Paul's memories - Ruminating in the Word of God.

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Philippians 1:3,

"I thank my God every time I remember you."

One of my favorite accounts of the early church is when Paul visited
the Macedonian city Philippi for the first time. On his second
missionary journey he arrived at Philippi with Silas, Timothy and
Luke. This fascinating account is provided to us by Luke in Acts
16:12-40. The account includes wonderful descriptions of conversions
as a result of the gospel message that Paul brought, the supernatural
represented by a girl who foretold the future by a spirit that
possessed her and Paul's casting out of that spirit, a city wide
uproar resulting in Paul's and Silas' beating and imprisonment, and
the miraculous when Paul and his companions were freed by an
earthquake. The tale of the Philippian jailer and his family embracing
Jesus Christ in faith as a response to the gospel Paul preached,
resulting in their salvation, is certainly a classic account of the
kind of evangelism Paul engaged in. Surely these are among the
remembrances Paul refers to as he thanks God for these Philippian
believers.

While it is easy to recognize the supernatural, the miraculous, the
wonderful workings of God in the acceptance of the gospel by many as
provided in Luke's account, I am reminded that there was much that
could have discouraged Paul as well. Certainly he must have felt
exasperated by the wacky servant-girl who dogged him wherever he went
with her shouting. Luke tells us Paul was so "annoyed" he cast the
spirit out of her that made her living as a fortune-teller possible. I
wonder what Paul felt as he was dragged before the authorities in
Philippi and accused of creating an uproar and advocating the
"unlawful", when all he had done was to relieve a girl from a spirit
that dominated her? Certainly the flogging both Paul and Silas
received unjustly, as well as their jailing could have become a
discouragement for them.

However, as I read the account in Acts 16, I don't see Paul
discouraged or downcast. He comes across as a man living "on the edge"
for the Lord, doing great things to further the gospel enterprise. He
challenges the people of Philippi, goes out looking for those he could
evangelize, as he does Lydia and the others with her, demonstrating he
is on the offense. We find Paul and Silas, jailed for the night,
singing hymns to God and praying in the middle of the night, and
staying to evangelize the jailer and his family when they could have
run. When the magistrates freed Paul and Silas in the morning, they
demanded the magistrates come and do it themselves, as I think, for
one last opportunity to share the gospel message before they left
town.

What I see in Paul is an indomitable spirit: the Spirit of the Lord at
work in and through his life. As Paul reflects on his memories of
these folks, he does so in thanksgiving. Clearly, his thanksgiving is
rooted in the participation of these believers in his ministry, but I
suspect his thanksgiving reaches beyond what these wonderful believers
contributed, that it was all good, manifesting the implacable Holy
Spirit's involvement in the events that took place in Paul's ministry
in Philippi.

Read Acts 16. It will bring you a breath of fresh air!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

How can you be so confident???- Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Philippians 1:4-6,

"In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of
your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being
confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it
on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

Paul had a confidence for the Philippian believers, that the "good
work" begun by the Lord in their hearts would be carried through to
completion till the day of the Lord.

What was the basis for Paul's confidence in this? Certainly he was
proud of this group of believers who had shared in the work he did. He
reminded these believers that when he left Macedonia to continue his
mission of evangelizing, they were the only ones who contributed to
his support, 4:15, and when he was in Thessalonica they had sent him
aid repeatedly, 4:16. As we see in 1:5, he thanked God for their
partnership with him in his gospel ministry.

Paul also reflects on the consistent obedience of this group of
believers, 2:12, but I don't think his confidence lay in the believers
themselves. Despite the wonderful hearts of these believers and their
participation and contribution to Paul's ministry, Paul's confidence
was grounded in something he mentions to another group of believers,
the folks in Corinth.

In what we have as Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth he
says, "Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly
wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you strong
to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus
Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus
Christ our Lord, is faithful." 1 Corinthians 1:7-9. Here Paul
recognizes it is God himself who keeps believers strong to the end, a
work born of his faithfulness.

The question of whether someone can lose their salvation misses the
point of to whom believers belong and the Lord's ability to care for
his own. Those who have embraced the Lord in faith belong to God and
God himself resides within them through his Holy Spirit. The Spirit
brings about changes in the hearts of believers that manifest his
presence there, "You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature
but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone
does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ."
Romans 8:9. It is this work of the Holy Spirit that keeps us strong,
bringing to completion what he has started in our lives when we first
embraced him in faith.

I think all believers from time to time question their standing with
God. It happens when we take our eyes off him and focus on ourselves.
In doing so we violate the admonition: "When they measure themselves
by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not
wise." 2 Corinthians 10:12b. The truth is that no true believer can
say that knowing Jesus Christ has had no impact on their lives. Each
of us are indwelt with God's Spirit and he brings change within. It is
God's faithfulness in his activity in our lives that provided Paul
confidence that believers will be brought to the appointed completion
God has for each one of us.

We may not all be at the same point in our walk with the Lord... it
might even be that I make you look pretty good. Although we may not
see the wonderful work God did in the believers in Philippi or Corinth
at this point in our lives, we can all certainly share in Paul's
confidence that it is the Lord who is faithful and he will continue
his wonderful work within us.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!



Trevor Fisk

trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Fellowship then and now - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Philippians 1:3-6,

"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all
of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the
gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he
who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the
day of Christ Jesus."

Paul spoke of his feelings for his brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Their partnership with him in the gospel brought him joy. In this
thank-you letter to the church in Philippi, he acknowledged their
fellowship with him. Paul speaks of what they shared together in God's
grace, 1:7; he acknowledged their prayers for him, 1:19; his remaining
in this life for their "progress and joy in the faith", 1:25; his
presence with them bringing them overflowing joy in Christ Jesus,
1:26; his gladness and rejoicing with the Philippians and theirs with
him, even in the midst of danger, 2:17-18. He talked of his
anticipation of being cheered when receiving of news of them (in his
imprisonment he was separated from them), 2:19 and he spoke of genuine
interest in their welfare represented in Timothy's concern for them,
2:20. Paul told them of his love and longing for them and reckoned
them to be his "joy and crown", 4:1. Paul "rejoiced greatly" in the
Philippian's concern for him, 4:10 and recognized their sharing in his
troubles, how good it was, 4:14. Paul recognized how generous and
giving the Philippians had been toward Paul in their sending him aid
again and again, 4:15-17. His desire was not so much his needs being
met, but that their giving to him would be "credited" to their account
in the court of the Lord, 4:17. Paul's desire and certainty was that
"God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in
Christ Jesus, 4:19.

Such was not always the case for Paul. When we first meet Paul in the
Scriptures we read he participated in the stoning of Stephen, the
first martyr of the church. He persecuted the church in its infancy.
In Acts 9:1-2 we read, "Meanwhile, Saul [Paul] was still breathing out
murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high
priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so
that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or
women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem." Paul confessed,
"I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man..." 1
Timothy 1:13.

What a change the Lord brought about in Paul's heart! It is
astonishing to me to see what it is the Lord can do in the heart of
even the most hardened person!

What catches my eye this morning, though, is the love, care, joy,
concern that believers had for one another as represented in Paul's
communication with the church in Philippi. This is what biblical
fellowship looks like. Far from the "fellowship dinner" these day at
church followed by the business meeting where the new color of the
nursery is argued over, these folks had their eye on something else,
someone else. Someone who expressed an incomprehensible love by paying
for their sins to make a way into eternal life, a place in the Lord's
family at the Lord's table! These folks had their eye on someone who
changed them from the inside out, making the kind of fellowship
evident in Paul's letter to the church in Philippi possible.

It is my belief Paul's prayer was answered: "And this is my prayer:
that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of
insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be
pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of
righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise
of God."

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

The imperative of love - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Philippians 1:9-11,

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in
knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern
what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,
filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus
Christ—to the glory and praise of God."

Paul was a man of prayer. He spoke of praying for the folks in the
church in Rome, Romans 1:9-10, for the folks in the church in Ephesus,
Ephesians 3:14-19, for the folks in the church in Colosse, as well as
many other places. Here he speaks of praying for the believers in
Philippi.

As in Ephesians 3:14-19, Paul prays for love in the hearts and minds
of the Philippian believers. It was his desire to see the love of
believers "abound more and more". It appears Paul felt there was no
end to the opportunity for growth in love in the hearts of believers,
that there was no arrival or destination point of enough love. No
matter how mature a believer might become, there is always room for
more love.

I note that Paul says love abounds in increasing knowledge and depth
of insight: a seamless integration of love tied to the other. If we
don't find greater capacity for love, greater expressions of love in
our acquisition of knowledge and depth of insight, then we are missing
the appointed outcome these should bring. We often hear of those who
have "head knowledge" indicating that somehow the acquisition of
knowledge of the things of God has somehow escaped the heart,
represented in love not evidenced - a misdirected dynamic.

The more we grow in knowledge and depth of insight, the more we should
grow in love and vice versa. It is only from the increasing interplay
of the two that the outcomes of discernment and the fruit of
righteousness find their rightful places in our lives.

Is this dynamic important? To the degree we find the glory of God and
the praise of God important! This is how it is accomplished, "to the
glory and praise of God."

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

What God can do following disaster - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Judges 21:23b,

"Then they [the remnant of Benjamin] returned to their inheritance and
rebuilt the towns and settled in them."

Following the debacle that resulted from their own depravity that
brought the tribe of Benjamin to the brink of annihilation, and
following some hair-brained scheming and action on the part of the
rest of Israel, Benjamin "returned to their inheritance and rebuilt
the towns and settled in them." These towns had to be rebuilt as the
other Israelites had razed them.

The tribe of Benjamin survived and would later provide Israel with her
first king, Saul. However, my favorite Benjamite was the apostle Paul.
As I consider the vast impact in the world the Lord has made through
Paul's ministry as the apostle to the Gentiles, I am reminded of how
God can take that which appears at its end and do stunning things.
Inspired and equipped by the Holy Spirit, Paul, "a blasphemer and a
persecutor and a violent man", his own words, 1 Timothy 1:14, was used
mightily by the Lord to establish an aggressive evangelistic thrust
into the Gentile world, a thrust that is still felt today. Again,
inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul wrote thirteen of our New Testament
books providing the world with apostolic insight and direction that
has shaped western civilization over the past two millenniums. Paul,
from the tribe of Benjamin, a tribe that was devastated.

The apostle Peter recognized Paul's writings as those from a shelf in
the library of works known to be inspired by God himself. Only
forty-some authors have been used by God for this purpose and Paul is
prominent among this exclusive group. Of Paul's writings Peter says,
"Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our
dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He
writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these
matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand,
which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other
Scriptures, to their own destruction." 2 Peter 3:15-16. Of Paul's
writings and "the other Scriptures" Peter says, "Above all, you must
understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's
own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of
man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy
Spirit." 2 Peter 1:20-21.

As those 600 Benjamite men scattered into the desert while the rest of
the men, women and children of the tribe slaughtered, Benjamin looked
to be barren, dead and done. Just look what God can do with that! In
speaking of Abraham's faith, Paul observed Abraham's faith was in
"...the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not
as though they were." Romans 4:17b.

You and I might be in the midst of disaster - what might he do through
you and me in the aftermath?

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Women created in God's image? Or just cattle? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Judges 21:23,

"While the girls were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off
to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt
the towns and settled in them."

Here is what I consider to be the thinking and actions of a people in
the pit of moral depravity, where "everyone did as he saw fit". In the
minds of the leaders of Israel, it was not okay to break an oath to
the Lord they had made to not give their daughters in marriage to any
man in Benjamin. Having slaughtered the tribe and now feeling remorse
over having nearly lost it from the nation they now thought it okay to
kidnap innocent and unsuspecting girls from Shiloh to provide wives
for the remaining men of Benjamin.

I wonder just what these unsuspecting girls, who went to celebrate the
Lord, felt about it? Did anyone consider how "okay" it was to them?
How okay can it be to abduct and remove a girl from her home, from her
family and force her to marry the assailant from another place? As I
read the account, and as I read how the Levite's concubine was treated
in Judges 19 and how the old man offered up his virgin daughter to the
predators outside, it appears women where treated as cattle. I'm
astonished how little concern the Levite had, who had gone all the way
to his concubine's father's house to retriever her, when he got up the
next morning, saw her lying at the threshold and thinking she was
alive, telling her to get up and get a move on it. While she was being
raped all night and ultimately murdered, it reads as if the Levite and
the old man were fast asleep while knowing the atrocity taking place
outside... the account provides no indication these two attempted to
help this woman in the least.

The nation got this way by rejecting the Lord. Having turned their
backs on him they pursued their own ideas of "religion", embraced
sexual immorality, embraced homosexuality, embraced the killing of
their own children (child sacrifice had become the thing to do for
Israel). "Everyone did as he thought fit." Just like people today.
Nothing ever changes. As I read about the sad tale of Israel's
depravity, I recognize it is not just Israel. It is all mankind.
Anywhere God is rejected a spiral of depravity drags a people down to
the point where human life, which is sacred because we are brought to
life by his creative acts and because we are created in his image, is
devalued. This is certainly the case in the outlook of the men of
Israel toward their women. "Each man caught one and carried her off"
sounds a lot more like cattle thieves than kidnappers. Their view was
ungodly and reflected the debased nature they had sunk to.

What I am struck by this morning is the stark difference it makes when
God is present in a society. We are told God is love and those who
know God reflect that love, 1 John 4. Fear of the Lord instructs us
that all people are made in the image of God and are to be treated as
sacred. How different interpersonal relationships become when God is
embraced! This difference reflected in a society where God is embraced
is due to God himself. His pristine nature, his love, his justice, the
splendor of his many perfections and his radiant glory have tremendous
impact and is able to lift the most corrupt and depraved people into a
noble people who reflect who God is and what he is like.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com

Kidnapping with honor??? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Judges 21:20-22,

"Go and hide in the vineyards and watch. When the girls of Shiloh come
out to join in the dancing, then rush from the vineyards and each of
you [the remnant of Benjamin] seize a wife from the girls of Shiloh
and go to the land of Benjamin. When their fathers or brothers
complain to us, we will say to them, 'Do us a kindness by helping
them, because we did not get wives for them during the war, and you
are innocent, since you did not give your daughters to them.'"

When the other eleven tribes of Israel attacked the tribe of Benjamin
for the rape and murder of a Levite's concubine and Benjamin's
protection of the culprits, they slaughtered all of the men, women and
children of Benjamin, except for 600 men that fled into the desert.

Did the Lord want all the men, women and children of Benjamin
slaughtered? When the eleven tribes approached the Lord on attacking
Benjamin, he gave them the go-ahead. In Judges 21:15 we are told,
"...the Lord had made a gap in the tribes of Israel." Benjamin was
protecting predatory rapists and murderers. The text doesn't tell us
how far the Lord wanted the eleven tribes to go in their pursuit of
justice with Benjamin. It does tell us what happened though. The tribe
was nearly wiped out in total. As the eleven tribes began to mourn the
loss of a whole tribe from the nation (that they themselves had
brought about), they came up with a convoluted way to provide the 600
man remnant with wives so they could make a come back as a tribe.
After supplying 400 virgins from the town of Jabesh Gilead, a town who
failed to show up for the fight against Benjamin originally, they
still needed more wives for the remaining men of Benjamin.

Since they had made an oath to not give their daughters to any
Benjamite as they prepared for war against them, they had a dilemma in
providing wives to the Benjamites for the survival of the tribe. Their
solution was to manufacture a group kidnapping. When the virgins from
Shiloh came out to dance at an "annual festival of the Lord" the
remaining Benjamites were to hide in the vineyards, rush out when the
girls came out and take them.

The Israelites banked on the fathers and brothers of these kidnapped
girls to go along with it after the fact. And, since the men of Shiloh
had no idea their daughters would be kidnapped, they would be assured
they were free of guilt in not breaking the oath in giving daughters
to the Benjamites.

I don't know about you, but I wonder how these Israelites thought they
were free from the guilt of breaking the oath to the Lord, even though
the men of Shiloh were not? I also wonder why they cared about
attempting to re-establish Benjamin as a tribe since they were the
ones who slaughtered them all in the first place? The text does say
the people grieved "because the Lord had made a gap in the tribes of
Israel." It is difficult for me to determine whether the Lord wanted
them to go that far. The text also doesn't provide perspective on it,
but why was it necessary to slaughter the whole town of Jabesh Gilead,
save the 400 virgins? The text doesn't say.

One thing the text is clear about is the utter depravity Israel had
sunk to in their rejection of God. As a nation, they represent what
sin brings to any people. All of these actions stem from a series of
events spawned by the depraved hearts of individuals.

The Lord had revealed himself to Israel. He had redeemed them from
slavery in Egypt and sought their faith and trust in him. He provided
them the law, a very important tool to demonstrate how depraved their
hearts were and how dependent upon him they were for a right standing
before him. He provided them leaders, he provided them prophets, he
provided them the Scriptures, he provided them many manifestations of
his holiness, his character and nature, his love and his provision.
The Lord had provided Israel with everything they needed to keep
themselves from spiraling into a vortex of depravity resulting in the
kinds of events that we read about in Judges 17-21.

I am reminded the Lord has done the same for me and more. In addition
to all he had provided Israel, he has provided me the Holy Spirit as a
constant companion of encouragement and direction. He has provided me
with wonderful brothers and sisters, likewise filled with his Spirit,
as an encouragement, filled with various gifts to minister to us all.
He has provided his Son as an atonement for my sin as an historical
fact that I can look back to and measure his incomprehensible love for
me. He has also provided additional Scriptures that provide for me
everything I need that I might be "equipped for every good work." 2
Timothy 3:17.

The message could not be any clearer: follow the Lord and avoid the
horrific things of the type we find in Judges, or reject the Lord and
live it all for ourselves.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com