Friends of Faith Baptist of North Chili,
Last night in our Prayer Meeting Bible study, we saw (from Genesis 8:21 – 9:7) specific revelation from God to Noah and his family that refutes what the cultural and “intellectual” elite of our day espouse as absolute truth (even while they claim to deny the existence of absolute truth)! In their insistence that everything has come about by natural causes and random chance, they are eager to remove God and accountability to Him from their existence. God spoke to Noah and his family as they prepared themselves to start afresh and anew, repopulating the earth and rebuilding civilization. He wanted them to know these truths so they (and we) can avoid erroneous thought patterns, groundless fears and the violent anarchy that existed before the flood.
Today we hear (conveyed with a sense of alarm) that the world is facing:
1. Global warming as the supposed result of mankind’s presence and influence on earth along with anticipated disastrous climate change signaling the end of seasons and food production. But God says, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.”
2. Overpopulation along with the “need” for population control. But God says, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”
3. Cruelty to animals tied to eating red meat from animals, which are at least on the same level as humans if not a higher order. But God says, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.” God wants us to remember that there is a distinction between the animal kingdom and humanity – we are not here to serve them, but they have been given to us (and we are to be stewards of that gift). We are, however, to avoid consuming the blood of animals – out of respect for life (not to worship the creature, but to respect the principle of life) and because blood on the altar was acceptable to God as a substitute for the blood of the sinner making the offering (Lev. 17:11) until the once-for-all substitutionary shedding of Jesus’ blood for the wages of sin. This avoidance of blood isn’t set aside in the New Testament (Acts 15:19-20).
4. An overzealous government which, they say, wants to react to violent criminals with violence in a way that they consider to be cruel and unusual (especially capital punishment). They are overlooking the fact that God delegated the authority to execute His judgment (the death penalty) on a murderer, because God says, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.” The basis of law and government is to prevent an individual from taking another human being’s life (which has value because it was made in the image of God). According to Henry Morris’ commentary, “The Genesis Record,” “The authority for capital punishment implies also the authority to establish laws governing those human activities and personal relationships, which if unregulated could soon lead to murder (e.g., robbery, adultery, usurpation of property boundaries). Thus, this simple instruction to Noah is the fundamental basis for all human legal and governmental institutions.”
So, what we have is a wise and sovereign God preparing Noah and his sons to organize themselves with confidence (in Him), purpose, and respect for life. Yup, still needed today!
********************
TIME FOR A SMILE
A crew of highway maintenance workers were sent to repair some road signs that vandals had knocked down in a forested area. The first one they put back up was the standard symbol warning of a deer crossing.
As they moved down the road to repair the next sign, one member (of a certain hair color) looked back and spotted a deer running across the highway.
She turned to a co-worker and said, “I wonder how long he’s been waiting to cross?”
A man and his wife (of a certain hair color) in a pickup truck drove into a lumberyard. The wife walked in the office and said, “We need some four-by-twos.”
The clerk asked, “You mean two-by-fours, don’t you?”
She said, “I’ll go check,” and went back to the truck. She returned and said, “Yeah, I meant two-by-four.”
“All right. How long do you need them?”
She paused for a minute and said, “I’d better go check.”
After a while, she returned to the office and said, “A long time. We’re gonna build a house.”
********************
Sunday, June 3, 2007
* Family Bible Classes – 9:30am
* The Adult Class (meeting in the auditorium) continues the study “Crises and Crowns” — the Old Testament biographies of Samuel, Saul, David and Solomon. This week we will study 1Samuel 21-23 (actually beginning lesson 6). David begins a ten-year-long exile, fleeing from Saul’s jealous anger, living as a fugitive. We would call this God’s school of hard knocks. It further prepared him to be a good and wise and godly king.
* Morning Worship – 10:45am
* From John 4:1-15, this Sunday morning’s message title is “Living Water.” Jesus and His disciples travel back to Galilee. On the way (going through Samaria) they stop at Jacob’s well. The disciples go into town to get some food and Jesus rests by the well. A woman comes to draw water and Jesus asks her for a drink. She is surprised that he would talk to her (cultural differences and all). His response is even more surprising – “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and he would have given you living water.” Is this an interesting little Sunday School story about giving water to thirsty travelers or is it an essential truth that impacts our eternal destiny? Reflect on those words of Jesus and discern what He is saying to this woman.
* Evening Celebration – 6:00pm
* This Sunday evening we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper. When Jesus instituted this ordnance with His disciples He took the cup, gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission [forgiveness] of sins.” (Matthew 26:27-28) We will center our thoughts on the blessed promise of, “The New Covenant.”
********************
That’s all for this edition of FaithFriends. Pray with me that God’s people will be equipped and encouraged and the lost will hear the good news of the Gospel and trust Christ for their salvation!
Your faithful Minister of the Word,
Pastor Harriman
www.fbcnorthchili.org