A Source of Strength and Comfort

Philippians 4:13 (NET) - I am able to do all things through the one who strengthens me.

Every believer has at least one passage of scripture that is personally meaningful to them.

Philippians 4:13 has always been that kind of verse for me.

I have leaned on this verse through some very difficult times in my life.

At some point, I fondly began referring to it as my “go to” verse.

I have discovered that looking at this verse in this way is almost like having an insurance policy.

I find it a source of strength and comfort just knowing it is there.

Recently, I have discovered this verse to be inspirational in a different way.

As I grow older, I find that it is necessary for me to make some changes in my life.

These changes are necessary if I wish to maintain a level of quality in my life.

Human beings, myself included, tend to dislike change.

As I incorporate these changes, I reflect on this verse.

This reflection helps me make these changes permanent.

In the very near future I will be celebrating a birthday if that is God’s will for my life.

This birthday will be unique in that it will mark one more birthday than my father had.

It will also mark more than fifty more than my brother did as he died in childhood.

I consider every day to be a blessing from God and I am grateful for each of them.

As time goes by, I know there will be more changes necessary if I wish to serve Him effectively.

Whatever changes may come, Philippians 4:13 reminds me that I will be able to cope with them.

That is because I will be counting on His strength rather than my own.

It appears that I will be going to my “go to” verse more often.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, March 4, 2016.

I’ll be back here on Friday, March 11, 2016

Criticism

The Super Bowl is over.

In spite of all the hype and emphasis placed on this game, it ended as all games usually end.

There was a winner and there was a loser.

That should be the end of it, yet something else reared its ugly head - criticism.

Criticism is one thing at which human beings seem to excel.

One player in particular seems to have garnered more than his share.

People criticized his performance.

People criticized him for his attitude after the game.

This bothers me in several ways.

First, a good many people will have forgotten that his team was even in this game a few years from now.

Second, the majority of his critics have never even played the game much less at his level

Third, there is the very real prospect that he is criticizing himself.

As others continue to criticize him this prospect becomes more certain.

Yes, human beings seem to excel at criticism.

Even people who claim to be Christians can be quite critical at times.

I recently read where the work of a Christian author has been criticized by his peers.

As we begin our journey through the season of Lent, I thought about Jesus and criticism.

People criticized Jesus throughout His ministry on earth.

Yet when Jesus encountered sinners, He did not criticize them.

He simply told them to sin no more.

Take the woman accused of adultery.

John 8:10-11 (NET) - Jesus stood up straight and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She replied, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”

Jesus reserved His criticism for the religious leaders and experts in the law.

In other words, He saved his criticism for those who were supposed to have known better.

Matthew 23:13 (NET) - “But woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in.”

And this is but one of the seven woes Jesus declared to them in this chapter.

As Christians, we need to be less critical of others.

Shouldn’t we know better?

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, February 19, 2016.

I’ll be back here on Friday, February 26, 2016

Why Sunday School?

It is difficult enough trying to get grown people to go to church these days.

It seems even more difficult to get them to even think of going to Sunday School,

Believe it or not, there are real benefits in attending an adult Sunday School class.

First of all, Sunday School is not just for children.

If a church has a Sunday School program for children it is very likely that it provides classes for adults.

Learning, after all, should be a lifelong experience.

Second, an adult Sunday School class is generally a small group.

Church should feel like family as we grow closer to those with whom we worship.

That being true, a small group like an adult Sunday School class begins to feel more like immediate family to those who attend.

This special sense of family is fostered simply by being a part of the group.

Another benefit of attending an adult Sunday School class is that you cannot help but learn more about the Bible.

Everyone in the class has passages of scripture that are important to them.

As the class studies together people will often share these passages of scripture with their fellow students.

At other times a student may recall a portion of scripture which the class then looks up in the Bible.

Another benefit of attending an adult Sunday School class is that each person is different,

Each brings his particular strengths that helps others.

Each also bring his weaknesses in order that they may be helped by those who are stronger.

Attending an adult Sunday School class also helps one get better at prayer.

When time in class is set aside for this purpose, students learn to pray more effectively.

They also raise specific people and circumstances up in prayer.

Their classmates then often pray for these people and circumstances outside the classroom as well.

In an adult Sunday School class, the students tend to become more involved individuals.

They may serve the church in other areas and quite often they have or develop ministries outside the church.

One thing I would recommend to any adult Sunday School class is that they take up an offering and prayerfully consider how to use those funds to benefit others.

Speaking from experience, you will be absolutely amazed by what God can do with a handful of dedicated people and a few dollars every week.

There is another great thing about being in a Sunday School class.

You really feel God’s presence there.

Scripture bears this out!

Matthew 18:20 (NET) - For where two or three are assembled in my name, I am there among them.

These are merely some of the benefits of attending an adult Sunday School class.

There are many more.

There are even benefits to teaching such a class.

But those I will save for another time.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, February 5, 2016.

I’ll be back here on Friday, February 12, 2016

Bread and Circuses

Let me begin by freely admitting that I enjoy watching sports.

There is one thing, however, that I do not enjoy while watching sports.

Regardless of the team or sport, I do not like seeing athletes injured.

When athletes compete to the best of their ability there is a probability of injury.

No matter what safety precautions are taken, there is always a chance that someone could suffer a serious or perhaps even life threatening injury.

Such an incident occurred this past weekend.

I was watching a professional football game.

A team from my home state was hosting a team from the East coast.

During that game there was a massive collision between the runner from the visiting team and the defender from my state.

In spite of precautions like helmets and pads it was obvious the runner had been injured.

He lay face down on the field and began to go into convulsions.

My first concern was that he had suffered a serious neck injury.

The medical staff sprang into action.

They immediately ran to him and tried to hold him down so that his involuntary movements would not make this potentially dangerous situation even worse.

As the scene unfolded I found myself praying for this man.

The situation looked bad, but then something happened that absolutely disgusted me.

A number of fans began celebrating.

One could make the argument that the fans could not know how dangerous the situation was.

There is a fine line between discernment and judgment, but in this case, I am not inclined to be that generous.

Being familiar with this stadium I know it has one of the largest indoor televisions in sports.

It is 70 feet tall and 160 feet wide and it is there to provide instant replay.

Fortunately, the player regained consciousness and after an unscheduled commercial break he was shown on the sidelines conscious and being examined by the medical staff.

I was relieved to see this.

My disappointment in the behavior of some of the fans remains.

Perhaps I am naïve, but frankly, I expected better from our fans.

In the tenth chapter of the gospel of Luke, Jesus tells an expert in the law about the good Samaritan.

A man was set upon by robbers and left half dead.

First a priest and then a Levite came upon the man and passed him by.

A Samaritan then came upon the injured man, felt compassion for him and treated his wounds.

Jesus asked the expert in the law which of the three was a neighbor to the man.

Luke 10:36-37 (NET) - Which of these three do you think became a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” The expert in religious law said, “The one who showed mercy to him.” So Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”

If Jesus used those who passed by the injured man as an object lesson, how do you suppose He would feel about those who would celebrate the injury of a man?

I entitled this piece “Bread and Circuses”.

This was a term that came into being during the Roman Empire when morality was on the decline.

It appeared in the phrase “Two things only the people anxiously desire — bread and circuses.”

Those in power kept the people happy by distributing free food and staging huge spectacles for them.

Where is the Roman Empire today?

If the celebration of injury becomes more commonplace in today’s society, then perhaps there is a more important question to ask.

Who is becoming that kind of empire today?

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, January 15, 2016.

I’ll be back here on Friday, January 22, 2016

Heaven Came Down

There will be a full moon this Christmas.

This is a bit of a rare event.

The last time there was a full moon on Christmas was in 1977.

As I thought about this, I considered the influence the moon has on our planet.

Because we have a moon, the wobble in the earth’s axis is minimized.

Without the moon, this wobble would be considerably more dramatic.

There would be no seasons as we currently know them.

Earth’s climate would undergo radical and continual change,

The moon, along with the sun, influences the tides.

The moon has even more influence on the tides than the sun because it is so much closer to the earth.

We don’t always see the moon.

Several times a year, we experience what we call a new moon.

We cannot see it at all because of the shadow of the earth.

At other times, cloud cover obscures our view of the moon.

What is important to remember is that the moon continues to have a profound influence on the earth whether we see it or not.

A similar thing can be said of Jesus.

We set aside Christmas Day to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

John 1:14 (NET) - Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.

Our lives were forever changed.

That first Christmas was not the day we reached up to God.

That first Christmas was the day God reached down to us.

Jesus has a profound influence on our lives.

That influence continues to exist even during the times we fail to see Him.

There are times when the events of the world try to hide Him in the shadows.

There are times when we attempt to obscure our own ability to see Him.

What is important to remember is that Jesus continues to have a profound influence on our lives whether we see Him or not.

Some say that Christmas is a time for children.

There is a grain of truth in what they say, but they are missing the bigger picture.

John 1:12 (NET) - But to all who have received him—those who believe in his name—he has given the right to become God’s children

I wish you a blessed Christmas!

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, January 1, 2016.

I’ll be back here on Friday, January 8, 2016

A True Revolutionary

Dictionaries typically have more than one definition for the word “revolutionary”.

The definition most people think of is someone “supporting a political revolution”.

The one I prefer is someone “causing a great or complete change”.

If you want me to be completely honest, I consider Jesus to be a revolutionary.    

Not in the sense of a political revolution.

I consider Jesus to be a revolutionary because he brought about a great and complete change.

The change Jesus brought about was so great and so complete that the time of his birth is used to delineate time.

Time before His birth is designated as B. C. and the time after his birth is designated A. D.

Jesus brought about complete change but He was not at all what the world anticipated.

He did not arrive on the scene as a general or a military strategist.

He was not a powerful political leader.

He was not born to wealth and privilege.

He did not even grow up in a large and powerful city.

God sent His Son into the world in a completely unexpected way.

Jesus entered this world as a baby.

He was born to humble parents in a relatively obscure town.

It was not the powerful and influential that first learned of His arrival but simple shepherds.

Even as an adult, His life and teachings were not at all what the world expected.

He instructed us to love rather than hate.

He taught us that when wronged, we should forgive.

He never once sinned even when He experienced temptation, hunger, rejection, abandonment, ridicule, torture and more.

Jesus did not come into the world to conquer it.

Instead, He came into the world to die for it.

That is truly revolutionary!

2 Timothy 1:9-10 (NET) - He is the one who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not based on our works but on his own purpose and grace, granted to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but now made visible through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus. He has broken the power of death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel!

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, December 18, 2015.

I’ll be back here on Friday, December 25, 2015

One Thing

My plans for Thanksgiving Day changed.

The wonderful people who invited me to share the day with them encountered circumstances beyond their control.

They contacted me the day before and explained the situation to me.

I completely understood and told them so,

I told them not to worry about a thing and informed them that I would lift them up in prayer.

The moment I hung up the phone, I did just that.

Once I concluded that portion of my prayer I asked for His guidance in how I should spend Thanksgiving Day.

The answer came as no surprise as it was embedded in the name of the day.

I should spend my day simply giving thanks to God.

Although this should be simple, the difficulty lies in where to begin.

No matter what circumstances we find ourselves in we discover that we have so much for which to be thankful.

As I began to mentally prepare a list, my thoughts turned to a work by a man named John Amos Comenius who lived in the 1600’s.

Comenius was many things.

The world knows him as the father of modern education, but he was also an author, a theologian and many other things as well.

Unum Necessarium is but one of the books Comenius wrote.

The subject of this book is “the one thing necessary.”

Of all that we have or could have only one of them is completely necessary.

What is this one thing?

The one thing necessary is a relationship with God which is made possible through Jesus Christ.

Acts 16:31 (NIV) - They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

I will forever be grateful for the one thing necessary.

Being thankful in this will allow me to be grateful for everything else.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV) - Always rejoice, constantly pray, in everything give thanks. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Of course that means I am grateful for you too.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, December 4, 2015.

I’ll be back here on Friday, December 11, 2015