Not an ordinary carpenter

What does a carpenter know about water?  Wood?  Sure.  Hammers and saws? Of course.  But what does a carpenter know about water?  Not too much…except for this carpenter.  This carpenter is different.  I remember when we, my brother and I, first encountered this carpenter. We had been fishing all night, and we had caught nothing.  Then along came the carpenter.  “Push out into the deep water and let down your nets.” We were fishermen.  We knew the water.  Why take advice about fishing from a carpenter?  But this carpenter was different.  We let down our nets and caught more fish than our boat could hold…actually more than two boats could hold safely.  He is no ordinary carpenter.

Then there was the storm.  The carpenter had said that we should all go across the lake.  Then he fell asleep in the back of the boat.  Not too long and the storm hit out of nowhere.  Waves were crashing over the bow.  We all felt sure we were going down for good.  “Master, don’t you care that we are perishing?”  The carpenter woke up. We wanted him to help bail out the water.  But he stood and spoke to the storm.  The carpenter spoke with authority.  And the storm listened.  “Be still!”  And it was still.  He is no ordinary carpenter.

It seems this carpenter knows about water.  He knows more than us fishermen when it comes to water…well, when it comes to everything.  I remember that other time when he sent us off in the boat and said he would come later.  We were pulling on the oars as hard as we could, but the wind was against us.  It had gotten dark, and the wind had come up, and the waves with the wind.  That’s when the carpenter came.  He came on the water, but he wasn’t in a boat.  He was walking.  “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  His reply – one word:  “Come”.  So I stepped over the edge of the boat.  I stepped out onto the water, looking into his face.  Then the wind and waves caught my attention.  What am I doing out here?  I started to sink down.  I called out to him.  And he caught my arm, lifting me up.  “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”  He is no ordinary carpenter.

We saw the carpenter heal the sick.  We saw him give sight to the blind. And we saw him beaten, and we saw him die. But in three days, we saw him alive again.  Death was no match for this carpenter. 

Later Nathaniel, Thomas, James, John and two of the others and I were together.  I suggested that we go fishing, and they agreed.  So we went out in the boat, but we caught nothing.  “Children, do you have any fish?”  “No.” “Cast your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.”  Some?  There were so many we couldn’t pull the net in.  It was John who recognized him first.  “It is the Lord!”  He didn’t have to say it twice.  I was in the water and made for the shore. 

What does a carpenter know about water?  Well, this carpenter is not a regular carpenter.  He is not like any other carpenter you have ever met.  He is the Lord of the wind and waves. He is the Light in the storm. And He is the one who gives living water.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says.

Seven times in the book of Revelation we read the phrase, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."  This echos the Words of Jesus in Luke 8:8 and Mark 4:9 at the end of the parable of the sower:  “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

What would the church be like if we had hearing ears?  God's Word is powerful!  Look at John 11:43.  Two little words from Jesus: δεῦρο ἔξω - Come forth!  His word brings life!

As Morning Breaks

As morning breaks upon the tomb

Despair and sorrow flee and hide

For standing strong is Life himself,

The One who once was crucified.

The walls of Hell are broken down

And fallen before heaven’s Son

The halls of death lie crushed beneath

The King of kings, victorious One!

The blood stained shroud is laid aside

That held the sinless One who died

And running there to look inside

We see that death has been denied

And joy like sunrise starts to dawn

As hearts believe what angels know

And to the Savior we are drawn

To worship Jesus, bowing low

Amazing joy!  For Jesus lives

He’s conquered sin and death and hell

For us, and life eternal gives

And sends us with the news to tell

©2014 Willing Captive, Mark Stenson

Open Up the Doors

On the evening of that first day When they gathered there together
They locked the doors to try and shut out all their fears
But the doors and locks were useless
And the fears came crashing in
Into their place of secret sorrow
And their place of hidden fears

And it seems we’re not so different
Than the one who gathered there
We try to hide our broken hearts and broken dreams
And we shut out nagging questions
And pretend that we don’t care
We know that what is on the inside
Isn’t always what it seems

But the very doors we hide behind
Can hold us captive too
And the locks become a prison to our heart
‘Till the risen Jesus enters in
And His words bring peace
And we see the wounds He bore
So we would never be apart

And just like those first disciples
We are taken by surprise
As He sends us out into the world we dread
When He breaths on us His Spirit
And the joy begins to rise
As we celebrate the Living One
Who is no longer dead

So open up the doors and let them know
That Jesus is alive and He’s made you whole
Break the locks that used to chain your life
Come into the freedom of the light

And Jesus will be with you
As you walk along the way
And His words will be like fire in your heart
And then as your eyes are opened
And you see that it is He
Who has bought you back from darkness
Oh yes, let the music start

So open up the doors and let them know
That Jesus is alive and He’s made you whole
Break the locks that used to chain your life
Come into the freedom of the light

c 2010 Willing Captive Mark Stenson

How Great...

Listening

Who we listen to is so critical.

At first, Adam and Eve listened to God’s voice. 

But then Eve listened to the voice of the serpent.   

And Adam, in turn, listened to Eve.  Genesis 3:17 - To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.  

Cain failed to listen to God’s warning about sin crouching at the door.  He killed his brother. 

Noah listened to God, obeying him and preparing an ark for the rescue of Noah, his family, as well as the animals. 

Abraham listened and believed God’s promise.  

When Sarah suggested to Abraham that he take Sarah’s servant, Hagar, and have a child with her, Abraham listened to Sarah.  And Ishmael was born – not the child of promise. 

Sarah listened from the tent when the Angel of the Lord spoke, but laughed, thinking her circumstance was too hard for God.   

Who we listen to, and how we listen, makes all the difference. 

Romans 10:17

 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

Psalm 119:25 I am laid low in the dust; preserve my life according to your word.

God is the giver of life and the one who sustains our lives also.His word comes to the rescue when the dryness and dust of life under the sun threatens to become all that we can see.

Another version says, "My soul cleaves to the dust."  I am reminded of the verses that talk about marriage.  "A man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."  Our groom, Jesus, has called us to leave our dryness and dust and to cleave now to him.  His love rescues us, makes us his own.