Month: October 2023

Our text is Matthew 16:13-15.

“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Do you see the two questions that even we have to answer?

1. Jesus asked, “Who do men say that I am?” 

Your answer to that question depends on the kind of people you have around you. If your friends and associates cannot answer this question, then you need to involve yourself with people who know Jesus. Of course we should not drop every acquaintance who does not know Jesus. If we did, then we would never lead anyone to Jesus. So that you can lead people to Jesus, associate with those who do not know Jesus. So that you will not become spiritually weak, associate with people who do know Jesus.

2. “Who do you say I am?”

The answer to this question involves two parts: 

First, do you know who Jesus is? Peter knew the answer, “Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16). Everything we know and love about Peter is because he knew that answer. If we too know that answer, it will define who we are.

Second, although the text does not openly ask it, I believe it is implied by the task that Jesus gave them. That question is Do you believe what you say you know, that Jesus is the Christ? Their answer and your answer is not one that you have to express, it is one that you show by how you live.

Lonnie Davis

Our Scripture for today is Hebrews 9:7

“Into the Most Holy place went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people.”

If you are a student of the Word, then you know that they temple was divided into two parts. The Holy Place where the priests would go daily. It contained the table of bread, the alter of incense, and various other items that were used daily by the priests. The second room was special. It was called the “Holy of Holies” and only the High Priest could enter and then only once a year. (Hebrews 9, Exodus 30). 

The second room, The Holy of Holies contained only one piece of furniture – the Ark of the Covenant. There was no place on earth more dear to the Israelites than the Holy of Holies. If anyone other than the High Priest tried to enter that room, they would put to death. Before the High Priest would enter the room on that once a year sacrifice, the other priests would tie a rope around his foot so that if something happened to him, they could pull him out of the room. 

As you can see, this was a serious and holy place. There was only one time this was violated. We know this from the historian, Josephus. In 63 AD, the Roman general Pompey went to Jerusalem to quash a rebellion and settle other matters. While there he decided he want to see this Most Holy Place that he had heard so much about. He wanted to see the God that the Jews worshiped. As he and his men tried to enter  the temple they faced resistance from Israelite guards. Of course they were no match for the Roman army. Some of the Israelites committed suicide rather than see the Temple violated.

Pompey entered the Holy Place, saw all the gold, then pulled back the curtain and looked into the Holy of Holies. He briefly looked and then walked away. 

What did he see? He saw nothing! For hundreds of years, the room was empty. The Ark of the Covenant was gone. Presumably lost at the beginning of the Babylonian captivity more than 500 years earlier.

For hundreds of years, the High Priest would go into an empty room and make atonement before an Ark that was missing. Even during the time of Jesus, the Holy of Holies was empty.

It is wonderful that today we do not enter into an empty room to pray or worship, but rather enter into the presence of the Lord. As Ephesians 3:12 says, “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”

Lonnie Davis

Maybe the most interesting Judge in the Bible is Sampson. I call him, God’s Superman. In Judges 16, a worldly woman whom he loves tries to trick him into telling her the secret of his strength. He fools her and fools her. Finally we read in Judges 16:15

“Then Delilah said to Samson, ‘How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart Is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.’”

This may be one of the perplexing verses in the Bible. Samson was a flawed but a great man. He is mentioned in the Faith’s hall of fame (Hebrews 11), but he is blind to the love of his life, Delilah. A woman who obviously does not love him back. Three times she asked him the secret of his strength. Three times he deceives her and she tests him by trying to weaken him. After each time she called out “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” You would think he would have figured her out, but he did not.

She nagged him until he finally told her the truth about his strength. Finally, she weakens him for real and calls for his enemies. They came and easily captured him, blinded him, and make a slave of him. 

Why couldn’t Samson see what kind of woman she was? The answer is found in verse 4 of this chapter.

“It happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.” (16:4).

He could not see her flaws because he loved her. It is as simple as that. He was willfully blind to her evil because he loved her. 

The great lesson for us is this: Be careful about what who or what you love. Of course you should love your family, but when it comes to things of the world and worldly people, guard your heart. What you love can become your blind spot.

Lonnie Davis

How to Live in Peace

Our Scripture for today is Romans 12:18

“If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”

We could wish that we might always find peace and goodness in others. Sometimes, this is not possible. When you watch the news and see the world around you, you know there is evil in this world, and sometimes it gets into the hearts of people.

Sadly, sometimes the peaceless hearts are not from the news but from life around you. 

Since it is not possible to always live in peace with some, here is the command: make sure it is not you who causes the strife. As the scripture says, “As much as it depends on you.”

The story is told of a man who was shipwrecked on an island for five years. Finally, one day a ship found him. When he was found there were three huts on the island. 

“What are the three buildings?” he was asked.

He answered, “That first building is the house where I live. The second building is where I go to church.”

He was asked about the third building. “Well,” he said, “that third building is where I used to go to church.”

You see, some folks cannot find peace, even with themselves. If a man or woman cannot be at peace with themselves, they will never be at peace with you.

Love them anyway! 

Lonnie Davis

Today’s Verse is Matthew 9:29

“According to your faith let it be done to you.” 

Sometimes the Bible teaches us things in the overlooked words on a page. Look at today’s verse. Two blind men were following Jesus. Since it was Jesus and they were blind, you know what they wanted from him. Of course, he healed them. Jesus didn’t just restore their sight, he gave them these words of wisdom, “According to your faith let it be done to you.” 

The Bible is filled with examples of “according to your faith let it be done to you.”

Two great examples of this:

When Israel crossed the flooding river to enter the promised land, Joshua tells us, “The Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing.” – Joshua 3:15-16. Only after their feet touched the water’s edge, did the river dry up.

Ten lepers came to Jesus for healing. When Jesus saw them and decided to heal them, “he said, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed.” – Luke 17:14 When were they healed? It was only after they started their journey to the hope.

Do you get the theme? Life’s blessing come when you march toward the water. They come after you start your journey to hope. It takes faith to do these things, but remember: Blessings only come “according to your faith.”

Lonnie Davis

Our Scripture for today is Matthew 5:38-39

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.”

The short way to say this is: “Don’t do ‘eye for an eye’, but rather, ‘turn the other cheek.’”

Based on how little this teaching is followed, it is obvious that this is against our nature. When someone is ugly to us, we want to get even. Some proudly say, “I don’t get mad, I get even.”

I once heard an older lady put this in a way that I will never forget. Maybe you won’t either. When she was a little girl, her mother greatly favored her sisters and abused her. The decades rolled on and her mother got older and needed help. She needed to live with and be taken care of by one of her daughters. I’m sure you know who took her mother in and provided for her. Of course, it was the daughter who was treated badly as a little girl. 

In her old age, the mother had continued to be self-centered and thoughtless. One friend who knew her story asked her why she took her mother in. After all, the mother didn’t deserve the kindness and sacrifice of the daughter. 

So how do you answer that? It would be a great answer to say that is what Jesus would do, but her real answer surprised me. She simply said, “It is not about her. It is about me.”

When someone is rude to you, when someone is short with you, when someone is unkind to you, the way you respond to them is not about them. It is about you.

Lonnie Davis

Our Scripture for today is Acts 2:37-38

37: When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38: Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”

I usually see a Bible verse and ask, “What is God saying?” Peter’s answer to “What shall we do?” is “Repent and be baptized.” 

But what if it was something else? What if it were, “Jump from Virginia to Pennsylvania all the way across Maryland and make sure you don’t touch Maryland at all? I know that is silly, but humor me. Where would you go to make the jump?

Well, there is a little strip of Maryland near the northeast part of Virginia where it is only a few miles to Pennsylvania. Those who knew geography would give that answer. “Go there. It is only a few miles rather than hundreds of miles like the other places.”

I had them. “Why?” I would ask. “You can’t jump a few miles. But the beautiful thing is that it is not your jump. It is God’s jump. If He asked you to make that jump, he would have to do it for us.” It recently hit me that it would be the right answer to go to the skinny place to jump. Even though it is God’s jump, He still wants you to do the best you can.

I’m still going to tell the story, but I will no longer end by pointing out that you can’t do it anyway, so just jump wherever you happen to be. Instead, I will accept that under your own power, you might fail, but still make the effort to do the best you can. 

It is what we do with what God tells us.

Lonnie Davis

Do you know the story of Carrie C. White? Carrie was a Florida resident who died in 1991 at the ripe old age of 116. Just think of all you could do with a life span of 116 years.  

She was a resident of a Florida nursing home. At 116, it is not surprising that she lived in a nursing home. The sad thing is that she entered the nursing home 82 years before she died! I don’t think I will mind living in a nursing home from ages 110 to 116, but I do not want to live in a nursing home for the last 82 years of my life. 

  Once a group of young people were discussing old age when the age of 95 came up. One of them asked, “Who in the world would want to live to 95?” Someone else answered, “Well, I guess anyone who is 94.” After thinking about Carrie White, we can’t help but add, “Yes, but only if it really is living.” Just breathing is not living. Living means doing something with life. 

  A first-grade teacher was going through the grief of losing her mother. Children pick up on things and one of the students noticed that the teacher was not doing well. She came up to the teacher and asked what was wrong. When the teacher shared the loss with the child, the little girl answered, “Well, I hope you live until you die.” Maybe the little girl did not fully understand it, but she said something profound. Too many people do not live until they die. 

  

For many years Dean Martin was part of the Hollywood scene. After he died, one of his close friends noted that Dean Martin had lost his will to live when his son died several years before him. “He never was the same,” the friend said. Sometimes some things take your life before they take your heartbeat. 

  It must not be that way for us. 10,000 years from now, we will all be living somewhere. A million years from now, we will all be alive. Nothing should happen here to make us lose the will to live the plan that God has for us. 

It is not the number of years you live here that matters. It is the kind of life you live. A million years from now the life you live then will be a reflection of the life you live now. Life here is just a preparation for the life that is to come. 

Lonnie Davis 

Our text for today is 2 Corinthians 5:10

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,

that each one may receive the things done in the body,

according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

I don’t like to think of negative things. In fact, Philippians 4:8 tells us to think about the good things. So let me ask you, why does the text for today seem like a negative one? That great day for us will be when we finally get to meet Jesus. Wow! What a happy day that will be. 

The prospect of meeting Jesus ought to bring us joy. The prospect of meeting Jesus ought to help us live righteously now.

I read the story of a little boy who was going to bed for the night. As he kneeled beside his bed he prayed, “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake…” At this point he stopped his prayer and ran out of the room. In a little while he came back. As his father was watching him, the father asked, “Where did you go?”

The little boy said, “I got to thinking about ‘if I should die before I wake’ and remembered that I turned all of my sister’s toys upside down. I thought if I should die before I wake, I wouldn’t want her to see them that way, so I went and fixed them.”

This little story ought to remind us that we might not be here tomorrow. If I should die before I wake, what would I want to do before that time? If you should die before you wake, what might you want to do before that time?

Whatever it is, do it!

Lonnie Davis

Our text today is from Habakkuk 3:17-18

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

Habakkuk is saying, I am happy God is my God no matter what happens. 

When I was a child, my mother warned me against “fair-weather friends.” You know the kind, those that are your friend only when it is advantageous to them. While we all encountered those types of “friends,” most of us have a real friend who is your friend, come what may. For that friend we would do anything.

When I consider our text for today, I see Habakkuk as one who had that kind of friend in God. I too want to be a friend of God, but not just a fair-weather friend. 

Our relationship with God must not depend upon the circumstances of life. No matter what happens in life, whether rich or poor, sick or well, a friend of God will keep allegiance to God.

It is said of Abraham that he was the “friend of God.” “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God.” – James 2:23

You might play basketball like Michael Jordan or swim like Michael Phelps, but more important than anything else is to be a friend of God like Abraham, to enjoy God like Habakkuk, no matter the circumstances.

By the way, when you are a true friend of God, you get to talk to him and he listens. That is one of the benefits to having a true friend in God.

Lonnie Davis