Do Not Be Troubled

 "And Jesus answered and said unto them: take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilence, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginnings of sorrows." Mat.24:4-8

Let anything happen in the middle east and it is a sure sign that Christ is returning. Except it seems clear by the words Jesus spoke that we may be a little premature in our assessments. That the return of Christ is closer than it has ever been is true. Time has gone by since Jesus spoke in Matthew 24. 

The key word of warning is do not be deceived. The word deceive is the Greek word planao. which means to lead astray or to cause to wander. Eve was deceived by the serpent. Things will happen before the return of Christ that will lead people astray from truth, either by personal persuasion or by the error of false doctrine. War may be troubling, but it does not seem to be a trigger to future events in Bible prophecy concerning the end times. Do not be troubled by war or armed conflict.

One more thought to ponder. Has any world leader in modern times claimed to be Christ, or a savior, or God?

Money Management

 Matthew tells the parable of the talents. Luke tells a similar story but uses pounds. Much has been written on this parable. But what if it really is a parable concern money. A talent or a pound was a sum of money. Jesus told the unfaithful man he should have put it in the bank to at least earn interest.

Could it be that how we handle money now affects our status in eternity? Being wasteful or stingy or greedy directly affects our future in God?

The parable says that the initial investment was based on each person's ability to handle money. It seems to me that God gives us all the money that we can handle. Maybe having millions of dollars would ruin some of us. We might just spend it all on ourselves and not invest it wisely.

Being able to manage money is important, especially if you think that Jesus is calling you to be a pastor. Being able to stick to a budget. Being liberal and willing to share. Paying your tithe.

It behooves us to be good money managers. There is more at stake than a new car or a big house or nice clothes. Eternity is at stake.

Money comes from God. It might come through a job or a small business. It might come through family inheritance. But ultimately, God is our source. We owe it to our Heavenly Father to handle money wisely.

Growing Old In Christ

Because the New Testament was written over such a short period of time there are a lot of things that are missing from the NT cannon. We have the letters of Paul and a few of the first apostles; James, John, Peter, Jude. I wonder if their expectation of the return of Christ made them not care to write about everything that they dealt with in day to day living.  History in the New Testament is almost by accident. 

One thing that is missing is how to grow old in Christ. It seems that the early apostles had no sense of growing older even though they are all dead and gone today. To find anything on growing older we have to search the Old Testament where there is more information available.

"Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; Even I will carry, and will deliver you" Isa.46:4

"Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength fails." Psalm 71:9

In the first century AD no one lived as long as we do. It would be hard for those who lived short lives to give us who live longer useful advice.

"And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Mat. 28:20

"Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, I have no pleasure in them." Eccl. 12:1

God bless us, everyone!

Remembering Pastor Mitchell.

I remember pastor Wayman Mitchell as he was preaching how he would walk over and adjust the thermostat for the sanctuary. It was on the platform behind the organ. Never missed a beat. He noticed some discomfort in the audience and he took steps to fix that.

I always saw pastor Mitchell standing by the main entrance to greet people as they came in for church. He did not have long conversations with anybody. But he would shake your hand and greet you by name.

Often, after prayer before an evening service, pastor Mitchell would come out of the prayer room and he would go around the sanctuary shaking hands and greeting people who had arrived early.

I say this simply to say that it is obvious whether your pastor is a people person or not. 

If you do not like people or if you are uncomfortable interacting with people being a pastor may not be a good fit for you. It takes more than a calling to succeed.

PS: pastor Mitchell told us how he used to stand in the bathroom rehearsing his sermons. I wonder how many other pastors practice preaching before they stand up on Sunday morning to preach.

Perfect, Or Good Enough?

 Some of my friends are going camping today. They made lists of what they need to take with them. They started planning weeks ago for this. They didn't wake up this morning and say, let's go camping!

We think that romantic love is just waking up one day and there he is, or she is, the perfect match for you. That magically your perfect mate will come to you unexpectedly, like a dream. 

There is a word to describe people who do not make plans to climb a mountain. The word is dead. Failure to plan is planning to fail. What makes us think that we can scale the uncertain heights of love without any kind of plan beyond what I wear or how I look? 

There is a mystery to romantic love for sure. You are looking for someone who you do not know with the idea of marrying them and spending the rest of your life with them.

On the idea of finding your soul mate or finding the perfect person for you. There is no such person. No one, including you, is perfect. Instead of looking for the perfect person, maybe a better approach is to look for someone who is good enough. Find someone who you can get along with, and grow up together.

Falling in love sounds wonderful. But in reality, you marry a stranger, and then two selfish people begin the gargantuan task of learning to live together under one roof. You do not fall in love as much as you grow into love. Real love takes time to grow.

He marries her hoping she will never change. She will. She marries him determined to change him. He won't change much. The sooner a couple can accept this the quicker they will learn to love the person that they married.

You plan for months to prepare a perfect wedding. Maybe spend less time on the wedding and more time on being good enough for someone to want to get to know you. Looks may get you noticed, but they want to know you, not just appreciate how you look.

"A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Prov.18:24

The end of my thoughts are; be friendly, and trust that God is better at choosing than we are.

Enduring Hardness Like A Good Soldier.

"You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." 2Tim.2:3

There are times when I come home from church and I dive in to study for myself what I just heard preached. Tonight was one of those times.

What are the hardships of being a good soldier? Here is what I found.

1. They must carry a heavy load of gear. Physically demanding.

2. They often are in harsh or extreme climates unlike home. 

3. They go through high intensity training. 

4. The physical demands of combat. Going from rest to high alert or attack.

5. Sleep deprivation. Little or no sleep while under stress.

6. Nutritional needs unmet. Survival, but not nutritional.

7. Injury rehab. Injuries happen. You get wounded or hurt.

Soldiers are trained to maintain high physical fitness and resilience. There is a comradery among fellow soldiers. There is a sense of duty that motivates you. To be a good soldier you must endure these and many other hardships.

Paul uses the term "endure hardness" which is the Greek word kakopatheo. This word is only used twice in the New Testament, both in second Timothy. Here is the other place.

"But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry" 2Tim.4:5

Both endure hardness and endure affliction are one Greek word. It is a word that implies suffering, enduring, and implies something hard or evil.

To survive in the ministry you must learn to endure when things get hard. Discipleship is the training ground for ministry. You want an easy life, do not become a pastor.

Real Love or Romantic Love?

 "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." 1Cor.13:1-2

First let me say that love is an action word, not a feeling or emotion. Love is defined by what we do and by the motivation by which we do things. Maybe it is the quality, and not the quantity, of our actions that define us. In God's economy, love is more important than results.

Second, love involves words that we speak. Verse one talks about things that we say. Men know that romantic love is expressed by words that we say. Real love can be measures not by the number of words that we speak but by the spirit by which words are spoken.

Third, love is stronger than faith or miracles. The greatest of these is love according to verse 13. Real love will get you through the hard times of life.

Fourth, love is shown through giving. If you love, you will give. What will you give? You give what you have; your time, your talent, and your money. 

Finally, real love and romantic love are two very different things. Romantic love is a mystery, real love is obvious.

"Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works." James 2:18

The same could be said about real love. Show me your love without action, and I will show you my love by my actions. Real love is more than a feeling.

Worship Wars Aftermath

No one talks about the worship wars anymore. That fight seems to be over. But in it's wake we have been left with modern worship music that sounds more like a love song or a prayer. Singing romantic love songs to Jesus makes me uncomfortable. Would you sing a love song to your pastor? Have you ever sang a romantic love song to your wife? Singing is worship, extolling God for who He is and honoring Him for what He's done. Save the romance for your wife.

That music sounds like a prayer should not bother us, but it bothers me. If you want to pray, then pray. Make your petitions known to God. Come boldly to the throne of grace. Call upon Him while He is near. But save praying for prayer time, not for singing.

The old hymns, which are the casualties of the worship wars and the seeker sensitive movement, were songs written by real Christians to a mighty God.  In this case, the old wine is better.

One more thought. I am tired of the kick butt songs challenging Satan to a fight. The enemy's name ought not to be sung in our worship services.

A Moratorium On Travel?

 What if our Fellowship declared a moratorium on pastoral travel?  Pastors need to travel to keep the Fellowship on track, right? To keep the main thing the main thing. That may have been true in the early days, but is it still true today?

What if a senior pastor only went out of town maybe 6 times a year? He could travel to conferences. He might even follow Wayman Mitchell's plan of doing healing crusades. Or he could take a vacation for 2 or 3 weeks a year to visit family or to de-stress.  It has to be hard to be the senior pastor when you are absent from your own church so much. Hard to be a shepherd to a flock that you rarely see.

We know what to do said pastor Tom Payne. I agree. God knows what to do too. It is still a work of God isn't it? 

If the senior pastor cannot pull the plug on travel, then maybe he needs to authorize one of his assistants to have not only preaching spots but also to make plans and to spend money and to organize activities.

When I need to talk to a pastor, which is not often, I know who I am going to call. It will not be my senior pastor. It will be one of our assistant pastors. They help me. They are available.

A local church needs a pastor, whether it is a church of 100 people or 1000 people. They all need someone to be there to teach and to preach and to marry and to bury. Someone who takes their calling seriously.

Are We A Purpose Driven Fellowship?

 I have never read the Purpose Driven Life. But I wonder if I have experienced the effect of this style of ministry in my own local church. Pastor Wayman Mitchell did a great job shielding us from the insanity of the religious world. And he taught us sound doctrine. You could not only learn how to be a disciple under his ministry, you could also learn how to be a good husband and father.

I noticed a change happening. We treat church as an outreach instead of a worship service. We did away with hymns and hymnals. We sing goofy secular songs about how I feel about God. We pull harder every service to get people saved than we do to help people respond to the sermon.

This seeker sensitive method puts the emphasis on soul winning rather than serving God through serving others. The seeker sensitive method focuses on one man as the CEO, not the shepherd of God's flock.  

I hope that I am wrong. I hope that Wayman Mitchell has more influence than Rick Warren when it comes to our local church. 

Let God be true, and every man a liar.

Esther, the Godless Queen.

The book of Esther is a strange book of the Bible. In Esther God is not mentioned by name or by attribute at all. The temple is never mentioned. No one prays that it was recorded. Fasting is mentioned but not prayer. The timeline tells us that after the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 586 BC it was about 108 years into the Babylonian captivity that Esther became queen of Persia in 478 BC. It was about 20 years later that Ezra led the first group of Jews back to Jerusalem and only a few years after that when Nehemiah led his group back. Esther and Mordecai were a part of the group that chose to remain in Babylon long after the remnant returned.

What does all of this historical fact tell us? The Esther and Mordecai grew up in a world without God. They grew up in pagan Persia. They were Jews in name only, not by any signs of an active spiritual life. God is not mentioned in Esther because God was not a part of Mordecai's life. He wrote the book, not her. It was all political intrigue and political power and human effort to him. We read more into the book of Esther than entered into the mind of the man who wrote her story.

We see the hand of God at work in Esther. We see the enemy at work to kill and destroy. We see things happening that to us prove that God was at work even though to Esther God was not a factor. We think that because it is included in the Bible God must be in it. But 100+ years of no God is hard to overcome on your own in a pagan king's palace.

One other book of the Bible does not mention God at all. Do you know which book that is?

New And Old

The older I get, the better I was. Some people have a hard time growing up and growing older. They look in the mirror and still see themselves as young and virile. They look at life as though the best years were in the past, when everything was fresh and new. But one lesson that life will teach you is that you cannot go forward while looking back over your shoulder.

For some people, retirement is a curse. It is a traumatic event when all meaning is taken out of life. For some people growing older is something to be feared or dreaded. They do not see the elderly as a rich repository of wisdom, but as a burden on society. 

God says that He saves the best until now. He is the eternal I am, not I was or I will be. God is always fresh and current. This is why the Christian life must be lived daily. One day at a time. I do not think that Heaven will be a time to remember what used to be. There will be too much to do to waste time reminiscing about the past.

Another lesson is that life must be lived to the end. Life as it is today, not as it was yesterday. One preacher said that the problem with life is that it is so daily. I do not see that as a problem. I see that as a chance to start every day fresh.

One more thing. If you think that salvation is the greatest miracle of all, then once you have been saved a few years that one big miracle was a long time ago. And if you heal the sick and raise the dead, does it ever get boring? Jesus only did it for three years.

Pray that our pastors can help those who are just starting out and also those who have been faithful for many years.

"Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a house-holder who brings out of his treasure things new and old." Mat.13:52

It Works!

 "Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."  Luke 6:38

Recently I was preparing for a church service when I felt the Lord tell me to give a certain amount. I knew it was the Lord and so I gave what He told me to give. I always thought that this verse meant that someone would walk up to me and hand me an envelope stuffed with cash. But how it worked for me is that I am receiving dental work costing over $1000 at no charge to me. God is faithful and He keeps His promises. One way or another.

"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you..." 2Cor.9:8

To God be the glory, great things He has done.

Lessons For Today

 "Then He said, take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." Gen.22:2

This story, of Abraham preparing to murder his son to offer him up as a burnt offering, is a troubling story. It has meaning beyond the obvious. But beyond Abraham's obedience, let's think about Isaac's perspective for a minute. Isaac was a young man, but not a child. Abraham told Isaac what was about to happen, but left out one glaring detail. I wonder if it crossed Isaac's mind at all what Abraham and God were planning for him. Isaac is the obedient son, up to the time that Abraham bound his hands and laid him on the alter. It was not until God saw that Abraham was really going to kill his son that God intervened to provide the ram in the bushes. I wonder how this whole scenario affected Isaac's view of his father.

 First, Isaac had to overcome his father's radical obedience. The first generation of revival had to make radical decisions and take radical stands just to survive. Everything to them was black and white, Heaven or Hell. There was no middle ground. It was, of necessity, a life out of balance for God. 

Isaac had to deal with his father's humanity. Every generation has to deal with the humanity of their parents. They see the radical faith and they see the failure of human nature, and they call them hypocrites and phonies. But Abraham was just human. Your parents and your pastor are just human too. Isaac had to come to grips with the fact that we are all just sinners saved by grace.

We all have to grow up and find balance in our faith if we are going to survive to the end. The soup is never eaten as hot as it is cooked. You cannot stay radical and on fire forever. We all have to find what works in life. Most successful people have learned how to compromise and they have learned that you have to get along with people different from us.

Isaac had to find his own relationship with God. You do not find that by turning your back. You find it by digging your own wells. You can learn from your parents mistakes. And you can benefit from your parents faith.

"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord is giving you." Exod. 20:12

From the beginning of human history, each generation has had to find God and serve the Lord for themselves. God has no grandchildren, only children. 

Isaac never followed his father's example by offering his son Jacob. But he did follow his father's faith to the end. Isaac will be in Heaven. Will you?

Contentment

"Now godliness with contentment is great gain." 1Tim.6:6

I do not get a lot of money each month in retirement. But I learned through life to have a budget and to stick to that budget. So when a bill comes due I just pay it. When repairs become necessary I know that I can hire someone to do the job. People have divorced and backslid over things that I have been through. But I did neither. I am still here and my wife is in Heaven with Christ.  

The only way to lose is to quit. I intend to endure to the end. Christ is the rock of my salvation. I shall not be moved.

"But none of these things move me." Acts 20:24

God is good, all of the time.

Faith Faith Faith

Have you ever heard of the Fermi Paradox? This is the problem that science has when they look up into the night sky, see all of the stars and constellations up there, and wonder if we are really all alone in the universe. Surely there must be other living beings out there somewhere. Surely there must be another life supporting planet out there somewhere. And if they are there, why haven't they noticed us here?

Could it be that in their wisdom and knowledge they have put too much emphasis on something that God created as a clock and a calendar for us to keep track of times and seasons? Could it be that they chafe at the idea that in all of the universe, we are not only alone, but that we as humans are unique?

This is why it all comes down to faith. God does not set the bar at knowledge or wisdom. He makes the mind boggling things easy to understand by faith. I have no problem believing that God created the natural world and the laws of nature in 6 days. Science cannot or will not believe that. There must be something more they think. Kind of like alien life, there must be others out there. I see a pattern here.

God did not create the big bang. He created the universe as it is right now today. And one day this universe that puzzles brilliant minds will be recreated  and again it will be for us.

Could this be one reason why we are called to preach the gospel to the poor, who are rich in faith? 

We walk by faith, not by sight. Faith believes what science rejects. Faith is easy, science is hard. Fermi was wrong.

"Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." Rom.1:22

"Who exchange the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." Rom.1:25

Some Things Are Different

 Here are a couple of differences between pastor Mitchell and my pastor now. 

Pastor Mitchell was a topical preacher. He took a subject, searched the scripture, and crafted a message on that topic. My pastor is an expositional preacher. He lets the Bible speak for itself. He tries to expound on a text and only adds outside information to make his point. They accomplish the same thing. But they are two different approaches.

Pastor Mitchell used to use weddings as a reason to preach on marriage. Some pastors see all of the visitors and they view the wedding as an evangelistic opportunity. The Holy Spirit can use a wedding sermon to convict sinners. Focusing on evangelism makes you miss an opportunity to support marriage.

Pastor Mitchell got tired of people leaving right after the marriage ceremony was over so he moved the wedding until after the sermon. Here people tend to stay and we still do the wedding festivities before the sermon.

There are things that are carved in stone in our faith. How to preach a sermon and how to run a service are not things to fret over. God leaves a lot up to us.

You Must Be Born Again

"Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3

Truth is a mystery received by revelation. It does not come through education or learning. It does not come by traditions or practices. The new birth is the gateway to knowing and understanding all that the kingdom of God contains. Revelation is God, by the Holy Spirit, opening our eyes to understand truth that previously we did not even consider.

"Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven." Mat.16:17

Jesus used the metaphor of being born again. Nicodemus understood what being born entailed. He said it is impossible by natural laws of birthing to re-enter your mother's womb. Jesus told him that it was a spiritual birth, not governed by the laws of nature. Being born again has a time, a place, a circumstance. It is not a course that you take or a book that you read. It is an event that changes your life forever.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." 2Cor.5:17

Being born again is not natural, it is supernatural. It is a miracle. What is impossible to man is possible to God.

I was born again on December the eighth, 1973. At that moment the trajectory of my life changed. I understand it all better now, but it did not depend on me understanding it, I just had to believe it.

"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that does truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." John 3:19-21

Science tries to rob God of His glory by cheapening His work with human intellect. God is not mocked. It is time for men to repent and believe the Gospel. My prayer is the the Light will shine in the darkness. Jesus said that until you are born again you cannot even see where you are going.

Science Gets It Wrong

 What if accepted science is all wrong? What if, in their zeal to avoid God, science has created this exotic idea of how the universe came to be? The Bible has one message concerning creation. God did it in six days. The laws of nature which science frets over are simply the laws by which the universe works, not the reason for it's existence. No one know how long God spent planning creation. The actual work only took six days.

Science makes it's biggest error when it views the laws by which the universe works as the laws that brought the universe into existence. Also, science spends a lot of time on the universe, but very little time on planet earth.

Another thing. The Bible says very little about the universe. Maybe the stars and galaxies are not that important. Maybe studying black holes is a waste of time. Maybe cosmology is majoring in something minor.

It takes faith to believe in evolution, not wisdom. It takes faith to believe in the big bang, not wisdom. It takes faith to believe in God, not wisdom. But, only one of these belief systems has power to save your soul.

"Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea." Rev. 21:1

Long after the universe is replaced by something new, people will still be in the mix. People are more eternal than the planet. Christians will be in the New Jerusalem, the rest in the Lake of Fire. You decide now where you spend eternity.

God makes the important things simple and easy  to understand. Pride makes things complex and dark. Only Jesus is the light of the world.

The Benefits Of Growing Older.

 There are benefits of getting older that only other older people will understand. I no longer get excited by drama or by pending disasters. I no longer get stirred up by things that I see or hear, even in church. I no longer find myself striving to get married. I no longer find myself striving to get sent out. I am content where I am and who I am with what I have.

I have heard enough sermons to judge the good ones from the not so good ones. I have Bible study tools to find out about things in the bible or that I heard in a sermon to see what it really says. I pray enough. I have my daily devotions and I read God's word daily. I go to church more than I need to. 

Marriage is a fundamental human relationship. I think everyone needs to get married. Except me. I was married. I stayed married. Death did us part and I am not looking to get joined to a new wife. I support marriage and all that it stands for. But not for me.

I support our vision for evangelism, discipleship, and church planting. I give towards it. I pray for workers. That is all I can and will do about that. Old men dream dreams. Young men see visions.

There really is a benefit to growing older (if you do not act like you are still young).

Blind Leaders Of The Blind

When you reject the truth you condemn yourself to endless wandering; searching and never finding answers to your problems. You begin the fruitless and unsatisfying time of wandering and thinking that you are going somewhere.  This is the problem that modern science finds itself in today. Study the natural law and natural structure of anything and you will bump into God. God is the creator and sustainer of the natural world. Math works because God designed the world to work. The universe is not a chaotic jumble of unregulated matter and energy swirling around hoping for order to emerge. It is perfect and ordered and structured so that brilliant scientists can spend their entire lives studying it.

"Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch." Mat.15:14

If you are traveling and unsure what route to take, getting directions from someone who doesn't know where you are or how you got there or where to go is foolish. No matter how confident they seem or how strong their argument seems to be they are more lost than you because they think that they know where they are.

"...If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" Mat.6:23

The bible is a rich resource of truth and light. By only focusing on one thing we miss so much of the richness of God's self revelation contained in the Bible. Truth is made light through the church. We need light, not a laser beam, to guide our way through the darkness. Between three services a week and adult bible study we have ample opportunity to learn more than we currently know.

"...For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more." Luke 12:48

Pastor, turn your office into a study. Turn your office from a travel agent into a place to study and read.

All Science Points To God

 On the surface, the creation story in Genesis reads like a children's Sunday School lesson. Very simple and easy to understand. And yet, beneath the surface of this simple story are depths of wisdom and engineering that boggle the mind.

"By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible." Heb.11:3

First, it takes faith to understand the creation story. Not intellect, not learning, not even wisdom, but faith.

Second, God is the architect and the engineer for creation. His idea, His plan, His design. It is His.

Third, creation appeared on the scene fully formed. God did not create a big bang. He created a fully formed and fully functioning universe. He did not mold it like clay, or mix together existing elements. He spoke, and the universe appeared just as we see it today. The big bang is science trying to rob God of His glory.

Science discovers natural laws that God set in place to govern how the universe works and how life on earth is sustained. All science points to God. It is dishonest for science to not tell the truth. Once you reject the logical answer, you are condemned to searching and never finding any more answers.

Adam and Eve were never babies. They were created as adults. The Garden of Eden was a real place designed by God just for man. The Garden was destroyed by the Flood. Sin robbed humanity of their dominion and their dignity. We will not see that level of rulership again until after the second coming of Christ. 

An Interesting Pattern

 I am not a pastor or an evangelist. I am just a man who has been around a long time. I have paid attention and I have noticed certain patterns that, now that we as a Fellowship have been in existence for a few years, I see emerging.

We have churches that have been in existence for many years now. Our churches have reached a size that reflects the pastor's ability to care for. We have a vision that works, but it seems to not be working as well as it used to. So we try harder to make something happen. Or we adjust our focus to minister to the people we have now. We support the overall vision of evangelism and discipleship and church planting. But we have changed.

One thing that I have noticed is that the explosive growth of our Fellowship is not happening in our older, more mature churches. It is happening on the cutting edge of church planting. New pastors and new churches in new cities doing what we do. And they are seeing the spectacular growth and the exciting evangelism we used to see. No one church has planted 4000 churches. We have seen God use our vision to keep the fire burning out on the fringes of civilization.

The older churches that are still thriving today have come to grips with where they are in the trajectory of revival and have found a way to continue to minister to faithful people who have stayed by the stuff, some for many years now. 

If you are a pastor and you miss the exciting days of early revival, then go pioneer a brand new church or be a missionary in a new country. We will miss you and we will support you and we will pray for you. 

Oh How He Loves Us!

 The night sky is full of stars which they tell us are not just stars but galaxies. But the night sky is still dark. The only star that makes our sky light is the sun. The rest of the night sky is more like a calendar than anything. 

"Then God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth; and it was so." Gen.1:14-15

The earth spins on it's axis at 1037 mph as it zooms around the sun at 67000 mph. All of this motion and high speed and on earth we feel nothing. We have no sense of moving at all. 

Science asks questions for which no scientific answer is needed. The night sky is light enough and as interesting as you want to make it. The planet we live on is moving but it is so big and the distance is so great that no instrument on earth can measure it. Pride makes God's place for us seem small and insignificant.

We live in a world that is perfect for us. God made the place first to make sure it was right before He put man in it. And one day He will make a new heaven and a new earth to be perfect for us for eternity.

"Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea." Rev.21:1

So if you think that Heaven will be like your favorite spot on earth I hate to disappoint you. Heaven is where we go until we return to the new place that God will prepare for us.

Oh how He loves us!

Has Much Learning Made Us Mad?

"you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad! But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason." Acts 26:24-25

Much learning is making you mad Paul was told. But Paul's response tells us something about human pride. Much learning can make us mad. We are crazy because of the crazy things we come up with when we learn too much. Science comes up with crazy ideas in their attempt, like Festus, to skirt the main issue of faith. All of higher learning has lost it's way in their zeal to avoid truth as it is in Christ. 

For example, science tells us that we are made up of particles like protons and neutrons and electrons. That we are basically machines humming along through space and time. This is why AI thinks it is almost human. It's just another machine. But the Bible tells a different story about people.

"I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;" Psalm 139:14

The words fearfully and wonderfully are Hebrew words that are the same that are used to describe God. Awe inspiring and amazing. Worthy of respect and marvelous. God did not build a machine. He created people who resemble God.

"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them" Genesis 1:27

To say that we are biological machines is to attempt to discredit God. Much learning has made us mad.

Did you know that science tells us that matter is the same throughout the entire universe? An electron on Earth is the same as an electron in a star ten billion light years away. They tell us that empty space is not empty. Of course it isn't empty. God fills the whole universe with His awesome power.

"Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured heaven with a span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?" Isaiah 40:12

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge." Psalm 19:1-2.

Much learning has make us think that God doesn't exist and that all of creation is a random accident and that people are only machines. Much learning has made us mad.

Light Still Shines

 "Then God said, let there be light; and there was light." Genesis 1:3

It is interesting to me that the first act of preparing earth to be a habitation for man was to create light. Before God created light the universe was very dark. Light is not a wave or a particle, it just is. This drives theoretical physicists crazy. Light has no speed, it does not move. It just is.

The universe is so big and vast as to be unmeasurable. Man was created to live on earth, not to travel in space. We thrive on earth, we die in space. Science fiction is more fiction than science.

Science, in it's quest to understand everything, often runs into the laws of nature that are absolute. They do not care what you think things ought to be or do.

"And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." John 1:5

Jesus Christ is the light of the world. He is the light that shines in the darkness. He separates light from darkness. 

"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him?" Psalm 8:3-4

Science runs into God because it is God's world. Science makes up fables just to avoid coming to grips with God the creator. The Gospel is a nice love story until you get to the part where God judges sin.

"And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." John 3:19

The Bible is a mystery received by revelation, not by human education. Truth is a spirit, not a subject.

Altar Calls

One thing that our Fellowship does is we have an altar call at the conclusion of every service. We do this to give people a chance to be saved. We do this for a chance to respond to the sermon. Some people seem to respond to every altar call no matter what. Some people rarely or never go forward to pray. But there is one common thing that I noticed. Those who always go and those who rarely go are basically the same in the end. Change does not automatically happen just because you went forward to pray.

Not all altar calls are equal. Sometimes they are life changing. The time you went forward to get saved was a life changing altar call. The time that you finally surrendered to the call of God is a life changing altar call. Most of the time our needs are not so profound or life altering. How to be a better husband or wife or parent. How to be a better Christian. The choice to go on record to start tithing. While everything in life is important on one level, not everything in life is life changing.

One sign of a young church is everyone answers every altar call every time.

I remember when an evangelist would come off of the platform and go to someone in their seat to give them a word. Now if you do not go forward you do not get a personal word from anyone. And most of the people who go forward go back to their seat the same as when thy went forward.

Thoughts On Our Home Fellowship Group.

 We had our home Bible study last night. I have noticed something about the man who leads our group. Most of the time he seems to preach two messages at the same time. He usually starts out by reading his notes that our pastor gave him for the study. But once he begins he usually digresses into his own unrelated thoughts. I listen, and I notice when he looks down at his notes and he slips back into the prepared lesson. I try not to get to excited by the announced topic for the study since I know that we won't be on that subject too long.

I do not expect a deep theological lesson at our home fellowship group. But it would be nice to hear the prepared lesson the whole way through once in a while. This is why the preacher needs notes and structure to his message. Ad-libbing is a good way to tell the same story over and over and over again. Public speaking is an art form that can be learned and once learned can be perfected to make it as good as you can make it.

One more thought. Do not tell us what you used to do in your younger years as though it was something you are currently still doing. 

My Thoughts For Today

 Some pastors preach on the same thing over and over. The same subject, the same topic, the same message. The problem for some of us is that it becomes like the warning labels on consumer products. We do not hear any message that is over emphasized. It becomes a dreaded encounter when you go to church and you no longer wait with anticipation to hear what God has to say and instead you dread hearing the same thing again.

It is a revelation to understand that pastors are people too. They have hopes and dreams and emotions. They have wives and families that need their support. They get happy, and they get disappointed. But a good, mature pastor will hide his feeling and his emotions just like a parent does with their children. We tell young pastors not to have fried church members for Sunday dinner. Does anyone tell successful pastors how to preach and how not to spoil what God has done?

He who endures to the end shall be saved.  I used to think that this applied to end time tribulation. Some Sundays it seems like enduring to the end of pastor's sermon instead.

It's hard to tell your audience that a quarterback is stupid, and then sit down with him to interview him. It's hard to be the focus of adulation and then have to be just our pastor. The shepherd's rod and staff are not weapons with which to punish the sheep, but tools to help him guide the sheep.

"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase." 1Cor.3:6

Pray for your pastor.

News or Good News?

 "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," Romans 5:1

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27

"He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved." Psalm 62:6

God has given us His word that no matter what is happening around us, we can have peace. And if the world is falling apart, we shall not be moved. 

The news can be troubling. The Good News gives us peace.

Shaken and Perplexed

 The prophet Haggai used the word shake twice in chapter two. This is an interesting word in Hebrew. It is translated as shake, or tremble. But it also has the idea of making afraid. The word for earthquake is similar, but different. The shaking Haggai talked about is not an earthquake that destroys cities. It is a fear that unsettles men's hearts and disrupts human activity.

Here is an interesting connecting from the prophecy of Christ.

"And there will be signs in in sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, and the sea and the waves roaring.; men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken." Luke 21:25-26

Jesus talked about natural disasters, but also about the fear and dread of the possibility of those disasters happening. The expectation of those things happening. This is a fear, not from the devil, but from God, that touches the heart of a Christ rejecting world. Only in Christ do we find the strength to endure and not be moved by the terrors that men think might happen.

Can you say climate change? Can you say an asteroid is aimed at us? Can you say political chaos? Does the evening news make you afraid? 

The shaking that Haggai talked about is more likely a fearful trembling that paralyzes men's hearts with inaction or dumb decisions. You can't win the fight if you are fighting the wrong thing.

"For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled." Luke 21:22

It's time to repent.

My Daily Devotions

 In my daily devotions today I read from the prophet Haggai these words.

"I will shake heaven and earth. I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I will destroy the strength of the gentile kingdoms." Hag.2:21-22

These words were fulfilled in ancient days. Of all of the nations that were world powers in Haggai's time, none remain. God shook them and overthrew them all.

Today, I believe God will once again shake heaven and earth and overthrow the kingdoms of worldly rulers.

"For thus says the Lord of hosts: once more(it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and they will come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, says the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, says the Lord of hosts." Hag. 2:6-9

I see a great shaking. I see the return of Christ. I see miracle provision. and I see peace.

God always has more to come, and He always saves the best until last. God says here "a little while" and this will happen.

Come quickly Lord Jesus!

All Things To All People

 "Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them." Mark 9:2

Jesus knew how to work with people. He could minister to a crowd. He chose out of the crowd men to be disciples. Out of the disciples He chose the 12 disciples who would become apostles. Then he chose three to be with him on special occasions. Jesus did not take the multitude up on the mount of transfiguration. He did not even take all of the disciples. He only took Peter, James, and John. We are never told why these three. 

A wise pastor does not try to disciple the whole church. He is able to minister to the whole church in a way that helps them where they are. He recognizes gifting and calling and works with those who feel called. And He sets apart those destined for greater things.

Not every person in a seat on Sunday morning can handle the soup as hot as it has been cooked. Some may need milk and not meat. Some have no appetite for spicy food. But everyone needs something. Something appropriate for where they are in their walk with Jesus.

"Then Esau said, let us take our journey; let us go, and I will go before you. But Jacob said to him, my lord knows that the children are weak, and the flocks and herds which are nursing are with me. And if the men should drive them hard one day, all the flock will die."

Jacob and Esau understood that not everyone can travel at the same pace. A wise pastor should know this also. There are things that you tell everyone. There are things you only say at a men's discipleship class. There are things that only men or only women should hear. And there are very few things that the men you are grooming for ministry need to hear.

Pray for your pastor. He needs to see beyond the obvious.

Selling a Dream?

There is a fine line between selling a dream and selling a lie. In our church our pastor is selling a dream. Young men can get married, become a disciple, and get sent out to be a pastor. Unfortunately, we have gotten the cart before the horse. We put priority on discipleship and not enough emphasis on getting married.

Marriage is so important. That is why historically we do not send out single men. Marriage is important on it's own, it is not a ticket to destiny. It needs to be valued and supported on it's own merits.

Trying to think about discipleship as a game or as a program is missing the point. Discipleship is training a young man on how to be a pastor.  You do not get this from a book.  This is perhaps why the third generation sells the farm. They never get to spend time with the pastor who started it all. If discipleship depends on natural gifting and ability that disqualifies most young men who aspire one day to be a pastor. You not only need  a spiritual connection, you also need a personal connection to someone who is a pastor.

Discipleship is a natural outflow of revival. Getting people saved produces a pool of potential young men some of whom may one day become pastors themselves. 

This still is a work of God and not of men. We know how to do this. God knows how to get this done.

My final thought for today. You do not disciple the whole church. You run with the runners.