Patient Well-Doing

I came across a phrase that I love today in our reading (www.lifejournal.cc) :  Romans 2:6-7-He will render to each one according to his works: ⁷to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.  He is talking about the judgment of God and how God does not miss anything.  The evil of the wicked will be exposed, but the good that is done will also be.  Now always keep it all in perspective:  Christians get fired up about how many jewels are in their crowns in glory.  Well, however many you have, you will lay the crown and all the jewels at Jesus feet.   Remember what Paul said yesterday:  the people that he impacted were his crown.  Heaven is not really about who has the biggest abode or the nicest jewels.  Heaven is about Jesus.  We get carried away with some of the descriptions because we are so earthly minded we are no heavenly good.  I have read the book and I know: the joy of heaven is Jesus!  He should be our joy here too.  The more we enjoy Him here, the more we will enjoy Him there.  And really that is the point about the crowns.  You get the most out of heaven by getting the most our of walking with the Lord on the earth. 
This passage, however, speaks of his rewarding those who are patient in their well-doing.  I love this passage because it is a challenge to me.  I am not the most patient person.  I have two speeds: I go pretty good or I don't. When I am going pretty good, I  like them to jump on with me and let's go.   When I am not (in the stillness of this hour and in the last moments at night before nodding off), I like the surrounding to slow down, if at all possible.  The greatest injustice that I do to my family is my lack of patience.  Everyday I lay it at His Feet and some days I succeed.  But today He tells me that He rewards those who are patient in well doing when they do it for His Glory, His Honor, and with eternity in mind.  When you think about what really lasts...what really is immortal....what really is eternal...it will put our schedules in proper perspective, won't it?  My greatest reward comes when I in my patience do well for the Lord by serving others.  And what is that reward?  Our passage says 'eternal life.'  Is that just living forever?  By no means.  I like the way Jesus defines it in the 2nd half of John 10:10- But I have come that you might have life and life more abundantly....or life to the full...or compete, whole living.    That is what we get when we serve others in a ministry of the Lord and with eternity in mind.  Let's love a sometimes hateful, often bothered, and mostly misguided world today...patiently.

Busy doing Something

We take a wild ride through parts of two letters to the Thessalonians this morning.  First we deal with the return of the Lord passage in I Thessalonians 4:13-18 and then the man of lawlessness passage in 2 Thessalonians 2.  Those are fun passages to dig into.  There is a lot of mystery around them and they are focused on often.  Two things are certain:  The Lord will return in His Time and in His Way and evil  will abound until then but will never really win.  It reminds me of the battle of New Orleans.  The battle was a huge part of the War of 1812 and over 300 men died over several days in this bloody battle.  However, the treaty had been signed before the battle.  The war was over but they were still fighting because they had not got word of the cease.  We have won the war folks, let's give the battles to the Lord. 
In the meantime, let's stay busy.  Paul (www.lifejournal.cc) warns us this morning to stay busy about the right things.  2 Thes. 3:10-For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. ¹¹For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. ¹²Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.  ¹³As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.  It is always amazing for me to see how some people work very hard about being busy doing nothing.  I have tried to help the hungry through a feeding ministry and I know that there are some who are working hard at doing nothing.  I also know there are some who genuinely need help.  I don't always know which is which and who is who.  So what do you do?  Do you not help the hungry because of the imposters?  I don't think that is how you handle it.  Jesus did not take financial statements from folks at the feeding of the 5,000. He just fed them.  There are always going to be some tares among the wheat but you don't ignore the wheat.  You let God work it out.  I believe what Paul is referring to here is more about what are WE doing, not 'those' folks?  Are we busy? If so, doing what?  Are we busybodies, trying to look busy but getting nothing done?  Are we spending our time digging into other people's business or digging into the Lord's business?  What do we spend our time doing?  We need to be busy about the Lord's business and not let the discouragement of others or their actions get in the way of us doing all we can for as long as we can for as many as we can.  Let's get busy...doing something...productive and for the Lord today!

Our Hope, Joy, and Crown

At the first of January I will have been pastoring for 19 years.  I never will forget the opportunity that I seemed to stumble on to about 19 years ago today.  I had went home with a seminary friend for Thanksgiving weekend or a weekend very close to Thanksgiving.  The main motive was to see a Christian concert but much more happened.  Scott's (Hanberry) father was the chairman of the search committee of a church in Hattiesburg. He was best friends with my preaching professor, who was filling an interim position in Hattiesburg.  On Sunday afternoon after preaching Dr. Bryson would come to see Scott's father and that Sunday they had a conversation about the pastoral position.  It is my understanding that I was brought up in that conversation.  Not knowing that, I was asked by Scott's father, Billy, to take a ride with him.  We rode to the parking lot of the church and he began telling me the situation.  He then asked me what I thought they should do.  Now, understand, that I had told the placement office at the seminary that I did not have enough experience to put my name in for a pastoral position.  Plus I was unmarried.  I could not imagine what church would want me to be their pastor.  I had filled a couple of youth weekends since beginning seminary but felt as if I had been shelved after being busy in NC and SC during college.  Billy and I talked in that parking lot and he asked me to come and preach.  I preached in December.  They asked me to come back again.  I came back again.  I went home (to Greenville, SC) for Christmas and they called me in Greenville and asked me to consider becoming their pastor.  I was shocked.  I never saw it coming.  It was obviously God at work.
That was 19 years ago.  I read a passage this morning that led me to reminiscence a little bit.    Paul was reflecting on his impact on lives in ministry and he says this: For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? ²⁰For you are our glory and joy.-
I Thes. 2:19-20.
I am not an old man. I hope to do what I do for about 50 years (or as long as God gives me breath), so I am not halfway to my goal, but as I look back on this wet, cold morning, what I remember most is the impact that people have had on me and that I may have had on them.  I have little to boast about in me, but I smile and praise God when I ponder on the lives that I have seen change and spiritually mature along this path. 
It is a blessing to do what I do, but it is a job as well.  I will come upon people today that need me to give my very best for Christ to them.  You will too.  Let's be unselfish, visionary, and faithful with each and every life.  God wants to use you and me today.  Let's let nothing come in the way.

What's Your Price?

Well, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I know I did.  I missed ya'll but it is good to be back.

This morning (www.lifejournal.cc) I was reading about Judas trading off Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Matthew 26:15 states it this way:  And (Judas) said, "What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?" And they paid him thirty pieces of silver.  I could not help but think this morning, how much money is that?  I have read that it is a small as $20 and as big as a common laborer's four month salary. Actually Exodus 21:32 gives us a good perspective as well.  It states: If the ox gores a slave, male or female, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.  Based upon that information, Judas got about what an owner of a slave would be compensated by the owner of an ox that gored of the slaves.   If 'pieces' (of Matt. 26:15) are 'shekels',  it would be worth about $300, based on silver today.  So let's go with that... Judas sold Jesus out for $300.  That does not make most car payments.  I spent that much on Black Friday in the maze of crazy, sleep deprived folk and I didn't get what I came for.   (I'll share that story later this week.)  Judas sold out Jesus for 3 Ben Franklins.

Now here is my question:  What's your price?  How much would it take for you to disclose the location of Christ so that the authorities could grab him, beat him, falsely accuse him, humiliate him, and then crucify Him? Some may be cold enough to say "a lot more than that" but if so, they need the Lord.  Most of you would say, "they could not pay me enough.  For no price would I hand my Lord over to be killed."    However, in a spiritual sense, you do it wwwaaaayyyy too often!!  Everytime we sin, we hand Him over again, because, regardless of how the death was arranged, Christ died to pay the cost of your sin and mine.  Every wayward word, thought, or act, we are selling Him out again.  Usually, for a lot less than $300.
Now...Christ paid the price so that we don't have to.  Salvation is the compensation that His death and resurrection provides.  We have all we need in Christ.  Let's stop looking to the world to be compensated (or to make us feel better) by having lives filled with words, thoughts, and acts that  bring reproach against Christ.
He paid the price and provides all we need.  Let's not look to the wiles of the world for anything else.  Let's just live to celebrate, praise, honor, and enjoy HIM!!

Focusing on Thanks

Well, it is Thanksgiving time.  A time to stop and reflect on all that we have to be thankful for.   It will be easy just to focus on food, football, and then strategic shopping, but I encourage you to focus on thankfulness instead.  I know I have a lot to be thankful for.  The Lord is good to me anyway I turn and I can honestly say that I often reflect upon how good He is to me.
In the coming days, I will not have internet access and I am not planning to get up at 5 AM and run to the local McDonald's to study and write. I will read my Bible with it laying in my lap without the technology that I lean on daily.   I like to write this daily but it will be almost impossible over these days of visiting.  Therefore, I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.  I'll write again on Sunday. 
Before I go, I want you to ask yourself the question that Christ asked the disciples.  In Matthew 16:13-16- (Jesus) asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" ¹⁴And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." ¹⁵He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" ¹⁶Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (www.lifejournal.cc)
It really doesn't matter what everyone else says.  The question is, who do you say that Christ is?  Who do you say He is with the way you live, give, talk, and walk.  Do you proclaim Him as Lord of your life with all that you do?  I encourage you to focus on that in the coming days.

The Sower and The Soil

I have often said that the parable of the sower could easily be called the parable of the soil, however, the Gospel writer refers to it as the parable of the sower.  There is a reason he does.  I have said that it could be called the parable of the soil because the changing factor in the different parts of the story is related to the soil.  It shows that it is our job to cast the seed of the Gospel in all places and let it fall where it may.  We are not responsible for the soil but the seed.  However, when I looked at this familiar passage this morning, He just reiterated to me something that I want to show you.  No new truths here, just a friendly reminder.  Christ's explanation of the parable is in Matthew 13:18-23 (www.lifejournal.cc)  ¹⁸ "Hear then the parable of the sower: ¹⁹When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. ²⁰As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, ²¹yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.^{[b] 22}As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²³As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."  What did God point out to me this morning?  They have to hear it.  What they do with it is between God and them, but whether they hear it or not, is between God and us.  Let's not assume a thing today.  Let's share Christ!

The Harvesters

I spend a lot of time preaching about reading the Bible in context.  It was stressed to me in my training days in seminary and I have heard Scripture used so very often in the pulpit and in the pew...and in the world and heard it used out of context that it is something that I often emphasize.  As the saying goes, "A text without a context is a pretext", it typically is very true.  As I read 3 chapters of Matthew this morning (www.lifejournal.cc), I noticed the context in a better way than I have in a while.  We typically stop at the end of a chapter but Matthew, nor any other book in the Bible, was not written in chapters. When you also keep in mind that chapters were placed in relation to length more so than context, you realize, in order to read in context, you have to continue to read after the chapter sometimes.  In chapters 8 and 9 of Matthew, Jesus is healing people, doing miracles, and making a large visual impact.  Then at the end of chapter 9 (v.35-38) this happens: ³⁵ And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send  out laborers into his harvest."  Keep reading though- because in chapter 10 the situation continues: v.1-  And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.  He then continues in chapter 10 giving them instructions on how to go out in His Name.    When you get to Acts, it is the disciples that are teaching the church how to go out in the Name of Christ. 
Now, my point to all this is not a new point but a point well emphasized in our passage today:  We are the laborers of the harvest.  We are our generation's extension to Christ.  We are the ones that must go in His Name, if His Name is to go out to the lost and dying.  Jesus was working, working, working, when He asked for prayer for laborers. He then sent the disciples working, working, working.  Now we are to go working, working, working.  We are laborers and the fields are more white for the harvest than, maybe, they have ever been.  Let's get busy for the Lord today!

A Full Plate

Today we venture into and run right through the Sermon on the Mount (www.lifejournal.cc).  The Sermon on the Mount is wonderful.  There are so many spots to stop and apply.  I have preached on the Sermon on the Mount for the entire second half of this year on Sunday mornings.  There is a lot there.  As I asked the Lord to lead me this morning, he showed me Matthew 6:34-  Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.   That passage was spiritually highlighted for me this morning.  I guess it is because we live in a stressed out society.  We feel covered up so often. 
Some people are covered up by schedule.  I remember having a conversation with someone years ago that worked at a convenience store.  She had an introductory job and was probably not a candidate to move up. She told me, "I don't like working there.  When you get done with one thing, they give you another."  I think that is what is supposed to happen on the job but I doubt she was getting her fair shake.  She felt a little covered up. 
Some people are covered up by finances, but some of that is of our own making.  Years ago on a Sunday morning when church was over, I was standing at the door shaking hands, and a lady came by and said, "Pray for me preacher, I'm having to file bankrupcy this week."  I was startled.  My knee-jerk is to say, "Wait a Minute!  Let's look at some things."  It was clear quick that she did not want my opinion nor counsel,  she wanted my blessing.  I am not quick to bless bankrupcy, although I know under some circumstances....Two weeks later I was getting the oil changed at a car lot and she was buying a practically new van. What!!  Huh!!  I don't even know how that happens, but some of our financial struggle is of our own making. 
Some are covered up by pressure.  I was reading this morning how they gave up on Mark Reicht at the first of the year as the football coach of Georgia.  They knew it was just a matter of time.  Will he make it through the year or be fired midseason? Well, they won the SEC East yesterday.  He'll probably get an extension. If they beat LSU, he may get enshrined.  
Some are covered up by stress.  It could be from these things and it could be from within.  If the Prince of Peace is not calming your storm, your personal boat is rocking.  However, even with the Lord, we are very imperfect people. 
What do we do about all this? Jesus tells us don't worry about tomorrow, you have enough on your plate today.  The wonderful thing is that we have one that walks beside us to carry our plate for us. So what are you worried about?  Jesus loves you!

Wake Up and Go!

Today in our writing we begin in Matthew again (www.lifejournal.cc).  From here on out we will focus on the New Testament with just a few Psalms thrown in.  If you keep up with the reading, you will be amazed at how much of the New Testament that you will take in between now and the end of the year. Hang on to your hat and dig in!!

We read of the birth of Jesus this morning, but I must say, I read of Joseph. He stood out so strong to me this morning.  Ole Joseph had to be overwhelmed.  God put him in a plan that I don't think he could have seen coming.  He handled it wonderfully though.  How did he know what to do?  He just did what God told him.  Look at this stark, bold, obvious insight into his life.   First he was going to divorce her (an engagement was legal in that day), but the angel told him not to.  Matthew 1:24 tells us- When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife.  After the birth and the wisemen came (up to 2 years later, not at the manger), Joseph was warned to leave due to Herod's rant.  Matthew 2:14-15 tells us- And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt ¹⁵and remained there until the death of Herod.  Then two more times...Matthew 2:19ff  -¹⁹But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, ²⁰saying, "Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead." ²¹And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ...and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. ²³And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled: "He shall be called a Nazarene."
We do not hear of Joseph after Jesus is raised. What we know about him surrounds the birth of Christ.  As I read this passage I get two impressions:  the lesser one is 'they were on the run.'  The greater one is Joseph was committed to being obedient.  Notice how clearly God spoke to Him.  However, also notice how quickly and clearly he responded in obedience.  God spoke at night and Joseph acted in obedience in it first thing (I bet he didn't even finish out his night before going).  He never hesitated.   I believe he teaches us something.  What do you do when you don't know what to do? What do you do when God allows you (or puts you) in spots that seem overwhelming to you?  You just do what God tells you.  Don't delay.  Don't put it off.  Just do it!  And do it when you are told to do it!  Joseph did and he brought to boy Jesus to the place that fulfilled prophecy concerning Him (Mt. 2:23).  Just by following the Lord.   May we do the same as God leads us. 

The Strength In Weakness

It is easy to complain, however it does no good.  Sometimes people think that when they complain, people give them sympathy.  Instead, most of the time the listener just thinks (or even says to others), "He/she complains a lot."  That is not to say that we don't have something to complain about.  Everybody has either sore feet, sorry kids, suffering parents, difficult spouses, difficult jobs, or something like that.  I mean if you sit around long enough and feel sorry for yourself, you can get depressed.  I have expressed it a little nicer many times from the pulpit by calling it "the pain on every pew."  God has blessed me with three pastorates and it took a few years at each spot but soon you find that everyone in your congregation has 'stuff' that they have to deal with.  It's life and it does not help to complain about it.  Paul made that clear to me this morning (www.lifejournal.cc) when he said in 2 Corinthians 12:10-  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Now, off the top,  you need to know that Paul was focusing on the 'stuff' that he faced while serving the Lord.  He faced a bunch as he served the Lord because of the places he went and the things he did for the Lord.  Most of our complaints are not because we have been left for dead while serving the Lord. As a matter of fact, a lot of our problems, we actually created ourselves in some form or fashion.  Yet, God can use that too.  I don't understand everything in God's economy but I hang my hat on it.  Romans 8:28 tells us- And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  In other words, God will use our messups, our weaknesses, and our difficulties to mold us to be what He would have us to be.   If that be the case, what are we complaining about?  God is at work in us.   Let's mark today by not whining, complaining, or making excuses.  Let's just go with the Lord and realize  when we are our weakest that sometimes God uses us at our greatest .

Every Single One!

We are in a war!  You may not think about often.  Some don't even realize it.   I don't mean with foreign forces on foreign fields against terrorism and such. I have heroes that are fighting in such wars so that we don't have to on our homeland.  However, there is a bigger war on our homeland.  There is a bigger war in our HOME.  There is a bigger one even in our mind.  If we don't realize and win victory in it, we will be defeated in too many ways.  In 2 Corinthians (www.lifejournal.cc) Paul is talking to a war torn church.  They have battles within as well as battles outside their walls.  They live in a thinktank society that always loves to fight and argue about which way is right.  They have battles in their own mind, their own lifestyles, and their own circumstances. Paul is addressing all these matters.  In 2 Corinthians 10 he gives a great summary of the battle that is at hand:  ³For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. ⁴For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. ⁵We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, ⁶ being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.- v.3-6
In v. 5 he gives a wonderful statement that just speaks volumes.  First he speaks of the arguments and the lofty opinions of the world that needs Christ yet argues furiously against the things of God.  He then speaks of the attack that he puts forth: He takes captive every thought.  Now when he says that, he is speaking to debating the arguments from others but he is also speaking of winning the debate of the mind....his own mind.  He simply does not allow ungodly thoughts to take root.    He does not allow himself to speculate, to be discouraged, to be downtrodden, to be negative, to be unclean, to be caught up, to be envious, to be covetous, to be jealous, to be backbiting, to be critical, to be flippant tongued, to be...of this world.  He will not let it stick.  It is not that those things don't come up.  When they do, he takes them captive.  I saw a mouse in my house one time years ago.  I tried to throw a clothes basket on him (what would I have done then!) When I realized I could not catch him, I bought a mouse trap and the next morning he was dead.  I took him captive.  Another way to phrase that is "I spear every thought."  It is a full-fledge attack all the time.  Never let your guard down.  Do not put it off.  How?  He puts it this way in Romans 12:2: instead of conforming to the ways of the world, be transformed by the renewing of your mind.   In Philippians 4:7 he tells us to let the peace of God guard our hearts and minds.  Ephesians 4:32 tells us to renew the spirit of our minds.   That is a daily battle that is worth the fight.  Spear out every single one today!  Honor God with your thoughts! Do it all day long!  It is worth the fight!!

Inside Out

I have hit a new milestone.  Not one of those great ones.  One of those not so great ones.  My eyes are going.  Now I have been nearsighted for some time.  Diagnosed in the 9th grade when my Spanish teacher, Senora Mean-E, said, "Donato (my temporary Spanish name when I had that dual identity in high school) , if you cannot see that, you need to go see an eye doctor."  If that wasn't bad enough, she continued to probe.  "You go home and tell your parents to line you up an appointment."   The next day- "Did that get you an appt.?"  If front of the WHOLE class, because I was sitting in the very back. I look at the senorita beside me and said, "Por que su problema?" or something like that.  I never quite got the Spanish words that were not the same as the English words but just had that extra o at the end. (or 'a' for you Spanish aces).  Well, I went to the eye doctor and apparently, based on the pictures, asked them for the biggest Sally Jesse Raphael glasses they make.  My cheeks could even see better.   However, now it is spreading.  I am beginning to have trouble reading.   First it was the fine print on the car ads.  Even with blurred newspaper print on the bottom edge of the page, I prided myself on being able to read all the raunchy, lying details  behind the zero down, zero a month ads on Cadillacs.   Then I had to enlarge the font size on my sermons.  Last week I had trouble reading my Bible in the pulpit.  I went to Sam's last month and stuck my head up to those reading eyeglass test lens and all of them was too strong for my little step down into middle age.  I asked my eye doctor what that meant.  I said, "Hey, my eyes are going but  those glasses at Sam's are too strong.... All of them."  He said, "just hang on,  they won't be too strong pretty soon."  I guess it is time to go see him. 
When I preached in revival close to my previous church last week, one of my former members came and said, "I see that gray you're getting."  I said, "I see how ugly you're getting." No, I'm kidding. I said, "See what ya'll done to me." Just another sign.    I thought about all that when I read Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:16-So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  Now those of you who are old enough to be falling apart are laughing at my little, new findings of the depraved body, but what do we do?  We renew our inner self daily.    We spend time in the Word, in prayer, and walking and talking with Jesus.  Ain't it cool to see someone old and worn out that still has a zest for the Lord.  Let it be our goal!  Let's work toward it today!

What's That Smell?

What do you smell like?  No, don't take offense.  Unless, of course, you smell offensive.  If so, take action.   Our smell says a lot about us.   That is why I am highly offended.  Between the fragrant candles, the plug ins, and the gift of cologne every opportunity, I am convinced that my family is trying to cover up any scent of who I am.  I have often said that they don't want a trace of me around.  Oh well!
I'll tell you what is more important: our spiritual fragrance.  What do you smell like?  In your walk with Christ and your witness for Christ,  does it stink or is it sweet?  How you live it out, respond to others, share your faith or share your hope in Christ:  does it stink or is it sweet?  How about your prayer life? Prayer is often compared to a sweet fragrance.  In the Old Testament, they would burn incense to 'please the nostrils of God' so that He would hear their prayers.  In the New Testament (several times in Revelation) our prayers are considered a fragrant and wonderful smell.   So how do you smell?  Paul speaks of some difficult matters in 2 Corinthians (www.lifejournal.cc) that he had to deal with when ministering to them.  Even in those difficult times though, he said-For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing- 2 Cor. 2:15.  We have a responsibility to many, really all, to smell sweet in our presentation and lifestyle to urge Christians to strive on and the perishing to come to life in Christ.  Smell sweet today!

The Bottom Line

I guess in some ways I am just a bottom line dude.  When buying a car, for instance, I just want to get to the bottom line.  There is a process in which most dealers want to send you through, in order to sell you the way they want you sold.  It is better when they don't try that with me.  First they want to approach you on the lot and let you settle on one car.  If you say, "I just want to drive one of your new trucks."  That is not quite good enough.  Which one do you want?  Let's settle on that one.  Then they want to take you for a test drive. Insurance 'requires' that they drive it off the lot and continue to drive it to a halfway point.  Then when you get out, you take a walkaround the car and the salesman points out different features on the car.  When you get back, they write up all your personal info and then go to get a price.  This will include any trade-in evaluation which can get lengthy.  However, even if it don't get lengthy, plan on it being lengthy.  I sold cars for a Ford dealership one summer and found out that people fill more obligated if they take a lot of time during the sales process.  Based upon that, they will leave you in that cubicle for too long, hoping to further obligate you.  If you want to shake up the joint, get up out of that little box and walk around.  It makes them nervous.    Usually, they take the trade-in info and the possible car sale info to the big desk in the middle and they have a 'grown up' conversation that you cannot be a part of.   That is unless what they come up with is not what you like, then I go straight to the booth.  If not, you can negotiate for hours, further obligating you psychologically.   Now that may not be the way they train people now, but that is the way they did twenty years ago. 
Smoothest sale I have ever been a part of it:  I was driving at the time a Ford Explorer that I had bought slightly used from a dealer.  The sales manager, a good friend, had previously owned the Explorer.  We needed a van and when I saw what I liked, I called him and said, "What would be the difference on the swap?"   The van sat on a different dealership lot but was owned by the same people.  He made one call and called me back.  I told him the mileage on the Explorer and he knew what kind of shape to expect it in.  He gave me the price of the difference on the phone.  I went and picked him up and we went and got the van.  After I drove it all weekend, we decided to get it, and i felt like I won but he probably knew that he did.  It was a smooth sale and we were both winners.  I like the bottom line.
This morning Paul talked a lot in I Corinthians 15 (www.lifejournal.cc) about what resurrection really means.  He then cuts to the chase and tells you what the bottom line difference is in your life due to resurrection:  I Cor. 15:58- Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.  Because we have strong hope in the resurrected Lord and power from on high in our salvation, we need to stand strong in the Lord and be diligent in our work for Him until He comes.  That is the bottom line!

A Healthy Body

The burden of the apostle Paul in the last part of 1 Corinthians is order in the church.  Enough of the upheavels, worship ought to be in order and honor God.  I love one statement of it in particular:  I Cor. 14:26- Let all things be done for building up.  Anything that tears at the body is not good in the church.  The church needs to be green and growing.  I am of the opinion that the church is like a body.  Keep it healthy and it will continue to flourish.  How do you keep it healthy?  Keep it busy.  As exercise is good for the body, so mission work is good for the church. Busy church members are normally not complaining church members.  The empty wagon rattles the loudest.  Another way to stay healthy is to keep the toxins out.  Personal sins are toxins to the church body.  Groaning and moaning are toxins to the church body.  Gossip and slander are toxins to the church body.  Negativity and stubbornness are toxins to the church body.  What we do, we do for God and it ought to be helpful and not hurtful.  Let all things be done for building up.   Let us always work hard to make sure that is one of our mandates that we abide by.  I look forward to seeing you in worship today.

Team Ball

If you know me, you know I love football.  I followed it, played it, now I follow it and support it.  One of the most challenging jobs I have but I love is to give a Friday afternoon talk to a high school football team.   I like being on the sidelines down there among 'em too where you can hear the popping and feel the action.  I get excited.   One time years ago I got excited but I don't remember what it was about.  It was probably a bad call.(Houston folks know I like to tell the refs- "they been doing it all night" when they throw a flag on the opponent.)  That night I was on the sidelines expressing my clean, Godly thoughts about the need for proper justice to reign over the football field, especially for our team.  The head ref looked at the head coach, who was my chairman of deacons, and said, "Calm your coach down, coach." The head coach replied, "He's not my coach, he's my preacher."  The ref started laughing.  I enjoy football.
I also enjoy seeing it played well, because it takes all the parts doing their jobs.  The little fast guys have got to Gooooooooooo!  The strong mean guys have got to hit!  The big uglies have to block or penetrate the line.  It all works together. When it does, victory normally comes and it is a beautiful thing...if you love football.
I also love the church of Jesus Christ and love to be a part of it.  It works like a football team.  We all have different gifts and abilities and we all need to strive with all we are to do our very best at all of them.  When we do victory will come, God will be honored, and it will be a beautiful thing! The apostle Paul put it is way in (www.lifejournal.cc) I Cor. 12:24-26 -But God has so composed the body, ... ²⁵that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. ²⁶If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.   Together it is a beautiful thing!

Loving the Loved

Well, tonight the plan is to close out a great week with a lot of talk of heaven.  I have been preaching in a revival through the book of Revelation at my home church this week, Bethel Baptist of Greenville, SC.  What a blessed opportunity it has been!  I have been preaching on 3-4 chapters a night and preaching on average for an hour a time.  Both unheard of for me!  I went into each one ready to stop whenever I felt like I needed to.  I know that there is no need to talk when they stop listening and that you cannot absorb more than your seat can take.  However, they have charged me on and asked me to keep going.  They have been faithful to come and faithful to encourage me on.  It has been fun!  Six years ago I did an intense study of eschatalogy and Revelation and spent the next year writing and preaching about it.  I have done neither since, so this has made for an interesting refresher course for me this week as well.    Besides that, I have been able to spend wonderful time with my parents.  It has been a blessing.  I will preach tonight on heaven.  I have been telling them this week that we  are rushing through to get to heaven.  However, if we actually go to heaven before Thursday, I won't be hanging around to preach on it.  I'll be enjoying it!
I leave out early in the morning because I have duties back in Mississippi.  My girls have had a busy, wonderful week as well.  Millie was in her first pageant and Abby placed in hers. They were both excited and we are for them.  It is the first time I have missed such an event.  I don't care to miss another (although I booked this before we knew the date of that).   I probably won't write in the morning.  I plan to leave in the night to drive through Atlanta before the morning rush.  
God led me to an interesting passage this morning (www.lifejournal.cc).  I Cor. 7:17-Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him.  He is talking about faithfulness in marriage and faithfulness in the Lord when not married.  He gives instructions about various matters concerning such, but in the midst of that he mentions the 'assignment' of the Lord.  Mine is different than yours.  Yours is different than mine.  It is easy for folks to make offhand remarks about how well someone may or may not be dealing with their situation. It is easier to focus on others' worries, than to focus on our own.   Let's quite being so google-eyed with others' lives.  Let's quite being so gossipy about others' situations. If you are married with a family, you have enough to sort out under the Lord without digging through everyone else's closet.  Stay busy about the assignment God has called you to and work diligently to please the Lord in how you handle what He has blessed you with. 
Love your loved ones in the Lord and do it Today!

Protecting the House

I have never visited the White House.  I have always wanted to because it represents so much for our country.  Plus, I have seen Graceland, so what is left after the White House and then heaven.   The White House is not easy to get into.  I tried one time to get my senator to get me in.  I did not have enough clout.  I plan to visit Washington, D.C. in coming years and hope to get my family in then.  However, I still have no clout.  Visiting the White House has always been a big deal to America.  Andrew Jackson opened it up to the public for an inauguration party and 20,000 showed up.  The White House is big but not that big.   They ended up getting the people to come outside by putting washtubs of  a cocktail made from whiskey and orange juice on the lawn of the White House.  Isn't that nice?  Only in America. 
It is not that accessible anymore.  It is not easy to get in and when you do, you cannot take your camera, your bag, or use your phone.   There are too many goofy people in this world that want to cause harm.  After the Oklahoma City bombing, they closed the road in front of it to keep potentially harmful vehicles away from it.  They have since closed a sidestreet as well.  Why?  Because you need to protect the White House.  The President lives there.  Our country's executive business is there.  You cannot be reckless about such important matters.  

I'll tell you another house that you need to protect and be careful about.  It houses very important activities and persons.  It is you.  If you are a born again believer and have surrendered your life to the Lord, the Holy Spirit abides in you.  God Himself is living and breathing in you.  No kidding.  You have the power of God working in you.  You are a Temple...a holy residence...a place of reverence...a place to guard...a place to protect.  Paul puts it this way in I Cor. 6:19-20- Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰ for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
What you do with your body is somebody else's business.  It is God's business. Honor Him with all that you are.  Live like He abides in you, because He does.  Celebrate that today!

Get Off Your High Horse

Well, I am still in  Greenville, SC leading a revival at my home church with the duty of preaching through the book of Revelation.  What took me six months worth of Sunday nights a few years ago, I am attempting in 6 services and one Sunday School session.  I am clicking along.  I am through Rev. 10 right now.  With a few broader strokes coming up tomorrow night, we'll get to heaven Thursday.  It is fun but exhausting.  I am compiling the information that I would put into 3 or 4 sermons into one sermon each night.  I am preaching long and not getting very far off the point.  It is challenging, fun, and fulfilling.  Ya'll pray hard for me to summarize well.  We were blessed last night when one came to get saved, join the church, and be baptized.  God is mighty good to us.
I have heard all my life that people needed to get off their 'high horse' and be more humble. The origin of 'high horse' goes back hundreds of years when those of wealth or stature had horses that were taller than most folk.  They were a 'little better'.  If you don't believe it, just ask them. They would clarify it. Well, if you ever get on a 'high horse' about how much you do for God or how good you are at, read I Corinthians 1:27- 31 -²⁷But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. ³⁰And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, ³¹so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."   (www.lifejournal.cc) God chose to use you not because He needed you, but because He loves you.  God chose you not because you are so smart but because you must rely upon Him to make a true difference.  God does great things through us, not because we are great, but because He wants to use us to fulfill His Purpose. 
Don't get on your high horse today,  just serve the Lord faithfully and humbly....and you shall be blessed.  Have a great day!

Choices

Daily we have choices.  Some days we make the right choices and some days we don't.  Never call it anything but choices.  Oh, you can call it temptations, or the snares of the evil one, but never forget, it is choices that you make.  You make choices about what you will say, what you will think, what you will do.  We live in an influential world that will try to lead you away.  We live in an atmosphere of war that we seldom ever realize.  Satan does not want you to succeed.  He will lie, cheat and steal to keep you from doing the right thing, making the right choices.  He will use others, he'll play on a depraved mind, and he'll change the atmosphere around you.  You are being watched.  It is a Satanic conspiracy. He wants you to fail.....However, he is not in control.  The Spirit of God is in control and if you are a believer, you have the power of God in you to succeed.  You just have to make the choice.  (www.lifejournal.cc) Galatians 5:16- But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  You have a choice.  In Christ, you are died to the power of sin.  v.24-And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  It is a daily walk.  It may be a daily battle.  However, it is worth the effort.  Make the right choices today.  Choose to live for Him.

Free In Christ

I got up early yesterday morning and drove to SC to preach a revival on the book of Revelation at my home church.  Bethel is where I stomped around as a kid and fell in love with the church.  It is a special place and this is a special time.  As I came across the SC line, I showed signs that I am getting old.  I started enjoying the foliage.  Last time I enjoyed the foliage I was watching an HDTV and I was enamored with the clarity of the picture, not the trees.  However, yesterday as I crossed over Lake Hartwell and entered 'lake and mountain country', I realized God allowed me to come on about the best possible week of the year to enjoy the fall colors.  After a good night's rest, I am excited about the challenge of this revival.  I am going to try to cover the book of Revelation in a week.  Ya'll pray please.
What a wonderful reminder we read this morning! www.lifejournal.cc  We are free in Christ. Whereas the law was our guardian to lead us to Christ, now that we have Christ, we are free.  Notice how Paul puts it: So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, ²⁶for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. - Gal. 3:24-26.  So if we are free from the law, why do the right thing?  The answer is simple:  Because we love Him. What we do for Christ is not out of obligation (He has filled our obligation), not guilt (He has removed our guilt),  not payback (Only He could be our ransom), and not payoff (God cannot be bribed).  What we do we do out of love for Him.  So love Him today and shine for Him!  You shall be blessed. 

A Heavy Burden for the Unborn!!!

We have the opportunity on Saturday to read one of the greatest passages.  Galatians 2:20- I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  It is a wonderful reminder of what it means to truly live for the Lord.  I send this a day early because I will be on the road early Saturday. 
It is my hope that all we do, we will do to please the Lord.  I pray that we will please the Lord at the ballot box on Tuesday.  Mississippi has the opportunity to make a tremendous difference in our nation and to send a powerful message for life, but I am afraid the enemy is working hard to steal us away from the opportunity.  He is doing it in the normal way- the way he does things:  lies, deceit, and fear. I always thought that pro-abortion folks would vote against Initiative 26.  I knew that some who proclaimed to be Christians would misunderstand or not see the light on the matter.  However, I have learned this week how so many have been deceived.  I am leaving on Saturday to go to SC to preach a revival.  I will not be in my pulpit Sunday or I would spend a great amount of time on this issue.  I want to sound the alarm as loud as I can through this opportunity.
I voted absentee on Thursday and I voted 'Yes' to the Personhood Amendment.  Please remember that all we are voting on is where life begins.  Do you believe that life begins at conception?  Do you believe that when the egg is fertilized, life begins?  I hope so.  Jeremiah 1:5 makes it clear that God's intentions for our lives are even before that point: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.  Surely we believe that by the time, we are conceived, it is time to protect the unborn.  All this initiative does is define life that way.  Our laws already act on such a thought but this is an effort for clarity.  If a pregnant woman is shot and killed in Mississippi, the murderer is charged with a double homicide, because two lives were taken.  The murderer made a choice and he took an unborn life, whether he knew it or not.  However, if that mother decides not to keep that child, she can knowingly terminate its life.  The longer she waits, the worse it is.  Some fight for her to have such a right.  What about the rights of that unborn child?  Who speaks for him or her?  I believe it is our responsibility. 
Don't get caught up in the deception.  This has nothing to do with ectopic or tubular pregnancies.  On Friday morning in the Daily Journal, Dr. Eric Webb, an OB/GYN, tried to clarify: "Women are not doomed to die of life-threatening pregnancy....the mother is entitled to self-defense, where the fetus' right to life does not supersede the mother's right to life...the principle of "double effect" defends the physician whose intent is to save the mother rather than harm the child...the amendment does not obstruct the doctor from saving a mother even if the child cannot be saved."  The lies simply are not true.  Others have tried to say that it will make birth control illegal.  Only those that do not understand how birth control works, can fall for such a lie.  Birth control tries to keep from fertilization, not end fertilization once it has started.  That is unless you consider a "morning after pill" to be birth control.   The effort in a "morning after pill" is to clean out any possibilities of fertilization.  It is somewhat like a drive by shooting to the unborn.  It may or may not take lives.  In my opinion drive-by shooters ought to be charged regardless, so should someone who attempts to take another life by digesting drugs.    It does not do away with in vitro fertilization.  It may require one to do it with more due diligence.  That is not a bad thing.   Someone even told me that it may promote cloning.  Just the opposite.  The only reason cloning is mentioned is to prevent life from being ended however it is fertilized.  The needless terminating of artificially inseminated lives needs to stop.  It is a for-profit industry and lives are taken for a profit. I gave the wording of the intiative sometime ago but I want to do it again.  The question you will be asked is as follows:  "Should the term 'person' be defined to include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof?"  That is it!  Is a fetus a life or not?  There really is no question about it.  Don't be fooled by the evil one.  He has been using Planned Parenthood and the ACLU for years to poison lives from living for the cause of Christ concerning such matters.  They have now pumped more national money into the state of Mississippi than you would ever believe.  They will bombard you in these next days to win their cause by deceit. Why?  To defeat the opportunity of the unborn.  Don't be fooled by the evil one.  Vote  'Yes.'

The Greatest Intercessor

I'm pondering this morning on our greatest intercessor.  I grew up in a church with an intercessory ministry.  There was a special room for a special purpose.  I did not live far from the church and had a good relationship with the ministers through the years.  I would ride my bike up and hang out at the church quite a bit. I would walk through the empty halls and check out  stuff like snoopy kids do.  Never a vandal just a snoop.   However, I was always careful to be quiet when I went by the prayer room.  When I pastored my first church, I worked on promoting a prayer room.  I cannot remember if it was already established and if helped make the special room one just for prayer.  At my next church, there was a thriving prayer ministry going on and I just jumped on board and tried to do my part to keep it strong. Almost five years ago, when I came to Houston, prayer ministry was strong but we needed a place and a promotion of a set time and a set place for prayer ministry.  We established the prayer ministry and in less than four years we have sent over 4000 prayergram letters.  However, with all this, we are just learning from the best, our intercessor, our Lord.
When Christ finished His Job on the cross and walked out of the grave, He ascended and took His place at the right hand of  the Father to make intercession for me and you.  Mark 16:19-So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.- Christ prays for us.  It is the only perfect prayer- He always knows what to ask for.  It is the only perfect warrior- there is no barrier, lack of attention, idle mind, or wandering thoughts.  He is focused.  He is on.  He is dedicated to lift me and you up to the Father. 
You are prayed for by the greatest intercessor.  May we live today to boldly proclaim Him.

Golden Trials

Have been going through any trials lately?  Job sure is as we read about his life (www.lifejournal.cc).  His life as he knows it is flashing before him and he is dealing with it.   The solution has not come yet.  We know, if you have read the story before, that it ends good.  However, he is the midst of the journey as we read.  In the midst of it he says in Job 23:10- But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
When I was in college, I would travel to churches with teams and do weekend youth events.  I would preach one service, testify in another, and sing in another.  I often would sing a song that talked about the trying of the Lord and the shining as gold afterwards.  The song escapes me right now.  However, as I read that, I thought about how difficult it was to live for the Lord, to be a shining example for him as a young, single, Christian adult.  I can look back and be thankful for my efforts.  A determination and the providential Hand of God led me through those trials.  He still leads me through trials.  I learned he would when I was a teenager.  He has taught me so much more since.  I don't like the trials.  I never have.  I bet I never will.  However, I am reassured that he knows the way that I take.
I don't walk it alone.  Nor do you.
I haven't come forth as gold yet....nor have you.  However, He is not done with us either.  Let's trust Him and live Him until we truly Shine!!

Little Angels

I have seen and heard a lot of preachers in my days.  I attend conferences and listen to podcasts (and before that tapes) and I have heard a lot.  I am found out a few things: 1) Those guys that preach the great sermons at conferences, sound a lot more normal if you listen to them week after week.  2) I have found myself to be a preacher watcher as much as a preacher listener. 
Last night I heard David Nasser, a hit preacher that has wrote a few books and preached a lot of youth and college events and done quite well for himself.  He started a church in Birmingham a little over a year ago and he talked about how hard it was.  The strains in many areas of his life.  I found myself watching him (interact and respond) as much as I listened. 
One of my heroes when I was a preacher boy was Adrian Rogers.  He always had the last spot on the last night of the conference and he always hit a homerun.  The controversies of the Southern Baptist Convention of the 1970-80's were about over by the time I started listening.  I just enjoyed good preaching. However, I also watched and I always wanted to speak to whomever I enjoyed.  One night as a college student I rode to Charlotte with some friends to hear Adrian preach at a conference.  I caught him in a sidehall as he tried to leave.  I told him how influential he was to me.  He stopped (although in a hurry) and wrapped his arms around me and prayed for me.  I have never forgotten it.  He took the time.  Not a big thing, maybe, but it was to me.  Never ignore the children. At least that is what Jesus said.   Mark 10:14-16- ¹⁴But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. ¹⁵ Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." ¹⁶And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.
I had a little boy walk up to me the other day at the middle school.  I had just given about a 3-minute devotional thought to the football team.  No big conferences, no big sermon, no big deal.  A little 7 year old (or close) walks up and says- I always like your Bible talks.  Then he ran off and started playing again.  I yelled, 'Thank you' as he went. 
May God be pleased when He brings the angels for us to entertain.  Be watchful and alert today!