Shade Tree Wisdom 6/22/10

Summer is here, and we are happy? It will be hot, but predictions are that it may be wetter than usual, so it will not be so bad, though the predictions also speak of much hurricane activity.

That is as may be. (Now there’s a phrase often used, but what does it really mean?)

The news is that we had a guest speaker for our worship service this Sunday past. He is the President of the Lutheran Church in the Philippines, the Rev. James D. Cerdenola. I imagine he is in the states in connection with the Synodical meeting this July in Houston.

His sermon text came from II Kings chapter 23 where King Josiah found the Book. The text reads that he called all the leaders together “and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord.” II Kings 23,2. The same story in the Chronicles reports that he tore his clothes in dismay when he saw how far the people had drifted from the way God wanted them to walk.

Because when people do not read the Book, they tend to ask the wrong questions. And the question they ask then is “What must I do?” Instead, the question ought always be, “What did GOD do?” That is the question we ask when we read the Book. What did God do for my salvation. And the Book always tells me that He has done it all. There is no need for me to add anything to my salvation.

That, Pastor Cerdenola said, is the reason for the many kinds of religions in the word today. People do not read he Bible, nor do they regard it as God’s divinely inspired Truth, and so they drift from His way always because they are asking the wrong question.

The only way of salvation is written clearly, there for all to read, and we pray that the Holy Spirit will direct hearts to see and hear it to their eternal blessing.

GPD 6/22/10