Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year! Have you counted how many times you have heard that statement? It is featured on the radio and highlighted in music playing throughout malls and elevators country-wide. Our minds are being molded to believe that this is the only time of the year that we will experience joy, excitement, and happiness. But the truth is that for millions of people Christmas is not so wonderful a time. There is more fear than cheer due to unrealistic expectations. Extreme expectations erase the presence and power of the Prince of Peace!
Read MoreAs we consider today’s passage of Scripture, let’s continue to consider some proactive measures that would inoculate us from the infection of ingratitude. Paul already has promoted the practice of rejoicing in the Lord in all circumstances. When this practice is an authentic and consistent course of action, especially in times of adversity, it advertises the Almighty and gracious God in our lives. So when we say “God is good all the time and all the time, God is good,” it will not be just a cliché.
Read MoreThe year was 1968. The place: Anne Shockley Elementary School located in Griffin Georgia. The event: Vaccination Day! Every student was elated and eager to embrace this entertaining event. The thrill of being shot by a needle that came from a gun-shaped device extended from the top of our heads to the soles of our feet and gave us something to shout about! Clearly, that is far from an accurate account! To this day, I have a round scar nearly the shape and size of a dime reminding me of that traumatic and dramatic day that froze all of us in fear! It was very difficult to process that the stranger with the gun in his hand was there to make us happy and healthy. To make matters worse, the principal of the school, the teachers and our parents were pleased that Dr. Billy the Kid was there to shoot us with his crazy-looking gun! While Dr. Billy the Kid offered us inoculations against disease, our passage today points to an inoculation against the illness of ingratitude.
Read MoreWe closed last week’s blog with the action point of purposing to remember, “True love looks to give first as oppose to gratify.” This must be a deliberate and devoted discipline for all of God's people. Maintaining this mindset will allow us to lock on to a lofty look at love and thereby guard us from being gripped by a grabber mentality with respect to love.
Read MoreThe title of this week's blog encourages us to look at love from an exalted and elevated position. Love that causes us to soar comes from God who is high and lifted up! According to Scripture, He is above all things and all people.
“Is not God in the height of heaven? And behold the height of the stars, how high they are!” - Job 22:12 (KJV)
Read MoreBack in 1985 I found myself in a country and providence with which I was very unfamiliar. As an aspiring professional athlete, God by His sovereign grace had secured me a roster spot with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. The name Saskatchewan was not a household name for a guy from Griffin, Georgia. Adjusting to an unfamiliar atmosphere, culture and a climate that polar bears would praise in late fall was definitely a daunting task! Welcoming the extreme weather and playing football on what seemed to be a frozen planet was not what I had anticipated. I should have read the fine print: “CFL players will be practicing and playing in Popsicle conditions!”
Read MoreIn last week’s blog, we began discussing this passage of scripture in which King David gave his son, Solomon, a charge to keep. David, a man after God’s own heart, King of Israel, shepherd, giant-slayer, and a man undefeated in military combat recognized that he was just a man and was destined to die like all other men. So he delivers a final charge to his son, Solomon. A review of this scripture reveals timeless truths that can also be applied to our lives. I invite you to ponder the following points in order to capture David's charge and apply it to our walk with God.
Read MoreAs I considered the topic for this week’s blog, I found myself returning to my early roots of worship as a child in the church. Our tradition of worship was rooted in rich, traditional black gospel music. Songs like Charles A. Tindley's We Will Understand it Better By and By, Leave It There, and Thomas Dorsey's Peace in the Valley, which is the first gospel recording to sell a million copies. I remember well singing James Cleveland's Peace Be Still, God Has Smiled on Me and I Stood on the Banks of Jordan.
Read MoreBefore I continue with the topic of this blog, let’s review some key points from last week’s discussion:
We established an identity for the old man who was passed down from Adam. The old man is our flesh; the sin nature with which we were born.
We were also reminded that our righteous Lord has declared a death sentence on the old man.
In this week’s blog, we will consider the specific steps mandated by our Lord that help us model the Master.
Read MoreBruce Willis is an American actor best known for his role as the infamous John McClane in the high octane and action-heavy Die Hard movie series. In all the Die Hard movies this reluctant protagonist with a “never-say-die” attitude is often out-numbered, out-gunned and out-resourced. However, McClane, even though he is often beaten, busted and bleeding, has this uncanny way of being untouched by the grip of death. It does not even matter what his antagonists employ in an attempt to erase him off the big screen. Whether it is a conflict involving grenades, C-4 explosives, RPG-7 missiles, helicopters or F-16 fighter jets, McClane consistently manages to survive whatever siege he faces.
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