Appointed

Do you feel appointed?  Here for a reason and a purpose?  And, do you wonder why grasping that purpose and reason seems both fleeting and just out of reach?

I think we are a society, maybe a world, that is sleep-walking through time.  We need direction ... we need focus ... and we need God!  The Apostle Paul knew this, and he saw this attitude manifested in his world in 51AD.  He wrote to the church in Thessalonica about several topics, including "the day of the Lord."  And just like today, his letter was misunderstood.  Where Paul was telling the people about living out Jesus' vision of life in a world that seemed to be crumbling around them, people got all excited about placing their focus on end times  (after all, it is easier to dream about the days to come than it is to live in the present struggle of life).  But let's read 1 Thessalonians, Chapter 5, a little closer.  For with Paul, remember his writings are arguments and apologetics that end in conclusions.  What did Paul conclude here?

"He died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.  Therefore, encourage one another and build each other us, just as you are doing (1 Thessalonians 5:10-11)!"  Whatever we are doing and whatever life sends our way, we live in Christ!  We are people of light and hope.  I preached Sunday evening in Montgomery that we are the people that bring God's light into a world that sells darkness.  We give away light while Satan sells darkness.  We offer living water while Satan offers intoxicating delusions.  Paul says, "God did not appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation through Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:9)."  We offer the hope of salvation through faith in Jesus, while Satan offers the illusion of pleasure through the chains of distraction, addiction and being drunk (Paul's words) on falseness.

Here is my last observation.  Paul uses the words ... "together with Him."  My question for this week is ... "What takes you/me away from being together with Jesus?"  For He is found with His bride, the Church.  He is found with the poor and the powerless.  Wesley said He is found in the Sacraments, fellowship with other Christians, accountability with other Christians and encouraging one another, building something strong that can withstand "the day of the Lord."  If (as we sing) He Is Worthy, He is worthy of our time, energy, investment, giving, presence and witness.  And you are appointed to be that light that will bring Christ into every dark place.

What If? A New Year's Thought

These days, a lot of people are talking about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how it will either improve or destroy as it becomes more embedded into our society.  AI platforms like ChatGPT and other writing assistants are being sued by the Wall Street Journal because AI isn't properly referencing plagiarized excerpts.  And the ad for ChatGPT says, "Ask AI to write anything and get instant answers!"  Seems to me we are awful trusting of those "instant" answers as truth!  Maybe we should lean on something more solid that "intelligence" generated by a computer!  What if we did?

Here are a couple of "what ifs" I thought of as I was writing this blog (and I didn't ask AI to do it!).  Here goes:

- What if 2024 becomes a year of focus on our youth and our children?  Do our parents actually know how to follow Proverbs 3:5-6 ... "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding."  Do parents, grandparents and guardians realize that learning God's Word is a little like math ... one part builds on another.  Consistency is important!  Being there every week (not just when it is convenient) is important.  Bring your children and youth to church!  Bring them to learn.  Bring them so that they will know the songs we will be teaching during Sunday School time.  Bring them so their spiritual house will have a solid foundation and won't fall when the going gets rough!  I saw a post that said, "If you are not spiritually-fed you will be emotionally-led."  Trust God ... stop leaning on your own understanding ... stop the nonsense of basing your Sunday morning decisions on how you feel that day!  John Wesley would ask, "Have you faith?"  What if the answer was "yes" accentuated by what faith should be about ... action!?  What if we choose Jesus!?

- What if Jesus altered our behavior and our daily choices?  I heard an amazing statistic about our habits.  During 2023, according to Forbes, of the 100 top-watched programs in America, 93 were football-related.  Let that sink in a moment!  Where are our priorities?  The old sayings are, "we eat first with our eyes" and "you are what you eat."  What are we consuming?  The second half of that Proverbs 3 passage is "In all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will make your paths straight."  What if we did that?

I give you these two thoughts because we are embarking on a year of opportunity of focusing our time, our children/youth and our lives on something of value and worth.  The Agape Sunday Group is studying Proverbs.  Nicey's class is into their book series.  My class is studying Psalms.  The Youth are studying Old Testament Foundations.  On Wednesday nights we will (January till Lent) study 1,2 Thessalonians. During Lent we will study "Alter'd," which is a study on making Jesus central to your daily life of faith.  Our children will be learning songs and season-based truths about Christ, to build their faith-foundation.  My sermon series, between now and Easter, will be about how we build a strong altar of faith in our lives, following the "Alter'd" study series.  What if we all did that?

The old song, How Firm A Foundation says, "How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith, in His excellent word ... what more can He say, than to you He has said, who unto the Savior, for refuge has fled."  Maybe, if we build on His firm foundation, we won't have to rely on intelligence that is "artificial!"  What if we trusted God and real truth?  Randy

Opening the Treasure

When I was a boy, I would roam the gentle hills around Derita, a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina.  There were fishing lakes, open pastures and sometimes treasure troves.  One of my favorite haunts was The Brown House Lake.  We called it that because a brown house was near the center of the lake.  I caught many 'a fish' and ran from many 'a snake' at that wonderful place.

Above the lake, and near one of the local highways, was an old homestead.  It was, at the time I knew it, (using the words of James Taylor from the song Copperline) "tore up, and tore up good!"  One day, while scrubbing in the dirt, I discovered an old garbage pit behind the homestead.  I started digging, and found rotted out tin cans, old trash that had been thrown out, and a large number of old milk bottles bearing the names of local dairies.  I took one home and discovered, from my dad, that the old bottles had some value.  I brought them home and dad took them down to a flea market and sold them.  He gave me the money and I bought my first really good fishing reel and rod.  I thought the bottles were valueless, but someone that knew more than me saw, and realized, value in them.

We live in a world that likes to bring us down. It tells us we have little or no value.  Humanists tell us we are just high-level mammals with opposable thumbs.  Culture tells us we should seek our value in money, fame and the approval of people ... and this de-values us even more.  So, where do we find our real worth?

2 Corinthians 4:7 reminds us where to find real value.  "For we have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure.  This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves."  What does this teach us?

1. We have great treasure

2. We hold this treasure in fragile clay (our earthly bodies)

3. Our treasure has/is light and power

4. Our treasure is a gift ... it doesn't come from within, but without.

Let's talk about treasure this Sunday!  How do you think our treasure is opened?  What else does the Bible say about treasure and us?  

Read Deuteronomy 14:2, 2 Corinthians 4, Matthew 6:21 and Matthew 13:44.  We will talk!  Randy

Cookie

I will have to admit that the last thing any of us probably needs right now is another cookie.  At my house we had 7-layer cookies, red velvet cookies, ginger cookies, and fudge (I guess that is cookieish).  Way too many carbs, but they were sure good!

During the holidays I was watching a cooking competition, and the theme involved cookies.  One of the contestants was baking gingerbread men using a cookie cutter.  He carefully cut out the shapes, but as he looked at them he said, "those gingerbread men look like Leprechauns!"  As the judges looked at his cookies, one of the judges did something interesting.  He turned the gingerbread "man" upside down and found the problem with the whole thing.  The cookie cutter, and the cookies, was actually a reindeer shape.  The contestant had used the cutter upside-down!

So ... lessons from this cookie?  I can think of at least three!

1. As we are immersed in the holidays, it is easy to get off-track.  We see the events, the glitz, the glitter, and we become pretty disoriented.  We are in a confusing mess, trying to keep up with people, places, emotions and our feelings about everything.  The Christmas story says ... stop!  Stop and observe Joseph as, amid great confusion and personal sacrifice, he follows God ... "and he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife ...  and he gave him the name Jesus (Matthew 1:24-25)."  Amid the confusion and mess, follow Jesus.

2. Laugh at your mistakes.  That's what happened on the cooking show ... they all had a good laugh.  It is interesting to reflect on how the judge knew what might have happened.  I'll bet he knew because he had done the same thing before.  You are doing life among other people who have messed up too!  Romans 3 reminds us that we have all sinned and that none of us can claim righteousness, except through Jesus.  Laugh at your mistakes, (people ... stop taking yourself too seriously)  recognize them, and walk away.  I bet the cooking show contestant won't make that mistake again!

3. Finally, we face an enemy that is telling us that "this" is all there is, that "we" are just like we are, that this "upside-down" world is the way it is supposed to be.  The story in 2 Kings 6 takes place in Dothan.  The king of Aram has sent soldiers to surround Elisha and his little band.  Elisha's servant goes out in the morning and sees the enemy army has surrounded them and says, "Oh no, my Lord ... what will we do?"  Elisha responds, "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them."  Then Elisha prays, "Open his eyes Lord, so he may see!"  God, who knows us and this world, has come into the world to turn it right-side up!  See God's work, His forces and His blessings, happening right in the midst of this messed-up world!

Don't let your fears, the demons that want to block your vision, the lies of your feelings, the deception of the enemy and the facade of overwhelming force, divert you from allowing God to turn your world right-side up.  It is how God rolls!  Have a cookie and smile!  Randy

Selah

In my "The Complete Word Study of the Old Testament" the word "Selah (Psalm 3)" means, pause.  It was probably both a musical instruction and also a call to "stop and praise God."  In reading the Wake Up Call devotional this morning, I was definitely sent to this concept of pausing as we reflect on the magnitude of Advent and Christmas.  It is worth pausing ... for if we fail here, we will miss what is most important.

Wake Up Call spoke of a famous violinist (Joshua Bell) being part of an experiment in societal blindness.  Bell played a $13 million Stradivarius violin in a New York subway, disguised as a street performer.  He was only recognized by one person, and his take for the session of music was $37.17.  Beauty, greatness and value were all missed by those walking past an experience of a lifetime.  God's instruction, as we walk through the elevator music of life?  Selah!

Stop and reflect upon the "bread of life" coming into a small town that is called "house of bread (Bethlehem)."  Sunday afternoon and evening we will remember the "bread of life" and the "Lamb that takes away the sin of the world!"  That includes your sins and my sins!  Selah!

Stop and consider that in the context of history, conflict, war, poverty, strife, political unrest, God came!  He came to Mary and Joseph, some livestock, some shepherds who paused, a host of angels and to all of us.  Chris Rice says he, "wrapped our injured flesh around Him, breathed our air and walked our sod, robbed our sins and made us holy, perfect Son of God!"  Selah!

Don't walk past the priceless!  Don't invest a petty $13.17 in the most expensive gift ever ... don't miss the chance to be part of the beautiful and meaningful music of truth, faith and joy ... don't be so wrapped up in this world that you miss what Jesus said ... experience a direct view into God's Kingdom.  Selah ... praise God! AMEN

Hatching

Some of you will remember the story of Horton Hatches an egg.  It is a short little story about a lazy bird (Mayzie) that cons Horton (an elephant) into sitting on her egg while she goes off to relax, enjoy and "live the life" on the beach.  Horton stays back with the egg (through rain, snow and strife) and it eventually hatches.  Here's the part of the story I want us to get ... the egg hatches into a little elephant bird.  It looks like the one who was with it all those very long days!

Why is this important?  Well ... "Train up a child in the way he/she should go, and when he is old, he will remember it (Proverbs 22:6)."  Or, "and we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18)."  Here's the operative question.  Are we a product of the priorities in which we are immersed?  Do we look like the thing(s) in which we invest our time? If so, what do we look like?  What is hatching us?

Last evening I spent a lot of time with our people, the Church here in Abbeville.  It was Cantata night and the day was long and tiring, but fruitful.  The Church in Abbeville came in to hear some beautiful music, the real story of Christmas, and it became an amalgamation I think would honor God.  I wonder if these moments and times become "hatching" to both adults and children?  The Word is proclaimed when someone sings "my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior (Luke 1:46-47)."  Mary is joyful for God bringing her out of obscurity and into a difficult journey of faith ... her faith and her attitude reflects her Savior, Jesus!

The other day Samson, my 23lb cat, did something he loves to do.  He jumped on an Amazon box.  I don't know whether he does this out of curiosity or whether he just loves to crush things, but you can be assured that the box collapsed like a cheap lawn chair in an NFL locker room.  I wonder if this is why we have such an epidemic of mental health issues and narcissism, as our children and grandchildren bear the weight of a world in which they are at the center.  "What can we do to "blow away" or kids at Christmas?"  "How can I make Christmas memorable and epic?"  "Where can we go to "crush it" in the holiday season?"  And we DO crush it, as the box collapses and we, our children and our grandchildren find their spiritual house built on a cultural "house of cards."

Reginald Heber, Bishop of Calcutta, was an Anglican Priest in the early 1800's.  He is best known for writhing a little song called, Holy, Holy, Holy (you might have heard it).  In writing about the majesty and holiness of God, Heber wrote a lesser-known song that described both the shallowness and God's expectation of our devotion to God.  It is called Brightest and Best.  In the song, Heber writes ... "Say shall we yield Him, in costly devotion, odors of Edom and offerings divine, gems of the mountain and pearls of the ocean, myrrh of the forest, and gold from the mines ... vainly we offer each ample oblation, vainly with gifts would His favor secure, richer by far is the hearts adoration, dearer to God are the prayers of the poor."  You will hear this song at our 9am service this Sunday!

We, our kids and our grandkids will become what "hatches" us.  Will it be our willingness to invest in the struggle, the work, the time, the resources and the hearts adoration it takes to build His Church and His Kingdom ... or, will it be the "box" of sports, parties, stuff, frantic schedules and cultural emptiness?  That "box" will get crushed when weight is added.

I invite you (really the entire community) to come, kneel, leave baggage and let God fill you up with His good things every Sunday and (at a very special hallelujah moment) at 6pm Christmas Eve.  Invest some heart-felt adoration.  Leave some gifts for the poor.  Hear the testimony of God's word.  Take in the music that speaks truth into the façade we encounter in culture.  Let's hatch something that reflects the likeness of Jesus, who is both the babe in the cradle and the King of Kings!  This Christmas let your soul magnify the Lord and let your spirit have joy in something worthwhile ... our Savior and the Church for which He will return! Randy

Changing Rivers

"I got peace like a river, I got peace like a river, I got peace like a river in my soul!"  Sing that with me for a moment.  Now think about those words.  We DO have peace like a river.  Moving.  Sometimes tranquil pools and sometimes roaring rapids.  Sometimes clear and clean, and sometimes muddy.  Rivers can be gentle, flowing quietly in normal times, or they can rage with the melting snow or the pouring rain.  If rivers have peace, there is usually an undercurrent, sometimes a strong one.

If you've been whitewater rafting, it will ruin this song for you.  A few years back our youth went whitewater rafting.  Emily was on that trip, and she did what happens a lot on those rafting trips ... she fell overboard.  For a few very scary moments she was actually pinned under the boat.  Ask Emily about that wonderful little song.  Rivers aren't exactly peaceful ... but they can be!

In Psalm 23, David writes about something he knows ... being a shepherd.  In this Psalm about God's presence during life, David describes the peace I think the little song is trying to capture.  "He leadeth me beside still waters, He restoreth my soul (Ps. 23:2-3)."  He know sheep, and he knows that moving or troubled water is disturbing to sheep.  So the shepherd leads the flock by those waters that appear still, and they are calm and feel protected.  What can we learn here?

1. There is the obvious.  The shepherd knows sheep inside and out.  He knows what they need and when they need it.  Our Great Shepherd knows us (and we are described as sheep pretty often).  Let's allow Him to lead us to those places where we can catch a deep breath and become still enough to see life around us ... to discern light from darkness and good from folly.

2. There is the unseen, but true.  Sometimes the water appears still, but it is deep, moving and a nearly unstoppable force.  Our society seems to be pulled along, loving the excitement of the rapids, and resting in the deep pools, thinking all is easy and quiet.  But the river is still moving.  It is persistent, unrelenting and always headed to a destination.

In 1863 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow came to this exact conclusion.  He thought about the cannons thundering on the battlefields of civil war.  His wife had died in a fire two years earlier, and his son had been severely wounded in the Civil War.  Two lines of the song come to mind ... "I thought how as the day had come, the bells of all of Christendom, had rolled along, the unbroken song, of peace on earth good will towards men" ... still but unrelenting waters, that are deeper than they look.  Then he writes these lyrics of despair ... "And in despair I bowed my hear, there is no peace on earth I said.  For hate is strong and mocks the song, of peace on earth good will towards men."  Are you in that river?  Doubtful, confused and not sure of just where your peace will come from?

Isaiah writes about this ... "And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father ... Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6)."  From darkness to light, from death to life and from chaos and confusion to peace!  How do we get there?  We change rivers (kingdoms).  We get out of the river of culture and into the river of our Lord.  Wadsworth did just that , writing, "Then pealed the bells more loud and deep.  God is not dead, nor doth He sleep.  The wrong shall fail, the right prevail.  With peace on earth, good will towards men."

Change rivers!  Live in the kingdom of the Prince of Peace!  There will always be wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, troubles and strife.  It is even happening in those "still waters" that flow relentlessly toward a destination.  Change rivers to a destination of God's plan and God's rule.  Wadsworth knew it!  "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep!"  Place your trust, your time and your life there!  Our Good Shepherd leads us there!  AMEN