Ecclesiastes 12:10

  For the start of Christianity, the church received a form of official protection by its association with Judaism. Roman officials were reluctant to get involved in matters of religion (Acts 18:15, 25:19)  Yet, that wouldn’t be the case for too long. Under Emperor Nero, Christians would become the scapegoats for Romes’s problems. As Tertullian was quoted, “ If the Tiber rises too high, or the Nile too low, the remedy is always feeding Christians to the lions. ”  It should not have come as a shock for the faithful, however. The apostles and writers on the New Testament had warned the faithful of the coming persecution. “ Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeals ” and “ all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted ” (1st Peter 4:12,2 nd Timothy 3:12).   However, these attacks wouldn't hinder the spread of the Gospel, they would actually impel it. In a few years, Christianity would go from the scourge of the Empire to its official religion. ...

  The word NOW comes from a Latin phrase, novus homo , which means “a new man” or “man newly ennobled”.   There is a powerful lesson in that. Each moment is a change we have to start over. To become a new person, to become a better person.   Now is an important concept in the Bible. Now is the day of salvation (2 nd Corinthians 6:2) Now is the time to encourage (Hebrews 3:13). Now is the time to do what is right (James 4:15-17). Now is the time to repent (Acts 17:30).  A new you starts will an action but it must be done now! Tomorrow isn’t here. Yesterday is already gone. Now is the time. There is no time like the present because we exist nowhere other than now.  Do you want a new start? Do it now!

  Man plans, God laughs – Yiddish proverb   We think we know what is going to happen. We forecast the weather, make our preseason picks, predict the next big blockbuster, start counting the money that that hot stock is going to bring us.   However, we are not that great at it.   Go look at old draft forecasts or an article from a few years back on the next big things and you will see what everyone thought was it, didn’t turn out that way. Sure, we might get some things right but more so we get maybe a bit above random chance. Yet it still doesn’t keep us from thinking we know what will be   In James 4:13-14 we read “ Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away .”   It is hard to see the curve of the future be...

   We‘ve all heard the phrase before “the greatest thing since sliced bread” but as it turns out this greatest thing didn’t start out so great.   Otto Rohwedder invented the first bread slicing machine (built to slice bread by the loaf).  His prototype and blueprints went up in smoke in a fire in 1917. For the next several years he perfected the design and by 1927 it worked perfectly. Expect no one wanted it.   A lot of bakers were skeptical, fearing the pre-sliced bread would fall apart and grow stale too fast.  They didn’t think people would much care if their bread was sliced. In 1928 only one company had bought his device.   Luckily for him and us, the marketing folks stepped began promoting the product. By 1933, American bakeries were selling more sliced than unsliced bread loaves. It wasn’t that the idea wasn’t sound, people just had to be convinced.   Sometimes good ideas need promoters, People who can help others s...

  It was always a gag among my friends when you told a joke that bombed or said something that got no response, to say crickets. It was a call back to the old Loony Toons bit when the performer finishes his big show and all you hear from the audience is the sound of crickets chirping.   Is there anything worse than giving it your all and there is no applause, only crickets?  Sometimes life feels that way for those seeking to do good. Our efforts are strong. Our dedication is strong. Our commitment is strong. But the response is weak. It can make us feel like the work isn’t worth it.   However, consider the words of Hebrews 6:10-11,  “ For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end ,”. Here we are told that though we might no...