Articles of Faith, sermons, poetry and devotions…
Smokey Barn News
Sunday July 5, 2014
Robertson County, Tenn.
“The Sunday Post” is a column comprised of articles of Faith, sermons, poetry and devotions……….
Questioning God:
“Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” (Romans 9:20)
Whenever one begins a question with “why,” he should realize that the answer must necessarily be theological, not scientific. Science can deal with the questions of “what” and “how,” sometimes even with “where” and “when,” but never with “why”! The “why” questions have to do with motives and purposes, even when dealing with natural phenomena. (“Why does the earth rotate on its axis?” “Why do we have mosquitoes?”) Even though we can partially explain such things by secondary causes, we finally encounter a “first cause,” and then the “why?” can be answered only by God.
The wise thing to do is simply to believe that He has good reasons for everything, whether we can discern them now or not. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25). God the Creator “worketh all things after the counsel of his own will” (Ephesians 1:11) also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,), and it is our high privilege simply to trust Him, not to question Him.
On the other hand, He often asks us: “Why?” “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” Jesus asked His disciples when they thought they were in great peril (Matthew 8:26). “If I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?” (John 8:46) He would say to those who question His Word.
Then to those who doubt His deity, the apostle Paul, speaking in His name, asks: “Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” (Acts 26:8). As the popular chorus goes: “God specializes in things thought impossible!” Our God is omniscient and knows what’s best; He is omnipotent, so He can do it. He is all-loving and will surely do what’s best for those who trust Him.
(Source: Author – Henry M. Morris)
A lil’ Bible Trivia……
Answer to be revealed in next week’s “Sunday Post”………The answer to last weeks can be found in: Genesis 1:21,Job 7:12, Ezekiel 32:2, Matthew 12:40
Don’t underestimate the effects of sin:
Our sin steals joy
Our sin ruins fellowship with God
Diminishes fruitfulness
Robs of us peace
Renders our service useless
Ineffective to evangelize
Hinders our prayers
Brings on the discipline of God
Sin is a transgression of God’s will and law
Sin is an abomination
Sin is a stench in the nostrils of God
Sin is a tribute to his majesty the devil, Sin is a one way ticket to Hell
Sin is to miss the mark of the high calling of God……..
Let’s have a jumping contest and go to the sun soaked beaches of California. We will run as fast as we can and jump as far as we can to see who can jump the farthest out into the Pacific Ocean. But the one who jumps the farthest does not win. You see the goal is to land on Hawaii. No matter how hard we try or how high we jump, or how far we jump we can never reach Heaven on our own anymore than we can jump from California to Hawaii.
Jesus said we must be perfect even as our Father is perfect. We can only be perfect in the Lord Jesus. Write your name on a piece of paper and place it in a large book. What happens to the book happens to the piece of paper. If the book is destroyed so is the piece of paper with your name on it. If the book is honored with a special place in the library so are you. Now know that to be in Jesus is much the same as your name on a paper in a book. If the book is perfect so is your paper and your name. How can you be in Jesus? Simply ask Him to cover you with His righteousness and when the Father sees you he will see the righteousness of His Own dear Son who died that you might live.
Mt 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
QUOTE:
“Never give the devil a ride! He will always want to drive!”
When God Sold His Cattle:
Shortly after the Dallas Theological Seminary was founded in 1924, it almost had to close. The creditors were about to foreclose at noon on a certain day. Pres. Lewis S. Chafer met with his faculty at the office, praying fervently that God would provide. Present was Dr. Harry Ironside who prayed in his characteristic style: “Lord, we know that the cattle on a thousand hills are Thine. Please sell some of them and send us the money.”
Meanwhile, a tall Texas businessman stepped into the seminary business office, saying: “I just sold two carloads of cattle in Fort Worth, but could not make the deal go through. I feel compelled to give the money to the seminary. I don’t care if you need it or not, but here’s the check!”
The surprised secretary took the check, and timidly knocked on the door of the prayer meeting. When Dr. Chafer took the check out of her hand, it was for the exact amount of the debt. Turning to Dr. Ironside, Chafer said: “Harry, God sold the cattle!”
The most interesting story I ever heard….. was told me years ago by a man over eighty years of age. We were sitting together on a projecting rock of a mountainside in Arkansas. Here is the story:
“I was down in this country during the Civil War. Across on the other side yonder there were hundreds of tents where our soldiers were encamped. Measles broke out and many of the brave young men died. The epidemic got so bad we stretched some tents farther down the valley and moved all the measles patients into these tents. This, of course, was done to protect, as far as possible, the health of the healthy soldiers. I was wardmaster in charge of the tents where the measles patients were located.
“One night while I was on the ward, I passed a bunk where there was a very sick young soldier not more than seventeen years of age. The boy looked at me with a pathetic expression and said:
“‘Wardmaster, I believe I’m going to die. I’m not a Christian. My mother and father aren’t Christians. I never did attend church. I did go with a boyfriend to Sunday school just once. A woman taught the Sunday school class. She read us something out of the Bible about a man who went to see Jesus one night. Jesus told this man he must be born again. The teacher said all people must be born again in order to go to heaven when they die. I have never been born again, and I don’t want to die like this. Won’t you please get the chaplain so he can tell me how to be born again?’”
The old man hesitated for a moment. “You know, in those days I was an agnostic—at least, that is what I called myself. So I told the boy, ‘You don’t need a chaplain. Just be quiet now. Don’t worry, you’ll be all right.’ I went around the ward, and in about an hour I came back to the boy’s bed. He looked at me out of such sad, staring eyes as he said, ‘Wardmaster, if you won’t get me the chaplain, please get me the doctor. I am choking to death.’ ‘All right, my son, I’ll get the doctor,’ I said. So I went off and found the doctor. He came and mopped out the throat of the lad so he could breathe a little easier. I knew the boy was going to die. I had seen many other cases just like his. The doctor and I went away from the bed.
“In about an hour I came back expecting to find the boy dead but he was still struggling. He said, ‘There is no use, Wardmaster. I have got to die, and I haven’t been born again. Whether you believe in it or not, won’t you find the chaplain and let him tell me how to be born again?’ I looked at him for a moment and said, ‘All right, my son, I will get the chaplain.’
“I walked away a few paces and then turned and went back to the boy’s bedside. I said, ‘My boy, I am not going to get you the chaplain. I am going to tell you what to do myself. Now, understand, I am an agnostic. I don’t know whether there is any God. I don’t know whether there is any heaven. I don’t know whether there is any hell. I don’t know anything. Yes, I do. I know one thing. I know my mother was a good woman. I know if there is a God my mother knew Him. So I will tell you what my mother told me. You can try it and see if it works. Now, I am going to teach you a verse of Scripture. The verse is John 3:16.
“‘God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ ‘My mother said that I cannot save myself, but if I will believe in Jesus, He will save me.’
“I asked the boy to say the verse with me. I started and he followed with a weak and trembling voice. ‘God so loved the world,’ ‘God so loved the world’; ‘He gave His only begotten Son,’ ‘He gave His only begotten Son’; ‘that whosoever believeth in Him,’ ‘that whosoever believeth in Him’; ‘should not perish,’ ‘should not perish’; ‘but have everlasting life,’ ‘but have everlasting life.’ ‘Now, my boy, my mother said if a person will trust Jesus, he will not perish but have everlasting life.’
“He closed his eyes, stretched his hands across his breast and in a whisper he quoted slowly, repeating some of the words several times: ‘God so loved the world…He gave His only begotten Son … that whosoever, whosoever … whosoever believeth, believeth in Him,believeth in Him.’
“Then he stopped and said in a clear voice, ‘Praise God, Wardmaster, it works. I believe in Him! I shall not perish! I have everlasting life! I have been born again. Wardmaster, your mother was right. Why don’t you try it? Do what your mother said. It works, Wardmaster. This thing works! Wardmaster, before I go I want to ask you to do something for me. Take a kiss to my mother and tell her what you told me, and tell her that her dying son said, “It works.”’”
The old man, wiping tears out of his eyes and tears out of the wrinkles of his face, said, “The lad was right. It does work. Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but now has everlasting life. It works. I know it works!”
“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). B. J.
(Source: www.bibletruthpublishers.com)
QUOTE:
“The Bible is no mere book, but a living Creature, with a power that conquers all that oppose it”. ‘”I have men without God in the revolution. One does not govern such men. One shoots them down.”
Napoleon
Do You KNOW Him?
Philippians 3:8 & 10 “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;”
I recently read a story concerning a housewife who said to her husband, “This morning somebody knocked at our door, and when I opened it a stranger asked me rather abruptly, “Do you know Jesus Christ?” I didn’t know how to answer him and frustrated I finally closed the door in his face without so much as saying a word. “Why didn’t you tell him,” her husband suggested, “that you are a teacher of the ladies Bible study class in our church and the president of the Women’s Missionary Society?” His wife replied, “That’s not what he asked me!” Would it not be well to ask ourselves, “For all I do and belong to, do I truly know Jesus Christ?” How many church members today cannot honestly say in their hearts that they really know Jesus Christ? Jesus made this most interesting statement in…..Keep reading –Do you know Jesus
Scott Hamilton – American figure skater and Olympic gold medalist resides here in middle Tennessee and tells his personal testimony in “I am Second”
READ LAST WEEKS Sunday Post June 29, 2014
Lots of material, very interesting, very good. I like the picture of the pretty lady, photos are good. Keep up the good work.
Amen and AMEN! I wonder if Smokey Barn could recommend a good church for me to attend?
Really liked the Most Interesting Story. I guess if you think about it you could not find a story that is more interesting in the light of the life after this one.
John 3:16 is my favorite verse.
Amen to the Sunday Post today. It reminds me of my youth when things just seemed more simple. God used to be a big part of America and now he is just a cuss word. I hope this year America will bless God and get back in touch with him.
I love the Most Interesting Story on today’s post. I am surprised God is still even talking to us much less still saving folks who come to him. Our country is in a bigger mess than any of us know and I hope we will all ask for God’s help today in turning our country back to him and the Bible. Common Core is sure not going to help and neither are a lot of other stuff that is going on. Keep the post going. It is helping me not just on Sunday, but all week long. The articles I really like I share on Facebook and by e mail to my family and friends.
I think I know the answer to the riddle. Is it “NOTHING?” I did not get the one about the whale from last week so I feel better if I got the right answer today.
Thanks for this post. I am home bound most of the time and cannot get to church. Age and a wheelchair make it hard to get around as well as I used to.
The stories, illustrations, and historical accounts remind me of the old days when the churches were not so liberal as now and people really cared about each other. Your staff must read a lot to come up with so many and varied and inspiring pieces. I have started to look forward to the Sunday Sermon on BBN at 1:15 each Sunday. The link to BBN Radio is real blessing with good music, Bible teaching, and preaching all the time and no commercials. The internet has become my window to the world. I heard that Smokey Barn is made up of a very small crew. What a crew it must be to produce so much of the news in Robertson Co. and the Sunday Post too. You are in my prayers.