Who are you Expecting??

 

  The Grace Reformed church in Washington D.C. had been the home church for president Theodore Roosevelt and he had attended quite regularly when he happened to be in town. 

    One day someone called the church and asked the pastor a interesting question that the pastor had never received before. The question was asked "Are you expecting the President in the church this Sunday?" 

    The pastor replied "I cannot promise, but we do expect God to be there and we hope that will be incentive enough for a reasonably large audience."

    As a pastor myself I have to say that I approve of his answer. 

    Sometimes in our Christian lives we can often forget that the reason why we go to church is to draw closer to God. We sometimes forget the true meaning and purpose behind why we attend. We sometimes can lose sight on what real worship is. We like this man's question, can focus on who is going to be in the service. Or we can fixate on who just happens to be missing. We can be more concerned about who is preaching rather than the God that the preacher is preaching about. S

    Sometimes if we are not careful we make worship all about us. We can make the church about our preferences, comforts and conveniences. We can focus on things like music, the style, the tenor, and the tempo, instead of who we are singing these songs to. We can become more focused on our comforts than we are about our Creator. We can linger on about the length or the shortness of the message and ignore what God might be saying to us through it. 

    We can even make worship all about feeling a certain way. We might desire for our emotions to be stirred. To feel something or to be moved to tears for some reason. We can sometimes desire the excitement and energy and equate that with the presence of God. Ignoring that sometimes God speaks in that still small voice. 

    Now, don't get me wrong. Its not like those things don't matter and it's not like they don't have their place. However they should not matter as much as we allow them to matter in our worship. The whole purpose for us to go to church is not for us, but for the Lord. It is for us to hear Him. It is for us to draw close to Him. It is for us to place our focus and our attention to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To give honor to the King of Kings. 

    That is what we should be expecting. That is what our desire should be. When we get dressed and get our families out the door to go to church. Our desire, our expectation should be to encounter the One and True Living God! 

    What would it matter if we went to church and it had all the excitement and thrills of a sold out concert? What would it matter if all the famous and influential stars of Hollywood would happen to attend the church service? What value would it be if we had the best speakers, the most talented musicians? What would it matter if we had all this and so much more, yet God's presence would be absent. 

    Would we still want to go? Would a simple service without all the thrills still thrill us? Would we be completely happy with worship if the room is uncomfortable, the songs were simple and not to our liking, and the preacher was long and boring? Would be enjoy it just the same if there was no great crowd? Would we still wish to go because we were simply expecting for God's presence to be there?

    I wonder as I write this if the church in America would even notice if God was absent? Would they realize that the presence of Jesus is absent even though the sermon was captivating, the worship was thrilling and the crowd was grand. Does the average Christian in our American churches even know the diffrence. Do even the pastors behind the pulpits know the diffrence as well? 

A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God; I will seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You, as in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; so I have seen You in the holy place, seeing Your power and Your glory. Because Your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. So I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.- (Psa 63:1-4)

    It is my hope that you and I, as we prepare to come to worship this Sunday that we might come with the same mindset that David expresses in this Psalm. That when we come to worship we might come with the intention to "Seek" God "Earnestly". I pray that we might thirst for the presence of God. I pray that we might long for the Power and Glory of God throughout this week. That we might prepare our hearts and minds to be ready to praise God with our lips and to lift up our hands in His Name.

The worm within

    As a believer in Christ I have to admit that I am not always the best example of what a Christian should be. There are moments I catch my self talking or acting in ways that I think to myself "David that is not how a Christian should act". I wonder if I am the only one who has done that, but I am pretty sure I am not. 

    I think that if we will be honest with ourselves and allow ourselves to do a little bit of introspection. We will find that there are moments in our lives that what we say or what we just happen to be doing are not always in line with scripture. I am sure there are moments that you will find your life is not as Christ like as it should be. I am sure of these things because everyone of us are not perfect. 

    As hard as we might try to fight it. As good as we try to be. The fact of the matter is that we all mess up from time to time. We all say things we should not say. We all do things that we are not supposed to do. Why is that? Are we not saved by Jesus Christ? Do we not have the Holy Spirit inside us? The reason why we fail time and time again is because we are all sinners. 

    No matter how perfect an apple may appear on the outside, there is no guarantee that there is not a worm that is eating away inside it. That is because when the apple begins to grow on the tree an insect comes in and lays eggs in the apple blossom. So when the apple begins to grow the eggs that had been laid is now inside that apple. Eventually those eggs hatch and the worm begins to borrow its way around that apple from the inside out. That is why you might find a perfectly fine looking apple on the outside, but on the inside you find the apple is rotten and is being eaten by worms. 

    That is much like our sins and our sin nature. We can present a great outward appearance and present ourselves in the best possible light. We can fool a great many people in believing that we are in fact good. We can even do such a great job of this that we can even convince ourselves of our own goodness. 

    Yet no matter how much we try to do the right thing. No matter how much we try to fight it. No matter how many people we try to fool. We all must wrestle with the fact that we are indeed sinful. That is true about those who are saved and those who are not. 

    As much as we might not want to admit it. Our problems with sin is not the result of some outside influences. It is not because someone made us to say certain things. We don't act a certain way just because of the bad influences around us (though that certainly does not help). Sometimes we make statements like "Well the devil made me do it" and while yes He does indeed attack us, at the end of the day it is you. 

   Let me remind you that the serpent never plucked the fruit from the tree for Eve to eat. The serpent never shoved that fruit in her mouth and made her swallow it. We read that;

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.- Genesis 3:6)

    You see the serpent did its job, but at the end of the day it was Eve who saw the fruit as being good, that it was a delight, and something to be desired. 

   Many years later after the fall of mankind we see another man who had to come to grips with his own sins. His name was King David. Though he was already married he tempted when he happened to see Bathsheba. He was immediately infatuated with her and slept with her even though they were both married. Then when it was realized that Bathsheba was now pregnant. King David doubled down on stupid and tried to trick her husband in believing that the child was his. However David's plan did not work and instead of just confessing his sins, he made it where her husband would be killed in battle so King David could quickly marry Bathsheba before anyone would find out. 

    However, David became convicted of this sin and we see he comes to a place of repentance. I want you to listen to what King David has to say. 

Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.- (Psa 51:9-10)

    David realized that the problem did not rest with Bathsheba and her beauty. It was not because he happened to see her bathing. David understood that the reason why he gave into the temptation rested with himself. The sin issue resided in his own heart. That is why he committed adultery. That is why he tried to hide his sin. That is why he tried to trick her husband in believing a lie. That is why he eventually had Bathsheba's husband killed. He came to the harsh truth that his own heart was not clean. 

    David realized what he needed was for his heart to be cleansed. He realized he did not need to ignore his sin or hide from the truth. He understood that what he needed most was to be forgiven and restored. 

    Lets follow David's Example. Lets not blame the outside influences for our moral and ethical failures. While  striving to run from those temptations that so easily insnare us. Let us also wrestle with our sin nature and not allow those outside temptations be our scapegoat. Let us take responsibility for our own actions and not point the blame on others. 

    Let us seek forgivness from God and let us seek the Lord to create in us a clean heart. Let us desire God to create in us a right spirit within us. Let us not allow the worm of sin to grow and fester, let us nip it in the bud. 

Don't be Hasty

    

This is my second year working as a bus monitor. In that time I have seen several instances where people have lost control of there anger. Times when kids have become red in the face yelling and screaming for what appears to be nothing. 

    One time last year I was with a new driver who was driving a route neither me nor her had to much familiarity with. I was trying to give her the right directions, but I failed, and I led her down a dead end road. Now in a car or a truck that might not be a big deal. However we were in a large yellow bus and we were full of some of the wildest kids you can find. So to say that the bus driver was stressed would be an understatement. 

    She had to turn around and that meant backing up and pulling forward time and time again just to turn it around. Now to the bus drivers credit she kept her cool. However that can't be said for the old lady who came out of her house. You see as we started backing up we hit a few limbs from her tree and a couple of twigs were broken off. However this lady who was old enough to know better came out enraged and upset. We were polite and tried to explain the situation, but no amount of explanation or apologies was enough to pacify this elderly woman. You would have thought that we ran over her dog or her best friend. So that being said we choose not to stick around to long and we got out of there as quickly as we could. 

    There are many other stories that I could share when I seen people become unhinged and enraged. I am sure you can share your own horror stories as well. To be honest I can share some of my own stories when I have lost control and allowed my anger to get the best of me and I am sure you can say the same. 

    In those moments when I have lost control of my anger, I knew better than to act that way. I am sure that older lady knew that she should not have acted that way, or at least I hope she knew that. There are moments were as we look back on how we acted or what we had said we can be a bit embarrassed. Sometimes I cringe at the thought of something I said or did in the past when my emotions got the best of me.

    Many times we get anger over things that don't even matter. We get overheated and say things we should not say only for a couple of days latter forget why we got upset in the first place. We tend to lose perspective in those moments. We fail to show any kind of understanding or empathy. Many times we fail to take time to listen or to try to understand the situation for someone else's perspective. So often we jump to conclusions and arrive at certain positions based on limited information's. 

    King Solomon who the bible records as a great man of wisdom. Listen to what he has to say about this topic. 

Do not be hasty in your spirit to be angry; for anger rests in the bosom of fools. - (Ecc 7:9)

    I must admit that there are moments when I am a fool. The way I have allowed my anger to get the best of me in the past, has been indeed foolish. When that elderly woman came out to the bus to express her displeasure both with the bus driver and myself. She indeed looked foolish, so much so that even those unruly kids shared how silly this lady was to be angry for a few broken twigs. In fact I am sure that if someone recorded you at your worst. When your face turned red, and your fists were balled up and you were doing and saying things in a fit of rage. I am sure that if you were to look at it a couple of day's later you would be a bit embarrassed by your own actions. I am sure you would find yourself behaving a bit foolish.

   This is why what Solomon says in that passage is so wonderful. He tells us to not be hasty to be angry. Don't be so quick to make split second decisions and decide how you should respond. Give yourself some time to listen. Allow enough time to gather all the information. Take some time to put yourself in the other persons shoes. Think about what you need to do to express your displeasure. Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions and rush to judgments. Allow yourself sometime to cool down and become level headed. 

    It has been in many of those moments that as I look back on it that I have failed to be patient and allow my self the time to process the situation and put it in the proper perspective. 

    I hope that the next time I come into a situation where my blood begins to boil, that I don't look foolish once again. I hope that I will take the advice of that wise King and to not be hasty in my anger. That is what I hope for you as well. Wouldn't the world be a better place if we would just be patient and not let our Anger to get the best of us? 

Where Real Revival Begins

    As a pastor I love to read about various revivals in history, because they give us a little light on how revival begins. 

    During the great Welsh revival there was a minister who was said to be very successful in sharing the gospel. Many individuals would respond to his message and they would repent of their sins and be saved. Hundreds of people were coming to Jesus Christ under this man's ministry. What made this so interesting was that this minister preached the same sermon everywhere he went. 

    As news about this minister and his one very effected message came to the ears of another minister. The minister was interested in hearing this message for himself. This man wanted to know what was the secret. 

    So when this minister heard this preacher was going to preach in a near by city. He waisted no time to go and hear this powerful sermon. The minister traveled a great distant to get to the meeting. He sat through the message and saw a great many people come and put there faith in Jesus Christ. 

    After the service the minister came to the preacher and asked the preacher the question he longed to be answered. He asked "Brother where did you get that sermon?"

    The preacher took this minister to a poorly furnished room and pointed to a spot where the carpet was warn out near the window. The preacher said "Right there is where I got the sermon". Then he said "My heart was heavy for the souls of men, so one night I knelt there and cried for the power as I never had before. The hours passed until midnight, but the answer did not come. So I prayed on and prayed on and then the sermon came and the power came to preach it.

    It cannot be understated, but as I have studied and read about various revival throughout the world, every great move of God began with much prayer. Revival's and great spiritual movements of God did not come by great sermons, lively music, entertainment or even electrifying enthusiasm. Instead it begins to either one person, or a group of persons who become burdened enough for the presence of God that they go to the Lord in prayer. Sometimes this time of prayer lasts a couple of weeks. Sometimes the time of prayer extends to months or even years.

    We cannot manufacture real revival. There are no quick paths to it. There are no short cuts to experiencing great moves of God.  Churches can plan services and schedule speakers. They can line up the music and invite a great many people to the service. You can go to church and listen to preachers. You can listen to Christian music all you want. However, real revival will only come in your life and in the life of the church only when God brings it. 

    So what can we do? We can do what has been done time and time again in the past. We can seek the Lord in prayer. Pray to the Lord Almighty to revive our soul. Pray that God awakens something in us, to stir us up. Pray for God to reveal those things in our lives that are not pleasing to Him and has hindered our fellowship with the Lord. Pray for God to bring revival in our lives and in the lives of our churches. Pray for revival privately. Pray for revival corporately. If we are going to see great moves of God in our lives, in our churches and in our community. It must begin with sincere and fervent prayer.

Listen to what God told the nation of Israel about turning back. 

If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.- (2Ch 7:14)

Take sometime to seek the Lord this week and pray for God to move. You may never know that the next great revival may very well begin with your prayers! 

There will be no more

  A little girl was walking in the cemetery with her aunt one day. She was examining the various gravestones. When suddenly she cried out, "Oh, auntie, look here! Here is the tomb of some poor person who has not gone to heaven." This took the Aunt by surprise and she asked "Not gone to heaven?" She then turned to look at what her niece was referring to. The grave stone she was looking at was an elaborate monument with weeping angels sculptured in marble. The monument was very pretty and was decorated with various flowers. So the aunt being a bit confused asked  "Why, what do you mean?" "Well, auntie," said the child, "the person in the grave cannot have gone to heaven, or the angels would not be crying!"

    Honestly, that girl was right. 

    There are a lot of things about heaven we really cannot know for sure. We can't know what exactly Heaven will look like. The bible gives us a few descriptions and while it is helpful the words we read fail to give us a complete picture. We don't know what the tree of life will look like. I have seen many trees growing up in Tennessee but I am sure that tree will be very different from the tree's I am used to seeing. I have tried many different fruits like apples, oranges, and pears and all of them are wonderful. However, I am sure the fruit from that tree will be something entirely different.  I have had many happy and joyful experiences in my 45 years of life, and I am sure I will have many more experiences (Lord willing).  Yet, I don't know all the joyful and happy experiences that await me in heaven. 

    I said all that to say this, The one thing I am absolutely certain of is that all the pain and hurt. All the tears and morning that we experience here on this earth will one day be no more. Pharmacies will be closed and doctors will be out of business. There will be no need for hospitals, Nursing Homes or Funeral Homes. No pandemic, no epidemic, no flu season and no suffering. 

    When God had design this world it was made compactly and utterly perfect. Death, sickness, and disease was absent from God's design. All that changed when Adam and Eve sinned against God and rebelled. From that day forward all of God's creation was tainted with sin. The effects of this willful and sinful disobedience was a world filled with pain and suffering. 

    Yet, I know that one day the world filled with sin and sins curse will one day be remade by God. It will one day be remade to God's original and perfect design. A world without sin, death and decay! A world as it should be, a world as it once was before sin entered in and corrupted it all. A world filled with the presence of God, filled with the Glory and Love of God. A world were we will one day come face to face with the God of all creation. 

    In this world there are a lot of things that can cause us to weep. There are many things that can lead us to be broken and hurt. 

    However, for those of us who are saved, we know that one day there will be no more weeping, crying or pain. 

    Take some time to listen and meditate on these words 

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.- (Rev 21:4)

    I don't know where you are in your life right now. I don't know what all your dealing with in your life. But I do know this; if you will are a believer in Christ, there are better days ahead. 

    As always if you want to know more about what it means to be a Christian...comment on this post and lets talk! 

Grief Relief

    If you have lived for any length of time you have had your fair share of grief. There have been loved one's who have passed on, jobs that you have lost, relationships ruined, the list could go on and on. Grief is sadly one of the problems that all of us face in this life. 

    The author Edgar Jackson in a few short words describes grief perfectly. He writes;

Grief is a young widow trying to raise her three children, alone. Grief is the man so filled with shocked uncertainty and confusion that he strikes out at the nearest person. Grief is a mother walking daily to a nearby cemetery to stand quietly and alone a few minutes before going about the tasks of the day. She knows that part of her is in the cemetery, just as part of her is in her daily work. Grief is the silent, knife-like terror and sadness that comes a hundred times a day, when you start to speak to someone who is no longer there. Grief is the emptiness that comes when you eat alone after eating with another for many years.

Grief is teaching yourself to go to bed without saying good night to the one who had died. Grief is the helpless wishing that things were different when you know they are not and never will be again. Grief is a whole cluster of adjustments, apprehensions, and uncertainties that strike life in its forward progress and make it difficult to redirect the energies of life.

    I wonder as you read those words if you could relate to it like I did. Can you relate to one of those situations or have you ever felt similar emotions. Like I said grief is just something that we have all have faced from time to time. In fact it may very well be the situation that you currently find your self as you are reading this today. 

    I can tell you that I have personally have had my share of grief. I remember having to go home after being fired from my job at Vanderbilt Hospital just a few short weeks before Christmas and finding out that my wife was pregnant with our second child. I remember the day my mother called me to tell my that my uncle Bob had passed away. I remember the day that I buried both my mother and my father. Then there was the time when my parents were going through their divorce. I remember the day my father took me aside to inform me that I had to be held back in school and that I had a learning disability (dyslexia).

     I could share with you all the tears I have cried, all the sleepless nights I have tossed in bed. I am sure you could share you own stories of suffering and loss. However in all the things I have gone through I have only found four things that have helped me through those moments of grief and heart ache. I want to share those with you today in the hopes that it will somehow be of some help for you today. 

    First thing that has helped me is this; Allow yourself to Grieve in your time and in your own way. We are all different and we all grieve differently. Its ok to cry, and it is perfectly acceptable to laugh. Its ok to be somber and desire to be left alone. It is equally ok to be surrounded by people and making jokes. It's ok to spend a day or a week or even months grieving. It is also ok for you to grieve in a shorter time span. Everyone's pain and hurt is different and how we process this pain is different as well. 

    The bottom line is this; don't try to be the strong one. Don't bottle up your emotions and pretend you are not hurting. While laughing and cracking jokes is fine if that is how you grieve, don't use humor to cover up what your going through in side. God gave you those emotions for a reason. I want to remind you that the bible even tells us that Jesus wept, so it's ok for you to do it as well. 

    Secondly, Time. I have found that time does not erase the pain, but it does lessen it. There are moments when it would seem you will never be the same. You may feel like you can't go on living. Believe me I have been there my self. However, I have found that in time the pain of your grief will lesson and be come easier to bear. In time the pain will lesson. There will be moment when the pain will come up and you will be reminded of your loss, but it won't be as hard as it is now. 

    Thirdly, Spending time with Jesus. By this I don't mean to go through the motions of religion. In times of grief and pain you need the person of Jesus Christ to help through the agony of your grief. Spend time talking with Him in prayer, be open and honest with Him. Share with Jesus the pain your dealing with the sadness you feel. Most of the Psalms that are written in the bible and there are 150 of them, were written in moments of grief, hardships and loss. Many of those Psalms you will read, the writer shares his raw emotions and pours out his pain to the Lord. You need to do that too. 

    Fourthly, Surround yourself with loved one's. Spend time with your family and your friends who love you and care for you. Talk with them, cry with them, spend time with them. Allow them the opportunity to comfort you and help you through this pain. Sometimes when we are going through grief we tend to shove people away. While it is ok to have some time of your own, make sure that you are not staying alone. Make sure that you allow your friend's and family comfort you in your grief. 

    It's that last part that I really want to challenge us as Christians with. The bible tells us in Romans 12:15 "Rejoice with rejoicing ones, and weep with weeping ones;" 

    So for those of you who are reading this ( and you have stayed this long ) if your going through a period of grief I hope these words will be helpful. I hope you will find someone, a family member, a friend, or a co-worker who will help you through it. 

    Those of us who are not going through a difficult time. I hope you would take the time to look around you and if you see someone who you know is going through a hard time. Don't let them go through it alone, especially if you call yourself a Christian. Be the shoulder they can cry on, a ear that is ready to listen. Give that person a word of encouragement. Write a card, send a message, or pick up the phone and let them know your thinking about them and praying for them. Life is hard enough, we should not have to go through it alone. 

A hard lesson to learn

   Socrates of Constantinople was a church historian who once told about a man named Pambo. Pambo one day came to Socrates at his home with a request. He said "Teach me a Psalm or some part of Scripture"

    Hearing this request Socrates began to read from Psalms 39 where it reads "I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue" 

    After Socrates finished the first verse Pambo asked Socrates to close the bible. Pambo told Socrates "I want to learn what that verse means and master it before I hear anymore". With that Pambo  left Socrates home and said "I will be back when I have mastered that verse". 

    Weeks went by and Pambo never showed back at Socrates house. Until one day Socrates, happened to accidentally ran into him at the market. He asked Pambo "Why have you not come back Pambo?" 

    Pambo replied and said "I am still trying to learn that first lesson you taught me about my tonuge." Many years later someone else asked Pambo about this first lesson and his answer was the same "I have yet to learn this lesson about my tongue " he said. 

    Pambo was right, learning to control our tonuge can be a very difficult thing to do. It is something that I know we all can struggle with from time to time. 

     Our tonuge can be one of the greatest tools we have to bless people with and encourage them. A simple thank you can cause someone to feel appreciated.  Telling someone how much you appreciate all the things that they are going can cause someone to feel valued and wanted. Letting someone know that you care for them can help someone who feels alone and abandoned. Your words can have the ability to bring joy, peace, strength and encouragements in the lives of so many around you. 

    While all that is true and so much more. Equally true is the fact that our words can also break people down. A harsh rebuke can cause someone to feel hurt and uncared for. A few words can cause lead to discouragement. With a few words that you might say out of anger or jealousy, can destroy someone. 

    The things we say good or bad have the ability to make a life long impact on someone's life. There are many people today that are still hearing the hateful things that they had heard about them as a child. Equally true is that there are many people who hare doing great things all because someone cared enough to encourage them and build them up when they were a child. 

    It reminds me of a sad story I heard about a woman who had been trying to lose weight and she was working out. She was making good progress and she was watching what she ate. But she had a lot more to go. 

    Well one day as she finished her morning exercise a couple of kids were standing outside the gym. As she walked past them, she could see their glare and their giggles. Then she over heard one of the kids say "She look's like Schreck". She knew those kids were talking about her and it cut her to the core to hear it. She hurried to her car before the tears started to stream down her face. She quickly jumped in her car seat and shut the door only to ball her eyes out.

    Several day's went by and she continued to go to the gym but she was feeling very discouraged. Any time she looked at her self in the mirror she would hear those boys laughing and the looks that they gave her that day. No matter how wonderful she may have felt about the progress she was making was quickly dashed as she recalled those juvenile remarks.

    Well one day when she was finishing up her work out and heading out to her car she heard someone say "Hey?" She braced her self for what might come next. She was sure that someone was going to say something about her looks or her weight. 

    Reluctantly she looked back to see who was speaking and it was someone who was working out at the gym as well. He ran up to her and told said "Hey, I've noticed that you are in here everyday working hard and I just wanted to tell you to keep up the good work." 

    When she got back to her car and closed the car door, tears started streaming down her face. However these tears were not tears of sadness or hurt, but one of joy. Those were the words she needed to hear to keep herself going back to the gym, and to keep working hard. 

    We need to realize the power our tonuge has. It can be used to destroy and tear down others or it can be used to build up and encourage them. 

    So lets take some time out of our day or sometime this week and try to watch our tonuge. Lets try to use our tongue to encourage others, to build them up. Lets use our tongue to love others and to share the gospel. 

    Let us strive to avoid criticism and judgmental attitudes toward others. Lets strive to avoid mean and malicious gossip and not give it a place at our table. 

Contentment is Great Gain

    

    There was at one time an Italian bishop who had been struggling with his health. He had for some time, been struggling with a great amount of pain due to his ailment. Family, friends and those who were close to the bishop knew the amount of pain and struggle it was just to get out of bed. 

    The bishops struggles lasted for year and years. He would labor on each day with the pain and hardships due to his declining health. Those who were around the bishop and knew the struggle he had to endure each and every day were all amazed. Despite all that the bishop had to go through and the vast amount of pain that he had to endure; the bishop always had a positive attitude. In the years that they had watched the bishop day in and day out, not once did the bishop seemed irritated, impatient or depressed. 

    Well one day one of the bishops closest friends asked him "Would you tell me your secret on being content in this life"

    The bishop replied "well sure, I have found that in whatever state that I am in, the first thing I do is look up. I look up to the heavens and remember that all my principal business here is to get up there. Then I will look down to the ground. I look down and and remember how small a place I really occupy in this world and what small place I will occupy when I die. Then I take some time to look around me and I see the vast multitudes in this world who are in all respects more unhappy than myself. "

    "When I do this" the bishop continued, "I learn where true happiness is placed; where all our cares must end; and what little reason I have to complain and be discontent. 

   In the land of the free and home of the brave, with its amber waves of grain, there seems there has been for the past few years a growing discontentment in our culture. Makes no diffrence what side of the political spectrum you align yourself with, neither party seems to be happy. Everywhere you go you can hear people grumbling and complained over the price of gas, or the cost of groceries. You will hear people grumbling over the direction our country is heading. 

    So many times we find our selves discontent over all sorts of different things. We can become frustrated and discontent over our jobs, our financial situations, our health, or even the weather. We share these discomforts with anyone who will listen. We hope and pray that others will feel the same way as we do and will join in our misery and complaints. We sometimes rush to our computers or phones and make post with our complaints, hoping for sympathy, or confirmation.

  Our displeasure can cause us to become frustrated with our current condition. It might lead us to be come angry  and jealous as we look at our situation and the situations of others. We may find our selves growing increasingly greedy, seeking to do whatever it takes for us to finally be content. We can become anxious and worried, as we fear that we might never be happy. Our lack of contentment can lead us down roads of heart ache and pain. It can lead us to a variety of malicious emotions and a melancholy life.

    Amazingly this is not how we as Christians should live out our lives. None of this is something God desires for you and your life. God desires for you is to be content. To live this life with a since of peace joy and happiness. His desire for you is to be overcome with grief, worry, fear or depression. 

   Listen to the instructions Paul gives Timothy;

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and it is clear that we can carry nothing out. But having food and clothing, we will be content.- (1Ti 6:6-8)

    Paul tells Timothy you came into this world with nothing. So look around you and look at all the things that you own. Look at the food you have, the clothes you wear, the car you drive and the house you live in. None of those things you currently have are things that you brought with you when you were born. Those are blessings from God. God had provided all of those things for you to enjoy. So start enjoying them, and be grateful to God for them. 

    Paul also tells Timothy that we will carry nothing out with us. So all the things that God has provided for you are blessings for you to enjoy today, but they are not meant for you to hold onto forever. You will not be able to take it with you when you die. Live your life holding loosely the blessings that God has given you.

    Paul tells Timothy, "Having food and clothing we will be content. Another words if we have our needs meet we have more than enough reason to be satisfied here in this life. 

    Lets follow that bishops example. Look to the heavens and remember that is where our home is. Look to the earth and remember the end of our selves and look around you and see the many others who are hurting and suffering far greater than you are. Above all remember that because you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you have more than you will ever need. 

Discovered Danger

    There was some new construction going on in the new residential area in the polish town of Lubin. Everything was going according to schedule . Aug 10th 2023 seemed like just another day for the construction workers. That is until they made a terrifying discovery. 

    As one of the workers began digging he stumbled upon a very large metal object. This was unusual and unexpected. As the workers began removing the dirt from off the object it became clear that they now had a problem on there hands. This rusted metal object just happened to be a 550 pound bomb that had been left there since WWII. 

    It just so happened that the place in which they were working was used as a labor and prisoner of war camp in WWII. It was believed that this place had been cleaned up and perfectly safe, a belief that was in fact misplaced. 

    Now the question came what are we going to do about this situation? Immediately the local officials took action. They quickly sealed off the area and prevented anyone to get close to this antique of mass destruction. They quickly went throughout the residential neighborhood and evacuated every man, woman and child.  In no time, 14,000 residents quickly left there homes and were relocated far enough away so they could be safe. There they remained until the bomb was able to be neutralized and the area was safe for them to return. WWII Bomb Story

    Without a shadow of a doubt this was indeed a serious situation. However, Spiritually speaking we have something far more serious than a 550 pound bomb. The truth of the matter is that all of us are deserving of the wrath of God. All of us are by our very nature a sinner who has time and again rebelled against God. Our sinful disobedience must be judged by God and all of when judge will be found guilty. No one is exempt. There are no loop holes. All of us are guilty, judged and condemned to a place called Hell.  You deserve to be there and so do I.

    You maybe thinking to yourself "Boy that sounds harsh" or "that don't sound like the loving God I have heard people talking about".  Well, your right it is harsh and sadly there are a lot of people who fail to tell people the truth. The truth is this; all of us are sinners and our sins are far more dangerous than any left over WWII bomb. 

    You sin is the cause of every major issue you have ever face and will ever face in your life. It is the root cause of broken families, and ruined friendships. It is at the heart of all the wars and battles that anyone has ever fought throughout history. It is the reason why we have crooked politicians, and unjust judges. It is the very reason why we have had institutions like slavery, prisons and rehab units. It is at the center of every abused woman, abandoned child, and addicted father. It is the very reason why you have torn people down with your words. It is the reason for those thoughts you have that you dare not say out loud. It is the reason why you struggle with issues of anger, envy and jealousy. More importantly your sin has caused you to be separated from God and it places you under the judgment and wrath of God and will lead you to a place called Hell. 

    I know that none of what I have just wrote is very encouraging. Its for that very reason many "pastors" refuse to tell people the truth. Instead they rather beat around the bush and make people feel a little more comfortable. That is not how those city officials handled that 550 pound bomb. They quickly told the citizens they were in immediate danger. That is what our sins have placed each and every one of us. You are in immediate danger because of your sins. 

    Now if that is all I had to say well that would not be too comforting. However the great news is that Jesus has made a way for you and I to be saved. Like those bomb technicians who neutralized the bomb that could have destroyed thousands of homes and countless lives by putting their life on the line. Jesus who knew no sin, who had no sin nature, not only risked his life, but He laid down his own life for you. He suffered and died and the wrath of God that you deserved was poured out on Him instead. He neutralized our spiritual bomb with his own blood for you. 

    Here is my point I want to make to you today. When the city of Lubin heard there was a WWII  550 pound warhead that was risking the lives of everyone in the area, the city officials took immediate action. The community as a whole willingly and hurriedly left the area. Another words the people took this threat to there lives seriously. 

    Sadly many fail to show the same level of concern about there spiritual life as they would over there physical life. So many people are more worried about the election or the economy or gas prices than they are about where they will spend eternity. We treat sin as nothing more than a mistake at best, or a good time at worst. We fail to see it as God sees it. We fail to see it as a real and serious threat to our lives and our eternity.  We treat sin as some light thing that God does not get to upset about. 

But listen to what God says about sin

"Vengeance is mine, and recompense; Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things to come hasten upon them- (Deut. 32:35)

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God (John 3:16-18)

    So let me ask you if you were one of the 14,000 people who heard that there was a 550 pound bomb that could go off destroy you and all of the people around you; what would you do? You you ignore your the situation at your own peril. Would you leave but refuse to tell anyone else about it? Would you beat around the bush about the situation, trying not to scare them? Or would you tell them the truth and show them the way to safety? 

    I believe any sane person would first of all leave the area as quickly as possible. I also believe that many people would try to inform as many people as they knew or came in contact with about the dangerous situation that they were in. To do other wise would be to both foolish and unloving. 

    So if that is true about a 550 bomb. How much more should it be true about the spiritual danger that all of us find ourselves in? How much more should we flee from our sin? How much more should we warn others of the impeding judgment to come? How much more should we be grateful that Jesus loved us enough to die in our place?

    If after reading this you feel God calling you to run from your sinful condition and be saved. I encourage you to simply call out to him and asking Him to save you. The bible is clear that "all those who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved". If you want to know more or have any questions feel free to comment on this blog and I will be sure to reach out to you and share with you the great news of Jesus Christ. 

God certainly works in mysterious ways!

    

 This blog post is not so much as a devotion as it is just a testimony. Which I believe can be a blessing to the reader just as much as it has been for me experiencing it.

    You really never know how the things God does in your life will be used until you get a chance to look back and see the hand of God in it. 

    That certainly is the case for me as I look back on the past several months. It was about this time last year that my car which I had only had for 2 years decided to quit on me. This led me and my family having to break down and go and purchase a new car. This meant that we had to do something we had not had to do for nearly 20 years and that is get a loan. Until then we had always paid our cars out in cash. 

    Looking at the finances we quickly realized we need to make a little bit more to stay a float. My wife had just stated a job working as a bus monitor for the school. I knew that they were always hiring and that this would be the kind of job that would allow me to still do what I needed to do as the pastor of Ashmore Baptist Church and still be able to make a little extra cash to help pay for my new/used car.

    What I did not know and what I came to find out is that this was a blessing in disguise. This job allowed me to not only pay for my car payments along with a little extra added income. It also allowed me to connect to so many different people, both students and my fellow co-workers. This allowed me to share the gospel to several people I came in contact. It also was a catalyst for something that I could have never planned for, that is foreign missions. 

    It was around October when I was on a bus and there happened to be two new students that were going to get on the bus. The diffrence was that these two students did not speak any English. They had just arrived in America and had relocated to the small town of Charleston IL.  I did not know this at the time but God was going to use those two students to move me in a direction I really never thought I would be going down. 

    As a bus monitor I feel that part of my job is to connect with these kids. I want them to feel like they can come to me if they have a problem and know that when I correct them they know it is coming from a position of concern and compassion. So I try to make it a point to at the very least welcome them on the bus with a "Good Morning" or a "Good Evening".  I try to joke around with them when I can and wish them a good day at school.

    The problem is that I could not do that with those two new students. They were Hattian and they spoke French and Haitian Kreyol. So I turned to technology and began trying to learn a little bit of there language so I could treat them like I treat the rest of the kids on the bus. So I downloaded the Duolingo App and a Language translator app on my phone. It took a little bit of time, patience but I began learning a few words. 

    When the kids got on in the morning I would greet them with "BonJou" (Good Morning)  and as they got off to school I would tell them "Orevwa Na we pita" (Good bye, I will see you later)   or "Ou pase yon bon Joune" (You have a nice day).  I would ask them questions about there language, there culture and there life. It was not long before I was starting to build a relationships with the kids. 

    Surprisingly however, those two students were not the only students to come. In fact I started to see more and more new students who could not speak English, many of whom were Haitian. I started to see that this was becoming a problem for the teachers in the school. I started seeing more and more Hattian's in the groceries stores and walking around town.

    As I came into contact with both the students as well as the adults I was meeting. I would strike up conversations with them and talk with them as best as I could. Two things always seemed to come up when I would speak to them, especially with the adults. The first thing I would hear is "Kikote mwen aprann angle?" (where can I learn English?). The second thing I would hear is "Mwen vle ale leglize" (I want to go to Church)

    It quickly occurred to me that this was a need that no one was seeing and a need I felt God moving me to try to meet it in some small way. I reached out to several people for advice. I did a lot of praying. 

    Over time God began to move things in place. He put me in contact with someone who had started their own ESL  (English as a Second Language) class in there church. I took a small group to see how it all worked out. God placed a Hattian family in my path and I began building a connection with them. As time has went on I have have gotten better and better with learning the Kreyol language and I am continuing to make new and exciting connections with various Hattian immigrants that are coming into our community. 

    As I look back on this past year I see God's hand moving and shaping things in my life. Had you asked me two years ago if I thought I would be learning another language I would have laughed at you and said "I barely know English" (which is true) The Idea of a dyslexic learning let alone pick up another language is a miracle in and of itself. 

       God used my car to break down, for me to break down and take another job I was not looking to take. To meet people I probably would have never meet. To learn a language I know I would never of thought to learn. To see a need I would have never been able to see. To begin a ministry I never thought would have ever been possible. God certainly works in mysterious ways. 

When your Call gets Dropped

    There was a problem a few years back in a county near by Ashmore, where I live. Turned out that some of the first-responders, firefighters and police officers were having trouble communicating in certain parts of the county. Apparently, there were certain dead zones in the county where the radios was unable to receive or transmit a signal. There were several areas in the county where the signal would be weak, making it difficult for the people to understand one another.

   I know that I have times when I would be talking to someone and the signal would not be great and the call is dropped. That kind of thing can be frustrating, especially when you don't know when it was dropped and you find your self talking to your self, that is until you realize the call was dropped. That alone is frustrating.

    However it's one thing to be on the phone with someone and all of a sudden you lose connection. It is something entirely different when you are trying to save a life, or protect a life and you can't communicate. I don't know about you but if my house is broken into and the police need to call for back up, I want them to be able to call for back up right away. If I happen to be in a car reck, and I am needing to me air lifted out. I don't want them to have to drive around to find a good signal. In cases of life and death good communication is not just convenient it is essential.

    That is not just true about emergency personnel, but spiritually speaking it is important for you and I to have clear communication with God. You want to make sure that the lines of communication with the Lord is free and clear. You don't want any dead zones or weak signals when it comes to your prayer life. 

    One of the things that happens when we get saved is that we begin a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. When this takes place there are many blessings that are attached to that relationship. One of which is that you are now able to communicate with God. Unless a person comes into a relationship with Jesus Christ it is impossible for them to speak to or hear from God.

    All these other religions have what they might call prayer. However because they do not follow and they have yet put there faith and trust in Jesus Christ, they are not speaking to God. They lack the ability to communicate to God because they have yet to receive the forgiveness of their sins. So the separation that exists between them and God has not been rectified through Jesus Christ, who died that they might be forgiven.

     All of that changes the moment you come to Jesus Christ and receive that free gift of salvation that He purchased for you on the cross of Calvary. The moment you get saved, the lines of communication between you and God are connected. Prayer is transformed to become more than just mere words. It becomes the means in which you are able to have a dialogue between you and the One and Only true and living God. This is what the apostle Paul was writing about when we penned those words found in his letter to the Romans. 

 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”- (Rom 8:15)

    While all of this is true it is sadly equally true that many times our lines of communication can become corroded. We can become robbed of the clarity of our communication in our conversation with the Creator. There are times in our lives where our prayer life is in a dead zone. There are moments when our calls to God are dropped. There are times when our communication with the Lord becomes muddied and static. 

    There are a lot of reasons why this can happen to you as a believer in Christ. One of the biggest reasons is however is do to unconfessed sin in your life. In fact there are many passages that talk about this very thing. You see it matters a great deal how you live your Christian life. The bible time and time again shows us that the sin we allow in our lives has a way of causing our communication with God to become corroded. This corrosion in our communication with God makes our prayers inoperable and ineffective. Don't believe me? Listen to what Peter has to say about it in his first letter. 

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”- (1Pe 3:12)

    It is here the apostle Peter tells us how the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. In short there is a clear signal, the lines of communication between the righteous and God are open.

    However, the apostle Peter makes a comparison here. He says "But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. So unlike the righteous who have a clear and open line of communication with God. Those who do evil, Peter says, do not. There prayers, there communication is clouded over by there sinful state. 

    So how can we make sure our communication with God is clear and unbroken? Well the answer to that question is actually found in the previous verse. 

let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.- (1Pe 3:11)

    If the problem with our prayer is our sins, then the answer is to simply repent of them. To repent simply means to turn from the direction you are currently going to go the way you need to go. So instead of indulging and living in unconfessed sin, turn from it, confess it and start walking back toward the direction God desires for you to go. Ask the Lord to restore your fellowship with Him and in so doing your lines of communication will also be restored.  

    We as believers have a wonderful and powerful relationship with God through Christ Jesus. This relationship gives us free access to communicate with God the Father. However our communication is not always what is should be and it is in those times when you feel your prayer life is not what it should be. When you feel like your prayers are not being heard. When you no longer can hear the voice of God in your life. Those are the moments when you need to check and make sure that there is not any unconfessed sin in your life creating a unneeded barrier in your dialogue with God.

The One you can't Fool!

    On October 15th 2009 something tragic happened to a Colorado family that got national attention. Falcon Heene the family's six year old son had gotten trapped in a homemade Helium balloon and it had accidently floated away. 

    For two hours the authorities and media outlets tracked down the balloon's flight path. Many people were fearing the worst and were worried about the fate of Falcon. The fears were relieved when the balloon eventually landed about 50 miles from the family's home and it was discovered that the boy was not inside the balloon, but instead it was discovered that the boy had been hiding in the attic the entire time.  Tragedy was averted. A family has been reunited. A terrifying story with a story book ending. 

    However the relief turned into disappointment and outrage when it was later came out that the entire thing was nothing more than a elaborate hoax orchestrated by the parents. The parents of Falcon Heene had hoped to use this event to gain publicity and perhaps secure a TV show deal. The parents were later charged with several offenses, including conspiracy and making a false report. Balloon boy story

    Understanding the motives of others is not always easy. Sometimes things are not always as they appear. Sometimes the exterior of the shiny red apple, keeps us from seeing the hidden rot lying beneath the surface. Sometimes the sweetest words come from the sourest of hearts. What may appear to be a good deed can be done with malicious intent. Sometimes what we see is the gift but fail to see the axe behind the persons back.

    This can lead to many people being fooled and can cause people to be misled. This can cause us to question motives of the good deeds of others. It can lead us to distrust the kind words, and good deeds of others.  It can cause us to become jaded and lead us to become a skeptical and cynical person. 

    While it may be easy to mislead and misrepresent others in believing something untrue. You maybe able to mislead others of your true intent and hide the true motives behind your good deeds. While you maybe able to fool others. You may even be able to fool yourself. You will never be able to fool God.

    We need to remember it is not just what we do that will be judged by God, but the motives behind what we do that will be judged as well. God knows not just what we do, say and think, but He also knows the motives behind them. The acts of kindness that you may have done in your life will be weighed with your true intention in performing them. The gracious words that you speak will be laid on the scales of God's judgment along with your heart that you had when you spoke them

    And if anyone builds on this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, each one's work shall be revealed. For the Day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try each one's work as to what kind it is. If anyone's work which he built remains, he shall receive a reward. If anyone's work shall be burned up, he shall suffer loss. But he shall be saved, yet so as by fire.- (1Co 3:12-15)

    We would do well to remember that we might fool others by our good deeds, but God knows the  secret motives of your heart. One day we will all have to give an account for the things we do. The things we do that don't have the purest of  intentions will be found out, it will be seen for what it is. Your kind words will be tried and weighed for the purity of your intent.

    So lets make sure whatever you do for God, do it with the purest of intention.  Build on the foundation of Christ with a pure love that is expressed by the things you do and say. Make sure that you will suffer no loss, but that the works you do for God will stand the test of time.  Make sure that your motives are pure and our actions are Holy. 

The Exceeding Abundant Able God

    The last words found in Sir Walter Scott’s diary was “Tomorrow we shall". Sir Walter Scott never finished writing what he planned to do. He never did whatever he wanted to do. The reason; Sir Walter Scott never finished that sentence, and he never did what he planned to do, because he passed away before he could do it.

    Perhaps Sir Walter Scott had plans to write a new book or pen a new poem. Perhaps he needed to go and pay off a debt that needed to be paid. He might had intended to fix up his office or clean up his room, or keep some promise he made to someone. However Sir Walter Scott was planning on finishing his sentence in his diary and no matter what plan's he had intended to do we will never know. We will never know because he was prohibited in doing it. 

    All of us must come to terms with our limitations in this life. There are things that you are not able to do. Things that are beyond you abilities and skill set. Personally speaking, I was not built for any kind of sports (Except for competitive eating, I think that is one sport I could really sink my teeth into 😜).

 What I mean is that I throw a ball with my left hand but catch with my right. I was never one to run very well and now that I am getting older I am finding my body does not move the way it used to. There are things that we no longer can do, due to our health or our age. Much like Sir Walter Scott none of us are going to live forever and that is one limitation that we all must come to terms with at some point. We are limited. 

    Now while this is all true about each and everyone of us, this is not true about God. There are no limitations placed on God. There is nothing that God is not capable of. Nothing that God cannot accomplish or is out of His reach. God is all powerful, all knowing, and all wise. 

    This truth is an important truth we need to keep in mind, especially as we come to God in prayer. When we draw close to Him in prayer we must remember that we are coming before the one who can do all things. 

    This is a truth that the apostle Paul had expressed in his prayer that he wrote down in Ephesians. Listen to how the apostle Paul closes his prayer. 

Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, forever. Amen.- (Eph 3:20-21)

    Did you catch that? The apostle as he closes his written prayer, he reminds us about the God he is praying to. He is reminding his readers the God that they are praying to as well. He says that the God we serve and the God we pray to is able. He is able to do what we are asking. He is able to answer your prayers. He is able to hear your hearts cry. He is able to know all the things your suffering with and he is able to apply the remedy to all the heart aches you have in life. He is Abel. 

    If that is how Paul ended it, that would be enough, but that is not the case. Paul tells us that God is not just able, but he is exceedingly abundantly able. Paul uses two words that are seemingly similar to express the radical truth that God is able.  Paul is telling us that what ever answer to your prayer you think is possible, God can exceed it. Whatever outcome you are hoping for, God is able to provide abundantly. Paul uses these two words as a way of expressing how great our God is and that you can and should trust Him in prayer. He is more than able! He is Abundantly Able. He is Exceedingly Able. He is Exceedingly, Abundantly, Able to answer your prayers. 

    There is not a hardship, struggle or problem in your life that God does not have a solution to. There is not a challenge, difficulty, or question that God will ever be stumped by. He can do whatever you maybe asking, and he can do more than you are requesting. He can do more than you are able to imagine is possible. 

    So while you and I are very much limited in what we can do. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly able to do all that we could every ask Him, need or want. Trust in Him and Go to Him in prayer. You will be glad that you did.