What Is He Going To Do About It?

In 1997, Reed Hastings returned a rented copy of the movie Apollo 13 to Blockbuster Video. He was dismayed when he was told he owed a $40 late fee, more than double the cost to buy the movie. The next year he founded Netflix as an alternative to the movie rental change. By 2010 Blockbuster was bankrupt and out of business and Netflix was worth 20 billion dollars. While Netflix didn't shut down blockbuster, it did steal the market that Blockbuster needed to move into. Abusing one customer destroyed them in the end.

We may not think much of the slights we give to others. The rude comment to the waitress, the person we cut off in traffic, the people we cut in front of in the checkout line, the man we shortchange in business; but we always need to be careful because we never know when those small slights may cause big damage. I hate to think of the examples of people that refuse to come to worship services because that is where “so & so” goes and once they did them wrong. Little slights and conflicts have a way of growing into things much bigger than we expect.

In Matthew 5:25 Jesus tells us, "Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison”. Don’t think a slight conflict is no big deal. It can grow until it destroys you. Be conscience of how we treat the world around us. The light we send could lead them to Christ but the slight we give may also keep them from the truth!

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Until Midnight

In Acts 20, there is the tragicomic event surrounding a young man by the name of Eutychus. He did what a lot of folks before and after him did, he fell asleep during a sermon. Unfortunately, he was setting in in the third story window at the time. So instead of nodding off and hitting the pew in front of him, he fell to his death. The good news was the apostle Paul was delivering the sermon and had the ability to bring him back. I don’t know, however, if we can judge Eutychus too harshly. The sermon had gone on till midnight. Paul wouldn’t finish it up till daybreak. That’s a long lesson. I know some folks that might want to jump out of a window if I had a lesson that long, yet these Christians wanted to be there to hear Paul. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pushing for all night sermons but I think we might need to adopt these folks' dedication. They knew that Paul was only in town for a limited time only and they were determined to ...

The Mighty Gulf

It is hard to get people on two sides of an issue to come together. Each has their own viewpoint, their perceptive, their own foibles, their own understanding. To gain any common ground there must be something in common. Something or someone that can bridge the gulf between the two. Could there be a greater gulf than there was between God and man? How could a holy perfect God find a way to connect to the fallen, imperfect mankind? How can one without temptation connect to those who are beset by it? How could limited mortal beings understand an omnipotent eternal God? In 1 Timothy 2:5, we read, “ For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus .” The phrase mediator here describes a person that bridges the gap, a go-between. Jesus was one who could stand in both worlds. A perfect holy one who can understand our temptations, a man who would die yet live eternally, One who was God yet became flesh and dwelt among us. ...

Praying For A Famine

In the story of the prodigal son, we see a young man who leaves home to go into the far country. There he falls into a life of sin and excess. His funds from the inheritance run out but then something tragic happens, a famine. This famine means there isn’t enough for the people of that land much less this young outsider. They let him watch the pigs but won’t even let him eat their slop. It’s only then that the boy realizes the foolishness of his choices and the need to go home. He thinks he will only be accepted as a hired man, not a son but the hunger has burned away his pride. He does not care anymore. Yet his father accepts him back, it even seems he has been watching the road longing for his return. A celebration ensues, rejoicing over the lost one that has come home. Have we considered however what got him to come home? If not for the famine the young man may never have had the epiphany that he needed to come back. Famines are terrible things and they don’...

Ecclesiastes 12:10

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