I enjoy trains so much my desire was riding in a real locomotive.  A friend of mine was a superintendent for a short line in South Carolina and invited me to visit his railroad anytime I was in the state.  A few years ago on the way to Florida, we stopped and he took us out to the yard where a 250,000 pound engine sat.  I boarded and sat in the brakeman's seat when Rich offered me the other seat--the engineer's!  I sat down and he instructed me how to operate the engine and slowly I moved it forward and backward in the yard.  I was overjoyed and was able to cross one more thing off of my bucket list.  We all have seen various train cars sitting on the siding waiting for the locomotive pick them up and bring them where they are to go.  Going back and forth to college years ago I took the train from Newport News, VA to Providence, RI and whether it was diesel or electric powered, without the engine I would never have arrived at my destination. 

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  John 15:5

Various writers have suggested the fruit is converts or the ethics of the Christian life.  In the IVP Commentary of the New Testament for John, one writer said the fruit is the knowledge of God.  In the picture of the vine and the branches the branch produces fruit, but without the support of the vine there would be nothing.  The vine provides nutrients and water for sustaining the life of the branch. With this support from the vine the branches can then do what branches do: make fruit.  A believer can share in the thoughts, emotions, intentions and power of Christ if they chose to remain in him.  As Christ has full knowledge of God the Father, a believer chooses to remain in Christ and this knowledge thus produces the fruit of converts and ethical behavior. 

To remain in Christ requires submission.  In my book, Broken Vows Shattered Lives (Xulon Press, 2009), I speak of submission within marriage following the submission we see in the Trinity.  Christ is in submission to the Father and unable to do anything except the Father showed him.  Also, he said the Holy Spirit would not speak on his own but what Jesus told him to say.  While the word, submission means obedience and yielding, the opposite is resistance and defiance.  God provided the initiative and the means so man can have the full knowledge of him.  It is our response to this intiative and the desire to remain in Christ which determines fruit. Without him, we could do nothing. 

  

Even Broken Pieces Are Useful

My first sermon was on Jeremiah 18 and the Potter's house as God shows the prophet his power to form the clay of his creation into a useful pot.  You can imagine the potter taking a lump of clay and with constant spinning of the wheel, begins to form it into a vessel he has planned in his mind.  With both hands in the lump, his nimble fingers feel the clay to find foreign material which would make the pot useless. If it remained it would cause cracking in the pot during the firing process.  God removes imperfections from us in the formation process to have a useful vessel. 

A potter would not make something to leave on the shelf but something which is useful.  If it was his business and his reputation, the quality of the pot would speak of his abilities.  If he tried to pass a pot which had imperfections as quality, his reputation would suffer.  God's reputation is on the line in each and every one of us and he is continually working with both hands, one inside and the other on the outside, to form us into a vessel of his workmanship.  He continually reforms us into the image of his Son by the quiet teaching of the Holy Spirit as well as people on the outside.  The continual pressure of these two things are God's loving way to take a lump of clay and form it into a priceless vessel.  

But what about the broken  pieces?  Years ago in a restaurant they were laying a tile floor.  The boxes of tiles arrived and the workers immediately began to break them into hundreds of pieces in a wheel barrow.  I was perplexed until I saw them lay the tile as a mosaic and with the sandy grout made in the restaurant a slip-free flooring.  God also takes the broken pieces of our lives and forms them into a useful product if we will let him.  Nothing to waste!  The broken pieces and the perfected pot both speak of his powerful plan as the Master Potter. 

The Proof is in the Bread

Before I entered into the ministry I earned my Bachelor's degree from Johnson & Wales University with an emphasis on food and beverage management.  Part of my degree involved culinary arts and one class I had was breads with Chef Barstein.  When you scale out the ingredients from the formula (baking is a science and requires exact measurements and temps.) you place them into the mixer to begin the process of bread making.  When the ball of dough separates from the sides of the bowl, you cover and allow the twenty or thirty pounds of dough to proof.  The first proof, also called proving, means the rising of the dough due to fermentation by the yeast.  It requires a warm and moist area for the dough to rise to its optimum.  Then the baker will take his fist and punch the dough to release the gases for the beginning of the final proof. 

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. (John 6:35-36 NIV)

Just as most breads are proofed or proved, so did the Son of Man prove himself by the very fact of his first coming.  He chose to give up all the glory, power and worship from the hosts of heaven to put on the confinement of human flesh so we could know God.  He lived the life man was originally to have and showed us the way those who eat of this "flesh" can live.  He loves with such a love that he was willing to die for us. Just as any good baker knows before the final proofing or proving, the dough must be punched. Jesus was himself punched by evil men who laid hands upon him, beat him, spat upon him, whipped him, crucified and buried him in the tomb. 

But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. Romans 8:10-11

Then the second proof or proving is the Resurrection and the power behind it which comes from God.  The resurrection is the one proof of Christianity and the blessed hope of overcoming this dead and dying mortal body in which we live. The Spirit which gives life because of the righteousness of Christ brings to believers a freedom from the fear and curse of sin and death.  So, the proof is in the bread--The Bread of Life. 

Clydesdales-A Statement on Four Legs

This week the famous Budweiser Clydesdale eight horse hitch will come to Wheeling, WV and we will be on hand to see the over eight tons of horse flesh pull the red, white and gold beer wagon. With its riders, this tradition started directly after Prohibition was repealed when August Busch Jr. bought the first hitch team for his father, August Busch Sr.  The addition of the dalmatian dog started in the fifties because dogs were used to keep people from stealing beer from the wagon during deliveries. (www. seaworld.org)  The horses became an instant hit and are routinely featured as part of the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company's advertising with the Super Bowl.  Horses have also been used in warfare since the time of the Sumerians around 2500 BC.  From the lighter calvary horse to the heavier class horse used for the well armoured knight of Europe, the use of horses aided armies as a tool of warfare but today are used for ceremonies and demonstrations instead of active combat. 

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. They are brought to their knees and fall,but we rise up and stand firm. Psalm 20:7-8 (NIV)

When Moses asked God his name, He simply replied, "I AM THAT I AM!"  This name refers to God's mercy and his condescension toward man while Elohim is the God of Creation with power, strength, and justice.(http://www.hebrew4christians.com/)  While his name is above all others, most of the time the names are used to refer to a divine characteristic of YHWH.  One such name is Yeshua, or the God who saves his people.  Jesus came as God in flesh and Isaiah 9:6 tells us:

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder,and his name shall be calledWonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of ^"Peace.(Isaiah 9:6 ESV)

The Busch companies have to keep a farm to continually raise new horses as others retire and die.  War horses can be killed or the captured could be used by the enemy against you during a conflict.  Those who trust in the name YESHUA, will be saved and will stand firm.  After all, horses need to be bred to remain calm in the face of the enemy, Jesus stood toe to toe with Satan and didn't flinch in the desert, but rebuked him with the very words of God.  Why not!  They were his to begin with.

Faith, Fireworks and the Darkened Night

Last evening a small group of our church met for a fellowship meal and conversation.  The group included newly-wed couples to those with college-age children. The group brought an assortment of foods, backgrounds, interests, hopes and dreams but the one thing which united them into one was faith.  Jesus calls the people who have seen and followed the light, ekklesia, or those who are called out  or a special assembly.  Formerly a political word, it has entered into the Christian lexicon to mean church.  Like a formal church, this small group is made up of believers with each one gifted to become servants for Christ.  We met at Darrin and Tammy's home, complete with swimming pool and hot tub and the group settled in for several hours of conversations of various topics until dark.  Darrin and Tammy have a fireworks business and before we left, several men went with Darrin, a trained and licensed pyro-technician to set up and launch various fireworks into the dark night.  It was then, looking around I saw this dramatic display in the sky playing out in the lives of these people of faith.

For hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground. Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward. "But if I were you, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him. Job 5:6-8 (NIV)

All of mankind is born for troubles like the sparks coming off of the the flare used last night to ignite the fireworks display. But when a sinner comes to Christ in faith they become like the light from the pyro-technics.  As the believer grows in their faith, supported and nurtured by other believers, they rise like skyrockets into last night's  darkness.  At a time of God's timing, their faith explodes to the oohs of others sitting in a dark and sinful world watching the power of God change their lives.  This visible light show reflects the actions of the church sending forth small pictures of the perfect Light and the power to save. 

As we were about to depart, Psalm 133 was read:

How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along! It's like costly anointing oil flowing down head and beard, Flowing down Aaron's beard, flowing down the collar of his priestly robes. It's like the dew on Mount Hermon flowing down the slopes of Zion. Yes, that's where God commands the blessing,ordains eternal life. Psalm 133 The Message

One couple told the teachers of the marriage class they would not be were they are both spiritually and professionally if it was not for The Marriage Course taken at the church. Faith, food, and fireworks--a picture of the work of Christ in the life of believers.