When It Doesn’t Make Sense

Most of the things I write are to encourage, challenge, or just to uplift the name of Jesus, but sometimes you just want to share what’s on your heart.  This has been a sad time for many of my dear friends in East Tennessee and I’m sure I don’t know the half of it.  Let me explain.

On the evening of the fourth we saw a post from some of our Facebook friends in Morristown that there had been a tragedy at Cherokee Lake right outside of Morristown.  As the news began to hit the internet we learned that two little boys, ages 10 and 11, had been electrocuted while swimming around their houseboat at German Creek Boat Dock (see the story http://www.citizentribune.com/?p=15872).   Noah Winstead was dead at the scene and Nate Lynam died Thursday evening from his injuries.  As I read the accounts my heart went out to the families, their church, and the community as they were faced with one of those unexplainable heartrending tragedies that hit us sometimes. 

A picture of the boys together at school with arms around each other and smiles that could light up a Christmas tree began to be posted on Facebook Walls Friday morning.  I sent an email to my dear Pastor friend Dr. Dean Haun to let him know I was praying for the families, him, and the church as one of the moms was on staff at First Baptist and both families were members there.  Both boys were baptized there too.  I asked him to not worry about responding since I knew what the church was going through, but he sent this back to me, “Thanks buddy, it’s been tough….”.

‘It’s been tough…’.  What words of depth and heartache.  The families asked that this statement be published in response to the outpouring of love by the Community.  “The family of Nate Lynam is overwhelmed by the outpouring of love, prayers and support from family, friends and the community. It is the family’s wish that the tragedy that claimed his life, not be what defines it. Nate was a loving son, a loyal brother and a kind and respectful young man.

“If there is anything newsworthy in this tragedy it is this: Nate and his friend Noah loved Jesus and trusted in Him. The families find great comfort in knowing that they will be reunited one day in Heaven.”

When it doesn’t make sense we do have a hope, a bedrock hope, and faith that Jesus does know our heartache and pain, and that He is working a far more eternal weight of glory for those who trust in Him.

His Word says, in 2 Corinthians 4:18 “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Pray for the families, their church, Brother Dean and the staff at First Baptist as they minister to them.

Until He comes we walk by faith……

What If?

I’ve just finished reading the first installment of a three part trilogy by Bryan Litfin called ‘The Sword’.  I am now reading through his second book entitled ‘The Gift’.  It’s a Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings type of thing.  Bryan is a professor of Theology at Moody Bible Institute and was featured in an article in our ‘Stand Firm’ Men’s Devotional a couple of months back.  That’s what spurred me to look into his book.

To give you a brief synopsis of the storyline the year is 2042.  A deadly virus outbreak mushrooms into a world-wide epidemic and takes millions of lives.  In the resulting chaos and loss of life nuclear weapons fall into the control of those who would destroy anyone and everything.  The sum of this is that our world as we know it ceases to exist.  The Earth is plunged once again into a ‘dark ages’ with all communication, technology, and financial structure gone and as the centuries roll by the ‘ancient’ world of the present is gone and along with it the scriptures and the knowledge of the one True God.  The story evolves as the one True God begins to real Himself to the Hero and Heroine and they begin their quest to find His truth.

Maybe you’re not intrigued with that sort of story, but for me it really stirs my thinking.  What if we didn’t have the scriptures anymore?  That they were gone and lost forever?  What if we had lost our knowledge of the one True God and His Son?  And from that we had no hope for the future.  That we just lived and died and that was it.  Makes we want to give thanks anew for God’s mercy and grace to give us His Word.  It causes me to realize afresh that the light and knowledge of the one True God should not be taken for granted.

But I am also reminded that for many in our world the setting for ‘The Sword’ is true in their countries today.  They don’t have the Scriptures in their language or otherwise.  They don’t have a knowledge of the one True God.  They haven’t heard of a Savior who died for them.  They have no hope beyond this life.

Let us not take our blessings or our mission for granted.  Let us remember His calling on our lives to those around the world and across the street who don’t know His love and salvation.  (Matthew 28:18-20)

How To Kill Your Sunday School Class

These are not my own, they come from a blog by Bob Mayfield who is the Sunday School and Discipleship Specialist for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, but I deemed them too good to not pass along to you.

1.     Inactivity. Groups that don’t do anything will eventually die. No fellowships, no phone calls… nothing ever happens in the group. Don’t get involved in anything the church is doing either!

2.     Don’t teach the Bible. Basically, this is lack of preparation by the teacher or group leader. If meeting after meeting, the Bible is never read, studied, and applied to everyday life; then the group will eventually come apart at the seams. A corollary to this is “blame it on the curriculum”. Great curriculum will not replace solid preparation by the leader.

3.     Refuse to minister to your group. Go ahead and let a group member spend time in the hospital without ever hearing from the group. Once it happens to one member, other people in the group will realize that it can and probably will happen to them when they face a crisis too. The result: a gradual exodus from the group.

4.     Keep all of the group’s ministry to yourself. Don’t inconvenience other people by asking them to help. Refuse to allow other people in the group to use their spiritual gifts. Instead, keep all of the group’s ministry in your hands.

5.     Don’t follow up on guests. When someone visits your group or the church, be sure to leave them alone. If they need you, they’ll find you!

6.     Blame others. If your group is slowly dying, be sure to cast blame on the pastor, the staff, the deacons, and that harsh ungodly world out there that hates you.

7.     Have a dour attitude. People love to attend a depressing group where everything in the world is wrong and beyond hope.

8.     Never start a new group. Never, never, never. I mean, how will you replace all those people that leave!

9.     BONUS – Assert your independence. Your group doesn’t need to cooperate with the church, or do anything with the church or other group leaders. Be sure to resist any effort by the church leadership that might somehow cause change. Use your own curriculum; claim your own room; and be as uncooperative as possible.

Here’s the suggestions he has for growing your Sunday School Group.

a)     Plan fellowships and activity.

b)    Study and teach God’s Word for application and lifechange.

c)     Show people that we care by being there when they need us.

d)    Organize our group so that we are helping group members develop their gifts and grow as a disciple.

e)     Follow up with people to let them know that we care and that our group is a place where they can belong.

f)      Accept responsibility and attend training so that we lead our group in a godly manner.

g)     Realize that messages of repentance, hope, and mercy are powerful and positive attributes of the Gospel.

h)    Support new groups because they bring vitality and change into the church.

i)   Cooperate and participate with other groups under the direction of the church leadership.

These are simple yet profound things for us to do and be if we want to reach others for Christ!  Don’t use them as a yardstick for everyone else’s group, but as a gauge for your Class.

Is VBS Really Important?

Why do we take the time, spend the money, wear ourselves completely out, for a week of wild and beautiful kids to have a great time at church?  Is it just about them having a ‘good’ time or is there something more important going on. 

So many parents today have the idea that we should let our children make up their own minds when it comes to religious instruction.  I realize that each person has to come to Jesus personally of their own free will, (John 3:3) but we never use that idea with any other training in their lives.  We don’t let them decide for themselves on whether they should attend school or not.  We know they need an education.  We don’t let them decide whether they will take a bath this week or not do we?  We want our kids to know the value of cleanliness.  And we certainly don’t let them choose on whether they will brush their teeth before bedtime or going to school?  We have learned that if you don’t take care of our teeth you won’t have them long.  If we ignored these simple things we would raise a generation of illiterate, smelly, green toothed kids.  Bubba wouldn’t be too welcome at most places and certainly would have trouble finding a job!

But there are better reasons than that for teaching our children God’s Word and Ways.  Let me give a few to think on as we get ready for VBS this month.

1. It’s Obedient to the Commands of God.  Deuteronomy 6:6-9 tells us to teach our children God’s Word, to live God’s Word before them, and thereby to instill God’s Ways in their hearts.  Ephesians 6:4 says basically the same thing.  We’re not born with a proclivity towards God, on the contrary we are born in sin, with a rebellious nature.  We need to teach our Children His Word, His Will, His Ways.  VBS is a great way to come alongside parents and reinforce His truth.

2. It’s shows Responsibility as an Adult.  We are responsible as adults for the physical and mental wellbeing of our children.  To be faithful in those areas and not to be concerned for their spiritual upbringing is irresponsible.  The future of our nation depends on it (see Judges 2:10-11).

3. It’s Demonstrates God’s Love to our Children.  When you love someone you want God’s very best for them.  God has called us to love those around us, especially our children.  To neglect that which is most needful in their lives is unloving and uncaring. 

VBS is coming.  Let’s remember as we give, share, serve, and love what it’s all about.  I can’t wait to see the look in their eyes!

Is Our Revival Over?

Well, depends on what we do with what God said.  Which brings me to that question, what did He say to you and me?  But before we answer that, let’s do a quick review.

First off, the services were truly amazing!  God’s Spirit was manifest in our worshipful spirit, in our smiling faces, and most of all in our heart for Christ this week.  What a joyous fellowship we enjoyed from Sunday morning until Wednesday night.  I hope you were blessed as I was in everything that occurred.  We didn’t have any record of anyone being saved or joining the church, but I’m sure there will be fruit born in the coming weeks.  God was surely working in our lives.

Having Dripping Spring Church’s Choir on Monday and then New Friendship’s Choir and Praise Team really encouraged not only our hearts, but theirs as well.  The lower level was full on Tuesday night and Monday’s attendance was almost as great.  Each church brought several of their members and then Tuesday night Eastwood (Bro. Tom’s church) brought a couple of buses of Eastwood members to encourage Bro. Tom.  He was pleasantly surprised and caught off guard as he didn’t know they were coming.  Wednesday’s attendance was outstanding and our Children and our Choir blessed us in worship!

Brother Tom’s messages really confronted us with the question, “What is the Vision that God has given Second Baptist?”  He challenged us to go, grow, to follow, to be fishers of men, and to use our Sunday School to reach our community for Christ.  Many folks spent time in prayer at the altar seeking to follow His will for their lives.  I know God confronted me about being totally sold out to Him and doing whatever it takes to lead our church to win our Jerusalem and to honor Him.

I guess the overall thought from our Revival was, “What is our Vision?”  What does He wants us to do?  How and what do we need to change to reach more people for His Kingdom?  Which leads me back to my original question, “What did He say to you and me?”  I can’t answer that personally for you, but for me it is this, “Am I ready to continue to teach, train, challenge, and personally as a Christian do to reach that vision?”  I feel I’m willing.  I just need to allow Him to give me the strength and wisdom to do what He’s called me to do.

So, what’s He called you to do?  Are you willing?  He is.  Let’s go get them.  They’re out there.  They need to know Jesus.  Will you go with me?

Is There Hope?

In the Book of Ezra we find the children of Israel returning to the land after seventy years of exile.  They had fallen away from God and given themselves over to idolatrous worship and pagan practices.  But God, in His mercy had decreed through Cyrus King of Persia to release the Jews with his blessing to return to the land and rebuild the temple.  Ezra was spearheading the restoration of worship when he discovers that the people haven’t separated themselves from the evil practices of the pagan peoples.  Not only that, they have begun to intermarry with the people of the land (Ezra 9:1-2).  Ezra is broken in heart over it, rips his clothes, weeps, and finally just crumples down astonished at what has happened.  After all, this was what had gotten them into trouble with God in the first place.

Continuing in chapter 9 on over into chapter 10 we find Ezra weeping, praying, confessing, and totally broken over the sin of God’s people.  Reading in verse 15 of chapter 9 he states, “O LORD God of Israel, you are righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before you in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before you because of this.”  He feels hopeless and condemned because of what has occurred.  And I think he probably felt personally responsible since he was a scribe, which was a teacher of the law to God’s people.

Ezra is a defeated, demoralized, discouraged man.  He has no hope and in the midst of we read ‘Ezra 10:2 And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have married foreign wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.’  Notice a few words in his statement of faith.

1  He says, “yet”.  He’s saying, “Ezra, it’s not over, it’s not finished.  The final nail has not been driven in our coffin.”  Sometimes we think we are past restoring or maybe ‘fixing’, but God isn’t finished with us yet!

2.  He says too, “in spite of this”.  In other words, as Paul said in Romans 5:20 ‘But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:’

3.  Shecaniah said ‘there is hope’.  Where would we be without hope?  Where would we be without a light at the end of the tunnel?  Where would we be without a future?

Let me share a story I read a few years back.  I think it illustrates the hope we have in Christ.

The school system in a large city had a program to help children keep up with their school work during stays in the city’s hospitals. One day a teacher who was assigned to the program received a routine call asking her to visit a particular child. She took the child’s name and room number and talked briefly with the child’s regular class teacher. “We’re studying nouns and adverbs in his class now,” the regular teacher said, “and I’d be grateful if you could help him understand them so he doesn’t fall too far behind.”

The hospital program teacher went to see the boy that afternoon. No one had mentioned to her that the boy had been badly burned and was in great pain. Upset at the sight of the boy, she stammered as she told him, “I’ve been sent by your school to help you with nouns and adverbs.” When she left she felt she hadn’t accomplished much. But the next day, a nurse asked her, “What did you do to that boy?” The teacher felt she must have done something wrong and began to apologize. “No, no,” said the nurse. “You don’t know what I mean. We’ve been worried about that little boy, but ever since yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He’s fighting back, responding to treatment. It’s as though he’s decided to live.”

Two weeks later the boy explained that he had completely given up hope until the teacher arrived. Everything changed when he came to a simple realization. He expressed it this way: “They wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?”

The bottom line for us is that God would not have sent His Son to die for us if there were no hope.  Think on that….

What Does The Resurrection Mean?

In one of his lighter moments, Benjamin Franklin penned his own epitaph. He didn't profess to be a born-again Christian, but it seems he must have been influenced by Paul's teaching of the resurrection of the body. Here's what he wrote: The Body of B. Franklin, Printer Like the Cover of an old Book Its contents torn out, And script of its Lettering and Gilding, Lies here, Food for Worms, But the Work shall not be wholly lost: For it will, as he believed, Appear once more In a new & more perfect Edition, Corrected and amended by the Author.

Ah, the Resurrection.  What does it really mean?  Oh, we know that it means that Jesus rose from the grave having conquered death.  That He is greater and stronger than death itself and that He has power over death.  We have been taught the ramifications of that being that we who have received Jesus Christ as their Savior are going to have a resurrected body one day.  That we will be caught up together to meet Him at His return or if we go by the way of the grave ourselves we will return with Him (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). 

So tell me dear Preacher, what does it mean for me today?  Why does it give me hope?  Well, let me list some things that it does mean to us:

1.   We will one day have a New Body.  An immortal, glorified body.  One that doesn’t age, isn’t susceptible to sickness, knows no pain, one that death can’t touch, one that will be like our Lord’s body.

2.  We will one day have a New Home.  Because Jesus is alive He has gone to prepare a place for us (John 14:1-3).  Think of it, a home in Heaven!  We see so many beautiful homes today, but the one Jesus is building is beyond compare.  Paul said it this way in 1 Corinthians 2:9 “But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.”

3.  We have a Better Inheritance.  Sometimes those who have gone on before leave us something of value to remind us of their love.  1 Peter 1:3-4 states, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you,”.  When my Mother died she left each of her children a small amount of money.  It was all she had left, but our Lord has an inheritance set aside for each of His Children, and He rose from the grave to guarantee we would not be left out of His Will.

It reminds me of that old hymn we used to sing:

It will be worth it all

When we see Jesus

Life’s trials seem so small

When we see Christ

One glimse at His dear face

All sorrow will erase

So bravely run the race

Till we see Christ

Think about that this Easter as we worship the one who rose from the grave!