Thankfulness

Thankfulness is such a powerful force.  It can change our attitude, associations and even our personal atmosphere. Thankfulness can also open the door of faith to release miracles.  An amazing story is told by Jesus in Luke 17.  

"11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy[a] met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner(Samaritan)?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”  Ingratitude was of such a significance that Jesus brought attention to it.  "Where are the other nine?"  Jesus also highlighted that this thankful one was also a Samaritan.  The other nine were evidently Jews, the chosen ones.  This one was "outside the commonwealth of Israel."  At first they were all ten amazed at their healing and ran to the priest to receive the blessing only he could give, the release back into family and society in general. Yet, as they ran toward the location of the Priest, one paused.  What caused him to pause?  May I suggest that what made him pause in such a positive overpowering moment of anticipation of seeing his family again, was not the outer evidence of divinity upon his body, but the inner sign of divinity working in his heart.  I'm reminded of people at Christmas when receiving gifts.  Some go through them like animals casting each one aside as insignificant, looking for the one that really lights up their eyes.  Then when they find it they rush off absorbed in the gift and forgetting to thank the giver.  

Here is our question today.  Did the leper return to give thanks because he was the only one who thought of it or did he return to give thanks because kindness, consideration and thankfulness was instilled in his character?  I personally believe the latter.  As I am writing this I am reminded of one Christmas morning in particular after my family had a difficult financial year.   As a child I had made all my desires known.  That Christmas morning my gifts were lacking in my eyes.  I displayed my disappointment and I still remember the pain in my Father's eyes over 50 years later.  Yet, that powerful experience served in a different kind of way to teach me the practice of thankfulness.  Of all practices that are refined in our lives thanksgiving from the heart may be the most powerful of all.  Certainly in the story of the 10 lepers Jesus seemed more captivated by it than the miracles themselves.  

Today I am thankful for you.

• "Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life..."

Listen to the words of King David in Psalm 23 NLT:

1The lord is my shepherd;

I have all that I need.

2He lets me rest in green meadows;

he leads me beside peaceful streams.

3He renews my strength.

He guides me along right paths,

bringing honor to his name.

4Even when I walk

through the darkest valley,

I will not be afraid,

for you are close beside me.

Your rod and your staff

protect and comfort me.

5You prepare a feast for me

in the presence of my enemies.

You honor me by anointing my head with oil.

My cup overflows with blessings.

6Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me

all the days of my life,

and I will live in the house of the lord

forever.

King David had some really, really bad days and some really, really good days.  He knew that everyone has different kinds of days and even varying seasons in life.  Yet, it is interesting that his confession was that "goodness and unfailing love would pursue him all the days of his life."  Many years ago there was an emphasis, even over-emphasis some would say, on the "positive confession."  Yet, we see in the Scripture and even in the medical field that our words can help or hurt us. We can set things into motion in both the positive and negative.  We can even change the atmosphere around us with our words and accompanying attitude. I have a "natural tendency" to drift toward the negative in my thinking and my words.  Here is the question.  Does imbalance toward being overly positive or overly negative cause the most harm?  Of course thinking and speaking negative things causes the most problems in life.  A person can be having a "bad day" and circumstances can change and they immediately feel better.  What has changed?  Circumstances may have improved but the major change has been in thinking and speaking.  Let us begin to practice our walk with the Lord speaking like a child who has the best Parent in the world. (Because we do!)  My cup overflows with blessings.6Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me

all the days of my life,

and I will live in the house of the lord

forever."

If you can't build it, you can't maintain it.

I'm writing this to leaders of all genres.  My arena happens to be the Church but it applies to all leadership roles.  My title, "If you can't build it, you can't maintain it", needs to be explained.  I used to think there were builders and there were maintainers.  After all there are differing gifts and varying measures of those gifts.  The Scripture bears out the different levels of "talents".  However, after all these years I have come to realize that everyone has to be able to build.  It is fruitfulness.  Healthy people reproduce!  I have watched some take the safe road and try to simply maintain an organization with the idea that they would just put in their time, make sure they left it as good as they found it and all would be well.  Not so!  I have never seen that work in any field.  It is of necessity true  that all groups and living things must have a maintenance program ongoing.  However, if the primary leadership is consumed with that effort the group will deteriorate.  Where there is fear of failure in leadership, failure will surely come.  Fear of failure stops faith for success.  You cannot have both.  All leaders must decide they are willing to risk the safety of today in order to reach the new horizons of tomorrow.   A decision to stifle those visionary ideas because of timidity and fear will not only cause failure but it also creates a roadblock to other new visionary ideas.  That is why successful people become more successful and often patterns of failure reoccur.  There is a principle in the Christian walk that you will get more as you use that which you have, and you will be led into future success by being obedient to walk in your present instruction.  Too many timid souls want a guarantee of success before proceeding.   There are no such assurances.  Faith is a life on the edge.  From that edge one can see the possibility of rising to new levels of accomplishment but one can also see the troubled shoals strewn with the shipwrecks of disaster.  Where then is the comfort to take the leap of faith into the unknown?  It is in a moment by moment relationship with Jesus that is on speaking terms.  Jesus is not only in the  church business He is the greatest specialist in all walks of life and in every enterprise.  Let Him lead you today.  He is speaking!

The Glory

The word "glory" is defined as very great praise.  We human beings either struggle with 

glory or desire it when we shouldn't.  I remember vividly when, as a young upstart minister,

 someone came to me after I had just preached in a service and made some complimentary 

statement about my sermon.  I was very uncomfortable with it and honestly didn't know what

 to say.  I said what I had heard other preachers say when in the same situation.  "To God 

be the glory!"  Even saying it felt wrong somehow because honestly, the compliment  felt

 good but I could never admit that.  After that I tried a number of phrases and none seemed 

any better.  Finally, I prayed and asked the Lord, "what would be a good thing to say when 

complimented for service."  I heard a very liberating answer. "Why don't you simply say 

thank you?"  Wow!  Kinda weird!  Yet, often our struggle with compliments over service can 

be the evidence of pride itself.  The fact that there is a struggle says a lot.  The absence of 

struggle and the clear understanding that we are vessels filled with the life and ministry of 

Jesus can really be a safe and secure place in the love of Jesus.  

On one occasion Jesus said, "Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you."NLT
Jesus said to us, "as the Father sent me so send I you."  God the Father does intend to
allow his glory to touch us and work through us as a way of glorifying himself.  When the Lord heals us or blesses us in an extraordinary way, we experience his glory.  Then our living testimony of His blessing reflect and directs the glory back to God.  It has been said that the Lord is like the sun and we are like the moon.  We have no light in our humanity but as redeemed humanity we reflect the light and Glory of the sun/Son.  Settle in your heart that there is nothing of any value in your own being. All that we have that is good comes only through the indwelling Christ.  With that knowledge we may relax in His Presence and allow the glory to fall us and reflect from us.  

“When we could no longer endure…”

What a negative confession!  How could any Christian who understands our authority in Christ make such a statement?  Who said it?  Well, it was the one who wrote about half the New Testament, the Apostle Paul.  Actually, he says it twice in just a few sentences.  You may read about it in I Thess. 3:1-5.  There are times in every life when after we have done all we know to do things still can be difficult.  Things can even be hard to endure.  We may even fight as hard as we know how and still lose a battle! That doesn’t mean you have done anything wrong.  It might even mean you are doing something right!  One of the most misunderstood concepts in the Church is that if things get hard we must have missed the will of God.  Not so!  That is not validated in the Bible.   On the contrary difficulty can often be a sign that we are on the right track and the enemy is attacking our advance upon him.  Remember, spiritual warfare is a real thing and Satan is in the business of resisting those who are advancing the Kingdom of God.  You may say, “Well I’m just working a job, and raising a family as Christians.”  I know and that is Kingdom advancement of the highest order.  Warfare happens most often in the home trying to live for Christ.

When Paul makes these statements it is important that we understand what he did and what he did not do.  He first and foremost, did not quit!  As a matter of fact his concern did not seem to be for himself but his focus was caring for the Church.  There is a real key here to victory in a bad situation.  The protections of our own interests and ourselves seem to work against us in spiritual warfare.  Spiritual power is released when in the middle of a mess we choose to focus not on our deliverance but on finishing the Kingdom task.  It is in that posture that we discover the Kingdom breakthrough and hopefully our own deliverance as well.  While it is fun and it feels good to choose to believe that hardship can’t touch us as Christians, it is not Bible Truth.  We are in a war.  In any war there are battles that are won and battles that are lost.  For us the great motivating force is that we know the war has already been won by Jesus.  We simply remain in the battle and focused on the prize, the Lord Jesus himself. 

Preach the Word!

2 Tim. 4:2"Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

  3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine..."

When Paul writes his letters to his spiritual son Timothy, he stresses the need to protect the church from teaching that strays from the Truth of the Word of God.  In their day the danger was heathen practices, false gods and religions that were seeping into the church.  In both letters Paul describes the conditions of society and even a faltering church and the need to remain steadfast in the belief systems established by Jesus and the Apostles.  His answer to false teaching and deception, "Preach the Truth!"  You might say, "well, what else could the Church or preachers preach?" A quasi gospel is one that is apparently truth but not really.  Several times in the last few months people have approached me after I finished preaching and they all said something like this.  "Thank you for preaching the Truth."  At first I didn't think much about it.  Then as I began to hear it more and more in different places as I was traveling I began to wonder what it meant.  Could it be that they were all just using the same phrase to flatter me?  I began to think it might be much more than that.  What if preaching from the Scripture as the central focus of my sermon was unusual or different from their normal diet in that Church?  That would be alarming!  After all, when most of us were ordained by some spiritual authority we made a vow of sorts.  Like to taking the oath to join the military I raised my right hand and vowed to protect the nation and the constitution.  When I was ordained into Christian ministry I vowed to "preach the Word!"  Could it be that there is a trend away from preaching and teaching the Word of God in exchange for natural recipes of self improvement?  I surely hope not!  

The Word of God, the Scripture, is not boring.  It is a life force that, when preached with conviction, releases a life changing supernatural power that "converts the heart".  

Self improvement lectures motivates from without but the Word of God motivates and changes from the inside out. Even reading the Scripture in a group setting imparts the very life of God.  However, before one can preach the Word, one must know the Word.  Paul in writing to this same son Timothy also said in his letter, 2 Tim. 2:15 "

 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."  You cannot rightly divide the Word until you have studied the Word.(KJV)  

May we place a fresh faith upon the Power of the Word as the force that accomplishes the work.  While we may impress with our oratorical abilities, at the end of the day nothing is changed.  The preaching of the Word on the other hand releases an inescapable power that remains with the hearer long after the service ends.  

To my knowledge I haven't reprinted outside articles in my weekly blog.  This article was so illuminating that I felt to share it with our "gentlemen" readers.  Of course, ladies may enjoy it as well!

Gentleman

Today, we use the word 'gentleman' very casually, without understanding the depth in its meaning. Any audiences, large or small, are addressed by the terms ladies and gentlemen. On looking at the real deep meaning of the word 'gentleman' we realize how carelessly we use it. The word 'gentleman' has evolved over a long time. The word is associated with esteemed values and principles that should be possessed by a man to be called a gentleman. The connotation of the word 'gentleman' has changed over time. It once implied a man of conduct, a man of virtue while it has become an everyday word of the present times.

Gentleman's Characteristics
Being a gentleman does not depend on the social standing of a man. It is his behavior, which makes him a gentleman. According to an old story, a woman had requested the king to make her son a gentleman. The king had replied to her saying that he would only be able to make him a nobleman and only God would be able to make him a gentleman. During the Shakespearean Era, a man who bore a coat of arms was considered a gentleman. During the olden days, wearing a sword was one of the visible characteristics of gentlemen.

With the passing time, the word 'gentleman' began to be linked to a wider range of characteristics. Today, one may associate a gentleman with gentleness. But the real significance of the word was a man's characteristic of gentility. A gentleman is one who treats others, especially women with respect. It is he who bears great regard towards womanhood. It is he who understands her and treats her honorably. A gentleman is characterized by his courtesy and concern towards women. He gives ladies their due respect and acts with humility. It's the decency in a man's behavior that characterizes him as a gentleman.

A gentleman is someone who does not take an undue advantage of his power or the weaknesses of those around him. He is a man who does not compel others to do anything against their wish. A gentleman never offends others physically or mentally. He never inflicts pain. In a broader sense of the term, a gentleman is the one who cares for the people around him, helps them with their problems and strives to remove every obstacle that impedes their lives. Easing and comforting everyone around remains the major concern of a gentleman. He is thoughtful and has foresight. His wisdom helps him stay away from blunders.

Other characteristics of a gentleman include his humbleness, his prudence, his calm, his patience and his principles. A gentleman never boasts of himself. He is merciful and tender. He can keep his cool in all types of situations. He never looks at people with prejudiced eyes. He refrains from getting into conflicts or debates. He keeps himself away from badmouthing people and making unreasonable allegations. He dislikes gossip.

Above all, a gentleman bases his thoughts and actions on healthy philosophical principles. He submits to pain and understands that certain things in life are inevitable. He accepts death as a part of destiny. He adheres to righteousness throughout life.

"Stupid Is As Stupid Does!"




In the words of Forrest Gump, "stupid is as stupid does."  Christians, just like non-Christians, can do some of the dumbest things.  The real public relations problem for the Lord is that often those dumb things are done with a follow up comment, "God told me to do it!"  The phrase, "God told me..." can be a defense mechanism for rebellious and/or immature people.  It isolates the person from correction, they think.  Evidently the Apostle Paul was dealing with just such issues in the church at Corinth.  In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul deals very specifically with the audible public gifts of speaking in tongues with interpretation and prophecy.  In our day as in their day these guidelines need to be followed.  Listen to Paul in the following verses.  I Cor. 14:23 "Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all.25And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you."




Paul makes it very clear that when these gifts are in operation, it is important for the common good that there is an order and propriety to their function.  Later in this chapter Paul even says that when a person says, "God says", the other prophets who are present must judge it.  This would include preaching as well.  This propriety represents to us the character of a safe and orderly God.  His heart and requirement for accountability should not be seen as a domination so much as guidelines to liberation. It should work far beyond verbal gifts and even beyond the church gathering.  No one is to be above judging and correction if necessary. That would cover the spectrum from the pope to the pew.  While it is wonderfully true that we can all be used as redeemed vessels to speak on God's behalf, it is also true that we can all miss it!  Yes, we can and probably have all said and done "stupid things" in and around church circles. I know I have, many times.  There is even great freedom in knowing that!  We hold this treasure in earthen vessels so it is a part of the process of the function of the "earthen vessel church."  Insecurity doesn't like to be told that it is wrong.  Security and maturity are sisters that respond to correction with gratitude and grace.