“He has saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace,
which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” 2nd Timothy 1:9
Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
At Christmas time I’m always thinking more about God’s plans, reminded at the time when we commemorate His birth, how much is fulfilled. What a grand plan. Did you ever face a task and it mounted pretty large in your mind, so your solution was to create a plan? We have done that and also encountered people with no plans who failed us recently. We hired men to rebuild our front porch with concrete. I took their bid to get a permit and the city said it would need more detail to be granted a permit. The concrete company said they did not need a permit to rebuild the steps unless they took the foundation out. The process, once started, turned out to be a short nightmare. They did not build square forms, so I called them out and bent them over until they came out and rebuilt them. They still failed to make the edges even. And 2 stairs, when held against a square, bow out an inch. They wrecked the sides and made them worse “repairing” them. They damaged the brick taking off the railing, and changed the stairs so the railings needed to be altered by a welder. They lied to us and I ended up finishing some of the work myself, drilling holes and installing the railings they had promised to install. In the end, I realized it was because I did not have detailed drawings from them, or written guarantees. The key to it all was that they did not provide a written plan. (They were highly recommended on the internet, however.) This is completely not like God, whose promises are written down. And in the model of Christ we see His plans are detailed.
In 2nd Timothy, we read God has had a plan for us, to save us, before the world began. When we read the hundreds of prophecies that Christ fulfilled, we are convinced even more there was a plan. Plans for Jesus’ birthplace and parentage, the way He died, who He died with and was buried among. An old idiom states, “God is in the details.” A later idiom says, “The Devil is in the details.” Funny how the Devil seems to always be slipping in and taking God’s place. And evil does seem to be patient and organized, but it is really destructive and chaotic in its ends. The details need not be specific if the end goal is destruction.
It is interesting that evolutionary theory cannot tell you the world is not ordered. That is too obvious with too many working systems. Evolutionary theory simply tries to steal the credit for all this order and claim it was a fantastic, mind-blowing accident. This is, of course, laughable and stupid. But then the average junior high graduate from a suburban school knows far more of the scientific world than Darwin could have dreamed (As evidenced by his poor imagination, billions of years blah blah blah). Darwin was remarkably illiterate, scientifically speaking, by the standards of biology today. According to Dr. John Sanford of Cornell University, we all carry tens of thousands of harmful mutations, and each one us will pass on approximately 100 new mutations to any offspring we have. So humans are not evolving into better organisms, but rather headed toward extinction. In short, Darwin had the plan absolutely wrong and his ignorance has cause a lot of damage.
But then the ignorance of people works great for Satan as he finds it easier to deceive them. The Devil does not care about people or listen to their petitions. Why should he? God wishes to help us to do good, and transform our frail attempts. This blesses us and transforms us into better people. But I could care less what a satanist prays for to his devil. Of course, not being an infinite being, Satan never hears what most people say anyway. Satan fulfills the axiom, “Do as thou wilt,” ignoring what people might ask of him, as Satan hates them for being made in God’s image. He does whatever he wants. Except to us. Job teaches us he has to get permission to touch us. And the New Testament says we can resist him and he will flee. [James 4:7]
We are told of God’s plans, that they are good and we are part of them. God’s vision for the world will not turn out as if it was poorly planned. We need not try to get even for others plans against us either. God will use them for our good [Romans 8:28] and take His own vengeance for those who try to damage His workmanship [Romans 12:19]. We can leave these things to Him. I have mentioned before my own inability to plan a day of evangelism. The power of prayer and God’s plans are infinitely better than a day I, or any large organization, could orchestrate, for an afternoon of Christian ministry. It was all laid out before time began, waiting for us to join with you and do it. We can’t continue to do this without your prayers and financial help.
77 students prayed to receive Christ this semester after confessing Christ to me upon hearing the Gospel. Thanks for being a part of it. Please make mention of them in your prayers, if you would. (An * means they said they would pray later.)
Maya, Paul, Alec, Nashoana, Daniella, Jackie, William, Alexis, John, Mariana*, Justin, Nick, Mark, Jada, Sebastian, Frank*, Celeste, Nick, Sam, Irima, Christian, Joaquin, Dylan, Luis, Mike, Derick, Bridget, Christina, Demya, Tamera, Jalissa, Chamar, Ryan, Patrick, Angelo, Sydney, Adi, Cody, Alyssa, Jane, Zeke, Joey, Kamaria, Drey, Colin, DJ, Stephanie, Jesse, Kyle, Patricia*, Anthony, Cindy, Chuck, Nick, Stephanie, Sean, Jessica, Jocelyn*, Nickie, Jaslynn, Malcolm, Tanner, Nataly, Emily, Lekayla*, Lauren, Oscar, Issac, Patty, Nino, Alec, Mia, Jalen, Steve, Alex, Stephanie, Brian, Josh, Jack, Lionel, Anthony and Jose
In Him, bob.thirdwatch@sbcglobal.net
Bob & Ellen www.thethirdwatch.org
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!