Let’s revisit the story of baseball player Trea Turner. A star player, hired by the Philadelphia Phillies with great fanfare and a huge contract, wasn’t producing deep into the season. So a radio broadcaster organized a “standing ovation” for Trea on August 4. The initial reports were that “it” worked, and he was suddenly doing better. Then what?

After the standing ovation on August 4, Turner began a ten-game hitting streak. In the 48 games after the ovation, Turner batted .337 with 16 home runs and 42 RBIs. On August 19, 2023, in a 12–3 win against the Washington Nationals, Turner became the third player in Phillies history to hit two home runs in the same inning. – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trea_Turner#Philadelphia_Phillies

The Phillies made it into the playoffs as a wild card, and as I write, they are one win away from going to the World Series. In the playoffs, Trea has a team-leading 0.378 batting average with 3 home runs and 5 doubles. That 5-minute standing ovation back in August was a good investment indeed!

I should point out that if the discipline and skill aren’t there, all the affirmation in the world isn’t going to help. But in our case, every believer you meet has been:

• chosen by God (Ephesians 1.4)
• indwelt by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12.4 – 7)
• created in Christ Jesus for good works. (Ephesians 2.10)

Maybe we ought to be giving each other standing ovations…for future fruitfulness!

Outdo one another in showing honor. (Romans 12.10, ESV)

I can’t complain. My son Mark has season tickets to the Broncos, and he takes me to a couple of games a year. Sunday we actually saw the Broncos defeat the Packers…barely. The weather was perfect, 72 degrees, no wind, and, as I say, the Broncos won!

But I’m worn out. I didn’t mind the 1.25-mile walk from the car to the top of the stadium. I enjoy the exercise. On the top level, we each picked up a brat and a coke. All we had to do was walk to our seats, section 509, row 28.

28 rows up from where we enter the seating area. Two steps per row. A VERY steep climb, and I’m carrying a brat and a coke. No problem…

Actually, it’s no problem for my son, who, as I think about it the next day, is the U.S. #1 stair racer. He runs stairs for fun. And when he runs a race in Bronco stadium, up and down all the way around, he wins.

Me, I’m in pretty good shape for a 76-year-old. Not quite the same. I made it, but I’m moving very slowly, head down, watching the steps and monitoring the row numbers. I can’t use the handrail (remember the brat and the coke?). I did the climb twice, once when we arrived and another after a bathroom break, and I’ve lived to tell about it.

Lesson learned? If you can help it, don’t let your elite athlete son choose the stadium seats! Actually, he suggested that next year he would try to get something only a few rows up from that high entrance. That would be more civilized.

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength… They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40.28 – 31, ESV)

Jesus made himself very clear when warning folks who, like many of us sometimes, like to listen to “good sermons:”

And everyone hearing these words of Mine and not doing them, may be compared to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. (Luke 7.26, LSB)

So beware how you listen, for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him. (Luke 8.18, LSB)

And His mother and brothers came to Him, and they were unable to get to Him because of the crowd. And it was reported to Him, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, wishing to see You.” But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.” (Luke 8.19 – 21, LSB)

Be careful how you listen…do we listen to put into practice, or do we listen for entertainment? “My mother and brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”

The title of the blog is actually incorrect. It’s not “no points for listening,” it’s “negative points for listening only.”

“Even what he thinks he has shall be taken away.”

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1.22, NIV)

I’m not going to write about the evil and brutality of the Hamas attack on Israel. You’ve all seen the news. Just two simple observations:

There is evil in the world:

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6.5, ESV)

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; Who can know it? (Jeremiah 17.9, NKJV)

The horrific actions of Hamas are not new:

And [Elisha] fixed his gaze and stared at [Hazael], until he was embarrassed. And the man of God wept. And Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel. You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women.” (2 Kings 8.11 – 12, ESV)

We shouldn’t leave it there:

…The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3.8, ESV)

I’m enjoying reading Luke, but I’m not going to write about everything I’m reading – a lot of it came up as I read Matthew or dipped into Mark from time to time. But in chapter 6, we have this verse which I memorized years ago for the wrong reason:

Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. (Luke 6.38, ESV)

A lot of us took this verse as a promise about giving. Something like:

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9.8, ESV)

But that’s not what Luke 6.38 is about! Jesus is telling us not to judge others:

Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you…with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. (Luke 6.37, 38, ESV)

“With the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” Here’s a recent, concrete example. Sean Payton, head coach of the Denver Broncos football team is not having a good year. The team has won one game and lost 5 so far, and Payton is being called “the worst coach in NFL history.”

Is he? Probably not. But he’s called that. Why? Because last summer he called out the Broncos’ previous coach:

It might have been one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL. -That’s how bad it was. – Sean Payton, July 27, 2023

Give, and it will be given to you:

Pot, it’s time to meet kettle. His name is Sean Payton. And his Denver Broncos absolutely stink. After calling out former Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett for putting on one of the worst coaching jobs we’ve ever seen, Payton is promptly one-upping him.

I mean, maybe it’s too soon, so that might be a bit unfair. But, hey, man.  I didn’t see any of Hackett’s Broncos teams putting up 20 points just to lose by 50. At least Hackett’s teams won a couple of games to start the season. – Mike D. Sykes, USA Today, September 25, 2023

The local Denver writers are on him as well. Give, and it will be given to you.

Want to trash everyone in the building before training camp? Dish to some out-of-town scribe about how the previous guy submitted “one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL?” Well, friend, you better back it up. And 0-3 ain’t that. Say what you will about Nathaniel Hackett, at least he waited until Week 16 to submit a total dud. It took Payton three weeks. – Matt Schubert, Denver Post, September 24, 2023

I was helping someone move once, and I thought (I didn’t even say it out loud!), “Wow. This guy sure has a lot of junk.” Within a year, I had some friends helping us move locally, and one of them said, “Bob, you sure have a lot of junk!” Jesus continues:

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye. (Luke 6.41, 42, ESV)

Speaking of real people, real places, I’ll never forget the first time I paid attention to Luke’s genealogy. It starts with Jesus and goes backwards:

Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, … (Luke 3.23, 24, ESV)

I thought, “OK, he’s the Son of David, so this will stop with David.” Nope.

…the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sala, the son of Nahshon,… (Luke 3.31, 32, ESV, emphasis mine)

He blows right through David, and I thought, OK, this is going to go all the way to Abraham. And it does…

the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,… (Luke 3.33, 34, ESV, emphasis mine)

But it doesn’t stop with Abraham. Noah?

…the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,… (Luke 3.35, 36, ESV), emphasis mine)

Yep. Right through Noah, all the way to…

…the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. (Luke 3.37, 38, ESV)

Jesus is a real person who came in time and place, and he is descended from real people, even those in the early chapters of Genesis. And Luke, the Gentile, writing to Theophilus, presumably a Gentile, wants us to know that Jesus is for everyone.

Meanwhile, the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria. They preached the word of God, but only to Jews. However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to the Gentiles about the Lord Jesus. The power of the Lord was with them, and a large number of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord. (Acts 11.19 – 21, NLT)

Two stories have come to light recently that bear sharing. Two people in their 80s, lifelong church members, moved from the passive sidelines to the active frontlines!

My friend Ray in New Hampshire talked about an 80-year-old lady who became a widow. The other ladies wanted to include her in a bible study for “fellowship” even though they didn’t expect her to do anything other than attend. She “has a Bible” – her old KJV given to her when she was baptized, and “if the pastor thinks I need to know something, he’ll tell me.” But within two years, she was reading her New Living Translation, memorizing verses, and having a daily time with God. She reminds me of the lady I wrote about in the blog “The Church Has Failed Us.”

The second story is about a fellow right here in our area that a friend told me about. Bob was saved at a Billy Graham Crusade in Denver in the mid-60s and didn’t remember getting any follow-up other than someone telling him to “Stick with it. The commitment you made is real.” He was then an active member of a good church from then until now. 50+ years. Sang in the choir, served on the deacon board, etc.

About two years ago, he went to a meeting and had, as he described it, an encounter with the Holy Spirit. In addition, someone met with him to personally disciple him. Amazingly, he has turned right around and begun to evangelize and disciple others!

Bob told my friend something like, “The power of the Holy Spirit and personal discipleship are new to me.” I said to my friend, “Well, there’s a story in itself!” To which my friend responded, “Well, that’s 95% of churches.”

That’s another story. Why do we take it for granted that learning to live the Christian life, experiencing true discipleship in the power of the Holy Spirit, and helping others do the same is not happening in our churches? A few years ago, I was preparing to go to India, and we told some folks we’d be teaching practical methods for making disciples. Everyone we told that to said something like, “We need that here!”

As Ray and I were sharing these two stories, we were asking ourselves, Why? I think this is part of the answer:

Our churches are not expecting anything other than attendance and enough volunteers to keep the church running.

These two stories of people in their 80s indicate that it doesn’t have to be this way.

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2.1 – 4, ESV)

To follow up on the idea of Luke’s “orderly account,” a “narrative,” about which there is “certainty,” we learn in Luke 2 and 3 that these are not “once upon a time” stories. They are events that happened to real people in real places:

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. (Luke 2.1, 2, ESV)

• Caesar Augustus, emperor in Rome
• Quirinius, governor of Syria
• “the first registration” – there were at least two, and Luke wants us to know which one we’re talking about.

30 years later, we have this (bulleted for clarity):

• In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,
• Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and
• Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and
• his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and
• Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
• during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,…

…the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. (Luke 3.1, 2 , ESV)

Again, take heart:

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. (2 Peter 1.16, ESV)

We go about our daily lives blissfully unaware in most cases what God is protecting us from. A train derailed just north of Pueblo, Colorado, Sunday at 4:45p. A driver of a semi-trailer was caught under the bridge that collapsed and killed.

As I write, the road is still closed. Mark and I, returning from the eclipse, passed this very spot about 25 hours earlier.

10 years ago this month, a rockslide at Agnes Vaille Falls near Buena Vista, Colorado, killed five members of a local family. June and I had stood at that very spot just 8 days before the slide.

May 26, 2002, a bridge collapsed on I-40 in Oklahoma, killing 14 people.

Our son David, driving to our home in Alabama from his college in California, drove over that bridge almost exactly 24 hours earlier.

Every day is a gift. Jesus was clear: there are no guarantees.

Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. (Luke 13.4, 5, ESV)

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. (Psalm 19.1, ESV)

And there’s no better example of that than a solar eclipse, which Mark, Kesley, and I drove down to New Mexico to see yesterday.

Pictures by Mark. (They’re not great, but they’re ours! Shot with a phone through eclipse glasses.)

What made it fun was finding a place. We were going to drive all the way to Albuquerque where there would be over 4 minutes of totality. But we decided that 2 minutes of totality was enough, saving us 100 miles one-way. We pulled into an abandoned gas station at Ribera (not a typo) and watched it with some folks who had come all the way from New York.

Before totality, we saw two unexpected effects: our shadows were fuzzy around the edges, and light filtered through trees projected images of the eclipse on the ground and an electricity terminal.

The seediness of our surroundings (abandoned gas pumps, rusting gas tanks, deteriorating house) contrasted with the spectacle in the sky reminded me of…

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. (Colossians 3.1, 2, ESV)