CHRISTIANS HEARING,"BAH HUMBUG"

How do we know it is the Christmas season? Because once again Christians are hearing from some stores and government buildings, “Not in my place!”, as some are deciding to no longer celebrate Christmas, but merely the “winter holiday.”

State government in Washington state have determined not to have any holiday decorations that remind either Jews or Christians of their season. Why should we be surprised that the most unchurched state in America is acting like it?

All across the country atheists are threatening boycotts of stores that advertise Christmas sales, ad in response some of them no longer use the word “Christmas” in their stores or ads. Some school, districts have banned Christmas parties in their schools.

What does this tell us about our country? Well, according to the latest Rassmussen poll, 66% of Americans feel the country is heading in the wrong direction. Duh! Ya think?

Perhaps you have heard that some Christians have decided to fight back at what they consider numerous attacks on our faith. “The Manhattan Declaration” (find it here: http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=11600) is a document that pretty well covers all the bases of those areas that some feel have been demonstrably under attack by secularists, such as religious liberty, life and marriage issues, etc.

In the preamble, the first paragraph states, “We, as Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians, have gathered, beginning in New York on September 28, 2009, to make the following declaration, which we sign as individuals, not on behalf of our organizations, but speaking to and from our communities. We act together in obedience to the one true God, the triune God of holiness and love, who has laid total claim on our lives and by that claim calls us with believers in all ages and all nations to seek and defend the good of all who bear his image. We set forth this declaration in light of the truth that is grounded in Holy Scripture, in natural human reason (which is itself, in our view, the gift of a beneficent God), and in the very nature of the human person. We call upon all people of goodwill, believers and non-believers alike, to consider carefully and reflect critically on the issues we here address as we, with St. Paul, commend this appeal to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.

This is a declaration most of us as Christians could sign onto. The copy I saw had 150 of some of the most recognizable Christian leaders in our nation. It’s about time, wouldn’t you say?

GIVE THANKS FOR…..?

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday for many reasons. Perhaps first and foremost, unlike Christmas, there are no gifts to have to think about. It isn’t about what we will give to someone, but what has been given to us.

For the past year, many of us have complained about this or that…a presidential decision, a congressional action, unbearable weather, and a myriad of other things. Thanksgiving is a season when we forget about complaining and just be thankful for what we have.

Every time I see a street person on the corner asking for a handout, I am thankful I have something to give him/her. Whenever I see pictures of people in far of places who are literally starving to death, I am thankful for three good meals every day.

When I pick up my paper and read about someone’s son or daughter being killed, I am thankful to have my two children, six grandchildren, and two great grandsons. I am thankful to have been spared the grief others have experienced in te loss of one of their kids.

When I worship Sunday I will be thankful for a church that ministers to my spirit in so many ways. I am thankful for a pastor who cares about me, and a church staff that, though woefully underpaid, works on without complaint.

When I read in the paper about someone getting a divorce, I am thankful for nearly fifty-six years of marriage and for perhaps the one person on this planet who knows me best and has stayed with me anyhow.

Each week as I prepare to teach a Sunday school class, I am so thankful for that opportunity to help others understand the Word of God, and its ramifications for our every-day living.

Yes, it is the simple things for which I am most thankful. I am thankful for you who read this blog and who ever since I started writing it have encouraged me in so many ways. Thanks for reading and commenting. And thank you for being my friends.

While I am speaking about this blog, let me tell you that today’s post will be the last until after next Sunday, November 29. So, have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Show someone you are thankful for them.

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO INTEGRITY

Word this week has come that Ted Haggard, having been dismissed as pastor of his church for moral failures, has begun having “prayer meetings” in his home, just a short distance from the church that dismissed him. It is seen by some as the initial stages of starting a new church.

The man who served as chairman of Haggard’s restoration group has stated that this is a complete lack of integrity on Haggard’s part.

Hey, if he thinks that’s something, he should come to Texas for a few weeks and see how that is being played out in our state over and over again. I have served as interim pastor in more than one church where the pastor had gotten angry, resigned and started a new church.

In fact, the very church that I am a member of had such an event. The pastor demanded a vote of confidence. When he lost it, he immediately announced from the pulpit, “Those of you who are interested in starting a new church with me come to the chapel.” Most of those who voted to support the pastor, about 1,000 people, met with him and the next week started a new church.

In another case, I served a church where they had negotiated a severance package with the pastor (three months salary and benefits), and had the pastor sign a non-compete document that stated he would not start a new Baptist church in the city. Within a week he had abrogated that agreement, started a new church, simply refusing the call it “Baptist”, and took sixty families from his former congregation.

This is the same person who believed tithing to the church was not required of church staff members, since they fulfilled the role of “priest”, as in the Old Testament. He felt that the priests were to be the recipients of the tithes, not the givers of them.

In my humble opinion, these incidents are the acts of men without integrity. And that is a sad commentary.

If there are any persons in the community who should be an example of integrity it is pastors. No, I do not believe lay people are any less required to demonstrate integrity, but when a pastor loses his integrity, it damages the cause of Christ.

People with integrity keep their word, honor their contracts, and lead people by setting examples. In my humble opinion, there is far too little attention being paid to these things in today’s church.

AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

TEXT: II Corinthians 9:10-15

INTRODUCTION:

Here at the Thanksgiving season I have a question I would like to ask: “Has anyone ever given you a gift so exquisite that you had difficulty expressing your appreciation for it?”

Think about that for a minute. What gift or act so bowled you over that you were not able to adequately express the thanks you knew it deserved?

Some while back we watched the 10:00 o’clock news one of our T.V. stations was doing a report on the people who worked at the 911 clearing office. They were focusing on one young woman who answered 911 calls. While they were talking to her a call came in from a distraught mother whose infant baby had stopped breathing.

The young 911 operator worked to calm the mother down and over the phone led her through a series of actions which probably saved the life of the baby. Later the reporters went to the home of that mother to see the other side of their story. In the course of the conversation the mother said, “I don’t know how I will ever be able to thank that girl who answered the phone. She saved my baby’s life.”

You know, I think that mother is right. I don’t think there is any way you can adequately thank a person who has saved someone’s life. It surely is not an act for which one could adequately speak one’s gratitude.

If here is any attitude which can be traced throughout the writings of the Apostle Paul it is a attitude of gratitude. From Romans to Hebrews Paul spoke of thanks or thanksgiving no less than 31 times. He was eternally grateful, even beyond words to express his thanks for the mercy of God and His grace through Jesus Christ.

Paul lived and worked in order that his life would be an expression of the gratitude he felt in his heart.

When he tried to express his gratitude in words he often found his vocabulary to be inadequate, and so we have the words of our text: “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.”

The New English Bible translates this, “Thanks be to God for his gift beyond words.”

Phillips translates it, “Thank God, then, for His indescribable generosity to you.”

In the Good News Bible you find it translated, “Let us thank God for His priceless gift.”

In every instance the magnitude of the gift is featured, a gift of such proportions that words could not begin to adequately the writer’s feelings about it.

In other words, God has given us a gift so priceless, a gift of such generous proportions through the grace of Jesus Christ, it should stimulate us toward an attitude of gratitude within our hearts.

One of the strongest motivations for service is gratitude. A lack of service which utilizes our gifts for the potential of the body of Christ is a strong sign of ingratitude. It is important to recognize and appreciate the generosity of God in order that our faith might be encouraged.

God’s indescribable gift saves us from a indescribable fate.

God’s indescribable gift saves us for a high and noble purpose.

God’s indescribable gift saves us to a glorious destiny in eternity.

That is the subject of the message today. God’s indescribable gift, and the gratitude of our hearts for it. It seems appropriate at Thanksgiving season to think upon this the greatest of all reasons to give thanks.

I. THE NATURE OF GOD’S INDESCRIBABLE GIFT

First of all, understand that if the Apostle Paul had difficulty in describing the gift of God, I am sure I will not be any more successful.

To me, this gift is so great in so many respects.

First, it is a gift which can never be lost. It is not temporary. It can never be taken away from me. The gift, once it is given, will never be snatched away from us.

The great gift of God has no provisions or conditions of secrecy. In fact, those of us who have received this gift need to be telling everyone where it came from.

God’s great gift makes spiritual millionaires out of all of us who receive it. No strings attached. But, it will change your life much more than becoming a millionaire would ever change it.

Another thing which makes this gift so great is its cost. This gift is free to those who receive it, and there is not one single thing any person on earth can do to earn it, or deserve it. It is given outright, without strings.

Merchandisers have discovered that nothing will draw a crowd into their store like an advertisement for something free.

One day my wife and I were browsing through a mall, and stopped to look at some beautiful ladies watches in the window of a jewelry store. They were watches neither of us could ever afford, and we just wanted to see what watches look like that cost that much money.

Alongside one of the watches was a diamond ring and a little sign which said, “Buy the watch, get the ring free.” However, when we figured out how long it would take us to pay for the watch, the ring did little to entice us.

Now you and I both know that the ring wasn’t free. The watch was priced high enough to cover the cost of the ring, you see. In other words, nothing is really free.

Well, God’s indescribable gift is not a merchandising gimmick. It is a free gift. It is indescribable in its provision.

It is indescribable in its provision for our spiritual hunger. It is a permanent solution to our need for satisfying the spiritual hunger in our souls. God’s gift takes care of it once and for all.

The Bible says, “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

Another thing about God’s gift which is so great is that it is so readily available.

We went into a store a while back looking for an appliance we wished to purchase. We had seen a sign which said it was on sale and would have an additional 10% deducted for their “preferred customers.”

The salesman readily admitted all the terms, but said, “I’m sorry we are out of it.”

I said, “Man, you are missing a bet. If you’re out of them you should give fifty percent off and give the people a real bargain.”

There is no such scarceness in God’s gift. It is available NOW.

The gift of God is indescribable in the effect it has on the lives of those who receive it. And there are really only two choices. Take it or leave it. We either receive God’s gift or we reject it.

And that brings me to the next point, responding to the indescribable gift of God.

II. RESPONSE REQUIRED

As with any proposition, there are a variety of responses, none of which can escape the consequences.

One response might be to simply reject it. Decline of offer of the free gift. In so doing, one would reject the Giver.

Another response would be to receive it and then ignore it. We can just forget about it and go on living as though we had never received it. It would seem then to make no difference in life.

Without sounding judgmental, I would question whether or not anyone had received the gift if their life had not been changed by it.

However, I suppose it is possible to have received God’s gift of salvation and simply ignore its claims on one’s life.

So, one response would be to receive it and forget it. Doing that would seem to me to grieve the Giver.

Still another, and more desirable response would be to receive the gift gladly, gratefully, and wholeheartedly. To do so is to please the Giver.

This gift is like bread to a hungry beggar or water to a thirsty person. It is like health to the sick, and treatment for the moral ills of our society.

It is like a rescue party to someone lost in a meaningless existence. It is heaven’s infallible teacher, guiding us to a knowledge of truth about life.

This gift is from a friend who loved us so much that He gave His life in order to be able to give this to us.

Yes, a response is required.

If you haven’t already figured it out, the gift, the indescribable gift of which we have been speaking is the gift of salvation which has been offered us through Jesus Christ.

A person’s response to this gift will be bathed in one of two attitudes. Either it will be gratitude or it will be ingratitude.

If a person is indeed grateful for the gift, there will be thousands of ways to show gratitude. All of them would be acceptable to the Giver of the gift.

But, there are also thousands of ways of showing ingratitude. Most of us are probably better at this. But, the thing to remember is this: none of them would be acceptable to the Giver.

I think it should be important to you whether or not God is pleased with your response.

CONCLUSION:

We are people in whose presence God has laid His indescribable gift. When the Apostle Paul became aware of this gift it evoked an attitude of gratitude, of thanksgiving in his heart. He responded in reverent humility to the goodness of God.

His heart responded with genuine concern, with love, and with glad obedience. He found the love of God to be so great that words could not express the deepest sentiments of his soul.

Would to God that each of us would have a similar response. But, that is not up to Paul, nor is it up to me. It is not even up to God. How you respond is entirely up to you.

Is yours an attitude of gratitude?

BGCT ELECTS THREE GOOD MEN

Organizations can usually be seen as worthy or unworthy by the people they elect to lead them. If that is true, the BGCT has a bright future ahead. Three good men have been elected to lead the convention over the next twelve months. Had it not been for some family health issues, I would have been in Houston to vote for all three of them.

David Lowrie was elected to serve a second term as president, a term in which I suspect he will be able to put to good use all he has learned in the past year. Ed Jackson, a layman from Garland, was elected First Vice President and John Ogletree, a Houston pastor, was elected Second Vice President.

In the BGCT scheme, these three men should be able to agree on strong appointments for service. The nice thing, also, is that the two Vice Presidents can be in training, so to speak, to move up to higher office, should the convention desire to so elevate them.

I know two of these men fairly well. It has not been my pleasure to meet Pastor Ogletree as yet, but I suspect he is a very competent man, judging fro his success as a pastor. I know David and Ed are extremely competent and will surely lead our convention well. No layman has been more involved in BGCT life than Ed Jackson. Lowrie is a second generation president, being the son of former BGCT president D.L. Lowrie.

I am pleased at the direction the convention is moving. With a new emphasis on evangelism, politics should be pushed into the background. I trust these officers will have a strong voice in who is elected to serve as the next Director of Evangelism. I hope it will be a pastor who is actually getting evangelism done in his church. Dan Wooldridge comes to mind.

Also, I hope the Executive Director will consider moving Evangelism back to a stand-alone unit, outside of the missions area. The Director of Evangelism should have a seat at the table with the rest of the Executive Director’s Cabinet. The work of evangelism is important enough that there should be no one standing between the Executive Director and the Evangelism Director. This small change (actually it is a pretty big change) would do more to help us get the very best leadership possible for this important work. Such an action will reverse an apparent de-emphasis of evangelism when it was moved into missions. A quality leader will be difficult to find if the organization remains as it is. The person we really would like to see in that position deserves to report directly to the Executive Director.

The Evangelism Director position has been downgraded far too long. Let’s elevate it to a position of prominence where it belongs. How can we seriously expect people to believe evangelism is a priority when it does not appear so in the organizational pattern?

I trust our three new officers will help expedite that change as quickly as possible. It just makes sense. Let the organization reflect a three-headed local church consulting corps—evangelism, education, and missions. Along with our institutional work and the Christian Life Commission, this would appear to me to be the way to go.

THINKING ABOUT DEACONS

Somewhere along the way we have gotten confused about the role of a deacon. As a consequence, we see deacons in the middle of a lot of church troubles. Most of these troubles concerning deacons stems from the fact that too many of us have the totally wrong idea about what a deacon is.

For the past eight or nine years I have had the privilege of serving my church in the role of a deacon. It almost didn’t happen, though.

When the Deacon Nominating Committee interviewed me and determined to recommend me to the church as a deacon nominee, the chairperson asked me when I would like to be ordained. When I stated I had already been ordained the response was, “Yes, but that was as a minister, not a deacon.”

I explained that in my opinion there was no difference. I felt that all ordinations were to the ministry and that our task was really no different. All of us were to further the gospel in whatever role the church asked of us. I also told the committee that if they required me to be re-ordained, it would be a deal breaker for me.

I was the asked if I thought a deacon could become a pastor without having to be ordained again. When I responded, “Yes”, I also told the committee of a church in Brazil in which I once ministered that required its deacons to conduct services at “preaching points” throughout the city.

Somehow or another, that seems fitting to me. Acts 6 teaches us that deacons were obtained in the early church to assist pastors in ministering to the widows and orphans. However, in my view, the principle here is that a church which is asking someone to serve as a deacon has the responsibility to determine what that deacon’s role is to be. If it is true that deacons should serve their church in roles that provide relief to the pastor, then the church must define what that role should be. However, whatever the role is, it is accomplished as a ministering servant.

In my church deacons are elected annually. About this time of the year we receive a letter asking if we would be willing to serve in the coming year. We determine whether or not we wish to serve. It is our choice. Some years, when I know I will be out of pocket, I decide not to serve that year, and my name will not be on the ballot. If the next year I see that I will be able to serve, my name will go on the ballot.

Our church used to have a rotation system and it was a constant source of problems. Consequently, we decided just to have every willing deacon stand for church approval every year, if he desired to do so, and if there were no issues that would prevent him from doing so. If there are issues, such as moral failures, etc., the Deacon Nominating Committee, acting for the church, deals with those.

In my opinion, deacon fellowships should not be self sustaining. In other words, the church should select the deacons, qualify them, ordain them, if necessary, and determine what the role of that church’s deacons is to be. Too often we fall into the trap of thinking that only deacons are qualified to determine who should and should not be a deacon.

It will be much better for most churches if they will quit seeing deacons as the Board of Directors for the church, and begin seeing them as a fellowship of ministering servants committed to whatever roles the church assigns them.

Nothing in scripture gives deacons the task of operating the church. They are always serving the church. The very word “deacon” means servant. If a church deems a person worthy to be set aside for the work of a deacon, it is asking that person to be a ministering servant.

THE BEST THING I KNOW

Text: Hebrews 1:1-3

INTRODUCTION:

A few years ago I was invited to join the organization of a guy who was an agent for public speakers. He wanted me to sign up with him so that he could get me places to speak, like at civic clubs, or other groups who wanted to have a speaker for their dinner or some other occasion. He tempted me with the offer that companies would pay big money for a speaker who could make people laugh, but make sense at the same time.

When I told the guy that I was a preacher and wasn’t sure if I could fill the bill as a public speaker outside of churches. Besides, I told him I wouldn’t know what to speak about.

He said, “The best public speakers just speak about what they know best.”

I said, “What I know best is Jesus and churches.” That pretty much ended our negotiations. I guess there isn’t much demand at civic clubs for someone to talk about Jesus.

On the other hand, the Book of Hebrews was written to meet the demand for informing Jewish Christians about their new religious faith, and in particular about Jesus. The book is written using a lot of language a Jew would understand. But it was all about Jesus.

Throughout this entire epistle, all you read about is Jesus. The writer of Hebrews is telling you the best thing he knows. He is telling you about Jesus.

That’s pretty much what I will do in this message. I will tell you about the best thing I know. Jesus is everything to me. He is my friend, my confidant, my companion, and my Savior. To me, as I struggle to be a peacemaker, He is the prince of peace.

For those who hunger and thirst after righteousness Jesus is the Bread of life and the Living Water. He is the Rose of Sharon, the Lilly of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star. In Heaven He is the King of Kings. On earth He is the Lord of Lords. He is the Wonderful Counselor, the Son of the Most High God. He is Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.

He is all I need, all I want, and sufficient for eternity. He is Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. He is the best thing I know.

The writer of Hebrews knew that the early church needed to be reminded that Jesus is its best thing.

I. THE EARLY CHURCH NEEDED TO BE REMINDED OF ITS BEST THING.

The Hebrew Christians to whom this book was written had suffered years of unrelenting persecution. Some of it was by the hands of their former religious leaders. Some of it by the Roman occupiers of their country. Now, it seemed these Christians were changing their focus. They had begun to focus on things that were good at the expense of things that are best.

Some were focusing on angels, and wanting to follow angels. The work of angels is to do God’s bidding. Whatever God wants them to do, that is their job. They deliver messages and they watch over God’s children.

Angels are good things. The writer of Hebrews admits that. But he also makes the case that while good, angels are not the best thing. Angels have their place, but they are not to take the place of Jesus. We would do well to remember that even today when T.V. will do shows about angels, without ever mentioning Jesus.

The message of the writer of Hebrews is, follow Jesus. He is the One of Whom God said, “This is my Son.” He is the One about Whom God said, “Let all the angels worship Him.” He is the One God invited to sit at His right hand.

If the focus is on angels, it is the wrong focus. Angels are good. But they are not the best thing. Follow Jesus.

Some were wanting to focus on their religious heritage, by focusing on the founders of their faith---Moses, Joshua, and Aaron. But the author of Hebrews reminds these people that the Word of Christ is greater than any law of Moses.

He reminds them that the land Jesus promised is greater than that into which Joshua led the people of Israel. He also reminds them that the priesthood of Jesus is superior to that of Aaron.

These are good men, says the author, but they are not the best men. Follow Jesus.

Some were wanting to look to religious institutions---the temple and its rituals. But, the author reminds them the earthly temple is but a shadow of a greater one in Heaven, and the sacrifices in the temple serve only as an illustration of a preparation for the greater sacrifice made by Jesus Christ.

These are good things, but they are not the best. Follow Jesus.

Some were wanting to focus on theology---focusing on the fundamentals of the faith. They tried to identify themselves with what the author calls the “elemental truths” of the faith. (6:1-2) The author of the book reminds the Hebrew Christians that, as good as this list is, they need to be going on to other things.

This list of elemental truths is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. Follow Jesus.

In chapter three the writer seems to zero in on the problem these Christians faced. They had unbelieving hearts. See verses 12-15 in chapter three.

So, the writer of Hebrews felt the early church had lost its focus on its best thing and needed to regain it. It occurs to me that the modern church still needs to be reminded of the best thing.

II. THE MODERN CHURCH STILL NEEDS TO BE REMINDED OF ITS BEST THING

The church today still has a penchant for focusing on good things at the expense of its best thing.

Some of the things churches tend to focus on instead of focusing on Jesus are the very things that bring dissension into our ranks.

For instance, when we quit focusing on Jesus and start focusing on our theology we get into disputes about theology. When we start focusing on the preacher instead of Jesus we get into disputes about the preacher.

When we focus on the ordinances instead of the One Whom the ordinances memorialize we get into disputes about how to do the ordinances, who can do the ordinances, and why we do the ordinances.

Churches sometimes get so focused on worship style that we forget to focus on the Person we are worshipping.

When a church loses its focus on Christ and begins to focus on these other things, there will be a noticeable shift in the way people act toward one another in the fellowship.

When we lose sight of Christ we lose the ability to see Him in each other. We begin coming to church looking for problems, looking for negatives. We will find what we are looking for every time.

Consider the buzzard and the hummingbird flying over the desert. The buzzard looks down and sees only dead carcasses. The hummingbird looks down and sees only flowers. Why? Because they are both seeing what they are looking for.

We each see what we look for. If I come to church looking to see who is holding secret meetings in the corner, I’ll find it. If I come to church looking for another casualty of the conflict, another failure in programming, I’ll find it. If I come looking for examples of poor leadership, I’ll find them. If I come looking for evil, I’ll find it.

But, if I come looking earnestly for Jesus, I’ll find Him, and isn’t that why we come?

Focus on looking for Christ in one another, rather than looking for fault in one another. Also, consider this; If I cannot find Christ in my brothers and sisters, it may say more about me than about them. Maybe my heart isn’t in tune with Christ enough to recognize Him in my fellow congregants. Maybe the beam in my own eye is the reason I can’t see Christ in others.

Look for Jesus. The church today needs to be focused on Jesus, His message, His Spirit, and His salvation. One final word about this subject.

III. JESUS IS STILL THE CHURCH’S BEST THING

The greatness of Jesus has been validated by history. True greatness belongs to Him, and not to the weak pretenders of which we make idols.

In our culture we idolize all the wrong things. We idolize sports figures, entertainers, politicians, pop theologians, even Christian authors. But, none of these can compare with Jesus. Jesus is without peer.

But, Jesus is more than the greatest man. He is the very Son of God, He is in every way the incomparable Christ.
But, most of all….and I have saved the best for last….here is the best thing I know about the best thing I know;

Only Jesus can save us.

There is nothing any mere mortal can do to save us. It doesn’t matter how important that mortal may be. It doesn’t matter how powerful that mortal may be. It doesn’t matter how influential, or how noble, or how kind, or how rich, or how anything else that mortal maybe. Whoever he or she is…they can’t save us from our sins.

Churches cannot save us. No matter how fervently they believe their doctrine, no matter how socially conscious they may be, no matter great their worship, no matter how terrific their choir, no matter how much their budget….churches can’t save us from our sin.

It matters not if that church has the greatest zeal possible or even if they practice perfect Biblical doctrine…churches cannot save us.

Even the cross alone cannot save us. No matter how brutal the act of crucifixion, no matter how much suffering the crucified person does, no matter how cruel and unjust or even how undeserving the victim. Many have been crucified who cannot save us.

No, neither man, nor the church, nor the cross itself can save us. We can only be saved by Jesus, Who is Head of the church, and the One who hung on that cross and Who is now eternally sitting at the right hand of Father God pleading our case before our judge.

The church can’t save us, but the Jesus of the church can. The cross can’t save us. But the Jesus of the cross can. No mortal can save us, but the eternal, immortal Jesus can.

On that cross “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.”

CONCLUSION:

There are many good things about the church. But, if you are looking for the greatest thing, the most glorious thing, the best thing, then I would point you to Jesus.

Jesus is the best thing I know.

That fellow who tried to sign me up as a public speaker doesn’t realize it, but he missed out on the best thing he would ever hear.

There is an old song that tells what I feel:

Ask ye what great thing I know
That delights and stirs me so?
What the high reward I win,
Whose the name I glory in?
Jesus Christ, the crucified.

Who is life in life to me?
Who the death of death shall be?
Who will place me on His right
With the countless hosts of light?
Jesus Christ, the crucified.

I WEPT

Unashamedly, I wept as the Ft. Hood Memorial Service came to a conclusion Tuesday afternoon.

I wept for the thirteen American soldiers whose lives were taken, most of them in the prime of their lives. I wept because there was no sense in this tragedy.

I wept for the nineteen children who lost a parent.

I wept for the moms and dads who were willing…so willing…for their sons and daughters to go to war, and, if necessary, give their lives, but who must wonder why their offspring was killed in the relative safety of a military base.

I wept for those who lost a spouse.

I wept for the one unborn child of a woman killed last Thursday.

And, yes, I wept for the man who killed these good people. I wept because he apparently believed it was God’s will that he commit this terrible act. I wept because he thought he served a God who desired such. As President Obama said, “No faith justifies such an act and no just and loving god looks upon it with favor.”

I wept for our nation. I wept because the world expects the United States to be the policeman for the rest of the planet. I wept because the sacrifice of our young men and women is not appreciated, while their deaths are celebrated by those so-called holy men of radical Islam.

I wept when Isaiah was quoted and I wept when Isaiah was read. I wept when Taps was played and I wept when our president laid his Presidential Coin, the highest award a sitting president can give, on the memorial of each f the fallen.

I wept at the stirring sight of boots and helmets, the time-honored memorial of a fallen soldier. How impressive it was to see.

I am not one given to much weeping. However, on this day, and during this memorial service, I wept. Today, I will fly the flag for Veteran’s Day.

WHAT GOD WANTS IN A LEADER

It really doesn’t matter what we think makes a good leader. The important thing is what does God want in His leaders.

I have trained dozens of Pastor Search Teams. In the beginning of almost every one of them, someone suggests polling the congregation to see what the members want in a pastor. I always ask, "Which is most important…what the members want, or what God wants?” They always give what they think is the politically correct answer, “Well, what God wants, of course!” Then I suggest to them, “Well, then, why not ask God instead of the members?”

However,knowing that it is the correct thing to do to ask the people what they think, I suggest that they word the questions to the members like this:

1. What do you sense God is doing in our church at this time?
2. In light of your answer to # 1, what qualities of leadership are required for our church at this time?

Our most recent Sunday school lesson was from 1 Thessalonians, chapter 2, where qualities of leadership are discussed. This lesson teaches itself. I asked my class to place themselves on an imaginary Pastor Search Team and think about and share with the class what qualities of leadership they would like to see in a pastor.

Most of them were able to pick up on some pretty great ideas. They talked about things like an obvious walk with Christ, a love for people, better at ministry than administration , etc.
Then I asked them what they most did not want in a pastor. They mentioned things like not an empire builder, not a egoist, not a manipulator, etc.

Then we got into the lesson in 1 Thessalonians 2. This passage talked about five qualities that are desirable in God’s leaders. These five things are courage (vs. 1-2), integrity (vs. 3-4), humility (vs. 5-6), loving (Vs 7-9), and inspirational (Vs. 10-12).

The interesting thing about teaching this lesson was that as we talked about each quality members of the class commented on our own pastor and how he measured up. Don Guthrie is a pastor who just about exemplifies each of those five qualities as well as any men I have ever known.

What was really interesting is listening to my class members tell anecdotes about our pastor that illustrated each of those qualities. It was risky, because it could have degenerated into a gripe session. Instead it was a love feast, where church member expressed how much they loved our pastor and how blessed we are to have him in our church.

It didn’t start out that way, but as I began talking about each of those qualities of leadership, people could not help but see them illustrated in the life and leadership of the pastor we all know best….our own.

A VISION OF GOD

Text: Isaiah 6: 1-7

INTRODUCTION:

The greatest need most of us have is the need to see and understand God.

I am convinced that the greatest shortcoming in our generation is the inability to see and understand God. If there were some way for us to communicate a vision of God completely, there is no doubt in my mind that people would flock to Him.

It is appalling how woefully ignorant our generation is about the Creator. It seems as though everyone wants a designer God, created ju8st the way they like to think about God, and doing only what they want Him to do. They don’t want a God Who gets in the way of what they believe. They don’t want a God Who is going to affect their behavior in any way. They don’t want a God Who speaks in “Thou shalt nots….” They want a God Who will say, “Oh all right. Go ahead.”

We do not want a God Who gives us moral absolutes, or Who imposes Himself on the decisions of our lives.

When I hear people talk about the kind of God they serve or want, I am even more amazed at the people of the Bible. Think about the kind of faith a man like Abraham must have had. God came to him in the desert and told him to gather his family and belongings and move to a land He would show him.

Can’t you just hear the discussion with his wife when he went home and told her what they were going to do? “We’re going to do what? We’re moving? Where to?”

“I don’t know”, he replies.

“What do you mean you don’t know?”, she asks. “Who is guiding us?”

“God,” he says.

“What God? Did you see Him? What did He look like?”

“No,” he said. “I didn’t see Him—but I heard Him speak to me.”

His wife replies, “Now let me get this straight. You heard a voice but saw no one. He told you to pull up your family and move and you don’t even know where we are moving?”

That’s the kind of conversation most of us would probably have had, but I suspect Abraham’s wife was much more faithful. She knew her husband, so she went with him to that unknown land.

Just think about the kind of faith it took to do what they did for no other reason except that God asked them to do it.

Wouldn’t you like to think you had that kind of faith?

We live in a world that doesn’t really understand when we say we know God, that we have a personal relationship with Him. If you say something like that to many people they will look at you like you are some sort of weirdo.

People in out culture doe not want to believe in anything they cannot see, hold and touch. Ours is a world that has to see God in order to believe in Him.

So it is that I conclude, the most pressing need we have in our generation is to the need for a fresh vision of God. But, we will not have it, at least not the way most people want it.

Why? Because3 if God were to show Himself to us, we would not need faith. The Bible says we are saved through faith…there would be no faith…no need for faith, if we could see everything about God.

So, without that vision we are left to other devices. One device we rely on is the Word of God. In God’s Word we are given a wonderful collection of pictures of God.

The truth is, God has allowed us to see and understand Him. His Word, His Son have given us a picture of the God Who created the universe. I contend that what we need today is a renewed vision, a fresh picture of God and a fresh encounter with Him.

Some of us are still running on our childhood vision of God. We have not moved beyond that because we have not had any new, fresh encounters with God since we were saved in childhood. I contend that we all need to have our vision of God renewed once in a while. Once in a while we just need to appear before God and admit we haven’t been close to Him for a while, so our vision is blurred and our behavior has been affected.

Not only do individuals need a fresh vision of God, so do churches. When we get to the point where we think we know better how to run our lives and His church, we need a fresh vision of God. We have got to come back to the point that we are all clamoring with our shouts of “I want this or I want that”…and ask afresh and anew, “What does God want?” But, we won’t come to that point without a fresh vision of God.

Before you can know God’s vision for your life or the church, you have to renew your vision of God. There can be no vision from God until there is a vision of God.

Let me share with you for a few minutes the kind of things you are likely to discover afresh about God, when you seek this fresh encounter. You can join the ranks of the likes of Isaiah, who said, “I saw the Lord….”

Look what the prophet saw when he saw the Lord.

I. YOU WILL SEE GOD’S PERFECT GLORY

One of the big problems some people have with God is about this perfection business. From early elementary school we are taught there is no such thing as perfection. There are no perfect circles, no perfect squares, no perfect triangles or rectangles. Truth be told we don’t eve know how to define perfection because we have never seen anything that was perfect.

Not long ago I saw a young couple on a game show on T.V. They were about to be married. The young woman was asked what the ugliest thing about her chosen mate. Without hesitation she answered, “His feet.”

Then the young man was asked the ugliest thing about his fiancé. He thought for a moment and said, “There is nothing ugly about her. She is perfect.”

Now, remember I told you they were about to get married. Let’s find him and ask him again in about six months.

Even if there was something perfect for us to observe, we would not be able to see it perfectly because of our imperfect minds and bodies.

Perfection is a stranger to us in any area of life, except when we get a vision of God. When Isaiah saw the Lord, high and exalted, he saw the perfection of the glory of the most high God. When we see God we are treated to a view of His perfection. That is His glory. His love is a perfect love. His good is a perfect good. His white is perfectly white. His kingdom is a perfect kingdom. His grace is perfect grace.

If we could hear His choir we would hear every note perfectly sung. All of His works are perfect. Even imperfect man bears testimony of the perfection of God. This perfect God made man with the ability to decide for himself. God chose not to make us robots. He could have, but He didn’t, because this perfect Being did not want man to have to worship Him. He wanted us to choose to worship Him.

God made us all with the ability to become a perfect spiritual being some day. That day will be when our vision of God is of the first-hand variety, when we live with Him in eternity.

A vision of God will enable you to see God’s perfect glory. Also, a vision of God WILL ENABLE YOU TO SEE YOUR OWN IMPERFECTION. That’s what the prophet saw. And, that’s what you will see.

II. YOU WILL SEE YOUR OWN IMPERFECTION

The principle is this: The closer you are to God, the more of your own imperfections you will see. The farther you get from God, the better you look to yourself. If you are not seeing your faults, you are not close enough to God.

Isaiah saw the glory of God and responded like this; “Woe to me. I am a man of unclean lips and I live among people of unclean lips, and my eyes beheld the King.”

So, you see, how you see yourself is greatly affected by how you see God.

It reminds me of those soap[ commercials where they show you a white shirt that has just been washed. It looks nice and white. They then sow you another shirt that has been washed with their detergent, and when it is put up against the first shirt, that first one looks sort of dingy. It looked O.K. until it was compared to the one that was really white.

You know the problem? We are constantly comparing ourselves to other dirty laundry. It is only when we compare ourselves to God’s whiteness that we see ourselves as we really are. And the kicker is this….the closer one gets to God, the more of his own imperfections will be seen.


The prevailing thinking is the closer we get to God the better we become. The reason is this…the closer we get to God, the more of our own imperfections we have to deal with and the more we deal with them the closer we are to the Lord.

It was the vision of my own sin and the thought of its penalty that made me begin to search for a way out. I found that way out in Jesus, and having found Him I have become aware that I am the recipient of His perfect love.

However, since my salvation I have experienced many more fresh encounters with God, and these serve to continually remind me that my desires and my tendencies are still largely carnal, seeking to become more spiritual.

And that brings us to the last thing Isaiah saw. He saw an angel place a burning hot coal on his unclean lips and said, “Behold this has touched your lips; and you iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven.” So, not only will you see God’s perfection and your own imperfection, but you will see purifying for perfection.

The Apostle Paul told the church at Colossae, “…let us cleanse ourselves from all the filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

He went on, “We warn and teach everyone with all possible wisdom, in order to bring each one into God’s presence as a perfect individual in union with Christ.”

Here’s the bottom line: We can never be good enough to deserve to live with God in Heaven. The only way we can get good enough is to be made perfect by the blood of Jesus Christ. In theological circles that is known as the doctrine of justification. We are justified by our faith in Christ.

God’s kingdom is perfect. How could it remain perfect if He allowed imperfect beings into it? That is the essence of our Christian faith. Before we can live with God in Heaven we need an overhaul. We need to have some work done on us in order to be able to live in eternity with God. Jesus does the overhaul, and it has an eternal lifetime warranty.

However, He wanted us to have a “fullness of life.” The way we do that is to go back periodically for a tune-up, consisting of a fresh vision of God.

The only hope we have of entering the Kingdom of Heaven lies not in our ability to make ourselves perfect, but in the fact that Jesus, our Advocate, has said we can come into Heaven on His perfection.

Also, the only hope we have of living the triumphant, abundant life Jesus wants us to have, is to refresh our vision of God from time to time.

CONCLUSION:

How long has it been since you have had a fresh encounter with God? Is your understanding of God dependent upon what others tell you about Him? Is God nothing more than a Santa Claus, a vending machine, perhaps a computer or even a museum oddity? Do you need a new, fresher understanding of God?

Why deprive yourself one more day without coming to God for the blessing you need and He wants you to have?

BGCT LOSES A STRONG VOICE

Lee Saunders has been a strong voice on BGCT matters for some time. A former candidate for First Vice President of the convention, Lee’s voice was respected by all of us in the blogging world. He, of course, writes the blog called, Deep In The Heart.

Lee’s church has voted to leave the BGCT and become part of another convention in Texas. That means, of course, that Lee’s commentary on the BGCT will, of necessity, be that of an outsider in the future. My guess is he has too much integrity to comment on a convention in which he no longer participates, just as I have refrained from commenting on the inner workings of the other convention.

I for one will miss Lee’s analysis. He always helped me sharpen my own views and helped me to see some things I may not have otherwise seen. For the most part, he was spot on with his observations. I sometimes felt, though, that he never really understood how the BGCT was different from most other state conventions. That is true of a lot of guys who come into Texas from other states. It takes a bit of time to understand the culture in Texas denominational goings on. I know how elitist that sounds, but I do not mean for it to be.

I believe Lee understood us about as well as anyone else who comes into our state from other convention experiences. Perhaps it is that very fact that enabled him to provide some insights we might otherwise not have known.

Texas is one of a handful of states that is able to stand on its own without any help from the SBC. That is one of the things that caused so many SBC leaders so much consternation back in the eighties. They knew Texas did not need them and that birthed a number of issues that caused great divisions to exist.

All in all, Lee contributed. His voice was welcome and it will be missed. God speed, Lee.

AN INSPIRING STORY

(The following story was written by Luke Matheson and published originally in the Arkansas Varsity. I was so moved by the story that I wanted to share it. It has been edited here for length.)

“Thamail Morgan took the kickoff and headed up the field.

He was at the 20 ... 30 ... 40

He had been avoiding, dodging or just simply running through tacklers on the way. Football always had come easily for Morgan. This game was no different. By the time he hit midfield, only open space was ahead of him. The two-time Arkansas all-state selection was headed for a touchdown.

40 ... 30 ... 20

He glanced at the clock and saw the final seconds ticking away. He realized his team, Cave City, was on the way to a victory over Yellville-Summit, comfortably ahead, 34-16. He also realized two other things: This wasn't an ordinary game. And he wasn't the same Thamail Morgan.

When he reached the 2, he stopped. He took a few steps back and took a knee at the 5-yard line.
Yelleville-Summit is a co-op program, a combination of two small rural schools in the northern part of Arkansas, near the Missouri border. Combining the schools allows them to field a football team. But even then, the squad is so small that coach Calvin Mallett has to bring extra uniforms in case a lineman gets hurt and someone needs to fill in.

On Sept. 11, before a game with Salem, the schools came together for a pep rally. Afterward, four of the players piled into the bed of Kymball Duffy's truck to head to his house for a pre-game meal. As Duffy came over a hill, he quickly came upon a brush pile in the road. Duffy swerved into the other side of the road, attempting to avoid it. He lost control of the truck, sending it into a tumble.

The four players in the back - whose names are not being released - were thrown from the vehicle. Miraculously, three of the players in the back suffered only minor injuries. A fourth remains in the hospital but appears to be headed for recovery. Duffy was killed at the scene.

Players from Yellville-Summit and Cave City met at midfield before the game for a moment of remembrance. Players on both teams wore a No. 72 decal - Duffy's number - on their helmet.
The game began and Cave City quickly scored. Minutes later, it scored again. And again. All hope for a storybook ending appeared lost.

Thamail Morgan is the type of player who can dominate a high school game. On every play.
He was coveted by most Division I programs in the South. Then it all changed. In January, he violated an unspecified school rule that banned him from athletics for a year. Morgan would be eligible for basketball during his senior season but not football.

A year away from football would hurt his chances of gaining a scholarship, so - after considering a number of options - he transferred roughly 40 miles away to Cave City. His scholarship offers did not travel with him.

"Before I screwed up and got myself into trouble, I had some schools like Arkansas, Florida State, Ole Miss, and some other big schools looking at me,'' he said. "Now they are not looking at me, but I have no one to blame but myself for that. Hopefully I can get on someone's radar, even if it is a lower level D-1 or D-2 school."

Cave City coach Jon Bradley was willing to take a chance on Morgan. But only if he met certain conditions. He not only is required to attend extra weight lifting and conditioning exercises, he is required to participate in after-school activities with a local church and meet with a pastor on a regular basis for counseling.

"Everyone makes mistakes," Bradley said. "Thamail made some mistakes that did not allow him to play football anymore at Newport, and we knew what those mistakes were when he came here. I sat him down and talked to him, and let him know I was willing to give him a chance, but there were certain things that he would have to do in order to play for our program.

"So far, he has accomplished, and continues to do everything he has been asked to do, and then some. He has transitioned well and the kids here have accepted him. He is doing well in class, and is a leader on the football field and is a great athlete. We feel fortunate to have him."

Bradley said he didn't get word the game with Yellville-Summit was going to be played until Tuesday. He then wondered all week how it would play out. I did not know what to expect due to the tragedy,'' he said. "You go into the game wanting to win, but then, you feel bad doing it. When we went up 21-0 in the first quarter, I just can't explain how I felt. The atmosphere was so weird. I just can't explain it."

His players sensed it too.

"They told me on the sidelines that Yellville-Summit was not into it and they did not want to pad stats or run up the score,'' he said. "At that time, I started substituting our kids in and out of the game."

At this point, what the game represented became clear to Bradley.

"Everyone was glad that they were out there playing, getting some sort of return to normalcy,'' he said. "But everyone was going to be glad when it was over."

It was 28-8 at halftime. Then 34-8 at the end of three quarters. Yelleville-Summit scored a second time with little time left to make it 34-16.

They had to kick off, sending a line drive that bounced its way to the back. To Morgan.
"We didn't even think they would kick off," Bradley said. "And we had him (Morgan) all the way back. It was our top return team, but we only have one return team."

What he did next surprised Bradley.

"I did not tell him to kneel down, he did it on his own," Bradley said. "I did not expect them to kick it to him. I figured they would kick away, because he has the ability to break away. I did not know that he was going to do what he did. He broke tackles, ran sideline to sideline, and got to the 2, and just stopped. That is when he backed up and took a knee on the 5-yard line."

The gesture was well received.