St. Augustine Update

Greetings All!

I haven't written an update in a long time and thought that a report after Hurricane Matthew might be in order.  We are very busy here in St. Augustine after the storm.  The Island is abuzz with cleanup.  Our home church here, Anastasia Baptist Church is very involved in "St. Augustine Rebuild."  They are joining teams from around the country in working to get things back in order.  It is very encouraging to see the Body of Christ involved, as it should be, in the works of Jesus in caring for those in need.

I had gallbladder surgery on Wednesday morning at 9:30, October 5 and we were ordered to evacuate Anastasia Island that afternoon!  It was one of those times when you grab what you can and wonder "what will be here when you return?"  I don't remember much about it but Teresa loaded me up in the car and drove me to Tony and Barbara Kurtz's home in Lake City, Florida.  We spent three nights there before returning.  As we drove home we remarked that it had been like a vacation with friends!  We were cared for like family by Tony and Barbara.  We had to navigate our way home, keeping tabs on which bridges were open and which ones were closed.  We arrived after the major rush to come back to the island.  When we arrived home, other than a few palm fronds in the street, everything looked normal.  There is a lagoon about 20 feet from our back door so I had more than a few thoughts about that.  We live on the first floor.  Everything was normal!  Then the news began to come in about the rest of the First Coast.  Many lost something and some lost their homes and all their possessions.  We didn't hear of anyone who lost their life here in our area.  Everyone realized that we were so blessed!  Later after looking closely at the track of the storm the track took the storm to the East, away from the coast right at the center of Anastasia Island.  Teresa had been praying for the Lord to take His Hand and push the storm to the east!  It's always hard to understand why some lose nothing and some lose all!  Yet, we are grateful to God for His mercy in sparing lives.

Ministry has been picking back up of late.  We ministered at New Life in Saginaw, Michigan in September and at Christian Heritage in Lake City, Florida in early October.  Thank you for your love, prayers, concern and support through the years.  May the Lord continue to use us as He sees fit and May his rich blessing follow you!

Love and Blessings!
L. A.

Faith, Righteousness and Eternity

Pride and humility are two things that we believe we can easily identify.  We think of pride as loud, arrogant and "me" centered.  Humility on the other hand is quieter, self-effacing and willing to be unseen.  It sounds easy enough but the truth behind humility and pride are deeply rooted in the motivation of the heart.  For example, what if you heard someone say, "I can do anything!" What would be your impression?  It would probably be, "what arrogance."  In the same way if you heard someone say, "without the Lord I can't do anything!"  Certainly that would be humility!  Not necessarily.  The first statement was essentially what the Apostle Paul said in Phil. 4:13, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me."  Certainly he added, through Christ, but still he  believed that the Lord could accomplish anything through him.  The second statement, "without the Lord I can't do anything", could really be pride.  It is all about the attitude of the heart.  In reality the only two people that know the attitude of the heart would be the person making the statement and God.  Only God knows our hearts.  There are even times when we don't truly know our own hearts.  We often deceive ourselves in order to move forward with something we want or want to accomplish.  

Pride can sound like humility when it is faithless and passive and not willing to obey God and risk the possibility of failure, thereby bringing humiliation on itself.  Humility can sound like pride when it is confident of Christ leading and empowering and willing to be aggressive in obedience to the will of God.  Why would such inward musing matter?  It matters greatly and even has a bearing on eternity.  It has been said, "if you can't trust God now in this life, how do you know you can trust Him with the promise of heaven when you die?"  Faith is the "evidence of things not seen."  I once knew a man who truly loved the Lord. He had lived a life of sin and rebellion before the Lord saved him.  Many years after he became a follower of Jesus he would say often, "there is none good, no not one."  It sounded right and very humble.  Yet, it bothered me.  He also liked the quote "I'm just an old sinner saved by grace!"  I would challenge him and say, "no, we were old sinners but now we are made righteous by the blood of Jesus."  I could tell he was very uncomfortable with that statement.  In his latter years he began to express anxiety about heaven.  He would doubt that he could be accepted into heaven because of his past life.  There it is!!!  All those years of words that sounded like humility were really symptoms of a weakness in faith relating to his salvation that comes only by the blood of Jesus.  He was saved but his consciousness had never been fully redeemed by the works that Jesus did on the cross. His consciousness was still stained with a thought that his former life actions had something to do with entrance into heaven.  Our lesson here is to truly accept by faith what Jesus did and abandon every thought of what we did before our salvation.  Our lives before Jesus has nothing to do with heaven. Let it go and grab what Jesus did and never look back!

Ongoing Sanctification (Correction of last post)

2 Thess. 2:13 "But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits[fn] to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth."

There is much debate over sustainable salvation.  Regardless of your beliefs on this subject, we would all agree that a lack of attention to maintaining an ongoing and increasing relationship with Jesus is a dangerous thing.  Let's focus on the last seven words here.  "The Spirit and belief in the Truth."  Sanctification is clarified as an ongoing process that is maintained through two very important things.  First, we see that the Holy Spirit accomplishes sanctification.  We can't sanctify or set apart ourselves or anyone else.  Only the indwelling and active Holy Spirit in us can accomplish this.  Joined and working in conjunction with the Holy Spirit is our faith or belief in the Truth.  We can't believe just anything and be sanctified.  Sanctification only occurs, as we are filled with the Holy Spirit and believing according to the Truth of the Scripture.  Trying to make God adjust His truth to fit our understanding does not release a life changing power.  Coming to God without full understanding is often a true functioning of faith.  I choose to believe God's unchanging truth.  That faith releases the active and ready Holy Spirit to deepen the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  May we open our hearts today and ask the Holy Spirit to complete His work of sanctification in us.  Don't settle for a mediocre existence in God.  Keep pressing toward His full potential in and through you.

Why Me!?

Most of us have used this two word phrase as a question and as a exclamation at some time in life. It can mean that you are happy or upset based upon the inflection in your voice and the attitude of your heart.  I have used it both ways.  After experiencing an unbelievable blessing I have used the phrase in amazement, "Why me!!!"  I didn't really care in that case because I was just happy I received a blessing.  I didn't need to understand.  Then there is the agonizing use of the phrase..."why me?" This is usually when we search for some understanding.

When we ponder the "why" it gets confusing.  Often the negative "why Me's" in my life came after I made some dumb decision, a bad choice.  I set into motion the principle of sowing and reaping and I didn't like the harvest from my actions.  Then there have been the wonderful times of reaping good things and I didn't know why. Why me!  I realize that by now you are getting dizzy trying to follow all this.  I want to point out two important parts of this deliberation.  First, the principle of God's grace comes into view.  There is a sovereign working of God in our lives that is always leading us toward His highest and best.  At times that "best" seems to our understanding as wonderful and it is easily embraced.  At other times that "best" seems to be negative or painful and we don't want to have anything to do with it.  All these things, regardless of how they feel to us, if surrendered to God in faith result in our good, our edification in time.  The older I get the more I come to believe that God does not want to be complicated to us.  He wants to make our approach to Him as easy as possible.  Yet, God and His purposes are much more complex than we can possibly comprehend.  The second thing that is critical to our success is that we must choose ahead of time, even now, that we will trust that He is working things out only to our good in line with His ultimate plan for our lives.  It is impossible for us in our finite understanding to fully comprehend the plan of the infinite wisdom of our loving God.

Understanding can be the Lord and Master of our lives.  When understanding rules, we live very limited lives.  We might be saved and going to heaven but lives here on earth can be restricted to what we can understand rather than what we can believe.  Jesus was addressing this dilemma in Matthew 19:26 "But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” When Mary was confronted with the Truth that she would be the one chosen to bring forth the birth of Jesus she didn't understand but she responded with, "be it unto me according to your Word."  May God grant us grace to live by faith beyond our understanding.  

Live Looking!

"He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him." ( Hebrews 9:28 NIV)

Hebrews chapter 9 tells us that Jesus is our High Priest, the only priest that could settle the sin problem once and for all.  He settled your sin problem and my sin problem.  The ransom for our salvation was paid when Jesus cried out, "it is finished."  No longer would an earthly priest need to go every year into the earthly Holy of Holies to offer up a sacrifice for the atonement for sin.  Jesus was the mediator of a new covenant that was much better than the old.  After he finished the work on the cross and fulfilled prophecy by his victorious resurrection from the dead, he ascended back to heaven and took his seat as Victor at the right hand of the Father.  What is our part in this story of redemption?  As simple as it sounds, our part is to believe that the price Jesus paid is enough.  There is an old chorus that says, "there's nothing else that I can do for Jesus did it all!" Remaining faithful to that faith commitment is a big task.  Not that we lose faith but faith and faithfulness are two very different things.  Faith can be a spontaneous thing and faithfulness is a moment by moment decision to believe and remain steadfast in our walking out our commitment.  Faithfulness is a never ending journey!  That doesn't mean that we don't have struggles in our faith.  That doesn't mean that we don't have to pray the prayer, "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief."  The final faithful tests comes on That Day when Jesus returns and we are still "fighting the good fight of faith."

Our text today tells us clearly that, "He will come again!"  Hallelujah, He is coming again.  When He comes He won't come to deal with our sins.  That has already been completed.  Yet, there is a final step to our salvation process that will prepare us to live in the Presence of God for eternity.  Our total salvation transformation will come when we SEE HIM!  That means that while some will be caught off guard by the second coming of Jesus, the Messiah, it won't catch true believers off guard.  Our daily faith gives us a daily awareness of His Presence and it will be an alarm that will alert us to His pending arrival.  This verse tells us that this final step of heavenly preparation will come to those who are "eagerly waiting for him."
Don't let that bother you.  That doesn't mean that we should be sitting in the park passing each day with our natural eyes straining toward the sky.  A living daily faith allows us to be faithful in our daily lives while our spirit man remains on watch for His appearing.  If you are living by faith in a living relationship with Jesus, you are prepared for His Appearing.  Like a radar screen scanning the skies so is your spirit ready for that day.  Are you ready for Him?  It is all about your living relationship with Jesus.  If He is alive in your heart, you will see Him on that day!

Too Soon Old Too Late Smart

I'm tempted to believe that the most intelligent people are the quietest people. Of course those of you that know me personally know that I talk way too much.  I'll leave the conclusion in your hands!
My point comes from an observation through a lifetime of people watching.  Of course we must introduce wisdom into this conversation.  I have met many really intelligent people who had very little wisdom.  Wisdom is a balance of intellect and experience that hopefully brings a person to wisdom.  Wisdom then when drawn upon makes the right decision.  What causes a person to get the right answer from the formula experience+intellect=wisdom.  I believe it is discipline or self control.
A disciplined person must take the right answer and apply it in life.  Our world is filled with people whose problem was not that they didn't know what was right, they just didn't have the self control to do the right thing.  Then there are even Christians who have Jesus inside and still reject doing right because they have never trained themselves to chose rightly and act in obedience with that choice.

Hebrews 5:14 (ESV) "But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil."  As followers of Jesus we improve as we go by obedience.  Notice the phrase, "trained by constant practice."  I love that!  The more we hear and obey the better we become at "distinguishing between good and evil."  That should bring wisdom.  Wisdom comes from seeking after wisdom out of our experiences.  Then, the more we learn, the quieter we seem to get.  I asked a lady about 90 years of age, "what have you learned in your long life?"  She quietly said, "too soon old, too late smart."  I hear volumes of wisdom in those 6 short words!

Living On Auto-Pilot

Many years ago I was flying with my friend 

S. C. Barker in his private plane. He was making some short ministry trips with me and spoiling me with custom air service. We made several great trips together. On our first trip he demonstrated his computerized auto-pilot capabilities. It was amazing to see how after take off you could set the auto-pilot to a specific destination and it would take us there with ease and accuracy. One day while leading a marriage counseling session I thought about my experience with the auto-pilot. The couple with whom I was working had been married quite a few years. Now after years of smooth sailing they had hit a rough patch. They made a common mistake of thinking they had navigated the tricky waters of marriage formation and now it was all clear sailing ahead. They had wrongly assumed that marriage could be put on auto-pilot and therein was their error. No marriage or life in general can ever be put on auto-pilot. Whether it's marriage, life or business the auto-pilot mode is a crash waiting to happen. Many years ago I adopted a life slogan that has worked well for me. "The thing that made you successful will keep you successful." As soon as you stop investing into your marriage and/or endeavor you begin to deteriorate. That is critically important in marriage and certainly in your relationship with the Lord. Maybe it is time for you or someone you know to turn off auto-pilot and get back involved in flying the plane. 

Refiners Fire

Romans 8:28And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 

This verse may be one of the most quoted verses in the Bible.  We love to make placards of it and place it in our homes as a decoration. It makes us feel good!  Yet, a closer observation shows that the verse begins with "And".  That is a word we use to continue a thought or to give more explanation to a thought.  We must back up and get the full meaning of Paul's thought.  Just prior to this verse the words tell us that the Holy Spirit helps us with our weaknesses. Paul tells us that we don't even know how to pray but the Holy Spirit helps us even in our praying.  The true meaning of this verse is not one where we can simply pick it out and in our human filtering think that it means that all that the Holy Spirit allows and causes will feel "good."  It says it will, in the end, work together for good.  Then a few verses later we read that the real purpose in all this is to conform us to the image of Jesus.  Taking a carnally minded person who cries out to God, "make me more like you", and conform them into the image of Jesus is a life long, often painful process.   We get a glimpse of how the Lord accomplishes this task in Mal. 3:3 "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."  He causes the fire of circumstances in our lives to burn away the impurities and all that does't look like Jesus until He sees his reflection in us. Our part is simply to allow the fire and the dealing while we are in process.  God give us the faith and patience to trust you especially in difficult days.

He sat by a fire of seven-fold heat,
As He watched by the precious ore,
And closer He bent with a searching gaze
As He heated it more and more.
He knew He had ore that could stand the test,
And He wanted the finest gold
To mould as a crown for the King to wear,
Set with gems with a price untold.
So He laid our gold in the burning fire,
Tho' we fain would have said Him 'Nay,'
And He watched the dross that we had not seen,
And it melted and passed away.
And the gold grew brighter and yet more bright,
But our eyes were so dim with tears,
We saw but the fire--not the Master's hand,
And questioned with anxious fears.
Yet our gold shone out with a richer glow,
As it mirrored a Form above,
That bent o'er the fire, tho' unseen by us,
With a look of ineffable love.
Can we think that it pleases His loving heart
To cause us a moment's pain?
Ah, no! but He saw through the present cross
The bliss of eternal gain.
So He waited there with a watchful eye,
With a love that is strong and sure,
And His gold did not suffer a bit more heat,
Than was needed to make it pure.

Weight and Counter Weight

As a new believer many years ago I heard that we should live our daily lives as if Jesus were coming back today, but we should work like we had another one hundred years.  I think that is still sound advice.  We should be living our personal lives in such a way as to do nothing that would weaken our conscience so that we have faith to meet the Lord today.  Yet, we should be busily engaging life in the fullest. 

Too many believers fail to make a contribution in life and use as their excuse that they are focusing on heaven rather than earth.  When we grasp the truth that each of us is here on this planet with a purpose, much like the life of our Lord Jesus, we cannot lean on that kind of thinking.  While we all as believers have heaven as our destination, we are called by Jesus to “occupy till I come.”  That Greek word for occupy means,  “to busy oneself with; to trade.”  That means we should get up each day with a purpose and plan.  We should be the most energized and productive people around.  The reason for our motivation is the reality that we are here with a divine assignment and commission.  We are not motivated primarily by money and fame.  These two things could be used to increase our productivity while here in this life.  Yet, regardless of our success here we never lose our connection to Him and his divine plan for our future.  This eternal perspective keeps us grounded here.  It is like the relationship between weight and counter weight.  The most secure place on the scale is the center of the balance.  Our challenge is to remain in faith in the Lord and his ongoing plan.  Today in this busy, pressurized and practical life don’t lose the reality that it is only another step in His eternal journey. 

The Origin of Power

Just as our identity is found in the revealing of God’s identity, so is the loss of our strength the discovery of the headwaters of God’s strength.  It is a difficult thing for us to grasp the revelation that God only starts when we stop.  We actually hate the thought!  We would rather believe that God rewards the one whom, like a mighty warrior, conquers new territories as a champion in the name of the Lord.  This thinking fit nicely into the same thinking that says, “the end justifies the means.”  Of course we know that is not true.  History is filled with all kinds of horror stories of people who in the moment violated what was right to be successful.  In the same way we struggle with the thinking that God actually wants us to come to the end of ourselves in order to find His power.  We can serve the Lord an entire lifetime and accomplish great things that make people applaud, yet without the blessing of God. 

How do we evaluate our own position in this respect?  It is a good thing to step back from the daily fray of activities and reevaluate our goals.  What is it that we are trying to accomplish?  How will success appear?  Is the finish line for which we are striving really the legacy we want to leave?  It is a good thing to take a hard look at our heroes.  Whom do we try to emulate?  Whose strategies do we actually apply in our life work?  That is huge in revealing what we truly believe.  We may read of worshipful Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus but we seldom stop our frantic activities to follow her example.  We believe there is more value in the work of Martha than the worship of Mary.  Martha probably would not have broken the costly fragrance bottle to apply it to the feet of Jesus, and then wiped his feet with her hair, her glory.  Mary did.  Mary understood something about the secret beauty from brokenness.  It is a rare and lonely place for us to arrive where we see our emptiness as the beginning of His fullness.  I’m not talking about the lazy, immobilized attitude of the cynic.  I’m talking about the thoroughbred standing at the starting gate quivering to run.  He has been trained and is ready for service.  Yet, he is trained to never move without the release of his master.  When the others dash from the gate his standing looks like failure to the crowd.  Yet, in waiting he is the only one who will receive the blessing and the empowering of his Lord.  It is he who will accomplish what the natural alone could never realize.  Yes, we may impress many people and leave monuments in our wake.  Yet, the Lord is looking for those disciplined and trained few who are willing and able to empty themselves and wait for the anointing of His empowering for the task.