Category Archives: Faith

Apr 23

Laughing At God

Posted on by

I enjoy laughter. In fact, I find myself spending a great deal of time laughing. I believe laughter is one of God’s great gifts. We all should do a better job of bringing laughter into our lives. However, just as laughter can be a good thing, it also can be a bad thing. For example, have you ever laughed at an inappropriate time?

One of the inappropriate times for us to laugh is in response to God and His promises. Perhaps we have never truly laughed out loud at God, but we have probably laughed to ourselves at the thought of some of the very promises God has made.

This was an area where Abram struggled. God promised Abram he would have a son (Gen. 15:1-6). Unfortunately, he and his wife Sarai apparently got tired of waiting on God and decided to take matters into their own hands. Sarai gave Abram her servant, Hagar, and he slept with her and she conceived and bore him a son (Gen. 16:1-6).

Just when Abraham was probably feeling good about having a son, God tells him Ishmael, the son of Hagar, was not the son of promise. Instead, God was going to bless Abraham and Sarah with their very own son. Here’s the problem: instead of being excited, Abraham fell on his face and laughed at God. He thought he and Sarah were too old to have children (Gen. 17:16-17). Sadly, Sarah responded in the same way (Gen. 18:9-15).

Can you imagine laughing at God? We may not be able to imagine it, but we all have done it. When we read the promises God has made to us in His word, do we have faith that God will bring those promises to pass? If we don’t, then we are laughing at God and His promises. When we fail to believe what God says, we in essence are laughing at what God says.

Abraham and Sarah laughed at God because they doubted. The promise He made seemed illogical. Let’s not make the same mistake as Abraham and Sarah. Friends, always remember, “we walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7).

Now that’s Something to Think About!

Jan 21

Stop Talking About It!

Posted on by

This past weekend over 1,600 people from across the southeast attended an annual event in Savannah, TN known as Evangelism University, including 21 of us from Karns. This is always one of our group’s favorite events of the year. EU is a weekend devoted to training high school students to be more evangelistic among their peers.

Students are typically given a booklet to take home and study with a friend. Over the course of the weekend, the students are led through the course themselves so they will better understand how to teach the material to their friends who have never obeyed the Gospel plan of Salvation.

On Saturday night I got to thinking about what it would look like if everyone in attendance made just one disciple for Jesus this year. What an incredible impact such an action would have on the Lord’s Kingdom. Unfortunately, some of us who attended will choose to let multiple opportunities pass us by this year for one reason or another.

Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20a).

Jesus has commissioned us to go into the world and make disciples. Notice this is not a suggestion for us to follow but rather a command for us to obey. What if all 1,600 who attended EU this year went back home and made one disciple for Christ? Just imagine the impact. Now, let’s not stop there. Imagine if each of you reading this made at least one disciple for Christ this year. How incredible would this be?

When are we, who claim to be disciples of Jesus, going to stop talking about being disciples and start acting like disciples? Jesus commanded us to GO, MAKE DISCIPLES and TEACH. What are we waiting for? There’s no better time than now. Jesus promised, “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b).

Let’s stop talking about making disciples for Christ and actually start making disciples. Why not make this the year we lead at least one lost soul to Jesus. Just imagine the impact!

Now that’s Something to Think About!

Jan 13

A Forgotten God

Posted on by

 

Isn’t it amazing how quickly our attitudes can change depending on our circumstances? We can go from feeling happy and blessed one moment, to feeling sad and depressed the next. Too often we allow our disappointing and difficult circumstances to cause us to forget all the blessings from God (Jam. 1:17) we have experienced along the way in our journey.

Take Israel as an example. Israel was coming off one of the most miraculous moments in their history. They were celebrating and praising God for victory over Pharaoh and his army as they escaped Egypt and crossed the Red Sea unharmed (Exo. 14:30-15:2; 11, 18). And that’s when it happened, that’s when it always happens.

22 “Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.” And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, 26 saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.” (Exodus 15:22-26)

The Israelites were wandering around the desert for three days without any water. If you have ever been really thirsty you can probably imagine how difficult this would have been. Without water, they would eventually die.

Finally, after three long days without water, they had a glimmer of hope. They came to Marah probably expecting another blessing, this time in the form of water being provided to them. Unfortunately, their hope was quickly defeated. When the people of Israel saw they were unable to drink the water, they started to complain. Oh, how quickly their attitude changed.

Have you ever felt like Israel probably felt at this moment in their history? Have you ever found yourself standing before water too bitter to drink? Standing in the midst of disappointing circumstances you really didn’t want to be in? It doesn’t matter who we are or even where we are in our lives, we have all experienced disappointing circumstances.

Like Israel, too often our response is to grumble and complain about the hand we have been dealt. And that’s when it happens. We get so focused on our disappointing circumstances we forget all God has done for us in the past. This is exactly what happened to Israel. Their forgetfulness led to a serious problem; a lack of faith and trust. You see, when we forget what God has done in the past, we will always fail to see what God can do in the future. 

The problem for Israel was they had forgotten God was on their side. Because of Him they walked out of Egypt and crossed the Red Sea unharmed. Israel just needed to trust God and be obedient to His commandments and promises even in the mist of their current disappointing circumstances.

What about you? What disappointing circumstances are you currently facing that have caused you to forget all God has done for you in the past? Whatever the circumstances are, may I encourage you to place your trust in God and reflect on all He has done for you?

It’s interesting to me, had Israel only been more patient and trusting, they would have seen God had already made provisions for them.

“Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.” (Exodus 15:27)

Elim was only a few miles away. Although they didn’t know what was going on, God did. He knew exactly what He was doing. Elim had twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees. It was a place that would satisfy Israel’s need in a big way.

Friends, we all face our own Marah at some point. What’s important to remember is that if we will remain patient and trust God, He will lead us through Marah into the land of Elim; a place of great joy! After all, He is the great healer.

Now that’s Something to Think About!

Apr 01

Just Let Go

Posted on by

Letting go is a lot harder than it sounds. With each passing day this becomes more and more evident. Like most of you, I like to have total control over my life. The thought of allowing someone else to hold the reins is more than a little scary. The obvious questions and statements come to mind: “What if that person messes up?”, “What if something bad happens?”, “What if he doesn’t know what he is doing?” and “But that’s not how I would do it.”

One of the most difficult parts of our walk with God is surrendering control of our lives to Him. We like being in control. When we are in control we know how things are going to end because we can manipulate situations to our advantage. But, when someone else has control over our lives, we cannot see the end and this causes unease and apprehension.

When Paul wrote to the churches in Galatia, he said, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).

As children of God, when we pledge our lives to Christ through the act of baptism, we tell God we are willing to surrender our lives to Him and His cause. This means we are willing to give up control of our lives because we no longer live for self but for God. Baptism implies giving up total control in every area of our lives and allowing God to be the driving force that controls the wheel of our daily lives.

For most of us, this is a struggle. We find it quite difficult to let go of the control. Yet Jeremiah said, “I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23). The wise man said, “A man’s steps are from the Lord; how then can man understand his way?” (Prov. 20:24).

Who really has control of your life? God or you? Although letting go is hard, giving control to God is best. Maybe it is time for you to relinquish control and give God the seat He deserves in your life.

Now that’s Something to Think About!

 

Oct 14

Faith, Football and our Eternal Purpose

Posted on by

Back Camera

Like many of you, I am an avid sports fan. I played multiple sports growing up and now that I’m too old to play, I watch sports and cheer on my favorite teams even when there is not much to cheer about. As a devoted sports fan, I thought I had seen everything. However, yesterday something happened that I have never seen before and hope I never see again.

The Houston Texans were a popular pick to be a Super Bowl contender this season. Unfortunately, the season has not started according to plan. The Houston Texans entered yesterday’s game having lost three of their last four games and yesterday’s outcome was no different. The Texans suffered a crushing loss to the St. Louis Rams by a score of 38-13.

The loss is not what people are talking about this morning though. Instead, people around the country are talking about what the Texans fans did after their embattled quarterback Matt Schaub went down late in the third quarter with an apparent ankle injury. As he was leaving the game due to his injury, some fans began to cheer, but not for the right reasons. The fans were cheering because they were happy their quarterback was injured. Yes, you heard that correct. The fans were cheering because a player was injured and knocked out of the game.

Now, I will admit, there have been plenty of times I have been disappointed in the way my favorite teams have played (after all…I’m a Tennessee Vols, Atlanta Braves and Tennessee Titans fan). If you are a fan of any of these teams, you can relate to the recent years of disappointment. However, their play (or lack of play) on the field doesn’t give me or any other fan the right to cheer when someone gets hurt, no matter how bad they have been playing. The fact that the Texans fans cheered because a player was injured is sickening and a disgrace to fans everywhere. Really, have we gotten to the point in America were sports and winning is more important than a person’s physical health?

Sadly, I am afraid the answer to that question is a resounding yes! Sports and winning have become more important that just about everything else in life. We have made American sports a god in our society and in our own lives.  We have gotten to the point where our priorities are completely out of order. We have gotten to the point where something as pointless as sports (and I love sports) has become more important to us than the keeping of God’s will for our lives.

Consider just two things mentioned as being a part of God’s will for our lives.

  1. Jesus said we are to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt. 6:33). Sadly, the game of football has become the top priority in the lives of some individuals. It was God who said we are to have no other gods before Him (Exo. 20:2-5). For those of you who are not football fans, you can replace the word football with whatever unimportant thing you have allowed to be a top priority in your own life.
  2.  We are commanded to treat others the way we want to be treated (Matt. 7:12). What if instead of Matt Schaub being the one who was injured, it was your child or parent lying on the turf in obvious pain? Would you want fans to be cheering because they had gotten hurt? Certainly not. In fact, we would be outraged if that were someone we loved rolling on the ground in pain as fans cheered for joy.

What I’m trying to say is maybe it is time for us to hit pause for just a moment and reexamine our lives to see if we are caught up in something that serves no eternal value in the end. If football or anything else for that matter is so important we would neglect keeping God’s standards and commands, our lives and priorities are completely out of place.

Seeing what took place in Houston yesterday breaks my heart because it suggests to me we have a long ways to go in reestablishing God as the heart and center of our great country. May God help us to refocus our lives on our eternal purposes and not on the temporal!

Now that’s Something to Think About!