John H. on March Madness and the glory of God

To the Glory of God by John Henson on JDHenson's Blog

... instead of giving so much time to the consideration of political candidates, worldly pursuits, money and how it’s spent or some of the things that tend to monopolize our attention, wouldn’t it be great if we dedicated this month to the glory of God and teaching his gospel?
Amen to that, John. A good word for March Madness or any moonstruck month or dizzy day of the week.
via Friendica

Last place

Nobody wants to come in last. Last place is the position of shame. It means either lack of ability or a lack of esteem by others. Nobody seeks to be last on purpose. Unless ...

But when you are invited, go and take the least important place, so that when your host approaches he will say to you, 'Friend, move up here to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all who share the meal with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.
Luke 14:10-11 NET

Haman, in the book of Esther, is an example of one who sought to exalt himself. He wound up on the gallows that he himself had built for another.

Jesus recommends humility to us. The point is not that of receiving honor from others, but from God.

Exalted God, who am I that you should take note of my needs, to offer me the gift of your Son, of your Spirit, of your presence?

The world's only hope : Chuck's devotional

Billions of people will wake up today, and they’ll eat, drink, work, play, read and love and live.

They’ll laugh and cry.

They’ll marry and divorce.

They’ll hug and fight and hold hands.

About 150,000 or so will die.

via chuckwebster.org

I might make the last sentence stronger, but there's not much to disagree with on Chuck Webster's devotional. Click the link above and read his devotional for today.

My content on the internet today so far

Check out items now up on the web this morning from my wee little brain:

* Devotional: God expects fruit
* Quick Bible Truths: Speak for God
* United Prayer: As the Winds Whip Up

More to come, most likely. Still waiting on my IP to unfreeze access to our server, so I can post to our half-dozen sites there, including my main blog.

I've turned to Posterous for a number of efforts lately. Posting by email is easy, though sometimes the format is a bit quirky.

The devotional is what I've been translating from Portuguese and posting on my personal blog.
via Friendica

Post from Friendica

What's been happening on ~Friendica since I've been gone over the past several days?

It's probably a server issue or Friendica eating resources, but I often get a not-available message when I try to access the network. I get this a lot, so I tend not to get on Friendica as much. #justsaying
via Friendica

God expects fruit

Jesus hopes to find fruit in the life of his people. If he doesn't find it, judgment follows.

Then Jesus told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.
So he said to the worker who tended the vineyard, 'For three years now, I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and each time I inspect it I find none. Cut it down! Why should it continue to deplete the soil?'
But the worker answered him, 'Sir, leave it alone this year too, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it. Then if it bears fruit next year, very well, but if not, you can cut it down.'"
Luke 13:9-12 NET

The Lord is patient, as the parable teaches, but the main theme is imminent judgment. God is patient, but his patience has a limit. Jesus told this story against Israel, which would be rejected as God's people. The nation failed to do his work. It was being given one last chance to change.

The same principle applies to the church and to Christians. If we fail to do his will on earth and to do his work, he will cut us off.

Will the patience of God result in our repentance, or will we continue to be unproductive?
 

Good and bad: BibleGateway adds Reformation Study Bible

BibleGateway has made the Reformation Study Bible available on its site. On the one hand, it's another resource that, judiciously used, can be helpful, but it is unfortunate, for being tendentious, for a Bible site.

I've asked several times where the Bible version sites are that offer only the Bible. I know of only one so far: the NLT which also offers a great, short URI for Twitter posting.

So I'd like to urge brethren and especially House to House, who have started up a Bible site, to work in this direction. The latter has only the KJV and ASV — neither ideal choices, though we understand why they have them: they're copyright-free.

Perhaps others don't feel the reluctance I do about linking to sites with teaching material I disagree with. (As I recall, that's part of the reason that HTH started up HTHBible.) So perhaps not everyone will feel the disadvantage I do to BibleGateway's addition of the RSB.

Cloudburst background: 'O Gracious Light'

I still can't access my personal site, so here on the Posterous blog goes the background post to today's Cloudburst Poetry offering, "O Gracious Light."

Lately, I've been doing a number of lyrics for songs. So today's poem may wind up on some sheet music before long as well. But first the Cloudburst subscribers get it.

As I mentioned in the email, the list server is down, too (the sky is falling!), so I sent it straight to the addresses on the list. I get a weekly email report of those, so I have them tucked away for days such as these.

The first stanza, of four, is below, and was suggested to me by text somewhere in some Daily Office or Common Prayer, which I can't find right at the moment. I reproduced "everliving" as it was in the text, so don't bicker with me on that.

O gracious light, so pure and bright,
The Father everliving;
O Lord so blessed, the Christ of rest,
The Son of God is giving.

Not a syllable too many, and none missing.

The poem was written on Leap Day. Appropriate, no?

Before long, I may be moving the Cloudburst site, so take a gander at the old one before it goes into virtual oblivion. Check out the FAQ and why I don't publish the Cloudburst list on the Internet.

Not the server, but my provider?

People in the US are accessing BNc, FMag, my blog etc. But I can't. So it's apparently something down this way, my provider or Anatel, the BigGov bad guy.

All sorts of stuff is happening. Our email list service is down, for one. The owner says his IP did a really bad booboo.

Also, the Missus tried to change money today, and the system debited our bank account without spitting out the cash. So she's gone to the bank to straighten that out. Last time this happened, it took three months to get our money back. While they enjoyed using it.

And Breitbart died. Is all this a communist plot, a leftist conspiracy?

Jetsam: Good number in our reading group

Last night we had a larger group than normal in our Bible reading group, some 16 people. And it was hot, but the participants stayed with it through the end. Afterwards, at the earlier suggestion of Ricardo, who brought his parents and mother-in-law from Taubaté, we ordered pizza. By the time I got back from taking sr. Benedito home, it was going on midnight.

• The young couple we've been studying with said last night after the group that they want to be baptized. Scheduling will keep us from studying the last lesson in the series we're using until Monday. We pray they remain firm in their resolve to obey the Lord.

• Our server appears to be down. I can't access BNc, my blog, or the Brazilian mag sites. Should I wake up our webmaster?

• Time to get organized today, after being up early.