January 21, 2014
“… ‘Then say, ‘Shibboleth’!’ And he would say, ‘Sibboleth,’ for he could not pronounce it right. Then they would take him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan. There fell at that time forty-two thousand Ephraimites.” (Judges 12:6)
Although we Americans have a common language we all have accents that show our origins to a discerning ear. The above incident demonstrates how thousands of years ago different regional accents caused the death of 42,000 people.
There had been a civil war among people of the same ethnicity. As the victors captured survivors, the only way to tell if they were the enemy was to force them to say “Shiboleth.” When prisoners could not pronounce the “sh” sound because of their regional accents, 42,000 of them were executed.
What does all this have to do with us today? Metaphorically speaking, when we meet people we often have a hidden theological agenda. If they do not say that which agrees with our hidden agenda we hit the reject button. The sad thing is that they never even know why we have rejected them.
As a pastor since 1956, I have been greatly blessed by people who did not have the same precise theological agenda as mine. While meeting recently with two of the founders of the church where I am now Pastor Emeritus, we thanked God that we did not miss the blessings of our relationships over the past 35 years. Coming from diverse theological backgrounds, we could have hit the reject button when we met in 1979 if we each had tried to push our theological agendas.
As Christ prayed that we might be one as He is one with the Father, may we watch out for Shibboleths that divide us. Instead, let’s focus on Jesus Christ and the supernatural unity we have in Him.
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Uncategorized | Tagged: faith, Jesus Christ, John 17, spiritual unity, theology, unity, unity in diversity | 
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Posted by Dick Woodward
January 17, 2014
“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you? …Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Corinthians 6:19)
When the apostle Paul wrote these words he was addressing people who had become believers while they were involved in the worst kinds of sexual immorality. Their past continued to impact their lives because they were still involved in sexual sin as believers. He wrote to them that their bodies were not made for sex; they were made to be Temples of God. Everywhere they went, every day, they were Temples of God and they were to be aware of that glorious reality. It’s like Paul was telling them, and us, we are mobile Temples of God on wheels, taking God with us everywhere we go.
If you read all of 1 Corinthians 6, you will see how Paul applies this metaphor. For example, he writes that it is unthinkable that they would take the Temple of God and join it to a prostitute or an extramarital sex partner. Make your own applications. What effect should it have on the people in your life as you move among them every day bringing the divine presence of Almighty God with you?
For starters, all the things you’re not and you cannot do are possible because of the Divine Treasure living in you. Then the nine fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace when you look in, patience, kindness, goodness when you look around, and faithfulness, meekness and self control when you look up), are all available to you. (Galatians 5:22-23)
How can you glorify God today as one of His mobile Temples?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Applying Faith, Christian discipleship, faith, Following Jesus Christ, Saint Paul, Temples of God | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
January 14, 2014
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends You, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” (Psalm 139: 23, 24 NLT)
Jeremiah wrote that our heart is “… deceitful above all things…” He asked: “Who can know it?” Then he answered his own question by writing that only the Lord knows our heart. (Jeremiah 17: 9, 10)
Jesus described serious heart pathology when He taught: “For from within, out of a person’s heart come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness …” He then declared that all these evil things and more come from within our heart and not from outside influences. (Mark 7: 21, 22) Jesus agreed with the Proverb: “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)
The Apostle Paul wrote: “When the Lord comes, He will … reveal our private motives.” Then we will receive praise, or the opposite. (1Corinthians 4: 3-5)
Consider the amazing wisdom of David when he prayed his Psalm 139 prayer that I label A Spiritual Cardiogram. To paraphrase and summarize, David was asking God to take the lid off his mind and show Him the thoughts that should not be there. Then he asked God to take the lid off his heart and show him the motives that should not be there because he wanted to walk, looking up, with eternity in his perspective.
We should not wait until judgment to have a spiritual cardiogram any more than we would wait for a heart attack before having a medical cardiogram. We should ask God to take the lid off our thoughts and motives now while we can address the challenges we find there.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: a spritual analyist, Discernment of spirits, faith, following Jesus, King David, Psalm 139, spiritual check-up, Spiritual Discernment | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
January 10, 2014
“And his name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal removed.’” (Deuteronomy 25:10)
One Law of Moses stated that if a man died and had no son his widow could go to one of his relatives and ask him to marry her. If he refused to marry her she could subpoena him to court. If he affirmed that he was not willing to marry her, they had a ceremony: before the court she spit in his face and removed his sandal. He was then disgraced and boycotted in business. The man who obeyed this law, however, was called “a kinsman redeemer.”
This law is the background for one of the most beautiful love stories in all of inspired and secular literature: the book of Ruth. As a widow Ruth has the right to ask a man named Boaz to marry her. Although they meet and he shows her he loves her and would love to redeem her, she has to ask him to be her redeemer.
When we understand the ways this story relates to our redemption we will realize that we must personally ask the risen, living Christ to be our Kinsman Redeemer. To redeem Ruth, Boaz pays off all her debts and marries her. Our Redeemer pays all our sin debt through His death on the cross. Then, through His resurrection He enters into a relationship with us the New Testament describes as a marriage to Him.
We also read in the New Testament that He is standing at the door of our life showing us, like Boaz, that He loves us and would love to redeem us. Like Ruth we must have a “romance in reverse” individually proposing to Him, asking Him to be our personal Redeemer.
Have you ever done that?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: faith, following Jesus, God's love, kinsman redeemer, Law of Moses, love, love stories, Redemption, Ruth and Boaz, salvation, the book of Ruth | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
January 7, 2014
“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” (Deuteronomy 6: 6, 7 NKJV)
Have you discovered that parenting is emphasized in the Bible? The Bible mentions mothers more than 300 times. Since God assigns the spiritual nurture of children primarily to fathers, the Bible mentions fathers more than 1,400 times. Children are mentioned just under 6,000 times, which shows how important they are to God.
This teaching method of Moses in Deuteronomy rests on four foundations. The first one is responsibility. Moses gives the responsibility for the education of children to parents. There are 8,760 hours in a year. Since children receive about thirty minutes of instruction in the average Sunday school class, if that is their only source of spiritual education, they are only spending .02% (one-fifth of one percent) of their time being spiritually nurtured. If you send them to a Christian School they still spend 87.3% of their time with you. Can you see why Moses gave this responsibility to parents?
The second foundation is revelation. We are to teach the revealed Word of God to our children. The third foundation is relationship. You cannot apply this teaching method without having a relationship with your children. The fourth foundation is reality. These words must dwell in your heart and life before you teach them to your children. Your children will remember your example far more than your teaching.
Is your parenting built squarely on these four solid foundations?
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Biblical parenting, children, Deuteronomy 6:6-7, faith, Moses, parenting, revelation, spiritual education, spiritual parenting, teaching God's Word | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
January 3, 2014
“Teach us to make the most of our time, so that we may grow in wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12, NLT)
According to Moses, we should realize that life is like a game of Monopoly. We all begin with the same amount of currency. When we begin a new year we are given 24 hours a day, 168 hours a week and 8,760 hours a year. You often hear the remark: “I haven’t got time for that!” This implies that we are not given the same amount of time. It would be more accurate to say: “I don’t value that activity enough to spend some of my time in that way.”
The dictionaries tell us a value is “that quality of any certain thing by which it is determined by us to be more or less important, useful, profitable and therefore desirable.” We all have a set of values. We spend our time on the things we consider important, useful, profitable and desirable.
When we ask God to teach us how to spend our time He will challenge us to consider the values of Jesus Christ. One of the many reasons He became flesh and lived among us for 33 years was to show us how to live. He did that by presenting us with a set of values. As we read the four Gospels and follow Jesus every time He models and teaches a value, that spiritual discipline will revolutionize the way we spend our time.
I challenge you to ask God, “How should I spend my time?” I also challenge you to let the values of Christ revolutionize the way you spend your time in 2014.
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Disciples of Jesus, eternal values, faith, following Jesus, Jesus Christ, New Year Resolutions, Psalm 90, spiritual wisdom, Wisdom | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
December 31, 2013
“It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” (James 4:14)
Have you ever considered these questions about your life: what it is, how much life you have, and why it is so valuable? I challenge you to study all the metaphors the Bible uses to answer these questions. According to James, our life is a little thing like the vapor of smoke that appears and then disappears. Now you see it – now you don’t.
Moses tells us that we spend our years like a tale that is told and forgotten (Psalm 90:9 KJV). In his culture people would sit around a fire and tell tales. After a fourth or fifth tale was told nobody would probably remember the second or third tale told in that setting. That is our life according to Moses.
Biblical metaphors tell us that our life is brief, short and like a dream when we awake. We are given 70 or perhaps 80 years and they are full of trouble. We are to learn to value our days and receive wisdom from God about what we should do with them.
Another metaphor tells us our life is uncertain. Our life is like a thread that is about to be cut by the scissors of the Weaver. God is the one with the scissors and we do not control when He will cut that thread. So, for us life is uncertain.
Jesus tells us He can join our little, transitory, uncertain life to Him and to God by faith and make our life eternal and everlasting.
What is your life? It is the opportunity to make that transaction with Christ and live for Him. Have you made that faith transaction?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: faith, James 4:14, New Year Resolutions, salvation, the meaning of life | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
December 27, 2013
“Moreover we know that to those who love God, who are called according to his plan, everything that happens fits into a pattern for good.” (Romans 8:28, J.B. Phillips)
“God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines of never failing skill
He fashions up His bright designs and works His sovereign will.
You fearful saints fresh courage take; the clouds you so much dread
Are rich with mercy and will break in blessings on your heads.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense but trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan His work in vain;
God is His own Interpreter, and He will make it plain.”
If you ask me for my favorite hymn, “God Moves in a Mysterious Way” by William Cowper is my answer. If you ask me for my favorite verse of Scripture I will point you to Romans 8:28 which summarizes my faith journey with Christ. As we approach the end of 2013 and cross the threshold into 2014 the combination of this verse of Scripture and the lines of this hymn express the thoughts of my head as I lay in my bed.
At this time of the year I like to look back with reflection, look in with a time of confession, and look ahead with resolution. Applying the three perspectives these words can reveal what God has done, what God is doing, and what God wants to do in our lives and in our world through us.
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: confession, faith, hymns, New Year's resolutions, Romans 8:28, spiritual perspective, Trusting God, William Cowper | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
December 24, 2013
“There are three things that will last — faith, hope, and love…” (1Corinthians 13:13)
When Paul tells us there are three things that will endure, have you ever wondered why one of them is hope? The other two are love and faith: love will last because God is love, and faith is the way we know God. But why is hope one of the three?
Hope is the conviction that something good exists in this world and we are going to experience it. God plants hope in the hearts of people and it keeps them going. While studying psychology in college we analyzed the 25,000 suicides in 1952. Psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and sociologists determined that those people committed suicide because they lost hope. That same year a man committed suicide by jumping off the top of my dormitory which was located where Hope Street ended in front of the Los Angeles Public Library. The newspaper reported that he jumped to his death at the end of Hope Street. That accentuated what we learned in the classroom, big time!
Tonight is Christmas Eve. Millions of people will gather in families and extended families to celebrate, but many millions more will be alone. Pastors and those who work with people know that life is unspeakably sad and millions are hope-challenged because they have experienced nothing good.
In his famous carol Philips Brooks wrote that the hopes and fears of all the years were met in Bethlehem when Christ was born. God intersected human history that night but what the Bible calls the blessed hope of the church and the only hope for the world is that God is going to do that again when Christ returns.
Are you guilty of criminal negligence because you are not sharing that hope with hope-challenged people?
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Christmas, conduit of God's love, faith, Hope, Hope Street, Jesus, Trusting God | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
December 20, 2013
“I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all people!” (Luke 2:10)
A great man named Tim Hansel lived every day with excruciating pain. He wrote in his book, You Gotta Keep Dancing, that pain and suffering are inevitable but misery is optional. That is true for a Spirit controlled disciple of Jesus. Tim also wrote “I can choose to be joyful.”
Joy is one of the nine fruits of the Spirit the Apostle Paul wrote about in his letter to the Galatians (5: 22, 23). As evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives joy could be paraphrased “happiness that does not make good sense.” The derivation of the word “happiness” has to do with what happens to us. But this joy, which is the fruit of the Spirit living in us, is not controlled by what happens to us. That is why we say it does not make good sense, especially to secular non-spiritual people. In the very short letter the Apostle Paul wrote from prison to his favorite church, the Philippians, he used the word joy 17 times!
While appearing to the shepherds the angels explained why their declaration would bring great joy to all people: “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).
Great joy came because the One born is the Savior. He is the Christ, which is the Greek way of saying the Messiah. And He is to be our Lord. Joy came because He gives the Holy Spirit to those who follow Him. This joy is intended for all people, including you.
Are you choosing to be joyful, anyway?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: A Christmas Word, Christmas, experiencing joy, faith, happiness, Jesus Christ, joy, Luke 2:10, Saint Paul, Tim Hansel | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
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