God” in His Son.

Then there were the shepherds. I grew up on a farm with lots of animals; somehow, I never grew fond of the animals. I try to imagine the job of the shepherd; how boring would that be! - watching sheep wander around. I don’t have a MP3 player, but if ever there would be a need, it would be in the life of a shepherd. Yet, they were faithful in their job. God didn’t send the message of the arrival of “newborn King” to the religious or political leaders of the day, but to the shepherds. They were in the exact right place at the right time doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing, being faithful servants, and they heard the angels proclaiming His birth.

I could go on and on looking at the simple lives of many of those who God either spoke to, or used in some way; many of them were not great in their own right; just faithful.

As you can tell, I’m trying to "get this", myself.

Jesus made reference to being faithful in service several times, one of those times is in Luke 16: 10. "Suppose you can be trusted with very little. Then you can be trusted with a lot. But suppose you are not honest with very little. Then you will not be honest with a lot;” that’s being faithful.

Then John, wrote in 3 John 1:5 “Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the believers. You are faithful even though they are strangers to you.”

2 Chronicles 34:12 records “The men were faithful in doing the work.”

Jesus in Matthew 24:45 "Suppose a master puts one of his servants in charge of the other servants in his house. The servant's job is to give them their food at the right time. The master wants a faithful and wise servant for this.”

Moses - What a study in being faithful. Num 12:7, “ ... my servant Moses. He is faithful in everything he does in my house.“

However, there was a day when Moses suffered from “comparison-ism. I have always identified with the part of Moses’ personality. . . so much so, that many years ago, I even purchased a book entitled “Here I Am, Send Aaron”. You can imagine the wonderful teachings of that book.

God never expects us to do anything like someone else, but to just be faithful - to do our part, to be obedient to Him.

All of our lives will be measured when we meet our Master, and hear Him say “well done, thou good and faithful servant.” Not that you were a great worker, great worshipper, great helper, but that you have been faithful. This week, I keep hearing so much talk on radio and television about goals for the new year. Some people have set some pretty high ones - chances are that they won’t accomplish their goals.

So, all of that to say this. Being faithful - sounds so simple, even so small. Then why do we find it so difficult?

I pray that I will continue to meditate on this topic, being faithful. It is a goal of mine today and I pray that I will always aspire to this goal all the rest of my life and to not get distracted by trying to be as good as someone else at anything.

As pointed out earlier, in Matthew 25, Jesus repeats almost the exact words in verses 21 and in verse 23, “His master replied, 'You have done well, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!”

This is my meditation. Lord, help me, not to compare myself to your other servants, but to just be faithful myself.

Submitted by Naida