What do you do on New Years Day on Guam?

What do you do on New Years Day on Guam? The answer for us was, “you take a tour of the southern end of the island.” That means a visit to the Yokoi museum and gift shop at Jeff’s Pirates Cove and swimming at the Inarajan Pools and Merizo Pier along with stops at various other interesting spots. This time we did not do so many of the other spots because the kids did not want to get out of the water. Another enjoyable January day outdoors on Guam.

Everybody wanted their pictures taken in the signs in front of Jeff’s Pirate Cove

Especially with the pirates

Then it was on to Inarajan Pools for some wading, swimming and diving off the platform

There were several nice spots for Ahni to play in the water

The “diving competition” was intense

On to Merizo for a little more swimming and diving

We had to stop on the way home to see the dinosaurs

And then back home for games and treats in the evening. The affirmative vote for “Who wants root beer floats?” was unanimous

Reading Through the Exile Books with Goldingay

Chapter 10 of Goldingay’s, Old Testament Theology, volume 1, Israel’s Gospel is entitled God Preserved: Exile and Restoration. It takes us through, mainly, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and Daniel, although it also brings in something from Chronicles and the prophets who were ministering at that time. These exile books are critical because…

The story does not end with the fall of Jerusalem but continues in the account of a series of returns from exile and a series of acts of rebuilding and renewal in Jerusalem as well as new forms of life and new experiences of God elsewhere. The exile and the period that follows then play as creative a role as any in making the First Testament what it is, in the growth of the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings, and thus in the shape of Old Testament theology. 696

Section 1, God Abandoned, discusses the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and its aftermath, and the theological response to it. The city is in ruins, Israel’s survival is in jeopardy and so the people turn to Jeremiah’s command to submit to Babylon and trust his prophecy of return. The “Jerusalem temple theology” has completely collapsed and it appears that God has abandoned his people. But the exiles continue to “pray with incoherence” (recognizing their culpability, but asking Yhwh to fix it), trust Yhwh’s promise of return and prepare for a new “paradigm experience in Israel’s story.”

Yhwh is always ready to do the tough thing if necessary, and will do it again. 700

Logically it should be that the destruction of the temple and the suspension of sacrifices means the impossibility of forgiveness. But "instead of plunging into despair because there were now no means of cleansing the people's sins, it turned to its father in heaven and remembered that it is he who forgives sins and he can do so with or without the Temple," because it issues from love. 704

Israel resists any temptation to turn its story into a superficial, escapist, feel good narrative that does not face facts. It recounts the facts of the exile in their harshness, willfulness, tragedy and stupidity. It extends that realism to the theological interpretation of events. God has abandoned the people, almost as radically as had been threatened. But that is not all that needs to be said. 707

The next section, God Returned, focuses on the 70 year waiting of the exiles for God to provide another exodus. The exile books emphasize that God is the God of all the cosmos and thus is able to restore his people and bridge the rupture caused by their past idolatry. The key promise is that of a “New Covenant” that is first mentioned in Deuteronomy and expanded in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Goldingay makes clear that this covenant is “an agenda not complete,” which will be fulfilled in stages (return from exile, Christ event, consummation of kingdom).

The New Testament itself make clear that there is not a simple one-to-one relationship between Jeremiah 31 and the Christ event, because it looks to a coming fulfillment in Christian experience (Rom. 11.25-27). Nor did the Christ event produce a situation in which people no longer teach each other to acknowledge God. Christians still do that and know that in this sense God's truth is not inscribed on their inner beings. But they do experience a partial realization of this promise. 715

Ezra's theology of history thus involves several elements...God is capable of both punishment and mercy, and it is not possible to know which will emerge at any given moment. The people are therefore living risky lives. There is no moral reason why God should not revert from mercy to punishment. The community will be well-advised to accept the unvarying invitation of the prophets to turn back to Yhwh in order to find mercy. 717

The third section, A Restored Community, discusses the nature of the exilic and post-exilic community. It is clearly a restoration of all twelve tribes (no lost tribes). It is a priestly community as the priesthood takes a much more prominent role in governance. Though there is no king, the prominence of Zerubbabel points forward to the promise of a coming Davidic king. Most importantly Israel was to be a “family… marked by care for one another.”

Chronicles' understanding of the role of David puts the emphasis on his relationship to worship, and the significance of having a David-like leader is that the people are in a position to order their worship on the basis of David's vision. 721

The relationship between Yhwh and Israel was not established by one specific historical act; this relationship, an integral part of Creation itself, is renewed from generation to generation. There is no appeal to the exodus in Chronicles: the basis for the people's response to Yhwh is just the fact that they are in relationship. 725

Section 4 emphasizes that Israel was “A Worshiping Community.” The rebuilding of the temple is the focus; not the reestablishment of the kingship. God moves the Persian powers so that the temple can be completed despite great opposition from Israel’s neighbors. The temple thus becomes the center for joyful worship and tearful confession. The temple becomes the center of Judean life.

If we read Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah in that Greek/English order, the joyful worship of God runs like a silver thread from David's ark procession to the procession around Nehemiah's wall. In this work the joy which finds expression in worship is of the essence of religion. 729

Section 5, A Listening Community, “stresses the shaping of the community's life by the word of God.” God has fulfilled his promise of return and Ezra’s specific concern is the implementation of the torah of Moses as the law of the land. This is mainly accomplished by preaching that expounded Moses’ teachings and a call for a commitment to obedience with very specific practical application. 

Listening to Moses' teaching is supposed to be a joyful activity. It makes solemn demands and arouses a sense of failure, but it also encourages hope because it speaks about God's grace and power and about forgiveness and restoration. 735

Teaching needs to be applied to the community. They thus include attempts to detail how a ruling should be applied, how current application of a rule should be revised, how a ruling can be extended so as to apply to a new situation, how a ruling can be extended so as to be more comprehensive and how separate rulings can be integrated. Obeying Moses' Teaching does not simply mean adhering to its specific content, but perceiving what Moses would say if he were here now-perceiving what is the appropriate new equivalent to Moses' injunctions. 739

In Section 6, Israel is seen as A Distinct Community, with a “greater stress on its ethnic, political, linguistic, cultural and religious integrity.” This is especially true for the Jews that returned to Jerusalem, but also for those who stayed in the places to which they were exiled. The distinctiveness was especially emphasized in opposition to the people who never left the land in exile (Samaritans) and the people of the surrounding Persian provinces. The focus was not complete separation from the nations, but complete separation from their religious practices. This was carried out mainly through the Sabbath, food laws and forbidding of intermarriage.

The sabbath is a distinctive marker of Judahite life over against that of other peoples, and it will henceforth have a key emphasis in Jewish life. It is the only specific requirement in the Sinai revelation mentioned in the prayer in Nehemiah 9. 746

The Second Temple community assumes that Yhwh is God of the entire world and pictures the great world leaders recognizing that this is so, yet in its own life believes it needs to stay distinguishable from other peoples who might imperil its distinctiveness. It has to hold on to distinctiveness but also hold on to a vision for other peoples coming to acknowledge Yhwh. 750

Section 7, A Subservient Community, deals with the question of “how to be true to its ancestral faith and tradition when it finds itself… under the aegis of an imperial power.” This can be done because God can use even the pagan emperors to accomplish his purpose for his people. Cyrus is “his anointed.” Even though Judea is an insignificant Persian province, its God is Lord over all superpowers. Thus, the Jews can be submissive to the Persian powers and even ask for their help in building the temple and walls. Nevertheless there is still a longing for the promises of freedom to be fulfilled.

The return from exile is greater than the exodus, for Yhwh influences the king to be generous rather then tough. Koch suggests that Ezra himself sees his trek as a second exodus and a fulfillment of prophetic expectations. 757

Israel's story starts with Yhwh leading the people out of subservience to find independent life and nationhood. In Ezra-Nehemiah, it closes with the community in Judah a chastened remnant living in subservience. In a sense the story is a disappointing one, though the people are able to live a tolerable life before Yhwh without being a sovereign state. 760

Section 8, A Priest and Theologian, discusses the person and book of Ezra. Ezra is a man of fasting and prayer who identifies with his people, by confessing and grieving over their sin as though it were his own. He boldly confronts sin in a public context and holds the people accountable to follow the Torah.

Ezra's words are in the purest sense "confession"; Ezra confines himself to confessing facts about the people and facts about God...Ezra's prayer contains no overt request, such as one for forgiveness and mercy... "Yhwh, God of Israel you are in the right (Ezra 9.15). The confession explicitly acknowledges that the people are in the wrong. 762

Section 9, A Man Who Prays and Builds Walls, discusses the person and book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah is a government worker who sees himself first as a servant of God. He is a passionate man of action who, like a prophet, takes drastic measures to get people to accomplish God’s mission. Everything he does is saturated with prayer and a “remarkable combination of idealism and realism.”

A secondary function of prayer is to build up the conviction of the pray-er. The prayer reminds the person praying of Yhwh's character. By articulating the conviction that Yhwh is powerful and faithful, Nehemiah's own conviction about that is built up. By recalling the qualities of the people to whom God is faithful, his commitment to love and obedience is reinforced. 768

The story of Nehemiah is a story of "cultural revitalization": Nehemiah faces facts and sees a vision, communicates the vision, formulates practical machinery for implementing it, handles resistance to his project, moves from bricks-and-mortar work to the building up of the community and encourages the development of a new "steady state" phase in the community's life. 771

Section 10, A Wise Politician, discusses the person and book of Daniel. Daniel has to deal with the “schizophrenic self-understanding” of being one of God’s people living in the kingdoms of this world. How do they maintain distinctiveness and yet navigate the realities of daily life? Daniel is able to take advantage of foreign learning without compromising what he learns from God’s revelation. He is able to live a foreign lifestyle without compromising his Jewish identity. He is forced to trust God when he must take a stand against his culture. He is able to submit to worldly authority without compromising his first loyalty to God.

Daniel's story gives them an example of someone daring to take a stand in a dangerous situation and heartens them by portraying how his God honors that commitment. It cannot claim that God always does that... but it can encourage them by noting that God sometimes does that. 775

Daniel (ch. 6) has put loyalty to God above loyalty to the state, but thereby in his way has been loyal to the state by not letting it be more than it truly is. 779

The final section, An Intrepid Woman, discusses the person and book of Esther. Esther is an example of having to work within a system as it is and wait to take action when God gives opportunity. She “does start off as an apparent bimbo” but becomes a woman who “takes initiative.” It is through her act of risk that a great new act of deliverance is accomplished for the Jewish nation as God works behind the scenes. The book that begins with the Persians feasting and rejoicing ends with a Jewish festival.

 

The stories of Esther and Daniel represent both poles in the First Testament's gospel in connection with the pressures that come on the Jewish people. There are times or contexts when God multiplies signs and wonders, and times when God acts via coincidences and human decision-making processes. 786

For the Dispersion community, the close of the First Testament story is more positive. God's deliverance is a present reality and not merely future promise. The pressures on the community are real, but God is involved in its life, enabling it not merely to survive but to flourish. 788

Our New Year’s Eve on Guam

I am still working through our Christmas vacation photos. Almost done. Our family was with us through January 3rd and we tried to cram in as many activities as we could. We like to go to the public beach on New Year’s Eve because there are usually not too many people there. So we made a trip down  to Ipao Beach. Then we headed home and prepared for our traditional game night and tree burning. We burned the tree a little before midnight to avoid being hit by the falling bullets our neighbors were shooting into the air. (Not so many as previous years)

We found some mermaids on the shore

We took the decorations off the tree and prepared to burn it

It burned spectacularly

And was enjoyed by all

Afterwards grandma read a bedtime story to the kids

Reading Through the Gospel of Luke #1 (1-12)

I am continuing to read through the commentary series The Bible Speaks Today, edited by John Stott, and post quotes from my NT reading 3 times per week on my Facebook page. In December I have been reading through the Gospel of Luke, accompanied by the third volume in the series, The Message of Luke: The Saviour of the World, by Michael Wilcock (as always his quotes are in blue font below). Luke is the Gospel that proclaims Jesus, the promised Messiah of Israel, who was the perfect Son of God who became the perfect Son of Man to provide the way for all people (especially the powerless, the outcast, the sinner) to enter God’s kingdom and to show us how a man should live.

Wilcock sees the theme of Luke’s Gospel in its universal message…

This universalism should not be understood to mean that God will save every single individual of the human race, even those who willfully reject him; such a doctrine runs counter to the basic teaching of the New Testament. Rather, it means that there is no kind of person the gospel cannot reach, no boundary it cannot cross. Luke is saying not that everyone will be saved, but that anyone can be saved. 17-18

The introduction to the gospel shows that the apostles’ teachings about who Jesus was and what he had done (Gospel) had been carefully investigated by Luke and was solidly based in history. Luke interviewed eyewitnesses to insure the reality of what was being taught about Jesus. 1.1-4

Read what I have written, he (Luke) says, and you will see the facts on which Christianity is based; and you will find there something firm and solid and absolutely trustworthy, a sure foundation for faith. 31

Jesus’ early life showed His character and conduct as the perfect Son of Man and Savior.  (1:5-4:13) The birth stories of John and Jesus highlighted the great significance of John's role to announce the coming of the Savior of the world, and Jesus' who would be the virgin born perfect man, the Son of God and Spirit powered Messiah-King who fulfilled David’s Covenant. Mary, Elizabeth, and Zacharias' speeches are humbly thankful for their parts in fulfilling God’s plan. 1:5-56

We must believe, as clear-thinking Christians in every age have believed, that it is the will and plan of God for all wrong relationships, political as well as spirituals eventually to be put right. We include therefore in our preaching of salvation the need for the righting of wrong social structures and physical conditions. But we keep at its centre the need for the cleansing of sinful human hearts. That is the primary concern of the people of God. Luke 1.57-80, 38.

Angels, predictions, miracles, are an intrinsic part of the gospel, because it concerns a supernatural break-in to our world, as unexpected as the message to Zechariah and as staggering as the one to Mary. For such supernaturalism we must be prepared: Christianity is meaningless without it. The Jewishness of the tale is likewise intrinsic to it, because at no other place or time has God ever broken into our world with the full message of salvation, but in these events in first-century Palestine. Luke 1, 40.

Jesus’ unusual birth and development show that God has sent a special man (the God-Man) to be the Savior of the world. (2:1-52) His baptism announces his unique mission and status as fully God (baptism) and fully man (genealogy) so we need to repent and join His kingdom. (3) In the temptation, Jesus the God-Man gained the victory over sin and Satan that the first man lost. (4:1-13)

Luke has told us in the angel’s words who Jesus is, and in the prophet’s words who may benefit from his message; and now in the words of the Child himself, we learn that to grasp the fullness of this message of salvation we shall need to follow the one who already knows God as his Father, as he prosecutes his Father’s plan through the whole gospel story in order to bring us into the same relationship. Luke 2, 50.

All this is focused in Jesus. Through him is to be done God’s saving work, for to him is given God’s authority, and he is himself God come in the flesh: Jesus, the Christ, the Lord. In him, and nowhere else, is salvation to be found. Can we have enough of him, or say enough of him? Shall we not rather, once we have grasped what the angel is telling us about him, follow the shepherds in seeking him with all haste and then making known the wonderful news?  Luke 2.1-21, 47.

There is none to whom the message of the gospel is not directed. Luke, having concentrated this great gift of God in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, now extends it to the whole human race, and to each person in particular, and requires men to ask themselves whether they have yet accepted it or are still rejecting it. , Luke 2.24-35 48.

Luke’s God is a God who speaks. He has broken into a world which, for all the babel of its myriad voices, is perishing for lack of a life-giving voice from heaven, and he tells us the good news of salvation; and this salvation is in his Son. The same God speaks today, on the same subject, to meet the same need. Luke 3,54.

God’s own declaration concerning Jesus: ‘Now this one is my beloved Son; with him I am well pleased.’ Jesus, unlike the rest, is acceptable to God. Like no other, he is from the start in a true relationship to God. He is, in a distinctive sense, the Son of God. God says so. Luke 3.21-22, 56.

(Jesus)is man as God meant man to be, the image of God, showing the family likeness in perfection. We may picture our present human existence as a pit, in which all of us are trapped, for the sin of Adam has removed any possibility of our climbing out into the upper world. Jesus is like us, in that he has come down into the same pit with us. That is the message both of the baptism story and of the family tree, if we leave out their closing verses. But he is unlike us, in that while we are here because of a fall in disobedience, he is here because of a descent in obedience, and he has never let go of the rope which joins him to the world above. He is firmly anchored up there, in the unbroken relation of sonship with his Father. Luke 3.23-38, 58.

The answers of Jesus are in effect as follows. ‘You suggest that feeding my body may take precedence over obeying my God. But God has told men’—men—‘that they shall not live by bread alone; therefore I shall not do so. You offer me universal power, at the price of worshipping you. But God has told men that they are not to worship any but him; therefore I shall not worship you. You propose that I should test his promises to suit my own convenience. But he has told men that they are not to test him in this way; therefore I shall not do so.’ Luke 4.1-13, 59.

The perfect righteousness of the new Man can be extended to every other man, however sinful, who will receive it in repentance and faith. He does not need to be a Jew; he does not need to belong to the same tribe, or the same culture, or even the same century, as Jesus; he does not need to be religious or clever or influential. The mere fact that he is a sinful man means that Jesus came to save him, and to make him also a son of God. Luke 4.14-30, 62.

Jesus has Spirit-powered authority to which we must respond by becoming His disciples. Even so when he began his ministry Jesus was rejected by Israel as whole and would turn to faithful Israel and to the Gentiles and call them to follow him. His miracles show that He is the perfect Son of Man with authority to call these disciples.4:14-6:16

Many would have to admit that it is at this point that the word of Jesus comes home to them—literally, because it invades the privacy of their own workaday life, instead of staying respectably in a Sunday church service where it belongs. To learn from Jesus that they should be acknowledging his Father’s daily gifts of sun and rain, food and clothing, life and breath; his own lordship over all creation; and his Holy Spirit’s work of sanctifying every part of their being,—this is a new and convicting thought, and perhaps the beginning of the gospel’s effective entrance into their hearts. Luke 5.1-11, 69.

But one of the great key words of the gospel is ‘reconciliation’; and as we are reconciled to God, so we are reconciled among ourselves, and the church whose members are no longer ‘lepers’ to one another, but united in fellowship and love, is a most powerful testimony to the power of the living God. Luke 5.12-14, 70

The gospel is still ‘the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith’, and we therefore have in our own hands the very thing which can cure these sin-sick souls, the ‘balm in Gilead’ which makes the sinner whole. With our experience of the remedy comes the confidence that it will work for them also; and with our possession of it comes the responsibility to make it available to them. Luke 5.27-31, 73

My word, says Jesus, is meant as a total replacement, not as a source of useful patches...If you are prepared to receive the new wine of Jesus’s message in its fullness, the brittle wineskins of your old beliefs will not be able to hold it. You must expect to forfeit them altogether. Luke 5.33-39, 73–74

Jesus calls his disciples to a life based on inner transformation which leads to righteous action. 6:17-49

If there is one thing more than another which this chapter stresses, it is the distinctiveness of the people of God. They are meant to be clearly different from the world around them. And the mark which distinguishes them as members of the church is their acceptance of the leadership God has given them. They give their allegiance first to Jesus, then to the apostles to whom Jesus bequeaths his authority. Luke 6.12-49, 83–84.

Chapter 6 thus shows us the new sabbath of peace with God, the new apostolic community of the church, and the new way of life for the Christian. Each one replaces a spoilt version of itself by going back to the original. Each one is a preview of the splendid reality which will be seen in its fullness only in the next world. But although we cannot hope to see that fullness in this world, there is no evading the challenge that Jesus expects us to get as near to it as we can—daily rejoicing in our Father, loving towards our brethren, and holy within ourselves. Luke 6.12-49, 86–87.

Jesus’ miracles and teachings show him to be the Son of Man and Savior of the world. (7:1-8:56) and validates his call to all people to the count the cost and follow His hard path to the kingdom. (9:1-50)

The good news..brings salvation not only into the realm of disease but into that of death itself...If today’s preachers of the good news follow the example of Luke, they too will not be content with mere analysis or comment. They will be proclaiming as a fact that the power of that kingdom really does get to grips with these basic evils, and in each case ushers in the opposite good. They will be remembering, as they do so, cases known to them where this power is joyously at work, if not in identical ways yet certainly in equivalent ways. And they will be expecting equivalent results from their preaching.   Luke 7.1-17, 90-91.

The news of the kingdom is always new, unexpected, upsetting. It will not fit in with men’s preconceived ideas, nor pander to their prejudices. It digs far deeper than their shallow understanding of the evils of Satan’s kingdom, and soars far higher than their low view of the glories of God’s kingdom. Luke 7.28-35, 92.

But what is noteworthy in all three incidents is that each describes a need which God alone can meet; and when we think of the people concerned, we realize that their ‘poverty’ consists precisely in this—that in the eyes of Jesus’s contemporaries such people have no resources to meet those needs, because they have no claim on God: the centurion is a mere Gentile, the widow a mere female, the woman at the party a mere sinner. They are outside the circle of privilege. For God to help them at all they have to receive his help gratis. Luke 7-8, 93.

The subject of the good news is the kingly rule of God in Jesus Christ, a rule which will bring untold blessings to those who are ready to receive it. But they must be ready. The good news is for the poor—for those who recognize their poverty, their need. They must give up their own ideas on how to cope with their problems, and accept the answer which the good news brings to them—abide by if and live on it. Luke 8.1-21, 95.

The man who accepts Christ imagining that from then onwards trouble will no longer come his way is heading for disaster. For it is sure to come; and when it does, he will be pitched into doubt or even despair. No, Jesus does not promise a trouble-free life. It is not that tribulation may come, nor even that it will come, but that it must come. Luke 8.22-56, 100

The miracle which the church of Jesus Christ should both embody and proclaim is the power to cope with the evils of life. The disciples of Christ are neither free from tribulation, nor helpless in tribulation, but victorious over tribulation. Luke 8.22-56, 103–104.

The feeding of the five thousand is only one miracle among many, but it is obviously of the greatest importance (the only miracle related in all four Gospels), and leaves the church in no doubt of its responsibility to care for its own members; even after the crowd has been fed, there remain twelve baskets full, ‘one from each apostle, symbolizing perhaps the continuing miraculous sustenance of the new Israel of God’. Luke 9:10–17, 108.

(Jesus) is the Prophet who is to be heard and heeded: that is why the church, if it is to carry on his work, is to be a preaching church. He is the royal Son, who with his wealth and power provides for all the needs of his people: that is why his church must exercise the same ministry and be a community in which members are likewise concerned with one another’s needs, caring and nourishing and building up. He is the Chosen, the Servant, who treads the path of suffering: that is why all those who wish to be his disciples must similarly take up the cross and deny themselves. Luke 9.1-36, 110.

The way to sharpen one’s wits is to use them. Christians who understand are those who have not been content with going through the motions of Christian discipleship, but who have applied themselves to asking and listening and thinking. Luke 9.37-45, 112.

When we have admitted how little we, like the disciples, have really grasped about him and about ourselves, we shall appreciate all the more his forbearance and love in giving us repeated opportunities for learning more of his Word, and make the fullest use of what he gives us. Luke 9.49-50, 114.

Regularly God tests the earnestness of men’s hearts by bringing them to this fork in the road. When it becomes necessary to choose between two ways, which do we follow? Comfort or convention or custom—or Christ? The test from the very outset (see, for example, 5:27) has been ‘Follow me’. Luke 9.57-62, 119.

To share in the kingdom of the Son of Man a disciple must be a committed follower in the face of growing opposition and persecution. (9:51-19:27) The principle that drives the whole section is stated in 9:52-62: A disciple of the Son of Man must be willing to give up all to follow Him. Jesus is available to all who seek him but rejects those who reject Him. 10:1-11:54

Their power to exorcize demons is only in the name of Jesus; and he makes this quite explicit—‘I have given you authority.' He is making them into messengers who can proclaim his message effectively. It is much less important that they should rush out doing the things they believe he wants, than that they should let him make of them the kind of people who inevitably will do such things. Luke 10:17–24, 121.

The way of Jesus is one of devotion and dedication, both in following him and in heralding him. But the way is not, on that account, a matter of assiduous ‘religion’ and frenzied service, of busy-ness and incessant good works. It means not achievement, but commitment; not activities, but attitudes; not quantity, but quality... When Jesus expects us to follow him all the way, he means not a frenzy of religious activity undertaken in our own strength, but the total abandonment of ourselves to him, for him to work in us both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Luke 10.25-37, 123–124.

The basis of prayer, or God’s part in it, is the subject of the sayings about the father who naturally will not give his son a serpent or a scorpion if the boy has asked for a fish or an egg. At the receiving end of our importunate prayer is a Father who does not need to be importuned, but is only too eager to give the best of answers. Luke 11.1-13, 126.

Salvation, then, means more than reformation; it means revolution. Nature abhors a vacuum. Not only must the strong man (Satan and evil) be overcome; the stronger man (Jesus) must have total victory and take possession of the palace. Luke 11.17-28, 129.

At Pentecost the age of the Holy Spirit began. Ever since then he has been offering salvation to men—the revolution in which the rule of evil is ousted by the rule of God. That is what he, the ‘finger of God’, does. And this salvation is located in Jesus, and in him only. He is the Saviour. It is to him that the ‘finger of God’ points. Luke 11.29-32, 130.

Jesus’ then warns his disciples about 4 things that will kill faith and commitment: Hypocrisy, fear, greed and worry and the need to replace them with honest confession, fear of God, generosity, and childlike trust in their loving father. (12.1-34). Then they will be ready for the coming judgment and kingdom banquet (12.35-59)

The Spirit comes to revolutionize their lives, offering salvation in the person of the Saviour Jesus; let them not refuse. He comes to transform their lives into the image of Jesus; let them not refuse that either—for refusal is the blasphemy against the Spirit, and can never be forgiven. Luke 12.1-12, 132.

The possessions of this life belong to this life; and since this life is less important than the next, the things of this life should be valued less than the things of eternity...The keen eye of Jesus is dividing between those who are taken up with the needs of the immediate future and the things of this life, and those who see that the ultimate future is far more important and are chiefly concerned to provide for the next life. Luke 12.13-34, 135–136.

It is upon spiritual responsibility that Jesus’s searchlight of judgment is now turned. The more you have, the greater your prospect of honour—and the greater your peril. Luke 12.35-48, 136

Jesus distinguishes between those who will not see his crucial place at the centre of human life and history, and those who as his disciples are beginning to glimpse, however dimly, the meaning of it all.  Luke 12.49-59, 137.

Owen Family Christmas #5–A Day at the Beach

One of the very nice things about living in this part of the world is that Christmas vacation weather is great for beach trips. In fact, I find that, even though this is an island and we are close to the ocean all the time and see it pretty much every day, about half of my annual beach trips take place during the two week Christmas vacation. Here are some pictures of a trip to Shark’s Hole. Other beach trip pictures to follow.

It was a good time use the new fish towels you got for Christmas. The kids clearly had the beach gear that they needed

Milo and Courage collected star fish. They did put them back in the water

It really is a beautiful spot