God Supplies Every Need

"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 have seen the Lord fulfill this verse in my life. It began with a one time payment from Social Security of $1110. Then today, at my early birthday party, I received $640 in cash and gift cards. 

I am grateful for the generous supply of the Lord in my life. 

I live on a very meager fixed income. I have a budget that I live by. I obey God to give when He calls for it. God keeps His promises. Amen. 

The Little Foxes

 "Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines..." Song 2:15

Most men do not fail in the valley of despair. They leap from the pinnacle of success. These are the words of a successful pastor in our Fellowship who years later would be one of the men who left our Fellowship. I wonder what little foxes spoiled his vine? 

Most of the time it is not the big crisis that overwhelms us. It is the tiny but persistent problem that impacts us the most. Most men do not leave the Fellowship over embezzlement of millions of dollars. Most men do not leave the Fellowship over gross immorality or adultery. It is usually an attitude or a small indiscretion that overthrows their standards and their commitments. 

One benefit of having church three times a week is it allows us a chance to get right with God and not let small problems become big problems.

A man who will steal for me, will steal from me. A thief is a thief. He will steal money. He will steal a man's wife. He will steal a church. He will live as though he is above the law. Until he is caught, and everyone sees the tooth marks of those little foxes on his character.

The little foxes cause big problems.

The Most Important End Times Sign.

 "...the disciples came to him privately, saying, tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?" Mat.24:3b

Wanting to know the future is a common issue with people. Wanting to know Bible prophecy is common to many believers. Let someone stub their toe in the middle east and it's the end of the world to some preachers. By focusing on issues happening that Jesus clearly said "the end is not yet", we miss the important things about Bible prophecy.

Jesus says that there is one word to define the nature of the end times and that word is deceive. To answer the disciples question about when, Jesus gave this reply.

"And Jesus answered and said to them: take heed that no one deceives you." Mat.24:4

Jesus used the word deceive 4 times in this chapter. Simple biblical interpretation tells us that words repeated are important to understand. The Greek word is planao. It basically means to lead into error, to cause to wander, to lead astray, or to seduce. There is a mental and spiritual and moral element in deception. Eve was not intellectually beguiled to eat the fruit, she was seduced by the serpent.

Satan is a master deceiver. Deception is his nature. His main activity in the end times is to deceive the nations.

"Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth..."Rev. 20:7-8a

The promise of general AI is to make people super human, almost like making them gods. AI is more a sign of the end times than the Arab/Israeli conflict. There are plenty of people living today who would love to rule the world. They are evil people.

"...For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth." Rev.18:23-24

Just remember, man as god is chaos. God as a man is grace and salvation. God is way ahead of this game.

Past, Present, Future

 Recently I talked to my old high school friend who I haven't seen in many years. It was nice to talk to him. I spent some time reminiscing about my high school days. And then I realized something. I do not live in the past.

Some people talk about the good old days like they were current events. It is fresh to them. Not me. I have memories, mostly fond ones, but I have to work to remember those things. I find that I live in the present, and I am looking towards the future.

I left Prescott partly because I felt that I was being smothered by memories there. I moved here partly because I had no memories here.

Some people love reminiscing. Some love to talk about the past. Some people get comfort from remembering what once happened. I love to ponder what might happen next.

My 50th high school reunion was two years ago so I missed all of them. The 50th one might have been fun to attend. We have all reached an age where accomplishments and degrees are not as important as they once were. Old age is a great leveler of people.

The houses where I grew up are still there. A few of the people I knew growing up are still around the old home town. My aged mother still remembers those early days. I wonder what happened to all of the kids I went to school with. Are they still alive? 

I would enjoy talking with some old friends. I am a lot smarter now than I used to be. It might be fun to visit on the phone. I do not see myself traveling to see any of them in person. At least not right now.

Child Like, or Childish?

 "I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread." Psalm 37:25

In a youth oriented society, older folks sometimes have a hard time finding their place or fitting in. They feel ignored, or irrelevant, or unimportant, to the rest of society. No one sells them anything anymore. No one tries to get their support anymore. They are not as strong or as wealthy or as healthy as they once were. I think that part of this is somehow,  we grow up with a fear of growing old. 

This is not just a problem for society. It is a problem for the church world as well. Evidently it has been a problem for a long time. In many towns you can find old church buildings with just a handful of old folks who meet there. In our Fellowship we have first wave saints who got saved a long time ago and we do not have a clear idea of how they fit in or what they are good for.

I am not advocating that we send out senior citizens. I'm not calling for a conference on aging saints.

Prescott is trying to do something. They have a pastor on staff whose job is primarily to care for senior citizens. They have a music scene for older folks who used to be the cutting edge of coffee house evangelism and who have aged out of the whole scene. They call it Cafe One80.

The worst thing you can do is to make people think that the key to revival is to act like a teenage new convert again. Run for your life if your pastor advocates acting childish. The call of the gospel is child like, not childish.

My prayer is that pastors will find a way to retire, and that older saints will be appreciated for their contribution to where we are today. We are here because they were there.

God Keeps Good Books

 "...the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous." Prov.13:22

This proverb is no doubt based on something that king Solomon saw in real life. It was not wealth gotten by evil schemes that caught his attention. It was good money gathered or earned by evil people that he noticed. It is not because God is unjust. It is that God keeps good books. And all the wealth of the world is God's. It is those who chose to love money instead of loving God that is unjust. They probably did not pay their tithe much less give offerings. It will pain the heart of the covetous on that day when their wealth is transferred to someone who will honor God with it.

"but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give it to him who is good before God." Eccl.2:26.

It's funny that seeing wealth earned by the wicked to give it to the righteous offended Solomon. He called this vanity and grasping for the wind. Evidently Solomon was a grasping kind of man.

The Christian life is not just pie in the sky, in the sweet by and by. It is seeing the goodness of God in the land of the living. Amen!

Sunday Thoughts.

 Years ago pastor Mitchell said that America's greatest sin was covetousness. It wasn't abortion or homosexuality or murder. It was the love of money that was at the top of the list. The love of money is behind unaffordable housing and unlivable wages. Greed has provoked more armed conflicts than religion in the modern world. Politics is no longer about character or ethics or morals. It's about the economy, stupid. One preacher said that covetousness is the fear of not having enough. Is that what motivates the uber rich to want even more? Are they just plain scared of not having enough?

Pastor Mitchell also once preached a sermon on being kingdom builders or earth fillers. Whether we, as the church, are focused on building ourselves bigger, like the people in Babel, or whether we are more interested in filling the earth to fulfil the great commission. God has a great kingdom. For planet earth God's plan has always been to fill the earth and subdue it. Going into all the world to preach the gospel is consistent with God's earth-filling mandate.

It costs a lot of money to do what we do. We must be careful not to let money become our focus. We must be careful that we focus on making people Christian and not creating a Christian nation.

If our vision has become boring to you, maybe you ought to retire and let someone with fresh faith take over. And remember, it would be a demotion to go from behind your pulpit to winning an election.

Pastor Mitchell once said that truth is hard on church growth. He was right on all accounts.