“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?’” John 11:25-26

“Using the power of A.I., I am going to Amaze YOU!” And with that, the magician pulled out of his top hat… not a rabbit… but a BOWLING BALL! Then dropped it with a ‘THUD’… onto the floor! The crowd went WILD!!! “YEAHHHHH!” Along with APPLAUSE APPLAUSE! “A.I.” he said again. “You know what it means right?”

I happened to be thinking that A.I. was ‘Artificial Intelligence,’ because that has been ‘a thing’ for about a year now. But the magician said “NO! It stands for the ‘Almost Impossible!”’ And the crowd roared! We were on our cruise and the magician was the opening act for entertainment. He had us all mesmerized!

After making things appear and disappear for about 45 minutes, he vanished behind the curtain. Then I began to think., “how did he do all that and just how much time and effort did it take him to learn?” The man made a career out of traveling the world ‘mesmerizing people.’ To me, that would NOT be a good life.

Going on a cruise for a period of time is a fun get-away, but to be STUCK on a cruise for 5 days after performing ONE 45 minute gig, then go on to another, seemed lonely and sad. So I resolved to see if I could find him on the ship and impress him with some REAL magic. I only had one question for him!

After keeping an eye out for him for several days, I didn’t seen him. He’d ‘disappeared!’ I WANTED to ask him if he could perform the ULTIMATE trick… one that’s ONLY been seen ONE TIME in the ENTIRE HISTORY of the WORLD! I wanted to ask him, “Can you die… and then come back to life again! Cuz I can!”

I used today’s Bible verse for a Memorial service of one of our Church members. Sadly, the only people who seemed to be amazed were the ones who already knew the same guy I know… His name is Jesus Christ. And not only did He die and come back to life… he left a free ticket to join him in doing the very same thing…

If I WANT to!

“Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps. Discipline me, Lord, but only in due measure—not in your anger, or you will reduce me to nothing.” Jeremiah 10:23-24

It’s Christmas time! YEAAAAAA! Time to put on the cheer and celebrate the greatest gift ever given to man – God’s plan for salvation through His Son Jesus Christ. In our house, that means dragging out the boxes of decorations to celebrate! It is the reverse of what we did in January of last year when the boxes were carefully packed, labeled and stored. Now we fetch and unpack. One of my jobs is putting up the outside lights! Need I say more???

How is it that Christmas lights that worked perfectly last year… do not work now? They’re not like milk that spoils. I can’t figure how an inanimate object can be created… then just go bad without ever being touched. But SOMETHING certainly wreaked havoc – because half of my lights do not work! I commiserated with a friend who just had the same experience! We agreed… it’s not worth trying to fix them! THAT is a learned lesson in futility! It’s easier to just throw ‘broken’ away and buy new! But what does God do with ‘Broken?’

God has a way with broken, tangled lives? All through the Bible we get a picture of God’s amazing patience and Grace. Each and every one of us has faced times where our faith wavered, our love grew cold, our hearts hurt and our ‘get up and go’ just ‘got up and went!’ What does OUR maker do with us? Does He throw the whole tangled, broken mess of our lives into the trash? I think you already know the answer.

I thank God that God is in the restoration and fixing business! One of the biggest proofs of God’s existence and love comes from the nation of Israel. When He called them, they were few. He made a promise to them and, due to their own stubborn hearts, they broke His! But He continues to work, fix and move… using time and events to restore Israel to Himself. THAT story is a continuing one until the end of this planet. That Israel is a nation again is one of the biggest miracles of the ages… and should be of great encouragement to us.

God loves us all. The price He paid to redeem us is so high, that virtually NO human on earth could ever pay it. But God did! And for those of us who know Him, strain to hear the music He plays in our hearts, listening for His voice to lead us, we follow on by faith… step by step.  We know that ‘He who began a good work in us, WILL complete it.’ SO, fellow shiny one…“Let your light shine!”

I am going to work on doing that today! Because THAT… is MY job! How about YOU?

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

Packing! If you want to go somewhere for any length of time, it is necessary to gather together the items you will need for the trip, and place them in a suitcase. Clothes, toiletries, medications and other ‘things,’ wanted or needed, must be gathered and organized into a suitcase. Preparation takes planning and effort!

Recently we’ve had to go through the packing process, then upon our return, unpack our ‘stuff.’ As we were preparing to go on a 5 day cruise, the thought hit me… what would or could I pack to take with me to Heaven? A silly question since, as the saying goes, “Ya can’t take it with you!” Or, I thought, could I?

Is there anything I can actually plan, prepare and take with me to Heaven? In light of this verse I came across, apparently… there is! So just like planning for a trip away from home, I began to ‘make up a list!’ Knowing my point of destination, and what the Bible says is awaiting me, my thinking traveled Heavenward.

I KNOW I have been created for a purpose. My life has a meaning and there are ‘good works’ for me to DO that Jesus expects from me. When I get to heaven, I know that my ‘just passing through,’ here on Earth, will be judged. I will be rewarded based upon my doing those things, and how well they were done.

Heavenly reward, I have come to believe, should be looked at as intentionally as preparing for a road trip. While I cannot take THINGS with me to Heaven, it is evident that I CAN plan ahead to receive a reward more valuable than ‘fun’ or ‘money!’ So what is my responsibility? What Heavenly blessings might await me?

The Spiritual Gifts that Christ pours out on His people are real. Some have been called to be teachers, evangelists, prayers, helpers and many other duties necessary to Christ’s Church. Along the way, we ALL have opportunities to tell, show, or live out the Life Christ has planned for, and given to us. But am I DOING?

Of course it’s just a thought. But if it only REMAINS a thought and is not acted upon, it would be like going on a trip with no bags! Are YOU packing UP for Heaven? What do you KNOW you will be rewarded for? And how much more can you DO for Him?

“…for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.” Luke 1:15

The message to all was “Next wire renew date March 16, 2025.” It was on the ship’s crane, used to lift items up, and onto, the ship. Being on vacation, with deliberately nothing to do… I read, then thought about it. I also took a better look at the existing cable that was already there… it was starting to look rough as of 11/2024!

Thinking about what that crane could possibly lift, I ruled out ‘people.’ But maybe I shouldn’t have. What the message said was that the cable, or lifting power, had an expiration date! If I was in a lifeboat, even in a position of being saved by that lift, I’d be worried if the day was say… February 22, 2025! That’d be too close to trust!

Naturally, on vacation with nothing else to do, I began running scenarios in my head. I understand that that specific date was probably computed by some engineer, way back in some office, possibly far from sea. But WHY boldly place it, in black letters on white, where EVERYONE could read it… and wonder?

Knowing the Holy Spirit, I knew He was trying to teach me a lesson with the ‘show and tell’ before my eyes. While coming up with several possibilities, the one that ‘stuck’ made me examine the expiration date on MY life. How much and how well have I lifted people, under my care, up to now. Can I improve? And for how long?

The story of Jesus’ birth is preceded by the story of John the Baptist. Reading it, I caught that he was to abstain from ‘wine and other fermented drink.’ Looking up commentaries on that, I learned the lesson that, when it comes to joy, NOTHING artificial is to be accepted. Only the Joy that comes from the Holy Spirit will do.

As I write, I am forced to examine my life to determine what artificial sweeteners, habits and hangups I might be relying on. How GREAT do ‘I’ look to Jesus? This is going to take some time and deep consultation with the Engineering powers of the Holy One. Care to join me in that introspection inspection this Advent? 

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!” Revelation 3:15

“Why is it so cold in here?” I thought. The temperature outside was chilly, but the electric fireplace was turned on and the heater was blazing orange! As I lay under a light blanket watching a football game, I still felt a chill… “must be my age.” That thought was suddenly interrupted when I asked Katie… ”Is our AC on?”

It is a habit to turn the AC down a little lower at night so we can sleep better. Waking up to a slight chill, I had tuned on the heater… totally forgetting about the air conditioner being on. Then last night, I had a conflicting chill in the direct presence of heat! DUH!! Feeling a little stupid, I remembered this verse.

Revelation 3 is Jesus’ continued evaluation of the 7 existing Churches at the time of John’s writing of Revelation. Judgments, which started in Chapter 2, end with this verse describing the very last of the 7 churches… Laodicea. Known as the ‘lukewarm church,’ Jesus was disappointed in them to the point of throwing up!

The 7 Churches really did exist when John wrote down the vision. But the 7 church’s judgments also describe the character of The Church, over time, to today. Today in 2024, I am living in the age of the Church of Laodicea! Yup… that means that, over all, ‘Christians today are noted for being mostly lazy and apathetic!!

As I lay there under the AC vent and under that blanket, I was chilly. But I didn’t really bother to get up to do anything about my condition. Finally, when I put 2+2 together, I took action. Jesus says He respects fired up followers of satan more than cold-hearted church goers. Those words leave me with a convicted choice!

Am I on FIRE for Jesus? Or am I just cool to the notion of being His fireball for change? And what about YOU?

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

“You were kidding right?” I asked the woman in the elevator. We were heading to dinner last week on a 5 day cruise, and I noticed a woman’s T-shirt that read “Christian.” Entering the elevator I blurted out, “I guess we’ll be seeing you in heaven then too, huh?” She said, “you bet… ‘I’ have a SPECIAL room waiting for me there!”

It was then I saw her T-shirt actually said “Christianson,” Realizing it labeled her name, NOT necessarily her position in Christ, I just had to ask… “so what Heavenly ‘special room’ are you talking about?” She said, “years ago I adopted a special needs baby and raised it, now that girl is big and gives me fits… but I love her anyway! HAAAA!”

It took a minute to process her statement, and the elevator was filling with more people. Finally, I HAD to say something. “You WERE kidding about that room, right?” She looked at me seriously and said, “Absolutely!” I pondered and kept my mouth shut… until time to get off, then said, “That’s not how you get there. It’s about Faith in Jesus!”

Rehashing the conversation through my mind, I knew for certain that ‘Christianson’ was NOT a child of God! She really believed she deserved a special room there because of her own effort in raising a special needs child. With no time, and her spirit not open, I couldn’t present her with the salvation message about life in Heaven being a ‘Free Gift!’

The exchange took only a couple minutes. But I had presented God’s Truth! Her defiance, as we walked off the elevator, was not my concern. THAT was between her and God. MY job was to tell her the Truth. Gregory Koukl’s book ‘Tactics’ explains that sometimes, we only get a minute. But a TRUTHFUL minute can be powerfully used by God!

Contrary to the commercial Christmas message to ‘bring good cheer,’ we are called by Christ, who is the MEANING of Christmas… to simply ‘TELL THE TRUTH!’ I have dedicated Christmas 2024 to doing more of just that! How about YOU?

Merry Merry… all you fellow, saved by Faith, ‘Jesus People!’ wink-wink!  Now go spread the Good News!

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment… Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” 1 Peter 3:3-4

“Geet dat ting an bring it ova hea’!” the lady screamed in a Cajun like, foreign accent! At least I THOUGHT she was screaming. When we entered the store her loud voice was a shock. After we received our food and sat down, her boisterous voice ordered the staff around, shaking both the walls and our own sense of calm.

The woman referred to was clearly the manager. Her management and manners were loud, obnoxious and unwelcome. She got so loud it became uncomfortable to sit and enjoy our meal. As we left, an employee was sitting outside on break. I said,” I don’t know how you put up with THAT!” He nodded… slowly in the affirmative.

It was hard to determine if each sentence was said in anger, or if that was just her style. In either case, it was uncomfortable to everyone in the place… customers and employees included. I’m not sure if I could ever get used to hearing her tone. Katie mentioned, “I couldn’t work in a place like that!” I simply said, “I wouldn’t!”

Being honest, I haven’t had a quiet spirit lately. ‘Outside’ things have been seen and absorbed, leaving my ‘inside’ a rather irritable mess. This, I am sure, has made MY outside impression upon others… questionable. After all, who wants to hang around and listen to a grumpy, obnoxious, unhappy ‘Jesus guy?’ I sensed a need.

The experience in the restaurant wasn’t the fix for my heart. But it was a wake-up call. ‘The unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit’ does not come naturally. But it IS a goal and work of art that’s actually EXPECTED from ‘The Master.’ Working on my inner spirit to make it ‘peaceful and quiet’ can be MY gift to God!

All Believers in Jesus Christ are witnesses called to go spread the Gospel, and God’s love from our insides, to the outside. People like to listen to ‘gentle and peaceful’ better than the obnoxious and raging! With Thanksgiving approaching, I believe I’ve just been given a hint from God on what HE wants for the Holy-Day.

How is YOUR inner spirit? How do YOU come off, as Christ’s representative, in a loud and raging world? Are you living with a Thanks-giving, peace-filled, gentle heart and spirit? Thank God we have a gentle Savior who majors in heart transplants.

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:8-10

Those were the last words of George Harrison, the former Beatle, before he died.”Love one another.” Which is interesting… because Jesus said them first. I hadn’t known George to be known for his Christian faith! But he must have discovered what love was, its importance, and passed on the inspiration.

I’ve been grumpy. VERY grumpy… tired and worn out. And I know why. OK… this is going to sound selfish… but it’s true. I’m grumpy because… I ain’t getting no love! There… I said it! It’s how I FEEL! That’s that! I’m this way because of my own description that ‘Love is not a feeling… it’s an action. A verb… not a noun!’

Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time on the love train. Added to an abnormally high volume of pastoral calls and requests, I’ve been working hard at the Church House. Which is not a problem. My problem comes when, after loving labor and Godly counsel are given… I look around and see that I am standing there… alone!

Love is not a feeling.. It’s an ACTION. And IF I am being loved… I should be able to SEE it. In the Pastoral business… which represents Jesus’ interests… I should be able to SEE the results of love by seeing OTHER people DOING ‘love’ for Christ. I’m simply not seeing it. MY problem and fault is that I take it personally. I’m sorry.

The most expensive and difficult adjective in the world is ‘Christian.’ Why? Because it costs EVERYTHING the Christian owns 2 B 1! There is NOTHING that should come before Christ… EVER! “I was busy,’ ‘I had to work,’ ‘I had other things to do,’ are some of the words I’ve heard far too often lately. My JOB is to say so.

Remember when Jesus said, ‘let the dead bury the dead (luke 9:60)?’ Or ‘any follower of mine must HATE himself AND his family” (Luke 14:26)? There are many more examples. I say these words because it is my ‘duty’ to say them. It’s the reason I never WANTED to have this job. But God insisted. And He insists NOW!

You say you love Jesus Christ… how are you SHOWING it? What are you DOING to PROVE that you do? Who is noticing? Is God pleased with your sacrifice? Ask Him? I don’t say these words to GET ANYTHING. I say them so that YOU will. So… where are you going to start showing your love for God in the service of others and Him?

Here is the Advent Devotional from Dallas Theological Seminary for 2024.  I pray you enjoy https://lps.dts.edu/2024christmasdevotional 

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21

“We’re Late?” was my exclamation when I hit the church. We had tickets to a concert at another church in town, and I’d THOUGHT that it started at 6:30pm. Walking in at 6:05, to be early, revealed my thought… as wrong. The concert had already begun. All eyes were on us as we walked down the middle aisle.

We really hadn’t missed more than half a song, but in reality, I had no idea what we had missed… because we hadn’t been there! One thing I knew for sure, I personally had missed the preparation time to get ready, mentally and spiritually, for what I was about to hear. The real feeling of loss was present.

Every activity I participate in takes preparation. And not just in the physical arena either. Even a laborer who simply gathers tools will not do his job well without mentally planning and ‘getting his head into the game’ before he arrives. Good workers are easily spotted. They come prepared… early!

I’d been pastoring about a half dozen men in regards to their lives and lifestyle choices. Several were facing difficult issues that were costing them ‘abundant life and peace.’ As I listened, it was easy to spot where their treasure lay. In every case, the treasure they were seeking was NOT Jesus’ treasure!

Jesus made it clear. Find out what is most important to someone, and it will be clear where they bank. The Bible stories about sowing and reaping prove it. If ‘self’ is the object, suggestions of ‘doing what Jesus says’ brings a scowl. No where is that made more clear than in the subject of ‘Church.’

One who puts Christ first can be seen in the Church because… Church is a bank. Just because one shows up at church doesn’t mean they are putting Jesus first! Here is a link that will help Church Bankers improve their investments. I pray you will read, ponder and listen to the Holy Spirit for what He wants and expects from YOU.

Where is YOUR Treasure?

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/make-the-most-of-sunday-mornings?utm_campaign=Daily+Digest&utm_content=Daily+digest&utm_medium=cio&utm_source=email