Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire, Jude 1:5-7.
 
          If ever we need a rerun of a lesson in this age it’s this one:  Jesus absolutely, definitely, most certainly will punish.  Too many times we who “once fully knew it” fall into the false security of the world, calling Jesus the gentle, the loving, the merciful, which is all true, but it is done to imply that he would never punish anyone for a sin.  Maybe God would, especially that mean, angry Old Testament God, but certainly not Jesus.  The people Jude wrote to must have forgotten as well.  Jesus, the same one who saved the people out of Egypt, turned right around and destroyed a whole slew of them not long afterward. 

            Then Jude gives us three things to watch out for specifically.  First, in his allusion to the Israelites, he mentions unbelief.  How could they not believe in a God who spoke to them, who caused Sinai to shake, who had previously demonstrated His power in the plagues and at the Red Sea?  The Hebrew writer tells us, And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief, Heb 3:18-19.  He equates disobedience with unbelief, and it only makes sense.  If I really believe what God says, that He will do what he says He will do if I disobey Him, then I will not disobey.  Disobedience means I think I can get away with it, so it means I do not believe God, and Jesus will punish.

            Then Jude mentions the angels “who left their proper dwelling.”  This cannot be talking about being cast out of Heaven because it says “they left,” which seems voluntary.  The understanding I get from scholars is they went beyond the bounds God set for them.  If a man walks into work and begins ordering people around like he was the boss, firing, hiring, and changing orders, he has “left his proper dwelling.”  Who are you supposed to submit to in your life?  Your husband?  Your elders?  Your boss?  Your government?  How about your fellow Christians (Eph 5:21)?  Have you left your proper place in life?  Jesus will punish.

            And then there is the issue of the day—sexual immorality and unnatural desire as exemplified by the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Jesus will punish.

            Remember, Jude tells them.  You used to know this.  What happened?  Maybe the same thing that has happened to us—listening to the culture we live in turn Jesus into a weak, instead of meek, pushover.  You can make him angry (Mark 3:5).  He will punish.  Don’t give him a reason to.
 
…when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, 2Thess 1:7-8.
 
Dene Ward

One of my classes is studying the prophets now, an overview class that hits the highlights, beginning with the Biblical definition of a prophet, the history and the genres.  I will probably wind up sharing some things that I hope will help you.

            The world is full of people claiming to be prophets.  Just as in Bible times, God expects us to check these people out before falling for everything they say.  Deuteronomy 18 has long been the place to hang one’s hat when determining a true prophet of God.

            Open your Bible and look through these verses in that chapter. 
1) A true prophet of God will claim to speak in God’s name, v 20.  Certainly that isn’t all that matters but you can weed out a lot from the get-go with that one simple rule.

            2) A true prophet of God will not use “abominable practices” like augury, astrology, and necromancy.  He will not claim to speak to the dead or read animal entrails or tea leaves or anything else a sane mind knows is illegible, 10-14.

            3) The predictions of a true prophet of God will always come to pass, not 90% of the time, not 95% of the time, but every time, v 22.

            On the other hand, God does not make it His business to run around making sure everything a false prophet predicts doesn’t happen.  Let me take you to another passage.

            “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, Deut 13:1-5.

            Sometimes these people get it right—not all the time by any means, but enough to fool some people.  They get it right because they are observant, because they know how to get you to tell them what they need to know—we give away far more than we realize.  So then, how do we tell?  4) If a prophet tells you to do anything contrary to God’s law, he is not a prophet of God, no matter how many times he seems to “get it right” with his predictions.  That puts a burden upon us to know that Law, but God expects that of us too.  Even in the New Testament we are told to “prove the spirits.”  It is my responsibility not to be fooled.

            5) And hand in hand with that we can look at Gal 1:8,9.  If anyone teaches a gospel that contradicts the revealed word of God, we are not to listen even, as in that passage, to an angel from Heaven.

            6) Now take one more step back to Deuteronomy 18.  It isn’t just what the man teaches, it’s how he lives.  If his life does not match the righteous life God expects and teaches in His word, he is not a true prophet of God, v 9-14.

            Just imagine if people had followed these rules when false prophets came along.  Just imagine the difference in Bible history.  Just imagine the difference in more modern history.  Would David Koresh have caused the tragedy at Waco?  Would Jim Jones have persuaded people to not only “drink the Kool-Aid,” but give it to their children? 

            We live under a government that tries to protect people from their own stupidity.  That’s why you see those strange warnings on things. 

            Do not put any person in this washer.

            Do not use lighted match or open flame to check fuel level.

            Use care when operating a car (on a dog’s bottle of pills).

            Danger: do not hold the wrong end of a chain saw.

            Warning:  this product moves (on a scooter).

            (On an iron-on patch)  Do not iron while wearing shirt.

            If you cannot read warnings, do not use this product.

            God gave you His warnings in His book.  He figures you are smart enough to read it and figure it out.  And if you do, that should take care of most every modern “prophet” you happen to run into.
 
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love, 1 John 4:1-8                          
Dene Ward

Yesterday I stepped onto the curb outside my supermarket and the scent instantly sent me back to my childhood, when artificial Christmas trees were unheard of, and the whole house smelled of fir, spruce, pine, or whatever evergreen we found at the local lot that happened to fit that special spot in the living room for those few weeks every year.  Funny how a smell can bring back so many memories.

            It happens with the change of every season.  Right now the cold air carries the smell of wood fires from all the hearths in the neighbors’ houses.  And isn’t it odd that on winter mornings the aroma of bacon can travel for hundreds of yards when it won’t any other time of year?  Soon the smells will change to jasmine, gardenia, and other heavily scented tropical flowers, and the air, while still cool, will gain a little weight in the morning from fog.  Then summer will carry the smell of new-mown grass, afternoon rain blowing in on humid breezes from the west, and all too often the chicken farm a mile down the highway.  Finally, the air will begin to crisp and the fires will come from leaf piles and field burns, a less pleasant odor than the wood fires, which will once again permeate the air soon after.

            Aromas mean a lot to God as well.  He told his people several times that when they offered acceptable sacrifices the “sweet savor” of their offerings pleased him (e.g., Ex 29:18; Lev 1:9;Ezra 6:10).  Ezekiel told them that God would “accept them as a sweet savor” when they returned from exile, a penitent and purified nation, (Ezek 20:39-44).  On the other hand, He used a reeking garbage dump in the valley of Hinnom, where even the bodies of the dead were often thrown, to symbolize the punishment He had in store for the faithless (Isa 66:24; Jer 7:31-34).

            They say that certain smells can energize you, calm you, lift your spirits, ease your tensions, and just about anything else you can imagine.  God has used our sense of smell and the power it has to conjure up thoughts to symbolize the pleasure He has in our gifts to Him, the fear we should have in displeasing Him, and the grace He offers to such weak, sinful creatures as us, who deserve nothing but His disapproval.  Take a good whiff and see what you can smell this morning.
 
 Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell, Eph 5:1,2.
 
 Dene Ward

We were driving a hilly section of North Georgia on a winding backroad between small Southern towns, the kind with steepled churches, brick town halls on green grass-carpeted squares, and railroad tracks running right down the middle of Main Street between diagonal parking on either side of the road.  Away from the towns farmland tufted with white cotton bolls, metals barns housing lumberyards, and firewood stands with cords stacked for sale were nestled among single wide and double wide trailers, old frame farmhouses and the occasional red brick ranch style home of the younger generation.

            Then we passed a deserted house.  You can always tell.  The paint is peeling, the gutters are full of leaves, and the naked windows stare out at you, no light of life within them.  A house left to itself always deteriorates far more quickly than one that is lived in.

            And the yard?  Weedy, strewn with wind-blown trash, gardens filled with dried up flower heads or bolted vegetables, everything withered from lack of care.  A garden left to itself always goes to seed.

            So how did some primordial soup produce even one cell of life where there was none before, and how did that cell evolve into something more and more complex, and finally become an intelligent creature conscious of its own existence and that of others outside itself, able to reason, to create, and to appreciate art of all kinds, and strategize plots of great complexity? 

            Until someone can show me a vacant house that keeps itself clean and void of rot, and a garden that never needs weeding or watering, I just won’t believe it.  I may not be the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but God made me smart enough to see through that one.
 
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, Rom 1:18-22.
 
Dene Ward

I suppose it is the time of year.  The mailbox has been spewing out six inch high piles of catalogues lately.  Usually they wind up in the trash, but I opened up one of the less familiar ones the other day.  The prices made it obvious this was for people of means, not folks like us, and so did the items themselves. 
           
            A Marshmallow Blaster—a pneumatic gun to shoot marshmallows up to 40 feet, $39.95.
           
            A Touchscreen Portable Video Poker Game--$99.95.
           
            A Balance Board Trainer—helps you improve your balance without having to go to a gym, $479.95.
           
            A Rotating Dual Disco Ball--$59.95.
           
            A Fish-Finding Watch--$139.95.
           
            A Laser-Guided Pool Cue--$79.95.
           
            An Authentic Scottish Practice Chanter—the first step for those who wish to learn to play the bagpipes--$49.95.
           
            Obviously, the people who would want these things are either so wealthy that they truly need nothing, or else bored to death—possibly both.
           
            That’s what happens when you count on this world to make you happy.  Solomon did exactly that and came to the conclusion that all things are full of weariness; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. That which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun, Eccl 1:8,9, despite what Hammacher Schlemmer comes up with.
           
            Boredom can get to us in every way when things are too easy.  We recently sent care packages to Zimbabwe that included powdered Concord grape juice. Evidently grapes are not a native crop over there, and with the drought, rampant inflation, and food shortages, they were having difficulty even fulfilling the obligation to observe the Lord’s Supper on Sunday mornings.  At one point, they were reduced to boiling raisins and using the decanted water. 
           
             And here some of my brethren sit arguing about whether or not to call it an “act of worship,” how big a piece of bread to break off, whether the bread should contain oil or shortening, whether it can be sweet, and other assorted nitpicky items.  Our destitute brethren could teach us a thing or two about how precious this observance should be, precious enough to even think of buying the grape juice instead of food, and certainly not a source of contention. 
           
             When things become so easy that our worship to God becomes tedium so that we argue about it to fill the time, remember how it got to be that way—because we are so blessed in the first place.  Maybe there is a reason that the last beatitude is Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’s sake.  Maybe our blessings would mean a whole lot more to us if they were harder to come by.
 
For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the Gentiles, says Jehovah of hosts. But you profane it, in that ye say, The table of Jehovah is polluted, and the fruit thereof, even its food, is contemptible. You say also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and you have snuffed at it, says Jehovah of hosts; and ye have brought that which was taken by violence, and the lame, and the sick; thus you bring the offering: should I accept this at your hand? says Jehovah, Mal 1:11-13.
 
Dene Ward

For something that is supposed to be the pre-eminent “Sports Channel,” ESPN leaves me remarkably cold—or actually hot.

           I can count on CBS to replay nearly every play of any significance immediately.  Not just touchdowns either.  They will show the touchdown from several angles, then show the quarterback as he passed, or the line as they opened the holes for the runner, or any other contributing factor.  If there is a penalty, we see it happen.  If there was an excellent block we see the block.  If a defender made an amazing move around a lineman, we see the move.

            ESPN?  I doubt that even half the plays are shown again.  Instead, we get an interview with someone on the sideline who might possibly have something to do with the game, but more likely doesn’t—he just happens to be famous.  Or we get an update from a game we chose not to watch and have to watch a piece of it anyway rather than a replay of our chosen game.  Most of the time, we never get the replay, even if it was a 50 yard run to set the team up with first and goal.

            On ESPN the commentators talk about every game except the one we are watching.  In fact, they sometimes talk about a different sport altogether.  We hear about other players, other coaches, and other schools—anything but the game we are watching.  We are told the records of every Heisman hopeful, even if they are not playing in our game.  We know which coach played for which other coaches, even if they are not coaching out team.  And they can’t even do it with good English.

            But sometimes we’re stuck.  It’s the only place we can see our team play—and win, we hope, despite not being able to see the instant replays in a timely fashion and at a meaningful angle.

            I guess a lot of people don’t mind.  They are putting up with the same things at the church they attend.  They say they are Christians but their preachers present sermons about societal ills—the ones deemed politically correct to talk about--about love and acceptance of everything and everyone no matter how many of Christ’s commands they break, and never once mention the name of the Savior they claim to worship—Rotary Club talks, inspirational talks, anything but a sermon.  They are handed pamphlets that some board somewhere else decided they needed to study rather than the Word of God, and certainly nothing actually relevant to that particular group and its needs.  If they learn anything, it’s about another game altogether, not God’s.

            Maybe these folks don’t know what to look for.  They expect entertainment rather than edification, emotion rather than instruction, famous people and rip-roaring religious fervor, along with a meal or two to keep the belly from growling.  Jesus had some choice things to say about people like that.  Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.  Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal” John 6:26-27.  It isn’t about the feel-good physical, he told them, it’s about ME!

            On Sunday mornings, I want to hear about my Lord.  I want to study the Word of God and learn more from it than I knew the day before.  On the other hand, I don’t mind a repeat of an old lesson, perhaps from a new angle, and certainly prefer that to an interview on the sideline with someone who is supposed to be “famous” in the religious world.  Big name preachers can sin the same as the rest of us. 

            And you know what?  We CAN turn this channel.  We can look for something else.   
     
           You can look for something else.  Give me the simple truth of the gospel and the quiet worship of those people long ago.  Why don’t you come with me so we can find it together?  Nothing else can fill your soul quite the same way.
 
I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.  This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” John 6:48-51.
 
Dene Ward

On December 5, 1992, the first text message was sent by Neil Papworth:  “Merry Christmas.”  We’ve certainly come a long way, and I am way behind.
 
           I especially have a difficult time with the new language of texting.  HHAYT?  F-TY?  ROFL?  FWIW?  BFF?  I wonder if some day we will all forget how to actually spell out words and future generations will need some sort of Rosetta Stone to figure out what we were saying to each other.

            From the context of several blogs I read, I finally understood that BFF must somehow refer to “best friend,” but the second “F” had me stumped.  Best Female Friend was the best I could come up with until the day I saw it appended to a man’s name.  So I swallowed my pride—yet again—and asked.  “Best Friend Forever,” I was told.  Mystery solved.

            Yes, you know me by now; I started thinking about Bible things.  This one is really so obvious, isn’t it?  Yet it seems somehow inappropriate to us to refer to a Divine Being as our “Best Friend.”  In fact, Jesus was called “a friend of sinners” as an insult wasn’t He?  The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold, a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! Matt 11:19.  Aren’t we so glad He was? 

            James had no qualms about calling Abraham “the friend of God,” 2:23, because of the life of faith he lived.  It is possible, in fact, it is something we should all strive for.  What better friend could we have? 

            Do you think you cannot possibly achieve that goal?  Abraham was not a perfect man; he failed more than once.  Remember his lie about Sarah being his sister, something they tried everywhere they went, not just the two places they were caught at it, Gen 20:12,13?  How can we see that as anything but a lack of faith in God to keep them safe?  Yet all through his life, not just in this but also in the decision to use Hagar as a surrogate, Abraham probably did not envision his failures as faithless, but as a man who truly believed God’s promises and showed that belief by trying to help God when it seemed that circumstances might interfere. 

            Abraham learned over the years through the many misfortunes his “helping” brought him, that God could take care of Himself, that He did not need Abraham’s assistance.  The Lord waited until Sarah was physically unable to bear children.  He had Abraham send away Ishmael, the “just in case” baby.  Finally, on that lonely mountain when God asked the unthinkable, Abraham “got it.”  “God can raise him from the dead,” the Hebrew writer tells us Abraham thought, 11:19.  So he did as God asked and offered his son, just as his Friend would one day offer His.

            You don’t have to be perfect to be a friend of God.  You just have to believe and grow in that belief, learning to trust no matter how senseless it seems, to obey no matter the cost.  Do you want a real BFF?  So does God.  So does His Son.  And you can be it.
 
Greater love has no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do the things which I command you, John 15:13,14.
 
Dene Ward

I was a teenager and remember the drama well.  On Dec 3, 1967, Dr Christiaan Barnard performed the first human heart transplant.  Louis Washkansky, a grocer from South Africa, received the heart of Denise Darvall, an automobile accident victim who had been declared brain dead.  The transplant was a success.  Mr. Washkansky’s body did not reject the organ and it functioned well.  However, 18 days later he died of complications, in this case double pneumonia.  Still, it was a medical milestone and that operation has gone on to become a viable treatment for many heart patients.
 
           Heart transplants, though, have been going on for thousands of years.  God has always required them.  What is repentance but the removal of an old sinful heart and the replacement of a completely new one?  . And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them.  I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them.  And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, Ezek 11:19,20.

            Too many times repentance is only skin deep.  We force ourselves to stop the old life and struggle every day to live the new one.  God wants us to rip out that old, stony heart and replace it with one that not only performs righteous deeds, but wants to perform them, wants to please Him, and wants to live as a follower of His Son.  It is so much easier to do right when the motivation is righteousness itself.

            But let’s be practical.  Sometimes the zeal wanes.  Sometimes we hit rough spots in the road and our desire to do right falters.  Temptation can overtake even the strongest.  Does that mean I have not made a new heart within me?  Not really.  How does that heart feel when it realizes it has fallen?  Maybe that is the telling point.  In his psalm of repentance after his atrocious sins David says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise,” not long after he begs God to, “Create in me a clean heart,” (Psalm 51:17 and 10).  It seems even a completely new heart can gather a little grime once in awhile, so do not be conquered by depression when you fail.

            If, however, you have not replaced that old heart with a new one, if you find yourself not only giving into temptation often but looking for the chance to and caring only whether or not you get caught, maybe you still have an old heart.  Maybe your soul rejected the new one. 

            God knows whether you had a heart transplant or not, and whether that surgery achieved its goal.  It may often be a painful operation, but it has a great record of success.  Lots of folks live forever.
 
Cast away from you all your transgressions, wherein you have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, O house of Israel?  For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies, says the Lord Jehovah: wherefore turn yourselves, and live, Ezek 18:31,32..
 
Dene Ward

We were singing this song a few weeks ago when I noticed yet another word I have been singing all my life without understanding.  So I spent some time looking it up and in the process discovered something else too.  This song is another one of those gems that alludes to a scripture in nearly every phrase.  Grab your Bibles—a King James if you can since that is what these older songs are based upon—and follow along below.

Soldiers of Christ, arise, (2 Tim 2:3)
And put your armor on, (Eph 6:11)
Strong in the strength which God supplies, (1 Pet 4:11)
Through His Beloved Son; (Matt 3:17; 17:5)
 
Strong in the Lord of Hosts, (over 250 verses)
And in His mighty pow'r, (Eph 3:20)
Who in the strength of Jesus trusts (Isa 12:2)
Is more than conqueror.  (Rom 8:37)
 
Stand then in His great might, (Eph 6:10)
With all His strength endued;  (Luke 24:49)
And take, to arm you for the fight,  (2 Cor 10:2-4)
The panoply of God.
 
That, having all things done,
And all your conflicts past, (Eph 6:13)
You may o'ercome through Christ alone,
And stand complete at last.  (Eph 4:11-16)
 
            Here is the first thing I learned from this exercise:  I know Eph 6 so well I tend to skip over it whenever it’s referenced.  Don’t do that!  I never realized half those other phrases were in those verses.  Don’t ever think a scripture is too familiar to be worth looking at again.
           
And here is the thing that had me looking in the first place:  what in the world is a “panoply”?  Webster tells me it is 1) a full suit of armor; 2) something forming a protective coating; 3) a magnificent or impressive array.  God gives us such a complete suit of armor, such a strong protective coating, and such an impressive array of weapons that there is absolutely no excuse for failing to overcome.  If we fail to use the resources at hand, we have let Satan win.  Look at Ephesians 6 again.  With this armor we can “stand against the wiles of the devil,” (v 11); we can “withstand in the evil day” (v 13); we can “quench all the fiery darts of the evil one” (v 16)—all of them, not just some.

Notice verse 13 one more time.  Wherefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand.  If we do not overcome, then we did not “do all;” we did not take full advantage of the panoply.  We left something out, or something off, or something undone.  God has given us everything we need, and our own negligence is no excuse.  We did not behave like a faithful “Soldier of Christ.”
 
For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.  2Cor 10:3-6
 
Dene Ward

Have you finished the leftover turkey marathon yet?  Turkey pot pie, turkey divan, turkey enchiladas, turkey soup, turkey salad, and anything else that will use up a good-sized portion of that leftover bird.  It seems they all have something in common—some sort of sauce, gravy, or broth to make the endlessly heated up, dried out meat palatable.  If you like turkey leftovers, it is not the turkey you like—it is what the turkey becomes, a new dish with flavorful moist ingredients that fill you up and satisfy your hunger.  You can only reheat unadorned meat so many times before it turns into sawdust.

           While my family enjoys leftover turkey dishes, God most emphatically does not like leftovers. 

            If you are a gardener, you understand the concept of first-fruits.  The first pickings, like the first serving of turkey, are always the best.  By the end of the summer the beans are tough, the corn is starchy, the squash is wormy, and the tomatoes are small and hard or half-rotten.  That is why you doll them up in casseroles and sauces.  I always make the tomato sauce in July.  The June tomatoes are ripe, sweet and juicy, far too good to turn into sauce.

            God has always expected the first-fruits from His people. The first of the first-fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of Jehovah your God, Ex 23:19.  He expected the first-fruits of everything to be given to His servants, the priests, who waited on Him night and day, And this shall be the priests' due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw. The first-fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, shall you give him, Deut 18:3,4.

            The Israelites in Malachi’s day discovered exactly how God felt about offerings that were less than the best.  You offer polluted bread upon my altar. And you say, Wherein have we polluted you? In that you say, The table of Jehovah is contemptible. And when you offer the blind for sacrifice, it is no evil! And when you offer the lame and sick, it is no evil! Present it now to your governor; will he be pleased with you? Or will he accept you? says Jehovah of hosts, Mal 1:7,8..

            We usually cite these verses when it comes time to put money in the plate.  Certainly we should be planning ahead, “purposing in our hearts” what we will give to God, rather than reaching for the leftover change in our pockets.  But what about the rest of our “offerings?”

            Too many of us give God our leftover time.  Rather than planning to pray and study, scheduling time in the week to care for our brothers and sisters in need, and putting our assemblies at the top of our agendas, we wait till we have finished what we consider necessary, then look to see if we can give any time and energy to God.  Usually it is too late, or we are too tired, or something else that really cannot be rescheduled takes the last few minutes of our day.  If there is time, we are tired, our energy flagging and our concentration poor.  No wonder some of the children I have taught in Bible classes treat the concept of a family Bible study as something unheard of.  No wonder the adults in Bible classes sit close-mouthed with little to offer to edify their brothers and sisters, or spout out something that even a quick study of scripture would prove to be wrong.

            It only makes sense for us to give God our best.  God has given us His best too, an only begotten Son, the firstfruits of them that are asleep, 1 Cor 15:20, as a hope of the resurrection.

            God not only expects us to give our first-fruits, he expects us to be one. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures, James 1:18.  Maybe that is the problem—our lives do not match the concept.  Instead, we are the blemished fruit, the tough, small, wormy, and half-rotten.  How can we give God anything else when that is all we have to offer?  This business of leftover offerings covers far more than the collection plate, far more than we would like to believe.

            Turkey leftovers are one thing.  They have a place, especially in the lives of those trying to be good stewards of their blessings.  But leftovers in my service to God might as well be fed to the dog.
 
Honor Jehovah with your substance, and with the first-fruits of all your increase: So shall your barns be filled with plenty, and your vats shall overflow with new wine, Prov 3:8,9.
 
Dene Ward