Working For Nothing

Pray for MY HOPE

SCRIPTURE: I said, “I worked hard for nothing. I wore myself out, but I did nothing useful. I used all my power, but I did not really do anything. So the Lord must decide what to do with me. He must decide my reward.” [Isaiah 49:4, ERV]

QUOTE: “The mountain climber is not intimidated by a mountain — he is inspired by it. The persistent winner is not discouraged by a problem — he is challenged by it. Mountains are created to be climbed; adversities are designed to be defeated; problems are sent to be solved. “ William Arthur Ward

COMMENTARY: Isaiah 49 is about the SUFFERING SERVANT, the Messiah, so how do we reconcile verse four with the rest of the chapter. We know that Christ did not labor in vain. David Guzik says that verse 4 refers to Christ temptation and that He was tempted with discouragement. The above verse being descriptive of what went through His mind. Guzik may be right, I don’t know but when I read the verse last week, I didn’t think of Jesus, I thought about mankind in general.

• Have we worked hard for nothing?
• Have we spent a life time doing nothing that has eternal significance?
• Have we put forth maximum effort for things which really are not that important?

I like to stay busy but it is not our effort that is in question; it is our work, our mission, our purpose and our direction.  Do the names Jim Marshall and Roy Riegel’s ring a bell. On october 25, 1964, Jim Marshall, playing for the Minnesota Vikings, recovered a fumble and ran the ball 66 yards to the end zone. He gave maximum effort. He put everything he had into the run. Just one tiny problem, he ran the wrong way. Then in celebration, thinking he had scored a TD, he threw the ball into the air and it landed out of bounds resulting in two points for the opposing team. He continued to celebrate until his teammates convinced him of his error and then he was embarrassed. The Viking did win the game when Carl Eller who played the other defensive end picked up a fumble and ran it in for a score. Jim Marshall’s crushing tackle caused the fumble.  Marshall later received a letter from Roy Riegel’s, infamous for a wrong-way run in the 1929 Rose Bowl, stating, “Welcome to the club”.

It does not matter how much effort we put into what we do, unless what we do glorifies Christ.

EXTRA

• I’m not good at guessing but we had a crowd yesterday. I don’t know why it can’t be this way every Sunday. We had a ton of visitors and many of them are active in other churches but it was good to see the house full. First time in a long time.
• We did have 51 at the COMMUNION service and it was a very good service. Guess what: we did it different. I know you are shocked.
• I give the Tappscott Breakfast Brigade, the Choir, Steve Hardy and the Dance Team an A+.
• Joe David preaches April 7, then on April 14 we have our MY HOPE commitment service. I am going to be looking for 25 Matthews. A Matthew is a person [couple] that will host a house party. They didn’t tell us to do this in training but I suggest that two couples work together. You will watch a short video, someone will share their testimony [3 minutes or less] and lead in a sinners prayer. You invite non-church attendees or those who have not made a profession of faith. We will have the parties on the first and second weeks of November. You will use the Summer to pray and make your guest list.
• It was good to see Granny T. back on Campus last week: she did the cooking for WEE CARE. I would like to talk Granny out of retirement but that would get me in the dog house. I tell you one thing: Granny makes a difference–there is always a spirit of glee in Granny T.  Teddy: send your mama a GRACE MINISTRY T-Shirt. Put it on my tab.
• Our FACEBOOK family is growing and so is our readership for the blog.

Failure Is Not Final, Unless You Quit.

SCRIPTURE:  Yet, my brothers, I do not consider myself to have “arrived”, spiritually, nor do I consider myself already perfect. But I keep going on, grasping ever more firmly that purpose for which Christ grasped me. [Philippians 3:12, J.B. Phillips]

QUOTE: Winners never quit, and quitters never win.~Vince Lombardi

Watch this short video before you read the commentary… 

COMMENTARY: Jim Marshall was a very young man when he made this embarrassing mistake but he did not quit. He played 20 consecutive years as a defensive lineman without missing a game. He earned the nick name “Old Indestructible”. When he retired in 1979, he held the NFL record for playing 282 consecutive games. Everybody makes mistakes. If you compare failures to successes, some of us are like Thomas Edison who failed for more often than he succeeded but he never quit. Mr. Edison’s dictionary did not contain the word “quit.” When his New York power plant and laboratory went up in flames: he told his son to go get his mother. “Why” said the boy…”She’s never seen a fire like this,” said Edison. After the fire was contained. He had his workers salvage a table. He had a staff meeting sharing his plans for a new beginning and when it was over, he crawled upon the table and took a nap. He failed often but he never quit and neither should you. Give the devil a hard time today–don’t you dare quit. Jesus can handle your failure and He doesn’t want you to quit.

Thomas Edison
Genius is 1% Inspiration and 99% Perspiration

EXTRA: You got to love this weather.