Self-Control
This is a cute picture. But really it’s a picture of tremendous self-control.Every dog I know loves pizza!
As followers of Jesus each of us is called to self control (Galatians 5:22-23); and each of us is equipped to have it.
God the Holy Spirit resides within us. (Romans 8:9)
The evil desires, which each of us has from time to time, due to our lingering sin natures, can & must be checked by the Holy Spirit.
Notice how happy the dog is in obedience to his master’s command not to eat!
“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me’. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.”
(James 1:13-14)
Self-Control is not common these days. But it is possible; and it is an unexpected key to happiness and joy!
The alternative is being dragged away to an ugly place where we never imagined we’d be.
THE DAY THE FANS WEREN’T WELCOMED
Baltimore. Rioting outside Camden Yards. The game must go on. Fans locked out. The first major-league baseball game ever without any fans.
Seems like a metaphor for many churches relative to their needy surrounding communities.
Before the Cross, the Lord Jesus prayed to His Father for His followers:
“I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.”
(John 17:15)
Martin Luther wrote & we sing:
“And though this world with the devils filled should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God has willed
His truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim
we tremble not for him
his rage we can endure
for lo his doom is sure
one little word shall fell him.”
Let’s believe it.
Let’s take the game out of the safe stadium and onto the streets!
With Jesus’ love for all of you,
Pastor Rob Elliott
Sleep Sound in Jesus
We had a very gentle and steady rain throughout the night here in Nassau. It was much needed.
While we slept, God gave. We did not work and we could not work for rain. The Lord gave it.
It’s called common grace. It comes from the supremely uncommon God.
“It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors; for He gives to his beloved even in his sleep.”
(Psalm 127:2)
Everyone Did What Was Right in His Own Eyes – Judges 21:25b
Today there were no sales of peanuts, popcorn or hotdogs in Camden Yards.
Today, after a pair of postponements caused by rioting in Baltimore, the Orioles and the Chicago White Sox played at Camden Yards in what is believed to be the first game without fans in major league baseball’s 145-season history!
It wasn’t “Take me out to the Ball Game”
It was “Lock you out of the Ball Game”!
Rioters: Two wrongs don’t make a right!
Only Jesus can make rebels like all of us right.
Only Jesus can bring about a future, literal
riot-free Kingdom! (Isaiah 11:1-4)
I’m really looking forward to that!
Anarchy fixes nothing.
Do What It Takes
TENTING: Draping an entire building with huge & heavy tarps so that it can be intensively fumigated.
It must be done to the building which has lots of bugs or pests which are a real problem!
Tenting is a drastic, labour-intensive & expensive measure which is seen as being necessary & worth doing although it is also inconvenient & disruptive.
Jesus taught in Matthew 5:29-30: “And if you’re right eye makes you stumble, tear it out, and throw it from you; for it is better for you that one of the parts of your body parish, then for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off, and throw it from you; for it is better for you that one of the the parts of your body perish, then for your whole body to go into hell.”
Jesus was not recommending literal self-mutilation. Nowhere in the New Testament do we read of any committed follower of Christ walking around without a hand or an eye.
The Lord was using a figure of speech: Hyperbole.
He was using intentional exaggeration to emphasize practical point.
And His point was/is – do what ever it takes to avoid sin in your life. Even the drastic and expensive thing.
Some common examples of hyperbole would be:
“I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.”
“I’m so tired I could fall asleep on a clothesline.”
“School comes easy to him: He takes in knowledge by osmosis.”
“The U.S. sneezes and the Bahamas gets a cold!”
Believer, could it be that there are some drastic measures which you need to take now to avoid sin?
At work? Your TV? Your computer? The people you spend time with?
Do what it takes!
If you don’t know what it takes, consult the Word.
Chat a more mature, trusted Christian.
Figure out the circumstances when you most often are tempted. Determine if you have anything or anyone ranking higher than The Lord Jesus in your heart.
Do what it takes. Fumigated buildings are restored to their useful function.
Jesus says that sometimes drastic, inconveniently and expensive measures must be chosen by us so that we will live holy & God-honouring lives.
KEEPER OR SCHEMER?
This is the side of our house. Notice the razor & barb wire & padlocked gate.We are also told in the Bible that it hasn’t always been that sin was on the scene. (Genesis 3)
And he said, ‘I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?’ “. (Genesis 4: 8B-9)
(2 Corinthians 5:17).
Brother-keeping for God’s glory,
Pastor Rob Elliott
BE WEARING THE SHOES YOU WANT YOUR KIDS TO FILL!
More is caught by children than is taught to children. These precious little girls enter deeply into worship of Jesus because they want to … and they want to because their parents wanted to first.A Very Special Moment
The pastors laying their hands on me and my wife & praying for me as I am installed by God and by his people as the Senior Pastor-Teacher of the Calvary Bible Church, Nassau Bahamas.
UNSEEN BODY GUARDS
We guard what we love.Our spouses.
Our children and grandchildren.
Our health.
Our money.
Our homes.
Our God loves & guards us!
Consider this.
God has your back!
A LESSON FROM THE CAR WASH
Sometimes you have to sit very still and be washed. And then you can drive safely again.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.” (Psalm 139:23-24)
With Jesus’ love for all of you,
Pastor Rob Elliott