Cactus Christian Fellowship
  • About Us
    • Mission Statement
    • Staff
    • Elders
    • Weekly Newsletter >
      • Offering & Attendance
    • Church Directory
    • Bible Reading Plans
    • Contact Us
  • Ministries
    • Cactus Care
    • Pastoral Care
    • Prayer Ministry
    • Missions
    • Men's Ministry
    • Women's Ministry
    • Teens
    • Small Groups >
      • Tuesday
      • Wednesday
      • Thursday
    • Service Opportunities
  • 9am Bible Classes
    • Adults
    • Teens
    • K - 6th grade
    • Nursery
  • Sermons
  • Calendar

What Can We Learn From the Past?

3/24/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
One of the great values of reading through the Bible is in what it demonstrates to us about living out a vital faith in all kinds of circumstances. A large portion of the Old Testament, for instance, is narrative material telling the stories of the everyday lives of God’s chosen people. Some of them are exciting, some inspiring, and others very depressing.

Take the Book of Judges. It is a book depicting the early years of God’s people following their entrance into the Promised Land. Every few years there is a crisis of faith. People slip away from the faith of their fathers into the latest hip religion of their pagan neighbors. So God disciplines them through natural (and sometimes unnatural) disasters. They cry out for help and He raises up a leader (“judge”) who delivers them from their troubles. This is followed by another cycle of apostasy, judgment, repentance, deliverance...and another….and another. When we read the Old Testament I can’t help but find myself sorting out the times when Israel is at the top, politically, financially, socially and, of course, spiritually. I could have had a great influence during those times, I think. With others at my side who shared my faith I could have made an impact and performed some very vital ministry. But I also notice something else: those good times were few and far between.  Most of the time God’s chosen people were drifting around in a spiritual haze, unsure of who they were or where they were supposed to be going. But God’s remnant, as they were referred to, were always there faithfully doing what had to be done to keep the ship from capsizing completely.

The Apostle Paul, referring to those days, said, “These things were written for our example upon whom the ends of the ages has come.”  (I Corinthians 10:11).  I may find myself longing to have lived in better days, but it is not at all a profitable fantasy for me to engage in. As some wise person once said, “These may not be the best of times, but they are the only times we are given.”  The grace and power of God can never be expressed through an “if only.”  All of us must rise from our fantasies about life as we would wish it to be and grapple with life as it really is. God has equipped all of His people and promised His presence. It is up to us to be the remnant of our day, steering the ship of Faith through the turbulent waters of this new century. Who knows what our faithfulness will mean to the next generation!

 


0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Bud Downs

    Senior Pastor of Cactus Christian Fellowship

    Picture

    Archives

    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012

2401 E. Cactus Road, Phoenix, AZ 85032  
  • About Us
    • Mission Statement
    • Staff
    • Elders
    • Weekly Newsletter >
      • Offering & Attendance
    • Church Directory
    • Bible Reading Plans
    • Contact Us
  • Ministries
    • Cactus Care
    • Pastoral Care
    • Prayer Ministry
    • Missions
    • Men's Ministry
    • Women's Ministry
    • Teens
    • Small Groups >
      • Tuesday
      • Wednesday
      • Thursday
    • Service Opportunities
  • 9am Bible Classes
    • Adults
    • Teens
    • K - 6th grade
    • Nursery
  • Sermons
  • Calendar