Berean Break
February 7, 2016 broadcast
Snow
by George Sinkie
[printable PDF][audio MP3]
Good
morning and welcome to the world of white. My name
is George A. Sinkie and I want to welcome you to the Berean
Break. On this program we search the Scriptures to learn,
teach, believe, and obey only the will of God. I encourage
you to check out what is taught here on this program, and if
you ever believe that it is not the truth, please contact me
with your question. As we begin this morning lets
go to God in prayer:
Great God in heaven, Thank You
for this day in our lives. We also thank You for the New
week we are starting. May it be a week, in which we serve
You. We pray that this would be the week that many turn
from the false religions that they follow and dedicate their
lives to serving You. As we study today may we open our
hearts and our minds to Your will. And apply Your truth
to our lives. In Jesus Name, AMEN!!
Well
it is winter in South Dakota, that can mean a number of things
to people. I was born and raised here in South Dakota.
And except for three years that I went to school in Colorado
and about four months of military training, I have lived my entire
life here in South Dakota. One thing that winter in South
Dakota means is SNOW.
The amount may vary, from very
little to more than we know what to do with. Ive
seen it come in October and stay until May. Throughout
the writings of the Bible, God has used snow to illustrate several
lessons. Today we are going to consider some of the things
that God says about snow and the lessons we can learn to help
us live better lives before God.
Did you know that the Bible references
the word snow at least twenty-one times? The
majority of these occurrences are in the Old Testament. Several
interesting attributes, both literal and figurative, about snow
are used by the Holy Spirit to teach spiritual lessons.
The Bible takes note of the COLOR
of snow. It is difficult to imagine snow without thinking
of its color. Often implied and occasionally stated outright,
the brightness and whiteness of snow is used to depict leprosy
in the Scriptures. An example of this is in Exodus 4:6
where God gives Moses a sign to prove he is sent by God, And the Lord furthermore
said to him, Now
put your hand into your bosom.
So he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it
out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow.
Another example is Miriam, Moses
sister. She rebelled against Moses and listen to what it
says in Numbers 12:10, But when the cloud had withdrawn from
over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow.
As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous.
Snow is also used to depict the
white, clean appearance of the soul brought on by forgiveness.
To see this, check out Psalm 51:7, Purify me with hyssop,
and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
God also uses this concept in Isaiah
1:18, I
kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days
took His seat; His vesture was like white snow, And the hair
of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with
flames, Its wheels were a burning fire.
In the New Testament snow is used
twice to describe Jesus, once in Matthew 28:3, And his appearance was
like lightning, and his garment as white as snow; [EGW editor: Actually, in this particular
passage, the description is of an angel which had rolled
away the stone at the entrance of Jesus grave. However,
we still see snow used to visualize the white, clean appearance
God provides the angel.]
And the other time in Revelation
1:14, And
His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow;
and His eyes were like a flame of fire;
We can learn lessons from the COLOR
of snow. We should seek to have the purity that the color
of snow represents. This purity is spoken of in Revelation
7, first in verse 9, After
these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no
one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples
and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb,
clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;
Then drop down to Revelation 7:13-14,
And
one of the elders answered, saying to me, These who are
clothed in the white robes, who are they, and from where have
they come? And I said to him, My lord, you
know. And he said to me, These are the ones
who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
The Bible takes note of the CHALLENGE
of snow. Snow here in South Dakota makes travel and other
simple tasks that much harder to do. We read about Benaiah,
one of Davids mighty men, in 2 Samuel 23:20b, He also went down and
killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day.
Snow would make it hard to see
and also hard to escape, but then mighty men are not looking
for an escape route they are looking for the road to victory.
As we consider the challenges that face us in serving God,
we need to remember that by staying faithful to God, we dont
just win, we overwhelmingly conquer as it says in Romans 8:37,
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through
Him who loved us.
The Bible takes note of the CLEANNESS
of snow. Job spoke of cleaning himself with snow in Job
9:30, If
I should wash myself with snow And cleanse my hands with lye,
Snows cleanness, that is,
its purity is mentioned in Lamentations 4:7, Her consecrated ones
were purer than snow, They were whiter than milk; They were more
ruddy in body than corals, Their polishing was like lapis lazuli.
Another thing the Bible takes note
of is the CREATOR of snow. Read with me, Job 37:6, For to the snow He says,
Fall
on the earth,
And to the downpour and the rain, Be strong.
Elihu points to the snow as proof
of intelligent design. Snow should enhance our awe for
God. Isaiah notes the snow... from heaven
in Isaiah 55:10, For
as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return
there without watering the earth, And making it bear and sprout,
And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
In context it appears that he is
referring to more than just the fact that it snows out of the
sky. Isaiah is looking a the fact that snow originates
with God.
The Bible takes note of the COLLECTION
of snow. Two places in Job this is mentioned, the first
is, Job 37:6, For
to the snow He says, Fall
on the earth,
And to the downpour and the rain, Be strong.
Here we see it falling and in Job
38:22 we see that God has an abundance stored up, Have you entered the
storehouses of the snow, Or have you seen the storehouses of
the hail,
Brrr, one thing that snow brings
to mind is cold, and the Bible takes note of the COLD of snow,
read with me, Proverbs 25:13, Like the cold of snow in the time of
harvest Is a faithful messenger to those who send him, For he
refreshes the soul of his masters.
The time it takes to realize how
cold the snow is varies it takes adults no time at all,
but it takes children forever! Solomon speaks of kindness
being as refreshing as a cold snow in the ordinarily warm or
even hot climate of harvest time. [EGW editor: Proverbs 25:13]
In Ecclesiastes 3, Solomon wrote
of the appropriate time for many things, he does not mention
the time for snow here. But he does over in the book of
Proverbs, because the Bible takes note of the CLIMATE of snow.
It says in Proverbs 26:1, Like snow in summer and like rain in
harvest, So honor is not fitting for a fool.
Untimely snow is used figuratively
to speak of things that make no sense, like giving honor to a
fool.
The final thing we are going to
look at today is, the Bible takes note of the CONCERN of snow.
That is, snow creates concern. Look with me at Proverbs
31:21, She
is not afraid of the snow for her household, For all her household
are clothed with scarlet.
The virtuous woman is not afraid
of its potential damage, because she has prepared her household.
But the unprepared can be devastated by it. Like
many of Gods natural wonders, there are dangers attached.
God teaches lessons to us through
the simplest, most ordinary things. As the snow falls this
winter and you growl and grit your teeth, stop and praise God
for this marvel.
An important question to ask at
this point is are you pure and white like snow in your relationship
with God?
The only way to have this whiteness
is to follow the will of God. Gods will for you and
for all mankind is to hear His word and to have faith based on
the word. Paul writes in Romans 10:17, So faith comes from hearing,
and hearing by the word of Christ.
Then based on your faith you need
to repent of your sins, as Peter said in Acts 2:38, And Peter said to them,
Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of
Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acknowledging, or confessing, our
faith in Jesus is another important aspect of our faith, as Philip
traveled with the Ethiopian eunuch he taught him about Jesus.
The eunuch realizing he was lost and that he needed to
be immersed took advantage of them coming to some water. Note
what it says in Acts 8:35-37, And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning
from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. And as they
went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said,
Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?
And Philip said, If you believe with all your heart,
you may. And he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
And being immersed in water for
the forgiveness of your sins is an important and necessary step
in our relationship with God, as we saw in Acts 2:38.
This process is what Jesus spoke
of as being born again in John 3. As you come up from your
burial in the water, you arise to walk in newness of life. It
is at this point that God adds you to His church and you begin
a lifetime of devotion to God and His church. To maintain
the purity of this new life we must continue to live faithfully
to God.
This Berean Break is brought to
you, in love, by the pre-denominational and non-denominational
church of Christ that meets at 1600 East First Avenue in Mitchell
SD. You are welcome to meet with us at 10:00 Sunday
mornings for our assembly followed by a time of Bible Study,
also on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 for an additional time to
study Gods Word. If you have a comment or a
sincere Bible question, please call or text me at 605-770-5555. We
want to remind you of the non-denominational TV program, KNOW
YOUR BIBLE on KDLT-TV at 9:00 on Sunday mornings. This
is George A. Sinkie for the Lords church, here in
Mitchell, good-bye for now. Remember that we care
about you and may God bless you as you do His will.
[printable PDF][audio
MP3] |