1 Peter 1:13 (a) — Tour Guide

Picture of a man driving a bus.

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober…

Years ago back in the late 1970s, I drove a tour bus in Alaska. Not only did I drive the bus, but thanks to the wonders of a microphone mounted on a flex arm I was also the tour guide. Having driven over one hundred thousand miles of Alaskan highways and byways, I feel fairly well qualified to state that a trip through the barren wastelands of Alaska and the Yukon is much more entertaining with a tour guide than it is driving-driving-driving until you get to the next place on the map. 

A good tour guide knows a lot about his or her territory. A tour guide has to know where they are at any given time. That kind of goes without saying. 

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Jude 1: 14b — Enoch’s Prophecy

several piles of gold coins each larger than the last.

See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

I am a little out of my depth when we get the End Times Prophecy department. Pr. Rich is the expert in that area as far as I am concerned. So outside of taking a contextual look at Enoch’s prophecy, let’s take a specific look at this passage and see what we can learn.

First, Jude is using a source of information on this topic that is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible. This is new information about Enoch.

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James 4: 2b-3 — Water

Water being poured into a glass.

You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

What is it you really need? Do you know? Needs are things we sometimes take for granted. For example, we need water but we don’t always want water. But take away your favorite beverages and plain water starts to look pretty good. Imagine you no longer have access to coffee or tea, sodas or fruit juice, or any other of the hundreds of possibilities. Now water looks great!

Here in the Northwest, we have a seemingly unlimited supply of water. But suppose you find yourself stranded in the middle of Eastern Oregon, miles from any town. Now you need water.

What else do we need, but sometimes lose sight of in the midst of all our daily distractions?

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