TEMPTATION READINESS ... Audio file of my sermon Luke 4:1-13

Dr. Ron Unruh, "Temptation Readiness - How to Say No" from Luke 4:1-13, a sermon that I preached on February 10, 2019.   <------- a="" audio="" is="" link="" this="">

I delivered this message at White Rock Community Church. Pastor Steve Doerksen was preaching through Luke’s gospel, and on Feb 10^thneeded someone to step in for him, giving me liberty to choose my own section of scripture and subject or to continue in Luke. I chose to continue his run through Luke. Luke 4 was my text and that is the story of Jesus being tempted by the devil at the outset of Christ’s earthly ministry. In his successful rejection of this enticement, Jesus has taught us how to be ready for temptation so that we also can effectively recognize it and refuse it. Our objective is to say “No.”   

The Temptation of Jesus

1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. 

3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." 

4 And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone.'" 

5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 

7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." 

8 And Jesus answered him, "It is written, "'You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.'" 

9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,  "'He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,' 11 and  "'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'"

12 And Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'" 

13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

If you take time to listen, I thank you. I trust that God’s Word that spoke to me, has also spoken to you. 

ONE DAY AT A TIME

We are friends yet know so little of each other’s worlds

Though I’ve written and talked a lot, many thoughts stay private

You’ll never hear some cloistered hurts I won’t even tell myself

I’ll never learn the circumstance when your innocence was lost

Yet when I spend my time with you insights become your gift to me

You’ve strengthened me by your inner grit to survive past tragedy

My own journey felt some hard spots yet the jaunt has been worthwhile

Struggling with what’s damaged is my contest every day

The expression of our mutual hurts comes out in different ways

We listen to each other and we commiserate as we can

Reminding one another that true love learns to forgive 

Re-engaging lovingly each day is our optimal way to live.

© Ron Unruh June 2019

LUNCH AT CRESCENT (poem)

LUNCH AT CRESCENT 

I turn our sports car to the sea at Crescent Beach.

Scattered clouds can’t hide the springtime sun.

Relaxed observers, we’ve come for lunch in our two-seater

With sandwiches from Beast and Brine.

We’re looking toward Vancouver and the tide is out. 

Curiously, not everyone notices or cares.

A sporty Honda pulls in beside us with two young people

who stay for fifteen minutes, each silently scrolling a cellphone. 

On our other side rap music beats and lyrics sound

as two young happy men keep a ball in the air,

their girlfriends soundly asleep in their car.

For them the breeze, the waves, the gulls have no effect.

Across the mud with two dogs to the distant water a woman walks 

while throwing a ball the younger animal eagerly chases. 

The older mate walks slowly, past his time for chasing

Staying close to his master from whom he welcomes a pat.

Two trucks arrive and out climb eight people speaking Filipino.

Soon two of them carry a boat motor the long walk to the water.

Four others manhandle a Zodiac loaded with crab traps to the motormen.

Then with motor attached two men in the boat sail to deep water. 

With lunch over, we decide to walk on Blackie Spit.

Clamshells lie white and opened days ago by hungry birds.

Tidewater is coming in, still cold, yet one man wades knee deep.

Crescent Beach is pleasurable for everybody’s reasons.

© Ron Unruh, March 2019

GOLDEN WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

Golden - This was the day, August 12 50 yrs ago, Canada’s Centennial Year, that Christine Langlois and I were married in St. Catharines, where we are right now with our children and grandchildren, and will visit the church building and Montebello Park, where our photos were taken in the rose garden, then on to visit Niagara Falls, and be with our much loved extended family. 50 yrs is a long time & we have lived, loved and served together across the years in many places.

Just call me Marshall Ron. Marshalling is what I do on Monday afternoons @ Pagoda Ridge Golf Course. This canopied cart is my ride. This is new for me this summer thanks to Bob Dobson, who has marshalled for 5 yrs. He recommended me. Now he and I, buds since college days and partners during great work years, do this together on Mondays. And then I play during the week. I am looking forward one day soon to playing a game with Bob. Yesterday I played a round with my dear friend Allan Turner. I am not telling you our score. Jordan Spieth has nothing worry about. You must play this course, fantastic ground crew, immaculate greens, welcoming fairways, delicious food, courteous everybody.

I AM LOUSY AT ABSTRACTION

I am a realist/impressionist/representational painter. I like painting subjects to look like recognizable subjects. In recent weeks I have been faced with an uncommon task, painting a theme. A client asked me to paint two trees with interlocking branches and roots as a symbol of a marriage union. This will be a wedding gift soon. That is, if I don’t destroy my two attempts first. If they survive and if my client likes one of them well enough, we will complete the sale. I am sure that I am harder on myself than the client will be, but I can’t be certain of that either since Christine, my resident art critic keeps pointing out features needing improvement. It’s been an exercise in self-realization. I am less able to imagine images to convey concepts than I thought I was. I have greater respect now for aboriginal artists who capture the spirit of nature and creatures, and for cartoonists who visualize thematic interaction between people. There has been some artistic enjoyment in this work and a strong dose of frustration. Since I was told that the engaged couple are deeply committed to their Christian faith, I have painted subtle symbols such as the Holy Spirit superimposed as a dove in the foliage of the joined trees, and the tree roots sunk into the foundational principles and truths of the ten commandments and the assurance of Christ’s divinity with the open tomb underground. The paintings are coming along, with more fine touches to be added. Yes, I did two paintings and that will give my client a choice. She can have them both but she can choose the one she will gift to her friends. Upon completion, I can hardly wait to get at my next two commissions, true subjects that reflect light and create shadow. I would be a lousy and dissatisfied abstract painter even though I often appreciate some other artists’ work.  

boyhood sketch 13. SPITBALLS - CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE & A WRONG CONCLUSION

Miss Laidlaw was my Grade 5 homeroom teacher. That's when it happened. Our classes rotated from homeroom to other classrooms for different subjects. It puzzled me then and puzzles me still, why adults could not take this into consideration when assessing blame for the spitballs that appeared one day on the wall of my homeroom. The spitballs were conspicuously stuck around the large wall clock in our homeroom. Miss Laidlaw fancied herself a super sloth, a Sherlock Holmes I surmise because when no one admitted to the deed, she required all of us to remove papers from our homeroom desks. She removed one spitball from the wall, unfolded the spitball and now came to each student's desk with this torn piece of paper. To my horror, upon removing papers from my desk drawer, a page had a corner ripped away. At my desk Miss Laidlaw matched her spitball to my paper. I stalwartly claimed innocence for an inordinately long period of public interrogation. Other students sat at my desk during the day I protested. We were all sent home for lunch but I was told that upon return I must confess my guilt and make an apology to my class for wasting their time. Over the lunch hour I struggled with this allegation and that afternoon to my everlasting regret I yielded to the pressure and complied with Miss Laidlaw’s demands, though I am still innocent to this day, scarred, needing therapy that will surely come too late.

boyhood sketch 6. I OWNED THE CITY

Diana Sweets Restaurant 

old downtown St. Paul Street

At age nine and ten I owned the streets of St. Catharines, Ontario. I knew them. I rode them on my one speed bicycle. Alleys, lanes, quiet treed streets, and heavy traffic lanes presented no challenge. I would peddle uptown to St. Paul Street. It was really downtown St. Catharines but I called it uptown for no acceptable reason. It seemed uptown because I peddled uphill to Church Street from our home on Clark Street. Coy Bros. Hardware was one of my favourite places. Entering the main doors from James Street we headed to the rear of the store where there was a counter with glass top and front face. Inside the case were tiny metal farm animals carefully painted. Each purchase was a mere ten cents when I was ten years old. Nearby Diana Sweets was the best place to eat. Our family seldom ate out but unknown to anyone, I could slip into the restaurant and for twenty-five cents (two-bits we called it) I had a huge high slice of Boston Cream Pie. There I would be, a small boy in a large dining booth, alone with a pie slice as large as my face.

Download my FREE ebook GOD IN THE OPEN

GOD IN THE OPEN

Colossians and Philemon

by Ron Unruh

New Testament Series

DO IT NOW - FREE for a few days
on the THE KOBO SITE and .99 on KINDLE’S SITE

SYNOPSIS

With a narrative style Ron has written a devotional commentary on Collossians and Philemon to be useful to students and teachers of the Bible. In "God in the Open' provides you will vitalize your personal growth as a follower of Christ and receive exegetical data to assist you when fashioning a lesson or a sermon. Paul's letter to Colossians was foundational to early Christian theology. The letter proclaims Christ's supremacy over the entire created universe. It also insists that believers lead godly lives. That's why Paul's brief letter to Philemon is the concluding chapter of this volume with its account of how two men, master and slave, resolved antagonism and dysfunction as brothers in Christ.

EDWARD RICHARD UNRUH DIED MAY 1, 2008

May 1st is the anniversary of my Dad's death. I cannot own him by myself. We are three sons of Edward Richard Unruh. Our father passed away on May 1, 2008.

Murray, Neale and I will remember him with pleasure today. Such a good man, a gentle man he was. Faithful, constant, loving in a reserved manner appropriate to his generation I suppose. Through the years, even as he aged, he seemed enduring, unchanging, always there when I visited, or Neale visited or when Murray regularly took him for a coffee at Horton's. Murray and Diane know our lasting gratitude for their years of loving care. Even during the last years when Mom's dementia required her care in a nursing facility, Dad remained in his apartment, looking after most of his own needs. And then he was gone, quietly, peacefully.

Like millions of other men, Dad distinguished himself, as son, a husband, and a father. I would like you to know him. He was born the last of four children to Cornelius K. Unruh and his wife Katherine. His childhood home was the prairie town of Hepburn, Saskatchewan, where he acquired a grade eleven education. Then he began to work at numerous jobs. Edward, fell in love with Tina Martha (Doerksen) Willems, four years younger than himself. Willems was her step family surname. Doerksen was on her birth certificate from Montana where her birth father Isaac Doerksen died when she was two years of age. Their love took them happily through 66 years until Mom passed away. In his twenties he owned and operated a 'filling' station as it was called (gas station). Together, Mom And Dad set up a coffee shop on the main street. Then WWII happened and Dad enlisted in the Canadian Air Force, which was an exceptional act in a town of Mennonite pacifists. He was an airplane mechanic. When the war was over, they looked at the future for their family, measured employment options, and the many factory jobs in Ontario seemed attractive. Dad, Mom and me at age four, moved to St. Catharines. Dad worked for Thompson Products, Ontario Paper Mill and finally Anthes Imperial, where he remained for over forty years. Anthes built furnaces and dad worked in the heat of the foundry, in the cab of an aerial crane, and then for decades on the assembly line. He often came home exhausted. He would clean up and settle down with his newspaper, sometimes draped over his face as he napped on the sofa. His work ethic was a commendable model for his three boys. Well into our own manhood, one day we asked him why he stayed at such difficult work for so long. A six-word reply revealed the man. “I did it for my boys.”

He purchased a family home before he turned forty years of age. He took his family to a rented cottage for summer vacations. He took us for Sunday afternoon car rides. He sang with us. He yodeled. He was proud of us. He loved our Mother. When we married, his love for our brides gave them a strong sense of comfort in an extended family. He trusted in God, and he supported all three of us as we took on Christian service vocations.

Dad never took a leadership position at church. If he was asked to be on committees or boards he declined. He knew his strengths and limitations. He enjoyed serving but the service had to be in the areas of comfort and competence. Smart man. Private man. Honorable man.

In November 2007, our Mom passed away. The night before the memorial service as our family stood together at her coffin, Dad said, "Goodnight sweetheart, I'll see you soon." His loss was profound, we are sure of that. Yet Dad was stoic. Mom had been ill for several years and it was time for her to go. Perhaps a man knows when it is his time as well. One evening six months later, he enjoyed a dinner at Murray and Diane's home. Beth and Eric were there, as were their daughters Selah and Karis. After the meal Murray drove him home. Before bed, a nurse arrived to dispense medication but found Dad lying on the floor. With no evident bruises, it was supposed that he felt unwell and was heading for the couch, but lay down on the rug and died there.

MORNING COFFEE

 MORNING COFFEE

What would I do without her?

How could I live?

Yet people do go on I know

After a loved one is gone.

She sits outside my window

Sipping coffee in the morning, pensive.

Her profile so familiar to me.

I envision that image missing and stop,

I can't bear the thought, and won't.

Even now my desktop bears her portrait

Happy, smiling in the sunshine by the water.

That's my girl, the young yesterday girl

Same person, seasoned, wiser and so lovely.

I loved her then and love her now, more deeply

With the memories of our years.

By Ron Unruh, August 22, 2014

EAGLE KING UPON A POLE

EAGLE KING UPON A POLE

Eagle sits atop a pole
in Mud Bay standing watch
on glistening water, dancing lights
mid morning of a late July day.

A breeze on grasses swaying as I watch
a catamaran gently cruising to the open water,
Canadian flag proudly flying.

Still eagle sits as sailors pass
and then lifts off, too close for comfort he thinks,
flying, turning to the sea with effortless ease.
Now both boat and bird are gone.

Wistfully my gaze returns to blue water, tide receding

I sit where water will slap sand later.
Three herons cross into the breeze.
Then surprised I find the eagle has returned,
landing on what must be a favourite spot, the pole,
from which to survey this kingdom,
and pretend that he is king.


By Ron Unruh, July 29, 2014

Composed as I sat at Crescent Beach along the Blackie Spit overlooking Mud Bay, where the shore birds feed on rich fare, the distant train trestle over which the Amtrak rides, and the Marina from which pleasure craft and fishing boats come and go.

RAVI ZACHARIAS HERE IN LANGLEY

Ravi Zacharias

(Feb 18, 2021 .. at the end of this post is an update about Ravi Zacharias and the news that rocked the Christian world)

---

Last evening Christine and I attended a public meeting at which renowned internationally recognized Christian apologist and author Ravi Zacharias spoke on the theme, 'Notions of Truth and Tensions in Society.' I was so glad to hear him in person once again. His daily radio program Let My People think, enable listeners to process views within popular culture that are steadily influenced by the New Age obsession with human potentiality and spirituality and also to properly appreciate the definitive person, work and teaching of Jesus Christ.

Smiths Falls Logo

At the conclusion of yesterday's meeting, I was able to shake his hand, mention "Smiths Falls Ontario 1972" and immediately his face registered recognition and we briefly chatted before his attention had to be given to the scores of others who wanted to meet him. Now I can tell you what he remembered with me.

Tyndale University and College

Ravi and I graduated a couple of years apart from Ontario Bible College (OBC) in Toronto, now Tyndale University and Seminary.

I was already aware of Ravi's giftedness as a communicator and his spirituality when in 1972 I invited him to be a keynote speaker for an eight day crusade in the town of Smiths Falls, Ontario where I was pastoring Calvary Bible Church. He was 26 years of age and I was 30. Mine was a small church of eighty people but in preparation for the crusade I trained spiritual counsellors there and in three other churches in the area.

Calvary Bible Church, Smiths Falls, Ontario 

Typical of crusades at the time, I had arranged for guest musicians for each of the eight dates in October. An entire college choir from OBC under the direction of Warren Adams drove from Toronto for the event. Advertisements reached surrounding communities and each evening at the local civic arena an audience from 500-700 people listened to Ravi's challenging messages that invited people to place their trust in Jesus Christ. Seventy two individuals were recorded as having committed their lives to God that week. God knows the lasting outcome of that work.

It was evident in those days that Ravi Zacharias was empowered by God with unique perceptions and oratorical skills. Not surprisingly Ravi became a global evangelist with an ability to intelligently communicate the credibility of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He began to receive invitations to universities to engage the minds of young adults and thirty years ago he founded RZIM, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. Distinctive in its strong evangelistic and apologetic foundation, the ministry of RZIM is intended to touch both the heart and the intellect of the thinkers and influencers of society through the support of the visionary leadership of Ravi Zacharias.

He has authored 20 books in which Ravi has defended Christianity against atheism, Darwinism, Oscar Wilde, religious hypocrisy and world religions. In his book, Why Jesus? Rediscovering His Truth in an Age of Mass Marketed Spirituality (FaithWords, $21.99), he sets his sights on the New Spirituality/New Age movement and such prominent proponents as Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra.

I wrote a reflective blog piece in September 2009, called 'A Distant Greeting from a Former Resident,' the content of which I had sent to the town of Smiths Falls and an appreciation for the years I spent in the town gaining my footing as a young pastor, and referencing the special eight day crusade for which Ravi Zacharias was my invited speaker.

UPDATE: Ravi Zacharias died at his home in Atlanta on 19 May 2020, at the age of 74. He had been diagnosed in March 2020 with a malignant and rare cancer in his spine. For several years before his death, allegations surfaced that Ravi was involved in sexual misconduct both at home and during international ministry trips. Women began to come forward with their stories. Multiple sources accused Zacharias of serious sexual misconduct including rape. RZIM ministries and Ravi himself initially denied the allegations despite the mounting evidence. Following his death, on 9 February 2021, Miller & Martin, the law firm hired by RZIM to look into these allegations, concluded in their investigation report that Mr Zacharias had engaged in sexual misconduct. The RZIM Board issued an official public confession of their own failures as well as their acknowledgments of Ravi’s misconduct.   

The Wikipedia account of Ravi Zachias