Our Scripture for today is Genesis 1:1-2.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”

Today’s Scripture takes us back to the very beginning of Creation. When the heavens and the earth were created, the Holy Spirit was “hovering over the waters.” In other words, the Holy Spirit already existed. It existed because the Holy Spirit is eternal. It is one of the Godhead three: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

From the first chapter of the Bible, at creation, we read, “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image.’ “ Who was God the Father speaking to when he said, “Let us make man?” Certainly, he was speaking to God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. These three are one!

When Jesus was 30, he was baptized. It was at his baptism we can see the three of them as separate beings. Matthew 3:16–17 tells us, “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’ “

The Father was speaking from heaven, and Jesus was on earth being baptized. The Holy Spirit was descending and alighting upon him.

The Holy Spirit is present in the last chapter of the Bible. Revelation 22:17 tells us, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.”

From the beginning the Holy Spirit was present. In the last chapter of the Bible, the Holy Spirit is present.

The Holy Spirit, like Jehovah and Jesus, is eternal. It always has and it always will be! It will be fun to meet the Holy Spirit in heaven.

Lonnie Davis

The Holy Spirit – 1

For the next week, I am going to do something a little different. I will use my two minutes with you to share a Bible teaching. Last week, one of you reached out to me and asked my thoughts on the subject of the Holy Spirit. For the next few days, I will share what I call the “Two Minute Bible Class.” Two minutes is not long, but each day I will send another part of a broader subject of what the Bible says on this subject.

Our Scripture for today is John 16:13.

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”

Thought 1: From this verse we can see that the Holy Spirit is real.

There is much to learn from this one verse, but each lesson will come as a different article. For today we should simply note that the Holy Spirit is a unique person and not simply a power or an influence. He is spoken of as “He,” not as “it.” When I was a child I always thought the Holy Spirit was a ghost (like Casper the friendly ghost). No doubt this was because the KJV of the Bible does not call him the “Holy Spirit,” but rather the “Holy Ghost.” The Holy Spirit is the proper translation. 

The Holy Spirit is the third person in the Godhead. As a person, he may be grieved (Eph. 4:30). He may be quenched in terms of the exercise of His will (1 Thess. 5:19), and He may be resisted (Acts 7:51).

More on the Holy Spirit tomorrow. 

Lonnie Davis

Proverbs 1:8 

“Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.”

I love the book of Proverbs. This verse explains one of the great reasons to read it. It was written by the wisest man who ever lived. As he neared the end of his own road, he wrote these words of wisdom to guide his children on their own path. They would have to walk their path without him being there, so he wrote these words that they could go to for his wisdom on their journey.

Now how does it read to you? “Listen my son to your father’s instruction.” 

Let’s dig deeper.

Luke loved Becky and gave her a book to read. She read it and then when asked about her thoughts, she replied, “What a tiresome book!”

Crestfallen, he asked her, “Did you see who wrote it?” It was only then that she saw that he had written it. He asked her, “Please read it again.”

In starting the book, this time she noticed on the dedication page it was dedicated to her. With a new spirit, Becky reread the book and then said, “It is the best book I’ve ever read.”

What made the difference? This time through She knew the author and she knew it was written for her. This time, she knew she had a relationship with the author. Thus, it was the greatest book she ever read.

God wrote a book – the Bible. He wrote it for you. 

That should make you want to read it.

Lonnie Davis

Our Scripture for today is John 20:18

“Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.”

As we read this verse, it is important to remember the context. Mary had just come from the burial grave of Jesus. There she found his grave empty and then talked to Jesus. He told her to go and report the story to the disciples.

It certainly must have been hard for the disciples to believe her. They saw Jesus die! They knew he was dead. Now Mary tells them she talked with him. Impossible.

This reminds me of the story of Harry Houdini. He was known as the greatest escape artist in history. When he died in 1926, he told his followers that he would find a way to talk to them. Every year on Halloween, the anniversary of his death. His followers would hold a vigil for his return. This meeting continued for many years, even decades. 

He never came back or even send word. Thus, each year fewer and fewer people would gather to hear from him. We don’t know when, but finally the gathering just stopped.

However, in the story of Jesus. It didn’t stop. He did come back. He did speak to them. 

1 Corinthians 15:5-7 tells us, “He appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time…Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.”

Nobody expects the great escape artist, Houdini, to return. But each Sunday millions and millions of disciple gather and remember that Jesus got up from the grave. He came back and that he is coming back again. I can hardly wait!

Lonnie Davis

What to Do

Our Scripture for today is Galatians 6:9:

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Yes, it can be hard to always do the right thing. Sometimes it takes great faith to do something that is unpopular or scary. Here is and old story from history which illustrates this.

In 1939, the Nazis were invading the Netherlands. The first people to be affected were the Jews who lived in the Netherlands. A group of Christians came to the Dutch theologian, Henry Cramer, and told him, “Our Jewish neighbors are missing from their homes.” They then asked, “What must we do?”

 Cramer’s said, “I cannot tell you what to do. I can tell you who you are. If you know who you are then you will know what to do.”

 Read those last words again, “If you know who you are, then you will know what to do.” With all the wars raging in our world today, these words are a challenge to some.

When faced with wrong, it sounds holy and righteous to hear one say, “I will pray to God for an answer about what I should do.” It is not always holy! When God has already told us what to do with sin. We only need to remember who we are.

 In our story, the men and women who asked the question of Henry Cramer became part of the Dutch resistance movement. They helped save the lives of many. In times of stress and temptation, if you and I remember who God is and who we are, we will know what to do.

2,000 years ago, on a storm-tossed ship in the middle of the sea, Paul used that principle to make his decision. He told the freighted sailors, “Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.” (Acts 27:23-25)

 Paul said, “I know God knows me and I know who I am and whose I am.” Since he knew these things, he knew what to do. When you know those things, you too will know what to do. 

~Lonnie Davis

Our Scripture for Today is Philippians 4:8

“Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” 

When we can’t see very well, we can go to the eye-doctor and he can fix our sight. He can make us see better, usually. But sometimes it doesn’t work out so well. Especially if the seeing that fails us is not the eyes in our head, but the eyes in our heart. 

Two little boys unknowingly discussed this. As the boys were talking and one of them asked the other, “Wouldn’t you hate to wear glasses all the time?” 

“No-o-o,” the boy answered, “not if I had the kind grandma wears. She sees how to fix a lot of things, and she sees lots of nice things to do on rainy days, and she sees when folks are tired and sad, and what will make them feel better, and she always sees what you meant to do even if you haven’t got things just right. I asked her one day how she could see that way all the time, and she said it was the way she learned to look at things as she grew older. So it must be her glasses.”

Let me close with this one great adage: “The buzzard and the hummingbird both see what they are looking for.”

May we ever be hummingbirds that look for good things and not buzzards who only look for dead things.

Lonnie Davis

Our Scripture for today is Matthew 5:16

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

When one reflects on a this verse it is easy to think it is talking about trying hard to act like a Christian before others. Well, that is not wrong, but there is more.

I was remind of this when I read the story that showed the attitude of one older Christian lady. Stuck in her house, she was suffering from arthritis and watched the passing traffic outside her front window and remarked, “I don’t know what I’d do without that traffic to keep me interested.”

Sometimes later, she was relocated to a room at the back where the window no longer allowed her to see the traffic. “I think this is better,” she said. I can see the cutest little kids playing in the backyard next door.

She was finally relocated to the city’s shantytowns. “Come and see my beautiful view,” She told a friend, “My beautiful view of the sky.”

Letting your Christian light shine is not just a matter of intention, but a matter of how one naturally lives, of what you are inside.

A Christian can be in a hard place and still be grateful. A Christian can be in a good spot and be thankful. Letting your light shine means you can see the good, no matter what!

Lonnie Davis

Our Scripture for today is Proverbs 14:23

“In all labor there is profit, But mere talk leads only to poverty.”

We’ve all got that special person in our life. You know them because of what they are “going to do” someday. I call these people the “Yak-Yak” People.

In today’s verse, the wise man warned about leading the Yak-Yak life. Let me translate that verse into our language, “if all you do is talk about what you are going to do, then you will be poor.”

If others lead that kind of life, what do we do… stay away from them? Yes, because that friend with the yak yak habit will live in pain AND bring pain to those around them. We also note that life by the yak yak rule is one of underachieving.

But the scary thing is that sometimes we also live with the yak yak rule. Sometimes it is me. Sometimes it is you.

So how can I tell if I live by the yak yak rule? Here is how: make a list of all the good plans you were going to do but never got around to it. Look at all the projects you started but never finished. If that list is long, then they are pretty good indicators of a yak yak personality.

The poet wrote:

We shall do so much in the years to come,
But what have we done today?
We shall give our gold in a princely sum,
But what did we give today?
We shall lift the heart, and dry the tear,
We shall plant a hope in the place of fear,
We shall speak the words of love and cheer,
But what did we speak today?
– Nixon Waterman

What is the antidote? Start something and get it done. See it through to its completion. The antidote for the Yak-Yak life is today. Do something today. Do not wait for someday. Do something today so that the tomorrow you will be happy about it.

Lonnie Davis

Our Scripture for today is Exodus 10:20

“But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go.”

We know the story of Moses going before the Pharaoh and demanding that he let the Hebrews leave Egypt and go worship God in the desert. Each time God would motivate the Pharaoh by sending a plague upon Egypt: water turned to blood, frogs, gnats, flies, pestilence, etc. Time after time, the pharaoh would agree and then renege on his word. 

Six times the Bible would then add, “The Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart.” Skeptics have used this to prove that the Pharaoh wasn’t the bad guy. It was God who was making him change his mind.

This is foolish reasoning. God never leads us to do evil. 

One writer explained how the Lord hardened the Pharaoh’s heart.

Take a piece of wax, a piece of meat, some sand, some clay, and some shavings, put them on a fire. Each of them is acted upon by the same agent, yet…the wax melts, the meat fries, the sand dries up, the clay hardens, and the shavings blaze.

Another version of this is to imagine taking a pound of butter and a pound of clay and put them both on a sidewalk in 100 degree weather. What would happen? The same sun that dries and hardens the clay would melt the butter.

What happens depends on the essence of the butter and the clay. 

In life, the same circumstances makes one person better and one person bitter. One person hears the Word of God and is made better.  Another hears the same word and is made angry. 

It is not what is done to us, but what we do, that determines our destiny. 

Lonnie Davis

Facing a Hard Journey?

Our text today is  Luke 2:1,3

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. And everyone went to his town to register.”

Simple words, but these words turned the world upside down. The decree required Joseph to take his young, pregnant wife, Mary on an eighty-mile trek from Nazareth to Bethlehem. The trip was a hard week’s journey over rough and dangerous terrain. They would not return for more than two years and when they did, their world and our world would be changed. These words begin the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. 

Reading the story of this journey teaches me that even hard journeys can have great lessons. Here are three:

 First. God works behind the scenes.

Since the Son of God was to be born on earth, don’t you think He would come in some grand scene on the most famous stage on earth? Perhaps he would be born in a palace to parents who were royalty. I might have worked it that way, but God often works in small places and in little ways. He had His son born in a tiny village called Bethlehem to a carpenter and his teenage wife.

Second: Don’t judge too soon.

Can you imagine the consternation of Joseph when he heard that he had to make the difficult journey with a pregnant wife? Mary could not have been excited either. Though now we know that the trip was necessary, they certainly thought it was a bad idea. Don’t judge the trip too soon. God knew what was best. He still does.

 Third: God’s will, will be done.

Joseph and Mary didn’t complain. They obeyed and did the will of God. When faced with hard circumstances, one only needs to make sure what God’s will is and then do it. God never asks you to do a thing without giving you the means to do it. That was true for Joseph and Mary and it is true today.

Are you facing a hard journey? Remember the journey of the carpenter Joseph and teenage Mary. As He was with them, He will be with you.

Lonnie Davis