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Recipe for Destruction - 4/22/2008 3:57:58 PM
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Fritzpw_Admin
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Recipe for Destruction
by Fred Alberti, Crosswalk.com Manager of Communities
…They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion.
Jude vs. 11
I've been thinking of this passage lately from Jude. Jude is warning the people about the false teachers in their midst. What does he mean by these three examples?
In each case the person was rebelling against God in some way or another.
When man sinned, God covered his nakedness with the skins of animals. Thus began the shedding of blood. Abel's sacrifice was acceptable to God because of the attitude of his heart, but Cain's was not. Instead of offering the sacrifice on God's terms he offered it on his terms. Cain's rebellion was against God's prescribed method of salvation through faith in the offering of shed blood.
Balaam was a prophet of the Lord who prostituted himself for the sake of financial gain. Sadly, we see many popular evangelists engaging in this same sort of error. They attempt to fleece God's flock for the sake of their own posh lifestyle. Balaam's sin, as well as those popular ministers today, is the sin of greed and misleading the children of God. Trading the Gospel message for the sake of high living was never the intent of Jesus who had "no place to lay his head."
Lastly, we have the sin of Korah. He and those who rebelled with him were in opposition to those whom God had placed in authority over them; namely, Moses and Aaron. I see this same sin a lot throughout the week in Christians who feel that they are not beholden to those in authority over them. Somehow they have managed to tear out entire portions of God's Word, which instructs us to obey those in authority and to give honor to those who honor is due. To them the rules do not apply.
If we were to wrap this verse up into a package it would look like this:
There are people who reject God's way of salvation for a lie; who exercise their spiritual gifts for the sake of greedy gain while leading others down the same trail. Additionally, these people reject the authority God has placed over them. This combination is a recipe for destruction and it is something we all must be wary of both in ourselves and in our churches.
Watch!
Intersecting Faith & Life: Have your kids or some neighborhood kids help you make a special pie. Start with a bowl full of some mud. Add old vegetables to the mix representing Cain's sacrifice, mix in some dirty coins representing Balaam's greed. Stir the concoction and then set in the sun to "bake." Lastly, dig a hole and crush the mud pie into the hole and bury it representing Korah's destruction.
Further Reading
Genesis 4
Numbers 22
Numbers 16
Unity of the Spirit
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Fritz
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Striving for the 'Atta-Boy'? - 5/8/2008 4:17:25 PM
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Fritzpw_Admin
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From: New Jersey
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Striving for the 'Atta-Boy'?
by Fred Albert, Crosswalk.com Manager of Communities
Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.
James 4:17
I had an interesting start to my week. While I was going about my work, I ended up assisting in the capture of a purse snatcher. He was young and afraid.
I am grateful to report that the episode ended without anyone getting hurt. I am also thankful for those who gave me assistance in apprehending this young misguided juvenile.
I spent a good part of the rest of the day analyzing everything. How could I have reacted differently? What would I do if it ever happened again?
Several of my colleagues expressed their appreciation, some even hailing me as a hero.
I do not consider myself a hero, nor do I consider this a particularly heroic act. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time and reacted in a way that brought the situation to a safe close.
Do I deserve special praise or recognition? No, I don’t think so.
I did what was right.
I did what was honorable.
I think sometimes our society is excessively stuck on rewarding doing the right thing when, in truth, we ought to be doing the right thing because it is right; because it is honorable. Our children want to know "what is in it for me?" This is wrong! We shouldn't need to bribe them to do the right thing. They ought to be raised to do the right thing because it honorable and right not because of what they will gain financially or otherwise. Instead our society offers bribes for good things and honors those who do wrong.
I'm not saying that we should not praise, reward, or honor those who have done right, but rather that the motivations of such people should be honorable.
John put it this way: "This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother."
That's a pretty harsh statement. I can delight in doing right not for the sake of recognition but because it helps identify me as a child of God.
Our verse from James puts it even more plainly. If you fail to do what you know is good then it is to you, sin.
Have you wrestled with doing the right thing in a particular circumstance recently? Don't resist any longer. By doing the right thing you may influence someone else to also do the right thing.
Intersecting Faith & Life: Secretly do something good for someone and don't tell anyone you've done it. Let it be an act of good between you and your Creator.
Further Reading
What do you think?
Laboring for God
Creative Compassion: Loving Heartily in a Hurting World
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Are You in the Belly of a Big Fish? - 5/8/2008 4:20:22 PM
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Fritzpw_Admin
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Are You in the Belly of a Big Fish?
by Fred "Fritz" Alberti, Crosswalk.com Manager of Communities
But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah 1:17
Being a homeschool family we sometimes have some rather interesting experiments that we get to enjoy as a family. George is one such experiment. George is a goldfish whose bowl-mate sadly perished. My son's task was to teach the goldfish to come to the top of the bowl when he tapped on the glass. After several weeks of tapping and feeding and tapping and feeding the fish finally learned to come to the top of the bowl.
Big deal right? Right, that is until the fish started to do more. Anytime someone would walk by the bowl he would get all excited and start moving his mouth like he was yelling at whoever it was that was walking by the bowl. This became rather normal and we would just ignore him or comment that he was yelling at us in Spanish.
Then one day my kids were listening to an FFH song titled "Big Fish." It was then that George decided to really show off what he could do. When the song played George would begin to swim around like he was dancing in the water and would seemingly move his mouth to the words. (Move over Ashlee Simpson).
I particularly like the first verse of the song which goes like this:
Are you in the big fish
Are you sitting in the belly of a world gone mad
Have you turned your back in His wish
On His will for your life, have you made Him sad
Do you want to get out of the big fish
Listen to God and follow His plan
And you won't be part of the main dish
He'll spit you out on to dry land
I've sometimes felt like I was in the belly of a big fish. I had decided to do something my way instead of first seeking the Lord's guidance and leading.
You, whoever you are, God has a plan for your life. Maybe you feel like you are wasting your time at a dead-end job. Or perhaps you have no job but would desperately like one. Maybe you think you have the dream job but the Lord has been speaking to you in a still small voice to give it up for something else. Like Jonah, you may not particularly like the mission God has for you but He has the intention of making you ideally suited to carry that plan out.
Will you follow His plan or will your turn your back?
Maybe you've already chosen to turn your back and feel that there is no way out now. If that is the case I've got good news for you. The Bible has this to say about Jonah, "From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God." (Jonah 2:1) God is the God of second, third, and fourth chances.
Commit your way to the Lord today.
Intersecting Faith & Life: Buy a goldfish if you don't have one already. As you feed it remember that the Lord has a purpose and a plan for your life. Ask Him to reveal it to you daily.
Further Reading
Jonah Runs From God
Jonah and Me
Hebrews 13:20 - 21
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Fritz
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Remembering Mother's Unspoken Lessons - 5/9/2008 2:44:17 PM
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Fritzpw_Admin
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From: New Jersey
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Remembering Mother's Unspoken Lessons
by Fred "Fritz" Alberti, Crosswalk.com Manager of Communities
Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching.
Proverbs 1:8
I'll never forget waking in the morning to get ready for school and finding my mother outside on the deck reading her Bible and praying. That scene has been burned into my mind so strongly that I now find myself also abiding with the Lord surrounded by His creation in the great outdoors.
Did my mother tell me that I must do this? No. Rather, she taught me this through example.
One thing I have learned through my career is that an online community tends to be the reflection of those who lead it. I think the same can be true for parenting. Our children are a reflection of us.
Do we habitually break the law by speeding? We can expect to see our children show the same respect to the law.
Do we habitually overeat? (By the way, this is called gluttony and is a sin). If so, we can expect to see our children also become plump when they adopt our own lifestyle.
Do we reject the notion of loving others? Yes, here too, our children will exhibit that same lack of compassion.
Do we contribute to the disintegration of the family by breaking our marriage vows? Yes, if we do not take seriously, "until death do us part" then we can expect our children to likewise adopt the false teaching that marriage vows are expendable and only good for as long as we are pleased with the relationship.
While children are charged with not forsaking their parents' teachings we have the higher responsibility. We are to train and raise a generation of people who are being ingrained with the concept that loving the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, body, and soul is of utmost importance.
How are we doing that today?
What teaching and instruction are our children learning through observing our Christian walk?
Intersecting Faith & Life: Work on consistently setting time aside to be with the Lord in a quiet setting. This can be outside under a tree or even a place in the house with a door that can lock (I've known many a mom that is forced to use the bathroom for such an endeavor). The important thing is that you make it a priority to be with the Lord and seek His guidance in your life.
Further Reading
My Mother Taught Me...
There's More to Mother's Day Than Flowers
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Engraved in His Hand - 5/16/2008 3:09:22 PM
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Fritzpw_Admin
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Joined: 2/28/2005
From: New Jersey
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Engraved in His Hand
by Fred "Fritz" Alberti, Crosswalk.com Manager of Communities
"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…"
Isaiah 49:15-16
Sometimes we find ourselves in harsh circumstances. We feel isolated from the Lord and begin to ask ourselves, "Is He really there? Has He forgotten me?" Today's passage is a stark reminder that there is no way our Lord will forget us or forsake us.
Being the father of five children I have been blessed to witness the blessed scene of a mother feeding her baby. I've seen both mother and child relax and share that bond that comes through breastfeeding. It is that beautiful analogy that is drawn in Isaiah. A mother does not forget the child she is nursing, she and the baby are in a deep bond that is difficult to be ignored. Likewise, our Father in heaven is in no way going to forget His love for us. But even if a mother were to forget, the Lord proclaims that even if a mother were to forget, He never will.
Dear child of God, you will never be forgotten!
In the midst of losing your house to foreclosure, you will not be forgotten.
When worrying how you are going to deal with the high gas prices, you will not be forgotten.
When struggling to budget the grocery bill, you will not be forgotten.
God will never forget you.
Why not?
This brings us to the second half of our passage.
"See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…"
As we were reading this in church one Sunday my wife was quick to point out an interesting observation. She felt, and I agree, that this was a messianic prophecy.
Our names were written into the palms that would bear the nails that hung our Lord on the cross at Calvary.
Your name, my name, and that of every other believer in Christ Jesus has had our names engraved by the nails that bore our Lord to a cruel tree.
You will not be forgotten because He loves you so much that He was willing to die for you. 1 Cor. 6:20 says, "…you were bought at a price."
That price was paid on a cross between two thieves.
That price was endured until the last breath when Jesus said, "It is finished."
With that proclamation, let's turn to 1 Cor. 1:7-11 which says this:
"… We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers."
Friend, it is our hardships which cause us to turn and rely on God. Set your hope on Him and pray for those who are in distress.
He has engraved you on His hand and He will deliver.
Intersecting Faith & Life: Do a study of the different names of the Lord and write each name on the palm of your hand. As you go throughout the day take time to pray for those who are in distress. See someone in a grocery store with a stern look? Pray for that person. See another person standing at the pumps with a furrowed brow? Pray for that person. Pray for them as the recipients in Paul's letter prayed for him.
Further Reading
On the Bottom Looking Up
He Is Our Joy!
Never Unloved
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_____________________________
Fritz
Community Manager
fritz@salemwebnetwork.com
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