Monthly Archives: January 2023

1 John 2 – Tue – 23-01-31

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Have you ever been confused when people tell you something. I’m sure it has happened to you, right? When it happens, we usually ask questions to clarify or confirm the message. I remember as a teen, I misunderstood the instructions of the farmer I worked for. I didn’t stop to clarify things either. That day I drove the tractor through the wrong part of the field. It sank into the mud. My boss was not happy.

Hearing 1 John 2:7-8 may confuse us. It says, “Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.” (NIV)

What did John mean he wasn’t writing a new command, but then he said he was? Was he writing something new or something old? Are you confused? John posed a paradox as a literary device to focus attention. The command to love God and your neighbor was old, a part of the Mosaic Law. But the way Jesus loved was new, like light shining in the dark. Rather than loving someone like you love self, Jesus sacrificed his life. Today, remember to love others with the same love Jesus has shown you.

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1 John 2 – Mon – 23-01-30

Daily Spark

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I’ve known some interesting characters in my life. I was recently thinking of my Grandpa Fuller. He lived alone in an old school bus he converted into an RV and workshop. He traveled around a part of Kansas, sharpening tools and fishing. Grandpa had no teeth, one arm and walked with a limp. He usually wore an old seed cap, a t-shirt and a button shirt he never buttoned. He would stop at our house and eat with us, then say, “that tastes all right to my mouth,” or, “that taste morish.” I remember fishing for catfish with grandpa. He always caught more than I did. When I asked his secret, he told me it was all in the way he held his mouth.

I enjoyed knowing Grandpa, but I can’t say the experience transformed me. But knowing God is different. If you know God, you will change the way you act. That’s what 1 John 2:3-6 says, ‘We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” (NIV)

Today, obey God and let his love complete its work in you.

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1 John 2 – Sun – 23-01-29

Daily Spark

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Letter writing is a lost art. Today, people fire off emoji-laden text messages. Business communications are usually email. The slower, more thoughtful process of handwriting a personal letter is as rare today as some endangered species. I appreciate the craft, though I’m not sure I’m very good at it. Oh, sure, back in the day I wrote letters to my fiancé. But that ended with our marriage. But my wife and her mother exchanged weekly letters for decades.

Several books in the New Testament were written as letters, including 1 John. The book has an intimate tone. Listen to 1 John 2:1-2, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense–Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” (NIV)

In two verses, John gives his purpose in writing and a solution. The purpose was to encourage the readers to live right with God. But if they didn’t, he reminded them of the solution – Jesus. His death was the payment of penalty that accomplished forgiveness. That’s what the words “atoning sacrifice” mean. His death as God’s Son has the power to provide forgiveness to the whole world. What a wonderful thing to remember today.

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Reasons to Believe – Sat – 23-01-28

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Science fiction is filled with strange creatures. Usually they want to eat us, kill us, rule over us, or something like that. In some stories, the creatures land from space. In others, they are created by a mad scientist or result from an accident during an experiment. A few are discovered lurking in remote places, orphaned from the past.

Can you imagine a creature that is part plant and part animal? As crazy as it sounds, such a creature exists. In real life, not fiction. Sea slugs of a certain type eat algae. Their body extracts chloroplast cells from the algae and transports them to structures on its back. These cells absorb sunshine through the slugs transparent skin and produce energy through photosynthesis. The slug generates the exact chemicals needed to sustain the chloroplasts, including chlorophyll and several other enzymes.

The slugs also eat sea anemones. They are not damaged by the anemones stinging cells. Those are transported to the slugs skin and used for its own defense

How did this creature develop? Did some kind of cross-DNA mashup between the sea slug and the algae occur in the past to enable this? No evidence of DNA mixing exists. Scientists know of no mechanism to enable it. I don’t think they are the result of some accident. And people didn’t make them. But their complex systems were design and created by our fascinating, intelligent God.*

*Frank Sherwin, Brian Thomas, Jeffrey P. Tomkins, James J.S. Johnson, Scott Arledge, Fascinating Creatures: Evidence of Christ’s Handiwork, (Dallas, Texas: Institute for Creation Research, 2022), 37-39.

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Reasons to Believe – Fri – 23-01-27

Daily Spark

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Which came first, the chicken or the egg? My father posed this question to me when I was a child. If I said the egg, he asked where was the chicken that laid the egg? If I said the chicken, he’d ask how it could exist without hatching from an egg. My father enjoyed teasing with riddles and logic puzzles.

Of course, you and I know the answer in Genesis is simple. God created the chicken when he made the birds of the air.

But this is not a simple question for an evolutionist. They face multiple chicken and egg problems. One is the  human embryo in the womb. It does not have all the systems needed to survive. It relies on the mother’s body. Chemical communication and nutrition flows between the mother and the embryo. The placenta develops from the cells of both bodies. When the baby is developed, it signals the mother’s body to initiate birth. How can two different bodies at different stages of life evolve this interconnection? How could this complexity arise gradually over long periods of time?

The answer: it can’t. All of the systems and features need to appear at the same time. Of course, Genesis tells us God created Eve. He designed her body and the embryonic development that occurred when she bore children. Here again is a reason to believe. If you’d like to see more on this topic, see the show notes for a link to a two-minute video.

“Think You Can Solve the ‘Mother of all Chicken and Egg Problems’ of Your Body?” HillFaith, https://www.hillfaith.org/apologetics/think-you-can-solve-the-mother-of-all-chicken-and-egg-problems-of-your-body/

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Reasons to Believe – Thu – 23-01-26

Daily Spark

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Have you ever hiked in a desert environment? Many years ago, our family vacationed in New Mexico and Arizona. Our longest hike was partway down a trail into the Grand Canyon, and back up. Rangers required hikers to carry water. I drank all of mine and wanted more after our three mile hike. Can you imagine plodding through desert dunes for 100 miles before taking a drink? No way, right?

Well, that’s what a camel can do. According to the booklet, Fascinating Creatures, a camel can carry 400 pounds 100 miles without consuming food or water. It utilizes the fat in its hump and storage chambers in the stomach to accomplish this. After eight days without water, a camel can suck up 27 gallons. Ten minutes after drinking, the stomach is empty. The camel is perfectly adapted to the desert environment. Nostrils close against flying dust. Their feet spread like snowshoes to support them on loose sand. Their eyes have special structures to protect the retina from glare and are shielded by eyelids with two rows of eyelashes. An inner eyelid also wipes grains of sand from the eye. A thick coat of hair insulates the animal.*

So, did camels evolve? The fossil record has no evidence of transitional animals. Camel fossils appear quite like modern camels, although some were about twice as big. Camels display the evidence of intelligent design. They are another reason to believe in God.

*Frank Sherwin, Brian Thomas, Jeffrey P. Tomkins, James J.S. Johnson, Scott Arledge, Fascinating Creatures: Evidence of Christ’s Handiwork, (Dallas, Texas: Institute for Creation Research, 2022), 27-29.

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Reasons to Believe – Wed – 23-01-25

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When you drive through the heart of the state of Kentucky, you drive through horse country. Large houses and attractive barns are surrounded by lush, green pastures fenced by white or black boards. Thoroughbred horses graze on the grass or exercise in private paddocks. The grandeur of some horse farms is truly amazing. The cost to own and train a horse, especially for racing, can soar into the tens of thousands of dollars per year.

Horses have long been a symbol of wealth and power. In ancient times, they were also key to military might. The richest king in the history of Israel amassed tremendous wealth, including horses. 1 Kings 10:26 says, “Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.” (NIV)

Archaeologists have uncovered some of Solomon’s stables at Megiddo, a strategically located city along the major north-south trade route. The southern stable compound covered more ground than an American-style football field. In the center, a cistern was sunk capable of holding 2,775 gallons of water. The compound included two large storage rooms which probably housed chariots. The stables contained  stalls for 150 horses.*

Archaeology continues to provide us reasons to believe the bible. Trust what it says.

*Paul E. Little, Know Why You Believe, (Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press, 1968), 52-53.

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Reasons to Believe – Tue – 23-01-24

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Do you remember the old Star Trek movie where Captain Kirk and crew take a captured Klingon warbird back in time to transport humpback whales into the future? It’s a fun, if unrealistic, story. But back in reality, humpback whales are themselves amazing. They cooperate to corral and feed on fish, launch their 40-ton bodies into the air and communicate with haunting songs.

Where did these whales come from? Evolutionists believe they descended from a wolf-like animal. That’s right. The small critter liked to swim and feed on fish. But why a wolf-like creature? Because whales are mammals. According to evolutionary theory, they developed from other mammals, not fish. So, over millions of years the wolf-like mammal mutated. Nostrils moved to the top of the head, hair was lost and blubber formed. Front legs slowly morphed into flippers and the back legs became a powerful tail. Teeth changed. The cardiopulmonary system changed. Sensory organs developed. That’s what they say. And you thought the Star Trek story was far-fetched!

The problem is that multiple beneficial mutations would need to occur together through the centuries, in a random way. Researchers have calculated that 100 million years are needed for just one pair of cooperative mutations to randomly occur in a large population of animals. When you calculate all the changes needed from the furry land critter to the whale, it becomes impossible by random chance.*

That’s one reason why believing in a Creator makes sense.

*”A Whale of a Story,” The John 10:10 project, video embedded on “CONSIDER THIS: A Whale of a Way to Start 2023,” HillFaith https://www.hillfaith.org/apologetics/consider-this-a-whale-of-a-way-to-start-2023/

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Reasons to Believe – Mon – 23-01-23

Daily Spark

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Have you ever marveled at the beauty of butterflies flitting and fluttering about flowers? I enjoy watching them feed on the zinnias outside my office window. I’ve also admired them flying through  butterfly enclosures at parks and museums. But don’t just marvel at their delightful colors and their enchanting flight. The function of their wings is amazing. Their beauty may inspire artists, but their wings can inspire engineers.

An article in Fascinating Creatures, a booklet published by the Institute for Creation Research, describes a 2021 study of butterflies. Scientists analyzed the wing action and aerodynamics of a silver-washed fritilliary. That’s a species of butterfly. They used high-speed cameras to capture images of the butterflies in a wind tunnel. The images collected were subjected to two types of sophisticated analysis, tomographic particle image velocimetry and kinematics.

What did they discover? They found butterflies have an unexpected wing design, different than other insects. The flexible wings form a pocket on the upstroke and force the air out on the downstroke like a miniature jet engine. The puffs of air propel the butterfly forward. Compared to other insects, butterflies have a 22% increase in forceful impulse and a 28% increase in efficiency.*

The complexity of butterfly wings and flight point us to the wisdom of the Creator. They are reasons to believe in God.

*Frank Sherwin, Brian Thomas, Jeffrey P. Tomkins, James J.S. Johnson, Scott Arledge, Fascinating Creatures: Evidence of Christ’s Handiwork, (Dallas, Texas: Institute for Creation Research, 2022), 21-22.

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Reasons to Believe – Sun – 23-01-22

Daily Spark

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Did I walk past one of the most important archeological discoveries of all time? I may have. In June of 2011, my wife and I toured Israel. One stop was wading through a dark tunnel carved to divert Gihon spring water into the Siloam pool located in the ancient city of Jerusalem. The knee-deep water chilled our feet. We waded single file, using flashlights, our tennis shoes dangling by their strings draped over our necks. I cracked my head on the ceiling once. The tunnel was one of my favorite parts of the trip. It is an engineering marvel commissioned by Hezekiah over 2,700 years ago.

Although it is an archeological wonder, it is the inscriptions from the tunnel that Dr. Gershon Galil, a pro fessor at the University of Haifa, called “one of the most important archaeological discoveries in Israel of all time.”

The inscriptions echo the wording of several verses in 2 Kings summarizing Hezekiah’s accomplishments. This makes the inscriptions the earliest text of the Old Testament, hundreds of years older than the Dead Sea Scrolls. A section of the inscription were chiseled out and removed in 1880. Recently, additional lines of the inscription have been discovered on the tunnel walls.* I waded past them!

The correlation between the inscriptions and the verses in 2 Kings show the Bible reflects history, not fanciful stories. Archaeology has again given us evidence to believe the Bible.

*Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, “Was proof of biblical kings of Israel, Judah deciphered on Jerusalem rock inscriptions?” The Jerusalem Post, December 16, 2022, quoted on MSN, https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/was-proof-of-biblical-kings-of-israel-judah-deciphered-on-jerusalem-rock-inscriptions/ar-AA15lzYT

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Equality – Sat – 23-01-21

Daily Spark

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When you picture heaven, what do you see? Do you imagine people strumming harps and sitting on clouds? Or do you picture a long, green fairway leading to a gently sloping green. Oh, wait a minute. For some people golf would be a place of torment.

Let’s stop and try again. Settle back and think about heaven as described in the book of Revelation. Do you envision pearly gates and streets of gold? Do you picture a city illuminated by the glory of God? Do you smell the blooming fruit trees or hear the water flowing in the river of life? Maybe you hear a multitude of voices praising God. Can you picture the smiles of deceased loved ones or the beaming face of Jesus?

Heaven will be populated with a multitude of people who followed Christ. Picture the diversity described in Revelation 7:9, “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.” (NIV)

God’s creative genius resulted in a rich diversity of people. Heaven will be filled with this diversity. Regardless of race, language or ethnic origin, we are all equal and precious in his sight. God loves all and so should we.

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