Monthly Archives: September 2014

Work

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I have had the pleasure of helping my cousin farm here recently.  I love it!  I am living a dream right now.  I have been filling the pulpit for our Pastor and farming with my family.  What an awesome blessing!

As I was driving the tractor and chisel plow earlier God spoke to my heart about something.  I was running with the lights on because it was dark (I just finished at 1:30 am).  He spoke to me that it is dark spiritually and that man needs to get busy and work for Him.  The words of a hymn came to my mind.  “Work for the night is coming when man works no more.”

This all came in on me while driving.  It is difficult to drive and let the tears roll I will tell you.  I was deeply convicted about what I am doing or not doing for the cause of Christ.  Look at John 5:17, “But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.”  Jesus worked for His Father; but, what am I doing for the Father.  Little to nothing I can assure you.  We all need to follow the example of Jesus and get busy doing the work our Father has called us to do.

So, how are you doing?

The Gift

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Yesterday I had the privilege of preaching at our home Church.  Our Pastor is on vacation and I filled in for him.  I have been listening to a song by the McRaes titled “He Knows My Name”.  It is an outstanding song.  I am sure you will hear more about the song here in the near future.

Yesterday, my message title was, “He Knows My Name”.  My wife knows how much I love the song by the McRaes.  She took the time Saturday evening to sit at her piano with the words to this song and her cell phone.  As she sat there she figured out how to play this song.  Just before I preach I love for her to sing.  She has not been feeling well so I knew whatever she was going to sing would be low.

She sang, “He Knows My Name” and it was in a low enough key that I could sing it.  Yes, the tears rolled.  Tears of joy and thanksgiving for her gift of taking the time to figure out this song so that she and I could sing it.  It added so much to the service.  Everyone enjoyed it, especially me.

As I sat there listening to this beautiful song and my wife singing it beautifully, my mind went to the Scriptures.  Look at John 12:3, “Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.”  That is it.  My wife’s song to me was just the same as Mary taking that costly ointment and anointing Jesus’ feet.  What an offering to the LORD and to me.  Thank you Tara!  I love you!

So, how are you doing?

Response

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Yesterday I had the privilege of working on the farm all day.  I was in the field running the tractor and chisel plow.  It was so much fun.  One thing I noticed all day was the sheer power that tractor has.  I was running 6 1/2 miles per hour and it was nothing to that machine.  As night came on the ground got moist and I could tell that it was getting slightly more difficult.  All in all this was no problem for this green machine.

As I was thinking about the response of the tractor I also thought about another response.  That is the response of Mary when she found out she would be the chosen vessel to birth Messiah into this world.  She could have responded in many different ways.

I love her response in Luke 1:38, “And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.”  She responded in humility and submission.

Today is Sunday.  We often call today “The LORD’S Day”.  Is it really?  Do we observe it as He would have us to observe it?

More importantly, is today a day that we set aside for the LORD?  It should be.  We should make a priority of going to His house (Church), His Word (the Bible), His people, His passion.  The list could go on.

My point today is are we motivated by what motivates Jesus?

So, how are you doing?

Give It Away

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There have been many times over the years that God has blessed us when we were at rock bottom.  He never fails to bring in what we need when we need it.  Sometimes it has not been when we thought we needed ti.

For instance, a few weeks ago things were so tight that my wife and I ate toast and tomato sandwiches for four straight days because we could get free tomatoes from my cousin’s farm.

When some people heard the truth about this they sprang into action.  We received a card with a grocery store gift card in it and our Church gave a very generous love gift to our son for graduating high school.  Praise the LORD.  Maybe eating toast and tomato sandwiches for four days was not my original plan; but, we enjoyed it and it was awesome watching God’s hand of provision move and work on our behalf.

The love gift’s of all those were like something in the Scriptures.  I was reading this earlier yesterday.  Look at Mark 14:3, “And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.”  Your love gifts are like a sweet perfume.  Thank you all!

So, how are you doing?

Our Passion?

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There are many things in life that motivate us.  I remember in junior high school being on the football team and hearing the coaches yell at the players during practice.  Why?  They were trying to motivate them.

Passion is something that motivates us.  Unfortunately, many think of sexual desires when it comes to passion.  That is only one aspect.  The Word Web dictionary describes passion this way.  Passion is described as a strong feeling or emotion, the trait of being intensely emotional or something that is desired intensely.

In Jesus day the people had passion.  When He made His triumphal entry there was passion flowing.  Look at Mark 11:9, “And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:”  The word “Hosanna” means save now.

These people were oppressed and they were looking for Messiah to come immediately and deliver them from their persecutors.  Messiah was right there before them; but, they seemingly lost passion.  Then their passion was rekindled.  This time it was kindled in a wrong way.

This crowd who once cried out, “Hosanna” or “Save now”, came to the dark place of crying out, “Crucify Him!”  Passion is and should be a powerful motivator.  We have to keep our passion in check with the Word of God and make sure our passion is motivating us in the right direction.  The results could be life changing.  It could be world changing.

So, how are you doing?

Our Protector

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Last night I had the privilege of leading the Wednesday evening Bible study at our Church.  As I was preparing I had a couple different thoughts that were running loose in my head.  We have been going through the book of Proverbs and I was not sure that I wanted to continue or go a different direction.

As I was reading Proverbs 30:18-19, “There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not:   The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.” seemed to jump out at me.  I love eagles and the parallels we can draw from them.  The first phrase of verse 19, “The way of an eagle in the air;”.

The male eagle is like a human father.  One of his roles is protector.  As the mother eagle trains the baby eaglets to fly the father flies above watching over the event.  When a predator goes after an eagle they have been given a set of green sunglasses by our Wonderful God that they move over their eyes and then they fly directly into the sun.  When the light and heat get too intense for the predator they turn back.

As I thought about this my mind came to Psalm 84:11, “For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”  Our God is Light (sun) and He is our protector (shield). When we are under attack we need to fly to Him and the enemy will not be able to stand the Light or the heat.  Glory to God!

So, how are you doing?

Do You Know For Sure?

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Last night I had the pleasure of attending revival services at a Church in Indianapolis.  It was a wonderful service to say the least.  The music was really good and that prepared our hearts for the preaching of God’s Word.

The best part of the whole evening was that a member of the Church came during the invitation and gave her heart to Jesus.  She had been living a life of turmoil and doubt.  Now she has it settled.  What a joy!  This lady is facing some deep, dark times in her life; but, now she has the light of Jesus in her soul to light the way.

So, how about you my friend?  Maybe you go to Church week after week.  Maybe you do not ever darken the door of a Church.  Here is the important question.  If you died today and stood before God and He asked you, “Why should I let you into my Heaven?”, what would you tell Him?

Take a look at John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”  Now maybe you would like to change your answer.  There is only one way to Heaven.  That is to put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ realizing you are a sinner and you cannot save yourself.  If you would like to know Jesus as your Saviour contact me and let me show you how.

So, how are you doing?

Peace

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We live in a world that is tumultuous to say the least.  Every time you turn on the television you are bombarded with this fact.  People murdering people. It is a sad day we live in.  Yet, if we focus on the darkness we will withdraw and stop living life.

Yesterday evening I went to hear a dear friend preach a revival meeting.  His message from the LORD was right on target.  He preached on peace.  Is that not what the world is looking for today?

People will do almost anything to escape the pain of life as they seek peace.  Yet, what they need to do is run the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).  We hear about peace all through the news cast.  Nations are calling for peace treaties.  My guess is the man reason they call for a peace treaty is to buy them time to ramp up their resources to get back to their fight.
I love the words of Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah 26:3, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”  The world is experiencing the later part of Jeremiah 6:14, “They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.”
People will only find peace when they connect with The Prince of Peace and put their faith and trust in Him.
So, how are you doing?

See You At The House

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Well, here I sit once again with tears running.  As you can see from the title today I will be trying to memorialize one of God’s dear saints.  Almost twenty years ago I had the privilege of becoming a reserve police officer in our little burg.  It paid nothing; but, your training and uniforms were free.

During my time as a reserve deputy town marshall I met so many different people.  One of those people was David Spannuth.  David is a stellar Christian man and his sweet wife Connie is a stellar Christian woman.  I remember how excited David told me that he was when he found out that another Christian brother was coming on board the police department.  We enjoyed many hours of sweet fellowship.  I would come out and ride along with him (even though I was not allowed to do so) and we would talk about the LORD.  Such sweet fellowship.

Yesterday, we received word that David Spannuth had gone to be with our LORD.  I managed to hold back all the emotions until this writing.  Now the tears fall for those who know and love David.  There is now a part of them that has departed.  Oh, we would not wish David back to this vale of tears and pain.  There is one thing for sure.  One day I will see my friend David Spannuth again.  I believe that it will not be long until that meeting will be taking place.

Let me ask you my reader.  Are you really prepared for Heaven?  Was there a day in your life when you realized and acknowledged that you are a sinner?  After you realized this did you cry out to Jesus to forgive you of your sin and ask Him to save you?

If you have never done that would you please contact me and let me take the Bible and show you how to be born-again so that you too can spend eternity in Heaven with Jesus, David Spannuth and me.

So, how are you doing?

A Closely Guarded Secret

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I have a short list of things I enjoy doing.  One is photography.  Another is cooking.  I enjoy cooking and I really enjoy making my own barbeque sauce.  It seems to be a hit wherever I take it.  A friend asked how to make it so as to quiet the roaring tummies of her children by making sloppy joes with my barbeque sauce.  I joke that it is a closely guarded secret (and it is) because I don’t normally share it.  This time to help our dear friends I will send it to her.

This set me to thinking.  I also read a preacher friend’s post on social media about sitting publicly reading his Bible and getting comments on it.  This really cause the old grey matter to start churning and the squirrels began running.

People in our day can have Bible apps on their phone and all other devices.  This way it makes it easier to carry around.  It also makes it far less obvious what you are reading and carrying.  If this is our reasoning for having God’s Precious Word on an electronic device SHAME ON US!

This world is going to hell in a hand basket and we are shrinking and shrinking back.  This is not helping those unsaved around us.  It is time for us to stand up, go out and speak up!

So, how are you doing?