I just finished studying for my message tonight and the words of an old hymn keep playing in my mind. Especially the second verse. Here are the words:
We have heard the Macedonian call today, "Send the light! Send the light!" And a golden offering at the cross we lay send the light, send the light.
(chorus) Send the light, the blessed gospel light, let it shine from shore to shore, send the light the blessed gospel light let it shine forevermore.
Verse one is equally compelling:
There's a call comes ringing o'er the restless waves, "Send the light! Send the light!" There are souls to rescue, there are souls to save, send the light, send the light
(chorus)
Acts 16:9-10 (NKJV)
9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."
10 Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Those scripture verses have dogged my steps for several years now. The song has replayed in my mind over and over again. It is reality that God can speak to anyone in anyway He pleases to call them on mission for Him. God might call through a sermon, a devotion, a book, conviction of the Holy Spirit, a song and maybe even in a dream.
Paul did not delay. He did not hold a committee meeting. No business meeting was called to determine whether Paul and Timothy should go to Macedonia. Paul immediately sought to obey.
We sing songs like Send The Light, I Have Decided To Follow Jesus and Wherever He Leads I'll Go. Do we really mean them?
Just a few weeks we were singing that old song I Love To Tell The Story. Part way through the first verse I quit singing under conviction. I asked myself if I had told the story of Jesus to anyone recently and could not think of a single incident. I could not mouth the words of something not true in my life. God desires truth in the inward parts. [Ps 51:6] If God called today for you to uproot your current life to follow Him elsewhere would you obey? Or would you rationalize the His call away and dismiss the whole thing.
I made the mistake in the past of telling churches I would not leave them. That was foolish on my part. I hurt a lot of people. It has been my long desire to give decades of service to a single church but that is just my desire. It may not be God's will. As I seek to live surrendered to Him I did not know back then anymore than I know today what the future holds for me and my family. Following Jesus has taken some twists and turns I never imagined. Surrendered means I renounce my life and any rights or claims to it. God can call me to go anywhere, to do anything at anytime and He DOES NOT NEED MY PERMISSION.
Paul did not just give lip service to proclaiming the gospel. That is a phrase you hear a lot around religious circles. We need to preach the gospel so people will get saved. Please help us proclaim the gospel with your financial contribution. Join us as we reach the world for Christ by sharing the gospel. We need to build additional space so we can reach people with the gospel. Please help us stay on the airwaves so we can proclaim the gospel. And others just like them. Words. Often times empty phrases.
What about living the gospel. What about living as a bondslave to Jesus. What about living crucified with Christ to the point it is no longer you living but Him living through you. [Gal 2:20]What about living surrendered, yielded and in submission to His authority. What about living out the words of the song, "Wherever He leads I'll go."
There is so much need in the world. There are people who have never heard. Let me say that again. There are people on planet earth who have NEVER HEARD THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT JESUS. You don't have to get on a plane to find them. They are your family. Your neighbors. Your co-workers, your friends. Yes, there are nations where many people have never heard of Jesus. God is looking for people who will go. The United States is a nation filled with many who have never heard and who live in spiritual darkness.
There are many churches without pastors and preachers. There are communities without shepherds to keep watch over the souls of the residents. Should God's Macedonian cry come to you today at this hour will you go. Will you lay down your security like Abraham did. [Gen 12:1-2] Will you be willing to look like a fool to obey God like Noah did. [Heb 11:8] Will you lay your life down on God's altar like Paul did. [Rom 12:1] When God's call comes will you respond. Will you go like Paul did. [Acts 16:10]
That is what is expected of followers of Jesus. No fanfare. No applause of men. Just men and women heeding the Macedonian call to go and send the light. Lord, please keep ready to go and send the light all the days of my life.
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Saturday, January 26, 2019
The Relentless Quest
Lamentations 3:25 (NKJV)
25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him.
What are you pursuing today? Making another buck? A good time? Some lofty goal you're working toward like earning enough for retirement? People are in pursuit of something all the time. Good health so they workout. Some chase after the dream of owning their own home. Others chase after owning their own business. Some pursue more education.
How many are relentlessly pursuing God. He is the greatest pursuit of all and yet it appears so very few are searching for Him. Millions call themselves Christians. Many gather to worship weekly. Out of those gatherers how many are on a daily quest to know more of God.
Let me be even more specific. How many pastors are on this quest? I received a very disheartening call from a friend yesterday. He got invited to a retreat with a bunch of pastors even though he is not a pastor. What he told me he experienced over those two days broke his heart and mine. He talked about shallow conversations among the pastors all relating to how big their churches were and what books they had written. In a series of oneupmanship conversations my friend's heart sunk deeper and deeper. There was little to no substantive talk about truth in the inward parts of their souls.
There was no talk about the relentless quest of seeking God. None. Zero. Nata. Zilch. Not at all. Nothing.
Do you also find this troubling? Think about it. These are the ones entrusted to get up to feed the flock from the word of God. They give homiletical sermons with perfect exegesis, hermetical accuracy and rightly divided truth with precise exposition. Yet the pursuit of God is seldom mentioned. The quest to know God in a deeper way not often proclaimed. It certainly is not modeled in many clergy. Even though the truth is preached the soul of the pastor and parishioners often shrivels.
It all reminds me of a revival meeting I preached years ago. After one service the pastor and I went out to eat along with a friend of mine. During our meal I looked at the pastor and asked him how he was doing. I went on to to say I was not asking about his church. I wanted to know how he was personally doing in his walk.
He danced all around that question. I could see him getting uneasy. He did not want to go there. He did not want to talk about deep matters of the soul. I left that meal wondering if that pastor lived with the relentless quest to seek and know God more. He seemed much more content to talk about surface things.
God is good to those who seek Him. What does it really mean to seek Him? It means to chase after Him. It means to follow hard after Him. It also means to desire and crave more of Him. It includes rising eery to seek Him diligently. Ultimately it means to worship Him.
Let's break all that down. First, seeking God means chasing after God. Did you ever play chase as a child? In the game of chase the only object is to tag and catch the others playing. So you ran after those playing wholeheartedly, dogged determined and relentlessly. God wants us to chase after Him with that same intensity. This is a far different cry than rushing through devotions just to get them over to move on with your day. Chasing God is more than jotting down notes and thoughts in a journal. Chasing God is an ambition that you go after Him with all you have. That includes the intellect. You think deeply upon the subject of God and the truth of His word. That includes the heart and affections. You chase after Him to know and love Him more. That includes with the soul, or put another way, with all your passion.
Right along with chasing God is following hard after Him. [Ps 63:8] KJV. To get up day in and day out on a relentless quest to run hard after God. To give Him your undivided attention. To read His word intensely with pen and markers in hand to capture a word in season. It is running hard after God in a dead sprint. Here is the beautiful thing. When you do that God runs hard toward you too. James 4:8 (NKJV)
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
This relentless quest of seeking God will drive a person to get up early in this pursuit. It will keep people up late at night in this unrelenting quest to know more, learn more and experience more of God. Do you long for that?
We all must come to the place where we recognize and realize the deepest and most intense desires and cravings in us must be for more of God. He alone satisfies what our hungry hearts and thirsty souls long for. [Ps 63:1] [Ps 42:1-2]
Ultimately this quest leads to more intense and sincere worship. That worship does not always take place in a public gathering. Many meaningful worship encounters will happen in private as you seek Him. You will be overcome with praise, adoration and submission to His will. This worship will lead you to lay your life and family down before Him repeatedly.
It is good for us to seek God like that. Or to put it another way, it is beneficial, pleasing and makes a person cheerful to relentlessly seek God like that.
Just two days ago I renewed my quest with greater intensity for 2019 and beyond. It has been satisfying to my soul already. The reward in the pursuit has been worth all the effort. I hope and trust you will discover that for yourselves. Start your relentless pursuit of God today if you have not already done so.
25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him.
What are you pursuing today? Making another buck? A good time? Some lofty goal you're working toward like earning enough for retirement? People are in pursuit of something all the time. Good health so they workout. Some chase after the dream of owning their own home. Others chase after owning their own business. Some pursue more education.
How many are relentlessly pursuing God. He is the greatest pursuit of all and yet it appears so very few are searching for Him. Millions call themselves Christians. Many gather to worship weekly. Out of those gatherers how many are on a daily quest to know more of God.
Let me be even more specific. How many pastors are on this quest? I received a very disheartening call from a friend yesterday. He got invited to a retreat with a bunch of pastors even though he is not a pastor. What he told me he experienced over those two days broke his heart and mine. He talked about shallow conversations among the pastors all relating to how big their churches were and what books they had written. In a series of oneupmanship conversations my friend's heart sunk deeper and deeper. There was little to no substantive talk about truth in the inward parts of their souls.
There was no talk about the relentless quest of seeking God. None. Zero. Nata. Zilch. Not at all. Nothing.
Do you also find this troubling? Think about it. These are the ones entrusted to get up to feed the flock from the word of God. They give homiletical sermons with perfect exegesis, hermetical accuracy and rightly divided truth with precise exposition. Yet the pursuit of God is seldom mentioned. The quest to know God in a deeper way not often proclaimed. It certainly is not modeled in many clergy. Even though the truth is preached the soul of the pastor and parishioners often shrivels.
It all reminds me of a revival meeting I preached years ago. After one service the pastor and I went out to eat along with a friend of mine. During our meal I looked at the pastor and asked him how he was doing. I went on to to say I was not asking about his church. I wanted to know how he was personally doing in his walk.
He danced all around that question. I could see him getting uneasy. He did not want to go there. He did not want to talk about deep matters of the soul. I left that meal wondering if that pastor lived with the relentless quest to seek and know God more. He seemed much more content to talk about surface things.
God is good to those who seek Him. What does it really mean to seek Him? It means to chase after Him. It means to follow hard after Him. It also means to desire and crave more of Him. It includes rising eery to seek Him diligently. Ultimately it means to worship Him.
Let's break all that down. First, seeking God means chasing after God. Did you ever play chase as a child? In the game of chase the only object is to tag and catch the others playing. So you ran after those playing wholeheartedly, dogged determined and relentlessly. God wants us to chase after Him with that same intensity. This is a far different cry than rushing through devotions just to get them over to move on with your day. Chasing God is more than jotting down notes and thoughts in a journal. Chasing God is an ambition that you go after Him with all you have. That includes the intellect. You think deeply upon the subject of God and the truth of His word. That includes the heart and affections. You chase after Him to know and love Him more. That includes with the soul, or put another way, with all your passion.
Right along with chasing God is following hard after Him. [Ps 63:8] KJV. To get up day in and day out on a relentless quest to run hard after God. To give Him your undivided attention. To read His word intensely with pen and markers in hand to capture a word in season. It is running hard after God in a dead sprint. Here is the beautiful thing. When you do that God runs hard toward you too. James 4:8 (NKJV)
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
This relentless quest of seeking God will drive a person to get up early in this pursuit. It will keep people up late at night in this unrelenting quest to know more, learn more and experience more of God. Do you long for that?
We all must come to the place where we recognize and realize the deepest and most intense desires and cravings in us must be for more of God. He alone satisfies what our hungry hearts and thirsty souls long for. [Ps 63:1] [Ps 42:1-2]
Ultimately this quest leads to more intense and sincere worship. That worship does not always take place in a public gathering. Many meaningful worship encounters will happen in private as you seek Him. You will be overcome with praise, adoration and submission to His will. This worship will lead you to lay your life and family down before Him repeatedly.
It is good for us to seek God like that. Or to put it another way, it is beneficial, pleasing and makes a person cheerful to relentlessly seek God like that.
Just two days ago I renewed my quest with greater intensity for 2019 and beyond. It has been satisfying to my soul already. The reward in the pursuit has been worth all the effort. I hope and trust you will discover that for yourselves. Start your relentless pursuit of God today if you have not already done so.
Thursday, January 24, 2019
God Show Us More
I took my mother-in-law for a doctor's appointment in the metroplex today. She didn't want me go in with her so I went to the public library just around the corner. I walked through the large building to the back until I found a little table and chair where I sat to work.
I opened my Bible to Jeremiah 30 and began reading after praying for a fresh word. I didn't take long. Three chapters in fact before I came across the verse for my day.
Jeremiah 33:3 (NKJV)
3 'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.'
There I sat in a massive building lined with shelves of books. I looked down at my Bible and read through the verse slowly again meditating on each word. Then I prayed. A humble prayer. In that moment I realized I still have so much to learn about God, about Bible truth, about knowledge gained by others and preserved in the pages of books. I felt woefully ignorant and unlearned in that library surrounded by books of knowledge everywhere. Of course the book that most grabbed my attention was the open Bible before me.
God's showing for me is His showing great and mighty things I do not know. There is so much I do not know. Great things. Mighty things. Hidden things. I want God to show me. I want to learn. I want to grow. I want to gain insight.
When God told Jeremiah He would show Him great mighty things what does the word show mean? The word show means to announce, declare and report. How many things do I need God to announce? How much truth do I need Him to declare daily? How many new revelations do I long for Him to report?
All I could bring myself to ask for today was for God to show me great and mighty things I do not know. Great things are multiple things and exceedingly powerful things. I don't just want knowledge of the scriptures. I want deep insights. I don't want to just dig the mines of God's truth for dirt found on the surface. I want Him to announce, declare and report things below the surface where the gold is found. I want to dig deeper until I find nuggets of truth not found by just raking. Raking is easier than digging. Raking produces leaves. Digging sometimes produces gold. I saw that statement in a bookstore inside a local church years ago.
There is so much to learn and in my middle aged years I am running out of time to learn it. So much truth to discover. So much more of God to unpack. So I call on Him to expand my mind to understand more and my heart to love and experience more. I plead for Him to intensify my hunger and eagerness to learn.
I want God to show me more. More than I have ever learned before. More than I have ever seen before. More than I have ever understood before. God, please show me more. Show all of us more in your church. Amen.
I opened my Bible to Jeremiah 30 and began reading after praying for a fresh word. I didn't take long. Three chapters in fact before I came across the verse for my day.
Jeremiah 33:3 (NKJV)
3 'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.'
There I sat in a massive building lined with shelves of books. I looked down at my Bible and read through the verse slowly again meditating on each word. Then I prayed. A humble prayer. In that moment I realized I still have so much to learn about God, about Bible truth, about knowledge gained by others and preserved in the pages of books. I felt woefully ignorant and unlearned in that library surrounded by books of knowledge everywhere. Of course the book that most grabbed my attention was the open Bible before me.
God's showing for me is His showing great and mighty things I do not know. There is so much I do not know. Great things. Mighty things. Hidden things. I want God to show me. I want to learn. I want to grow. I want to gain insight.
When God told Jeremiah He would show Him great mighty things what does the word show mean? The word show means to announce, declare and report. How many things do I need God to announce? How much truth do I need Him to declare daily? How many new revelations do I long for Him to report?
All I could bring myself to ask for today was for God to show me great and mighty things I do not know. Great things are multiple things and exceedingly powerful things. I don't just want knowledge of the scriptures. I want deep insights. I don't want to just dig the mines of God's truth for dirt found on the surface. I want Him to announce, declare and report things below the surface where the gold is found. I want to dig deeper until I find nuggets of truth not found by just raking. Raking is easier than digging. Raking produces leaves. Digging sometimes produces gold. I saw that statement in a bookstore inside a local church years ago.
There is so much to learn and in my middle aged years I am running out of time to learn it. So much truth to discover. So much more of God to unpack. So I call on Him to expand my mind to understand more and my heart to love and experience more. I plead for Him to intensify my hunger and eagerness to learn.
I want God to show me more. More than I have ever learned before. More than I have ever seen before. More than I have ever understood before. God, please show me more. Show all of us more in your church. Amen.
I Am Willing Gladly To Die Today
It is hard to believe that a time existed in history when people did not have access to God's word in English and when the Catholic papacy preached whatever they wanted. The Catholic Church controlled the people. They controlled what was preached. They opposed the Bible being translated into the language of the common people. We owe a great debt to the reformers.
I just finished reading about one of those reformers named Jon Huss. Huss fearlessly preached against the immoral practices of the Pope and the priests who violated the teaching of scripture. Huss saw their hypocrisy and immorality and thundered against them incessantly. God used Huss powerfully. At one point his congregation numbered in the thousands. This was back in the 1400's!
Twice the papacy tried to forcibly remove Huss from the pulpit during a worship gathering. Both times the congregants overpowered them and drove them away. Removing Huss proved to be no small order because the people loved him.
On more than one occasion Huss got excommunicated officially from the Catholic Church. He ignored it as his church wanted him to. He kept on preaching the truth and pointing people to authentic Christianity. He angered many ruling officials.
Eventually he was put on trial. Huss really never had the opportunity to defend himself against their trumped up charges of heresy. Catholic ruling officials only wanted Huss removed. They did not stop until a punishment of burning at the stake was pronounced.
When the day of execution came Huss was led to a field. On the way he passed where they were burning all his writings. People lined the streets to see their beloved pastor for the last time. Upon arriving at the stake he would be bound to Huss knelt and prayed. Afterward they tried to get him to recant of his beliefs at which Huss refused. The priests pronounced curses on him and put a paper crown on his head with little painted devils drawn on it. The priests gave him over to the devil.
In some of Huss' last words he said, "God is my witness that the principle intention of my preaching and of all my other acts or writings was solely that I might turn men from sin. And in that truth of the Gospel that I wrote, taught and preached in accordance with the sayings and expositions of the holy doctors , I AM WILLING TO GLADLY DIE TODAY."
The crowd gasped at his words and everyone grew silent. His words angered his opponents and the executioners were ordered to lite the bundle of sticks around Huss. As the flames grew Huss started singing, "Christ, Thou Son of the living God, have mercy on me." After singing those words the third time the wind blew the flames in his face. No longer able to sing Huss dropped his head and prayed silently until his life ended.
Huss' opponents were not content for Huss just to die. At one point an executioner found his heart. They pierced his heart with a stick and watched it incinerate. They stoked the fire until there was nothing left of Huss except ashes. They loaded the ashes in a cart and dumped them in the Rhine River to be done with Huss forever.
And yet here I am in 2019 reading about Him and writing about Him. I am inspired by Huss. He faithfully pastored his flock. He also fearlessly preached God's word in the midst of opposition. Huss courageously opposed the hypocrisy of the papacy. In the end it cost him his life through a cruel violent death.
Huss faced his execution bravely. His words, "I am willing gladly to die," inspire me. It makes me wonder if I would have such courage in the face of death. It reminds me of my absolute favorite verse in the Bible. The verse I have instructed Brenda I want preached at my funeral.
Philippians 1:21 (NKJV)
21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
I just finished reading about one of those reformers named Jon Huss. Huss fearlessly preached against the immoral practices of the Pope and the priests who violated the teaching of scripture. Huss saw their hypocrisy and immorality and thundered against them incessantly. God used Huss powerfully. At one point his congregation numbered in the thousands. This was back in the 1400's!
Twice the papacy tried to forcibly remove Huss from the pulpit during a worship gathering. Both times the congregants overpowered them and drove them away. Removing Huss proved to be no small order because the people loved him.
On more than one occasion Huss got excommunicated officially from the Catholic Church. He ignored it as his church wanted him to. He kept on preaching the truth and pointing people to authentic Christianity. He angered many ruling officials.
Eventually he was put on trial. Huss really never had the opportunity to defend himself against their trumped up charges of heresy. Catholic ruling officials only wanted Huss removed. They did not stop until a punishment of burning at the stake was pronounced.
When the day of execution came Huss was led to a field. On the way he passed where they were burning all his writings. People lined the streets to see their beloved pastor for the last time. Upon arriving at the stake he would be bound to Huss knelt and prayed. Afterward they tried to get him to recant of his beliefs at which Huss refused. The priests pronounced curses on him and put a paper crown on his head with little painted devils drawn on it. The priests gave him over to the devil.
In some of Huss' last words he said, "God is my witness that the principle intention of my preaching and of all my other acts or writings was solely that I might turn men from sin. And in that truth of the Gospel that I wrote, taught and preached in accordance with the sayings and expositions of the holy doctors , I AM WILLING TO GLADLY DIE TODAY."
The crowd gasped at his words and everyone grew silent. His words angered his opponents and the executioners were ordered to lite the bundle of sticks around Huss. As the flames grew Huss started singing, "Christ, Thou Son of the living God, have mercy on me." After singing those words the third time the wind blew the flames in his face. No longer able to sing Huss dropped his head and prayed silently until his life ended.
Huss' opponents were not content for Huss just to die. At one point an executioner found his heart. They pierced his heart with a stick and watched it incinerate. They stoked the fire until there was nothing left of Huss except ashes. They loaded the ashes in a cart and dumped them in the Rhine River to be done with Huss forever.
And yet here I am in 2019 reading about Him and writing about Him. I am inspired by Huss. He faithfully pastored his flock. He also fearlessly preached God's word in the midst of opposition. Huss courageously opposed the hypocrisy of the papacy. In the end it cost him his life through a cruel violent death.
Huss faced his execution bravely. His words, "I am willing gladly to die," inspire me. It makes me wonder if I would have such courage in the face of death. It reminds me of my absolute favorite verse in the Bible. The verse I have instructed Brenda I want preached at my funeral.
Philippians 1:21 (NKJV)
21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Pagan America
Karen is a school teacher. She has taught for a long time. Lately she has been attacked for Christian beliefs even though she opted to teach at a Christian school. It just so happens Karen is Karen Pence married to Vice President Mike Pence.
Someone leaked that she taught in a Christian school, which she never tried to hide. Leakers made a big deal out of a covenant she signed, like other Christian schools require employees and students to sign. What is the sticking point. The Biblical stand against homosexuality.
This has become such a big deal that self pronounced theological expert Lady Gaga addressed this in a recent concert in Las Vegas, NV. She went on a rant saying that Vice President Pence is, "the worst representative of what it means to be a Christian." I do not know Vice President Pence. I do not know His testimony. I have certainly behave more lovingly and kindly to people than leftists have in recent days.
Just take the March For Life. An angry protestor actually grabbed the genitals of male reporter and thought she was justified in doing so. There has been little media coverage about that. I have actually seen the video footage. Shocking.
Political activist actually confronted some Catholic schoolboys but the media turned the script to make it look the schoolboys confronted a elderly Native American.
I have read multiple reports about high ranking economic and political officials involved in pedophilia. Our country is spinning out of control and celebrities often use their platform to persuade people for their agenda. Yet when Tony Dungee did this with athletes giving them a platform to testify about Jesus he got lambasted. Blatant hypocrisy.
In this land of religious freedom and pagan culture it is increasingly popular that the only freedom of religion is to side against Bible Christianity. The LGBT community shout incessantly against anyone who dares stand or speak out against their sinful lifestyles.
This has become so widespread I have noticed several times in the past several months of openly homosexuality flaunted in commercials. More than one sitcom has to introduce homosexuality into their characters. The LGCT community showers the media with the message that their way of life is an acceptable normal alternative lifestyle. A view becoming more and more popular.
Lady Gaga went on to say, "I am a Christian woman." Stop. I know nothing about her except that she sings. I could not identify one song that she sings. Just saying you are a Christian and actually being one are two different things. Unless a person has repented of sin, turned to Jesus in faith, asked for His forgiveness, believed for His rescue and salvation and been transformed by Him that person is no more a Christian than I am a billionaire. You know true followers of Jesus by their fruit.
True followers of Jesus believe the Bible to be the word of God divinely inspired and authoritative. The Bible clearly speaks out against homosexuality. The LBGT community ignore and reject these things.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (NKJV)
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,
10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
Romans 1:22-32 (NKJV)
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,
25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.
27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers,
30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful;
32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
That does not mean that homosexuals cannot be transformed. God is not going to change His standard though to accommodate pagan beliefs. I know the stories of people God has delivered from homosexuality. They have stated publicly the rampant immorality among homosexuals. They have also heard all the speech for tolerance but once they left the LGBT community and began speaking out against it they were ostracized, criticized and bullied.
God's followers are not to water down the truth no matter how fierce the mounting peer pressure from a pagan society. We are stand for this truth in love. One man told me he would take the hatred and criticism because Jesus was that precious to Him. He is alone except for his church family. Betrayed and abandoned by supposed friends and all because he met Jesus, got saved, transformed and delivered from homosexuality.
Lady Gaga went on to say, "What I do know about Christianity is that we bear no prejudice and everybody is welcome." True. Everybody is welcome. Jesus' arms are open wide. He calls for repentance. He calls for a renouncing of sin. He calls for authenticity. He calls for a genuine conversion. Not one of pretense or held to man made standards.
I have loved and ministered to homosexual people over the years. I cannot change God's standards. He does not change His views are not base on the prevailing political winds of the day. God has a standard. His word makes it clear. Intelligent people may argue, rationalize around, or persuade people that God has changed His mind. They are wrong.
Truth matters. Truth stands. While pagans shout their mantras and manifestos ,often betraying the same tolerance they preach so tenaciously. They are not tolerant toward Bible believing followers of Jesus. They see us a a threat. The enemy. A group to oppose at all costs.
God stands everlastingly. His word stands. His standards stand. Lady Gaga does not make the rules. She is but a blip on the radar of history. Here today and gone tomorrow. Others came and went before her. Many will come after her. God and Jesus will be the same today, tomorrow and forever. If there is going to be changing it will be this nation changing and calling out to God in repentance.
Hebrews 13:8-9 (NKJV)
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
9 Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them.
I don't care what Lady Gaga says. I don't care what Bruce Jenner does or say. I don't care about the LGBT community shouts. Jesus is the same. His word stands forever. I will side with Him in this pagan age.
Someone leaked that she taught in a Christian school, which she never tried to hide. Leakers made a big deal out of a covenant she signed, like other Christian schools require employees and students to sign. What is the sticking point. The Biblical stand against homosexuality.
This has become such a big deal that self pronounced theological expert Lady Gaga addressed this in a recent concert in Las Vegas, NV. She went on a rant saying that Vice President Pence is, "the worst representative of what it means to be a Christian." I do not know Vice President Pence. I do not know His testimony. I have certainly behave more lovingly and kindly to people than leftists have in recent days.
Just take the March For Life. An angry protestor actually grabbed the genitals of male reporter and thought she was justified in doing so. There has been little media coverage about that. I have actually seen the video footage. Shocking.
Political activist actually confronted some Catholic schoolboys but the media turned the script to make it look the schoolboys confronted a elderly Native American.
I have read multiple reports about high ranking economic and political officials involved in pedophilia. Our country is spinning out of control and celebrities often use their platform to persuade people for their agenda. Yet when Tony Dungee did this with athletes giving them a platform to testify about Jesus he got lambasted. Blatant hypocrisy.
In this land of religious freedom and pagan culture it is increasingly popular that the only freedom of religion is to side against Bible Christianity. The LGBT community shout incessantly against anyone who dares stand or speak out against their sinful lifestyles.
This has become so widespread I have noticed several times in the past several months of openly homosexuality flaunted in commercials. More than one sitcom has to introduce homosexuality into their characters. The LGCT community showers the media with the message that their way of life is an acceptable normal alternative lifestyle. A view becoming more and more popular.
Lady Gaga went on to say, "I am a Christian woman." Stop. I know nothing about her except that she sings. I could not identify one song that she sings. Just saying you are a Christian and actually being one are two different things. Unless a person has repented of sin, turned to Jesus in faith, asked for His forgiveness, believed for His rescue and salvation and been transformed by Him that person is no more a Christian than I am a billionaire. You know true followers of Jesus by their fruit.
True followers of Jesus believe the Bible to be the word of God divinely inspired and authoritative. The Bible clearly speaks out against homosexuality. The LBGT community ignore and reject these things.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (NKJV)
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,
10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
Romans 1:22-32 (NKJV)
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,
25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.
27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers,
30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful;
32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
That does not mean that homosexuals cannot be transformed. God is not going to change His standard though to accommodate pagan beliefs. I know the stories of people God has delivered from homosexuality. They have stated publicly the rampant immorality among homosexuals. They have also heard all the speech for tolerance but once they left the LGBT community and began speaking out against it they were ostracized, criticized and bullied.
God's followers are not to water down the truth no matter how fierce the mounting peer pressure from a pagan society. We are stand for this truth in love. One man told me he would take the hatred and criticism because Jesus was that precious to Him. He is alone except for his church family. Betrayed and abandoned by supposed friends and all because he met Jesus, got saved, transformed and delivered from homosexuality.
Lady Gaga went on to say, "What I do know about Christianity is that we bear no prejudice and everybody is welcome." True. Everybody is welcome. Jesus' arms are open wide. He calls for repentance. He calls for a renouncing of sin. He calls for authenticity. He calls for a genuine conversion. Not one of pretense or held to man made standards.
I have loved and ministered to homosexual people over the years. I cannot change God's standards. He does not change His views are not base on the prevailing political winds of the day. God has a standard. His word makes it clear. Intelligent people may argue, rationalize around, or persuade people that God has changed His mind. They are wrong.
Truth matters. Truth stands. While pagans shout their mantras and manifestos ,often betraying the same tolerance they preach so tenaciously. They are not tolerant toward Bible believing followers of Jesus. They see us a a threat. The enemy. A group to oppose at all costs.
God stands everlastingly. His word stands. His standards stand. Lady Gaga does not make the rules. She is but a blip on the radar of history. Here today and gone tomorrow. Others came and went before her. Many will come after her. God and Jesus will be the same today, tomorrow and forever. If there is going to be changing it will be this nation changing and calling out to God in repentance.
Hebrews 13:8-9 (NKJV)
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
9 Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them.
I don't care what Lady Gaga says. I don't care what Bruce Jenner does or say. I don't care about the LGBT community shouts. Jesus is the same. His word stands forever. I will side with Him in this pagan age.
Savage Abortion Law Signed
Last night while you were enjoying your evening a bill was signed into law in New York. Governor Andrew Cuomo commented after signing the bill into law, "Today we are taking a giant step forward in the hard fought battle to ensure a woman's right to make her own decisions about her own personal health including the ability to access abortion."
It passed in New York by a vote of 38-28. Lawmakers actually applauded and cheered. What law were they cheering? Read this carefully. They voted to remove restrictions on late term abortions even up to the day of birth. In case you missed it they passed into law that a mother can carry a baby to full term and on the day she is giving brith the baby can be legally murdered. This is what some New York lawmakers triumphed and celebrated.
At full term the baby is fully formed. The color of the eyes can be seen as well as the color of the hair. In healthy babies they will have fully developed legs, feet and toes as well as arms, hands and fingers. There are two ears, a mouth and nose. You can even see tiny toenails and fingernails. Yet savages voted that a woman has a right over her own body and medical decisions to take her baby's life.
I boldly state that life begins at conception. Why do I say this?
Psalm 139:13-16 (ESV)
13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
It passed in New York by a vote of 38-28. Lawmakers actually applauded and cheered. What law were they cheering? Read this carefully. They voted to remove restrictions on late term abortions even up to the day of birth. In case you missed it they passed into law that a mother can carry a baby to full term and on the day she is giving brith the baby can be legally murdered. This is what some New York lawmakers triumphed and celebrated.
At full term the baby is fully formed. The color of the eyes can be seen as well as the color of the hair. In healthy babies they will have fully developed legs, feet and toes as well as arms, hands and fingers. There are two ears, a mouth and nose. You can even see tiny toenails and fingernails. Yet savages voted that a woman has a right over her own body and medical decisions to take her baby's life.
I boldly state that life begins at conception. Why do I say this?
Psalm 139:13-16 (ESV)
13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
God created life in the womb. Not a blob of tissue. A person. A unique intelligently designed individual. Someone with purpose. And lawmakers say a mother has the legal right, even on the baby's birthday to terminate the pregnancy. To terminate a life.
This is nothing short of savage. Nothing short of barbaric. Yet the politically elite think their reasoning skills make them above everyone else including God. Over and over again lawmakers and justices rewrite laws to accommodate the sinful and shameful lifestyles of this pagan age.
If in this country people are created equal why are the babies not afforded that same right. In one procedure when babies are murdered in a violent way the babies react in pain. Their tiny bodies jerk in response to pain. Yet experts would have you say this is not a life. What do doctors, mothers, and lawmakers think. If the baby has the ability to feel pain it is clear that baby is a person. A person with rights. The most basic of all rights to live. Worse yet, in these aborted babies body parts are actually harvested and sold. I am not making this up. Research what Planned Parenthood has done for yourself.
Sophisticated so called statesmen and and stateswomen cheer and applaud denying babies this basic right to live. Millions have been denied this right. What were those babies supposed to be? God intelligently designed each one. Perhaps one of the babies would have become a doctor to find a cure for diseases such as Alzheimers, cancer and diabetes. Maybe some were designed to be great leaders, to play beautiful music, to write powerful literature, to educate future generations, to work in law enforcement and to lead our country. Tens of millions of lives snuffed out and brutally murdered because the woman has the right to choose the fate of her baby. The woman has been given the legal right to play God in choosing life or death for her baby.
I am deeply saddened. For a long time I've feared judgment is coming for the United States. When lawmakers cheer and applaud the sanctioning of murder I know God will not be mocked. Payday is coming for this once proud Christian nation. God judged His own covenant people. He sent warmings through the prophets but Israel did not listen. Eventually they were overcome and ceased to exist as a nation. If God will do that to his own rebellious chosen people what do you think He will do us and our refusal to submit to Him in the United States.
I am honestly at a loss for words. It is bad enough to vote this into law. To openly celebrate it with cheers and applaud is like thumbing our noses at God. God is patient. He is merciful. He is also compassionate. Make no mistake about it. GOD IS ALSO JUST. New York and America, read these words and shudder.
Galatians 6:7-8 (ESV)
7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Hollywood Preachers And Wall Street Pastors
Jeremiah 5:30-31 (ESV)
30 An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land:
31 the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?
30 An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land:
31 the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?
Has there ever been a day when preachers tickled the ears of listeners more than today? Happy, feel good, positive, self help messages fill the airwaves and the pages of books. Those messages are popular. It is what the people want to hear. It is what they crave. Preachers are quick to acquiesce.
This same thing happened in Jeremiah's day. Prophets predicted prosperity and peace. God told Jeremiah judgment was coming and repentance was in order. The false prophets were dead wrong. Jeremiah rightly spoke God's truth though in the minority. The false prophets did not care. They were successful. They were popular. It did not matter if they prophesied a false message and neglected true words from God.
They were Hollywood preachers. They acted. They pretended to have words from the Lord. They spoke convincingly and the people wanted to hear their lies. Those lies made them feel good and secure. Hollywood preaches do not care about the eternal well being of the listeners. They are in the ministry for selfish ambition.
Every message in the Bible is not positive. Repentance is as unpopular today as in Jeremiah's day. It is still a message that is needed.
It is appalling when preachers prefer popularity with men over popularity with God. A dreadfully shameful thing. Preachers are supposed to be called by God. They are called to be His messengers. It is horrible when they neglect to deliver God's whole truth. It is stunning.
It equally appalling when listeners prefer the sham of deceit and false preaching than the sincere unwatered down truth. Bible preachers seem in shorter supply today. Old fashioned gospel preachers may find it hard to get a church these days.
You could travel to many churches and hear the same type messages. You can even hear false messages. Lying deceitful preachers padding their own pockets pretending and acting their way to the bank. This is not a new thing. Back in the reformation age when the Catholic Church and the Pope ruled the religious landscape the priests often taught lies in order to boost offerings. They spoke whatever sold. Brave reformers like Jon Huss and Martin Luther thundered against such priests.
How many preachers still have the guts to preach the truth. How many ministers are guided by Wall Street practices and not Bible principles and the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Churches are run like a Fortune 500 Company with marketing strategies, leadership flow charts, mission statements, strategies to raise capital and boost attendance. They rule by their own wisdom and celebrate more money in the plates and people in the seats. They govern according to the wisdom of men and not the counsel of God. These Wall Street practices may look practical and prosperous but what about the end?
What about the end? By the end I mean the death of preachers and prophets. The death of each person in the congregation. The end when the day of reckoning comes. On that day it will not matter how big the offerings or the crowds were. It will only matter if people are rightly related to God.
If Hollywood preaches and Wall Street Pastors have not walked and lived in truth it will be a horrible day in judgment. If such have falsely misled the flock they will have to give an account for it. If people were lured into security and not warned about the eternal consequences of a life without a saving relationship with Jesus there will be much to answer for. MUCH! [James 3:1]
Stories I hear horrify me. Church members living together outside wedlock. Extra marital affairs happening among church leadership. Rampant alcohol use among members both young and old. And so little preaching on sin and repentance.
Jeremiah cared for the people of his day. He also cared about obeying God. Therefore he preached an unpopular message. He preached even though nobody listened, nobody repented, no one believed him. He kept hammering the message of repentance. His heart broke and often Jeremiah broke down in tears. He is known as the weeping prophet. He saw the end.
The eternal end for a nation. The end for the false prophets and priests. The end for individuals. the end for an entire nation. He kept praying. He kept preaching. He kept warning. Nobody listened. The people loved hearing the false message. They embraced it. They cherished the lie over the truth. Is it any different in many religious circles today?
America is in the same predicament as Israel. We have turned away from God and played the harlot in idolatry. We have thumbed our noses at God and defiantly proclaimed we will do what we want without fear of the consequences. In the end there will be a day of accounting. God will settle accounts then. Let our nation awake and repent before then. If not there is only doom for people. Eternal doom. A stunning horrible and appalling reality. Wake up America and listen to truth. Search for it. Yearn for it. While there is still time.
This Is Not The America I Grew Up In
This is not the America I grew up in. This is not the country that made my heart swell with pride when I heard the national anthem and saw the stars and stripes raised as a child. This is not the country where I could roam my neighborhood on my steel steed with two wheels and pedals. I played all over Englewood Terrace as early as a second grader. My mother never knew where I was or what I doing as long as I stayed in the neighborhood.
We played in the woods and built forts. We took old broom and hoe handles and tied a string around them to make stick horses. We played simple games like King Of The Mountain as we defended our position on a pile of dirt. We played cops and robbers on our bicycles. We played football in the yard and baseball on an old baseball field near our homes. We lamented more than one baseball game when someone hit a homer and we lost our ball and therefore had to go home.
We played until dark. We wanted to be outside. Dark meant when the streetlight came on. I stayed outside every second I could as a child skating, skateboarding, bicycling, playing football and baseball until dark forced me to come inside. Even then sometimes I hesitated even after the street light came on until I heard my mother calling my name.
I walked or rode a bike to school. I angered more than one crossing guard by cutting across busy roads without their help so I could get to school or get home earlier. It gave me a sense of independence. Once I lived so far from school I had to ride a bus. The bus rider let me be the one to open and shut the door for other students. A job I took special pride in.
I recall special teachers like Mrs. Brumble, Mrs. McKinney, Mrs Pierre and Mrs. Anderson who all invested into my young impressible life. I credit Mrs. Pierre and Mrs. McKinney for nurturing my love for writing at an early age. A passion I still carry to this day.
This is a far different world than I grew up in. Cartoons that once were bright with color have now become dark and sadistic. Once honorable professions like doctors, lawyers, pastors and politicians have been tainted with greed, immorality, corruption and deceit. Children are no longer safe to roam the neighborhoods on bicycles because pedophiles look for opportunities to abduct unsuspecting little innocent lives. This is not the America I grew up in.
I grew up in an era where blacks, browns and whites got along. My best friend in fourth grade was black and I spent time in his home. Black football teammates spent time in my home. We did not see color of skin. We just saw our fiends. We never considered black lives mattered. All lives mattered to us. We all knew that children's song, "Red, yellow, black and white they are all precious in His sight. Yes Jesus loves the little children of the world." This is not the America I grew up in.
I grew up with heroes. Roger Stauback. Earl Campbell. Randy White. Robert Newhouse. Tony Dorsett. Julius Irving. Catfish Hunter. Reggie Jackson. O.J. Simpson. As an adult I stayed mesmerized to the television when news broke that O.J. Simpson got charged with murder. Even as an adult I wanted to defend my hero. Disillusioned I learned sordid details about his life that no longer looked heroic. I have seen that same thing repeated over and over again in others. Sex. Drugs. Illegal financial schemes. Many have fallen including pastors. This is not the America I grew up in.
I remember the absolute thrill when my grandmother took me to the Kurth Memorial library to get my first library card. I fell in love with reading at an early age and tried to instill that in my boys. To this day I have a library card for our local library. Sometimes I go there to read, study and write in a quiet place. Now in some cities transvestites are given access to children through reading programs in public libraries to introduce the homosexual lifestyle. Parents willingly bring their children to such programs so their kids will grow up with an open mind. Coming out the closet is celebrated as brave. This is not the America I grew up in.
Even in the pagan house I grew up in we had multiple copies of the Bible laying around. Several times I picked one up and began reading in Genesis. Nobody told me the Bible was a special book inspired by God inerrant and infallible as a child. I just knew and believed the Bible was special. I still do. Not a view held by the majority. Not a view held by many church people even. This is not the America I grew up in.
I grew up in a family of patriots. We were taught as children to stand for the Pledge Of Allegiance and National Anthem. We took our hats off and put our hands over our hearts. Now people kneel and sit in protest. They draw attention to themselves while totally disrespecting all those who gave their lives to fight for the freedom that even gives people that right to protest. This is not the America I grew up in.
One of the thrills I enjoyed as a child was getting to go to the picture show. We loved movies, popcorn and a soda. As a father I found I had to be more selective about what movies to take my young children to view that did not go against everything we valued as followers of Jesus. Even to this day I have walked out of more than one movie because of foul language. We check before we go now even though my boys are grown. This is not the America I grew up in.
I remember trusting our government as a child. I DO NOT TRUST POLITICIANS NOW. Neither do I trust the news media. They do not have our best interests at heart. Both lie and manipulate. Both deceive and hide the truth. Both spin stories with their own agenda. This is not the America I grew up in.
I am saddened as a middle aged adult. I am saddened when I see preschoolers heads buried in a handheld video game or cell phone. I am bothered that little boys and girls cannot play sports around the neighborhood for the love of the game. Now we have specialized select leagues where even the youngest children have all the accessories of big leaguers. We used to play in our sneakers and ride our bikes with our glove wedged through the handle of our bats. Kids are growing up more spoiled and entitled than my generation did. We were more spoiled and entitled than the generation before us. This is not the America I grew up in.
If we wanted something we worked to save for it. We raked leaves, mowed yards and ran paper routes. Today parents give kids all they want. Many students know nothing of a work ethic. Nor do many students have any respect for authority. This is not the America I grew up in.
Is it too late? Is it all over for America? Has the United States passed the tipping point of God's judgment? I pray not. God is the only hope for this country and the world.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV)
14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
We played in the woods and built forts. We took old broom and hoe handles and tied a string around them to make stick horses. We played simple games like King Of The Mountain as we defended our position on a pile of dirt. We played cops and robbers on our bicycles. We played football in the yard and baseball on an old baseball field near our homes. We lamented more than one baseball game when someone hit a homer and we lost our ball and therefore had to go home.
We played until dark. We wanted to be outside. Dark meant when the streetlight came on. I stayed outside every second I could as a child skating, skateboarding, bicycling, playing football and baseball until dark forced me to come inside. Even then sometimes I hesitated even after the street light came on until I heard my mother calling my name.
I walked or rode a bike to school. I angered more than one crossing guard by cutting across busy roads without their help so I could get to school or get home earlier. It gave me a sense of independence. Once I lived so far from school I had to ride a bus. The bus rider let me be the one to open and shut the door for other students. A job I took special pride in.
I recall special teachers like Mrs. Brumble, Mrs. McKinney, Mrs Pierre and Mrs. Anderson who all invested into my young impressible life. I credit Mrs. Pierre and Mrs. McKinney for nurturing my love for writing at an early age. A passion I still carry to this day.
This is a far different world than I grew up in. Cartoons that once were bright with color have now become dark and sadistic. Once honorable professions like doctors, lawyers, pastors and politicians have been tainted with greed, immorality, corruption and deceit. Children are no longer safe to roam the neighborhoods on bicycles because pedophiles look for opportunities to abduct unsuspecting little innocent lives. This is not the America I grew up in.
I grew up in an era where blacks, browns and whites got along. My best friend in fourth grade was black and I spent time in his home. Black football teammates spent time in my home. We did not see color of skin. We just saw our fiends. We never considered black lives mattered. All lives mattered to us. We all knew that children's song, "Red, yellow, black and white they are all precious in His sight. Yes Jesus loves the little children of the world." This is not the America I grew up in.
I grew up with heroes. Roger Stauback. Earl Campbell. Randy White. Robert Newhouse. Tony Dorsett. Julius Irving. Catfish Hunter. Reggie Jackson. O.J. Simpson. As an adult I stayed mesmerized to the television when news broke that O.J. Simpson got charged with murder. Even as an adult I wanted to defend my hero. Disillusioned I learned sordid details about his life that no longer looked heroic. I have seen that same thing repeated over and over again in others. Sex. Drugs. Illegal financial schemes. Many have fallen including pastors. This is not the America I grew up in.
I remember the absolute thrill when my grandmother took me to the Kurth Memorial library to get my first library card. I fell in love with reading at an early age and tried to instill that in my boys. To this day I have a library card for our local library. Sometimes I go there to read, study and write in a quiet place. Now in some cities transvestites are given access to children through reading programs in public libraries to introduce the homosexual lifestyle. Parents willingly bring their children to such programs so their kids will grow up with an open mind. Coming out the closet is celebrated as brave. This is not the America I grew up in.
Even in the pagan house I grew up in we had multiple copies of the Bible laying around. Several times I picked one up and began reading in Genesis. Nobody told me the Bible was a special book inspired by God inerrant and infallible as a child. I just knew and believed the Bible was special. I still do. Not a view held by the majority. Not a view held by many church people even. This is not the America I grew up in.
I grew up in a family of patriots. We were taught as children to stand for the Pledge Of Allegiance and National Anthem. We took our hats off and put our hands over our hearts. Now people kneel and sit in protest. They draw attention to themselves while totally disrespecting all those who gave their lives to fight for the freedom that even gives people that right to protest. This is not the America I grew up in.
One of the thrills I enjoyed as a child was getting to go to the picture show. We loved movies, popcorn and a soda. As a father I found I had to be more selective about what movies to take my young children to view that did not go against everything we valued as followers of Jesus. Even to this day I have walked out of more than one movie because of foul language. We check before we go now even though my boys are grown. This is not the America I grew up in.
I remember trusting our government as a child. I DO NOT TRUST POLITICIANS NOW. Neither do I trust the news media. They do not have our best interests at heart. Both lie and manipulate. Both deceive and hide the truth. Both spin stories with their own agenda. This is not the America I grew up in.
I am saddened as a middle aged adult. I am saddened when I see preschoolers heads buried in a handheld video game or cell phone. I am bothered that little boys and girls cannot play sports around the neighborhood for the love of the game. Now we have specialized select leagues where even the youngest children have all the accessories of big leaguers. We used to play in our sneakers and ride our bikes with our glove wedged through the handle of our bats. Kids are growing up more spoiled and entitled than my generation did. We were more spoiled and entitled than the generation before us. This is not the America I grew up in.
If we wanted something we worked to save for it. We raked leaves, mowed yards and ran paper routes. Today parents give kids all they want. Many students know nothing of a work ethic. Nor do many students have any respect for authority. This is not the America I grew up in.
Is it too late? Is it all over for America? Has the United States passed the tipping point of God's judgment? I pray not. God is the only hope for this country and the world.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV)
14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
I Knew You
Jeremiah 1:4-5 (ESV)
4 Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
This is an incredible passage. Before Jeremiah was even conceived in the womb God knew Him. What does that mean? It means that even before conception Yahweh had knowledge of Jeremiah. How could God know someone before they were even conceived? He had Jeremiah in His mind. The word know also means to to be acquainted, to recognized and to consider.
We know people by facial recognition. We see familiar faces in the crowd. Even technology can recognize people by their faces or voices. Not before we were born. This is a mind blowing truth. Just as God knew Jeremiah before conception He also knew us too. He became acquainted with our personalities, passions, what we would look like and considered the days of our lives.
Before God formed us He knew us. Before God actually fashioned, purposed, determined who we wold be He shaped and designed us like a potter molding clay with intention. We were not haphazardly thrown together. We had and have an intelligent Designer.
God consecrated Jeremiah before he ever drew his first breath. That means God sanctified, dedicated and appointed Jeremiah with a purpose and plan. God set aside Jeremiah to serve as a prophet and this plan existed before Jeremiah ever saw the light of day on planet earth. The same is true for you. You may not believe that. Let me point you to two other scriptures to back this up.
Psalm 139:14-16 (ESV)
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
4 Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
This is an incredible passage. Before Jeremiah was even conceived in the womb God knew Him. What does that mean? It means that even before conception Yahweh had knowledge of Jeremiah. How could God know someone before they were even conceived? He had Jeremiah in His mind. The word know also means to to be acquainted, to recognized and to consider.
We know people by facial recognition. We see familiar faces in the crowd. Even technology can recognize people by their faces or voices. Not before we were born. This is a mind blowing truth. Just as God knew Jeremiah before conception He also knew us too. He became acquainted with our personalities, passions, what we would look like and considered the days of our lives.
Before God formed us He knew us. Before God actually fashioned, purposed, determined who we wold be He shaped and designed us like a potter molding clay with intention. We were not haphazardly thrown together. We had and have an intelligent Designer.
God consecrated Jeremiah before he ever drew his first breath. That means God sanctified, dedicated and appointed Jeremiah with a purpose and plan. God set aside Jeremiah to serve as a prophet and this plan existed before Jeremiah ever saw the light of day on planet earth. The same is true for you. You may not believe that. Let me point you to two other scriptures to back this up.
Psalm 139:14-16 (ESV)
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
I am thinking about my good friend Eric. Before God fashioned him in the womb God set him aside to make music. It took him awhile to clue into this but if you have ever heard him play guitar and lead worship it is obvious that is what God created him to do. He takes that old Taylor guitar and plays it like a battle axe against the forces of darkness. He can make sounds come out of that instrument that makes even the dead churches come to life. God has gifted him to reach children, teenagers and adults of all ages with music. I have seen it repeatedly. Playing that guitar is what God designed him to do and those who have experienced it are blessed because of that calling and gift.ing. I often sit back in awe when I watch fulfill His purpose and calling.
I am thinking about my friend Jason. God designed him to be a creative worship pastor. God gave him unique abilities and talents to lead people into meaningful encounters with God. He has so many talents that all blow my mind. He knows more about computers, orchestrations, carpentry, audio, video , music and graphic design than I can fathom. He is so creative he plays multiple instruments. I saw him once take an old guitar turned upside down and he played the back of it like a drum at a youth camp. Those students loved it. I sat back amazed at my friend. God purposed Him to lead worship creatively.
I am thinking of my friend Jess. He just retired from a 23 year pastorate and pastored several churches before that. God designed him to be a theologian, pastor and preacher. He had a library of thousands upon thousands of theology books. Upon his retirement he gave many of them away to me. He is as solid a Bible expositor as I know even though he did not finish Bible school. He is in his seventies and still has a lot of fire in his soul. I suspect God will use him to keep preaching as an interim pastor or even as a pastor in the coming days. God created Him with purpose.
I could go on with a long list of people I see God's intelligent design for. What about you? Do you believe God not only knew you before you were conceived but also intelligently designed you with purpose? It is true. Like one little boy said to his Sunday school teacher, "God don't make no junk."
You are not junk. You are purposed. God determined your life. Maybe you missed your calling somewhere along the way. Maybe you strayed off course. God allows u-turns.
Don't doubt or waste the calling and gifts of God on your life. Whether you are 15, 25, 45 or 75. You were created with purpose just like Jeremiah. Live out your calling, your passion, your talents and your purpose for the glory of God.
Sunday, January 20, 2019
Ministry Marriage
God created people to relate to one another. In our culture that takes the shape in families, friendships, classmates, teammates, co-workers, neighbors and so forth. Each relationship unique. Some closer than others. Some we treasurer more than others.
There is a special bond when a man and woman meet, get to know one another over time, seek the will of God about their possible union and eventually wed. Just yesterday Brenda asked me about what was my favorite memory. I told her there were two many, but after further thought two seem to rise above the rest. The day Jesus saved me back in October of 1983 and the day Brenda and I wed June 29, 1991. Brenda is my best friend. We still laugh together. We still love hanging out together. We know one another better today than ever. We allow each other the freedom to be who God created us to be.
There is another special bond that takes place when a pastor's heart is wed to a flock. There are thousands of pastors who do their job for wrong reasons. They do it for the money, to use their current position as a rung to climb up on the ladder of success, or for the power and prestige.
There are some pastors who enjoy a special bond with their flock. A reciprocal love is shared between the pastor and the congregation. A mutual respect is shared. Words like sacrifice, honor, and appreciation form the backbone of this union. When God brings a connection between a body of believers and a pastor it can create a ministry marriage.
The bond is so special it has to be born of God and supernatural. I have known some pastors who hated their churches. They begrudged the very sheep they were supposed to oversee. I have angered over pastors who manipulated and fleeced people for financial gain.
I have also admired and respected shepherds who served their flocks with love, patience, perseverance and prayer. I have a list of names of pastors from days gone by who enjoyed a supernatural ministry marriage between themselves and their congregations. As a new believer I was privileged to enjoy such a relationship with my pastor who served my home church for 34 years. He loved and still loves me. He prayed and still prays for me. He helped me. He counseled me and still does. Just yesterday he sent me a text to encourage me and tell me he still thinks about me. What a blessing.
Brenda and I have been privileged to serve more than one group of believers. We have enjoyed this blessed union born of God. We hold those people in our hearts. Too many to name. Some going back decades. Others we have known more recently.
Paul had a pastor's heart. Read what he wrote to the church at Philippi.
Philippians 1:3-8 (ESV)
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,
4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy,
5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
Does that sound like the words of a duty bound, begrudging professional preacher? It sounds more to me like a pastor in love with his flock and yet unable to be with them because Paul wrote this from prison. He yearned to be with them. He longed for them. Paul loved and appreciated the people of the many churches he started and served. So do Brenda and I. We thank God for the blessing of ministry marriages.
There is a special bond when a man and woman meet, get to know one another over time, seek the will of God about their possible union and eventually wed. Just yesterday Brenda asked me about what was my favorite memory. I told her there were two many, but after further thought two seem to rise above the rest. The day Jesus saved me back in October of 1983 and the day Brenda and I wed June 29, 1991. Brenda is my best friend. We still laugh together. We still love hanging out together. We know one another better today than ever. We allow each other the freedom to be who God created us to be.
There is another special bond that takes place when a pastor's heart is wed to a flock. There are thousands of pastors who do their job for wrong reasons. They do it for the money, to use their current position as a rung to climb up on the ladder of success, or for the power and prestige.
There are some pastors who enjoy a special bond with their flock. A reciprocal love is shared between the pastor and the congregation. A mutual respect is shared. Words like sacrifice, honor, and appreciation form the backbone of this union. When God brings a connection between a body of believers and a pastor it can create a ministry marriage.
The bond is so special it has to be born of God and supernatural. I have known some pastors who hated their churches. They begrudged the very sheep they were supposed to oversee. I have angered over pastors who manipulated and fleeced people for financial gain.
I have also admired and respected shepherds who served their flocks with love, patience, perseverance and prayer. I have a list of names of pastors from days gone by who enjoyed a supernatural ministry marriage between themselves and their congregations. As a new believer I was privileged to enjoy such a relationship with my pastor who served my home church for 34 years. He loved and still loves me. He prayed and still prays for me. He helped me. He counseled me and still does. Just yesterday he sent me a text to encourage me and tell me he still thinks about me. What a blessing.
Brenda and I have been privileged to serve more than one group of believers. We have enjoyed this blessed union born of God. We hold those people in our hearts. Too many to name. Some going back decades. Others we have known more recently.
Paul had a pastor's heart. Read what he wrote to the church at Philippi.
Philippians 1:3-8 (ESV)
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,
4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy,
5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
Does that sound like the words of a duty bound, begrudging professional preacher? It sounds more to me like a pastor in love with his flock and yet unable to be with them because Paul wrote this from prison. He yearned to be with them. He longed for them. Paul loved and appreciated the people of the many churches he started and served. So do Brenda and I. We thank God for the blessing of ministry marriages.
It Still Stands and Always Will
We traveled to one of my favorite places yesterday, a bookstore. I contented myself going up and down the aisles perusing volume after volume while Brenda shopped in other sections. I quickly bypassed the best selling section. Noting there interested me. I looked for hidden treasures. Those titles most discard. I searched shelf after shelf.
Eventually I came to a bargain area. Prices of books in this area were slashed drastically. I saw books from best selling authors selling for $10, $5, and some even as low as $3. Even hardback books. Some of you know exactly where I shopped.
It dawned on me how a book can be popular for a season and then forgotten. What might have been a best seller in previous years can end up on the clearance aisle to sell cheaply. Books and authors come and go.
Eventually I made my way to the biography section. At first I searched in vain. I looked for the old preachers. These are not the best sellers. The shelves were lined with celebrities biographies which held no interest for me. I longed for old biographies of the giants of the past. The ones most have never heard of. Sadly I saw nothing of them, a sad commentary of our contemporary times.
Then I noticed one book. A collection of biographical sketches of preachers, evangelists and missionaries. My spirits lifted. I spotted a companion volume next to it. It just so happens I am reading another book in that set by the same author currently. I made my selections and rejoiced to find they were on sale. Two treasures to add to my library.
That is not what drives this post today. I have thought about those bargain books repeatedly. Those once popular authors ad books that no longer have any value. Just like with a lot of today's contemporary Christian music, most authors and books will not stand the test of time. They will be quickly forgotten.
NOT THE BIBLE. No book has been more scrutinized or criticized. No book has been more hated. No book has been more judged, feared and considered a threat. And yet, the word of God still stands. I saw an entire wall devoted to nothing but different translations of the Bible. Year after year the Bible is still a best seller. In fact, it is the best selling book of all time.
God authored the Bible inspiring instruments of His choosing to write God breathed sacred scripture. It is the text I just finished reading this morning. It is the text I will preach from later this morning. In my devotional reading this morning you know what truth lodged most deeply in my heart?
Isaiah 40:8 (ESV)
8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
Other things are temporary on this earth. The word of God is everlasting. It will stand forever. It will remain, endure and continue long after I am dead and gone. It endured long before I was born. There will never be a time when the word of God will not stand. There may come a day when it is outlawed world wide. There may come a day when it is hard to find. GOD WILL PRESERVE HIS WORD. It will stand forever.
There is no other book I treasure more, have studied more intently or have read more often than my Bible. I should say Bibles. I have worn out more than one copy. I still love and long for it. Praise God His word still stands in this pagan culture and always will.
Eventually I came to a bargain area. Prices of books in this area were slashed drastically. I saw books from best selling authors selling for $10, $5, and some even as low as $3. Even hardback books. Some of you know exactly where I shopped.
It dawned on me how a book can be popular for a season and then forgotten. What might have been a best seller in previous years can end up on the clearance aisle to sell cheaply. Books and authors come and go.
Eventually I made my way to the biography section. At first I searched in vain. I looked for the old preachers. These are not the best sellers. The shelves were lined with celebrities biographies which held no interest for me. I longed for old biographies of the giants of the past. The ones most have never heard of. Sadly I saw nothing of them, a sad commentary of our contemporary times.
Then I noticed one book. A collection of biographical sketches of preachers, evangelists and missionaries. My spirits lifted. I spotted a companion volume next to it. It just so happens I am reading another book in that set by the same author currently. I made my selections and rejoiced to find they were on sale. Two treasures to add to my library.
That is not what drives this post today. I have thought about those bargain books repeatedly. Those once popular authors ad books that no longer have any value. Just like with a lot of today's contemporary Christian music, most authors and books will not stand the test of time. They will be quickly forgotten.
NOT THE BIBLE. No book has been more scrutinized or criticized. No book has been more hated. No book has been more judged, feared and considered a threat. And yet, the word of God still stands. I saw an entire wall devoted to nothing but different translations of the Bible. Year after year the Bible is still a best seller. In fact, it is the best selling book of all time.
God authored the Bible inspiring instruments of His choosing to write God breathed sacred scripture. It is the text I just finished reading this morning. It is the text I will preach from later this morning. In my devotional reading this morning you know what truth lodged most deeply in my heart?
Isaiah 40:8 (ESV)
8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
Other things are temporary on this earth. The word of God is everlasting. It will stand forever. It will remain, endure and continue long after I am dead and gone. It endured long before I was born. There will never be a time when the word of God will not stand. There may come a day when it is outlawed world wide. There may come a day when it is hard to find. GOD WILL PRESERVE HIS WORD. It will stand forever.
There is no other book I treasure more, have studied more intently or have read more often than my Bible. I should say Bibles. I have worn out more than one copy. I still love and long for it. Praise God His word still stands in this pagan culture and always will.
Friday, January 18, 2019
Faking It
Many times I have heard people say, "You have to fake until you make it." That is no more true than in the church. People are good at faking it. We hide our true selves. Like boxing champion Muhammad Ali used to do the shuffle to get away from his opponent so do church people not to let people get too close.
Small group gatherings are often a sham filled with pretense rather than authenticity. The same predictable lessons are taught with the same answers given. Few if any ever venture out to reveal their inner struggles and feelings. It's easier and safer to fake it. To pretend everything is ok. To act like you have everything together.
I have been in ministry long enough to know this. We all struggle from time to time. We struggle emotionally. We struggle with temptation and sin. We struggle with sorrows. We struggle under heavy burdens. And most people do this alone. The church should be invited to the Oscars because people have learned how to act with the best of them.
A typical conversation starts with the question, "How are you?" The typical answer is, "Fine. Good." As I have aged many times when I sense people are NOT being honest I respond with something like, "How are you really? I'm not buying it. I don't believe you." Most of the time when I press a little harder the truth comes out. Burdens are unloaded. Pain is shared.
I know how to fake it too. On occasion someone has asked me how I was doing and I told the honest truth. Many times I never hear d from those people again. They seemed to avoid me. For example, someone texted me asking how I was some months ago. I asked if they really wanted to know. I replied with the truth. I have not heard from that person since. Another individual recently texted me the same question. I immediately thought about the previous text and replied differently. I texted back, "I have learned over the years people really do not want an honest answer to that question." This person assured me they did and wanted to schedule breakfast together to talk about it. That was months ago and still no breakfast with that individual.
Many people really do not want to know the truth about one another. We prefer to fake it. We prefer the little dance of inauthenticity. It is easier. It is safer. It is what everyone else is doing.
Many years ago I got invited to preach a youth retreat. I had to ride back with another man in his car just the two of us. We made small talk at first and then the man asked me a startling question about secret sins in my life. He went on to confess secret sin to me. We did not even know each other. It made me very uncomfortable. Awkward. But the man courageously refused to fake it.
Revealing the truth about ourselves makes us vulnerable. WE HATE THAT. I certainly do. On occasion I have confessed sin to my wife, best friends and even publicly when preaching. I hate that vulnerable feeling when you stand before someone with the truth exposed. We prefer the lies in the shadows.
So with all of that said, I ask you this morning, "How are you really doing?" It is safe. I am on the other side of this screen and cannot see you. I don't even know your identity if you read this. Will you continue the dance of faking it? Do you have anyone you can be honest with as you reveal the truth? Sometimes the truth is not pretty. Sometimes it is painful, tragic, ugly and hard to hear.
God did not create us to walk through this journey alone. We all need others along the way to love us, to lean on from time to time, to pray for us, to counsel us and sometimes just to listen. Do you have such a person or such people? Or do you fake it with most everyone?
As long as the church chooses the path of faking and inauthenticity the church will largely be ineffective. Something about many religious gatherings feels programmed, insincere, filled with pretense and ineffective. Can you imagine a small group gathering when someone really opened up and vomited out the truth from inside their souls. I used the word vomit because of the image that produces. People do not want the mess of someone spilling their guts. They do not care to get involved. I have seen people do this. Yes, it was messy. It was also beautiful. Liberating. Uplifting when the body of believers gathered around such people to lift them in prayer. Healing.
I have also seen this in a public worship gathering. I remember a youth camp I preached when students began to stand and openly confess sin. It was not coerced. Confessing sin was not even the topic of the message that night.
It all started with one brave girl. She stood up in tears and through sobs blubbered out, "I lost my virginity homecoming night." It felt like the air sucked out of the room. It got real quickly. I watched and waited to see what would happen. In one of the most beautiful ministry experiences I have ever seen I witnessed a youth pastor's wife and several high school girls gather around that girl to pray for her and love her. No condemnation. Just love and grace.
It prompted one of the most authentic moves of God I have ever seen. For the next hour and a half students and adults voluntarily stood to confess sins. They were all loved and prayed for by others. All of us in leadership just stared at one another in disbelief and we had the sense to stay out of God's way. When the service finally ended we were all exhausted. It takes energy and courage to enter into another's pain. It takes courage to refuse to fake it.
Psalm 51:6 (NKJV)
6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
Small group gatherings are often a sham filled with pretense rather than authenticity. The same predictable lessons are taught with the same answers given. Few if any ever venture out to reveal their inner struggles and feelings. It's easier and safer to fake it. To pretend everything is ok. To act like you have everything together.
I have been in ministry long enough to know this. We all struggle from time to time. We struggle emotionally. We struggle with temptation and sin. We struggle with sorrows. We struggle under heavy burdens. And most people do this alone. The church should be invited to the Oscars because people have learned how to act with the best of them.
A typical conversation starts with the question, "How are you?" The typical answer is, "Fine. Good." As I have aged many times when I sense people are NOT being honest I respond with something like, "How are you really? I'm not buying it. I don't believe you." Most of the time when I press a little harder the truth comes out. Burdens are unloaded. Pain is shared.
I know how to fake it too. On occasion someone has asked me how I was doing and I told the honest truth. Many times I never hear d from those people again. They seemed to avoid me. For example, someone texted me asking how I was some months ago. I asked if they really wanted to know. I replied with the truth. I have not heard from that person since. Another individual recently texted me the same question. I immediately thought about the previous text and replied differently. I texted back, "I have learned over the years people really do not want an honest answer to that question." This person assured me they did and wanted to schedule breakfast together to talk about it. That was months ago and still no breakfast with that individual.
Many people really do not want to know the truth about one another. We prefer to fake it. We prefer the little dance of inauthenticity. It is easier. It is safer. It is what everyone else is doing.
Many years ago I got invited to preach a youth retreat. I had to ride back with another man in his car just the two of us. We made small talk at first and then the man asked me a startling question about secret sins in my life. He went on to confess secret sin to me. We did not even know each other. It made me very uncomfortable. Awkward. But the man courageously refused to fake it.
Revealing the truth about ourselves makes us vulnerable. WE HATE THAT. I certainly do. On occasion I have confessed sin to my wife, best friends and even publicly when preaching. I hate that vulnerable feeling when you stand before someone with the truth exposed. We prefer the lies in the shadows.
So with all of that said, I ask you this morning, "How are you really doing?" It is safe. I am on the other side of this screen and cannot see you. I don't even know your identity if you read this. Will you continue the dance of faking it? Do you have anyone you can be honest with as you reveal the truth? Sometimes the truth is not pretty. Sometimes it is painful, tragic, ugly and hard to hear.
God did not create us to walk through this journey alone. We all need others along the way to love us, to lean on from time to time, to pray for us, to counsel us and sometimes just to listen. Do you have such a person or such people? Or do you fake it with most everyone?
As long as the church chooses the path of faking and inauthenticity the church will largely be ineffective. Something about many religious gatherings feels programmed, insincere, filled with pretense and ineffective. Can you imagine a small group gathering when someone really opened up and vomited out the truth from inside their souls. I used the word vomit because of the image that produces. People do not want the mess of someone spilling their guts. They do not care to get involved. I have seen people do this. Yes, it was messy. It was also beautiful. Liberating. Uplifting when the body of believers gathered around such people to lift them in prayer. Healing.
I have also seen this in a public worship gathering. I remember a youth camp I preached when students began to stand and openly confess sin. It was not coerced. Confessing sin was not even the topic of the message that night.
It all started with one brave girl. She stood up in tears and through sobs blubbered out, "I lost my virginity homecoming night." It felt like the air sucked out of the room. It got real quickly. I watched and waited to see what would happen. In one of the most beautiful ministry experiences I have ever seen I witnessed a youth pastor's wife and several high school girls gather around that girl to pray for her and love her. No condemnation. Just love and grace.
It prompted one of the most authentic moves of God I have ever seen. For the next hour and a half students and adults voluntarily stood to confess sins. They were all loved and prayed for by others. All of us in leadership just stared at one another in disbelief and we had the sense to stay out of God's way. When the service finally ended we were all exhausted. It takes energy and courage to enter into another's pain. It takes courage to refuse to fake it.
Psalm 51:6 (NKJV)
6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
199
In the spring of 2000 a bunch of NFL hopefuls waited for the draft to see if their childhood dreams would come true. Some were sure bets. They had all the intangibles; strength, speed, agility, quickness and mental aptitude. Other hopefuls were long shots at best. Not as strong, fast, agile, or quick. They worked tirelessly just to get a shot.
Finally the draft began. One by one players were contacted by their respective new teams. While some thrilled at the realization of their dreams come true other's hopes sank with each passing selection and with each passing round. Hopes faded quickly as the second, third, fourth and fifth rounds ended.
Finally at pick 199 a phone rang and a NFL hopeful got the good news he had long awaited for. As one of the last picks of the draft his prospects of actually making the NFL roster seemed a long shot at best. On top of that the team already had three veterans playing his position.
Have you ever felt passed over? Have you ever been told you were not good enough?
That is exactly how the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL draft felt. What most could not see in this kid was the competitive fire and work ethic in him. Somehow he made the team. Predictably he barely saw the field his rookie season. Still this kid worked hard. His dream was not just to make it to the NFL. He wanted to play and excel.
Some of you may already know who this player is. Some are on the edge of your seats to discover the mystery of identity of 199. TOM BRADY.
Six other quarterbacks were selected in that 2000 draft ahead of Brady. That mens six other teams passed on Brady. Of those six quarterbacks combined they started a total of 191 games. Brady alone has started 251 and that just counts the regular seasons starts and not the post season.
Those other six quarterbacks threw a combined total of 246 touchdown passes. Brady alone has thrown 488 and still counting. None of those six are still playing. Brady is still going strong about to play for another chance to go to the Super Bowl again.
All those other teams passed on Brady in that 2000 NFL draft. Let's not be too quick to judge. Brady ran a 5.28 forty yard time. Some 300 pond linemen ran faster times. If you saw his picture taken at the draft stripped down to his underwear he looked skinny and anything but athletic. He ran so slow that since 2000 only three quarterbacks have run slower times out of 308 other guys.
In the sixth round with the 199th pick the Patriots could not pass up Brady again. They did not need a quarterback but they liked Brady's mental make up. The same mental make up that has fueled Brady to multiple AFC Championships and Super Bowl Titles.
What's the point? You may have been passed over. You may have heard repeatedly that you are not good enough, qualified enough, expert enough, educated enough, or a host of other measuring sticks. Nobody can measure the heart.
David got passed over by his own father when Samuel came at God's direction looking for Israel's second king. I guess the ruddy shepherd boy did not look or act like king material. He is the very one God chose. Read it for yourself.
1 Samuel 16:1-13 (NKJV)
1 Now the LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons."
2 And Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me." And the LORD said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.'
3 Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you."
4 So Samuel did what the LORD said, and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, "Do you come peaceably?"
5 And he said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice." Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice.
6 So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, "Surely the LORD'S anointed is before Him."
7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
8 So Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one."
9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one."
10 Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen these."
11 And Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all the young men here?" Then he said, "There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here."
12 So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!"
13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.
Finally the draft began. One by one players were contacted by their respective new teams. While some thrilled at the realization of their dreams come true other's hopes sank with each passing selection and with each passing round. Hopes faded quickly as the second, third, fourth and fifth rounds ended.
Finally at pick 199 a phone rang and a NFL hopeful got the good news he had long awaited for. As one of the last picks of the draft his prospects of actually making the NFL roster seemed a long shot at best. On top of that the team already had three veterans playing his position.
Have you ever felt passed over? Have you ever been told you were not good enough?
That is exactly how the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL draft felt. What most could not see in this kid was the competitive fire and work ethic in him. Somehow he made the team. Predictably he barely saw the field his rookie season. Still this kid worked hard. His dream was not just to make it to the NFL. He wanted to play and excel.
Some of you may already know who this player is. Some are on the edge of your seats to discover the mystery of identity of 199. TOM BRADY.
Six other quarterbacks were selected in that 2000 draft ahead of Brady. That mens six other teams passed on Brady. Of those six quarterbacks combined they started a total of 191 games. Brady alone has started 251 and that just counts the regular seasons starts and not the post season.
Those other six quarterbacks threw a combined total of 246 touchdown passes. Brady alone has thrown 488 and still counting. None of those six are still playing. Brady is still going strong about to play for another chance to go to the Super Bowl again.
All those other teams passed on Brady in that 2000 NFL draft. Let's not be too quick to judge. Brady ran a 5.28 forty yard time. Some 300 pond linemen ran faster times. If you saw his picture taken at the draft stripped down to his underwear he looked skinny and anything but athletic. He ran so slow that since 2000 only three quarterbacks have run slower times out of 308 other guys.
In the sixth round with the 199th pick the Patriots could not pass up Brady again. They did not need a quarterback but they liked Brady's mental make up. The same mental make up that has fueled Brady to multiple AFC Championships and Super Bowl Titles.
What's the point? You may have been passed over. You may have heard repeatedly that you are not good enough, qualified enough, expert enough, educated enough, or a host of other measuring sticks. Nobody can measure the heart.
David got passed over by his own father when Samuel came at God's direction looking for Israel's second king. I guess the ruddy shepherd boy did not look or act like king material. He is the very one God chose. Read it for yourself.
1 Samuel 16:1-13 (NKJV)
1 Now the LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons."
2 And Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me." And the LORD said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.'
3 Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you."
4 So Samuel did what the LORD said, and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, "Do you come peaceably?"
5 And he said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice." Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice.
6 So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, "Surely the LORD'S anointed is before Him."
7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
8 So Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one."
9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one."
10 Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen these."
11 And Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all the young men here?" Then he said, "There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here."
12 So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!"
13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.
To every person out there who has been passed over I challenge you not to give up. Not to doubt what you can accomplish by fierce determination and work ethic. Do not doubt what God can do in you and through you. While I have never read anything about Tom Brady being a follower of Jesus I know David was a man after God's own heart. His accomplishments can be read in I and II Samuel.
You may feel passed over like the 199th pick. That does not limit God's ability to use you to accomplish His purposes through you. Trust God. Lean on Him. Learn to work hard and give God your best. Let God do the rest. It may surprise you and the world what He can do.
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (NKJV)
26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God--and righteousness and sanctification and redemption--
31 that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the LORD."
Perseverance
Life hits hard. Like a linebacker who blindsides a quarterback. Like a boxer getting hit with with a strong hook on the chin. Like a person playing in the ocean being overwhelmed by a crashing wave. Like two vehicles colliding in a crash.
Grief and sorrow deliver a mean punch. Suffering can knock you off your feet. Burdens can buckle your knees. Sin and temptation can blindside you. Trials can hit viciously and unexpectedly. This happens to all people. The rich and poor. Young and old. Famous and obscure. Christian and unbeliever. Educated and illiterate. Nobody is immune from the pains of this life. No amount of money can insulate a person from the hard punches of life.
So what do you do? You keep getting back up when life knocks you down. You keep pushing forward one step, one prayer, one Bible reading, one choice not to give up at a time. If you have been pummeled by life long enough it seems easier to give up and stay down after awhile. When a person has prayed their heart out, and come to the place where they do not know what else to pray to get God's help, but the help does not come it is easy to lose heart. It easy to succumb to fear when everything in your life screams inside your mind that the situation is hopeless. It is easy to dwell on that message and quit trying to rise above your circumstances.
Like the bucket full of crabs when one tries to rise above the others and tries toclimb out the rest pull the one back down. When a person resolves to press on, overcome, persevere, endure, triumph something else blindsides knocking you back down. In that moment you have a choice. Will you stay down? Will you sulk in your sorrows? I have seen many whom have.
There are people who gave up on life a long time ago. They may still be alive but they are not truly living. They are just existing. Just going through the motions of living. Shuffling through their days void of passion and purpose. Such people become negative, bitter, sullen, depressed and blinded to hope for better days. I have seen it in others. There have been times when I recognized this in my own life.
Perseverance is an attractive quality. I am thinking of a man I know. I used to live near him. For four decades he arose early long before the sun rose to drive into the big city to go to work. For over four decades he kept persevering. I heard him each morning drive past my house. Day after day through the sweltering heat of the summers and bone chilling cold of the winters he kept showing up and doing his job. He lived modestly. He drove a very old truck. He lived for years in a very small house with his wife and kids. Along the way there were setbacks. There was pain in the journey. Through it all this man kept awaking in the wee hours of the morning, getting dressed , driving close to an hour to work and putting in a full day of hard labor. He repeated this routine for decades.
That is a clear picture of what God's children are supposed to do in life. Keep getting up. Keep laboring. Keep being faithful. Keep showing up. This is not the path of least resistance. There is much resistance along the way.
Persevering is not just a challenge to you in your day. Past, present, and future believes in Jesus have, do. and will face this same challenge.
Revelation 3:10 (NKJV) 10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
Grief and sorrow deliver a mean punch. Suffering can knock you off your feet. Burdens can buckle your knees. Sin and temptation can blindside you. Trials can hit viciously and unexpectedly. This happens to all people. The rich and poor. Young and old. Famous and obscure. Christian and unbeliever. Educated and illiterate. Nobody is immune from the pains of this life. No amount of money can insulate a person from the hard punches of life.
So what do you do? You keep getting back up when life knocks you down. You keep pushing forward one step, one prayer, one Bible reading, one choice not to give up at a time. If you have been pummeled by life long enough it seems easier to give up and stay down after awhile. When a person has prayed their heart out, and come to the place where they do not know what else to pray to get God's help, but the help does not come it is easy to lose heart. It easy to succumb to fear when everything in your life screams inside your mind that the situation is hopeless. It is easy to dwell on that message and quit trying to rise above your circumstances.
Like the bucket full of crabs when one tries to rise above the others and tries toclimb out the rest pull the one back down. When a person resolves to press on, overcome, persevere, endure, triumph something else blindsides knocking you back down. In that moment you have a choice. Will you stay down? Will you sulk in your sorrows? I have seen many whom have.
There are people who gave up on life a long time ago. They may still be alive but they are not truly living. They are just existing. Just going through the motions of living. Shuffling through their days void of passion and purpose. Such people become negative, bitter, sullen, depressed and blinded to hope for better days. I have seen it in others. There have been times when I recognized this in my own life.
Perseverance is an attractive quality. I am thinking of a man I know. I used to live near him. For four decades he arose early long before the sun rose to drive into the big city to go to work. For over four decades he kept persevering. I heard him each morning drive past my house. Day after day through the sweltering heat of the summers and bone chilling cold of the winters he kept showing up and doing his job. He lived modestly. He drove a very old truck. He lived for years in a very small house with his wife and kids. Along the way there were setbacks. There was pain in the journey. Through it all this man kept awaking in the wee hours of the morning, getting dressed , driving close to an hour to work and putting in a full day of hard labor. He repeated this routine for decades.
That is a clear picture of what God's children are supposed to do in life. Keep getting up. Keep laboring. Keep being faithful. Keep showing up. This is not the path of least resistance. There is much resistance along the way.
Persevering is not just a challenge to you in your day. Past, present, and future believes in Jesus have, do. and will face this same challenge.
Revelation 3:10 (NKJV) 10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
Did you catch that. "You have kept my command to persevere."
persevere | ˌpərsəˈvir |
verb [no object]
continue in a course of action even in the face of difficulty or with little or no prospect of success: his family persevered with his treatment.
You continue in a course of action. You keep praying, trusting, hoping and moving forward. You keep getting back up off the canvas. You keep refusing to quit. You keep praising. You keep serving. You keep loving. You keep living!
There will come a day when your perseverance is rewarded. A day when the tears of defeat turn into tears of triumph. Let me illustrate. After college I enrolled in seminary and hated it. My undergraduate degree was in Bible. In seminary I felt like I was studying the same things and was not motivated to do my best and finish. Eventually ministry opportunities led me away from close proximity to school and I never finished.
It bugged me. In 2002 I got the bright idea I would enroll in a seminary where I could complete my course work through the mail. They called it distance learning. I liked it because I progressed through the course work at my own pace. Only along the way I grew undisciplined and did not complete my course work. I had full time ministry responsibilities, a wife, and four sons. I justified that I did not need to finish. Yet it bothered me that I started something and did not finish.
Fast forward eight years. One day I felt convicted I needed to finish my graduate course work. I prayed about it but at the time we did not have the money. I asked God for the money if He really wanted me to finish. He provided. I reenrolled.
The course work was not easy. There were multiple books to read and write book reports over. There were more papers to write than I care to remember. Then there were the tests. Comprehensive final exams. I remember one time looking at all the course work I needed to complete to earn my degree and felt like it was a mountain I would never surmount.
One particular dSaturday I worked all day on a research paper. I researched, made notes, collected my thoughts and started pounding away on my computer. I still remember the relief and joy that came when I finally finished the paper and the bibliography. A sense of triumph. I exited the program to get something to eat. When I returned later I could not believe what I found. I FORGOT TO SAVE THE PAPER. I lost heart in that moment and wanted to quit my studies all together. I beat myself up for several minutes. Then something changed. I determined not to quit. I resolved to rewrite the paper one sentence at a time. In the end I wrote a better paper the second time.
It took two years of early mornings and late nights. It took a lot of time and effort. God strengthened me and helped each step of the way. I finally finished what I sat out to accomplish.
That is life. You persevere. You refuse to stay down. You get back up. You resolve not to quit.
Romans 5:3-5 (NKJV)
3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;
4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope.
5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Tribulation produces perseverance just like running produces endurance or strength training produces muscle. We learn that trials can be our friends to help us grow in perseverance. God uses trials and perseverance to shape our character. Out of all that comes hope. Hope is the expectation that God will show up in our circumstances and prove Himself faithful. So with all that, let's persevere to the finish.
Monday, January 14, 2019
Heading Home
It is just about time to head home. I am about to pack up and lock up and make the near 40 mile drive home. It is worth it. There will be a brown eyed brown haired beauty ready to greet me. We will have sumptuous food on the table. I will get to greet my oldest and youngest sons.
I will change into comfy clothes and relax. Brenda and I will talk. I will enjoy pleasant dinner conversation around the table. I have a place at the table. I have a chair in the living room to sit in. I have a home offie to enjoy seeking God in when He awakes me. I have a warm bed to get into when the time comes for a sound night of sleep. Those are just some of the things that make it worth while to go home.
One day I will head to a different home. A far better home. My everlasting home. One day my time on Earth will end. I will be ushered into God's presence and I will go home. A place of no more crying. No more death. No more mourning. A place to know God more fully. A place to worship. A place to fellowship with other saints.
I don't know when I will go to that home. One day I will leave all this behind. My body, loved ones, ministry and possessions. I wholly trust in Jesus on that day as I trusted Him on the day of my salvation. I will finally be eternally home. It will be worth the trip to get there. Just like the trip I am about to take is worth going home tonight. Until then I press on.
I will change into comfy clothes and relax. Brenda and I will talk. I will enjoy pleasant dinner conversation around the table. I have a place at the table. I have a chair in the living room to sit in. I have a home offie to enjoy seeking God in when He awakes me. I have a warm bed to get into when the time comes for a sound night of sleep. Those are just some of the things that make it worth while to go home.
One day I will head to a different home. A far better home. My everlasting home. One day my time on Earth will end. I will be ushered into God's presence and I will go home. A place of no more crying. No more death. No more mourning. A place to know God more fully. A place to worship. A place to fellowship with other saints.
I don't know when I will go to that home. One day I will leave all this behind. My body, loved ones, ministry and possessions. I wholly trust in Jesus on that day as I trusted Him on the day of my salvation. I will finally be eternally home. It will be worth the trip to get there. Just like the trip I am about to take is worth going home tonight. Until then I press on.
Stunned
I have long known that God speaks. I have also experienced periods of His silence. There have been also been other times when it seemed God shouted. Times when He spoke so clearly, so consistently and so powerfully from His word I could not miss His intended message.
This morning was one such morning. I am reading through the Psalms in my devotions and God spoke powerfully through three different passages all with the same emphasis. I meditated on those truths and then started my day. The verses and what they communicated are not nearly as important for you as much as just knowing God speaks through His word. KEEP READING!
Sitting in my office hours later I just received an email. Not just any email. A devotional email sent by a friend. I could not believe my eyes when I started reading and saw the devotional verse. A strong word from the Lord. A verse God has used in my life multiple times. Not only that. A supplemental scripture was equally timely and powerful used in that devotional.
In one half of a day God spoke through His word not once but no less than five times. I sit here typing this stunned.
God was not through. I received a phone call from a dear friend wintering in South Texas. He called to apologize. I had no idea what he needed to apologize for. He and his wife have been used by God to bless my family in many ways. I can't keep up with al the thank you letters I need to write them for all the ways they bless my family. Even hundreds of miles away God used them again. The car I wrote about broke down in my driveway they sent someone to repair it. I just got a phone call from my son that the repairman just finished and the car is operational once again. Hallelujah. Praise God. Glory to Yahweh.
I am stunned.
sstun | stən |
verb (stuns, stunning, stunned) [with object]
knock unconscious or into a dazed or semiconscious state:
Stunned. That God has spoken so clearly today. Stunned that God once again came to our aid through loving and generous brothers and sisters. Stunned that God met me right at my point of need in His word. Stunned that He is so precise. Stunned that He still has the power to lay our needs on anyone's heart in any part of the world and powerful enough to lead them to help us. Man have we ever experienced this in the past and still experiencing it in the present.
All I can say is glory to God. Praise His holy name. Bless Him for His enduring faithfulness. What He has done for me He certainly is able and desires to do for you as well.
This morning was one such morning. I am reading through the Psalms in my devotions and God spoke powerfully through three different passages all with the same emphasis. I meditated on those truths and then started my day. The verses and what they communicated are not nearly as important for you as much as just knowing God speaks through His word. KEEP READING!
Sitting in my office hours later I just received an email. Not just any email. A devotional email sent by a friend. I could not believe my eyes when I started reading and saw the devotional verse. A strong word from the Lord. A verse God has used in my life multiple times. Not only that. A supplemental scripture was equally timely and powerful used in that devotional.
In one half of a day God spoke through His word not once but no less than five times. I sit here typing this stunned.
God was not through. I received a phone call from a dear friend wintering in South Texas. He called to apologize. I had no idea what he needed to apologize for. He and his wife have been used by God to bless my family in many ways. I can't keep up with al the thank you letters I need to write them for all the ways they bless my family. Even hundreds of miles away God used them again. The car I wrote about broke down in my driveway they sent someone to repair it. I just got a phone call from my son that the repairman just finished and the car is operational once again. Hallelujah. Praise God. Glory to Yahweh.
I am stunned.
sstun | stən |
verb (stuns, stunning, stunned) [with object]
knock unconscious or into a dazed or semiconscious state:
Stunned. That God has spoken so clearly today. Stunned that God once again came to our aid through loving and generous brothers and sisters. Stunned that God met me right at my point of need in His word. Stunned that He is so precise. Stunned that He still has the power to lay our needs on anyone's heart in any part of the world and powerful enough to lead them to help us. Man have we ever experienced this in the past and still experiencing it in the present.
All I can say is glory to God. Praise His holy name. Bless Him for His enduring faithfulness. What He has done for me He certainly is able and desires to do for you as well.
Sunday, January 13, 2019
Walled In
God and His ways are mysterious. While we may do everything in our power to avoid suffering sometimes God allows it. That was certainly the case with Job. Satan afflicted Job but God allowed him to do it. God allowed Job to be tested. He also allows us to go through tests as well.
2019 has not started off well for the Edwards household. Though God blessed our family with another vehicle, a 2006 Mazda 6 for Tucker, it has sat in the driveway un-driven for the past two weeks. Tucker went back to school in my truck until we can get his car repaired. While one of the boys drove it when they were home for Christmas break they ran over something that caused a protective plastic plate under the engine to fall and now is dragging the ground. We have been unable to get anyone to look at it so far. We cannot drive it until that issue is fixed. All the boys had problems with their cell phones at the same time. We have sent those phones in more than once for repairs and each time the phones return not repaired. Frustrating. On New Year's Day I suffered some internal bleeding in my left eye affecting my vision in it. Before that my vision had been the best I enjoyed in several years. I got the sickest I have been in years lasting nearly two weeks. The bank ran our tithe check through twice resulting in being overdrawn on several other charges and will not be able to fix it until sometime Monday or Tuesday. We have operated on just what cash we had for several days. One of my boys suffered a devastating heartbreak. One of the boys' college roommate is not coming back this semester. He only learned this yesterday just days before the new semester starts. Taylor is still trying to get accepted and get some kind of housing in place so he can work on his Mater's degree and go play football at Wayland with his brothers. All of that in just the first two weeks of 2019. We are walled in.
There is more I am not at liberty to disclose at this time. Everywhere I look I see mountains and am walled in. I am not alone. Job felt the same way. Read what he said.
Job 19:8 (ESV)
8 He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths.
Sometimes God walls our way. He shuts the door and avenue of escape. He leaves our way blocked and allows us to suffer. No matter how we may try, pray and labor to pass He denies us passage into easier days until His purposes are accomplished. In my case, I have felt this way for seven long years! Nobody has answers. Nobody can explain it anymore than Job's friends thought they could explain why Job suffered.
Job's friends attributed his sufferings to some secret sin. I had a person do the same thing to me three years ago. I was preaching a revival meeting. This person knew of some of our sufferings. They just could not fathom that God might wall a person in and they accused me of suffering because of some sin. I quickly reminded them of Job's situation at which they had no follow up answer.
We are quick to judge. We don't know the full details of people's suffering. True, some people suffer because of decisions they make and the resulting consequences. Some suffer because of the curse of sinful human nature from the fall. Some suffer because God allows it.
God allowing a person to suffer is beyond our comprehension. We cannot fathom why God would wall up a person's way. God walled up Joseph from freedom because He had a plan Joseph could not see. Joseph suffered but in the end Joseph recognized God's goodness in it.
God walled up the way for the Israelites at the Red Sea. They had no way of escape with the Egypt army bearing down on them and blocked by the sea. God used that situation for one of His greatest miracles in the Old Testament when he parted the Red Sea. He also used that experience to destroy the Egypt army forever to no longer torment God's children.
Paul suffered physically and was put in prison. God used his prison years to inspire Paul to write sacred scripture we treasure so much today.
We do not always know why God walls up our ways from time to time and does not allow us to pass. We have to trust Him. In the end God restored two fold all that Job lost. In the end God will prove Himself faithful. It is His nature. So if you are walled in and He will not let you pass keep trusting. If it never makes sense in this lifetime it will make sense in eternity for the true followers of Yahweh.
2019 has not started off well for the Edwards household. Though God blessed our family with another vehicle, a 2006 Mazda 6 for Tucker, it has sat in the driveway un-driven for the past two weeks. Tucker went back to school in my truck until we can get his car repaired. While one of the boys drove it when they were home for Christmas break they ran over something that caused a protective plastic plate under the engine to fall and now is dragging the ground. We have been unable to get anyone to look at it so far. We cannot drive it until that issue is fixed. All the boys had problems with their cell phones at the same time. We have sent those phones in more than once for repairs and each time the phones return not repaired. Frustrating. On New Year's Day I suffered some internal bleeding in my left eye affecting my vision in it. Before that my vision had been the best I enjoyed in several years. I got the sickest I have been in years lasting nearly two weeks. The bank ran our tithe check through twice resulting in being overdrawn on several other charges and will not be able to fix it until sometime Monday or Tuesday. We have operated on just what cash we had for several days. One of my boys suffered a devastating heartbreak. One of the boys' college roommate is not coming back this semester. He only learned this yesterday just days before the new semester starts. Taylor is still trying to get accepted and get some kind of housing in place so he can work on his Mater's degree and go play football at Wayland with his brothers. All of that in just the first two weeks of 2019. We are walled in.
There is more I am not at liberty to disclose at this time. Everywhere I look I see mountains and am walled in. I am not alone. Job felt the same way. Read what he said.
Job 19:8 (ESV)
8 He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths.
Sometimes God walls our way. He shuts the door and avenue of escape. He leaves our way blocked and allows us to suffer. No matter how we may try, pray and labor to pass He denies us passage into easier days until His purposes are accomplished. In my case, I have felt this way for seven long years! Nobody has answers. Nobody can explain it anymore than Job's friends thought they could explain why Job suffered.
Job's friends attributed his sufferings to some secret sin. I had a person do the same thing to me three years ago. I was preaching a revival meeting. This person knew of some of our sufferings. They just could not fathom that God might wall a person in and they accused me of suffering because of some sin. I quickly reminded them of Job's situation at which they had no follow up answer.
We are quick to judge. We don't know the full details of people's suffering. True, some people suffer because of decisions they make and the resulting consequences. Some suffer because of the curse of sinful human nature from the fall. Some suffer because God allows it.
God allowing a person to suffer is beyond our comprehension. We cannot fathom why God would wall up a person's way. God walled up Joseph from freedom because He had a plan Joseph could not see. Joseph suffered but in the end Joseph recognized God's goodness in it.
God walled up the way for the Israelites at the Red Sea. They had no way of escape with the Egypt army bearing down on them and blocked by the sea. God used that situation for one of His greatest miracles in the Old Testament when he parted the Red Sea. He also used that experience to destroy the Egypt army forever to no longer torment God's children.
Paul suffered physically and was put in prison. God used his prison years to inspire Paul to write sacred scripture we treasure so much today.
We do not always know why God walls up our ways from time to time and does not allow us to pass. We have to trust Him. In the end God restored two fold all that Job lost. In the end God will prove Himself faithful. It is His nature. So if you are walled in and He will not let you pass keep trusting. If it never makes sense in this lifetime it will make sense in eternity for the true followers of Yahweh.
Friday, January 11, 2019
Pain In The Offering
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
- lyrics by Matt Redman from Blessed Be Your Name
I have tossed and turned for the past couple of hours. I've been mulling over several things. Most of them painful. The pain of others battling terminal illness. The pain of heavy burdened people. The pain of people continually suffering with health issues, financial set backs and the pain of watching others' loved ones destroy their lives through harmful decision after harmful decision.
On top of all that are the private pains. Deep seated sorrows. That is when I thought about this song God has used to minister to me on many occasions. I have not heard it in a long time and I particularly remembered these lines. "Though there is pain in the offering..."
If anyone knew about pain in the midst of offering praise and service to God it would be Job. I am currently reading through Job. Job suffered immeasurably. God allowed Satan to push Job beyond the breaking point. Job fought painful battles in his mind.
At one point Job stated, "Though he slay me, I will yet hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face." [Job 13:15] ESV
Job did not understand the pain. The loss of everyone dear to him except his wife, his possessions and eventually even his health. He regretted the day he was even born.
Yet, Job still worshiped and hoped in God. Yes, there was pain in the offering but he still maintained hope and he did not cease praising.
I spent a good deal of yesterday with a retired pastor friend of mine I have mentioned before. We left his care facility to enjoy lunch at Cracker Barrel. He even got to see some of his former parishioners there unexpectedly but divinely appointed. Brother Bob lost his wife to cancer three and a half years ago. Decades before that he lost a son in a tragic car accident near the church he pastored. He faced many other financial and ministerial set backs over the years. He battles his own health issues today. He kept telling me over and over again how good God had been to him. He maintains joy though he lives with pain in the offering.
There are many who will awake today to seek God with pain in the offering. Brokenhearted wives and mothers. Discouraged husbands and fathers. Feeble senior adults who seem to go from one health crisis to the next. Those hemmed in by circumstances they cannot find a way out. Those disillusioned because it appears God has not come to their rescue. Grieving people over the death of someone they loved.
On any given week in worship gatherings numerous people offer praise but there is pain in the offering. Many do devotions with pain in the offering. Nobody may see it but God and hear it but God. Songs mixed with sorrow. Praise and prayer mixed with pain.
I heard the story of what inspired Matt Redman to write that song. There was pain in his offering too. Over the years I have read hundreds and hundreds of books. I have read through the Bible numerous times. The people God uses most in my life to encourage and inspire me are the ones who had pain in their offerings. Joseph. Moses. Job. Jeremiah. Jesus. Paul. David Brainerd. Charles Spurgeon. John Bunyan. Hudson Taylor. Amy Carmichael. Charles Simeon. Jonathan Edwards. Fanny Crosby. Lottie Moon. Elizabeth Elliott. Vance Havner. William Cowper. These all had pain in their offerings. They still praised and served anyway. Even when they did not understand the pain.
Brainerd suffered from tuberculosis and died at 29. Spurgeon suffered from depression and gout and died in his mid fifties. Bunyan was imprisoned for preaching the word of God. Taylor lost two wives and two children in China on the mission field. Amy Carmichael suffered physically to the point of being bed ridden for several of her latter years. Jonathan Edwards got fired after two decades of faithful ministry in his first pastorate over a theological stand in which Edwards was right. Fanny wrote hymns though blind. Lottie Moon suffered impoverished conditions in her efforts to reach the Chinese people for Christ. Elizabeth suffered her husband being murdered by the very people he tried to reach with the gospel in Ecuador. Vance Havner lost his wife and survived her many years but still preached and wrote helpful books. Cowper suffered from life long depression even to the point where he tried to take his life more than once, but still wrote moving hymns.
There is pain in a lot of people's offering. I wonder if God uses the pain in the offering of your service and worship to inspire others? You may never know. You may never understand why you have to go through what you have to go through.
Thank you for not giving up. Thank you for still showing up even when your heart has not been fully in it. Thank you for singing praise while choking back the tears because of the pain. Thank you for serving when your personal world is crumbling. Thank you for giving and sacrificing when you personally face critical needs others are not aware of. You are an inspiration. A true champion of the faith. Keep on even though there in pain in your offering.
Thursday, January 10, 2019
Rejection
Have you ever been rejected? Ever been made to feel you are not good enough? Like you don't measure up. You don't fit in. You are inferior. You are unwanted and unwelcome.
Any person who has ever felt this way knows the sting it brings and the deep sorrow. Such feelings have brought more than one person down. Children have experienced this rejection from their parents. Students have experienced this from teachers and other students. Athletes have experienced this from coaches. Employees have suffered this same fate from employers when they have been fired or passed over for a promotion. Job applicants know the sting of rejection when the company decides to go with another applicant over them.
I just returned from making a visit. I heard another kind of rejection. When religious people judge and reject people who need help the most. People who lost their way and wandered down a painful and harmful course of life. The holier than thou types sit in their pristine chapels looking down their pious noses at those who desperately need Jesus the most. They need to gospel message of the cross, the death of Jesus, His shed blood, His mercy and His grace..
I heard the testimonies of people today who got burned by the church. They love Jesus and desire to be close to Him. Church is a whole other matter. They have seen and experienced first hand the rejection of religious people. They have heard the whispers, seen the scornful stares and felt the betrayal.
Jesus made room for sinful broken people. He did not excuse their sin. He did not turn a blind eye to sin. He did make room for broken, sinful, confused, and wounded people. His love and grace were and still is big enough to save, deliver, adopt and welcome all kinds of people. He demands repentance. He accepts dirty, flirty, sin stained and scarred people. He redeems them. He reclaims them. He restores them.
I am thankful Jesus did not reject me when I first came to Him. I sure was not much to work with. Nobody saw potential in me back then bu tJesus. All these years later I am more thankful that He still does not reject me. I have been rejected by men. More than I could ever put into words. As tough as I am, if I were honest, I would have to admit the rejection of people has hurt deeply. The acceptance of Jesus is sufficient.
For all those rejected by others Jesus stands with open arms to embrace. To the sinner He calls for you to repent and to be cleansed by His grace. To the condemned Jesus offers pardon. To the abandoned Jesus offers His constant companionship. To the ostracized Jesus offers close communion. To the guilty Jesus offers forgiveness.
To ever religious person in every church who judges and condemns rejecting those who need the gospel and the church the most I rebuke you in the name of Jesus. You are hypocrites. Clean and pure on the inside but filthy rotten on the inside. You may dress up the outside but you are stinking sewage of sin on the inside.
To the rejected I echo the words of an old hymn, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in light of His glory and grace." His eyes are filled with love and compassion. His heart longs to accept you. His arms are wide to embrace you.
Any person who has ever felt this way knows the sting it brings and the deep sorrow. Such feelings have brought more than one person down. Children have experienced this rejection from their parents. Students have experienced this from teachers and other students. Athletes have experienced this from coaches. Employees have suffered this same fate from employers when they have been fired or passed over for a promotion. Job applicants know the sting of rejection when the company decides to go with another applicant over them.
I just returned from making a visit. I heard another kind of rejection. When religious people judge and reject people who need help the most. People who lost their way and wandered down a painful and harmful course of life. The holier than thou types sit in their pristine chapels looking down their pious noses at those who desperately need Jesus the most. They need to gospel message of the cross, the death of Jesus, His shed blood, His mercy and His grace..
I heard the testimonies of people today who got burned by the church. They love Jesus and desire to be close to Him. Church is a whole other matter. They have seen and experienced first hand the rejection of religious people. They have heard the whispers, seen the scornful stares and felt the betrayal.
Jesus made room for sinful broken people. He did not excuse their sin. He did not turn a blind eye to sin. He did make room for broken, sinful, confused, and wounded people. His love and grace were and still is big enough to save, deliver, adopt and welcome all kinds of people. He demands repentance. He accepts dirty, flirty, sin stained and scarred people. He redeems them. He reclaims them. He restores them.
I am thankful Jesus did not reject me when I first came to Him. I sure was not much to work with. Nobody saw potential in me back then bu tJesus. All these years later I am more thankful that He still does not reject me. I have been rejected by men. More than I could ever put into words. As tough as I am, if I were honest, I would have to admit the rejection of people has hurt deeply. The acceptance of Jesus is sufficient.
For all those rejected by others Jesus stands with open arms to embrace. To the sinner He calls for you to repent and to be cleansed by His grace. To the condemned Jesus offers pardon. To the abandoned Jesus offers His constant companionship. To the ostracized Jesus offers close communion. To the guilty Jesus offers forgiveness.
To ever religious person in every church who judges and condemns rejecting those who need the gospel and the church the most I rebuke you in the name of Jesus. You are hypocrites. Clean and pure on the inside but filthy rotten on the inside. You may dress up the outside but you are stinking sewage of sin on the inside.
To the rejected I echo the words of an old hymn, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in light of His glory and grace." His eyes are filled with love and compassion. His heart longs to accept you. His arms are wide to embrace you.
Tuesday, January 8, 2019
Power Of Persevering Prayer
I just got off the phone with a very excited veteran follower of Jesus. This warrior has walked with Jesus about as long as I have been alive. She knows how to battle in prayer for family and friends. Time and time again over the last several years we have exchanged prayer needs and stood in the gap for one another.
Tonight she called with a huge praise report. She experienced a personal revival at the answer to something she has prayed about for over three and a half decades. Tonight that prayer was answered and she could not contain the joy inside. It spilled over and she had to tell me and others.
I rejoiced with her. I celebrate her long fought prayed out victory. Imagine those long years of praying and the answer being delayed. It would have been easy to lose heart and to give up. Many in similar situations have in much less time. Not this tenacious prayer warrior. She grabbed the promises of God firmly and refused to let go.
Some of you reading this are facing challenges. Yes, I know you have prayed. Prayed for a long time but the breakthrough did not come. Somewhere along the way did you lose heart? May my friend's personal testimony inspire you as it inspires me. Three and a half decades of praying for her were not in vain. The breakthrough came.
Your breakthrough can come if you do not give up. Have you prayed for thirty plus years? Have you refused to give up and to give in? Have you stayed true dogged determined to get your miracle?
I could not help but think of this little verse after talking with my friend. May it encourage all of us to pray harder with perseverance as long as it takes to win the victory.
Luke 18:1 (NKJV)
1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,
Tonight she called with a huge praise report. She experienced a personal revival at the answer to something she has prayed about for over three and a half decades. Tonight that prayer was answered and she could not contain the joy inside. It spilled over and she had to tell me and others.
I rejoiced with her. I celebrate her long fought prayed out victory. Imagine those long years of praying and the answer being delayed. It would have been easy to lose heart and to give up. Many in similar situations have in much less time. Not this tenacious prayer warrior. She grabbed the promises of God firmly and refused to let go.
Some of you reading this are facing challenges. Yes, I know you have prayed. Prayed for a long time but the breakthrough did not come. Somewhere along the way did you lose heart? May my friend's personal testimony inspire you as it inspires me. Three and a half decades of praying for her were not in vain. The breakthrough came.
Your breakthrough can come if you do not give up. Have you prayed for thirty plus years? Have you refused to give up and to give in? Have you stayed true dogged determined to get your miracle?
I could not help but think of this little verse after talking with my friend. May it encourage all of us to pray harder with perseverance as long as it takes to win the victory.
Luke 18:1 (NKJV)
1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,
Monday, January 7, 2019
Catch Me Up
Bob Harper is a retired pastor friend of mine. He lives in a retirement home now after losing his wife last year. He and I share a love for reading and especially reading about past revivals. He served as a pastor until he was eighty years old when he finally had to quit driving and retired.
I saw him today. We visited about football, past preachers and books we both love so much. I had the chance to ask him many questions about his ministry. He kept saying how good the Lord had been to him. He did not get a formal theological education and yet he is self educated through books. He is well versed in most doctrines of the Christian faith. He did not get saved until he was 38 years old. At the time he worked for Pepsi. As he grew God called him to preach and he did so faithfully for forty years.
One day while out driving his Pepsi route and listening to an old preacher, J. Vernon McGee, preach Brother Bob pulled the truck off the road and parked in a ditch so he could listen more intently. McGee asked the question if his listeners felt sorry for themselves if they were saved later in life. Brother Bob felt that way. Then McGee said, "Don't worry God can catch you up." Brother Bob bowed his head in that truck and asked God to catch him up.
Over four decades later I say God answered that prayer emphatically. Brother Bob at 81 still has a hunger for God and His word. He inspires me. I go to visit him for selfish reasons. I get the blessing. I enjoy the company. I get encouraged. I leave uplifted.
I feel like many years of my life and ministry have been wasted. I long to be more productive. To bear more fruit. To be a more useful vessel. God can catch me up. He can do more in a year of anointed ministry than I have been able to accomplish in three decades. He can reveal more of Himself and pull me higher in Him. He can open doors no man can shut and also shut doors that no man can open. If I fully yield myself to Him and devote myself to seeking Him He can catch me up. I need that. I need to catch up.
There is so much work left to do. So many souls to be won. So many sermons to preach and teach. So much more Bible to study and learn.. So many more books left to read. So many more articles to write. He can catch me up. Just like He did with Brother Bob. He can do the same for you too. God can catch us all up to maturity like He desires for us. I ask You Heavenly Father, to give us the desire and discipline to do our part. You alone can create an insatiable hunger for You. One that will not wear off like emotional decisions are prone to do. I ask You for a hunger to grow and intensify all the remaining days of our lives. May we never get enough of You. Please intensify our hunger and thirst for You and spiritual things.
Psalm 42:1-2 (NKJV)
1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
I saw him today. We visited about football, past preachers and books we both love so much. I had the chance to ask him many questions about his ministry. He kept saying how good the Lord had been to him. He did not get a formal theological education and yet he is self educated through books. He is well versed in most doctrines of the Christian faith. He did not get saved until he was 38 years old. At the time he worked for Pepsi. As he grew God called him to preach and he did so faithfully for forty years.
One day while out driving his Pepsi route and listening to an old preacher, J. Vernon McGee, preach Brother Bob pulled the truck off the road and parked in a ditch so he could listen more intently. McGee asked the question if his listeners felt sorry for themselves if they were saved later in life. Brother Bob felt that way. Then McGee said, "Don't worry God can catch you up." Brother Bob bowed his head in that truck and asked God to catch him up.
Over four decades later I say God answered that prayer emphatically. Brother Bob at 81 still has a hunger for God and His word. He inspires me. I go to visit him for selfish reasons. I get the blessing. I enjoy the company. I get encouraged. I leave uplifted.
I feel like many years of my life and ministry have been wasted. I long to be more productive. To bear more fruit. To be a more useful vessel. God can catch me up. He can do more in a year of anointed ministry than I have been able to accomplish in three decades. He can reveal more of Himself and pull me higher in Him. He can open doors no man can shut and also shut doors that no man can open. If I fully yield myself to Him and devote myself to seeking Him He can catch me up. I need that. I need to catch up.
There is so much work left to do. So many souls to be won. So many sermons to preach and teach. So much more Bible to study and learn.. So many more books left to read. So many more articles to write. He can catch me up. Just like He did with Brother Bob. He can do the same for you too. God can catch us all up to maturity like He desires for us. I ask You Heavenly Father, to give us the desire and discipline to do our part. You alone can create an insatiable hunger for You. One that will not wear off like emotional decisions are prone to do. I ask You for a hunger to grow and intensify all the remaining days of our lives. May we never get enough of You. Please intensify our hunger and thirst for You and spiritual things.
Psalm 42:1-2 (NKJV)
1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
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