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.

God's Gift of Individuality

They say in the world of snowflakes that there are no two that are identical.  I have no way of knowing whether that is true or not however, they all look alike to me as they graciously fall to the earth to beautify their surroundings.  I do know that in much of the creation of God he has set in place the gift of individuality.
     In His church he has assigned many a different task in order for the church to grow and function to the fullness desired of God.  In his use of a body as a comparison with the church it was mentioned that there were eyes, ears, feet, etc.  It is not desirable for everyone to be an eye or an ear.  It is necessary that each of us discover the purpose that God has for us in His church and then function to the best of our ability.
     Our government would destroy any concept of individuality if it is possible.  It seems as if the goal of those in power at this moment is to make each and every person a ward of the state, totally dependable on the handouts that the government gives to them. I have no idea where the money to fund all the social give away programs will come from once we all have become dependent upon the state.
     There is no better example to be found than in the directives of the government handed down to the public school system of America.  If you are not familiar with what is going on in the public schools perhaps you should look around.  Many a program is designed to destroy initiatives of those who would strive to better themselves and lead more productive lives. 
     The No Child Left Behind concept could just as easily be called No Child Advances Ahead.  Is that not saying everyone is to learn at the same rate, progress at the same rate and graduate at the same rate.  Sure it is!  Even a the idea of providing education for those with special needs has been so destroyed until it is no longer recognizable as the original concept.  Now students are placed in special ed whose parents can not or in most of the cases will not provide them with the home life and the study assistance to advance with the others.  The student can be taking Algebra in high school (called algebra) and the course load is not equivalent to what a 5th grade student would have no problem.  They are given a grade and eventually a diploma and do not know their multiplication tables, what a predicate nominative is or any idea about how our government works.  These students can receive a diploma even if they miss fifty or sixty days a year at the same time a student with A's and B's will receive a failing grade if he misses too many days.  His or her diploma in most states is the same as your honor graduates.
     There once was a day in which students entered school, attended for twelve years, walked the aisle at commencement time and received either a diploma or a certificate of attendance if their grades were not satisfactory.  No attempt was made to label them as special need students; there was no embarrassment; and they maintained their own individuality and then went out into life and became productive citizens in the group that put a man on the moon and brought him back.  The group we are graduating today can't even find the post office.

The Price is Right!!

     The lady approached the man in the meat market of a family owned grocery store with, "How much are your eggs for a dozen?"  He answered, $2.00 per dozen."  She then said the store down the street only charges $1.50."  To which the grocer asked, "Then why didn't you buy your eggs there?"  She responded, "They are out of eggs today."  With which the grocer said, "Oh, we only charge $1.50 when we are out, too."
      There is much to be said about the value of that which we do not have.  Many a Christian would gladly give a million dollars to the Lord, when they don't have a million.  There is a tremendous value placed upon the gift of eternal life.  In order to provide eternal life for any who would receive it, it broke the bank of Heaven.  There can never again be a payment for the sin debt of lost humanity.
     The scripture places the proper value on the soul and eternal life when it says, "What would it profit a man to get the wealth of the whole world and lose his soul."  Or what will you give in exchange for your soul.
     A wealthy business man in Tennessee gave millions of dollars to various Christian causes.  He had a reversal of fortunes and lost everything.  A friend asked him if he ever thought of the millions that he gave away.  He responded,  "Every day, that's all I have left."
     Life is so short, at it's longest span--a vapor that appears and is suddenly gone.  Eternity is such a long period of time to enjoy.  Why would one exchange the brevity of life for the length of eternity.  There is a value to the hope of the Christian.  If you don't think so, ask any Christian who is in a backslidden condition what he would take for that which he is not using.

When Friends Come Visiting

     Imagine for just a moment that your closest friend is coming for a visit.  Oh, what a joy filled event it will be.  There will be time for eating, reminiscing about things of yester-year and best of all the camaradie of just being together.

     The first night you laughed and visited until well past bedtime; but bedtime was not nearly as important as the visiting itself.  However, when the morning came you of necessity went off to work and your friend stayed home.  You remark as you leave,  “I love you so much, make yourself at home."  Whatever is mine is yours.”

     Two days later when you returned from work you find that the friend has taken the liberty to use your bathroom and was sitting in your favorite recliner.  When you were asked if that was alright, you answered that it was, but you held a deep feeling of hostility in your heart.

     But the next day when you arrived home your friend was using her ability as an accountant to balance your personal checkbook.  This was the last straw and after giving your friend a terrible tongue-lashing you felt better.  When the morning dawned you discover that your friend has left with no note left behind. 

     Sounds preposterous, you say.  Such a thing happens all the time with the Christian and the Holy Spirit.  Ah, the joy when he first came in, not for a visit, but to stay the course.  You said, “Come on in, my life is your life.”  For a while, everything was rosy.  Oh, what a joyous time you had.  Gradually, you wanted to return to the old way of life and felt his nudging you in the right direction was a bother.  How dare Him to demand your Sundays.  It was the only day you had to play golf, fish or visit the family.  And when he became involved in helping you balance your checkbook toward God; that was too much.

     There was no explosive anger shown to Him, no tongue-lashing this time; just a gradual ignoring of all the things he tried to do for you.  Your love life and devotion to God cooled as a coal from a fireplace placed by itself on the hearth.

     The above fictious friend may never return because of your behavior.  The Holy Spirit never left, nor never shall he.  In order for you to have the joyous times you had before you must allow him a place in all of your life from which you have crowded him.  He waits, he wishes to guide and bless your life.  Won’t you let Him?

Nothing Obama says should surprise Us!!!

     Never before have we had a president who leaves a trail of unanswered questions everywhere he goes.
     I could not care less if he were born in Hawaii or Africa, it makes no difference with me.  I don't care if he has a social security card that is only issued to residents of Connecticut, even if he has never lived there.  I don't care if he and wife both surrendered their law license, nor do I care the reason.  I don't care if everyone running for major office have a swarm of women that come out and say they had sex with them and no one has claimed Obama.
     But, let me tell you what I do care about.  The simplest definition of being a Christian is to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  He has played around with the religious groups trying to be everything to everybody.  He has bowed down to the Muslims and their day of prayer because he didn't want to offend anyone.  It does not matter if he offends Christians.  Now he is quoted in the news media as saying, that the "triumph" of the Easter story, including Jesus overcoming his doubt and fears before the Crucifixion had helped him get through the tough moments of his presidency.
     It is obvious the man has no knowledge of the same Jesus I know.  It is really simple:  If Jesus is the Son of God there could be no doubts and/or fears.  What was he in doubt about?  From his first miracle he knew exactly what his course in life would be.  God is all-knowing.  I suppose it never occurred to the president that nothing ever just occurred to God.  What was there to fear?  The same power that restored withered arms could have withered the arms of those driving the nails into his hands and feet,  Did he fear death?  He could have called ten-thousand angels for deliverence.  I think he who defeated death by raising several back to life had no fear of death.  It is sad that the perfect life of Jesus has been hid from the president by those who have been around him, beginning as a lad, then through not-so-reverend Wright's church, to his misguided helpers today.  I just hope he gets the message that at what moment he recognizes Jesus as the Son of God and trusts him as his saviour, Jesus will save him.  Quite unlike the other group would do to him.

It's Friday now, but Sunday is coming!

     Oh what a difference a few days of time can make.  During the days surrounding the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus there was a drastic about face for those involved.
     To begin with, just for future clarification, I do not believe that Jesus was crucified on Friday.  I think it was on Wednesday with a possibility it could have been Thursday.  The scripture says. "As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so shall be Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."  By using parts of three days and three nights it could have been as late in the week as Thursday, but there is no way that Scripture can be fulfilled by a Friday crucifixion.  That being said, I will use Friday for the day in this writing.
     The night before and early morning of Friday the Jewish leaders were obviously elated for that which they had desired, the death of Jesus, was reaching fruition.  It's Friday now, but Sunday is coming.
     During the course of the so-called trial, Jesus was crowned with thorns, beard plucked out, face beaten and spat upon, back pulverized by the whip.  He was ridiculed, scorned and made a laughing stock.  It's Friday now, but Sunday is coming.
      As they led him out to Golgotha, the place of the skull, it was a strange procession.  Men who were walking on new legs because Jesus had healed them were there.  Those that had been blind but now can see were there.  The women were there weeping as they walked along.  And along the way he stumbled under the weight of the cross.  I suggest to you it was my sins and your sins that was the heavier of the weights he carried.
     And when they came to Calvary, there, they crucified him.  With nails in his hands and feet he was lifted upon the cross to die under the most cruel form of punishment ever devised.  The crowd taunted him with such things as: He saved others let him save himself;  If you be the son of God come down from the cross;  O Miracle Worker, work another miracle now.  It's Friday now, but Sunday is coming!
     With a final statement, Jesus said, "It is finished!"
     God's lily had been beaten to earth by the hailstones of hell.  Joy was widespread among the enemies of right.  Satan and his imps must have done some great rejoicing, God's son was dead.  It's Friday now, but Sunday is coming!
     His body was taken down and hastily buried in Joseph of Arimathaea's tomb.  He was finally alone for the first time in years.  It's Friday now, but Sunday is coming!
     The world is filled with people today who are relishing living on Friday, not knowing that Sunday is coming.
     Christians unable to make a total commitment on Friday, but Sunday is coming.
     However, there is an opposite side to the concept.  There are multitudes today who are sick, hurting, and despondent, with no hope of it getting better.  It's Friday now, but Sunday is coming!  We all, ever so quickly, began to feel the ravages and effects of the aging process.  Do not be discouraged my brother or sister, It's Friday now, but Sunday is coming!! Lift up your heads for redemption draweth nigh!