The Layman's Pen

Like a Rock

10/9/2017

There are plenty of rocks in Douglas County, Missouri. In fact, there are plenty of rocks all over this area. Go out and pick a bunch of rocks. Ones that can be written on. Now, take some time and write on these rocks. Write the things that you believe in, your opinions, your thoughts, and what you believe is true. In short, come up with all the things that make you, you. Those are your rocks. That is what your life is built on.
     Rocks and stones are mentioned a number of times in the Bible.  Answers.com says that the words stone and rock appear 320 times in 321 verses in the Bible. Note: For enthusiasts of Bible statistics, they can be found at biblebelievers.com. Our pastor titled his sermon Like A Rock. It’s a good title.  Rock and Role could be a good one, too.
     The text for the sermon was Luke 19:39-40. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, the disciples are rejoicing and praising God with loud voices for all the mighty things they have seen. The Pharisees don’t like it and want Jesus to scold them for being so loud. The reply: Even if the disciples were silent, the stones of the earth would cry out. Why wouldn’t they? After all, stones are part of the creation of God. Just their very existence is a testimony to the power of the Almighty.
     Just three years prior to this, John the Baptist had been preaching in the wilderness, making way for the One to come. Even The Baptist speaks of stones. It’s in Matthew 3. He sees the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism and refers to them as vipers. Before they can say much, he goes on to tell them to not brag about how they are children of Abraham. Because, God is able to raise up children of Abraham from the very stones on the ground.
     Romans 9:33 speaks of a stumbling stone and rock of offence. Paul is speaking of Christ. The end of the verse is “…whoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” Here, the rock is Christ. Which takes us back to Matthew 16 and the question Jesus poses to his disciples, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” (Matthew 16:13) Peter answers in verse 16, “Thou are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus blesses him and says, “…upon this rock I will build my church…” (verse 18) The rock here is a spiritual one. It’s called faith. The church that Jesus builds is one built on faith. The rock of faith.
Other passages will speak of Jesus being the cornerstone of the foundation. (Ephesians 2:20-22) Also, that others have also come and built on this foundation. And that we are rocks (of faith) and are to build on this same foundation. The foundation is Christ. Faith builds His church.

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Is Your Name Written There?

10/2/2017

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According to an internet source (bing.com), the estimated population of Douglas County in 2016 is 13,358 and covers about 815 square miles. Most everyone here has family and friends. Since there is only one incorporated town, even people who don’t know each other, ‘run into’ each other often enough that they are recognized by sight. The result is that there are few strangers here. Only the new people are the strangers and that won’t last long.
     That’s why loss is felt deeply here. Those that are in church one Sunday and suddenly gone the next; or, the ones that are suddenly absent from the check-out stand. The obituary appears in the paper and the loss is felt like a swallowed gasp caught in the throat. They are gone from here, but where did they go?
     It says in Revelation 20:11-15 that the dead are standing before the book of life awaiting judgment. There is a song that goes something like this: “Please search the book again, I thought my name was there. How sad. Even sadder still is when it’s those we know. The chance for salvation is now while still among the living.
     It’s not something anyone wants to do--go to sleep and wake up in a devil’s hell. Those who miss getting their name in the Lamb’s book of life will have to go past the cross of Calvary and know it was real. It will be too late then. They’ll go past a crucified and risen Savior and they’ll go past the dead and resurrected body of Christ. Only then will some learn that hell is a real place.

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Whose Team are You On?

9/25/2017

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Whose team are you on? The kids are practicing plays on the field. Winning the game is the goal. The push is on. Parents are looking on as their kids work on improving their skills. Oops, a kid misses an important catch. It’s a foolish mistake and shouldn’t have happened.
Enter the coach, grabs the kid by the shoulder pads and yells into the player’s face. He really gives it to him. All this to make a better player so that mistakes won’t happen again. The parents look on and watch the coach doing his job. They look on approvingly. They want their kid to be successful, too.
     It’s a game. Life isn’t so different. There are two sides--good and bad, right and wrong, God and Satan. So, whose team are you on? Two coaches preparing their team for two very different goals. One shows the way to heaven and the other shows the way to hell. Who are you going to be sold out for? Where do you want to wind up?
     Heaven’s coach says commitment is the key. Believe what He is saying. Follow His guidelines. Hell’s coach says that the ones on the other team have it all wrong. It’s not like that at all. Self reliance is the key. Make decisions, take care of business. That’s the way to win.
     Two very different choices. But, for want of a better way to put it, which one has more skin in the game? Revelation 13:8 tells of the “…Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” God has sacrificed his Son, the Lamb of Revelation. That’s His skin in the game. Satan? The skin he has in the game is yours. It’s a chilling thought but it’s reality. Whatever it takes to keep your skin in the game. You’re his lamb.

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Faith in Action

9/19/2017

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“Ready or not--God will call an end to the whole shooting match.” Words spoken by Pastor Josh who impressed on his listeners the importance of putting faith into action. The kind of action that was shown by Noah. Our text was taken from Hebrews 7:11, “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not even seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”
     It’s a mouth full and loaded with meaning. If it weren’t for Noah and his faith, humanity would have perished. Think of it. You, the one reading this, wouldn’t be here to read this. Let it really sink in, and the thankfulness for Noah’s faith should be overwhelming. An act of faith saved humanity. Hebrews 11 is the faith chapter and gives accounts of others whose faith sprung them into action.
     This kind of faith, the kind that people are moved to take action, is so important in daily living. Chances occur every day for active faith. If for no other reason, every one on this planet should be moved by faith to gain heaven. Active faith takes learning and living God’s word. Read it, study it, pray about it: then, look for opportunities (the Holy Spirit will act as guide) to act on faith. Like Noah, heed the word, believe it, and prepare for it.
     Noah, in the face of adversity, kept the faith. Day after day, he warned of a flood and built an ark to prepare for it. Day after day, people walked by and shook their heads. Noah entered the ark before it started raining. The door was locked behind him. People still shook their heads. Surely he was "not all there". Then, it started to rain. Water came up from the ground, too. The whole world was filling up with water.?
     But, then it was too late. How many times had Noah said it was going to flood? A hundred times? Two hundred? Act on faith before it’s too late. Warnings are shouted from pulpits all across the country. Today’s warning can be found in II Peter 3:10, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” How many will act on faith? Or, how many will just keep walking by shaking their heads? There’s an answer to that, too. It’s in Matthew 7:13-14. Look it up.

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Pouting at God

8/1/2016

by Linda Johnson

Ever been so mad that someone didn’t get their just desserts? That’s the way Jonah felt about Nineveh. Jonah went there and preached, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” The people of Nineveh believed God and repented. God’s mercy was shown to them and this really got to Jonah. (Jonah 3:4-4:2)
     Jonah wanted to see Nineveh go up in smoke--perhaps a Sodom-Gomorrah event would be nice. He went up and sat on a hillside in anger. He had agreed to carry out God’s will only under duress. Of course, he was grateful for being spared when he was tossed overboard. But, he just couldn’t come to terms with being God’s instrument when an arch enemy of the Israelites was spared.
     Is it possible that we can be like Jonah? Would we ever get upset at God? Do personal desires ever trump God’s plans for us? Nineveh was a wicked city. Isn’t the world full of wicked cities? Nineveh repented and God was glad. If God commissioned one of us to go to a wicked city and cry for it to repent, what would we do?
     What if God called us to be missionaries to places where ISIS is, or Moscow, or Los Angeles, or Chicago, or to prisons? Would we go? Or, are we more like Jonah than we thought? Which comes first--our desires or God’s commission?
     It’s a hard pill to swallow. But that is what our pastor was driving home to us this pastSunday. Once saved, we become a part of God’s plan and He has plans for all of us. The plans are to further His Kingdom. We will either be obedient or disobedient. Our pastor reminded us that we need to focus on what is waiting for us in eternal life. Look at what’s waiting for us--a mansion that has been prepared by God.

Rock Bottom

7/18/2016

by Linda Johnson

“The only good thing about rock bottom is that you’ll finally look up.” Did you know that Jonah prayed, finally. It’s in Jonah 2:1-9. The old axiom holds true. When things get really bad, when you don’t see any other way out, when there’s no one else to turn to, when things are desperate, then we turn to the Lord. Thank God that He never changes and is ready to hear our pleas.
    This is the third sermon this month taken from Jonah. The quote at the first of this article was one voiced by Pastor Josh. When he gets revved up, he will surprise his listeners with zingers like that. Jonah, after being awakened, was made aware of the crises the crew was in. The storm was so unusual Jonah realized it was because of him, the ship would sink and all would perish. So, he jumped overboard into the sea.
     Here he is in the middle of the sea, far from land. It’s certain he will drown. What does God do? He sends a submarine (whale) to swallow Jonah. After 3 days and nights in this whale, Jonah finally turns to the Lord. Talk about stubborn and hard headed, Jonah takes the cake. It’s fair to say that he had finally reached rock bottom.
     Jonah was a prophet who didn’t want to carry out God’s plan. He went the opposite direction, took a ship to get as far out of reach as he could, jumped off a ship to drown, and basically held his breath for three days and nights before he did the right thing--pray and repent. God, in his goodness, directed the whale to take Jonah to his destination and spit him out on dry land.
     The weaver weaves the thread of the gospel through this story. And our pastor is adept at pointing out to us how we can be like Jonah in our lives. And, how much better it would be for us to emulate the whale. The whale was more obedient. He saved Jonah and took him where he needed to go.
    There were two other statements he made in Sunday’s sermon that are also timely. (l) Be all the help you can be and God will bless you for it. (2) The only way we fail is not doing what God gave us to do.

Victimless Crime?

7/11/2016

By Linda Johnson

“Sin is not a victim-less crime.” Now that’s an attention getter but that’s the statement made right after Brother Josh was talking about Jonah. Jonah was awakened by the mariners. They said, “Why did you do this to us?” That’s paraphrased but it’s there in Jonah 1:10 for the correct wording. Call me a little slow but it hadn’t occurred to me that these sea-worthy men were suffering for another’s sin. For me, that was a revelation. They were suffering a lot more than Jonah because he was fast asleep.
     This wasn’t the beginning of last Sunday’s sermon. The opening was about the storm before the calm. Usually it’s stated in the reverse but Jonah’s story begins with a storm. Of course by the time of the storm Jonah has turned tail and headed as far west as he can get. Running from God must be pretty exhausting. Jonah was sure exhausted from it because he went to sleep. Sleeping is significant. It’s a way to escape problems and Jonah had created a lulu of one.
     As our pastor pointed out, these mariners were seasoned veterans of the seas. They had to be or they wouldn’t be sailing ships to the farthest reaches of the known world. Sailors have reputations for correctly predicting weather. This storm they were dealing with was like nothing they had ever had. They had tried everything known to them to save their ship and passengers. Nothing had worked and now they were down to praying to their gods. Isn’t that the way it goes? When all else fails, it’s time to turn to God. That’s exactly what these mariners did. Jonah? He’s asleep.
     When the mariners wake Jonah up, he realizes that he’s the cause of the storm. He tells them that his God is the God of heaven, the maker of the sea and dry land. He tells them to throw him off the ship and their problems will be solved. Even then the mariners are reluctant to throw Jonah to his death and they row harder. In the end, though, they toss him off the ship and the seas are calmed.
     Sin really isn’t a victim-less crime. Innocent people are hurt by the actions of the sinner. And the sinner in this story dulled himself to his actions (he slept) until someone pointed it out to him.

Jonah

7/4/2016

By Linda Johnson

Sunday’s sermon was from the first four verses of Jonah. Most everyone knows the story. God commissions Jonah to go to Nineveh and cry against them because their wickedness has come up before Him. Jonah takes off in the opposite direction. It’s obvious he wants nothing to do with it. He winds up being swallowed by a big fish and spit out three days later. It’s also obvious God is not throwing in the towel so Jonah relents and goes to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. He goes there and delivers God’s message. The Assyrian king takes it seriously and the city repents.
     A little background is needed. Jonah went to Nineveh and may have spent some time there. The best dates available are around 785 to 775 B.C. By then Israel was already split into two kingdoms, the Northern Kingdom which was referred to as Israel or Samaria (its’ capital) and Judah. Jonah was born in the northern kingdom of Israel, not far from Nazareth, and grew up well acquainted with the troubles involving Assyria and Syria. In addition to that, Israel was idolatrous. First Kings 12:28-31 tells of the first king setting up golden calves to worship. This resulted in fighting with Judah, the loss of territory, and the continuous threat of battles with both Syria and Assyria. Jonah definitely had an attitude about these two empires.
     The book of Jonah is one of the books of the prophets. However, this book is different in that it tells a story that is not like the oracles of the other books of the prophets. But the story itself is unlike anything else in the Bible. For openers God tells Jonah he wants him to go to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. God wants him to warn the people of Nineveh that their wickedness has come up before Him. This is around 785-775 B.C. These events are important for several reasons. Jonah is Hebrew and made a missionary trip to Gentiles. God used Jonah to extend his mercy beyond the Jewish people. Jonah shows the hostility he feels about going to these people who are not Jews, but Gentiles. God is relentless and insists on Jonah carrying out his mission. Thus, Jonah becomes a missionary servant. This definitely sticks in his craw as evidenced by the rest of the book. God is patient with Jonah but He’s also making a point. Narrowness, prejudice, and exclusiveness was not what He intended for His chosen people.
A little historical perspective is always good. But even better is how our pastor, with the blessing of God, can take a biblical event and make it relevant for today. It was a good sermon and one worth listening to. You can hear it here.

Daniel

6/19/2016

Solomon completed the temple of the LORD around 959 B.C. Solomon’s prayer of dedication begins in I Kings 8:22. In verse 30 he says “Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place.” Daniel knew this and prayed toward Jerusalem (Daniel 6:10-11). This was over 400 years after the dedication.
     Around 586 B.C. Jerusalem fell and King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed the temple. Knowing this, Daniel still prayed toward Jerusalem. He is in bondage in Babylon, however, he was chosen to be in the king’s service and distinguished himself. The king is so impressed that Daniel becomes ruler over the province of Babylon (Daniel2:48).
     As the years pass and Daniel is nearing 80 he is one of three presidents that direct the governors of the empire. Darius, the current king, has plans to set Daniel over the whole kingdom (Daniel 6:3). This doesn’t go over well with the governors and they hatch a plan to get rid of Daniel--convince Darius to sign an edict that those who are found praying to anyone other than Darius the next 30 days would be thrown into the lions’ den. Does Daniel stop praying for the next 30 days? Hebrews 11, the great chapter on faith tells in verse 33 of one who “stopped the mouth of lions”. That would be Daniel. Obviously, he was thrown into the lions’ den for what? praying of course.
     Our pastor has a knack for weaving a story in such a way that it makes the heart jump in one’s chest. Little by little modern examples pop up--one about a sign at Camp Joy, another about a pair of boots, and a few from the New Testament, and so on. Then, he says, “Today’s society is like the lions’ den. What we do when we are tried is important…We’ll either be delivered or sin will have us…God doesn’t move the benchmark…How the body lies down is how the soul will wake up.”

Nominal Followers

6/12/2016

“Nominal followers of God.” It’s one of the statements in this week’s sermon. The word nominal just kind of sounds like something none of us would like to be--borderline, on the fringes. The Webster Dictionary defines it as 1) having the nature of. 2) having to do with. 3) in name only, not in fact. 4) very small compared to expectations.
      What does keep us from getting closer to God? Brother Josh pointed out that we all have baggage. Very simply put, our preacher said, “Get the stuff out of the bag that doesn’t need to be there. Get rid of whatever is keeping you from getting to God.” This was immediately after the opening scripture taken from Hebrews 4:14-16.
     Next was an example of someone who definitely wasn’t nominal. Beginning in Matthew 9:20 we meet a woman who had been sick for twelve years. In Mark 5:25-34 we learn more about her. She was broke from paying physicians and still wasn’t any better. This woman was desperate. She had heard of Jesus, that’s all we’re told. But she thought that if she could just touch his garment, she would be whole. That’s faith--the earnest expectation--the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).
     There was a crowd of people around Jesus that day. It says so in Luke 8:45. How in the world did a sick woman get through that crowd? She had to be really determined to do it. She may have even crawled through the crowd to get to him. She probably did crawl because it says that she touched the hem of his garment. And the hem is at ground level. It goes on to say that immediately she was healed.
     Now Jesus knew that someone had touched him. How about that? She touched the hem of his garment and he knew it. All those people pressing in against him and he knew it. It goes on to say that she fell down before him and told him how she had been healed. And the most wonderful part is when Jesus tells her to go in peace because her faith has made her whole. What a revelation! She does go in peace but her story doesn’t end there. In Matthew 14:34-36 it tells of a trip that Jesus makes. When he arrives, he is thronged with people who have all kinds of diseases. What does verse 36 say? “…that they might only touch the hem of his garment..” One woman’s faith had turned into a snowball rolling downhill. Faith really can move mountains. Just think of how many lives were changed because one person chose not to be nominal.

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Linda Johnson

Linda Johnson moved to Douglas County with her husband Tom ten years ago after retiring from teaching.

Andrea Strong

Andrea is Pastor Joshua Strong's wife. She also serves Sweden Church as Church Secretary and website administrator.

Linda Johnson

Andrea Strong

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