Belmont Blogs

Compass Chat: Prepared

webmaster@belmontag.org (Thomas Stack) — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 16:00:58 GMT

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks... - Luke 12:32-48

Be prepared. Being prepared is a state of readiness. We have plans. We have supplies. We have contingencies. We have a starting point envisioned. We have thought through the steps or stages necessary along the way. Perhaps there was some investigation or analysis done in advance. We are trying to have all our ‘ducks in a row’ as the saying goes.
But here is a preparation worthy of time and effort: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

Compass Chat: “Checking Out”

webmaster@belmontag.org (Thomas Stack) — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 14:41:04 GMT

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. Romans 12:3

Hotels have check-in times and check-out times ; like check-in after 3 PM and check-out by 11 AM. If you have a three day reservation and check out at 10:30 PM in the evening before the check-out time of day three, you are checking out early – but still paying for the full third day. Seems confusing or perhaps unfair, but those are the rules of the business.
When we check-in to the commitment of serving the Lord and belonging to the Body of Christ, His church, we learn that “Jesus Paid It All, All to Him I Owe.” If you arbitrarily decide on checking out early, you suffer loss, the Body takes note of your absence, and the Lord is waiting patiently for you to realize your mistake, check back in and stay put.

Compass Chat: “Trophies of His Grace”

webmaster@belmontag.org (Thomas Stack) — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 14:20:03 GMT

2 Corinthians 2:14 - "But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies of Christ's victory] and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere."

Most often, it is in the world of sports where a winner and sometimes second and third places receive a trophy to commemorate the victory just won. The recipients of the trophies proved themselves better than the rest by virtue of finishing ahead of everyone else, whatever the competition may have been. Fact is; we cannot merit any standing in God’s Kingdom by being better than everyone else. You and I were destined for last place and ultimate disgrace in the trash heap. God’s Grace came our way and made us worthy of a place in His family. And so when God wants to display and commemorate victories won, He can point to you and me and call us “Trophies of His Grace.”

Compass Chat: Tyrannosaurus

webmaster@belmontag.org (Thomas Stack) — Sun, 23 Aug 2015 23:32:41 GMT

Genesis 3:4-5 The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

This may mean to you Jurassic Park. I recall as a child staring up at a rather impressive tyrannosaurus skeleton in Chicago’s Field Museum. Tyrannosaurus means “tyrant lizard.”

There is another old serpent we have to deal with, Satan, the enemy of our souls.
He likes to have us imagine that he is very imposing, like a tyrannosaurus. While he is a threat and dangerous, seeking whom he may devour, we need to remember that the Lord we love and serve has robbed him of the keys to his domain and God has all authority over him.

Compass Chat – Transient

webmaster@belmontag.org (Thomas Stack) — Tue, 11 Aug 2015 15:17:58 GMT

Neither here, nor there...

When something is transient, it is not permanent. It comes, it goes. It has no roots or underpinnings. We understand it to be a variable thing. Life, while it is being lived, is a transient thing. You could have been born in a certain house and live there all your life, yet that seeming permanency still does not alter the fact that from day to day life is a transient experience. The Bible teaches us that we are “foreigners and strangers” on the earth. Life is like that of the nomad, moving about from place to place and living in a tent. We are not here to stay because our permanent home will be in Heaven with the Lord. And so being transient for the moment is a reminder of a better place yet to come.

Compass Chat: Journey

webmaster@belmontag.org (Thomas Stack) — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 20:55:56 GMT

Proverbs 3:6, "In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."

A journey involves both a process and progress. It involves motion and transition. A journey also has a start and a finish. Now when we think of a journey in today’s modes of transportation, it would be hard to call a trip from Chicago to Milwaukee a journey. Perhaps driving by car from New York to California could be considered a journey. Earth to Mars, yes there’s a journey for you. But the greatest journey you or I take is the one that starts with receiving Jesus as Savior and then progresses through transitions, changes, pauses, directional adjustments – orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. The journey has a definite destination – one worth pursuing after regardless of obstacles that come in the way. Stay on the journey – God has a place for you during the journey and at journey’s end.

Compass Chat: Reward

webmaster@belmontag.org (Thomas Stack) — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 20:55:56 GMT

1 Corinthians 9:18, "What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel."

Reward for capture – a tool used at times as an incentive for the locating and capture of some desperado.

Reward for the safe return of – an incentive to hopefully speed up the finding of some lost valuable item.

Reward for good behavior – at times a parental ‘bribe’ for a child to conduct themselves in appropriate ways.

Reward for achieving a goal – a prize perhaps for reaching an objective.

God has a reward for His people. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness.” And so simply put, are we living for God in a way that merits His reward?