A Little Walk With God

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.

Can you believe Advent started? The year rushed by very slowly, one day at a time with everything that plagued us over the last eleven months. But Advent is here. A time to look backward and celebrate the time when Jesus, the Messiah, came to live among us. He showed us the living God's character and sacrificed himself to pay the penalty for our sins that we might find forgiveness and life everlasting with him.

Advent also celebrates looking forward to the time when Jesus, our Messiah, will return to take us live with him for eternity. He will reign for a thousand years, renew all creation, and set the world right again. Those who believe in him for salvation will live with him throughout eternity renewed with our original purpose restored, to care for his creation forever.

Advent is a magnificent time of celebration in the Christian community and begins the global church calendar year. The first Sunday of Advent marks the recognition that God came to dwell with us and the assurance he will come again to take us home to live with him forever.

Each year, the lectionary begins Advent with scripture in mind that points to these recognitions. This year, the first lectionary scripture from the Old Testament comes from Isaiah, chapter 64. Isaiah describes events current in the prophet's time but could also describe today's events in many respects. The particular section we will explore today, though, makes a request that could be somewhat terrifying for many, if not all of us.

So, what was Israel like in Isaiah's day? First, Jerusalem held a powerful position in the world. The kingdom was prosperous by ancient standards. Yet, because of their strategic location, everyone wanted to possess that little piece of land. It was the crossroads to the north and south and west from the Mediterranean Sea. If you owned the mountain passes in and around Jerusalem, you held the region's military advantage.

As the crossroads, it also became wealthy with her ability to trade because every civilized nation passed through the region. If you wanted to charge tariffs for travel through the country, you suddenly had an instant income without much work. The country had money.

Of course, the problem with sitting on strategic property was that every other country wanted to own it. Israel faced lots of invasions. And since the northern and southern kingdoms split, they no longer had David and Solomon's kingdoms' strength. By the time Isaiah prophesied under King Uzziah, the northern kingdom was in shambles, and the southern kingdom was closing in fast.

With Jerusalem as its capital, Judah was rich, but not in ways it should have been. It had money but no character. Isaiah told of a Messiah who would come and rule the nations. One who would finally fulfill the promise God wanted to be done through Abraham's lineage. Israel's mission had always been to bless the other nations of the world, not to overpower them or become rich at their expense. God wanted Israel to show the other nations his love. Show them how to live together in community. Call them to repentance and live together in peace.

Instead, Isaiah saw oppression from the priests and kings who ruled over the people. He saw inequality in their justice between the rich and the poor. Isaiah cried out for the nation to care for the widows and orphans, those who could not care for themselves in that society. He pleaded for the nation to return to the roots of their worship. Isaiah also warned of the consequences of not heeding God's command for doing so – ruin, destruction, exile, death, the curses foretold to Moses centuries before.

Ancient Israel sounds a lot like us, doesn't it? We look for the Messiah's return. We long for freedom for oppressive governments, equality in justice between the rich and poor, care for those who cannot care for themselves, return to worship the living God. We pray for the fulfillment of the church's mission – to show the world who Jesus is, show his love, how to live peacefully together, to come to him repentantly. And we often pray, "Why are you waiting so long? Come soon!"

Then we come to Isaiah 64. Listen to these words.

If only You would rip open the heavens

    and come down to earth—

Its heights and depths would quake the moment You appear,

Like kindling when it just begins to catch fire, or like water that's about to boil.

    If only You would come like that so that all who deny or hate You

Would know who You are and be terrified of Your grandeur.

We remember that long ago You did amazing things for us

    that we had never dreamed You'd do.

You came down, and the mountains shook at Your presence.

Nothing like that had ever happened before—no eye had ever seen,

    and no ear had ever heard such wonders,

But You did them then for the sake of Your people, for those who trusted in You.

You meet whoever tries with sincerity of purpose to do what You want—

    to do justice and follow in Your ways.

But You became so angry when we rebelled and committed all sorts of wrongs;

    we have continued in our sins for a long time. So how can we be saved?

We are all messed up like a person compromised with impurity;

    even all our right efforts are like soiled rags.

We're drying up like a leaf in autumn and are blown away by wrongdoing.

And it's so sad because no one calls out to You

    or even bothers to approach You anymore.

You've been absent from us too long;

    You left us to dissolve away in the acrid power of our sins.

Still, Eternal One, You are our Father.

    We are just clay, and You are the potter.

We are the product of Your creative action, shaped and formed into something of worth.

Don't be so angry anymore, O Eternal;

    don't always remember our wrongs.

Please, look around and see that we are all Your people. (Isaiah 64:1-9 The Voice)

Isaiah asks for God to return as he did in ancient days. We sometimes do that, too. But Isaiah recognized what that meant. I'm not sure we do. We too often think in terms of a soft, gentle, teddy bear kind of God that will just pat us on the head and tell us everything is okay no matter what we do. He isn't that kind of God. One day, he will make everything right. As a God of love, he is also a God of justice. The two go hand in hand. He must take care of evil and sin at some point or he is not a God of love.

So, when he returns to fix the world's evil, what will he do? Isaiah describes his ancient justice and might pretty well. He ripped the heavens open and made mountains shake. His grandeur terrified those who saw his miraculous appearances. If you've been in 5 or 6 or 7 magnitude earthquakes, you understand what mountain shaking means. If you've been in the middle of a tornado, you know how you might describe the raw power of an angry God. If you've faced the rouge 100-foot wave in an ocean storm, you can understand the fear of God touching earth to cleanse evil from its face.

In ancient times, the Hebrews record times God punished sins immediately and harshly. Today, since his sacrifice on the cross, we experience another side of God's love and justice. His grace and mercy extend to us, but he has not changed. He gives us the opportunity to change, repent, follow him, and do his will. But he has not changed. God is as angry at sin and the ruin of his perfect creation as he was with Adam's first act of disobedience. God is also sad at our absence and unfaithfulness as he continues to call to us in a hundred different ways.

I like the analogy Isaiah uses to help us remember our place in the universe. God is the creator. He is the potter; we are just a lump of clay in his hands.  But as the master potter, God made this lump of clay something of worth. He remembers us because he made us. He listens to our pleas because he made us. He cares for us because he made us.

This first week of Advent, celebrate the fact that Jesus, the Messiah, came to live with us. He calls us to repent and follow him. Then and now, his message is the same, believe in him, and you will have eternal life. Then remember he will return. When he does, the mountains will shake. He will come as a consuming fire. Jesus, the Messiah, will set all things right again, renewing his creation and restoring those who believe in him for salvation.

Advent begins the church year. Whatever has happened this last year, let's give it to God, and let's give this next year to him as well. He can and will make all things new. I'm ready for a renewed and restored world, but we have a lot of people who need to hear about God's love and salvation so they can join us in that renewed creation. Let's start the year right by telling them.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked THE VOICE are taken from the THE VOICE (The Voice): Scripture taken from THE VOICE ™. Copyright© 2008 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

2020-11-23-devotional-Be Thankful

Music intro

Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.

Well, here in the United States, it's almost Thanksgiving again. It's probably a good time to stop and think about that psalm that's most appropriate for this time of year. And that's psalms 100. it goes like this:

Sing to the Lord, all the world!

2 

Worship the Lord with joy;

    come before him with happy songs!

3 

Acknowledge that the Lord is God.

    He made us, and we belong to him;

    we are his people, we are his flock.

4 

Enter the Temple gates with Thanksgiving;

    go into its courts with praise.

    Give thanks to him and praise him.

5 

The Lord is good;

    his love is eternal

    and his faithfulness lasts forever. (Psalms 100 GNT)

Thanksgiving preparations take a lot. perhaps we think about sending out invitations to family and friends. we have to make that list of what we're going to put on the table; the beverages that we're going to have, the appetizers that we're going to bring out before the meal begins or as the meal starts, maybe the meat or maybe two. is it going to be Turkey or ham or both? maybe some kind of fish, who knows? Vegetables. all the different desserts. my favorite is pecan pie. my wife's is pumpkin pie with lots of whipped cream.

perhaps we have games in store. is it going to be football for the guys? is it going to be some kind of outdoor game for the kids? or do we have something lined up indoors if the weather is bad? and then we have to get the house ready. there's cleaning to do. maybe there's extra chairs we have to obtain. or maybe extra tables. What about the place settings? or are we going to use good China or everyday plates? do we have enough?

Well, all of those preparations we have to take care of, but this year it's a little, isn't it? there's going to be smaller numbers, perhaps. maybe not the big crowds that we're used to in the past because of the covid pandemic. in fact, some states say that we can't even have more than ten gathered for Thanksgiving even if it's in our families. some might be missing from that Thanksgiving table whether they are ill or quarantine because of the covid symptoms. or maybe some have passed away, and we're missing them because of that reason.

or maybe the Thanksgiving preparations will be short this year because of unemployment, food shortages, and essentials that just aren't there. it's going to be different this year that's for sure. and this year it's different because of the turmoil. I don't know whether it's the politics that has caused all of it. certainly, that's part of it. we don't yet know whether we have a president. no one's been declared yet, not until the electorate votes in January. not until all the lawsuits are over. not until all the craziness that's going on has ended, will we really know what's happened.

and the turmoil with the pandemic. is this the 2nd way the 3rd wave? is there another one coming? certainly, we are facing some dire times as our health care workers are really getting fatigued? and we're all getting exhausted with this separation anxiety? and what about our economy? as we have more lockdowns and more unemployment, our businesses just begin to crumble because of the lack of people going into our stores. and the turmoil that just continues to climb day after day.

and our social life, the turmoil that we see there. the separation just continues to eat at us a little at a time day after day. when we can't have the contact that we had in the past. we are social creatures. when we can't meet together, when we can't have that physical contact, when we can't touch and meet and be face to face with people that we love, with friends that we're usually in contact with daily, it affects us. and all of that turmoil together creates anxiety. it creates problems for us.

many people will ask, so what do we have to be thankful for? well, there is hope for Christians. we have the same hopes that we've always had. we have hope in Christ. we have hope for a home in the future. we know that this is not our home. our citizenship is in the Kingdom of God. our hope is in something more than this place.

it's not a hope for just the beginning of a new year. it's not just hoping for a fresh start as 2021 starts and maybe a new beginning that a new set of politicians might bring to us. it's not hope for the government to do something that will bring change. or that new politicians or a new regime will finally fix everything. that won't happen. it's not hope that there will be an end of turmoil because the White House might flip. it's not hope that that might end the racial tension or that the economy will suddenly spring up.

Our hope is in Christ. we hope that he will change our hearts. and he does change our hearts. He gives us peace that only Christians can understand once they've been forgiven of their sins. once he comes and indwells us. that's when we understand what this is all about. what this Christian life is all about. can I explain it? can I understand how it happens? No. except that I understand that Jesus Christ forgives me, and it fills me with His peace and comfort and a joy that despite all that's going on, I can still know that there's hope for tomorrow.

so I can worship him. I know about the present. I know that God Reigns. I know that God is still in charge despite all the different things that are going on around me. I know that he protects his children. do we have suffering in this world? Yes, but this isn't what it's all about. it's life after life that creates our hope. it's what happens after this place that makes all the difference.

 that's why the apostles could be bold in their preaching. they could stand before the Sanhedrin. they could stand before Roman soldiers. they could give their lives because they knew that this wasn't all there was. they were different from the world because of what they knew about the present. they knew that this wasn't all there was.

we can worship because we know the end. we know that there will be a renewed heaven. there will be a renewed earth. creation will be renewed and made perfect again. we also know that in the end, they'll be a judgment and what we do here will be judged by the one who judges perfectly. it won't be our earthly judges that can be bribed or swayed by politics or caused to give different sentences or different punishments and rewards based on who they know or the wealth of the one they are facing. but will be judged by the one who knows our heart. the one who knows all about us. the one who created us and all there is. his judgment, his justice will be perfect.

we know the end. we know the present. we know the Lord. we know that he alone is worthy. he is our Shepherd. he is our savior. he's the sustainer of all there is. he's the creator. God alone is worthy of our praise and our worship. he alone is the one that is worthy of worship. so we go back to that 100th psalm. and as we approach this Thanksgiving season, it's worth listening to one more time.

Sing to the Lord, all the world!

2 

Worship the Lord with joy;

    come before him with happy songs!

3 

Acknowledge that the Lord is God.

    He made us, and we belong to him;

    we are his people, we are his flock.

4 

Enter the Temple gates with Thanksgiving;

    go into its courts with praise.

    Give thanks to him and praise him.

5 

The Lord is good;

    his love is eternal

    and his faithfulness lasts forever. (Psalms 100 GNT)

Enjoy this Thanksgiving. Worship God. We have a lot for which to be thankful. More than anything, else we can be thankful that he is God, and we or not.  

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Music exit

Scriptures marked GNT are taken from the Good News Translation®: Scriptures taken from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) Copyright © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Many wonder what we have to be thankful for as we look at what has happened this year. The world moves toward a full year facing the coronavirus pandemic with more than 50 million victims globally, and more than 1.2 million deaths. In the United States alone, we have topped 10 million cases and a quarter of a million deaths. Still far less than the scientists predicted nine months ago but devastating to the world and our country.

The mistrust our media created over the last several months caused political upheaval resulting in mistrust in our elected officials, the integrity of our voting systems, and our political system. The blatant bias and censorship across the news media and social media failed to let citizens hear both sides of issues breeding mistrust and fomenting divide we haven’t seen here since the Civil War.

We can see injustice across the country based on wealth, race, social connections, political connections, media involvement, and a host of criteria that makes us think the entire system reeks of corruption. In reality, almost every system, that one or two percent of truly corrupt legal representatives give the rest we don’t hear about their reputation as a whole. Just like the cry about police brutality, a few police abuse their authority and should be dealt with accordingly, but the vast majority of law enforcement officers do not fall into that category and see their role as a calling to help society, not harm it.

The last year put not just the United States, but every nation in an economic crisis. As businesses closed due to the pandemic to try and stop the spread of the disease, millions lost their jobs. People went from living paycheck to paycheck to wondering if they would get by at all. The government stepped in with unemployment and other benefits, but those benefits barely keep a family above the poverty level, if that. Many business haven’t recovered and some economists predict as many as 50% of small businesses may close their doors for good. We are in hard times.

Then we faced all the natural disasters above and beyond the pandemic. They started with the wildfires in Australia that destroyed so much of that country. Our western states still don’t have their fires under control. Floods around the gulf coast devastated that area of our country as they faced multiple hurricanes this year. Earthquakes in several countries cost billions in damage and multiple lives. This has been an extraordinary year for disasters. And it’s not over yet.

Judah must have felt the same way as Zephaniah began his prophecies. His tone didn’t help their already devastated state. They faced multiple invasions in the 7th and 8th centuries BCE. The kings filled their pockets at the expense of the common people and injustice rampaged the country. The prophets spoke of the deplorable condition of the widows and orphans, those who could not care for themselves in that culture. They faced drought, floods, and famine again and again in those years. And when crops were good, invaders came and took them.

Zephaniah said it was much the fault of the leaders and those who followed them. Listen to his words.

Be silent! I am the Lord God,

    and the time is near.

I am preparing

to sacrifice my people

    and to invite my guests.

I’ll search Jerusalem with lamps

    and punish those people

who sit there unworried

    while thinking,

“The Lord won’t do anything,

    good or bad.”

Their possessions will be taken,

    their homes left in ruins.

They won’t get to live

    in the houses they build,

or drink wine from the grapes

    in their own vineyards.

A Terrible Day

The great day of the Lord

    is coming soon, very soon.

On that terrible day,

fearsome shouts of warriors

    will be heard everywhere.

It will be a time of anger—

    of trouble and torment,

of disaster and destruction,

    of darkness and despair,

of storm clouds and shadows,

of trumpet calls

    and battle cries

against fortified cities

    and mighty fortresses.

The Lord warns everyone

    who has sinned against him,

“I’ll strike you blind!

Then your blood and your insides

    will gush out like vomit.

Not even your silver or gold

can save you on that day

    when I, the Lord, am angry.

My anger will flare up

    like a furious fire

scorching the earth

    and everyone on it.” (Zephaniah 1:7,12-18 CEV)

It wasn’t long before Israel faced another invading army and exile. Children forcibly removed from the land became indoctrinated in Babylon and the brightest put into the king’s service. Only the poorest finally ended up remaining in a ruined, burned out, rubble filled country. Why? Because they failed to do what God told them to do in the first place. They chased after the idols and gods of the people of the land God gave them instead of worshiping him. They failed to show the nations around them the true God of creation as he had instructed through Abraham, Moses, and the prophets.

What can we learn from the Israelites fate and Zephaniah’s words? First, God watches our actions and attitudes. The Israelites didn’t get away with their injustice. There is a day of reckoning. As a God of love, he cannot just stand by and do nothing about our decaying world. He must bring justice back. He must put everything right again or he is not a loving and just and true God. But we know he is and a day of reckoning will come.

We also know he is a God of grace and mercy. He has held off his judgment to allow as many as will to come to know his grace. He wants humanity to come to him willingly, to know him as he is. He does not look forward to the day his wrath is poured out on those who refuse to listen to him, but instead he yearns for and gives every opportunity for humanity to come to salvation, even knowing many will not.

Finally, we know God gives us many warnings about what will come. His word tells us about the judgment he will bring upon the unjust, the unrighteous, those who will not believe. The earth shudders and gives its signs as if in labor waiting to give birth to a renewed creation. We see it all around us, but so many refused to see the very signs the prophets spoke of as they talked about the coming of the Lord.

So what should we do? Pray. Know your relationship with the Lord. Let him search you heart. Reach out to him and let him turn his spotlight on your life and make you more like him each day. Stay in his word. Get to know his word. Study it. Let it soak into your life and become part of you – not just on Sundays or in some Bible study, but every waking moment of every day. Let it be the guide for your life. God’s spirit will assure you of your relationship with him as you stay in his word. His spirit in you and his word will never disagree with each other.

If God points something out in your life that needs changed, repent and fix it. Turn away from those things that do not look and feel like God and his plan and purpose. Repentance is more than being sorry for getting caught. It is stopping those things and doing what is right. Following in his footsteps. Going wherever he is.

Pray unceasingly. Pray for yourself. Pray for your family and your friends and neighbors. Pray for your coworkers. Pray for our nation and its leaders. Pray for the world and those whose decisions touch the lives of others. Pray for the healthcare workers and those on the front lines who put themselves in danger each day to care for others during this pandemic. Pray that God will intervene and bring revival to our world, our nation, and our neighborhoods.

Share the good news that the Messiah came, died for our sins, rose from the grave, and sits as King of the world on God’s throne. Jesus is his name, Lord of lords, King of kings, creator of the universe and all that is in it. He died that we might have life more abundant. Believe in him as savior and king and you can have life eternally. Share the message. We are priests, ministers, with special gifts that God can use in many ways to show his love to the world around us. All are not preachers or teachers or evangelists, but all have gifts to share with a world that needs love desperately.

 Judgment is coming. Jesus is coming. God’s grace has extended the time of his judgment to let us introduce a few more before he does. We need to take advantage of the time we have so another one can learn about his love before it is too late.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked CEV are taken from the CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH VERSION (CEV): Scripture taken from the CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH VERSION copyright© 1995 by the American Bible Society. Used by permission.

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.

I'm preparing this podcast on election day. By the time you hear it, I hope we have elected our officials for the coming terms. I don't want this to drag out forever, as some elections have in the past. Many decry our electoral college system, but I'd like to share why that system is so crucial to our "United" States. The last census, remember that was ten years ago, showed that 50 percent of the population resided in only 146 of more than 3,000 counties in our country, 3141 to be exact. That means less than 5% of the counties hold more than half the population.

Why is that important to elections and the electoral college? Consider the outcry we get when we talk about the power of the small percentage of billionaires and multimillionaires. We scream that everyone should have a voice. We want equality and justice. If that's the case, shouldn't those other 3,000 counties, the other half of the population, not concentrated in those 146 counties also have a voice?

Fifteen of our states do not have a single county among those 146. Should they not be included in the election of our highest leader? Our founding fathers were pretty smart people giving one electoral vote for each senator and representative from each state when choosing the president in a representative election. The states with a higher population get more votes since they have more representatives, but every state gets at least three votes. West Virginia and North Dakota and Wyoming aren't left out of the decision just because they have smaller populations than California, Florida, and Texas.

The magnificence of our Constitution is really pretty incredible. It's a shame more people don't take the time to read it, study it, understand the beauty of its language and fairness to all people within the country. Is it perfect? No. But we need to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. There is a reason we have millions trying to escape to our country, not from it. It's not just our capitalism that allows you to earn a decent living; it's the freedoms we embrace through our Constitution.

Most, not all, of our founding fathers were deeply religious people. Yes, some were deist, some were even atheist, but most were Christian with deep roots in their faith. And they wanted the government to stay out of their religious practice. They would not separate their religious practice from their operation of government, as we see in their prayers, letters, speeches, books, and biographies. But because of the kings' suppression of religious freedom in Europe, they made sure the government stayed out of the church. That is what separation of church and state is about, not the other way around.

It was Eisenhower who included "under God" in our pledge of allegiance. "In God We Trust" became the nation's official motto in July 1956, replacing "e Pluribus Unum." So what happened? In the 1960s, we allowed ourselves to get turned upside down. We let satan's minions convince us that church and state separation meant church could no longer be a part of politics. Politics and our political system has declined ever since. When you take God out of the state, the state destroys itself. Listen to Joshua's warning to the people of Israel as he stepped away from leadership.

14 "Now then," Joshua continued, "honor the Lord and serve him sincerely and faithfully. Get rid of the gods which your ancestors used to worship in Mesopotamia and in Egypt, and serve only the Lord. 15 If you are not willing to serve him, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your ancestors worshiped in Mesopotamia or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living. As for my family and me, we will serve the Lord."

16 The people replied, "We would never leave the Lord to serve other gods! 17 The Lord our God brought our fathers and us out of slavery in Egypt, and we saw the miracles that he performed. He kept us safe wherever we went among all the nations through which we passed. 18 As we advanced into this land, the Lord drove out all the Amorites who lived here. So we also will serve the Lord; he is our God." (Joshua 24:GNT)

    What happened? They didn't get rid of their idols. Within a generation, they forgot God, who led them out of Egypt through the wilderness and defeated their enemies. They ignored Moses and Joshua and the commands God had given them. The book of Joshua ends with the horrifying words that echo what goes on in too many streets in cities in this country and around the world today - "everyone did what was right in their own eyes." It's called anarchy. We saw it in Portland and Seattle and Chicago and too many other places over the last several months leading up to the election that, as I mentioned, takes place as I prepare this podcast.

What are we to do? As Christians, we wholly support the person who will sit in the Oval Office until and after January 20th, whoever that might be. Paul tells us, and Jesus tells us people are allowed into places of authority to keep order. I would refer you to Romans 13:

Everyone must obey state authorities, because no authority exists without God's permission, and the existing authorities have been put there by God. 2 Whoever opposes the existing authority opposes what God has ordered; and anyone who does so will bring judgment on himself. 3 For rulers are not to be feared by those who do good, but by those who do evil. Would you like to be unafraid of those in authority? Then do what is good, and they will praise you, 4 because they are God's servants working for your own good. But if you do evil, then be afraid of them, because their power to punish is real. They are God's servants and carry out God's punishment on those who do evil. 5 For this reason you must obey the authorities—not just because of God's punishment, but also as a matter of conscience. (Romans 13:1-5 GNT)

Paul could not put it more plainly. Whoever sits in office deserves our support. Whether you like the person or not, God allowed him to sit in the seat to provide order and justice to the nation. We, as Christians, do good. Period. We encourage others to do the same. We pray for those in authority. We encourage those in authority to do good. We help the helpless, voice our opinions, but do so in orderly and right ways, not that would cause chaos and disorder. Jesus did not riot. Paul did not riot. The Jews that opposed him did, but neither of them did. They preached the truth.

Whatever the outcome of the election, it is time to act as Christians, pray for our current and next leaders. Do whatever we can to stop the chaos plaguing our country and show both sides there is a better way. King Jesus can solve our problems if we let him. It's not called distribution of wealth; it's called helping the poor. That comes from a generous heart, not from a government tax or community fund. It's time Christians begin to act like Christ and show the world there is a better way – the way of love. Show the world King Jesus is still and always will be in charge.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked GNT are taken from the Good News Translation®: Scriptures taken from the Good News Translation® (Today's English Version, Second Edition) Copyright © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.

We are in the week of our election in the United States. Depending on when you're listening, we are choosing tomorrow, have chosen, or are awaiting news of who garnered the most electoral votes and will sit in the Oval Office on January 20th. Will it make a difference to the country? I'm not sure.

In the last few decades, we polarized ourselves to such a degree I'm not sure anyone can bring us together unless we, as a people, choose to stand up as a whole and demand change from within. Jesus described our political parties well from his description of the political parties of his day when he said in Matthew 23:

2 'The scribes and Pharisees,' he said, 'sit on the seat of Moses. 3 So you must do whatever they tell you, and keep it, but don't do the things they do. You see, they talk but they don't do. 4 They tie up heavy bundles which are difficult to carry, and they dump them on people's shoulders – but they themselves aren't prepared to lift a little finger to move them!

5 'Everything they do is for show, to be seen by people. Yes, they make their prayer-boxes large and their prayer-tassels long, 6 and they love the chief places at dinners, the main seats in the synagogues, 7 the greetings in the market-places, and having people call them "Rabbi."                  (Matthew 23: 2-7 NTE)

Take a look at what goes on within the political arena in Washington. We've had so little happen for the people in the last 20 years unless it brought attention to the bill's author. We hear about Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act, but if you read the 10,000 pages of its legislation, it's not much different from the Trump Healthcare plan except for the act's regulation. They both provide the same care to those who can't afford it. They both ensure pre-existing conditions are covered. They both try to reduce unpredictable and uncontrollable costs.

The big difference is in the regulation. The Republican Party doesn't like big government, so gets rid of regulation whenever it can, which means getting rid of government oversight and government jobs. The Democratic Party favors big government and management and adds regulation and government jobs. The two have much more in common than in differences. But we don't read the 14,000 pages of legal jargon, so we don't know that. We only hear what each side tells us through their media, and we buy their stories.

I'm thrilled we finally turned out to vote this year and discovered the importance of letting our voices be heard in an election. Maybe we won't crawl into a hole until the next general election but will instead continue to provide a voice through letters, calls, attendance at local venues with our representatives in the local, state, and federal legislatures to let them know what we think. We have let them run amuck far too long. It's our fault the right and left have grown so far apart. We have failed as citizens to reign them in and make them sit down at the table and discuss meaningful compromises that will do what we want them to do. They are our representatives, not our kings, our princes, or bosses. They should be giving voice to what we want, not what they want.

How do we make that happen? When they fail to voice our concerns and a more moderate line, which is what I think most Americans would prefer, we should vote them out of office and replace them with someone who will listen to our voice. Recalls can still happen when our representatives fail to follow what we insist they do. Our laws allow us and demand us to take such action for the good of the citizens they represent. But we must stay involved and informed if we plan to do those things.

We can't blindly take the word of what we have found to be a significantly biased media. Both left and right spin their stories to inflame the other side. Now we see both sides of social media intentionally censor their clientele to ensure only one side gets told on their platform. As Christians, how are we to overcome this divide that plagues our nation?

First, recognize what is happening. As Jesus said, "A house divided cannot stand." If we continue to allow the media and our politicians to inflame the populace along far-right and far-left ideologies, America will dissolve as a democracy. We cannot continue to survive as a nation under these conditions. Nor can we survive as a far-left or far-right nation. Neither side will meet the needs of the majority. The radical fringe ideologies that both sides propose daily will destroy what we built over the last 244 years. Both extremes are wrong. Both sides lay burdens on the backs of the people they are not willing to carry themselves. Note the exemptions Congress gives itself regarding the laws it enacts for the rest of us concerning taxes, healthcare, banking laws, salary for life after serving just one term, and many other regulations that burden the people but not them.

Second, pray that God will intervene and soften the hearts of the men and women in our elected positions, that they will listen to his voice and act accordingly. Pray that he will hear our prayers and heal our land. Pray that he will bring safety to our country; that he will return a sense of humanity to the hearts of both sides of the aisles in our legislators at all levels of government. Pray that the radical actors burning our cities and committing violence against innocent citizens will stop, repent, and discover God.

Third, find out the facts about what our governments at local, state, and federal levels are doing. Don't listen to the news outlets, but instead, get involved and read the legislative bodies' official records. Go to the public documents that record the legislation and the votes of those who represent you. See how they acted, not what they said. It's often interesting the differences you find in the two. You don't get prosecuted for lying to the press, but you do when you perjure yourself in court or Congress. So read the official records.

Fourth, vote for the individuals who act according to what you think is right for the community at large. Don't vote based on what you hear in ad campaigns or what the media splashes across their platform. As we have seen in the campaigns this year, both sides do their best to take one statement, spin it a million different ways, and try to trash their opponent. This has nothing to do with how they will help you or your community. So, vote for the person who acts to do what is right for the community at large. That is what democracy is about—doing the majority's will while protecting the few's rights.

Next, get involved. Go to the meetings your representatives hold—Voice your opinions and concerns. Ensure your representatives carry out the will of the people, not their agenda. They represent the majority that put them in office, not some isolated group somewhere, or at least that is how our government is supposed to work. When they fail to meet your expectations, vote them out of office. Don't let politicians continue to hold offices that fail to carry out the will of the majority. Hold them accountable for their promises.

Finally, force your representatives to sit down at the table and listen to the other side. Find the commonalities between the two. Negotiate a reasonable plan that will satisfy both sides. We don't need to operate on the far left or far right. In fact, we should probably never find ourselves living in either space. Find a moderate compromise that takes both sides' best and legislates a sensible plan free of all the add-on amendments that too often cause good bills to fail. Get involved as one not driven by either extreme to let your voice, driven by the King of kings, be heard.

The voting is over. Right now, the country is in turmoil, and it's our fault as Americans, as silent Christians. We have not played our part as good citizens. It's time we do what we should and let our voices be heard so that the King of kings can rule this nation along with all the others. It's time to participate in politics and tell those the country elected to do the right thing and make sure they do. Remember, separation of church and state was always to keep the government out of the church, not keep the church out of government. We need to raise our voice and let God back into the running of our country. It's our fault as Christians we are where we are today. We can help fix it if we dare.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked NTE are taken from the NEW TESTAMENT FOR EVERYONE: Scripture is taken from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011.

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.

It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same. We think we progressed so much over the last centuries, but I'm not so sure. When we think of Jesus' day and the early Christian church, we too often think of the Middle-ages with its feudal systems and the monks and monasteries. But the first century found itself embroiled in Rome's politics, and in Israel, the fight between the different factions within the Jewish religion.

We think we have a divide between the Republicans and Democrats here, and we do. In recent years, we managed to tear each other apart until now we have come to the point of both extremist sides protesting anything the other says with violence, riots, burning down innocent victims' property, shootings, and killings. We have become maniacal in our drive to push our agenda without listening to the other side.

Jesus' day didn't appear much different. The Sadducees held the seats of power. They had the honored seat of the priesthood and the powerful reign as chief priest. What the chief priest decreed; the people obeyed at risk of their eternal soul. But problems erupted in the politics of the arrangement.

The Sadducees gained their position through violence when the Maccabees overthrew the Seleucids, and the Hasmonean dynasty began. The Pharisees and Sadducees' views were about as opposite as the Democrats and Republicans. And they hated each other about as much as the two parties seem to hate each other today.

The Sadducees, considered conservative among Jews because of their strict adherence to the Law of Moses, accepted only the first five books of scripture as authoritative. They believed heartily in an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth punishment. They did not recognize a final resurrection or many other rituals or details of the Law the Pharisees believed because they accepted only the Torah.

Despite their conservative approach to Judaism, their wealth, power, and cooperation with Rome labeled them Hellenistic. The people despised them and looked for ways to overthrow their tight rule over the priesthood. Several sects grew out of the populace, including the more familiar Essenes and Pharisees.

If the Sadducees were the far-right in Jesus' day, the Pharisees represented the far-left. They wanted to overthrow the current reign of the Sadducees and take control of the priesthood. The Pharisees believed in all the scriptures' authority in the current Hebrew Bible, which includes the Wisdom Books and the Prophets. They believe in bodily resurrection, after which a final judgment will separate God's chosen people and proselytes to Israel's God and reward them in the 'age to come.'

While appearing pious and godly in public, the Pharisees funded, plotted, and planned several revolts to overthrow the Sadducees and the Roman occupation to rid the nation of both entities. The Pharisees would gladly break their own laws to rid the country of their enemies, no matter who they were.

Politics! Isn't amazing how we have not changed in 2,000 years—party attacking party. Behind the scenes, action stirring up trouble to do more name-calling and pointing out flaws than announcing what the party stands for and how it will accomplish what it says it will do for the people. Dirt uncovered or made up and splashed across whatever grapevine is handy. Say it enough times, and it must be true, right? Have the right person announce it, and it must be true, right? Put it on the right platform, and it must be true, right? We have become so gullible on both sides; quite frankly, we are pretty pathetic as a nation when it comes to politics.

One difference between the Sadducees and Pharisees and our political parties now is that at least they came together for one purpose – to get rid of Jesus. Here's one example out of many that didn't work.

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.

 "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him,"  'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 22:34-40 NIV)

    The Sadducees tried to trapped Jesus with their question about marriage at the resurrection. Jesus confirms the resurrection but blasts their misunderstanding of what the resurrection is like and their misunderstanding about scriptures, declaring God is God of the living, not the dead. The Sadducees slink away defeated. So their enemies, the Pharisees, take up the battle against Jesus at the Temple.

This scene is different to me because I see so little common ground among the people we send to Washington, the politicians. I know it is not true of the neighbors around me, or the people who live across town from me, or the owners of the stores downtown or their workers. I know it's not true of the average American citizen. I believe deep inside, most of us have a lot more in common than we have against each other.

Like the people in almost every country I've visited, I believe most of us want a few things in life. We want a stable economy and standard of living that makes us comfortable, not necessarily rich or wealthy. We want our kids to have a better life than we did. We want to know we can walk the streets at night without the risk of being mugged or killed. We want to sleep at home in safety. We want to worship in the way we choose without ridicule, harassment, or government involvement. We want basic services at a reasonable cost, police, fire, water, sewage, healthcare, and the like. We want honest men and women in elected positions who serve the people instead of growing their bank accounts on the people's backs.

Christians should live as good citizens of the country where they live, act as the voice for those who cannot speak for themselves, and do something about injustice, poverty, and crime. But Christians must also live as citizens of the Kingdom of God first. That is our true citizenship, and it means we must live by Jesus' commands. All authority in heaven and earth is placed in him, and his command is given in the verses we just read. Love God and love your neighbor. Elsewhere Jesus tells us you can't love the invisible God you can't see; if you don't love your neighbor, you can see.

Does name-calling fall within the rights of a Kingdom of God citizen? I don't think so. Does rioting fall within those rights? I don't think so. Does violence against another meet the criteria? Again, not according to what I see in Jesus. We need to stand up for what is right, but not in the way it happens on Facebook or some of our streets today. Even what we see on C-Span or the news outlets, how interviews, or more like interrogations, are handled, they do not reflect a citizen of the Kingdom spirit. Am I judging? Yes. I think when we see behavior clearly violating the spirit of God's law, that's not judging the heart. I can't see a person's heart and cannot evaluate a person's state before God. But I can certainly identify behavior so outlandishly against what Jesus would accept in his Kingdom.

It's time we stop and think before we act. If we are children of the Kingdom, we need to act like it. We need to share the gospel, not hatred. We need to remind ourselves and others that Jesus was crucified, died, and buried. He was raised from the dead and is alive, sitting as King of the world. Put your faith and hope in him. Pray a lot about this election. Go and vote your conscience. Someone will win, someone will lose in this election, but it doesn't change the real ruler. That will never change. Jesus is and always will be the King of kings.

One day, 'every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess, that Jesus is the Lord.' There is no other.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV): Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™. Used by permission of Zondervan

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.

Today, we are further from the first-century church than was King David. Life for the shepherd king resembled life for Jesus and his followers more than it does for us. We sometimes find it challenging to remember that because of the way the Renaissance portrayed the first century. We see paintings of the Roman Jesus instead of the Jewish Jesus. We see him peacefully meandering through the hillsides and large crowds welcoming him wherever he goes with no interruption or opposition in those paintings.

I don't think that's what life was like for Jesus and the Jews of his day. We forget Israel and Jerusalem, in particular, found itself an occupied nation filled with Roman soldiers. Jerusalem's priests continually worked to quell revolts among the people so they could keep their tenuous line of authority with Herod and Caesar. Revolutionaries popped up among the populace often enough that crucifixes were not an uncommon sight along the Judean and Galilean roads as examples of what would happen to those who sought to overthrow their Roman yoke.

The Jews didn't like the Romans. They didn't like their taxes. They didn't like the fact that taxes must be paid with Roman coins with Caesar's depiction stamped on one side and the pronouncement' son of god' on the other. The blasphemous thought grated at them every time they even saw one of those coins. That's part of the hypocrisy of their question to Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees should have shuddered at producing a coin, much less had one within the Temple grounds.

Jesus spent most of his ministry outside Jerusalem to the very end, mostly, I think, to avoid what he knew would result when he spoke of the kingdom of God within the city. The priests would protect their positions with Rome. Rome would swiftly end anything they saw as a threat to their empire. Any talk of a new king constituted a threat to Caesar. How could Rome not execute another proclaimed Messiah, King of the Jews? Jesus was not the first to hang on their crosses, and he would not be the last. But he would be the only one the grave could not hold.

So, let's take a different picture of what Israel might look like in those three years of Jesus' ministry. Instead of the serene country hillsides and quiet fishing villages, let's move the scene forward into what it might have looked like in our modern world. Picture Chicago, Seattle, Portland, New York, and other major cities protesting the police's overreach in some of those cases. Riots spring up, rocks thrown, torches lit, crowds gather around public buildings.

But there is one huge difference. In our cities, those protests and riots run their course. Buildings burned. Some innocents and guilty were injured. Some arrested. But imagine living in a police state like Rome or China. That first night of protest, the army comes out in full force. The protesters find themselves surrounded. Gunshots begin to ring out. Within a few minutes, it's over. The protesters no longer stand shouting with fists raised, ready to let the government know their grievances. They lay dead in the streets.

That's Jerusalem in Jesus' day. Centurions kept peace with their companies of soldiers. When rocks were thrown, they retaliated with swords and spears. The Romans showed no mercy. They conquered wherever they went because everyone knew their reputation and most often surrendered before forced to fight. Paying taxes seemed better than lying in a grave.

Did Jesus hide? I don't think he hid from authorities, but as he often mentioned, he lived on a timetable. Jesus marched toward a specific destiny at one particular time. He would be the Passover Lamb and did not want to find himself in the hands of the authorities at the wrong time. Consequently, we find most of his teaching outside Jerusalem in Judea and Galilea's hills, and sometimes in Samaria.

Why all that background? It's to introduce us to a story that hits too close to home for the church today. It comes from an event recorded by Luke in the seventeenth chapter:

11 As Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, he passed along the borderlands between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into one particular village he was met by ten men with virulent skin diseases who stayed at some distance from him.

13 'Jesus, Master!' they called out loudly. 'Have pity on us!'

14 When Jesus saw them he said to them, 'Go and show yourselves to the priests.' And as they went, they were healed.

15 One of them, seeing that he had been healed, turned back and gave glory to God at the top of his voice. 16 He fell on his face in front of Jesus' feet and thanked him. He was a Samaritan.

17 'There were ten of you healed, weren't there?' responded Jesus. 'Where are the nine? 18 Is it really the case that the only one who had the decency to give God the glory was this foreigner?

19 'Get up, and be on your way,' he said to him. 'Your faith has saved you.' Luke 17:11-19 NTE)

Jesus continued his ministry, mostly in small villages outside the major metropolitan areas of Israel. Herod had already arrested and killed his cousin, John, because of his ministry. Jesus' message was more inflammatory and revolutionary than John's. His disciples declared him Messiah. Herod knew from the prophecies that meant one thing. He would reign over all the Jews and all the nations. Jesus was a threat to Herod and Caesar.

Still, Jesus spread his message. Repent! The kingdom of God is near. His kingdom is at hand. But Jesus' kingdom didn't bring speak of violent overthrow of an oppressive government. He didn't expect to use armed soldiers to fight against another army. Jesus spoke of fighting with peace, love, mercy, forgiveness, grace. Characteristics that describe the loving Father he knew created all things and allowed the kings of the world to hold their positions to bring some order into the chaos that would otherwise run rampant throughout his world.

We saw how the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone or Capitol Hill Organized Protest turned out. It didn't take very long until what was supposed to be a peaceful, everyone equal, no racism, no police area of Seattle included burned-out buildings, businesses looted, and owners threatened, robberies, rapes, and murders with a small group of armed men deciding they were in charge. Autonomy turned into anarchy in the small area. Peace and love turned to violence and fear. God's word says he puts authorities in place to keep us in line because we can't do it ourselves. We are broken people because of sin. We cave to our misdirected desires and satisfy them in ways that break the communities in which we live.

Still, Jesus spread his message. He knew our hearts. He knew most would reject him. Only one of the ten men healed of their dreadful disease returned to thank him and give praise to God. Did the other nine return after they went to the priest? We don't know, but based on the story, I doubt it. Did they run to their families to share the good news first and then come back? Probably not, according to the tone of Jesus' words.

We haven't changed much across the millennia of our existence. We think we become smarter with more information at our disposal. We think we know more than our ancestors. We think we possess advanced intelligence. But I think we may digress in wisdom as we look at the plight of humanity. We have all this information at our fingertips, but what do we do with it to help each other? Instead, we try to line our pockets with more. We build bigger barns, drive faster cars, get the corner office with bigger windows.

But do we give credit to the One who enables us to do any of those things? And do we share the surplus as God asks? Do we take care of the widows and orphans, the definition of those who could not take care of themselves in his day? Do we share the message that Jesus came to fulfill Abraham's side of the covenant, to finally share the blessings of God with all the nations of the world - to rescue them from themselves?

Jesus came to rescue us – from sin, death, sickness, economic woes, environmental problems, societal strife, all the things that plague humanity since Adam and Eve first broke their covenant with God and ate the fruit he forbade them to eat. Jesus began that work through his message. He fulfilled that work in his resurrection. He begins to make it available to all who believe in him as Messiah, the son of the living God.

Will all believe? I don't think so. Will all be rescued? Again, I don't think so. When drowning, you must grab the life ring before it can save you. While it just floats beside you and you refuse to grab it, the life ring can do nothing for you. God gives us every opportunity to grab on to his message, to believe in him, to experience his forgiving mercy and grace. But we must also take that step of faith and reach out to him as well. He reaches far past the middle, but we must also reach out to him. He wants believers in his kingdom, not puppets. It is always my choice and yours.

Ten were told to show themselves to the priest. One returned to praise God. One received the words from Jesus, "Your faith has saved you, healed you, rescued you." The other nine? We don't know their fate for sure. I only know I want to stand with that one and know for sure I'm in that small crowd who falls at Jesus' feet and praises him for his saving grace. How about you?

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked NTE are taken from the NEW TESTAMENT FOR EVERYONE: Scriptures are taken from The New Testament for Everyone copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011.

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.

From the Philippians' lectionary readings yesterday, three things jumped out at me that I wanted to share with you today. First, let me read the passage from Paul's letter, then we will discuss each of them in reverse in the message and why I think we must address them as individuals and as the church, the body of Christ, today.

 4 Always be glad for what the Lord has done, I will say it again, be glad.

5 Let everyone know that you think kindly of others before yourselves. The Lord is near.

6 Do not worry about anything. Talk to God about everything. Thank him for what you have. Ask him for what you need.

7 Then God will give you peace, a peace which is too wonderful to understand. That peace will keep your hearts and minds safe as you trust in Christ Jesus.

8 Here, my brothers, are some things I want you to think about. Think about things that are true, honest, right, clean and pure, things that are lovely, and things that are good to talk about. If they are good, and if they bring praise to God, think about these things.

9 I taught you, and you learned things from me. You heard the things I said, and you saw the things I did. Do these same things yourselves. Then God who gives peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:4-9 WE)

The topic that I'll mention first comes from Paul's last bold statement. Pattern your life after mine, and God will give you the peace he gives me. How many of us tell those coming behind us those words today? Too often, what we hear is my private life is private. Don't peek into the closet; it's none of your business what I do behind closed doors. You only need to know what I do in my business, my public life, that's why you pay me.

Not Paul. He says, follow me around, watch me every moment of every day and do what I do. Use me as an example of holy living. Let me show you what it means to follow Jesus and his teachings. If you do the things I do, you will be okay when you stand before Him at the judgment.

We might call that overconfident. We might call Paul conceited. We might think him arrogant. Paul lived none of those characteristics. He just knew that if he followed Christ in all his practices, public and private, others could follow him and find their way to Jesus the same way he did. And when Paul discovered him, Jesus turned his world upside down, or should I say, he finally turned Paul's world right-side up. That's what Jesus came to do, after all, to make all things right again.

So, the first point in Paul's words yesterday, can I say like Paul, follow in my footsteps, and you will be following Jesus? Am I walking so much in the light of God's word and by the guidance of his spirit, that I can honestly make that statement to others? If not, why not, and what am I going to do about it?

Second is Paul's admonition to watch with what we fill our cranial space. God created magnificent computer storage spaces when he created our brains. They operate in ways science and medicine still haven't figured out. Somehow, memories get stored in the electrical impulses that happened between the cells in our brain, but how and what mechanism recall the right bit of those chemical and electrical impulses to bring back those memories decades later? We still have no clue.

What we have learned, though, is that everything that goes into the brain is there. Unless some injury or illness destroys some part of the brain, memories find their way in and remain. I might not be able to call them up at a moments' notice, but they reside somewhere in that mass of tissue, and the right stimulus can bring them to the surface. So Paul says, if that's true, just like a compute, our brains work on the principle of garbage in, garbage out. If you fill your mind with smut, violence, evil, things contradictory to God's goodness, that's what spills out. When you fill your mind with good things, that's what comes out.

What does that mean for us practically? The older I get, the more I understand Paul's words. Think about things that are true, honest, right, clean and pure, things that are lovely, and things that are good to talk about. If they are good, and if they bring praise to God, think about these things. I must admit, I've quit watching the news almost entirely. When is the last time you heard any news outlet talk about anything with these qualities? It's been a long time. Bad news sells. In our broken state, we want to hear the dirt, the lies, the filth, the ugly. We want to know the worst of society to feel just a little better about ourselves in our minds.

Filling our mind with the worst of society doesn't let God shine his light on the things in us he wants to change, though. Thinking on the goodness of creation, the goodness of humanity made in God's image, the goodness of God's love and mercy, the beauty of the things around us, pulls us out of the world and, for those moments, lets us get just a little closer to the joining of heaven and earth - God walking in the garden with us.

Yesterday's scripture reminds us to keep our minds on things that focus on the best of this world. Paul tells us:

Think about things that are true, honest, right, clean and pure, things that are lovely, and things that are good to talk about. If they are good, and if they bring praise to God, think about these things.

Finally, the last thing I wanted to share with you from yesterday's reading is just a four-word sentence from verse 5. "The Lord is near." What makes that so important, and why did I want to share it with you today.

Allowing me to read more resulted in a pandemic's positive effect as it seems the second wave begins to hit many areas of the world. As I've read much larger chunks of the Old and New Testaments at one sitting, often several books at a time, I've begun to notice things I never saw before.

I knew Jesus is the Messiah prophesied throughout the Old Testament. Still, I never saw how Jesus became the embodiment of the Israelites exile once again so he could go through it and overcome it. Abraham was exiled in a sense from Ur but failed to bless the nations. God rescued the fledgling tribe through Joseph, but they failed to show God to the Egyptians how they saw Yahweh as the only God of the heavens. God rescued the Israelites through Moses, but they turned back to their idolatry in the land he gave them. Now, after returning from Babylon, still scattered around the world, the Temple rebuilt, Jesus comes to rescue the Israelites and show them what God wants of his chosen people as lights of the world to bring the nations to him. The Pharisees and Sadducees work together to plot to kill him. Use trumped-up charges, break their laws to entice Pilate to execute Jesus for doing good on the Sabbath, and rid Jerusalem of another revolutionary leader – they thought.

Jesus' resurrection brought heaven and earth together. Throughout his ministry, his message was clear. Repent, heaven is near. Some will think me crazy, I'm sure. Some will not want to hear the Lord is near. But as we discover the probability of multiple dimensions, I believe that's where heaven might be. I think heaven is here, just out of sight. Jesus' resurrected body could pass from one side to the other. Perhaps he could multiply the bread and fish by reaching from one side to the other. Maybe angels can do God's bidding by passing from one side to the other.

We don't understand what physical properties other dimensions might hold because we've never seen them or been there. Scientists only assume their probability through mathematical formulas. But suppose it is true and the Lord is just beside you and in this other dimension can be just beside any of us in the blink of an eye where time and space don't operate the way it does in our dimension. What if Jesus, the son of God, who conquered death and showed his disciples his new resurrected body that comes and goes behind locked doors is right here, now, just waiting for God to say, "Open the curtain."

It means in the blink of an eye; all could change. The new heaven and new earth could appear without notice, and suddenly we would be face to face with our Lord as a new dimension, a new earth, a new heaven, a new creation unfolds around us. "Heaven is near," Jesus said. "The kingdom is at hand," he proclaimed. Paul tells us, "The Lord is near." Perhaps he's even here. How does that change what you do and how you act today.

 There they are: The Lord is near. Think about good things. Follow in my footsteps to follow in his. Three messages that will shake us and awaken us as we contemplate the days in which we live.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked WE are taken from THE JESUS BOOK - The Bible in Worldwide English (WE). Scriptures are taken from THE JESUS BOOK - The Bible in Worldwide English, Copyright © 1969, 1971, 1996, 1998 by SOON Educational Publications, Derby, DE65 6BN, UK. Used by permission.

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.

18 The people trembled with fear when they heard the thunder and the trumpet and saw the lightning and the smoke coming from the mountain. They stood a long way off 19 and said to Moses, "If you speak to us, we will listen. But don't let God speak to us, or we will die!"

20 "Don't be afraid!" Moses replied. "God has come only to test you, so that by obeying him you won't sin." 21 But when Moses went near the thick cloud where God was, the people stayed a long way off. (Exodus 20:18-20 CEV)

What is it about us? We mock God in so many ways, but when he shows up, we tremble with fear. It happened with Adam and Eve when they recognized their disobedience. The Israelites trembled at the foot of Mount Sinai, where God gave his direction for living in harmony. It happens today when he shows up in extraordinary ways.

God invited his people to witness the giving of the law, but they wanted to listen only to Moses' voice, not to the voice of God. "Let God speak to Moses and tell us what he said, but don't let us hear the voice of God, or we'll die!" How sad that we fail to accept God's invitation to come into his presence and learn at his feet.

Of course, when we do, we risk everything. We learn that we indeed live in sin. We discover our shortcomings and how far we fall from the perfection of a holy God. We find ourselves falling on our face as Isaiah or Peter or John and declaring our sin to him. The sin he already knows, but we see fully uncovered in the light of His holiness. But isn't that what we want? Shouldn't we prefer those faults exposed so God can take care of them instead of them dragging us down? Shouldn't our greatest desire be God's intervention in our lives to rid us of those things that oppose him so that we can stand blameless in his presence?

I sometimes think the Israelites failure to accept God's initial invitation to climb the mountain with Moses and find themselves from that point prohibited from even touching the mountain started their path to exile and destruction. I wonder what would have happened if they had gone up the trail and listen to God's instructions. I wonder how they would have reacted to his commands differently if, instead of listening to God's words through Moses, they heard those commands from God's voice.

Perhaps the thunderous voice, the fire, and smoke accompanying God's presence as he spoke might have made the impact necessary for them to follow his guidance. Perhaps, if the people experienced God's presence the way Moses did, they would recognize the incredible privilege of hearing him speak to them and the risk they took in not following him. Perhaps, the Israelites would have fulfilled their mission as God's light to the world and blessed the rest of the nations as he had desired from the beginning.

Then Jesus came and again invited us into his presence. After his resurrection, he appeared to many with the command repeated more often than any other throughout God's word, "Don't be afraid." He wants us to come near to him. He wants us to enjoy an intimate relationship with God. Jesus knows that entering the presence of God can cause fear when we recognize our sin, but he gave his life as the atonement for our sin. We do not need to fear his presence. He is a God of love and mercy, demonstrated through his actions as Messiah.

Our problem today, we fail to get close enough to God to see through the smoke and get past the thunderous voice and know the intimacy of the Father. We stand off at a distance, as did the Israelites, instead of drawing near to him. When we do, we find the gentle hand of a loving God, ready to save us from ourselves. We see him ready to help us in our time of need. We find the Abba, Father side of God, instead of the wrathful, lightning bolt side.

How do we come near to God today, though? We don't see the Old Testament's dramatic events in which he covered the mountain tops with thunder and fire. We don't see him in a pillar of cloud and fire, leading the way ahead. So how do we find him?

The answer lies in prayerfully reading his word. Let the words of the scripture, especially those of Jesus, show you who God is. The Old Testament points to the coming Messiah. The Gospels show Jesus fulfills that role. The Acts and the Epistles show what happens when people follow Jesus' teachings and let his spirit guide their lives. His word is fresh every day. He gives new insights to life and what he wants to do in and through you as you study and examine his word.

Then exercise just a modicum of faith in Jesus, believing him to be Messiah, God's Son, the one who gave himself for your sin. Ask him to forgive you for your disobedience toward him and ask him into your life. Allow him to be master of your life. Open your heart and mind to him, and he will direct you as you journey through life. He will let you know him. He will not be a stranger to you. But it does take that first step of faith believing he is who he says he is.

Awe replaces fear. A desire to know more of him grows in you. You begin to see others how God sees them for who they can become rather who they are now. Your love for others expands as you recognize God's love for you and them. You recognize the image of God in all humanity, not just in what used to be your favorite parts of the world. Jesus will lead you on the most exciting journey you can imagine.

So, what will it be? Stand in fear at the bottom of the mountain? Or join the crowds who have gone before you following the one who takes away all fear? It's your choice. He gives us the free will to make it. He's ready and willing to have you join his kingdom if you are willing.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked CEV are taken from the CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH VERSION (CEV): Scripture taken from the CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH VERSION copyright© 1995 by the American Bible Society. Used by permission.

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for "A Little Walk with God." I'm your host Richard Agee.

In 1967, Paul Anka heard a pop tune while on vacation in France. He negotiated rights to the music and wrote new words for it specifically for Frank Sinatra. Sinatra recorded it early in 1969, and it still holds a record staying in the UK top 40 for 40 weeks, and the top 75 for 89 weeks. The song became Sinatra's signature song, even though his daughter says he came to hate the song because it sounds so self-serving and self-indulgent. You probably guessed the name of the song by now, "My Way." The verses filled with the phrase, "I did it my way."

Unfortunately, the song could be the signature song of our culture. Or at least it could be with one little change, "I want it my way." We might not get it the way we want it simply because everyone can't have it the way they want it, but we want it, and too often, we will do anything to have it our way. Just look around at the political and social unrest going on around the world today.

That doesn't mean the world is perfect, and injustice should not be called out, but how many of the protests, political abuse, riots, demands are for what I want rather than what's right for the populace as a whole? "I want it my way," is the cry that comes out of most of those protests, political rallies, riots, and demands. How else can we interpret the voice that says, "We will burn down the country if you don't give us our demands?"

We live in a Frank Sinatra hit song culture. I want it my way and will do what it takes to do it my way no matter who it hurts. But that's not the Kingdom way. When Jesus came, many thought the Messiah would usher in the Kingdom the world's way with Rome's violent overthrow, freeing the Jews from their tyranny. But Jesus showed them a different way. At his baptism to begin his ministry, a dove rested on his shoulder, marking a ministry of peace and healing, not just of people but also of nations. God's Kingdom is one of peace, not violence. Violence only breeds more violence.

So how are we to approach the events of this world? How are we to get through this life with its teachings to get more at whatever cost? How do we overcome the drive that's all around us to get ahead and forget about everyone but ourselves?

We find the answer from Paul's letter to the church in Philippi. Paul wrote the letter while in prison. We sometimes forget the trials he went through and the suffering he endured as he shared the message of the Kingdom in those early years of Christendom. When we stop and think about Paul's suffering and persecution, we might marvel at the words he wrote. But anyone who has allowed Jesus to engulf their life will find them trustworthy. As he writes to the church, he makes an important request of them. We see it in the second chapter.

If you find any comfort from being in the Anointed, if His love brings you some encouragement, if you experience true companionship with the Spirit, if His tenderness and mercy fill your heart; then, brothers and sisters, 2 here is one thing that would complete my joy—come together as one in mind and spirit and purpose, sharing in the same love. 3 Don't let selfishness and prideful agendas take over. Embrace true humility, and lift your heads to extend love to others. 4 Get beyond yourselves and protecting your own interests; be sincere, and secure your neighbors' interests first. (Philippians 2:1-4 The Voice)

We don't see that taught much today in our philosophy or political science or economic classes. It's all about how much can I get for me. Forget about everyone else; it's about my comfort in this world, not so in God's Kingdom. Remember Jesus' words? The first will be last, and the last will be first. He showed us a servant lifestyle. Paul echoes the lifestyle that brings joy to our heavenly father. Come together as one in mind and spirit and purpose, sharing in the same love.

That doesn't mean I have to agree with you or you have to agree with me. It means we must agree with God. We must look to Jesus and keep our eyes on him. He is the standard, not me or you or anyone else. When we think we have it right, we are probably in trouble. Jesus has it right. Only when we model him can we expect our actions and behavior to approach unity within the body of Christ. It's not about my way or your way, but about Jesus' way.

I like the way Paul puts it in that last verse we shared. "Get beyond yourselves and protecting your own interests; be sincere, and secure your neighbors' interests first."

I remember the sibling quarrels in my family growing up. Sometimes, they would even escalate to knock down, drag-out fights with my older brother at times. But if anyone outside the family ever tried to attack one of us, watch out. You suddenly found yourself on the losing end. We stuck together and supported each other to the end. I know a lot of families like that. Unfortunately, I don't see a lot of churches like that.

We use the words about being a family, but we're far from it. We gossip about each other. We tear each other down. We meet in our little groups to find out the dirty secrets about lives and then spread those secrets around rather than lifting them in prayer and giving support. Too many times, churches have become one of Satan's best battlegrounds. We've let the world's philosophy of "I want it my way" creep into our lives instead of listening to Paul's admonition to think of others first.

How do we turn all this around? How do we stop what is happening in our world? How do we bring peace and harmony to a land filled with riots, violence, and divide? How do we make a difference where we are?

First, check your heart. Is Jesus truly Lord of your life? Does he own you? Once that is settled, model your life after his. It's really that simple. I won't tell you it's easy. Jesus felt the pressure of the Jewish leaders with a bounty on his head. He felt the ridicule of his own family and friends. More people rejected his message than believed it. Finally, Roman soldiers beat him and crucified him. But if you look at scripture and watch his life, Jesus' lived filled with joy. He taught, he healed, he spent a lot of time in people's homes at dinner parties. Jesus enjoyed life.

So did Paul and Peter and all the other Apostles. So do all Jesus' followers who understand what the Kingdom is about. It's not about me. It's not about us. It's not about God's followers. It's about God. The Kingdom is all about him. It is his domain. He is its center, its beginning, and its end. Everything about the Kingdom surrounds him. He created it and all things in it. He established it for himself but invites us to be part of it. That means God is and always will be first in everything.

With the perspective, God first in life, modeling Jesus' life, securing your neighbors' interests first becomes far less difficult along life's journey. As long as we keep our eyes on him, we stand much less chance of singing "I want it my way" as the rest of the world heads down the broad road to destruction. Simple? Yes. Easy? No. But God's spirit in you will give you the strength you need to do it.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked THE VOICE are taken from the THE VOICE (The Voice): Scripture taken from THE VOICE ™. Copyright© 2008 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.