Lessons From The Airplane

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 “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.  For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.  But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”   [2 Timothy 4:2-5]

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 Lessons From The Airplane

In order to learn how to fly, you need to find your way to the runway. In order to land correctly, you must start making decisions miles away from where you touch down, when the airport looks like a tiny postage stamp far away.

In this passage, Paul was nearly there. His landing gear was locked, and he would soon touch down on the runway of eternity. But before he landed, he sent this last message to Timothy, the young man he had be mentoring.

Just as an airplane relies on instruments so that it can fly through clouds, fog, and darkness without veering off course, so also we Christians need truth as revealed by God to keep us from veering off course and missing our final destination. Pilots who ignore their instruments can become distracted and disoriented, fly into storms and crash far from the safety of the airport.

Some people may try to convince you that the gospel has gone out of style. Paul reaches forward through the centuries to assure you that never goes out of style. God remains the same. The truth will get us home.






   

...and the time for my departure is near...

 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.    [2 Timothy 4:6-8] 




They will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well...

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 “There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and showed us generous hospitality for three days.  His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him.  When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured.”   [Acts 28 :7-9]

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 They will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well...

As soon as the crew and passengers reached shore, they learned that they were on the island of Malta. Some of the natives of the island saw the shipwreck and witnessed the victims struggling through the water to get to shore. They very graciously build a fire for the new arrivals, who were thoroughly drenched and cold, both from the sea and from the rain.

When Paul was helping with the fire, he was bitten by a poisonous snake. It fastened on his hand, not just in the sense of coiling on it, but actually biting it. At first the local citizens concluded the apostle must be a murderer. Although he had escaped from the shipwreck, yet justice was tracking him down and he would soon swell up or suddenly fall down dead.  When Paul showed no ill effects from the snake bite, they changed their minds and decided he was a god! This is another vivid illustration of the fickleness and changeableness of the human heart and mind.

The leading citizen of the island of Malta at that time was Publius. This wealthy Roman official received Paul and his friends courteously, and provided accommodations for them for three days, until permanent quarters could be arranged in which they would spend the winter.  The kindness of this Gentile did not go unrewarded. At about that time, his father took sick with fever and dysentery. Paul went in to him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him. News of this healing miracle spread quickly throughout the island. During the next three months the sick were brought to Paul and were all cured.

"..they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." [Mark 16:18]


Paul Ashore on Malta Island

 The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold.  Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand.  When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.”  But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects.  The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.    [Acts 28:1-6]  

A snake hanging from Paul's hand

    




Be holy, for I am holy

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 “Be alert and think straight. Put all your hope in how kind God will be to you when Jesus Christ appears. Behave like obedient children. Don't let your lives be controlled by your desires, as they used to be. Always live as God's holy people should, because God is the one who chose you, and he is holy. That's why the Scriptures say, "I am the holy God, and you must be holy too.”   [1 Peter 1: 13-16]

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 Be holy, for I am holy

First, Peter urges the saints to have a “girded” mind.  A girded man is one that is strong, composed, cool, and ready for action. It is unimpeded by the distraction of human fear or persecution. In  other words, "Be alert and think straight."

Next, the saints are urged to have the optimistic, forward-looking mind: rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  The assurance of Christ’s Return is held out as a compelling motive for endurance through the storms and tribulations of life.

The revelation of Jesus Christ is generally taken to refer to His coming back to earth when He will be revealed in glory. As obedient children of God, they should not indulge in the sins which characterized them in their former life. Now that they are Christians, they should pattern their life after the One whose name they bear. The things they did in the days of their ignorance should be put away now that they have been illuminated by the Holy Spirit. The former lusts means the sins they indulged in while they were still ignorant of God.

Instead of imitating the ungodly world with its fads and fashions, our lives should reproduce the holy character of the One who called us. To be godly means to be Godlike. God is holy in all His ways. If we are to be like Him, we must be holy in all that we do and say. In this life we will never be as holy as He is, but we should be holy because he is.

Peter reaches back into the Old Testament for proof that God expects His people to be like Himself. In Lev. 11:44, the Lord said: “Be holy, for I am holy.” Christians are empowered to live holy lives by the indwelling Holy Spirit.







   Be Holy

 I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy....  I am the LORD, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.    [Leviticus 11:44-45] 




 

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Eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels

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 “Jesus answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.  The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one,  and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.  As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.  They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”   [Matthew 13:37-42]

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 The Parable of the weeds

The Bible is very clear about eternity.  The parable of the weeds once again explains that.   Jesus identified Himself as the sower.  He sowed the Word of God directly during His earthly ministry, and has been sowing through His servants in succeeding ages.

The field is the world. The good seeds mean the people of the kingdom.  It might seem bizarre and incongruous to think of living human beings being planted into the ground. But the point is that these sons of the kingdom were sown in the world.

The weeds are the sons of wicked one. Satan has a counterfeit for every divine reality. He sows the world with those who look alike, talk like, and, to some extent, walk like disciples. But they are not genuine followers of the King.

The enemy is Satan, the enemy of God and all the people of God. The harvest is the end of the age, the end of the kingdom age in its interim form, which will be when Jesus Christ returns in power and glory to reign as the King.

The reapers are the angels. During the present phase of the kingdom, no forcible separation is made of the wheat and the darnel. They are allowed to grow to gather. But at the Second Advent of Christ, the angels will round up all causes of sin and all evildoers and throw them into the furnace of fire, where they will weep and gnash their teeth.  The hell is a place where the fire never goes out. It is a place where the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.

Jesus paid the penalty on the cross to save you and me from that horrible place. Do you believe in the Savior, who suffered and died for your sins?




 

The lake of fire

    

Eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels

 Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”   [Matthew 25:41] 




 

I worship the LORD God of heaven

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 “Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,  “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD. But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.”   [Jonah 1:1-5]

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 I worship the LORD God of heaven

God told Jonah to preach to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. Jonah wasn’t afraid of failure; he we afraid he would succeed. He was afraid that his hated enemies might repent and be spared. So Jonah boarded a ship heading the opposite direction.
The Lord intervened and made a strong wind blow, and such a bad storm came up that the ship was about to be broken to pieces. The sailors were frightened, and they all started praying to their gods. They even threw the ship's cargo overboard to make the ship lighter.

All this time, Jonah was down below deck, sound asleep. The ship's captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep at a time like this? Get up and pray to your God! Maybe he will have pity on us and keep us from drowning." Jonah answered, "I'm a Hebrew, and I worship the LORD God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land."  When the sailors heard this, they were frightened, because Jonah had already told them he was running from the LORD.

When the terrified sailors asked what they should do in the storm Jonah caused, Jonah could have said, “Turn the ship around.” Instead, he chose to die. But he didn’t offer to jump into the ocean. He told the sailors to throw him in, so they would be guilty of his death.

The pagan sailors were more pious than Jonah, the prophet of God. They did not want to be judged for sin. And, unlike Jonah, the sailors worshipped God when they saw his anger appeased.
Jonah typified the people of ancient Israel who were so focused on their national identity that they wanted to see their neighbors destroyed—never mind that God wanted to spare them. May this never be our attitude.  May our prejudices never cause us to sit in judgment of who should be saved and who should be destroyed.


"Throw me into the sea, and it will calm down"

 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous.  He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”   [Jonah 1:11-12]  

Jonah boarded a ship heading the opposite direction