04-15-2020
The Minneapolis Messenger “Pastor’s Pen” Articleby Pastor Dan Denning
How are you doing?
I pray that you are
staying safe and you are living in the knowledge that God is in control and He
is watching out for us all.
Since it is spring and there
is always great fishing during the spring, I would like to once again, share
with you one of my fishing experiences. This particular day started as if there
was nothing extraordinary about it. It was just a normal day however today, a
good fishing friend of mine went with me to another friend’s fishing pond. It
was just one of those days, the wind was silent, the sun was out, and the birds
were flying around having fun. Immediately, my friend began to cast and reel,
and cast and reel as he kept making his way around up the west side and then
down the north side of this nice sized pond. But for Me, I was enjoying myself
by just staying at the same spot where I first began to cast out and reel in.
As I fished, I started to notice all of the beauty that was around me. The
ground squares were running around, the butterflies were out going from one
flower to the next and I could hear the bees singing as they flew around as
well. Our farmer friend had some beehives not too far from the pond for two
purposes. To help pollen his crops as well as to make some wonderful honey.
As normal, I was fishing
with the lightest-weight ultralight fishing pole that I had. I believe I was
using four-pound test line and a small silver-spoon was my tackle. I was really
enjoying the quietness of just standing there, by myself, hearing the light
whisper of the line going out on each cast, and the small splash sound when the
spoon hit the water. Since my friend is now on the other side of the pond,
there was no other sounds except the nature which was happening all around me.
But that is when it
happened. There was a fish who decided he liked my spoon and I am talking about
a fish. He took a bite and he held on. I had so much fun, reeling and
unreeling, reeling and unreeling, and repeat and repeat. With using an
open-face spinning reel, when you have a much larger fish on the line than the strength
of your line, you can either use the drag or back-reel when the fish takes off.
If you use the drag, you take the chance of twisting your line which
ultimately, weakens the line, so, I often choose the back-reel with resistance.
I could go on and on and tell you of the fun and of challenges I had with this
fish but the thing is, it took me over 50 minutes to land that fish. That is
almost an hour, of working and working with this fish to get him to the shore.
And yes, my fishing
friend noticed and my friend who owned the property also showed up and they
both watched me working with this fish.
Probably by now, you are
wondering, why is Pastor Dan telling me about a Great Fishing Story rather than
telling me about God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit especially,
since we are only a few days from the Resurrection of Jesus, and I believe that
is a fair as well as a good question to ask.
Let me ask you a question
and please be honest here. To what level or degree, do you feel that Jesus is
after your own heart? Not too much? Just kind-of? About average? Maybe pretty
much? Now I am asking - To what degree would you say, (to yourself), that Jesus
is after your heart? You don’t have to tell your answer to anyone but yourself,
so please – be honest with yourself.
Now we could run to John
3:16 and hear His Words when He says: “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one
and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have
eternal life.” And that is a Great Reference HOWEVER, one can say that He is
talking of the whole world and not just about me.
What about when
Jesus went to the Cross and died for our sins? And again, that is a Great
Reference HOWEVER, once again, He is going to the Cross for the whole world’s
sin and not just mine.
So HOW DO YOU
FEEL? To – What – Degree - Level do you feel that YOU are of Interest to God?
To help us with that answer, I would like to
take a look within the Book of Luke, Chapter 19, verses 41-44.
This event which is described is usually titled, “Jesus Grieves over
Jerusalem”. You cannot miss the Words “He began to weep.”
Did you know that there are Only Three
locations within the Bible where it talks about Jesus weeping? One was after He
saw Mary after her brother, Lazarus has died (John 11:35). And as Jesus entered
Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). And in Hebrews 5:7 as it defines ‘how’ Jesus prayed.
In our world Today, when we talk about Jesus’
weeping, do we not down play it so much? We get the understanding that Jesus
was ‘moved’, that He may have had a tear or possibly two, or that He was just ‘saddened’.
But, did you know that the word ‘weeping’ can be replaced with the word, “Jesus
wailed”. These words also fit the Greek definition here: “He moaned”
or even “He howled”. At any case, sometimes “Wept”, just doesn’t
carry the full weight of Jesus’ expression as it should. BUT do we understand –
that Jesus actually – busted-out into a loud, uncontrollable sobbing - as He
grieved of His people’s lost opportunity.
This cry of Christ was because He was So
Frustrated with His desire to have His Peace accepted by all, including
you and me, so that the destruction of sin would not enslave His People, YOU
and me!!! But because we have spiritual blindness, we may not escape the
destruction.
But what does this have to do with you and me
and here today? The answer is simple - A Lot! The Bible is never written only
for that one moment within time, otherwise we could never say that the
Scriptures are Alive! It is written for all time. So, when we chalk these
versus up and say that they were “Only reflecting of the Jews who lived during
those days,” we could not be more mistaken.
Let me ask you: How do You reject Jesus Today? In what ways
do You go in a different direction than the direction of God? In what ways have
You missed the Opportunity of having God’s Peace and through your actions and
decisions, You have selected and embraced the opposite of God: sin, darkness,
and death? DO YOU Hear Jesus’ Weeping? His Wailing? His Moaning? His Howling
because YOU have missed the opportunity of having God’s Peace and Salvation?
See, when I was reeling in that large fish,
Just as God does, I allowed the fish to run from me and he was still in-control
of his decisions. I did not force him to come to me, and God – Never Forces
anyone to follow Him. It is always our own decision. And when that fish decided
to come to me, instead of just pulling him on to the shore, I – just a Jesus
does, Jesus steps into the fishes world, steps into the muddy mud and into the
filthy water to comforted him, to hold him upright so no harm would come to
him, to lovingly touch him and welcome him to His Family.
Jesus Christ did leave His Heavenly Home to
come to this earth where sin lives. And yes, Jesus Christ did go to the Cross
so that He can forgive sin. Yes, for sure, He did go for everyone’s sin. He
went to the Cross for Your Sins.
So, do you hear Christ’s Weeping? His Wailing?
His Moaning? His Howling because YOU have missed the opportunity of having
God’s Peace and Salvation or are you within Christ’s arms being loved and
guided and protected? The decision is yours.
As always, if you do not have a Church Home, you are always invited to come and visit the friendly Hall Wesleyan Church.
Hall Church is God's Church, which is surrounded by His Country Beauty and a place where you are always welcome to come and spend a country moment with us in God's Biblical Truth.
Pastor Dan
