Gas prices are dropping with the price of crude oil. The market is flooded now with cheap, stolen oil by ISIS, Iran’s new release and America’s newly improved supply. Why is anyone running on empty?
“O’ I forgot!” as the motor started, then sputtered to a stop. I had meant to buy a dollar’s worth of gas before locking up Al’s Shell Station in 1951. That would have added a little over 5 gallons to my tank and that would have run the “Degrade Soto” for the rest of the week. Now, I am out of gas in the driveway of the closed station. I have the dollar and I have the keys, it is just embarrassing to run out of gas when it was your negligence.
Seventeen years later I am helping myself to improvement capital for Aztec Auto Sales. A friend that just dropped out of college to take over the family Ford Dealership and farmer implement company at the sudden death of his father had talked me into driving 120 miles to work 5 days a week for a couple months to get him set in as a functioning dealership that until now was just a place to pick up his new car and a pocket full of money. This was during my stupid years as a Chrysler Import dealer in Aztec. It was winter and “patch” men of the church that were laid off till better weather, they filled in for me at home. The promise of several thousand dollars to do the Chrysler demanded up grade brought the plan together.
The drive of 120 miles to work, meant I had to drive 120 miles home each evening. This trek was north out of New Mexico, across the high La Plata range of mountains and to the high plateau country at the UTAH boarder. I was driving one of my Simca 1000 GLS, the ride of a Benz, 40+MPG at 80+mph in the mountains, with an Autobianci engine and a five speed transaxle. The ice, snow, and 8,000 foot passes were a piece of cake; I just had to deal with a constant time drain.
It was a holiday week night the gas stations were closed in our Utah boarder town. I told myself that I would buy in Cortez before turning east into the mountains. I was busy driving and in my mind writing Sunday’s sermon and I buzzed through town and headed east into the mountains; then I noticed my gas low light was on. I computed the distance and the flashing of the light, I could make to family stop at the road to Mesa Verde National Park, it was a super stop for tourists.
I knew something was wrong no sign of lights when I rounded the curve and dropped into the valley going South to Mesa Verde, the station was in a power outage and everyone had gone home. My fuel light was no longer flashing, just a constant yellow glow on the dash demanding attention. If I stayed on the highway I had two 8,000 foot passes to cross to drop into Durango, Colorado for fuel, then south to Aztec. If I tried the short cut dirt road over the ranch land, there was nothing but miles and miles of miles. I hit on a plan.
I drove close and checked, they had not paddle locked their pumps. Sixty years ago stations did; no longer. There were twelve pumps and in each gas hose there would be several cups of fuel caught in the low curve of the hose. I stopped at each pump and put the nasal into my hungry gas tank and lifted the hose high over my head and drained. Twelve times and I gained a gallon, maybe a little over and I was off on the highway to Durango. I tempered my speed, no longer was time the measuring stick, but making a gallon of gas go 60+ miles in the mountains was the challenge.
My plan continued as I topped the first pass I shifted into neutral and took advantage the steep grade and “Mexican overdrive,” I was cruising and drifting the curves with the motor at idle. I was back into gear and climbing the second pass, and again high speed neutral gear and there were the lights of Durango ahead. With no time or gas to spare, my engine was sputtering and I was rocking the car back and forth in my lane to shake the last ounce from the depths of the tank. A station just a head blocked by a red traffic light mocking me, I shifted into neutral and coasted to the light then with green gave the Simca a gear and got a sputter, back to neutral and I coasted into place by the pump. I had made it running on empty. Not to be recommended by AAA.
I am sure by now most of you will take the bus on the next trip and leave Herb and his adventures to someone else. But many of the people that I know are running on empty when it comes to having enough Jesus.
Victor Knowles writes in Viewpoint of this January, “Our God is a God of fullness. The Lord is full of goodness (Psalm33:5), full of Righteousness (Psalms 46:10),compassion (Psalm 88:38), and mercy (Psalm 119:64). God wants us to be filled to overflowing with these wonderful attributes too. Paul prayed for believers to ‘be filled to the measure of the fullness of God’ (Ephesians 3:19). Adam Clark said, ‘To be filled with God is a great thing. To be filled with the fullness of God is still greater. To be filled with all the fullness of God is greatest of all.’”
I said last week when we become a Christian we get all of the Holy Spirit and that means all of Jesus and that means all of the Father God. The question is, “How much of me does God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit get?” Just how full am I of God, or am I trying to run on empty? With me being totally full of me and my plans.
Transferring the fullness of Jesus and God to each person that comes to worship and learn with us is the task at hand. A master piano tuner was given the job in a piano factory to tune 400 pianos to be in tune with all of the other 400 pianos. This piano turner was a master craftsmen and he knew that if he turned each of the 400 to his tuning fork, they would all be in tune with each other. The tuning fork was the unifying factor. The job was completed and each piano was in tune with all of the other pianos. The secret of bringing Agape and all our different members into harmony or in tune with each other is to use the Bible as the tuning fork, and bring us each into harmony with the Bible, then we will be in tune with each other.
Victor continues with his fullness story, “Now comes one of the most staggering truths in the Bible. ‘For in Christ all the fullness of our Deity dwells in bodily form, and you have been given the fullness in Christ (Colossians 2:9,10). Paul talked about being full of grace and truth. You can tell such a person by their fruits that their lives produce. You can tell when they are full of and living by the power of the Holy Spirit, they bear the fruit of the Spirit, they keep step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22ff: 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit”
This is the project at hand with our year of the WORD. We need to get filled with and tuned to the WORD of God and develop a hunger for the WORD, For Fellowship, For knowledge, for Blessings for God and Being a Blessing to God. The theme of the Bible is to bring Glory to God and to dwell in the magnificent overwhelming multitude of the blessings of God, to be filled with God’s largeness and unsurpassed weight in, on and over our being. To be immersed in God. This is the meaning of being baptized in or with the Holy Spirit; totally immersed in his overwhelming glory and direction; to be full of, keeping step with, bearing fruit for the Holy Spirit to Bring the Full Glory to God the Father.
We can not do that running on empty, we have to be given and putting to good service the fullness of Christ as per Colossians 2:9, 10.
A couple of weeks ago, we were dissecting and bisecting the 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 11. “We hear that some of you are idle. They are not busy: they are busybodies.” Then verse 12, “Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn bread to eat. And as for you brothers, never tire from doing what is right.”
Now let me be honest with you, you can have a full tank of gas and be sitting at the park idling and not going anywhere; Paul’s instructions is simple, “put it in gear and put the pedel to the metal and hang on.” Once we get our “tank full” of Jesus, then lets don’t sit and idle the day away, lets get on the road and get some God work done. One of Melba’s favorite church songs is There Is A Sea. It has a wonderful message for those sitting at church idling their lives away on Sunday morning at 10:30. Getting all filled up and idling their spiritual motors, not going anywhere.
The song in three verses tells the story of the Jordan River that flows from an artesian well in Mount Herman to the Sea of Galilee that is 265 feet below sea level in a natural rock basin in the agriculture country of Galilee. This sea is full of fish, provides water for many communities, and irrigation water for a large agriculture area. The sea gives life to a large area by its total sharing.
Then the sea pours over a natural rock barrier to continue as the Jordan River down through the Jordan valley to the Dead Sea that is now 1400 feet below sea level. There are other rivers from Israel and Jordan pouring into it so the Dead Sea receives a deeper and fuller tide, but until recently, the Dead Sea kept all the water coming into it and only was exhausted by evaporation. The Sea is Dead; selfishly not sharing anything to the neighborhood. No fish, no drinking water, no irrigation. Its tank is full, but it is idling and going nowhere.
Then the third verse of the song asks the question, “Which sea are you?” Are you like the Sea of Galilee, getting to give to everyone, running in every direction to share your blessings? Or, are you like the Dead Sea that receives a fuller and deeper tide only to keep and share with no one just idle in place going no where?
Now I have a secret for you, it is no secret what God can do. If you have been idling in church for years;’ receiving the blessings, messages, prayers of God and not passing them on, it is time to put the pedal to the metal and get a move on.
The history of the Dead Sea can hold the schematics and blueprint for the revitalization of the plateaued and dying churches in the United States and for the explosion of Agape Christian Church in what used to be lost causes that is now Las High Potential Cruces, NM.
In 1960 in a peace agreement between the Israeli government and the King of Jordan and the Jordan Water commission, a sea to sea pipe line and desaltine plant was built in the Araba between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea and 300 million cubit meters of Red Sea water was pumped into the Araba each year and 80 million cubit meters of fresh water was shared with Israel and Jordan. In the peace treaty of 1994, this was greatly increased and water for Palestine development was included. The high saltine residual off flow is pumped into the Dead Sea and now the Israeli government is redesaltining the Dead Sea water and using it for irrigation in the Araba and the desert around Beersheba on the edge of the Sinai. It is now a virtual garden space in every direction; making little Israel one of the largest agricultural exporters to Europe. This also is the modern day fulfillment of Isaiah writing the desert will bloom and flourish. Isaiah 35:1ff: 35 The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.” This will have a second fulfillment in the thousand year reign of the Messiah.
What can we learn from the Sea to Sea Pipe Line project between Jordan and Israel? I believe the greatest lesson is to use what you have to develop what you need.
I wrote about the thousands driving by the small dying or plateauing churches to get to their mega churches. I cannot do anything about that. What we at Agape can do is the same thing. We can use the gift and calling of God that is right here to build a flourishing and positive future.
Steve and I put our heads together this past Sunday to get this rolling. We agreed that Sister Lucille (Lucy) and her snow ball puppy Panda would be the best Bible School teaching partner for Melba so the class is covered when Melba could not make it. Lucy is thrilled and has years of experience back on the East Coast. Lucy came and worked in the office this week and help catch me up with Leslie being on the disabled list.
To go with Lucy in the Bible School program, we need a young, fast moving young lady or gentleman that can be our assistant Bible School Superintendent. We need books in place, tests passed out homework put in books as well as tests and score kept. We need a time manager so everything will get done in the 60 minutes we have scheduled. We need the attendance and offering books put out and collected and put in the work room of the office. This is an important job and is for a person that does not already have a job, it is basically manual labor and I need a VOLUNTEER THAT PROMISES TO BE HERE EVERY SUNDAY NIGHT AS FAR AS POSSIBLE.
I need a Sunday morning hostess for Breakfast Club, get communion ready for church and Children’s church and set up and put away after breakfast club. This person needs to get to church by 7 AM on Sunday morning. This is a SERVANTS job, Daniel comes here and helps me, but must leave and go help the other church he helps on Sunday morning. This food is bought and provided by individuals in the church and when it is left out after breakfast club, it proves evolution, grows legs and walks off. This would need to be an adult with their own transportation. They will also keep me informed of the need to buy supplies that are getting low.
I need a greeter for Sunday services and one that will get names and addresses of guests and put the clip board on my desk after the evening services. These are some of the needs we can fill from within our family.
THE CHURCH IS EVERY ONES BUSINESS AND THE WORK IS FAMILY BUSINESS. MANY HANDS MAKE THE WORK LIGHT. Don’t run out of Jesus; keep your tank full; don’t be running on empty.