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Witnessing to the Spectators, the Skeptics, and the Scoffers

12/23/2014

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(This is part two of "When Blind Men Can See and Seeing Men are Blind")

Read John 9


In part 1, we took a look at an the age-old question, "Why is there pain and suffering in the world?"  To the believer, the answer "So that the works of God might be made manifest," is more than sufficient.  The unbeliever, however, will not be satisfied.  The skeptics and the scoffers will keep coming at you with more questions and rebuttals to your Biblical answer...don't be discouraged.  Remember, they are unbelievers.  What do you expect?

John's gospel account gives us several examples of believers who witness to others after they meet Christ.  There is the witness of John the Baptist in Chapter one where he is engaged in "public evangelism," preaching in the wilderness. There is the "household evangelism" of the nobleman whose son was healed.  Then there is the woman at the well who published the word around town that she had met the Christ...on and on the list goes, but the story in our text presents my favorite teaching on the subject of the witness of the believer.

Today's simple lesson, from the life of the blind man who was given sight, shows us how to deal with the world's questions regarding our faith.  In this story we see the man's witness to the spectators, the witness to the skeptics, and the witness to the scoffers.  Let's look at them.

Witnessing to the spectators
You've probably heard someone say "The only Bible some people will ever read is your life." Some have called it "lifestyle evangelism," and it is not necessarily a bad thing.  The idea is that you can reach others for Christ by showing them an example of a life that has been changed by faith in Jesus.  Unfortunately, too many Christians do not live the life of a "born-again" believer.  In this story, we have the example of this man who was born blind.  All the neighbors knew of him.  They had seen him blind, trying to get by from day to day, and no doubt they had pity on him. 

But after he met Jesus and was given his sight, the people were amazed at what they saw.  This looks like the blind man, but he's not stumbling over things.  He's walking with confidence.  He seems to be able to see where he is stepping.  And so they began to ask questions, and the man proudly proclaimed "I am he."  He told them about meeting Jesus and what He had done for him.  What a clear illustration of what we should be doing in our community!

Witnessing to the skeptics
But of course there will be doubters!  This doesn't mean there is no hope for them.  They are just trying to wrap it around their mind.  "Am I being tricked?"  "How exactly does this 'faith in Christ' work?"  People want to know.  Unfortunately, many of us can't give a great, theological answer with very much confidence.  In fact, the whole plan might sound kind of strange to us, too.  Can you imagine telling everyone that Jesus spit in the dirt, made mud, and rubbed it in your eye?  We know it sounds strange to people when we tell them God's "simple plan" of salvation, but we just tell them what we know.  This man's answer to the skeptics was "One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, I now can see."  Another great example of how we answer the world regarding what Jesus has done for us!

Witnessing to the scoffers
Perhaps my favorite part of this story, though, is how we see the "uneducated," man answer the Pharisees (who, by the way, should have had all the answers).  They kept coming back to the man because they didn't like to see him convincing others to turn to Jesus.  Remember, they hated Jesus because he threatened their lifestyle and their position and their power.  Ultimately, that is why people still reject Jesus today.  Jesus still threatens their lifestyle and their power.  Jesus told the disciples that men would treat them bad, but not to worry because it wasn't them that they hated, it was Jesus. 

After trying to stand up to the Pharisees a couple times, they wouldn't leave him alone.  After questioning them yet again, he gives a very appropriate answer.  "I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore will ye hear it again?  Will ye also be his disciples?" You know, I have wasted a lot of time arguing and debating with people who are never going to place their faith in Christ.  We should always prepare to have an answer to give people.  The Bible says in 1 Peter 3:15,

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready
 always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

However, there will always be the scoffers who really don't care what your answer is.  There is a lot in the Bible that tells us how to deal with these.  Let's not even waste a bunch of our time on those, but let's spend our energy spreading what we do know to all who will listen.
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Wanted...Ideas For Youth Activities!

12/20/2014

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Though I may continue to write some miscellaneous articles on here from time to time, this blog is going to head a little different direction next year.  My plan is to feature one great youth activity each week of the year.  I could probably think of 52 mediocre activities myself, but I think it would be more beneficial to us all if we get a bunch of minds working together on this. 

I know there are other bloggers who work in youth ministry, and I would love to feature several guest bloggers next year.  So, if you are a youth minister, or just have some really cool youth activities you would like to share, please send me your ideas.  You can email me at rockyrandall@gmail.com or get in touch with me through Facebook.

Thanks.  Looking forward to hearing from you.
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Tasting Good Health and Falling Away

12/17/2014

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I noticed the other day how bad I felt.  I didn't check it, but if I had to guess, my blood pressure was up.  I did check my pulse, and my resting heart rate was about five to ten beats per minute higher than it was a month ago. I noticed my breathing has been a bit of a struggle lately too, not quite as bad as it was in my childhood when I suffered with asthma, but definitely worst than last month.  Then I noticed that I have been struggling with a slight headache the last few weeks...not severe (I don't think I've ever had a severe headache, especially what everyone calls a migraine), but just enough to annoy me and turn my mood a bit sour.  To top it all off, there has been something I can't explain except to say it's sort of like a feeling of depression (again nothing serious, but it's there).

The thing is, I know exactly why this is happening, and it comes as no surprise.  A couple weeks after my last race, my running/exercising routine was reduced to a hike or two per week and my diet hasn't really had any restrictions on content or amount.  Now I'm skipping weeks entirely from any real exercise, and I can feel my health slipping away.  Besides that, it's getting harder and harder to find the motivation to get back out there again. 

Now, I know there are people who don't exercise who are thinking I'm making this up.  After all, they haven't exercised in years and they don't feel like their health is that bad.  For one, your health may be poorer than you think, but you don't realize it because you've gotten used to it.  I'm not approaching this thing scientifically, but I have a pretty good guess that that this is how it works.  When you get used to something good and then you go without it for awhile, your body recognizes it is missing.  When you get used to that good blood flowing through your veins after a month or so of exercise and proper nutrition, and then suddenly you're eating junk and getting poor circulation, your body knows!  And you feel worse than you did before you ever started.

What is my point?  Well, you knew it was going to get spiritual!  

Have you noticed how easy it is for you to sin lately?  How hard it is for you to get up on Sundays and get to the house of God?  Have you noticed how down you feel, how easily you get aggravated and upset?  All these are pretty good signs that your spirit is missing what it once had.  You might have pushed it aside long enough that you feel like you're okay, but stop and evaluate.  Are you where you should be? 

January is coming up.  That's a good time to decide you're going to get back after it...but why wait?  Chances are, if you keep putting it off, you'll never find the motivation.  So let's start now.  Blow the dust off that Bible and start reading it again.  Lay out your clothes and iron them for church this Sunday (in fact, mid-week service is tonight!)  Tell your friends and co-workers there are going to be some changes in your life.

 You know, I keep saying "I'm going to get back to some sort of an exercise program and diet plan...next week."  Well, I'm going for a run right after I post this.  Be back in an hour!   

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When Blind Men See and Seeing Men Are Blind (part 1)

12/13/2014

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John 9
The Age-Old Question, "Why Do People Suffer?" (V. 1 and 2)


After miraculously escaping yet another attempt of the Jews to stone Him, Jesus and His disciples came to a blind man who had been blind from birth.  Jesus naturally sees a man in need, but the disciples are distracted by a puzzling question.  “Lord, who sinned that this man should be born blind? Was it his parents?  Did he sin in his mother’s womb?”(Based on the story of Jacob and Esau, which the disciples surely would have known, it was not that strange of a thought that a newborn baby could come out of the womb, already a sinner.) The truth is, this is a form of a question many people still ask today. 

For all the many arguments out there for the existence of a Creator, among self-proclaimed “atheists” there are basically only two reasonable arguments, which aren’t really reasonable at all, that cast doubt on the existence of a Creator.  First, they ask, “If there is a god, why can’t we observe him or her?” Of course this really isn’t a strong argument at all as there are many things we have come to accept that we can’t physically see.  The second question is “If there is a god, why would He allow pain and suffering in this world?”  Again, that is a poor argument.  Even if God’s behavior was something we considered “evil,” that still can’t be evidence that He does not exist.  Besides the failure for those questions to support an atheistic view, God’s Word does answer these questions to the satisfaction of Bible believers.  Here, we will just examine our text to see how Jesus answered the disciples question and how it relates to the general question regarding pain and suffering in the world.   

 
The Biblical Answer

Before we look at the Biblical answer, though, let’s use some logic.  First of all, what good would we do to thumb our nose at the Creator and decide for ourselves what is fair and just.  If we have a proper perspective, we will realize that the Creator of the universe has every bit of liberty to decide for Himself what He will and won’t do.  All we can do is hope for some grace and mercy.  Also, we are limited in our understanding of what He is doing because we are the creation, not the Creator.  We don’t know God’s plan; we can’t see how one person’s pain and suffering fits into a greater picture; we can’t see the future.  We have no idea what “bad things” that happen in our life may be the cause of “better things in our lives, or in the lives of others, further down the road.  So, if God should lay out an answer from His written Word, we should recognize that we still will not be able to fully understand it.

Jesus’ answer to the disciples' question was, “Neither this man sinned nor his parents (not that they were totally without sin, but their sins weren’t the cause of the man’s blindness).”  Then Jesus proceeded,  “This man was born blind so that the works of God should be made manifest.”  Not only does this answer the specific case and foreshadow what Jesus was about to do for the blind man, I believe it also is a general answer for why there is any pain and suffering in the world, and it is also a spiritual picture of the salvation of our souls.  I’ll explain, but we must go back to the beginning of the Bible.

A basic comprehension of the Genesis account of fallen man reveals that at least much of the pain and suffering is a result of a curse upon all mankind for his rebellion against God.  The punishment was mortality, the eventual death of the body.  With this necessity of death comes certain laws (laws of decay, genetic laws, etc.) which may not have been present before the fall of man.  Therefore, all of us were born with the results of sin already in us. 

So, if pain and suffering is the result of sin, why would God provide the opportunity to sin in the first place?  Knowing man would sin, why would He allow it to happen?  Why not stop it?  The answer, I believe, is the same one Jesus gave the disciples when they asked why this man was born blind from his birth.  Jesus said it was so "the works of God should be made manifest."  God had a plan from the foundation of the world (1 Pet 1:20 ) that each of us would be born in our sins, spiritually blind and destined for eternal death in Hell.  God had a plan from the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4) that "the man" Jesus Christ would provide everlasting life for all who believe, thus manifesting the "work of God (John 6:29)." 

It might not make complete sense to us, but neither does Jesus spitting on the ground, making clay, and rubbing it in a blind man's eyes before telling him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam.  We may not be able to comprehend how an eternal God creates time/space, the universe and everything that is in it, exercises His soverenty over it all, and yet makes allowance for a freewill so that we all might have equal opportunity to hear His word and accept it or else reject it.  But...He is God, and we are not!


In the next post, we will take a closer look at the story, and we'll see the picture of the "blind man who sees" and the "seeing men who are blind."  Hope it will be a blessing to someone.  Thanks for reading.  
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Who Carried The Cross?  The Wonderful Answer We've Been Missing

12/8/2014

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The question has been raised, "Who carried the cross of Jesus to Golgotha?"  I've always heard (and perhaps every movie you have seen and every story you have been told about the crucifixion portrays it this way) that Jesus carried the cross as far as He could; and having been beaten and whipped so badly, He could go no further; so the Romans summoned Simon Cyrene to finish the job.  Where do we get that?

The Problem
All four gospel accounts tell the story of the cross being carried to Golgotha (Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21, Luke 23:26, John 19:17), and John is the only one that says nothing about Simon.  In fact, whereas the other three gospel accounts actually say nothing of Jesus carrying the cross, John says in John 19:17 that Jesus "...bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha." John was likely an eye-witness and would surely know that Jesus needed help to get the cross to Calvary; so why would he leave that out, or worst yet, lie and say that Jesus carried it there?

Skeptics love trying to find contradictions in the Bible, and this seems to be one they feel they can keep using to prove the Bible has a contradiction.  I mean, John was apparently a witness of this event, and he says something different than the other three writers...yet we say that they are all part of God's inspired, infallible Word.  "If there is a discrepancy there, where else might there be one?" one might ask.

The Wonderful Answer!
One solution to this (supposed) problem has been given that perhaps Jesus started carrying it, but then Simon finished the job.  Luke's account could be used to support this idea where it says,

"And as they led him (Jesus) away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus." 

The problem with this answer is that the word "after" clearly means that Simon was simply following behind Jesus.  Besides that, it would still seem odd for John not to have explained Simon's role. 

Now, let's look at what John's account says and compare it to Matthew's account.  Then I believe the answer becomes clear:

"And he (Jesus) bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:"

Notice the word "into" and then look at Matthew 22:32,33

And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.   And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,

Here, the text says "unto."  The case is made that Simon carried the cross UNTO "the place of the skull (or "Golgotha," or "Mount Calvary"), and Jesus carried it INTO the "mountain" to the place where He would be crucified.  But it gets better!

In the Old Testament, there is a curious story where Abraham is told by God to take his son, Isaac, into the place appointed (in a mountain) to sacrifice his son.  The skeptics also like to point this out as an evil thing for God to do, but we know that He had an angel stop Abraham before he did it, and the story was to be recorded as a prophetic picture of the coming "Lamb of God" who would make an atonement for the sins of the world.  Things start to click when you read the story compared to the "death march" of Christ.

We see in Genesis 22, Abraham saddled his donkey, cut up the wood for the offering, and he and Isaac, along with two young men, headed toward the mountain to the place where God had appointed.  Certainly, the wood was carried by the donkey.  Once they reached the mountain, the Bible says that Abraham put the wood on Isaac and then they went to the place where he was to be sacrificed.

The picture was complete.  Simon was the "beast of burden" that carried the cross to the mountains (Calvary), and once they reached the spot, the cross was laid upon Jesus and they headed to the place where Jesus was to be sacrificed. 

Every word of God is inspired and profitable (even words like "unto" and "into"), and here they not only clear up the scoffers' accusations, but they help us to understand even better how accurately the Old Testament prophecy was being fulfilled.  What a book, that Bible!

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    Bro. Rocky

    Currently serving as the pastor at Iola Baptist Temple in Iola, KS. 

    Husband, father, life-long Bible student, artist, ultra runner wannabe, and outdoor enthusiast.

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