What I am thankful for

We are having our first (and only and last I hope) winter blizzard this morning. I got up and my neighbor was stuck in the ditch. I dragged myself outside hoping my


big diesel tractor wouldn't start because I didn't feel like being out in it. It did but about the time I got it warmed up it ran out of fuel. But by that time I noticed it wasn't so bad out there after all. I remembered St. Paul's admonition to give thanks in all things and in one of those rare moments God adjusted my perspective to the reality of my situation. I think I'd better strike while the iron is hot. I am overwhelmed by God's grace to me. He has:

-Given me a rugged spiritual and physical upbringing that helps me handle hardships and challenges me to want to know the truth about Him and the meaning of life

-Given me a great wife, Alice to keep my weirdness in perspective and love me unconditionally

-Worked sovereignly in our family to give our children the the background that causes them to want to know and serve Him.

All in all it was a wonderful day. I couldn't really go anywhere so I just stayed home and was thankful. Oh yes I did get to pull someone out later

Abraham as Example

Romans 4:1-15
Let's talk about Abraham, an actual person from our past. If you could establish he was justified by something he did then he could boast-but no, God stood right there in front of him and God declared him righteous because he believed. Now if one works he can claim he deserves his wages but if you don't work but believe God justifies the ungodly that belief will count as righteousness. David says a man is blessed when God counts him righteous in spite of the fact he did nothing; "Blessed are those whose sins have been covered, whose sins the Lord does not count". Now is this blessing on the circumcised or the uncircumcised? Remember, Abraham's faith was counted as righteousness. When did that reckoning take place? That's right, before he was circumcised. So that act was a sign, a seal that marked the fact that he had already believed. He received righteousness before he was circumcised to verify that he was the father of all who believe God's promise applies to them whether circumcised or not. Like him, when they believe they will be counted as righteous. This great promise given to Abraham and his heirs to inherit the world came, not through any legal barter but through a good-faith agreement and our spiritual relationship to the one who received it. You can't have it both ways. If something you do makes you righteous then this simple promise to Abraham means nothing. But you were born; you had no choice in the matter. Anything you could do wouldn't qualify you anyway. You would just stumble right away and bring God's wrath down upon you, but if it is nothing you do but an unconditional promise then there are no terms to violate to affect your inheritance.

Romans 3:21-31
This contrast works throughout God's ancient covenant in showing how righteous He is. And He has chosen Jesus to demonstrate this in a new covenant if you will believe it. We see His glory and we know we don't measure up. We are all sinners. Our worth can only be justified as we believe Jesus Christ decided to graciously redeem us. God publicly displayed Jesus' righteousness and then publicly had him slaughtered as a propitiatory sacrifice to justify all the years he had passed over sins. This act establishes His goodness and His right to justify us right now and anyone in the future who puts their faith in Jesus. So you can forget boasting because there's nothing you can say, nothing you can do. It's only Who and what you believe that matters. Clearly a person is just before God by this fact and no law. He is consistent in this whether you are Jewish or any other nationality. He will justify the worth of all people regardless of their religious system or lack of one. So if you believe we can throw out the law, no, faith finally gives law meaning.

This is a fine mess you've gotten us into, Olie

Romans 3.1-20
So what good is the "circum-system"? Very good. It is the source of God's message of grace. So what if some didn't follow it? Does that reflect on God? Be careful in your response. God is always true. He always prevails. This contrast doesn't reflect on God it establishes His right to judge us. So some say, "My sin is good because it glorifies God in some way". Those are condemnable words. These anti-law people are no better off than those with an external law or internal law. Scripture says; there are none righteous, none who understand, who seek God, who have merit, who do good, not even one. everything that comes out of their mouths is poison, cursing, bitterness. Everywhere they go they bring evil with them and they see God as powerless to stop them. When we look at the law honestly it puts a stop to all this and we realize we are accountable to God and cannot keep His law. We become acutely aware of our unjustifiable sinfulness.

Back to Romans

Romans 2:17-29
The Jews, on the other hand, have this whole system of law and an air of compliance and still break their law. They have misunderstood God's calling for them to be a light to the nations and instead think themselves to be superior to them. They also dishonor God and cause the nations to blaspheme because of their hypocrisy and disregard for the law. The "Circum-system" is meaningless if it doesn't work. Those not under it look pretty good if they live righteously and they naturally extend that view of righteousness to look down on those who have the law and stumble. God's nation and God's system are not fleshly and external but of the heart and the Spirit.

Good Morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are staying in a hotel in The Galleria in Houston. Not much is happening. It has pretty much constantly rained the whole time. We went to the big center with Neiman Marcus and all that yesterday and it was weird. It felt more foreign to me than anywhere we've visited in London or Rome. Anyway, we got up this morning-another dreary day-I opened the blinds and sat there. Pretty soon I heard what I thought was a dumpster with rough metal wheels being rolled down our hall. Hey wait a minute we're on the sixth floor. I looked out the window-nothing. Suddenly the noise changes to what Joel described as "Tribal Drumming" with a rhythm. I looked over at a seven story building in the adjacent parking lot and the corner of it was just starting to move. I yelled, "Look, Look, Look." Dale popped up all bleary eyed without her glasses and says, What, Where?" In a couple seconds it had all dropped to the ground and of course a huge cloud of dust had started to rise. That gave us something to talk about for a while. Here is a link to the demolition company's video and Here is one to some info I wish we'd had before.

Please stand by...

This "Romans stuff" gets to sounding mean sometimes but I believe St. Paul was a good lawyer and understood how to lay out his whole case in logical order. You can't ignore the bad news. If you do you will take the good news for granted or miss it entirely. So hang in there it gets better.