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Run to Win

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New beginnings are a BIG deal to us and as the New Year dawns, we anticipate the opportunities and possibilities that may come along with it.

Paul’s words in Philippians 3:13-14 read as if they might have spoken on such an occasion as a New Year but they were not; there the Apostle of the Lord wrote:

“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

As I said, people make a big deal out of New Years Eve and Day – they call it a fresh start, but in actuality we have a least as many as 365 ‘fresh starts’ per year (if the Lord will allow) – one a day and often many more than that and while with every day comes the fresh start, wouldn’t it be better if each day we built momentum in a specific and determined direction – just like a runner running a race to the finish line.?

As resolute Christians entering into a New Year or simply a new day our only resolution should be to surrender ourselves each day to the Lord’s will and to pursue an ever deepening relationship with Him. In the third chapter of his letter to the Philippians the Apostle Paul used his own life as an example to teach that important truth.

As a runner (once upon a time) I know that you don’t begin your race on the track but in the daily discipline of training; in (v.13-14) Paul used a runner’s metaphor to describe his life of faith. As I consider his words I think of Jesus as the leader in our race – He is well out in front of the rest of the runners and it will take everything Paul or anyone else has to even keep Him in sight. This is the impression that I have of Paul – he is in the race and on the track in pursuit of Jesus and he is committed to pushing himself beyond yesterday’s accomplishments to reach the goal and finish his race well.

Part of the “discipline of training” for a runner is removing things from his or her life that would hinder them from running well and focusing on others. In chapter three of his letter to the Philippian believers Paul points out some things that could hinder them from running well.

  • 1. Beware of people, specifically false teachers who would turn or pull you away from running the race (Philippians 1:2-3).

Before I move from this point I want to stress that I am not saying you are not to associate with unbelievers. How can we get the gospel out if we don’t associate with those who have yet to believe it? But we are called to cease associating with believers who are living in open sin and we are called to avoid and beware of false teachers (or prophets) (see Matt. 7:15, Romans 16:17, Col.2:8) who twist the word of God to make it say what God did not intend it to say – beware of such as these who’s influence may pull you away from the Lord.

  • 2. Beware of attitudes which would pull or keep you from running the race. Dwelling on past failures or successes can keep us from pressing on in our race for the goal. Even though Paul reflected on his accomplishments in (Philippians 3:3-6) he said that he counted them as loss, dung and rubbish (v.7-8) for Christ.
  • 3. Beware of behaviors which would pull you or keep you from running the race. (Philippians 3:17-21). In (Ephesians 4:22-24) he reminded us to “put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

One last thing, and as we enter into this New Year I encourage you to do this as well: Focus on knowing Jesus better. I’m not talking about a knowledge about Him but rather about a deepening relationship with Him.

[v.8-11] “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

This passage gives some people a hard time; with phrases like: “that I may gain Christ and be found in Him;” or “that I may know Him” and “if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead” they wonder what Paul meant – could he be saying that he had yet to gain Christ; that he had yet to have the righteousness of Christ or that something yet remained to be done in order for him to qualify for the resurrection from the dead? No, Paul had already come to faith, been made righteous and been qualified for the resurrection through faith in Jesus Christ.

If anything Paul wanted to be more than “run of the mill believer;” he wanted to walk the same path as the Lord even up to suffering for Him as a martyr some would say.  As I have already said, Paul wasn’t satisfied with his spiritual life – he wanted more; he wanted to know the Lord better in a practical and literal sense and he set his mind on deepening his connection with the Lord – I pray you will too.

The Lord bless you – Happy New Year!

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Re-gifting God’s Greatest Gift

I received a make-up kit at a family Christmas party the other day. The party was themed “white-elephant” which is a kind of gift game where people bring a gift, draw a number, pick a gift and then the laughs begin. Needless to say – I re-gifted the make-up kit that I had received.

No one re-gifts something they treasure of course; we re-gift things we either don’t like, don’t need or already own often with the intention of not injuring the relationship we have with the one who gave the gift in the first place. The previous comment is true in nearly EVERY situation but one in my mind – no one re-gifts something they treasure…no one that is, but the one who has received Jesus Christ by faith.

In Acts chapter 3 we read of Peter and John entering into the temple in Jerusalem to pray. Peter and John were among the first of those called by Jesus Christ to follow Him; they were not present when He was born but they were with Him as He taught about the Kingdom of God and as He healed the sick and delivered the demon possessed. These men were with Jesus when He was arrested, they saw Him tortured and humiliated – John saw Him hanging on the cross and both men, three days later saw Him alive again.

As Peter and John approached the temple they encountered a man lame, literally cripple from birth who was daily set beside the gate called Beautiful where he begged for alms (help or charity) from those passing by. As Peter and John passed by, he cried out to them for help; what happened next was a miracle.

Peter and John fixed their eyes upon the man and told him to look at them, which the lame man expecting to receive something from them did; then Peter spoke and said (v.6): “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

The beggar knew what he wanted but not what he needed. Peter and John didn’t have what he wanted but offered him what they had – THAT was exactly what he needed. You see Peter and John did not have money but they had faith in Jesus Christ and they offered the man a chance for a brand new life in Jesus name and the man, by faith in Jesus’ name (v.16) rose up and walked for the first time in his life!!!

Can you imagine the joy?! The man (v.8) lept “up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God.”

Peter wasn’t done though; you see the people marveled at the mans healing but Peter wanted them to know that it was the one which the Jews rejected – that it was Jesus Christ who healed Him and he called those people to (v.19-21) : “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.”

Listen, we were ALL born spiritually lame, cripple from birth and unable to walk with God but by faith in Jesus’ name those who have believed in Jesus have received new life! Now we CAN walk with God in newness of life!

But the gift we’ve been given is meant to be shared.

During this season of giving and getting you may not really be sure what to give the people in your life. We may not know what they want but we know what every soul needs. Share your faith. Tell them about Jesus Christ.

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Seek to Know Him

Most people know what hearsay is – it is the repeating of something someone else heard another person say to someone else. It’s a lot like gossip and it is inadmissible in a court of law.

A. W. Tozer once wrote: “There are many in the churches of our day who talk some of the Christian language but who know God only by hearsay.” Continuing he wrote, “Most of them have read something about God but their own personal knowledge of God is very slight.” They are satisfied in hearing with out doing and letting someone else seek, find and then tell them about it.

May I ask, does that describe you, the reader today? It’s important even in this season when we focus on the incarnation of Christ to ask ourselves the hard questions. Do you know the Lord? Is your faith built on your experience or someone elses?

In the gospel of John (chapter 4) we read of a woman, an outcast in her community really who encountered Jesus one day beside a well. Without ever having met her before He told her (v29) “all things that (she) ever did.” She was so excited that she went back to her community and invited them to “come and see Him.”

At first, the Bible says, “many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of” what she had told them (v. 39). Later, after an extended visit with the Lord Jesus they said to the woman, (v. 42) “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him, and we KNOW that He is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world!“

Listen, no ones faith but your own can save you; not your wife’s, husband’s, parent’s or pastors faith can save you – hearsay faith is as inadmissible (even more so these days) in the court of the Lord as it is the court of man!

Don’t settle for it.

Don’t settle for a hearsay religion! Seek Him! Earnestly grope or grasp (Acts 17:26-27) for Him! He will be found, known and experienced by those who “seek Him with ALL of their hearts.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

To know Him, seek Him…

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Know Peace…

“For He Himself is our peace…”He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.” (Ephesians 2 14, 17-18)

No peace, no joy; know peace, know joy.  I had to stop and think about whether joy came first and peace follows or the other way around. I decided that it only makes sense that peace comes first – peace with God.

For the world it is as the word of God declares in (Isaiah 48:22): “There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked” for “the way of peace they have not known.” (Isaiah 59:8) Every one of us in our natural spiritual state is wicked before God – sinners at war with God. Jesus Christ, “the Prince of peace” (Isaiah 9:6) came to set us at peace with God, this He did through His death and resurrection.

By His Spirit He left us peace for life:

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)

Our external circumstances can not be counted on for peace and joy; to know peace and thereby its by-product of joy each of us need only to welcome the Christ of Christmas: “the Christ of God” (Luke 9:20) and the Christ of the gospel into our hearts by faith.

“Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all.”(2 Thessalonians 3:16)

Joy to the world….

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The Moral of the Story

One of the greatest and most whimsical stories of the season is the Dr. Seuss classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Who HASN’T heard the story about the grumpy green grouch living above the city of Whoville?

While the story seems to focus on the restoration of the main characters maniacally twisted, depraved and ever so tiny heart through the kindheartedness of a little girl named Cindy Lou Who, I think that most of us have missed the more subtle moral of the story.

Have you ever considered that Theodor Geisel aka Dr. Suess might have been railing on the flamboyant, over the top consumerism and materialism that seems to drive our own keeping of the season from before Halloween through our New Year celebrations?

What IS this season REALLY about?

As I see it, its about love.

It’s about the love of God who at just the right time, “sent forth His Son, made (born) of a woman, made (born) under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:4) It’s also about WHY God the Father sent Him: “God so LOVED the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” (John 3:16) God loved the world – the kosmos in the Greek; He loved the world and especially its inhabitants. He loved you and me when we were green with envy, when we were grouchy and complaint filled; He loved us, the Bible says in (Romans 5:8) “while we were yet sinners.” He loved the sinner while hating their sin – a fact not written out in so many words in the pages of scripture and yet made evident by the actions He undertook on behalf of us all.

It’s also about the love of Jesus who died to reconcile us to God while we were still His enemies (Romans 5:10). Did He love God or each of us more, when He suffered unspeakable hate and torture and as He bore our sins on the cross and exchanged them for His own righteousness? The answer seems clear from the Bible that out of love and especially obedience toward His Father, Jesus endured all of those things (Luke 22:42, John 4:34,5:30, 6:38 ) nevertheless, love kept Jesus on the cross.

At His incarnation or birth into human flesh, the eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ was given as an expression of God’s love toward the world in order to make us what none of us ever could be on our own – right with God. By His crucifixion and resurrection Jesus Christ made His Father’s love a literal reality for every person who has believed or ever will.

Christmas isn’t about Jing Tinglers, Flu Floopers, Tar Tinkers or Who Hoovers no matter how wonderful the music played on these can be! It isn’t about finding and giving the most amazing (and amazingly expensive) gift from the list of someone we love. While love is the only debt the Bible says we ought to owe each other (Romans 13:8), expressing it shouldn’t put us in the poor house. Christmas IS about the greatest expression of love ever known among men – God’s love toward sinners.

So this Christmas, if all you have is time to give – give it; your time given to the one forgotten is a priceless loving gesture to them. By the way, love the unbearable grouch at the end of your block or next to you in your work place or couch – do for them what Jesus did for you; who knows if it won’t just change their lives too.

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A Grateful Witness

“There is an old Jewish legend which says that, after God had created the world, He called the angels to Him and asked them what they thought of it; and one of them said, “One thing is lacking: the sound of praise to the Creator.” So, God created music, and it was heard in the whisper of the wind, and in the song of the birds; and to man also was given the gift of song.”[i]

Thinking about the praise due our Creator Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Doth not all nature around me praise God? If I were silent, I should be an exception to the universe. Doth not the thunder praise Him as it rolls like drums in the march of the God of armies? Do not the mountains praise Him when the woods upon their summits wave in adoration? Doth not the lightning write His name in letters of fire? Hath not the whole earth a voice? And shall I, can I, silent be?”

When I consider all the reasons to thank and praise God today; two immediately come to mind:

God gives.

God gives “life, breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25), “power to get wealth” (Deuteronomy 8:18), “food to the hungry” (Psalm 146:10), “hope” (Romans 15:13), “grace to the humble” (Proverbs 3:34), “wisdom” (Proverbs 2:6), “power to the weak” (Isaiah 40:29), “rain on the earth” (Job 5:10), “songs in the night” (Job 35:10),  “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3), “victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57)

God gave.

God gave us “His Son” (John 3:16), “His righteousness, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe” (Romans 3:22), “eternal life” (1 John 5:11), “His Spirit” (Romans 5:5 and 2 Corinthians 5:5)

Because the Lord redeems, the psalmist wrote in (Psalm 107:1-3)

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands, From the east and from the west, From the north and from the south.”

Psalm 107 is about God’s mercy toward sinful rebels who finally come to see their need of rescue, cry out for it, receive it and then joyfully rejoice in the rescue and the rescuer. God’s grace and mercy revealed to and outpoured upon them gave them a story to tell!

Likewise, each of you who has believed that what Jesus did through His death, burial and resurrection, He did for you personally – has a story to tell!

“Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story.”

It is when we tell our story that we truly communicate the goodness of God and declare His wonderful works. Can we but give grateful witness to our God among those around us and in the assembly of His people in the church? Our story is “the song of the redeemed,” it is the “celebration and love song borne of a grateful choir” as the Newsboys lyric states. Our story is life changing, inspiring and worth telling. Our story is the gospel according to us and it tells of the power of God to deliver captives, restore hope and instill within all who trust in the Lord – peace.

This Thanksgiving, your story is bound to touch someone close to you – if you’ll tell it.

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works! Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!”

“Sing to the Lord, all the earth; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples. For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is also to be feared above all gods.” (1 Chronicles 16:8-10, 23–25)

Go, tell your story!

To listen to the full message please click this link: https://www.thetextmessages.org/sermons/810/

[i] Tan, P. L. (1996). Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (p. 479). Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc.

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The Time is Now


“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2)

Jesus Christ did not die on the cross and rise from the grave so that you could have victory SOME DAY. He did not reveal Himself so that people could have victory over the evil power and influences in their lives SOME DAY. He died to give people victory over sins power NOW! He died to transform lives NOW!

There is not merely a hope of victory and peace with God in the future. Jesus Christ didn’t die so that we’d be different when we arrive in Heaven. He did not die so that until the moment we are with Him in Heaven we’d be as we’ve been and then finally be changed in the kingdom.

He died so the we’d be different NOW!

Have victory NOW!

Be made new, NOW!!!

He didn’t merely give His life so that you’d have a place in Heaven SOMEDAY but so that Heaven would have a place in you…Today.

Now IS the time of salvation!

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The Mark of a Lifetime

I have often used these words found in (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2) as I began a funeral service:

“To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die…” and in the middle is the dash.

I always used those words to tell others about the life of the one who had passed – to celebrate him or her and in some way to offer the family some comfort with those memories but I never applied the point to the survivors. The fact is that our lives are like a vapor (James 4:14) – here today and gone tomorrow and in a world full of distractions its easy to waste every moment we’ve been given and fail to make the most of the dash – that mark of a lifetime between our earthly beginning and end.

There is a time to be born and a time to die but whats done in between makes all the difference.

Is a life only well lived if its full of risk and adrenaline? Is it a well lived life if you never ‘colored outside of the lines‘ of it? Is a well lived life one that is void of any bad choices or is a well lived life simply one that at the end of the day was lived without regrets? Is it about the hindsight analysis of those taking a look at your life after you’ve passed that determines whether or not your’s was a well lived life or is it simply a day by day determination by the one living it?

In the end, we will each give an answer for the contents of our “dash.” The Bible declares in (Hebrews 9:27) that “it is appointed for men once to die but after this the judgement.” God will ultimately be the judge of your life. Listen, His judgement is righteous but it comes down to one thing – belief in Jesus Christ – did you or didn’t you. Do you or don’t you. Apart from belief in Jesus every man will be judged and condemned by the contents of their dash.

In my mind, a life lived well is one that makes the most of Jesus. The apostle Paul learned to be content in his life (Philippians 4:11) simply because of who was in his life – have you? My friends, we all only go around in this life once; we only have one life – the space between the day of our birth and the day of our death, to make a choice that will shape our forever – to quote Mark Spence of Living Waters Ministries: “don’t waste your dash!”

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Love Does the Harder Thing

When I was just a boy, my dad asked me a mind blowing question; he asked me, “What is love?” I defined it the only way I could at that age – by how I had experienced it; I replied, “Love is caring for a friend.”

Love is a lot of things but in my mind before it’s anything else it is a verb, in other words, it is the act of a person or persons which evokes an intellectual, emotional and sometimes sentimental response from the recipient(s).

The Bible says that love is patient and kind; it bears, believes, hopes and endures all things and is never failing; that is, in part what Paul said about it in (1Corinthians 13:4-8). It bears with people, believes the the best about them, hopes the best for them and NEVER gives up on them.

The Apostle Peter added in (1Peter 4:8) that love covers:

“And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “’love will cover a multitude of sins.'”

Love won’t make public another persons sin by way of gossip or conversation rather it comes alongside and restores the errant brother or sister (Galatians 6:1); it believes, bears, covers and one more thing…it speaks truth. That’s actually how the church is grown and strengthened, by “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15)

In other words, loving people tell the truth, even critical and perhaps even controversial, unpopular and maybe even unwelcome truth… love tells the truth for the good of the other person. It doesn’t tolerate, overlook or otherwise accept and validate falsehood or sinfulness it lovingly confronts it.

Love is a command. Jesus said in (John 13:34) “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (see also John 15:12, 15:17)

The Bible says that love is not only the only debt we ought to owe anyone (Romans 13:8) but that it is also a fulfillment of the law in the same verse.

Let me leave you with a thought from Josh McDowell:

“Tolerance says, “You must approve of what I do.” Love responds, “I must do something harder: I will love you, even when your behavior offends me.”

Tolerance says, “You must agree with me.” Love responds, “I must do something harder: I will tell you the truth, because I am convinced the truth will set you free.’ ”

Tolerance says, “You must allow me to have my way.” Love responds, “I must do something harder: I will plead with you to follow the right way, because I believe you are worth the risk.”

So love your neighbor, brother, the one who loves you and the one who doesn’t; love your friends and your enemies… love acts ~ love does the harder thing.

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The Prime Directive of Love

Last Sunday at Parkway Church Pastor Mike Hurt reminded us from the words found in (1 John) that “God’s love for us shapes all of our relationships:” (https://parkwaychurch.tv/sermon/relational-change) the section we dialed down on (1 John 4) concludes with these words in (v.20): “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?”

Those words, as powerful and convicting as they are can lead the proud among us to ask the same question posed to Jesus by a lawyer in (Luke 10:29): “And who is my neighbor?” As if trying to find some way out of the prime directive of love found in both the Old and New Testaments (Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18 Luke 10:27): “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself; ” we ask , “who is my brother and who is my neighbor – do I really have to love him or her like that?”

In so asking aren’t we really asking “is there anyone I don’t have to love?”

It’s an honest question and a believer might ask it but asking it may also indicate a far greater area of concern in the life of the person asking. Jeremiah wrote in (Jer. 17:9):

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?”

Before we met Jesus, our hearts were incurably sick; our hearts were full of the wrong things. Jesus said that “out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” (Matthew 15:19, NKJV) In short, we didn’t and couldn’t love others or God because we loved ourselves too much. Think about it – why do we lie; for our sakes or for others? Why do we steal – to benefit others or ourselves?

The heart is tricky. It so cloaks its true intentions and condition that the one in whom it beats may not even know how wicked it really is – but God knows. He searches the hearts of men (Jeremiah 17:10; Romans 8:27) and while others are making distinctions based on appearances, God looks deeper (1 Samuel 16:7) – “He looks at the heart.”

Does what He perceives in our hearts repulse and repel God from us? No, Paul told us in (Romans 5:8) “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This was the mission of the Savior who said in (John 3:16):

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Far from shrinking back from, hating or condemning us, God, in His love made a way for all of us, since all of us suffer from this incurable heart condition, to be made well. The writer of (2 Samuel 14:14) made it clear that God, in His mercy, “…devises means, so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him.”

When a person believes in Jesus, he is born again (John 3:3) in this sense – God gives him or her “a new heart and a new spirit” (Ezekiel 36:26). Because of that new life, he who once upon a time only loved himself can now love God and others because of the NEW condition of his heart.

When we consider the lengths that God went to in order to express His love toward us and what He had to both overlook and endure in terms of our sin to draw near enough to us so as to forgive us the penalty due for our sin by dying in our place and rising again victorious AND that nothing will EVER separate us from His love (see Romans 8:38-39); when we remember that He did THAT for US and believe it, we will then be able to also see and hopefully treat our fellow man with a similar kind of love.

Is there anyone you don’t have to love? The question might be better put like this – is there anyone you just can’t love? Mankind spit in Jesus’ face – He loved them anyway. Mankind beat Jesus to a pulp – He loved them anyway. Mankind hung Jesus on a cross and mocked Him there – He died for their sins anyway. If anyone had a reason to hate it was Jesus. If anyone had a reason to withhold grace and mercy it was Jesus. What stood between you and the Lord that in love He forgave you of even after you first believed? What now stands between you and those who are like you were “without Christ…having no hope and without God in the world?” (Ephesians 2:12)

May the Lord’s enduring love for you inspire you to love those around you for their sake and to His glory…without exception.

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