His Finger in the Dirt

We are repeating this one since we were having technical difficulties last week. Have a blessed day.

His Finger in the Dirt 

“This they said to test Him that they might have some charge to bring against Him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask Him, He stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more He bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before Him.” John 8:6-9 (ESV) 

I serve under the kind of Pastor who, just outta the blue (but Holy Spirit driven), will change the order of service on Sunday morning, that morning!! All you who are in charge of the audio/video presentations in church give me an AMEN!! Pastor Paul Ort is as unpredictable to serve under as it must be with Bill Welte. They both have had no problem “throwing us under the bus” when the mood seems to strike them and I wish (in love, of course) that our Heavenly Father would take away their assumed CDL licenses. It is an ugly “THUD!!” first thing on a Sunday morning. But truth be told, what gets changed at a moment’s notice can be meant for the edification of the body of Christ. As Pastor Paul puts it to me, “Well one has to be ready to pray, preach or die!” 

Well if one is to be ready to preach at a moment’s notice then one should be aligned with the correct focus of God’s Word. Our church’s Wednesday night Bible has been an interesting one. Pastor Paul has been going through a book titled “Demolishing Supposed Bible Contradictions” by Ken Ham and having us searching through Scripture in order for us to hone our skill at defending the faith. This past Wednesday night he started off with the genealogy that we find in the beginning of Matthew. I was not one for looking into them in past studies but as of recent I have come to realize their importance no matter how much they seem to put us to sleep. Fear not, however, that is not where I am going this morning. 

Pastor then had us turn to John 8:3-11, he made reference to Deuteronomy 5:18/Exodus 20:14 and reminded us of the consequence we find in Leviticus 20:10. In the book, which Pastor is going through, it had posed this question by the naysayers, “Why didn’t Jesus keep the Law by having the adulteress woman stoned?” Well the bottom line to that argument is the men who brought the woman to Jesus did not provide adequate witness (Deut 17:6, 19:15) nor did they bring the man who allegedly was with her. It does take two to commit the physical act of adultery. Then Pastor Paul pondered what the Lord was writing in the dirt with His finger. 

It is thought that Jesus may have been writing out the Ten Commandments. But then maybe, as Pastor suggested, He may have been writing the sin of each one of the men who wanted to stone this woman. And maybe the Holy Spirit drove those men to just drop their stones and depart from His presence. Therefore, I submit to you today that this may be an illustration of how we will face our Heavenly Father when we are brought into His presence and He opens His books to see what has been written to our account. Those men just may be an illustration of our adversary standing behind us reminded The Father that we know fully and willingly violated His precepts that Moses carried down from Mt. Sinai. “They don’t deserve Heaven!!” the adversary shouts from the back. 

But the refreshing part here is…Jesus as our intercessor. Sometimes in a world where truth can be spun out of control, like in this present day or back in the time where Christ walked the earth, a cool level head prevails. I cannot think of anyone with a cooler level head than Jesus. Yes, we do not deserve Heaven and yes, we deserve to be stoned but with the provision of a perfect sacrifice in Christ Jesus by the Father gives us a Savior who can look the adversary in eye and say unto him…”Well then you throw the first stone.” I can only imagine the sound of the stones as they all hit the ground. THUD…Thud…thud. As the sound guy, I hope it will be a joyful noise. – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and is a regular contributor to Freedom Fighter

GPS – God’s Positioning System: 1 Kings 5-6; Psalm 119:65-72; Proverbs 18

Compass Pointers: “Even in the face of man’s sin and lost condition, there is still that basic potential in the soul and nature of man that through grace can become more like God than anything in the universe.” I Talk Back to the Devil   A.W. Tozer

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 20:5; Level 2: Proverbs 20:1-7

Anchored to the Rock: To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing. Martin Luther