Pastoral Resources

1. The harvest God provides: “Seedtime and harvest...shall not cease” (Gen. 8:22).

2. The harvest sin produces: “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal. 6:7)

3. The Gospel harvest: “They (fields) are white already to harvest” (John 4:35).

4. The harvest of judgment: “The harvest is the end of the age” (Matt. 13:39).

1. I will never complain;

2. I will keep the home bright;

3. I will count my blessings;

4. I will try to turn it to gain.

Infidelity can happen to anyone. Here are a few tips for your readers to affair-proof their marriages. I call them “the four P’s” for prevention:

1. Be protective of your marriage. Avoid risky situations such as long lunches with a co-worker or drinks for two after work. Most people do not plan to be unfaithful.

2. Be positive. Look for what is right in your spouse and tell him or her daily. People who have love affairs are often looking for appreciation and affirmation.

3. Be polite. Always talk to your spouse with respect. Be careful what you say to each other and how you say it. Show courtesy and caring in the way you treat one another.

4. Be playful, and make fun, sex, and humor a mainstay in your marriage. Schedule time to play with one another, and have a “date night” at least once a week.

Marriages can and do survive affairs, and many become stronger having weathered the crisis but not without pain and a genuine desire to recommit.

The Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.) failing to penetrate the mystery of the divine and human natures of Christ, offered four precautions that would protect the Christian from error when contemplating this mystery.

1. Attribute true and proper divinity to Christ.

2. Attribute true and proper humanity to Christ

3. Do not so mingle the human and divine that you end up with a being neither human nor divine.

4. Do not dissect Christ so that there are two persons in one being.

Romans 8:26-29 gives us some insights into prayer. As you read the passage and meditate on it, you will find some of the principles listed below. God certainly answers prayer, but not always in the way we expect. Hopefully, this information will help you understand how God responds to prayer.

1. The Holy Spirit helps us to know what and how to pray (v. 26).

2. The Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf (v. 26).

3. God hears our hearts more than the words in prayer (v. 27).

4. Prayer is always answered (vs. 28-29), though not always according to our agenda.

Bill Hybels has coached many people about God’s four basic responses to our prayers.

No—Your request is not in God’s will

OT: 2 Sam. 12:15-16, 22-23

NT: Matt. 26:36-39

Slow—Your request is not God’s will at this time

OT: Gen. 15:2-6; 21:2

NT: John 11:3,6,14-15,17,43-44

Grow—Your motives are wrong

OT: Num. 14:26-45

NT: James 4:3

Go—Your request, timing, and spiritual condition are okay…Yes!

OT: 1 Kings 18:36-39 (cf., James 5:17-18)

NT: Acts 12:5-7,12-17

When William Sangster was told he was dying of progressive muscular atrophy, he made four resolutions and faithfully kept them:

1. I will never complain

2. I will keep the home bright

3. I will count my blessings

4. I will try to turn it to gain

Vernon Pierce needed a notebook to keep track of the stories he told his four wives and the other women he was dating. But even that wasn’t enough. The tangled love life of the 33-year-old ex-model began to unravel last year when one of the four women to whom he was married sent the police to Pierce’s home to check up on him. The police found another wife knocking on the door.

There was a lot of lying going on. Police said he was dating other women, keeping track of some of them on a 3-by-5 inch card labeled “Who to Marry.” He also carried a little black book in his wallet to keep his stories straight.

Maybe something does get lost in the translation, but a trained mule will stop when he hears "Whoa!" At least we might stop and listen to Jesus' four "Woes" and take them to heart.

WOE TO THE RICH! Jesus is not condemning wealth, money, or resources. His condemnation is in the trust we often put in our riches. The rich young ruler went away sorrowfully because he "had great wealth." He cared more for his "belongings" than he cared for "belonging."

WOE TO THE WELL FED! No, it is not wrong to eat. It is not even a sin to enjoy good food. But it is sinful to "live to eat" rather than "eating to live." Many are becoming gluttons. Affluence brings with it the temptation to over-indulge. Beware!

WOE TO THOSE WHO LAUGH! Is Jesus condemning a funny bone? It is doubtful. But He does remind us that life is serious business. We are not here simply to "eat, drink, and be merry." There must be time to mourn. One can rejoice in the Lord without childish levity. Christianity is solemn commitment.

WOE TO YOU WHEN ALL MEN SPEAK WELL OF YOU! Even Jesus made enemies. When everybody thinks you are "simply marvelous" you must be doing something wrong. God did not put us on planet earth to win popularity contests. We are here to serve, love and worship. Not everybody appreciates that. Satan hates it!

To the rich, the stuffed, the laughing, and the ever-popular, Jesus reminds us to remember who put us here, why we are here and where we are going.

Woe to us if we miss it!

Do you remember the four-minute mile? They’d been trying to do it since the days of the ancient Greeks. Someone found the old records of how the Greeks tried to accomplish this. They had wild animals chase the runners, hoping that would make them run faster. They tried tiger’s milk: not the stuff you get down at the supermarket, I’m talking about the real thing.

Nothing worked, so they decided it was physically impossible for a human being to run a mile in four minutes. Our bone structure was all wrong, the wind resistance was too great, our lung power was inadequate. There were a million reasons.

Then one day one human being proved that the doctors, the trainers, and the athletes themselves were all wrong. And, miracle of miracles, the year after Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile. And the year after that three hundred runners broke the four-minute mile!

When we went to London there was an old woman eighty-five years old, who came to the meetings and said she wanted a hand in that work. She was appointed to a district, and called on all classes of people. She went to places where we would probably have been put out, and told the people of Christ. There were none that could resist her. When the old woman, eighty-five years old, came to them and offered to pray for them, they all received her kindly--Catholics, Jews, Gentiles--all. That is enthusiasm. That is what we want.

Attend only when convenient.

When you do attend, arrive late.

Grumble about having to attend.

Criticize the officers and teachers in front of your family and friends.

Refuse to accept any responsibility in the Sunday school. If you ever do accept any, do it grudgingly and neglect it often.

Never study your lesson.

Always show your lack of interest in the lesson.

Appear relieved when the class is over. Act as if you have wasted your time.

Refuse to welcome visitors; make them feel that you belong and they don't.

Criticize every new idea that is suggested.

Dominate discussions; always insist that your opinion is right.

Regard the teachers of your children as upstarts and busybodies.

Show your distrust or disapproval of teachers when they call in your home.

Never sacrifice for the Sunday school; leave that to somebody else.

Several years ago in an interview during his battle with cancer, theologian Francis Schaeffer said, “The only way to be foolishly happy in this world is to be young enough, well enough, and have money enough—and not give a care about other people. But as soon as you don’t have any of the first three, or if you have compassion for the weeping world around you, then it is impossible to have the foolish kind of happiness that I believe some Christians present as Christianity.”

What is our greatest need in life? Is it to be happy? We may long for a change in our circumstances, and sometimes that’s what we get. But a changed life is our deepest need. Changed circumstances may make us happier, but a changed life will make us better, for it will make us like Christ.

According to the book Life of Francis d’Assisi, Francis once invited a young monk to join him on a trip to town to preach. Honored to be given the invitation, the monk readily accepted. All day long he and Francis walked through the streets, byways, and alleys, and even into the suburbs. They rubbed shoulders with hundreds of people. At day’s end, the two headed back home. Not even once had Francis addressed a crowd, nor had he talked to anyone about the gospel.

Greatly disappointed, his young companion said, “I thought we were going into town to preach.”

Francis responded, “My son, we have preached. We were preaching while we were walking. We were seen by many and our behavior was closely watched. It is of no use to walk anywhere to preach unless we preach everywhere as we walk!

Once while Francis of Assisi was hoeing his garden, he was asked, “What would you do if you were suddenly told you would die at sunset today?” He replied, “I would finish hoeing my garden.”

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) was present at the Vienna Music Hall, where his oratorio The Creation was being performed. Weakened by age, the great composer was confined to a wheelchair. As the majestic work moved along, the audience was caught up with tremendous emotion. When the passage “And there was light!” was reached, the chorus and orchestra burst forth in such power that the crowd could no longer restrain its enthusiasm. The vast assembly rose in spontaneous applause.

Haydn struggled to stand and motioned for silence. With his hand pointed toward heaven, he said, “No, no, not from me, but from thence comes all!” Having given the glory and praise to the Creator, he fell back into his chair exhausted.

Old Joe was dying. For years he had been at odds with Bill, formerly one of his best friends. Wanting to straighten things out, he sent word for Bill to come and see him.

When Bill arrived, Joe told him that he was afraid to go into eternity with such a bad feeling between them. Then, very reluctantly and with great effort, Joe apologized for things he had said and done. He also assured Bill that he forgave him for his offenses. Everything seemed fine until Bill turned to go. As he walked out of the room, Joe called out after him, “But, remember, if I get better, this doesn’t count!”

You will remember when we had slavery we used to have men come up from Kentucky, Tennessee, and other slave states in order to escape from slavery. I hope if there are any Southern people here they will not think in this allusion I am trying to wound their feelings. We all remember when these colored men came here how they used to be afraid lest some one should come and take them back. Why, I remember in the store we had a poor fugitive, and he used to be quaking all the time. Sometimes a customer would come in, and he would be uneasy all the time. He was afraid it was some one to take him back to slavery. But somebody tells him if he was in Canada he would be perfectly safe, and he says: "If I could only get into Canada; if I could only get under the Union Jack I would be free." There are no slaves under the Union Jack he has been told--that is the flag of freedom; the moment he gets under it he is a free man. So he starts. We'll say there are no railways, and the poor fellow has got ten miles ahead when his master comes up, and he hears that his slave has fled for Canada and sets off in pursuit. Some one tells the poor fugitive that his master is after him. What does the poor fugitive do? What does he do? He redoubles his exertions and presses on, on, on, on. He is a slave born, and he knows a slave belongs to his master. Faster he goes! He knows his master is after him and he will be taken if he comes up with him before he reaches the lines. He says, "If I can only hold out and get under the English flag, the English government will protect me." The whole English army will come to protect me if need be. On he presses. He is now nearing the boundary line. One minute he is a slave, and in an instant he is a free man. My friends, don't mistake. These men can be saved tonight if they cross the line.

A rancher asked a veterinarian for some free advice. “I have a horse,” he said, “that walks normally sometimes and limps sometimes. What shall I do.” The veterinarian replied, “The next time he walks normally, sell him.”

A preacher of the early 1900s said that when he was 12 years old he had killed one of the family geese by throwing a stone and hitting it squarely on the head. Figuring his parents wouldn’t notice that one of the 24 birds was missing, he buried the dead fowl. But that evening his sister called him aside and said, “I saw what you did. If you don’t offer to do the dishes tonight, I’ll tell Mother.” The next morning she gave him the same warning. All that day and the next the frightened boy felt bound to do the dishes. The following morning, however, he surprised his sister by telling her it was her turn. When she quietly reminded him of what she could do, he replied, “I’ve already told Mother, and she has forgiven me. Now you do the dishes. I’m free again!”

Cathy Mullikin’s bird is cooked, and her calendar is toast.

Mullikin had her Thanksgiving turkey dinner already cooked on Thursday, “and my friends and family are coming on the 28th and they’re going to think I’m a kook,” she said.

She should never have believed that free calendar. Jackson-Madison County General Hospital gave out 40,000 of them last year and every last one said Thanksgiving was on the 21st instead of the 28th.

I will never forget the day I watched about 40 khaki-clad men get off an old rattletrap brown bus in Houston, Texas. Some had scars on their faces. I especially remember one man whose arm had been amputated. Some of them looked tough. I remember thinking I would not want to meet some of those guys in a dark alley. Others looked like clean-cut, all-American boys. They all had two things in common. Each man had served time in prison and each man had been freed. Freedom had been a long time in coming. They measured the time they had served by calendars.

As I talked with some of those men, it soon became apparent that adapting to freedom would require some adjustment. They were so used to forced regimentation that some of them really did not know they were free. They asked if I represented the Texas Department of Corrections.

As children of God, we sometimes do not quite comprehend the fact that we have been set free by our Savior. Some of us are imprisoned by the memories of a sinful past. Lloyd Ogilvie said, "The memory of past failure is like sand in the gears of our effectiveness." God did not put the handcuffs of past memories on you. They are self-imposed. He wiped out your sins in order that you might have seasons of refreshing (Act_3:19).

Other Christians are incarcerated by legalism. They read the Bible to learn of its rules. The legalist with a sensitive conscience knows he cannot keep God's laws perfectly. Maybe that is why the novelist John Updike said, "I agree with the Jews. One Testament is enough." If faith is solely a matter of lawkeeping, I would agree. The Psalmist was talking about the Old Testament when he said, "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul" (Psa_19:7). There was no need for a new law code, but there was a need for freedom from the consequences of disobedience. Small wonder that legalists either live in a state of perpetual discouragement or self-righteous hypocrisy. The legalist does not understand that "everyone who believes in Him is freed from all things" (Act_13:39 NASB).

If you are living in a prison of your own making, you can walk through the doors of freedom today. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free" (Gal_5:1).

No horse gets anyone anywhere until he's harnessed, no steam or gas drives anything until it is confined, no Niagara ever turns anything into light or power until it is tunneled, no life ever does great things it is until focused, dedicated, and disciplined.

Divorced couples in Albuquerque, New Mexico, can take advantage of a new business in town. The company is called Freedom Rings: Jewelry for the Divorced. Founded by jeweler and divorcee Lynn Peters, the company makes custom jewelry out of wedding rings. Each customer at Freedom Rings pays a fee, and the ring-smashing ceremony begins—complete with champagne and music. Just before the smashing the M.C. says, “We will now release any remaining ties to your past by transforming your ring—which represents the past—into a token of your new beginning. Now take the hammer. Stop for a moment to consider the transformation that is about to begin your new life. Ready? With this swing let freedom ring!”

She then uses a four-pound sledgehammer to whack her emblem of love and fidelity into a shapeless piece of metal. And the ceremony ends. The fact that women are pounding their wedding rings into pendants and men are grinding theirs into golf ball markers doesn’t surprise me. We’ve all heard the divorce statistics. But let’s focus on the women for a moment: How many American women stop short of divorce, but would love to make a clean break from their marriage if it were convenient? How many Christian women feel the same way?

Bill Smith. There may be no name more common in the English language. In a seminary class, one professor related an event that happened his first day in college.

His teacher professed an uncanny command of the English language. It seemed that he always pulled out the most appropriate word for the occasion. On this, the first day of school, he was calling the roll. After recognizing each student he made some pertinent comment about his name-its history, meaning, or some historically related story. Finally, he came to Bill Smith. He said with a pause and in a reflective tone, "Bill Smith...that is a common name." Stirred from within, Bill arose from his seat and said in a loving but firm tone, "Sir, Bill Smith may be frequent but not common."

Who among us has not lived under the teacher's philosophy? Thinking there is nothing special about ourselves, we have concluded that we are common, everyday, ordinary. Let us continually remind ourselves that each one of us is a chosen person, a royal priest, a member of a holy nation, a person that belongs to God (1Pe 2:9).

"Baptized for the dead" (1Co 15:29) does not mean that living believers could be baptized in place of those who had died unbaptized. What Paul was actually seeking to convey here is that only those who were willing to be identified with the dead in martyrdom for Christ's sake, as well as with Christ in His death and resurrection, could be described as "those baptized for the dead."

But why does Paul use the words "for the dead?" Let us examine this phrase carefully. The first word, "for," is huper in Greek, which basically means "over" or " above." The literal translation of this phrase would be "baptized over the dead"; that is to say admitted publicly into the visible Church of Christ, as if the dead bodies of those who were similarly admitted into the Church before them and had died for Christ were lying beneath their feet. Metaphorically, it means in the prospect of death and as a continuance of the testimony of those who have heroically died for the faith.

Compare what happens on a battlefield. It is strewed with the bodies of those who fought and perished nobly; but the contest is still raging, and fresh combatants are continually pressing into the action. These, as they come up, may be said to be initiated into the battle over the bodies of those who have bled and died before them. Now this world is a spiritual battlefield. The contest between sin and righteousness, which commenced so soon after the fall, has been waging from generation to generation. It is waging still, and it will continue till sin and Satan are overpowered, and death is swallowed up in victory. Many, in bygone ages engaged in this warfare, have fallen on the battlefield, fighting the good fight of faith. Fresh combatants, however, at the summons of the great Captain of our salvation are continually pressing forward to occupy the places of the slain and bravely maintain the contest. These, by the rite of baptism, were admitted to the position they now occupy as constituted Christian soldiers. With reference either to the past or the future-the deaths which have already occurred or their own death most certainly to occur-it may be said that they are either "baptized over the dead" or "baptized in the prospect of death." In this way the meaning of the expression becomes clear.

Fret not—He loves you (John 13:1)

Faint not—He holds you (Psalm 139:10)

Fear not—He keeps you (Psalm 121:5)

Armand M. Nicholi, M.D., professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, explains that Sigmund Freud died at the age of 83, a bitter and disillusioned man. Tragically, this Viennese physician, one of the most influential thinkers of our time, had little compassion for the common person.

Freud wrote in 1918, “I have found little that is good about human beings on the whole. In my experience most of them are trash, no matter whether they publicly subscribe to this or that ethical doctrine or to none at all” (Veritas Reconsidered, p. 36).

Freud died friendless. It is well-known that he had broken with each of his followers. The end was bitter.

Few thinkers in recent times have exerted so pervasive an influence as Sigmund Freud. Although he claimed to be an atheist, he continually speculated about religious issues as if subconsciously haunted by the God whom he denied.

When Freud turned 35, his father sent him a copy of the Hebrew Scriptures he had given to him when he was a boy. Sigmund had read and studied that book, at least for a while. Enclosed in that worn copy of the Scriptures was a note from the elder Freud reminding his son that “the Spirit of the Lord began to move you and spoke within you: ‘Go read in My Book that I’ve written and there will burst open for you the wellsprings of understanding, knowledge, and wisdom.’” His father expressed the hope that Sigmund might, as a mature man, once again read and obey God’s law. We have no evidence, however, that Freud took to heart his father’s exhortation. How different his life and influence might have been if he had!

Mamie Adams always went to a branch post office in her town because the postal employees there were friendly. She went there to buy stamps just before Christmas one year and the lines were particularly long. Someone pointed out that there was no need to wait on line because there was a stamp machine in the lobby.

“I know,” said Mamie, ‘but the machine won’t ask me about my arthritis.”

Leaning on his fence one day, a devout Quaker was watching a new neighbor move in next door. After all kinds of modern appliances, electronic gadgets, plush furniture, and costly wall hangings had been carried in, the onlooker called over, “If you find you’re lacking anything, neighbor, let me know and I’ll show you how to live without it.”

Acquaintances accept, friends encourage, brothers exhort

Friend! What a precious word. Most of us concur wholeheartedly with William Shakespeare who said:

Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,

Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel.

One of the privileges of friendship is being able to speak frankly. Little by little, and day by day, we become accustomed to saying what we think we ought to say instead of what we really think. How comfortable and how pleasant it is to speak freely without having to be on guard. As the Arabian says, "A friend is one to whom we may pour out the contents of our hearts, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away!"

Another privilege of friendship is that of being understood. Perhaps it was this quality which caused George Eliot to write: "Animals are such agreeable friends. They ask no questions; they pass no criticisms." Understanding is to be expected of friends. Total agreement and acceptance? Not necessarily! As one anonymous writer has said, "The strength and sweetness of friendship depends on sincerity tempered by sympathy."

A third privilege of friendship is the privilege of silence. If one is but a mere acquaintance we feel that we must talk. So we turn to such exciting subjects as the weather, our ailments, and our latest surgery. But what a joy it is to have a friend that will even understand your silence and not say, "My friend is not my friend anymore because he is not talking."

Friends have mutual interests. They enjoy doing the same kinds of things, and talking about their shared interests. That's why there is such great camaraderie between fishermen, woodworkers, gardeners, authors, etc.

Friends are mutually devoted to each other. When you are in trouble, it is not merely your friend's duty but his privilege to stand by. If he is in trouble, you count it a privilege to help.

Friendship is this... and a whole lot more. But it causes one to ask, "Are God and I friends?"

A British publication once offered a prize for the best definition of a friend. Among the thousands of answers received were the following:

“One who multiplies joys, divides grief, and whose honesty is inviolable.”

“One who understands our silence.”

“A volume of sympathy bound in cloth.”

“A watch that beats true for all time and never runs down.”

The winning definition read:

“A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out.”

On March 27, 1808, a grand performance of the Creation took place in Vienna, and the composer himself, Franz Joseph Haydn, who was seventy-six, was able to be in attendance. He was so old and feeble that he had to be wheeled into the theater in a chair. His presence aroused intense enthusiasm among the audience which could no longer be suppressed as the chorus and orchestra burst with full power into the passage, "And there was light." Amid the tumult of the enraptured audience the old composer was seen striving to raise himself. Once on his feet, he mustered up all his strength, and in reply to the applause of the audience, cried out as loudly as he was able, "No, no! Not from me, but," pointing to heaven, "from thence-from heaven above-comes all!" He then fell back on his chair, faint and exhausted, and had to be carried out of the room. What a humble acknowledgment for a great musician to make.

This is how far the following conveyances will go on a gallon of fuel:

Moped (motorized bicycle), 120 miles.

Harley-Davidson 1200 (motorcycle), 50 miles.

Volkswagen Rabbit Diesel (automobile), 42 miles.

Model A Ford (automobile), 25 miles.

Piper Cherokee (light plane), 15 miles (at 144 miles an hour).

Maserati Quattroporte (automobile), 8 miles.

GMC Astro (tractor-semitrailer combination), 5.4 miles.

GM (diesel locomotive), 632 yards (at 70 miles an hour, pulling 40 to 50 fully loaded freight cars).

Boeing 747 (jumbo jet), 280 yards (carrying 385 people at 39,000 feet).

Ultra-large crude-oil carrier (supertanker), 31 feet. (At 17 miles an hour and fully loaded, this ship needs 41 gallons of fuel to travel its own length.)

Saturn V (rocket), 10 inches to infinity. (While the Saturn consumes enormous quantities of fuel in its early stages, once it escapes the earth’s gravitational field no more fuel is consumed.)

"It is written, 'My House is the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers'" (Luk 19:46).

The week preceding Jesus' crucifixion is one of the busiest recorded in Scripture. The reason would seem to be that Jesus knew His time was drawing near. For this reason, everything He did was for a purpose-from the riding on the donkey to the cursing of the fig tree; from the breaking of the bread to the cleansing of the temple.

The Temple of Jerusalem was a major attraction for visitors. The temple was also, unfortunately, a major place of business. The merchants sanctioned by the temple abused their business privileges. They also used special temple currency which was exchanged at unfair rates. However, this was only a small part of what upset Jesus.

The temple was divided into several courtyards. The outermost courtyard was the one designated for the Gentiles. They could not go any further into the temple, so that was their place for prayer.

Here there was buying and selling, hordes of people talking, and animals all over the place, which made it hard to focus on fellowship with their heavenly Father. Not only that, but God was being robbed, too.

Today we face a similar problem in our churches. They have become social centers where we come to catch up on the latest gossip or to be seen by the masses. And when we casually approach worship, we hinder someone else in the process. They are hurt by our gossip or they can't focus on God because of our distraction.

Now let's take it the next step toward personal application. Is my body the "temple of the Holy Spirit?" Everything I do with my body, I do it to God's temple. Am I robbing Him or is my body truly a house of prayer?

Dear Jesus, Come examine your temple and cleanse me of all that distracts me from You. Amen.

About 100 years ago there was a candlestick maker who often stopped at a market and bought a fish for his evening meal. It was wrapped in ordinary paper which became soggy, and the passengers on the street car always complained about the odor.

One morning he dipped the paper in molten wax. That day he wrapped his fish in the treated paper. It did not become soggy, and there was no odor.

That is how waxed paper was born.

Got a problem? Do not curse it. Look for a cure.

Sunday, A.M., May 5

Preached in St. Anne’s. Was asked not to come back anymore.

Sunday, P.M., May 5

Preached in St. John’s. Deacons said “Get out and stay out.”

Sunday, A.M., May 12

Preached in St. Jude’s. Can’t go back there, either.

Sunday, A.M., May 19

Preached in St. Somebody Else’s. Deacons called special meeting and said I couldn’t return.

Sunday, P.M., May 19

Preached on street. Kicked off street.

Sunday, A.M., May 26

Preached in meadow. Chased out of meadow as bull was turned loose during service.

Sunday, A.M., June 2

Preached out at the edge of town. Kicked off the highway.

Sunday, P.M., June 2

Afternoon, preached in a pasture. Ten thousand people came out to hear me.

Donald Campbell, Daniel, Decoder of Dreams, story of shepherd breaking leg of wayward sheep.

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Often, a Christian will admit to some sin or disobedience which has resulted in God’s chastening. At other times, a conversation will reveal problems and troubles that seem to indicate that God is dealing with the caller.

Chastening from the Lord is Scriptural:

“Blessed is the man you discipline, O Lord, the man you teach from your law; you grant him relief from days of trouble.” (Psalm 94:12,13, NIV)

“My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline AND DO NOT RESENT HIS REBUKE, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” (Proverbs 3:11,12 NIV)

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Billy Graham comments on the subject:

‘The Bible says, ‘Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.’ If life were all easy, wouldn’t we become flabby? When a ship’s carpenter needed timber to make a mast for a sailing vessel, he did not cut it in the valley, but up on the mountainside where the trees had been buffeted by the winds. These trees, he knew, were the strongest of all. Hardship is not our choice; but if we face it bravely, it can toughen the fiber of our souls.

“God does not discipline us to subdue us, but to condition us for a life of usefulness and blessedness. In His wisdom, He knows that an uncontrolled life is an unhappy life, so He puts reins on our wayward souls that they may be directed into the paths of righteousness.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Chastening is Desirable, Considering the Alternatives:

“So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease upon them” (Psalm 106:15, NIV).

“I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize (“Be a castaway,” KJV) (I Corinthians 9:27, NIV).

God Has Motives in Disciplining or Chastening:

He wants to lead us to repentance. “Yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us” (2 Corinthians 7:9, NIV).

He wants to restore us to fellowship. “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ” (I John 1:3, KJV).

He wants to make us more faithful. “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful” (I Corinthians 4:2, NIV).

He wants to keep us humble. “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9, NIV).

He wants to teach us spiritual discernment. “But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.” (I Corinthians 11:31, 32, NIV).

He wants to prepare us for more effective service. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (I Corinthians 15:58, KJV).

Christian Clippings (Sept. 1993, pp. 14f) had this poignant example of a common human response:

"Sometime ago, newspapers carried the story of a young fellow named William, who was a fugitive from the police. The teenager had run away with his girlfriend because the parents had been trying to break them up. What William didn't know was that an ailment he had been seeing the doctor about was diagnosed, just after his disappearance, as cancer.

"Now, here was William, doing his best to elude the police, lest he lose his love, while they were doing their best to find him, lest he lose his life. He thought they were after him to punish him; they were really after him to save him. William is representative of every man, whose guilt tells him God is after him to straightjacket him in this life and torture him forever."

In the spring of 1981, a young man was flown into desolate northern Alaska to photograph the natural beauty and mysteries of the tundra. He took along 500 rolls of film, several firearms, and 1,400 pounds of provisions.

As the months passed, the words in his diary changed from wonder and fascination into a nightmare. In August he wrote, “I think I should have used more foresight about arranging my departure. I’ll soon find out.” In November he died in a nameless valley, by a nameless lake, 225 miles northeast of Fairbanks. An investigation revealed that though he had carefully planned his trip, he had made no provision to be flown out.

A small boy had a little wagon that was a new possession and the delight of his heart, but when he brought it out to the front walk one morning he was told that he must play with it at the back of the house. "This is Sunday," added the father by way of explanation. The boy obeyed, but he questioned wonderingly as he trudged away, "Isn't it Sunday in the backyard, too?"

Years ago new engineers in the Lamp Division of General Electric were assigned, as a joke, the impossible task of frosting bulbs on the inside. Eventually, however, an undaunted newcomer named Marvin Pipkin not only found a way to frost bulbs on the inside but developed an etching acid that gave minutely rounded pits instead of sharp depressions. This materially strengthened each bulb. Fortunately, no one had told him it couldn’t be done, so he did it.

If you plan to do any ice skating or driving around on a frozen lake this winter, here’s a useful piece of information from the National Weather Service. The Service estimates that six inches of clear lake ice that has not been heavily traveled on can bear the weight of one person on foot. Under the same conditions, it would take about twenty-four inches of ice to hold a car or a light truck.

When a traveler in the early days of the west, came to the Mississippi, he discovered there was no bridge. Fortunately it was winter and the great river was sheeted over with ice. But the traveler was afraid to trust himself to it, not knowing how thick it was. Finally with infinite caution, he crept on his hands and knees and managed to get halfway over. And then he heard—yes he heard singing from behind. Cautiously he turned, and there, out of the dusk, came another traveler, driving a four-horse load of coal over the ice, singing as he went!

Baseball pitcher Tug McGraw had a wonderful philosophy of pitching. He called it his “frozen snowball” theory. “If I come in to pitch with the bases loaded,” Tug explained, “and heavy hitter Willie Stargell is at bat, there’s no reason I want to throw the ball. But eventually I have to pitch. So I remind myself that in a few billion years the earth will become a frozen snowball hurtling through space, and nobody’s going to care what Willie Stargell did with the bases loaded.’”

Sacramento, Calif.—A man who hit his wife with a frozen squirrel was jailed on suspicion of spousal abuse, police said Monday. Kao Khae Saephan, 26, had been arguing with his wife early Monday morning when he walked into the kitchen and took several frozen squirrels from the freezer, police spokeswoman Betsy Braziel said. The woman told police that when she walked in the room, her husband swung the squirrels at her and struck her in the head with at least one of them. She fell against a table and received a one-inch cut above her eye, Braziel said. Saephan was booked into the county jail.

Some time ago we noticed that a tree planted at the sunny end of a house had large and beautiful blossoms. It was a feast to the eyes; but what an amazing difference in some of the branches trained round the corner of the house where they got much less sun. The blossoms were starved and drooping, and there was little promise of fruit. They had the same root and stem in common, but while one part of the tree was in the full glorious light, the other branches were in the shade.

Our character is affected in the same way by insufficient enlightenment. The dark places produce unfruitful branches: strange weaknesses, distortions, immaturities, indirection, failures in practical life and conduct. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Gal 5:22-23). If we are to bear all manner of precious fruit, each in its rightful season, we must trustfully and joyfully lay open our whole soul to the full expanse of God's light shining in the face of Jesus Christ.

A missionary teacher tells of a Japanese woman who asked her if only beautiful girls were accepted by her school. "Why no," she replied, "We take all the girls who come to us." "But," continued the woman, "all your girls seem to be very beautiful." "That's because we teach them the value of their souls in God's sight," explained the teacher, "and this makes their faces lovely." "Well," said the woman, "I don't want my daughter to become a Christian, but I would like to send her to your school to get that look on her face."

When the 1960s ended, San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district reverted to high rent, and many hippies moved down the coast to Santa Cruz. They had children and got married, too, though in no particular sequence. But they didn’t name their children Melissa or Brett. People in the mountains around Santa Cruz grew accustomed to their children playing Frisbee with little Time Warp or Spring Fever. And eventually Moonbeam, Earth, Love and Precious Promise all ended up in public school. That’s when the kindergarten teachers first met Fruit Stand.

Every fall, according to tradition, parents bravely apply name tags to their children, kiss them good-bye and send them off to school on the bus. So it was for Fruit Stand. The teachers thought the boy’s name was odd, but they tried to make the best of it.

“Would you like to play with the blocks, Fruit Stand?” they offered.

And later, “Fruit Stand, how about a snack?”

He accepted hesitantly. By the end of the day, his name didn’t seem much odder than Heather’s or Sun Ray’s. At dismissal time, the teachers led the children out to the buses. “Fruit Stand, do you know which one is your bus?”

He didn’t answer. That wasn’t strange. He hadn’t answered them all day. Lots of children are shy on the first day of school. It didn’t matter. The teachers had instructed the parents to write the names of their children’s bus stops on the reverse side of their name tags. The teacher simply turned over the tag. There, neatly printed, was the word “Anthony.”

When Lawrence of Arabia was in Paris after World War I with some of his Arab friends, he showed them the sights of the city: the Arch of Triumph, the Louvre, Napoleon's tomb, the Champs Elysees, but none of these things impressed them. The thing that really interested them the most was the faucet in the bathtub of the hotel room. They spent much time in turning it on and off. They found it amazing that one could turn a handle and get all the water he wanted.

Later, when they were ready to leave Paris and return to the East, Lawrence found them in the bathroom with wrenches trying to disconnect the faucet. "You see," they said, "it is very dry in Arabia. What we need are faucets. If we have them, we will have all the water we want." Lawrence had to explain that the effectiveness of the faucets did not lie in themselves but in the immense reservoirs of water to which they were attached, and he had to point out that behind this lay the rain and snowfalls of the Alps.

What a tremendous application to our Christian lives. Like the faucet by itself, so as individual Christians by ourselves, without Christ we are useless (Joh 15:5), "...apart from me you can do nothing." The lives of many Christians are as dry as the Arabian desert. They have their faucets, but there is no connection to the Living Water. May we trust God by faith so that our lives may be abundantly fruitful. Don't be a fruitless faucet.

Charles Colson tells of a frustrated prison psychiatrist who exclaimed, “I can cure a person’s madness, but not his badness.” The only way to make bad people good is to expose them to the gospel. Even Charles Darwin, the man who contributed so much to evolutionistic thinking, admitted this. He wrote to a minister: “Your services have done more for our village in a few months than all our efforts for many years. We have never been able to reclaim a single drunkard, but through your services I do not know that there is a drunkard left in the village!”

Later Darwin visited the island of Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America. What he found among the people was horrifying—savagery and bestiality almost beyond description. But when he returned after a missionary had worked among the people, he was amazed at the change in them. He acknowledged that the gospel does transform lives. If fact, he was so moved by what he saw that he contributed money to the mission until his death. - Charles Colson

A rural housewife, Fay Inchfawn, who lived a generation ago, wrote these lines on her need and expectancy of God’s presence which speak to us of the more sophisticated frustrations of our modern day:

Sometimes, when everything goes wrong;

When days are short and nights are long,

When wash day brings so dull a sky,

That not a single thing will dry.

And when the kitchen chimney smokes,

And when there’s none so “old” as folks;

When friends deplore my faded youth,

And when the baby cuts a tooth.

While John, the baby last but one,

Clings round my skirts till day is done;

And fat, good-natured Jane is glum

And butcher’s man forgets to come.

Sometimes I say, on days like these

I get a sudden gleam of bliss.

Not on some sunny day of ease

He’ll come…but on a day like this.

Mary Murray tells this on herself:

"My dear mother must have chuckled at the little girl who obeyed 'halfway.'Mom loved to have her house just right. On Saturday, when she asked me to dust the furniture frames and the delicate glassware, I stared in awe at the task before me. I dusted as fast as I could, going 'around'the glassware; not picking them up and missing spots here and there on the furniture. Sometimes I would have to redust after 'inspection.'She was teaching me to 'obey right'the first time and to use self-discipline."

In his new book Fumblerules, William Safire gives a lighthearted look at grammar and good usage. The following are “fumblerules”—mistakes that call attention to the rule:

1. Avoid run-on sentences they are hard to read.

2. No sentence fragments.

3. It behooves us to avoid archaisms.

4. Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration.

5. Don’t use no double negatives.

6. If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times: Resist hyperbole.

7. Avoid commas, that are not necessary.

8. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.

9. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.

10. Writing carefully, dangling participles should not be used.

11. Kill all exclamation points!!!

12. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.

13. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

14. Take the bull by the hand, and don’t mix metaphors.

15. Don’t verb nouns.

16. Never, ever use repetitive redundancies.

17. Last but not least, avoid clichés like the plague.

My wife was grading a science test at home that she had given to her elementary-school class and was reading some of the results to me. The subject was “The Human Body,” and the first question was: “Name one of the major functions of the skin.”

One child wrote: “To keep people who look at you from throwing up.”

As Vice President, George Bush represented the U.S. at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev’s widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev’s wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband’s chest. There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus who died on the cross, and that the same Jesus might yet have mercy on her husband.

A man was once boasting to an acquaintance, “We have a whole roomful of furniture from France that goes back to Louis the 14th.”

“That’s nothing,” replied the other. “We’ve got a whole house full of furniture from Sears that goes back to Harry on the first.”

London businessman Lindsay Clegg told the story of a warehouse property he was selling. The building had been empty for months and needed repairs.

Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and strewn trash around the interior.

As he showed a prospective buyer the property, Clegg took pains to say that he would replace the broken windows, bring in a crew to correct any structural damage, and clean out the garbage.

“Forget about the repairs,” the buyer said. “When I buy this place, I’m going to build something completely different. I don’t want the building; I want the site.

Compared with the renovation God has in mind, our efforts to improve our own lives are as trivial as sweeping a warehouse slated for the wrecking ball. When we become God’s, the old life is over (2 Cor. 5:17).

He makes all things new. All he wants is the site and the permission to build.

"You are to be more envied than anyone I know," said a young man to a millionaire. "Why so?" responded the millionaire. "I am not aware of any cause for which I should be envied." "What, sir!" exclaimed the young man in surprise. "Why, you are a millionaire! Think of the thousands your income brings every month!" "Well, what of that?" replied the millionaire. "All I get out of it is my food and clothes, and I can't eat more than one man's allowance and wear more than one suit of clothes at a time. Even you can do as much as I can, can't you?" "Yes, but think of the hundreds of fine houses you own, and the rentals they bring you." "What good does that do me?" replied the rich man. "I can only live in one house at a time. As for the money I receive for rents, why, I can't eat or wear it; I can only use it to buy other houses for other people to live in; they are the beneficiaries, not I." Then, finally, after a little more discussion, the millionaire turned to the young man and said: "I can tell you that the less you desire in this life, the happier you will be. All my wealth can't buy a single day more of life, cannot buy back my youth, cannot procure power to keep off the hour of death. Then what will happen? In a few short years at most I must lie down in the grave and leave it all forever. Young man, you have no cause to envy me."

Not only does the Bible contribute to our belief in the best is yet to be, but the things of our daily lives reveal that this is true, too. It is this belief that keeps the scientist, inventor, and researcher busy.

The best car hasn't been developed.

The final cure hasn't been discovered.

The safest plane hasn't been produced.

The best song hasn't been written.

The best product is not on the market.

The best church hasn't been grown.

The best sales presentation has not been perfected.

The best class hasn't been taught.

The best way hasn't been found.

The best...is yet to be.

The phrase "The best is yet to be" is a positive affirmation that gives life direction. It provides hope: there is more to come in life. It's the spirit of expectancy: good things are going to happen. It is seen through the eyes that look for opportunities that will be greater than ever. It is received through proper planning and work. Desire is the fuel that makes it a reality. THE BEST IS YET TO BE!

The doctrine of future punishment is so clearly taught in God's Word that no one can escape it. It is not that God wants to threaten or frighten people into being good. As Dr. S. M. Merrill says, "It is the last resort of God's wisdom and holiness.... In it God takes no delight. Yet the necessities of good government, the maintenance of order under rightful authority, and the highest regard for the welfare of the good, require this ultimate vindication of righteousness at the expense of the incorrigibly wicked."