Thought for June 30

 History:

• 1548: Charles V orders all Lutherans to return to Catholic practices
• 1859: Jean Francois Gravelet is the first man to walk a high wire across Niagara Falls
• 1864: Lincoln signs the Yosemite Grant Act giving California 200,000 acres for America's first state-controlled park
• 1898: First known automobile ad--"Dispense with the horse"-Winton Motor Car in Scientific American
• 1908: Tunguska Fireball--80 million trees flattened in Russia
• 1914: Gandhi's first arrest for civil disobedience
• 1934: Portsmouth Spartans purchased for $7,952.08, moved to Detroit and renamed the Lions
• 1936: Gone with the Wind published
• 1938: First Superman Comic [really published in April, but cover said June 30]
• 1953: First Corvette manufactured
• 1955: Johnny Carson becomes host of the Tonight Show
• 1994: Tonya Harding banned from figure skating for life
• 2014: Supreme Court rules a family business can reject parts of Obamacare on religious grounds
• Born: Beatrix Loughran [Olympic Gold 1924, 1928, 1932 in figure skating], Lena Horne, Susan Hayward, Thomas Sowell, Billy Mills, Florence Ballard [Supremes], Mike Tyson, Michael Phelps, 
• Died: James Oglethorpe [Georgia], Lillian Hellman, Buddy Hackett

Thought: 

Continuing to think about the encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus in John 3 this morning. Jesus has told Nicodemus that in order to see the kingdom of God, one must be born again. In 3:4 and 3:9, Nicodemus replies "how." Notice what Jesus says in reply:

• We have been born of the flesh, but to see the kingdom of God requires a spiritual birth. Think about that. If you are in Christ, you have been born twice into entirely different lives. In the flesh, we think about things of the flesh [Galatians 5:19-21]. We worry about things of the flesh--what we eat, what we wear, where we live. We devote our time, attention and resources to the things of the flesh. We set up idols and thrones for the flesh--careers, wealth, stuff, athletes, entertainers, even preachers and nations. But in the spirit, we think about eternal things, we devote our time, talents, and resources to spiritual matters. We set our thoughts on things above. We have only one hero, only one number 1, only one GOAT---His name is Jesus. Now the problem---the flesh does not step aside easily or without a battle. 
• Jesus says that spiritual birth is like the wind. At VBS recently, our pastor spoke to the 4th and 5th graders about the Holy spirit. He brought in his leaf blower--the wind or pneuma. As Jesus says in John 3:8--the wind has power, you can see the impact and effect of its power, but you cannot see the wind. So if we are born of the spirit, the world should be able to see the impact of that birth, the effect of that strength and power in our lives. Makes me think of Genesis--God breathed into man and he became a living soul. The pneuma or wind or breath of God is that which takes clay and gives it a soul and life. Some of you have heard me talk about a CD I listened to for several years on my commute--The Breath of God---it was simply scripture read into my ear and then into my heart. Today, allow the spirit to move you, fill you, overflow from you and the world will see the kingdom of God in your life.

Blessings

Larry