The Value of Man

I'm not to much of a collector of things but I have several ticket stubs to events I went to as a young man. Mostly sport events. Several of the stubs are from the Cleveland Brown's and Cleveland Indian's games. One of them is from the championship game of 1964 when the Browns shutout the Baltimore Colts. The last championship team in Cleveland. I also have the first Monday night game stub with the New York Jets when Joe Namath came into town. Monday night football started in Cleveland, Ohio. I now have a person who is interested in purchasing these old stubs and wanted to know what is their value to me. The actual value of any object is that which is placed on it by the owner or the buyer. But what value do you place on yourself? Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Some call it a bowl of soup, others call it a bowl of stew. Nevertheless his birthright was valued pretty low. In essence he was saying that he would rather have a bowl of soup than a relationship with God Almighty. Others have sold out cheap too. We hear it and see it all the time. Man puts very little value on his soul and often is willing to sell out for a very cheap price. However, God looks at things differently. In Proverbs the price of God's wisdom is more precious than rubies. A valuable gem. In 1 Peter the genuineness of our faith is much more precious than gold that perishes. But the soul of man is different. God has shown the value He placed on each of us by sending His Son to redeem us. Not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. In the eyes of God we are so valuable to Him that He gave His very best to buy us back. God forbid that we will ever say again, "God doesn't love me." God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Every person in the world deserves to hear this. It's called "Good News." But it's never good news until it gets there on time. Lets share the love of God with others this New Year. I've challenged my church, and myself, to believe God for twelve divine appointments this year to share Jesus with others. 12 in 12, or 12 divine appointments in the year 2012. Please join us and lets see who the Lord brings into our pathways.

In Everything Give Thanks

The other day I received a call from a young man our church has been praying for for about two years. I wasn't sure if he was dead or alive, so it was so good to hear his voice. He was in a treatment center drying out and trying to get his life in order. It was his ninth rehab including Teen Challenge in his young 33 years of life. My wife and I went to see him and to encourage him. My heart was broken as he told me there were seventy men, mostly young, in this particular rehab center with similar problems. I could see the despair on their faces. I don't like to cast any stones at people like this young man or any other person for their faults. I too am a sinner saved by God's grace, and had it not been for His grace I don't think I would have lived this long. So this Thanksgiving I'm so grateful for the amazing grace of God and His mercy for me. I'm grateful for the person who shared the Good News with me as a young man. I'm thankful for a good church to worship God and the ability to read and comprehend His Word as He reveals truth to me. I'm humbled by the fact that He would trust me enough to fill me with His Holy Spirit to be a witness unto Him. When I read in 2nd Timothy that this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners I say AMEN. So I know that there is help for this young man. I know that God's grace is sufficient to save, deliver, heal and forgive no matter what he or I have done. I'll keep him in my prayers. He stated a desire to return to Teen Challenge and he still has a tender heart towards God. Pray with me God's grace will capture him this time.

Big Mandate on a Little Church

Our church isn't the biggest church on the block yet God has given us a 'big mandate.' It's to fulfill the Great Commission of preaching the Gospel everywhere. God's main priority has always been saving souls. Jesus Himself said He came to seek and to save that which was lost. The purpose of His mission cost Him His life yet He was faithful to it. When a congregation makes God's priority their priority He will bless that church and the individuals of that church. Our church is about to have it's annual missions convention this November. How exciting it is to hear the stories of what Jesus is doing on the front lines in other parts of the world. We believe that as we invest in missions we do so in direct obedience to fulfill our purpose as a church. Missions is one of the church's activities that everyone should respond to no matter what their age is. We have a stern warning in the Book of Luke when Jesus told the crowd to beware of covetousness because a person's life does not consist of the things he owns. After He spoke the parable of the rich man who pulled down his barns to store up all his crops he died that night. Jesus call him a fool because he laid up his treasure for himself but wasn't rich toward God. How many of us fail to understand life's true objective. Advance the Kingdom of God. So here we go. Another advantage given to us by God to fulfill the Great Commission. Supporting missionaries as they go to places that we will never go except in our prayers. Let's do our best for our King and His Kingdom.

God's Schooling

I went to see friend of mine who is in a retirement center but still active in his walk with the Lord. He was sharing with me about the influence his Bible school teacher had on his life fifty years ago. The teacher would start out his class with some statement that we would probably call a golden nugget. Something that will change the way we think. Before one class the teacher said this, "I know you are all here to learn homiletic and hermeneutics but I want you to enroll in the school of the knowledge of God. I want you to get the know the God of the Bible." That night my friend went home and said, "Wow, I just don't want to know the Bible but I want to know the Author of it." He knelt and prayed that God would enroll his life in the school of the knowledge of God and his life was transformed. God sent my friend to over fifty countries to peach the Good News about Christ, pastor and plant churches, be a missionary himself, and sit on several presbytery boards of our fellowship. He also saw countless thousands respond to the gospel and many filled with the Holy Spirit throughout his years. I recently read about our world being filled with insecurity and uncertainty so we must all learn to walk by faith. Regardless of how old we are or how long we have walked with the Lord. Living by faith means obeying the Scriptures in spite of our feelings, circumstances, or consequences. It means holding on to God's truth no matter how heavy the burden may seem or how dark the outlook may be. It's trusting God through thick and thin. The only way we could possibly do this is by enrolling ourselves in the school of the knowledge of God. Knowing God and trusting Him through it all. Even though I have walked with God for forty years now, I went home that evening and asked God to enroll me in the school of the knowledge of God. I want to keep my spirit teachable at all times and keep learning about the One I love so much. So here I am again in school with the Bible as my textbook and the Holy Spirit as my teacher. I wonder what the Lord is going to teach me through the next forty years. This is exciting!

Harvest Time

Many people like the change of the seasons and especially look forward to the fall after the long hot summer. One of my favorite times is stopping at the roadside stands that are selling their produce that they harvested from their farms. I like to buy the fresh fruit and vegetables and share them with my family. Harvest Time comes after all the hard work of planting, waiting, and then reaping the benefits. There is a great spiritual lesson from all of this found in the book of Galatians. Paul told us not to grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Even though the process seems slow at times we can count on three things. First, God will cause a harvest to come from our seeds. It's important to keep planting wherever we go and trust God. Second, God is never early or late. Even when we don't understand His timing we still need to trust in Him with all of our hearts. Long-suffering is never easy but beneficial. And third, our harvest will have the same nature as the seeds we have sown. This is very important to know because good seeds will produce good harvests and bad seeds will produce bad harvests. No seeds will produce no harvest. So refuse to become discouraged and determine to keep your faith alive and active. Stay in God's Word and allow your faith to grow in Him. Determine to sow good seed because God is faithful to bring about your harvest. Lets do some planting, lets do some waiting (prayer) and lets do some harvesting. Its always harvest time.

Examine Yourselves

In the Book of 2nd Corinthians, Scripture instructs us to examine ourselves as to whether we are in the faith or not. Its a tough Scripture but its there. My devotions find me in the Book of Psalms and many of them deal with the sins of Israel as they headed toward God's blessings in the land that He promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Even once in the land they turned their backs on God. The root of their sin was unbelief. In Psalm 95:7-8 the Psalmist cries out, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts..." Along with my devotions I'm reading a book called the "The Treasury of David" an in depth exposition of Psalms by Charles Spurgeon. In Psalm 95:10 it says in different Bible versions that God was either angry or grieved with that generation of people for 40 years. Spurgeon says God was nauseated and disgusted with them. He also points out that their sin wasn't skin-deep but deep in their inner beings, their heart. Their soul was defiled with unbelief. But the real shocker is Verse 11 were God Himself declares an oath in His anger that they would never enter into His rest. Spurgeon's comment goes like this. "It is no small thing to grieve our long-suffering God to this extent. Jehovah would not have it. Their carcasses fell in the wilderness." There's a final warning. God who does not change will do the same to all who choose to leave the way of faith for paths of murmuring and mistrust. If these rebels could not enter into God's rest because of their unbelief, what makes us think we are any different? Spurgeon goes on to say that there is ground for much searching of the heart concerning this matter. Our unbelief insults one of the dearest attributes of Deity, His love for His people. So, this is a good time to search our own souls and see whether or not if we are truly in the faith. I trust you are.

FAITH

Faith is an interesting subject. You can go to the book store and find several books on the subject but my favorite is the Bible. The Bible tells me that without faith it is impossible to please God. It also tells me that the way to obtain faith is by hearing the Word of God. But real faith comes when you put the Word of God into action. Now my saving faith becomes a living faith. I begin to trust the Lord to move in the circumstances of my life. There is an interesting statement found in Hebrews 11:34. After giving us an impressive list of Bible characters in verse 32 the Bible tells us "whose weakness was turned to strength." I have to admit that at times my faith is sorely tested and I feel very weak. I'm also thankful that Paul said that God's grace would be sufficient to go through life and that His strength would be made perfect in those weak moments. This shows me that I must depend on the Lord at all times. I haven't arrived yet. My faith is still be developed in several areas. I have health issues, relationships that need to be strengthened, financial decisions that always pop up, and prayers that still need to be answered. Everyone of them come under the umbrella of 'trusting God.' If you don' have a devotional life, today would a good time to develop one. Allow the Holy Spirit to open up your understanding to the Scriptures and watch 'faith' come alive in your heart.