Month: July 2017

I know we all use acronyms which is an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of words. Common examples are lol, wwjd, or kiss but do we know koh? I read a book in 2014 while traveling to and from England to perform a funeral service. The book was called Divine Alignment. Without going into its contents there is a phrase I really liked called God wink. To explain as I understood, a God wink, may appear to be a coincidence but is an event where we forget our own selfish motives to help another thus removing ourselves as an obstacle in the way of a miracle. I believe as mentioned in a previous message that we should live on the basis of hope for the future. We should be good seeds planted in fertile soil. Romans 8:28 says we work together for good according to his purpose. Matthew 13 talks about a mustard seed if planted in fertile soil, watered and proper sun light grows into a great tree to become a house for birds in its branches. Treasures hidden in a field when found is used to buy that very field. A net catches fish of all kinds but once caught can be separated into good versus bad. Replace fish with people. These are all examples of what the KOH is like. Can you relate to what the KOH is like? I hope your imagination runs wild with the endless possibilities of how the KOH can be explained to all who will listen. Do you now know what KOH stands for?

The audio below was recorded in July 2014 which was 3 years ago. It is longer than most because I just felt I needed to tell the whole story. Some of you may relate personally to the story as a witness. Others may find interesting if you can find the time to listen.

T

Basis of what? In accounting terms, it could be on a cash basis or a basis point equal to .01%. However, there are other ways the word basis can be used. How do you live your life? Is it on the basis of selfishness or on hope for the future? I watched my oldest grandson play on a baseball team that won their tournament. Now, if I had decided that is was too hot, too rainy, too far of a drive to go, then I would have missed an awesome series of wins. If I had decided to be selfish and not go for any excuse, then it would have been my failure. Instead, I went to watch their team win 6 games in a role to take the title. I went on hope regardless of the outcome as I looked with excitement to a future star.

In my previous message, I wrote about a long trip to perform a funeral for a dear friend who had requested I be present a year earlier. That funeral was 3 years ago. I asked myself what next then as I do today. What’s next for me? We can live our lives on the basis of excuses why we can not do a task or we can live our lives on the basis of hope. Our choice. One leads to failure and the other to victory.

In Romans 8:12-25, we have a choice to consider. If we live our lives on the basis of selfishness then our selfish action will lead us to death. The opposite is to live our lives on the basis of hope. Yes, there will be pain when we take action driven by hope but will it be worth it in the long haul? As the author of Romans concludes in this passage, if we see, it is not hope. Instead we hope for what we don’t see and wait with patience for the reveal. Likewise, if we expect a seed to grow in a weed patch or unfertile soil, then we are living our lives according to deception. We should know that the great deceiver uses selfishness, doubt, fear, laziness, etc. as an attempt to keep us following him to the grave. However, in Matthew 13:38, we learn that we are good seeds as followers of the kingdom that is everlasting and gives us life beyond the grave. Will we be bad seeds who live on the basis of selfishness or good seeds who live on the basis of hope for the future? Please choose wisely and I hope to see you in the field of dreams too.

T

 

Have you ever asked yourself what’s next? On July 13, 2014, I asked that question before a congregation. I was preparing to travel for a long distant funeral service on the 18^th of a very deal friend. She had asked me a year earlier, should the moment occur, would I be present to perform her funeral service. It was indeed an honor to celebrate her life. Though I will not give out names, my prayer is that some readers of this will know how much she was loved. Just years earlier, we shared many enjoyable times together with her husband and my wife while on an overseas assignment. In those days, I certainly was not qualified to even think about everlasting life as I lived strictly in the moment. I asked myself what’s next back then and still ask that question even today. So back in 2014, while I was planning a trip to England for the funeral, I was asking myself what should I say, how should I prepare? Funerals in this country have a little more flexibility but in England where land space and time are perhaps more restrictive, 30 minutes is all we had. I was making a 9 hour trip for a 30 minute service! That’s right and I would do it again in a heartbeat. It is not the length of time that matters but the moment in time. I believe a second of God’s time is equivalent to an eternity of our time. In the weeks that follow this message, I will be sharing more of the moment in time experience that helped strengthen my resolve to continue on faith.

Matthew 13, tells the story of the sower of seeds. Some seeds fell on a pavement only to be eaten by birds, where other seeds fell onto rocky ground but died quickly as no soil to sustain growth, still other seeds fell within weeds and thorns only to be choked then finally some seeds fell on good soil producing good fruit. I believe we should never give up on ourselves or others. Instead, we should always ask for help to determine what is next. Is it going to be a rough road sometimes? Yes. Are we going to have our dreams shattered sometimes? Yes. Are we going to give up temporarily? Perhaps. But, do we give up in sowing seeds or do we search for the next step? I am guilty of being a bad seed, but thanks to divine intervention, continue to grow.

Experiences, whether lengthy or points of time, are all part of our lives and we should rejoice in the good times and take the bad times as things we are given to improve our endurance. In Romans 8, the Spirit of Life sets us free from the sin and death for the Spirit dwells in us all.

The following audio is about 2 minutes long. I cut out all of the details to only cover Romans then the last part of Matthew. In the weeks to come, I will be sharing more audios back in 2014.

T

Have you ever been asked that question only to realize it was YOU who did it? We can all play the blame game to explain away our acts of ignorance or selfishness. We buy into our explanation by saying it was a moment of weakness or we can blame the devil. Yes, that is a good one. The devil made me do it! I believe if you try to use that excuse in a reasonable court of law, you will not get much sympathy. We hear and see through our instant media feeds of road rage where innocent people are killed simply because they were merging onto an interstate ramp same time as another causing an unbelievable act of violence. Why? Was it because the devil made him do it? Not a good defense in the legal system but all too often we hear of such incredible acts of stupidity. All of us are guilty of acts of rage but if not controlled can lead to irreparable results. Perhaps, the results are a loss of a relationship that may take generations to heal or perhaps the results lead to injuries or loss of life that can never be healed. Maybe we should all recognize that we are all humans guilty of sin in need of salvation. Maybe it is the devil working in our lives to cause chaos and to confuse us into thinking that our actions are acceptable behavior. Maybe the devil did make us do it. But wait, who do we claim allegiance? Is it the devil representing the sins of the world or a source beyond this earthly world?

Paul struggled in Romans to first distinguish between being dead to sin and alive in Christ in Chapter 6. Further in Chapter 7, he struggles with sin in the laws we abide by and in our bodies. Especially, starting in verse 14, the conflicted wording of self struggles over sin and why we do it, may seem familiar to us. But, we have a solution to our conflict in verse 25. Thank God!

Perhaps, if we are struggling with conflict within our bodies or our perception of what we should do, we should turn to Matthew 11:28. Let us take a deep cleansing breath and remember that He will lighten our heavy loads and will give us rest. Instead of succumbing to the devil’s temptation only later to regret what we did, let us find rest in Him.

T

United Together yields an outcome far greater than one person can accomplish. We can start as one with a dream but we need to recognize there is strength in numbers. When we are united, we can accomplish so much more. When we are united for a common mission, we are unstoppable. When we are on a good mission derived from divine guidance, it makes the journey abundantly more rewarding.

By myself, I am not much of a fan for baseball but my grandson is so that makes me a fan. The College World Series plays every year in Omaha, Nebraska. This year LSU was in the Series but had lost badly to Oregon on Monday so was playing in the loser’s bracket on Wednesday. Since tropical storm Cindy was right on top of us and not much to do, I decided to take my grandson to Omaha. No big deal except it is a 16-hour drive so we had to drive half the trip on Tuesday then half on Wednesday to arrive in time for the game that evening. The mission was before us and we accepted the challenge. Now, what does that have to do with being united together? Well, we could not do this on our own. My wife and our daughter jumped into action to help get ready for the journey. We had friends at the games in Omaha that acquired our tickets and helped us find a hotel. We had supporters in our social media encouraging us on to victory. Many of you are already LSU fans and know the outcome. They won their game on Wednesday. They won on Friday and while we were driving the 16 hours back home, they won on Saturday to advance to the Championship. Ok, they lost to Florida but our mission was still a success. Memories and new friends were made along the way. The LSU Tigers still made it much further than expected after an earlier loss but they came together to overcome defeat. So too should we look to a better outcome when we keep our eyes on the mission and unite together. TEAM can be an acronym for Together Everyone Accomplishes More. LSU fans are loyal followers and become an integral part of the team. We had so many people come up to us to say Geaux Tigers!

Romans 6:5 reminds us we were united together in the death of Jesus so we can be united together in a resurrection like his. We used to be a bunch of slaves to sin but now we are united as a team for everlasting freedom. Let us not walk with fear into the darkness but boldly run with faith into the light as part of a team united together in victory.

The audio below is very short as I literally drove back from Omaha and walked into church exhausted but feeling victorious from the mission accomplished. Praise God!

T