TAKE YOUR PICK

Time with Jesus - Thursday, 25 October 2012

Hi all,

Today’s topic is a bit controversial. We are paying a brief visit into the dangerous realm of eschatological opinion. I’ve tried to be as neutral as possible. This will offend some. I’ve expressed the three major views in humorous language. It’s the only way to present differences impartially. It’s worked for me. How about you?

Blessings,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Thursday, 25 October 2012			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	TAKE YOUR PICK
The Great Tribulation. One thing all Christians agree is that it will happen. Jesus made this very clear: 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. Matthew 24:21 ESV According to Strong, the Greek word is thlipsis (thlip'-sis) which means “pressure (literally or figuratively) such as afflicted, (-ion), anguish, burdened, persecution, tribulation, trouble.  Eugene Peterson translates the same verse: This is going to be trouble on a scale beyond what the world has ever seen, or will see again. It follows it’s not something any of us should look forward to. It’s going to be very tough! Now if that was all there was to it, Christians would agree. They know it will happen. The question is, “when”? That’s when things get decidedly murky! The disagreement focuses around the none-biblical word “Rapture”. The Bible talks about our being “caught up” (1 Thess. 4:17) to meet the Lord in the air. The disagreement is whether the “rapture” will occur before, during or after the tribulation. Of course this is an over-simplification. Tomes thick enough to choke a donkey have been written attacking and defending each author’s opinion concerning “when”. But which one is correct? That’s the $1 000 000 question! The most popular view in Western Christianity is the pre-tribulation rapture. It is comforting to think that when the big trouble comes, you and I will not be here. We will be having a party in the sky somewhere with Jesus and all the saints who have gone before us. This may not be theologically correct. But who wants to be here when God pours out His wrath? Any volunteers? Personally, not me. The reason is because I don’t fancy being “tribulated”! I’m also not entirely convinced the Scripture supports this view. But that’s just me! The view of the Church Fathers was the post-trib rapture. i.e. Jesus will come for His saints afterwards. This view was held by all the Church up to about 1820. Changes came about as a result of some of the thoughts of J N Derby. Along with others he rediscovered many forgotten Biblical truths. The idea was taken to the USA and promoted by Dr C I Scofield, a brilliant man and preacher. In 1909 a KJV Bible with his notes was published. This included pre-trib theology. It was and is hugely popular. In USA this view is almost universally accepted. The other view; the mid-trib rapture, is not extensively supported. It may be little more than a place to settle between pre-and post trib thinking. Ultimately it’s up to you to decide. What is sad is that most Christians seem to have forgotten the protective power of God. He can still protect His people. He is greater than the tribulation. He preserved His people during the Babylonian invasion. He still can! Jim & Phyllida Strickland			7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 1 Peter 4:7 ESV 11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. Revelation 20:11 ESV 7 And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed. 2 Peter 3:7 NLT To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song. 1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah Psalms 46:1-3 ESV 6 You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Matthew 24:6 TNIV 1 We know that the earthly tent we live in will be destroyed. But we have a building made by God. It is a house in heaven that lasts forever. Human hands did not build it. 2 Corinthians 5:1 NIrV 13 But we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth. Godliness will make its home there. All of this is in keeping with God's promise. 14 Dear friends, I know you are looking forward to that. So try your best to be found pure and without blame. Be at peace with God. 2 Peter 3:13-14 NIrV	Pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib. Which one do you prefer? Not matter what folk want to think, it causes quite a stir! It hasn’t reached the stages yet, of grabbing by the throat. But folk who think that they are right just sit around and gloat. “I’m going with the first batch; the day the dead will rise. I‘m sorry, I don’t want to see the sorrow in the eyes, Of those who didn’t get it right. For I can guarantee, That when the tribulation comes, nobody will find me. I’m going to the party, with Jesus in the sky. And all those sort of fun and games will simply pass me by. The Lord thinks I am special, so I will go ahead, And leave the unbelievers to suffer ‘til they’re dead!” “You’ve got it wrong!” mid-trib replies, “it happens in the middle. And through the comfy, early bit, you’re going to have to fiddle. You’ll have to stay and watch it and hope you won’t get caught. For if they get their hands on you, your prospects equal naught. So we will miss the first bit; before things get real bad. And then we’ll take the fast train and be with Jesus’ Dad!” “I’m sorry, you are both wrong!” Post-trib to them declares. “Better dig a basement and fire-proof the stairs. You will have to hide away till tribulations done. Then listen for the trumpet call announcing that God’s Son, Is calling you to glory; to join Him in the sky. Hopefully the worst of it will simply pass you by. Have you heard these arguments? Which one appeals to you? It really doesn’t matter. The Living God will do, That which He intended before time was begun. Pre-trib; mid-trib; post-trib; before you turn and run, Could it be that some of you are also incorrect? Have you all forgotten, that Father will protect, Those who will be faithful? So let the tempest rage. He will do what He has done in each and every age. Of course you may be martyred. Do not be filled with fear. Jesus Christ has promised that He is ever near. You will be rewarded; it will be worth the pain. And you will get a special crown, when Jesus comes again. Jim Strickland – written 25th October 2012

Jimmets – Thirst & Cracked Cisterns

Time with Jesus - Wednesday, 24 October 2012

Hi all,

The Scriptures today take on a melancholy note today. Isaiah spoke of the desperate thirst for God which only He can slake. Jeremiah spoke of the cisterns the people had dug for themselves; cracked cisterns that can’t hold water. These comments have been taken up in two “Jimmets” which are today’s meditation.

Blessings,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Wednesday, 24 October 2012			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	Jimmets – Thirst & Cracked Cisterns
Stick-ability. This quality in most people is lacking. If I said unstick-ability the word would better reflect the built in fickleness we find all around us. Perhaps the best example to describe this generically is to look at pop-stars. Some are remembered. The Beatles, the BG’s, the Rolling Stones and Frank Sinatra are among the best known and best loved. Some are now distant memories. Al Jolson, Peter Sellers, Sidney James, Doris Day, Gertrude Lawrence and scores of others spring to mind. There’s also been a few one day wonders. Debbie Boone, Leapy Lee and Johnny Ray spring to mind. The fact I barely remember their names suggests they were little more than one day wonders! Ladies fashions also come and go. Who remembers the mini-skirt? For some inexplicable reason, men seem to remember them much better than the ladies. I wonder why? When we look at photographs taken more than 20 years ago, we are surprised how much fashions have changed. For the ladies, skirts went up and down; became fuller and slenderer. Swim suits went from one piece all concealing to two piece all revealing. Well, revealing as much as modesty and the law permit. Men’s shoes from long and pointed “winkle-pickers” to square toes. Trousers from turn-ups to no turn-ups. String ties to cravats. Sadly this has also happened with people and their relationship with God. During WW2, the Brits were a God-fearing nation. No longer. A recent survey revealed Britain as second on the list of the most Godless nations. We are now nearing the end of the third generation since WW2. People have no thirst for God because they think they have no need for God. Why should they? The state provides just about everything. Taxes are high but what can you expect from a nation where there is very little incentive to work. Why bother with a job when you can get as much “on the dole” as you would from an employer? It is not grossly different in RSA. Except the people have replaced God with politicians! Today, people look everywhere to find God! Ancestor worship, Politicians, Islam, Buddhism and New Age to name but a few. Jeremiah commented that the people had deserted the One true God and dug themselves cisterns. Broken cisterns than cannot hold water. They had looked for God everywhere except where He can be found. Our nation is dying from thirst. There is no stick-ability. No thirst for the only God Who can save. Instead they search and experiment with the false gods of the nations. Nothing has changed in ±2500 years. People continue to search for their own gods. Then they die, thirsty and empty, just as has happened since the fall. Help Lord Jesus! Jim & Phyllida Strickland			17 "Those who are poor and needy search for water. But there isn't any. Their tongues are dry because they are thirsty. But I will help them. I am the LORD. I will not desert them. I am Israel's God. Isaiah 41:17 NIrV 6 Many are saying, "Who can show us anything good?" Let the light of your presence shine on us, O LORD. Psalms 4:6 GW 22 What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? 23 For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity. Ecclesiastes 2:22-23 ESV 17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind. Ecclesiastes 2:17 ESV 13 "For My people have done two evil things: They have abandoned Me--the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all! Jeremiah 2:13 NLT 37 Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to me. John 6:37 GW 3 For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground. I will pour My spirit on your seed, and My blessing on your offspring; Isaiah 44:3 MKJV 6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Matthew 5:6 ESV A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. 1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Psalms 63:1 ESV	Thirst Isaiah 41:17 Are you truly longing for a drink, That will banish thirst for evermore? Does it so consume you that you think, “Isn’t there a way I can restore, Sanity to find that which I crave? I have scratched this itch until it bleeds! This will surely drive me to the grave. Anything to gratify my needs. Something that will slake this dreadful thirst, Nothing ever seems to satisfy! I’ve become so desperate I will burst! Help me Lord or I will surely die!” “Come to Me my child and drink of Me. Thirst will pass away eternally”. Jim Strickland 2012/10/24 Cracked Cisterns Jeremiah 2:13 Why is it My people seldom learn? Why is it they try to catch the breeze? Why is it they always seem to turn? Why is it they go on bended knees, Worshipping their gods made out of gold? Why is it they dig wells of their own? Cisterns that are cracked and will not hold, Water and are just as dry as bone? They’ve abandoned Me the only One, Who can bring the rain upon the land. Why is it that when the water’s gone, They don’t even try to understand; That while walking in apostasy, Blessing will not flow to them from Me? Jim Strickland  2012/10/24

A VISION FOR MINISTRY

Time with Jesus - Tuesday, 23 October 2012

Hi all,

Today’s meditation has very little to do with today’s Scriptures. Instead I’ve included something written in 1999 for a lady who was trying to find her ministry. Over the past weekend I came across a couple of people seeking for theirs. So I thought it was time to include it for today’s meditation.

Blessings,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Tuesday, 23 October 2012			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	A VISION FOR MINISTRY
Written in 1999, this parable was written for a lady looking for her ministry. I’m going to tell a parable, to help folk understand, The thing that they already know as what, for them, I’ve planned. There was a little lady who wondered what to do. She said she had no training. At least, none that she knew. She didn’t have much learning. She didn’t know My Word. She’d spent her days in service. And yet her heart was stirred. She wanted to do something. A very special task. But she had little money and felt she couldn’t ask, Her neighbours to assist her to start a ministry. But in her heart, she longed to do a lovely work for Me. She hunted round her humble home but couldn’t find a thing; Except some different scraps of wool she tied like balls of string. There were so many colours. Some red, some green, some pink. “The colours of the rainbow” is all that she could think; And all the lengths were different. Some short, some very long. And some of them were very weak, with others very strong. “What can I do,” she wondered. “I can’t buy any more. I haven’t even got the time to travel to the store”. And so she took her needles and started on a quest; To knit a rainbow garment and make a small child’s vest. She knitted in the mornings and in the afternoons. Whenever she could find the time, her knitting she’d resume. She started with the strongest lengths, and with the weaker strands, She braided two together with her kind, loving hands. Eventually she finished. She looked at what she’d done. It didn’t look impressive. But she’d had lots of fun. She giggled as she looked at it because it looked so odd. It really seemed the strangest thing for her to do for God. The next day, in the market place, she came across a child. He was a homeless urchin. He looked at her and smiled. The cold wind blew upon him and what he wore was thin.			63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you--they are full of the Spirit and life. John 6:63 TNIV 45 The Scriptures tell us, "The first man, Adam, became a living person." But the last Adam--that is, Christ--is a life-giving Spirit. 1 Corinthians 15:45 NLT 6 When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch--the Spirit--and becomes a living spirit. John 3:6 MSG 5 He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5 NLT 11 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:9-11 ESV 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 TNIV 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:11 TNIV	And so, she took the rainbow vest and handed it to him. He looked at her with great big eyes and pulled it o’er his head. His eyes expressed a thankfulness which words could not have said. The child looked quaint and interesting and suddenly she knew, That she’d performed a ministry that no one else could do. The meaning of this parable is very plain to see. It isn’t very difficult to find your ministry. Take a look around you and see what you can find. Look for what you like to do and what inspires your mind. This lady loved her knitting. The wool was close at hand. She didn’t have to emigrate or leave her native land. She didn’t go to Bible School. She didn’t need matric. She only did what she could do; and did it double quick. She didn’t use excuses; she didn’t cry or mope. She wasn’t sure of anything. She wasn’t sure she’d cope! She simply took her talents and her abilities, And set off on a venture into her ministry. So tell this to my children. This parable of Mine, To show them that their ministry is forged in their design. It isn’t going places, or being seen by men. It’s doing what they like to do, no matter where, or when. So if they want a vision of what they need to do. Take a little look around and they will get a view, Of what there is available, to meet another’s needs; And then put into action their own God given deeds. Whatever they can find to do, just do with all their heart. For that is where they’re sure to find their ministry will start. So, tell them to take courage and tell them not to wait. The time is now! The place is here! Today’s the perfect date, For them to put in motion that which now must be done. To glorify the Father, the Spirit and the Son. Jim Strickland – Written 1999