Something For Everyone Every Time

 "I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;" 1 Cor.3:2

Last night pastor preached what I heard as Theology 1.0. It was solid Bible preaching on a topic that is basic to the Christian life. It was not deep or hard to understand. It was food for our souls.

What kind of food was it you might ask? This text tells me it was baby food. Easy to eat, easy to understand, and easy to digest. It seemed to meet a need in this church.

It is hard not to compare where I am to where I was. But I cannot not think back to a time when this sermon would have been perfect for me.

Not every sermon in church is for everybody. But every sermon is good, and it feeds our souls, whether we are babies or grown men. Not everything is for everyone, but there is something for everyone in every sermon.

A Good Day

Sometimes, when I read in the Psalms, I can relate to the anger or the anguish that David or Asaph must have felt when they wrote their songs. This morning, in my devotions, I was reading a Psalm of David and I noticed that my life today is so much better than his was in ancient days. I am at peace, I have rest, and even with my meager fixed income I have enough.

There are times when the the Bible speaks directly to my situation. The rest of the time I enjoy reading and knowing that God is the same no matter how much we have changed. 

"Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lam.3:22-23

Life can be full of ups and downs, good time and bad times. Most of life is pretty daily and mundane. But God, who is rich in mercy and whose grace is greater, never slumbers or sleeps. He's been faithful to me!

Monday Morning Musings

 I have noticed recently how what works for one person may not work for another person. What brings happiness or joy to one person may not have the same effect on another person. Activities that may challenge and inspire one may not do the same for another. This ties on to the realization that what I used to be able to do I might not still be able to do.

Life is full of changes as long as we live. This is one reason why we have been told that life must be lived to the end. 

I want to remind you that, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And, one size usually does not fit all. 

Like the prophet Ricky Nelson sang in the song Garden Party:

"But it's all right now, I learned my lesson well. You see, you can't please everyone so you got to please yourself."

The words of the Bible seem to fit here.

"...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."  Phil.2:12-13

God is always working in us and through us. Amen!

The Still, Small Voice Still Speaks Today

 I needed wisdom concerning my health care. I was given medicine that I did not feel comfortable taking. I also want to do what my doctors tell me is best for me. Let me say that after seeking advice from family and friends, the way forward began to emerge and I saw clearly what I needed to do. So when I got home from church I did what I felt was the right thing to do.

Not all decisions are life changing or earth shaking. Wisdom is knowing what is the best or most important thing to do. Or to stop doing.

Only time will tell if the decisions we make in life were really important. Between making the choice and seeing the results is the time to trust God and walk by faith.

Thank God for His still, small voice today.

Is There Any Difference?

 Jesus made it clear that we as the church are to be different from the world around us. That our influence in the Gospel is connected to our difference from the world. Getting saved is not about how God made my life better, but how He changed my life. The difference is like the difference between light and darkness.

Today, in some Evangelical churches, we spend our time imitating the world and making ourselves like the world to win the lost. We have become addicted to emotionalism and sermons light on conviction. Instead of being light in the midst of darkness, we turn down the lights and make the room dark. We have stopped caring for the sheep so that we can impress the goats.

In my early days in the Faith I heard about worldlings who did not change and who added Chris to their name. Christian cowboys, Christian bikers, Christian musicians, etc. Add Jesus to your bag just in case. The Gospel seems to have lost the power to change anyone. Now, we strain at a gnat, and swallow the camel and say that God is pleased with us because we are big.

Jesus promised that after He had gone away that He would send the Holy Spirit, whom He called the spirit of truth. Today, we cast out truth for success, and truth lies wounded in the street.

There are churches today who have had enough. They have pews, and hymnals, and no screens. They turn the lights up and they turn the music down. The pastor preaches real sermons, not watered down feel good about yourself chats.

As one wise pastor once said, truth is hard on church growth.

Unwritten Rules of Dating in our Fellowship

Pastor's Unwritten Rules for Dating

1. The 6 month rule. Let new converts alone for 6 months. Let them serve the Lord for a while first. 

2. Don't play the field. Be patient. Let God help you find the right one.

3. Limit your scope. Have a target audience to draw from. Date someone from your own church.

4. Seek counsel from pastor or others. Get advice on a person or an activity.

5. Friendship first. Get to know someone. Talk to them.  Do not rush into marriage.

6. Let the man make the first move. Men, break the ice. Women, be open and receptive to a man's advances.

7. Be the kind of person you want the other person to be. To marry a Christian, be a Christian.

This is good advice. Especially if you are young and unmarried. It gives you guidelines to use in place of pure emotions.

Texas Sized Outreach

 We have an impact team going this Saturday to support one of our pioneer churches that we planted this year. The drive just to get there from here is over 5 hours. Welcome to outreach in Texas!

Amos Still Speaks

 because you tread down the poor and take taxes from him, though you have built houses of hewn stone, yet do not live in them. Amos 5:11

The judgement on Israel was based on their civic and religious conduct. God was not pleased with how they conducted themselves. He was especially harsh in judging the wealthy among them.

The rich impoverish the poor through taxation. Sales tax, income tax, and other things that hurt the poor more than the rich. They pant after the dust on the poor man's head one prophet said.

You tread down the poor. You oppress them and abuse them and take advantage of them. You drive up prices so that the poor cannot eat or buy clothing. You drive up rents so that the poor have no where to sleep. And you blame the poor for being poor but do nothing to help them climb up out of poverty.

You make rents too high, while you build nice houses where no one lives. The rich own home they do not live in while the poor struggle to live anywhere.

"Therefore the prudent keep silent at that time, for it is an evil time." Amos 5:13

Beware a pastor who criticizes the poor for being poor, and one who honors the rich for being wealthy.

A Thought

 A thought hit me as I was watching the ongoing work at the Kerr county flood cleanup this morning. While there is a huge amount of debris to clean up, I thought about the missing persons still unaccounted for. And I see a parallel between search and rescue and soul winning.

The person at the press conference today said that they are going through the huge piles of trees limbs and brush and mud looking for any signs of life. This is work that cannot be done from a boat or a helicopter and no drone will find the remains that the teams on the ground are looking for. When it comes to looking for survivors or corpses there is only one way to do it. Person by person, boots on the ground.

We think that the secret to world evangelism is a big event or a massive impact team. Could it be that what works is person to person, one at a time, personal witnessing and evangelism one by one?

A missionary was whining to his pastor about the lack of response to his ministry. His pastor told him to get some tracks and walk outside and tell someone about Jesus.

There is a time and a place for big events and big crusades. There is also a time for eyeball to eyeball preaching. 

The Land of the Free

 We talk about freedom on July 4th. We believe that America is the land of the free. And along with freedom we sometimes talk about equality as in equality between the sexes or equality between people. But freedom is closer to what is truly import to us in America. Freedom is better than equality.

In the Bible freedom is talked about. If the son make us free and so on. We are free from sin and free from guilt and free from shame. Jesus has set us free from the habit and domination of sin.

The freedom that I think is important is the freedom to choose. In America you are free to choose how to live and where to live and you are free to do what is best for you. Equality is a false hope. Everyone is free to choose, but not everyone is equal in anything.

Freedom to choose means that we have no one to blame for what happens in our lives. You choose your spouse. You choose to have or not to have children. You choose whether or not to continue your education. You choose the career path that you intend to pursue. 

Because life is about choices our greatest need is for wisdom. Freedom to choose means that it is important for us to choose wisely. Wisdom is more than information and emotion. Wisdom is knowing what to do and how to do it. This is why age produces wisdom. At 70 years old, I have done a few things in life and I can tell you what works and what doesn't work in life.

I am grateful to live in the land of the free. 

British Israelism Today

 When I was a new convert I heard pastor Mitchell warn us about the dangers of British Israelism. Evidently this was a big deal in his generation and there must have been influences somewhere that pastor Mitchell wanted to shield us from.

British Israelism is the belief that Great Britain was the direct descendant of the so called lost tribes of Israel who they say split off after Solomon's time as king. They were not lost, just separated. And the consequence of this separation is that their descendants migrated to the British Isles to become the people of Great Britain. The dangerous part was not genetic, but doctrinal. Herbert W. Armstrong became one of the early Pentecostal promoters of British Israelism and it's offshoot in America. The Mormons believed this lie.

What is British Israelism? Here are some ideas.

1. All of the promises of God in the Bible made to Israel now apply to Great Britain.

2. British power and prosperity were seen as evidence of Divine favor and blessing.

3. The British king and people play a unique part in the  fulfillment of Bible prophecy.

4. One prominent idea is centered on influence and control of events in Jerusalem with idea that making sure certain things happen will bring about the second coming of Christ.

Britain was a supporter of evangelism and missionary activity in the 19th century just like America has been in the 20th century. We are a very tiny part of a much bigger movement.

There are nations mentioned in the Bible. England and the United States are not mentioned at all. Do not make the error of the early Pentecostal movements or the Mormons. God has a plan and He has a people. Our job is to preach the gospel and to plant churches, not to win elections and build a Christian nation.

Pastor Mitchell knew things and guarded us from false doctrines and distractions and error. He knew how to keep the main thing the main thing.

Another Jesus?

 "For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached..." 2Cor.11:4

One thing about error or false doctrine is to realize that it is not always a bold, blatant lie. Often we are deceived because it comes as an angel of light, or as a wolf in sheep's clothing. Every lie has a bit of truth in it. A nugget or kernel of truth to make us think that this is the real deal. Paul called this preaching another Jesus. 

"If he who comes preaches another Jesus." v. 4 again. 

The bible calls these false apostles and deceivers. 

"For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light." 2Cor.11:13-14

There are many false teachers in the world today who preach a different Jesus than we preach. They preach a different gospel than we preach. They have a different spirit than the Holy Spirit. Pastor Paul wrote to us out of concern that we would fall victim to this deception. 

" But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." 2Cor.11:3

I am reading a book that is kind of Christian, but not quite. It preaches a different gospel and holds forth another Jesus. It is more Catholic than Christian. I do not think that I will finish this book.