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DanL

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  1. Josheb, I mentioned in chat that I had preached in my local church. One of the chatters (Alex) requested this post so he could read it. I posted it for him. I'm sorry you were put off by it's length, font size, type face, and delivery. I would suggest your opinion may have been colored by making some assumptions that are not necessarily so. God bless you, Dan'L.
  2. Why I’m not on the board. (In my previous church, I was eventually called to serve as President of the Board of Christian Education. It was during my time in that position that the congregation voted to close the school. It hurt me deeply. I felt I had failed God and I vowed never to be involved in church politics again. But God had different plan for me, so here I am now.) What killed the school at that church was complaining. One person had a problem, they complained, the complaining grew and built, parents pulled their kids out of the school, enrollment started to decline, there were more complaints, and the problem spiraled. Let’s talk about how God views complaining by His people: Exodus 14 10As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the LORD, 11and they said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? 12Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!’” Numbers 16:1One day Korah son of Izhar, a descendant of Kohath son of Levi, conspired with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, from the tribe of Reuben. 2They incited a rebellion against Moses, along with 250 other leaders of the community, all prominent members of the assembly. 3They united against Moses and Aaron and said, “You have gone too far! The whole community of Israel has been set apart by the LORD, and he is with all of us. What right do you have to act as though you are greater than the rest of the LORD’s people?” 31He had hardly finished speaking the words when the ground suddenly split open beneath them. 32The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the men, along with their households and all their followers who were standing with them, and everything they owned. 33So they went down alive into the grave, along with all their belongings. The earth closed over them, and they all vanished from among the people of Israel. 34All the people around them fled when they heard their screams. “The earth will swallow us, too!” they cried. Numbers 21: 4Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Seac to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient with the long journey, 5and they began to speak against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!”6So the LORD sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. The Half-a-Donut Church. (Blog I wrote for Kinship Christian Radio) Once upon a time, a long, long time ago in a place not unlike Kinship Christian Radioland, there was a wonderful church that held a beautiful Easter Sunday Sunrise Service. After the service, in the church basement of course, they put on an Easter Sunrise Breakfast for anyone and everyone to attend. There would be milk and juice and coffee and perhaps some fresh fruit and eggbake (I’m pretty sure the recipe for eggbake is somewhere in the first part of Genesis, but I could not find it.) and donuts from a local bakery. Now, I’m a big fan of deep-fried pastries with a hole in the center. My affection for them borders on the legendary. It’s not quite an obsession or an addiction, but if I was a fish and you had one of those chocolate-covered tractor wheel looking donuts on your hook, my only hope for survival would be catch-and-release. I tell you this to preface what happened in one particular Easter Sunday morning in the basement of that church. I was helping down in the kitchen and, just as the service upstairs was about to end and the fruit and beverages had all been set out and the eggbake was steamy hot and ready to serve, I found myself standing next to one of the dear Church Ladies with a knife in her hand standing at the counter cutting all of donuts in half! I know. The very concept is horrific. At first I was speechless. As she continued in her relentless slicey mayhem, I managed to stutter, “Why….why are you cutting the donuts in half?” “Some of us can’t eat a whole donut.” And she didn’t stop until every single donut had been cleaved asunder. I said no more to this Lizzie Borden of the donut world, but I have forever lamented that day. I have seethed at the thought. By cutting each and every donut in half, she made every person who took more than a half a donut into a gluttonous fiend. She sent the message that we were the church of half-a-donut, unable to afford to give our guests on the occasion of the Savior of the World rising from the dead more than a measly sample –a half-measure of a full, unmolested, intact and unassailed donut. On the day when we celebrated the most glorious miracle in all of Christendom, this one lady had sent the message to people who perhaps only came to church twice a year that we serve not a God for whom absolutely nothing is impossible, but the God of half-a-donut. The God who made the entire universe and everything in it. The God who split the sea and thundered from Mount Sinai, who made it rain for forty days and forty nights, whose glory is proclaimed by the stars and the planets and the galaxies, who is praised by everything that has breath –is that the God of half-a-donut? For years, I pondered what I should have said to that dear Church Lady on that day. And I have come to the conclusion that I should have said less than I did. In all of my ranting above, I have failed to consider that the lady cutting those donuts in half really was a child of God. Perhaps she really and truly believed in her heart of hearts that she was serving God in the best way possible. There is the distinct possibility that this lady actually and truly loved Jesus and was cutting those donuts in half out of love and service to others. There is also the distinct possibility that my ranting had its roots in Pharisaical pride and a fleshly lust for sugary carbs more so than in bringing glory to God. When Luther wrote his Small Catechism, this is what he said about the eighth commandment: “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.” That is most definitely not the default setting of human beings. We seem to automatically jump to the worst possible conclusion when we hear anything about someone else. And we grow that and build that until we actually believe that people who disagree with us are not just wrong, but evil. In the meantime, we just can’t understand why those evil people think we are the evil ones. And before you know it, there are all these wedges driven between us and there is so much animosity seething in our hearts we won’t even consider forgiving them or (heaven forbid) admitting our sin and asking for their forgiveness. And then one day, we look into the mirror and find we have actual contempt not just for fellow human beings who are made in the image of God, but for brothers and sisters in Christ. How will we be able to stand in heaven shoulder-to-shoulder with people for whom we have contempt? How can that work? Scripture is quite clear: Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 1 John 4:20 (NIV) In the light of that verse, maybe the solution is to love the donuts less and love each other more. Maybe the real enemy is not the lady cutting the donuts in half. Maybe God is more interested in churches where love is not chopped into pieces than churches where the donuts are whole. Communication without condemnation. Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So, who do want to be as a church? Show of hands: Who would like to see more poor people in this church? Convicted felons? More cheats and swindlers? Drug addicts? Drunks? Prostitutes? Are we a resort for saints or a hospital for sinners? “Some want to live within the sound Of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop, Within a yard of hell.” C.T. Studd. 1885. —(Famous missionary to China, India, and Africa, who although born rich, gave away all his money believing God would provide as needed. He did.) “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.” Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892) British pastor commonly referred to as “the prince of preachers.” How to drive a pastor crazy. (Be the congregation that just wants its little sticker that’s says “I went to church.” Then do absolutely nothing and remain unchanged Monday thru Saturday.) Lyrics from Casting Crowns “Start Right Here” We want our coffee in the lobby We watch our worship on a screen We got a Rockstar preacher Who won't wake us from our dreams We want our blessings in our pocket Does the pastor make the church? Is the church all about the pastor? SHOULD the pastor be the star of the church? Is the pastor supposed to be the one saving all the souls, feeding all the hungry, healing all the lame? If that’s what you want, if you want to just put your check in the offering plate and have the pastor do everything for you so you can sleep at night without feeling guilty, what you will end up with is a Joel Osteen church, not a Jesus Church. So, what’s a pastor supposed to be from a Biblical standpoint? John 21:15After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?e” “Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.” “Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him. 16Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.” “Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said. 17A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep. A shepherd FEEDS the sheep. He takes care of the sheep. He leads them to green pastures. He does not eat the grass for them. He will protect them and fight lions and bears for them with his bare hands or fend them off with a sling and a stone. (Think David, here folks.) He will even leave the 99 of us to go after the one lost one---but sheep are begotten by other sheep, not by shepherds. Now, we could have a long talk about the first century church and how the apostles founded churches and then spent a couple years with them, then sometimes left behind a guy like Titus or Timothy to lead them and guide them and mature them until some of the sheep grew into shepherds, but that’s a study for another day. The point is, if we want to be a real church, and not just a bunch of people playing church, even before we call a pastor, we’ve got some work to do. It’s not right to call some pastor in here by telling him what a great church we are, only to have him (or her) find out we messed up and there’s a bunch of unconfessed and unrepented sin among us. That’s a recipe for failure. That’s gonna take some work, and it’s going to involve some pain. Now, I don’t know all of the details, I don’t know if very many of us do, but it sure seems like the resignation of our pastor was not handled in a way that honors God. We’ve got people deeply hurt by what went down, and there is division among us. We cannot have that. A house divided cannot stand. (Mark 3:25 Matthew 12:25) Now, I’m not up here to condemn anyone. I’m not up here to point any fingers. But this stinks. What happens if I bump into Maurice on the street in Mankato? That should NOT be an uncomfortable situation for any of us, but it is. Even more important is what God says about this: Matthew 5:23&24 23“So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, 24leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God. Are we as a church reconciled to Maurice? Where will we be as a church if our offerings to God are tainted? What about the next time we go to have Communion? 1 Corinthians 11:27-30 27So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 29For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. 30That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died. That’s harsh stuff, but it’s true. When Tamara stood up and confessed to the whole congregation, THAT folks is why I am a member of this church! THAT took courage and love and trust and faith to do that! And I know there are a bunch of you out there like Tamara. I love you people. I think of you as family. And that’s why I think this church still has a chance. Just last Wednesday, we had two excellent meetings in a row. Jackie and Gay and Jenny and Krissy came to pray. The Holy Spirit showed up and there was this clear vision of what Faith Bible Church should be and could be. Later, there was a board meeting where Jenny and Jackie and Jeff and Brandon agreed to be on the board. That’s huge. Without the required number of people on the board, the terms of our constitution meant we really could not move forward until that happened. There was a good discussion and some things got done. Good. So, we’ve got a chance. God is indeed working among us, but as we found in the prayer meeting, we will not be what honors and pleases God by waging this battle ourselves. The battle belongs to the LORD. We must always remember that other people are not the enemy. Ephesians 6:12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Faith Bible Church will only be what God wants it to be if we SUBMIT to the LORD and to each other. This will take humility and obedience on our part. I firmly believe that the love of Jesus Christ is the most powerful force in the universe –and beyond. So, how do we go on from here? Let’s put 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24 in our hearts. 12Dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance. 13Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work. And live peacefully with each other. 14Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone. 15See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people. 16Always be joyful. 17Never stop praying. 18Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 19Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. 20Do not scoff at prophecies, 21but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. 22Stay away from every kind of evil. 23Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. 24God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful. And, as we move forward, let’s study and really absorb into our hearts these verses found in Ephesians 4:11–16 (NLT): 11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. Once upon a time, a long, long time ago in a place not unlike Kinship Christian Radioland, there was a wonderful church that held a beautiful Easter Sunday Sunrise Service. After the service, in the church basement of course, they put on an Easter Sunrise Breakfast for anyone and everyone to attend. There would be milk and juice and coffee and perhaps some fresh fruit and eggbake (I’m pretty sure the recipe for eggbake is somewhere in the first part of Genesis, but I could not find it.) and donuts from a local bakery. Now, I’m a big fan of deep-fried pastries with a hole in the center. My affection for them borders on the legendary. It’s not quite an obsession or an addiction, but if I was a fish and you had one of those chocolate-covered tractor wheel looking donuts on your hook, my only hope for survival would be catch-and-release. I tell you this to preface what happened in one particular Easter Sunday morning in the basement of that church. I was helping down in the kitchen and, just as the service upstairs was about to end and the fruit and beverages had all been set out and the eggbake was steamy hot and ready to serve, I found myself standing next to one of the dear Church Ladies with a knife in her hand standing at the counter cutting all of donuts in half! I know. The very concept is horrific. At first I was speechless. As she continued in her relentless slicey mayhem, I managed to stutter, “Why….why are you cutting the donuts in half?” “Some of us can’t eat a whole donut.” And she didn’t stop until every single donut had been cleaved asunder. I said no more to this Lizzie Borden of the donut world, but I have forever lamented that day. I have seethed at the thought. By cutting each and every donut in half, she made every person who took more than a half a donut into a gluttonous fiend. She sent the message that we were the church of half-a-donut, unable to afford to give our guests on the occasion of the Savior of the World rising from the dead more than a measly sample –a half-measure of a full, unmolested, intact and unassailed donut. On the day when we celebrated the most glorious miracle in all of Christendom, this one lady had sent the message to people who perhaps only came to church twice a year that we serve not a God for whom absolutely nothing is impossible, but the God of half-a-donut. The God who made the entire universe and everything in it. The God who split the sea and thundered from Mount Sinai, who made it rain for forty days and forty nights, whose glory is proclaimed by the stars and the planets and the galaxies, who is praised by everything that has breath –is that the God of half-a-donut? For years, I pondered what I should have said to that dear Church Lady on that day. And I have come to the conclusion that I should have said less than I did. In all of my ranting above, I have failed to consider that the lady cutting those donuts in half really was a child of God. Perhaps she really and truly believed in her heart of hearts that she was serving God in the best way possible. There is the distinct possibility that this lady actually and truly loved Jesus and was cutting those donuts in half out of love and service to others. There is also the distinct possibility that my ranting had its roots in Pharisaical pride and a fleshly lust for sugary carbs more so than in bringing glory to God. When Luther wrote his Small Catechism, this is what he said about the eighth commandment: “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.” That is most definitely not the default setting of human beings. We seem to automatically jump to the worst possible conclusion when we hear anything about someone else. And we grow that and build that until we actually believe that people who disagree with us are not just wrong, but evil. In the meantime, we just can’t understand why those evil people think we are the evil ones. And before you know it, there are all these wedges driven between us and there is so much animosity seething in our hearts we won’t even consider forgiving them or (heaven forbid) admitting our sin and asking for their forgiveness. And then one day, we look into the mirror and find we have actual contempt not just for fellow human beings who are made in the image of God, but for brothers and sisters in Christ. How will we be able to stand in heaven shoulder-to-shoulder with people for whom we have contempt? How can that work? Scripture is quite clear: Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 1 John 4:20 (NIV) In the light of that verse, maybe the solution is to love the donuts less and love each other more. Maybe the real enemy is not the lady cutting the donuts in half. Maybe God is more interested in churches where love is not chopped into pieces than churches where the donuts are whole. Today’s Praise Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. 1 John 5:1 (NLT) I’ve been to Prince of Peace Home for Girls on the outskirts of Guatemala City twice now, and they recently shared a story on Facebook I’d like to share with you. Call it a parable if you will. Prince of Peace home for Girls is an orphanage where over 40 young ladies and girls reside. The love of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit really does change lives for the better there. About ten days ago, on their way to school, the Prince of Peace bus had a little mechanical problem. The orphanage’s beloved bus driver/bus mechanic/maintenance man/carpenter/groundskeeper/kindly jack-of-all-trades guy Don Miguel stopped and quickly got to work fixing the bus. The girls just as quickly noticed that the bus had come to a stop right next to a park with slides and swings and all sorts of stuff young ladies enjoy very much. So they asked the tias (“Tia” is the Spanish word for “aunt” which is what they call the ladies who watch over them, guide them, protect them, and teach them.) if they could get out and play in the park. The tias agreed and the girls got to go out and have fun in the park under the supervision of the tias. Don Miguel was able to fix the bus in fairly short order, so all the girls and the tias got back on the bus when he was done and they were safely delivered to their destination. The End. On a seemingly-unrelated note, I know a guy (Let’s call him “Bob.”) who has been organizing successful short-term mission trips for about 25 years. He and I were recently talking about people who are considering going on a mission trip, but won’t commit to it until they’ve had “a sign from God.” Bob’s usual reply is something like, “Well, okay, I respect that, but why would God not want you to go and tell people about Jesus?” Perhaps you see where I’m going with these two little parables. In the first story, neither the girls, nor the tias, nor Don Miguel sought any kind of sign or confirmation from God that the girls should go play in the park. Nobody asked God if the bus breaking down right next to a park was a sign from God. There was no casting of lots, no calling out to the prophet Samuel for direction, no laying out of fleeces to await a drenching or non-drenching of dew, and not even any mention of prayer. (Although, knowing the tias as I do, I am not going to categorically state there was no prayer. In point of fact, I’m pretty sure those tias are praying continuously.) Now, I will grant you that a mission trip seems like a much bigger deal than more than 40 girls going out to play on a playground in Guatemala, but their are absolutely plenty of opportunities for things to go horribly sideways in a hurry under circumstances like that. And so now we come to faith. If we truly believe that God is who He says He is, what are we worried about? If Jesus can stand up in the boat and calm the storm when the professional fisherman piloting the craft are certain we are all going to die and very soon, why are we of so little faith? Don’t get me wrong here. Asking for guidance and direction from the LORD of heaven and earth who created the entire universe and everything in it simply by speaking it into being is a very, very good thing. We absolutely should be doing that! We should judge the tree by its fruit. We should test the spirits, just like our Bibles say was should. But, there should be a balance. We should also know that not making a choice, or delaying making that choice for too long, is indeed making a choice. The more I roll this around in my head, the more inclined I am to just come right out and say I think our initial response to do God’s will, to bring Him glory, or to bless others should be a nearly immediate and impulsive, “Yes, LORD!” At the very least, I think He deserves an, “Okay, God.” I say that with a crystal-clear picture of Mr. Impulsive himself, the Apostle Peter, in my head leaning over the edge of a boat on a windy night on the Sea of Galilee when everyone in the boat thought they saw a ghost, but the ghost claimed to be Jesus: But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Matthew 14:27-29. (NIV) At this point, I absolutely cannot resist pointing out that Jesus called Peter with one word: “Come.” And Peter did NOT respond with, “Are you sure? Can I get some kind of sign, Lord?” Nope, he was over the side and out of that boat walking straight for Jesus! Now, whenever this story is told, we all rush to the part where Peter took his eyes off Jesus and he started to sink and Jesus had to reach down and catch him, but the point here is that Peter got out of the boat and walked on water! Nobody else got out of the boat and went for a stroll across the waves. Only Peter. And, if you read the story carefully, it doesn’t say Jesus carried Peter back to the boat. Verse 32 says: “And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.” They climbed into the boat. Peter walked back to the boat with Jesus! We should also not forget that, unlike water-walking Peter, and unlike Gideon, and unlike Samuel and all the Old Testament prophets, we have the entire New Testament filled with red letters and the wisdom of Holy Spirit-inspired guidance and direction from actual apostles to help us make decisions like this. For example: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 (NIV) As if that weren’t enough, we also have the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide us! I think the problem we have (at least it often seems true for me) is that we often think of God as this big, booming KJV voice on Mount Sinai with a burning bush in the background intoning to Charleton Heston, “MOSES! MOSES! DRAW NOT HIGH HITHER: PUT OFF THY SHOES FROM OFF THY FEET, FOR THE PLACE WHEREON THOU STANDEST IS HOLY GROUND!” (Exodus 3:5 KJV) I do not write that disrespectfully to the Lord at all. I absolutely believe that God spoke to Moses in that way. (No, I don’t mean in fifteenth-century English in all caps.) But I think that there is a part of us that really wants the voice of God to be that dramatic, Hollywood-inspired booming fall-to-our-knees voice because the still, small voice He usually uses is something we are afraid we’re going to miss. I think we want soaking wet fleeces and lakes going flat in the middle of the storm and burning bushes so there can be no doubt, no mistaking what just happened. I think there is a part of us that wants a God of drama. But the thing is, I think what God wants are people of faith. I think God wants people who know His heart and that His love is so wide, so long, so high, so deep that they are willing to impulsively step out of the boat into the crashing waves and walk straight to Jesus, even if it seems impossible or foolish. I think God smiles at the thought of orphans playing on the swings while Don Miguel fixes the bus because the tias trust God to watch over those girls and protect them. I think children who grow up around people who love and trust God enough to not be afraid of what could happen, that they allow what does happen to be to His glory, will grow up to be people who will love and trust God and will eventually raise children who will love and trust God. And from that, I can see the kingdom of God grow from that tiny seed of faith to an enormous tree of life that burns and glows with His love and is never extinguished. From that, I can see a people who make other people wonder and want to know, “Who is this God that these people love and trust so much that they are willing to do whatever He asks, go wherever He sends them, and love everyone He puts in their path?” Today’s Praise Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:21-22 (NLT)
  3. The Biggest Jerk I Know I have a friend named Kenny. I love Kenny. I first met him on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. He was raised in a poor Puerto Rican neighborhood in Philadelphia by parents who were not Christians and, through some amazing work of the Lord, is now a professor at Bethany Global University in Minneapolis where he teaches young people to become missionaries. He’s a pastor, is soon to have a PhD in theology, he does a podcast called Theology For the Rest of Us, and has been all over the world sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He’s an amazing, wonderful guy. So, one day, I’m on a mission trip in Guatemala. Kenny is the group leader and we’re at an orphanage talking about the Bible and Jesus. The topic comes up of how often and badly we fail at being the kind of people we want to be and God made us to be and Kenny says, “Oh yeah, I’m the biggest jerk I know.” I laughed, but if you think about it, aren’t you too? Cuz although other people may treat you badly, we can’t actually see inside their heads and know why they are treating us like that. (Except for my wife. My wife can see inside my head.) But when I treat someone badly, if I really and truly look inside myself and figure out why I did that, the answer is usually something that’s very hard to look at. It’s true. I am the biggest jerk I know. Sometimes –most times-- I’m a jerk when I’m not even trying to be a jerk. There are even times I don’t even know I’ve been a jerk until days or weeks or months afterwards. And I’m not the Lone Ranger on this one, folks. Paul, the guy who planted an estimated 20 churches, who travelled over 10,000 miles on foot and on ships over the course of 12 years, who wrote 13 books of the Bible, who was given 39 lashes five times by the Jewish leaders, beaten with rods three times, stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked three times, who was hungry and thirsty countless times, who shivered in the cold without enough clothing to keep him warm, who spent years in prison, and who was eventually beheaded for the cause of Christ wrote this about himself: Romans 7:15-24 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. c For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? That is known as Paul’s ‘Wretched Man Lament” and they make T-shirts with verse 24 on it. I have considered buying one of those shirts. But see, we’re all like that. And deep inside, it’s because we want what we want. It’s pride. It’s the root of the same sin Adam and Eve fell for. The apple looks shiny and delicious and hey, I deserve it. I deserve to have what I want. I want to be in charge. I want to decide. In the end, and at the very root of all of it, it’s rebellion against God because I want to be my own god. Anybody ever read “The Purpose-Driven Life?” Number one best-seller. At the point it was on the Best-seller list, there was only one book that had ever sold more copies—and that was the Bible. First words in “Purpose Driven Life” --- “It’s not about you.” That’s earth-shattering stuff. What do you mean it’s not about me? Of course it’s about me. It’s totally about me. No, no it’s not. Matthew 16:25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. Those same words are also in Mark 8:35 and Luke 9:24 and they are in red letters. It’s not about me. Phillipians 2:3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Others as BETTER than myself? That can’t be right. Oh, brothers and sisters, it’s right –and it’s completely opposite of the way the world works. And that’s the thing about this Christianity thing. It is 180% out of alignment with our “natural” tendencies. It’s upside down and backward and totally in opposition to the ways of the world, because it’s about love. And here’s the verse at the center of the sermon: Ephesians 5:21 -- And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. SUBMIT to one another? You mean be a doormat? You mean just give in and let anyone tell me what to do? It doesn’t mean be a doormat. It doesn’t mean we Christians are a bunch of gullible fools… As with anything in the Bible, you don’t build an entire aspect of your theology on one verse. This submission thing is not a one-verse deal, though. It’s also in Genesis 16:9, Hebrews 13:17, Colossians 3:18, 1 Peter 2:13, 1 Corinthians 16:16, 1 Peter 5:5, Romans 8:7, Hebrews 12:9, Romans 10:3, 2 Chronicles 30:8…we could go on, but let’s look at this one in James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Do you get it? Do you see what’s going on there? Submitting yourself to God and doing things His way instead of our way is resistance against the devil, the enemy of our souls. The REAL enemy isn’t other people, it’s the devil. And God’s way is love. Let’s go back to Phillipians 2:3 and fill it in with the verses around it: Phillipians 2:1-5: 1Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. 3Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. There it is. Yes, we are to look out for our own interests to some degree, but our mission and purpose, our reason for being is loving God and loving others. We were made to love and to be loved. I LOVE Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Now, where that verse says “long ago” I read that to mean since the beginning. If God is eternal and omniscient and omnipotent, and we know He is, He planned all of this from the moment He spoke all of this into being. And so, since God is all of those things, since He is totally and absolutely in control, we can believe, we can be assured that no matter what we do, if we do it His way, it’s all going to work out just fine. What that means is that our love is to be fearless, reckless, self-abandoned, relentless, unconditional, bold, zealous, and all-consuming. Because that’s how God loves us. Here, let me show you a genius example of submission in love. This is absolute genius and I saw it on Facebook, so I’m sure it’s totally Biblical. You know how a couple will spend hours and hours trying to decide where to go out to eat? There’s all this dancing around with, “I don’t know honey, where do you want to eat? No, I don’t want Chinese. Yeah, maybe Mexican would be okay… I dunno… and before you know it, you’ve spent an hour trying to figure out where to eat and you end up going through the McDonalds drive-thru and your BOTH crabby because your hangry and neither one of you is getting what you wanted because you didn’t want to be a jerk about it…. Watch and learn, husbands and boyfriends: MALE: Hey, honey, GUESS where I am taking you out to eat? FEMALE: I don’t know. MALE: (with obvious enthusiasm for how happy she’s going to be) Just guess. Go ahead, go ahead and guess! FEMALE: RED LOBSTER?!!?! MALE: Right!! FEMALE! Oh Honey, that’s wonderful!! (hugs male) And then, gentlemen, you take her to Red Lobster or wherever she said and you enjoy it and bask in how much she is enjoying it and you leave a nice tip and never once, never once do you let the devil whisper in your ear that your first thought was to be a cheapskate and get some tacos and potato Ole’s from Taco Johns. Do not let your selfish wants stop you from being the loving, caring, deeply in love with your wife/significant other that God made you to be. And you know what? As you see how much she enjoys it and loves you, THAT’s far, far better than the heartburn and animosity you would have generated in insisting that you get your way. You have your choice. You can build and grow love, or you can insist on having your way or you can have it your way and stomp love out. Yes, if we let our inner jerk rule our lives, we will often get our way. And we will be intensely unhappy. And we will hurt other people. And in the big scheme of things, this is a better way. Let me give you another example: Not all that long ago, before the whole pandemic thing hit, me and Steve Langworthy and someone else were standing near the entryway after church and talking. This guy walks in. None of us knew him or had ever seen him before. He told us his car had run out or gas or was about to run out of gas and he’s looking for a couple of bucks to just get him home. Now, I’m all set to ask this guy a bunch of questions to make sure he isn’t scamming us and Steve reaches in his pocket, gets out his wallet, and whips out I think 20 bucks. “Sure,” says Steve, “Is this enough?” The guy is hugely appreciative and I’m standing there thinking what a jerk I am. Steve was the real Christian in that scenario. What happens to Steve’s twenty bucks is between that guy and the Holy Spirit. Steve didn’t count the cost, he didn’t hesitate, he didn’t say we should call some social service agency to try and get the twenty bucks, and he didn’t offer to pray that God would send the guy twenty bucks from someone else’s pocket. THAT’s reckless love. THAT’s being a Christian. THAT is submitting to God. That’s why I’m a member of this church --because we have lots of people like Steve in this church. We even see that in our church constitution. It talks about being in submission to one another. It used to be on a sign up here by the altar. It’s why our church constitution will be run, not by majority rule, but by consensus. That’s another hard word. The dictionary definition of consensus is “a general agreement.” That’s all. It’s simple but it’s hard. No one in their right mind thinks that seven people on a board are always going to agree on everything, but the idea, the concept behind it, is that submission thing. Look, in most cases, the stuff we disagree about doesn’t really matter from an eternal or spiritual standpoint. I’ve seen people argue for endless amounts of time on the color of the carpet in the sanctuary. I was taught that God will answer with one of three possibilities to prayer: Yes, No, or Wait. Well, brothers and sisters, I believe there’s a possibility God has a fourth answer to prayer. “It doesn’t matter.” Lord, do you want us to have beige carpet in the sanctuary or the brown with blue flowers? And, if a voice had thundered from heaven, I imagine it would have said, “IT DOESN’T MATTER! I CAN USE EITHER FOR MY GLORY. COULD YOU PLEASE MOVE ON TO SOMETHING THAT’S ACTUALLY IMPORTANT?” But God does not yell at us. Thank you, LORD, because if you did we’d all be deaf by now. So, the way consensus should work is that the board discusses it, consults the Bible, prays about it, and if there is still one or more members who disagree, they willingly and whole-heartedly submit and support the rest of the board. That’s why the board doesn’t work so well when we get down to very small numbers. In my opinion, that’s one of the ways we got ourselves into the situation we are in now. And there’s where I share fault. I am sorry, LORD, that I wasn’t more involved. I’m sorry I was selfish and wasn’t helping when I should have been. I see that now. Please forgive me and help me to be better. I read an excellent book not long ago called “Bo’s Café.” It’s about a guy in a Hawaiian shirt (yes, that’s relevant plot detail) who sets out to recklessly, shamelessly, obnoxiously love another human being and save his soul. It’s an excellent book. I highly recommend it. The point of the book is that this whole loving our neighbor thing is hard. It’s not easy and you will put yourself at risk if you do it. You could get hurt, but you could also learn something. But by stepping out of the boat and taking that risk, you bring God glory. And that is hugely, hugely worth it. And, as long as I have mentioned stepping out of the boat, let’s talk about the apostle Peter. I love Peter. I absolutely identify with impulsive, stupid, can’t shut-up Peter. I am so much like Peter. I say that with a crystal-clear picture of Mr. Impulsive himself, the Apostle Peter, in my head. It’s a windy night on the Sea of Galilee with a boat-load of apostles staring into the dark looking at what they at first thought was a ghost, but the ghost claimed to be Jesus: But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Matthew 14:27-29. (NIV) At this point, I absolutely cannot resist pointing out that Jesus called Peter with one word: “Come.” And Peter did NOT respond with, “Are you sure? Can I get some kind of sign, Lord?” Nope, he was over the side and out of that boat walking straight for Jesus! Now, whenever this story is told, we all rush to the part where Peter took his eyes off Jesus and he started to sink and Jesus had to reach down and catch him, but the point here is that Peter got out of the boat and walked on water! Nobody else got out of the boat and went for a stroll across the waves. Only Peter. In my head, the rest of the apostles are hanging over the edge of the boat, mouths hanging open not knowing what to think. And, if you read the account carefully, it doesn’t say Jesus carried Peter back to the boat after he pulled him out of the waves. Verse 32 says: “And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.” They climbed into the boat. What that means is that Peter walked back to the boat with Jesus! Peter IMPULSIVELY got out of that boat because he loved and trusted Jesus. He didn’t stop and think about it. He just did it. Did he take a risk? Absolutely! Did he fail? He started to, but he called out to Jesus and Jesus was THERE! And here’s the deal, Jesus chose stupid, can’t-shut-his-mouth, impulsive Peter as the one on whom he would build his church. He chose Peter, whom he named “Rock” as the one who would, after he had been the biggest jerk he could be and denied Jesus three times, as the one who would feed His sheep. And this leads me to one of my favorite little topics. In his book, “Redefined: Discovering and Celebrating What God Really Thinks of You” by my friend and brother in Christ Kenny Ortiz (which you should immediately go out and purchase at full retail price which I say because I am sending a copy of this sermon to my beloved brother Kenny Ortiz that’s O-R-T-I-Z) Kenny quotes St. Augustine of Hippo as saying something to the effect of “Love God and do whatever the --- you want.” St. Augustine, who lived from 350-430 AD (yes, that’s over 1600 years ago) did not actually use those exact words, but Kenny does accurately convey St. Auggy’s meaning and intent in that quote. Now, having put that into practice in my own life for a time, and finding that the world, my flesh, and the devil can and will deceive me and make whatever the ---- I want to do something other than God’s will, I would recommend that we slightly modify the quote to something like, “Love God and do whatever the Holy Spirit leads you to do.” And, having put that into practice in my own life also, I can tell you that doing that is glorious indeed! YES!! Impulsively obeying God is a wonderful thing. If, when it comes to loving our neighbor and each other and doing God’s will, we immediately say “Okay God, I’m out of the boat and coming to you.” Yes, it might be scary, you might get your shoes wet, you might even start to sink, but Jesus is right there with you! Acts of submission and trust and faith like that are wonderful and glorious! I encourage you to join me in doing them! And as we come to the end of this we should not close without talking about the greatest example of submission in all the Bible. And that’s Jesus not only willingly being crucified for us, but doing so knowing all that it would entail. He knew and He did it anyway. In a garden on the Mount of Olives, He prayed: “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” (Luke 22:42 NLT) 43Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. 44He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. I cannot imagine what it took for Him to pray those words, knowing all that would took place. And I cannot imagine, when He was nailed to that cross after having been beaten and spit on and mocked and tortured to look down from that cross in utter agony and beg His Father in heaven to forgive them. Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. Luke 23:34 If anyone had the right to be angry, if anyone in all the universe had the right to ask God to pour out his wrath on anyone, it was this Jesus who was without sin, who went to the cross to die for us. The Pharisees knew what they were doing. They were killing an innocent man because they were afraid of losing their wealth and position and power. They were engaged in murder for entirely political purposes. But Jesus was right. They didn’t know He was who He said He was. They had convinced themselves that He couldn’t really be the Son of God. They didn’t really know what they were doing. But Jesus did know what we know now. He knew that it would all be worth it when He rose from the grave. By submitting Himself to God’s plan, all the world could be reconciled to the Father –and that submission would change the world more than any other person or event in all the world. Even to this day, that one submissive act, that one man who was fully God and fully man, is still changing the world. And He has invited us to participate in that plan of mercy and grace and love and salvation with Him. All to His glory! AMEN and HALLELUJAH!!
  4. A couple of years ago, I was at MANCAMP, sitting at a table talking to a couple of guys and in walks this guy with a guitar case. Written on the guitar case in big letters is his name –TIM OGLE. He looks like a musician, so I figure he’s somebody cool and possibly a little famous. He sits down at the table I’m at and we start talking and eventually I ask about the guitar case, you know, trying to figure out if he’s some kind of big shot or something. Tim says something like, “Yeah, I play some music. I went to Nashville. I didn’t make it.” Turns out, Tim was a Pastor at Litchfield Christian Church and he’s at Pinehaven to teach a Leadership Conference, which I had signed up for. Truth be told, I signed up for that Leadership Conference so I could spend more time up north fishing. As it turns out, the Leadership Conference was wonderful and really helped me and Tim and I ended up becoming great friends. I love Tim. I’ve described Tim as a guy who is like a bulldog with a bone, convinced that the truth is inside that bone and he’s going to keep gnawing on it until he gets to the truth in the middle of it. He relentlessly follows Jesus and relentlessly loves people. Tim is the guy who told me about the book Bo’s Café. (Remember, where the main character is a guy in a Hawaiian shirt.) I was wearing a Hawaiian shirt when Tim met me. Tim is also the guy who told me the back-story behind the book of Ephesians, and what he told me has changed me and helped me and blessed me by opening my eyes to the glory and power and love of God in ways I had not known before. I’ve preached about what Tim told me before. I’ve preached this in the Altar of Jehovah Church in the Dominican Republic, to orphans in Guatemala, in Israel, and from this pulpit before. I absolutely love what I’m about to tell you, so if you’ve heard this first part before, bear with me. We are going somewhere with this, I promise. The Apostle Paul first arrived in Ephesus in the spring of 52 AD. At the time, Ephesus was a Roman colony and, under Roman law, it was absolutely legal to dispose of excess or unwanted babies simply by leaving them at the garbage dump or manure pile to die of exposure. It was expected and carried no social stigma, especially if the child was deformed, illegitimate, a child of infidelity, the family was poor, there was family conflict, or that child was just guilty of being one of too many children. Sometimes the infant was eaten by the dogs that scavenged public places. Sometimes, the child was picked up by slaver traders and sold as a pet, a play companion for another child, or as a prostitute. The great temple of Artemis in Ephesus mentioned in Acts 19 had many temple prostitutes. Into all of this steps the apostle Paul, who tells them about Jesus and plants and grows and nurtures the people of the church in Ephesus. Jesus changed everything for the people of Ephesus. And once they truly knew who Jesus was, they quietly started going out and picking up those babies from the trash heaps and the manure piles, taking them home, and adopting them as their own children. And that’s why, when you read through the book of Ephesians, you keep seeing Paul’s references to US as adopted children of God. You see it right away in verse 5 of chapter 1. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. And this under-current of having been dead but now being alive, of being adopted into the family of God and saved by the blood of Jesus is woven all throughout the first two chapters of Ephesians. When we get down to verses 13 and 14 of Ephesians 1, we find this: And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him. As I’ve said before, Christianity is the only religion in the world that comes with a guarantee. Not Buddhism, Bahia or Sikh. Not Wiccan nor Islam. None of the above. Now, the translation I just read you was NLT. In some other translations, they use the word “seal.” The Spirit is God’s seal. And the reason Paul uses that word and that imagery is because when the people of Ephesus adopted those children and went through the legal process to do so, they signed papers that were affixed with the government’s seal making it legal and binding. The seal was indeed a guarantee between the citizen and the Roman government that this was a legally irrevocable contract –and under Roman law, while a naturally-born child of any family could be disinherited (written out of the will) and lose their inheritance, an adopted child could NOT be disinherited. Those adoption papers with their seal were a lifetime contract. And the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives is the seal, the guarantee, that we have been adopted into the family of God and he will not leave us or forsake us. We never have to worry about being abandoned on the trash heap or the manure pile. And the inheritance guaranteed to us is eternal life in heaven –bought and paid for, not with our good deeds, but with the blood of Jesus Christ. Now, can you imagine what kind of Christians those adopted children would someday become? Children abandoned on a trash heap or manure pile and left for dead—or worse. Throughout the book of Ephesians, Paul never stops thanking God for these people and their love and mercy and kindness. See, Jesus changed them. And, can you imagine how those people and their adopted children changed the world around them? Can you see how a Christianity like that, --a radical, love-at-any-cost, reckless, glorious, amazing love like that would absolutely change the world? And, then as we move into chapter two, we come across verse 10: For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Throughout Ephesians, Paul continually stresses that all of this was God’s plan. Then, in this verse, he tells us that we who were formerly as good as dead in our sins, but have now been rescued from the manure pile are God’s masterpiece! (Now, other translations will use “workmanship” or “handiwork” at this point in the verse, but I am convinced that “masterpiece” is a legitimate translation of Paul’s intent in the original Greek.) But the part that really gets me here is that he planned all of this for us manure-pile babies from before the moment He spoke the universe into being AND that plan involves us doing good works! Now, let’s not get into a works-righteousness bunny trial here. We were indeed created to do good works, but our good works do not save us. Doing good works is the natural response of joy and gratitude for having been saved and being adopted into the family of God --and doing good works is the joyous fulfillment of God’s reason and purpose for our very being! Good works are our destiny and reason for being! I loved hanging drywall in Texas on that mission trip down there! I sometimes find myself with a strange craving to hang drywall with other believers. It’s kinda weird but I love it. It’s all part of God’s plan and submitting yourself to the plan is glorious! Let’s jump to 2 Timothy 1:9 For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. Did you catch that? From the beginning of time. Actually, if you look at the meaning of the Greek words it says, “from before time eternal.” Bingo. God has a plan and He had that plan in His mind before He created any of this. That same phrase is in Titus 1:2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, He has a plan. And we are part of the plan. So, how do we as children of God, as members of His own family, and as Faith Bible Church, know what those good works are that we should be doing? How do we participate in this plan as He intended from before the universe began? Ahh, brothers and sisters, there is an answer to that, and it’s simple. We follow Jesus. That’s what a disciple is. We simply follow Jesus. We go where He goes, we listen to His teaching by reading and studying our Bibles, we pray, we listen, and we seek Him in all we do and say. We submit ourselves to Him and we try and be more like Him each day. He leads, we follow. Christ is the head of the Church. It’s in our constitution. Annnd brings us right back to Ephesians: verse 1:22 God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. But what if we get confused? What if all the things of this world muddle our thinking and it gets hard to know what Jesus would have us do? Well, we then we spend more time in the Word and in prayer and we never forget that there’s a promise Jesus made us in John 15:26. “But I will send you the Advocate—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me. Yes, that same Holy Spirit, the same Spirit the Bible says raised Jesus from the dead is the guarantee of our salvation is also our guide and our advocate. 2 Corinthians 6:19a Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? The Holy Spirit lives in us! The very Spirit of God! A lot of times, it’s hard for us to feel like the Holy Spirit is in us and working. Let me show you something that just blew my mind. When I went to Texas for the second time, my sister in Christ Evangeline went with us. I met Evie on the mission trip to Israel and I have never met anyone so dedicated to purity, living a life that is pleasing God the Father, and being a good and faithful servant of Jesus. Evie is also a relentless, dedicated student of the Bible. I love Evie like she is family. I still pray for her every day. Anyway, we travelled to Texas in a 15-passenger church van. There were, I think, ten of us and all our luggage and tools in there and, for much of the trip I would sit next to Evie because I loved studying the Bible with her. We would often have three-hour Bible studies as we traveled along. Then one day, she shows me this. Pull out your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 11. Starting at verse 1. 1Now Jesusa was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And, of course, we all know this is where Jesus taught His disciples to pray: 2And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3Give us each day our daily bread,b 4and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” And then he goes on to teach about the importance of continued prayer and being persistent in prayer. 5And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudencec he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11What father among you, if his son asks ford a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? And that’s where most of us stop. We read those verses and think that Jesus is telling us to ask for our daily physical needs and He is, BUT Jesus wasn’t done with this teaching. Look what He says in the very next verse! 13If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Jesus is telling us to pray and ask for the Holy Spirit! And the way I read that in context is that we are to ask for the Holy Spirit on a daily basis! Seems to me Jesus was saying we need the Holy Spirit in our lives as much as we need our daily bread. Now, I want you to catch something here. Last week, I told you about my friend Kenny who is the biggest jerk he knows. This week, I told you about Pastor Tim and Evie. Each of these people have revealed to me something of God’s glory, the work of the Holy Spirit, and the love of Jesus Christ. Each of these people has changed my life in some way. And so have you. I have seen many of you do amazing things. All of you, in your own way with the gifts God gave you, have in some way furthered the kingdom of God and changed not just my life, but other people’s lives. I see that and appreciate that. THANK YOU! And the thing is, there are a lot of people out there who need their lives changed. There are a lot of spiritual babies in this world lying abandoned on the trash heaps and manure piles of this world. They are hurting and in danger of dying, brothers and sisters. We can pick them up and bring them into the kingdom of God where He will adopt them and care for them and give them not just life, but life to the full and life everlasting. All we have to do is follow Jesus. I am convinced that is God’s plan for each of us as His own dear children and for Faith Bible Church. That plan includes good works which He planned for us from before the beginning of time, and He will bless and enable us as Faith Bible Church to be what He intended us to be through prayer, faithfully following Jesus and sharing His love through those good works, and asking for and heeding the direction of His own Holy Spirit. As we conclude, let’s go back to Ephesians and look at this beautiful, powerful prayer Paul prayed over the church in Ephesus. This is one of my very favorite set of verses in the Bible: Ephesians 3: verses 14 -21 14When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,e 15the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.f 16I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. 20Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen. Let’s make it a habit to pray that prayer over each other, over Faith Bible Church on a regular basis.
  5. DanL

    KIN

    Here's the sermon I preached last Sunday. (11-25-2018) KIN Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— John 1:12 (NIV) Most of you know that I spent a week in October as part of a team that went to Vidor, Texas, to help repair some of the homes devastated by Hurricane Harvey last year. I’ve told you a little bit about that during Celebration Church and in some conversations with some of you, but I’d like to “fill in some blanks” for you and I’d like to talk about something God showed me through that trip. First off, Vidor is a town of about 10,000 tucked back into the corner of southeast Texas. It’s less than 25 miles from both the Gulf of Mexico and Louisiana. Now, as I’m sure you know, I don’t talk like the folks that are from Vidor Texas. Granted, I did catch myself saying “y’all” once or twice and it was very easy to respond “Yessir,” and “Yes, ma’am,” when asked if I enjoyed the jambalaya, creole shrimp, blackened redfish, and/or gumbo. The people of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church were very loving, generous, and hospitable when it came to feeding the 30 of us like kings. But one of the words I noticed in their conversations was “kin.” I’m sure most of you know what that word means, but I’ve never heard anyone here in the frozen north casually remark, “Yessir, they’re kin.” But it’s a very relevant word for what went on during that week. Before I left for Vidor, I did an internet search just to find out where it was. In doing so, I discovered that Vidor had at one time been a “sundown town” where black people were not welcome after dark –and it was enforced by the town police. The Ku Klux Klan had held a march Vidor texas in 1993 protesting plans to bring African Americans into public housing. It was one of the first things we talked about with Pastor Skipper Sauls when we arrived. While we were still in the parking lot, before we were even finished unloading our bags, the subject came up. Skipper did not dodge the question. He admitted that Vidor had indeed engaged in racism in its past. He grew up there and he remembered Klan events taking place when he was a child about 40 years ago. He said all that has changed now, and although there were probably still a few old racists in this town, anyone and everyone was welcome in this church to experience the love of Jesus Christ. But let me back up for a moment and give you some background: Hurricane Harvey came ashore on August 26, 2017, near Rockport, Texas, southwest of Vidor, with winds of 130 mph. The storm’s winds weakened shortly thereafter, but the megastorm slowed to a crawl and began dumping absolutely phenomenal amounts of rain over the course of the next two days. At one point, an official in nearby Tyler County announced: “Anyone who chooses to not [evacuate] cannot expect to be rescued and should write their social security numbers in permanent marker on their arm so their bodies can be identified. The loss of life and property is certain. GET OUT OR DIE!” Before it was over, Houston had been saturated with over 30 inches of rain and Nederland, Texas, (right next to Vidor) measured over 60 inches of rainfall. The rain came so hard and so fast that the Army Corp of Engineers had opened the gates on reservoirs upstream from Vidor for fear that the levees holding back the waters would fail. With five feet of rainfall and the dam gates opened, the entire area was absolutely inundated. Skipper took us on a tour of some of the areas where he and others from the church had rescued people using a boat. We stopped at one point and he showed us the place where the boat’s propeller had hit the top of a stop sign beneath the flood waters. We turned down a side street and he showed us a video taken in that boat motoring along in that exact location. At one point, the motor hit a submerged object and they later found out it had broken the sunroof out of a parked car. Of course, the damage to homes and cars was devastating. Most of the homes sit on concrete slabs just a couple of inches above ground level because the frost never enters the ground there. Even in homes that sit on blocks, all the carpet and all the drywall and all the appliances in virtually every home was destroyed. Skipper has a background in construction and remodeling and the Lord opened doors for donated materials from numerous companies, ministries, and churches. I was among a crew of 15 that arrived at the church two days before another crew of 15 arrived to also participate in the work of restoring homes. One crew was building a porch, another was hanging drywall in a different home, and I was working on a home in need of interior paint, kitchen counters, and floor tile. I was assigned to floor tile because I had some experience in that area. Over the course of five days, we tiled four bedrooms, a bathroom and a half, a hallway, the laundry room, and a section of the main living area. It quickly became obvious that my “experience” with floor tile was approximately equal to my experience with flapping my arms and flying to the moon in comparison to what Skipper’s 16 year-old son, Isaac, knew about the subject. After five days, I can now truthfully say I know how to effectively mix up a five gallon bucket of thin-set mortar. I can also say that, although I now have much more knowledge, there is no way my now 60 year-old body could be used to support my family as a professional tiler. But much more importantly, I am the recipient of the incredible joy that comes from knowing that within a couple of days the family that has been living in an RV trailer in the backyard of their own home will be able to move out of that cramped space and cook meals, wash clothes, and sleep in their home. I just saw pictures of the Thanksgiving meal the family had prepared in their home. Lyle and Thuy and Von and Angelina are beautiful people who helped us any way they could, lifting heavy tile, sweeping up dusty construction debris, and radiating appreciative smiles for all we did over the course of that week. And as we all stood in that house for a final prayer and blessing over this home and this family, we were all tired and hot and aching and dusty and dirty. And we all looked a little like Jesus. We all looked and felt like kin. We weren’t just acquaintances or friends, we were family. That bond, that tie that comes from being together, working together, eating together in Jesus is strong and solid and real and glorious. It’s amazing. And I’ve felt that same family of God bond on both mission trips to the Dominican Republic, the trip to Guatemala last March, the trip to see Pastor Betty and Ron in June, the time at MANCAMP, and the Leadership Conference where I spent time a with a dozen pastors last August. I’ve spent most of my life not venturing very far from Minnesota, but the LORD has sent me over 12,000 miles in the past nine months. He’s up to something in my life and it’s wonderful! Hallelujah!! It’s wonderful because I’m traveling to be with family, which is what a lot of us just did and are still doing this for Thanksgiving. Over 54 million Americans traveled more than 50 miles away from home over the Thanksgiving holiday. That’s a 4.8 percent increase over last year, and most of them did it to be with family. All that travel reminds me of some people in the Bible who were also traveling: Luke 2:1And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.2(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.4And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David.) It was a family thing. They were traveling because Caesar had decreed that they were to be taxed and counted by according to their family lineage. And, when we believe in Jesus Christ as our LORD and Savior, we become part of His family. Let’s look at just some of the verses that talk about this: We already read John 1:12 -- Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— John 1:12 (NIV) Now the NIV uses the word, “right” while the KJV uses the word “power.” The Berean Literal Bible, however uses the word “authority” and indeed, in the Greek the word is “exousian” which Strong’s Greek defines as, “power, authority, weight, especially: moral authority. So, believing in Jesus gives us the rightful authority to claim that we are truly children of God. What that involves and to what degree are made clear in Scripture. Let’s Turn to 2 Corinthians 6:18 And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” Lets go to Romans 8:15 next: The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” And then there is Ephesians 1:15 …. he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will– And Galatians 4:5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. And as sons and daughters, let’s look at Romans 8:17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. How about Galatians 3:29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. And Titus 3:7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:7 Another verse on heirs is Ephesians 3:6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. And then there’s Acts 3:25 And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’ Even James speaks of it: James 2:5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? And this right, this power, this authority is so powerful it even comes with a guarantee: Turn to Ephesians 1 and lets looks at verse 13 and 14: 13And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. It bears all the weight and power of a legal contract with God himself! And His own Holy Spirit is our guarantee that we are indeed sons and daughters of the One True God -- the God who created the universe and everything in it! So, brothers and sisters, now that we know we really are sons and daughters with a guaranteed inheritance, does that change how we look at each other? Or at others who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior? And, here’s another amazing thing I found as I was pondering this: Turn to Matthew 6:19 &20. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. I am convinced that the treasures Jesus is speaking of here in these verses are the relationships we create and forge here on this earth. We know we’re not going to take our cars or our homes or our gold to heaven with us, right? I mean, God uses gold for asphalt in heaven, right? But I believe we will recognize and know each other in heaven. I believe heaven will not only be a grand reunion with God, but between all His sons and daughters! The things we do for other people and with other people and the relationships created are indeed treasures. Those are the real treasures of this life. And, just like it always does, it all comes down to love. In all those travels this year, in all the relationships God gave me, they all involved eating together, praying together, singing together, worshiping together, laughing together, working together, sharing His Word together, and loving together. They all involved being together as family. It’s abundantly clear that all who believe in Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior are all sons and daughters. All who believe have been brought into the same family. We share the same Father who has adopted us into the family of God by the death and resurrection of His Son out of His great love for us and to the praise of His glory! We will all spend eternity together praising Him. We will all be gathered into one place sharing a richness and a celebration of life and love that never ends. We will finally be united with each other and with Him as He intended from the beginning. The treasures we will revel in and celebrate will be the eternal relationships we have. Love will finally reign completely, utterly, and without corruption of any kind. And that, my beloved brothers and sisters –my kin, is the ultimate cause for giving thanks! Because kin is thicker than how you talk or the color of your skin or the depth of the flood waters. AMEN!
  6. I've been asked to give the sermon in my church on Palm Sunday. In that Palm Sunday scene, I've always been intrigued by Jesus' statement to the Pharisees that if He were to silence the crowds shouting "Hosanna" the very stones would cry out. My current pastor mentioned that she (yes, "she") once gave a sermon that the stones are indeed crying out. She makes several references to stones in othe parts of the Gospels. Among them is the cap stone, the stone the builders rejected. Jesus is not only the cap stone and the corner stone, but the stumbling block that has been rejected is now the stone on which the entire church of Christ is built. Additionally, I plan to tie in this blog. While we in the US are lamenting the decline of Christianity and many of us point to that decline as one of the signs of the end times, we are being prideful in that in the vast majority of the world, millions of people are coming to Christ. In fact, many nations are in the process of amazing revival. So, in our arrogance and self-importance we are clueless in that the stones are indeed crying out His praises. The "decline" of Christianity is a lie from the father of lies meant to steal our joy, kill our faith, and destroy the Church. Yes, we need to be intentional and witness to the love of Jesus, but we should absolutely NOT believe that this is the last hurrah of the Church before Christ returns. Yes, there are many signs that the end grows closer each day, but the final signs are not in place yet. US history shows many times of moral decline and subsequent revival. It's not a ski hill. It's a roller-coaster. It's not over until God says its over.
  7. Jeff, the Greek word for "stumbling block" is "skandalon." It also pertained to the trigger in a trap and it is the word from which we got our English word, "scandal." Jesus was scandalous, especially to the Pharisees--and still is to some.
  8. Romans 14: 13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. 14I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. 15If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. 16Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. 17For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval. 19Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall. 22So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
  9. DanL

    WAR

    Thank you both! Hmbld, so good to see you! Oh, by the way, in the sermon it says to use Jeff and Tom to illustrate the paraclete. Tom is a big guy with tatoos who wears steel-toed boots even to church. I got him up front and put the full armor of God on him. Jeff is a six and a half-foot tall Marine. He was the paraclete--the Holy Spirit. I had them stand back-to-back and explained that the use of the word "paraclete" for teh Holy Spirit is how Greek soldiers fought--back-to-back with both willing to die for the other. So, the Holy Spirit literally has our back when we go to war in prayer. I asked the congregation, "You gonna mess with these guys?" Nope.
  10. DanL

    WAR

    Here's the sermon I gave last Sunday: If I were a pastor, I would make seeing the movie “War-Room” mandatory for all members of the congregation—which is probably one very good reason God has not made me a Pastor. But, it’s a wonderful movie. The premise is that spiritual battles are won through prayer. And for that, the movie gets an AMEN! Make that, underline, italic, bold, all caps. AMEN!! In the movie, the main character’s spiritual battle is for her marriage, but I’d like to take that a bit further. As Christians, we fight a spiritual battle every day. Whether it’s resisting temptation, maintaining good and godly relationships, doing our jobs to the glory of God, or living lives that are salt and light to the world, or having the courage to witness to others, we all face spiritual battles. But one thing we seem to have forgotten is that wars are not fought one-on-one. No, in a real war, armies go up against each other. There may be some hand-to-hand combat and certainly the fate of any fighting force rests with the individual soldiers, but Generals do not send their troops out as individuals. Even snipers do not travel alone. Soldiers are sent out as platoons, companies, brigades, regiments, patrols, etc. And one of the core, hard and fast rules of the military is, “No soldier left behind.” You never leave your buddy to die in a muddy ditch alone so you can run away. But, that seems like exactly what a lot of us Christians are doing. We see the events of the day unfolding and we are disheartened. When some hate-filled Wiccan shoots Christians in the head because they are Christians and the media ignores it, then later tries to claim that’s not really what happened, we feel like we’ve lost a battle. When the president makes it about a political cause before the bodies are even cold and justifies it by saying prayer is not enough, we curl up in our muddy trench all alone and mutter something about “end times.” See, that’s the purpose of terrorism. That’s how the enemy works. He strikes a blow like a kamikaze that’s specifically designed to generate a lot of attention (a.k.a “media coverage”) that will dishearten us and cause us to live in fear, because when we are afraid, we are a completely ineffective fighting force. Because when we are afraid, we are a completely ineffective fighting force. Well, I will not be afraid. And, let us be crystal clear here—the real enemy is NOT other people. For weare not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12) NLT The real enemy is the enemy of our souls who uses lies to steal and kill and destroy. It is the lies the real enemy puts in the minds of other people that are his weapons. That’s why the Bible says, 3We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. 4aWe use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 5We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. (2 Corinthians 10: 3-5 NLT) So, how do we do that? What are our weapons? How do we demolish arguments and every proud obstacle? Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. 14Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 15For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.d16In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.e17Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.18Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere (Ephesians 6:13-18 NLT) Pray in the Spirit—what does that mean? The Holy Spirit is sometimes referred to in the New Testament as “The paraclete.” That’s a Greek military term. If you were a Greek soldier, your paraclete literally had your back. (Illustrate with Jeff and Tom.) So, we put on the full armor of God, standing back-to-back with the Holy Spirt, and we PRAY! And do we go into battle alone? All throughout the Old Testament, the people of Israel came together for group prayer, repentance, and fasting when they sought the Lord. Esther 4:16 2 Chronicles 20:3-4 Ezra 8:21 Isaiah 56:7 And in the New Testament, the Apostles regularly came together in group prayer. They even delegate duties to others to focus on corporate prayer. Acts 6:4 Jesus himself says, “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (Matthew 18: 19-20 ESV) We all remember the story of Jonah, right? The LORD told Jonah to go to Nineveh “because its wickedness has come up before me.” (Jonah 1:2b NIV) The Bible does not record how wicked Nineveh was in this passage, but history does: They skinned their enemies alive, smashed children to pieces in the streets, burned children alive, tore people’s tongues out, impaled them, decapitated them, flayed them, and practiced all manner of horrific and gory barbarism. And yet, God spared them when the king of Nineveh called everyone to humble themselves, fast and pray. (Jonah 3) In Acts 6, the freshly-formed church was growing by leaps and bounds. One of the ministries of the new church came under criticism for neglecting some of the widows of the congregation, and the apostles chosen seven men of excellent reputation who were “full of the Spirit and wisdom” to oversee this important ministry so they, the leaders of the rapidly-growing church, could “give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” All throughout Acts, the Apostles repeatedly engage in corporate prayer, often meeting other believers in the Temple to do so. Jesus Himself promises that wherever two or three are gathered in His name, He is there in the midst of them and whatever two agree upon on earth, it shall be done for them by the Father. (Matthew 18: 19-20.) Throughout the history of the Christian Church, corporate prayer has been central. Franklin John wrote an excellent paper called “Corporate Prayer Is a Prerequisite for the Greatest Outpouring of God’s Power.” In 1857, during a time of spiritual decline, a lay man named Jeremiah Lamphier tacked up notices in New York City calling for a weekly prayer meeting on Wednesdays from noon till one. The first week, only six showed up, but within six months, the prayer meetings had grown to 10,000. Within two years, the movement had spread to every major city in America and 50,000 people per week were coming to Christ. Fervent prayer precipitated the Shantung Revival in northern China, 1927-37 which brought an estimated hundreds of thousands to faith in a country that had been spiritually dead. Similar times of revival have taken place in South Africa, Cambodia, Nepal, and India. In 1903, Methodist missionary, Mary Culler White and Presbyterian missionary, Louise Hoard McCully started a prayer meeting in South Korea which soon spread to other missionaries. By 1907, the Korean church was growing dramatically. Three other revivals have taken place since then and today, the largest churches in the world are in South Korea. Yoido Full Gospel Church has an average weekly attendance of over 253,000 people. Enormous megachurches are also present in Chile, India, Nigeria, and El Salvador with average weekly attendance of over 100,000 people. Pollster George Barna identified a number of churches that stood out from others because of impact. He examined features common in them and discovered that corporate prayer was a foundation stone for all of them. Or how about this: In 1982, Pastor Christian Führer in the East German town of Leipzig began holding Prayers for Peace on Monday nights. On many occasions, less than a dozen people showed up. The communist East German government strongly discouraged its citizens from becoming involved in religious activities, but the meetings continued each Monday without fail. On May 8, 1989, the authorities barricaded the streets leading to the church, hoping to put people off, but it had the opposite effect, and the congregation grew. There were beatings and arrests of demonstrators at protest rallies in Leipzig, Berlin, and Dresden. General Secretary Erich Honecker of Communist East Germany declared that the church should be closed. An article appeared in a local newspaper saying that the counter-revolution would be put down on October 9, 1989 “by whatever means necessary.” “The church was visited by doctors who told them that hospital rooms had been made available for patients with bullet wounds. So we were absolutely terrified of what might happen," Pastor Fuhrer said. On October 9, 1989, the city of Leipzig filled with police and soldiers. You could smell the fear in the city. According to a BBC report, “Up to 8,000 people crowded into St Nicholas Church, including members of the feared Stasi (secret police) who had been sent to occupy it. Other Leipzig churches opened to accommodate additional protesters. About 70,000 people had now gathered in the city. After an hour-long service at St Nicholas, Pastor Führer led worshippers outside. The nearby Augustusplatz was filled with demonstrators clutching lit candles. Slowly, the crowd began walking around the city, past the Stasi headquarters, chanting "we are the people" and "no violence", and accompanied by thousands of helmeted riot police ready to intervene. But at the decisive moment the police stood aside and let the protesters march by. Pastor Führer said: "They didn't attack. They had nothing to attack for. East German officials would later say they were ready for anything, except for candles and prayer." About 120,000 people took to the streets the following Monday. General Secretary Honecker resigned two days later. The dissidents became increasingly emboldened, with around 300,000 taking part in the protests on 23 October. Exactly a month after the events of 9 October, the Berlin Wall came down amid scenes of jubilation witnessed around the world. Now, you can find all kinds of reasons on the internet for why the Berlin Wall came down, but the truth is, it was PRAYER. So, we need to come together, fast, and pray. There are battles every day. And, while great victories can be won in our individual prayer closets for our personal battles, societal battles are won in corporate prayer. And, yes, while godlessness and lawlessness will increase before Jesus comes back one final time, that is no reason to give up and cower in a muddy trench all alone. In fact, it’s all the more reason to gather together in prayer in order to bring as many people to Christ as one possibly can before it’s too late to do anything about it. It’s not over until God says its over.
  11. George, Bunny trails aside, the new logo is very good. Thank you.
  12. Greetings, brothers and sisters in Christ. I have recently met a new member of Worthy named peacemakerIND. He is involved in a new church that has been planted in India. PRAISE GOD!! The church has some needs, as are to be expected. There is need for transporation, for materials, for food to feed people who need the love of Christ in their lives. He is seeking connections with others who can help with this. We serve a great God of abundance, and I am confident the resources are out there for His work. Rather than list all that is happening and needed, I am posting this as a way for peacemaker to find his way to the boards and establish connections with those who can help. Perhaps George knows of some of the Lord's servants who can help? God bless you all! PRAISE JESUS!!
  13. Alien, when my wife told me about the possibility of going, my first thought was to say, "We can't afford that." Happily, after 23 years of marriage, I no longer always say the first thing I think of. Instead, I said, "If God wants us to go, we will go." It was $3400 for the two of us to go. I had saved nothing for such a trip. We sent out letters asking first for prayer and second for provision to go. All of the money and more came in within 10 days. God is not poor. If He wants you to go, you can and WILL go.
  14. hmbld! I haven't seen you in ages!! Praise the LORD! Always enjoyed chatting with you! God bless you!
  15. Since I've been gone from chat for two weeks, and many of you know I was on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic, I am anticipating answering the "So, how was the mission trip?" question many times. In the interest of not burning up hours and hours repeating myself, I post this. It's the blog post I wrote about it for the church's site and for the Kinship Christian Radio blog site. Dios te bendiga, hermanos! Overwhelmed My wife and I returned from our mission to the Dominican Republic late Saturday night. We made it to church on time on Sunday morning, but something odd began happening before we finished singing the first song. As I sang “Hail to the King,” my eyes began to burn and tingle. By the end of the song, tears were running down my cheeks. I looked over at my wife and the same thing was happening to her. The second song was “We Believe” by The Newsboys. When we got to the line “Let the church live loud,” I needed a tissue. Several, in fact. The pastor, knowing that we had just returned from the mission, asked us to come up and explain our tears. We tried, but all we could really say was that we were overwhelmed. With tears falling on the pages of Ephesians 3, I tried to explain to the congregation by reading this: 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. (NLT) What had happened in the Dominican Republic is that my wife and I had gotten a glimpse, an inkling, a taste of just how immense, how majestic, how immeasurable, how beyond awesome is the love of God. Even now, I struggle with trying to find the words to describe it to you, so I’ll give you a few examples. We attended a service at the Altar of God Church at about 5:00 p.m. on our second full day. (Dominicans hold their weekly church services on Sunday evening, rather than Sunday mornings.) The church service itself embodied the word “zeal.” I can say with great confidence that no one falls asleep during a service at that church—even though it lasts for about three hours. The woman asked to preach spoke about 1 Kings 17:8-24 where the flour and oil never ran out and Elijah raised the widow’s son from the dead. She preached with a fire of the Holy Spirit that was relentless, adamant, and powerful. During her sermon, she mentioned that her two-year-old daughter was ill and had not eaten in two days. After the service, we prayed that Jesus would touch this child and heal her. Little Katy was obviously pale and weak at the time. We went back to the pastor’s house where we were staying and, before we had finished supper, a happy, bouncy Katy was in the kitchen healed by Jesus and asking for something to eat. Later in the week, we were in the small mountain village of Manabao, helping with a children’s ministry and eight children accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The next day, in the same church in Manabao, I was miraculously not only able to sing, but was asked to lead others in singing! (Anyone who has ever heard me sing knows this is indeed a miracle.) Numerous times, the Lord put people and events in our lives that made it clear He was opening doors for us to tell others about His infinite love for them. This happened again and again, even on the flights to and from our destination. In one case, I was sitting next to a man on the plane who was the administrator of a number of dental clinics for the poor. He had it on his heart to start dental ministries for the poor in other countries, but he had never met an “ordinary person” who was going on a mission and didn’t think it was possible for him to do so. I encouraged him by telling him if I could do it, he certainly could. I am certain if the Lord wants to extend His mercy through this man’s talents, He will most certainly do so. All through the week, we could tell the prayers of those who had sent us were reaching God. The prayers of one woman were being emailed to us. Over and over, we saw themes, words, and phrases that appeared in her prayers in our lives and our ministry. Even lyrics of the songs that were on our hearts were in her prayers, though she had no way of knowing we were singing them repeatedly. One of those songs was “Multiplied” by Needtobreath. Your love will surely come find us Like blazing wild fires singing Your name God of mercy sweet love of mine I have surrendered to Your design May this offering stretch across the skies And these Halleluiahs be multiplied. And that was the most amazing part. The love of Jesus surely did come find us and it did not add to itself—it multiplied. These were not coincidences. They were God incidences. The love of God in our Dominican hosts fed us and filled us. It was present and palpable. We could hear it and see it and feel it and we could reach out and touch it. Today, there are dozens of people in my life whom I genuinely love that I did not even know two weeks ago. I already miss them and long for them. I went to the Dominican Republic to bring whatever I could, but I returned overwhelmed and overflowing. Today’s Praise Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Luke 6:38 NIV)
  16. That is absolutely WONDERFUL news!! PRAISE GOD! Congrats, brother!
  17. That is absolutely beautiful, brother. Well done. I can see the Holy Spirit all through that. Proud to call you a friend. Hallelujah! PRAISE THE LORD!
  18. I've been asked to preach again this coming Sunday. The service is based on the Lord's Prayer. I'd appreciate comment: Prelude: (Low volume, 4 minutes prior to service—Open Up the Heavens, Meredith Andrews) Welcome and any announcements (With brief explanation that the entire service is modeled on the Lord’s Prayer.) Invocation and Prayer Father God, we thank you and praise you that you not only created us, but that you provide for us and protect us and love us as our true Father, as no father here on earth ever has or could. We lift up our praises before your throne in heaven for the very nature of your name, which is sacred and holy. Lord of heaven and earth! Hallelujah! Song of Praise: Be Unto You Name, Robin Mark Lord , let your kingdom come, let your plan and your will be fulfilled as you have planned from the beginning, in the fullness of time and according to your will in your perfect timing, never one instant too early or too late. Lord, let it be that all is done here on earth as it is already done in heaven. Celebration Church – Children’s time—Daily Bread Lord, we thank you for your amazing provisions and your daily gifts of abundance, both physical and spiritual. We know it all comes from you, Lord. We bless you and thank you that Jesus is the bread of life, that all of your words and His words written out in the Bible daily feed us and nourish our souls and that we live and move and have our very being in them. We thank you that your mercies are new each morning. We worship you by giving back to you in joy from what you have given us. Worship with Tithes and Offerings Lord, we confess in our hearts any sins within us. We ask that you would forgive us as we forgive those who have sinned against us. Oh Lord, if there is any unforgiveness in us, by the power of your Holy Spirit, grant that we would remember how much love it took for Jesus to go to that cross to take away all our sins. (Selah) Mighty and everlasting God, let the power of that love consume us and soften our cold, hard hearts that we would be willing to not only give our lives for you, but to forgive and wash feet--even the feet of one who would betray us for a handful of coins. Lord, in your mercy, lead us on the path of righteousness far from all the temptations of this world and protect us and keep us safe from evil and the enemy of our souls. Song of Praise: Hail to the King, Shannon Wexelberg Message: The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. As we come to the end of the Lord’s Prayer, we again praise Him. But what do those words mean? The Kingdom The word “kingdom” simply means the dominion of the king. “Dominion” can mean a place, as in the territory of the king. Since God created the universe and everything in it, the entire universe is His kingdom. How big is that? Well, the Milky Way galaxy is 100,000 light years across and there are billions and billions of galaxies in the universe. NASA says no one knows if the universe is infinite or not, but we know there is stuff beyond what even the most powerful instruments in the world can see or measure. That sounds pretty infinite to me. And of course, heaven is also God’s kingdom. That’s either in another universe or another dimension or another plane of being. Whatever the case, the borders of God’s kingdom are beyond our comprehension. As it pertains to God, “the kingdom” also means the spiritual realm over which is God is sovereign. There are two kingdoms in this world: The kingdom or darkness, and the kingdom of light. If we are of God, we are citizens of the kingdom of light, over which God is rightful King. We are His subjects and His children. So, Lord, we acknowledge that you are King over the infinite realms you have created and our hearts, our minds, and our souls are yours and yours alone. You are our King, sovereign Lord, and no other! We bow our hearts to you in worship and praise, awesome LORD. The Power The LORD God created the universe and everything in it (except man) simply by speaking it into being. The power of His word brings forth light and beauty and everything. His power is beyond our ability to imagine or comprehend. As His kingdom is infinite, so also is the power that created the infinite. And, the root of that power is His love. There is no power in all the universe greater than the love of God. And out of that great love, God created Adam out of the dust of the earth, forming him with his own hands. And then, he breathed His own breath into Adam to give him life. People are God’s greatest creation, formed in love to love and to be loved. Again and again, His power is shown in His Word. It was God’s mighty power that freed the children of Israel; that parted the Red Sea; that sent manna from heaven; that won many battles; that caused the walls of Jericho to fall; that allowed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to walk through the flames unharmed; that shut the mouths of the lions for Daniel; that caused Jesus to be born of a virgin; and that raised him from the dead. God’s power is matchless, unequaled, amazing, and again, beyond our ability to comprehend or imagine. Nothing is impossible for God. Hallelujah! Lord, we are saved by the power of your great and infinite love! We worship you for your incredible power and we are humbled by it. Lord, let it be that we rely on your power in our lives, neve deceiving ourselves that we have any power that did not originate with and was granted to us by you. The Glory Ahh, the GLORY! Verse after verse mentions God’s glory—but what exactly is it? Kinship Christian Radio announcer Beth Crosby recently began one of her programs by saying: “God created everything with His voice. He spoke and the universe came into existence. That is grandeur, power, and glory. David tells us that God’s glory fills the heavens. The word “glory” itself means “majesty.” It describes Gods stateliness, His impressiveness in scale and proportion, His greatness. Creation doesn’t exist simply to provide us a home or a place for us to enjoy. The universe exists to show forth Gods immeasurable, unquantifiable, indescribable, and awesome characteristics. The celestial realm’s great expanse magnifies God’s enormity and reminds us that God is worthy of worship. Amen, Beth! When I sat down to write this part of the message, and told my family I intended to write about God’s glory, and they said, “You do that a lot.” True. I have no defense for that accusation. And, as I pondered why that was so, I came to the conclusion that I keep doing it over and over again because I feel I never quite get it right. It’s like the words on the page always fall way, way short of the glory due God. It’s no wonder. Because God’s kingdom and His power are infinite, so is His glory. How could I describe the infinite glory of an infinite God? As Beth said, God’s awesome characteristics are immeasurable, unquantifiable, and indescribable. The Bible tells us that God’s glory is so great that, when it takes on visible properties, it is downright frightening. In 2 Chronicles 7, after Solomon had consecrated the temple he had built for the LORD, the glory of the God filled it and the priests could not enter it. When all the people of Israel saw the glory of the LORD filling the temple, they fell down on their faces and worshiped and praised the LORD. The shepherds who were keeping watch over their flocks by night had a similar reaction when the angel announced the birth of Jesus: And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. (Luke 2:9) Indeed, fear and trembling, praise and worship are the only responses left to us when we are in the presence of the glory of God. While I will never be able to adequately describe the incredible glory of God, the Bible does describe what it was like when God’s glory withdrew from the Earth: It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed. (Luke 23:44, 45a ESV) In that moment when Jesus was dying and the love of God and His glory retreated from all the earth, complete darkness fell over us. There was a great earthquake, the temple of the curtain was torn in two, and the very rocks split. It seemed as if the whole earth would crumble to pieces without the presence of the glory of God. And, I am convinced it would have, had He not withdrawn from us temporarily that His glory would be all the greater when he arose from the dead, clothed in majesty, with a way opened before us to be freed and forgiven, reunited and restored to Him. The truth is, God’s glory is all around us every day. We do not live in darkness. All of this is a miracle, created by His voice. From the infinitely small perfection of the very molecules that make up everything around us to the infinite vastness of the universe, His infinite love is visible and tangible in the gifts He has placed before us. But the greatest of all those gifts was His incredible plan to take on finite flesh and emerge victorious in the battle of the finite versus the infinite. When we brought death into this world with our sin, we introduced the finite into what had been created and designed to be infinite. That’s why when Jesus rose from what had been the finality of death and brought everlasting life to all who believe, He was victorious in restoring the infinite. And this was not by any virtue of our own, but by the very nature of His infinite love for us and to the praise of His infinite glory, forever and ever. LORD, we are humbled in the presence of your glory! We praise you and worship you and ask that your Holy Spirit would shine out of us causing all we do and say to be to the building up of your kingdom, the power to save many souls, and to the praise of your glory, forever and ever! And all God’s people said, AMEN! (Music “All the People Said Amen by Matt Maher)
  19. Watch--i like that a lot. I think I will add that. And you do not need to ask permission to use it. It came from the Holy Spirit,so I no more own it than I own the sunrise.
  20. Greetings, brothers and sisters in Christ. I have been blessed to be asked to deliver a sermon to the congregation of Faith Bible Church (of which I am a member) on June 22. This is the first draft of that sermon. I would appreciate advice, comment, guidance, direction. Thank you. Worry Sermon One day Bob was scanning the Help Wanted ads and came across one that said, “Wanted: Professional Worry Wart. Good pay. Benefits. Call Moe at 555-1234.” So, Bob calls and talks to Moe. Moe tells him he should come to Moe’s Bar on Third Street right away for an interview. When Bob gets there, Moe tells him, “As you can see, I own this bar. I got six employees, and none of ‘em get along with each other. I got a 19 year-old daughter living with her boyfriend and neither of ‘em has a job. They’re always calling me for money. My 15 year-old son is always in trouble with the law, I’m pretty sure my wife’s cheating on me, and I got some serious health problems. And, as if that’s not enough, sales at the bar are starting to fall off. I’m always worrying about this stuff, and I’m sick of it. I want to hire someone to do my worrying for me.” “Wow,” says Bob. That a lot of worrying to do. How much does this job pay?” “A hundred grand a year, plus bennies,” says Moe. “A hundred grand a year? How can you afford that kind of pay after everything you’ve told me?” ‘That’s your worry,” says Moe. Worry afflicts many Christians. It’s so easy to worry. I have met people who worried that they would have nothing to worry about, and others who were absolutely convinced that if they did not worry, the things they worried about would actually happen to them. The Bible has many verses telling us not to worry. There’s Matthew 6:31-"So don't worry about these things, saying, 'What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?' And Matthew 6:34--"So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today. And Luke 12:25-26--25"And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life's span? 26"If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters? The Bible tells us hundreds of times not to be afraid and not to worry. But for some people, they just can’t seem to help it. In some cases, it seems people worry because if they don’t, it seems like they don’t care. For others, it’s like an addiction. But worry is undoubtedly bad for us. Numerous studies have shown worry is bad for the body. One such study in Australia found that people who worry excessively about their health make up somewhere between four and seven percent of those who need surgery and those people have health care costs ten to 13 times higher than people who don’t worry so much! Did you know studies have been done to determine how much of what we worry about actually happens? The best information I can find indicates that about 92% of the time, what we worry about never happens. So, 92% of the time, worry is a lie and a waste of time. And the other 8% of the time does worrying about it actually change the outcome? Our word, “worry” comes from a word that describes how a wolf clamps his jaws on the windpipe of his prey and kills it. It means, “to strangle.” Worrying undoubtedly steals the joy we have in the Lord, and worrying certainly steals praise and glory from God. Worry is the opposite of faith. It strangles us and it does not come from God. But, we’ve always been told that, while we should not worry, it’s understandable and okay to be legitimately concerned. Your teenage daughter said she’d be home at 10:00 p.m. and it’s now 11:00. You’re driving your car and the oil light comes on and you hear a knocking noise from under the hood. Those are legitimate causes of concern and we should do something in cases like that. Now, before we go on, I need to be clear that I am not talking about people with anxiety attacks or depression or other conditions. These and a host of others are the result of a medical condition and are the reason God gave us doctors and trained professionals who can and do help. I’ve already brought up some of the more familiar verses about worry, but let’s take a look at Mark 4:35-40 where Jesus had just finished preaching to the crowd on the shore of the Sea of Galilee: 35 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” 36 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. Okay, let’s hold the boat here for a minute. Whose boat was this that Jesus was getting into? The verse does not specifically say who owned the boat, but four of the 12 disciples were professional commercial fisherman. I can’t prove this, but it wouldn’t be unreasonable to suspect that this boat was owned by either Peter, James, Andrew, or John. They were very, very familiar with boats and were also familiar with the Sea of Galilee. These were not a bunch of tourists out on a three–hour pleasure cruise. Moving on: 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. Let’s put this into perspective. The Sea of Galilee is eight miles wide, 13 miles long, and 150 feet deep. This is no little farm pond. If the Sea of Galilee were located in Minnesota, it would be our fifth largest lake, right between Lake Winnibigoshish and Lake Vermillion. In 1986 during a low water period, some fishermen and amateur archeologists discovered a typical fishing boat from Jesus’ time sunken in the Sea of Galilee. While there is nothing linking this particular boat to Jesus or his disciples, it is typical of what would have been in use in the first century. It was 27 feet long, 7.5 feet wide, and 4.5 feet deep. It had a flat bottom and was made mostly of cedar planks held together by wooden pegs and nails. They found ten different types of wood used on the boat, showing that it had been patched numerous times. Experts determined that the boat had probably been used for decades, perhaps as much as a century, before it was abandoned. Although that is a larger boat than most of the fishermen in this room are accustomed to, this is not some riveted or welded deep-vee aluminum hull. It had a flat bottom, so big waves would tend to slam it up and down. In addition, there were no bilge pumps, no life boats, no radio to call for help and not even any life jackets. Okay, for you fisherman in the congregation who have been on Winnie or lakes like it, what would it be like being out there at night in that boat on the Sea of Galilee? Yes, it would have been so scary every fiber of our beings would have wanted to get off that lake. NOW! The story goes on: 38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Jesus is in the back of the boat sleeping. Sleeping! The boat is “already filling.” In a vessel 4.5 feet deep, that means the water is NOT ankle deep. It means it’s probably at least hip-deep-- maybe more. These are professional fisherman. One of them probably owns the boat they are in. And they don’t wake Jesus up and say, “Umm, Rabbi, we may have a little problem here.”—I love the way some people read Bible verses. “Yea, verily, teacher, we are nigh unto perishing.” I’m pretty sure the correct way to read that verse is: “AAAAAA!! WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE! AAAAAA!!” (That’s the part of the sermon I put in there for people who fall asleep in church.) Okay, so in the middle of this story, my question to you is: Legitimate concern, or worry-wart worry? Exactly. They had every reason to be worried. I would have been scared silly. This has “Legitimate Concern” written all over it in bold face, italic, underline type. 39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. I love that verse. “Peace, be still.” The Greek word in the Bible where “peace” is used translates ‘Silence.” Silence. Be still. Be still and know that He is God. And the wind stops and the sea goes flat. And in that moment of silence and great calm, Jesus turns to his disciples and says, 40b “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” He chews them out! Here they were, almost certainly about to die, and He says, “What were you worried about? How is that you have no faith? “ What do you say to the God of the universe when He says that to you? Well, the Bible tells us how the disciples reacted: 41: The disciples were absolutely terrified. "Who is this man?" they asked each other. "Even the wind and waves obey him!" Absolutely terrified. In the presence of the God of the universe. In whom and through whom and by whom all things were created. In that moment, the disciples had an inkling of whose presence they were in. The One who has all things under His control, the Mighty, Everlasting, Omniscient, Omnipotent GOD! The GOD of eternity! So, dear brothers and sisters, when the car makes a knocking noise and your daughter is late, who is in control? Who holds everything in His hand? Is this not the God who said he came to give you life and give it the full? Didn’t He say his burden is light and His yoke is easy and we would find rest for our souls if we would just take up His cross and learn from Him? Isn’t this the God who loved you enough to take on flesh for you and die on a cross for you and pay off all the sins of the world past, present, and future? Is anything impossible for Him? Oh, my friends I will admit this is hard for me. Especially when I’m late and things go wrong. Especially when yet another thing comes up and I don’t know where the money is going to come from to pay for it. Ask my wife. I am not any better than any of you. But, here’s the deal: The enemy of our soul knows what buttons to push. He’s not omniscient, but he’s watched us and others like us for thousands of years. And he whispers those lies in our ears that tell us the waves are going to break the boat in half and we are going to drown in all the crashing waves of our troubles. And , he knows if he can load us up with the lies of our own special worry, we will be ineffective as witnesses. He doesn’t care about us. Does a city on a hill or a light on a stand shine forth worry? Does a Christian overcome with worry and doubt make others want to seek out Jesus and find the peace that passes all understanding? No, worry is a lie. And we know where lies come from. But the truth is this: And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow--not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. Romans 8:38 So, the challenge for us all is to remember is that the next time that little voice in our head tells us how awful something is to remember that Jesus is right there with us, and if we call on Him, He can speak those words over any storm that may come along: Peace! Be still--and know that He is God.
  21. I was blessed to be asked to give the message (sermon) in my church on Feb. 2. This is it: Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4. NIV) Julie K----, a long-time (and now happily retired) KJLY ministry worker, had that verse on her desk for many years. It was even on her retirement cake and Julie truly is a person who takes delight in the Lord. When I first started thinking about what it meant, I thought to myself, “What? Is God some big bubble-gum machine where you can get whatever you want just by thinking He is wonderful?” I mean, come on. There are lots of people who don’t have all the desires of their heart. Come to think of it, nobody I know--no matter what they have-- has all the desires of their heart. If that verse were true, wouldn’t every Christian alive be a multi-billionaire? And, what about alcoholics? Isn’t the desire of their heart just one more drink, even though it’s bad for them? It didn’t seem make sense to me, so I did some looking into it. The line of reasoning goes like this: To truly take delight in the LORD and all He is and was and always will be is to align our will with his. The more we take delight in Him and get to know who God really is, the easier it is to see the incredible mercy, grace, and love that He is. If we stop and think about it, we have plenty of reasons to take delight in the Lord. He has blessed us in so many ways. In 1900, the infant mortality rate was 14%. That’s one in seven children who didn’t live to see their first birthday. In the 1950’s, it was about 3%, or one in 35. Today, infant mortality is less than seven-tenths of a percent, or one in 142. In 1900, average life expectancy of men in the United States was 45. Women lived to an average age of 49. Today, those figures are 76 for men and 81 for women. Even though indoor plumbing has been around for over a thousand years, it was only for the very rich and even then it wasn’t truly perfected until the 1920’s because we had not figured a way to keep sewer gas from backing up into homes. Leprosy and scores of other diseases which are virtually unheard of today were caused by sanitation issues. Approximately two million children die each year in developing countries as a result of improper waste disposal. Most urban homes didn’t have electricity until the 1930’s and many farm homes didn’t have electricity until the 1950’s or 1960’s. People in the United States didn’t even understand the role of germs in disease and infection (and the importance of washing their hands) until after the Civil War. Even today, over three million people still die each year from disease which could be prevented by washing one’s hands with soap and water. So, dear Christian, when was the last time you praised God for a bar of soap? Or the S-trap under your sink which keeps sewer gas out of your house? Or clean water uncontaminated by your own outhouse? Or for the wholesome food in your electric refrigerator and freezer? Or for your very life and the lives of your children? God blessed those of us alive today with more comfort and convenience, more protection and health than any people who have ever lived since the beginning of written history. Praise the LORD! Yes, I know that bad things still happen and there are wars and murders and all sorts of evil in the world, and we should indeed weep with those who weep and mourn with those who mourn, but the fact is all of the things we see in this world cannot change the fact that we have a God who was willing to take on human flesh and die in our place to save our souls. Al l of those things I just told you about are things that benefits to our flesh. They are great blessings, indeed, but God’s primary concern is for our souls. And that’s the real deal: it’s about our souls. In Psalm 37:4, the word translated “heart” is the Hebrew word for “inner man.” So do our souls really need a billion dollars? Does the alcoholic’s soul really need another drink? All of the evil and wrong in this world gets to us because this is not our home. We were designed and built to live in paradise. Our souls yearn for a perfect world and perfect relationship with God. That is the true desire of our hearts--our souls--because God put that desire there. So if our soul takes delight in the LORD, will the God of Abundance, El-Shaddai, allow it to lack for anything? After all, it all belongs to Him. There is nothing good that exists that did not come from Him in the first place and does not still belong to Him. You remember the parable of the prodigal son, right? Do you remember the brother’s complaint? And what did his father tell him when he was all indignant and mad that his father never threw him an amazing party with a fatted calf? "His father said to him, 'Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. (Luke 15:31, NLT) (Emphasis added.) Everything God has is OURS! The Bible tells us we are children of God and His kingdom is our GUARANTEED inheritance. Ephesians 1:14 The Spirit is God's guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him. HALLELUJAH! Jesus did not die on that cross to give us indoor plumbing. He came and died for us to save our souls! And, the presence of His Holy Spirit is our guarantee on this earth that we are indeed saved and that the souls of all who believe will not die but will have eternal life! With a guarantee like that, is God worthy of praise? AMEN! Oh my soul, praise the LORD! God is worthy of praise and, not surprisingly, it is good for us. Praising God lifts our souls and equips us. It recharges us. It puts our minds and hearts and our souls on the right track. It fills us with truth. And, there is protection in in praise. I once heard a minister preaching on KJLY say, ‘Praise of the Lord creates an atmosphere the enemy cannot move through.” And I have found it to be true! Oh, but it can be so hard to put into practice. When I’m late for work and the car is making a weird noise and the dog chewed up my favorite shoes and the guy in the Buick in front of me has me screaming, “Hey Grandpa, it’s that vertical pedal on the right!” suddenly, delight in the LORD seems very, very far away. And that’s when the enemy of my soul starts whispering those killing lies in my ear that my life is just the worst and I really shouldn’t have to put up with all of this and I deserve soooo much better. And that’s what the enemy’s lies do—they steal from us and they kill the joy God intends for us, and for the others we are intended to share that joy with. That theft, that spirit or complaining and bitterness, makes us ineffective as witnesses to the love of Christ! (For a description of how God’s Complaint Department works, see Numbers 11.) The fact is that I have a job , and I have a car, and I have a dog who bounces around with crazy joy just because I came home, and I have shoes, and I have a God who loves my soul enough to put a guy in front of me who is only driving 56 miles an hour so that maybe my soul can learn some patience and love for my fellow man because even if I don’t pass him, the convenience store is probably still going to have that chocolate donut my flesh just has to have! Perspective is a humbling thing. And praise of the LORD does make the devil flee from you. So, child of the One True King, heir to all that belongs to the God of the Universe, sinner saved by the blood of the Lamb and the Risen King, the Living Jesus-- does your Father lack for anything? Is God poor? And will He withhold any good and perfect gift from the souls of those who love Him? Truly, the love of God is rich and pure, measureless and strong, and we do have 10,000 reasons and more to praise his holy name! Have a delightful day. Today’s Praise Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Hebrews 13:20-21
  22. Janiebeth, I am still praying for you. Please come back and pray with us if you can. Dan
  23. While I am not changing my position on Chocolate Cream Pie, I think there should be some theological debate on Shepherd's Pie in this thread.
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