The Old Man in the Back of the Sanctuary

Bible scholars say the instruction to “fear not” appears 365 times in scripture (once for every day of the year). I have not counted them myself, but I have encountered that instruction often while reading my Bible, so I will take their word for the frequency of those words. Why does God repeat that instruction so often in His word?

I believe it is more than an instruction for us to follow; it is also a warning of the dangers of fear. When the enemy (Satan) can embed fear in our mind, he takes our attention away from God and our service for Him. Simon Peter took a leap of faith when he stepped out of the boat and began walk on the water toward Jesus. He was making progress until he took his eyes off of Jesus and saw the storm raging around him. Fear caused him to sink and call out to ask Jesus to save him. How many times has fear of what is going on around you embedded itself in your mind and distracted you from the progress you were making in your calling service for our Lord?

Several years ago I wrote about an episode I had with fear of falling on my basement steps. Even after God saved me and got me to safety, the fear remained embedded in my mind for several days until God sent a specific verse of scripture and the line of a gospel song that replaced that fear with peace. So whatever is going on around you, my brother or sister, fear not and keep your concentration on our Lord who is always with you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I saw a cartoon on social media this morning of a little boy saying, “Wait a minute. I thought you told me yesterday was the first day of the rest of my life.” It reminded me that every day is a new beginning. In just two months we will change our calendars to a new year and our thoughts will turn to resolutions to make our life better. Why wait? We aren’t guaranteed tomorrow, but we know today is the first day of the rest of our life. What better time to improve our life? Whether it is a  systematic closer walk with the Lord, or a leap of faith toward God’s calling for you, today is the day to act.

“This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalms 118:14 NLT) Daily prayer is so important in our Christian life. We ask God to bless our food at each meal, but I have found the best times each day for prayers are first thing in the morning and the last thing in the evening. In the morning, I thank God for waking me to the opportunities of another day of life and ask Him to guide my actions and words. In the evening, I thank God for the blessings of the day, His guidance and protection. Then I ask God to wipe all anxiety from my mind so I can get a peaceful night of rest and sleep.

Every day is God-made and called today. Rejoice and be glad in every one of them.

The greatest blessing I have received in my long life as a Christian comes each time I am able to offer encouragement to a brother or sister in Christ. When I returned to civilian life in 1965 after four years in the Air Force, I was awarded an exhorter licence by the deacons of my church. That allowed me to preach the Gospel to any congregation in our denomination as a lay preacher. I never felt that I was called to be the ordained pastor of a church, but I enjoyed preparing and presenting the messages from God’s word. Much later, I discovered that the definition of exhorter is “One who encourages”. That has always been my calling and it is what led me to write this blog.

My first time speaking before a group was at church at age 13. Our pastor asked me to share my experiences at church camp that summer with our congregation of over 200. I began by reading 1 Corinthians 2:3 KJV; “I came to you in weakness with fear and trembling.” Then I said, “If you could see my knees behind the pulpit you would know why I chose that verse.” Everyone laughed, including me, and my presentation went perfectly. I never feared standing before any group again. I always felt connect to individuals in each audience encouraging them in some way. I doubt if my limitations will allow public speaking again, but I am satisfied being able to encourage each of you as you read my blog posts. Pass it on!

As I’ve grown older and lost some of my mobility and independence, my blog posts have more often given emphasis to the destination the Christian life leads us to instead of the importance of our journey through life. Several things got my attention this week and I want to share them with you.

A post on my Facebook time line asked how the thief on the cross going to  Paradise with Jesus aligned with my theology. It listed all of the things he didn’t do like baptism, communion, etc. Knowing we are saved by faith, my “theology” was not shaken, but the real question the post implied was are death bed conversions fair? This was my comment, “Is it fair that I have spent 70 of my 81 years of life living a Christian life of service to God and those around me, doing all of those things listed, while some others sneak into heaven during the last few minutes of their life? NO! It is not fair to them. They will never know the joy and blessings I have experienced in this life.”

Even in the storms and trials, we are blessed. The familiar words of the 23rd Psalm remind me, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me.” Lines from a song I heard this week echo God’s promise to us, “Just keep on walking, don’t turn to the left or right. In the midst of darkness let this be your light. Hell can’t separate us and you’re going to make it through. This is the promise I made to you.”

We must draw closer to God through prayer, worship and obedience to the Holy Spirit within us, but we also must value, appreciate and make the most of every moment of life God has given us.

Through the centuries Satan has tried to infiltrate Christian churches with false doctrines and phony preachers. Paul warned Timothy about leaders who would teach what people want to hear and not the scripture and gospel they need to hear. I have witnessed several false movements just in my lifetime so far. If we just train our minds to think positively, with or without a relationship with God through Christ is one. The prosperity “gospel” is another. But I believe two of the most recent ones I have encountered are the most dangerous and destructive to followers.

The first is that when we accept Jesus Christ we are not only forgiven for past and present sins, we are also forgiven for FUTURE sins. If that were true, God would be giving us permission to continue in sin without guilt or consequences. Jesus didn’t tell the woman caught in adultery that her sins are forgiven, just don’t get caught next time. He said, “Go and sin no more.” To receive the gift of salvation, we must repent. Repentance is not just feeling sorry for what we have done, repentance is turning away from sin and turning toward God.

The second dangerous doctrine today is self love. This is what one sister in Christ calls “cotton candy Christianity”. It only teaches scripture that makes you feel good about yourself. There is much joy in living the Christian life, but there are times when a certain passage of scripture or the promptings of God’s Holy Spirit have made me very uncomfortable. In every case, I was turned away from temptation to sin and turned back toward God’s will in my life.  We don’t get to choose only those verses we agree with. Jesus is the Word personified. We can’t accept Jesus without accepting the entire Bible as the inspired Word of God.

How many times have you heard someone say that the Bible says that money is the root of all evil? What 1 Timothy 6:10 NLT actually says is this, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. People desiring wealth have drifted away from true faith and have pierced themselves with many sorrows.” My church could not do good in our community or missions overseas without money. Any object is only good or evil based on how we use it. Loving things, including money, is idolatry. Living our Christian life, we must worship God, love people and use things for good.

When I was a young boy, I seemed to go from one childhood disease to another. I remember one of my aunts saying that the Bible says, “Suffer little children.” Those three words do appear in Matthew 19 of the KJV, the only English translation we had back then. But if you read the entire chapter, it is clear in 1611 England suffer meant allow and had nothing to do with disease or pain. I use the NLT for this blog to avoid that kind of misunderstanding.

Satan loves to take God’s words out of context just as he did three times when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness. Even in the Garden of Eden, long before there were scriptures, he asked Eve, “Is that really what God said?”

Lord, help us to keep every word of scripture in context so that your truth will light the path you have for each of us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This blog was established nearly 8 years ago not only to mentor new Christians about what to expect in their walk with the Lord, but as a reminder to mature Christians about how far they have come and encourage them to draw even closer to the Lord. I watched a video today that did that for me. It was taped live in front of a large Spirit filled congregation. Joseph Larson and his sister Grace Larson Bromley sing, “I Thank God”. It is another great description of being “born again.” The song has a lot of repetition for emphasis, but this is the message.

“Hell lost another one, I am free! He picked me up, turned me around and planted my feet on solid ground. He healed my heart and changed my name. Forever free. I am not the same. I thank the Master; I thank the Savior; I thank God!”

If you are reading this and  have not made the decision yet to put your faith in Jesus Christ, look up that video and watch it all the way to the end. After the song, the pastor skips the sermon; but recites the sinner’s prayer with the congregation. Pray that prayer sincerely and you will experience the new life, the Christian life as a child of God, that is described in the song and in each of my blog posts. Hell will have lost another one and you will be set free.

If you saw a scary warning from your search engine and came onto this site anyway, I want to assure you that all of the spam that prompted the warning has been removed and you can safely read any of my blog posts again. The warning should be removed the next time the site is indexed. It bothers me that the enemy is still trying to keep my regular readers away from my blog, but I pray that the Holy Spirit will give others, like you, the courage to come on anyway or at least try again later when the warning has been removed.

I have written before about the storms we go through in our Christian life and the mountains we encounter sometimes to hinder our service for our Lord. This ordeal has been a huge mountain for me, but my 70 year relationship with God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit within me confirms the truth of these words from one of my favorite songs, “I have not seen a mountain God can not move.” With the prayers of many and the skilled hands of my brother in Christ, Josh, the mountain is now just a mole hill of a warning that should soon disappear as well. Praise God!

Earlier this week I discovered over 11,000 gambling casino ads from around the world posted on my website. When my friend , who designed my website, checked into it he also found that more than 1,000 people have signed in as users on my site. He compared it to an invasion of cockroaches; something I know a lot about. It is an invasion alright, but the one behind it is our spiritual enemy.

The more readers I have in the U.S. and around the world, the harder he has come after me technically and physically. I am convinced he is the one who tried to trap me in that horrible nursing home to put an end to the blog and to me. Thanks to the countless prayers that went up on my behalf God set me free and guided my doctors to get me well and back home sharing God’s message with you. There is much for which I thank God. Most importantly, it appears that none of my more than 700 posts have been affected and I will continue to post new ones while the website is being cleaned up.

Please continue to keep me in  your prayers, because I’m sure the enemy will continue his attacks just as sure as I will continue to stay strong against him with your supporting prayers and God’s help. This is what Christian life and service is sometimes like, but there is joy, peace and even excitement in the storms.