Dragging Around This Bag of Bones!

 

 Quotation

          Although, my dream, my nightmare, on the one hand terrifies me, on the other hand, I am joyful! Joyful because this would mean that God's plan of salvation for the world is ending. If true, I am even more determined to be a beacon of light for the unsaved, to spread the good news of the Gospel to the broken-hearted, allowing the Holy Spirit to convict, so they too, might have the opportunity to spend an eternity with God.

 

Barry Denzil Haney, MD

 

Scripture

 

My wife can't stand to be around me anymore. I'm repulsive to my family.

Even street urchins despise me; when I come out, they taunt and jeer.

Everyone I've ever been close to abhors me; my dearest loved ones reject me.

I'm nothing but a bag of bones; my life hangs by a thread.

"Oh, friends, dear friends, take pity on me. God has come down hard on me!

 

Job 19:17-21 (MSG)

 

Reflection

  

A dominant theme of Deuteronomistic history (a modern theoretical construct holding that behind the present forms of the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, the Former Prophets in the Hebrew canon, there was a single literary work), is sin and divine punishment: “when Israel obeys God, follows his will, and keeps his Law, it prospers and thrives; when it disobeys, it is punished.” (Ehrman)

 

            Is this what Job was facing, punishment by a wrathful God? Was Job dragging around his bag of bones, waiting for death, to escape divine punishment? Was Job’s suffering due to God or Satan? Did he suffer so God could win a bet with Satan? Christians would say the righteous suffering was a test by God, and because of Job’s patient endurance under duress, Job was rewarded by God. But some would disagree with this assessment of why Job suffered and would instead argue God does not reward those who suffer but overpowers them and grinds them into submission.

 

            I don’t know the answer to the philosophical argument about why people suffer. I just continue to drag this bag of bones around and will do so until the day I die. I refuse to believe the atheist/agnostic view that there is no creator God. The complexity and beauty of the creation I see around me argues against abiogenesis, the process by which life arises from non-living chemical matter, a so-called mud puddle of inorganic material. I am going to hedge my bet on a creator God, the Judeo-Christian God described in the Bible, inerrant or not!

            

                        

                                                                                             

Illustration

      It is clear from Scripture that “rejoicing in suffering” is not simply stoicism. It is not simply a grin-and-bear-it attitude of tough-it-out-and-see-how-much-you-can-take, or just-hang-in-there-until-it’s-over-and-don’t-let-anything-get-you-down or keep-a-stiff-upper-lip. Many people feel that if they do this, they are obeying God and “rejoicing in suffering.” But they are not! (Green)

 

Prayer

 

Our Heavenly Father,

 

In the Beatitudes, Your Son Jesus tells us

to be poor in spirit! Father, God help us

to be humble! Help us to hunger and thirst

for Your righteousness! Help us to be servants,

like you, willing to wash the feet of the unsaved!

 

Remind us to not only help those economically

poor, but to search out those who spiritually

poor! Let our earthly bodies serve as a conduit

through which the fruits of the Holy Spirit are

made manifest, planting the seed by which

the Holy Spirit might convict the unsaved!

 

In the precious name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior,

 

Amen!

 

 

Worship

 

The Purpose in the Pain – Matt Hybarger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f4SmEeSKaQ

 

God Bless You,

Barry

 

Ehrman, Bart D. God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question-- Why We Suffer. New York: HarperOne, 2009. 

Green, Michael P. 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000. Print.

Hope In This Spiritual Battle

  

Quotation

          But we do have hope in this spiritual battle, this hope is with Jesus. When we have faith in Jesus, believe He is the Son of God, and believe because of His work on the Cross, we are saved by grace through this faith, then we have the power of the Holy Spirit to fight our battles against Satan and his army.

 

Barry Denzil Haney, MD

 

Scripture

 

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

 

Joel 2:28

 

Reflection

            

Our bodies are made up of trillions of cells. Most investigators today believe our bodies recycle most of these cells every ten years, therefore most of your body is not the same today as it was ten years ago. Interestingly, none of my thirty to one hundred trillion cells know they are alive, even if I do. 

 

How can that be? The traditional answer is Cartesian interactionist dualism. It is the view that the mental and the material comprise two different classes of substances and each other can have causal effects on the other. The mind is not just the sum of neurons and their function, but something else is in play to give us conscious experience. There is “some unifying, nontemporal, non-spatial component to provide the unity required for a conscious subject having any experience.” That something else is a Creator God.  

 

God no longer judges you based on your behavior, instead, he judges you based on your belief in Jesus Christ. The day you were born again, your sins were no longer recorded. There is no longer any requirement for performance-based Christianity. Our sins have already been credited to and paid for by Jesus Christ.

                                                                                             

Illustration

      A cartoon once showed two Eskimos fishing through holes in the ice. One of the Eskimos had made a hole like you might expect to see about the size of a manhole cover. The other had dropped his line in an immense hole that seemed to reach to the edge of the horizon, in the shape of a whale!

Vision that looks inward becomes duty.

Vision that looks outward becomes aspiration.

Vision that looks upward becomes faith. (Green)

 

Prayer

 

Our Heavenly Father,

 

Help us to forgive those who have trespassed against us!

Although we may have been hurt and betrayed by others,

Help us to break the mental chains separating us from God,

Help us to be chain breakers!

 

Although we cannot understand why you allow us to suffer,

We are comforted by the knowledge that through our suffering

You allow us to turn to You in repentance allowing for us

To spend an eternity with You in a loving relationship!

 

In precious name Jesus our Lord and Savior,

 

Amen!

 

 

Worship

 

Be Thou My Vision – Steph McLeod

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiukM6WHQEQ

 

God Bless You,

Barry

 

Green, Michael P. 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000. Print.

 

 

 

Most of Us Are Still in God’s Waiting Room!

 

 

Quotation

          During my walk with Jesus, a constant feature of my life of faith, is a struggle against the forces of evil. As a Christian, I believe in the reality of spiritual warfare and the unseen realm, the unseen spiritual world.

 

Barry Denzil Haney, MD

 

Scripture

 

I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord More than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the Lord: For with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.

 

Psalm 130:5-7

 

Reflection

            

         Lord knows how we all hate waiting lines! Society has a “me-first” attitude. While waiting, we often become irritable and angry. To make matters worse, there always seems to be someone who has outsmarted the “system” and moved to the front of the line. While waiting in a doctor’s office or surgical/procedure room, stress, anxiety, uncertainty, and fear are amplified, making the shortest of waiting times seemingly unbearable.

 

            Many of the unsaved are in an endless waiting room, waiting to find something to fill the void in their heart. Many of the professors in our universities profess openly to be an atheist or agnostic, or as Bart Ehrman describes himself, “an agnostic atheist or atheistic agnostic” Here is what he professes sarcastically in a recent blog about those who are going to face God’s wrath: “That includes your family, friends, neighbors, it includes everyone who has ever lived who has not committed to follow Jesus – that is, not merely the very large majority of the human race living now but, well, everyone for all time who did not follow ‘the lamb.’ Yikes.  How do I say this without seeming angry and vicious myself?” 

 

He goes on to say, “My view of Revelation is that its ruthless, vengeful God who destroys the majority of the human race stands in sharp contrast with the God of Jesus.” Isn’t it amazing how blind an intellectual can be? Although his words sometimes ring true as in the above quotes, he still is blinded from the truth of what he says and refuses to believe in Jesus, the only way he can escape his creator God’s wrath.

 

         All of us face seasons of waiting. Try not to be an aggressive waiter or passive waiter, instead be an active waiter. Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit through prayer and study of the Word, ready to act when led by the Spirit. If you are in a season of waiting, remember God is faithful. Through prayer you will find comfort, hope and peace from the Holy Spirit. God has a plan for you. Hold on to His Word where you will discover what His will is for your life and find hope!                                                                                                                          

Illustration

 

         Some years ago, a hydroelectric dam was to be built across a valley in New England. The people in a small town in the valley were to be relocated because the town itself would be submerged when the dam was finished. During the time between the decision to build the dam and its completion, the buildings in the town, which previously were kept up nicely, fell into disrepair. Instead of being a pretty little town, it became an eyesore.

Why did this happen? The answer is simple. As one resident said, “Where there is no faith in the future, there is no work in the present.” (Green)

 

Prayer

 

Our Heavenly Father,

 

We know Satan is not confined to one place,

But instead, he and his army of demons are

everywhere. Because of this we are so afraid

of the darkness! Thank you for being the source of Light

protecting us from Satan and his army of demons!

 

Thank you for Your Son Jesus Christ, who died for

all mankind on the Cross at Calvary so we might be saved

by grace through faith! Thank you for the hope we

gain through faith in Jesus, giving us the power to

be triumphant during our chess match with Satan!

 

In the precious name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior,

 

Amen!

 

 

Worship

 

God’s Waiting Room – Jackson Heights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgj7_l2Hit8

 

God Bless You,

Barry

 

Green, Michael P. 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000. Print.