Month: April 2017

GET TOGETHER- You Were the First One That He Thought About.
Joh 15:16 “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
I shared with you last week that I was going to my fifty year high school reunion this past Friday Night. I had such a wonderful time being with all my former classmates. I felt such love for each one them that it is very hard to come up with the right words to express how that I feel towards them.

One of my regrets has always been that I was not a Christian in High School. I think about how good that it would have been to be the player doing the devotionals with the football team and leading the team in prayer. I think that is what the Lord wanted me doing, but I wasn’t fulfilling it. The Bible talks about how God redeems the time. He did that in my life as He has so many times at our class reunion this past Friday night. He gave me the honor of doing the devotional and praying for the Reunion of the 1967 Dora High School Senior Class.

Friday I had several people pray for me because I knew that when many of my classmates knew me I was not walking in an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. I had not been born again. The Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to preach in a lot of places here and in other parts of the world. One time I preached in a village that was 85 percent Muslim in Kenya. But on the way down to the Reunion in my former hometown I had a giant knot in my stomach. The last time I remembered having one like that was going over Benoit Mountain on the football bus my Senior year in High School knowing our good friends the Cordova Blue Devils were waiting for us just across the Warrior River.

Well as it drew closer to time to do the devotional one of my good friends who was one of our outstanding cheerleaders came up to me and told me “you are one of the last persons that I ever thought would be a preacher.” She had some good reasons to say that. I also know that as a good friend in was all in fun. So just as I recovered from that one of my other good friends who was like a sister to me in high school comes up just before it is time to do the devotional and guess what she said? You guessed right. She said “well you are one of the last people that I ever thought would be a preacher. Now that will get you close to the Lord! To be honest I knew they were thankful for how God has changed my life and it helped me to not be nervous when I was doing the devotional.

Perhaps for all of us it might be said in some way that we would have been the last person to serve God in some way. The Bible is full of people that God had a plan for and they would have appeared to have been the last one that someone would have thought would have been fulfilling that plan in some way.

Abraham had been an idol worshipper. It is often pointed out that Moses was slow of speech. But here is another line of thought on Moses. Moses was brought up in the House of Pharaoh. He got a great formal education. He had probably been to some of the most extravagant parties on the face of the earth at that time: Hebrews 11:24-26 “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. God had something better for him. There are many others. How About Rahab? She would have ben probably the last person that a lot of people would have thought would be used by God in one of Israel’s greatest military victories, “Jos 2:1 ¶ Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there.” How about the woman with the Alabaster Box? Lu 7:37 And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, Mt 26:13 “Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.” And don’t forget the apostle Paul who as Saul of Tarsus persecuted Christians. You get the picture.

How about you? Perhaps you are one of the last people that someone thought would be a Sunday School Teacher, or small group leader. Perhaps you are one of the last people that someone thought would be a successful Christian business man, or woman. Perhaps you are the last one that someone thought would function in the office gift of An Apostle, Prophet, Teacher, Evangelist, or Pastor. Perhaps you were chosen to be a coach, teacher, farmer, or political leader. Maybe you are the last one that someone would have thought would humbly and anonymously give to so many ministries in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. No matter what your calling is know this. You weren’t the last one that God thought about for that calling. You were the first one. Now Jesus has a word for you. It is the passage at the top of this devotional: Joh 15:16 “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
Let Us Pray
Lord we thank You that we were Your first choice for our assignments. Thank You for forgiving us for when we prolonged our acceptance of these assignments. Thank you for redeeming the time. Help us to lovingly bear fruit in the places that You have appointed us to be Your servants.

In Jesus Name

Amen
To my two classmates. Thanks for letting the Lord use you to loosen me up this past Friday Night. I love you both as wonderful friends. One day we will have a reunion like no other.

Your Friend/Kinfolk

Preston

GET TOGETHER- HAS YOUR HEART EVER BURNED WITHIN YOU? 

Lu 24:30-35 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together,

saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.

           

 

 

           

           

 

            The late Hank Williams had a song called Cold Cold Heart. The lyrics tend to give the indication that someone that he loves has experienced something painful in their past that would inhibit them from loving again.

            Here are some of the lyrics to that song: “I tried so hard my dear to show that you’re my every dream. / Yet you’re afraid each thing I do is just some evil scheme / A memory from your lonesome past keeps us so far apart / Why can’t I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold cold heart”

            There can be lots of things that lead people to having cold hearts. It may be that they were rejected by a parent or someone that they loved. Perhaps they experienced something traumatic and it lead to their heart becoming cold. Sometimes people may have a cold heart because they feel let down at God. They may feel like God didn’t come through for them in the way that they thought that God would.

            In the passage above we see where two followers of Jesus shared with one another that while Jesus had appeared to them on the Road to Emmaus that their hearts had burned within them. If you go back in this passage you can see that their hearts were perplexed as they started on their journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus.

            At first Jesus appears to them and they do not recognize Him. Sometimes someone may be so focused on their disappointment with God that they don’t realize or recognize that God is in the midst of them and their situation. Jesus could tell these two guys were not very happy: Lu 24:17 “And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?”

            I t appears from their response that they didn’t feel like God came through for them like they thought that He would. Lu 24:18-21 “Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?” And He said to them, “What things?” So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,

“and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.”

            They also rejected the reports of the women that had been to the tomb. A cold cold heart can be very skeptical. But don’t stop reading. There is some good news! Their hearts did not remain cold! They heard the word of God from the mouth of God the Son; Lu 24:27 “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” The anointing of the Holy Spirit upon the word of God can reheat a cold doubting heart. It can turn doubters into believers. It can heal the hurting. It can make those who don’t trust anymore to become believers who trust again! That word can make those who don’t recognize when Jesus is among us at first to become more aware of His Presence through the Holy Spirit.

            How about your heart today? Is your heart burning for God? Or perhaps some of life’s unfair, or unpredictable circumstances have put a chill on your heart? These guys at first didn’t think that Jesus had come through for them. Maybe you feel today like He either hasn’t come through for you, or that He has not come through in the way that you thought that He would.

            Remember with Him that there is always a Resurrection. For every Friday, there is a third day Sunday morning. With Him if we will stay in His word AND allow Him to walk beside us we will come to that place where we recognize that He was at work even when it did not seem like He was. They recognized Him in the breaking of the bread. Don’t let the enemy convince you that He has forsaken you. Do as our two friends on the Road to Emmaus did. Invite Him to join you and break bread with Him. Take Communion with Him and His people. When you do you will recognize Him and your heart will burn again!

 

Let Us Pray

 

Lord sometimes the voice of the enemy will try to convince us that you won’t come through for us and that we are hopeless. We praise You that by walking with You, staying in Communion with You and our fellow brothers and sisters that we will see You manifest the victory in our lives in all situations and circumstances! You are The Risen Christ the Anointed One! We love You!

In Jesus Name

Amen

 

Looking forward to being with my former Dora High class of 1967 Classmates at our Fifty-year Reunion this weekend!

Your Friend/Kinfolk

Preston

 

GET TOGETHER – THE BLOOD, THE GRAVE, THE RETURN

 

This week has always been a very special week in my journey with the Lord Jesus Christ. I am sure that for millions of Christians throughout the world that they feel the same way that I do. At our congregation, this week we will have a foot washing service on Tuesday Night, Friday Night we plan to have a night of praise and prayer, Saturday an Egg Hunt and cook -out and have a celebration of our Lord’s Resurrection on Sunday morning. I love every bit of it.

At the Celebration, this Sunday morning there are three key themes that I believe that the Lord wants us to focus on. The Blood, The Grave, and His Return. I encourage all who read this to go to the House of God this Sunday morning and to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ with God’s people.

This week as you prepare mediate on passages of what His suffering meant for all of us. When I think about the Blood I think about how all of us before we came to Christ were dead in our trespasses and sin. Ro 5:8,9 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him”. Now He has made us alive! He paid the price for our healing: 1Pe 2:24 “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness–by whose stripes you were healed.” Wow ! That is Good News!

They buried Him in a tomb. This grave tried to hide His glory. This grave tried to rob His followers and billions that would come later of the hope of eternal life. But the grave could not hold Him. The grave could not defeat the Hope that He brought to the world. When He came out of the tomb on the third day. Victory came! He defeated death, Hell, and the grave. Heb 2:14,15 ¶ “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

I used to think about how bad that it would be to lay in a cold damp grave, or to be burning in Hell, but praise God the grave has been defeated!

His death on the cross was a real event in human history!. His Resurrection from the dead was a real event in human history! And guess what His return will be a real event in human history!The Apostle Paul tells us 1Th 4:1,176 “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

For those of us in Christ we have so much to celebrate. We thank Him for shedding His precious blood for us and for the forgiveness of our sins! Heb 9:13,14 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? We celebrate His rising from the dead on the third day! 1Co 15:4 “and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (NKJV) and once again in His return we will live with Him forever and ever. There will be no bad days, no bad moments, no bad anything! Re 21:3,4 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

If you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior I pray that this week’s Get Together will inspire you to meditate on the Blood, the Grave, and His Return. If you have not repented of your sin and became a follower of Christ my prayer for you is that you will know that He loved you enough to die on the cross for your sins. And that when He came out of the grave on that Sunday morning He did it to give you new life here and eternal life in Heaven. He will return one day. I pray that all who read this will look forward to His return and be ready when He comes.

This week ponder these things in your heart and give Him the praise that He deserves.

Let Us Pray.

 

Lord Jesus we know that this week marks how much that You suffered for us. It also marks You taking our sins upon Yourself so that we could have eternal life. We Praise You that the grave could not hold You. We look forward to Your return. Help us to help others to be ready when You return.

In Jesus Name

Amen.

 

Have a Jesus week!!

 

Your Friend/Kinfolk

Preston