"The Devil's Avenue"

The devil and sin are crafty! The devil is no novice. He is cunning, deceitful and very tactful in how he goes about getting people tied to sin. The devil doesn't walk up with your eyes open and say, "I've come to bring you into ruin!" If you notice, when the lives of people are in shambles or homes have been wrecked, the devil was active and alive, working the whole time to the lack of insight by those he deceived and ruined! The devil gets people to embrace sin by taking their heart and mind another direction. It always starts small and ends up big. What's even more amazing, people willingly submit! By the time people recogninze what is going on, they are in emotional distress wondering how they got to this point.

Paul was concerned for the church at Corinth that the serpent of old was leading their minds astray from simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ (II Cor. 11:3). He did it so easily to Eve. Go back and read the Genesis account of how he did it. He threw reasoning's out in front of her to get her to think about. Her mind moved from holding and listening to the word of the Lord to reasoning through and seeing what was being presented as an alternative way of thinking. She looked and reasoned and it seem very logical to her so she ate. The rest is history!

The devil hasn't changed his approach one bit. I watch homes of people that I dearly love come into ruin simply because they choose to let go of the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ and follow an alternate course. I watch marriages deteriorate and final consume themselves with sin and sinful attitudes. The devil is alive and well! Couples who once loved one another, made a covenant relationship and love the Lord in that relationship are quickly becoming enemies of one another. Why? Because the devil found an easy access somewhere along the road and started devouring each of them. Young people are being encouraged in homes to love the world by their parents. They are taught by their parents to embrace the world, sacrifice for the world and throw Jesus under the bus! Jesus doesn't really matter. What matters is having friends in the world, being a success in the eyes of the world and having a family of the world. But watch the road and the heartache that come with the journey. That's the devil's plan. He has the world sitting in his lap (I John 5:19) and the last ones to take down are those who belong to God. What's worse...IT'S ALL OUR CHOICE! People choose to embrace the devil and what he offers in the world over God. That's a sobering thought!!

"The Conscience"

It is hard for some to accept the life work and forgiveness of Jesus. Their conscience is blaring at them telling them how worthless and wrong they are. They punish themselves and when the opportunity arises, they punish themselves in the eyes of another. "I'm a no good, worthless person." That's what their own conscience has concluded about themselves. That's the way a God given conscience is suppose to work (Rom. 2:14-15).

The way a conscience works and is suppose to work is off of a basis of an understanding of God. Without grasping and listening to the voice of the Lord, a person will continually beat themselves up for their past failures. They just don't reach out and take hold of the gift offered by God through Jesus. Instead, they stand at a distance, weighed down in heart and their conscience screaming, "You're no good!" You see, people know when they have violated a standard but they don't know enough about God or trust God to return back to a solid state of being before Him. To many, the dying of Jesus is just words, not a reality!

Another word for all this is called 'self-pity'. We allow our sins and failures to dominate us and wallow in those sins and failures. There is something missing because God knows each of our failures and has offered as His free gift His Son as our substitute no matter how bad or deep we have traveled into sin. God knows about all our sinning even better than we and calls us to Himself through Jesus. God will make certain the blood of Christ stands in our place so our conscience can be cleared (Heb. 9:14).

No matter how loudly your conscience screams, pause and take a close look at the offering of God. He's willing, wanting and desiring us. In fact, it thrills God to forgive when we take hold of Jesus. IT THRILLS GOD! Isn't that what Jesus was teaching in the prodigal son (Luke 15)? We can't be done with a nagging conscience until we are willing to be done with sin and accept the free gift of God for what we have done. It's called peace of mind and can only be found in Christ!!!

"Personal Thoughts"

We get down once it a while. Well, let me speak for myself. I get down once in a while. People my not know it or my family may not know it but I do. But my down-trodden time isn't over life or life's obstacles as such. It's the lack of response that is seen among God's people. You teach and try to encourage people in their faith, to let the Lord lead and not get caught up in all the thinking and business of the world around only to see people do that very thing. What's even more troubling at times to my heart is young couples with small children. You try to show them and teach them while they continue their same daily paths, unaware of how they are training their children or their involvements in life and they don't want to know. One day it is going to hit: that sickness or accident and it devastates them. They go to pieces many times with little faith not thinking it would ever happen to them. It shatters their lives.

Sometimes it seems all my preaching/teaching goes for very little. Then I have to wake up and realize this is not about me! It's about doing what God wants done and the return and purpose is all His, not mine. I think of Isaiah when he offered himself to go and preach to God's people and then asks God how long is he going to have to do this? God responds with a resounding the people aren't going to listen, they are insensitive in their heart so there are going to be difficulties coming upon them (Isa. 6). I don't know what I would do if I was told ahead of time that all my teaching/preaching would be in vain and there would be little to no response to the will and call of the Lord.

I guess today is one of my reflecting days. I'm not down, just reflecting and wondering how much good is really being done. Certain ones I think about and see their attitudes and what they are involved in hurt my heart because there is nothing I can do for them. They are going to have to have something happen to try to get their attention before it is too late. For me, I need to just keep preaching and teaching and let the Lord figure out all the other things...but sometimes it's mighty lonely!

"Where Do You Walk?"

Heartbreaking. That's the only word to describe it. People, who once were alive in Christ have fallen in love with the world again. They love those who are lost more than they do the Lord and those saved. Jesus pointed that out to His disciples in John 15:19: "If you were of the world, the would would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you." Jesus knows there will be a line drawn between the lost and saved!

We love our friends and family that are in the world. However, we love them to save them, not follow them into their sin and darkness. We have been called to Jesus and His doctrine is a doctrine that conforms to godliness (I Tim. 6:3). Jesus taught His disciples were to be a light among those in the world that they can see God! Paul prayed for the brethren in Thessalonica that God Himself would sanctify them (and us) that we would be found without blame at the coming of the Lord (I Thes. 5:23). Peter in reminding the brethren about the return of the Lord encouraged them to be found by Jesus in peace (with God), spotless (sins forgiven) and blameless (above reproach). Blameless is not perfect but a life that is lived with the Lord. A blameless person is one when they sin, they repent! They have a heart walking with the Lord in every respect. They are blameless!

Today, many who once belonged to Christ have returned to loving the world the way they use to. There was a time in my life that I did the same. What a shame! To have a devoted love of those outside, still trapped in their sins and doomed eternally, and walk in their shoes with their thoughts and lives and give up the ways of Jesus. If we truly love someone, we would want them to be saved from the impending doom but instead, many walk in the same doom because sin was more enticing than Jesus.

The world loves its own while turning from those who love the Lord! The Lord and His brethren love God because of His great mercy and love. That's why they assemble together because they are the children of God and want to be found blameless, spotless and in peace with God. Where does that put you?

"Fleshly vs. Spiritual"

A quick lesson to help us better understand the difference between spiritual and fleshly. Fleshliness is our natural nature. Fleshliness is centered on us and takes us into ourselves. When God looked at Cain and Abel in Genesis 4, with Cain's attitude it made him angry that God would reject his offering. How dare God do such!! That's what fleshliness does. It consumes our attitudes and thought process. But then God asks a great question: "Why are you angry?" (Gen. 4:6) Cain needs to answer that but he didn't. From this point, God gives Cain the choice, change your attitude and do what is right or sin is going to take you down. We know what Cain chose. After the verdict was pronounced, Cain was all about Cain and his fleshliness took completely over. "Am I my brother's keeper?" "My punishment is to great to bear!" "Whoever finds me will kill me." These were the statements made by Cain. That's the way the flesh operates. The flesh avoids God and makes things about themselves.

Things haven't changed since then. Today, people are fleshly and I am speaking about those in the church. How does one recognize fleshliness? Here's one way: "because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so." (Rom. 8:7) Have you ever had someone spiritual call your hand? If your mind was set on the flesh what flares instantly? You try to turn the table and become hostile and you don't want to deal with what is right. The issues become about you and the one doing right must be taken down. Fleshly people try to destroy and speak evil and anyone that is being spiritual! That's the fact. There is no relationship between the flesh and Spirit. That's why we are warned that those who continue to follow their self-flesh desires, they aren't going to make it to heaven because God is not where their heart is set (Gal. 5:21). Sounds like the devil doesn't it?

"Memories"

Over the years I have been in some strange situations and time has made it hard to remember some of them unless another situation arises and it reminds me of something in the past. I have also been in some life threatening situations and looking back you could see the hand of God. I have dealt with Satan worshipers, people who claimed to have made human sacrifices, witches, people with multiple personalites, people putting curses on me and my family, a knife thrown at me (on a couple of occasions), drunks out of control and just plain weird things.

A few years back I was walking down the hall of a hospital. I had been visiting a friend. I came by a room which I saw a man in a body cast and you could tell he was hurting so I went in. In visiting with him, I asked him what happened. He told me that he had been two stories up on scaffolding painting. He was a very religious minded man. Then he said at the end of the scaffold Jesus appeared to him and told him to come near. He put down his brush walked to the end of the scaffold and off he fell breaking numerous bones in his body. The man teared up and had no more words to say for a moment then he asked, "Why would Jesus do that to me?" I had to share with him that wasn't Jesus and it opened up an opportunity to study once he was revived and out of the hospital.

In another instance I was invited to study with a husband and wife in their home. She was interested, he wasn't so much. As she grew in her faith and responded, it upset him. I continued to go out and study each week in which the man would sit across from me at the kitchen table and glare at me. One night during our study, he got up, went over to where he had a gun, brought the gun to the table, put bullets into the chambers, pulled back the hammer and laid it down facing directly at me and told me to continue. Talk about nervous! He just smiled.

As I write these, more situations start popping into my mind. Some I had forgotten now alarm me to how threatening they were. Life is an incredible journey with many twists and turns. In all this it makes me thankful for the Lord. Where would we be and how could we deal with situations without His instruction and guidance? The Lord knows the hearts of all and He needs someone to be ready at the right time. Oh, the fellow who put the gun on the table, he was lead to Christ!!!

"A Word on the Cross"

When we look in Scriptures about the cross, it was a cruel and horrid death. There wasn't time spent on making these execution pieces beautiful and smooth. Look at the symbol of the cross as it is used today. Beautiful ornaments, worn on jewelry and covered in silver and gold. Sometimes they are edged and shine with a brilliance that cannot be missed. The symbol of the cross is found almost anywhere you look. Sometime back we had a fellow walking through our city with a big cross. However, that cross was made out of a light material that looked like wood, smoothly sanded, rich in luster and had two wheels on the bottom, with padding across the beams for comfort to pull along.

The sacrifice of Jesus was anything but beautiful. When we look at the horrors, that was a message sent to us from heaven: THIS IS YOU! It was my penalty, my sins, my lusts and selfish desires that caused such pain. Yet God was willing, in order to save us, to put His Son to death so we might live.

Where has all this taken us? The popular religious beliefs of today more often focus on joy, happiness, peace, health and prosperity rather than atonement, obedience, responsibility, faithfulness, self-denial and commitment. People seem to want to cuddle and hug this beautiful jewelry never thinking that so many went to prison, suffered countless beatings, whippings and dangers for the cause of Christ and a heart commitment to His cause. Look how little evangelism there is anymore. People daily are headed to eternity thinking that all is well because God loves everyone so much no one will lose their soul who is a kind and gentle person!!! The gold of the cross shines brightly!

I guess in all this, the final thrust of things is to put a happy face on the cross and bask in our safety, comfort, and approval from others while ultimately loosing our souls.