SCRIP-BITS

Jeremiah 13:16.    Give glory to the Lord your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.
 
And then there were three! Yes Friends, only three more days to the biggest celebration on earth; Christmas Day! What a pleasure and a privilege we Christians enjoy since our God sent His Son Jesus down to earth to live amongst us in human form, so that we could see and experience exactly what He’s like, as well as give us an example that we can understand and follow. Our God sure is a kind and caring Deity! No doubt about it Friends. And while we’re on the subject of caring, here’s a prayer I wasn’t planning to share today, but was guided by the Spirit to do so. It’s a prayer for the church leaders, a group we truly don’t pay as much attention to as we ought. We simply take the running and guidance of our churches for granted, forgetting that it takes a fine group of dedicated and devoted people, working mostly in the background, to keep them functioning properly. So here’s this prayer I found in the front of my mother’s Bible, in their honour. It says: ‘Thank you Lord for the gift of church leaders. Guide them as they face difficult decisions. Give then courage to contend for the faith. Fill them with Grace and Truth. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.’ Yes Friends, especially in this busy season of Christmas, our church leaders are doing lots of wonderful things on our behalf. Let’s make a special effort then to thank them whenever we encounter them. And I would like to say a special thanks to the group at my local church who are currently in the midst of securing a new priest for our parish. May the Lord bless and guide them in their search and grant them the wisdom and understanding to choose the best person available, so that our parish can grow and further His kingdom. Now turning to our Bit: ‘Give glory to the Lord your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.’ Oh Friends, that’s a serious bit of business, a serious warning from our kind and considerate, but also just and righteous God, who cannot allow sin to run rampant amongst His people. And today we’ll look at one example of God’s justice system, from way back in Joshua’s time. After the fall of Jericho, the Israelites were warned not to take any prisoners or spoil, just save Rahab and her family and the precious metals for the Lord’s treasury. But a little later on they suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of the men of Ai, which caused Joshua to fall on his face before the Lord and ask why? (Josh. 6,7) Unfortunately, the Lord informed him that Israel had sinned by taking spoil from Jericho, although expressly forbidden to do so. Eventually it was discovered that a young man by the name of Achan had committed the crime. “And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted (desired) them, and took them; and behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tenth, and the silver under it.’ (Josh.7:19-21) The spoil was found exactly where Achan said it was hidden, then they took him, all his family and all their possessions out to a valley called Achor. ‘And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, the valley of Achor (trouble), unto this day.’ (Josh.7:25-26) Oh Friends, that sure seems like a harsh punishment for the crime, but God’s proclamation was disobeyed, and the crime had to be paid for. It’s just like Saul disobeyed Samuel and usurped the priest’s office (1 Sam.8-18), and thus lost the crown of Israel. Oh my people, let’s understand once and for all that our God is a most wonderful God, but because of His holy and righteous nature constant sin and disobedience cannot be tolerated under His justice system. There’s no sugar-coating it. And we just have to look at the havoc that our turning away from Him has caused in our world, to know that eventually divine justice and retribution will fall upon those who insist on disobeying God’s edicts. Oh Friends, please let us learn from those gone before us, as well as from what’s happening around us today, and repent and turn back to the God of our fathers, so that our world will be saved from total destruction. It’s the only way to prevent our eventual annihilation. Much LOVE!…a word to the wise…is usually sufficient…but those who don’t hear…will certainly feel…