Monthly Archives: October 2019

What is gonna make today different?

Ecclesiastes 2:24 There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God. 25For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him?

At this stage of my life, I have a fair amount of friends who have owned businesses for some time now. I was blessed by my dad starting our HVAC business almost 30 years ago for me, and I cannot begin to convey my gratitude to him for giving me something I did not deserve. Our business transitioned from a successful, American dream exponential growth, back down to wondering if we would bankrupt about 5-10 years ago. By God’s grace, we recovered, and now operate on a much smaller, much more focused on a faith based platform, operating as a ministry in a corrupt marketplace; to say it is a struggle wouldn’t break the surface. Many of my friends who operate their businesses with the same integrity, are battling uphill also against the marketplace. I could get rich by the worlds standards if I operated by them, throwing integrity to the wayside and pursuing sales at all cost.

It is likely that the wisest man who ever lived, Solomon (self labeled in the text “the preacher”), wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, a tough book to read for many, yet one of my favorites because it stirs the mind. The preacher pens openly of his struggles with all of life, of all his pursuits by the worldly standards, and the failures and vanity of them all. 14 I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind. The preacher pursued all of life, every avenue measured by worldly standards, and found all of them lacking, failing to satisfy him. Above, early in this writing, he pens of how all of life is meaningless without God as our focus. Even to the lost, their hearts are always searching for something, yet not finding it. When God opens the door of their mind to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that hole in their heart is filled by the Holy Spirit. Their lives take on new meaning, and they see the opportunity of Heaven that awaits them.

Sadly many Christians stop there in their walk. They only pursue God on Sunday, maybe a prayer or two during the week, but they do not abide in Christ for each day. John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. Once you have been saved, you are continually being saved until you reach Heaven. You are to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” ( Philippians 2:12) This is where you focus on God each day, just as Solomon wrote about, looking for opportunities to share your faith, to grow your faith, to encourage others in their struggles, to flee from sin, to pursue God in prayer and his Word, to abide in Jesus Christ. Solomon closes Ecclesiastes with a simple word, from a complex book, the summary of it all. 12:When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man. What is gonna make today different? Your approach to it. Pursue God.

Love to All

Acts 10:34 Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. 35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.

I was a pothead for over 20 years, not just getting stoned, but staying high all the time. One of my best friends told me at the time, “If you are high all the time, they will never know you are.” Brilliant… When God got ahold of my heart, I saw the err in my drug use. It slowed pretty quickly, and I haven’t smoked a joint in well over 10 years. I had never struggled with anxiety or depression, until I stopped getting high, and then Satan saw the door to torment me with them both. It is a battle now on a very high scale, and there are days that are hard to cope. Mental illness runs on both sides of my family, and I killed enough brain cells that now in my fifties I am feeling the effects of them all. My memory and analytical abilities are fading, but my heart for the deep things of God is growing. I want to know more.

Religion breeds condemnation, brings lofty attitudes that look down on society, builds up walls that those that are on the outside fear to climb. The religious become snobs, look down on sinners, point fingers and shout shameful things to those not sitting in church on Sunday. The religious gossip and scoff at those struggling, all while hiding their own sin behind lies and hard hearts. Without love, without compassion, you are nothing in God’s eyes. 1 Corinthians 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. Oh how so many of us Christians need to look in the mirror….

Peter was the first to go tell the “outsiders” that God loved everybody. Peter was the first to go tell them that Jesus died on the Cross for everybody. There is nothing you have ever done that God will not forgive you for when you ask for forgiveness. There is nothing special about any Christian that cannot be freely given to you! Satan wants you to think that God will not forgive you, wants to torment your mind with evil thoughts and desires, wants to steal the joy you can have with the eternal hope of Heaven. Even on my worst days, days I just retreat to solitude, I still know this pain is temporary. Jesus loves me in all my struggles and failures, and I love you too.

Pull-up Bars

1 Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Every day I walk down the hall, I pass by the pull-up bar hanging from the door of my home office. The boys go through cycles of chin-ups, my aging shoulder injuries make this extremely hard, but I am hoping to try again at 52 for a revival for next race season. This will be my last hoora, my last attempt at the incredible demands of training to be better prepared to race for a championship in 2020. I have found myself called into a ministry this year I never envisioned, returning to what was once my god, to proclaim the One true God. I cannot discuss this calling at depth, because I am humbled to tears, seeing my testimony come full circle, God’s plan for my life, and even Satan’s attacks when others try to tear it down. The racing community is only understood by racers, the addict only understood by other addicts, the lost understood by the testimony of someone who was found.

I prayed this morning, and God led me to 1 Corinthians 7, much about marriage and remaining in the state you are in. Paul writes about how God can use you where you are currently at, how we are to think about what we are doing daily, and how others watch our every move. Paul continues to write about the freedom in Christ, and of how others even judged the Christians in what they ate; breaking the laws Moses had given earlier. 1 Corinthians 8:9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. Paul writes of how we must pursue self-control, how we must think of how others view Christ by the acts of the Christians. Oh, the depth of the sermons that lie in those passages. Paul continues in these chapters to write of a pattern of self-denial, one of how he is living his life for Christ, to be used by Christ, to be content in whatever state Christ has him in for that time. Paul lived the life we need to live. Paul understood hypocrisy, and his desire was to be true, lest his preaching be in vain to himself.

I have listened to many sermons this week on prayer, it is just how God works in my pursuit of him through podcasts and messages. I have been praying a lot for my own struggles, seeking God in his Word early again. I am hitting the pull-up bar, trying to get in better shape. I am seeking the prize, the one that does not perish, one I receive passing from this life into the eternal one. Matthew 25:21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ Will you seek to get in better shape with me?

Quit Rebelling Today

Hebrews 3:7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness,

I will be the first person to tell you that I am tired, but also admit to not giving into that weakness. In my just over 50 years, I have always worked my tail off since my early youth, my family instilled a thing called work ethic into me, (sadly one that is missing in today’s society). I have always played hard too, and my body is feeling the effects of the work and play I have put it through. My mind is seemingly slipping to a degree, and the strains of anxiety and depression have it in a continual weakened state; but I will fight all these wearies until I die, until I enter unto rest with the Lord. I will continually seek at the spine of my life, a daily rest in the Lord. The spine of the book of Hebrews is one of rest, resting in our faith for this time, and the time to come. It is one about the failures of faith, about a rebellious generation, about God’s chosen people who hardened their hearts.

Life is hard, and many times it gets harder when you become a Christian. Prosperity preachers that teach of getting all the worldly blessings as Christians are leading many astray. Satan is the ruler of this world and blesses those whom are focused upon it. This life is for a time, a short time in the grandeur of eternity, and it is one that prepares you for where you will spend eternity. You only get this one life, this one chance, to determine Heaven or Hell for your soul forever. Those Jews that God rescued from slavery in Egypt, they saw his miracles for 40 years, hardened their hearts continually, and most died and went to Hell in their rebellion. 9 When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work. 10 For forty years I was grieved with that generation, And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.

God may only knock on the door of your heart one time. God may pursue you for years in your rebellion against him. God loves you so much he came and died for your sins, but, there can be in his sovereignty, a point of time he turns his back, the scariest point in this life for you. Romans 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting. You can be living in any level of rebellion, from a nonchalant attitude, to a false religious one, but your heart is in rebellion against a sacrificed life to the One true God. What if, today was that day that determined your eternity? What if you didn’t get to quit rebelling? What if your time is up, your plans failed, and you don’t get to come to God on your timetable? Those were my plans when I lived in rebellion; I thank God for his patience with, love for, and forgiveness of, me. He will do the exact same thing for you, today.