Applying the Bible

Valentine’s Day affords another opportunity to express our love to those we hold dear. There are many ways to show love and appreciation to your sweetheart. But the important thing is that love be expressed in a language that speaks to their heart. After all, God expressed His love for us in a language understood by all mankind. “But God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 NKJV). That’s love in any language.

As we continue to focus on renewal, strive to turn your heart so that the Lord comes to have first place in everything. Paul presents this powerfully in Colossians 1:18, “He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.” There it is: “first place in everything.” Jesus Christ is the preeminent Person in the universe: He is the Person who came to earth to suffer and die. He is One who has loved and given Himself for the body. He is the One who died to establish the church.

These days, we seem to be inundated by immorality, with rampant violence, sexually explicit material, and selfish lifestyles blatantly confronting us through our media (television to video games to internet). It is easy to complain about the lack of manners in young people, the rudeness of drivers, or some slipup we observe in a Christian person we respect. It is easy to let the ways of this world get us down, but, even though it might be more difficult, we can find greatness in small things that sometimes take a bit of observation.

Depression is not a paper tiger – it is real and can be deadly. I have battled bouts of depression through various seasons of my life. If you are facing depression, you are not alone. Great and godly men and women have battled and defeated depression by the grace of God. In the Bible we see Moses, Job, Naomi, Elijah, David, and Solomon along with a host of saints down through history who succumbed to depression. The good news is – you can defeat depression.

Political ads and commercials ad nauseam will continue to bombard us until elections in November. I’m undecided as to whom I will vote for. I was impressed with the Christmas ads from Senator John McCain. In it we see a young John McCain beaten, bruised, and tied to a cot in a dingy, dark cell as a POW in Vietnam. Senator McCain recounts how a guard came into his cell, untied him, and helped him out into the sunlight. The guard then took a stick and drew a cross in the dirt. That powerful vignette is the gospel of the cross.

While sitting in a waiting room I picked up a copy of Newsweek. On the cover was a haunting picture of sad and depressed teenagers. The featured article described an almost epidemic proportion of teens in America suffering from depression. It seemed that the sole answer offered for this malady was to prescribe an assortment of drugs.

Millions of people in the United States are plagued by depression and a sense of hopelessness. When we lose hope despondency, depression, despair, and desolation can hunt us down. Darkness can enclose us. The enemy of our souls delights to dampen our dreams, visions, and hopes. He wants to destroy our very life. (John 10:10)

A sage once said that those who have two or three good friends are fortunate. He or she who has one true, close friend is fortunate indeed.

Since moving into a new neighborhood a little over a year ago, we have only seen our neighbor lady a couple of times. An upward mobile executive, she leaves her home before sun-up for her commute to work and returns home late in the evening. My wife happened to meet her at a neighbor’s moving sale one Saturday. Our neighbor sadly remarked that even though she had a good job and had lived in the neighborhood for about 10 years, she had no friends. That sentiment is a commentary on life in our society today.

Have you ever wondered where you fit in society? Where you fit in amongst your peers? Perhaps you have felt like a round peg being forced into a square hole. Culture tends to categorize individuals into homogenized groups. Do you identify with any of the following groups?

Q: When thinking about fasting, what kinds of people come to mind?
-John the Baptist, legalists, health nuts
-Q: What about Jesus? He practiced and taught fasting!

Q: How many people do you know who practice fasting regularly?
Q: How many sermons have you heard on it?
-In most religious circles it’s hardly mentioned.
-Yet in scripture it’s mentioned more than baptism (77 to 75)

I. What is biblical Fasting?
• Fasting refers to the abstaining from food for spiritual purposes.
-it’s distinct from health dieting…crash dieting
-always centers of a spiritual purpose

• Typical Fast
-In scripture the normal (typical) means of a fasting involves abstaining from all food, solid or liquid, but not from water.

Luke 4:1-2

Israel was chosen and blessed by God. After coming into the Promised Land they decided they wanted a king like all the other nations had. They weren’t satisfied that God himself was their Sovereign protector and provider. He redeemed them from slavery and dwelt among them. They were actually rejecting God as their Sovereign Lord and Father.

God let them have a king to rule over them. He sent the prophet Samuel to anoint the one that He had chosen. Saul was not from a great or renown family but notice what God said about him, “This is the man the Lord has chosen as your king. No one in all of Israel is his equal!” (I Samuel 10:24 NLT)

In the Book of John 8:3-11, we read:
“The scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do you say?’”

Christianity is unique because Christ is unique. No other religion’s god gave their life as a sacrifice for their people in fulfillment of prophecy. No other god died and arose from the dead as the Son of God did. Good Friday and Easter (Resurrection Sunday) are the most holy days of the Christian calendar. Just as the Day of Atonement and Passover are in the Jewish calendar.

It seems that the storms and stresses of life throughout the world have increased exponentially sense that dreadful day of 9/11. In fact Jesus said that in the end times, “men’s hearts would fail them for fear of those things that are coming upon the earth” (Luke 21:26). In Matthew 24 Jesus gave some future signs that would point to and precede His return to earth.

Do you want to succeed and prosper in whatever you do? Only a fool doesn’t want to succeed in life. The Word of God provides us with the wisdom we need to succeed and be a winner. Jesus said when he was tempted by the devil, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). As you study and apply the inspired Word of God to your life you can be assured of success God’s way. (Joshua 1; II Timothy 2:15, 3:16)

A bridge can be a lifeline. Battles have been fought over bridges. Those who have control or access to a bridge can move to safety or bring across needed forces for victory. History, books, and movies have commemorated strategic bridges. Some bridges, like the covered bridge, have been romanticized, immortalized, and enrolled as historic landmarks.

A world relief organization built a bridge over a high and dangerous gorge. For years the village women and children would have to walk four hours to obtain water and carry it back because a wide and deep gorge separated the village from the closest source of water. When a bridge was built over the gorge it eased the burden on the women and allowed the children to receive schooling with the many hours saved each day.