Uncompromising

There are so many who love ever to talk the talk, 
Fewer are those who are willing to walk the walk, 
To speak for Christ an uncompromising true word, 
That offends people and the world thinks is absurd, 
Few there be who speak bravely with prophetic voice, 
Entitled people feel everyone should have their choice,
Sin is rampant killing this once great valiant nation,
The rules are reinvented and changed without cessation,
Tolerance is the catch word used by the masses for today,
Until "thus says the Lord" cuts too deep and gets in the way,
Followers of Christ now are given their censored limitations,
Silenced through threats and a mob mentality intimidation,
Yet the remnant still stand bold, faithful, their voice still true,
Our kind have suffered on persecuted paths black and blue,
They were beaten, burned, battered and severely bruised,
Refusing to cower but desiring they might more to be used,
The majority rule opposed, worked, tried to silence the song,
The pagans cried is not true and therefore must be wrong,
Warriors for Christ stood firmly on the Word a sure foundation,
Pointing lost sinners to Christ through a gospel explanation,
Followers of Jesus loved, served and prayed for hateful enemies,
Submitting to suffering as Christ like the garden of Gethesemane,
No matter how the world cries and tries to reinvent the absolutes,
The follower of Christ must remain steadfast and ever resolute,
Persecution will come for those courageous enough to stand,
May we intercede that God might withhold His judging hand,
Until the nation repents ushering in the day of glorious revival,
In this war only the spiritually fit will remain and endure in survival,
The consequences are too high, eternity for souls is still at stake,
May Christ followers endure no matter the persecution they take.

O Come

I sit and wait for your children to come,
To expound the truth for everyone,
The ink is still wet on printed page,
With a message for all to engage,
O come follower of Jesus all,
Listen to His beckoning call,
O come and recall your salvation,
A reason to rejoice in celebration,
O come swim in His infinite grace,
Where sins are washed and erased,
O come child of the one true King,
Come learn death has no more sting,
The truth awaits those eager to learn,
Saved from wrath and eternal burn,
O come follower of the Jesus way,
He still has much He wants to say.

God Knows Your Address

Several weeks ago a storm came through the community of Runaway Bay, where we live, causing some hale damage to our roof. We contacted our fantastic insurance agent and secured a roofer. When we got our estimate we knew we were going to have to trust God for about $900, so we began praying like we have hundreds of other times in our family. 

The roofer completed the job and we waited on our insurance company to send the payment. We prayed all through this time. When the insurance check came in I contacted the roofer to pay our bill still knowing we were $900 short. My family had prayed. I knew we had trusted God because we did not live in fear or worry. The $900 was a legitimate need and we did not have the money. We believed the money would come in. 

The day came to pay the contractor and I waited in the back yard praying. We were still short but I asked God to intervene. The guy never showed and I praised God believing His provision would come the next day. 

The next day came and still there was no provision in our P.O. Box or at the mailbox at our home. In absolute humiliation I had to tell the guy when he showed up, "I am short on the full amount. I promise I will have you paid off by the end of the month." He was gracious but I felt terrible. 

So, for one solid week our family continued to pray. One week to the day I could not pay the man, I sat in my office still in need and still pleading with God to help us. [Ps 50:15] A man came to see me. We visited about sundry things and then without saying a word he reached in his pocket and pulled out his check book. He started writing a check. I figured it would be for the church. 

I never mentioned my need to that man during the course of our conversation. When he left I looked down on the desk and the check was made out in my name and guess for how much? Yep. Exactly $900! How did that man know? Only God could have prompted him to give so generously and sacrificially to meet our need exactly. 

Needless to say, I praise God I got to pay the roofer off last week. God came through like He always does. We had a legitimate need. Not a want but a need. When I paid the roofer what I could the first time I emptied every penny in my savings account and even with the insurance check still needed $900. That is exactly what God provided. 

I share this testimony first, to give glory to God. He still hears and answers prayer. Second I know this time of year many people are stressed about money. The stresses of Christmas tradition can outweigh the true joy of the season. I share this testimony to remind all of you God provides and God comes through. Not with what we always want. His promise is to give us what we need. [Matt 6:19-33]

In my mind I wish I could have paid the roofer in full the first time. God desired to test my faith. He desired to stretch me to see if I would keep trusting when it looked like He forgot our need. He never forgets. 

So, wherever you are today reading this, let me remind you God knows your name and certainly knows your need. He also knows your address. He is perfectly able to get any provision you need right to you in His perfect timing. [Eph 3:20] Do you believe this? I have seen it hundreds of times in my family's lives. Go ahead and trust Him even when it looks beyond hope. Time would fail me to tell other testimonies. Those of you who truly know me have heard many of those stories. 

I cannot say I like being in financial need but I can say I LOVE SHARING THESE TESTIMONIES TO ENCOURAGE OTHERS!

Don't Bring Your Bibles

For weeks I have been preaching about the life of Elijah. Each message has been unique and met a different need in my life as well as the congregation. After the sermon yesterday, a man came up to me and told me something shocking. He told me that he and his wife had visited a church some time back and started visiting a Sunday School class. They attended eagerly with Bible in hands to learn and to grow.

The class leadership told this man and his wife not to bring their Bibles because it might offend someone. Are you kidding me? Have we really drifted so far from God that now his word is not even welcome in his house? I know fewer preachers are preaching his word but to go a step further and now to say that the Bible is not welcome at church is the last straw. How can such a church ever think they are pleasing a holy God.

In the concern not to offend people churches have strayed. Preachers strive to tickle the ears. They preach what sells, what the people want to hear. Let me ask a question? When is the last time you heard your pastor preach from the book of Joel? What about verse by verse through the book of James?

What does that say about people who attend a church where the Bible is not welcome? I am horrified. I have said it many times and will continue to write that church has become big business and small ministry. The church has adopted marketing techniques and Wall Street methodology to attract a crowd. Church leadership personnel  act like the only thing that matters is the size of the crowd, the number of baptisms, or the size of the offerings. Do they forget that teachers will stand under a stricter judgment. [James 3:1] In the frenzy to run people through the baptismal waters does anyone stop to ask why so many of those new people fall away? These people may say "the prayer" and get wet but have they truly been saved? It does not matter how much money a church takes in if they are not using that money to build God's kingdom and for his purposes all that money can lead churches to trust in their own resources rather than God.  Preachers and teachers will be held accountable for the messages they preach and for the lessons they teach. If they are not grounded in the word of God I fear the outcome when they stand under God's refining fire.

When is the last time you heard a message on repentance from sin? When is the last time your pastor preached on holiness? The holiness of God? The holiness of the church? Have you recently heard any messages about a Solemn Assembly? What about hypocrisy? These messages offend but come straight from the very Bible now not welcome in some churches. If you are discouraged from bringing your Bible to church I am certain you will never hear such messages.

The message of Jesus Christ is offensive. Most people are not offended by the baby in the manger. That baby grew up and taught great truths. Just take Matthew chapters 5-7. There is plenty in those three chapters to offend people. The gospel message is offensive. [I Cor 1:18] The Lordship of Christ is offensive. [Luke 6:46] Why do you call Me Lord  Lord and do not what I say? The Bible is filled with offensive material. How convenient for churches and pastors to avoid such offensive material all in an effort to build a crowd. It is possible to build a crowd and not to build a church at the same time.

We are not building churches at this point. We may be building country clubs or some other gathering but when the Bible is not welcome nor preached you can no longer call that a true church. I am by no means espousing worship of the Bible. I am for worship of God alone. The place God reveals Himself is in the Bible and if this is taken away from the church where does anyone get revelation of God.

I am offended that the Bible is not welcome in some churches here in this hell bound compromising church age. I am offended, because in some countries where brothers and sisters in Christ are persecuted and do not have access for God's word, they only get portions of the Bible to read or study. I am shamed that some believers will walk for miles to hear and see a real Bible and we have the audacity in our country to tell people not to bring a Bible to worship. I am reminded that the translation of the Bible into the language of the common people costs William Tyndale his very life. The very Bible you own and read came with the price tag of blood by this devoted man of God. How we take his sacrifice for granted.

What about the authors of the Bible. So much of the New Testament was written by martyrs. The greatest sacrifice of all is that of Jesus Christ. That is the message of the Bible. Jesus died so that man kind could be saved from the wrath of the Father and redeemed. Jesus paid our ransom. That is the message of the Bible. Bibles that are no longer welcome in supposed houses of worship.

The prophet Amos prophesied that this day would come. I never thought I would live long enough to see it in my lifetime. "Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord GOd, "When I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the words of the Lord. And people will stagger from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they will go to and fro to seek the word of the Lord but they will not find it. [Amos 8:11-12]

Take your Bibles to church. Tell your pastor you long to hear the words of the Lord and not the words of men. Tell your small group teacher you want to hear truth from the Bible. If they refuse, FIND A DIFFERENT CHURCH!

The Passionate Pursuit of God For Revival

People often say that we need revival because revival will change our nation. We often read about people who are in pursuit of revival. To do this we are missing it on both ends. God changes nations as He initiates and sustains revival. Many people are in the pursuit of the experience of revival. They want the signs and wonders and to be able to tell the cool stories. What we need to do is to be in pursuit of God first and foremost. God brings about revival. Our deepest longings should be for him.

The church has many passionate pursuits. The church is passionate about church growth. Everything revolves around counting how many showed up. How many seats are in the pews is a passionate obsession by pastors and other ministers. This mentality drives everything. Churches plan, entertain, and promote man made fire. If God truly brought the fire from heaven like Elijah and Israel saw on Mount Carmel in I Kings 18 the crowds would come.

I recently wept at a Christian concert when crowds stood outside and packed the huge sanctuary and I thought about how few come to any prayer meeting. A concert artist can draw a crowd but Jesus cannot draw a crowd in most churches where he is supposed to be the main and only attraction at a prayer meeting. It pained my heart.

I find in these days that things that used to drive me as a preacher no longer hold my attention. Success has to mean more than how many showed up on a Sunday morning. Success has to mean more than how much money came in the offerings or how big and nice the facilities are. I recently talked to a pastor friend of mine who told me two families had visited his church numerous times and said they loved it but ended up joining a sister church in town. When my friend asked the two families about this it came down to the fact they wanted to join a big church. My friend preaches in a sanctuary that seats a maximum of 300 while the other church sanctuary seating capacity is close to 1,000. Ironically the attendance of both churches is nearly the same.

Have we really become so shallow as the people of God that we determine where we worship based on how big or nice the church facilities are. If that is the case nobody will come to Faith Community because we worship in a drafty warehouse with bare concrete floors, metal walls, and no shortage of spiders and spider webs.

I know God has churches off the beaten path who are in the passionate pursuit of him for revival. I know God has pastors who are no strangers to the prayer closet and prevail mightily with God in there and therefore prevail in the pulpit mightily. I know there are churches where the prayer meetings are not extinct. There are believers who travail in prayer like a woman giving child birth in agonizing prayer. There are churches where the Holy Spirit is welcome to upset the order of worship as the spirit works in people's lives.

I am not after an experience. I am after the God of the experience. I am after God to burn anew in our hearts, to bring us to repentance, and to brokenness. I am in pursuit of God to awaken the sleeping church and bring all of us back to life. More and more God is my passionate obsession and the burden deepens for him to turn the heart of this nation back to himself. As the Lord keeps increasing the burden and motivating me to remain in the passionate pursuit of him for revival, I want to devote my remaining days to this worthwhile pursuit. God is my magnificent obsession.

They Are All Dead

I sat for some time this morning feasting on messages from a panel of revival preachers from a 1989 Revival Conference. These men talked with passion and spoke of a devotion that is foreign to my life. How these men gave their lives to prayer, preaching, and the pursuit of God for revival. They spoke as prophets. Their words burned.

Leonard Ravenhill, who at the time was 85 years old, talked about just celebrating his 500th prayer meeting on Friday night. I did the math and that is over nine and a half years! He told of people driving up to 300 miles to come to those prayer meetings. When he spoke there was an urgency. His words carried weight. He spoke with fearless courage and a broken heart.

Bill Mcleod spoke with the authority of a man who walked with God. He experienced revival first hand for seven weeks in the city of Saskatoon. He gave himself to prayer and the pursuit of God for revival. To sit listening to him was like drinking from an oasis in the desert.

Manly Beasley also spoke with authority. He suffered much but God also used him much. Beasley was a man of faith and prayer. He touched many lives and had great humility.

While I watched today it struck me at one point that all those heroes of the faith are now dead. They are now gathered in the great cloud of witnesses. These men were pastors and prophets. Who is left to take up the mantle of revival for this generation.

God always has His successors. Joshua followed Moses. Elisha followed Elijah. Charles Finney followed D.L. Moody. Billy Graham succeeded Billy Sunday. In recent years many of the great preachers have moved on to eternity.

I am left wondering the following questions. Who will write weighty books like "Why Revival Tarries" and "Sodom Had No Bible" like Ravenhill did? Who will lead their churches to really pray for revival like Mcleod did? Who will suffer and yet remain faithful to prayer and faith walking like Beasley did?

It is sobering that men whom God used so mightily are all gone. I praise God for recorded sermons and the printed page that let their voices still live. They still speak to me. Still, they are gone. They will never stand behind another pulpit, lead another prayer meeting, write another book, or stand for righteousness in the midst of this wicked generation.

Who is out there to take their place. I see the contributions of Louie Giglio in pursuit of revival among college students and young professionals. I see the influence of John Piper toward the passionate pursuit of God. I know God is using men like Paul Washer and David Platt to expound prophetic truth.

It saddens me that so many giants of the faith are gone. I wish I could have attended just one of Ravenhill's Friday night prayer meetings, sat in one of Mcleod's services while revival broke out, and heard Beasley preach in person. Those things will never happen.

Here is my great comfort today. True indeed, all of those men have now departed to glory. THEIR GOD HAS NOT! God is still here dwelling among men, listening to prayer, available to empower men to preach, and to inspire authors to write. God is still here. He is raising a new generation of revivalists. We may not know their names but God is putting his hand on people to accomplish his good purposes. Those people may sit next to you in church. They may be in school to get training. They may be shut up to God in places of obscurity learning how to pray. You may be one of those persons.

God always has his servants prepared to take the baton from the previous generation. I am thankful that the work of God continues. God is weighing his burdens on a new generation of preachers, authors, and revivalist.

I was sitting in a interview some time ago with a pastor search committee. A lady asked me a question about who my heroes were. I thought for a moment and gave her a response she did not expect. I told her, "Most of my heroes are dead." I thank God for introducing me to the ministries of Leonard Ravenhill, Bill Mcleod and Manly Beasley. God has used each of them in my life. Though they are dead their voices still live.

When Prodigals Come Home

There are multitudes of prodigals out there. These young men and women are convinced that there is something better they are missing out on. They may attend worship services, say all the right things, but in their minds and hearts they are wandering. Drifting further from God and from home in their attitudes and actions. They feel like sin and the pleasures of this world have something to offer that life in Christ cannot give them.

Multiple times over young men and young women make a conscience choice to walk away from Christ to pursue a path of wanton pleasure. Broken hearted fathers and mothers cry out to Jesus to bring their babies back home night and day. These broken hearted parents fear for the safety of their baby boys and baby girls who are straying and old enough to get into serious trouble.

For the prodigals, some are miserable because they are truly children of God. Every step of rebellion only makes them more miserable. They cannot forget the truth they have heard most of their lives. Sleep evades them as their minds are tormented. Sin never produces what it promises. The pleasures are fleeting and hollow in the end. Those sinful pleasures never satisfy. On the other hand, there are prodigals who attended church, prayed the prayer, got baptized but never meant it and are not truly saved. Salvation is not now nor has it ever been real for these wayward ones. They have faked it for years and are now acting out their true nature.

Sometimes these sinful seasons for the prodigal last for weeks or months. Sadly, on other occasions, prodigals my stray for years and decades. Parents weep in prayer until they have no more tears pleading with God to bring their prodigal home. I PRAISE THE LORD THAT PRODIGALS DO COME HOME.

What then? How are parents supposed to respond when the wayward child walks through the door? How are brothers and sisters to respond to sibling prodigals who caused so much heartache. "Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted." [Gal 6:1]

The word "restore" in that passage means to "repair, to mend, and to strengthen." When prodigals come home is not the time for a lecture, sermon, or a scolding. It is a time for prayer, for embracing, for grace, for love, and for celebration (see Luke 15). It a time for forgiveness and the extension of unconditional love. I can picture scenes in living rooms where families are gathered with the prodigal sitting in the middle. Parents and siblings are towering over the prodigal with their hands gently and mildly laid on the prodigal as prayers of thanksgiving and restoration are made. In the end I can see each family member embracing the prodigal restoring them to a right relation with Jesus and to their family.

What a beautiful scene. I have actually seen these scenes played out in the lives of prodigals and parents. What a blessed time when God brings prodigals back home. I have seen the tears of parents and prodigals alike when the prodigal comes home. Parents do not give up hope. Keep praying and trusting. Prodigal, if by some chance you find yourself reading this, let me urge you GO HOME.

Go home to Jesus and be restored, forgiven, and made whole again. The life you are chasing is not fulfilling you. You know you are miserable. Go home. Go back home to your parents who have prayed and wept over you more nights than you can ever know. Go back home to siblings who have worried over you and prayed because they are stuck in the middle. GO HOME.

What a blessed day when prodigal sons and prodigal daughters come home. May it be so Lord.

The Day of Trouble

Lord, you see how we live in a day of trouble,
While gathered insulated in our holy huddles,
You see how the wicked prosper and flourish,
While the saints are well fed - over nourished,
Your church sleeps while the enemy advances,
While preachers strut with their pulpit prances,
Where is your Spirit poured out in fiery power,
Quenched and grieve from neglect of the hour,
Locked away with you in much prayer travailing,
In our trouble this is why revival is not availing,
I plead for you to come strong helping our defense,
And forgive sin's stench in your nostril an offense,
I ask you to push back the dark shadows of evil,
The corruption and chaos sowed by the devil,
I plead for revival - a fresh spiritual awakening,
To cleanse the church with a Holy Ghost shaking,
In this day of trouble the church maintains slumber,
Please wake us  quickly with your two by four lumber,
With this day of trouble may we never grow content,
But rather labor in prayer trusting tirelessly without relent.

Having Church

We have been iced in since Thursday evening. A severe winter storm blew in Thursday evening blanketing all of North Texas in ice. For the past three days we have not left the house other than the boys to get out and do some sledding. Like so many other churches in this area we canceled our services today for Faith Community Church. That did not mean that the Edwards family did not have church.

We gathered in the living room where I welcomed all to Edwards Memorial Community Church. Tanner opened us in prayer. Taylor read some scripture and then I opened to Galatians 6 where we expounded the first nine verses over the course of forty-five minutes. Verse by verse I explained the key concepts, asked questions, and we all joined in the discussion.

We ended our time together in prayer. We definitely had church this morning, maybe more so than we have experienced in many corporate worship gatherings in designated sanctuaries.

Sometimes God's people gather to do church. The songs are sung. The specials are heard. The prayers are offered and the money is given. The sermons are delivered but do people really meet with God. Churches spend thousands of dollars in efforts to create the mood for worship but you cannot purchase the presence of God.

In the book of Acts people had church without a building, budget, or even a completed Bible. They still met with God and souls were saved and transformed. This same scene is repeated multiple times over today by our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. They have church. Their surroundings are simple and crowds may be small but God is there and He is enough. They do not just do church through rituals and religious routines. These people have church. They are the church.

This morning for my family was simple but profound. There was no order of worship. There was no time schedule to keep. For once all my family seemed truly engaged in worship and learning Bible truth. Nobody seemed bored or checked out. Every person prayed. The prayers were sincere and not rote or forced.

O that this simplicity could be duplicated in homes and congregations around the world. Church has become big business and small ministry. Is God pleased? Does He even show up for some services? Does He always stick around for the conclusion of others? Questions few are asking and fewer really want an honest answer. We must want more than just to do church. To hold services week after week. To go through the motions. We need to have church where God is exalted, where the body of Christ truly functions as an extension of Christ, and where the Holy Spirit is welcome and free to minister.

So let me ask you as you read this today. Did you do church? Did you attend church today? How many had church and truly experienced authentic worship, were brought face to face with God's truth, and that lead to an encounter with God. We had church at 521 Runaway Bay Drive.

Resolve

My resolve is weak to preach, to surrender, to go, and to stay,
My heart and faith are broken, there remains little desire to pray,
My resolve to get back up after the pummeling again to my knees,
When the trials mounted and you did not answer my desperate pleas,
My resolve to stand firm against the schemes of the wily evil one,
Wanes each day a little more as pain in wave after wave still comes,
My resolve is weak to preach, to surrender, to go, and to stay,
When I wonder what happened to your servant along the way,
My resolve is weak to stand and continue to fight the good fight,
When the tears of brokenness blind the joy in weeping for a night,
My resolve to stay is growing thinner - weaker by the day the hour,
When I see no fresh outpouring and no evidence of Holy Ghost power,
My way is blocked and my back is pressed hard against this wall,
You have not responded to my pleas or fervently desperate calls,
My resolve is failing as I run this race marked with suffering and pain,
When I stagger to my feet after one trial only to be knocked down again,
My resolve to endure is ebbing like the white foam at the water's edge,
I feel trapped - there is no way out of these trials as I stand on this ledge,
No way out that is unless you come like you have so many times before,
To work wonders, to lift burdens, to work miracles of provision galore,
You are my resolve and strength to preach, to pray, to go and to stay,
You can meet me now to remove these burdens so heavy on me weigh.


I wrote this poem in response to a difficult season in my life. I just learned that someone I love dearly, have brought close into my life for the past fourteen years, and have given my time and heart to posted on social media several times recently that they hate me. This brokenness in my heart has left me emotionally numb. In addition my family is facing several additional trials and prayer's for God's help have gone unheeded thus far.

I need and am pleading with God for healing and to strengthen my resolve. I cannot quit. I cannot give up. I cannot throw in the towel. I also cannot endure without Him coming to my rescue. He will come to my rescue.

A Seat At The Table

I love dinner time when Brenda, the boys, and I can all sit down at our dining table and enjoy a meal. We take turns going around the table talking about our days and telling one another the best thing that happened that day. Some days are average days. Other days are above average.

We all have our assigned seats at the table. I sit at the head of the table. Brenda sits next to me to my left. Turner sits next to Brenda. Tucker sits at the far end of the table and Taylor sits next to him. Tanner sits next to me to my right. We all have a place at the table.

As thankful as I am to have a seat at this table surrounded by the people I love, I am infinitely more thankful for the seat I have at God's table. Reading [Eph 2:1-7] reminds me that though I was dead in my trespasses, Jesus made me alive and I have been saved by the riches of His mercy and grace. He made a place for me at His table. What a blessing. What a joy. I was welcomed into God's family due to no merit on my own. I was welcomed solely due to God's infinite grace poured out through Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross. I brought nothing to the table but my sin. My invitation to sit at God's table is solely based on grace and mercy. I did not deserve it then, I do not deserve it now, nor will I ever deserve it.

At our dining table the boys used to fight to see who would sit where. Finally we had to assign seats to solve this problem. In Heaven I don't care who I sit next to. I will be eternally grateful that I have a seat. There is something special about having a seat at the family table. It means you belong. It means you are loved.

Those two thoughts comfort me today. I belong to God. He knows the good and the bad about me but he loves me anyway and I still belong to Him. I am still loved. What an endless source of joy. Like the old song goes, "Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain He washed it white as snow." Hallelujah. Before Jesus and His grace applied to my life I was a son of disobedience and a child of wrath. Now, I have a seat at the table. I was adopted. He picked me as dirty and filthy as I was.  He washed me in His grace and cleansed me. Then he gave me a seat at the table.

What about you? Do you have a seat at His table? Do you belong to Him? Have you trusted Jesus for His grace applied to your life to remove the guilty stain of sin? If not what are you waiting for? Today could be the day of salvation for you. Today you could also be assigned  your seat at the table.

When Our Backs Are Pressed Against A Wall

There are so many people suffering. Some of them I do not know but there are plenty I do know. Weary heavy laden people. People are hard pressed in trials that appear will never end. The tears fall. My own family is pressed against the wall in a series of tests.

When we have nowhere else to turn, when all hope seems lost, when peace evades, when there does not seem to be a way out I find comfort in reading Exodus 14. Moses and Israel had their backs pressed hard against the wall but God made a way where there seemed to be no way. Take courage my weary brothers and sisters. God will not abandon you. He will come through. The truth there inspired this poem.

O Jesus you see our backs are pressed against the wall,
How our steps falter how we stagger - and on You fall,
You alone can take the heavy burdened wearisome load,
Granting peace, comfort, refuge in your dwelling abode,
You see our way is hedged in - there appears no way out,
Help us believe in you with faith and not give into doubt,
When our strength fails and like soft cookies crumbles,
When our feet get tripped and we begin to stumble,
When the enemy presses in clouding the path of light,
We the tears falls unending and weeping lasts for a night,
We call out your name trusting You O Prince of Peace,
To find shelter and all our cares and burdens release,
O Jesus our backs are pressed hard against the wall,
We have no other hope or other help on whom to call,
So as the day dawns and our troubles continue to linger,
We ask you to reach down to help with your sovereign finger,
You move our burdens and take them from off our shoulders,
Making every looming impossible mountain but a tiny boulder,
We trust you to make a way while our backs are so heavy pressed,
You are our peace, our comfort and where our souls truly find rest.

Midweek Bible Study

Some may see teaching or even attending a midweek Bible Study a drudgery. For the preacher the crowds are always much smaller. For the attenders it is another event to crowd into already overcrowded schedules.

For me I sit here waiting anxiously for time to tick by as I have countless other Wednesday nights. I did this on Wednesday nights as youth pastor. I could not wait for the appointed hour in the first church I pastored. I did the same at FBC Paradise. We enjoyed special times studying through the book of Acts and Revelation. At FBC Seminole we began meeting in a Sunday School classroom and soon outgrew that space and relocated to the choir room. We studied through I Corinthians and parts of Genesis with several character studies on Noah, Abraham, and Joseph. Already at Faith Community we have studied through I Thessalonians, I Timothy, Joel, and James. I count down the moments until the people would  come to break open God's word. Tonight I can hardly wait for the next sixty minutes to pass as we continue to dig through the book of Ephesians verse by verse.

I never know how many will come for the study. On a few occasions we barely had a enough chairs for the attenders. Most of the time the crowds are relatively small. This does not dampen the enthusiasm to teach and to learn. The night before Thanksgiving we only had nine and four of those were my family. Brenda and Tanner stayed behind to cook. That did cool off my enthusiasm. I got so excited we ended up going a few verses beyond what I had planned for.

The discussion is always lively. I welcome the feedback as learn together. God feeds our souls on the meat of His inerrant sharp two edged sword. There have been a few rare occasions when the studies lasted well over an hour not because of my teaching but because the attenders kept asking questions and kept the discussion going. They did not want to leave.

I love midweek Bible study. This is largely when the remnant of the church gathers together, although in our church, I also see the remnant gather on Sunday nights for our prayer meeting.

Midweek Bible study is one of the highlights of my week. There are times my soul is enraptured in the proclamation of the scriptures. I am eager to exposit Ephesians tonight. I pray the Lord would meet with us and nourish our souls.

The Gift

For years as a child and a teenager I could barely go to sleep on Christmas Eve. I could not wait to see what things were waiting for me under the tree. I recall the year I got the bike of my dreams. I recall getting footballs and football uniforms. One year I even got a Mr. Quarterback, a machine to throw me passes, but it broke before I ever used it. I got toys galore, clothes, and a shotgun when I got older.

My favorite gift of all was on my twelfth Christmas when I got an electric typewriter because I always wanted to be a writer. I sat that typewriter on my desk and let my imagination begin to run wild with short stories. I guess that gift means so much to me because today, though that typewriter is long gone, I am still writing and living out that dream about to publish my sixth book.

I loved everything about Christmas as a child. The decorations. The lights on houses. The special movies. Making my wish list. The candy canes hung our tree I ate throughout the month of December. I guess I loved Christmas so much because my mother loved Christmas.

As I got older I enjoyed giving gifts when I earned money. I especially loved giving to my mother and grandparents. I can still recall the anticipation of watching them open the gifts I had purchased for them with my hard earned money. Those are blessed memories. Around my fifteenth Christmas my grandfather died. He was like a father to me and we shared a special bond. I still enjoyed that Christmas  but it was different. I missed him.

My seventeenth Christmas I received the greatest gift. I still treasure that Christmas gift to this day. Try as I may I cannot remember any other gifts that morning but that one special one. It was a gift to go down in the history of all my Christmas pasts. I may have received some clothes that morning but nothing else comes to mind and certainly not surpasses that one gift in my mind and heart. Truth be told it was an unexpected gift.

O but that gift I received came to mean more to me that year than anything else under that tree. You see the gift I received when I was seventeen was the eternal gift of salvation and forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. I actually received that in October of 1983 but it came into clearer focus that 1983 Christmas morning. That gift changed everything. For the first time that year Christmas was about the birth of Jesus for me. Being a new convert to Christ that meant everything to me and three decades later it still does. My family openly celebrates Jesus during Christmas. That gift changed my life inwardly and outwardly.

In the months that followed I would buy a Bible and begin to devour it. I would join the Denman Avenue Baptist Church by baptism. I would get active in the youth group and other church services. I would hear and answer God's invitation to preach though scared out of my mind to say yes. Through the avenue of a football scholarship God put me in college to get training for preaching and ministry. God orchestrated events far beyond my imagination to introduce me to a Godly girl from the Metroplex who captured my heart. Three years later I stood before God, family, and friends and married Brenda Ortiz. To this day she is still my best friend. We laugh together often, love and serve God together, and were blessed with Jennifer to raise and then four boys.

Today I drive the third miracle vehicle we have been given. We live in a beautiful home far beyond our wildest dreams and I get to have a home office. I am living out my dreams as a pastor, author, and traveling preacher.

All of that goes back to the gift of salvation I received in Jesus Christ. That gift has never meant more to me than it does on this my 47th Christmas. The Apostle sums up my sentiments far better than I ever could.

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God; not as a result of works so that no one can boast. [Gal 2:1-9]

He brought me to life spiritually. He raised me from the dead end path I was walking and set me on the path to eternity. He lavished me with His rich mercy for my sins were many. He gave me a seat at His table and made one of His children. I have a place to belong. He will put me on display through the ages to demonstrate what His gift of grace can do in a person's life. I am blessed beyond measure this Christmas gift because I have already received the greatest gift.

True Worship

"I urge you, therefore, by the mercies of God of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." [Rom 12:1]

I am not sure what happened to New Testament Christianity over the years. Today the plea from preachers is for people to come to Jesus and He will make your life better. They proclaim that Jesus will enhance your life. They preach He will give you the best life now. Paul's plea was to come to Jesus and offer your life as a sacrifice. 100% of yourself laid down as an offering to die to self but live to Christ. This same sentiment is repeated in [Matt 16:24] [Acts 20:24] [Gal 2:20] and [Gal 6:14]

A life presented or offered to God as a living sacrifice means absolute surrender. God gets to call the shots and for Paul that meant a lot of suffering. A LOT OF SUFFERING! It included persecution, poverty, and desertion by fellow believers but Paul still offered his life to God as a sacrifice. Day after day Paul climbed back on the altar and yielded his life and desires to the purposes of God.

Where did we lose track that God expects and demands anything less than our lives laid down on His altar today? The altar is not a comfortable place and the word sacrifice tends to be avoided by the people in the church at all costs. Would we really enjoy the benefit of a perfect Savior's sacrifice but be unwilling to sacrifice in our own lives for Him and His cause?

Will you surrender? Will you give up? Will you renounce your life as you make yourself available to Him? Will you make your body, your remaining days, your life an offering to Jesus? This is true worship.

Not the Man

Lord, I come knowing I am not the man you desire me to be,
Nor am I the kind of man I either really would like to be,
I am filled with self and my flesh drags me down today,
I reject the crucified life avoiding the cross come what may,
What do I know of holy, when distractions often abound,
What do I really know of surrender to you who astounds,
I'm impatient, filled with large dreams but small faith at times,
I try my best but you see all and know all my sinful crimes,
I pray for consecration, a more devoted heart and clear mind,
Yet I lose heart and at times find true courage hard to find,
I am not the man you desire and have long willed me to be,
I will only become that man as your grace abounds in me.

Bowed Beneath the Pressure

Somewhere in between moving from Seminole, living in an r/v and in the home of a church member in Paradise, fitting what we could in the rent house three months later, putting the rest of our belongings  into storage and then finally moving to Runaway Bay where we bought a home two years later, we lost our Christmas tree. We think we may have left it in the attic back in Seminole. The new home owners are going to check on it for us.

We purchased a small inexpensive tree a couple of years ago to put in the rent house. Those last two years we did not keep our family tradition. Each year Brenda and I have been married and the kids have been alive we have purchased or made a special ornament for the tree for each member of the family. When we start decorating the tree I sit down and tell the stories behind the meaning of each ornament. It is always a good time.

Since we did not have our real tree we did not even bother with our special ornaments while living in the rent house. We found some cheap ones at a dollar store to put on the new tree and called it done for the past two years. The boys informed me that we had missed out on our tradition the past couple of years and being this is our first year in our new home they were determined not miss out this year.

Saturday night we kept the tradition. Only due to the small stature of the tree we were not able to get every ornament on the branches. We put as many as we could and shared many great memories and laughs along the way. Seeing the boys as babies and now having one about to graduate was both fulfilling and sobering at the same time.

I was shocked when I got up this morning and discovered the tree had fallen over sending ornaments scattering everywhere. My coaching whistle ornament shattered for this year along with a few others. The boys got it all picked up and stood the tree up once again before leaving for church. When we got home after church we once again discovered the tree had succumbed to all the weight and had toppled over sending ornaments scattering.

I wonder how many lives are doing the same thing as we get into the holiday season. How many are bowing under the financial pressure to make ends meet for the month and find money to get everyone what they want for Christmas. Television commercials make it look so easy to buy a $300 one of these and $600 one of those like it is no big deal. Real life for some people make these purchases out of reach increasing the pressure. The temptation to just "charge it" on the credit card is more and more alluring. Deep down you recall you have not even paid off all the purchases from last year.

How many will bow under the pressure of just being alone this year. They miss loved ones who have departed into eternity. I can think of many that died this year leaving holes in my heart. For some left behind, their loss means nobody living will take the time to drop by for a visit, to make a phone call, send a holiday greeting card, or send an email. The children and grandchildren are so busy. The old Sunday School class has just about all died off. The pastor is so busy tending to other more pressing needs in others lives. This saddens my heart as people endure loneliness and depression in what should be a festive time of the year. The lonely and grieving bow under the pressure of it all.

Silently each of these lives bows beneath the pressure. O that we could roll our burdens on the Lord this time of year. [Ps 55:22] How I pray that we will be so anchored in God that we do not bow under the pressure, the sorrows, and the trials. If just one person could read this and lean more on God, get more anchored in the soil of His word driving down deep roots there and do more than survive this holiday season but thrive through it with faith and joy, my little bowed Christmas tree would be worth it a thousand times over.

Cast your burdens on the Lord. Do not live under the weight of your heavy loads another moment. Let Him lift the oppressive weight from your weary shoulders and then bow voluntarily in His presence to worship this holiday season. When you rise do so in the freedom of a life without stress, anxiety and in perfect peace. [Phil 4:6-7]