Ageless Now thought

I finnaly made it back from working in Pine Bluff and then immediately had to start packing to move. Did the move thing and then turned right around and helped the Kiasor's move. It took a week for COX to get the right guy to come to our new house to get the internet hooked up (today) so I am back on line and have a bunch of blogs to read and a question to ask about the Ageless Now theory.

If we live and by that I mean exsist in that one moment called now, are we living in the same exact now that Adam and Eve, Moses, Abraham, David and everybody lived in or will live in? Are we contemporaries of that moment. If that moment is ageless and time passes through it, then history and future are only relative as a point of reference to each other. Doesn't all life pass through that moment at the same "time", now?

The Ageless Now 1.2

God exists for us in that moment, between seconds, in the twinkling of an eye. He has existed and will exist every time someone’s now happens. He is the Ageless Now. Our lives pass by like film in a movie projector and we live only on what the light shines. Every frame of our lives will at one point be, now, but God being the light is eternal, always there, never changing. Eternal is the best term we have for something without beginning and end. Eternal is not always used in this fashion but remains our best word. God lives in the eternal now. It is in Him that we live and move and have our being.

Acts 17:28
For in him we live, and move, and have our being;

We move through time but God remains the same yesterday, today and forever.

Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

When God spoke during the burning bush incident, he was confronted with a question from Moses,

Exodus 3:13
And Moses said unto God, Behold, [when] I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What [is] his name? what shall I say unto them?

He did not say, “My name is Elohiym, creator of the universe”, nor “ Jehovah Jireh your provider” nor “El the almighty one”. Instead he uses the name which means “To be, to exist”.

Exodus 3:14
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

God is the God of now. He is relevant to everyone from the beginning of history to the end of the world. Every person, no matter what day and age they lived, live or will live, will experience their whole life during that one continuous moment. Now.

Let us take a look at John 3:16,

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Everyone is going to perish. Everyone's body no matter how long it lives is going to die, so this verse is obviously not talking about the human body but the part of us that has the ability to commune with God. Our spirits are dead to God when we are born because of sin. But God sent His Son to our world to save us from our sins and to give us life, everlasting life. If we believe this to be true then our old, dead, sinful spirit is quickened to life so that we might live for Christ and or God while we are living in our human bodies on earth. This is much easier said than done. In order to live for Christ we have to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus in the way that he leads us. Satan, who is attached directly to our dead spirit, and who's existence depends solely on our participation with him will do everything in his power to keep his relationship with us. "Live for the moment, you can serve God later". These are the words from Satan. But they are a lie. We can not live for God later, we can not even serve Satan later, we can only live, Now. God sent His Son so that we might "live" every Now, thus giving us everlasting life. Satan wants us to "perish" every Now, thus keeping us in everlasting death. This is the epic of the human condition.

Paul the apostle writes, referring to Isaiah 49:8

2 Corinthians 6:2
For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.”
I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.

Now is the time to choose.

I am headed to Pine Bluff for three weeks of work so will only blog on the weekends. Thanks for reading and following.

The Ageless Now 1.1

Ageless Now


Growing up, I had a hard time when trying to understand what I would be doing after my body died and went to heaven, “forever”. What in the world would I do, forever? My parents told me that I would be praising and worshiping God the whole time. Well, maybe it is just my carnal mind, but do that forever? I mean really, that is a long, long time.

But even though that bugged me what bothered me more was how was it that God, who was going to be there forever, had already been around forever. I was able to come to grips with forevermore but not with foreverbefore. How could God have been around all this time and yet still be around forever? How old is God anyway?

I heard someone once give this comparison about the length of forever. If a sparrow picked up a grain of earth and flew to the other side of the galaxy, then deposited it on some distant planet, flew back and continued this trek until the whole world was moved, in that amount of time it would just be becoming mornings first day in Heaven. Wow, is that cool or what? Does it give you any idea of the vastness of forever? Does it help you consider the awesomeness of our time with God or even worse the sheer terror of the length of time one might have to spend in hell without God? But even this analogy niggles my niggle.

The problem with forever and always is the same problem I have with all the other words we use to describe this thought: eternity, everlasting, evermore. They all deal with time. They are all a long, long time.

Even God, in his revelation of Jesus Christ given to John, describes Himself in terms of time when he says in Revelation,

Revelation 22:13
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

Concerning the things of this world and all its happenings, God is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. But what about before the world began and what about after the world is over?

Take a look at this.

Matthew 22:31-33
31. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,
32. I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
33. And when the multitude heard [this], they were astonished at his doctrine.

And so was I. This short passage was an eye opening, mind fix for me. This concept unlocks the mystery of a timeless God. So far, every term we have used is directly connected with time. It is how we connect. It is where we live. But God does not live in time, he is not constricted by the pouring of sand through the hourglass. He is not a God of hours, minutes or seconds. He is the God of the living. This is the same concept we talked about when we discussed Faith. We can only have hope while we are alive. After we are dead there is no more ability to have hope. God is not the God of the dead because we do not have the ability to believe in him or serve him after we are dead. Only while we are alive do we have this opportunity. And it is only at one point in our lives that this opportunity exists. Now. Only now can we serve God, not earlier, that is the past, not later, that is the future, only now. We can plan to serve God later and we may have served him in the past but only now, while we are living can serving him be an option. This is why God is not the God of the dead but of the living.

CTT: Comunication 2.2

Genesis 1:1-3
1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Here in the first three verses of the Bible we have the Trinity hard at work, working together. God the Father has in mind to create light so he uses God the Spirit and says, God the Word “let there be light.” In the next verse we read that God the Father sees all that He, the Spirit and the Word have accomplished and saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:4
And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

So who is this Holy Spirit?

Genesis 2:7
And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

There is the Holy Spirit. He is the breathing of life. He is the invisible power that creates the Word of God. We are made in this same image.

God the Holy Spirit: (bottom line):

When we communicate, three things happen. 1. God the father, that is us, determines what is going to be said. 2. We breath in, a gift from the one true God by the way, and then breath out. As we breath out, our vocal cords, mouth and tongue, which are god the father, form the holy spirit (breath) into audible sounds or words which others and ourselves hear, 3. god the son.

So when Jesus said things like, "I only say what the Father tells me to say" he wasn't lying. If you are the Word of God the only sound you will make is that which comes from God the Father. If you speak to someone in English, it is not going to come out of your mouth in Spanish.

Jesus is the Son of God because it is God who formed him into the Word using the Holy Spirit to create that Word. He is God's "son" because it is that terminology that God uses to relate to us in that we are the creator and maker of our words.

Jesus Christ is the only begotten of God because God has only himself in which to speak from. Everything God says is his begotten. Jesus was His word made flesh thereby having a relationship with man and taking on the term Son.

God wants us to be able to relate to him, to know him, to love him and obey him. He has gone to great lengths to create for us ways to know who he is and he places these truths in everyday, common things like communication.

CTT: Communication 2.1

Every time we communicate, we exhibit the Trinity be it through verbal speech, hand gestures, eye contact, writing, however we communicate to get a point across, even pictures and sounds.

When you communicate, you are the little g “god” of what you say. You are the creator of your words. You are “god the father”. Your words, though, do not begin in your mouth but originate from your mind. If you only think words but do not say them or communicate them in any way, then you remain only, god the father. Please don't think I am equating this with God; only comparing its similarities and do remember this is only "my" way of "seeing" it, just an idea that I think helps explain the concept in a way that we can relate to.

When you say the words, then “god the son” is exhibited. When your words are spoken they are born, they are visible to others through hearing. Your thoughts become flesh, so to speak, for others to see and hold in their lives. When you read a book, study a lesson, thumb through a magazine, or scan through a stack of coupons, you are listening to what someone wants to tell you. We are all bombarded each day with a deluge of nonverbal communication.

When you drive to work or to the store a civil engineer speaks to you. He hangs a sign on a post and tells you what the speed limit is, or to watch out for an oncoming curve or a dip in the road. He hangs lights at a four-way to tell you to go, slow down or stop. He sets signs at intersections so that he can tell you the names of those streets. A retailer rents billboard space along your path telling you what you should buy and where you should buy it. In the checkout line, a photographer takes a picture and puts it on magazine to tell you what someone looks like. A writer creates a catchy headline asking you to look further into the subject. A restaurant owner smokes his BBQ beef outdoors. He uses hickory wood in order to capture your attention, no signs, no verbal shout outs, just the aroma. The list is absolutely endless.

All of these communications originated from someone. Some god the father wanted to tell you something and when they did, god the son was used. God was able to take his creative word and form it into living, breathing flesh known as Jesus. We are able to take our creative word and turn it into signs, magazine pictures, print, marketing ploys, etc. The civil engineer cannot stand on the road and physically inform every motorist of an oncoming traffic hazard, so he sets a sign. That sign is in effect, himself. This sign could remain long after the death of the civil engineer and yet it still speaks.

When I read my Bible, I am listening to people who have been dead for thousands of years. Am I listening to dead people? No, because they were not dead when they wrote it. We will get into this in another blog..

So, we have established that we are god the father of our communication and when we communicate, we are god the son. Two separate parts, same person. Now, how about the Holy Spirit?

Can I first touch on the power of the Holy Spirit? Maybe the best way to understand the power of the holy spirit in communication is to switch roles. Be the driver for a moment, the one going to work or the store. As you approach the sign that shows a curved arrow with a 25 mph sign below it, you have to make some decisions. First, do you believe what the sign says? Second, if you do believe the sign you have to react by slowing down and prepare for the curve ahead. The civil engineer has effectively gotten his message across to you when you saw and acknowledged the sign but he has no power to make you obey and prepare. It is the job of god the holy spirit, working in you, to get you to obey what you have just heard from the civil engineer through his curve sign. Most likely, you will obey the sign because you can see ahead of you the correlating evidence and so the question to obey seems rather obvious. Of course you are going to obey, if you do not you will drive off the road and no telling what will happen after that. But what if the curve is just over a hill and you can not see it until it is to late? Then you have to believe the civil engineer without the aid of your overpowering sense of sight. As soon as you read or understand the sign, god the holy spirit comes into play. He is the power that gets you ready to react to what you have come to understand if you choose to believe. Maybe this is one nasty curve up ahead and the civil engineer is so concerned about your well being that he has placed two other signs previously that read, “curve ahead and prepare to slow down.” He understands that because of this particular danger it would be a good idea to let god the holy spirit begin working on you.

Every form of communication is designed to get you to react. In order for you to react the way that that communicator wants you to react, he has to convince you to believe. This is the non-tangible god the holy spirit. The communicator will use a plethora of ways to try to achieve this goal; colors, sounds, fonts, shapes and sizes, tone, gestures and the list goes on. Even the raising of the eyebrow or the pursing of the lips can tell you all you need to know. You know the look. You have seen it before on your mom or dad’s face, and when you did, you knew right away that if you did not change what you were doing you would be in big trouble.

Every form of communication has its variables of spirit. When we converse with each other every day, the spirit of our conversation is usually basic and simple. If we want to get a point across more dramatically we might choose more spirited words or raise the tone of our voices. This is the holy spirit of our communication. A painted purple spot on a tree says in a very calm and unobtrusive way that this is my property and I would like you to stay off please. A sign reading, “No Trespassing,” has a little more spirit in it. Two or three signs placed not too far apart gives the message even more spirit. What if they are painted red? What if they have flashing lights around them? They all say the exact same thing but each one has variation of spirit behind it. This is power of god the holy spirit working through god the son having been spoken by use of a sign from god the father.

So we observe the power of god the holy spirit directly tied to god the father and god the son in communication yet we see that he is unique in his job.

CTT: God the Holy Spirit prt. 5

So now if God is in the business of building a relationship with us then His claim of being God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, and they being all one, should be something that we can relate to.

There are many things we see everyday that are, in their basic form, three in one. Trees for example have the underground part called roots, the woody part, trunk and branches and then the leaves. Three separate parts all making up one tree. The egg has an outer shell, yolk and white. Three parts one egg. Then there are the elements on the periodic table. Each one has the ability to be a solid, a liquid and a gas, and yet in every stage, remains itself. We are considered to be, body, soul and spirit. The list is almost endless. But there is one, that I like most, that seems to fit the God Head best.

Who does it matter to, this Trinity theology? Man. I cannot imagine that birds and animals or plants and rocks question the Almighty three-in-one subject. Not until man shows up on the scene does this matter, matter. But when man shows up he brings with him the best example for the Trinity, communication.

CTT: God the Holy Spirit, prt4

God the Holy Spirit (His power) is Truth:

The power of the Holy Spirit is not a magic wand. We cannot just say, “I wish this particular problem would go away”, and poof, it is gone. Rather we should say, “Holy Spirit, I have this particular problem and I would like it to go away”. Then have ears to hear and eyes to see, for the Holy Spirit will bring to us the answer that we may accomplish the goal. It may be altering a social habit, or pulling in the reigns on a personal tendency, or maybe forgiveness is in line for someone, or ourselves. Whatever the case, the Holy Spirit will show us the way. But it is our responsibility to “go” the way. He is not going to do it for us. The journey is the empowerment, for both ourselves and our relationship with the Father.

Jesus, who was full of the Spirit, still had to discipline himself to obey the word of his Father. He did this mainly through prayer, which we see as a daily routine for him. He tells us that He would only speak what the Father told him to speak.

John 12:49
For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

I can imagine all the things I would say to people who would not believe me if I were right about something and they were wrong, and not just wrong, but professed to everyone else how right they were and how wrong I was. That would tick me off, and I am sure that pride would have its way at some point or another. But Jesus, full of the Spirit, never did anything like that, he always chose to be obedient to the Father. And since that is the way Jesus overcame, I can relate to it. If Jesus was able to overcome because the Holy Spirit did it all for him then I could not relate to that because the Holy Spirit does not do that for me. But he does check my spirit and give me the opportunity to do it His way first.

We have talked about this earlier, but when Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane, He had a discussion with his Father about going to the cross. Jesus did not want to go and was looking for a way out, another way. Even though he was full of the Holy Spirit he still had to obey the Father. The Holy Spirit was not going to make him.

So in seeing these things about the Holy Spirit, we have to decide how we are going to view him. The Bible views him as the third person of the Trinity. Some view him as more of just a “force”; the long arm of God, the power of God, not as an individual, not part of the "us" in Genesis 1:26, “And God said, Let us make man in our image...”

If we can realize that the Word of God is Jesus, an individual, then we should be able to accept that the Holy Spirit is an individual also. I say this because I have a hard time seeing him as an individual myself, but more of as a force or the “Power of God”. I do not find this to be threatening though, because I know he is real, I know what he does, I have seen him at work, so for me it is not that big of an issue. I do believe that he is an individual, one of three in the God Head.

CTT: God the Holy Spirit prt. 3

This blog is refering to the verse in Isaiah 63:10 that I mentioned on the last blog. It's a little longer than I like to post but I couldn't find a good breaking point.

Isaiah 63:10
But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, [and] he fought against them.

I wrote a little story that I think refers to that verse when Jesus spoke in Matthew 12:43-45

Matthew 12:43-45
43. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
44. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
45. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

Look at it this way. You own a business and for the last 30 years, you have been told by very reliable sources that there is a product coming that will revolutionize your business. This particular product will put your business on the map and not only will it put more on the bottom line but will also reduce overhead, paper and time. It also comes with a guarantee that your business will be the greatest one in the world. What is this new product? The computer. Up till now, you and every other business owner have been doing all their jobs on ledgers and receipt books. Your phone bill and postage costs are astronomical. The amount of space that is required to house all your inventory, files and employees is staggering. Your competition knows that you have some sort of inside information that will transform the way you do business but has no inside scoop.

Then one day it is here. The computer industry is ready to launch its new product. They send out their best and most knowledgeable salesman. On his way to come and see you he stops by Nineveh’s fishing lure factory and presents the computer to their CEO. The CEO is so impressed that he stops all manufacturing and calls in every employee to see this wonderful new invention. The employees are ecstatic. This new news is so heart piercing that most sit down right where they are. This information has just lifted a burden so great that tears of joy stream down their faces. One of the employees has had the awareness to get on the phone and call a friend who runs Southtown Gizmos and Gadgets. The CEO there can hardly believe her ears and quick puts together a delegation from her business. They come to Nineveh’s to hear the seminar that the salesman is giving. They too are touched that such a product could actually be available for them. Both Nineveh’s and Southtown Gizmos and Gadgets changed the way they do business.

The salesman now comes to see you. You have anticipated this day for what seems to be forever but are unaware that today is the day. Then you get a call from the receptionist. “Sir, there’s a man here who claims to be from the computer industry to see you”. Thoughts rush through your head. A new car, a big house, that trip you have always wanted to take and your picture on the front of Forbes Magazine. “It’s here! He’s here!” you say to yourself. Your mind prepares you for the tall distinguished, slightly gray on the temple salesman with his 6’ 4” frame draped in a high fashion tailor made suite. His crisp white shirt milieus a fine Egyptian tie while the polish on his leather shoes glimmers as he strides across the floor.

“Come in” you say as you answer the knock on the door. In walks the computer salesman. His barely 5’ 8” frame struggles to open the door as his back pushes against it. His hands and arms are full yet all you notice is his hair, a shorter version of Albert Einstein’s but without the gray. He is but a youth, barely 20. A plaid shirt mostly tucked in hides behind a brown pull over sweater. A leather belt runs through the loops of a pair of wranglers. His high-top Converse squeak as he approaches your desk. “I bet he has a “hugs not drugs” or a “honk if you love Jesus” bumper sticker on his pinto and it better not be leaking oil” you think to yourself.

He begins, “Good after-noon sir, I’m with the computer industry. We are so excited to bring to you this revolutionary product and information. Your business has been our primary motive all these years. We are thrilled at this opportunity to finally meet you in person. This computer will change the way you do business forever. When used properly it can and will make your business the envy of the whole world. Let me explain how it works.” Your critical puzzled look of which has yet to quit staring at his hair is finally broken as you ask, “do you have a card or something?” “Yes sir!” He says as he hands you one from the pocket underneath his sweater. Noticing the name, you say in rather dumbfounded belief, “Oh, you’re the son?” “Yes sir”, comes the reply. Now let me show you how this all works.” For the next few hours, he opens up a whole new world of possibilities. The most amazing things he says. New ideas that have never even been thought of are introduced and explained. It truly is an awesome work. But you did not hear a word he said. So distracted are you by his attire and his inability to live up to what you had pictured in your mind that you hadn’t realized that he had asked you a question. “Do you understand?” he asks again. “Do you have identification?” “What?” “Identification, do you have any?” “Sir” he replies, “isn’t everything I am showing you proof enough of who I am? My father and I have been working on this project for years together. I told you who I was and even gave you a card what more could you want?” “Just some identification please” you say smugly. “I can’t believe this,” he says indignantly. “You sir are an evil and wicked man. I have shown this new product to a couple of your competitors earlier and they were humbled and thankful for such an opportunity to be presented to them. Their businesses will condemn yours for being so short sighted and arrogant. Yours’ could have been the greatest of them all.”

With that, he walks out of your office. “Stupid kid.” You say to yourself, “Who does he think he is coming in here with all this boloney about how great all this new fangled stuff is and why is it still all sitting on my desk?” And with one great heave, you shove the whole system off your desk and on to the floor. Amid the broken glass and tangled wires you notice the manual, “How to make your business the greatest, for dummies, Love, the computer man.” “Dummies, huh?” You say to yourself. “Well, he can take his computer and his book and his whole ridiculous industry and shove it as far as I’m concerned. It was a daft idea anyway. The competition will see. It’ll never work.”

Before the computer company showed up you were just ignorant. But when the salesman showed up, he cleaned out all of the old way of doing business and placed in your office a new way. But having rejected and discarding it your clean swept office is now not only back to the way it was but worse, for now not only are you still ignorant to this revolutionary idea but against it as well. Your energies from here on out will be resourced to prove your position. Hatred, abhorrence, animosity, hostility and bitterness will move in and be directed by their leader pride.

And the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation

CTT God the Holy Spirit, part 2

Paul the Apostle is one of our biggest examples of this. As a Pharisee, he was an extremely learned man of the Old Testament. He had his “facts”, like ducks, all in a row, but he understood nothing. It was not until his road to Damascus conversion that he began to understand the “Truth”. Jesus spoke to Paul there, whose name was Saul at the time, and then sent him, blind, to Damascus. While there, God talked to a man named Ananias and told him to go find Saul and pray for him.

Acts 9:17
And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, [even] Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

It was through the divine inspiration of the Holy Ghost that Paul began to understand all the facts about God and the history of the Israelite people in their relationship with God. One by one each fact became truth as the Holy Spirit began to give him insight.

These insights or gifts are not forced upon us insomuch that we are commanded to use them regardless but are more offered to us and highly marketed as “the way to go”. A person can receive from the Holy Spirit and choose not to use it again and even go as far as saying, that it was not actually real even after experiencing it, but that has its consequences.

Isaiah 63:10
But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, [and] he fought against them.

I have a story about a business owner who was approached by the son of the computer maker and experienced for himself the benefits of a new tool? Even after experiencing and receiving a hands-on understanding he chose not to accept it and told the son to go away. He not only denied its usefulness for himself but he also effectively built a wall that would discourage the possibility of that experience ever happening again. I will tell that sad story on the next blog.

When we disobey God in any area of our lives and have that feeling of guilt come on us, we should rejoice. That is the Holy Spirit working in us drawing us to repentance. We think of it more as our conscience but it is actually God’s everyday, over the counter, tool that he designed to allow the Holy Spirit to be able to work in our lives. As long as we feel any amount of guilt for active sin in our lives there is hope for repentance and overcoming power. The Holy Spirit quickens our spirit man within us to repentance and obedience before we sin, trying to stop, in advance, the Habakkuk effect. The Holy Spirit is at work in the worldly sinner and Christian sinner doing as much as he can or should I say, as much as He is allowed.

CTT: God the Holy Spirit

God the Holy Spirit (his job):

First, let us tackle the issue of the terminology of the Holy Spirit versus the Holy Ghost. They are the same, and sometimes used together in the same verse. That was easy.

Next, I have found it easier, when trying to discover the Holy Spirit, to find out what His job is. What does he do? One of his main jobs is the distribution of divine gifts.

1 Corinthians 12:4-11
4. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
6. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
7. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
8. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
9. To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
10. To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another [divers] kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
11. But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

Paul writes this list for the New Testament church in Corinth explaining to them what the promised Holy Spirit can do and will do for the members of the body of Christ. Jesus, who was full of the Spirit, promised that he would send the Holy Spirit to man after he leaves.

John 14:26
But the Comforter, [which is] the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you

John 15:26
But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, [even] the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

John 16:7
Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

In the Old Testament, we also have the Holy Spirit working through men.

About Joseph we read,

Genesis 41:38
And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find [such a one] as this [is], a man in whom the Spirit of God [is]?

In Exodus we have the recently freed Israelite slaves from Egypt.

Exodus 28:3
And thou shalt speak unto all [that are] wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office.

Exodus 31:3
And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,

In Numbers and Isaiah, we read about how Moses and his immediate helpers were recipients of the Holy Spirit of God.


Numbers 11:17
And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which [is] upon thee, and will put [it] upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear [it] not thyself alone.

Numbers 11:25
And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that [was] upon him, and gave [it] unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, [that], when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.

Isaiah 63:11
Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying: "Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of His flock? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit within them?

When we read about the judges in the book of Judges, we see time and again how the Spirit of the Lord came upon them. We also see it in the kings. God would send to the prophets, who were in most cases ordinary men, his Spirit, and call them to be extraordinary.

Elihu puts it all in a very bottom line sort of way.

Job 32:8
But [there is] a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

So we see that one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to give man divine understanding or insight into the ways of God. These insights or gifts are from God and are used for the edification of the church and ourselves. They empower us through knowledge and understanding and a lot of times in ways we do not have a clue, or at least I don't, we just know that they are there and they are working in us and in others.

CTT "God the Son"

Think of it this way. Who is your favorite author? And in that book or in those books who is your favorite character? For instances’ sake I am going to suggest, Puddleglum the Marshwiggle in the Narnia series, The SilverChair by C.S.Lewis. What if you could take that book, hold it by its front and back cover, pages down and shake it until all the words about Puddleglum fell off the pages and onto the floor in front of you? Then somehow take all those words and form them into Puddleglum himself and then top it all off by bringing him to life. This is basically what God did when he created Jesus. Jesus was, before he was born of the virgin Mary, the Word of God. He dwelt with God and was God. Then at a point in time, God gathered his Word and sent it to earth in the form of a baby whom Mary bore and Joseph named Jesus. Jesus fully understood this about himself and reaffirmed this all throughout his ministry.

John 7:23
But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me.

John 8:58
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

This got him in trouble all the time with the rulers of that time. Heated debates and physical abuse was always at the doorstep for Jesus when he mentioned these things. Read the Gospel of John and note all the times Jesus speaks, knowing full well, who He was, the Word of God. He often said that he did not say anything that His heavenly Father did not tell him to speak.

He was God the “Son” because he came as a “man”, not God the Daughter.

He was God the Son because his origins were from God.

He was God the Son because he obeyed everything that God asked him to do, even the cross.

He was God the son because it is a term that we can relate to in that we understand that kind of a relationship: the procreative bond between a maker and his creation, a father and his son. Our procreation is of a physical nature, God’s procreation is of a spoken word nature. Is this something foreign to us, so much that we cannot understand it or relate to it? Not at all, but lets talk about that after we look at God the Holy Spirit.

Communicating the Trinity, God the Son

Remember, if God is in the business of building a relationship with us then His claim of being God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, and they being all one should be something that we can relate to.

But before we find out what that is, let us look at God the Son and then God the Holy Spirit.

God the Son:

Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel."

This is the first reference in the Bible that gives us the idea of the “Son”. Actually, in the Old Testament the idea of God sending His Son to deliver His people was not really a consideration. The Israelite people were looking for a Messiah who would be sent from God to deliver them and to set up a kingdom with no end but they were not considering the Messiah to be “God the Son”.

They thought of Adam, the first man, to be the son of God, only because God made him and was in fact the “Father” or creator of Adam, but they did not consider him God the Son.

Luke 3:38
The son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

The funny thing about all this is that there is one instance in the Old Testament where one unlikely man gets it right. Tucked away in time and located in the cradle of civilization we find a man, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the epitome of sin and its origin. He looks in and sees a fourth image walking around with the three people whom he has just had thrown into a fiery furnace. He recognizes the fourth man to be the Son of God, not just another man or a god, but the Son of God.

Daniel 3:22-25
22. Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
23. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
24. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, [and] spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.
25. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

Kind of like when Jesus was doing his teaching and miracle working and proclaiming who he was. No one was getting it. Only demons and evil spirits would testify openly like Nebuchadnezzar, that Jesus was the Son of God.

John gives us, in his Gospel, the key to this whole conundrum.

John 1:1-3
1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2. The same was in the beginning with God.
3. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

I do not know if this was a new perception or if this was a generally held belief about God, but what we see in these verses shows us another way to view “God the Son”: “God the Word”. Before there was the concept of God the Son there was God the Word.

John says “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” We see this in Genesis 1:3

Genesis 1:3
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

God said. God said what? Words. From the very beginning everything that was made was created out of spoken words. God "said" let there be light and there was light. God "said" let the ground produce, and it produced. Nothing happened until and unless it was spoken, until it was said.

Jesus was the “Word” made flesh.

John 1:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

1John 5:7
For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

Communicating the Trinity

I think everyone has their ideas on the Trinity and how it works, so here's mine. I hope you enjoy it.

Matthew 28:19
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

There are many verses in the Bible that show this concept of the Trinity. This particular verse in Matthew is a direct quote from Jesus himself. The word Trinity itself, does not appear in the Bible. It is a word that man came up with to describe the idea of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, although being three separate “beings” are yet still one in the same; three in one.

So how can God be three totally separate things and yet claim that he is one God? How can Jesus, the Son, claim to be God the Father? How can all three claim individually to have raised Jesus from the grave?

John 10:38
But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father [is] in me, and I in him.

Jesus makes this claim to be God numerous times and makes the claim to be God’s son numerous times, even under oath to the high priest.

Luke 22: 70-71
70. They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?” He replied, “You are right in saying I am.”
71. Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips.”

Ok, this is really getting confusing. Jesus himself claims to be God and also claims to be His Son. What about the Holy Spirit, will any verses help straighten out this conundrum?

John 14:26
But the Comforter, [which is] the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you

John 15:26
But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, [even] the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

Wow, this really makes it clear. Clear as mud. If the Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity, being God, then why does the Father send Him in Jesus name? Or is it like in the second verse: Jesus sends Him from the Father? How about these verses?

John1:33
John says, And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.

Luke 4:1
And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

Now we have Jesus full of the Holy Spirit because He descended on him and remained on him. It is still confusing, isn’t it?

Remember, if God is in the business of building a relationship with us then His claim of being God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, and they being all one should be something that we can relate to.

God is a relational God. I'll pick up on the next blog with this last paragraph.

Keep Your Word, Honor Your Promise

Going back to the rainbow promise in Genesis with Noah, was it not interesting to read to whom or what God made these promises? I think it was. Let me show you what I saw.

His first covenant was to mankind.

His second was to every living creature other than man.

Third, His covenant is between Him and the earth

And fourth, He made a covenant with Himself.

Why does God need to make all these covenants? I think it is because he wants to show us that he is a relational kind of God. He wants to relate to his creation, all of it, be it the land, animals or mankind. So why does he then also make a covenant with himself?

This is a very telling attribute of God to us. It shows us that he to is tempted and that he creates things to help him remember to keep his word. Like the beasts around the throne in the book of Revelations that cry out continuously, Holy, Holy, Holy and his friend Moses, who in the wilderness reminded him of his covenant with Abraham. This rainbow is also a reminder for him to keep his word, to honor his promise.

These three created reminders touch each of the God heads of God.

The rainbow is a reminder to God the Father, Elohim, the creator of the heavens and the earth.

Moses was his reminder to God the Son, Jehovah, our provider, the personal and relational side of God whom later came to earth as the Son of God, Jesus.

The four beasts and the four and twenty elders around the throne were his reminder toward God the Holy Spirit, the power of God, the Lord God Almighty.

God chose wonderful things to help him remember his promises: Nature, Gods’ gift to man and Man, Gods’ most treasured creation.

The spoken word, Gods’ most powerful weapon, used to create both nature and man and yet given freely to us so that we too can become, covenant keepers.

These are all reminders showing that we need to bring around ourselves people who can help us to be accountable for our actions and our words. They also remind us to live each day unto the Lord, forsaking our sins and judge ourselves being obedient to our faith, in doing so we choose the mightiest of our weapons, Gods’ saving Grace.

Glory is What Holy Looks Like

In upcomming blogs I want to show things of this world that help us to relate to the relational aspects of God, but in this instance we have a thing of this world that not only gives us an aspect of God, but also helps us to relate to each other. The rainbow. God uses the rainbow to express his glory, his radiance, the brightness that surrounds him. His glory is the expression of his ability to keep his word, a promise kept, it is this that shines so brilliantly about him. Often times his glory is manifest as a bright light that drives men to their knees but here we have a few instances where we see it as a beautiful rainbow.

Ezekiel 1:25-28
25. Then there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads as they stood with lowered wings.
26. Above the expanse over their heads was what looked like a throne of sapphire, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man.
27. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him.
28. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

Revelation 4:2-3
2. At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.
3. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne.

Revelation 10:1
Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars.

The rainbow is often times seen directly after a storm. It reassures us that Gods’ promise is true, that even though the storm may have been bad it cannot and will not destroy the whole earth. We are also comforted in knowing people who through difficult situations remain true to their word. Their actions are a rainbow in a stormy world. Do others see that in you?

A Covenant for Four

Did you notice to whom the covenant was with? Four different things. The number four in the Bible is an all encompassing number, like North, South, East and West, the four corners of the earth. God’s covenant was

First, to mankind.

8. And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
9. And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

Secondly it was to every living creature other than man.

10. And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
11. And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
12. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:

Third, His covenant is between Him and the earth

13. I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:

Fourth, He made a covenant with Himself.

15. And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
17. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

The rainbow is the first sign that we have from God that proves his ability to keep his word and being true to his word, God has never destroyed the earth again by a flood. This ability of his to keep his word is what makes God, God. He chooses to create a covenant with us and he chooses to keep it no matter what. This ability to keep his word is what makes him Holy and as we are about to see, glory is what Holy looks like.

The Glory of a Rainbow

The Glory of a Rainbow

I think this one is really neat. I am so impressed by God and the expressions he uses to relate himself to us. This one, to me, is like when you see someone and the smile on their face and in their eyes tells you at once that they are a genuine person, warm and kind.

God’s glory is like that. It speaks volumes of who he is at a single glance. It is the unmistakable reassurance that we can trust Him. To see his Glory unfold we get to start back in the book of Genesis.

Geneses 8:18-22
18. And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:
19. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.
20. And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
21. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
22. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Geneses 9:8-17
8. And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
9. And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
10. And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
11. And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
12. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13. I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15. And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
17. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

Here we have the end of the story about the flood. Noah and his family have just taken their first and last cruise and God is speaking to them about the experience. Paraphrasing, “Never again”, God says, “will I bring this kind of destruction to the earth and to prove that my promise is true I will put up and shut up. With this symbolic voucher, the rainbow, I do declare that my word is my bond.”

Faith and Blood 101:5

5: Blood self-repairs the body using coagulation.

Blood comes from the marrow of your bones, where it is produced. It has in it the ability to heal wounds through a process called coagulation using platelets in the blood to begin the process. They in turn become fibrin stands that help to dam up the wound. Collagen helps the fibrin strand stick together to form a tissue that stops the bleeding and begins the healing.

Your faith has the ability to heal. Its power does not come from an external source, it comes from deep within you. Deep down in the inner most part of the man, in the marrow of the spirit. Down in that hollow spot that longs to be filled, filled with the presence of God. This unfilled area is designed by God but it is not altogether empty, actually not empty at all. It is filled with His voice, the voice of truth, calling out to your soul to seek its maker. It is this voice of truth that produces faith. I thought you said faith comes by hearing God’s word. I did. God’s word is truth and it abides in the marrow of the spirit, put there by God when you were created, but because of sin, you are born dead to this fact. Until you tell your “self” that it is no longer in control of you and give your life to Christ, you are living only with the measure of faith that was given to you at birth.

We often try to fill this hollow spot with the things of this world and find they are powerless to heal our broken heart. They are merely a band-aid to cover a wound that never heals. Thank God for that, for it is this continuous pain that keeps us looking for a healer, probing for an answer, searching for the truth.

Only Gods truth has the power to heal, it is the very essence of our faith, which was given to us by God. God’s word is the truth, it alone has the power to heal our spirit and save our soul. Our spiritual wounds are caused by disobedience and when we ask God to forgive us, we are using our faith in his word that he will thereby release the truth of his word, to work a miracle of healing.

John 8:31-36
31. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
32. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
33. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
34. Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
35. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
36. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

This is a big statement, one that really opened my eyes. I was like the guys in verse 33. I knew the facts and was servant to the facts but guess what? The facts do not set you free. The truth sets you free, free indeed.

We can know all about God and his word. We can be a scholar of Biblical history and understand doctrines and eschatology. We can try to shove all this down into that hollow spot within us, even these blogs with all of its explanations and yet find we are powerless to stop the bleeding. Only the truth will set us free, free from our wounds. Only the Spirit of God can reveal Gods truth that is in us, to us. The Spirit of God is brought to us through God’s word, which enters by hearing and is grasped by our faith.

Faith and Blood 101:4

4: Blood has immunological functions, including the circulation of white blood cells and the detection of foreign materials created by antibodies.

Faith, through obedience, puts in a man the Spirit of God. The power in this Spirit delivers gifts that begin to immunize a man against the sicknesses of the world.

1 Corinthians 12:1-13
1. Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.
2. You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.
3. Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.
4. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.
6. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
7. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
8. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,
9. to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit,
10. to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
11. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
12. The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
13. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free-and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

Paul gives us a list, in the book of Philippians, that encourages us to apply our faith, through obedience. It is a terrific example of our first four lists combined. It breathes into our spirit, it feeds our spirit, it removes the toxic things in our life simply by replacing them with life and it begins to build up your spirit man immunizing him against the ways of the world.

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Faith and Blood 101:3

3: Blood removes waste such as carbon dioxide, urea and lactic acid.

This one is very fun to understand. Its meaning is very powerful and extremely satisfying. We all concentrate so much on working out our faith and fighting the good fight that we forget to stand on the scales to see what we have lost. We do not look at the scales to bemoan our loss of weight but to rejoice. Obedience to Gods word weeds out disobedience in our lives. Sometimes it takes just as much faith to unbelieve something as it does to believe something new. Our faith not only builds up our new man but at the same time carries away the old man leaving it for the Langolears.

Faith and Blood 101:2

2: Blood supplies nutrients such as amino acids, glucose and fatty acid to all the organs and tissues throughout the body.

When your obedience is functioning properly then the word of God is being transferred to all the parts of the body. The word of God is learned in small bits and pieces, line upon line, precept upon precept, it is then absorbed into your spirit, strengthening your whole man both physically and spiritually.

Romans 10:18
But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound (the preaching of the word) went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.

Remember, in this case, you are the world.

Acts 18:8
And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.

The whole book of Acts is about how God supplies life through the obedient apostles to the rest of the world.

Faith and Blood 101:1

Faith is the evidence of things not seen. When we act on our faith through obedience we are showing God, man, and ourselves that we have hope, and our hope comes from the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus was obedient to his faith. His faith was the substance of things hoped for which was the joy set before him. His faith was the evidence of things not seen, salvation for the world, death, to life.

Now let us look at these nine basic functions of blood and see if they relate to faith in any way. Actually, we are just going to examine the first five. I could try to come up with some Bible verses to make the last four fit in some sort of fashion but it would just be me trying to come up with some Bible verses to make things fit in some sort of fashion. God has not shown me anything for those so I am not going to make something up. Maybe God will show you.

1: Blood supplies oxygen to the organs and tissues throughout the body via the red blood cells. These blood cells known as, hemoglobin, transport the oxygen, kind of like a piggyback ride. As the blood passes through the lungs it picks up the oxygen that the body needs, binds it to the hemoglobin then carries it to all the parts of the body.

Faith has its catalyst or ”hemoglobin” at work in your spirit man. It is called, obedience. The body gets its oxygen by breathing it in. Faith gets its “oxygen” by hearing it in.

Romans 10:17
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Oxygen is attached to the hemoglobin. The word of God is attached to your obedience. From this act of obedience God’s word spreads throughout your spirit, giving it life. If there is no obedience to God’s word, then the word of God falls on the hard path and the birds eat it up. Matthew 13:19. If there is no obedience then there is no life giving power in your spirit and your faith is basically dead. Worse than that, you, your spirit man, are basically dead.

Let me give you an example. When a person dies, do to suffocation, it is because there is no oxygen being supplied by the lungs to the blood. Most people who die in a fire, die because of a lack of oxygen, not by the fire itself. Substances other then oxygen can bind themselves to the hemoglobin; in some cases this can cause irreversible damage to the body. Carbon monoxide is extremely dangerous when absorbed into the blood. When combined with the hemoglobin, it irreversibly makes carboxyhemoglobin which reduces the amount of oxygen that can be carried in the blood and can very quickly cause suffocation.

Your spirit man operates in the same way. When it is deprived of the “oxygen” of God’s word it takes on the “Carbon monoxide” of the world and it dies.

When you allow the world’s views and words to attach themselves to your obedience it becomes disobedience. Disobedience then travels throughout your spirit bringing death.

James 2:20
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Here we see that your spirit man is much like your physical man when it is in a coma. It is not dead but there is no power, no activating functions. But God is a miracle working God and he has the power to resurrect the dead.

Hebrews 11:1

In our quick study of blood we did not touch on one aspect of this substance. It is a feature that cannot be seen, hidden in plain sight by God. We all know it but cannot see it or touch it. We can completely dissect blood into its parts even the elusive enzyme and can recreate in our laboratories every aspect except one, the one we cannot see, the one that separates us from being Gods. It is life. All the blood in the world will do no man any good unless there is life in it and only God has the power to place it. This simple truth, which should be so obvious to all, speaks loudly of the measure of faith that is in every man.
God wants us to have a relationship with him and this one concept, “faith”, is the beginning and the end of that relationship. It is so crucial to him that we have faith in who he is that he placed in each one of us our own personal ability to relate to him.

The unknown author of Hebrews gives us our very best description of faith and how we can personally understand it.

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Blood is the substance of life. Without life, there is no hope. You can only have hope as long as you are living. When you are alive you have the ability to hope for a good job, a nicer car, a bigger house a closer walk with God and the list is endless but these kind of things can only be hoped for as long as you are living. When you are dead, you no longer have the ability to hope.

In the spiritual world, faith is our "substance of life", "our blood". Without faith, there would be no life and without life, there would be no hope. We have hope in God because he gave us the substance in which to hold it in, faith. God gives to every man a measure of faith so that he may have in him, hope. Without faith, all hope is lost. Without blood, all life is lost, so God gives to every man a measure of blood.

Blood is the evidence of things not seen. When we see blood, we know that something has life in it. We do not necessarily look at it that way because it is so much a given that it is second nature to us. For me, the only time I am ever brought to this point and have to consider it, is in the movies. Monster movies. Every time there is a new monster on the big screen, I am having to decide along with the actors how are we going to kill it? Where does its life come from? If it does not have blood than its life source is completely foreign to us. Other than the monster being a machine we have nothing in which we can relate to, just finding out that a monster bleeds puts hope in the script. In the movie, Predator, men are fighting a monster that they cannot see and in a blind fury of blazing guns, they are able to wound the predator. His blood is found on some of the jungle foliage and in this evidence, they gain hope. The main actor, Arnold Swartzanegger says something to the effect, “if it bleeds, we can kill it”. It was the blood, that gave them the evidence that there was life.

So we see that Hope is the thing not seen. The fact that we have hope for something is the evidence that we have faith to believe that it can come true and it is this faith, this substance, that hope dwells.

Welcome to the Studyof Blood 101

So, what about Faith? What is this evasive, hard to grasp substance that is in us all? What does it look like? Well in order to understand it we are going to have to take a basic course in Biology.

Welcome to the study of Blood 101.

Blood is a highly specialized circulating tissue consisting of several types of cells suspended in a fluid medium known as plasma. The cells that make up blood are: red blood cells, which carry respiratory gases and give it its red color, white blood cells, which fight disease, and platelets, cell fragments which play an important part in the clotting of blood.

There are nine basic functions of blood.

First, it supplies oxygen to the organs and tissues throughout the body via the red blood cells.

Second, it supplies nutrients such as amino acids, glucose and fatty acid to all the organs and tissues throughout the body.

Third, it removes waste such as carbon dioxide, urea and lactic acid.

Fourth, it has immunological functions, including the circulation of white blood cells and the detection of foreign materials created by antibodies.

Fifth, it self-repairs the body using coagulation.

Sixth, it has messenger functions, including the transportation of hormones and the signaling of tissue damage.

Seventh, it regulates the body pH.

Eighth, it regulates the temperature of the body.

Ninth, it has hydraulic functions.

The main components of the circulatory system are the heart, the blood, and the blood vessels.
Arteries bring oxygenated blood to the tissues (except pulmonary arteries), and veins bring deoxygenated blood back to the heart (except pulmonary veins). Blood passes from arteries to veins through capillaries, which are the thinnest and most numerous of the blood vessels and these capillaries help to join tissue with arterioles for transportation of nutrition to the cells.
There you have it, in a nutshell, one of the most common attributes related to every human being that has ever walked the earth. Hidden, just beneath the skin, is this mystery understood by all to be the reason we are “alive”. Its importance to everyday life is paramount yet unless we are studying it or have our awareness of it heightened do to illness we probably rarely think about it yet even the most non-understanding of us realizes that the lack of blood in the body results in death.

The Seed of Mustard is Life

Sorry I missed a few days, I was moving.


I love to watch TV evangelist Joyce Meyer. Her testimony about quitting cigarettes shows the progression of obedience in her life and how she had to work it out on a daily basis to reach the goal of her faith. She believed she needed to quit smoking and had faith she could do it with God’s help but from that point on she had to obey. No matter how hard it was to quit it did not require more faith, it required more obedience.

In our lives, as we learn to obey, our faith, which is in God who is the “author and finisher of our faith” Hebrews 12:2, becomes easier to listen to. Doubt, faith’s opponent, begins to wane thereby allowing our faith to wax full. Is this our faith growing? Are we acquiring more faith? Is it like the mustard seed, which grows into the largest of garden plants and the birds of the field rest in its branches? It does seem that our faith grows but are we really growing more faith?

What I see is this. Life. The seed of mustard is life. This particular life, we call a mustard seed. No matter how this seed changes in form, size, color and shape it is still life. God says that he knows us before we are even born. It is this knowing of who we are, the real us, that he sets out to reach on the cliff to save. It does not matter how we change once we are born, how we feel or smell or look, God still sees us as who we are. Who we are did not change, did not grow.

Our faith is like life. As we obey our faith, it manifests itself for us to see and for others to draw near to, but it is still that measure of faith.

There is though, an opportunity to gain extra faith. The Holy Spirit gives gifts and one of the gifts of the Spirit is Faith. It is given to someone to whom God knows who will be meeting a challenge and will need supernatural faith to activate supernatural obedience in order to accomplish His will in some area. Who gets this booster shot? My guess is its people who already are obedient to the faith they have. Who received the extra talents?

I believe David in the Old Testament was given this gift when he saw the situation between the Philistine Goliath and the children of Israel. He had been obedient to God in other areas of life so God thought he could count on David to obey a greater measure of faith, which positioned him against someone practically twice his size. David did not have to go through baby steps 1,2,3 of obedience, no he rather charged straight to 10. Just as his faith caused him to obey, his obedience caused his faith to succeed. Both God and David won that day.

An obedient heart

Together, faith and obedience, give us the formula for dunamis power, “dynamite”, the power to change death into life. God is full of faith and he acts upon it. This is how the whole creation story takes place. It is a word being obedient to faith and faith speaking that word knowing it would be obedient. It is this faith that is in you and me, a measure given to all men and it waits for an obedient heart to work out its’ salvation.

This is a “wave your hands in the air and yell at the top of your lungs” exciting kind of concept. It will carry you into battle by raising your adrenaline, but it will not sustain you nor will it give you victory, so do not go charging off just quite yet. First comes practice, starting with the everyday things that God has called us to be obedient to, such as your parents, your teachers, and your boss. This everyday obedience is your walk with God. The parable of the talents comes to mind here.

Matthew 25:14-29
14. For the kingdom of heaven is…

I have to stop right here for just a second and clarify something. The Kingdom of Heaven is not where you go when you get old and die. When death happens, you go to heaven. No, here we are talking about the Kingdom of Heaven. This is a government or a governing mindset. It is the way you govern your “self”. It is not a place or something you can hold or touch.

Romans 14:17
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

It is in the “Holy Ghost” because you cannot on your own, have righteousness. You also will not have peace and even though you may be happy, there is no joy outside of a relationship with Jesus Christ.

14. For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
15. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
16. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.
17. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.
18. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.
19. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
20. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
21. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
22. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
23. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
24. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
25. And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
26. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
27. Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
28. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
29. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

If you are obedient to what God has given you, then you will begin to realize even more, what God has given you. If you are not obedient to what God has given you, then that which you have, will be lost. You see, it is your obedience that you should be asking God to help you with not that you can have more faith. Believe it or not, you do not need more faith, you have plenty. We see this “measure of faith” as being like the grain of a mustard seed, actually less because we are seemingly powerless to overcome or to be over comers.

Matthew 17:14-21
14. And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,
15. Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
16. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
17. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
18. And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
19. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
20. And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
21. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

Did you see in verse 17 how Jesus described the people? They were faithless and perverse. What does that mean, perverse? The Strong’s Concordance says it means to turn away. I think that means to be disobedient, don’t you? Then to the disciples, Jesus says, if you want to have this kind of faith you have to be obedient to prayer and fasting.

OK, I am sure you have the picture, no need to beat a dead horse. We all need to work on our obedience to God. It is diabolically against our sin nature but at least at this point we know that at every place where we are tempted to disobey we can choose grace to overcome our “self” and become more than conquerors.

Faith, a Blood Brother

I ended a blog a few times back with "Faith, I wonder what that looks like?" Since the world and everything in it is patterned it only makes sense to me that it speaks of the things of God and his "mysterious" wisdom. So I look for things in the obvious that can help explain the mysterious. I ask "What does that look like" because there are most likely several things patterned the same way.

I look for the things of God in everyday life because that is where he has hidden them, out in the open. We cannot see the forest because of all the trees. God wants to have a relationship with us so he does just that, he meets us wherever we are with all his boldness and subtleties. The whole world speaks of his majesty. The things of this earth help describe the attributes of God. The Parables of Jesus were earthly stories that we can all relate to, that give us insight into the heart and mind of God.

Faith is no different and yet we put it on a high pedestal then scratch and claw at it crying our eyes out to God so that maybe, in just some way, he might pour out on us some little drop that will cause us to become “super someone”. We do not need more faith in order to act out what God has called us to, what we need is, to obey what we already know to do, to put our “self” to death and tell pride to take a hike.

I am not just preaching to the audience and choir here so do not think that I am wagging my finger everyone else. I have three fingers pointed back at me also.

Referring to the scenario when you were standing on the cliff about to go over and God is reaching out his hand to save you. In that moment when you realized that you were a sinner and that there was no hope and you saw God’s hand of mercy and his gift of grace, did you cry out to God to give you more faith? No, you cried out to God to save you and he did. This life changing and powerful event in your life did not require of you any more faith than what you already had.

It is the man, who is full of pride and unbelief that requires God to give him faith. This man is poised to fall and through circumstances, maybe because of a friend or family member, he has been brought to the realization that there is a God whose outstretched hand is reaching for him. He sees the truth and states, in no certain terms, that what he sees he does not believe and that he will not apply “his” faith to this answer. Is it a lack of faith, or is it an overabundance of pride and unwillingness to obey the calling that keeps him from releasing his grip on himself, that keeps him from being saved?

God said that he gives to every man a measure of faith. Did God slight this man? No, the devil and the things of this world have slighted this man.

The difference between you and this man was obedience. You acted on your faith and he refused. Obedience and faith are blood brothers. Faith is a gift from God to you and obedience is a gift from you to God. Everything about God, from his unfathomable aspects to his relational characteristics, is there because of his obedience. It is obedience that we need, not more faith.

It is this misunderstanding of faith that causes us not to be able to see our neglect toward obedience. When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane crying out to God for another way to accomplish His will, he did not ask for more faith to accomplish what God had asked him to do, no he simply resigned himself to the task by obeying.

Luke 22:42
Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

So it is in these words by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “How can we have faith if we do not obey and how can we obey if we do not have faith?”, that we see that these two blood brothers are inseparable.

I hope you enjoy these next few weeks on the subject of Faith. I know it was very interesting for me to discover and so I hope it is for you also.

A sure conclusion, death. But wait, there's more!

I have this one more idea to present before I an get into Faith.

Imagine yourself standing on the edge of a cliff with your back to the crevice. Now lean back just enough to where one of your feet comes off the ground and gravity and the laws of physics begin to take over and you are hopelessly going over. Now stop right where you are. This is life. This is where you live. It is where we all have lived. Because sin entered into the world and the wages of sin being death, life is merely a footing lost with a sure conclusion, death.

But this is not where God wants you to live. He wants to set you on a sure foundation, a tried stone.

Isa 28:16
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

Zion is the capital of The Kingdom of God. So what is this foundation stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation that he has laid? The question should not be what is this but who is this? It is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only tried stone on which we can stand. He is the foundation and only footing that is secure. His foundation is precious because it was bought with a price that no one could ever pay.

1 Peter 1:18-20
18. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
19. But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
20. Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

The person that believes in Jesus shall “not make haste”. I like the NIV version on this. It says
Isa 28:16
“the one who trusts will never be dismayed.”

Living a life with one foot on the ground and the other on its way over the edge is definitely a life of dismay. God knows this. That is why he sent his son Jesus Christ to die for our sins so that we could be saved. And what is it that we are being saved from? Certain death. And what is it that we are being saved to? Absolute life.

Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Here we see again God’s love toward us. He chose to rescue us before we ever knew that we needed rescuing. When did he decide to do this? Let us look in Ephesians.

Ephesians 1:4-5
4. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

Wow! Here again we see that we were in God’s plan way back when. He wants to have a relationship with us. One that is holy and blameless. And according to verse 5, we have been predestined. But who is it that is being predestined? Is it just a few or some certain select group that God is adopting to himself? Whom did he have in mind?

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Looks like everyone is predestined. So then why is it that some will die in their sins while others will receive everlasting life? Well let us take another look at what it is that God is offering us.

Ephesians 2:8-9
8. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9. Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Looks like God is offering us grace and it is a gift. Not a gift “from” God but the gift “of” God. So what does that mean? It is the gift that makes God, God. It is the attribute that sets him apart from all other gods.

Choice.

Let us go back to the cliff to where we are dangling. Here we are hanging between life and death. We look up to see God extending his hand toward us so that we can grab hold of it and be saved. But what is it really that God is extending to us? He is offering to us the most powerful gift that he has to give. A gift that if taken, can bring life into anything that is dead, dying or cursed. It is the gift of choice, God’s grace.

The Pattern

I want to talk about faith but I need first to throw in this idea to help lay a foundation.

The Pattern

Have you ever noticed how so many things in life that are completely unrelated are so strikingly the same? Take for instance, water. Water starts out as trillions of tiny raindrops that fall all over the globe. After they hit the ground, the water finds its way to the nearest creek then flows into a river and eventually winds up in the ocean. This, I am sure, is not news to you. But it’s the same thing with our roads. They start out as driveways, which connect to streets that turn on to highways, then merge into interstates. The circulatory system in our bodies works the same way. For the blood to return to the heart it begins in the microscopic capillaries that feed into larger and then large veins until they reach the pulmonary artery which connects to the heart.

So what is the big deal? What does that have to do with anything? Well I just find it interesting that the way so many things work in this world seem to come from the same idea, like a pattern. They relate to each other.

It is rather easy to come up with analogies to help describe something we are trying to get across because there are so many things that are similar in nature. This does not apply just to the physical world either. Every aspect of life be it governments, music, sports, business, religion, history even the family they are all basically the same in the way they are set up and how they run. Even spiritual knowledge is “line upon line, precept upon precept”. You have to start out with what you have or know and from there gather bits of information along the way building a river of knowledge and wisdom that flows through your life.

So the question that crosses my mind is this. Is the God of this universe who created everything and set it into motion, then created man, that being Adam, for the purpose of having a relationship with him, any different? Are the things that we relate to in our daily lives the same things that God relates to? If it is as it says in Acts 17:28a “For in him we live, and move, and have our being;” are we then not like God in the way we move and live and have our being? Now I do understand that “He is God and I am not.” as Steven Curtis Chapman sings so well in his song. I am not trying to build a case here to show that in some way or fashion we as humans, the creation, are equal to the creator. However I am trying to show the similarities of our relationships with others are not unlike what we should have with God and because of God and also show how his actions if manifested in our actions can give us the power to defeat Satan as he did through his son Jesus Christ who is our pattern.

Matthew 7:24-27

Matthew 7:24-27

24. "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
25. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
26. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
27. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

These last four verses are a summary of this chapter and the whole Mount Olive discourse itself. Time will tell the truths of the Kingdom of God. Those who believe and take action will find themselves standing firm on the solid rock principles of Gods word. Those who reject truth or fake a lifestyle of piety will in no way find ground on which to stand and all their accomplishments will come crashing down around them.

Time is the great equalizer and proves truths to be true and lies to be false. No one understood this more than Abraham himself. God said that he would create out of him a great nation and even in his old age when absolutely nothing could be seen that would confirm that this would happen, he still believed. For him the rains came down and the streams rose. The winds blew and beat against his conviction and no physical evidence was visible to the naked eye but God saw his belief and counted it unto him as righteousness. Abraham’s faith in God proved to be true.

Faith, I wonder what “that” looks like?

Matthew 7:21-23

Matthew 7:21-23

21. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'
23. Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Jesus often spoke parables that were a slap in the face to the Priests and ruling parties of the day. This is such a case, as is much of his Mount Olive discourse when he sets the record straight with no ifs, ands or buts.

Just being a priest in the long line of Aaron or a teacher of the law does not give you right of passage into the kingdom of heaven. Only he who does the will of the Father who is in heaven be it priest, teacher or commoner. And who is it that will be doing the will of the Father? Those who, like Habakkuk, see the iniquity of sin and judge themselves. I'll show you what I see in Habakkuk later.

God had given the priest spiritual authority over his people in order to teach them the law. Other authorities were given them also such as the ability to drive out demons, perform miracles and to prophecy, but these gifts were no substitute for self-judging and repentance.

Pine Bluff

I would like to thank everyone who is taking time to read these blogs. I have to go to Pine Bluff to work this week so I won't be blogging during the week. I did though want to post a letter I wrote to the newspaper after being down there a few days the first time I went a few months back to work. It really shows how judging incorectly or pre judging can set you up for a missed out blessing. I titled the piece "Welcome to Pine Bluff".

Welcome to Pine Bluff. By Simon Sade

When I found out that I would be coming to Pine Bluff and told my friends all I heard was, “You better get a gun”, “Don’t stay out late” and “Did you know that Pine Bluff is the only city in Arkansas that is losing population” meaning that this city is so bad that people are leaving in droves. And then when I mentioned that my partner and I in business would be working in the Cottonwood HUD housing area, remodeling bathrooms for several weeks, well you can imagine the hear say. But now that I have been here, I’d like to say:

I have shopped at a lot of Lowes and haven’t met friendlier people; Wal-Mart, the same way. “Well, that’s the south end of town. What do you expect?” Okay. We went to several of the fast food restaurants on Dollarway, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and have yet to have a bad experience. Everyone to the T has been friendly and hospitable. We’re staying at the Ramada downtown. The lady behind the desk stated that they were happy to have us and enjoyed our staying there.

How about Cottonwood, the “projects” as some have called it. This is our fourth week. We have met at least 50 people, personally disrupting their lives by moving in, tearing out their bathrooms, leaving them without any facilities for almost two days and have yet to meet one person who has not been friendly if not overly friendly. Let’s see, one invited me to her church, several have gone on and on about their kids and grand kids, one told us the best fishing spots, and Miss Betty fixed us some pan fried corn bread and apologized for not having enough greens to share with us also.

After the first week down here we had a third member join us in our endeavor. I’m not the going out type after work but they are. They stay up long after I have turned in, taking in bars, meeting new folks and in general just hanging out. When talking with those to whom they met during the day and looking for another place to go to that night, many of the locals would offer up names about town that my buddies had already frequented and everyone also offered up this advice, “Don’t go to the bars on University.” Did I mention that we are white?

When Thursday night rolled around we began asking where we might go to watch the UAPB / Duke game. We specifically asked for someplace that had a TV and a bar where there would be folks to hang out with and enjoy the game. PJ’s on University was a favorite response.

So off we went after a hard days work to PJ’s. Now I must say that I personally have never been to a bar. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, and I think the worst word in my vocabulary is “crap!” and I try not to use it. But people are people and what is really bad for some is common place, second nature to others. We pulled up to PJ’s about twenty minutes into the game. Expecting a packed parking lot we almost left. I think there were five cars randomly placed in the non painted parking lot. My two co-workers were starving, having missed breakfast and our often skipped lunch. The restaurant around back was closed but as we were leaving a man came out from the bar with a delicious looking BBQ sandwich. He was getting into his car to leave so we pulled up along side, rolled down the window and asked if the bar served food. “Joyce cooked up some good brusquest” he replied. Sounded good to us, so we pulled in and went inside. My two friends walked in, a little apprehensive but still feeling rather quite at home with the surroundings. I, on the other hand, had to keep from looking like a tourist.

The music was loud, not concert loud but louder then what I was used to and every body was talking louder than the music. You had to. I thought, “Why not just turn the music down so you don’t have to yell at every body”? But everyone seemed very comfortable with it and it was good music, music that made you want to take your sweetheart in your arms and dance. The regulars or so I gathered, having watched “Cheers” on TV were sitting at the bar, sipping drinks and smoking. Barbara Ann was tending the drinks. My business partner, rather matter-of-factly, went up to the bar, introduced himself then turned and introduced us also. Warm, honest welcomes were delivered along with a couple of beers. “And a Coke for my buddy” I heard my partner tell Barbara Ann. The next thing I know we’re sitting watching the game with several ladies who are treating us like family. Jennifer and Joyce sat next to each other. Their conversation was full of laughter and cutting up. Anita sat a couple of chairs over. “It’s very nice to meet you” she replied to me as I introduced myself. Around the corner of the bar another lady sat. She was on her cell, so I didn’t catch her name. I sat down next to her, turned my chair to watch the game and started sipping on my Coke. My buddy, who is a professional at mingling, was doing just that. The other third of us nested down into a soft, buckskin brown, vinyl couch watching the game.

A couple of other ladies came in and came around to the side of the bar where I was sitting so I got up to let them have my seat and moved over to the other side of Anita between her and Joyce. It wasn’t moments later that Joyce asked us if we would like to have some homemade brusquest on some buns. We gladly accepted and off she went, disappearing for a short while but returning soon with a plate full of mouth watering BBQ Brusquest. Everybody bragged about her brusquest and rightly so. It was the best that we had ever eaten, literally melted in your mouth.

While we were eating, an older gentleman came in and soon to follow him were two others along with another lady. They crowded in along the front of the bar with everyone else. This was obviously their home too. Bragging rights for Pine Bluff were in full swing and rightly so they were, after all, playing in the NCAA tournament for the first time in their history. Low, who went to college at UAPB when he was younger touted their greatness and defied the mighty Duke. Carla, whose name I am guessing starts with a C and had just previously come in with the others, filled me in on many of the other greats of Pine Bluff, her French manicured fingernails flashing with each gesture of the hands. Louis and Arthur mingled in with the girls and joined in the conversation but I must say, Low was indeed the main attraction. His over exaggerated flamboyance was equaled by his voice above the crowd. His wit and humor kept the hearts of all in laughter; a speaker to his audience, his show on the road. When I personally met him his hand shake was warm and welcoming. He questioned me, as did everyone I met, of my home town and the business that brought me to Pine Bluff. A sincere and instant friend, who on his departure, made it a point to shake my hand and invite me back.

Barbra Ann slid another Coke down to me while Joyce disappeared and re appeared again with another plate of brusquest for us boys. It was while we were eating the second round of BBQ that Shirley came in. I’m not for sure what would happen if they had turned the music off while she was there. The whole time, especially her arrival, she danced to the songs. It found her as soon as she stepped through the door, a best friend that she couldn’t wait to see. She and Jennifer talked about their children, grand children and great grand children.

Barbra Ann was not the only tender. I think I counted four through the progression of the night. Cathy, the owner of the bar, often times mixed drinks for the gathering. She was quiet and graceful and minded the setting around her very well. She introduced me to Tenea, PJ’s daughter. She was a beautiful, young women maybe 5’2”. I shook her hand and she smiled. A few minutes later a couple of younger men came in. “Jay!” exclaimed my friend. They shook hands and hugged. Obviously he had met him previously a night or two before. The other was, Bruno, a handsome, smooth topped man with a great hand shake and solid hug. I returned the welcome as well and impressed him with it. I introduced myself. He turned to Tenea and introduced her to me. She held his arm and looked into his eyes with a look that gave it away. “You two just married, I guess?” I said pretty certainly. “Three months”, she replied. I congratulated them.

It was getting late for a guy like me so I approached my buddies who were locked in discussion with Carla. They knew what I wanted and had said previously that when I was ready to go they would be ready also. I shook hands with everyone I met that night. Everyone invited me back and said they were glad to meet me. “Tuesday night is Happy Hour” they told me. I guess that means I’ll get my Coke’s half priced, although I didn’t have to pay for either.

“We’re just regular folks, living our lives. We work, we play, we marry and raise children” , said Jennifer. Bruno put it like this after our second hug, “I’m black and your white but your always welcome here because were all, Americans.”