The Beginning of the Olympics

The Olympic games are said to have begun in 776 BC. There is evidence the games may have started earlier. They began as a simple foot race in a rural sanctuary of Zeus in a relatively obscure part of Greece. They grew during a span of 1,200 years becoming the most prestigious athletic/religious festival in the Greek-speaking world. Victorious competitors were thought to be favorites of Zeus, chief god of the Greek pantheon. 

The games grew to the point they were held at the massive Temple of Zeus, built between 471 and 457 BC. The current concept of the Olympic torch has an ancient origin. The “ash altar” to Zeus was a focal feature of the sanctuary. The games began by the athletes processing into the sanctuary where they sacrificed 100 bulls on the altar to Zeus.

Crowds grew so dramatically large embankments of earth were piled along the sides of fields of competition on which spectators stood. The word for this, “stadion,” meaning “the standing place,” gave us our word for stadium.

The Greek word “athlon,” meaning “one who competes for a prize,” gives us our word athlete.

At different games prizes varied from a shield, to an amphora filled with olive oil, or crowns made of olive or laurel branches At a time benefits consisted of cash, exemption from taxes, and a free meal a day in the town hall for the rest of their life.

Little known is one of the most influential characters in the development of athletics competition is a rather well known Bible character, Herod the Great (73 BC – 4 BC). Though the practice he proposed was not originally a part of the Olympic games, it later influenced them.

To attract world class athletes he came up with a creative way to reward more competitors. Until his idea was adopted, each contest simply had a winner. His idea was to give a gold medal to the winner, a silver medal to the person who finished second, and a bronze medal to the person finishing third. It worked and not only gained popularity for his games, but the concept became universal. 

The formal religious aspects of the games have been eroded from the games and seemingly replaced by political intrigue. 

Parallels have been made by Christian athletes between the ancient training regimen and personal faith. Some are, dealing with the issues of life can be agony, but the prize makes it worth the effort. There was one training regime for all athletes, so all persons of faith have one standard of right or wrong. The ultimate prize for a victorious well lived life is a crown or righteousness.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made – Part Three

“Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.” Psalm 124:8

Look yourself in the eye. It consists of 120 million rod cells and 6 million cone cells with the capacity to distinguish 100 million colors. The 137 million light cells in the eyes take in more information than the largest telescope known to man.  It works closely with the brain; in fact, it’s often regarded as the window to the brain. The human eye is the second most complex organ in our body, after the brain. Although it is only approximately the size of a golf ball, your eye has 2,000,000 working parts! If your eye were a digital camera, it would have 576 megapixels.

Even Darwin marveled at the human eye commenting, to imagine the human eye evolving by natural selection is an absurdity to the highest degree.

The brain is the center of a complex computer system more wonderful than the greatest one ever built by man. It computes and sends throughout the body billions of bits of information that controls our every action, right down to the flicker of an eyelid. The brain can hold five times as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica. There are 100 billion neurons in the brain that process an average of 600 thousand thoughts a day. 

Studies show a single human brain contains some 200 billion nerve cells connected to each other by hundreds of trillions of synapses. It has more information processing units than all the computers, routers, and Internet connections on Earth.

Without a doubt, the most complex information-processing system in existence is the human body. If we take all human information processes together, i.e. conscious ones (language, information-controlled, deliberate voluntary movements) and unconscious ones (information-controlled functions of the organs, hormone system), this involves the processing of 1024 bits daily.

If this overall information is not fascinating enough, consider a sampling of one square inch of your epidermis. Each square inch of your skin includes four yards of nerve fibers, 600 pain sensors, 1300 nerve cells, 9000 nerve endings, 36 heat sensors, 75 pressure sensors, 100 sweat glands, 3 million cells, and 3 yards of blood vessels.

Our bodies are living miracles, ongoing miracles, awesome miracles of creation. The miracle, that is your body, is the house in which the real you lives. We are not a body with a soul, we are a soul inhabiting a body. What a wonderful habitat.

“What a piece of work is man,” wrote William Shakespeare. “How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty!” 

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

He Gave the Gift That Keeps on Giving 12/13/98

II Corinthians 9:15
Page 1695 Come Alive Bible

JESUS CHRIST’S birth was God’s way of saying, “Merry Christmas, planet earth. I have a present for you.”

JESUS CHRIST was the reference when Paul wrote, “Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift…” (II Cor. 9:15).

The gift is indescribable, inexpressible, marvelous, and wonderful. The gift is Jesus Christ Himself.

Our distinctive southern tongues have a way of making certain words sound alike. Two such words are presents and presence. “Presents” meaning gifts and “presence” meaning to be in close proximity. God’s present to the population of planet earth was the presence of His Son, Jesus Christ.

An appropriate gift does two things:
It reveals the love of the one giving it.
It suits the needs of the one receiving it.

Isn’t it rewarding when you give a gift for the recipient to say, “How like you to give such a thoughtful gift and it is just what I wanted and needed.”

The gift of Christ as Savior does both. Our response should be, “How like you dear God to give me just what I wanted and needed.”

A gift is an expression of the giver’s heart. The recipient gets it but not because it is earned, merited, or deserved. It is simply an expression of the loving heart of the giver.

Wouldn’t it be a magic Christmas if you placed neatly wrapped packages under the tree with names of family members on them and then set up a cash box to collect a fixed sum for each? The moment you received money for one it would not be a gift, but a purchase.

In Bud Blake’s “Tiger” comic strip two little boys were talking about Christmas. One said, “My folks got us an artificial tree this year.” The other little guy asked, “Does that bother you?”

“No,” was the response, “just as long as the gifts are real.”

The gift of God the Father is Jesus. His name evidences the scope of the gift. Jesus means, “Jehovah is Salvation.” Thus, in the end, the gift is salvation.

Suppose God had said, “You can purchase your salvation.” That would have left out millions who are too poor to buy their salvation.

Suppose He had said, “Be good enough and I will give it to you,” or “Do enough good deeds and you can merit your salvation.” Who could have done that much good or behaved that well?

Suppose God had said, “If you do sufficient penance, or suffer enough, you can deserve your salvation.” Some, having a clouded understanding of just how far their sins had separated them from God, might not have performed sufficiently.”

In Rome, Italy I have seen persons climbing stairs on their knees as an act of penance, thinking they were garnering the favor of God by their work.

In Brazil, I have seen persons climb gravel roads on their knees hoping to gain God’s favor by their penance.

There are millions who live under this misconception today.

Suppose God had said, “I am going to grade on the curve and if you score high enough you will pass and get your salvation.” When Jesus entered the earthly scene He messed up the curve.

Instead, God said, “I will give you salvation if you will receive the gift.” The gift is His presence.

I walked through the Nazi concentration camp of Dachau, and reflected on an account I had read in the book by Corrie Ten Boom entitled “Christmas Remembered.” It was her memory of her experience in such a Nazi hell hole.

It was Christmas eve. Corrie and the other Christians in the camp had placed meager handmade decorations on a few trees in celebration of Christ’s birth. Beneath some of these trees were the lifeless bodies of fellow prisoners who had died and been thrown there.

Corrie was weary of trying to tell people of the love of Jesus and physically fatigued as she glanced out a crack to see the bodies by the light of the moon. Amid all the moaning and groaning she heard a child’s voice pleading, “Mommy, come to Ollie. Ollie is so alone.”

Corrie knew one of those bodies beneath those trees was that of Ollie’s mother. Corrie went to the bunk of the child and softly said, “Ollie, mommy can’t come, but I want to tell you of One who did come on that first Christmas and that He will come to be with you right now.” Corrie continued to tell how Jesus in love had come to earth and how He lovingly died on the cross of Calvary for our sins. She proceeded to tell little Ollie how the death and resurrection of Jesus enabled Him to provide a lovely house in heaven where there were no cruel people; only those who had love for Jesus and one another. In faith, little Ollie trusted Jesus that night and found great comfort in His presence.

A few days later Corrie saw Ollie with her sores and wounds bandaged only with toilet paper. She could tell the child was in pain but asked anyway: “Ollie, where is Jesus?” With a warm though weak smile the child said, “He is in heaven where He has provided a little house for me.”

“Is He just there in heaven?”

“No,” she said, “He is here with me and when I hurt, I let the pain remind me of His suffering and dying for me to provide that little house in heaven.”

The Nazis saw to it that the little house didn’t stay vacant long. Ollie died and went into the presence of the Lord, all because of a present from the Lord — Jesus Himself was that gift of salvation. Ollie went to heaven because of Christ’s presence.

Let’s consider some passages of Scripture as though they are correspondence delivered to us. First,

I. SPECIAL DELIVERY FROM ZACHARIAS (LUKE 1:5 – 25)
Zacharias and his wife lived in a little hillside town near Jerusalem where he served as a priest in the temple.

An angel appeared to him and told him his wife Elizabeth would have a child.

Verse 18, Zacharias’ understanding of nature prompted him to respond in a natural way and both doubt and question the angel’s message: “How can I know this is true? I am an old man myself, and my wife is getting on in years….” He was so alarmed the angel said, “Fear not…” Well, why not? Why should he not have been virtually terrorized?

The text answers, “Thy prayers have been answered.”

Because of his doubt, God sealed his lips until the birth of his son, John the Baptist. This should be a clear indication to us that God doesn’t like His children going around sowing discord and stirring up dissension.

When his son was born Zacharias began to praise the Lord.

To some, faith comes after hesitation. When it does come, then comes praise.

II. PERSON TO PERSON FOR MARY (LUKE 1: 26 – 55).
In Nazareth a young virgin received an angelic message regarding having a baby. Normal child birth is exciting but this is something special. Husbands often get more excited than wives. Such an excited husband spoke excitedly over the phone, “My wife is pregnant and having contractions every two minutes.”

The operator questioned, “Is this her first child?”

“No, you dummy, this is her husband.”

Parental arrangements for marriage were made for children when at a very young age. This was considered both an engagement and marriage. As they approached marriageable age, they entered into a one year period of betrothal. During this time they lived apart but were legally married. Unfaithfulness during this time was punishable by death.

This process of marriage is the reason secular writings referred to virgins who were widows.

Six months after visiting Zacharias, Gabriel was sent to Nazareth with a message for a teenage girl named Mary.

Mary was frightened and the angel again spoke that familiar line: “Fear not…”

Why not? Because, “You have found favor with God.”

A. Mary said of her son, He was her “savior” (Vs. 47).
Mary was special. She was “blessed” (Vs. 28). What Jesus thought of her and what she thought of Him can be learned from the Scripture.

Christ and Mary must each be acknowledged for what they are.

Some failing to understand the Scripture try to attribute to Mary the work of Christ. Only He saves; not His mother.

Mary never hinted she was savior.

Jesus never hinted Mary was savior.

Mary stated Jesus was Savior. In verse 47 she called Him “my savior.”

Jesus stated He was savior. He said of Himself, “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

A Christian receptionist in a doctor’s office tried several times to explain to her friend this basic principle. Over and over she tried to communicate that Mary, His wonderful and blessed mother, could not do what only Christ could do.

One day the lady called and asked to speak to the doctor about a medical problem. The receptionist said, “He isn’t in, but his mother is. Will she do?” Further explanation of this parallel helped the caller understand this truth.

After calming the fears of Mary, that angel told her she was going to have a baby. She never questioned the fact.

She simply asked “How?” (Vs. 34).

The supernatural nature of what was to happen never puzzled her. The Holy Spirit would supernaturally invest an ovum with the germ of life, and the child to be born would be divine.

This clearly teaches Christ was conceived of a virgin. If you deny that, you have an inadequate concept of God. If God couldn’t do that, He couldn’t save anyone. If your view of God is of One who couldn’t do that, in the view of a book authored over thirty years ago by J.B. Phillips, Your God Is Too Small, he writes, ” My God, the God of the Bible, could handle that easily, and He did.”

The angel greeted her, “Hail.” The word was CHAIRE which means “rejoice.” She did so in a big way. She did so because she chose to.

The fact that as a single pregnant girl she might lose her beloved Joseph and even be stoned did not repel her. She disregarded the possible social stigma.

Mary then made one of the most courageous statements ever recorded: “Let it be to me according to your word” (Vs. 38).

Her response: “I belong to the Lord, body and soul. Let it happen as you say” (Vs. 38). Self had been brought under God’s control.

How you respond to the Lord determines the direction of your life. You are a sum total of your choices.

Later in life, under different circumstances, Mary said to Christ’s disciples, “Do whatever He says for you to do” (John 2:5). She was urging them to respond as she had responded.

When I left for college, my cousin who had played basketball in college with the man who was to be my coach said, “Whatever he tells you to do — do it. He did twice as much in college as he will ever ask you to do.”

In effect Mary was saying, “Do as I have done.” That is her message to us.

Remember we pray: “Thy will be done…” Not, “Thy will be changed…”

B. Of Mary’s soon-to-be born Son, it was said: (Vs. 32)
“He shall be great…”

“…called the Son of the Highest.”

C. Of Him she said:
“My soul does magnify the Lord” (Vs. 46).

“Magnify” comes from the word MEGALUNEI, which means to laud, to celebrate.

“Don’t you ever get discouraged?” Yes, but I am never going to tell you when I get discouraged because that might discourage you and that would discourage me and I can hardly stand my present discouragement.”

“My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior” (Vs. 47).

The coming of God to her as Savior was the cause of her rejoicing.

Some persons sigh, “I just love Jesus.” If you do, notify your face.

Joy is the banner that flies over the castle of the heart when the King is in residence.

III. RETURN RECEIPT REQUIRED FROM YOU
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2: 8, 9).

Christmas was the time of Christ’s birth. He was the gift, salvation embodied. For the gift to be yours, you must receive it.

Three responses are potential. They are: BELIEVERS, NON-BELIEVERS, MAKE BELIEVERS.

Which are you?

Do you rank among those who say there is “a” Savior or perhaps even Jesus is “the” Savior?

Can you truthfully say, “Jesus is MY Savior?”

“The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23a).

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made – Part Two

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord,

The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.” (Isaiah 40: 28)

Our God created the earth from the north end to the south end and all in-be-tween, included you. He is not weary and doesn’t faint. He is still on the job, looking after His creation, including you. Consider just your taste buds. They are replaced every ten days.

Atoms lost are quickly replaced. The epidermis  replaces itself every month, the lining of the stomach every five days, the liver every six weeks, and the skeleton every six months. Add it all up and in one year the atoms in your body will be replaced. 25,000,000 of your cells died while you were reading this sentence. Most of the dust under your bed is your own dead skin. The human heart creates enough pressure to squirt blood 30 feet. Such pressure is needed to pump blood through 60,000 miles of veins and capillaries. The heart pumps 6 quarts of blood, circulating three times every minute. In one day, your blood travels a total of 12,000 miles.

The body has 1.6 gallons of blood coursing through 42 thousand blood vessels. To facilitate this the heart beats approximately 115,200 times a day. The kidneys serve as the body’s filter system purifying an average of 2.2 pints of blood per minute. 

Your liver performs over 400 functions, including detoxification, protein synthesis, and the production of biochemicals necessary for digestion. 

In a lifetime the body produces over 6,000 gallons of saliva, enough to fill two large swimming pools. 

Nearly 28 feet of intestines are packed neatly inside your belly. The stomach is a small chemical plant far more intricate than any plant that man has ever built. This plant transforms the food we eat into various components causing the growth of flesh, blood, bones and teeth. It also repairs the body when parts are damaged by accident or disease. The food we eat is also transformed into energy for work and play.

The chemicals are so powerful that if a bit of stomach acid were spilled on the human skin it would burn a hole in it, yet it resided in the stomach. Your stomach gets a brand new lining every four days. Strong digestive acids quickly dissolve the mucus-like cells lining the walls of the stomach. Your body replaces them, routinely, before they are incapacitated. 

The God who created that wonderful you knows what He is doing. Some of those wonderful components don’t work at times. (Experientially I know). Even then He can create in you the capacity to deal with the difficulty. (Experientially I know). Trust His loving heart and hand.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made – Part One

King David wrote a Psalm of praise regarding the human body: “I will praise you; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are your works.” (Psalm 139:4)

King David penned that wondrous depiction of the human body before advanced science revealed what is known today. Consider just the cell makeup. 

Your body is made up of approximately 100 trillion cells. They all came from the division of one single cell. Your body consists of approximately 37.2 trillion cells of 200 different types. Every minute 300 million cells die, but that is only a small fraction of the number we have. 300 billion new cells are produced every day. Perhaps that is a good reason to call someone a busy body. 

For human beings to have evolved each of these systems would have had to develop independently and simultaneously. That would not only have involved evolution from one species to another, but within each species. That further compounds the odds against evolution.

Pasteur opined, “The more I study science the more I am amazed at the Creator.”

The awe inspiring complexity is so intricately designed it demands a designer.  God’s craftsmanship reached its zenith in the created marvels of the human body.

In winter exhaling warm breath in the cold atmosphere results in a cloud. Reality is every breath exhaled all year is the same. The only difference is the cold weather causes condensation, making the breath visible. 

The average person takes over 23,000 breaths a day. Our lungs have a surface area the size of a tennis court. Our lungs have thousands of microscopic capillaries just to oxygenate our blood. The large amount of surface area makes it easier for this to take place, and get the oxygen where it needs to go. 

While sleeping, parts of the lungs are inactive. In the morning people yawn to exercise the inactive parts. We automatically yawn every six hours during the day for the same reason. We sneeze at 120 MPH and blink every time.

What is in that breath is remarkable. You are exhaling atoms of hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen that just a short time before were embodied in solid matter constituting your heart, stomach, lungs, and yes, brain. That is you vanishing in thin air. That means all the organs are in a constant state of change. 

Isn’t it reasonable that such a creator is capable of helping you deal with the complex issues you are facing. Look at you! He created you, not to abandon you. but to bless you. Call upon Him.

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1: 20)