A LESSON FROM TRASH

When I was a young man, I worked for a company that employed about 300 people. They had a cost reduction program where they encouraged each employee to find ways to save the company money, and each employee whose cost reduction was implemented would receive a bonus at the end of the year.

One year, one of my friends turned in a cost reduction concerning trash collection for the building. One of the trash disposal companies in the area had a trash compactor there. It had been there for several years. They charged $50.00 each time they emptied it, which was usually about once a week. This cost the company an average of $200.00 each month, or about $2,400.00 a year.

My friend found another company that would bring their trash compactor to our building, and only charge us $35.00 each time they dumped it. This would save our company $15.00 each week. So it would only cost $140.00 a month, which would only be $1,680.00 a year. That would be a savings of about $720.00 a year.

His cost reduction was accepted and implemented. The old trash company removed its compactor and the new company brought theirs in. That’s when we realized that the new one was smaller than the old one so it had to be emptied more often. This piece of information was not incorporated into the equation for reducing the cost of trash removal. Now, instead of paying $200.00 a month for four dumps, the company was paying $210.00 for 6 dumps a month. More than before with more hassle with having to call when it filled up and having to wait for them to come and pick it up, and waiting for them to bring it back before we could remove any trash from the building. The fact that the new container was smaller was a very important factor that was left out of the equation because my friend did not have all the information he needed in order to make an informed decision.

I’ve always taught my children that you have to have all the information to make an informed decision. So you have to be sure to ask all the right questions, and when telling someone else something, you need to make sure you give them every ounce of information you possibly can so they can make an informed decision.

I’m afraid this is what is happening in our churches today when people ignore part of the Bible. Many don’t think you need the Old testament. Many have been taught that the Old Testament is not relevant for Christians today. This is the book that God gave to his people. This is the word of God. The complete book; the Old and New Testaments.

There are many things in the Old Testament that build the foundation for the New Testament, and without all that information, you cannot understand the New Testament correctly.

Jesus, and the other New Testament writers quoted from the Old Testament many, many times. There are hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament concerning both the first and second coming of Jesus. The Old Covenant is there, which is the foundation of the New Covenant in the New Testament. For more on that subject, read my study called “The Old And New Covenant.”

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, ALL scripture is inspired by God, and is helpful for teaching, for evidence, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness: So that the followers of God may grow to maturity, and be fully equipped for all good works.

ALL SCRIPTURE includes the Old Testament. Here are a few more examples:

1 Corinthians 10:11 says the things that happened in the old days were examples for us in the end times and were written down as warnings to us.

Jude 1:7, and 2 Peter 2:6 tell us that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them were recorded in the Old Testament as an example of eternal fire and what will happen to those who live ungodly lives.

Romans 15:1 says the things written in the Old Testament were written for our instruction, so that, through patience, and the comfort of the scriptures, we might have hope.

So, I encourage you to read the Old Testament. It is a great work on the creation of the world and mankind. It contains the history of God’s people and his dealings with them over a few thousand years. It tells us the history of the ancestors of our Lord, Jesus. We must realize that the Old Testament is part of this complete book that God has preserved for his people for thousands of years. He didn’t preserve it for no reason. He preserved it for us to study, and to understand his purpose for us, and his great love for us. It’s all God’s word from beginning to end, and all of it is important.

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THE PLAGUE OF SIN

Sin is a plague, and we are all infected. The entire earth is under quarantine, because of this disease. The only antidote is the blood of Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God. He offers this cure to every human being on the planet, free of charge. God has vowed to destroy sin from the universe one day, and he will do that by burning the entire earth, at the second coming. The sad thing is, ALL those who have rejected the antidote, will still be infected at that time. Sadly, they will have to be burned along with sin to wipe out the plague forever.

We don’t have to end up in that cleansing lake of fire. 1 John 4:9 says, “In this, the love of God was manifested toward us because God sent his only begotten Son into the world so we might live through him.” That’s not talking about just living here on earth. It means we can live forever, with Jesus our Lord, and Savior. The one who loves us so much that he suffered and died to save us from the power and the consequences of sin.

Soon, Jesus will return to earth to rescue us from this plague. If we are still holding on to sin, then we will be destroyed along with it. Not because God is mean, or sadistic, but because we have allowed sin to become part of us, and God has set a time to destroy it. Jesus wants to set us free from sin and give us eternal life so we can spend eternity with him. He pleads with every person on earth to turn from sin and be saved. The love that our creator has for us is beyond our understanding. Even though we sin, and reject him over, and over again, he still loves us. When we realize he has that kind of love for us, it causes us to love him. When we truly realize how wretched, vile, and sinful we truly are in God’s sight, then see that he loves us anyway, it’s so amazing.

We have to be holy in God’s eyes to be saved in the end, but there’s no way we can possibly do that on our own. We have to be covered by the blood of Jesus, the holy Son of God. We have to believe in him and ask for his forgiveness, and he will hear us and save us (John 3:16, Romans 1:16). Then he will place a robe of righteousness on us. He becomes our substitute. The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). Eternal death. We have all earned death. We deserve to die because we have broken God’s law. This is called sin.

For sin to be forgiven, it requires a blood sacrifice. This was symbolized in the Old Testament sacrificial system, where animals were sacrificed for the sins of the people. It sounds archaic now, and maybe a little morbid, but God has a reason for everything he does. The sanctuary services represent the plan of salvation. If you want to understand this plan more fully, just study the sanctuary service in the old testament.

Almost two thousand years ago, Jesus, the pure, holy Lamb of God, left heaven and came to earth, lived a sinless life, suffered, and died. In this, he became the ultimate sacrifice for sin. We don’t sacrifice animals today because the blood of Jesus is all we need. He died for us all. He died in our place. God gave his only Son so you and I would not have to pay for our own sins (Luke 24:46-47). Now, all we need to do to receive forgiveness for those sins is to be sorry and want to stop sinning, then tell him so (Acts 3:19). He will apply his sacrifice to our account, and our debt will be cleared, and God sees us as holy. We are free from the plague of sin and have eternal life. Amazing. Right?

One day soon, the trumpet will sound from heaven (Matt. 24:31, 1 Cor. 15:52). The sky will burn (2 Pet. 3:10-11), and we will see Jesus coming in the clouds (Rev. 1:7, Matt. 24:30, 1 Thes. 4:16-17). What a glorious sight that will be to the ones who have been freed from sin by the shed blood of God’s Son, but for those who have refused his free, cleansing gift of salvation, it will be a day of sadness, and tears.

Malachi 4:1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

Isaiah 13:9-13 says, “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel, both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.”

In Ezekiel 33:11, God says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked:”

The fact is, hell fire was designed for Satan, who started the sin problem, and his evil angels, not for humans. Hell fire is the method God will use to destroy sin from the universe forever. Again, if we are still holding onto sin, loving sin more than God, then we will be destroyed when he destroys sin. God doesn’t want that, but the choice has to be yours. Let go of sin today. Don’t hold on to it. Don’t let sin destroy you. Accept God’s free gift today, and live forever. 

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© 2016 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

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THE VISIONS OF PETER AND CORNELIUS

In Acts chapter 10, the Apostle Peter was lodging with Simon the Tanner, in the port city of Joppa. Simon’s house was by the seaside, and Peter was on the roof praying when he received a vision from God. The day before, in Caesarea, another man had received a vision that would directly tie in with Peter’s vision. That man’s name was Cornelius. He was a Roman centurion of the Italian band. He was a just man who believed in God and had a giving heart. He supported the things of God and had a good report among the Jewish nation, and he was always praying.

It was about three o’clock in the afternoon when Cornelius had his vision. In the vision, an angel of God came to him and basically told him that God recognized all the good he was doing, and approved. God saw his heart and knew he believed in him. The angel told Cornelius to send some men to Joppa to find Peter, and he would come, and tell him and his family how to be saved (Acts 11:14).

He told him that Peter was in Joppa, at Simon the Tanner’s house, by the seaside. When the angel left, Cornelius called two of his servants, and a trustworthy soldier under his command, and sent them to Joppa.

The Next day, Peter went up on the roof of Simon’s house to pray. Around lunchtime, Peter got hungry. He would have eaten something, but while the food was being prepared, he fell into a trance.

Notice first that Peter is in a trance. He is having a vision. It is not literally happening. Acts 10:17 makes this perfectly clear. In the vision, Peter saw heaven open up, and some sort of vessel came down, like a sheet that had been tied up at all four corners. In it, there were all kinds of unclean animals and birds.

Then, he heard a voice say, “Rise, Peter, kill, and eat” (Acts 10:13). But Peter said, “No, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common, or unclean” (Acts 10:14). Then the Lord spoke to him again, and said, “What God hath cleansed, do not call it common” (Acts 10:15). This happened three times, then the vessel was carried back up into heaven. When Peter came out of the trance, he thought about the vision. That’s probably all he could think about. He didn’t understand what the vision meant.

In the old testament, God had spelled out many health laws, and there are certain animals that are harmful to our health, so he said, “Do NOT eat their flesh” (Leviticus 11). Many people today don’t think we have to worry about these health laws anymore, and we can now eat anything we want. This vision that Peter had is one passage of scripture they often use to show that. Was that what the Lord was saying? Let’s see.

First, notice that Peter didn’t immediately know what the vision meant. He knew the health laws, and he knew that the same animals that were too filthy to eat before Jesus died were still filthy afterward. Peter said he had never eaten anything common, or unclean, and he didn’t seem to want to. This was years after Jesus had died, and he still hadn’t eaten any unclean animals.

Unclean animals have nothing to do with ceremonial uncleanness, as some new Bible translations suggest. God has always made a distinction between unclean, and clean animals. We see it at the flood. Hundreds of years before there was ever a Jew on the earth. “Unclean” means “Unhealthy” or “Diseased.” Remember, the lepers had to warn people away when they came near, so the leprosy wouldn’t spread to others. They would shout, “Unclean, Unclean.”

Eating unclean animals causes diseases in humans even today. Cancer, strokes, blood disease, and heart disease, just to name a few. That’s why God said, “Do NOT eat their flesh” (Leviticus 11). So no, this vision was not the Lord’s attempt to let us know we can now eat “Unclean” animals. That’s certainly not what Peter thought it meant. So, what did it mean? Let’s see.

While Peter was thinking about what this vision meant, the men that Cornelius had sent were standing at the gate of the Tanner’s house, asking to see Peter. The Holy Spirit spoke to Peter and told him the three men were there, looking for him. He told him to go down off the rooftop and go with the men, without doubting because he had sent them.

Peter went down and met the men, and introduced himself. When he asked what they wanted with him, they told him about Cornelius the Roman centurion, and about his vision from God, telling him to send for Peter. The next day, Peter and some of the brothers from Joppa headed out to Caesarea with the men that Cornelius had sent.

When they arrived at the home of Cornelius, he came out to met them and fell down at Peter’s feet to worship him. Peter lifted him up, and said, “Stand up, I’m only a man, just like you” (Acts 10:26). They talked as they went into the house. Once inside, Peter saw that many people were gathered there. Cornelius had invited his kinfolks, and his friends to hear Peter tell them all how to be saved (Acts 11:14).

A great idea, right? We should always invite our family and friends to come and hear God’s word. Peter began by saying, “You know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company or come to one of another nation; but God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean” (Acts 10:28).

There it is. The meaning of Peter’s vision. Call No Man Common or Unclean. It had nothing to do with eating unclean animals. It had nothing to do with eating at all. God was showing Peter that all men were created equal. In fact, Peter goes on to say he now knows that “God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation, those who fear God and do right, are accepted by him” (Acts 10:34-35).

One person is no better than another in God’s eyes. We were all created equal. Cornelius was not a Jew. He was a Roman Gentile, but he was a servant of God. More proof that this vision has to do with Gentiles, and not food, is found in Acts Chapter 11.

Act 11:1-4 
1 And the apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. 
2 And when Peter come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, 
3 Saying, You went in unto uncircumcised men and did eat with them. 
4 But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them, saying,

Peter told the Apostles, and the brothers the details of his vision, and the vision Cornelius had, and what he did, and how the Gentiles had been saved and received the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 11:5-16). Then he said, “Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; who was I, that I could withstand God?” (Act 11:17)

“When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then God has also granted the Gentiles repentance unto life” (Acts 11:18).

Many of the Jews accepted the fact that God included the Gentiles in his family, but there were some who didn’t, and many still don’t today. Many don’t even believe Jesus was the promised Messiah. Among those who did accept the Gentiles' conversion, there was disagreement on whether or not they should be circumcised.

Act 11:5-9 
5 But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. 
6 And the Apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. 
7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, you all know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles, by my mouth, should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. 
8 And God, who knows the hearts, bare them witness giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; 
9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

Throughout the Bible, there is example after example of Gentiles becoming part of God’s people, like Rehab, and Ruth (Joshua 2, Hebrews 11, Ruth 1-4). Many of the Egyptians left Egypt with the Hebrews and joined God’s people (Exodus 12:38). God even spelled out rules concerning those who were not born into his people, but choose to join them.

The Jewish religion was never meant to be exclusive to the Jews, but the religious leaders of the Jewish nation had somehow started believing it was. God wanted that to be set right, and by Peter telling Cornelius, and a house full of his family and friends, this truth started to spread everywhere. Now Gentiles all over the world understand that we can become heirs to the promises that God made to Abraham. We can receive citizenship in God’s kingdom, and have eternal life, through the shed blood of Jesus, the Messiah, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the whole world. Praise the Lord for this knowledge, and gift.

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My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2016 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6