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WHEN YOU GO TO WORSHIP, ACT LIKE A LAME BEGGAR

Neal Pollard

When you go to worship this Lord’s Day, will you act like a lame beggar? Not just like any lame beggar.  Not exactly imitating the lame beggar to which I refer.  Instead, consider the man in Acts 3 and the effect Christ’s power had on him.  He thought he had his list of needs properly prioritized–he wanted a few coins to help his subsistent life.  He met a couple of men and thought they could oblige, but then he learned they were broke.  Rather than coins, Peter and John gave Him Christ!  And, it is the reaction that Luke makes so striking and startling!  He leaped (8), began to walk (8), went “walking and leaping and praising God” (8), and people “saw him walking and praising God” (9).  Where did this happy man go in this condition?  “The temple” (9). People took note of him, remembering what he was but seeing what he now is (10).

 

I am not advocating a literal leaping into the church building doors this week, but this man had an exuberance and enthusiasm that should get our attention.  Where are we going on the Lord’s Day?  What are we getting to do when we assemble together?  What has He done in our lives and with our sins?  How has that effected and changed us?  Your reaction truly cannot be contrived or manipulated!  It must come from a genuine understanding and gratitude for Christ saving us!  It must come from a daily “walk” that is getting closer and closer to this awesome Savior!  Without Jesus, we are more crippled than the lame and poorer than the most abject beggar.  With Him, we should be filled with joy and excitement!  Let us make sure this shows up on our faces and in our demeanors when we sing, pray, commemorate, and listen, as we worship, this Sunday!

“Man’s Python Eats His Pit Bull”

Neal Pollard

No kidding!  This is the report out of Merced, California, dated October 9, 2001, and released by Reuters.  Apparently, the northern California man owned two pets, the snake and the dog.  The 200-pound Burmese python ate the 30-pound pit-bull.  Pit-bulls, whether fairly or not, are known for their ferocity.  They annually rank in the top ten breeds of dogs for number of bites administered.  However, this Fido got on the wrong side of a reptile whose appetite and body outweighed his own.

How this situation is reminiscent of Galatians 5:15 and situations that still play out today among God’s people.  “Bewitching” influences (3:1) troubled the Galatians, gospel-changing (1:6-9) and Judaizing (4:21) brethren whose attitude was apparently as much a problem as their false teaching.  They inflamed and agitated (5:12), seemingly lacked love (5:13-14), and were guilty of biting and devouring “one another” (5:15).

Even in this circumstance, Paul warned of consequences these theological terriers might reap from one another.   He writes, “But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!” (NKJ).  Two of the brotherhood’s more rabid editors, in their respective journals, continue to sink their teeth deeper into the other, accusing the other of ever-mushrooming heresy and false teaching.  With their pens, they have assaulted the innocent as well as the guilty in the past.  Perhaps, lest the other be thought to be a mightier “defender” of the truth, each now seems to have whetted their appetites anew on one another.

At times, jealousy in the church has led one or some to set their fangs on their prey.  Together, the pack devours their isolated victim.  Beware!  The predator can become the prey.  More than one pit-bull has been swallowed by a python.  This same thing can happen to backbiters in the local church, attacking others viciously and leaving gashes on the reputations of undeserving, if not innocent, brothers and sisters.  It is hard to highly esteem gossips and petty-minded folk, and soon they are in the cross hairs of others.

Remarkably, the Lord’s remedy, when applied, works wonders and avoids such ghastly attacks.  Paul writes, “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted” (6:1).   He also concludes, “Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (6:7b).  For those who dog others unwarrantedly, look closer.  That gaping and fanged opening is not the doghouse door.

 

ARNOLD PALMER AND DUANE SOLIDAY

(we chased Arnold back to his golf course, but he was already inside)

Neal Pollard

I had a couple of hours this week, during the day, to see a few places near Ligonier, Pennsylvania, where I am holding a gospel meeting.  There are some places of national significance in this vicinity.  Ligonier itself is home to an important fort from during the French and Indian War.  In close proximity, however, are some other notable places.  Just a few minutes down the road is Shanksville, where Flight 93 went down in a field on 9/11.  The memorial being built by the National Park Service has a solemnity comparable to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Today, Steve Lucas, the local preacher at Ligonier, took me a few minutes up the road to Latrobe.  Latrobe is the home of Arnold Palmer.  Steve actually took me to Arnold Palmer’s relatively modest home.  As I was getting ready to take a picture, Arnold Palmer himself drove past us on the fastest golf cart I have ever seen in motion.  Though I did not get a picture, I can say that I made eye contact with the golfing legend.  I thought that would be the highlight of my day.  However, Steve took me up to Johnstown, also close by, the town demolished by the great flood of 1889.  David McCullough has written a compelling book chronicling that catastrophe caused, in great part, by careless men.  In the visitor information center, I met 85-year-old volunteer Duane Soliday.  He was a talker.  After telling about the three floods that have struck the beleaguered city, he proceeded to tell me his life’s story.  He said much, much more than I can include here, including how his grandfather, abused by his step-father, ran away, worked for a timber company in the northwest, came back home riding the rails, was caught by the conductor and was told that he would not turn him into the railroad police if he would manage his farm.  Eight years later, in 1889, he responded to newspaper ads in nearby Johnstown to clean up after the flood.  The man, fearful his stepfather would learn of his return, changed his name from James Felix Keister to James Soliday.  Duane is a World War II and lung cancer survivor, a newly-widowed man who lost, as he said, “the love of my life” after 58 years of marriage.  He raved about four children, the oldest of which just turned 60.  He was steady and solid in the community and in his home.  He was a likable man and a conscientious one.  While this man has probably contributed more to the overall good of his community and nation than even Arnold Palmer has, one thing struck me about Mr. Soliday.  I hope he is a New Testament Christian.  He believes in God, does good things, and was so engaging and worthy of respect.  Yet, he will not be able to point to his civic heroism, his long and happy marriage, or his apparently success parenting to cover his sins.  We often think that if people live good, clean, and productive lives, surely God will save them.  However, the only thing that will suffice for our sins when we stand before Christ on that great day is the blood of Jesus.  If we have not done what it takes to have the blood applied (cf. Matt. 26:28+Acts 2:38; Rev. 1:5+Acts 22:16) and live in such a way as to have it continually applied (1 Jn. 1:7), none of us on earth is good enough to stand before Christ based on our goodness.  May this break our hearts for good people whose goodness cannot save them–it did not save Cornelius (Acts 10:1ff).  May we care enough to share the good news with them.

HEIGHTENED SENSITIVITY

Neal Pollard

Yesterday marked the tenth anniversary of the largest act of terrorism against our nation, better known to the world as 9/11. Today’s newspaper in Pittsburgh was filled with news items and articles surrounding this ominous anniversary. Among these were several items regarding security scares at various airports and flights. In New York, a flight from Los Angeles was escorted by two F-16 fighter jets because three passengers would not leave a plane bathroom. In Detroit, a flight from Denver had three passengers who did the same thing. In Dallas, a rental truck was parked too long at DFW airport prompting suspicion and fear. In Kansas City, an ex-NYC police officer was detained for having suspicious items in his carry-on bag that he refused to let TSA screeners examine. Nothing serious has yet come of any of these incidents, but the nation was on edge yesterday. The anniversary probably brought out the neurotic in search of 15 minutes of fame, but the country was taking extra precautions. It was probably the worst day to try these shenanigans (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 9/12/11, A8).

Paranoia is detrimental and abnormal. None of us should be guilty of such. Seeing things that are not there is unhealthy. Yet, there is a sense in which all of us should live with heightened sensitivity. Peter says, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world” (1 Pet. 5:8-9). Sobriety, alertness, and firm resistance are acts of heightened sensitivity. Knowing the strength and influence of our opponent, we must stay keenly aware of his tactics and attempts. One cannot be too guarded with this enemy. Earlier, Peter writes for Christians to “prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit” (1 Pet. 1:13). Paranoia involves perceiving what is not a real threat. Vigilance involves perceiving what is. Such is our daily task!

WHERE WERE YOU?

Neal Pollard

When I constructed this ball whereupon you now stand,

When its measures were drawn by My hand,

When the stars and the angels all rejoiced in one band,

When I gave heaven its face, where were you?

When the seas reached their ends and were covered by clouds,

When the darkness over it was as billowing shrouds,

When the oceans had gone as far as I would allow,

When they stood in their place, where were you?

Do you summon the morning or direct the dawn?

To you do the gates of death yawn?

If you know the dimensions of earth, make it known!

When I invented its light, where were you?

Are you eternal by reason of birth or by years?

From where comes snow, hail, ice or dew that appears?

Tell me all of the future, the crux of man’s fears!

Or explain wind with its might.  Where were you?

Waves and thunder and lightning or rain

How and why do they work, please explain!

How they make the earth lush and satisfy its terrain

When I made wonders of the sky, where were you?

What of morals and laws with when men I have bound

Or have put in him intellect and knowledge with renown

Could you even explain dust and dirt on the ground?

When I made beasts instincts so sly, where were you?

Fair design of the earth, wonders of all that’s above,

Great mysteries and secrets, time or man can’t remove,

Held in check by My might, which you can’t fully know of,

When I was, always was, where were you?

Dear child, who in darkness or trials, often wonder

When you’re blinded by tears, crushed by weights you are under

Though you can’t see it now, through doubt’s loudest thunder

Someday you’ll know every cause when I’m with you.

The “Three Year Glitch”

Neal Pollard

Does it ever seem like the information age, our current age of technological advances, is all-consuming?  It has, according to a new survey, even impacted the attention span the average person gives to his or her mate once married.  The proverbial “seven year itch,” for years a benchmark test of a relationship when romance and passion were eclipsed by annoyances and mundanity, has shrunk with society’s attention span and attention to the other’s needs as more important than self’s.

The survey of over 2000 Britons, a study commissioned by Warner Brothers, found that work, financial worries, and other facets of “hard work” in a relationship were leading couples these days more quickly to boredom and aggravation with one another.  Often, this has led to couples wanting more time apart from one another.  Too often, it has led to marital infidelity.  Detractions and annoyances in relationships leading to this “3-year-glitch” include such things as weight gain and lack of exercise, hygiene issues, in-laws, money (spending too much or too little), alcohol, snoring, lack of romance, fashion lapses, and more (some information from Reuters.com).

As we step back from this study, we can observe several things.  First, these relational trends reflect society’s general worldview.  Materialism and plenty, when focused and consumed upon self, can quickly lead to boredom.  Second, these relational issues are like the poor–“they are always with us” (cf. John 12:8).  They exist from the day we walk down the aisle together and embark on the honeymoon.  They are typically no worse at 50 years than they were at 50 seconds into the relationship.  That means that, each day we live in married life together, we must continually remind ourselves of all that’s good in our mate and of all that drew us to him or her in the first place.  Marriage is not a license to let up but instead to lather up what was done in courting.  How dishonest to act one way to “get” someone and another once we “got ’em.”  Third, marriage must be viewed as a marathon rather than a 40-yard-dash.  Our lives are filled with change and stages, and God’s people learn to adjust and grow with them.

May we be dedicated to building the “All Our Years Rich” trend.  Whether God gives us only a few years together or 60 or 70, let us resolve to spend the time building up our mate and helping them go to heaven.  That will scratch any itch and fix any glitch!

To GOD Be The Glory

Neal Pollard

There are modern ways to express this, sayings like “it’s amazing what gets done when no one cares who gets the credit.”  We sing it in song, a reminder that all we do in our Christian walk is to let God get the notice, accolades, and praise.  But, that is a struggle most people have with their flesh.

And while it may seem like a “lesser sin” to want recognition and attention for our good deeds, our Lord shows great and visible displeasure with those who long for the spotlight on their works.  In Matthew 6, Jesus preaches about areas like giving, fasting, and praying where men desire others’ to notice and praise them for those deeds.  Jesus strongly rebuked groups like the scribes and Pharisees who lived for the respectful greetings in the marketplace and the chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers (Luke 20:46-47).  Jesus said such “will receive greater condemnation” (see also Matt. 23:6ff; Luke 14:17; etc.).

Be careful not to be the type who jockeys for the position of chief.  God is going to reward all the faithful with an eternal reward far beyond what we can imagine right now.  It is not our place to inform others of how valuable we are, what we are worth to the church, how indispensable we are to a project or program, or even to tell others how righteous and spiritual we are.  Effective church work is done when each individual catches the spirit that it is not about “me”!  It is about “He.”  He gives salvation.  He gives the abilities.  He gives the opportunities.  He gives the orders.  We are worthless slaves doing our duty (Luke 17:10).  If others praise your work, be gracious, appreciative, and ever humble.  If they do not, know that our Lord keeps an indelible record that cannot be misplaced, destroyed, or forgotten.  Meanwhile, in all things, let us strive to give GOD the glory!

HEAVENLY STANDARDS

Thom Vaught

It was a chilly Sunday morning on February 7th 1904.  The men of Engine Co. 15 were expecting a quiet day as they readied for inspection.  Their routine was interrupted by an automated fire alarm at 10:48 a.m. in the John Hurst and Company building.  These men were answering the first call of the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904.

Once the Fire Chief was on the scene, he quickly realized the danger.  High winds were causing the blaze to spread quickly and efforts to douse the fire were hampered by the freezing temperatures.  He called in nearly the entire Baltimore City Fire Department to fight the fire but even that was not enough to contain the persistent flames.

A plea for help went out to areas surrounding Baltimore and the response was astounding.  Firefighters from Washington DC were the first to arrive.  Upon arrival they were were dismayed to find out that their fire hose couplings would not fit the fire hydrants.  Baltimore like most cities of that day had their own standard by which fire hydrants and firefighting equipment were manufactured.  As firefighters arrived, they tried to adapt to this different standard but the lowered water pressure and leaks continued to impact their ability to help.  Firefighters from as far away as Philadelphia  and New York City answered the call but each time the story was the same.  The lack of a standard caused confusion and the resulting efforts were less effective.

The Great Baltimore Fire raged across the city for two days.  Damage caused by the blaze was so extensive that it is hard to imagine.  It destroyed over 1,500 buildings covering nearly 70 city blocks.

In a report presented to congress, the lack of a uniform standard was cited as a major contributing factor to the massive destruction.  Congress tasked the fledgling National Bureau of Standards now known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to investigate the matter.  They discovered around 600 different sizes for fire equipment in use throughout the nation.  As a result, the organization established a national standard for fire equipment.

Having a standard is great, but it is only useful when it is followed.  Fires as recent as the 1991 Oakland Hills Fire have been hampered by cities not following the NIST standard.  In 2004, the NIST published a centennial progress report on the adoption of their standard after the Great Baltimore Fire.  In it they disclosed that several major cities are still not following the standard established a century earlier.

Moving from the physical to the spiritual.  God recognized the need for a standard for us to follow.  Furthermore, our Lord has not confused man with a plethora of differing standards but gave us a single one.  This heavenly standard is the God-breathed word of the Bible and it is meant as our only standard for life and worship.  As when Paul exhorted Timothy (2 Timothy 3:16,17) during the first century, we also have in Scripture everything necessary to understand and follow God’s will.  How can we hope to fit into the spiritual mold that God desires if we pursue any standard other than His?

“Were You Preaching To Me?”


Neal Pollard

Perhaps the most frequent question I have been asked through the years immediately after I have finished preaching is, “Were you preaching to me?”  Unfortunately, I have not always answered that as effectively as I should.  Then, one day while listening to a great lesson on leadership by James Rogers, I heard his response.  A young man asked him that question, to which he replied, “Were you here this morning?”  “Yes.”  “Of course I was preaching to you.”  The young man was glad.  It would not have made sense for him to come and the sermon not be preached to him.

I have always worked hard to never write a sermon with a specific individual in mind.  I may preach sermons that address certain personalities or characteristic traits, but I was wisely warned when training to preach that using the pulpit to address personal vendettas, grievances, or grudges was extreme cowardice.  Doing that is unfair and abusive!

However, I would say to every hearer of my every sermon, I am indeed preaching to you!  Please take each sermon to heart (as I do!).  As you inspect it for truth, accept it if it is truth, and inspect your life by that truth.  There are those who are too hard on themselves and beat themselves up with unnecessary guilt as they hear sermons.  Yet, others who need to apply the lesson fail to make (or fight against making) personal application.

If the sermon is on making the Lord most important in life by faithfully attending services and you allow sports, occupation, homework, company, or other things to persistently replace that, the sermon is being preached to you.  If it is on making an effort to know your brethren better or visit the sick, widows, orphans, and needy and you are not doing it, take the sermon personally!  In fact, whatever the subject, apply it to yourself.  A good brother once told me, “I always take the sermon personally because I could always be doing my Christian duty better.”  Amen, brother!  So could I!

Please take each and every sermon personally!  It makes me feel like the time studying and preparing it was worthwhile.  And, always respond to it—not publicly, unless you need to do so.  Let it help make you a better Christian and better prepare you for heaven.  Hopefully, we can come to appreciate that the preacher is always preaching to each one of us, including himself!

Since I Set Foot In Asia

Neal Pollard

Paul called for the elders of the Ephesus church of Christ, who met him at Troas.  Paul was concerned for them, the church, and the brotherhood.  He wanted them prepared to do their work, even in difficult circumstances.  In addressing them, he uses a figure of speech that we use to this day.  He had, literally, “set foot” in Asia.  The idea is that from the moment he arrived to do mission work there, he was characterized in certain ways.  Moved along by the Holy Spirit, Paul could describe himself in a way that any of us should strive to have ourselves described.  Notice several things that describe his faithfulness as a Christian and how it ought to describe us, too.

Paul was bolstering (18).  He was present in a way that was beneficial and reassuring to others.  He was with them serving the Lord in humility and tears.  Notice the connection between serving the Lord and being there for others.  All of us have failed in this and all of us need to do better at seeing the connection between these two.  As we succeed in it, we will strengthen others.

Paul was broken-hearted (19).  What a man cries about says much about him.  Paul’s tears were not connected to a sports championship, a sappy movie, or even a misfortune to an animal.  They were not selfish tears.  He cried because of spiritual things.  There should be a tenderheartedness about us in things pertaining to Christ.

Paul was burdened (19).  Being a faithful Christian involves trials.  Paul said as much (2 Tim. 3:12; 2 Cor. 11:28).  People will try you, even if you are a faithful Christian and sometimes because of that.  They will try your patience, your attitude, and your character.  Paul was tested and approved by testing.

Paul was bold (20).  Despite opposition and persecution, Paul would not back down from telling the truth.  He knew what was right, and he knew it was right to share that and wrong to keep it to himself.  He did not shrink back from profitable declarations, whether in a public setting or even in the intimacy of a private setting.  Both forums can challenge our boldness.

Paul was balanced (20, 27).  He told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  He veered neither to the left nor the right.  He did not hold back the parts he found more difficult or unpalatable.  Biblical balance betrays a love for people that shares everything necessary for life and godliness.

Paul was braced (22-25).  He was ready, whatever he had to face for Christ.  Death was no threat to Paul, who had already faced Jews who stoned him, riots that revolved around him, or false accusations that persisted against him.  He would face more of the same, but he was undeterred and prepared.

Paul was blameless (26).  This is the most striking thing about Paul’s Christian walk.  He could call himself innocent from the blood of all men.  He shared Christ, no matter what and no matter who.  What an incredible state of affairs, to have always preached the kingdom, “in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2).

CHALLENGES WITH CLIMBING

Neal Pollard

CHALLENGES WITH CLIMBING

Neal Pollard

Today is the first day of a big event for Colorado, the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.  It will be historic for at least one reason.  The race will include two 12,000 foot passes–Cottonwood (12,126) and Independence (12, 085).  The first twelve miles up Cottonwood is on dirt!  It will challenge the more than 120 pro racers from 12 nations, chiefly because of an altitude most of these racers are unaccustomed to facing.  Performance in that thin of air is necessarily reduced.  Bicyclists have to guard against going too fast or too slow.  They must find that right “middle gear” and essentially stay in it consistently.

Isn’t that the way it goes?  Stay contented in a spiritual rut, traveling the low roads, and you can pretty well coast along.  But, strive to climb to new heights and the challenge really begins!  Pushing yourself out there to evangelize is uncomfortable and in some cases hard.  Being distinct and different from the world when such is demanded by the Bible is difficult.  Defending an unpopular Bible truth can be painful!  Being an active, involved father and devoted husband can be inconvenient and time-intensive. Involvement in church work, faithfulness to church services, self-discipline in personal spirituality, and the like produce stiff challenges in our “upward call” (Phil. 3:14). Bible terminology calls the “heavenward way” narrow and difficult (Mat. 7:13-14).  We need help to make it to that “rock that is higher than” us (cf. Ps. 61:2). The truth is that while climbing those new heights gets easier with practice and experience, it will always be more difficult to reach up to God than to remain content and comfortable in the valley of mediocrity!  Accept the challenge of true Christianity and go higher!

Happy Wicca Day?

Neal Pollard

The News Centinel, the Knoxville newspaper, reports that Vanderbilt has among its holidays a Wiccan holiday listed on the BBC Interfaith Calendar.  Vandy administration says it cannot know how many students officially adhere to the pagan or Wiccan “faith,” but those who claim to be will be freed from classes to dance around the maypole and whatever else one does on an official Wiccan holiday (from news item, 8/18/11, 7A).  While the columnist is questioning how honest everyone will be, given its observance will be on one’s “honor,” the greater question is how much such multiculturalism is trying God’s perfect patience.  The push to tolerate anything and everything in the name of religion will eventually make the popular policy to “co-exist” untenable, even for those either naive or biblically ignorant.  Jesus speaks in exclusive terms, calling Himself the only way, truth, and life (cf. John 14:6).  Others in the New Testament follow this religiously exclusive idealogy.  There is no other name under heaven whereby one must be saved (Acts 4:12).  You will find this “salvation is only in Christ” message in other passages (Acts 10:43; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; Mt. 1:21; etc.).  So many “faiths” attempt no answer for our origin (cf. Buddhism) or a purpose beyond self (cf. paganism) or for our destiny (cf. materialism).  Others have added or changed God’s message regarding one or more of these areas–Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Protestantism, Catholicism, et al.  Others’ belief in their deity run counter or contradictorily to the truths taught in the Bible (cf. Islam).  There is a sea of religious confusion that either fails to answer the great questions of life or give false answers.  Only in Jesus can one find the truth, and one can only find the teaching of Jesus in the Bible.  That is a strikingly narrow statement to make in this post-postmodern era, but it is a statement behind which all of us who truly follow Jesus must make–not hatefully, but lovingly and not spitefully, but urgently!

“Good News!”


Neal Pollard

In Jesus’ public ministry, He came to people filled with misery and all too aware of bad news and preached good news to them (Matt. 11:5).  As His hope-filled message must have seemed improbable to them, He was compelled to exhort, “repent and believe the gospel” (Mk. 1:15).  The Lord never intended that His good news should be a secret (cf. Mk. 16:15).  Everyone deserves to hear the good news!

The ancient disciples took Jesus’ command to make disciples by spreading the good news quite seriously.  Philip and many other saints took this exciting message throughout the Samaritan community (Acts 8:25).  Nearly 500 miles from there, it was told by Paul and Barnabas in Derbe and Lystra (Acts 14:6-7).  It would be told across two bodies of water and over 1000 miles from that region of Lycaonia in Rome (Rom. 1:16).  It is little wonder that Paul would soon exclaim, “…be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven…” (Col. 1:23).  The good news was too valuable and wonderful to tuck away and review only in the worship assemblies.

Why is the good news of the gospel so important?  It centers upon the grace of God (Acts 20:24).  This means that God did something for man that man needed and cannot provide for himself.  The good news is that God made Christ, who did no sin (cf. Heb. 4:15), to be sin for every person in this world so that any individual who goes where that grace can be found can be made right with God.

While sin is a weight (Heb. 12:1), the news lightens the burden (Matt. 11:28-30).  While sin causes heartache and grief (Psa. 31:10), the news brings joy (Rom. 5:11).  While sin destroys and separates (Isa. 55:8-9), the good news offers new life (Rom. 6:4).

Many people in desperate need of good news are out there anxiously waiting to learn that there is reason and purpose for their lives.  Aimless and hopeless, they need the gospel.  Christians have possession of that blessing, but the same gospel will bless the glad receivers who have the chance to hear it (Acts 2:41).

Bad news seems to be snowballing into an ever-threatening avalanche of terror and unrest.  Yet, much more powerful in this life and the one to come is the powerful good news of Jesus and His love!  When more and more people hear the good news of the gospel, less and less bad news will pervade.  Truly, the gospel brings lasting hope.  Many will reject it, but let us renew our aim of getting out the good news!  How many will find eternal joy because we did?

 

REFLECTING ON THE “DOUGHTERY GANG”

Neal Pollard

It sounds like pure fiction!  Three siblings seemingly rotten to the core.  What triggered their criminal rampage that took them from Florida to Colorado, leading them to shoot at multiple police officers, steal cars, rob banks, and involve themselves in multiple high speed chases with law enforcement?  At the end of the manhunt, the eldest, a 29-year-old woman who was a stripper by profession, repeatedly fired at officers on the scene until she was finally shot in the leg.  Their photos, splashed all across the media, reveal three normal-looking young people.  Yet, between them, they have 20 felony charges in their criminal history.  There is unwed pregnancy, sexual perversion of multiple kinds, and an arsenal of weapons and ammunition they used freely until their capture.

We want to know what happened to create such monsters?  What kind of home training (or seeming lack thereof) did these three receive?  What would make them embrace such reckless, dangerous anarchy?

May I suggest that these three have exhibited an extreme example of a popular mindset in our culture?  What was on display in this crime spree was utter, unadulterated selfishness.  The FBI implied there may be a disdain for law enforcement, but one does not need to be privy to their tweets and texts to see that.  Reports are that on a social media account, the sister said, “I love to farm and shoot guys and wreck cars.  I’m a redneck and proud of it” (ajc.com).  This was self-centeredness and disdain for authority at its most unabashed.

Their parents certainly take the pressure off of any of the rest of us in a contest for “worst parents of the year.”  But, let us consider that we are instilling values in our children, by example, by neglect, by intentional teaching, and by what we prize and value.  We are giving the next generation its worldview by the decisions we make and rationale we employ.

I am not saying that we are raising firearm-crazy rednecks, but we are raising our children to have certain values and priorities.  They will become what we are helping to make them.  That sobers me to no end.  What a great responsibility God has placed upon our shoulders!  He will hold us accountable for the direction in which we are setting them.  Many people will talk about our children in the years and decades to come.  What will they say about them?  May words like “godly,” “committed,” “faithful,” “spiritual,” “unselfish,” and “servant” modify others’ descriptions of them!  May we be modeling those very traits before their impressionable eyes.

AFFECTED BY A CREDIT DOWNGRADE

Neal Pollard

I know it is on your mind if you are a working adult.  What does it mean that the United States, which, according to Michelle Bachmann, has had a AAA credit rating since 1917 and “has endured the great depression, World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the terrorist attacks on 9/11” but has been downgraded to AA-plus?  How will this effect present financial functioning and future economic opportunities, including things like retirement?  Has our nation become like that cliched bum uncle that is loaned $1000 but refuses to pay it back, calling himself unable while keeping premium cable and smoking three packs a day?  If the government is to blame, why must bill-paying, responsible citizens pay?

Perhaps such questions are futile in looking at our national economy.  However, there is one arena in which we will never have to worry about a “credit downgrade.”  The apostle Paul mentions this extensively in Romans four.  In fact, all nine times the word “credited” is used in the NAS version, it is found in this single chapter.  The word is an accounting term meaning “to enter in the account book” (Reinecker 357).  The crux of the discussion is how righteousness is credited. Paul indicates that righteousness is credited to our account, not based on our performance but rather by belief in the resurrected Lord (cf. 4:24).  That is not to discount the necessity of a faith that obeys and does the works commanded by Christ.  It is, however, to remind us that our salvation can be trusted because it is built upon the worth and soundness of the perfect Son of God.  Jesus ever was, is, and ever will be perfect and sinless (2 Cor. 5:21).  God, from eternity to eternity, cannot and will not lie (cf. Heb. 6:19-20).  Therefore, justification through Christ can never be devalued.  Especially on a day like today, such reassurance is timely!  Christ is the only trustworthy foundation upon which to build life (cf. Matt. 7:24ff).

RAH, RAH, REALLY?


Neal Pollard

It sounds like the beginning of a corny joke.  “A Texas fan and an Oklahoma fan in Applebee’s got into a fight about which football team was better.  The Sooner jumped the Longhorn in the lobby, pulled a knife and stabbed himself.”  Seriously, the fight went worse for the Oklahoma fan, who was charged with assault and was in critical condition.  They say the Texas fan was “stable,” but that might be debatable.  Given the late hour of the brouhaha, it has been speculated that alcohol might have been involved.  Hmm.

This San Antonio skirmish is an extreme and, thankfully, rare example of how people can expend inordinate emotion about things that ultimate amount to absolutely nothing!  Our response to the subject of their heated, sustained battle is, “Who cares?”  Appended to the first question is this follow up, “Why so worked up about something so eminently minor?”  I have heard of members of the church who rooted for rivals that allowed their athletics allegiance to cause a rift between them, refusing to fellowship or even speak with their antagonists.  Unbelievable!

While this produces an opportune time to remind us to never let anything, sports, politics, or the like, to become a higher priority than our unity in Christ, reflect for a moment on a common, if less dramatic, occurrence.  Do we ever allow minor things, things that are not matters of eternal consequence, to escalate and grow into rifts and even skirmishes?  Sometimes, such rifts are caused by assumptions, presumptions, innuendos and intimations.  Before you know it, these create camps and schisms.  Look how it started at Corinth.  Paul wrote, “Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, ‘I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ” (1 Cor. 1:12).  Paul references “fruitless discussions” in 1 Timothy 1:6 and “worldly and empty chatter” in 1 Timothy 6:20.  How wise we are to keep the main things the main things and relegate these other things to the discard pile!

HE PUTS THEM IN OUR PATH

 

Neal Pollard

Something happened yesterday that makes me ashamed.  Before I share that, consider a prayer that we pray–or should pray–with frequency.  We say in public prayer and many of us in private prayer, “Lord, please open a door of opportunity.”  That’s scriptural and it follows the great example of Paul, who said, “Praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ…” (Col. 4:3).  God opened a “door of faith” for Paul and Barnabas to evangelize (Acts 14:27).  Spiritual healthiness involves wanting opportunities to serve the Lord, especially in making His kingdom grow.  If we believe that it is right to pray to God for this and we believe that God answers those prayers, what happens in our lives?  There are people He providentially places in our path for us to reach with the gospel.

Yesterday, in a BeauJos restaurant in Idaho Springs, I had such a moment.  Dale, my middle son, excitedly told me as I was returning from washing my hands, “Dad, that couple was praying for their food!  You should go talk to them!”  I told him something like “if the time is right, I’ll do that, son.”  Yes, I realize how “lame” that was.  I repented before Dale, and now ask your forgiveness, for such rationalization.  When could there be a better time?  Yes, I know what I would say next time.  It dawned on me as I was praying last night.

Dale is so gracious.  He told me, “That’s all right, dad.  It’s not like you only get one chance.”  Isn’t that a wonderful truth?  What a motivator!  God is the God of the second chance.  Not only that, if I prayed for an opportunity and he sent that one in BeauJos, won’t He do it again.  Next time, I resolve to be ready.  I must be.  If I am to trust prayer and God’s provision, He will put someone in my path.  May I be ready and willing to share Christ with them!

THE DAY WE HIT JOYCE

Neal Pollard

I have told this story to several individuals in the last seven-plus years, but have never mentioned it in a sermon or in print.  It was a remarkable event, one my son, Gary, and I shared with five other people right outside Boma Ngombe, Tanzania.  Gary was 10 years old and it was the first full day for one of our sons to be out of the country on a mission trip.  One of the American missionaries was driving us back from Moshi, where I had taught Bible class and preached that morning.  We were on our way back to Arusha, nearly halfway, when a teenaged orphan girl on a bicylce darted from behind a Coaster bus attempting the impossible feat of crossing the road despite automobiles going more than 50-miles per hour both ways.  Our driver did everything he could to avoid hitting her, but the embankment where we were was sheer and steep.  When she hit the windshield directly in front of me, I remember the feeling of horror that went though my head hit the dashboard almost as soon as we hit her.  Gary was sitting in the second row, behind me, and watched the whole thing.  I saw her continue to roll after hitting the road several feet behind our SUV.

As a Christian and human being, I felt anguish and disbelief at the girl lying there. As a father, I felt much guilt for exposing my son to such trauma and danger.  As a brother, I felt great empathy for the young man who had to cope with the knowledge of what had just happened and how it might effect him.  As a fellow passenger, I felt fear and shock.

To allay any apprehension you might feel, the girl survived the accident.  She broke her hip and suffered substantial abrasions.  Yet, I think of that day often.

That day, I saw how zealous some are to evangelize.  Elly Martin accompanied the missionary, who drove the orphan, Joyce, and her adopted mom to the hospital back in Moshi.  By the time they had driven the distance, Elly had gotten the woman police officer from Boma Ngombe into a Bible study and had taken the opportunity to teach Joyce’s “mom,” too.  Could there have been a better object lesson about the uncertainties of life than that?  What gave him the presence of mind to try and win the souls of the officer, the mother, and the orphan?  He appreciated his own salvation.

That day, I saw how quickly things can change.  One moment, we are thinking about lunch at the Meru Game Reserve.  The next moment, and for many moments after, we thought about the suffering of that girl, the devastation of our driver, and how it might impact the work there.  What was Joyce thinking about as she started her day?  Did she have plans?  What was she looking forward to in the days to come?  All of that changed in an instant.

That day, I saw the fragility of life.  I am still amazed that she survived that encounter.  Many, especially on that highway, have not.  My son would tell you that moment helped clarify the importance of his being ready to meet Christ.  Life, that precious gift from God, can be recalled at any moment.  While the whole episode happened in a seeming flash, the Bible refers to the end of time and earth as a mere “twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:52).

How I wish that never happened!  But, how instructive it has been for me since that day.  Hopefully, undesirable moments like these can be our teachers, guiding us to look past here and now and ponder that which lies beyond, Him who is above, and those that are all around us.

To “Let The Cat Out Of The Bag”

Neal Pollard

Apparently, in medieval times, unscrupulous merchants would advertise a pig for sale.  Less than savvy shoppers would buy one and the merchant would give them a bag, with wriggling creature inside, and instruct them not to open it until the creature was calmer.  When these duped ones finally opened the bag, there would be a cat rather than a pig in the sack.  Smart shoppers, on the other hand, would not fall for this trick but rather “let the cat out of the bag.”  This is also where the phrase, “pig in a poke,” originated.  One was advised not to buy a pig in a sack or they might find out they had been tricked.

Today, letting the cat out of the bag is equated with telling a secret in untimely fashion or gossiping or spreading news without approval or authorization (via “The Phrase Finder”).

While there are some things we should be anxious to tell, no matter the cost–like matters related to evangelism and the saving of souls, we need to be careful not to be known as the type who is prone to “let the cat out of the bag.”  People should be able to trust that what they tell us stays with us and goes no further.  Christians with proper ethics and character know when to keep things to themselves, to be discreet and trustworthy.  In Proverbs, this point is repeatedly made.  In Proverbs 11:13, we read, “He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy conceals a matter.”  Again, “He who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets; therefore, do not associate with a gossip” (Prov. 20:19).  Once more, “He who guards his mouth and his tongue, guards his soul from troubles” (Prov. 21:23).  These are words of wisdom to govern us the next time we are tempted to “let the cat out of the bag.”

THE DEBT DEBATE

Neal Pollard

As you know, the current debt debate has been raging for some time.  It is a tedious process, filled with emotion and causing no small concern.  So many have opinions about how it can be resolved, yet the resolution of the problem is actually clear and simple.  People simply do not want to do what is necessary to resolve it.  It requires sacrifice, hard choices, and not a little faith.

The implications of this debate cannot be overstated.  Consider for a moment the sides involved in this debate over the debt.  Some deny the debt exists.  Others dejectedly assert that there is no way to pay the incredible debt.  Frankly, some who suggest a solution to this debt crisis are misguided and even ignorant.  May I suggest that there is a debt problem, it is solvable, but there is only one way to rid ourselves of it.

God informs us repeatedly of the debt.  Through Solomon, He informs us, “Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and does not sin” (Ecc. 7:20).  More succinctly, David and Paul say, “There is none righteous, not even one” (Ps. 53:3; Rom. 3:10).  Paul follows that up, saying, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23) and “all sinned” (Rom. 5:12).  While the Bible does not explicitly call our sin problem a debt, the idea is firmly implied (see Lk. 11:4; Mt. 18:27ff; Col. 2:14).  By sinning even once, we found ourselves in a debt we could not pay.  The Bible says Jesus, offering Himself at the cross, gave His life a ransom for all (Mk. 10:45; 1 Tim. 2:6).  He paid the debt!

Some deny a debt exists (1 Jn. 1:8,10).  Some, filled with guilt, believe their debt is too large to be paid (Lk. 5:8; Heb. 2:15).  So many offer “solutions” that do not suffice to eradicate the debt.  Some plans are incomplete–stressing the essentially of grace and/or faith, but omitting repentance and baptism (cf. Ac. 2:38).  Some plans are humanly devised and different from God’s plan–sprinkling for immersion, babies instead of those who are mentally accountable, baptizing for the dead, a Holy Spirit-induced conversion rather than an operation of free will.  Jesus is emphatic, saying there is only one way (Jn. 14:6).  We are not talking about defaulting on loans.  We are talking about an eternal destiny here.  The New Testament is plain.  There is one, heaven-authorized plan.  Following that eradicates the debt!  Debating that is futile and utterly counterproductive!