The Old Man in the Back of the Sanctuary

Yesterday, a severe storm came through my neighborhood uprooting trees and causing flooding. I did not suffer harm or damage, but at 11:00am, my power, phone, wifi and emergency alert system all went out. My morning caregiver was with me, but she had to leave at noon. For several hours after she left, I was completely isolated from the world. I fully understood what Corrie ten Boom meant when she said, “You may never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.” He was with me until everything came back on at 5:00pm.

More than a few years ago, Condoleezza Rice spoke at a prayer breakfast in Washington D.C and it has stuck with me all this time. Her father and grandfather were Presbyterian ministers, but she admitted that by the time she was in post graduate studies at U.S.C. she had drifted away from church and worship. Then, one Saturday morning, she . was in Ralph’s super market when a stranger came up to her and said, “You play the piano. don’t you?” Stunned, she replied, “Yes I do. Why do you ask?” He said, “I’m a Baptist pastor and our church needs someone to play the piano. Can you please help us?” She told him that she would. She said that there was just one problem. Sometimes, in the middle of his sermon, the preacher would start singing in some unknown key and expect her to join in. She called her mother for advice and her mom told her, “Darlin’, just play in the key of  C and they will come to you.” Then Condy Rice told the crowd. “You know. I think that’s what God does. He plays in the key of C and we come to Him. Even in the produce section of Ralph’s.”

Here is another modern parable I want to share with you. A farmer named Jed was at his produce stand when he saw his neighbor, Pete, walking up the road with a gunny sack in his hand and said, “Hi Pete. where are you off to?”   Pete replied, “Ed Jones, up the road a piece, wants to buy one of my male pigs to raise for breeding and I’m delivering the little fellow in this sack.” Jed said, “That’s great. If I’m not here when you come back, I’ll see you at church Sunday, Lord willing.” Pete spun around, “Why do you always say that? Do you think God cares about your comings and goings? I will see you Sunday period.,” as he marched off.  Later, as Jed was closing his stand, he saw Pete coming slowly back down the road. His hair was standing on end, his clothes were a mess and he was clutching the empty sack. Jed pulled up a chair and yelled, “Pete, come sit and rest a spell and tell me what happened to you.” Pete plopped down in the chair with a giant sigh and began, “I was almost to the Jones farm when it started to rain. i stepped under a big tree to keep from getting soaked. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning hit the tree. I thought for sure I was a goner. I dropped the sack and the frightened pig ran away. I was too stunned to chase after him.” Jed replied, “I’m sorry to hear that, but I’m so happy you survived it. Where are you going now?” Pete looked Jed straight in the eye and said, “I‘m going home, Lord willing.”  I hope and pray that it never takes a bolt of lightning to remind us that as a son or daughter of God through faith in Christ Jesus our entire new life is to be lived in the will of our Heavenly Father.

We first meet Rahab in Joshua where she is continually called Rahab the Prostitute. We don’t read about her again until the first chapter of Matthew where she is described as the wife of Salmon, mother of  Boaz, great grandmother of king David and a direct ancestor of Mary and Jesus. Could that be the same woman? Bible experts seem to agree that it is the same woman enjoying her new life believing in God. . Every true Christian knows what it is like when God opens a whole new life to us. I have heard it said, “Satan knows our name but calls us by our sin. Jesus knows our sin but calls us by our name to repent and follow Him.” There are people who will dig up our past to try to weaken our testimony. But they are like vandals breaking into and ransacking a house where we used to live. By the grace of God we don’t live there anymore.

We read about “Doubting Thomas” in chapter 20 of John. When Thomas finally saw the risen Lord and worshiped Him, Jesus said, “You believe because you have seen. Blessed are those who believe without seeing.” You and I are blessed because of our faith. We present faith and God presents the rest. When I was 13, my parents and I attended a healing prayer rally, but I remember it like it was yesterday. The sports arena was full of people quietly and prayerfully waiting for the service to begin, as a choir sang, “Only believe. Only believe. All things are possible if you only believe.”

When I was 28, I ran across a paperback book titled “How to be a Christian without being religious”. It was a very simple illustrated version of John’s Gospel. By that time I had already been building a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ for 17 years. I must have read that book at least a dozen times. About 15 years later, I was a service manager and one of my workers turned in his resignation. He told me he and his wife were entering full time Christian ministry. I reached in my desk and gave him that well worn paperback as a present. He looked at the cover and asked, “You think I need this?” I smiled and said, “My brother, we all need it.”  Jesus reveals the difference between relationship and religion in the familiar sermon on the mount recorded in Matthew’s Gospel. He describes two groups standing before Him at judgment. The first group had a personal relationship with Him and did kind, loving things without thought simply because of Jesus’ love and mercy to them. Jesus welcomed them to heaven. The second group had put their faith in religious practices. They were not pagans or evil. They knew of Jesus and even claimed to be Christians doing wonderful works in His name, Jesus will say to them the scariest words in the Bible, “Depart from me. I never knew you.”  The Greek word translated as knew is not describing factual knowledge. It is used to describe a much more intimate knowledge.  So, what is the bottom line of all of this? Nothing I do, even in God’s name, could save me. But what He has done in me when I invited Him into my life has changed me into a new creature as an obedient child of God.

This website is finally back up and running! It was hacked again, but Josh, my brother in Christ, cleaned it up and got it inspected and approved as safe to visit again. God’s Spirit in us will rile the demon in some people, but they cannot stop our testimony.

John 14:6  is the source for my most recent three posts.  Jesus is  who He claims to be. He is the Son of God who became a man so that we can be a son or daughter of God through, and only through, faith in Him. We cannot buy or earn our way into God’s family. The scariest words in the Bible are those Jesus says he will speak to those who thought their works earned them heaven. “Depart from me. I never knew you.” Do you know Jesus as your Savior? Has Jesus introduced you to His heavenly Father as a brother or sister in His family?

For the past nine and a half years, I have written more than 800 posts about my Christian life. I will cover just a few important points here. Our new life as a son or daughter of God begins when we believe in , follow Jesus Christ and repent by turning away from sin and toward God. Two of the most important things I have learned . 1. Never take attacks and criticism personally.  The Spirit in you will rile the demon in some people and the only taste of Jesus they may ever have is when they take a bite out of you. 2.  No matter how rough your life gets, God will bring you through it and His retirement plan is beyond our wildest imagination.

It has been at least twenty years since I served on a jury, but I still remember how the bailiff swore in every witness. “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?” Truth is important in the Christian life to help us expose the lies of Satan, the father of lies. Jesus doesn’t just tell us the truth; He is “the Truth”. Once we believe in and vow to follow Him, Truth is vital . in every relationship. As Christian believers God shows us hidden truth beyond human senses. It isn’t the alarm that wakes us to a new day of life. It is God’s love, mercy and grace that opens our eyes to another day and opportunity to draw closer to Him. We read that Jesus was nailed to the cross, but a few nails could not bind the Son of God. It was Hus obedience to our heavenly Father and His love for you and me that held Hin  there until His payment for our sins was finished. That is truth that can and will set us free.