Sun, Jun 29th - 10:26PM

You and I are living in turbulent times. Dangers lurk within our political arena and in the public square. Wrong is often seen as right and right as wrong in our modern society. The little fellow who is working from day to day in order to survive, to bring home a paycheck to pay for life’s necessities, has very little voice in the overall governmental polices, educational programs, and medical advice. The cost of living continues to rise, taxes are continuing to increase, and Uncle Sam snoops more and more into our private lives.

In the face of these and other difficulties, which tend to increase stress and cause despondency, how are Christians to live? In all reality, the one thing that will increase our faith, encourage our daily walk, and strengthen our faith, is to return to our personal Bethel and rediscover the reason for which God has us upon this earth.

Jacob, that old sub-planter, who stole his bother’s birthright, is a story which can encourage us all. He faced difficulties, especially from his brother Esau, and disappointments. On one occasion Jacob lay his head down on a stone for a pillow and dreamed. In the dream, a ladder reached from the earth to Heaven and angels went up and down. He saw, at the top, the LORD and had an unforgettable experience. He concluded that this was the gate to Heaven and that this was the House of God. So the name was changed from Luz to Bethel, meaning the House of God.

Latter, in the midst of his troubles, he hears God to say to himself, "Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother". So Jacob returned to Bethel to meet there with God. Now the place was called El Bethel meaning he had met the God of the House of God.

How can we apply Jacob’s experience to our life? Returning to Bethel, or going back to the beginning, can help believers face everyday life with the song of victory. Going back to Bethel means remembering who you were — a sinner in need of a Savior. In Ephesians 2:1-3 Paul reminded his readers who they once were before they met the Lord. None of us can brag about our past. In the rearview of our lives, we were as filthy rags in God’s sight, we were lost without hope, we were sinners, dead people walking. Going back to Bethel reminds us of who we were.

Going back to Bethel also reminds us of what we are — sinners saved by grace. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that our works never saved us, can’t keep us saved, had no part in our salvation. It was all because of God’s amazing grace. Going back to Bethel reminds us of this fact!

Going back to Bethel reminds us where we are today — in a world in need of a witness. Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 28:18-20 that all disciples have a responsibility to carry the gospel story into all the world. In Acts 1:8 the disciples were promised Holy Spirit power in order to accomplish the task. You and I are no different. We have Him living inside of us and we are in a world that needs a witness to the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

But also, returning to Bethel will remind us where we are headed — Heaven! Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, that to be at home in the body is to be absent from the Lord. He went on to write, "We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:5-6). One of these days, either by way of physical death or the return of Jesus, His children are going to be called home to Heaven.

In Heaven, there will be no sorrows or trials or temptations, no one to harm us, no disease to inflect pain, no death to separate, no hospitals and sickness. Yep! It’s true! This life’s problems will be the problems for those who are left behind.

I encourage you to go back to the place where you began. While preaching this message on Sunday morning, June 29, 2008, at Galilee Baptist Church in Gloster, I pointed out to the congregation that my salvation experience began on the front pew of that church building. Their experience might have been in a foxhole on a battlefield, in an automobile, in a church in another state, in their home. But wherever it began, I challenged them to return there in their minds and meet afresh with the Lord Jesus Christ. I make the same challenge to you. It will do something wonderful for your spiritual life.

Sun, Jun 22nd - 10:01PM

Dr. Stephen Post, a professor of bioethics at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine, has written a book entitled Why Good Things Happen to Good People. Dr. Post writes, "You wish to be happy? Loved? Safe? Secure? You want to turn to others in tough times and count on them? You want the warmth of true connection? You’d like to walk into the world each day knowing that this is a place of benevolence and hope? Then I have one answer: Give. Give daily, in small ways, and you will be happier. Give and you will be healthier. Give and you will even live longer."

In a recent internet article, Alexander Green declared that "new scientific studies show that we’re actually hardwired to feel good — and live longer — by helping others". In short, science has now proven that helping others is good for one’s health.

Benefits such as reducing the mortality rate until later in life, receiving an inner freedom, ability to forgive one’s self, and the reduction of negative emotions are ours by giving. One psychologist has been quoted as saying "we gain a greater sense of meaning in our lives".

It is wonderful that science has finally realized the reality of what Jesus taught nearly two thousand years ago. As His disciples stood before Him, Jesus said, "Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."

Christians have always understood the value of a giving spirit. Someone might think that God magically opens Heaven’s coffers to throw some benefit our way whenever we give to help someone in need. Kind of like a parade where people yell "throw me something mister" and someone from a float throws a worthless string of beads their way. That’s not the way it works in the spiritual world.

The motto of many worldly folk is Get all you can get, Keep all you get, Get as much as you can get! The viewpoint from the world is to give in order to receive from others. But the believer’s concept of giving is because it is the thing to do. The science of all that is that giving does bring rewards of serenity and peace. Giving simply makes a person feel good.

But beyond the "feel good" emotion, there are blessings which only God can give. These blessings are coming to the giver.

A member of our family was riding down the highway one night when he spotted a car on the side of the road. The driver looked a little older and certainly in need of help. The family member said he didn’t usually stop to help in a situation of that nature, but felt led by the Lord to do so. So, he pulled up and helped the man. As they drove a short distance for the help needed, they struck up a conversation, some of which related to who they were and what they were about.

The family member had aspirations of one day becoming a college professor. Before too long he began working on a community college campus, even moving his family to that location. Work had continued to go good for him. Recently an opportunity to secure a position on the teaching staff of the college came his way. Of course, this led to an interview, even though he is a respected worker with the same school system. When interviewed, he discovered that his interviewer was the man he had taken time to help on a lonely night on a darken highway. He begins his teaching career in this coming fall session.

He gave his time, not his money, and God placed that weary traveler in the family member’s path toward the desire of his heart. "Blessing are pressed down, shaken together, and running over" for those who give in the name of the Lord. That’s His promise. He never fails to fulfill His promises.

Sun, Jun 8th - 11:14PM

Father’s Day is another special day on the year’s calendar. It’s a time to remember the awesome responsibility which God has placed upon the shoulders of dads. It is also a time to celebrate the achievements in child rearing which have been accomplished by good fathers.

Simply being healthy enough to impregnate a female doesn’t a good father make. Fatherhood requires more than having a baby with a woman. It requires a daily concern for that child’s welfare.

Multitudes of fathers leave their children while they care only about their own lusts, taking up residence with other women besides the children’s mother. Week-end dads nor sometimes dads aren’t helping rear a son or daughter in a manner becoming a family relationship.

On-the-hand, there are scores and scores of dads who are giving to their children a model of real fatherhood. They care for their children, love their children’s mother, keeps himself pure for his wife and family, and keeps building homes for the future. Father’s Day is a time to celebrate the fathers who love the sons and daughters he has brought into this world, loving them enough to give them a home filled with love, discipline, and training.

Most fathers would love to go back to the beginning, if they could carry the knowledge and experience gained through the years, so a better job of fathering would be accomplished. Yes, we’ve all made mistakes. Most of us have done the best we could with the wisdom we had at that time in our lives. Our mistakes are vividly before our eyes. But since we can’t do that, we can move forward with a greater determination to be good fathers to our children in our golden years.

Perhaps children and fathers alike would like to make some wishes on this special day in 2008. I guess I’m no different, so here goes.

I wish I had understood what my own dad was going through when he was seeking to father his and mom’s six siblings. I would have understood that times were tough for him. His pride would never let the family down. Working in the mill and log industry was though back through the years when we were all living at home. The pay scale simply didn’t leave much left over to buy a lot of extras for the home nor for the family.

I would have understood why he worked such long hours. I would have understood why my dad wasn’t at all my ball games. Yes, he made a handful of football games, never that I recall a basketball game, and I know for sure he never saw me play baseball. If I had only been able to know these things, I would have appreciated his efforts with greater thanksgiving. He didn’t put in those long hours just because he wanted to hang around a sawmill or a lumber yard. Dad did it because he loved his family.

I wish I could replay the days of ministry years when my children were growing up. Peggy and I only had two, but I must admit my neglect through those years. Well! There was school to finish, sermons to prepare, sick folk to visit, a church membership to build, regular visitations to be achieved, church administration to be seen after, and a score of other "stuff" to get done. I wish I had learned patience back then so I wouldn’t have decided all this must be done by me "today!" If so, I would have spent less nights trying to build the church’s kingdom, I would have spent more time with the children and wife. But, as before, the past can’t be changed, so now in these twilight years of my life, I want to put forth more effort to be with them and to share my life with them.

You might or might not have a wish or two on this Father’s Day. But whatever the case, here is wishing all fathers a happy Father’s Day. Ephesians 6:4 admonishes fathers to not provoke their children to wrath, to bring them up, as responsible dads, in the admonition of the Lord. Train them well, those of you still rearing children. For the rest of us dads, let’s show our love in these late years.

Sun, Jun 1st - 5:21PM

Don Piper, a Baptist pastor in Texas, attended a church similar conference sponsored by the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The conference ended earlier than its scheduled noon closing because of bad weather. He had drafted a sermon titled "I Believe in a Great God" and had planned to glance over it for evaluation.

While traveling home after the conference, Don Piper’s automobile was struck by a truck. He was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Medical personnel said he died instantly. He wrote later, "In one powerful, overwhelming second, I died".

In an awesome set of circumstances, he was later discovered to be alive. Piper would write about his experience in Heaven after his death. He relates events that are clearly not some physiological mumbling. "90 Minutes in Heaven" tells the story of his 1989 experience. The book’s back cover tells about Piper’s recent years. "Don Piper has been an ordained minister since 1985. He has appeared on numerous television and radio programs, writes a weekly newspaper column, and leads conferences and retreats in the United States and abroad".

Numerous reports have been written and testimonies given sharing similar after death experiences. They are largely downplayed both inside religious circles and among secular writers. But can some of the stories be real realities?

Several years back, a friend of mine, now dead, called to share with me the death of his brother. Space here doesn’t allow for the full story but my friend, whom I trusted, was at his dying brother’s bedside.

He had undergone surgery for cancer. Pain wasn’t a problem. Thus, he wasn’t under heavy medication. A kind of "flight final" description of his death experience was shared for a couple of hours. His feelings were described as being on a airplane without a pilot. He felt himself flying.

In the course of time, he began to describe a bright light in the distance ahead. Soon he was telling about a brilliance up ahead like he had never seen before. And then, this brother began describing structures just as the writer John did at the end of the Revelation.

By now, the room was full of hospital personnel and interested folk in the hallway. His wife was called back to the hospital and was standing beside his bed, holding his hand. Then he looked up at her, smiled, and said, "We made it", and died.

A former church member from a number of years ago, in more recent years was stricken with a cancer. She lay in the hospital bed for a number of weeks. The doctors called the family in and told them she was dying. They gathered around the bed, with friends from her church, and were singing the great old song of the church, "Victory in Jesus". I was told that as they sang, she raised her frail arms and hands up toward Heaven, smiled, and died. Did she see angels coming to escort her home?

John, the writer of the Revelation, saw things in Heaven yet to come and was told to write about them. Paul, the Apostle, saw into Heaven, most likely when stoned and left for dead, and saw things he couldn’t repeat. They were too wonderful. He wasn’t allowed, as was John, to write about what he saw.

Jesus told the story about the death of a righteous poor man and an unrighteous rich man. The righteous poor man was escorted into Paradise by angels. And on one occasion, Moses and Elijah met with Jesus and three disciples on a mountain.

Then there is the beautiful story of Lottie Moon. It is said on the night of her death, she was on a boat in a Japanese harbor, on a Christmas Eve night. Lottie was dying, having given her life to ministering to the people of China. She had spent her wealth on the people she loved for those many years. Her frail, small body lay on the bed in the boat, being sent back to America for treatment. In unconsciousness she prayed for the women of China, then lifted her arms toward Heaven, and again, with a smile, went home to be with her Lord whom she served faithfully for those many years. Did she see angels coming to escort her home? I, for one, believe she did!