Have you ever taken a big trip somewhere?  It usually a lot of fun to get out on the open road (or skies or seas–whatever the case may be) and travel to someplace new and different, and enjoy the sights and experiences.  But what if you were forced to go on a long trip that you didn’t want to go on?  That happened to Paul.  He went on plenty of trips that he wanted to take because he liked being a missionary.  But there was one pretty disastrous trip that he didn’t have a choice about.  And you know what?  In spite of all the difficulties and his life being endangered a number of times, he seemed to make a pretty adventurous trip out of the ordeal.

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So we’ve been having this heat wave go through the whole Midwest, and everybody on the news is telling people how dangerous it is and to drink lots of water and stay indoors when possible.  You’d think people had never been outside on a hot day before.  It really hasn’t seemed all that hot to me.  But I sure am glad not to be putting on a new roof or anything like that lately.  And I’m also glad that we got a reprieve from the hot sun,  My yard had been getting pretty brown, and I noticed some clouds out in the distance.  So I asked God if he could give us a couple inches for the crops and the grass.  And guess what?  We got 2 & 1/4 inches.  It was a real blessing.

But you know, even if we hadn’t gotten any rain, there is still so much to be thankful for.  There might be dry grass in the yard.  But in the heart of a true Christian, the grass is always green.

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Have you noticed that people just don’t write letters anymore?  Even e-mail has been traded for texting and Facebook and Twitter.  We still get junk mail from every direction.  But it’s a rare occasion to get an old fashioned letter in you mailbox.  And you definitely don’t see letters like the one Paul wrote to the Christian church in Rome.

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CHAPTER FOURTEEN – Don’t Let ’em Fool Ya

What’s wrong with the church today is not the music or the modern dress or even the trend toward the mega churches with coffee bars and barber shops and all that jazz.  What’s wrong with the church today, at least in the U.S., is that it is largely ineffective.  Sure we have some outreaches and mission trips and things like that.  But where are the real miracles, and turning the world upside down, and caring for all the widows and orphans, and repentance from sin, and morality outside of church, and preaching counting the cost and expecting persecution and trials as a Christian?

It seems to me like much of the church in America is little more than a weekly club meeting to make you feel better about yourself and not to actually affect your real life. But on the bright side, it doesn’t have to be like that!

What’s it like for you?

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We all know that Jesus was brutally flogged and then nailed to a cross to die a terrible and painful death.  But the kind of suffering and death he went through was not that uncommon in his day.  Lots of people were flogged, and crucifixion was a normal tool for Roman capital punishment.

What makes Jesus death way different (besides the fact of his innocence) is that Jesus died voluntarily.  If a bunch of trained soldiers tie you up to a post and proceed to whip the flesh from your back, there’s probably not much you could do about it.  And if your limbs are connected to wooden beams by iron spikes driven through your hands and feet, what are you going to do?  But at any point, Jesus could have snapped his fingers and stopped it all.  I doubt you or I would have the strength and commitment to endure that kind of torture for more than a few minutes if we had the power to end it.  But Jesus held strong for hours of gruesome pain and suffering until his body couldn’t take any more and finally died.

Praise the Lord for his dedication, because otherwise none of us would have any hope.

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CHAPTER NINE – Remember

Have you ever set down your car keys and forgot where you put them?  How about the remote control?  Ever lost anything really important?

How do you go about remembering what’s most important?

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CHAPTER FIVE – Do You Want The Good News or The Bad News First?

Have you ever notice how things can completely change depending on your perspective?  For example, imagine that you’re asleep–a nice comfortable sleep filled with sweet dreams and somebody slaps you in the face so that you wake up to a very sore cheek.  How do you feel about that person?

Ok, now say the same scenario happens, but once you’re awake the person who hit you explains that the building you’re in is on fire, and you need to get out before you’re trapped inside.  Now how do you feel about that person?

The Bible can bring about different reactions from different people.  For example.  If you don’t love God, and your life demonstrates a disregard for how he has told us to live, much of the Bible is going to sound pretty harsh–and even frightening.  But if you’ve been saved by God, and your life shows it through living the way he tells us to, then you’re going to read the same Bible with a lot of thanks and joyfulness.

So what do you get out of it–good news or bad news?

PS. I don’t know what happened, but this one has terrible sound quality too.  The others are better.

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CHAPTER THREE – Really Bad Breath

Let’s say you are at home, in your front yard, and you look across the street and notice black smoke and flames coming from the roof of your neighbors house.  Then you notice that your neighbor is just getting home from work and hasn’t noticed that his house is on fire and he’s on the porch fumbling for his keys.

What do you do?  Do you let him go into a burning house without saying a word.  Or do you yell at the top of your lungs, “DON’T GO IN THERE!  YOUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE!”

Now picture all the people who are dooming themselves to eternal fire through their own sin.  What do you do?  Do you do whatever it takes to get their attention and convince them to stop?  Or do you let them walk into that burning house?

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Do you know Jesus?  How do you know that you know?  Did somebody else tell you?  Are you just guessing?  Do you have any proof?  If you claim to know Jesus, are you sure he’d claim to know you?

Do you know why Jesus tells people to “Depart from me.  I never knew you.”?  Don’t you think that might be something important to know about?

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If Christianity were a football game, then going to church would be the huddle.

So after church is over, you’re supposed to go out on the field and make the plays.  If all you do as a Christian is go to church and sit on the bench, then you really aren’t helping your team out.  It’s time to get up and go for the win.  Leave it all on the field.  THEN, when you stand before the Judge on that great day, you can hear “well done…”

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