God

by

Pushing Others!

Last time I looked at Preceding Others and how you pave the way for someone else.

I had things happen to me but only until I gave my life to Jesus. It would have been easy to go the opposite direction. But I had teachers, grandparents, friends that pushed me to be better.

History is full of evil and villains that were mistreated as children and ended up being psychotic killers or ruthless dictators without conscience.

It’s really no excuse. Each person is responsible for their own actions, whether good or bad. You have the choice to overcome the bad done to you. You can overcome it. Too many have already.

Sometimes it takes someone to push you in a positive way. I admire people like Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen who do such a great job at encouraging others to move forward.
I believe the best encouragement comes from the Lord.

Even Jesus had that encouraging person to pave the way for Him.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29

He pointed all of mankind to Jesus.

He could have said, “There’s another rabbi or preacher!”
But John pointed to Him as the Messiah – the Savior.

So how can you encourage someone today?
What can you say or do that will pull someone up and get their feet back on the ground?

Do it!

Abba, I just want to be a blessing to others. In Jesus name, YES&AMEN

by

Preceding others!

Everyone knows the name of Billy Graham. But do you know Mordecai Ham?
He is the evangelist that was preaching when Billy came forward and accepted Jesus as Savior.

Everybody has someone that precedes them – that paves the way for them. Billy Graham, DL Moody, Tony Evans, or Chuck Swindoll all had someone that paved the way before them and help lead them to Christ.

Even Jesus had someone go before Him.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Mal 4:5

That was fulfilled in the person of John the Baptist.

John’s father, Zacharias was told,

He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Luke 1:17

Today you will go before someone. Will you pave the way to the Lord for them? Will you show the way?

Think about that before you act or say something today. You may be just the person to lead the next Billy Graham to Christ.

Abba, use me to point the way for others. In Jesus name, YES&AMEN

by

Christmas Trees Rejoice Before the Lord

There is a Christmas tree in my living room. It’s not a real tree, though I do love the smell of a fir.

We have lights on our tree and there are ornaments on it. Some of the ornaments are the baby pictures of me, my wife, children and grandchildren.

I’ve said previously that the lights remind me of the twinkling stars that shine in the night.

But is my tree a pagan symbol?
Many think so!

For the customs of the peoples are futile; for one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple. Jer 10:3-4

This was not a Christmas tree in Jeremiah. Christ had not come. Were they worshipping the tree?
It’s likely. They also cut wood and stone and made little statues to worship.

I’ve cut wood and have made things but never worshipped them. Neither do I worship the Christmas tree.

What I am reminded of is that a tree got us in trouble and a tree got us out of trouble.

It was a tree that Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat it’s fruit. They did. It was called sin and it has affected everyone.

It was another tree that was cut down, put in the shape of a cross, and upon it was nailed the Son of God.
This act on the second tree took away the reproach of the first.

I often think how cruel people can be with what God had created; and I often wonder what kind of tree became the wood of the cross.

I think of how the Bible says,

The trees of the woods shall rejoice before the Lord, 1 Chron 16:33

What a joy that the trees rejoice before the Lord. I rejoice before the Lord too!

Abba, all of Your creation is beautiful to me. I love the change of leaves in Autumn and I love the budding of green in Spring. I love the beauty of snow (or ice) on the pines around my home. I rejoice in your creation, in Jesus name, YES&AMEN

by

The Warning and the Way!

Last time I said that your love for another person will excuse their sin. They can be living an abomination but because you love them, you will overlook what they do.

Let me shed some light on this in a different way by using a familiar verse.

You are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. Rom 2:1

You often think of judging when someone points out the sins of another in a condemning tone.

But what happens when you overlook the sin of another person. You are judging that there is no severity in their sin. You will let them live without the knowledge that sin is punishable by the Great Judge.

To not inform someone about the danger of sin is to condemn them in their sin.

Ezekiel was given this charge by the Lord God:

“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. Ezek 3:17-19

I will admit that I am guilty of overlooking the sin of someone I love. But in doing so I may be condemning us both.

We need to be a watchman and just shout the warning. That’s all God requires from me and you.

Abba, You love me so much that You told me my sin would be punished by death. Then You provided a way for me to live through Your Son. Thank You. Give me wisdom in giving the warning and the way! In Jesus name, YES&AMEN

by

Nothing New!

Christians are unpopular; viewed as haters, hypocritical, intolerant, bigoted, smug, and self-righteous.

Teaching about sin is unpopular and is viewed as judgmental.

What I find ironic is the amount of hatred that is directed toward Christians by the same one’s that call them haters.

And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. Matt 10:22

And the hatred is far surpassed by anything a Christian might be guilty of doing. After all, if I preach what the word of God says about fornication and perhaps there is a couple living together outside the bounds of marriage, then I am told that I am passing judgment and out of touch with the way the world is now.

The way the world is now is not new. Sin is sin and has existed since that day in the Garden of Eden when the first couple decided to go against God’s word and will.

God gave commandments concerning adultery because it existed and was a problem.
Paul talked about fornication because it existed and was a problem.

God reveals:

there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, “See, this is new”? It has already been in ancient times before us. Eccl 1:9-10

Hypocrisy is not new. Gossip is not new. Murder is not new. Cursing is not new. Child molesters are not new. Homosexuality is not new. Alcoholism is not new. Bestiality is not new. Drug abuse is not new. Nothing is new – it has already been done.

But sin will kill those that commit it.

The soul who sins shall die. Ezek 18:4

The wages of sin is death Rom 6:23

But praise God for His gift to us – eternal life through Jesus!

Abba, give me wisdom to always say the right thing to share the Gospel message of salvation in a loving way. In Jesus name, YES&AMEN

by

Do not quench the Spirit

When you listen to the Holy Spirit you will find it in conflict with your carnal side – your worldly side.

The Holy Spirit will lead you to do things that your natural being will not be comfortable with.

The Book of Acts is filled of the accounts of the early church under the direction of the Holy Spirit.
The first encounter leads bystanders to believe that the church is a bunch of drunks.

That did not stop the spread of the Gospel or the salvation of thousands.

Do not quench the Spirit. 1 Thess 5:19

I have! I recounted a story from years ago in which I felt led to help an elderly man and his wife sing. He was really struggling that evening. The Holy Spirit told me to go and stand with them and sing.

I quenched it. I justified it. I sat there.

That man died the very next day.

I don’t know if my helping them sing would have spared his life but it would have shown both of them that I cared and loved them.

When you quench (extinguish or put out) the Holy Spirit – it doesn’t just affect you but those around you!

Don’t be like me and fight Him. You will never get that opportunity again.

Abba, I am still convicted by that night and ask Your forgiveness. I forgive myself for my shortcoming and I learn from it. I will strive to listen to You. In Jesus name, YES&AMEN

by

God Provided a Memory!

I remember over 30 years ago, when I was a contractor for the telephone company, I would get a job that contained a description of the work needed to be done, complete with directions to the location.

One day I got a job that described the work area as “just past Johnny Weatherford’s old place.”

I knew Mr. Weatherford. He was a supervisor at the telco. But I did not know where he once lived. In fact, I found out later he had not lived there in more than 15 years. Only the old-timer phone men remembered that.

Each of us do much the same thing – making reference to homes and stores that no longer exist, like the old Wal-mart or someone’s old homestead.
I still refer to my uncle Curtis’ property, though he has been dead and gone for over 30 years and his daughter and son-in-law own it all now.

Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” Gen 22:14

The place where Abraham would sacrifice Isaac was around Mt. Moriah. But after the events he named it Yahweh-Yireh (Jehovah Jireh) or “The Lord Will Provide”.

I’m pretty sure that not too many people called it that. Perhaps Abraham, Isaac, maybe the men that had traveled with them, and a few other family members through the years.

What a wonderful testimony it would be if to do things like this today. And you can.

You can share with our children, grandchildren, family and friends such things as where you were saved, baptized, or first went to VBS as a child.
You can show them the pastor’s house or some old church where you experienced a great revival.

Make a memory like Abraham did for his family.

Abba, I praise You for the Godly memories throughout my life. May I pass those memories down to my family and help them make memories of their own. In Jesus name, YES&AMEN

by

The Sacrifice of a Child

And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. Gen 22:10

Child sacrifice has been part of many civilizations and cultures from the earliest of time.

It would have been part of Abraham’s world and a part of worship that he and Sarah were denied, since they were childless.

It may have been they wanted children so bad they could not comprehend how others could so carelessly toss away those innocent lives to a god.

God’s calling came to Abraham and it removed him from the land of the Chaldeans to the land of the Canaanites.

In time Abraham and Sarah had a son, Isaac. For me the test of Abraham and Isaac is perhaps about Abraham’s giving of Isaac because he loves God as compared to the devotion of those pagans he left behind all those years ago; pagans that willingly gave their children to a god of wood or stone.

Then again, Abraham’s faith is in the ability of what God can do.

He concluded that God was able to raise [Isaac] up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. Heb 11:19

As for God, He gave His only Son for us.

He became sin for us!
He became despised for us!
He was rejected for us!
He was cursed for us!

That we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:16-17

Today children are still sacrificed but only for the god of selfishness. Abortion is a blight on our land and it is the demise of any civilization – when it’s citizens are destroyed even before they are born.

There is forgiveness, even after abortion!

If you know someone that has had an abortion, you could minister to them or at least pray for that person. Perhaps seek the council of a pregnancy help center for advice.

Abba, children are a blessing. Help me to touch the life of a child today or the life of someone that has loss one. In Jesus name, YES&AMEN

by

Trees

I love trees!

But about eight years ago a storm and straight wind pushed several over around our acreage, including the top of one pine that landed on the house. It was at that time Linda said she wanted every tree cut that could fall on the house.

That task was finally started and finished over the past few days, with the last few trees cut yesterday evening. Fourteen trees in all.

Now had all these been big majestic oaks or a bunch of fruit trees, I would be sad. But every tree was a pine, some as tall as fifty or sixty feet. Pines don’t give a lot of shade and needles and cones fall every where so I don’t count it as a great loss.

You know trees are mentioned throughout the Bible, beginning with the Tree of Life as well as the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Noah made an ark from wood cut from trees. Daniel interpreted a dream about a tree that was cut down but the stump remained.

The Psalmist says that anyone that reads and meditates on God’s word,

He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper. Ps 1:3

It is written how the trees rejoice and praise God.

Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord. Ps 96:12

And the Lord Jesus both cursed a fig tree and was later hung on a tree.

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), Gal 3:13

What a sad day it must have been for that tree – that the Creator was killed upon it. But what a day for you to rejoice and praise God because Jesus did die upon that tree and three days later was resurrected.

Abba, Thank You for the sacrifice given on my behalf so that I may no longer live under the curse. In Jesus name, YES&AMEN

by

Narrow & Broad

Everyone wants it easy.

Women once scrubbed clothes on a rub board to get them clean and hung them outdoors to dry.
Men chopped wood by hand to fuel a wood burning stove for cooking or to heat the home by fireplace.

Many modern conveniences were created to make life easier. Washer, dryer, dishwasher, microwave, electric or gas stoves, and chainsaws and wood splitters make everything easier and more convenient than before those items were created.

Look around your home right now and you will see many things that did not exist fifty years ago and probably a lot of things that did not exist five or ten years ago.

The problem is that people want an easy and convenient way to God.

Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matt 7:13-14

When I think of narrow and broad, I think of a gymnast on a four inch wide balance beam doing handstands and flips. The balance beam is about the width of a landscape timber.
I certainly couldn’t do it. I would need something more broad like a 2×12.

In the same way, many evangelists and preachers have replaced the balanced beam way to salvation with a wider 2×12 doctrine – widening their “so-called” way to salvation.

Their way has become too easy and all inclusive.

The way of salvation doesn’t need to be made any simpler than what it is – faith in the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus.

Once you take that step you will realize the narrowness of the way. Yet the Lord will help you become sure-footed!

Abba, Your way is perfect and does not need me to improve or change it. I pray I will always tell others of THE way of salvation! In Jesus name, YES&AMEN