When God sent his Son into the World – He made Him a Missionary!

3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

⁷but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature^[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.

When God sent his son into the world – he made him a missionary!  He came here longing to provide a way where we could be in a relationship with the One who made us.  Good news!  He came to deal with and provide life for others.  He came to tell the good news!  He is the good news.

http://www.imb.org/main/downloads/flashvideos.asp?filename=/files/62/6294/6294-34373.flv Click the link and watch!

One of the joys of being saved is God helps me get beyond a life that is fill in that “its all about me” deal.  When I gave my life to Christ He helped me see that there were others in this world.  This old sinful flesh has its own focus – me.  I know it just like all the others do.  There is nothing wrong with what I want.  There is nothing wrong with having desires or needs that need to be me.  There is nothing unspiritual about wanting to do a specific thing because you enjoy it.  Becoming a Christian does not negate YOU!  Becoming a child of God simply adds other people to your life for whom you deeply care and love.  In other words, becoming a Christian helps you to see beyond your own world and now other people become important.

How do I relate to others?  I have the joy of serving them.  And it is not onesided because of the joy of being with believers we all serve each other.  In a perfect world that works!  In a spirit-filled world that is a certain expectation.  It’s fullness will be seen in heaven one of these days.

I will walk in a building full of people in a moment.  It can be all about me…or…it can be – for me – about others and serving them.  I am so glad that I have the chance to serve other people.  I wake up this morning knowing I get to worship God, Thank Jesus, depend upon the Spirit of God and God gives me the chance to be used by him to minister to the needs of people.  I am one fortunate fella!

Servant, huh?  Maybe that is what missions is all about!

Blameless

Blessed are they whose ways are blameless,
who walk according to the law of the LORD.

The readings this morning started in Ephesians.  And this section is just one of the sections… ¹⁵Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. ¹⁸Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. ¹⁹Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, ²⁰always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  In light of the world around him, the culture in which he lived, the needy condition of the believers in Ephesus, Paul had to speak straight to them.  He did not cut it a bit.  The traveling through Psalm 119 seems to have parallel perspectives about the same issue.  Live according to the Word of God and you will be blameless.

תָּמִים – (I know you are impressed at my ability to put Hebrew characters here)  the word is undefiled in the King James Version.  In Strong’s it is defined as -1 complete, whole, entire, sound. 1a complete, whole, entire. 1b whole, sound, healthful. 1c complete, entire (of time). 1d sound, wholesome, unimpaired, innocent, having integrity. 1e what is complete or entirely in accord with truth and fact (neuter adj/subst).  Strong, James: Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Ontario : Woodside Bible Fellowship, 1996, S. H8549.  I usually don’t go to any support work when I work through this discipline…however, I was trying to get my heart around the word blameless…or Undefiled…  sound, unimpaired, innocent, having integrity.  In other words there is some weight to the life of those believers who put their faith in the directives of God’s Word.  The whole of Psalm 119 is that we “live out” what we are reading.

Grace is not the ability to live like I want.  It is the privilege given to us by a loving God on the basis of what our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ once and for all purchased for us on Calvary, to live like we should live and our guideline is the written Word of God!  Happy people “blessed people”, those who are to be congratulated are people who live out the Word of God.  We do march to the beat of a different drummer.  We chose when we gave our lives to Christ to walk to the beat of the Word of God…He is a different drummer.  I died to my self.  He is doing His best work when He is allowed to work in my life through the guidance of the Word of God.

Stay in the Word is his command to me today.  A byproduct of that will be a life that is well pleasing to the Father in heaven.  Oh, that it would be so this day!

Paths Beyond…

³³Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and^[i] knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!

Yesterday I sat at the funeral for a young lady in her 40’s.  Fortune had been hers for she was trying her best to deal with the second set of lungs that were provided for her.  She spend her entire life headed toward a life of struggle.  I listened as Preacher Tedder did a splendid job of reminding us of how God is Sovereign and how He alone is in charge of everything in life.  She had a life time of miracle after miracle and for the last 19 of them struggled each day to overcome each challenge.

I am reminded again that He knows!  Nothing passes his gaze and directions.  My life verse rings again in my ear when Proverbs 3:5-6 screams, “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, lean not to your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him and HE WILL DIRECT YOUR PATHS…”  His paths are as my verse says today “beyond tracing out…”  I am reminded to look at my own circumstances in light of His direction.  I am to trust in the “…the depth of the riches of the wisdom and^[i] knowledge of God!”  Living by faith demands that I trust him in the now.  I am taking my journey with Him and He is leading and He is guiding toward His divine end.

His grace still amazes me.  I am asked today to be caught up with wonder and praise at the goodness of God.  His perfect plan for my life is in order.  His journey for my life finds good days and tough days.  He is so in love with me.  I am so glad.  Today I am reminded of a quote provided to me by one of my Whitestone Friends!  Len Strozier quoted -

“God is thrust onward by his love, not attracted by our beauty. He comes even in moments when we have done everything wrong, when we have done nothing… when we have sinned.” (Carlo Carretto)

I am glad he is still coming to me!  How awesome is His wisdom and ways!

Thankgiving Journey

God is to be praised through all things.  The last several days have been more than rich for me.  This past week our church celebrated the Lord’s Supper together.  It was a service that allowed us all to focus on the Father in Heaven and His precious Son.  How grateful can I be for the sacrifice that he payed on Calvary for my sins.  His only instructions in the scripture for us to remember is the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper.  The simplicity of how God lets us remember what his Son did through a small piece of unleavened bread and a small cup of grape juice blows me away.  Remembering is a vital part of the journey of life.  I am thankful for what He did for me and how that was applied to my heart June 6, 1960.  May God be praised.

God is always in control of all things.  I am looking forward to the day where we will be whole and every touch of sin disappear from our presence.  Last night my wife comes in to where I study and tells me that she received a phone call from her brother, Dr. Rev. Billy Joy, telling us that his wife’s father had died.  86 years and now in the presence of the Father.  They are not the only ones who have faced death in our fellowship.  I am remembering Clarissa Bradford and Bishop Bell as they faced the death of their preaching brother, Lawrence Bell, who due to cancer found his way into the glories of heaven.  Death touched my own family this past year as we celebrated the home going of Nancy’s mother, Betty Treadway earlier in the year.  Life journey seems to be anchored to major events that define where we are on that journey.  What we go through is not the focus.  Who we journey with is vital.  Comfort in all three of those areas are found in our relationship with Christ.

I have the joy of having my mother with me.   Rosalind Crooks lives in Marietta, Georgia.  To start with Monday was a pleasure for me in that I had the  chance to start early and arrive late in Marietta.  I had the goal of seeing Pinecrest Baptist Church (where I served in my college days working with music and youth under the leadership of a man named Bud Holland – as a side note:  I would love to find out where he and his wife are serving).  Highway 11 leads from Interstate 85 all the way to Cleveland, GA.  I was not able to find the old Waffle House that was in Gainesville, GA.  I don’t know how many times I had to drive from Cleveland to Gainesville but was thrilled to note that the road was still there but the journey was filled with so much change.  I guess for some reason we always hope that when you go back to places you have been after being gone for 30 years that they would be just like were when you were there.  Wrong.  I have been in Florence for 21 years.  21 years ago if you got to a red light here in Florence and four cars were waiting on the light – you had a traffic jam.  It is that way now at 4 in the morning.  Things change.  Traveling through the foot hills seeing my old college and the places we all used to visit was a great reminder of the journey of life.  I was reminded not to gripe about our traffic issues after being in a city that is one big traffic issue.

Mom spent Monday in Ellijay, GA finding some of those good apple fried pies that she brought home for me to taste.  She enjoyed being with her neighbor from across the street.  We met that night and enjoyed supper together at one of Nancy and my favorite restaurants.  It was good to be at the home place.  I remembered where my journey started.

Doug, Nancy’s step father, joined our family on Wednesday evening.  We were delighted to have him with us that day.  He is such a find gentleman.  We love having him around.  We joined our friends, Randy, Debbie, and Ashley Cribb at their home for a Thanksgiving feast.  And, YES!, I took advantage of every calorie on the table I could possibly grasp.  There was way too many items to select from but the sweet desserts, the good cup of coffee, combined with delightful rewards of good friends and a roaring fire outside was indescribable.   Rocking chairs around that fire pit provided us opportunity to think and thank ourselves happy all day long.  We missed Nancy’s mom’s presence with us.  Last years picture has one person missing – but she “…ain’t missing when you know where she is…”   Her journey is now complete.  There is a feast that we will share with her one of these days.   We are a blessed family.  I love it.  Jason and Jenn found themselves in Maryland this year as they celebrated Thanksgiving with her family.  I am so thankful that Jenn’s family have fallen in love with my son and have made him a part of their family.  They are a wonderful group of people and a pure delight to be around.

It has been a busy week for all of us.  Mom doesn’t know it yet but Sunday will be an interesting day for her thanks to Carlton Pridgen.  Part of the process of being a Marine affords him the opportunity to stay connected to his Marine roots.  As a surprise, Carlton will present her with a medallion representing and remembering her late husband’s service in the military.  He will also present her with a small vial of black sand that came from the beach of Iwo Jima where my father served as a Marine.  Her journey in Florence will end with a journey through the past in remembering and celebrating the service that my father rendered to this country. I plan on taking my mother home Sunday evening.

Today I will join my wife in celebrating her birthday again as we go to the Clemson/South Carolina game.  Notice the order.  Mr. Bell will pick us up in a few hours and we will spend the better part of today getting in and out of traffic.  Wow!  Vehicle traffic and people traffic.  Noise upon Noise…and yes it is cold and windy here today.  Noon should find us in better shape weather wise.  I am certain that Nancy will bundle up.  She is looking forward to the game.

I am blessed with a God that loves me…a wife that has the courage to share my life with me and love me…three beautiful children we both love and adore…family that we are privileged to have both near and far…friends that add such color to my journey through this life…employment that still provides for our life’s journey…and a church family that allows me to hang around them.  I am blessed.  It is a “Thanksgiving Journey!”

 

He reached out his hand and touched him…

³Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cured^[b] of his leprosy.

You don’t touch lepers.  It just ain’t done.

The rules say not to touch him.  Jesus didn’t “have” to touch him…he wanted to touch him.

You stay away from Tuberculosis patients as well.   My grandfather was a dairy farmer and as a byproduct of his constant contact with cows he contracted tuberculosis from the cows.  He died when my father was four years old.  Mom was nineteen and dad was twenty-nine when they married.  They met each other at a tuberculosis sanitorium called Battey Hospital.  Construction of Battey General Hospital started in March of 1943 to serve  as a hospital for sick, wounded and disabled World War II servicemen.  It was fully activated on September 1, 1943 with Col. D.B.Faust as its first executive officer.  The hospital was named for Dr. Robert Battey of Rome Georgia, who was a nationally famed pioneer in the surgical treatment for ovarian cancer and who built a medical complex in downtown Rome.  In June 1946,  the complex was transferred to the State of Georgia for a tuberculosis sanitorium.  The photo was taken during it’s peak when Battey General Hospital housed 2,000 tuberculosis patients.  My mom and dad were two of the patients.  Both of them contracted the illness as a result of being physically run down.  Enough of the family medical history.

I am reminded of their dilemma.  Instead of letting them run rampant and infect the general population with tuberculosis, they were allowed to go to Battey Hospital and recover completely.   It was and is highly contagious.  Dad and mom had tuberculosis.  This man in our scripture lesson today had leprosy.  They were set aside.  They were not allowed to come near to the rest of the family.  They had each other.

I can hear the cries of the lepers as they gather outside of the city where they are untouchable and made to cry out, “Unclean!” as the people pass by.  It must have been a terrible thing to have to be rejected and neglected by those who could have made your life so rich.  I was reminded again this evening that my sin made me unclean.  Religion tried to fix it but couldn’t.  I was enjoying religion until I met Grace.  Slowly I allowed grace to so infuse my heart that religion finally died.  I was let out of my sanatorium of religion.  I was released from being a stranger and He took me in.  He touched my life, and grace flooded my soul.

The leper was healed!  He danced with glee at his new life!

Mom and dad never did have a single problem with the TB.  Healed?  You bet, ya!  Ain’t it just like God to do that kind of work.

The sinner was healed!  The blood of Jesus still makes the sinners clean!  I get a chance when I gather with the rest of the folk at the church house to worship The God that loves me like that!

The word “immediately” blows my mind.  I was forgiven “immediately”.  Amazing!

Big Daddy Weave.  Now there’s a name I can live with.  Fields of Grace came to my mind as I thought about how God touched my life!  I sing it as I go to bed tonight.

There’s a place that I love to run and play
There’s a place that I sing new songs of praise
Ooh it’s
Dancin with my Father God in fields of Grace
Dancin with my Father God in fields of Grace

There’s a place that I lose myself within
There’s a place I find myself again

Ooh it’s
Dancin with my Father God in fields of Grace
Dancin with my Father God in fields of Grace

There’s a place where religion finally dies
There’s a place that I lose my selfish pride

Ooh it’s
Dancin with my Father God in fields of Grace
Dancin with my Father God in fields of Grace
Dancin with my Father God in fields of Grace
Dancin with my Father God in fields of Grace

I love my Father, my Father loves me
I dance for my Father, my Father sings over me
I love my Father, my Father loves me
I dance for my Father, my Father sings over me
and nothin, nothin, nothin can take that away from me
and nothin, nothin, nothin can take that away from me

There’s a place where religion finally dies
There’s a place that I lose my selfish pride

Ooh it’s
Dancin with my Father God in fields of Grace
Dancin with my Father God in fields of Grace
Ooh come dance with our Father God in fields of Grace
Dancin with my Father God in fields of Grace

What if?

¹ What if the Lord had not been on our side?   Psalm 124

For those who know me, they understand my love for Southern Gospel music.  I remember Johnny Cook singing this song.  I am certain that the Israelite folk did not sing this psalm like The Statesmen.  For those of you who have a need to pass this way just be patient with this preacher and he will get worse!

I could not help thinking where I would be if it hadn’t been for the Lord on my side.  I am thinking of where that song has been sung.  The people of God travel through life preparing themselves for each day reminded that “if it had not been for the Lord on our side…”  I am thinking of people like Fred who watched his wife slowly slip into eternity a day at a time saying, ‘if it had not been for the Lord on our side…”   I repeat it each day as I think of where our country is going under its present leadership and find comfort in the idea “if it had not been for the Lord on our side…”

I wonder if it was sung on the shores of Iwo Jima as the men who were alive sang that phrase “if it had not been for the Lord on our side…”  I wonder if the young lady at South Florence High School who flipped her car the other day three or four times into a field if she is not singing that same tune.  I know I will be singing it this December as I watch two more graduate from school – one from college and another from high school.  Where would I be?  I know where I would be!  I give HIM praise!

In the text it is repeated twice… no intention for you to miss it.  I am wondering that this coming Sunday as I drive on the church property, could it be that I remind myself prior to the Lord’s Supper Service that I walk around the property and remember that “…if the Lord had not been on our side…”  Where would I be?  Where would I be?

Jeremy just completed a family history that is swimming in heart troubles, cancer, severe obesity that traces down my side of the family and Nancy’s as well.  Add to that a great number of our family who has been swamped with those issues and then add chain smoking to that.  I was looking at my three children, daughter in law, wife and am reminded how fortunate I have been to be under the care of God.  We are blessed.  “…if it had not been for the Lord who is on our side…” Physical blessings!

Spiritually!  Just to think how God has blessed.  God invites me to journey with him each day.  He would have more than enough reasons to stop lovin’ me but he never stops.  His love for me is fixed.

It is true – Our help is in the name of the Lord!

I think I hear Tammy singing this song.  I know Wayne is singing it – cancer nor heart troubles win!  I hear Elizabeth singing it from Texas.  I hear Georgie singing that song!  Even old Smith sings it – loudly – “…if it had not been for the Lord on our side…”

Brace yourself, son!

¹ Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind: ² “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? ³ Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.

Job has had the blessing of a whinny wife and several “friends” if that is what you want to call them.  Someone told me the other day (and I know before I write it that someone will think that this is inappropriate for a preacher to write in his blog – so get over it) that a friend is someone who will visit you in jail but a REAL friend is someone who is sitting inside the jail with you talking about how much fun you had together.  Job had friends that would visit him while he was in jail.  They sat across from him looking through the thick glass while holding the phone in their hands and analyzed Job’s experience in light of their own ignorance sharing that vast amount of stupidity with Job.  Job was patient and was able to experience something that very few people have ever experienced and that is God coming along and saying something like, “I have had enough.  Now it’s my turn.  Brace yourself, buddy, you are fixin’ to experience a “ride from heaven” and I’m drivin’!”  I bet it’s like discovering that the principal was standing there and heard you say something dirty or caught you smoking in the boys bathroom – except on a Divine level.

There are so few people who will sit on the ash heaps of your life  and share it without judging.  There are a special few (and I use that word special very sarcastically) that make great sideline quarterbacks and run their mouths about your life and seem to find it so difficult to make the same wisdom apply in relationship to their own life.  The are professional people who can point out with such clarity the pitiful points in your life and analyze them to death.  But turn it around and try to share with them about their lives and they get offended.  I figured that Job had heard all he could stand.  One thing for sure – God certainly had!  And HE SPEAKS!  And when he speaks – all of us listen!

I guess there are days where we forget that God is still the author and finisher of life and he is aware of all things.  He heard every word spoken by Elihu and thought “thunk” by Job.  God loved Job.  Job was honorable in the way he handled this testing.

Brace yourself son.  It’s like he said, “Hush!  It’s my turn to talk.  All your pitiful rattlings are over.  Let Me share with you My thoughts.  Take notes, son.  You’re gonna’ need ‘em before it is all over!”

Today, I am reminded to remember that there is ONE who is listening and watching.  His grace reminds me that I can have that conversation with Him.  I am not distant!  I am close!  I like that thought!

With me!

¹³ The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

God is near.  He is not hiding from us hoping that we will “make it” through life.  His love is so deep for us that he never  leaves nor forsakes us.  He is present with us.

Yesterday I officiated at Bob Bramblet’s memorial service.  In the middle of the service I shared a legend told about the Cherokee Indian practice of allowing a young boy to be initiated into manhood.  It goes something like this.

A Cherokee Indian father takes his son deep into the forest, blindfolds him, and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump all night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sunlight shine through it.

He cannot cry out for help from anyone. Making it through the night, he will pass the initiation, and become MAN. He cannot tell other boys of this night because each youth must come into manhood on his own.

The boy is naturally full of fear. He can hear all the noises of the wild beasts, and wonders even if some human might do him harm. The wind howls about him during the night, but he must remain stoic if he is to become MAN. Finally, after a horrific night the sun appears and he removes his blindfold. It is then that he discovers his father sitting on the stump next to him. He had been watching him the entire night, protecting his son from harm.

I memorized this verse in the King James Version when I was much younger.  It has been a statement of encouragement to me.  I am reminded quite often that temptation is a traveling partner for me.  I am much older now and able to listen to the Spirit of God speak to me and warn me.  I am no longer a child.  I have grown up in some areas of my life.  He is with me at all points of my life.  The guarantee of the verse that held my attention today is my relationship with the Father.  He never leaves me nor forsakes me.

All I can say today is “Thank you, Jesus!”

Want and Ought

⁹Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.

Wiersbe, Warren W.: Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament reminded me, “…whatever a Christian does, even if it does not hurt him, must never hurt anyone else. While we may think that this principle limits us, it really does not, for it allows us to be a greater blessing to others and to win the lost to Christ…”

When you are free, you want to run!  Flying becomes an option when you have spent a lifetime under bondage.  I am reminded of soldiers who continued to fight after World War II because they never knew that the war was over and that they no longer had to fight.  They were free.  I remember several of my friends who were in special operations in the military who had the dubious task of being dropped behind enemy lines telling me of the joys of releasing American prisoners of war.  To them being “free” took some getting  used to.

Grace has set us free!  However, this grace and freedom does not blind us to our influence on those around us.  I watch Jesus “live” in front of the disciples and especially in front of those who are his inner circle.  He was careful for their sakes.  He was not lax in his approach to grace.  He journeyed with these special friends for a little over three years.  They saw him laugh and I am certain they saw him cry.  The watched the way he related to those who were broken with love and compassion (and even tears) and he demonstrated complete control when being harassed by religious law keeping leaders who knew nothing of freedom.

People are special to Christ.  If they are special to the Son of God, then it would follow that we, too, should care deeply about those He cared so deeply.  Oh, yes we are free to live.  Our hearts are releaseded from guilt and forgiveness is complete.  It is interesting that we no longer find ourselves in the middle of the picture.  We genuinely care about other people.

She lived next door to her sister.  Her sister’s husband was smitten with cancer.  He had already been to the doctor and now it was time for cancer treatments.  Several times a week his wife would have to taker her husband to endure treatments that made him unbelievably sick and the recovery was seemingly worse than the illness.   Watching her sister and wife of this dear man deal with this whole process moved her heart.  Knowing that as a teacher she had her summers free and knowing that her sister had to work every day, she asked that she be allowed to care for her sister by letting her go back to work and care for her sister’s husband during the summer while she was free.  She put her life on hold.  She put herself aside.  She cared about someone else.  In a world where it is really “all about me” we can see the difference that Christ makes in our lives when it becomes about some one else.  She limited her liberty and freedom for the benefit of folk she loved.

The connection for me is not hard.  If that is true in giving your life for others and caring about where other people are – then it would follow that we care about where other people are in their walk with Christ.  Exercising great care in our judgments and journey is important.  We do not live in a vacuum.  Our lives affect others.

Help me exercise great care today.  Help me care as I journey with ohter people today.  There is a big difference between doing what I want to do and doing what I ought to do.  I am free to do both.

¹⁸For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Dr. Jerry Vines tells of the devastating, dissipating, dominating effects of sin.  He preached a sermon called “Truman Snow’s White Christmas”.  It is the true story of a man named Truman Snow who had a drinking problme.  Because of his drinking problem he was estranged from his family.  He was in a motel instead of with his family at Christmas time.  Dr. Vines was able to go to that motel and lead Truman to faith in the Lord Jesus.

When he went to witness to him that day he had a little minature Christmas tree in the motel.  Under the Christmas tree was a beer bottle.  Dr. Vines was able to lead him to faith in the Lord, and some days later he went back to check on Truman.  The first thing he did was to look at that little Christmas tree and under that tree was a Bible.

The country group “Alabama” sings a song I”m not That Way Any More!  I know that some of you think that all I listen to is classical religious music and quote hymns.  I enjoy listening to all kinds of music. I realize that you don’t get your doctrine from country songs.   I know that they are not some sanctified male chorus from a monastery somewhere…However, the song they sing states a certain truth…If you change the word “time” to “Christ”

We used to get crazy every Saturday night
We drive into town and get feeling right
A child of the 60s in ‘74
But I’m not that way anymore

Well I burned the tires of my Chevrolet
Trying to impress the girls that I date
And I’ve been a gambler when I couldn’t score
But I’m not that way anymore

I’m not that way anymore
Time’s closing yesterdays door
I’m just as happy as I was before
‘Cause I’m not that way anymore

American Bandstand, The Sullivan Show
I listened to the Opry on my radio
Well Dick Clark’s still looking as young as before
But I’m not that way anymore

Well I swapped my loafers for cowboy boots
And bought me some jeans, gave away all my suits
My razor is rusted my barber is bored
‘Cause I’m not that way anymore

I’m not that way anymore
Time’s closing yesterdays door
I’m just as happy as I was before
‘Cause I’m not that way anymore

I’m not that way anymore
Time’s closing yesterdays door
I’m just as happy as I was before
‘Cause I’m not that way
And you’re not that way
We’re not that way anymore

Christ changes our lifestyle.  We don’t have to live the old way any more.  We are free.

“…but to us who are BEING SAVED it is the power of God…”  I am so glad that He is at work in my life this morning.  Today affords me another chance to humbly and thankfully stand in His presence and say, “Thank You, Father!”  I am reminded from time to time to remember where I could have been if I had not run head long into the POWER OF GOD to consistently change my life.  I am grateful that I have that option now.  I don’t have to live that way any more.

Thank you, Father!

Knowing Him – It’s the desire of my heart!

²⁸ And he said to man,
‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
and to shun evil is understanding.’ “

God is all knowing.  He lives in us.  He becomes to us a living resource of wisdom and understanding.  I am convinced He wants to reveal His thoughts to us more than we desire them.  His heart is for us to know Him.  Knowing Him is the beginning of wisdom.  For Job to say that the fear of the Lord – that is wisdom and to shun evil is understanding, is powerful.  The context is he is living around and with people who just don’t get it.  They are not connected in a relationship with the Living God.  Job obviously knows God.  God and the enemy were in a dialogue and God is the one that asks the enemy if he has considered God’s servant Job.  They were not casual in their relationship.

He lives IN us and therefore His character runs through our spiritual veins.  He communicates with me today.  In fearing Him I learn to trust what He says and to follow His guidance even though my human GPS system screams other directions.  I am trusting IN His directions.  Following His wisdom affords me the chance to understand His purpose and ways for my life.  I trust in His love and direction for me and thus I go His direction.  This could be construed to be “shunning evil” – not going some other way.  I am assuming that shows that I understand the directions of God.

To know God is to willingly and lovingly follow His direction for my life.  I am not forced to do so.  Grace provides the possibility.  I have to appropriate His grace in my life and live in that power.  I am not forced…it is not just a good thing to do…it is the desire of my heart…

 

I’m Dressed…

⁴ How then can a man be righteous before God?
How can one born of woman be pure?

That grace stuff keeps comin’ up!  It is amazing how many find it hard to let grace be grace.  Smith commented on his facebook page this morning reminding me that “…we do not get what we deserve; we get grace and that is the hope of this generation…”  His prayer continued as he reminded me again to walk in grace and thank God that I do not get what I deserve.

Our grace ain’t cheap!  One of my favorite verses of that old son Rock of Ages – “…nothing in my hand I bring…simply to the cross I cling…”  Now let me qualify my remarks – for the believer – we can do nothing but rejoice in the grace of God.  Because of Christ we do not get what we deserve.  Because of Christ, I can celebrate grace.  Because of Christ I can STAND in His righteousness and celebrate being accepted before God.  It is the Cross of Jesus Christ that allows me such confidence.  Someone had to deal with our sin and HE did.

To answer “Bildad the Shuhite” – The only way to be pure before God is to come to Him dressed in the righteousness of Christ!

I am glad that I am dressed!

But HE Knows…

¹⁰ But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

What confidence!  That thought continues to ring in my head…

Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall. (Psalm 55:22)

¹⁰ Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Is 41:10

Phil 4:19  ¹⁹ But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

⁷ Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.   1 Peter 5:7

The phrases are rich…I am thy God…I am with thee…I will strengthen thee…I will help thee…I will uphold thee…I shall supply all…he cares for me…He will sustain…  How much more do we need to know.  I have been challenged here of late to re-think my time of worship.  I don’t pick up my faith buggy at the door where the Christian Wal-Mart Greeters are…”Good Morning, Mr. Crooks.  I hope you find all that you need.  We are glad we can service YOU!”  I simply remind myself that ALL I need lives in me.  I am here to worship in confidence the God who IS – who CAN – who does!  Why would I ask for what I already have.  My buggy is already full.  I simply come to appropriate all that I have in Christ.  I celebrate God who because of Christ’s great sacrifice has provided all this for me.

Only God knows how old the book of Job is in the Bible.  It’s record seems to be a current as today.  Here Job who has been battered by this time of testing, still rings out the chime of confidence in the God who when the testing is over will find God bringing him forth as gold.  He does not ignore the struggle.  He does not hide the pain he is feeling.  He does not run from reality.  However, he never lets go of his trust in God.

Trusting in God.  There will always be a stress on this side of heaven where the flesh and the spirit toss and turn fighting within to gain some kind of control over the internal GPS system in our faith’s control center.  I guess if you center your life around the flesh then the circumstances, obsticles, fears, and the like will always abound.  However, If we are bold enough to keep our eyes on Jesus and stay focused on HIM – eventually we shall come forth as gold.  I never said I like testing.  Sometimes my perfect God that I have in a box that I like, allows me to see a side of Himself that throws me for a loop.  I am learning that in the midst of the struggles that I am facing to Trust in God.

It is all based in a relationship with God.  When you get to KNOW Him you can TRUST Him.

Long on Grace and Short on Religion

³⁰She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.”

I can’t imagine what that woman felt.  He daughter was under the attack of the enemy – an evil spirit was in her.  The mother found Jesus and fell at his feet begging for her daughter.  I have seen a mom in my office unable to talk from crying because she could not provide for her family.  I have seen the hurt and the pain that comes when a mother cares and her heart is broken because of something that has happened.

A few minutes in the presence of Jesus can make a world of difference.  She went home.  Saw her daughter lying there in her right mind and with out the devil attacking her.

That is a great piece of history and the account takes my breath away.  Our needs are great.  God’s power is unbelievable.  Jesus really does care.  BUT the story is couched in a litany of religious stories.  Here is group of religious people who care more about how you look and the way you act than living in the power of Grace.  Grace arrived on the scene.  Religion did nothing for those who needed freedom and forgiveness.  People with needs and cares are abused as the demands of religion add to their guilt and despair.

I know that you all think I am some sort of weirdo, but every now and then I run into a lyric in a song that makes me want to jump.  It’s not in our Baptist Hymnal and I understand that you cannot find the song in the old shaped note Broadman Hymnal.  I know that John Wesley didn’t write the lyrics and I am certain that they will never sing this as a call to worship at First Baptist Bible Belt Baptist Church – but I thought it was “spot on”…  The title of this spiritual giant is “I catch ‘em, God cleans ‘em”.  One verse in the middle of that  (and I didn’t even have to translate it from the Latin version) -

Yeah, it didn’t take  long for him to catch my attention
He was long on Grace and short on religion
He said a prayer and that was all she wrote

He said, “Amen!”, and God as my witness
I fell in that big ole net of forgiveness
And before I knew it we were all in the same old boat.

If you want to hear it for some reason click here.

He was long on grace and short on religion – now there’s you a line and a half.  Jesus was long on grace.  He held children, touched lepers, paid attention to moms that fell at his feet and begged, was sensitive to a woman who had been caught in adultery and loved on her with his grace, talked to a woman at the well, helped a man in a grave yard to never be the same again, and the stories could go on and on and on.  These are people that your average “religious person” would almost get the chills to have to mess with.  Yet those hurting and wounded people found such comfort and hope in the presence of Jesus.

He has freed me from religion and helped me to enjoy His grace.  He has helped me to take the agony of not matching up to the rules and cast them away.  I cannot meet the demands of the rules.  I needed one who did and I found HIM.  Now the rule keeper lives in me.  I am free from all that.  He allows  me to be real with who I am and helped me to hear His voice to enjoy all the freedom that grace affords.

Amazing, ain’t it!

Hard Hearts and Healing Hands!

I’m just saying!  Sometimes when you ask God to give you a verse out of four or five assigned chapters for reading, your mind is caught off guard by the very first verse.  We have been mentioning some of the names parents give children and this one struck me sideways.  I’m just saying…that’s all…

¹ Then Zophar the Naamathite replied: Zophar!  Wow… With a name like “Crooks” I can comment on names.  I can see someone from North Georgia where I used to go to school say, “And who are you, son?”  I could imagine telling them, “I am Zophar the Naamathite.”  They would reply, “You ain’t from ’round here, are you, son?”  I am certain that someone who graduated from a deeply spiritual place can take that verse and preach a four hour sermon on the implications of being Zophar the Naamathite – would be able to find three points that start with “P” and find a tear jerking story to close the sermon.   And I am certain that I just offended all the people with the name Zophar.  “Oh, Lord I apologize and bless all the pygmies….” ( don’t know where that came from…ha ha…the great theologian LCG)  I am again confident that if I did some serious research that the word “Zo phar” is similar in its derivation to the word “Come here”…  Zophar is probably mistranslated in the King James and probably means “Doug”.  For those of you who even care Zophar means “sparrow”  His chirping is sending Job up the wall.   What a bird!

Enough!

Your welcome!

After reading Job 20 might I address God in prayer and say, “God, keep the Zophar folk away from me.  I am not interested in prison ministry!”

Now back to what brung me here!  Mark 3:

⁵He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.

Any time the Lord is ticked off, excuse me “…in anger” as the Scripture states, I want to know why!  What is it that messed him up?  What got caught in his craw and caused him to get sideways about the whole deal?  He looked ar0und at who?  Religious people, that’s who.  People who were attending church.  Can you imagine what HE could see when HE looked…seeing all the way into their smelly self-centered, self-righteous hearts?  They looked good on the outside.  But if you took a good whiff, “…you could smell “hog”…” as my friend says.  They did not get it and most likely never would.  What caught his attention (outside of the obvious need of a man with a withered hand) was the sight of an evil sinful heart of judgment.  Those who should “know” the truth (all those church folk) and whose hearts should be tender toward the needs of people are worrying about rules and regulations and all of a sudden we see Jesus’ Father come out in Him as He is giving sinners a glimpse of the time of answering to come.

I felt His pity for those who don’t get it.  Deeply distressed at their obstinate heart.  Subborn heart.  Hard heart.  What else do you expect sin to do to a heart?  Sin never softens – love does that.  Sin never heals – God does that.  Sin cannot forgive – only Christ provides that joy.  There is no joy…only religious activity.  They really don’t get it and they are experiencing so much less than God’s best.  A stubborn heart grieves our Savior.  And a stubborn heart should grieve us.  I can bring my withered world to the Savior and he can completely restore it.  I am asking God today to help me keep from being religious and hard-hearted.

Hard hearts.

Healed Hands. Completely restored.

And He works on hard hearts as well…

I wasn’t even there and I have heard enough!

“But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
and he will stand upon the earth at last.

The context of that verse is unbelievable.  Job has lost everything.  He feels so alone.  All who are around him are killing him with words.  Folk are kicking him while he is down.  No one around him knows the true story and I am not certain that Job knows it all either.  However, he has a strong faith and a desire to do what is pleasing to God.

Out of  the deepening darkness of complaint about what this one says and that one says and against the backdrop of people who should be close walking away from him, a bright ray of unexpected hope screams out – “But as for me…”  “I know my redeemer lives…”  Some how the personal conviction of the inner man in Job was solid as a rock.  His circumstances did not have a chance to change his character nor his personal beliefs.  Life was horrible.  I have lost it all and I really wish those who were running their mouths would hush.  I can’t stand it any more.  I hear him say, “Please shut up!”  Where are my friends when I need them?

His personal relationship with the Father in heaven was so secure he could be blunt honest with him and never feel the least bit threatened.  How I appreciate the honesty Job had in communicating to God about his life.  He breathed his frustration to God and He heard them.  God did not instantly move for that was not the plan.  He was still at work.  Job’s confidence in God was still strong at this point…or at least that’s the way it appears at this point.

Words kill.  It seems to me that if you don’t have something good to say to someone, you ought to weigh it out carefully before you (as a Christian) should share it.  Words have extreme power.  They can tear down or if used correctly can build up.  Job was suffering from the beating that comes as a gift from a person who does not think before he opens up his mouth.  Oh, to God in heaven, he could cause us to see the power of our words and help us to be someone who brings others encouragement and peace.

Words also reveal the heart or so it seems to me.  The Word of God is right for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth spews its evidence.  You can tell what is in a person’s heart by what comes out of their mouth.  And it is true that you can only give away what is inside you.  I have seen people so full of stupid and animosity that you never hear one positive word come out of their mouth.  They don’t even know that they are being that way.  It just comes so natural because you can only give away what is in you.

God, help me to be nice to the Job’s of this world.  They already have enough on their plate.  Unfortunately, I am not in a position to know all the facts…so if I have to give – let me give on the side of being an encourager!

Help me to have Job’s attitude and character (and of course I am asking God to do this without the testing that goes along with the request…as if God would do things any different in my own life!)when it comes to keeping my faith in perspective even in the midst of the storms of life.

Only God can orchestrate this kind of stuff!

¹ Once we were safe on shore, we learned that we were on the island of Malta.

Just a thought…Acts is a story of the activity of God as He started the fire of spreading the Gospel to the Gentiles.  It is quick glimpses into the spreading of the fire.  Paul is on his way to Rome for trial.  He is ina ship in the middle of a monster storm.  He is calm as he can be as he faces the circumstances of the moment.  God spoke to him and told him he would make it to Rome and that no one would die in the misdt of this “Northeaster” that he was facing.  He trusted God.  In retrospect he could write the testimony of how God protected him.

Two days.  Both completely different.  Both contained a friend called Randy Cribb.

For 550 years Nancy and I have helped to organize the Skateland activity for McLaurin Elementary School.  We go every fourth Monday night of the month school is in.  Nancy and Debbie Cribb are best friends and usually are busy at the end of school helping one another close out the school, go to the nursing home to see Mr. Lawrence (Debbie’s dad) and then after working out or walking they stop by Subway and get a sandwich before meeting me at Skateland.  Once the get there, Randy meets me and we enjoy supper together at Arby’s across the street from the skating rink.  We have done it for years.  Today was different for Kimberly text me on her phone and asked me if she could eat dinner with Randy and me.  I told her she could.

Yesterday was that day.  I get one of those calls all parents get from time to time.  I answer the phone and it is my baby daughter (listen at me…the girl is 19 years old) who when she said, “Daddy” I knew something was wrong.  She had been in her first automobile wreck.  I asked if she was alright and of course she is never alright unless I am standing there.  She said she was and the other lady who had pulled out in front of her was as well.  Kimberly was scared to death.  Now guess where the wreck happened?  Right in front of Skateland.  I couldn’t get there quick but guess who was sitting in his car waiting for me to get there?  That’s right, Randy!  He actually heard her breaks lock and heard the hit that sent the little car spinning in the middle of the street.  I did not know that Randy was there.  I called him to see how far he was from Skateland.  He answered the phone.  He did not say, “Hello!”  When he answered the call he simply said to his nervous dad, “She is OK!”  For some reason that was all I needed to hear…words of consolation from a friend.

What are the odds that the first fender bender that my daughter would be in would be in front of a place where God had already placed a freind.  Of all the places it could have happened…it happened there.  Some how in the back of my weird old mind, I can imagine God saying to some angels standing around or whatever you do as angels…”I want you to watch how this one is going to work out!”  Only God can orchestrate this kind of stuff…

Whether a ship wreck or a car wreck…He is still in charge of it all…

By the way…you can fix a car!

It has been a hit and miss time…

Not that you need an explanation, I feel I need to get back to my regular routine of writing and focus on my devotionals.  I have enjoyed several projects that have worked me over.  It was one of those “Help Me, Jesus!” moments when I walked in the house one morning and discovered that the half bath’s sink downstairs had over flowed.  Water wasn’t “everwhere”, but there was enough of it on the floor to make the pressboard floor jump with swelling joy…and swell it did.  A call to the insurance company led us to the decision to check out the possibility of what direction we choose to follow.  We decided as others would to put tile down.  The idea sounded good and we were excited UNTIL I checked out what that entailed…and what a surprise.

The decision to remove press board floors was a good one.  I refused to pay someone to do what I can do well – tear things up.  The work force was a combination of Nancy and me.  The evening crew was Nancy and me.  The clean up crew was Nancy and me.  Add to that a decision to redo the half bath downstairs and after some clear instructions from Janice Bell, Ph.D. in wallpaper removal, we began the dubious task of removing wallpaper that came from hell and smelled of smoke.  When it was off, it looked like we had done it with a claw hammer.  Next came a wonderful “learning experience” as I discovered the simple joy of “skimming” a boogered up wall.  Joint compound dust from this project has been discovered 48 miles from here.  The toilet is removed and sitting under the carport awaiting a visit from some of the neighbor youngun’s.  The absence of a toilet made painting the place easier and I am glad now that task is over.  It looks better and I am proud of it.

Whoever put the pressboard down with screws and nails every inch of the floor all 456 square feet of it will not make it heaven.  People that do that cannot possibly make it to heaven because you feel like you have been to hell and back after taking it up.  A quick trip to the local supply store yeilded a six foot destructive tool called a prybar from heaven.  You can take a long swing with that monster and pressboard floor flees in joy from its underlayment.  It danced with delight as I packed it into the back of my truck and hauled it to the dump.  We will not discuss how much fun it is to remove the board out from under the toe kicks of the cabinets.  Let’s suffice it to say that people who are ADHD do not need to attack that project unless heavily medicated…and for goodness sake do no put a toekick saw in their hands – dangerous is an understatment.  I am glad that is over.

All praise to Jesus for a telephone call from my friend Randy Cribb who wanted to know where I was this past Friday.  I was on the way back from the place you take all the pressboard remains – pressboard cemetery – when the call came.  He – just out of  the blue – let me be clearer – out of the heavens – said he was there to help me put down 14 sheets of OSB board that would be the base for the tile project.  Before long the board was cut and in place.  I had no idea he was coming but very glad he did.

Now while this project is going on a decision was made to paint the laundry room as well.  So between sawing and cutting and removing stuff – painting was in the process.  The floor was down.  We took each piece back up, put wood glue under each piece and then screwed the little devils to the floor.  I was glad when they said unto me, let us put the tools back where they came from.  Did I say that we are also getting the floor ready in our bath as well?  No, I didn’t.  Add that to the list.  At least it came up a lot easier than the rest of the place.

I have discovered that I am 53 years old.  I have fallen in love with knee pads and have learned to care for bruised knees and cuts.  Places hurt on me that a medical book cannot find.  I know now why people that do this for a living are paid well for their destructive activity.  I now know I can do it if necessary.  I pray it ain’t necessary any time soon!  I will be glad to finally stop saying to someone who has lent me a tool, “Explain to me how this thing works!”.  I can’t help it if I was baptised in stupid when I was younger.  I am glad that there are friends around me that make this project some eaiser.

I have been too tired to write.  Today, I got up late.  It is Monday.  Preachers are no good on Monday.

I am looking forward to the rest of the day.

“So after more fasting and prayer…” What?

² One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.” ³ So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way.

I wake up and say, “Good Morning, Lord!”  It is so cold this morning that I said, “Good Lord, Morning!”

I would wake up and tell God, “Good Morning!”  He would say to me, “Hurry up and get up.  Drink some Starbucks!  Let’s get going.  We have a busy day today, together.  Just wait until you see where we are going today.”  And I will admit that I am amazed at the end of the day what all has happened when you let the Holy Spirit drive the process.  I listen.  He speaks.  I obey.  The rest is history.

Verse 3 is the verse that caught me off guard.  The Holy Spirit told them something to do.  Why the delay with more fasting and prayer?  In chapter 8 Philip is minding his own business loving the Lord and listening to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and when the Holy Spirit told him to head south toward Gaza, he immediately said, “Let’s go!”  There was no question nor hesitation.  Here they were worshiping the Lord and fasting the the Holy Spirit told them to dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the special work that God called them to accomplish.  The Holy Spirit didn’t instruct them to go fast and pray some more and THEN dedicate them to the Lord.  Yet they hesitated.  They fasted and prayed some more.  How much instruction do you need before you obey?

I was so impressed with Philip’s openness to the leadership of the Spirit.  Even when given just part of the instructions he obeyed.  “Go south!”  and he went.  “Go get personally interested in the man in the chariot who is reading the Scriptures!”  He did that, then.  The Holy Spirit guided his questions and answers.  Philip didn’t even push for a decision at the end of the discussion.  He let the Holy Spirit guide the whole deal.  When that assignment was over – off to the next.  He must have been a lot of fun to work with.  No wonder the Holy Spirit used him in a great way!

I am thinking of the wonder that fills my soul thinking that God’s plan includes us.  He speaks.  We listen.  We obey.  And God works.

We are his Plan A.  There ain’t no Plan B.  I am breathless thinking that a holy God would choose to work through you and me.  We are a vital part of his game plan.

We is it!  God help me not to delay today.  I want to hear your voice.  I want to follow you.

You can be spiritual and have a Facebook page!

I was checking my Facebook page (and, yes, you can be spiritual and have a Facebook page) and Ken Smith posted the following:

Ken Smith just thinking is ownership of a project the responsibility of the everyone… or a few… we seem to feel like something happens because we like it not because we are committed to making it happen…

I watched the Colts play last night.   Peyton Manning is amazing.   309 yards passing and three touchdowns speaks for itself.   Peyton Manning completed 36 of 44 passes for 309 yards and three touchdowns with one interception. Manning was a perfect 14 for 14 with 148 yards in the second quarter, and he has passed for 300+ yards in five straight regular season games.  Peyton, Peyton, Peyton Peyton…alright, I will give you that one…he is a super quarterback, but, quarterbacks ain’t nothin’ if there ain’t some big boys hanging around you.

I was watching them wrap ankles, put arm braces on the players, iced down all but broken bones, and the like and you call that fun – “I liked that!”  The only reason the game was won was that a great group of men put their crying towels down and did what was necessary as a team in spite of the bruises and soreness and made that win happen.  Ownership for the win was not Peyton’s.  Everyone on the team had to make that happen.  It takes work and lots of it to make a win look that easy…OK, playing Tennessee was also a big help!  Nevertheless, it happened and the group made it happen.

I know that there are people who think that Christian’s just “happen” to grow.  However, it is a known fact that if you want to grow as a Christian then you have to pay the price to see that it happen.

Churches do not grow by accident.  Caring for people is a “team” activity.  No special “few” can make the whole thing fly.  It takes everyone working in concert to see that it happens.  Nehemiah reminded me again that people have to stand guard on the top of the wall and by the gates and doing all the other things that make rebuilding a city necessary.  He did not make it “fun” for it to happen.  Some died.  Some were hurt in the process.  Some worked long hours but there were a lot of people whose lives were blessed because he focused the attention of the group to get the wall built.  This morning Peyton will wake up and celebrate another win.  The ‘team’ did it again.

This morning I will gather my “team” around me and we will as a group work together.  Tuesday night I will gather a group of people who are committed to reaching out to people.  It’s not about how I feel about it.  It is I am committed to caring for people.

I will do my part, today!