Marching Forth!

Today I recalled to mind a season when my wife struggled with rejection.  We had arrived in Australia on a visa which prohibited me from working but allowed her to seek employment.  She industriously submitted resumes and applications only to be disappointed by "rejection letters."  The letters of rejection did not work to encourage her to increase her efforts but instead did the opposite:  discouragement made her not even want to try.  We all know how that feels and it is not fun.  Ironically, a time came when she had submitted so many applications without a response that she began to appreciate the rejection letters because at least they responded! I thought about how this relates to the rejection of the message of the Gospel.  When we open our mouths to share the Gospel, it is likely many of the people we encounter will not respond positively.  It is not a rejection to be taken personally but a rejection of Christ and the message of the Gospe...

Have you ever read something that seems to encapsulate your thoughts and express them in a way far superior to your best effort?  I came across such a passage today in G. Campbell Morgan's sermon titled, "Christ's Knowledge of Men."  My thoughts were, "Well said!  Now I don't have to write that - not that I could have anyway!"  Allow me to share his concluding thoughts with you: You come not merely for perfect understanding, faithful dealing, but for certain salvation.  Demonstrate to me that He cannot save you and I quit preaching.  Prove to me that your case is beyond the power of Christ and the evangel breaks down.  But you cannot prove it.  Oh that there may come to us sooner or later a great baptism of passionate honesty.  Witnesses are everywhere here, men and women who know His power; who could not, but can; who were fast bound in sin and nature's night, but who awoke as a ray of light came into the dungeon from his presence, whose c...

Here's a question for those who read and study your Bibles, listen to sermons, or even preach on Sundays:   what effect has your recent study had on your life? Instead of asking “What have I learned?” it is a far more profitable question to ask, “How has my life changed?” We have the tendency as we study to think we do so for the primary purpose of gleaning information and facts. While the truth and the facts of scripture are important, trivia mastery is not the primary end for which God has established for His Word. The purpose of revealing Himself through His Word is so our lives – the way we think, what we believe, and how we live – will be transformed according to God’s will. Calling to mind facts might seem useful, but unless your life is governed and dictated by God’s Word the facts are impotent knowledge. God’s Word must be practiced and practical in my life or is practically worthless. If God's Word isn't changing us, we need to change the way we approach th...

One of the things I have been musing about for a while is the fact God nor His Word has changed from the beginning.  But from books I have read, sermons I have heard, and conversations I have shared I have observed it seems the view of God by His people has changed greatly even in the last hundred years.  Perhaps the depiction of God from the pulpit has changed.  Maybe the truth of God's Word has been watered down like gulag gruel.  The fearsome aspects of God's character have been carefully glossed over:  His terror, ferocity, and infinite power.  It was in 1741 when Jonathan Edwards delivered the masterful and incredibly fruitful sermon titled, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."  The views of many in the church today struggle futilely to reconcile an angry God with one of love.  Yet this is exactly how the Bible describes Him.  If I cannot see God the way scripture reveals Him, then I must admit I do not know God as I ought. The thou...

" Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life ."   Proverbs 13:12 Waiting is a facet of life few people enjoy.  The western culture of today is under-girded with the idea that quicker is better.   We don't feel like waiting and we don't believe we should have to.  Yet in the Christian life we find that God is not in a hurry.  I would like to take short-cuts concerning my sanctification, but God is pleased with what appears to us to be the long, often very long way.  Waiting provides opportunity to trust.  How many times in scripture do we see God reveal something divinely to His people and then wait years to bring it to fulfillment? Moses believed while he lived in Pharaoh's house that God would use him to deliver the Israelites from slavery.  It was not until he fled Egypt and tended his father-in-law's flocks for 40 years that God gave him directives from the burning bush.  Even after he obeyed...

Have you ever watched the show "Deal or No Deal?"  At the beginning of the show, a contestant picks a case without knowing the contents.  Hidden within the case is an undisclosed amount of money.  To play the game, other cases must one by one be opened.  The "bank" will make offers to buy the case the person has chosen.  If revealed cases contain large amounts of money, the offer will be very small.  Conversely, if the large amounts remain the offers from the bank become more and more lucrative.  The whole game hinges on the fact the contestant does not know the amount contained within his case.  If he knew that little bit of information it would completely dictate his every decision.  There would be no stress or hard decisions to make.  If you knew your case contained $200,000, you would never entertain an offer for less.  It would be relaxing to play the game because you know how it will end! There is no shortage of people in th...

Do you ever sit back in awe of the things God has done in your life?  I remember going to a youth camp and pastor Chuck Smith led us all in a song that I learned over the course of the days we spent there:  " Hasn't the LORD been good to us?  Hasn't the LORD been good?  He's done all the things that He said He would.  Hasn't the LORD been good?  So love God, hate sin, reckon the old man dead.  Love God, hate sin, and by His Spirit be led ."  I want to testify that God is good and has been so good towards me.  He has been true to His Word and has never left or forsaken me.  As I think back through the long road we have traveled together, I am absolutely amazed and struck with how awesome God is. God has done things in my life that I never imagined.  Even ten years ago I would never have imagined God would have called me to be a pastor, took me out of my trade, brought me into the ministry, led me and my family to sell our home, and...

I came across a great post from a friend of mine, Paul Zastoupil.  We've known each other since high school and I have been blessed by his friendship and faithful service unto the LORD.  I thought, why not post this to my blog so other people can read it too?  If you would like to read more of Paul's work, check out his blog !  Enjoy! Who Is Qualified to Rule? By Paul Zastoupil It has been almost 7 years since my first post on politics.  My views have not changed much.  It is still generally the same shape, maybe a slightly different shade.  Time does that.  I have heard my father on more than one occasion lament that he had never voted for anyone, only against someone else.  There is always disappointment in his voice when he says it. I have not written it in a post here before, but I believe that a requirement for someone to hold high office is that they do not want to do it.  If they want the office, it is an indication...

I had the opportunity to go on Abel's class trip to Bathurst, the site of the first gold-rush in New South Wales, Australia.  We visited Hill End, the place where Holtermann's Nugget was found.  That huge slab of gold mixed with slate weighed about 235 kilograms!  It was a busy few days and a great blessing.  We also toured through the Jenolan caves .  It was a great introduction to some of the history and sights I have yet to see during my time in Australia.  To share that experience with my son and his classmates, teachers, and fellow volunteers was a wonderful privilege. During the trip we had two opportunities to pan for gold, something I once did on a similar trip with Zed.  One of the times we panned each camper received a pan full of sand which had been "salted" with a small amount of gold.  The other opportunity was in a riverbed without any planted gold.  Needless to say, the gold salted in the pans was far easier to find than the ...

" Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints ."   Revelation 5:8 God's love is so remarkable!  He extends His love and grace to all people, despite our flaws and weaknesses.  When we were disloyal, untrustworthy, wretched, lost, hateful, and His enemies, God demonstrated His love for us by sending Jesus to die upon the cross and rise again.  We can see therefore that God's value for mankind is not dependent upon our performance or perceived "goodness."  He values us because He is good, gracious, kind, merciful, and loving.  God prizes men to such an extent that He chose to purchase us with the blood of His only Son.  When we repent and are born again through the Holy Spirit, He adopts us as sons.  Because God values us, He values our prayers as well.  Every child of God through f...

Late last night I returned from a trip to Melbourne.  I was invited by pastor Andrew Russell to preach at Calvary Chapel Melbourne and had the opportunity to share at both morning and evening services.  It was a tremendous blessing to meet faithful followers of Jesus Christ and I enjoyed many profitable conversations.  Oh how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!  There is brotherhood through fellowship in Jesus Christ that is sweeter and closer than mere blood relations.  Although we may be separated for seasons, we know we will one day dwell together in the presence of God forever! As I prepared for the messages , I sensed the leading of the Holy Spirit to include some illustrations I have never used before or even considered.  I am thankful that those particular illustrations were among the most thought-provoking and profitable.  It is encouraging to know that when God leads us to say something it will be used for His ...

After preparing messages for the weekend, I was absolutely overcome by the goodness and grace of God.  The more I study the Word of God, the more I realise how living and powerful it is.  Like the widow's supply of oil and meal in 1 Kings 17 , it is an inexhaustible source of life-saving goodness.  God's Word is so vivid and exciting.  Unlike novels which are quickly consumed and forgotten, the words of scripture have a mind-transforming, life-rejuvenating effect.  One would think that after 670 posts to this blog I would have little new to write about, but I feel like there is more fresh material available than ever.  That's a wonderful thing about God:  He makes all things new.  The Word itself is unalterable, but He gives us fresh manna and perspective through it.  Even the most well-traveled passages never lose their rich lustre. The great irony is that when I consider what to post or how to preach from a text I feel I have nothing to o...

" Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. 21 Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones." And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them ." Genesis 50:19-21 Joseph is one of many awesome biblical examples of one who chose to place his faith in God.  No one could say he had it easy.  The preferential treatment he received from his father ostracised him from his ten older brothers.   Their envy gave birth to fierce hatred.  When Joseph went to check on his brothers at his father's command, they stripped him of his coat and sold him into a life of slavery.  After catching the eye of his master's wife, Joseph ran from her sexual advances.  He was then thrown into prison for attempted rape and assault!  Life for Joseph was rough.  ...

I went to a prayer meeting this morning at church and it was most profitable.  The more I pray, the more I realise that prayer might be one of the things I have often misunderstood about the Christian walk.  As I read prayers recorded in scripture, I recognise there can be a great divide between what I read and how I actually pray.  This goads me to break out of the prayer culture which promotes the eloquence of speaking over the simple elegance of listening, heart and mind tuned to the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit.  It is far easier to pray according to the suggestions of man than the promptings of our heavenly Father.  It should not be pity for others that drives us to pray, but a fervent desire for God to be glorified and praised. Measure your prayers against Paul's prayer recorded in Colossians 1:9-12 :  " For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of ...

I had an epiphany last night when I read the account of Jesus eating the Lord's Supper with his disciples in Matthew 26:26 :  " And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body ."  I immediately hearkened back to the similarity when Jesus fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish.  Matthew 14:19 reads, " Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes ."  In both instances, Jesus took the bread, blessed, broke, and gave it to the disciples.  The main difference was when they were feeding the people the disciples were instructed to distribute it to others.  The leftovers were more than enough to satisfy even the greatest hunger among them:  12 baskets full.  In the upper room, however,...