Fresh Mercy

Scripture

The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning.

~Lamentations 3:22-23, NLT

Quote

Old ways seldom open new doors.

~Image Quotes

As I was praying yesterday about Tom’s COLS, my mind flashed back to May 22, a Marathon Sunday at DBC. For the last 21 years, I have had the privilege of speaking at our WEE Care graduation. This year, the house was packed and not one of them came to hear me. Tammy wants me to fill in the time between their program and the graduation which is hard to do. So you are speaking to an audience that doesn’t want to hear you and you are watching to see when the kids are ready so you can hush. I am not that good of a speaker so this year, I told her what I was going to do. 

To be honest with you, I came up with the idea on the way to the service. My plan was to tell a Max Lucado story out of his book “Gentle Thunder.” I had Catfish to wire me up [I’ve done this gig solo for years and it was good to have help] and I walk out on stage talking to the children as they exit. Somehow, my conversation with the children relaxed me and I begin to forget myself. I begin the story and something wonderful happens, the metaphors and adjectives are rolling off my tongue and I feel the Spirit of God, the mighty Ruach coursing through my veins. I knew what was happening but I understood that the audience did not. Did the audience get quiet? Were they really listening? I don’t know, I because so engrossed in the story that I was oblivious to what was going on around me. 

Now, back to my prayer and preparation for Tom’s COLS, “I thought LORD, do for me today what you did on May 22nd,” but before I could enter that thought in my prayer journal, I had another thought, “I don’t need to asked for this do I LORD because you have something fresh and new for me today, right?” Whatever grace you are celebrating about yesterday, it is a good chance that you will never see that exact grace or mercy again. Don’t get upset, God is not running out of mercies or grace: He has something new and fresh for you each day. His mercies are new every morning.

• Praise the LORD for a good day. Tom’s service went well. I knew I would leave some things out if I did go by my notes but the notes get in my way. Sure enough I thought of three things I should have said on the way to the car. Tom was a great man, not because he did great things but because he did little things well. God loves to use small things: He gets more glory. To bring down the blaspheming Goliath, God used a little boy, a little sling and a little stone.
• Its hard to believe that today is Wednesday; it will be like Monday to me. It is also hard to believe that it could get so dry so fast: we need rain. Pray for rain. Drought oppresses me and depresses me.

Thanks For The Memories

Inconsistent Behavior

SCRIPTURE

Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being.“

~Matthew 16:17

QUOTE

If your are persistent, you will get it: if you are consistent, you will keep it.

~Image Quotes

Matthew 16 is very interesting: in verse 17, Jesus blesses Simon Peter, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being.” Then Jesus tells the disciples about His death….”That it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. With this Peter takes Jesus aside and reprimands Him… “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!” Then notice what Jesus says in verse 23, just 6 verses from the blessing… Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

Peter went from being blessed to being embarrassed in a matter of minutes. Are you plagued with inconsistent behavior,  up and down, on and off, fired up and fizzled out. To be a credible witness for Christ, we have to be consistent. As a teenager, I was terribly inconsistent and no one paid any attention when I tried to witness. As an older teenager, I realized that my hypocritical behavior had destroyed my influence. People were not taking me seriously. I got all fired up in revivals and then fizzled out a few weeks later. I was an Alka-Seltzer Baptist: I made a lot of racket and then fizzled out.

• Another great service. I’m telling you, David and all the band have done a superb job this week. Sloan and Mr. Hardy did great. The congregational singing has been off the charts. We had a ton of visitors last night: if we could get our members to come, we would have REVIVAL for sure.
• Our pre-service prayer meeting is getting thin: Deacons and whoever, tonight at 6:30 in Jerry’s LCBS class.
• I can’t tell you what a blessing it is to drive the van–the kids make my day. Sissy is a hoot. I put her in charge last night because I didn’t know all the kids. We picked up some new ones that Sissy and Dian invited. These kids are always happy. It’s hard to explain why they are happy and we are not. Chloe got upset that she did not get to ride the bus. I think Holly promised her she could go tonight.
• Joe David did the Hospital visits…Both of Karen’s parents are sick and in the hospital. Mrs. Hill is in HH and Mr. Hill is at DGH. He is not doing well: very weak and labored breathing. Pray for the Hills and for Bill Wilbourn.

Trivial Pursuits

SCRIPTURE

Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace.

~2 Timothy 2:22, NLT

QUOTE

Most people would prefer a change of circumstances rather than a change of heart.

~Warren W. Wiersbe

We are all in pursuit of something and it has to do with our core values. What do you value most? What is your highest priority? Is it financial security, a nice home, a condo on the beach, comfort, a cabin on the lake, a new husband, season tickets to Auburn games or perhaps some other form of entertainment. Americans have sold their soul for entertainment; we are going to entertain ourselves all the way to hell. The curse of worldly pursuits is that you might get them.

Paul said, “Pursue righteousness, faithfulness, love and peace.” We need to set our affections on things above and not on things here on earth. Instead of craving better circumstances: more income, a better job, more comfortable living conditions–why don’t we crave a change of heart. Oh that this very day, Christians everywhere would repent of their worldly pursuits and seek righteousness, faithfulness, love, peace and REVIVAL.

• Jay set us up on WORD PRESS several years ago because it is simple and FREE. The only problem with FREE is they [WORD PRESS] wants you to get hooked and then buy the real thing. The FREE stuff is full of glitches and the more you use it, the harder they make it on you. Each night I set my font color on black and it changes back to gray. Sometimes I spent 20 minutes trying to get it right and last night I just gave up. So I am going to try blue. I don’t really like it but hopefully I can tell if they change it before I post.
• We are still needing prayer for Gary, Kane, John, Mavis and Keri. Gary is discouraged; Kane slightly better; John came home but still has some recovering to do; Mavis was dehydrated and has UTI. She will probably come home today. Also, add Allison Blackwood to your prayer list.
• Full slate this SUNDAY: Deacons at 8:15, Coffee, donuts and biscuits at 9:00, LCBS at 9:15, Worship Celebration at 10:15, Visitation and AWANA at 5:30 and evening worship at 6:15.
• Yesterday was an unusual day, I have had a lot of them this week. On my way to DGH I was praying, I said, “LORD my heart feels like glass, I don’t seem to hear You whisper like I once did; is it me? Am I not listening?” Then I had to apologize immediately, the LORD has spoken to me clearly several times this week in my BIBLE STUDY. On my way in to ICU, just a few steps from the door I hear a voice coming out of nowhere, “Who made the trees?” Then I hear the innocent voice of a little child say, “Godddd.” “And who loves you?” said his mom, the same little voice said, “Jesus.”  I did not touch my phone, it was in my pocket. I don’t know what I did, but it was the video Allison sent me. My phone is so smart, it knows when I need encouraging.
• June is a nervous wreck, she is afraid that Patton is going to get hurt, maybe paralyzed. She loves to watch him play but tonight it has been painful. He makes good reads but there is no zip on the ball. He has no feeling in his throwing hand.
• COLLEGE BIBLE STUDY REPORT: 29 in attendance, PTL.

FAITHFULNESS

SCRIPTURE

So look at us as mere servants of Christ who have been put in charge of explaining God’s mysteries. Now, a person who is put in charge as a manager must be faithful.

~1 Corinthians 4:2-3, NLT

QUOTE

“Three-fourths of ministry is just showing up.”

~Ron Ritchie.

In the summer of 1995, Baltimore Oriole Cal Ripkin Jr. broke Lou Gehrig’s record of most consecutive games showing up for work 2,131 times. The ball park thundered with applause and standing ovation which lasted for 22 minutes. How did Ripkin do it? He simply showed up. He played through headache, colds and nagging injuries. I doubt very seriously that he began his career with Gehrig’s record in the back of his mind. The Lou Gehrig record may have motivated him in the end but it was his personal work ethic that made the difference.

Showing up in one part of faithfulness, one very important part–sometimes the hardest part. For those of us who follow Jesus Christ, we must get rid of everything that slows us down, especially the nagging sins that keep hindering us. A big part of life is letting go of things we don’t need. We must be determined to run the race that Christ has laid out for us. We must keep our eyes on Jesus, who leads us and makes our faith complete. Jesus showed up for us at Calvary and He was suffering more than a headache or a sprained ankle. Jesus made no excuses: He did what had to be done.

We are not going to finish our race by making excuses and evading responsibility. You can’t follow Jesus unless you man-up, show-up and refuse to give-up. How is this possible? There is only one way– we keep our eyes on Jesus. Stay focused on His faithfulness and His ability to complete our faith.

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
O’er us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conquerors we are!

So turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

• Gary is still making progress, PTL! Larry talked to the doctor last night and they may take the ventilator out today and wake him completely on Thursday. We do praise the LORD for good news: we love good news…keep praying.
• Kane is back at St. Jude and if I understand correctly, he will be there for awhile. The sugar issues are from a high dose of Chemo and the steroids. The doctors at St. Jude say this expected and that everything is going according to the plan. I say thank YOU Jesus for St. Jude.
• Remember Judy Davis in prayer.
• Becky and Terry’s granddaughter Aurora had a knot on her leg that they were concerned about but Doctors in B’ham said it was a bruise with some bad tissue.
• Josh and Charity’s baby son Jonah will be having surgery this Monday.
• If you are a Patriot you will want to click on this link…

A LITTLE EXTRA

In Texas there is a town called New Braunfels, where there is a large German-speaking population. One day, a local rancher driving down a country road noticed a man using his hand to drink water from the rancher’s stock pond. The rancher rolled down the window and shouted: “Froh, dich zu treffen! Trink das Wasser nicht. Die kuehe haben darein geschissen.”  Which means: “Glad to meet you! Don’t drink the water, it is full of manure.”

The man shouted back: “I’m from New York and just down here setting up Hillary’s presidential campaign. I can’t understand you. Please speak in English.”

The rancher replied: “I said, Use both hands.”

A Protracted Meeting

SCRIPTURE

So Paul left the synagogue and took the believers with him. Then he began preaching daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.  This went on for the next two years.

~Acts 19:9-10, NLT [1996 edition]

QUOTE

It is impossible for us to be our best at a moment of crisis when we have consistently been unfaithful in our daily walk.

~F.B. Meyer

I learn something new practically every day. As I was reading yesterday, I realized for the first time what Paul did at Ephesus. He went to the Jewish Synagogue for three months, that I had noticed but what takes place next, I had missed. There were 12 believers when Paul arrived at Ephesus. They knew only the baptism of John but were anxious to be baptized in the name of Jesus. This became the nucleus of the Church at Ephesus. When the Jews did not respond, the tiny group of believers found another meeting place and this church meet every day for two years which is 730 straight days and Paul preached every day. This is what the old folks use to call a “Protracted Meeting.” Can you imagine preaching for 730 straight days! Wow!

• TODAY we pray for SENIORS.
• I just learned last night [Feb. 14] that my good friend Curtis Stanford was promoted at the young age of 48. Curt was the pastor of Forrest Hills Baptist Church and lead the church to phenomenal growth in his 12 year ministry. Curt is married to Kim Brown, daughter of Lamar and Linda Sue Brown. The news was unbelievable. Curt had a heart attack and did not recover. Visitation Sunday night at Peck, 6:00-9:00. Memorial Service Monday weather permitting. I think Curt and Kim have a little boy named Caleb.
• LADY HAWKS advance, play Deshler Wednesday at 9:00 weather permitting. Deshler is ranked #1 in the State but we can beat them if we play up to our capability. We have depth that most teams don’t have. The Lady Hawks are the high school version of the Kentucky Wildcats. The second unit played as much as the first yesterday and they played extremely well.
• Regular Schedule today: Joe David is battling a sinus infection but Lord willing he will preach the am service. I will preach at 6:00 Lord willing. I think the bad weather will hold off until tomorrow night late. Lori wants the 10 inch snow. Aunt T wants sunshine. She got that from her granddaddy.
• Blood Drive for Kane TODAY!

• HOUSES FOR GUATEMALA begins today. How many can we do in a month? I am praying for 20!

Hindrances to Revival #12–UNFAITHFULNESS

Day of 16 of 24

SCRIPTURE

Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.

~I Corinthians 4:2, NKJV

QUOTE

It is impossible to be our best at the supreme moment if character is corroded and eaten into by daily inconsistency, unfaithfulness, and besetting sin.

~F.B. Meyer

I have often wondered what would happen if we faked a revival. What if every member who was not providential hindered were to show up this Sunday? Do you think I would get excited? I think it would be exciting for everyone. How hard is it to be faithful in worship attendance? How is it that some are but most aren’t? What is the difference?

• Today we pray for FAMILY.
• DHS Girls high school volleyball in Regional Tournament Friday at the Von Braun Civic Center at 10:00 am.
• Feed the Team [DHS football] Friday at 7:00, Parlor Kitchen.
• SAMARITAN PROJECT Saturday 7:30 AM…Coats and Jackets to the park.
• JERUSALEM PROJECT Saturday 8:30 AM…Putting in a handicap ramp
• African A cupola Choir Sunday am service. A video of the group should be on Facebook. They will be singing at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg later this year.
• Senior Adult Fish Fry October 31, 11:30 am.
• TRUNK-A-TREAT Friday October 31, 5:30-6:15
• Time change November 2
• REVIVAL November 2-5 with Wade Morris.

Wade Morris…The barefoot Prophet

• VETERAN’S DAY–November 11

Disappointed But Not Shocked!

SCRIPTURE

On the way, Jesus told them, “Tonight all of you will desert me”… Peter declared, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.” “No!” Peter insisted. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” And all the other disciples vowed the same.

QUOTE

Make no vows to perform this or that; it shows no great strength, and makes thee ride behind thyself.

~Thomas Fuller

Great LIFE CHANGING BIBLE STUDY lesson today on the faithfulness of God. It is difficult to think about His faithfulness without thinking about our unfaithfulness. It is  equally difficult to live a life without making some vows. A vow is a promise with an oath. I have heard them made and I have seen them broken and so have you. We humans are horrible at keeping promises. Take the disciples for example: they all pledged their life to Jesus but when the storm hit, they deserted Him. Of course Jesus knew all along they would all break their promise and run like frightened rabbits. I believe Jesus was disappointed but He was not shocked.

About 20 years ago I promised a 12-year-old boy that I would take him to Opry Land Theme Park before Summer was over. Summer got by me and I failed to keep my promise. He is a grown man now and every time I see him, I think of the broken promise and I wonder if he remembers. If he does remember, what does the memory bring to mind? Uncle Jack is a promise breaker! I hope he has forgotten because I cannot. I don’t understand why, I forget everything else.

• We will be getting into Matthew 18 today Lord willing: it is a tough chapter, one I am tempted to skip.
• The BLOCK PARTY offering is next week. Our goal is $2,000 and no individual can give over $100. You can, but they will only apply $100 to the goal. I guess this is as close as I get to throwing out a fleece but we are sincerely seeking God’s will, not yours or mine. We have one more week to pray and prayer is exactly what we need most. There are two kinds of people: those who act and those who are acted upon, which do you prefer to be? I want to be active but I don’t want to act without the LORD’s guidance.
• It will be yours truly today…this morning THE WRONG QUESTION {Matthew 18:1-6} and tonight THE TAX PROBLEM {Matthew 17:24-27}. Teco Vargas from Guatemala will be with us next Sunday night July 13 at 6:00.

Faithfulness

Scripture

Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.

~I Corinthians 4:2

Quote

Faithfulness in small things is a big thing.

~John Chrysostom

Eugene Peterson defines faithfulness as long obedience in the same direction. Faithfulness is a virtue that can only be proven over a long period of time. Jesus did not promise us success but He did promise us His presence, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” {Matthew 28:20} Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise. [Hebrews 10:23] God is faithful: hopefully, our goal is to be faithful also. Thomas Jefferson once said, “He does most in God’s great world who does his best in his own little world.”

• Day one of VBS/VBX…pray for us…not a cliché, we need your prayers.
• I went by to see Kenny last night after church, he was feeling just a little better. He goes to get fluids today. Hopefully that will give him a little more energy. It came a flood while I was there:  I hope Jimmy and Sandra got a rain. Here at the house, we got two big rains yesterday. Our garden is a mud hole.
• They keep changing the weather forecast: now they are giving rain every day but temps not too bad. I think the showers are forecast for the evenings. We will take what the LORD gives us.
• Dr. Adrian Rogers use to say, “There is a pain on every pew” and he was right. We have a lot of hurting people. All pain is not physical. A broken heart from a deep disappointment hurts, just in a different way. If you know one of these hurting people, consider an act of kindness today. It could make their day a little easier. Nothing deepens emotional pain like indifference. You can make a huge difference in someone’s life by just caring.

Destined To A Throne

Prayer For REVIVAL in America

SCRIPTURE: Come you who are under My Father’s blessing and take over the government assigned to you from the beginning. {Matthew 25:34, Dallas Willard Paraphrase}

QUOTE: Everyone flatters himself and carries a kingdom in his breast. ~John Calvin

COMMENTARY: When God created Adam and put him in the garden, he gave him dominion. Unfortunately Adam rebelled and lost his right to reign. As I pointed out a couple of weeks ago, the desire to rule over others is seen in infants. In creating man God made them to rule, to reign, to have dominion in a limited sphere, an assigned area: for Adam it was the Garden of Eden. Any being that has no say over nothing is not a person. You can decide what you want for lunch and God made you that way. We were created to rule but only in union with Christ. We were not created to rule independently of Him.

The problem we face is the temptation to get ahead of God. We are created to rule but we are not ready to rule. We must be sanctified in order to rule and this is a process that takes time. A part of the process is learning to follow instructions and learning to serve. We cannot skip the process and go straight to ruling. Eve wanted knowledge but she didn’t want to wait. God would have given her knowledge through her life experience but she wanted to skip the experience and go straight to knowledge. All great leaders were at one time great followers. General Joshua is a good example.  If you do not learn to take instructions, you will never be qualified to give them. If we are faithful in little, Christ will entrust us with much more in the world to come. At present, we are being sanctified. The reigning with Christ will come later.

EXTRA: Good service last night. We had some new faces and it was encouraging. We are working the band to death but they seem to be enjoying it. We do need revival desperately. Senior Adult Luncheon today at 11:30 am. Garden vegetables and those famous Popeye’s Biscuits.

Quitters Never Win

SCRIPTURE: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled.” {Hebrews 3:15, NLT}

QUOTE: “Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul.” ~Douglas MacArthur

COMMENTARY: Practically the entire generation of Israelites who witnessed God’s miraculous power in being redeemed from Egyptian bondage and walked through the Red Sea would quit on God just two years later. When they got to Kadesh, they rebelled against God and refused to fight for the land.  Can you imagine a surgeon, half way through a complicated surgery, just walking out of the operating room and going home? What about a contractor who is building you a house and half way through the project, he loads up his tools and never returns. When you try to find him, you discover that he has moved to another state. What would you think of a lawyer, who packs up his brief case leaves for vacation right in the middle of your trial.

You don’t want to go to a doctor that is a quitter do you? You wouldn’t hire a contractor or a lawyer if you knew they were quitters either! What’s worse, a doctor who quits in the middle of a surgery or a Christian who quits in the middle of life’s mission? I’ve known people who tithed for years and just quit…attended Sunday School for years and then packed in in…witnessed to the lost for years and then gradually cooled off and then quit all together. The Israelites are not the only ones who have quit on God. Getting to the promise land was only the first phase of their mission but their fear overwhelmed their faith and they just quit cold turkey. Don’t you know that Joshua and Caleb were upset with this generation: they turned a two-year trip into a 42 year trip. Their unbelief cost Josh and Caleb forty of the best years of their life. Amazing isn’t it, how our quitting hurts others. What if Jesus had quit on us? All of us would be suffering if He had: Thank God He didn’t.

EXTRA

• We have 16 MATTHEWS…nine short of my goal but I believe some more will respond. I believe we will get the 25 yet.
• Olivia Alred [Jonathan and Emily’s baby] had an all day surgery yesterday and their were some problems with the shunt. The first was not big enough. She was doing well at bed time last night.
• Who but a fool could deny the presence of evil in this world. The bombs at the Boston Marathon make no sense. Why would anyone want to kill innocent people? Why does anyone want to kill period? The media is not covering an event that is its equal [shock, shock]. That would be the trial of the butcher Kermit Gosnell and his house of horrors. He is on trial for killing seven babies and one woman. Law enforcement found 47 babies in his freezer. Google and Kermit Gosnell and read more about his abortion clinic.
• April is ball month at the Bailey’s: we can have as many 4 games going on at once. Planted some squash and cumcumbers yesterday and we have a row of tomatoes. Three rows of corn trying to come up. Beautiful day yesterday. Hope we have another today.