The Ways Of God

Isaiah 55:1 "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;  and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.  2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?  Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.  3 Give ear and come to me;  hear me, that your soul may live.  I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.  4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples.  5 Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor."  6 Seek the LORD while he may be found;  call on him while he is near.  7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts.  Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.  8 "For [KI1] my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.  9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:  It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.  12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace;  the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.  13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.  This will be for the LORD's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed."

God's Thoughts

"My thoughts are not like your thoughts.  Your ways are not like my ways.  Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9)

     Make special note of the word like.  God's thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are they even like ours.  We aren't even in the same neighborhood.  We're thinking, Preserve the body; He's thinking, save the soul.  We dream of a pay raise.  He dreams of raising the dead.  We avoid pain and seek peace.  God uses pain to bring peace. "I'm going to live before I die" we resolve. "Die, so you can live", he instructs.  We love what rusts.  He loves what endures.

We rejoice at our successes.  He rejoices at our confessions.  We show our children the Nike star with the million-dollar smile and say, "Be like Mike".  God points to the crucified carpenter with bloody lips and a torn side and says, "Be like Christ".

Our thoughts are not like God's thoughts. Our ways are not like his ways.  He has a different agenda.  He dwells in a different dimension.  He lives on another plane.  And that plane is named in the first phrase of the Lord's prayer, "Our father who is in heaven"

By Max Lucado

The Great House of God

The Invitation

The gospel is and forever will be an invitation.  When we attempt to make it something else we assault it’s character and nature. 

It is an invitation for everyone.  No one is excluded.  No one is preferred.

No matter how many times you have been invited, the invitation will remain.

No matter how terrible a person you might be or how much of a mess your life might be in, the invitation remains.

It is an invitation without strings attached.

Some people wouldn’t attend certain affairs or functions because the price would be too great.

You are not expected to bring  gift or a present.  It is a powerful thing when we as individuals or a church body do things without looking for a returns.

Topic:  Amusements

Subtopic: 

Index:  133-134

Date:  2/1998.101

Title:  Efficiency At It's Worst

  A managed care company president was given a ticket for a performance of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony.  Since she was unable to go, she passed the invitation to one of her managed care reviewers.  The next morning, the president asked him how he enjoyed it, and, instead of a few plausible observations, she was handed a memorandum which read as follows:

1. For a considerable period, the oboe players had nothing to do.  Their number should be reduced, and their work spread over the whole orchestra, thus avoiding peaks of inactivity.

2. All twelve violins were playing identical notes.  This seems like unnecessary duplication, and the staff of this secton should be drastically cut.  If a large volume of sound is really required, this could be obtained through the use of an amplifier.

3. Much effort was involved in playing the sixteenth notes.  This seems an excessive refinement, and it is recommended that all notes should be rounded up to the nearest eighth note.  If this were done, it would be possible to use paraprofessionals instead of experienced musicians.

4. No useful purpose is served by repeating with horns the passage that has already been handled by the strings.  If such redundant passages were eliminated, the concert could be reduced from two hours to twenty minutes.

5. This symphony has two movements. If Schubert didni't achieve his goals by the end of the first movement, then he should have stopped there.  The second movement is unnecessary and should be cut.

    In light of the above, one can only conclude that had Schubert given attention to these matters, he probably would have had the time to finish his symphony.

Topic:  Home

Subtopic:  Devout Fathers

Index:  1669

Date: 

Title: 

   My home knew little of God's love, and I can still remember coming out of it.  Entering into my own marriage, I prayed, "O God, I don't know what my kids will ever remember me for.  I don't really care if they ever remember me as a well-known preacher or professor or writer. All I cry to You for, Lord, is that You will help them to remember me as a father who loved them."

   Humanly speaking, I might never have been saved if someone hadn't "said it with love" to me.  I was nine years old, a little terror.  I was out playing marbles one day, when a man named Walt came along and invited me to Sunday School.  There was nothing appealing to me about anything with "school" in it, so he made me another proposition -- one I liked a lot better.  "Wanna play a game of marbles with me?" he asked.

   After he'd wiped me out in a couple games of marbles, he inquired, "Wanna learn how to play this game better?"

   By the time he'd taught me how to play marbles over the next few days, he'd built such a relationship with me that I'd have gone anywhere he suggested.  You know what that meant?  I ended up in his Sunday School class with a dozen other boys, most of whom he'd magnetized in very much the same way.  Of the 13 boys in that class, nine were from broken homes, and five were Roman Catholics. Eleven of those boys ended up in vocational Christian work.

   Thank God for a man like Walt, who "said it with love."

   -- Say it with Love, Howard Hendricks

See:  Judg 13:8; Prov 22:6

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index: 

Love/Examples of Fathers' Love/1625

Topic:  Labor

Subtopic: 

Index:  605-608

Date:  4/1989.27

Title:  How to Join the Coronary Club: Membership Requirements

 1. Never say No to a request -- always say YES.

 2. Your job comes first; personal considerations are secondary.

 3. Accept all invitations to meetings, banquets, committees, etc.

 4. Go to the office evenings, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

 5. Golf, bowling and hobbies are a waste of time.

 6. It is a poor policy to take all the vacation time which is provided to you.

 7. Never delegate responsibility to others; carry the whole load at all times.

 8. Do not eat a restful, relaxing meal -- always plan a conference for the dinner hour.

 9. If your work calls for traveling -- work all day and drive all night to make your appointment for the next morning.

 10. Fishing and hunting are a waste of time and money -- you never bring back enough fish or game to justify the expense.

 11. Take the briefcase home on the evenings when you do not go to the office.  This provides an opportunity to review completely all the troubles and worries of the day.

See:  Eccl 4:8; Psa 127:2

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index: 

Health/1505

Rest/Physical/3010

Topic:  Love

Subtopic:  Of Christ for Men

Index:  2203

Date:  8/1985.8

Title:  Love Personified

   In a testimony an evangelist one time described his mother as being love personified.  As a boy he found her sitting at the table with an old tramp one day.  Apparently she had gone shopping, met the tramp along the way, and invited him home for a warm meal.  During the conversation the tramp said, "I wish there were more people like you in the world."  Whereupon his mother replied, "Oh, there are.  But you must look for them."  The old man simply shook his head, saying. "But, lady, I didn't need to look for you.  You looked for me."  When that mother reflected her Christian kindness toward the tramp she did something more than simply offer him welfare.  It was a compassion that went out of its way to love the unlovely.  And that's the story of our Savior's life, death and resurrection.  He came looking for us in the sick, the maimed, the lame, the bruised, the broken hearted, the wretched wanderer, the poor and forgotten, the prisoner, and the lonely rich.  Has he found you?

See:  Matt 15:30; Luke 4:18; Luke 19:10

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index: 

Compassion/3517-3519

Kindness/Examples of/1999

Topic:  Name

Subtopic:  Good (Reputation)

Index:  2513

Date:  2/1988.15

Title:  Christians Can Afford Good Reputations

   Dave counsels every year at high school camp.  Tom doesn't allow his kids to attend.

   Dave teaches an Adult Sunday school class.  Tom doesn't go to Sunday school.

   Dave directs the choir.  Tom doesn't know a single hymn.

   Dave chairs the worship committee.  Tom hasn't been inside a church since infancy.

   Dave reads his Bible every day.  Tom doesn't own one.

   Dave has a grocery bill that's marked "90 days overdue."  Tom owns the grocery store.

   Dave invited Tom to an evangelistic crusade.  Tom stayed home and watched television reruns.

See:  Prov 22:1

Other Topic/Subtopic/Index: 

Testimony/3599-3605

Example/Evil/1176

 [KI1]That means that invariably God will do things differently than we would do them.  Most of us have a problem with that.  It is a problem on a human level.  We have to deliberately get our heads around the idea God will do things differently than we will.  This is true without exception.

It is also true then that in order for a person to thrive in relationship to God it will be necessary for him/her to accept that God will do it differently.  We cannot predict the way that He will choose to work.  We will never get it right simply because He does it differently.

It is also true that our ways are not necessarily right or wrong when we see their difference.  They are merely different.  What a great realization this is when it comes to interpersonal relationship things.  As a pastor I will give leadership to this church that will represent a different way of doing things than you might do if you were in my position.  That is not necessarily right or wrong it is only different.

It is also true that the different ways that we operate are not necessarily better than the way that someone else might do it. – Just different once again.