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In An Instant...     Daniel 3:19   Dr. David A Baillie

8/26/2019

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Those of us who are older remember where we were on September 11, 2001.  I know we have a whole new generation growing up who have no actual recollection of that moment, but still many of us do. 

For others of us we remember where we were when Challenger exploded, and others remember the day Kennedy was shot, or that when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.  

Those are huge, life-changing milestones that many of us share.  Then, for each of us, there are those milestones that we may not share with the world.   The day we got the diagnosis.  The day we walked in to work only to leave a few minutes later with no job. 

A few years ago, here in Indiana, I got a call from a friend one day who simply said, "Pastor, can you come over.  I just came back from the hospital, and there are no more treatments they can do."   So I turned the car around and drove to his house, and sat there next to him on his couch and just held his hand for a long time.  A couple weeks later he was gone. 

Life changes in an instant. 

In Daniel 3:19, the story of the fiery furnace, we find this line about Nebuchadnezzar:

Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury and the expression on his face changed towards Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego...

Suddenly, in an instant, they were no longer leaders of the people, they were despised, and all that they had done was hold on to what they believe. 

​I wonder, if in the face of fury, if we would hold on to what we believe?

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Endless Waiting..   Joshua 6   Dr. David A Baillie

8/19/2019

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So this past Sunday I got done speaking and looked at the video from the sermon and saw a run time of 42 minutes, which is a long time for me.  Of course I immediately checked with a couple people and they gave me the requisite, “Well is sure didn’t feel like it was long, it was really interesting.”   I’m always grateful for people who are smart enough to say such things.  

Still, sometimes we find ourselves in the position where things just seem like they are going to go on and on forever.  I’ve felt this way in staff meetings, and in church services, and piano recitals and all kinds of places, and when it finally ends, it’s a feeling of great relief.

Sometimes, however, when the waiting ends, things just get more and more intense.  Imagine the people living in the city of Jericho when the people under the command of Joshua came against the city.  For six days the people of Israel got up every morning and marched around the city.  He priests went in front and the the rams horn were blowing.  I can see it, on the first day the people inside the city were probably thinking, “What the heck are they doing?”

Day two, “Really?   Here they go again.”

Day three, “This is getting a little old already.”

Day four through six, “Is this ever going to end”

Day seven, “Once, twice, three times, how many times are they going to do this today?   How long will this go on?”

Then all of a sudden, after seven times, there was a shout, and the walls came tumbling down.

​We are going to look deeper at this story this coming Sunday.  We are going to look it at from the standpoint of the people in the city, and from the one of the people marching around the city.  What we may find is that God’s timing is the only timing that matters.
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Shut your mouth...  Daniel 6   Dr. David A Baillie

8/12/2019

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Shut your mouth!   Having grown up in the South for a large part of my younger years I heard that saying many times.  It could have a multitude of meanings from "You have got to be kidding me," to "Shut up," all depending on who was saying it, the tone of voice, and body posture. 

Sometimes we are called to just shut our mouths.  There are points in this life when we, as God's children, should be seen and not heard.  Our actions need to be louder than our word. 

There are other times, however, when we need to open our mouths so that God can be the one to silence the mouths of our enemies or of the evil around us.  There are some battles that must be fought not just with deeds, but with words.   This week we are looking at the story of Daniel, and we all know the part about where he was in the Lion's Den and God shut the mouths of the lions so they would not eat him, but what we need to remember is that before the Lion's mouths were closed,  Daniel's mouth was open, but it was open in prayer:

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.   Daniel 6:10 NKJV

Then when Daniel was called before the king for his actions and his words, Daniel stood firm on his faith.   

At the end of World War II Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemoller reflected on the Nazi rise to power, and offered the following words:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—    
     Because I was not a socialist.

hen they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--
     Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
     Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

May God grant us wisdom like Daniel to know when to speak and do what is right, and let God shut the mouths of the lions in God's way and God's time.

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How do you know that...  1 Kings 3    Dr David A Baillie

8/5/2019

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Years ago I took my volleyball team from Furman University to a tournament in Mississippi and as a treat I decided to take my team down to New Orleans for a day of sightseeing and fun.  I had a number of freshmen players on the team that year.  For lunch I took them to a restaurant on near Bourbon Street.   We were actually on a balcony looking over the street and the setting was just great. 

Everyone ordered.  One girl, a freshman from Chicago, ordered some shrimp scampi.  She had never had shrimp before in her life and was looking forward to it.  Our food came, and we were having a great time and all the girls seemed to be enjoying their meals, but I looked down the table and she had a really strange look on her face.  So I asked her, "How is your shrimp scampi?"  She looked at me and said,  "It is good, but it is really, really crunchy."  

The girl from Chicago didn't know that when you ate shrimp, you actually didn't eat the tails.  I don't know that we ever let her forget it, and somehow I hope that somewhere she finds this story and is reading it today.  The truth is, however, that there are more things we don't know than we do know, but the problem is that we usually don't know what we don't know until we find out we don't know it. 

This week we are looking at the Story of Solomon as he begins his reign as King of Israel.  The Lord appears to Solomon and says,  "As you begin your reign, what do you want?  Ask me and I will give you whatever you ask."

Solomon has one of the great lines of insight in the scripture when he says:

7 Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in.

What a great insight, one that I could use more of.  As I get older I become more stubborn and convinced I am right and that I know everything.  Solomon reminds me that I need to step back and remember that in the sight of God I am a little child, and I don't even know if the door says push or pull.  Fortunately there is a God who is greater than I and who can give wisdom for life if I just ask him. 

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