by Les | Jun 14, 2023 | Click Date to Respond
John 18:37-38 ESV – For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
There is a story told about a company that held a management vs employees softball game every summer during the company picnic. During the last held game, the employee team soundly defeated the management team. In the following week’s company newsletter this small piece was found.
“We wish to give our heartiest congratulations to the management softball team for having a successful season. The management team finished the season having suffered only a single loss.
At this time we would like to express our condolences to the employees softball team who finished their season with only a single victory.”
It is often difficult to know if we are hearing the truth from varied sources. Depending upon the circumstances, truth can be manipulated into something it is not, spun in a way that what is said isn’t nearly as factual as it should be. Truth can become hidden by people’s agendas; made to support something that is actually misleading.
Truth matters because without it we are not safe. Manipulated truth can prevent someone convicted of a misdeed or crime from being punished fairly. Truth is an honest exchange, the essences of communication that provides factual information of occurrences and ideas.
When Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth”, he was probably making a rhetorical question based upon his experience. Today, people with financial or supporting power can purchase false witness and amended events to sway the ‘truth’ to support their argument over that of another. I am sure that that was true in Pilate’s experience. The ways of mankind have not changed that greatly in two millennia.
Speaking truthfully is essential for a Christian. As Christ’s followers we should endeavor to listen before we speak. Doing so leads to better understanding and helps to develop better questions that can help clarify your understanding of what another has said.
When you speak do not have hidden motivations and always speak with kindness to another to avoid regretful statements.
Trust in God as you speak, asking the Spirit to enter into your conversation and to create a better relationship with whomever you are speaking with.
by Les | Jun 6, 2023 | Click Date to Respond
Psalm 56:3 ESV – When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
As a noun, trust means to have a firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability or strength of someone or something. As a verb, trust is to actually believe in the reliability, truth, ability or strength of someone or something. In the verb sense of the word, trust is faith.
To have faith is to have confidence in that which you hold your belief in. It is having confidence in an assurance that leads to action. To have trust in the Lord is to have faith that allows us to boldly serve him. Trust is far greater than to simply have belief.
To believe is to accept what is being presented simply upon the merit of the written or spoken word. To trust is a condition brought through personal experience with what has been written, or spoken, and knowing that it is true. Trust and belief go hand in hand but trust is the greater of the two.
Trust is to acknowledge that which you have touched with the fingers of our soul and have seen through the eyes of your faith.
by Les | May 29, 2023 | Click Date to Respond
Matthew 25:40b ESV – “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of these least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
In June Meridian Avenue Baptist Church will be collecting the One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) special offering. OGHS supports disaster relief, ministries to displaced persons, and development projects of the American Baptist Churches and its mission partners around the globe.
In the past year, OGHS funds have been used to provide assistance to people caught in the civil unrest in Myanmar and Yemen, typhoon relief in the Philippines and help with the earthquake relief in Croatia. OGHS has also provided funding to our mission partners in three Central American countries to assist with clean drinking water programs.
Closer to home, OGHS has provided food and shelter assistance to the hungry and homeless in many U.S. communities and provided funds for American Baptist Men hurricane relief projects
by Les | May 24, 2023 | Click Date to Respond
Acts 2:4 NIV – And all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Pentecost Sunday falls on May 28th this year. Pentecost, coming from the Greek word ‘pentecoste,’ which means ’50th day.’
Pentecost, observed on the seventh Sunday following Easter (50 days), celebrates the descending of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus. The story of Pentecost, found in Acts 2, tells the marvelous story of how the Holy Spirit empowered the followers of Jesus, led to Peter giving a powerful sermon, and says that about 3,000 people were baptized on the day of Pentecost.
In these days leading toward the 2023 Pentecost Sunday, please take time to read the story found in Acts 2 and consider God’s power poured out through the Holy Spirit.
by Les | May 16, 2023 | Click Date to Respond
1 Corinthians 12:12 ESV – For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
Helen and I once traveled to Indiana to attend a funeral for one of her cousins. During the dinner following the memorial service we were served the most wonderful tasting potato salad that I had ever enjoyed. It was so very good that I wanted to seize the opportunity to ask for the recipe for the potato salad while we were still at the church.
Stepping into the kitchen the women became silent as their eyes turned towards me. In the tradition of the Old Order German Baptist Brethren, the kitchens are considered women’s territory; a territory which I had invaded. When one of the ladies asked if I needed anything I said that I was amazed by their potato salad and was wondering if it were possible to get the recipe. The request caused the women to break into laughter. As it turned out, when women brought potato salad for a church dinner, they dumped all of the different potato salads into a single massive bowl and stirred them all together. The flavor of the potato salad depended on the various recipes and talents of the several women who contributed to it.
Isn’t that how a church is made up? Every member brings their various mental, physical and spiritual gifts into the fold of the church and they are blended together to become a part of the body of the church.
by Les | May 8, 2023 | Click Date to Respond
Psalm 107:1 ESV – Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
I think about it often, when I’m reminded, for example, when one makes a claim such as: it was a good movie… I’m thinking, good? What makes it good? Was it a Godly movie? The cake is so good, is it good? What makes it good? The way your tongue and senses respond to sugar and textures? Is this your understanding of “good” and “goodness”? I think too much, of course, it’s a figure of speech nowadays and the word is used for many things, some that are wicked… A “good time” could mean something totally different depending on the individuals involved.. but really, we all ought to ask ourselves and consider with one another, what is “Good” As Christians, we know or should know, Jesus said there is none Good but God alone. Let’s start with that alone and let that be our measurement and scale to weigh “goodness”. Does it honor God, is it glorifying God and the Gospel message of peace and reconciliation? Is it teaching wisdom, discretion, discernment? Charity, Patience, Self-Control, Long-suffering? Meekness or humility? Woe to those who teach Evil as Good and Good as Evil. We need to get it straight and do not hold back our voices, but lift them up as a trumpet, be wise as serpents And gentle as doves, for we are sent out as Sheep Amidst the Wolves.
The above is a Facebook public media posting, dated 4/27/2023, by Sean Keith Gray.
