The NEXT Time

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there.  Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war.  His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns.  A name was written on him that no one understood except himself.  He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God.  The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses.  From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations.  He will rule them with an iron rod.  He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a winepress.  On his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords.  Revelation 19:11-16

In the Christian calendar this past Sunday was the celebration of Christ the King.  It is a time to acknowledge with joy the Sovereignty of our Lord.

Jim Henry was the Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church in Orlando, Florida.  He was also a friend and mentor, who helped me get started in ministry.  He tells of an incident from his youth.  He was saved at Hopewell Baptist near Nashville, Tennessee.  Just as he entered his teens there was going to be a special service at Hopewell.  Jim lived nearly 30 miles from the church by then.  Wanting to attend, he convinced his mother to allow him and his cousin to hitch-hike out to the service.  As they were walking along, a big black Oldsmobile came down the road, going in the same direction.  Jim Henry stuck out a thumb.  As the car got near, it began to screech to a halt, and Henry noticed a State Trooper sitting behind the wheel.  He was afraid the Trooper would arrest him.  The window rolled down:  Wher'ya goin' boys? he asked.  Jim explained, and he and his cousin were invited to hop in.  When he got in the back seat there was another man in a suit.  The man stuck out his hand and said, Hello, Jimmy, I'm Frank G. Clement, governor of Tennessee.  I am going up to the Hopewell Church to speak, and I will be glad to give you and your friend a lift.  They took off and the patrolman got them there in a flash.  When they pulled up there was a welcoming crowd.  The whole county was there.  Who was the first one out?  Jimmy Henry!  He tipped his hand in the direction of Mr. Clement, and said, Thanks for the ride, Governor – and God bless you.  Ol' Jimmy Henry was somebody!^[1]   The fact is Jimmy Henry was next to somebody.  He was still little thirteen-year-old Jimmy; Governor Clement was the somebody. 

Who is somebody to you?  The last time Jesus came, He had a manger, and farm animals for admirers.  He told us plainly who he was, teacher and Lord. ^{(John 13:13)} But he was still a nobody to us all, he was despised and rejected.  ^{(Isaiah 1:14)} 

The Next Time He Comes

The next time Jesus comes, the only animal in sight will be the white horse underneath him – a stallion ridden by a victorious, conquering King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. 

The next time He will not be a gentle baby, with Mary singing lullabies in some feeding trough.  He will be a mighty warrior with an avenging righteousness.

The next time He will not wear a simple shepherd's robe.  He will have a garment dipped in blood, with which he will cover, cleanse and purge the entire earth. 

The next time He will not hold a shepherd's staff.  He will have a conquering sword that will smash the world systems into oblivion. 

The next time He will not pass out broken bread and grape juice.  He will be marching on the grapes of wrath, and squeezing every-last-drop of the fierceness of a holy God who has been scorned.

The next time no one will put Him on a cross.  The next time He will hold up the cross and every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father. ^{(Philippians 2:10-11)}  Amen!

For You Today 

Are you ready for the NEXT time?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Today’s title Image from Pixabay.com  

Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

---

[1]Jim Henry, Heartwarmers, (Nashville, Broadman Press, 1977), 15

Almost; Not Yet!

Thursday, October 12, 2023

Like our ancestors, we have sinned.  We have done wrong!  We have acted wickedly!  Psalm 106:6

The recent violent attacks on Israel by the terrorist organization, Hamas, and Israel’s reaction, bombing Gaza, the center of the Hamas’ operations, is an all-too-familiar refrain of the nearly 4000-year squabble between Isaac and Ishmael, the two sons of Abraham.  If you remember, Abraham, father of the nation that would bear God’s name as His chosen people, had no heirs; his wife, Sara was unable to have children, and convinced Abraham to use her servant Hagar to bear a son, so God’s promise would have a chance.  Full stop. Exclamation point!  Whoa…What….use another woman’s body to fulfill the holiness of God’s Word?  What was Sara thinking?  And more…how could Abraham honestly comply with that?  God set the matter straight, by allowing Sara to conceive, getting pregnant at age 90 (how’s that for recompense?).  The two lines of descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael, have been at each other’s throats ever since.

In the days since the attack on Jerusalem I have heard a lot of references to the Second Coming of Jesus as being close, or imminent.  That may be so, or not.  Since the first Advent of Christ we have been living in an era of Almost; Not Yet!  His next Advent could happen before I finish writing this sentence – or not for another two thousand years.  Imminence means forthcoming, or looming.  So, the almost part of the Second Advent is that it could happen today.  The not yet aspect means we won’t know exactly when until it happens.  In Jesus’ own words, it will happen like a thief in the night.  Our family experienced that years ago. That thief didn’t send me an email, or call to make a reservation to rob us, he didn’t knock on the front door – he climbed though our window at 3AM!

Jesus also said He will return when His Father sends him, and knowing the date is above our pay grade; it will be when the Father makes the call.

We are precisely fifty-two days before the start of Advent on the Christian calendar, which is scheduled for Sunday, December 3^rd.  Advent celebrates the first coming of Jesus to Bethlehem.  He came then to be born, point us to the Father’s love, and then destroy sin’s death grip on us, the penalty for our sins (wickedness, as the Psalmist called it).  He did that on the cross as a gift. 

But Advent also is our constant reminder of the Advent of the future, the Second Coming of Jesus, not as a babe in a manger, the sacrificial lamb, bound for a cross – but the victorious, Lord and Christ of eternity, bound to defeat evil entirely, and set up his Kingdom eternally!

For You Today 

Our task in this life isn’t to set dates and construct timelines.  Rather it is to live faithfully according to God’s Word and be engaged in the mission of being His people who love lavishly, share openly, and wait patiently.

So, when you hear all the news reports of Ishmael and Isaac at it again, don’t get thrown-off track by taking sides, or trying to figure out how to settle the violence of the Middle East.  Stay on mission, loving your next-door neighbor, and the Lord God with all your heart, mind, and strength.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem as Scripture tells us – and live with the expectant prayer of the final words of Scripture on your heart and mind:

Even so, come, Lord Jesus.  

                        Revelation 22:20

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Title Image courtesy of Pixabay.com Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

Facts...Questions...Answer

Friday, September 15, 2023

When the Israelites escaped from Egypt—when the family of Jacob left that foreign land—the land of Judah became God’s sanctuary, and Israel became his kingdom.  

    The Red Sea saw them coming and hurried out of their way! 

    The water of the Jordan River turned away.  

    The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs!
        What’s wrong, Red Sea, that made you hurry out of their way? 

        What happened, Jordan River, that you turned away?
        Why, mountains, did you skip like rams?  Why, hills, like lambs?

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob.  He turned the rock into a pool of water; yes, a spring of water flowed from solid rock.  Psalm 114:1-8

Every kid whose eyes were glued to a black-and-white 11” TV screen in the 1950’s knew if you wanted to solve a murder mystery, Dragnet’s Sergeant Joe Friday was your guy!  The police were called, and Sgt Friday showed up to investigate.  The dialogue always included his no-nonsense, deadpan, direct approach; he didn’t want anything but the truth.  He would cut through speculation and side-issues with his piercing eyes and flatly require:  Just the facts, ma’am!

Had I paid more attention to Joe Friday’s relentless pursuit of truth, I would have figured-out Psalm 114 a lot sooner.  I’ve read it many times, but missed the main flow of God’s truth until it thundered in my ears in this morning’s dark, early hours.  There are facts, followed by questions, and only one answer.

The Psalmist states the facts about when Israel made her exodus from Egyptian bondage:

   …the Red Sea saw them coming and hurried out of the way to let them pass.

   …the Jordan River felt the first steps of the marching band and turned aside.

   …the mountains and hills skipped for joy like playful rams and lambs.

Then he asked why all the hurrying, turning, and skipping for joy?  All those facts, and all those questions (and many more throughout history), but only one answer:  The Presence of the Lord, God who does the unexpected, unimaginable, and totally-documented undeniable.

This was Israel’s history on a platter for us all to digest…the God who is unseen to human eyes, but ever-present for anyone with an open and reverent heart to see, know, and love, is He who makes the hills cry-out in praise, like animals skipping for joy, and the water going where He directs.

For You Today 

It’s one thing to do a bunch of stuff for people in ancient history; it’s a totally different matter when what He does is for every person in every era, age, or circumstance.  And it was more wonderful than making the hills and mountains scurry, or splashing the waters around; God dressed himself in mortal flesh and died for our sins.  And then he kicked the tomb-door open and proclaimed that we can do the same.  That, as Joe Friday would say, is an open and shut case!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library. 

Images without citation are in public domain.  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

Anatomy of a Journey

Friday, August 11, 2023

All this happened so they would follow his decrees and obey his instructions.  Praise the Lord!  Psalm 105:45

The Psalmist traces the steps of Joseph, beloved son of the patriarch, Jacob.  His brothers sold Jacob like a piece of cloth to a band of nomadic traders headed for Egypt.^[1]  There are enough plot twists and sub-themes in this rags-to-riches success story, to make any Hollywood screen writer drool!  However, the message isn’t just about Joseph’s perseverance through hard times, and prevailing through the unjustness of power structures.  The story of Joseph is a version in miniature of how God does what humans do not understand (particularly those who don’t know God).  It’s a microcosm of spiritual warfare, in which God’s power, often working behind the scenes, is worked-out despite whatever the forces of evil can manage against it.  And it all happens to the glory of God.

Have you ever dreamed of something that is (in your limited understanding) incredibly unreachable?  A dream job?  A home with a thousand acres?  A body that doesn’t sag here and there?  Deep breath without pain?  World peace?  Your version of that story has you in the middle of it; and that is what is so wrong with most versions of Eden…the perfect place, with everything just right.  That dream hardly starts with a group of Ishmaelite traders taking a load of gum, balm, and aromatic resin from Gilead down to Egypt.^[2]  Most dreams like that have the end result as starting point.  We picture ourselves in the lap of luxury, white sandy beach, palm trees, gentle breezes, and a coconut pina colada in a hammock. 

In truth, life may start out gently, a calm, favored child status; Andy and Opie in Mayberry.  But life is hardly tame.  Life’s journey has its twists and mountains, times of up, down, and blindly-sideways.  Some stuff is mundane and predictable, like what to eat for breakfast, or getting that bill in the mail or inbox.  But the kind of day that starts off with:

·       …there was a mistake on your account…or

·       …the test result may have been incorrect…or

·       …I wanted to help you, but…and the all-inclusive promise of doom: 

·       …I’ve decided you aren’t….

These are the excruciating days…resume’ of Joseph kind of stuff.  You get set-up by kin or friend, let-down in a pit, sold-out to the highest bidder, and assassinated by behind-the-back gossip.  It’s easy to draw the cynical conclusion that Mayberry was a conspiracy-theory in reverse; it was Alice in Wonderland’s dream, and you are the Mad Hatter…off to a very important date with your own demise.

It must have seemed that to the disciples when the Healer of Galilee was condemned to die.  He’d preached the Good News of God’s blessing, land of milk and honey, and all the tears wiped-away.  He had told them of life-eternal, and all your dreams come true.  Then he was betrayed, belittled, beaten, and nailed-naked to crossbeams on the town garbage dump.  There wasn’t even enough left in the purse Judas had emptied to buy him a grave…it was a borrowed tomb.

Now, this kind of post-mortem is hardly an advertisement for that thing you get told as a kid:  You are beautiful, you can do anything, or it will all work out in the end.  By the world’s standards, your beauty will fade, you’ll find out some things are way beyond your skills, and how it all works out is way beyond your pay grade.

For You Today 

If you’re tracking with me, and I haven’t lost you yet in gloom, despair and agony-on-me, go just one step further than Friday’s darkness-laden cross and tomb; go all the way to Sunday’s bright revelation; He is risen!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library. 

Title Image:   Pixabay.com

Images without citation are in public domain.   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

---

[1] Joseph’s complete story is found in Genesis 37-50. 

[2] Genesis 37:25

Elisha's Faith

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

One day when her child was older, he went out to help his father, who was working with the harvesters.  Suddenly he cried out, “My head hurts! My head hurts!”  His father said to one of the servants, “Carry him home to his mother.”  So the servant took him home, and his mother held him on her lap. But around noontime he died.  She carried him up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and left him there.  She sent a message to her husband: “Send one of the servants and a donkey so that I can hurry to the man of God and come right back.”  “Why go today?” he asked.  “It is neither a new moon festival nor a Sabbath.”  But she said, “It will be all right.”  So she saddled the donkey and said to the servant, “Hurry!  Don’t slow down unless I tell you to.”  ….  So Elisha returned with her.  Gehazi hurried on ahead and laid the staff on the child’s face, but nothing happened.  There was no sign of life. He returned to meet Elisha and told him, “The child is still dead.”  When Elisha arrived, the child was indeed dead, lying there on the prophet’s bed.  He went in alone and shut the door behind him and prayed to the Lord.  Then he lay down on the child’s body, placing his mouth on the child’s mouth, his eyes on the child’s eyes, and his hands on the child’s hands. And as he stretched out on him, the child’s body began to grow warm again!  Elisha got up, walked back and forth across the room once, and then stretched himself out again on the child.  This time the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes!  Then Elisha summoned Gehazi. “Call the child’s mother!” he said.  And when she came in, Elisha said, “Here, take your son!”  She fell at his feet and bowed before him, overwhelmed with gratitude. Then she took her son in her arms and carried him downstairs.  2 Kings 4:18-24, 30b-37

The faith of Elisha has always fascinated me.  The test of a true prophet is 100% accuracy.  There was no “wiggle-room” for that.  The penalty for prophetic failure was death.  Speaking or acting in the name of God, and then having your words or deeds fizzle-out, was a mark that you were a false prophet; it got you a death warrant.

It seemed Elisha’s faith was far beyond worrying about what others might think of him or his words and deeds.  For Elisha it was all about serving the God who had called him to be a prophet.  Laying face-down on the child, with mouth, nose, hands, and eyes all identifying with the boy, Elisha was (once-again) accepting the risk of being a prophet.  This boy would raise to life, or Elisha would join him in death.  This was no time for unanswered prayer!

For You Today 

In a day when, for most of this world’s culture, even the pretense of Godliness has been tossed in the recycle bin, it’s especially difficult to find faith like Elisha’s, big enough to trust God, no matter what this world’s fads demand.

Despite that, the offer from Heaven still stands:

Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.       2 Chronicles 7:14

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:  Big Faith and Jailbreak!

Title Image: Elisha raises Son, via Wikimedia Commons    Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Alive

Friday, January 13, 2023

In my first book I told you, Theophilus, about everything Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit.  During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive.  And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.  Acts 1:1-3

In a world full of superstition and baser people who were strong enough, and always willing to take advantage of the naïve, Jesus took care to assure the disciples that he was actually alive.  They were not very accustomed to formerly-dead persons walking, talking, and “being” with them.  In this context, with their fears and amazement sidelined, Jesus then talked to them about the coming Kingdom of God.  Their understanding of the Kingdom had been clouded by the typical, traditional thought pattern, which pointed to an earthly, political kingdom.  Frankly, Roman oppression had fueled a desire to see the blood of Ceasar’s soldiers gushing throught the streets of Jerusalem.  But Jesus pointed to a higher Kingdom, a Temple not made with hands, but overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, descending from the heavens, an eternal gift from the Father of Lights, where God, Himself would dwell with His people, and wipe away every tear.[1]

Sometimes it takes a moment for new thoughts to emerge from the shadows of dusty, dark places, where your mind has been wasting-away.  For the slower among us (like me) it may take weeks, months, or decades for light to dawn.

After serving in the military, I entered the business world at the ripe old age of 21.  In sales, and subsequently management, the visions of sugarplum-success danced in my head.  I totally bought-into the idea of hard work and nose-to-the-grindstone attention to building a little kingdom…for Russell and family.  About twelve years into this plan, it was going well for the net-worth bottom line, but relationships were suffering, along with internal growing awareness that I was chasing a rainbow that might destroy everything in me that God intended for my good, both now, and for eternity.   Then, like the apostle Paul, I met Jesus.  

Unlike Paul, I didn’t go blind, nor was it a blinding light, or an audible voice…it was more a growing understanding of how much of a god I had made of my wealth-quest, and how little value there was in building a soft financial nest in which to land.  The realization dawned on me that everything (without exception) shrivels and fades if it’s entirely constructed of human means and desires.  Only God, and what He ordains lasts.  And God ordained that our souls would last…for eternity. 

I was chasing the wrong “brass ring” of wealth, while God was trying to show me the beauty of His presence, and the gifts he was just eagerly waiting to bestow on my inner being.  He wanted to bless me with the knowledge of what its like to be REALLY ALIVE!

For You Today  

While a preacher can talk to you about these things (and we do love to do that…you give me a chance to have that discussion and you’ll make my day!); but no human being can lead you into that reality.  Like choosing favorite colors, flavors, or anything else that will be the endearing pattern and trademark of your life, it must be YOUR choosing.  So, the last words for all of this:  Choose ALIVE!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

The Kingdom of God  and  The Interview

Images:  Title Pixabay.com   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

---

[1] Read Revelation 21 – read slowly and savor each image of God’s loving presence Also See James 1:17

Pondering a Hard Truth

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age.  So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe.  But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them.  They couldn’t say a kind word to him.  One night Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever.  “Listen to this dream,” he said.  “We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain.  Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine!”  His brothers responded, “So you think you will be our king, do you?  Do you actually think you will reign over us?”  And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the way he talked about them.  Soon Joseph had another dream, and again he told his brothers about it.  “Listen, I have had another dream,” he said.  “The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!”  This time he told the dream to his father as well as to his brothers, but his father scolded him.  “What kind of dream is that?” he asked.  “Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow to the ground before you?”  But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father wondered what the dreams meant.  

Genesis 37:3-11

Truth is impartial to what we think of it; truth is simply (and most profoundly) its own reality.  One, plus one more, does not care if you think the answer is seven; it will always be as reality demands…two.  The difference between Jacob and his older sons was that Jacob entertained the possibility of truth told him by his youngest son, a truth which Joseph’s elder brothers refused to acknowledge.  This truth was what Joseph was given in a dream, concerning the future, when his older brother’s hatred of their youngest sibling would come full cycle.  Eventually the brothers, and even their father, would be dependent on Joseph’s forgiveness.

The story of Joseph’s jealous brothers selling their young sibling into slavery, and his subsequent rise to power in Egypt, followed by a famine, and his brothers being sent to find food, is a harbinger of God’s advent.  The birth of Christ, and the dream (even of Jesus’ disciples) of a political Messiah, sold for thirty pieces of silver to the cross, is the fulfillment of Joseph’s hard life with its ultimate victory, punctuated at last by his magnanimous forgiveness of the ones who persecuted him.  It is a resurrection truth, hard to entertain, but sweet to the reins when digested fully.

The truth of Joseph’s, and Jesus’ lives is hard to entertain.  Our world is always looking for easier shortcuts…computers that do better math than counting on our fingers…machines to do the heavy lifting…gene-splitting to make better human bodies, prettier, stronger, more able to cope with the harshness of life and our darker realities.  Somehow our notion of “truth” carries the lie that we are bound to create our own reality, sans God.  In some self-aggrandizing common consent, humanity has made God obsolete.  And that is the shroud they put on the face of a dead savior Friday afternoon.  It didn’t ring true Sunday morning.

For You Today  

Jacob wasn’t thrilled about Joseph’s second dream, because it meant a reversal of the order…the father bowing-down to the son.  But he left a little flap of wonder hanging for the wind of revelation to let in some light.

That is what Advent brings…revelation.  Let the wind blow today.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

   Seven Deadly Sins - Part 3 - Envy   and   When Envy Grabs a Heart

Images:  Title Pixabay.com   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©