The Only Important Knowledge and Wisdom

Dusty Idea today is being a God fearing Christian and having the knowledge and wisdom it takes to be that, is the most important kind of wisdom or knowledge we can attain. Also that it should be attained ahead of knowledge for any earthly gains, whether it be money, power or prestige.

If you ask almost any minister or leader in the church if power, money and prestige are things to seek after I dare say any of them would say those are the qualities that a Christian should be seeking after.

Lets ask ourselves what knowledge is going to take us through this world and the next. The only knowledge that is important is the word that God left us. I'm open to anyone that knows another kind of knowledge that is important to eternal life, and why anything else is important especially in the light of God's promises to his children as far as taking care of them. (Matt. 6:25-34) First argument to this position that I have heard lately is that we have an obligation to God to be all we can be and max out our brains potential in universities and colleges. I don't know what bible verses this idea is based on. I would be open for anyone to send me information on this particular point. I think this idea is based in the theory that being smarter or educated in the secular world is a benefit that God appreciates. Eph. 4:13 says that the knowledge of the Son of God brings about a perfect man.

Proverbs 9:10 - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

Psalms 111:10 - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom...

Proverbs 1:7 - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Knowing what we know about the creation and the surety of the judgement, the fear and knowledge of a living God should be the highest thing on our list of things to be concerned with. If we haven't obeyed God or if we have spent more time studying earthly knowledge, considering it more important than spiritual knowledge, the proper fear of God probably isn't in place. Getting wisdom is more important than getting knowledge. If you spend all your time acquiring knowledge, you may never attain any wisdom.

Only knowledge we're required to gain is recorded in 2 Pet 3:18, to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

WWsD

Dusty Idea for this blog is people use to think about WWJD, of course What Would Jesus Do? Now I think its very much the opposite. Whether people are aware or not, the world has always asked itself, WWsD or What Would satan Do? It is often a sobering thought to think of the lengths that satan will go to see that your soul winds up with him in Hell.

What would I do if I wanted to turn the people that God's only Son died for away from Him. First thing we have to realize is that worldly people don't have to be targeted. People that have never obeyed Christ or God aren't on satan's list of humans to manipulate. He doesn't need to and there's no point, they're already lost and thats the whole goal. If you are in this group of people that never darken the door where a Church meets, satan isn't after you he already has you. He has already defeated you without having to fire a shot, because you wouldn't enter the battle with the Lord. Lucifer no doubt spends his time working on Christians, individually and in groups.

So the question remains, "What Would satan Do?", or from this point on WWsD.

Lust of the Flesh, Lust of the Eyes, and the Pride of life. All sins fall in these categories. If I were him I would start in on the young right away and as soon as possible on not just one but all three of these tempations. I would make pleasurable ways for children to see the kinds of things I would want them to be learning. I would help tv programs get into homes and attack the children first. I would make sure that programs which promote witchcraft, astrology, New Age Philosophies and Gaia worship (mother earth) were seen in the home as comedies and cartoons.

I think satan would be constantly trying to change the truth of the gospel into a lie. He would constantly be wanting us to debate amongst ourselves. This lends itself to constantly overthinking a subject. The Bible isn't real complicated. You won't need letters in front of or behind your name to understand the scriptures. Check out our institutions of "Higher" learning these days. For the most part satan reigns through humanism in these places.

WWsD? He'd try to turn the family of God on this earth against each other, cause strife and split up the Church whenever possible. We know that satan has a foothold in Jesus' Church because we see it happening from time to time.

If we can ever get the dusty idea back that we're insignificant, created beings with a life that started from the breathe of life that God breathed into Adam. There's nothing that exists without God's will, his life force or his creative powers. If that sounds like I'm giving him all the glory and praise for doing everything for us, I am. You should be too.

WWsD? He would urge people to loose that wimpy humbleness that God asks for. Be a man or woman, stand up for what you want to do, its your life anyway. Ever heard that before? Satan's doing a pretty bangup job right now.

WWsD? In general he would try to get Christians to be more worldly and tell us we need to conform to worldly views to be able to convert people to Jesus. We don't need to compromise on Jesus. Christians are becoming too worldly.

WWsD? If I were satan I would constantly remind all Christians of their past failures and faults and let them know that they're flawed and why bother.

Why bother? Because eternity is too long to just quit when you're already on the winning side.

Unexpected Statements

Luke 4:21 - And he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." (ESV)

Our Lord Jesus Christ was in his home town at the local religious gathering. An occurrance is about to happen that so very few will ever be able to know. Jesus is announcing that he is here and that with their ears they are hearing the fulfillment of a prophecy that Isaiah wrote down around ca. 740 b.c. Since Jesus was reading about 30 a.d. it had to be around 770 years the Jewish people had been reading over this and wondering about its fulfillment. An analogy would be if someone we had known in our small town came up and said I have just fulfilled a prophecy made by a famous man in 1279 a.d. Surely this was an unexpected statement from Jesus.

---

Luke 10:23-24 - And he turned unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. (ESV)

Unexpected statement from Jesus to his disciples. They live in a special time and in a special place, and many people from both sides of history would love to have been in their shoes.

---

John 8:58 - Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I Am." (ESV)

Shock and awe statement from Jesus right here to the Jews, in answer of a rather one sided debate he was having with them.

---

Matt. 25:10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. (ESV)

Powerful warning here about the coming of Jesus. Those ready will get to enter in and those not ready, even if they know him as in vs. 11, will not be able to enter in. When Jesus shuts a door its closed forever.

---

James 1:26 - If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. (ESV)

Impact statement about one of the smallest members of our body. Unexpected statement to me because of the amount of weight placed on this smallest member.

---

John 11:43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out."(ESV)

I can see the scene now. Jesus standing in front of the tomb with a group of people around, looking up to heaven and thanking God for hearing him and then raising his voice, which whether meaning to or not draws emphasis to the act. He commands Lazarus to come out. The act of being loud and then the dead rising from the grave made for a scene we'll not get to see until the judgement. Definitely an "awe" moment.

---

I guess the point of pointing out a few of these type of scriptures in the Bible helps us to realize just what things Jesus did, and its not just a fable or fairy tale.

Human reasoning, the reason denominations flourish pt.1

Dusty idea today is God doesn't need any help from mankind with figuring out if His wisdom will suffice for our salvation, or the mode of how that salvation comes about.

Concerning the obediance of man to God, man's reasoning has no business or place in that process. God's will is perfect and the guidance of the Holy Spirit through the writings of the authors in the New Testament is without question. If you think the Bible is flawed in some places why do you read any of it? Human reasoning is being applied to the author's writings by well meaning individuals, it still doesn't by any means excuse it. Anything that is deemed out of date or not relevant to our span of time can only be deduced by human reasoning, it is certainly not out of the scriptures.

Isaiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (ESV)

I'd like to discuss a question I have heard on many occasions with regards to baptism and if it is essential, or is it just something we do because Jesus did it. The question is, "What if a person gets in their vehicle to go be baptized and they have a wreck and die on the way?" The answer to this question is,"God is God." God is THE God and he can do what he wills. God is omnipresent, meaning he knows the future as well as the past and everthing in between. I pose the question, "What if a person accidently fell and died 5 min. before God knew that someone was coming to talk to this person to persuade them to believe?" Would this not also fit the style of scenario posed by the first question? Also judgement is going to take place on a heavenly level. Jesus can do what he wants to do, he has all power in heaven and earth, and under this senario he can save who he likes. God doesn't need us to decide for him if he's being fair or not. God is God. This universe is his as well as everyone of us. God will be just at the judgement, we just need to do his will to the best of our ability. One may decide on baptism and die in a car wreck on the way to being baptized, but we need to make that effort because that is what the scriptures say. All conversions after the day of Pentecost in Acts include immediate baptism. We, the creation, just need to read the Bible without adding human reasoning biases that God, the creator, has had his prophets and apostles write through inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The sins remain until the act of obedience of baptism is exercised. It's not the water its the act. Just as Naaman in 2 Kings chapter 5 used human reasoning when Elisha told him to wash in the river Jordan 7 times and his leprosy would be healed. His reaction was, thats not grand enough, its too simple and he was angry. But his obedience to God through his prophet Elisha healed him. There wasn't any magic in the water it was the obedience. This same type of obedience is expected of us in the New Testament. Human reasoning about salvation should never be engaged. We should just obey from the heart and not decide for God if this plan he has is gonna work for mankind. Likewise when Paul was struck blind on the road to Damascus, Jesus spoke to him and said, "It is Jesus who you are persecuting." Do you think he believed on Jesus after that? The next three days he was blind and didn't eat or drink. Do you think he believed on Jesus as the Messiah those three days? Then Ananias came to him and said this as recorded in Acts 22:16, Why do you wait? Arise and baptized and wash away they sins, calling on the name of the Lord. If believing in Jesus and accepting him as your savior gets it done why does Ananias say to wash away his sins after all these other events? I'm not ignoring other scriptures, when you put them all together Baptism is the cleansing moment, the moment we touch Jesus' blood.

Acts 22:16 is the definition for Calling on the name of the Lord, and no one is the judge of that.

Words no one can ignore

Dusty idea today is the Bible isn't antiquated and its as vital today as ever. It contains statements and questions that can't be ignored by anyone. No matter if you ever think of God by choice of if you've just never heard of Him. Doesn't matter if you're a Muslim, Hindu, Hare Krishna, Buddhist, Unification Church (Moonie), Bahai or Judaist and especially Christian, you will have to face God on His terms. If you're an atheist or an agnostic you're still gonna have to answer to God on His terms.



Matt. 22:42 - saying, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David."



Here's one question Christ asked of the Pharisees, what do you think about the Christ? I don't know if there's any more important words that can be put together. The way we answer this question, or the importance we place on this answer can't be over emphasized. The way you answer this question and what it drives you to do will determine your eternal fate.



Christ is our sacrifice: Eph. 5:2 Christ is our Lord and God: John 20:28

More words from the NT that no one will be able to ignore, everyone has to make a choice about Jesus, you just can't be neutral.

Christ's sacrifice will not be ignored: Hebrews 10:29-31 - How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30For we know him who said, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people." 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (ESV)


You have to decide whether you believe Jesus was raised from the dead or not. Its crucial to your salvation. If you don't believe that Jesus died and was raised you can't believe he is the Christ. Another powerful verse that requires some attention by everyone.

Matt. 28:6 - He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where He lay.

Speaking of Jesus after being crucified and left in a tomb for three days. Everyone has to realize that he didn't stay in that tomb. It's another fact that places our eternal fate in jeopardy if we choose to ignore it.


You will also be held accountable for spurning the Son of God if you don't believe or accept the fact that he ascended to heaven and is sitting on the right hand of God with power. This brings me to another powerful verse.

Acts 1:9-11 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." (ESV)



We have the witness of his departure from this earth and the promise of his return and how he's going to return. Don't you know those men had to go out there on occasion and look to the skies straining their eyes for Jesus' return. We don't know when he's coming back, but when he does there's gonna be enough noise to wake the dead.



1 Thess. 4:16 - For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. (ESV)



Boiled down it comes to this, you can recognize Jesus now as the Son of God and our Lord and our God. Worship him in spirit and in truth. You can ignore Jesus now, spurn the sacrifice he made for you and seal your eternity to be spent with the devil and his angels. Either way you're going to bow your knee to him and confess that Jesus is the Lord of all to the glory of God.



Philippians 2:10-11 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

When we get bumped

Dusty idea is the idea that we will get bumped or knocked down in this world and its OK because God is still with us. There's a thought process that says if we are having bad things or normal things for this world happen to us, God must be against us or have forgotten us.



Job 23:10 -But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.


How many things go by in a day that try our emotions? Happiness, Love, Hate, Anger, Sadness, Confusion. Satan flicks at that sore spot. He picks at that thing that he knows we have problems with. It's at that moment we can tell what is really in our hearts. When you get that bump from satan your hearts spills out something. Whatever is in there. Is your heart filled with love? Love will come out in all types of situations. Is your heart filled with anger, ill-content? When something happens to you, thats what will come pouring out. Never heard of anybody having to curb their love responses, because its becoming a problem. I have heard of people needing to curb their anger, envy, jealousy and pride. Some people's heart is even filled with doubt. If you are a child of God don't doubt, easy to say I know. God answers all his children's prayers, he just says no sometimes. Sometimes he even says not right now and even maybe later, also he says I think I have a better way.

John 14:27 - Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (ESV)


Short blog today, self inspect, be truthful with yourself and see what is in your heart. Will you be like Job and come forth like gold?

Gonna have to serve somebody

Dusty idea today is knowing that we're either for God or against him. A lot of people today have decided that there's a gray area where people can be judged as "good enough to keep" by God. We can be good people, not be dishonest, be faithful to our spouse, always return the tools we borrowed from our neighbors and we got a chance at being saved. Never darkened the door of a church, except that time at the blood drive. That counts doesn't it? The only blood that's gonna matter is the blood that Christ lost on the cross. If you aren't actively living for Christ, doing his will, you don't have any sacrifice for your sins.

Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

Man has somehow decided that we can be saved without ever coming to believe that Jesus is the son of God. We've decided that our personal plan of salvation doesn't have to include baptism. We've decided that we don't really know if God is up there somewhere, but just in case I'll try to keep my nose clean here on earth so he can find me a good person and save me one day.

Hebrews 9:27-28 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgement, so Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (ESV)

You can see in the writing above that Jesus isn't coming back to see what he can do about getting you to follow him, or some other thing to give you another chance. He's coming back to receive those that are waiting for him, eagerly wish to see him.

So we come to the eternal question. Who are you gonna serve?

Matthew 12:30 (Jesus speaking) Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. (ESV)

No gray area here for good old boys and girls. Good old boys and girls are going to be lost if they don't get to know Jesus. Jesus is the only thing that can save us.

Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

So again, who you gonna serve?

Reasons for not serving Jesus, are any of these your reasoning?

1. Ignorance of your need for Christ

2. Too many rules I want to live my life

3. People should accept me as I am, I know whats best for me so God just needs to give up and let me be me

4. You don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God and you're only hope.

5. You don't believe in God whether you want to claim atheism or that you're an agnostic, same difference as far as receiving God's Son as your sacrifice for sin.

6. You believe all this but you're not ready to give up your lifestyle yet, I'm young and I got plenty of time.

7. You think God should conform to your way of thinking instead of the other way around.

8. You just don't care about God or Jesus and if Hell is in your future so be it.

9. Snobby people down at the church aren't any better than me.

10. I won't fit in, Christian people just won't accept me.

If any of these reason above are yours then the next two verses are for you.

Matthew 25:41, 46 Then will he say to those on his left, "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. (ESV)

The answer to the question at this point is really a no brainer. It only pays to serve God. You can have a few days of pleasure here ignoring God and getting all your pleasure from satan, or you can follow God and live forever in the heavenly realm. You can decide to just do nothing about Jesus and see what happens. Satan would like that, if you're not on Jesus' side you are automatically on his side.

This last verse always sobers me, and I'll end with this thought.

Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Conforming to this world?

Dusty idea is we're not going to conform to this world or be like worldly people. This idea is trapped in concrete somewhere. Its very deep inside the dust, can't even be viewed by people anymore. If you want to be talked down to by worldly people and people professing Christianity, bring some of these points up.

We're gonna start with the writings of the apostle Paul.

Romans 12:2-Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

(ESV)

We've gotten the "can we conform with the world?" question out of the way. No, you can't be of the world and follow Christ. Luke 16:13 say you cannot serve two masters. John 15:19 says that if Christ chooses you, you are not of this world. You have to decide if the Bible is true or false. Strange as this may sound, if you get along with literally everyone, everywhere you go then you've probably conformed with the world in some way. Everywhere Jesus went people either flocked to him and idolized him or they wanted to stone him. There was no lukewarm good old buddy, "can't we just get along" going on.

Ads, media, music, politics, junk mail ads, your boss at work, your peers, friends and your spouse are things that satan uses to try to make us conform to this world. How many times a day do we have to tell ourselves that we are to be a choice race, a royal priesthood. How many times a day perhaps a billboard on the road will tell you how much fun you can have drinking alcohol or going to a riverboat casino? We hear radio commercials advertising the latest "R" rated movie and how it just can't be missed by one and all. Ads are everywhere telling us the latest birth control to get, to the latest and greatest beer. Fashion ads are telling us how to dress or be undressed so modesty is thrown to the wind. People just have a tendency to conform to these kinds of things if they think "everybody else" is doing them. Political ads and candidates want their opinions to be yours, and you're slow and unintelligent if you don't see it their way. Some music is promoting ideas that are completely contrary to the word of God. TV/Cable programs promote promiscuity, drinking, marital affairs, homosexuality, and the bad guy actually gets by without paying a price sometimes. God's people have to know when they are conforming to the world. They have to know when to say no to something.

We have to conduct our actions and language as if Christ himself were sitting right next to us. How many people would get in their skimpy bathing suit/bikini (male or female) and sit down next to the Lord? Most sane thinking people would say that's ridiculous, they would never do that, but they don't mind going to a public beach and doing the same thing. What about bringing that "R" rated movie home with the Lord there? Would you try to take Jesus to the casino with you? Would you try to convince Jesus that the political issues of the day have to be compromised on such as abortion and gay rights just so we can get something done? All of these are ridiculous questions. I could never name all examples of conforming, they're as vast as this world itself. Christians that spend time in the Word will recognize conforming when it rears its head. Christ himself said in Revelations chapters 2-3 when speaking to the seven churches, "I know thy works" and he knows ours.

If you allow all these things to subvert God and compromise to something between God and the prince of this world, Satan. Satan wins.

The flow of this world is with the grain.

As Christians we have to go against the grain.

Forgiving completely pt. 2

Same dusty idea as the previous blog, just too much to cover in a single post. We are going to address the human factor in dealing with forgiveness. Namely the "forgive and forget" aspect. The ability to forget an offense to the point its not even remembered. In essence, divine forgiveness, are humans capable of it? We're going to cover some of the things we can glean from what Christ left us in scripture.

Case in point Acts 15:36-41 is when Paul decided go on a second missionary journey and Barnabas wanted to take John Mark. Paul didn't want to take him again because he had withdrawn from them and didn't finish the earlier work. Paul didn't want to set himself up for that potential disappointment of John Mark leaving again. Paul and Barnabas had a discussion and they didn't agree about this. Barnabas and John Mark separated from Paul and went somewhere else. Was Paul in the right to not have him come with him? Yes. Was Barnabas right to part from Paul and take John Mark with him? Yes. Both men were correct a separation was needed, both men recognized it and went on about their way. Sometimes loving your brother may mean a separation for the better of all. If Paul practiced what he preached, he forgave John Mark for leaving him earlier. Do you think Paul forgave him? Yes. Does that mean things had to go back to the way they were? No. Paul in this case forgave, but did not forget. They needed to separate, cut down on the drama and continue on with God's work. God's work is the whole point after all.

This example from Paul and Barnabas is enough to convince me that even after someone has forgiven another they may not be able interact as before the offense.

Forgiving completely

Dusty idea today is: Lets forgive people to the point the Bible says we need to.

It's getting tougher each day to take the humanity out of humans and be able to forgive as Christ spoke of and did. Perhaps a definition of forgiving is in order. My definition would be the ability to not allow an offense or a negative action toward you or someone else to affect how you treat the offender according to Christian values. I'm only concerned with Christian values in the blog, because if you have that approach it will be superior to any other way that seem right to humanity. Another definition of forgive found in the Greek text in Jesus' sermon on the mount is to "lay aside".

Luke 17:3-4 can be a real stumbling block for the forgiver.

Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him,

and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven

time in the day, and turns to you seven times saying, "I repent",

you must forgive him. (ESV)

We might could say, "Lord, what if they keep doing the same thing to me or us over and over?"

Looks like Luke 17 is saying we have to forgive if the brother repents. In fact Luke says that even if the brother says that he repents we need to take that at face value since humans can't discern the intent of the heart. Proverbs 16:25 says there is a way that seemth right unto men, but the ends of those ways are death.

Luke 17:1 also says that it is impossible that offenses will not come. It is only our reaction to them that is going to be in question. Forgiveness to our closest family members, an uncle, aunt, mother or daddy, but especially a spouse is hard to come by. It seems to be in our culture or humanity to hold things over or against our spouse. If they're brothers or sisters in Christ they also need the same level of forgiveness we would afford anyone else. If they're not members of the Lord's church and there's no forgiveness how would that spouse ever be able to convert the other.

There's also a certain amount of judgemental thought processes that go along with this. The process of getting offended to the point of deciding you need to approach someone with a problem needs to be tempered with the amount of judging we want leveled our way. Matt 7 doesn't say people can't judge others. It says that whatever judgment we use it will be measured to us also. If you don't give Christ any help in judging others then He won't judge you.

After we've forgiven someone and put the matter squarely in God's loving hands, we run the risk of the matter not being handled as we'd like. We may have decided that God is our fire and brimstone vengeance deliverer, and he may be. He may also be what we know him to be, a loving God that wants everyone to be saved that shows great mercy. He may bless them, prosper them and save their eternal souls, rather than strike them dead with a lightening bolt. This may not satisfy our sense of what should happen. If this is the case have we really forgiven completely?

Focus at worship, He is in here.

Dusty idea today is we need to train our minds to focus on God during worship. On his worthiness to receive worship, not our worthiness to receive blessings.

I think worship is an act toward God that requires quite a bit of concentration to stay focused on. Some Christians know they're suppose to worship but don't quite know what it is. It's singing to God right? It's listening to the preacher right? It's taking of the Lord's supper right? It's thanking God for all his blessings, finite and eternal. It's all these things if the proper frame of mind is reached.

Worship defined - realizing that something or someone is greater and worth more and by consequence to be feared, obeyed and adored. Allowing a greater power to master you.

First we need to understand who and what we are worshipping. We are worshipping a spirit, God is a spirit and he is the most powerful thing that any of our senses can detect. We can't see anything more majestic or powerful than God, including anything you can see in a microscope or a telescope. We can't hear anything more intimidating than God's works. Next time a thunderstorm comes your way take time to listen, watch the lightening, hear the wind and see the rainbow.

How does our worship stack up compared to what the Bible says God is accustomed to? In Revelations 4 we have a picture of what John saw. Picture God sitting on a throne, with a rainbow with the appearance of emerald around it. Twenty-four other thrones surrounding this throne with crowned kings wearing white. From the throne there are lightning flashes, thunder and rumblings. Also before the throne seven torches of fire, and a sea of glass like crystal. God is pictured with four living creatures, one on each side of his throne that never stop saying "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!". Everytime these creatures give glory and honor and thanks to God, the twenty-four seated elders fall down and worship him giving God their alliegance by casting their crowns before God. They also say, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."

Don't know about you but a half-hearted worship thinking about whats for lunch, about the ball game last night, about who we might ask out for a date, about that mistake the song leader may have made isn't in the least comparable to what God is accustomed to. Work, relatives and any other distractions we allow to take away from the worship of God lets us lose focus on the eternal.

During worship to God we need to know that we are giving God our full attention and are fully praising him in spirit and in truth. Is it human nature to let our minds wander? I think it is, but that is just one of the things of the flesh we will need to tame to be pleasing to God.

Give God a chance

Do we give God a chance to work in our lives? Dusty idea today is to allow God his place and time frame to work for the good. This blog is along some of the same thoughts and lines as some previous ones concerning patience. Patience with God concerning a prayed about thing is a difficult thing to endure. It goes against human nature to have the faith it requires to trust in God's timing. It helps to understand who we're dealing with.

Genesis tells us God created everything in six days and on the seventh day he rested. We know this all powerful being could have created everything in one day if not at one time. God didn't rush, good things take time and patience. God doesn't allow us to rush him either. If you think about it everyone's status in society reflects if and how long you have to wait. Usually the lower your status, the more you have to wait on other people. The most important people make others wait for them. God being the most important being in the universe, it stands to reason that all of us have to wait for him. Thats not how we like it, so we try to hurry God along. We pray for things, we wonder why they haven't occurred. If we insist on an immediate answer from God you're telling God to obey you, and to hurry up because we know best.

Psalms 27:14 - Wait on the Lord, be of good courage and he will strengthen thine heart: wait I say on the Lord.

If we don't give God a chance to do things his way, in his time frame, we may step outside his will and failure may take over. When you give God a chance to work in his time frame you're obeying him and obedience brings blessings.

Jesus used the parable of the sower about sowing seed. Perhaps we can sow a seed in our family and our Christian family. Our brothers and sisters in Christ. Lets sow a seed and let it grow. Lets not keep digging up the seed to see if its growing yet, lets let God give the increase.

We have to ignore the drive-through life this world says we need to have and believe what God says about himself. He is worthy of our trust and his timing is perfect, no matter how it may seem.

Shame has a new face.

Dusty idea today, being ashamed of sin as named in the Bible. Shame doesn't exist anymore for a lot of people, their consciences have been seered with a hot iron I Tim 4:2. Society has gotten this turned around now and saying Christians should be ashamed for not being "open minded" about such behaviors.

Homosexuality was a shameful practice, but now we have Gay "Pride" marches, special days etc. Not only are they not ashamed they have pride in what they're doing and pride when other people do them.

People living together was just trashy, now people call it "friends with benefits".

Cursing and vile language, at one time was thought to be shameful especially if it was done in the presence of ladies. Now the ladies and men are doing the cursing and vile language and it's considered their right to fill your ears with this trash. Shame has taken a real vacation on this one, you hear this everywhere you go.

Pornography, if you had it you hid it. You were ashamed to let other people see that kind of thing in your possession. You had to buy it wrapped up from under the counter, and preferrably when no one else was looking. Now its not only displayed at any convenience store, its all over the tv, internet and cable networks. Hollywood has made big money on it. Now its art and Christians are suppose to be ashamed for not allowing artistic freedom.

It appears that the shame game is being shifted by satan's followers as much as we'll allow it. Problem is some Christians are buying into it and compromising with satan on some things. If you don't think so just check what is coming on the television in your home. Not someone else's home, our home. The new face of shame? It's mine and it's yours if we have compromised with satan on God's will.

Sharing Jesus

Dusty Idea today is people use to share Jesus because we genuinely liked/loved people. I'm not sure thats our motivation so much any more. It's getting increasingly difficult now to geniunely like people. Lets face it, with a lot of people its very tough to be around them much less love them. I think we have this battle mentality with this subject. We do not wrestle with flesh and blood, and the battle does belong to the Lord.

I sometimes believe we go out with our Christian hatchet in hand and take sinners scalps for Christ. Putting those sinners scalps on our Christian belt. We do it to do enough works to gain favor from Christ and we must realize we can never do enough works to earn heaven. Unless we become as little children we cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. We need to spend some time learning to like/love our fellow man. If we're saying we don't really like you very much, by the way we act, but by the way here's some Jesus, thats probably not going to work out very well.

I think loving people around us rubs off on people that don't know Christ. Lets enter heaven with them hand in hand, instead of trying to enter with their scalps on our belts.

Speaking without thinking...

There seems to be an idea these days that trying to chew the words you speak isn't your true thoughts or powerful enough to get a message across. Dusty idea this time is the idea to listen and think about whats said, then respond. Use to be years ago, people could have a conversation off the clock. No time limit. Had time to hear and understand what was said, and had time to see it from another point of view. Especially if they didn't agree with it. Instant opinions weren't mandatory. Going with the crowd wasn't the thing to do no matter how many made up the crowd.

Most people don't learn anything by listening to themselves talk. Chewing your words and presenting them in a way to make them easier to be accepted by others is a very dusty idea.

James 1:20 says that every man should be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. I don't take those for idle words. It shows a patience factor to be able to listen and then actually think about the response.

I don't consider this slow to speak trait as unintelligent or uneducated. I consider it to be quite the opposite.

You never have a chance to pray about a situation, or check with the guide for this world and life, the Bible, if you got too anxious about replying. Almost universally when I stop to think about a statement or question posed to me people take it negatively if I don't respond right away. Typically speedy response is reguarded as the real answer whether good or bad response. A slow thoughtout answer is looked at as a lie whether its the answer expected or not.

Somehow we've gotten into this habit of trying to read between the lines, trying to figure out what someone really means, etc.

I would really love to see people get back to posing a statement or question and allowing the responder to think for a moment and then listen to the response and actually just accept what the answer is without trying to figure out what they "really" mean.

Atheistic Myths that we perpetuate

Time for another Dusty Idea that might be outside someone else's comfort zone.  The idea that we attribute the works of God to other sources. 

In older times, even biblical times we're gonna be hard pressed to find any references from a Christian standpoint to "Mother Earth".  Most of the time when I hear this expression I can't help but attempt to explain that the earth is just a created planet from God that he then created us from the dust of. Something he had created already. God is our Father. We don't have a mother other than Genesis 3:20 says that Eve is the mother of all living. Mother earth is a term used by atheist to perpetuate the theory of evolution as a means of mankinds existance. We use it in our schools now. We got Earth Day wherein we have commercials on tv and other sources of communication to take time to remember our "Mother". 

I sometimes wonder how God must take this in. Once again we are giving the creation credit for being the creator. 

Another thing people use is "Father time". There appears to be some kind of myth that there's some kind of cosmic essence out there somewhere that has set all the planets and things in motion to create time. Well that mystery is solved long ago, its God. 

Satan has done a bangup job of convincing people that the things we should praise and give God the glory for has been done by other entities and powers. We don't need mother earth, father time, old man winter etc. 

God is responsible for the universe and all its happenings. We don't need to create something else to attribute it to. I do understand that its not politically correct and you're possibly gonna offend some atheist somewhere if we give God the credit. I would say no more offended that I am everytime I hear that mother earth did everything for us.

Has the world hated on you lately?

New dusty idea is being separate from the world. Some people might say thats not new nor is it dusty. I would beg to differ with you. 

We start off this idea with John 15:18-25. Jesus says if we're not of the world the world will hate us because it hated him first. It's not possible to use the same teachings of Jesus and try to be Christ like and not get the same result.

Have you ever compromised with entertainment because the crowd/family wanted to do a certain thing, or watch a certain thing even though it went against your conscience as involving Christian living. What about if you're the only person that doesn't want to watch an "R" rated movie even though the ratings from outside sources give it 4 out of 5 stars. We have to understand that the person giving that rating probably isn't concerned with the moral value, or if it is something that God would approve of his saints watching. Usually if you're the only one in a group that doesn't, someone is gonna hate on you for it. You're gonna be the lone hold out and the stick in the mud. You're gonna be that religious guy that thinks he's better than anyone else and someone is gonna let you know it. At that time remember John 15:18-25, the world hated on Jesus first so you can expect nothing less.

If you haven't been hated on lately, you're probably doing something wrong. This is just one example above and no one in my family needs to decide that it is directed at them, just a random example.

Matt. 10:34-39 states that Jesus didn't come to bring peace but a sword. A persons family members could be a source of ridicule and degradation. 

One of the best tools satan has today is the movie theater and the television. The world is setting the agenda for the programming on both of those venues. I'd like to say that again:

THE WORLD IS SETTING THE AGENDA ON THESE ENTERTAINMENT VENUES!

If anybody is keeping score on these venues:

Immorality with sexual content and overtones - 1

God - 0

Success, not what it use to be....

I don't know if this is a dusty idea, I just think it is.  I think the idea of success isn't what it use to be.  We are going to compare the most successful person that ever lived with what we consider "successful" today. 

When you talk about long term success, how long term are we talking about here.   I would suggest that long term success can be viewed as eternal. Short term or preparatory success should be considered the 80 or 90+ years we have here on this planet. 

The most successful person who has worked his way through this life never had a house or a vehicle. He didn't have any furniture or a bed. He was basically a homeless person that traveled from city to city. His name was Jesus and he was despised of the people and laughed to scorn. 

But he lived this life without sin, which makes his the greatest long term success story ever.

What made him successful? Material possessions were of little or no value. Important things were high morals, mercy, grace, justice. I've heard it said that Jesus died so young just about 33 yrs. old. I think he was ready to go home. Most people want to go, but they just don't want to go right away, possibly Jesus was ready to get off this rock and go back to his Father. 

I sometimes don't know what perks people are looking for, or have, to stay here in this body, in this life. 

Being successful in this life by most peoples standards can probably be summed up by the amount of money in Checking, Savings, 401K, IRA, Real Estate, Cars, Trucks, Boats, Antiques, Furniture, Sports, etc. 

Jesus' success was from having the Father and doing the works of the Father that sent him. If Jesus had success with this plan then its probably the plan he left behind in his testament for Christians to follow and implement. Not the high paying job that ignores the Lord's day and/or compromises ethics and morals so we can be "successful" in this life. 

It might be said we need success in material ways so we won't have to want or worry about anything. 

A good definition of worry would be a lack of faith that God will do what he has promised.

If we are successful on God's terms then we shouldn't have cause to worry about anything. 

Kicking out the cobwebs on Time....

I guess the dusty idea we're bringing out today is the idea that we don't have to fill our calendars up. I guess if you are always saying we just don't have time to do this or that, this is for you. Why do we plan all our time away? Do we really have to know every move we're gonna make over the course of a week or month? If the Lord is walking by our side does his calendar match ours? More correctly does our calendar match his?  

We only have now, the present, and eternity. This blog will be concerned with the present.  Jesus makes it plain about the present when he said in Matt. 6:25, 31 and 35 not to take thought of tomorrow for tomorrow will take care of itself.  The present day has enough evil to go around. I am paraphrasing and I hope that makes you feel compelled to check that out.

What areas of time would satan have us concern ourselves with? He really would love for us to live in the past I think. To be able to dredge up every little and big thing that we've ever done when we missed the mark. If he could just get us to dwell on that portion of time, and rub our noses in it. It can be debilitating. 

I think satan would also like for us to be anxious for the future. Both of these positions keep us from focusing on Jesus in the present, thats the entire crux of the matter. Satan wants you to think about how you have thought of Jesus or how you didn't think of Jesus, and how you're going to think of Jesus. Anything to keep you from thinking about Jesus right now, the present.

It might be helpful to remember that Jesus was never big on making any plans other than the one the Father gave him. Not trying to be silly, but I don't see any reference to the holy calendar of future deeds in the new testament. Being Christ like is going to have to make us all think, including myself, about our choices for the present as we go through life.  We don't have any choices to make for the past, and the future is in God's hands as always. I don't believe not having a full calendar makes us lazy and unproductive.  I believe it just leaves time open for God to work in our lives more fully.

Ideas on the Shelf...

  I wanted to lay in this first post the purpose of  "Dusty Ideas". 

     Dusty ideas are what could be termed crazy or old style thinking that isn't popular these days. Dusty ideas are the concepts that people have left on a shelf and aren't about to pickup and look at anymore, they're collecting dust. A lot of the time these are ideas that are "tried and true", but they don't carry the ability for people to further self-gratification and materialism that has replaced moral and character development. 

     A General overall lack of spirituality, lack of believing that God is real and is really out there and that he is the God of the universe has contributed to putting a good thick layer of dust on universal truths as defined by the maker of this planet, solar system and universe. I can hear the dust bringers now saying, "Another Bible thumper's opinion". Well you'd be right, and no apologies offered. 

     The first thing dust bringers are short on is patience. The idea of having patience with our fellow man is a stupid and foreign concept to dust bringers. "What do you mean I have to wait?" This is an outrage, I have to wait so everyone here is going to have to listen to me and have a bad day. The dust bringer also thinks that it has every right to stuff our souls with nonsense, expletives, gossip and nonsensical philosophies while they "suffer" in waiting mode. The first thing that would help us all in general would be deciding that being kind to our fellow man would be preferable to chastising them for having to wait. We need to take the idea of gaining some patience and kindness with not only strangers but more so family members. Family members are people too.

We'll drag out another dusty idea soon.