Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out - Apples of Gold - December 3, 2010 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for December 3, 2010

“Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

Have you ever had a bunch of girls tattle on you and then you got a whippin’?

That happened to me in grade school, in Mrs. Murgatroyd’s class.

Yes, that was her name, Mrs. Murgatroyd, and if the name alone didn’t put the fear of God in you, she had a big Greek paddle and she wasn’t afraid to use it.

It was Illinois in the winter, and there was a coat closet in the back of the class.  I’d like to see that coat closet today, because it seems like the ceiling was only about five feet high.  It was short, but deep and wide, with room for storage, and a rod that ran the length of the closet.

There were enough hangars for everyone’s coat.  Some were nice, heavy silver hangars, and the rest were made of flimsy metal.

Now I don’t know how this happened.  I don’t know who started it, and I don’t know how it became such a big deal; but somewhere along the line the boys started hiding the nice silver hangars.  I mean, who wants to come in from recess and hang their coat on a flimsy hangar?  So before recess we would hide the nice hangars so they would be waiting for us when we got back.

I don’t know if I missed a day of school, or if I just wasn’t listening (which is very possible); but I guess at some point the girls must have whined to the teacher and the teacher issued a decree from on high that the boys must never, ever again hide the nice hangars from the girls. 

Man, I wish I could go back in time and see how this really went down. 

They say you remember things that have something emotional attached to them.  Well I had no emotional attachment to hangar hiding . . . until one fateful day.

Our elementary school was a block or two from the high school, and that’s where we ate lunch.  So at lunchtime we would put on our coats, line up two-by-two and walk hand-in-hand across the street to the cafeteria.

So that day I did what I was in the habit of doing.  I took my coat off the rack, pulled the nice silver hangar out of the coat, and carefully hid it on the back side of a fan that was stored in the closet.

Some of the boys had pitiful hiding places, and the girls always found their hangars, but not mine.  I had the best hiding place because the metal lines of the hangar were cleverly disguised by the metal lines of the fan.

I probably wouldn’t remember any of this if it weren’t for the sudden jolt of adrenaline that slammed it into my permanent memory bank.  It happened when all of a sudden one of the girls shouted, “Doug is hiding a hangar!”

Then a chorus of girls joined in for a rousing round of “Doug is hiding a hangar.”

Okay, so I hid a hangar.  What’s the big deal?

Apparently it was a big deal.  I don’t know, but I’m going to guess that the teacher must have said something like, “The next person who hides a hangar is going to get a spanking.”  Or maybe she was just having a bad day.  Or maybe it was a girl solidarity thing, I don’t know.

But out came the big Greek paddle.  The other students were ushered out of the room, and I received in my body the due penalty for my sin.

I tried to dry up the tears before I joined the lunch lineup, but I knew my face was red, and nobody would look me in the eye, “you hangar-hiding wretch.” 

But remember, we had to walk hand-in-hand to lunch, so somebody had to acknowledge me.  My partner was a boy named Eric, and thankfully he settled me down and told me everything was cool, it was going to be alright.  And that was that.

I don’t know if anyone else in the world remembers that incident, but I sure do.  It taught me a powerful lesson, and here it is.

Be sure your sin will find you out!

I thought I was being sneaky, but I got caught, and punished. 

And today I’m glad I did.  I’m thankful for the many times I was caught and punished as a young man, because I learned lessons from it.  I don’t want to be caught and punished now, so I avoid the things that bring it.

That sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?  Yet our prisons are full of people who didn’t learn that lesson when they were young.  In fact, our nation is full of wreckage caused by people thinking their sins would not find them out.  Pastors have fallen.  Families are broken.  Political campaigns have been destroyed, all by people who didn’t learn the lesson that their sins would find them out.

I know that’s an odd way to say it, “your sins will find you out.”  What it means is that you will suffer for your sin.  It’s based on Numbers 32:23 where Moses said, “You have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.”

He said that to motivate the people to do right, and it’s a good motivating factor.  So often we are willing to sin if we think we can get away with it.

Don’t fall for that lie. 

Let this be your warning today.  You aren’t that sneaky.  You aren’t so clever or so wise.

If you are playing around with sin, there is a warning that you better hear before it’s too late.

Be sure your sin will find you out.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.

 

© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip 
 To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

Jesus Didn't Just Show Up on Christmas Day - Apples of Gold - December 2, 2010 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for December 2, 2010

“Jesus Didn’t Just Show Up on Christmas Day”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

Jesus didn’t just show up on Christmas day.

Yes, He was born in Bethlehem and placed in a manger, but did you know He was around before that?

John 3:17 says that God sent His Son into the world.  When someone is sent somewhere, it usually means they are sent from somewhere else, right?

In John 6:38 Jesus said, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”

So Jesus was sent “down from heaven.”

And it wasn’t like He came to be just before He was sent to earth.  Check out this prophecy of the Messiah, foretold by the prophet Micah long before Jesus’ birth.  And it also foretells the birthplace, too, so listen to Micah 5:2.  It says, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”

So Jesus was around before His birth, but for how long?  Listen to Jesus’ words in John 8:58.  He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”  So Jesus was around before Abraham’s time.

Or we can rewind even further.  In John 17:5 Jesus talks about being with the Father before the world began.  Colossians 1:17 says it this way, “He is before all things…”

In John chapter one, Jesus is referred to as “The Word,” and listen to what it says.  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”

So there is Jesus, He is God, in the beginning, and everything was made through Him.  And He was sharing glory with the Father, until…

Galatians four picks up the story.  It says, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman...”

Philippians two says that Jesus was “in the form of God,” and “did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.”  So there He was, in heaven, as God, in this highly exalted state of glory – and then came the “fullness of time,” and what did He do? 

Philippians two says He “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men.”

Back to John chapter one, where Jesus is called the Word, it says “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”

And when did that happen?  Jesus the Word became human flesh as described by the angel Gabriel in Luke chapter one, when the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and the power of the Highest overshadowed her.  At that precise moment Mary went from being a virgin with nothing in her womb, to being a virgin with the tiny unborn Word in her womb.  That’s when the Word became flesh, not on Christmas Day.

And it fulfilled the prophecy from Isaiah seven which said, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”  And what does Immanuel mean?  It literally means, “God with us.”  The virgin Mary conceived and at that moment, God was with us, the Word became flesh, in the likeness of a human.

Here is an interesting scene.  In Luke chapter one, after Mary has conceived, she goes to visit Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist; and listen to what Elizabeth calls Mary.  In Luke 1:43 she refers to her as “the mother of my Lord.”  It wasn’t that Mary became the mother of Jesus on Christmas Day.  She already was the mother of Jesus.  The Word was already made flesh and dwelling among us.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I love Christmas as much as the next guy.  I love the story in Luke chapter two of the birth of Jesus and the manger and the shepherds and the angels and all of that.  Peace on earth, good will toward men – I love it.

But what we celebrate on Christmas Day was not the beginning of the story, and it wasn’t the beginning of Jesus.

For that we go back to before Abraham, even to before the creation of the world, and what do we find? 

We find Jesus the Word, in heaven, as God, in a highly exalted state of glory.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.

 

© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip 
 To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

This Is My Last Day Alive - Apples of Gold - December 1, 2010 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for December 1, 2010

“This Is My Last Day Alive”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

“This is my last day alive.”

That’s what Emily Colson told herself.

Emily is the daughter of Chuck Colson, the founder of Prison Fellowship who became famous while working in the Nixon Administration.

Emily got married and gave birth to her son Max, who turned out to be severely autistic.  It took a toll on the marriage, which finally ended in a painful divorce.

By the time Max was nine, Emily said they were basically hostages of autism.  She said, “We could barely get out of the house without tantrums, so it was easier just to stay home and stop trying.”  Life was so difficult, she said, she wasn’t even sleeping. 

Late one night she decided to get up and clean, hoping it would help her relax.  She said, “I opened up a closet door, the shelf broke, and all the bottles spilled out onto the floor.”

“That just finished me,” she said.  “I took that door, and I swung it so hard that I ended up putting a hole right through the wall.”

Have you ever been there?  Have you ever been so angry, so frustrated, so at the end of your rope that you were ready to take it out on whatever was close?

That’s where Emily was, and she said it was a real wake up call.

She said she couldn’t imagine living that way for the rest of her life.  “I couldn’t even do it for another week,” she said. 

But then she came to this conclusion.  She said, “Maybe what I can do is one more day.”

Then she said, “If I can do one day, I’m going to live that day big and brave and bold.”

Of course she was saying all that in the middle of the night, right after her little wake up call of smashing a hole in the wall.  You can plan to be big and brave and bold, but what happens the next day when the same old life is waiting for you?  After all, Max wasn’t going anywhere.  Short of a miracle, tomorrow would be just as bad as today; so what did she do?

She woke up the next morning and declared, “This is my last day alive.  What am I going to do with it?”

And listen to this.  Here’s what she said about this new approach to her life.

“It changed everything.”

What it really changed was her outlook on everything.  She started telling herself things like, “Am I going to care if people stare at us when Max has a tantrum?  Am I going to care if the day doesn’t go well?  Or am I going to find the joy because it is one day?”

Emily and Max have been living that way for about ten years now, and it’s truly been a life changer.  They are no longer “hostages of autism.”  Emily says, “I take Max places.  We do things.  We don’t let our circumstances define our lives.”

Maybe you find yourself in difficult circumstances today.  Maybe you are thinking, like Emily, “I can’t do this for the rest of my life.  I can’t even do it for another week.”  But surely you can do it for one more day.

Try the attitude that Emily took.  Wake up tomorrow and say, “This is my last day alive.  What am I going to do with it?”

It reminds me of the old song “One Day at a Time” by Cristy Lane and others.  It says, “One day at a time, sweet Jesus, that’s all I’m asking from You.  Just give me the strength to do everyday what I have to do.  Yesterday’s gone, sweet Jesus, and tomorrow may never be mine.  Lord help me today, show me the way, one day at a time.”

That goes along with what Jesus said in Matthew 6:34.  He said don’t worry about tomorrow.  Tomorrow will take care of itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.

James 4:14 says, “For what is your life?  It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”

I’ve heard messages like this where the emphasis was on, “Hey, we might as well eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die!”

But that’s not the point.  There was a man in Luke chapter 12 who said something like that.  He said to himself, “You have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”  And what did God say to him?  He said, “Fool!  This night your soul will be required of you...”  And Jesus concluded, “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

So yes, we don’t worry about tomorrow.  We take one day at a time, but not so we can waste it.  We use it to love and serve God and our fellowman. 

So is the big picture crushing you?  Can you imagine living this way the rest of your life, or even for another week?

If not, then how about a day, just one day?

This is a new outlook on life that changed everything for Emily Colson, so why not try it for yourself?

Just declare along with Emily, “This is my last day alive.  What am I going to do with it?”


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.

 
You can find out more about Emily Colson at her website:  http://emilycolson.com/

© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip 
 To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

The Seal Makes It Official - Apples of Gold - November 30, 2010 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for November 30, 2010

“The Seal Makes It Official”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

One of the owners of this radio station, Mr. Mike Floyd, passed away earlier this year.

He left behind a great legacy…and a lot of stuff here in a back room.

It was full of artifacts from many years of both ministry and business.

As I sorted through the stacks of boxes I came across a musty old pouch.  On the cover it said, “Make it ‘official.’”

Inside was an old fashioned “seal embosser.”  You know how some companies have a corporate “seal”?  It’s usually a fancy circle with the company’s name, state and year of incorporation. 

The seal embosser is like a paper press.  You stick the paper in, squeeze the embosser, and it literally impresses the corporate seal into the paper.  It’s not that the seal is on the paper.  It is literally in the paper.  It has infiltrated the paper.  It has changed the structure of the paper.

So why do this?

It’s like the pouch said, it makes it official.  When you see the seal, you know it’s real.

You can use the seal on contracts, for example.  A seal on a transaction is almost like a signature. 

The seal is also a mark of ownership.  When you see the corporate seal on something, you know it belongs to the corporation.

This whole idea of a seal is important because it shows up in the Bible.

When we believe the Gospel and receive forgiveness and salvation through Christ, we become God’s property, so to speak, and He seals us.

He seals us by pressing His Holy Spirit into us. 

Listen closely to Ephesians 1:13 and 14.  It says, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the worth of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”

So it indicates that, after we heard the gospel and believed, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit.

The NIV says, “When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit…”

The Amplified Bible says you were “stamped with the seal of the long-promised Holy Spirit.”

Marked with a seal; stamped with a seal – when we were saved by Christ, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit.  God declared the authenticity of the transaction and made His ownership official by pressing His Spirit into us.

Ephesians 4:30 says, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

Do you have the stamp, the embossed seal of the Holy Spirit?  Is the Holy Spirit literally pressed into you, even changing the structure of your being?

Second Corinthians 2:22 says God has “sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”

The NIV says that God “set His seal of ownership on us…”

Over and over the Bible talks about the Holy Spirit dwelling inside God’s people.

First Corinthians 6:19 says, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”

God has sealed us with His Holy Spirit, and it is a seal of ownership.  We no longer belong to ourselves, but to God, and the evidence is His seal, which is the Holy Spirit inside of us.

Not that we are some random piece of property.  Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

Yes, we belong to God – as His children! 

You may feel like an old piece of paper today.  You may feel like something in a back storage room, gathering dust. 

But if you are a Christian, if you have been saved through faith in Christ, then you are a child of God.  You have been marked by God, and that mark is the presence of His Holy Spirit which He has impressed into you.

I wish I could show you this seal embosser I found.  It’s cool how it presses the seal deep into a piece of paper.

And as I look at it, I can easily picture how God did the same with me, pressing His Spirit into me. 

It’s an official transaction! 

How do I know?

Because I see the seal – the seal of God’s Holy Spirit pressed deeply into me.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.

 

© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip 
 To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

I Hear Contradictory Voices - Apples of Gold - November 24, 2010 -vi-

Click here to listen to the radio version.   

Click here to search the AOG archives.

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for November 24, 2010

“I Hear Contradictory Voices”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

I hear a voice.

It doesn’t speak in English, but in feelings.

I heard it early this morning when I began to work on my Bible memorization.

It communicated to me a feeling that I didn’t really want to do it. 

Actually, I do want to do it, so where did that feeling come from?

I hear that same voice sometimes when it’s time to work out.  It communicates to me the feeling that I don’t really want to work out.

But I do want to work out.  I like it.  It’s not a “necessary evil” for me.  I like everything about it.

So where does that voice come from?

I hear it sometimes when it’s time to go to church.  I hear it sometimes about going to work, even though I love my work.

I understand hearing that voice about things that are bad or difficult or distasteful; but why does it speak about good things I actually want to do?

Is it all in my head? 

I searched the internet for variations of the phrase “little voice in my head” and got millions of hits, so I guess it’s a common phenomenon. 

Now I understand the primary voice inside my head.  It’s the voice of my thoughts. 

But what is the secondary voice, the contrary voice?  My primary voice can counter it, but what is generating the secondary voice?

I realize I’m probably not going to get to the bottom of this.  There’s an entire field of psychology devoted to such things, yet we still know very little about them.

One thought I had is that it could be the voice of laziness.  I’m not really a lazy person, but there could be a voice of laziness.  There is such a thing as laziness.  I don’t know if it has a voice, but it is a very real thing inside of us. 

So where does laziness come from?  Is it a product of our sin nature, our “flesh,” our “old man” as the Bible calls it?

Is this all taking place inside of us, or are there unseen entities communicating in some invisible way?

The Apostle Paul referred to his own internal contradictions in Romans chapter seven.  In verses 19 and 20 he said, “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.  Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.”

At this point I don’t know where the voices come from, but this I do know.  There are contradictory voices, and I must choose.  I must discern right from wrong, good from bad, wise from foolish.

So how do I decide which voice to listen to?

I believe that our Creator God, our Heavenly Father, is the benchmark for these decisions.  I believe there is a rock-steady standard for right, good and wise.

And I believe that there are many pitfalls we must beware of, including these:

Jeremiah 17:9 says the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.

Proverbs 14:12 says there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death.

First Corinthians 3:19 says the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.

Ephesians 4:22 warns us of “the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.”

And Proverbs 12:15 says the way of a fool is right in his own eyes.

These are all obstacles that can prevent us from finding God’s benchmark for what is good and right and wise.

So how do we know which voice to listen to? 

Here is what I do.  First of all, I spend time seeking the face of God, as the Bible instructs us to do.  I draw near to Him, knowing that He will draw near to me.  (James 4:8)

I also know that as a Christian, God’s Holy Spirit dwells inside me and will guide me.

I also rely on the Bible.  The Word is a tremendous help when weeding out the voices.  Hebrews 4:12 says the word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

I also lean on the wise counsel of other people.  Proverbs 12:15 says, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes; but he who hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.”

And when I listen to other people, I listen to what they say, but I also look at their lives.  I’m looking to see if they live by their own advice, and if so, how is it working out for them? 

So there you go.  I’m not sure where all those contradictory voices come from, but I know we must weed them out, and that’s the process I use.  I draw near to God, the benchmark for all that is good and right and wise.  I listen for His voice from without and the voice of His Spirit from within.  I listen to His word in the Bible, and I listen to the wise counsel of other people.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.

 

© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip 
 To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

Gloria in Excelsis Deo - Apples of Gold - November 23, 2010 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for November 23, 2010

“Gloria in Excelsis Deo”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

It’s dark now everyday when I go home from work.

Last night I turned onto my street and lo and behold, Christmas lights!  I guess my neighbors hustled out over the weekend and put their decorations up.

For me, it’s just now starting to sink in that Christmas is coming.  I guess it will really hit Friday when the radio station switches to all Christmas music. 

I love Christmas music, and I like to save it, to listen to it only at Christmas time. 

I’m a little that way with the Christmas story.  I know it’s good all year, but it really sparkles for me at this time of year. 

You’ll find it in Luke chapter two, and one of my favorite verses is Luke 2:14.  The shepherds were out in the fields, watching their flocks at night.  All of a sudden an angel of the Lord appeared, and the glory of the Lord shone all around them. 

The angel announced the birth of the Savior, and now let’s pick up the story in the King James Bible.  “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host.” 

The Amplified Bible says it was “a heavenly knighthood.”  The New Living Translation says it was “a vast host of others – the armies of heaven.”

I would like more details, please!  What did they look like?  How big were they?  Were they armed?  What were they wearing?

I imagine they were regal, dignified, strong – and lots of them!  They came flooding in like an exclamation point on the angel’s announcement.

So there they were, a multitude of the heavenly host, and what did they do?  Did they sing?

Well the Bible doesn’t say anything about them singing, but they did say something.  And the shepherds understood it, so either it was spoken in their own language, or they were given a supernatural ability to understand the heavenly language. 

And what was this great thing spoken by the heavenly host?  Here it is, just one sentence.  “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

They made that declaration, then off they went into heaven.  The angel encounter was over.

But what they said still burns brightly 2,000 years later all over the world.  And even though it was originally spoken, it has been sung in countless songs, especially Christmas songs. 

And I love it!  I love singing “glory to God in the highest.”  There is something about it that makes my heart soar with praise for the Almighty.

“Glory to God in the highest” may sound kind of generic, but it shows up nowhere else in the Bible except here in Luke 2:14.

That verse is so extraordinary, it’s been given a special name.  It’s called the Gloria in Excelsis Deo.  That’s from the Latin Vulgate translation for “Glory to God in the highest.”

You might recognize it from the popular Christmas hymn “Angels We Have Heard on High.”  Maybe you didn’t know it, but when you sing that chorus you are singing in Latin, “Gloria, in excelsis Deo;” glory to God in the highest.

If you don’t know your Bible that well, maybe you think the “heavenly host” shows up all the time, but believe me, it doesn’t.  This is it.  Yes, there are other divine encounters, but this is the only time the Bible says the heavenly host appeared to men, and this is the one sentence they left for us. 

It’s that sentence that kicks off one of my favorite selections from the Book of Common Prayer from 1662.  Listen to this and see if it doesn’t stir up the desire to give glory to God in the highest.  Here it is:

“Glory be to God on high,
And in earth peace, goodwill towards men,
We praise Thee, we bless Thee,
We worship Thee, we glorify Thee,
We give thanks to Thee, for Thy great glory
O Lord God, heavenly King,
God the Father almighty.
O Lord, the only-begotten Son Jesus Christ;
O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father,
That takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy upon us.
Thou that takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy upon us.
Thou that takest away the sins of the world,
Receive our prayer.
Thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father,
Have mercy upon us.
For Thou only art holy;
Thou only art the Lord;
Thou only, O Christ,
With the Holy Ghost,
Art most high
In the glory of God the Father.
Amen.

So as we enter the Christmas season, may your heart be singing “Glory to God in the highest.” 

And may your heart soar with praise every time you think of those glorious angelic words of the heavenly host.

Gloria in excelsis Deo.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.

(close with finale of “Gloria” by Michael W. Smith)

 

© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip 
 To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

God Withholds No Good Thing from the Upright - Apples of Gold - November 22, 2010 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for November 22, 2010

“God Withholds No Good Thing from the Upright”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

Here is a great promise in the Bible.

Psalm 84:11 says that God will withhold no good thing from those who walk uprightly.

Walk uprightly?  Is that a verse about posture?

In a way, yes.  It’s about moral posture.

To walk uprightly means to live uprightly, to be upright.

To be upright, in a literal sense, means to be perpendicular to the ground, to be vertical, straight up and down.  A popular use of the word is found in the game of football.  When someone kicks a field goal, we say the ball went sailing through the uprights.

When we talk about upright people, we mean people of moral excellence.  They are honorable and respectable.  They are just and righteous.  They are known for their integrity and honesty.  They are good and moral and law abiding.  An upright man is a man of his word.

This is something we should all shoot for.  We should strive to be upright in our character, in our thoughts and our actions both public and private.

God gives us a great motivation to be upright according to that verse in Psalm 84, because God withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly.

Now listen to this.  When we are upright, God’s blessing spills over to others. 

Psalm 112 says, “…the generation of the upright shall be blessed.”

Do you want God to bless your city?  Then be upright and watch what will happen, because Proverbs 11:11 says, “Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted…”

Being upright has many built-in blessings.

Psalm 97:11 says there is “gladness for the upright in heart.”

Psalm 112:4 says, “Even in darkness light dawns for the upright…”

Proverbs 2:7 says there is wisdom and protection for the upright.

Living upright gives you an inside track with God.  Proverbs 3:32 says the Lord “takes the upright into His confidence.”

God delights in the prayers of the upright. (Proverbs 15:8)

Proverbs 15:19 says that the path of the upright is an open highway.

God withholds no good thing from the upright, so that’s the kind of person I want to be, don’t you?

That means being upright in business, and at home.  It means being upright when people are watching, and when they aren’t. 

The Bible says that God Himself is upright.  In fact, Isaiah 26:7 calls Him “thou most upright,” or the Upright One.

And did you know that uprightness is one of God’s favorite things?  First Chronicles 29:17 says that God delights in uprightness, He takes pleasure in it.

So let me ask you, are upright? 

Are you known for your honesty and integrity, for your goodness and justice?  Are you honorable, one who keeps your word, a person of moral excellence, law abiding in every way?

If not, make this your goal.  Set your sites on being upright.  It is something the Lord will bless in a host of ways, and those blessings will spill over onto everyone around you, to your city and even to your generation.

How can we become upright?  It starts by coming to the Lord and surrendering to Him and to His ways.

I’ll close with a great prayer of surrender found in Psalm 143.  You can pray it along with me.

It says, “Teach me to do Thy will; for Thou art my God: Thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.”


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.

 

© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip 
 To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

I Almost Didn't Go to Church Last Night - Apples of Gold - November 18, 2010 -vi-

Click here to listen to the radio version.   

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for November 18, 2010

“I Almost Didn’t Go to Church Last Night”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

I almost didn’t go to church last night.

Yesterday I had a dentist appointment and I did not leave there singing “Joy to the World.”

He had to replace an old filling in my very back tooth and I think he had to climb in to get to it. 

He started by sticking a needle in the back of my mouth a few times, poke-poke-poke, “Come on!”

Then I heard this.  I’m not saying it happened.  I’m just saying I heard it.  He ejected the cartridge from the needle.  Like a bullet casing, it clattered on the floor in slow motion, and he reloaded for another round – poke-poke-poke, “Come…on!”

Then he left me alone to get numb, but I never really did.  He said it’s hard to get that part of the mouth numb sometimes, so he reloaded and riddled my mouth with more needle holes.

It never did get very numb, but he fired up the drill anyway and oh…my…goodness. 

“Did that hurt?” 

“Uh-huh.”

“You don’t like me very much right now, do you?”

At one point my legs involuntarily dropped to the side of the chair as if my body was demanding, “It’s time to go!”

Well he finished the job and everything was cool, but my mouth felt like it had taken a beating.  It would hardly open, and I didn’t eat all day. 

Then it was time to go to church.  I really didn’t feel like going, but then a little voice in my head said, “Don’t be pathetic.”

So I walked into the church and the music was already playing.  My son-in-law was leading, and he was singing one of my favorite songs.

I was immediately glad to be there.  The song quickly drew me into worship, and I felt humbled and grateful to God.

Then the pastor announced that a couple of young people would be baptized.  The youth pastor introduced them and asked them to say something to the congregation.

The young lady spoke first and said that God had been speaking to her, saying things like, “There’s a better way.  There’s a better life.  There’s a better way to live.  There’s a happier way to live.”  So she gave her life to Christ, was baptized last night, and her final words were, “I want to publicly declare that I want to have life in Him.”

Then it was the young man’s turn, and he was quite shy about talking in front of so many people.  The youth pastor even asked if he wanted to turn his back to the audience, but no, he was willing to go ahead, and he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket.  He had actually taken time to write down what he wanted to say.

Early in his life he had toyed with alcohol and drugs.  Then his parents got divorced, and he said, “I just hit an all time low and started drinking every single time I got depressed, to the point where I started thinking, ‘If I wasn’t here, what would people do?  Nobody would care if I just went away.’”

Then he had surgery and started taking Percocet.  And he was smoking marijuana and drinking even more.  But then – now listen to this – he said he would go to church.  And he noticed that when he went to church he would feel better about himself. 

Then some young people at the church started a Bible study at his high school, and through that, and through those young men helping him, he was able to stop smoking, stop drinking, and even stop cursing.  And now he was ready to be baptized and publicly declare his faith in Jesus Christ.

A wave of excitement ran over the audience and people applauded after hearing these powerful testimonies of young lives transformed by Christ.

And I pondered those closing words of the young woman:  “I want to have life in Him.”

It reminds me of something Jesus said to His enemies in John 5:40.  He said, “But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”

Jesus is offering life to all who will come to Him.  Those young people discovered that, and now they are experiencing that life, and the hope and the peace and the direction. 

And Jesus offers that to everyone.  Everyone can come to Him for life.  You can come to him for life.

As I stood there, hearing those testimonies and watching those young people be baptized, I thought, “This is what it’s all about.  It’s about lives being transformed by the real and living Jesus Christ.”

And to think . . . I almost didn’t go to church last night.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.

 

© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip 
 To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

The Slippery Subject of the Soul - Apples of Gold - November 17, 2010 -vi-

Click here to listen to the radio version.   

Click here to search the AOG archives.

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for November 17, 2010

“The Slippery Subject of the Soul”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

There are a lot of spine chilling moments in the Bible, and this is one of them.

It’s found in the book of Revelation, chapter six.  The Apostle John was given a glimpse into heaven and here is what he wrote. 

“And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held.”

I can’t imagine what John actually saw, but he said he saw “souls,” the souls of dead people.  Their bodies were dead, anyway, but their souls seemed very much alive.

In Revelation 20:4 John wrote this:  “…and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

It’s a futuristic vision that is ghastly to imagine; people standing for Christ and being beheaded.  They are killed, but John sees them alive; and what does he see?  Their souls.  Their bodies were dead but their souls lived on, and they lived and reigned with Christ.

What exactly is a soul?  Well it’s apparently similar to a person, according to John’s limited description.  It’s similar, but not the same.

Listen carefully to what Jesus said in Matthew 10:28.  He said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

That’s Jesus talking about the body and the soul as if they are two distinct entities.  And He indicates that people can kill your body, but they cannot kill your soul.

That lines up with John’s vision, because John saw souls alive in heaven, the souls of people whose bodies had been killed.

So men can kill the body, but they cannot kill the soul.

What does the dictionary say about the word “soul”?  Well first of all, let me say that the definition of soul is somewhat slippery.  It means different things to different people, making it hard to get a grasp on.  But listen closely to this first definition listed in the dictionary.  The soul is “an entity which is regarded as being the immortal or spiritual part of the person and, though having no physical or material reality, is credited with the functions of thinking and willing, and hence determining all behavior.”

According to that, your soul is your “decision maker.”  You might call it your “mind;” not your brain, not the physical organ, but your mind.

Now let’s look at something Paul wrote in First Thessalonians 5:23.  It says, “May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

He added a third dimension – a spirit.  According to that, the soul is something different from the body and the spirit.  Well the body is easy enough to figure out, but what are the soul and the spirit?

Who knows?  It could be that the spirit is the God-breathed part of us that animates us to begin with, then the soul is the unique, immortal part of us that makes decisions, responds to God, feels emotions, things like that.

Think about that difference between soul and spirit as you read Hebrews 4:12 which says, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Now what on earth does it mean that the word of God divides soul and spirit?  I don’t know, but it could be that the word of God reveals the difference between the two, between the God part inside of us that contains our highest attributes, and the “us” part inside of us that contains our sin-tarnished souls.

As you have probably gathered by now, I am no expert on the soul.  I tried to find an expert on the soul, and I came across a lot of verbiage, but nothing that sounded air tight.

But here are some things we can glean about the soul from the Bible.

Jesus put a very high price tag on our soul when He said this in Matthew 16:26, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?

It’s a rhetorical question, and the point is that if you gain the whole world but lose your soul, there would be no profit.  Your soul is worth more than the whole world.

Well how can you lose your soul if your soul is you?  I will go back to our soul being our decision maker.  If that’s the case, then losing our soul could mean losing our power to make our own decisions, such as becoming a slave to sin, for example. 

Micah 6:7 includes this phrase:  “the sin of my soul.”

First Peter 2:11 says “to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.”

Sin has a way of polluting our soul.  The Scriptures mention other maladies that effect the soul, including grief (Psalm 31:9), bitterness (Job 7:11), thirst (Psalm 42:1), and weariness (Proverbs 25:25).

But there is a lot of good news for the soul!  In Matthew 11:29 Jesus said that when we come to Him we will find rest for our souls.  First Peter 2:25 refers to Jesus as the “Shepherd and Overseer” of our souls.

In Christ we have hope, which Hebrews 6:19 calls “an anchor for the soul.”

Many verses talk about souls being “saved,” including First Peter 1:9 which says, “…for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

Psalm 19:7 says that the law of the Lord converts the soul.

The Old Testament contains a laundry list of things we are to do with all of our soul, including seeking the Lord, turning to the Lord, loving the Lord, serving the Lord, walking with Him, obeying Him and observing His decrees.

The Bible says that souls rejoice (Psalm 35:9), and they praise the Lord (Psalm 103:1).

And Third John 1:2 talks about souls prospering.

As I said, the soul is a slippery subject, hard to get a grip on. 

I sure don’t have all the answers, and I don’t know anyone who does.

Except the Lord Himself – the Shepherd of our souls.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.

 
A little note on how I researched the Scriptures for this article.  I stuck with verses that included the word soul in several translations of the verse.  For example, I did not include Ezekiel 18:20 which says in the KJV “The soul that sinneth it shall die,” but which says the word “person” instead of “soul” in other translations.  I figured it was challenging enough to track down specific information about the soul without wading into the translational differences! 

© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip 
 To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

The Owner Is Returning - Apples of Gold - November 15, 2010 -vi-

Click here to listen to the radio version.   

Click here to search the AOG archives.

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for November 15, 2010

“The Owner Is Returning”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

The old joke goes like this.

A man is talking to God and says, “Lord, the Bible says that, to You a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day.  Is that true?”

“Yes.”

“Okay so, to You, how much is a million dollars?”

God says, “About one cent.”

“Really?  So can I have . . . a penny?”

“Sure, just a minute.”

That’s just a joke, but it’s based on scripture.  Second Peter 3:8 says, “…beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

Why did Peter write that?  It was his response to those who would scoff and say, “Where is the promise of His coming?” 

He said the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but He is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (v. 9)

So the promise of His coming has not been fulfilled, and now it’s been a couple thousand years...which is really only a couple of days, according to Peter.

Now read what Jesus said in Mark 13.  “At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.  And He will send His angels and gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.”

And what was the timetable for that?

Jesus said in Mark 13:32, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

Remember the book “88 Reasons Why the Rapture will be in 1988”?  I guess that guy didn’t know either.

So the day is coming, but no one knows when except the Father. 

And what are we to do until then?

“Be on guard!  Be alert!”  “Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.”  That’s what Jesus said.

Then He told this little story to illustrate His point.  He said, “It’s like a man going away:  he leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.  Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back.”

Maybe it’s hard to grasp the whole “Son of man coming in the clouds” thing, but it’s easy to picture some servants left in charge of an estate while the owner leaves on a trip.  Human nature being what it is, the servants will keep things up for a while, then relax their standards as the owner delays his return.

But did you notice the one important person in the story?  I’m talking about the guy who was told to keep watch at the door.

So picture it.  The owner leaves and the servants are in charge, carrying out their assignments.  Let’s say one of them was in charge of landscaping.  He’s out there trimming the bushes and it’s hot and, frankly, he’s getting tired of trimming bushes.  He hasn’t seen the owner in forever, so what’s the difference? 

Then he looks up at the house and sees the servant standing at the door.  He’s looking down the road toward the horizon.  He is watching for the owner’s return. 

Sure, the owner didn’t come back yesterday or the day before, but that doesn’t mean he won’t come back today.  And how is he going to want those bushes to look when he finally returns?  He’s going to want them to look great.

So back to the landscaper.  He’s weary in his work, but then he sees the servant watching for the owner’s return.  It reminds him that the day really is coming.  It could be today, so he gets back to work.

“But Doug, Jesus only said that to His disciples.”

Okay, look at the last verse of Mark 13.  Jesus said, “What I say to you, I say to everyone:  ‘Watch!’”

So the question is, are you watching today? 

It’s easy not to, because it seems like He’s never coming back.  But He said He would, and to God a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day, so even though it’s been a long time, it’s really only been a couple of days. 

Peter said the day of the Lord will come “as a thief in the night.”  In light of that, he said we should conduct ourselves with holiness and godliness, and be found by the Lord in peace, without spot and blameless.

And finally, Second Peter 3:17 says, “…since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness…but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

So just because His promise is delayed, do not fall from your steadfastness.

We must continue each day to watch and be ready . . . for the Owner is returning.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.

 

© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip 
 To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
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