The Real Billy Graham--by Linden Malki

This week we are saying farewell to a real man of God.  Although Billy Graham had a many honors and was a major public figure he did not wish to draw attention to his accomplishments.   He titled his autobiograpy "Just As I Am". ...Billy identified himself with every convert walking to the front and confessing sin and weakness.  ... He says that he too is the recipient of grace, and God has done all the work.  ... "Most of all, if anything has been accomplished through my life, it has been solely through God's doing, not mine, and He, not I, must get the credit." ... "Almost every night I say, 'I wish I had done better, because I'm a representative, really, of Christ.  That's a tremendous responsibility." *

This is a man who was a great example of being real. He felt a calling to tell all the world about Jesus and the salvation that He brings, but he  not only felt it, he did it.  In the process, he stood up for Godly values, but not as a judge, but as an example.  During a 1953 rally in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Graham tore down the ropes that organizers had erected in order to segregate the audience into racial sections.  When the ushers refused to remove the ropes, he pulled them down himself. In his memoirs, he recounted that he told two ushers to leave the barriers down "or you can go on and have the revival without me." He became a friend and mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr.  and a supporter of equal rights, but avoided radical political action.

He became a friend and prayer partner with every President from Harry  Truman to Barack Obama, and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, who became a good friend as well. He went on a speaking trip to Russia in 1982, when the Cold War was still in the ice age, against advice from almost everyone in the US government and even his own organization.  At that time, he was restricted to small audiences in the semi-underground churches, but it led to him being able to hold a major crusade in Moscow in 1988 after the thaw.  It is estimated that he spoke,either in person or by satellite, to over 210 milion people in 185 countries.  He was associated with a number of educational and missions organizations, and had millions of dollars pass through their hands, but was never accused of financial or personal misconduct.

We thank God for calling this man who took his calling seriously, and with the power of God did amazing things and set an amazing example. The key, I believe, is that he constantly drew on the power of the God and always gave God the credit--and confessed his own shortcomings and missteps for grace and forgiveness through His Son.
*The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham, Harold Myra, Marshall Shelley,  Zondervan, 2010

DAILY BIBLE READINGS February 19-25, 2018

DAILY BIBLE READINGS February 19-25. 2018
1. God, be merciful to me a sinner! (Luke 18:9-14)
2. What is your reward? (Matthew 6 :1-18)
3. The measure you give will be the measure you get (Luke 6:37-45)
4. The blind leads the blind (Matthew 15:1-20)
5. He who is greatest shall be the servant (Matthew 23:1-12)
6. Be doers of the word (James 1:19-27)
7. Your iniquities have made a separation between you and God (Isaiah 59:1-8)
TO THINK ABOUT: What is the danger in the attitudes shown here?

Praise and Worship--by Linden Malki

What do we honor and respect in life? Where did everything and everyone come from? If we know God, we know that He is behind everything, and our response should be honor and respect--worship--to God.  He asks for our worship, but not in the sense of demanding it--but in awe and appreciation of Who He is, and He deserves to be taken seriously. We can look at the earliest record we have of worship: Cain and Abel bringing offerings in response to God's provision for them.  Abel brought the best of what he had; Cain didn't; we don't know exactly how it fell short, but when God tried to explain, Cain became angry and took it out on Abel. Cain put his idea of what he was willing to offer above his respect for God and the life of his brother.

As we grow, we are figuring out who we are and what we want, and who are all these other people, and what is all this stuff we see out there.   We hopefully learn to respect that we owe our lives to God, our parents, and other people in our lives.But what is most important to us?  We may put what we, ourselves, want above everything.  We may make our "gods" in our own image, or some other created thing;  and give it  honor and respect that it doesn't deserve, because we want to be in control of it.  If we will not lift our eyes above our own wants, we cannot see God.

The first of the Ten Commandments is that nothing deserves respect and honor above God. A good deal of what God and His spokespeople say throughout the Bible warns of the danger of giving lesser things the honor and worship due to God.  If we will open our eyes and hearts to God, our response will be  our love and appreciation reaching out in praise, prayer, service, generousity,  with all our minds and hearts. 

Praise, in word and song, is mentioned hundreds of times in Scripture, and always as something that we do in response to what we experience of Him. It is not something that He demands but it comes from our not being able to hold back expressing our appreciation of His power and the glory of His creation.  We have a heritage of riches inspired by God, in Scripture, and also two thousand years of glorious music, art and literature by so many people in so many places responding to the wonders of God.  We need to remember to thank God for this heritage, and for being able to come together with His people to praise and worship.

For the Beauty of the Earth,
For the glory of the skies,
 For the love which from our birth.
 Over and around us lies—
Lord of all, to Thee we raise, 
This our hymn of grateful praise. 

  Folliott S. Pierpoint (1864)

DAILY BIBLE READINGS: February 12-18, 2018 We grow as we praise God!

DAILY BIBLE READINGS: February 12-18, 2018
1. Make a joyful noise (Psalm 100)
2. Clap your hands (Psalm 47)
3. Walk in Light (Ephesians 5:8-20)
4. Sing unto Him a new song (Psalm 33)
5. The Throne Room of God (Isaiah 6:1-8)
6. Blessed in the man who trusts in God (Psalm 40)
7. Shout to the Lord (Psalm 66)
TO THINK ABOUT: We grow as we praise God!

Living by Grace--by Linden Malki

It could be said that our world is made up of two kinds of sinners: those who know they are, and those who don't believe they are.  If we recognize our need for grace, we can take the first step in knowing God: acknowledging our sinfulness and dependence on Him. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) was how St Paul put it.  The amazing thing is that knowing that I am a sinner saved by grace sounds very simplistic but it adds a additional dimension to life. 

Maybe San Bernardino is an example in a way. When I first came here is was a prosperous and
positive place;  in the late 1970's it was named an All-American city. Up where North E street goes over LIttle Mountain, there was a mural painted on a retaining wall celebrating this honor.     Over the years, it has faded, like the attitudes of the people who live here now.  We are constantly faced with signs of poverty and crime, and it's very easy to get depressed and discouraged.  Yes, there are many good people still here; but what do we mean by "good people"?  There are people who consider themselves "good" because they don't do obviously bad things and are helpful to people, but they don't see that they need anything more. There are people whose judgment of their behavior consists of not getting "caught" or on the wrong side of the wrong people.  There are people who will do whatever makes them feel good,  without caring about the traditional standards that they see as outmoded. There a pervasive feeling that God really doesn't matter,  probably doesn't exist.  We read about people who are accused of various kinds of social, political or financial corruption, some with a very long history of behavior that had damaged other people but they don't see the problem with it. 

Human society has always fallen short of God's plan, but somehow He is a Creator who allows us an incredible amount of freedom, but also an incredible amount of responsibility for each other.  Yes, He allows things that we don't understand, but He also gives us the ability, in His strength--not our own--to do amazing things for good as well. We see times when we get a glimpse of what could be--a society where people truly care about good and evil, truly care about each other, and have a level of trust that we don't see much of here and now.  One of my daughters has a longtime friend who now lives in a community that she describes as somewhere she doesn't worry about her kids getting into trouble because there's no trouble for them to get into; the churches, schools and families all function as they ought. My daughter, telling me about it, said that she had a feeling that there was something missing but couldn't quite put her finger on it.  Thinking about it, I asked "But what are they doing outside their bubble?"  Our bubble here in Southern California has popped--what are we doing about it? We know that God is alive and well, but are we living on His level, in His strength, in constant awareness of Him?

DAILY BIBLE READINGS February 5-11, 2018

DAILY BIBLE READINGS FEBRUARY 5-11, 2018
1. God gives instructions for life (Exodus 19:1-9)
2.  Follow God's wisdom (Deuteronomy 4:1-14)
3. Copy Jesus as Servant (John 13:1-16)
4. The Body of Christ (Ephesians 4:1-15)
5. Stay on track (I Timothy 4:1-16)
6. Blameless elders (Titus 1:3-18)
7. Pray for the church family (James 5:13-20)
TO THINK ABOUT: We are responsible for each other!

What are Your Lions?--by Linden Malki

Darius the Mede had a problem that came to a head with a den of lions. We don't know a lot about him, but he apparently came from Media, which had previously been eaten by Persia. He had been involved with the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, and was a subordinate of Cyrus the Great and wound up with the responsibility of governing this part of the growing Persian empire.  He appointed satraps, or local governors, of the outlying provinces, and they reported to three officials of this King.  One of these was Daniel, a Judean who had been brought to Babylon when Nebuchadnezzar had conquered Jerusalem, and had been a high official for many years.  Now, the new Persian overlord wanted Daniel as his main deputy.

One of the lions loose in the government was the longstanding animosity of many of the other officials, probably including holdovers from the previous empire, to Daniel's standing with the previous kings. Now, with a new king, they tried again to get rid of Daniel. They knew what was his most vulnerable spot: his insistence on being true to his God. 

Darius had his own lions as well: he didn't realize the depth of the hatred for Daniel that was prowling around in his palace, and he probably didn't realize the depth of Daniel's obedience to Yahweh.  New man on the job, a little unsure of himself, and wanted someone like Daniel to have his back.  When the other members of his staff came to him with the suggestion that he put out a decree demanding worship, he apparently didn't realize the implications. One thing about the Persians was that they had a tradition of legal authority that said that anything officially recorded as a "Law of the Medes and the Persians" could not be repealed. (This came in handy later when the exiles returned to Jerusalem with a decree from Cyrus, the Persian emperor, authorizing the rebuild.)   So when Daniel's enemies came to Dairus to point out that Daniel was praying to his God, not the king, Darius was stuck. The problem with lions is that they bite.

We know the ending of the story: Daniel's God was stronger than the decree and the lions, and Daniel's enemies found out that lions could bite them, too.

Asiatic lions were common in the area at this time; we find many illustrations of lions in much of the eastern ancient world. They disappeared from southeastern Europe by late Roman times (some blame the Roman games for their disappearance) but were occasionally seen as late as the early 1900's in remote areas of Turkey and Iran.   They have always been a symbol of both strength and danger.

We can have "lions" in our lives as well--things that we want because they are strong but with a potential for disaster. We think that we can take advantage of the strength and control the danger, but the teeth and claws are sharp and quick. But we also have the advantage that Daniel had: a God who is stronger than the lions and can shut their mouths.

Roots: Stockholm - Linden Malki

This is Stockholm, Sweden; I was privileged to visit Sweden in 1998 with a group of Americans of Swedish Baptist connections to join in the celebration of the Baptist Union of Sweden marking the 150th anniversary of the first believers' baptism in Sweden. One of those baptised was my great-grandfather; he and two brothers left Sweden under pressure and settled in Minnesota, where my grandmother grew up in a family that hosted a house church. My grandfather also emigrated from Sweden, after his father kicked him out for joining an illegal Baptist house church in west Sweden, and he came to Minnesota, looked up the Swedish Baptist church in St Paul, Minnesota, and met my grandmother. They moved to Seattle, and then to western Oregon, and my grandmother was a charter member of four Swedish Baptist churches in a long life. 
One of my favorite memories of my grandmother was being at her house in Oregon when I was about eight and she was in her eighties (I'm the second to youngest of her grandchildren).  A cousin and I noticed that she was sitting reading her Bible, and we asked "Grandma, you haven't finished reading that yet?" Her answer, in a soft Swedish accent, was "Yes, I've read it a number of times, but I find something new every time."  We were amazed that she was still finding more there even after so many years,  I have found her answer not only unforgettable, but also absolutely true!