Don't Sleep Thru The Harvest!

It's harvest time, here in Northeast Arkansas. Normally this is the time of year that all of the farmers are in high gear getting their crops out of the fields. However, this year we've had an excess of rain with another 4"-6" in the forecast. Many fields have standing water in them and their crops are simply inaccessible to the harvesters. The abundance of rain around here is quickly becoming a tragedy.

Around here, there’s only a narrow window of opportunity during which the crops can be harvested. However, that’s not true everywhere. Many parts of the world enjoy a continuous harvest season. One can visit southern Florida, portions of the Rio Grande Valley, Southern California, or other tropical areas and discover a continuous process of sowing and reaping. Those regions represent the spiritual realities that we, as Christians enjoy. We have a continuous harvest season in the spiritual realm. There is never a time when one can say that due to bad weather or to the season of the year it is impossible to labor in the spiritual harvest fields. There is always, every day of your life, the opportunity to work in the harvest field.

With that in mind I want to share some rambling thoughts about the harvest. First of all, it is a law of nature that before there can be a harvest there must be a time of sowing and cultivation. You can't reap where you don't sow. However, every farmer knows that his responsibility doesn't end when he puts the seed into the ground. There are months of cultivation between the sowing and the reaping. Farmers will plow up the soil. Then they will plant the seed. After that, proper care will be given to the cultivation of the crops in order to reap an abundant harvest in the fall.

The church should, likewise, be in a continuous process of sowing the seed. The harvest is in our hands. It exists in the form of seeds that have not yet been sown. It is our continual responsibility, as sowers of the seed, to be busy, everyday, sowing the seeds of the gospel. Careful and continuous efforts need to be put forth to cultivate the confidence and the friendship that enables you to reach someone for the kingdom of God. If we are faithful in sowing, in due time we will be successful in harvesting.

The passage of time from spring to fall is long and slow, but the process is necessary in order to produce a harvest. Likewise, winning a soul can be a lengthy, time consuming process, but if we grow not weary in well doing eventually our labor will pay off. One important thing to remember is that harvesting is not a thing that can be rushed. You can’t harvest corn while it is still green and you can’t pick cotton before the bolls open up. This is also true with a soul. It takes time for people to become “ready” for harvest. That amount of time is different for every man. Sometimes we have great difficulty discerning the seasons of a life and if we aren’t careful we grow frustrated. The simple truth about the harvest is that, if we will remain faithful, when the time is right, God will open the door.

While it is true that the church should be continually involved in sowing seed, it is also true that the church should be in a continual harvest season. Where there is a time to sow, there is also a time to reap. To neglect the harvest in the time of reaping is to waste all of the previous effort put forth. It is a law of nature that the harvest must be gathered when it is ready. Cotton will lose its weight and color and quality if it is not picked at the proper time. Corn will fall over and rot if it is not harvested before the winter winds and rain come. The golden yellow wheat fields will turn white and will soon rot if not harvested. The same principle holds true in the spiritual realm. When men and women are ready to be reached with the gospel, there exists an ever shrinking window of opportunity in which we can reach them.

Because farmers recognize this principle, harvest season is a critical season. There’s never enough hours in the day. When a farmer gets a break in the weather and a chance to get into the fields he may run his tractors long into the night or even into the wee hours of the morning because the harvest simply must be gathered while it is ready. So it is with the souls of men. When they are ready to be reached, there may be but a short window of opportunity in which to reach them. The church we must realize that the harvest is urgent! There is an inherent urgency to the hour. We must redeem the time, doing everything we can as urgently as we can to reach those who are ready with this gospel truth!

Right now, in homes across our community farmers are fretting and worrying about the crops that are still in the fields. The quality and value of cotton is degraded every time it gets rained upon after the bolls are open and ready for harvest. However, even more tragic is the fact that it is entirely possible that some of these fields won’t be accessible until the cotton has already been ruined! As the church we should be gripped by that same knowledge. An opportunity is passing from us, even right now. Some soul that is ready to be reached is going to slip into eternity before we reach them if we don’t launch ourselves into the harvest with all that we have. I promise you that, if we can catch a dry spell, the farmers will labor 24-7 to get those precious crops out of the field. How much more urgent should our efforts be? Harvest time is right now!

In Proverbs 10:5 we are confronted with the uncomfortable truth that there are those that choose to sleep during harvest time. "He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame” During this urgent moment when the opportunity is there and souls are ready, there some who would rather be idle and careless as an open door slips away from us. The tragic truth is that, while we sleep, the harvest is going to waste in the fields. Won’t it be a tremendous catastrophe if all those beautiful white cotton fields can’t be harvested this year because of the rainfall. What a wasteful shame it will be to watch those fields go to ruin when it is readily evident that they are ready for harvest.

Unfortunately, the farmers can’t help it, but the church has no excuse. There is no spiritual obstacle stopping us from getting into the harvest. The only thing that impedes us is our own casual laziness. It would be a shame if, after years of cultivating the harvest field, we failed to seize the opportunities that are before us and allowed the harvest to go to waste in the field. The pressing truth is that we don’t have the time to be casual and indifferent about the harvest. We can’t afford to sleep through the harvest. This is our hour and if we do anything less than give it our very best then, according to the proverb, we are a son that causeth shame!

I want to admonish you this morning not to sleep through the harvest! It's high time that we stirred ourselves to wakefulness and realized the opportunity that is before us. A harvest stands ready around us, the only thing missing are the reapers. When Jesus saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion toward them and said to his disciples (in Matt. 9:37 – 38), “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”

It doesn’t take long, as you drive down the roads, to recognize that it is harvest time. As a matter of fact, it is with no small degree of disappointment that we see that the tractors are not yet in the fields. However, as the church, we need to take another look at our world and recognize the same truth. The fields are white already to harvest. How it must disappoint our heavenly father when he looks and sees no laborers working the harvest. Today, I want to encourage you to stir yourself, awaken yourself, and make a fresh commitment to the harvest.

It is harvest time. The harvest is ready. Who will go reap it?

Mercy and Judgment (Part 3)

In Psalm 101:1 David declared that he would sing of mercy and judgment. In that declaration, this was the thing that David discovered: Judgment mingled with mercy produces the sweet sound of praise. I’m no musician, but I know that Harmony is created in music when treble mingles with bass. When high mixes with low, it produces the sweet sound of harmony.
 David, in this moment of reflection, looked back upon his life and recognized the sweet harmony produced by the intermingled threads of mercy and judgment.
 David had learned that no praise is so sweet as the praise of the one that has encountered both judgment and mercy in his life. The sweetest praise is the praise of one that can sing of judgment and mercy together.


No doubt, We are all familiar with the story of Esther, perhaps one of the greatest love stories of all time.
 However, one, often overlooked detail of that story is the process of preparation that Esther endured before her night with the King.
 Twelve months were required in preperation before she was ready for her date with the king. There were six full months of bitter, where she was soaked in and saturated by the pungent bitterness of the oil of myrrh.
 However, during the second six months of her preparation, Esther soaked with sweet odors. She was lavished with exotic perfumes composed of the sweet odors of cinnamon, aloes, cassia and calamus.

The incredible thing about this lengthy process is that the Persians had discovered that the bitter blended with the sweet produced the loveliest of aromas.
 However, while it may have been a breakthrough discovery for the Persians, it was part of the prescribed formula, given by God for the oil of anointing.
 In the oil of anointing, Myrrh was blended with Cinnamon and Cassia, along with other ingredients, to produce the substance that was the vehicle of God’s anointing.
 God has long recognized the irresistible attraction of the mingled aroma of bitter and sweet.
 Even in the Jewish Passover celebration the Bitter herbs that cause them to remember the years of bondage and pain are dipped in the sweet mixture of fruits and nuts that reminds them of the goodness of God.


Bitter and sweet blended together is a theme that echoes through the scriptures.
 Revealed within it is the tremendous truth that Judgment and Mercy mingled together give birth to the sweetest praise.
 This is the wonder of a life lived for God! The hard times mix with the easy times.
 Dark nights give way to bright days.
 Terrible storms of chaos and confusion yield the stage to beautiful sunsets of peace and contentment.
 It is the blending of it all together that produces the song of praise.
 I will sing, David said, I will sing of Mercy and Judgment.


It’s the mingling of judgment and mercy that gives birth to the most pleasant of all praise.
 It’s in the night, when the darkness comes crashing in that your heart truly learns to sing.
 Its in the turmoil and trouble of this life, that you really learn that you can trust in God.
 And it’s the thankfulness for mercy that born in the darkness of judgment that gives rise to the song that moves the heart of God.
 Don’t let the storm steal your song!
 Don’t let the trial rob you of your praise!
 The sweetest sound that heaven will ever hear is the voice of hope that rises from the darkness of the night and declares its faith in the mercies of God.


It’s mercy and judgment mingled together that produces genuine praise.
 This is why the misguided notion of praising a God of mercy but dismissing the idea of judgment will never produce a genuine relationship with God. You can’t know God’s mercy, and truly appreciate his provision, if you never recognize his judgment.

 And the beauty of it all is the wonderful fact that mercy and judgment, working together, produce the wonderful aroma of praise.
 It was the lingering scent of the burnt offering combined with the blood applied to the mercy seat that produced the cleansing fire of atonement in the old tabernacle.
 It was the blending of suffering and mercy that produced our own precious salvation on the cross of Calvary.
 Today, no matter where you are in your life, it is the mingling of mercy and judgment that will produce the sweetest praise in your life.


Mercy and Judgment (Part 2)

God has long used Mercy with Judgment to compliment each other. The people of God experienced the bountiful mercy of God but that didn’t exempt them from the heavy hand of his judgment. Often, the blessings of God caused them to become overconfident in their own abilities and they would abandon the ways of God. Each time judgment came into their lives to lead them back to the mercy and grace of God.

Through the pages of the scripture the co-mingling of Mercy and Judgment was often present. The Ark of the Covenant contained within it the bowl of Manna that had been provided by the grace of God. That wonderful token of blessing was a consistent reminder that God had shown them his mercy. However, in the same ark, under the same mercy seat, right beside the manna lay Aaron’s budded rod, a consistent reminder of the authority and judgment of God.

David said it, in the ever-popular Shepherd’s Psalm, “Thy rod (judgment) and thy staff (mercy) comfort me…” The shepherd’s staff was to sustain and console the sheep. It was the symbol of loving kindness and mercy. But the rod was to discipline the sheep. It was the symbol of correction and judgment. And David said, together, they comfort me!

Even in the Old Testament Tabernacle, we find judgment and mercy mingled together. The Bronze Altar provided the only means of approach to God. It was there that the blood was shed, in judgment. And it was the blood, from the altar, that would be poured out upon the Mercy Seat, obtaining the grace and forgiveness of God. However, the neat thing is that on that brazen altar there was a bronze grate that rested on a recessed ledge inside the altar. The grate, where the sacrifice was placed, was the same height from the ground as the mercy seat. The place where judgment and wrath were poured out and the place where mercy and grace were granted, existed on the same level in the tabernacle of God.

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ fulfilled all the ordinances of the law. He became both our sacrifice and our saviour. Even in his life, mercy and judgment were intertwined. He was bruised for our iniquities and the chastisement of our peace was upon him. God poured out all the fury and wrath of judgment upon himself at the old rugged cross. However, the story doesn’t end there, by his stripes, Isaiah declares, we are healed. The blood that was shed has set us set free. He offered one sacrifice, one time, facing judgment for every man and loosing mercy for whosoever will.

The only place where there will be no judgment is heaven and the only place that there will be no mercy is Hell. Everything suspended in between contains a mixture of judgment and mercy. Some will be constrained by judgment and discover everlasting mercy. Others will reject God’s mercy and afflict themselves with unending judgment. But, in any case, judgment and mercy will always be comingled in this life. The one doesn’t exist without the other. It is the two working together that produces the song of the redeemed.

“I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing.” Psalm 101:1

Mercy and Judgment (Part 1)

On the occasion of assuming the throne of Israel, David wrote the 101st Psalm, which is regarded as the Psalm of the Magistrates. It is said that rulers, after David, read this Psalm on the day of their inauguration. It would certainly be a great beginning point for any administration. Contained within it, is the wisdom of a king and great guidelines by which to rule a kingdom. However, at the outset, as David takes his harp and begins to sing, he reflects upon his life and pronounces a mixed blessing. “I will sing,” David says, “of Mercy and Judgment.”

What a wonderfully strange mixture! When David looks across the landscape of his life and the events that have brought him to this place he is compelled to sing of both Mercy and Judgment. Hidden within the history of his life is a beautifully tapestry composed of both extremes of God’s love. One is the antithesis of the other. One exists on the opposite end of the spectrum from the other. But in the course of his life, David sees the two of them woven together in such a glorious harmony that it produces singing in his heart.

Mercy, taken alone is the obvious instigator of praise. It is the result of God’s blessing and his provision. Everything about mercy is wonderful and good. And one can easily see how David would sing, as he often does in the Psalms, of the wondrous mercies of God. Mercy is a magnificent thing and there is no doubt that this shepherd boy elevated to the throne had ample opportunity to rejoice in the glorious mercy of God.

But David doesn’t just sing of Mercy, he sings also of Judgment. This is much harder to understand. Judgment speaks of the wrath and chastisement of God. No doubt, as David looked back upon the course of his life he saw, mingled among the shining diamonds of Mercy, the dark lumps of Judgment. He remembers the times that God has chastised him. He sees dark moments when, because of his own pride or self-will, he defied the will of God and did things his own way. And he remembers, in vivid detail, the stinging rebuke and the painful punishment of judgment in his life. He remembers what it is to face the judgment of God.

In this critical moment of reflection, David recognizes that any life that knows Mercy will, inevitably, also know judgment. He recognizes that, even in the pain of judgment, there is the understanding that this is the price of Mercy. Had there been no judgment there would have been no mercy! Had God not loved him enough to hold him accountable for his wrongs, God would never have cared enough to deliver Mercy in his darkest hours.

Mercy and Judgment are on opposite ends of the spectrum of God’s love. But they work together in every life. Judgment, chastisement, and the impending threat of them provide boundaries in the life of a believer even as mercy and grace sustain and provide for us. If you took the time this evening to reflect upon your life, you would find the same comingling of Mercy and Judgment that inspired David to sing.

Across the fabric of your past you will see a bright and glorious thread of mercy, that reflects each time God has blessed you and delivered you. That wondrously golden thread of blessing and provision. But braided through the same life is the equally dark and bold thread of judgment. It doesn’t take us long to remember the hard times and difficult places that we got into by our own hand. When we were stubborn and stiff-necked and refused to heed the gentle call of God. We can all remember those times when Judgment compelled us to seek Mercy. When trouble and trial pushed us to our knees and compelled us to seek the face of God. Thank God for that dark thread of judgment in our lives, for it is the judgment of God that keeps us humble and watchful. It is the judgment of God that has taught us to depend on him. We’ve learned, over time, through the venue of our missteps that we can’t place our faith in our own abilities or resource. But we’ve discovered, by the same avenue, that the mercies of God are tender and lovely. And we can place our trust in him.

Judgment keeps us honest, it keeps us submitted to God. While Mercy, precious mercy, keeps us hopeful and confident in the grace of God. We live in a world and a generation that would like to strip God of his judgment. They want to serve and worship a God of mercy but deny that he is also a God of judgment. David understood what this generation has failed to grasp, without judgment there is no mercy. And where there is mercy, there will always exist, right along side of it Judgment. In David’s song, we find them bound together in praise. When they are mingled together in the life of a child of God they produce a reason for worship.

Thank God for Mercy AND Judgment.

Playing Hide & Seek With God

When my boys were younger one of their favorite things to do was to play "Hide and Seek" with me. My youngest son, particularly, delighted in the game. He was really good at finding a great place to hide, but he wasn't so good at staying hidden. As I would begin to search for him he would get tickled at how great his hiding place was. The closer I would get in my unfruitful search, the more he would giggle, until he simply couldn't contain himself. Inevitably his laughter and sheer delight with the game would betray his carefully chosen hiding place.

In my study and sermon preparation this weekend I read a familiar scripture from a translation that I don't use very often. The imagery provided by this different translation brought the memories of playing hide and seek with my young son to my mind. Jeremiah 29:11 begins like this, "I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope. Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will hear you. When you look for me, you will find me." However, the last portion of verse 13 and the first part of verse 14 are what jumped out at me. The Lord declares, "When you wholeheartedly seek me, I will let you find me..." (Jeremiah 29:11-14 GWT)

The wonderful news enclosed in that verse is that we serve a God that wants to be found! To my young son the joy of the game was in being found by his loving father. He wasn't near as interested in evading me as he was in being found by me. That's why it never bothered him that he gave himself away. I want you to know, today, that God wants you to find him. As a matter of fact, He's gone out of his way to make it easy for you. He said, "If you will seek me with your whole heart, I will let you find me."

So many times we convince ourselves that God is hard to find. We often feel like a blind man stumbling in the dark looking for the light switch. When the real truth of the matter is that God is easy to find. The only prerequisite is that we seek him with our whole heart. I wonder, today, what you would discover in God if you would only take him at his word and seek him with your whole heart. I am persuaded that he longs to reveal himself to you, that he has a strong desire to draw you closer to him.

So, what are you waiting on? Perhaps its time that you found a place of prayer and said, "Ready or not, here I come..."

Issues of the Heart

Today my wife and I took our boys to Arkansas Children's Hospital for their heart checkups. As many of you know, both of our sons are under the care of a Cardiologist. They share a common heart defect (they both have bicuspid aortic valves.) However, my younger son was also born with a congenital blockage in his aorta that required heart surgery when he was only 6 days old. The purpose of this visit was to listen to both heart murmurs and insure that nothing was changing in their condition and, in the one case, to check on the integrity of the repair that was done.

Being parents of heart patients, my wife and I have learned a lot along the way about the different conditions that our boys have. One of the things that we learned early on was that they check for problems with scar tissue around the blockage repair by comparing blood pressures taken in the arm and the leg. These two should be relatively close together. Today was the first check in over two years and we were surprised to discover that the nurses noted a 20 point difference between the arm and the leg. This was an immediate source of concern for me and I was quite certain that it would concern the doctor as well.

When the doctor finally came to see us, after a resident and a student had their turns with our boys, he brought up the disparity in blood pressures and told us he had decided to do an echo to check on the heart function and the site of the repair. After the echo was finished, it was determined that the heart function was normal but that the repair was too difficult to see with an echo. Next we discussed an MRI in order to get a better look at the site of the repair. However, much to my surprise, the doctor ordered the MRI to be done next summer.

“Next summer?” I couldn’t believe it. I was ready to find out something right now! The doctor proceeded to explain that even if there was some restriction from the scar tissue developing it wasn’t anything that was happening fast. “Next summer we will be 10 years removed from the surgery,” he said, “and that’s a good point to assess any possible problems.” What he said next stirred my soul. In issues of the heart, according to the doctor, things develop slowly.

I began to turn that over in my mind. It appears to me that, once again, physical truth bears out a greater spiritual reality. In matters of the heart, things develop slowly. I’ve been in church all my life. I’ve watched people come and go. I’ve seen folks lose out with God along the way. But the truth is that I’ve never seen anyone walk away from God overnight. I’ve never seen anyone decide on moments notice to walk away from grace and abandon their faith. The truth is that these things happen slowly.

Bitterness takes time to get a grip on a heart. Unfaithfulness and deceit take time to overtake a person’s convictions. In matters of the heart, it is a slow process that turns one away from God and separates one from the presence of God. I would venture that there are many out there today that are far from God that never intended to end up there. They never intended to grow cold in their spirit. They never intended to let their faithfulness slip. They never intended to put distance between themselves and the loving presence of God. But it happened to them. And it happened so slowly that many of them didn’t even realize, until it was too late, just how far they had drifted from God.

I simply want to remind you today that in matters pertaining to the heart, things happen slowly. It is absolutely critical to each of us that we maintain the condition of our hearts on a daily basis. A drift away from the presence of God may be a slow and gradual process but the absolute truth is that if we aren’t vigilant to bring ourselves into the presence of God on a regular basis, we will drift away from him. It doesn’t happen fast and it isn’t sudden. But, mark my words, it does happen. This is why it is so essential that you maintain a relationship with God, that you spend regular time in prayer and the study of the word. This is what Paul was talking about when he admonished us not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by a process of renewal.

I want to encourage you today to renew your mind in the Lord. Renew your heart in his presence. Allow the goodness of God to wash over you, allow the presence of God to minister to your life. In his presence, those little things that would take root and begin to develop in our hearts are exposed and rooted out. In his presence, conviction stirs our souls and attitudes and issues are resolved. In his presence all things are made new and old things pass away. It is that continual exposure to the presence of God that guards your heart against that inevitable slow drift away from God.

The good news is that, in issues of the heart, things develop slowly. If you've neglected your relationship with God, there's still time to turn back to him. If you've been drifting away from his presence there is still time to get things back on track. I want to encourage you today to make it a point to spend time in his presence. We could all use an honest heart checkup from the master physician...

Today Is The Day!

For those that don't know it, I am a habitual last minute kind of guy. I have lived by the motto, never do today what you can put off until tomorrow. However, the older I get the more I realize the uncertainty of tomorrow. There are things that I desire to do in this life that, if I keep putting them off, may never get done. This is the thought that was on my mind this morning as I read from the 28th chapter of Genesis.

The story is a familiar one. Jacob is on the run, fleeing from his brother's wrath. Esau is sure to pursue him and will definitely be angry enough to kill him if he catches him. So Jacob leaves Beersheba and heads towards Haran but exhaustion and nightfall catch up with him along the way. Stopping for the night, this fugitive lies down to sleep. However, in the darkness of night, God visits his dreams.

Jacob dreamed that night of a ladder stretching from heaven to earth and he saw angels ascending and descending on the ladder. In his dream, the Lord stood above the ladder and declared, "I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac..." The most interesting thing, at this point in the story, is what God didn't say. He said, I'm the God of Abraham and of Isaac, but he didn't say anything about being the God of Jacob.

This meeting between God and Jacob was not just a chance encounter. Jacob is on the run. Life's problems are more than he can bear. He has caused in his life a situation that he simply cannot face. Death and Destruction are on his trail and he is desperately looking for a place of escape. He needs some shelter, he's in desperate need of a savior. It is fitting that, while he was running from his problems, he ran headlong into the problem solver!

He didn't plan it this way. He wasn't looking for God. He wouldn't have counted himself worthy to be in His presence. Rather, God came looking for him. God steps right into the middle of the mess he's made of his life and confronts him face to face. Remember me? Remember sitting on your Grandfather's knee and hearing stories about me? I am the God of Abraham. Remember the God that your daddy served? I am the God of Isaac.

God was doing more than just reminding Jacob of the past. The dream that night was about an invitation to a fresh start. The God of Abraham and Isaac was saying to Jacob, I want to be your God too. Cast your cares and burdens on me, I can shoulder your heavy load, I want to be your God. Come walk with me and I will walk with you. god made promises to Jacob that night, follow me and I will fulfill in you the covenant that I have made with your Father and Grandfather.

Jacob woke from that dream wit the knowledge that he had been in the presence of God. The experience was so extraordinary that it frightened him. “Surely the Lord is in this place," he said, "and I did not know it.” In awe and respect he erected a monument to the glory of God. He changed the name of the place, calling it Bethel meaning "the house of God." It was his first real encounter with God. In his darkest night God became more than just a story his Daddy told him. God became more than just the provider his Grandfather had talked so much about. God became real, a present help in a time of trouble.

The thing that got my attention this morning was Jacobs reaction to God's overtures. Jacob vowed a vow saying, "“If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, ​so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, ​then the Lord shall be my God." Jacob had a supernatural experience with God. God had found him at his lowest point and overshadowed him wit the glory of his presence. However, Jacob walked away from that experience with a mind set that said, "One of these days the Lord shall be my God."

God reveals Himself to Jacob. He invites him to taste of the goodness of God. He sends an implicit invitation, I want to be your God. But, while Jacob was awed at the display of God's glory, he wasn't ready yet to relinquish control of his life. Instead he was content to say to God, if you help me then, one of these days, I'll make you my God. What a shame...

The truth, today, is that many of us do God the same way. We know we need to get closer to Him. We recognize that He is calling us to a deeper walk with him. But we procrastinate, saying to God, one of these days I'm going to answer your call. When I get a little older. When i get married. When I settle into a career. When I finally retire. When I have more time. Then I will serve you and you will be to me my God. The tragedy of this is that none of us is promised that we will ever see tomorrow.

There is a reason why Isaiah 55:6 admonishes us to “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found.” It is the same reason that Paul admonished the church in Corinth that "today" is “the day of salvation.” The truth is that there is no guarantee that our "then" will ever become "now." The only now that we have is the day that we were given when the sun came up this morning. I want to encourage you today to make this the day that your "then" becomes a "now."

If you've been thinking that "one of these days" you are going to get right with God, make today that day. If you've been telling yourself that "one of these days" you are going to answer his call, then make this that day. Today is the day, for none of us is promised any other day.

God is still calling out to you. How will you answer Him today?

His Blood Was Precious Blood

Did you know that blood has a voice? When Cain slew Able, God said to him, in Genesis 4:10 (ESV), "the voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground." The voice of innocent blood has the ability to speak and it gets the attention of God. I don't know what all was going on in the throne room of heaven that day but the blood of Able would not be denied an audience with the Ancient of Days. It pressed its way into the presence of God and made its plea known.

Able's innocent blood cried out for vengeance and retribution. Able's blood demanded judgement for a stolen life, for innocence crushed beneath the weight of jealousy and hatred. Able's blood said, "I am innocent and I demand judgement." God responded to the cry of Able's blood and confronted Cain, passing judgement upon him for the murder of his brother.

The writer of Hebrews tells us that the blood of Jesus also has a voice. However, the blood of Jesus speaks better things than the blood of Able. Where the blood of Able cries out for judgement and vindication, the blood of Jesus cries out for Mercy and Forgiveness. This is why I'm so thankful for the blood of Jesus. When He shed his blood on that old rugged cross he became my advocate, the vocal defender of my soul.

Revelation 12:10 describes Satan as the accuser of those who trust in Jesus. It goes so far as to declare that he "accuses them day and night before our God." But, in 1 John 2:1, the word tells me that we have an advocate, a voice that speaks on our behalf. I beleive, this morning, that the voice of our advocate is the voice of the blood of Jesus. That precious blood covers our faults and failings and cries out for mercy and forgiveness. It offers no defense, it makes no excuses, but rather, by virtue of its own innocence, it demands mercy! So John writes in Revelation 12:11, "and they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony."

I'll be the first to admit I've made mistakes and I've not always been perfect. But, when the accuser comes around to remind me of my past, I'll be content today to let the blood speak for me. His blood speaks better things. His blood speaks of mercy and forgieness. And his blood, combined with the word of my testimony is how I'm going to overcome the accuser of my soul!

This morning I celebrate the voice of that precious blood! It speaks of healing and deliverance. It speaks of mercy and grace. I'm so glad that His blood was not just the blood of another spotless lamb. But his blood had the power to cleanse the hearts of men. His blood has the power to heal my body and set my spirit free. I'm so glad that I know that his precious blood still flows from Calvary.

Thank God for the blood!

Bad Things And Good People

This week several preachers that are very close to me are facing very dangerous medical situations. These are good men and what is happening in their lives amounts to a bad thing. Have you ever wondered why bad things happen to good people?

A few years ago my wife and I went through an incredibly difficult time. Our first son was born and required surgery when he was only 6 days old. In the following 2 years he had 6 surgeries for a variety of reasons, none of them was particularly life-threatening, but each of them represented a difficult obstacle for his mom and I. We discovered, in that time, that one of the most difficult things you can do, as a parent, is to relinquish your baby into the hands of a surgeon and watch them walk down that lonely cold corridor that leads to an operating room.

Two years and 23 days after my first son was born, his little brother made his grand entrance into this world. The doctors recognized, almost immediately, that there was a problem with our newborn son. The saga that followed was the culmination of an incredibly difficult 2 years. Our baby boy was born with a congenital heart defect. As they rushed him to a special care facility we were cautioned that it was likely that he wouldn't survive the trip.

I'm so thankful, today, for the power of prayer. Prayer was made that day, in the name of Jesus, and a process of healing began. There was an immediate radical change in the condition of our son's health, however, six days later he still had to undergo heart surgery. When the surgeons were finally done with us and he had recovered enough to finally go home, they warned us that we were looking forward to, at least, one more surgery within the next 4 years. However, that 4 years came and went and my precious son has not needed the second surgery. God is good!

During that trying time I contemplated the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" During one of my study times, God impressed an answer on my heart. I'll never forget preaching a message that rose from the answer to that famous question.

Today, nine years later, I find myself contemplating the same question. I'm going to have to go digging through my old notes and see if I can find and revisit the sermon I preached then. But I don't have those notes handy at this moment and I just want to jot down some random thoughts that are running through my mind in relation to the subject.

God, in his infinite wisdom, treats all men equally. As the scriptures say, time and circumstance happen to every man and, when it rains, it rains on the just and the unjust alike. Just because you are a "good person" doesn't mean you are sheltered from the rain. It only means that you will never go through the storm on your own. It will rain, the trials will come, and the difficulties will be there. But through it all, God is there with you to strengthen and encourage you as you overcome the obstacles in your path.

I believe that there is a reason for this. If God began to reserve hard times and difficult things for only those who truly "deserved" them then he would no longer be the impartial judge that his very nature dictates that he must be.

Consider this: God is no respecter of persons. Our salvation is based upon this premise. The gospel is to "whosoever will." It wasn't reserved just for those that were "good" enough because if it were, we would all be lost. Rather, God shows his mercy, without partiality, to anyone that will hear and obey his word. David said, in Psalm 130:3 (ESV) "If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?" The answer is simple, none could stand if God wasn't impartial in his mercy.

This simple truth follows that premise. God doesn't mark down your righteousness as reason to exclude you from the storms of this life because if he did, his righteous nature would dictate that he mark down your iniquities and exclude you from his mercy.

Because of this I choose not to fear the storms of this life but rather to celebrate the fact that the same God that is impartial in the trials and tragedies of this life is abundant in his mercy towards me! He walks with me through every valley. His rod and his staff, they comfort me. He prepares for me a table in the presence of mine enemies and all of this is possible, in his righteousness, all because he didn't shelter me from the valley!

The Man In The Mirror

Near the end of the first chapter of James, the author admonishes his readers to be doers of the word of God rather than hearers only. He immediately lets us know that the one who hears the word but doesn't apply it to their lives is caught in a trap of self deception. They have convinced themselves that, because they have chosen to expose themselves to the life giving word of God, then they are, by virtue of that fact, righteous.

There is a problem with their logic. It is not enough to simply hear instruction if you refuse to act upon it. Hearing the word of God has never been a standard of salvation. However, acting upon what the word tells us has always been the cornerstone of salvation. Therefore we should all strive to be more than just hearers of the truth of God's word, we should each strive to apply it to our lives.

James follows that profound truth with a supporting example that, I believe, contains volumes of truth. He tells us that the person that hears the word but doesn't act on it "is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like." (James 1:23-24 ESV) This individual is distinguished from the doer of the word who looks in the mirror and sees his own reflection but doesn't forget what he has seen and so acts upon it.

The difference between the two is what I find interesting today. The first is an individual who studies the mirror for the sake of looking at the mirror. He's not nearly as concerned about what he sees in the mirror as he is with studying the mirror itself. The second man, however, isn't gazing intently at the mirror at all. He, rather, is captivated by what he sees in the mirror. It's his reflection that is cast by the mirror that has captivated his attention.

The world is full of people who claim to be students of the word of God. Educated men who have devoted themselves to the study of God's word as well as casual students who study the word from time to time. Most people who profess a faith in God attempt to spend at least some time each week reading the word of God. However, James has exposed us to a truth that there are two kinds of people that study the word.

First there are those that read the word or listen to the preached word for the sake of studying the word alone. They read for understanding and insight into the language and meaning of the word. They may dig deeply for some truth concealed in the word of God. However, for the most part, the object of their interest is the literary work called the bible. They hear the unmistakable voice of God's word but their focus is on the voice more than what the voice is saying.

Another group exists, though, that studies the word not for the sake of knowledge about the word but rather for the sake of knowledge about themselves. These seekers peer intently into the word of God in an effort to catch a glimpse of their own reflection in it. The purpose of their pursuit is not a knowledge of the scripture but rather a knowledge of themselves. They listen to the voice of the word in order to hear what it is saying about them.

There will always exist a gulf between the first and the second. The hearer only will change the word to fit their philosophy of life. Molding it and crafting it to fit in their world view. These individuals can take the bible and bend it to say anything they want it to say. They are masters at fitting the word into their view of life.

The doer of the word, however, will always be changed by the word. They read the word in order to see their life as it is reflected by the truths contained therein. Their life focus is to be molded to fit into the view of their life presented by the word. They remember the reflection of themselves that they have seen in the word and make the changes that conviction has dictated in their hearts. The hearer studies the word to find a way that is pleasing to them, the doer studies the word to make sure they are pleasing to the word. There is a vast difference between the two.

I am challenged today to do more than just read and research the word, rather I'm looking for the man in the mirror...

Strangers and Pilgrims

For some reason, over the past several days, my mind has been on a foreign country where I have ministered in the past. I have found myself, several times over the last week, or so, stopping to pray for the missionaries that I know there and the church that has been established there. I've got Asia on my mind and that's where my thoughts are flowing from today.

Taiwan, and Asia at large, is a unique place with a rich culture. The people are different, the language couldn't be further from English and the customs have a character and flavor to them that are unique to that region of the world. One of my favorite memories from my first trip to Taiwan was sitting down with Bro Richardson and a Taiwanese gentleman and learning the ritual and culture involved in the brewing of tea. Just the sharing of a casual, common drink was a ceremony of sorts that had significance and meaning wrapped up in each step of the process.

Over the years I've been privileged to make several trips to Taiwan and minister there. Early on, even before the first trip, I began to study the language and the culture in an effort to acclimate myself to what I knew would be a totally different kind of place. Being a consummate reader, I read everything I could that dealt with China and Asia at large. I hired an Air Force translator to teach me Chinese and later I enrolled in a college level Chinese course where I learned not only to speak Mandarin but to read and write some of it as well.

When I was there I did my best to fully embrace the experience, making every effort to adopt the customs and practices that were native to the land. However, no matter how hard I tried, it was always going to be painfully obvious that I was a stranger. I could speak enough Mandarin to get around on the streets, but not without a pronounced western accent. I could honor the customs and attempt to say and do all of the right things but never would I get it perfectly right because, the simple truth is, that I never fully grasped the significance of each thing. As hard as I tried to blend in there was no way to conceal the fact that I was still a foreigner. I felt comfortable and at home in Asia but the simple truth is that I was a stranger, and that is all I will ever be in a foreign culture.

In the second chapter of his first letter to the church, Peter felt led to remind us that we are strangers and pilgrims in this world. "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims," he said. (1 Peter 2:11) The next two chapters contain real world advice on how we should live our lives based upon the understanding that we are strangers. As strangers in this world, we are reminded that we will never quite fit in. As strangers in this world, there will always be something different about us. It will show up in the way we talk. It will show up in the way we dress. It will show up in our manners and customs.

I simply want to remind you today that we are strangers and pilgrims. This world is not our home. We were never meant to blend in. If and when the church becomes just like the world, it ceases to be the church. The reason for this is that our citizenship is not of this world. We serve another king. We are subjects of another kingdom. We answer to a different, higher law. Our lives are governed by a greater authority than the system of this world. We would do well to remind ourselves of that truth often.

Peter recognized the fact that it is in our nature to want to blend in. It is in our nature to want to fit in. Nobody likes to stick out like a sore thumb. For the same reason that I endeavored to learn as much as I could about the culture of China and assimilate it into my life, we feel compelled by our flesh to fit in with those around us. If we aren't careful we will begin to measure ourselves by the standard of this world. If we aren't vigilant we will begin to adopt the thinking and viewpoint of carnal flesh. So Peter warns us, in the same verse, to "abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul."

The passions and desires of our flesh war against our soul and strive to compel us to conform to this world. Our own human nature will endeavor to mold us into a form that is acceptable to this world. But Paul warned us in Romans 12:2 to "be not conformed to this world." Instead he urged us to be "transformed by the renewing of your mind." What a great piece of instruction. Our flesh wants to conform to this present world and so it wars against our soul. But we must understand the simple premise that we may be in this world, but we don't belong to this world. As a result of that understanding, it falls to each of us to insure that, each day, we are transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Each day, we must get into the presence of God and renew our minds. Each day we must find the time to go before the throne of God and be reminded of our true citizenship. It is absolutely critical to our soul and our salvation that we maintain the distinction and separation that identifies us, both to the world and to ourselves, as strangers and pilgrims in this world. Because, one fine day, He's gonna split the eastern sky and call us home to be with him and on that day I'm going to be glad that I never made my home down here.

I want to encourage you today. Heaven is our home. We are the children of the King. We belong to Him and we were never meant to "belong" in this old world. The old songwriter got it right, "This world is not my home I'm just passing through, my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue…"

If Grace costs me anything...

Disclaimer: I haven't posted all week because I've been at church camp with my boys. I thought I'd go ahead and jump start this week with a piece that I wrote about a year ago. I hope you are blessed by it.

The words shocked me. “If grace costs me anything, then I don't want it.” Brent is just a good old boy. He owns a drive-thru coffee shop and, to hear him tell it, his call in life is to share the gospel with his customers. He learned, a long time ago, that I was a Pentecostal preacher and, from my perspective, it seems as if his call in life is to argue doctrine with me every time I pull through his shop.

Not long ago I pulled into his shop and it was obvious from the first hello that he had been prepping himself for my next visit. He launched into a dissertation on how it was unscriptural to consider baptism as a step in the process of salvation. We bantered back and forth a bit as he prepared my drink. I quoted a few scriptures about baptism and I made an argument based upon the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. However, as the discussion progressed, we moved to the subject of grace and ended up discussing the premise, presented in Romans, that faith and obedience are inseparably linked. After a little while, my drink was finished, a car was waiting and we broke off another engaging conversation.

It happened as I was pulling away, and I must admit that I was totally unprepared for it. As a matter of fact I was a little taken aback when he leaned out of the drive-thru window and hollered after me, “If grace costs me anything, then I don’t want it.” I hit my brakes and paused for a moment and, emboldened, he continued, “If grace costs me anything, then it is not grace anymore.” The car behind me pulled up and I pulled out of the parking lot shaking my head in utter disbelief.

I knew such thinking existed, but I had never heard it put so bluntly. The concept is mind boggling. To believe that the grace of God is acceptable only if it requires nothing in exchange is an incredibly self-centered approach to God. What about the disciples? They walked away from everything to follow Jesus. What about Paul? It caused a total change in his life, even his identity was altered. I shook my head in shock because I’ve always believed that the grace that cost so much at Calvary required something of me in return.

This afternoon, I read the first chapter of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “The Cost of Disciplehip.” According to Bonhoeffer, those that would seek to justify sin rather than the sinner have hijacked the message of grace. His premise is solid and his reasoning is sound. I can clearly see where so many took a wrong turn many years ago and perverted the message of grace. As I read, my mind went back to that encounter. It, truly, breaks my heart to hear a sincere young man make such a flawed statement. He really believes that the only way he wants grace is if he doesn’t have to change a thing to get it. The question arises, if God intended to leave his followers just like he found them, then why would he endure the pain and the agony of the cross?

As much as it hurts me to say it, I’ve been witness to this same kind of thinking as it has crept into my generation of Apostolic Pentecostals. It seems that the mentality of the hour revolves around the question of just how little can I do and still be saved. There are those that would say that if you can’t tell me this will send me to Hell then I’m going to do it. Period. The fundamental spirit behind this kind of an approach to serving God is no different than the young man who made the brash statement, "If grace costs me anything then I don’t want it." The end result is the same. It revolves around a mindset that would rather justify lifestyles and fashion choices than to justify the inner man.

Can I humbly say, this afternoon, that no matter what grace costs me, I want it. No matter what I have to leave behind, I’m hungry for it. There is no price too high to pay, no sacrifice too big to make. The old songwriter cut to the chase when he penned the words, “Above all else, I must be saved.”

I firmly believe that God loves you just like you are, but I also believe that He will never leave you that way. I join my voice with that of the early church that proclaimed, I’ve been bought with a price and my life is not my own. Understand this, my consecration and dedication, as manifested by a separated life, are not about earning God’s grace but rather they are about manifesting God’s grace. He made a change in my life and I firmly believe that, if I continue walking with him, that change will be manifest in my life!

We must put an end to the mentality that shuns sacrifice and dedication. It's time to stop the spiritual decay that manifests itself in a desire to please the flesh and appease spirits of this world. We are the children of God. We are called out of darkness and into His marvelous light. It's high time we embraced the costliness of our salvation. Take up your cross, echos the cry of those that gave all they had, and follow Jesus.

This generation my choose a cheap form of grace to the detriment of their own spirituality... But as for me, give me grace -- no matter the cost!

We Started This Race To Finish It

The race had been completed over an hour before. Most of the spectators had already moved on to other things. However, as the darkness of evening settled over the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, a striking figure entered the far end of the stadium. The winner of the race had already been declared. But, to every one's surprise, this lone runner pressed on towards the finished line. As he hobbled into view it became apparent why he was lagging so far behind the rest of the field. One leg was bloodied and bandaged, and his body was racked with pain. In spite of it all, however, John Stephen Akhwari of Tanzania pressed through the cold darkness towards the finish line.

This struggle of endurance in the face of a seemingly insurmountable obstacle brought the remaining crowd to their feet. As the injured runner finally crossed the finish line the crowd roared in appreciation of the remarkable moment they had just witnessed. It would go down in history as one of the most memorable Olympic moments ever. A reporter, recognizing the significance of the moment quickly went to the lone, persistent runner and asked him why he didn't quit the race after he realized that there was no chance at all that he could win it. Akhwari famously replied, “My country did not send me 7000 miles to start the race. They sent me 7000 miles to finish it."

Several times, in the New Testament, this life that we live is likened to a race. Today, I am reminded that we are all running a race. We are all striving to win this race. In athletic events, Paul tells us, all run but only one receives the prize. (1 Corinthians 9:24) However, the wonderful truth of the race that we are in is that we can all obtain the prize. We all run to obtain the same prize and, unlike most races, we can all obtain the thing we are running for.

The reason for this is that the prize for this race does not go to the swiftest. This is a race where the prize goes to the one that endures until the end. Jesus said in Matthew 24:13, "But he who endures to the end shall be saved." Everyone that crosses the finish line of this race will be rewarded with the prize that we all strain for. I want to remind you this morning that the focus isn't on running the race, the focus is on crossing the finish line. The prize lies in finishing the race. And we can all obtain that prize, simply by running with endurance until we finally cross the finish line.

When I was younger I really liked to run. I ran a couple of miles every evening. However, in the fall of the year, after the time changed, it would get dark too early for me to run. (At the time we lived on a busy highway with no sidewalks, and running in the dark could prove to be dangerous.) Each spring, when the time changed again, I would have to start all over again building myself back up to where I could run 2 miles. I discovered that the easiest way to do this was to run until I didn't feel like I could go any further. At that point I would then pick a target, a goal, somewhere ahead of me and encourage myself to push until I reached that goal, where I would slack off and complete the two miles at a walk. The next day I would push myself to that same point then challenge myself to go a little further. Using this method, I could quickly extend my range each day until, before too long, I was running the full two miles. The thing that compelled me was the finish line that was constantly set before me.

Today, I believe that we would all benefit by lifting our eyes from the present circumstances of this race and extending our vision to catch a glimpse of the finish line. I want to remind you that God didn't start you on this journey just so you could run in the race of life. He started you in this race to finish it. He didn't put you in your current situation just so you could throw your hands up in frustration and quit. He put you here, and determined this course for your life, with one goal in mind, that you would finish the race. I want to encourage you this morning, not to abort the process. Don't stop short of the finish line. It really doesn't matter how fast you run, or how well you run, or with how much style and grace you run, it only matters, today, that you keep running. Our single goal, in this life, is to cross the finish line that God has set before us.

Perhaps this is why the writer of Hebrews instructs us to run the race with endurance. (Hebrews 12:1) He acknowledges that there are going to be trials and difficulties along the way. He acknowledges that there are going to be times when you stumble and fall. He doesn't preclude the idea that you may very well find yourself running this race while bloodied and bandaged from the hardships along the way. As a matter of fact, he goes so far as to tell us that these tests and trials are for our benefit and that they must be met with perseverance.

It was verse 12, however, that caught my attention this morning. There the author encourages us to "lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees." We are all running this race, and we all find ourselves in places, from time to time, where our hands are drooping and our knees are weak. But I want to join my voice with that of scripture and encourage you to lift up your eyes and take a long look at the finish line. This is what we are striving for. This is the reason we press on. This is the strength that fuels our endurance. We aren't living for this present life anyway. We aren't running for a corruptible crown. We are striving for the prize of eternal life. We are running for the greatest treasure of all and nothing in this world is worth abandoning the pursuit of the finish line. We started this race to finish it.

I want to encourage you this morning to keep running. Run, that you might obtain the prize. Run that you might cross the finish line. There is no prize for starting. There is no prize, even for running in the race. The prize resides in finishing the race. So keep running...

The Powerful Attraction of an Urgent Harvest

In the fourth chapter of John, Jesus left Judea to go to Galilee. The events that are conveyed in the first 42 verses of that chapter are the direct result of the fact that when Jesus set out on this journey he chose to walk the road less traveled. It seems that devout Jews refused to take the direct rout from Judea to Galilee because it passed through Samaria.

The Samaritans were of a mixed ethnicity. They were part Jewish and part Gentile. As a result they were despised by both Jews and Non-Jews, alike. According to 2 Kings 17:24-31, the king of Assyria brought foreign people in to settle in Samaria in 722 BC. Over time this band of interlopers intermarried and intermingled with some Jews (remnants of the Old Testament's Northern Kingdom) who remained in the area. These Samaritans were not only of a mixed race, but it seems that they also mingled their faiths together into a brand of religion that was all their own.

The Jewish influence from those that were descendants of the Northern Kingdom of Israel assimilated into the Samaritan culture. History tells us that they had their own version of the Pentateuch, their own temple on Mount Gerizim, and their own rendering of Israelite history. As a result, tensions often ran high between Jews and Samaritans. There was even a point in their history, according to the historian Josephus, that fighting between them got so intense that Roman Soldiers were called in to break it up.

Because of all of this, strict Jews, in order to avoid defilement, would normally bypass Samaria by opting for a longer route that involved crossing the Jordan and traveling on the east side. This was the more common, and safer route of travel. This is the way that you would expect a religious leader and his band of devout disciples to travel from Judea to Galilee. However, the scripture says that Jesus "had to pass through Samaria." (John 4:4 ESV)

Jesus "had to" go through Samaria. Not because it was the shortest route of travel. Not because it was the only way to get where he was going. Not because it was the preferred road to travel on. Jesus had to pass through Samaria because of the powerful attraction of an urgent harvest. Jesus was compelled by his purpose, which was to seek and save the lost. That purpose compelled him to pass through Samaria because he knew, as only he could know, that a desperately hungry woman was going to be making a journey to Jacob's well that day. Jesus had to go through Samaria because the harvest was ready and the opportunity was at hand. I believe this morning, that Jesus was compelled to journey through Samaria because, as the Messiah, he was attracted to a hungry heart.

I won't spend a lot of time this morning retelling the familiar story of what transpired at Jacob's well, instead I would like to jump to the end of the story if I could. After Jesus met the lady and ministered to her at the point of her need, his disciples returned. We know, from scripture, that they wondered what Jesus was doing talking with this woman at the well. Perhaps they were wondering, as well, what they were doing in Samaria. I believe that this was the case because when the disciples started discussing food with Jesus, he quickly turned the conversation to the subject of the Harvest.

I believe that Jesus was answering the lingering questions about why he had chosen this route and why he had stopped at this well when he said, "Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest." (John 4:35 ESV) I believe that the thing that compelled Jesus to travel through Samaria was the powerful attraction of an urgent harvest. It was the understanding that the time was right, that a precise moment had arrived and an opportunity was going to pass if it wasn't seized upon that compelled him to journey through Samaria.

I have lived in farm country all of my life. One of the primary crops around here is cotton. Cotton, like other crops, has a very distinct window for harvest. There is a limited amount of time that a farmer has to reap the harvest from the time that it reaches the state of being ready until the point that it is degraded beyond usefulness. There is a precise, particular window of time that is finite and will eventually close. I believe that Jesus, in his infinite wisdom, saw this dear lady in Samaria and recognized that the window for harvest had arrived, that the time was now. He was compelled to go to Samaria because of the urgency of the situation.

In his statement to his follower, and to us by extension, he stressed the fact that the harvest was an urgent, timely thing. He said, you look around and say, "In four months the harvest will be ready." When, in fact, there are those around us every day that are ready right now. Look again, he said, the "fields are white for harvest" now. Paul told the church in Corinth that "now is the day of salvation." (2 Corinthians 6:2 ESV)

My friend, there are those around us that are desperate, hungry and ready for this gospel message now. Today. If we could ever see that we would realize that the harvest holds an attraction that is based in the urgency of the situation. If we wait four months to try to reach them we will lose them. If we wait for a more expedient time, this opportunity is going to pass. For some of those around you, now is the time!

The Psalmist tells us that "the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." (Psalm 37:23) I can't help but believe, today, that God is leading you and I into a harvest that is ready now. I believe that, as God orders the direction and events of our lives he compels us into encounters that have been divinely orchestrated because a hungry heart is present. My prayer today is that you and I won't get lulled into the mindset that looks around at our world and is content to say that harvest is coming "one of these days." Rather, I pray that we will be gripped by the urgency of the harvest and seize upon the moments and chances that God orchestrates in our lives so that we may snatch some "out of the fire" before it becomes too late. (Jude 1:23 ESV)

I am reminded of the words from an old song that says, "Lead me Lord and I will follow." Today I want to do more than just follow the route that the Lord has chosen for my life, I want to capitalize on the opportunities that he places in my path!

The Million Dollar Matress

Last week I heard an interesting story. It seems that on last Tuesday a lady in Hiriya, Israel, had a bright idea and went out and bought her mother a new mattress. Her mother had been using the same mattress for many years and this thoughtful daughter felt it would be a good thing to replace the old, lumpy mattress with a brand new one. Apparently her mother wasn't there when she made the substitution, removing the old and replacing it with the new. After accomplishing her good deed for the day, she grabbed the old, lumpy, mattress and drug it out to curbside for garbage pickup.

This is where the story gets interesting. At some point in the day she realized that she had made a dreadful mistake. In all likelihood, her mother finally came home and recognized immediately what had been done. You see, that lumpy old mattress was stuffed with a million dollars in cash! It seems that the mother didn't trust banks and figured that her mattress was the safest place to hide her life savings. For years she tucked away the excess of her earnings amassing a sum that is considered to be a fortune in any country. But then along came the daughter and started tossing out the things she didn't understand. It made no sense to her to keep that dusty old mattress around.

Once she realized what she had lost she ran frantically to the curb to get it back, only it was gone! The trash collectors had already run and the mattress, presumably, was on its way to the landfill. She quickly notified the landfill that she had lost a mattress with the whopping sum of a million dollars stuffed inside it. What followed would have been comical if it wasn't for the seriousness of the loss. The spent days, with heavy machinery, scouring the landfill in Hiriya, to no avail. The mattress was lost and isn't likely to be found again. The family has now surmised that its possible that some homeless person saw the old mattress on the side of the road and took it for their own. It's entirely possible that tonight, in the city of Hiriya, a poor destitute homeless person is sleeping on a million dollars.

The thing that strikes me about this incident today is the fact that the young lady so casually discarded such a valuable thing simply because she didn't understand the importance of the thing. That old mattress had been there for years, its significance was shrouded by the fact that it was outdated, used up, tired and worn out. So she discarded it. She didn't bother to ask her Mother if there was a reason for keeping it around. She didn't bother to try to discover the significance of it. She just assumed that her limited knowledge of the matter was enough and she tossed the old mattress, along with its fortune, out to the curb.

I am concerned today because, there seems to exist, in my generation, a contempt for landmarks and foundations that have been previously established. The mantra of the revisionists hinges on the idea that anything that is not explicitly stated in scripture is up for grabs. I am sorely afraid that, in the rush to relevance, the essence of who and what we are as a movement will be sacrificed by some on the alter of convenience. I am not one to run around and scream that the sky is falling, however, the more I hear voices among us that question what have long been established positions of the church, the more troubled my spirit becomes. I don't intend any disrespect by comparing our standards and heritage to an old mattress, however, I'm afraid that, in keeping with the story above, some are determined to throw the old mattress out to the curb without ever truly grasping the significance of it.

The stances, standards, and positions we have inherited are not perfect but they have come at a great cost and have been preserved by great sacrifice. It is my desire that a voice of caution would be heard, loud and long, before we tear down in a few moments what was built over the span of generations, before we toss to the curb the riches of a heritage that some of us don't understand. I truly believe that when Esau sold his birthright he thought he was doing what was most expedient for the moment and most beneficial to him. I don't believe he realized the true value of what he lost in that exchange until years down the road. However, the writer of Hebrews tells us that "afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears." (Hebrews 12:17 ESV)

I am afraid that it is possible to barter away something precious today, the value of which will only be realized somewhere on down the road, after it is much too late to repent and turn back. I'm afraid that somewhere along the way, some in my generation are going to begin the frantic search for an old mattress that has been permanently lost to them. The poor lady in Israel employed every resource available but never found the mattress. Esau sought it with tears, but couldn't reclaim what he had lost. I, for one, don't want to walk down that desolate road of regret. I further don't want to see my generation relegated to that path.

I have, long since, determined that I will not casually set aside those things that have defined us for years simply because it may seem to be the expedient or convenient thing to do. Somehow, today, I doubt that the nice, new, firm mattress sleeps half as well as the old worn out lumpy one did. As for me and my house, we're gonna keep the mattress...

The Escape Fire

It happened on August 5, 1949. A crew of 18 smoke jumpers jumped on a fire in Mann Gulch, Montana. On the ground they linked up with a park ranger making their total strength 19 men. As they attempted to advance to a safe location near the Missouri River the fire jumped the gulch and cut them off. The crew Foreman, Dutch, a 33 year old veteran firefighter, had gone ahead to scout and discovered the main fire less than 300 yards from them and advancing. He described the fire at that point as being 200 feet deep and over a mile wide burning 15 feet high.

Recognizing the danger and the fact that he and his crew were caught in what he later called a "Death Trap" he surveyed his options. Forest Service doctrine for fighting fires at that time consisted of four options for a crew in his situation. 1) Find safe harbor in water, however the fire was now between them and the river. 2) Back burn to create a fire stop, however the fire was too close for the back burn to have time to create an area big enough to stop the fire. 3) Work your way through the main fire to get to the relative safety behind it, once again, this option was made impossible by the size and mass of the fire. No one could work through 200 feet of solid flames and survive. 4) The final option and the one that Dutch chose for his crew was to head for high ground. Fires have a way of breaking up and weakening at the top of a ridge line where the ground is rocky and there isn't much fuel.

Dutch returned to his crew and ordered them to reverse course, post haste. About 500 yards later he gave his second order, drop all heavy packs and equipment. As Dutch worked his way to the front of the line conveying this message to each man they began to realize the seriousness of their situation. It was only moments later that they began to feel the intense heat of the main fire breathing down their necks. It dawned on each man that he was running a race he might not win. They began to run for their lives. Some were faster than others and what had been a tight little formation became a long ragged line.

Each man had one thought on his mind, to reach the safety of the ridge top. It became their singular fixation blocking out everything else, they were in immanent danger and there was apparent safety at the top of the ridge. There was only one problem, they were still in the timber and they couldn't yet see the top of the ridge. They didn't know how far away it was or even if they had enough time to make it there. Still they ran, uphill, because that had to lead to safety.

Dutch was the first to break from the tree line several yards ahead of his crew. When he stepped out into the dry grass on the hillside, the top appeared to be 200 yards ahead. Dutch realized, in that moment, what no one else knew, there was no way they were all going to make it to the safety of the ridge top. It was then, in an apparent flash of genius, that Dutch had a moment of intuition. Kneeling in the grass he began to light his own fire, ahead of the main fire.

Three of his crew came upon hem, kneeling in the grass lighting a fire. It shouldn't be hard to imagine what they must have thought when they looked across the open hillside and saw their boss playing with matches in the dry grass. One survivor later said, "We thought he must have gone nuts."

Turning to the men Dutch began to try to explain his reasoning. "Come into my fire" he said. But before he could say much more someone said, "I'm going to the top!" And the three men resumed their race to the top. The next 30 seconds was a dramatic scene as Dutch waded out into the flames of his own fire and pleaded with each man that ran by, "Come into my fire." Like the first three, each man was so fixated with reaching the top that they paid him no mind. Finally, time ran out and the main fire hit them with all of its might. Dutch ran into his own fire and flung himself down in its hot ashes as a 200 foot deep burning inferno broke around him. It took 12 minutes for the fire to pass him by. In that time it consumed all of the crew, save two who made it to the ridge top.

Although the Mann Gulch fire occurred early in the history of the Smoke Jumpers, it is still their special tragedy, the one in which their crew suffered almost a total loss and the only one in which their loss came from the fire itself. It is also the only fire any member of the Forest Service had ever seen or heard of in which the foreman got out ahead of his crew only to light a fire in advance of the fire he and his crew were trying to escape. There is now a name for Dutch's fire and it even has it's own place in Forest Service Firefighting doctrine. They call it the Escape Fire. The two survivors later told a review board that if they had understood what Dutch was doing they probably would have joined him in the safety of his fire.

Can I tell you this morning that this world is destined to be consumed by the fire of judgment. You can't outrun it. You are in a race you can't win. We are surrounded, on a day by day basis with people that are going to lose their bid to outrun the fire of Hell. The real tragedy of the situation is the fact that there is a way of escape, but many of those same people have ignored it.

There is a way to escape from the grip of sin. There is an Escape Fire! On the day of Pentecost God poured out a fire of another kind and it is the only means of escape from the fire of judgment that will one day consume this world. I have made up my mind, on this Tuesday morning, that I'm going to do everything I can to ignite an Escape Fire in my city and invite as may people as I can into it. I realize that, just like in the original story, many will ignore my pleas and pass me by in their failed attempt to outrun the wages of sin. But that won't stop me from calling to a world as it runs by, "Come into my fire!" Somewhere, somehow, somebody will hear my cry and escape the thing that is pursuing them. My job is to keep the Escape Fire burning.

Pardon me while I go build a fire...

Unattractive Glory

In Exodus God commanded Moses to build a tabernacle. This house of worship would become the dwelling place for the glory of God. It was an exquisite building, with a framework of wood overlaid with pure gold. It was concealed behind colorful, costly materials. The tabernacle was adorned with beautiful draperies that, according to scripture, were skillfully embroidered. Its construction was attractive in every way possible.

Only the very best was used to create this tent of meeting where God would commune with man. Moses employed the most skilled of craftsmen. Following the instructions of God, they wrapped the tabernacle in the finest of linens and the purest of gold. They clothed it in royal colors like blue and scarlet and purple. However, the wonder of it all, is that the beauty of what was inside made the coverings pale in comparison.

Within the exquisite finery that covered the tent were riches beyond the wildest imagination. The holy vessels contained therein were composed of pure gold. Beaten into shape by skilled hands, not poured into a mold. They were original pieces. Nowhere on the face of this planet was there any other like them. There were the finest of jewels and the most precious of metals. Everything about the place was exquisite beyond comparison.

But the finest of it all was still concealed beyond the veil. In that holiest of places where the ark of the covenant resided, where the mercy seat was established, beyond the veil was the most precious treasure of them all. God’s glory resided in that segregated area called the Holy of Holies. IT was there that God came down into that place and filled the tent with his own glory. The greatest treasure of the Hebrews wasn’t the gold and jewels that made that place sparkle and shine. It wasn’t the skilled artistry or fine linens. The greatest treasure that they possessed was the glory that resided beyond the veil.

In Exodus 26:14 God commanded Moses to cover all of these unprecedented riches with the basest of materials. He was instructed to cover it all with ram’s skins dyed red and to cover that with badger skins. Badger skins! This was the same leather that was, and still is to this day, used to make sandals for the feet. All of the beauty of the tabernacle was concealed from the eye by a covering of a base, common, valueless material. This remarkable tent was disguised in the unremarkable covering of badger skins. This unique tabernacle that was unlike anything this world had ever seen was completely obscured by the worthlessly common material of choice for sandal makers!

It is unlikely that anyone who looked upon the rough badger skin exterior of the tabernacle could possibly have imagined the riches housed within. Were it not for the cloud by day and the fire by night, no one would have singled out that coarse, unattractive tent as the dwelling place of God. However, housed within the unattractive exterior of that tent was the hope of Israel and the glory of God. It is this striking contradiction that appeals to me today. Beauty concealed in the common. Riches concealed in the ordinary. The glory of the almighty was housed within the confines of the unattractive. God, by design, placed his glory in an unattractive package!

I want you to know, this evening that the Glory of God is often contained in what, to the casual observer, appears to be an unattractive package. On the outside it is base, common and unattractive but when you press beyond the outward facade you will discover that housed within the unattractive is the riches of God’s glory in all of its splendor. There is a lesson to be learned there. Somewhere in the unattractive circumstances of your life, God may be trying to reveal to you His glory.

Consider this. Many years later God invested his glory into a different tabernacle. John 1:1 tells us that “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:14 tells us that “the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” That word translated as “dwelt” means to fix a tent or a habitation upon. It has alternatively been translated as a verb form of the word tabernacle, meaning God tabernacled among us. The idea conveyed is that, in Christ, the glory of God dwelt. It was as a tent spread over him. John said (in the same verse), “we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.” In Jesus Christ, God invested his glory into a tabernacle of human flesh.

This is important to me, today, because Isaiah chapter 53 describes this same Jesus. Starting from verse 2, Isaiah described him this way: “He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” The same glory that was manifest in the tabernacle was invested into the flesh and blood of the person of Jesus Christ. And, once again, the package was unattractive!

Jesus led a life of persecution and opposition. He was well acquainted with struggles and rejection. He was a man of sorrows and pain, who was no stranger to grief and human frailty. When God robed himself in flesh he surrounded himself with ruin and misery. He lived in the chaos that sin had made of the world. He spent long days doing good, with little thanks for his trouble, and long nights watching in prayer. The hard life that he lived took its toll upon his flesh until the prophet looking through window of time would say that there was no beauty about him that we might even desire him.

Such was the nature of God’s glory in this unattractive package that he accomplished his greatest work by the avenue of a violent, shameful death. When wicked men were through beating him, mocking him, and spitting on him, they nailed him to a cross. Satan laughed gleefully as his body was raised on that old tree. The demons of hell rejoiced as the body containing the glory of the Almighty was marred and disfigured beyond comprehension. The men who saw him hanging there that day would rather hide their faces from him than to behold the brutal horror of his appearance. However, just like with the tabernacle of old, one would never guess that the rough badger skin exterior of the one that hung on that cross was but a covering that housed the Glory of God. God reconciled man to himself and let his glory shine in salvation but obscured it all in the most treacherous and ugly event in the history of the world. Concealed within the pain and agony of the cross was the hope of the whole world! God’s glory was, once again, invested in an unattractive package.

I want to share with you a simple truth about the glory of God. There is a certain quality of God’s glory that is at its best in the midst of the unattractive. There is a certain quality about the glory of God that shines its brightest in adverse circumstances. God does his best work when his glory is wrapped up in the unattractive packages of life. Just ask Daniel, who learned this truth in a lion’s den. Or go ask the three Hebrew children who found this out in the midst of a fiery furnace. God’s grace is most obvious and god’s glory shines the brightest in the crucible of difficult times and troubling situations. Paul and Silas discovered this in a Phillippian jail.

Be careful how you judge the circumstances of your life, God has a way of wrapping his greatest miracles in the fabric of trial and trouble. God has a way of concealing his glory in the base, common, unattractive parts of our lives. When things aren’t going our way, when it seems like the deck is stacked against you, when trial and trouble are your constant companions, get ready because that’s the place where God’s glory really shines in your life. I want you to know, tonight, that God’s glory is no stranger to sickness and suffering, its no stranger to trouble and turmoil. As a matter of fact, it is at its best in the most trying of times!

Paul was afflicted with a thorn in his flesh. You will remember the story, contained in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. Paul prayed three times for the Lord to remove this messenger of Satan that continually harassed him. However, God’s only answer was to say, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Paul was learning an important lesson about the grace of God. Often times when we encounter hardships and trial we seek a means of escape from them. We pray, like Paul did, asking God to take them away. We want God to deliver us by substitution. We want him to substitute health for sickness. We say give me deliverance instead of pain and weakness. But the simple fact of the matter is that sometimes God’s glory comes to us wrapped up in unattractive packages and if he substituted something more attractive to us, we would miss the tru blessing of his glory in our lives.

Sometimes our blessings come through transformation, not substitution. Sometimes this is the only way for God to demonstrate his glory to us. Rather than removing the affliction or problem in our lives, he gives us his grace so that the affliction works for us and not against us. His grace transforms us in the midst of the trial. He doesn't change the problem, instead he changes us. It is in those times that we discover the riches of God’s glory in the most adverse of circumstances. Once Paul grasped this concept he respond to the trial by saying, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” This is where it gets interesting.

The verb “rest” is the same word used by John in John 1:14 and conveys the same image and connection to the tabernacle. As a matter of fact in the Amplified Bible the verse is translated this way: "Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me!" Paul was saying, it is in this unattractive circumstance, in this trying time, in this terrible thing that I find that the glory of God has pitched a tent over my life. From the outside it may be unattractive. From the carnal point of view it’s a tragedy. But once I push beyond the veil and get to the heart of the matter I discover the incredible glory of God at work in my life.

Once I got past complaining, once I quit praying for God to take it from me, I discovered that, in my weakness, God was exhibiting his glory. I found the riches of the presence of God, I found that joy unspeakable and peace beyond measure once I pressed through the veil of my suffering and encountered the presence of God. It seemed as if God has cast a tent of badger skins over my life and placed within that unattractive package the immeasurable glory of God! All of a sudden, Paul said, I am “I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (12:10 ESV)

I want to encourage you today that God has a plan and a purpose for your life. Even when you find yourself in hardship and trial, even when you find yourself in unattractive places, lift up your eyes and behold the glory of God. Its in those unattractive circumstances that God pitches his tent over your life and overshadows you with his unfathomable glory! When trouble comes, get ready. When sickness overtakes you, get ready. When your enemy rises up against you, get ready. God is just about to demonstrate his incredible grace in your life. You’re going to come out of the other side of the valley with a fresh experience of God’s glory in your life!

I found a good thing!

"He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord," said Solomon in Proverbs 18:22. Today's post is purely personal because sixteen years ago, today, I began to discover what it means to find a good thing and obtain favor from the Lord. God has graciously blessed me with a wonderful wife that is a princess among women and I must say, today, that I am very thankful for the blessing that she has been to my life.

I am sure that, from the time that it was first recorded, Proverbs chapter 31 has been the standard by which wives are measured. In that biblical portrait of a godly wife we find a woman that is far more precious than jewels and is trusted by her husband. "She does him good," Solomon says. (Proverbs 31:12 ESV) I have to say, today that my wife is indeed far more precious than any material thing. Of all the good things I have found in this life, none even begins to compare to my precious wife. I have learned over the years that I can trust her completly, in all things, because she always does right by me.

The portrait of a wife, in Proverbs 31, is not the stereotypical portriat of a housewife. Solomon doesn't portray a woman that is overly overly occupied with dirty dishes and laundry, a woman whose daily life is defined by the demands of her job, her house and her family. Rather, he portrays a strong, dignified, multi-talented, caring woman who is an individual in her own right. She is her husband’s partner, in everything he undertakes. She is the biblical fulfillment of a helpmate. She is what God created Eve to be, the extension -- the completion -- of her husband who is her partner in this life. This is, in every way possible, the kind of wife that God has blessed me with.

Just like the woman that Solomon described, my precious wife has a good head for business as well as the heartfelt sensitivity and compassion to care for and fulfill the needs of other people, often putting their needs, wants and desires ahead of her own. With grace and composure she approaches the challenges each day brings. Her children will ise up, one day, and call her blessed, but, today, I want to say that I love and respect her for her kind, generous and caring nature.

However, with all that she does and all that she is involved in, this precious wife of mine places here walk with God above all else. Her primary concern is God’s will in her life. I have watched her, on many occasions, sacrifice and do without so she could contribute to the work of God. She is a woman after God’s own heart. "Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain," Solomon said, "but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised." (Proverbs 31:30) This is the kind of wife that I have. She is a godly woman that demonstrates a love for God and a desire to live a life that is pleasing to Him. This, above all else, is the trademark of the woman that Solomon was describing. This is the trait that I cherish above all others.

I have discovered in my life that God has indeed blessed me, beyond my wildest expectations, with a good thing. I cherish the mornings that I get up and discover her open bible on the kitchen table. When I see that open bible, I know that some time during the night she has been up and spent time in prayer for her family. That knowledge, in the whirlwind of this life, is a treasure far greater than any other. To know that my wife is my partner in all that I do and that she stands beside me in prayer.

There is much more that I could say about my precious wife, I have learned that there is wisdom in her words and there have been many occasions that I wished, after the fact, that I had listened more closely to her advice. I am afraid that, in the hustle and bustle of this bsuy life we lead, I may have neglected, on many occasions, to tell her just how precious she is to me. So, today, in front of God and whoever happens to read this post, I want to say that from the bottom of my heart I am thankful for the wonderful lady that God has allowed me to share my life with. She is a woman of virtue, a wonderful mother, a loving wife and the crown jewel of my life.

Sixteen years ago I thought it would be impossible to love my wife any more than I already did. However, from that time to this I have discovered that I knew precious little about what it really meant to love someone. Over the years, through the hardships and victories, I have learned to love my wife in a way I didn't even know was possible. As we celebrate our 16th year together I look to the future with expectation because I know that, with her, I have discovered a love that gets sweeter as the days go by! I look forward to growing old with her by my side.

If I may depart for a momen from scripture I would like to conclude with a nice quote that I read today by none other than the illustrious Dr. Suess. He said, “You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” I want to say to my wife, today, that with you by my side reality is far better than all my dreams! I love you! Happy Anniversiary.