Hope for Life Blog

I know what they felt like:

I understand how Abraham felt when he said “I am a foreigner and a visitor among you” in Genesis 23:4.

I have experienced the loneliness that is expressed by Moses when he names his first born, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land” in Exodus 2:22.

I know what it’s like to travel to someplace for the first time, not speaking the language, not understanding the customs, not recognizing the sign for the bathrooms, being alone.

I have been a stranger in a foreign land.

I know those feelings, that dread, fear, because that’s how I felt when I went to Cuba for the first time two years ago.

Let me tell you about that first trip:

The flight was 3 hours late, arriving at 12:30 in the morning. After going through customs and immigration we stepped outside and saw Tony Fernandez, who had been Herald of Truth’s representative in that island nation for 14 years, waiting for us. I recognized him from pictures taken by my colleagues Tim Archer and Steve Ridgell on their previous visits.

After a very short night’s sleep in Havana, the trip to Matanzas, about two hours northeast, is somewhat of a blur only highlighted by the people we met: Ammiel Perez who is the minister of the Havana Church, some radio listeners who had learned about Jesus from Tim’s daily program, the men who were rebuilding an old city bus to be used to pick up members of the congregation living in the surrounding country side, the visit to the farm where food is grown to give to church members, and meeting Tony’s wife Liudmila and his young daughter Susana.

Then we went to the church building. I had seen it in pictures, but being there reminded me that a courtyard of a home with a corrugated sheet metal roof is just as holy as any building we have in the United States. Suddenly, I felt at home. I sat down and just thought about all that God had done there. And that tomorrow, Sunday, I would worship here.

I was both anxious and eager that Sunday morning as Tony drove us the 20 minutes from our hotel in Varadero back to Matanzas. The closer we got the more anxious and less eager I got. How would they greet me, an old white haired Yankee?

That morning I was the last of our group to enter. I, the stranger in a foreign land, was greeted with smiles, hugs, kisses; I was a distant relative returning home. It didn’t matter that all I could say was “halo”, “gracias”; it didn’t matter that I was different.

I had felt like Abraham and Moses, a stranger in a foreign land, but I was and am family.

It’s the same thing that the apostle Paul talks about in Ephesians 2:19-22.

Now, Therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

They and I are no longer strangers or foreigners. And while we live far apart, we are family! We are part of the household of God. We are brothers and sisters because of Jesus.

This last March I again traveled back to Matanzas and again worshipped with my Cuban church family. We were united physically and spiritually.

And I thanked them for welcoming me home.

So here is the question for you: Are you a stranger in a foreign land?

And another: Do you want to be part of a family and will always care about you?

And then: How do you think you’ll find it?

It was something that happened on a regular basis, at least from the image of the Hebrew language, the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

But this time it was different:

• Both the man and woman had disobeyed God

• They had hidden themselves from God

• God was walking alone

• God must have known why it was different because He is God

Then the question that could be heard throughout the garden, by all of God’s creatures “Where Are You?”

This is how Genesis 3:8-9 reads: “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him ‘where are you’.”

I am struck by the fact that immediately after they disobeyed Him, God still wants to know where they are. And while there are consequences to their action, it is God who makes them clothes (v 21) and even after they left the garden, the man and the woman acknowledge God as the one from who life comes. Gen. 4:1

God is always asking “where are you?”, even after you have sinned against Him.

How many times after the Jews leave Egypt did they say they would do what God has commanded, and didn’t?

How many times in the book of Judges does it say “and the Jews did what was right in their own eyes” and had to have God rescue them by sending judge after judge?

Saul, David and the prophets personally and representationally claimed to follow God and then disobeyed.

And still God called, wanting to know where they were.

It is in Luke 15:4-9, that Jesus tells about the Shepherd who searches until he finds the last sheep and rejoices. It was the Shepherd who did the looking.

It is God who sent His Son to allow us to live with Him (John 3:16) and then read verse 17. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that through Him might be saved.”

It is the final book of the Bible, Revelation, where this idea becomes complete, 3:20 “Behold I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to Him and dine with him and he with me.”

God, Jesus, take the initiative, they are at the door.

The action of God at the beginning of the world-calling to know where you are; knowing that you have disobeyed Him is the same at the end of the world as He stands at the door waiting for you to open it.

So when God asked you “where are you?” why haven’t you answered?

Do you feel unworthy to open the door?

If you have answered and opened the door, tell me what that felt like.

It would be impossible to calculate the thousands of miles they trudged, how often their feet and muscles ached from the journey or if they suffered from “Ship-lag” crossing seas. Yet, secular history tells of the “doubter” who went to India and maybe as far as China, the fisherman who brought his brother to the Messiah who traveled the Volga to what is now the Ukraine or the zealot who took the message to Egypt and then to Persia, modern day Iraq.

They, Paul, whose missionary journeys are detailed in the book of Acts, and many more fulfilled their mission. This mission given by Jesus to his disciples, and those who were called Apostles: and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the Earth. Acts 1:8

The importance of being a witness is reaffirmed throughout Acts 1:22, 2:32, 3:15, 5:32, 10:39-41.

Witness is to publicly attest that what was said or done actually happened because one has seen it.

History notes that Christians traveled the width and breadth of their world, turning it upside down, witnessing of the works and words of the Messiah.

We, the present day followers of Jesus, are the progeny of those men and women of the first century. The mission is now ours! With 2/3 of the 6.7 billion of the world’s population who don’t know Jesus, we have much to do.

We must fulfill the mission given them centuries ago and has been given us as well.

Are you a witness? Tell us how, where and when? Most importantly tell us WHY? If you are not then what keeps you from doing so?

The question is always blunt, direct, personal, and demanding. Once asked, it must be answered. The challenge, once made, requires a response validating your position. The question is not politically correct and the answer offers no public relations subtleties.

“How do you know?” How do you know God is real? How do you know there is a heaven or hell? And maybe the most important question of all, how do you know you’re going to heaven?

To answer those How do you know? questions, scripture says: “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.” I Peter 3:15-16

This is one of those interesting human dilemmas that we feel trapped by. When we try to explain how we know, there is a fear that others will interrogate us as to why we made such a dreadfully poor decision. Yet look at the words. It says we are to give a reason for our faith. It’s not a debate to prove whose reasons are best; it’s not a dictate that everyone believes exactly the same on every subject; and it’s not collective wisdom. It’s why you, personally and individually, believe. How did you come to those conclusions?

When we stand before God Almighty at the final judgment, it will only be you and Jesus who have to answer for you. The opinions, beliefs and choices of others will not be admissible.

So, how DO YOU know? Tell me what you know and more importantly, how you know it……..

“Must, must, must – all of us get in our minds that this world is not our home, and that life, at best, is transitory.”

The email from a friend of forty years was prompted by his just finding out that another long time friend was diagnosed with cancer and the future was clouded at best. Things change when we realize our time is short. Oh, I know we cavalierly say that we’re all terminal, it’s just a matter of when we die not if. Yet, bravado usually is short lived when the real end is near.

As believers in an Almighty God we mentally, sometimes verbally, and even on rare occasions orally acknowledge the faith we confidently hope to see His face in heaven as promised in Revelation 22:4.

Yet we live our lives as if our earthly existence is the only place we’ll ever live. We are supposed to be in the world but not of the world. As followers of the Messiah, we are to be different, with our focus on heaven. Not on a car, a job, or a house in the “good” neighborhood.

I am reminded of the words Albert Brumley penned in 1937:

This world is not my home, I’m just passing through.
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.

The images of being pilgrims, strangers, wanderers in this world are in both the Old and New Testaments. That the journey is not complete until we are with Jehovah Raffa as described in Revelation 21. So what about the here and now? How do we exist on this side of Heaven? The words of Jesus reverberate through the centuries: “I have given them Your Word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.” John 17: 14-15.

It seems most opportune that as a new year begins, we must recalibrate our perspectives and live as if we truly believe that “life, at best, is transitory” and being with God is where we want to live.

So how do we recalibrate? How do you prepare to be a pilgrim in a land that is not your home? What does that really mean? Yeah I got the questions, it’s the answers that keep me searching. Let me know what you think.

“I know a little boy who is dying today”, those words written by a Hospice chaplain in Northwest Arkansas got my attention.

It was unusual to have one so young in Hospice care and yet again not as rare as we might like to think. He was four years old and had never had a pain-free day. For one whose existence was short-changed, he knew the important things of life. When he had heard them repeating the Lord’s Prayer, instead of saying “Amen” at the end, he lifted his little hands above his head and shouted “YAY”.

It was a July Tuesday when he died. The chaplain described it this way, “This four year old knows real life now. He was lovingly taken to a waiting angel by his parents and brother!

“For Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. YAY!”

YAY indeed!
So tell me why you might find this true story interesting or challenging?

by Bill Brant
It doesn’t say if he ran or how far he went or whether he was out of breath when he got there. It does say “the first thing he did” was find his brother. There was an immediate sense of urgency in what he needed to do.

That story is tucked away in the first chapter of the Gospel of John. Verses 41 and 42 state: “The first thing Andrew did was find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah.’ And he brought him to Jesus.”

The procedure is relatively simple: Find something eternally important, tell someone about it right away, then take them to it. That’s what Andrew did. Each of us can be a part of the Andrew Factor. Telling about Jesus and then bringing the one to whom you are talking to Jesus.

Most of the time Christians are good about proclaiming Jesus. We just have trouble with the bringing part. We are afraid of offending or rejection, abhor being uncomfortable. Imagine what wouldn’t have happened if Andrew hadn’t brought Simon Peter to Jesus.

The Andrew factor tells about Jesus, asks for the commitment, then takes people to Jesus.

Who was your Andrew?
What would have happened to you if no one told you about Jesus?
Do you have the Andrew Factor?

Maybe it’s a symptom of age. Maybe the experiences of accumulated years have magnified sensitivity. Maybe as the forces of nature rub and buffet, erosion of will and determination has taken its toll.

Regardless of how or why, I find myself much more aware of what it means. I understand the incredible super-human effort it must have taken to stay there. I contemplate the morbidity of enduring until death for the cause. What I cannot understand is why was it done for me? Why, before the world was created, did God Almighty formulate a plan where His Son would die and by doing so, make me worthy to live with the Father forever?

I don’t comprehend, but I thankfully accept and it’s personal:

[quote]“For God so loved Bill Brant that He gave His only begotten Son,
so that Bill would believe on Him and have everlasting life.” (John 3:16 personalized)[/quote]

With that too, comes realization. It ambushes me at unsuspected moments like when at my fellowship the lyrics from a song float through the auditorium:

[quote]Behold the man upon the cross
My guilt upon His shoulders
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there

………………[/quote]

I can’t explain the tears. I’m old school and old schoolers don’t cry. But it’s personal now.

People talk theology. Jesus lived His life and then gave it up to each of us. He didn’t talk. He did. He died so you could be with Him and God forever. It’s personal for Him and for you.

What is holding you back from accepting this gift? Do you think you’ve done too many bad things that you can’t be forgiven of? Too much, too often, in too deep? Talk with me:

[r]Bill Brant[/r]

Promotion Sunday is an annual tradition in most of our congregations, usually taking place in the fall but occasionally at another time of the year. Somewhere around middle school you don’t get promoted anymore, you just go to your age appropriate Sunday morning Bible class.

At the Southern Hills church of Christ I have the honor to teach the Primetimers class, those 65 and older. There is an often repeated joke that “when you get promoted out of Brant’s class, you go to heaven”. I laughed because it’s funny and lately for a number of our class members it’s become true.

With the recent passing of a dear sweet member of our class, I began to think what her “promotion to heaven” was like. I envisioned her being met by her husband of 62 years and an embrace that had waited four years. Then hand in hand they began to walk down those transparent streets of gold as he introduced her to friends, for by now he knew everyone. He showed her all of the glories of the City Four Square, because by now he knew where everything was.

And then he took her the throne room where the awe in awesome was impossible to describe what she saw, felt and heard. There in the center was the great God Almighty and Jesus, her Savior, at His right. As she was drawn closer the promise of Revelation 22:4 was hers, for she saw His face. In a whisper that reverberated throughout heaven, He said, “My child, welcome home.”

Someday we all hope to get promoted to heaven where we will see His face and hear the Hosanna of Joy and Welcome.
I don’t know about you, but there have been times when I’ve doubted that I was worthy of being promoted, heaven was too fine a place for me. You ever feel that way?

I know that Jesus died for sins, but I always thought it was for someone else’s wrongs, because I screwed up so much, how could He want me? Been there? Done That?

Bill Brant

Have you ever wondered how he can stand it? Isn’t there some point when He says “Enough is enough”? Don’t you think He must retch when we curse Him, use His name to curse others, justify killing men, women, children, because He is “on our side”?

When does He draw the line and say “The horrid things you do to yourselves and the planet you live on is more than I can stomach. Go to Ghennal!” Ghenna is used only twelve times in the New Testament, 11 by Jesus Himself as He talks about the place separated from God. The place that Revelation calls “the second death..” The place where there is eternal damnation and suffering.

The question remains, after consistent disappointment and disregard for His love, when does the Creator tell his creation to Go To Hell?

Since before the world was formed, God hasn’t given up on his children. He offers them, you by name, a way to live with Him forever.

God Almighty offers you that hope:
Unearned, undeserved, unexplainable

God allowed His son to pay the debt of our sins that we were/are incapable of satisfying. And Jesus gives us the receipt that simply says redeemed.

And yet do you think God’s told you to go to hell? One of the nagging questions that we as his creations have is: How, after all that I’ve done, can He forgive me? So what do you think?

~Bill Brant