Training Ground

 You were created for a purpose. God has to train us and equip us for those purposes. Dr. Henry Blackaby wrote that God has to grow our character to match His assignments. You might find yourself in training ground right now for something else. Moses and David were both shepherds. That was training ground for them to become shepherds over the nation of Israel. 

I got to write for our high school newspaper. I also wrote a poem for school that was published in our local newspaper. Those were training grounds for my writing ministry today. I found a box of books I had stored away and forgotten about in an isolated room in the church. Yesterday, I rummaged through the box to see what books were in there. To my surprise I found a couple of unexpected ones. 

I came across my very first book. I assure you it is not what you are thinking. It is a 5"x7" spiral bound booklet printed on the copier at my home church. The title of the book is Swimming In The Bathtub" Words of Meditation and Inspiration. Some college students and I stayed up all night to make copies and bind that book together. It is total of 55 pages. Sadly, I did not include a date for the book. I know it was somewhere between 1998 and 2000. Very humbled beginnings to a writing ministry. No book tour. No book signings. No fancy book cover. Just a simple copied blue card stock cover. It brings back fond memories. 

I remember the time and place where God convicted me to take my love of writing and use it for ministry. I have been writing ever since. My books include: Only Believe (currently be rewritten and expanded), Life On The Altar, Behold The Faithfulness of God, 40 Days To Shake The City, Weeping For A Night, and Prayer: Ministry From The Secret Place. 

English classes and the high school newspaper staff were all training ground for a writing ministry. I did not start out preaching as a pastor in a church. It all started with a seven minute message to about a dozen students at Woodlawn Baptist Church in Lufkin, TX. That was followed by a summer preaching on Lake Sam Rayburn. I spent a summer as a youth intern in Lutz, FL and another in Atlanta, GA. I took on an eighth grade boys Sunday school class while in seminary. Rochelle Baptist Church called me to be their youth minister while I was in college. They ordained me. I also served Spring Creek Baptist Church as youth pastor before jumping into pastoral ministry. All of those were training ground for the next assignment. 

What is God training you for? I believe He is still training me for something. I spent years volunteer coaching my sons when they were young. That also stretched into some summer workouts with them and their friends. I never dreamed that would lead to a career in coaching. Here I am known as Pastor Matt part of the week and Coach Edwards the rest of the week. 

No matter our age, education level, or experience, God has plans to use us. We must be equipped and trained to match the assignment He has for us. I do not know what that assignment is for you. You may be in a less than desirable position currently. You may not enjoy this season. If you change your mind and attitude you can see this as training ground for something special. Training ground is not always pleasant. Training ground can be very unpleasant. 

I am reading the book Junction Boys when Paul Bear Bryant took his first Texas A&M football team to Junction, TX for training camp. It was a brutal hellish experience for those young men. Bryant berate them, pushed them, and nearly killed some of them in the oppressive Southwest Texas heat. Many did not make it through camp and snuck out at night to find rides back home. Those that survived the camp were a formidable opponent. The training ground was not pleasant, but the actual games were. 

What is God preparing you for? What is He training you to do or become? Only He knows. There are still lessons to be learned. There are still skills to sharpen. There are talents to master and gifts to develop to be fully useful in God's hands. Training grounds have their purpose. Persevere and one day all that training will be used in ways you could never fathom. 

Shepherd Flock Relationship

 Jonathan Edwards was a pastor, author, revivalist, and one of the greatest theologians in the history of our nation. He was an assistant pastor along side his grandfather who pastored the Northampton congregation for over 50 years. When he died, Edwards stepped in as the full time pastor. He served there for over two decades faithfully. 

In Edwards' farewell sermon, he commented about the special nature of the relationship between a pastor and his flock. He talked about how they would be reunited in eternity. Edwards led the congregation through the First Great Awakening where the majority of the town were saved and added to the church. 

Brenda and I have been privileged to serve 7 different congregations as pastor. We have loved those flocks deeply. We love the flock of Spring Creek dearly where we have devoted the past five years of our lives. The connections run deep. The memories are precious. The ministry has been well received. We have laughed and wept together. We have sat at the feet of Jesus together in worship and the ministry of His word.

I had a special day yesterday that deeply imprinted on my mind. It started with a pastoral visit. In the middle of our ordinary visit, the lady I was visiting leaned forward and said, "I need to talk to you about something that has hurt me deeply." She went on to relay a burden and grief she has carried for years. Her soul grief was shared painfully. Her pain penetrated my heart. I reached forward and held both of her hands and prayed with her. I felt a special connection that only a pastor can share with his beloved flock. 

I left that visit for my office. One of our people came by for some volunteer work. She came into the office to visit while waiting on some others. Our conversation turned deep. We discussed weighty personal matters and again I had the opportunity to pray for one of the members of our flock. Our mutual love for our Savior and for one another as shepherd and flock defies description. 

Later that evening, after our midweek Bible study, we got to pray for one of our young families whose young daughter is having surgery on Friday. We entered into their pain and interceded for them. I left that prayer meeting with a deep love for these people. I'm thankful God called me to this task. 

Everybody does not get to be a pastor. I am humbled and honored that God chose me to be one. Humbled because I am not worthy. Honored because it is such a high and noble calling, and there is nothing I would rather do. I love the people God allows me to pastor. When they hurt, I also hurt. When they rejoice, I also rejoice. 

In the past few days, I have sat with a family in devastating heart wrenching circumstances. I have rejoiced with a young couple at the birth of their first child. I have counseled people through troubling and confusing circumstances. I have listened as people unloaded their cares. I have prayed with several through difficult trials. Preaching and teaching is only a fraction of the pastoral responsibilities. 

Serving as a shepherd of a flock is all about relationships. I have served congregations who did not like me. There have been several who hated my guts. They refused to talk to me, gossiped about me, shot daggers at me with their eyes while I preached, and did all they could to undermine my ministry. I have also enjoyed people who loved my family. They expressed that love in many tangible ways and some still do even after we moved away years ago. 

Over the years, I have heard several pastors say they loved the ministry except for the people. PEOPLE ARE THE MINISTRY. People have different personalities, unique thoughts and ideas, and a wide variety of spiritual maturity levels. People have differences of opinions and preferences. It is not easy to navigate. I am called to work with all of them. Ministry is about relationships. About leading people to Christ. About baptisms. About hospital visits. About weddings and funerals. About love. A true pastor who shepherds his flock effectively will love that flock. Love is the foundation. The love of Jesus and the love of shepherd to his flock. That is a special unique relationship that will follow us into eternity. 

Practicing Verses Perfecting

 In John 3:21, Jesus said that those who practice truth come to the Light so that their deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God. I am glad Jesus said hose who practice the truth and not those who perfectly live the truth. I could never measure up to perfection. 

I just walked off the football practice field for spring football. For weeks we have been practicing our plays, working on details of route running, catching, throwing, and playing defense. It is somewhat monotonous. Doing the same drills. Running the same plays over and over again. We practice to get better. We may never perfect the game of football, but we can improve a little day after day. 

The same should be said for our Christian walk and living out the principles of the Bible. None of us is perfect. We fail repeatedly. Therefore, we keep practicing. We keep praying, studying, and applying truth to our hearts. We keep working those truths into our daily lives. We may not be perfecting living truth, but we keep practicing to improve. 

There are a few things that I think can help us improve a little more. We need a place, a designated spot where we will seek God. A designated place where we will meet with God in the pages of our Bible and where we will commune with Him through prayer. I am honestly shocked how few people set aside any time on a daily basis to meet with God. Brenda and I do it first thing in the morning. We both have our morning routines. She sits in a recliner in our bedroom to seek God, and I do the same in my chair in the living room. Days started with God seem to go better. Jesus kept the habit of finding a solitary place to prayerfully seek the Father. [Mark 1:35] Should we not do the same?

Another practice should be to gather with others to worship. I realize many people gather with others for worship services. That does not mean that they worship themselves. They may sit in a seat, sing the songs, even crack open a Bible, but never worship one single moment. Worship is putting all the focus on God, engaging the heart as well as the mind, and responding to what He reveals. Worship is not a spectator religion. It is a participatory event. Those who practice engaging in the different expressions of worship will be the ones who get the most out of it. Worship was never meant to be entertainment. It was meant to be an intentional act of the mind, will, and emotions. People shouted in worship in the Psalms, clapped their hands, lifted their arms, bowed, wept, and followed hard after God. These practices help improve the daily performance of living out truth. 

I do not always get it right trying to live for God. I fail more than I want to. I sin still. I can be lulled into  lethargy and amply disarmed with apathy with the best of them. I must keep practicing the truth. I know I must press on toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. I have much more practicing to do. I am in the pursuit of Jesus who alone is perfect. Hopefully all of us will practice becoming more like Him. 

Uselessly Kindling Fire

 I believe the message of God and His Son Jesus are the most exciting truths in the whole universe. Nothing else even comes close. Opening His word to expound it week after week is exhilarating. Do not get me wrong. It is also exhausting. It takes work. Prayerful study to expound. Someone once asked me what it was like to prepare multiple messages a week. I replied, "It is like writing multiple research papers weekly." A sermon is certainly much more than a research paper. It is God's word. Everlasting food for the soul. Transformative truth. It is a labor of love to prepare messages. I love it, but it is labor intensive. 

From time to time, I peruse tv channels or the internet to watch others preach. It is sad what is passing for preaching God's word today. The first things I am looking for in preaching is whether it is text driven or topic driven. Text driven means it is Bible based. The truth comes from the text of God's word. The next thing I look for is life. Is there fire, passion, the anointing and power of God, or is there just religious motions. 

I realize that God created different people with different personalities. I know I am not standing alone when I say I have heard some dry, tongue and throat parched dry, sermons in my day. I have also heard people quote everyone and everything but the Bible and the Lord in sermons. 

Sometimes I wish I could walk through the screen and grab the preacher by the collar and question, "Do you really believe what you are preaching?" It does not appear so. Nor do the hearer appear to really believe what they are hearing. 

I assure you, I am no expert on preaching. I do strive to be a text driven preacher with passion. God has to speak the word to me before I can deliver it to the people. It is not just words. The word of God is words of life. The pulpit is no stage to showcase talents or put on a show to entertain the masses. Preaching is a sacred task and should only be done by those God chosen and Holy Spirit anointed ones who spend time in the prayer closet. 

In recent days, I saw preachers reading their prayers from their cell phones, preaching from carefully crafted and eloquent sermon manuscripts on iPads, as well as those who fumbled over their words seeming unprepared and uninterested in the subject matter. It grieved my heart. 

God abhors going through religious rituals void of meaning in the heart of His people. True worship should come from the heart. Just as true preaching should come from a heart touched by God. Cold hearted men of God stand in the pulpits delivering ice cold sermons without life. They have no fire because they preach from educated heads and iceberg cold hearts. The fire comes to the heart from time spent in God's presence more than a nose stuck in a book. Book study is important. Only it is not the most important. If a preacher keeps his nose in books without bending his knees in prayer, dead words without power behind them will waft from the well that has long since dried up. 

What is just as grievous is that the people of God accept this pathetic preacher pablum week after week. Nobody stops the sham of shallow religious rituals. Do the people of God hunger for fresh bread of life preaching? Do the people of God even care what diet of sermonic rhetoric they hear week after week? There have been many times when I had to repent for preaching non anointed sermons. I busied myself with many lesser things and did not pray enough. I hastily through messages together just trying to get through another Sunday. I am thankful for those brave souls who called me on it over the years. It drove me to repentance and back to the prayer closet for fresh fire in my soul. 

It might do all of us good if we stopped the Sunday morning production from time to time to do some repenting and refocusing. Like a person trying to start a fire with soaking wet wood, so is the cold hearted preacher who tries to ignite fire in cold hearted parishioners. 

I am not saying every sermon has to be fire and brimstone preaching. I am saying preaching should be done prayerfully and with a demonstration of God's power. I cannot say any sermon I have preached in recent memory was backed up with a demonstration of God's power. It is time for me to repent at the head of the line. I do not want to try and uselessly kindle another fire on another dry Sunday morning. God help me. God help all who preach. 

God is With Us

 The story of Joseph in the book of Genesis inspires me. The tapestry of God's sovereignty is the backdrop for Joseph's experiences. He is wronged by his brothers, by Potiphar's wife, and then forgotten by the Pharaohs cup bearer. He goes from being his father's favorite son to forgotten in prison. Through all of it we read, "God was with him," over and over again. 

I have no idea what circumstances you are facing right now. You may have been wronged. Betrayed. Seeing anger boils beneath the surface. You want to retaliate. To have vengeance. To get even. To repay evil for evil. If you feel that way, the story of Joseph is a slap in the face. Joseph served faithfully even though he was wronged repeatedly. He continued to shine for the Lord. 

No matter where Joseph ended up, he kept standing out and being faithful. He did that as a slave in Potiphar's house. We do not read one sentence about Joseph whining, sulking, or doing slothful work. We read about him serving faithfully. Getting entrusted with more and more responsibilities. That is just the opposite of what many people do. They pout and do a poor job because of a sour attitude. 

Joseph was falsely accused of a sexual offense and imprisoned unjustly. He did not grow bitter. He did not slump despondently in a corner and give up. He kept serving faithfully to the point he was entrusted with responsibilities even in prison. He thought of others before himself. He encouraged himself that God was with him. 

God is with us too. In our triumphs and trials, God remains with us. He is with us when we rejoice in pools of blessings. He is still with us when the winds of adversity blows against our every step. He is with us when all is smooth sailing and He is still with us with the seas are tempest tossed. He is with us in the joyous mornings as well as the nights of weeping. 

It may not feel that way. You may sit feeling abandoned. Wondering why God has forsaken you. You may question why He delays in delivering you. You may question everything you thought you knew about God. It escapes our attention that God may have purpose in the pain. He may have ordained the ordeals we are currently navigating. 

Will we still serve a God we do not understand? Will we keep believing that He is with us in the pain and prisons of our predicaments. You might be staring out the windows with prison bars obscuring the view of sunlit pleasant paths. What we believe in those situations is paramount. Do we believe God is with us? Do we believe that He has not forsaken us? Do we believe that He still knows best? 

We can only see from such a limited perspective. We cannot even see with any reasonable reassurance what will happen in the next hour much less what will occur days, weeks, months, and years from now. Joseph could only see prison bars. God saw the Pharaoh's palace. Joseph could only feel the pain of wrongs done to Him. God knew the pain Joseph endured would eventually lead to relieving pain for millions in the coming famine. Joseph could only question purposes of God what his limited point of view. God saw the preservation of His Abrahamic covenant through Joseph's faithfulness in prison and willingness to interpret some seemingly meaningless dreams o some fellow prisoners. Joseph could have been so self-absorbed that he was not ready for his defining moment. 

Joseph was ready because he continually remembered God was with him. Even in prison. He is with us too. We cannot fathom the tapestry of all the layers and implications of the places God puts us, the timing of that placement, and purpose for our prison like moments. 

God was with Joseph. The cupbearer eventually remembered Joseph when the king had his dreams. Joseph was summoned. He went from prison to the palace in a moment. Later Joseph would testify that what his bothers meant for evil God meant for good. That God sent him to Egypt to suffer a little in order to save the nation of Israel during a seven year famine. 

It may not always feel like God is with us. It may not always appear that God is with us. He is. He will never leave us or forsake us. He is with us in the painful moments of our personal prisons. He is also with us in the greatest moments of our lives. Joseph could not get to the palace without first going through the prison. God was with him every step of the way. Just like He is with us on our journeys. I hope we will draw strength from that simple truth that God is with us. 

Crushed

 I don't know who penned the phrase, "The eyes are the window into the soul," but I agree. Look deep into the eyes of another person and you can discover passion, anger, sorrow, love, and deep wounds. I saw into another person's soul this week and I was not even looking for it. 

The circumstances are not important. It was just a casual glance in a boring setting I did not want to be in. I glanced around the room and caught this woman's eyes. She was staring into the distance and did not even know I was watching her. Normally she is joyous, independent, vivacious, energetic, and resolute. That is not what I saw in her yesterday. I saw pain. Deep seated pain. While I cannot read people's minds, I know I saw pain in her eyes and in her soul. She was crushed. Like she had been through a meat grinder and left crushed and ground into balls of pain. 

Everyday people lived crushed in spirit. The reasons may vary but the results are just the same. One of the meanings of the word crushed is oppressed. Life can be oppressive. Financial burdens can wear a person down. Relational burdens can weigh heavily. Sin can devastate. Betrayal can feel like the stab of knife in the back. Death is cruel snatching from us those we love. Shattered dreams can crush people until they feel ground to a pile of powder. 

Crushed people may try and put on a brave face. Their eyes betray the truth in their souls. Some are crushed and broken hearted. Trite cliches do not offer comfort. Only God can help crushed people put the broken pieces back together again. Crushed people are forced to continue through the drudgery of duties. They dutifully march onward like a good soldier. Only they find themselves going through the motions devoid of vitality. Crushed people just try to survive the next task and to get through the day. Getting out of bed is hard. Curling up in the fetal position feels more comforting than getting up and about. 

Sadly, most of us are so busy with our over committed schedules we can miss crushed people. We do not take time to notice. I would not have noticed the crushed woman I saw except for a random glance around the room. Jesus did not rush through life and look right past crushed people. It is true that Jesus lived on purposeful mission. He was always about the Father's business. Many times people were the Father's business. Sinners in need of redemption. Hypocrites in need of holiness. Blind in need of sight. Deaf in need of hearing. Lepers in need of cleansing. Broken in need of mending. Hurting in need of comfort. Hopeless in need of a miracle. Possessed in need of deliverance. Even the dead in need of life. 

Jesus walked slowly through the crowds and noticed hurting crushed people. He saw past the exterior facade into the truth in the hidden part. Jesus noticed crushed people and reached out to help them out of their pain. I fear the church has lost sight of this at times. We are so busy keeping the programs performing at optimum levels that we sometimes forget ministry is about people and not programs. We script the worship service to begin at 10:00 or 11:00 sharp and dismiss people an hour later dull. We can get annoyed when some broken soul lingers longer at the altar than we want. We grow irritated when someone catches us needing a listening ear and a shoulder to lean on after the closing prayer when we prefer to be sitting down to lunch. The church often fails crushed people. Jesus never does. Turn to Him. Lean into Him. Rely on Him. Trust Him. He saves, rescues and helps those crushed in spirit. 

Ripe Old Age

 All good things come to an end. The same can be said of people. Abraham is a giant character in the Bible. He is noted as a man of faith. He is a patriarch of the nation of Israel which started with a promise and a long-anticipated baby boy named Isaac. 

Abrahm lived to be 175 years old. That means that he lived another century after God called him to leave his country and sojourn as a nomad. [Gen 12:1] Abraham was not perfect. Twice he lied about Sarah being his wife identifying her as his sister when he felt threatened. He foolishly listened to Sarah and married Hagar and had a child through her instead of patiently waiting for Sarah to conceive. He was tested and obeyed God. He learned to pray fervently and effectively evidenced by God sparing his nephew Lot and family before wiping out Sodom and Gomorrah. [Genesis 18:17-33]

After 175 long years of life, several wives, multiple children, and multiple God encounters Abraham breathed his last breath. That day is coming if Jesus is delayed in His return for all of us. Each of us may face the day when we breathe our last breath. 

[Gen 25:8] describes Abraham dying at a ripe old age. That phrase is used several times in the Bible. I have never given much thought to it except that it meant growing old. I think there is more to it. When we think of fruit as being ripe, we think of it being mature and ready to be eaten. It is done and ready. In the same way, Abraham was mature and ready to go meet God. He was ripe for death and everlasting life. Are we?

I talked on the phone yesterday with a retired pastor friend of mine for over an hour. He is 78. He still has a lot of energy and still preaches every chance he gets. He told me his father lived to be 93. He also recounted the lots of death he and his wife have encountered. He lost his mother when she was only 52. Both his sisters also died at 52. Jess and Linda have suffered the heartache of losing both of their adult sons. Both died unexpectedly and tragically. This was Linda's first Mother's day without either of her children. A very sad day. They have also had to bury a grandson. Jess told me, "We have seen a lot of death. A person lives as long we have will see a lot of death." That does not mean they are sour or bitter at God. I spent the night with them a few weeks ago. I love them like my own parents. 

People can age and deal with it differently. Some become sullen and bitter in their old age. Their bodies wear out. They live with chronic pain. They may lose all the people they loved. Some live so long they outlive everyone who knew them. Some of these are not people who live to a ripe old age. They do not mature. They rot. Their faith and attitudes rot like rotten fruit on the vine. These seniors are miserable and miserable to be around. 

Contrast them to those who remain sweet in spirit, joyful in attitude, and growing in their walk with the Lord. Jess told me about a passage of scripture he read yesterday morning about David that gave him hope God was not through with him. He longs to serve some small church as pastor even at 78. He inspires me. A voracious reader. A lover of people. A bold proclaimer of truth. A tender shepherd. He has been like a father to me. I want to grow old like Jess. Ripe in old age. Not rotten in old age. 

Abraham died satisfied with life. That is a big statement. How many people can really say that. Abraham outlived Sarah. He actually remarried and had six more children with Keturah. He had Ishmael and Isaac. He became a wealthy man. I don't think wealth is the thing that fulfilled him. I think it was his relationship with God and his family that satisfied him. How many people really die satisfied with their lives. 

At this point, I don't think I could honestly say that. I still have three sons who have not been blessed with wives. People tell me all the time what a blessing grandchildren are. Brenda and I have not received that blessing. I am totally satisfied with Brenda. I love her more today than the day we married nearly 33 years ago. I want to see my sons each realize their dreams in their God ordained careers. There are still things I would like to see God do in ministry. Prayers I am still waiting to be answered. I do want to get to the point where I die satisfied with life. To breathe my last breath knowing I fulfilled the purpose God put me on the earth to accomplish. That is the mark of a life not wasted but well lived. 

None of us know how long we will live. It might be snuffed from us earlier than we anticipated. We might be blessed to live to a ripe old age. Whichever God chooses, may we live while we have the opportunity to live. To love those around us. To be as productive as we can while we can. Just maybe God will grace many of us to live to a ripe old age. I also believe the return of Jesus is imminent. The rapture would also be a glorious way to go. Any way God chooses will be alright with this scribe. Ripe old age or rapture. Both would be just fine with me. 

Mission Impossible

 If you like adventure, impossible tasks, mixed with romance, then Genesis 24 is your chapter. Abraham's servant is given a mission impossible assignment. To find a wife for Isaac back in the land where Abraham grew up. I understand the culture was different back then and women did not have the ultimate say in marriage. Still the odds of success for this servant seemed unlikely. 

Unlikely unless God is your partner. The servant prayed, "O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show me lovingkindness to my master Abraham." [Gen 24:12] He furthered prayed as he rested by a spring that the woman who offered to water his camels would be the chosen one. It is important to note the man had 10 camels with him. 

Enter Rebekah. The Bible describes her as very beautiful and a virgin who had never known a man. The servant saw his opportunity. He put feet to his faith. He ran up to Rebekah after she filled her jar with water and asked her for a drink. Remember his prayer for the woman who offered to water his camels would be the chosen girl for Isaac. Impossible. Not if God is your partner. 

Consider the fact that one camel can drink 30 gallons of water at one time. Multiply that by ten. This servant believed God would prompt some woman to haul 300 gallons of water for his camels. No small task. Not something that could be done in a short period.  The servant already carrying out mission impossible now prayed an impossible prayer. 

Not impossible if God is in it. Rebekah offered to water the camels. All ten of them. The Bible reports that she emptied her jar quickly and ran back for more water for all the camels. She must have been a remarkable woman. Resolute. Strong. Beautiful. Kindhearted. A little adventurous too. 

When she finished watering the camels, the servant gave Rebekah gifts and inquired about her family. He was given lodging for the night and then made his intentions known to the girl's father. Once again, mission impossible. Only impossible if God does not intervene. He explains the whole matter was from the LORD. Improbably Rebekah's father agrees to send his daughter away with a complete stranger to marry a man he nor his daughter had ever laid eyes on. The family wanted to delay the departure, but the servant wanted to stay on task. 

Once again, the LORD intervened. The father lets Rebekah decide for herself if she wanted to go. Remember I wrote earlier that she must have been a little adventurous. This is the reason I wrote it. She decides to go. Think about that for a moment. She decides to go on a long journey alone with a complete stranger. She decides to place herself in a very vulnerable situation as a virgin. No guarantees that he would or could be able to protect her from marauders. No guarantee that he would not make advances toward her himself. She still chooses to go. 

The climatic scene of this mission impossible is right out of a Hallmark movie. From a distance Rebekah sees a man working in a field when the servant takes her back to Isaac. She inquires who it is? He tells her that it is Isaac. For many miles she has dreamed about what this future husband looked like. She covered herself with her veil making Isaac have to wait a little longer to see what his future bride looked like. 

That same day Isaac married Rebekah. Mission impossible completed. One of the last phrases recorded in Genesis 24 is that Isaac loved Rebekah. He found comfort in her as she consoled him about his mother Sarah's death. 

I wonder how many of us would have accepted such an impossible mission from God. To travel to a foreign land to find a complete stranger to be the wife of the boss's son. To boldly ask the girl's father and family to give her up and entrust her well-being to you a total stranger. To take her back to meet and marry a man on the same day she had never known. Everything about this seems impossible. Not if God is in it. There are no impossible things when God is your partner. Not even a romantic adventure. 

A Fork in the Road

 I do not recall the poet who wrote the poem about taking the path less traveled, but that has always stuck with me. God has led my family down some windy paths that others did not understand. Frankly, I did not understand some of them either. We followed faithfully where we discerned He was guiding us. 

Discerning the will of God is not an exact science. Sometimes decisions have to be made when we come to a fork in the road. We pray whether we should travel down the well beaten path others have traversed ahead of us, or take the road less traveled. A decision has to be made. We may pray, read scripture, and even fast to determine which direction to go and the answer still not be certain. 

The disciples faced such a situation in Acts 1. After Judas betrayed Jesus and then killed himself, another disciple needed to be chosen to replace Judas. They prayed. Then they did something very curious. They had two men. Joseph and Matthias. They faced a fork in the road. Who was the right person to choose?What did they do to decide? They cast lots. Can you believe that? They drew lots to determine who would become the twelfth disciple. God worked through that method to reveal what He wanted. I do not see people using that method to choose God's will these days. 

God works in mysterious ways to reveal His will and His purposes. He can do so through a scripture, a song, through another person, through random circumstances, and various other ways that cannot be predicted. He did that for Paul when facing a fork in the road about a direction in ministry. He planned to go Asia, but the Holy Spirit forbid him to do so. He tried to go to Bithynia and once again the Holy Spirit closed the door. In the middle of the night Paul had a dream. The scripture say in Acts 16:9-10 it was a vision of man from Macedonia calling for help. The next day, Paul concluded God wanted them to go to Macedonia. God revealed His will through a visionary dream. Would that be enough for any of us to determine which course to take?

God can reveal His will anyway He wants. Through drawing lots, through angels, through a burning bush, a donkey, a prophetic message, a dream, and of course through His word. The ways of God cannot be formulated. He is too personal for that, too creative, too genius, and too mysterious to ever be figured out. The only way to truly know which path to take when you face a fork in the road is stay in close communion with Him daily. He will reveal His plan and ways when He is ready and how He is ready to do so. May we all keep seeking and listening. He will guide us and sometimes He may lead us down the road less traveled. 

 

Tests

 Tests are a part of life. How many of us can recall clearing our desks and taking out a piece of paper and pencil to take a spelling test. The teacher called out different words and from memory we wrote them down. Later we learned mathematics and were tested on those facts. As we aged, we progressed to history tests and science tests. 

Most may remember taking a driving test. I remember mine like it was yesterday. I had to take it in my grandmother's station wagon. Not very cool. I also remember the DPS trooper dressed in full uniform getting in the passenger seat next to me to grade my driving skills. I was confident. I wanted to ace the test. I navigated parallel parking perfectly. I breezed through the rest of the test remembering to come to complete stops, use my turn signals, pay attention to other traffic in my mirrors, and not to break the speed limit. When he handed me my test, he gave me a 98. He said I did not use my turn signal early enough before parallel parking. I think he was not going to give a punk teenager a 100. 

Other tests followed through high school all leading to the climatic moment of graduation. Then, it was onto college and more tests. College tests were harder. I crammed loads of information into my cranium to regurgitate on paper for professors to grade. 

Then, came the dreaded philosophy class required for every Bible major. I heard many upper classmen complain about this class over the years. I put it off as long as I could until I was a junior. Philosophy was a two-semester class divided into Philosophy I and Philosophy II. When I finally got to the end of that second semester final exam my head was a fog of information and philosophers and their ideologies. I studied. I confess I was not prepared for the examination we were handed. One single question. It read, "Tell me everything you learned in my class over the last two semesters." That was it. We had an allotted two hours to complete the exam. 

It is the only time in my academic career it took me the entire two hours to complete an exam. I wrote fast and furiously. I expounded things I barely had any grasp of as well as things I fully understood. I wrote until my fingers cramped. I kept my nose down until I was one of the last students in the room. In honesty, looking back those were my favorite classes. I often bounded out of Dr. Roarke's lectures to share with Brenda all I learned. He taught me to really think. To think for myself. To dig deeper. He stretched my mind. I argued with him at times in class. He loved to embarrass students who did not complete their reading assignments. He did that to me on numerous occasions. I never got the chance to tell him the impact he had on me. I was surprised to learn recently he asked about me one day after I graduated to one of my friends who still was enrolled at HPU. It surprised me that he even remembered my name. I was just one of hundreds, maybe even thousands of other students he had over the years. His test was the hardest one I ever took. The hardest one until....

Until God began testing my faith. God does that. I read this morning from Genesis 22:1 about God testing Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham waited 25 years for God to fulfill His promise to give him a son through Sarah. After all of that waiting, praying, believing, and finally getting to hold his boy, years later God tested Abraham. It was a test of faith. An incident recorded in Hebrews 11. 

The word test in that Genesis 22:1 passage means to examine, prove, and try. If God knows everything, explain the purpose of Him testing us. He already knows what is inside of us as to what we believe. He already knows in advance how we will respond. There seems no purpose in the testing. There is. We have to learn firsthand to trust God and what He can do when we believe Him. The tests God has put me through have been vastly harder than Dr. Roarke's tests. 

God stretches us way past our comfort zones. He is constantly calling us further and deeper than we have been previously. It is uncomfortable. Tests are not meant to be comfortable. They are meant to examine what is really inside us. To prove what we really believe. God already knows. We don't until we are forced to choose. 

Abraham had to choose to obey or rebel. We do not read that Abraham even hesitated in unbelief. He heard God clearly and began taking steps of obedience. This inspires me. Abraham did not know the outcome. By faith he believed that if he did have to sacrifice his son that God would raise him again. 

The longer we follow God the more severe the tests become. Just when we think we can relax and get comfortable, God calls us to a new test, a fresh step of faith. I do not think those God tests ever stop. They keep coming as relentlessly as the surf on the seashores. We get through one test, catch our breath and then face another. This is not designed as punishment. It is designed to grow us and to keep our testimonies of beholding the faithfulness of God fresh. 

Abraham did not even get Isaac until he was 100 years old. Isaac was an adolescent when this next test came. Do you know what that tells me? God never quits stretching our faith even when we are old. 

My mentor and the man who introduced me to Jesus is now 68. He is a dreamer. God planted a dream in him many years ago that is beginning to take shape. It all started when Eli met another dreamer. A 91 one year old dreamer. They struck up a great friendship. The 91-year-old has been incredibly successful in business. He recognized the passionate dream that bubbled in Eli for decades.  He drew it out and challenged Eli to make the pursuit of this dream a reality in creating a new ministry called Solomon's Quest. Eli took the step of faith. He is launching this new ministry. At 68, he has certainly earned the right to slow down, to retire, to take it easy and enjoy his grandchildren. That is not what God tested Eli to do. He called Eli to pursue a dream like young men do. To trust and take steps of faith that many senior adults shy away from. Eli is chasing a 500-pound lion of a dream when others would turn and run the other way toward safety. 

Eli and Abraham fire me up. They challenge me to accept the tests of faith God puts before me. To not use age as an excuse to shrink from risky ventures into the safe comfy confines of my recliner. No, that does not honor God. Accepting God's faith tests honors Him, when there is no guarantee of success. Even when you cannot see any path forward. Trusting God by obeying and accepting His tests grows faith. It leads to extraordinary acts of God that often defies explanation except to give glory to God for His supernatural intervention. I want to live for those moments.

That is what the church needs. That is what the world longs to see. People who refuse to play it safe. Who really believe what they say. People who act on what God calls them to do. People who face the tests of faith and recount the faithfulness of God as a result. People long to see God at work in real tangible ways. 

God saw Abraham's faith. He stopped Abraham from plunging the knife into his son. God provided another sacrifice that day. Abraham believed God and God credited that belief to Abraham's account declaring him righteous. 

I see some tests of faith ahead. They are just thoughts and prayers at the moment. The day may very well come when I have to choose to put feet to my belief. Those tests are just theories in my head. One day God may call me to experiment that faith in the laboratory of life. Those experiments may be scary. They may not make sense on paper any more than Abraham sacrificing his son or Eli starting a ministry in his retirement years. Do I really have the raw courage to not only take, but to also pass the tests ahead of me for the rest of my days. I hope I do, but I am not sure. The only way I will ever know is when I have to choose to obey no matter how foolish it looks, how impossible it seems, or how outlandish it looks to those around me. I do not imagine Sarah was too fired up about this test of faith if she even knew about it. 

Like they say, the proof is in the pudding. The proof of Abraham's faith is that he put Isaac on the altar. The proof of Noah's faith is that he cut the first tree and the next until over a century later he finished the ark. What will be tangible proof of my faith? A book. A playground. Souls saved. A dynamic kingdom minded church impacting the culture around it. A miracle house. Each will bring certain tests of faith. I understand that now. The tests just foster the opportunity for God to do something amazing. May the Lord match our faith and character with His assignments. May our lives of faith glorify and hoor Him.  

In The Beginning

 Let's go back in time. Really back. To the very beginning. All the way back to Genesis 1:1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. We cannot go further back than that. In the beginning. The word beginning means the first time and the origin. 

In the beginning God. Some will question where did God from. What a foolish question. If He is God, and I believe that to be true, there was no beginning with God. God was just there. Self-existent. Meaning nobody need to create God. He was present. Before anything existed, God existed. Eternal in nature. He has always existed. Before there was anything but Him, He masterminded it all. The solar system, galaxies, planets, and the master plan for planet earth. Like an artist who sees his creative art in the mind before it ever makes it to the canvas or chiseled in the stone, God saw it all. When I say it all I do mean everything from the minute to the massive. All of those were nothing but ideas in the mind of God at one time. Then God went to work. 

God created. He made. He produced planets and plants. He fashioned flowers and flamingos. He chose caverns, canyons, and coastlines. He established the boundaries of water, the bottoms of ocean depths, the beautiful blue bonnets, as well as the blue whales gracefully swimming in the deep. He stretched the desert sands, littered the forests with deer, and dotted the oceans with dolphins playfully jumping in and out of the water, and just for fun blessed us with dogs of every shape and kind. Towering trees of different varieties sway in the breezes lifting up branches in unheard chorus of hallelujahs. 

I read recently that Michelangelo spent 18 years to create his famous 18 feet high statue of David. It is by all accounts a masterpiece. He reported that David was always inside. It was his job to let him out. 18 long years he stayed at the task to make such a magnificent statue for people to behold. 

Don't be mistaken. God did not have to do that. He exerted no effort in creating cosmos from chaos. He simply thought it and then spoke it into existence. Who can speak anything into existence. Even kings and bosses cannot do that. They can bark out orders of what they wish to be done and get people on task to make it happen. They cannot just speak the word to create. God can. He simply spoke and created. THERE IS MORE POWER IN THE SPOKEN WORD OF GOD THAN ANY OTHER FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE. Let that truth sink in for a moment. 

The creative genius of God is mind boggling. Just think about color. God invented colors. When is the last time you considered that truth and thanked Him. As I sit and write this, I am wearing a black tee shirt and red shorts. Lying next to me are various translations of the Bible in a stack, some black, brown, and burgundy colors for the covers. Opposite those is my white notepad where I jot down notes. Behind the computer are stacks of books covered with white, yellow, beige, brown, black, and gold jackets. There is an old blue journal covered from page to page with blue ink. All of those colors are a gift from God for us to enjoy. He could just as easily created a world of black and white. As a child, I saw black and white movies and thought there was no color back in old days. I never liked the black and white movies because they didn't really reflect the world I related to. Color is a blessing most of us take for granted. 

Ever had to go into a hardware store to choose a paint color for the walls of a room. The color choices are overwhelming. So many different shades. The creative choices of colors can be customized. In the beginning God gave those colors. What a blessing to live in a world of color. 

Let's move onto to geography. Again, the creative genius of God is displayed in the different areas of planet earth. Consider the majestic mountains. Contemplate the vastness of the oceans. Ruminate about the rivers, rainforests, and giant redwoods. Ponder the prairies, the powdery snow regions, the pure mountain streams, and the wide species of plants. Try to articulate the intricacies of Antartica as well as Alaska. From the Nile to the Mississippi, Oregon to Ontario, Egypt to Europe, North America to Africa, our planet is vastly different. Take a moment and take in the scenery where you live. From the desert plains of west Texas to the swamps of Louisiana, and the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans just the geography of the United States is a wonderland to be explored. God crated all of it. A whole planet of wonders. All just with a spoken word. 

Consider animals. God chose different species with unique features like the giraffe, elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, antelope, alligator, aardvark, bee, bison, cardinal, cobra, cow, eagle, horse, hummingbird, lizard, lion, mountain lion, mosquito, tiger, python, seal, and zebra. All different, unique, and masterminded by God. 

I do not have time to consider the variety of species of plants and animals. Then there are people. Each with a unique genetic code. Each with customized DNA. The human body is so complex I cannot even begin to fathom all the intricacies. 

There is so much truth in Genesis 1:1. I do not have the mental capacity, vocabulary, or the stamina to fully exhaust that one verse. Consider the other 31, 101 verses of the Bible to be explored and unpacked. So much truth. So little time to study, meditate, teach, preach, and write about them. Alas, I'm relegated today to stop with in the beginning. I am thankful for the reminder of how great God is and how little I am. I am just one of about 8 billion other people on the planet. How amazing that He considers me and knows my name. It is my honor to seek Him and proclaim Him as long as I am able. Starting from in the beginning. 

The Climatic Conclusion

 I finished reading through Revelation the climatic conclusion of the Bible and our planet this morning. In those 22 chapters, there are the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments. There is the rise of the antichrist. The establishment of a one world government. Persecution of the saints. The eventual capture and binding of Satan during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. Satan gets released after a 1,000 years and he rallies the world against God at Armageddon. It is not even a fight. God sends down fire and consumes the armies of Satan. Satan is captured and thrown in the lake of fire forever. 

People maneuver, strategize, politicize, and position their military might. Most are not aware that the script has already been written. Certain things are coming into play even now. Organizations like the World Economic Forum and World Health Organization are bent on creating a global New World Order. RFID chips are already being implanted under the skin of some around the world ushering in the day of the mark of the beast. Artificial Intelligence is rewriting the Bible. An AI avatar actually preached a sermon in Europe and 300 people showed up to listen. These are just to name a few things going on right under our noses speeding us toward the climatic end. 

Chaos is building with issues like the border crisis and college campus protests all in order to destabilize society. Corrupt politicians from BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLES care more about padding their pockets than working for the welfare of their constituents. The judicial system mocks justice offering judgments to the highest bidders. The church is apathetic, anemic, and AWOL as the world self implodes. We stand on the brink of World War III and most are oblivious to it. 

These things give me no joy to write about. They are not positive happy talking points. The financial pressure is increasing on the middle class. Multiple people have talked to me about rising property taxes and grocery costs in recent days. We are constantly being told how good the economy is by pundits while our pocketbooks are screaming a very different message. 

Reading Revelation today gave me pause to rest in peace. God wins in the end. One day, I believe soon, the trumpet of God will blast and Jesus will appear to call His church home. Millions of true Christians will be raptured off this sin infested planet. Seven years of tribulation will pound planet earth with the wrath of God. Those will be horrible days. Brutal, harsh, and days of calamity unlike the world has ever seen. The antichrist will rise to power in a time of chaos promising peace. Three and a half years into it his true colors will show. He will demand to be worshiped and claim to be God. He will have those who do not worship him executed. All of this is written. 

We are hurling down the runway of the climatic conclusion. I hope you are ready. I urge you with all that is within me to repent of sin, turn to Jesus pleading for salvation, and walk in a manner pleasing to Him if you have not done so alredy. Time is short. I make no predictions. I just state the facts. I read the signs of the time. I believe it will not be long, very possibly in our lifetimes. Satan is winning right and left now. In God's climatic conclusion, the devil loses. God wins. Come soon Lord Jesus. Come soon. 

Faith Demonstrated by Works

 I read about faith and works this morning from James 2:14-26. In essence, that passage exhorts us that faith not accompanied with works is a dead faith. The examples of Abraham and Rehab are given who demonstrated their faith by doing something. 

Many people say they have faith. When it comes to putting that faith into action, faith seems less common. When I read that passage earlier, I asked myself, "What works are God calling me to do by faith.?" 

I thought about the children of Israel when God told them in Deut 1:21 about possessing the land and not giving into fear. Fear is a powerful emotion. Fear can cripple and paralyze people's faith. Possessing the land was faith with works. They were going to have to fight for each square mile of that promised territory. Yes, God promised it. Israel had to put feet to their faith and with sword in hand to seize the land battle by battle. 

What is God calling us to do? There are works that He intends for us to do that demonstrate our faith. Faith in action. Each of us has our own territory to possess. At some point, we will have to take a faith step. It might appear frightening. It might be risky. It may seem the odds are impossibly stacked against us. The step or steps of faith will be necessary to obey God. 

People are good at offering lip service. Faith isn't so much about what we say. I can say what I believe. It is when I obey that I demonstrate who I believe in enough to work out that faith. Hebrews 11:6 reminds us that it is impossible to please God without faith, we must believe that He is and rewards those who seek Him. How many are living not pleasing God because they refuse to operate in faith? Individuals do this. So do churches. Even faith based organizations are guilty. 

God plants His dreams and will in His people. He expects us to believe Him for those things and to work out our obedience as a result. Author and Pastor Mark Batterson says, "Pray like it only depends on God, but work like it only depends on you." Faith followed by works. 

Some will say they believe and sit around praying and waiting for something to happen. Others will busy themselves frantically with activity trying to make something happen without prayer. I think faith demonstrated with works is both. I think Batterson has it right. Yes, pray fervently. Work diligently at the same time you are praying and after God reveals the next steps. Possess the land. Pray for victories and take up your sword in battle to claim what God wants done This is the way He is glorified. 

The Calling

 Where did you grow up? Is that the place you still live? I grew up in the piney woods of east Texas. Lufkin to be more specific. That is where my kin are buried. Lufkin is four and a half hours from Weatherford, TX. We traveled back there this past summer for a few days to see some friends and to get away for a couple of days. I had not been back there for years. 

We ate at my favorite restaurant. A little burger place called Ray's. Every burger I have eaten is compared to Ray's. No burger has topped it from all over the United States I have tried. We drove by our old homeplace. I saw Jone's hill where I used to race my bike. We drove around Englewood Estates where I grew up from elementary school until I went off to college. I even got to drive by Abe Martin football stadium where I played for the Lufkin Panthers, but more importantly where Jesus saved me in the stands. The trip was nostalgic for me. 

We drove by the first church I served as pastor. We made our way to the first home Brenda, and I bought by faith. We drove to the church where I was baptized and taught the fundamentals of God's word for years. 

I will always think fondly of Lufkin. It is not my home anymore. My whole life changed July 4, 1985. I had no idea what God was up to that night except for one thing, I could not shake His calling on my life to preach. Our youth group was at camp. For months I wrestled with the calling. The LORD persisted and on that night I surrendered. I had no idea what that would mean. How surrendering to that calling was just the first step of many other callings on my life to follow Jesus Christ my Lord. 

Abraham knew what it was like to get a calling. An unusual calling. A unique calling. God called him to get up and leave His country to go to a place God would show him. Not many details. An open-ended calling to trust and obey. Abraham was 75 years old at the time. He was married and settled down. All his kin lived there. 

The calling of God comes unexpectedly and honestly sometimes unwelcomed. God invaded Abraham's normal, comfortable, and secure life to a life of faith. Not very many stand in line to sign up for that kind of life of faith. 

My youth pastor gave me some great advice the summer after I graduated from college. I was just days away for leaving home to attend Howard Payne University. Eli Bernard told me, "It will never be the same when you return home again. From this time forward, each time you return home you will do so with a suitcase in hand." He was right. I came back home for the summer after my freshman year at college. After that, I never came home for another summer and made it back home mainly for holidays. 

God's calling to a life of faith is foreign to many people. They are not open to listen nor to follow such a calling. Let me say it is not an easy life, but it sure is a thrilling life. Abraham obeyed by faith. Why? Because he heard Yahweh's calling. The irresistible, inexplicable, and incomprehensible calling from Jehovah. 

God's callings often do not make sense. You cannot logically rationalize it in the mind. That is why it is a call to live by faith. I cannot imagine the difficult conversations between Terah, his father, and Sarai his wife. Picture it with me. I am sure that Abraham awkwardly approached his wife and summoned the courage to tell her, "We're moving." Brenda and I have had those conversations, and they are never easy nor pleasant. I've dreaded them over the years.

Deduce Sarai's reaction. I am sure questions surfaced in her like why and where. Abraham's reply must have been ambiguous. Why, because God called me to move. Where, I do not know He told me He would show me. We have no record of God revealing this same thing to Sarai. Only Abraham. She had to trust that her husband did hear from God and trust God to follow the calling. 

They obeyed. There comes a moment in the life of believers who hear God's calling that you have to choose to obey or disobey. Abraham had to tell his father at some point. I can see that being a very difficult conversation. Terah wanted to be surrounded in his old age by his son and eventual grandchildren. Many people get talked out of the calling of God at this point. They put family before God. Commendably, Abraham put God before family. 

He obeyed with Sarai, his nephew Lot, and their servants to sojourn in tents without planting deep roots. They lived a nomadic life. All because of a calling. 

There is power in a calling from God. When people really hear God call them to a task, many follow. They chase hard after God into some wild adventures. I think about one of my favorite authors, Mark Batterson, following God from Chicago to Washington DC to eventually start a church in movie theaters. National Community Church is now several thousand people in attendance. They even own a coffeehouse. None of that was known when the Battersons packed their belongings and moved several states to follow God's calling. 

God was so pleased with Abraham's obedience that He chose to include this incident in the famous Hebrews 11 hall of faith chapter. You read it in Hebrews 11:8. By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going to a place which he was to receive for and inheritance and went out not knowing where he was going. 

Many people consider that a frightening way to live. I believe it is the only way to live. The biblical way to live. Living surrendered and available. Most people will never experience a calling so drastic as the one God gave to Abraham. Some do. Some are called to uproot, to follow to distant cities or nations to do the work of God. 

We sometimes sing the old song Trust and Obey. Abraham lived it. He obeyed the call even though family members probably did not fully agree or understand. He obeyed when he did not even know where he was going. He had to follow God daily to know where to go next which might have seemed a little unsettling. Sarai could not build her nest as she had to constantly pack and unpack to head what Abrahm heard from the LORD. He obeyed when the calling did not make sense to the natural mind. He obeyed and as a result of his faith what did God do? Start the nation of Israel that will play a key role in prophetic end times. It started with a calling and a step of obedience. Will you obey when God calls the next time?

My Captain

 I shuffled down the aisle to find my seat on an American Airlines flight from DFW to Atlanta. Seat 30C. Only I got it wrong because another guy got it wrong. I sat in 31C. I got up when the ticketed passengers informed, I was in the wrong seat. I had to notify the guy sitting in my seat was in the wrong seat. I sat down and buckled my seat belt. If you can imagine what sardines feel like confined in a can, you get a pretty good idea of what it felt like to be wedged into that seat. 

My hopes were dashed when the flight attendant came on the intercom to inform us the flight was completely full. 200 total passengers. No empty seats. Eventually everyone found their seat and the cabin door was closed so we could taxi from the gate to make our way to the runway. The thrill of propulsion when we got ready for takeoff is thrilling as the jet engines hoisted us into air. 

The captain spoke to us about the turbulent weather we would encounter along the way and the flight attendants would not be serving us in air for their safety. Sure enough we hit rough air. We jolted up and down and from side to side. I had faith in my captain to get all of us safely on the ground to our destination. 

I never met our captain. Nor did I ever see him. I trusted him anyway to do the job. Things got interesting when we approached the Atlanta airport for touchdown. That big metal bird jolted up and down and from side to side. I don't ever recall a more turbulent approach for landing. The captain fought the winds as the plane rocked from side to side. I never feared nor worried. I trusted my captain. I sat in an aisle seat and could not see out the window. When the wheels touched the ground, it surprised me for two reasons. I did not realize we were that close to the ground. Nor did I expect such a silky-smooth landing. 

The captain did not present himself at the cabin door as we exited the plane. I never saw him. I heard him twice when he spoke over the intercom. I appreciated him though. Gratitude filled my heart because he got us all safely where we were supposed to be. 

What is true for flying is much truer for living. Jesus Christ is my Captain. He took over the controls of my life 41 years ago. There have been some turbulent tumultuous times on the journey. He has navigated all of it with precision. He has piloted me through storms and tranquility. I trust that He will get me safely home. To land eternally in heaven forever. 

I have never seen my Captain Jesus Christ. Not one time. I did meet Him initially back in October of 1983. Though I have never seen Him, I certainly have heard Him. Never audibly, but He has spoken continually through His word and into my spirt for over four decades. He has provided necessary strength, comfort, wisdom, and guidance along the way. 

I trust Him. I trust that He is more than able to get me and those I love safely to the Promise Land of Heaven. I trust my Captain to guide me wherever pleases Him. I trust my Captain to see me all the way. It does not matter what lies ahead me before I safely arrive home. My Captain will get me there. Sometimes He will fly me around and away from potentially dangerous storms. Other times He will fly me right into the middle of them and bring me safely through on the other side. I trust my Captain. 

When my final day, final hour, final minute and waning seconds come, my Captain will touch me down where I have longed to be for decades. When I land, I trust He will present Himself and say the words I have yearned to hear, "Well done good and faithful servant." What a day of rejoicing that will be when my Lord Jesus I will see. I anticipate I will fall at His feet and get lost in worship for a couple of thousands of years before anything else, because my Captain got me safely to my final destination. . 

Keeping in Step with the Spirit

 The Holy Spirit is an integral part of the Trinity. He is often ignored. Rightly so, the Father, and Jesus Christ the Son get all the attention. John wrote that the role of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Jesus. Nowhere do we read in scripture where the Holy Spirit is to be regarded over the Father and the Son. That does not mean that the Holy Spirit does not play a vital role in the lives of believers and in the church. 

Earlier this week I read the phrase "keeping in step with the Spirit." It grabbed my attention. I can think of verses that reiterate this point. Galatians 5:16 and Galatians 5:25 exhort us to live by the Spirit. To stay in step with Him day in and day out. What does that even look like? Let me give an example. I had an incident this week that upset me greatly. I had a choice of how to react. My flesh, that natural carnal nature wanted to react one way. I mulled over different ways I could put those thoughts into action. The Holy Spirit opposes the flesh and directed me to react in the completely opposite direction. I prayed through it and settled on keeping in step with the Spirit and denying the flesh. 

We face situations like that constantly. Keeping in step with the Spirit pleases God. I think there is more to keeping in step with the Spirit than not just acting or reacting in natural ways. There is also following His leadership. We are called to live by the Spirit. To obey His promptings, yield to His guidance, and follow His directions. The Holy Spirit is constantly working in the lives of God's people to reveal the will of the Father. He does it various ways. For Abram it was a voice telling him to leave his homeland. For Moses it was a burning bush. Samuel heard a voice in the middle of the night. Elijah heard it as a still small voice. Paul had a dream that altered his course of ministry. 

The Holy Spirit is continually communicating with the people of God. He convicts of sin. He calls people to repentance and salvation. He comforts people who grieve and are brokenhearted. He empowers for service. He reveals the will of God. The Spirit is speaking. The question is are we listening?

Several years ago, I was leading a retreat for college students. One of the exercises we did was to spend an hour alone listening to God. It was a cold morning as the students scattered all over the campgrounds to pray and listen. 

I walked and prayed pleading with the Lord to speak to me. I felt this deep impression in my mind to go up to a girl named Courtney and tell her that God wanted her to go to Howard Payne University. Courtney was a high school senior who asked permission to attend the retreat. I knew Courtney. She was one of the smartest kids in her school. I heard her say numerous times she did not want to go to a small college. She grew up in a small town. She wanted to go to a large prestigious college. I questioned the impression in my mind whether it was really a word from the Lord. 

The impression persisted even stronger. I walked and prayed a little longer trying to discern was this the Holy Spirit or some random thought of my own imagination. The longer I prayed the more convinced I felt the Holy Spirit wanted me to share this information with Courtney. I cannot ever remember another time when the Holy Spirit revealed God's will for someone else to me. I did not even get this for my four sons when they were choosing colleges. 

I walked up to Courtney as she prayed. She sat on the ground bundled up with a heavy coat and a hood on her head. Her face was buried between her knees. I walked up behind her and said, "Courtney, I believe the Lord wants me to tell you that He wants you to go to Howard Payne University." I turned and walked away praying that I had not made a mistake. 

I saw Courtney every week at our church. I never spoke to her again about that matter. What happened? Courtney did choose to go to Howard Payne University. She met her husband there and graduated. She is a successful young wife, mother, and advancing in her career choice. I am thankful I heard the Lord that day and stayed in step with the Spirit. It was not in my comfort zone. 

I cannot tell you the number of times I will sit on the front pew of a worship service when suddenly the Spirit impresses on me that I need to change the message. It has even happened as I stood behind the pulpit and bowed to pray before preaching. Sometimes it happens in the middle of a song. Sometimes it starts with a random persisting thought. I get this deep conviction that I am not to preach what I prepared during the week. When I have the courage to keep in step with the Spirit and preach what He impresses trusting Him for the words, something special usually happens. People will come up to me afterwards and say, "That message was for me." I chuckle and tell them God changed the message in the service. 

Keeping in step with the Spirit is applicable for every part of our lives. Raising a family. The job. Ministry. Brenda used to pray before she went to bed that God would show her how to set up her floors when she worked as a merchandise manager for JC Penney. Each time she got a clear mental picture the next morning and know what to do. 

May we all devote ourselves anew to keep in step with the Spirit in every area of our lives. I am convinced we will see God do some amazing things when we do. 

Life Laid Down

 When a person comes to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that person becomes a follower. Another way to put that is the person becomes a disciple of Christ. When you go back and read the expectations put on His first disciples, they were invited to follow and leave everything. 

The Apostle Paul lived in that vein as well. He laid down his life to become a disciple of Jesus. He wrote so many powerful things in his epistles. One of them that has impacted me greatly can be found in Romans 12:1. Therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. 

What possible motivation could a Christian have for laying down their life on the altar as a sacrifice to God? It all goes back to the cross. When people really consider the centrality of the cross, what our Lord did there, and the reason He did it, His sacrificial death changes our perspective. It was the sheer love and mercy of God to offer salvation. None of us deserved it. We certainly could not earn it. We can never ever repay it. God acted in mercy. How does a person respond to such mercy? Offer their whole life to Him in devotion and service. When people forget the cross, they think of our Messiah's death as nothing more than an insurance policy. 

God demands that we present our bodies to Him. The word present means to offer and to yield? When Jesus Christ saved us, He did so by purchasing us. Let me be very clear at this point. He therefore OWNS us. That is the reason Paul identified as a bond slave or bondservant of Jesus in his writings repeatedly. Some will take offense to the notion that Jesus owns us. I Corinthians 6:20 says we have been bought with a price and should glorify God in our bodies. When you buy something you own it. It is no different for our Lord. He owns us, but many people treat Him like He only rents them. Like He has to ask permission to make any changes. Absolute heresy. Jesus Christ does not have to ask our permission to require us to do anything. He can help Himself to our lives no matter how inconvenient that might be. 

Some would say this sounds like slavery. It most certainly does. There is one major difference. The true Christ followers voluntarily offer their lives. They choose to live surrendered to His Lordship. They yield to His wishes. They do this because they grasp the enormity of the sacrifice He made on the cross. Understanding that changes everything. They willfully lay their lives down. 

In the Old Testament when people offered a sacrifice, they brought their calf, goat, or lamb to be placed on the altar. The altar was the place of slaughter. It was a bloody gruesome place. They made multiple offerings, but that animal was only offered once. When the animal was sacrificed, the life ended for that animal. 

Paul exhorts us to present our bodies as a LIVING holy sacrifice. This is not something that is done only once. He is exhorting us to live daily offering our lives as a living sacrifice. What we did yesterday will not suffice for today. Each day we lay our lives before our Lord Jesus voluntarily offering ourselves in service to Him. What does that look like? 

It means living available. It means living surrendered to His will over our own will. It means living yielded to His invitation and calls to go on assignment for Him. I will be honest. This is not always easy. Hence the word Paul used to present our bodies as a living and holy SACRIFICE. That means to renounce our dreams, our plans, our wishes in subjection to His dreams, His plans, and His wishes. That appears to be a pretty foreign concept for many church people. It is what is expected for all Christ followers. 

It is kind of unnerving to live that way. You never know from day to day what God will reveal and demand next. A huge sacrificial financial commitment. Joining a new ministry. Helping a neighbor. Giving up time to help others. For some it might even mean relocation. 

Gary was our neighbor across the street in Runaway Bay, TX. He was much older and had really bad knees. A knee surgery did not completely fix the issues. At the time, I had a mowing business with our four sons, and therefore had a zero turn mower. Part of the sacrifice God required of me was to mow Gary's yard each time I mowed mine. It did not take that much extra time to mow it. I also trimmed the yard with the weedeater. He always came out to watch and then we visited. I got the chance to share the love of Jesus with him. He confessed to be saved, but I was never completely sure. I mowed for him free of charge right up until we moved from that home. 

That is one small example of living sacrificially. I have known people God required to make serious financial commitments. One lady sacrificed $1,400 monthly to a cause God instructed her to give to for years over and above the tithes she gave to her church. God has required people to give cars and even houses away. These are inconvenient and uncomfortable. That is the way His followers are supposed to live. 

It is the way we are all called to live. Do we dare lay our lives down to Him? Do we have the guts to take this call seriously? We will if we never forget the sacrifice He made on the cross for our salvation. Day after day we climb upon that altar and offer our bodies and our lives in service to Him. That is living life laid down.