There Will Be A Day

Luke 2:30-32  “I have seen the Savior you have given to all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel.”

It is with deep sadness I write this article. It is the Christmas season, a time of joy and a time of hope. Yet today there is one less student walking the halls of my daughters school. For the second time in 90 days a classmate of my daughter has taken his own life. What do you say to your sixteen year old daughter when she tells you another one of her classmates has killed himself. A boy she knows has decided life is too hard, a boy decides only death will take away the pain.

I was walking through the grocery store later that night and I was adding items to my cart I thought my daughter would like. I stopped and thought of this young man’s parents, will his mother find herself adding an item to her shopping cart for her son, suddenly remembering. Are there already presents under the tree with his name on them. Standing there in the grocery aisle I wanted to cry, my heart was breaking for this young man, for his family, for his friends and for my daughter.

A poem was given to me a few years ago by a high school student, this is what she wrote: Titled --Care “Nobody knows where she came from, Nobody knows her name. She sits quietly in class, as invisible as a ghost. Her hair is a long scraggly mess, Her cloths are dark from wear. She has a black string around her neck. On which she wears a broken heart. She never talks or says a word, Silent as a winters night. The bruises on her skin show clear, and no one really cares. Everyone seems to look, but no one actually sees. They walk on by her teary face, Without a second glance. O, what people go through for the want of a friend. She looks very thin, Her face so gaunt. Her pain is so great, It’s almost impossible to bear. She sits in the dark, Bathing in her misery. She hopes there will be a day that someone will bring her salvation. She waits in agony, Slowing sinking down. Why should she continue to fight, If no one even cares? The pain finally gets too great, And the love not great enough. She ends the pain in her own way, And no one even cared. O what people go through For the want of a friend.”

Almost everyday kids are leaving messages on the face book page of the young man who took his life back in October. They talk to him, they tell him how much he is missed.  They are looking for healing, for someone to hear their voice.

In her poem the young woman wrote, “She hopes there will be a day, That someone will bring her salvation.” Christmas celebrates that day, the verse from Luke are the words of an old man named Simeon who held the baby Jesus in his arms and said, “I have seen the Savior.” This Christmas let us share the love of the Savior Jesus with people around us who are hurting. Let us share His joy with people who are finding the pain too great.  This Christmas let them know that we do care.

Give Thanks

2 Chronicles 20: 3,4 “Jehoshaphat was terrified by this news and begged the Lord for guidance. He also ordered everyone in Judah to begin fasting. So people from all the towns of Judah came to Jerusalem to seek the Lords help. 18-21 Early the next morning the army of Judah went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. On the way Jehoshaphat stopped and said, “Listen to me, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be able to stand firm. Believe in his prophets, and you will succeed.” After consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising him for his holy splendor. This is what they sang: “Give thanks to the Lord; his faithful love endures forever!”

In the midst of war Judah fasted, prayed and gave thanks. God gave them the victory. On October 3rd 1863, our country was in the midst of a Civil War, Abraham Lincoln said these words.“I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens... And fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

Lincoln asked Americans to set aside a day of Thanksgiving. In March of that year President Lincoln also set aside a day of prayer and fasting. President Lincoln said this, “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th. day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer.

Thanksgiving was set aside as a day to thank and praise God. A day to ask God to heal our wounds and to restore us. In 1863 our leaders through their actions echoed the words of Jehoshaphat. “Believe in the Lord your God, and we will be able to stand firm. Give thanks to the Lord, his faithful love endures forever!”

Why Was I Ever Born?

1 Peter 5:8 “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”

A classmate of my daughter took his life this past week.  He was a senor in High School, active in sports, popular, the American dream. The next day at school my daughter sent her mother a text saying, “It’s horrible here. I want to come home.”

The Centers for Disease control report that suicide is the third leading cause of death of people aged 15 to 24 and that suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for children between the ages of 10 and 14. Depression is the leading factor which causes teens to take their life, a feeling of hopelessness and feeling that suicide is the only way to solve their problems.” The National Institute of Mental Health believes that as many as 25 teen suicides are attempted for each one that is completed, and teen suicide numbers are increasing. Every 2 hours and 11 minutes, a person under the age of 25 completes suicide.

The prophet Jeremiah felt this despair this hopelessness and wrote, “Yet I curse the day I was born! May no one celebrate the day of my birth. I curse the messenger who told my father, “Good news—you have a son!” Let him be destroyed like the cities of old that
the Lord overthrew without mercy. Terrify him all day long with battle shouts, because he did not kill me at birth Oh, that I had died in my mother’s womb, that her body had been my grave! Why was I ever born? My entire life has been filled with trouble, sorrow, and shame.” Jeremiah 20:14-18.

Why was I ever born? All of us have asked this question? Satan whispers his lies in our ears, “Your no good, you’re situation is hopeless, everyone would be better off without you.” Hopelessness, powerless to change things. Where did Jeremiah find the courage to continue? In his God or Lord, “But the Lord stands beside me like a great warrior. Before him my persecutors will stumble. They cannot defeat me.” Jeremiah 20:11.

I cannot begin to feel the pain of this family. Yet I find hope in the response of the school , they brought in local pastors to talk to and pray with the students. The students prayed during classes, they prayed for his family and for each other.  The Lord was in the school, standing beside these students.

The school sent a letter to us, the parents of students, advising us to lend support at home and to be sensitive and aware of the reactions experience by grieving adolescents. The same advise applies to all of us, to lend support, to be sensitive to the people we love. Satan is lurking and prowling about, whispering lies to our family, our friends and to us. “Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are.” 1 Peter 5:9  

Your Not The Boss Of My Life

Luke 4:18,19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

I was driving the other day with a friends sons, Asher age 7 and Jude age 6, riding in the back seat. “We wrote a song,” they told me. I asked them to sing it for me. “Your not the boss of my life.” I laughed and asked them who the song was about. I was thinking it might have been directed at their parents. “Satan,” was their reply. “Your not the boss of my life.” They then continued with the next line. “I’m so happy, your the boss of my life.” Again I had to ask, so who is this line about. “God, Jesus,” was their answer. I asked them to sing the song to me again. Throughout the rest of the day their song kept playing in my mind, their bold and in your face statement, “Satan, your not the boss of my life!”

Jesus was tempted by the devil for 40 days in the wilderness. Jesus overcame the devil by relying on the Holy Spirit for strength, he said to Satan, “You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.” In the words of Jude and Asher, “Your not the boss of my life. God I’m so happy your the boss of my life.”

I have had the opportunity to see the life transforming power of Jesus in the lives of many young people and their victory over drugs and alcohol. They have been released, no longer held captive by drugs and alcohol. They would be the first to tell you it is not through their own efforts but only by their reliance on God and the power he brings. As in step 3 of the Twelve Step Recovery Program, “We made a decision to turn our wills and our lives over to the care of God.” They made God the boss of their lives. In so doing, God has given them the power of the Holy Spirit, and the strength to say to Satan, “You’re not the boss of my life.”

“Good News to the poor! The oppressed will be set free.”  Jesus touches lives and he heals broken people. Isaiah 50:10,11 Who among you fears the Lord and obeys his
servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God. But watch out, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves by your own fires. This is the reward you will receive from me: You will soon fall down in great torment.” Asher and Jude trust in the Lord and proclaim, “Your (Satan) not the boss of my life, I’m so happy your (God) the boss of my life!” The words of these young boys have been ministering to me the past couple days, I pray they will also minister to you.

Walk With Jesus

Romans 6:1 “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and forgiveness? vs 15 “So since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does this mean we can go on sinning?”

Recently I was talking with a young eleven year old girl (Hannah) and her mother about Jesus and the subject of sin came up. I said some people believe you can become a Christian and still live a sinful lifestyle, living no different from the world around us. Hannah said, “That doesn’t make sense. Asking Jesus into your heart is like a contract, you sign it by asking Him into our hearts. That (living a sinful lifestyle) would be like breaking the contract.” For Hannah it is a simple concept, when we choose Jesus, we should live like he did. We should try our best to live a life apart from sin.”

The Apostle Paul agrees with Hannah, his answer to the question, Does this mean we can go on sinning?  “Of course not! Don’t you realize that whatever you choose to obey becomes your master? You can choose sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God and receive his approval.” Romans 6:15,16  A great question and a simple answer, “Of course not!” Yet it is a truth that challenges us.  Our culture says everything is ok. Just do it. A hit song aimed at teenagers encourages them to have sex “Let’s go all the way tonight. Don’t have any regrets just love, you can dance until you die, “You and I, we’ll be young forever.” It is a horrible message a lie. Yet we also send a misleading message, a lie when we tell people only of the love of Jesus. “Just accept Jesus into your heart, and your golden, good to go. Jesus loves you and you will live with Him forever.” It is a tempting lie, we don’t want to offend people, we don’t want to turn them off. So we don’t tell them the truth. We tell them only half the gospel, some call it cheap grace. Jude vs 4 says this, “I say this because some godless people have wormed their way in among you, saying that God’s forgiveness allows us to live immoral lives. The fate of such people was determined long ago, for they have turned against our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

I will end with the chorus and two verse’s of a song titled, New Way To Live by Joel Hanson. Chorus “Arise there’s a new way to live, thought we were living but that’s not what we’ve been, we’ve been breathing out, we’ve been breathing in, but the question remains have we ever truly lived--verse-there’s more than one way a man can lose his life, might have a heart beat, but nothing left inside, he prayed a prayer maybe bent a knee, but he never walked with Jesus, and he never got free. Chorus again then verse--arise little girl Jesus said, take my hand and get out of your bed, come to life, you’ve been fast asleep, come and live, come and follow me.”

Misfortunes of Others

Matthew 14:13,14 “When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”

Jesus had just been told that John the Baptist had been beheaded. Hearing this Jesus must have felt anger, sorrow he just wanted to be left alone. So he got into a boat and went to be by himself. The crowds saw where he was going and they were there waiting for him when he arrived. This verse says that upon seeing the sick and hurting people he had compassion on them and healed them. Compassion is defined as concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.

I was driving home from work the other day and I was having one of those days that I just wanted to be left alone. Anger was bubbling inside me, I wasn’t sure where it was coming from but I knew I wanted to be by myself. I then noticed a man trying to change his tire on the side of the road. I could see that he could not remove the wheel. I thought that’s too bad I’ve been there, done that. I kept driving.  About a 1/2 mile down the road I stopped, I had a bar in my trunk designed to remove stubborn wheels. I turned around, pulled up behind him and asked if he needed help. He said, “Ya another guy just left and he couldn’t get this off either.” I went to my trunk grabbed the bar, crawled under his car and within a minute we had his wheel off the car.  I saw the relief on his face when he heard the pop and the wheel was off.  He thanked me and I left. I was about a mile down the road when I realized my anger was gone and I was smiling.

I told my daughter this story and she said that is what the Pastor spoke about the past Sunday. She said he read the above verse about Jesus and the verses that follow in Matthew 14, about Jesus breaking the five loaves and two fish and handing the pieces to the disciples who then gave them to the people. The bible says 5,000 men plus women and children ate and where satisfied that day.

God has handed each of us gifts and resources that we are to use to bless the people around us. It can be something as simple as a crow bar that was lying unused in my trunk. Yet it was the exact tool that was needed to help a man stranded on the side of the road. It was lying unused and useless until I had felt the compassion, concern for his misfortune.

I was so blessed to have stopped that day. It also made me think; What gifts has God given me that are lying unused and useless locked away inside of me?

Faith of a Child

Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.” And he put his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left.

I spoke at a small church in Forbes Minnesota this past Sunday and I was blessed to meet a young boy named Herald. At the end of the service his mother walked up to me and told me that for the last 40 minutes I had her 8 year old’s sons attention. He was listening to my message and throughout the message he was asking her questions.
One of my points that day was that we have to bring the name of Jesus into our everyday conversations, a friend of mine had once told me that we all have a box of things we talk about when we are with certain people in our lives. When we get together we take about things in that box, whether it be sports, work, world events, politics. If something is not in that box of comfortable conversations we hesitate to bring it in. So I said, “We have to bring Jesus into the box!” His mother told me how Herald then asked her, “How do we put Jesus in a box?”  I met up with Herald and his parents outside the church about 10 minutes later and I told them I was  pondering Heralds question. I said it’s great how children aren’t afraid to stop you and ask questions, “Wait how do you do that? What do you mean? How can you put Jesus in a box? Herald’s dad then told me how he has a hard time bringing Jesus into his conversations. This lead to a great conversation about sharing the gospel with the people we know. Heralds dad had the same question as Herald, he just didn’t ask it.

I spoke at another church and my topic was the faith and obedience of Joseph, the husband of Mary. I quoted Matthew 2:13 “After the wise men were gone and angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Get up and flee to Egypt with the child and his mother, the angel said. That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother.” I asked the congregation how many of us would pack up leave everything we know and just go? I young girl raised her had and said, “I would.”

Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Children take us at our word, they take God at his word. Jesus says go and they want to go. Jesus says share my good news and they want to share his good news. My daughter was in fourth grade  and she was concerned her friend was going to go to hell so she shared with her friend about Jesus. She called me up that night and told me about their conversation.  A friend just shared with me how his two young sons will ask relatives or friends, “Why don’t you believe in God? They take God at his word, they cannot fathom why others do not.

The Gospel is a simple message children take it at face value and believe. The question is, do we?

Dry Bones

Ezekiel 37:1-5 The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones. He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?”

“O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that. Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

I recently spent a day on the Brule River with my nephew. When we were getting ready to launch the kayaks he showed me a tattoo he just had done on his arm. It was not yet complete because he told me it was all the pain he could handle at one time. As we were paddling down the river he told me of the meaning behind the tattoo. A bottle of booze and a skull representing death. Stars representing the party scene. A pirate ship just because it looks cool and to be added next a cross with the word life.  “I have the same problem as my dad. I can’t handle drinking and this tattoo is to remind me where drinking and parting will lead me,” he said. The rest of the trip we talked of life and a little about the Lord.

 We had an awesome time on the river that day, the water was high and the rapids were exciting. We were able to enjoy the beauty that God has created. Yet for the next couple of days I kept thinking of the statement my nephew was making with his tattoo. I knew I wanted to write this article about him. As I started reading my bible this morning the first chapter I read was Ezekiel 37, I read through verse 14 and suddenly I realized I had just read what my nephew has tattooed on his arm, not with words but with pictures. I am sure he has never read this verse yet God gave him this vision.  A skull,
dead dried bones , people dead in their sins. The cross with the word, Life. I felt blessed and encouraged to know that my nephew recognizes that many of the things of this world, (sin) lead to death. That he knows that Jesus represents life through what he did on the cross. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

Detestable In God's Sight

Luke 16:15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.”

I have recently been reading of what went wrong in Germany in the 1920’s and 30‘s. What allowed a man like Adolph Hitler to gain power?  What events caused the German people and the church to follow Hitler? What caused the German people to look the other way regarding the atrocities being done in the name of the state?

Germany was considered a Christian nation. In 1933 there were 14,000 Evangelical pastors. Sadly, thousands of these pastors swore their personal allegiance to Hitler, 800 did not and were arrested, some sent to concentration camps others executed.  Did the people cry out in protest?  Erwin Lutzer in his book Hitler’s Cross said this, “The majority of the people, including the professing Christian, no longer believed that Christianity was worth suffering for, much less dying for. They were willing to substitute Mein Kampf (book written by Hitler detailing his political ideology) for the Bible in exchange for jobs and the greater glory of Germany. “What people value is highly detestable in God’s sight.”

In 1945 the German dream had ended and Germany was lying in ruins. Helmut Thielicke ,a German pastor, said this to his congregation. “Denying God and casting down the cross is never a merely private decision that concerns only my own inner life and my personal salvation, but this denial immediately brings the most brutal consequences for the whole of historical life and especially for our own people. God is not mocked. The history of the world can tell us terrible tales based on that text.”

Casting down the cross. Hitler wanted to blend Christianity with the Nazi Agenda. He would not tolerate Christians who worshiped Christ exclusively. Hitler changed the name of Christmas to Yuletide, Christmas Carols and Nativity plays were banned from schools and Easter was turned into a holiday that celebrated the arrival of spring. Hitler knew that by removing the cross, Christianity would loose it power. Paul said this, “I know very well how foolish the message of the cross sounds to those who are on the road to destruction. But we who are being saved recognize this message as the very power of God. As the scriptures say, I will destroy human wisdom and discard their most brilliant ideas.” 1 Corinthians 1:18,19. Lutzer ends his book with these words, “The cross reminds us that the battle is not so much between church and state as it is within our own hearts. If Christ has all of us, if the Cross stands above politics and the world as Bhonheiffer has reminded us, we shall overcome regardless of the costs.”

Since the garden of Eden, we have been at war. Good verses evil. I will end with quotes from two of God’s Apostles. Peter tells us this, “So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. These trials are to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. ---your faith is more precious to God than mere gold.” 1 Peter 1:6,7 And these are the words of Paul, “For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ.They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.” Philippians 3:18-21

Scratching The Surface

John 21:24-25 “This is the disciple who saw these events and recorded them here. And we all know that his account of these things is accurate. And I suppose that if all the other things Jesus did were written down, the whole world could not contain the books.”

The Pastor in the church I attended this past Sunday spoke of this verse and what he said humbled me. I read through the Bible a number of times each year and I thought I had a good grasp on who Jesus is. I would say that I was prideful in my knowledge of Jesus. The point the pastor made is that John probably knew Jesus better than or as well as anyone who has ever lived, yet even he says, “I suppose that if all the other things Jesus did were written down, the whole world could not contain the books.” That is a lot of books, thousands of books have been written about Jesus. John and every other disciple could have spent every waking second of their lives writing about Jesus and they could not come close to defining all he is and all he has done.

As I was sitting there in church I felt a little like Job, the last we hear from him in the book of Job he says this, from the Message Bible; “I babbled on about things far beyond me, made small talk about wonders way over my head. You told me, 'Listen, and let me do the talking. Let me ask the questions. You give the answers.' I admit I once lived by rumors of you; now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears! I'm sorry—forgive me. I'll never do that again, I promise! I'll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor." Job saw God in a whole new light in the Amplified Bible it says, “but now my spiritual eyes see you.”

I was humbled for I have only scratched the service of who Jesus is. David’s words to his son Solomon were, “Get to know the God or your ancestors. Worship and serve Him with your whole heart and a willing mind.” God says to Hosea, “I want you to know God.

I recently read a testimony from a 92 year old man he said this, “My life has become beautiful because I’m getting to know God. For 40 years I worked on bettering myself through a man-made program, but then you began to teach me from the bible and I came to know Christ. I would not have had anything to live for if I hadn’t become a Christian (at age 87). I wanted to die. I have changed, and now I talk to God every day and He helps me.”

Learn from God firsthand, not crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor. Read the Bible from beginning to end and be amazed at who this Jesus is!

The Dead Sea

John 4:13 “Jesus replied, People soon become thirsty again after drinking this water. But the water I give them takes away thirst altogether. It becomes a perpetual spring within them, giving them eternal life.”

A perpetual spring within us, living water, The Holy Spirit.  Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will come and live within us. He will give us strength, rest, peace, joy and eventually eternal life.  What a promise!  Yet what happens if we take and take and never give from this perpetual spring within us?   We become like the Dead Sea. A land locked body of water into which rivers flow in, but none flow out.   It takes but never gives. The result is a lifeless sea, there are no fish or creatures living in or around it’s shores. It cannot take away thirst. To drink of it’s waters would result in death, not life.

It is the same with us, if we never give or look outside of ourselves, if we become self-centered, we cease to feel alive. Norman Vincent Peale wrote, “As a matter of fact, many are actually ill as a result of nothing but self-centeredness. When you lose yourself, letting your personality flow outward, your life takes on creative joy and even health.”  He goes on to tell the story of a wealthy man who thought he was sick, he had three nurses on round-the-clock duty. The man’s doctor asked Mr. Peale to give the man a dose of outgoing Christianity. Mr. Peale decided to give it a try and as he was sitting with the man he noticed an elderly woman struggling to move a chair.  Mr. Peale suggested to the “sick” man to help her with the chair. The man groaned and put up a protest but he did go and help the woman move the chair.  When he sat back down he said, “You know I actually got a kick out of that.”  Mr. Peale was in the same hotel about a year later and upon meeting the man again he found him to be full of life and energy. Mr. Peale asked him to explain it. He reminded Mr. Peale of when he helped the elderly woman. “That little service made me feel so good that I began looking for other opportunities to do something for people, just little things.  Then I found a few bigger services to render. One thing led to another until, strangely enough, I began to feel so much better that, finally, I came to the day when I saw myself. I got a clear view of how I was destroying my life by self-centeredness. By living in a more outgoing manner has made me a healthy man, he declared.”

Is your faith land locked? Does your life resemble a healthy body of water or the Dead Sea?  Jesus said in John 10:10  “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  Take these words of James and apply them to your life, “So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good deeds is no faith at all---it is dead and useless.”  James 2:17 Let us look outside of ourselves and give life giving water to those around us who are thirsty.  As a result you “will have life and have it to the full.”

Funerals Rather Than Parties

Ecclesiastes 7:2  “Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties. After all, everyone dies—so the living should take this to heart.”

To spend time thinking of death. To spend time experiencing all that surrounds death. I read a quote that said “Our culture prepares us for everything but death.” Jesus tried on a number of occasions to speak to His disciples about his coming death. They never wanted to listen, they changed the subject. It was not until after His death that they remembered His words. Jesus wanted to make sure the important things were said. “I will be killed but I will live again.---and in the world to come you too will have eternal life.” He taught of heaven and of Hell. He taught of the great gift of forgiveness for all who turn to Him. He has left us His word, explaining truth, giving us hope.

I just watched a movie titled “The Note”, the story involved a plane crash and a note written by a passenger just before they crashed. It was a note from a father to his child. It was a story of forgiveness and healing brought by a few words from a father with minutes to live and what he wanted to convey to his child before he died.

Minutes to live, a hastily written note, not much could be said, yet how many of us wish we could have one last word with someone we loved who has died. Words that would bring healing, comfort, guidance, forgiveness and hope. The father in the movie knew he had but minutes to live, he was going to die. We all have been given notice we are all going to die. It is just a matter of when.

We can write our note’s now. We can explore together the reality of Heaven and read together what the Bible says about Heaven. We can share or fears and our hopes. We can say the words that have not been said. We can forgive and comfort. We can lend guidance and help to bring hope. We can talk honestly to each other and when our time comes to leave this life for the next, the ones we leave behind will know that it is not good-bye but only see ya, until we meet again and celebrate together the joy of having eternal life with Christ our King.

Family Movie Nights

Isaiah 38:19  “The living, the living—they praise you, as I am doing today; fathers tell their children about your faithfulness.”  NIV

I remember family movie nights from when I was young. My dad would set up the projector and bring out the old movies of our family. My mom would get the chips and dip.  We would sit and watch movies of our vacations, camping, boating, first bike rides, birthdays. We would laugh, memories would be refreshed. I remember those nights with great joy.  Nights like these helped to keep our family together, helped to keep our family strong.

This Bible verse speaks of fathers telling their children the stories of God’s faithfulness.   Fathers telling of how God has helped them in their own lives. Fathers telling their children the stories from the Bible, David slaying the giant, Noah building the ark, Elijah calling down fire from heaven.  Fathers telling the story of Jesus and His great love and sacrifice for us.

God created us as fathers to lead our families, to guide them.  God has given us the responsibility of teaching our children. To teach them of life, of love, and most importantly to teach our children of the faithfulness of the Lord.   Deuteronomy 11:18-21 says, “So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors.” God goes on to say in verse 25 “No one will be able to stand against you,” With God at the center of our families nothing can tear us apart, our families will flourish.

“Those who are wise will take all this to heart, they will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord.” Psalm 107:43

Recount The Righteous Victories of The Lord

Judges 5:11 “Listen to the village musicians gathered at the watering holes. They recount the righteous victories of the Lord and the victories of his villagers in Israel. Then the people of the Lord marched down to the city gates.”

My job allows me to travel and to meet a variety of people everyday. I visit with them in their homes and in our short time together it is amazing to see how God will direct our conversations away from work and on to him. Many times over the past two years I have been able to share with people the miracles God has done in my life. How he has healed me physically. I share of the miracles God preformed in the healing of my body. I share with them my story but what amazes me is the stories they then share with me. Stories of how God has worked in their lives. Stories of sight being restored, sickness and diseases being healed. Stories of faith, healing and miracles.

I have also been blessed to be able to tell my story at churches, and with other groups. People will come up to me afterward and they will share with me what God has done in their lives or in the lives of family members. Paul said this, “When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. In this way, each of us will be a blessing to the other.” Romans 1:12

God wants us to gather and to recount His righteous victories. Each of us have a story to tell, stories of Miracles, stories of faith. I will end with one such story. This man was a chronic alcoholic. God delivered him from alcoholism yet shortly thereafter he lost his sight. At about that time a women he met at church offered him a job as an accountant. He said to her, “You realize I’m blind.” She responded, “God put it on my heart to hire you, so we will leave that part up to him.” He took the job, but he felt guilty going to work and not being able to do the job he was hired for. Shortly thereafter his sight was restored. The woman was right, She was faithful to do what God asked of her and God took care of his end of the bargain.

My faith has been greatly encouraged over the past two years, I would not have been so blessed if I had not opened up and shared my story with those around me. I encourage you to share your story with the people God puts in your path. “Recount the righteous victories of the Lord and in this way we will be a blessing to each other.”

Houston We Have A Problem

Isaiah 59:1,2  “Listen! The Lord is not too weak to save you, and he is not becoming deaf.  He can hear you when you call.  But there is a problem---”

“Houston we’ve had a problem here.”  Jack Swigert, Command Module Pilot on Apollo 13.  200,000 miles from home, Apollo 13 was in trouble and they needed help.  Their oxygen tank No. 2 had blown up, causing the No. 1 tank also to fail. The Apollo 13 command modules normal supply of electricity, light, and water was lost.  The ship was on a course to the moon, now the boys and girls back at Houston had to find a way to change direction and chart a course back toward the earth.  The ships navigation system wasn’t designed for this situation.  Houston came up with a procedure to use the sun as a navigational star.  It worked, the crew used the sun to align the ship on the right course and Houston was able to bring the crew safely home.

The Israelites were also in trouble, they needed help, they were heading in the wrong direction.  They were calling out to God to save them but they were receiving no answer.  Isaiah tells them why, “God can hear you when you call.  But there is a problem---your sins have cut you off from God.  Because of your sin, He has turned away and will not listen anymore.  Our sins are piled up before God and testify against us.  We have rebelled against the Lord.  We have turned our backs on God.  Truth falls dead in the streets, and fairness has been outlawed.  Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who tries to live a godly life is soon attacked.  It is because of this evil that deliverance is far from us.”  

We too cry out to God, “Oh Lord don’t you see what is going on?   Why don’t you help us?  Well my friends we’ve got a problem here.  We too have turned our backs on God, our sins testify against us.  Truth falls dead in our streets.  We as a nation have lost our direction.   We need to get back on the right course.  The navigation system we are using does not work it is taking us further and further away from God.

Our first president George Washington said this,  “The blessing and protection of Heaven are at all times necessary but especially so in times of public distress and danger. The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier, defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country.”  --  “You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ.  These will make you a greater and happier people than you are.”

Jesus said,  “I am the bright morning star.”  Let’s again use Him as our navigational star and let God bring us safely back home.   Our world and our families are in danger, let us, “Endeavor to live and act as a Christian soldier defending our rights and liberties and to learn the religion of Jesus Christ.”

Please Not Me

Exodus 6:30 “This is the same Moses who had argued with the Lord saying, I can’t do it! I’m no orator. Why should Pharaoh listen to me?”

God appeared to Moses in a burning bush and he commanded Moses to go to Pharaoh and to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses protested again and again, “How can you expect me to do that; They won’t listen to me; They won’t believe me; I’m not a good speaker; Please send someone else.  God spoke, He told Moses to go, yet Moses hesitated, he came up with excuses. Don’t we do the same thing.

I met a couple recently and the wife (I will call her D) told me this story. God had put it on her heart to go on a mission trip to South America. This ministry was focused on bringing large groups of people to help on building projects in South America. Immediately she came up with four reasons not to go.  Her reasons for not going were, I don’t want to sleep in a large barrack with a lot of other people. I don’t know the first thing about construction, I don’t do well among large groups, and we cannot afford it. D kept these excuses to herself but she told her niece, who heads up the trip, that she felt there was no way she could go. Her niece told her to pray about it.

D did pray and a week later her niece called her and told her the trip was set but it was going to be different this time. They were taking just a small group of people, and they were going to be staying in a hotel. Also they were not going to be on a building project because another ministry opportunity had come along. D said to me, after all this I still wasn’t convinced I should go, we still didn’t have the money.  I smiled thinking of Moses, the burning bush, God speaking from the bush, Mose’s staff turning into a snake, “No not me! I can’t do it!”.  D then told me how the next day she had two phone calls with temporary job offers. D and her husband both smiled as D told me she went on the trip and it was a life changing experience.

D’s story reminded me of the many times I have heard God’s voice and refused to listen. I can’t, I won’t, no! not me! How about you, are you arguing with God about something in your life right now? D’s niece had some great advice, “Just pray about it.”

With Longing

Luke 22:14,15  Then at the proper time Jesus and the twelve apostles sat down together at the table.  Jesus said, “I have looked forward to this hour with deep longing, anxious to eat this passover meal with you before my suffering begins.”

Jesus longed for this day, the day he would break bread with his disciples. Within hours Jesus would be arrested, beaten, and die on a cross.  Scripture says Jesus looked forward to (He longed for) this intimate meal with His disciples.  For in this meal the new covenant is to be remembered for all time.  Jesus broke the bread and said, “This is my body, given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.”  He took the wine and said, “This wine is the token of God’s new covenant to save you--an agreement sealed with the blood I will pour out for you.”  Luke 22

Within hours Jesus did pour out His blood, Hebrews 9:12 says, “Once for all time he took blood into that Most Holy Place, but not the blood of goats and calves.  He took His own blood, and with it He secured our salvation forever.”   Jesus knew the disciples did not understand what he was doing or what He was saying.   For just after he shared this meal with them they started arguing among themselves as to who would be the greatest in the coming kingdom.  But He also knew that after His death, He would rise out of the grave and then they would understand.  He knew they would be changed men, full of the Holy Spirit.  Then they would remember, and this day and this meal would be remembered forever.  1 Corinthians 11:26  “For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until He comes again.”

As we eat the bread, we too are to remember.  As we drink the wine we too are to announce that he shed His blood for us, that “we are made Holy by His blood.  Our sins have been forgiven, and there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.”  Hebrews 10:18

Easter is a time to remember, blood was shed, a body was given.  We are now free to worship God, we are free from the penalty of sin.  This Easter season as you break bread together--remember. Yes!  He is risen!!

Spring Has Come

Psalm 147:18  “Then, at his command, it all melts.  He sends his winds, and the ice thaws.”

I have found myself complaining lately, sick of the cold weather, tired of looking out the window and seeing ice on the lake.  Each morning I look out the window and see a winters worth of ice, dirt and grime still covering the lake.  I find myself thinking spring will never come.
I woke this morning to find the ice was gone!  The lake had been transformed, winters grip had been released, no snow, no ice, no grime.   Spring was here, Praise the Lord!  Not only had the lake been transformed but so had my attitude, I found myself smiling throughout the day.  Sharing with others that the ice was out on the lake.  Spring has come!  Yet I was thinking I missed something, I did not see the ice go out, it was there the day before, now it was gone.

God works in our lives the same way he worked on the ice.  We find ourselves complaining and focusing on winter, focusing on the grim and problems in our lives.  Wondering if God is listening to our prayers.  Maybe doubting that He cares.   Asking, will spring never come? Yet if we ask Him, if we allow Him.  God will work in our lives.  A little at a time He will change us.  Instead of melting away ice, He will melt away the hardness of our hearts. He will clean away the grime in our lives.  We will wake one day to find that while we were not looking, He will have transformed us.  People will see the beauty of Christ (His Son) reflected in us.  Winter will be gone, spring will have come.  At His command our hearts melt, through the wind and trials of life the ice will thaw.

Are you focusing on winter?  Do you feel spring will never come.  Ephesians 4:23,24 says, “Instead, there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes.  You must display a new nature, because you are a new person, created in God’s likeness--righteous, holy, and true.”  Spend some time with God, put your focus on Him, ask Him to change you.   Then while your not looking, one day you will realize God has changed you, all that old stuff, all the grime will be gone.  Winters grip, Satan’s grip will have been released from your life.  You, like the lake will be transformed, you will have a new nature.   You will find yourself smiling throughout your day, you will find yourself telling others how God transformed you, telling others how the ice has thawed.

Pilgrimage To Jerusalem

Psalm 84:5-7  “Happy are those who are strong in the Lord, who set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs, where pools of blessing collect after the rains!  They will continue to grow stronger, and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.”
“Happy are those who are strong in the Lord.”  The other day I ran into a sister in Christ whom I hadn’t seen in a couple of years.  She gave me an update on her pilgrimage, her life’s journey.  As it turns out she has been fighting a battle with cancer.  It has taken a huge toll on her body, I am sure there has been much weeping.  Yet her eyes had that same sparkle I remembered, her smile was still contagious.  She talked of the Lord and His goodness, “He is not finished with me yet!”  she said.  Her mind is set on Jerusalem. Her eyes are set on Jesus, she is still running the race, she is still letting her light shine for all to see.

In our short conversation she told me of the blessings that have been collecting after and during the rains.  She spoke of new friends God has brought into her life, of still being alive when the doctors spoke otherwise.   What a blessing to see and hear her joy shining through the rain.   I was refreshed by her story.  I was blessed by our short conversation.

We are all on a pilgrimage, the question is, what is your destination?  Where is your mind set?  Luke 9:51 “As the time drew near for His return to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.”  Jesus’ pilgrimage to Jerusalem was leading Him straight to the cross, yet he was unwavering in his journey.  He kept on His Father’s path, knowing full well what was waiting for Him there.  He knew that He was paving the way, opening the door so we could follow Him home.

Does this day find you walking through a valley of weeping?  Are the rains washing away your hope?   My prayer is that God will lift you up, that He will show you the way to Jerusalem.  That God will set your feet on His path.   I pray that at the end of your journey you will be able to look back and see many pools of blessings, while standing before God in Jerusalem.

Let Heaven Fill Your Thoughts

Colossians 3:1,2    “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God’s right hand in the place of honor and power.  Let heaven fill your thoughts.  Do not think only about things down here on earth.”
Some years back I was at a bible study and we were talking about heaven.  I made the comment that I didn’t think much of heaven.  Well that got everyone laughing, the way I said it, it came across as my saying that heaven was not all that great.
Didn’t think much of heaven, isn’t that where most of us find ourselves.  We are so busy with the day to day aspects of our lives that thoughts of heaven rarely enter or minds let alone “fill our thoughts.”  How that changes as we grow old and death and heaven seem a little more real.  I went to visit a elderly friend the other day.  In our conversation we  talked of heaven.  I reminded her of what she said a couple years before, “Heaven, I can’t wait.  I am looking forward to it.”  I remarked how her face glowed as she said it.  She said, “I start talking to people about death and heaven and they want me to stop, they don’t want to talk about it.”  Death? heaven? Not now, not today.
Throughout Paul’s letters he urges us to talk about death and what awaits us afterwards.  To not think about, talk or share with others the reality of heaven, is to not share the heart of the gospel of Christ.  Paul says this, “And now, brothers and sisters, I want you to know what will happen to the Christians, who have died so you will not be full of sorrow like people who have no hope.  For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus comes, God will bring back with Jesus all the Christians who have died. ---16-18 First all the Christians who have died will rise from their graves.   Then we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with Him forever.  So comfort each other with these words.”    1 Thessalonians 4:13,14 & 16-18
Jesus said,  “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere.”  This is good news, heaven is real, let it fill your thoughts, preach it to everyone.

Satan Owns The Fence

1 Kings 18:21 “Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”

A couple of weeks ago this column printed a poem by David Sakawski he is 15 years old. In his poem he said this, “The swords have been drawn, There's a line in the sand, Now is the time to decide. For which side do I stand?” David only 15 years old, yet he sees that he must make a choice. There is an old preacher’s saying that say’s, Sitting on the fence isn’t an option because Satan owns the fence. Charles Spurgeon said this, “There is a man who was almost saved in a fire, but he was burned. There was another who was almost healed of a disease, but he died. There was one who was almost reprieved, but he was hanged. And there are many in hell who were almost saved.”

Spurgeon also challenged his congregation to get alone that evening and think upon their relationship with the Lord. He challenged them to write down one of two words, if they thought they were not right with the Lord to write down Condemned. If they thought they did believe in Jesus and had put their trust in Him, to write down Forgiven. He then goes on to tell the story of a young man who took up this challenge and upon looking at his life he had written down the word Condemned. He said, “There it was. I had written it myself; Condemned. As he looked, the tears began to flow and the heart began to break. And before long he fled to Christ, put the paper in the fire, and wrote down Forgiven.” 

As David asked in his poem, “For which side do I stand?” I challenge you today to take up the challenge offered by Spurgeon over 100 years ago, to think upon your relationship with the Lord. To take a piece of paper and write down one of the two words, Condemned or Forgiven.  David finished his poem with these words, “I cried, "Who am I to stand before you?" I fell to my knees and wept with remorse. But the being said, "Rise, I mean you no harm, I sent my Son to die for the worst of the worst. I stood up and looked into his eyes. I did not gaze in fear nor did I flee. He looked down with a smile on his face. I lifted my hands and said, "Please, help me." So he took me with his hand, His strong and mighty hand. And on that fateful day, I crossed the line in the sand.” Condemned or Forgiven on which side do you stand?

In a Moment

Jeremiah 4:20 “Waves of destruction roll over the land, until it lies in complete desolation. Suddenly, every tent is destroyed; in a moment, every shelter is crushed.”  

Revelation 18:17 “And in one single moment all the wealth of the city is gone!” I thought of this verse while watching videos of the destruction in Japan. The destruction is overwhelming, like watching a scene from a bad disaster movie. One video I watched, was shot by a local Japanese man, within his 3 1/2 minute video I watched as small items were were being washed through the streets then cars, trucks and finally the houses were washed off their foundations and swept away. People were clinging to the tops of cars and to the roofs of buildings. Within a span of less than 4 minutes all that they owned and felt secure in was washed away. “Suddenly every tent is destroyed; in a moment every shelter is crushed.”  I read an account from a 16 year old who said, “I never took the annual tsunami drills seriously, I thought the towns harbor walls would protect against any big wave.  But the wave was beyond imagination, There was nothing to do but run.”

“I never took the drills seriously.” The worst part of this disaster is that of the 10,000 presumed dead, statistics say only 6% are Christians. Leaving 9,400 of the dead having placed their hope in themselves, government, money or false gods. They are now separated forever from God. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” The population of Japan is 127,560,000. Meaning 119,906,400 people are facing eternal punishment unless they turn to Jesus Christ. The worlds population is 6,775,235,741, 34% of the worlds population is said to be Christian, leaving 4 1/2 billion people facing eternity in Hell. According to New Tribes Missions in the next 60 seconds 36 souls go to a Christ-less eternity, that is 51,840 each day. The Japanese people need our help, but they, like the world, really need Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” 

A Dirty Rag

A Dirty Rag

“Matthew 7:3-5  “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?  How can you think of saying, Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye, when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?   Hypocrite!  First get rid of the log from your own eye; then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.”

Leo Tolstoy wrote a short story titled The Godson.  In one scene from this story the Godson is watching a woman washing a table with a dirty towel.  The more she scrubs the dirtier the table becomes.  She scrubs and scrubs until she is all spent.  The Godson tells her to wash out the towel and then try again.  The women does so and she quickly cleans off the table.  What was impossible before now becomes possible.

The same is true with us.  We try to fix, to clean up the lives of people around us, whether it be friends or family.   And just like the woman we try and try until we are all spent.  God speaks to us as the Godson spoke to the woman, and He says; “Why worry about the speak in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?  First get rid of the log from your own eye; then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.”

Do not we, like this woman need to ask God to wash out the dirt from our lives?  God can then use us, to help change the lives of our family and friends.  What was impossible before now becomes possible.

Economic Stimulus Package

2 Corinthians 4:2 “We reject all shameful and underhanded methods. We do not try to trick anyone, and we do not distort the word of God.  We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know that.”

“We do not try to trick anyone.”  The Apostle Paul wrote these words, he preached the Gospel of Christ wherever he went.  He did not whitewash it, making promises of riches and rewards in this life.  Instead he talked of Christ’s suffering of his own suffering.  He preached of life’s trials, of not giving up.  Paul spoke truth, if someone was being disobedient to God, Paul let them know. He called them out on the carpet.   Paul did not play games, no underhanded methods.

Would Paul approve or disapprove of our methods?   People young and old are looking for truth in today’s world.  A friend of mine is a Gideon, (you know the people who put Bibles in hotel rooms) he told me he has never seen so many Bibles disappear from the rooms.  People are looking for answers.  They are not looking for another program or an emotional high that fades over time.  Jeremiah 6:14 says this, “They offer superficial treatments for my people’s mortal wound.  They give assurances of peace when all is war.”

We are in a war, a battle. Truth is no longer heard in the streets. Morality no longer matters. We cry out to men to help us, “fix this economic mess we are in.” We cry, “Give us back the good times, let us continue as we were.”  Whom are we serving? God or money?

Politicians are scrambling, they are looking for answers. A way to stimulate our economy.  God has an “Economic Stimulus Package” It reads like this: “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sins and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

Peace With God Through Faith

“Peace with God Through Faith” by Darren Forsythe. October 20, 2010.

Darren teaching youth God's word

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient,but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18ESV)

Over the past decade the effects of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) have advanced in my body causing constant pain, fatigue, muscle weakness and a host of other symptoms. MS is a chronic, progressive, incurable disease that affects the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). I have an area of disease activity in my neck which, if it gets worse would radically change the way in which I experience life. I now use a power wheelchair every day and know that quadriplegia is a distinct possibility in my future.

Often, when I tell people about my medical status I can see their faces turn from a happy disposition to that of serious concern. “Where is God in all this? How can you believe He loves you? If He did,

wouldn’t life be better for you? Why wouldn’t He just cure you? How could you trust a God like that?” Those questions are precisely what I would like to address in this brief series of articles. But, please do

not just take my word for it – I ask that you open up your Bible to see if what I’m saying is true as the Bereans did in Acts 17:11-12.In this age of skepticism and unbelief, people want to be able to see God before believing in Him. It is easy to see evil, but what about good resulting from the bad that comes into a person’s life (Genesis 50:20)? My hope and prayer is this: that I can show you biblically how suffering in the life of a Christian can bring glory to God (Romans 5:1-5) and result in salvation for those who endure to the end in faith (Matthew 24:9-13). That life, lived out in total trust of God, often speaks volumes to the people around them and can show the powerful working of God in their lives.

I was an unbeliever when God brought MS into my life. He used it to first break down my resistance to Him, turn me from sins and trust in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Now, He uses suffering to draw me closer to Himself each and every day. I never would have chosen this path in life; however, since this is the path He has chosen to lead me into His glorious presence for all eternity, who am I to complain?

In John’s Gospel many of Jesus’ disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him when His teachings were too difficult for them to accept. “So Jesus said to the Twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as

well?’  Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have he words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.’” (John 6:67-69 ESV) I can do

no less in my own life.

__________________________________________________________________

Darren 2nd article 11-5-2010

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV)

Before I was a believer, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Within a year I had to quit working and file for disability. The following year, I was divorced and needed to move back to my hometown. Friends were no longer interested in my life, and I found myself alone and isolated. The physical toll of powerful medications combined with the sudden loss of everything I had worked for and hoped to achieve caused me to spiral into major depression for about three years. Since I believed in the theory of evolution at the time, I thought that I was one of the weak links in humanity. I had moved from Michigan where the news was filled with accounts of how Dr. Jack Kevorkian had assisted in the suicides of many people with MS. I was disabled, depressed, in pain, and without hope. I wanted to die. The story did not end there, however. In December of 2005, when I was fully broken and acknowledged that I need a Savior and surrendered my life to Jesus Christ, He stepped in and transformed my life!

As December of 2010 approaches, I still have Multiple Sclerosis. I am much more disabled than in 2005, suffer even more physical pain, and have also developed Fibromyalgia. Due to physical weakness from MS, I use a power wheelchair and need help with many of the daily tasks that I once took for granted. I’m considered homebound because the only places I usually go to are the doctor and church – everything else is just too punishing upon my body to make the trip. I need to rest the day before and after leaving my home. I have good days, and bad days because of my disability. I consider it a good day as long as I can shower and brush my teeth.

You may be wondering what has changed for the better in my life since God intervened. The answer is the most profound of all: I now have new life in Christ Jesus my Lord and Savior. God has also blessed me with a wonderful, godly wife. When I wake up these days, I thank God that I can still see. I am also grateful that I can walk far enough to get out of bed and into my power chair without help. I am no longer

depressed. My wife and I have the blessed hope (Titus 2:13) of perfect, glorified bodies when Jesus comes back to reign on the earth (1 Cor. 15:51-52). If I die before His return, I’ll immediately be in His presence and will no longer have any pain or sickness (2 Cor. 5:8).  God has become our treasure (Matthew 13:44). We pray that He will be yours as well.

Dead Men Talking

Matthew 27:51-53 “At that moment the curtain in the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead after Jesus’ resurrection. They left the cemetery, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people.”

Can you imagine? People long dead and buried, now walking around the city. The bible says they appeared to many people. What did they say?

Jesus after being crucified and buried, rose from the dead. He appeared to over 500 of His followers and to His disciples who had seen Jesus crucified. They had seen him die. Now here was Jesus standing before them. He was alive! What Jesus said was this, “With my authority, take this message of repentance to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem.  There is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me. You are witnesses of all these things. And now I will send the Holy spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”
Power from heaven, the Holy Spirit did come upon his disciples and followers.  From that day on they poured themselves out, sharing the message of the Gospel. They brought life to people dead in their sin.
Last year I was in New Orleans, while there I heard many stories of men and women who had been rescued from drugs, alcohol, homelessness, prostitution, they were dead in sin, now they are alive. They are changed people, filled with the Holy Spirit, because someone came and told them the Gospel, “this message of repentance.” They now walk the city streets, searching out the lost. Delivering this message of hope, this message of new life.

People once dead now walking through the city. Delivering this message, “Christ died for our sins, just as the scriptures said, He was buried, and He was raised from the dead on the third day.  (1 Corinthians 15:3,4) Delivering one message, the necessity of turning from sin and turning to God, and faith in our Lord Jesus.”  (Acts 20:21)

We as Christians are people once dead. We are now walking around the city, we appear to many people.  What are we saying?

Mob Mentality

Acts 17:11 And the people of Berea were more open minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to check up on Paul and Silas, to see if they were really teaching the truth.

I recently attended a Christian rock concert.  Unexpectedly I enjoyed it very much. The music was loud, yet it was good and the stage show was spectacular.  

Yet as I stood there looking at the crowd I was taken aback at the mob mentality. All the lead singer had to do was mention the name, Jesus, and the crowd would scream it’s approval. It occured to me the power that these people on the stage have. To use for good or for evil.  

C.S. Lewis in his book The Screwtape Letters, a fictional account of letters written between two of Satan’s demons.  Screwtape, a senior Demon and his nephew Wormwood. Screwtape gives Wormwood advice on various methods of undermining faith and promoting sin in the life of a British man Wormwood is assigned to. In one of the letters Screwtape says this, “Every dictator or even demagogue--almost every film star or crooner-- can now draw tens of thousands of the human sheep with him. They give themselves (what there is of them) to him; in him, to us. There may come a time we shall have no need to bother about individual temptation at all, except for the few. Catch the bellwether, and his whole flock come after him. But do you realize how we have succeeded in reducing so many of the human race to the level of ciphers?” (cipher defined as: A person or thing of no importance, esp. a person who does the bidding of others and seems to have no will of their own.

C.S. Lewis published The Screwtape letters in 1942, Hitler was attempting to rule the world, he had captivated a nation with his personality, swaying the masses through his speeches. “Hitler stated many times that the only way to use propaganda effectively was to aim it at the stupidity of the masses rather than the intellectuals. He used short slogans repeated again and again to drive ideas home into the minds of his followers.” 

Unless we study God’s word, unless we know what the Bible says, unless we know the truth, we will be taken in by the world’s lies. We, like sheep, will follow whomever has the loudest or sweetest sounding bell. Search the Scriptures day after day, check up on those you are listening to, and see if they are really teaching the truth.