Ecclesiastes 12:10

    In 2 nd Kings 22, the wicked king Ahab has found out that God has set up a plan to get him killed. He had been trying to get the king of Judah, Jehoshapat, to unite with him in battle against the king of Aram.   But Jehoshaphat was hesitant, not sure that the prophets Ahab had brought forth to foretell God's blessing were really on the up and up. So, the prophet Micaiah is brought in, even though he’s never been pro-Ahab.  Ahab expects Micaiah to be against his idea; however, Micaiah says do it, it’s all part of God’s plan to knock off Ahab.   Yet, this revelation doesn’t make Ahab cancel his attack. Instead, he tries to fool God. The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will disguise myself and go into the battle, but you put on your robes." So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle. 1st Kings 22:30    At first, his ruse appears to work. The enemies’ orders are to attack Ahab personally, and they go after...

  The Prohibition of alcohol was the law in 1920, but one candidate wasn’t so sure about it. Democratic nominee James M. Cox wasn’t for the use of alcohol but believed making alcohol illegal only benefited criminals and bootleggers.   His opponent Warren G. Harding however didn’t respect this distinction. He attacked Cox for being pro-liquor and ridiculed him with the slogan “Cox and Cocktails.” Harding would go on to win the election in a landslide.  The irony was Harding was the drinker, not Cox. He was known to enjoy stiff drinks in the comfort of the White House.  In Romans 2:3 Paul writes, “ But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?” Just because a person says the right things does not mean they do the right things. Those who are quick to jump on others are often doing the very things they are ridiculing others for.  We must be bette...

  Being critiqued isn’t very fun. Even when it is true on what you need to do better, it still feels like being hit with a sledgehammer. But imagine if it was Jesus swinging that hammer.   In Matthew 23 Jesus calls out the scribes and Pharisees for their behavior. He works them over pretty good. At the heart of his message is their hypocrisy. They lack consistency. They make rules to break them. They try to look good rather than being good. But notice where Jesus starts in his condemnation. “ Therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them . They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger .” Matthew 23:3-4   Jesus sees their error in telling others to do when they won’t. They have high expectations but low work ethics. They know what to do but expect others to do it   Now let’s appl...

How can we sing….. That we are “Standing on the Promise” when we are rarely even sitting on the premises (Hebrew 10:23-25) That we have “Victory in Jesus” when we are AWOL from his army (2 nd Timothy 2:4) “When We All Get To Heaven” when we can’t even get to church (Hebrew 10:38-39) “I Want To Be a Worker” when we refuse to volunteer for anything (Titus 3:14) “I Love You Lord” when we don’t obey his commands (John 14:15) that there is “Sweet Sweet Spirit in this Place” when it’s full of gossip and bickering (Galatians 5:15) That “I’m Not ashamed to Own my Lord” when we never talk to others about him (2 nd Timothy 1:8) That “I’ll Be a Friend to Jesus” when spend more time with the world (James 4:4) “There is a God” if we deny him with our actions (Titus 1:16) You can sing a lie just like you can tell a lie. Make sure what you are singing in really what you are doing. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishi...

  In Matthew 7:5 Jesus gives us a command: " You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye ”.   I think it is high time I start taking that literally.   Now before you think I have terrible woodshop safety, understand what I mean by literally. We use that word badly. This passage is figurative language and it is to be understood that way but it’s revealing a very exacting truth we all need to be doing. Before we say anything to another about their faults we need to clean up our own.   Years ago when I read Dale Carnegie’s book How to Win Friends And Influence People, he said, “talk about your own mistakes before you criticize another”. Jordan Peterson sixth rule in his recent book 12 Rules for Life is “Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world”   It’s the same idea of what Jesus is saying here.   Yet today we just fail to do ...

  When he was vice president of the U.S., Thomas Jefferson, attired in soiled working clothes, tried to get a room in Baltimore's finest hotel. The manager, a fellow by the name of Boyden, took one look at Jefferson's attire and turned him away.  A moment later, someone informed Boyden of who he had just dismissed. The manager horrified immediately dispatched a servant to find Jefferson and offer him a room, as many rooms, as he wished. After he heard the message, Jefferson, replied: "Tell Boyden that I value his good intentions highly, but if he has no room for a dirty farmer, he shall have none for the vice president."   There are times when the church take the same approach as Boyden did. For example in James’ letter we see him scolding the church just for that: For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing th...

   Think twice before you post your good deeds on Facebook so people can like them; doing so doesn’t make your heavenly Father proud.   When you are doing something for the poor and you post about the good work you are doing, then do a press release so everyone will know that you are the 'church that really cares', don’t expect a reward from God, you're already getting your publicity.   It would be a lot better if you just did it; not did it and uploaded it, you can do good without the social media knowing about it.   The internet might not know all about it but God sure would, and isn’t him we are seeking to please?   We should pray, but we don’t have to make sure we tweet it out that everyone can share our wonderfully written words.  Prayer is talking to God, not another way we can promote ourselves and our agendas.  Once again God isn’t impressed.   Rather than put it out there, how about we keep it to ourselves. ...

  Maybe I’m weird but I always dreamed of having a house with a hidden room.  You know one where you go to the bookcase, pull a certain book and the whole things swings away to reveal a secret hideout.  It can’t be that odd since several famous structures have hidden place. There is an apartment in the Eiffel tower, secret tunnels thought Disney World, the Greenbrier Hotel in Virginia has an entire underground complex to take congress in event of nuclear war.     The newer trend, however, is just the opposite. Rather than hiding something in a building, people are hiding things as a building.  As fear of declining property values force eyesore structure out of an area, clever builders have found a way of alleviating concerns by making the outside look like something else.  Pumping stations are surrounded by a normal looking house, cell towers are tucked away in church steeples, high story buildings that are really oil rigs. The outsid...

    Over the last few weeks I heard many folks exclaim about how the world can accept something that the Bible so clearly condemns. That started me thinking about some other clear commands the scriptures teach that we might be quick to forget, ignore or just down right defy. Here are a few I came up with… Complaining: James 5:9 Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door. Angry Derogatory Outburst: Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Being Idle and Undisciplined: 2 Thessalonians 3:11 For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Meddling: 1 Peter 4:15 Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; Gossiping Proverbs 20:19 He who goes about as ...

   In 1997, Reed Hastings returned a rented copy of the movie Apollo 13 to Blockbuster Video.  He was dismayed when he was told he owed a $40 late fee, more than double the cost to buy the movie. The next year he founded Netflix as an alternative to the movie rental change.  By 2010 Blockbuster was bankrupt and out of business and Netflix was worth 20 billion dollars. While Netflix didn't shut down blockbuster, it did steal the market that Blockbuster needed to move into. Abusing one customer destroyed them in the end.    We may not think much of the slights we give to others. The rude comment to the waitress, the person we cut off in traffic, the people we cut in front of in the checkout line, the man we shortchange in business; but we always need to be careful because we never know when those small slights may cause big damage.  I hate to think of the examples of people that refuse to come to worship services because that is where “so & s...

Mary the mother of Jesus is an important figure in the gospels. She is probably the reason we know about Jesus as a young person (Luke 2:19; 51).  We see at important events like at the cross (John 19:25) and in the upper room with the disciples in Acts 1.  This has led some to make her into more than any other disciple.  In some circles she is prayed to and worshiped.  She is looked on a special intercessor for Christians.  Is this the way Jesus wanted us to treat his mother?   Consider what Jesus said in Luke 11:27-28. In this passage Jesus was interrupted by a woman who exclaims, " Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed ." Her thought is the mother of Jesus must be special since she had a son like Jesus.  But Jesus refutes her and says, " On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it ."  Jesus says she is not any more special that anyone that would do what God comm...

Monday morning scattershooting while wondering, if Walker Texas Ranger was the first reality television show?     My friend Monte Ginnings often would say to me, “ there is no right way to do the wrong thing; however there is a wrong way to do the right thing” .  That axiom is very true when it comes to church work.  I see a lot of us trying to do the right thing but the wrong way.  When we attempt to spread the Gospel but do it harsh and disrespectful way.  When we try to correct error but rather that teaching in a patient way we grow angry and lash out.  When we let personal attacks hit us in such a way that we feel justified in returning “fire with fire”.  Our cause is just but our methods are anything but. Paul mentions that “wrong way right thing” mindset in Philippians 1:15-17. “Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am a...

     One of the more comical moments in Scripture for us (but I’m sure at the time was terrifying for them) occurs in Acts 19:13-16.  Here seven of the sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were attempting to cast out an evil spirit.  Apparently it had become common for some exorcists to try and ride on the coat tails of Jesus and his followers by casting demon in the name of Jesus.  After this man tires to remove the spirit by “ Jesus whom Paul preaches ”, the demon gives a humorous response. “ "I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?"      The spirit then uses his power over the man, to use the vernacular, but a major league whooping on the boys. They flee beaten and thoroughly walloped.  It seems their level of connection with Paul and Jesus didn’t give them much respect in the demons eyes.     There are still lots of folks that like to use Jesus and his followers for their creditab...

    As a minister I find myself going into a lot of hospitals and nursing homes.  Something I have noticed that is fairly common to most every place is the crowd of nurses and staff outside the entrances smoking.  Even if I don’t see anyone, I often can catch a whiff of the stench left behind.  Every time I shake my head and think surely those that are in the health care business know of the health dangers of smoking!  Why would someone that works among the ill every day and probably has seen firsthand the effects smoking, choose to engage in such an unhealthy practice?     It’s not just among health care workers and smoking that you see these strange contradictions.  Ministers that preach morality are often caught in lurid affairs.  Police officers that have worked the wrecks of people killed because of their speeding that think nothing of flying down the highway.  Lifeguards that warn swimmers to stay se...