Being a Man is a matter of Choice

Psalm 119:97-104

“How I love Your instruction!  It is my meditation all day long.  Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are always with me.  I have more insight than all my teachers because Your decrees are my meditation.  I understand more than the elders
because I obey Your precepts.  I have kept my feet from every evil path to follow Your word.  I have not turned from Your judgments, for You Yourself have instructed me.  How sweet Your word is to my taste—sweeter than honey in my mouth.  I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore, I hate every false way.”

How I love Your instruction!  It is clear that the Psalmist is referring to God’s instructions, not a religion or ideology that may not have any factual basis.  What has happened to the culture of the Western World?  A very simple answer they have chosen to ignore the instruction of God the Father, who gave His Son Jesus Christ to die for the sins of all mankind.  They have moved to little gods, like money, technology, sports, and put trust in themselves and others that have been created by the only God.

Is it too late to go back to the basic’s and once again look to God’s precepts and statutes, His law and instructions?  That answer is also a simple or profound, NO, it is never too late to confess and humble yourself before a Holy God.  We are a mess, many in our family are a disaster, and it’s because man refuses to be a man under authority.  I believe this quote sums up the problem; “Being a male is a matter of birth, being a man is a matter of choice.” -Ed Cole  

What happened to the male, he has chosen to go with the culture of the world and ignore the instructions of God?  God put men as the head of their family, not because he was smarter, or more equipped than his wife, for we all witness the intelligent of our wife and know how blessed we are to have her as our helpmate.  This quote by G.F. Watkins is on spot; “God places the man as the head so that he can be held accountable-period.”

Men and I’m not referring to boys or males, but men, will you return to the role God has chosen for you?  If so, begin by loving your wife and instructing your sons & daughters in the ways of God.  It is apparent that we drop the ball in many ways; some are found in Proverbs 22:1, “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.”  Also Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.”  A sad truth is God did not instruct the Church to train up your child, nor your wife; men, the buck stops with you being held accountable.

So, if your dad dropped the ball, break the cycle, become the head of your family, by loving your wife and children and leading them in the ways of God.  I’ve got to be really upfront with you, it is not going to be easy to begin, your going to need a mentor and you’re going to have to study the ways of God and allow the Holy Spirit to guide your mind and heart.

You will come to agree with the Psalmist, when he said these words; “I have not turned from Your judgments, for You Yourself have instructed me.  How sweet Your word is to my taste—sweeter than honey in my mouth.  I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore, I hate every false way.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

It is your Choice

Psalm 119:81-88

“My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in your word.   My eyes long for your promise;
I ask, “When will you comfort me?”  For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke,
yet I have not forgotten your statutes.  How long must your servant endure?  When will you judge those who persecute me?  The insolent have dug pitfalls for me; they do not live according to your law. All your commandments are sure; they persecute me with falsehood; help me!  They have almost made an end of me on earth, but I have not forsaken your precepts.  In your steadfast love give me life, that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth.”

The footnotes on these verses say though the Psalmist was near death, he always looked to God and His precepts for relief.  As I was reading this first sentence, I turned it from a statement to a question, and after some reflection, my answer was yes.  The desire to know God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit has grown and is growing in my relationship with them.  I do not put faith in mankind, for God’s word tells me their hearts are set on evil.  It also gives me understanding when it states the world and it desires are passing away, but the one who does the will of God lives forever.  The promise of eternal life, not because of my righteousness, not because I have pleased God, but for only one reason and it is found in Ephesians 2:8,9. “For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  

At 77 and closing in on 78, if that’s God’s plan for my life on planet earth, it gets clearer each day that you’re a mess, and so am I.  We long for contentment in what the world offers and often, way too frequently we chase after those things and not the precepts and statutes of God.  In fact, many church attenders fashion a god into something that works for them, it’s like all the other pagan gods, it cannot see or hear, and it has no authority over its subjects.  It is not the I am, it’s not the Alpha and the Omega, it is not the Creator, and it cannot give you joy or peace, when what you love is removed from you.  Most of all it does not have the ability to have a personal relationship with you, it would never be able to die for your sins and make you in right standing with a Holy God.

The word “Sanctified” is not used often in preaching, but it was part of the High Priestly prayer of Jesus to the Father.  In John’s gospel it is recorded in chapter 17:18-19, ^“As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.   And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”  Often, we read past such words in Scripture with little or no understanding of the use of the word.  But Jesus was doing this for you and me who by faith have entered into God’s grace, by the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for us on the cross.  Jesus has consecrated us to the Father, He has blessed and dedicated and purified us before the Father.  

You and I have been set free from the control of the evil one, and now it’s a choice, to follow the statutes and precepts of God or to walk in our authority and sin.  Each day we choose, and that is life on planet earth, but for all who are in Christ, they are sanctified.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

The Plan - One man and a Woman

Psalm 119:73-80

“Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.  Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice, because I have hoped in your word.  I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.  Let your steadfast love comfort me according to your promise to your servant.  Let your mercy come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight.  Let the insolent be put to shame, because they have wronged me with falsehood; as for me, I will meditate on your precepts.  Let those who fear you turn to me, that they may know your testimonies.  May my heart be blameless in your statutes, that I may not be put to shame!

As you read and give thought to the first sentence, what comes into your mind?   When the Psalmist states; “Your hands have made and fashioned me” do you reflect back to Genesis 2:7, “then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”  The Psalmist had full understanding of what God had done to make and fashion him, but it is apparent that many in our culture do not have any understanding.  If you were to explore the fall of most great civilizations, it comes about when the man and wife system breaks down, and so goes the family and the nation.

In keeping with how God fashioned mankind let’s look at Genesis 2:15-18, ^“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.   And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”  Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

God’s plan for man was never to sit and let someone else provide for you, it was to work and keep the garden of Eden.  It matters not what your Eden is, work is part of God’s plan for your life.  God has rules, we refer to them as laws or commands, precepts and statutes.  It matters not if you are a believer or not, God is in charge and as a non-believer you may not like the law of gravity but if you step off a five-story building without a way to fly you’re going to not do so well.

From the beginning of time man has been a social person and he needs a helper fit for him.  God is the one that is the Creator and everything He did He called good.  We go back to Genesis 2:20b-24, to find out what God’s plan is for a man’s mate, this also goes against todays culture.  “But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.   So, the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.   And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.   Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”  This may come as a shock to some inside and out of the church, but God who has never made a mistake, made Eve a woman. 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice 

A World in Crisis - God is Unchangeable

Psalm 119: 65-72

“You have dealt well with your servant, O Lord, according to your word. Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments.  Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word.  You are good and do good; teach me your statutes. The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts;
their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law.  It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.  The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.”

As you begin reading, it’s apparent that God does not change, He is the same today as he was yesterday, God’s spoken word is based on truth.  We see that the Psalmist is sharing that God always will deal according to His word, He does not change, and His word is unchangeable.  He asks the Lord to teach him to have good judgment and knowledge, so that he would hold to God’s teaching and commandments.

Why is the Psalmist so willing to obey God’s precepts and statues; and the simple answer is bought lessons?  In his past he tried do it his way, but God allowed affliction as the results of his disobedience.  The psalmist acknowledges his moral weaknesses and now understands God’s discipline has been a good thing.  

It has become clear to me that many in the church have twisted the truth to say what they want.  They will call you names like dogmatic because you refuse to accept the worlds terms and teaching.  The psalmist was encountering many false accusations, but he places a high value on what God says.  “The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.”

Do you put that kind of value on the precepts and statutes of God’s word, are you willing to trust God over all others?  You should not be to quick to answer that question, but my prayer is that you and I will come to the same answer as Job 13:15a, “Though he slay me, I will hope in him,” or as we read in John’s gospel chapter 6:68-69.  “Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

The Meditation

The Meditation

Prayer brings me into contact with God!  What a glorious thought that I can come to God, talk with God, and experience His power in my life.  Why I have not given more time and thought to this experience, I will never be able to explain.  Think – God loves me and offers Himself to me in fellowship.

O Christ, as you stand in our midst, your presence reminds me of the great amount of time you gave to prayer when you were among us in the flesh.  When I recall how you spent all night in prayer, how you prayed before every decision, how you depended constantly upon prayer – how ashamed I feel.  One so strong depending entirely upon prayer, and I so weak seldom praying.  As Your early followers asked, Lord, teach me to pray.”

Your presence has been very real to me in times of distress, in sickness, in the midst of tragedy, in times of helplessness.  In these experiences prayer was especially meaningful, but I long to know the way of prayer as a daily way of life.  As I wait before you, let me see what this way of life can really mean on a day to day basis.

In this awareness of your presence the thrilling adventure of knowing you grips my mind.  What is there to know about life lived in your Presence?  How can I relate this experience of your presence to daily problems and frustrations?  How glorious is the thought of even trying!  It is good to know that others in this group feel the same way that I do.  Thank you for bring me together with others who feel a kindred hunger.

As I keep exploring the treasure of a box that was in my attic, I came across a meditation we used in Lay Renewals many years ago.  I believe it has a message for a time like this, for anytime.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Who is your portion?

Psalm 119: 57-64

“The Lord is my portion; I promise to keep your words.  I entreat your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise.  When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to your testimonies; I hasten and do not delay to keep your commandments.  Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me, I do not forget your law.  At midnight I rise to praise you, because of your righteous rules.  I am a companion of all who fear you, of those who keep your precepts.  The earth, O Lord, is full of your steadfast love; teach me your statutes!”

Do you recall the Levites did not get an allotment of land as they entered into the promised land of Canaan and thus relied on God, the Psalmist is saying I’m doing the same, I’m looking to God against all who oppose me?  

As a follower of Christ, it has been my experience that the portion God has given us is often not our desire, do you recall in the letters of James he referred to our desire to seek what the world has to offer and not the things of God.  James 4:1-3, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?  You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet, but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”

Why are we not happy with our portion?  Could it be we have fed our minds the worlds desires by exposing our thoughts on all the want creators and the pleasures of this life?  Have you made a promise to your God to obey His authority and word?  It is impossible to do so without searching His word daily and spending time allowing God to speak into your heart and mind.

Obedience is doing what God tells you the moment you understand, not when it seems right in your mind.  Anything less than doing it when your told is disobedience, how often are you reluctant to trust God?  As a follower of Christ, we could learn much from the Psalmist in this area.  His closest friendships was with people who feared God and those who held to the Lord's precepts.

As the child of God, a member of his family, how do you see the world around you, full of fear and little hope, or full of God’s steadfast love?  Do you long for a better understanding of God’s precepts and statues?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

You are designed with a plan - Just for you

Psalm 119: 49-56

Your design is Unique - for a time like this

“Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope.  This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.  The insolent utterly deride me, but I do not turn away from your law.  When I think of your rules from of old, I take comfort, O Lord.  Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked, who forsake your law. Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning.  I remember your name in the night, O Lord, and keep your law.  This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept your precepts.”

God understands everything about you, in that He designed you and gave you your abilities, and talents to get your needs met on planet earth.   He also gave us access to His play book on how to win on planet earth, we refer to it as the Holy Bible.  It was God’s Statutes and precepts the Psalmist is referring to as his hope.  The Psalmist tells us he is under constant ridicule by the arrogant who put no hope in God’s laws and commandments.

The Psalmist even in his time of affliction does not dwell on the present but abides in God’s instruction.  He looks back to what God has done long ago for he is dwelling in and on the statutes and precepts found in Scripture.  That does not mean he does not get angry at the wicked who reject God’s instruction.  Now the good news is that you have been given a gift the Psalmist longed for and that is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit if by faith you have entered into Christ.  Have you taken the test found in 2 Corinthians 13:6?

Speaking for myself about this life in 2020 I find these tools being used by the enemy of my soul, fear and anger on every front.  I am in a quandary about, do I go by how I feel or in whom I have put my trust, most of the time I go with the promises of my great God.  Folks, every where one looks fear is being sold, it comes from the guys selling gold, to the guys trying to sell annuities.  The sales pitch is always fear of loss, being without toilet paper, but stop, give thought to whom it was that has promised to never leave you or forsake you.  Even more who gave you the wealth you now enjoy, it was not the Company or the current or past administration, it was the designer of your mind and personality, the One who made you different than all the other people of the earth. 

I bought a new car and the finance guy at the closing began to share why I needed to spend more on extended maintenance.  It was only when I ask this question, “have I made a bad decision buying this car, the more you talk the more I believe I have.”  He dropped the subject very quickly and we closed the sale at the price I had agreed on.   Fear and anger will steal your joy, they are from the enemy of your soul.  My prayer for you and me is this: “I remember your name in the night, O Lord, and keep your law.  This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept your precepts.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

The Red & Green Lights of our Spiritual Life

Psalm 119:33-40

“Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.   Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.  Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.  Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!  Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.  Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared.  Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good.  Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!”

When most of us come to a red light we understand it means for us to stop, and a green light gives us the freedom to keep going.  It seems so simple, red means stop and green means we can keep going, but many a driver seems to forget that simple rule.  I was talking with my dear friend John Davis today it had been some time since our visit to Denver and I needed to know how he and his family were doing.  He shared that they had gotten about 8 inches of snow and it was still coming down, and they had to get out in it today.  He shared that the highways were being kept clean but not most of the side roads and that the one he was coming down had not been cleared and the light was changing from green to red and he was not able to stop safely so he ran it.  Today it was raining, and I also went through a light that was bright orange, and I’m sure red before I got clear of the intersection.  Both of us broke the law, both were guilty of breaking the law and though we did it for our own safety, we were guilty of being law breakers.

But that is not what the Psalmist is referring to, he wants the Lord to teach him the meaning of the law or statutes.  He desires to obey Gods laws for he understands that God wants obedience more than our gifts or performance.  The Psalmist is saying Lord teach me what you require and help me get the full understanding and I will be quick to do as you command.

The Psalmist understood that the world’s desire will always lead us to want what the world values, and that is stuff, not just any stuff but material things that others may not have, and power that gives us authority over others with the ability to govern or control.  A great example is a two-year-old child playing with other two-year-old children or better yet the congress of the United States, is the best example I know.  And I apologize to all the two-year-old children, most of them are teachable.

The Psalmist understands that the pursuit of self-gain leads to a life all about you, and that this life is not all about you, for that is chasing after the wind.  But when we are in pursuit of the ways of God, it brings great gain, and peace and rest.  Again, we see the word fear, many will replace that word with reverence and how that is needed for us to seek after the ways of our God.  But when it comes to obeying God, I do have a fear of not understanding when the light is going to change from green to red, and often I wish the yellow warning light was longer so that I do not continually have to ask for forgiveness.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Life founded in God's Word

Psalm 119:25-32

“My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!  When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes!  Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works.  My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word!  Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law!  I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me.  I cling to your testimonies, O Lord; let me not be put to shame!  I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!”

A famous man once said, “I have a dream” and if I were a dreamer this would be my dream, that people who go by the title of Christian would ask the Holy Spirit to open their eyes to the giver of life, joy, and peace.  The Psalmist had insights that most do not have, first, only God can give life, not hospitals, doctors, or medication, only God.  It is my belief that God uses, hospitals, doctors, and medication to help in times of sickness.  The Psalmist knew God’s word and had insight to find real life in Christ Jesus, and that it only had God’s teaching and statutes.  

I have shared how I use to do a religious thing of reading each day a Psalm and Proverb, well most days, unless an early schedule took that time.  However, I did not ask the Holy Spirit to open my mind to the wondrous works of our great God, I did not ponder on what I had read, but I checked it off in my mind as an act of worship.  I am not fond of the phrase “just begin by giving God five minutes each morning” no He is a jealous God, and He wants nothing to have priority over Him in your life, not husband/wife, not children, nor parents, He alone is to be our worship. 

The Bible is impossible for a non-believer to understand, they will always miss the meaning of what God has said through His prophets, disciples, and especially His only Son, Jesus Christ.  This is what the Bible has to share with you and me, in the apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians 2:14, “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”  When Paul uses the term natural man, he is referring to the person who has not by faith ask Jesus into their life as their authority.  Maybe you would like to see what Jesus has to say about such a person; in Matthew 13:13, “This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” 

Jesus makes it clear in John 5:39-40, that the Scriptures will guide us into His precepts and statutes but only in Him is their eternal life. “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”  In John 14:6, Jesus leaves no doubt that He is the giver of life.  “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” 

 C.S. Lewis had this to say about that Scripture and others of Jesus.  “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

From the Back Porch, 

Bob Rice

The Moment of Truth

This came from the box that was in my attic for 13 years and it came with many treasures.

The Moment of Truth

The moment of truth is here for you, This moment will never come again

I know the One who can make life begin, You, to can know Him, my Friend.  

He’ll help you get it all together if you Life is falling all apart.  Here’s the 

chance of a Lifetime for you, He gives your Life a new start.

If your Life is a puzzle to you, The pieces won’t fall into place.

I know the One who can fit them together, Come now and meet Him face to 

face.  He’ll help you get it all together if your Life is falling apart.

Here’s the chance of a Lifetime for you,  He’ll give your Life a new start. 

The moment of truth is here for you, This moment will never come again.

Jesus, the One who will make your Life new, Is here in this moment of truth.

This moment of truth is here for you, This moment will never come again.

Jesus, the One who will make your Life new, Is here in this moment of truth.

Moment of truth, your moment of truth.

                                                                                 Author unknown

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Words have meaning -

Psalm 119:17-26

“Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word.  Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.  I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me!  My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times. You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones, who wander from your commandments.  Take away from me scorn and contempt, for I have kept your testimonies.  Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes.  Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.”

Words have meaning and it has become apparent to this writer that the insolent and accursed, have always been among mankind.  Yes, we are witnessing a vast amount of them in our culture, both in the wealthy, highly educated and the young uneducated college students, who have bought into what the socialist professors are feeding them in our universities.  Let’s examine words like insolent, rude or disrespectful person.  What about accursed, it’s meaning is doomed, ill-fated, appalling, hateful, detestable, and vile.  The Holman translation in verse 21, “You rebuke the proud, the one under a curse, who wander from your commands.”  Have you wandered from God’s commands, I have, and it is always my flesh desiring to get it’s needs met outside of Christ?  Often, I had to confess that I wandered, and God is always faithful to rebuke for the purpose of bringing His children back into fellowship with Him.  He is never getting even with me for a disrespectful attitude, for He took His full wrath out on Jesus for all the sins of mankind.

Let’s look at one last word “bountifully,” and it’s meaning is abundantly, generously, profusely, and lavishly.  Now that is the way a child wants his Father to deal with him so a wise child does what the Father desires.  In fact, they search God’s word to make sure they are following His precepts and His instructions.  They have an understanding that the world and its desires are passing away, but the Word of God is forever.  They fully grasp they are strangers on earth, heaven is their home and they are just passing through.  This I know, heaven will be wherever Jesus is, and I will be with Him.

My prayer is that God’s Holy Spirit is your Counselor, as you look at the statutes and precepts of God’s Word.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

How can a young man keep his way pure?

Psalm 119:9-16

“How can a young man keep his way pure?  By guarding it according to your word.  With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!  I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.  Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes!  With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.  In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.  I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.  I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.”

How can a young man keep his way pure?  For most young men it’s not a question they give a lot of thought to, at least that was true in my life.  Pure is defined; clean, unpolluted, innocent, moral, wholesome, etc.  If you look at how the word is defined, most young men have “morality,” as not stealing, being truthful, and words like unpolluted are about water and things like that.  Now in my case taking a few peaches from the neighbors was not stealing, telling an untruth to mother about where I was going or where I had been was in my best interest, but it was not lying.  I began life being taught many Bible truths at home and at church but had already learned how to define them to get what I wanted, most of the time.  In truth, I was not pure, not clean, I was a lying little peach stealer.  We never took peaches in the daytime, but in the darkness of the night.  The Bible teaches that men love darkness because their deeds are evil.

If only I had learned to put God’s word in my heart so that I would not willfully break His statues and precepts.  If we look at Proverbs 1:8-19, you will see how easily the young inexperience man can be tempted.  The question in the year of the Lord, 2019, is how to train a young man to guard his heart to seek God’s ways and not the worlds.  Without dads that are training their sons in God’s precepts and instructions and living it out with him, the odds are they will allow the world to mold them.  I have often said my dad is one of my hero’s, in that he lived it out in front of us, but he did not take the time to train his sons in righteous living, he let mother and the church do that.  My brother and I learned how to get our needs met outside of Christ.

I was 27 and married when my barber asked me to go to a Bible Study and lunch at the Holiday Inn and I went only to see why this man who I admired was going.  It began a six-month journey of God sending the hounds of heaven after me.  A great battle was taking place in and around me, I wanted the peace and joy I saw in the men at the Bible study, but I also was fearful of submitting to God’s authority over my life.  One night in Victoria, Texas in a motel room, I opened a hotel Bible to Romans 10:9 and ask God to not just come into my life but be the Lord of my life.

If I were to tell you that from that night on my troubles ended, it would not be true, often I allowed those green highways of a life of getting my needs met outside of Christ to lead me away from His fellowship, but He is my Father and He loves me too much not to discipline me.

For many years my prayer has been as the psalmist; “Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes!  With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.  In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.  I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.  I will delight in your statutes.  I will not forget your word.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Are You Blameless before God?

Psalm 119:1-8

“Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!   Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!  You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.  Oh, that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!  Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.  I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules.  I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me!”

This psalm is an acrostic poem of twenty-two stanzas, following the letters of the Hebrew alphabet; within a stanza, each verse begins with the same Hebrew letter.  Nearly every verse contains one of eight words for God’s revelation; instruction, decree, precept, statute, command, judgment, promise, and word.  The yellow highlight is important but knowing what an acrostic is will not change your life.  My strongest gift in my gift mix is exhorter, and to be honest I had to look up acrostic, it is a “mind-bender.”  I’m not sure your understanding of that will not have an impact on your life.  If you and I could apply these truths on seeking God’s blessing, it would be a life changer.

My dear friend Dr. Bill Gillham would often say, “The Christian life is not difficult to live; it is impossible.  Jesus Christ is the only one who has ever really lived the Christian life.  He is the only one who can live it today, and that is exactly what He wants to do – through you (see John 15:5 and Galatians 2:20).  Never forget this truth, the cardinal sin of mankind is independence from God, we often live by how we feel and not by the Spirit of God.  With that backdrop, shall we explore what is meant by blameless.  It might come as a shock to all who have entered into Christ are blameless before God the Father.  Jesus Christ took your sin to the cross with Him and paid your full payment.  Many a person will say, if that is true a person can live as they desire, and I have only this reply, you are 100% correct.  But, if your desires are not to allow Christ to live out His life in you, if you do not desire to be totally committed to obedience, it would be a wise thing to check out 2 Corinthians 13:5.  

As we explore Psalm 119, your going to see these words; “Precepts” and if my count is correct it is used 21 times.  The word, “Statutes”, used 21 times and the word “Word” is used in some form 23 times.  This is what I found as the difference between a Precept and a Statute, “A law is imposed by a lord only on his own subjects, and so the precepts of any law presupposes that the recipient of the law is subject to the one who is giving the law.”  If you pass the test in 2 Corinthians 13:5, then you are subject to the Statutes and Precepts found in God’s Word.

Speaking for my own action and weakness of my flesh, I often do as the apostle Paul states in Romans 7:18-21, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So, I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.”  

As for myself I did a study on my kind of flesh, and learned that my flesh longed to be noticed, be first, to win, it often uses humor to get attention.  As a husband and dad, God designed me to need respect, often my actions do not earn that respect, but for my wife God tells her to respect me and me to love her even when I do not feel her respect.   Let’s close todays paper with this Key Concept from Dr. Bill, “Walking in the Spirit most often requires you to choose to walk by what God’s Word says rather than by what you feel.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Extol Him

Psalm 117

“Praise the Lord, all nations!  Extol him, all peoples!  For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord!”

What a blessed life I’ve lived, I had parents that would be considered good hardworking people, they had three children, I was the youngest.  When we were children we did not understand that everyone was not like our family.  We walked or took a city bus if we wanted to go downtown.  It was not often we went to town, for we were very limited on resources.  But once more we had food to eat and clean clothes, they may have been made or patched by Mom, but they were always clean.  In that I grew-up in Corpus Christi, most places we wanted to go were not over a five-mile walk, and our small Baptist Church was only about a two mile plus walk, and if the church had services the Rice family was there.  

Did I tell you about how I did not understand how blessed I was, living in Texas, in the South at a time when we had no T.V. or computers, and we had few toys, but we always had a ball, and we played baseball at the big park or football.  We picked or got picked by those that showed up to be on their team and we got a long and worked out our problems.  

Did I tell you that Texas is a big state, at that time one respected authority, teachers could give you a whipping and you did not tell your parents, or they might give you another one at home.  You said yes sir and yes mam to anyone ten years older than you, and in our home we ate together and prayed together.

What does that have to do with the two verses above?  In the environment we  grew-up in, our parents taught us to fear the Lord, and I learned that with the fear of the Lord, is the beginning of wisdom.  Now move forward 77 years later, many families do not have the fear of the Lord, they have no respect for authority, and often have no understanding why they are unhappy, and believe if they just had bigger and better stuff, life would be great.  Most are well educated, and many have good paying jobs, but live from pay-check to pay-check.  They have no hope for they have chosen a little god to serve, one that cannot give them what the soul longs for, a relationship with God’s only Son.

Now the kicker, as a follower of Christ are you home sick, are you looking forward to seeing your Lord?  He’s coming back and maybe you need to once again read the Revelation to John, chapters 19-21.  Because when Christ returns, all nations and all people will bow and give praise to the One that is faithful and loves all people and desires that no one parish, but that all come into a relationship with the Son.  So as did the Psalmist, we close this paper with Praise the Lord and Hallelujah!

From the Back Porch,

Bob  Rice

Easter Sunday Under Confinement

Easter Sunday under confinement

Tomorrow, Easter Sunday, we will be home, in my 78 years on planet earth, it will to my knowledge be the first time I have missed being at a place of worship on Easter Sunday.  It was not at a place of worship where I came to an understanding of my need of a Redeemer. 

It was in a motel in Victoria, Texas, after coming back from a bar.  I was full of knowledge about God, I believed in Jesus, I believed He was the Son of God, I believed He was born of a Virgin, I believed He died and rose again being my payment for sin.  I was also a Baptist, a member of a local church, I had walked the aisle and said the words, but it was not an act of repentance but embarrassment.

My barber of 13 years had really changed, I was giving credit to his wife because he had just got married, but I was wrong, he had an encounter with Jesus Christ.  I remember him asking me to attend a Bible study at lunch time at the Holiday Inn in Corpus Christi, I about fail out of the chair.  I went, not because I wanted to be at a Bible Study, but to see why this man I admired would want to do so.  I was so embarrassed when I got in the line to get our food and these men all had a Bible under their arms.  I prayed a prayer asking God to not allow anyone who knew me to see me with these religious guys.  I made a decision I would never come back, and that was the last haircut Bob Keese would ever give me.  I was wrong on both things for it was as if a magnet drew me back each week and it did for six months.

But that night the hounds of heaven were after me and I opened the motel Bible and it opened to Romans 10:9-10, “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”  That night I knew God was in the room with me, and I bowed my knee to His will and confessed my need  of a Redeemer, He invaded my life, and I became a new creation in Christ.  I experienced Grace, I brought not one thing to God, but that night because of the blood of Jesus Christ my sins that were many were for given and I was free.

The sad news is, and I’ve confessed, I’m a mess, He is still refining me to be like His Son.  It breaks my heart to think about the many times I rebelled and broke fellowship with my Father, but He never broke our Relationship.  I was His child, and often he disciplined me.

Let me share with you a small part of a letter from Oz Hillman, it begins with this Scripture, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

“Satan always defines your life based on your past; God defines you by your future.”

Have a great Easter if you need a place to Worship online, try Oakwoodnb.com services online 8:00 a.m., 9:15 and 10:45.  USA Central Time Zone

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice