The Sweet & Sour Of God's Message

The Sweet & Sour of God's Message

Friday night, September 12, the 2013 IgNobels Prizes were held in Saunders Theatre at Harvard University! Winners traveled at their own expense, and received the prize from the hands of…real Nobel Prize winners. A few of the winners include:

PSYCHOLOGY PRIZE

REFERENCE: “‘Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beer Holder’: People Who Think They Are Drunk Also Think They Are Attractive,” Laurent Bègue, Brad J. Bushman, Oulmann Zerhouni, Baptiste Subra, Medhi Ourabah, British Journal of Psychology, epub May 15, 2012.

PEACE PRIZE

Alexander Lukashenko, president of Belarus, for making it illegal to applaud in public, AND to the Belarus State Police, for arresting a one-armed man for applauding.

PROBABILITY PRIZE

REFERENCE: “Are Cows More Likely to Lie Down the Longer They Stand?” Bert J. Tolkamp, Marie J. Haskell, Fritha M. Langford, David J. Roberts, Colin A. Morgan, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, vol. 124, nos. 1-2, 2010, pp. 1–10.

Every one of us may deserve an ignoble price for what we study INSTEAD of the Bible (including me-considering I read the entire article concerning the IgNobel prizes).

Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but ‘in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’[a]” I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Revelation 10:8-10

Ezekiel 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak my words to them. . . . But the people of Israel are not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate.

The message of God is so often Sweet to the taste, and sour when digested.

Ezekiel is given a message from God- Sweet

The People of Israel will not listen- Sour

God so loved the world . . . Sweet

That He gave His only begotten Son (born in a manger, rejected by His people, died on the cross). Sour

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who though He was God Sweet . . . yet He humbled himself even unto death Sour

Hebrews 411 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, Sweet

so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. Sour

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sweet

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. Sour

And so often the sweet comes only from embracing the sour:

He humbled himself unto death, even the death of the cross Sour!

THEREFORE God also highly exalted Him, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Sweet!

Personal experience

4 months in the US unexpected/undesired/visa not given Sour

Time with kids & parents. Time alone with the LORD-Retreat Sweet

And there is another message here-the Message of God is something we need to eat and digest, because once it’s inside of us it is a powerful spiritual weapon.

Too many believers neglect regular Bible study and prayer. Many students who apply for a degree here at New Life College, most of whom come from families which have had them in church every Sunday since they were young, fail a basic Bible-Knowledge entrance exam.

BLANK SLIDE STILL I’ve been thinking of some new questions to add to the exam:

Who was the smartest man in the Bible? –Abraham. He knew a Lot.

Who was the fastest man in the Bible? -Adam. He was first in the Human Race.

What man in the Bible had no parents? (you might think of Melchisedek. NO!) Joshua, Son of None.

Ok. Maybe these are not the best questions to include in an entrance quiz for Bible knowledge. . . But there are good reasons for continuing to develop our knowledge of the Bible.