Monthly Archives: May 2014

Marching

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For the past few days we have been talking about warfare.  There was one thing about God’s plan for His people at Jericho that was different.  Look at Joshua 6:4, “And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.”  How often in battle do you send out the trumpeters first?  Normally, you do not.  Yet, God had a plan to do things His way.

I am sure that this seemed strange to Israel and Joshua.  The thing is that they trusted the LORD and He gave them a great deliverance.  The walls fell down flat on themselves.  Then the Israelites could simply walk in to the city and fight and take the spoil.  What a plan.

God had a plan and it was probably different than what Joshua had in mind.  The thing is that Joshua and the children of Israel trusted God no matter and He secured a great victory for them.

We have to be careful not to march on ahead of God and get into deep trouble.  We must follow God no matter.

So, how are you doing?

Our Source Of Strength

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The other day I planted some flowers for the first time in many years.  I had to dig up the dirt where I wanted to put them.  It was well over eighty degrees outside while I was doing this.  When I finished I was so weak that I could hardly even clean up after myself and go inside the house.  My dear wife helped me greatly get finished up by doing some things I asked her to do.  Thank You!  I love you!

It was obvious that I was going at this in my own strength.  The sad part was that my strength was not sufficient for the task at hand.  Someone much stronger could have done my little project in much less time and with better results.  Such is life.

In the spiritual battles of life we need to not go out and fight in our own strength.  If we do we will surely fail.  It is when we go in God’s strength that victories are won.  Look at what the Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:10, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”  There is the most important key to spiritual battles.  This is where you start and all the others should fall right in line.

So, how are you doing?

Our Weapons

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There was a story of a woman who was shot in the arm in a retail store the other day.  The whole incident was an accident.  A man had his handgun in a holster in the waistband of his pants.  The gun somehow dislodged and fell to the floor and discharged, striking the victim in the arm.  She survived.  She had a small child with her in the cart who was not injured.  Praise the LORD for that.

If we are going to battle with the enemy of our soul then we need to know who our enemy is, what our mission is and what our weapons are.  If we do not know them we cannot use them.  I am afraid that this might be a huge problem in our Churches today.  Most Churches (or so-called) have no idea what their weapons are.

Look at Ephesians 6;13, “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”  This is a command and not a suggestion.  Rightfully so, if we are going to at the very least defend ourselves and our families we must know what our weapons are.  I might add we must know how to use these weapons.  They will do us no good if we do not know how to use them.  They are just dust covered relics.

We have some so -called Churches today that want to argue over Bible versions.  This is bringing confusion into the Church and the Word says that our God is not the author of confusion.  The devil is the author of confusion  So, you and I need to get our weapons ready and know how to use them.

So, how are you doing?

Our Mission

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We are bombarded daily with news stories of war.  Yet, they never seem to come out and remind us that we Christians are in a serious battle.  This battle is for the souls of men, women, boys and girls.

Right now my friend and Missionary Jim Kilgore is on foreign soil seeking to win the unsaved and train the saved to win others.  There is our mission.  Yes, there are times when we need to charge the gates of hell so to speak.  The thing to remember is that we need only do this when instructed by our Supreme Commander Jesus Christ.

Look at Matthew 28:19-20, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

We often refer to this passage of Scripture as “The Great Commission” and rightfully so.  The sad thing is that it has become the greatest omission of the Church today.  We do this and that program; but, we do not try to win the lost.  These are souls that Jesus died for.

So, how are you doing?

Our Enemy

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The other day as I was taking a shower I noticed a spider on the ceiling.  They don’t scare me; but, I sure didn’t want one hanging above my head no matter where it might be.  I swatted at it with my wash cloth.  It began swinging back and forth on a web it had spun.  I fought and fought this spider.  It finally fell off the ceiling.  It landed on my back.  So, I danced around and around trying to get it off my while swatting myself with the wash cloth.  This was a delicate dance in the shower I will tell you.  I finally noticed the spider in the water so I kicked it down the drain and bid it farewell as it took the water taxi to the sewer plant.

I thought about the devil and how he likes to jump on our back.  This thought became real as this spider tried to defend against my attacks.  We have an enemy that seeks to destroy us at any given moment.  We have to know who the enemy is in order to defend against this enemy.

Look at Ephesians 6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”  We need to quit fighting one another and get busy fighting the real enemy.

So, how are you doing?

Memorial Day

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Friday evening Tara and I went to the mission for our monthly chapel service.  It was awesome to say the least.  The hymnals were locked up and the evening Chaplain did not have a key to the office where they were.  This is always a good start.

The men sang out with their hearts to the LORD.  I just took favorite requests from them.  We sang, “Jesus Loves Me”, “Amazing Grace”, “Victory In Jesus” and “How Great Thou Art”.  I was exhausted at the end of the song service.  Then my wife played a song on the piano to honor the veterans.  She played “Salute To The Troops”.  I asked the men that have served to give a shout when their theme song was played.  It was a real hit with them.  Then she and I sang Lee Greenwood’s famous song “God Bless The USA”.  They stood and applauded.  We were humbled.  Lastly she sang “No More Night”.

Then it was my pleasure to preach the Word of God for the next twenty-five minutes.  They men were right there with me.  They were saying “Amen” and really seemed to be into the service.

We wanted to honor those veterans past and present for their sacrifice and service.  It is because of our fighting men and women that we still have the fragile freedoms we enjoy.  John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

Thank you veterans!

So, how are you doing?

Memorial

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I you ask most people and receive an honest answer about this holiday weekend they are simply happy for the extra day off.  This deeply sad.  Memorial Day is so much more than a long weekend.  It has nothing to do with over indulging in alcohol or hamburgers and hot dogs for that matter.

Memorial Day should be a time where we all reflect on the sacrifice of the men and women who have served in the armed forces.  I am thankful for their sacrifice.  It is because of the freedom they provided that we can have Church in freedom, write blogs in freedom and many other things.  There are those even in our own country that seek to take our freedoms and put us all in bondage.  Don’t fall for it!

What about Jesus?  Jesus came to this earth and lived a sinless life.  Yet, he was crucified an innocent me.  He was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.  Only Jesus paid “the supreme sacrifice”.  I am not discounting the sacrifice of those who have gone before us; but, the truth is the truth.  Only Jesus paid the supreme sacrifice because He is the only one who could pay the ultimate sacrifice.  I Corinthians 11:26, “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.”

Here is the thing.  Have you put your faith and trust in Jesus?  Please; I beg you, do that before it is eternally too late.

So, how are you doing?

 

The Glory Is Departed 7

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We live in a society where people believe that there should be no consequences.  As I was contemplating this post I thought about how God’s people went about their lives.  The sad reality is that “The Glory Is Departed”.  They are now doing their own thing their own way.  This should sound very familiar.

When we do not do things God’s way there are consequences.  Sometimes these are eternal consequences.  We try to put this out of our minds.  We want to sow our wild oats; but, then we pray for crop failure.  This should not be.

Look at two verses from I Samuel 4.  I Samuel 4:2, “And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men.”     I Samuel 4:10, “And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.”

Notice the consequences here?  They lost thirty-four thousand (34,000) men total in two battles.  They were operating outside of God’s umbrella of protection.  This cost them dearly.

Friend, as you and I go about our lives we must keep a close personal relationship with our Saviour.  When we operate outside of this we suffer because “The Glory Is Departed”.

So, how are you doing?

The Glory Is Departed 6

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The other day I took some friends to the airport.  As we were driving along in the area of the interstate there were some birds flying around.  They seemed to be in some kind of duress.  While the conversation flowed along I was watching the birds while driving.  I was a dispatcher for many years and I have the ability to multitask.

All of a sudden I shouted, “Wow!”  We watched as a hawk swooped in and grabbed another bird right out of the air.  Feathers flew for sure.  It was amazing to say the least.  My thoughts then went to the Scriptures.  Look at I Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”

You might be asking what this has to do with our current series.  When we walk with God and know His glory I do not believe that we are as prone to this kind of attack.  What I mean is that we are yielded to the Holy Spirit and He warns us and guides us.  He also uses the Word of God to protect and guide us.  When “The Glory Is Departed” and we are just out there wandering around we are vulnerable.

So, how are you doing?

The Glory Is Departed 5

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Yesterday morning I took some friends to the airport so they could leave town.  The left just before the storms and hail hit.  We should have went with them.  Nevertheless.  As I was driving away from dropping them off at their departure I noticed something.  I saw a young lady and a young man.  They must have kissed half a dozen times while I was driving away.  They were at the opposite end that I pulled away from.

I thought to myself, “The Glory Is Departed”.  I had to giggle because of the tongue in cheek humor.  Then I began to think about their relationship.  Will their relationship grow stale because of their time apart?  Will they even break up because of the length of absence so they seek the love of another?

Then I thought about our relationship with our Heavenly Father.  Far too many times we take long periods of time away from Him (we think) and the relationship goes stale (on our end) so to speak.  God no longer answers our prayers.  He does not speak to us like He once did.  Who moved?  Us, that is right.

If we are going to see the return of the glory of God then we are going to have to roll up our sleeves and get busy.  We must return to where we were when “The Glory Is Departed”.  Look at Nehemiah 3:1, “Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananeel.”

Notice here that they did not build all over the city.  They each built where they lived.  If you read on you will find that each man had his weapon in one hand and his tool in the other.  This is exactly what we must do.  We must rebuild the walls of our life and family and pray that we will once again see the glory of God on us, our Church and nation.

So, how are you doing?