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#Submissive#Suffering

Friday, May 17th, 2019

Last week (Saturday morning to be exact)  after posting the following blog on Friday, I sensed God impressing upon me to change my sermon to preach on A Wise Woman.  You can read about that here. So I pushed back one week the “wannabe preached” sermon to this week. So I’m just refreshing the post a bit and using it this weekend. Not much has changed except I’m adding a song at the end of this post for you to enjoy.

Those two words are seldom seen together. I mean, who in their right mind would want to be submissive to suffering? But perhaps we need to take a second look.

In his book, Suffering, Paul David Tripp wrote:

Physical suffering exposes the delusion of personal autonomy and self-sufficiency.

If you and I had the kind of control we tend to think we have, none of us would ever-and I mean ever-have to go through anything difficult. I would not have chosen to be hit by a hit-n-run driver and suffer the consequences of his misguided actions. And I certainly would not have chosen to have another accident just over 3 months later that was more devastating than the first.

Suffering is part and parcel of life.  I like what someone has said: “Suffering is inevitable; misery is optional.” No matter how “charmed” a life someone may seem to be leading, suffering will be involved in some way. No one escapes it.

What makes a difference is how we respond to it. That is my point this week as I look at Sermon #3 from Romans 8. Romans 8:18-27 will be my Scripture for this week. Your prayers for me to clearly preach the message of suffering and for light bulbs to go on the minds and hearts of the people would be much appreciated. Thanks.

And here is that song. I’m going to show this before I start preaching. Enjoy.

Posted in Christian living, Doctrine, Preaching, Scripture look, Sermon Series/Topic | 6 Responses »

#ILied

Sunday, May 12th, 2019

Yeah…I lied. Well, not on purpose. It’s funny what a pastor will do when God steps in and stops him from doing what he had worked so hard to do.

Yeah…that be me. And God.

Saturday morning I was studying for my sermon when I “heard” this voice say, “Hey Bill! put that aside. I have something else for you to do.”

“Say what?”

“Yeah. I want you to put that prepared sermon aside and I want to preach on something else.”

“God, is this you? Am I hearing you correctly?’

“Yes, it’s Me. And yes, you are hearing me correctly. I want you to preach on something else. I had you read and blog about David, Nabal and Abigail on Friday for a reason. Now I want you to put it to use.”

“And how so?”

“I want you to preach what I tell you to preach on Sunday. I don’t want you to focus on mothers but on women in all stages of life. ”

So I did. I called the sermon A Wise Woman and used I Samuel 25 as my Scripture. Shortly after the sermon is done you can find it on the church’s website and listen to the podcast.  I hope you find it challenging and good for your heart, especially if you are a woman.

As for the sermon on Suffering from Romans 8: 18-27? Stay tuned next week for it.  There was an old commerical: “When EF Hutton speaks everybody listens.” Well…when God speaks Bill has to listen.

Posted in Family, Grace, Opinion, Preaching, Scripture look, Story | 9 Responses »

#RightMind

Friday, May 3rd, 2019

Last week I encouraged the folks to lose their minds. This week I plan to encourage them to be in their right mind. And now you are wondering about mine!  🙂

Most of us use some type of debit or credit card. I only have a debit card. I followed Dave Ramsey and the only thing I owed on was my house, but then life hit. Jo’s SUV we bought and she had for several years blew up with 230,000 miles on it. Then the SUV I had for 115,000 miles was going to cost an arm and a leg to fix and since I didn’t have one to spare I took out a loan on a truck. The replacement vehicle we bought for Jo looked like a golf ball from the hail but we bought it at a good price and made some minor repairs and paid it off. But we had a friend who needed a car badly so we gave it to her, signed title and all. Then the Cube we bought with 110,000 miles on it got hit in the side then started doing weird things engine-wise. There goes no loan. So now we have a house loan and 2 vehicle loans.

Not all debt is bad though. For example, the Bible says, “Owe no man nothing, except to love.” Debts of gratitude are good to have. If someone does something for you that quite literally might have saved your life, you will feel you owe a debt of gratitude. Living life as a Christ-follower should follow that line of thinking. I do because I want to, not because I have to or feel forced to.

Last week I talked about losing our minds, i.e will I have the mind of the flesh or the mind of the Spirit? This week I want to take that thought a bit further. What does it mean to have the mind of the Spirit. Better yet, how can I have the mindset of a Spirit-controlled person? I will be in Romans 8 for 5 weeks. (I added a week this week while studying). This week is verses 12-17. The emphasis will be sanctification. Your prayers would be much appreciated.

Posted in Christian living, Doctrine, Holy Spirit, Preaching, Scripture look, Sermon Series/Topic | 1 Response »

PAIN

Friday, April 5th, 2019

I am going to take a break from my Effectiveness posts to tell you about the sermon this weekend. I’ve titled it Remembered and Forsaken. Sort of an anomaly there. Or at least a dichotomy of thought.

Have you ever been in such pain you couldn’t do much else but cry or agonize? I’ve heard stories about women in the throes of labor who look at their husbands with anger (and almost hate) in their eyes and blame them for all the pain. It is all their fault!! As if…  🙂

Maybe you have been in a burn unit or been the victim of some burns and know of the agony of that accident. i spoke with someone just yesterday (I stopped my bike ride to visit) who was burning a stump and the flash caught him and burnt a good part of his body.  Over a year later he said he still has excruciating pain at times. UGH!

Multiply that pain and agony a hundredfold and you have what Jesus experienced on the cross after hours of torture, a crown of thorns jammed on his head, nails in his hands and feet, and constantly struggling to breathe. When I had my accident I thought of no one else but Jo and of my pain.  Jesus had thoughts of others.

The series is titled “Last Words.” Ryan started the series last week and I am continuing the 7 sayings of Jesus on the cross. I will be preaching on #3 & #4: His heart for His mother (“Behold your mother/son” and His hurt for His Father (“Why have you forsaken me?”).  I’d appreciate your prayers for me this week.

Posted in Easter, God, Jesus, Preaching, Scripture look, Sermon Series/Topic | 2 Responses »

Fair

Monday, March 18th, 2019

For the first time since I started writing my blog in 2008 I failed to post a weekend blog about my Sunday sermon.  I’d like to beg off by saying, “Time flies when you’re having fun.” It would be more accurate to say, “Time supersonics when you’re busy.” It seems like I was a “day late and a dollar short” all weekend long. Not that anything bad happened it was just so full.  I’ll not bore you with all the details, let’s just suffice it to say, I was swamped.

My sermon was on Psalm 73 and I called it “Life’s Not Fair!”  Those three words often fall off the lips of our children and we might say back, “Tough! Life’s not fair. Deal with it!” But there are some issues that snarky attitude just doesn’t fit. Seeing dishonest people get ahead. A weeping widow at a graveside wondering why the drunken driver lived but not her husband and the children’s father. A child being rushed to the hospital, the victim of a terrorist bomb. Scenarios like those and more don’t want easy, cliche-laden answers. Saying life isn’t fair is not reserved for kids. There are weightier matters that not even adults have an answer for.

Asaph (the author of Psalm 73) had similar questions.  He allowed his self-pity to take him to the bottom because he admits his heart was filled with envy, resentment and confusion.  Asaph found himself at the bottom of the barrel and needed a lift. He found it in the presence of God.  It was there Asaph was able to recalibrate his heart.

That’s not a bad idea on this Monday morning. A busy week ahead assures me of some needed quiet time for recalibration.  How about you?

 

Posted in Christian living, Just Wondering, Miscellaneous, Opinion, Scripture look | 6 Responses »

CQD

Friday, March 8th, 2019

There are a number of international calls for disaster on the sea. The Germans used SOE. The Italians used SSSDDD. Marconi, who was a leader in wireless technology, proposed CQD, which actually came from an earlier one “CQ” and by adding the “D” for distress it was to represent extreme danger. According to him the letters meant absolutely nothing. In 1906 it was proposed by the second International Radio Telegraphic Conference that the letters “SOS” be adopted. Not because it means “Save our Souls” or “Save our Ship” but because of the ease to transmit- 3 dots, 3 dashes, 3 dots. By 1908 it had been accepted by all except the United States.

That all changed April 14, 1912 when Titanic sunk. Senior operator Jack Phillips was using CQD when junior operator Harold Bride joked to Phillips that he ought to use the new one (SOS) because it might be the last chance to use it. Sadly, it was because Phillips never left his station until there was no more power. By then all the lifeboats were gone.

Psalm 51 as a whole is a powerful psalm of sin and rescue. That was last week’s message. This week’s message takes it further and finishes it as this psalm becomes a psalm of renewal.  I’ll be concentrating on verses 10-19 this week after a brief review of last week’s lesson of grace and mercy.

I’d appreciate your prayers for us this week. Attendance may be slim due to Spring Break for our local school system, but I’m convinced someone there will need to hear its message.

Posted in Christian living, Doctrine, God, Grace, Prayer, Preaching, Scripture look, Second Chance, Sermon Series/Topic, Story | 5 Responses »

Grounded

Friday, February 1st, 2019

One of the worst fears of any ship or boat is being grounded. Hitting a sandbar. Hitting a reef. Being tossed on shore. (Think Gilligan’s Island! 🙂 )  But I’ve got another kind of grounding in mind.

G. Campbell Morgan, a British preacher who lived from 1863-1945 (that means he “saw” both the Civil War and both World Wars) once wrote:

If our Rock were not our Redeemer, we would be without hope. If our Redeemer were not our Rock, we might be afraid.  Let us never forget that our redemption has in it the strength of the Mighty One.

Since the first of the year (except the Sunday we had to cancel due to the weather), I’ve been looking at Psalm 27 and its truth as an anchor. For an anchor to hold there must be solid ground, something it can sink into. This Sunday’s Scripture show us there is something we can sink our teeth into, the solid ground of the Word of God. My sermon this week will be on Psalm 19: 7-11. There is so much richness there in those few verses! First, I’m going to look at 5 myths surrounding the Bible, then look at the solid foundation the Scripture offers us.

I’m excited about preaching this message. I love talking about the Bible’s strong foundation. I’d appreciate your prayers for this Sunday.

Posted in Bible, Christian living, Church, Doctrine, Preaching, Scripture look, Sermon Series/Topic | 4 Responses »

Tandem

Friday, January 25th, 2019

Given the snow event we had last weekend which resulted in only the second cancellation of our Sunday service in 13 years, I am re-posting this for this weekend.

If I were to ask you, or take a survey by asking one question, I wonder what your answer would be. Here is the question: What one thing do you see as the possibly the hardest thing to have today?

My guess is that many would answer TRUST.

We are being told much more than we want to hear today (it is called TMI). Sadly, much of what we are told we don’t know whether to believe or not. We are told to be our own boss. Why? “Because you can’t trust anyone.” We are being told to do our own thing. Why? “Because you can’t trust anyone to keep their word.” We listen to self-help gurus, exercise gurus, financial gurus and every other one you can think of because we are told “you can’t trust anyone else so forge your own path to success.”  One of the common lines from Back to the Future is when George tells Marty: “See, like I said! If you put your mind to it you can can accomplish anything.”

In reality, independence is an illusion; it is a delusion. “I want to be my own person” is nothing more than a foolish statement for the Christ-follower. The simple truth is “we are not our own. We have been bought with a price.”  The world offers independence. What the world really offers is slavery.

God has designed us to live in a dependent, obedient, and worshipful relationship with Him and in humble, interdependent relationships with each other.  It is like riding a tandem bicycle. The one in the front seat is the one who steers and guides. The one in the back can cause all sorts of havoc if he/she decides to operate independently from the front seat driver. They must work together. God has designed our earthly relationships to work that way as well as our relationship with Him.

My message for Sunday is entitled Tandem and is from Psalm 27:8-14. It is the final one in the short series on Psalm 27. I’d appreciate your prayers. Thanks.

 

Posted in Christian living, Church, Family, Friendship, Opinion, Preaching, Scripture look, Sermon Series/Topic | 10 Responses »

Waiting

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2019

Confession time: I am not a fan of waiting. I don’t like to use the word “hate” but I do hate waiting. Waiting in line at a grocery store is tiring. Waiting in line at a store that does not have enough registers open is frustrating. Waiting in line at a stop light, especially when a person won’t move up, is maddening. Waiting to be waited on and served is annoying.

Worse still is waiting on God. I know what the Scripture says; I’ve quoted them enough. “Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength.” There are tons more. But sometimes waiting on God is just plain…frustrating. Maddening. Annoying. Tiring. Waiting for an answer. Waiting for God to move. Waiting to die. Waiting for change. Waiting for God to “show” Himself.

Been there? I’d like to invite you to my other blog, LivingintheShadow, to see the rest of this post. While you are there, how about subscribing and getting them in your email?

For another “take” on waiting why not visit Martha’s bl0g here?

Posted in Christian living, God, Grace, Opinion, Scripture look | Comments Off on Waiting

Shameless

Tuesday, January 8th, 2019

Shameless plug here. I make no bones about it. I’m not going to call it something else. I’ll call it what it is. 🙂 I wrote the following at my other blog, LivingintheShadow:

Ever since I read Wisdom Hunter by Randall Arthur in 1993-1995 for the first and second time, I have always been stopped by Psalm 13. There was a scene in the book where Yoma (a wise old man) led Jason (the main character) through this psalm. No matter how many times I read Psalms, I ponder this chapter because it made things so clear to me years ago and still does. Here is how it breaks down:

For the rest of the post and my thoughts please go here:

I would be honored if you would check out my other blog and consider subscribing. See the side bar for a direct link to LivingintheShadow. Thanks.

Posted in Bible, Just Wondering, Miscellaneous, Pick me Up, Scripture look | Comments Off on Shameless

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