May 20, 2017

King David had the Ark of the Covenant returned to its rightful place in Jerusalem. He stands before the Ark, where the presence of the Lord dwelt, and sings this psalm. I share with you and it needs no further comment.

"That day David first committed to Asaph and his associates this psalm of thanks to the LORD : Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced, O descendants of Israel his servant, O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones. He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth. He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: "To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit." When they were but few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it, they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another. He allowed no man to oppress them; for their sake he rebuked kings: "Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm." Sing to the LORD, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy in his dwelling place. Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength, ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness. Tremble before him, all the earth! The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved. Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, "The LORD reigns!" Let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them! Then the trees of the forest will sing, they will sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Cry out, "Save us, O God our Savior; gather us and deliver us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name, that we may glory in your praise." Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting." I Chronicles 16:7-36

Then all the people said "Amen" and "Praise the LORD."

And I say, "Amen! Praise the Lord!"

The Desire Of The Good Shepherd

What a Savior we have!

In John Chapter 6 we see Him as the Bread of Life! He bids us to feed on Him.

In John 8 He identifies Himself as great than Abraham.

In Chapter 9 he presents Himself as the Light of the World and illustrates it by healing a blind man!

Wow! What a Savior!

Moving on to Chapter 10 he refers to Himself as the Good Shepherd. His description sounds a lot like Psalm 23!

As a pastor friend of mine once declared, "When the Lord is your Shepherd - the future is your friend!"

Here's why:

He Leads Us!

A hireling or a sheep rustler drives the sheep, but the Good Shepherd leads us. He leads us into the safety of His presence! He leads us into the security of His pasture! He leads us into the abundance of His truth. He speaks gently to us and calls us by name as He leads us. Think of that, the Good Shepherd knows your name!

He Loves Us!

A hireling or a rustler has no regard for the sheep. They mean nothing to them. To them the sheep are a necessary inconvenience. They lead the flock only for their own personal benefit. So when the sheep are threatened, they will flee to protect themselves. But the Good Shepherd loves His sheep. He provides for them. He protects them. He prays for them. He will give His life to save them. Think about that! You are loved by the Good Shepherd!

He leads us. He loves us. And, He layed down His live for us. Verse 10 sums up the desire of the Good Shepherd and the destiny of His sheep:

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full!"

To quote my friend - "When the Lord is your Shepherd, the future is your friend!"

Lessons On The Lake

Hanging around with Jesus was never boring! The disciples had barely cleaned up the crumbs after the miraculous feeding of thousands of people from one humble lunch, than they received a lesson on the lake. Here's the story:

"When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified. But he said to them, "It is I; don't be afraid." Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading." John 6:16-21

Jesus became an instant favorite of 5,000+ people who had just received a free lunch. They wanted another. He knew they intended to make Him into their king, so He disappeared into the mountains after He sent the disciples off in their boat.

When they were halfway across the lake a ferocious storm blew in. Even though they were experienced with handling a boat, and even though they rowed hard against the storm, they were at the mercy of the waves and about to sink. I am sure they were praying and crying out to God, but I don't think they expected what happened - Jesus walking to them across the waves! Walking on calm water is a miracle. Walking on the waves during a storm is uber-miraculous!

In addition to having their lives saved, here are some significant things they learned:

1) Jesus always knows where we are - even when we aren't sure where He is!

2) Jesus will never let us go to a place where He can't reach us. That is because He loves us and because there is no place He can't reach! Even in the middle of a storm!

3) Jesus doesn't always save us FROM the storm but He will always save us IN the storm.

4) Jesus doesn't deliver us until we welcome Him into our boat.

5) Jesus brought them safely to their destination on the other side.

If you have ever suffered through a storm, you can appreciate the lessons on the lake. What Jesus did for them He will do for you!

Have you welcomed Him into your boat?

May 17, 2017

"This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." John 6:58

What sort of bread is this that comes down from heaven? What kind of bread can you eat and live forever?

Manna was bread that came down from heaven in the days of the Exodus. God called Moses to lead His people from the bondage of Egypt to the freedom of the Promised Land. There was one minor complication - they had to cross a wilderness. Several millions of people traveling through the desert need food in order to survive. How would that happen? That's a lot of food!

God's answer was manna, an amazing substance that appeared each morning like dew. It was white and sweet and nutritionally perfect - and non-fattening! They had never seen anything like this before so they called it "manna" which means "what is it"?

Every day for forty years they fed on this manna from heaven. They were allowed to take as much as they could eat for that day and a double portion before the Sabbath. But anything they did not eat would spoil. It would not keep. God doesn't deal in leftovers!

This "Wonder Bread" was one of a number of miraculous ways that God provided for His people. He brought them out from under the rod of Pharaoh by demonstrating his power through a series of plagues. Then He opened the Red Sea so they could escape the Egyptian army and then closed it over the army to destroy them. He gave them water from a rock, quail from the sky, clothes that never wore out, and fresh bread daily. There is no way that millions of people can survive - and grow - for forty years in a desert, but they did!

Now God sends a new Deliverer, His Son, Jesus. And after having miraculously feeding thousands of people in the wilderness with only five loaves and two fishes, He identifies Himself as "Manna from heaven" and "the Bread of life". That is pretty simple and straight forward - feed on Him and live or choose not to and die.

Think about Jesus as Manna. It fits! He is sent from heaven by God. He is sweet and life-giving. He supplies all of our needs. You can feed on Him as much as you desire. He is fresh each day and doesn't work as a left-over. Feeding on Him will get you to the Promised Land.

Are you hungry this morning? How about some "Manna"? Eat, enjoy and live!

May 16, 2017

I read this on ESPN written by the Rick Reilly. This is a touching story and a perfect picture of what a church should be:They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through. Did you hear that, the other team's fans?

They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, "Go Tornadoes!" Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.

It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name.

"I never in my life thought I'd hear people cheering for us to hit their kids," recalls Gainesville's QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. "I wouldn't expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!" And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he'd just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.

But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That's because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.

This all started when Faith's head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.

So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. "Here's the message I want you to send:" Hogan wrote. "You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth." Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan's office and asked, "Coach, why are we doing this?"

And Hogan said, "Imagine if you didn't have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you." Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before - hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!

"I thought maybe they were confused," said Alex, a Gainesville lineman (only first names are released by the prison). "They started yelling 'DEE-fense!' when their team had the ball. I said, 'What? Why they cheerin' for us?'"

It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. "We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games," says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. "You can see it in their eyes. They're lookin' at us like we're criminals. But these people, they were yellin' for us! By our names!"

Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it had all season, scoring the game's last two touchdowns. Of course, this might be because Hogan put his third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string cornerback at defensive end. Still.

After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that's when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. "We had no idea what the kid was going to say," remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: "Lord, I don't know how this happened, so I don't know how to say thank You, but I never would've known there was so many people in the world that cared about us."

And it was a good thing everybody's heads were bowed because they might've seen Hogan wiping away tears. As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player.

The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, "You'll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You'll never, ever know."

And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they'd never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night.

Wow! Do people feel like that as they leave FWC on Sunday?

May 15, 2017

Did you know that Wonder Bread is in the Bible?

Reading in John 6, the first 15 verses. Jesus is ministering in Galilee. In one of my previous posts I talked about how many of His miracles happened there in that region. Another one is about to happen. This one was a result of the success He was having. Even though He tried to sneak away to spend some time teaching His disciples, a crowd followed Him. Not just a crowd - a great crowd - great hungry crowd with nothing to eat. Big problem!

Maybe a problem for you. Maybe a problem for me. But not a problem for Jesus. For Him it was an opportunity for a miracle.

As I read this I saw some interesting insights about how miracles happen:

First, there was a great need. Philip was sensitive to the needs of the people and recognized that something had to be done. There has never been a miracle without a need. Nor has there been a miracle unless some concerned person recognized that need. Are you facing a need? You may be a candidate for a miracle!

Second, there was a great deed. Andrew found one little boy who had brought a lunch. That youngster was willing to give up his lunch to meet the need. Five loves and two fish was a humble lunch, but in Jesus' hands those five loaves became Wonder Bread! No miracle ever happens unless someone is willing to respond to a need. Miracles may provide something you don't have, but they derive from something of ours that we are willing to give to Jesus. What is in your hand?

Next, there was a great feed. Jesus took the humble lunch and turned it into an all you can eat buffet! Thousands of hungry people ate until they were full and when the disciples gathered up the leftovers they still had twelve times more that they started with! Twelve baskets and twelve disciples - hmmmmmm! God's power always exceeds the need!

The Feeding of the Five Thousands is one of the best known and most popular miracles in all of the Bible! But it also one of the most illustrative!

We learn that when there is a great need that is sensed by a few, and when there is a great deed by a committed person, Jesus can meet a great need! That is the mixture that makes a miracle!

May 14, 2017

"She looks well to the ways of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and bless her; Her husband also, and he praises her, saying: "Many daughters have done nobly, But you excel them all."…" Proverbs 31:27-29

It was late Sunday afternoon on January 15, 1950 and a very pregnant Reita Mae Snyder was sitting on a stool in her kitchen in Bourbon, Indiana frying some steaks for dinner.

Trust me, the woman can cook! But the steaks on the stove were about to be interrupted by the "bun in the oven" as labor pains began in a serious way.

Don Snyder devoured both steaks while Reita packed her stuff for the 16.2 mile trip down U.S. 30 to the Murphy Medical Center in Warsaw, Indiana. Around 10:30 that night they welcomed a 9' 15" 22 1/2 " baby boy into the world. They named him Bradley Donn Snyder.

Over the next ten years she gave birth to four daughters and another son and, she took on a step-son. We all call her, "Mom". We still do!

Despite working two jobs in addition to cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, grocery shopping and canning fruits and vegetables she made sure we got to church Sunday morning and Sunday night and midweek prayer meeting. She "brought us up in the way we should go" as the Bible instructs.

Functioning essentially as a single parent, she prayed for us, punished us, and pushed us in the direction of the Christian faith and Christian friends. She wasn't above chasing away friends of ours that she didn't like. If she thought they were a bad influence and we didn't listen you her urging  to stop hanging out with certain friends, she would take it upon herself to suggest they get lost.

Mom wasn't perfect but her love was and her intentions were. You could call some of her methods into question but you had to give her a high grade for tenacity. For Pete's sake, she spanked me when I was 16 years old!

There are seven productive contributing adults making the world a better place because "Mom" built the right stuff into us and beat the bad stuff out of us!

On this Mother's Day, Mom, your children rise up and call you blessed!

Happy Mother's Day!
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