A Message From A Box of Bones

SCRIPTURE

Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear to do this. He said, “God will certainly come to help you. When he does, you must take my bones with you from this place.”

~Exodus 13:19, NLT

QUOTE

Faith is the radar that sees through the fog.

~Corrie ten Boom

Only Benjamin was younger than Joseph but Joseph preceded his brothers in physical death. The good die young I suppose. Joseph assured his brother, “God will surely come to help you and lead you out of this land of Egypt. He will bring you back to the land he solemnly promised to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. When God comes to help you and lead you back, you must take my bones with you.” Joseph made his brother swear an oath that they would not leave his remains in Egypt. Moses was familiar with this promise and he would not leave Egypt without the coffin with Joseph bones.

What is the message from the box of bones?

1. God is faithful: He always keeps His promises.
2. Egypt is not our resting place–don’t take ease in Egypt {world}.
3. Physical death is not the final sleep; it is the final awakening.
4. The body may die but our influence lives on.

Someone has suggested that the box of bones may have spoken to the Israelites who carried them:

A little chuckle from a knuckle,

A little glee from a knee

Or a little grin from a chin,

You know there was a lot of ribbing.

{I did not write the rhyme, found it in some old notes}

• God is good, what can I say….What a day! Three or four folks including one of my daughters liked the service yesterday morning. David and the guys {that includes Mrs. Linda} did an outstanding job. I am telling you folks, I experienced some heaven yesterday. It was a busy day but a good day: Thank YOU Jesus!
• I made an official announcement last night: be sure you read this correctly and repeat it correctly. My retirement date {LORD willing} is December 31 2016. People have been congratulating me on my retirement and I keep telling them, I am not retired; I am planning to retire. Catfish is going to help me separate the blogs from the Church domain. We hope to do that in the next few months. I will probably order my new office building after the first of the year and will move a few things next Summer.
• Pray for Allison and Ken Blackwood: they have some hard decisions to make in the next few weeks.
• In light of our retirement: the DEACONS are working on the By-laws and a transition plan. At this point, no one knows what the church will do. They want to update the By-Laws first. They will of course bring all this back to the church. Their plans are to amend, omit, and add. We need guidelines on the transition, marriage policy and child care. They will be doing this on Sunday mornings from 7:45 to prayer time or to LCBS time. I will not be participating. This is something that you need to decide. I will help if called on, otherwise I will give my time to prayer and study of the word. As a CONCERNED MEMBER you have some options. You can attend one of these meetings and share your input in person, you can talk to one of the deacons or you can write your recommendation on paper and submit to one of the deacons. They will take any recommendation that has a signature. They will throw unsigned suggestion in the waste basket. Since everyone does not read the blog, I will repeat the above in the Sunday bulletin. You can pass the word and you are free to question any deacon–they will fill in the blanks. We have some bright minds in this group and they love DBC: they will do what is right. You are very fortunate to have these Deacons: they are capable leaders and they have the interest of the church at heart.
• I also want to tell you how relieved and thrilled I am to see everyone doing better: last weekend and last week was a time of anxiety for me. I am not bragging, I am confessing. Kane and Gary are better and I think Keri is better but her dad is hurting. Kelvin fell from a roof Saturday and shattered the bones in his left leg right above the angle. The X-ray looks like a bomb exploded inside his leg. Kelvin is hurting and Tracey is wore out. Mavis will be at CRMC a couple more days. She was in good spirits yesterday evening.
• The biggest news of the day is that Zed has become an LSU fan. He wore and LSU shirt to church last night. I think he is serious.
• Have a great week!

Wow, That Is Amazing!

SCRIPTURE

And His {Jesus} mother told the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.”…So they followed His instructions.

~John 2:5,7, NLT

QUOTE

Changed from glory into glory, Till in heaven we take our place, Till we cast our crowns before Thee, Lost in wonder, love, and praise.

~Charles Wesley

I love the story of Jesus transforming water into wine and Mary’s incredible faith in her Son but today I want to focus on the SERVANTS. The servants, who represent us, did nothing spectacular. They simply filled some pots with water and at Jesus instruction, they carried them to the host. I could fill a pot with water and so could you. I could not do what Jesus did and neither could anyone else. Jesus did and does things that no other man can do. No other human lived a perfect life and thus fulfilled the laws every demand. No one else could die for our sins and no one else could do the miraculous signs He performed {John 15:24}. Jesus is the unique Man.

I am a servant and I can pour water in a pot. I cannot do anything spectacular; but I can follow Jesus instructions and I can celebrate His wonderful uniqueness. So today, we look at this story from the servants point of view.

1. The servants witnessed the supernatural glory and power of Christ.

2. The servants were the only ones who really knew what happened.

3. The servants witnessed the results of the miracle: the celebration extended, the host overjoyed.

4. The servants experienced personal joy because Jesus involved them in the miracle.

5. The servants had a testimony…they had a story to tell.

I don’t think these servants were tempted to take the glory from Jesus. I think they were just thrilled to be there and be a part of this fantastic moment. When we are in the presence of such greatest, we are absorbed in the shadows of their glory. We are like Peter when Jesus directed him to the miraculous catch, we are so overwhelmed with His infinite greatness, that in the moment, we cease to exist apart from Him. The problem with our worship these days is that we do not cease to exist. “LORD Jesus do something among us which would cause us to lose our ‘selves’ in Your glory.”

• Today we Pray for TEACHERS.

• Those who know me well know that you never walk up before a service or after a service and give me money for anything. When I came home last night, after visiting the Funeral Home, Hospital and Nursing homes in Decatur; June was hanging up my jacket and she said what is this and she pulled out a $500 which will build another house in Guatemala. I had forgotten all about it. This means we are almost halfway to our goal.

• Don’t forget to pray for Kane and I think we gave 110 pints of blood on Sunday which is a record for our church. The LIFE SOUTH workers were exhausted and had Hurricane KaTrina shut it down at 6:00. There were 10 waiting to give. This means we had 135 donors–some got turned down. Trina did a great job. She is to be commended.

• Lara and Lexi had lunch with Big Mama and I yesterday. Lara said, “Big Mama, I want you to make me a carrot cake.” June said, “I can’t. I do not have enough carrots.” Lara said, “Do you put carrots in a carrot cake?” June said, “Of course, why do you think they call them carrot cakes?” The girl is a true blond. I have bad news for Mr. Hardy and several more: Big Mama says she is shutting down the bakery–no more cakes for anyone. If you want her to make you a cake, you’ll have to go through Seth. She told me after Christmas…”No more cakes big boy, this bakery is closed for good.“

• HOUSE COUNT: 8 down and 12 to Go!