JURONG OUTREACH - November 07

SIN'S FISH STORY
4th Nov 07

This one is true. True, but sad. 

The prodigal boy’s itinerary listed “far country” and maybe under that, “beaches, bars, and brothels.” He probably never read the very fine print that had “pig farm” (Luke 15:11-32). His “summer trip” took him farther than he intended to go. Once you board sin’s boat, it can be awfully hard to disembark. 

Ask Jonah. 

God told Jonah to go east to preach in Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire (Jonah 1:1-2). Jonah went west to hide in Tarshish, a city in southwestern Spain (1:3). When he got on that boat, he had no idea how far sin was going to take him. God sent a storm and nearly sank the ship. The mariners discovered that Jonah was running from God and threw him overboard. Stop and think. What was that like? Jonah described it, “For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me” (2:3). Drowning is a horrible way to die; to nearly drown is one of the most frightening experiences one can have. Why is Jonah in the water? Sin is taking him farther than he wanted to go. 

Instead of drowning, though, the LORD sent a great fish to eat Jonah (1:17). Imagine what it felt like to be eaten by a fish! Why are you in the fish, Jonah? Sin. Down he went to the sea bottom (2:6). Why are you there, Jonah? Sin. For seventy-two hours Jonah was in a fish’s digestive system! What did it feel like? What did it smell like? “The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head” (2:5).

Finally God decided class was over and had the fish vomit (God’s word, 2:10) Jonah out onto land. What did it feel like to be human vomit? What made Jonah the only person ever to find out? Sin. What did Jonah learn? Sin will take you farther than you want to go. 

What does Jonah teach us about taking a trip into sin? First, it’s easy to book passage. Jonah didn’t have to wait for a ship going to Tarshish—the devil had it ready for him (1:3). Satan keeps “boats at the dock” for anybody wanting to sail to “Tarshish” (cf. 2 Corinthians 2:11; 1 Peter 5:8). Sin always lies “at the door” (Genesis 4:7). It is a wide gate that leads to the broad road (Matthew 7:13). If you remain true to God, it won’t be because you lacked opportunities to sin; it will be because you had the backbone to say “no” to sin and had faith to say “yes” to God—frequently. 

What “boats” does Satan keep ready? 

Teens heading to “Tarshish” find that being underage is no real hindrance to buying beer or cigarettes—an older friend will get these items for them or an unscrupulous business man will sell them “under the table” (Proverbs 1:19).

If they want to tell dirty jokes, there are plenty of people who will laugh (cf. Romans 1:32).

If they want to go places and do things their parents forbid, they find that friends will lie to their parents for them (cf. Ephesians 6:4; 2 Timothy 3:2). If teens want to start a sexual relationship, most don’t have to look far to find a willing partner (Proverbs 9:14-16). 

Second, sin is progressive. It’s a slide down a slippery slope that goes down, down, down. We are told to “live it up”—that’s a lie. The road into the “far country” is always downhill. Jonah went “down” to Joppa, “down” into the ship (1:3) “down” into the sea, “down” into the fish’s mouth, and “down” to the sea bottom. Think of sin’s downward progression:

Walking with the ungodly leads to standing with sinners; standing with sinners leads to sitting with the scornful (Psalm 1:1; Matthew 26:58, 69-75).

Anger leads to violence; wrath leads to hatred; hatred leads to murder (Genesis 4:6, 8; Proverbs 27:3; Daniel 2:12; 1 John 3:15).

Jealousy and envy lead to cruelty, slander, and vengeance (Proverbs 6:34; 27:4; Song of Solomon 8:6; Judges 19:29-30).

Disobedience to parents leads to lying to parents (Romans 1:30; Ephesians 4:15; cf. Genesis 26:7; Colossians 3:9).

One lie leads to more lies (cf. John 8:44).

Covetousness leads to stealing and violence (Joshua 7:21; 1 Kings 21:1, 15; Micah 2:1-2; Mark 7:22; Ephesians 4:28; 2 Peter 2:3). 

Third, a sinful life is a turbulent life. Jonah found himself in a storm. It usually doesn’t take long for teens who forsake Christ to find turmoil (Proverbs 4:19; 15:10; Jeremiah 2:19; Romans 6:21). 

The Bible’s fish story is true—just as true now as it was twenty-seven centuries ago. 

I WILL TURN MY FACE FROM THEM
11th Nov 07

In Ezekiel 7:22, we read, "My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place; for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it."

God, through Ezekiel, is telling of his condemnation of Judah. He states that he is going to allow strangers (non-Israelites) to enter the Temple and pollute it. He will do this because the Israelites have become so wicked. In verse twenty, we learn that they had made horrible idols in the Temple.  

They were worshipping these
idols. In 8:10, “So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about”

Ezekiel, in a vision, sees these terrible idols and sees the leaders of the people worshipping them.  

In 8:16, “And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD'S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.”

Ezekiel sees leaders of the people standing in the Temple looking east. They were worshipping the sun. The sun rises in the east. So, many sun worshippers worship while looking east. God always pictured himself as being in the west. In the Tabernacle that he had Moses build, the Holy of Holies was on the west end of the Tabernacle. The gates to enter the Tabernacle compound, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies was on the east side. The gate to the Garden of Eden which Adam and Eve were sent out after their sin was on the east. The picture is that to look back to God they would look west.

To worship the sun in the Temple required one to turn his back on God. This is exactly what we read in Ezekiel 8:16, "...with their backs toward the temple of the Lord...."
Since the people had turned their back on God, he would also turn his back on them. In the verse from chapter seven, God is turning his back. Not only was he turning his back on the people of Judah to allow strangers to enter the Temple, but he was turning his back from the strangers while they defiled the Temple. This meant that he would allow them to do something that usually brought death. But since the people of Israel had already defiled the Temple and turned their back on him, he would allow the strangers to do this.

Live obediently to God. I know you do not want God to turn his back on you. But, if you do not live according to his laws given in the Bible, he will turn his back on you.

Why Go To Worship?

A churchgoer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every week.  

“I’ve gone for 30 years now,” he wrote, “and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So, I think I’m wasting my time....”  

This started a controversy in the “Letters to the Editor” column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: 

“I’ve been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals.  

But I do know this ... they all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today.  

Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!”

POCKETS FULL OF GOLD
18th Nov 07 

In 1576, soldier and adventurer Humphery Gilbert published a pamphlet titled A Discourse of a Discoverie for a New Pasage to Cataia, wherein he put forth evidence for a Northwest Passage to Asia across the top of North America , and described the commercial advantages for opening such a trade route. Not only could England become wealthy through trade in gold, silver, precious stones and spices, but it could settle the newly discovered strait.

A group of London merchants formed a plan to send Martin Frobisher to find the Northwest Passage on their behalf. With three tiny ships, Frobisher set out from London on June 7, 1576. As they passed down the Thames, Queen Elizabeth I waved them farewell from the window of her palace at Greenwich , and sent a messenger aboard to express her thanks for their hazardous undertaking.

During a stormy six-week crossing of the North Atlantic , the smallest of Frobisher's three ships sank and another turned back in fear. Only the flagship Gabriel, a tiny vessel with a crew of 18, continued westward. Eventually, on July 28 they sighted a barren rocky headland which Frobisher named "Queen Elizabeth's Foreland," in honor of his royal patron. This was Resolution Island , the most easterly outpost of Arctic Canada. There, they loaded 200 tons of a mineral that they believed contained gold.

When a London assayer claimed that the stone was high-grade gold ore, the implications were enormous!

Assayers in England gave widely differing estimates of the value of the ore brought back by Frobisher in 1577. However, the Company of Cathay chose to believe the most optimistic assays, and began to organize the largest Arctic expedition ever mounted. Hundreds of tons of ore were unloaded at several locations in England , but over the following winter, it became apparent that the rock was nothing but worthless iron pyrite.  As a result, most of the backers of the Company of Cathay lost their investment, Frobisher was in disgrace, and one of the promoters spent time in prison. The entire story of the deception that caused this first major gold-mining fraud in Canadian history has never been discovered.

After the loss of many men, ships and a large investment, Frobisher's alleged “gold” mines were soon forgotten, and even their locations were lost to history.  

The "precious fortune" that cost so much time, effort and investment, in the final judgment, was only “fools gold” - worthless to the redeemer.  

Similarly, the “precious fortunes” tirelessly pursued by many will also be found worthless when Jesus, the Son of God, returns to judge the world.  The things of this world won’t last (2 Peter 3:10).  Only those who have received the spiritual treasures which are the result of a right relationship with God will keep them throughout eternity (see Matthew 6:19-21). 

Eternal, spiritual treasures await those who:

by faith in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house,

turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

confess Jesus (Romans 10:9-10), That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

and are baptized (immersed) in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost  

Those who continue to follow Him faithfully will not lose those eternal treasures (Revelation 2:10). 

Are YOUR pockets full of “fool’s gold,” or do you have those eternal treasures which come ONLY through Christ?
 

WHY IS THERE SO MUCH BITTERNESS?
25th Nov 07 

When you think about something tasting bitter, what comes to mind? An unpleasant taste? No doubt. A cutting feeling on the tongue? Most likely. A bitter-tasting object can cause a person’s tongue, mouth, face, and even entire body to twist, shake, and recoil in response to it. It is sometimes comical to watch such a reaction when unsuspecting souls bite into some food item from which they did not anticipate a bitter taste. Small kids can be a riot to watch do so. 

There is nothing comical, however, about a scene in which children of God demonstrate a bitter spirit towards God or their fellow man. Bitter food is one thing; but a bitter spirit that eats at the soul and spews forth cutting, hateful words is another matter entirely. Since Jesus said, "Ye shall know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:16), we would do well to consider some of the consequences or fallouts that come about due to bitterness. They are not pretty. Hopefully the ugliness of them will catch our attention and cause us to be determined to work diligently to keep bitterness from taking root in our hearts. What does bitterness do?  

Bitterness troubles.
That is what Hebrews 12:14 teaches. "Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled." Bitterness stirs up trouble. If Satan cannot get us to fall for false teaching or give in to the pull of immoral conduct, he will take a crack at bringing us down with a bitter spirit. Marriages, friendships, and elderships have crashed due to bitterness robbing people of their joy, rational thinking, and peaceful demeanor. Let’s face it: some people have "bitter breath." I do not mean that they have a foul odor, but rather the words that spring forth from their mouth are full of bitterness. James asked, "Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?" (James 3:11). The answer is obvious. Just before that, James had made these two declarations: "Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be" (3:10). The point? Christians need to remove bitter speech from their vocabulary. That means, of course, that we must first remove any bitter spirit from our hearts. Make no mistake about it: a heart filled with bitterness causes big trouble, some of which is undoable. 

Bitterness defiles.
We see that truth in the latter part of Hebrews 12:15: ". . . lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled." Many would be quick to point out how horrific murder, adultery, and idolatry are. Yet, a bitter disposition is sometimes passed off as, "That’s just the way he/she is." If "the way he/she is" means that he/she is a bitter grump, then he/she needs to have a serious change of heart and repent! The same Lord that tells us to avoid murder, adultery, and idolatry also charges us, "Let all bitterness . . . be put away from you . . ." (Ephesians 4:32). God knows what you and I need to understand and admit: bitterness defiles the soul. 

Bitterness divides.
A bitter spirit gets in the way of obeying the Lord’s instruction to "Follow peace with all men" (Hebrews 12:14). There surely was a good reason for God saying, "Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them" (Colossians 3:19), don’t you think? Bitterness can turn the best of friends into permanent enemies, drive happily-married couples to divorce court, and spark a civil war within what was once a stable, solid, and contented congregation. Satan must watch with glee as bitterness leads to turmoil within families and God’s church.  

Bitterness damns.
Quite simply, if God tells me to put away bitterness, and yet I do not do it (Ephesians 4:32), then my sin of bitterness will keep me separated from Him and thereby keep me in a lost state. Back again to Hebrews 12:15, we see that the bitterness which troubles and defiles a person causes him/her to fail or fall short of the grace of God. No wonder the Holy Spirit exhorts Christians to look diligently lest bitterness spring up in our hearts! (Hebrews 12:15). A bitter disposition and bitter tongue do not jive with being a child of the living God. As we have seen, bitterness troubles, defiles, divides, and damns. Those truths get my attention. Do they get yours? Because "The heart knoweth his own bitterness" (Proverbs 14:10), let each one of us look into his/her own heart, do the self-analyzing, and if bitterness be found, get rid of it.  

-- Roger D. Campbell