Staying Alive!

By John Stallings



You knew him.

If you've been a church-attendee for very long this man is no stranger to you.

The man usually wore dark clothing & donned the pulpit every Sunday, opened the Bible & preached. The thing you most remember is how dull & listless the sermons were. You tried to blame it on the dull lighting, the rock hard pews & the drab surroundings but alas, what it was- was boring preaching, coming from a man who'd quit studying years ago & was simply reciting his old manuscripts. Though at the time, you may not have had enough experience to call it what it was, something in you knew he'd lost the joy, the enthusiasm of imparting God's Word to the people.

Nothing new. Nothing fresh fell from the lips of this man. It was in his voice & written all over his countenance. But he had one special magic that couldn't be denied & no one could take it away from him; He could make twenty minutes seem like two weeks.

Be honest; you've known this man haven't you? He'd basically shut down. He'd lost the wonder. He was only in his early forties but he constantly used the word "old."

But having spent so many years in the ministry myself, it would be dishonest of me not to admit there have been times in my own life, thankfully short-lived, when I endured spiritual dryness & faced head-on my powerlessness to do anything about it. I have looked into the abyss of spiritual burn-out & oblivion & wanted desperately to run & hide from the agony of it all. Not that I was or ever will be a Mother Teresa, but I can understand her "dark night of the soul," holding on by the fingertips & longing so very desperately for God. Standing before the people more than once a week as a spokesman for heaven feeling deep within myself that I wasn't worthy. But also knowing unequivocally that God had called me to speak for Him & even, God forbid, if I went to hell I’d take that call with me.

I have known Mondays when I was so emotionally exhausted & adrenaline depleted it was hard for me to talk. Mondays are days when I am most vulnerable to discouragement & despair after wringing myself dry emotional & spiritually on Sunday.

There was a time when pastors always took Monday's off but that changed some years ago. Many ministers felt they'd be more productive to get into their offices on Monday & use the time to get organize for next Sunday since they couldn't relax anyway. As you know, preachers are only human. Their only hope of "staying alive" & viable is to study & pray & once again be engaged by the presence of the living Christ as He speaks into their hearts & the Scripture is illuminated by His Spirit.

Here's a simple illustration. I have an electric razor with a rechargeable battery as I suspect many men do. I can unplug it & walk all over the house shaving which I often do. But when the battery starts to run low, I can feel it & then I hear it as it slowly loses power & cutting ability. At that point I know I'd better get it back to the electrical socket in the wall & recharge the battery.

At least for me, this is a metaphor of life. We can all run for a short time without being plugged in, but sooner or later it catches up with us & we must get back to the source of power. The ministers I mentioned at the beginning of this article, many who have been & can still be some of God's most gifted men, just need to get back to the source of power that opens the mind, thrills the heart & causes us again to know the presence of the Living Lord.

In Luke 24, two disciples returned to Emmaus filled with despair with all that had happened in Jerusalem on the previous days. They were drained & burned out. However a "stranger" joined them along the way & listened to their lament. Then as they walked He began to interpret the Word of God to them; the law, the prophets & the Psalms. He helped them to understand the necessity of the crucifixion they'd witnessed. As they walked, their hearts were burning.

Then later they broke bread together & then they recognized the "stranger" as the resurrected Lord Jesus. Then He was gone, but they knew He was alive. He'd been with them & promised to come again to dwell with them through the power of His indwelling Spirit. In a manner of speaking this visit from the living Christ helped those thoroughly dejected men to "stay alive," at least on the spiritual level.

Jesus showed up. Only in the presence of Jesus can we stay alive. What always saves the discouraged preacher or the downhearted Christian is when Jesus shows up & in his own wonderful way again stirs our spirit, & opens our eyes so that we again are aware of His presence at work -guiding, blessing, forgiving, & restoring hope. It's then that we see He is at work all around us in the lives of all whom we know & love. It's then & only then that the scales fall off our eyes & we're given glimpses of His divine grace at work everywhere. And to make it even more glorious, we see that even our perceived botching of the things we were trying to do for Him can so graciously & perfectly fit into the divine mosaic which is our lives.

God never meant for anyone to be this way. He created us with a sense of wonder -with the capacity for passion, yet too many of us, like the preacher, shut down way too early.

Are you living every day filled with hope & expectancy? Are you living life to its fullest?

So many people once were excited about the future but somewhere along the way life has knocked all that out of them & their appetite & "lust for life" has been lost. They used to pursue their dreams but then they hit some roadblocks, things didn't work out the way they had hoped they would & now they're just going through the motions. They've quit dreaming. They've quit pursuing their goals & tragically they've lost their purpose.

It happens far too often. People have a great salvation experience. They become excited, devoted & committed. Every time the church doors open they're there. They can't wait to get there. The whole new world of faith has opened for them & it's all too wonderful for words. For months, sometimes years all goes well. They have no problems with their faith. But suddenly they began to have difficulties. They begin to drop out. The luster wears off; the excitement wears down & their devotional commitments shrink. Soon they disappear & become names on a dusty church role somewhere. No one sees them. No one knows them anymore.

In our youth, we were filled with joy & energy but now many of us have to work on stimulating them both. Why does this happen & how can we prevent it? How can we keep our spiritual experience vibrant & zestful? How can we spiritually "stay alive?" The answer isn’t deep or difficult to grasp.

THE FUNDAMENTAL THINGS APPLY WHEN YOUR FAITH IS ON THE CRITICAL LIST.



1. Pray

We find some fascinating & helpful clues in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus is facing death yet there are instructional keys to staying alive.

We know the disciples saw Jesus do many great miracles. Yet we don't read that they ever asked, "Lord, teach us to do miracles." We know the disciples saw Him use His intellect to silence the sharpest legal minds, but we never hear them ask, "Lord, teach us your mental acumen." We know the disciples observed their Master’s awesome command of the Old Testament manuscripts, yet we never hear them ask, "Lord, teach us what you know about the law." We know He was a master of crowd control & fully understood what it took to keep the masses of human bodies under control, yet the disciples never asked Him to tell them how to handle the throngs of people who pressed in to hear Him.

But the twelve had watched Jesus closely. They'd seen Him rise without disturbing a single soul to steal away & commune with His Father. Behind all of His skills they suspected something else was at work. They knew His secret; His awesome power was embedded in His prayer life. So they asked, "Lord, teach us to pray."

Gethsemane was a tough & terrible moment. The cross loomed before Jesus. He didn't want to go to the cross. He prayed about it. Father, take this cup from me. It was an earnest prayer. He sweated drops of blood. This is serious business here! It was agony to pray, but pray He did. Yet He found strength to pray, - Not my will but thine be done.

Do you see it? Prayer was Christ's way of keeping His faith alive. Friend we all need prayer. Prayer is conversation with God. Prayer is friendship with God. Prayer is the way we keep the lines of communication open with God. The truth is, if we fail to pray our relationship with God grows dimmer & dimmer. We don't need a sanctimonious tone to talk with God. All we need is a willingness to communicate with Him & to be in His presence.

In these days of perplexity on all fronts, do you want to stay alive? Pleas read on.



2 CONTINUE TO GROW & LEARN

You & I must continue to study & think. In the Garden Jesus didn't exhibit close-mindedness. He didn't say, "Now see here God, we never did it this way before." No!! Our Lord was open to God's truth. He was open to God's will; He was open to God's direction.

One night a little boy fell out of bed. When his mother asked him his problem he said, "I think I fell asleep too close to where I first got in." The tragedy is that as soon as we stop growing & learning, at that moment our faith begins to shrivel, shrink & die. We are like plants in that we need light to grow. To keep our faith alive we must continue to pray, grow, study, think & learn.

In the aftermath of some of the airline tragedies in this country, the sad reality has been revealed that the pilots & co-pilots were not really up to date on some of the latest facts about the machinery they were using. It has yet to be decided where to place the blame but the tragedy still remains that many hundreds of innocents souls who wanted above all else to stay alive, were lost, perhaps due to nothing more than the crew simply not having a small piece of information.

3. DO SOMETHING- BETTER YET, DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT!

I have a book in my library that I read years ago called, "Do one thing different." I won’t try to recall much of it now but the gist of it is- if you want to affect change in your life, do just one thing different every day. Read a different newspaper. Surf TV channels & you’ll surprised at the good stuff that’s available. You'd be surprised what would happen if you simply changed from fried chicken to oven- broiled or baked chicken for one year. Or [And I've tried this one & it works [eat opened faced sandwiches for a few months.]

One of the fastest ways to run out of steam is to operate as a lone wolf. We must love our enemies but we're under no mandate to work with them, if we're constantly having "dustups." Work & fellowship with people who don’t have agendas & you can work in peace.

It’s been my experience that the fastest way to break through the wall of helplessness & hopelessness is to act. Do something. Don't just be a hearer of the Word, be a doer. It will keep you alive spiritually & even physically.

4. RETAIN YOUR CHILDLIKE SENSE OF WONDER

What do you think is the most important spiritual grace? If you say love, you'd certainly be on the right track, & you'd have the apostle Paul, the greatest Christian who ever lived- in agreement with you. But if you asked Jesus that question--what's the greatest spiritual quality we could possess, you'd get another answer. Can you guess what that answer would be? Wait for it.........it's the Child-likeness of "A little child."

Did you notice the answer wasn't--child-likess? It was the -child-likeness of a "little child." What's the difference in a child & a little child? If you've raised children you know very well that there's a great difference in a child at about four or five, than a child at about five or six.

What's the difference? Among other things, it’s a sense of trust. One of the biggest differences is-a little child is unimpressed with anyone's station in life. They will play with other children of any color, race or creed & pay no attention to pedigree or who the other kids are.

But twelve or eighteen months later you have a different “kettle of fish." Now you'll hear things like, "My daddy is the president of a bank," or, "My daddy has more money than your daddy." You'll probably hear them talking about their new item of clothing & what the brand name is. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus called a child to him one day & said--Unless you become as a "little child" you can't enter the kingdom of God?

5. DONT QUIT-NO MATTER WHAT!

Let me ask you a very important question; did the Wright brothers quit? No! Did Charles Lindbergh ever quit? No! Did Joan of Arc ever quit? No! Did Jesus, or Paul, or James or Daniel or Elijah ever completely quit? Of course they didn't quit. Did Thorndyke Mckeester ever quit? The reader may ask, "Who on earth is Thorndyke Mckeester? I never heard of him!!” Of course you never heard of him. He quit!

In the early church, there was a leader who was close to the Apostle Paul. He was talented, bright, capable & full of potential. But we hear few sermons about him because he quit. His name was Demas. Some of the saddest words in the New Testament are found in 2 Timothy 4:10—Demas ……has deserted me…. Friend, we have to make up our minds to stay with it. Demas was destined for greatness but he got lost in the shuffle & quit. Don’t quit on life. Don’t quit on the church. Make up your mind to stay with this faith pilgrimage whatever the cost. It takes a lot of prayer, a lot of obedience, a lot of determination & a lot of grit & grace to stay alive.


6.CELEBRATE SMALL VICTORIES

Your arthritis may not be totally healed but is it better? Then praise God for it. If you have fewer migraines than you once had, praise God for it. It may sound insignificant but still it’s important that you do it. Celebrating incremental victories is important in all of life. If you’ve only lost an inch in your waist-line, celebrate it & believe God that soon you’ll be able to look at that side view of yourself in the mirror without being depressed.

Elijah saw a cloud so small it could be compared to a man’s hand but he respected it & kept praying until it turned into a deluge of rain.

David encouraged himself with the fact that he had killed a Bear & a Lion & it gave him the faith to kill a ten foot giant with a rock.



7. Enjoy life


George H.W Bush may not go down in history as a great president but every time he jumps out of a perfectly good airplane to parachute- I cheer him on from the safety of my couch. What a guy. The man is eighty-five years old. While he’s jumping I’ll be fishing.


Each morning when we rise we’re faced with the decision to either save the world or savor the world. It really makes it hard to plan the day. My suggestion is, -do both. First pray & ask God for directions, then smell the roses. The Bible tells us…. God has given us all things to enjoy. I’ve said it before but I truly believe I’ve had more impact on the lives of people by being jovial & of good cheer than with a lot of sermons I’ve preached. The sermons are not only important they are imperative but it’s also important that we spread good cheer whatever the endeavor we’re engaged in.

I know things don’t look good right now folks but Messiahs coming & He’s coming soon. Soon & very soon the right foot is going to step into the stirrup & the King of Kings will swing into the saddle. Things will be set right & …he shall reign forever & ever. Praise His Name!!

8. Develop new interests.

I never touched a computer until I was sixty & you’d be surprised how much I’ve learned. Three years ago if you’d have told me I’d be writing a blog I would have thought you “off the rails.” I want to say fully alive, don’t you?



9. Stay in the Word

If you expect to be able to withstand the shaking that’s coming you will have to be anchored in the Word of God. We will have to study the Word & build a dynamic relationship with God.

Some simply won’t stay alive when hell begins its all out vile assault against the faith. Some will leave because someone said something to hurt their feelings. They have spiritual myopia & can’t see further than their neighbors faults.

Some won’t stay alive to Christ because of what the church treasurer, a deacon, the choir leader or the pastor did. It really doesn’t matter why they leave; it just means they weren’t rooted enough in the Word to survive the shaking.

Some will leave the faith because of what an unscrupulous TV evangelist did or said. But mainly people will lose heart because they don’t read the Word of God & read it every day. It’s God’s Word that will fortify the heart & mind against error.

I don’t have to tell you there are going to be dark days ahead. Back during World War 2, Ruth K. Jones was reading 2 Timothy 3:1—This know that in the last days perilous times will come…. Moved by the Holy Spirit, she picked up her pen & wrote;

In times like these, we need a Savior. In times like these we need an Anchor. Be very sure, be very sure, your Anchor holds & grips the solid rock.

Where is your anchor today? Is it upon the solid rock? We’ll not only stay alive but thrive in the worst of times if we’re anchored upon the Word of God, & Christ Jesus, the only solid rock.

Blessings,

John

Challenging Old Mind-Sets

By John Stallings



No one puts new wine into old wineskins…. Luke 5:37


I recently read the story of a man who worked with refrigerated railroad box cars. His worst dread and fear was that he’d someday accidentally get locked in one of the cars and freeze to death. His family, friends and working buddies all knew of his fear because he constantly talked about it. One night his worst fear came to pass and he inadvertently was locked in one of the cars.

When he was found the next morning, an autopsy showed he’d indeed frozen to death. He had found a piece of a paper sack and left a note saying, “It’s so very cold. It’s getting colder and colder, and I know I can’t last until morning.” The strange thing was that in that particular box car, the refrigeration wasn’t working and the temperature never got over 61 degrees all night. They found that the oxygen level in the car was plenty to keep a person alive. His mind and what it believed must have frozen him to death.

It’s amazing the power our minds have to create what we’re convinced of.

If you saw the movie, “Fiddler on the roof” you will remember the song, “Tradition.” I like the catchy tune but I especially was taken by the truth it teaches about the concept of different cultures and ways of speaking, thinking and doing things. So much of what we do is nothing more than ideas, concepts and traditions that were handed down to us from our ancestors and have little to do with sacredness. There’s nothing particularly wrong or right about them, they are just customs.

There are few things as powerful as a fixed idea in the human mind.

Whether the idea is true or false, it can be almost equally as powerful when it gets lodged in our brain. In Romans 12 we read about the renewed mind and this renewal is imperative to be truly victorious in the Christian life.

In Ephesians 3:20 we read, Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.


What makes this verse so great is that we have the ability to do some rather large thinking and asking sometimes. But God is able to do much more than I could ever ask or think, and obviously, that’s a lot.

However, if we can’t ask or think it, how is God ever going to bring it to pass for us? If our minds are fixated or bogged down with small expectations, why do we even need God to be involved when he’s such a big God? His greatness only has a showcase in our lives when it’s something that is above what we can already conceptualize.

Have you ever considered some of the fixed, negative ideas you may be harboring in your mind? Thoughts that have established themselves and, though wrong, are actually setting the limits for what you will believe can happen for you?

Sometimes when thoughts get a foothold they can gradually become a stronghold in our minds. Then these thoughts can finally become strangleholds. Paul talks about strongholds in 2 Corinthians 10:4.

Romans 12:1-2 says, I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind……

This tells us that to truly follow God, we must have renewed minds, and renewed thought patterns. Take for example,

OUR OWN SELF PORTRAIT

Most people would agree that a person will only go as far in life as their self-image will let them go. If our minds are filled with thoughts of inferiority we will act accordingly and never believe for the big and best things in life. What does your self-portrait look like? In reality, the ultimate victory of our lives won’t depend on how big and great God is. There’s no question about how big God is. There’s no question about how much power He has and what He’s able to do. The ultimate victory of our lives will depend on how much of God’s power and ability we will allow to work in us. Remember, as a man thinketh, so is he. Proverbs 23:7.When you think of yourself, do you see an image of a beaten down rumpled person trying to hang on, or do you see yourself as God sees you?

Let me give you a snap- shot of how God looks at us. In 2 Corinthians 2:14 we see Gods portrait of us; “Now thanks be unto God who always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh the savior of his knowledge by us in every place, for we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ.” God sees us ALWAYS TRIUMPHING.

Many people wrongly think God’s going to do it all, but He wants to do it through us. Think of this like this;--“without God we can’t and without us He won’t.” If we think God by divine fiat, will do everything for us, we’ll be sorely disappointed. The truth is, God will do His part but He expects us to do our part.

I heard about a man (whether it’s true or not, it makes a good point) who went into a church and prayed one day, asking God to please let him win the lottery. Every day he’d go into the church get down on his knees and beg God to give him a break and let him win the lottery. He did this each day for a week and at the end of the week as he prayed he heard God say, “would you please give me a break and go buy a lottery ticket.”

We must put forth the effort through reading; studying, prayer and meditation, to daily cultivate a renewal of our mind, keeping out the wrong thought patterns. As an example, take a person with lung cancer. What good would it do if God healed the person and they kept right on being the Marlboro Man, and continued to smoke? Cancer would still have an inroad into that life through the tobacco. No change of any kind will work for us unless we make a decision to change our mind-set, actions and habits. Let’s say a person is depressed and God worked a miracle and lifted the mental depression. If that person refused to meditate on God’s word, didn’t guard their thought life and allowed themselves to get spiritually and physically run-down, more than likely they’d go right back into a depressed condition. That’s what Romans 12 is all about; a renewal of our thinking. It’s really surprising how practical God is isn’t it?


WRONG IDEAS ABOUT PRAYER

Maybe, without realizing it you’ve let a wrong fixed idea get established about prayer. Some people have the idea that prayer is “doing penance.” If they want God to hear them they must utter so many “Hail Mary’s.” Somehow, they feel, if they expect God to hear them they must spend enough time in prayer that God will see they really love him. Some religions ritualistically turn their faces toward a certain place and make sure they do it five or six times a day. The truth is; God isn’t looking for us to pray for long stretches to prove our love for him. A better & more scriptural way to prove we love God would be to love one another. Our prayers needn’t be long drawn out drudgery, thinking it will get God’s attention.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:7, When ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

If you have that idea fixed in our heads, you need to reprogram your mind with Gods thoughts, revealed in His word, so you can move on to a deeper, fuller prayer life. You may even have allowed yourself to think that fasting and starving yourself will remove guilt and make you feel more accepted and loved by God. The Bible teaches us the only thing that will remove guilt is the blood of Jesus Christ. Fasting has its place, and some stubborn things will only respond to fasting and prayer but we can’t get God’s approval and absolve guilt in that way. True prayer springs out of our relationship with God. I don’t spend time with my wife each day to keep from feeling guilty or to show her and others I’m a good husband. I spend time with her because she’s my wife and we have a close relationship. The same would be true in our prayer time with God.

OLD MYTHS CAN STILL PLAGUE OUR THINKING.

I heard that one little boy said; “a myth is a female moth.” We can get all sorts of wrong ideas. I often hear folk say, “God helps those who help themselves.” That sounds good but it’s a myth, and not scriptural. What about people who can’t help themselves? There are millions of people like that in the world. God expects us to do all we can and then he’ll step in and do the rest as we believe him. God “healpeth our infirmities”, which means that often He asks us to pick up one end of the log and he’ll lift the other.

What good does it do us if we try to cram great spiritual ideas and truths into our minds on top of old wrong, mythical, fixed ideas? I’m not being critical, but rather encouraging us to truly think Biblically and constantly renew our minds with God’s Word.

SOME HAVE WRONG FIXED IDEA’S ABOUT MONEY.

Many people don’t like to think about money and consequently don’t plan ahead. Many people reach retirement with nothing but what the government gives them. They think that when they get older, something magical will happen to supply their financial needs. Some have even allowed the fact that Jesus is coming soon to keep them from properly preparing and planning for their later years. Jesus never told us to be preoccupied with his coming, but to occupy till He comes, there’s a big difference. These folk soon see they were wrong, but by that time it’s too late to do them much good.

Some men even harbor mythical ideas about how much money they should earn. Their fathers only earned so much so they should only earn about that much. I heard about a man who went to his dad and showed him his first pay check as an insurance agent and his dad broke down and started to cry because it was so much more than he’d ever made. The grown son determined to never again make more money than his dad made. I think you’ll agree this is a serious problem but there are people who think this way. They settle for mediocrity rather than think big because they have been so ridiculed for wanting bigger things than their parents had. Such is the power of fixed ideas. Some people only pray for their needs, never their wants. Others look at it differently; they need everything they want.


SOME PEOPLE FEAR FINANCIAL RESOURCES

My parents were wonderful people, and instilled in me some good spiritual as well as practical knowledge, but to be frank, they had some faulty ideas about money. They really didn’t earn enough and save much for their old age. My dad was a Pastor and never had a large salary, but one of his problems was that he wouldn’t stand up for himself on money issues. I sometimes got the idea that my parents were afraid of money; for what reason I really don’t know. I remember when my dad pastored in Orlando, Florida in the 1950’s and I was just a teenager. He was being paid a percentage of the tithes and as the church grew, his income grew. Though it wasn’t that much, my mother would be so nervous about what they earned that on the day of the annual business meeting, when a report of the Pastors salary was read, she’d have to go to the doctor and get medication because she so dreaded it. They really weren’t getting paid all that much, it was just a fixed idea she had that it was too much money.

Once they were given a raise by the church [their percentage was raised] and my mother refused to take it, and they stayed at the same percentage. Can you imagine that? A few months later, my father got sick and was put in the hospital. Their insurance didn’t pay the entire bill so my mother went to the church treasurer and asked if they could get a small loan from the church to help pay the hospital bill. The wonderful man who served that church for many years as treasurer, went to the church safe, and pulled out an envelope and handed it to my mother. He explained to her that when they had refused the raise the church offered them; he went ahead and put the money aside, knowing they’d probably need it someday. I can hardly imagine that as I look back, but it happened. I never really asked her about it but my mother must have been afraid of money. I’ve had to be very vigilant in my own life to make sure I wasn’t letting any of those old wrong ideas get fixed in my thinking. I’ve always believed in and preached tithing and giving in all sorts of ways, but I also believe that the best way to help the poor is to not become one of them. Some people, like my parents, seem to think that money is dangerous and evil and if you’re not careful it will corrupt you. There’s an element of truth to that but by the same token, the Bible doesn’t teach that money is evil, just the love of it.

Some fear that a lot of money will somehow get them into trouble. As Christians, that’s an uncalled for response and though it may have been that way in the past, we are now King’s kids and we have the wisdom and integrity to be proper stewards over our resources. It’s true that if you gave some people one million dollars they’d soon be over their heads because of poor management. They’d fail to pay their taxes and soon would be in trouble with the I.R.S. Also, disagreement about how money is spent is the number one cause of divorce, so obviously it can cause problems, but again, it goes back to wrong concepts about money.



MONEY GIVES YOU A VOICE.

In Ecc. 9: 14-15 we read an interesting little story about a wise but poor man who saved a little city but because he was poor the people didn’t respect or remember him. In other words, because he himself wasn’t prosperous, the people discounted him. What’s interesting is that the same principle holds true to this day; if a person is poor, they have no voice nor are they really considered very much. A modern day twist on that same idea is that people say nowadays, “If you’re so smart, why aren’t you financially successful.” To bring balance to the question, I think we could correctly say that while money doesn’t insure that a person is spiritual or upstanding, if we are to be viable in our society, the principles of Biblical prosperity should be visible and working in our lives. You can ask any of the minorities and they’ll tell you it’s true. No finances, no voice. The story isn’t saying that the poor are worthless in God’s eyes, but have a difficult time getting their story heard. Pastors and missionaries have lived with that reality for years; if there’s no money, the work will not be done nor the Gospel preached. God wants money to come into our hands and He also wants us to have the right attitude toward it.

Another wrong way of thinking about money would be hoarding it & ignoring the needs of others, and the work of God.

A SCARCITY MENTALITY IS WRONG THINKING.

Some people have developed the idea that there is only so much wealth and not enough for everybody. Have you ever wondered why some people are jealous of those who move up in life and get new things? Most of the time it’s not that they just don’t want the other person to have what they acquire; it’s that they see only one big pie and if somebody gets a big piece of it, there’s less for them. This is wrong thinking. We should realize we all have our own pie and what someone else gets in no way detracts or diminishes what we may have if we position ourselves rightly. Again, it’s the limited thinking that gets in the way. Psalm 78:41 says when speaking of Israel, Yea they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. Let’s be sure we don’t do the same in our thinking.

Here’s an illustration, a very simple but, I think, good one. If you took a pig and cleaned him all up and let him live in your house, we know that it wouldn’t be long until his old pig-ways would necessitate that you put him back outside. You’d have to change his nature to be able to coexist with a pig.

Obviously, you and I aren’t pigs, but still, we can’t really go where God wants to take us with our old nature and set patterns of wrong thinking. Again remember, For as a man thinketh in his heart so is he.

If we try to put spiritual ideas into a mind that hasn’t been renewed, we’ve got a confused situation, for the Bible says “the carnal mind cancels out spiritual thoughts and ideas.”

Let’s say a man wants to become a doctor, so he goes to medical school to prepare. He studies to cram medical jargon into his head and truly is good at reading, absorbing the material, and passing the tests. Because he does all the work and makes the grades, he finally gets his degree and his license to practice medicine. The only thing is, the man doesn’t really want to be a doctor, has no interest in good health and helping people obtain good health. He doesn’t buy into the idea that he must scrub and clean his hands after visiting each patient and won’t use a single modicum of care to follow up on his patients to see them through to health. He really has never bought into the truth that there are certain medical principle’s we all must follow in order to have optimum health. All he’s doing, although his head is full of doctor knowledge, is going through the charade pretending to be a true doctor. Would you want a man like that to be your physician? A man who doesn’t even believe what he’s doing is important and is only in it for the prestige and the financial rewards? He’s got all the head knowledge but after medical school he refuses to stay abreast and up to date on new medical findings. Maybe he even doubts the things he’s learned are true, and when nobodies looking, bends and breaks all the rules of ethics and good medicine. Even though he knew all the things he was supposed to know, he really wouldn’t be much good, would he?

This man never had a mind-changing experience that truly made a life time doctor out of him.

It’s the same thing with us as Christians in the realm of spiritual truth. We must not be Christians in name only. It’s important that we have been transformed and are so full of Christ, and His way of thinking, that there’s no room for faulty superfluous, harmful ideas.


I have read that in order for a crab to continue to grow, they must occasionally throw off their old shell and grow new ones. But the old shell represents the crabs home, security, and comfort. It’s risky for him to get rid of the old shell but if he doesn’t do it, he’ll cease to grow and finally die. God wants us to be crabby. Not in the sense that we’re cantankerous and hard to live with but in the sense that we, as the crab, are constantly growing and throwing off the non-productive “shells” that become irrelevant as we grow up in God.

Take a close look at your life and ask yourself if you are suffering because of limiting ideas that have taken root and have kept you from God’s best. Ideas that are like the crabs too small shell that he must throw off in order to insure his continued growth. There is a battle going on for our minds and if Satan can get a foothold there, he will shrink us, keep us small and can rob us of total victorious living.

Make a commitment today to return to God’s word, open your heart and mind and watch God lead you to new vista’s that are,

“EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDATLY MORE THAN YOU COULD ASK OR THINK, ACCORDING TO THE POWER THAT WORKETH IN YOU.”


Blessings,

John

"I Heard It Through The Grapevine"

By John Stallings

Once I was asked to speak at a church banquet. As I rose to speak, people were finishing their deserts & still engaged in small talk.

Not being all that used to speaking under these conditions, I just stood there & looked out at the folk. The Pastor who understood the room said to me, “Tell them to SSssssshhhh.” I didn’t want to do it but finally I leaned into the mike and said, SSSssssshhhh, in a gentle but firm way. As I did I noticed things slightly quiet down. The Pastor’s wife then spoke up & said “Bro. Stallings, tell them louder to SSSsssshhhhh. I looked at her & said, “Does that work?” She answered, “It’s the only thing that does work.”

Well, I SSSSssshhhed them again a little louder & this time they looked as if a gunshot had gone off. I finally had my audience & all it took was a fairly loud SSssssshhhhh. Everyone seemed fine with it. I’ve thought many times about that & wondered why we human beings respond so well to SSssssshhh.

I can remember many times as a child when my Mother would just say SSshhh to us. Often that’s all she would say & it usually got the job done. Sometimes, if the ssshhh wasn’t heeded -things got a little rougher. [She was quite an accomplished pincher.] Maybe it was even the first thing she ever said to me as baby, sssshhhhh it’s o.k., be quiet son—Sssssshhhh. There,- there-sssshhhh.

Some time back I was going through a stressful patch & somehow a compulsion hit me to just talk-talk-talk about it to anyone who would listen. One night as I meditated, I distinctly heard God’s voice whisper to me, “son, ssshhhhhhh. Give it a rest. Stop dwelling on the problem son, you’re making too big a thing out of this. Put it in perspective. SSSssssshhhhh. Keep it low key-low key—easy-does-it, keep the problem small in your mind.”

Yes, God said exactly that to me in my spirit. I was stunned in a way but then as usual I began to see God’s point. I was so revved up that I had the problem all out of proportion.

Friend believe me, this isn’t me talking now. I have failed as much as anybody in the words department. But as I said, it’s what God is saying to & through me. He’s saying, “Stand back, take a deep breath & relax. Sssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”

I remember an actor named Larry Hagman who for many years played J.R on the TV show Dallas. I read that one day a week he wouldn’t talk to anyone , he’d wear a sign on his chest saying “please excuse me I’m not talking today, It’s my day of silence.” I think Larry had a good idea. Sometimes a little peace & quiet is fine. God bless you Larry!

We lose power with too much talk.

Even Samson wouldn’t have gotten into trouble if he’d kept his mouth closed. He lost his power because he wanted to talk & when he spoke he gave away the secret of his power.

Have you ever talked until you were just totally tired out? Talking takes the strength out of you. Ask any preacher or teacher. In WW11 there was a big promotion in American called “Loose lips sink ships.” They observed that when people were loose in their talk about the work they were doing, for some reason more bad things happened

Perhaps that’s why David said in Psalm 141:3 “Set a watch Oh Lord before my mouth keep the door of my lips.” Lord, help me to SSSSssssshhhhhhhh.

I once heard a man say, “I can tell you what I know & I can tell you what I think, which one do you want to hear?” Believe me, telling what we know takes lot’s less time doesn’t it? However most of the time when we talk we don’t make a clear distinction between the two.

WE SHOULD BE WARY OF IDLE CHATTER

Jesus said in Matthew 12:36, “But I say unto you that every idle word that men speak they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment.” This is speaking of idle gossip. Frightening isn’t it? How often have you heard these words, “you didn’t hear this from me?” That opener will usually start a statement off that will be hurtful to someone. Believe it or not, very often the reason for the statement is to hurt someone. The definition of Gossip is; “Rumor or talk of a personal or sensational nature, someone who habitually spreads sensational or intimate facts.” We have all seen the gossip rags in grocery stores & sadly that’s where America’s mind set is these days. Too bad we Christians aren’t exempt, but we aren’t. We seem to crave it as much as anyone.

MANY DON’T SEEM TO BE AWARE THAT LOOSE AND IDLE TALK IS WRONG

Have you ever wondered why people continue to engage in such a harmful practice? The answer is many faceted. Many seem to feel its o.k. because we get away with it. We do it & nothing bad happens to us immediately. Other folk do it because they’ve never heard a reliable source talk or teach on it. And maybe it’s this; some are too rebellious to stop gossiping.

Proverbs 9; 8 tells us “A scoffer who is rebuked will only hate you; the wise when rebuked will love you.” In other words, when some hear the truth they’ll decide if they like it & if not they will discard it.

It is obvious that gossip isn’t a popular subject but it sure as a popular thing to do.

James 3:5-8 says, “So also the tongue is a small part of the body, yet it boasts great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire. And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. For every species of beasts and birds, of reptile and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil full of deadly poison.”{NASB}.

The tongue can’t be tamed outside a divine intervention of the Holy Ghost; just as a wild animal it can be trained. God’s Word places the practice of gossip in serious categories. In Romans 1:29-30 it is among sins like deceit, malice, slander and arrogance, and is called deceiving and defamatory, accompanied by cruelty and pride.

In 11 Timothy 3; 1-3 we find another Pauline list of vices & sins & God places gossip right in the middle of it. Is it any wonder that one of the Ten Commandments is, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor?”

We can say what we will but that which slips from our lips is a dead give- away of what’s in our hearts. The Psalmist David cried out, “let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight Oh Lord my rock and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19; 14.

GOSSIP IS A DEVILISH GENIUS- IT GIVES A DRUG-LIKE EFFECT AS IT SWINGS BETWEEN LIFTING US UP AND PUTTING SOMEONE ELSE DOWN.

Isn’t it amazing how fake we can be sometimes? Have you ever seen someone run another person down & practically demonize them & almost in the next breath walk up to that person & embrace them like they were long lost buddies? We seem to feel that we can make our hum-drum lives better & feel better about ourselves if we run someone else down. The real issue isn’t so much about the other person as it is our own mentality & self-portrait. And maybe we also possess just a dash of criticism of God & the way He made the other person.

Listen to how hellish the Corinthians sound in 11 Corinthians 12:20. “For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.”

Read that verse sometime & also read the verse after it. Friend I don’t know about you but that sounds like hell to me, -but it’s written to Christians.

Over the years I have personally witnessed how gossip has affected friendships. The arrogance of others has cost me pain from lies &, just as important, half-truths that were spread about me. Perhaps you’ve experienced the same. I don’t share this out of bitterness but say it in the spirit of openness & honesty. I never want my words to ever cause anyone the pain vicious gossip has cost me.

As God’s people, what do we possibly have to gain by this? It does nothing but separate & destroy us. We are, & have been too long, destroying the Kingdom of God He has so graciously provided.

The good news is that we can beat this quagmire if we come together & put forth an effort to be real with each other & learn again to love as Jesus taught us to love.

SSSSSSSSSSSSssssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Blessings,

John

OPTIONS

By John Stallings

In 1957, I stood in my father’s church in Orlando Florida.

It was my last service for awhile in my home church. I was leaving for Bible College the next day.

I went to the alter that night in response to a call for students who were leaving for school. We stood as the church offered a prayer for all of us. I will never forget that night. I was eighteen years old and about to leave home for the first time for an extended stay. However, leaving home wasn’t my real concern that evening.

The real issue of my heart was the commitment I was about to make. Up to now I had gone to church and lived a Christian life pretty much as a normal course of things. I had gotten along just fine. I had dated Christian girls, had good Christian friends & I’m sure being a church kid had kept me out of a lot of trouble. But now I was looking at something else; something very different. I was about to embark on a course of schooling that would fence me in as far as where I could go & what I could do with my life.

I felt I had a call to the Ministry & had actually been preaching since I was fifteen. This night however, what I felt was different. I was wavering a little bit. Was I actually going to make this my life’s choice? Once I started studying in Bible College, this was going to be the education for my life’s work. Now things were getting serious. The choice I was making now would affect whom I would marry, the kind of car I’d drive & the house I’d live in. It would effect how much money I’d make and the friends I’d have for the rest of my life.

Since I’ve been in the Ministry now for over fifty years I know I made the right decision. I’m grateful that moment of truth turned into a wonderful life’s choice. But on that night in 1957, I was in the valley of decision. All kinds of thoughts were running through my mind. All kinds of options presented themselves and clambered for attention. But I wasn’t the first and certainly wouldn’t be the last to ever be faced with a dilemma like this.

In John 6:66-71, Jesus was ministering to a large crowd and while He was in the process of preaching, his crowd started to leave. He was preaching to them about total commitment to Him. He was saying it involved the symbolic eating of His flesh and drinking of his blood. In one way, it was a rather gruesome discourse & it showed in the response. He was quickly losing His crowd.

As people were leaving, Jesus turned to the twelve and asked “are you going to leave also?” Then Peter spoke up, as he so often did & said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. He was saying, - "Lord, we’ve seen too much, we’ve seen you heal the sick, raise the dead, & walk on the water. We’ve looked around & checked our options and listened to other teachers but no one else is talking about eternal life. "

Much the same kind of quandary the disciples felt was happening to me that night in 1957 when I had that gut wrenching soul- searching experience. Yes, there were other options for me as a young man but I had seen up-close, the reality of serving Jesus & the difference it made in a life. I’d seen people leave the Church & go out into the world & return, bruised, battered & beaten. After a detour into a life of sin I’d seen them stand with tears in their eyes explaining how they’d drifted away from God & were almost destroyed. I’d seen people’s lives wrecked by sin and then seen God turn it all around for them. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see what sin does to lives. I knew this very well.

I was quiet aware that a life without Jesus was a life mis-spent. However, I’d be less than honest if I didn’t say that there are options to serving Jesus. During my wavering I’d been presented with many of them. The entire world knows that Christianity has as its symbol a man hanging on a cross. Christianity has been called the bloody religion. It offends many people so much that in some places songs about the blood of Jesus have been expunged from song books.

This was the problem that day so long ago that caused the people to turn from Jesus. Eat his body, drink his blood? Really? So they left to find a more comfortable, palatable set of religious teachings. They wanted, before they committed to Christianity, to check out the options. Those so- called alternatives are still there today, so let’s take a look at a few of them. The Bible also calls them “strange fires.” It’s interesting that in the Bible, God’s power is symbolized by fire and false teachings are called;

STRANGE FIRE

Leviticus 10:1&2 tells about strange fire that men offered up to God that He didn’t accept. “And Nadab and Abihu the sons of Aaron took either of them his censer and put fire therein and put incense fire thereon and offered strange fire before the Lord which He commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them and they died before the Lord.”

That’s how God looks at these religious substitutes or options. Remember the first commandment; Thou shalt have no other God’s before me?” The first strange fire is;

GOOD WORKS!

Just live a good life, that’s all it takes to save you. I have an elderly acquaintance that I walk with at a Mall I sometimes go to for exercise. He’s a retired judge & I often talk to him about spiritual things & try to answer any questions he has.

The good judge is very frustrated with Christianity. He says, “Look John, I try to be a good man, that’s all I can do. If I pass a cripple & he has a pan out for money, I always give money. I don’t lie, cheat or steal. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a good man. And then I turn on T.V & the preachers are saying that all my good works are worth nothing.” I explain to him that Christianity teaches something entirely different than just being good. We’re saved by putting our faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross. It is a living relationship with a living savior. It seems that the gospel is too simple for this man & he stumbles over that simplicity.

The Bible tells us that our good works can’t get us into heaven. Revelation 14:13 Says, “Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from hence forth. Yea for they do rest from their labors and their works do follow them.” Our good works are important but they don’t lead us to heaven, they follow us.

Ephesians 2: 8-9 says, “By grace are ye saved by faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.”

But people even in our spiritually enlightened age still think that if they do good they’ll end up in a good place & if they do bad they’ll end up in a bad place. The feeling still exists that says “if I try to be good I’m O.K.” Using a baseball analogy, good works, as far as their ability to save us are like a high fly ball hit into the hands of a center fielder: it looks great but it means nothing. In other words we keep doing good but never quite measure up in Gods eyes. This then is the “good works option.” Another strange fire or option is;

FALSE RELIGION

We have Scientology, Unity, Spiritism, E.S.P, Transcendental Mediation, Mind control, Clairvoyance, Telepathy, Self realization, Unification church, Witchcraft, Satan worship, U. F. Ology, Black Muslims, Free masonry, Hare Krishna, Pantheism, Islam, Palm readers, All Eastern religions, Astrological signs, plus many more. All these are strange fires/options.

The problem with all these religions is that they too are all performance based; based on good works. Some think if you say so many prayers you are on your way to earning salvation. Some say if you adopt children that can help get you to heaven. Some build hospitals and care for the sick as a means of working their way to heaven. All of that is obviously good but can’t buy salvation.

In Acts 4:12 Scripture says;

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” The Bible is very clear on the matter of what it takes to go to heaven. Let’s look at the strange fire of;

REINCARNATION

Reincarnation says we are constantly re-born and keep coming back in other forms. However, the Bible says in Hebrews 9:27 “It is appointed to man once to die and after that the judgment.” There you have it, according to God’s Word we get only one life on earth, & then we are judged. Then there’s the strange fire of;

MORAL FREEDOM

Some people say, “I’ll just throw off all restraints and be free. Yeah, that’s the answer, freedom.” In 2 Timothy, 3:4 the Bible says:

“In the last days men shall be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God”

This sounds a lot like our day. The problem with moral freedom is that sin has a binding nature. The people I’ve seen try the freedom route have ended up in chains of bondage. Bob Dylan wrote a song on this subject, - “You gotta serve somebody.” How true that is.

Christ doesn’t bind us He frees us. Galatians 5:1 says” Stand fast in the liberty where in Christ has made you free and be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage.” Jesus Christ alone can give the kind of freedom our souls yearn for.

Another strange fire is;

NEW AGE OR NEW BEGINNINGS

This teaching says, all you need to do is start over. Get a new spouse, a new house, new kids, & a new town. If you can just get out of your environment you’ll solve your problems. All you really need is a good vacation. But the problem with that is that we keep taking our miserable selves every where we go. Wherever we go, there we are. No matter how many changes you make it’s the same old you. There has to be a heart change.

Man can dabble in many mystic movements that are out there but none have the power to change him. Imagine a man who starts to slow down physically and lose all his strength. His hands can’t grip anything, they are too weak. His feet & legs are getting too weak to walk. His eyes are getting weak & blurry and finally he goes to the doctor. The doctor checks him out and says, “Well sir, it’s your heart.” The man argues with the doctor, telling him it’s not his heart, it’s his hands; it’s his feet, & his eyes. But the doctor says “sir I’m sorry, your heart is failing & you must have a new one.” That man would then have to be put in line to wait for a new heart. If the operation was successful, the bill will be astronomically high.

Spiritually, we are all born in need of a new heart for we are all born sinners. The only answer is to come as a child, confess our sins to God & receive by faith a new heart & a new life in Christ. It’s that simple. That’s why the Gospel is called good news. And best of all its free. Maintenance on our new heart however will involve daily exercise, preferably knee exercises.

Then there is the strange fire of;

HALF-HEARTED COMMITMENT!

This option says, “I’m not going to abandon the faith but neither am I selling all out for Christ.” I don’t intend to be a religious nut. I want comfortable Christianity. After all, you don’t have to be all that religious to go to heaven.” Well, you don’t need religion but you do need Christ to go to heaven. If you could do part of it yourself, you’d be your own co-Savior.

But what good is a half hearted anything? Would you want to watch a half hearted team play football? No! You want to see a man who takes five yards to fall down when they tackle him, don’t you? Would we send up a half hearted Astronaut on the space shuttle? Would you go to a half hearted doctor? Of course not.

Christ has said that to follow him we must be willing to give up everything else & let Him be the single focus of our lives. He has also promised that if we do that, He’ll add to our lives all the abundance we need to live the greatest, most fulfilling life a person can experience on this earth. When you take a good look at all the strange fires & so called options, you soon know that only Jesus can offer you real joy in this life & the life to come.

One last fire the world has to offer is the;

NO FIRE OPTION.

The Hindu answer is to kill all fire & passion. Just get all blanked out & have no feelings towards anything. Do it with drugs, meditation or whatever works. The problem with that is, man needs some kind of fire in his life. God made us that way. We need passion. We are drawn to it like a moth to the flame. We will have fire. Life for us would be unbearable & intolerable without fire. Indeed to man, to have no passion is almost the same as death. God understands this & that’s why we read in Deuteronomy 4:24: “For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire.”

God’s fire is the only fire that purges & cleanses us & gives power over all the devices of Satan.

Multitudes have tried to satisfy the soul by purchasing things & staying busy & a myriad of other substitutions. It doesn’t work. People all over the world are looking for a “god” to fill the void of their lives.

The fact is, without God, life is exactly as Solomon described it in Ecclesiastes 1, vanity & emptiness. Pleasure, education, a job, wealth, these alone can never give meaning to life.

People are trying different solutions but there is only one answer. Are you seeking something real?

This is a time when the economic circumstances are causing us to consider our lives. If you’ve trusted in “things” in the past I invite you to leave them behind & trust in Jesus Christ. Only Jesus can satisfy the soul. He’s the only real option. He said;

….I am come that they might have life & that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10



Blessings,

John



http://www.johnstallings.blogspot.com

Are You Too Irritable?

By John Stallings


Did you know there are some “respectable sins?” These are sins that we don’t take very seriously. Irritability is one of those sins.

Irritability is-- a strong sense of annoyance or exasperation or impatience over, too often, the slightest little provocation. - An irritable person is an impatient person. We all can be irritable at times but an irritable person is irritable most of the time.

An irritable person is no fun to be with because you have to walk on eggshells for fear of setting them off. But if the irritable person is in your family or your work place, you have no choice but to coexist with them.

Ask yourself this:

Are you upset with someone or with some circumstance a lot of the time? If the answer is yes then you’re most likely an irritable person. It’s rather simple; 1 Peter 4:8 says—Love covers a multitude of sins. If that be true & we know it is, how much more should it cover a multitude of acts that irritate? Proverbs 19:11 says,--its one’s glory to overlook an offense.

If we’re irritable, it’s probably something that we indulge in at home because we can get away with it. If we tried it at church or at work there would be repercussions that we don’t want so we restrain ourselves. At home we let loose, wanting everyone around us to conform to our expectations. Let’s be clear; society sets boundaries with respect to irritability so we live within the boundaries. The reason we might act differently at home is “because we can.”

Let’s go a little deeper. As parents we can be irritable when our kids are slow in responding to our training. I’ve seen & heard good Christian parents get so irritated with their children they talk to them like they were heathens. “How many times do I have to tell you to clean your room?” Or, “When are you gonna stop playing with your food?” When you tell your kids to do something over & over its easy to become irritable when they don’t seem to be learning the lessons you want them to. The real problem here is that when we become impatient & irritable, we have outbursts that don’t teach our kids anything—they only humiliate them & teach them just the opposite of what we want them to learn.

How are you when you’re in your car driving to work, especially when you get behind a “sit low-drive slow” driver? How are you when you’re waiting in line at the bank or the store? How do you deal with it when you’re in line at the post office to buy a few stamps & the lady in front of you is mailing twenty packages to Timbuktu? Friend, though it may sound funny, its not, & you & I need to acknowledge & repent of our impatience & irritability as the sin that it is.

In Paul’s love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13, when he starts to describe love he could have started several different ways, but he starts off by telling us first & foremost that love is patient. Think about that the next time someone annoys you. There is no doubt about it in Paul’s mind; the attitude of patience is one we should cultivate & the attitude of irritability is one we should stamp out of our lives. Irritability may be acceptable to us- but it’s not acceptable to God.

I make an effort to be as open & candid as possible about my personal faults, or should I say, as candid as is prudent without giving my readers “information overload.”

I’ve always been a laid back kind of guy but in the spirit of soul- cleansing, I must say as I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more irritable. A case in point happened last month. I was expecting a royalty check from California & it was late. I called to check it out & was told “The checks in the mail.” Each day the money didn’t come I grew a little more annoyed & irritated. It wasn’t as if we didn’t have food on the table or were in any danger of that happening, it was “just the principle of the thing.”

Cutting to the chase, the money finally came but it was almost a month late. I don’t know how many calls I made to the West Coast or how many emails I sent but let me tell you- my “righteous indignation” was stirred up.

Juda has got to be one of the calmest people on the planet & she handles delay & disappointment much better than I do. The one exception being when the lawn-guy let’s the grass get too high before he cuts it.

Isn’t it interesting that we all have our thresholds for frustration & getting a little panicky?

THE ANOINTING OF GOD’S SPIRIT CAN BREAK THE YOKE OF IRRITABILITY.

In the 23rd Psalm, in the 5th verse, we’re told, The Lord, our good shepherd-- anoints our head with oil.

If you’ve ever been around live stock, you know that certain things can irritate them. Bugs; flies, gnats & mosquitoes can so aggravate a cow or a sheep that they’ll deliberately run into a tree or wall & injure, even kill themselves to get relief.

Fortunately the shepherd has a remedy for annoying insects. He pours an oil-like substance on the head of the animal & the fragrance keeps the insects away. The oil is a repellent that removes the aggravation, restlessness & irritability.

Animals can get rather testy & irritable when mating enters the equation. Sheep are calm & placid, even passive most of the time. But in mating season, the Rams strut around the pasture flexing their necks to make them swell trying to gain the attention of the prettiest ewe in the flock. When he catches a ewe’s eye he tosses his head back & says, “I want ewe, babe.” About that time the ewe’s boyfriend meanders over & tells her to go some place safe because a fight’s about the break out. Then some old-fashioned head-butting takes place.

The shepherd has just the thing to handle this situation. He pours oil on the Ram’s head so that when they butt heads, rather than crashing full force into each other, the greasy substance causes the Rams to glance off each other. This makes the Rams feel stupid but it dissipates the blows to their heads causing little physical damage.

Often sheep will be cut by thorns or sharp rocks as they graze. The shepherd will regularly inspect his sheep searching for cuts & abrasions. He must prevent the wound from getting infected. A little bit of linseed oil mixed with sulphur rubbed on the sheep’s wound heals them. In many sheep-rearing countries, the entire flock is paraded through a ‘sheep-dip” to take care of the problem.

Just as the sheep have many irritants, there are many things in our lives that get on our last nerve. Maybe it’s another person who ruins our peaceful existence. It may be some other distraction that drives us up the wall. Did you notice it wasn’t large things like Lions that gave the sheep the most misery? Likewise with us; it isn’t the gigantic things that get to us but rather the day-by-day swarms of frustrations & disappointments which slowly wear us down & break our spirit.

Because of the way the economy is these days; there are the problems of the stock market, house devaluations, & food prices all of which can get under our skin. For me it’s the shredding of the Constitution that is ever increasingly becoming a problem.

God through His Holy Spirit can anoint us so that we are able to handle these persistent pests that plague us.

Also, the sheep get irritated with one another. Many of our irritations & problems stem from the difficulties we have in relationships. Your boss didn’t give you a raise. Your husband didn’t notice your new dress. You were criticized unfairly. Your neighbor’s yard is a mess & he doesn’t seem to care. Your ex-spouse delights in trying to make your life miserable. Before we know it, we can get our “back up” & start head-butting people.

Like sheep, when we’re being pestered, we don’t sleep well; we don’t eat well; & we might even hit our head against a tree a few times. I’ve been a follower of news for a long time & I can’t remember a day when so many folk were snapping & committing multiple murders. Again, a lot of this stems from the unstable environment we currently live in.

MOSES

Moses is one of the most shining examples in the Bible of the toll an irritable & fractious spirit can take on an individual. Moses struggled with his temper throughout his life.

At the age of forty when he should have been a mature man, his temper got the best of him when he saw an Egyptian beating up on a Hebrew. Moses killed the Egyptian which put his picture in all the Egyptian post-offices & he had to flee & spend the next 40 years learning patience in the back side of the desert.
Moses wasn’t an ignoramus either, because Acts 7:22 says he was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians.

Sad to say this isn’t the last time we see his temper on display. When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments & saw the people had gone back to idol worship, he blew his cool & threw the two tablets down at the foot of the mountain & broke them. But this wasn’t smart- because the tablets were written by the hand of God.

A QUESTION TO ASK YOURSELF

Moses had to go back to the mountain & this time he had the arduous task of putting the Commandments down himself. A good question for you & me to ask ourselves is-what are we going to have to do over because we allowed anger & frustration to get the better of us?

The final act that got Moses in trouble with God was when the people were murmuring & wishing they were dead at Kadesh. God instructed Moses to go to a rock & speak to it & water would come out for the people. Did Moses obey God? Nope! Moses really got sassy with the people on this occasion. He was so furious & stressed out that his shoulders were up around his ears & instead of speaking to the rock; he struck it twice with his rod.

Water came out so abundantly that the people & all their animals were able to slake their thirst. But this was one temper tantrum God wasn’t going to overlook. God told Moses that because he didn’t hallow Him before the people, he wouldn’t be allowed to lead them into the Promised Land.

ONE OF THE SWEETEST OF GOD’S PROMISES

One of the most precious verses in the Bible is;

Great peace have they which love thy law & nothing shall offend them. Ps.119:165

In a way it seems strange to promise something as valuable as peace to someone who-“Loves God’s law.”

Let me illustrate it this way; If I were to go down & buy my wife a Betty Crocker cookbook, & she took it & carried it everywhere she went & talked about nothing else but that cookbook, I’d worry about her. If every time I looked around I saw her lovingly thumbing through the book of recipes & making notes, I’d think it a little strange.

When I asked her about the gift I’d given her, if her eyes pooled with tears & she’d say, “I love this cookbook. I love the way the pages feel. I even love how the type fits on the pages. Oh, how I love this book. It’s hard to keep from crying every time I pick up this wonderful cookbook. You may have noticed that I read it six or seven times a day but I just can’t help it.” I think you’d agree if that happen, it would be beyond strange.

But let’s make one small change & say the recipe book is her grandmother’s old cookbook. Each recipe is hand written by her & the pages are worn & stained from the cooking she did so many years ago. As Juda turned the pages she could remember the recipes & how scrumptious they were. If that were the case, knowing how much Juda’s grandmother meant to her, I wouldn’t think it at all strange for her to be sentimental about the old book. To her its more than words on a page, it’s a reminder of family relationships & a precious symbol that spans several generations.

You & I don’t love God’s law because its ink on paper, we love it because of who wrote it & our relationship to Him.

THE PROMISE—NOTHING SHALL OFFEND THEM!

God has promised if we love His Word, if we meditate on it, nothing will upset our applecart. Nothing will destroy our peace. Nothing will irritate us. Nothing will offend us or “get under our skin.” I submit to you friend that’s a promise that’s almost too good to be true. Nothing will get us all bent out of shape & cause us to be edgy, angry or frustrated.

I’ll be very frank with you; when I read this verse I almost unconsciously want to downgrade it like; --Not very many things will offend—or—most things won’t bother us but a few things can still get us ticked off. That of course is the flesh not wanting to take God’s Word at face value, wanting to make excuses for the tendency we all have for our wrong attitudes.

This verse doesn’t promise us that we’ll never have things to happen that will hurt & disappoint us. It doesn’t promise that we’ll never have to deal with irregular people & be pushed to the breaking point. It doesn’t promise that we’ll never spend time in the “spiritual burn unit.”

There will still be stumbling blocks for us to overcome because Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.

But if you love God’s Law, [the Bible] you won’t be up-ended by anything this life can hand you. When the stumbling blocks come, you may step over them, you may walk around them or God will give you the grace to walk through them. God can emotionally make you “Vice president of the “happy to be here” club.

In any case, you won’t stumble, you won’t fall & you won’t be destroyed by the changing circumstances of life.

God will give you poise & He’ll give you peace.

How wonderful is the promise;

Great peace have they which love thy law & nothing shall offend them.

Blessings,

John

Spots In Your Love Feast

By John Stallings


If you saw the movie, “Throw mamma from the train” you’ll remember Billy Crystal’s character not only taught writing but was an aspiring writer himself, & at present was having a problem with writers-block. This premise was amusing & I could relate to Crystal’s problem.

Writing has been one of the most humbling things I’ve ever attempted. If you read this blog much you’ll know that I make lots of mistakes though I try, I really try to get it right.

As a matter of fact, just before I started writing this piece, I went to my last posting, read it through & found a mistake. It was the kind of mistake spell-check can’t help with. I quickly changed it but many had already read it. A few more typos may still be lurking.

The big problem I have with that is; the post has been up several days & I had already proofed the article several times. [Wow.] That exasperates me, but it seems even when I do the best I can [& believe me I put my best effort into every message] I often come up short.

HEY JUDE!

Jude, a brother of Jesus seemed to have no such problem. He was a magnificent writer. He had a way with words, & was especially the master of metaphor. He doesn’t just tell you something, he paints a word picture. I wish I could have heard him preach.

Jude must have looked a lot like Jesus because Mary & Joseph were also his parents. Maybe he even sounded something like Jesus when he spoke. The same Galilean accent; the same mannerisms. Jesus drew word pictures with parables. Jude did it with short phrases that were rich in texture & in meaning.

In verses 12-13, Jude says some very interesting things.


JUDE CONTRASTS “AUTHENTIC CHRISTIANITY” WITH “SYNTHETIC CHRISTIANITY.”

If you were to ask the average Christian today what a church meeting was like in the days of the apostles, you’d probably get difference answers. A Charismatic person would feel that the early church service consisted of singing & preaching & the exercise of the gifts of the Spirit, & they’d be partially correct.

Many other people would no doubt believe the early church services were mostly a celebration, featuring the Lord’s Supper & the symbolic elements of bread & wine. They also would be partially right.

This may shock you but a dominate part of the worship of those early Christians was centered around a meal! That’s right—a meal!

The early Christians referred to this meal as the “agape meal” or love feast. What happened to this meal? Well; it fell through the cracks over time for various & sundry reasons.

Jude explains that counterfeit Christians had infiltrated his church. First he says; These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves.

What is Jude talking about here? What does…spots in your love feast… mean?

The love feast would be equivalent to our covered dish suppers. They would combine these meals with The Lord’s Supper. The early church didn’t just meet for an hour or so, they got together & worshipped & ate together. They called these “Love feasts” because they were characterized by Christian fellowship & love.

The problem with these love feasts was that some who came didn’t exhibit love. Sound familiar? These people came in their sin, with raunchy attitudes, with no intention of repenting thereby spurning the gracious love of God.

Paul was dealing with these types when he talked to the Corinthians. He talks to them about the divisions & factions that were destroying the unity of the church. With Paul & with Jude, people were actually coming to the love feast early & eating all the food. So when the late folk came after long days of work there was no food left. The early-birds had stuffed themselves with food & wine & some were lying around “three sheets in the wind.”

In Jude’s church there were “spots in your love feast…serving only themselves.

Christianity has two distinct groups; those who are authentic & serve God, & those who are synthetic & serve only themselves.

HAVE YOU EVER HEAR ANYONE SAY- “I STOPPED GOING TO CHURCH BECAUSE I WASN’T GETTING ANYTHING OUT OF IT?”

Certainly a church should be a feeding station where we can get our souls fed. But there’s a fine line between- “I wasn’t getting anything out of it,” & “I go where I can get the most for my money.” Or “I’m looking for the best show in town.” The bottom line is; True Christianity is about true love. Everything else is just the surface appearance of Christianity.

Listen to Pastor James;

Pure religion & undefiled before God & the Father is this, to visit the fatherless & widows in their affliction & to keep himself UNSPOTTED from the world.—James 1:27.

Have you ever considered that a church service is a lot like the old schools sixty or seventy years ago, when one classroom had grades one through twelve? I don’t know how those teachers did it because they had to see to it that each of those grade-levels were challenged & taught helpful lessons.

When a church meets, the same thing is happening on a spiritual level. The pastors & teachers have to literally have something for everybody. One of the old time preachers put it this way; “There are spiritual Giraffes & spiritual Chihuahuas in every service.” This makes it a little difficult for ministry & without the Holy Spirit taking the things of God & revealing them to the people, nothing much would happen.

The next time you go to church, & you aren’t getting what you feel you need, & you feel the message is above your head, think about this; maybe God is looking out for the spiritual Giraffes that day. Or if you feel the Word is too elementary, maybe God is feeding the spiritual Chihuahuas that service.

Jude uses other metaphors to describe these folk who are serving self only but I want to stick with the love metaphor here.
There are several different kinds of love. There’s romantic love, family love, brotherly love & Agape love.

AGAPE LOVE

John uses agape love in 1 John 4:7-11;

Beloved let us love one another; for love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
He that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love. In this was manifest the love of God toward us because that God sent His only begotten son into the world that we might live through Him……beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another.

John does a great job here of teaching us about agape love. He tells us that as Christians we should be exhibiting agape love. He tells us where Agape love comes from; he tells us what it looks like & shows us if we have this kind of love we’ll be a blessing to others.

But here’s the kicker; you & I aren’t actually capable of this kind of love. It isn’t going to happen. That is- in our own strength. We can’t love like that. As humans we’re just incapable. So in short John is asking us to do something we can’t do. You don’t have agape love & I don’t have agape love. We can produce family love & brotherly love & romantic love but we can’t produce agape love. It’s beyond humans to have sacrificial, God-like agape love.

The Beatles sang—All you need is love…& then they broke up. So how are we to fulfill this mandate to love—agape—others? John tells us that if we are born of God we know Him. That means to intimately know Him. If you & I are true believers who’ve committed our lives to Christ, then we know God.

AGAPE LOVE IS BEYOND OUR PAY GRADE

Do you remember the “pot-bellied” craze a few years ago when people were spending hundreds of dollars to own one of those exotic house pets imported from Vietnam? Well, this craze started when breeders of these particular animals claimed that these mini-pigs were very smart & that they would only grow to a weight of 40 lbs. For some reason people loved the idea of a smart mini-pig running around the house because thousands of these pigs were sold.

Well it turned out the breeders were only half-right. The pigs were smart. Some could even be trained to walk on leashes & use litter boxes. But they often grew to be as much as 150 lbs or more! I heard of one that grew to weigh 250 lbs & when the truth came out, as the pigs grew older they could become openly aggressive-not at all pet-like.

So what did the people do with their unwanted pot-bellied pigs? Fortunately, according to U.S News & World Report, a man named Dale Riffle came to the rescue. Dale was given a pig as a gift & he fell in love with it—even though it never learned to use its litter-box & developed a tendency to eat carpet, wall paper, & dry wall.

Dale loved his pig so much that he sold his suburban home & moved with his pig to a 5-acre farm in West Virginia…& then he started taking in unwanted pigs. Before long the guy was living in “Hog heaven.” When the article was written Dale had 180 pig residents on his farm enjoying a luxurious lifestyle! The little porkers snooze on a bed of pine shavings & wallow in mud puddles. They wait in line for one of Dale’s belly-rubs. These little rascals never fear that they’ll someday become bacon or pork chops. Not surprising, there’s a waiting list for unwanted pigs to get a hoof in the door at Dale’s ranch. At last report none of the pigs had ever had lipstick put on them which is comforting to know. In Dales’ own words; “We’re all put on earth for some reason & I guess pigs are my lot in life.”

It seems strange to me that anyone would fall so in love with pigs, especially if they were in their right mind.

But let’s be frank; isn’t it even more amazing that a perfectly holy God is passionately in love with we who are so imperfect, so openly rebellious & frequently indifferent?

Listen to the way God describes & paints the human race in Romans 3:10-17;

There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away; they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing & bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin & misery mark their ways & the way of peace they do not know.

All of us are flawed because of sin but God loves us anyway. Isaiah says our goodness is like filthy rages compared to a holy God.

1 John 3:1 says;-How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

Friend, you & I are utterly unable to generate agape in ourselves. The only way that happens is to be regenerated & born again. When we’re born again, then we have the ability to have this agape love because then we know Christ in an intimate way. Turn it around & it sounds like this; if we don’t have agape love it’s because we don’t know God.

John tells us- if we don’t have this agape, sacrificial love, then we don’t know God. Let me put it in question form; how can we have “the God kind of love, & love others in the way God loves us, if we don’t know God?

How can I do calculus if I don’t know calculus?
How can I speak Portuguese if I don’t know Portuguese?
How can I fly a plane if I don’t know how to fly?
How can I have agape love if I don’t know God who is the essence of that love?

If I don’t know God then agape love isn’t within my personal universe.
An individual can’t be an agape-loving -person unless they’ve been taken hold of by God & transformed into a loving person. That clears up a lot of things doesn’t it? Have you ever wondered why someone had no love? There’s’ your answer. They don’t know God, thus they can’t have agape love. John doesn’t go into detail about how this happens he just let’s us Know it’s a “God thing” & when we get straightened out with God this loves just comes. John can’t explain it & I certainly can’t because it boggles the human mind. All we know is when we know God He works in us in such a way that we can agape like He agapes. And when this love comes to us, it won’t come as a philosophy, it will come as a force, a living, practical force that we are to live out day by day.

If Jesus said “I feel for you” that would be Sensitivity.
If Jesus said “your sin is illogical” that would be Rational.
If Jesus said “Only bad people sin,” that would be Judgmental.
If Jesus said “Tell me about your problems” that would be Therapy.
If Jesus said “You should have seen it coming” that would be Pity.
If Jesus said, “Relax & try not to think about your failures” that would be Meditative.
If Jesus said “Don’t worry about your sins, things will get better” that would have been blind Optimism.

But Jesus said, “Take my hand & let me pull you out of your sin & forgive you. That’s Agape Love!

HERE’S ANOTHER SURPRISE…

If you looked at John’s language structure in this passage, it would be logical for him to say this; - “since God has loved us with this agape love, then we ought to love Him.” But John doesn’t say that. He says,--Since God loves us with agape love, then we should love one another with agape love. God’s agape is what enables us to agape.

The more you & I experience God & walk with him in intimate fellowship, the greater our ability to agape others. The more of God I have the more agape I will have with which to love others. So what I want to do is experience God as much & as closely as possible, because that’s where I get my power to agape love people. How do I build up my agape love level? I experience God. How do I experience God? By spending more time in His presence. What kinds of things bring me into this intimate fellowship with God? Worship, prayer, Bible study & quite time so that I can take on more of the reflection of God.

Friend, I want to encourage you, if you’re not already doing it, to add a time of quiet each day with God. Over the years I’ve found that this time of closeness where I can press into God & listen to Him as He speaks, has been perhaps the most healing thing in my life. I have found that this & only this gives me a growing ability to love that I just don’t naturally possess.

In verse 12, John says God’s love is perfected or completed in us.

Do you have a sense of emptiness in any area of your life? Is there something that eats at you or something that’s missing & you just cant put your finger on it? In time, as you draw nearer & nearer to God, He’ll make those things that are stressing you now irrelevant. He’ll take the things that seem to be missing & make them inapplicable. How? In the ever increasing experience of the agape love of God, all things pale in comparison.

Here is what God envisions for you & me;

….That He might present to Himself a glorious church, without SPOT or wrinkle or any such things; but that it should be holy & without blemish.


Blessings,

John

Don't Even Think About It!

By John Stallings


When I was growing up, there were five things you just didn’t do.

You didn’t drink
You didn’t smoke,
You didn’t cuss,
You didn’t go to the picture show.
You didn’t go “mixed bathing/swimming.”

Maybe you can relate to that.

I came from a long line where the DON’TS were stressed. I came from a line of sincere Christians who emphatically said—“you don’t drink wine or beer, you don’t smoke, or use mouth- baakie, & you don’t go to the high school prom.”

I attended a college with a very, very strict set of rules. Drinking was out of the question. Movies? Don’t even think about it. TV? You couldn’t have one in your dorm room. Holding hands on campus? Don’t let anyone see you do it. Our rule book must have gone on for close to twenty pages. Juniors & seniors could date without chaperones.

RULES CAN’T TOUCH THE HEART

Rules didn’t hurt us; as a matter of fact we respected rules. Rules had a way of making you feel safe because you knew where the boundaries were. But rule keeping has one big weakness; it can’t change the heart. Rules are just insufficient.

Some things are beyond debate, & are necessary to salvation. We all know what they are; the virgin birth, the Deity of Christ, salvation by faith, the efficacy of the blood, water baptism etc. However, disunity & disagreement about non-essentials [things not necessary for salvation] have been a significant problem in every era & among God’s people. Squabbling over non-essentials was a problem in the New Testament church. It was a problem among the disciples of Jesus. The Corinthians were divided. The Galatians were “biting & devouring” one another. [5:15]

If two Christians agree on 79 out of 80 points, they will usually focus on the area where they disagree. Often the smaller the point the more likely they are to argue about it. We can disagree on the craziest things. It’s been happening since the beginning & goes all the way back to the days of the New Testament.

Rome was cosmopolitan with all that implies, & so was the church there. There were Jews & Gentiles in the church who had major differences in what they believed to be proper & improper. As you know, when you have people you have diversity & when you have diversity you have clashes. Some of these Romans had been saved fifty years & others less than a year. Some were liberal & others were legalistic. Evidently some of these folk were very scrupulous about food, drink & days.

The “hot button” issues the Romans were looking at wouldn’t be considered hot buttons today. They had more to do with disagreements over dietary issues.

LOOK WHAT WE HAVE IN THE CHURCH TODAY

Obviously we have a multitude of church denominations. This is fine, probably even healthy. People within these groups disagree about what kind of music is appropriate in church services. Some folk go to the movies, others don’t. We have differences about dress, such as skirts, ties, swimwear, modesty, jewelry, makeup, hair-length & hair styles, women wearing pants, entertainment, movies, plays, TV, dancing, birth control, medicine-including alternative medicine, beverages, schooling, moms working, dating/courtship, luxuries, eating in church fellowship halls, saleable items in the church, Bible translations, etc.

People get at each others throats over what movie rating is acceptable for a Christian. The larger the church the more likely there will be factions & groups. Some want Sunday School & others prefer small group ministry. They reason; why build buildings when we can meet in homes. After all, Jesus is coming soon. But how soon? Will He come before the Tribulation, in the middle of the Tribulation or after the Tribulation? Some Christians think there should be no hand -clapping in church. Some like Purpose Driven Rick Warren & some don’t. Some want to start a Saturday night service. Some people think it’s shameful for a church to borrow money. Others borrow money for everything.

And so it goes. Consequently we have arguments, hurt feelings, church splits, & a host of other problems.

PAUL’S POWERFUL PRINCIPLES

Paul addresses these issues in Romans 14, but Instead of laying down a long list of DO’S & DON’TS, he establishes powerful principles. Paul stresses to these Romans that the key elements they’re missing are tolerance, patience & most of all love. In non-essential areas, believers are free to make their own choices, guided by their conscience & The Holy Spirit. This idea makes some people fearful out of concern that it will be used as a license to sin.

Romans 14 is perhaps the greatest chapter in scripture to guide Christians in a Godly lifestyle. It also explores the whole area of how to handle disagreements among believers. How do we get along when we don’t agree on everything? There’s a wide divergence of opinions on many things among believers today & we all need to have a keen listening ear to what the Spirit is saying to each of us.

Paul lays out 4 principles in this great chapter.

1.THE PRINCIPLE OF LIBERTY

Paul twice enunciates this principle very clearly in Roman 14.

I know & am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself.-v.14. Everything is indeed clean.-v.20

Do you realize how strange this sounds coming from a man like Paul, raised as an Orthodox Jew? From the moment of his birth Paul had been taught the difference between clean & unclean foods. Leviticus 11 contains a long “Do not eat” list & it included all pork products, camel meat, rabbit meat, birds such as ravens, owls & vultures & most shellfish. The Jews were permitted to eat animals with a split hoof that chewed the cud, such as cows. Fish with fins & scales were permitted as were certain insects such as locusts & grasshoppers.

“Kosher” foods or permitted foods have lasted to this day. Truly observant Jews wouldn’t even think of eating pork or serving it to others. But Romans 14 overturns the entire Levitical law with two phrases;

Everything is indeed clean: - & nothing is unclean in itself.

Nothing could have ever been more revolutionary for the converted Jew than learning that the kosher laws no longer applied. Paul was on the horns of a dilemma; should he teach that folk should just keep the old laws out of habit, or change their diet to demonstrate their new freedom in Christ? What should he say to good people who were wrestling with these questions?

Simply stated, the doctrine of Christian liberty says; - “redemption in Christ sets the believer free from trying to please God through a system of rules & regulations.”

Basically it’s just good old common sense; “you are now free to unbuckle your seat belt & move about the cabin. You’re free to eat anything you want, just don’t eat too much. Your standing with God won’t be affected by the food on your plate.”

The doctrine of Christian liberty says; - “Eat what you want---but you are free to follow the kosher laws too, that’s alright.”

Carrying it a step further, you can also- marry or stay single, take a new job or keep the one you have, live wherever you wish, observe a holiday or not, eat meat or go vegan, & attend the church of your choice.

Be advised, you’re now free, truly, absolutely & honestly free. You’re free from the law, free from rule keeping & free to make responsible choices.

Now Paul doesn’t leave us here with no follow-up because if he did it would sound too much like hedonism-“Do whatever blows your hair back.”

The fact that the 10 Commandments were under the law, & we’re free from the law still doesn’t mean that you & I can trample on any of the Commandments & walk away. We still have no right to hate, steal, lust, covet, lie, commit adultery or disobey God.

WE HAVE NO RIGHT TO DO WRONG!

Christian liberty never means we’re free to sin with impunity because sin always brings its own punishment sooner or later.

With all this in mind, let’s now go back & re-state what Christian liberty really is;

In those areas where the Bible does not give a specific command or principle to follow, believers are free to make their own decisions, guided by God’s wisdom & the leading of the Holy Spirit.

In the essentials of the faith, we all must unite, but in the non-essentials we’re totally free to do as we want. In the day-by-day choices of our life in which the Bibles doesn’t speak, we exercise Christian liberty. Next Paul states:

2.THE PRINCIPLE OF CONSCIENCE

Paul states this principle very clearly in two different places in Romans 14.

But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats because the eating is not from faith. For whatever doesn’t proceed from faith is sin.

Sometimes your conscience will tell you “Don’t do that. Don’t touch that. Don’t take that job. Don’t go to that movie. Don’t date that guy or girl.” In those cases the Bible says you should follow your conscience.

Is the conscience always reliable? No, not always because our conscience can become seared or dulled by sin. But when the conscience is informed by the Word of God, guided by the Holy Spirit & submissive to the will of God, we can follow it with confidence. Paul said;

Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. [v.23]. If you & I act against our sanctified conscience we’ve sinned even if the activity in itself is not sinful. We did what we believe to be wrong. That’s what sin is; violating the standard of right behavior.

This is why two people can do the same thing & it be wrong for one & right for the other.

I have a friend who was saved & called to preach out of a Rock-n-Roll background. In one large city where he went to conduct a revival, there was a local T.V show that featured Country & Rock music. Occasionally they invited a visiting Christian singer to be a guest on the program. As you know, a good gospel song is always apropos in a Country format.

For years it was the custom of a pastor friend of mine in that city to have his visiting guests, if they were musical, to appear on this show. This appearance would literally be worth a fortune in free advertisement for the church.

When the pastor told my evangelist friend about the program & that his appearing would help with free advertisement, my friend respectfully declined, explaining to the pastor that being on this show would compromise his convictions. It might also put a temptation in front of him he felt better off avoiding. The pastor explained that every visiting singer who came to town for years had appeared on the show & it was instrumental in boosting attendance in the services. Still the evangelist declined explaining that the others were perfectly right in appearing on this show, but for him, it would constitute a serious violation of his conscience.

Sometimes our Christian liberty or lack of in a certain area will cause us to cross swords with another Christian, & that’s why we need another principle;

3.THE PRINCIPLE OF PEACE

According to Romans 14, when liberty & conscience come into conflict, believers are to follow the path of peace, love & edification.

We believers must exercise special care lest we hurt another with our freedom. Verse 13 speaks of—putting a “stumbling block” or “obstacle” in the path of another person. A stumbling block would be like a book you dropped that might cause someone to stumble & an obstacle would be like pulling a rope across the road to cause someone to fall. Whether by accident or design we may hurt others by thoughtlessly eating or drinking. Listen to verses 15-16;

If your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be evil spoken of.

We should never flaunt our liberty at a brother who sees things differently, nor should we entice him to change his standards. If they need to be changed, God can do that.

Paul says further;

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating & drinking but of righteousness & peace & joy in the Holy Ghost. V.17

V.19 sums it up;

Let us pursue what makes for peace & for mutual upbuilding.

Why raise “old Ned” over eating pork or sushi, or putting onions on our cheeseburgers, when our goal should be unity, love & peace. Why become self-appointed inspectors of each others warts & carbuncles?

FIVE BAD THINGS CAN HAPPEN WHEN WE MISUSE OUR FREEDOM.

1. Our behavior may be a stumbling block to another Christian.[13]
2. Our brother may be grieved.[15]
3. Our behavior may cause him to fall away from God.[21]
4. We may destroy his spiritual life altogether. [15]
5. God’s work may be destroyed in his life. [20]

Is our freedom worth demanding our own way even though it may negatively impact others? What will we say to God when He says, “Look at all the people you hurt by your careless lifestyle?” Then there’s;

4.THE PRINCIPLE OF SILENCE

God has given us tremendous freedom hasn’t He? We don’t all have to think alike, dress alike, walk alike, or act alike. There is incredible diversity on such matters as whether to get married or stay single, where to work, the friends we choose, what we eat & drink, the books we read, the music we prefer, the clothes we wear, the places we go & the habits we acquire. Our only limits are imposed by the principles of the Bible. But in so doing, how will we get along with all this diversity? Listen to Paul again;

Hold your convictions & hold your tongue.

You don’t have to broadcast all your habits & preferences for general discussion. Keep them to yourself. If you have a favorite translation of the Bible, don’t try to convince everyone else it’s the superior translation. Keep it to yourself. Do you prefer natural child birth, well & good but keep it to yourself. Do you think a vote for ---------------- would be a sin against God? Do you feel that it doesn’t make sense for a Christian to vote for someone who espouses many non-Christian beliefs? If you think a vote like that can’t be justified, it’s O.K. --It’s O.K as long as you don’t open that suitcase full of nukes at prayer meeting or the next family gathering. Do you think “standing up for what you believe” in an area of non-essentials like that is going to make you look spiritual? Please!!

Keep your convictions between you & God.-v.22

I started preaching as a kid, & believe me I was God’s “gunslinger” in those days. For a few years there I was “Heaven’s hit man.” I sent people to hell right left & center. If I came on a group of kids having too much fun playing marbles, they went to hell. If a lady had on make-up, she was consigned to the hot place below. If you smoked, you not only were going to hell but “you smelled like you’d already been there.”

One day God seriously dealt with me about the fact that Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world but to save it. God began to deal with me like this; -Is it any worse to smoke than to worry all day every day? By His grace I don’t intend to do either of those things. I could be wrong but I would argue that worry kills as many people as do cigarettes. I’ve never smoked in my life but could smoking be any worse than gluttony? Some folk are digging their grave with cigarettes & others are doing it with a knife & fork. Both are destructive to our bodies which are the temple of God. If we’re going to condemn folk for drinking coffee, & call them “coffee fiends” shouldn’t we watch the other caffeinated drinks we consume? God thought enough of our brain to wrap a skull around it. Surely He won’t hold it against us if we use it occasionally.

TALKING TOO MUCH

On the subject of holding our tongue, let me somewhat broaden the issue for a moment or two about talking. If I can speak authoritatively here it’s only because of the many bloopers I’ve made in my life in the area of talking too much. I guess this will sound redundant when I say- “I talk a lot about talking too much.”

When I think back over my life I can trace many of the problems I’ve had to words I spoke too quickly, an opinion I offered that wasn’t asked for, a time when I was trying to impress someone with my “knowledge,” or a judgment uttered impulsively & in haste. To be totally candid, sometimes when I think about some of the unwise things I’ve said I can get one of those “full body shudders.” Then, like the country song suggests, I say to myself, “I know what I was doing, but what was I thinking?”

Have you ever spoken too quickly or rashly or foolishly & then regretted it. I thought so. It happens to all of us when we talk too much. That’s why James said, - “Be slow to speak.” Don’t run off at the mouth. Have you ever noticed how rare it is to get in trouble by listening?

Proverbs 10:19 says;

Don’t talk too much, for it fosters sin. Be sensible and turn off the flow. NLT

There’s no peripheral context for this verse, no study that can alter it’s meaning, nothing that can soften the impact. This verse must be understood exactly as it’s stated. Jesus & His apostles followed this verse when they spoke. They spoke briefly, concisely & directly & you & I should do the same.

Listen to Ecclesiastes 10:12---Words from a wise man’s lips are gracious, but a fool is consumed by his own lips…and the fool multiplies words.—NIV

Do you talk too much? Have you noticed that since your friends got “caller I.D,” most of them are almost never home anymore? Have you noticed that your listener’s eyes are beginning to glaze over & their pupils are fixed & dilated, & you have to physically restrain them to prevent their walking away when you talk? Do you find yourself finishing people’s sentences, hurrying them on so you can make a point, interrupting other people frequently & even talking over them? Can you actually see pain on a person’s face while you’re talking? If so, you might need to loosen up a bit & listen to what others are saying.

LOOKING FOR COMMON DENOMINATORS

A couple was getting a divorce & were going through their home picking out things each would like to keep. They did o.k. until they got up in the attic & opened an old trunk. Both of them lunged for an article in the trunk so fast you’d have thought it was a big bar of solid gold. But they weren’t grasping for gold, the object of their attention was a small pink baby booty. Both these parents wanted the booty because it was a memory of the product of their union, their small daughter. They’d finally found something they could agree on.

When you & I stand before God the only thing that will matter is what we did with His Son Jesus Christ. Did we love Him? Did we serve Him? Did we believe on Him as Lord & Savior & did we follow him to the best of our ability.

Nothing else really matters. Jesus is the central issue-always has been, always will be. Like the couple & the baby booty, let’s look for things that will unite us, not divide us.

It would be nice if all of life were scripted for us, if there were no questionable areas, if there were no weak brothers to accommodate. Such isn’t the case. As we go through this life there will be many situations when we will be called on to make decisions about things that aren’t exactly crystal clear.

What we decide in those moments reveals the truth of the condition of our hearts. When we have come to the place where the Lord Jesus & the needs of others come before our own wishes & desires, we have begun the process of maturing in the Lord.

May God help us all to get there. He will!



Blessings,

John