A Strong Tower

"The name of the Lord is a strong tower;
The righteous runs into it and is safe."
~ Proverbs 18:10

There is a place that we can run to to find safety in the midst of this world's calamity. As I've been sitting here praying this morning, this verse comes to my mind. I'm finding comfort in these words today.

Remember: When this life seems so overwhelming, there is a place that we can run to - a strong tower where we are safe. His name is Jesus.

God Notices

"The foundation of the Lord's Temple was laid in midspring, in the month of Ziv, during the fourth year of Solomon's reign. The entire building was completed in every detail by midautumn, in the month of Bul, during the eleventh year of his reign. So it took seven years to build the Temple.
Solomon also build a palace for himself, and it took him thirteen years to complete the construction."
~ 1 Kings 6:37 & 7:1

Seven years to build a house for God. Thirteen years to build a house for himself. Do you see a problem? These two verse are found back-to-back in the Scriptures. Obviously, God noticed the amount of time Solomon spent on his own palace and the amount of time he dedicated to God's house.

What are you giving yourself to today?

Experiencing the Love of God?

As I've been watching the latest meltdown in America, I've been thinking about its meaning. Right now, our financial markets are teetering on the brink of failure. As I look back over the past few years, we've seen our nation suffering through much internal turmoil as well as terrorist attacks and the wars which have ensued. We've seen more than our share of natural disasters including unprecendented hurricane damage, droughts, repeated flooding throughout the midwest and wildfires out west. Now we see the American economy shaken to its very foundations as real estate loses value by the day, the stock market runs up and down like an amusement park thrill ride, fuel prices remain near record highs, and consumer confidence is at an all-time low. What are we to make of all of it?

In Amos 4, the prophet spoke these words to Israel on behalf of the Lord:

"I brought hunger to every city and famine to every town.
But you still would not return to Me," says the Lord.

"I kept rain from falling when your crops needed it most.
I sent rain on one town but withheld it from another.
Rain fell on one field, while another field withered away.
People staggered from town to town looking for water,
But there was never enough.
But you still would not return to Me," says the Lord.

"I struck your farms and vineyards with blight and mildew.
Locusts devoured all your fig and olive trees.
But you still would not return to Me," says the Lord.

"I sent plagues on you like the plagues I sent on Egypt long ago.
I killed your young men in war and led all your horses away.
The stench of death filled the air.
But you still would not return to Me," says the Lord.

"I destroyed some of your cities, as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
Those of you who survived were like charred sticks pulled from a fire.
But you still would not return to Me," says the Lord.

Sound familiar? In all of these disasters, God's desire was for Israel to repent and return to Him. All that God did, He did in love. All of the economic upheavel, the wars, the droughts and other natural disasters were the tools of a merciful God trying desperately to to get His people to turn away from their selfish, sinful ways and come back to Him.

Is it any different today?

Churches & Body Counts

Jesus Christ established His church to be His representation in the world in which we live. "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, ..." This is the mission of the church. And in many regards I believe the church is doing a pretty good job.
However, I have noticed a disturbing trend in many churches. Or maybe its not a trend at all. Maybe its not new; maybe its been happening for a long time but I'm just seeing it more clearly over the last few years.
Sometimes it seems in the churches' zeal to do the work of the Lord, corners are being cut. Feelings are being hurt. Good, godly people are being pushed aside in the interest of ministry (or growth, or church politics, or whatever.) Exaggerations are made. Is it too strong to say that, in many cases, lies are told?

The bottom line is this: Far too often, I'm seeing churches that are "on the move for Christ" leaving a body count along the way. While they celebrate their growth, and all they seem to be accomplishing in the name of Jesus, they don't notice the wounded people limping out the back door.
I wonder: Does anybody notice when the people who were such an integral part of God's work in a church body are suddenly gone? Does anybody ever wonder what happened to them?

Amazed

• I'm still amazed by God's grace
• I'm amazed that God can use me
• I'm amazed that the preached Word, from my lips, can touch hearts
• I'm amazed when I see prisoners respond to the Word of the Lord in droves
• I'm amazed at how God can break through the hardest of hearts - even mine
• I'm amazed at His hand of blessing which never seems to leave my life
• I'm amazed that He gave me such an incredible woman to call my wife
• I'm amazed at the three beautiful girls He's given us
• I'm amazed to see how God is using each of them
• I'm amazed by the beauty of God's creation all around me
• I'm amazed .....
  

Huh?

Here's an example of what a prison chaplain deals with. See if you can follow this:

There is a fella who is a part of the current Father Accountability class I facilitate at the prison. I really want to help him get his life on course. He has begun coming to church on a regular basis and is beginning to show a great interest in the things of the Lord. He has three children. By three different women. Here's where it gets confusing.

He is married to the mother of one of those children. However, they are not together. She has a live-in boyfriend and works as a stripper in a local men's club. He has a girlfriend with whom he has the youngest of his children. But she's married to another man who is currently serving a lengthy prison sentence somewhere. He's currently having problems with girlfriend/mom of third child because she has another boyfriend living with her and his son while he is incarcerated.We haven't even gotten to the third child and her mother yet.
I'm not making this up. I'm not that creative.

Besides beginning to come to church and to show some interest in the things of God, he has begun to come around and seek counsel from me. He's looking to me for answers on how to get all of this straightened out.

It's enough to make my head spin. Most days I just look at him as he sits and shares with me, and with a wrinkled brow, I say, "Huh?"

In Pretense or In Truth, Christ is Proclaimed

"Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.
What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice, yes, and I will rejoice."
~ Philippians 1:15-18

In our home Bible study group, we're studying the Epistle to the Philippian church. Last week we spent some time thinking about these verses. Since then, the Lord has been bringing them back to my mind and I've been thinking about how to apply them in my own life and ministry. Let me explain.

There is a local pastor who's church and ministry has grown to be quite successful. When I first started as the chaplain at Charlotte Correctional Center nearly twelve years ago, he was one of the few local ministers involved at the prison. I knew almost from day one that he didn't like me. I'm not sure why. I think part of it was just my being there as chaplain. He liked to think of himself in that role. Whatever the reason, I appreciated his ministry and made the best of the situation.
After a few years, and with the growth of his church, he moved on from ministry at the prison. That should have been the end of it. I thought we were on okay terms.

Then I heard from some former inmates who attend his church regularly that he had said some rather unflattering things about me from the pulpit. In fact, he once called me "That white devil over there at that prison." (Yes, he is a black pastor.)
I tried not to let that bother me. I even found it kind of funny and made a joke of it.

But then, very recently, I was told that this pastor has refused to have anything to do with a particular former inmate because he was saved under my ministry and baptized by me and remains to this day a very dear friend of mine.

So, what am I supposed to do? I know what I want to do. (Think "laying on of hands" here.) But God's been reminding me of what His Word teaches me to do. (Don't you hate it when He does that?)
It's taken me a few days, but with Paul, I'm rejoicing today. I'm glad this pastor's church is growing. God bless him. I pray that God will continue to bless his ministry and use him mightily.

God Uses the Wildernesses of Life

"O God, Thou art my God; I shall seek Thee earnestly;
My soul thirsts for Thee, my flesh yearns for Thee,
In a dry and weary land where there is no water."
~ Psalm 63:1-2

David the king penned these words after nearly forty years on the throne in Israel. But he didn't write this from the comfort of his palace overlooking Jerusalem. He wrote these words sitting on a rock in the midst of the wilderness of Judah. When he wrote this Psalm he was a man on the run; a man forced to flee from the palace that was rightly his to hide in the wilderness.
It seems the wilderness re-ignited David's passion for the Lord.

I'm not sure of his spiritual condition before he was forced to flee for his life. But I have an idea. I'm thinking that, after forty years of living a king's life and enjoying all the king's finery, maybe David's tears were a bit dry and his heart was a bit cold. Maybe his passion was somewhat diminished. Living large will do that.

It took the wilderness to stoke his passion once again. It took a desperate situation to make him desperate for the Lord again.

I don't think it was any accident that David was forced to flee. It didn't take God by surprise. It looks to me like it was God's doing. Sometimes we all need to be driven to the wilderness. We need something to shake us up; a problem or a situation to renew our sense of desperation. Sometimes it takes a crisis to re-ignite our passion, and to make us say, "O God, Thou art my God; I shall seek Thee earnestly ..."

A Politician Who Got It

At a White House reception during Abraham Lincoln's first term, many guests were ushered past the President but not allowed to come too close. An old man, disappointed at not having shaken hands with the President, waved his hat and called out, "Mr. President, I'm up from New York State where we believe that God Almighty and Abraham Lincoln are going to save this country!"

Hearing this remark, Lincoln smiled and nodded. "My friend," he said, "you're half right."

Missing It By a Million Miles

" ... on the floor of the House of Representatives today, a Democrat congressman, Steve Cohen, from Memphis, said, "If you want change, you want the Democrat Party. Barack Obama was a community organizer like Jesus, who our minister just prayed about. Pontius Pilate was a governor."


Jesus was a "community organizer"? These people are losing their minds.

Son of God. Savior of the world. The Holy One of Israel. Messiah. King of kings and Lord of lords. Word of God. Prince of Peace. Everlasting Father. Alpha and Omega. Bright and Morning Star. The only way to the Father. But "community organizer"? I don't find that one in my Bible.

Jesus Christ transcended the foolishness of this world. To think of Him in terms of this world's political machinations misses who He is by a million miles.

$10 Billion to Discover What I Already Know

The brand new Hadron Collider was started up by scientists in Europe. This $10 billion dollar scientific marvel will, in the words of the Hadron Collider project leader, "allow us to look forward to a new era of understanding about the origins and evolution of the universe."

They could have just asked me. This much I know for sure: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." ~ Genesis 1:1

I'm thinking that I could have saved them $9,999,999,999.

Getting Beyond Our Circumstances

While the Apostle Paul sat in prison in Rome he penned these words to the church at Philippi:

"Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, ..."

I'm just wondering how one goes about getting beyond circumstances enough to see imprisonment as advantageous to the gospel rather than the obvious personal discomfort and deprivation he was suffering. That's so foreign to us in our "me first" world and way of thinking, isn't it?

Always Check With the Music Minister

A preacher was wrapping up his Sunday sermon on temperance. With great emphasis he said, "If I had all the beer in the world, I'd take it and pour it in the river."
Then, with his voice rising, he said, "And if I had all the wine in the world, I'd take it and pour it in the river."
And then finally, shaking his fist in the air, he concluded by saying, "And if I had all the whiskey in the world, I'd take it and dump it in the river."
With that, he completed his sermon and sat down.

The minister of music stood up, and announced with an uncertain smile, "For our closing song, let us sing hymn #365, "Shall We Gather at the River."

"Be Anxious for Nothing ..."

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God
And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus"
~ Philippians 4:6

This evening I'll be preaching about the choice we have in every situation and in every circumstance that comes our way in life. You can be worry, or you can pray. You can be anxious, or you can pray. But you can't do both. Not at the same time.

But I just realized, I've been a bit anxious this morning about the message tonight. I guess I know what I need to do.

Mind-Numbing

Sharon and I are starting a Bible study group in our home this evening. Although I want it to be very discussion-oriented, by default I'll be leading the discussion. So I've been studying some and preparing for it. We're going to start with the Apostle Paul's letter to the Philippians.

At the same time, I've been trying to study and prepare for tomorrow evening's worship service at the prison.

The problem is my mind doesn't have that much capacity. Now I feel like I've blown a fuse. I'm not sure I'm prepared for either one. My brain is like Slinky (remember those?) that's gotten all twisted-up.

.

Prayer Works

"The effectual fervent prayer of a bunch of inmates availeth much."
~ James 5:16 (Tom Burger Paraphrase)

This past Sunday morning we opened our worship service at the prison in a very different fashion than normal. No Scripture reading. No prayer of dedication for our time of worship together. No music. Instead, I felt prompted to ask the inmates to join me in prayer for those in the path of Hurricane Gustav. At that time Gustav was a category four storm and the forecast called for major destruction and flooding.
We prayed for God's protection for lives and property. We prayed for those evacuating. And then I felt a boldness and began to pray that the Lord would speak to the wind and the waves and weaken the storm before it made landfall.

Apparently, our prayers were answered. While there was some damage and minor flooding, it was nowhere near the "Katrina-sized" catastrophe being predicted.

Today, I'm enjoying the thought that a little church full of prisoners in the southwest corner of Charlotte, North Carolina can pray together and see those prayers answered. The world may not take much notice of what goes on here, but the Lord does!