by | February 6, 2019 · 7:16 am

When I Die, Will They Come?

If you’re looking for an inspirational blog post to start off your day, this one might not be for you. It’s dark and rainy as I write this, so don’t expect a lot of literary sunshine.

You see, I went to a funeral, yesterday, which is nothing new… I go to them all the time as a preacher and chaplain. Heck, it’s a common thing to go to more funerals as one gets older, and I’m certainly getting older. After a while everybody you know starts dying off.

But a common worry – yes, a worry – struck me as I sat in the funeral home chapel. It’s a low rumble of a fear that is noticeable only to me, but one that seems to be growing in intensity with every funeral I attend.

It’s the fear that no one will come to my funeral.

Take it however you want, but every time I go to a funeral and see empty seats in the chapel or church sanctuary, I wonder what it will be like when I die. Will I have affected the lives of enough people to warrant my life being memorialized or celebrated?

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not a King Herod who wishes people to mourn when I die. No, all I’m afraid of is that I will not have made a big enough difference to be missed.

A good name [is] better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth. – Ecclesiastes 7:1

I’m not afraid of dying, per se; I’m afraid of dying having not done enough to be missed when I’m gone.

Do any of you ever feel this way?

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by | February 4, 2019 · 9:31 am

He Made My Day

“You Made My Day!”

Not long ago I performed a wedding service in which the whole wedding party and myself were brought to tears. Now, there were only 3 people in the room (the groom, the bride, and myself), but everyone of us were finding it difficult to keep water out of our eyes.

It was a very simple ceremony, one with no decoration, no cake, not even a tuxedo or wedding dress; just a wedding chapel, wedding rings, a man and a woman, and a pastor.

But what made this little ceremony so special was the reason behind it: the couple were getting re-married.

Long story short, they had gotten a divorce, but because of their love for their four children and the fear of how growing up in a split family might affect them, they determined to find a way to come back together. Whatever differences they had which led to their divorce were evidently able to be overcome, at least they were going to try – because they understood there were more important things than their own feelings.

As I stood there with them, I could sense the seriousness, the somber mood, and the need to go off script when it came to my normal wedding ceremony. In every wedding ceremony I conduct I always talk about how marriage is to be a reflection of God’s love for us, but I went full marriage-counselor mode/preacher this time.

As I referenced the selfless, unabashed love God displayed for us on the cross of Calvary, and how that true love, the unconditional kind, can forgive even as Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do,” the tears began to flow down the brides face…then mine.

With tears on everyone’s face, as I continued into the part where the vows were to be exchanged, the bride held the groom’s hands and said, “And if Jesus can forgive us for all we’ve done, we can forgive each other, too.” I literally about lost it! (I’m getting teary-eyed just typing this!)

Ryan and Catherine after getting re-married

When all was said and done, I extended my hand to thank them, saying, “I just want you to know, you made my day.”

The bride bypassed my hand and rushed me with a bear hug, then said, “No, YOU made OUR day!”

Then right before I was able to take a picture of the two as they stood on the stage, a newly re-married couple, the bride whispered to the groom, “God was here today.”

Amen to that!

He Made My Day

The fact of the matter is that even though we may make each other’s days, like I did for that couple and they did for me, God has LITERALLY made our day!

This [is] the day [which] the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. – Psalm 118:24

God doesn’t just do things for us that make us happy, therefore giving us a reason to praise Him for making our day memorable; He literally makes the day – every day – in which we live.

Think about this for just a second… the Hebrew word used in this case is in the perfect tense, meaning that the act of making the day was done, finished, once and for all completed. In other words, in God’s eyes, though it may appear to us as being as in the process of being made, it’s a done deal – finished. This is the day that the Lord has made.

Therefore, instead of worrying about the outcomes, the challenges, the twists and turns, why not rejoice in the moment, in the day, as we watch with amazement how God unfolds the gift that He has prepared for us?

I enjoyed hearing someone say, “You made my day.” I would bet God is no different. And since He knows what’s best for me, what I need, and how I can bring Him glory through my thoughts and actions in the next few hours, it will surely be a day worth remembering if I just pay attention and hold His hand.

Lord, You made my day!

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by | February 3, 2019 · 8:53 am

I Will Praise Him! Will You?

It’s Sunday morning, and I’m about to go to church. I’m looking forward to preaching about Jesus.

I’m on this computer, however, just to share this song.

I am literally wiping the tears away from my eyes…the keyboard and screen are blurry.

The following song by Mountain Faith Band is one of my very most favorites…because it is my life…and every REAL Christian should understand its message.

I’m so unworthy, but I’m so thankful for God’s mercy and grace!

 

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by | February 2, 2019 · 6:53 pm

Dissecting the REAL Reason for Abortion

Yesterday, a story came out on FoxNews.com entitled “Women’s rights groups support late-term abortion, despite public outcry“.  In that story, the CEO of Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts ( a New York lobbying and advocacy group for Planned Parenthood), Robin Chappelle Golston, is quoted as stating the following during a celebration of New York’s new law:

“We cannot overstate how important it is for all New Yorkers to have the ability to control their own bodies and determine their own destinies… ” Robin Chappelle Golston

I would like to dissect Robin Golston’s statement in an effort to answer a simple question: “What is the real reason behind such support for abortion?”

Image may contain: 20 people, people smiling, people standing, suit and indoor

From PPESA Facebook page

Image may contain: 4 people

From PPESA Facebook page

The above photos were captured from the Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts’ Facebook page, and both show the satisfaction and intense emotions attached to the signing of the new abortion law in New York by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. If you remember, even iconic New York City buildings were lit with pink light the same night.

So why all the smiles? Why all the celebration?

Now, to keep it fair, I went to the Facebook page of the woman in the middle of the lower picture – her name is Francis Fox-Pizzonia. She has posted articles saying all this third-trimester, baby-killing, infanticide talk is nothing more than scare tactics, and that nobody is going around happy and frivolous when they make the serious personal choice to abort.

However, the somber, serious tones of caring seem to ring hollow when I watch a video like the one below (WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE AND ADULT CONTENT):

If you actually had the strong stomach to watch the whole disgusting thing, did you listen to the little song at the end? Did you listen to her “prayer”? She said toward the end:

“I stand in my power… I’m grateful for the power I have to create and destroy with love. I have agency over my life and my body and my world.”

If you go to the website where the above video was published (ShoutYourAbortion.com), what you will see is a very common theme that runs through the titles of other stories women have shared. Some of the titles include:

  • “IT WAS A DECISION THAT ALLOWED ME CONTROL OF MY LIFE AND SAVED ME FROM A LIFE OF POVERTY”
  • “WE NEVER WANTED CHILDREN”
  • “MY HUSBAND AND I SIMPLY WANT TO BE CHILD FREE”
  • “I CAN SEE THAT I BELONG TO A TRADITION OF RESISTANCE AND BODY AUTONOMY”
  • “OUR LIVES WERE DEVASTATINGLY DIFFICULT TO MANAGE AT THAT TIME, I CANNOT EVEN FATHOM HOW MUCH MORE DIFFICULT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN HAD I CONTINUED…”
  • “MY ABORTION WAS GOOD FOR ME AND MY FAMILY”

What is the theme of which I speak?

Oh, it’s found in the words of that sentence I was going to dissect in the first place, remember?

“…to have the ability to control their own bodies and determine their own destinies…”

You see, abortion has very little to do with the actual life of a mother – as in whether or not having the baby will kill her. What it is really about, what really drives the floats in the parade…

(again, WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE AND CONTENT)

… is the selfish, one-sided, egotistic, pride-centered desire for women to have the ability to control their own bodies and determine their own destinies… despite the rights of others.

Abortion, unless done in an effort to legitimately save the life of the mother (not spare her from mental, emotional, or financial stress) is the pre-determined trampling of another’s rights and the taking of another’s life in order to further one’s own self-determined goals… which is nothing short of a violation of human rights and nothing less than first-degree murder.

Unless, of course, the fetus is nothing more than a “clump of cells,” a “spark,” a “tumor,” a “parasite,” or a “mistake.”

But if it’s a BABY…if it’s a PERSON…

For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. – Luke 1:44
I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou [art] my God from my mother’s belly. – Psalm 22:10

Some autonomous individuals are in for a rude awakening.

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by | January 31, 2019 · 10:25 am

These Are the Glory Days: We Were Made for This!

The King James Version puts it this way:

Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this. – Ecclesiastes 7:10 

The New Living Translation is a little more succinct:

Don’t long for “the good old days.” This is not wise. – Ecclesiastes 7:10 NLT

Either way, the point is the same: There are dangers inherent to longing for what was instead of dealing with today.

Below is a link to the sermon I preached last Sunday morning. I hope it encourages you.

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by | January 31, 2019 · 9:39 am

Endurance: What We ALL Need!

The following video was recorded Saturday morning last week at the Tennessee Baptist Bivocational Ministers and Wives Retreat in PIgeon Forge, TN.

(BTW, I recorded this on my iPad mini, and at one point I dropped it… sorry)

This final message of the retreat, delivered by Roc Collins, was meant for us pastors and ministry leaders, but it’s a message that all of us should hear – more than once.

If you are facing a discouraging time, or if you are at a point when you feel you can’t go any further, I beg you to watch this sermon. If you are not encouraged, I’ll give you a full refund 😉

Seriously, this was a fantastic, uplifting and challenging message from which all of us can benefit, especially in this time we live.

God bless! Endure!

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by | January 30, 2019 · 4:22 pm

Virginia Governor Just Affirmed Infanticide

WARNING: The following may be triggering. I’m angry. God help us. 

You can say that it’s no big deal, or that I’m just mischaracterizing the whole thing, you know, like the way the left did the Covington boys in D.C..

But if you can watch the video below and listen to the words of Governor Ralph Northam as he defends the Repeal Act and still think this man is being unjustly condemned, tell my why you are not living in denial.

Let’s go back and look at this, if you didn’t catch it the first time. The Governor of Virginia said:

“If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” he continued. “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

Correct me if I’m wrong (I’m not), but don’t many people believe that until the baby, the infant, has breathed its first breath, it’s not technically a person? This is the general argument given by many on the left, specifically those who support abortion. Some even use Genesis 2:7 as the foundation for their religious justification for abortion, claiming that the Bible describes a person becoming “alive” only after receiving the “breath of life.”

So what, then, does Gov. Northam mean when he says that the infant would be kept “comfortable”? And what is it about a DELIVERED INFANT that’s not a BABY? …AND, if I may ask, how does resuscitation come into play???

Guys, I’m not sorry to tell you this, but what the Governor is trying to describe as nice and caring and letting the parents and doctors make a right decision for them is nothing short of MURDER!

Abortions at any other time in the pregnancy aside, you can’t sit there and tell me that it is OK under any moral, ethical, or legal circumstance to birth a living, breathing, baby – regardless of its deformities – and then have a “discussion” over whether or not the child should live!

Oh, and the whole argument he makes about men shouldn’t be keeping a woman from making decisions about her own body – well, when the BABY is BORN it is NOT HER BODY! Never was in the first place, and it certainly isn’t when it’s outside her womb!

Anyone who can support a law like this should never condemn the Nazis and their concentration camps. Anyone who supports a law like this, knowing full well a baby could be born and allowed to die on a table (if not be directly killed by the physician), should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity.

THIS. IS. MURDER.

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by | January 29, 2019 · 1:20 pm

Chilly Weather Down South

I went out for a drive this morning.

The global warming is killing me.

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by | January 25, 2019 · 9:38 pm

Friday Night Thoughts of Encouragement (1/25/19)

It’s Friday night in Pigeon Forge, TN, the place where Dolly Parton is famous, there’s snow on the Smokey Mountains, and legal moonshine is a hot commodity.

It’s also the place where every year at this time bivocational pastors and their wives come together for a wonderful and critical time of fellowship – the kind that says, “I know what you’re going through…you’re not alone.”

If you follow me on Facebook, you will notice that I shared some of the music and speakers live.

Below is a link to a powerful message, more like a charge to us pastors, by Dr. Randy Davis, President and Executive Director of the TBMB. (At one point I knock over my iPad – sorry)

But if you are a bivocational pastor in the state of Tennessee and you are not here, the real question is why aren’t you here?

I know that it’s not always easy to get away for a Thursday through Saturday, maybe even the Sunday, too. But my wife and I plan for this retreat every year because it is the highlight of the year for us. There’s barely anything else like it.

Unfortunately, so many pastors are loners. They think that getting together with other pastors is a sign of weakness, unless, that is, the purpose for getting together is a time to flex their preaching muscles or do anything that doesn’t include admitting you’re less than superman.

But I’m a little bit embarrassed for our own association of Baptist churches in our county. One association of Southern Baptist churches had only 12 churches, as opposed to my county’s 100+. Yet, that little association of SBC churches reportedly had 100% participation in this event, while only 3 pastors from churches in our association came! I was one of them!

They just don’t understand what they are missing!

To be honest, I came to this retreat with a very heavy heart and beyond discouraged. I was down, stiff, a little resentful, and a tad bit skeptical of whether or not this time the retreat would benefit me, my wife, or my church.

Then came the time for the first speaker to speak (at least the first one we were able to hear, because we came in a couple of hours after the whole thing started). He asked us all to turn in our Bibles to 2 Corinthians and stand as we all read the 1st verse of chapter 4…

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. – 2 Corinthians 4:1 NKJV

Without exaggerating, I broke down into sobs before the last word of that verse was able to be read aloud. God knew exactly what I needed at that moment…and I would even bet money I wasn’t the only one.

After some more music and some more preaching to the preachers, I found myself at the front, right below the stage, in a conference room with a few hundred of my peers, on my knees before God confessing my lack of faith, my lack of wholeheartedness, and the pitiful state of my spiritual weaponry.

And I wasn’t the only one who did that; it was kneeling room only. I’m sure the carpet was damp with tears when all was said and done.

And that’s what I’m talking about: Pastors and their wives from all across the state of Tennessee, just regular folk who work jobs and pastor churches, getting real. Getting real with God, and with each other.

We are living in a time when godlessness is taking over. The last thing we need is a bunch of discouraged, downtrodden, scared shepherds trying to watch over the few sheep they do have as the wolves are emboldened.

What we really need are more ambassadors of Christ, spiritual warriors of the Cross, who realize that though they may be surrounded by an encroaching enemy, the battle is not over! Surrounded by an army nearly twice his size, the truth of King Hezekiah’s words should be an encouragement to us…

“Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that [is] with him; for [there are] more with us than with him. “With him [is] an arm of flesh; but with us [is] the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah. – 2 Chronicles 32:7-8 NKJV

Tomorrow is the final day of this retreat, and I’m looking forward to the blessing. But I’m also more encouraged than yesterday to attack hell with a water pistol when I get back home.

With me is the LORD my God to help us and to fight our battles – I am not alone!

I am unwavering!

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by | January 24, 2019 · 11:13 am

What Is “Organic Church”? Listen to the Sermon

Not long ago I posted the notes for this sermon. Now you can listen to the audio. 

I hope it’s a blessing and an encouragement. 

I also hope it helps encourage a more “organic” approach toward worship.

Click on the picture to listen.

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