Posted on

Serving God Under Difficult Leaders

Serving God in DIfficult Times

Have you ever wondered how to serve the Lord when you have someone over you who’s not a committed Christian?

Sermon Video

Maybe it’s a college professor trying to challenge your faith.
It could be in grade school or high school with difficult teachers.
Perhaps you have a difficult boss at your job.
Maybe your company is going to be taken over by another company, and it has a bad reputation.  You may worry about restructuring and new management.  

We don’t know how all these events will turn out.  What we do know is that no matter where we are or what circumstances we find ourselves in, we are to serve God to the best of our ability. 

In Jeremiah chapter 27, Jeremiah had the difficult task of telling the kings that they were going to come under the rule of another nation.  

Jeremiah 27 (MEV)

 In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 Thus says the Lord to me: Make bonds and yokes and put them on your neck, 3 and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. 4 And command them to go to their masters, saying: Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Thus you shall say to your masters: 5 I have made the earth, the men, and the beasts which are on the ground by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed good to Me. 6 Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant. And also I have given to him the beasts of the field to serve him. 7 All nations shall serve him and his son and his son’s son until the time of his own land comes; and then many nations and great kings will make him their servant. 8 It shall come to pass that I will punish the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, says the Lord. I will punish that nation with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. 9 Therefore do not listen to your prophets, or to your diviners, or to your dreamers, or to your enchanters, or to your sorcerers who speak to you, saying, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon.” 10 For they prophesy a lie to you in order to remove you far from your land. And I will drive you out, and you shall perish. 11 But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those I will let remain still in their own land, says the Lord, and they shall till it and dwell in it. 12 I spoke also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying: Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and live. 13 Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14 Therefore do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, “You will not serve the king of Babylon,” because they prophesy a lie to you. 15 For I have not sent them, says the Lord, yet they prophesy a lie in My name, so that I might drive you out and that you might perish, you and the prophets that prophesy to you. 16 I also spoke to the priests and to all this people: Thus says the Lord: Do not listen to the words of your prophets that prophesy to you, saying, “The vessels of the house of the Lord will now soon be brought again from Babylon.” For they prophesy a lie to you. 17 Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city be laid waste? 18 But if they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of Hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem not go to Babylon. 19 For thus says the Lord of Hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the rest of the vessels that remain in this city, 20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem. 21 Indeed, thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the Lord and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem: 22 They will be carried to Babylon and they will be there until the day that I visit them, says the Lord. Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.

Jeremiah was a prophet in the Old Testament.
Jeremiah was a prophet in the Old Testament.

The Prophesy

Jeremiah prophesied judgment on God’s people who had been disobedient.  It had already happened to the northern kingdom.  

He told the kings that the world was going to come under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.  He advised them to cooperate and live.  He told them not to listen to the lying prophets, and that even the vessels of the temple that hadn’t been carried away before would be taken away.  They were going to stay until the Lord delivered them.  It turned out to be a period of 70 years, so there were going to be 2 generations who lived most of their lives under the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar.  

Timing is Important

Now, before I get into the “meat” of this, let me say that there are times to fight and times to stand.  Not always do you acquiesce to those that are coming against you. You need to know when God is telling you to act.  Fight when it’s time to fight and resist when it’s time to resist.

When the Roman soldiers captured Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, He allowed it to happen.  But another time they came for Him, He walked into the crowd and just disappeared. (Luke 4:30)  All of the apostles were imprisoned for taking a stand for their faith, but there were times when they didn’t allow themselves to be captured.  Acts 9 tells of Paul being lowered over the city gates in a basket to escape capture.  

I’m talking here about when God tells you to give in.

As we look at Jeremiah’s message to the kings, let’s think about three considerations that may be applied to us today.

God’s Judgment

Time and time again, God’s people had been warned that they needed to repent,   They had been turning from the Living God to idols.  They were disobeying God.

Life is sacred.
Life is sacred.

The United States has been warned time and time again.  The U.S. has turned away from God many times.  For example, over 63 million innocent lives have been lost to abortion since 1973.  There are consequences for sin. 

I believe that we are under judgment already.  Empty store shelves are similar to a famine.  The recent outbreaks of disease can be compared to pestilence. There are consequences for sin. Just because we are in the United States of America, it doesn’t mean we’re immune from those things. 

But we also need to realize that the bondage is not always of our own making.  There were people who were faithful to God in Jeremiah’s time; not everybody had turned away from the Lord. There were those who wanted to serve Him.  However, they were still going to be facing the same consequences as everyone else. Not all bondage is of your personal doing, but we all have to suffer the consequences of national sin.  

In years past, we had the national sin of slavery and racism, and we’re still making up for it. 

In Jeremiah’s day, there was no United States.  There was no nation that had the type of freedom that we have.  The nation of Israel wanted a king.  God gave them what they wanted, but had a warning.  He told them that the kings would take their livestock, much of their goods, and a lot of their riches.  Sometimes they had a good king, but sometimes the king was wicked.  

My point is life under Nebuchadnezzar may not have been any worse than under a local rule that was wicked.

They were there because of the judgment for their past sins.  Now God was telling them He was going to add to that.  

Serving God in Difficult Times

You can serve God in captivity.  You can serve God when you’re under foreign rule. 

There’s an example of that in the Bible. Joseph, in the Old Testament, was very loved by his father.(Genesis 37-50)  His father gave him a special coat of many colors.  That caused jealousy among his brothers.  One time when they were out tending the flocks, the brothers conspired to capture Joseph.  They took him and put him in a pit. Then they took his coat, tore it, and put animal blood on it,  They took the coat to their father and made it appear that Joseph was dead.  

When the brothers returned to the pit, rather than kill him, they decided to sell him to a group of Midianites that was passing by.  They then sold Joseph to a high-ranking official in Egypt named Potiphar.

Joseph was betrayed by his brothers.
Joseph was betrayed by his brothers.

Joseph had been betrayed by his brothers, taken from his homeland, and sold into slavery.  He did the best he could in those circumstances.  Over time, he was given positions of responsibility.  The slave became like a chief administrator over Potiphar’s house.  

Then, Potiphar’s wife attempted to seduce Joseph.  When he refused her advances, she became angry and falsely accused him of assault.  

Faithful Through the Trials

The roller coaster of Joseph’s life continued.  After the accusation, he was thrown into prison.  But he was a cooperative prisoner and became a trustee of sorts.  He organized the other prisoners and together they cleaned up the prison.  

Before long, Joseph became high in authority in the prison.  

Then, a couple of Pharoah’s officials were put into prison.  While there, they had some dreams and Joseph told them what the dreams meant. He said one would be released and the other executed.  It happened just the way Joseph said it would.

The one who had been released forgot all about Joseph…until the Pharaoh had a dream that nobody could explain.  When he heard about the dream, he remembered Joseph and said he was in touch with God and could interpret dreams.  

Pharaoh sent for Joseph and God revealed to him what the dream was and its meaning.  Joseph told the king that famine was coming and that he should build storehouses during the plentiful years so there would be food when the famine came.

The king was so impressed that he put Joseph in charge of storing up the grain for the coming famine.  The man who was once a prisoner was now in a place of high authority in Egypt. 

Even in captivity, you can serve the Lord.  

Shadrach, Mesach, and Abednego

Think of the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. (Daniel 3:16-28)  The king had erected a statue of a false god and ordered everyone to bow whenever they heard the music.  The king commanded that anyone who would not worship be thrown into the fiery furnace.  

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would not do it.  Their refusal was reported to the king.  The king had a dilemma because during their captivity, the three had found favor with him.  He didn’t want to execute them.  

The king confronted them and asked again if they would bow.  They all said no.  The king asked if their God was able to deliver them.  They said they knew He was able, but even if He chose not to, they still wouldn’t worship the false god.  

So, the three were thrown into the furnace.  When someone looked inside, they did not see three people…but four!  The Son of God was in that furnace with them.  They were delivered.  

Even when faced with execution, they were faithful to God.
Even when faced with execution, they were faithful to God.

During Daniel’s captivity, the king decreed that no one was allowed to pray for a period of time.  Daniel defied the order and prayed three times a day, as he always had.  He was thrown into a den of hungry lions.  The lions’ mouths were shut and Daniel was delivered.  (Daniel 6)

Naaman

In 2 Kings 5, we find the story of Naaman. He was a great warrior, but he had leprosy.  A slave girl who was serving his wife talked about the prophet Elisha in her homeland.  Naaman trekked to Jerusalem for healing.  Elisha didn’t even come out to greet him.  He sent word that Naaman should go wash in the Jordan River 7 times.  He was healed.

You can serve the Lord in captivity.  You can serve the Lord when things aren’t going well. You can serve the Lord if your government becomes corrupt.  

We still have a responsibility to serve God to the best of our ability.  We still have a responsibility to do that which is right and to be honest.  

Our treasures are not on earth.
Our treasures are not on earth.

Do things for God, and your treasures will be laid up in heaven.  We need to make sure that our friends and family have the promise of heaven, regardless of what the future holds.  Remember, we’re just passing through.

Posted on

What to Do When Life Gets Hard

What To Do When Life Gets Hard

The year was 1635.  John Elliott had just finished a long day riding his horse in the rain.  Just as he had the past few days, he removed his boots and socks. He wrung the water out of his socks only to put them back on again.  He was concerned about his health after the trip. But he had a mission.

John Elliott
John Elliott

John Elliott was born in England in 1604. Like many others, he had attended Cambridge University.  

He came to America and after a couple of years, was sent to Boston, Massachusetts, which, at the time, was a rural and wooded town.  He became the pastor of Roxbury Church. 

Why America?

Why did people come to America?  It certainly wasn’t for an easy life.  Many had to learn how to farm, something they had never done before. Indians taught them how to farm.  

Some new settlers came seeking gold.  We’re told that’s why the Spaniards came. But the ones that came from England were escaping religious persecution.  They wanted to worship God in the way they felt they should according to their hearts.

Many that came over were already pastors.  John Elliott was one of them. 

A New Mission Field

He had a heart for the Native Americans.  He wanted to share the Gospel with them.  There was a problem, though: they didn’t speak the same language.  So John decided to learn their language.  He discovered what a difficult task it was going to be when he learned that a two-syllable phrase in English translated to a 12-syllable phrase in the Wampanoag (the local Indian’s) language.  He began learning the language, but also had an interpreter who knew enough English so they could converse back and forth.  

The apostle to the Native Americans
The apostle to the Native Americans

There were a few stumbling blocks in the process of sharing the Gospel because the two had to sometimes clarify what the other was trying to say.  But they eventually got the message out.  

They began telling them that all people had sinned and come short of the glory of God. That Jesus Christ had come to this Earth as the Son of God, He lived a sinless life and died on the cross to pay the penalty for sin.  Then He ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. 

John went on to tell them that Jesus was coming again and it will be as a Judge.  But the ones who accept Him as Savior will escape the judgment.

That is the message he presented to his neighbors.  They were open and many of them wanted to receive Jesus as Savior.

In fact, there were so many that they decided to start their own village.  They called them Gospel Towns.  

In Europe, he was known as the man who printed the first complete Bible in the United States.  It was a Bible written in the language of the American Indians he was ministering to.  

He had preached to so many Native Americans (Algonquins) who then began preaching to their tribes themselves that he wound up with 24 villages.  They weren’t small, either.  The villages had populations of 2,50 – 4,000.  

Endure Hardness

John Elliott was traveling to these various towns when the relentless rain hit and he had to wring his socks out each night.  He may have gotten some shelter in a tent for a time, but again and again, went back out into the weather.  He wondered if he’d develop pneumonia or something worse and wind up dying from it.  While having these thoughts, he was reminded of the verse 2 Timothy 2:3 which says, “ Endure hard times as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”

It had been raining for days.
It had been raining for days.

What do you do when hard times come?  There’s your answer.  Endure hardness.

That’s what many of the people who came to America decided to do in those early days.  

There’s a book by Robert J. Morgan called “100 Verses That Made America: Defining Moments That Shaped Our Faith.”  I’ve gotten several stories from it, including the one here.  I would recommend you take a look.  

John Elliott said that when things got hard, Jesus stepped in and brought to his mind the verse in 2 Timothy: “Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”

Why Endure Hardness?

Why should we endure hardness?  Because hardness is going to come.  The Bible says it rains on the just and the unjust alike.  (Matthew 5:45)  Sometimes it doesn’t rain enough, sometimes it rains too much.  It’s just a fact of life.  Some things are hard. It’s not all easy.  

I think of newly married couples.  The hard times are bound to come.  It’s so important that you endure the hard times and stick it out.  It’s not always you causing trouble with one another, sometimes it’s just the difficulties of life.  

Disappointment comes.  It could be illness, the sudden death of a loved one, financial hardship, or something else.  If you make it through the hardness together, when you come out on the other side, somehow, you’re stronger.

Of course, you wouldn’t ask for those difficult times to come to make you stronger, but you can be thankful that you have become stronger.  

We’re to endure hardness. It will come.

Preparation for battle
Preparation for battle

When a soldier goes into the service, they start off in basic training.  They have a drill sergeant who is usually pretty tough.  One person said, while he didn’t remember his drill sergeant’s name, he did remember that he was always there. At first, he didn’t like that he was always there, but then he grew to appreciate that the officer was always around when he was needed.

The training is preparing you for the hardness of battle. 

The soldiers are sometimes given a backpack to carry.  It may weigh as much as 50 pounds.  Then they’re told to go on a run or hike.  They’re being prepared physically, pushed beyond their limits.  

I once took a class called “physical fitness” at a local community college.  When we started, they brought us all in and had us do different physical tests.   We did pushups, situps, and chin-ups.  They didn’t tell us why we were doing them, so we all did our very best.  

In the next class, they told us that they were going to take our best and cut it in half.  We were all happy with that.  Then they said we were going to do each exercise three times.  We weren’t quite as thrilled then. But we went on, and at the end of the semester, we did the same tests again and found that we had gained in all the areas we had been working on.

We were pushed to our physical limits and grew as a result.

Endure Hardness as a Good Soldier

Endure hardness as a good soldier.

Soldiers are required to make their beds daily.  An officer once said that it’s to establish a routine and develop good habits.  It’s part of being disciplined.

What is a follower of Christ called?  A disciple, which comes from the word discipline.  In Luke 14:26, Jesus said, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.”

The part about hating family members is by comparison.  Your love and devotion to Jesus should be so much more than that for your family that it isn’t even close!

Discipline

To be a disciple of Jesus.

A Good Soldier

Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

The verse says to be a good soldier, not one that goes in and destroys the countryside.  A good soldier doesn’t go in and pillage and plunder.  

We're called to be good soldiers of Jesus Christ.
We’re called to be good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

A while back, I heard that many people in Afghanistan were coming to Christ. Why?  Because of the good soldiers that were sharing the Gospel. 

Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

We have Jesus as our great Commander.  He’s the greatest leader ever.  Our Earthly leaders will do the best they can but they can only do so much. They have to deal with their limitations.  But when you have Jesus Christ as a leader, He is the Lord of the universe.  He knows everything.  He will make the best decisions.  So as a good soldier, you follow Him.

Even if you don’t understand what your leader is doing, a good soldier completes the mission and sees in the end how it all works out.  That’s how God works with us sometimes.

Joni Eareckson Tada

You may have heard of a lady named Joni Eareckson Tada.  In 1967, she misjudged the depth of a river and dove in headfirst.  She suffered a fracture between her fourth and fifth vertebrae which left her paralyzed from the shoulders down.  She has very limited use of her hands and is able to lift a little bit, but that’s all.  

Joni Eareckson Tada
Joni Eareckson Tada

But she’s painted beautiful pictures by holding a paintbrush in her mouth.  She’s given speeches all over and has been an inspiration to many.  She has endured hardship and come through it. 

Sometimes God allows us to endure hardness so we can help someone else.  

Unbroken

The prisoner could not be broken!
The prisoner could not be broken!

A group of soldiers had been captured and were prisoners of war. One of the camp guards did everything he could to break their spirit.  It was hard to break the spirit of one of the soldiers, though. He had such determination.  At one point, this solder was about at his physical breaking point.  The leader of the camp ordered him to lift a log.  Even on his best day, the soldier couldn’t have lifted it, and now he was ready to drop.  But somehow, he managed to hoist the log over his head.  The camp leader who was trying to break this man wound up the one who was broken and defeated.  

We’re to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

One day, Jesus is coming back.  One day, there will be a war.  All the forces of good and evil will come to battle. Jesus’ forces, including those of us who are Christians, will fight with Him.  It’s called the battle of Armageddon.  (Revelation 16:16)

How will it end?  God, The One who spoke the world into existence will win the battle!

Whose side will you be on?

Armor of God

The Bible tells us to put on the whole armor of God. (Ephesians 6:11-17)  You begin with the helmet of salvation.  If you don’t have the helmet of salvation, the rest of the armor is useless.  But the verses also talk about the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, and feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace.

Ephesians 6:11-17
Ephesians 6:11-17

I want to encourage you, as John Elliott was encouraged, to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

If you have never put on the helmet of salvation, or even if you’re not sure.  You need to be sure!  Feel free to contact me here and I can help you and answer any questions you may have. 

Posted on

Payday, Someday

Payday is coming

Proverbs 26:27 “Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone, it will return upon him.” (MEV)

I picture someone digging a deep pit or moving a huge boulder when I read this verse.  Perhaps a stone-like those used to seal graves.  It took many men or an amazing feat of engineering to get them moved into place. 

Sermon video

That’s why the women who were going to Jesus’ tomb wondered who would move the stone for them.  Of course, we know that their concern wasn’t necessary.  The angels had already moved the stone.

The verse above shows the negative side of how things happen sometimes.  There’s a positive side found in the New Testament.

The Golden Rule

Going back to my youth, a positive side was presented to me by none other than Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.  At the end of their program, they would sing, “Happy trails to you, until we meet again.”  They were Christians.  Dale Evans went around the country talking about the Bible.  My wife and I actually heard her speak in Kansas City, Missouri.  

Roy Rogers & Dale Evans
Roy Rogers & Dale Evans

One of the things they would say before singing their signature song was, “Remember, boys and girls, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  You probably know this as “The Golden Rule.”  It’s actually Biblical.  The verse can be found in Matthew 7:12. 

Jesus said that there were two commandments.  The first one was the greatest, which is to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.  The second one is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.  (Matthew 22:37-39)

Pressed Down, Shaken Together, and Running Over

That’s the positive side of the verse in Proverbs.  The Bible says that what you sow, you reap.  (Galatians 6:7)  If you sow good things, you will reap good things.  If you give, it will be given to you with good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. (Luke 6:38)

Running over
Running over

We had a friend who told of how he had moved to a new community and they arranged for a trash pickup.  The first week, something went wrong, and the trash wasn’t picked up. 

My friend checked and figured they could get by another week until the pickup came.  He looked around to make sure no one was watching, and he climbed on top of the trash pile and began to jump on it to compact it and make some more room.  

However, the following week, the trash service forgot again.  He climbed up on the pile and began to jump to compact it even more.  It was then that the verse, “pressed down, shaken together, and running over” came into his mind.

Haman

On the negative side, if you try to dig a pit to bring harm to someone else, you will fall into your own pit.  If you have a boulder set to ambush someone, be careful because it may roll down on you.  

The story of Haman, beginning in Esther 3, tells how Haman was jealous of Esther’s cousin, Mordecai.  Haman had a gallows built with the intention of seeing Mordecai hanged on it.  

Through a series of events, it was discovered that the wicked one was actually Haman.  The king was so enraged that he ordered Haman to be hanged on the gallows he himself had built!

Be careful what you do.  It can come back to you.  Good can come back good, but evil can come back evil.

Payday, Someday

Dr. R.G. Lee (1886-1978) was the pastor of Bellview Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee.  Dr. Lee was a very well-known Southern Baptist preacher and preached all over the country.

Dr. R.G. Lee
Dr. R.G. Lee

He had a sermon that was very well known.  It was often requested that he preach it.  I read that he had preached this sermon over 1,000 in his lifetime.  It was called “Payday, Someday.”  (I borrowed the title.)

I’m going to share some ideas from that sermon with you, but I’m going to put my own take on it.  

I’m going to tell you about 2 modern characters, 4 Biblical characters, and the day to come.  

Nick

There was a man named Nick who lived in the 1960s.  As he was growing up, he wasn’t doing well.  In fact, his parents had a difficult time raising him.  It was so hard, in fact, that they sent him from Puerto Rico, where he was born, to New York City to stay with relatives.  

While living in NYC, he began to run with crowds that were similar to the ones he ran with when he lived in Puerto Rico.  He discovered the street gangs in New York. Before long, he had become a member of one of them.

It wasn't long before Nick joined a gang.
It wasn’t long before Nick joined a gang.

The gang was involved in all sorts of illegal activities, including drugs.  The gangs would fight one another. They made homemade guns.  They killed members of rival gangs.  Nick had killed people and narrowly escaped death himself.  

At the same time, there was a ministry in New York that wanted to try to help the gang members and drug addicts, and other youth in crisis.  They decided to rent out a building and have a church service. They used school buses to go around and pick up the various gang members. They didn’t realize that they were putting together two gangs that fought against each other.  At least two rival gangs were at that church service that night.

The kids were making a mockery of the service.  During a solo, some of them began to dance in the aisles…not in the Biblical way!  But they heard the Gospel.  

 Nick was one of the people in attendance that night.  He had heard the Gospel and had a decision to make.

Tom

Next, we have Tom.  Tom wasn’t involved in drugs or gangs.  He just lived a regular life.  But Tom needed Jesus just as much as Nick did. How do I know?  Because everybody needs Jesus that much!  Seven years old or seventy years old…everyone needs Jesus.

Tom had been invited to church and he occasionally went.  He had heard the Gospel.  He even understood the Gospel.  He was like the man that Paul spoke to in Acts who told Paul to go away and he’d call for him later. (Acts 24:25)

"Tom" could be anyone.
“Tom” could be anyone.

Tom didn’t want to change his life or his friends at that time.  He said he’d do it later.  

Those are the two modern-day people.  Now I want to talk about the four from the Bible.

Naboth

The first is Naboth. His story is found in 1 Kings 21:1-16.  Naboth owned a vineyard.  He was a good man.  He had been schooled in the law of the Hebrews.  The law said that they could not sell land with the idea of it being a permanent sale.  The land would come back to them after a period of time.

Naboth was committed to upholding that.  

Ahab and Jezebel

At that time, Ahab was the king of Israel.  He was the son of Omri, one of the most wicked kings that Israel had ever had.  Ahab was actually worse than his father.  

Ahab’s summer palace was located right next to Naboth’s vineyard.  The king asked to buy the vineyard, but Naboth refused, as a permanent sale of the land went against scripture.  Ahab was very upset and returned to the palace. 

Ahab’s wife was a woman named Jezebel. She was not of Jewish descent.  She was a foreigner and worshiped Baal.  She was very dedicated to her religion and would do anything she could to take out the competition.

Upon his return to the palace, Ahab went to his bed and pouted and refused to eat.  His wife went to him to find out what was wrong.  He told her about his conversation with Naboth and his refusal to sell the vineyard.  

Ahab wanted Naboth's land.
Ahab wanted Naboth’s land.

Jezabel said, “Aren’t you the king of Israel?  Get up and eat something.  I’ll get that vineyard for you.  I just need to borrow your ring.”

So Jezabel, pretending to be Ahab, wrote a letter to the elders and nobles in Naboth’s city.  She instructed them to proclaim a fast on a certain day.  On that day, they were to bring Naboth to the seat of judgment for a trial.  The charge was blasphemy, which was punishable by death.    

The day arrived and the elders and nobles did as they were instructed.  Naboth was put on trial.  Jezabel had hired two “sons of Belial” to bear false witness against Naboth.  (Belial is another word for the devil.)

Before he even had a chance to defend himself, he was taken out of the city and stoned to death.  

Elijah

The fourth BIblical character is Elijah.  He was a spokesman for God and had said that it wouldn’t rain until Elijah said it would. (1Kings 17:1)  So, Ahab already hated him.  Because of that, Elijah had gone into hiding, which further enraged Ahab.  When Elijah, alone, went up against 450 prophets of Baal and won, that angered Jezebel.  (1 Kings 18:16-40)

Elijah heard what had happened to Naboth and he met with Ahab.  He told Ahab that the dogs would lick up his blood in the place where he killed Naboth.  He also said that dogs would consume his wife, Jezebel.  

Ahab returned to his palace. He and Jezebel would sometimes eat food that came from Naboth’s lands.  After a time, when nothing happened to them, Jezebel began to mock what Elijah had said.  She believed nothing would happen to them.  

Payday Always Comes

With God, there’s always a payday.  It’s just not always on Friday.

Ahab and Jezebel lived on happily for 3 years. 

Then the king of Judah came to visit Ahab and the two decided to go to war in an effort to claim some land. Ahab planned to go into battle in disguise; wearing the disguise over his royal armor.  

The captain of the opposing army instructed his men to only go after Ahab, no one else.  Because Ahab was in disguise, no one could find him.  Finally, a soldier shot an arrow randomly into the air. It went into an opening in Ahab’s armor and wounded him.  They made their way back in the direction of the palace. Ahab’s blood was pouring from the chariot, and, just as prophesied, dogs licked it up in the very place where Naboth died.

It happened exactly as Elijah had prophesied
It happened exactly as Elijah had prophesied

Jezebel, however, still lived.  She lived through many kings. Then, King Jehu came into power.  He came to the wall of the palace where she was and asked if any within were on his side.  There were some, and he ordered that Jezabel be thrown from the wall. He trampled her with his horse.  

When they later went to bury her, all that remained was her skull, feet, and palms of her hands.  The dogs had eaten the rest.

There’s always a payday.

Chief of the Kangaroo Court

Dr. Lee said that he would sometimes receive hate mail.  One of the letter-writers would sign the letters “The Chief of the Kangaroo Court.”  

One day while sitting at home, a nurse from a Memphis hospital called Dr. Lee and said that a man was requesting his presence.  He refused to give his name to the hospital, but said to tell Dr. Lee that he was the “Cheif of the Kangaroo Court.”

When he arrived at the hospital, Dr. Lee encountered a young man with the wildest, weirdest eyes he’d ever seen.  The man may have been large at one point, but his boy was ravaged by disease. 

He said to the man, “Hello.” 

“Howdy do?” he answered. 

“Is there something I can do for you?” Dr. Lee asked as kindly as he could. 

“No. Nothing! Not a thing. Nothin’ ‘tall! — unless you throw my body to the buzzards when I am dead — if the buzzards will have it!” he said.

Then his voice lost some of the snarl — and he spoke again. “I sent for you, sir because I want you to tell these young fellows here something for me. I sent for you because I know you go up and down the land and talk to many young people. And I want you to tell ’em, and tell ’em every chance you get, that the Devil pays only in counterfeit money.” 

R.G. Lee would have loved to lead that young man to the Lord, but it wasn’t to be.  He sat by the bedside and two hours later, the young man died.

There’s a payday coming someday.

Eternal Consequences

Back to Tom.  He had said, “Someday, I will come to to the Lord.  I will get saved someday when I’m older.” Before that “someday” came, Tom had a stroke.  Pastors came to visit, but Tom was unresponsive, unconscious.  Payday had come for Tom.

David Wilkerson and Nicky Cruz
David Wilkerson and Nicky Cruz

Nick, better known as Nicky Cruz, heard David Wilkerson preach and gave his life to the Lord the night of that service, as did another gang leader.  Several members of the gang followed in their footsteps and became Christians,

Payday is coming someday!

If we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, at the end of our life when that payday comes, it won’t be a bad one, it will be a wonderful one. All wrongs will be made right. Maybe not in our timeline, but it will happen. 

What will your payday be?
What will your payday be?

What is the way out for us as humans?  It’s simply the fact that God loved us so much that He sent His Son to this world to be crucified. Jesus had the weight of all the sins of all the world, past, present, and future, put upon Him.  The answer for your payday is what you have done with Jesus.  Have you accepted Him as your Lord and Savior?  Or, like Tom, are you putting it off until a more convenient time?

Payday is coming.  I hope you’re ready. If you’re not, I invite you to come to Jesus.

Posted on

How to Know That You Are Making Good Decisions

How to Know That You Are Making Good Decisions

Jay Austin was, on the surface, a successful used car salesman. Unfortunately, his sales techniques were less than honorable.  He made promises he couldn’t keep, cheated people, and said whatever was necessary to make the sale.  

Sermon video

Jay’s Problem

Two of his employees had learned well how to use those same dishonest techniques.  

Jay needed money!
Jay needed money!

As I said, it looked like he was doing well on the surface.  He was moving a lot of cars and bringing in a lot of money.  But he was buried in debt.  

One day, the bank called him and requested a meeting.  Jay was told that he had 30 days to pay off his loan or the bank was going to foreclose on the business.

Not only were there problems with the business, but there were struggles going on within his family as well.  He was too proud to admit it was his fault.  He wanted to blame others for his problems, 

But his wife and son both knew that they could not trust his word when he said he was going to do something.  They knew about his dishonesty.  He pridefully tried to cover it up.  Occasionally, he would attend church with them, but not often.  Other times, he mocked the idea of going to church.  

But the bottom was dropping out.  It looked like he was going to lose his business.  But his wife had been praying for him. 

On the Right Path

A televised sermon changed his life.
A televised sermon changed his life.

One day, he saw a church service on TV.  He decided that his way of doing things wasn’t working, so he confessed to the Lord.  He admitted his dishonesty, and his lack of support for his family, and told God that he wanted to change.  

He thought he was done, that God would be merciful and he could move forward from that point. 

But something happened inside of Jay because he really had changed.  He realized that he couldn’t continue with his dishonest business practices.  Would the Lord rescue him?

Psalm 37:1-5

(KJV) Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. 2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. 3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. 4 Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. 5 Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

Scriptures for the blog.
Scriptures for the blog.

Proverbs 3:5-6


(KJV) 5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Lean Not on Your Own Understanding

So Jay started off by following the steps in the passage in Proverbs.  He told God that he didn’t know how, but he was going to quit cheating people and instruct his employees to stop as well. 

Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”  The Bible says that the greatest commandment is “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”(Matthew 22:37)  With everything within you.

You can come to Christ just as you are, but if you really meet Him, you don’t leave the same as when you arrived.  Something starts working in your life.  

The Bible says that there’s a change and we start to bear fruit.  It also says that some do better than others.  Some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, some a hundredfold.  

Sometimes the change is obvious and immediate.  People see the change and want to know what’s happened.  Other times, depending on past challenges, the fruit takes longer to ripen.  

Lean not on your own understanding.  

Trust God

Jay was trusting God with all his heart.  But he didn’t know how to glorify God in bringing in money. His former practices of lying and scheming weren’t going to work anymore.  

His employees were doubtful.  They knew that there wouldn’t be as much money coming in as before. They also realized that they’d be losing money on their commissions.  That was a big concern for them.  They didn’t want to go along with this new plan, but Jay pushed for them to be honest.  

If it happened that they were not honest, Jay would go to the customer himself and make it right. He continued his new practice of being honest.  In some cases, he realized he had to go back and return money to some former customers. 

Even though he had 30 days to come up with the money for the bank, he continued in his new course of honesty.  He had made a commitment to God and intended to honor it.  He decided to not lean on his own understanding.

That’s something we all need to do.  Our understanding is shaped not by the Bible, but by the world.  That’s why it’s so important to study the Scriptures.  It ought to become a part of our lives.  We need to get away from our own understanding and into God’s understanding.  

Study the Scriptures to learn the mind of Christ.
Study the Scriptures to learn the mind of Christ.

When you become a parent, you have this tiny human who has been given to you, and it dawns on you that this is an enormous responsibility.  Where’s the instruction manual?  What you do is fall back on what you know, what you have seen, or how your parents raised you.  That can be good.  Your parents may have been instructed in the ways of the Lord and had the mind to follow Him.  

But maybe you had parents who didn’t follow God’s leading and just muddled through and didn’t make good decisions.  

Then there are parents who the world may say that they have no business being parents. Then your resolve will be not to be like your parents.  The problem there is that you keep focusing on them and whatever you focus on affects you.  So lean not on your own understanding but lean on the promises of God.

Good News/Bad News

A local news outlet decided to do an undercover investigation of used car dealers.  They sent a reporter in to pose as a potential employee.  The employees who weren’t happy with Jay’s new system got fed up and left and began working for a competitor.  

The news outlet went and interviewed the two and they told stories of how Jay used to run his business and how dishonest he used to be.  

So the report came out.  It wasn’t good.  Jay told God, “Lord, I’m trusting you.  I’m changing my life.  I don’t understand how this is going to work.”

How to Know That You Are Making Good Decisions

Years ago, in the first decade of our marriage, we were living in Georgia.  We had several decisions to make.  Our desire was to always be in God’s will.  

A flyer came to our house about a conference that was going to be in Atlanta.  One of the bullet points was “how to know you’re in the will of God.”  While I was looking at the new material, that one point really stood out to me.

That one session was the main reason I went.  It was a week-long conference.  Day after day, they didn’t cover that one topic.  Finally, Thursday night was the day for the “Will of God” session.  He spoke for 30 minutes or so on most of the advertised topics, but when he came to this one, he was running short on time, and he only spoke on it for a few minutes, probably only two or three; however, it was long enough and I got the answer I was seeking.  It was the verse, “In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:6)

Make Christ Known

The speaker said to make Christ known in every area of your life.  Acknowledge that He is the Miracle Worker, the One who cares for you and loves you. If in all your ways, you are trusting Him, He will direct your paths.  

That may not seem like a very “deep” answer, but it’s served me well for 40 years. When you continue to do this, you begin to develop a sense of when God is speaking to you.  You’ll feel a little tug on your heart, mind, or spirit.  It may not be thunder and lightning, but there’s that little tug you feel and know that it’s Him speaking to you. 

If you acknowledge Him in all areas of your life, you can trust that He will direct your paths.  

Does that mean that you’ll always make perfect decisions?  Probably not.  But the Bible covers that as well.  “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) 

Results of Change

So, the report had been released.  In it, Jay’s former employees talked about how unfair and dishonest he had been in the past.  It didn’t look good.

Then, people started speaking out.  They talked about how Jay had come to them, admitted his dishonesty, and made things right.  They told of how he’d given money back and apologized to them.  

Jay's commitment to God was successful.
Jay’s commitment to God was successful.

Psalm 37:4 says that if we trust in God, He will give us the desires of our hearts.  Sometimes, though, we don’t get what we want.  One clue may be in James 4:3 where it says, “you have not because you ask not.”

Another reason we don’t always get what we want is that what we want may not be good for us.  We ask amiss, and God, in His wisdom, says no, because He knows what’s best for us.

Good Things

I believe that God delights in giving us good things.  

When we lived in Georga, I was the principal of a Christian school and we had weekly staff meetings.  They were different from any I’ve been in before or since.  We’d start off by spending up to 15 minutes strategizing what we could do to make things better.  We then went around the table and each prayed.  I remember one particular woman who was a prayer warrior.  She and another lady decided her son needed a good wife.  They began to pray and that son now has a wife and children.  

Another time, I recall her praying that God would meet the needs of my family.  The school wasn’t able to pay much, so she prayed that our needs would be met. She prayed that God would give us something that would simply bring us joy.  Her prayers were answered time and time again. 

Prayer warrior
Prayer warrior

Her husband was a dairy farmer, and they were audited by the IRS.  While most people would have been nervous, they were completely at peace.  They got their tax professional, went to the audit, and wound up getting money back!

Around that time, Rhonda was expecting our second child (Ralanna).  We had decent health insurance, but it didn’t pay everything.  We were going to have to pay some of the medical expenses out of our own pocket.  Those people got that money back from the IRS and paid those bills for us. We say that Ralanna is their baby as well as ours. 🙂

God will give you miraculous things.  Lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him.  Trust in Him.  Delight in Him and He will give you the desires of your heart.

I mentioned that sometimes we ask God for the wrong things.  Once you get closer to Him and get to know Him better, the things you ask for begin to change and you start asking for proper things.  

Delivered!

I recently heard a man testify that God was blessing him in his business.  But, he was a functional addict.  Like Jay, it looked like the man was doing well on the surface.  But he was an alcoholic and was addicted to cocaine and ultimately to crack cocaine. 

He really wanted to serve God.  One night he prayed for deliverance from his addiction and that the desire for the drug would be taken away.

When he woke up the next morning, the desire was gone!  Many years later, it has not returned. 

Delight yourself in the Lord and He’ll give you the desires of your heart.  If your desires are wrong, He’ll tell you as long as you acknowledge Him in all ways.

Back to Jay.  The negative news report had come out, but then so many people came and spoke about all the good things he had done.  Because of the positive reviews, more and more people started going to his business to buy their cars.  By the end of the month, enough money had come in that Jay was able to pay the bank the money he owed them. 

Jay’s Story

A little disclaimer: The story of Jay is based on a movie written by the Kendrick brothers.  You may recognize their names from movies like Facing the Giants, Fireproof, Courageous, War Room, and several others.  The story of Jay Austin can be found in their first movie, Flywheel.  (You can Google some interesting trivia about the movie.)

Flywheel Movie
Flywheel Movie

Flywheel is actually my favorite of all the movies they’ve made.

In Closing

How do you know that you’re making good decisions?  Are you acknowledging Him in all your ways?  If you are, you can trust that you’re making good decisions. You can also trust that if you aren’t, God will let you know.

Posted on

What’s A Mother to Do?

Today, I’ll be looking at three different passages of scripture.  The main one will be 1 Kings 17.  I’ll also discuss Luke 4 and Matthew 6. I’ll begin with Matthew 6.

Many times, a mother will ask herself, “What’s a mother to do?”

My wife worried, but our daughter was ok.
My wife worried, but our daughter was ok.

When our second child was about 2 years old, my wife was preparing a salad.  She was tearing off the bits of lettuce that were browned and not edible.  She heard a noise, turned around, and discovered our daughter eating the scraps.  We panicked a little, but she was fine.

I heard of a mother who went into her child’s room and found that the child had “decorated” the walls with crayons.  In a flash of insight, the mother grabbed an empty picture frame and framed the child’s artwork, and just left it there.

I want to tell you about a mother who was in dire straits.  She was wondering what she was going to do.  

Matthew 6:25-34

25 “Therefore, I say to you, take no thought about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they do not sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they? 27 Who among you by taking thought can add a cubit[a] to his stature? 28 “Why take thought about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: They neither work, nor do they spin. 29 Yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these. 30 Therefore, if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is here and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore, take no thought, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 (For the Gentiles seek after all these things.) For your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be given to you. 34 Therefore, take no thought about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take thought about the things of itself. Sufficient to the day is the trouble thereof.

History Lesson

First Kings chapter 17 tells us about a woman who was in dire straits.  The economy was very bad.  She lived in ancient Israel.  The time was after David the great king and his son Solomon.  Solomon’s son Rehoboam was the successor.  He went to the counselors and asked what he should do for the people.  They gave him some good advice, telling him that his father had gotten pretty harsh in his old age.  They recommended that Rehoboam help the people and they would love him forever.  

However, he went to some younger people and was told that if he gave too much to the people, they would take advantage of him.

So he followed the counsel of the younger people and announced that things were about to get much more difficult under his reign.  Ten of the 12 tribes decided they would not go along with that and left.

What had been a united kingdom was now split between the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom.  The northern kingdom kept the name Israel.  The southern kingdom went by Judah.  

The prophets came and said that if they didn’t repent, they would be taken into captivity.  That did happen later.  The Assyrians came and took the northern tribes into captivity and they pretty much disappeared.  You don’t hear about them much anymore.  If you’ve heard of the “ten lost tribes of Israel”, it’s most likely about those tribes taken by the Assyrians.

What remained was Judah.  Jerusalem was in that country.  That’s where the main Jewish temple was.  Assyria’s power began to wane, so Babylon came in and took Judah captive.  So, in the end, they all wound up in captivity, just as the prophets had said.

Before the captivity, there was a series of kings.  All the kings of the northern kingdoms, beginning with Rehoboam, rebelled against God.  He created idols such as golden calves, for them to worship.  In the Bible, it says that the nation continued to do evil in the sight of God.  

The southern kingdom had a mix of both good and bad kings.  King Ahab was known as the worst king ever. The mother in our story lived during his reign.  There was a drought and famine in the land, so food was very scarce.  

What’s A Mother to Do?

The mother’s problem was that she was alone.  She had a son, but she was a widow.  She was doing her best to make ends meet.

One day she was out gathering twigs for a fire.  She had looked at her food supply and discovered that she had only enough left to make one meal for herself and her child.  

Then a man of God came along.  It seemed to the woman that it was just a chance encounter.  In their culture, they were supposed to care for strangers and travelers.  The man asked for a drink and the woman obliged. As she turned to get it, the man asked for a piece of bread as well.  The woman was devastated.  She told the traveler that she had enough supplies for one bit of bread for her and her son to eat and that they would then most likely starve to death.  

What's a mother to do? She barely had enough for her son and herself.
What’s a mother to do? She barely had enough for her son and herself.

You may think that this man of God took pity on the woman and told her to keep the bread for herself and her child.  He did not.  He told her to go ahead and make the bread and bring it to him when she brought the drink.  

What’s a mother to do?  She’s gotten instruction that seems to make no sense, and goes against her every instinct!

Sometimes, God does that with us.  Sometimes while you’re reading the Bible, you will come across something that doesn’t seem to make sense.  Why?  Because we’re thinking in the ways of the world.  We don’t know what the future holds, but God does.  

The man of God was named Elijah. He gave the woman the instruction and she was supposed to follow it.

What’s a mother to do?

A mother, and everyone else, needs to have her ears attuned to hearing God speak to her.  Keep your mind open when reading the Bible.  If the Scriptures say it’s wrong, it’s wrong.  No discussion is needed.  

God's voice to us
God’s voice to us

It doesn’t matter how you try to rationalize it, if it seems too harsh, or if it doesn’t make sense to you.  If God says it’s wrong, it’s wrong!

Now, I do believe in a certain amount of tolerance.  I won’t kill you for your opinion, and I certainly hope you won’t kill me for mine.

But today, there seems to be a movement that says, “I can have my opinion, but you can’t have your (BIblical based) opinion.”  That’s not tolerance. 

For me, on this Earth, the only one who can get me to change my opinion on Biblical matters is God.

Obedience and Miracles

Back to our mother: Elijah told her to do as she said, to make the bread for herself and her son, but first, bring him some of it. She was in a quandary.  She wrestled with the idea of just leaving the man standing there instead of feeding him as he’d asked.  She made the decision to do as he had asked.

She reached down into the flour barrel, and a few grains fell out of her hand. She thought maybe there was a little more than she had thought.  Then she poured the oil and noticed she had a few more drops than she had realized. But there wasn’t enough to make another cake. She went ahead and made the cake and took it to Elijah.

Feeling hopeful, she reached back into the flour barrel and found that there was enough to make a cake (bread)for herself and her son.  She discovered the same thing with the oil.  That in itself was amazing.

The next day, however, she went back to check the supplies and found that there was enough flour and oil to feed them that day. The next day was the same, and the next, and the next!  God provided for that widow and her son. 

Luke 4:24-27 mentions the widow:
24 He also said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 But I tell you truthfully, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were closed for three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land. 26 Yet to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, a city of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet. But none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”

So out of all the people in need during that time, the one widow heard and obeyed, and was given a miracle.  Why was it only her? 

I don’t know.

What I do know is that God is good all the time.  I know that the Apostle Paul had seen countless miracles.  It’s called a miracle because it doesn’t happen all the time.  If it happened all the time, it would just be something we expected. A miracle is when God does something unusual and supernatural.  He did that for the widow.  

What Are We to Do?

Now it comes to what are we to do?

We are to look for God and listen for God all the time in our lives.  We are to watch for the miracles and when they happen, rejoice and testify about them. 

Maybe you’re like Paul, who had an infirmity of the flesh.  Three times he asked God to remove it from him, and probably thought He would, but God did not remove the infirmity.  However, Paul continued to praise and serve the Lord.  

Sometimes God does something miraculous, sometimes He doesn’t.  But he told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you.”  

So what’s a mother to do?  What’s a person to do when in dire straits?  

First of all, you pray and look for God to work.  When you see Him working, allow it to happen. But, you also need to trust God when you don’t understand what’s going on.  

Another Miracle

After the blessing of the flour and oil, the widow came to a point where she didn’t understand what was going on.  After some time, her son became very ill.  It looked like he was near death. 

The widow's son became very ill.
The widow’s son became very ill.

So the widow sent word to Elijah that her son was gravely ill. She asked if he was just going to continually remind her of her sin.  She sarcastically spoke to Elijah.  He ignored her sarcasm and asked that the child be brought to him.  She carried her son to the prophet and he took him to an upper room and began to pray. Three times he asked God to bring the child’s soul back.  After the third request, the child began to breathe again. Not only was he breathing, but he got up and was well.

She had trusted God with the food, and He provided.  God had healed her son. 

What’s a mother to do?

Listen to God to see where He’s going to work.  Read and believe Scripture.  Trust God in the everyday things of life.

The Final Action

There’s one other part of the mother and son’s story.  It’s not written in 1 Kings 17 but I know that it happened.  At some point, they both died.  I believe that the woman trusted God, and at her death, she went to be with Him.  I also like to think that she told her son the story as he grew, and he came to trust God as well.  If he did, he also went to be with God in the end. 

So, the most important thing that ANY person can do is to know that you know that if death comes your way, you’re ready to go and meet the Lord.  It will be a wonderful thing for you.  It will be a time of joy, with no pain or suffering. 

Invite Jesus into your life today.
Invite Jesus into your life today.

What’s a mother to do?  Trust God.  Most of all, make sure you’re ready!  How?

Believe in the promises that are in God’s Word.  I’d be glad to show you some.  You can contact me here and I can share them with you.  I’m not asking if you’ve attended church, or even said a prayer once.  Do you KNOW that you’re ready to meet God?

Posted on

Easter is Real! You Received the Gift. Now what?

Easter is real.

Sermon video

Saul, a man in the first century, had a problem. He thought he was right, but he wasn’t. He was sincerely deluded. He needed to change his mind, which is another way to describe repentance, and Saul needed to repent!

On his way to Damascus, Saul met a guide. The Lord Jesus Christ came into his heart. It actually knocked him off of his horse! Do you think that got his attention?

Attention Grabber

Sometimes God needs to get our attention
Sometimes God needs to get our attention

It’s kind of like the farmer who had the mule. He talked to his neighbor, also a farmer, and the neighbor said, “How do you get your mule to do what you want him to do?” The other farmer said, “You have to be gentle with him.” His neighbor said he’d give it a try. A few minutes later, the first farmer climbed up into his wagon and gave the mule the “go” command and snapped the reins. The animal just stood there. The farmer climbed down from his seat, grabbed a 2×4 and whacked the mule between the eyes. The neighbor, having seen all this, said, “I thought you said you had to be gentle with him.” The other farmer answered, “Yes, but you have to get his attention first.”

Saul/Paul

That’s the way it was with Saul as he was going along the road: God had to get his attention so He knocked Saul off of his horse. He was also struck blind and would not remember that day, nor the next two.

A man named Ananias had gotten a word from the Lord that God had been working in Saul’s life so he came and prayed for him. Saul’s blindness was taken away.

The beginning of a new life!
The beginning of a new life!

That day, Saul’s name was changed to Paul. He was the apostle Paul and was to be Jesus’ messenger to the Gentiles. The word apostle means a messenger. Think of it as our modern-day missionaries.

Easter is Real!

I know sometimes we’re told the history of the word “Easter” has to do with Ishtar and pagan religions. But that is NOT what we worship. Christians redeemed the day. They took a festival that was not honoring to God and decided to turn it into a celebration of Jesus. That’s why we celebrate the resurrection when we do.

For those of us who are Christians, that overshadows the former pagan celebrations. Even those who are students of history, when they hear the word “Easter,” the first thing that comes to mind is the celebration of the resurrection.

Christmas also had pagan festivals going on during that time. The church came in and decided to remember the birth of Jesus. Although they didn’t know when He was born, they knew that he was born, so they decided to use that day to remember His birth and the reason for it. God became flesh. That is the meaning of the word Emmanuel: God in the flesh.

Easter is real because it reminds us of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Luke 24:4-7

While they were greatly perplexed concerning this, suddenly two men stood by them in shining garments. 5 As they were afraid and bowed their faces to the ground, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen! Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’ ”

That’s Easter. That’s why we celebrate. Because of that, we can understand that we have sinned, that we need a Savior, and Jesus offers a gift.

Matthew 28:5-6

5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid. For I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here. For He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay

That’s why we worship. That’s why we worship on Sunday: the first day of the week. It’s the day when Jesus was resurrected. Easter is a remembrance of the resurrection for us. It’s a reminder of what Jesus did for us.

Facts!

There is a lot of proof of the resurrection of Jesus. The angel told the women to see where He had been. Peter and John went later and looked. (John 20:4) They all saw the empty grave clothes.

He appeared to the disciples twice, once when Thomas wasn’t with them, and again when he was.

Thomas had said that he needed to see the nail prints in His hands, and touch the wound in His side. But when Thomas saw the risen Savior, he knelt down and said, “My Lord and my God.” (John 20:24-28)

Easter is real
Several saw the empty tomb

So you have the empty tomb, seen by many people. Several people who knew Jesus well testified to the fact that He was no longer in the tomb, He indeed is alive!

You’ve Received the Gift

You received the gift.

Saul met the living Christ, and the living Christ called him to action and he was called to be the apostle to the Gentiles. He received the gift.

The gift is there because Jesus paid the penalty. You and I are all under the penalty of death. The penalty is being separated from God. If you end this life in that state, you will stay that way forever. That’s why it’s so important for everyone in this life to understand that salvation is a free gift. Accept it now!

The greatest gift of all!
The greatest gift of all!

If you’ve accepted the gift, even in the valley of the shadow of death, you will fear no evil, for you know that God is with you. His rod and staff will comfort you. (Psalm 23:4)

Any Christians who have faced death, if it had come, we would have just slipped on over into Glory. It’s a wonderful thing to know that!

Jesus offers the gift, and you receive it by faith. You come as a little child and receive it by faith.

But then, what happens? You have joy and hope for the future, but something happens in that moment.

Now What?

What happens now?
What happens now?

2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Look, all things have become new.

Christ came into your life. You have new things happening; some that you may not understand. You have new desires.

The Bible tells us that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart. (Psalm 37:4)

There are 2 different ways of looking at that verse. One way is that we have certain things that we would like, or desire. We would ask our Heavenly Father for those things and He would not turn us away, He loves us, He delights in us, and He gives us what we desire.

But sometimes, our desires change. What we wanted before we don’t want anymore because we delight ourselves in the Lord and He gives us the desires of our heart.

I think both of those are true. You can find scriptures that tell you that if you pray and ask God for things, he will give them to you. (Matthew 7:7-8)

God will make you new.
God will make you new.

God comes in and works in our hearts. He makes a new creature out of us, and there is a change that comes into our lives. The change may be in our attitudes, our speech, our actions, or where we go. We may have immediate victory over something.

I know a man who was heavily addicted to cocaine. He prayed for God to remove the desire for the drug away, and even after several years, that man’s desire is still gone!

I know others who suffered with addiction, and the Lord came into their lives, but they still struggled with the addiction. They endured and struggled through the addiction. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. (Matthew 24:13)

I don’t know how God chooses how He does what He does, but I do know that sometimes He wants us to learn something. He wants us to grow and not be exalted above measure.

Paul had an affliction; the Bible doesn’t tell us what it was. He called a “thorn in his flesh” he asked 3 times for the Lord to remove it, and God chose not to. Paul may have wondered why. He came to the conclusion that it was so he would not be exalted above measure. God told Paul that His grace was sufficient. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

Easter is real. You received the gift.

Come As You Are

You can come just as you are. You don’t have to go out and make amends to people you have wronged and then come. You can come right away, just as you are, but you won’t leave the same. If you really meet Christ, you won’t leave the same as you came. There will be a change.

For some, it’s a dramatic change. For some, it’s less. But no matter what, there is a change, because you have met the living Lord. You’ll begin to experience the change as you travel along in your Christian walk.

Easter is real. You received the gift. Now what?

Realize that there is a change going on and you need to nurture the new creature that you are becoming.

How do you do that?

In order to grow, you must be fed.
In order to grow, you must be fed.

Well, if you’re a baby in Christ, you need to be fed. How do babes in Christ get fed? By the Word of God. That’s how Jesus speaks to us. We allow Him to speak to us and we listen to Him. Not only that, though.

We have the wonderful privilege of speaking to God. Some new Christians may be unsure about prayer. They’ve never done it before and aren’t really sure how to do it.

Praying in public is one thing. But you need to find a quiet place where it’s just you and God, where you can talk to Him. If you’re mad, tell Him that! He can handle it, and may just come back and straighten you out. Ask Him for help. Just talk to God.

Some people use Elizabethan English in their prayers. It’s beautiful and from the heart. Even though I’ve been a “man of the cloth” for many years, I just speak to God using my regular words. It doesn’t matter if you use big, flowery words or simple ones. Just speak to Him in a way that is meaningful to you.

Acts 1:1-8

This passage was written after the resurrection. It’s believed it is Luke who wrote this because it’s addressed to a man named Theophilus and the Gospel of Luke mentions a man of the same name. (Luke 1:3)

The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 until the day when He was taken up, after He had given commandments (one of which was 18 Then Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. {Matthew 28:18-20}) through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen, 3 to whom He presented Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, appearing to them for forty days, and speaking concerning the kingdom of God. 4 Being assembled with them, He commanded them, “Do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, of which you have heard from Me.[a] 5 For John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. 6 So when they had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or the dates, which the Father has fixed by His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Easter is real! Jesus rose from the grave. He conquered death. You received the gift by faith. Then you began to grow in Him and He makes a new creature out of you. Be sure to talk to God and listen to Him.

Go and Tell

Then He said “When the power of the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be My witnesses.”

Go and tell someone what the Lord has done for you. That’s the very next step after receiving that gift.

Tell people what God has done for you.
Tell people what God has done for you.

Many times, we will receive the gift of salvation in church, so that’s easy. People will go forward at the end of the service and pray, and will either say themselves that they’ve accepted the Lord, or ask the pastor to do it for them.

Everyone in the congregation rejoices. But it’s not only them. The angels in Heaven rejoice as well. (Luke 15:10)

Go and tell someone! One of our grandchildren once called us, excited to tell us that they had accepted the Lord. I’m so thankful for that.

Baptism

The next step, after telling someone…or everyone…is to be baptized. That’s a symbol of the change that has taken place in you. It’s representative of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. You were buried with Him, and rose again to walk in newness of life.

The Holy Spirit

The Bible says that when you receive Christ, you receive the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:9, 1 Corinthians 12, 2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:13) The apostles received it on the day of Pentecost. There was a Great Power that came through them. (Acts 2:1-3) Christ will empower you to tell your story to others.

You have friends who don’t know this wonderful Truth that you know. You can tell them, in your own words, that Easter is real. Tell them that there was a time in your life when you didn’t know Christ, and then you came to Him and the story of what that was like for you. Tell them how it’s been different, how God made a new creature out of you.

Go and tell someone what the Lord has done.

The apostle Paul changed his name (to Paul, the Greek version of Saul) since he was going to preach to the Gentiles. He faced many obstacles. The persecutor became the persecuted. At the end of his life, he wrote, “I have fought a good fight. I’m ready to be delivered.” (2 Timothy 4:6-8) The day came, and Paul went to be with Jesus.

Paul changed his future destination.
Paul changed his future destination.

Paul avoided the terrible destination that he was formerly headed to.

As Saul, he really thought he was doing what God wanted him to do. He thought he really knew the Father. But Jesus said if you really know the Father, you would know Me. If you really knew the Scriptures, you would know who I am. (John 14:7-14)

Saul/Paul was changed and successfully established many churches. Many say that he’s one of the greatest preachers who ever lived. When his life ended, he entered into Heaven and eternity and met the One who knocked him off his horse on the way to Damascus. He met Him and got to talk to Him. Maybe he thanked God for getting his attention.

It’s Your Turn

You can meet Him today!
You can meet Him today!

Have you ever accepted Jesus as you Lord and Savior? If you haven’t, I invite you to do that today. You can reach me at the contact information on this blog and I will be happy to tell you how. The Bible says that if you, by faith, receive Him, you will become a new creation.

Posted on

Tragedy to Triumph to What?

Many good stories tell of someone going to a high point, then plummeting to a low point. Hopefully, they rise again. A lot of times, they rise even better than before.

Sermon video

You may have heard of Dave Ramsey. He became a millionaire at a young age, but then he lost it all. He managed to claw his way out and once he did, he made a vow that he would never be in debt again. Since then, he’s become a financial advisor and helped many people overcome financial struggles. He has a book called “The Total Money Makeover,” and has a course called “Financial Peace University”

Not all stories have happy endings, however. That’s a tragedy.

Today, I want to discuss three such stories today. The first one is from history, the second one is about our Nation, and the third is about our own personal history.

Matthew 21:1-11

21 When they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, on the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go over into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to Me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them.’ And he will send them immediately.” 4 All this was done to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying: 5 “Tell the daughter of Zion ‘Look, your King is coming to you, humble, and sitting on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their garments on them, and He sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their garments on the road. Others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went before Him and that followed Him cried out: “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Hosanna in the highest!” 10 When He entered Jerusalem, the entire city was moved, saying, “Who is He?” 11 The crowds said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”

In Luke, this account says that some of the Pharisees were angry at what the crowd was saying and told Jesus to rebuke them. Jesus’ reply was, “I tell you, if these should be silent, the stones would immediately cry out.” (Luke 19:28-40)

Jesus accepted the praise of the people, as was His right. He was God in the flesh.

Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem

Triumph

The triumphal entry as it is sometimes called, or Palm Sunday, was a great day. But we know that it wouldn’t continue. The celebrating would end. The week would go downhill after that.

Tragedy

One of Jesus’ disciples betrayed Him, and He was falsely accused and arrested. He was taken before Caiaphas, the High Priest, and accused of blasphemy. Caiaphas didn’t have the power, legally, to put Him to death, so He was taken to the Roman authorities, a man named Pilate. Even though Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, he allowed himself to be swayed by the crowd.

First Pilate thought that the crowd would be satisfied if he had Jesus scourged with an instrument called a cat-o-nine tails. He did so, and the flesh was ripped from Jesus’ body. The Bible says it was unrecognizable as human flesh.

That was not good enough for the Jewish leaders. They continued to incite the crowd. Pilate said he would release Jesus to the crowd, but, at the urging of their religious leaders, they said, “We have no king but Caesar. Give us Barabbas!”

The death of Jesus was seen as a tragedy by his followers.
The death of Jesus was seen as a tragedy by his followers.

Barabbas the murderer was set free, and Jesus was taken to Calvary and crucified. The wages of sin is death, and on the cross, Jesus truly died for our sins. He took our penalty upon Himself and He paid it.

All of His disciples, not just Peter, forsook Him and fled. It was a dark time in history.

Glorious Victory!

It was a dark Friday, but Sunday was coming! We saw the triumphal entry, the tragedy of death, and then what? The victory of the resurrection. Death could not hold Him and He rose on the third day.

The tomb is empty!

That is history. The two other stories are still being played out.

The United States of America

God brought our forefathers to this Nation and has protected us. Many good things have happened throughout our history.

In my sermons, I’ve been referring to a book called “100 Bible Verses that Made America” by Robert Morgan. One of the verses I spoke about was John 8:32, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”

In the 1630s, many people were fleeing England and the Church of England. The church had already separated itself from the Catholic church. Many people wanted to reform the church as it had become abusive.

Reforming the Church of England

There were two schools of thought on how to reform the church. One group said it was too far gone, and they needed to, more or less, start over with new people. The group wanted to gather like-minded believers together and practice Christianity as they felt the Scriptures instructed.

The other group was reluctant to leave the main church. For whatever reason, they wanted to stay and reform it from within.

Both groups angered some people and were persecuted. The ones that pulled away from the Church of England were persecuted for doing that, and there were power struggles with the group that chose to stay. But both were persecuted by the government.

Then they heard about a New Land. A place where there weren’t a lot of set traditions. A New World where they could explore new possibilities.

Religious freedom awaited
Religious freedom awaited

So, in the 1630s, they began arriving in America by boatloads. Many of those who were coming were the descenders and the ones who had been forced out of the church. Many of these new arrivals were pastors, theologians, and Bible scholars. Once they arrived in America, they decided to establish a school.

As explained in the 1643 booklet, “New England’s First Fruits,”
“After God had carried us safely to New England, and we had builded our houses, provided necessaries for our livelihood, reared convenient places for God’s worship, and settled the city government; one of the next things we longed for and looked after was to advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity; dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches, when our present ministers shall lie in the dust.”

One of two tablets flanking The Johnston Gate, an entrance to Harvard Yard
One of two tablets flanking The Johnston Gate, an entrance to Harvard Yard

They wanted to establish education. They wanted to establish it for the ministry. They wanted to start a Christian school. But they also felt it was very important to educate the children.

This is good! This is a triumph. However, we also have tragedy within our education system.

John’s Triumphs & Tragedies

John was born in 1607. He was the son of a butcher and a restaurant owner. By the time he was 18 years old, the bubonic plague had destroyed many members of his family. Only John, one brother, and his mother survived.

Somehow, his mother was able to gather enough funds to send him to Emmanuel College, which was part of Cambridge University. After studying, John was ordained as a dissenting minister. So, he’s had some tragedy and now some triumph.

In either 1636 or 1637, John married a woman named Ann Sadler. The next year, they made the decision to go to America. After arriving in the new country John became an assistant pastor in Boston. He had the excitement of being in a new nation but still had some perils. It was discovered that he had tuberculosis, and he died in 1638. He was young; just over 30 years old.

John Harvard
John Harvard

Although young, John did something that would have a lasting impact on America. In fact, it still has an impact today. He left half of his property and his library of 300 books (my kind of man) to a new college that was going to be developed. They were so grateful that they named it for him. John’s last name was Harvard.

About 100 years later, there was a fire that destroyed all but one of those books. One student had checked a book out of the library. The title was, “The Christian Warfare Against the Devil World and Flesh and Means to Obtain Victory.”

Harvard University’s History

The college was named after John Harvard in appreciation for his generosity. The doors were opened, and a student handbook was published.

“Laws and Statutes for Students of Harvard College” read in part, “Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, (John 17:3)
“Seeing the Lord only giveth wisdom, let everyone seriously set himself by prayer in secret to seek it of Him.” (Proverbs 2:3)
“Everyone shall so exercise himself in reading the Scriptures twice a day that he shall be ready to give such an account of his proficiency therein, both in theoretical observations of the language and logic and in practical and spiritual truths as his tutors shall require according to his ability. Seeing the entrance of the Word giveth light, it giveth understanding to the simple” (Psalm 119:130)

Harvard Today

That is how Harvard University was established. It began with triumph, but it’s gone to tragedy. Today, Harvard stands for universalism. Back then, it was for Jesus Christ: the only way to Heaven, the only One who gives true Light of the World. Scriptures used to be found all throughout the handbook. Today, they describe themselves as being very inclusive, having diversity of all types, and “, especially religions.”

That means that Christianity is good. But so are Hinduism, Buddhism, and all other religions on the same plane. Sometimes Christianity is criticized for being exclusive by saying there’s only one way to Heaven. However, Judaism is also exclusive; they say (correctly) there’s only one God. Muslims are very exclusive as well.

Leture hall
Lecture Hall

But, Harvard says they’re all alike. They have an inscription that says, “Facing death without religion.”

I have news for you. If you face death without a certain “religion,” Christianity, there’s no Heaven for you.

The term religion has gotten a bad reputation in past years. While Christianity is a religion, what I’m talking about is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He’s the one who died for our sins and rose again and sits at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us.

Harvard would do well to return to its roots, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.

Education Today

Even in the lower levels of schools, like grade school, junior high, and high school, references to God are not allowed.

In a city not far from me, Carbondale, Illinois, a substitute teacher once wrote a question on the board. I can’t recall what the question was, but the answer was “God.” Even though he didn’t write it out, even the suggestion of God was enough to get him into all kinds of trouble.

Then there’s relativism. It’s almost a crime to criticize or condemn a group of people who adopt a certain lifestyle or adhere to a certain belief; unless it’s Christianity. At Harvard, you can’t say anything about any particular group, unless it’s Christians.

Secularism is also rampant in schools. Critical race theory. Now, critical race theory is something that, as an idea, is a good thing. Racism in any form is bad and should not exist. But it takes things too far when it says that people of a certain background should be ashamed and need to apologize for something done hundreds of years ago. Everyone should understand that they have worth to God, regardless of their ethnic background.

There is sex education in schools today. While I have not seen any of the materials myself, I have heard that they are nearly pornographic in nature.

Confusion in the Land

Thanks to the great educational institutions of today, we can’t even decide what is a boy and what is a girl. You may doubt this is true but we have a new Supreme Court Justice who says she can’t define what a woman is because she’s “not a biologist.”

There is a school where some students are “identifying” as dogs and cats. People who tell them they are not a dog or cat can get in great trouble. It’s crazy! It’s a tragedy.

Public education is not what it used to be.
Public education is not what it used to be.

To What?

Will the morality and common sense of yesterday be recovered? I don’t know. Will Christian schools, such as Harvard once was, revive? Will there be a return, in the educational system, to Christianity?

These issues have, however, caused some parents to pay more attention. Some families have made the decision to home-school their children. I do realize that’s not an option that everyone has. That’s a bright spot in all this mess.

But our school system began with Christianity. It’s gone downhill since. Which way will it go? Will it continue its decline or go back to the way it was? I don’t know. It’s up to each individual family to decide, and figure out what sacrifices they want to make.

Our Personal Story

Now we come to the third story: our own personal one. We’re all members of the human race. When Adam and Eve first sinned in the Garden of Eden, the human race was condemned to live in sin. With the first brothers, Cain and Abel, there was a murder, because sin had entered the world. It has been passed down from generation to generation ever since.

But, each one of us since has chosen to sin. At some point, we decided we wanted to go our own way and disobey God. That’s a tragedy. But, a tragedy, and then what?

It's your choice.
It’s your choice.

If you ignore the message in the first story, where Jesus went to the cross, died, and conquered death, it will be an eternal tragedy. Revelation 20:14 says that Death and Hell will be cast into the lake of fire.

But, if you accept Jesus as your personal Savior, the tragedy turns to triumph and you will end up in Glory! Jesus made triumph possible for all of us.

Janet’s Story

I asked a member of my congregation to give a testimony during a recent service. You can watch it at the end of the video above. Her name is Janet.
“Good morning. Brother Randy asked me to give my testimony about our life before Christ, during Christ, and after.
“I’ll tell ya, before Christ, you know, you’re going along and you think everything’s wonderful because you made the plans, you designed your life. It was going pretty good, I thought, and Roger thought.
“I was 27 years old, and we had a baby. We had Adam, and he was 3. Neither one of us were really raised in church, and so you can see where that’s going. But, anyway, we decided that we would split our ways because I lived in a house with a lot of alcohol and a lot of fighting and a lot of, not really abuse, but it was abuse. It would, these days, be considered abuse. Anyway, we lived through that and we ended up agreeing that we would get a divorce, and that would be best.
“Well during the divorce, I had a good year. I thought, ‘I’m sailing through.’ I’m not thinking about the Lord, I’m not thinking about Jesus, God because it wasn’t in me. I didn’t have the Holy Spirit. I didn’t have any guide but my own self.
“About a year went by, and I was in a movie theatre, I was dating someone. Very nice man, he didn’t drink. That was my number one thing – he couldn’t drink. So, we were sitting there and I thought, ‘Everything’s wonderful. It’s great. I’ve got this really nice man.’ and all of a sudden, a voice spoke to me in that movie theatre in Carbondale. It was God.
“He said, ‘Get up and go back to your husband.’ I looked around because I thought, ‘Somebody is talking to me. Who is it? Somebody knows me here.’ I looked around but nobody was standing looking at me.
“I’m giving you a short version of this, but God – once again, I’m a hard-headed person Roger will probably “amen’ to that – but I have to be told twice sometimes. So if you ask me to do something I might forget or I might not do it so you have to tell me twice. But God, in His great mercy, said it again. Just a little bit more bolder, but not mean or anything, He said, ‘Go back to Roger. I want you to get up and go back to Roger.’
“And I’m telling you, my body lifted out of that seat without my hands pushing my body up, I stood up, I ran outside and I began to cry. The person I was with came out there and said, ‘Are you ok?’ And I said, ‘No, I’m really not. I need you to take me home. I need you to not talk to me. I’m going to look out the window and I don’t ever want to talk to you or see you again after today. And he just was beside himself.
“You know, you can’t explain God. God is God and He will do what He wants to do in your life. And it’s best that you surrender if you’re fighting something. It doesn’t have to be what I went through but, you know, don’t fight it, because He knows best.
“So, he took me home – it wasn’t the end of him – him and Roger had to have a little talk. He thought he was the man for me, Roger thought he was the man for me, and God knew Roger was the man for me, so you see the point.
“But, anyway, during the time after I accepted…I went home, knelt by my bed, and cried my eyes out all night long. And these verses are the ones I had marked in another Bible that I had read when I calmed down from crying. It’s in Jeremiah (29). It says, ‘For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord. Thoughts of peace and not evil. To give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me and I will listen to you.’
“Well I had already cried and I had already prayed for hours. I didn’t think my body could do that. ‘And you will seek me and you will find me when you search me with your whole heart.’
“And I’m telling you, I never searched for something so much in my life. I’ve lost a ring before with a diamond in it. I’ve lost a watch before. I’ve lost things that doesn’t even touch the value of Christ.
“But that day I cried out to Him, I prayed and He heard me and He listened and He kept His promise to me.

Janet's prayers were answered.
Janet’s prayers were answered.

“Well the next day I woke up and I said, ‘I’ve got to go see Roger.’ And he was living in his own house in town and I was still in the country and I went, knocked on his door and I think he seen me that he didn’t come to the door.
“Anyway, don’t blame him. Anyway, I went in and I said.’Roger, I really need to have a talk with you. This is serious.’ And he looked at me like I was crazy. And we went to the kitchen table and we sat down and I said, ‘I want to tell you something. The Lord grabbed ahold of me last night and He told me to come back to you.’ I go, ‘Now in my own self, I didn’t want to, but when He spoke to me, I wanted to. And I’m here and I want you back, and I want a marriage that God wants and I want what He wants.
“Well, you know, it don’t happen like it does in the movies. He said, ‘No. I don’t know. I’ll have to wait.’ He kept saying no and I wouldn’t leave until he said maybe. So, the maybe was ok and I left and prayed and prayed and prayed.
“I think a couple of weeks went by and it was around Christmastime and he showed up. And we had a pot roast and stuff together and God began to work and to mend things.
“In that time I had gotten saved and I went to the church down the road and I gave my heart to the Lord. I didn’t tell Roger nothing about that, but I just began to give my heart to the Lord and just cried out for Roger.
“I went to the altar every Sunday and then, I don’t know, you can ask him, maybe it was a year, he showed up. He sat on the back pew with knuckles gripped – he was not going to the altar. I was just thankful he was hearing the Word of God.
“I went down and prayed even though he was there and I cried out and I said, ‘Lord, it’s got to change. I want him back and I want him in my house but I don’t want this same life. I don’t want to go back to the old ways. I want You and I want to move forward for You.’
“So I was down there crying, and crying, and crying, and the preacher’s wife put her hand on my back and whispered, kind of like God did, and said, ‘Janet, you don’t have to pray no more.’ I looked at her like she was crazy and I said. ‘What?’ She said, ‘You don’t have to pray no more. He’s here”
“I looked over there and he was squalling like a baby.

Praying together.
Praying together.


“I’m telling you, I had an experience with God I’ll never forget. It changed my life. I was in captivity. I mean, I was in a bad place and I thought it was a wonderful place. But the devil deceived me. He made everything look good. So if I’d had my way I’d be in Hell, if not now, sometime down the road I would be. My kids probably wouldn’t have been saved, I wouldn’t even have Shelby. You know, I just give God all the glory today because He does know what path He wants for us. He does know what’s best for us. We’ve got to get ourselves out of the way and let Him do His work in us. And listen to that still, small voice because He does speak. He still speaks to people, I know,
“I love you all and I just wanted to share that with you.”

Tragedy? Triumph? What?
Tragedy? Triumph? What?

Which way will it be for you? There’s tragedy because we’ve all sinned. But will it be continued tragedy for you, or will you choose to live in Glory?