Prepare the Way, December 7, 2020

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

The second week of Advent began in the most interesting times I’ve experienced. Of course, we all deal with the effects of the coronavirus here in the United States and abroad. The disease is wreaking havoc everywhere. Our healthcare workers truly exhibit heroic efforts in combating the progress, but they are exhausted and seem to take two steps back with every step forward sometimes. The virus is just a horrible enemy for the world at large.

I thought we would have a more focused Thanksgiving this year with many stores closed because of the virus. More people staying at home and enjoying a more intimate setting with their immediate family. But I was wrong. Store closed, but we experienced record shopping – $4.5 billion in online sales on Thanksgiving Day. Covid-19 did nothing to curb our appetite for materialism. 

And although airports seemed a little emptier this year, I’m not so sure the roads were less crowded than I’ve seen them in years past. So, I think a lot of people headed for family gatherings away somewhere just to get away for a few days. We will find out in the next few days what that means for the multiplied spread of the virus. And please don’t blame the government for our failures to protect each other.

Here we are in a time of anticipation, but of what? More political upheaval? A miracle vaccine to stop the spread of the virus? An instant end to our economic woes? Christmas?

In our house, we definitely prepare for Christmas. To get in the mood, Carole starts watching Christmas movies in July. Decorations take a while. We might stop with the eight trees already up (I hope). Maybe there will be one or two more, but at least they won’t be the six-foot variety. Nativity scenes take prominent places in almost every room. Lights and garland go up on cabinets and shelves. Snow scenes and Victorian villages take shape as different rooms take on different themes throughout the house. Needless to say, our decoration preparation starts early in November and ends not many days before Christmas. 

Then there are presents to buy. Carole is the master buyer. She begins finding just the right gifts for everyone starting in January and buys throughout the year, so our shopping is done before most people start. It’s also a great way to find bargains and spread the cost of presents. Of course, when buying just the right present in January, it’s easy to forget you have it, so you find another just the right gift in July. I’m not sure how much that saves, then, but it’s great to watch the kids and grandkids open gifts selected especially with their personalities in mind. Carole could be a great professional shopper, but she says that would take the fun out of it.

Last week, we talked about advent being a time of both looking back to the time of Jesus’ coming. A time of celebrating the fact of his arrival and remembering his life and sacrifice for us. We also talked about advent being a time of looking ahead to the time of his return. He promised to come again to be with those who believed in him for salvation for eternity.

The huge question Christians in the first century and Christians today continue to ask is when? When will he come? Our adversaries point to the 2000 year delay and say it’s a hoax. He broke his promise. He never rose from the dead. He never could because when you’re dead, you’re dead. Our faith is a farse and we might as well admit it. As believers, we know otherwise. We know God’s delay demonstrates grace, not failure. 2 Peter 3 reminds us in these words:

But we look forward to what God has promised—a new heaven and a new earth—a place where everything that has God’s approval lives.

Therefore, dear friends, with this to look forward to, make every effort to have him find you at peace, without ⌞spiritual⌟ stains or blemishes.Think of our Lord’s patience as an opportunity ⌞for us⌟ to be saved. This is what our dear brother Paul wrote to you about, using the wisdom God gave him. (2 Peter 3:13-15 GW)

God’s patience in coming is an opportunity for us to be saved. Paul writes about it, Peter writes about it, John writes about it, Jesus says he will come as a thief in the night when no one expects him. So, we patiently await his coming. His delay is not failure or a broken promise, it is for us. God wants to rescue us from sin and delays his coming because when he comes the opportunity for rescue ends. When he comes again, he comes for justice and judgment. God delays his coming to delay his judgment against humanity.

How, then, should we wait? What should we do? Peter points to some of it in these verses. First, be patient. Remember, he will come, but at his choosing, not ours. In the meantime, make every effort to have him find you at peace. What does that mean? I think we need to find ways to engage our fellowman with love. Not what we see spewing out of Facebook and Instagram, but with the fruit of the spirit Paul enumerates in Galatians – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. When we exercise these characteristics in dealing with others, we will be at peace with others. 

We should also make every effort to be without spiritual stains or blemishes, Peter says. What does that mean to us? John reminds us we are all sinners, but we have an advocate who will forgive us and cleanse us from every sin. So, we do everything we can to follow in Jesus’ footsteps of righteousness, knowing that without his spirit in us it is an impossible task and even then, we are bound to err on occasion. But we have an advocate that will help us along the way and we can become more like him each day as we confess our wrongs, ask forgiveness, and strive to not repeat those same mistakes again. We can be better with his help.

Finally, as we wait, we have a mission to perform. Mark reminds us of that first Advent when John the Baptist went about the wilderness preaching about the coming Messiah. The gospel by his name begins this way:

This is the beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The prophet Isaiah wrote,

“I am sending my messenger ahead of you

to prepare the way for you.”

“A voice cries out in the desert:

‘Prepare the way for the Lord!

Make his paths straight!’ ” (Mark 1:1-3 GW) 

That was John’s mission, to prepare the way for the Lord, the first time. But Jesus gave us the mission to spread the good news, too. And part of that good news is his promise to return. We, too, prepare the way for the Lord’s coming. We should share the good news that he came, but he is coming again to take those who believe in him for salvation to be with him forever. 

I don’t think God expects us to where camel hair clothes, eat honey, and live in the desert, but he probably wouldn’t mind us giving up some of the luxuries we gather around us. He probably would ask us to remember the poor and those who are unable to care for themselves. He probably would ask us to be more generous, think less about our earthly future, and more about our future with him. 

Advent comes around every year and it gives us an opportunity to stop and think about Jesus’ coming – past and future. We marvel at the nativity story and how God appeared on that first Christmas in those most humble beginnings. We should stop and think just as much about what his second coming will mean. It won’t be humble and quiet next time. He will come to rule the nations. He will bring justice and judgment to the world. 

Remember during this Advent, his delay is for us. As Christians, he gives us one more opportunity to share the good news with someone else who needs to hear the message. For those who have yet to believe in him, he gives one more opportunity for salvation. He is coming and it may be very soon. Be ready.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day. 

Scriptures marked GW are taken from the GOD’S WORD (GW): Scripture taken from GOD’S WORD® copyright© 1995 by God’s Word to the Nations. All rights reserved.

Show Yourself – Episode 10-49, November 30, 2020

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Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Can you believe Advent started? The year rushed by very slowly, one day at a time with everything that plagued us over the last eleven months. But Advent is here. A time to look backward and celebrate the time when Jesus, the Messiah, came to live among us. He showed us the living God’s character and sacrificed himself to pay the penalty for our sins that we might find forgiveness and life everlasting with him.

Advent also celebrates looking forward to the time when Jesus, our Messiah, will return to take us live with him for eternity. He will reign for a thousand years, renew all creation, and set the world right again. Those who believe in him for salvation will live with him throughout eternity renewed with our original purpose restored, to care for his creation forever.

Advent is a magnificent time of celebration in the Christian community and begins the global church calendar year. The first Sunday of Advent marks the recognition that God came to dwell with us and the assurance he will come again to take us home to live with him forever.

Each year, the lectionary begins Advent with scripture in mind that points to these recognitions. This year, the first lectionary scripture from the Old Testament comes from Isaiah, chapter 64. Isaiah describes events current in the prophet’s time but could also describe today’s events in many respects. The particular section we will explore today, though, makes a request that could be somewhat terrifying for many, if not all of us.

So, what was Israel like in Isaiah’s day? First, Jerusalem held a powerful position in the world. The kingdom was prosperous by ancient standards. Yet, because of their strategic location, everyone wanted to possess that little piece of land. It was the crossroads to the north and south and west from the Mediterranean Sea. If you owned the mountain passes in and around Jerusalem, you held the region’s military advantage.

As the crossroads, it also became wealthy with her ability to trade because every civilized nation passed through the region. If you wanted to charge tariffs for travel through the country, you suddenly had an instant income without much work. The country had money.

Of course, the problem with sitting on strategic property was that every other country wanted to own it. Israel faced lots of invasions. And since the northern and southern kingdoms split, they no longer had David and Solomon’s kingdoms’ strength. By the time Isaiah prophesied under King Uzziah, the northern kingdom was in shambles, and the southern kingdom was closing in fast.

With Jerusalem as its capital, Judah was rich, but not in ways it should have been. It had money but no character. Isaiah told of a Messiah who would come and rule the nations. One who would finally fulfill the promise God wanted to be done through Abraham’s lineage. Israel’s mission had always been to bless the other nations of the world, not to overpower them or become rich at their expense. God wanted Israel to show the other nations his love. Show them how to live together in community. Call them to repentance and live together in peace.

Instead, Isaiah saw oppression from the priests and kings who ruled over the people. He saw inequality in their justice between the rich and the poor. Isaiah cried out for the nation to care for the widows and orphans, those who could not care for themselves in that society. He pleaded for the nation to return to the roots of their worship. Isaiah also warned of the consequences of not heeding God’s command for doing so – ruin, destruction, exile, death, the curses foretold to Moses centuries before.

Ancient Israel sounds a lot like us, doesn’t it? We look for the Messiah’s return. We long for freedom for oppressive governments, equality in justice between the rich and poor, care for those who cannot care for themselves, return to worship the living God. We pray for the fulfillment of the church’s mission – to show the world who Jesus is, show his love, how to live peacefully together, to come to him repentantly. And we often pray, “Why are you waiting so long? Come soon!”

Then we come to Isaiah 64. Listen to these words.

If only You would rip open the heavens

    and come down to earth—

Its heights and depths would quake the moment You appear,

 

Like kindling when it just begins to catch fire, or like water that’s about to boil.

    If only You would come like that so that all who deny or hate You

Would know who You are and be terrified of Your grandeur.

 

We remember that long ago You did amazing things for us

    that we had never dreamed You’d do.

You came down, and the mountains shook at Your presence.

 

Nothing like that had ever happened before—no eye had ever seen,

    and no ear had ever heard such wonders,

But You did them then for the sake of Your people, for those who trusted in You.

 

You meet whoever tries with sincerity of purpose to do what You want—

    to do justice and follow in Your ways.

But You became so angry when we rebelled and committed all sorts of wrongs;

    we have continued in our sins for a long time. So how can we be saved?

 

We are all messed up like a person compromised with impurity;

    even all our right efforts are like soiled rags.

We’re drying up like a leaf in autumn and are blown away by wrongdoing.

 

And it’s so sad because no one calls out to You

    or even bothers to approach You anymore.

You’ve been absent from us too long;

    You left us to dissolve away in the acrid power of our sins.

 

Still, Eternal One, You are our Father.

    We are just clay, and You are the potter.

We are the product of Your creative action, shaped and formed into something of worth.

 

Don’t be so angry anymore, O Eternal;

    don’t always remember our wrongs.

Please, look around and see that we are all Your people. (Isaiah 64:1-9 The Voice)

Isaiah asks for God to return as he did in ancient days. We sometimes do that, too. But Isaiah recognized what that meant. I’m not sure we do. We too often think in terms of a soft, gentle, teddy bear kind of God that will just pat us on the head and tell us everything is okay no matter what we do. He isn’t that kind of God. One day, he will make everything right. As a God of love, he is also a God of justice. The two go hand in hand. He must take care of evil and sin at some point or he is not a God of love.

So, when he returns to fix the world’s evil, what will he do? Isaiah describes his ancient justice and might pretty well. He ripped the heavens open and made mountains shake. His grandeur terrified those who saw his miraculous appearances. If you’ve been in 5 or 6 or 7 magnitude earthquakes, you understand what mountain shaking means. If you’ve been in the middle of a tornado, you know how you might describe the raw power of an angry God. If you’ve faced the rouge 100-foot wave in an ocean storm, you can understand the fear of God touching earth to cleanse evil from its face.

In ancient times, the Hebrews record times God punished sins immediately and harshly. Today, since his sacrifice on the cross, we experience another side of God’s love and justice. His grace and mercy extend to us, but he has not changed. He gives us the opportunity to change, repent, follow him, and do his will. But he has not changed. God is as angry at sin and the ruin of his perfect creation as he was with Adam’s first act of disobedience. God is also sad at our absence and unfaithfulness as he continues to call to us in a hundred different ways.

I like the analogy Isaiah uses to help us remember our place in the universe. God is the creator. He is the potter; we are just a lump of clay in his hands.  But as the master potter, God made this lump of clay something of worth. He remembers us because he made us. He listens to our pleas because he made us. He cares for us because he made us.

This first week of Advent, celebrate the fact that Jesus, the Messiah, came to live with us. He calls us to repent and follow him. Then and now, his message is the same, believe in him, and you will have eternal life. Then remember he will return. When he does, the mountains will shake. He will come as a consuming fire. Jesus, the Messiah, will set all things right again, renewing his creation and restoring those who believe in him for salvation.

Advent begins the church year. Whatever has happened this last year, let’s give it to God, and let’s give this next year to him as well. He can and will make all things new. I’m ready for a renewed and restored world, but we have a lot of people who need to hear about God’s love and salvation so they can join us in that renewed creation. Let’s start the year right by telling them.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked THE VOICE are taken from the THE VOICE (The Voice): Scripture taken from THE VOICE ™. Copyright© 2008 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

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Show Yourself, November 30, 2020

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Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Can you believe Advent started? The year rushed by very slowly, one day at a time with everything that plagued us over the last eleven months. But Advent is here. A time to look backward and celebrate the time when Jesus, the Messiah, came to live among us. He showed us the living God’s character and sacrificed himself to pay the penalty for our sins that we might find forgiveness and life everlasting with him. 

Advent also celebrates looking forward to the time when Jesus, our Messiah, will return to take us live with him for eternity. He will reign for a thousand years, renew all creation, and set the world right again. Those who believe in him for salvation will live with him throughout eternity renewed with our original purpose restored, to care for his creation forever. 

Advent is a magnificent time of celebration in the Christian community and begins the global church calendar year. The first Sunday of Advent marks the recognition that God came to dwell with us and the assurance he will come again to take us home to live with him forever. 

Each year, the lectionary begins Advent with scripture in mind that points to these recognitions. This year, the first lectionary scripture from the Old Testament comes from Isaiah, chapter 64. Isaiah describes events current in the prophet’s time but could also describe today’s events in many respects. The particular section we will explore today, though, makes a request that could be somewhat terrifying for many, if not all of us.

So, what was Israel like in Isaiah’s day? First, Jerusalem held a powerful position in the world. The kingdom was prosperous by ancient standards. Yet, because of their strategic location, everyone wanted to possess that little piece of land. It was the crossroads to the north and south and west from the Mediterranean Sea. If you owned the mountain passes in and around Jerusalem, you held the region’s military advantage. 

As the crossroads, it also became wealthy with her ability to trade because every civilized nation passed through the region. If you wanted to charge tariffs for travel through the country, you suddenly had an instant income without much work. The country had money. 

Of course, the problem with sitting on strategic property was that every other country wanted to own it. Israel faced lots of invasions. And since the northern and southern kingdoms split, they no longer had David and Solomon’s kingdoms’ strength. By the time Isaiah prophesied under King Uzziah, the northern kingdom was in shambles, and the southern kingdom was closing in fast.

With Jerusalem as its capital, Judah was rich, but not in ways it should have been. It had money but no character. Isaiah told of a Messiah who would come and rule the nations. One who would finally fulfill the promise God wanted to be done through Abraham’s lineage. Israel’s mission had always been to bless the other nations of the world, not to overpower them or become rich at their expense. God wanted Israel to show the other nations his love. Show them how to live together in community. Call them to repentance and live together in peace. 

Instead, Isaiah saw oppression from the priests and kings who ruled over the people. He saw inequality in their justice between the rich and the poor. Isaiah cried out for the nation to care for the widows and orphans, those who could not care for themselves in that society. He pleaded for the nation to return to the roots of their worship. Isaiah also warned of the consequences of not heeding God’s command for doing so – ruin, destruction, exile, death, the curses foretold to Moses centuries before.

Ancient Israel sounds a lot like us, doesn’t it? We look for the Messiah’s return. We long for freedom for oppressive governments, equality in justice between the rich and poor, care for those who cannot care for themselves, return to worship the living God. We pray for the fulfillment of the church’s mission – to show the world who Jesus is, show his love, how to live peacefully together, to come to him repentantly. And we often pray, “Why are you waiting so long? Come soon!”

Then we come to Isaiah 64. Listen to these words.

If only You would rip open the heavens

    and come down to earth—

Its heights and depths would quake the moment You appear,

Like kindling when it just begins to catch fire, or like water that’s about to boil.

    If only You would come like that so that all who deny or hate You

Would know who You are and be terrified of Your grandeur.

We remember that long ago You did amazing things for us

    that we had never dreamed You’d do.

You came down, and the mountains shook at Your presence.

Nothing like that had ever happened before—no eye had ever seen,

    and no ear had ever heard such wonders,

But You did them then for the sake of Your people, for those who trusted in You.

You meet whoever tries with sincerity of purpose to do what You want—

    to do justice and follow in Your ways.

But You became so angry when we rebelled and committed all sorts of wrongs;

    we have continued in our sins for a long time. So how can we be saved?

We are all messed up like a person compromised with impurity;

    even all our right efforts are like soiled rags.

We’re drying up like a leaf in autumn and are blown away by wrongdoing.

And it’s so sad because no one calls out to You

    or even bothers to approach You anymore.

You’ve been absent from us too long;

    You left us to dissolve away in the acrid power of our sins.

Still, Eternal One, You are our Father.

    We are just clay, and You are the potter.

We are the product of Your creative action, shaped and formed into something of worth.

Don’t be so angry anymore, O Eternal;

    don’t always remember our wrongs.

Please, look around and see that we are all Your people. (Isaiah 64:1-9 The Voice)

Isaiah asks for God to return as he did in ancient days. We sometimes do that, too. But Isaiah recognized what that meant. I’m not sure we do. We too often think in terms of a soft, gentle, teddy bear kind of God that will just pat us on the head and tell us everything is okay no matter what we do. He isn’t that kind of God. One day, he will make everything right. As a God of love, he is also a God of justice. The two go hand in hand. He must take care of evil and sin at some point or he is not a God of love. 

So, when he returns to fix the world’s evil, what will he do? Isaiah describes his ancient justice and might pretty well. He ripped the heavens open and made mountains shake. His grandeur terrified those who saw his miraculous appearances. If you’ve been in 5 or 6 or 7 magnitude earthquakes, you understand what mountain shaking means. If you’ve been in the middle of a tornado, you know how you might describe the raw power of an angry God. If you’ve faced the rouge 100-foot wave in an ocean storm, you can understand the fear of God touching earth to cleanse evil from its face.

In ancient times, the Hebrews record times God punished sins immediately and harshly. Today, since his sacrifice on the cross, we experience another side of God’s love and justice. His grace and mercy extend to us, but he has not changed. He gives us the opportunity to change, repent, follow him, and do his will. But he has not changed. God is as angry at sin and the ruin of his perfect creation as he was with Adam’s first act of disobedience. God is also sad at our absence and unfaithfulness as he continues to call to us in a hundred different ways.

I like the analogy Isaiah uses to help us remember our place in the universe. God is the creator. He is the potter; we are just a lump of clay in his hands.  But as the master potter, God made this lump of clay something of worth. He remembers us because he made us. He listens to our pleas because he made us. He cares for us because he made us. 

This first week of Advent, celebrate the fact that Jesus, the Messiah, came to live with us. He calls us to repent and follow him. Then and now, his message is the same, believe in him, and you will have eternal life. Then remember he will return. When he does, the mountains will shake. He will come as a consuming fire. Jesus, the Messiah, will set all things right again, renewing his creation and restoring those who believe in him for salvation. 

Advent begins the church year. Whatever has happened this last year, let’s give it to God, and let’s give this next year to him as well. He can and will make all things new. I’m ready for a renewed and restored world, but we have a lot of people who need to hear about God’s love and salvation so they can join us in that renewed creation. Let’s start the year right by telling them.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day. 

Scriptures marked THE VOICE are taken from the THE VOICE (The Voice): Scripture taken from THE VOICE ™. Copyright© 2008 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Be Thankful – Episode 10-48, November 23, 2020

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Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

2020-11-23-devotional-Be Thankful

Music intro

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Well, here in the United States, it’s almost Thanksgiving again. It’s probably a good time to stop and think about that psalm that’s most appropriate for this time of year. And that’s psalms 100. it goes like this:

Sing to the Lord, all the world!

2 

Worship the Lord with joy;

    come before him with happy songs!

3 

Acknowledge that the Lord is God.

    He made us, and we belong to him;

    we are his people, we are his flock.

4 

Enter the Temple gates with Thanksgiving;

    go into its courts with praise.

    Give thanks to him and praise him.

5 

The Lord is good;

    his love is eternal

    and his faithfulness lasts forever. (Psalms 100 GNT)

Thanksgiving preparations take a lot. perhaps we think about sending out invitations to family and friends. we have to make that list of what we’re going to put on the table; the beverages that we’re going to have, the appetizers that we’re going to bring out before the meal begins or as the meal starts, maybe the meat or maybe two. is it going to be Turkey or ham or both? maybe some kind of fish, who knows? Vegetables. all the different desserts. my favorite is pecan pie. my wife’s is pumpkin pie with lots of whipped cream.

perhaps we have games in store. is it going to be football for the guys? is it going to be some kind of outdoor game for the kids? or do we have something lined up indoors if the weather is bad? and then we have to get the house ready. there’s cleaning to do. maybe there’s extra chairs we have to obtain. or maybe extra tables. What about the place settings? or are we going to use good China or everyday plates? do we have enough?

Well, all of those preparations we have to take care of, but this year it’s a little, isn’t it? there’s going to be smaller numbers, perhaps. maybe not the big crowds that we’re used to in the past because of the covid pandemic. in fact, some states say that we can’t even have more than ten gathered for Thanksgiving even if it’s in our families. some might be missing from that Thanksgiving table whether they are ill or quarantine because of the covid symptoms. or maybe some have passed away, and we’re missing them because of that reason.

or maybe the Thanksgiving preparations will be short this year because of unemployment, food shortages, and essentials that just aren’t there. it’s going to be different this year that’s for sure. and this year it’s different because of the turmoil. I don’t know whether it’s the politics that has caused all of it. certainly, that’s part of it. we don’t yet know whether we have a president. no one’s been declared yet, not until the electorate votes in January. not until all the lawsuits are over. not until all the craziness that’s going on has ended, will we really know what’s happened.

and the turmoil with the pandemic. is this the 2nd way the 3rd wave? is there another one coming? certainly, we are facing some dire times as our health care workers are really getting fatigued? and we’re all getting exhausted with this separation anxiety? and what about our economy? as we have more lockdowns and more unemployment, our businesses just begin to crumble because of the lack of people going into our stores. and the turmoil that just continues to climb day after day.

and our social life, the turmoil that we see there. the separation just continues to eat at us a little at a time day after day. when we can’t have the contact that we had in the past. we are social creatures. when we can’t meet together, when we can’t have that physical contact, when we can’t touch and meet and be face to face with people that we love, with friends that we’re usually in contact with daily, it affects us. and all of that turmoil together creates anxiety. it creates problems for us.

many people will ask, so what do we have to be thankful for? well, there is hope for Christians. we have the same hopes that we’ve always had. we have hope in Christ. we have hope for a home in the future. we know that this is not our home. our citizenship is in the Kingdom of God. our hope is in something more than this place.

it’s not a hope for just the beginning of a new year. it’s not just hoping for a fresh start as 2021 starts and maybe a new beginning that a new set of politicians might bring to us. it’s not hope for the government to do something that will bring change. or that new politicians or a new regime will finally fix everything. that won’t happen. it’s not hope that there will be an end of turmoil because the White House might flip. it’s not hope that that might end the racial tension or that the economy will suddenly spring up.

Our hope is in Christ. we hope that he will change our hearts. and he does change our hearts. He gives us peace that only Christians can understand once they’ve been forgiven of their sins. once he comes and indwells us. that’s when we understand what this is all about. what this Christian life is all about. can I explain it? can I understand how it happens? No. except that I understand that Jesus Christ forgives me, and it fills me with His peace and comfort and a joy that despite all that’s going on, I can still know that there’s hope for tomorrow.

so I can worship him. I know about the present. I know that God Reigns. I know that God is still in charge despite all the different things that are going on around me. I know that he protects his children. do we have suffering in this world? Yes, but this isn’t what it’s all about. it’s life after life that creates our hope. it’s what happens after this place that makes all the difference.

 that’s why the apostles could be bold in their preaching. they could stand before the Sanhedrin. they could stand before Roman soldiers. they could give their lives because they knew that this wasn’t all there was. they were different from the world because of what they knew about the present. they knew that this wasn’t all there was.

we can worship because we know the end. we know that there will be a renewed heaven. there will be a renewed earth. creation will be renewed and made perfect again. we also know that in the end, they’ll be a judgment and what we do here will be judged by the one who judges perfectly. it won’t be our earthly judges that can be bribed or swayed by politics or caused to give different sentences or different punishments and rewards based on who they know or the wealth of the one they are facing. but will be judged by the one who knows our heart. the one who knows all about us. the one who created us and all there is. his judgment, his justice will be perfect.

we know the end. we know the present. we know the Lord. we know that he alone is worthy. he is our Shepherd. he is our savior. he’s the sustainer of all there is. he’s the creator. God alone is worthy of our praise and our worship. he alone is the one that is worthy of worship. so we go back to that 100th psalm. and as we approach this Thanksgiving season, it’s worth listening to one more time.

Sing to the Lord, all the world!

2 

Worship the Lord with joy;

    come before him with happy songs!

3 

Acknowledge that the Lord is God.

    He made us, and we belong to him;

    we are his people, we are his flock.

4 

Enter the Temple gates with Thanksgiving;

    go into its courts with praise.

    Give thanks to him and praise him.

5 

The Lord is good;

    his love is eternal

    and his faithfulness lasts forever. (Psalms 100 GNT)

Enjoy this Thanksgiving. Worship God. We have a lot for which to be thankful. More than anything, else we can be thankful that he is God, and we or not.  

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Music exit

Scriptures marked GNT are taken from the Good News Translation®: Scriptures taken from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) Copyright © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.

 

Check out this episode!

Be Thankful, November 23, 2020

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Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Well, here in the United States, it’s almost Thanksgiving again. It’s probably a good time to stop and think about that psalm that’s most appropriate for this time of year. And that’s psalms 100. it goes like this:

Sing to the Lord, all the world!

2 

Worship the Lord with joy;

    come before him with happy songs!

3 

Acknowledge that the Lord is God.

    He made us, and we belong to him;

    we are his people, we are his flock.

4 

Enter the Temple gates with Thanksgiving;

    go into its courts with praise.

    Give thanks to him and praise him.

5 

The Lord is good;

    his love is eternal

    and his faithfulness lasts forever. (Psalms 100 GNT)

Thanksgiving preparations take a lot. perhaps we think about sending out invitations to family and friends. we have to make that list of what we’re going to put on the table; the beverages that we’re going to have, the appetizers that we’re going to bring out before the meal begins or as the meal starts, maybe the meat or maybe two. is it going to be Turkey or ham or both? maybe some kind of fish, who knows? Vegetables. all the different desserts. my favorite is pecan pie. my wife’s is pumpkin pie with lots of whipped cream. 

perhaps we have games in store. is it going to be football for the guys? is it going to be some kind of outdoor game for the kids? or do we have something lined up indoors if the weather is bad? and then we have to get the house ready. there’s cleaning to do. maybe there’s extra chairs we have to obtain. or maybe extra tables. What about the place settings? or are we going to use good China or everyday plates? do we have enough? 

Well, all of those preparations we have to take care of, but this year it’s a little, isn’t it? there’s going to be smaller numbers, perhaps. maybe not the big crowds that we’re used to in the past because of the covid pandemic. in fact, some states say that we can’t even have more than ten gathered for Thanksgiving even if it’s in our families. some might be missing from that Thanksgiving table whether they are ill or quarantine because of the covid symptoms. or maybe some have passed away, and we’re missing them because of that reason. 

or maybe the Thanksgiving preparations will be short this year because of unemployment, food shortages, and essentials that just aren’t there. it’s going to be different this year that’s for sure. and this year it’s different because of the turmoil. I don’t know whether it’s the politics that has caused all of it. certainly, that’s part of it. we don’t yet know whether we have a president. no one’s been declared yet, not until the electorate votes in January. not until all the lawsuits are over. not until all the craziness that’s going on has ended, will we really know what’s happened. 

and the turmoil with the pandemic. is this the 2nd way the 3rd wave? is there another one coming? certainly, we are facing some dire times as our health care workers are really getting fatigued? and we’re all getting exhausted with this separation anxiety? and what about our economy? as we have more lockdowns and more unemployment, our businesses just begin to crumble because of the lack of people going into our stores. and the turmoil that just continues to climb day after day. 

and our social life, the turmoil that we see there. the separation just continues to eat at us a little at a time day after day. when we can’t have the contact that we had in the past. we are social creatures. when we can’t meet together, when we can’t have that physical contact, when we can’t touch and meet and be face to face with people that we love, with friends that we’re usually in contact with daily, it affects us. and all of that turmoil together creates anxiety. it creates problems for us. 

many people will ask, so what do we have to be thankful for? well, there is hope for Christians. we have the same hopes that we’ve always had. we have hope in Christ. we have hope for a home in the future. we know that this is not our home. our citizenship is in the Kingdom of God. our hope is in something more than this place. 

it’s not a hope for just the beginning of a new year. it’s not just hoping for a fresh start as 2021 starts and maybe a new beginning that a new set of politicians might bring to us. it’s not hope for the government to do something that will bring change. or that new politicians or a new regime will finally fix everything. that won’t happen. it’s not hope that there will be an end of turmoil because the White House might flip. it’s not hope that that might end the racial tension or that the economy will suddenly spring up. 

Our hope is in Christ. we hope that he will change our hearts. and he does change our hearts. He gives us peace that only Christians can understand once they’ve been forgiven of their sins. once he comes and indwells us. that’s when we understand what this is all about. what this Christian life is all about. can I explain it? can I understand how it happens? No. except that I understand that Jesus Christ forgives me, and it fills me with His peace and comfort and a joy that despite all that’s going on, I can still know that there’s hope for tomorrow. 

so I can worship him. I know about the present. I know that God Reigns. I know that God is still in charge despite all the different things that are going on around me. I know that he protects his children. do we have suffering in this world? Yes, but this isn’t what it’s all about. it’s life after life that creates our hope. it’s what happens after this place that makes all the difference.

 that’s why the apostles could be bold in their preaching. they could stand before the Sanhedrin. they could stand before Roman soldiers. they could give their lives because they knew that this wasn’t all there was. they were different from the world because of what they knew about the present. they knew that this wasn’t all there was. 

we can worship because we know the end. we know that there will be a renewed heaven. there will be a renewed earth. creation will be renewed and made perfect again. we also know that in the end, they’ll be a judgment and what we do here will be judged by the one who judges perfectly. it won’t be our earthly judges that can be bribed or swayed by politics or caused to give different sentences or different punishments and rewards based on who they know or the wealth of the one they are facing. but will be judged by the one who knows our heart. the one who knows all about us. the one who created us and all there is. his judgment, his justice will be perfect. 

we know the end. we know the present. we know the Lord. we know that he alone is worthy. he is our Shepherd. he is our savior. he’s the sustainer of all there is. he’s the creator. God alone is worthy of our praise and our worship. he alone is the one that is worthy of worship. so we go back to that 100th psalm. and as we approach this Thanksgiving season, it’s worth listening to one more time. 

Sing to the Lord, all the world!

2 

Worship the Lord with joy;

    come before him with happy songs!

3 

Acknowledge that the Lord is God.

    He made us, and we belong to him;

    we are his people, we are his flock.

4 

Enter the Temple gates with Thanksgiving;

    go into its courts with praise.

    Give thanks to him and praise him.

5 

The Lord is good;

    his love is eternal

    and his faithfulness lasts forever. (Psalms 100 GNT)

Enjoy this Thanksgiving. Worship God. We have a lot for which to be thankful. More than anything, else we can be thankful that he is God, and we or not.   

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day. 

Scriptures marked GNT are taken from the Good News Translation®: Scriptures taken from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) Copyright © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.

Where Are We In History? – Episode 10-47, November 16, 2020

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Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Many wonder what we have to be thankful for as we look at what has happened this year. The world moves toward a full year facing the coronavirus pandemic with more than 50 million victims globally, and more than 1.2 million deaths. In the United States alone, we have topped 10 million cases and a quarter of a million deaths. Still far less than the scientists predicted nine months ago but devastating to the world and our country.

The mistrust our media created over the last several months caused political upheaval resulting in mistrust in our elected officials, the integrity of our voting systems, and our political system. The blatant bias and censorship across the news media and social media failed to let citizens hear both sides of issues breeding mistrust and fomenting divide we haven’t seen here since the Civil War.

We can see injustice across the country based on wealth, race, social connections, political connections, media involvement, and a host of criteria that makes us think the entire system reeks of corruption. In reality, almost every system, that one or two percent of truly corrupt legal representatives give the rest we don’t hear about their reputation as a whole. Just like the cry about police brutality, a few police abuse their authority and should be dealt with accordingly, but the vast majority of law enforcement officers do not fall into that category and see their role as a calling to help society, not harm it.

The last year put not just the United States, but every nation in an economic crisis. As businesses closed due to the pandemic to try and stop the spread of the disease, millions lost their jobs. People went from living paycheck to paycheck to wondering if they would get by at all. The government stepped in with unemployment and other benefits, but those benefits barely keep a family above the poverty level, if that. Many business haven’t recovered and some economists predict as many as 50% of small businesses may close their doors for good. We are in hard times.

Then we faced all the natural disasters above and beyond the pandemic. They started with the wildfires in Australia that destroyed so much of that country. Our western states still don’t have their fires under control. Floods around the gulf coast devastated that area of our country as they faced multiple hurricanes this year. Earthquakes in several countries cost billions in damage and multiple lives. This has been an extraordinary year for disasters. And it’s not over yet.

Judah must have felt the same way as Zephaniah began his prophecies. His tone didn’t help their already devastated state. They faced multiple invasions in the 7th and 8th centuries BCE. The kings filled their pockets at the expense of the common people and injustice rampaged the country. The prophets spoke of the deplorable condition of the widows and orphans, those who could not care for themselves in that culture. They faced drought, floods, and famine again and again in those years. And when crops were good, invaders came and took them.

Zephaniah said it was much the fault of the leaders and those who followed them. Listen to his words.

Be silent! I am the Lord God,

    and the time is near.

I am preparing

to sacrifice my people

    and to invite my guests.

 

I’ll search Jerusalem with lamps

    and punish those people

who sit there unworried

    while thinking,

“The Lord won’t do anything,

    good or bad.”

 

Their possessions will be taken,

    their homes left in ruins.

They won’t get to live

    in the houses they build,

or drink wine from the grapes

    in their own vineyards.

A Terrible Day

 

The great day of the Lord

    is coming soon, very soon.

On that terrible day,

fearsome shouts of warriors

    will be heard everywhere.

 

It will be a time of anger—

    of trouble and torment,

of disaster and destruction,

    of darkness and despair,

of storm clouds and shadows,

 

of trumpet calls

    and battle cries

against fortified cities

    and mighty fortresses.

 

The Lord warns everyone

    who has sinned against him,

“I’ll strike you blind!

Then your blood and your insides

    will gush out like vomit.

 

Not even your silver or gold

can save you on that day

    when I, the Lord, am angry.

My anger will flare up

    like a furious fire

scorching the earth

    and everyone on it.” (Zephaniah 1:7,12-18 CEV)

It wasn’t long before Israel faced another invading army and exile. Children forcibly removed from the land became indoctrinated in Babylon and the brightest put into the king’s service. Only the poorest finally ended up remaining in a ruined, burned out, rubble filled country. Why? Because they failed to do what God told them to do in the first place. They chased after the idols and gods of the people of the land God gave them instead of worshiping him. They failed to show the nations around them the true God of creation as he had instructed through Abraham, Moses, and the prophets.

What can we learn from the Israelites fate and Zephaniah’s words? First, God watches our actions and attitudes. The Israelites didn’t get away with their injustice. There is a day of reckoning. As a God of love, he cannot just stand by and do nothing about our decaying world. He must bring justice back. He must put everything right again or he is not a loving and just and true God. But we know he is and a day of reckoning will come.

We also know he is a God of grace and mercy. He has held off his judgment to allow as many as will to come to know his grace. He wants humanity to come to him willingly, to know him as he is. He does not look forward to the day his wrath is poured out on those who refuse to listen to him, but instead he yearns for and gives every opportunity for humanity to come to salvation, even knowing many will not.

Finally, we know God gives us many warnings about what will come. His word tells us about the judgment he will bring upon the unjust, the unrighteous, those who will not believe. The earth shudders and gives its signs as if in labor waiting to give birth to a renewed creation. We see it all around us, but so many refused to see the very signs the prophets spoke of as they talked about the coming of the Lord.

So what should we do? Pray. Know your relationship with the Lord. Let him search you heart. Reach out to him and let him turn his spotlight on your life and make you more like him each day. Stay in his word. Get to know his word. Study it. Let it soak into your life and become part of you – not just on Sundays or in some Bible study, but every waking moment of every day. Let it be the guide for your life. God’s spirit will assure you of your relationship with him as you stay in his word. His spirit in you and his word will never disagree with each other.

If God points something out in your life that needs changed, repent and fix it. Turn away from those things that do not look and feel like God and his plan and purpose. Repentance is more than being sorry for getting caught. It is stopping those things and doing what is right. Following in his footsteps. Going wherever he is.

Pray unceasingly. Pray for yourself. Pray for your family and your friends and neighbors. Pray for your coworkers. Pray for our nation and its leaders. Pray for the world and those whose decisions touch the lives of others. Pray for the healthcare workers and those on the front lines who put themselves in danger each day to care for others during this pandemic. Pray that God will intervene and bring revival to our world, our nation, and our neighborhoods.

Share the good news that the Messiah came, died for our sins, rose from the grave, and sits as King of the world on God’s throne. Jesus is his name, Lord of lords, King of kings, creator of the universe and all that is in it. He died that we might have life more abundant. Believe in him as savior and king and you can have life eternally. Share the message. We are priests, ministers, with special gifts that God can use in many ways to show his love to the world around us. All are not preachers or teachers or evangelists, but all have gifts to share with a world that needs love desperately.

 Judgment is coming. Jesus is coming. God’s grace has extended the time of his judgment to let us introduce a few more before he does. We need to take advantage of the time we have so another one can learn about his love before it is too late.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked CEV are taken from the CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH VERSION (CEV): Scripture taken from the CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH VERSION copyright© 1995 by the American Bible Society. Used by permission.

 

Check out this episode!

Where Are We In History? November 16, 2020

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Today’s Podcast

Subscribe in: iTunes|

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Many wonder what we have to be thankful for as we look at what has happened this year. The world moves toward a full year facing the coronavirus pandemic with more than 50 million victims globally, and more than 1.2 million deaths. In the United States alone, we have topped 10 million cases and a quarter of a million deaths. Still far less than the scientists predicted nine months ago but devastating to the world and our country. 

The mistrust our media created over the last several months caused political upheaval resulting in mistrust in our elected officials, the integrity of our voting systems, and our political system. The blatant bias and censorship across the news media and social media failed to let citizens hear both sides of issues breeding mistrust and fomenting divide we haven’t seen here since the Civil War. 

We can see injustice across the country based on wealth, race, social connections, political connections, media involvement, and a host of criteria that makes us think the entire system reeks of corruption. In reality, almost every system, that one or two percent of truly corrupt legal representatives give the rest we don’t hear about their reputation as a whole. Just like the cry about police brutality, a few police abuse their authority and should be dealt with accordingly, but the vast majority of law enforcement officers do not fall into that category and see their role as a calling to help society, not harm it.

The last year put not just the United States, but every nation in an economic crisis. As businesses closed due to the pandemic to try and stop the spread of the disease, millions lost their jobs. People went from living paycheck to paycheck to wondering if they would get by at all. The government stepped in with unemployment and other benefits, but those benefits barely keep a family above the poverty level, if that. Many business haven’t recovered and some economists predict as many as 50% of small businesses may close their doors for good. We are in hard times. 

Then we faced all the natural disasters above and beyond the pandemic. They started with the wildfires in Australia that destroyed so much of that country. Our western states still don’t have their fires under control. Floods around the gulf coast devastated that area of our country as they faced multiple hurricanes this year. Earthquakes in several countries cost billions in damage and multiple lives. This has been an extraordinary year for disasters. And it’s not over yet. 

Judah must have felt the same way as Zephaniah began his prophecies. His tone didn’t help their already devastated state. They faced multiple invasions in the 7th and 8th centuries BCE. The kings filled their pockets at the expense of the common people and injustice rampaged the country. The prophets spoke of the deplorable condition of the widows and orphans, those who could not care for themselves in that culture. They faced drought, floods, and famine again and again in those years. And when crops were good, invaders came and took them.

Zephaniah said it was much the fault of the leaders and those who followed them. Listen to his words.

Be silent! I am the Lord God,

    and the time is near.

I am preparing

to sacrifice my people

    and to invite my guests.

I’ll search Jerusalem with lamps

    and punish those people

who sit there unworried

    while thinking,

“The Lord won’t do anything,

    good or bad.”

Their possessions will be taken,

    their homes left in ruins.

They won’t get to live

    in the houses they build,

or drink wine from the grapes

    in their own vineyards.

The great day of the Lord

    is coming soon, very soon.

On that terrible day,

fearsome shouts of warriors

    will be heard everywhere.

It will be a time of anger—

    of trouble and torment,

of disaster and destruction,

    of darkness and despair,

of storm clouds and shadows,

of trumpet calls

    and battle cries

against fortified cities

    and mighty fortresses.

The Lord warns everyone

    who has sinned against him,

“I’ll strike you blind!

Then your blood and your insides

    will gush out like vomit.

Not even your silver or gold

can save you on that day

    when I, the Lord, am angry.

My anger will flare up

    like a furious fire

scorching the earth

    and everyone on it.” (Zephaniah 1:7,12-18 CEV)

It wasn’t long before Israel faced another invading army and exile. Children forcibly removed from the land became indoctrinated in Babylon and the brightest put into the king’s service. Only the poorest finally ended up remaining in a ruined, burned out, rubble filled country. Why? Because they failed to do what God told them to do in the first place. They chased after the idols and gods of the people of the land God gave them instead of worshiping him. They failed to show the nations around them the true God of creation as he had instructed through Abraham, Moses, and the prophets.

What can we learn from the Israelites fate and Zephaniah’s words? First, God watches our actions and attitudes. The Israelites didn’t get away with their injustice. There is a day of reckoning. As a God of love, he cannot just stand by and do nothing about our decaying world. He must bring justice back. He must put everything right again or he is not a loving and just and true God. But we know he is and a day of reckoning will come. 

We also know he is a God of grace and mercy. He has held off his judgment to allow as many as will to come to know his grace. He wants humanity to come to him willingly, to know him as he is. He does not look forward to the day his wrath is poured out on those who refuse to listen to him, but instead he yearns for and gives every opportunity for humanity to come to salvation, even knowing many will not.

Finally, we know God gives us many warnings about what will come. His word tells us about the judgment he will bring upon the unjust, the unrighteous, those who will not believe. The earth shudders and gives its signs as if in labor waiting to give birth to a renewed creation. We see it all around us, but so many refused to see the very signs the prophets spoke of as they talked about the coming of the Lord.

So what should we do? Pray. Know your relationship with the Lord. Let him search you heart. Reach out to him and let him turn his spotlight on your life and make you more like him each day. Stay in his word. Get to know his word. Study it. Let it soak into your life and become part of you – not just on Sundays or in some Bible study, but every waking moment of every day. Let it be the guide for your life. God’s spirit will assure you of your relationship with him as you stay in his word. His spirit in you and his word will never disagree with each other. 

If God points something out in your life that needs changed, repent and fix it. Turn away from those things that do not look and feel like God and his plan and purpose. Repentance is more than being sorry for getting caught. It is stopping those things and doing what is right. Following in his footsteps. Going wherever he is. 

Pray unceasingly. Pray for yourself. Pray for your family and your friends and neighbors. Pray for your coworkers. Pray for our nation and its leaders. Pray for the world and those whose decisions touch the lives of others. Pray for the healthcare workers and those on the front lines who put themselves in danger each day to care for others during this pandemic. Pray that God will intervene and bring revival to our world, our nation, and our neighborhoods.

Share the good news that the Messiah came, died for our sins, rose from the grave, and sits as King of the world on God’s throne. Jesus is his name, Lord of lords, King of kings, creator of the universe and all that is in it. He died that we might have life more abundant. Believe in him as savior and king and you can have life eternally. Share the message. We are priests, ministers, with special gifts that God can use in many ways to show his love to the world around us. All are not preachers or teachers or evangelists, but all have gifts to share with a world that needs love desperately.

 Judgment is coming. Jesus is coming. God’s grace has extended the time of his judgment to let us introduce a few more before he does. We need to take advantage of the time we have so another one can learn about his love before it is too late.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day. 

Scriptures marked CEV are taken from the CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH VERSION (CEV): Scripture taken from the CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH VERSION copyright© 1995 by the American Bible Society. Used by permission.

Now What? – Episode 10-46, November 9, 2020

Leave a reply

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

I’m preparing this podcast on election day. By the time you hear it, I hope we have elected our officials for the coming terms. I don’t want this to drag out forever, as some elections have in the past. Many decry our electoral college system, but I’d like to share why that system is so crucial to our “United” States. The last census, remember that was ten years ago, showed that 50 percent of the population resided in only 146 of more than 3,000 counties in our country, 3141 to be exact. That means less than 5% of the counties hold more than half the population.

Why is that important to elections and the electoral college? Consider the outcry we get when we talk about the power of the small percentage of billionaires and multimillionaires. We scream that everyone should have a voice. We want equality and justice. If that’s the case, shouldn’t those other 3,000 counties, the other half of the population, not concentrated in those 146 counties also have a voice?

Fifteen of our states do not have a single county among those 146. Should they not be included in the election of our highest leader? Our founding fathers were pretty smart people giving one electoral vote for each senator and representative from each state when choosing the president in a representative election. The states with a higher population get more votes since they have more representatives, but every state gets at least three votes. West Virginia and North Dakota and Wyoming aren’t left out of the decision just because they have smaller populations than California, Florida, and Texas.

The magnificence of our Constitution is really pretty incredible. It’s a shame more people don’t take the time to read it, study it, understand the beauty of its language and fairness to all people within the country. Is it perfect? No. But we need to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. There is a reason we have millions trying to escape to our country, not from it. It’s not just our capitalism that allows you to earn a decent living; it’s the freedoms we embrace through our Constitution.

Most, not all, of our founding fathers were deeply religious people. Yes, some were deist, some were even atheist, but most were Christian with deep roots in their faith. And they wanted the government to stay out of their religious practice. They would not separate their religious practice from their operation of government, as we see in their prayers, letters, speeches, books, and biographies. But because of the kings’ suppression of religious freedom in Europe, they made sure the government stayed out of the church. That is what separation of church and state is about, not the other way around.

It was Eisenhower who included “under God” in our pledge of allegiance. “In God We Trust” became the nation’s official motto in July 1956, replacing “e Pluribus Unum.” So what happened? In the 1960s, we allowed ourselves to get turned upside down. We let satan’s minions convince us that church and state separation meant church could no longer be a part of politics. Politics and our political system has declined ever since. When you take God out of the state, the state destroys itself. Listen to Joshua’s warning to the people of Israel as he stepped away from leadership.

14 “Now then,” Joshua continued, “honor the Lord and serve him sincerely and faithfully. Get rid of the gods which your ancestors used to worship in Mesopotamia and in Egypt, and serve only the Lord. 15 If you are not willing to serve him, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your ancestors worshiped in Mesopotamia or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living. As for my family and me, we will serve the Lord.”

16 The people replied, “We would never leave the Lord to serve other gods! 17 The Lord our God brought our fathers and us out of slavery in Egypt, and we saw the miracles that he performed. He kept us safe wherever we went among all the nations through which we passed. 18 As we advanced into this land, the Lord drove out all the Amorites who lived here. So we also will serve the Lord; he is our God.” (Joshua 24:GNT)

    What happened? They didn’t get rid of their idols. Within a generation, they forgot God, who led them out of Egypt through the wilderness and defeated their enemies. They ignored Moses and Joshua and the commands God had given them. The book of Joshua ends with the horrifying words that echo what goes on in too many streets in cities in this country and around the world today – “everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” It’s called anarchy. We saw it in Portland and Seattle and Chicago and too many other places over the last several months leading up to the election that, as I mentioned, takes place as I prepare this podcast.

What are we to do? As Christians, we wholly support the person who will sit in the Oval Office until and after January 20th, whoever that might be. Paul tells us, and Jesus tells us people are allowed into places of authority to keep order. I would refer you to Romans 13:

Everyone must obey state authorities, because no authority exists without God’s permission, and the existing authorities have been put there by God. 2 Whoever opposes the existing authority opposes what God has ordered; and anyone who does so will bring judgment on himself. 3 For rulers are not to be feared by those who do good, but by those who do evil. Would you like to be unafraid of those in authority? Then do what is good, and they will praise you, 4 because they are God’s servants working for your own good. But if you do evil, then be afraid of them, because their power to punish is real. They are God’s servants and carry out God’s punishment on those who do evil. 5 For this reason you must obey the authorities—not just because of God’s punishment, but also as a matter of conscience. (Romans 13:1-5 GNT)

Paul could not put it more plainly. Whoever sits in office deserves our support. Whether you like the person or not, God allowed him to sit in the seat to provide order and justice to the nation. We, as Christians, do good. Period. We encourage others to do the same. We pray for those in authority. We encourage those in authority to do good. We help the helpless, voice our opinions, but do so in orderly and right ways, not that would cause chaos and disorder. Jesus did not riot. Paul did not riot. The Jews that opposed him did, but neither of them did. They preached the truth.

Whatever the outcome of the election, it is time to act as Christians, pray for our current and next leaders. Do whatever we can to stop the chaos plaguing our country and show both sides there is a better way. King Jesus can solve our problems if we let him. It’s not called distribution of wealth; it’s called helping the poor. That comes from a generous heart, not from a government tax or community fund. It’s time Christians begin to act like Christ and show the world there is a better way – the way of love. Show the world King Jesus is still and always will be in charge.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked GNT are taken from the Good News Translation®: Scriptures taken from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) Copyright © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.

 

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Now What? November 9, 2020

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

I’m preparing this podcast on election day. By the time you hear it, I hope we have elected our officials for the coming terms. I don’t want this to drag out forever, as some elections have in the past. Many decry our electoral college system, but I’d like to share why that system is so crucial to our “United” States. The last census, remember that was ten years ago, showed that 50 percent of the population resided in only 146 of more than 3,000 counties in our country, 3141 to be exact. That means less than 5% of the counties hold more than half the population.

Why is that important to elections and the electoral college? Consider the outcry we get when we talk about the power of the small percentage of billionaires and multimillionaires. We scream that everyone should have a voice. We want equality and justice. If that’s the case, shouldn’t those other 3,000 counties, the other half of the population, not concentrated in those 146 counties also have a voice? 

Fifteen of our states do not have a single county among those 146. Should they not be included in the election of our highest leader? Our founding fathers were pretty smart people giving one electoral vote for each senator and representative from each state when choosing the president in a representative election. The states with a higher population get more votes since they have more representatives, but every state gets at least three votes. West Virginia and North Dakota and Wyoming aren’t left out of the decision just because they have smaller populations than California, Florida, and Texas.

The magnificence of our Constitution is really pretty incredible. It’s a shame more people don’t take the time to read it, study it, understand the beauty of its language and fairness to all people within the country. Is it perfect? No. But we need to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. There is a reason we have millions trying to escape to our country, not from it. It’s not just our capitalism that allows you to earn a decent living; it’s the freedoms we embrace through our Constitution.

Most, not all, of our founding fathers were deeply religious people. Yes, some were deist, some were even atheist, but most were Christian with deep roots in their faith. And they wanted the government to stay out of their religious practice. They would not separate their religious practice from their operation of government, as we see in their prayers, letters, speeches, books, and biographies. But because of the kings’ suppression of religious freedom in Europe, they made sure the government stayed out of the church. That is what separation of church and state is about, not the other way around.

It was Eisenhower who included “under God” in our pledge of allegiance. “In God We Trust” became the nation’s official motto in July 1956, replacing “e Pluribus Unum.” So what happened? In the 1960s, we allowed ourselves to get turned upside down. We let satan’s minions convince us that church and state separation meant church could no longer be a part of politics. Politics and our political system has declined ever since. When you take God out of the state, the state destroys itself. Listen to Joshua’s warning to the people of Israel as he stepped away from leadership.

14 “Now then,” Joshua continued, “honor the Lord and serve him sincerely and faithfully. Get rid of the gods which your ancestors used to worship in Mesopotamia and in Egypt, and serve only the Lord. 15 If you are not willing to serve him, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your ancestors worshiped in Mesopotamia or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living. As for my family and me, we will serve the Lord.”

16 The people replied, “We would never leave the Lord to serve other gods! 17 The Lord our God brought our fathers and us out of slavery in Egypt, and we saw the miracles that he performed. He kept us safe wherever we went among all the nations through which we passed. 18 As we advanced into this land, the Lord drove out all the Amorites who lived here. So we also will serve the Lord; he is our God.” (Joshua 24:GNT) 

    What happened? They didn’t get rid of their idols. Within a generation, they forgot God, who led them out of Egypt through the wilderness and defeated their enemies. They ignored Moses and Joshua and the commands God had given them. The book of Joshua ends with the horrifying words that echo what goes on in too many streets in cities in this country and around the world today – “everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” It’s called anarchy. We saw it in Portland and Seattle and Chicago and too many other places over the last several months leading up to the election that, as I mentioned, takes place as I prepare this podcast.

What are we to do? As Christians, we wholly support the person who will sit in the Oval Office until and after January 20th, whoever that might be. Paul tells us, and Jesus tells us people are allowed into places of authority to keep order. I would refer you to Romans 13:

Everyone must obey state authorities, because no authority exists without God’s permission, and the existing authorities have been put there by God. 2 Whoever opposes the existing authority opposes what God has ordered; and anyone who does so will bring judgment on himself. 3 For rulers are not to be feared by those who do good, but by those who do evil. Would you like to be unafraid of those in authority? Then do what is good, and they will praise you, 4 because they are God’s servants working for your own good. But if you do evil, then be afraid of them, because their power to punish is real. They are God’s servants and carry out God’s punishment on those who do evil. 5 For this reason you must obey the authorities—not just because of God’s punishment, but also as a matter of conscience. (Romans 13:1-5 GNT)

Paul could not put it more plainly. Whoever sits in office deserves our support. Whether you like the person or not, God allowed him to sit in the seat to provide order and justice to the nation. We, as Christians, do good. Period. We encourage others to do the same. We pray for those in authority. We encourage those in authority to do good. We help the helpless, voice our opinions, but do so in orderly and right ways, not that would cause chaos and disorder. Jesus did not riot. Paul did not riot. The Jews that opposed him did, but neither of them did. They preached the truth.

Whatever the outcome of the election, it is time to act as Christians, pray for our current and next leaders. Do whatever we can to stop the chaos plaguing our country and show both sides there is a better way. King Jesus can solve our problems if we let him. It’s not called distribution of wealth; it’s called helping the poor. That comes from a generous heart, not from a government tax or community fund. It’s time Christians begin to act like Christ and show the world there is a better way – the way of love. Show the world King Jesus is still and always will be in charge.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day. 

Scriptures marked GNT are taken from the Good News Translation®: Scriptures taken from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) Copyright © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.

The Voting Is Over – Episode 10-45, November 2, 2020

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Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

We are in the week of our election in the United States. Depending on when you’re listening, we are choosing tomorrow, have chosen, or are awaiting news of who garnered the most electoral votes and will sit in the Oval Office on January 20th. Will it make a difference to the country? I’m not sure.

In the last few decades, we polarized ourselves to such a degree I’m not sure anyone can bring us together unless we, as a people, choose to stand up as a whole and demand change from within. Jesus described our political parties well from his description of the political parties of his day when he said in Matthew 23:

2 ‘The scribes and Pharisees,’ he said, ‘sit on the seat of Moses. 3 So you must do whatever they tell you, and keep it, but don’t do the things they do. You see, they talk but they don’t do. 4 They tie up heavy bundles which are difficult to carry, and they dump them on people’s shoulders – but they themselves aren’t prepared to lift a little finger to move them!

5 ‘Everything they do is for show, to be seen by people. Yes, they make their prayer-boxes large and their prayer-tassels long, 6 and they love the chief places at dinners, the main seats in the synagogues, 7 the greetings in the market-places, and having people call them “Rabbi.”                  (Matthew 23: 2-7 NTE)

Take a look at what goes on within the political arena in Washington. We’ve had so little happen for the people in the last 20 years unless it brought attention to the bill’s author. We hear about Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act, but if you read the 10,000 pages of its legislation, it’s not much different from the Trump Healthcare plan except for the act’s regulation. They both provide the same care to those who can’t afford it. They both ensure pre-existing conditions are covered. They both try to reduce unpredictable and uncontrollable costs.

The big difference is in the regulation. The Republican Party doesn’t like big government, so gets rid of regulation whenever it can, which means getting rid of government oversight and government jobs. The Democratic Party favors big government and management and adds regulation and government jobs. The two have much more in common than in differences. But we don’t read the 14,000 pages of legal jargon, so we don’t know that. We only hear what each side tells us through their media, and we buy their stories.

I’m thrilled we finally turned out to vote this year and discovered the importance of letting our voices be heard in an election. Maybe we won’t crawl into a hole until the next general election but will instead continue to provide a voice through letters, calls, attendance at local venues with our representatives in the local, state, and federal legislatures to let them know what we think. We have let them run amuck far too long. It’s our fault the right and left have grown so far apart. We have failed as citizens to reign them in and make them sit down at the table and discuss meaningful compromises that will do what we want them to do. They are our representatives, not our kings, our princes, or bosses. They should be giving voice to what we want, not what they want.

How do we make that happen? When they fail to voice our concerns and a more moderate line, which is what I think most Americans would prefer, we should vote them out of office and replace them with someone who will listen to our voice. Recalls can still happen when our representatives fail to follow what we insist they do. Our laws allow us and demand us to take such action for the good of the citizens they represent. But we must stay involved and informed if we plan to do those things.

We can’t blindly take the word of what we have found to be a significantly biased media. Both left and right spin their stories to inflame the other side. Now we see both sides of social media intentionally censor their clientele to ensure only one side gets told on their platform. As Christians, how are we to overcome this divide that plagues our nation?

First, recognize what is happening. As Jesus said, “A house divided cannot stand.” If we continue to allow the media and our politicians to inflame the populace along far-right and far-left ideologies, America will dissolve as a democracy. We cannot continue to survive as a nation under these conditions. Nor can we survive as a far-left or far-right nation. Neither side will meet the needs of the majority. The radical fringe ideologies that both sides propose daily will destroy what we built over the last 244 years. Both extremes are wrong. Both sides lay burdens on the backs of the people they are not willing to carry themselves. Note the exemptions Congress gives itself regarding the laws it enacts for the rest of us concerning taxes, healthcare, banking laws, salary for life after serving just one term, and many other regulations that burden the people but not them.

Second, pray that God will intervene and soften the hearts of the men and women in our elected positions, that they will listen to his voice and act accordingly. Pray that he will hear our prayers and heal our land. Pray that he will bring safety to our country; that he will return a sense of humanity to the hearts of both sides of the aisles in our legislators at all levels of government. Pray that the radical actors burning our cities and committing violence against innocent citizens will stop, repent, and discover God.

Third, find out the facts about what our governments at local, state, and federal levels are doing. Don’t listen to the news outlets, but instead, get involved and read the legislative bodies’ official records. Go to the public documents that record the legislation and the votes of those who represent you. See how they acted, not what they said. It’s often interesting the differences you find in the two. You don’t get prosecuted for lying to the press, but you do when you perjure yourself in court or Congress. So read the official records.

Fourth, vote for the individuals who act according to what you think is right for the community at large. Don’t vote based on what you hear in ad campaigns or what the media splashes across their platform. As we have seen in the campaigns this year, both sides do their best to take one statement, spin it a million different ways, and try to trash their opponent. This has nothing to do with how they will help you or your community. So, vote for the person who acts to do what is right for the community at large. That is what democracy is about—doing the majority’s will while protecting the few’s rights.

Next, get involved. Go to the meetings your representatives hold—Voice your opinions and concerns. Ensure your representatives carry out the will of the people, not their agenda. They represent the majority that put them in office, not some isolated group somewhere, or at least that is how our government is supposed to work. When they fail to meet your expectations, vote them out of office. Don’t let politicians continue to hold offices that fail to carry out the will of the majority. Hold them accountable for their promises.

Finally, force your representatives to sit down at the table and listen to the other side. Find the commonalities between the two. Negotiate a reasonable plan that will satisfy both sides. We don’t need to operate on the far left or far right. In fact, we should probably never find ourselves living in either space. Find a moderate compromise that takes both sides’ best and legislates a sensible plan free of all the add-on amendments that too often cause good bills to fail. Get involved as one not driven by either extreme to let your voice, driven by the King of kings, be heard.

The voting is over. Right now, the country is in turmoil, and it’s our fault as Americans, as silent Christians. We have not played our part as good citizens. It’s time we do what we should and let our voices be heard so that the King of kings can rule this nation along with all the others. It’s time to participate in politics and tell those the country elected to do the right thing and make sure they do. Remember, separation of church and state was always to keep the government out of the church, not keep the church out of government. We need to raise our voice and let God back into the running of our country. It’s our fault as Christians we are where we are today. We can help fix it if we dare.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked NTE are taken from the NEW TESTAMENT FOR EVERYONE: Scripture is taken from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011.

 

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