SERVING SIX ONE

Biblical faith means you believe in something promised  – even when you don’t yet see the evidence. But sometimes faith sometimes means NOT believing what you see – even when you see it. Yes, I know how the infamous Bible verse goes:

¹Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
(Hebrews 11:1 NLT)

And it IS sometimes very hard to believe something that you don’t yet see. Maybe it’s hard for you to believe that your financial situation is going to get better when you don’t see any money in the bank or that your relationship with a spouse or child is improving – even when the evidence you see is to the contrary…

But sometimes it is equally hard to believe that something is NOT what you see. That involves faith, too. Let me explain…

Many years ago, my grandfather, who ran the community grocery store in a small but growing town, was cleaning the public restroom of his business. As he labored in the small, dimly lit room, he noticed what looked like a whiskey bottle in the window sill, that was evidently left by a customer who did a little more than relieve himself when he used the facilities.

My grandfather, a very devout man and known city-wide as an itinerant preacher and the chairman of the deacons at the local baptist church, held the whiskey bottle to the light in order to see the label and see if it smelled as he suspected.

At that precise moment, the bathroom door opened and a man who knew my grandfather very well walked  in. Both men were startled, and my grandfather’s friend exclaimed “Why, Henry, if I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes, I would have never believed it to be so.”

“Wait, you don’t understand,” my grandfather pleaded…

“Nope,” said his friend, “I would not have believed it unless I had seen it with my own two eyes.”

And so his friend could not be convinced that his eyes had betrayed him and he left believing that he had caught the chairman of the deacons of the local baptist church with a bottle of spirits.

Now whether you believe it is okay or not to drink…that’s beside the point. The point IS that sometimes what we see…or what we THINK we see is not reality.

Sometimes real faith involves NOT trusting our five senses, but believing our one Savior and the work he has done, is still doing, and will do in our lives and the lives of those we love.

I heard a story several years ago where a young man had just become king and he wanted to be absolutely sure that he managed the affairs of his kingdom properly. So he sent out his wise men on a quest to find out all the wisdom of the world. (If you are a woman remember this was before the Women’s Rights Movement, so please get over it.)

So about a year later all the wise men came back with scrolls and scrolls of information and the king asked them to transfer everything onto one scroll. They did, and boy, was it a long and heavy scroll! It took three of them just to carry the scroll into the king’s throne room. When he saw it, he said, “No, no; this won’t do; it is WAY too much information to know. Condense it for me.”

Three months later they came back with the abridged version, all the wisdom of the world fitting neatly on one small scroll. They began to read it to the king, but again he complained, “No. Too much. Make it even smaller. Leave out any wisdom that isn’t absolutely necessary.

A month later they came back to the king with a very small scroll where all the writing fit on just one page. But still, the young king was not satisfied. “Now reduce this wisdom down into one sentence. I want one sentence to live my entire life by so that I can govern my entire kingdom using its guiding principle.”

So the wise men thought and thought and after much deliberation and argument amongst themselves they finally decided on the one sentence that contained the wisdom of the ages. They happily entered the king’s presence the next day and the wisest of them read to the king the one sentence that represented the words of wisdom he so sought after:

“There’s NO free lunch.

Happily, the young king, shouted and jumped for joy. “That’s it!” he cried. “This principle is what I am going to do all of my governing by.” Immediately, he recognized faults in his own life, where he was living leisurely when even a king should be working to improve himself and his kingdom. He called all of his counselors and the palace staff, including the guards into his chambers and explained that from now on that everyone would pull their fair share and work as hard as they could to improve the kingdom.

He made a proclamation and sent it out to all the royal subjects, proclaiming “There’s No Free Lunch” and everyone was to do their fair share if they wanted to prosper. And for those who were too sick or frail to work, they were to be helped by others, but never to forget that what they shared was the result of hard work by someone else and the least they could do was be thankful for the bounty given to them by the generosity of others.

Soon, everyone’s attitude changed and the entire kingdom became prosperous and successful. And in the process, everyone became kind and thankful.

What a story! Too bad our elected officials don’t think like this young king more often. But then again, this is not a political rant. I just wanted to tell the story about how someone was able to condense all the wisdom of the world into four short words.

Once when Jesus was asked by someone what was the most important commandments, he responded:

“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
(Matthew 22: 37-40 NLT)

So in about three or so sentences, Jesus summed up the entire Old Testament, which consists of over 900 chapters, 23,000+ verses, and in excess of 600,000 words.

No, Jesus didn’t condense the wisdom of the world to four words like the young king in our story, but Jesus happens to be THE king of the entire universe, so I think I will trust his abridged version of wisdom instead.

No, the use of the word of God is not my biggest pet peeves; it is, in fact, the LACK of use of God’s word that makes me mad. And I am reminded of this pet peeve almost every time I pass a church marquee.

So you don’t speak French and you want to know what I mean by the word “marquee”? “Marquee” is the fancy word I use for church signs. You know…the ones you pass on your way to and from work every day that have these “clever” sayings on them, as well as perhaps church services times or which gospel group is singing at that church 3 months from now.

I pass by several marquees when I drive down the main road that connects to our neighborhood. I am always amazed at what I see. A big beautiful sign on the side of the road that has the ability to captivate passersby with words of faith and encouragement, words of wisdom and consolation, or with words of praise and grandeur.

Companies pay hundreds of dollars a month to advertise their wares on billboards in every city, so there must be a reason that they fork over incredible amounts of money per year to sign companies – probably because the words on them (if properly crafted into an offer and a call to action) work!

So what do most of the church marquees that I see say? Let’s see. Here is a list of a few I have seen over the years:

• Soul food served here
• Forbidden fruit creates many jams
• CH CH  What is misssing? UR
• God answers kneemail
• Try Jesus…if you don’t like him, the devil will always take you back

Those are some off the top of my head. There are many more, but it pains me to try to remember them all. You get the picture.

Now don’t get me wrong. These are definitely well thought-out sayings and they CAN be attention-getters. But there is one thing that they are not. They aren’t the word of God. Kind of reminds me of what Elijah the prophet said to the king of Israel when the king was seeking advice from another god:

“Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?” (2 Kings 1:3 NLT)

If I could ask a question is to the ones who are responsible for putting these messages on church signs around the country I would ask a similar quesiton:

“Is it because there are no good Bible verses that you resort to putting cute little sayings on your signs?”

Maybe I am a little old-fashioned, but I can’t help but remember a Bible verse that I learned long ago:

“Is not my Word like a fire?…and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29)

You see, God’s word is powerful. It has the ability to pierce someone’s thinking, to permeate a mixed-up mind, and to soothe a troubled soul. Jesus said it best when he said that his words were “spirit” and that they were “life.”

Hebrews 4:12 says that God’s word is “alive and powerful” (NLT). I believe that OUR job is to give someone a word…and not just ANY word….but THE WORD. That’s where our work ends. That’s all we can do.

Next, we should rely on the Spirit of God to do the rest. Why not use one of the many thousands of verses (perhaps translated into a version that the average person can understand since most of us didn’t take Elizabethan English in High School) and then let God do the rest. I, for one, would sure be grateful, but I can think of many more people that would be effected positively as well.

With the economy the way it is, there are many individuals and families who are struggling to make ends meet. Too much month and not enough money. Many people are losing their jobs or having to take pay cuts in order to stay employed. Many businesses are also closing their doors after years and years of being successful. On top of that, those who haven’t yet felt affected by these economic times are fearful that they may be next. A job one day and the unemployment line the day after.

The other day I heard a preacher saying that if you were one of God’s children then you would “ride above the storm” and remain unaffected by the troubles around you. While that may be true to some degree, I think that we need to look at what the Bible actually says about prosperity.

True, God wants his servants to “prosper and be in good health” (III John 1:2), there was also a wee little condition that goes along with that passage. It actually says, “…I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

I would contend that sometimes it takes a little hardship to make us wake up and recognize who is the source of our prosperity and strength. And when we truly recognize the blessings that we have and the source of those blessings, then our soul does benefit.

Let’s see what Ecclesiastes has to say about the subject of prosperity in Chapter 7:

¹⁴ Enjoy prosperity while you can,
but when hard times strike, realize that both come from God.
Remember that nothing is certain in this life.

Oh, wow…maybe some of the “prosperity preachers” need to read a little out of Ecclesiastes every now and then. According to the Bible hard times DO come from God sometimes.

Now, the only problem with this sort of thinking is to go too far the OTHER way. It may be bad enough that “prosperity preachers” leave out lessons from Ecclesiastes, but it is just as bad to err on the wrong side. Make no mistake about it…MANY of the hardships you may be facing is simply you reaping what you have sown.

Hosea 8:7 tells us about people who “…sow the wind, And reap the whirlwind. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but in the game of sowing and reaping, the harvest is always greater than the seed planted. Have you ever planted a row in a garden with a few handfuls of tiny seeds, only to reap buckets and buckets of vegetables in return. Many of us like to blame God for our troubles when we are actually reaping the whirlwind for that little bit of wind we have sown.

BUT EVEN IF YOU ARE DOING EVERYTHING RIGHT, there WILL come times of testing and hardships as we see not only in Ecclesiastes 7, but other passages throughout the Bible. God is doing this to test us, to see if we will still follow him when things aren’t going so well.

Here is the key to navigating through the difficult time: Our RESPONSE. Are we going to be whiners and complainers or are we going to be thankful for what we still do have, no matter how bleak the situation may appear? I pray that all of our responses to these economic times may be like that of the prophet in the Old Testament book of Habakkuk:

¹⁷ Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,
and there are no grapes on the vines;
even though the olive crop fails,
and the fields lie empty and barren;
even though the flocks die in the fields,
and the cattle barns are empty,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord!
I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

Effective prayer can be powerful. Whether you believe in Christian prayer, Catholic prayer, Muslim prayer, or any type of religious prayer I think most people would agree with this statement. Even folks who are not necessarily religious, but consider themselves “spiritual” profess to the power of quite meditation or prayer.

Now, I personally believe that the only effective prayer is one that is made earnestly to God through Jesus Christ. James 5:16 says that “…the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (NIV). Another way of saying it is “…the earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available…(Amplified Bible).

So we know prayer can be powerful when used effectively and applied the right way, but what if there is no prayer at all? It’s kind of hard to benefit from the power of prayer when we don’t pray at all or very little, isn’t it? Well, I believe there is a little solution that can go a LONG way in helping us with our prayer life (or lack of it).

The power of 10. 10 minutes a day multiplied by 365 days is 3,650 minutes a year. That equates to roughly 60 hours a year. Now what is 60 hours a year? Suppose your boss told you that you were being sent to a conference to learn about a new piece of software…and that you were going to sit for 1 1/2 weeks 8-hour, 5-day weeks to learn and practice this new software.

Don’t you think when you came back home 1 1/2 weeks later that you would know a lot more about it than when you left? Depending on the material to learn, there is a decent chance that you would be a bonafide expert on the subject if you applied 60 hours to it.

Well, that’s what can happen when you learn to harness the power of 10 in your prayer life. 10 minutes a day. Just 10 minutes equates to 60 hours a year. The fact is that most of us don’t pray 60 hours total a year.

Oh, we pray in little spurts. 5 minutes one day, two minutes a couple of days later. We may even pray for a solid hour on occasion…or perhaps pray really hard for something when we need it…but if God was to do a spiritual audit of most of us Christians, He would more thank likely find a lot less than 60 hours of prayer during the course of a year.

But now we can change all that in just 10 minutes. 10 minutes of prayer a day. Now let’s suppose that we don’t think we have 10 minutes. I, personally, believe we do, but just for the sake of argument let’s say that you work 90 hours a week and sleep or drive back and forth to work for the other 78 hours and don’t ever mindlessly surf the internet, make casual cell phone calls, play with Twitter or Facebook, watch your favorite television show or movie. I would still bet that you DO somehow make it to the bathroom a few times a week…and I certainly hope you take a shower once in a while. What about fixing your hair of brushing your teeth?

I found that when I did my own “personal” audit, that many of these times I was either daydreaming, worrying, or simply not using my mind consciously at all. I also found that when I was able to consciously say little focused prayers during these necessary activities that the time added up. In fact, it added up to a LOT more than 10 minutes a day – more like 30-60.

If we would look hard, we would find even more opportunities for prayer. What about the drive time to and from school or work? What about exercise time? What about the first few minutes after we close our eyes at night or the first few minutes during the morning as we get out of bed? As Ecclesiastes 8:5 says “…Those who are wise will find a time and a way to do what is right.” (NLT)

And for those religious people who believe prayer should only be done on one’s knees over long periods of time, I would ask: Could it be that the reason people don’t pray as much as they should is because of people like you who make them feel guilty when they don’t do it your way?

Prayer is by far the most important part of life. What could possibly be more important than talking to God, the very one who created us? Most people think of prayer as a boring and tiring task, something that can be put off and pushed aside. Many of us think of prayer as a chore where we have to get down on both knees, fold both hands together and shut our eyes as we repeat the same memorized prayers as we always say adding little thought or sincerity to the process.

Basically the world has made prayer (talking to the King of all Kings) seem boring! It’s amazing, isn’t it? We can’t find time in our day to talk one on one with God! Throughout the next several weeks I’m going to be writing solely about Prayer. You’ll see that prayer is not boring after all. It’s downright fun and the amazing benefits you get from praying are amazing! Do you want a happy, peaceful and joyful life? Prayer is what you’ve been looking for.

The entertainment we choose says a lot about who we really are – not only as person, but also as a Christian. At the risk of stepping on millions of toes, I ask you to consider what it took decades to discover for me, personally, when choosing which songs, movies, books, jokes, video clips, forwarded e-mails, etc. I allow to come into my mind through my eyes and ears.

In fact, when evaluating the entertainment we choose there are three (3) questions we need to ask ourselves:
1) What is my entertainment?
2) What affect does the entertainment I choose have on my life?
3) Is that (affect) okay?

So..what ARE we choosing for our entertainment? You can’t say that it doesn’t matter, because it DOES. The the world is watching. Your friends are watching. Your children are watching. And the question is: What are YOU watching? What songs are you listening to? What books are you reading? What movies are you allowing to permeate your eyes and ears?

The next question is: What affect does my entertainment having on my life? Notice I didn’t say “spiritual life”. The word is “life”.

It’s too easy to draw a line and say, “Okay, THIS is spiritual and this over here is secular.” We like to put things in little boxes or draw circles or squares around things…or compartmentalize every activity in our life. That makes it easier to rationalize. We go to church… of course, it is wrong to watch a “bad” television show at church because…well…that’s church! We should only do “spiritual” things in church like sing or listen to a sermon or something “spiritual”.

But when we get home…that’s a different story. We’re tired. It’s easy to sit in front of the television or on an internet video website and remain immovable as we watch programs or clips laced with profanity, that poke fun at families, fatherhood and faith. But, truth be known, our entertainment DOES affect us. It affects our mind and our mind affects our spirits.

The last question is: “Is the affect that my entertainment has on me okay?” For example, if a certain song or movie elicits a certain feeling, is that a good thing? What if a movie deeply stirred us and made us take a certain action that was good, that is one thing, but what if a movie gave you feelings of anxiety – maybe a horror movie caused you to live in fear or a certain song aroused feelings of lust or anger? Then, wouldn’t it have been better if you didn’t participate in that type of entertainment?

Now, I’m not a purist in the respect that every single song we sing or movie that we watch has to be “Christian”. That would mean we couldn’t even sing the song “Happy Birthday” because it didn’t have “Jesus” somewhere in it. But the line between entertainment and Christianity is not as blurred as we think.

To willingly participate in forms of entertainment that are ungodly and harmful to our mind says a lot about who we really are. We can’t have it both ways (Luke 12:34; Matthew 6:21).

Yes, it’s easy to rationalize our entertainment by saying it’s just “part of our culture” and “that’s how I have fun”, but there really is one more question that begs to be asked in addition to the three originally outlined at the top, and that question is…”Is God happy with my entertainment?” Yes, it’s a tough question to ask…and in my case I have found that many times the answer I received was something I did not want to hear.

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem;

To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. Read the rest of this entry »

December 10th took us to Hope Fellowship in Anderson, SouthCarolina. This time the weather wasn’t cold but very WET!!! Although it rained and rained and rained, the people came out anyway and we enjoyed yet another great evening with some awesome, God loving, incredibly nice people.

We also got to see a bunch of family members that we don’t get to see that often. It was like having a family reunion and a concert at the same time! We had a blast.

After the concert, many people came up and expressed how much they were touched by our songs, “Christmas in Georgia” and “Finally Home”. We found out that so many people there had recently lost family members, including some teenage girls who lost their father and the Pastor and his family who had recently lost his wife’s mother. This will be their first Christmas without thier loved ones so they were especially touched by those two songs. We totally can relate and pray that God will hold their hearts this Christmas season. Read the rest of this entry »

WOW! We have been busy! Our Christmas Concerts are now in full swing. December 6th started them off down south in Tifton, Georgia. We were the featured band for their annual citywide Christmas festival. It was GREAT!! Thousands of people turned out on what turned out to be a very cold night!!

Read the rest of this entry »