Go With God Into Future Days!
"Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony?" (Job 28:29)
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Blameless?
FOR THOSE who believe God hears us, and we can hear God... know that it has long been so!
Monday, February 19, 2018
Violence or Peace?
IN LIGHT of recent events, please be invited to view this message...
May Your Days Unfold With The Prince of Peace!
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Manifold Expectations!
DRIVING
FORWARD in this world as a Christian, with one set of wheels rolling in the
automotive industry and the others moving forward in ministry… has given me a
peculiar task. My job is to express the faith put within me by the power of
the Holy Spirit. It’s a tough road! The scriptures however, in typical fashion… clearly
show the way forward.
You see, my Lord Jesus taught us how to speak
as Christians. The writings in scripture that we know as “parables”, told
us how God’s only Begotten Son used everyday objects to explain God’s eternal
love. Using the common things of the earth, he pointed beyond our lives so
that others could get a glimpse of the kingdom. So it is that I shall try to
write theologically on what I know about engines.
You see, powerful, clean and economical engines
run in today’s vehicles offer a closely-controlled threefold combination of fuel,
fire, and force. However, if the proper proportions of the first two of these elements
fall into error, the preferred driving force wanders from being acceptable. The
vehicle’s efficiency falls off. This is a physical description of what can
happen to any automobile’s engine… and this also relates directly to us what
can happen in our Lord’s Church.
As most of the motoring public knows, including
we Christians… the most favorable component for powering cars comes in the form
of liquid gasoline. As a fuel, our fuel is made by refining crude oil. A bit dirty,
like some human words that may sinfully come from our mouths, crude oil in raw
form is heated gradually… and processed into usable, fractional parts. This is
analogous to what happens when the Spirit reveals God’s eternal Law to the
Church. Dirt is uncovered. We are divided. Our sin is revealed to us.
We know that by using heat, we separate crude by
vaporous weight into natural gases, gasoline, diesel fuel, motor oil, grease,
and other components. In like manner, scripture cooks our sinful hearts and boiling
minds as guided by the Holy Spirit.
Now take note here. Although alternate fuels may
work in cars, gasoline still remains as the mainstay of the motoring public's
fuel. What does that mean for those of us in the Christian church, as we continue
to favor the Word over against theological heresies? I ask you, “Can we refine
our understanding of the Word so that we eventually arrive energized more perfectly…
like the purity of clean hydrogen? Thus only we can classify a biblical text
into those portions which are descriptive, regulative and normative. Then like
gasoline additives that enhance the original chemistry for right use in engines,
theologians and teachers study each biblical Word for right interpretation… and
recommend to us that we work according to the Spirit.
Anyone who works in a convenience gas station
can tell you that gas is transferred as a liquid into your vehicle's fuel tank.
From there, that rather imperfect and still somewhat dirty hydro-carbon gasoline
is pumped into the bowl of a carburetor, or the fuel supply system of a fuel-injected
car. During this transfer, however, the fuel remains a liquid. Therefore, to
burn and produce power, a change must occur.
To get combustion, we need fuel, oxygen from
the air and sufficient heat. Combustion that empowers an engine will only happen
when the fuel mixes properly with air.
We Christians can rejoice here… for it shows
that a particular sort of conversion must take place! Did you ever notice that
before Jesus began his ministry in the world, he was baptized? That baptism,
however, wasn’t just to get him spiritually ready for the job… but was also done
to get us converted and spiritually ready for God. The Holy Spirit was indeed working!
Please know that the Greek word for Spirit is
“pneumatikos”… which means either “air” or “spirit”? Our Lord’s being washed in
the River Jordan was a bit like when fuel is atomized by heat into very tiny droplets
for efficient combustion. The droplets of gasoline quickly turn into a vapor.
This is much like our being prepared for combustion by the Holy Spirit which
proceeds from the Father and the Son.
Think of this! Gasoline begins to vaporize at
a temperature well below zero degrees Fahrenheit. But when more heat is added the
evaporation rate increases. In fact, if the temperature rises to the fuel's
boiling point, as temperatures beneath the hood of a modern car often do… the
fuel may boil too quickly. This causes troublesome fuel line bubbles, just like
an immature Christian can falter when uneducated about the Law and the Gospel.
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Even Three Carbs Are Useless Withour Fuel! |
Subsequently, spring/diaphragm fuel pumps used
in older carbureted engines had trouble pumping fuel through a bubble-filled
line. Those vapor bubbles compressed and the fuel went nowhere. This happened especially so in hot rod engines. This action also sounds
very much like some churches I’ve attended.
A second, unwanted vaporization can take place
in older carbureted cars when gas enters the carb fuel bowl. It's caused as the
gasoline comes into the hot carburetor. The fuel foams and vaporizes there, creating
excessively high vapor pressure in the fuel bowl. Subsequently, the flow rate
from the delivery jets of the carburetor increases. The engine floods with fuel
and dies.
Does that sound like Noah’s flood to you? Does
this boiling seem like the useless foaming found in any heated church that you
know?
The pressure caused by evaporation is rated on
the RVP (Reid Vapor Pressure) scale. The higher the numbers, the easier the liquid
vaporizes. Recently, our pump gasoline has increased in RVP due to changes in
fuel chemistry. More alcohol causes quicker evaporation and vapor lock. You
see, modern scientific knowledge may not help solve all problems… no more so than
business-style church management techniques always help a stalled church.
These, if not guided by the Word and
Spirit… often can make a situation worse.
Modern mechanics know that fuel injected
vehicles are less prone to vapor lock because of their higher fuel line
pressures and the absence of hot fuel bowls. As to pressure, the supply line of
a carbureted vehicle runs at only about 6-8 psi; whereas, fuel pressure in an
injected car may range from 10-80 psi. Higher pressures mean higher boiling
points and less chance of vapor lock. However, these high performance vehicles
may not get away unscathed from the Law. In instances of extremely high under hood
temperatures in some modern turbocharged vehicles, turbo/injected cars may
sport some heat-reducing features. Insulating spacers are put beneath the
injectors… or a fan helps to cool the fuel rail and injectors when temperatures
soar. This action is sort of like when you decide to stay away from church
because it’s too hot on Sunday morning… but you miss the coolness given of the
Spirit to keep the church going. Your tactics may work only temporarily, and
fail when the pulling gets real hard.
For hotrods, some carbureted vehicle builders use
high pressure fuel injection techniques to combat vapor lock. These mechanics sometimes
put the fuel pump in the cooler fuel tank. But even then, trying to control premature
gasoline vaporization may be far more difficult than being an atheist trying to
find Jesus.
The injector or carburetor does two jobs… fuel
metering and atomizing. For fuel to burn properly it must atomize into fine droplets,
vaporize quickly and mix properly with air. This is almost miraculous,
approaching when the finite human being Jesus was born into this world as the
Infinite God!
Sinful problems may occur. for example, when
the engine environment is very cold the fuel does not vaporize well when
dispensed. We add extra fuel to compensate. This sounds to me like a church
evangelism committee that sings loudly to draw a crowd, but fails to speak to
people about their faith. More fuel may provide acceptable cold engine starting
and warm up operation, but the hymn ends too soon because raw fuel scores an
engine’s cylinders.
On
the other hand, great economy is had with a warmed and lean, stingy mixture
(toward 17 parts air to 1 part fuel). Lean mixtures thus promote fuel economy…
but too lean can increase pollution as high temperatures are created when a flash
fire occurs. This causes combustion overheating. The excess heat increases
levels of compounds such as NOx (oxides of nitrogen) and leftover unburned
hydrocarbons (HC). That’s pollution! You see, the unburned HC increases if too
little fuel makes the fire go out before all the mixture is used up.
Conversely, too rich mixtures waste precious
commodities… and like a church that provides highly populated, too fluid
“social events” without the Holy Spirit present… find that the fire quickly
goes out… drowned in theological error. Misfirings occur!
The best mixture, the one which is termed
scientifically as the “stoichiometric” mix… is about 14 parts air and 1 part
fuel. Did you ever notice that beloved Jesus, plus twelve apostles… and one more
person to replace the traitorous Judas… equals fourteen? The fourteen number was
there to fire up the church and get us moving… and the spark was the Holy
Spirit heat that happened at Pentecost!
Setting the Mix
A
too-lean fuel condition is akin to trying to keep a church’s faith fireplace
lit when the kindling is too far apart. Frequent Word preaching is needed; and
less humanistic blather!
In an engine, air pollution is offset somewhat
by EGR (exhaust gas recirculation). EGR is much like working with a church
revitalization committee. EGR quenches improper combustion temperatures by
taking up fuel mixture space. This EGR-like, non-combustible atmosphere works in
same cooling way, as a proper member visitation program keeps folks working together
well in the church.
In cars, we know that fuel injection is a much,
more accurate method of metering fuel. Electronic control of injector firing (dwell
time) is finely tuned on a continuous basis using feedback control from an
exhaust pipe-mounted combustion sensor. The exhaust monitoring keeps the engine
running at a perfect (stoichiometric) mixture as much as possible. What this
means for the Christian church is that the Holy Trinity had meritoriously planned
the mix of salvation from sin long beforehand. We claim that Jesus was born at
the “right time” and stayed here on earth for the “perfect time”… before going
to the cross… and he was raised again to return at the proper end time. That final
time in eternity, church theologians often call the “eschatological” time.
During that final era, the kingdom of God shall be ours forever.
Before the days when feedback fuel systems could
check their own efficiency, not only could a carburetor stray quite a bit in
calibration without being detected by a driver, but even when the mixture was
accurate… the manifold fed by the carburetor often destroyed the mix. Does this
description sound like a church you’ve been attending? Sermons are preached well
but no one seems to be listening?
Remember! The sermon quality, plus the size,
shape and flow of your church services count! You see, therefore, if you’re
like a carb that ``injects'' fuel into the vacuum in its throat using only
atmospheric pressure… you’re inefficient! Fairly large, and hard to swallow droplets
can result, and are only mixed with just a bit of small ones.
Under ideal conditions (hot engine and
cruising), all of the fuel droplets flow small and nicely into the area beneath
the carb. There, like the Spirit’s moving in a church, they are heated by the
manifold stove.
But take notice! This is like when Jesus
taught in the temple. Some of the congregation got warmed, but others got really
hot.
The engine’s stove is an area directly after
the carb that's heated by the cross over exhaust stream. The fuel draws heat from that
devilish stove… and still the runners of the manifold run cooler… like your heated forehead that
feels better when the waters of baptism are poured on it.
Because of this cooling effect, a puddling
of vaporized gasoline sometimes occurs as fuel re-condenses. This is much
like the perspiration wetness that happened to the Pharisees and Sadducees as
Jesus spoke boldly about them.
You see, big fuel droplets fall out of the engine’s
airstream and some cylinders run too lean. This illustrates how we in the
church often become like a child who after being baptized, never sees the
church again until they die. Oh, churches may try to compensate for this depopulation
by running their carb a step or two richer. However, the problem is… this richness
trolling method usually causes air pollution. So it is as with people in the Church.
Being population rich or rich in finances may not help, but may actually hinder
our Christian household economy (oikiomene).
Another problem occurs when an engine’s intake
manifold passageways have sharp curves that defeat the carb's calibration. Often
like the words spoken in a sermon, since the fuel’s atomized weights differ
according to their size, heavier gas vapor molecules may separate from the air
as the mixture rapidly bends to flow toward the cylinders. In a church we might
say, that some parishioners may suffer this drop out… and these persons may snooze
on Sunday morning in their own, self-centered centrifugal force.
You can see that, depending on the shape of an
engine manifold feed runner, a particular cylinder may run leaner or richer
than its neighbors. Does this sound like the myriad of Christian churches in
your area? How can this disparity be corrected? Simply put, a good preacher, much
like knowledgeable a hot rodder, will try to make sermons a bit like carbs which
stagger-jet the fuel feed into manifold stove to compensate for error. By now,
you non-mechanics should see where I’m going here… the Church is our Lord’s intake
manifold!
Cross Injection!
Injection
always works so much better because only air flows through the manifold. The
fluid take a more certain route… like when Jesus was earthly born in a manger
in Bethlehem. You see, in spite of our sin, the real and mystical droplets of
Jesus’ blood eventually poured out upon the cross for our forgiveness. This was
much like port fuel injection that uses greater pressure to spray and atomize
fuel into usable smaller droplets… more so to empower more efficiently than a sinful
carb can ever run.
Smaller, finely-tuned droplets of Law and Gospel
in our Lord’s message can expose our sinfulness like a heated intake valve
surface breaks up fine fuel droplets. Sins vaporize quickly.
The dirty fuel droplets are still there… but now in the Gospel… they’ve been correctly vaporized
and are put to good use.

Remember! The Good News’ blast of Jesus’ crucifixion and Resurrection, our
wonderful and so foolishly Divine injector… has increased our turbulence on
earth into a far more perfect mix. Distribution of that forgiveness depends
only on the accuracy of the Divine. The Lord used perfect salvation calibration
and the Holy Spirit’s precise distribution method to save us.
Consequently, the Church today is called to be
like a modern fuel injection manifold. To be efficient, the church must
be ram-air tuned. We need to flow cool, dense Holy Spirit air! Holy
Spirit air makes us evangelically powerful. This is the best kind of spirit for church
growth.
So you see though first a mechanic, but now called
as a minister… this chemistry sounds like heaven to me. Since the efficient
flames of the Spirit makes for the possibilities of great heavenly power, I
wonder at how long we can stay warm and how completely get used up in determining
how well any congregation shall be carried into the future.
Remember… all depends on how we, according to
the guidance of God, design the Gospel carrying machinery to fit the task. I
ask you seriously to consider your church evangelism plans… and then answer this…
“Have you ever ridden in a light-weight, fuel-injected dragster?” Do you want
to?
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