Overwhelming, Just Plain Over Whelming!

 Monday, May 9, 2016

 

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made know to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

 Hey Gang  My dad was a coal miner. We lived in the back country of Pennsylvania.  Some say we lived so far back in the sticks that even the hoot-owls carried knapsacks and they had to pump sunshine to us.  We were as poor as church mice so a trip to store to purchase new threads was an annual event.   But this year’s trip was to result in nearly tragic overtones.

 The mine owner had recently installed a large auger machine that took the pick and shovels out of the hands of the miners and placed it in this wonderful new device.   A brand spanking new machine that made life oh-so-much easier for the miners. Add to this our yearly trip to town-store for a new pair of overalls in the same week.  Wow, life seemed so much brighter! 

 And then it happened.  As Dad was standing near the machine, the machine hit a rock that kicked the machine back several feet and Dad’s brand new coveralls got caught in the cogs of the machine - which began to pull him towards the digger part of the machine.  If the machine would have continued unabated, he would have been crushed.

 A t that moment a God-thing happened! One of the supervisors, who wanted to see the machine in operation, decided that was the moment he would visit the work-site.  When he saw what was happening, he immediately recognized that within minutes Dad would have been crushed. There happened to be an iron bar leaning on the cave wall. He picked up and shoved it into the cogs, immediately shutting the machine down.

 Shutting the engine down would not have saved my dad’s life; it took several minutes after cutting power for the machine to totally shut down.  The iron pick stopped the cogs immediately!  I remember them bringing Dad into the house on a litter and then the months of rehab that followed.  I also remember that my life changed, for even though my Dad recovered physically, he never recovered mentally from that terrifying experience, and we soon left the mountains and moved into the city.  ( The material of the old coveralls would have torn away.)

 Mining has always been a very dangerous occupation and there was always a constant element of fear in the air.  Mining accidents are not rare and, in most cases, there are injuries and death.  For several years after Dad’s accident, I would have dreams that a gigantic ball was always rolling after me and trying to crush me.

  I never told anyone about these nightmares because I did not want to add additional burdens to my Mom and Dad, who were in the recovery mode from dad’s accident.

 So why am I telling you all of this?  Because fear is like a cancer and eats the very heart out of your soul.   In my growing up years, fear was a driving force in my life.  And it remained that way until one day when I read these words from Mark 4:40: “Why are you so fearful?  How is it that you have no faith?”    For the first time in my life I realized that I was the cause of my fear, and that fear was a faith issue.

 Now hear this old duffer:  I have received literally hundreds of messages over the airways and not a single one is telling e we are going to have a wonderful year filed with victories over the evil one.  I have also received many messages that the anxiety level of many folks is very close to the red zone.   Jesus said, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:32).  God gave us this piece of assurance through His prophet Isaiah when He said, “For I Am the Lord your God, who holds your right hand.  Who says to you, “DO NOT FEAR, I WILL HELP YOU.”  

  Keep in mind my young friends, the victory is already ours because of the cross of Calvary!  On the cross, Jesus cried out, “It is finished”.     Sooooo. Put your hands in the hands of the One who stilled the waters.  

 

Blessings,   Gramps

Did You Know Satan Is Out to Destroy Your Faith?

Thursday, May 5, 2016

 

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail:” 

Hey Gang, do you think Satan would like to sift you like wheat?  Do we sometimes, or even often, place a bull’s eye on our back as a target for Satan’s fiery darts? “But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 31-32).

If there was ever a time when we need to heed the writer of Hebrews words it is now: “Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward” (Hebrews 10:35).  If you are a child of God, you are in a fierce war.  In fact, you might even go so far as to say you are in a life-and-death war.  Satan has but one goal, to destroy the faith of all of God’s elect. And the stronger your faith, the more determined he is to sic his alligators on you.  

If there is anything that gets his dander up it is unshakable faith.  I wish I could attest to the fact that when you kick his can and stay firm on the Rock that is Jesus Christ, Satan sees he has wasted his time and moves on – but he just turns up the heat.

Why? Because he knows when God’s people, who are called by His name unite their hearts and humble themselves before Him, pray from the depth of their hearts, seek a every growing deeper relationship with Him and put away all of the bangles and beads that become idols that separate us from Jesus, he(Satan) is in big trouble. ” Throughout the Word we find that when we stand on the promises of God we gain strength.  We learn what Jesus truly meant when He said, ”Greater is He who is in you than he who is the world” (I John 4:4.

Hey Gang, yes, the times are tough.  Everything that can be shaken is being shaken so that only those things that cannot be shaken will remain (Hebrews 12:27-29), but we are also challenged by Paul in his letter to Timothy, his adopted spiritual son, “Fight a determined warfare, holding faith, and a good conscience”(1 Timothy 1:19).

The apostle Peter came under a ferocious attack against his faith.  His trust in Jesus so enraged hell that Satan asked permission to ‘sift him’ to see if he would stand.  Is not Jesus’ words of tremendous encouragement in this day of woe? “But I have prayed for you”.  I have prayed that your faith will stand the test and when you are converted, my mission for you is to strengthen your brethren.”

Maybe right at this moment you are going through a terrible storm in your life.  And the harder you try the deeper the woe in your life.  I can say, ‘been there and done that’ many times throughout my lifetime.  There have been many times when that storm has raged within my heart and soul and many times when I have cried out, “Why? Lord”?

In closing this Epistle I want to share that God has given us a powerful weapon to use against Satan’s attacks on our faith.  The weapon?  We are not to try and figure everything out.  We are to set our eyes on “the great cloud of witnesses” already in glory who have made it through with their faith intact”.  “Wherefore seeing we also are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight. And the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” ((Hebrews 12:1).  What joy filled my heart when this verse finally sank into my understanding.

It is these times when we need to have Luke’s words tucked away in our computer hard drive: “Now will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?  I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly.  However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth” (Luke 18:7-8). We need to we make sure our armor is in place, our lamps are filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit and we have the Sword, the word of God in sharpened and secure in our hands.

Notice Jesus’ question here:  Will he find faith in his people as they endure days of darkness and oppression?   I wonder how many would endure, if He would ask such a question today- in our nation that has chosen to ‘go its own way’.  I believe Jesus is asking, “Will the faith of the elect hold fast when the shaking storms come?”  The question each believer needs to ask, in this day of shaking is “Will my anchor hold fast?”  Or better, “Will I hold fast to My anchor Jesus?”

 I pray Father, in Jesus name, all who receive these morning gramps’ messages are solid on the Rock who is Jesus.

Blessings,   Gramps

Seed Planting Principle

 

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

“The King will answer and say to them, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me” (Matt. 25:40).

 Hey Gang:    As exulted leader of the Village, I was invited to speak many times and share the successes we were seeing at the Village.  Each time that I was in route to where I would speak I prayed, “Lord, give me something fresh that I can share to this group that will hit their hot button.”

  On one such trip I stopped at a Burger King to get my usual burger and fries and noticed a poster on the wall.  It was in the early days of the Star Wars craze and the poster announced in very bold print “Your choices determine your destiny.”  I said, “Thank you Lord” and dug into the burger and fries.

 But, shortly after hitting the road, I received a tap on the shoulder from the Throne Room saying that there was a prerequisite to that saying.  It should read, “Your values, determine your choices which in turn determine your destiny.” 

 Getting back to the Scripture of the morning, the question arises, “Did What?  When hungry you fed me, thirsty, you gave me water, a stranger you befriended me, naked you clothed me, when sick you came to me and in prison you visited.  But Lord when Did I do those things to you?  What a fabulous answer He gave, “When you did it to the least…” – you did it to the Most -the Lord of Glory!”

 I was forced to go to Walmart the other day and, as per usual, I was thirty fifth (just joking) in line and it seemed every person in front of me had some sort of problem.  One had to be blind to not realize the cashier, probably a grandmother, was feeling very defeated and down. 

 When my turn finally came I smiled and said, ”Good morning.  How are you this morning?”  And then a saw a miracle – she looked up and began to smile.  Now, if I were to guess, I believe that dear lady had a much better morning after that.   

 I love the little words of the Bible, the ifs, ands, thens, the therefores, and most of all the “I will’s.  They tend to be the trigger words of the Bible that precede a truth that God wants His kids to pay special attention to.  Now, you take the challenge to invest the time to look at every one of these words in the Bible and you will be into every book and nearly every chapter and verse.

 The Book of Revelation has become a much taught, discussed and read book, especially as the alligators continue to rise in our culture and all that can be shaken is being shaken. Jesus began His dictation of the Book of Revelation with a fabulous promise: “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it, for the time is near” (Rev. 1:3).   Does that light a fire in the depths of your heart to dig into the meat and potatoes of Revelation?

 I believe there are many special and very wonderful blessings hidden in the Book of Revelation.  For me, personally, I believe one of the blessings is, if you study each verse and follow the road maps that lead to other verses that add to and clarify what Jesus is saying, you will find at the end of the story you have been in every book in the Bible.

 I want to share one other word in the Scriptures that has become very special to me.  That word is “measure”.   Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, taught this: “Do not judge,…for in the way you judge, you will be judged, and by your standard of MEASURE, it will be MESASURED to You” (Matthew 7 :1-2).

 Now turn with me to Luke 6:38 and notice the good doctors challenge: “Give, and it will be given to you.  They will pour into your lap a good measure – pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of MEASURE it will be MEASURED to you in return”.

 Now I ask you, when Jesus said, “You did it to the least of these my brethren” does that connect with Paul’s words in his second letter to the Corinthians when he said, “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully, each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver”.  (2 Corinthians 9:6-11).

 If God judges you on “What you have done with Jesus in your life” using the “MEASURE” criteria, will you pass muster on the “You did it to the least of these” MEASURE? 

 Blessings,

Gramps

The Abrahamic Covenant -Does It Apply to Our Day?

 

Friday, April 15, 2016

The Abrahamic Covenant -Does It Apply to Our Day?

“Now the Lord had said to Abram: ‘Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to a land which I will show you. I will make you a great nation; and I will bless you and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.  And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3).

Hey Gang:  The Word of God is filled with irrevocable laws that, if we choose to tamper with, we will reap a harvest.  In my years of serving as Chaplain at the Village, the focus of my ministry was based on the Seed Planting Parable, an irrevocable law of God.  Paul taught: You tamper with God's laws at your own peril when he wrote, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap." in Galatians 6:7   

 I can attest to the fact that in all the times I ask youngsters, “if I planted a seed of corn, what would I get in return?”  The answer was consistent throughout the years – “You would get corn!”   I wish I could say, when I used this analogy with kids, I wished they would see themselves as the seed, and im-mediately change their seed planting program, but seldom was that the case. 

 Do you know what the Abrahamic Covenant is? Do you think it is in still God's plan for today?  I pray all who are reading this epistle know and apply it to their lives; but let me share a point or two on this irrevocable law.  The Abrahamic Covenant is a God-given promise based on the seed planting principle that you will reap what you sow, and can influence every decision you make in this life -time - every time! – every time!

 Paul, in writing to the Galatians, was very clear; this is an irrevocable law that can never be annulled (Galatians 3:17).  

Now, I am sure most of you are very aware of what I have said so far but let me go a step further and put some meat on this principal.  For the past several months I havehad a growing feeling, in my gizzard, that I am in a cage with two ravenous beast - a hungry bear on one side and an angry lion on the other; and I hear the door opening and see they are about to slip a Tasmanian Devil into the fray.  I wonder which one will win the day and have the joy of ripping me to shreds. 

I believe we can change the characters in that analogy and put the United States of America, the "Land of the free and the home of Brave" in the cage, and replace the hungry bear with the Supreme Court’s decision on same sex marriage.   Is it not interesting that the court's decision was announced during "Gay Pride Month" as set by President O.  There was never any doubt by the court watchers that the Court would make same-sex marriage the law of the land by a six to three vote. On that issue they were off by one vote, and another nail was added to the coffin of this once proud nation.

 In a recent follow up article pertaining to this decision, I learned two very significant things: First gay- right marriages have been adopted as national law only once before in recorded world history.  I thought it might be Sodom, but not so, it was in the days of Noah!  I also learned that Nepal, the country with total recognition of gay rights recently adopted gay marriage as the law of their land. Here is a tidbit that might get your attention: shortly after Nepal passed their gay-right laws they were hit with a major earthquake where 8500 people were killed.

 I close this epistle with Paul’s word: “Be not deceived, we will reap what we sow” (Galatians 6:7). 

 Blessings,  Gramps

Return To A Very Important Principle

 

Friday, April 29, 2016

 

“Then The King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world’ (Matthew 25:34).   “The King will answer to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it unto Me.’ (Matt. 25:40).  (read verses 34-46).

Hey Gang:  When God called me and my family to leave our home, jobs, California friends and move to Michigan and become an unemployed director of a not-yet- started Boys Home, I think I learned how Abraham must have felt when God said, pack it and follow My leading.  God sold our house, brought our income tax return back in two weeks (which was unheard of in that day) and removed any excuse I might have had for not following His lead.  So we packed all of our worldly possessions in a van and pickup truck and headed East.  A trip I will share with you in the coming days.

  So when I dotted the last “I” I asked the Lord to put His words into my heart and mind that lead us to follow Paul’s advice of 2 Thessalonians when he wrote, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus and by no means quench the Spirit and do not despise prophetic utterances.” And most of all ‘Examine all things carefully and hold fast to that which is good and abstain from every form of evil’ (2 Thess. 5:16-22). (Gramps rendition)

 I love  Paul’s words in Philippians when he said, “For I am confident of this very thing that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil.1:6).  Is that your prayer this morning?  It certainly is mine.  In chapter 3:12 Paul gives me hope for all the stupid things I have done and continue to do in my life when he wrote, “Not that I have already obtained it or have already became perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus”.

 But this morning the verse that is ringing in my heart and mind is “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice.  Let your gentle spirit be known to all men.  The Lord is near!”.  Praise the Lord that even in these dark days when everything that can be shaken is being shaken “the Lord is near!”  “And we can have the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:7).  And I believe that the seeds of that peace comes to life when we “rejoice in the Lord always”. 

 Kermit is not a name that will reach the top ten on the list of popular names that moms and dads will name their newborns; but, it has served me well in the occupation into which God led me.  If my name was one of the more common names, like John or Matthew, the kids I worked with would soon forget it.  Years ago, after retiring from the Village I was walking through the Chicago Airport when I heard my name called out.  It was a young man who has passed through my life years before.

 And, if you would ask that young man who Kermit was in his life, he would say he was a “seed planter”.  Are you a seed planter?  When I would ask the boys if they were seed planters, most would say “no”, but when I explained that their attitude the morning and their attitude at the dinner table were times when they were in a constant seed planting mode – positive or negative. 

 This epistle could turn into a book, so let me cut to the chase of what I believe God laid on my heart for you this morning. When we stand before God and give an account of what we did with His Son, Jesus, we will be judged by our fruits. (Matthew 7:16).     Read again the Scripture of the morning and note who Jesus said would inherit the Kingdom.  Who was Jesus referring to? The hungry. The thirsty. The stranger. The naked. The one in prison.  I do not believe the list is all conclusive but includes all who are down and out and in need of a helping hand.   Perhaps it is your next-door neighbor. 

 I close this epistle with what I adopted as my creed many years ago. It contains a challenge and a blessing, if we accept the challenge.  It is found in Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you.  They will pour into your lap a good measure – pressed down, shaken together, and running over.  For by your standard of measure, It will be measured to you in return”.  Malachi3:10 God said, said, “Now test Me in this! 

 Blessings, Gramps

  Walked Today Where Jesus Walked!!

“But "Thanks be to God who gives victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding n the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord” (I Corinthians 15:57-58).

 

Hey gang: As I have become more mature (older to you city folks) many things that used to be important are no longer important.  And most things that are important to me seem to have lost their importance in many folks lives.   Joy has taken on a different meaning.   I love to see my grands and great grands exceeding in things in their young lives, but my real joy is just being with them and watching them grow.

 

I had the privilege of returning to the U.S Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio with part of my family.  I wish we lived closer and that I could volunteer there a couple days a month.  As I was walking among all the relics of the past and reading of the many battles that were won to protect our nation, I sensed in my heart that I was in a sanctuary. 

For me there is a reverence to walking among the hundreds of retired aircraft that served their country well.  Out in the garden that surrounds the museum is very a special place; several years ago it became even more special, sacred to me, when a memorial bench was placed in the garden memorializing my brother’s graduating class from pilot training.  He is gone now, as is most of his class, many having given their lives in combat.

 

I have felt this same “awe” at another place that I have been privileged to visit.  In my several trips to Israel there are those places that bring the hair up on my neck.  I remember the first time I looked at the mountain where I could see a perfect picture of a skull, the place where many feel our Lord was crucified, and my first trip to what many believe was the tomb where Jesus was placed on that fateful night.

 

 It really does not matter whether either site is correct, what is important: “For God so loved you and me that He gave His Son to come and take our sins to the cross and prepare way for salvation.   And equally important is the truth that the tomb was and is empty!!!

 

I was excited to return to the Air Force Museum.  It was like revisiting some old friends.  There was the F-51 fighter, the one that helped win the war in Europe and the P38 that was the key to success in the war against Japan.  There was the Boeing 707, the first airliner jet that I worked as a radar controller. 

 

But there is also a greater excitement in growing in my heart and soul today; we have made our reservations to return to Israel and celebrate early our sixtieth wedding anniversary.  Wow, does that warm the cockles of my heart.  We will return to Ir Ovot, now known as Biblical Tamar Park;  we will get our hands dirty in Israeli soil, once again.  We will revisit the Garden, where the battle of the cross was won, and walk the shores of the Sea of Galilee. 

Some feel we are foolish to go to a place where violence is a way of life and I agree, for we have to go through Chicago and New York.  But when the air craft landing gear touches the ground a peace that surpasses human understanding fills our hearts, we are home.  And from that moment on there is a deeper understanding of the Scriptures that comes alive in the depths of your heart.

 

We have been to Israel with many people and there is a common agreement among them all, it changes and deepens your relationship with Jesus.  There is still room, come along and see for yourself.  If interested, let me know and I will send you a trip description.

 

Blessings,

Gramps    (I would go back today…Gma Jean)