Endurance and Hope

By Allen J. Huth, President of the Ezra Project |

How is life going for you? Do you need instruction, endurance, and encouragement from time to time? I encourage you to consider some thoughts from the Bible, the Book of Romans, chapter 15.

Verse 4 says, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

These blogs are brought to you by the Ezra Project which was started in 2002 with one purpose, to connect God’s people to God’s Word. It is my sincere belief this is one of the greatest needs in the Christian church today, for Christians to come back to the daily habit of being in the Scriptures. This verse reminds us why. It says, “…whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction…and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Living in a secular world today, we need Godly instruction. And where do we get it? We get it in the Scriptures.

We also need encouragement. And we need hope. This verse tells us we also get that in the Scriptures, but look at that little phrase in the middle. It says, and “…that through endurance…”,which means we must keep on, we must stay in the Scriptures, we must keep going. We need to make it a habit to stay in God’s Word on a daily basis.

That is my encouragement to you. Endure. Stay in the Scriptures. “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Then verse 13 says, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”  If you need some hope today, find it in the Word of God. And when you do, you will experience joy and peace in believing and have the power of the Holy Spirit within you.

Lord, we thank You so much for Your Word. We thank You it gives us instruction, it gives us encouragement, and it gives us hope. Holy Spirit we ask You to keep us in Your Word because we need instruction, we need encouragement, and we need hope. As we stay in Your Word, Holy Spirit grant us Your peace and Your joy. In the name of Jesus, amen.


Life After Death, Yes or No?

By Allen J. Huth, President of the Ezra Project |

Sometimes, when you hear a passage of Scripture,
you just need to shout the amen! This is how I feel after reading 1 Corinthians
15, so amen, hallelujah! This chapter is the first announcement of the
resurrection in 1 Corinthians.

Verses 3 and 4
is a summary of the gospel, “. . . that Christ died for our
sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
 that he was buried, that he was
raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”
That is a summary of the gospel. But did you notice that
it also says twice, “in accordance with the Scriptures.” God is not a
God of surprises. He already told us what would happen. This is a fulfillment
of what was already written in the Scriptures.

Now let’s cover
this issue about the resurrection. In verses 14-17, Paul writes, “And if
Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in
vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about
God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the
dead are not raised.
 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised,
your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”

However, verse 20 says, “But in fact Christ has been
raised from the dead.”
Friends,
without the resurrection, we have no Christianity. We have no faith. Paul goes
on to say as much in verse 32, “If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat
and drink, for tomorrow we die.’”
 

Without a
resurrection, without Jesus’ resurrection, there is no building block for
Christian faith. But, and don’t you love the “buts” in Scripture, but let’s go
down to verses 51-52, “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed,
 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the
last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised
imperishable, and we shall be changed.”
So there
is a resurrection, not only Jesus’ resurrection, but our own future
resurrections. And for those of us who believe in the resurrection, “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O
death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
(vs. 54-55).

And because we believe in the resurrection, we
believe in the resurrection of Jesus, we believe in our future resurrections,
we can say verse 58 together, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the
Lord your labor is not in vain.”
Hallelujah!
Praise God!

Thank You for the resurrection.
Thank You for Your own resurrection and thank You for our resurrections. Thank
You that You have defeated death and we have eternal life, all of us who
believe in Your resurrection. Hallelujah, Lord! We give You the praise, glory,
and honor. In Jesus’ name, amen!  


Fighting Over Stupid Things

By Allen J. Huth, President of the Ezra Project |

Judges 12 begins with the men of Ephraim
fighting with Jephthah, This seems to be a dumb reason to fight: “You didn’t
ask me to fight with you.” “Yes, I did. And you didn’t come so we went alone.
And we won.” So two tribes of Israel fight and kill each other, over what?

Let’s focus on this idea about fighting over
stupid things. Sometimes my wife and I fight over stupid things. If you are
married, surely you do too. Or you fight with your friends or you fight with
your employer or your employees or your family or your neighbors over the
dumbest things. We can learn from Judges 12, to curb that, to stop fighting
over stupid things. 

Rather than fight over stupid things, here are
four steps to prevent this from happening in your relationships:

Step 1–Evaluate what you were about to fight over. Is it going to be
worth it?

Step 2–If not, disengage. Curb your tongue. Don’t say the next
antagonizing comment. Let it go.

Step 3–Walk away. Remove yourself from the situation. Doing so prevents
the stupid thing from becoming a bigger thing.

Step 4–Maybe, maybe, even apologize for letting the stupid thing get to
you. Say you are sorry rather than get dragged into a fight not worth fighting.

Try these four steps to avoid fighting over
stupid things.

Lord, help me not get involved in fighting over
stupid things. Help me remember, help me apply these four simple steps:
evaluate what I’m going to be fighting over, disengage, walk away, or apologize
before the fight ever starts. By doing these things, Lord, I maintain my
testimony for You. Help me, Lord, to be more Christ-like with my spouse, with
my children, with my family, with my friends, with my colleagues at work, with
my neighbors.

You remind us in the Book of James, Lord, that “The
tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our
members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of
life, and set on fire by hell”
(James 3:6). You go on to say that, “No
human being can tame the tongue”
(James 3:7), but You can help us and we thank You for that. For
Your Word says, again in James, “From the same mouth come blessing and
cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so”
 (James 3:10).

Bless me, Lord, and check my spirit the next
time I get ready to fight over some stupid things. Prevent it. Help me. In
Jesus’ name, amen.