PARASKEVIDEKATRIAPHOBIA

"But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness" (1 Timothy 4.7)

Super-cala-fragilistic-espeali-dotious?

No I wasn't typing with my eyes closed. Its a real word...The fear of Friday the 13th. PARASKEVIDEKATRIAPHOBIA...
Jesus told the Pharisees,"You make the word of God of no effect through your tradition" (Mark 7.13) Traditions can morph into superstition. They can make life seem like work and rob us of freedom and cage us in fear.Whats the big deal about Friday the Thirteenth? Ooooh…are you shaking yet? Cue music from the Twilight Zone. Paul said of the Athenians, “ye are too superstitious” (Acts 17:22). How about you? Given the choice, would you rather sit in seat-13 or seat-7 on an airplane? And you say you aren’t at all superstitious? Some baseball players refuse to wear the number 13.“This is the day the Lord has made!” rejoice said the psalmist, but some don’t believe him. They stay clear of ladders, cracks in the sidewalk, black cats,their mother in law. Some people will even look for an excuse to avoid Bible study on Friday the 13th...or is that just on any Friday? Cub fans are still dragging Billy goats into Wrigley Field every year in an effort to "reverse the curse" ... Superstitious? Nah.........
 It is estimated that 17 million to 21 million Americans will suffer symptoms of paraskevidekatriaphobia ranging from nervous giggles to pull-the-covers-over-your-head terror.Its also estimated US businesses will lose $ 750 million today because some people refuse to shop, travel or take risks on Friday the 13th.C'mon People!
What if Good Friday fell on Friday the 13th,would it still be Good Friday or Good Friday the 13th? I wonder if anyone ever found a hair in their soup at Ruby Tuesday’s on a Wednesday? I wonder if anyone ever got depressed during a Monday rainstorm while listening to Karen Carpenter sing “rainy days and Mondays always get me down? I wonder if anyone every had bad luck on Saturday the 14th singing the Bay City Rollers S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night? Did the Mama's and Papa's ever had a bad Monday,Monday.Ever had a Manic Monday? You don't have to walk like an Egyptian to avoid Friday the 13th. Instead, let’s see EVERY DAY,win or lose as a gift of God, With Jesus everyday is sweeter than the day before which should make every Friday the 13th a gift from God. Then we can go to TGIF’s and order the Tortilla-Crusted Tilapia, It’s really good! But don't forget Friday the 13th Bible Study first ......

MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY! Merry Merry,Quite Contrary

“It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again…” (Luke 15:32)

There is a segment of the people that are threatened by good news. They are jealous of others’ blessings. You get a raise in pay, they get a raise in blood pressure. If you’re merry they’re contrary. Scrooge was like that in the Dickens classic.The elder brother was like that when his little brother returned from the pig pen. When he heard about the ring, the robe, the roast and the rejoicing, “he was angry, and would not go in…” (vs 28) He gave the news-bearer a piece of his mind, then his father. Afterwards, his head was a little emptier! Dad tried to reason with him, that it was fitting to make merry because “thy brother was dead, and is alive again; was lost, and is found”. Forget reasoning, It has been said "hurting people hurt people". His feelings were hurt. He didn’t want a party, he wanted pity party. I’m not offering him any, not from this Pastor.

 AreWhy “merry”? Christmas time is upon us! We have cause to be merry, not contrary. Solomon made several positive statements – “A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance…” (Proverbs 15:13) “…he that is of a merry heart has a continual feast” (15:15) So keep flying your flags of discontent and go hungry. “A merry heart does good like a medicine…” (17:22) James asked, “Is any merry? Let him sing psalms” (James 5:13). you merry? Vance Havner said, “Pity the Christian that claims to be living in the land of Canaan, with figs and pomegranates, when all he has to show for it are crab apples!” Merry or contrary? The decision is yours, like the old Sixties song shares – “It’s my party I can…laugh if I want to!” (Yea, I changed the wording.) Elder brother thought the prodigal needed to grovel a little. He recommended probation; let the little waster prove himself for a few months. Instead the father was all hugs and kisses when he met him. I know a few stiff shirts like that. To them affection never makes sense and you'll never make merry if you remain contrary.While the younger was turning up the praise, the elder was turning up his nose. You can still find hard heads like that and contrary attitudes in churches today.Their life stinks and they need to find a pew.

Merry is very. It is an attitude with altitude. True, it can be misused. Two signs of Noah’s day, they were “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage…” (Matthew 24:38) That’s marrying and merrymaking. The rich fool said to his inner man, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry” and that moral looseness cost him his soul (Luke 12:19,20). But just because some carry merry or marry too far doesn’t infer that God places a premium on the person that looks like he was baptized in pickle juice. Happy people glorify God much sooner than do sorry sour sickly sad-sacks. (Now say that 100 times!) Someone said a grouch spreads cheer wherever he doesn’t go. I don’t want the single adjective that best describes me to be contrary. Hugh Downs said, “A happy person is not a person with a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes”. The merry-heart goes farther in business, relationships, church, home and even living with one’s own self. I truly do wish you a merry Christmas…the kind that makes you roll on the floor doing a belly laugh. It’s all right, the bible said it is good for the cardio-vascular......


Nuff Said!

WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY!!!!!!!! "Christmas Cookies"

…great joy…“Fear not…good tidings all people…unto you…this day…a Savior…the Lord” (Luke 2:10,11)

What I like about these verses is how the words come in cute little cookies…Christmas cookies. The angel appears saying, “Fear not”. Phobia ends where the Christ-life begins. His birth invaded darkness with light chasing the shadows away. Fear of man, fear of death, fear of cataclysm or criticism, all fear is vanquished by the incarnation. Some are afraid to fly, afraid to buy, afraid to die, afraid to try. But Christmas is the powerful statement that He will now and forever be “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). The next "cookie" says “good tidings”, Euangellizo, in the Greek, “evangelism” or the preaching of Good News. We’ve heard enough bad news on the six o’clock report, haven’t we? Enough bad chidings. It’s time for some good tidings! The message for this Messy Age is that God is a good God and He offers good news.

Then note that “good” leads to “great”, for the next cookie says, “great joy”. Isaac Watts echoed Gabriel’s annunciation with “Joy to the world, the Lord is come!” Note, the Lord “is” come. Our text declares, “…unto you is born this day a Savior”, just as a later a verse says that He “is” risen. Jesus “is”, not “was”. Christmas isn’t as much historical as it is experiential. B.C. and A.D. are not just dating methods from the distant past. They are experiences in the present. Everyone who receives the Christ of Christmas has a before and after testimony. Christmas is the pivot point of all history but also of the individual heart. no one is so good that they don’t need saved nor so bad that they can’t be saved. "This joy is “to all people”, all laos in Greek, the laity. It is a “whosoever will” equal opportunity.(Acts 2.39) we  rejoice that “the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him” (Romans 10:12). Luke, the only Gentile writer in the Bible, makes special note that salvation was not only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel but for “all” people.

The next cookie, “unto you” is born a Savior. Yes you! Be exceeding glad. The net thrown out to catch “all” has long enough ropes to reach even you. You haven’t sinned so grossly that God has given up on you. Christmas is proof. By saying “unto you” he implies that what is universalized must now be personalized. Each individual must receive Jesus. He must be born in the foul smelly stable of our heart. And when? The next says “this day”. “This is the day the Lord hath made”, said the Psalmist. “Today I must abide at your house”, said Christ to Zaccheus. Today is the day of salvation. Tomorrow is a date on a fool’s calendar. Next He is called “a Savior” and finally “the Lord”. It is a package deal; He is a Lord that saves and is to be the Savior that lords. In the new birth, which Christmas typifies, we do accept Him as Savior, but this verse implies that God expects us, at the same time, to also receive Him as Lord. He is “born” Lord. In the new birth, the “born again” experience, He becomes Lord from the beginning. There is no plan or option for receiving Jesus on an installment plan, today Savior, tomorrow Christ, next month Lord. It ultimately must be all or nothing, Lord of all or else not Lord at all. Is Jesus Lord in your life? Don’t leave Him as a plastic doll in a manger at the church Christmas play. Instead, seat Him on the throne...................And have some cookies.............

Nuff Said,

THINK ABOUT IT TUESDAY Freezing Simon Peter

Peter stood with them and warmed himself”
(John 18:18)
When the going gets tough the tough take off running? At least that’s what Peter did after Jesus was arrested and taken away. A few hours earlier, Peter boasted that he would never deny the Lord. Too bad, he hadn’t considered the warning that those who think they stand need to take heed lest they fall (1 Corinthians 10:12). Peter denied the Lord. In fact, he vowed cursing and swearing that he didn’t know Jesus. How becoming, a cussing preacher! It was the coldest day in his life and  interesting that the same night Jesus was sweating blood, Peter was shivering at the enemy’s fire. Christ was hot enough to sweat; Peter was so cold and backslidden that he shivered like a shaggy dog left out in the rain. The text says, “…the servants and officers…made a fire of coals, for it was cold…and Peter stood with them and warmed himself”.

Notice he stood “with them”. He hoped to “fit in” rather than stand out. It is the square peg’s attempt to fit in a round hole that doesn't work. Be care who you choose to stand with.Next notice, he “warmed himself”. Believers are supposed to find their warmth in fellowship, prayer, worship, evangelism and so on but the carnal casual Christian forsakes worship and tries to warm his soul with earthly fires,like cars, cash, casinos and cocktails, etc. Obviously the mixture doesn’t jive. Peter had been warned, “Deny yourself or you will deny me” (paraphrase Luke 9:23), but it didn’t soak in. He slept when he should have wept. While Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, Peter napped. Then when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, Peter grabbed a sword and lopped off the high priest’s servant’s ear. You can't win a spiritual battle by using fleshly weapons (2 Corinthians 10:3,4) especially if you have been asleep.The next downward step was that “Peter followed afar off” (Luke 22:54). The distance is widening. Then came the denials; then came the coldness...............

Though a chill filled the air, the love of Jesus remained as hot as ever. Peter may have denied Jesus but Jesus would never deny Peter. First, he anointed a messenger with a prophetic word. Oh, not your typical preacher. He used a rooster. “While he was still speaking, the rooster crowed…So Peter went out and wept bitterly” (Luke 22:60,62). Jesus told the over-confident Peter that before the rooster crows he will have denied Christ three times. Now I’m not an expert on rooster language but I think “cocka-doodle-do” can be translated as, “Chicken!” or "Yes you do too" Peter chickened out and his heart broke in repentance. While Judas’ bowels gushed out in suicide (Acts 1:18), Peter’s heart gushed in sorrow. After the resurrection Jesus made it a point to instruct Mary, “Go tell the disciples and Peter” that He is risen from the dead (Mark 16:7).That was to let him know that Jesus had not given up on him. He still believes in you and calls you by your “new name”, the surname of your new identity, “Peter”, which means, “a rock”. Peter acted like a reed but Jesus called him a rock. What a marvelous example of How God pursues the backslidden cold Christian.He doesn't give up.His goodness and mercy will chase you down...They are in hot pursuit for the duration. Peter's restoration was clinched in a post-resurrection rendezvous, we don’t know where and we don’t know what all was said, but the Bible records, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon [Peter]!” (Luke 24:34) I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to hear that exchange.Jesus prayed for Peter and stayed by him and a few short weeks later Peter became the blazing mouthpiece of Pentecost preaching the birthday sermon of the church. He changed from fear-filled to fire-filled. Peter who was sifted and lifted became gifted. Have you grown cold?What earthly fires are you using to warm your soul? Money,drugs,power?Warm up to Jesus and turn a cold shoulder to the world otherwise you'll find yourself freezing like Simon Peter did.

Nuff Said,