November 5, 2016

"I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted. I remembered you, God, and I groaned; I meditated, and my spirit grew faint."  Psalm 77:1-3

Psalm 77 is timely and insightful because it shows how to battle discouragement.

Christians are not immune from discouragement and may, in fact, be prone to discouragement for several reasons:

1) We tend to care more than other people

2) We tend to care more about other people

3) We have intimate knowledge of a God Who has the power to "fix things" but sometimes doesn't

4) We are under constant attack from the Enemy who continually attempts to discourage  us

5) Faith is a journey that doesn't have clear mile markers and progress can be hard to measure

6) There is a constant dynamic tension between the work of grace God has accomplished in our lives and the awareness of how much more growth needs to happen - this "holy dissatisfaction" is necessary but hard to manage.

7) We are called to accomplish a task that is never completed and often overwhelming

8) We hold ourselves and our leaders to a high standard and therefore, are often disappointed

I could go on, but I think you get the picture!

Psalm 77 is a Psalm of Aseph. Who was Aspeh?

Aseph was one of the three musicians who worked for and with King David. He and his cohorts were responsible for developing inspiring worship to maintain the spiritual climate of God's nation and His people.

Sort of a big job, eh?

If Christians are prone to discouragement (and they are) how much more so for the "point people" who serve on the front lines of ministry?

Discouragement not properly handled will lead to depression. Over the years I have seen many good and effective ministry people knocked out of the game by perpetual discouragement that morphed into depression.

Before I depress you with these thoughts, let me get to the good news! Aseph discovered how to work through discouragement before it became depression.

Read and meditate on Psalm 77 and see if you can find out how he did it. See what the Spirit says to you.

Be encouraged today!

November 3, 2016

"Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them." Romans 16:17

Just five days out from the most crucial election in my lifetime I want to go public with my announcement that I will not be voting for Hillary Clinton. In this post I want to list some of the reasons for coming to that conclusion:

1. She is a very dishonest person who doesn't mind telling lies to promote her own career and obtain more power.

2. Do in part to her dishonesty, lust for power and greed she is a fundamentally corrupt person.

3. In addition to her corrupt nature she has not track record of success or accomplishment to commend her leadership.

4. Not only is she corrupt she is lawless and appears to think she is above the laws of the land.

5. She is under an FBI felony investigation. If elected she would serve at least part of her term under the cloud of impending arrest of legal action.

6. She is a strong supporter of abortion right up to the moment of full-term birth.

7. She is not a supporter of religious rights.

8. She is an opponent of Second Amendment protections.

9. She is a globalist and doesn't believe in the need for well defined national borders.

10. She will not enforce existing immigration laws.

11. She will not repeal Obamacare but will work toward single payer government-provided healthcare.

12. She will raise taxes significantly and continue to expand the power, reach and size of government.

13. She will appoint radically liberal Supreme Court Justices and fundamentally destroy our beloved Constitution.

14. She will continue to dangerously bungle foreign policy by her anti-American instincts and continue to give away our national sovereignty to nations antagonistic to America's interest.  

15. She will through her support toward gay marriage and LBGT causes.

16. She will be antagonistic toward those who oppose gay marriage and refuse to embrace her point of view.

17. She will be subject to extortion by foreign government agents because of all the illegal actions she has been involved with.

18. She believes in made made global climate change and will take legal action against those who refuse to subscribe to that fallacious ideology. 

19. She will largely close down the coal industry and seriously damage our oil and natural gas industries by shutting down drilling operations.

20. She will continue to sell her influence to the highest bidder in order to enrich herself.

These are some of the reasons I will not be voting for Hillary Clinton. 

And this is just the short list!

Welfare Reform

"We urge you, our friends, to warn the idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone." I Thessalonians 5:14

An important issue to consider in any election cycle whether it is the Presidential election or the off-year Congressional election is the matter of welfare reform.

It is a noble thing to care about the underprivileged and have a desire to help meet their needs. In fact, that is one of the responsibilities Jesus assigned to the Church.

But the question is, "Are we using our resources to assist in the most effective and efficient ways?"

Consider some facts shared by Dr. Jim Garlow in his book, "Well Versed" - Biblical answers to today's tough issues:

"No one begrudges helping a person in need. Americans are generous. They want to help those legitimately in need. But the definitive word is 'legitimately'". Some facts:

• The State of  was spending $12 million in Medicaid payments for dead people.
• Pennsylvania gave welfare to millionaire lottery winners.
• A Chicago man used 3,000 food stamp cards to steal $1,000,000.
• Fraudsters in Minnesota lied about their incomes. The State had not adequately verified eligibility, finding 17% of individuals ineligible for the benefits they were receiving."

I'm sure these few examples only scratch the surface of the corruption, fraud and incompetency that squanders untold amounts of taxpayers' money that could be used to assist truly needy people.

I want to vote for people who are willing to tackle this waste, fraud and abuse! I want to vote for leaders who will push for and promote systemic solutions that will seriously address this problem for generations to come.

Former Florida Governor, Jeb Bush, shared these wise insights into the problem of poverty: "Three things will lift people out of poverty: work, marriage, and a high school education, at least."

No matter what you think of Jeb Bush it is hard to dispute his conclusions about causes (and solutions) to poverty. Studies have borne this out and common sense and observation agrees.

It will be easier to encourage welfare recipients to work if there are more and better paying jobs available. We need to elect a Presidential candidate who will get government regulations and restrictions off of both small businesses and large. There are currently 95,000,000 Americans who are out of the workforce. Never has our nation had that many people not working. Granted, some are retired people but the majority are people who would rather earn their leaving than get a check from their government.

If we want to attack poverty we need someone who will strengthen traditional families and stand for traditional marriage. A candidate for President who is willing to reform welfare so it rewards marriage and discourages the absent fathers and out of wedlock births would address one of the roots of poverty in America.

We need a candidate who will decentralize education and get the control and decision-making authority back in the states and local communities across America. I could support someone who would support home schooling, charter schools and school vouchers. My perfect candidate would shut down the Department of Education and put pressure on Teacher's Unions to become more merit based in their promotions. I would love to see trade schools and vocational programs added at the high school and community college level.

Liberal solutions to poverty have been disastrous. 22 trillions have been spent on poverty over the past 50 years while families have disintegrated, inner cities have become crime-ridden, neighborhoods have crumbled, jobs have disappeared, teen pregnancy rates have sky-rocketed and school drop-out rates are heart-breaking.

The Faith Community needs to become more intentional about tackling poverty in their own towns and cities. Every church can find a way to meet felt needs of underprivileged families so they can earn the opportunity to share the Gospel with them because the ultimate solution to poverty is the life-changing power of Jesus!  

Cast your vote for a candidate who is courageous enough to attack poverty at the roots and be willing to allow real solutions that give a hand up not just a hand out.

November 1, 2016

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:1-2

D. L. Moody is a great example of what can happen when a man commits to partner with God. One plus one may equal two in the realm of mathematics. But when one man with His God it doesn’t double, it multiplies. And not only does it multiply but it compounds!

Moody was born in a very poor New England family in 1837. They were already poor when his father died at the age of 41 their creditors came and took all they had except the clothes on their backs. They even took the fire wood stacked behind the house. When their mother took them to church and S.S., they were so poor she didn’t want to wear out their shoes and socks so she would have them go barefoot and carry their socks until they got within sight of the church when they would put them on and go into church.

When he was old enough, Moody landed a job as a shoe salesman and became one of the top shoe salesman on the East Coast. He became friends with a fellow shoe salesman by the name of Edward Kimball. Kimball was a Christian who often witnessed to Moody. One day, Kimball led Moody to the Lord in a back room of the shoe store.

Soon after becoming converted, Moody came across a quote by Henry Varley that challenged him and profoundly changed his life. The quote was, “The world is yet to see what God will do with, for, through, in and by a man fully consecrated to Him.” Moody decided he wanted to be that man, so after being denied membership in his local church who considered him too unpolished, he recruited 18 rowdies off the street and began teaching a Bible class with them. Two years later that class had grown to 1,500!

During his lifetime this rough, raw and unpolished man shared the gospel with 100,000,000 people!

In the case of D.L. Moody ONE + one equaled 100 million when he partnered with God. But that was not the full extent of the partnership with God. What began with a shoe salesman who dared to partner with God and share his faith with a co-worker in the back of a shoe store didn't end there:

·  Sunday School teacher Edward Kimball lead Dwight L. Moody to Christ;

·  J. Wilbur Chapman was converted at a D. L. Moody evangelistic meeting;re

·   Billy Sunday was converted at a Chapman meeting; 

·  Mordecai Ham was converted at Billy Sunday meeting; AND.....Billy Graham was converted at a Mordecai Ham meeting!

On December 22, 1899, the evangelist D. L. Moody lay dying. His first job had been as a shoe clerk in Boston, gathering eighteen ragged boys off the street to organize a Sunday school class. In two years the class had grown to fifteen hundred. In his lifetime Moody was to take two continents in his hands and shake them for God. As he died, he left this epitaph written on the flyleaf of his Bible, “If God be your partner, make your plans big."

What big thing could you partner with God  for if you were fully consecrated to Him?

I Want a Righteous Nation

"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people." Proverbs 14:34

This is a very straight forward statement. It is very simple and yet quite complex.

I would think that if you ask the average citizen of any nation, "Would you rather have your nation be righteous or disgraced?" My guess is that most of them would say, "I want a righteous nation!"

While righteousness is important to any nation, it is absolutely essential to the United States!

Here's why!

America is the only nation to have been founded on the idea that human rights are given by God and the purpose of government is to protect those rights. And America is the only nation to ever have codified those protections in a legal document (The Constitution).

Rights have as much to do with responsibility as they do with freedom. In a sense, that what righteousness is - the responsible exercise of freedom. The responsible exercise of freedom means doing what God says is right! How can you hope to maintain your rights if you do what God says is wrong? Unrighteousness is therefore, a direct threat to freedom! When you under mind what is right you under mind your rights!

Think about that if you think that righteousness does not matter.

As a very simple example remember what happened when you were a child and you did something wrong. When your parents discovered you had done wrong you were punished and that punishment involved some sort of loss of freedom. Maybe you were grounded for a day or maybe you had to go to your room for an hour or two - your "unrighteousness" caused you to lose (if only temporarily) some rights.

What happened on a very small scale in your home is a microcosm of what happens on a national scale when unrighteousness becomes epidemic.

More great empires have crumbled from within due to the moral and cultural decay resulting from rampant unrighteousness.

In addition to the Holy Scriptures, many of the Founding Fathers cautioned against immoral and irresponsible actions of unrighteousness!

Doing what is right is essential to keeping America free and strong. Not only does righteousness protect freedom (and it does) more importantly it earns God's favor and blessing. There is no substitute for that!

Wonder what is wrong with American? Unrighteousness is what is wrong with America!

Do you want to get America right again? Then do right by obeying God and living according to His Word!

October 30, 2016

"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people." Proverbs 14:34

This verse is one of the many that guide my decision-making in how I vote and which candidates I support.

But it raises several questions:

1) What is righteousness?

2) Who determines what is right?

3) How much does it really matter?

Righteousness is the standard for determining what is right, and therefore, what is wrong.

Since God is the Holy Almighty Creator and Judge of all men, I would say He is best qualified to decide what is right and what is wrong. I'm going with His opinion!

It matters very much to Him, therefore it should matter very much to you!

And, righteousness also mattered very much to the Founding Fathers!

Following are several quotes from John Adams:

"The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God."

"Without religion, this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company: I mean hell."

"The Christian religion is, above all the religions that ever prevailed or existed in ancient or modern times, the religion of wisdom, virtue, equity and humanity."

Virginian, Patrick Henry declared:

"The Bible… is a book worth more than all the other books that were ever printed."

"Righteousness alone can exalt [America] as a nation...Whoever thou art, remember this; and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself, and encourage it in others."

"The great pillars of all government and of social life [are] virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone, that renders us invincible."

"This is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family. The religion of Christ can give them one which will make them rich indeed."

When I hold a little newborn I marvel over such a miraculous result of God's handiwork and thinking, "I could never support or vote for a candidate who believed it is right to murder precious innocents in the womb."

When I think how much Barbara means to me and how much our marriage has blessed my life, "I could never support or vote for a candidate who isn't willing to define marriage exclusively as a union between one man and one woman. That just wouldn't be right."

The Bible declares it, the Founders affirmed it and I believe it - righteousness matters and I will live righteously and vote for a candidate who at least gets those two issues right!

Do the right thing on the 8th! Vote!

October 29, 2016

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Matthew 6:33-34

If you remember back in 2010 when President Obama and the Congress seemed so "hell-bent" (literally) to get the Affordable Care Act push through against the will of the Republicans and the American people. 

Why was it so important for them to jam through this extra-constitutional legislation by dubious parliamentary devices?

I wish I could say our President and his Party were driven by a deep genuine concern for the health of average Americans. At the risk of impugning their motives I suspect their urgency to impose this oppressive law on the American people was for the sheer amount of power it could wield over us.

Think about how important health concerns are to people. And think about how much people have come to expect good health care and health insurance, especially since they see it as a right, and you get a sense of how much power it would give to whoever controls healthcare.

If you were obsessed with power and leveraging power for your ends having control over people's health could be an effective tool.

Imagine a scenario like this. You have a child with a life-threatening tumor. If your child is going to have any chance at surviving the tumor must be removed as soon as possible. But you can't afford to pay for the cost of the surgery and must depend on your healthcare provider to cover the cost of the surgery. Now suppose some government bureaucrat controls your access to that coverage. What if that government bureaucrat informs you that the only way your child can be approved for the surgery is if you agree to renounce your faith in Christ.

What do you do?

Also consider this, in order for you to get your healthcare coverage through Obamacare you must give up all of your personal health and financial information. Imagine how much power that gives them over you!

Think about a scenario like this, the government bureaucrat notifies you that unless you change your beliefs about abortion you will be charged a large fine that they will withdraw from your bank account. What would you do?

You don't think those scenarios are possible?

Think again. When this invasive law was foisted on the American people it grants the government almost unlimited discretionary powers. It is the proverbial camel with his nose under the tent.

Our Founders feared this sort of abuse of power by the government when they wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They believed in God-given rights and charged the government with the protection of those rights and warned of the dangers of an ungodly government that would seek to replace God and become the grantor of rights. 

But, as hard as they try, they can't do it entirely on their own. They still need people who will vote for them and support their policies.

Don't be one of the those people.