MUSIC -Only His ear knows for sure!

THROWING OUT THE BABY AND THE WATER! [Mark 11:29-34a; controversy]

Some of the religious people of Jesus’ day were challenging His authority for doing His miraculous works; He responded by asking a question concerning a minister who was extremely popular with the people.

The dialogue was, in part, as follows:

And Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me."

And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Then why did you not believe him?' But shall we say, 'From men''?" --they were afraid of the multitude, for all considered John to have been a prophet indeed. And answering Jesus, they said, "We do not know."

Since before I became a believer in 1980, God’s children have been locked in heated debate over the issue of praise or contemporary music as opposed to traditional hymnology.

Let me ask those of you who are opposed to this musical genre, “Is it from heaven, or from men? Answer me.”

I fear many of you will reason as the chief priests, and scribes, and elders, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why do you carp about it?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we will have to contend with the multitudes all over the world who consider this music anointed and holy.” I fear even more that your answer will ultimately be, “We do not know!”

How, I ask, can a composition such as Michael W. Smith’s Agnus Dei or Maranatha’s As the Deer Panteth be anything but from God?

I must admit some of what passes as Christian music is not of heaven or men but right out of the pit of hell … but this has been a problem as old as Eden.

LIGHT - Let the be no darkness at all!

BETTER TO BE BLIND! [John 8:12; Illumination, Jesus, Life] (Added 3 June 2006)

Imagine no red rose, no blue sky, rolling but grey hills, and a several shades of grey Monarch Butterfly. Without light, there is no color. Color is just bands of light reflected off an object; which bands are reflected depends on the nature of the object. Without light, things would be very plain … AND VERY DARK.

So too without Christ … imagine no hope, no love, no future, and no present purpose for living.

Jesus said, "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life."

Without the light of Christ, there would be no spiritual blessings, no sustaining grace, and no “daily bread” worth eating. Just as it is impossible to receive mail without a delivery address, it is impossible to receive a true blessing outside the person and authority of Christ but it is the individuals nature that brings His ultimate blessing.

TAGS: Blessings, Color spectrum,
Darkness, Illumination, Nature

COME INTO THE LIGHT! [1 Peter 1:19; Revelation, Sin, Truth]

One of our church janitors was in my office the other day and told me a fascinating but sad story.

A hardworking man finally had time to go to a night baseball game with his family. They were doing the usual things: eating hot-dogs and peanuts, drinking cokes, and complaining about the prices.

His wife, a registered nurse and mother of his three kids, said something and he turned in such a way that the park lights were directly in his eyes. She gasped and took his face in her hands to have a closer look. Her suspicion was correct, his eyes were jaundiced, a sign of several serious diseases. Within a few weeks her childhood sweetheart and the father of her three children was dead.

Man must come into the light of God to see the ravaging affects of his sins. He is little more than the walking dead without the cleansing power of the blood of the Lamb. The Light reveals the truth for all to see. Many will come into the light too late. [1 Corinthians 4:5]

TAGS: Blood of the Lamb, Death,
Kingdom of God, Sin

CONSUMED BY HIS POWER! [2 Corinthians 4:4; gospel, power (God's)]

My associate pastor, Dan, used to work for Orkin (the pesty people); he was pulpit supply for me this morning and I was blessed to hear an illustration he used on the whole armor of God [Epesian 6:10-17].

Orkin evidently had special Maglites with custom commercial grade batteries in them ... make that battery. Instead of four D-cells it had a single, long battery. I gather They're like those used by law enforcement. At any rate he said it was a blessing when he was crawling around in attics and under houses; it would light up the area from one end to the other.

He used this tool to illustrate the power of the Light of God, Jesus our Lord. When an ordinary flashlight was shined directly into the beam of light coming from his Maglite the beam from the common flashlight was consumed by the power of the more powerful light.

So too the power of Satan, when it is exposed to the Light of God.

TAGS: God, Power of Satan

LAVA LAMP BELIEVERS! [1 John 1:6,7; apostasy, believers, nominalism, testimony, witness]

Lava Lamps have made a comeback in recent years (2002). Many of today’s versions are more creative than when they were first introduced some forty years ago.

All lava lamps have one thing in common, none of them are adequate as a source of light. They're called a lamp, but they're not a lamp.

The age of their introduction was an age of darkness and half-light. People in that day didn’t want a lot of light. You might say they wanted just enough of the real thing so they could call the facsimile by name of the real thing.

Unfortunately, many Christians aren’t much better than lava lamps; they don’t really want the whole Light of God, just enough so they can go by the name of the Genuine Light yet remain in the shadows.

TAGS: Lava lamps, Testimony, Witness

TURNING TOWARD THE LIGHT! [Ephesians 5:7-10; other topics - Holiness, Righteousness] (Added 3 June 2006)

Our adopted daughter, Naomi, was admiring one of her mom’s houseplants. Her older sister, Jennifer, asked her if she noticed how the plant leaned toward the light coming through the front window. She said, “Yeah!” He sister then told her, “If you turn the plant around halfway, the plant will lean back toward the light inside of a week.” Naomi said, “Wow!”

Likewise genuine Christians; separate them from the Light, or turn them away from the Light, and inside a short period of time they will have leaned back toward Him.

TAGS: Conversion, Nature, Turning

Topic TAGS: Christianity, Homoletics, Illustrations,
Light, Preaching, Religion, Sermons

RAPTURE - What ever you do, don't get carried away!

ABANDONED APARTMENTS FOR RENT! [1 Thes 4:15-17; end-times]

New York City landlord Denise M. Lyman announced she would not allow the family of Sept. 11 victim Danielle Kousoulis into Danielle's old apartment to secure DNA to help detect her remains because Danielle had breached her Sept. 1, 2001, lease by failing to give three months' notice before "abandoning" the apartment.

I suppose a lot of people like Ms. Lyman will feel the same way after the Lord catches His sheep away.

BLOOD - O' The Precious Blood!

AS CLEAR AS MUD! [1 Samuel 16:7; cleansing, heart, righteousness]

Rudy, one of the men in our church, took on the job of cleaning and waxing the floor of the ladies bathroom. After stripping the floor, we both marveled at how clean it was compared to its earlier condition. I then had to leave to run a few errands.

While I was gone, Rudy decided to try a detergent cleanser on the floor, just to see if it might improve the appearance even further.

I returned in the middle of his efforts. Half of the already once-cleaned floor was bright and like new, the other dark with grime ... this was the same floor we’d just a short while earlier thought was "very" clean.

Man labors in his efforts to live a clean life ... but the Bible says "there are none righteous, no not one" [Romans 3:10-18]. Man examines himself and says, "I’m not so bad! At least not as bad as so-and-so." But God doesn’t look at the outer man, as we do. What we see with our natural eyes appears clean but what God sees is far from clean.

The blood of Jesus cleanses in such a way that is beyond man’s understanding. That which is stained permanently black from sin is cleansed to pure white. Had we known how truly dirty the floor was in the first place perhaps we would not have been fooled into believing it clean. Were man to know how desperately polluted his sins have made him he would never claim to be "Worse than some but better than most; after all I’ve never murdered anyone or robbed a bank or plundered and raped."


BLOOD STAINED TESTIMONY! [1 Peter 1:19; atonement, power]

A Gideon friend recently told of how their well-known, pearl-white New Testaments were distributed to the Pacific Fleet prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese.

He also told of how, on a later occasion, the evangelist Harry Rimmer was speaking to a meeting of believers interested in military evangelism. During the speech, Dr. Rimmer displayed his own personal copy of the white Pacific Fleet New Testament.

Following the meeting, a member of the audience tarried to show Dr. Rimmer another white New Testament, one given to his son prior to the bombing of the Hawaiian base ... one stained with blood. The man smiled and said, "Yes … this little book is very precious … it’s … stained with the blood of my son." Dr. Rimmer paused for a moment, then held up his personal Bible and said, "God feels the same way about that Book. He loves [it] too. Its pages are stained with the blood of His Son." [Thanks to Brian Stromsoe, of The Gideons, for recently sharing this vignette with our church.]

Indeed it is; each page of Holy Writ is covered with that precious, precious blood which flowed from pierced and bleeding side of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.


MAJOR FOWL UP! [1 Peter 1:17-19; iniquity, licentiousness, permissiveness, secular humanism, sin]

Except for two weeks out of the year, Geese are federally protected game birds. Yet they're killing cattle. Recently a Virginia Beef Corp. spokesman informed WorldNetDaily (WND) that wildlife protections have resulted in overpopulation of the species; they’re crowding – and fouling – pastures where livestock graze.

WND was told that goose droppings, which carry swine and other viruses, are causing a profusion of stillbirths among heifers. Some 65 calves, valued at about $3,000 each on the market, have been lost this year at Virginia Beef's Louden County, Va., pastures … only one of many such pastures affected.

Similarly, federal protection of sin has resulted in the eternal damnation of tens of thousands of American citizens. In recent years representatives of the Christian community have been trying to warn public and private groups about the ever increasing problems associated with the licentious and permissive behavior of our fellow citizens.

Like most birds, sinners have been fouling their own and our nests with government sanction. The absence of moral clarity and its accompanying devaluation of human life has resulted in a holocaust of murders among unborn children. This moral and ethical dysfunction has brought about the eternal loss of an untold number of Americans … at what cost? Just the precious blood of Jesus!

ETERNAL SECURITY - Once sealed, always sealed!

BURNED JUST ONCE! [Ephesians 1:13,14; regeneration, seal (of Holy Spirit)]

Our church secretary, Patsy McDonald, just informed me CD’s now have a fail-safe feature burned into them preventing more than one copy from being made. The manufacturers and producers do this to prevent the lose on their valuable products. Once is all they allow.

God has likewise burned a fail-safe feature into the spirit of "the redeemed" [Ephesians 1:13]. We are originally created in God’s image, then regenerated by the precious blood of Jesus and sealed for all eternity by the Holy Spirit to prevent the loss of His most valuable possessions. Once saved is all that He requires. Glory to God!


CROSSING GUARD! [John 1:12,13; atonement, redemption, salvation]

When I was a little boy I was instructed in how to cross the street at intersections, with and without traffic lights. My elders told me the signal lights were preset for a minimum number of people; they told me I would have to wait until that many people had pushed the pedestrian crossing button. So we all pushed the button again and again until the signal changed.

I trusted the wisdom of my elders in those days; I really thought, for the longest time, I could make the signal change by pushing that silly button. Nearly wore my index finger out doing it.

I’m sure you’ve noticed, if you’re paying attention, how many people still push the pedestrian button over and over, believing, as I did, they have some control over the lights. What is amazing to me is how many grownups still do.

Grownups really do amaze me, especially concerning changing things. In the same way the pedestrian crossing button must only be pushed once to let the system know we’re there, we must only receive Christ once, in order to cross over, changing our eternal destiny. There’s no way to change the entry made to the system once that eternal button is pushed. There’s no standing on the corner of Atonement Avenue and Redemption Road saying, “Opps! I didn’t mean that.” The signal won’t flash a message back saying, “You started to cross before the light changed, your right to cross is revoked!” Or, “You’re too slow, go back and start over.”

We’ve all heard “Christians” who tell of the many times they’ve received the Lord, as if they had something to do with crossing over. Or they say, “It didn’t work the first time.” We’ve also heard those who tells us salvation can be lost and we must receive Christ again. We must be perfectly clear on this: salvation is of the Lord, it is a gift of God [Ephesians 2:8]. Once God saves a soul that soul is saved for all eternity. Push the crossing over button once, sincerely, that’s all that’s needed.

DEATH - A comma between a dependent clause and an independent clause!

DEATH’S SHADOW! [Psalm 23:4; dying, eternal life, justification, sanctification]

Naomi (our seven year-old) was crying quietly into her pillow when I came in. Her older sister, Jennifer, had told me she thought she heard her crying. I asked, "Sweetheart, why are you so sad?" She said she knew mom and I were going to die but she didn’t want us to and it made her sad. I told her I’d take her out the next day and show her why she didn’t need to worry about mom and dad dying.

The next day we drove to a side street, not far from our house. I parked by the curb and showed her a tree about a hundred yards away. I said, "You see that tree?" She told me she did. I asked her, "Do you see its shadow, how it falls across our path?" Again, she told me she did. "Now, if I point my truck straight at that tree and drive as fast as I can, what will happen?" She told me would crash and die. I told her we sure would.

Then I said, "But what if I change my direction, and just drive down the street? We’ll go through the trees shadow, right? What then?" She said, "Oh, I see! If we drive on the street, through the shadow, we go right through. We go through the tree but not the real tree, only its shadow. You mean that’s like dying. Dying is just passing through a shadow." I asked her, "But, Naomi, not everyone changes direction. What happens to them?" She said, "Oh, they crash and die."

I then explained how those who have Jesus in their hearts and have been washed in His precious blood have changed directions, but those who stubbornly refuse the gift of eternal life will continue on their way and hit the tree that they deny exists.

"Honey," I said, "mom and dad have that life because we have Jesus ... we’ll go through the shadow of death but not death itself. And you need to have Jesus in your heart too."

Source/Attribution: special thanks to Charles Swindoll who told a similar anecdote in Talbot Chapel in 1985, without it, I would not have been able to teach this precious truth to my daughter.


THE MASTER’S ROSE! [Psalm 116:15; death (of a loved one), funerals, grieving]

A poor man once acquired a position as gardener for a very rich and powerful rajah in India. His master loved roses and had some imported. The gardener labored hard until it became a labor of love ... especially for the roses. He personally cared for one particular bush, where a bud had grown to full bloom with the most perfect white rose of the deepest pearl-like hue.

One day his master took a leisurely stroll in his garden. Inevitably he passed by the man’s favorite rose; he stopped and spoke admiringly of it to his companions. Turning to a servant he said something and turned to depart. The servant removed a small knife from his pocket and cut the rose from the bush. The gardener was horrified and complained loudly but was ignored.

So devastating was his wound he lost his love for the garden and abandoned his loyalty to his master. It was not long before the change was noticed and reported … time passed, the garden failed and the gardener was once again a poor man.

Does not the owner of the garden have the right to take the best bloom from among all the blooms? When he wants? Without asking? Would the gardener want the lord of the land to take the second best bloom? Or no bloom? Are the blooms the property of the gardener or the rajah?

Oh how it hurts to lose a loved one, the hole their absence leaves is enormous. Even pet lovers grieve deeply when a favorite cat or dog is taken. But all of creation belongs to the Creator and it is in truth a grand compliment when the Creator chooses one of our favorite blooms to grace His heavenly home.

Source/Attribution: adapted from a message by C. H. Spurgeon

IMPRESSION - At least make an impression!

TOO MANY WATERBED SAINTS! [Ephesians 1:18-21]

Ever notice the difference between a water bed and a pillow top bed? On the former, no matter how much it’s slept on no impression is left; on the latter, the more its slept on, the greater the impression.

People’s lives are like that. Some lives are lived and leave no impression; like a finger pulled from a glass of water, when the finger leaves the water closes in behind and no one would know the finger had ever been there.

Other lives are lived and the impression left behind requires decades, even centuries, to erase. A very few are never erased because of the depth of their impression on this world (Socrates; Plato; Michelangelo, Da Vinci; Mother Theresa, Stalin, Hitler, Pasteur, Edison, Noble, Carver, Gandhi, Confucius, to name a few).

Only one man has left an eternal impression, our Lord. When all is over and the ash is blown away, only one name will be above all names, the name of the man Jesus Christ.

WORLDVIEW - From where you're standing you can't see what I see!

WHAT’S BEHIND DOOR NUMBER ONE? [2 Corinthians 6:13-18; Culture, Others, Outreach, Perspective, Separation]

A couple drove several miles down a country road, not saying a word. An earlier conversation had resulted in an argument; now, neither party would concede their position.

As they passed a pig farm with several mules in a nearby pen, the husband asked sarcastically, “Relatives of yours?”

“Yep,” the wife quickly replied, “In-laws!”

This illustrates how two people, viewing the same scene, can see two entirely different things.

How we look at things (our prejudices, presuppositions; our knowledge or ignorance) determines our position on issues and our attitudes toward others.

If two people walked into a room from opposite doorways and found a man holding out a ball, between thumb and forefinger, and where asked what they saw, both parties would say, “A ball!”

However, if asked to describe the ball one might say, “It’s a white ball.” While the other might say, “It’s a black ball.” If prodded for more details, one might say, “It’s a hard, white, cue ball,” while the other might say, “It’s a soft, black bouncy ball.” How can this be? There’s only one ball, yet they both describe it differently.

The fact is the ball is half-black and half-white … both people are correct from their point-of-view (i.e., they approached the object through different doorways). Additionally, each person’s data retrieval system did a search for information on balls: one white ball, the other black balls … they each answered based on their knowl-edge (aka: prejudice).

Life is like that. If we approach a subject (e.g., politics or religion) with a presuppositional belief in abso-lute truth, existence of a sovereign God and His creative power (something out of nothing), our view may be decidedly different from that of our neighbor. Why? Because he approaches the same subject through the presup-positional lens of a belief in relativism, the ascendancy of man, and the ‘big-bang” theory; each of these is covered with his life experiences like icing on a cake.

Take any subject and you will find those with whom you interact holding view-points varying from your own.

Now, instead of a man holding the ball in the middle of the room, assume it hangs by a string from the ceiling. Instead of a rectangular room, assume a circular room. Instead of just two doors, assume an indetermin-able number of doors around the inside circumference.

Finally, assume the other person is free to enter any door in the room; you, however, always enter through the same door (assuming your beliefs are fairly stable). Now, take notice of the following phenomena:

1. If he enters the same door you entered, his view of the object should be the same as yours.
2. If he enters the door exactly opposite yours, his view will be a polar opposite of yours (if yours is righteous, his will be unrighteous; if his is conservative, yours will be liberal; rigid versus flexible; knowledge-based versus ignorance-based; and so on).
3. The closer to your door he enters the room, the greater the similarity between views … that is, the more common ground you have.
4. If the object changes, someone whose views were only slightly different than your own will, more likely than not, enter through a different door on the new subject (aka: issue).
5. Notice, between divergent viewpoints: a.) the greatest possible good is accomplished when there is common ground; b.) the least hope for accomplishment is when there is no common ground; and c.) the least efficient scenario is when there is common ground, but one or both parties is determined to work on uncommon soil.

Every institution known to man, especially the church, would benefit from this insight.

Divergent world-views certainly do separate people, but Christians must not fear engagement with the enemy. The “whole armor of God” protects us; and besides, God’s “grace is sufficient” for every contingency. And, as Paul told Timothy, “God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” [2 Timothy 1:7]

You would be right if you said, “This sounds good but it sounds too much like psychology. Who’s to say one view is better than the other? Isn’t this too much like relativism?” Yes, it is, if all we have is the stage and the two actors; only the stronger of the two has any hope of prevailing.

However, someone hung the ball on the string (The String-hanger/God). This someone knows whose view is the right one; if you’re a true believer, so do you!

For those who practice the doctrine of absolute separation this insight holds no value; but for those who grasp the meaning of the Parable of the Good Neighbor (aka: Samaritan) [Luke 10:25-37] and Paul’s words in about “others” [Philippians 2:3-7] much can be done to woe people to “The Door.” [John 10:1-18]

FLOOD - Don't ever do that again!

DIVINELY HIDDEN SPIGOTS! [Genesis chapters 5-8; Other topics - judgment]

A few years ago, Scientists researching ice flows in the Whitmore Mountains of West Antarctica discovered an active volcano under mile thick ice. Ice melt from the volcano’s heat is evidently soaking the surrounding ground and lubricating nearby ice streams. These phenomena led to the volcano’s discovery.

The West Antarctica ice sheets are of critical importance to oceanic research … you see its base is below sea level, the only one of its kind, making it intrinsically perilous. Global sea levels would increase by as much as 20 feet were the ice sheet to collapse.

Science is a two-edged neighbor of biblical truth: on the one hand, its discoveries and theories often cause the questioning of Scripture; on the other hand, it continues to reveal secrets which provide plausible insights into events buried in the dust of the ages.

For the sake of discussion, let’s say not only do the ice sheets of South Pole collapse but those of the north melt as well. If one sheet can raise the sea level an average 20 feet, how much might the content of dozens?

Biblically speaking, the Great Flood did not take place in this way but it certainly allows one to see the possibility of the flood actually happening … a thing I don’t doubt, with or without the revelations of science.

LIVING WATER - Drink and never thirst again!

DEHYDRATED SOULS AND SPIRITS! [Jeremiah 17:13; Other topics - Lost, Salvation, Sanctification, Satan, Thirst]

In a message on Ananias and Sapphira, Rev. Jim Henry, Pastor of First Baptist Church in Orlando, Florida, tells of how natives in Africa locate water during their all too frequent droughts.

The natives capture a baboon and feed him salt for a few days … when they release him he races to the nearest water hole in the forest. By following the baboon they are led to a source of water they didn’t know existed.

Satan has been feeding man lies (salt) instead of God’s word (bread) for centuries; because of this condition man has become desert parched.

The non-believer, once free of Satan’s grip, immediately races to whatever the world calls moisture (self-help, gurus, meditation, occultism, mysticism, false religions, whatever). In short order, the lost soul finds his thirst unsatisfied and so races on to the next stop on the devil’s treadmill … discovering again his parched throat is unappeased. [cf. John 14:13]

But the true believer (if ever trapped by a snare of the evil one), when freed from his bonds, races to the source of living water [John 7:38] for he is like a tree firmly planted by streams of water [Psalm 1:3]; the parched condition of his experience is never far from Satisfaction.

COVENANTS - God's formal promises!

MOCKING GOD! Various Old Testament; Covenants, Enemies (of Israel), Israel, Promises]

A UN – sponsored Palestinian Authority “tourism” map leaves out all references to Israel. The PA Ministry of Tourism map is called "Palestine, the Holy Land." According to reports, the map includes the entire expanse of present-day Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip but without reference to it. Even a few larger Israeli cities are given Arab subtitles.

Palestinian Media Watch says the message to Palestinians is clear, "Israel does not exist." They add, "None of the official maps show Israel," including those printed in PA school textbooks.

The map is being partially funded by the UN Development Program. Five percent of its funding comes from UN headquarters, with the remaining from donors (including Japan, the United States, and European Union member states).

You can wash a pig and soak him in cologne but he is still a pig; you can play Ostrich if you want – lights out, head in the sand – but the Lion of Judah still roams the hills of Israel and the Ostrich’s rear is still exposed.

God says, "Blessed are you, O Israel; Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD, Who is the shield of your help, And the sword of your majesty! So your enemies shall cringe before you, And you shall tread upon their high places." [Deuteronomy 33:29]

Apparently, Israel’s neighbors haven’t learned anything from the past concerning Israel’s strength … her strength is in the Lord [Psalms 68:35; 115:9].

We know, don’t we, that Israel is two: first, their is ersatz Israel … the one we see and hear about; then there is true Israel, the Israel that Paul speaks, the Israel the prophets cried out over … the one God loves.

Isn’t the church much like that, the ersatz church and the authentic Church … one headless, powerless; the other power-filled, with Christ as its head.

LIFE - The newness of true life!

WITHOUT SPOT OR BLEMISH! [Romans 3:23; Cleanliness, Consecration, Holiness, Righteousness, Sin]

Any one who has traveled to Switzerland immediately notices how spotlessly clean the country seems to be – from their snow capped mountains, to their crystal-pure lakes, from their alpine glades to their doll-like villages.

Even their money seems spotless and to crackle with crispness; every bill looking and feeling new. Old bills are plucked from circulation before they rip or even the hint of a stain can disgrace them. Each year around one-third of all Swiss bank notes are removed from the public’s grasp at a cost of over 20 million Swiss francs (roughly $15 million). The old bills are burned in a furnace.

Why do they bother, why can’t they be more like the British or the Americans? Because, says the chief cashier of the Swiss National Bank, “The first thing you see when you arrive … is the money. It’s like a national identity.” [Adapted from an article by Bhushan Bahree in The Wall Street Journal]

In other words, the Swiss take their image very seriously. This causes me to ask, “What if God wanted a spotlessly clean world like the Swiss want a spotlessly clean country?”

What if God decided to pluck up people before they became too stained or blemished by life? What if one-third of the human race was shuffled off to heaven and hell each year because of the blotch of sin on their lives? After all, the first thing you see when you arrive is people in the delivery room.

The reasons He doesn’t are simple: first, “God so loved the world”; second, “God sent His Son” while we were sin blotched; third, the Good News would not be good news at all; and, fourth, God expects us to keep our-selves unstained from the world [James 1:27; 1 John 2:15-17; 1 Peter 1:13-19]. This doesn’t even address the implied promises in Isaiah 42:1-4.

How sad the Body of Christ has more problems with its image than Switzerland has with its.

CHARACTER - What you are when no one is looking!

WATCHMEN ON THE WALL! [Ezekiel 33:1-6; Ambition, Bribery, Loyalty, Selfishness, Treachery]

I’m told the Great Wall of China was breached only three times; each time it was by bribing the gatekeepers.

Did the wall fail? No! The human failed! Why? The character of the gatekeepers hadn’t developed sufficiently to withstand the temptations placed at their feet. Gold’s gleam and a moment’s profit held more attraction for them than the lives of others, including their neighbors.

DISCIPLINE - What the student is supposed to learn!

GENTLE PERSUASION! [Hebrews 12:7, 8 (9-13); other topics - body (Church), chastisement, surrender]

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? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

In order to blend eggs by hand, the eggs are broken into a bowl designed for that purpose. The cook then takes a wire whip and aggressively whips the eggs. More often than not one egg yolk will refuse to cooperate; the cook must stop the whipping and deliberately break the obstinate yolk.

God desires the body of Christ be a blended whole; He desires each of His children have “a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart.” [Psalm 51:17]

Chastisement (discipline) is never a pleasant thing. But God desires each child work, properly and supplying the essence of who he or she is according to his or her gifts. This causes “the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” [Ephesians 4:16]

Predictably, one member won’t break under the gentle persuasion of the Lord; in such a case, breaking is called for.

How wonderful it would be if we could all fear God, yet not fear the strengthening process of His discipline.

SPECIFIC TAGS:Brokenness, Hebrews

IN FULL UNIFORM! [Ephesians 6:13; Armor (of God), Discipleship, Preparation, Sanctification]

Somehow, the young man found himself standing directly in the path of an oncoming car, the driver hit her brakes; but before either of them could do anything it seemed the ten-year-old was shoulder deep in the windshield of the automobile. “Are you alright,” asked the driver. From inside the football helmet a squeaky voice responded, “I think so!”

The boy, a participant in Pop Warner Football, was on his way home from practice, in full uniform. The driver saw the boy too late to stop; the boy saw the car too late to get out of the way.

It is unnecessary to explain why we are admonished to ...

“take up the full armor of God, that [we] may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

Much like the ubiquitous seat belt, the armor of God is, for the most part, unused by believers today. And yet the devil, that self-centered maniac who drives blind, loves to plow through unprotected children on the King’s highway.

God has provided the armor; but He has left it to us to put it on, one piece at a time. Why we don’t is a mystery. Perhaps it’s “won’t” rather than “don’t.” Perhaps the devil is not the only creature that’s self-centered.

JESSE WHO? [Matthew 10:26; Body life, Commitment, Consecration, Holiness, Righteousness]

Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

Thomas Firbank, in I Bought A Star, tells of a conversation he had with a formula race driver; he asked the professional why he took time to paint and polish the undercarriage as well as all of the other unseen parts of his race car. The driver responded, “If the metal is spotlessly clean, I can see at once if there is a flaw.”

The church needs to adopt this attitude; sanding, grinding, buffing, prepping, painting, and polishing every unseen part. Not so God can “see at once if there is a flaw,” nothing is hidden from His sight [Hebrews 4:13] ... so that we can see our own flaws.

Holiness is from God but the holiness of the saints is not; that responsibility rests wholly on our shoulders!

Soldiers are taught field discipline during peacetime, in the barracks. Polished boots and buckles, along with carefully folded underwear, are not needed during peacetime, nor are they essential for barracks’ life. This discipline is for the field during wartime. In the field, attention to detail IS essential … it cannot be learned under stress, nor is there time to do so! Every boot camp Drill Instructor knows this!

Every army knows (or quickly learns) it is a malicious policy which says during training, “We need not bother the men with the details; they’ll pick them up as they need them in the field.”

Too frequently today we are witnessing an undisciplined demeanor among “the saints”; worse, we are seeing it promoted by many of their instructors.

SPECIFIC TAGS:Commitment, Matthew

GENERAL TAGS: Chastisement, Christianity, Church, Discipline,

Homiletics, Illustrations, Religion, Sermons, Submission, Surrender

FUNERAL - God's occasional rose!

A ROSE IS A ROSE! [2 Chronicles 16:9; Grief, Love]

Marty Robbins, a world famous, western singer of a generation ago, performed a song titled: An Occasional Rose. A key refrain in the song is this line: “I can take the thorns if there’s an occasional rose!”

Note: Point out how we can dwell on the thorn of our lose or we can decide to see (insert deceased’s name) as one of God’s occasional roses.

GOOD NEWS - The Gospel according to God!

HALF NOT TOLD! [Matthew 26:42; Hope, Peace]

Paul Harvey relates half the story to get his listeners’ attention, to stimulate their curiosity … then he tells “The rest of the story.”

The Queen of Sheba didn’t know she had only heard half the story. She told Solomon, “the half was not told to me” … but the half which was told greatly stimulated her curiosity.

The similarities between Sheba as a seeker of truth and spiritual seekers of every age is amazing. There have been times when the half of the gospel has been told and searchers have come from all over to get “the rest of the story”: Moody, Finney, Edwards, Luther, Wesley, Whitefield, Calvin, Spurgeon, Graham … etc. And countless multitudes have followed their lead.

Haven’t you found the Good News to be much more than you were told? It was told to you that you would peace that passes understanding, but the peace was better than you imagined!

Weren’t we told Jesus would never forsake us or depart from us? We believed that but didn’t understand the half of it! Isn’t hope a by-product of the Good News? But the hope we have is beyond description.

Half the story was the best thing we’d ever heard … until we heard the rest of the story! We can’t exhaust the wonders of God … the finite cannot but hear less than all the truth!

CONSECRATION - AKA: spiritual surrender!

SOWING ROTTEN SEED! [Matthew 13:1-23; Consecration, Giving, Nature (old vs. new), Surrender]

If at one of our church potlucks the cooks decided to serve us leftovers, how would we feel?

Say they prepared a scrumptious feast but instead of serving it to us they set the best aside for themselves and served us what was left?

Say the pastor’s wife took the new sack of potatoes home for her family, then mashed the old spuds under the sink, the ones with the mold, for the guests?

In far too many ways the church is treating God in much the same way? How often do we set aside the best for ourselves and give God what’s left over?

Oh some will say, “I always write my tithe check first.” But let’s ask them, “What about your service to the Lord? Do you serve Him first before you serve others or yourself?” Let’s ask them, “What about your talents? Does He get the best of your ability and your intellect?

The Church must remember the main point of the “widow’s mite”? Recall that the Lord’s focus wasn’t the amount which was given, it was the heart attitude before, during, and after the act.

NAME - Who should we say that You are?

NOT YOUR ORDINARY MESSENGER! [Various; Legacy, Word]

Though there is not as much as there was ten years ago, graffiti still abounds. It irritates the sensible among us. Doesn’t it?

But consider how temporary their message is? How impermanent the artist’s name is? First, the name disappears; then, the message passes into oblivion.

History has taken the names and the words of most, but not the name above all names nor the message He brought to mankind.

OBEDIENCE - It is not negotiable!

THE CHIEF’S COMMAND! [Various Scripture; Church, Discipleship, Sanctification, Service]

During WWII the North African Campaign was in a mess and General Montgomery was sent to clean it up. I’m told his first order was as follows: “The orders of the Commander-in-Chief will no longer be open to interpretation ... just action.”

God will not bully or threaten those He has chosen. No gun will be put to anyone's head; no one will be dragged, kicking and screaming into heaven.

We may choose to obey or disobey. Yet there are those who insist they’re obedient, but clearly are not! Such is the problem of the twentieth century.

Were I chosen to write the epitaph for the church of this century, I would write: CLAIMED GREAT PROCLAMATION; PROCLAMATION LEFT UNPROCLAIMED.

[Editor's note: apologies to whomever I acquired this from; I’ve long forgotten its source]

HELL - No, not the one on earth!

ANOTHER GULF WAR! [Luke 16:19-31; Bosom of Abraham, Boundaries, Sheol, Signs]

In March of 1995, two American businessmen crossed the border between Iraq and Kuwait. Though they claimed they didn’t know the border was there … or that they might be arrested … they were arrested.

The border (the one they did not know about) was clearly marked by a continuous, uninterrupted ditch, ten feet deep and ten feet wide with a 15 foot berm on one side. Signs were also posted at several intervals, in several languages.

While stewing in an Iraqi prison, they pleaded for help from the outside. They implored those on the other side of the border they crossed to come to their aid. Help finally came; they were released and sent home.

Similarly, ignoring the gulf between himself and God, the rich man went about his business, disregarding the signs which clearly warned of the danger.

When the time came to pay the Piper, he claimed he didn’t know he could be imprisoned for all eternity, that it was a mistake that he hadn’t understood. He pleaded for assistance from the other side. And so, too, many will come on that same day, saying, “Lord! Lord!”


DEATH AND DARKNESS! [Luke 16:19-31; Other topics - Damnation, Darkness, Death, Eternity, Hopelessness, Perdition]

Carol Fuller was a 72-year-old grandmother living alone in West Hollywood in 1995. During a home invasion robbery she was locked in a closet, her home was ransacked and her car was stolen. All of this took place without anyone knowing. But the worst part followed.

Days later, investigators found her dead in the closet, her fingers worn literally to the bone, trying to claw her way out.

Sadly, Carol Fuller left this world experiencing much the same horror many will experience for the rest of eternity. Try as they might, claw as they might, they will only have death and darkness as their companion.

FAITH - Living or simple!

BEWARE TWO OF A KIND! [Matthew 7:14-27; Believers, Nonbelievers]

Driving down the street one night I saw a peculiar optical illusion: two identical cats were sitting on the sill in a lighted front window. At first, I thought they were statues; they were both coal black (the absence of light compromises color at night) and indistinguishable in size and shape … except they were facing each other.

Then the cat on the left turned to look at my truck as it drove past. That slight motion quickly told me the cat on the left was sitting on the outside sill while the other cat was sitting on the inside sill. Until there was movement by one or the other, I was incapable of distinguishing between the two; the glass separated the one from the other; preventing them from doing whatever cats desire to do together at night.

The crux of this tale is that in it we see the importance of a Christian’s public witness. Until there is movement by one or the other, believers are virtually indistinguishable from nonbelievers. The Bible clearly teaches that believers are known by their actions and not their words [James 1 & 2].

Some might say both must move in order to know one from the other. However, by default, we know both could be nonbelievers … for we are all sinners and have fallen far from the grace of God [Romans 3:23]. Only when one of God’s fallen accepts Jesus as Lord, does he become a new creation; then and only then, do we see his actions as those of a believer. The second party must be supposed a nonbeliever until some action on his part provides evidence of his faith in the God of our fathers.

At one of his crusades Billy Graham said, “I assume everyone is lost until they confirm to me otherwise.” (my paraphrase) We should never believe anyone is a believer solely on the basis or his or her personal assurance.

“Whatever [a believer does] in word or deed, [he should do] all in the name of the Lord Jesus” [Colossians 3:17]; thus, his words and deeds are recognizable as a believer’s words and deeds.

Jesus clarified the importance of words over deeds in Matthew 7:14-27 when He specifically said, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.” He added, "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?”

Care must certainly be taken not to prejudge everything sitting in a window as a statue, but greater care must be taken before we judge everything sitting in a pew a believer. Like the glass in the window, Jesus Christ separates believers from nonbelievers … a believer’s actions will distinguish him from his counterpart.

GOD WILL DO JUST FINE WITHOUT YOU! [Sovereignty]

One night when a diplomat and his valet were required to sleep in the same railcar, the valet noticed his boss having trouble sleeping. “Whazzzzup?” He asked (things have changed). “Oh, I have so many things on my mind; the responsibilities I have to bear.”

“Look, I want to get some sleep, so let me ask you: do you think God was governing the world okay before you were born and don’t you think He'll manage after you're dead and gone?” “Absolutely!” “Okay then, let’s get some sleep, cause He’s gonna do just fine while your alive … right?"

[Adapted from e-Sword Ministries - 2000+ Illustrations, "Faith"]

I SEE YOU! [Matthew 8:5-13]; other topics - omniscience, sight, trust]

A dad stood in the cellar looking up at his son standing at the edge of a trap door. He called up, “I’m right here son, go ahead jump down to me."

The boy hesitated, in uncertain fear. "I can't, dad; I can't see you." Up came the answer, "I know you can't, but I see you!”

We may not see our Father but He sees us!

SINKING IN A SEA OF SIN! [1 Timothy 2:5; Deliverance, Grace, Salvation]

The movie Titanic was a big hit in the last decade. One can almost see and hear the people struggle in the deadly waters of the frigid Atlantic.

Faith links man, who is sinking in a sea of sin, to God, who is our Anchor and our Hope. God uses this link to provide man a way of salvation (Grace); once the link is established, a relationship exists.

The drowning man doesn’t reject a rescue ship’s lifeline in order to grab a pallet which happens to float by ... why? Because the pallet offers only temporary deliverance, whereas the line connects the man to the ship offering deliverance from the jaws of certain death!

God offers the lifeline of faith (in His Son); promising to credit His Son’s righteous to us if we will but trust Him. Abraham did and was reckoned righteous in just this way.

Though faith seems a thin thread to many, in reality it’s an unbreakable cable held by the hands of Almighty God, whose infinite power slowly and surely draws all men to His heavenly shore. [a loose paraphrase of Spurgeon]

There must, of necessity, be a relationship between the drowning man and the rescue ship … the lifeline … or there is no hope of deliverance. Notice, however, it can’t just be a drowning man, a ship, and a lifeline; someone must be on board to pull the man from the water.

THE WINNER’S CIRCLE [1 Kings 3:15; Involvement, Love (of the Father), Parenting]

Gilbert was eight years old and a Cub Scouts for only a short time. Handed a sheet of paper, a block of wood, and four black plastic tires, he return home and gave it to “dad”.

Not an easy task, dad wasn’t real receptive to doing things with his son. But Gilbert tried. Dad read the paper and chuckled at the idea of making a pine wood car with his son. Gilbert’s “stuff” remained untouched for weeks.

Then mom stepped in and the project got underway. Mom had no carpentry skills so she simply read the directions and let Gilbert do the work. He did! Within days the block of wood was becoming a pinewood car; a little lopsided, but looking fine.

Gilbert was feeling quite proud of his “Blue Lightning”; a pride that came from doing something himself. Then came the big night. With his hand full of blue pinewood car hand and his heart filled with pride, he and mom headed to the big race.

Once there, mom saw her son’s was most likely the only car made entirely by a child. All the other cars had cool paint jobs and sleek body styles, perfect for speed. Some children giggled when they saw Gilbert’s wobbly, homely vehicle.

Adding insult to injury, Gilbert was the only boy without a man at his side. A couple of boys from single parent homes at least had an uncle or grandfather by their side.

The race was by elimination. You kept racing as long as you didn’t lose. As you might guess, in the end it was between Gilbert and the sleekest, fastest looking car. As the final race was about to start, mom’s proud but shy eight year-old asked if they could hold the race for him to pray. They smiled at the request but held up the race. Gilbert kneeled in front of all, clutching his funny looking block of wood, and prayed. He prayed for a minute and then stood, smile and said, ‘Okay, I’m ready.”

The crowd cheered. The sleek car roared down the ramp while Gilbert’s wobbled but with surprising speed, reaching the finish line a fraction of a second ahead of the other car. Gilbert leaped in the air and shouted, “Thank you.”

In the “Winner’s Circle,” the Scout Master said, “So you prayed to win, huh, Gilbert?” The small lad answered loudly, “Oh, no sir! That wouldn’t be fair! I just asked God to make it so I don’t cry when I lose.”

Wasn’t it Jesus who said, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all”? [Luke 18:16-17] And wasn’t it Solomon who asked God for wisdom to rule His people when he could have asked for riches or power? [1 Kings 3:5-15] And wasn’t it James who said, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures”? [James 4:3]

Perhaps we have something to learn from our children; maybe even how to be better fathers and role models ... at a minimum, better prayer warriors?

TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN [James 2:17; Other topics - Good News, Gospel]

An old preacher was fond of saying, “There are two parts to the Good News; the first is believing and the second is behaving.” The one who hears but does not do is the one James describes as having dead faith.

WITHOUT EXCUSE! [Romans 1:19-25; Common sense; Experience]

During WWII an American bomber, night flying over North Africa, was chased by an unusually strong tailwind. They weren’t buffeted or threatened, they were simply blown along much faster than they realized.

Unfortunately, the crew calculated distance traveled using fuel consumption and time in the air, ignoring their experience and common sense. This resulted in irrevocably overshooting a course change, which caused them to miss their landing site.

Eventually, they exhausted their fuel and crashed; years later the wreckage was discovered in the Sahara Desert. The crew died because they refused to trust what they had all been trained to trust … their professional discipline founded on experience and common sense.

We too are blown along by a blast, the tailwind of scientific and secular reasoning. Man calculates his position in this world by the things of this world [1 John 2:15,16], ignoring history and his own God-given common sense. This decision can result in an irrevocable journey. However, unlike the crew of the bomber we are terribly buffeted and threatened!

The Bible says, all men must make a course change in their lives [John 3:3] it also says “that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them” [Romans 1:19] and continues:

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

We must trust what God has given us, living by faith [Habakkuk 2:4] and not by sight!

Giving

THANKS FOR COMING – THAT’LL BE $117.50! [Exodus 25:1, 2; other topics - Heart-health; Law -vs- Spirit; Sanctification; Tithing]

Church leaders who are frustrated with members who won’t tithe may take notice of this story.

A synagogue in New Jersey is suing some members for back dues. One member who settled out of court this week says the entire matter is “morally and ethically wrong.” According to CNSNews, when joining, members signed a contract for goods and services in the form of annual dues which cover synagogue expenses. In the mid-90s, a court ruled a synagogue is free to sue its members for non-payment of dues; but cases like this are apparently extremely rare. [Excerpted from www.agapepress.org, December 2000]

Thank goodness it’s rare … perhaps it should be extinct? If I’m not mistaken the Old Testament, like the New Testament, teaches the righteous man lives by faith [Habakkuk 2:4] not by dues … and “gives” out of the heart, not from coercion.

Paul teaches payments are like wages; are we to now believe worship of Jehovah includes the delivery of goods and services for which His people must pay?Would someone call the Commerce Department and see if we can get the latest GSP (Gross Spiritual Product)?

TSUNAMI GIVING

I've been watching the mad race to one up each other with reports on tsunami giving. Haven't we learned by now that it's not the size of the gift but the motive behind it that really matters? Evidently not!

One sixth-grader's gift-giving motives came into question this past year. The AP reported on this recently .

It seems a middle school teacher in South Carolina discovered, during a parent-teacher conference, that the cubic zirconia necklace given to her by the parent's son was actually a one-carat diamond necklace the sixth-grader had pilfered from his mother's jewelry box. The boy probably was suffering from puppy-love and, though the end didn't justify the means, his intentions were probably genuine.

We don't need to be questioning one another over the amounts we've given to assist in the relief of the suffering ... if the motives are genuine.

One benefit of the national and international brinkmanship is that it's driving up the totals.

GRIEF/MOURNING: Reserved for Those Left Behind!

Heavy-laden Pebble Droppers [Matthew 11:28-29; Love, Weariness]

Barney Visser lost a son to an inherited illness. It devastated him. To compensate for the grief he wrote and published a memorial booklet in his son’s honor. The book is titled Chad and is authored by “Dad.” In the book Visser shares a poignant illustration concerning the handling of grief; the following paraphrases that ...

Grief is like carrying a backpack filled with pebbles. Each pebble is like an particle of grief. “We must carry that pack the rest of our lives,” Visser says. “There are pebbles in some … pockets we’ll never … get rid of.”

The objective for the grieving is to get through each day, one day at a time, dropping pebbles as we go, and one pebble at a time. If we don’t, we will become stooped and heavy-laden, unable to accept other burdens life has to offer. As time goes on, we will feel the load grow lighter.

[Barry Visser, Chad, © Barry Visser, 1998, p.11]

How Deep Is Your Grief [Revelation]

Watching the second episode of NBC's new mini-serial, Revelations, was not as "edge of the seat" as episode one, but the personal reward was worth the whole television season.

Co-star Dr. Richard Massey, an astro-physicist, (co-star Bill Pullman) is patiently hearing-out a nun he'd just met, when the subject of death comes up. Massey offhandedly refers to his daughter's murder at the hands of Satanists, expressing the grief he feels.

The nun, a close friend of Sister Jo (co-star Natascha McElhone), responds, "Grief is God's way of letting us know the true depth of the love we have for the one over whom we grieve. To the extent we love, that is the extent to which we grieve." [my paraphrase; I refuse to buy a transcript and I don't have Tivo].

This is deep, introspective, and reflective. Think about those who do not grieve when loved ones die; may we say they do not grieve because the did not love? Think about those who grieve deeply and long; may we say they loved deeply and genuinely?

Think now about the Son of God on the Cross of Calvary dying for the sins of the whole world; may we say that the Father grieved perfectly over the death of His son because He loved perfectly? How deep is that love?

TIMES GONE BY! [2 Samuel 12:19-23; other topics - Death, Guilt, Regret]

I was told of a woman who had been hung up on by her best friend; she was so shocked that she sat for a long time just listening to the dial tone. It wasn’t until the phone company determined the line was dead and disconnected her that she broke down and cried.

Some people are like that when they lose a loved one. They just can’t accept what has happened, so they go through each day listening to a line that has gone dead.

Death definitely separates the dead from the living, but some of the living are hanging on for dear life. They evidently regret things said, things not done, or times gone by. It’s not until something breaks their grip on the dead that real crying and grieving begin, and then it’s deep and passionate.

We must understand that it’s before our loved ones die that we must apologize to them, love them, forgive them, and enjoy them … not after. It’s too late after the connection is severed.