Tag Archives: serve

The Unknown Father 2

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I find it interesting that God chose not to name the father in our passage in Mark 9:14-29.  In His infinite wisdom He chose to leave out this man’s name.  Even though, we can learn a lot from him.

First of all look at Mark 9:17, “And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;”  The first thing I notice is his leadership.  He said, “Master, I have brought unto thee my son,”.

If ever we need men to step up and be men it is today.  Men have been beaten up by so many people that we are losing our desire to even be men.  Sitcoms are full of stabs at men.  The world and the devil want us to be neutered and just sit back and watch life go by.  Guess what?  That is not God’s plan for men.

It is high time that men rise up and be men!  We must be godly men and lead as Christ leads.  How is that you ask?  Simple.  Jesus led by sacrifice.  If you love someone you will serve them.  Remember Jesus put a towel about Him and washed disciples nasty, stinking feet?  Yes, that is servant leadership.

We are not to be a dictator!  That kind of leadership will not work.  You will be like the one man who was out in front leading.  One day he turned around to look and found he was alone.  He was not leading.  He was simply out for a walk.

Men, it is high time that we take back our God given responsibility and be a man again.  Will you make the sacrifice to be a servant leader?  You will not regret it for sure.

So, how are you doing?

A Gift From God 8

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The southern gospel group The Isaacs sing a song titled “Heroes”.   You can watch the video here.  It is a powerful song about being a parent.  It starts out by calling parents of special needs children “Heroes”.  As I shared the other day the life of raising a child with special needs is not easy.  I don’t see us as heroes.  I see us as a family that made a vow to God and we are doing everything we possibly can to keep that vow.  That is serious business with God for sure.

There was a story on the news just a few days ago about a couple that had a child with Downs Syndrome.  The mother left.  So, this father has decided that he will take the child and raise it himself.  My hat is off to this man.  He is a hero.  Maybe, he is not a Bible kind of hero; but, he is to be applauded for his courage and his commitment to care for his child no matter.

What would motivate people to do what we do each day?  There are many reasons; but, I would like to think that you could find the answer in the first phrase of II Corinthians 5:14, “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:”.  That is what we have been talking about this month.  Love.  Not just some “feeling”.  Take some medicine and that will pass.  What I am talking about is a love that binds us, commits us to someone or something.  That is real Christlike love.  The Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance tells us that “constraineth” means “to hold together, i.e. to compress (the ears, with a crowd or siege) or arrest (a prisoner); figuratively, to compel, perplex, afflict, preoccupy”.  You see that is a very powerful commitment.

Do you love the LORD so much that you have been arrested and made a prisoner of His?  What has He compelled you to do?  You see, as we look at “A Gift From God” it just might be that you are God’s gift to someone.  Even more important is the fact that they might be counting on you not even knowing that you are God’s answer to their prayer.  You might be “A Gift From God”.  That is humbling.

So, how are you doing?

Hold Fast 6

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It is sad; but, we have become a people of entitlement.  We expect someone else to provide for us.  To give us what we want.  This is far too often way more than we need.  There is a deep and wide chasm between want and need.  As I progress in years I am very, very slowly learning this truth.

It has been said that within the Church that 20% of the people do 80% of the work.  I can see this.  It should not be this way though.  It should be 100% of the people doing 100% of the work.  I know, I know, dream on Preacher.  Just because it is not the reality does not negate the fact that it should be the reality.

We need to “Hold Fast to our Service”.  Look at Hebrews 12:28, “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:”  I like the phrase “serve God acceptably”.  It is not just being busy in the ministry.  It is; as Jesus said we are to be “about my Father’s business”.  He was not referring to carpentry; unless, you want to say it is carpentry to build the Kingdom of God.

We need to get back to an old fashioned Christianity where God’s people served Him with all their heart and soul.

So, how are you doing?

Third Class Ticket

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3rd class ticket holders are problem solvers. They ride along until there is a problem. They get out and help. They creatively address the problem and work to resolve it completely. They roll up their sleeves and work on the problem. They get the job done. They devote their energy to the task at hand.

Look at Luke 10:33, “But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,”  We have all heard compassion described as someone else’s pain in our heart.  I don’t know who said it; but, I do like it.

3rd class ticket holders encounter the problem and roll up their sleeves like this man. He dealt with the difficult and took a risk and got involved. It comes with the territory. This man went into the ditch to rescue the man and he came out of the ditch with the man. He did what he needed in the ditch and then got out. He saw the seriousness of the need and did all that he could to care for the man to the point of paying the rest of the bill. He did not wait for someone else to go to the ditch. This man was not looking for a reward. He was bonded to this man because the man had a need. He was willing to help and anxious to heal and eager to serve and ready to love. He was bold enough to deal with the problem in a creative and redemptive way. He did not stand off to the side and critically critique. He was not waiting for someone else to go to the ditch to help the man.

So, how are you doing?

Trust God And Get Busy

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Last night I was going through the channels.  This is usually short as we only have over the air television.  I stopped because I saw a Veggie Tales episode.  It was “Gideon – Mighty Man Of Valor”.  This just happens to be my favorite episode of the series.

While I was sitting there our son came in and sat down in the chair next to me and began to watch.  This is no surprise.  I love the music during Gideon and Israel’s battle.  It is like school fight music and would make good music to exercise to (if I were bent on exercising).  I always try to slap my hands against my legs in time to the music and sometimes our son tries to imitate me.  His fine motor skills are not what a young man his age should be so this is difficult for him and it is hard for me to see, truthfully.

I began to think about Gideon.  There is a lot we can learn from him and his life.  We should all take time and make a concentrated effort to study Gideon.  He was told by an angel that God had chosen him to lead the Israelites in battle and then he reduced the size of the army a couple times.

God used Gideon’s great faith and many other characteristics to form him into a great leader.  Look at Judges 6:27, “Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said unto him:  and so it was, because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.”  Even great leaders have time of fear and failure.  Gideon destroyed his father’s idol worship in the night fearing his father and the men of the city who were involved in the same paganism.  Yet, he did what God instructed Him to do.

Over and over Gideon proves himself.  What about you and I?  God is looking for us to fulfill His plan.  He has called us all to some thing.  We may not see it as great; but, I can assure you it is necessary.  The world needs you and I to stand up and serve God in a way that points them to Him; but, we seem to be failing miserably at this.  May God help us to get back to work where He has called us.

So, how are you doing?

Servant

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In all of this computer stuff going on it just seems to keep getting more and more complicated.  I am an old dog and I don’t like new tricks.  It seems that these time saving devices are sucking more and more time away.  I am thankful for my friend who fixed this transistorized tormentor.  I am thankful for the heightened security now to keep the bad guys out too.

There comes a point where the machine is no longer serving me; but, I am now the servant of the machine.  You have to determine that for yourself.  This can be for anything; not just computers.  I think Jesus Himself had something to say about this in the New Testament.  Look at Matthew 6:24, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”  You cannot serve God and material possessions.  There is a whole host of people that need to get this.  They live to work and play.  They go back to work to make money so they can go play.  There is a vicious cycle here that keeps us in bondage.  We don’t like to hear that; but, it is the truth.  What does not serve us is our master.

So, how are you doing?

Hope

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Dr. Paul Chappell shared the following in his “Daily in the Word” daily e-mail devotional on Sunday March 16th:

“I read something interesting about African impalas. These large animals have powerful legs—so powerful that they can leap to a height of over ten feet and cover more than thirty feet in a single bound. Because of this amazing leaping ability, you would think that a very large enclosure would be necessary when they are kept in a zoo. Yet in fact a fence only a few feet high will keep them safely contained—as long as they cannot see what is on the other side of the fence. The impala will not jump if he cannot see where he will land.”

As I was reading this from Dr. Chappell my mind began to race to a thousand different things.  I think the impala resemble today’s Christian far too much.  We sit in our “curches” and look out the stained glass windows at life around us.  Yet, we never seem to move past this.  When we loose hope we are the most miserable people or person on earth.  Hope is what drives us.  I believe that one reason that God’s Church is not flourishing is because we feel hopeless.  We feel hopeless because we have been trying to do things in our own power and do them our own way.

It is high time we get back to the fundamentals of the faith like fervent prayer, fasting, reading the Bible, faithfully attending Church services.  This list could go on for quite a long time if the truth be told.  When we loose hope the first thing we need to do is the first thing.  If you look around you and you feel hopeless then get back to the basics of your Christian life.  If you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your Saviour then run to Him for salvation and start there.  You will never regret it.  I promise.

So, how are you doing?

 

Serve

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For twenty years I served in public service.  I don’t regret it much.  The only regret I have is that I did not leave public service sooner to go full-time in the ministry.

The other day I saw a video on a social networking site that was a four year old boy who called 911.  This caught my attention because of my background as a former child and a former dispatcher, etc…  Watch the video here.  

This dispatcher could have had a bad day or several “tough calls” in a row; but, he still showed professionalism in handling this young heart.  My hat is off to him for this.  We make choices in how we respond to everything.  When the enemy of our soul tempts us we make a decision whether we are going to give in or resist.  Resistance here is the best option.  It is not a sin to be tempted.  Sin come in when we yield to the solicitation to do wrong.

God’s very people struggled with who they yielded to quite often.  Remember what Joshua told them?  Here it is in Joshua 24:14-15, “Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.  And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”  Today you will choose who you will serve.  Who will it be?

So, how are you doing?