Deaf Devotion 7/11/2011

Greetings from the high desert Antelope Valley region of southern California. I am at the Spiritual Leadership Conference hosted by Lancaster Baptist Church. I am meeting many wonderful people. I will be back in the Flint area on Saturday July 15.

We are on the edge of the Mojave desert and there is not much grass, many trees or much shade. Makes me think of things "more or less."

I love you all and miss you dearly!

“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13 NLT)

When you stop to think about it, "Less" plays a big role in our lives. On the one hand, it's good to be fearLESS, wireLESS, ageLESS, cordLESS, errorLESS, guiltLESS, painLESS, and odorLESS.

On the other hand, we don't want to be jobLESS, friendLESS, homeLESS, penniLESS, fruitLESS, spineLESS, aimLESS, careLESS, or lifeLESS--especially lifeless! But of all the things we don't want to have less of, none is as important as hope. We definitely do not want to be hopeLESS!

In Romans 5:3-5 the apostle Paul had a way of explaining why hope is so important in our life. It is so important because hope comes from a strange place. It comes from tribulation or times of trouble.

Paul wrote: “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love."

When we lose hope in the face of trouble, it means we need to strengthen our faith in God's love that was poured out in our heart. To be afraid can mean we should check just how much we trust God. It can be that we are becoming faithLESS. FaithLESS becomes hopeLESS because we feel God has given up on us. To be faithless diminishes how much we understand and believe that God really does love us. And to lose touch with God's love--to be loveLESS--is to lose touch with the greatest thing of all. “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Hope, then, is a measure of our realization of God's love. Grasp His love today, and you will grasp hope as well! If we are faithFULL, we are made hopeFULL, and when God’s love fills us and we overflow in the FULLness of His love we have a love that is MORE than we can understand.

God knows nothing of hopeless people or situations.

Become “faithMOREFULL,” “hopeMOREFULL,” and God will “loveMOREFULL” than we can understand or even question.

Deaf Devotion 6/6/2011

“The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise.” (Isaiah 43:21 NASB)

When was the last time that we praised God for the blessings in our life?
• Our family - spouse, children, grandchildren;
• Our home - car, furniture, appliances;
• Our job - the ability to work, the place at which we work, our co-workers;
• Our life - the air that we breathe, food that we eat, the ability to walk.

But wait Pastor…..I am divorced, I don’t have a job and cannot find one, I’m unable to have children, I’m old, I’m Deaf. How and why should I praise God? What’s the point?

We should be thankful to God for everything we have, but how often do we praise God for the things we do not have? Some of us are given things that others are not. Yes, thank God for the blessings, but praise and worship Him for the things we do not have. When we say we cannot do something because we do not have it, God tells us to obey Him first and trust Him with the details to provide what we do not have. Each thing we do not have is an opportunity to look to God for the opportunity to share His greatness.

This is hard for us humans to understand.

Why is it so important to praise God? Why is it so important to worship God? What does it accomplish for us?

Worship is what we do when we offer ourselves over to reveal our love for God. It is an essential part of being a Christian, offering our praise, love and our life to God. Worship is not just an act that happens in church on Sunday mornings. It is a lifestyle that drives us to desire becoming more like Jesus.

We have been called to lift up the name of God, to humble ourselves and adore Him. The problem is that we come to worship with other concerns that have nothing to do with genuine worship.

The Lord has made us a special people in order that we may fulfill a special purpose. An important part of worshiping the Lord is proclaiming His greatness. “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” (Romans 8:28 NLT) Notice there is nothing left out of this statement. This means the things we are blessed with and those things which God has not yet revealed.

To praise our Father is to celebrate Him for who He is and what He has done. This involves the release of our emotions, which frees us to express wholehearted adoration of the Lord. When someone loves another person, the most natural response is to speak highly about the cherished one. In the same way, those who love Christ find that praise comes easily to their lips.

Praising the Lord is good for us. In our self-centered society, people are mostly interested in getting their own needs met. Sadly, this same attitude has found its way into some churches. But God doesn't want us to come to church concerned only about ourselves. Praise lifts our eyes to Christ and fills our hearts with the praise and worship of God that we cannot find when we focus only on what we do not have and what others do have. This can mean anything from cars and clothing to relationships and spiritual “gifts.”

Although praise and worship are usually associated with church services, they should be something we show wherever we are. Some of the most cherished and precious experiences of worship can happen during times spent alone with God.

If one were to find that their praise lacks energy, all we need to do is seek God. Tell the Lord we want to learn to praise and honor Him above all and with our whole heart. The focus of worship is the key.

Remember how God has cared for you, and look every day for Him to show His hand on your life. Then tell Him how great He is.

Worship calls the world to a choice - worship God or worship self. We have become too busy worshiping ourselves to truly be focused on God.

True worship is not about you or me. It’s about God and His grace and mercy and it’s about Jesus Christ and His finished work at the Cross. True worship is centered, focused and intent on revealing Jesus. We are all called to come back to the heart of worship. We are called to bring what we have and what we do not have.

Come back to the personal close relationship with God we have been missing. Come back to worship with an audience of one. Come back to genuinely seeking something deeper with Jesus.

Deaf Devotion 5/23/2011

“But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. You have been taught the Holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. (2 Timothy 3:14-17 NLT)

Well it looks like we all missed the end of the world. The parties, the money, the focus on “What if…” seems like it was all for nothing. All because one man stirred up a nation of people that He was right and we just do not understand. Oh well.

My daughter called me on Saturday and said she was going to a friend’s house. I asked when she would be home. She said, “Does it really matter? The end of the world is today anyways.” It was a funny joke. Many people treated “the end of the world” as though it was a joke.

Jesus was very serious and was not joking when He warned the Disciples, and us in the same way, about the end of the world. Read Matthew Chapter 24. The Disciples were questioning Jesus about the signs that would signify the end times. Jesus responded with comments on those coming in His name telling about the end of the world and claiming they are the Messiah. He said there would be wars and rumors of wars. He said there would be famine and earthquakes. Jesus said all of these things must happen before He returns.

It seems everywhere we look we can see clear examples of everything Jesus said. There have been earthquakes. Believe it or not, there are people in America that do not have enough to eat. The President announced He thinks Israel should be “downsized.” Psalms 108:8 says, “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in people.”

But the point is that no matter how much we think we are right, no person on this earth can tell God what to do. What God says in His Word, the Bible, He means. It is up to God and God alone. Jesus was saying, unless God says it, do not believe it. Compare what we see and hear against God’s Word. God will either confirm it, or He will not reveal the truth to us until we are ready.

From the opening line of Genesis to the final words of Revelation, all of Scripture is divinely inspired. And every word has purpose and importance.

The Old Testament introduces us to God's nature, ways, and power; it lays the foundation for us to understand the Lord's holiness and humanity's desperate need for a Savior. The New Testament explains that when Jesus gave Himself as the sacrifice for our sins, He became our "bridge" to the Father. Its writings make clear why we must trust Christ for salvation, how to live as God's children, and what to expect in this life and after death.

Through the Scriptures, almighty God reveals Himself to us. He also says that His Word is important for teaching, warning, correction, instruction, and preparation for what we will face in life. No other book holds such value for living.

Ephesians 6:13-17 compares the Word to armor, and for good reason: in the battle of life, we have a real enemy who wants to destroy us. But God's power is greater, and "dressing" in war gear daily prepares His children for the temptations, lies, deception, and decisions they will face. We ought to be excited about the Word of God, for it is the only hope for mankind—and the only instruction that leads to victory both in life and after physical death.

The Bible predicted that many people would reject the truth, and a quick look at our culture shows that to be the case. Let’s not fall into the same trap. Meditate daily on Scripture, and ask God to reveal Himself. Life without His truth is destined for failure.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding." (Proverbs 3:5 NLT)

Deaf Devotion 5/16/2011

“Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you.” (1 Peter 4:12 NLT)

Has something bad ever happened and our first thought goes to: “Oh me. What did I do? I must have done something terrible. Otherwise, this wouldn’t have happened”? And before we knew it, we fell headlong into a pity party, taking ourselves apart piece by piece to see where we went wrong. We have all done something similar. It’s our human nature to do so.

But has the thought ever occurred that maybe we have done absolutely nothing wrong, and God is simply testing our faith? This is an important truth for us to understand, because if we don’t, we may get discouraged.

In the varied experiences of life, at one point or another, I’m sure we have all uttered the words which are no doubt in the heart of most every person experiencing trouble or temptation: "WHY ME?"

God leads us in another direction. God wants us to ask: "WHY NOT ME?"

Being a Christian does not in any way protect us from the very real unavoidable problems of life. In fact sometimes it would almost seem that the OPPOSITE IS TRUE!! The Christian at times seems to experience more than their fair share of problems and troubles.

We must constantly remind ourselves of the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 5:7, "We walk by faith and not by sight." If we try and reverse it and try to walk by SIGHT instead of faith, we will fail miserably!

Think about it. Many experiences of life make us more able to help others in their similar difficulties.

In any situation, God offers to give us His beauty in exchange for our ashes. He offers His faith for our fears, healing for our brokenness, joy for our sadness! He wants to swap His Success for our failures, and peace for worries.

He is inviting us to “cast your heavy burdens onto Him” and allow Him to lighten the load.

What others may want to use to harm us, God wants to turn around to use it to bless us and others! He wants us to put His positive next to our negative so that we can live abundantly IN HIM! This empowers us to live the abundant life He came to give!

Paul says that nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ. So when we start wondering why God allows something to happen TO ME, remember, He never said we would not face difficulties along the way. Trials, hardships and challenges will come into our lives. The Book of James does not make the point, IF the trials come, but James says WHEN they come, we can be prepared.

God says that we will never be outside of His care. So don’t Judge God’s love based on our situations; instead look for Him in the midst of them. Just like God was with Shaddrach, Meshach & Abednego in the fiery furnace, just like he was with Jonah in the belly of the whale, or Daniel in the lion’s den – He will be there for us!

Holding on to our faith in God in the face of disappointments, discouragement and difficulties allows God to empower us for victory!

Deaf Devotion 5/9/2011

“The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!” (Matthew 25:23 NLT)

If we want to take root and to grow in our faith, and have a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ, it is necessary to branch out in service. Serve God in the “little” things and He will be glorified. It's wonderful to accomplish great things for Christ, but sometimes God’s greatest works happen when we join Him in the “little” things.

It is not enough just to want to be a servant. We must be determined to be servants. We must be willing to step out in obedience and determined to help wherever God calls us to go.

There is a story of an angel who, at the start of a church building project, announced there would be a prize to the person who made the most noteworthy contribution to the finished project. Everyone worked hard, wanting to win--the architect, the contractor, the craftsmen, the artists, the carpenters, and even the Pastors and staff of the church. The winner turned out to be a poor elderly widow who every day carried hay to the ox that pulled the stones for the stonecutters.

Our faith grows as we serve, and we serve best when we're faithful in little things. Try branching out in a new area of Christian service, however small; and be faithful, so that one day the Lord of the Harvest will say, "Well done!"

We recognize the power of service in the world because it always makes a difference. It changes the situation.

Jesus looked at the leper and said, “Be clean” and instantly he was made clean,
Jesus spit into the dirt, made a little mud ball, rubbed it into a blind man’s eyes and said go wash in the pool of Siloam. This man, who had never seen flowers or looked into his mother’s eyes came back with perfect sight.
Jesus looked at the storm when others had lost faith and said, “Peace be still.”
Jesus knelt before the Disciples, including the one who would betray Him, with a basin of water and a towel and washed their feet.
Jesus looked at death and said let there be life.

“Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.” (Psalm 110:3a KJV)

What we do in service to our Lord and Savior should be done willingly. Even in the middle of our struggles, our pain, our sorrows, God still loves us and we should have the heart willing to serve our brothers and sisters. It’s not because we must do it. It’s because of the gift we have been given. We should have a desire to serve whatever way God calls us to serve. No service done in the name of Jesus Christ is ever wasted.

We freely give of our time, resources, praise, money, expertise, etc., because God freely gives His grace and mercy and Jesus freely gave His life so that you and I can live forever with Him.

You know it says in 2 Corinthians 9:7 “God loves a cheerful giver.” Serve without limit and with the attitude of glorifying God by how we serve. Then we celebrate the goodness of God together.

God is good, all the time!
All the time, God is good!

Deaf Devotion 4/30/2011

“When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me,
for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.”

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!” (Luke 4:16-21 NLT)

Jesus was quoting Isaiah 61:1-2. And what he had to say about it caused a stir among those present.

There is a story about a man who had been in prison for twenty years. He had now completed his sentence and was preparing to be released back into society. After twenty years he was about to be a free man. Would society accept him? How much has the world changed in twenty years? Before leaving, he makes a strange request: "Please take this cell door off its hinges and strap it to my back." The jailers comply, and the freed man chooses to spend the rest of his life this way.

This man’s story sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? Yet many of us carry around guilt like a prison door strapped to our back. Jesus Christ freed us from the burden of sin on our back, but we have trouble leaving the old jail completely behind. The problem is that we don't believe God has really forgiven.

Brenda and I learned recently of a friend of ours who is now in prison. He and I have been friends since High School and he was the best man at our wedding. He left a bar drunk, hit a motorcycle, and then left the scene. The man on the motorcycle later died from his injuries. Our friend was caught, tried, and sent to prison.

The only way to explain how Brenda found this is to say that it is part of God’s plan. I am attempting to make contact with our friend to let him know that we are still his friend and that God loves him still. I have been burdened with trying to reach him. I do not yet know how he feels about forgiveness. I am sure forgiveness from society and from the motorcycle rider’s family may be hard to accept if it were given. I want to make sure he understands that God has already covered the sin. What happened is tragic and terrible, but we all make mistakes to some degree and the results catch up to us one way or another. And the truth is, God still loves us.

When we hear stories like this we tend to think, “Yeah, right….” Or even “Yes…..but….”

There is no "but." Either God forgives or He doesn't. If we trust Jesus Christ as Savior, then we are free of sin. It is covered with the blood of Jesus Christ. “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:14 KJV)

The Lord promises that He will not hold our wrongs against us or even remember them. The writer of Hebrews quotes from Jeremiah 31. “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” (Hebrews 10:17 KJV)

No good can come of carrying around old failures and sinful habits that He has put behind His back. “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.” (Isaiah 38:17 KJV)

Jesus Christ has purchased our freedom with His blood. It was finished at the cross. Accept and believe. Get the prison door off your back, lay down your guilt and live free. Praise God for His grace and mercy that has no limit and no end.

When God looks upon a believer, He sees a spirit washed clean of all sin. Don't allow guilt over past wrongdoing to hold us captive a second longer.

Take God at His word, and believe that He has removed it from us as far as the east is from the west. “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” (Psalm 103:12 NLT)

Deaf Devotion 4/3/2011

“The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.” (Proverbs 20:7 KJV)

This is an interesting verse in the Bible. It really causes a person to think: “Who is the ‘just man?’” Or it may make us wonder just what exactly “integrity” is. The New Living translations says it this way, “The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them.” It’s the same verse. It means the same thing. But we are left with these words “godly” and “integrity.”

To be “godly” is to seek the same things God seeks. We should want not our righteousness, but God’s righteousness. We should seek to become the person that God created and not the person the world expects us to be. We should rise above the beliefs and false security of the world and seek what God has planned for our life. We are created in God’s image. Therefore, we are capable of things like love, anger, forgiveness, and sacrifice. We are being shaped into the person like Jesus. But it’s not just that easy.

Integrity, on the other hand, goes a little deeper. Not only are we to become “godly” and see how God acts and how God expects us to act. But we are to use what God has given us and live a life that shows God’s plan of salvation, not only for ourselves, but for everything and everybody He created.

The word “integrity” comes from the Latin word “integer.” Any person familiar with math will remember that the word “integer” means a whole number. It is not a decimal or fraction. Integrity is the same idea. Integrity is our whole person. It is our whole life. It is how we think and how we act. What we believe, our faith, our knowledge of God, our salvation should be shown in the way we live both privately and when we face the world. This means the way we think is the same as how we act. How we act in front of others at church is the same as how we act when we are at the grocery store.

The world says if we could just arrange our circumstances where we never have any sorrow, pain, or hurts then people will change. If we can change our circumstances, our situations, our plans we can change one’s character. We become more “godly” toward each other.

But the Bible teaches just the opposite. The world puts the emphasis on one’s situation. God puts the emphasis on character. Someone has well said water does not become pure if it is put in a fancy glass. And yet that's what we try to do. We think that if we can change the exterior or make a situation such that we never have any hurts, then we're going to be okay. But Jesus put the emphasis upon character, on what we are in God’s eyes, and not what we have or don’t have.

Integrity is influence. Character is influence. Influence is not pressure, power or control. Influence is affecting other people with what they see us doing. What is important to the leader will be important to the follower. Whatever is important to God will be important to us. Don’t ever desire that something be important in someone else’s life that isn’t important to God. We need to be an example and desire for others what God desires for us.

If we are able to live by God’s standard, and not the world’s lives will be changed. “… blessed are their children who follow them.” Children watch and children learn. We are all God’s children. We are all created in the “Image and likeness” of God. We should be watching Jesus to learn. Jesus is the example of integrity.

Ours is a “pro-active” faith. It means that we are doing something from what we know and not “re-acting” after the fact. In other words, one of the surest ways we can keep from doing the wrong thing is if we are focused on doing the right thing.

Husbands and wives encourage and lift up each other in godly ways. Mothers and fathers act with integrity to teach children godly ways. Seek God’s plan for integrity. Children look to godly role-models to learn what god has planned. The world does not provide role models. Only God provides role models and that is in the person of His Son, Jesus.

Pray together. Encourage each other. Study together. Seek God’s character together. Then worship together. Thank God that He is the source of our “integrity.” God does not want to save part of His creation; God wants to save ALL of His creation. God is not only our creator, but Jesus, fully God and fully man, is our Savior. Trust Him.