Opportunities Found Or Lost

1 Corinthians 16:9 "For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries."

For several seasons the Indianapolis Colts were a shining example of a winning franchise. The New England Patriots with Tom Brady is the only other team that showed that kind of consistency in about the same amount of time. The Colts had won over 10 games a season for a decade and went to two Super Bowls during that time. Peyton Manning was voted MVP of the League at least 4 times during that tenure and they won one of the Super Bowls they appeared in. They were never known as a great defensive team, but always seemed to be ahead in the game so the defense was adequate enough to hold off the other team’s offense when they needed to. They had a door of opportunity opened during that time to win a lot more playoff games and even championships, but they let the chances slip by season after season.

During those seasons I heard sportscaster after sportscaster say that the Colts door of opportunity could close very quickly with an injury to Peyton Manning. Sure enough, when he was injured we football fans saw that happen. A team that had won 10 or more games per season for a decade became a doormat, 4 years ago, winning only two games. The offense was horrible, the defense was not much better, and Peyton Manning was traded. Last year the injury to Andrew Luck derailed them again. I think it's kind of sad to see it happen to any great team. All that's left for this current team is the fact that the Colts had their chances in the past to be champions more than once, and they somehow let it slip by.

As a 49er fan I remember the day Steve Young went down against Arizona with a concussion and how the rest of that year played out. Later, I watched the new SF ownership dismantle a team that had a real shot at getting back to the top a few years because of the mess that Terrel Owens started and we cut a QB by the name of Jeff Garcia. I remember the great 49er teams of the past and the great Cowboy teams and how they almost always battled for the championship each year, but that door closed very quickly in the 90's when many of the stars of  both teams retired or were released.

I know these are sports analogies, but the same goes for real life. Read in Ecclesiastes 3:1:

"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven..."

Think about all the seasons or doors of opportunities and losses that we go through in life. There are chances that we have to take if we are going to be winners, or they become missed opportunities that we can never regain. When the time is given to us and the door opening made available we must seize that moment. To refuse or disregard it could mean the difference between blessing and cursing not just in the short term, but for the long haul called life.

Guess what-only you can make that decision for yourself. Nobody can make it for you. You decide whether you want to seize the moment or exhaust the opportunity. Verse 14 says,

"I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him."

Don't let the door of opportunity close on you. If God has opened it, walk in and do what He desires. If not you will live a life of regret wondering what could have or might have been.

John 10:9 "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture."

Hope

Have you heard the story about the nearsighted pastor who glanced at the note that Sister Jones sent to him by an usher. Her husband was in the Navy and had just left on a 3 month tour at sea. The note read: "Bill Jones, having gone to sea, his wife desires the prayers of the congregation for his safety." Failing to observe the punctuation, he shocked his congregation by announcing: "Bill Jones, having gone to see his wife, desires the prayers of the congregation for his safety." All I could have said was "Whoops!"

I remember something very similar when I was dedicating a baby years ago. For some reason I could not get the pronunciation of the child's name right and the congregation helped correct me every time I said the name wrong. It wasn't funny then, but it is now when I think about it. I just hope that when that child grows up and they see me nobody told them what I did when I dedicated them to the Lord. I'm glad the Lord sees, hears, and knows what we mean when we can't get it out right.

I'm very glad that in spite of my shortcomings I have the gift of hope. I have never beheld with my natural sight what I believe I will one day possess. I've never touched hands damaged by crucifixion, yet I believe I will one day touch them. I've never touched pavement of gold, yet one day I fully expect to walk on such streets. My mind has never understood the mysteries of God, yet there will come a day when it will all make sense.

I don’t need to see it or hold it in my hands to believe that it is real. Some say seeing is believing, but for me it’s the opposite. Belief comes first, seeing will come soon enough. I am willing to wait. I've been forgiven. I've been loved. I've chosen to love and forgive in return. My heart yearns for a day, a time, a moment. Yet in that special moment there will no longer be a need for time. I don’t have to understand it all to hunger for my first taste of eternity.

My life can be lived in no other way than to believe, for without this trust, this conviction, this joyous confidence I would become a pitiful cynic-a man in desperate need for the one thing I have rejected, the one thing that provides a doorway to joy, peace and contentment, the one thing so closely linked to love and faith.

I have a future and a promise. God has a plan for my good. He’s preparing a place just for me. He’s promised to come back for me. As a follower of Christ, more than all others, I have the greatest reason to bubble over with this most joyous anticipation. It is because of the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus’ that we have been given yet another wonderful gift from the hand of God Himself. So until then, I will rejoice in what I do not possess because I have something that will carry me in confidence until that moment arrives. What will carry me is the belief that the Father has fully paid my sin debt which gives me the freedom to love and follow where He leads.

Liveable Proverbs

None of these thoughts in this blog are original today. I wish I could take credit for saying or writing them. These are things I heard evangelists, pastors, and administrative officials say to me personally or from the pulpit. Some times you just have to write down things you hear because they make so much sense later. These excepts, quotes, or proverbs came from evangelists like Jesse Anderson, Roy Lamb, and Jimmy Lewis that I heard in my youth, great pastors like Bobby Johnson and the late, great I. C. Morris, Jr., and Overseers from James Cross to Tim Hill. I am glad that I took time to make notes of some of these sayings and I thought I would share them with you today. Everyone of them spoke to me at the appropriate time they were given and maybe they will do the same for you.

-If you want your dreams to come true, don't oversleep.

-The smallest good deed is better than the  grandest intention.

-Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important.

-The best vitamin for making friends is B1.

-The 10 commandments are not multiple choice.

-The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.

-Minds are like parachutes-they function only when open.

-Ideas won't work unless YOU do.

-One thing you can't recycle is wasted time.

-One who lacks the courage to start has already finished.

-The heaviest thing to carry is a grudge.

-You don't learn safety rules by accident.

-We lie the loudest when we lie to ourselves.

-Jumping to conclusions can be bad exercise.

-A turtle makes progress when it sticks it's head out.

-One thing you can give and still keep is your word.

-A friend walks in when everyone else walks out.

-The pursuit of happiness is the chase of a lifetime.

Foot In Mouth Disease

We all suffer from the same disease. It's called "Put Your Foot In Your Mouth" Syndrome. Every person probably does suffer from it at least once every day. You remember, you said something you didn't want someone else to hear, or spoke out of turn about something you had no knowledge of. Or maybe you said something to someone that you regret and wonder if they will ever forgive you.

I remember a particularly tough situation that I had to handle as a pastor. It was a very difficult decision I had to make and it hurt me very deeply because I loved the family involved. There was a 50/50 chance that I would lose my friendship with the family if I acted, but according to our guidelines and by-laws I had to progress forward. I did as the Bible says and tried to settle the dispute by the Word, but an unattached party got wind off it and made a mountain out of a molehill. I saved one family, but the one that put their foot in their mouth found out they had caused the damage by misspoken words, they were so embarrassed they themselves left the church. How many pastors have faced that same scenario over and over again because some says something out of turn?

I was watching a very close football game last year, and you could tell the players nerves were on edge. The home team had been the victim of three or four close calls, and they were now trailing the visitors by a touchdown and a field goal. When the official called yet another close one in the visitors' favor, the home quarterback blew his top. It was later reported he said some things he shouldn't have to the head referee. Don't worry, I've cleaned it up, but it went something like this:

 "How many times can you do this to us in a single game?" he screamed. "You were wrong on the out-of-bounds call, you were wrong on that last holding call, and you failed to say anything about a late hit in the first quarter." The ref just stared.  The quarterback got angrier, but he tried to suppress language that might get him tossed out of the game.  "What it comes down to," he yelled, "is that you stink!" The official stared a few more seconds.  Then he bent down, picked up the ball, paced off 15 yards, and put the ball down. He turned to face the steaming quarterback. "And how do I smell from here?" he asked.

There are so many times when it is hard to "bite the tongue" and say nothing.  The urge to say "something" seems so overpowering that the words sometimes erupt before we have a chance to think them through. Unfortunately, those words have consequences.  The minor offenses result in 15-yard penalties.  The more serious offenses result in years of regret and heartache, or perhaps broken relationships that take years to rebuild. No wonder James had such strong words of praise concerning the person who is always able to control what he says in James 3:2.

Proverbs 17:27, 28 declare these words:

"He who has knowledge spares his words, and a man of understanding is of a calm spirit.  Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace; When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive."

May our words today be few, calm, and carefully thought out.

Pursue Righteousness For Your Kid's Sake

6 things are certain in this life. There is wisdom, righteousness and goodness and there is also wickedness, foolishness and death. We, as humans, are given a choice as to which path we will follow. Throughout the Proverbs God gives us warning of the consequences of our decisions and also instructions to guide us down the right path.

Proverbs 10:1-3 “The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death. The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked.”

In these phrases the wise man speaks about the value of serving God. He declares a wise son is a joy to his father and mother rather than becoming a weight to them. He also states that pursuing righteousness leads to deliverance from death and provision for the soul.

What your children do will affect you for the rest of your life. When they are successful you are well pleased; but when they do something foolish it breaks your heart. Gladness or grief comes as a response to your children’s actions. No matter how old they become, their actions will have some kind of effect on you.

Remember a fool in Scripture is never a mentally deficient person, but someone who is arrogant, self-reliant, and orders his/her life as if there were no God. In Luke 12:16-20 the rich man was not mentally deficient, but he was a fool because he supposed that his soul could live on the things in the barn, giving no thought for eternity.  

Wickedness has been the ruination of more families than we can even imagine. In fact it does and can lead to death and loss without recovery. That’s why it’s best to train up a child in the way of righteousness so that wherever they go that training will not depart from them. I've known some young people who have gotten in a whole lot of trouble, but they remembered the Lord before it was too late because of that Biblical training.

Children learn what they live. If they live with criticism, they learn to condemn. If they live with hostility, they learn to fight. If they live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive. If they live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves. If they live with ridicule, they learn to be shy. If they live with jealousy, they learn what envy is. If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.

On the other hand, if children live with tolerance, they learn to be patient. If they live with encouragement, they learn to be confident. If they live with praise, they learn to appreciate. If they live with approval, they learn to be themselves. If they live with acceptance, they learn to find love in the world. If they live with recognition, they learn to have goals. If they live with sharing, they learn to be generous. If they live with honesty and fairness, they learn what truth and justice are. If they live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those around them. If they live with friendliness, they learn there are nice people in this world. If they live in a righteous environment, they learn how to have peace of mind and with God.

The Lord will keep those who pursue righteousness and your most valuable asset is your children. Don't let it be wasted!

He Deserves Our Best

To be “excellent” means to be outstanding; exceptional, better. The Scriptures teach us that excellence is something that honors God:

Colossians 3:23 “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men…”

Ecclesiastes 9:10 “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”

Compare that with the word “mediocre,” which means of middle quality or not
good enough. Have you ever heard anyone say, “It’s just church-What difference does it make?” That type of thinking can certainly be dangerous in a spiritual sense. Mediocrity makes Jesus sick!

God is displeased with mediocre, less than excellent service.
Malachi 1:7, 8 “Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts."

a. He deserves the best we have.

b. He is displeased when we try to cheat Him.
c. He despises offerings of inferior quality.

There is always a reason to offer God less than our best.

Malachi 1:10 “Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand.”

We need to understand what was happening when the events we read in our text occurred. The approximate date was around 430 BC. The place is Jerusalem. Some years before, the people had returned from exile in Babylon and found the city in ruins. They began to rebuild the temple and to rebuild the city walls. However, as the people began to settle into their lives, they forgot the lessons of the exile and they began to put their own priorities in front of God’s priorities. They began to neglect the proper worship of God. Even the priests were guilty of doing this just to appease the people.

Their reasons for doing so were problem similar to our own reasons.
Verses 12, 13 “But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible. Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the Lord.

According to Malachi they wanted to do things the cheap and easy way. It’s just a lot cheaper and easier to offer God a defective animal rather than a perfect one. Things haven’t changed much. We think that it’s okay to just “get by” in our Christian lives, that leftovers are good enough for God, and then we wonder why God doesn’t bless our lives. We really just don’t care about what we offer or how we offer it. God blessed Abel’s sacrifice because he gave out of the best he had and gave it the way God prescribed. Cain just grabbed whatever was convenient. His desire was not to honor God but to get the offering over with and move on to something more important. The “popular argument” is the thinking that says, “Everyone else is doing it.” Since everybody else is doing it, why should I hold to a higher standard?

Our service reveals our attitude toward God. The big issue is that our choice to give God less than our best reveals several things about us. It reveals the priority that we place on our relationship with God. It shows that our desire to grow in our relationship with Him is less than we profess. It also shows that we are more interested in things other than what please God. It reveals that we treat God in a way that is dishonorable. We show God less honor and respect than we give our parents or governmental leaders and that we’re more concerned with ourselves and the things that please us.

True service to God is meant to be costly. It was meant to cost something when God told His people to give of the best of their flocks and their fields. Jesus taught us that we have to be faithful in the small things before we can receive the bigger blessings.

Excellence takes daily diligence. Suppose you build a new house. When the house is finished, you plant a flower garden and landscape your yard. You might do all those things with excellence, then step back and say, “That’s beautiful.” But it’s not long before your work begins to deteriorate. The walls need repainting, the grass has to be cut, the weeds have to be pulled from the flower bed. You can’t relax for long. If your home is going to maintain that look of excellence, the work must be ongoing. You can lose the edge really fast.

The same thing is true in our lives and our churches. We can get used to just getting by. Our duty is to live as stewards of what God has blessed us with. Stewardship should not be slipshod. Someone once said, “Mediocrity is excellence in the mind of the mediocre.” Yet, Jesus taught that unfaithful stewards were both wicked and lazy.

God expects and deserves nothing less than our best. If it bears His name, it deserves our best.

1 Corinthians 10:31 “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”

1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

Our “best” doesn’t mean perfection or superiority. Chuck Swindoll wrote this in one of his books: “Excellence is a difficult concept to communicate because it can easily be misread as neurotic perfectionism or snooty sophistication. But it is neither. On the contrary, it is the stuff of which greatness is made. It is the difference between just getting by and soaring – that which sets apart the significant from the superficial, the lasting from the temporary.”

Striving for excellence simply means making every effort in preparation and execution to do the very best you can.

Psalm 145:3 “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.”

Revelation 4:11 “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

If you’re someone who has been cheating God, please stop.
-Stop offering God contemptuous sacrifices.
-Stop giving God your last-minute, half-hearted, left-over, and warmed-up efforts.
-Don’t slap something together and pretend it’s okay.
-Stop giving God what you wouldn’t give to your spouse, your boss, or anyone else.

 2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

God Help Us Be Like You

I talked with an employee of a local business about the church she attends this week. I was surprised to hear her say that one of her children is an atheist and so is her husband. She tries to live a Christian life, but when I quizzed her about why her family members were unbelievers she began to share with me their opinion of most Christian churches. I write these things based on our conversation of what her non-believers feel about the church and religion in general:

-We've become very good at marketing religion rather than righteousness.

Many church people have become consumers of religion rather than torch bearers.  The church caters to their musical preferences, entertains them, impresses them with clever talks, titillates them with interesting videos, and turns them into self-centered consumers of religion like it was pizza. To many unbelievers the church has become a product to be marketed more than a way of righteousness to be experienced. Church members are being taught to “get what you want or go elsewhere”, so we make sure they get what they want so they don’t go down the street. We know this is true because that’s how we got most of them—from down the street.

-We seek success over obedience and popularity over truth.

The church, in general, has become completely captivated by the success syndrome. She values success more than obedience. She honors the famous and successful more than the obedient and pious. She would rather go “from good to great” than sacrifice greatness for goodness. Many churches say, "if it works we do it". She's learned how to do things, but seldom realizes for whose glory she does them. She copies the paradigms of big business more than the values of the kingdom. She knows if you attract a big crowd and produce a big income you are recognized as a hero, but if you love God passionately and obey Him completely you won’t be noticed. Her gods have become success, big crowds, giant budgets, million dollar complexes, large staffs, professional offices, prestige and fame. When she has to choose between being successful and being good, she invariably choose success. The non-believer looks at the stuff we do in Jesus name, but fails to literally see the evidence of why we do it, more often than not.

-We put our church priorities above God's priorities.

Sometimes what’s good for your church can be bad for the kingdom, but given the choice we do what benefits our own kingdom even at the expense of the Lord’s Kingdom. We don’t even recognize the difference, since most of us consider our own kingdom the same thing as God’s kingdom. We pay attention to our own church’s statistics more than our community’s statistics. Most of us don’t even try to find out what’s happening to the churches in our county. We tout our own statistics and assume that’s the end of the story. If our own church is growing we pronounce God is moving, even if the total number of Christians in our community is declining steadily. We do the same as a denomination. As long as we can show gains as a denomination, we ignore the national statistics. We have constructed kingdoms of kings ruling over ever larger territories while the entire empire shrinks around us as generations of unbelievers go untouched by the gospel. 

-Our legalism and being judgmental has caused our testimony to go flat.

Pastors have launched into politics and specialized at shouting at unbelievers for acting like they are unbelievers, who in turn, remember us mostly for our negative preaching. Churches have used boycotts, political referendums, cross-talk interviews and shouting matches to make a difference, but mostly we have only made a scene. The world knows us as judgmental, nagging hypocrites who expect unbelievers to line up with our own convictions, all the while ignoring our own faults. We scold the world for abortion and homosexuality and then we dismiss our own sins of greed, materialism, idolatry, lust, divorce and marital infidelity. We condemn the sins of the unconverted, while giving ourselves a free pass. When asked what they think of a Christian, many unbelievers don’t even mention the church helping the poor, trying to cure AIDS or caring for others. They mention our judgmental attempts to make them line up with our own standards. Most people my age have rejected the judgmental legalism of our parents generation used against us as teenagers and then turned around and developed the same judgmental, legalistic attitude against those who aren’t even converted. We are to be a positive, powerful witness to the world, but it is mostly become a negative witness. The Church has misplaced her loyalty so much that the model she gives to the world of everything they don’t want to be. How many times have you heard lately, "Well, I know those people in that church. I live better than most of them who claim to be a Christian"?

As I left the store the words of her conversation brought conviction to my spirit. I don't want to live thinking I'm superior to others who need Jesus. God help us realize that except for the grace of God I could be walking in their shoes. I must admit that many of her statements rang true in my heart because I have had and witnessed this same attitude in the church about sinners and unbelievers because of their lifestyle and background. God help us to realize we need His compassion and heart more than ever before. Also, God help us to live what we preach. If we don't the results are disasterous.