...too small a thing...

Great Moments in the Bible

Often as I think about the men and women of the Word of God I am in awe. To think about the parting of the Red Sea or Noah's Ark kind of staggers the imagination. These are truly events that are breathtaking and powerful. But there are so many others. Daniel in the lions den, Elijah on Mount Carmel. Jesus calming the storm, and even Lazarus coming out of the grave. Think about what it would have been like to see David Slay the giant. David gave the glory to God for this event.

1 Samuel 17:37 (NASB)
37  And David said, "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and may the LORD be with you."

Some who were watching this event unfold may have given credit to David, thinking what a great young man. How brave and how skillful he is with the sling. But David knew better. Same thing with Elijah he could have been credited with the great display on Mount Carmel. He told them to pour water to soak the sacrifice not once but three times he had them wet it down. Burning wet wood is a trick in itself but soaked wood just does not burn. But so that God would be glorified he had this done. Then Elijah prayed a very simple prayer.

1 Kings 18:36 (NASB)
1Ki 36  At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, "O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word.

David wanted God to get the Glory and Elijah wanted God to get the glory. I am convinced we could see God doing more great things in our world today if we would realize how it is all about Him and not about us. When we want to see God do something powerful do we try to put ourselves into the position so that anyone who see what happens will seek to say wow see that guy he really is something.

The great moments in the Scripture are all about God and only about God. The Bible just let's us know who these people are. The events of Bible are great because of God not because of the ordinary men God used to accomplished the events.

If we ask God is ready to bring some great things into our lives today. But we must ask in faith and with only one intent. To bring glory to our Lord.

The Big Admission

People are unique.  Every person on earth is different. Each person has some aspect of life, or some ability, or gift, that they seem to be able to do that others cannot seem to do.  While we speak of the average person sometimes there is really not such a thing as we all have unique DNA. We have a thumbprint of the Creator on us that makes us special. Now this is a great blessing in the fact that no two of us are alike. But this fact that we are different can, and is used by Satan to trick us. Because we feel on the inside that we are unique and see that we have our own set of circumstances we can feel like we are the exception. We rationalize sinful behavior in ourselves by saying, Well this is for me. I am someone who is special because of, and then we fill in the blank with whatever we think makes us special.

While we all may be unique we must all come to the Lord the same way. We are all born into the sinful world and become sinners by nature and choice. We then live our lives with this thought, "God created me special and He loves me." Great thought right? Yes, it is, but we are all just alike in the fact that we need a Savior.

Now the "big admission" is the realization that whatever it is that makes you special, (you may think it is several things) is not enough to earn salvation. No amount of anything in you is good enough to get you right with God. It is what God has done for us through Jesus Christ that we can come into a relationship with HIM.

We have to admit we are not strong enough, smart enough, good looking enough, blessed enough, rich enough, deprived enough, or special enough to deserve anything other than God's only plan for salvation.

The big admission means we cannot do anything, be anything or have anything that is not from God. Especially salvation.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB)
 8  For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9  not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Only what God has done for us will be able to save us. Realize this and admit it today. Once you do God has gifts for you that make you useful in the Kingdom of God to accomplish His will.

 

 

First Thanks First

As you sit down to eat a great meal today, I wanted to write something to point back to the idea until we know who to be thankful to, and what to be thankful for, it is a little difficult to say thank you properly. But when you know your greatest need and realize who has taken care of your greatest need saying thank you can come very naturally.

How To Give Thanks

 

On Thanksgiving Day, there is  a real need

For all to be thankful and to have a good feed.

But in this first line there is a deep truth,

That everyone should know who is under your roof.

Until we know what it is our greatest need,

It is difficult to know when we really suceed.

We may be happy for a moment or two,

When we are not sure, just doing whatever we do.

But to really give thanks in a meaningful way,

We must be thoughtful on this special day.

Think of the things that matter the most,

As you sit back and watch your turkey roast.

Family and friends are often the first thought,

But do not forget that you have been bought.

With blood of our Savior you were set free,

As He died for you alone on the tree.

So our greatest need is to know of God's  love,

And How He sent Jesus from up above.

To pay for our sin which we could not do,

Christ gave His life for me and for you.

To Know the Lord God is our greatest need,

Realize this first, then you will give thanks indeed.

 

Scotty Davis

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Thanksgiving" - Are you going to?

Are you going to give thanks to God tomorrow? Sounds like simple question but one that might need a little thought. You see you can tell the difference when someone says thank you and means it or if they are just being polite.

There is no doubt that God knows each of our hearts and all of our motivations. He is fully aware of the attitude you will bring to the dinner table tomorrow. Will there be a humble spirit? Will you meet with family and friends for a dinner with thoughts of what is in this for me, or a real heart that is full of thanks?

This is a special holiday because it is founded on the idea of honoring God. There is some debate about the first Thanksgiving day in the USA. The year 1621 is most often sited as the first event, but the idea of Thanksgiving days goes way back to the England into the 1500's. There is some reading on the subject on Wikipedia on Thanksgiving.

So as you get yourself ready for Thursday, travel, turkey, and the family, consider the question. "Are you going to give thanks to God?" He knows if you are. He will know when you do. He knows you.

There is so much to be thankful for. When you think about it.

Do You Need a Good Spanking?

These are words you may have heard as a child and the spanking part is likely something you endured as a child. Our modern world has produced an industry called that is called Modern Psychology. Men and women who study behavior of people writing how they feel and what they think into studies that know what is best for people to do and say and think.

One of the things the world of psychology has produced is the idea that children should not be spanked. This is a continual theme among writers of psychology. Here is a recent article promoting the claim that if you spank your child you will be sorry as it will harm the child mentally.

In this sinful world we deal with people who have children who I believe need a good spanking. Sometimes children push the limits to see what they can do. They need to have boundaries and disciple must have some bite to it. Children need discipline every day to grow them into responsible mature adolescents.

Here is some thought from the Scripture.

Proverbs 22:15 (NASB)
Pr 15  Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it far from him.

Proverbs 23:13 (NASB)
Pr 13  Do not hold back discipline from the child, Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die.

Proverbs 29:15 (NASB)
Pr 15  The rod and reproof give wisdom, But a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother.

Of course there is a way to spank a child that is proper. Sadly abuse can and does occur with the idea of spanking. But most people who love their children have more common sense than to abuse a child with repeated beatings and punishment that is given in excess. The reality is spanking a child is still in the Bible and is still appropriate. We see the need for other people's children to get a good spanking, but do we see it when we ourselves need one?

So my question was not necessarily aimed at just the children. No, I am not trying to make a joke with some type of perverted sexual overtone. I am asking if you about the discipline you might need in your life. Do you need some discipline for some aspect of your actions, behaviors, and attitudes that do not please God.?

Note the book of Hebrews is explicit:

Hebrews 12:6-8 (NASB)
Heb 6  FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES." 7  It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8  But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

Verse eight in the above passage asks the same question, "Do you need a good spanking?" but iin a different way. To know The Lord and to openly be defiant and sinful is something you should realize can, and does bring a discipline from God. But a difficulty is that is often not recognized as a discipline. Why? Because the sin of man is often hidden from others. Difficult moments in some people's lives I believe are a result of sin that "catches up with them."

Now this is not to say that when bad things happen it is always because of sin and that you are being punished by God. No, I do not believe the Lord is going to physically punish you for each individual sin you commit. But patterns of sin my friend, need a good spanking. And I think the Lord knows His children pretty well. And Our Lord will not abuse His children, but there is a bite in His discipline. And yes, the truth is you know it if you need one.

Mining a Thought

It is so easy to just let your mind scavenge the world you are living in for thoughts that are handed to you. Many times the things that fill our minds are those that you find just stumble upon lying around waiting to be picked up. The world is so full of things that will seek to gain your attention and have you focus your mind right there as if this one thing is all that matters in life. Advertisements, salesmen, movies, television, and even relationships with other people are sometimes so in our faces that we can see little else, but what is right there at the moment.

This is life most of the time, as we live in this world where our attention and thoughts are preoccupied by our interactions with others or our need to function in the practical physical world. This world however is a world of hungry people, people with problems, people with pain, and dying people. We would rather not look at some of the realities that exist in this world, so we don't look. Instead we focus on entertainment, education, and working to better the world in which we live. So most of the thinking we are doing is dealing with day to day, moment by moment, living or trying to grab whatever thoughts we can to avoid the trouble and pain of the world we have before us.

But for just a moment as you draw aside to read this blog post I want to take to you to another place. Another realm of reality. It is a beautiful place where Jesus is King. He is the Lord of all things. This is not a make believe world, no quite the opposite.  This is the ultimate and greatest reality of all. To go to this place, to think about this, we have to in some ways become a miner. A miner? Yes, a miner!

A miner goes deep within the earth to look for ore. He takes a light and the skill he has learned to go about his task. It also takes all of his effort to go deep into the depths of the earth to bring up to the surface something precious, something needed, in the world above. The work of a miner is not easy. It is difficult and dreary, But he has a goal. Bring up something of value to the surface to be used in the world in which we live.

This morning I am asking you to go deep within your being and find what is valuable and rare and seek it out. When we go deep into ourselves we may see some things that we do not like. There may be darkness there that we seek to keep covered  and hidden from others. We may have to pass over some things that are hurt full. No doubt to go into our values and heart of hearts is very difficult. All this just to pass through to find a thought? But mining a thought is more than just some type of self evaluation.  A rare thought that is something that we find and realize is more than just a thought. It is a Truth that we find in our heart. We must bring it to the surface when we find it. We must share it with others as the rare and precious thing that it is.

What is the most valuable and rare part of our being? Why our life? Our heart? Our existence itself.  The miner seems to risk his life every time he goes down into the mine. As we deal with out thoughts, our minds would rather take the easy way. Our minds like to focus on excitement and entertainment, but balk at deep thought. It is in that deep thought process that we can find what we do believe. And when we find what we do believe that will change us. So deep within our hearts  we go to find truth. When I went there I found Truth in a person. His name is Jesus.

If we find a true faith in Jesus  we have found a reality for which we can live. If you have found Him too do not wait bring Him to the surface and share him with everyone around you.

Dogs Can Be Expensive

If you are a dog owner you know that keeping a pup around has its ups and downs. Doggies can be expensive. Food, beds, toys, and vet bills all add up. Then of course if they chew up a pair of good shoes, the sofa, or stain the carpets really bad this can get expensive too. But our Dillon made a move (pun intended)  this week we will long remember him for.

It seem Thursday night Kathy saw him in the bedroom chewing on something and went to check it out and found one half of a $100.00 bill in his mouth. I had left one on the night stand and finding it Dillon thought it might be tasty. After taking the note from him, Kathy and I discussed it and since we had one half we were hoping the bank would replace the note. On Friday Kathy took the dogs out to the yard to do their usual good work in  fertilization of the yard and, Yes, there was green coming out. But, surprise, not only two pieces that were obvious parts of the Benjamin, but also two small parts of a $1.00 bill. Seems we have found that this habit was not a one time thing.

We have had to put some new rules in at our house. Dillon cannot be trusted with money.  We see he likes to tear the money in strips before he eats them.

The bank was gracious and did replace the $100.00 bill on Saturday. When I told them what had happened they were grateful I had put it into a sandwich bag. But they also told me we had to have at least 3/4 of the bill which if there had been no discoveries in the yard we would not have had as you can see by the photo. Kathy earned that $100.00 washing it in the utility sink.

Since he has a taste for money now I am going to be extra careful with what I do with any checks that come in. Poor fellow he looks hungry. You can see it in his eyes, he is wanting some cold hard cash.

 

Do You Live By Faith?

The Gallup pole has for six and a half decades been asking from time to time this question, "Do you believe in God?" The answer has been fairly consistent for many years. GALLUP SURVEY The answer is consistent at over 90% do believe in God. I think it is interesting that most  say they believe in God, but so few seem to seek to live that way. Or so we seem to think because on any given Sunday only about 25% of people in the USA go to chruch. If they do not go to church does it mean that they do not believe?

If you do a little research, and I do from time to time, you will find that most reports and reseach say that church attendance is declining.  This would lead you to believe that less and less people believe in God. But I did say most reports. But not all. I read a few days ago that the George Barna research group says the opposite. Here is a quote from an article on the ChurchLeadership.com Website.

"Recent data from The Barna Group (barna.org) indicates just the opposite. Church attendance is actually growing, company President George Barna says — climbing slowly from 1996"s 37% to 47% in 2006. His research shows that other core religious behaviors are also up." 

In the same article Ed Stetzer a leading Southern Baptist concurs with Barna that people are seeking groups other than the traditional church to connect with people to study the Bible and worship in ways not necessarily connected with traditional Sunday morning Church.

But I want to go back to the original question of this blog. Do you live by faith? Too often we equate church attendance with the measure of a person's faith. This is not really the best way to determine the amount or existence of faith in a person's heart.

Jesus said this:

Matthew 7:16a (NASB)
Mt 16  "You will know them by their fruits.

John 15:4-8 (NASB)
Jn 4  "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5  "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6  "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7  "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8  "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

The Fruit is not how many times you are in church. The fruit which wat the people who live by faith have is the Fruit of the Spirit. This is definded by The Apostle Paul in Galatians:

Galatians 5:22-23 (NASB)
Gal 22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Belief and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ will produce this in your heart. Seeking to be with others who likewise believe as you do is the draw of the church. It is Jesus Christ that we seek nothing and else matters.

The reality is the church has too often gotten off track by becoming so narrow in its style of worship and patters of doing church. The world is full of people of faith who are looking for a place to connect to Jesus and be a part of the community of faith. But yet the church remains the only real way for people of faith to come together. There is no doubt about the fact that the church is being transformed and undergoing the most radical changes in its 2000 year history. Different styles of music, different times of worship, styles of preaching are radically different.

Living by faith is what comes by belief in God. God is revealed so that man can know Him by the person of Jesus. To truly live by faith we must not only believe in Him we must trust Him through simple realization that we are sinners and that we must come to God repentant for sin which is against His law. And realizing that Jesus has paid in full for our sin on Calvary. When this is our belief we will begin to seek a way to come together with others who live with this same faith. This is the church. The Bride of Christ. Jesus said the Gates of Hell will not prevail against it.

Those who believe in God will find a way to come together. We as the established church must be ready to reach out and touch the lives of the family of believers.

 

 

 

Who is First? In your life.---- I AM SECOND

Part of life is making new discoveries and I made one today. I am hesitant to say I discoverd a new web site because the life stories of the people who have made this discovery are way deeper, more complex and vastly more important and intense than a web site. But the way to get at this new discovery is through a web site. Changed lives. This is the truth behind discovery these who can say I AM SECOND.

This is something you do not want to miss. Too much is there. Too much to take in one day so they have a 22 day challenge. I am taking the 22 day Challenge.

Who? What is this? ....................Just like everyone else whose story is here you will have to see for yourself who is first ........ and who is second in your life.

I rejoice with each story....... I weep with each story.......But I know who is first in my life.

            GO TO THE I AM SECOND WEB SITE

Finding Fun

When I was a little fellow I was pretty good at pretending. I could make a pair of binoculars from two toilet paper roles or a cave from a blanket in just a second or two. I could have great adventure with just a couple of plastic army men a spoon and a yard full of dirt. My tree house was a pirate ship, a patio was a racetrack, and the bottom bunk of our bunk beds was the inside of a space craft.

But even if I didn't have any toys, I can remember using what was avaible in the yard outside to make some fun. At my aunts house I remember making pine straw pathways and building up walls of pine straw to make a house or even a villiage as a young boy. I could pick up a leaf and peel it down to entertain myself. Pulling the bark off a stick or finding little sticks all the same size was an eay way to build a bridge over an imanginary river. Some sticks it seems were obvious swords and others appeared to be more like my daddy's shotgun to me. The point is I was as a child able to find fun, at least something to keep me entertained in about any situation. I have always had an active imagination and see things with a way to take the ordinary and make it special using whatever was availbe as something else a bit more fun, at least in my mind.

I am now turning the corner to be on the back strech of life as a senior adult, but can I still have fun? Of course I can. The same skills devloped as a child are needed to build a vison in your mind of the points I would try to illustrate in either a sermon or blog post. Building a thought or two sometimes means peeling back a leaf, finding some thoughts all the same size and building a pathway to a new thought. Some phrases are so powerful that they make you think of a shot gun and they can impact you for good or for a troubling thought.

Pictures are powerful and make us think sometimes. What is this? Is one thought as we look at something, but the fun side is always, what could it be? Any situaion and problem any point in life we can always look for some aspect, some ray of hope to find the fun that is there if we just look.