Misplaced Expectations

1 Comment / By Rock Excavation Service / 4 minutes of reading / Hungary, Jesus, Promises, Trust

The Bare Facts

Isaiah was a prophet of God. One day, God gave him an almost unimaginable message. In the twentieth chapter of Isaiah, we learn that the LORD told Isaiah to “Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.¹” He did this for three years!

Then the LORD told him that this was a sign – “a symbol of the terrible troubles” – that would come on Egypt and Ethiopia. I wonder if the thought went through Isaiah’s mind, “Now you tell me!”

The Main Point

The Philistines, Israel’s continual nemesis, felt safe because they believed that if Assyria ever attempted to attack them, then Egypt and/or Ethiopia would give them protection. WRONG!

The LORD told Isaiah that the king of Assyria would conquer Egypt and Ethiopia. And then the Philistines would become terrified! “They will say, ‘If this can happen to Egypt, what chance do we have? We were counting on Egypt to protect us from the king of Assyria.²’”

Misplaced Expectations

Just like people, throughout history, nations have made dangerous decisions based on bad assumptions. A stark example happened in 1957.

The Soviet Union Invaded Hungary

The November 1957 invasion by the Soviet Union into Hungary is a painful reminder of the danger of trusting other nations for your own nation’s safety. In 1956, a national movement swept the people of Hungary to throw off the outdated Soviet repression of their nation. At the beginning of the movement, they did not seek an alliance with NATO, just as Ukraine did not seek a military alliance with the West. But, just as the Soviet Union increased its pressure on Hungary, Russia did the same to Ukraine. And, just as we have recently seen in the war between Russia and Ukraine, the Soviet Union invaded Hungary. Both Hungary and Ukraine looked to the West for help; only Ukraine received it.

The Hungarian anti-Soviet militia thought they would succeed in their effort because they believed rumors, published by the CIA, that NATO and the US would step in and stop the invasion³. No help came from the West, so the Soviet Union’s invasion was an overwhelming success.

I have placed my fingers in some of the hundreds of bullet holes in Hungary’s parliament building that was besieged during the 1957 invasion. It is a chilling reminder of how political decisions do affect people’s lives.

As a side note, few people remember that Elvis Presley made a personal effort to help the Hungarians.

On Sunday, January 6, 1957, as millions of Americans watched Ed Sullivan’s popular television variety show, with the nearly 22 year-old Elvis Presley headlining for the third time, Sullivan told viewers Presley felt “so keenly about Hungarian relief, he urges all of us through the country to remember that immediate aid is needed.” The host followed this with Elvis singing an unrecorded number, the gospel song “Peace in the Valley,” saying “he feels that this is sort of in the mood that he’d like to create. – Wikipedia

Good News

God has given good promises to those that trust Him, who look to Him for their help, their hope, their hero.

6 Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with the saving might of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
8 They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand upright.
Psalms 20:6–8 ESV

Both personally and as a nation, I pray that we change, that we stop trusting the untrustworthy and wholeheartedly trust our place in Jesus for our strength.

Photo by Házy Zsolt, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Yes, I’m a Believer

By Rock Excavation Service / 2 minutes of reading / Faith, Jesus

With the continuing pressure to change the English language to diminish any sense of guilt, I began to think about how believing is interpreted in today’s culture. What does “believe” mean in today’s culture? For centuries, believing was a profound message for Christians.

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,”
John 1:12

No Simple Matter

This keystone verse ties us to the God of all creation. Those “who believed in his name.” That name is Jesus. The Greek for “believe” is pisteuousin which means: Credit; by implication, to entrust.

Believing is no simple matter. It is an overt action by us to entrust Jesus with our past, present, and future. Believing means faith, trust, confidence, commitment, and betrothal. For, as believers in Jesus Christ of Nazareth, our Belief is, through His Church, our betrothal to Him. What it is not is a feeling.

So, when we, as born-again believers, use the word “believe,” we mean it as Paul wrote it:

“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Romans 10:9

The Greatest Love

Belief is our confident commitment to the one, true, unchanging God (the Father) and His eternal Son, Christ Jesus. To believe is not a transient, emotional response, fanned into flames by misled peers who want to cover their guilt, assuage their fears, and pull people down who are not anchored to the Rock of our Salvation.

As we are pummeled and punished for our use of “the king’s English,” let’s not become confused by what “believe” means. To believe in the Son of God is the greatest love we can show to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We Know

Known what you believe and believe what you know. Your soul longs for Belief in Jesus, and your eternity counts on it.

Image by Meranda D from Pixabay

Jun 26 2023

Do We or Don’t We?

By Rock Excavation Service / 3 minutes of reading / Confidence, Faith, Jesus, purpose, Trust

Some will look out at the ocean
But never set foot past the shore
While others set sail and never look back
And go where no man’s gone before
…
Anything’s possible if you have faith
Just keep your head up and stay in the race
Others before have known this is true
And now it’s time for you
To know anything’s possible, too
Gary Chapman, youtube.com

I love that song. It taps into a struggle we often go through in life; do we or don’t we? Sometimes we overthink a thing we know God wants us to do. At other times, we pray too little, seek no counsel, and throw around theologically inaccurate memes to whip up our human confidence while giving little attention to God’s will and our lack of effort to know it. Humans are a strange creation.

Anything is possible, but not all things are God’s will. Right now, I’m in my deer-in-the-headlights pose. It happens to me when God puts something in my hands to do, but I lack any natural ability to do it. Though I am in one of those problems right now, I keep reminding myself what the apostle Paul wrote:

“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:8–10

The man Gideon had this same problem. Gideon was the poster child for weakness. Yet, God made him into a military leader for a battle to deliver the Israelites from the oppression of a neighboring country. Here is God’s first message to Gideon:

“Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!’”
Judges 6–8

God doesn’t see us the way we are. Rather, God sees us as how we will be when He steps into our story. We do not exist because of some mistake, some carnal act in the backseat of a car, or some foolishness. No, you and I exist for a divine reason. We exist to do some specific works that God planned before His Creation. God made a plan, and He is working His plan, and now it is your turn and mine. It’s time for us to do the things God created us to do.

You and I are part of God’s will that He planned for you before He created anything^[1]. He isn’t going to let anyone or anything spoil His plan.

While writing this post, my heart has been changing. I have been frozen by what Christ Jesus has given me to do. But now, not so much. Writing this post has reminded my worried mind that I’ve been here before. Just as David said, “Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.^[2]” I pray the Holy Spirit also reminds you.

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Are You in a Thin Place?

By Rock Excavation Service / 3 minutes of reading / Close, Heaven, Thin, World

If I ask if you are in a thin place, you may conclude that I’m either asking about dieting or ice skating. I’m not. I recently learned about thin places from a blog, “Between Fangs And Feathers” by Steve Lummer.

The idea of “thin places” traces back to Celtic Christians, but all of us have been in them; we just didn’t have a name for them. A “thin place” is where heaven and earth nearly touch each other. For example, my wife and I were at a church fellowship supper a while back. During a conversation with another couple, we learned that the wife had undergone a near-death experience; she was dead for several minutes. She told us she was overwhelmed by heaven’s stunning beauty, but God had her return to her dead body. That’s a thin place!

Mr. Lummer referenced the temptation of Jesus to help us understand “thin places.”

“And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.”
Mark 1:13 ESV

Jesus was “with the wild animals.” He was in this bleak world occupied by wolves, lions, and other apex predators. At the same time, Jesus was ministered to by angels whose homes were in heaven. For Jesus of Nazareth, the separation between Earth and Heaven was small, a thin place. The same is true for Jacob when he wrestled an angel¹ and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they were thrown into a blazing furnace².

If you or I find ourselves in life-threatening situations – cancer, vehicular accident, imminent danger – we are in a thin place. But thin places are not only about death; they can happen during spiritual mountaintops. The Holy Spirit may reveal a deeper meaning to a passage of Scripture, or He may use His gifts through us:

“7 The Holy Spirit is given to each of us in a special way. That is for the good of all. 8 To some people the Spirit gives a message of wisdom. To others the same Spirit gives a message of knowledge. 9 To others the same Spirit gives faith. To others that one Spirit gives gifts of healing. 10 To others he gives the power to do miracles. To others he gives the ability to prophesy. To others he gives the ability to tell the spirits apart. To others he gives the ability to speak in different kinds of languages they had not known before. And to still others he gives the ability to explain what was said in those languages. 11 All the gifts are produced by one and the same Spirit. He gives gifts to each person, just as he decides.”
1 Corinthians 12:4–11 NLT

We become aware of thin places during extraordinary events in our lives. Knowing that there are such things as thin places can add to our courage. As Christians, if we pay attention and pray continually, we will find that we can constantly touch God while walking by faith through this world that seeks to devour us.

Photo by Dziana Hasanbekava

It’s In the Details

By Rock Excavation Service / 3 minutes of reading / Details, Jesus

Every Friday at 9:00 AM, a few men from our church meet for breakfast. [Hint: If you want to join us, we meet each week at the Coffee Cup on North Lafayette Ave. in Terre Haute, Indiana] The food is great, and the fellowship is excellent.

Recently, as we were talking, one of the guys made a comment that stuck with me. He said he always wears his “Mickey” hat when he is out in public. The hat is the kind that guys often wear when fishing, and it has a small Mickey Mouse^® logo. It is very casual but distinctive.

My friend said, “This hat is genuine. It’s from Disney^®. I wear it so people remember me. They “know me.” They see what I do, where I go, and what I buy. Of course, this is a two-edged sword. They’ll know if I mess up.” His comment resonated with me.

Over the years, I’ve written several times about the good and bad of developing brands (The Brand of the Man, Building Our Brands, The Real Deal, etc.). I’m the guy that usually wears an unbuttoned denim shirt over a plain, colored T-shirt, jeans, and white tennis shoes. I learned from my wife that what I wear is called my “life uniform” – they have names for everything now!

We must not forget that Jesus told us what we are to be known for:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:34–35 NIV

Unfathomable love is how we must love. Jesus also told His disciples to “be wise as serpents and innocent as doves¹“. These two truths are not in conflict. We are confident of this because God’s Word states:

“The Lord directs the steps of the godly.
He delights in every detail of their lives.”
Psalm 37:23

The “every detail” brings us back to my friend’s statement. Few people live their lives in the same town, work decades for the same company, and live their adult lives in the same home. So, as followers of Jesus, we need to be noticeable. It may be a brief time that they or we will be in the same community.

As we love people with love coming through us from God, we need to pay attention to the details in our lives. God delights in every detail of a godly person; we need to be those persons.

From people that work in restaurants, service stations, and mail delivery to educators and government workers, all should learn to recognize us and see the consistent, unalterable compassion, humility, and love that is unlike anything they ever witness from the world.

There’s a song that has received a lot of air-play on Christian radio stations. It’s titled, “God is in this story.” Here’s the first part of the chorus.”

God is in this story
God is in the details
Even in the broken parts
He holds my heart, He never fails
– Song by Big Daddy Weave and Katy Nichole, YouTube video

Self-Aware

God is in the details. I love that message. We need to pay attention to how we live, thinking about what we say, what we do, and where we go. The apostle Paul wrote, “So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise.^[1]” It is good for people to recognize us. When they see us, they should see us loving in the way that Jesus loves^[2]. After a while, we will be known by them for our love.

Photo by On Shot

For Joy!

By Rock Excavation Service / 4 minutes of reading / Commands, Jesus, Joy

The Commands of Christ – A Book of Joy
From time-to-time, beginning with this post, I will be sharing excerpts from my next book.
GWM

Love God and People

I was drinking a cup of coffee and writing a devotional a while back when I read this verse: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments¹.” So, I stopped to think about what Jesus said. The first thought I had was the reply Jesus gave to the “lawyer”:

“And he [Jesus] answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
Luke 10:27 ESV

I thought I was “good to go,” but I again stopped and lingered on what Jesus meant by keeping His commands. I remembered that two of the ordinances (special commands) Jesus gave His Church are baptism and the Lord’s Supper-Communion-Eucherist. That’s two specific commands. Hmm.

Jesus Also Gave Us Specific Commands

When we study the New Testament, we find nine of the ten commandments carried over from the Old to the New; nine, not ten. The only commandment not included in Jesus’ New Covenant is the command to observe the Sabbath day². Concerning the Sabbath, we find:

“So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths.”
Colossians 2:16 NLT

So, in Jesus’ reply to the lawyer’s question, He told him (and us) what is needed to show love for Him. But why should we study the many specific commands that Jesus gave if we can fulfill all the commands by loving God and People?

It’s Like a Car

Allow me to use a car as a metaphor. Think back to the time you received or purchased your first car. I’m sure a parent or friend told you, “Be sure to take care of it!” “Take care of it” is the command you received, and it’s true. But how do you take care of it?

Is keeping it clean enough? Is changing its oil regularly enough? Well, the answer is no. You must do many things to fulfill the command “take care of it.” Replacing worn tires, worn breaks, old batteries, and so forth.” The same is true in Christ’s commands to love God and your neighbor. To help us, Jesus told us the specific commands we need to fulfill the two greatest commands.

Christ’s Commands Give Us Joy

“When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy.“
John 15:10–11 NLT

If you are a Christian, you are seated with Jesus in the heavenly realms³. You, too, can bear your cross⁴ for the full joy that awaits you in your heavenly home. It is God’s good pleasure for us, His children, to enjoy our new life in Him. “In this world, we will have trouble⁵,” but in Christ, we have peace and His joy. Because the New Testament overflows with good things – joy, peace, love, and so forth. I have written this book to help us to gain more of God’s joy. This book is not about making new laws for us; it certainly is not about burdening our lives more than the “light burden⁶” Jesus gives each of us.

The Commands of Christ were given for the lost to be saved and the saved to be full of joy⁷. In these commands, we learn how to break free from worldly lives and prepare to live eternally in the kingdom of God. We are on this adventure because Jesus said that if we love Him, we will obey His commands⁸.

Image by serrano1004 from Pixabay

Rescue!

By Rock Excavation Service / 3 minutes of reading / Help, Jesus, rescue

Our home is like that 1970s mullet haircut, business in the front and party in the back. On our small front lawn, we have glorious flowers (thanks to my wife), hostas (wife, also), and a tulip tree. It’s a very 1950s yard and house, but the backyard is quite different. Our large backyard is full of flora and fauna. This is where I have my office – I guess I’m part of the fauna. 😉

We have beautiful birds, from hummingbirds to hawks. At various times, we have had a vixen (female fox) give birth to her cubs under one of our sheds, a red-headed woodpecker attempt to mow off the tops of several of our trees, and Canadian geese stop by on their way to warmer weather or back to their homes in Canada.

I am blessed by this constant backyard activity, surrounded by these friends of mine. I enjoy my friends, but for them, they are often in life-or-death struggles. They got my attention this morning. I am at peace while being surrounded by battles for survival.

For Christ’s Bride¹, many, if not most, of our brothers and sisters live in actual life-or-death environments. Here at home, our children are under attack, our culture is fractured, many local churches teeter on the brink of collapse, and more and more often, Christians find themselves in challenging and unexpected problems. But we have God’s promises, and they are still reliable. Here is one of them:

The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them.
Psalms 34:7 NASB 1995

The “angel of the LORD” is singular², but it is used in the same sense as the word “army” is singular. God is saying that an army of angels surrounds us; under the command of Jesus, they surround us for our protection. If we find ourselves entrapped by the enemy, they rescue us! This isn’t just a nice idea. This is a promise from God!

Right now, I have a grandchild that the enemy led into bondage. I know she is a child of God. I was there when she opened her heart to Jesus. I was the one that baptized her. I do not doubt that she is saved, but she has been deceived. She needs rescuing, and I am confident that the angels of God will break her free so she can return to the path of righteousness that we all are called to walk³.

So as I sit in my office, all around me are life-or-death battles. Satan fights against God, and God’s children are his battlefield. How marvelous it is to know that Jesus has already won this war. This is why we can say what Paul said: “for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day⁴.”

I pray that you will rest in Christ’s transcendent peace⁵ while doing His work in this world of troubles. And if we don’t meet while in our jars of clay⁶, we will meet in glory!” Amen.

Image by gabeincognito0 from Pixabay

Don’t Let the World In

By Rock Excavation Service / 3 minutes of reading / Blues, Cosmopolitan, Frogs, Jesus

The Blues

I enjoy some of Eric Clapton’s music, the Allman Brothers, Howlin’ Wolf, and B.B. King, but I cannot let myself “live the blues.” The blues is a genre of music that often expresses feelings of sadness, despair, and loneliness. While there is nothing wrong with enjoying blues music, it is important to remember that these are just feelings, not realities. As Christians, we should not allow our souls to be touched by these negative emotions. Instead, we should focus on the hope and joy that we have in Christ. B.B. King famously sang the line, “Even the air I breathe is used.” That’s blues. That’s worldliness. That’s not the mind of Christ!

We Must Not Be Cosmopolitan

Daily, during my prayer time, I confess my sins to God, asking His forgiveness^[1] and praying for His strength so that I can genuinely repent^[2]. The world we live in is insidious. It creeps into every nook and cranny that it can. Just as there are frogs in South America that, if touched, will kill a person^[3], so it is with the things of this world. As the apostle John wrote, “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions.^[4]”

In John’s warning, the word he uses for the world is the Greek word κόσμον (kosmon), which is the root of our word cosmos. John is not writing about planets and constellations. Instead, John is writing about the world as a well-ordered whole. No part of the world is free from rebellion against God. Therefore, we must not touch the world.

He isn’t implying that we can’t hug a sinner or purchase food from worldly grocery stores. He is telling us that the world is a poisonous frog; we mustn’t allow our souls to touch the cosmos. We must not allow the darkness of the world to come into us. God is light^[5], so our light must extinguish all darkness that attempts to come into us.

Good News

Jesus told us our Good News:

“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”” John 10:28–30 NLT

Image by Malachi Witt from Pixabay

What Do You See?

By Rock Excavation Service / 3 minutes of reading / Door Hinge, Faith, Jesus, Peace

I typically start my day in our den. It’s a type of sanctuary for me in the mornings. As I began to walk into the room this morning, I noticed that the pin in one of the door hinges had begun working its way out of the hinge knuckles. I made a mental note to get a hammer and tamp the pin back into place, which is why I’m writing this account here. Both our Lord and my wife know that I’ll forget all about this bit of maintenance if I don’t write it down!

Wired to Notice

I’m wired to notice things that need maintenance. I nearly always look at the tread on our tires as I walk to get in our cars. I look at our roof when we’re pulling into our driveway. When I log in each morning, I check how much free disk space I have on my laptop’s drive. I see these things because I look for them. But if you ask me how much milk we still have or what we received in our mail, I’ll give you a blank stare. I don’t look for these things, so I don’t “see” them.

These thoughts today led me to what the apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 3:11 NLT where he quoted from Ps 34:12–16:

“Turn away from evil and do good.
Search for peace, and work to maintain it.”

Searching Takes Effort

It’s striking that Peter wrote “search” for peace. We are encouraged by the Holy Spirit to search, to notice situations that need peace. Within the context of what Peter was writing about, this peace is with the people around us and with government officials. Peace is not like a door hinge or tire tread; it is more like searching for why your dishwasher is flooding your floor with water and fixing it. Often peace cannot be found without great effort.

God calls every believer to be a peacemaker. Jesus taught us, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God¹.” We may call ourselves God’s children, but if we want to be called children of God, we need to walk into trouble and use God’s wisdom, faith, and grace to transform trouble into peace. But we will never do this unless we are searching for peace. It’s a matter of sight.

Paraphrasing one of the times when Jesus healed a blind man:

Jesus asked the blind man, “Do you see anything?” The blind man said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly..‘’
Mark 8:22–25 NLT

Seeing Clearly

Searching for Godly peace is way beyond seeking inner peace through some sort of meditation. We are entirely unable to see clearly the situations that need peace. Even then, we cannot bring true peace into those problems without the Prince of Peace², Jesus Christ of Nazareth, living in us. But…

Good News

The word “but” is marvelously powerful. It tells us that times and circumstances change. But, when the Prince of Peace is alive in us, we receive spiritual gift(s) from God to search for peace with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then the outcome from our searching will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ³.

Image by James Timothy Peters from Pixabay

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[1]: Matthew 5:9 NIV – Blessed are the peacemakers, for they – Bible Gateway
[2]: Isaiah 9:6 NIV – For to us a child is born, to us a son – Bible Gateway
[3]: 1 Peter 4:11 NLT

woman in black shirt holding black and silver weight scale

May 8 2023

Weight A Minute! ;-)

By Rock Excavation Service / 3 minutes of reading / God's Plans, Repartee, Weight

I bet you’ve never wondered how much the Earth weighs. If you’re like me, you probably never gave much thought to this question. How did we survive so long without this knowledge!? 😜 Well, I’m here to enlighten you with what the BBC said! The Earth weighs 13,170,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 pounds^[1]. Sure, this is probably the most useless fact you’ll ever hear. But hey, it’s still a fact.

We have a tiny fact like that, but it carries a lot of weight. Jesus said:

“For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”
Matthew 5:18

Jesus was letting us know that God does not backtrack or make U-turns. The intent enshrined in the Law of Moses is the heart of God. Still, God knew that the Law of Moses would be replaced by the covenant established with Jesus^[2]. Nevertheless, Jesus was telling us that until all of God’s will is accomplished, not even the smallest part will pass away. In chapters twenty-four and twenty-five of Matthew, this truth is expanded by Jesus.

A Weighty Fact

Now here is a compelling fact for you today. You are part of God’s will^[3]. Not even the smallest part of His plan for you will pass away because He will not yield anything to the enemy^[4]. You are a delight to God. You may see yourself as unworthy of such a special relationship with the one true God, and you would be right. None of us are worthy^[5]. Our place in Christ Jesus is by His grace alone and not based on our smart and loquacious repartee. But just as the Father delights in His Son, so He delights in everyone that has abandoned their natural life and placed their faith in Jesus.

So, if you think you should assign yourself as a second-stringer for God, “weight a minute!” Even the most negligible, lightweight bit of God’s will shall not pass away. All of His plans will be accomplished, and His plans include you and me.

As for the weight of the Earth, maybe the next time you look up at the sky or feel the ground beneath your feet, you’ll appreciate how incredible God’s creation is. We live on this massive ball of rock and water that orbits a giant ball of fire in a vast and expanding universe. God is so cool!

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

You may like: A Lesson From My Sears Guitar

[1]: Source: How much does the Earth weigh? – BBC News. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/science-environment-29108451/how-much-does-the-earth-weigh Accessed 5/1/2023.](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/science-environment-29108451/how-much-does-the-earth-weigh Accessed 5/1/2023.)
[2]: Mark 14:24 He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many… Biblehub. https://biblehub.com/mark/14-24.htm
[3]: Ephesians 1:3–4 NIV – Praise for Spiritual Blessings in – Bible Gateway. Biblegateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+1%3A3%E2%80%934&version=NIV
[4]: 1 Corinthians 15:24 NIV – Then the end will come, when he hands – Bible Gateway. Biblegateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+15%3A24&version=NIV
[5]: Psalm 14:3 NIV – All have turned away, all have become – Bible Gateway. Biblegateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+14%3A3&version=NIV

The Bare Facts

The Main Point

Misplaced Expectations

The Soviet Union Invaded Hungary

Good News

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No Simple Matter

The Greatest Love

We Know

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Self-Aware

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The Commands of Christ – A Book of Joy

Love God and People

Jesus Also Gave Us Specific Commands

It’s Like a Car

Christ’s Commands Give Us Joy

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The Blues

We Must Not Be Cosmopolitan

Good News

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Wired to Notice

Searching Takes Effort

Seeing Clearly

Good News

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A Weighty Fact

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