The Plumbline

When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them. (Acts 2:1-4) When we are filled with the Holy Spirit and continually renewed in his presence, the result will be that there will be less of "self" around to influence our decisions and to take our focus off of our Lord. We will experience a hunger for the Word of God that goes well beyond what we have ever known before - because the Holy Spirit is sent to teach us the things of God. He is our "tutor" in the things that relate to God's holiness, right living, and the love of our heavenly Father. There is an opening of the Word to us like never before - we call this revelation. Those things that we may have...

There are a whole lot of character traits I could choose for my "H" List - things like humility, honor, honesty, hopefulness, and holiness.  Yet, I choose to focus on one character trait today:  Hunger.  You see, if hunger is one of your character traits, humility will follow, honor will be your adornment, honesty will be your way of doing business, hopefulness will spring from your heart, and holiness will be evident in your words and actions.  So, hunger really is an all-encompassing character trait for our "H" List today! You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.  (Matthew 5:6 MSG) This passage is taken from the Sermon on the Mount.  I'd like to back up a little to get some perspective though.  First, we find Jesus climbing a small mountain or up onto a hillside.  Why?  The crowds were gathering and this gave him position to speak to the vast crowd - his voice wo...

The story begins this morning with a widow woman facing a debt she cannot repay.  She is worried that she will lose her two sons - simply because they would become the "means" of repaying her debt as they would become the slaves to the debtor if she could not repay the debt.  Her husband has been a prophet - a godly man.  I imagine she wonders why this catastrophe is upon her since she likely has lived pretty close to this guild of prophets and their "set apart" lifestyle for a good many years.  She comes to Elisha - one of the major prophets of the Old Testament - seeking his help.  She implores him to consider her plight.  In response, he begins to wonder what he might be able to do to assist.  In those days, prophets were rarely wealthy men or women - they lived by the standards of the day, occupying their time with the normal pursuits of the day such as farming, tending the animals, working with clay or wood, etc.  But...today, I want us to ...