Fresh and Flourishing

The psalmist wrote in Psalm 92:12-15

“The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.”

This passage suggests that there is a place of service for the elderly in service of God.  They are able to bear fruit and flourish despite their old age. Consider God’s use of older people in the Bible.

Moses and Aaron were chosen to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage at the ages of 80 and 83. They served the people of God for forty years. Moses wrote in Psalm 90:10 “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty.” So he and his brother were already past the normal life span when they were used by God.

After the death of Moses, Joshua was given the charge of leading the Israelites in the conquest of Canaan. He was 80 years old at the time.

Caleb, who had fought alongside Joshua since he was young, requested his portion of land from Joshua when he was elderly. We read his request in Joshua 14:11-12, “I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. So now give me this hill country of which the LORD spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the LORD said.” He and his clan fought and drove out giants in the land.

And let’s not forget Daniel who was taken away from Israel as a teen during the Babylonian captivity. He served God for over 70 years. He was well over eighty when he served as one of three governors over Babylon. History shows that he was over 83 years old when he was thrown into the lion’s den, and after that God gave him a series of prophetic visions.

Just as God used the elderly in Bible times, God still uses older people today. Elders help the church function properly. God designed the church to be overseen by elders. The apostle Paul wrote this instruction to his young protégé Titus. “An elder, as God's steward, must be above reproach, not arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.” Titus 1:7-8

Later in that same book Paul tells Titus that the older women are to serve as examples in the church. “Older women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” Titus 2:3-5

God is not finished with you yet, no matter what your age. There are many ways you can serve the Lord. One of the best things you can do is spend your time in prayer. Maybe you can exercise your benevolence. Most elderly people are more financially secure that younger families are. You could encourage others with cards or letters or you could even have a Bible study where you live.

There’s an 85 year old gentleman in my church who spreads the word of God by giving away devotionals or Bible tracts. I have another friend who is 84 years old and he has ministered in the local jail for 30 years. He also feeds cattle daily and has pastored his church for the last seven years.

The Apostle Paul was still writing letters of instruction to the churches even in his later years. May the attitude of "Paul the aged" be in you.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Philippians 3:12-16

The Global War on Christians in the Muslim World by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

We hear so often about Muslims as victims of abuse in the West and combatants in the Arab Spring’s fight against tyranny. But, in fact, a wholly different kind of war is underway—an unrecognized battle costing thousands of lives. Christians are being killed in the Islamic world because of their religion. It is a rising genocide that ought to provoke global alarm.

The portrayal of Muslims as victims or heroes is at best partially accurate. In recent years the violent oppression of Christian minorities has become the norm in Muslim-majority nations stretching from West Africa and the Middle East to South Asia and Oceania. In some countries it is governments and their agents that have burned churches and imprisoned parishioners. In others, rebel groups and vigilantes have taken matters into their own hands, murdering Christians and driving them from regions where their roots go back centuries.

The media’s reticence on the subject no doubt has several sources. One may be fear of provoking additional violence. Another is most likely the influence of lobbying groups such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation—a kind of United Nations of Islam centered in Saudi Arabia—and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Over the past decade, these and similar groups have been remarkably successful in persuading leading public figures and journalists in the West to think of each and every example of perceived anti-Muslim discrimination as an expression of a systematic and sinister derangement called “Islamophobia”—a term that is meant to elicit the same moral disapproval as xenophobia or homophobia.

But a fair-minded assessment of recent events and trends leads to the conclusion that the scale and severity of Islamophobia pales in comparison with the bloody Christophobia currently coursing through Muslim-majority nations from one end of the globe to the other. The conspiracy of silence surrounding this violent expression of religious intolerance has to stop. Nothing less than the fate of Christianity—and ultimately of all religious minorities—in the Islamic world is at stake.

At least 24 Coptic Christians were killed in Cairo during clashes with the Egyptian Army on Oct. 9., Thomas Hartwell / Redux

From blasphemy laws to brutal murders to bombings to mutilations and the burning of holy sites, Christians in so many nations live in fear. In Nigeria many have suffered all of these forms of persecution. The nation has the largest Christian minority (40 percent) in proportion to its population (160 million) of any majority-Muslim country. For years, Muslims and Christians in Nigeria have lived on the edge of civil war. Islamist radicals provoke much if not most of the tension. The newest such organization is an outfit that calls itself Boko Haram, which means “Western education is sacrilege.” Its aim is to establish Sharia in Nigeria. To this end it has stated that it will kill all Christians in the country.

In the month of January 2012 alone, Boko Haram was responsible for 54 deaths. In 2011 its members killed at least 510 people and burned down or destroyed more than 350 churches in 10 northern states. They use guns, gasoline bombs, and even machetes, shouting “Allahu akbar” (“God is great”) while launching attacks on unsuspecting citizens. They have attacked churches, a Christmas Day gathering (killing 42 Catholics), beer parlors, a town hall, beauty salons, and banks. They have so far focused on killing Christian clerics, politicians, students, policemen, and soldiers, as well as Muslim clerics who condemn their mayhem. While they started out by using crude methods like hit-and-run assassinations from the back of motorbikes in 2009, the latest AP reports indicate that the group’s recent attacks show a new level of potency and sophistication.

The Christophobia that has plagued Sudan for years takes a very different form. The authoritarian government of the Sunni Muslim north of the country has for decades tormented Christian and animist minorities in the south. What has often been described as a civil war is in practice the Sudanese government’s sustained persecution of religious minorities. This persecution culminated in the infamous genocide in Darfur that began in 2003. Even though Sudan’s Muslim president, Omar al-Bashir, has been indicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which charged him with three counts of genocide, and despite the euphoria that greeted the semi-independence he granted to South Sudan in July of last year, the violence has not ended. In South Kordofan, Christians are still subjected to aerial bombardment, targeted killings, the kidnapping of children, and other atrocities. Reports from the United Nations indicate that between 53,000 and 75,000 innocent civilians have been displaced from their residences and that houses and buildings have been looted and destroyed.

Both kinds of persecution—undertaken by extragovernmental groups as well as by agents of the state—have come together in Egypt in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. On Oct. 9 of last year in the Maspero area of Cairo, Coptic Christians (who make up roughly 11 percent of Egypt’s population of 81 million) marched in protest against a wave of attacks by Islamists—including church burnings, rapes, mutilations, and murders—that followed the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorship. During the protest, Egyptian security forces drove their trucks into the crowd and fired on protesters, crushing and killing at least 24 and wounding more than 300 people. By the end of the year more than 200,000 Copts had fled their homes in anticipation of more attacks. With Islamists poised to gain much greater power in the wake of recent elections, their fears appear to be justified.

Egypt is not the only Arab country that seems bent on wiping out its Christian minority. Since 2003 more than 900 Iraqi Christians (most of them Assyrians) have been killed by terrorist violence in Baghdad alone, and 70 churches have been burned, according to the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA). Thousands of Iraqi Christians have fled as a result of violence directed specifically at them, reducing the number of Christians in the country to fewer than half a million from just over a million before 2003. AINA understandably describes this as an “incipient genocide or ethnic cleansing of Assyrians in Iraq.”

The 2.8 million Christians who live in Pakistan make up only about 1.6 percent of the population of more than 170 million. As members of such a tiny minority, they live in perpetual fear not only of Islamist terrorists but also of Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy laws. There is, for example, the notorious case of a Christian woman who was sentenced to death for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad. When international pressure persuaded Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer to explore ways of freeing her, he was killed by his bodyguard. The bodyguard was then celebrated by prominent Muslim clerics as a hero—and though he was sentenced to death late last year, the judge who imposed the sentence now lives in hiding, fearing for his life.

Such cases are not unusual in Pakistan. The nation’s blasphemy laws are routinely used by criminals and intolerant Pakistani Muslims to bully religious minorities. Simply to declare belief in the Christian Trinity is considered blasphemous, since it contradicts mainstream Muslim theological doctrines. When a Christian group is suspected of transgressing the blasphemy laws, the consequences can be brutal. Just ask the members of the Christian aid group World Vision. Its offices were attacked in the spring of 2010 by 10 gunmen armed with grenades, leaving six people dead and four wounded. A militant Muslim group claimed responsibility for the attack on the grounds that World Vision was working to subvert Islam. (In fact, it was helping the survivors of a major earthquake.)

At least 13 people were killed and 140 injured on March 8, 2011, when participants in a large Christian demonstration in a Cairo slum were attacked by residents of a surrounding neighborhood., Mohamed Omar / EPA-Landov

Not even Indonesia—often touted as the world’s most tolerant, democratic, and modern majority-Muslim nation—has been immune to the fevers of Christophobia. According to data compiled by the Christian Post, the number of violent incidents committed against religious minorities (and at 7 percent of the population, Christians are the country’s largest minority) increased by nearly 40 percent, from 198 to 276, between 2010 and 2011.

The litany of suffering could be extended. In Iran dozens of Christians have been arrested and jailed for daring to worship outside of the officially sanctioned church system. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, deserves to be placed in a category of its own. Despite the fact that more than a million Christians live in the country as foreign workers, churches and even private acts of Christian prayer are banned; to enforce these totalitarian restrictions, the religious police regularly raid the homes of Christians and bring them up on charges of blasphemy in courts where their testimony carries less legal weight than a Muslim’s. Even in Ethiopia, where Christians make up a majority of the population, church burnings by members of the Muslim minority have become a problem.

It should be clear from this catalog of atrocities that anti-Christian violence is a major and underreported problem. No, the violence isn’t centrally planned or coordinated by some international Islamist agency. In that sense the global war on Christians isn’t a traditional war at all. It is, rather, a spontaneous expression of anti-Christian animus by Muslims that transcends cultures, regions, and ethnicities.

As Nina Shea, director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, pointed out in an interview with Newsweek, Christian minorities in many majority-Muslim nations have “lost the protection of their societies.” This is especially so in countries with growing radical Islamist (Salafist) movements. In those nations, vigilantes often feel they can act with impunity—and government inaction often proves them right. The old idea of the Ottoman Turks—that non-Muslims in Muslim societies deserve protection (albeit as second-class citizens)—has all but vanished from wide swaths of the Islamic world, and increasingly the result is bloodshed and oppression.

So let us please get our priorities straight. Yes, Western governments should protect Muslim minorities from intolerance. And of course we should ensure that they can worship, live, and work freely and without fear. It is the protection of the freedom of conscience and speech that distinguishes free societies from unfree ones. But we also need to keep perspective about the scale and severity of intolerance. Cartoons, films, and writings are one thing; knives, guns, and grenades are something else entirely.

As for what the West can do to help religious minorities in Muslim-majority societies, my answer is that it needs to begin using the billions of dollars in aid it gives to the offending countries as leverage. Then there is trade and investment. Besides diplomatic pressure, these aid and trade relationships can and should be made conditional on the protection of the freedom of conscience and worship for all citizens.

Instead of falling for overblown tales of Western Islamophobia, let’s take a real stand against the Christophobia infecting the Muslim world. Tolerance is for everyone—except the intolerant.

Love is the Greatest Gift

A Peanuts cartoon shows Lucy standing with her arms folded and a stern expression on her face. Charlie Brown pleads, “Lucy, you must be more loving. This world really needs love. You have to let yourself love to make this world a better place.” Lucy angrily whirls around and knocks Charlie Brown to the ground. She screams at him, “Look, you blockhead, the world I love. It's people I can’t stand.”

I don’t know why God loves us the way He does, but I’m just glad He does. God loves us with an everlasting love. Before God ever created man He knew the outcome. He knew we would rebel against Him but because of His great love for us, He created man anyway because He already had a plan to redeem His creation.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17

The Son of God volunteered to complete the mission. He willingly decided to leave the splendor and glory of heaven, humble Himself, become human and live a sinless life in order to fulfill the law. He was obedient to the point of death on the cross, to satisfy the demands of a holy God, destroy the works of the devil and in the process redeem mankind. Jesus loves us enough to offer His life as a sacrifice for us. Jesus said, Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

The English language is so limited when it comes to the word love. We use that one word for so many things. I love my wife, spicy food, seafood, cheeseburgers, my job, my house, my truck, beaches, mountains and sunshine. The Greek language is a little more specific. Storge means fondness or affection. Eros means carnal love or sexual desire. Fileo means brotherly love. God’s love is agape love. Agape is the kind of love that seeks the other’s highest good. That’s why Jesus was willing to let go of his divine privileges, be born as a human and give His life in exchange for ours. He put our needs ahead of His rights.

Paul tells us of the importance of love and then defines it. 

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. 1 Corinthians 13:1-8

Paul wanted us to see that spiritual gifts are great but without love we’re just making a bunch of noise. He lists many good things we can do but without love they’re really not worth anything.

Love is to be the defining characteristic of every Christian.

Jesus said, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35

Groundhog Day

In the movie Groundhog Day,. Bill Murray plays meteorologist Phil Connors. He travels to Punxsutawney, PA with his producer and cameraman to cover the annual festivities where Punxsutawney Phil the groundhog is the star.

A blizzard develops and forces them to stay in Punxsutawney. Connors awakens the next morning to find it is February 2 again, and his day unfolds in exactly the same way. However, he is the only one aware of the repetition. Everyone else seems to be living February 2 exactly the same way and for the first time. This pattern continues for many days, maybe even weeks.

I love the fact that many great Bible teachers seem to find analogies in every day things. Rarely does this happen to me. But this movie seems analogous to trials in the Christian life. It may not be the best analogy but it works for me.

When Phil Connors realized that the same things were happening everyday, he began to memorize events, so he could manipulate people and take advantage of his situation. Later when he begins to get tired of being stuck in Groundhog Day, he tries to fight against it but the repetition continues nonetheless. Finally when he examines his life and priorities and makes the necessary changes, Groundhog Day stops and he wakes up on February 3rd a better man. Lesson learned.

The analogy may be loose but it just reminded me of the trials we go through as Christians. Whether it’s a “blizzard” in your life or just a minor testing of your faith, trials are inevitable. God is doing a work in the life of the believer and He allows things to happen along the way to develop our character. “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” Philippians 1:6

God allows trials in our lives because there is obviously something He wants us to learn from that particular situation. When we don’t pass the test it seems that God continues to bring that particular trial back into our life until we do pass the test...kinda like in the Groundhog Day movie.

Like Phil Connors sometimes we try to manipulate or take advantage of the situation we’re going through, other times we try to fight against it. But when we finally stop and examine our lives and priorities, then we pass the test and move forward. We learn and grow spiritually from the situation.

Many of us complain when we are tested. We pray for patience, and God allows us to be tested so we can develop our patience, and then we complain more. Our character is both developed and revealed by the testing of our faith. “When troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your patience has a chance to grow.” James 1:2-3

It's not a matter of if the storm is going to come, it's just a question of when. People have this idea that when you turn your life over to Jesus you won't have any more difficulties. Christians are not immune to difficulties and hardships but we are responsible for our reactions to the trials we encounter. The Apostle Paul probably suffered more hardship than any other Christian and yet he learned to welcome the trials. He said “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.” Romans 5:3-4

A Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Growing up in the 1960’s I still remember vivid images on our black and white television of people being beaten, attacked by police dogs and sprayed with fire hoses, simply because they wanted to be treated with equality. Dr. Martin Luther King was a minister of the gospel who was the leader of the civil rights movement. He preached nonviolence because of what our Lord Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

We live in a world that is still filled with inequality based on religion, race, gender and social status. The result is social injustice, racism, discrimination and war. This is not God’s kingdom. We who are born again are members of God’s Kingdom. And when it fully arrives there will be no inequality. In God’s Kingdom there is liberty, justice and equality for all. That’s the dream that Martin Luther King, Jr. had and spoke about so articulately. It’s the dream that followers of Christ share. That is why we pray to God “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done...”

We not only pray for God’s Kingdom to come, but we also live now for social justice and equality. We who are saved are empowered and enabled because of God’s Holy Spirit that has been placed within us. With this deposit of God’s Kingdom within us, we become one in Spirit.

Every person in the world has an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to accept or reject Christ. It’s the opportunity of the cross that allows an individual to be born into God’s family regardless of who your parents are, what color you are, where you are born, or what gender you are. This opportunity is not just for the rich or the poor; the educated or the uneducated. This opportunity is for all of us.

Jesus Christ died for all. The reason that Christ died for all is because God loves all people. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17

When you receive Jesus Christ and make Him your Lord and Savior, you are born into God’s family. It’s a supernatural birth that defies all logic. At the moment of true belief in Jesus and what He did for us at the cross, saving faith becomes operable. At that moment, we are baptized into Christ by the Holy Spirit. We get a new nature, a new mind and a new heart that is regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit and we also get a new Father…a Father that will never change on us; never lie to us; never abuse us and never leave us. We also get new siblings…siblings that love us unconditionally. We get a new family.

In this new family we are all one, with no friction and schism. What makes us one? Jesus. We are baptized into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit. Race, gender and social status are all gone and we are all treated equally and operate as one. We are part of one body ministering at the point of need in the power of the Holy Spirit in the midst of an unjust world. We have been born again into God’s Kingdom and we are ushering in His coming Kingdom. The best is yet to come!

What about you? Have you been born again? Have you been baptized into Christ by the Holy Spirit? Today is the day that you can be born into a new family and receive a deposit of God’s coming Kingdom. Kneel at the foot of the cross and make Jesus your Lord and your Savior. He will take you on an exciting journey through abundant life that will lead you from earth to Glory!

“Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done...” Keep praying for God’s Kingdom to come. His Kingdom is coming in full. He has placed a deposit within you through the Holy Spirit. He is the earnest. He is the down payment on our glorious redemption. The best is yet to come!

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous "I have a Dream" speech. He concluded the message with the following words: I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Today, Martin Luther King, Jr. is no longer living by faith. He is now living by sight around the throne of God. Through his eyes today, his dream has become reality. He is living in total social justice and equality around the throne of God. Dr. King made a difference back in the day and is still making an lasting impact today.

We who are Christians, members of God’s Kingdom should live for social justice and equality right now. As a member of the Body of Christ, continue the ministry of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. Just like Dr. Martin Luther King did, by the power of Almighty God, you can make a difference today that will have a lasting impact in the future!

New Resolve

Since the Lord has given me a new leadership position, I plan to put into practice this list of ministry resolutions I got from Ron Edmondson.

The best leadership, in my opinion, comes out of the resolve a leader has made in his or her heart. The resolve of a leader is the pre-determined approach a leader will take when carrying out his or her leadership. These are personal convictions that shape the way a leader leads, responds to others, and the choices a leader makes.

Most often, these resolutions are made even prior to being in a leadership position. The resolve of a leader is powerful. In fact, if a leader wants to improve his or her leadership, he or she must often improve first their personal resolve.

So do you want to improve your leadership?

Here are 10 resolutions guaranteed to improve your ministry leadership:

• I resolve to never compromise my character in my search for progress. 
• I resolve to consistently be walking by faith.
• I resolve to pray earnestly before I make major decisions.
• I resolve to surround myself with wise and moral influencers.
• I resolve to protect my family time while working in ministry.
• I resolve to make my personal health a priority.
• I resolve to allow trials and turmoil to draw me closer to Christ and shape my character for good.
• I resolve to love the unlovable.
• I resolve to pray for my enemies, extend grace liberally, and never hold a grudge.
• I resolve to allow at least a few people access to know and speak into the deepest and most private parts of my life.

What are your resolves that shape your ministry leadership?

Which of these resolves do you need to make at this point in your ministry leadership?

Born to Die

We all have a birth day, a particular point in time where life began for us. At some point in life we begin to realize that we are not immortal. We see grandparents, aunts, uncles, parents and even siblings die. Although death is all around us we still get the idea that we will live to be 70, 80 or 100 years old. Surely we won't be one of those who die young. Our focus is on our hopes and dreams and all the things we want to accomplish. Nobody likes to think about death's inevitability. We see our purpose being fulfilled in life and not death.

It wasn’t so for our Lord Jesus Christ. In His life he was the exact representation of His Father in heaven and He demonstrated how we should live on earth but His mission was fulfilled in His death. He said "...the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" Matthew 20:28. Long before there was time, God had a plan to create mankind. Being omniscient, he knew that man would fall prey to Satan and sin, so even before Adam existed, God formulated a redemption plan.

God is perfect. He is holy. Nothing imperfect or unholy can dwell in His sight. Apart from reconciliation to God through Jesus Christ we have no righteousness. Our sin, our disobedience, our iniquities require expiation, and the only way to make atonement is with life-giving blood. "For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life" Leviticus 17:11. Sin is such a grievance to God that it must be covered in blood, the very life of the flesh. "...without the shedding of blood is no remission of sin" Hebrews 9:22.

When Adam and Eve sinned through disobedience, God slaughtered an animal to make a covering for them. The dead animal's hide provided a covering for their skin and the blood of the animal provided a covering for their sin. Many years later when God gave Israel the law, He instituted a sacrificial system where the blood of bulls and goats would be used to make atonement for man's sins. "But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins" Hebrews 10:3, 4. The priest would go to the altar every day, offer the same old sacrifices year in, year out, and never make a dent in the sin problem. But our High Priest, Christ made a single sacrifice for sins, once and for all!

The Bible teaches us that all things point to Christ and His mission to redeem mankind. When Adam and Eve sinned, God promised a redeemer. The promise of a Messiah was given to Abraham, the father of faith. The Ten Commandments demonstrated how imperfect we are and showed us our need for a Savior. There are over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament that foretell Jesus birthplace, details of his life, his mission, his nature, his death, and his resurrection. When the time was right, Jesus was born into the world. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We saw his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth" John 1:14. Jesus’ purpose was to glorify God in the flesh, and ultimately give his flesh as an offering for the very people He created.

During this season, as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, let’s not forget His subsequent death, burial and resurrection. That is the “rest of the story.”

Thanksgiving

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

There is so much for which to thank God. We live in exciting times because we can see the handwriting on the wall and we know that the return of Jesus is imminent. Thank God that we still have our freedom in America and that we worship Him without government interference. Thank you Lord that you set your plan for mankind into motion long before anything was even created. Thank you for revealing yourself and your plans for us through your Word. Thank you that you love us and you knew that we would rebel against you, so you planned for our redemption.

Lord Jesus, thank you for your willingness to humble yourself, take on the form of a man, live 33 sinless years and become obedient to the point of death on a cross. God made you to become sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in you Jesus. Thank you for being our substitute, paying the price that we owed for the penalty of our sins. Through you we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins, abundant life now and eternal life with you. Because of your sacrifice we can come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain help in time of need. Thank you Lord for enduring the cross, scorning its shame, and now you sit at the right hand of the throne of God, ever making intercession for us. Now God has exalted you to the highest place and given you the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Thank you Father for my spouse who is the perfect complement for me, thank you for our children, our extended family and our new church family. Thank you for our Christian friends and even those we desire to become part of the family of God. Thank you for health and strength, for the activity of our limbs, for the experience of our senses. Thank you for the beauty of the world around us, the sun, moon and stars, all of nature and the beautiful colors we experience each year. Thank you for food, clothing, shelter, material blessings, for our jobs and the ability to do our work for your glory. Thank you Lord for giving us a future and a hope. We eagerly await the day when the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise. Then we who are still alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Our hearts are filled with gratitude because we are called, chosen and kept by the power of your Holy Spirit. All glory, praise and honor is due to you O God our Father, in the matchless name of Jesus our wonderful Lord and Savior, Amen.

Finishing Well

I’m often amazed at the ministry opportunities that God has granted me. My freshman year in college, I got the radio bug when I was given a show on the campus radio station. After a short stint in commercial radio and a plethora of other totally unrelated jobs, I got my first job in Christian radio, Chattanooga rocker WMOC. I was green and it was fun, getting to do what I loved, serve the Lord and even get paid. Two years later, I stepped out on faith and accepted a part time job at the Moody station across town, WMBW. Within a few months, part time developed into full time and I became the morning man heard all over the Southeast. Five years later, God opened a door to work with Family Life Network in New York as Operations Manager. I doubled as morning co-host with Jim Travis who is still my best friend today. After three record breaking, bone-chilling winters, we decided to move back South and I went to work with His Radio Network in Greenville, SC. Our family was content to stay in South Carolina and I had even thought about starting a church there, but God had other plans.

January 1996, I received a call from Precept Ministries International, asking if I would like to join their staff. I was quite content but agreed to meet with them in Atlanta. My desire at that stage of life was to learn inductive bible study and PMI was the leading proponent in the world. That is what piqued my interest to accept their offer. I spent 8 years with PMI, managing the radio department and teaching inductive Bible studies but began to miss being on the air daily. Moody had never lost interest in me and they offered me a chance to do the morning show in the Tampa market. Florida was fun, I loved the gulf, the sun and the beach but after a few years I was recruited by Family Life Radio to move to Tucson and do a network show. This probably wasn’t the best career move for me because two years later I resigned from Christian radio altogether and went to work for Westwood One in their Phoenix newsroom.

Working in that secular environment was difficult and I began praying persistently for a return to ministry. After 15 months of working in that pagan, cynical, sarcastic environment I was desperate. I told God that I would do anything, go anywhere to get back into ministry. I would have even taken a job as a church janitor! God has a sense of humor, because He sent me and my wife from Phoenix to Meade, KS to work with Great Plains Christian Radio (KJIL). God gave me a new perspective for Christian radio ministry, so whenever I opened the microphone, I focused on sharing the Word rather than entertaining. Now you have to understand, Meade is about a mile away from the middle of nowhere, so when given the opportunity to transfer to their sister station in Abilene, KS, I jumped at the chance. Since 2010, I served as the Operation Manager and afternoon drive announcer at KJIL. Through pulpit supply I learned about a couple of local churches in need of a pastor. I became a candidate at both of them. In October 2011, I was offered the position of pastor at Zion Brethren in Christ Church in Abilene, KS. So after 30 years ministering in Christian radio, I am now a full time pastor. My wife A’Lisa was hired as my Administrative Assistant. This is an answer to a year’s worth of prayers. I knew God had something more in store for us in ministry, I just didn’t know what that “more” was. Looking back in hindsight, I can see how God orchestrated everything to bring us to this point. We are glad for the challenge ahead because we know that God is able. We praise God for our new church home and family.