Something Stinks!

Dave Miller — Thu, 06 May 2010 02:19:48 +0000

For most Americans, a shower is a daily necessity. My wife and I have been married for 20 years and I know she has showered at least once, every single day we’ve been married. I don’t share her singular passion for cleanliness, so about once a month I go without a shower on a Saturday. These occasions are usually when I have nothing to do, nowhere to go and nobody to see. This doesn’t seem to bother anybody in my family because, quite honestly, it’s hard to get really smelly in just one day if you’re just hanging around the house.

Not long ago, I was enjoying a shower-free Saturday and working a little harder than usual in the basement. Just before dinner, I was sitting at the computer and I noticed an odd aroma. At first, I didn’t know what it was, and then it dawned on me that it was me. I immediately shuffled off to the shower before I spoiled my family’s dinner.

Until you smell yourself, you don’t even suspect that you might need a shower. The problem is, other people can smell you long before you can smell yourself. For some reason, we’re somewhat immune to our own scent and we don’t even suspect that we might reek until we’ve been really stinky for a really, really long time.

It is no different with our sin. We are somewhat immune to noticing the stench of our own sins until we’ve allowed them to pollute our lives almost completely. Before I was saved, I was great at comparing myself to other stinking, sinning people and convincing myself that I didn’t smell as bad as they did. Some people, some nominal Christians, go through their entire lives this way. They’re kind of like the ‘deadheads’ of old, thinking a little patchouli oil (good works) will cover up the smell.

God knew that I was rotten to the core and His Holy Spirit convicted me of my sins and let me smell myself for the first time. He put it into my mind (and my nostrils) that I definitely needed a shower. He did that through a preacher who could smell me and was bold enough to tell me that I stank. God also made it clear that no water on earth could wash me as clean as I needed to be. Only the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God could wash my soul spotlessly clean. Revelation 7:14

Though I still enjoy a shower-free Saturday once in a while and like to think I don’t smell *that* bad, I am much more attuned to the smell of my own sins. Praise God that He rescued me from the patchouli-tainted works of my “carnal Christian” life and led me to trust completely in His Amazing Grace.

Paper-thin Bible Study

Dave Miller — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 19:05:14 +0000

Welcome to our bible study. Today we will be covering Paul’s letters; all of them. We might even throw in Hebrews if we have time.

Open your bibles to Romans 1:1 and follow along as I read, “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, set apart for the gospel of God,” Well that’s all the time we have for Romans. There’s really not much more to it, a lot of theology and rules and things. What we have learned so far is that Paul is a servant of Jesus. That will really help us in part two of our lesson. If you must go deeper, you can read Romans 8:28 which says that God gives us everything we want. Be sure you don’t read any further into chapter 1 and stay away from chapter 9.

Let’s start into Paul’s letters to the Corinthians. Look at 1 Corinthians 1:2, “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus.” Wow that’s a big word. What does sanctified mean? I guess since it is written to the church it means that everyone in the church is sanctified. That’s good news to all of us and that about does it for Corinthians. Everyone in the church at Corinth was sanctified, that’s all you really need to remember. Be sure to avoid chapters five, six, eleven and twelve if you insist on reading more.

Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians are all pretty much the same book. Paul talks about living a good life. Ephesians 5:1 really sums up everything in these four books. ” Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;” That’s what we all are, children of God.

The two books of Thessalonians are next in our study. Let’s start with 1 Thessalonians 1:6, “You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit.” Well, here we have a mention of the Holy Spirit which, along with the previous verses about God and Jesus make up the Trinity. That pretty much covers all we need to know about God. Let’s move on.

Timothy and Titus were both ministers that Paul was writing to and since none of you are ministers, there’s really not much point in going into them. If any of you are thinking of going into the ministry, they’ll probably make you read them in seminary.

Philemon is the shortest of Paul’s letters and it will take us very little time to study it.

Thank you for attending Bible Study today. It looks like we’re out of time so we’ll save Hebrews for another day.

Obviously this is an exaggeration, but have you ever attended a bible study like this? The leader of such a study is plowing a furrow ten miles long and a tenth of an inch deep. It is useless for planting anything. A good teacher could spend an hour talking about 2 Corinthians 5:21 alone. Covering entire chapters of the bible in a matter of minutes is an insult to the intelligence of the believers attending and does no justice to the Word of God.

How is God glorified with such paper-thin bible study?

Trust AND Obey » Holy Spirit

Something Stinks!

Paper-thin Bible Study