The Master Of Winds And Waves

Neal Pollard

A historic storm is bearing down on the east coast.  Many forecasters are claiming that the impending weather phenomenon poised to hit the Mid-Atlantic and northeast, called a nor'easter, is the largest in history.  Coupled with that is the surging, strong category one hurricane, Sandy.  The two will clash together in a super storm being called "Frankenstorm"--due to its proximity in time to October 31st.  It will bring hurricane-force winds, storm surges, blizzards, tornadoes, possible tidal waves, and more.  The dramatic nature of this event was expressed this way by Stu Ostro, meteorologist for the Weather Channel: ""History is being written as an extreme weather event continues to unfold, one which will occupy a place in the annals of weather history as one of the most extraordinary to have affected the United States" (Doyle Rice, USA Today online, 10-29-12).  

Events like this give perspective to who we are in contrast to the living God!  We are small, dependent, and relatively fragile, as events like this prove.  Arrogance and defiance are exchanged for humility and dependency.

The Christian's confidence is in Christ, who proved Himself the Master of winds and waves (Mat. 8:26-27).  As the One who created everything that was made, including the elements of nature (Col. 1:16), His power exceeds anything that it can demonstrate.  As tens of millions face power outages, as property damages will be in the multi-billions of dollars, and as lives will be endangered by the unprecedented storm, this fact becomes more incredible and reassuring.  When the storms of life rage, He is our shelter.  If the physical storms threaten, we can rest in His eternal protection.  When that great event comes that ends it all (2 Pet. 3:10), we can be safe from eternal harm!  The Master of the winds and the waves mastered a problem even bigger than Sandy.  He mastered the sin problem.  If we make Him our Master, we need fear nothing this life may throw at us.

Please pray for the millions of people threatened by this storm, including a great many of our brothers and sisters in Christ.  --NP

Concussions

 

There has been a growing amount of discussion on head injuries the last several years, especially in sports.  The more we are learning about the brain, the more we are coming to realize just how dangerous concussions can be.  If a person breaks an arm, pulls a muscle, or tears a ligament, it is nowhere near as serious as injuring the brain.  After all, a single injury to the brain can paralyze the entire body!  There is simply nothing more serious than a head injury.

The church is often referred to as a “body” (Romans 12:4f; 1 Corinthians 12:26f; Colossians 1:17f).  All of New Testament Christians in the world make up the parts of this body.  The head of this body is Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:18).  Similar to our actual bodies, it is often injured.  The church body has been subject to attacks, divisions, and many other forms of damage.  Certainly we have ourselves to blame for many of these issues.  However, thanks be to God that the Head of the church, Christ, is so well protected.  Ever since He ascended into heaven, no man has been able to lay a finger on Christ.  Even Satan is powerless to hurt Him.  Never will the church’s head be injured.

Even though we worry about head injuries, we do not need to worry about the head of the New Testament church. We never have to worry about a crippling blow to the church.  Not only is Christ perfectly protected, but He also happens to be all-powerful and all-knowing.  Christ will always reign as the church’s head.  What a blessing it is to be part of a church body with Christ as head over us!

Do Not Love The World

Neal Pollard

"World" is one of those words with multiple meanings.  It can refer to the earth, to all the people on that earth, or a philosophy or system of thought.  When John says, "Do not love the world or the things in the world" (1 John 2:15), he is referring to the last of those three ideas.  The behavior and philosophy of the world follows that of the prince of this world (Eph. 2:2), characterized by trespasses and sins, fleshly lusts, desires of the flesh and mind, and the like (Eph. 2:1-3).  That is what we are not to love.

Paul warns against approving of those who do worldly things in Romans 1:32.  Those things include all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness...evil-mindedness... inventors of evil things" and more, including homosexuality (Rom. 1:26-31).  The Bible must be consulted to help determine what of the things in culture fit into the category of things like we read in Ephesians 2, Romans 1, Galatians 5, Colossians 3, 2 Timothy 3, and the like.  Some things, in and of themselves, are neutral.  Other things, inherently, are sinful and, thus, "worldly."  

Christians set on defending, praising, promoting, or excusing things that are sexually suggestive, immodest, debauched, perverse, and depraved find themselves militating and working against the very Christ they profess to follow.  To praise sin is to love the world.  To defend immorality or excuse those who do it is to love the world.  To see things through worldly eyes, with worldly values, is to love the world.  Scripture is unequivocal about the matter.  John continues, "If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever" (1 John 2:15b-17).  Before we choose our heroes, role models, habits, hobbies, diversions, and desires, we do well to review John's God-breathed words and make sure we are not in love with the world!

September 11th

 

Today marks the 11^th anniversary of the day the twin towers fell in New York City.  For many people, this day causes thoughts and feelings to come rushing back in.  We remember where we where when the tragic news reached us.  We remember the tears and horrified reactions of people around us.  We remember many of the details as the events unfolded.

Remembering the events of 9/11 is beneficial.  It helps us to cope, learn from past mistakes, and make improvements.  Certainly remembering the events of this day brings us together and helps us as a nation to protect ourselves for the future.

Not to minimize the benefits of remembering this day, but there are some events much more important for us to remember.  One such event is the death of Jesus Christ.  While the September 11^th attacks touched everyone on a national scale, the life of Jesus Christ has touched everyone on an eternal scale.

As we go through today remembering the events that occurred 11 years ago, let’s remember to keep Christ’s sacrifice at the forefront of our minds.

“And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.  And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.  The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.  Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’” (Matthew 27:50-54).