The Story of King Neptune

Matthew 20:28 -- even as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

x

I don't know if you ever heard of an Illinois folk hero of several years ago. As a matter of fact, he was almost a household name in the part of Illinois from U. S. 40 down to Cairo. His name was King Neptune. He lived in the Shawneetown-Golconda-Harrisburg area. And as odd as it is, Joe Aaron, a writer for the Evansville, Indiana, Courier, reports in his book, 100 Miles From Home, that the local media of the area existant back during World War 2, had almost no reports of King Neptune. See, King Neptune almost single-handedly raised nearly $19 million dollars in WAR BONDS in the Southern Illinois area and across America. If there were movie stars in the area, King Neptune was almost always on stage with them. He made lots of personal appearances and people were just crazy to see this very famous servant working against Hitler and the Axis mob. Yep, King Neptune was a local folk hero. He was also a pig!

x

That's right. He was a pig. A famous pig and how he gained that notoriety is probably a question we will never know in our day. His tomb stone relates how he was busy serving his country from 1942 until 1946, maybe playing as important a role as any combat troop, fighting the enemy. And at the ripe old age of 9, King Neptune was buried along Illinois Highway 146 just a short distance from Anna, Illinois. Today, it is said you can still go and stretch your legs and read a bit about this American servant. My next trip that way will be to check it out.

x

I guess this might sound a little silly, but give me a moment before you toss this whole idea out as farmyard lunacy. If a pig can raise $19 million for the war effort of WW2, what can people who love the Lord do when they decide they want to be servants, no matter the cost, no matter the job, NO MATTER. . . simply because they love the Lord!!! Make all the puns you want about the pig. . .he really brought home the bacon; that pig knew how to ham it up . . .but whatever, he served a purpose in his day. Like Queen Esther, we have no idea except that we might be called to serve God in such a time as this. YOU ARE NEEDED! Come to the front, pick up the battle cry, serve the risen Savior who is in the world today!

x

Dear God, often times we know this a need to serve, but our hearts aren't right and our choices are sometimes less desirable. Teach us to number our days in service to the King of Kings who died for us on the cross and who lives again. In Jesus name, Amen!

Everyone Did As He Saw Fit

"In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit." -- Judges 21:25

The last 5 chapters of Judges show us how bad the world can become when people quit looking to God as the source of reason and purpose for living.
x
Chapters 17-18 tells the story of Micah, not to be confused with the prophet Micah, a man who built his own idols, hired his own priest, and set about taking worship from Shiloh where the ark of the covenant was and bringing it to his own house. Of course he was excited to have his own personal priest to go to the Lord on his behalf. The confusing situation that arose allowed the Danites to take everything from Micah, all that he had made and accumulated for himself, and left him with nothing. The Danites were war driven because their purpose had become hazy and eventually they turned to the same idolatry Micah had known -- all because there was no king and everyone did as they saw fit.
x
Chapters 19-21 tell of the wickedness of the Benjamites and how they supported people in their land given to sexual promiscuity and homosexuality. Eventually, the raped concubine of the main character in the story died on the doorstep of the house where the master had thrown her out to assuage the passion of lust of the wicked men in the town. And it is fair to note that the woman had been unfaithful to the man; he had come to taker her home; and wound up with this fate. All this happened because there was no king and everyone did as they saw fit.
x
Fast forward to 2008. It is odd to note that we have rulers, though not kings. We have religious leaders of all sorts and types and yet we are a little different people from the days we saw when Israel had no king and everyone did as they saw fit; they just plain do as they see fit.
x
Evidence exhibit 1: Look at the number of people who have been part of Christianity who choose not to be. They choose not to take a stand with their lives, and even with their Sundays.
Evidence exhibit 2: What about the murders and theft that have lately seen in our world.
Evidence exhibit 3: What about homosexuality and the way it has won over the world though nobody really seems to like it except the homosexuals.
x
We can go on to Evidence exhibit "next", as Perry Mason says in the made for TV movies, and keep going on to the next and many people don't seem to care. And it is the result of people doing what they see fit. What a shame? Where is the church in taking a stand before the world in these matters?
x
Sure, we might be laughed at; but the power of God still stands and we must to. We know the end will come and we have God's assurances that things will go strangely. May we make a difference always and be visible on behalf of the kingdom.
x
Dear God, we live in a strange world where the right is called wrong and the wrong is called right. Help us to get our priorities straight and serve Jesus. In His name, Amen.

Into the Cold

"And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many will become cold." --Matthew 24:12
x
I hate winter! I know when I was a child it was a different story. I could play for hours in the freezing cold, not caring at all where my mittens were or if my hat was on. I just knew that when it was cold, there was snow; that meant snow people to build, snow wars to fight, and snow angels to make. That was fine. In my youthful ignorance, I never thought a bit about frostbite, cold hands, or even freezing to death.
x
Biologists tell us that the cold is a subtle thing. One story that was making its way around the web had to do with a park ranger in the Yosemite Mountains who was gone all day; at night he went into his cabin and was so tired he never lighted a fire. A rescue dog happened by the cabin and discovered the man, nearly froze to death. The dog licked the man and snuggled up next to him to warm the cold body. Later, the man commented the dog saved his life. He concluded the story by saying that the cold was so subtle. He did not realize it but in starting to freeze, the cold washed over him creating a warmth the man could not imagine. He never would have known he was freezing to death because it hit him slowly.
x
I guess you could say that because of the iniquity (wicked lifestyles) that is going on around us, it is easy to get sucked into its lifestyle without a thought. A small thought originally passed off, develops into full-blown sin and one sin after another, without a moment of discernment, drops off into the pit of iniquity and we are lost in it.
x
M*A*S*H was one of my favorite TV shows. Simply put, it lulled me into its hedonistic message--booze, cheap sex, and popularity are what you need in the world and you don't need much else. It later became small mini-dramas about values, but even then those values were much more worldly than the normal Christian can handle. The popularity of "Sex and the City" and the premium TV channels brought more iniquity into our homes; the lack of our Bible reading and prayer lives didn't help. And Satan began the barn dance that two-steps into the pits of hell for eternity.
x
It's not a popular message. But it is one we must carefully evaluate and measure every day as we walk the Christian life. Eyes are watching us, even when we don't think about it, measuring our integrity against our words. May they find us faithful and not sinking slowly into the cold.
x
Father God, thank you for the warning signs you put out before us. Help us to see the danger of slipping into the crevass that Satan has put before us, baited with things beautiful to the eye. Help us to keep walking in the steps of Jesus. In His name, Amen.

Ready to Harvest Fields?

Mat 9:37-38--Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
x
x
Our church just finished up its Vacation Bible School for 2008, the first school we have had in several years. We had a lot of new workers along with those who have done VBS many times before. The one thing that seemed to be on their hearts was, "How can we touch kids?" I saw one lady who was hardly able get up as she moved around to the songs and encouraged the kids and the adults. It was a treat. I saw a man pick up a child in a laundry basket and run that child to the finish line. I saw children learn lessons about service and then set out to serve their family and their friends and their community and most of all Jesus.
x
The key ingredient in our VBS was service, and not just service to be busy, but service with a purpose. My friends, if you are taking time to read this, I hope you'll add a couple of seconds to your time to pray for the community of Mulberry Grove which needs served in Jesus' name so that people can find Jesus. It was really no surprise that 1/3 of the kids who came to our VBS don't have a church home; they come for special programs but they get no guidance from their parents in terms of spiritual things. That doesn't surprise me either after I met the father in town who said he didn't want to influence his child's view on religion; he wanted the child to make up his own mind; the child was 5. I have a feeling the child would have picked Jesus anyway!
x
It is now time to make a difference, whether it is the church I preach to or any other church in town or anywhere around us. I should think watching the dismal failure of our economy, the politcal confusion and unrest, the meltdown of world leadership, and the more than adequate reminders of God's power acting on the weather and tectonic plates of our world, should point us back to Christ.
x
Can we learn a lesson from the 16,500 native missionaries serving Asia under the Gospel for Asia banner? Catastrophies have hit their world like megaton bombs -- but yet they still go after the harvest! It's hard work; but they press on. Thank you, native missionaries, for helping us see what we need to be reminded of--get the folks at home!

Father, at times we forget because of the world around us; help us to remember to take the world for Jesus. And be with the folks in our community that their hearts will be open and that we will be ready to take them the message. In Jesus' name, Amen!

To Look But Not to Touch!

Deu 32:48-52 On that same day the LORD spoke to Moses, (49) "Go up Mount Nebo in the Abarim range in the land of Moab, across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan I am giving the Israelites as a possession. (50) Then you will die on the mountain that you go up, and you will be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people. (51) For both of you broke faith with Me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin by failing to treat Me as holy in their presence. (52) Although you will view the land from a distance, which I am giving the Israelites, you will not go there."
xxx

Maybe you remember as I do walking into the house right after mom had finished baking the world's most beautiful chocolate chip cookies, or maybe oatmeal and raisin, or quite possibly her world famous snickerdoodles (or at least I thought so). You know what I mean, the smell of the brown sugar and butter simply filled the house. And just as you were ready to try to sneak one off the plate, mom said that you were not able to have one. They were for some special event a little bit later.
xx
Can you imagine what it would have been like for Moses? For all those years he had put up with those people. And now, there was to be no reward for him because he had forgotten to keep God holy in front of the children of Israel. Can you imagine how heavy his steps must have been up the mountain? Can you imagine the bittersweet joy tears and sorrow tears he shed because he realized the error he had made, perhaps and probably thoughtlessly and carelessly in the moment and passion of anger? And even then, God buried him. Imagine going to your grave knowing that no man would ever pass by where you were, knowingly at least, when you should have been a national hero enshrined in front of the world for all of known time. Or at least many of us would think that way!
xx
My mind runs in a hundred different ways as I consider the lesson of the moment. But if I had to choose one, it would be this one. Ignorant and passionate mistakes still have consequences. Just because our heart is right does not allow open rebellion against God to be passed off as just a moment of humaness and we need to understand that right now. We must press on toward the mark of the high calling of God and our personal moments of weakness may be forgiven but never accepted. Every moment of weakness we find ourselves in, every time we are forced to take a heavy step in sorry, every incident we find ourselves lacking in needs the forgiveness of Christ and strength of the Holy Spirit. May we never be satisfied with our human frailties but may we always look like Christ or at least strive our best to that end.
xx
Father God, thank you for your grace and love. Though we know we will falter in our steps, and though you know we will falter in our steps, forgive us, please. And never let us be happy about our ways until they reflect the steps of Jesus. In His name, Amen.