Mr_Turniphead's Xanga

"Getting Better and Better Every Day in Every Way!"

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:19:05 GMT

[My thanks to Steve Brown of the 'KeyLife' radio program for the new perspective of this very familiar passage in Romans!]

That I should be ‘found out’ to be such a sinner in such a manner is both deeply humiliating and profoundly embarrassing. I have again proven to myself and to my wife that the above title has absolutely no connection to reality as far as my Christian conduct is concerned. Though I have been a ‘believer’ for almost 50 years, I indeed have not gotten better and better everyday in every way! I am still thoroughly flawed and in deep need of the Deliverer. And so, it is more than interesting that I should have addressed this very issue just this past week in a lesson that I had presented to the Pleasant Hill Church.

There is a particular phrase in a song that was sung in my home church from the early days of my youth and beyond, that seems to illustrate the fallacy of this kind of thinking that many believers (including myself) have tended to embrace: "I’m pressing on the upward way, New heights I’m gaining every day. . . ." Let me say, It just isn’t so!--It’s just not true. I indeed am "growing up into [my] salvation" (I Peter 2:2), I am learning new truths each day (often, like today, the hard way), and I am coming to a better understanding of my Lord and His tremendous and tender mercy and grace. But when it comes right down to it, I am still a sinner in need of redemption by the blood of Jesus Christ. And you know what?--If I live to be 100, this will still be the greatest reality--and need of my life.

    What truly amazes me, is that the great Apostle Paul, as the great Apostle Paul, openly confessed this truth centuries and centuries ago! Listen to him;
    Do you catch the gravity of this statement? This is not just a statement from a ‘po-dunct’ sinner, by the name of Lynn A. Williams here (though it is ‘spot on’ and nails my profound dilemma!). This is from the pen of the great Apostle Paul!--The seasoned teacher of the Gospel--The great defender of the faith--The ‘great one’ who withstood Peter, one of the Jerusalem church leaders, to the face! He was no ‘newbie’ or novice of the faith! This was Paul!!


     Consider what Paul, the seasoned veteran of the faith, the primary author of the New Testament, God’s chosen vessel to carry the Gospel to the Gentiles, had to say about himself:

     Look at it square in the eyes! : At the end of the day, every single one of us (myself included), must be compelled to openly confess, even after working ourselves into a frenzy to try so very hard to do good--to try to be loyal to Jesus Christ: "I have Failed--I have failed again--and again--and AGAIN!! Have you ever experienced and shared in this same deep dark desperate despair of the Apostle Paul?

     Guess what? There’s tremendously good news--The best news! Again hear_Paul:

     And so, I am like Paul in the sense that the focus of life can never be upon what I have done or what I am doing or what I want to do, because it will never happen the way I want it to anyway. No--the focus is, and must always be upon what God is doing in Christ Jesus in, for and through my very less than perfect life.

Like Paul, my only claim to fame can never be anything but; "Nothing to the cross I bring, Simply to the cross I cling!"

'Is He on Our Side' just published on ReveLife...

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:04:59 GMT

http://www.revelife.com/716262974/god-is-for-us-but-is-he-on-our-side/

'Retro Posts' . . . (3)

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:37:15 GMT

10-15-07--- Dead Men Walking ------------------------ http://mr-turniphead.xanga.com/621555770/dead-men-walking/

10-16-07— Scared to Death of Death?? --------- http://mr-turniphead.xanga.com/621774611/item/

11-1-07 — A Spectacular Wonderful Day.... --- http://mr-turniphead.xanga.com/624804015/a-spectacular-wonderful-day/

11-6-07— What God Wants from Us ---------------- http://mr-turniphead.xanga.com/625530169/what-god-wants-from-us/

11-18-07– The Leap of Faith ----------------------------- http://mr-turniphead.xanga.com/627795790/the-leap-of-faith/

11-20-07-- Keep at it!! --------------------------------------- http://mr-turniphead.xanga.com/628024340/item/

11-22-07— ThanksLiving! ----------------------------------- http://mr-turniphead.xanga.com/628410483/item/

11-28-07— The Blessing . . . ------------------------------ http://mr-turniphead.xanga.com/629549376/the-blessing/

12-4-07 — The ‘C’ Word. . . ------------------------------- http://mr-turniphead.xanga.com/630464786/item/

"I See Men as Trees, Walking . . . ."

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:23:41 GMT

                                                                                                Image by Zest-pk

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       So far as I know, this is the first and only recorded ‘two stage’ miracle that Jesus ever performed, but it seems to be an apt description of the human condition in general. Whether we realize it or not, God is very much involved in our lives every day, and for the most part, He graciously grants the sense of sight to each of us. But how often, even as believers, do we fail to really see people as they really are? To my dismay (and embarrassment), this has happened to me more often than I care to admit. On more than one occasion, my wife has returned home with her hair cut shorter or with a different hairstyle which I immediately fail to notice. Not until many days later or until someone else off handedly mentions it, do I catch on and ‘see’ the change.

A day does not go by but that we fail to ‘see’ people--fail to see their hurts and their staggering needs. We barely take the time to acknowledge their presence, let alone, look them full in the face--peer deeply into their eyes so that we might truly ‘see’ them. To us they are become ‘as trees walking’ in the whirling blur of our lives.

How does this happen? How is it that we fail to see people--fail to truly see them? Yes, it is an easy thing to rationalize--After all, we have our own burdens and problems that come crashing in on us, demanding our time and attention. Certainly we live in a culture of ‘hustle and bustle’ involving extremely tight schedules. We are pressured into packing more and more ‘life’ into the limited time that we have. And in the whole process of ‘running here’ and ‘running there’, we lose touch with flesh and blood--breathing people. And . . . we become incapable of reaching out and ‘touching’ people in the midst of their deep needs. Charles Swindoll has said that our capacity to express mercy toward others through deeds of kindness and considera-tion can only occur when we take the time to slow the pace of our lives. Mercy rarely happens in the ‘fast lane’ of life.

Two of Jesus’ disciples experienced this same kind of what we might call ‘blindness’. Just two days before, Jesus had been executed on a Roman cross and then laid in a rich friend’s tomb. As the two traveled to Emmaus, the resurrected Jesus approached and walked with them on the road to that village. Perhaps the extreme trauma at losing their beloved Master contributed to the fact that in their deep grief and sadness, they failed to recognize Jesus, their Lord. They continued on their way discussing the momentous events of the previous days and Jesus joined in, speaking extensively from the Scriptures, all that was ordained to occur in connection with His death and resurrection. Arriving at their destination, these two men invited Jesus to stop and eat a meal with them.

"He sat down with them. Taking the bread, he blessed and broke and gave it to them. At that moment, open-eyed, wide-eyed, they recognized him. And then he disappeared.

Back and forth they talked. "Didn’t we feel on fire as he conversed with us on the road, as he opened up the Scriptures for us?’"

Luke 24:31-33 [MSG]

I suspect that like the blind man who saw people as "trees, walking" and the disciples who failed to recognize Jesus , we just do not see the people around us until Jesus’ pronounces the blessing or until His healing touch empowers us. That touch enables us to "look hard and realize" the real flesh and blood people who are there, directly in front of us--people who need to be seen, who need to be heard and people who need to experience deep healing of the soul, if only we could take the time to reach out and touch them in the power of the Master.

My oldest daughter, quoting one of her college professors said; "We are here not to see through each other, but to see each other through!" And she's so very right, you know!

An Improbable Longing

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:57:35 GMT

Image by Anna! http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en http://mr-turniphead.f-snet.com/

"Fellow-Boating!"

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 01:43:52 GMT

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The Mundane-ness of Daily Miracles

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:55:37 GMT

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moment the vast mountains of water surged back into their place. Gone--Swept away-- forever! Before long, the people of Israel stood at the foot of the mountain of God in Sinai where they received His law in a spectacularly unforgettable display of His divine majesty.

Into the wilderness the people traveled and it should not have surprised anyone of Yahweh’s continuing care for His people as He provided food "raining down" from Heaven. This manna (literally; "What is it?") looking like a white coriander seed and tasting "like wafers made with honey" (Exodus 16:31), settled with the dew each morning. The people found it a versatile food they could ground or crush and make into cakes to be baked or cooked in a pot (Numbers 11:7). This bread of Heaven was a daily miracle--every day, except the Sabbath, and so it was necessary to gather a double portion the day before. Yahweh sent His life sustaining bread from Heaven for the entire forty years that the Israelites trekked through the wilderness South and East of Palestine.

Through the course of time--it couldn’t have been very long (see the account in Numbers 11:1-6), God’s consistent giving of the manna became ‘old hat’ to the people of Israel and they began to complain;

Hard to believe--eh? But really, is it? For the Israelites, the daily miracle of manna was no longer enough--it had become so ho-hum for them. They longed for what was a complete impossibility--an altogether safe and peaceful return to Egypt (consider their totally subservient existence in that land and the circumstances of their departure with the death of the firstborn in every Egyptian family). They wanted the fish, melons, leeks and onions of that land without the violence and certain death that awaited them if they returned.

We are not at all unlike the people of Israel. If nothing else, grace (favor not deserved) from God, our Father, is a daily miracle. And as I reflect back over a period of time in my life to recall the specific moments when I was completely aware of His hand at work, I am astounded! Then, add to that (No!–multiply) the events in which I am only vaguely aware of or those in which I haven’t a clue, and I should be even more in awe than I am!! It is so profoundly difficult for us to be convinced that our great God is intimately involved every single day in the mundane (the commonplace) events of our lives, but He is!

It is insidious but certain, you know, that the mundaneness of life invisibly and quietly seeps into our spiritual sensitivities. It happens, so that we begin to view God’s gracious dealings with us not as the wondrous precious experiences that they are, but just ordinary, typical and routine incidents along with everything else that transpires in our everyday lives.

And we are tempted to do one of two things:

There is the very great tendency to ‘see’ God’s hand in every single instance of our existence--We make every experience a miracle of God. Everything becomes ‘so awesome’ that even those authentic moments (in which God’s hand is at work) are emptied of their majesty and wonder.

Or--

Like Israel, we permit the daily miracles of God to become so ordinary and commonplace, that we no longer have an appetite for them. We long for the truly impossible--for the stupendous to sate our hunger for excitement and stimulation. And in this, we fail to understand that it’s what God does quietly behind-the-scenes in our everyday lives that truly keeps us alive. Like, Israel, our failure to see that a return to ‘Egypt’ where everything is so exciting, means certain death!

It is so vital that we not despise the mundaneness of daily miracles--that we cultivate an appetite/ an appreciation that is able to ‘see’ God’s hand in our lives even when we cannot see His hand at work in our lives! As Paul said; "We live by faith, not by sight" (II Corinthinans 5:7).

Immanuel, "God with Us!"

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 01:37:00 GMT

http://mr-turniphead.f-snet.com/page33.html

Retro Posts....(2)

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:48:24 GMT

8-5-07-- Our God- Humble & Gentle! (Larry Nuckles)------ http://mr-turniphead.xanga.com/608222566/item/

9-8-07-- "God Wins!" ---------------------------------------- http://mr-turniphead.xanga.com/614762559/item/

9-18-07-- 1^st Rule of Holes -------------------------- http://mr-turniphead.xanga.com/616768743/the-1st-rule-of-holes/

9-20-07-- To Hell and Back! -------------------------- http://mr-turniphead.xanga.com/616974458/to-hell-and-back/

9-20-07--Did the Father Abandon Jesus?------
http://mr-turniphead.xanga.com/617142318/did-the-father-abandon-jesus/

9-23-07-- So WHAT Do You Do When You Find Yourself in the Pit? -----------
http://mr-turniphead.xanga.com/617690454/so-what-do-you-do-when-you-find-youself-in-the-pit/

9-25-07-- Abandoning Ourselves to God --------------
http://mr-turniphead.xanga.com/618043976/abandoning-ourselves-to-god/

9-27-07-- Rescued! ------------------------ http://mr-turniphead.xanga.com/618274593/rescued/

10-9-07--- Entering the Mystery . . . . -------------- http://mr-turniphead.xanga.com/620484178/entering-the-mystery/

10-11-07---- "Is He Safe?" –[Mystery] ----------------- http://mr-turniphead.xanga.com/621007614/is-he-safe/

"Who Can Forgive Sins but God?"

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 02:03:59 GMT

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