Christmas Bitter and Christmas Sweet by Tim Challies

 There are not many “pure” celebrations in this world, not many occasions in which we are only festive, only rejoicing, only merry. Especially as our lives go on, especially as the years and decades pass, we accumulate more to mourn, more to grieve, more to lament. Eventually every joy is tempered by at least some measure of grief, every new pleasure wistful about some memory of pain. Few celebrate their 40th birthday with the abandon of their 10th, their 50th anniversary with the unadulterated joy of their 1st. Though life brings many pleasures, it also brings many pains.

As the holidays draw near, many feel sorrow approaching in lockstep with joy. The same storm that brings much-needed rain to the fields also threatens to wash out the picnic and the parade. And just so, as the Christmas season comes, many feel the rush that comes with giving gifts and enjoying feasts and marking celebrations, but at the same time the ache that comes when they hang fewer stockings than in years past, when they set fewer places round the table, when they see a face missing from the family photographs. Though they truly do celebrate, there is bitter mixed with their sweet, dark shadows that temper their light.

They may find themselves wishing that God would take their pain away, that at least on the days of great celebration they would be able to experience a joy that is pure and unadulterated, untouched by the presence of sorrow. Just for a day, couldn’t they have pleasure without pain, smiles without tears, new memories without the encroachment of old ones?

But to take their grief away, God would need to take their love away, for love and grief are like the daffodils of early spring in which two flowers bloom from a single stem. There is no grief where there has not been love and no love that comes without risk of grief. They weep because they have loved and because they love still. Absence makes the heart grow warmer, not colder, and while time may temper wounds, it has no power to heal them.

They cannot plead that God would take their love away, for love is too precious and their loved ones too dear. They cannot plead that God would make them forget, for there is no forgetting ones who gave them such joy, who loved them with such fierce affection. They cannot plead that all would go back to the way it was, for the pathway through life leads in but one direction so that the way is always forward and never back.

But they can plead that God would gave them faith to trust, faith to believe, faith to endure—faith to trust that even this weighty trial will some day prove to be a light and momentary affliction, faith to believe in the word of the God who says he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, faith to endure with confidence that steadfastness will have its full effect within them, making them perfect and complete, so that they lack nothing.

As they awaken on Christmas morn, their eyes glistening with tears of sorrow and joy, their hearts longing for what was and what is, perhaps they—perhaps we—can pause for a moment to consider that though God has called us to bear this sore grief, it blooms from the very same stem that bears such sweet love. Perhaps we can pause to thank God that the degree of our grief simply proves the extent of our love. And perhaps we can pause to praise God for his gift of love, for in moments like these we have to acknowledge that it truly is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

10 Reasons Older Women Should Mentor Younger Women in Your Church by Chuck Lawless

 I believe in mentoring as one component of disciplemaking. My experience, though, is that too few churches challenge their members to invest in others. My goal in this post is to challenge women in the church to mentor younger women (and, many of these reasons for doing so would also apply to older men mentoring younger men). 

1. The Bible requires it. Titus 2:3-5 expects that young women will learn from older women who have lived out their faith in the Lord. If our churches ignore this calling, the next generation suffers.
2. God never expected us to travel our journey alone. When He said, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Gen 2:18), His point was not that everyone is to be married; it was that He created us in such a way that we need others in our lives. Younger women especially need older women to walk with them. 
3. Many younger women have had few or no healthy female role models in their life. Mothers have a unique bond with their children, but not every mother is a model of godliness. Some young women are still waiting to become close friends with a godly female.
4. They will be spouses and moms in a culture ever turning from God’s standards. Young women will be called to live their faith in a world increasingly opposed to Christianity. They shouldn’t be expected to walk that path without an older role model.  
5. They are future leaders of some church ministries. Churches differ in what roles women can play in a congregation, but younger women will lead some types of church ministries in the future. What they see modeled now will help them in the days to come.
6. Younger women are longing for mentors in the faith. Men have no monopoly on this need. Younger women are equally seeking older women who will give them time.
7. Even young women face temptations such as pornography. As morals change and sin becomes more acceptable, even young women face issues we once assumed were limited to men. Many women, though, have no place to turn for support and guidance. 
8. Woman-to-woman discipling can prepare younger women for the mission field. In some places of the world, only women have access to minister to other women. Being a disciple now will help younger women prepare for this role. 
9. Even a few minutes of godly attention can change a younger woman’s life.  Investing in a younger woman does not require a seminary degree or a ministry calling. All it requires is an older woman who walks with God – and a younger woman’s life may then never be the same.
10. Younger women with mentors will someday become older women themselves. That means, of course, they’ll be the next generation to carry on the work of investing in others. Guiding them now will help others in the future.

"The Sound of Christmas" Series begins tomorrow at Rainsville First Baptist Church

 

Christmas, as we culturally know it, would not be Christmas without the sound of music.  Whether it's the sound of bells ("Silver Bells", "Jingle Bells", "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day"), the classic "Do You Hear What I Hear?" or the hymn "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Glory to the Newborn King!"

Christmas would not be Christmas without a song.  But that is not just culturally, it is scriptural.  While Luke chapters one-and-two span longer than just the actual birth of Jesus, the chapters all deal with the scenario of the coming of Jesus into the world through His birth.  The announcement of Jesus coming set the world to singing.  

Why this emphasis on singing?  praising?

Christians, unlike the other religions of the world, are a singing people.  

The Angels sang during the powerful burst of creation of God's Word:

"When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?" Job 38:7

Our Saviour Sings!

"The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."  Zephaniah 3:17

We are to sing as the saved people of God!

We sing in the morning:

"But I will sing of Your power; Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning:  For You have been my defense And refuge in the day of my trouble."  Psalm 59:16

We sing at midnight:

"But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them." Acts 16:25

We sing in the night:

"But no one says, 'Where is God my Maker, Who gives songs in the night."  Job 35:10

We sing to lift our spirits:

"To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness:  That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified."  Isaiah 61:3

So since believers sing always, certainly there is no better time to sing than at Christmas.  We will listen to "The Sound of Christmas" from Luke 1 and 2 in the coming days.  Join us beginning tomorrow at Rainsville First Baptist Church at 10:15 for "The Song That Lifts" from Luke 1: 46-55.

"The Reflection of Man Turning 74" by Wade Trimmer

 On this my 74^th birthday, I’ve had several thoughts occupy my attention today, none more sobering than that of “TIME”.

Where has it gone so quickly? It’s obvious that I have far more time behind me than I do in front of me. With the average life expectancy of men around 78 years, I wonder if I’ll just be “average”?

The truth be known, we are the most time-conscience people in history. We have watches on our wrists, clocks on our cell phones, our computers, in our cars, and in practically every room in the house. The term “time” peppers practically every conversation we engage ourselves in. Hey, it’s about time. Time out, time in, time’s up, time flies, only time will tell. Time is money. Don’t waste your time going there. What time is it?

Time is a mysterious and majestic loan from God that requires the best of stewardship. We are to “remember” our Creator when we’re young (Eccl. 12:1); “number our days” (Ps. 90:12); “awake out of sleep,” (Rom. 13:11,12); and “redeem the time,” (Eph. 5:14-16). Life doesn’t belong to us. God just loans it for a while.

Time is the deposit each of us has in the bank of God and only He knows the balance. If we get to live, we all get the same amount of time deposited in our accounts each day, 24hrs., 1440 mins., 86,400 secs., and we must spend it all.

During today’s reflections on time, I decided it was time for a quick review of the subject to keep the alarm of my heart ringing out the truth that as a child of God, the best is always in the future.

Since there are only three tenses of time as we know it – past, present, and future – successful time-management requires only three things:

1. I Must Learn from the Past and Not Try to Live in It!

One translation of Philippians 3:13 says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.”

A. The Lessons of the Past Require Spiritual Evaluation

Evaluation Principle 1 – God Doesn’t Review Our Past in Order to Determine Our Future! Isaiah 43:25, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.

Destiny is always ahead and not behind. The truth is yesterday ended last night. Yesterday has passed forever into the tomb of time and is totally beyond our resurrection of it. You and I will never be able to have a better tomorrow if we are thinking about yesterday today!

Evaluation Principle 2 – Bury the past experiences so that they become a foundation to build upon and not a focal point to be longing for!

My past should be a guide into the future and not a jailer that keeps me locked up with a prisoner’s mentality even though I’m out of the prison of sin’s condemnation.

I’m to learn from my past and not try to live in it. The past should be a springboard, not a hammock, a launching pad and not a lawn chair. It is more valuable to look where you are going than to see where you’ve been.

2. I Must Plan for the Future and not Worry Over It!

Philippians 3:13b “…and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,”

There was a man who was slowly losing his memory. After an examination, the doctor said that an operation on his brain might reverse his condition and restore his memory. However, the surgery would be so delicate that a nerve might be severed, causing total blindness.

“What would you rather have,” asked the surgeon, “your sight or your memory?” The man pondered the question for a few moments and then replied, “My sight, because I would rather see where I am going than remember where I have been.”

So, Wade, stop looking at where you’ve been and start looking at where you’re going. Life can be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards. Look backwards with gratitude to God in that although your past may have seemed like “hell on earth”, you weren’t sentenced to “hell under the earth! “Then look forward with confidence that the prospects of your future are as bright as the promises of God!

3. I Must Live in the Present by Seizing Every Opportunity to Glorify God by Enjoying and Displaying Him in Every Area of Life!

Ephesians 5:16, “redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” The word for redeeming the time means to buy up what will be lost forever if not purchased and bring it out of the market and remove from further sale. The picture is that we go into the market “to buy up an article that will be lost if we don’t buy it, in order to make the largest possible profit out of it.”  This is each Christian’s responsibility regarding Time.

We must use the present wisely by staying focused on the destiny we’re going to instead of on the problems we’re going through!

We must major upon opportunities and not on obstacles. We must major on possibilities and not on problems. We must use the present to talk about the great grace of God that is available, able, and abundant and not talk about the gross mistreatments or grievous mistakes or great milestones of our past. We must talk about the prospects of the future and not the successes and failures of our past.

We must remember that our time deposit in God’s Bank of Life can be closed at any time, without any notice! Now is the accepted time! Procrastination is the thief of time and the grave of opportunity.

Luke 9:62,“No procrastination. No backward looks. You can’t put God’s kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the Day!” (The Message)

Rom 13:11, “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.”

So, Wade, practice what you preach – use today to glorify God by enjoying Him in every way, in everyplace, in everyday! Then when your time is up, you’ll be with Him in glory where you’ll never run out of time again!

 

What Are You Grateful For? by Dr. Charles Stanley

 What are you grateful for today?

Daily nourishment, a roof over our heads—at the very least, we can usually thank God for these things. And you’ll probably find quite a bit more, when you stop to “count your blessings.”

God’s gifts shouldn’t be taken for granted, but oftentimes we have to learn to appreciate them.

One such gift is the blessing of companionship.

When I was in college, I knew someone who understood what it takes to be a devoted friend. He’d stop by and ask whether I’d like to have lunch with him or if he could do anything for me. Even if I declined, he just kept coming back.

Eventually we became close, and I truly appreciated his persistence. He taught me what it means to really be a friend—and that’s a lifelong blessing.

Do you have friendships that enrich your life and fill you with gratitude?

In this age of social media, people have more “friends” than ever. But what about loyal companions who know you intimately and stick by you through good times and bad? We all need this, yet deep relationships are harder to find than ever before.

God created us as relational beings so we could interact with Him and each other.

That’s why after making Adam, He created Eve, saying, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Gen. 2:18). Throughout Scripture there are accounts of companionship—Moses and Aaron, David and Jonathan, Daniel and his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Jesus chose 12 men to be His disciples, and three were even closer friends—Peter, James, and John.

The Lord doesn’t want you to walk through life alone.

If you feel a void in this area of your life, I’d like to offer you some help.

First of all, our intimate friends are usually few in number. And friendships don’t come automatically; they require time, effort, and unselfishness.

There’s also emotional risk because at some point, you may be hurt by a friend. But that shouldn’t stop you from finding a trustworthy companion and cultivating a relationship you both find fulfilling.

Building a long-lasting friendship requires a good foundation.

Mutual interests are the starting point in friendship, and the most important one is a relationship with Jesus Christ as Savior.

Although we’re not to isolate ourselves from non-Christians, they won’t necessarily be our closest friends because their values, desires, and beliefs might be contrary to ours. The Bible warns that “bad company corrupts good morals” (1 Cor. 15:33).

We need friends who draw us nearer to the Lord, not farther away.

The second building block is a relationship governed by biblical principles.

One of the reasons friendships fall apart is a failure to treat each other as God’s Word says. We need to be a friend, and have a friend, who is patient, kind, humble, unselfish, and forgiving—not holding grudges, becoming jealous, being easily provoked to anger, or acting ugly (1 Cor. 13:4-5).

Philippians 2:4 reminds us to look out for the other person’s interests more than our own.

If we enter a relationship out of neediness, it will soon become imbalanced. We’ll constantly lean on our friend to meet our own needs. That’s exhausting for the other person and will likely drive him or her away.

God wants us ultimately to lean on Him, not on another human being, because He alone is sufficient to meet all our needs, whether physical, material, emotional, or Spiritual.

Third, lasting relationships are built on mutual spiritual edification.

We encourage each other in the faith, share what we’ve learned in God’s Word, talk about the Lord, and pray for and with each other. When a close companion is going through a hard time, we give empathy and support, and if God blesses our friend in some way, we will likely rejoice together (Rom. 12:15). Sometimes, edification takes the form of a reproof given in a spirit of humility and gentleness (Gal. 6:1).

Fourth, an intimate relationship is built on mutual transparency.

It’s impossible to cultivate a deep relationship when one party refuses to open up. You can’t build friendships with someone who’s built a wall so high and thick that no one can get through.

The apostle Paul had this problem with the church at Corinth. He had laid bare his heart to them, but they were restrained toward him. So he pleaded with them to open wide their hearts in like exchange (2 Cor. 6:11-13).

Experiencing all the dimensions of a good friendship will make you profoundly thankful—both for the person you’ve befriended and for God’s goodness in bringing the two of you together.

My prayer is that you’ll find a loyal, trustworthy friend and that together, you’ll grow in your relationship with the Lord.

Following these biblical guidelines will open a path to contentment, joy, and fulfillment. That devoted friend could become one of God’s richest blessings in your life.

Prayerfully yours,

Charles F. Stanley

Happiness – Heaven’s Serious Business! by Wade Trimmer

 In his excellent book, Happiness, Randy Alcorn writes, “Among Christ followers, happiness was once a positive, desirable word.” He then notes, “Only in recent times have happiness and joy been set in contrast with each other.” Alcorn adds, “I believe this is biblically and historically ungrounded and has significant downsides …”

After reading and rereading Alcorn’s book, Happiness, I realized I was on the side of those who asserted a distinct, biblical difference between joy and happiness. In fact, I wrote a book titled, “Joy – Heaven’s Serious Business”, and my premise was, “Joy isn’t happiness because happiness is circumstantial.”

The definition I used of joy versus happiness was not based on a thorough study of the subject but enunciated because that is what I had read or been taught by other great men of God.

If I ever republish the book, I’ll change the title to “Happiness – Heaven’s Serious Business.”

Unfortunately, this distorted understanding and division between happiness and joy has been a long-standing issue in the church. For example, in 1418 the Roman Catholic Church Council of Constance decreed, “If any cleric or monk speaks jocular words, such as provoke laughter, let him be anathema.”

In contrast to the churches attitude toward happiness in the past, the typical church in modern America has for the most part imbibed the world’s understanding of the term and takes it to mean as long as a person is gratified, satisfied, and magnified, they are happy. So, most people say that their dominant desire in life is to be “happy.” This misunderstanding of true happiness makes me the goal of life and it encourages me to manipulate all circumstances to achieve my gratification. Also, it sees no purpose in life or its circumstances if my highest gratification is not achieved. Its motto is, “If happenings happen to happen happily, I will be happy; but if happenings happen to happen unhappily, I will be unhappy.”

Randy Alcorn’s research reveals that one of the first people in modern history to really speak out against happiness and contrasted it with joy was Oswald Chambers, a man I greatly admire and one whose writings have enriched my life. Like me and so many others, Randy writes, “And I love Oswald Chambers! My Utmost for His Highest is a great book and so are other books that he wrote. But some of the dramatic anti-happiness things he said were pretty startling.”

“For example, Chambers wrote: ‘Joy should not be confused with happiness. In fact, it is an insult to Jesus Christ to use the word happiness in connection with Him. We must continually remind ourselves of the purpose of life.’

“Again, he wrote: ‘Happiness is no standard for men and women because happiness depends on my being determinedly ignorant of God and His demands. We are not destined to happiness, nor to health, but to holiness.’

“Then Chambers makes and astounding statement: ‘Joy is not happiness; there is no mention in the Bible of happiness for the Christian, but there is plenty said about joy.’” This is an amazing statement coming from a man so well-versed in Scripture and is untrue.

Randy Alcorn responded: “While Chambers claim may be technically true, happy is found in the King James Version that he used twenty-nine times. Just as holy speaks of holiness and joyful speaks of joy and glad speaks of glad, obviously happy speaks of happiness.”

Randy continues: “Forcing a choice between holiness and happiness is utterly foreign to the biblical worldview.

“The idea that “joy is not an emotion” promotes an unbiblical myth. Yet that statement appears online more than 17,000 times, virtually all of them by Christians. Most unbelievers rightly realize that happiness, gladness, and joy are synonyms, and they involve real emotions, which are not bad, but good.”

John Piper said, “If you have nice little categories for ‘joy is what Christians have’ and ‘happiness is what the world has’, you can scrap those when you go to the Bible, because the Bible is indiscriminate in its use of the language of happiness and joy and contentment and satisfaction.”

There’s a long, rich history of equating joy with happiness in Christ. For example, Jonathan Edwards cited John 15:11 (“that [Jesus’] joy might remain in you,” KJV) to prove this point: “The happiness Christ gives to his people, is a participation of his own happiness.”

Charles Spurgeon said, “May you so come, and then may your Christian life be fraught with happiness, and overflowing with joy.” Spurgeon’s views of happiness and joy, evident in hundreds of his sermons, are completely contrary to the artificial wall the contemporary church has erected between the two.

The brilliant mathematician and Christian, Blaise Pascal wrote, “All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. They will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.”

Everybody wants to be happy. Perhaps we can’t put in words what we mean by happiness, but we know the desire for it stands behind much of what we do, and we know it’s not just one more thing we want, along with meaningful relationships and significant work and material possessions, but it’s the Thing itself, the reason for our pursuit of everything else.

Ask the typical Christian what God wants of them and they will probably answer, “To be good, go to church, try hard to live morally, serve Him faithfully, give up harmful habits, help others, read the Bible, pray and witness, etc.” But to have this attitude is to miss the very essence of the Christian life. God’s design is that we glorify Him and enjoy Him forever beginning right now. He wants His children to be exceedingly happy. In fact, the Christian faith was designed to be the most exhilarating, exciting, and enjoyable existence possible!

In spite of the extreme views of the concept of happiness, when we come to the scriptures, we find to our surprise that God commands us to be happy, joyous, blessed!

Psalm 34:7, “Delight yourself (seek, pursue your pleasure, your happiness, your satisfaction) in the Lord….”

Psalm 128:1, “Happy is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways.”

Psalm 128:2, “You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be happy, and it shall go well with you.”

Psalm 144:15, “Happy are the people who are in such a state; Happy are the people whose God is the LORD!”

Psalm 146:5, “Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the LORD his God,”

Proverbs 16:20, “He who heeds the word wisely will find good, And whoever trusts in the LORD, happy is he.”

John 13:17, “If you know these things, happy (The Greek word translated “happy” is “makarios”. It is defined in all the Greek lexicons as, “supremely blessed”; “fortunate”, “well off”, “happy”.) are you if you do them.”

We should heed the advice of Randy Alcorn as he says: “If someone declares a desire to be happy, we should never say, “You just need to obey God and forget about being happy.” Rather, we should say, “God wired you that way.” Then we can ask, “Have the things you’ve thought would make you happy always worked out for you?” The answer is probably no.

“That’s the time to suggest, “Maybe you haven’t looked in the right place.” We can then present the Bible’s bad news, which explains the sin problem that makes them unhappy. Then we can share the good news of the gift of God that can reconcile them to their holy Creator and thereby make them eternally happy.”

But if you continue to search for happiness without coming to saving faith in the holy, happy, loving, merciful, mighty God of the Bible, you will end up like the poet who said:

“I tried the broken cisterns, Lord, but, ah, the waters failed.
Even as I stooped to drink, they fled and mocked me as I wailed!

Happiness is Heaven’s Serious Business!

Giving Has a Boomerang Effect by Randy Alcorn

 

Scripture is full of God’s words to generous givers: “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty” (Proverbs 3:9-10). But God doesn’t intend for us to keep everything He brings into our barns! We are to distribute it generously. We give to Him, He gives to us, and we keep giving it back to Him, recognizing that it belongs to Him anyway. Jesus says, “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back” (Luke 6:38, NLT).

Recalling the words of one of his customers, R. G. LeTourneau put it this way: “I try to shovel out more for God than He can for me, but He always wins. He’s got a bigger shovel.” As many others have, he lived out the proverb: “Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything. The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed” (Proverbs 11:24-25, NLT).

In some cases God’s extra provision is obvious—we get an unexpected check in the mail or are given something we thought we’d have to buy. One time Nanci and I discovered an error we’d made in our bank balance, finding we had significantly more money than we realized.

In other cases, God’s provision is less obvious but equally generous. A washing machine that should have broken down a decade ago keeps working. A car with more than two hundred thousand miles runs for three years needing no repairs. A checking account that should have dried up long before the end of the month somehow makes it through. As God miraculously stretched the widow’s oil supply in Elisha’s day (2 Kings 4:1-7), and as He made the Israelites’ clothes and sandals last forty years in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 8:4), I’m convinced He sometimes graciously extends the life of things that would normally need replacement.

Consider Bob, who decided he wanted to give sacrificially when his church started a building campaign to expand their crowded sanctuary. Every morning he’d made a Suisse Mocha coffee. He calculated that if he gave up this habit for three years, he’d be able to give an additional $780.

As part of his church’s financial campaign, Bob gave a short speech at church, mentioning his plan to forgo his coffee.

Two days later, he received a call from a woman asking if he was the Mr. Hodgdon who spoke at church. That evening she delivered a box to him, introducing herself as a General Foods employee. Inside were several months’ worth of Suisse Mocha, the same product Bob had given up. Bob added, “The strange thing is, I’ve never seen or heard from her since. I’ve looked for her at every church service, but maybe it was one of God’s angels. You just cannot out-give God.”

This small thing wasn’t small to Bob. It showed his Father’s gracious kindness to him and prompted him, in a childlike way, to trust and give even more.

This is not health-and-wealth gospel or prosperity theology. I’m certainly not saying that God must always give back to us exactly what we give up, or ten or a hundred times more, in some kind of karma-like transaction or misapplication of Mark 10:30. Sometimes He gives us joy or patience or endurance as we make real sacrifices for Him—and such intangible gifts are considerably more precious than a stash of morning coffee. But aren’t you glad God sometimes rewards us with little things to remind us of His love and approval?

50 Years Ago Today....August 15

If you were to Google fifty years ago, you would find something President Nixon did on that day.  But you will find nothing about why that date is so important to me.  It was a Sunday and on this Sunday night at Second Baptist Church in Boaz, Alabama, I preached my first sermon.  I had announced my calling on July 14, 1971 and our Pastor gave me the first opportunity on that Sunday night.

It was not a memorable sermon to any except me.  I can remember my text.  It was Revelation 19:10 "And I fell at His feet to worship Him."  I don't have any notes from that night.  I didn't preach long.  No one recorded it.  But as I remember that night and now 50 years later, I can see how God was fashioning me for what I would say has been my number one passion through the years:  worship.  

If I could say one thing that has changed my life as a believer more than anything else is the understanding of Biblical worship.  And to remember that God led me that first time to preach on this text causes me to see the good hand of God from the beginning directing me even in my childhood.

God has been more faithful to me than I have to Him these fifty years.  He has used me despite my rebellion, hesitations, mistakes, and failures.  It just goes to prove that it is God and not us.

I am warmed by the thought that God will reward my dear Dad and Mother for their investment from the beginning and until their deaths.  I even believe (from Revelation 5:8) that their prayers are still being heard before the throne on my behalf.

Our family (with Dad leading the way until his death in 1975) would go and sing most everywhere I preached in the early days.  

I'm so grateful God gave me a precious wife in 1980 who has supported me through these years.  I first laid eyes on her (that I remember) while preaching a revival at her home church, Mt. Zion Baptist Church of Aroney.  She has been a faithful companion and great pastor's wife for over 40 years. She was brave to marry a pastor.

The most precious love offering I have ever received was during these early days.  I was preaching one Sunday in Blount County and an older lady approached me and gave me $1.00 from the sale of eggs.  I have never forgotten that "widow's mite."

I am grateful for all of those who prayed for me, supported me, and all the pastors who gave me preaching opportunities in the early days.  One of those who became a special, spiritual father was Bro. Clinton Garmon.  He was our pastor when I was saved (June 4, 1969) but had moved to Rossville, GA when I announced my calling to preach.  I cannot remember the number of times I would go to preach for him in Rossville and Calhoun, GA and finally to be called to preach his funeral (and his dear wife, Izor) years later. Anything good that has happened has been due to the Lord and others. 

With humble gratitude, I want to thank the Lord for calling me to be a preacher of the Gospel.

"I've Searched for Identity" by Paul Tripp

 

I’ve searched for identity in my successes but my failures get in the way. I’ve looked for identity in my possessions but they age, break, and malfunction. I’ve sought identity in people but everyone is flawed somehow. I’ve searched for identity in ministry but the Spirit gets in the way. I’ve reached for identity in knowledge but I never know enough. I’ve gotten my identity from my strength but weakness took it away. I’ve taken identity from my abilities but inability stole it from me. There is no place no person no experience no success no possession no skill no level of knowledge that can impart the security of identity the rest of meaning and purpose that everyone desires. So I’ve quit looking out and begun looking up. In you I am loved I am forgiven I have eternal value I have meaning and purpose I have security and rest I have understanding I have moral direction I have self-knowledge I have peace of heart. You are in me I am in you. This bond is enough. This bond is life and it cannot be broken. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20, ESV) I don’t think that we talk about this enough. I don’t think that we celebrate this reality enough. I don’t think we let our hearts consider the wonder of this identity enough. It is so amazing that it defies all standard human logic and intuition. It is the spiritual miracle of miracles that becomes the defining identity of all of God’s blood-bought children by grace. Amazingly, we are forgiven and accepted by God by grace and grace alone. There is nothing natural about this. We instinctively think that we must work our way into God’s favor and earn our way into his presence, but the biblical story is anything but natural. It’s the story of rebels who not only don’t desire a relationship with God but who could not possibly earn it even if they did. This is a story of divine intervention, of divine substitution, of divine sacrifice, and of divine grace. It is a story of God sending his Son to live as we were meant to live, to die the death that each of us deserves, to satisfy God’s righteous requirement and placate his anger, and to rise out of the grave, conquering sin and death. It is a story of incredible patience, tenderness, compassion, love, mercy, and grace—forgiveness granted, acceptance secured, and righteousness given to those who could not have merited them on their own. It is far better than any “too good to be true” story. So since this is true, why would you search for identity anywhere else? God bless,

"No Matter Your Age, God’s Still Got a Mission for You" by J.D. Greear

 When Daniel was well over 80 years old, he was still living in captivity in Babylon, which by that time had been overthrown by the Medes and the Persians. King Nebuchadnezzar and all the royal family had been killed, and King Darius of the Medes sat on the throne. In order to try to bring some continuity and stability to his government, Darius kept on his court a lot of Nebuchadnezzar’s wise men, including Daniel.

One thing that is consistent about Daniel is that, no matter where he is or what circumstance he is in or how he got there, or how unfair his situation is, Daniel stays positive, upbeat even, believing that even in difficult circumstances, God has a plan. That attitude created new opportunities for Daniel wherever he went.

“Then Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom” (Daniel 6:3 ESV).

I’ve heard it said that attitude determines altitude. At multiple points in his life, when everybody else would have said, “Hey, bud, your life is over,” Daniel said, “I bet God still has something for me yet.” That remained true for Daniel until he was in his 80s!

Let me put the point more bluntly since this has gotten to be counter-cultural today: Older people can still do awesome things. And, Daniel is not the only old person in history to do so:

• At 83, William Gladstone became prime minister of Great Britain for the fourth time.
• At 85, John Wesley still preached with almost undiminished eloquence, up to two to three times a day, closing out a career in which he traveled more than a quarter-million miles on horseback to preach more than 40,000 sermons.
• Laura Ingalls Wilder was 64 when she published her first book, which became the first of seven in the series Little House on the Prairie.
• At 89, Michelangelo painted his “Last Judgment,” which is now one of the most famous paintings in the world.
• Harland Sanders (yes, that’s “Colonel Sanders” to you) was 65 when he opened Kentucky Fried Chicken after getting fired from about a dozen of his previous jobs.
• At age 79, Barbara Hillary, a breast and lung cancer survivor, became the first Black woman to reach both the North Pole and the South Pole.
• Winston Churchill won his first election at age 62 after losing every single election up to that point.

If you consider yourself “seasoned,” don’t let anyone tell you that you’re done. This list only mentions a few of the many people throughout history who found great purpose in the years we’re told we’re supposed to kick back and relax.

You will never reach the age when there is not a good work for you to do for God’s kingdom. Don’t let others tell you that your best days are behind you. Don’t buy the lie that the rest of your life is an extended vacation. God still has something for you yet.

You will never reach the age when there is not a good work for you to do for God’s kingdom.