OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY. Today is my last day at OCU in Edmond, OK, with my two books tables. I’ll start packing up at 3:00. Stop by a few minutes and stay hi.
Author: Inspirations By Katheryn
I am kind of a world traveler. I have lived in Korea, United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Tokyo, Canada, Afghanistan, India and USA.
I remember when President Kennedy was assassinated, watched the first human walk on the moon, Alaska became a state, President Kennedy & Martin Luther King were shot, and the first human walked on the moon.
I remember when the first Star Wars movie came out, 900 religiously misguided humans committed suicide in Guyana, when Microsoft was "invented" and the Ayatollah Khoumeini took over Iran, kicked out western companies (employers) and returned his country to the dark ages.
I WAS THERE WHEN MOUNT SAINT HELENS BLEW. I remember when the Berlin Wall fell, the Internet was created, the first warm-blooded animal was cloned (a sheep) and the Hubble Telescope was launched - all in the 1980s.
And you?
The scripture for today, October 6, is Jeremiah 10:6 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:
“No one is like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is mighty in power.”
The word “name” here is from the Hebrew word for “renown” ~ shem. This same word is sometimes translated fame. Sometimes we say someone “has made a name for himself” to indicate s/he has become successful and possibly even powerful.
The Lord is known to this prophet (Jeremiah) as being more mighty and powerful than any being in existence.
Do you see the Lord this way? Not in a general sense, but a personal sense? Think back over your life. In what way has the Lord used his power to cause certain “coincidental” things to occur in your life just at the right time?
The scripture for today, October 5, is 2nd Corinthians 10:5f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.”
This is about the 40 years that the Jews wandered in the wilderness between leaving their slavery in Egypt and beginning a country for themselves. They believed their way was better than God’s way. They kept God at a distance.
Events in the Old Testament are there as examples to us. Do we keep God at a distance? In that case, God keeps us at a distance. God treats us the way we treat him. The early Jews did not want to listen to God, so God did not listen to them. Do we want God to treat us the way we treat him?
The scripture for today, October 4, is Romans 10:4 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”
When Jesus nailed the Law of Moses to the cross (Colossians 2:14) it came to an end. Thank God. There were over 600 commandments in the Law of Moses, not just the “ten commandments.” They were tedious. Try reading Leviticus and see if you can keep every commandment in it.
Jesus was the only one who ever kept the Law perfectly (Hebrews 4:15). Once that occurred, he could be the Perfect Lamb of God without blemish, and he could be sacrificed on the altar of the world (the cross) in our place ~ take the punishment for our sins.
And with his death came the introduction of a New Law covered in the New Testament. Read the New Testament in its entirety. It is not tedious. It is beautiful. Let us not try to dip back into the Old Law and bring back showy worship practices done back them. He put it to death and gave us a new and wonderful and simple law of grace and love.
The scripture for today, October 3, is John 10:3ff as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out….I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.”
First of all, we use the term saved/salvation so loosely, we tend to forget what we are being saved from. We are being saved from hell! This is not a minuscule matter.
Second, how do we avoid hell? Through Jesus. This is the only way!
How many of us have been to funerals where the deceased was preached into heaven? So many people believe they are “good enough” or “not too bad” and so God would be horrible to not let them into heaven. Such people will climb in through windows so to speak into enter heaven as the “thieves and robbers” Jesus referred to.
But heaven is God’s home, not ours. He has a gate into it, just like we have doors on our houses. Just like we are not obligated to open the door into our home to just anyone, God is not obligated to open his gate to just anyone. Our door and God’s gate are there for a reason.
Let us enter heaven through the gate ~ Jesus. Then God will smile and say, “Welcome home.”
The scripture for today, October 1, is Romans 10:1f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for ______ is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.”
Being “religious” isn’t enough. There are lots of religions. Feeling “spiritual” isn’t enough. There are lots of differing religions that induce a “spiritual” feeling. Confidence of salvation isn’t enough. There are lots of differing religions that create questionable confidence of salvation. Dedication to prayer isn’t enough. There are lots of differing religions that require much prayer.
Sincere Christian leaders today may want us to rely on feelings and inducements and confidence and dedication, but they can be sincerely wrong. If we base our salvation on feelings and inducements and confidence and dedication only, we have zeal, but our zeal is not based on knowledge. Some may defensively call this legalism.
God gave us his Word ~ the Bible ~ for a reason. He wanted us to reason. Hebrews 11:1 says faith is accepting the evidence ~ not wishful thinking. Romans 10:17 says faith comes from hearing/reading the Word of God for ourselves ~ not someone’s sermon. Let us search the scriptures daily for ourselves. And, let us not be afraid to approach our religious leaders and try teaching the teachers. Then their zeal as well as ours can be based to knowledge.
The scripture for today, October 1, is Romans 10:1f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for ______ is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.”
Being “religious” isn’t enough. There are lots of religions. Feeling “spiritual” isn’t enough. There are lots of differing religions that induce a “spiritual” feeling. Confidence of salvation isn’t enough. There are lots of differing religions that create questionable confidence of salvation. Dedication to prayer isn’t enough. There are lots of differing religions that require much prayer.
Sincere Christian leaders today may want us to rely on feelings and inducements and confidence and dedication, but they can be sincerely wrong. If we base our salvation on feelings and inducements and confidence and dedication only, we have zeal, but our zeal is not based on knowledge. Some may defensively call this legalism.
God gave us his Word ~ the Bible ~ for a reason. He wanted us to reason. Hebrews 11:1 says faith is accepting the evidence ~ not wishful thinking. Romans 10:17 says faith comes from hearing/reading the Word of God for ourselves ~ not someone’s sermon. Let us search the scriptures daily for ourselves. And, let us not be afraid to approach our religious leaders and try teaching the teachers. Then their zeal as well as ours can be based to knowledge.
Harding and Okla. Christian
Today is my last day at the Harding University lectureship in Searcy, Arkansas. My books are on sale in the rotunda until 3:30 today.
Next Sunday through Tuesday I will be at Oklahoma Christian University with my books for sale at the conservatory. Stop by and say hello.
The scripture for today, September 30, is Luke 9:30f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.”
Hebrews 5:7 says something very startling to most people. “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions WITH LOUD CRIES AND TEARS to the one who could save him from death.”
Jesus did not look forward to going to the cross, even though many thousands of others had died that way. Why was it different for him? Because he had to take on all our sins as though he had committed them himself ~ every lie we’ve told, every gain from cheating, every insult, every slander campaign against another, every adultery, every murder ~ everything ~ all our sins! How could he bear it?
Not only that, but he had to experience both physical and spiritual death. Spiritual death means being separated from, being forsaken by God. What a terror to experience!
And so, a few weeks before his crucifixion, as he prayed on the mountain, Moses and Elijah appeared to him and they spoke about his death. They surely gave him courage to do what had to be done to save you and me who deserve hell.
The crowning glory of this conversation is that God reassured him by announcing, “THIS IS MY SON! WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN! LISTEN TO HIM!”
Jesus was to nail the Old Law of Moses to the cross (Colossians 2:14). He had promised people, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets: I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17).
Indeed, by the time Jesus returned to heaven, he had lived the Old Law introduced by Moses perfectly ~ something no man had ever been able to do. And by the time he returned to heaven, he had fulfilled every prophecy about his birth, life, and death, the first such prophet being represented by Elijah.
Oh the things Jesus went through for us. We fall at his feet and worship him.
The scripture for today, September 29, is Matthew 9:29 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
“Then he touched their eyes and said, ‘According to your faith will it be done to you.’ “
Sometimes when we pray for healing during sickness, a well-meaning friend will say, “Well, you haven’t been healed because you didn’thave enough faith.” But Jesus did not heal everyone according to their faith.
The boy in Nain he brought back to life (Luke 7:14-15) did not have any faith at all. The girl in Capernaum he brought back to life (Luke 8:51-56) did not have any faith at all. When Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana (John 2:1-9) the hosts did not have
any faith at all.
This is encouraging, because often we pray for the healing of non-religious friends. It would be futile to ask God to bring them back to health if it depended on their faith all the time. But he is not a God of futility. He is a God of hope.
