Rob Scobey KNLS.ORG, World Christian Broadcasting Alaska... https://knls.org/reading-pleasure-main/rob-scobey.html Tue, 19 Mar 2024 02:47:32 +0000 Joomla! 1.5 - Open Source Content Management en-gb Relationship overview https://knls.org/reading-pleasure-main/rob-scobey/131-relationship-overview.html https://knls.org/reading-pleasure-main/rob-scobey/131-relationship-overview.html //

What does it mean to have a relationship with God? God—the creator of the Universe—also the creator of mankind. Does He really care about what happens to the people He created? And if so, how can we know?

Scott Baxter is a Christian who became an atheist and remained one for 30 years before he began to believe in God again. Scott is a physicist who says the proof of God comes not through science, but through his own personal experience.

I came back to the Lord and suspended my scientific skepticism because I needed Him so much. I was at a low point in many different areas of my life. And so it was at that moment when I really just didn’t have the power and the will in my own consciousness to go forward. That’s the point I was when changed my mind, and was willing to suspend the rules and come back. And I find a lot of places in the Bible—I already knew of many from my childhood long ago—that there are so many places where the Lord gives His arm around our shoulders and gives the comfort and reassures us.

The Bible describes the relationship between human beings and their creator in several ways. Scripture describes God as spirit. The terms “Spirit of God “and “Holy Spirit” are often used when God is reaching down from heaven and interacting with the creation including mankind.  The Apostle Paul, in writing to the church at Rome, writes that we can choose to have God’s Spirit live in us. Scripture also establishes that God has a son, Jesus Christ, who Himself is God. The two have a father-son relationship. But the Bible teaches that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one God. The exact way this relationship works is a mystery that’s beyond human ability to comprehend.

For a 33-year period of human history, Jesus was God in the flesh. The Bible records that Jesus spent the last three years of His life on earth ministering to people. He healed the sick, raised the dead, and taught multitudes of people about the right way to live.

From “Secret Ambition” by Michael W. Smith:

Young man, up on the hillside,

teaching new ways.

Each word, winning them over,

each heart, a kindled flame.

His rage, shaking the temple,

His word to the wise,

His hand, healing on the seventh day,

His love, wearing no disguise*

The Apostle John, in referring to Jesus, says:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

When we pray to God, we do so through Jesus. Acts chapter 7 describes the experience of first century Christian martyr Stephen. Stephen was one who loved God more than life itself.  And he cried out to God just as his life on Earth was slipping way. Verses 54 and 59 say:

But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

During His time on Earth Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

When we talk of our relationship to God, we realize that there is complete harmony in the relationship between our Heavenly Father and His son Jesus.  As Jesus Himself said, “I and the Father are one.”

Our relationship to God is also described throughout the Bible is that of a Father to a child. Other descriptions are given in as well. He is described as our king, our Lord and our master. In Matthew 25, Jesus describes mankind as His brothers. And John 15 describes a proper relationship with God as one of friendship.  As an old hymn begins,

What a friend we have in Jesus,

All our sins and griefs to bear

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer

So our relationship with God fits numerous descriptions and metaphors. We will examine these further in future broadcasts. I’m Rob Scobey. Write to me at KNLS, Anchor Point, Alaska, USA.

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khtan@worldchristian.org (Rob Scobey) Rob Scobey Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:08:32 +0000
Parents https://knls.org/reading-pleasure-main/rob-scobey/130-parents.html https://knls.org/reading-pleasure-main/rob-scobey/130-parents.html //

It’s commonly called the Lord’s Prayer. Found in the book of Matthew in the New Testament, the Lord’s Prayer begins, “Our Father in Heaven.”

The Bible uses numerous descriptions and metaphors to illustrate the relationship between humans and the God who created them. People are more than just “creatures,” a word that would describe the animals the Creator put on the planet.  Human beings are God’s children.

Human parents hope their children will be obedient to their wishes. The parent knows what is best for the child, especially during the younger, formative years of the child’s life. Disobedience may have tragic consequences. A child who disobeys an order to stay away from the street could be struck by a car and be injured or killed. The book of Ephesians in the Bible makes a connection between obeying parents and living a long life. A parent might tell his child to avoid consumption of tobacco, drugs, or alcohol, because the parent has experience or knowledge about the physical and emotional consequences of addiction to these chemical substances.

The Bible is full of directives from our Father in Heaven about the way we should live our lives. Just as children sometimes rebel against the teachings of their parents, grown people sometimes rebel against the teachings of God. Rebellion breaks the hearts of the parents, and God likewise is saddened when his children rebel.

In the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, are a number of paintings with religious themes by the Dutch master artist Rembrandt. One painting is the return of the Lost Son. During the years of communist rule, the Russian people were largely unaware of the stories behind the great masterpieces that were pictured in school textbooks. Russians now have the opportunity to learn.

The parable of the Lost Son is found in Luke 15. It’s the story of an grown child who becomes dissatisfied with his responsibilities on the family farm. He thinks life will be better if he has freedom with no responsibility. So he asks his father for his share of the family estate, which his father grants. He abuses his father’s generosity by engaging in wild living. When the money is squandered away, so is the dream of a better life.

Contemporary Christian band The Newsboys has a song based on the story of the Lost Son. It’s titled “Reality.” And it’s about a boy who runs away from home to join the circus. The song makes a reference to a picture on the back of a milk carton. In the United States, milk cartons sometimes have had pictures of missing children.

Mom & Dad,

I'm fine. How are you? I have joined a
small circus (that much is true). I'm a
little malnourished, but try to relax.
Could you find a better photo for the milk
carton backs?

Send money.

Runaway
where's your head?
dreamers' dreams
are grounded

in reality
that comes from above
God is calling
there's no bigger love
It's his reality that welcomes us back
Trust and obey
there is no other way

Mom & Dad,

I'm fair. How's life? Lent the money you
sent me to the clown with the knife. My
career as an acrobat hasn't begun, but
I'm busy giving blood and shoveling
elephant dung.

Send money.

Runaway
Why so tense?
dreamers' dreams
will make sense

in reality
that comes from above
God is calling
there's no bigger love
It's his reality that welcomes us back
Trust and obey
there is no other way

The Lost Son’s symbolizes God, who is our Father in Heaven. The Bible says the son got so hungry that he was willing to eat pig slop. He finally came to his senses and returned home, where his father welcomed him with open arms. Our Heavenly Father is just as merciful. But some have to first learn the hard way about life without God.

Runaway
blowing smoke
your folks are worried
(and going broke)

after the fall
is an all-new episode
reality
is the high road

in reality
that comes from above
God is calling
there's no bigger love
It's his reality that welcomes us back
Trust and obey
there is no other way

I’m Rob Scobey. Write to me at KNLS, Anchor Point, Alaska, USA.

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khtan@worldchristian.org (KNLS) Rob Scobey Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:04:58 +0000
Grandson https://knls.org/reading-pleasure-main/rob-scobey/129-grandson.html https://knls.org/reading-pleasure-main/rob-scobey/129-grandson.html //

It’s much like having another child of my own. Of course, I could never claim to feel my daughter’s pain any more than I could feel my wife’s when my daughter was born. Still I was allowed, at the last minute, to be in the delivery room for my grandson’s birth. A privilege I didn’t expect. Up to the moment of delivery, my daughter Andrea had quite enough support with my son-and-law Zeke and my wife Debra by her side—not to mention the doctor and the multitude of nurses in the room.

But I was the one with the camera. I had to draw on my experience as a television news cameraman to keep my emotions in check while I repeatedly snapped pictures of my grandson’s birth. The same sort training I drew upon when I photographed the birth of his mother 22 years ago. As my grandson was born, his father and grandmother were totally engrossed in his mother’s comfort and his safe arrival. The doctor turned to me and said, “Hey grandpa, look at this.” Grandpa?? I’m barely old enough to have a child, I thought, much less a grandchild. The doctor held up the umbilical cord, which revealed a loop that could have become a knot. But by the grace of God—the loop never tightened. And Westley James announced his arrival as healthy babies normally do.

The nurses told me my daughter had handled the delivery of her baby boy as well as any mother could.  Within seconds of his birth—a nurse handed him to his mother, who—with some tears of joy—held him for the first time. Then she handed baby West to his father. Soon both of the new parents—obviously relieved and overjoyed—were hugging each other and cradling baby West. Then West was handed to Debra, who, even though she’s now a grandmother, looks as young as she did when Andrea was a baby. Debra has always had a bond with young children and her face has a special look of contentment whenever she’s holding one. She has taught almost every child at our church in Bible school, and when there’s a baby in the room, it’s as if Debra becomes the mother.

Finally—it was my time to hold baby West. I’d not held such a young baby since this one’s mother was born 22 years earlier. As he was handed to me—I put my hand under his head to support it. For a moment, he looked at me, then closed his eyes and began bawling, as he initiated his first wet diaper. So I handed him back to the nurse. It was just like holding Andrea or her brother or her sister when they were that little. Every time Westley burps, spits up on my shoulder, cries, or just lies on his back looking at me and smiling, it reminds of when his mother, his aunt, or his uncle would burp, spit up on my shoulder, cry, or just lie on their backs smiling at me.

The parents of my son-in-law, Zeke, soon joined us in the delivery room. All the grandparents surrounded Andrea, Zeke, and baby West.  We all joined hands. Zeke’s father led us as we prayed for the new family member.

Babies seem to know who’s a part of their family. At the family Christmas gatherings, Westley represented the fourth generation. And—as much as newborn can—he accommodated all the aunts, uncles, great aunts, great uncles, and great grandparents who took turns holding him.

Since Andrea and Zeke live close to us, Debra and I are privileged to spend quite a bit of time with our grandson. We also have two cats and we make them stay outside because they behave like animals. Westley is special. He’s allowed to stay inside even although he behaves like a child. In just a few years, he’ll be big enough to handle the cats that have shown some curiosity about his being the new guest in the house.

He is his parents’ to raise. And we believe they will follow the advice of Proverbs 22:6 “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” As grandparents, we’ll help whenever we can, and we’ll probably spoil him more than we should. Other than that, it’s just as if we’re having another child of our own.

I’m Rob Scobey. Write to me at KNLS, Anchor Point, Alaska, USA.

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khtan@worldchristian.org (Rob Scobey) Rob Scobey Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:03:48 +0000
Faithfulness https://knls.org/reading-pleasure-main/rob-scobey/128-faithfulness.html https://knls.org/reading-pleasure-main/rob-scobey/128-faithfulness.html //

Human civilization functions on a basis of mutual trust between different people. People have to be able to rely on others to keep promises. When we sign a contract, we assume that the other party will honor the terms of the contract. Imagine how lonely our lives would be if we could never trust or rely on other people. Imagine how chaotic society would be.

Trustworthiness fits beside the Christian virtue known as faithfulness. In the Bible, in the New Testament book of Galatians, Chapter 5 refers to faithfulness as a part of the fruit of God’s spirit as demonstrated in the way a Christian behaves. The virtue of faithfulness is one that is universally admired among all people who try to live upright lives. Even though someone might find a person who betrays another to be useful under certain circumstances, not many people really admire someone who cheats or who betrays someone else.

When a man and a woman are married, it is assumed that the husband and wife will be faithful to each other, and that they’ll refrain from having intimate relations with anyone else. Much of today’s popular music is about the faithfulness of two people who are in a love relationship.

The pop music group Journey had a hit song titled “Faithfully.” It’s about a performer who travels and cannot be with the woman he loves for long periods of time. In the song, he promises to be faithful to her, despite the pressures and temptations of being apart.

Highway run

Into the midnight sun

Wheels go round and round

You’re on my mind

Restless hearts

Sleep alone tonight

Sendin’ all my love along the wire

They say that the road ain’t no place to start a family

Right down the line

It’s been you and me

And lovin’ a music man

Ain’t always what it’s supposed to be

O Girl, you stand by me

I’m forever yours,

Faithfully

This is a song about the faithfulness of two people to each other. Something a husband and wife have a right to expect from each other. And even when it’s difficult, it’s something that is essential to keep the relationship together.

When a person accepts Jesus Christ as his or her savior, they promise to faithfully follow God’s principles as taught by Jesus, the apostles, and the prophets we read about in the Bible. Faithfulness is essential for us to preserve a relationship with God just as it is to preserve one with another person.

In future broadcasts, I’ll talk more about what it means to have a relationship with God.  This is Rob Scobey. Write to me at KNLS, Anchor Point, Alaska, USA.

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khtan@worldchristian.org (Rob Scobey) Rob Scobey Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:01:52 +0000
AJ-Bono Transcript https://knls.org/reading-pleasure-main/rob-scobey/127-aj-bono-transcript.html https://knls.org/reading-pleasure-main/rob-scobey/127-aj-bono-transcript.html //

He’s the lead singer of an Irish rock group that’s been popular for 20 years. His name is Paul David Hewson. The group is U-2. And he is better known as Bono.

It may surprise many to hear that he’s a Christian—as his public persona is known to have a rough edge. But he’s using this rough edge to bring attention to the needs of the people of Africa.

According to Christianity Today magazine—Bono prays regularly and prays before meals. He has been married to his high school sweetheart for 20 years. He likes to read the Bible paraphrase called The Message. But he does not attend church regularly.

Bono made news in 2003 for his use of indelicate language on live American television when he won a Golden Globe award—a mistake he acknowledged when he addressed the 2004 graduating class of the University of Pennsylvania.

Don’t get too excited because I use four-letter words when I get excited.  I’d just like to say to the parents—your children are safe. Your country is safe. The FCC has taught me a lesson

Bono does not pretend to be a role model for Christianity. But he would prefer to be remembered for something noble rather than for a bad decision.

However, he is talking about his faith more as he recruits churches to help fight against AIDS and poverty in Africa. He’s a friend of contemporary Christian artist Michael W. Smith. The two of them combined forces recently in Philadelphia to start the One Campaign to eliminate extreme poverty and disease in Africa.  The lyrics of U-2’s music often have Christian themes. The song Pride refers to people who’ve given their lives for a higher purpose. It includes a reference to Jesus Christ.

One man caught on a barbed wire fence
One man he resist
One man washed up on an empty beach
One man betrayed with a kiss.

In the name of love
What more in the name of love.
In the name of love
What more in the name of love.

Bono told Christianity Today. "I just go where the life is, you know? Where I feel the Holy Spirit,"

"If it's in the back of a Roman Catholic cathedral, in the quietness and the incense, which suggest the mystery of God, of God's presence, or in the bright lights of the revival tent, I just go where I find life. I don't see denomination. I generally think religion gets in the way of God. The song “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” tells of the frustration of finding meaning in life, of Bono’s experiences with both good and evil.

I have spoke with the tongue of angels
I have held the hand of a devil
It was warm in the night
I was cold as a stone.

But I still haven't found
What I'm looking for.
But I still haven't found
What I'm looking for.

What Bono is looking for is support and participation for his efforts to aid Africa. In his commencement address to University of Pennsylvania graduates, he said the plight of Africa is a modern moral blind spot.

And for me, proving ground has been Africa. Africa makes a mockery of what we say—at least what I say about equality. It questions our pieties and our commitments, because there’s no way to look at what’s happening over there and its effect on all of us and conclude that we actually consider Africans as our equal before God.

Bono and his wife Allie worked for a month with a relief crew in Ethiopia in 1985. One family was so hungry that the father begged Bono to take his son. This after the family walked all night to get to the food station.

At that moment, I became the worst scourge on God’s green Earth—a rock star with a cause. Seven thousand Africans dying every day from a preventable, treatable disease like AIDS. That’s not a cause. That’s an emergency.”

Bono says he has moved from seeking charity for Africa to seeking justice. And his passion includes bringing about political changes such as freer trade and debt relief for Africa.

We can’t fix every problem. Corruption, natural calamities are part of the picture here. But the ones we can, we must.  Here in Philadelphia, at the Liberty Bell, I met a lot of Americans who do have the will—from arch-religious conservatives to young secular radicals, I just got an incredible overpowering sense that this was possible.

The Irish rock star says America represents an idea that anything is possible—whether putting a man on the moon, or eliminating extreme poverty and disease in Africa. He says every era has its defining struggle and the fate of Africa is the one for the current generation. He says modern rock music has more to with irony than idealism, but he hopes idealism is not dead.

I’m Rob Scobey. Write to me at KNLS, Anchor Point, Alaska, USA.

I leave you with the song U-2 performed at the 2002 Super Bowl to honor victims of the September 11th tragedy, but which also contains images of poverty-stricken Ethiopia.  Its title: “Where the Streets Have No Name.”

I wanna run, I want to hide
I wanna tear down the walls
That hold me inside.
I wanna reach out
And touch the flame
Where the streets have no name.

I wanna feel sunlight on my face.
I see the dust-cloud
Disappear without a trace.
I wanna take shelter
From the poison rain
Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name.

We're still building and burning down love
Burning down love.
And when I go there
I go there with you
(It's all I can do).

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khtan@worldchristian.org (Rob Scobey) Rob Scobey Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:53:19 +0000