Cade’s Prayer

In Matthew 18:3 the Scripture says, “And He said:  ‘I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” I was recently reminded again of the meaning of that passage.  My step-mother recently passed away after an extend illness.  It was a blessing for her but a sad experience for the family.

On the day of the Funeral the family had had a day of emotional wrenching experiences with the loss of a grandmother, mother, and wife.  Very exhausted we all sat down to an evening meal.  The table was surrounded by everyone who could get a seat and several of us were sitting around the bar in the kitchen that had been constructed for just a time as this.  Before we began to eat someone said “Who is going to say the blessing.”  There was a short pause and Cade, my six year-old grandson, said, “I’ll do it!”

Everyone bowed their heads expecting to hear “God is Great, God is Good….”  Instead, here is the prayer we heard as well as I can remember.  “God, thank you for mommy and daddy, Kendall and Miles and all my family.  Thank you for the fun we have had today.  And God, you know that Granny died on this day and I am sad.  AMEN.”  Needless to say there was not a dry eye around the kitchen when he finished.

It takes children to help us to see the very simple things in life we take for granted — family, fun, good food and plenty of it, and loved ones who have made life better for us because they loved and taught us to thank God for what we have and who we are.  Cade reminded us of our blessings as well as our loss.  He reminded us that we are to be thankful to the God who is the Creator and the Sustainer of life even in the time of the death of someone we love.

During this Advent Season may the God who loved us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, be the center of our worship and our actions.  May we not only express thanksgiving for our blessing but may we be generous with what God has given us so that others may be loved, well fed, and know the love of Christ as we know it.  Let share Jesus with others this Advent Season.  Become like a little child so that you do not miss the wonder and joy of the Season.

Useless

Have you ever been part of something you thought was totally useless?  I’m sure you have because all of us have had some experience in that area.  So when you are amid this experience, what do you do?  Do you daydream, imagine being out playing gold, or some other imaginary experience that takes your mind off the inevitable boredom?

Have you ever considered this could be a God moment?  Could it be a  time in which God has something very special to say to you?  Could He be teaching patience or humility?  Could it be that He just wants you to be still and listen to Him?  He could even be speaking through this boring experience.  “Be still and know that I am God,” then we begin to understand there are no accidents with God.  Be aware of His presence and you will hear His voice, and you will see there are no useless moments or days in God’s economy.  Get to know Him better and serve Him with all you are.

Just Thinking

I was just thinking “What if God really didn’t care about us?”  Would it change my life at all?  As I began to ponder that question there were a few thoughts that came to my mind.  The first, I would not have a job as a pastor — if God didn’t care because there would be no gospel to preach.  The second, I would have no future — if God didn’t care because there would be no future.   The third, I would be filled with fear because the world would have no absolute truth to guide human behavior and the world would be in chaos.

I am glad that I know a God who loved the world and me enough that He sent His Son to die for our sin so that the required sacrifice for the sin of the world would be make and paid in full.  Therefore I have a gospel to preach, a future to look forward to, and a security that keeps away the fear that is perpetuated by a world that is lost to true purpose and meaningful life.  I want that world to know what I know and I want to spend the rest of my life telling them about it.  The journey of faith is such an awesome trip.  I hope you are on that journey.

I was just thinking.  And it brought about a little private worship service in my heart because I felt renewed,  regenerated and wanted to rededicate myself as Isaiah did  when he saw the Lord (Isaiah 6)  in the temple.   My words are as his:  “Here am I.  Send me!”

Look to Jesus

Someone has said “When we look within us, we are depressed.  When we look around us, we are impressed.  But when we look at Jesus Christ, we are blessed.”  The world in which we live is a scary place.  This is particularly true if you are always looking at the influences around you.   Most of us even like to blame everything that happens to us on the pressures and circumstances of the situation in which we live.  The Bible speaks directly to this kind of attitude.  In the gospel of John chapter 16, Jesus is instructing His disciples concerning the world about them and the problems they will be having in the future as they minister in His Name.  In verse 33b He gives them a promise that you and I can enjoy today:  “In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world” (NIV).

As we look around us we see the economy is hurting; political correctness brings about intolerance of basic biblical truth, the divorce rate, even in the circle of Christian faith, is 52%; internet pornography is rampant even among church leadership; and the list of bad news and fear continues.  But the Good News is that, in Jesus, we can overcome a world that is trying to destroy us and our families.  God is still in control.  He has not left the final say to the government, the politician, the environmentalist, or even the church leader.   I’ve read the last chapter in the Book.  He has the final say, and I’ve noticed that the faithful are always blessed in the end because of their faithfulness.

If you haven’t chosen to follow Jesus, today is a good day to start.  In a world where love has so many meanings, I want to give you the true meaning of love.  It is found in John 3:16.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that WHOEVER believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (NIV). This is love, and it was extended to you and me.  The WHOEVER means everyone who by faith will believe.

Do not let the world get you down.  Be an over-comer in the family of God.  Trust your life to Him and he will see you through the tough times in life.   Do not look within or without for help and comfort, look to Jesus — the One who is comfort and help for those who are in need.  God bless you and may this day be the best day of your life.

When God Doesn’t Make Sense

Lately I have been studying the book of Hosea.  As I read this book I have come to the conclusion that there are times when God doesn’t make sense.  Maybe I am the only one who has this idea, but why would God ask a preacher to marry a prostitute?  If a pastor is going to influence the community in which he lives, how can he have any respect if he is married to a prostitute that some of his parishioners may have slept with?   But, to be honest, I have also concluded that it’s a good thing that God doesn’t depend upon me for any creative ideas on how to do His work because if He did, the world would not know the immeasurable love of our heavenly Father.  I would not have the patience, the grace, or the mercy to continue giving humans chance after chance to be reconciled to Him.

God loves us so much that He not only continued to give people chances to accept his salvation and purpose for their lives, but He eventually sent His one and only Son to be the sacrifice for our sins.  If you have children, you know what a price that was for Him to pay.  God is love and what a wonderful love it is that would go to any extent to win people like you and me over to Himself.  His love makes me want to respond back to Him in love as well as loving others.  Maybe God does make sense after all.  Will you join me in love God and others?

Lesson I learned from studying Job

In all the years I have been preaching, I have never preached more than two sermons on the Book of Job.  I’m not sure what the reason for that might be but I have an idea it was because Job is just not much of a good news book.  The book begins with a very rich and influential man loosing all that he has in the world and then the major part of the book is his friends giving him the business about why he is suffering.  Does that sound like something you would want to read and study?

But after a six-week study of Job I have changed my mind about the book.  I have learned some very important things about my relationship with God.  Those things center around waiting, trusting, and God is never silent.  These three things have helped me in my understanding of God and the way He works in the live of His children.

Job has helped me answer the question, at least for myself, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”  Bad things happen to good people because we live in a fallen world.  Because we live in a fallen world good and bad things happen to everyone good or bad.  Our responsibility, like Job, is to show the world around us how God’s people live with adversity.

I have also learned that God has the last say in all the affairs of His children.  If you look at the Book of Job you clearly see that God was in control all along in the life of Job.  He gave Satan free reign in Job’s life.  The emphasis is on “God gave.”   Satan could do nothing without God allowing him to do so.   In the end, God restored Job twice as much as he had before the crisis.

The Book of Job is a great book.  Read it, study it, and apply its truths to your life.  You will be blessed as Job was blessed

Life is like a Tootsie Roll Pop

I have always heard that growing old was for the birds.  With all the things that change in your physical being, I guess I would agree with that to some extent.  But I have come to see that growing old is kinda like eating a Tootsie Roll Pop.    With a Tootsie Roll Pop you have this nice grape, cherry, or many others falvors on the outside and then you have this wonderful tootsie roll on the inside.   As I grow older, I have come to see that my relationship with Jesus has grown and become more intimate and perosnal.   He has become a friend and a companion.  There is another thing that I like about growing old and that is grandchildren.  My heavenly Father has blessed me with nine of the most wonderful litttle people you have ever met.  They are the joy of my life and have given me the expereince of a differnt and wonderful expereince of love.  God is Good and keeps on getting better.  It’s just like eating a Tootsie Roll Pop and finding that wonderful chocolate center.  So grow old with joy because it only gets better.

Where Has Common Sense Gone?

Recently the Iowa Supreme Court made a decision that allows gays the right to marry.  This has concerned me because of the fact that it is my understanding that the Supreme Court interprets the law rather than makes the law.  I also did not know that marriage was a civil right.  Your are required to have a license.  I assumed this made marriage, like driving and hunting and fishing, a privilege if the individual or individuals met the requirements.

Another reason that this concerns me is the fact that marriage was instituted by God between a man and a woman.   In Genesis 2:20b-24 (NIV) says:  “But for Adam no suitable helper was found.  So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of  the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh.  Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.   The man said, ‘This is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man.’  For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” Being a disciple of Jesus Christ, I am a follower of the Bible, God’s Word.    Marriage , then, is a covenant between a man and woman.

There seems to be another side of this issue that should be considered.  It would appear to me that, leaving out religion or politics, this is a common sense matter.  Same sex relationships, other than friendship, makes no reasonable sense.  It’s like putting a round peg in a square hole.  Yet our society seeks to make this unnatural, unreasonable relationship ordinary.  When will common sense again rule the day?

The Resurrection

There are some folk who call themselves Christian and do not believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  My question to them is “Why do you call yourself a Christian since our entire faith is based on Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the dead?”  I have come to believe that we Christians are a strange lot.   We spend our life time trying to disclaim the very Book, the Bible, we base our knowledge of God.  It seems to me that most Muslims base their belief system on the Koran.  Most Buddhist base their belief on the teachings of Buddha.  We could continue through all faiths with that same idea.  Why do we Christians continually question the only Book which contains the only info we have concerning our faith?

It is my opinion that the Bible is the Word of God.  With that said, it is not much use in trying to decide if it is the infallable, literal, or absolute.  It is the Word of God.  For 42 years I have based my life and my ministry on the fact that it is His Word.  During that time, I have found that if you believe it and act upon it, God will bless and propsper you in all areas of your life.

This Easter I will celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and believe that He lives today and His disciples and is changing the world around us through faithful men and women!  I am excited aobut my faith and my relationship with Jesus.! Have a great Easter!

I Wonder

I recently read where Clint Eastwood said he did not like the politically correct atmosphere we have in the USA.  He went on to say that we need not take ourselves so seriously that we cannot laugh at each other.  I have to agree with him totally.  When did we get to where we were so fragile that we could not take a little fun poked at us?  Then, I wonder if a Christian can follow Jesus and be politically corect?   Jesus sort of called things as He saw them and that really rilled folks like the Pharisee and the Saducees.  They felt that their positon in the ancient culture of Palestine was a position of unquestionable holiness.  Jesus, of course, saw throught their holy mask to the putridness of their heart.

In our culture today, we have so many sins that we have politically correcticized that it is hard to say anything about right and wrong that isn’t politically incorrect.  We have accepted those things that God called detestable, heinous, serious, and the list goes on as personal choices that no one has the right to criticize.  We are only being human.  The words found in Romans 1 gives me teh impression we ought to rethink this position.  Romans 1:21 “…and they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like.  As a result their minds became dark and confused.”  Do you think maybe this describes where we are in our politically correct world  today?  I wonder if we are pacifying our sinful natures with political correctness that either explains away the darkness of our minds or gives excuse for it.

I wonder if we were to give ourselves totally to Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives if we would not be able laugh at ourselves and enjoy life as the wonderful gift it is rather than a situation that must be endured?  I wonder if we began to laugh if the healing power of the Christ would not bring healing to all the torubled souls who have not experienced the healing solace that comes from the empowering Spirit of the Living Lord?  Let’s try it!  Let’s spread His joy to everyone we meet.  Maybe then everyone will begin to laugh and love and work toward a better world in which to live.  I wonder.