The Plumbline

My soul gave up all hope, but then I remembered the Lord. I prayed to you, and you heard my prayers in your holy Temple. “Some people worship useless idols, but those statues never help them. I will give sacrifices to you, and I will praise and thank you. I will make special promises to you, and I will do what I promise.” Salvation only comes from the Lord! (Jonah 2:7-9) We might think there is no hope in our current situation, but God isn't afraid of the darkness, nor is he one to abandon his children. He gives us all the 'space' we require in order to come to the end of our 'selfishness' and 'rebellion', but he doesn't leave us there forever. When we call upon him, he hears - because he has never left us! Jonah realized the God he served wasn't just some useless idol, but the One True God. His covenant with those whom he loves is forever. Most importantly, he realizes salvation comes no other way. Salvation is more than the deliverance from the pen...

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed. (Mark 5:18-20) The one set free from a lifetime of torment and torture was not always so 'grateful' and 'trusting' toward Jesus. When Jesus first sees the man who was demon-possessed, he asked Jesus to leave him alone - to not change anything in his life. He actually saw Jesus as 'interfering' with his lifestyle. Tortured though he was, the evil spirit within him didn't want to leave him. Jesus wasn't put off by the demons asking to stay. "Then Jesus demanded, “What is your name?” And he replied, “My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man.” Then the evil spirits begged him...

I am going to ask a tough question today, but if we are truthful on this one, we may just realize a healing at the end. How long are we willing to live WITH our troubles before we ask God to get us out of those troubles? For some of us, it has taken us a long, long time to come to our knees, admitting we have been dealing with this 'trouble' longer than we ever should have. Trouble in the form of bitterness, anger issues, hurt feelings, or attitudes of deep regret and shame. While we are living WITH these 'troubles' we are 'hoping' for something to be different, but we don't really come out and aggressively seek our deliverance from them! It is time to admit we have been living 'with' them for way too long and we need God's help to finally move us from our 'placement' INSIDE those troubles. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the ...

I know it is Christmas morning and this may not seem like much of a 'Christmas' message, but I think it may just be the one 'gift' we all need in our lives. In our moments or seasons of rebellion, there comes a time of realization - the moment in time when we realize just how far we have drifted from what God would have wanted for our lives. Those moments are described as being as low as one can go - being as far away from obedience as one can manage to get. In those moments, there comes a realization of where we are and we often find ourselves looking up - simply because there is just no help in looking down or in looking around! If we looked down - we'd only see our problem! If we look around - we'd see others right there with us, as helpless and lost as we are. When we look up - we see our hope for deliverance! I was as far down as a body can go , and the gates were slamming shut behind me forever—Yet you pulled me up from that grave alive, O God, my God! ...

18  You know that in the past the way you were living was useless. It was a way of life you learned from those who lived before you. But you were saved from that way of living. You were bought, but not with things that ruin like gold or silver.   19  You were bought with the precious blood of Christ’s death. He was a pure and perfect sacrificial Lamb.   20  Christ was chosen before the world was made, but he was shown to the world in these last times for you.   21  You believe in God through Christ. God is the one who raised him from death and gave honor to him. So your faith and your hope are in God. (I Peter 1:18-21 ERV) All of us have points in our lives that we look back upon and say, "I used to...", but now we "no longer". I used to run - but no longer. I used to play sports - but no longer. I used to be married - but no longer. I used to like that person - but no longer. I used to be thin - but no longer. You get the idea! "Used to" and "what...

There is something pretty important we need to realize as we come to Jesus. As we come, we often expect the immediate healing of all our anxieties, hang-ups, and long-held issues.  The frustration comes in knowing there are things in our lives which Jesus forgives and then he "deals" with them for a while until we realize they are finally gone.  I often throw clothes in the washer without doing a thorough inspection of them to see if they have any noticeable stains on them. When I remove them, I usually try to look at them a little bit before I put them in the dryer because we all know the heat of the dryer "sets" the stain in deeper. There are those occasions when I just plop and throw - not really paying much attention to them either when I put them in the washer or when I add them to the dryer.  Guess what usually happens when this occurs - yep, there is inevitably some big old stain right down the front of one of mom's tops, or on my favorite pair of pants....

In the midst of some of the toughest places we could be in, there are moments when we just need to stop to take time to refocus.  In this moment of refocus, we are really re-centering our eyes of Jesus - his greatness, his graciousness, and his gentleness.  In the midst of chaos and terror, he becomes our settling peace.  In the moments of uncertainty and wavering, he becomes our strong foundation.  In the mountains of hardship and despair, he becomes our strong deliverer.  Some of us need to refocus more than we recognize.  On the surface, we might appear calm, cool and collected.  On the inside, we are falling apart, failing to pass the tests, and frantically trying to avoid the mess we are in.  As we face these tough places in life, we aren't alone.  Not only does the guy or gal next to you feel the pressures of life, but so do you - if you were honest enough to admit it.   But let me run loose and free,   celebrating  God...

The blues - ya singing 'em?  We all have a time here and there when we just get into the "mulligrubs" - the place where we are kind of ill-tempered, grumpy, or just plain grouchy.  Our circumstances have been internalized and we are allowing them to affect the attitude we display about everything we touch in life.  Melancholy is not meant to be a way of life for a believer, but we sometimes find this path kind of worn smooth by our frequent passage over it, huh?  Sometimes our "souls" just need a good talking to - they need to hear clearly they are not where they need to be!  There is a song I remember from grade school - about the old gray mare not being what she used to be.  Now, if we were given to singing the blues now and again, we might just bemoan the fact the "old mare" or "old stallion" isn't what s/he used to be!  Physically we age and the aging process is sometimes less than kind to us!  On the other hand, I think we sometimes ...

We all pursue a Savior.  The purpose of a Savior is to bring hope, giving us a foretaste of a better future.  The Old Testament is full of promises of a coming Savior – the world looking forward to a coming Messiah.   A savior is one who has the specific mission of rescuing or delivering those who need rescue or deliverance.  He rescues from danger or harm.  There is no more dangerous place to be found in than to be in a place where you don’t realize you don’t recognize the danger you are in.  Many of us recognize the sins of others, but we fail to see those which are our own.  As long as we only see the “others” who need “rescue”, we fail to see how much we desperately need rescue ourselves. 10  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.   11  Today in the town of David a Savior  has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.  (Luke 2:...

1  Then we turned around and went back into the wilderness following the route to the Red Sea, as  God  had instructed me. We worked our way in and around the hills of Seir for a long, long time.   2  Then  God  said, "You've been going around in circles in these hills long enough; go north." (Deuteronomy 2:1-2) There is seldom a time when "going in circles" isn't a waste of time.  I think that someone like a race car driver would be the exception.  He accomplishes either the winning or the losing of the race while staying on that oval track - going around and around at a calculated pace to accomplish the goal.  For most of us, going in circles is another story - we find that we accomplish very little in the course of our efforts. Israel had been "going in circles" in the wilderness for years.  They had even shed a few tears of grief over their choice to doubt God's provision for them.  Something I have seen over the years (e...

1-2 These are the sermons Moses preached to all Israel when they were east of the Jordan River in the Arabah Wilderness, opposite Suph, in the vicinity of Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. It takes eleven days to travel from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea following the Mount Seir route. 3-4  It was on the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year when Moses addressed the People of Israel, telling them everything  God  had commanded him concerning them. This came after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled from Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who ruled from Ashtaroth in Edrei. It was east of the Jordan in the land of Moab that Moses set out to explain this Revelation. (Deuteronomy 1:1-4) We began to look at this book of history a little yesterday.  Israel was taking up on an 11 day journey that would ultimately take them 40 years to make.  We examined how this is not unlike us as we consider our journey toward deliverance from the t...

1-2 These are the sermons Moses preached to all Israel when they were east of the Jordan River in the Arabah Wilderness, opposite Suph, in the vicinity of Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. It takes eleven days to travel from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea following the Mount Seir route. 3-4  It was on the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year when Moses addressed the People of Israel, telling them everything  God  had commanded him concerning them. This came after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled from Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who ruled from Ashtaroth in Edrei. It was east of the Jordan in the land of Moab that Moses set out to explain this Revelation. (Deuteronomy 1:1-4) There are certain books of the Bible that keep each of us away - simply because they don't seem to speak "loudly" to us or they just don't seem pertinent to the day and the hour in which they live.  Yet, even our curriculum within our schools include his...

14-16  As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him, shouting in triumph. And then the Spirit of  God  came on him with great power. The ropes on his arms fell apart like flax on fire; the thongs slipped off his hands. He spotted a fresh donkey jawbone, reached down and grabbed it, and with it killed the whole company. And Samson said, "With a donkey's jawbone I made heaps of donkeys of them. With a donkey's jawbone I killed an entire company." (Judges 15:14-16) Israel is in a time of punishment - being attacked by the Philistines.  They have wandered into compromising sin and God is allowing the Philistines to be used as his means of judgment on their sin.  Samson was born of a woman unable to bear children - a miracle in those days that neither involved artificial means, nor test tubes!  As an angel of the Lord reveals that she will have a son, he also instructs her to set him aside (dedicate him) to the Lord's work of deli...