Looking Forward

Hebrews 11:13-16

Jan and I have been blessed to travel to some of the coolest places on this earth, and we have fond memories of many of those places, but as fond as the memory is, it was always good to return to the United States and Texas.  I also traveled some in my business and enjoyed seeing the historical Egypt and many countries in the Gulf area.  But I was an alien and stranger to many of those countries in the Gulf area; their culture and customs were foreign to everything I knew and loved.

Is that not what the Scripture is proclaiming in verses 13-16, that Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob all were looking forward to a city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.  As we look at verse 13-16, “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.  If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.  But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”

We have all heard the saying; “Everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one is in a hurry to get there.”  Have you ever given any thought to that statement, because though said in jest, it has the ring of truth?  As stated above, we enjoy travel but we always like coming back to Canyon Lake, Texas, to our little dwelling.  I cannot speak for you and I’m not going to speak for Jan, but my problem is Canyon Lake, Texas, feels like home.  I will acknowledge that heaven is my future, and I will acknowledge that in heaven I no longer will have pain, struggles, apprehension; all of that is exchanged for total peace, love, and oneness with my Lord.  I will no longer need time, and I will be in the presence of Creator God the Father, and Son and Holy Spirit, and will not be afraid.  I will experience dimensions that the human mind will never even dream about, I will see a new world and a new heaven, and I will understand truth. 

So what is my problem, could it be that I do not believe what is written, could it be that I do not see myself as an alien and stranger in this world?   Could it be that 1 John 2:15-17 has not registered in my heart and mind?  “Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions – is not from the Father but is from the world.  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”  Dear Jesus, renew my mind and heart to see myself as a stranger in Canyon Lake, Texas, who is awaiting his trip home.

Form the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

"Mustard seed Faith"

Hebrews 11:11

Do you recall the TV advertisement, it went something like this; “When E F Hutton talks, people listen?”  The purpose of the advertisement was to imply that when they spoke it was life changing; they had the key to your success.  It was a good ad, but it was just that, an advertisement, but when Jesus speaks it is life changing, if we only have “Mustard seed faith.”  On two occasions Jesus addressed “Mustard seed faith,” one is found in Matthew 17:21 and the other time was in Luke 17:6.  Picking-up the story in verse five, “The apostles said to the Lord, Increase our faith!”  “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”  Now there lies the problem, everyone knows it is impossible to plant a tree in the sea, so we just dismiss it, much like I dismissed the E F Hutton advertisement.  Could it be that we do not live our life on the fact “that Jesus tells the truth”?  Could it be that we do not believe that our Lord keeps His promises, that He is faithful, that He is God of the impossible?  How do you define faith; Hebrews 11:1, states; “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Or as my friend Carroll often said, “It is acting like Jesus, tells the truth.”

Sarah had “mustard seed faith” in a God who keeps His promises.  Stop for a moment, look at the facts, Abraham is 100 years of age and his wife Sarah is 90 years of age, do the math, it is totally impossible for her to conceive.  Sure, we read the Bible, and we know the story of Isaac, but the rest of the story is that both Abraham and Sarah try to help God fulfill the promise of a son.  If we look at Genesis 17:18-19, “And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”  God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son and you shall call his name Isaac.”  Now they have a crisis of faith, for so many years they have hoped for a son, now they have to believe, they have to have “mustard seed faith” in the impossible.

Hebrews 11:11, gives this account of Sarah’s “mustard seed faith,” “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.”  Dear Father, will you give each of us who desires fellowship with your Son, the “Mustard seed faith” that our Lord has told us about.

Form the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

God has provided a GPS

Hebrews 11:8-10

A GPS would not have been any help to Abraham, for the Scripture states that, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance.  And he went out, not knowing where he was going.”  We read these verses and we do have some understanding of what is being said, are you kidding me, most of us cannot connect with what Abraham has done.  First, let us understand that Abraham was a big city boy, in that he grew-up in Ur (of the Chaldeans), now known as Tell Mugheir.  This city was excavated by three men, first came J.E. Taylor (1854), H. R. Hall (1919), and C. Leonard Woolley (1922-34).  This is what Woolley found, four square miles of the city of Abraham’s time.  He found extensive quays, many commercial buildings and numerous two-story homes with courts, fountains, fireplaces, and sanitary systems.  Chapels for worship were scattered throughout the residential area, as well as school buildings with clay books – showing that they had taught reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, and history.  They worshiped or prayed to Nannar, the moon god, so it seemed to be a pagan culture.

He left Ur and travel about 600 miles to Haran, and in the Mari tablets and other sources, Haran is references as a flourishing city when Abraham lived in that area.  Now Scripture only tells us that while living with his father in Haran, he received a message (a calling) from the Lord.  This message was to leave his father and all his associations, and go to a new country, a country where God would be his GPS (God’s Promised Supplier).  This was the promise; divine favor, great posterity, and that he would be a blessing to all the nations or families of the earth.  It is also believed that Abraham, who was called Abram at this time was very successful in business, and it should be noted that he did not have a Bible as we do to give him insight into the will of God.

I have no understanding of this kind of faith, do you?  My faith is very small in a great and mighty God, who often has to drop a hammer on my head to get my attention.  Picking-up the story in verse 9, “By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.  For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”  Could our problem be we are not walking by faith, and the by product is we are not looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God?  Hebrews 11:6, came into my mind; “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

The Righteousness that comes by Faith

Hebrews 11:7

Verse seven tells us the following: “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household.  By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”  Why did God pick Noah?  Why did Noah listen to God in the first place, and what do we know about this man whom God confided in for such an important task?

Noah’s early life is somewhat a mystery; he does not appear in Scripture until he is five hundred years old.  If you go back to the book of beginnings, in the fifth chapter of Genesis you find a list of Adam’s descendants to Noah.  If we begin with Noah’s great grandfather, Enoch, we find he fathered a son at age 65 who he named Methuselah.   Now Noah’s great grandfather Enoch is a man worthy of our listing because verse 24 states; “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.”  Wow, a great grandfather who was translated by God and did not have a physical death, because of his close dependence and walk with the Lord.  And look at Noah’s grandfather Methuselah who was the longest-living man, according to Genesis 5:25-27.  And what do we know about Noah’s dad, “Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”  (Genesis 5:28)  It is in verse 32 we have a second mention of this man Noah; “After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”  Somewhat a slow starter, it would seem.

What kind of society did Noah live in?  He lived in a desperately corrupt age, much like the one you and I live in.  Genesis 6:1-7 gives a clear picture of the moral darkness and yet Noah’s life was a light to those around him.  I believe redemption is the heart of God, and Noah, who lived in this evil and moral darkness, yet found favor in the eyes of the Lord.  In chapter 7: 9, “These are the generations of Noah.  Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation.  Noah walked with God.”  Noah, had learned well from his great-grandfather, grandfather, and his father, and their dependence on God was carried on, their faithfulness is seen in the life of Noah.  As I stated earlier, we live in a society much the same as Noah.  Often, we look past what God calls sin, and we give it another name, but verse 11 tells us we should be looking only from God’s point of view.  “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.” 

As a grandfather of two fine young men, this study has inspired me to be the kind of example that Noah had in his granddads.  As I was writing this, a Scripture came into my mind from the gospel of Luke: "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.” (Luke 17:26-27)."  And three verses later, Jesus said; “so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

How to prepare our vessel to be filled

Hebrews 11:4-6

How much faith do you place in the precious resource, water?  It is something that seems to be abundant.  We fill our swimming pools, and we have lakes, rivers and oceans full of it.  The experts tell us that we have vast aquifers of drinkable water, and the same experts are telling us we are running out of this precious liquid.  In some parts of the United States of America the reclaiming of rainwater is legal, in a few of the Western states, including Utah, Washington and Colorado, have long outlawed individuals from collecting rainwater on their own properties because, according to officials, that rain belongs to someone else.  I’ve also taken notice that water rights are being bought up by people like T. Boone Pickens, who thinks water is the new oil—and he's betting $100 million that he's right.

So this thought came into my mind, have I taken for granted this resource, how much faith have I put in having water that is essential for life on planet earth?  Is not water, especially rainwater that falls on my property a gift from God?  With that information and the fact that our water provider in Canyon Lake is raising our water rates over the next year 78%, I began to search, with diligence, how to reduce my dependence on our provider. 

I must tell you that much of my searching has been looking to others who make claims of knowing how to reclaim this essential for living on planet earth.  Much of what I’ve done is by faith, that after the output of time and money, the rain will come and my investment will provide for my family this crucial resource of life.  How in the world does water, a thing we can touch, drink, and feel, having anything to do with faith?  In Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  My thinking from the beginning of this project was, unless God blesses me with rain, all my efforts are in vain, I’m preparing a vessel but I’m looking to God to fill it.

As you look back into history mankind has tried to go it alone, live life on their terms, often acting as if there is no God.  Paul the apostle, in his letter to the Romans gives insight to our problem; chapter 1: 19-20, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.  So they are without excuse.”  Our nation was founded on God given rights, and though our nations has moved away from God, let a hurricane or earthquake cause death and destruction, and they are quick to call it an act of God.  Also your insurance company believes in God, and you will find written in your policy, acts of God.  So it is not that government and insurance companies do not believe in God when it works to their benefit, but could it be that they do not want to submit to His authority.

But if our vessel is going to enjoy the fullness of God, we must prepare it to be filled, just like I have, by faith, prepared the tanks to receive water.  Verse six of the manufacturers handbook gives us some great instruction on how to prepare our vessel to be filled with the Spirit.  “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”  God has all the answers to all your questions, and like the water, it requires us to seek, listen and then obey, and wait for our tanks to be filled.

Form the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

What the Book has meant to me

November 3, 2011

When I was just a child, Mother and Dad gave it to me, they said son, in this book is a lot of history. It also will guide your path and bring you victory, but you must not be foolish, read it daily.  And often at my father’s knee he read the book to me, and when we went to church they opened it up you see.  The book was read and taught, its many stories astonished me. That book has a special place in my childhood memories.

But as a teenager that book was put on the shelf and out of my mind, only to be carried to church and back home.  I still remember its message, how the Christ had died for me, but it was not in keeping with what the world had to offer me.

For many years the book only served one thing you see, it took space on our table so others, like Mom and Dad could see.  But then something happened, it changed my life you see, a group of men took an interest in me.  The one who began to cut my hair at the age of thirteen ask me to come to a study of the book that can set a man free.

I had no clue that I was not free and resented it you see, that someone like my barber could say such a thing to me.  He told me the Christ, who I claimed to know, had told the same thing to some other people just like me. That if I knew the truth, the truth would set them free.  I went with my barber to the book study, on setting men free, and those five men were used of God, to help one like me.

It took many months before it came to me that life was in Jesus and that was the beginning of my victory.  I found He was life and that He would come and live in me; now that book is so precious, it brings such joy to me, it helps me walk and talk the life of liberty and yet, I understand you may not agree with me.

So I prayed this prayer; Dear Jesus will you open our eyes to see, the wonder of being in a relationship with thee.  The freedom from wants, and the joy of giving to those who are in need, like widows and orphans and others you send to me, and the freedom to let you have your way with me.

Now this book is not magic nor is it a good luck charm, its often called the “Word of God” and many just call it the “Bible” but in it is all “Truth” and its authors are many, but it comes from just one source.  Timothy states it best; All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

Bob Rice

What you believe about Creation

Hebrews 11:3

What you believe about creation will have a profound affect on what you believe about the Creator!  Why did God give so little information about His creations?  What do you believe about creation, and how does that stack-up with the word of God?  I have been taught that you can have it both ways, you can believe in “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.   And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:1-2) And you can take some of what is taught in our public schools, but they collide, one is true and the other is false.  If you keep reading in chapter 1 you have six days of creation, it is all about what God did in His creation.  He took nothing and spoke it into being something.  Now let’s get real, the only way you are going to accept that is by faith, and faith is always going to be challenged by men who refuse to accept what they cannot understand.  Science that does not have a belief in God will always become a creator of its own creation.

In that I was interested in the reason for writing this paper of man’s best theories on how the earth was formed, I took the easy route and looked in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia “The history of the Earth describes the most important events and fundamental stages in the development of the planet earth from its formation 4.6 billion years ago to the present day.  Nearly all branches of natural science have contributed to the understanding of the main events of the Earth's past. The age of Earth is approximately one-third of the age of the universe.  Immense geological and biological changes have occurred during that time span.”  Wow, no God, and if you keep reading they will give you a clear understanding or theories, that is often stated as an absolute and there in lies the problem.  I think it is important to remember that these are the same people who tried to sell us Global warming and evolution.

Personally, I am a believer in; God spoke into being the earth in six days and then he rested.  Because He is God and our Creator, I have no need to believe He needed anything, for a God who cannot create something from nothing is too small to place our faith in.  John Byrd has this to say on the subject, “A defeater is a belief held to be clearly and completely incompatible with another belief. In other words, if one is true, the other is false.
In the evolution vs. creationism debate, there are numerous biblical Scriptures that are evolution defeaters. The apostle Paul made several statements that, if true, indisputably defeat or refute the evolution theory premise that man evolved from a pre-existing ape-like creature.”  Hebrews 11:3, “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”  I have no doubt that if you believe the material that is taught in our schools, colleges, and university you will find all of their theories have at the core, a material substance and that is what John Byrd calls a defeater.

I personally can testify to being a new creation, by the same God, Jesus Christ, who spoke everything into being, both seen and unseen.  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice