The church in Palm Harbor

By John Stallings

Juda and I just returned from the Clearwater, Florida area where we filled the pulpit for Joe and Kathy Peterson. They pastor Christ Church, in the town of Palm harbor, just off Hi-way 19-N-juxtaposed between Tarpon Springs and St. Petersburg.

The Petersons are long-time friends of ours and they hadn’t missed a Sunday in their church in eleven years. I don’t know about you but that’s impressive to me.

Joe Peterson and I met more than 35 years ago when we were both traveling evangelists. He and his lovely wife Kathy left the evangelistic field eleven years ago and assumed the pastorate in Palm Harbor with no membership and only twelve in attendance in their first service.

I was one of the dozen people present that day and drove down to be with them for in their first service for moral support. Juda and I have returned over a dozen times during the years as pulpit guests. Each time we return we see new faces and this past week was no exception. The Peterson’s hard work, prayer and their love for people has paid off in spades.

The Sunday morning service is now running at capacity, just over 150, and their mid-week service is almost filled to capacity. This is due to Brother Peterson’s dynamic preaching as well as a well rounded music and worship experience that blesses the heart, and last but certainly not least, the moving of the Holy Ghost in the services. There is definitely liberty in the house.

The church is looking for a larger building and I predict when they find other facilities they will explode with growth. Juda and I love to go to Palm Harbor because we know we won’t have to try to raise the “spiritually dead,” but are ourselves refreshed as we enjoy worshipping with these good people.

I haven’t posted much lately but will have a new message up within days that I believe will bless and inspire you.

Blessings,

John

The sin we can't hide

By John Stallings


The story is told of an African people who regarded monkey meat as a delicacy. The monkeys however were difficult to capture rarely straying from the safely of the trees.

Nevertheless the villagers found a way to get their hands on the monkeys. They fashioned crude clay bottles that were round on the bottom & curved up into long necks…..The villagers filled the bottom of the bottles with peanuts & set them out on the floor of the jungle. Then they went home to bed.

During the night the monkeys smelled the peanuts sensed that it would be safe & came swinging down from the trees to investigate.

One by one the monkeys reached down into the bottles & grabbed a fistful of peanuts. When the monkey tried to retrieve the prize however it found it couldn’t pull its fist out of the bottle. Though it strained with all its might it could not pull the peanuts from the bottle.

The next morning the people arose & walked out to the clearing in the jungle where they found the monkeys still trying to pull their treasure from the bottles. Casually the villagers scooped up the monkeys, broke the bottles & carried the animals home to provide meat for their festival.

The monkeys lost their freedom because they were not willing to let go. They refused to unclench their fists. So it is with our resentments. If we want to be set free from our resentments we most likely will have to let go of something.

In Luke 15:11-32 we read about the parable of the father & his two sons. This is one of the best known stories the Lord ever told. It’s the story about coming home. Of repentance & reformation. Of return & forgiveness. Of acceptance & restoration. Of finding what was lost.

We think of the father welcoming home his lost son. His joy at receiving back alive that which was dead. For finding, of receiving back that which had been lost. We think of his elation. Of his celebration.

But there is much more here to explore & discover. This isn’t just the parable of the prodigal son, for the first line of the parable says that there was a man with two sons. It’s a parable about two sons; an elder & a younger, & about a father.

The Prodigal son left home & wasted his money on fleshly pursuits. He woke up one day in a pen of swine & decided to return home to his father & seek forgiveness. Upon his arrival home he asked to be treated as one of his father's hired servants.

However his father was so happy his son had returned, he ordered the finest clothes to be placed on his back & a ring of honor to grace his finger & the fatted calf killed to celebrate the return of his wayward son.

But the elder brother in the story resented the way his father treated his returning brother. After all, he blew it. He’d wasting his inheritance satisfying his fleshly appetites, embarrassed the family name & hurt family business.

WHY WAS THE ELDER BROTHER SO RESENTFUL?

Let’s look at it. His attitude was; — “O.K. It’s fine for us to welcome my brother home. But let him sleep out in the barn. I have some old clothes I’m not wearing that I’ll give him. That’s good enough. Let him tough it out & maybe he’ll see just how bad he sinned & hurt this family, especially my father.”

However, the thing that really ticked off the elder brother was the party his father gave his returning brother. This party made the older brother resentful. Let him return home, but to bread & water not to the fatted calf; to sackcloth, not a new robe; to ashes, not jewelry; to kneeling, not dancing; to tears, not celebration. It was fine in the eyes of the elder brother for the Prodigal to be reunited with the family, but Oh how he resented that party.


· The woman with two children, whose husband left her for another woman & now she faces the full financial support of the family- is resentful.
· The woman who feels her husband’s company takes too much of his time & he never has quality family time, -is resentful.
· The older person whose health is failing & faces the prospect of a nursing home- is resentful.
· A person nearing retirement who watched their investments go up in smoke because of bad investments by the fund trustees –is resentful.
· A high school student who didn’t make the team…or cheerleader…or first chair band…or the lead role in a play—is resentful.
· A young child whose daddy died is resentful of their mother’s new boyfriend or husband & begins lashing out.

RESENTMENT CAN’T BE CONCEALED

When you are resentful, a major part of you closes down. You become bitter & less able to express love. You lose your joy & put up walls of protection that make life more difficult.

Letting go of resentment isn’t something you do for the benefit of the other person. Letting go of resentment is for you. When you resent someone you’ve essentially said they are the problem so you don’t have to look at yourself.

Resentment raises it’s ugly head on the first pages of the Bible with Cain & Abel. Why is resentment a sin? Because if resentment is allowed to fester, the end result will be murder in one form or another just as happened with Cain & Abel. Some time probably elapsed between the time the resentment began to grow in Cain & the fruition of his explosive action. This is called “repression.” But repression doesn’t solve anything, it only postpones. Soon- very soon it morphs into a manifestation of full-blown resentment.

Resentment by definition is-

• Anger that is re-sensed or re-felt.”
  · It is animosity just beneath the surface but it can’t go long without bubbling to the top to show itself in word & deed.
  · Unresolved anger over a negative event in our past.
  · Seething, aching emotional turmoil felt when a person or event is discussed.
  · Unresolved grief & lack of forgiveness & the inability to let go.
  · Feeling offended, sometimes silently when we believe a person or group of people has ignored or denied our request.
  · A root of depression that robs us of contentment in life.
  · A feeling of frustration after having exerted great effort to achieve something that eventually was lost to us.
  · Pouting or fuming at the mention of a name or group who has hurt or disappointed us.
  · Dreams or nightmares or distressing thoughts about the offender.
  · Anger & hostility at times for no apparent reason.
  · Speaking in a derisive manner about the offenders.
  · Becoming stuck in our efforts for personal growth.
  · Fake excitement & enthusiasm about people we’d really rather have nothing to do with.
  · Efforts to enlist others in our views & sometimes feeling they don’t except our wisdom.
  · Passive/aggressive behavior [ignoring them] toward the object of our hostility.
  · Touchy or edgy when reminded of person or persons we resent.
  · Resisting all efforts to get us to work on forgiving & forgetting past hurts.
  · Vehemently denying anger or hatred against those whom we resent.
  · A hostile, cynical & sarcastic attitude is developing now even with those who haven’t hurt us. This shows what an aggressive cancer of the spirit resentment truly is.
  · Feeling that things will never change so why try to alter the situation between us & “them.”
  · Resentment is persistent ill-will. It has been called the cocaine of the mind /spirit because it’s so addictive & destructive.

Multitudes of people live years of twisted pain because they were not willing to let go of some hurt, some injustice. They feel if they let go of their resentment, they’ll be letting the person off the hook who hurt them.

You can see & hear resentment in Barack Obama’s wife Michelle. She has called America mean & said she has only been proud to be an American since her husband has been so accepted on the presidential campaign trail. I think it’s safe to say she’s one of most disappointed & unsatisfied millionaires in the country. It’s not hard to see she’s been thoroughly indoctrinated by her pastor of twenty years. Again, the fact comes shining through that resentment can’t be hidden any more than an Elephant could hide in your bathroom.

We run into people in all walks of life who’re full to the brim with resentment & haven’t a clue that it shows in everything they do. I’m sure you’ve met these people as have I. Through the years I’ve had female servers in restaurants or department stores to treat me like a serial murderer. I finally figured out that I probably remind them of a former husband or boyfriend. Here’s a good fact to have in your mental computer when dealing with resentful people; in most instances, -- “you aren’t the target.” Someone along the way has hurt them &, their resentment can’t be & won’t be hidden.

UNRESOLVED RESENTMENT EXACTS A TERRIBLE TOLL

Dr. Hans Selye of Montreal Canada has produced some real proof of what emotions can do to jeopardize health. In an experiment he injected a group of rats with disease producing germs. In a second group, he injected poison. A third group of rats were subjected to stresses that produced great anxiety, & mental & emotional confusion. The amazing result was that the stressors of hate, envy jealousy fear & anxiety produced bodily disintegration & brought on death just as certainly as did the disease germs & the poison.

Russian scientists have conducted several experiments with Chimpanzees. If you’re an animal lover this will tug on your heartstrings but there’s a great lesson to be learned here. A young Chimp who was living happily with his family was taken away & placed in a cage close by from which he could see & hear his family but could not reach them. Screaming with rage he could only watch as his fury mounted. Within three months he was dead.

Here’s the sad but instructive result of the experiment. When the body of the Chimp was examined after death, it was learned he died of severe hardening of the arteries, high blood pressure & an enlarged heart. Even though the Chimp was justified in his feelings, he died of jealousy, rage & resentment just the same.

Resentment is just like a toxic waste. We can’t carry it without being contaminated by it & toxic waste is known to cause cancer.

THE WOMAN WHO WAS RUINED BY RESENTMENT

The story of David & Michal, the wife of David’s youth is one of the saddest in the Bible. Michal was King Saul’s daughter & she was the love of David’s life. 1 Samuel chapters 18-19 give us the start of their story & reveal that Michal loved David very much. She saved David’s life when her father was trying to kill him.

But as they grew older something started happening to the relationship. No longer did they seem to fulfill each other & they grew critical of each other. David was forced by Michal’s father Saul to flee for his life & became a fugitive for several years. In David’s absence, Saul gave Michal to another man as his wife. 1 Sam.25:44. After David ascended to the throne of Israel, he called for Michal, feeling she was still his wife. Michal had to leave her husband of many years to go again to be with David. But this time she was just one of his many other wives.

It’s not difficult to see why Michal began to grow bitter & resentful over the years. There was a terribly hostile relationship between David, the man she loved & her father that tore them apart. Then she lost both her father & her brother Jonathan on the battlefield. The circumstances of life affected Michal just as they will affect you & me & cause us, if we’re not ever vigilant to become calloused & hard in spirit.

The climax of the story of Michal comes in 2 Samuel 6, when David was bringing the Ark of the Covenant back into Jerusalem. David was overcome with emotion that day & began to dance before the Lord as the Ark came into town. Michal looked out a window & saw him dancing & Bible says –She despised him in her heart.

After that, David & Michal had a red hot altercation that peeled the paint off the walls & each told the other just what they thought. The story is really a complex one because certainly David was an extremely complex man. However it’s plain to see that Michal had so slipped into cynicism & resentment over the years that she couldn’t be a wife to David, nor could she enter into Israel’s high-worship. Michal was into the pomp & ceremony & public image & she didn’t grasp the significance of the Ark of the Covenant, or David’s emotional dance.

Michal criticized David so severely that it drove a wedge between them. The husband she started off loving with all her heart, she ended up resenting if not flat-out hating. David just quit working on the relationship & had children with his other wives & concubines but evidently never had sex with her again. David put Michal away after that. He cut her off. She remained his wife, they didn’t divorce but they never had a child together. The Bible says she was stricken with barrenness & went to her grave childless.

Among other things this is a cautionary story showing us the danger of allowing the circumstances of life to harden us. It’s evident that not only did Michal resent David her husband; she had also grown to resent God.

We are told in Proverbs 4:23;--Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.

One of the things that will safeguard our hearts & keep the hard knocks of life from turning us bitter & resentful is;

A STRONG BELIEF IN THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD

By way of contrast, look at the life of Job. When you think of all Job endured in his life, you’d expect him to be a Bitter old man but it was not so. It didn’t happen because Job kept his eyes on God. In Job 13:15 he said;

Though He slay me yet will I trust Him….

In Job 23:10 Job said;

….When He hath tried me I shall come forth as gold.

In Romans 8:28 Paul says;

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.

THE ONLY ANTIDOTE TO RESENTMENT

First of all we have to own up to the fact that we are harboring resentment & can’t deal with it in our own strength.

Job said,--To worry yourself to death with resentment would be a foolish, senseless thing to do.-Job 5:2…Living Bible

In the heat of argument a lady told her husband, “I’ll dance on your grave when you’re dead.” Upon hearing that, he specified in his will that he be buried at sea.

The American Medical Association has long suggested that over 50% of man’s illnesses are Psychosomatic Diseases. In short this means we are suffering from our own mental attitudes.

Here’s where Christianity comes in. The teachings of Christ are tailor-made for this kind of healing because they are positive & constructive & major on forgiveness & getting our attitudes right..

Medical people are all but telling us, “If you want to live a healthy lifestyle & be mentally & emotionally fit, be a Christian.” It’s rather heartening for we who are Christians to hear the highest health authorities in the land advocating the same things Jesus & Paul taught.

Paul said in Romans chapter 12, “Bless them that persecute you; bless & curse not…..

The model prayer Jesus taught His disciples was….And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

Not only did Jesus teach forgiveness, He practiced it. As He was hanging on the cross dying, He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Luke 23:34

As one man said, “being resentful & expecting it to hurt someone else is like drinking poison & expecting the rat to die.” Chronic resentments we carry around create deep-seated abscesses that ruin our personalities & poison our mind, producing diseased bodies.

I’ve known people who’ve developed ulcers & were told by doctors they’d soon bleed to death if they didn’t get their emotions under control. Forgiving will remove the emotional impact from the things which have happened to us in our lives.

Imagine for a moment a man standing atop some high building. While he’s standing there, someone comes along & pushes him off the building. Or maybe he is just standing to close to the edge & accidentally falls off. Or maybe the man jumps intentionally to commit suicide.

No matter what the circumstances of the man at the top of the building, regardless of whether he was pushed, he lost his balance & accidentally fell, or he jumped to commit suicide, the results on the pavement below will be the same. The man will be dead as soon as he hits the sidewalk.

Similarly, when we hold negative feelings of resentment & hatred the end results will be the same whether we’re justified for our feelings or not. Remember the Chimpanzee who died in the Russian experiment? He was right in feeling resentful but being right didn’t save him from high blood pressure & destructive stress.

How does one rid oneself of resentment? The answer is very much in this Parable of the Elder Brother. His resentment stemmed from the notion that when those who don’t “follow the rules” suddenly are welcomed into the mainstream of God’s love & forgiveness, they got there in an unfair way without “paying their dues.”

But the truth is, this fact is what gives the message of Christ its shine & its uniqueness. If only the “elder brothers” of the world could only wake up & forget themselves. If only they weren’t so selfish, so petty, & uncharitable, so lacking in humility, in compassion & the desire to serve they could rid themselves of resentment & get a party like prodigals get.

What about us? Are we the resentful elder brother?

At present there is a revival in progress in Central Florida reaching thousands of people, many of them young people. Having lived here almost all my life I can speak with some authority & say this revival is a record breaker in more than one way. To accommodate the crowds they’ve had to acquire large stadiums.

The 32 year old young man at the helm of this revival is very different. Before the revival I’d never heard of him. He has body piercings & his arms are a quilt -work of tattoos, & tattoos run up his neck to the extent that unless he wore an upturned collar, you could see them. He’s what some people would call eccentric.

The revival is being covered by “God T.V” so it’s available on our T.V screens each night. I’ve watched it some but keep in mind; I’m “Old school.” I came from the era where we had freshly cut hair & always wore a coat & tie in the pulpit.

Old Satan would delight in getting me all bent out of shape & fall into the “elder brother” trap about the revival but I’m “not ignorant of his devises.” Unless I know without a shadow of a doubt that something immoral or unscriptural is going on in that meeting, the only thing I can conscientiously do is say as Gammiel of old said, speaking of the early Christians-- “If it be of man it will come to naught. Acts 5:34.

In my view we should celebrate what God is doing in our midst, even if good things are happening to those of a different “religious stripe.” I’ve had over fifty years of ministry & so far I haven’t turned the world upside down. How can I now be petty & little spirited when I fought bias & pettiness so hard in Christians during my early years?

Let’s join the celebration, even if there are in attendance those who don’t look & act like we do. Maybe that’s a compliment to them.

When our hearts are full of gratitude there’s no room for resentment.

We shouldn’t allow our souls to become shriveled & like the prodigal’s elder brother refuse to join the celebration. Nor should we, like Michal, see all the joy drained out of our lives because of the way God is blessing someone else.

“Let go & let God.” Let’s let go of our resentment. Let go of things that can only hurt us & pull us under & join God’s great celebration.

Blessings,

John

The First Rock

By John Stallings


“It’s a terrible thing for a sinner to fall into the hands of his fellow sinners.”—F.B Myer


Recently I was shocked & saddened to learn that a pastor of a church in a city not too far from where we live was arrested for soliciting sex from an undercover police woman. We ministered in this man’s church on a Sunday several years back but hadn’t heard much if anything from him in recent years.

Juda & I did have the opportunity to have a couple of meals with him & his lovely wife while we were with them in the late nineties. They treated us with kindness & respect & I have to tell you we’re still stunned over this news.

The thoughts that flood my mind are; how does a man call his wife to drive fifty miles one way to a large city & bail her preacher husband out of jail at 2:a.m, especially in the light of what he was charged with. It happened on a Friday night. How does he explain it to his wife? How does a preacher walk into the pulpit of the church he built & explain this to well over one thousand people on the next Sunday.

It’s not a “he-said-she- said” deal. There’s no plausible deniability built in here. Law enforcement had apprehended him, they had video & audio tape, they cuffed him, finger-printed him & there was one of those awful mug-shots. Caught red-handed. -- [Whatever that means.] We’re earnestly praying for this man & his wife & kids & church family.

As I pondered this the last few days, my mind went to the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery, in John 8:1-11. The religious leaders of the day, the “teachers of the law” & Pharisees brought her to Jesus & crudely threw her down at His feet as He addressed a large crowd. It’s easy to see that though these men were religious they weren’t godly & their motivations & intentions weren’t good. As the story unfolds we discover that they were proud, self-confident, arrogant, ruthless, cunning, clever, calculating, & hypocritical to the core. The Feast of the Tabernacles had just come to an end which meant that great crowds were still in Jerusalem.

This story is so popular that even those who rarely read the Bible know about it. Though its 2,000 years old the story still captures our imagination. Our culture has even picked up on the line-“Casting the first stone,” & you’ll often hear it used. No wonder the Bible is still relevant to our day; this story could have happened this week.

A woman has been caught in the very act of adultery by a bunch of rock-throwing legalists. Like the minister I spoke about, she couldn’t deny it because of the circumstances of her situation. Maybe she was sleeping with another woman’s husband or maybe she was a prostitute & earned her living from what they call “the world’s oldest profession.”

Either way she was caught in the act. She knew what it meant to be caught like this. She knew she’d broken Jewish law, she knew she was wrong & she knew the penalty. She knew she’d be taken outside the city where the whole religious community would throw rocks at her until she was dead. After all she was guilty, plain & simple.

Boy was she guilty! She’d been guilty as long as she could remember. All her friends would know how guilty she was now & the unkindest cut of all was; now they were going to tell Jesus on her. To her, [that is-up until now]-Jesus was just another religious leader.

The people who’d caught this woman were “rules driven” folk. They were all about doing the “right thing.” They were “squeaky clean.” Black is black & white is white. They couldn’t remove the sin so they were going to remove the sinner.

I’ve always had a tendency to view these people a little on the mean & cruel side. So harsh, so cut & dried. That’s true in one way but in reality, legally, they were right. They were disgruntled & hostile. The woman’s breaking of a very important law in their society made them angry & they had every right to be doing exactly as they were doing; in a manner of speaking.

So they were going to take rocks in their hands & take care of God’s business here, & if Jesus didn’t take vengeance they certainly would get the job done. They were people with a strong sense of justice & if something had to be done they were going to do it.

There was really no need for a trial here. There was no need for a jury. There was no need to wait for a verdict. She knew it & they knew it; she was dead.

But there are lots of unanswered questions here. Who was this woman? We don’t know. Was this a basically good woman who had a weakness & had just gone astray? We don’t know. Maybe she had just made some bad choices & had ended up hurting the people she loved most. Was she single, engaged, or married? We don’t know. Is she young or middle aged? We don’t know. Had she had any previous relationships with any of her accusers? We don’t know.

How did they catch her in the “act of adultery?” We can’t be sure but it’s almost certain something fishy is going on here. The law was clear that she’d committed a capitol offense but it also states it must be a detailed & precise case with two eyewitness testimonies.

Where is the man, after all “it takes two to Tango.” Adultery by definition requires two people. Was this a set-up? Did they by prearrangement let the man go free? Let’s not forget, all this was done to put Jesus on the spot so they could very well have set up the adultery. They were hoping to impale Jesus on the horns of a dilemma & it might have worked with an ordinary teacher but not with Jesus.

One thing we do know; this woman was now about to be publicly exposed & her reputation was going to be dragged through the mud.

At this point Jesus enters the story. In some ways this resembles one of those T.V reality shows. Jesus was going about His business, preaching to a large crowd in the Temple when all at once this real life drama imposed itself on Him. How would Jesus respond with no preparation at all? All at once the heat is on & Jesus stands right in the middle of a drama with a woman’s life hanging in the balance.

Imagine with me for a moment that you, like the members of this mob have a rock in your hand. Feel the weight of that rock. Maybe you can also remember someone who’s hurt or humiliated you & the pain from the incident stills lingers with you. Feel that rock. Maybe your spouse cheated on you or hurt you in some other way. Maybe you’ve been abused or abandoned with more responsibility & baggage than you can carry.

You try not to hate the person but you surely hate what they did to you. Maybe you were hurt by your parents. Maybe it’s a business partner who took money from you. Maybe that’s why you’ve got a rock in your hand right now. Maybe you’d love to find some way to get back at that person & you’re going to have to make the decision to hold the rock, drop it, or throw it. Hold that imaginary rock for awhile & let’s look at what Jesus did.

Jesus doesn’t suffer from mental blocks. He’s always ready with the answer. Aren’t you glad you know Him? It would be an understatement to say that Jesus saw right through these people & knew exactly where they were coming from. They told Him what Moses’ law required & asked Him what he thought. Was this Jesus a compromiser? Maybe they could trip Him up.

Jesus knelt & started writing in the dust with His finger. As a matter of fact, during this dramatic event He knelt down twice & wrote on the ground with His finger. We don’t know what He wrote but He wrote something. Could He have been ignoring these men, hoping they’d go away? Was He trying to buy time? Did He kneel down & momentarily drop his head toward the earth because He was embarrassed for the women? Maybe He was embarrassed for this blood- thirsty mob. There was a lot for a sensitive person to be embarrassed about. Think about it; all of this happened so quickly we are left to wonder what the poor woman was wearing if much of anything.

Or could it be that He wrote a message? We don’t know but I think so. I think what He wrote was very relevant & very telling. He could have started writing The Ten Commandments, knowing these boys had broken a few of them. Or He might have started writing sins like anger, pride, greed, arrogance or lack of love. Either way, it got their attention. Then Jesus uttered one of His most famous statements; “Let those who’ve never sinned throw the first rock.”

Jesus was saying in essence, “If you’re not living in a glass house, go ahead & throw the first rock.” In recent years we have heard this statement of Jesus used to justify prominent people & the way they use it is far removed from the way Jesus used it & meant it.

Have you ever noticed that those with the least moral authority in their lives are often quickest to tear out the throats of other people? It’s as if they think no one is going to remember or point out that they don’t have the credibility for the job. That never ceases to amaze me.

In fact, in another place Jesus plainly said. “Judge not or you too will be judged.” If you want to start playing God, you’d better be sinless yourself. If we’ve ever needed forgiveness & mercy for our actions maybe that should govern the way we respond to somebody else.

CONSIDER HOW POWERFUL THE “FIRST ROCK” IS

The first rock is an extremely influential rock. It has an awesome power. If the first rock is never thrown then no stones will be thrown. The first rock isn’t going to kill the victim but it will open the door for the others to throw their rocks. I often think about the terrible violence in our public schools & wonder if the “first rock” was the violent video games that made our kids feel comfortable with violence. I believe in a way violence & sexuality in our movies, television & music are truly the “first rocks” that have opened the door to a landslide of sinful rocks that threaten to bury a generation of youth.

The “first rock” of gossip & slander often open the door that will result in a person’s life being destroyed. The first rock of criticism or unnecessary murmuring in a church will give permission to others to throw their rocks & soon unity is buried under a pyramid of broken fellowship.

The “First lie told” is often the first rock that starts an individual down the broad road to deception & hypocrisy.

The “First drink” is often the first rock that opens the door to alcoholism for multitudes of people.

The “First flirtation” sometimes opens the door to a life of sexual promiscuity. There are some things God doesn’t want us to do even once.

Ephesians 5:3 says, --But fornication & all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be ONCE named among you…..
Jesus knew the law said this woman should be stoned to death but He also knew the throwing of those rocks was, in the long run, not only going to create damage for the woman, it was also going to damage those who threw them. He also knew that behind this little vignette was more than met the eye. It wasn’t exactly an open-&-shut-case.

Jesus knew the incredible damage holding bitterness & hatred inside & trying to exact revenge takes on people. I mean, how is holding hate against someone who hurt you in the past, even though the pain is real, helping your life? Will throwing that rock bring you joy & bring more of God’s blessings to your life or will it just cause more hurt & frustration in your life & the lives of those around you?

DO YOU HAVE A ROCK YOU’RE READY TO THROW?

Here’s what I think Jesus is saying to you & me today; do you have a rock in your hand? Go ahead-- Throw it. Take vengeance, for after all you’ve convinced yourself that your cause is “righteous.” But know this. That rock, in the long run is going to create more trouble for you than it ever is for the person you hurt with it. Before you throw the rock, look at your own life, because you too will ultimately need love & grace & forgiveness for your sins & mistakes.

Let’s watch this story play out. The accusers slip away quietly, beginning with the older first & then they all went away. They dropped their rocks when they saw the damage they were about to cause & when they’d gotten a good look at their own need for forgiveness.

It’s interesting that the older ones went first. Maybe it was because the longer you hold hate & hurt & judgment the more you realize how heavy it is... The more real the pain-the more costly the price of holding it is. Hopefully there was a little more maturity in the older ones.

If that’s you & God is talking to you—drop your rock. Don’t hold it one moment longer. Let a new era of your life begin.

“NEITHER DO I CONDEMN YOU-GO & SIN NO MORE”
After the mob leaves it’s only the woman & Jesus standing in the middle of the crowd. He simply says, “Where are your accusers?” Didn’t anyone condemn you? Then neither do I.” I have this visual of this woman sitting on the ground, embarrassed & sick & tired of life. She’s sitting there crying & feeling guilty. Then I see Jesus lift her head & say something like, “Daughter, you’re not going to die today & not on this hill. Go & live all your tomorrows different than you lived today.”

In the eyes of Jesus, this woman looked better than the men who were accusing her. No doubt these men were troubled by what Jesus said. They saw a “slam dunk” but it all came to naught. They wanted to talk about the woman but Jesus wanted to talk about them. They wanted to talk about the law as it relates to outward behavior but Jesus wanted to talk about the law as it related to their hearts.

It’s easy to see why she looked bigger to Jesus than her accusers. She denied nothing & they admitted nothing. Jesus didn’t smooth over this woman’s sin & dismiss it as if unimportant. He forgave her but told her to get out of the sin business. If we are not walking in God’s plan for our lives, we’re in danger of damaging our souls.

Isaiah said, --Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they shall be as wool. Ish. 1:8

There is more to this story than the obvious dismissal of charges. This woman saw in Jesus an authority she had to respect though she’d never met Him before. She waited patiently for His verdict.

In Christ she saw a man who was different from all other men, a man who treated her with grace & not contempt. Why didn’t she leave when the Pharisees left? Because she knew she was a sinner & she didn’t try to hide it.

Let’s go back to that rock that you & I may be holding in our hands. As we hold the rock, lets ask a question; do we really want to be like Jesus?

If you saw the movie Forrest Gump, you’ll no doubt remember the scene when he & his lifetime love Jenny went back to the house where she grew up & was sexually abused by her father. She stood in front of the house for quite a long time with tears running down her cheeks, hurling rocks at it as if to somehow ease the pain she felt for all the years she was a helpless victim of her abusive father.

Forrest, who was supposed to be educable slow said to Jenny, “You know, sometimes there just aren’t enough rocks.”

That statement showed more insight than would be expected from the not-so-smart Forrest.

And the same is true for you & me. There just aren’t enough rocks if we take vengeance into our hands for the pain we’ve known on our journey.

So let’s ponder a scripture or two.

For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world…..John 3:17.

Let’s also consider….Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus..... Romans 8:1

And let us not forget the words of Jesus in this story,
Neither do I condemn thee, go & sin no more.

As we drop the rocks, let’s run to The Rock.

Whether we are holding a rock getting ready to throw it, or whether we’ve been almost destroyed by the rocks someone has thrown at us, Christ & His restoring love is our only answer.

I pray everyone who reads this will give some thought to the wonderful mercy God has shown all of us, through “The Rock Christ Jesus.”

I love Dottie Rambo’s song, “I go to the rock.”

I GO TO THE ROCK OF MY SALVATION,
I GO TO THE STONE THAT THE BUILDERS REJECTED,
I GO TO THE MOUNTIAN & THE MOUNTIAN STANDS BY ME.
WHEN ALL AROUND ME IS SINKING SAND, ON CHRIST THE SOLID ROCK I STAND,
WHEN I NEED A SHELTER WHEN I NEED A FRIEND,
I GO TO THE ROCK.

Blessings,

John

The green-eyed monster

By John Stallings




A number of years ago I saw the movie Amadeus. Though I could hardly stand some of characters, I was captivated by the story & brilliance of the actors. I could easily see why the movie was an Academy Award winner.

The story revolved around the musical genius Mozart, & a man named Antonio Salieri, a court musician to Austria’s King. Salieri was envious of the rich talents of young Mozart; talents he fell far short of. Though he could compose music it was not great music; consequently he was consumed with envy of Mozart’s talents. This led him to scheme & plot against Mozart at every turn.

He stole Mozart’s compositions, bribed Mozart’s servants & informed the King about Mozart’s indiscretions. Salieri’s envy eventually drove him to insanity. The movie ends with Salieri cursing God for denying him the talent which He gave Mozart. The story line shows what happens when a good man like Salieri is filled with & finally destroyed by envy.


ENVY IS A LARGE SUBJECT IN THE BIBLE

Envy is listed as one of the lusts of the flesh in Gal.5:21.When envy is compared to anger & wrath, it’s so ghastly that the question is raised, “who is able to stand before envy?” Though envy is a huge sin, it’s possible to be envious of anything; the ability to hit a baseball, score a basket, or water-ski. You can envy someone’s intelligence, wisdom, knowledge, & ability to talk or pray in public. You can envy another persons possessions, spouse, money, children, family, job or career. I heard a preacher say once that an envious person can be envious of the very “shine on your shoes.”

Vine’s Expository Dictionary of the New Testament defines envy as “The feeling of displeasure produced by witnessing or hearing of the advantage or prosperity of others.”

Envy is a sin to which few people confess, but where sins are concerned, envy is one of the most subtle, & ugly of them all. Webster defines envy as; “A chagrin or discontent at the excellence or good fortune of another.”

In other words, envy is feeling bad about another person doing well. When our neighbor gets a five bedroom house & we are upset because we only have four, that’s envy. Eventually the envious person will end up hating the person who is the object of their envy.

When someone you envy gets into trouble, it’s hard to suppress a feeling of satisfaction. The face of envy is never attractive. It is among some of the most debasing & degenerate sins that ever characterized sinful men mentioned in Romans chapter one (Rom.1:29.) In the Bible, envy is always in the worst of company.

PRAY TELL WHERE IS THE GRATIFICATION IN ENVY?

Envy is unique. Other sins are terribly destructive, but they at least have a few thrills & gratification, in the early stages.

Does envy, even for a New York minute, ever make you feel better? As far as I can see, we gain nothing from envy. All you get from it is endless self-torment, yet its appetite is ravenous & ever increasing. The wise man said envy is “the rottenness of the bones.” Bone Cancer. (Prov.14:30.)

The awful bite of envy packs a double-whammy; for it causes you not only feel bad because of someone else’s good fortune, at the same time it causes you to devalue your own good gifts. Isn’t that horrendous? A person may be faithful church-goer, & live a good life yet harbor enough envy in his heart to destroy him. Almost everyone has had a little smidgen of envy at some time or another.

For example, I can hear another preacher who is outstanding, & if I’m envious, my first tendency is to think of myself as a very unskillful preacher. What I forget is-- that preacher didn’t steal his gifts from me. I’m just as good (or bad) a preacher as I ever was. That preacher hasn’t done one thing to devalue, or diminish my preaching. But the old devil envy has robbed me of the ability to appreciate what I have, & who I am in God.

Yet with this thing called envy, you meet someone you think might have more gifts & skills than you, you start to see yourself as having fewer gifts. Such is the awesome power of envy to distort our thinking processes.

BUT YOU HAVEN’T HEARD THE WORST ABOUT ENVY

Just feeling bad because you don’t have something that the other person has isn’t the worst part. The worst part, the most tragic part is; you wish the other person didn’t have what they have so you wouldn’t have to suffer your “imaginary disadvantage.”


Jesus knew how harmful envy could be. Not only is He God, he was schooled in the Hebrew religion & its many illustrations of the destructive power of envy. The Bible abounds with examples of unchecked envy & its dire consequences. Envy has a very high mortality rate.

· The very first murder, the killing of Abel by his brother Cain, was sparked by envy.

· The 10th commandment is about envy-“You shall not covet.” If we’re not careful, envy will cause us to break the 8th commandment, “You shall not steal.”

· Envy is the big factor in the story Jesus told about the laborers in the vineyard, in Matt. 20. Look at the story. The owner of the vineyard, at the end of the day paid all the workers the same though some came early & some came later in the day. The workers who worked hard all day felt it wasn’t fair to be paid the same as the ones who only worked a short time. However, the owner reminded them that he hadn’t defrauded them in any way. They were paid what was agreed upon. The owner went on to say, “Why are you envious because I am generous?”

· The same thing was happening in the story of the prodigal son. The older brother said, “It isn’t fair for you to welcome this wayward brother home with a big party when I’ve stayed home all these years & worked hard. You never gave a party in my honor.”

· Joseph’s brothers were “moved with envy”& hated him so much they couldn’t speak a kind word to him, & finally they sold him into Egyptian slavery.

· The religious leaders were motivated by envy when they lead the Jews to crucify the Son of God. Matt. 27:18.

· Rachel envied Leah because she was barren & Leah had children. Gen.30:1.

· The Philistines were envious of Isaac because of his large flocks & many servants. Gen. 26:14.

· James says envy is devilish. James 3:15.

· Envy can make the righteous to be unhappy. Psalm. 73:3.

One thing is for certain. We will never be able to find contentment in this life if we compare ourselves to others because there’ll always be things that won’t seem fair. Envy makes it impossible to be happy with another person’s good fortune, & is a traveling companion to depression.

Just a question or two;

· Is it possible that sometimes our envy springs from a feeling of insecurity about our own worth?

· If you truly felt good about yourself, would you always be comparing yourself to others?


· If we were secure in your own sense of worth, would we worry so much about other people’s accomplishments or good fortunes?


· Is it possible that whenever we are envious or jealous of another person’s talent, it’s because we haven’t fully recognized our own gifts?

Our efforts to bolster our self-esteem at the expense of someone we envy do us more harm than good.

Going back to the story of the workers in the vineyard, I used to wonder why the owner of the vineyard didn’t pay the workers who worked all day first, then send them away. After that, he could have paid anyone what he wanted to with no repercussion. The hardest workers would never have known the difference. One day I saw that if that had been the case, the story would have lost its teaching power. Now we have a marvelous story, -- not of life being fair, --- but of how the grace of God works.

Jesus is giving very valuable teaching that God really doesn’t love some people more than others because they are more “religious”, or attend the “right” church, or have the “correct belief.”

Do you remember the commercial that said, “We make money the old fashioned way, we earn it?” Some folk think God operates this way, but He doesn’t. It might be old fashioned but it’s not what Jesus taught & lived.

SOME PEOPLE WANT TO BE ENVIED

This is often seen among children who brag about their summer vacations & exciting trip so that the other children will be envious of them. It’s not only kids who seek this psychological fulfillment, for many adults also want to be objects of envy.

Advertisers & merchants have discovered that one way to sell a product is to create envy among those who don’t have it, i.e. $353,590 Rolls Royce’s, & $274,900 + Lamborghini’s. The same principle works with cloths, houses & furniture.

Let’s be very clear; according to Gods Word, all envy is sinful & destructive & makes one worthy of God’s judgment. Also, to purposely create or seek to generate envy is as great as the envy itself. To buy or practice conspicuous consumption, merely to generate envy of those around us, also makes one worthy of God’s judgment. If you & I indulge in such things we are living a life of sin in the eyes of God. Paul plainly tells us in Gal.5:21…. if we do such things, we will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

Eccl 4:4 says, and I saw that all the labor & all the achievement spring from man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

The good news is that God loves all people equally in spite of the unfair way it sometimes looks. When we are envious, it means that we have lost the vision of what God is really up to. When you look at Gods blessings toward you with one eye & with the other eye try to keep track of other people’s blessings, you soon become incapable of recognizing any blessings in your life at all. You start to become a score-keeper rather than one who knows that everyone, even those you think don’t deserve it, are wonderfully & infinitely loved by God.

What can we do about envy? We of course must overcome it. But how do we accomplish that? Here are some helpful thoughts.


1. WE MUST SEEK TO BECOME MORE CHRISTLIKE.

As we become more Christ like we will leave behind this & other sins that are so deadly to our soul. Envy is born in hate & cured in Love. 1 Cor.13:4. If we want to overcome envy we have to use the tools of the Holy Spirit, as well as Bible reading, worship, Bible study& the fellowship of other believers.

2. WE MUST STOP LOOKING AT OTHERS & INSTEAD LOOK WITHIN OURSELVES.

There’s a little song we used to sing called, count your blessings name them one by one, & it will surprise you what the Lord has done. That’s what we have to do. Instead of looking at the goods & talents God has given to our neighbor, we ought to look at what God has given us. We must not forget the benefits we enjoy.

3. WE MUST LEARN TO BE CONTENT WITH THE GOODS & OPPORTUNITIES GOD HAS GIVEN TO US.

We need to stay acutely aware of the fact that God has called us to serve joyfully in the place where He has put us. Paul said… I have learned to be content, which presupposes that he didn’t always possess contentment. He learned contentment as he walked with Christ, & we can too.

4. WE MUST RE- EXAMINE OUR GOALS & PRIORITIES.

If you find yourself generating envy, maybe the problem is wrong goals & priorities. Don’t forget, the goal of our lives isn’t to see how many things we can acquire, but to do the work of God & lay up treasures in heaven. We aren’t called to constantly examine the lives of others & compare ourselves, but to live lives of service.


5. WE MUST KEEP REMEMBERING WE ARE ALL PART OF THE SAME BODY. MY RIGHT ARM HAS NEVER BEEN ENVIOUS OF MY LEFT ARM.

Paul said in Romans 12:15-16 that we should weep with those who weep & rejoice with those that rejoice. That leaves no room for envy to operate.

· BEWARE OF ENVY.


· BEWARE-- BECAUSE ENVY IS DESTRUCTIVE.



· BEWARE --BECAUSE ENVY CAN LEAD TO DESTRUCTION, IN HELL!



· BEWARE BECAUSE UNCHECKED, ENVY CAN ALIENATE A PERSON FROM GOD, AS WELL AS HIS FELLOWMAN.


“WHEREFORE LAYING ASIDE ALL MALICE & ALL GUILE, & ALL HYPOCRISIES, & ENVINGS & ALL EVIL SPEAKING, AS NEWBORN BABES, DESIRE THE SINCERE MILK OF THE WORD THAT YE MAY GROW THEREBY, IF YE HAVE TASTED THAT THE LORD IS GRACIOUS. --- 1 PETER 2: 1-2


Blessings,


John

Get up---get over it--get on with it

By John Stallings


I love the story of the old farmer who was riding down the road in his horse & buggy when a car came up over the hill hitting him head-on & knocking him, his horse & dog in the ditch.

A few months later he was in court suing the driver of the car that hit him for damages.

The attorney for the man who hit the farmer was cross examining him & asked, “Sir, did you not tell the officer on the scene of the accident, “I’m feeling very well thank you?” “Yes I did tell the officer that” the man said, “but, let me tell you the whole story.” “No” the attorney said, “just answer the question, did you or did you not tell the officer on the scene, “I’m feeling very well thank you?”

“Yes” the man said, “I did tell the officer on the scene, I’m feeling very well thank you, but….The attorney breaking in asked, “How can you be in this courtroom asking for a personal injury settlement for this accident when you clearly told the officer on the scene that you were feeling very well?”

The farmer said, “Sir, if you’ll let me explain I think I can clear this up for you. I was driving my horse & buggy along with my dog sitting at my side when this man came over the hill & hit us destroying my buggy & throwing me in the ditch on one side of the road, & my horse & dog in the ditch on the other side of the road.

The officer you refer to came up, walked up to my horse, saw his legs were broken & shot him. Then he saw my dog was almost dead & shot him. Then he walked over to me & asked, “How are you feeling, whereupon I answered, I’m feeling very well thank you.”

Have you ever been in a ditch, bruised cut & bleeding but still trying to keep up appearances, telling people—“ I’m doing very well thank you?” You were putting on a facade that you were well when you weren’t well at all.

In John 5:6 & following, there’s the familiar story of Jesus’ encounter with the lame man at the Pool of Bethesda. This man had been lying beside the pool 38 years. Some people who’ll read this message weren’t on earth 38 years ago. Others, like me, will remember what was happening back then but we must confess it was a long time ago. If this were you, you’d have been paralyzed since 1970.

38 years ago Richard Nixon was president of the US.
38 years ago the lunar spacecraft Apollo 13 was almost a catastrophe.
38 years ago National Guardsmen fired into crowd at Kent state killing four antiwar demonstrators.
38 years ago a powerful earthquake killed 50,000 in Peru.
38 years ago an antiwar rally was held at Valley Forge Pennsylvania, attended by John Kerry, Jane Fonda & Donald Sutherland.
38 years ago the Baltimore Orioles won the World Series.
38 years ago “I know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou is published.
38 years ago “The long and winding Road” becomes the Beatles last Number 1 song in the US.

38 years is a long time to be lying around a pool waiting to be healed of lameness.

JESUS NEVER CRITICIZED THIS MAN

As you well know Jesus could get rough with people but He never takes a critical tone with this paralyzed man. I know the Bible doesn’t give us all the details because if it did, it would be so big it would take a boxcar to carry it. But if ever a man could have been raked over the coals it was this man.

“38 years? You mean you’ve been here for 38 years? My, my, man; what’s the matter with you? Your life has passed you by. You may as well forget about it. There’s no way you can tell me you want a life!” But Jesus has no criticism for this man who seems to us to be motivationally challenged.

I’m doing more of a critique of him than Jesus did. I’ve heard preachers call him lazy & many other things, but not Jesus. You & I look at those 38 years & scratch our heads & say, “Well you must be used to it by now, & anyway, after all those years you’ll never really change.”

But let’s be real here. How long have we struggled with the same old problems? How long have we let our fears dominate us? Some of us if we’re totally honest will have to admit we’re still wrestling with the same fears, the same hang-ups & the same doubts we had fifty years ago. We have cut deep grooves into our psyches & behavior patterns & maybe we’ve acquiesced just as truly as this man at the pool. Maybe we’ve even given up on ever changing certain things in our lives because of the sheer amount of time they’ve been with us.

This story is different because it gives us a time-frame & shows us that even long-standing problems aren’t beyond the miracle touch of Jesus.

JESUS ASKED THE RIGHT QUESTION BUT GOT THE WRONG ANSWER.

One thing we see in the narrative is that this lame man doesn’t ask Jesus for help. As a matter fact he doesn’t even know who Jesus is.

We don’t know why Jesus chose this man particularly, but we do know one of His great characteristics was compassion. Jesus asked him if he wanted to be made whole, but the question was ignored. The man started complaining that when the waters were troubled there was no one to help him get into the pool. He blamed others for his condition. Like those who are always blaming other people, he was living in the land of Excusiopolis near the River of De’Nial.

Jesus obviously could see that the man was lame but notice; He didn’t ask the man if he wanted to get up & walk.-- “Do you want to walk,” would have seemed to be the right question but instead Jesus asked another question; Wilt thou be made whole?” Again, the lame man didn’t give Jesus an immediate answer. He didn’t quickly respond, “Yes sir, Jesus, that’s what I need. I need to be made whole.” No, the man started telling Jesus how hard it was with no one to help him to get into the pool & be healed.

HE WAS A PERPETUAL VICTIM

Every time he would try to get into the pool when the waters were troubled, someone would step in front of him to thwart his progress.

“Victimization.” There’s a word we’ve all become familiar with over the last few years. This happens when a person sees themselves as a victim of society, or a victim of their upbringing. They will often use the analogy, “Life has dealt me a lousy hand of cards.” The following are dead giveaways to tell if an individual is a “victim;”

· Victims endlessly repeat how they’ve been mistreated.
· Victims live in the fantasy that life should be fair.
· Victims don’t forgive for they see forgiveness as weakness.
· Victims have little or no close relationships because they can’t trust other people.
· The cry of the perpetual victim is, “It’s not my fault.”

HEALTHY PEOPLE DON’T MAKE EXCUSES

The question Jesus asked, you’d think would be asked by a modern mental health professional. Jesus, knowing all things, understood that there might be reasons the man wanted to remain as he was. After all, to be made whole is an awesome responsibility. To be made whole would sweep away all the excuses that a person had accumulated in life for not being productive. This man may have been enjoying bad health for 38 years. This may sound strange to you but for this man to be made whole would mean that he loses a cushy profession, begging. Horror of horrors, this man might mess around & get so healthy he’ll have to find a job.

As a matter of fact, even today street beggars can make a rather nice living. In some foreign countries, people will actually cripple their own children so they will be more effective begging on the streets.

I read about one young man who was so determined not to be drafted & serve in the Armed Services that he went down & had all his teeth pulled; disqualifying him from service. When Selective Service called him in for a physical, they found he had flat-feet & couldn’t serve anyway.

Another way to put it; getting this man up & walking would be like asking people of our day to get off Welfare. I’ve heard that we now have second & third generations of Welfare families. This isn’t said as a put-down to people who actually need help.

There are even parents who want their child to be slightly sick or to suffer from some imagined illness because they can then get pity & attention for themselves as well as the child. There’s even a name for such a malady; Munchhausen’s by Proxy. [MBPS]This is the name given to parents, usually a mother who uses one or more of her children to get constant medical attention as well as playing on the sympathy of caring people.

I once knew a lady who gave her only son an imaginary heart problem for reasons of getting sympathy. This doesn’t even take into account the ways in which she & her husband always played sick. I once came close to telling her, “cheer up sister, you’ll soon be dead.”

Because as her pastor I wanted to know the truth, we asked the Doctor & he paid us the professional courtesy of telling us that her child had a sound heart. But the mother persisted in the self-delusion that her little boy was sick. There are children on record who’ve undergone dozens of unnecessary surgeries trying to find some phantom illness suggested by the primary care-giver.

As for this lady, there was sickness involved here but not the sort she had in mind.

Jesus gave the lame man three instructions; Rise, - take up your bed, - and walk. There was a call to action from Jesus, telling the man to do something he was convinced he couldn’t do. Let’s look at Jesus’ first command;

1. GET-UP!

In essence Jesus was telling the man he’d been lying on his mat long enough.

I heard the story of a man who woke up one morning & as he sleepily lay there in his bed he asked God, “Lord what wonderful things do you have for me today? What roads will I travel, who will I meet today & what am I going to be able to accomplish for you on this great & glorious new day you’ve so graciously given to me?”

Then God answered, “Well, the first thing we’ve got to do is get you out of this bed.” That’s true of all of us is it not? We may have all kinds of grandiose visions, dreams & great intentions but none of it will happen as long as we lay in bed.

What kind of mat are you lying on?

Are you lying on the mat of resentment?
Are you an anger-invalid?
Are you regret cripple?
Are you on the mat of fear of rejection?

When Jesus restored Simon Peter, he gave him something to do. He said, “Peter, feed my sheep. Get going in your ministry.”

I love Ephesians 5:14. In that verse, Paul says to the people,
· Awake thou that sleepest,
· Rise from the dead,
· And Christ shall give you light.

Some people say, “Lord give me some light & I’ll wake up & rise from my deadness.” But the instructions are, -- awake, -- rise from the dead, & then--- Christ will give us light.

We want God to give us a victory while we’re lying at the pool, then when all His strength & power comes in, we’ll get up & start moving. But it doesn’t work that way. We have to get up first. It’s true with me & probably you also, that we’re weaker at the point of action than any other place. The talking is relatively easy & the dreaming is not all that difficult but it’s the getting up to execute the plan of action where we often falter.

James 4:8 says---Draw nigh to God & He’ll draw nigh to you.

Psalms tells us God inhabits the praises of His people. That presupposes that there have to be some praises first, then God will get in the Praise.

Have you ever noticed that faith in the Bible is always a verb? It’s always something someone did. As far as I’m aware, there’s only one verse in the Bible that tells us in words what faith is & that’s Hebrews 11:1. Everywhere else in that famous faith chapter, faith is an action. By faith Noah built an Ark. By faith Moses led God’s people out of Egyptian bondage. By faith Abraham went out looking for a city whose builder was God.

Isn’t it interesting, though elementary, that we don’t receive strength in our physical bodies by resting? A fighter doesn’t say, “I’ve got a big fight coming up so I guess I’ll go to bed for a few weeks & rest up & marshal up all my strength for the big fight.” No! If the fighter or any sports practitioner wants to be at his peak strength, he realizes he/she must get out & put their bodies through a grueling set of strength building exercises & that’s how the strength comes. We get strength as we extend strength.

Jesus told the man first to get-up, & then He said,

2. GET OVER IT.

“Take up your mat…..” Jesus wanted to man to start carrying the thing that had been carrying him. Jesus was getting through to this man that this wasn’t the final chapter of his life. He was going to leave this pool & never look back. He wasn’t going to write a book about cripple ness or go on a tour & tell people how it felt to be crippled. He was going to walk “in newness of life.”

Jesus didn’t want this lame man after he was healed to trade one mat for another mat. People in the drug rehab business will sometimes get folk off one drug & get them hooked on another one. Or they’ll get off the drug & their “new mat” will be co-dependence on a person. Are you on a “medication mat? Are you one a “food mat?” We need to be careful when we get off our mat that we don’t end up on another mat.

Some people get delivered from one mat but then their treatment becomes their new illness. Their new mat. Jesus told this man to carry his mat away. I think the mentoring programs can be indispensable but they can also become destructive if the mentor doesn’t know when to let the protege’ graduate so that they’ll not always be leaning on them. The idea is to stand up on our own two feet.

IT’S IMPORTANT FOR A RECOVERING PERSON TO PARTNER WITH SOMEONE WHO WANTS THEM OFF THEIR MAT.

There are some people who’re as good as gold but they love to cater to people & in order to do it they will need to keep that person dependant on them. The ministry of “helps” is a wonderful ministry but it shouldn’t be coupled with enabling. The person needing deliverance does need support & understanding but the last thing they need is someone who has an investment in keeping them helpless.

Even former president Gerald Ford admitted late in his life that for years when his wife Betty was leaning on drugs & alcohol, he was functioning as an enabler for her, not realizing it. That’s why many times the person who lives with an addicted person needs help as bad as the hooked person does, & often doesn’t even realize it. All they know is that they love the person & to them, [at least until they know better,] they should be catering to there needs.

I don’t mean this in an uncompassionate way, because I’ve struggled with my weight almost all my life, & I understand the battle. But I’ve often wondered how the profoundly obese people, I’m talking about the ones who weigh from six to twelve hundred pounds. I wonder who in the world brings these people all that food. It’s an undeniable fact that someone, probably an enabler, gets out & rustles up the grub to keep that person eating.

I also have wondered why the obese persons don’t wake up at, oh, I don’t know, say a thousand pounds, & think, “hey, I’m getting huge here. Next they’ll have to take aerial pictures of me,” rather than wait until it takes a fork-lift to get them out of their house. But I digress.

Let me say something else here about enablers. I’m thinking more now about people who have problems that are sins rather than weaknesses. Let’s say a person has a problem having temper tantrums, cursing fits or engages in verbally abusing people. The people who are close to an individual like that need to realize that at some point they become a participator in the sin even though they themselves don’t engage in it.

A person participates in the sin of another when they praise, dismiss as unimportant, or laugh at the behavior. They can also participate in the sin of another by helping them conceal the problem by silence, by partially partaking with them in their sin, by aggravating the person’s problem, or by defending the behavior, or even in sympathizing with the person in their wrong behavior.

If you’ve ever dealt with people in groups of any size you know that problem people aren’t all that hard to deal with, because you can at least identify who they are. The real problem many times is good, honest, & conscientious people who support the problem person, catering to them instead of refusing to accept their wrong behavior & demanding that they shape up.

One of the earmarks of a real friend is that they’ll demand the best we have in us & they won’t laugh at or minimize shabby behavior.

In Romans 1:32, Paul talks about people who have pleasure in those who do evil deeds all the time knowing the conduct will bring eventually bring down the judgment of God.


Then Jesus gave this lame man a third command;

3. WALK

Jesus isn’t going to let this man continue in his –mat-mentality. He’s telling the man, --“Get on with it. Get on with life.” Walking is synonymous with going somewhere. If you’re not going anywhere, why do you need to walk? Jesus was saying, “Let’s close this chapter & open a new one. Let’s go somewhere. Let’s move away from the pool.”

Nothing happened to the man until he got up & put his mat on his shoulder, and then Jesus made him whole.

Do you remember the ten lepers who asked Jesus for healing? Usually Jesus would lay hands on a sick individual or at least say a prayer over them but in this case, Jesus did none of those things. He just told them to go show themselves to the priest & as they WALKED, they were healed.

Some of us have been on a mat of sameness, or comfort so long maybe we’re not sure we can survive anywhere else. Jesus wants us to get up & get out of our comfort zone & change our lives.
Jesus wanted the lame man to walk away from the problem that had him bound for 38 years.

Our Christian life is called a WALK in scripture. Paul tells us in Romans 6:4,

Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism unto death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should WALK in newness of life.

He also tells us in Ephesians 5 that we should ….WALK in love, and that we also….WALK circumspectly, not as fools but as wise…

John tells us in 1 John 1:7,--But if we WALK in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with the other…..

Are you languishing away on some mat, at some pool thinking life has passed you by? If so, let the story of the man at the pool of Bethesda speak to you. Jesus is the same yesterday, today & forever & He will help you rise & walk away from the things that have you bound.

We used to sing an old song;

GOT ANY RIVERS, YOU THINK ARE UNCROSSABLE,
GOT ANY MOUNTIANS YOU CAN’T TUNNEL THROUGH.
GOD SPECILIZES IN THINGS THOUGHT IMPOSSIBLE,
AND HE WILL DO WHAT NO OTHER POWER CAN DO.

Blessings,

John

Consequences of kicking God out of public schools

By John Stallings

In a case the police called shocking, six girls attacked another 16 year old girl & beat her severely just so they could video tape it & post it on the Internet.

On March 30, 2008, the victim, 16 year old Victoria Lindsay was lured to a home in Lakeland Florida & when she arrived two girls, school mates of hers, started yelling at her, one girl began to beat her & slammed her against the wall until she fell unconscious.

When she awoke on the couch there were six girls in total beating on her & video taping it all.

According to police, all the girls attacking the victim, Victoria Lindsay, were laughing & urging each other on, & two boys were standing guard outside the house.

All eight of those involved have been charged with battery & false imprisonment.

After the attack three of the teenagers forced the victim into a car & drove her to another location which adds the charge of kidnapping to the crime.

The 16 year old victim of the attack suffered a concussion as well as damage to her left eye & ear.

Polk county Sheriff Grady Wilder describes the attack as “shocking’, saying, “I’ve never seen anything like it….this is outrageous behavior & raw brutality.”

The attackers were described as cheerleaders, & at one point, one of them is heard to say, “There are only 17 seconds left; make it good.”

The young victim was heard pleading to have just one girl beat her but they refused to relent & said --“all of us are going to beat you.” I heard her mother & father interviewed & the father said he couldn’t bring himself to watch the video. The mother said she didn’t think her daughter would ever be able to get over the incident emotionally.

This type of brutality has become almost common place in America & has gotten so bad in recent years; some schools have had to install metal detectors to try to curb the violence.

What we see happening is the end result of an education system that has effectively eliminated God from the classroom. When that happened, generations of young people began to be indoctrinated with The Theory of Evolution, as though as it were Science.

It’s interesting, if not ironic that I went through the ninth & tenth grades in Lakeland. That would have been in 1954-55. I can remember a woman teacher we had in English class & at least once a week, as I recall, before class started she’d take out her Bible, read a bit & then she’d expound on the scriptures like a Bible teacher. We didn’t think anything was amiss & everyone accepted it as part of our educational process.

No one ever complained as far as I know, & certainly in those days we never had anything remotely akin to the violence that took place in Lakeland the other day.

Psalm 119:130 says, --The entrance of thy Word giveth light.......

This means that everywhere God's Word goes, things light up, & every place from which His word is removed, things go dark.

School children are being told they are nothing special—they are just animals that have evolved from some primitive form of life over the millions of years.

The more society as a whole thinks this way the more people will act consistently with what they’ve been taught. If life isn’t special then it has no value. If there’s no God, & thus no absolute authority, then anyone can decide right & wrong for themselves.

Most people, even the “wise” educators still can’t make the connection; -- that dating from the time when prayer & Bible reading were ejected from our classrooms, our schools began to slowly morph into hellish war zones.

When you mix the deadly evolution teaching with the absence of any spiritual emphasis, & an outright anti-God attitude in the schools, you then start to concoct a witch’s brew of hopelessness & life devoid of any purpose.

Romans 1:21-24

….Because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were they thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened, professing themselves to be wise they became fools. And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image like corruptible man, and birds & four-footed animals & creeping things, wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lust of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves.

Recently the following prayer was making the rounds on the Internet written by a school kid. If I had a name I’d gladly give credit;

Now I sit me down in school,
Where praying is against the rule,
For this great nation under God,
Finds mention of Him very odd.

If scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow,
Becomes a federal matter now.

Our hair can be purple orange or green,
That’s no offense, it’s a freedom scene.
The law’s specific, it’s precise,
Prayers said alouds a serious vice.

For praying in a public hall,
I might offend someone with no faith at all.
In silence I must meditate,
God’s name’s prohibited by the state.

We’re allowed to cuss & dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, our tongues & cheeks.
They’ve outlawed guns but first the Bible,
To quote it here would make me liable.

We elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the “unwed daddy,” our Senior King.
It’s inappropriate to teach right from wrong,
We’re taught such judgments don’t belong.

We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft vampires & totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments aren’t allowed,
No Word of God must reach this crowd.

Its scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns a school’s a mess.
So Lord this silent plea I make,
Should I be shot, -- my soul please take.

Imagine a public school teacher telling his/her students, “For the next few weeks you’re all going to become Christians.” Imagine that students had to wear crosses, memorize Christian prayers & recite them, memorize Christian concepts of the Eucharist & celebrate them, fast during lent & chant “Jesus is the Messiah.”

How long do you think it would take for the American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU] to file a lawsuit? A week? A day? A minute? As we’ve seen many times it would be immediate & very expensive for the school district which, when it lost would be forced to pay huge legal fees to the ACLU.

In 2000, a seventh grade teacher in California’s Byron Union School District, about fifty miles east of San Francisco forced her seventh-grade students to become Muslims for three weeks. Students had to wear a star & crescent, memorize Muslim prayers, verses & the five pillars of faith, fast during lunch period as if it were Ramahan, chant “Allah Akbar!” and play a dice game called “jihad,” which was defined for students as a “struggle against aggression.” What did the ACLU have to say about this? Nothing. Not a peep. Christian parents were outraged & filed a lawsuit federal court against the school with the assistance of the Thomas Moore Law Center.

The judge dismissed the case saying. “Well this was a typical educational program. The activities were not overtly religious, that would raise any “establishment cause concerns.” The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that dismissal in a “non-published opinion.”

The obvious question would be; are we a better & safer country because we’ve kicked God & His Ten Commandments out of our schools as well as the Market Place of America?

I don’t think so. It seems we can’t build jails fast enough. Jails aren’t the real answer; the real answer is realizing we’re in a spiritual battle. Until we invite God back into our homes, schools & government we’re fighting a losing battle. Christianity stops crime & violence because it addresses the real problem; the heart.

If we don’t get a heart change we don’t stop crime. It now depends on what God will do with America because He’s still in charge of the nations.

Psalm 47:8 says;

God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne.

WHAT CAN I DO FOR AMERICA?

1. PRAY FOR AMERICA
2. REPENT
3. SPEAK OUT

2 CHRONICLES 7:14

If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Blessings,


JAS

"Behind the seens"-The Dollars behind the Dogma of "Global warming"

By John Stallings

……avoid profane & vain babblings, & the oppositions of science, falsely so-called. --- 1 Timothy 6:20



If I had written this blog a couple of weeks ago, I could have quoted from a northern newspaper, “More snow covers North America at the present moment than has since 1966.”

As a matter of fact, some weather experts believe there was more snow covering North America during that general time than has ever been present since weather records have been kept.

Some of these good folk who’re still digging out of the snow are probably lamenting; “where is global warming we need it?” We have friends & relatives in these areas & I pray they get at least a day & a half of Spring before the heat hits them.

With all this in mind, isn’t it amazing that former American Vice President Al Gore recently won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in “Global Warming,” & an Oscar for his movie on the same subject, “An inconvenient truth.”?

Certainly I’m not a scientist & no expert on the subject of global climate change. But I’ve done as I encourage others to do, research the matter for themselves. Because I’m not a scientist & don’t have a particular leaning toward science, I wouldn’t be wasting your time & my efforts to address this subject unless I felt there was a higher, biblical point to be made.

Is the Earth warming? Probably so. I could also ask, “Does a squirrel have a climbing gear?” But how relevant is that? Herein lies the rub; I believe global climate change is a cyclical phenomenon, & not, what the global warming crowd believes, i.e. – “the idea that the earth heats up & cools off is attributable to man’s presence on earth.” That conundrum is core of the issue as I understand it.

The so-called idea of global warming stems from alarmism, has become a worldwide nuisance, is attempting to re-direct the Church’s primary focus, & most importantly it seeks to change the subject from the real issue of importance, i.e. world wide moral bankruptcy. Not to mention the fact that we’re approaching the slippery slops of worldwide financial disaster & this could push us over.

I believe we should do all possible within the bounds of reason to keep Spaceship Earth clean & in good shape & be proper stewards of the planet God has so richly and graciously endowed us with. My position isn’t one of being uncaring or playing fast & loose with our beautiful green planet & treating it as if it’s indestructible. Let no one take away from this article the idea that it’s fine to be slobs & spread our refuse to the four winds.

The Rule of Universality is called for here; i.e.—“What if everyone did it?”

I also believe we should keep our bodies as clean as possible & keep the chicken bones and cheeseburger wrappers swept out of our vehicles. But that doesn’t say we should brush our teeth until our gums bleed or be so obsessed with germs that we wash our hands one-hundred times a day, or worse, -- invite the government in to get involved in our personal hygiene.

I believe the Bible is the final authority on everything. The Word of God is clear; that He made the Earth for His crowning creature, man. Listen to Genesis 1: 28;

……And God said unto them be fruitful & multiply & replenish the earth & subdue it & have dominion over the fish of the sea & over the fowl of the air & over everything that moveth upon the earth.

This being true, man can’t be the unwelcome villain in the “global warming” brouhaha, intruding in a place where he was never meant to be & spoiling its pristine beauty.

Listen to Psalm 24:1-2;

The earth is the Lords & the fullness thereof; the world & they that dwell therein. For He hath founded it upon the seas & established it upon the floods.

Listen to Genesis 8:22;

While the earth remaineth, seedtime & harvest & cold & heat & summer & winter & day & night shall not cease.

The lion’s share of the global warming scare springs out of humanistic thinking which wants us to bow down & worship material creation. This relegates man to the bottom rung of the ladder, rather than understanding the rank we have on the Earth God created for us and placed us on.

These “high priests” of global climate change want us to bow down before their “God-Mother Earth.” Their “science so-called” which is a selective group of distorted facts are being used to persuade us to “do whatever it takes” to save the Earth. Before we sign on for “whatever it takes,” we’d better use our heads for something besides a hat-rack.

School children are being shown Al Gore’s film, indoctrinated & made to believe that if we don’t radically change our lifestyles we’ll soon be dead & the earth will be a burned out smoldering mass. Even the Disney film Happy Feet used cute little animated penguins to teach kids how humans are endangering the Earth & its wildlife.

The famous picture of the Polar bear & her cub standing on a small piece of melting ice with nowhere to go was taken by Amanda Bird, who when the picture left her hands didn’t know it was going to be used as a propaganda piece. The picture, used by Al Gore in his movie expressed the concern that the bears had reached a dead-end. In truth they weren’t that far from land & Polar bears are good swimmers. Not only that, the picture was taken in August, a time when Ar tic ice is normally melting.

Far be it from me to deign to tell Mr. Gore what to do but it would seem to me his considerable gifts could have been put to better use if he’d gotten upset about the Islamic terrorist who’ve pledged to slit all our throats pretty soon if they aren’t stopped, rather than wander out into the misty moonlight over something that even by his own predictions isn’t coming all that quickly.

If we elect a president like Mr. Gore, who can get excited about global warming but seems to yawn at the idea that we’re a nation at war, God save the Republic.

If the terrorists take one good sized American city off the map with a dirty bomb, and that’s their stated objective, then life as we’ve known it in America disappears forever. Moreover, as far as I can discern, every expert in the field tells us it’s not a matter of if this will happen but when it will happen.

You’ll pardon me if “global warming” isn’t in my hierarchy of urgent concerns at this particular moment. If I’m going to be forced to take a leap of faith & believe experts, I think I’m safer believing the terrorism experts; after all, the Islamic terrorists are wreaking havoc all over the world & we have the avowed future intentions of these monsters on video tape.

While we’re praying, let’s pray about this;--

If, God forbid, there is ever a nuclear exchange between nations & it spreads, we will no longer have to worry about global warming, the Earth will be plunged into a new ICE AGE, [Nuclear Winter] but we won’t be around to freeze.

Some church leaders have signed the Evangelical Climate [ECI] Initiative which has identified global warming as a spiritual issue & urges the United States government to limit greenhouse emissions. They also espouse America’s signing of the KYOTO TREATY for the sake of the world’s poor. Many liberal ministers decades ago were also, sad to say, duped by “so-call scientists” into believing in the error of Darwinism & consequently went wobbly & compromised the biblical record of creation.

THE WEATHER CHANNEL

Man-made global warming isn’t science, its propaganda. However people who don’t buy into it are treated in many quarters as if they’re “flat-earth” believers & “Holocaust deniers.” Heidi Cullen, the Weather Channel’s climatologist actually suggested that any broadcaster who didn’t except the man-made global warming hypothesis be branded as someone who doesn’t care about the planet or our children.

The Weather Channel is consistently misleading people, especially on its series “It could happen tomorrow.” Recently they had as a guest, a so-called expert on global warming who got beside himself & said the following;

“When we’ve finally gotten serious about global warming, when the impacts are hitting us in a full worldwide scramble to minimize the damage, we should have war crimes trials for these b------s, [skeptics on global warming] some sort of climate Nuremberg.”

Sounds like he’s ready to start lobbing off heads, doesn’t it?

People in any public position who doubt the veracity of man -made global climate change & dare to express it are subjected to scorn, contempt, censorship, intimidation, & vilification.

SOMETHING MORE SINISTER IS HAPPENING HERE

As in almost everything else, “Follow the money” in this debate. The global warming industry is a multi-million dollar enterprise employing thousands of people who all have a vested interested in providing desired results to keep the money streams flowing. Researchers who don’t buy into it have little hope of receiving grant money or maintaining any standing in the academic community.

Financial damage could be inflicted on America if we go full-bore into responding to this global warming hoax. Experts predict if we gave full compliance to the KYOTO ACCORDS or any such proposals made by the likes of Al Gore, it would cost the global community over 550 trillion dollars & it would cost the U.S. about 352 billion almost immediately. For starters, Americans would be hit with 35 cents per gallon of gasoline. That would be on top of the over three dollars we’re now paying.

I’m not naively suggesting that man has had absolutely no impact on the planet. But how long has it been since you heard there are more trees on the planet than at anytime in history, because we’ve long since been proactive in planting them?

The man-made global warming issue is essentially being used to promote socialism & to justify more & more government meddling in our private lives. It is also blatant anti-Americanism. It proposes to soldier on until we are so hobbled with all sorts of ecological no-no’s that we can no longer be a robust society leading the world in all things technological.

Perhaps the most recognized body creating worldwide panic about global warming is The United Nations Panel on climate change. Just the name should tell us this isn’t a group of scientists but rather a political body. The attitude of many of the political activists for man-made climate change is usually one of anger. Ask yourself; aren’t bitter, angry & hostile people usually folk connected up to a weak cause?

All Humanistic dogma parades under a banner professing to love humanity but the upshot is that it in the final analysis it degrades humanity. Tragically, global warming is being used to block vital progress in developing countries where the poorest people languish in need of the kind of development global warming decries.

After all [they say,] “we can’t have the “Great Satan,” the United States, used any longer as a template for other emerging countries.” Don’t forget these people believe first & foremost that humans-- far from being God’s creatures given dominion over the Earth are really the criminals in the story.

Let’s keep one thing in mind; the jury is still out on global warming & is spite of all the hype by liberal politicians, the liberal media & radical Hollywood, it hasn’t as yet been proven that greenhouse emissions are the cause of global warming.
From my perspective the following things are true about the global climate change;

a. The earth has always had warming & cooling cycles. What we are seeing is within natural bounds.
b. These changes aren’t so large that they should create worldwide hysteria.
c. We can’t do anything to significantly change this situation.
d. These global changes far & away aren’t the most serious threat to man’s existence on earth.
e. Global warming as we’ve come to know it doesn’t exist & trillions of dollars are being spent & unjustified fears are being fostered with no real scientific justification.

But lest you think I don’t subscribe to any sort of global warming in our future, let me ease your mind about that. The type of global warming I firmly believe in, & Al Gore & his followers had better do some research on is as follows, & is given to us in scintillating detail in the bible.

GLOBAL WARMING--COMING SOON TO THIS PLANET.

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Seeing all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation. Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?—2 Peter 3: 9-12

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold the tabernacle of God is with men; and He will dwell with them and they shall be His people and God Himself shall be with them and be their God.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

And He that sat upon the throne said, behold I will make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. ---Revelation 21:1-5

But imagine the effect Al Gore could have on this sin-cursed dying world if He’d research the real global warming issue & begin using his fantastic fortune to travel the world in his private jet warning the nations of the real warming that is coming to this Earth.

Paul says in Romans 8:22;

For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together now…….

Let’s not forget what will happen after Christ comes back & renovates this Earth with fire. Let Peter continue to teach us;

Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new Earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Wherefore beloved seeing that ye look for such things be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot and blameless.

2 Peter 3:13-14

WHILE WE SHOULD TAKE CARE TO MAINTAIN EVERY GIFT GOD HAS GIVEN US, OUR EMPHASIS SHOULD BE TAKING THE GOSPEL TO THE WORLD.

Paul said,

For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ & Him crucified. 1 Cor. 2:2

Jesus didn’t admonish us to get caught up in social programs to save planet earth. But rather He said;

But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Acts 1:8

Blessings,

John