Not able to ignore The New Testament

" ... whatever the ultimate truth may be,
Jewish history remains incomplete without including the full breadth of interpretive discussion and discord that arose out of First Century Israel. 

Even if we were to deny every word, indeed every possible interpretation of those words in its pages, we cannot ignore it.  If we cannot ignore it then we need to understand these perspectives apart from any faith-based decisions regarding its message.
  The fact of the matter is, in order to do this effectively
we must restore its original message."
Andrew Gabriel Roth
in his 'Open Letter to the Jewish People regarding the New Testament'

Picking Stones

A Pile Of Stones These stones were removed from the field whilst preparing the soil for planting potatoes. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Picking Stones

March 14, 2009

By Randy Mantik

Ah, spring. It's wonderful to see things green up. One of the things that signaled the arrival of spring for our family when I was growing up on the farm was an annual ritual we carried out in the fields before planting called 'picking stones.' Ugh! For the uninitiated, picking stones is when you go through the field and pick up and cart off all the stones that have pushed their way up through the soil during the winter.

The first few times I did it, I thought, 'One of these years, we're going to get rid of every single stone and never have to do it again.' But, alas, when spring came the next year there was a fresh crop of stones.

In Matthew 13:1-23, Jesus talks about people's hearts, comparing their receptiveness to the message of the gospel to the soil. The soil of the heart doesn't have to be hard and unworkable. It can be softened.

Jesus says the seed sometimes falls on rocky ground. The soil appears to be good, yet it¹s shallow. The seed goes in and seems to take root, but there¹s not enough depth to maintain life. The plant dies off when the sun burns hot and things get hard because there are no strong roots.

Everyone faces the 'sun of circumstances' on their lives. Sometimes the rays are feeble and hardly felt; other times you suffer from a serious sunburn. A feeble ray might be when your car is in the shop or the washer breaks. A heat wave, when your child is diagnosed with cancer or the company you work for downsized you right out of a job. You name it, life can throw it at you.

However, what determines whether we grow in the heat of our situation or simply wither away is the depth and workability of our soil. How healthy are our spiritual roots? Are we diligently picking the rocks out of our hearts' soil.

What's life's sun doing to you? As someone said, "The same sun that hardens clay softens butter." When we allow the Word to soak into the hard, rocky places of our heart, wonderful things begin to happen. There is death to self. And then there is life. Let the Holy Spirit help you pick some stones from your heart today.
‹ Randy Mantik is lead pastor at CrossPoint AG in Portage, Wis.

+++
2015 August update:

Related articles

• Through New Eyes
• The Word: Matthew 13:1-16
• Leave no unturned stone
• To those that call themselves Christians - Remember this
• God Didn't Call You to be a Stoic
• God's Law
• Love for All
• Kevin Lemon And Tiffany Boone Jones Rock It - Pastor Hezekiah Walker's Church
• Monday's Good for the Soul - Baptismal Water
• And Jesus Wept: Part 2- Jesus Was A Palestinian - Veterans Today

Certainty in a troubled world

Be Prepared

For the inhabitants of Pompeii on a certain day in AD79 it was simply just another day, or so it seemed. Little did they realise that the very next day a volcanic eruption would bring a sudden end to their existence. Similarly the thousands of people killed by the tsunami in December 2004 were taken by surprise.

The uncertainties of life

Our lives are full of uncertainties and we do well to remember that. The Apostle James, in his usual direct manner, writes in James 4:13-15 “Go to now ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there, and buy and sell and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that': In a world of uncertainty it is important to look to the eternal and unchanging truth revealed in God's inspired and living word, the Bible.

The certainties of God's Word

The Gospel of Luke opens in chapter 1:4 with a reference to “ ... the certainties of those things wherein thou hast been instructed':

There is no question about the truth and importance of the gospel message. The death and resurrection of Jesus marks the central point of God's master plan for the world. This is still a work in progress as we await another crucial step, namely the return of Jesus. It is recorded in The Acts of the Apostles that as Jesus ascended into heaven a promise was made in the most plain and simple words as follows:

" ... Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven': (Acts 1:11). For all of us the return of Jesus cannot be more than our lifetime away and in fact is likely to be near at hand as the signs show.

The signs

The Bible tells us of signs indicating that the return of Christ is near. The Apostle Paul, writing to Timothy in

2 Timothy 3:1-3 states 'This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, (without self-control; NKJV.), fierce, despisers of those that are good': This looks like a perfect snapshot of society today when man places himself and his desires at the very centre of God's universe.

Jesus spoke of the similarities of the days of his second coming with the days of Noah when, as we are told in the book of Genesis that the earth was filled with violence. In Matthew 24:7 Jesus speaks of the time when "Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places': which ultimately will herald his return. Does that picture seem familiar? With the world economic situation full of uncertainty the words of the prophet Haggai seem relevant. "Ye have sown much but ye bring in little; ye eat and have not enough ... and be that earneth wages earneth wages to put in a bag with boles':

(Haggai 1:6).

What a good description of inflation! The plain words of Paul give certainty in a troubled world.

God will act

Paul told the Athenians that God

" ...hath appointed a day, in the which be will judge the world in righteousness by that man that he hath ordained,' whereof be hath given assurance to all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead': (Acts 17:31). Writing to the believers in Thessalonica Paul says "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night': (1 Thess 5:1-2)

While none of us knows his/her immediate future God has revealed His ultimate purpose in the pages of scripture. God is not the author of confusion but He gives us a hope that cannot be shaken and a promise that is sure and certain. Let us believe God's message in this day of our opportunity and prepare ourselves for the return of Jesus by serving him now.

RICHARD BUCKLER