The Sound Word

Last Sunday for our time of worship in church, we sang Joy to the World. It has been spinning around my head ever since. Christmas time IS about the birth of Jesus, the Christ, the Savior of the world. Why should this not be the joyous season of the year? And why should all earth not receive her King? The answer, because receiving the King means we must give up ourselves. But in a world of instant internet gratification, and a population blinded by consumerism, it is easier to fool ourselves into rejecting what it true, so that we can live a life that is false, and yet, oh so gratifying. It should come as no surprise that the King is rejected. Some reject simply as a matter of rejecting all things that represent authority. When the King not only wrote the laws from the foundation of the earth, knowing that they are all fulfilled by grace and love… AND, that only the King can rightly judge a man's heart – THAT my friend is authority. Some reject out of spite to the King, or to other...

Seems that in my devotional time the Lord has given me a focus this week. Healing. Preparing for, living through, walking with God during – our trials. While God's promises are there (what we shared Monday), and while we may not have had the perfect earthly example of how to do this (something we talked about yesterday), we know that we have a heavenly Father whose promises are true and righteous. Still, it is often very hard to remember to lean on Him when we need to. We need to train ourselves to remember that we can always rest in, and lean on Him in our times of need. In doing so, I also feel that it is very important that we seek growth from our experience. God does not allow things to happen in our lives that cannot be used for good, despite how bad things look at the time. A favorite Christian artist of mine is Sara Groves. She is sort of a mix of folk with biblical inspiration. There have been artists like this in almost every generation, but few that carry such a biblical ...

I was reviewing some of my pictures from our recent trip to Israel today, and I'm still just utterly amazed that we can literally walk on roads, streets and sidewalks that were made over 2,000 years ago, and some of them even older. With each new city we went to, no matter how ancient, there was always another city or civilization built on top of that one. This eventuality continues until either that city dies to be buried in the rubble of history until someone stumbles upon it and digs it up again, or a modern city is built right over top of it all. In the villages that we looked at there were easily seen archeological evidence of buildings built right on top of the foundations of those that had come before them. This is what got me thinking. Our lives, each and every one, are living examples of just that. Lives, new and modern, built on the foundations of those that came before us. In some cases, our lives include self-generations where we destroy what we were living on in order ...

If you want to get people's attention when you share a devotional or personal thought with someone, here's how to do it: "I have a confession to make". And, that's where I'm at. I have not even shared this with my wife yet simply because I have no idea where the Lord is taking this… or me. But what I can tell you that she does know ~ is that God is alive and working in our church body, perhaps like we have never seen before. When faced with hard times, and tough decisions, people who love the Lord and seek to serve Him band together in prayer and sacrifice. I can see and feel this happening. Sometimes God has to show us the end of the rope so that you know you really need to hold on to Him with all of your spiritual might. So here's my confession: My life has been changed by a sloppy wet kiss. Legalism is not me, and it is not becoming. I abhor legalism and God has given me the nose of a hound, and the eyes of a hawk to seek it out. But we must carefully b...

Sometimes I have a specific spiritual experience. In this experience I come to have a sudden realization of the total pile of garbage that I really am. As a friend has told me time and time again, that you realize that you are nothing more than a wart on the backside of a hog. Seriously, when you truly recognize the gospel, and the 'bigness' of God, you realize that you are nothing. Outside of a biblically foundational world view, this experience can be startling and hurtful. By worldly standards, this can be devastating, and entire lives are spent trying to 'recondition our psyche' to recognize our self worth and to grow our self esteem. But as a Christian, soon after this realization strikes, the real struggle begins That struggle is to use the experience or realization that God has allowed me to have (or has actually engineered) and to use it for good. We struggle against using it for our benefit, vs., allowing the enemy to use it to his advantage by bringing discour...

Paul once said, "I have become all things to all men". Since those words have been spoken, they have been used to mean a great many different things to a great many different people. For the most part, this verse is referenced to show how a Christian must be willing to interact with the people of the world in order to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to them. As they should. For some, this verse is sighted to show that if we as Christians are going to be effective in reaching 'this generation', we need to ' do as they do ', look as they look, and act as they act. Is this what Paul really meant when he wrote those words? Let's work off the assumption that we all agree that the lost of the world need to be reached with the gospel. It's a good place to start. Christians are called to evangelize. "Go" unto the world, cannot be done from your desk, from inside your church, or even from your computer. You have to go and rub elbows as they say, and ...

Matthew 5:14-16 14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. In watching some worthwhile Christian TV last night, this verse was read to me. In the context of the show ( Drive Thru History: America , You can become a Facebook fan of the show by clicking HERE ), they were talking about the Pilgrims travails in getting to America. In that show it was mentioned that one of their driving forces was the verse above from the Sermon on the Mount. As the host read off this passage, the end of verse 16 stuck in my ears. With all the talk the Lord has been giving me on making a difference as Christians, and applying God's will and righteousness to our freedoms, this verse played right into that theme. We ha...

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. [Begin Rant] OK, call me a crazy Christian conservative right-wing gun-toting whacko, but why in the world do we want to say it is OK to have our children, the next generation of Christians (or so we hope) fill their minds with stories of Vampires, the 'underworld', demons and magic? Whatever happened to filling our minds with the things of God and righteousness rather than the things of the world? Whatever happened to Philippians 4:8? Why don't we encourage these things more, and work harder to protect our children and young and vulnerable believers from the attractions of the world which will prove to be distractions from Christ? Sure, we can debate the 'freedom in Christ' thin...

John 17:4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. It came to mind today something that Pastor Chuck Smith had shared with us at this year's Sr. Pastors Conference. I thought of it in part because of the celebration we had this weekend of the 40 th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Lunar landing. President Kennedy, who had promised to take us to the moon within the decade (1960's), something we did accomplish, but that he did not live to see, started his term as President with a wonderful speech. In that inaugural address he said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." What Chuck Smith had to say was very similar in tone, but with much farther reaching effects. Chuck said, "Going through all of scripture I find a biblical emphasis that is not what we can do for God. But rather, what he has already done for us." His point was, I believe two fold. Firstly that the work of...

2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Last night, on a night when we normally have a family bible study, or a one on one study with the kids, I decided a change of pace was in order. I talked it over with my wife, and off we went to a 6:40 PM showing of the animated movie UP. Long story short, it was wonderful. Go see the movie. In the mean time, here's my experience. I went into the movie just glad to have a weeknight open enough to be able to go. Usually, between study time for the mid-week and Sunday teachings, board meetings, general meetings, and the midweek bible study itself, there is not much time left to do anything. Last night was a wonderful and rare exception to have free time. We to the theater, and after figuring out that the Fandango kiosk was not working, and listening to the next guy cuss at the machine because it does not dispense cash (it...

Fresh off the press from ABC News' website: "Roberto Micheletti sat down in a chair in front of the blue and white Honduran flag in the Presidential Palace on Tuesday and insisted he is the rightful occupant of the President's office . In an exclusive interview with ABC News -- Micheletti's first with an American Network -- he said he'd like to be called "Mr. President." "You have to because I am the President ," he said, then added playfully, "or you can call me Roberto if you want." Micheletti may think he's the president of Honduras, but the world isn't prepared to call him that and nor are a lot of Hondurans . That's because Micheletti became President on Sunday after masked Honduran army soldiers stormed the home of the country's elected president, Manuel "Mel" Zelaya, while he was sleeping. Still in his pajamas, he was forced onto a plane and taken to San Jose, Costa Rica, where he was left at the airp...

This coming Saturday is July 4 th . It is a day that we set aside in remembrance of our nation's declaration to remove itself from the chokehold of tyranny. It is a day in which a nation loosely knit together in common ideals, became a fiber woven tightly for a common purpose. Freedom, and self government. That day, fifty-six men signed the Declaration of Independence, a document that was essentially written evidence of their treason – a crime punishable by hanging or even dismemberment, and yet they signed it anyway. That day changed the face of a continent. That day forged a future for a free people. That day, created a nation of free people, governing themselves, for themselves. It was laughed at by the world's 'leaders' and political experts, called an 'experiment destined to fail'. It was also called an act of War by the King of what was at the time, arguably the world's most benevolent and civilized nation. Yet this group of fifty-six men, some as youn...

Ecclesiastes 9:3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. Our generation is really no different than any other. We have out aches and pains and struggles. We like to think we are different because we have technology that previous generations did not have. We like to think we have bigger dangers than previous generations had. Perhaps most of all we like to think simply that we have it 'harder' than previous generations because it gives us license to fail, and an excuse for the cause. I say phooie! We might have a fear of weapons of mass destruction and the fact that unstable people have them at their disposal. But evil men have tormented the earth before with their armies of evil doers and death. Attila the Hun may not have had mega-tons at his control, but he had a mega army of ruthless so...

And it came to pass in the Age of Insanity that the people of the land called America , having lost their morals, their initiative, and their will to defend their liberties, chose as their Supreme Leader that person known as "The One". He emerged from the vapors with a message that had no meaning; but He hypnotized the people telling them, "I am sent to save you. My lack of experience, my questionable ethics, my monstrous ego, and my association with evil doers are of no consequence. For I shall save you with Hope and Change. Go yee, therefore, and proclaim throughout the land that he who precedeth me is evil, that he has defiled thy nation, and that all he has built must be destroyed." And the people rejoiced, for even though they knew not what "The One" would do, he had promised that it was to be good; and they believed. And "The One" said "We live in the greatest country in the world. Help me change everything about it!" And the peop...

Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." You may have heard the saying that goes something like this: "With great power, comes great responsibility". If you are a comic book fan, or a fan of the movies that have come out over the past few years featuring comic book heroes, you may recognize this phrase. Surprisingly, I found this quote attributed to one Stanley Martin Lieber, also known as Stan Lee, creator of most Marvel Comic superheroes like, the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic 4, Iron Man, and Spiderman in whose comic book those words were uttered. So how does Spiderman bring about biblical wisdom? Well, he probably doesn't really, but we can correlate what was said in that comic book into a lesson or biblical thought. Here's that thought. Doctor and gospel author Luke tells us in Luke 12:48 this: "But he that knew not, and ...

God has taken me through several phases in my ministry. Initially, it was 'Make yourself available'. Through that phase, I was guided to participate in mission trips, teach classes I would not otherwise have taught, to just generally do whatever was asked of me, and volunteer for everything that after providing for and making sure my family had all the quality time they needed. Phase 2 if you will was, "Honor your spiritual chain of command", in which I had to learn to die to myself, and follow the directions of those that the Lord had placed over me. This was not hard, but I learned a very necessary lesson along the way. Until lately, I have been in Phase 3: "Be diligent in what I have given you". I have been in that phase since the Lord called me to Bonney Lake to start a bible Study there and eventually plant what is now the small but healthy CCBL. I feel now that while the Lord is not done with me in Phase 3 (I doubt He ever will be…), that He has added ...