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.

Skype + Prayer

On Easter Sunday we enjoyed the afternoon at my brother's home along with a few friends. The highlight of our time together is when our family in Guatemala contacted us by 'skype.' My brother bought a camera & headset for $10.00 at an outlet store just to see if it would worked. It did, and there we were speaking to our family in their living room in Guatemala. My mother-in-law, who is in her late eighties laughed and clapped her hands every time one of our faces appeared on their screen. It was such a joy just to watch her reaction to each face. She was so fascinated by modern technology that cost my brother very little. I wonder if God is as excited to hear from us when we pray? Revelation gives us a glimpse when it says that our prayers ascend to Him as they are offered before the throne on a golden altar. Just like everything else we tend to complicate prayer. A friend of mine told me years ago about how to pray. He said talk to God just like you talk to me. It was good advice and I still use it today after 35 years. So, if your not in the habit of prayer I beleive that the Lord is just waiting to hear your voice. He's probably laughing and clapping His hands telling Gabriel, "There's my child."

Does Anyone Know What is Coming Next?

In the past month we have seen one of the worst natural disasters in our lifetime. In Japan an earthquake and a tsunami killed thousands of people and left thousands more homeless. Some have lost everything. The pictures are amazing as you see a wall of water destroying everything in it's path. Weeks later we saw American fighter jets flying over Libya as the Middle East seems to becoming apart at the seams. Governments that have been in place for decades are now crumbling to the ground. At home, city governments, state governments and even the federal government is on the brink of declaring bankruptcy. We've spent ourselves to death. Were broke. Bible prophets are working overtime trying to keep up with the events fitting Scripture into everything that is happening. I feel like the Apostle Paul who told the Corinthian church to "Stand firm and let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord." We need to get a grip on things and keep a steady hand on the wheel as we navigate through these times. They certainly are not for the heartless. It's not a good time to drift from the Lord and His Word. It's our foundation that cannot be shaken. Because, nobody knows what is coming next. It might even be His return. So hang on, things are getting pretty interesting and remember, Jesus is Lord!

You could've done better!

One of my favorite speakers over the years is a pastor by the name of Dan Betzer. He is the pastor of a church in the Fort Myers area. His messages are not only humorous at times but very challenging. If you ever had the opportunity to hear him speak you'll soon realize his passion for missions. Last year at a conference I heard him speak on missions again using a story about baseball great Ted Williams. Apparently Williams challenged another player who he thought could have done better. He then weaved the story into his mission's message that evening challenging all of us to do better ourselves. I've keep some of his old 'bylines' he produced years ago through the internet. Many of the ones I've kept have to do with missions. Our church isn't much bigger than some Sunday School classes of the larger churches but we love to support missionaries. I'm so grateful that through the years our church has embraced and supported missions. We still love to hold an annual mission's conference bringing in missionaries from off the field and new ones who are trying to get on. It's early in the year but we are already starting to line up this year's speakers for our conference. I can't wait. Perhaps this year we'll do better. We always can.

My Hero Came for a Visit

Not many people will ever call their mother-in-law a hero. However, mine is. She is one of my hero's in the faith. I was sharing with a group of men in a restaurant this morning about her and tears came to my eyes as I talked about this 75 pound woman who stands about 4 foot 10. She has spoken to me and displayed her faith in God throughout the years I have known her. Many times she has found herself on the battlefield of life facing her Goliath. She has been victorious every time because of her faith and trust in God. Life hasn't been easy for her but I have never heard her complain. She is always giving glory to God and spreading His love to others. She is in town with my sister-in-law visiting the family and enjoying her new great-granddaughter. Momita isn't getting around with the usual bounce in her step as she approaches her 88th birthday. A concern to us all. When Paul was sending Epaphroditus home in the book of Philippians, chapter 2, he made this comment concerning this man. He's my bother, fellow worker and fellow soldier. When he comes home welcome him in the Lord and honor men like him. My mother-in-law is like this man. A sister, fellow worker and fellow soldier who is always welcomed in my home because I definitely honor people like her. Thank you Momita for always displaying your love, faith and trust in the Lord you love so much, and thank you Lord for allowing this giant in the faith to come into my life.