Under the Influence

"Do not be drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit." (Ephesians 5:18). If a person is under the heavy influence of alcohol...they have no control. When a person has drunk to the point of excess their mind and body cease to be influenced by self, but by what is controlling their reactions: the alcohol. They have relinquished command of all function, and have succumb to the effects of something else.

Paul compares being "filled with Spirit" to what happens when alcohol enters the body "in excess"...one becomes under the influence of something else. For Christians to be filled with the Spirit means that we are under the influence of God. We have relinquished control of our minds and bodies to Him. Our speech is effected. Our actions are effected. Just like a person who is drunk is totally different than a person who is sober...Spirit-filled Christians live under the influence of something other than ourselves and our surroundings. We are led, guided, and directed...we are under the influence of God.

Corn Field Carpets and God's Continuous Character

As I'm writing this, the corn outside my office window is being harvested. The massive International combine is chewing through every 7 foot stalk, spewing cobs, fodder, and dust as it flies out the back of the chopper blades. After a few rounds, the small field beside the church building is reduced to a golden-yellow carpet of corn stobs sprinkled with chunks of bright red corn cob. The millions of pieces of grain make their way through the unloading auger of the combine...onto the truck, where they'll join millions of other pieces of grain floating down the rivers of this heartland.

"While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:22) Though the scenery changes, there is a constant. Though the corn field has been harvested, the cycle always remains the same. A harvested field of corn will hibernate wheat through the winter...the wheat stubble will be the foundation for next year's soybeans, and out of the bean fodder will come another field of corn. Things change, but the cycle remains unbroken.

In our lives...things change. We graduate from high school. We get married. We have children. Our children go to school. They have children of their own. Things change, but there is always a uniform constant in all of our lives: God's power. He has set in motion things that will last until this earth is no more, and though seasons change...and though time changes our bodies...God's power will, at all times, remain.

Sandpaper to the Mind

I have to admit something to you: Over the last 11 years of preaching, I have learned that I have a hard time getting along with some people in the church. There are some people that just rub you the wrong way, and I know that you agree with me because some of you have a picture in your head of someone in the church that's like sandpaper to the mind, or some situation that's left a foul taste in your mouth.

I have a hard time dealing with some people in the church who, doctrinally, will agree with me on most things. Here’s the point though: If I can’t get along with people who believe what the Bible teaches…then how much more of a challenge is it going to be for me when I meet someone who disagrees with most of what I believe?

I am a sinner, and I am a Christian. I’m at peace with God, through Christ…but just because I am at peace with God doesn’t mean that I am going to be in complete peace and harmony with all the people around me. There are going to be some not-so-peaceful conversations that I find myself in. There are going to be some less-than-cordial people who slam the door in my face, and threaten me to get off their property because of the truth I tell them about Christ, or because I try to (lovingly) bring them to the light. Telling the truth is tough...it brings conflict...but it's necessary.

White through Blood Red

"They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (Revelation 7:14) What a contradiction of terminology! A white robe coming from a blood-stained source? But that's how the blood of Christ works. The blood of the Lamb takes the blackest sin through crimson red...and out comes the purest white.

Sometimes, it's the simplest and most overlooked illustrations that absolutely blow me away. I study to look deeper and deeper into Scripture...wanting to find some profound truth or uncover some treasure I have yet to come across. However, the uncomplicated, simple riches that have already been laid bare...those foundational truths of redemption are just as beautiful, powerful, and amazing as the first time I heard them. Lord willing, may they continue to be.

Windows to the Soul

There is more pain behind people's eyes than most care to notice. Every day we are faced with people that have hurts. However, these aren't hurts that can be seen like a limp in a stride, or a scratch on the skin. These go much deeper and farther: divorce, conflicts in a family, financial trouble, depression. Just take a minute during your next work day to notice the expressions of a co-worker, the sighs of a cashier at Wal-Mart as you put your groceries on the counter, the saddened eyes of a friend as they ride with you in the car.

When things are going good...why would I want to stop and get into someone's problems? Why would I want to darken my day with the clouds of someone's troubles? Because it's what we're commanded to do: "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also the interests of others." (Philippians 2:4) When something tragic happens in life, would you not want someone to care enough to say an encouraging word to you, or text you an uplifting message? Of course you would. So, who's pain have you decided to overlook today? What opportunity for encouragement have you let slip by?

That is Far Better

"My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better." (Philippians 1:23) Through frustration and pain, God is still there. Through sorrow and loss, God is still there. Through my mistakes and fumblings of life...He never leaves my side. His presence is ever with me. His arms are tight around me. His light guides me. His grace reaches me, and His mercy covers me. My God is truly everywhere and always! Help me to trust in Your promises each day.

Abraham: A Journey of Failure

"By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going." (Hebrews 11:8) So much praise is lavished on Abraham in Hebrews 11:8-19. This man's journey of faith is, undoubtedly, one of the greatest in the entirety of Scripture. The sacrifices he made... the obedience he showed in his life is inspiring to say the least.

However, to get to Hebrews 11...we have to go through Genesis 12. This is where we find Abraham in his premature days of faith. We see him trying to save his own skin by giving his wife to an Egyptian harem (Genesis 12:19). Not so much the hero of faith we find in Hebrews 11. We find Abraham laughing at the idea that he would have a son through his wife Sarah, even though God said it would come to pass (Genesis 17:17). Abraham, at times, was way off base! But these are the situations we need to see...because we can relate to failure.

Abraham failed. Abraham, at times, rushed ahead of God. Abraham made decisions that we would call unethical, and down-right dumb. Abraham (in some situations) wasn't faithful at all, but faithless. Yet, through his journey of failures, God helped him...God forgave him...and God produced a maturity of faith in this man that we long to imitate. His life was a process. It was a journey through heartaches, doubts, mistakes, and failures. Ours will be no different. We will fail, but that's part of the process of living this Christian life.

One of the Hardest Things

The call comes from the funeral home, "Mr./Mrs. ___________ has passed away, and the family has asked if you can conduct the service." "Of course," I say immediately, and without hesitation, "anything for the family."

I don't know this person from Adam. I may have met them in passing, or seen them at a restaurant, or knew they were kin to someone at church. Maybe this person never graced the doors of any church house, never sat down in a Bible class (except when they were little). Maybe they never confessed Christ, never obeyed His gospel message, or never lived a life that bore any fruits of repentance...and now I have this monumental task of trying to sum up their life and comfort their family.

I sit with the family during the visitation the night before, trying and trying to find some memory to share with them, some story, some quirk, some mannerism, some colloquialism that the departed said all the time. Something...ANYTHING that will help to soothe their aching heart and console their loathsome spirit. All the while, my heart is aching because I have now found out (from the evidence that family has given me) that this person I'm about to preach a funeral for...didn't have Christ when they left this life. Now, I realize that all the laughing that will come from remembering some funny story, or the smile that will come from remembering some crazy phrase their deceased loved one said...won't bring any lasting consolation.

"Brethren, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep [those who have died], or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope." (I Thessalonians 4:13) To be totally honest, there are way too many preachers who overlook the need for grief. Without pain, there is no growth...there is no change without pain and struggle! And there is no greater grief than to know that someone has died without the blood of Christ washing them into eternal life.

To step down from that podium in the funeral chapel, after preaching the memorial service of someone who never once showed an ounce of Christ in their life, is one of the emptiest feelings I have ever known! There is nothing I can do or say to change the decision they made to live their life as if there was no God...there is only the lesson that comes from the greatest of all preachers (Death), as another soul departs from this life having never confessed a need for the Savior, Jesus Christ. This is one of the hardest things about ministry, and it will always be.

His Way is in the Whirlwind

A couple of days ago the heat index was 115! It was hot, but there was a slight chance for some afternoon showers. Then, out of nowhere, this thunderstorm cell began to build right on top of us. On the radar, it just appeared out of nowhere! Clouds started flying across the sky, rolling over each other. The temperature dropped, rain started pouring down in sheets, lightning was flashing and snapping everywhere...and then the winds came. Upwards of 70 m.p.h. gusts! Those straight winds flattened a field of late corn (in the bottoms) about a mile away from us (I mean not a stalk was sticking up for hundreds of feet). It was an amazing sight to see the aftermath of such a force as that.

"...His way is in the whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet." (Nahum 1:3) No one has ever seen God (John 1:18)...He has veiled His glory from our finite eyes, but we have evidence of His hand everywhere we turn. The wind that caused that corn field to be flattened was only a minuscule amount of God's power. Those clouds that flew across the sky were nothing but a spec of dust coming from His feet. Those thousands of volts of power that flowed through every bolt of lightning that cracked and snapped...all of those flashes combined were but an infinitesimal amount of God's power.

During that storm, Job's words rang true with me: “I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You..." (Job 42:5)

A Rut of Trust

I often think that I have a pretty stable life...that I'm set on a good foundation. I look at my life and think, "Things are goin' awesome!" However, there's this rut of trust that I have to get out of when it comes to living my life. I can't continually trust in myself to get through! There is something far greater I have to accomplish here... something greater than myself. There is a God I have to serve that is greater than myself. There is a life I have to live that is greater than myself. There is a trust I have to show that goes beyond what I can do.

How can my life be "awesome" if I don't live it with a trust in God? "even the mountains quake before Him, and the hills melt away..." (Nahum 1:5) What about me? Am I too busy with the stuff of this life that I can't see the Creator of it. Am I so blinded by selfish desires that I can't even fall before Him who made me? Such a disappointment to find myself among the swine of my own desires. But thanks be to God who pulls me from the mire.

Time Slows Down

Yesterday afternoon, Grogan (my best friend since kindergarten) and I went to Land Between the Lakes to ride mountain bikes...and once again I ate some dirt. For those of you who have been in wrecks before, time seems to slow down before you hit the ground. You know what's coming, and there's nothing you can do to stop it...but there's this Matrix-like moment where a split-second becomes an almost eternity. It's like Shark Week on the Discovery Channel where they film those great white sharks breaching the surface as they go after a seal decoy. What, to the human eye, lasts for only a second...is slowed down to a crazy 2000 frames per second, so that every drop of water is seen in vivid detail.

I don't like wrecks, and I especially don't like the sore feeling I'm experiencing today, but I do like the fact that you can learn lessons from anything. Moral of the story for me: It's always nice to have friends that'll go get the truck and pick you up after you plaster your face on a trail. Thanks, Grog.