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Yielding His Rights...Receiving God's Blessing

4/24/2022

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         It says in Genesis 13:2 that Abram was very rich in cattle, silver, and gold.  Also, a look back to chapter 12 verse 5 says that they took quite a bit with them including people and valuables when they left for Canaan.  Apparently, they were growing at such a rate that there wasn’t enough land for Abram and Lot to feed all their animals.
          The dissension among the herdsmen of Abram and Lot was creating enough trouble that Abram thought it wise to separate the herds.  Lot could take his and go one way and Abram the other.  Abram, the elder of the two, gave Lot first choice.  This was not the practice of the day as the one in charge usually makes the first choice. 
          Abram, in verse 8 of chapter 13, says, “Let there be no strife, I pray thee…for we are brethren.”  A good guess would be that Lot was getting worked up over the whole thing and Abram was doing his best to avoid conflict.  This is telling about the two men.
          Abram is the one in control, but he is willing to let Lot have first choice of grazing land.  He has the power, but he constrained himself to keep the peace. Romans 12:18 tells us to live peaceably with all men as much as it is possible.  Lot set his cap on the land over toward Sodom, the plain of Jordan.  Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan.
          Right after this split is when the Lord spoke to Abram again.  He told him that as far as his eyes could see in any direction the land would belong to him and his seed forever.  Also, the Lord told him that his seed would be as the dust of the earth (verses 14 through 16).
          Why Abram?  Could it possibly have something to do with his character?  God blessed Abram, gave him land, and innumerable descendants.  James 2:23 tells us that Abraham was called the Friend of God.  Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5) Jesus also says, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” (Matthew 11:29)
          Abram was meek.  He demonstrated it by being the patriarch and allowing Lot to choose the land he desired. 
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The Road to Emmaus

4/17/2022

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          Have you walked the road to Emmaus?  Probably you have.  Probably we all have at one time or another.  It’s the road of grief.  The reference here is to the two friends travelling to a village, Emmaus, not far from Jerusalem.  It’s after Jesus has been crucified; he’s dead and his body lies in a tomb.
          The account is found in Luke 24:13-35.  But first a little review is helpful.  On the evening Jesus ate his last meal with his disciples was the same evening they walked to the Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives.  Jesus prayed while there.  Still there and in the early hours of the next day Jesus is arrested, brought before the high priest and then to Pilate by the early morning hours.  He is nailed to the cross that same morning and is dead by 3 p.m. that afternoon.  Accounts of the details are in Matthew 26-27, Mark 14-15, Luke 22-23, and John 13, 18-19.
          Events took on a life of their own.  Friends, family, and disciples had to have been shocked.  Their beliefs had to have been shaken to the very core of their being.  It’s no wonder these two on their way to Emmaus were trying to make sense of the whole thing.  A stranger joins them and asks what they are talking about. 
          Cleopas, one of the two, is surprised that he (the stranger) doesn’t know what has happened.  The two then bring him up to date on all that has taken place.  While the discussion is going on, he is invited to go with them to Emmaus which he does.  They wind up their explanations telling him that now the body is gone, some are saying that they have seen angels and Jesus is alive.
          The stranger says, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? (Verse 25,26)” This is when Pastor Josh says, “Slow of heart, the heart has reason that reason doesn’t know.  It’s faith.  The world lives by sight but the just live by faith.  Society, as a whole, is blind to the reality of Jesus.”
          It wasn’t until they were eating, and the stranger blessed the bread that they realized this was Jesus, the risen Christ.  They drop everything, hurry back to Jerusalem to tell the eleven what has happened (Verses 31-35).  O happy day!  We serve a risen Christ!  Our road to Emmaus is brief and oh, so transitory.  And we have a risen savior who takes the journey with us.  Thank you, God.
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The Parable of #35

4/10/2022

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         Pastor Josh has cows.  There’s one in particular that he’s not fond of.  It’s Number 82.  She’s hard to load, cantankerous, and will fight with him at every turn.  That’s when he decided she was a good choice for the freezer.  He had his wife call the butcher for an appointment to have her ground up and cut into steaks and roasts.  She’s due to go the first part of June which gives him about two months to have her ready.
          An old farmer that knows Pastor Josh said, “Don’t do that.  Number 82 is from a good cow.  She’ll be a good cow.  Get your meat another way.”  The Pastor thought about it.  It kind of weighed on him.  Finally, he went to see a fellow who had a dairy farm.  “Do you have any steers you want to sell?”  The farmer had several and Pastor Josh decided on Number 35.
          They made the deal and loaded Number 35.  As Pastor Josh was getting into his truck, God spoke and said, “Right there is what I did for you.  Jesus was the substitute for you just as Number 35 is the substitute for Number 82.”   
          That was the opening of the Sunday service.  Mark 11:1-11 recounts part of the last week of Jesus’ life here on earth.  Here, he sent two disciples into a village not far from Jerusalem to fetch a colt, a colt that’s not been ridden on.  The disciples do as they are told and found the colt.  As they were untying him some who were there asked what they were doing.  They simply said that the Lord had need of him.
          The colt is brought to Jesus and the ride into Jerusalem begins.  Now, keep in mind that this is in the same area Lazarus was raised from the dead.  Also, it hasn’t been very long since that had happened.  When Jesus gets on the colt it’s no wonder that many remembered the prophesy of the King riding the colt of an ass (Zechariah 9:9). 
          The celebration begins and shouts of “Hosanna; blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”  They are singing the same praises as the one found in Psalm 118:26. The sad part of this is many of these same ones praising the Lord and escorting him into Jerusalem will be some of the same ones crying for his crucifixion.
          You see, they misunderstood.  Jesus wasn’t coming to rescue them from Roman rule.  He was coming to rescue them from their sins which calls for death.  He was coming to be their, and also our, substitute.

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Crumbs from the Table

4/5/2022

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         Beginning in Mark 7, verse 24, it says, “And from thence he arose…”; the ‘he’ is Jesus.  He’s tired.  People pursue him.  He just needs to get away.  Here it doesn’t really say whether the disciples are with him.  The same story is related in Matthew 15:21-28 and it states that they are.  It’s time for some R&R.
          He and his disciples travel to Tyre and Sidon.  Now, these are Gentile cities.  So, one wouldn’t expect to be followed here especially if you’re Jewish.  An interesting sidenote—Jezebel’s hometown was Sidon (I Kings 16:31).   
          They are trying to slip unnoticed into a house.  Apparently, it didn’t work because verse 25 says, “For a certain woman…heard of him, and came and fell at his feet.”  Verse 26 tells a little more about her—she’s a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation.  In short, that makes her a gentile.  In the same verse, it says that she besought him which means that she’s not likely to give up.  You see, she’s looking for help for her young daughter who has an unclean spirit.
          Her persistence might have gone on for a while.  It doesn’t really say but in verse 27 Jesus says, “Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.”  Wow!  There’s a lot in that verse.
          The children are the Jewish nation, the bread is the ‘bread of life’, and the dogs are the gentiles.  Not only is she a gentile but she’s a woman which is a second-class person to begin with.  Jesus talks about the children of Jerusalem in Luke 13:34, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killed the prophets, and stoned them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!”  And the bread? it’s in John 6:35, “Jesus said unto them, ‘I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.’ ”
          This second-class gentile who was only worthy of being referred to as a dog must have known all this.  She starts off with “Yes, Lord…”.  She knew who she was talking to.  She knew who the children were and she also knew who the dogs were.  She knew the children came first, but she had enough faith to say, “…yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.” 
          She had faith (Matthew 17:20) and Jesus met her with his grace that day.  Her daughter was cleansed of the devil (verse 29).  We have no leverage in life.  Not before God we don’t.  Be like the gentile woman who had nothing to offer Jesus.  She just leaned on his grace. 

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    Linda Johnson

    Linda Johnson moved to Douglas County with her husband Tom 12 years ago after retiring from teaching. Following Tom's death in 2016, Linda began facilitating a grief support group called GriefShare through Sweden Church.​ She serves as the Sunday School teacher for our High School class. Her "Layman's Pen" articles are also published in the local paper, The Douglas County Herald. 

    Andrea Strong

    Andrea is Pastor Joshua Strong's wife. She also serves Sweden Church as Church Secretary, website administrator, and Sunday School teacher to the Intermediate Class.

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