“That’s what I’ve been telling you, Jack. You were reading the Bible like a novel. You started in the beginning and planned to read straight through to the end. That’s a terrible plan.”
Jack took on the manner of an unruly student. He was resistive and combative. “Then what is a good plan?”
Jack unfolded his arms and gazed at a stained glass window on the west wall. Manny counted the organ pipes at the front of the chapel. They took a two-minute break to return to a calmer state of mind. That gave the Holy Spirit time to work on both of them.
Manny continued in a soft voice. “I’d suggest you start with the Gospel of John in the New Testament and Genesis in the Old. Read back-and-forth between the two. After that, read through Matthew, Mark, and Luke in the New Testament and Exodus, Psalms, and Isaiah in the Old. Use the same back-and-forth technique. We can discuss where to go after that. If you search online for Read through the Bible in a year, you’ll find all sorts of plans.”
“Then the Jews demanded of him (Jesus), ‘What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this.’
“Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.'”
In other words, why should we believe Jesus? He gives us the answer Himself, “Because I rose from the dead.” And we too will rise from the dead to a heavenly home if we put our faith in Jesus. It’s that simple.
“The Bible was written over a period of roughly two-thousand years by forty different authors from three continents who wrote in three different languages. Shepherds, kings, scholars, fishermen, prophets, a military general, a cupbearer, and a priest all penned portions of Scripture. Yet, despite this miscellany assortment of writers and settings, the Bible displays a meticulous consistency. It never contradicts itself or its common theme.
“That could only happen if the real author of the Bible were not forty natural men but God Himself, working through His Holy Spirit to inspire every one of them. The common thread running throughout the Bible is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The Old Testament prophets wrote about Someone in the future without knowing in their natural selves Who exactly they were writing about.”
We have sinned against you, Lord, as a nation, a state (MN), a city (Buffalo), and as individuals. We have gone our own way. We have done what we ought not to have done. We have left undone that which we ought to have done.
Send us a prophet, O Lord, who will deliver a message of revival into our land in this time. Deliver us from the hands of Your enemies and ours.
Oh my Father, I confess that I was not pure in heart yesterday regarding my relationship with You, nor was I poor in spirit. I did not search for You with all my heart and with all my soul. I did not listen to You through all the watches of the day.
Instill in me a pure heart today that I may follow You without hesitation or deflection and that I may trust in You with all my heart and all my soul and with all my spirit, as I look forward to that glorious day when I will see You face to face for all eternity.
I got to know the host of this podcast, Chris laFreniere, and will be publishing a book by him called Bipolar Is Who I Am, which will come out by the end of this year.
Years back, when I was visiting my mother in a nursing home in Hankinson, North Dakota, I asked her a question to make sure she would be safely tucked away in heaven when she died.
“Mother, if you died tomorrow and were standing outside the gates of heaven, and St. Peter asked why he should let you in, what would you say?”
My mother was a Catholic of great faith, who was choir director of Holy Rosary Church in Detroit Lakes for decades, was the soloist for Bobby Vee’s and Karen Bergen’s wedding, was a prayer warrior of deep conviction, fed transients who came to our back door for food, and was otherwise a very caring and loving person. I was uneasy that she might have brought up all the heavenly works she did to earn her way into heaven, as if anyone could earn their way into heaven by good works. If that were possible, there would have been no reason for Jesus to be crucified.
My mind was put at ease when she said, “I’d point to Jesus and say to St. Peter, ‘Because He loves me and I love Him.'” Essentially, she was saying, “Not because of anything I’ve done but because of what Jesus did for me.”
Over the years, I’ve asked different people why they wanted to go to heaven. Too often the answer has been that they want to see their dear mother, Uncle Louie, a child that died too soon, a spouse of 50 years, or talk to Mother Theresa. “How about seeing Jesus?” I sometimes ask. The answer is often something like, “Well, I guess I’d like that too.”
How about you? What would you say to St. Peter if you died and he asked you why he should let you in?
I am teaching the principles in this book at my church this fall in an 8-week course Monday nights.
One of the issues we’ll be dealing with is summed up by a question many of us ask ourselves any number of times. How can I be saved/redeemed/ransomed and keep circling back to the same old sins time after time. I thought Jesus died to free me from my sins once and for all.
The answer to that question can be found in the chart below.
The basic concept portrayed by the chart is that the closer we are to Jesus the safer we are, and the farther we are from Jesus, the more likely we are to circle back to the same old sins. There is an in-depth explanation of this in pages 64 to 76 in the book. Here’s the link where you can get this book if you really want to find out the answer to the question. https://bit.ly/buypaperbackSafestPlace
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
That is, those who are poor in themselves and rich in Christ.
In not too long, I will be physically dead; it looms sooner and sooner. I cannot choose for it not to happen, but I can choose to tamper down the old self – that inner me that dominates what I think, do, and say – and die to what this world has to offer for what Christ has waiting for me.
I can’t do it under my own power; it is the work of the Holy Spirit, but I can assent to it with my will. That I can do.
You are what you fill your mind with – negative or positive, the world or Jesus, what you want to do or what God wants you to do. If you want to change who you are, you must first change what you fill your mind with.
