Pastor Buddy’s Blog

Setting the captives free…

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Howdy Journal,

Been quite a day so far. (Playing catch up on my blog.)

Can you believe that I woke up at 6:45 a.m.? This is quite a change from 3 to 4 in the morning. Believe I’ve found part of the problem. Last night I got up and put a cap on my head.

This morning it dawned on me that I was losing a lot of heat during the night because of my baldhead. Seems this is what caused me to wake up so early,? unable to go back to sleep. No wonder the peoples of long ago used sleeping caps.?

Guess I wasn’t nearly as spiritual as I thought I was. Although the Lord did share wonderful things with me in those early hours.

Let me speak just a bit from my morning devotion. The devotion took me from Ezra 7:13 through verse 25. (A shorter reading this morning.)

7:13 “[From ruler of Babylon] I have issued a decree that any of the people of Israel and their priests and the Levites in my kingdom who are willing to go to Jerusalem, may go with you [Ezra].”

This reminded me of the decree of the Lord, where Jesus said He had come to set the captives free. Has He not offered the freedom of salvation to all men?

7:21 “I, even I, King Artaxersex, issue a decree to all the treasurers who are in the provinces beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, may require of you, it shall be done diligently.”

Wow. Another Scripture flashed through my mind, where the sage said, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, and the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.” (Proverbs 13:22 nasb)

The Bible teaches that the whole earth and all that it contains belongs to the Lord. We are also taught that the blessings of the Lord are directed towards the righteous.

Listen to this powerful promise: “For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to the one who is good in God’s sight. This too is vanity and striving after wind.” (Ecclesiastes 2:26 nasb.)

Have I ever found this to be true! A child of God who will walk in the ways of the Lord is unable to outrun the blessings of the Lord.

Once again we have to distinguish between the wilderness walk and the? Canaan-life walk.? Listen carefully:? “God makes a home for the lonely; He leads out the prisoners into prosperity, only the rebellious dwell in a parched land.” (Psalm 68:6 nasb)

Are you living in the blessings of the Lord, or does it seem that you are living in a parched land. Remember the old song, ‘Count your many blessings, name them one by one.’ How about if your blessings are turning to dust? Could it be a result of what I am sharing here?? (Just something to think about.)

Verse 25 “You Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God which is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges that they may judge all the people who are in the province beyond the River, even all those who know the laws of your God; and you may teach anyone who is ignorant of them.”

The command was to teach ‘the laws of God.’ But a problem did overtake the teachers in time. The Jews call this area ‘a fence around the Torah.’ What happened was that the teachers began to make additions and variances to the Law of Moses. They added law on law on law.

The result was a code so out of line with the Law of Moses, that it became overly burdensome to the people. During the time of Jesus all these added things were called ‘the traditions of the elders.’

Jesus told the disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.? The leaven was the corrupted teachings found in their traditions. Think about it. How many religious groups today have corrupted the word of God with their traditions?

Well - That concludes my devotion for today. This is what I wrote in my Gems: “When people get right with the Lord, rightness always comes into their lives. The matter will always be, ‘Don’t get off course.’

10 a.m. Oh boy. O boy. O boy. It is time for our Sunday morning service. Shana and Tim are here with me. Betty went to services. She also needs to make our board of counselors meeting this afternoon.

How I love the body of Christ! Jeff leads us off with a new song. This line stood out to me, ‘You dance over me when I am unaware.’

I was started for a moment.? Then as usual a couple of Scriptures came to mind. (Wonderful worship, Jeff.)

Zephaniah 3:17 says, “The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.”

The Hebrew here is very expressive. It speaks of singing, or rejoicing with shouts of joy. All this expresses the joy of the Lord Jesus over His redeemed.

But where is the dancing? Glad you asked. It is found in the language of the New Testament. Listen to this companion expression of great joy:

When the disciples returned from their journey of casting out devils, it says, “At that very time [Jesus] rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, ‘I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.” (Luke 10:21 nasb.)

The term ‘rejoiced greatly’ is one Greek word,? agallao. It literally means to leap for joy, to show joy one’s joy by leaping and skipping, especially in relationship to a dance. In the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, this word is often used in regard to rejoicing with song and dance.

So it seems the Lord does dance over me when I am unaware of it.? So little we know about the joy of the Lord. There is so much more I could add to this.? Need to get on with the service.

Betty waves to us during greeting time. This is so funny. I sort of feel like a spy as Gary pans the congregation with the web camera. Most of the people don’t think about who is looking at the service via the Internet.

Enjoying my visit with Shana and Tim. Tim will be 40 years old tomorrow. Said he was born the very first sugar bowl. No wonder Tim loves football so much.? ?

But I don’t think he will ever turn into a grumpy old man.

How I love to hear Nathan teach. He has a flow of revelation that simply astonishes me. Time just passes away while he is ministering.

Nathan brought attention to what the word ‘church’ means in Greek, and what it should mean in our lives. The Greek word literally means a public assembly. Nathan brought out that no one is the church at home. We are commanded to gather ourselves publicly as a testimony to Jesus Christ.

It was neat to watch Shana and CJ. Shana is like me when it comes to dogs. She will let CJ snuggle up to her, and even put his head in her lap. (Has been known to try to put his whole body there.) She just loves on him, talks to him, and CJ is in a world of love.

Services lasted until 12 o’clock. Could not have proved it by me.

I went to the front porch to watch folk leave. Shana, and Tim, and CJ joined my company. Seemed no one was in a hurry to depart. That is the way it goes when you’ve had a visitation from heaven.

As the cars left some would see? us on the porch. They’d stop and shout love greetings to us. CJ sure wanted to go visit everyone. Of course all I had to say was, ‘CJ, stay here with me.’

Here he comes. Robert Oats was in for a few days from his Air Force station in Missouri. We’ve loved Robert from the time he was a kid. Did our visiting? on the front porch. Betty had made it home by that time.

What a joy to visit with Robert. He was one of our ‘teenagers’ from when Shana was a teen. (Actually her? beau.) Robert usually comes by for a visit when in the area to visit with his? parents and his grandmother.

1 to 3 p.m. Pizza time. What a wonderful pleasant afternoon.? Course we are such a laughing family. This Sunday could not have been any better.? As the Jew would say, ‘What a Shabbat!’

2:30 p.m. Nathan came down to? touch base with us before the? board of counselors meeting at 3. Discussed a number of things. We also joked with Nathan about his ears burning.? We had been bragging on his teaching just before he knocked on the door.

Got a call from Lane. They’ve made it home. Suggested that if he weren’t too tired, it would be good to make the board of counselors meeting. This will be Nathan’s first meeting with the board as Senior Pastor. They have quite a bit to go over.

3 p.m.? Tim and Shana needed to? leave.? Betty and Nathan are off to the counselors.? Just? CJ and me are home. CJ is not concerned about anything. The window in my parsonage office has curled him up,? while I type away.

Its now 4:25. Think I’ll close out the journal.

Just a sub note - There is one more addition I would like to add to my studies on the blessings of the Lord. I think it is important to understand why some followers never seem to get on the right page with the Lord.

Again these are the wilderness people. All comes back to “only the rebellious dwell in a parched land.”

Here’s sending love your way.

Buddy

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