HOW & WHY GOD TESTS US
By John Stallings
Nobody likes tests. I can remember that from school. I used to routinely experience anxiety attacks during tests. But tests are necessary in life & they will come.
A young college boy was handed a test paper one day before he was to leave for Christmas vacation. Since he wasn’t in the mood to take the test he wrote across the top of the paper, “God only knows, Merry Christmas.” When he came back to school after his vacation, the teacher handed out the test papers. When the young man got his, he saw what he’d written across the top, “God only knows, Merry Christmas.” The teacher had written across the bottom of his test paper, “God gets one hundred, you get zero, happy New Year!
God tested Abraham. God tests us too. When God tests us it’s to examine, reprove & refine us. It’s important to remember that man didn’t test Abraham, God did. And He passed the test.
God tested Job. In Job.23:10 we read- But He knoweth the way that I take & when He hath tried me I shall come forth as pure gold.
James 1:2-5 says-- My brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this; that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
The reason James says we can count it joy is because we get something valuable from this testing. We will be strengthened by the trial & will come out of it “perfect & entire, lacking nothing.”
1 Peter 1:6-7says--That the trial of your faith being more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire might be found unto praise & honor & glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
We receive all the wonderful attributes of faith. We are healed by faith, saved by faith & see great miracles wrought by faith—but our faith will also be tested.
I have done a lot of flying in my time. During one decade of my life I think I flew more than commercials pilots fly. I’ve also logged many miles in private aircraft. I have often looked at aircraft, especially ones that I was shortly going to board, and wondered how airworthy they really were.
You’ll have to pardon me for a moment but I’ve looked at planes & wondered, “Just how do I know that plane is really airworthy.” Maybe they pulled this hunk of aluminum out of the trash-Ben. Maybe they just shined this plane up & made it look good. Maybe they went inside & spiffed it up so that passengers would think it completely trustworthy. I never really had a reason to believe anyone would actually do such a thing but it wouldn’t be impossible for an old shell of a burned out plane to be brought up to look good enough to fly across the ocean.
I always came back to one conclusion; the only way the plane could prove itself to be airworthy was to taxi to the end of the run-way & take-off. If it could take off with all passengers aboard & fly, it had to be considered airworthy. -- “The proof’s in the pudding.”
The same principle works with our faith. It has to be tried under certain conditions to see it will actually “fly.” Will your faith fly?
God doesn’t test a group; God tests us individually so that we may grow.
I heard the story of a man who fell over cliff & was hanging by a small limb. He cried out for help & God answered-“I am God, do you believe in me?” The man said yes! God said “If you’ll turn lose I’ll save you. Just put your trust in me & I’ll not let you fall. Turn loose of the limb & fall into my waiting arms.” The man answered, “Is there anyone else up there?”
You & I will write some test chapters in our lives.
In Deuteronomy eight, Moses was 120 years old and addressing Israel. He had been through the burning bush experience. He’d seen God open the Red Sea & drown Pharaoh’s army. He’d seen God feed several million people in the desert for 40 years. Now as he talks to the people he says, Remember- remember- remember.”
Deuteronomy is a very important book. It means 2nd Law. The Law was given in Exodus, & repeated in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is quoted over 100 times in the N.T. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy to the Devil in the wilderness; He said;
Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Moses is reminding the people that God was testing them all those years in the wilderness.
He reminded them that---GOD USED TIME TO TEST THEM. In verse 2 Moses says that God kept Israel in the desert for forty years. They were in God’s TIME TEST.
Psalm 90:12 says---So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.
Habakkuk says--1:2---Oh Lord how long will I cry & thou will not hear me?
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says…..he hath made everything beautiful in His time….
I’ve always had trouble getting God on my time schedule. God doesn’t mark time like we do. I can remember the years I spent as an evangelist. Many times I’d be away from home & my family for weeks, sometimes months. Believe me time would often drag by so slowly that I’d be tempted to go to the airport, get on a plane & go home. Of course that would have been the end of my traveling ministry.
If you’re in a situation where it seems that God has gone to Key West & forgotten your address, it’s very likely He’s testing you with TIME. Another way to say it would be you’re being tested with delay. In all probability, it’s not the Devil stopping your prayers, its God testing your faith. Be encouraged. When God sees that you can stand a little stretching when it seems like the answer will never come; when He sees you won’t give up though it seems He’s forgotten you, He’ll send your answer & you’ll have grown through the waiting experience. Don’t give up. You’re in one of God’s famous “TIME TESTS.”
You will no doubt remember when Jesus’ friend Lazarus was sick. His family sent for Jesus & He waited two days. It seemed to His disciples that He was intentionally dragging His feet. He was! When Jesus finally got to Bethany Lazarus had already been dead four days. Jesus told them not to be upset because Lazarus wasn’t dead he was just sleeping. What they didn’t understand was that to Jesus, sleeping & death were about the same; no problem to Him.
GOD USES ADVERSITY TO TEST US.—v 3
Moses told the people, God humbled you & caused you to hunger. That doesn’t sound very nice does it? But God did it. God tested Israel--- “To know what’s in thy heart.”
Everything that happens to us certainly isn’t a test from God but He will use even those things He didn’t send to develop us. It’s good to remember that anything that hits a child of God must pass through a divine sifter so that when the blow comes, it can only ultimately help us.
I once ordered a cup of hot tea in a restaurant. I expected it to be black tea but something seemed to be wrong with it. I kept moving the bag in the hot water but the water didn’t seem to be turning the dark brown I was expecting. Finally I asked the waitress what was wrong with the tea bag. She said, “Oh I forgot, we’re out of regular black tea & I gave you a nice herbal tea. I said, “well, I wondered why I was about to fall asleep.” Like a tea bag, we have to be put in hot water to reveal what we really are.
Someone has said that even our enemies are of help to us because they tend to keep us sharp.
H.G Spafford had his faith tested long ago when his four beautiful daughters were on board a ship that went down en-route from America to England. His wife who was also aboard was spared a watery grave & telegraphed him the words “saved alone.” A few days later he boarded a ship to England & asked the ship’s Captain to please let him know when they passed over the spot where his four daughters were lost. As the ship he was on glided over the place where his beloved daughters were lost at sea, he stood on the ship’s deck & wrote the famous hymn-“It is well with my soul.” That’s the kind of test of adversity God’s children are sometimes called to endure.
GOD ALSO TESTS WITH PROSPERITY—v.4
Moses reminds the people that God was good to them in the wilderness so that their clothes didn’t wear out. He even reminds them that, of all things, their feet didn’t even swell. Wasn’t that a blessing?
Prosperity has ruined more men than adversity ever has. For one man who is ruined by adversity, 100 have been ruined by prosperity. In verses 10-18 Moses warns the people--“Beware—don’t let wealth & prosperity ruin you.”
GOD GAVE AMERICA WEALTH –LOOK WHAT WE’VE DONE WITH IT.—People need to beware of the deceitfulness of riches. 1Timothy 6:6 says;
But Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world & it’s certain we’ll carry nothing out. And having food & raiment therefore let us be content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation & a snare & into many foolish hurtful lusts which drowns men in destruction & perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, & pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Judas was tested with money and he helped himself. We can also be tested with favor, position & praise. Proverbs 27:21 says;
As the fining pot for silver & the furnace for gold, so is man to his praise.
WHY GOD TESTS US.
Moses told the people, “God humbled you to prove you, to know what was in thine heart.” God humbles us so that we can grow in grace.
Psalm 129:23 says-- “search me O God & know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts.”
Jeremiah 17:9 says—the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?
God wants us to be humble because humility is the character of Christ. Spirituality isn’t a synonym for superficiality.
In verse 3 Moses said God tested them to teach them His WORD. So that they might remember that not only physical food was necessary but “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” The key word there is “every.”
Some people don’t like every word they like “their favorite word/favorite messages.” In Acts 20 Paul said I have not shunned to declare to you the whole council of God. Some people get upset at certain sermons.
John. 17:17 says--Sanctify them through truth, thy word is truth.
Psalm 119:89 says—Forever O Lord thy word is settled in heaven.
Some people are Selective listeners. A woman told her husband the car wouldn’t start because something was wrong with the carburetor. He said, you don’t know anything about cars.” She said I know the carburetor’s flooded.” He asked, “How do you know that?” She said because the cars in the swimming pool.” It pays to listen.
God also tests us to discipline us as His children. “Consider in thine heart.” Moses is saying-“listen carefully” God is a parent. Sometimes parents have to “apply the board of education to the seat of knowledge.” Discipline keeps us saved. God isn’t just a “feel good God.”
Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are his masterpiece” That means-- His art.
The ancients had a very interesting way of purifying gold. They would heat the gold & as it was heated the impurities would rise to the top & they’d skim them away. The way they would know that the gold was finally as pure as it could be was when the refiner could look into the gold & see his reflection.
My friend do not run from the test, welcome it. God is doing it all so that He might see the image of Himself in us.
What He lost in Eden.
John
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Confrontational prayers
By John Stallings
…….My God My God, why hast thou forsaken me? Mark 15:34
……..The kingdom of heaven suffers violence & the violent take it by force.Matt.11:12
Confronting God? Arguing with God? I have been wrestling with this all week. We have been taught that prayer is solemn & respectful haven’t we? We fold our hands, & close our eyes & think good thoughts about God & say pretty words to Him. Sad to say we’ve too often been told that prayer is “getting stuff from God” when in reality prayer is “getting in touch with God.”
I went to see a movie a few years ago called “The Apostle.” Robert Duvall plays the part of Sonny, a ragged, hot-tempered, womanizing evangelist. Mostly because of his arrogance Sonny loses his church & his wife. His wife is leaving him for his youth pastor. Mercy! Angry & broken Sonny moves back into his mother’s house where he shouts, paces & hollers to God from an upstairs window.
Somebody, I say somebody has taken my wife. They stole my church….I don’t mean to yell at you but I’m mad at you. I can’t take it. Give me a sign Lord. Blow this pain out of me. Lord, Jehovah, if you won’t give me back my wife, give me peace. Give it to me---give it to me….give it to me. Give me peace. I’m confused. I’m mad at you. I love you Lord but I’m mad at you. I’ve always called you Jesus & you’ve always called me Sonny—what should I do?”
His prayer is so loud that a neighbor calls Sonny’s mother to complain about the noise. “That’s my son” she explains. “Ever since he was a little- bitty boy sometimes he talks to the Lord & sometimes he yells at the Lord. And tonight he happens to be yelling at Him.”
Let’s be frank; that sounds a little odd to us doesn’t it? It sounds irreverent & entirely inappropriate. Well, maybe not. There is such a thing as confrontational prayer. This kind of prayer occurs when I bring my questions, doubts, disagreements & even my complaints directly to God. Sometime its prayer spoken out of tortured complaint, out of suffering or outrageous anger in the absence of justice.
You may say “I would never talk to God in anything less than soft respectful tones. Who am I to Haul God to court?” Excellent points. The prayer I’m talking about will revolutionize your prayer life as well as your relationship with God. You see, in prayer God wants us to engage Him. It’s almost as if he’s saying “Talk to me, engage me, respond to me. Anything is better than the silent treatment & the cold shoulder. Argue, rant, rave, stew, disagree, but do something. Or worse, don’t come to me with pious words that are empty & fake.”
Prayer is a personal & passionate conversation with God. It’s an exercise that involves both of you—the real you—not the pretend you, the false you.
John
By John Stallings
…….My God My God, why hast thou forsaken me? Mark 15:34
……..The kingdom of heaven suffers violence & the violent take it by force.Matt.11:12
Confronting God? Arguing with God? I have been wrestling with this all week. We have been taught that prayer is solemn & respectful haven’t we? We fold our hands, & close our eyes & think good thoughts about God & say pretty words to Him. Sad to say we’ve too often been told that prayer is “getting stuff from God” when in reality prayer is “getting in touch with God.”
I went to see a movie a few years ago called “The Apostle.” Robert Duvall plays the part of Sonny, a ragged, hot-tempered, womanizing evangelist. Mostly because of his arrogance Sonny loses his church & his wife. His wife is leaving him for his youth pastor. Mercy! Angry & broken Sonny moves back into his mother’s house where he shouts, paces & hollers to God from an upstairs window.
Somebody, I say somebody has taken my wife. They stole my church….I don’t mean to yell at you but I’m mad at you. I can’t take it. Give me a sign Lord. Blow this pain out of me. Lord, Jehovah, if you won’t give me back my wife, give me peace. Give it to me---give it to me….give it to me. Give me peace. I’m confused. I’m mad at you. I love you Lord but I’m mad at you. I’ve always called you Jesus & you’ve always called me Sonny—what should I do?”
His prayer is so loud that a neighbor calls Sonny’s mother to complain about the noise. “That’s my son” she explains. “Ever since he was a little- bitty boy sometimes he talks to the Lord & sometimes he yells at the Lord. And tonight he happens to be yelling at Him.”
Let’s be frank; that sounds a little odd to us doesn’t it? It sounds irreverent & entirely inappropriate. Well, maybe not. There is such a thing as confrontational prayer. This kind of prayer occurs when I bring my questions, doubts, disagreements & even my complaints directly to God. Sometime its prayer spoken out of tortured complaint, out of suffering or outrageous anger in the absence of justice.
You may say “I would never talk to God in anything less than soft respectful tones. Who am I to Haul God to court?” Excellent points. The prayer I’m talking about will revolutionize your prayer life as well as your relationship with God. You see, in prayer God wants us to engage Him. It’s almost as if he’s saying “Talk to me, engage me, respond to me. Anything is better than the silent treatment & the cold shoulder. Argue, rant, rave, stew, disagree, but do something. Or worse, don’t come to me with pious words that are empty & fake.”
Prayer is a personal & passionate conversation with God. It’s an exercise that involves both of you—the real you—not the pretend you, the false you.
John
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Ten words that will change your life
By John Stallings
Philippians 4:13—I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.
Up until 1954 people thought man could never run the mile faster than four minutes. Then at the British Olympics Roger Bannister broke the mile in 3.59 seconds. After that many people ran the mile in under four minutes. Why was this? Had mans body changed in some way? Had new techniques made it possible for the mile to be run faster? No!
What had happened was; once the barrier was broken people believed it could be done so they started doing it. Faith is a powerful force. If we believe in humanity, we can have what man is capable of. Man has accomplished many awesome things but he’s limited. If we place our trust in God, we get what God is capable of & certainly nothing is impossible with Him.
EPH. 3:20 says---NOW UNTO HIM THAT IS ABLE TO DO EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL THAT WE ASK OR THINK, ACCORDING TO THE POWER THAT WORKETH IN US….
· Beethoven was told by his doctors that he would eventually go stone deaf; he replied “I will grab life by the throat.” Consequently he went on to write his 9th sympathy completely deaf.
· During the 2nd World War there was a group called the Seabees. They did many heroic deeds at sea and the motto written on their caps was “Can do.”
These were things done depending totally on the ingenuity and heroic courage of a few men. They never boasted –“We Can do all things,” just “Can-do.”
Paul tells us that we “can do all things,” not in our own power but through Jesus Christ.
Before we look at what faith is, let’s look at what faith isn’t.
1. FAITH ISN’T A FEELING.
Faith isn’t a warm feeling that springs out of our emotions. Some people think when they get blessed & have goose bumps; that’s faith, but it isn’t.
2. FAITH ISN’T A FACT.
Faith isn’t a list of truths like the Apostles creed or some other list of theological beliefs. As far as facts are concerned, James tells us that the Devil has all the facts about God & knows who He is & what He can do but Satan can’t be said to have faith.
3. FAITH ISN’T FANTASY.
Faith isn’t moving in the misty-moonlight & denying reality. I’ve seen people all stopped-up, coughing & sneezing, their nose running, burning up with fever but if you asked them about it, they’d deny they were sick. They just can’t admit they have the flu. This isn’t faith, its denial & “denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.”
4. FAITH ISN’T A FORCE.
Faith isn’t an energy source, an electrical field or chemical compound. Faith isn’t a routine we memorize or even prayers we can learn by rote.
In Romans 4:18 Paul said—While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things that are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
5. FAITH ISN’T A FORMULA.
What is faith?
Faith is a relationship of trust!
Faith is saying with the Psalmist—The Lord is my Shepard.
Faith is saying with Timothy—I know whom I have believed…
· In Romans 12:3 -We read that God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.
· In Matthew 6:30 Jesus speaks of “Little faith.”
· In Matthew 8:10 Jesus speaks of “great faith.”
· In Matthew 4:40 Jesus told His disciples they had “No faith.”
· In Romans 4:20 we’re told that Abraham was “Strong in faith.”
· In Acts 6:5 we’re told that Stephen was “Full of faith.”
· In Romans 14:1 we’re told of people with “weak faith.”
· In 2 Thess.1:3 Paul tells us of “growing faith.”
· James 2:5 speaks of people who are “Rich in faith.”
· James 2:22 speaks of “Perfect faith.”
· In 2 Peter 1:1 we’re introduced to “Precious faith.”
· In Matt. 21:22 we’re told we’ll receive all that we believe for when we pray.
· Mark 9:23 tells us—If we abide in Him & His words abide in us, we’ll ask what we will & it shall be done.
· In John 16:24 we’re told -- if we ask anything in Jesus’ name we’ll receive it.
· In Mark 11:22 we’re told to – “Have faith in God.”
Let’s look at four principles that will help us as we move toward making His promises real in our lives.
1. EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD.
Raise the level of your expectation. Psalm 62:5 says—My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him.
It’s so easy to become negative and start expecting the worst of every situation.
· I heard a story about a paratrooper who was making his first jump from a plane. His instructor told him to count to ten and pull the first rip-cord. Then if the shoot didn’t open, pull the second safety cord and the shoot would open. Then he told him there’d be a truck waiting to take him back to camp when he landed.
The young fellow did as he was instructed and jumped out of the plane, counted to ten and pulled the first cord. Nothing happened. So he pulled the second cord and again the shoot didn’t open. He was heard to say as he zoomed by the other paratroopers, “And I’ll bet that truck won’t even be waiting for me either.”
It’s so easy to expect the worst but God wants us to raise the level of our expectation.
· A man was at a minister’s convention conversing with a group of well-to-do preachers when his six year old son came up & pulled on his pant legs & asked, “Daddy, give me a penny.” No matter how much the dad tried to push his son away he kept coming back asking his dad for a penny. Finally after taking all he could stand, the father took his son aside & said “Son, you’ve humiliated me in front of my friends. Don’t ever ask me for a penny again under any circumstance. From now on you ask me for a dollar boy. My friends will get the idea I’m broke or stingy.”
I believe the one who sits upon heavens throne is embarrassed when His children slink around asking for spiritual pennies when He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
· A six year old girl asked her dad one day to build her a doll house. The father was busy reading his newspaper so he waved the little girl away.
Not willing to be denied, the girl kept asking her dad to please build her a doll house in the back yard. Finally the dad, tired of being interrupted told his daughter that he’d build her a doll house if she’d leave him alone.
About an hour later the father glanced toward the backyard & saw a surprising sight. His daughter was dragging all her dolls into one corner of the backyard. She had so much stuff in the corner of the yard it looked like she was going to have a yard sale.
The dad called his wife in and showed her what their girl was doing and asked about it. His wife said, “Honey, you told her you’d build her a doll house so she’s getting all her doll paraphernalia into the corner of the yard so they can move in.” That dad hardly let his coat touch his back until he’d gone & bought the materials & built that doll house. He wasn’t going to let his daughter believe in him that much & disappoint her.
Just as that dad treasured his daughter’s faith in his word, God is pleased when He sees that we trust Him & take Him at His word. As a matter of fact, you’ll never find a better definition of faith than—Taking God at His word.
· Does His Word say He can save? Then He can save.
· Does His word say He can heal? Then He can heal.
· That’s what faith is all about.
There’s a distinct possibility that God sometimes gets bored!
He’s sitting up in heaven on His throne, sort of twiddling His thumbs & yawning. He asks, “Angels, have any requests come up today?” They look at Him & say,” No Lord, not much, mostly little things. Oh yes, here’s a request that just came up. “God bless my cool aide & my hot dog.” God says is that all?”
“Yes God, that’s about it the angel says.” Oh wait, here comes another one, “Lord bless Johnny. He’s going to the store.” God says, “Go on Johnny, go to the store you’ll be alright son, stay on the sidewalk & cross with the light.” “Anything else angels?” About that time one of the angels says “Lord you better come over here & look at this.”
I see Jesus rise from sitting at the right hand of God. I see Him walk over to the banister of Glory & gaze down at the earth. He looks & looks again, & rubs His eyes. He says, “Angels are my eyes deceiving me? Or is that really what I’m seeing?” The angels say, “No God you’re seeing right. That’s three boys getting ready to trust you in a fiery furnace.” If I’m reading right, Jesus jumped over the portico of Glory & stepped onto the starry stairway from heaven to earth. He doesn’t stop until He gets to earth, He doesn’t stop until He gets to the furnace, He doesn’t stop then either, He jumps into the fire with the three boys for the wicked king said, “Did we not cast three men in that fire?” They said “yes we did.” “Well” says the king “I see four men now & one of them looks exactly like the Son of God.” God responded when He found someone who would trust Him & expect great things from Him.
2. SET GREAT STRATEGIES AND MAKE GREAT PLANS.
We tend to flounder when we don’t have a plan. God has a plan but often we tend to panic- panic isn’t a plan.
· A Preacher started church years ago in Alabama. Attendance went to about seventy-five the first few months but on the churches one year anniversary, it had dwindled down to about the same amount of people they started with. It looked like the church was destined to die. One Sunday the pastor arrived at the church & found about a dozen letters lying on the alter, all telling him the same thing; “that the church was slowly dying & they just couldn’t stay & watch it die.” The pastor put his family in his car & left the church. He drove to I-65 in Birmingham & parked under the bridge. As he sat there weeping, he started praying & asking God to let the bridge fall on him & take him home to glory. His wife heard the prayer he was mumbling & said, “hey wait a minute, what did you say? Did you ask God to let the bridge fall on you? Your wife & kids are in this car & we don’t want to be included in that prayer.” Instead of going to work on a plan, he did what a lot of people do when faced with failure, he panicked. The story goes that this suicidal pastor got over his depression, stuck it out & in time saw that church grow into a great work for God.
God told Jeremiah in 29:11—FOR I KNOW THE THOUGHTS I THINK TOWARD YOU, SAITH THE LORD, THOUGHTS OF PEACE AND NOT OF EVIL TO GIVE YOU AN EXPECTED END.
Isn’t it great to know that God always has plans for us & they’re great & exciting plans?
A. Ask Adam if God had a plan. When the guilty pair sinned in the Garden, God immediately made clothing for them of animal skins, which was symbolic of the blood sacrifice that would someday be made on Calvary.
b. Ask Abraham if God had a plan. Actually when Adam sinned, God didn’t react hastily but waited for this seventy-five year old man who was “as good as dead” reproductively but he “staggered not at the promise of God” to give him ancestry.
c. Jesus presented His disciples with a great plan to reach the world in Acts 1:8. Think about telling a little group of people to go & teach all nations. They had no cars, planes, newspapers, radio, television or computers but they followed the plan. It was a simple plan to start at home & move out from there but history tells us it’s exactly what they did with great success. Working hard at something with no God-given strategy might very well be just doing more of the wrong thing.
d. Ask Noah if God had a plan. God told him with great detail how to build an ark when neither he nor anyone else had even heard of one. He worked 120 years on a big boat hundreds of miles from water because it was going to rain & it had never rained before. But when the rain finally came, Noah & his family went on board the Ark & the door was shut. What a plan!
e. Ask Isaac if God had a plan. Here was Abraham’s promised son who God was asking to be offered as a sacrifice to Him. Isaac was bound & lain on that alter, & before he knew what was happening a gleaming knife was in the air above his head. But God stayed the hand of Abraham & pointed out a ram in a thicket close by that was to be used in place of his beloved son. Isaac can talk to you about God’s plans.
F. Ask Jacob if God had a plan. Jacob could be compared to a modern day Las Vegas gambler. For much of his life he was styling & profiling. Twenty years after all his swindling, deceiving, & beating his brother out of his birthright, Jacob was heading to a rendezvous with his angry revenge- bent brother Esau. But that night Jacob had a dream & saw a latter descending from earth to heaven. He met the pre-incarnate Christ & wrestled with Him until almost daybreak. That night Jacob not only received a blessing but God changed his name from supplanter to “Prince with God.” We find him in Hebrews eleven still leaning on his staff but he was worshipping God as he died.
g. Ask Elijah if God had a plan. Because of the famine & drought brought about by his prayers, he was sent to the brook Cherith to drink of the water & be fed by Ravens. When the brook dried up God sent him to a widow in Zarapath to be sustained for three years by a miracle supply of meal & oil.
h. Ask the disciples in the storm if Jesus had a plan. They were sacred to death & woke Jesus who stood & turned the angry sea into a placid sheet of glass.
I. We recently celebrated the resurrection of Christ. Just when Jewish hate & Roman power had done its worst, a stone turned in the garden & Jesus stepped out with the battering-ram of omnipotence to be alive for evermore.
j. Ask Joseph if God had a plan when he’d been thrown in jail on a fake rape charge. It took a while but when the plan came into fruition it was a plan that catapulted him to second in command in all of Egypt & saved the world from starvation.
3. God gave Moses a plan in wilderness in Exodus. 14:13. It consisted of five commands;
1. Fear not
2. Stand still
3. See salvation of Lord
4. Hold your peace
5. Go forward.
God always has a plan.
Not only should we expect great things, execute great strategies, we should;
3. PRAY GREAT PRAYERS.
1 John 5: 14-15—And this is the confidence that we have in Him that if we ask anything according to His will He heareth us: and if we know the He hear us, whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.
Listen to 2 Chronicles 7:14---if my people which are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.
Did you notice this is a national prayer? God is saying that if His people will get themselves right and pray, things can change in our nation.
In Luke 18:1 Jesus said --men ought always to pray and not faint or stop. Jesus makes a strong statement here. Ought is a strong word. He didn’t saw men should pray, or could pray or might pray. He said MEN OUGHT ALWAYS TO PRAY!
· Jesus prayed a great prayer in John chapter seventeen when He asked God not to take His people out of the world but to make them one & let them win the world.
· Paul prayed many great prayers not the least of which was his prayer --to know Christ, the power of His resurrection & the fellowship of His suffering.
· Jabez prayed a great prayer when he asked God to bless him indeed & enlarge his coast.
· I love the story of a man named Mr. Graham in Charlotte, N.C. He was a farmer & had a great burden for his area. The kids of that area were running wild & even his son was driving his old car through the community terrorizing the peace loving townsfolk. No doubt about it, a revival was needed.
Mr. Graham called some of the men in town asking them to come to an all night prayer meeting at his farm. After having prayed all night, the men assembled on the front porch of the house & started sharing what God had said during their prayers.
Each man shared essentially the same thing & that was they needed a city- wide revival. They agreed that they should call the old Jewish evangelist Mordicia Ham. Mr. Graham went to the phone & placed a call to the evangelist. They needed a revival & they needed it quick. In the conversation, Ham told them he was supposed to go to Chicago but he’d pray about coming to Charlotte.
Ham asked Graham to hold the phone for a moment or two while he asked God about it. The evangelist cupped his hand over the phone & said “God they’re calling me in Charlotte but I’m supposed to go to Chicago, what should I do, & hurry up God its long distance.” Ham got a word from God, came back on the phone to let the Charlotte men know he’d be there.
On the first night of the meeting, Mr. Graham’s son & his best friend Grady knelt at the alter for salvation. By the way, in case you haven’t already guessed it, Mr. Graham’s son was Billy Graham, a man about whom its been said “He put one foot on America, the other foot on Great Brittan & drew them both to God.”
That miracle happened because Christians prayed great prayers that moved God & man.
· Daniel prayed & lion’s mouths were locked.
· Joshua prayed & the Sun stood still.
· Elijah prayed & the heavens closed & there was no rain.
· Elisha prayed & a boy was brought back from the dead.
· King Hezekiah prayed & his life was extended 15 years.
· Hannah prayed & was given a son who was spiritual advisor for two kings.
· Jesus prayed & received strength to endure the cross & redeem mankind.
· Paul prayed & an earthquake hit the prison he was in setting him free.
· 120 prayed & Pentecostal fire fell in a dusty upper room.
· I’ll close by relating the true story of a little church that had been destroyed twice by storms. The pastor went to the bank & was told that the only way they could borrow more money was to get the church folk to sign papers mortgaging their homes. The people were willing to do this so money was acquired to start rebuilding the church. As the people worked, one of the most loved men of the church fell from the roof onto the concrete floor & was killed instantly.
The pastor began to wonder where God was in all this. The next day he told his wife he’d be gone most of the day. He got in his car & just drove, praying & communing with God & ending up about one hundred miles from home in a small country town. He stopped at a little mom & pop grocery store & went in for a coke & crackers. Just inside the door sat a black woman. She looked at him & said “I know who you are, I saw you last night in a dream. I don’t know what this means but God told me to tell you that He still had a hand-full of meal & a cruise of oil.”
The pastor walked out, got in his car & drove home. As he walked in the phone was ringing. It was a local businessman & he asked the preacher to please come to his home. The pastor rushed across town to visit this man he’d never met. The man met him at the door with tears in his eyes. After a short conversation, the businessman handed the preacher a check for $50,000 dollars & told him God wouldn’t let him sleep until he’d given the money. He added that God had instructed him to rebuild the church & when more money was needed to let him know. He said, “I’ll never be able to rest again until this project is complete.”
Be encouraged today my friend. Heaven isn’t on welfare & the angels aren’t in wheelchairs.
Listen to what God says in Isaiah 43:1 ………do not fear for I have redeemed you: I have called you by name, you are mine.
John
By John Stallings
Philippians 4:13—I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.
Up until 1954 people thought man could never run the mile faster than four minutes. Then at the British Olympics Roger Bannister broke the mile in 3.59 seconds. After that many people ran the mile in under four minutes. Why was this? Had mans body changed in some way? Had new techniques made it possible for the mile to be run faster? No!
What had happened was; once the barrier was broken people believed it could be done so they started doing it. Faith is a powerful force. If we believe in humanity, we can have what man is capable of. Man has accomplished many awesome things but he’s limited. If we place our trust in God, we get what God is capable of & certainly nothing is impossible with Him.
EPH. 3:20 says---NOW UNTO HIM THAT IS ABLE TO DO EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL THAT WE ASK OR THINK, ACCORDING TO THE POWER THAT WORKETH IN US….
· Beethoven was told by his doctors that he would eventually go stone deaf; he replied “I will grab life by the throat.” Consequently he went on to write his 9th sympathy completely deaf.
· During the 2nd World War there was a group called the Seabees. They did many heroic deeds at sea and the motto written on their caps was “Can do.”
These were things done depending totally on the ingenuity and heroic courage of a few men. They never boasted –“We Can do all things,” just “Can-do.”
Paul tells us that we “can do all things,” not in our own power but through Jesus Christ.
Before we look at what faith is, let’s look at what faith isn’t.
1. FAITH ISN’T A FEELING.
Faith isn’t a warm feeling that springs out of our emotions. Some people think when they get blessed & have goose bumps; that’s faith, but it isn’t.
2. FAITH ISN’T A FACT.
Faith isn’t a list of truths like the Apostles creed or some other list of theological beliefs. As far as facts are concerned, James tells us that the Devil has all the facts about God & knows who He is & what He can do but Satan can’t be said to have faith.
3. FAITH ISN’T FANTASY.
Faith isn’t moving in the misty-moonlight & denying reality. I’ve seen people all stopped-up, coughing & sneezing, their nose running, burning up with fever but if you asked them about it, they’d deny they were sick. They just can’t admit they have the flu. This isn’t faith, its denial & “denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.”
4. FAITH ISN’T A FORCE.
Faith isn’t an energy source, an electrical field or chemical compound. Faith isn’t a routine we memorize or even prayers we can learn by rote.
In Romans 4:18 Paul said—While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things that are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
5. FAITH ISN’T A FORMULA.
What is faith?
Faith is a relationship of trust!
Faith is saying with the Psalmist—The Lord is my Shepard.
Faith is saying with Timothy—I know whom I have believed…
· In Romans 12:3 -We read that God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.
· In Matthew 6:30 Jesus speaks of “Little faith.”
· In Matthew 8:10 Jesus speaks of “great faith.”
· In Matthew 4:40 Jesus told His disciples they had “No faith.”
· In Romans 4:20 we’re told that Abraham was “Strong in faith.”
· In Acts 6:5 we’re told that Stephen was “Full of faith.”
· In Romans 14:1 we’re told of people with “weak faith.”
· In 2 Thess.1:3 Paul tells us of “growing faith.”
· James 2:5 speaks of people who are “Rich in faith.”
· James 2:22 speaks of “Perfect faith.”
· In 2 Peter 1:1 we’re introduced to “Precious faith.”
· In Matt. 21:22 we’re told we’ll receive all that we believe for when we pray.
· Mark 9:23 tells us—If we abide in Him & His words abide in us, we’ll ask what we will & it shall be done.
· In John 16:24 we’re told -- if we ask anything in Jesus’ name we’ll receive it.
· In Mark 11:22 we’re told to – “Have faith in God.”
Let’s look at four principles that will help us as we move toward making His promises real in our lives.
1. EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD.
Raise the level of your expectation. Psalm 62:5 says—My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him.
It’s so easy to become negative and start expecting the worst of every situation.
· I heard a story about a paratrooper who was making his first jump from a plane. His instructor told him to count to ten and pull the first rip-cord. Then if the shoot didn’t open, pull the second safety cord and the shoot would open. Then he told him there’d be a truck waiting to take him back to camp when he landed.
The young fellow did as he was instructed and jumped out of the plane, counted to ten and pulled the first cord. Nothing happened. So he pulled the second cord and again the shoot didn’t open. He was heard to say as he zoomed by the other paratroopers, “And I’ll bet that truck won’t even be waiting for me either.”
It’s so easy to expect the worst but God wants us to raise the level of our expectation.
· A man was at a minister’s convention conversing with a group of well-to-do preachers when his six year old son came up & pulled on his pant legs & asked, “Daddy, give me a penny.” No matter how much the dad tried to push his son away he kept coming back asking his dad for a penny. Finally after taking all he could stand, the father took his son aside & said “Son, you’ve humiliated me in front of my friends. Don’t ever ask me for a penny again under any circumstance. From now on you ask me for a dollar boy. My friends will get the idea I’m broke or stingy.”
I believe the one who sits upon heavens throne is embarrassed when His children slink around asking for spiritual pennies when He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
· A six year old girl asked her dad one day to build her a doll house. The father was busy reading his newspaper so he waved the little girl away.
Not willing to be denied, the girl kept asking her dad to please build her a doll house in the back yard. Finally the dad, tired of being interrupted told his daughter that he’d build her a doll house if she’d leave him alone.
About an hour later the father glanced toward the backyard & saw a surprising sight. His daughter was dragging all her dolls into one corner of the backyard. She had so much stuff in the corner of the yard it looked like she was going to have a yard sale.
The dad called his wife in and showed her what their girl was doing and asked about it. His wife said, “Honey, you told her you’d build her a doll house so she’s getting all her doll paraphernalia into the corner of the yard so they can move in.” That dad hardly let his coat touch his back until he’d gone & bought the materials & built that doll house. He wasn’t going to let his daughter believe in him that much & disappoint her.
Just as that dad treasured his daughter’s faith in his word, God is pleased when He sees that we trust Him & take Him at His word. As a matter of fact, you’ll never find a better definition of faith than—Taking God at His word.
· Does His Word say He can save? Then He can save.
· Does His word say He can heal? Then He can heal.
· That’s what faith is all about.
There’s a distinct possibility that God sometimes gets bored!
He’s sitting up in heaven on His throne, sort of twiddling His thumbs & yawning. He asks, “Angels, have any requests come up today?” They look at Him & say,” No Lord, not much, mostly little things. Oh yes, here’s a request that just came up. “God bless my cool aide & my hot dog.” God says is that all?”
“Yes God, that’s about it the angel says.” Oh wait, here comes another one, “Lord bless Johnny. He’s going to the store.” God says, “Go on Johnny, go to the store you’ll be alright son, stay on the sidewalk & cross with the light.” “Anything else angels?” About that time one of the angels says “Lord you better come over here & look at this.”
I see Jesus rise from sitting at the right hand of God. I see Him walk over to the banister of Glory & gaze down at the earth. He looks & looks again, & rubs His eyes. He says, “Angels are my eyes deceiving me? Or is that really what I’m seeing?” The angels say, “No God you’re seeing right. That’s three boys getting ready to trust you in a fiery furnace.” If I’m reading right, Jesus jumped over the portico of Glory & stepped onto the starry stairway from heaven to earth. He doesn’t stop until He gets to earth, He doesn’t stop until He gets to the furnace, He doesn’t stop then either, He jumps into the fire with the three boys for the wicked king said, “Did we not cast three men in that fire?” They said “yes we did.” “Well” says the king “I see four men now & one of them looks exactly like the Son of God.” God responded when He found someone who would trust Him & expect great things from Him.
2. SET GREAT STRATEGIES AND MAKE GREAT PLANS.
We tend to flounder when we don’t have a plan. God has a plan but often we tend to panic- panic isn’t a plan.
· A Preacher started church years ago in Alabama. Attendance went to about seventy-five the first few months but on the churches one year anniversary, it had dwindled down to about the same amount of people they started with. It looked like the church was destined to die. One Sunday the pastor arrived at the church & found about a dozen letters lying on the alter, all telling him the same thing; “that the church was slowly dying & they just couldn’t stay & watch it die.” The pastor put his family in his car & left the church. He drove to I-65 in Birmingham & parked under the bridge. As he sat there weeping, he started praying & asking God to let the bridge fall on him & take him home to glory. His wife heard the prayer he was mumbling & said, “hey wait a minute, what did you say? Did you ask God to let the bridge fall on you? Your wife & kids are in this car & we don’t want to be included in that prayer.” Instead of going to work on a plan, he did what a lot of people do when faced with failure, he panicked. The story goes that this suicidal pastor got over his depression, stuck it out & in time saw that church grow into a great work for God.
God told Jeremiah in 29:11—FOR I KNOW THE THOUGHTS I THINK TOWARD YOU, SAITH THE LORD, THOUGHTS OF PEACE AND NOT OF EVIL TO GIVE YOU AN EXPECTED END.
Isn’t it great to know that God always has plans for us & they’re great & exciting plans?
A. Ask Adam if God had a plan. When the guilty pair sinned in the Garden, God immediately made clothing for them of animal skins, which was symbolic of the blood sacrifice that would someday be made on Calvary.
b. Ask Abraham if God had a plan. Actually when Adam sinned, God didn’t react hastily but waited for this seventy-five year old man who was “as good as dead” reproductively but he “staggered not at the promise of God” to give him ancestry.
c. Jesus presented His disciples with a great plan to reach the world in Acts 1:8. Think about telling a little group of people to go & teach all nations. They had no cars, planes, newspapers, radio, television or computers but they followed the plan. It was a simple plan to start at home & move out from there but history tells us it’s exactly what they did with great success. Working hard at something with no God-given strategy might very well be just doing more of the wrong thing.
d. Ask Noah if God had a plan. God told him with great detail how to build an ark when neither he nor anyone else had even heard of one. He worked 120 years on a big boat hundreds of miles from water because it was going to rain & it had never rained before. But when the rain finally came, Noah & his family went on board the Ark & the door was shut. What a plan!
e. Ask Isaac if God had a plan. Here was Abraham’s promised son who God was asking to be offered as a sacrifice to Him. Isaac was bound & lain on that alter, & before he knew what was happening a gleaming knife was in the air above his head. But God stayed the hand of Abraham & pointed out a ram in a thicket close by that was to be used in place of his beloved son. Isaac can talk to you about God’s plans.
F. Ask Jacob if God had a plan. Jacob could be compared to a modern day Las Vegas gambler. For much of his life he was styling & profiling. Twenty years after all his swindling, deceiving, & beating his brother out of his birthright, Jacob was heading to a rendezvous with his angry revenge- bent brother Esau. But that night Jacob had a dream & saw a latter descending from earth to heaven. He met the pre-incarnate Christ & wrestled with Him until almost daybreak. That night Jacob not only received a blessing but God changed his name from supplanter to “Prince with God.” We find him in Hebrews eleven still leaning on his staff but he was worshipping God as he died.
g. Ask Elijah if God had a plan. Because of the famine & drought brought about by his prayers, he was sent to the brook Cherith to drink of the water & be fed by Ravens. When the brook dried up God sent him to a widow in Zarapath to be sustained for three years by a miracle supply of meal & oil.
h. Ask the disciples in the storm if Jesus had a plan. They were sacred to death & woke Jesus who stood & turned the angry sea into a placid sheet of glass.
I. We recently celebrated the resurrection of Christ. Just when Jewish hate & Roman power had done its worst, a stone turned in the garden & Jesus stepped out with the battering-ram of omnipotence to be alive for evermore.
j. Ask Joseph if God had a plan when he’d been thrown in jail on a fake rape charge. It took a while but when the plan came into fruition it was a plan that catapulted him to second in command in all of Egypt & saved the world from starvation.
3. God gave Moses a plan in wilderness in Exodus. 14:13. It consisted of five commands;
1. Fear not
2. Stand still
3. See salvation of Lord
4. Hold your peace
5. Go forward.
God always has a plan.
Not only should we expect great things, execute great strategies, we should;
3. PRAY GREAT PRAYERS.
1 John 5: 14-15—And this is the confidence that we have in Him that if we ask anything according to His will He heareth us: and if we know the He hear us, whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.
Listen to 2 Chronicles 7:14---if my people which are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.
Did you notice this is a national prayer? God is saying that if His people will get themselves right and pray, things can change in our nation.
In Luke 18:1 Jesus said --men ought always to pray and not faint or stop. Jesus makes a strong statement here. Ought is a strong word. He didn’t saw men should pray, or could pray or might pray. He said MEN OUGHT ALWAYS TO PRAY!
· Jesus prayed a great prayer in John chapter seventeen when He asked God not to take His people out of the world but to make them one & let them win the world.
· Paul prayed many great prayers not the least of which was his prayer --to know Christ, the power of His resurrection & the fellowship of His suffering.
· Jabez prayed a great prayer when he asked God to bless him indeed & enlarge his coast.
· I love the story of a man named Mr. Graham in Charlotte, N.C. He was a farmer & had a great burden for his area. The kids of that area were running wild & even his son was driving his old car through the community terrorizing the peace loving townsfolk. No doubt about it, a revival was needed.
Mr. Graham called some of the men in town asking them to come to an all night prayer meeting at his farm. After having prayed all night, the men assembled on the front porch of the house & started sharing what God had said during their prayers.
Each man shared essentially the same thing & that was they needed a city- wide revival. They agreed that they should call the old Jewish evangelist Mordicia Ham. Mr. Graham went to the phone & placed a call to the evangelist. They needed a revival & they needed it quick. In the conversation, Ham told them he was supposed to go to Chicago but he’d pray about coming to Charlotte.
Ham asked Graham to hold the phone for a moment or two while he asked God about it. The evangelist cupped his hand over the phone & said “God they’re calling me in Charlotte but I’m supposed to go to Chicago, what should I do, & hurry up God its long distance.” Ham got a word from God, came back on the phone to let the Charlotte men know he’d be there.
On the first night of the meeting, Mr. Graham’s son & his best friend Grady knelt at the alter for salvation. By the way, in case you haven’t already guessed it, Mr. Graham’s son was Billy Graham, a man about whom its been said “He put one foot on America, the other foot on Great Brittan & drew them both to God.”
That miracle happened because Christians prayed great prayers that moved God & man.
· Daniel prayed & lion’s mouths were locked.
· Joshua prayed & the Sun stood still.
· Elijah prayed & the heavens closed & there was no rain.
· Elisha prayed & a boy was brought back from the dead.
· King Hezekiah prayed & his life was extended 15 years.
· Hannah prayed & was given a son who was spiritual advisor for two kings.
· Jesus prayed & received strength to endure the cross & redeem mankind.
· Paul prayed & an earthquake hit the prison he was in setting him free.
· 120 prayed & Pentecostal fire fell in a dusty upper room.
· I’ll close by relating the true story of a little church that had been destroyed twice by storms. The pastor went to the bank & was told that the only way they could borrow more money was to get the church folk to sign papers mortgaging their homes. The people were willing to do this so money was acquired to start rebuilding the church. As the people worked, one of the most loved men of the church fell from the roof onto the concrete floor & was killed instantly.
The pastor began to wonder where God was in all this. The next day he told his wife he’d be gone most of the day. He got in his car & just drove, praying & communing with God & ending up about one hundred miles from home in a small country town. He stopped at a little mom & pop grocery store & went in for a coke & crackers. Just inside the door sat a black woman. She looked at him & said “I know who you are, I saw you last night in a dream. I don’t know what this means but God told me to tell you that He still had a hand-full of meal & a cruise of oil.”
The pastor walked out, got in his car & drove home. As he walked in the phone was ringing. It was a local businessman & he asked the preacher to please come to his home. The pastor rushed across town to visit this man he’d never met. The man met him at the door with tears in his eyes. After a short conversation, the businessman handed the preacher a check for $50,000 dollars & told him God wouldn’t let him sleep until he’d given the money. He added that God had instructed him to rebuild the church & when more money was needed to let him know. He said, “I’ll never be able to rest again until this project is complete.”
Be encouraged today my friend. Heaven isn’t on welfare & the angels aren’t in wheelchairs.
Listen to what God says in Isaiah 43:1 ………do not fear for I have redeemed you: I have called you by name, you are mine.
John
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Pastoral search report
Adam: Good man but problems with his wife. There’s a bad story out that they enjoyed nude walking in the woods.
Noah: Former pastorate of 120 years—no converts. Prone to unrealistic building projects.
Abraham: Though there was a wife-swapping story making the rounds, he never actually slept with another man’s wife. But he did offer to share his wife with another man.
Joseph: Big thinker-big dreamer—has a prison record.
Moses: A modest & meek man but poor communication skills—even sometimes stutters.
David: He looked good until an ugly affair was uncovered with his neighbor’s wife.
Solomon: great preacher but parsonage would never hold all his wives.
Elijah: Prone to panic attacks, depression & breaks under pressure.
Elisha: Reported to have lived with a widow at his former church.
Hosea: A tender, loving pastor but our people would blow a fuse when they heard his wife’s occupation.
Deborah: Female
Jeremiah: Emotionally unstable, alarmist, negative, always lamenting things, & reported to have taken a long trip to bury his underwear on the bank of a foreign river.
Isaiah: Very iffy-on the fringe; Claims to have seen angels in the church.
Jonah: Refused God’s call into ministry until forced to obey by getting swallowed by a big fish. Half way through his conversation telling us about getting spit up on the shore we hung up.
Amos: Too backward & unpolished. With some seminary training he might have some promise. Has a hang-up about wealthy people & would fit better in a poor congregation.
John: Says he’s a Baptist but doesn’t dress like one. Strange eater, slept outdoors for months on end, provokes denominational leaders.
Paul: Powerful CEO type leader & fascinating preacher & raconteur. Short on tact, tough on young ministers, harsh & has been known to preach all night.
Jesus: Has had popular times, but once when His church grew to 5,000 He managed to offend them all, dwindling His church down to twelve. Seldom stays in one place long. And of course He’s single.
Judas: Solid references. A steady plodder, conservative. Good connections; Knows how to handle money. We’re inviting him to preach this Sunday. Possibilities here.
This isn't original with me though I rewrote it a bit. If I knew who to give credit to I would.
John
Adam: Good man but problems with his wife. There’s a bad story out that they enjoyed nude walking in the woods.
Noah: Former pastorate of 120 years—no converts. Prone to unrealistic building projects.
Abraham: Though there was a wife-swapping story making the rounds, he never actually slept with another man’s wife. But he did offer to share his wife with another man.
Joseph: Big thinker-big dreamer—has a prison record.
Moses: A modest & meek man but poor communication skills—even sometimes stutters.
David: He looked good until an ugly affair was uncovered with his neighbor’s wife.
Solomon: great preacher but parsonage would never hold all his wives.
Elijah: Prone to panic attacks, depression & breaks under pressure.
Elisha: Reported to have lived with a widow at his former church.
Hosea: A tender, loving pastor but our people would blow a fuse when they heard his wife’s occupation.
Deborah: Female
Jeremiah: Emotionally unstable, alarmist, negative, always lamenting things, & reported to have taken a long trip to bury his underwear on the bank of a foreign river.
Isaiah: Very iffy-on the fringe; Claims to have seen angels in the church.
Jonah: Refused God’s call into ministry until forced to obey by getting swallowed by a big fish. Half way through his conversation telling us about getting spit up on the shore we hung up.
Amos: Too backward & unpolished. With some seminary training he might have some promise. Has a hang-up about wealthy people & would fit better in a poor congregation.
John: Says he’s a Baptist but doesn’t dress like one. Strange eater, slept outdoors for months on end, provokes denominational leaders.
Paul: Powerful CEO type leader & fascinating preacher & raconteur. Short on tact, tough on young ministers, harsh & has been known to preach all night.
Jesus: Has had popular times, but once when His church grew to 5,000 He managed to offend them all, dwindling His church down to twelve. Seldom stays in one place long. And of course He’s single.
Judas: Solid references. A steady plodder, conservative. Good connections; Knows how to handle money. We’re inviting him to preach this Sunday. Possibilities here.
This isn't original with me though I rewrote it a bit. If I knew who to give credit to I would.
John
THE MAN WHO LEANED ON JESUS
By John Stallings
Now there was one leaning on Jesus’ bosom, one of His disciples whom Jesus loved. –John 13:23
Did you know?
· The gospel of John doesn’t contain one parable?
· The only way we knew Jesus’ ministry lasted three & a half years is because John records three Passovers. If we only had Matthew, Mark & Luke we’d think Jesus ministered only one year.
· If we didn’t have John’s gospel, we wouldn’t know about the wedding of Cana,-- the raising of Lazarus, --the women at the well,--- the new birth discourse with Nicodemus,--- the lame man at the pool of Bethesda,--- the washing of feet,--- the women caught in adultery, ---the upper room discourse, --or that Jesus baptized.-3:22
· If we didn’t have John we’d think that Jesus ministered mostly in Galilee? John shows us His ministry in Judea, mostly around Jerusalem.
· John was the first disciple to believe in Jesus,
· the only disciple at the cross,
· the first one at the empty tomb,
· the second one to enter the tomb, &
· the first one to the last communion.
· Although he never takes credit for his gospel, John called himself “The disciple that Jesus loved” no less than five times.
· John was the first disciple to recognize Jesus when He appeared to them after they’d fished all night.—21:7
· When Jesus was on the cross, He placed His mother into the hands of John.
The Holy Spirit knew exactly what He was doing when He inspired the four gospels. When we look at them we see that each is unique, diverse & distinct in character from the other three.
Consider Matthew. Matthew portrays Christ in His kingly office—He is prophet, priest & king. Matthew starts off with the genealogies because the Jews were looking for the fulfillment of the everlasting kingdom of David. Matthew shows that Jesus indeed came through this lineage.
Then look at Mark, the shortest gospel. This gospel doesn’t begin with the linage of Jesus & makes no mention of His ancestry; it begins by showing Jesus as the Servant of Jehovah. The very first things he tells us is how John the Baptist baptized Christ & how Christ is taken into the wilderness for forty days to be tempted of the devil. Mark tells us about the ministry of Christ & how He began preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
Now, consider the perspective of Luke. This gospel shows us Jesus in His humanity. Luke contrasts the perfect nature of Jesus with the sinful nature of fallen man. Luke tells us that Jesus’ response to Satan was, --Get thee behind me Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God & Him only shalt thou serve. Luke 4:8
The fourth gospel, the gospel of John, reveals Christ as the heavenly one who came to earth to tabernacle with men. John is easily the simplest yet most theologically profound of the gospels. In John we see Christ revealed as the Son of God. The first three gospels teach Jesus’ humanity & His relationship with you & me as man. However, in the gospel of John we see Christ as God, Christ in His divinity, and Christ in His deity. In a day when our world seeks to gainsay God’s word as well as the person of Christ, how we need John’s gospel. You see Christ’s deity in the very first of verse of John,--In the beginning was the Word & the Word was with God & the Word was God…..This shows us that Christ is preexistent, predating creation. John tells us that Christ was the creator of heaven & earth. In John’s gospel we see Christ unveiled in all His glory, dwelling within the Godhead before time began.
· Only in this gospel do we see Jesus in the beginning. How did creation began - It began with the words of Jesus. He spoke, & it was.
John stressed that this man who walked & talked with the common man was actually co-equal with God the Father. In John we are given perhaps the most quoted verse in the Bible,- For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 3:16
John is “the different gospel.” As you read it, contrast it with the other gospels & see how different it is. The author of this book has one intention & that is to establish with crystal clarity that Jesus Christ was & is indeed the “Son of God,” & was sent by the Father as a divine transmitter of His love to give eternal life to believers. John puts it succinctly when he writes these words; --But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. 20:31
As you probably know from your own reading of this book, John reads different. Jesus seems different in John. It’s interesting that the book of John, so precious in its intimacy, was written by the man who was closest & actually “Leaned on Jesus’ breast.”
Scholars say that John wrote this book toward the end of the first century A.D. Some also say he wrote it because so much information needed to be added. John tells us in the last verse of his book that very little was written about Jesus, & if all He did was written down, the world couldn’t hold all the books. John was the youngest of the disciples; just a lad when chosen by Jesus. He lived to be almost one hundred & also wrote the three Epistles of John & the book of Revelation. His youth & subsequent longevity was probably one reason he was chosen.
It’s easy to forget that this young man who “Leaned on Jesus’ breast” was the same man who, at the end of his life -fell at Jesus’ feet like a dead man in the “Revelation of Jesus Christ.”-Rev.1:17 .-Some of the deepest truths about God in the entire Bible can be found in the four chapters of the upper room discourse in John 14, 15, 16 & 17.
John contains,
SEVEN SIGNS
Miracles are kept to a minimum in John & he refers to Jesus’ miracle as signs. The signs are given to confirm the deity of Christ. They are,
1. 2:1-11
2. 4:46
3. 5:1-9
4. 6:1-14
5. 9:1-7
6. 6:16-21
7. 11:1-46
SEVEN “I AM’s”
1. 6:35
2. 8:58--….before Abraham was, I am.
3. 10:9
4. 10:11
5. 11:25
6. 14:6
7. 15:1
SEVEN “SHALL NOTS”
1. 3:16
2. 4:14
3. 8:12
4. 10:28
5. 6:35
6. 5:24
7. 11:25-26
John tells us what true worship is, --But the hour cometh & now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit & in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. --- God is a spirit: & they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit & in truth. 4:23-24.
The biggest dissimilarity between John & the other gospels is the language he used. John loved to use words like, Life, Light, Love, Darkness, Hate, Death & Believe. Some of his favorite phrases are Life in God, Life with God, Life by God, & Life for God. John never tires of using these words & phrases. The shortest verse in the bible is John 2:35,--Jesus wept.
John’s gospel doesn’t go deeply into subjects like prayer, fasting, alms giving, marriage, wealth, the trinity, & divine sovereignty. John leaves out the transfiguration, Christ’s temptation, His baptism, His agony in Gethsemane, the selection of the twelve, & the sending out of the seventy.
· In John, Jesus explains to us the new birth.—3:7-8
· The plan of salvation comes through so beautifully in 1:11,
· -He came unto His own & His own received Him not.12-But as many as received Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. 13- Which were born, not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
· John records Jesus’ words,-No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him; And I will raise him up at the last day. 6:44-45
· John records for us the great priestly prayer Jesus prayed in chapter 17. –These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify they Son that thy Son may also glorify thee. (Note that Jesus never says he’ll be crucified, but rather glorified.) As thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given Him.
· John records for us the Christian’s infilling of the Holy Spirit.
14:15,--If ye love me, keep my commandments, & I will pray the Father& he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for he dwelleth with you, & shall be in you.
As we can see, John is a gospel apart.
· It is 92% original & unique compared to the other gospels. Because of its richness & simplicity, this book makes a masterful gospel tract. Isn’t it amazing that these rich truths weren’t unveiled in the other gospels, (as rich & God-breathed as they are,) but were given to us by this disciple who “Leaned on Jesus’ breast?” Read & re-read this book & know you are reading from a source closer to the beating heart of our Lord than any man who ever lived.
Do you have a need; a petition to lift up to God? John records Jesus’ words of assurance,
--If you abide in me & my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will & it shall be done unto you. 15:7
We don’t hear much these days about heaven or the reality of someday being reunited with our loved ones who died in Christ. What a void there would be if John hadn’t included these words of Jesus; ---
Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God believe also in me. In my father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am there ye may be also. --14:1-3
By John Stallings
Now there was one leaning on Jesus’ bosom, one of His disciples whom Jesus loved. –John 13:23
Did you know?
· The gospel of John doesn’t contain one parable?
· The only way we knew Jesus’ ministry lasted three & a half years is because John records three Passovers. If we only had Matthew, Mark & Luke we’d think Jesus ministered only one year.
· If we didn’t have John’s gospel, we wouldn’t know about the wedding of Cana,-- the raising of Lazarus, --the women at the well,--- the new birth discourse with Nicodemus,--- the lame man at the pool of Bethesda,--- the washing of feet,--- the women caught in adultery, ---the upper room discourse, --or that Jesus baptized.-3:22
· If we didn’t have John we’d think that Jesus ministered mostly in Galilee? John shows us His ministry in Judea, mostly around Jerusalem.
· John was the first disciple to believe in Jesus,
· the only disciple at the cross,
· the first one at the empty tomb,
· the second one to enter the tomb, &
· the first one to the last communion.
· Although he never takes credit for his gospel, John called himself “The disciple that Jesus loved” no less than five times.
· John was the first disciple to recognize Jesus when He appeared to them after they’d fished all night.—21:7
· When Jesus was on the cross, He placed His mother into the hands of John.
The Holy Spirit knew exactly what He was doing when He inspired the four gospels. When we look at them we see that each is unique, diverse & distinct in character from the other three.
Consider Matthew. Matthew portrays Christ in His kingly office—He is prophet, priest & king. Matthew starts off with the genealogies because the Jews were looking for the fulfillment of the everlasting kingdom of David. Matthew shows that Jesus indeed came through this lineage.
Then look at Mark, the shortest gospel. This gospel doesn’t begin with the linage of Jesus & makes no mention of His ancestry; it begins by showing Jesus as the Servant of Jehovah. The very first things he tells us is how John the Baptist baptized Christ & how Christ is taken into the wilderness for forty days to be tempted of the devil. Mark tells us about the ministry of Christ & how He began preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
Now, consider the perspective of Luke. This gospel shows us Jesus in His humanity. Luke contrasts the perfect nature of Jesus with the sinful nature of fallen man. Luke tells us that Jesus’ response to Satan was, --Get thee behind me Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God & Him only shalt thou serve. Luke 4:8
The fourth gospel, the gospel of John, reveals Christ as the heavenly one who came to earth to tabernacle with men. John is easily the simplest yet most theologically profound of the gospels. In John we see Christ revealed as the Son of God. The first three gospels teach Jesus’ humanity & His relationship with you & me as man. However, in the gospel of John we see Christ as God, Christ in His divinity, and Christ in His deity. In a day when our world seeks to gainsay God’s word as well as the person of Christ, how we need John’s gospel. You see Christ’s deity in the very first of verse of John,--In the beginning was the Word & the Word was with God & the Word was God…..This shows us that Christ is preexistent, predating creation. John tells us that Christ was the creator of heaven & earth. In John’s gospel we see Christ unveiled in all His glory, dwelling within the Godhead before time began.
· Only in this gospel do we see Jesus in the beginning. How did creation began - It began with the words of Jesus. He spoke, & it was.
John stressed that this man who walked & talked with the common man was actually co-equal with God the Father. In John we are given perhaps the most quoted verse in the Bible,- For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 3:16
John is “the different gospel.” As you read it, contrast it with the other gospels & see how different it is. The author of this book has one intention & that is to establish with crystal clarity that Jesus Christ was & is indeed the “Son of God,” & was sent by the Father as a divine transmitter of His love to give eternal life to believers. John puts it succinctly when he writes these words; --But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. 20:31
As you probably know from your own reading of this book, John reads different. Jesus seems different in John. It’s interesting that the book of John, so precious in its intimacy, was written by the man who was closest & actually “Leaned on Jesus’ breast.”
Scholars say that John wrote this book toward the end of the first century A.D. Some also say he wrote it because so much information needed to be added. John tells us in the last verse of his book that very little was written about Jesus, & if all He did was written down, the world couldn’t hold all the books. John was the youngest of the disciples; just a lad when chosen by Jesus. He lived to be almost one hundred & also wrote the three Epistles of John & the book of Revelation. His youth & subsequent longevity was probably one reason he was chosen.
It’s easy to forget that this young man who “Leaned on Jesus’ breast” was the same man who, at the end of his life -fell at Jesus’ feet like a dead man in the “Revelation of Jesus Christ.”-Rev.1:17 .-Some of the deepest truths about God in the entire Bible can be found in the four chapters of the upper room discourse in John 14, 15, 16 & 17.
John contains,
SEVEN SIGNS
Miracles are kept to a minimum in John & he refers to Jesus’ miracle as signs. The signs are given to confirm the deity of Christ. They are,
1. 2:1-11
2. 4:46
3. 5:1-9
4. 6:1-14
5. 9:1-7
6. 6:16-21
7. 11:1-46
SEVEN “I AM’s”
1. 6:35
2. 8:58--….before Abraham was, I am.
3. 10:9
4. 10:11
5. 11:25
6. 14:6
7. 15:1
SEVEN “SHALL NOTS”
1. 3:16
2. 4:14
3. 8:12
4. 10:28
5. 6:35
6. 5:24
7. 11:25-26
John tells us what true worship is, --But the hour cometh & now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit & in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. --- God is a spirit: & they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit & in truth. 4:23-24.
The biggest dissimilarity between John & the other gospels is the language he used. John loved to use words like, Life, Light, Love, Darkness, Hate, Death & Believe. Some of his favorite phrases are Life in God, Life with God, Life by God, & Life for God. John never tires of using these words & phrases. The shortest verse in the bible is John 2:35,--Jesus wept.
John’s gospel doesn’t go deeply into subjects like prayer, fasting, alms giving, marriage, wealth, the trinity, & divine sovereignty. John leaves out the transfiguration, Christ’s temptation, His baptism, His agony in Gethsemane, the selection of the twelve, & the sending out of the seventy.
· In John, Jesus explains to us the new birth.—3:7-8
· The plan of salvation comes through so beautifully in 1:11,
· -He came unto His own & His own received Him not.12-But as many as received Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. 13- Which were born, not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
· John records Jesus’ words,-No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him; And I will raise him up at the last day. 6:44-45
· John records for us the great priestly prayer Jesus prayed in chapter 17. –These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify they Son that thy Son may also glorify thee. (Note that Jesus never says he’ll be crucified, but rather glorified.) As thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given Him.
· John records for us the Christian’s infilling of the Holy Spirit.
14:15,--If ye love me, keep my commandments, & I will pray the Father& he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for he dwelleth with you, & shall be in you.
As we can see, John is a gospel apart.
· It is 92% original & unique compared to the other gospels. Because of its richness & simplicity, this book makes a masterful gospel tract. Isn’t it amazing that these rich truths weren’t unveiled in the other gospels, (as rich & God-breathed as they are,) but were given to us by this disciple who “Leaned on Jesus’ breast?” Read & re-read this book & know you are reading from a source closer to the beating heart of our Lord than any man who ever lived.
Do you have a need; a petition to lift up to God? John records Jesus’ words of assurance,
--If you abide in me & my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will & it shall be done unto you. 15:7
We don’t hear much these days about heaven or the reality of someday being reunited with our loved ones who died in Christ. What a void there would be if John hadn’t included these words of Jesus; ---
Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God believe also in me. In my father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am there ye may be also. --14:1-3
Friday, June 8, 2007
Pity poor Paris!
(Clueless and classless)
At this writing Paris Hilton is at home on her multi-acre estate wearing an ankle bracelet. It just goes to show what many of us thinking American’s have asked for years; how much justice can you afford? From reports I’ve heard Paris has a “stripper-pole in her living room.” What does that tell you?
When she got out of jail the other night, her favorite bakery was called to bring in her much loved cup-cakes. Sweet!!
Los Angeles is a brand new game. They are celebrity driven. As I write this, 65 cameras are trained on Paris’ estate and a plane flies overhead with a banner saying “we love you Paris.” Let’s face it. L.A is a celebrity driven town with the motto “all publicity is good publicity.”
Stop the presses! A bulletin just came in saying Paris has been remanded back to jail to serve out the balance of her 45 day sentence. O.k., since this thing may flip-flop back and forth several times in the next few days, and who knows if Paris will serve any hard time(though it now looks like she will) here’s my evaluation. Please excuse me if it seems I’m pointing out the obvious.
Huge holes were left in Paris’ parental training. For one thing she wasn’t taught to know when to humble herself. From the front to the back of the Bible every writer attacks pride. When a list of sins is given, pride will be close to the top. If a person doesn’t know to humble themselves when standing in front of a judge who can order them off to months or years in jail, they’re to be pitied.
This reminds me of the preacher Leroy Jenkins who was disrespectful to a judge a few years ago over a small matter, then ended up in jail for about six years.
Hopefully some of the other Hollywood brats will see this little scenario as a cautionary tale. Number one-nine; no drinking and driving, because “strong drink is a mocker.” Number ten; take your hat in your hands when standing before a judge who can mortgage your future.
John
PS. Paris, sincerely, you need Jesus!
(Clueless and classless)
At this writing Paris Hilton is at home on her multi-acre estate wearing an ankle bracelet. It just goes to show what many of us thinking American’s have asked for years; how much justice can you afford? From reports I’ve heard Paris has a “stripper-pole in her living room.” What does that tell you?
When she got out of jail the other night, her favorite bakery was called to bring in her much loved cup-cakes. Sweet!!
Los Angeles is a brand new game. They are celebrity driven. As I write this, 65 cameras are trained on Paris’ estate and a plane flies overhead with a banner saying “we love you Paris.” Let’s face it. L.A is a celebrity driven town with the motto “all publicity is good publicity.”
Stop the presses! A bulletin just came in saying Paris has been remanded back to jail to serve out the balance of her 45 day sentence. O.k., since this thing may flip-flop back and forth several times in the next few days, and who knows if Paris will serve any hard time(though it now looks like she will) here’s my evaluation. Please excuse me if it seems I’m pointing out the obvious.
Huge holes were left in Paris’ parental training. For one thing she wasn’t taught to know when to humble herself. From the front to the back of the Bible every writer attacks pride. When a list of sins is given, pride will be close to the top. If a person doesn’t know to humble themselves when standing in front of a judge who can order them off to months or years in jail, they’re to be pitied.
This reminds me of the preacher Leroy Jenkins who was disrespectful to a judge a few years ago over a small matter, then ended up in jail for about six years.
Hopefully some of the other Hollywood brats will see this little scenario as a cautionary tale. Number one-nine; no drinking and driving, because “strong drink is a mocker.” Number ten; take your hat in your hands when standing before a judge who can mortgage your future.
John
PS. Paris, sincerely, you need Jesus!
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
God’s message to America
By John Stallings
I’m writing this blog on June 6th, 2007 which of course is D-Day, 63 years later. I’d like to share with you a prayer that was prayed on national radio by then President Franklin Roosevelt on that fateful day in 1944. As you read the prayer, ask yourself if our school kids will ever hear this prayer or even have a clue it was ever prayed.
Also as you read, ask yourself if any present day president would deign to read such a prayer on radio or T.V. If President Bush read such a prayer politicians from all quarters would be on him like a pack of ravenous dogs. When our president prayed this prayer it was considered by Americans to be perfectly proper. Here’s the prayer;
“Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.
Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness to their faith.
They will need thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again & again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.
They will be sore tried, by night and day without rest until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls will be shaken with the violences of war.
For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.
Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants into Thy kingdom.
And for us at home—fathers, mothers, children, wives, and brothers of the brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them—help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great service.
Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let the words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.
Give us strength, too—strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.
And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.
And’ O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events of temporal matters but of the fleeting moment—let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.
With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country and with the sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace—a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.
Thy will be done, Almighty God.
Amen.
Franklin D. Roosevelt-June 6, 1944
The second Psalm contains God’s prophetic message to our nation in this hour.
Here’s the Message Bible translation and I believe you’ll agree that no other comment is really needed.
“Why the big noise nations? Why the mean plots peoples?
Earth-leaders push for position,
Demagogues and delegates meet for summit talks,
The God-deniers, the Messiah –deifiers:
“Let’s get free of God!
Cast loose from Messiah!”
Heaven-throned God breaks out laughing.
At first he’s amused at their presumption;
Then he gets good and angry.
Furiously He shuts them up:
“Don’t you know there’s a King in Zion? A coronation banquet is spread for him on the holy summit.”
Let me tell you what God said next.
He said “You’re my son and today is your birthday.
What do you want? Name it:
Nations as a present? Continents as a prize?
You can command them all to dance for you,
Or throw them out with tomorrow’s trash.”
So, rebel-kings, use your heads:
Upstarts-judges, learn your lesson:
Worship God in adoring embrace,
Your very lives are in danger, you know:
His anger is about to explode,
But if you make a run for God---you won’t regret it!
John
By John Stallings
I’m writing this blog on June 6th, 2007 which of course is D-Day, 63 years later. I’d like to share with you a prayer that was prayed on national radio by then President Franklin Roosevelt on that fateful day in 1944. As you read the prayer, ask yourself if our school kids will ever hear this prayer or even have a clue it was ever prayed.
Also as you read, ask yourself if any present day president would deign to read such a prayer on radio or T.V. If President Bush read such a prayer politicians from all quarters would be on him like a pack of ravenous dogs. When our president prayed this prayer it was considered by Americans to be perfectly proper. Here’s the prayer;
“Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.
Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness to their faith.
They will need thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again & again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.
They will be sore tried, by night and day without rest until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls will be shaken with the violences of war.
For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.
Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants into Thy kingdom.
And for us at home—fathers, mothers, children, wives, and brothers of the brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them—help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great service.
Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let the words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.
Give us strength, too—strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.
And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.
And’ O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events of temporal matters but of the fleeting moment—let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.
With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country and with the sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace—a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.
Thy will be done, Almighty God.
Amen.
Franklin D. Roosevelt-June 6, 1944
The second Psalm contains God’s prophetic message to our nation in this hour.
Here’s the Message Bible translation and I believe you’ll agree that no other comment is really needed.
“Why the big noise nations? Why the mean plots peoples?
Earth-leaders push for position,
Demagogues and delegates meet for summit talks,
The God-deniers, the Messiah –deifiers:
“Let’s get free of God!
Cast loose from Messiah!”
Heaven-throned God breaks out laughing.
At first he’s amused at their presumption;
Then he gets good and angry.
Furiously He shuts them up:
“Don’t you know there’s a King in Zion? A coronation banquet is spread for him on the holy summit.”
Let me tell you what God said next.
He said “You’re my son and today is your birthday.
What do you want? Name it:
Nations as a present? Continents as a prize?
You can command them all to dance for you,
Or throw them out with tomorrow’s trash.”
So, rebel-kings, use your heads:
Upstarts-judges, learn your lesson:
Worship God in adoring embrace,
Your very lives are in danger, you know:
His anger is about to explode,
But if you make a run for God---you won’t regret it!
John
Monday, June 4, 2007
I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
By John Stallings
Once I was asked to speak at a church banquet and as I rose to speak, people were finishing their deserts and still engaged in small talk. Not being all that used to speaking under these conditions, I just stood there and 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 and as I did I noticed things slightly quiet down. The Pastors wife then spoke up and said “Bro. Stallings, tell them louder to SSSsssshhhhh. I looked at her and said, “Does that work?” She answered, “It’s the only thing that does work.” Well I SSSSssshhhed them again a little louder and this time they looked as if a gunshot had gone off. I finally had my audience and all it took was a fairly loud SSssssshhhhh. Everyone seemed fine with it. I’ve thought many times about that and 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 and it usually got the job done. Sometimes if the ssshhh wasn’t heeded things got a little rougher. 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.
One time I was going through a stressful patch and somehow a mania 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 SSSssssshhhhh. Keep it low key-low key—easy-does-it, keep the problem small in your mind.” Yes God said exactly that to 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.
A few years back our nation went through two tough elections. Every time you listened to any media, especially right afterward, all you heard was how bad things are. Even now we hear negative things said from both sides of the political spectrum. It causes us to wonder how things have gotten so crazy. I’ve always sought to keep my negative thoughts confined to emotions like “amazement and shock” but nowadays many people so mad and hurt they were ready to give up living. I often wonder how two groups of people in America can look at the same event and come to such dramatically different conclusions? Won’t we all wake up Americans tomorrow?
Many time the best thing we can do when things get stressful is just stand back, take a deep breath and 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 and quiet is fine. God bless you Larry!
Power Leakage occurs with too much talk.
Samson lost his power because he wanted to talk and when he spoke he gave away the secret of this 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
Have you ever been riding down the road or engaged in some activity when all at once you started thinking about something you said? Am I the only one who does that? You shake your head and say and OH God, why did I say that? Perhaps that’s why David said in Psalm 141:3 “Set a watch Oh Lord before my mouth keep the door of my lips.” Help me to SSSSssssshhhhhhhh.
I once heard a man say, “I can tell you what I know and 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? But 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 and 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 and sadly that’s where America’s mind set is these days. Too bad we Christians are not 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.
If you’ve 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 and 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 and 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}. Though the tongue can’t be tamed outside a divine intervention of the Holy Ghost, just as a wild animal, it can be trained and there in lies our victory. Meditating on and speaking what is true-God’s Word, day and night.
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 and sins and 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 Redemmer.”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 and practically demonize them and almost in the next breath walk up to that person and embrace them like they were long lost buddies? I am not finger pointing and saying I’ve always been strong in this area. I’m saying to you that God is dealing with me and breaking me in this area and I weep at the times I’ve let myself and God down going against what I knew to be right. We seem to feel that we can make our hum-drum lives better and 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 and self-portrait. And maybe we also possess just a dash of critism of God and 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 and also read the verse after it. Friend I don’t know about you but that sounds like hell to me, but its Christians.
Over the years I have personally witnessed how gossip has affected friendships. The arrogance of others has cost me pain from lies and, just as important, half-truths that were spread about me. Perhaps you’ve experienced the same. I say this not out of bitterness because I’m a healed man today , but I never want my words to ever cause anyone the pain vicious gossip has cost me. As a people, what do we possibly have to gain by this? It does nothing but separate and destroy us. We are, and 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 and put forth an effort to be real with each other and learn again to love as Jesus taught us to love.
LESSON #ONE.---SSSSSSSSSSSSssssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
By John Stallings
Once I was asked to speak at a church banquet and as I rose to speak, people were finishing their deserts and still engaged in small talk. Not being all that used to speaking under these conditions, I just stood there and 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 and as I did I noticed things slightly quiet down. The Pastors wife then spoke up and said “Bro. Stallings, tell them louder to SSSsssshhhhh. I looked at her and said, “Does that work?” She answered, “It’s the only thing that does work.” Well I SSSSssshhhed them again a little louder and this time they looked as if a gunshot had gone off. I finally had my audience and all it took was a fairly loud SSssssshhhhh. Everyone seemed fine with it. I’ve thought many times about that and 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 and it usually got the job done. Sometimes if the ssshhh wasn’t heeded things got a little rougher. 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.
One time I was going through a stressful patch and somehow a mania 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 SSSssssshhhhh. Keep it low key-low key—easy-does-it, keep the problem small in your mind.” Yes God said exactly that to 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.
A few years back our nation went through two tough elections. Every time you listened to any media, especially right afterward, all you heard was how bad things are. Even now we hear negative things said from both sides of the political spectrum. It causes us to wonder how things have gotten so crazy. I’ve always sought to keep my negative thoughts confined to emotions like “amazement and shock” but nowadays many people so mad and hurt they were ready to give up living. I often wonder how two groups of people in America can look at the same event and come to such dramatically different conclusions? Won’t we all wake up Americans tomorrow?
Many time the best thing we can do when things get stressful is just stand back, take a deep breath and 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 and quiet is fine. God bless you Larry!
Power Leakage occurs with too much talk.
Samson lost his power because he wanted to talk and when he spoke he gave away the secret of this 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
Have you ever been riding down the road or engaged in some activity when all at once you started thinking about something you said? Am I the only one who does that? You shake your head and say and OH God, why did I say that? Perhaps that’s why David said in Psalm 141:3 “Set a watch Oh Lord before my mouth keep the door of my lips.” Help me to SSSSssssshhhhhhhh.
I once heard a man say, “I can tell you what I know and 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? But 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 and 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 and sadly that’s where America’s mind set is these days. Too bad we Christians are not 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.
If you’ve 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 and 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 and 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}. Though the tongue can’t be tamed outside a divine intervention of the Holy Ghost, just as a wild animal, it can be trained and there in lies our victory. Meditating on and speaking what is true-God’s Word, day and night.
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 and sins and 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 Redemmer.”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 and practically demonize them and almost in the next breath walk up to that person and embrace them like they were long lost buddies? I am not finger pointing and saying I’ve always been strong in this area. I’m saying to you that God is dealing with me and breaking me in this area and I weep at the times I’ve let myself and God down going against what I knew to be right. We seem to feel that we can make our hum-drum lives better and 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 and self-portrait. And maybe we also possess just a dash of critism of God and 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 and also read the verse after it. Friend I don’t know about you but that sounds like hell to me, but its Christians.
Over the years I have personally witnessed how gossip has affected friendships. The arrogance of others has cost me pain from lies and, just as important, half-truths that were spread about me. Perhaps you’ve experienced the same. I say this not out of bitterness because I’m a healed man today , but I never want my words to ever cause anyone the pain vicious gossip has cost me. As a people, what do we possibly have to gain by this? It does nothing but separate and destroy us. We are, and 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 and put forth an effort to be real with each other and learn again to love as Jesus taught us to love.
LESSON #ONE.---SSSSSSSSSSSSssssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
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