Defining Saints In a Different Way

     The town reprobate passed away as all mortal men do.  His life had been one that did not leave a person much good to say at his passing.  His wealthy brother, from down in Texas, came for the funeral.  He approached the preacher who was to conduct the funeral services and said, "Preacher, I will give you $5000 to say, somewhere in the service, that my brother was a saint."  The preacher did not see how he could possibly say something untrue, but his family could certainly use the $5000.  So in the middle of the service the preacher said, "All of you know that the deceased was as bad a neighbor as any of us have ever had, he was an alcoholic, he beat his wife, he stole, and I could go on for several minutes, but compared to his brother sitting here, 'that man was a saint.'"
     Our country is involved in an ongoing discussion that some call "Islamophobia."  The term phobia is so often used for anyone who is opposed to a concept that the person using the word phobia believes in.  I will not waste my time discussing the term phobia or fear, for I fear nothing except God.  However, I think the concept needs to be examined.
     During the 1960's Anton LeVay formed a group called the Order of the Trapezoid, which became the governing body of what was to become known as the Church of Satan.  They even had their own  bible.  Their beliefs were almost totally opposite of the views of the church.  The word Lust would have been more at home than the word Love. However, they did not advocate the killing of anyone that disagreed with them.  From that standpoint I would say, "Compared to the Muslims, those folks were saints."
     Oh, I know the response, "That is only a FEW radicals."  The term few does not quite compute with the reactions that is portrayed on the TV screens around the world.  But, let us not quibble over a few numbers; let us look for a solution.
     Down through the centuries when Christians failed to agree upon something they always took a stand and opposed what they perceived as wrong.  The preponderance of Christian denominations that are in existence today, opposed the Roman Catholic Church, and split from it during the Protestant Reformation.  Then such issues as the method of baptism, church polices, etc, all brought about a breakaway from the established group.  Someone said that in the mountains of Kentucky a Baptist group split into the five gallon Baptists and the ten gallon Baptists over how much alcohol to have at the annual meeting.
     It is a few hundred years late, but in order to be accepted in a civilized world, it is high time for any honest Muslim to make a clean brake from the radicals that are murdering, robbing, stealing and burning the world down.  Of all of the millions of Muslims, tell me again that there are only a few bad ones when the masses refuse to denounce, brake away from and actually oppose those that would destroy everything that does not agree with them.  If it is only a few, then it appears that the tail is wagging the dog.
     In closing, Christians have nothing to fear from Muslims, but freedom loving people may eventually have a lot to fear.

Render To God The Things That Are God's

     There are two separate humerous stories about preacher's trying to raise funds for needed church activities.  The first preacher said to the church, "Concerning our drive to raise funds for the new building, I have good news and bad news.  The good news is we have located the much needed funds.  The bad news is, it is still in your billfolds."  The second preacher was more thoughtful. He began the finance drive by saying, "I want each one of you who will donate $100 to the building fund to please stand up."  As if on cue, the organist began to play "The Star Spangled Banner."
     Both of those should provoke us to think about giving.  There really should not be a problem for the Christian in the area of stewardship.  The only percentage of giving mentioned in the Bible is ten percent.  The Scripture boldly proclaims the tithe is the Lords.  There are those that try to evade giving the tithe to the Lord by saying that is an Old Testament practice..  Yet, Jesus upheld the giving of the tithe when he commented in Matthew chapter 23 of the Pharisee's practices by saying, "Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint, anise and cumin, and have omitted, judgement, mercy and faith.  These ought to have done and not to leave the other undone."
     Far to often we try to measure our giving my the amount we put in instead of by the amount we have left over.  Do not be misled into thinking that God is running a part-time organization.  Yet so many behave as if that was what God was doing.  We want to offer to Him our leftovers:  left over offering, left over time, left over talents.  God expects the first-fruits, not the left overs.
     The story is told of the business man who was having trouble in making ends meet in his business.  He came to the pastor and asked for help.  The pastor in his counseling advised the man that he should consider God first and give unto God that which was rightfully His--the tithe.  The man agreed and his tithe only amounted to ten dollars per week.  Over the course of a few years his business expanded to where his tithe was running twenty thousand dollars per week.  The man returned to the pastor and said that he could no longer afford to pay the tithe.  The pastor reminded him how important it was to pay the tithe and said, "Let's get down on our knees and ask God to reduce your income to the point where you can afford to pay the tithe."
     Back in 1958 Doris and I stood before the preacher and he asked, "Charles do you take the woman that you hold by the right hand to be your lawful wedded wife?"  How foolish of me if I had answered, "No, I can't afford her."  Love would not allow me to say such a thing and love should settle the question once and far all for the man or woman considering the act of tithing.

Getting Used To The Dark

   Vance Havner told of visiting a dimly lit restaurant with a friend.  Vance commented to him, "It is so dark in here I can't read the menu."  The friend replied, "You will get use to the dark."
     Something like that has happened all across our country, we have got used to the dark.  We have become accustomed to the ever changing society that we live in.  We watch things on television that thirty years ago we would have blushed if we had seen the same thing while in mixed company.  The decency standard has been lowered to the point that it often is embarrassing.  You now can see more cleavage in church than you once could see on television.  And that is just one thing we have grown accustomed to seeing.  Divorce at one time was an embarrassment to a family, it is the accepted norm now.
     Do you remember the emotion that was aroused over the Roe vs Wade decision.  It was unthinkable that a woman could end a baby's life.  Now it is done thousands of time each year.  So becoming accustomed to that thought, we precede to having the baby be partially born and then we kill it.  That is acceptable with many.  Read the reports of the votes of Obama when he was first in politics and you will readily see that not only is he in favor of partial-birth abortions but in favor of killing one that accidentally survives the botched abortion.
     Under no circumstance am I in favor of abortion except when the mother's life is in danger, but I almost wish we could back up things just a little and have the mother of all of these abortionists have the same believe as they have and then they would have been aborted and the world would be a much better place.
     Something like that happens in our churches on a regular basis.  A person gets saved during the revival with large crowds present, sees the same good attendance on Sunday Morning and then looks around on Wednesday night and asks where are the people who have been Christian a long, long time.  What would you tell him, "Don't worry you will get over it, too?"
     God, have mercy on us.

Alibi, Lullaby, By-and-by

   Often preachers do their best to persuade people to follow a prescribed series of things to do to assure them to succeed and not fail, often to no avail.  Allow me the opportunity to take a different approach, which I guarantee to have results.  My prescription that will guarantee you to fail follows three options: alibi, lullaby, and by-and-by.
     I would suggest that the first thing you do is be ready to provide yourself with an alibi  Someone has suggested that the definition of an alibi is an antiseptic a coward administers to himself in the face of duty.  The use of the alibi has been around since the beginning of time.  Adam said, "The woman you gave to be gave me and I ate.  Eve said, "The serpent gave to me and I ate."  Moses said in so many words that he could not speak.
     Today one says, I don't go to church because there are too many hypocrites in the church.  Another says he does not like the preacher.  Another says they always ask for money.  I wonder why they continue to go to the stores to shop because there are always many hypocrites there and they always ask for money.  Some do not take an active roll because they are too young yet, Samuel was only eight years old when he became a prophet.  Others are too old yet Moses was eighty when he began the task of leading the children of Israel into the promised land.  If you want a recipe to fail begin by providing yourself an excuse.
     Next, surround yourself with a lullaby.  A lullaby is usually considered to be a tune that will lull babies to sleep.  I think that is what has happened to millions in America today.  We have allowed the modernistic movement that destroys morals and the initiative to succeed to lull us to sleep.  If you had told me when I graduated from high school that I would live to hear the cry across America to "Kill the babies and save the owl", I would have told you that you were crazy.  If you want to be a failure allow the world to lull you to sleep.
     Finally, develop a by-and-by attitude.  Don't do anything today that can be put off until tomorrow.  Always plan to do what is needed tomorrow, next week or sometime by-and-by.  Tomorrow is only found on the fools calendar.  Tomorrow the addict will reform.  Tomorrow the shiftless and lazy will get a job.  But they fail to understand that the today is the tomorrow they looked for yesterday.
     It is a guaranteed prescription--follow these and you are sure to be a failure.

Looking For God In All The Wrong Places

     The atheist said to the young boy, "Son, I'll give you an apple if you will tell me where God is."  To which the boy said, "Sir, I will give you a bushel of apples if you will tell me where God is not."
     Oh, the wisdom of a child!  Did not Christ say unless you become as a little child you will in no wise enter into the Kingdom of God?  Paul said thjat  God has used the simple things to confound the wise.
     Does it not seem strange to you that the greatest minds today have put forth their theories and their conjectures as to how this world came into existence and continue to look for the missing force?  They call it the Higgs particle, and some have even labeled it as "the God particle".  Word spread rapidly that they had found it or, at least, a particle that they had  not previously been able to detect.
     They have been looking for God in all the wrong places.  You will never be able to see him in a microscope nor with one of the great telescopes that scan the far reaches of the universe.  Those type of instruments are not needed, since he is not very far from every one of us.  You see, I discovered the "Force" they are looking for over sixty years ago.  You can never know him by your intellectual pursuits; you find him only by faith.  Faith gives you the ability to see the invisible and to know the unknowable.
     Without faith man continues to grope about becoming wiser with each passing day, but farther and farther from finding  their most sought after goal--the force that started it all.  Try Genesis 1: "In the beginning God...."

When I and Is Go Together!!!!!

     The teacher was teaching the third grade class on the use of pronouns and verbs.  She said, "Susie, make me a sentence using the word I."  Susie began, "I is...."  She was quickly interrupted by the teacher who said, "No, Susie, you always use, am with I."  So little Susie began again, and said, "I am the ninth letter of the alphabet."
     Many a so-called intellectual has stumbled at the word is.  I refer at the moment not to our past president who so articulately raised the question, "What does is mean.?"  I am thinking of the scripture that proclaims, "The fool has said in his heart there is no God."  To deny the existence of God is to assume that something can come from nothing.  Could there be a correlation between the millions of people in the United States who think that the hand-outs they get for nothing, actually came from nothing.
     A recent letter to the editor of a state newspaper, written by a gentleman whose religious holiday is April 1, made several remarks about the invisible man that controlled things.  I do not need to meet the gentleman to understand his line of thinking.  He has not seen him, therefore, God does not exist.  I wonder if he believes in the existence of atoms in science.  By his rationale, obviously, he does not, for he has never seen one.  Years ago a college teacher said, "I do not believe in anything that I cannot  put in a test tube and analyze."  A quick thinking student said, "Pour me up a test tube full of love."
     One may stagger before the simple truth, "God is,"  all he will, but it will never change anything of the existence of God or the mortality of the individual.
     The sum total of all of the unbelievers rambling can be summed up in an imaginary conversation between a horned toad and a lizard beside the Union Pacific railroad in the desert.  The horned toad said to the lizard , "They say somebody one day built this huge railroad." 
     "Nonsense," replied the lizard, "It has always been here.  Why my grandpappy said when he was a boy this railroad was here then."
     "Not only do they say that somebody built it, but there is a president of this railroad that oversees the activity that takes place on these tracks."
     The lizard said, "Why that is ridiculous.  I have been here all my life and I have never seen a president of this railroad.  Beside that, if he is overseeing what is happening on this railroad, why did my daddy get run over by a train last year?"
     The horned toad then said, "If the president had come along and stopped your daddy from getting on the railroad track that day it would have made your daddy mad."
     "To let you know how firmly, I believe there is no president of this railroad, if there is one I invite him to come down here and kill me.  See nothing happened," said the lizard, as death in the form of the rattlesnake lashed out to destroy him.
     ...and one thing befalleth all living things. DEATH.

Homecoming County Line Baptist Church--2012

     Homecoming is always a very special time.  An unknown author said, “Homecoming means coming home to what is in your heart."  It is so great because it unites the past and the present.  Those dear men and women who came together and organized this church had no idea of how long it would stand, how many lives would be changed by the church nor that we would be gathered together today in this capacity.
      It makes no difference if it is a family oriented homecoming, school homecoming or church homecoming; it is always special.  Homecoming always brings to our minds memories of days gone by, never again to return.  Going home!  What a thought! John Ed Pearce said  “Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to.”  But once you are older, it is good to get back home, even from a vacation, regardless of how wonderful the vacation may have been.

     My mind went back to a song that was written during the Civil War, When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again...  The first verse you may remember:

When Johnny comes marching home again, Hurray, Hurrah!

We’ll give him a hearty welcome then, Hurrah, Hurrah!

The men will cheer, the boys will shout,

The ladies, they will all turn out,

And we’ll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home.

But perhaps the fourth verse would be more appropriate for our homecoming today:

Let love and friendship on that day, Hurrah, Hurrah!

Their choicest treasures then display, Hurrah, Hurrah!

And let each one perform some part,

To fill with joy the warrior’s heart,

And we’ll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home.

     Permit me this morning to point out to you a few occasions mentioned in the Word of God of those who looked forward to returning to the security of the home.  You are all familiar with the story of the prodigal son in the 15^th chapter of Luke.  The circumstances of his life mirror the happenings in millions of people across America.  He did not know how well he had things at home, but there was another lifestyle that beckoned him to come.  He asked his father to divide his inheritance with him, then took his part and left to eat, drink and make merry.  He had an abundance of friends as long as the money held out, but soon the money was gone and so were the friends.

     When things go bad, outside of the will of God, it really goes bad.  Soon, he was feeding the hogs and was so hungry that he would have filled his belly with the corn shucks.  Satan never will have a famine of shucks and there will be plenty of people willing to eat them.

     The scripture says, “…and when he came to himself,”  Any person willing to feast at the table that Satan offers, needs to come to himself.  He is out of his head.  When Satan gets control of a person’s life they will argue against the very things they once held dear.  This young man had been taught that a hog was an unclean animal, now he is tending the hogs.  The young man said, here I am starving and my father’s hired servants have enough to eat and then to spare.  I will arise and go to my father and say, “I have sinned take me back as a hired servant.   But, the father was in no mood for that.  He said bring a new robe; put the family ring on his finger and new shoes on his feet.  Kill the fatted calf and let’s make this the best homecoming ever.  What a day, this my son was lost and is found, was dead and is alive.  How sweet it was!

     That homecoming was a little different than the one when Jacob was returning to meet Esau.  Remember, he had stolen his brother Esau’s birthright and also his father’s blessing.  Under normal circumstances he had reason to be apprehensive about this homecoming.

     When Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming with four hundred men, no doubt he thought I am going to get paid back in full today.  He divided all his children up with Leah and her children, along with the handmaidens and their children up front then he placed Rachel and Joseph behind them.  I suppose he thought there was some type of protection afforded them in this manner.  Then he went out to meet Esau.  He bowed himself seven times to the ground.  Esau ran to meet him. Embraced him, fell on his neck, kissed him and they wept.  Oh glory of all glories, what a homecoming they had.

      I cannot think of homecomings without thinking of the story of the old missionary and his wife who were returning home after a life on the mission field.  On the same trip was President Theodore Roosevelt returning from a hunting trip in Africa.  There was a band and a group of people there to meet the president.  No one was there to greet the old missionary and his wife. 

     They finally found a hotel and got settled into their room.  After a while the wife asked the missionary if he wanted to go get something to eat.  The old missionary said, “You go ahead and I will come on later.”

     After his wife had left the old missionary got down beside the bed and began to pray, “Father I don’t quite understand, me and the missus have spent our lives serving you on the mission field.  I noticed that the president had a large group to meet him when he returned home from the hunting trip, but there was no one to meet us when we got home.”

     There was no thunder or lightening, no audible voice, but an inner voice with a clear message than could not have been more plain if it had been proclaimed with amplifiers, “Son, you are not home yet.”

     When things don’t go your way down here and folks who do nothing for God, seemingly are getting by a lot better, remember, this old world is not your friend, it is your enemy.  Don’t you know the old song says, “This world is not my home, I am just passing through, my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue, the angels beckon me from Heaven’s open door, and I can’t feel at home in this world any more.”  You are not home yet, but we are all going that way.  Some of us are a lot closer than others, but we travel the same way.  Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great poet, said upon his approaching death, “Good bye, proud world! I'm going home; Thou art not my friend, and I'm not thine.”  Far too many are trying to put down permanent roots in a temporary world.

     We are going to move out of this old world down here and move into a new home over there.  It is going to be a great home; Jesus has been working on it for 2000 years. Moving day necessitates a lot of changes.  There are things to be packed ready for the move.  How are you doing in your packing?  Do you have any treasurers laid up in store?  Are you caught up on your praying?  How about your church attendance record, ready to present it to the Lord?  And don’t forget while you are packing there are some things you won’t need over there so you might as well start unpacking those things now.

     Back when many of the women folk often dipped snuff a lady inquired of the preacher about dipping snuff.  They would dip that little black gum stick into the snuff and insert it into their mouth.  I remember very well my grandmother doing that.  This dear sister asked the great Presbyterian preacher, Billy Sunday, “Bro. Sunday will there be any snuff in heaven?”  He answered, “If there is a person will have to go to hell to spit.”  There are a lot of things we have down here we can unpack before going over there. 

     One of the more uplifting statements about a person’s life was made about Enoch.  The Bible says, “Enoch walked with God, and was not because God took him.”  I prefer to think that in his walk with God, that one day he and Jesus were out walking, enjoying their visit so much that before they knew it is was getting dark.  Enoch said, “Jesus it is getting late we better head back to the house.”  Jesus said, “We can’t get to your house before dark, you just come and go home with me.”  Something like that happens in the life of every Christian when he approaches the moment we call death.  To be biblically correct we probably are escorted by angels into the abode of God.  At least that is what happened to the beggar, Lazarus, when it came time for him to go home.

     It becomes even more dramatic when you consider the first Christian martyr, Stephen.  As they were stoning him to death he said, “I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.” This is the only time in the bible in which Jesus is standing by the throne.  Almost as if he was rising to greet Stephen when he crossed over the unseen line that divides us from this low land of sin and sorrow from that glorious place we call heaven.

     One of the great Indian chiefs, Tecumseh said, “When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home. “

     In closing my thoughts of this homecoming today, my mind is drawn to a homecoming over there.   That home coming is our going to the home of the soul.  Daniel S Warner wrote a song entitled, The Home of the Soul.  It is a beautiful worded song and I close with three verses from that song.

We are only at home in the bosom of God,
On earth or in heaven above;
Everyone who would enter must pass through the blood,
And reign in the kingdom of love.

Do not venture the hope that is waiting for death
To waft you to comfort and peace;
There’s no rest for a soul, in this world or above,
Not saved in the Father’s embrace.

We will enter no door that is opened by men
Who promise a home for the soul;
For in Christ we abide in the church that will stand
While ages eternally roll.