Apr 5, 2024 – PART 3 – “People like us make up a church like ours.”
An old blacksmith thought he was as perfect a blacksmith as there was. One day he picked out a strong young man to become his apprentice. The old blacksmith was crabby and demanding. After all, he thought he was perfect! He told the boy, “Don’t ask me a lot of questions. Just do whatever I tell you, because I will always be right in what I tell you.”
One day the old blacksmith took a piece of iron out of the forge and laid it on the anvil. The blacksmith told the apprentice, “Get the hammer. When I nod my head, hit it real good and hard.”
Sure enough, the apprentice followed the instructions. The blacksmith nodded his head. The apprentice hit IT real good and hard, and now the town is looking for a new blacksmith.
Oh, that we could see ourselves as others see us! We assume so much…yea, too much and we miss what others see.
KEY: Never forget that imperfect people like us make up an imperfect church like ours. Who we are and what we do sets the tone for the church. It is unlikely the church will rise any higher than what we allow it to rise nor sink any lower than we allow it to sink, because it is people like us that have established the status quo. It is much easier to stay with the status quo than become better than the status quo.
A sign in China says, “Choose your rut carefully. You will be in it for the next thirty miles.” That’s the status quo!
So the new member joins the church and walks into the status quo. If you’re like most churches, nothing much has changed in the last ten or twenty years except the average age has gotten older and the church has more likely turned inward to address its membership needs. It’s gone into a “maintenance mode” rather than a “growth mode.” Outreach has been replaced by stay put. So the status quo is likely geared to make the new member like the stale status quo.
What chance does the new member have to grow in your status quo? Will the new member even be accepted, especially if he yearns for something more? Does the status quo have an assimilation process to identify the new member’s strengths and how best to use this individual? How will the status quo react to a new idea? Does the status quo have a vision worth sharing with the new member? Does the status quo represent a generation that is dying out and has little appeal? Most important, is the status quo doing the work that God wants done?
Lesson #3: Don’t assume the status quo truly wants new members. After all, it’s the status quo. Perhaps it would be good to evaluate what God expects the church to do with your new members.
Apr 4, 2024 – PART 2 – Do we understand what God does when He sends a new member our way? We began this study yesterday in recognizing that a new member is actually an investment by God in our church. It is as if our church is a bank and God is depositing a sum of money into our bank’s care. Naturally, God expects a return on that investment. We must ask, “What are we doing with God’s investment of a new member in our church? Are we intentionally growing that new member? Are we producing disciples that can represent God in this decaying world?”
Lesson #2: New members are imperfect just like the overall church is imperfect.
We can think of church life in the same way as married life. One husband said, “A married man should forget his mistakes. There’s no use in two people remembering the same thing.” Ah, no perfect marriages! Likewise, there are no perfect churches or perfect new members either. Churches make mistakes, new members make mistakes, and everyone must be able to accept that and continue on.
The church needs to be careful in expecting too much from any new member. Sometimes we expect more from a new member than we expect from ourselves!
What kind of people made up the church at Corinth? Imperfect! This church had morality problems, but it was still God’s church. It was divided into at least four camps, but it was still God’s church. It did not even know how to observe the Lord’s Supper, but it was still God’s church. “Just as I am, without one plea, and that Thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come.”
Likewise, new members need to be careful in expecting too much from any new church. A man left a good church to join our church. His home church had gotten on a roll during the preceding year, added many new members and he had joined the church at that time. Now it was our turn to be on a roll, and we were the exciting place to be. He said, “The Spirit is better in this church than in my church. When we joined the other church everything seemed great, the Spirit was really high, but now it’s not as good as being here with you folks.”
I told him, “The same thing will eventually happen here. We will go through a lull, too. One year we will be more spiritual than your church; the next year your church will be more spiritual than us. We’re a church and that’s just the way churches are. Will you stay with us when that happens?”
He said, “Yes,” but he didn’t. He gradually drifted away then moved to another church which was on a roll, drifted with the tide, always looking for something he could never find in himself either.
Guess what? I currently serve as an IMPERFECT interim pastor for an imperfect church. We don’t have a perfect minister of music, perfect praise team, perfect secretary, perfect deacons, perfect teachers, perfect heating system, perfect sound system nor a perfect budget either. But we do have people who love one another and want to lift up the name of Jesus!
Let us remember, “People like us make up a church like us…”
(This subject is fully developed in my book God’s Greenhouse: How to Grow People God’s Way…available at Amazon, Apple, etc.)
Apr 2-3, 2024 – What does God see in a new church member? More than we often think!
A little old lady went shopping. She saw a dress in a store window that she liked. She found the dress in her size then took it to the sales counter and said, “I want to buy this dress. It’s the last dress in my size. I don’t have an account with your store. Would you please take a personal check?”
The sales clerk answered, “Yes, we’ll take a personal check provided you can identify yourself.”
The little old lady reached inside her purse, pulled out a little pocket mirror, studied herself in the mirror for a long time then she smiled and said, “Yes, it’s me, all right! I can identify that I am really me.”
Let’s open a mirror today and look not at ourselves but at the new members that God has sent into our churches in the past couple of years. We know them by name, by some characteristic. But what does God see? What is God doing with these new members? Why did they come our way? What are we to do with them? Let’s explore this topic for the next few editions of Today’s Verse.
We begin with an understanding of how that member came to be part of us. God sent us more than numbers, more than names. He sent us people to grow into complete disciples of Jesus Christ. Those people possess a variety of skills and are at different levels of development. For example, one of our lists included choir members, teachers, givers, encouragers, administrators, discerners, soulwinners, prayer warriors, people to teach us the way of faith, worshippers, a preacher, helpers to fill in all of the cracks, pianists, program organizers, a Boy Scout leader, and on and on the list went.
These are the people that God sent our way! Wonder why He does so?
It has always been this writer’s belief that God places people where He gets the best return on His investment (Matthew 28:18-20, Ephesians 4:11-12). As a general rule, God does not waste assets. He’s an investor who has invested spiritual gifts in His people in order to then invest those people in churches where they can make the biggest difference. If a church is not focused on developing people, it is unlikely that church will be blessed with new members that will make much of a difference. After all, why place anyone in a school where they will not be taught or discipled? We see this pattern duplicated in church after church after church.
One of my early pastorates did so much right in discipling people into becoming better Christians, the average age in the membership declined by more than fifteen years, the church went from an old church to having an average age that was younger than the average age in the community. But eventually the people decided it was too hard to keep operating at that level and the effort waned. This writer moved on. Pastors came and went. The church closed its doors a few years ago. God had stopped investing people in the church.
Is your church struggling? Most churches are. We want to grow…but we need to go back to Lesson One. It is God who invests the new blood in the church. Does He want to invest people in your church? Are you growing disciples that can change their world for Christ? It seems to this writer this is where we must begin…we must earn God’s trust!
Apr 1, 2024 – How should a Christian think about Bible passages that seem impossible? In ages past a young man went to a well-known philosopher and said, “I want to know all there is to know.”
The philosopher took him to the shore and instructed him to peer closely upon the ocean. He said, “Tell me about the ocean.”
The young man proceeded to tell him all that he SAW. The philosopher grunted and said, “Tell me about the ocean.”
The young man answered, “I just did. I told you about everything I see.”
The philosopher said, “Tell me, though, about the ocean you do not see.”
The young man struggled for a moment then confessed, “The ocean is too big for me to see all of it.” And it is. The would-be philosopher soon grasped not the ocean but the reality that the ocean was more than he could see, comprehend or grasp. It stretched before him to the curvature of the earth. It stretched on either side of him farther than he could see. And if he walked either right or left for a full day or a full month or a full year, he would see even more ocean and still have more to discover.
“Tell me, though, about the ocean you do not see.” Mortal man can only see what is before him but even much that can be seen cannot be truly seen or comprehended. The mighty ocean is just a tiny “microcosm” in this vast universe. If we struggle in comprehending the vastness and mysteries of the ocean, how can we ever comprehend the universe or the even greater Creator of the universe? We need help! Thank God, He has provided the help! That help is provided in the Bible. We believe the Bible record in full! Even the parts we do not understand (and who can understand Today’s Verse?).
It has been stated by many that the Bible does not begin with a defense of God’s existence, but rather, it simply states, “Here He is and here is what He does. Look at Him!” Indeed, nature proclaims His existence and revelation assumes His existence. But at no time does God offer proof of His existence nor does He feel the need to do so. His Word simply declares, “Without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). “Must believe that He exists” marks the beginning stage of knowing Him.
John R. Rice says, “We would be wise to take the counsel of a dear saint of God to, ‘believe your beliefs and doubt your doubts.’ What we do know makes us certain. What we do not know we take by faith.”
Ah, friend, let us resist the temptation to put a question mark where God places a period!
Mar 30-31, 2024 – Imagine this answer appearing on the tv show Jeopardy! “Most important day of celebration in Christianity.” What would be the responding question? How about, “What is Easter?”
The world celebrates Christmas and does so mostly because of the gifts. However, the Christian faith centers on the resurrection of Jesus Christ who freely and graciously offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. On the cross Jesus traded places with the sinner. He absorbed the sinner’s sin and resulting judgment; at the same time, He gave His own righteousness to the believing sinner so the sinner “could be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). I LOSE MY SIN AND I GAIN HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS! What a trade!
How do we know that God the Father accepted His Son’s sacrifice? Because the Father resurrected His Son on Easter! Suppose Jesus’ sacrifice failed to satisfy God’s righteous demands; if that was so, Jesus would never leave the tomb. But He did leave the tomb…walked out in a glorified body…and that means salvation from God’s wrath is available to you and me both. A dead Savior can save no one but a LIVING Savior can save from the guttermost to the uttermost! A living Savior can fulfill each and every promise in the Word of God! A living Savior can come again and receive us to Himself! A living Savior can hear our prayers! A living Savior can “walk with me and talk with me and tell me I am His own!”
How can a person be saved or delivered from the wrath to come? The Bible says it is by placing our faith in the Jesus who died, was buried, and rose again—by trusting Him (not anything we do nor anyone else) as our Lord and Savior. After all, He truly is Lord! He truly is the one and only Savior!
Have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? If not, here is the good news and it is awesome news: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved!” It worked for me and it will work for you, too!
P.S. Our own resurrection is covered in great detail (four chapters) in my book Sanctification: How God Creates Saints out of Sinners. Available from Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Barnes and Noble.
GOOD FRIDAY – How can a man (sinful by nature) come to God (holy by nature?
Let’s compare Christ’s sacrifice with that of the high priest on the Day of Atonement. Christ does not need “to sacrifice himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly…But he has appeared once for all…to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself…So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:26-28).
Two words must be emphasized: “repeatedly” and “once.” On the annual Day of Atonement, the high priest had to first offer a sacrifice for his own sin (Leviticus 16:6, Hebrews 9:7). Only then, as a cleansed priest with pure hands, could he offer a sacrifice for the sins of the nation. The high priest repeated this entire process annually, because “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4).
But Jesus’ sacrifice differs from the high priest’s sacrifice in three important aspects. First, Jesus was not a sinner in need of cleansing. Thus, He presented no sacrifice for Himself.
Second, Jesus offered His own blood—the symbol of His righteous life—instead of the blood of bulls and goats. The repeated Old Testament actions of the high priest demonstrated the importance of a greater sacrifice to permanently remove the sins of the people. That permanent sacrifice was provided by the Son of God. No more sacrifice is needed!
Third, Christ, at His next appearance, will “not deal with sin.” His sacrifice on the cross was of such sufficient quality that no repetition is necessary, nor can anything be added. It was a once-and-for-all-time final sacrifice. In sum total, it is what it is, and it is enough for our salvation. Each individual must accept His one sacrifice for all time or discard it. But once is indeed enough.
Spurgeon explains, “This ransom was all paid, and all paid at once. The sacrifice of Calvary was not a part payment. The whole of the demands of the law were paid down there and then. So priceless was the ransom one might have thought that Christ should pay it by installments. Kings’ ransoms have sometimes run through years. But our Saviour once for all gave Himself a sacrifice, leaving nothing for Him or us to do.
Spurgeon adds, “When Christ paid all this ransom He did it all Himself! Simon, the Cyrenian, might bear the cross, but not be nailed to it. Two thieves were with Him there; not righteous men, lest any should have said that their death helped the Saviour. He trod the wine press alone.”
Thus, we sing, “I saw One hanging on a tree, In agony and blood; He fixed His loving eyes on me, As near His cross I stood. O, can it be, upon a tree The Savior died for me? My soul is thrilled, my heart is filled, To think He died for me!”
Thank God, He died for [on behalf of] me.
Mar 28, 2024 – There is a saying often heard that is not true at all.
‘Tis this, “There’re many ways to Heaven and God approves them all.”
For those who talk in such a way, I take my pen in hand,
And hope the picture that I paint will help them understand.
I seem to see an angel stand beside a golden gate,
Beyond the gate is Paradise, where heavenly glories wait.
Stretched through the heavens waits a throng who fain would enter there.
The Angel sentry they must pass—He questions each with care.
“You know the passwords?” he inquires of one with stately mein.
“I’m Presbyterian,” he says, “My people all have been.”
The angel bends on the stately soul, a searching look, yet kind;
Then turns the leaves of his golden book but the word he cannot find.
“I’m sorry,” he says, “but it is not here. Friend, kindly step aside.
As soon as you think of the proper words, the gate will open wide.”
A friendly look the next soul has; he eagerly draws near.
“With Methodists I met,” he says, “I’m sure that you know us here.”
The angel loveth the friendly soul; by his face as we can plainly see;
Yet he stops for a look at his golden book:
“The name is not here,” saith he.
“Stand here by the Presbyterians,” he saith with a pitying smile,
“You’ll surely remember the proper words when you have thought a while.”
And now a soul approacheth him, in the Baptist faith well versed,
Who tells the angel in detail of how he was immersed.
The angel hears the story through, with interest to the end;
But this his simple verdict is, “This will not save, my friend.”
A follower of Luther next comes up before the gate,
And in the great reformer’s name doth his credentials state.
“Luther I know,” the angel says, “Heaven holds him very dear
But following him is not the way to gain an entrance here.”
And now a very little child stands where the rest have stood,
Its voice rings out in accents clear, “I trust in Jesus’ blood!”
Lo, at these words the golden gate suddenly swings open wide,
And a Lovely One with nail-pierced hands welcomes the child inside!
If you were summoned today, my friend, to stand at the gate of God,
Would your answer be that of the little child, “I trust in Jesus’ blood”?
C. D. Heard
Mar 27, 2024 – How is it with your will? The defiant boy was told to sit down by the teacher. The standoff continued for nearly three minutes…the boy refusing to sit, the teacher insisting that he sit. Finally, the boy sat down. The teacher thought she had won. But the boy said, “I may be sitting down on the outside, but I’m still standing up on the inside!”
Just wondering: How is it with your own will? Indeed, how willing is your will to do what God wills? In Today’s Verse Jesus is faced with the struggle of bringing His own will into submission to the Father’s will. We often forget that Jesus was human, too, and faced the same internal pressures that we face (Hebrews 2:17-18). Going to the cross was a daunting task. If I had been Him, I would have abandoned the idea and just started over with a new creation…a new Adam or perhaps someone more or less advanced. But He chose to die for me! How can I explain such love as that?
One of the most difficult experiences in the Christian life is submitting our own will to the will of God…saying no to what the flesh wants and saying yes to what God wants. That is not only “doing what is right” but it is also in the will of God that the joy of the Lord will be found…where “I shall give you rest” and the experience of Psalm 23 is found. Until we submit, Psalm 23 cannot be experienced…because we are still seeking to be our own shepherd!
So how is it with your own will? Pastor Paul Badgett provides these helpful thoughts.
• The Bible teaches if we are not saved, we are out of the will of God (2 Peter 3:9).
• The Bible teaches if we are not being sanctified, we are out of the will of God (1 Thessalonians 4:3).
• The Bible teaches if we are not Spirit-filled, we are out of the will of God (Ephesians 5:17-18).
• The Bible teaches if we are not serving, we are out of the will of God (Romans 12:1-2).
• The Bible teaches if we are not submissive, we are out of the will of God (Ephesians 5:21)
• The Bible teaches if we are not willing to suffer as a Christian, we are out of the will of God (1 Peter 4:16).
May you truly experience this Easter with a willing will.
Mar 26, 2024 – A Sunday School teacher was teaching her children about the deity of Jesus Christ—that He was God come to the earth. The teacher asked, “Did Jesus have any sin?”
All the students answered, “No,” except for one little girl who said, “Yes.”
The teacher patiently explained to the little girl that Jesus Christ was holy. The devil tried to make Jesus sin, but Jesus refused to obey the devil and sin. The teacher then asked again, “Did Jesus have any sin?”
Everyone answered, “No” except the little girl insisted on saying, “Yes.”
The teacher asked, “Why do you keep saying Jesus had sin?”
The little girl answered, “It is because He had my sins on the cross of Calvary.”
The little girl knew something that some of us have forgotten! The story of the cross is about the holy becoming our unholiness, righteousness becoming our unrighteousness, innocence becoming guilty, and the Son of God becoming the Sacrifice of God for the sins of the whole world.
“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, everyone, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:5-6).
The old song is so true: “The cross upon which Jesus died Is a shelter in which we can hide And its grace so free is sufficient for me And deep is its fountain as wide as the sea. There’s room at the cross for you. Though millions have come, there’s still room for one, Yes there’s room at the cross for you.”
This writer brought my sin to the cross nearly sixty years ago and God the Father nailed my sin to His Son’s cross. He then went one step further and He gave to me the righteousness of His Son. What a trade! I gave my sin to Him and He gave His righteousness to me! “You ask me why I’m happy, well, I’ll just tell you why! It’s because MY SINS ARE GONE! They‘re underneath the blood on the cross of Calvary.””
Thank God for Good Friday. Thank God for Easter, too! Those two days have made all the difference in the world for me, how about you?
Mar 25, 2024 – Imagine you are the firstborn. Imagine you are six years old. You hear the news broadcast of the death angel coming at midnight to kill the firstborn and the firstborn is you! How would you then feel? Peaceful or troubled?
Would you go to your daddy and ask, “Daddy, am I going to die? Is there anything we can do about it?”
Your daddy would then gather you in his arms and say, “Yes, there is. We need to kill a lamb and put its blood on our front doorpost. When the death angel sees the blood, he will pass over our house and not harm you.”
“Daddy, do we have a lamb?”
“My child, we have many lambs but not just any lamb will do. God expects the best.”
“Daddy, why must it be a lamb?”
“It is because God will someday send someone who is just like a lamb to take away the sin of the world.”
“Daddy, do we have any lambs that are without blemish? No broken legs? No disease of any kind?”
“Yes, child, we do.’
“Daddy, will you be sure it is that kind of lamb because God is very specific?”
“Yes, child, I will.”
“Daddy, why must the lamb die? What evil has the lamb done?”
“Child, it is because the innocent must die for the guilty. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All we like sheep have gone astray and the Lord will lay upon His lamb the iniquity of us all.”
“Daddy, am I worth an innocent lamb?”
“No, but God commends His love toward us in that while we were sinners Christ died for the ungodly…for a world of rebellious sinners.”
“Daddy, that blood will make the house look awful. I know how much you and mommy want the house to look nice. Daddy, will you really do that for me?”
“Yes, child, we will.”
“Daddy, can I watch to mark sure you do it like God says?”
“Yes, child, you can.”
“Christ our Redeemer died on the cross, Died for the sinner, paid all His due, Sprinkle your soul in the blood of the Lamb,
And I will pass, will pass over you.”
The blood…the only thing that can save my soul from the wrath to come. Amen.
Mar 23-24, 2024 – PROPHECY #3 – A man needed money to pay his income taxes. This man decided the best way to raise cash was to rob the safe in a department store. He worked his way inside the store and found the safe. He started to get out his dynamite when he saw that someone had taped a note to the safe. The note said: “Please do not use dynamite. This safe is not locked. Just turn the handle.”
The burglar thought, “That sure is smart. This way the furniture won’t get damaged.”
The burglar turned the handle on the safe. Instantly, a heavy sandbag fell on the burglar, lights began flashing, and alarm bells started ringing.
The police came and arrested the burglar. As the burglar was being carried outside on a stretcher, he complained, “You just can’t trust anyone these days!”
Have you ever felt like that? But let us remember you can always trust Jesus!
What does the Bible say Jesus will do for us who believe? Someday soon He will come again to claim us for Himself. “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
Based on the inspired scriptures, Jesus won’t send a representative—He will come Himself. HE IS COMING FOR HIS BRIDE: for us! He will first resurrect the bodies of dead believers. Someone said, “The dead are raised first, because they have further to go!” Maybe so! The bodies of the living saints will be changed…glorified, also. Then both the resurrected saints and the still living saints (all glorified in perfect bodies) will be “caught up” or “raptured” from planet earth. No rocket propulsion system on our back…just up, up and away like He did in His ascension!
Notice this meeting will not occur on the earth, but in the air, even in the clouds so it is obviously some distance above the earth. Some preachers try to spiritualize the “clouds” as being “clouds of believers,” but that lacks common sense and violates the entire context as well as John 14:3. “If the first sense makes good sense then seek no other sense.”
Where will we go? It makes no sense either to go up just to immediately come back down like some say. Jesus’ words must be taken literally: “I go to prepare a place for you…and it is where I am or live.” We are obviously being transported to His heaven for a period of time. (The absence of the church on earth in Revelation 4-19 speaks louder than words. We’re obviously somewhere else during that time of worldwide suffering.)
The promise is to us, “So shall we ever be with the Lord.” Wherever the Lord is from that point on, we can expect to be there, also.
We may not know all the in’s and out’s of prophecy, but do we really need to know every last detail? This writer thinks not. But what we do know is food to our soul: We who believe will be with Jesus! Can you think of anything better than that? So keep sowing, keep praying, keep walking in the Spirit…for He is coming soon!
Mar 2, 2024 – PROPHECY #2 – Adolf Hitler put a great deal of faith in the occult. (The Indiana Jones movies are partly based upon that obsession.) Hitler often consulted spiritualists and fortunetellers. One time he went to a fortuneteller and asked her, “On what day will I die?”
The fortuneteller told him that it would be a Jewish holiday. Hitler asked her, “How can you be sure?”
She answered, “Because any day you die will be a Jewish holiday!”
The greatest enemy that God’s chosen nation of Israel has ever faced was Adolf Hitler.
But the worst part about the future is that Satan already has someone lined up to replace Hitler! His name is the Antichrist! The Bible prophesies that the Antichrist will deceive Israel into trusting him, but the Antichrist will eventually declare war upon Israel and there will be no place for the Jews to hide.
Jesus told Israel, ““When you see the abomination of desolation (spoken of by the prophet Daniel) STANDING IN THE HOLY PLACE…then those in Judea must flee to the mountains. A man on the housetop must not come down to get things out of his house, and a man in the field must not go back to get his coat. Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days! Pray that your escape may not be in winter or on a Sabbath” (Matthew 24).
Question: Won’t your city, though, be safe? NO! Revelation 13:8 indicates this will be a worldwide persecution because the Antichrist will have worldwide power. His persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jewish people will be unprecedented and relentless.
This writer expects to be delivered from that day by the Rapture or catching away of God’s saints. But imagine what those “left behind” will see. The Jews in your neighborhood will go into hiding! One morning the community hears a police siren. The neighbors look out their windows and see the entire police force raid a house down the street. The neighbors ask the police, “Are there terrorists inside?”
The police answers, “Worse than that! There are Jews inside!”
A Jewish family consisting of a husband, wife and two children are pulled outside, lined up against a wall, arrested, and, in certain localities, executed publicly.
The cry is heard, “Why?”
The answer is, “War has been declared on the Jews and there is no place to hide!”
The old adage is appropriate: “Fore-warned is fore-armed.” These are not times to play around with one’s soul.
Mar 21, 2024 – Are we living in the end times? Are we the last generation to proclaim the Lord’s coming before He comes again?
Matthew 24 describes a time when the world has clearly changed. The Bible picture of a patient and loving God has now been replaced by the picture of an angry God. During our current age the Bible tells us that the goodness of God leads you and me to repentance and faith in Christ. God, in patience, is dealing with the hearts of people.
That is why we sing, “Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, Calling for you and for me. See on the portals He’s waiting and watching, Watching for you and for me. Come home! Ye who are weary come home!”
But there will come a day, perhaps very soon, when things will change in a horrible way. Yes, 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that God is longsuffering toward us and is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. That longsuffering has now lasted for 2,000 years since the death of Jesus, but the next verse tells us, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise.” 2,000 years of patience will be followed by a horrendous judgment upon all who dwell upon the earth.
This will not be the first time that God has done this. The first time was in the days of Noah in Genesis 6. God looked upon the sinfulness of man and said, “My Spirit shall not always strive or struggle with man. I will destroy the earth with a flood!” But, even so, God waited patiently 120 years and kept reaching out to man.
But then things changed! Patience ended! The flood came! Imagine the people trying to hold back the rain, the flood but with no success! Such a thing will also happen in the future, but in even a more terrible way…”great tribulation such as has never been seen before even in Noah’s day and will never be seen again after this particular era of judgment.”
Revelation 6:15-17 tells us, “Then the people of the earth hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?’” God’s wrath is being poured out and the world knows the reason! “HIDE US FROM THE WRATH OF THE LAMB against our sin!”
A man was washing his car. The sun was going down and preparing to kiss the earth good night. The man looked up at the sun. An impulse struck him and he pointed the hose at the sun as if he could extinguish the sun with the hose. Then the foolishness of his action struck him and he laughed! Imagine, he thought, how this would look in the newspaper: “Man tries to douse the sun with a garden hose!”
That’s what it will be like during the time Jesus called “Great Tribulation.” The wicked nations will continue their rebellion, but He who sits in the heavens will not be disturbed in the least! He doesn’t even rise from His throne; He just laughs in scorn and ridicule: “Man tries to douse God’s judgment with a garden hose!”
Yes, the day of His wrath is coming, and who shall be able to stand?
Let us remain faithful in the “here and now” to tell people about that time called “then.”
Mar 20, 2024 – Have you ever forgotten a promise? Perhaps so. One of our pastors told about forgetting a wedding…not once but twice! In those cases, it wasn’t the bride or groom not showing up but the minister!
All of us have been the victim of broken promises at one time or another. Our experience with people causes us to ask, “Can I still trust God?
It is similar to hiring a new employee. Can you trust the new person to do a good job? We routinely answer that question by checking his resume and references. Well, the entire Bible is God’s resume and reference!
What does God’s resume say? In Genesis 8:22 God promised the continuation of summer and winter, day and night, seedtime and harvest. The last time I checked, God was still doing it. Even global warming will not change this promise.
In Genesis 15:13-16 God promised four centuries of misery in Egypt for Israel, but ONLY four centuries! Was God faithful to deliver His people? Exodus 12:41 declares God was faithful!
Isaiah 7:14 promised a virgin birth. How could such a thing be? Galatians 4:4 declares Christ was made of a woman without a man’s involvement.
This writer likes God’s resume and references, how about you? I believe in my God so much that I trust God with my soul, my life, my future, my everything. And that includes my ministry as a pastor, too.
What promises do I rely upon as a pastor? “My word shall not return unto Me void” (Isaiah 55:11). The foundation of my ministry has always been the Word of God AND the conviction that God will honor His word, not necessarily my preaching! “Give the Word to the people and give God a chance to do what He can do!” has worked for me.
Second, Jesus promised, “If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me” (John 12:32). Evangelist Fred Brown taught us, “Make much of Jesus and He will make much of you!” “He must be given the increase.”
“Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). The offer is to all including those to whom we witness outside the church. God turns no one away. As the old joke goes: “If one of the non-elect gets saved, well, God will forgive me!”
“God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and a sound mind”– written to a fearful preacher named Timothy (sometimes me, too!) to encourage him to preach the Word and “be instant in season, out of season!”
Last, “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). “Knowing” is not the same as guessing or hoping, but it expresses certainty. You and I both can be certain that God is able to do something with us! Isn’t that good? I trust these promises and so I will just keep plugging along for my Lord. Amen?
Mar 19, 2024 – The British philosopher Bertrand Russell was opposed to God’s Ten Commandments so he penned his own “Ten Commandments of Liberalism.” The first commandment reads, “Do not feel absolutely certain about anything.” What a shame! To go through life plagued with uncertainty about everything.
Let’s contrast Russell’s philosophy with the reality of God…who He is and what He does. The Bible does not begin by defending God’s existence. It simply turns the spotlight on Him and says, “Here He is and this is what He does.” Through the Bible we learn enough about who He is and what He does to trust Him with our very own soul…and to believe on the One that He sent into the world to be our Savior. We have faith and that faith gives us a sense of certainty.
But let’s think of Russell’s words in another context, specifically in God’s courtroom. Those words may be a good way to describe “hearsay evidence,” evidence which is generally inadmissible in court.
“Hearsay evidence” is evidence which is at least one step away from a reliable source. For example, “My friend Bill told me that he heard Jack admit to the crime.” The court needs to hear directly from either Jack or Bill, not from me. I may have misheard or I may even be fabricating a story.
Man’s prosecutor often tries to admit hearsay, rumors and gossip into evidence because his case is weak. If the prosecutor possesses a strong case, he does not need to rely upon lower quality evidence.
Surely a defendant deserves more than the evidence of hearsay, rumors and gossip! The courts obviously agree and usually rule against such evidence.
The same principle holds true in God’s court. God, though, has one major advantage over an earthly prosecutor. Because He is an all-knowing God, the Judge knows every detail about the case and does not even need to hear any evidence, let alone rely upon hearsay.
Dragnet’s Joe Friday often says, “Just the facts, sir, just the facts.” Every piece of evidence in God’s courtroom will be factual…no theory, hearsay or rumor. Nothing will be introduced into evidence except undisputable facts.
Amazingly, if a witness needs to be called, God can call Himself to the witness stand. He knows it all! The beginning and the ending as well as everything in between. He knows the time of the deed, the participants, the motives, the cover-up, the forensics, even things that CSI does not even know. Amazing! “Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true. As the Scriptures say about him, ‘You will be proved right in what you say, and you will win your case in court’” (Romans 3:4).
Therefore, how can any man think he can escape the judgment of God? That, my friend, is something about which we CAN BE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN.
Mar 18, 2024 – Little Timmy was in the garden filling in a hole when his neighbor looked over the fence. The neighbor wondered about the hole and he asked, “Timmy, what are you doing?”
Timmy began to cry and he said, “My goldfish died and I just buried him.”
The neighbor was concerned. He said, “That’s an awfully big hole for a little goldfish, isn’t it?”
Timmy patted the mound of dirt and said, “I needed a deep hole, because my goldfish is inside your stupid cat.”
QUESTION: How deep must one dig to build a life which is really worth living? A life which will stand the test of time as well as eternity? The parable of the two houses in Luke 6 contrasts two different approaches to caring for one’s soul. One man built his house upon sand, and the house failed when the storm of final judgment came. The second man, though, dug deep into the soil, dug past the sand, found something rock solid and only then did he pour his foundation and begin building. That rock, of course, is Jesus Christ.
According to Jesus, this man dug deep! He didn’t dig just six inches…a foot…three feet…he kept digging until he was absolutely positive! He made sure – doubly sure – triply sure – that he was right –that whatever he built would survive the coming judgment!
Last week an on-line reader objected to one of these devotionals. He said the usual things such as “you Christians believe in fables, no one knows which religion is the right religion,” etc. Interestingly, he also wrote about being a faithful church member for many years until he saw the light. Now he realizes Christianity is ridiculous, because it believes in a man being raised from the dead.
How did I respond? First, in pity and mercy. I shared that he had just proven he had never been born again, for he was looking at Christianity from the angle of an unbeliever, not a believer. If you have been born again, I stated, you would know the reality of the living Christ. Though he discussed being religious, at no point did he mention being born again or knowing what it meant.
It is important to realize the parable’s “rock” man was not satisfied easily but he dug deep. He investigated the matter thoroughly. His methodology was not whimsical. What did Jesus say? “Sit down and count the cost before you begin building.” This man decided that he needed the rock so he stripped away the sand of human works, the sand of church membership or church rituals, the sand of community involvement, etc. until he was left with only one thing: THE ROCK, JESUS CHRIST!
“My hope is built on NOTHING LESS than Jesus’ blood and righteousness! When He shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in Him be found. Dressed in HIS righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before God’s throne. On Christ the solid Rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand.”
Jesus finishes the story with these words: “Then the flood arose, the stream beat violently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was built on the rock.”
Don’t hesitate in sharing the gospel with a church member or a church congregation. You may be sharing with someone who built his life on a religious deed rather than Christ!
Mar 16-17, 2024 – I remember Eddie. As a pastor I have been with sick people in the hospital who knew their life was nearing its end. I returned to a former pastorate to baptize Eddie when we was 63 years of age. That was a glorious night when I baptized four men—ages 15, 40, 63, and 70. Eddie now, though, was sick with cancer. He wanted to end his life at home so the family did everything they could to let Eddie finish at home. They brought in a bed, medical equipment, and Hospice. They fulfilled Eddie’s desire, and he ended his life at home.
Do you know there are really only TWO places a Christian can end his life? Oh, we might talk about places like the nursing home, automobile wreck, hospital, mowing grass, or sleeping in bed, but in reality there are only two places that a Christian can end his life:
First, a Christian can end his life IN the will of God, knowing that he is living in obedience to God’s revealed will or…
Second, a Christian can end his life OUT of the will of God, living a life which is not in accordance with the will of God…rebelling against God! Declaring with his last breath, “I want my own way!”
Today’s Verse shouts loudly, “Jesus is coming!” When He comes our life on earth will come to an end! If we abide in Him (in the will of God) we will not be ashamed to see Him! But if we do not abide in Him (out of the will of God) we’ll be ashamed…embarrassed.
Can you imagine going up in the Rapture, but being embarrassed to see Jesus? Can you imagine dying today and going to heaven, but being embarrassed to see Jesus? We’d be like the kid whose mother caught him with his hand in the cookie jar…but much worse. Jesus will say, “I died for you.” We will bow our heads and admit, “But I did not live for you.” The embarrassment of such a failure!
The most embarrassing place for a Christian to die is OUT of the will of God! But the most rewarding place for a Christian to die is in the will of God.
Do you remember how the Apostle Paul died? Embarrassed? No! “For I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.” Paul then stepped over to the executioner’s block, put his head down upon the block and said, “Well, glory to God! I’m going home! You may cut off my head down here, but Jesus will put a crown on it up there!” Oh, what a way to finish!
A man went to see a lawyer to make out his will. He told the lawyer to give so-and-so $100,000, so-and-so $200,000, so-and-so $500,000. The lawyer said, “But, sir, I don’t believe you have that much money to leave.”
The man said, “I know that, but I just want to show them my good intentions.”
It is good to leave money behind for your family…maybe a fine house…an automobile. But the greatest thing you can ever leave behind is a good Christian testimony that can be continued from one generation to the next generation until Jesus comes.
Let us “abide in Him that we may have confidence” when our life on earth reaches its end.
Mar 15, 2024 – Ah, Playdoh—the magical invention that thrilled this boy’s heart! You could make anything with that stuff: pies…cookies…people. Even my grandkids play with it. How pliable it is! In a similar way, God wants us to be pliable like Playdoh so He can mold us just like Jesus Christ—not just in heaven but here on earth, too.
If I want to be like Jesus, I need to know what kind of person Jesus really was.
Did Jesus come to do His own will? No. “I came not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me.”
Did Jesus live a life of sin? No. “In the wilderness He resisted the devil and the devil fled.”
Did Jesus have compassion for the lost? Yes! John 4:4 speaks of His determined spirit: “I must needs go through Samaria to reach one Samaritan woman.”
Did He pray? Yes! At the tomb of Lazarus, He said, “Father, I know that You hear Me always.” ALWAYS!
Did He study the Bible? Yes! He often quoted the holy scriptures. At the age of twelve He knew it frontwards and backwards.
Did He build up other people? Yes! He took eleven men, just ignorant fishermen, and made them special.
Did He let His light shine against wickedness? Yes! His righteousness shone like a spotlight in this dark world.
God wants to turn us into that kind of person. Just as we shaped the Playdoh into our own design, so God wants to shape us into the image of His Son.
A prince had a crooked back, causing him to be deformed. He called for a sculptor to make a statue of him. The prince said, “I do not want this statue to show a crooked, dwarfed back. Have it stand as straight as a fence post.”
The sculptor said, “But it wouldn’t look like you.”
The prince said, “I am the prince, you are the sculptor. Do as I tell you.”
The sculptor made a statue of the prince that showed him standing as straight as a fence post. The young prince was so pleased with the statue that he spent time looking at the statue every day. Then something strange happened. The people said, “It seems the prince is now standing straighter than he ever has.”
Several months passed. One day the prince looked at himself in a mirror. He looked once…twice…then he realized that his back was as straight as the statue. He had so wanted to look like the statue that he was now standing straight just like the statue.
Wonder what looking at Jesus will do for us?
Mar 14, 2024 – Who do you really want to be? Many of you are acquainted with the famous writer Stephen Covey. He wrote a book which appeared on the best-sellers list for a number of years, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” That book is still popular today, because it helps you focus on the person you wish to be.
On pg. 106 Stephen Covey says, “The most effective way I know to begin with the end in mind [in other words, the kind of person I want to become] is to develop a personal mission statement as to what you want to be.”
That means, write out a list of items that you really want to be then practice those things tomorrow, the next day, the day after that, continue it every day that you live. If, heaven forbid, you die on that future day, you’ll be close to the person that you wanted to be! After all, you can’t change the past…it is set in concrete. But you can change who you are tomorrow by clearly defining a goal and then targeting that goal with the help of the Holy Spirit.
I took Covey’s advice and wrote my own mission statement. It is on my desk protected by a sheet of glass. I see it everyday that I am at my desk. It serves as a constant reminder that I need to become someone of greater value than I am today.
Evangelist B. R. Lakin often said, “I want to live my life in such a way that my family won’t have to apologize for me when I am dead.” He succeeded. His words are good advice for all of us! But his goal is not very specific, is it? Maybe you could jot down a few specific ideas right now on your note pad, let it simmer until the next time you sit down at this spot then perhaps add some more items at that time. Before long you’ll have something specific…and something achievable, too.
Don’t be like the old man who died! This old man was lying in the casket. His wife and son were sitting on the front row of the audience. The preacher began talking about the old man…salt of the earth…dependable…friendly…best neighbor you could ever have.
Finally, the old man’s wife leaned over and said, “Son, sneak up there, look in the casket, and see if that’s really our old man, because that can’t be who the preacher’s talking about!”
How will your life end? If it ended today, would you be satisfied with the kind of person you are right now? Are you the person your spouse needs? Your children need? Your church needs? Your Lord needs? Remember: If you aim at NOTHING you will hit your target and produce NOTHING. But if you aim at something…you get the idea!
Apr 25, 2024 – PART 4 – Two American pastors were vacationing in Germany. They decided to attend a German church even though they did not know the language. They sat behind a dignified man and did everything he did!
During the service the pastor made a special announcement. The man in front of the two pastors jumped to his feet. The Americans jumped to their feet, too, and the entire congregation roared in laughter. The pastor then spoke in English, “I was announcing we had a new baby in the nursery and I asked the father of the baby to stand.”
Can you imagine how those pastors felt? Sometimes people feel like foreigners in our churches. They come to church and don’t have any idea what we’re talking about… singing about…praying about… they don’t know when to stand…when to sit…when to shake hands or laugh or amen and when they leave, they say, “I don’t have the slightest idea what that was about.”
Let’s continue our study with a new question: “Why does the Bible read like a foreign book?” Have you ever had someone say, “I’d read the Bible, but I cannot understand it.” That was the experience of this man in Acts 8. He is the treasurer of the queen of Ethiopia, thus a very educated man. He has been drawn to Jerusalem to worship the God of the Bible, but it is evident he does not know who that God happens to be. Next, we see him reading Isaiah 53, but he does not understand.
God sends a preacher named Phillip who asks, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
The man answers, “Not on your life. I know something is real about this book, but I do not understand it. Can you help me?”
Philip then introduces the treasurer to the Lord Jesus Christ, God helps him to understand, and he is wonderfully saved.
What is the problem? This man has no capacity to understand or comprehend spiritual truth. 1 Cor. 2:14 explains, “The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” The natural man represents the man who does not know Christ as Savior.
Such a person can relate historical facts, discuss the miracles, but he cannot understand what it means to be born again, have peace with God, or be filled with the Spirit. “For the word/message of the cross is folly (the Greek word is “moronic”) to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). We look like idiots because the unsaved man has no capacity to understand why we believe in the cross.
But as soon as a person believes, he quickly changes his mind. His reaction is, “WOW! If I had known what I know now, I would have done this a long time ago!”
What is the difference? The difference is he now has the spiritual capacity to understand spiritual truth. He sees the truth from a spiritual perspective rather than a natural perspective.
This issue is beyond our control. It is one of those God-things that only God can do. But it does explain why some do not understand. I suggest pointing the unbeliever to the Gospel of John and letting God do what only He can do!
Apr 24, 2024 – PART 3 – “I don’t understand this churchy stuff.” Many people are so far outside the church they don’t understand any of this churchy stuff that we do. This series addresses some of their concerns. Today’s Verse focuses on, “Why don’t I feel comfortable when I attend church? Why do I often feel guilty?”
Let us remember every church service provides many different benefits. Quite often, our need determines what we take home from the service. What is the most basic need, though, of all of us? It is the need of being restored to our Creator. That restoration is called salvation.
If the person has never been born again, it is likely that the Holy Spirit will approach his heart and seek to woo him to Christ as Savior. While some people unfortunately count down the minutes for the final “Amen,” God is actively seeking that which is lost (see yesterday’s devotional) and making the issue of receiving Christ a very real issue for them.
The Holy Spirit performs a work on the unbeliever’s soul called “conviction.” Other translations use the word “reprove” or “convince.” In normal life (think of being reproved by a supervisor or a spouse) conviction is not usually a happy time. Instead, it is an interruption in the happy times. The Holy Spirit takes the person into God’s courtroom and presents evidence against that person. The devil presents evidence the unbeliever is not really bad enough to need salvation, but the Holy Spirit convinces the unbeliever that, without Christ, he is a sinner in need of righteousness headed for God’s judgment. Thank God, for sharing the truth with us, but the truth is not pleasant.
A little boy was praying his bedtime prayers. He prayed, “Lord, if you can’t make me a better boy than I am, don’t you worry about it. I’m having a real good time like I am.”
KEY: If you are having a good time, you will not see a reason to receive Jesus Christ! Conviction, though, convinces you of your guilt and that brings a feeling of guilt to your soul.
I have seen two unbelievers attend the same service and hear me preach the same message. Strangely, one was bothered by the message; the second was not bothered. I do not have the power to convict. That is God’s ministry! Pastor Leo Gibson taught me, “I began to sleep a lot better at night when I realized I could not save anyone. All I could do was preach the gospel. It is God’s job to do the rest.”
IMPORTANT: Conviction does not usually come and stay but rather it comes and goes. It is an awareness of your guilt which only God can bring. God says, “NOW is the accepted time; TODAY is the day of salvation.” “Seek the Lord WHILE He may be found; call upon Him while He is NEAR.” Why? Because He may not be near again. Sadly for many, there may come a day when all the preaching, songs, and church services that bother you now will then be like water on a duck’s back! That’s why everyone needs to be saved on the day they know they need to be saved!
Thank God for His ministry in our souls. If not for Him, our souls would be forever lost!
Apr 23, 2024 – PART 2 – “Pastor, I have a lot of hard questions about Christianity. I am an outsider looking in. I don’t really understand what Christianity is all about.”
Let me see if I can guess some of your questions and how the Bible answers those questions. We began this study yesterday and will continue it for several days.
Question: “What does saved and lost mean? The average church member uses those words but what do those words mean?”
The Bible uses many words to describe mankind. Basically, though, God describes all of mankind as being in two groups: saved and lost. Saved, of course, has reference to those who have been rescued. Rescued from what? Hell! Jesus says, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the WRATH of God abides on him” (John 3:36). That word “wrath” suggests serious consequences!
The word “lost” has reference to those who have NOT been rescued and are lost or away from God. Jesus says in Today’s Verse, “I have come to seek and save that which is LOST.” The Bible elaborates on our “lost” estate with these statements: “All we like sheep have gone astray” and “There is none that seeks after God, no, not even one.” Sadly, we don’t even have the capacity to find God. Therefore, He must find us or come to us!
John 3:18 mentions these two groups under the headings of “he who believes” and “he who believes not.” Does the individual believe in Christ as Lord and Savior or not?
Question: “Does this word ‘lost’ mean that I am an alien from outer space?” No, you are normal in every sense of the word, but it does mean you are separated from God…like a sheep that has wandered away from the sheepfold and is lost, unable to find its way.
Question: “Isn’t being a church member the same as being saved?” No. Matthew 7:21:23 describes unsaved church members. It says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:21-23).
A woman asked to join one of my father’s pastorates. During counseling, Dad asked her when was she saved. She asked, “Saved? From what?” She had never been saved. But she was a few minutes later!
Question: Isn’t being baptized the same as being saved? Baptism is not mentioned in John 3:15, 16, 18, and 36. Faith or belief is the only item mentioned in those verses. Have you placed your faith in Jesus?
Question: Isn’t going to the front (altar) the same as being saved? Some churches have an altar to which people come. Some churches invite people to come to the front pew for counseling. Some take people to a special counseling room. Some ask you to fill out a card that you have received Jesus.
KEY: The most important location in salvation is not the front pew, back pew, or altar, but it is the location of your heart. “It is with the heart that man believes unto righteousness or salvation” (Romans 10:10).
Two words…SAVED and LOST. Which word describes you?
More tomorrow!
Apr 22, 2024 – A farmer and his wife were having a friendly argument about whether a town in Pennsylvania should be pronounced LAN-caster or LANC-aster. The farmer decided to settle the argument by driving there and hearing how the natives pronounced it. The farmer stopped at the first business in town, took his wife by the hand and walked in. He said to the clerk, “Tell my wife the name of this place and speak very slowly and distinctly.”
The clerk said very slowly and very distinctly, “Bur-ger King.”
Who cares how you pronounce anything as long as you are at Burger King?
Seriously, though, it is important we know how to pronounce things, but it is even more important we understand what we are talking about and to whom we are talking! Too often in our church services we use the “churchy” language, we sing the “churchy” songs and we read the “churchy” Bible but we never really communicate. Thus, when folk leave they say, “I don’t have the slightest idea what that was about.”
Nicodemus is like a lot of people who attend the average Baptist church. He is a person who lacks spiritual understanding as to what the Bible is really about. This was true even though Nicodemus belonged to the most prestigious religious denomination of his day: the Pharisees. It is likely he could quote more of the Bible than any of us! But he did not understand the “churchy” language that Jesus was using in John chapter 3. As a result, Jesus continues to break down these spiritual truths to lower and lower levels so that Nicodemus can have the answers to his hard questions.
Jesus’ answers become increasingly so easy that John chapter 3 is the chapter most of us use when we try to explain the gospel. For example: What verse is the most favorite verse in the Bible? John 3:16—”For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” Without fail, someone holds up a sign saying, “John 3:16” behind the backboard of every college basketball game. Why that verse? Because everyone can understand it! As for me, I especially understand the word “whosoever.” How about you? That word means me!
You may be saying, “I have a lot of hard questions about Christianity. I am an outsider looking in…I don’t really understand what Christianity is all about.”
Let me see if I can guess some of those questions; over the next five days let’s see how the Bible answers those questions.
Yes, “How can these things be?” “Be” means they exist, but “how?” Perhaps you’ll be able to use these brief studies to make your own ministry more effective.
Apr 20-21, 2024 – I was horribly humiliated and still remember the pain to this day.
It happened in the fifth grade. I was one of the smartest boys in our class. I was fortunate that year to earn a straight “A” report card. Two girls matched my grades throughout the year. The three of us were always in competition with each other.
One day the teacher was explaining multiplication tables…not just 2 x 2 but we had advanced to the two-digit problems like 25 x 42. How do you carry the numbers over into the next column?
The teacher wrote a problem on the chalkboard and called me to the chalkboard to answer the problem. I didn’t have an inkling of an idea! My mind was totally blank. I guess I froze! I stood there with chalk in my hand, looked at that problem, and had no idea where to begin. I stood there and stood there. I can still remember the tears welling up in my eyes. I can still remember the emotion of that awful experience, of everyone in the class waiting for me to answer that problem but me not having the answer! At last, the teacher took the chalk from my hand and told me to return to my seat. I don’t remember what happened after that, because I was totally heartbroken!
By contrast, my God has never had the experience of standing at a chalkboard and not knowing the answer! He has never been stymied by a mystery, never struggled with a puzzle, never had to make a guess, even an educated guess. No one has ever taken the chalk from God’s hand and told Him to return to His seat.
Albert Einstein became famous for discovering the Theory of Relativity which dealt with gravity, space, and time. But what Einstein really discovered was God’s Law. God established this law or principle in the very beginning. God not only figured out all the laws of science, mathematics, etc. but He also established those laws in the very beginning; amazingly, God did not even need a chalkboard to figure them out!
Einstein was so impressed with his discovery that he uttered these immortal words, “God does not play dice with the world.” I.e. God has things under control!
Twenty years ago our church received a significant financial contribution to install a first generation projection system. We announced the good news on Sunday morning. After the service Marie walked up and said, “You’re not going to believe this, but my boss arranged for me to take a PowerPoint course this coming Thursday. I’ll be able to help once I know how to help!” Was that a coincidence? Of course not. That was a God-thing. It was just another proof in a long list of proofs that God is in control.
There are many reasons to “have no other gods before Me.” But the biggest reason is simply this: No one can ever out-god God. He is #1. He is in control. We can trust Him with our future. Do you agree?
Apr 19, 2024 – A consultant asked several hundred General Motors’ employees, “What person has almost absolute total control over the events in his or her professional life?”
One foolish man brazenly answered, “Mothers!” There were eighty-three mothers in the room; they were ready to take the man outside and stone him to death!
Have you ever heard someone say, “I’ve lost control of my life”? What they are really saying is they are no longer in control of the EVENTS which make up their lives.
They are instead reacting to events!
But God is not like that. Based upon the Holy Scriptures, you and I can have absolute confidence that nothing is too complex for our God. Our God is always in control!
For example, how does tomorrow’s schedule look to you? Impossible? Simple, though, to God! He multitasks better than anyone I know. Do you have to be in two places at the same time? No problem to God. He is omnipresent. Do you need answers to a problem no one else can answer? No problem! God is omniscient. Do you need to get out the ladder to hang a decoration outside? No problem! God is omnipotent! He really can leap tall buildings in a single bound!
My friend Richard took this writer to view his assembly line for making clamps for planes. (I am not a mechanic.) I marveled at the step-by-step process, how all the equipment came together to make that piece. Someone much smarter than me designed that process…and you designers would say it was an easy process to design!
So let’s move up from the minor leagues to the big leagues. Our God is able to operate an entire universe, keep every planet in its orbit, keep every star shining. He proved that recently in the total eclipse that encompassed our community. It was stunning to lay in the grass and look directly into that eclipse. Amazingly, it occurred at the very moment it was expected. A cheer rose from our neighborhood when the wave of semi-darkness swept over us. Amazingly, the science community even knows when the next total eclipse will occur as well as where it can be seen. How can they predict that event? It is because God has everything in order.
Can you imagine what the universe looks like to God? I can’t. It’s overwhelming to me but not to Him. Therefore, I think it best if I leave the world, including my world, in His hands for at least one more day. How about you?
Apr 18, 2024 – Do you ever wonder how many “once more’s” you will have? Napoleon Hill writes, “Your big opportunity may be right where you are NOW.” Where are you now? Though often unrecognized and neglected, you are at this very moment living in an opportunity to have a spiritual encounter with God which:
1. Can result in your salvation from the wrath of God and the hell to come. Many are just drifting through life with little regard for their eternal soul’s welfare either in the hereafter or the here-and-now. How much thought have you given to your soul? Wouldn’t it be sad if you by-passed this opportunity because of something on your cell phone?
2. Can help you deal with an important decision. God is at work all around you opening doors as well as closing doors. It is very frustrating to try opening a locked door without the key! Perhaps the choice will be clear; the resolve will finally exist to choose God’s direction for your life. You can sing with us, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back.”
3. Can give you motivation to face tomorrow. Tomorrow may not be very promising. Maybe God will direct a song your way. Perhaps a fellow Christian may say something that causes you to look up instead of down. A relevant Bible verse may supernaturally enter your mind. Don’t let that moment pass you by!
4. Can strengthen your faith. The Bible encourages us to build a life grounded in Bible beliefs and to not “be blown around with every wind of false doctrine/teaching!” Faith truly moves mountains! Most of all, it moves us! What can you believe with certainty? Or do you even care about certainty?
5. Can remove your feelings of despair and loneliness. You are currently surrounded by Christian people of like emotions. None of us have life fully figured out. We struggle, too. But we can struggle together in our Christian fellowship. After all, what is fellowship but two fellows in the same ship?
Let’s march forward and seize today’s opportunities!
Apr 17, 2024 – As a child in Sunday School (or in a home devotion led by your parents), did you ever act out the story of Jericho? My teacher Ann Rice had us little ones walk around our table like Israel walked around the city of Jericho. I suppose we were a sight! But I’m older now…I wonder who looked sillier? We preschoolers or Joshua’s people?
Normal military procedure in that day would require a battering ram to break through the gates, ladders to storm the walls, and a long siege to starve and weaken the inhabitants. But that was not the way this battle was fought, because God was once again proving that He does not do things in man’s way.
The Apostle Paul described himself as a “fool for Christ’s sake!” All of us ought to seek that designation. We see that which the world does not see, we then act in accordance with what we see and our actions run contrary to the world’s actions.
You and I encounter many Jericho’s in our Christian walk. Some are more intimidating than others. But the secret to winning those battles is not the size of Jericho but the size of our God. Here are some simple thoughts you might wish to add to your Bible regarding Joshua 6:
First, God is here and God wants to do something. The #1 complaint about church worship is “boring!” How can the most exciting thing in the world (the gospel) be boring? Perhaps the answer is this: Church becomes boring when God becomes limited in the people’s hearts. They forget Proverbs 19:21: “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’S PURPOSE THAT PREVAILS.” God is busy all around us. His Word will not return void. He honors the sowing and reaping principle, so we need to keep sowing with the expectation of reaping. He works in people’s hearts and uses us in that process. Quite honestly, we need to stir ourselves and realize God wants to do something more than we want Him to do something.
Second, God is here and only God can do what must be done. Jericho is a mighty city and cannot be conquered by man. Someone said, “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.” How true! Crossing the Red Sea was a simple thing when God did what only God could do. So was crossing the Jordan River and fighting Jericho! Note the Lord’s words to Joshua: “I have GIVEN…” Dear reader, when God gives, it’s time to go to the bank and cash the check! We cannot outgive God, and we certainly can’t do God’s work for Him.
Third, God is here and He has a timetable. “Now is the time, This is the place, We are the people.” “If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done” (Ecclesiastes 11:4). We often miss God’s will and God’s opportunity, because we wait for everything to be perfect. Was everything perfect for Joshua in Today’s Verse? No! Not with that crowd of his! But the time was NOW. Nothing is said about delay to design a more perfect plan. The time was now…it was in accordance with God’s timetable.
As a boy, I recall hearing a country preacher tell us of how God called him to preach…and to pastor. But he said to God, “I work too much. I’ll do that when I retire.” So he worked many years, did a little preaching but never pastored, then eventually retired. He then went to God and said, “I’m retired and ready to pastor. But God said to me, ‘I don’t need you now.’” The preacher then urged us to not repeat his mistake. In case you’re wondering, he never pastored.
“Now is the time, This is the place, We are the people.” Is God speaking to you about something? If God is giving it into your hand, what does He expect you to do?
Apr 10-15, 2024 – LESSON #7 – New members are like puzzle pieces. No puzzle is complete until all of the pieces are included in the puzzle.
You may think, “No one at church would miss me if I just dropped out.” Do you know what would happen? The puzzle would be missing a piece and that piece would be you! Let’s think about your importance.
Charles Plumb was a United States Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. On his 75th combat mission his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent six years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and returned to the States.
One day Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant. A man walked up to him and said, “I remember you. Your name is Plumb. You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down.”
Plumb’s mouth dropped open in amazement. He asked, “How in the world did you know that?”
The man said, “I was the man who packed your parachute.” Plumb was totally blown out of the saddle. The man shook hands with Plumb and said, “I guess my parachute must have worked!”
Plumb said, “It sure did. If your parachute hadn’t worked, I wouldn’t be here today.”
Plumb couldn’t sleep that night because he kept thinking about that man. He said, “I kept wondering what that sailor must have looked like in his Navy uniform: a white hat, a bib in the back, and those bell-bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said, ‘Good morning, how are you?’ because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor.”
Plumb thought of the many hours that sailor had spent in the depths of the aircraft carrier, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each parachute, holding in his hands the fate of someone he didn’t know but, oh, how seriously he took his responsibility!
Plumb now gives talks about his Vietnam experience. He shares that story then asks the audience, “Who’s packing your parachute?”
The point is that everyone has someone who provides what you need. Plumb needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory. He needed a physical parachute, a mental parachute, an emotional parachute, and a spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports during his six years in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp.
Plumb says, “Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason. As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognize the people who pack your parachute.”
Who packs your parachute in your church? Are you doing the same for others?
Apr 9, 2024 – LESSON #6 – New members may reveal what God wants to do in the future.
We often ask, “What is God doing in our church?” One way to answer the question is to think through the type of people that God has sent our way in recent years. One of God’s names in the Bible is “I AM” (Exodus 3:14). Guess what? God is never called “I WAS.” This name emphasizes that one of God’s goals is to always keep doing things which are new. So we read about a new testament, a new creation, a new heaven, a new earth, a new life, a new song, a new and living way, a new name written down in glory and on and on the list goes!
And when Jesus speaks of His church He speaks of it like this: “I will build my church and the process of building is always oriented to the new.”
Example: God sent a man named John the Baptist to the nation of Israel. Be careful how you think of John the Baptist! Some folk like to talk about John as being old-fashioned, but the truth is there was nothing old-fashioned about John! John was so NEW fashioned that the religious establishment of his day did not know what to do with Him! John represented the new wine that would cause the old bottles to burst.
Do you know what John really represented? John represented God doing something which was brand new!
Someone has suggested that God’s motto for this entire universe is, “Behold, I make all things new…”
If God is a God who likes to do new things (and He is), if God is a God who always lives in the present and never lives in the past, then what is God telling us about our future based on the new members He has sent us in recent years?
Here are some questions to answer: Did God send us people that will:
1. allow us to enlarge our children’s ministry?
2. allow us to improve our music ministry?
3. help us to become even more mission minded and to take the gospel outside the walls and into our neighborhoods?
4. stretch our faith so that we can do something even more special than we are right now thinking or dreaming?
5. replace some of our older folks so that we can continue into the future?
6. give us more ways to provide 21st century solutions to 21st century people because the needs of this generation are different from the needs of two generations ago or even the last generation?
What opportunities has God given us in these new people that we might be missing?
Do you believe these people joined by accident? Today’s Verse says, “God has set the new members in our local church as it has PLEASED HIM.” These people are in our church, because God wants them to be part of His ministry in our church.
Why? It is very possible God wants to do something brand new or refresh something which is dying. These new members may very well be a part of that “newness.”
Apr 8, 2024 – PART 5 – There once was a farmer who lived so far back in the hills he had never seen a mirror. This farmer was working in the field when he found a piece of a mirror. He looked into it and said, “I can’t believe it! It’s my dad.” He looked at the mirror again and again then put it under his pillow at bedtime.
After he fell asleep his curious wife reached under his pillow, pulled out the mirror and looked into it. She said, “Just as I thought. It’s another woman! And an ugly one, too!”
Ah, sometimes we don’t see what we should see. We have previously discussed that new members are an investment from God in our church. I encourage you to read Parts 1-4 to better understand what God is doing with a new member and what your church’s responsibility is to the new member.
Lesson #5: New members need a spiritual family, and they hope you’re the right family. People need people! It’s horrible to be in a neighborhood where you have nothing in common with even one soul. That is not so in a church. The beginning foundation for church fellowship is a mutual born-again experience and a knowledge of Christ. The church is a living organism! The local PTA is built on school links and is dead as a doornail; by contrast, the church is built on spiritual links and is spiritually alive in Christ. Based on our common nature, we have something in common with all the people in our local church.
We are spiritually linked just like the parts of a human body. The Amplified Bible adds the teaching, “mutually dependent on each other.” And we are! We are a spiritual family; the Bible refers to the men as my brothers and the women as my sisters. A spiritual union exists that sometimes becomes deeper and more enjoyable than exists in our physical family.
Have you ever visited the homebound of your church? What do they desire? To touch you…enjoy your spiritual fellowship…be with people who know Jesus. They miss being with God’s people so much. Their spiritual nature is starved for that which is spiritual. No tv preacher will meet their need. No gospel music cd will meet their need. They need to be a part of a family, rub shoulders with people, engage in congregational singing and a church sermon, experience a communion service and someone’s baptism. The spiritual part of them is dependent upon us!
Trouble comes, who ya gonna call? I’d rather have my brothers and sisters praying for me, having them physically alongside me than call Ghostbusters! We’ll go to the throne TOGETHER! In so doing, the new member can help us just as much as we can help him.
The new member needs us! His spiritual nature cries out for spiritual help. He needs more than friendship; he needs spiritual brotherhood. He needs spiritual togetherness. Attending a baseball game together is fine, but spiritual brotherhood goes many miles further.
Let’s think through how we can quickly bring the new member into our spiritual brotherhood…and make them part of our family!