More Thoughts From Romans - Day 1

   Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”    Romans 1:5,17

             

                   The difference between Christianity and every other religion in the world could be summed up in this - Christianity says you don't get to God by being good. As a doctor, I like to think of Christianity as the doctor with a bad diagnosis. Christianity is the doctor who comes in after a battery of tests and says, "there is nothing you can do to fix your disease; you need to surrender to the knife and let us cut it out or you will die." Every other religion/doctor tells you to exercise more, eat healthy, take vitamins, lose weight, quit smoking - you can fix yourself. Christianity says you are too messed up to fix yourself. I'm reminded of my bus boy job as a teenager working at the Ponderosa Steak House. I was a super hard worker bussing and cleaning tables and when the manager called me in to his office one night, I was sure it was to give me praise! Instead he told me that a customer had complained because I was cleaning tables with a dirty rag. I guess all the steak grease had accumulated on my rag that I was failing to change out enough, and all my scrubbing of tables was only making them greasier! Christianity says that we are dirty rags and all our efforts , no matter how hard we try, are not making us clean before God.

                 So then, where do good deeds fit in to Christianity? Paul says in Romans that we are declared righteous - in right standing with God, rightly related to God - through faith. It is through believing and basing your life on the fact (surrendering to the Doctor's knife) that you can't be good enough to get to God but God sent His Son, Jesus, to be good and sinless in your place and accepting His righteousness on your behalf. He died and through His blood washed away my sins and buried them in the ground and came alive to give me a new clean forgiven life with a robe of righteousness on where I can stand before God, clean. No more dirty rags!

               So then, where do good deeds fit in to Christianity? Paul says in verse 5 that he is calling people to obedience or good deeds. I see it like this; if you truly have by faith been forgiven, cleansed, declared righteous, "born again", "saved" ... your life will change. You will start acting like Christ because He has put His Holy Spirit inside of you. Paul didn't come to form a forest full of trees in Rome but an orchard producing fruit in Rome. A changed life of good obedient deeds is the evidence that true conversion has taken place.

               Imagine a couple getting married but after the ceremony nothing changes. They retain their same names, don't move in together, don't wear rings, continue to date other people, spend all their time vacationing and hanging out with their friends ... you would question their marriage! If you would ask them, they would name the time and place they got married and might even tear up at the sentimentality of that special day and even produce their marriage certificate, but unless their lives changed after that day, you would have to question the validity of that marriage.

                 So that's where good deeds come in. God has given us His word to declare to us, among many other things, a "right" way of living. If our lives are not following that pattern of behavior then we have to ask ourself have we really by faith recieved the righteousness of God? If we are Christians our deeds need to show it!

I delight greatly in the Lord;
    my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
    and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
    and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up
    and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness
    and praise spring up before all nations.  Isa. 61:10,11

Making "Your" Faith Your Own

 13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”...

 you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life[f] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.  Matthew 16

                  Growing up in a Christian home or for that matter in a church environment where you are raised going to Sunday School and eventually Youth Groups throughout your formative years, at some point in your life you are going to need to answer the question Jesus asked - "But who do YOU say that I am?" Like the demoniac said to the sons of Sceva, (paraphrased) "I know who your parents are, I know your Youth Group leader, but who are YOU?" Or like the 5 bridesmaids who weren't let into the wedding feast because they were trying to enter in on someone else's oil, the man at the gate said, "Where is YOUR oil?"

               I grew up in a Godly home and asked Jesus into my heart at the age of 5 mainly because I didn't want to go to hell someday or at that age what really scared me was to be left alone when my family raptured. (Home Alone had not yet been released) As I grew into the later high school years and college years where so many kids fall away, Jesus was asking me the question, "Who do YOU say that I am? There are 2 ways out there - the things of God and the things of man. Are you willing to deny self and follow Me or live for self and follow the things of man?" This is what He was asking the disciples, specifically Peter, and this is what He was asking me and this is what He asks everyone who has been immersed in Christianity - is this Your faith or is it someone elses? It's time to decide.

                For me, going to a "Christian" college, it first manifested itself on a Sunday morning. Do I sleep in (go to the church of Reverend Sheets), or get up and go to church? No one would know, others are sleeping in, where should I go, how do I get there...? I know that sounds like a religious activity and no big internal change, but it represented the question, "Who do YOU say that I am?" I needed to decide is this my faith or my parents? For others it might be do I go to that party and drink alcohol or do I date non-christians? There comes a time when we all have to answer that question, "Who do YOU say that I am?", and the answer to that will determine our eternal destiny.

          

Diagnostic Questions

 

    In medicine we are taught diagnostic questions. They are questions we ask patients that lead us to the right diagnosis of their illness. Sometimes you will hear patients complain, "He didn't even examine me; he just wrote me a prescription!" Not that I condone that but in the age of Covid 19 where doctors stand outside the door and talk to you, I can see it happening increasingly. The fact is, at least 90% of the time we know what the problem is just from these diagnostic questions before examining, taking x-rays or drawing blood.

     Some examples are if someone complains of right lower quadrant pain, you could ask, "If I brought you a cheeseburger right now could you eat it?", and they answered "yes", they don't have appendicitis. If it is a woman with an early pregnancy who is bleeding and hurting in one side and you ask, "Does it feel like if you had a bowel movement the pain would go away?", and they answer, "Yes but I tried and it doesn't.", they have a tubal pregnancy. If someone has right upper quadrant pain and you ask, "Does it hurt worse when you eat fried food"?, and they answer "yes", they probably have gall stones. If someone comes in with more than 3 complaints and you ask, "Does your hair hurt?", and they answer "Yes", they have nothing physically wrong with them.

      In an age of spiritual deception, especially in the non-persecuted church, it becomes increasingly difficult to tell true believers from non-believers. Jesus warned us that would be the case 2000 years ago when He talked about wheat and tares in the church and you could make an argument that it isn't up to us to be the "spiritual Gestapo" looking for infiltrators in our midst; that is God's job who knows the heart - just make sure of our own heart. That is probably closer to the truth than what I am going to propose but there are occasions when we are speaking to people on a one on one basis or preaching to a group where I feel it is important for people to examine themselves and see if they are truly believers and this is where spiritual diagnostic questions come in handy.

     One such question is given to us by Evangelism Explosion and it is, "When you stand before the Lord someday and He says, 'Why should I let you enter into my kingdom?', what would your answer be?" If the answer is anything along the lines of, "I'm a good person" or works oriented, then they probably aren't a true believer because the first step to entering the Kingdom of God is to admit you aren't good enough.

    I've been pondering a second question lately and that question is, "What is your goal in life?" According to the Holy Spirit inspired words of Paul in Gal.2:20 and Col. 3:1-3, a believer no longer lives for him(her)self but their life is over and they live in and for Christ. In 2Cor. 5:9 Paul says his goal is to please Christ. Jesus says in John 15:16 that we are to "bear fruit" which is the manifestation of Christ in us. Therefore if one's goal in life has nothing to do with pleasing Christ, in some way, the diagnostic question would reveal that they are spiritually lost. 

     Maybe they just didn't have time to ponder the answers and if you questioned them they would say, "Yes, that's what i meant, I know that." Then why didn't they say that? Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Like I said, it isn't mine to judge, God knows the heart. If you, however, have asked yourself these questions and answered wrongly - reassess whose you are.

Milwaukee Brewers Top Prospects 2021

 Here is my yearly installment of my top prospects based solely on traditional stats. Obviously I am missing things that David Stearns sees. For example, Ashby is having great success with the Brewers and his minor league numbers wouldn't even include him in my top prospects. Also guys like Barker never get called up despite great numbers in AAA year after year, so obviously these numbers miss a lot but at least it gives me some guys to keep my eyes on. So here goes starting with pitchers.

 SP - Ethan Small. - That's all. He is the only one that has great numbers. And he will probably end up in relief like Josh Hader.

        24y/o LH AAA   ERA  1.53    IP 70   H 47   BB 36   K 86    Avg. .193  WHIP 1.17

       There are other guys I'm watching like  Bullock, Luna, Otero, Shook, Mort, and Knarr 

 RP - Taylor Floyd

         23 RH  AA   ERA  2.89   IP  56   H 38  BB 24  K 89    Avg.  .189  WHIP  1.11

         Evan Reifert 

        22 RH High A   ERA 2.10   IP  60  H  36  BB 36  K 103  Avg. .168  WHIP  1.20

         James Meeker

        26 RH Low A   ERA  0.50  IP  18  H 12  BB 5  K  22  Avg.  .185   WHIP 0.94

         Luke Barker

       29  RH  AAA   ERA 2.08  IP  56  H  34  BB  10   K 69  Avg.  .193  WHIP  0.93

Infielders

       1B   Ashton McGee 22y/o LH  Low A .288/.423/.490/.913

               Alex Binelas  21        LH  Low A  .309/.390/.583/ .973 Leaving for Boston (sad)

        2B   Felix Valerio  20  RH  High A  .302/.399/.443/.842  BB 120  K 113 (career numbers)

        SS   Freddy Zamora 22 RH  High A  .333/.404/.428/.832

 C    Jeferson Quero  18  RH  ROK   .309/ .434/.500/ .934 (small sample size)

        I know Feliciano is the big hope as a catcher but he stunk at AAA this year

OF   Sal Frelick   21 LH  Low A  .329/.414/.446/.880 (career numbers) 

                    Didn't make a successful High A jump

       Joey Wiemer  22  RH  High A  .295/.403/.556/.958  27HR  30 SB

       Garrett Mitchell 23 LH  High A  .359/.508/.620/1.128

                   Didn't make a successful AA jump

        Joe Gray Jr  21  RH  Low A  .289/.407/.632/1.039

                   Didn't make a successful High A jump

        Hedbert Perez 18  LH   ROK   .333/.394/.575/.969

                   Didn't make a successful Low A jump

So that's it. Had a harder time finding DSL and ROK numbers. I would say Wiemer is the guy I'm most interested in but that being said, they didn't move him up and give him a chance to fail like most of the other guys

       

Thoughts From John - Day 7

                                              John 4:10-13, John 7:37-39

 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

"May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1Thes. 5:23

                  What is it you are craving? What is it you are thirsting for in life? The woman at the well was possibly thinking sex, security, love from a man, the desire to be needed ... who knows, would make her emptiness in her life filled or quenched. You see we are all made with this vacuum, this spiritual hole, that God wants to bring to life but until that is alive, the unredeemed flesh, the body filled with it's lusts, and the soul - the mind planning ways to gratify those thirsts - will unsuccessfully seek to fill that void, vacuum, or ultimate thirst in your life that only God, through the Holy Spirit can fill. When the flesh attempts to fill it, the hole is filled with something that doesn't fit. This leads to depression, anxiety, and restlessness looking for the next thing or more of the previous thing to satisfy which never does.

            This is what Jesus was talking about with Nicodemus in Chapter 3. Jesus says, "you must be born again" which is what has happened in the top picture. The spirit which is dead or dormant or asleep needs to be brought to life by the entrance of the Holy Spirit. He alone fills the vacuum and the God shaped hole which was formed to fit Him and Him alone exactly. The Holy Spirit quenches that thirst that the flesh has been trying relentlessly to satisfy. The Holy Spirit makes that which was meant to be in the image of God, triune. It takes us who were basically two dimensional, body and soul, into a three dimensional person, body, soul, and Spirit, which we were created to be. No wonder being born again makes us feel whole and fulfilled. Then we no longer live to satisfy the cravings, thirsts, of the flesh but live to satisfy the Spirit. It is an inside out life not an outside in.

             This is what Jesus offers all of us, a quenching of our thirsts. An end to wanderlust. "He leads you beside still waters; He restores your soul". Have you experienced this? If you have but are back to searching other things to fulfill you, repent and go back to seeking the Lord. Only He can satisfy your thirst. If you have never experienced this, surrender your life to Jesus. Let Him in. Let Him have control of your life. Admit your way didn't work. He will come in and you will never thirst again.

Thoughts From John - Day 6

                                               Day 6

                               John 3

3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemuswho was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. 24 (This was before John was put in prison.) 25 An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. 26 They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”27 To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less.”31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard,but no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

                  As an OB/GYN, I deal with a number of patients who suffer with a condition called endometriosis. The way I usually explain it to patients is that the lining of the uterus that sheds every month causing a period, has set up little seeds of itself throughout the pelvis and abdomen causing internal bleeding every month. At first this causes a little pain but left unchecked will grow and get worse on a monthly basis. The patient did nothing to cause this but generally there is a strong family history. In other words they probably inherited it. There are basically two treatments - medical and surgical. Lupron is a medicine that they can get injected on a monthly basis for 3 months which shrinks the endometriosis to near invisible levels but 18 months later it will come back and need more injections. The other cure is surgical to have it removed and take out the ovaries, which are flaring it up, and replace those hormones with different ones which don't let the endometriosis come back.

              I'm sure you are wondering what this has to do with possibly the greatest chapter in the Bible. Well, when you look at sin, like endometriosis, it is inherited. We are born with it thanks to Adam and Eve. If left unchecked it causes increasing pain and destruction in our lives. The Old Covenant illustrated by John's baptism, like Lupron, temporarily keeps the disease of sin in check. Like the teen going forward again and again for rededication, salvation, or baptism, they know that this striving for obedience and "goodness" doesn't last. Pretty soon the irresistible pull of the flesh brings sin back to the surface. What is needed is two surgeries - one to remove the sin (born of water - the water of repentance preached by John the Baptist illustrated by the blood of Christ on the cross) and one to replace the instigator of the regeneration of the sin with a new instigator, the Holy Spirit, the One that regenerates only well being and health.(The baptism of the Spirit. The Resurrection life of Jesus)

           Paul talks about this in Romans 7. No matter how hard he tried not to sin, he kept failing. Just like when we were told as kids, "Don't peek", which caused an irresistible urge to peek, so the law saying, "Don't covet", gave Paul an irresistible urge to covet. This is religion - this is the Old Covenant - this is Lupron so to speak - it is bound to fail. However in Romans 8 he talks about being "born again", being born of the spirit which gives us power not to sin - The New Covenant! 

         Why live a life of pain doomed to defeat and failure? Quit trying to be a Christian, it doesn't work. Allow Christ to come in and take control. .You need a rebirth. You need to be born again. You need spiritual surgery. You just need to give consent to it.

Thoughts From John - Day 5

                                                        Day 5

                               John 2:12-25

12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”18 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. 24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. 25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.

                Did you know that Jesus got mad and expressed anger? Of course you did. Everyone knows this passage and uses it as a justification for "righteous anger" in their lives. Lately we've seen it used to justify anger at the democrats for "stealing the election", the forced use of masks, vaccinations, and joining the World Health Organization. We've seen it used in association with gender neutral bathrooms and we have seen it used right back at the groups who are standing for and against everything I've just mentioned. I think it is important to look at what angers Jesus so we don't get off base.

            In my previous post I discussed the Amazon Prime movie/documentary of The Jonas Brothers entitled "Chasing Happiness". I alluded to something that happened that was a crisis situation and a watershed moment in their life that precipitated their leaving the church, their fellowship, their youth group, their purity rings, their faith and I believe their happiness. Their dad, who was pastor of an Assembly of God Church, was fired because his kids became a secular band singing about love, girls, and relationships. They were kicked out of the parsonage and were basically homeless except for a kind police chief let them live for free in a very small house. All the Dad's money had been put into the boys' band so they were broke too. All this done by "religious" people. Can I just say, this is what got Jesus angry?

              As people came to worship God at the temple over Passover, the religious leaders had turned it into a money making scam. Everyone saw it and I'm sure many were turned away from worshipping God because of it. Not only that but the "market" was set up in the Court of the Gentiles, the only place where Gentiles were allowed to worship, effectively keeping them from worship. In other passages, Jesus angrily called the Pharisees blind guides leading people into destruction and accused them of putting yokes of religion on people so heavy that it kept them from Heaven. He said that it would be better for them to have a millstone tied around their neck and thrown into the sea than to lead someone away from God. This is what got Jesus angry! Isn't it interesting that He isn't getting angry at the sinners who sin - what do you expect them to do?- but at "religious" people keeping unbelievers from coming to God.

              Are you guilty of that? I hope you/me are living a life of grace, humility, and love that is drawing people to  Christ rather than repelling them. This is a challenging yet opportunistic time to do this. Are you making Jesus smile or frown?