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  • Richard Mansel 8:09 pm on October 14, 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: danger, , ,   

    Faith Must be in the Right Things 

    Sometimes things happen that are perfect illustrations of what you have just preached. Tonight was one of those times.

    Today, I preached twice on faith and how we must trust God in prayer and walk in faith like Abraham. As we were leaving the parking lot, we were startled by a sudden appearance.

    Our Church building is on a highway, which is lined on both sides by sidewalks. The road is straight for many miles and people walk and ride bicycles down the sidewalks.

    However,  when we were leaving, it was dark. As we were almost at the entrance and about to pull out into the highway, we saw a blur and a man zipped by on a bicycle. It scared all of us in the car!

    Be clear on the situation here: We have a black man wearing dark gray clothes on a black bicycle riding fast down a sidewalk at night. He saw my white car and didn’t slow down because he had faith that I would see him. Instead, he should have asked HOW I was supposed to see him!

    We must have faith in God (Hebrews 11:6) because God is all-powerful (Jeremiah 32:17) and all-knowing (1 John 3:20). He is loving, gentle and compassionate and has created heaven for us to stay for all eternity (John 14:1-6), if we are His children (Galatians 3:27; Romans 6:3-4).

    Faith in fallible human beings is nothing like God. We can love and trust certain people in our lives, knowing they can let us down despite their best intentions (Romans 3:23). We must give them the latitude to be human without allowing their inherent weaknesses to destroy our faith in them.

    Faith in people who don’t know or care anything about us is foolish.

    The man on the bicycle had a misguided faith that could have ended his life. Accordingly, it was a faith that was in vain. As he zoomed past driveways and businesses, was his faith such that he refused to stop, no matter what? That would be absurdly reckless!

    Be aware that God is always worthy of our faith. However, faith in man is often a dangerous proposition. This is why we do not allow children to make these kinds of decisions because they do not understand the evils and dangers that exist in the world. When we are adults and we still don’t understand, we are a danger to ourselves and others.

     

     

  • Richard Mansel 2:54 pm on March 11, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: danger, ,   

    Getting Too Close to Sin 

    The persistence of humans to put themselves in danger knows no bounds. Reports are that a man in California was so intent on taking photographs of the Tsunami waves, that he was swept into the ocean and hasn’t been heard  from since.

    In Oregon, four people were also on a beach and were swept away. Thankfully,  all four either exited the water on their own or were rescued.

    Solomon warns us in Proverbs 4:14-19, that we can easily get ourselves into trouble when we allow temptation to gain too great a  hold on our lives. He says, “Do not enter the paths of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil” (Proverbs 4:14).

    What may appear to be solid ground may, in fact, be dangerous and can lead to injury or death. Spiritually, if we allow Satan to lead us too close to the ledge, he will send us off (1 Peter 5:8).

    Walk in paths of righteousness and we will always be safe (Ephesians 4:1). We must be wise and cautious because dangers abound. However, if we remain in  Christ, we will never be lost (Romans 8:1). Please, get into Christ (Ephesians 1:3) today by the waters of baptism (Galatians 3:27; Romans 6:3-4; Acts 2:38) and remain with him all of your days (Revelation 2:10).

    “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

     

  • Mike Riley 10:37 pm on October 6, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: accountable, , , danger, , , , , , hiring, , , , ripe,   

    Another Possible Government Takeover 

    Christian Post columnist, Dr. Tony Beam, reports that “the Federal Government sees business in America as a target rich environment ripe for takeover.”

    http://www.christianpost.com/article/20101006/the-govt-goes-after-private-higher-education/

    If it succeeds, the State could stop the preaching of the gospel and force private church-run schools to abandon Christian principles in hiring, plus change the way these schools hold students accountable to Scriptural principles.

    Brethren, if this happens, our freedom of religion, i.e., to worship as the New Testament directs, will be in grave danger.

     

    • Robert Floyd 7:19 am on October 7, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      How will we preach the Gospel without Christian colleges? Imagine the 1st Century church trying to spread the message without college trained preachers and missionaries. How could the church possibly have grown? Oh, wait…

      • Richard Mansel 7:33 am on October 7, 2010 Permalink | Reply

        Robert, getting an education in a Christian college to prepare you to preach the gospel is not inherently evil. It is how they handle it and what they do with the education that is the determining factor. Of course, you can preach without it, but training is always useful.

    • Robert Floyd 9:00 am on October 7, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      I don’t want to suggest preaching degrees are wrong. However, I am concerned that we have a mindset that says that’s the only/best way to train ministers. What happened to the mentoring system Paul used so successfully in the 1st Century (II Tim. 2:2)? I have no problem with Christian colleges (my daughter went to Harding): I have a problem with the idea that, without them, we can’t do the Lord’s work.

      As for “the State could stop the preaching of the gospel,” that’s nonsense. If we are at the point where we allow a decree of the State to shut down the proclamation of the gospel, we have truly lost our way. “We must obey God rather than man.” The outlawing of Christianity in 1st Century Rome didn’t slow down the spread of the gospel. Have we become so at ease that we fear having to choose between God and country? Perhaps we’ve forgotten that our citizenship is in Heaven and that we are strangers and pilgrims on this earth.

  • Mike Riley 10:04 pm on July 7, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , danger, dissemblers, fickle, gain, general, , , ungrateful   

    In general, men are ungrateful and fickle, dissemblers, avoiders of danger and greedy of gain.

    Niccolo Machiavelli, Florentine dramatist, political analyst and adviser (1469-1527)
     

  • Mike Riley 9:08 pm on January 12, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , danger, ,   

    Miep Gies, Who Helped Hide Anne Frank, Dies At 100 

    Brethren, since I love human interest stories, I just had to share this article about a selfless lady (Miep Gies – now deceased at 100 years of age) who assisted in hiding Anne Frank from the Nazis: http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/22211455/detail.html

    Anne Frank’s cousin wrote of this lady:

    “Every day for over two years she put herself in danger by hiding Jews from the Nazis,” said Anne Frank’s cousin, Bernd “Buddy” Elias, who last saw Gies on her 100th birthday. “If they had caught her, she would have been put in a concentration camp herself.”

    Ms. Gies said of herself in helping Anne:

    “Imagine young people would grow up with the feeling that you have to be a hero to do your human duty. I am afraid nobody would ever help other people, because who is a hero? I was not. I was just an ordinary housewife and secretary.”

    “The Diary of Anne Frank” (published in 1947) was the first popular book about the Holocaust and has been read by millions of children and adults around the world in 70 languages.

    A very selfless and brave lady in helping others under very trying and difficult circumstances.

     

    • Richard Hill 2:13 pm on January 13, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Thanks for posting this Mike. What an impressive lady! We need more people in the kingdom willing to put their livelihoods and their lives on the line.

      When we truly see the gift of salvation we’ve been given, we come to understand a seemingly paradoxical statement. It costs us nothing and it costs us everything.

      I pray for courage today, this year and the rest of my life not to give in to my own fears, but realize God has put me where I am for a purpose. When Esther feared for her safety Mordecai gave her warning and this wise advise. In Esther 4:14 he says “. . .Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (NKJV)

      Though I might suspect what God has in mind, there’s no way I can know. Here’s a humbling thought. I might not have the capacity to understand it even if He whispered it in my ear! The requirement is not to understand. The requirement is to act with the courage of my convictions in whatever lies before me. God will work out the rest. “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.”
      Proverbs 16:9 (NIV)

      How do we see our place in the kingdom of God? Is it just one of privilege? Do we see the responsibility that has been placed on us?

      • Mike Riley 8:55 pm on January 13, 2010 Permalink | Reply

        Richard, thank you for writing these encouraging comments! Yes, we are indeed put on this planet to fulfill God’s purpose for our lives. We must have the courage, the conviction, and the fortitude to fulfill that purpose.

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