Upper Loft Meditation - 1 Peter 1

“…but the word of the Lord stands forever.” - 1 Peter 1:25

A grandfather in response to his grandson’s question was explaining why all the leaves were falling off the trees. “The leaves fall to the ground and become new earth. In the Spring, new trees will start to grow out of the new ground.”

The little boy looked up at the barren oak tree and thought for a moment. Then he smiled and looked at his grandfather and said, “God is good, isn’t He!” So much of our world exhorts us to follow the hot new trends and approaches. A loud voice calls for relevance and the latest cutting edge approach to leadership. Will it all fade away in a few months?

Peter declares that the word of the Lord stands forever. If this is true, how should it impact the way we live? What is the place for reading and studying God’s word in your busy schedule? Somehow, no matter how busy you are, when you are hungry, you find time to eat. How can you find guidance that is wise today and will be wise tomorrow? “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). 

Upper Loft Meditation - 1 Peter 1

“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.” - 1 Peter 1:22

A great indictment against God’s people is that we are extremely poor at loving one another. This is a primary reason why our neighbor ignores our witness. They don’t believe it is true.

Peter exhorts us to love one another with great gusto. The meaning here is literally to stretch yourself out to aid another. It implies going out of your way, taking the initiative, seeking to be a material blessing as well as a spiritual blessing, and acting for the benefit of another when it is totally unexpected.

How can we do this? We can do great acts of kindness and mercy for each other because we have experienced such an amazing love through Jesus our Lord. We are a new creation made to love and serve God. It is out of this relationship that we can truly, sacrificially love one another.

This is especially true in the way we respond to people who we have wronged. Is it easier to get orange juice out of a potato than for you to ask for forgiveness and set about ways of restitution? Love is meaningless unless it can be demonstrated.

Loving one another is a way we authenticate for our neighbor the love that God has for us.

Oakseed Offers Bazaar Llamas and Dairy Cows for Holiday Gifting

November 15, 2006 - Dunn Loring, VA - Oakseed Ministries International, a leading non-profit organization that partners with ministries serving the poor of the Developing World’s largest cities, has released their latest Bazaar Catalog. The Oakseed Bazaar is alternative gift giving. It is a way to give meaningful gifts while meeting the needs of the poorest of the poor around the world.

The Bazaar catalog highlights highly effective ministries run by nationals in 13 countries that are focused on the poorest of the poor in the urban centers of the world. Through the Bazaar, participants can strengthen and equip these workers. Help an orphan in Brazil, a mom with AIDS in Ethiopia, or a mentally disabled man in Argentina. The gifts that are given through the Bazaar will not only bless the ones receiving the gift, but also the people in real need that live a world away. One family said, “It means so much to us that the gift we receive will benefit another family a hundred times more.”

“There is great joy in giving a gift where you know you are meeting a real need,” said Dr. Edward Bradley, Oakseed Ministries’ President and Founder. “This year’s Bazaar catalog provides a great opportunity to bring joy and encouragement to the poorest of the poor.”

The 2006 Bazaar Catalog is available online at http://bazaar.oakseed.org or a physical catalog can be requested by calling 1-877-876-9020. Bulk catalog mailings are encouraged for churches and organizations that need multiple catalogs for distribution.

About Oakseed Ministries:
Oakseed Ministries assists local ministries that serve abandoned children and the poor living in the megacities of the Third World by bringing the good news of Jesus in word and deed. The organization supports over 30 ministries and is called to serve the church. Oakseed Ministries is located on the web at http://www.oakseed.org

Read entire press release

Why do we celebrate Thanksgiving?

The Pilgrims left Plymouth, England on September 6, 1620. Their destination? The New World. Although filled with uncertainty and peril, it offered both civil and religious liberty. For over two months, the 102 passengers braved the harsh elements of a vast storm-tossed sea. Finally, with firm purpose and a reliance on Divine Providence, the cry of “Land!” was heard.

Arriving in Massachusetts in late November, the Pilgrims sought a suitable landing place. On December 11, just before disembarking at Plymouth Rock, they signed the “Mayflower Compact” - America’s first document of civil government and the first to introduce self-government.

After a prayer service, the Pilgrims began building hasty shelters. However, unprepared for the starvation and sickness of a harsh New England winter, nearly half died before spring. Yet, persevering in prayer, and assisted by helpful Indians, they reaped a bountiful harvest the following summer.

The grateful Pilgrims then declared a three-day feast, starting on December 13, 1621, to thank God and to celebrate with their Indian friends. While this was not the first Thanksgiving in America (thanksgiving services were held in Virginia as early as 1607), it was America’s first Thanksgiving Festival.

Pilgrim Edward Winslow described the Pilgrims’ Thanksgiving in these words:

“Our harvest being gotten in, our Governor sent four men on fowling [bird hunting] so that we might, after a special manner, rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as… served the company almost a week… Many of the Indians [came] amongst us and… their greatest King, Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted; and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought… And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet BY THE GOODNESS OF GOD WE ARE… FAR FROM WANT.”

In 1789, following a proclamation issued by President George Washington, America celebrated its first Day of Thanksgiving to God under its new constitution. That same year, the Protestant Episcopal Church, of which President Washington was a member, announced that the first Thursday in November would become its regular day for giving thanks, “unless another day be appointed by the civil authorities.” Yet, despite these early national proclamations, official Thanksgiving observances usually occurred only at the State level.

Much of the credit for the adoption of a later ANNUAL national Thanksgiving Day may be attributed to Mrs. Sarah Joseph Hale, the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book. For thirty years, she promoted the idea of a national Thanksgiving Day, contacting President after President until President Abraham Lincoln responded in 1863 by setting aside the last Thursday of November as a national Day of Thanksgiving. Over the next seventy-five years, Presidents followed Lincoln’s precedent, annually declaring a national Thanksgiving Day. Then, in 1941, Congress permanently established the fourth Thursday of each November as a national holiday.

Lincoln’s original 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation came - spiritually speaking - at a pivotal point in his life. During the first week of July of that year, the Battle of Gettysburg occurred, resulting in the loss of some 60,000 American lives. Four months later in November, Lincoln delivered his famous “Gettsysburg Address.” It was while Lincoln was walking among the thousands of graves there at Gettysburg that he committed his life to Christ. As he explained to a friend:

When I left Springfield [to assume the Presidency] I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ.

As Americans celebrate Thanksgiving each year, we hope they will retain the original gratefulness to God displayed by the Pilgrims and many other founding fathers , and remember that it is to those early and courageous Pilgrims that they owe not only the traditional Thanksgiving holiday but also the concepts of self-government, the “hard-work” ethic, self-reliant communities, and devout religious faith.