Author: preacherpollard

“Keeping Your Heart”

Neal Pollard

Colorado is in the midst of yet another high-profile missing child case, that of Durango’s Dylan Redwine.  The problem of lost or abducted children seems to be escalating at an alarming rate.  The latest credible statistics I could find were from a 2002 U.S. Department of Justice study which asserts that nearly 800,000 children under 18 go missing each year, about 2,185 per day.  A fourth of these were abducted by family members, 58,000 by non-family members, and 115 are stereotypical kidnappings (stranger who transport child, demands a ransom, etc.)(“National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview,” Sedlak, Finkelhor, Hammer, and Schultz, 10/02, p. 5). The good news, according to FBI statistics, is that roughly 99 percent  of that 800,000 are found through law enforcement efforts.  The bad news, though, is that 8 to 10,000 are not found after lengthy, exhaustive search (cf. Daniel Broughton, Pediatrics Magazine, Vol. 114, No. 4, 10/04, 1100).  As a parent, I find it hard to fathom the depth of anguish and pain for those who lose their children so senselessly and tragically.

Though Luke 15 illustrates spiritual waywardness with a lost sheep and a lost coin, the third and longest parable concerns a lost child.  This child, though older, announced to his father that he was leaving, then departed to parts unknown.  He was lost in a spiritual sense, prodigal or recklessly wasteful.  The Bible describes his time in a distant country as spent in “loose living” (Luke 15:13).  The older brother, however accurately, charged the prodigal son with devouring his wealth with prostitutes (Luke 15:30).  Whatever the particulars, the son freely admitted to having sinned (Luke 15:21).  In celebrating the boy’s return, the father twice exclaimed that the boy “was lost and has been found” (Luke 15:24,32).

No parents love their children as deeply, perfectly, and intimately as God loves each of us.  When we become spiritually lost, He grieves and aches more profoundly than we could imagine.  Yet, He does not measure His loss in tens of thousands but in billions.  Most of those who become lost in this way are never found (Matt. 7:13-14).  The Father relies on you and me to help Him rescue and return His lost children!  Or, if we are lost, we should realize how very much He wants us back home!

Neal Pollard

While the English translations give wide variety to their rendering of Amos 5:18, a consistent thread prevails between them.  The simple prophet, after having shown his people the sins of the nations, is now preaching to his own people.  Their religious transgressions have piled high, and they must now prepare to meet God’s wrath in His judgment of them (4:12).  They refused to seek Him, so they would not live (5:4-6,14).  Judgment would come in the form of foreign invasion, captivity, and destruction.  Amos is not speaking of the final judgment at the end of time, but rather God’s fulfillment of a promise that went back centuries to the days when the tribes of Israel stood on Ebal and Gerizim.  They had forsaken God, and now He was going to judge them.

His own people were filled with hypocrisy.  They did not hate evil and love good (5:15). They kept the “form” of religion but they had rejected the “substance” (cf. 5:21ff).  As they looked to the future, Amos tells them they should not long for “the day of the Lord.”  He asks, “For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you?” For most of them, it was a day of “darkness and not light” and “gloom with no brightness in it” (cf. 5:20).

Regarding the final judgment of all mankind, each of us would do well to ask, “For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to me?”  Jesus shows us the available options.  It will either be a day of rejoicing and reward, or it will be a day of rejection and rift.  For the few, it will be a day to receive the victor’s crown.  For the many, it will be the first day of an eternity full of total darkness, gnashing of teeth, unending terror, and indescribable pain.  It is not enough for that day to be a happy day for spouse, parent, child, sibling, or friend.  Their salvation will based on how they lived in their body (2 Cor. 5:10).  For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you?  A day for you to eagerly anticipate or for you to continually dread?

The good news is that no matter what we have done in the past, we can come to Christ in obedient faith.  He promises to forgive, and He wants to eternally save (2 Pet. 3:9).  Dread can be replaced with desire!  It is what God wants for you.  “For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you?”

Neal Pollard

Walter Williams, renowned columnist and economist, once commented on what made former generations great and what has, by the same token, led to societal erosion in the last few generations.  His basis conclusion was that a generation from the not too distant past gave their children honesty, integrity, discipline, and accountability, though they were not able to give them an abundance of material possessions.  These children grew up focused, strong, and productive.  But, when they grew up and began parenting, they were quite successful and were able to give their children abundant material things.  Yet, giving their children everything they wanted, they unintentionally deprived their children of those greater virtues!  Improvement might have been if they had given their kids those character-building traits and the goods.  Yet, if there is to be a choice as to which is more needed, the race between character and cash is not remotely close.

The media has made the “debate” very public, asking how society can improve children’s health-care, daycare, and educational care, but cares little to nothing about their spiritual care.  That responsibility befalls parents, who are to “train” them in this regard (Prov. 22:6; Eph. 6:4).  Mother and father, in a majority of instances, are toiling at jobs outside the home to insure that their children have every social, intellectual, and physical advantages conceivable.  These areas of life are vital, as evidenced in the life of the adolescent Christ (see Luke 2:52).  But, what if these areas are met at the expense of spiritual training?  Jesus reveals the answer.  “For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul?  Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matt. 16:26).

It is important to prepare one’s children for college, for his or her adult occupation, for social gracefulness, and for physical health.  But this cannot be done at the expense of the more important, spiritual matters.  Jesus scolded Martha for being too focused on the earthly, all the while overlooking the “one thing” which was “needful” (Lk. 10:41-42).  Every child we bring into this world is an eternal being!  What an important realization too few parents recognize!  Give them the things needful to succeed in this life.  Just do not rob them of the most important thing, the only “needful” thing there is!

Neal Pollard

The Powerball jackpot is up to half a billion dollars and those inclined to participate will have until 7:30 PM tonight to buy a chance at this record-setting lottery payout.  The odds of winning are 1 in 175 million. Denise Dillon, a Fox reporter from Atlanta, says that you have a greater chance of getting hit by a coconut, having identical quadruplets, opening a four-number combination lock on the first try, becoming president of the United States, and several other highly unlikely events.  The Las Vegas Sun adds to that picking a perfect NCAA bracket and being attacked by a shark.  You will more likely die from contact with a venomous animal or plant, die from a mountain lion attack in California, contract mad cow disease, die from contact with hot tap water, or become canonized by the Catholic Church than win this lottery (information via nsc.org, lasvegassun.com, usatoday.com, and myfoxatlanta.com).

In a radio interview, however, one man said, “You owe it to yourself to” get in on this action.  While I believe a strong ethical case can be made to show that gambling is inappropriate, consider the mentality of this man as the underlying problem of which gambling and the lottery are but a symptom.  Buying a ticket may give a person a temporary feeling of hope and euphoria, but they are investing in the wrong place in order to get that feeling.  Though a relatively small percentage will claim that buying lottery tickets is harmless fun, a form of entertainment from which they expect no “payoff,” and no different than buying a movie ticket or ticket to a ball game, most who buy really want to win.  Statistics say that the largest percentage of patrons of gambling games like the lottery are society’s poorest.  About 10 years ago, Emily Oster, then a student at Harvard, wrote her Senior Honors Thesis on the theme, “Dreaming Big: Why Do People Play the Powerball?”  The thesis has been picked up by financial blogs and magazines and shared by other elite universities like Dartsmouth. She found “that the poorest zip codes purchase more tickets at the lowest levels. However, at the highest jackpots the sales are about the same (slightly over $16 per capita in the poorest zip codes and around $17 per capita in the richest)” (Oster 40).  Statistics assert that America’s poor spend anywhere from 3%-9% of their income on lottery tickets.

Paul wrote, “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17).  Does that mean that lower income or middle income people can fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches?  Of course not!  Job disclaimed with horror the idea that he might put his confidence and trust in gold (31:24).  The warning of Scripture seems to be against putting your hope and trust in the monetary.

We do owe ourselves something very vital.  We owe it to ourselves to build a relationship with God, to trust Him and hope in Him.  We owe it to ourselves to invest in that heavenly land where we will realize a return the likes of which earth cannot reproduce.  That means laying up treasure in heaven (cf. Mat. 6:19-21).  Let’s make sure we do that!

Neal Pollard

“Truth” is an important Bible word, being found 189 times in the Old and New Testaments.  It is an important Bible word because of what it is.  Many have walked in old Pilate’s shoes, asking, “What is truth?” (John 18:38).  Jesus’ prayer concisely answered that question, even before Pilate uttered it.  The Lord said that God’s Word is truth (John 17:17). Yet, we can easily find ourselves substituting that for something or someone else.  Notice the following.

The culture cannot be the standard of truth.  Not only does their standard constantly change, its basis for what is considered truth is skewed and self-determined.  In other words, a worldly approach to “truth” more often than not coincidentally coincides with what people want to do.  Many times, the world gets it exactly backward.  As Isaiah put it, the world using its own wisdom calls evil good and good evil (5:20).  By its own standards, the world does not come to even know God (1 Cor. 1:21).  1 John 2:16 thoroughly dismisses the idea of one’s worldly contemporaries being the standard of truth.

The religious world cannot be the standard of truth.  In far too many areas, individual religious groups, denominations, have invented their own doctrines.  They, too, can form their teaching and convictions based upon the strong pressures of culture.   They can reform and reshape their beliefs to accommodate people’s circumstances.  For any number of reasons, the religious world veers left or right of biblical center (cf. Deut. 5:32; Prov. 4:27).

The Lord’s church cannot be the standard of truth.  Opinions, traditions or customs, and preferences cannot be passed off as synonymous with or equal to truth.  A congregation of God’s people, well-intended or not, can depart from the truth.  We cannot blindly follow even these away from truth.

A particular school, preacher, periodical, etc., cannot be the standard of truth.  We can admire colleges and training schools for their work, teachers, and graduates, but this confidence must always remain conditional.  As we remember that one can veer from truth by binding or loosing, we must always measure what is promoted as truth with God’s divine standard.  What is true of institutions is equally true of individuals. Even if someone speaks passionately, with conviction, and without hesitation or reservation, our job is to compare their message with God’s (cf. Acts 17:11).  We can easily confuse charisma and chemistry with truth, but there is no inherent connection.

You and I cannot be the standard of truth. All of us have scruples, consciences, preferences, proclivities, likes, and dislikes.  We may feel quite strongly about them.  But, we cannot make ourselves the standard of truth on any biblical matter.

There is but one right standard and that is scripture.  Yes, there is the matter of proper interpretation and recognizing there can be improper interpretation.  On some matters, scripture may not be as definitive as we want or even initially think.  Yet, regarding anything that would effect our salvation, God has a clear, understandable “position” stated forth in Scripture (cf. 2 Pet. 1:3).  What He says on the matter is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  Accept no substitutes for this!

Neal Pollard

To Pause And Ponder Takes No Time

Yet It Changes Our Frame Of Reference.

Considering All Your Bounty Sublime

We Are Full Of Awe And Deference.

Thank You, God, For All Your Gifts

Each Day You Pour On Our Heads

Your Oil Of Favor. Our Spirit Lifts

Full Gratitude For All Your Loving Hand Sheds.

Our Very Minds, So Full And Keen

Testify Of Your Power And Grace

Our Hearts, Our Hands, Prove You Have Been

So Mindful Of Your Weak And Fallen Race.

We Lift That Mental Eye To Calvary

And See Your Son Hung On A Cross

With Tear-Filled Eyes, Your Greatest Gift We See

How Much We Gained By What He Lost.

Wherever And However We Look At Life

We See How Blessed You’ve Made Us All

Indebted, Through Victory Or Struggle And Strife

We Thank Your Blessings, Both Big And Small.

Neal Pollard

Most of us could have a little more financial security.  Most of us are not driving the car of our dreams, living in the house of our dreams, or going on the vacation of our dreams.  We have relationship problems, work-related problems, health problems, and miscellaneous problems.  We’ve been hurt, disappointed, betrayed, and mistreated. We stress, worry, and fret about our country, children, parents, job, past, present, and future.  It’s not heaven here, so there is plenty that is lacking if we’re looking.

But, what do you have? People can complain under the most ideal circumstances.  It takes no talent or self-discipline.  James reminds us where every good and perfect gift originates (1:17).  Jesus says our gifts can be “running over” (Lk. 6:38), and how often they are!

Do you have breath today?  Do you have eyes to see God’s beauty?  Do you have the blessing of hearing, able to detect laughter and chatter?  Do you have warmth from the cold, food for the stomach, refreshing water or even coffee or tea?  Do you have family around or near, if only in your heart? Do you have friends you can count on when you need them? Do you have those to love and those who love you? Do you have sunlight and stars? Do you have a great many conveniences that billions around the world would deem luxuries (like this computer)? Do you have a stove, refrigerator, microwave, toaster, blender, table, chairs, bed, couch, and running water?  Do you have the wherewithal to take a hot shower? Do you have a toothbrush? Do you have transportation to get where you need (or want) to be, right at your disposal?  Do you have music appreciation? Do you have pleasant memories? Do you have a bed upon which to lie each night? Do you have public services–police, fire and rescue, hospitals and doctors? Do you have freedom of choice and freedom from persecution?  Do you have a church home? Do you have a God of infinite power and care, a Spirit who guided men to reveal God’s perfect and complete written will, and a Savior who loved you enough to give up His life for you?

If you do, and many of you do, you have a head-start on counting your blessings.  If you concentrate, you can easily quadruple the list above in nearly no time at all.  Perhaps we all need to practice more grateful thinking and remember what all we do have!

From Bellbottoms To Skinny Jeans And Beyond.

Neal Pollard

Born in 1970, I was (thankfully!) too young to get sucked into bellbottoms and leisure suits.  However, I was a fashion-child of the ’80s.  I am proud to say that I never owned a pair of parachute pants, but my African-American best-friend, Greg Gwyn, and I did wear Miami Vice apparel to school many days in the mid-1980s.  Since I had a fro and his hair was cut closer, he was Crockett and I was Tubbs.

In the last few years, we have seen such fashion-savvy choices as “sagging” and skinny jeans.  Sometimes, people’s fashions cross the line of decency, good taste, and modesty, but some fashion statements are more embarrassing than evil.  Given a few years, we live long enough to be embarrassed that we were drawn into something that seemed so cool at the time but in retrospect is funny if not mortifying.  I don’t suppose this is a new phenomenon (have you ever seen the 18th Century pictures of our founding fathers in powdered wigs and stockings?).

Humanity is infamously fickle, ever-changing and in search of something new.  It is not unusual for a culture to be like the Athenians, spending “their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new” (Acts 17:21).  We have a tendency to be ever-ready for the next new thing.

In stark contrast to this remains this immutable, rock-solid entity that transcends culture and fashion.  It is the Bible.  Remarkably, as fickle fashion comes forward then fades as fast, the Bible remains timeless and true.  Certainly, it claims this for itself.  David writes, “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven” (Ps. 119:89).  Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away” (Mt. 24:35). Peter adds, “The word of the Lord endures forever” (1 Pet. 1:25).

But, observation constantly proves the truth of it.  The “Golden Rule” will continue to prove fruitful for human relations (Mt. 7:12).  The Beatitudes will yield blessings on anyone, anywhere, and anytime who incorporates them (Mt. 5:3-12).  The Bible gives blessed assurance to those suffering whenever and wherever (Rom. 8:28-39).  The Psalms give universal comfort, Proverbs give universal wisdom, Job gives universal insight and inspiration, and the list of examples is endless.  Those who truly live by its pattern find the happiest, most meaningful life possible.  Those who have tried it have proven it repeatedly.  Thank God that for a changeless message in a constantly changing world!

Neal Pollard

There is nothing like a hospital to provide a reality check.  Most large, urban hospitals have hundreds of patients most of whom have family and friends who love and care about them.  Many of the concerned are spouses, parents, and children.  When you visit someone in the hospital, you will walk past a number of these concerned people.  How often do you look them in the eye and see their faces?  If you will, you will see many emotions betrayed.  While their hearts are concealed, their faces, in so many instances, show sorrow, fear, stress, fatigue, anxiety, and despair.  A good number of them look to be carrying figurative, elephant-sized burdens that weigh down on them.

For much of life, a person can put off thinking about mortality.  For one thing, we have so much to do in our daily lives–work, care for family, a bevy of sundry activities.  For another, we do not have to waste mental energy on such an enormous topic when we and our loved ones are healthy.  Besides, at other times, we can afford to pursue our interests and desires.  But when we face the prospect of death it seems that all else in life fades with muted colors into the background of life.  Front and center in vivid color, life and the fragility of it stares us in the face.  It is then that we may ponder, perhaps more intently than at any other time, about “what’s next.”  Those confronting illness and death may be more prone to consider that beyond mortality lays immortality.  Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He has also set eternity in their heart.”  Does that mean God, who created us, put within us a knowledge and conviction about eternity at our most innate level.  As we face crises and dark moments, we attempt to gaze through the dark mystery of death and see such imposing figures as Accountability, Judgment, and Eternity standing before us.  This must be a disturbing moment for those unprepared to cross that dim divide.  Yet, God intended and desires for us to come to such moments with blessed assurance.  It is not unqualified assurance, open to those who live any old way they please.  But, it is an assurance that alters one’s gaze into that mysterious abyss of death.  Death is stinging and victorious over many, but not the Christian. God through Christ allows us to stare into that treacherous chasm with unbroken calm.  “Thanks be to God” (cf. 1 Cor. 15:54-57)!

Neal Pollard

Dave Chamberlin gave me a copy of the latest Civil War Times.  On page 14, there is a story about two of my great-great-great grandfathers and a picture of one of them, Stephen Pollard.  Apparently, the photo of great-grandpa has been “widely publicized” and went unattributed for some time.  It was found in the Liljenquist collection of Civil War portraits in the Library of Congress.  This grandfather survived the war and farmed in Haralson County, Georgia, until his death in 1899 (Petranek, Ed., Vol. 51, No. 6, 12/12, p. 14).

It’s the story of the other grandfather mentioned in the article, John Rigby, of the 35th Georgia Infantry, that is so fascinating.  The authors, Linda Wheeler and Sarah Richardson, did not know this story.  My cousin, Paul Pollard, told me about grandpa Rigby.  While fighting in the battle of Gaines Mills in 1862, grandpa Rigby was wounded seriously enough to be discharged.  He walked from Mechanicsville, Virginia, back home to Haralson County, Georgia.  While he was recovering at home, he and grandmother conceived their first child. About two years later, he was well enough to rejoin the 35th as they fought in the Wilderness Campaign of 1864. Though he received only a flesh wound, grandpa was captured by Union Forces and imprisoned in the infamous Elmira Prison Camp in upstate New York.  He died shortly after the signing of the Appamattox Treaty in the Spring of 1865.  But, if grandpa Rigby had not been wounded in Mechanicsville (where I preached almost 12 years!), I would not be here! What seeming providence, as God’s hand preserved a lineage that has produced several preachers and may well produce several more!

One of the most faith-building exercises is to study the eternal scheme of redemption in Scripture.  God worked out His salvation plan historically, through time and events, to bring the Christ into the world (cf. Gal. 4:4).  There were times, such as Noah’s day, awaiting the birth of Isaac, the period of the judges, the divided kingdom, the Babylonian Captivity, and many other events or eras where that plan seemed imperiled.  Yet, more than merely a story of providence, God’s eternal plan involves the sovereignty and intentional grace of God.  Peter said Jesus was crucified as part of “the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23).  God announced it beforehand (Acts 3:18).  It was foreknown by God from before the foundation of the world (1 Pet. 1:20).  To see the people and events used by God to bring us Christ should excite us.  Be reminded that this same God is at work today, providentially bringing about His purpose through willing people like you and me.  Be a part of God’s unfolding history simply by being at work to accomplish His purpose!

Yesterday morning’s sermon:  “Change, Then Hope” (http://www.bearvalleycofc.com/storage/sermonaudio/2012_1111AM_Change.mp3)

Improving Foreign Diplomacy.

Neal Pollard

Being roundly criticized for its handling of the Benghazi embassy attack, facing the continued threat of “Arab Spring,” ongoing awkwardness in dealing with foreign powers like China and Russia, and now replacing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the new administration is going to be challenged by foreign affairs issues in the foreseeable future.  It is an important issue because how we handle ourselves with the rest of the world determines our strength and weakness as a nation.  Proper diplomacy is key!

Churches and Christians in them continually face a similar challenge in interacting with non-believers and that system of thought identified in Scripture as “the world.”  New Testament writers identify the Lord’s church as “a holy nation” (1 Pet. 2:9), but we are also said to be “aliens and strangers” in this world (1 Pet. 2:11). Inasmuch as diplomats are those tasked with managing international relations and representing their country abroad, we must understand as mission as “ambassadors for Christ” (cf. 2 Cor. 5:20).  Peter gives us insight into how to improve our “foreign diplomacy.”

First, share generously (1 Pet. 2:9). Because of the important role we fill, chosen, royal, holy, and “possessed by God,” we need to “come to the table” ready to share.  Whether the world realizes it or not, they are poor in the most dire way possible.  Peter tells us to “proclaim the excellencies of Him” to the world.

Second, humbly recognize the importance of your status (1 Pet. 2:10).  Instead of being pompous and arrogant, we will feel the weight of our responsibility.  We represent God to the world, which is spiritually blind, deaf, and ignorant of the Bible and its teaching.  We also realize that we were once in darkness (2:9) and we have a checkered past (2:10).  This should make us more vigilant and determined as we reach out to the world.

Third, distinguish yourself in conduct (1 Pet. 2:11-12a).  According to these verses, that means avoiding what will lead us to self-destruct (“fleshly lusts”) and putting our best foot forward with the world (“keep your behavior excellent”).  You will be watched more closely, held to a higher, stricter standard, and criticized just for the “post” you hold.  You will even endure “slander…as evildoers.”

Finally, serve with honor and distinction (1 Pet. 2:12b).  Criticisms can be weathered. Accusations can be proven specious. Conduct is the key.  Because “of your good deeds, as they observe them,” they will “glorify God in the day of visitation.”  Stay true to what you know is right.  Jesus said, “Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children” (Lk. 7:35).  In other words, time will tell through the fruit of your deeds, as you remain focused on your mission.

It is hard to say how the President and his cabinet will deal with their foreign diplomacy challenges.  Let us pray for them.  Meanwhile, let us stay focused on the indispensable role we have in that “holy nation” of the church!  That work impacts eternities.