Jean Fleming wrote the following in Discipleship Journal:
“Recently something rapturous happened a few spaces down the church pew from me. The pastor announced that a young boy in our congregation named Crockett had given his heart to Christ that week. Another boy, about four years of age, jumped up on the seat of our pew, thrust his fist into the air, and yelled, ‘Yeah, Crockett!’
His response was totally unself-conscious; his joy and exuberance exhilarated and rebuked me. His mother had him sitting again in a second. Too bad. The entire congregation should have been standing on the pews.”
In the life of any church, history is made when a person receives Christ. These are moments so great that they must be celebrated in heaven—and on earth.
“In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”—Luke 15:10.
CBS radio newsman Charles Osgood told the story of two ladies who lived in a convalescent center. Each had suffered an incapacitating stroke. Margaret’s stroke left her left side restricted, while Ruth’s stroke damaged her right side. Both of these ladies were accomplished pianists, but had given up hope of ever playing again.
The director of the center sat them down at a piano and encouraged them to play solo pieces together. They did, and a beautiful friendship developed.
What a picture of the church’s needing to work together! What one member cannot do alone, perhaps two or more could do together—in harmony.
“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”—Romans 12:4-5.
There is a lot of talk about climate change, but I have become aware of another situation in nature that is not getting any attention, and I think that we need to start talking about it. I first noticed this phenomenon several years ago, and it seems to be getting progressively worse. Perhaps you have noticed it too. I am talking about the dramatic increase of the earth’s gravitational pull.
Just a few years ago, I could bound up a couple of flights of stairs with ease. Nowadays the same trip leaves me gasping for air. Hills that I used to climb without a problem now require a Herculean effort. Yes, the only possible answer is that gravity is much stronger than it once was. We should pour abundant resources into solving this problem before it’s too late.
Seriously, we all slow down as we age. It’s a fact of life. If it hasn’t happened to you yet, it will one day. Just think about some of the older people that you have known for years and years. They were once energetic and vibrant, men and women whose arms were strong for the tasks in front of them. They were quite able and eager to do the Lord’s work. Their energy was boundless, it seemed. Tireless in their efforts, they were a force to be reckoned with as they accomplished so much for the kingdom.
However, many of these giants of the faith have slowed down dramatically. Their physical strength has weakened, and perhaps they aren’t as mentally sharp as they once were. They are still strong in their faith, but they don’t have the energy they once had to serve God and people.
We need to appreciate the ability that we have to serve while we still have it. Ecclesiastes 11 and 12 warns of the troubles that accompany old age, and urges us to remember our Creator in the days of our youth.
The apostle Paul always had a sense of urgency about his life, and he tried to pass that urgency along to other Christians. You see the theme often in his writings. In Colossians 1:28-29 he says, “He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.”
Jesus also taught about the importance of doing as much as we can for the Lord in the limited time that we have to do it. He says, “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” (John 9:4). This verse reminds me of the words of a hymn that we used to sing in the church where I grew up—“Work for the night is coming, when man’s work is done.”
We only have a short time to serve the Lord in this life. Let’s make the most of it!
In 1994 Northwest Airlines offered some unusual round-trip passages aboard one of their planes. Fifty-nine dollars bought a “Mystery Fare” ticket that provided a one-day trip to an unknown American city. Buyers didn’t find out where they were heading until they arrived at the airport the day of the flight. Still, the airline had plenty of takers. In Indianapolis fifteen hundred people crowded the airline counter to buy the Mystery Fare tickets that were sold on a first-come, first-served basis.
Not surprisingly, when buyers learned their destination, not all of them were thrilled. One buyer who was hoping for a trip to New Orleans was especially disappointed when he found out that he had a ticket to Minneapolis instead. He walked through the terminal yelling, “I’ve got one ticket to the Mall of America. I’ll trade for anything!”
Mystery Fare tickets may be a fun surprise for a weekend vacation, but normally the last thing you want is a ticket to a mystery destination. And the one time you never want a Mystery ticket is on the day of your death. You don’t want to face eternity uncertain about whether you will go to heaven or hell!
Thankfully, those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and have remained faithful to him can be sure of their eternal destination. Romans 8:1 says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” 1 John 5:13 says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” Hebrews 9:27-28 says, “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”
Don’t take that trip to eternity without knowing where you are going! Remove all doubt by trusting Jesus as your Savior—today and every day!
Years ago Pepper Rodgers was the head football coach at UCLA. One year he was in the middle of a terrible season. You know how it is in sports. If the team isn’t doing well, no one is happy. Players, coaches, administration, fans and alumni—you name it—everyone was expressing their discontent. It got so bad that it began to upset Rodgers’ home life. He said, “My dog was my only friend. I told my wife that a man needs at least two friends and she bought me another dog.”
When times are tough, it helps to keep your sense of humor.
“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”—Proverbs 17:22.
David Crowder has a new song called “Good God Almighty” that is getting a lot of air time on Christian contemporary radio. My wife said that when she first heard the song she was a bit uncomfortable about hearing those words uttered. I have to admit that I shared those concerns when I first heard the song. We have both since come to terms with the lyrics and like the song.
Our apprehension over the song came from the fact that many people use the term “Good God Almighty” very irreverently. It is one of the many ways that people violate that pesky third commandment. You know, the one that forbids us to use God’s name in vain, or to misuse his name in any way.
The third commandment seems to be one of the most disobeyed of the ten. Even people who go to church every Sunday throw God’s name around far too casually. You will often hear Christian people say things like, “Lord, it’s hot!” or “God, I’m hungry!” When they do this, they are using the Lord’s name as nothing more than a swear word. Even texting “OMG” is being quite flippant in handling the name of the Lord. We can expect non-Christians to fall into this habit, but the Lord’s people must do better than this. We need to treat the name of the Lord with the utmost respect.
Here is a good rule of thumb when deciding on the appropriate use of the Lord’s name—If you are not talking to God or about God, then you should think twice about using his name. You just might be saying it in a disrespectful, or even vulgar, way.
Well, let’s get back to the Crowder song. I like what they have done with the phrase “Good God Almighty”. They have taken it back from anyone who has misappropriated it in any way and have used it the way it is intended to be used—as a reverent, worshipful expression of the God who is indeed good and is indeed Almighty. His goodness is seen in the mercy that God has shown us through his Son Jesus, the Savior of the world. His might is seen in creation, and will be displayed in its fullness when he judges the world at the end of time.
Until then, let’s be extremely careful about how we use the name of the Lord. But let’s not hesitate to use it properly as we praise him and tell others about his goodness and his might!
It was after a quick fishing trip that Jesus called his first disciples to come and follow him. Luke records the event in chapter five of his gospel.
People were crowding around Jesus as he taught the word of God, so he got into a fishing boat belonging to Simon and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Jesus taught the people from the boat.
After he had finished speaking, Jesus told Simon to put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch. Simon replied that they had worked hard all night and hadn’t caught anything, but since Jesus said so, he would give it a try.
When they did what Jesus said to do, they caught so many fish that their nets began to break and the boats were so full that they began to sink! Simon Peter and his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken.
Then Jesus issued his famous invitation. Luke 5:10-11 says, “’…Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.’ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.”
This episode teaches us some truths about fishing for people.
First, we work together. Many times we think that fishing for people is like just one person standing on the bank with a single fishing pole. That’s not the kind of fishing they were doing in the Bible. They had several people working together to cast nets to catch fish. I think that we can better understand the proper way to fish for people if we remember that we are supposed to work together.
I recently helped lead a man to Christ, but others had witnessed to him before I did. He was ready to make the decision by the time I met him. I told some of his family members that I felt like a relief pitcher that was called in to finish the baseball game with a 15 run lead, two outs in the last inning and two strikes on the batter! It was a simple thing for me to close the deal because others had already been talking to him about Jesus and praying for him to make a decision.
Secondly, we don’t give up just because we haven’t had any luck lately. In obedience to Jesus we continue to fish. Because he says so, we keep witnessing and inviting people to church. Even if we are in the middle of a long dry spell, with no results for our efforts, we keep fishing together, simply because Jesus says to do so.
Finally, we should be prepared to be astonished at the results. When the Spirit moves, people tend to come to Jesus in large numbers. Families often decide together to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior. We shouldn’t be surprised when many people at one time decide to believe the best news ever—the good news of the salvation that is available through the crucified and resurrected Jesus!
John 21 records another miraculous fishing expedition. Some of the disciples had decided to go fishing. They fished all night, but caught nothing. The resurrected Jesus called out to them from the shore and told them to cast their net on the right side of the boat. When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
With this miracle, Jesus reminded his followers of their initial calling and of their primary purpose—to fish for people.
Perhaps you need to be reminded of your mission—to catch people! Those who are called to follow Jesus are called to fish for other followers. Let’s get busy!
Whenever a baseball pitcher throws a pitch that is just a bit outside of the strike zone, the catcher will invariably move his mitt a few inches in order to try to make the pitch look as if it were a strike. This is called “framing the pitch”. Umpires are rarely fooled by this ploy, but occasionally they will call a strike on a pitch that was obviously outside the strike zone. Framing doesn’t work often, but it works often enough to encourage catchers to keep on doing it.
Many people try to fool God by “framing” a particular behavior that is out of bounds for a Christian. They try to make their actions appear to be well within the parameters of holiness when their deeds are in fact sinful. Gossip, drunkenness, lying, sexual immorality, swearing and other sinful behaviors are often “framed” as being not so bad.
You may be able to fool some people with this tactic, but we must remember that God is the ultimate Umpire! God will make the final call, and you can’t fool God!
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”—Galatians 6:7.
In the lead news story in today’s edition of the Lexington Herald-Leader, it was reported that Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear announced that there were 237 new cases of COVID-19 and nine deaths from the virus yesterday. This was received as good news because those numbers were down significantly from the much higher numbers from a few months ago.
This is a reminder that such news is relative. Think about what our response would have been two years ago to such a story. If the newspaper back then had reported that nine people had died in one day from a contagious disease and that 237 others had been infected, the news would not have been good at all! We would have been quite concerned about the threat to our health. Only in light of what we have experienced in the past year-and-a-half can this be taken as good news. It’s all relative.
We need to be careful that our attitude toward sin does not change with the times. There is a danger of the church lowering our standards to keep them just a bit higher than the standards of the world. Because we live in such sinful times there is a real danger that we will become more accepting of sin. Just because we are relatively better than those around us does not mean that we are living lives that are pleasing to God. We must be diligent about pursuing holy living!
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”—1 John 2:15-17.
“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”—Romans 12:15.
The Bible urges us to go through life together, sharing experiences with each other under various circumstances, whether good or bad. We were not created to live in isolation, but in community.
We can’t make the pain go away in times of tragic loss, but we can ease one another’s suffering by showing up and offering our condolences and hugs. Galatians 6:2 says, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” One way we can show our love for our fellow human beings is to be there for them in their time of loss. Burdens are much lighter when they are shared.
When it comes to sharing life with others in light of Romans 12:15, I have found myself in both situations lately. I made four trips to funeral homes in a three day span to mourn with some friends who were grieving. I know that they would have done the same for me.
On the other hand, I have spent some time lately rejoicing with those who were rejoicing. I cheered for our local high school softball team, the Lewis County Lady Lions, as they won the district tournament. I stayed after the game to celebrate with players, parents, grandparents and other fans. Then on the drive home I found myself in a caravan of cars that were following the team bus, which was escorted by a police car. When we got to Vanceburg, the caravan was met by fire trucks and paraded through town, horns honking to celebrate the district championship.
A few days later I followed this team to the regional tournament, cheering them on to a first round win, a 12-inning marathon victory in the semi-finals and a thrilling win in the championship game. The celebration on the field and in the stands was long and loud. This was followed by another, even larger, caravan home.
As I write this, there is a community rally scheduled to take place at the school tonight, to celebrate the Lady Lions’ first ever trip to the state tournament. The rally will also be for Austin Howard, a local high school runner who will be competing in the 100-meter dash at the state meet this weekend. I plan to be there with many others in the community as we rejoice in the accomplishments of these young athletes and take pride in our home town. I look forward to rejoicing with a lot of friends and acquaintances who also want to share the joy of this winning experience.
Tomorrow, Lord willing, I will be in the stands at the University of Kentucky softball stadium, cheering for the Lady Lions of Lewis County. Hopefully, tomorrow’s game will bring about another chance to rejoice with others. Let’s always remember that, good times or bad, life is meant to be shared together.
Jesustrek 