Teachable Moment

If you want to be a better parent, here’s a suggestion. Don’t run to Books-A-Million and shell out cash for the latest word from this year’s flavor of parenting, book-selling, know-it-all. Run to the bookshelf in your den and take down the Bible. The source of anything they’ve got to say that’s worth hearing, can be traced directly to its source: God’s word. Here’s some more Bible help on raising your kids.

Jesus frequently used everyday events of life to teach valuable moral lessons to His disciples. For example, in Luke 21 he taught about giving as he watched the people placing their gifts in the treasury in the Temple. Eventually, along came a widow who cast in two mites – and a lesson was born. Jesus was using a teachable moment. As parents, why don’t we try some of the same?

The teachable moment is straight out of the Bible. A teachable moment is an occasion when an event happens that brings up a subject you would like your children to have a better understanding of. It may appear suddenly and unannounced. And, like a lot of other things – you use it or lose it.

It might be simply something that has come up in conversation. Or, it might be hate-produced violence that you see on TV or hear on radio news, a terrible automobile accident that was alcohol related, or the mess someone has made of their marriage because they couldn’t control themselves and remain sexually faithful to their spouse. These, and like occurrences, are open doors to teachable moments. What better opportunities could you find to teach your children about loving each other, abstaining from whiskey, or marital faithfulness? The subject has come up in a natural way, and thus the discussion of the teaching of the Bible in this area can proceed in a natural manner. Natural is good. Overly structured “drill sessions” may not be as effective.

Opportunities such as the above abound – if we will just open our eyes to see them and open our mouths to use them. Make a conscious effort to notice opportunities like these when they present themselves. They often come unexpected, and the fact that they are unplanned adds to their effectiveness. When a teachable moment occurs, be ready, and jump on it.

What moment can you identify today? Will you use it?

Watch Me

Here’s a text for you:

For I have given you an example,
that you should do as I have done to you.
(John 13:15 NKJV)

Guess who said that? Right. It was Jesus Himself. Jesus knew his disciples (including you and me today) would learn and, if they put what they learned into practice, live right before God, if they followed His example.

Here’s another text:

Imitate me,
just as I also imitate Christ.
(1 Corinthians 11:1 NKJV)

That’s the apostle Paul talking to other Christians. He knew about the example of Jesus, he was following that example, and he told his fellow Christians to follow his example.

We learn by watching what others do and our behavior choices are influenced as a result of watching them.

Guess who’s watching us as parents? Right again. It’s our children.

They watch constantly. And the choices they make are strongly influenced by the choices we make. So, draw a line and take the sum: we better watch what we’re doing because someone else sure is.

We better be "Behavior Police" of our own actions. We may have considerable control over our kid’s behavior, but we have total control over our own. Since they will exhibit much of our behavior in their lives, we must pay attention to what we are doing!

These two cases are made up, but I think they are very likely quite true-to-life. Of the two examples below, which kid do you really think will turn out better?

Jack

Jack’s parents fuss with each other regularly in front of him. His dad drinks. His mom smokes. When Dad comes home in the evening he complains loudly about how bad he is treated at work. When Mom comes home she is eager to give the latest installment on who is having an affair with whom at the office. After supper Mom and Dad sit down to watch some steamy sit com or drama on TV that glorifies adultery or homosexuality or violence or maybe all three. The kids are present while all of this is played out on the big screen TV. School work is ignored and the kid’s behavior at school is considered amusing. After all, Mom and Dad got into trouble at school themselves. Maybe their kid’s trouble making will get back at those teachers in some way who had tried to teach them some discipline a few years ago. Of course, church attendance is laughed at, if mentioned at all.

Jill

If Jill’s parents have a disagreement, they discuss it quietly between the two of them when the kids are not present. Neither parent drinks nor smokes. If problems at work are discussed, an effort is made to see the issue from both sides. Both parents are obviously disturbed if someone they know is having trouble with their marriage. These two subjects might be used to introduce a family discussion about God’s help in bearing earthly trials and the sanctity of marriage. Wholesome TV, if that’s not an oxymoron, is watched – perhaps a news channel or a documentary, maybe a family oriented video. Achievement and behavior at school are important. Actually, mostly what is needed here is simple encouragement, since behavior which values learning and morality is constantly modeled before the children. Mom and Dad are both Christians, and take it seriously.

Which kid will turn out the best?

My money’s on Jill.

Which kid is yours?

Children of My Youth

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them (Psalms 127:4-5 NKJV).

And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up (Deuteronomy 6:6-7 NKJV).

Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6 NKJV).

And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training [nurture, KJV] and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4 NKJV).

At least three conclusions follow from these texts:
1. Children are a blessing.
2. Children are a responsibility.
3. Child rearing carries consequences.

All of God’s blessings carry the responsibility of proper stewardship. Reference the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25. The blessing of children carries an immense responsibility. Any help I can get that helps me be a better parent, I really appreciate. I trust you feel the same way. The following thoughts are offered with this principle in mind: I want to be the best parent I can possibly be.

Credentials

The essential credential is that the suggestions that follow be totally based on the Bible. They are, as you will see.

This second credential also carries significant weight to me. I guess a poor carpenter, who built houses that usually collapsed before they were very old, still might have something helpful to say about carpentry, perhaps - how not to do it. If he were to quote from a recognized and accepted text on carpentry, certainly those quotes would be in order. But, the way he applied the principles of a good carpentry text to his houses, would be highly suspect to me, since he had not been successful as a home builder.

You humble author has raised three kids who are now in their twenties. One is less than a year from thirty. This child rearing project has been a joint venture with my fine Christian wife of thirty-three years. It has primarily been a triune effort between the two of us and God, with the leadership of the Heavenly Father being acknowledged. With the Bible as our guide and God as the Senior Partner, three children have been successfully brought from the womb to adulthood. All three are faithful Christians. They are popular and successful. Both sexes are covered, and, if no two kids are alike, well, we had three. I will believe till I die that what worked in our home, will work in any home. I do not propose to be some kind of guru. But, if you do what the Bible says – you’ll get good results.

A final caveat before addressing the meat of this subject further: I never had a great deal of respect for someone whose own kids were ruffians, trying to tell me how to raise mine. Maybe he should have been telling me how not to raise mine. Unless he was directly quoting the Bible, or, perhaps, saying where he had messed up, I didn’t pay much attention. I suggest you do the same. I’m not that guy.

We’ll get down to specifics in future posts.

Read your Bible.

Do what it says.

Here’s a little story I wrote a few weeks ago and have “doctored up” from time to time. I have had an interest in the Civil War for years and would like to write a full length novel some day, Lord willing. We’ll see…

Since I grew up and live now in North Alabama, the Western Theater has been my primary interest. It’s less than a two-hour drive to Franklin, Tennessee. I’ve been there. I walked through the confederate cemetery, containing nearly fifteen hundred fallen southern soldiers, near dusk on the eve of the battle anniversary in 2005. I went inside Carnton Mansion, the Confederate hospital during and after the battle, and saw the bloodstains on the floor from November 30, 1864. I walked up the same stairway that General Nathan Bedford Forrest strode up and saw the upper balcony from which he surveyed the field just before the battle began.

This fictional story takes the form of a letter that a Confederate Calvary Officer from North Alabama wrote to his wife the evening of the day after the Battle of Franklin.

The Army of Tennessee (the Southern army in the West, the Army of Northern Virginia led by Robert E. Lee was the Southern Army in the East) was basically destroyed as a viable fighting force at the Battle of Franklin. The South was going downhill before Franklin, now, it was falling from a cliff. The battle began about 4:00 P.M. and continued for five hours, till after dark. A good friend of mine had an ancestor who fought there as a Confederate general. He fell at Franklin.

Though I was never a soldier, I have attempted to portray the horror of war. It is blunt at times. There is a reason for that. I don’t want the lesson below to be missed.

The spiritual application of my story is this – things like this are what happens when we ignore the teaching of Jesus about peacemaking.


Morning After


December 1, 1864
Franklin, Tennessee

Dear Deborah,

This morning dawned sunny and crisply cold. While my men were preparing the morning campfire, the light from the just risen morning sun glinting off the limestone outcrops reminded me of the pastures on our own farm and made me wish I was back on Blue Water Creek.

Events moved so rapidly yesterday afternoon and into the night that I hardly had time to think, much less reflect on what was happening. I’ll tell you a little about it. I don’t think I can ever tell the whole story. I just don’t have the stomach for it.

Yesterday was terrible. No, it was worse than terrible. When the blood and gore of the battle finally ended, there wasn’t much left of the old Army of Tennessee. The Yankees actually left the field when it was over. I reckon they’ll be laughing all the way up to Nashville about what fools we made of ourselves. Most generals would think twice about attacking a strongly fortified position while advancing upgrade over a large open area allowing the enemy a clear field of fire. By the way, did I mention our artillery hadn’t caught up with us, so we had to commit mass suicide without even the consolation of having artillery support while we did it? I’m sure the hundreds of southern widowed wives and bereaved mothers will want to thank the gallant General Hood for that.

I imagine I’ll hear shortly that we’ll be marching on up the road toward Nashville so Hood can complete the task of destroying his army, or what’s left of it. General Forrest thought we could get a sizable force around to their rear and let them have it from there. NBF has certainly done that maneuver many times before. But not the all-wise and all-courageous Hood. Show them what we’re made of, show them we’re men, march straight into the Yankee muskets while the ground becomes piled higher and higher with fallen sons, and brothers, and husbands around you. Well, Hood showed them. Guess he really feels like a general now. Much more of yesterday, and he won’t have anything left to general with.

I thought the worst was over till I went onto the field today to assist in recovering our dead. No bullets are flying past my head now. That worst is over. But this worst is different. I’m not sure which is the most severe.

I found a small spring of water in a sparse grove of trees a couple hundred yards from what had been the Federal line. I counted thirty-eight men all dead in one place near that spring. One young private, maybe he had had his sixteenth birthday, was lying dead on his back. There was a single splotch of blood, about the size of a silver dollar, in the center of his chest. Bits of frost had formed on his eyebrows and his brown hair. He had obviously been dead awhile.

His right eye was closed. But, he had died with his left eye still open. It stared straight up. As I stopped briefly and stood over him, he seemed to be staring straight at me with that one left eye. I imagined he wanted to ask me something. Maybe to tell his girlfriend that he loved her. Maybe to tell his ma where he fell and how he died.

But I think what he really wanted was to ask me was “Why?” Why was he on this battlefield? Why did he have to die before he was twenty, before he could plant his own seed and see his name carried on? His family had no slaves. They farmed their small place by the sweat of their own brow. It was the rich planters down around Montgomery who owned most of the slaves. It was their war. Why did he have to be in it? He didn’t care what flag flew over the capitol. He just cared about his family, his girlfriend, his bluetick hound dog, and his next meal. Now all that was lost, and what was the point of it? Maybe that’s what he wanted to say. Maybe that’s what all the dead soldiers wanted to say.

I’m writing this letter by the campfire after supper, like I usually do, but I can still see that innocent, questioning stare from that kid’s open left eye. I think it’ll stick with me till I have a not-so-innocent, questioning stare of my own.

The scene at that spring this morning reminded me of the time Paw’s hogs got the cholera. I remember there were about ten of them who had tried to get to that spring under the big oak tree where the hills drop off into the creek bottom. They had drug themselves there to drink from that spring, not understanding that they were dying. The first one died near the water. Then another one crawled up and died, then another and another. Before long the hogs that came last were crawling over the already dead hogs, trying to get to the spring, and were dying on top of them. When we discovered them, they were in a neat little pile, all dead by the spring.

That’s how it was this morning. The dead Confederates, dressed in their ragged butternut clothes, like they were just going out to the field to plow the mules - piled two and three high, all dead by the spring, just like so many dead animals. Tell their mothers, wives, and sweethearts that they died so the rich planters can keep their slaves. I’m sure they’ll find a lot of consolation in that.

I hate this war, Deb. I hate it because of the senseless killing, and I hate it because it makes me want to be a senseless killer. I see no glory and I see no honor. All I see is arrogance and greed. And the death and misery produced by them. Both sides are so blinded by their own depravity that they don’t comprehend the results of their actions. I just want to go home, if there’s any home left.

I better turn in now. There may be some more killing tomorrow. I guess it’s either kill or get killed. Sure something to look forward too, isn’t it?

I think about you all the time. I hope I’ll see you again.

I love you.

Isaiah Hall
Major, CSA Calvary

Lost in the Lights

It’s the third round of the state football playoffs. The home team is down by a touchdown. The ball is on the home twenty yard-line. The fourth quarter is ticking down toward its close. The wolf of defeat snarls at the door. A call goes out for a hero to save the day.

But hang on…here’s the back-story.

The team had suffered through a recent history of losing seasons. There had been three different coaches during the four varsity years of the current seniors. This year should be more of the same.

But, this was a special group of kids. The whole school and the whole town believed in them. Most had started on the varsity since the tenth grade. The coach who had left after their ninth grade year to coach at a college almost stayed, because next year’s tenth grade was supposed to be so good.

This year had started out predictably. In the first game of the season, tonight’s home team had seen a 21-zip half-time lead slowly evaporate to wind up losing 28-21. Then there was a second loss to a larger school (for some reason, they often played larger schools). Here we go again….

But, after that inauspicious beginning, the planets had aligned. There had been nine straight victories, an area championship, and now the third round of the playoffs. Notch this one and two more – and you’re state champs, something this school had lived for since these kid’s grandpas had played on the same field fifty years ago. This would be the first. And the town of two thousand residents would go wildly insane for weeks. The President of the United States establishing a summer palace here would be nothing compared to winning the state in football. Just get out of the way, there’d be a riot.

Now, back to the fourth quarter. It’s put up or shut up time. Not that these kids ever talked trash to their opponent, I’m not sure they even knew what that term meant. They just showed up and went about their business.

Time to get down to business now.

The coach signaled in a pass. The home team had the best running back in the state. His strong legs and two thousand plus rushing yards had been crucial in getting them to where they were tonight. The player who could tackle him one-on-one, hadn’t been born yet. But on this play, he would be the decoy. The quarterback would fake the ball to him and then drop straight back before heaving the ball downfield. His pass was to be to the wide receiver, running all out toward the other team’s goal, straight down the sideline.

After his fake to the tailback, the quarterback retreated to a spot seven yards behind the scrimmage line. The opposing team’s defensive line began to break through the home team’s blocks. They came at him like wild men smelling a kill. But he stood there erect and unprotected, with the ball cocked at his shoulder, like he had done scores of times before. Just before their headgears impacted his ribcage, the receiver broke into the clear. The quarterback let’er fly.

He never saw what happened because he was now flat on his back covered with opposing lineman, some of whom outweighed him by a hundred pounds. The released football traveled in a beautiful arc with a perfect spiral for at least forty yards. The receiver looked up into the black night sky to focus on the approaching ball. The hopes and dreams of that rural Alabama town traveled with it.

When the receiver looked up, what he saw…was the bright stadium lights. Where was that ball that had his name and “hero” written all over it? As he put more space between himself and the defender, who was now badly trailing, his ultimate dream of glory was falling from the night sky toward his outstretched hands. But the fated ball had become hopelessly lost in the lights, and now the once-in-a-lifetime moment was about to be lost with it.

When the ball finished traversing its arc and fell to where he was running alone down that sideline, his hands never touched it. It hit the top of his shoulder pads. You could hear the “pop” it made from the contact all over the stadium. It bounced once into the air, and fell uncaught to the ground. Hard to catch what you can’t see.

There was a terrible groan of despair from the home stands. It was an omen. The players returned to their respective huddles. Another play was called and executed. By and by the game was completed. The home team lost. Their dreams of gridiron glory and high school football sainthood got lost in the lights.

There’s a little more to the back-story of what you’ve just read, but we won’t go there.

I’ve told this story because these events remind me of a Bible text. Here it is:

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14 NKJV).

Paul said, “…one thing I do.” He had focus. He let nothing get in between him and his goal of Christ. He let nothing distract him and cause him to lose sight of the goal.

The receiver in the story who lost the ball in the lights couldn’t help it. But you and I can help it. How many times do we allow things to get in our way and hinder us from a locked-in vision of Christ? How often do we lose Jesus in the lights of worldly enticements and distractions? When we allow Satan to blind us to Christianity by holding up the world before our eyes, we are willfully losing Christ – and losing the only “game” that matters in the process.

Look past the distractions that Satan is constantly trying to blind us with - and see Jesus. See Him in His creation. See Him clearly in His word. Believe Him. Obey Him. Let God make you more than a winner.

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37 NKJV).

A Death in the Family

It is always heart-wrenching to experience the loss of a close loved one. I spoke with a lady yesterday who lost her daughter many years ago and continues to experience deep grief. I know this story could be repeated millions of times. I lost my own dad in 1999 and still miss him every day. He was my best friend. Sometimes I dream about him. I did two nights ago. This story, also, could be repeated millions of times with different names, dates, and places.

There is an analogy here with God’s family. When a Christian leaves the church and returns to a life of sin, God experiences a death in the family. Not only does the unfaithful Christian abandon his Heavenly Father, but God loses a dear child. Praise to God, I have never lost a child. But I imagine there could be no greater hurt in this life than the death of one of one’s children. The grief must be unfathomable. If you leave God, He feels this way about you. It makes you feel special, doesn’t it? We are all special to God. He wants us all in heaven, safe and sound with Him. He sent His own Son so it could happen.

If you have left God, or if you have never known Him, the Parable of the Lost Sheep is about you. God loves you. God misses you. God wants you near Him. He reaches out to you through Jesus and His gospel. Accept God’s extended arms through faith and obedience to His word. Wherever you are lost among the rocks and cliffs of sin, God can find you. He can lift you up and bring you home. His love looks for you every day. His hand reaches out. Will you take it?

What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance (Luke 15:4-7 NKJV).

“Kill Them All,
And Let God Sort It Out.”

I heard lately (I think it was on the evening news, but I may have read it somewhere, if so, I’ve forgotten where, so proper acknowledgment is impossible – but I did hear this) that sometimes a soldier who confronted a vicious and murderous enemy in an urban environment, where the enemy had positioned themselves among civilians who were (at least were supposed to be) noncombatants, and the civilians would acquiesce (probably out of fear that they would be the first murdered if they didn’t) when the murderous enemy would plant mines and bombs in the road in front of their house to blow up the good guys, that a soldier confronting this nebulous and ghostly enemy, would be tempted to make a statement like this one. “Kill them all, and let God sort it out.”

It’s a terrible thing when man’s inhumanity to man drives one to even be tempted to think like that: to kill the innocent with the guilty just because the innocent might be actually guilty themselves. The loss of a friend who had no business dying young, the desire for revenge, can make it easier for a human to do things that same human wouldn’t dream of doing in a calmer, more ordered, environment. War is a terrible thing, and that’s an understatement.

The Christian Life is a war too, but of a different sort. What we try to kill is our own evil desires. What we must do to others is love, teach, serve, and forgive.

On that last thought of forgiveness, consider this text:

Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:21-22 NKJV).

And now this one, a few lines later:

So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses (Matthew 18:35 NKJV).

The second text follows the parable of the unforgiving servant. Jesus says that if we are unforgiving, like that servant was, that God won’t forgive us. It addresses the importance of forgiveness.

The first text teaches that our forgiveness of others is to be without limit. It addresses the quantity of forgiveness.

Sometimes, in our Christian war, we may be tempted to think that the other guy has committed such a great wrong against us that he doesn’t deserve forgiveness. We may feel that God would judge him severely, so why can’t we?

The thought we began this piece with is a bad one, “Kill them all, and let God sort it out.” But, we can take that same structure, set it in a Christian context, plug in forgiveness: and it becomes a good thought. As far as our personal part in forgiveness is concerned, why don’t we just look at it this way?

“Forgive them all, and let God sort it out.”

Ball and Chain

We’ve all seen old movies where a prisoner was on a work detail and wore a heavy iron ball, about the size of a basketball, attached to his ankle by a chain. The weight of the iron ball would hinder his movements and thus keep him under the control of the prison jailer. He couldn’t escape; he couldn’t do what he might wish to do if he were free, as long as the ball was attached by the chain to his leg. He was a slave to the iron ball. It controlled him. It owned him. There was nothing the prisoner could do to escape unless he could acquire the tools with which to break the chain.

How would you feel if you were wearing that ball and chain? Many people do wear it today – and they wear it by choice. They want to wear it. The jailer who owns the iron ball is the devil. The ball is sin. Romans 6:16 speaks of the person who is a slave to sin, and says that sin leads to death.

When you practice sin, you wear the ball.

But, there is one significant difference in this analogy. In the case of the convict, the jailer owns the ball and chain. In the case of the sinner, the devil owns the ball, but the sinner owns the chain. He decides to attach it to his ankle when he chooses a life of sin. He can put the chain on, or he can take the chain off.

Thanks to Jesus Christ, if that ball and chain is attached to your leg, you can do something about it. You can break the chain. You can loose the ball. You can be free. You can be forgiven. You can have hope, meaning, and purpose in your life.

With Satan’s ball and your chain, all is lost, all is hopeless. Wear the chain: you die.

The power of Christ can break the chain, if you will let him. Romans 1:16 says His power is the gospel. Romans 5:1 says Jesus is the Savior of the faithful. Hebrews 5:9 says Jesus is the Savior of the obedient.

Look at the gospel as God’s tool. Pick it up, and by faith and obedience use it to break the chain.

Imagine your life with the dead weight of sin. Now imagine your life with the freedom of forgiveness. You can go either way. Which do you want?

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace (Romans 8:6 NKJV).

Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city (Revelation 22:14 NKJV).

Here's something I wrote a couple of years ago about preaching. None of it is original, but it would be hard to accurately cite all the sources. David Thomas and Tom Holland were my speech and sermon delivery teachers respectively at Freed-Hardeman in the early seventies. As you will see if you read this, I've also been strongly influenced by the national news anchors over the years, Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, Tom Brokaw, et al. Guy N. Woods, a lawyer, writer and gospel preacher, was a strong influence when I was in my twenties. And, not to forget - my favorite preacher of all time: fellow Lamar Countian, V. P. Black.

Sermon Delivery

Foreword

It is the intent of these notes to address mainly the mechanics of religious public speaking as opposed to the content of the message. The content of a religious message must, of course, be Biblically accurate.

Philosophy of Public Speaking in a Religious Context

It is the purpose of sermon and/or lesson delivery to inform, explain, and motivate. We must answer the questions: What does the Bible say? What does this text mean? and What must I do about it? We must answer these questions in a manner which will secure and maintain our audience’s interest.

Public Speaking Suggestions

1. Present to the audience as confident but not arrogant.

2. Take charge of the situation (you have been asked to speak). Avoid false humility.

3. Be yourself. Everyone has different styles. Work on discovering yours and then exploit it.

4. Learn from the example of others but don’t copy them. Watch the national evening news anchors on TV.

5. Speak up. Don’t mumble. Remember, you were asked to speak, so people want to hear you.

6. Speak clearly and distinctly. Be sure you accurately pronounce the endings of your words. Have an active and nimble tongue.

7. Speak correctly. Say your words properly and make sure you string them together into complete sentences. Incorrect subject/verb agreement is not only embarrassing, but will cause the content of your remarks to lose credibility. You don’t want people to dismiss your message because you don’t speak correct English.

8. Generally avoid slang words such as “ain’t.” Also, “Going to” is not pronounced “Gonna.” If you say the words properly, no one will notice, and that’s the idea. If you say them improperly, people may turn you off. If there is any question as to the pronunciation of or meaning of a word, look it up or don’t use it. Your dictionary is your friend.

9. Present seriously, yet pleasantly. You will likely receive a better hearing if you do not assume an argumentative attitude.

10. Try real hard to avoid our Southern drawl. We are all proud to be from the South, but it is generally better to speak publicly without an accent. Again, listen to the national news anchors. Can you tell where they’re from?

11. As a possible effort to finish quickly, do not speak too rapidly. Slow down and collect your thoughts. The pause is an effective way to hold attention.

12. Avoid distracting and annoying gestures, pacing, etc.
13. Look at your audience.

14. Dress appropriate to the occasion.

John Brown
August 26, 2004

A Response in Kind
1 John 4: 19

There is a law in physics that states: for every action, there must be an equal and opposite reaction. A “response in kind,” if you will. There is a Bible text that deals with responding in kind. It is found in 1 John 4:19 –

We love him, because he first loved us.

God shows His love for us through His Son. Through Jesus, we can have proper direction, forgiveness of sin, and hope of heaven. That is, if we respond in kind.

We respond to God’s love by obeying His word. Our love for Jesus and our obedience to His word is connected in John 14: 23:

If a man love me, he will keep my words.

A response in kind.

If someone loved you enough to offer you the gift of eternal life, how would you respond? Would you ignore the offer? Would you argue over any conditions of the gift? Amazingly, many do just that.

Respond to God’s love for you, with love for Him. Let this love lead you to trust Him, obey Him, and live faithfully for Him till you die.

Do You Know “Repentance”?

Jesus began His preaching ministry by saying “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). He would pay for the kingdom on the Cross and establish it fifty days later on Pentecost, as recorded in Acts 2. Therefore, Paul could write to the Colossian Christians thirty years later that they were in the kingdom of Christ (Colossians 1:13). We can be members of Christ’s kingdom today.

If it was important for the people during Jesus’ personal ministry to repent because the kingdom was at hand, surely it is of pressing importance that we repent today with Christ’s kingdom a reality.

Repentance necessitates a turning away from sin. It is much more than just being sorry. John the Baptist told his audience to produce fruit (in their lives) worthy of repentance (Matthew 3:8).

Humanity continues to stand in great need of repentance.

When the God-made union of marriage is defiled by divorce – we stand in great need of repentance.

When the God-approved beauty of heterosexual sex in marriage is sullied by an unnatural act – our need for repentance cries out.

When greed, arrogance, and the desire for revenge cause us to forget Jesus the Peacemaker – repentance becomes a distant and faint vision of something that might have been.

When we sow into the wind of sexual promiscuity and insatiable materialism and are then engulfed in the resulting whirlwind – repentance could have stopped it all.

When we become so indoctrinated with political correctness that we fail to even recognize, much less acknowledge, sin in all its forms – repentance into the Christian Life will at long last bring us to our senses.

When we are so selfish and immature that we continually point out the mote in our brothers eye in order to make the beam protruding from our own appear smaller by comparison. – the concept of repentance has become foreign, unknown, and indistinguishable.

When the multiplication of personal wants causes us to become blind to the immediate and pressing needs of others – we appear as if we have never even heard of the concept of repentance.

When we allow the zeal for error to outshine our diminishing fervor for truth – our motivation to repent becomes lost in our humiliation.

When the tree of wounded pride blinds us to the forest of opportunity – heartfelt repentance would restore our sight.

When the great Day of Judgment comes and we bow trembling before our Maker – the option of repentance, which we push from us now, will have forsaken us then.

Remember the words of Jesus, how He said: Repent . . . or perish (Luke 13:3).

Men, As Trees, Walking…


A passage of scripture that I have found somewhat perplexing over the years is Mark 8:22-26. This is the story of Jesus healing a blind man near Bethsaida, which was on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus chose to heal the man in stages. I have always wondered why He did that. Here’s what happened:

An unidentified blind man was brought to Jesus by some unidentified persons. Jesus was asked to heal the man. Jesus responded by taking the man by the hand and leading him out of town. The Lord then placed His hands on the blind man’s eyes and asked him if he saw anything. The man looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.” Jesus then places His hands on the man’s eyes a second time. This time when the man looks up, he sees everyone clearly.

On all other occasions when Jesus performed a miracle of healing, the person was healed all at once – instantly. Why did Jesus do it differently this time?

Well, I certainly don’t know. But our Lord certainly knew what He was doing. Here’s something to think about:

It is a safe assumption that the blind man wanted to see. He participated willingly in the healing process, knowing all along what was up. Maybe, just maybe, when he saw the unfocused scene, he wanted to see it with perfect clarity all the more. Perhaps he got a little glimpse of what was in store, and then he longed for and appreciated what was coming later.

Jesus shows us little glimpses of heaven all the time. They’re all around us, if we’ll just look for them. Some jump off the page at us. Some others have to be cultivated a little. When we see them, two things should happen. We should appreciate the greatness of what God has done for us here on earth. We should want to go and be with Him forever when we leave this earth. These two, gratitude and desire, should cause us to order our behavior to match the teaching of Jesus.

Here are three glimpses of heaven that we have right now. Maybe when you look around you, you might see some others.

God’s Creation

Sunsets have moved me for a long time. How many shades of red and blue have you counted when the sun drops below the horizon on a clear day. I’ve lost count – a long time ago. God didn’t have to make it pretty like that, but He did. It’s a glimpse of something prettier still, just beyond.

I used to be in the woods a good bit back in the day when a friend (who is now deceased) and I traded timberland on a (very) small scale. We both had real jobs and this was our hobby. It was fun to walk through the land God had made and look at the trees He had built. At that time, 1970’s, the more pine, the better. If God could make those tall, straight, and strong loblolly pines (not to mention the massive cypress I sometimes saw in the bottomland), He could certainly make a place called “Heaven” where we all might walk in peace and wonder some day. I even came to see the beauty of the Maker’s touch in an unlikely a spot as a beaver pond.

Nature is a glimpse of heaven if we’ll open our too often blind eyes and look.

The Christian Family

This one needs to be cultivated…constantly. I don’t remember who it was, but someone wrote a little book about fifty years ago about the Christian family. The author titled it, Vestibules of Heaven. If heaven is the auditorium, then the Christian family could be aptly spoken of as the lobby.

When the husband loves the wife and the wife loves the husband, and the children are raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; peace reigns, kindness reigns, forgiveness reigns, humility and deference reign. You’re getting pretty close to heaven.

A faithful Christian family is a glimpse of heaven if we choose to make it just that: Christian and faithful.

A Faithful Church

The church of Christ is the people of Christ. It is those who have believed and obeyed what God says in the gospel. It is symbolically pictured as both the body of Christ and the bride of Christ.

We all want to take good care of our physical bodies. We want to be physically healthy. Good health is positively associated with longevity. We must have the same interest in caring for each other that we have for our personal health. When I am as interested in your spiritual health as I am in mine, I’ll care for you and try to help you be closer to God. I’ll do it with my words and my actions. I’ll do it all the time. I won’t quit doing it. When others see us all in the church acting this way, they’ll be impressed. They’ll see a glimpse of heaven.

Most of us adults are married. I remember thirty-three years ago how delighted I was with my new bride. The relationship broadens and strengthens over the years if the marriage is a trinity. The husband and wife are committed to each other side to side and are both committed to God as they look upward. Husband + wife + God works every time. In the church, if we are committed to each other side to side and look upward with commitment to God, we create another Vestibule of Heaven.

A faithful church of Christ is a glimpse of heaven if we are a faithful part of her. The bride of Christ, the body of Christ; as close as you can get to Christ here: the church of Christ.

I am totally confident that the best we see here (wonderful as it is), in comparison to heaven, is only like “men as trees, walking.” I want to see more!

"Show Me The Money"

It's not what you think it is. Listen to Jesus -

… for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses (Luke 12:15 NKJV).

Jesus’ statements of truth were often paradoxical – they flew in the face of prevailing worldly wisdom. Most people today live like they think their life does consist in what they have materially. Are you one of them?

Think about this: who had you rather be around?

Someone who is rich, but arrogant - or someone who is humble and doesn’t act like they are better than you all the time?

Someone who has more possessions than you and wants to be sure you know it - or someone who is always ready to share with you from whatever they have?

Someone who is well-off, but has a bad relationship with their spouse and children because they don’t spend enough time with them and when they are with them, treat them as things and not as people - or someone who tries to nurture you like he or she nurtures their family?

Those are easy choices, aren’t they? Now, of the two sets of people described, which describes you?

"The Money" isn't folding paper with some President's face on it, or numbers on a spreadsheet.

It's character - as defined by Jesus Christ.

Are you well- off financially? I hope you are (and you use your physical assets to promote truth and good). The question really is: "Are you rich in character?"

Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share (1 Timothy 6:17-18 NKJV).

Just for fun, I decided to post this little story I wrote a few months ago. I hope you enjoy it. It’s pretty much all fiction, but it does have a basis in fact. My dad, mother, and I did attend gospel meetings a lot when I was a teenager in the sixties. The pattern for the church building (“meeting house”) is a rural church I preached part-time at from 1971 to 1977. It’s near Vernon, Alabama.

By the way, there really is a Debbie Knight, but I met her at school, not church. She’s a “Brown” now. We’ve been married for 33 years come June 14, 2006. Every minute has been great.

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O Why Not Tonight?
A Microcosm of Religion in the South

It is July, 1963; 8:00 in the evening. I am fourteen years old. It is just now getting good dark. My parents and I have gone to the Meeting House and are seeking revival.

The song of a hundred crickets drifts unimpeded through the open windows of the aging building and forms a primal harmony with the baritone strains of the preacher’s sixty-five year old voice as he exhorts the faithful to forsake the tug of the world and reach upward for the unseen glories of Beulah Land. The church building is situated in a grove of mixed pines and hardwoods on a small rise just off a county road. The wet forest smell created from the late afternoon July rain permeates the one roomed white frame building as it sits obligingly on its stone pillars. The sensory cocktail produced from the cricket’s song, the preacher’s voice, the aroma of the damp woods, and the occasional shuffle of a church member’s feet on the hardwood floor under one of the twelve even harder pine board pews creates a memory that has remained riveted in my mind for over forty years.

It was a pleasanter time. And a simpler one. And perhaps there’s a connection. You figure it out. Anyway, back to the lecture at hand, it was a crucial part of my coming of age in rural north Alabama. Want to go back there with me?

We arrive at the building in our Ford Galaxie 500 ten minutes before the service begins. We find a place in the unmarked graveled area in front and to one side of the Meeting House and Dad parks the car. I am the first to exit the vehicle. The thirty-foot walk to the front door is slightly upgrade and some of the older ladies are moving cautiously in the loose gravel, while escorted by their husbands. I speak politely to them. “Good afternoon, mam.” The older men and I engage in the obligatory handshakes. “I’m fine, sir, how are you?” The local minister, a young man about ten years my senior, greets us on the porch at the open door of the building. I enter. The visiting preacher is waiting near the first pew just inside. He gives the men a firm handshake and smiles pleasantly at the ladies as he bows slightly.

I have a dual mission as I begin to walk slowly down the center aisle. I’ve come to worship. But I’ve also come to look for the young daughter of one of the families in the community. I spot her at once, and she scares the daylights out of me. She’s sitting quietly in the second pew from the back, just in front of where I am now standing. She has the prettiest long brown hair that I have ever seen. I catch a hint of her perfume, and imagine I can hear her soft breathing. All at once, I begin to feel light-headed and short of breath. To avoid the unthinkable - having to actually speak to her - I move rapidly down the aisle toward the front of the building while pretending to look for someone or something, I neither knew nor cared which, on the other side of the plank-walled room. In a few seconds I was safe, having avoided eye contact with the lovely creature, and took my seat. “Debbie Knight,” even her name was magnificent. Why was I so afraid of girls, and especially that girl? I was convinced I was doomed to bachelorhood.

Presently, the young minister mounted the small pulpit and addressed the assembled group. Visitors were welcomed, members were expected, the sick were announced, and the guest preacher was praised. When the local minister finished and sat down, the song leader arose and took his position in front of the pulpit. He announced, “Number 224, Amazing Grace,” and began leading the congregation in acappella singing of the old hymn. Most did not need a song book, as the words had become a part of their memory since childhood. After a couple of songs, an old and venerable gentleman stood up and led a lengthy prayer. The sick were called by name and petitions for their recovery were submitted. Any sinners in the assembled crowd were fervently prayed for, that they might repent before it was everlastingly too late. When the aged brother was finished, he took his seat, and the guest speaker moved to his position behind the pulpit. His sermon lasted an hour. He spoke of God’s love and grace, of faith that could move a mountain of sin, of baptism to wash the sins away, and of the fires of an eternal hell that awaited all who would spurn the invitation. When the sermon was concluded, the congregation rose to their feet and sang the invitation song, O Why Not Tonight. One young man of fifteen years responded and was immersed in the baptistery slightly above and behind the pulpit.

With the service concluded, everyone filed out the front door through which they had entered the building an hour and a half before. The young man was congratulated on his conversion and the guest preacher commended for his magnificent lesson. Neighbors visited in the cool night air and discussed the weather and that year’s cotton crop. By and by, all returned to their cars and pickup trucks and made their way to their homes, resolved to come back tomorrow night and do it all again. I rode home with my parents and contemplated becoming a preacher when I grew up.

By the way, I finally found my nerve. Debbie and I have been married for over thirty years. God’s grace is truly amazing.

John Brown
December 9, 2005

When the going gets tough…


…the tough get going. You’ve heard that before. I think most Christians want to be spiritually tough. They see others who are apparent towers of strength during adversity…and they want to be like them.

But how? The situation reminds me somewhat of back in the day when my two sons played Dixie Youth baseball. A ball would be hit to some hapless youngster. He would miss it. And a non-professionally trained coach would yell, “Catch the ball, son!”

“Yeah, right coach. But how?”

A real coach would have explained to the child how to do the technique properly. If you will, God is a real coach. He demands performance at the highest level. And he instructs us, supports us, and encourages us on how to deliver.

Here are some Bible keys to that great big three-letter word: how.

Understand that trials are here to make us better.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience (James 1:2-3 NKJV).

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:6-7 NKJV).

Now admittedly, this is a bitter pill to swallow. But it helps cure the disease. Trials are unpleasant, and often severely so, by definition. If they weren’t bad, they wouldn’t be trials, and they couldn’t accomplish the potential good that God intends.

Trials help us focus on eternity, where there are no trials. If I focus too closely on this world, it’s easier for me to allow it to control me – with devastating and eternal consequences. The often trying nature of this life nudges my gaze upward toward God my Savior. If I look to Him in faith and obedience, I’ll be eternally ok, no matter what happens here. Trials grab me by the ears, stare me straight in the eyes, and shout that essential information direct to my brain – where my behavior, and thus my destiny, is controlled.

Understand the background of trials.

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned (Romans 5:12 NKJV).

All pain and suffering comes from one of three sources (and none of the three is God): Adam’s sin, my sin, or the sin of someone else. My pain may not be my fault, but it’s not God’s fault either. I don’t inherit the guilt of Adam’s sin, but I sure inherit the consequences of it, that is, pain and suffering. Read Genesis 3.

Trails are never God’s fault. When something bad happens to me, I don’t care what it is, if I blame God – I’m just wrong – simple as that. The more mature I am, the stronger my faith is: the less likely I am to falsely accuse my Heavenly Father. Trials are one thing that helps me move from weakness to strength. See the first point above. Other helpers include Bible reading, prayer, worship, and fellowship with my brethren. If you are struggling with a trial(s), the worst thing you can possible do is quit attending worship services, stop reading your Bible, and neglect unceasing prayer.

Understand that I’m not the only one to ever experience a trial.

Let me lift my head from my breast and look in God’s word at all the trials endured by all the Bible’s great heroes. Dare I think for a moment that Joseph, for instance, was not severely tried when he was betrayed by his own flesh and blood? Then in Egypt, he was the victim of the wrath of a woman scorned, whose blatant lie landed him in prison. But he kept his faith, and things worked out. There are multitudes of examples in both the Old and New Testaments of faith under fire.

And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again. And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented-- of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth (Hebrews 11:32-38 NKJV).

When I am tried, I must concentrate on the Bible view of trials, not that of some people. Each of the above points began with the word “understand.” That is a key. If I can understand what the Bible says about pain and suffering, I have the potential, with God’s help, to handle things. Understanding, not emotionalism, is the key that unlocks the door to faith - which gives me strength to endure - and (by God’s grace) to prevail.

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17 NKJV).

If you are in a trying time right now – receive encouragement from the teaching of God’s word. If your friend is in a trying time – help them; in love, gentleness, and patience; understand the hope that God gives us in His word.

The Offer:
What’s In It For Me?

A number of years ago, I was in a career that required a certain amount of sales performance. When one is selling a good or service it generally is advantageous to point out to the potential customer the benefits of your product. If the benefits of the product are markedly superior to anything else available in the marketplace, we may sometimes say that the product “sells itself.”

I don’t really like to talk about “selling” the gospel, but if I may be indulged in using an example drawn from sales, then the gospel of Christ truly sells itself. The benefits of the gospel, the Christian Life, are vastly superior to anything else, period! When God places His offer on the table, it is overwhelmingly in my best interest to take it!

What’s in it for me? What are the benefits of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

The Christian Life gives me the physical necessities of this life.

Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you (Matthew 6:31-33 NKJV).

In the context of this passage, Jesus is talking about basic physical needs: something to eat, something to wear. We must be careful not to confuse wants and needs. Jesus is promising that we’ll get by – bread for today. If I ate today, God has delivered on His promise. If I had bread today, clothing on my back today, and a dry place to stay today – you tell me what more I needed, physically speaking. We won’t care in eternity if our wants were met. If we can just have our real needs, that is enough. That God promises.

The Christian Life gives me fellowship and encouragement from like-minded friends.

…that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me (Romans 1:12 NKJV).

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2 NKJV).

Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing (1 Thessalonians 5:11 NKJV).

Ever feel that you are all alone in the world? Do you sometimes feel that there is no one who would pick you up if you fell, no one who would offer a kind word if you failed, no one who would have your back if you were falsely accused or deserted – no one who cares? You need not feel like this if you are a faithful Christian. The Christian Life involves a community of obedient believers who care and therefore share. You have a safe place; you belong – if you’re a Christian.

The Christian Life gives me meaning, purpose, and hope in this life.

…in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began (Titus 1:2 NKJV).

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14 NKJV).

One who has lost hope, has truly lost everything. You may ask, “What is the point in living?” if you feel that your life has no meaning and therefore no hope. As a Christian, your life has meaning. You have a purpose for living: to show others Christ in you, to thus help save them from eternal doom, and to honor God who made you in the process. If you have Christian meaning and Christian purpose, then you have Christian hope. And that hope gets you out of bed every morning, carries you through every day, and confidently lays you down to sleep every night.

The Christian Life gives me spiritual life after physical death.

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (1 Corinthians 15:54-55 KJV).

The Christian Life is all about heaven. It is an eternal existence that defies complete comprehension. It is not physical reward. It is better than that. It is beyond that. There is no death, no dying, no pain, no suffering, no disappointment, no unfairness – but that doesn’t fully describe it. There is perfect love, perfect peace, perfect happiness, perfect understanding – but that doesn’t fully describe it. God uses terms that we will understand to give us a glimpse of it, like streets paved with gold. But it won’t be literal gold, because all the elements of this earth will have been burned up. It’ll be better than gold. Heaven will be indescribably and incomprehensively: good! I want to go there. The Christian Life is the way.

Let’s believe and obey the gospel of Christ and walk in the way of salvation that terminates triumphantly in heaven itself!

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13 NKJV).

…Yet Without Sin

The Hebrew writer said this about Jesus. He was talking about Jesus’ high priesthood and how He was an understanding High Priest because He had been tempted just like us, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

Jesus lived in flesh just like mine. He had the same physical needs and desires that I have. He was exposed to temptation, just like I am. The physical part of His nature was no different from mine. But He never sinned. He lived a righteous life – and He lived it perfectly.

Let’s look at the “what” of this life. The “whys” and “hows” are separate questions. Let’s look at the “what.”

Define the perfect life, as lived by Jesus. What did he actually do? Then learn lessons from Jesus’ perfect life to help me improve my imperfect one.

Jesus did no wrong. Satan’s temptations in the wilderness challenged who Jesus was and what He was about (His mission). But our Lord’s faith in the Father never wavered nor did He accept an easy route to earthly power. Jesus had been without food for forty days straight. To say that He was hungry and physically weakened would be a great understatement. But He did not bow to the enticements of the devil.

Luke says that Satan left Jesus following the three recorded temptations “until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13 NIV). The Lord certainly experienced numerous temptations as He completed His work among a people that were often arrogant, hypocritical, materialistic, and rebellious. Think you have bad neighbors?

But He never sinned one time.

If Jesus could persevere, surrounded with the people He had to live with, surely I can cope with the temptations and trials that confront me. My challenges don’t even register on the scale – when compared to what Jesus dealt with on a daily basis. If He could put up with what He had to put up with – and avoid ever doing wrong – what is my problem when I fail?

I probably fail because I am focused too much on “me” and too little on my Christian mission. Jesus was so strongly focused on His mission, His work; that all the temptations became manageable.

Here’s focus: Jesus saith unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work (John 4:34 KJV).

Jesus always did right. Remember, the devil is tempting Him at every “opportune time.” But, He’s still out there proactively, doing right. We might say, “Well, I’ve resisted temptation today, I’m tired now, I think I’ll just chill and rest.” When we resist temptation, that’s good, but we’re just half way there. Even when Jesus triumphed over temptation, even when He was tired – He still went on to do what was right. If His schedule was tight, if there were numerous demands on His time, if He was physically tired and emotionally exhausted – He still served!

If someone needed His help, He helped them. If someone needed His words, He taught them. If someone needed His care, He loved them. If there was right to be done, Jesus did it – always! He never quit.

Sure you’re tired when you get home from work, but your family needs loving. Sure you’re busy when your child asks you a question, but your child needs teaching. Sure you’re in a hurry, with a tight schedule of your own, when a suffering person needs someone to show that they care, but you can’t be a Christian just when it’s convenient.

Doing right is picking up the cross and getting it done. Do we bear our crosses daily? Do we even know what a cross is? Jesus knew! By bearing His cross, Jesus showed us how to live. We need to stop depending on psychologists and quite listening to so called self-help gurus – and start listening to Jesus.

Read the gospel and see His life; nothing bad, everything good. There’s my pattern.

The more I feed on His words and His example, the better I’ll get at living The Christian Life. With God’s help, let’s get it done in our own lives.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13 NKJV).

My Friend Has Died

On Tuesday, May 2, 2006 Louis Rukeyser passed from this life. I believe he was 73. He succumbed to cancer.

I never met him.

At least not in person. But he and I were guests in my dad’s den on Friday nights at 7:30 for a number of years in the 1980’s.

You may or may not know who Louis Rukeyser was. He had a show on PBS called Wall Street Week. For a few years, Dad and I spent thirty minutes most every Friday night watching it. Though the subject matter was different, Lou’s monologue to open the show was better than even the great Carson. Rukeyser gave investment counsel to the “average” investor, though I suppose no investor considers himself or herself to be “average.” It’s “their” money, after all. But as a Christian, we know that all money, along with everything else, really belongs to the Lord.

Dad and I would watch with great interest as Lou would talk of bulls and bears…and even elves. He was a voice of steadiness when the fickle market would rise sharply or plummet precipitously. Lou was always entertaining, enlightening, and reassuring. Times and fortunes change over the years. I hadn’t watched Louis Rukeyser’s show in a quite a while until a couple of years ago I caught his new show on CNBC a few times. He had aged obviously. But he was the same ol’ Lou that Dad and I had come to know, respect, and love.

Louis Rukeyser was a link of sorts to my dad. I guess he would make a twosome with Walter Cronkite who was a regular Monday through Friday night at 5:30 staple in that same den (though that would have been in the sixties when I was a teenager). Dad was my best friend. He died in 1999. When I learned that Lou had died, it was like another little piece of Dad went with him. Walter survives yet.

Lest I put you to sleep with my reminiscences, I’ll come to the Christian application of all this. I look back on a fond time earlier in my life. There is a story of a man in Luke 16 who looked back on a fond time in his life. Our stories diverge there, because the man in Luke 16 was dead. In his prior life he had had it good. I guess he would have been a Wall Street Week regular. He’s even called the “rich man” in the story. You may recall his acquaintance, Lazarus.

The rich man got it all right with his money, but got it all wrong with his life. There is no indication in the Bible text that he engaged in criminal or immoral behavior. But he was selfish, he wouldn’t share – and he went to hell for it.

He waited till it was too late to do something about his life. If you’re reading this (and I’m writing it, I guess) then it’s not too late for us. The rich man invested in himself. That investment went south. He lost everything.

God wants us to invest in others, by investing in His cause. Let’s put our time, our abilities, our opportunities, and our money – in the Christian Life. Then we won’t have to worry about Wall Street, we’ll be looking forward to a street of gold.

Plowing in Hope

…he who plows should plow in hope (1 Corinthians 9:10 NKJV).

Do you try to live right, and still bad things happen? Maybe you feel that your life is one of plowing (living) in despair rather than hope. Remember the old hymn that began: “This life is filled with sorrow and troubles here below”? A glance at any newspaper will prove that statement true. A reflection upon our own lives will also confirm the words of that song.

Is there anything better? Will things improve? Is there any hope?

I can state with absolute confidence and assurance: “Yes, there is hope!”

There is trouble here below because there is sin here below. Your personal trial may, or may not, result from your personal sin. But there’s trouble in the world today because there’s sin in the world today. There’s also trouble in the world today because of Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden. We don’t inherit the guilt of their sin – but we surely inherit the physical consequences of it: pain, suffering, and ultimate physical death.

We cry out for hope that life will get better. Our cries are answered in God’s word.

The soul that sinneth, it shall die (Ezekiel 18:20 KJV).

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8 NKJV).

Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him (Romans 5:9 KJV).

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Galatians 3:26-27 NKJV).

Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27 NKJV).

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast (Hebrews 6:19 NKJV).

And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:3 NKJV).

When I believe and obey the gospel of Jesus Christ, I enter a place of hope. I’m still in the world, and there’s still trouble all around me; but I can now cope with it, I can now rise above it: because I belong to Christ and He gives me hope.

“They say that many trials will come to vex the soul,
That clouds will often gather to dim for us the goal;
In every sad condition to lead us safely thru,
O Lord we need a friend like you.” *

The faithful Christian, the practitioner of the Christian Life, has found that friend in Jesus.

* “A Friend Like You,” by Luther G. Presley, Sacred Selections Hymnal, # 205.

The Answer

The last time you watched Fox or CNN I bet you didn’t watch long before the subject was some individual or group that was in big trouble. War is widespread. Crime causes hurt to thousands of people. Poverty ruins the lives of millions. Surely there’s a solution for all of this.

Someone says, “Yeah, I’ve got the answer. Throw enough money at it and any problem will disappear.” But we spend and spend and the problems still abound.

Someone else says, “If we have the ‘right’ form of government, then everyone will get along and live happily ever after.” I sure am proud to live in a democracy – but there are still problems – and a lot of them.

Another says, “If we have a strong enough military, then we can force what’s right on others.” I don’t know how many wars we will have to endure before we realize that it’s not that simple.

Then someone says, “If we can just get people educated, then they’ll know better than to cause all this trouble.” If people became enlightened enough to understand the benefits of getting along and helping out – that would be great. But, how many people do you know who don’t act like they know they ought to act?

“Well,” another says, “what we really need is for people to be more religious.” Yeah, right. Look at all the pain and suffering that’s being perpetrated right now in the name of religion.

But, you know, there is an answer. It’s not money, government, armies, education, or even religion.

The answer is Christianity.

“That’s a religion,” you say. Ok. But it’s really not “a” religion, it’s “the” religion. There is a vast difference between being religious and being religiously correct. The Pharisees were very religious – but were a long way from being religiously correct. They were religious people who were constantly at odds with Jesus.

Christianity solves everything. It even gives us hope, and thus courage, to bear the trials of life. Christianity works because it makes relationships work. Christianity fixes war, poverty, enables us to bear trials, and secures our relationship with our Maker.

If everyone were a faithful Christian, there would be no greed and no arrogance. Without greed and arrogance, how many wars do you think we would have? I don’t think we would have any. Read James 4:2-3: You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

If everyone were a faithful Christian, there would be no poverty. We would all heed the example of the apostle Paul: They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do (Galatians 2:10 NKJV).

If everyone were a faithful Christian, we could cope with trials, because we would view them as growth opportunities. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance (Romans 5:3 NKJV).

If everyone were a faithful Christian, our relationship with God would be in order, and we would all go to heaven when we die.

But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV).

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him (James 1:12 NKJV).

God has provided us with the answer. It is up to us to heed it.

The Searcher

The apostle Paul was the preacher. The audience heard his message. But, they didn’t stop there. They examined the written word of God to see if what Paul was teaching was true. The Bible says they “searched” the scriptures.

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so (Acts 17:11 KJV).

In your Christian Life, how often do you search the scriptures? Do you believe what you believe about Jesus and The Christian Life because you have read it in the gospel, or are you doing what you’ve always done and believing what you’ve always been told without actually going to God’s word to see if that’s what it really says? How about it?

It’s important that our beliefs and practices mesh with God’s word. If it isn’t important, what sense do we make out of Acts 17:11 above? These people were called “noble” by God because of their reliance upon His word. Feelings, opinions, hearsay, learned pontifications, etc. are not the word of God.

Are you noble like these people from Berea? If you are, you will (like they did) examine your feelings, beliefs, and practices in light of the Bible.

Here are some thoughts to get you started:

Divorce and remarriage. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery (Matthew 19:9 KJV).

Homosexuality. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10 NKJV).

Money. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1 Timothy 6:10 NKJV).

Faith. Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone (James 2:17 KJV).

Hate. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you (Ephesians 4:32 NKJV).

Giving and Getting


With few exceptions, most people are more interested in receiving than in giving. When some kind of deal is proposed, both parties are usually asking, “What will I get out of it?” To suggest that what you give is more important than what you get is to fly in the face of conventional wisdom in the eyes of most. “What’s in it for me?” is the motto of our material-minded society.

Then, along comes Jesus saying just the opposite. As quoted by Paul in his farewell speech to the Ephesian elders, Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).

Wow!

Their age was just as material as ours. I bet when Jesus said that, people stopped in their tracks and their jaws dropped. This sure wasn’t the way anyone they knew acted. It wasn’t the way they acted. But yet, Jesus said it, and everything He said was true.

How many people, do you think, of Jesus’ day, believed His statement? How many today believe it? Do you believe it? Do I believe it? That’s a hard question, if we face it honestly and candidly.

You know, in the Bible believing and doing go together. If we think of some ways we can give, and then begin to practice giving in the manners identified, I think we’ll see the beauty and practicality of what Jesus said – and we’ll begin to really believe it.

It is more blessed to give than to receive.

How can I give? Let me count the ways.

I can give the gift of kind words, even when someone is unkind to me.
I can give the gift of encouraging words, when someone who has failed cries for reassurance.
I can give the gift of admonishment, when someone has opportunities they are failing to use.
I can give the gift of unconditional love, when it’s really, really needed and it’s really, really hard to give.
I can give the gift of silence, when someone is hurting and needs my presence more than my words.
I can give the gift of joy, when someone has won a great victory and wants to share it.
I can give the gift of wisdom, when someone has yet to know the struggles I wish I had not known.
I can give the gift of physical possessions, when someone has yet to be blessed on the level that I am blessed.
I can give the gift of forgiveness, when someone daily needs it, as I daily need it.
I can give the gift of Christ, when someone desperately needs to see Him - in me!

Jesus Teaches His Disciples


Jesus’ disciples were with Him for about three years before The Cross. They were personally trained by the Lord during this time. What they heard was something different. Jesus’ way was radically dissimilar to the human tradition and hypocrisy taught and practiced by the teachers to whom the people were accustomed, the scribes and Pharisees. I suppose in part because of the uniqueness of His teaching, Jesus often used small group settings to teach the twelve.

He taught them about the nature of His kingdom. Much of His teaching centered on the kind of moral life the members of His kingdom/church would live. As examples of this teaching, we are reminded of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 and the kingdom parables of Matthew 13. These two events actually involved large groups, but Jesus certainly repeated these same themes over and over to the apostles as he taught them privately.

A member of Christ’s kingdom would be a Christian. What was the Christian to be like? We have what we might call a summary statement of the Christian life in the Sermon on the Mount. Much of what Jesus says here is paradoxical: it is completely different from the prevailing wisdom of the world. He expected His disciples to understand that, and to buy it and sell it not. Jesus here talked about how the Christian would think and how the Christian would act. Obviously the two are related.

Jesus said His disciple would be humble. He spoke of the blessedness of those who are poor in spirit (realizing their need for God), those who mourn over sin (including their own sin), and those who are meek (they are always in control of their life, rather than letting the world control it for them). Jesus spoke of the generosity of the Christian. He would be merciful to others and he would try to promote peace among men (he would be a peacemaker). Jesus said the Christian would be pure in heart, and He explained the kind of life that a pure heart would produce. He said the Christian would be tough. He spoke of being persecuted for righteousness sake - and still being righteous.

When Jesus’ disciples actually lived like this, people would take notice. So Jesus said a Christian is salt and light.

A Christian would understand that bad deeds, such as murder and adultery, begin in the heart – and so he would guard his thoughts. The Christian would acknowledge God’s plan for marriage, that it was intended to be one man and one woman for life. The Christian would go beyond what was required. And that second mile would even go so far as to love one’s enemies. The Christian would give careful attention to prayer, following the model prayer and personal example of Jesus Himself. The Christian, of all people, would understand the nature of material things and be one hundred percent focused on the spiritual. The Christian would give his overwhelming attention to improving his own life instead of judging his brother. The Christian would persistently and consistently seek the will and blessing of God, knowing that it was God’s will for him so to do. The Christian would understand how crucial it was to make proper choices. He would not be led astray by those who were false, but would approach God by obedience. He would build his house on the rock.

If Christ’s kingdom was made up of people who actually lived this way, then it would be special indeed. Jesus often illustrated its uniqueness with parables. He told about the Sower and the different response the various soils made to his seed. He said the soils represented people’s hearts. Jesus said if the principles of His kingdom were properly practiced, Christianity would grow like a mustard seed: into something very large that began very small. He candidly said that His church would wind up having hypocrites in it, but that their day was coming; they would be pulled up like weeds (called tares in the parable) and cast into the fire. Jesus said His kingdom was the most valuable thing there ever was, and compared it to a pearl merchant who found the best pearl there ever was, and sold everything he had to buy it.

What would it have been like to sit in a quiet place, in a group of twelve or so, in the Galilean hills, possibly in view of the Sea of Galilee itself, and listen to Jesus teach? It would have been wonderful beyond description. I am not a particularly emotional person, but it almost makes me cry tears of gratitude and joy to contemplate a glorious event like that.

We can go to those Galilean hills with Jesus every day. All we’ve got to do is open a book and read from its pages. That book is called the Gospel of Jesus Christ – and we all own a copy.

Loving Us When We’re Bad

This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 4:10).

Can you love someone that is unlovable?

Can you love someone that has been mean to you, who has said unkind things to or about you, and who has generally tried to hurt you? It’s hard isn’t it? Maybe you feel that you just can’t do it. You can’t bring yourself to love someone who doesn’t love you and shows no inclination to ever love you.

But wait a minute. That’s exactly what God does for us. He loves us when we don’t love Him. We live lives that are a thousand miles removed from the truth of His word – and yet He still loves us. Amazing isn’t it?

I can’t begin to understand or explain why God does that. It blows my mind. Of course He would love us if we were good. But why does He love us when we are bad?

Maybe it’s because that’s when we really need His love. Maybe it’s because He’s just good. Maybe it’s because He knows who He is and feels safe in loving us when we’re unworthy of His love. Maybe it’s a combination of the above. Maybe it’s something else entirely. I just don’t know.

But I’m mighty glad He loves us because I sure need His love.

Knowing that God loves me when I’m bad makes me want to be good. I’m suspicious that’s part of His plan. He wants me to love Him back.

“Tell me, Lord, how do I love you back?”

If you love Me, keep My commandments (John 14:15).

Feel Good versus Do Good Religion

Clearly Jesus expects us to have fervor in our Christian worship and service. …true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth (John 4:23 NKJV). Clearly Jesus also expects us to have a good feeling about being a Christian. In the Bible that feeling is often referred to as “hope.” …be not moved away from the hope of the gospel (Colossians 1:23 KJV).

However, it seems that many have moved away from proper Christian fervor and hope to a feel good religion that bares scant resemblance to what we read in the gospel. The Christian Life is not emotionalism. It springs from an intellectual decision which one makes to believe and obey the teaching of Jesus Christ.

Emotionalism puts our feelings in control. Our feelings may be easily swayed by any so-called preacher telling death-bed stories or even by a sad song heard on the radio.

Feelings are a poor basis for living. Nashville is north of where I sit as I write these words. Birmingham is south of here. I may get on the road and head south toward Birmingham, while feeling the whole time that I am heading north toward Nashville. You know where I’ll wind up. If I’m heading south, that road goes to Birmingham – no matter what my feelings say. The course of prudence is to look at an accurate road map and make an intellectual decision to head north on the road to Nashville, if that’s where I wish to go.

An intellectual decision has my mind in control, not my feelings. My feelings are a poor guide because they may tell me just about anything; especially something I may want to hear which is not justified by the cold, hard evidence.

The Christian Life is not a feeling. It is a life of doing good; toward God, toward my fellowman, and toward myself. Being swayed by emotions can get you in trouble. Calm and deliberate faith in and obedience to the word of God will win every time.

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32 NKJV).

So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God (Romans 7:25 NKJV).

Integrity, Discipline, Communication

God’s people must work effectively together as a group to accomplish God’s purposes here on earth. The wisdom of God is to be made known through the church, that is, through God’s people (Ephesians 3:10). For us to do what God wants us to do, we must function in sync with each other and in sync with God’s word. The two are obviously related. Here are three areas of Biblical truth which will help us have good group dynamics as disciples of Christ today.

Integrity. God’s people must be impeccably honest. Provide things honest in the sight of all men (Romans 12:17 KJV). Even the slightest hint of impure morals, ethically questionable behavior, deceit, or a failure to be totally upfront and straightforward in all that we say and do will pretty much void the effectiveness of our message. People just won’t care about anything we say, much less listen to us, if we are not completely trustworthy. The power of a morally upright life has a tremendous effect on how others will respond to us and to what we say.

Discipline. God’s people must be hard workers. If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me (Luke 9:23 NKJV). We must be actively using the time God has given us to do His will. We must make a conscious decision to do this. It will not take care of itself. It will not happen automatically. We must make it happen. We must work on asking ourselves each waking minute, “How am I using this time for God right now?” Christian good works are myriad. Bible study, prayer, personal moral behavior, words of encouragement, conversational teaching, and self-sacrificing actions are a few behaviors to get us started.

Communication. God’s people must be good communicators. Paul wrote to Philemon that he had heard of his love and faith which he had not only toward the Lord, but toward “all the saints.” Paul went on to say that his prayer was: that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother (Philemon 1:6-7 NKJV). Would someone say of you that you are one who refreshes the hearts of those around you? Part of the way we do this is by open, full, frequent, loving, and sincere communication.

I will work today on my integrity, my discipline, and my sharing with others!

* The idea for these thoughts came from my oldest son, Eric.

My Dog, Oaklee

You recall the best–selling book, My Dog, Skip, by Willie Morris. My dog’s name is Oaklee. He’s a fine Boxer dog. Yesterday he was two years old. “Happy birthday, Oaklee.”

You know, as I think of what a good friend Oaklee is, I think I see some things in my dog that we need in the church. So here goes…

My dog is always glad to see me. I wish we could be as glad to see the time for worship services coming as my dog is to see me coming. He’ll get so excited he can hardly control himself. He’ll wear a big ol’ smile and greet me aggressively (that’s an understatement). Why aren’t we that happy and excited about God and His people?

I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go into the house of the LORD” (Psalms 122:1 NKJV).

My dog rarely gets his feelings hurt. If he does, he gets over it real quick. If my dog were easily offended, I doubt that we would have much of a relationship. He would be pouting like a baby so much that we would never be able to interact. If we are in a group of people and wear our feelings on our sleeves, someone might brush against us. Then guess what gets hurt. A lot of wounded feelings have as their origin a misplaced emphasis: “It’s all about me!” instead of “How may I help you!”

Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others (Philippians 2:4 NKJV).

My dog defines loyalty. He sticks with me. He is asleep at my feet as I write this. If he thinks I may face a threat, he is very protective. I really think he would die for me to try and keep me from harm. Whoever called a dog “man’s best friend” obviously had a dog. I tend to like my dog. Wonder why? If we would be as loyally supportive of each other as my dog is of me, I think people would tend to like us. What do you think?

By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren (1 John 3:16 NKJV).

My dog knows how to love. Oh does he! Talk about affectionate…. He can’t get close enough (I have long since stopped worrying about little brown hairs on my clothing). I don’t have to sit by my lonesome self in a chair, even if I have my morning cup of coffee. I’ll have a seventy pound visitor. He shows me that he loves me. Now, we wouldn’t want to be physically affectionate with each other like my dog is with me, but we can show our love in appropriate ways – if we just would. Do you love your brethren? How do they know that?

… through love serve one another (Galatians 5:13 NKJV).

Peacemaking 2006

I think we all remember Jesus’ beatitude about the peacemakers. Peacemaking is a good thing, therefore, I assume that its opposite is a bad thing.

If I am a peacemaker, then I am (at least in that area) like Jesus.

In what sense was Jesus a peacemaker?

Well, while some might like to think otherwise, I don’t read anything in my Bible about Jesus being a political activist. The extremist Zealot party of the Jews was there waiting for Him, Jesus even had a Zealot as one of the twelve apostles (Luke 6:15). However, Jesus never participated with that party to try to cause political change with Rome. What, then, did Jesus do?

Jesus made peace by example. Though His personal ministry was primarily to the Jews, Jesus included Gentiles in His interactions. He even included the hated (by the Jews) Samaritans. He went to everybody and made it clear that His gospel was for everyone (Mark 16:15).

Jesus made peace by helping. Jesus served. He went about doing good (Acts 10:38). Those He helped became His friends and disciples. He founded a community whose faithful members get along with each other. Disagreements are caused because of departures from His teaching. When the Lord’s words are adhered to, unity is the result.

Jesus made peace by teaching. He taught the highest standards of compassion, mercy, forbearance, and forgiveness. He taught us to forget petty grievances as we turn the other cheek. He taught and exemplified second mile service.

Jesus made peace by sacrifice. He gave Himself for our sins. There could be no peace between man and his Maker without what Jesus did on the cross. When we receive the benefits of His sacrifice by faith and obedience, and when we live His principles in our lives: there is peace with God and there is peace with each other.

What contribution am I making to peace? Look at the four areas of Jesus’ life above. Where can I be more like Him?

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God (Matthew 5:9 KJV).