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Gleanings From The Word

Tag: hope

  • Proximity Doesn’t Produce a Profession

    Do you really know Jesus?

    An empty church pew with sunlight streaming on it reenforcing the theme of proximity, closeness

    I was thinking about Pat, a late friend from “the cowboy church,” recently. She attended and served at churches her entire life but later in life realized she didn’t know Jesus. She had thought that attending church and doing “Christian” things made her a Christian. After truly becoming a believer, she was an unstoppable force, not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but with a zeal matched by very few.

    I have met so many people like that, faithful in church, but without Jesus. What a tragedy it will be when He says to them, “Depart from me; I never knew you.” 

    I’m not judging them; I’m going by the fact that they told me of their conversion experiences later. It’s not for me to judge someone’s salvation; only God himself can do that. 

    Being near the holy doesn’t make you holy, or, as a nicely alliterated sermon title, “Proximity doesn’t always produce a profession.” That shouldn’t surprise us. Judas Iscariot walked with Jesus for three years and didn’t believe. Jesus worked signs and wonders, and people didn’t come to him.

    When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. John 6:60-66 ESV

    I have met people who have told me, “I tried Christianity, but it didn’t work for me.” Of course it didn’t. “Christianity” has no power to change anyone. We must be changed by the Holy Spirit, be born again and be in the process of being made Christ. God has the power, not some vague definition of Christianity.

    The Apostle Paul warns

    For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. Hebrews 6:4-8 ESV

    It’s possible to go to church, have a Christian family or family members, and receive some of God’s blessings by being in their proximity without knowing Jesus. That’s a sobering thought.

    It’s why I believe that every sermon should point to the cross explicitly or implicitly. It doesn’t have to be the key point of the message, but it’s likely in most (every?) congregations that there is someone there who doesn’t know Jesus.

    What are you trusting in? If you aren’t trusting in Jesus by faith, you need to change direction.

    May you know the Lord and be bless by Him,

    Kevin

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    SUMMARY

    I think about my late friend Pat, who served faithfully in church her whole life before realizing, late, that she’d never actually known Jesus. Her story is a reminder that proximity to church doesn’t equal salvation, and every one of us needs to ask honestly what we’re really trusting in.

    TAKEAWAY

    Being near church, Christian family, or “Christian” activity doesn’t make anyone a believer — only faith in Christ does.

    Scripture shows this is nothing new: Judas walked with Jesus for three years without believing, and many disciples turned back after a hard teaching (John 6:60-66).

    Hebrews 6:4-8 warns that tasting the blessings of God’s presence isn’t the same as bearing real fruit — the question every reader must answer is what they’re trusting in.

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  • Thundereggs – Picture of God’s Hidden Work in Us

    A split McDermit Thunderegg showing the rough exterior and the polished interior

    Thundereggs (or thunder eggs) are one of God’s natural wonders. 

    They are rock nodules that form inside rhyolitic volcanic ash layers, kind of like a filled-in geode. Most are about baseball-sized, though they range from under an inch to over three feet across. On the outside, they just look like plain rocks, but inside they usually have a center of chalcedony, sometimes fractured and filled back in with agate, jasper, or opal. Quartz and gypsum crystals show up often too, along with other mineral growths.

    The real payoff comes when you cut one in half and polish it. What looks like nothing on the outside can reveal intricate patterns and colors inside. And like other agates, thundereggs from the same bed can still vary quite a bit from one to the next, even while keeping a kind of family resemblance. No two are identical.

    Today’s image is of the exterior of a thunderegg beside the cut and polished interior. It’s courtesy of North West Rockhounding. The inside looks far more dramatically beautiful than what we see from the outside.

    For me, they are a great visual reminder of the state of people. From the outside, even on our best days, we don’t seem very much like Christ; it’s even a less attractive picture for non-Christians.

    All people are created in the image of God (Imago Dei), but we are scarred and marred by sin. Believers get a makeover. We are born again and have the imputed righteousness of Jesus, but it takes time, effort and the loving work of the Holy Spirit to transform us.

    There will be a day, though, when all that we were created to be will show through. I can hardly wait.

    He will finish the work He has started in us.

    I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6 ESV

    We come to Him rough, unfinished and unattractive, but He transforms us.

    As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:4-5 ESV

    The beauty of being transformed into His image will be seen by all of His children. What a moment that will be.

    I can hardly wait to see the finished you and me. The world’s finest gems and thundereggs will pale in comparison.

    My God richly bless you.

    Kevin

    SUMMARY

    I share how a thunderegg looks like nothing but a plain rock on the outside, yet holds dazzling color and pattern once it’s cut open and polished. It’s a picture of how we come to Christ rough and unfinished, but He is doing the patient work of transforming us into what we were created to be.

    TAKEAWAY

    Thundereggs form as rock nodules inside volcanic ash, appearing plain outside but often hiding chalcedony, agate, jasper, or opal within

    Believers are made in God’s image but scarred by sin; through Christ we receive imputed righteousness and undergo ongoing transformation by the 

    Holy Spirit

    Philippians 1:6 promises God will finish the good work He started in us, and one day that inner beauty will fully show through

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