If you have followed my blogs on CaringBridge, you know that I have two on the subject from Exodus about God bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. The Israelites had been in Egypt for 430 years. Think about it. That is a long time based on human reckoning of time. God had promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that they would return to Canaan and it would be their homeland. When Exodus begins, the prospects of this appear highly unlikely. But God had not forgotten his promise and He sent Moses to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage. Of course, the Israelites thought this was a good idea and were all for it. One problem was that, while they seemed to expect an uncomplicated and easy journey out of Egypt, it did not turn out that way. Time after time, they attacked Moses and Aaron for taking them from the "security" of Egypt. One example of this kind of complaint is found in Exodus 16:3: 'And the children of Israel said unto them (Moses and Aaron), Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger." That is definitely not a statement of faith. However, we should not be too hard on the Israelities, for we want to be effective servants of God and see His work prosper, but we often want it with little sacrifice or service from ourselves. If we do not see the success that we think we should see, we complain about the leadership instead of looking at our own sorriness. We want to watch "Moses and Aaron" do their thing and we will be on the sidelines cheering. All of us share in the work of the Lord, and all of us need to approach His work in a spirit of positive faith. When we doubt and complain, we hold up what God is wanting to do through us. God did get the Israelites out of Egypt and, eventually, into the Promised Land. Those who made it were those who entered the land in faith. Think of your contribution to the progress of the church to which you belong. Does the work go on to success because of you or in spite of you? Think about it and pray about it.
Bro. Joe
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In the last article I gave a good example of leaven. (see article below) In Matthew 16 leaven is used as a bad example. Jesus told His disciples in verse 6: “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Because they had taken no bread with them, they thought that Jesus was referring to that. Jesus reminded them of the feeding of the five thousand and the four thousand. A lack of bread was not a problem for Him. In verse 12 we see that they understood: “Then understood they how that He bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” The point was that if the disciples allowed themselves to be influenced by the Pharisees and Sadducees, they could not teach Christ’s doctrine. Bad doctrine has the tendency to spread just like good doctrine. We need to be careful what we allow into our doctrinal stances. Of course, people change their minds on doctrinal matters from time to time and no harm is done, but if the change takes away from the gospel that the Bible teaches it causes great harm, and, like leaven, will ruin the fellowship. What the Pharisees and Sadducees taught was based on the traditions of men, not just scripture. For example, in the case of the Pharisees, their doctrine included their own righteousness. They were self-righteous. An example of bad leaven from the Sadducees is that they rejected the doctrine of resurrection and life after death. They accepted only the first five books of Moses – the Pentateuch. Also, they did not believe in angels. It is obvious why Jesus did not want this leaven to start its secret work among His followers. Jesus wanted His followers to know that it did make a difference what they believed and , for that matter, what they allowed into their lives. Just remember that bad things spread like leaven and cause great harm. This should say something to us about what we allow into our minds and hearts.
Bro. Joe Since May of 2011 I have virtually been out of sight. I did some
preaching until June, but after I had to have emergency surgery, I was sidetracked. I didn’t think this would go on but a few weeks and I would be back in the saddle again. In case you didn’t know, I was diagnosed with an aggressive lymphoma in May. Chemo treatment for that began immediately, and I went through six rounds of treatment, after which I was in remission. But there was another surprise. After I was in remission from lymphoma, I was told that I had a suspicious polyp in my colon on January 5 of 2012. I had surgery for that and they said they got it all. (Let us pray.) As a result of that I am laid up again, dealing with nausea and weakness. You might say that I have been sidelined. Now, for an activist Baptist preacher that seems like a bad thing, and in a sense it is, but there is another side to the story. You see, I couldn’t imagine that I could go from June (Father’s Day) until today (February 9) without preaching. With tongue in cheek, I said that I couldn’t imagine the kingdom of God going on without me preaching for several months. Guess what? The kingdom has done quite well, and so have I. I have had to hear other people preach, which has been good for me. I have read my Bible through twice without hunting for sermons in the past year. (Preacher, you might try that sometime.) Lo and behold, I have grown spiritually without being in the thick of things. Don’t misunderstand me. I am looking forward to “getting back out there” again, but I think I will appreciate it more because of the sabbatical that I have been forced to take over the last few months. Just the same, I hope that you do not have to take such a sabbatical, but if you do, keep the faith. God is not through with you. Bro. Joe |
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