No And Wait

I have heard it said that God always answers our prayers. They say He answers our prayers with, "Yes. No. Wait."

We love it when God answers with yes. This can come in many shapes. He says yes to the chosen spouse. Yes to children. Yes to a home, a vehicle, to a new job, and a host of other blessings. We rejoice when God says yes. We celebrate when God says yes. We testify when God says yes.

We don't love so much when God says no. Let's back up for a moment. Does God truly love us? If you believe He does what is the proof of that love.
John 3:16 (ESV) 
¹⁶  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 5:8 (ESV)
⁸  but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

If God loves us and if He has proven that love through giving Jesus to reconcile sinners to Himself, then does God want to harm us? Is it the desire of God to do bad things to His children? Think about that before you answer. Think of the person with cancer, the family coping with the death of a loved one from a car accident, people devastated by hurricanes, people who feel abandoned and forsaken by the very God they love. Does God really want to do good for those people. 

How many prayed for healing but the healing did not come this side of eternity. God's answer was no. How many prayed for God's protection over their family and still the accident happened and the hurricane along with flooding still came. The answer for protection of at least property seemed to be no. Sometimes God's no is for a relationship, a new job, a new direction or opportunity, or being able to see a dream realized. 

When God says no does that mean He is any less loving. At times when I told my children no it was because I loved them. My no was for their well being in their best interest. My no brought protection and preserved them for the very best. My no was in fact the fullest expression of my love. 

Is it any different with God. When He says no can we trust it is for our good. It is God's fullest expression of love to protect us. His no may disappoint but that is only because we do not see things as He sees. We do not know all the facts. We cannot see the future and what He has planned. 

Neither do we like it when God says wait. Our society is fast paced. We live in a hurry. We have expressways. We have fast foods. We have microwave dinners. We have instant communications. In all of this sometimes God says wait. He puts a stop sign in our path. He throws a red light on the road of life. Why does He make us wait? His timing is perfect. It may not appear that way. Just as the red light comes at inconvenient times it also serves to protect us from oncoming traffic. His delays are far our good. 

God's most consistent answers to many prayers I have prayed for a long time are no and wait. It has been disappointing. I have many times been frustrated by His no and His wait. 

He is still at work orchestrating His masterpiece, weaving His maser design, and perfecting His plan. 

I grow weary of His nos and His waits. This is only when I quit looking at Him and look at my world. He knows what He is doing. He knows far better than any of us. 

Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV) 
⁸  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. 
⁹  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Glad To Help

Taylor needed help today. He needed something from home electronically sent for a new job. I found the needed information and sent it to him. A very easy fix. Though he is a man he still my little boy. Digging for the needed information I relived over two decades of memories.

I came across his birth certificate. I still remember holding him in my arms the day he was born. What joy he brought into my life. I held him with a smile as big as Texas. He was my boy, my son. Later that day I went off by myself to pray and offered Him to God right then and there. I realized then he was only mine to raise but his life was dedicated to God. Next, I found an old picture when he was no more than a tyke. I also came across his passport. He got that to go on a mission trip with me when he was only ten. What precious memories.

He needed my help. A small task easily completed. From start to finish the whole thing could not have taken more than three minutes. He thanked me for helping. I texted him, "Always glad to help my boy." Then I thought he is no longer a boy so I resent a text calling him a man.

If I am so eager and glad to help my son how much more glad is God to help His children. Helping my boy brought unbridled joy to me. Does God get joy from helping His people when they need His intervention? Does He delight in coming to our aid more than we delight in asking?

Tucker recently celebrated his 18th birthday. We have a tradition in our home. We have a plate we only break out and use on someone's birthday. The writing on the plate reads, "You are special." I got up early that morning and made Tucker omelets. His favorite breakfast meal is an omelette. Only on this day I had enough to make him two omelettes and he ate both heartily. I delighted in blessing him.

I know God loves more perfectly than I can. I know He is love is perfect. He is glad to help. He is strong enough, wise enough, compassionate enough, and loving enough to help. When we thank Him I wonder if He ever says, "Glad to help."

Waiting

Day after day I find myself still waiting, 
Impatient for the long delay I keep hating, 
You are in control and have perfect timing, 
Behind a frowning providence a silver lining, 
So I keep waiting - praying and still believing, 
Though the long delay brings nights of grieving, 
Grief turned to tears and days of great sobbing,
Broken waiting with desperate heart throbbing,
Clinging to faith clutching asking and praying, 
Standing firm on your every word You are saying. 

One Step And One Prayer Closer

I learn a lot of lessons while I am out on my walks. I see things. I pray about a lot of things. I meditate. All of this while getting a little exercise. I even meet a few people along the way.

Yesterday I set an aggressive goal. The temperature hovered in the high nineties. About half way through the walk my back began to cramp from all the sweating. I paused for a break mainly to relieve the cramping in my back. After a few minutes I made my way back home. It did not take long for the cramping to return. In addition the hot pavement began burning the soles of my feet adding more discomfort.

Somewhere on that return walk to the house the thoughts occurred to me, "I am one step closer to home. With each step I am one step closer. Just like wth the steps every time I pray I am one step closer to a breakthrough. I am also one day closer to eternity."

One step at a time I trudged on. Up hills. Past yelping dogs. Around corners. Through the heat. At times against the stiff breeze. Several times I stopped briefly to stretch my back before resuming. One step at a time I made it all the way. One mile faded behind me and then the next. Eventually I made it home.

I grabbed and chugged two bottles of cold water and sank into an old chair. The pressure from my back relieved immediately. The burning in my feet subsided when I removed my shoes.

I thought back to my walk. I thought about the discomfort in my back and feet. I also thought about how with each step I got closer and closer to home. I knew when I got home I could drink water and find relief. That seems like a metaphor for the spiritual life.

There are so many enduring difficulties in life. You pray and pray and when you can't even manage words you pray with groans. Every prayer you offer is one prayer closer to the long awaited breakthrough. One day God will intervene. The mountain will move. The breakthrough will come. The long delayed answer will arrive. The fog of confusion will lift. The closed door will open. The provision will come. Don't give up. You are one prayer closer to the breakthrough.

When I finished walking it also dawned on me just like every step brought me closer to home, every day brings us closer to eternity. For the redeemed that means heaven. I cannot even fathom the relief, comfort, refreshing, and reviving that will awaits us in heaven. One moment there will make all the trials and difficulties fade because we made it home.

I realized after my walk yesterday I got severely dehydrated. My back cramped well into the evening hours. Yet I was finally home. I drank plenty of liquids. I enjoyed a good meal with Brenda and the boys. I retired to bed pretty early in the middle of a severe thunderstorm. Yet I had refuge from the storm in my home.

None of this can compare in the least to when we finally get to our eternal home if it is heaven. I look forward to that day. I have only read about it but I fully agree with Paul;
Philippians 1:21 (ESV)
²¹  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 

I know life can be challenging. I know it can be downright uncomfortable. Maybe it so hard for you there are questions if you will endure to the finish line. You are one step closer. You are one prayer closer. You are one day closer. Press on brothers and sisters.
2 Corinthians 4:16-17 (ESV) 
¹⁶  So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
¹⁷  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

Keep pressing one foot in front of the other. Keep praying and keep believing. Keep loving, trusting, and serving Jesus. One day we will all get home. We are closer now than we have ever been.  

Love

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 (ESV)
⁴  Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
⁵  or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

Love. Is is mushy gushy feeling? Is it more than a second hand emotion like Tina Tuner sang about.  Is love something you do or something you feel. Maybe it is a combination of both. 

According to our scripture love is patient. Another way to say it is that love is song suffering. That could be in the form of a missionary in hostile territory. It could be in the form of tortured and martyred muslim converts savagely slaughtered for their faith in Jesus. It might in the form of a spouse treated without respect and kindness for years but chooses to stay anyway. It might be in the form of a friend betrayed who chooses to forgive. Long suffering love, patient love is on display around the globe. I wold not go so far as to say this type of love is prevalent.

Love is kind. To show kindness means to display benevolence and to help people. You do such things with no strings attached. It is love on display in tangible expressions. Service acts. Helpful acts. All part of real love. We have seen this in many volunteers helping with hurricane Harvey and Irma recovery efforts.

Love does not envy. Love does not covet nor is jealous. This sure seems to be in short supply. Envy is epidemic. Coveting calluses hearts. Jealously jeopardizes the effectiveness of the church. Envy is everywhere. In sports, at school, on the job, in the neighborhood, and sadly even at church.

Love does not seek its own way. To put it another way, love is not selfish. Love is willing to defer to others. Love denies selfish desires for the best for the other party. Love is not so much about what a person can receive but what they can give.

Love is not irritable. That means love is not easily provoked or easily exasperated. Who has not fallen into this sin. We say things like, "That person woke up on the wrong side of the bed." When people are irritable others walk on egg shells so as not to set them off. This could be with a sullen spouse, a moody boss, temperamental children, and a demanding parent. Love does not behave that way.

Love is not resentful. It does not keep a record of wrongs suffered. Love does not think about and dwell where others have failed. Love does not keep want to reconcile accounts at the end of the day. Love forgives. Love extends grace. Love embraces mercy.

After all of that how many really love like we should? All of those things are the personification of Jesus. Through His Spirit alone can we love like this.

Proof Of Love

I love Brenda Edwards. Just the other night while we were preparing dinner I leaned on the counter and stared at her. She asked, "What?" I replied, "I just wanted you to know I am madly in love with Brenda Edwards." She smiled that smile that has lit up my life for so many years.

She had to train me after we got married. I grew up spoiled. I never washed clothes. I did not help in the kitchen and our every meal was made from scratch, as my grandmother often said. I did not even put my dirty laundry in a hamper. My mother came in my room to gather my dirty laundry.

I recall Brenda telling me I needed to help more around the house after we had children. She gave me a couple of options. Since I am an early riser I took the breakfast shift for the boys. I wanted my boys to grow up on more than cereal and pop tarts.

I try to help her more these days. God really tested me with this recently. What He put in my mind and heart to do to express my love seemed unfathomable. It was out in left field I never would have entertained it before. Before telling you what I did to prove my love I need to change course for a moment.

Years ago I gave in and let Brenda have a dog. She named her Anna Bell. She is a black furred miniature schnauzer. I recall all the times she escaped out of the back yard in the mission house in Seminole when we lived there. I changed her name to Jezebel.

When we first got her Brenda did some research about that breed of dogs. One of the things she found is they like to try and dominate the family agenda. When she told me that I determined right then that dog would NEVER determine the agenda for me.

So I could not have been more shocked when I felt led to give her a bath. Brenda had tried for weeks to get either Tucker and Turner to do it. She even offered to pay them a little money to do so. Neither  followed through. So I could not have been caught more off guard more when the thought occurred to me to give her a bath.

I assure you she got the scrubbing of her life. I spared no effort in scrubbing and dousing her with water. I even brushed her fur after towel drying her. All of this while Brenda and the boys were gone. I wanted to surprise her.

That is the proof and debt of my love for Brenda. I washed her dog. If she ever wonders about my love all she has to do is remember me washing that stinking matted dog. That is the proof of my love.

Graduate Level Testing

I remember in grade school we took a spelling test every Friday. Some of those tests were easy. We had to spell words like sun, red, lid, fun, hop. Things got a little more difficult when the words contained multiple syllables and silent letters.

In high school we no longer took spelling tests. We started taking vocabulary tests. There were multiple choice tests, true false tests, and my all time favorite the essay questions tests.

One test stands out in my academic career. I took a two semester philosophy course. We discussed some heavy material. I often left class with my head swimming. Much of it I could barely understand. Some of it I grasped. At the end of the second semester I sat down to the simplest and most challenging final exam I ever took. The exam contained only one essay question. "Write down everything you learned in this class this year." That is the only time I took all the allotted time for my final exam.

Those tests pale in comparison to the tests Brenda and I have been given in the past several years. Rheumatoid arthritis. Diabetes. Failing eyes. Three eye surgeries. Three knee surgeries. A car wreck. Declining church attendance. A failed ministry. And others I care not to mention.

Graduate level testing. It is easy to write about faith when you are on top of the world and everything is going your way. It is easy to peach about faith when you have great testimonies to share as Brenda and I do.

It is much harder when everything you believe is put to the test. When your every prayer goes without seeing any changes. It is hard to preach when your faith and hope are shattered by another set of challenges that plunged you deeper beneath the surf when you were barely treading to keep your head above water.

Brenda and I are in graduate level testing. It has lasted a long time and only intensified no matter how, how much, or how long we have prayed. The few we confide in respond in one of two ways. Most do not have words for us. They often respond, "I don't know what to say." We are not looking for human wisdom. We desire the wisdom that comes from God. Others try offering cliches. That is something we do not want to do to others.

This testing is more than difficult. It more than challenging. Yet, it is by Divine design. Through it all we still trust Jehovah. . We still cling to Him. We still hope in His word. Brenda sent me three different scriptures where God spoke to her today. God's truth nourishes and reinvigorates

I keep preaching faith to help others. I keep writing faith to help others. We are in the battle like so many of you. We do not live in an ivory tower. We knows the agony of defeat and we know the joy of triumphs.

I know we are not alone. There are others going through own graduate level testings. Their faith is weakened. Everything in their world seems to go wrong and they wonder where God is and why He is silent nor does He intervene. When such people can barely catch a breath in between the crashing waves of never ending challenges. I still point to God and His enduring faithfulness.

If God can use Brenda and I to give people a little hope, to help them to keep believing, and to help them not lose heart and give up then I welcome these graduate level testings. Brenda and I do not just want to boast about our faith surrounded by success and financial security with no trials. We want to cling to God in the most difficult challenges before us. We want to boast in God in every season of life.

Here is a verse we surely set our feet. May you set your feet in the same place as well.

Isaiah 41:10 (ESV)
¹⁰  fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Crumbling Foundations

Matthew 7:24-27 (ESV)
²⁴  “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
²⁵  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
²⁶  And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
²⁷  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

We all know the importance of a strong foundation in construction. If the foundation crumbles it will compromise the entire structure. Many homes and buildings have been weakened by poor foundations. 

What is true in construction is also true of people's lives. To build on any other foundation than that of God's word will see life crumble when the storms hit. The storms do hit. Sometimes they are literal storms like Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Other times they are symbolic storms like health and family concerns or financial troubles. 

Everything on this planet is temporary. I recently wrote about this. How many mistakenly build their lives on things like possessions, financial security, homes, family, health, a good job, and a good education. All of these things can be snatched away in a moments notice. Each can crumble right before our eyes. If we make any or all of those things our foundation we will surely fall when the storms hit. 

Believing what God says instead of what we see or think makes sense can be challenging. We live in a world where people build their lives on faulty foundations. We see the end results. Broken lives. Shattered families. Sorrow on top of sorrow.

Storms are going to hit. That is a reality we have to face. A few years ago a tornado went through my back yard. Lightening struck my neighbors house causing the entire house to have to be gutted and rebuilt. We are foolish to think we will never face storms. They are inevitable.

The wise thing to do is to build your life on God's word. That foundation is sure. It is strong. It will never fail. It is rock solid. Lives built on that will be well constructed. Strong.

Matthew 7:24-27 (ESV)
²⁴  “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
²⁵  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
²⁶  And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
²⁷  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Playing The Whore

whore |hôr| noun derogatory a prostitute.• a promiscuous woman.

Is the word whore offensive to you? I find it offensive. If a woman is called a whore it is insulting. While we all know there are such people in existence we seldom use that word to describe them. We now call such people prostitutes or harlots. If a woman is promiscuous we might say she is sexually active or a fornicator. Few would call her a whore.

Such a word is degrading. It is a condemning word. A judgmental word. 

If one immoral woman calls another immoral woman a whore that is like the pot calling the kettle black. What if God labels you a whore? He is just in judgments. He is always accurate. He is righteous in evaluations. He sees all and knows all. 

Now take this thought one step further. What if God calls a whole nation a whore. To be even more specific what if He calls His own people whores. He did just that. 

Jeremiah 3:1 (ESV)
¹  “If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man’s wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me? declares the LORD. 

In this passage God is using the human analogy of marriage to symbolize His covenant relationship with Israel. Yet Israel turned from God. You can read more about this in Jeremiah chapters 2-3. In fact, God says they did not just turn their faces away from Him but they turned their backs to Him. They preferred to give their allegiance to gods made with human hands like the pagans around them. 

No matter all that God did for Israel, the rich heritage of His love, deliverance, preservation, and blessings. Israel wanted to divorce Him. They wanted to be separated and free to pursue other lovers. 

God calls the nation a whore. In the Hebrew language the word whore can be translated to mean a harlot and one who commits adultery. Every act of idolatry from Israel was like an act of adultery. Their actions polluted the land. That means they corrupted and defiled the land. Few could distinguish the lifestyles of God's people from the pagan nations around them. Such polluted actions offended and grieved Yahweh. 

Is it any different for church members today? Surveys have been done and there is very little difference between the morality of church members and those not affiliated with any church. Sin pollutes both inside and outside the church. This should not be. 

Could that be why so many churches are ineffective? Is it because church members are so filthy in sin, like a whore, that worship gatherings are offensive to Elohim? That is strong language. You may disagree. 

Let me ask a few simple questions. Do you have members who are die hard sports fans? Do they set their schedules around game times? Do their emotions rise and sink based on the outcome of the game? Do you have parents who regularly skip corporate worship in favor of some select sports team for their kids? Do you know parents who profess to be followers of Jesus and yet spend exorbitant amounts of money on sports leagues, private coaches, the best equipment and yet give minimally to the kingdom of God? Do you see marriages falling apart in your congregation? Do your students engage in drug, alcohol, and fornication? How is the language of members outside the holy huddles? How do you see yourself and fellow members use your money? Is it spent on more stuff or leveraged to build God's kingdom? 

I could go but I will stop. I think the picture is clear. The American church is playing the whore just like Israel did. God raised Jeremiah to prophesy against Israel and to call them to repentance. Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet. Nobody listened to him. Nobody repented. It broke His heart. He warned Israel of a day of reckoning. 

His warnings came true. 

While the American church is often whoring around, contenting themselves with how many showed up and how much money was collected, God has a higher standard. It is holiness. I believe far too many church members have polluted the land with their hypocrisy. Many bow down to the idols of materialism, hedonism, sports, children, political correctness, a progressive world view instead of God alone. 

Lost people see very little difference in their lives and the lives of the average church member. Co-workers see hypocrisy on display each work day. 

Many American churches have divorced themselves from God and His holy standards. They play the whore. God is not mocked. There will be a day of reckoning. 

Here is the most amazing truth of all. If you continue reading in Jeremiah 3 God says some stunning things. Jeremiah 3:11-14 (ESV) 

¹¹  And the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.
¹²  Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, “‘Return, faithless Israel, declares the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the LORD; I will not be angry forever.
¹³  Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the LORD.
¹⁴  Return, O faithless children, declares the LORD; for I am your master; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.Even after Israel played the whore God wanted to take them back if they would just repent. The love, mercy, patience, grace, and compassion of Jehovah are amazing. So does God love His true followers today. Even when we stray and play the whore. He still loves us and will take us back if we repent and turn back to Him. That truth stuns me. If God were like us He would divorce us for playing the whore. He would never take us back. God is not like us and praise His holy name for it. It is time to quit playing the whore, repent, and turn back to Him with all our heart. 

Grit

Grit;
verb (grits, gritting, gritted) [with object] 1 clench (the teeth), especially in order to keep one's resolve when faced with an unpleasant or painful duty: figurative :  Congress must grit its teeth and take action | (as adjective gritted) :  “Not here,” he said through gritted teeth.The journey of faith is often difficult. It takes grit to keep the faith all the way to the end. Resolve. Determination. Perseverance. All of these words can be summed up with that four little word grit. Jesus had grit. He resolutely set His face to go to Jerusalem knowing full well what awaited Him there. He gritted out the scourging and the crucifixion. He endured with grit when the sin of the world was placed on His divine shoulders. In true grit He endured those agonizing hours hanging on the cross. In true grit He accomplished His redemptive mission. That is why He could honestly say, "It is finished. " It well worth noting He did not say, "I am finished."He set the example for grit in the face of hostility, opposition, disappointment, and with unpleasantries. We are to press on with grit. I have always been a fierce competitor. From my grade school days to today I hate losing at anything. You would think I would be good at it being that I have lost so much over the years. I still hate losing. Whether it be a board game at the house, watching the boys play, or some form of recreational competition. I HATE LOSING. I have taken that competitive nature into personal challenges. One Mother's Day I resolved to ride my bike from Paradise, TX to Hurst, TX. About 50 miles. I ran out of water along the way. With grit I kept telling myself to keep pedaling. Eventually I made it. That paled in comparison to when I decided to ride 100 miles. It took nine hours to make that ride. I kept quoting scripture and replaying a text Taylor sent me that morning. One man told me afterward, "You are the most determined man I know." I think what he meant is that I have grit.These days I still lift weights. Each summer I design workouts for the boys. I intentionally try to make them hard. So hard I often question why I wrote the workout down on paper. I do the workouts with them. I also walk. I dabble at jogging but mainly I do my cardio workout by walking. Usually five miles a day. Sometimes more. Yesterday, I went a little longer. My feet became sore. My back ached. To finish my walk I had to trudge up the largest hill of the whole workout. It took grit to get up that hill. I still had close to a mile to get home after the hill. I felt pretty used up the rest o the evening. I have to make sure I get more steps in every day than Brenda. It is that same mentality I take into the Christian life. Ministry has not always been easy. It is not easy now. Yet I keep telling myself to keep praying, to keep believing, to keep trusting, to keep clinging to scripture, to keep preaching, to keep writing, to keep asking, to keep seeking, and to keep knocking. Many days it feels like nothing is happening. In reality God is strengthening me. He is putting more grit in me. After all the challenges I can still say I love Jesus. I still trust Him. I am resolved to follow Him. I am not giving up. Jesus did not give up on the cross and therefore I am not going to give up on Him even if life is unpleasant for a season. He is my strength. He is my hope. He is my refuge. He is my comforter. He is my counselor. He is my provider. He is my peace. He is my joy. He is my perseverance. May He keep putting grit in me to finish the course He has set before me. I aim to finish my  race. May I endure with grit to the very end looking to Jesus as my example. Hebrews 12:1-3 (NASB)
¹  Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
²  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
³  For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.  

Paul's Role Model For Preaching

Preaching has changed today. Many do not even call it preaching anymore. They call it giving a talk. So many preachers are speaking to felt needs to the exclusion of hard Bible truth. They are telling people what they want to hear. Preaching sounds more like Dr. Phil pop psychology than Bible truth.

Paul did not preach that way. Don't get me wrong. Paul had a tender heart for his hearers. That did not mean he tried to impress those same hearers with flattering speech. To flatter means to give lavish and insincere praise and compliments.

Some preachers preach flatteringly so they can get more money, a larger love offering, or an increased salary. Hard sermons offend and convict. Some preachers are greedy and they will avoid preaching anything that will offend. They fleece their flocks. They manipulate people and the money they give. I have seen this repeatedly. Preachers who drop hints, who expect someone to pick up the tab. I've had church members tell me over the years they have known preachers who never picked up the tab. They expected to be blessed, given cheaper rates, or for others to foot the bill.

If you preach flatteringly people will be more prone to give financially. Is that the point? Is that what God will hold preachers accountable for preaching? Is it all about how much money preachers can shove in their pockets? Are preachers like a free agent sports figure looking for the highest bidder?

1 Thessalonians 2:5-6 (NASB)
⁵  For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness—
⁶  nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority. 

Some preachers love the spotlight. They think they are the most important person in the room. They are self promoters. I am thinking of a nationally known television and radio preacher who is always promoting his next best selling book, his next ministry assignment, or his next television appearance.

The word glory means praise and honor. In any worship gathering all the praise and all the honor belong to the Holy One alone. Just like preachers can preach for greed they can also preach for pats on the back and for compliments.

Preach for the glory of God. Preach so God is praised, exalted, and magnified. Preach for God's honor and not your own.

Many years ago I got invited to preach in a church in East Texas. I had heard some troubling things about that church but welcomed the opportunity to preach God's word. I could not believe my eyes when I walked into the sanctuary and saw a portrait of the pastor next to the choir loft with a spotlight shining on it. The pastor did not even show up for the start of the service. He showed up at least thirty minutes after the beginning. He sauntered down the center aisle to the pats on the back, the hand shakes, and the fan fare of a rock star. The whole thing sickened me.

God does not share His glory with anyone. God does not call preachers to preach flatteringly to get better offerings out of greed. Nor does He call preachers to preach for their own glory.

Paul might have a hard time finding a pastorate if he were alive today. He would not tell people what they necessarily wanted to hear but he would tell them what they needed to hear from God. He was not motivated by money. He did not seek His own glory but endured ill treatment for the honor and praise of God. His example serves as a good model for preaches of every generation and any era. Take heed.

My Golf Cart Date

We were blessed with a golf cart when we moved into our present home. None of us play golf. It has become a tool for Brenda and I to enjoy some date nights.

I don't know why we enjoy riding in that golf cart around our sprawling neighborhood. We putt around and talk. Sometimes the talks are serious. Other times we enjoy the beautiful scenery of the wooded community, the rolling hills, the lake, roaming deer, and hopping rabbits. We live in a beautiful place but what I enjoy most is riding beside my beautiful bride.

I joked with her recently she is my standing golf cart date. It is not an expensive date. For just a few dollars of gas we can cruise our neighborhood for a long time. We drive all the roads in the neighborhood sometimes laughing, sometimes bearing  one another's burdens, and at other times dreaming about the future.

It really does not matter what we talk about as long as she and I get that time together. No boys to interrupt. No phone calls. No distractions. Just she and I like it all began on the Howard Payne University campus 30 years ago this month. She is still the woman I am madly in love with and the one I enjoy spending my time with the most.

I like when she gently rubs my back when I drive. I don't know why she always wants me to drive. I drive aimlessly many times past sundown just to enjoy precious time alone with her.

In recent days we have had the chance to worship together. Most of our marriage I have been the one preaching. I certainly have enjoyed listening to God's word next to her and her holding my hand especially in poignant moments.

After all these years it saddens me I am not a better provider. I regret the many hardships I have put her through in my zeal to follow Jesus. I regret that most of my dreams have never come to fruition but she still supports me. I have so little to offer her except my love and a few golf cart date nights.

Possessing The Future

God has a plan. He sees all, knows all, and works in all areas of the world. Just as He had and has a plan for the nation of Israel so does He have a plan for His followers. Our great adventure includes discovering and possessing that plan by faith.

Recently I sat in a worship gathering and something the pastor said that day sparked something in me. For a few moments I checked out of the service as I went to a scripture his comment reminded me to read.

Deuteronomy 1:21 (ESV)
²¹  See, the LORD your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’


This is reiteration of another verse found in that same chapter.

Deuteronomy 1:8 (ESV)
⁸  See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.’


For Israel God put a promised plot of land they were to possess in their future. For you and I the future may look differently than real estate but there is something we are supposed to believe Him for. Along the way we will be tested. We might be distracted. We might even be tempted to give up the plan and quit.

Possessing the land is not easy. God did not just give Israel the promised land. They had to fight to possess it. Should we expect that we will not have to fight in faith, sacrifice, relentless prayer, and tireless labor to possess the future God intends for us.

The word possession in our texts means to occupy and to drive out the previous tenants. How do you possess or occupy something spiritually that does not exist in reality? You obey God in faith. You take the steps He leads you to take no matter how impossible. You also pray through. You pray into reality what you may have only seen by faith. This means tenacious travailing. It means persevering prayer.

Possessing the future is not for the faint of heart. Satan has set up camp all over the land stealing, killing, and destroying. The Devil is deceiving the masses into an eternity of damnation without Jesus. Satan's demonic forces will not give up a square inch of their territory without a life and death struggle. That means there will be resistance and spiritual attacks. There will be opposition and push back.

Do we so yarn to possess the future God has called us to we will fight for it spiritually? Possessing the future will take a lot more than wishful thinking and a catchy slogan. In the past possessing the future costs some people everything. Read about Adoniram Judson, William Carey, David Livingstone, Hudson Taylor, Amy Carmichael, and Lottie Moon.

Is the future you are pursuing the one God intends for you? Is it a future worth fighting for in faith?Mine is and I renew myself to prayerfully possessing it.

Ministry Marriage

My family worshipped where my mother in law worships this past Sunday. The pastor's wife had just died. In fact they were having the funeral the following day. As a first time guest I watched with interest everything about the facilities, the people, the worship, and of course the ministry of the word.

The pastor showed up but did not preach. A former staff member preached that morning. I never did hear how long the pastor had served that flock. I got the impression it has been for decades. I did hear that he is 80 years old.

What I noticed most is the love that congregation had for one another and for their pastor. I saw people hugging one another all morning. Several times people gathered around the pastor to pray for him. The church took up a love offering to bless him. As I understood it the pastor and his wife had never taken a salary from the church. He had been a business man who did well before God called him to preach.

What I saw this past Sunday reminded me of a wedding. That may sound strange being the pastor's wife had just died. Let me explain. I saw a congregation loving their pastor and the pastor loving his congregation. I saw a true union between a church and their pastor. The love was evident even to a first time visitor like me.

When God creates such a union between a flock and a shepherd it is supernatural. Just like when a man and woman commit their lives to one another in marriage, I believe a ministry marriage can happen. When God's right man is ordained and assigned to a specific congregation to love, nurture, feed, and lead a ministry marriage happens.  It is equally special when such a congregation loves their pastor and supports him in times of trials like this pastor losing his wife. Though she is not lost for he knows where to find her and will be reunited with her again one day.

The longer I preach and visit different churches the more treasured I see this sacred romance between a pastor and a congregation. To be sure we have all heard about situations that were not a good fit and where a ministry divorce was sought. We have all seen the division and strife such situations bring. It makes it all the more special in light of the times it goes wrong when God puts His right man with His right church.

I think of my pastor, Charles Roberts, who served Denman Avenue Baptist Church for 33 years, if my memory serves me correctly. He had some great years there. He also confided in me there were challenges along the way. God created a ministry marriage between Charles and Doris Roberts and Denman Avenue Baptist Church. I count myself blessed to have been under his ministry for many years. He is retired and does interim ministry now but still attends Denman Avenue when he is not preaching elsewhere.

I will not soon forget the love I saw on full display at Glory Church this past Sunday. I will not forget the way those people surrounded, comforted, and loved on their grieving pastor. The pastor did get up to say a few words of thanks. His love for His flock was evident.

I don't know who your pastor is. Maybe today you can send them an email, letter, or a text. Maybe today you can call to encourage. Let your pastor know they do not labor in vain. Let your pastor know how much love you have. Let your pastor know how grateful you are God created a ministry marriage.

When It All Began

Tuesday April 29, 2008 I sat down at a Toshiba laptop computer and wrote my first blog on this site. I wrote about Sitting With The Savior. I have been writing ever since. That was nine years ago. Much has happened in that nine years.

Since writing that first article I have served three different churches as pastor. I no longer have that Toshiba but now write on an a MacBook. I have written a couple of other books. I have traveled and preached in numerous venues. Two of the boys graduated from high school and are off at college pursuing their dreams. Tucker is a senior this year. In less time than I want our once full table of six will once again experience another subtraction and we will be a table of three. Tucker and Turner have always been close. They shared a room until about a year ago. Our nest is emptying.

Brenda and I celebrated 25 years of marriage a couple of years ago. We have seen and experienced wonderful things from God. We still laugh together. We still hold hands. We still enjoy being together. She has traveled with me to some of my preaching assignments in recent days. I always enjoy preaching more when she is present. I know she prays for me.

One of the constants during these past nine years has been this blog. I have written on all sorts of topics. Sometimes I have written abridged forms of messages I preached earlier. Some days I wrote about things God showed me during my devotions. Other times I wrote about everyday experiences. I wrote to comfort people. I wrote to make people uncomfortable. I wrote to testify to the many ways God worked in our lives. I wrote the tings He stirred in my soul.

I have written this many times but do so again. Writing for me is as natural as breathing. What I should say is writing for me is as supernatural as breathing. Jehovah put that in me. I have always wanted to write. I am not a best selling author as boxes of books sitting in my garage could testify. That was never my aim. I wrote because God put messages in me I needed to get out. I wrote for God. I wrote to help people along the way. I wrote because I had to.

Sometimes that meant writing hard words for a hard time. Sometimes those writings took the shape of comfort and encouragement to help others through difficult times. What few know is most of those writings were born out of my personal struggles of trusting God in difficult times. If God has used those writings to help others all glory goes to Him.

We hit two milestones recently on this blog. A few weeks ago I wrote my 1,600th article. That first year I did not even write 100 articles for the entire year. Last year I wrote well over 200. This year I think I wrote 125 to date.

When I am dead and gone these writings will serve as a lasting legacy of my walk with God and my faith in Him. When I am gone my ministry can continue through these writings. I am always amazed people read these. From time to time I will get numerous readers from as far away as Russia, Portugal, Germany, and Spain. If God can use anything I wrote to help someone here in the States or around the world I praise and glorify His name.

We hit another milestone earlier this morning. We celebrate our 125,000 visit to this blog site. Compared to other writers and the vast world population that is nothing. It is something to this small town country preacher. It testifies of two things to me. God is continually helping me to persevere through many triumphs and trials. I also testify to the truth God uses me. I don't know why.

Somehow God allows me to connect with readers. I may not even know their name but I can feel what they are going through. It is supernatural. It feels like God takes the hearts of people and puts their feelings, their struggles, their pain, their sinful ways in my heart to be able to write to minister to them. I can't really explain it. It is supernatural. I am not saying mystical. God stirs me with the topics to write about.

I can be driving down the road and suddenly inspiration will come about something to write. Sometimes those inspirations come through my personal Bible study. Other times inspiration comes from conversations I have with others. All of life is a laboratory of sermon and writing preparation.

I have great aspirations that one day these articles will spread with increasing rapidity. Instead of hundreds of readers a day I look forward to a day when thousands will read these articles every day. While I thank and praise God for 125,000 different visits to this site my vision is for the day when we have one million visits. I look forward to the day when God will use me to write 5,000 and even 10,000 articles. One thing is for sure. If God is the subject and the Bible the resource there will always be something new to write about. So until next time, thank you for reading and sharing these with pilgrims on their journey.

Small Talk Or Substance

You have experienced it hundreds of times. Sometimes you initiated the conversations. At other times you were asked this same question. How are you?

I was asked that question three times yesterday. The first time happened when I walked and stopped for a few minutes to visit with a former coach and neighbor. He asked, "How are things in your world"

The second time happened after Turner's game when a man with whom  I have only an acquaintance. What do you say in response to that question. That man did not care about my life or my family. He jut wanted to make small talk. It happens all the time. People try to make small talk by asking, "How are you or how are things going?"

You know most of the time that surface question is met with a surface answer. "Fine. We are good." Is that always the case. Have you ever lied in response when asked how you are doing? Have you ever jut played the game and gave the standard answer to the standard small talk question.

The third time someone asked me that question happened after Turner's game when I intentionally sought out a former coach in this community who now coaches for an opposing team. He asked the same question, "How are things going?" He meant it. He and I have walked many hard miles together. He is a true brother. His question was not small talk.

Do we really care when we make small talk with others asking how they are doing? Do we really care if their personal worlds are crumbling? Are we really interested in hearing the truth? Do we really want to hear the truth or do we want to be fed a lie so we can move on uninterested and unconcerned.

Every single day as we interact with others we cross paths with people living in broken worlds. We meet people heavy laden with massive burdens. We interact with people who are faking it trying to hide a broken heart and a shattered faith behind a plastic smile and a lying tongue pretending everything is okay.

How did our world get this way? Since when did it become vogue not to share personal pain and not to really care. Jesus cares. When I read about Him I often read about how He walked slowly through the crowds. He saw people. He intentionally entered their broken worlds. He paused ministering to those many people ignored. He approached sinners, the sick, and those soured by life's bitter cups. Jesus really saw people. He had compassion for people. He walked slowly through the crowds and noticed Zacchaeus, lepers, the blind man by begging, the woman at the well, and even the woman caught in adultery. Jesus cared about people. He still cares about people.

Matthew 9:35-38 (ESV)
³⁵  And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.
³⁶  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
³⁷  Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
³⁸  therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Did you catch that? When Jesus saw the crowds. The word saw means to perceive, behold, to discern.  He did not just give a casual glance. He truly saw people. He looked deeper than the surface to see the hearts of people.

What happened next? When He truly saw people He felt compassion. He had pity for them. He saw people in their distress and troubles. He saw they were cast down. He did offer small talk. When He engaged people He did so with substance. He did so with purpose. He made people His business. He still makes people His business. Do we? Do we really care about the well being of others? May we offer people more than small talk. 

Delay

Delay;

nouna period of time by which something is late or postponed: a two-hour delay| long delays in obtaining passports.You get a sinking feeling when you arrive at the airport for a flight or try to make a connecting flight and find that your flight has been delayed. Several years ago I had a youth camp to preach in Florida. A thunderstorm rolled through DFW at the exact time I arrived at the airport delaying my flight. What ensued the rest of the day is I missed my connecting flights in Memphis and Atlanta. I missed the whole first service of the camp because my original flight got delayed. I don't like delays. Several weeks ago I waited thirty minutes in line at a McDonald's drive through. I got trapped in front and behind. No kidding. Thirty minutes. Delayed at McDonald's. I don't like delays especially when it comes to the will of God. Yet, there are sovereign delays orchestrated by God. Periods when God is slow about His work. It may even appear He is late. Many times God postpones His will for His own purposes. He knows best. His timing is perfect. It is frustrating when you think you know what God wants and you are ready to do it but God intervenes with a delay. In Acts 16 Paul wanted to go and preach the word in Asia. God had other plans. He spoke to Paul in a vision. Acts 16:9-10 (ESV)
⁹  And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
¹⁰  And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them Did people in Asia near to hear the gospel? Did God will people in Asia to be saved? It would be reasonable to deduce that the will of God for Paul was to go to Asia to share the gospel. So why the delay? Why did God delay Paul going to Asia and send him to Macedonia. From our perspective it does not make sense. Paul going to Asia right away would appear to be the will of God. Yet God intentionally delayed that plan. I am glad He did. After Paul went to Macedonia he traveled in that region to other towns. Towns like Philippi and Thessalonica. Paul wrote epistles to the saints in these towns. Because of God's delay you and I have scriptural epistles in our hands to study and learn from today. God hindered Paul from going into Asia and brought him into His will . God's delay had a purpose in it. So do our delays even if it does appear that way. When you and I get delayed in the will of God we can trust God has a purpose in it. We may not like the delay. We may get impatient. The delay may even frustrate. If we trust God the delay can still work into God's plan and perfect timing. Are you feeling delayed? Is something you thought God wanted postponed? Trust God to work out His plan in His way and in His timing. 

Total Trust

There are plenty of opportunities to doubt God on life's journey. The tests and trials are relentless. To doubt means to not believe. It means to question the truth or facts about something. To doubt God is a serious thing. It means not to believe God or His promises. It means to question the truth of God's existence, His steadfast love, and His faithfulness.

While praying yesterday I asked God a simple question. I asked Him, "What do you want from me?" A pretty simple question. The whisper I received from the Holy Spirit was equally simple, "Total trust."

What is total trust. The word total means total and absolute.  What does trust mean?

trust |trəst| noun1 firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or somethingIf you put those two words together it means to absolutely and totally put firm belief in the reliability and strength of someone. In our case it means in God. There are plenty of opportunities to believe in God along the way. For everything from salvation to death and all things in between. Hebrews 11:6 (ESV) ⁶  And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. It takes faith, or put another way, trust to please God. It take faith in s the ubstitutionary atonement of Jesus for salvation. It takes faith to believe in the sufficiency of Christ to give what is needed for salvation. It requires faith to obey Him day in and day out. It takes faith to believe Him to bring us through crisis and difficulties. It takes faith to trust Him for raising children, provision, peace, and strength through trials. Total trust. That means absolute trust on the good days. It also means absolute trust on the bad days as well. Over the years Brenda and I have seen our share of both. In the bad days we had a choice. We could choose total trust and doubt. I am not proud to say we have doubted many days when pressed between a rock and a hard place. There were times when we could not see a way of escape. There were dark days when the light of hope did not seem to shine on us. We prayed. We fought to maintain faith. In the most creative ways, though means we never expected, we can testify God came through for us time and time again. He has warranted our total trust. 

My Ministry For Today

I have done all kinds of ministry over the years. I have preached and taught. I have prayed. I have visited people in hospitals. I have officiated weddings and preached funerals. I have taken mission trips. I have set in more meetings than I count. I have conducted counseling sessions. I've witnessed for Jesus. I have written books and blogs.

Since stepping down as pastor from Faith Community Church I have looked at each day as a ministry adventure. I never know what any day will bring.  have traveled to several churches to preach. I have written numerous blogs. I have counseled with people on the phone. I take each day as it comes.

Today I had a whole different kind of ministry. I had just finished a five and a half mile walk. I looked forward to lunch. Tired and hungry I wanted to get off my feet. When I got to my driveway I noticed my neighbor across the street weed eating his oversized two lots.

We talked briefly before I headed inside. I had no more than walked through the door into our kitchen when I knew my ministry for today meant weed eating his yard. Gary is in his mid seventies. He had no business out trying to weed eat the easement to his property which the city should weed eat but never does. Some weeds had grown over two feet tall.

I turned around and caught him. I told him I would take care of the job. He must have been tired because he did not put up any resistance. I ate a quick lunch and went to work. Hot ,sweaty, hard, but rewarding work.

He brought me a bottle of cold water after about forty five minutes and told me I should quit. He said he could get the rest of it. I would not hear of it. I felt called to finish it.

In the larger scope of things my ministry for the day did not make that big a difference. Nobody got saved. Revival did not break out. I did get the chance to serve. Jesus served people. He humbled Himself to wash feet. I am not above running a weed eater when called to do so. All I did was help my elderly neighbor. I had the time and strength to do so. Most of all I think it is what Jesus would have done.

Ministry is adventure. We never know what opportunities will come our way. Ministry on any given day will offer people the chance to love, serve, sacrifice, labor, give, and to do good works for the glory of God. That is the point. When people see our good works we want them to glorify God and point to God.

Matthew 5:16 (ESV)
¹⁶  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.


I hope you will look for your ministry for today and the following days. I trust God will show us how to serve Him and serve others. May His Kingdom expand and may His name be glorified.

The Mountain

I awoke staring upward at a large mountain rock face,
Steep, wide, with lofty  peaks standing right in my way,
I stood perplexed looking upward unclear as what to do,
The mountain blocked my path and also blocked my view,
There was no way to scale over the lofty mountain heights,
There was no way to go around the mountain in my sights,
I paused and considered my options formulating a plan,
Each seemed hopeless for a mountain so high and grand,
Finally I bowed my head desperately and began to pray,
Asking God to move the mighty mountain out of my way,
I recalled what He said if I spoke to my mountain to move,
If I did not doubt in my heart but believed my faith proved,
The mountain would be moved and cast out into the sea,
Jesus You've done that for others I trust You'll do it for me.

Don't Hit The Snooze

I have never understood those people who use an alarm clock and then will hit the snooze button repeatedly before getting out of bed. It would seem to make more sense to set the alarm later and then get up without the interruption of sleep repeatedly.

I personally do not use an alarm to wake up. I wake up when God calls. Brenda uses an alarm. It goes off at 6:00 a.m. A hideous sound. It does the job. The alarm wakes her up. Brenda is a late night owl. She told me over the weekend she did not go to bed one night until after 3:30 a.m. She is up later than me nearly eery night and I get up before she does.

This blog is not about sleep patterns or alarm clocks. It is about something much more sobering. What is God saying to the United States? What alarms has He sounded to wake us up and we keep hitting the snooze button.

People flocked all over when the solar eclipse was announced. Thousands and thousands went to see it. Not long after that Hurricane Harvey slammed the Gulf Coast with up to 50 inches of rain. I was scheduled to preach in Corpus Christi the very days the hurricane hit. Over and over again people have used the word "unprecedented" to describe the flooding.

Believe it or not another major hurricane is hurtling toward Florida and possibly the Gulf of Mexico by the end of this upcoming weekend. Are these things mere coincidences? Is God sounding an alarm telling us to wake up and pay attention for the end is coming.

I've lived in Texas all my life, except for a couple of summers in Florida and Georgia. Everybody knows the hottest month of the year in Texas is August. How I remember those brutal high school and college football two a day practices in oppressive heat. NOT THIS YEAR. My boys actually went to practice on more than one day when the temperatures were in the high seventies. I have never seen anything like it. Seventies in August in Texas. Definitely abnormal.

All of these things are abnormal. NASA is predicting another epic space event that I do not even understand enough to explain it. It supposed to happen on September 23 just a few days from now. This event has not been seen in centuries. In my mind it is all God's blaring alarm to wake us up and to remind us the end is coming. It is also happening in conjunction with the Feast of Trumpets.

Sleepily people go back to life as usual. People gather for worship as usual. There is no urgency. No sense of something both grand and ominous on the horizon. People eat, drink, marry, and are given in marriage just like the days of Noah. For 120 years God sounded the alarm of warming with Noah building that ark. Judgment came. When God shut the doors of that ark it was too late. As the waters rose and panic ensued people died. They ran in fear as the flood waters rose but they could not find high enough ground. They may have even pounded on the ark doors. It all proved in vain as all the inhabitants outside the ark drowned. It must have been a horrific scene.

Something equally horrific lies ahead. Anarchy. Panic. Fear. Greed. Violence. Selfishness. We saw the way people responded after Hurricane Harvey and the fear of a gas shortage. People blocked roads lining up at the gas stations. Stations ran out of gas. One lady commented seeing a guy filling up several 50 gallon tanks. She commented," I just needed enough gas to get to Walmart but that guy hoarded all the gas."

What will happen when the grocery store shelves are empty? How violent will people get for a loaf of bread or gallon of milk. What will people do when the electrical systems fail like ours did last night. So the boys could sleep I put them in Brenda's car and drove around for an hour and a half. I saw people sitting in their driveways with their cars running to be in air conditioning.

Hard times are ahead. End times are predicted most notably in Revelation. We are fast becoming a cashless society. RFID devices are already planted in animals and humans alike. How long before that becomes mandatory for all citizens and yet God clearly warns and commands believers not to take such a mark or device.

The alarm is sounding. We better not hit the snooze and pretend all is well. Now is the time for America to repent and for gospel preachers to preach repentance. The alarm is sounding. Are we awaking and heeding the alarm? Don't hit the snooze.

It's All Temporary Stuff

If you have watched the news you have seen videos of the floods in the gulf coast region. You may have also seen mounds of rubble piled out on the curbs as people begin cleaning up.

I recall an interview I saw of one guy who said, "It is all just stuff. It can be replaced."

Think of the countless hours of labor spent to purchase such items like houses, furniture, vehicles, televisions, barbecue grills and more. All bought with the promise of creating pleasure, happiness, and endless memories. All gone now piled in trash heaps.

The truth is it is all temporary. Possessions are temporary. Relationships are temporary. Even our bodies are temporary.

It makes me think of line to a song I love penned by Graham Kendrick.

All I once held dear, built my life upon
All this world reveres, and wars to own
All I once thought gain I have counted loss
Spent and worthless now, compared to this

Knowing you, Jesus
Knowing you, there is no greater thing
You're my all, you're the best
You're my joy, my righteousness
And I love you, Lord

copyright http://elyrics.net

All we once held dear can be taken from us in a moment. An accident. A hurricane. A tornado. A virus. A downturn in the economy. Or even end times persecution and apocalyptic events. All remind us that everything we held dear on planet earth is temporary. 

Do not believe me. Look in Houston at the houses. the vehicles, the manicured lawns, the businesses.Destroyed. Drive down to the cemetery as I did last week. I saw graves from as far back as 1887 and as current as just a couple of weeks ago. Relationships are temporary. Fathers die. Husbands die. Mothers die. Wives die. Students die. Infants die. Military personnel die. Sons and and daughters die. None are exempt. 

It is all temporary. We hold things dear and build our lives on temporal things. We think they will give us status, importance, and lasting pleasure. We make the foolish mistake of building our lives on these unstable foundations. 

People war to possess such things. Gangs war to possess a certain turf. A region where they rule. Nations war to rule power over the world. Rulers come and go. Gang members come and go. It is all temporary. 

Only our personal relationship with Jesus and eternity will last. In the end they are all that really matter. 

Philippians 3:7-8 (ESV)
⁷  But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
⁸  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

Knowing Jesus is most important. All our stuff is temporary but we fall under the delusion. We are inundated with multiple messages that stuff or relationships will make life better. We fall for the deception. We build our lives on things that cannot last. No matter how many times we see this truth played out before our eyes like Hurricane Harvey or some tragic death.

Let me conclude with a few stories. Many years ago I visited with a senior adult couple. I commented about all the nice stuff they had accumulated over the years. They talked about their deaths and what would happen to all their stuff. The elderly gentleman said, "We are going to let the kids fight over it. It will not matter to us where we are going." He had a good sense of the temporary nature of things. 

Brenda's suburban is 14 years old with 286,000 miles on it. I recently took it to a car salesman I know to see what we would get for trade on it to basically swap it for a car with a less miles and no debt.  While we talked he old me about people going out and financing vehicles for $1,000 a month. I could not believe my ears.

Later they came back with a very low offer on Brenda's vehicle. One I quickly rejected and left. On my way out the door I saw a shiny new truck. I saw the sticker on the window. $59,000. All for temporary. A friend just old me today about a man paying $1,500 a month for a used 2009 truck. All for temporary.

Knowing Jesus lasts. It is eternal. May we not waste on our lives in pursuit of the temporary. May we give our lives to that primary pursuit of knowing Jesus.

My Travels And The People I Meet

In recent days I have preached in different places. I've met some wonderful people along the way. I recall a group I met in a small country church in a small rural town not long ago. Salt of the earth kind of people. Good people. Hospitable people. They were gracious hosts.

Their enthusiasm for the preached word of God exited me. You do not always see that now days. From the moment Brenda and I met our hosts to the time we left those people touched me deeply. We had our formal introductions and then shared a meal together. Before long it felt like sitting down with old friends.

Our worship was a far cry from where Brenda and the boys and I worshipped yesterday. I did not preach but had the chance to receive. It was a mega church.Seating capacity in the sanctuary was 4,500. They had a large choir. Everything boasted of excellence. Yet I did not feel at home. I have grown accustomed to small country churches and small towns.

People were friendly yesterday. We did not feel a connection with anyone. The preacher did a fine job. Very biblical and very eloquent. He was also very educated. As great and as big as that church was it could not compare to the small country church I preached in just a little over a week ago.

I recall a man meeting my wife and taking his hat off when he introduced himself. He did the same thing when we left town. That made a bigger impression on me than any greeter at the door of that large church yesterday. In both churches we sang hymns. In the small country church Brenda and I had the chance to eat with the song leader and his wife along with another couple the night before. That made for a deeper connection.

I will never forget that little country church. I enjoyed the larger church but I am a small town preacher at heart. I may preach in some larger churches from time to time. I will be grateful for those opportunities. I guess I will always feel more at home in small towns in country churches. I am thankful for the people I get to meet alone the way in my travels.

Forgetting The Past

Sexual abuse. Physical abuse. Deception. Betrayal. Broken promises. Lies. Alcoholism.

Such things make up the past of many people. They make up my past. I brought all this baggage into adulthood. Such things in your past impact everything. It impacts the way you see the world, the  way you relate to people, and the way you approach life.

Some people have trouble coping with just one of those things in childhood. I hd to cope with all of them. These things were never talked about openly in my family. They were swept under the rug like they had been on both sides of my family for generations.

I floundered my way through childhood. My teenage years were harder. Not only the physiological changes but then there were the complicated emotions I tried to sort through. They were complicated further when my maternal grandfather died my sophomore year. He was my rock, my idol, my hero, and my father figure. Just when I needed him the most he was gone. I never cried harder in my life than when I learned he died. He never saw me play any high school or college football. We shared a love for sports. He bought me my first baseball glove. He taught me to catch and to throw. He took me to my first high school football game. We watched Monday Night Football games just the two of us. I wanted nothing more than to make him proud. As much as I loved him he never told me he loved me or was proud of me.

After he died and when I played varsity high school football I would run into people who knew my grandfather. He was standout athlete in my hometown. Tough. A fierce competitor. A man's man. I would never have known how my grandfather felt about me if some of his old friends had not told me the things he used to tell them about me. He was proud of me.

When I met Jesus in 1983 He began His masterful work of healing, shaping, and molding me into His vessel.A work that continues to this day. A work that has not always been easy or pleasant. The pressure from His  fingers in molding me like a piece of clay has brought many broken moments. His grip has been firm but gentle. Never harsh. His pressure to conform me after His image is relentless.

For much of my life I have been defined by my past. The moment I came into relationship with Jesus I was defined by my future. An eternal future. From time to time I can slip back into old destructive thought patterns. When I spend time alone with Jesus I get His perspective and His healthy thoughtful patterns.

Many people are more defined by their past than their future. Jesus offers a better eternal future. He also offers  a better temporal future. That temporal future may have some bumps along the way, a few trials, and several faith tests. His preferred future is more desirable than what we can plan for ourselves.

So let us put the past behind us. Let us look to a future walking with Jesus.

Philippians 3:12-14 (ESV)
¹²  Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
¹³  Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
¹⁴  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.