Times are Changing

Times have changed! Many have dubbed this generation as the “Dumbest Generation” not because of their intellect necessarily, but because in our “NOW” culture we only have room in our memories for short term information. We have short insignificant conversations by text message (and even found out how to abbreviate that language) and instead of interacting with one another, we send people bulletins and gifts on MySpace and Facebook. The internet isn’t used for research but for networking superficial relationships. But it wasn’t always like this. In fact, just one hundred years ago in the USA,
~ The average life expectancy in the United States was forty-seven.
~ Only 14 percent of the homes in the United States had a bathtub.
~ Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone. A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.
~ There were only 8,000 cars in the US and only 144 miles of paved roads.
~ The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
~ The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
~ The average wage in the U.S. was twenty-two cents an hour.
~ More than 95 percent of all births in the United States took place at home.
~ Drive-by-shootings -- in which teenage boys galloped down the street
on horses and started randomly shooting at houses, carriages, or anything else that caught their fancy -- were an ongoing problem in Denver and other cities in the West.
~ The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was thirty. The remote desert community was inhabited by only a handful of ranchers and their families.
~ Plutonium, insulin, and antibiotics hadn't been discovered yet. Scotch tape, crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented.
~ There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Life back then seems a little outdated compared with today, doesn’t it? But then you start to realize what we do week after month after year, gathering together to study a piece of literature that is around 2000+ years old. Ultimately, that is STRANGE! Imagine doing that, with say, dental hygiene! You needed to go to the dentist, and when you got there, he said, “Hey, let’s try something different! Let’s use this dental device I found from the ninth century. Sure, it’s 1000 years old and from the Middle Ages, but I’m sure it’ll be kind of fun to use! We can operate and have you feeling better in no time!
Or what about school textbooks? The teachers at Calvary Chapel School decide that we’re going to use the geography books from the 2nd century, where the world is still flat, the earth is the center of the universe and we haven’t discovered other galaxies or even some of the basic laws of nature yet. Think that would work in science class?
Or what about transportation? You need to borrow the car but it’s in the shop so, “Hey Dad, can I borrow the chariot?”

But here we are, studying truths that were recorded 2000 years ago, and strangely, almost supernaturally, they still apply and have impact and reality and weight today. In a sense, the Bible has transcended time and space and culture and race.

Before I knew God and became intimate with His Word I had no vision for my life, no moral code of right and wrong, no standard of conduct, no wisdom for practical living, no grasp of spiritual truth, no idea why I was here or what I was supposed to be doing with my life.
If you were to tell me that a religious book from the middle East written thousands of years ago would fulfill all these voids in my life, I would have tried to sell you a timeshare in Myakka.

But here I am, and here we are, and God’s Word has stood the test of time, where technology, education, science, economics, and almost everything else seem to be changing.

Times have changed, but the Bible has not. Psalms 119:89-91 says: “Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. 90 Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth, and it endures. 91 Your laws endure to this day, for all things serve you.

We can trust in God’s Word, though our times, culture, attitudes, philosophies, scientific discoveries, and history will always be changing, His Word will stand the test of time.

Are you trusting God at His Word?

-Pilgrim

Stale Water

John 2:6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.
Now here is the essence of religion. These stone water jars represent religion, the ceremonies and traditions and practices and beliefs and standards and rules, and Jesus says, “Fill those up to the BRIM”. Picture what those stone water jars would have looked like, being used by each and every person who walked into the house as a place to wash your hands. Take the BEST out of every religion, and compare it to the person of Jesus, and it is what it is: a jar full of crusty water. Jesus tells them to fill the jars to the water, all the way to the top, and then Jesus said: 8 Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."

We don’t know when this happened, but between filling up the jars with water, and scooping out the water, and carrying the water to the master of the banquet, and him putting the cup to his lips, somewhere Jesus turned that stale water into wine.
The master of the banquet didn’t recognize the miracle, he just liked the taste of the wine!
The bride and groom didn’t notice the miracle, they were too busy enjoying their marriage!

Who recognized the miracle? The SERVANTS. People all around us are into the watered down religions of rules and regulations. Jesus wants to give us the CHOICE wine. Religion offers water, and Jesus offers us wine. I like that one person noticed that Moses turned water into BLOOD, a miracle of VENGEANCE, but Jesus turned water into WINE, a miracle of GENEROSITY. Jesus talked about NEW WINE. He wants to offer that to each and every one of us, to satisfy us with the choice wine, not with the watered down religions that leave us longing for intimacy with God.

Have you tasted the choice wine?