INFLUENCERS

Our Tuesday morning Book Read group was recently challenged by an author to think of some of the people in their lives who have influenced them, memorably, for the good. Well, as I gave it some thought, the list immediately became very, very long. But it was an interesting journey through the years, past to present, and I will share with you some of the “influencers” whose lives, in some way, are etched upon the memory of my mind. I will mention a few by name and purposely conceal the identity of others:

  • Pastor Day, first pastor, led me to Christ and with his hand on my head when I was too young to give it a second thought, called me his preacher boy;
  • Grandma S who, in her own way, did the same;
  • Principal W, whose even-handed way with elementary school children left its mark on my mind;
  • Miss Flamme—8th grade English teacher whose love for language has not escaped me;
  • Miss Sharp—old maid music teacher, co-worker with Miss Flamme, who made an indelible impression on a junior-high student who understood nothing about music but could appreciate a person totally dedicated to, and in love with, her profession;
  • Mrs. James, Student Council advisor who infected a high-school junior with principles of leadership that made his love for basketball and football wane;
  • Pastor Knauss, married to the “ideal” pastor’s wife, Nellie; through their sincerity and love of people and ministry, both cast a spell on a young man—heading at that time to study law—that has not yet escaped him;
  • TK, a friend who shared a burden for ministry at a crucial time in my life, and whose friendship, common interests, and goals have impacted my life past and present;
  • Richard Rupp, pulpit-speech teacher at Bob Jones University, whose personality, authenticity, and preaching affected this preacher boy for good—indelibly;
  • Bob Jones, Sr., who in later years sometimes repeated himself in the course of a message, but whose life and labors and love for God permanently shaped young people, including myself, for good, for life;
  • Marvin Beshears, father-in-law, embodiment of godliness, who pastored the same Carolina church for half a century while receiving an annual stipend or salary of $0 dollars; and whose life, totally consumed with pleasing God, impacted countless souls in northwestern North Carolina;
  • Theodore Slutz, a Dad who wasn’t six feet tall but—to this kid and this man—was a giant in humility, servanthood, consistency, and loving devotion to his wife of 71 years;
  • RVC, seminary president and local church pastor, a unique individual totally sold out to Christ and His Word (Isa. 8:20), who never saw a fight with a modernist that he hesitated to engage in, and whose life of ministry left its mark on anyone with whom he had to do;
  • HH, teacher par excellence, whose infectious approach to Bible teaching was, well, infectious;
  • JDP, a co-worker with HH whose 50 years of plain exposition of scripture—no frills, just expo—impacted class after class with a method of explaining scripture that was unquestionably flawless, faithful, and fixed;
  • Phil Shuler, who had all the flash and frills, so to speak, but whose life-long ministry of faithful evangelism—with a heart especially for smaller churches, which he purposely carved out 12 weeks a year to minister to, at his own expense—found a corner in this pastor’s heart that has the word “Love,” in the purest sense of the word, written over it;
  • Jerry S, Joe M, Gary G, and many other faithful evangelists—I loved them and will never forget them;
  • Henry D, a deacon whose hand was like the Grand Canyon and whose smile as wide as the Mississippi, and whose heart like an apostle’s—a quiet force for the faith who was a friend, loyal and lasting, to his pastor;
  • Monroe P, mission board executive, who dealt with the serious matters of eternity in a way that was compelling, but whose sense of humor and lack of condescension drew most anyone with whom he had to do closer to himself, yes, but more so—closer to the Savior;
  • LDH, friend to any pastor committed to serving Christ, lover of ministry and ministers, trophy of God’s grace, still living at 91 and still ever, with his dear wife, on our minds;
  • LW and CW, husband and wife who have been on the front lines of church planting missions for more than 60 years, still living amongst and loving the people whom they have led to Christ and discipled in obedience to His great commission;
  • EMS—the prettiest, smartest, kindest “first lady” ever—who has been my companion,  counsellor, comforter, and godly encourager for 61 years now and counting, and whose identity I am obviously not attempting to conceal!

A complete list? Not at all. I could add many more contemporaries, but for the sake of not embarrassing you, I will not (at least for now) so much as publish your initials. But you know who you are; believe me, I hold you in the highest esteem. And if God has been pleased to have done anything lasting and worthwhile for His Kingdom’s sake through my ministering, it is because of a cadre of tireless, selfless, dedicated, and devoted laborers whom I simply call “fellow workers.” Thank you all so very much. Each of you has your own “niche” in the above list—I can see it even if others cannot. “Thank you, Lord. Amen.”

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (I Cor. 15:58)

Steady Does It!

An Italian envoy floated into a Stockholm port on an official visit and, observing a stately, ornate building at water’s edge, assumed they had found the palace whereupon they announced their arrival with a 21-gun salute.  One can only imagine the embarrassment when the visitors were informed that they were docked in front of what was actually an old folks’ home whose occupants were scared half out of their wits by this over the top greeting the Italians had incorrectly issued!

Well, nothing like pulling all the stops out!  We have a tendency at times to do that; whether it’s a hobby, a habit or a tenaciously held pet conviction that we’ve taken a stand on and declared to all, “Here I stand, I can do no less!”

New Testament Christianity is a life characterized by balance, at least, it ought to be.  Paul, writing his epistle to Titus, in chapter two gives specific instructions to older men, older women and younger men and women as to how they could live a “sober” life which was at any stage in life, balanced.  Too often, though, adherents of the “faith once delivered to the saints” grab hold of a truth, and blowing it all out of proportion by isolating it, elevating it and emphasizing it to the neglect of all other truth, become heretical in  their disproportionate application of a tenaciously held conviction.

For instance, God has promised to provide our needs “according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:19).  The health and wealth prosperity gospel adherents have blown that verse and many others out of proportion and out of context to preach that God intends all believers to be perpetually healthy and wealthy.  That is heresy.

Or, in another vein, most of my readers will identify as “dispensationalists,” that is, as students of Scripture who have concluded that God has dealt with people of faith through the ages past, present and (He will yet) future on the basis of differing responsibilities and varying levels of accountability depending on the truth revealed to people living at different times under different levels of unfolded revelation given.  Case in point, “the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17) New Testament believers do not live under the law (Mosaic) but under grace and therefore, we are free to eat differently, dress differently and we are not obligated to bring the animal sacrifices, etc. that those who were living in the old dispensation were commanded to bring.  So, in our day, there are those who take the teachings of dispensationalism and expand them to what has become known as “ultra-dispensationalism.”  These folks hold that the Great Commission given in Matt. 28:18-20 and baptism by immersion and other views commonly taught by sound Bible teachers do not apply to the church today.  They hold tenaciously to these aberrations of doctrine to the point that they are heretics; not heretics in the sense of denying the Bible but heretics in that they have misapplied truth or disproportionately held to a truth to the extent that their views are heretical.

We sometimes aim our guns and come out with a “big 21-gun” salute at the wrong place and wrong time, even in a doctrinal sense!

Here is a test you can give yourself: (1) Do you emphasize one doctrine disproportionately to the neglect of the whole counsel of God?  (2)  Do you have a “pet doctrine” that you constantly contend with others about, making it a test of fellowship?  (3)  Is your spirit right with others with whom you disagree on matters over which good men differ as to interpretation and application;  (4)  Do you conclude that God cannot bless or use others who have taken a stance that differs with your position on certain doctrinal issues?

Stephen Olford observed that a truth pushed can become an emphasis; pushed further it can become an extreme and pushed to the max it can become an error.  Heresy is not a belief that would necessarily involve denying the Word of God; it can be a Biblical teaching/truth blown out of proportion to the extent that it is a divisive test of faith or fellowship that it never should have become.

“Believe as I believe, no more, no less.

That I am right, and no one else confess; 

Feel as I feel, think as I think;

Eat what I eat and drink what I drink;

Look as I look, do always as I do;

And, then, and only then, I’ll fellowship with you.”

                (Unknown)

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God…rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Tim. 2:15)

“Let not your good be evil spoken of:  For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” (Romans 14:16,17)

“Not old, just older!”

She was one of those rare individuals that cross the pages of one’s life, making you and all others who were known by her richer for having been touched by a woman not cut from common cloth as it were but from a fabric both beautiful and resilient and life enriching.

Effie was what we all called her.  She was employed by a factory here in Indianapolis until she retired, Link-Belt, after which she moved to Florida for a few years before returning to her home in the Circle City.  She was before she moved and after she moved back a member of our church and though we never knew her to drive we likewise never knew her to miss any of our regular church services.  She was well past retirement age when I first met her and by then she had become a bit hard of hearing, but we soon found out that her hearing loss was never much of a handicap.  She heard what she wanted to hear, and she heard enough to learn the names of all of our children and grandchildren and could recite to anyone interested their birthdates and something of interest about each one.  And if a regular member happened to miss more than two services, Effie would make a point to find out why they were absent and whether they were sick.  She evidenced a genuine interest in all of our families, but we never knew much of anything about her family; she wanted always to talk about you and not about herself.  

She did have a niece that she communicated with regularly and with whom I became acquainted with via the phone, but that’s about the extent of any family members that were a current part of her life.  Her family assembled twice every Lord’s Day and midweek for prayer, and no one was more interested in our family than was this seasoned saint.

She loved my wife and often told her so, as well as all of our children and grandchildren.  Her residence was a basement one-bedroom apartment across from Manual High School on Indy’s near southside, a very humble dwelling place with a small kitchen and a room that had a couch and chair for any visitor who wanted to sit and talk awhile.  She welcomed that.  And, though she did not drive, she rode a bus anywhere she wanted to go in our city of a million plus souls.  On one occasion one of our church members found her surrounded by a group of teen boys in a part of the city that most people would be a bit concerned to find their aged grandmother navigating solo.  The church member stopped and interrupted the conversation Effie was having with the boys to ask if she did not want a ride home, to which our dear old friend promptly replied thanks but no thanks: “I am having a good conversation with these young men.”  She did make it home safely on the bus and it was just another day for Effie.

She loved church and I know she loved the preaching of the Word even though her hearing was not the best. She always sat second row from the front.  In Wednesday business meetings after a motion had been made and ballots were being passed out, Effie, first to receive a ballot from her almost front row vantage point, could not infrequently be heard from the back of the church asking the usher “WHAT ARE WE VOTING ON?”  Knowing Effie as I did, she wanted to make sure she voted on the side of the church leadership whatever the issue might be at hand.  As I said, she loved preaching and she loved her preacher.  On one occasion, after an evening message I had preached in a service that my parents were attending as they stopped over on their way back to Iowa from wintering in Florida, Effie made a beeline to my mother right after the prayer of dismissal and enthusiastically said, “Don’t you think he’s just about the best preacher you’ve ever heard?”  I am sure she was wanting to make a mother feel proud; but my Mom, never too quick to pass out any compliments, very stoically replied, “Well, I don’t know; I’ve heard a lot of good preachers.”  The humor of that whole exchange did not escape Effie as she told it to Ellen and to others, just having a good chuckle about how reticent a mother was to brag on her son.

I broke the rules that I always believed were excellent rules for preachers to keep, and often went to pick up Effie for Sunday School or for the evening service, thinking since she was well into her 90’s and I was past middle age myself that if we were seen in the same car together, I might draw a pass.  As far as I know it never was a problem, but one Sunday morning cruising down U.S. 31 toward Effie’s apartment on an almost deserted early Sunday morning street, a police car pulled me over and did not ticket me for speeding but for not having my seat belt buckled.  One of the few traffic violations I ever received but I never regretted it figuring the Lord’s forgiveness would be quickly forthcoming since it had been a good faith effort on my part to get Effie to Sunday School.  I never shared with her the excitement I had on the way to her apartment that Sunday morning.

Effie passed into her long-awaited eternal home at the age of 102.  She never would admit to being old, just “older.”  She was indeed old in body, but she never ceased being young at heart with a youthful spirit.  Her life ended when her body became so weak that doctors determined she needed a pacemaker and with her permission proceeded with the surgery knowing that there would be considerable risk at her age.  They lost her on the operating table, but I later heard that she awoke sometime before she passed, while doctors were still struggling to save her and, somehow sensing their dilemma, assured them verbally and emphatically that they should not fret because she would be with Jesus and there was no fear on her part.  How privileged were all of us, her family, to have known and to have been loved by such a saint!

The Seasons of Life

“To every thing there is a season,” Solomon began the third chapter of Ecclesiastes. He goes on to affirm that “there is a time for every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal.”

Life is a chain of inevitable, inescapable changes; only God changes not. Some changes are hard to swallow. In 1829, Martin Van Buren, then the governor of New York, wrote to President Andrew Jackson: “The canal system of this country is being swallowed up by the spread of a new form of transportation known as ‘railroads.’ …As you may well know, railroad carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of 15 miles per hour by engines, which, in addition to endangering life and limb of passengers, roar and snort their way through the countryside. The Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed.” (Copied from Sylvia Simmons, How to Be the Life of the Podium.)

Or, did you hear about the old farmer that brought his family to the big city, with all its new skyscrapers, for the very first time? They had never seen such. He dropped his wife off at the department store and took his son with him to the bank—the tallest of all the buildings. As they walked into the lobby, they saw something they had never seen before. Two steel doors opened. A rather large, aged woman walked out, and the big doors closed behind her. The dial over the door swept to the right and then back to the left. The doors opened and a beautiful young lady came walking out. The farmer was amazed. He turned to his son and said, “You wait right here. I’m going to get your mother and run her through that thing.”

There is an interesting dialogue between Jesus and the Apostle Peter recorded in the last few verses of John 21 (vv. 18-22). Jesus said to Peter, “When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself and walkest whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldst not. This spake He, signifying by what death he should glorify God.” John was close by, and when Peter was told how he would die, he said, pointing to John, “And what shall this man do?” Jesus responded: “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me.”

Our physical capacities with age will no doubt change, as will the circumstances we find ourselves in. But the priority we have now, if we are His disciple—regardless of our age—is to follow Jesus. Period. That never changes. The Psalmist cried out, “O God, be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help. Now also when I am old and gray headed, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.” (Ps. 71:12, 18)

I have periodically taught these principles, citing these and many other passages, for years. Now I find myself where the Psalmist did: I am in the “old age” group. What I had read beaucoup times in Ecclesiastes 12, I now read with a heightened appreciation: “In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders shall cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened.” (Eccl. 12: 1-8)

I heard about two caterpillars crawling across the grass when a butterfly flew over them. They looked up, and one of them nudged the other, as caterpillars often do, and said, “You could not get me up on one of those things for a million dollars.” I am more reticent to make such dogmatic assertions about change now that I am of “old age.” In fact, I wish for that moment of change of which Paul spake, “Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” (I Cor. 15:51,52)

Take heart, believing caterpillars!

“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.” (Eccl. 12:1)

This, That, and the Other

This blog will be different than most, as it is personal in nature, bringing our friends and neighbors up to date with what has been going on in our lives.

Most of you know that Ellen was admitted to the hospital with bronchitis in early September and ended up spending a week in ICU. (Read her post about it here.) Her condition worsened, and at one point it looked as though it was life-threatening. She agreed, with our family, to allow the surgeon to do a special procedure on her that, if it were unsuccessful, might necessitate her being on a ventilator. The procedure was somewhat successful, and when we saw her following the surgery she had nothing on her face but some oxygen hoses to assist in her breathing. She was eventually released directly from ICU to home to recuperate, with many healthcare associates coming to the house in the following days to help her. Her progress has been steady, and just last week we were both able to attend a Sunday-morning worship service together. What a treat! (Flash: just this morning, 10/20, she saw a pulmonologist who examined her and said her progress was good!)

I have now been a cancer patient (multiple myeloma) for over five years and have received excellent care at the St. Francis Cancer Center in Indianapolis. There is no cure for this disease, but it does often go into remission. I have taken treatments for about three weeks out of four, on average. I have not had to receive any chemo therapy for several weeks now, but have been receiving infusions of a medicine that searches out and destroys the rogue white blood cells.

Only three out of five patients live five years with multiple myeloma after having been diagnosed. At my age, it is only through prayer and good care (#1 caregiver is Ellen) that I am still here. I have lost considerable weight and am pretty weak—not in remission—but every day here with family and friends is a gift from God. I am indebted to all who have prayed for our family during this trying time. I have so much more I’d like to share and may do so in a future blog. If you had an opportunity to read a recent “You and God” post, “All Bundled Up” (10/7/26), you received some insight as to the hope I have. Our missions conference speaker last Sunday said that the best day of one’s life, as a believer, was the day he died. I agree, but I told Ellen I wouldn’t mind if the Lord delayed that “best day” for just a few more days if it would be His will to do so.

A Personal Note About a Worthy Cause

I am speaking as a Grandpa now and am taking the liberty to do so as “editor-in-chief” of the “You and God” blog. As most of you know, Marti and Dale (my younger daughter and her husband) had pretty much reared four boys—one of whom the Lord saw fit to graduate to glory in March 2007—when God blessed them with two girls, Audrey (2/10/05), and Amy (3/14/07). Amy was born just days after her 11-year-old brother, David, was ushered into His Savior’s presence, and I am writing now as an advocate for one of her adventures.

She is a second-year student at Anderson University, near Indianapolis, and she is an outstanding volleyball player. Her team, for various reasons (none of which is any fault of the players) has fallen on financial hard times, and they are promoting a fundraiser. So, as Amy’s Grandpa—and knowing that a good many who read “You and God” are friends of our family—I am going to bat for her. If you would care to help Amy and her teammates in this worthy effort, and would like to be an encouragement to some young people, please contribute as you are able. Clicking this link will take you to the team’s donations page, which includes a video and a few words about the fundraiser. Amy and her teammates—and yours truly—will be most appreciative.

Please do not feel any pressure to do this, and please do not unsubscribe to “You and God” for my being so brazen. Most of you who read this blog are grandparents, and I think you will understand. And, thank you very much. Yours truly.

“As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” (Gal. 6:10)

To God and My Country

I solemnly pledge to do my duty to God and my country.

Duty—the ring of the word may cause us to cringe, but duty will be with us as long as we live. Daniel Webster (1782-1852) affirmed this to be true: “A sense of duty pursues us ever,” he said. “It is omnipresent like deity. If we take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea—duty performed or neglected is still with us, for our happiness or for our misery. If we say the darkness shall cover us; in the darkness as in the light, our obligations are still with us.”

Horatio Nelson (1758-1805), one of England’s great Navy officers, said: “England expects every man to do his duty.” British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1874-1965) once said: “The destiny of mankind is not decided by material computation: when great causes are on the move in the world, we learn that we are spirits, not animals, and that something is going on in space and time, and beyond space and time, which, whether we like it or not, spells DUTY.” (Ed. note: How apropos is this statement for today!)

The Bible speaks of the duty of marriage. (Ex. 21:10) Then, there is the “duty of every day.” (Ex. 3:4) And the wise king Solomon referenced “the whole duty of man.” (Eccl. 12)

What is this whole duty of man?

First, it is to fear God, which is the beginning of wisdom. (Prov. 1:7) The fear of the Lord prolongeth days, is a fountain of life, and causes one to hate evil. (Provs. 10:27; 14:27; and 8:13)

And the whole duty of man is to keep God’s commandments. (Matt. 22:36-38) The first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord God with all of our heart, soul, and mind. The second is like unto it: to love our neighbor as ourself, which is the “royal law of scripture.” (James 2:8)

Surely, if we love God with all of our being, we will want to believe on God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for eternal salvation. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) Do you believe on Jesus for salvation? “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Rom. 10:13) Recognize yourself as a sinner, repent of your sins, and by faith call upon God right now for salvation. He will not turn you away.

Then, following salvation, we will want to serve our Lord and Savior. The Apostle Paul said it is “our reasonable service” to present our bodies a living sacrifice. (Rom. 12:1,2) And we might remind ourselves of several specific things that are “the believer’s duties”:

  • To follow the Lord, after being saved, in baptism—as a public testimony of our becoming one of His disciples.
  • To unite with a Bible-preaching local church.
  • To pray earnestly; witness to others of Christ’s saving grace sincerely; search earnestly the scriptures, which testify of our Lord Jesus Christ; and give of our income cheerfully to advance the cause of Christ. (Luke 18:1; Eph. 6:20; Hebs.10:25; Acts 17:11; I Cor.16:1)

I cannot conclude this essay on duty without citing excerpts from one of my favorite speeches on the subject, an address by General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) in 1962, when he  visited his beloved West Point for the last time—at the age of 82:

“Duty, Honor, Country: Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, and what you will be. They are your rallying points: to build courage when courage seems to fail; to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes forlorn.

In memory’s eye I could see those staggering columns of the First World War, bending under soggy packs, on many a weary march from dripping dusk to drizzling dawn, slogging ankle-deep through the mire of shell-shocked roads, to form grimly for the attack, blue-lipped, covered with sludge and mud, chilled by the wind and rain, driving home to their objective, and for many to the judgment seat of God.

I do not know the dignity of their birth, but I do know the glory of their death. They died unquestioning, uncomplaining, with faith in their hearts, and on their lips the hope that we would go on to victory. Always for them: Duty, Honor, Country; always their blood and sweat and tears, as we sought the way and the light and the truth.”

“So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants:  we have done that which was our duty to do.” (Luke 17:10)

“There Has To Be A Song!”

The renowned composer John Philip Sousa said, “I care not who writes my country’s laws if I may write its music.”

Music is doubtless powerful. Before time as we know it began, the heaven of heavens rang out: “When the morning stars sang together, all the sons of God shouted for joy.” (Job 38:7). When revival in the Old Testament came, we are told “all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded….” (2 Chr.29:28) Ezra notes, too, that “they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord; because He is good, for His mercy endureth forever toward Israel.” (Ezra 3:11) Paul admonishes, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” (Col. 3:16)

Charles Spurgeon spared no words in exhorting his congregation: “Let no Christian be silent, or slack in praise, for this God is our God. It is to be regretted that the niceties of modern singing frighten our congregations from joining lustily in the hymns. Sing in tune and measure, so that the public may be in harmony; sing with joyful notes, and sound melodious. For the heartiest praise is due to our good Lord. No dullness should ever stupefy our psalmody, or half-heartedness cause it to limp along. Sing aloud, ye debtors to sovereign grace…let your voices express your thankfulness; let no Christian be silent in praise, for this God is our God. The gods of Greece and Rome may be worshipped well enough with classical music but Jehovah can only be adored with the heart, and that music is the best for His service which gives the heart most play. Select a sacred song and then raise it with your hearty voices…beat your tambourines, ye damsels; let the sound be loud and inspiriting. Sound the trumpets; beat the drums. God is not to be served with misery, but with mirthful music; sound ye then the loud timbrel as of old ye smote it by Egypt’s dark sea.”

Pliny, the Roman governor of Bithynia, sent a report of the activities of the Christians to the Roman Emperor, Trajan: “They meet at dawn to sing a hymn to Christ as God.” The Church alive has always been a church that has gone up to God in Christian praise and song.

Isaac Watts (1684-1748) was 20 years old when, one Sunday, walking home from church with his father, he commented that the metrical psalms sung that day lacked the dignity and beauty that he felt should characterize hymns of worship. His father challenged the young son to write some music that he believed would be worthy. Isaac took up the challenge and began writing hymns, eventually putting the books of Psalms into rhythmic meter for worship. Coming to Psalm 91, he rendered: “Joy to the world, the Lord has come! Let earth receive her King; Let every heart, prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing. Joy to the earth! The Savior reigns! Let men their songs employ; While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains repeat the sounding joy.” Watts would write 750 more great hymns, including “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” and “Our God, Our Help in Ages Past,” eventually becoming known as “the Godfather of English Hymnody.” (Wikipedia)

Years ago, a man and wife attended our Indianapolis church and became faithful members until they were called home to glory. He was known by the name “Sparky,” and it was apparent that he had an “holy” spark about him. He had grown up in a southern state, and never had the benefit of a formal education, but you did not have to know Sparky for long before you realized he received an education that money could never buy. He had the love of Christ in his heart and majored in the Word of God. Occasionally, by request, he would sing a solo in a church service, always without accompaniment and most usually a song that none of us had ever heard. But the rafters were moved a bit, we thought, as Sparky, from the deep recesses of his soul and from the bottom of his heart, belted out a musical tribute to God—to His work of grace and to the salvation He provided with the hope of heaven. No one applauded when Sparky left the platform, for they knew that his was not a performance but an offering of praise to God. 

One August afternoon in 2004, Kelvin Krueger, our missionary intern at the time, and I visited Sparky and his wife in their home on Indy’s eastside. We had not been there too long before I noticed what looked like an old hymnal. Sparky told me it was his favorite songbook, so I thumbed through it and was delighted to find, written in his hand in the foreword section of the songbook, these words:

“There has to be a song; there are too many dark nights, too many troublesome days and too many wearisome miles. There has to be a song, to make our burdens bearable, to make our hopes believable, to transform our successes to praise, to release the chains of past defeats. Somewhere down deep in the corners of one’s heart, there has to be, like a cool drink of water, like the gentle touch of a mother’s hand, like the tender love of a child, there has to be a song.”

I knew enough of Sparky’s life to know that for him there had to be a song. Since that day when Kelvin and I sat on a couch, and each of us individually read the beautiful words handwritten in the foreword of Sparky’s favorite hymnal, Ellen and I lost a precious grandson (2007) to the ice-cold clutches of death; we both bid a final farewell to our parents, until we meet again at Jesus’ feet; and our dear friend, Kelvin, serving on the mission field in South Africa, was called home to heaven following an incapacitating stroke. And so many, many others of our church family, and our families and friends, have suffered losses and are battling physical infirmities.  I thought, when reading those lines there in Sparky’s living room, that I knew something of the meaning of “too many troublesome days…too many wearisome miles.” But I had so much more to learn, and am still learning. And that refrain, “There has to be a song,” has taken on a depth of meaning in my heart that is profound.  

Yes, there has to be a song! “Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord O my soul. While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.” (Ps. 146:1,2)

“Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” (Eph.5:19)

Doing God’s Work in God’s Way

(I Chr. 13)

Ever set out to do something for God, only to find out that you miserably failed?

You had a noble end in mind, and what you did, you were doing for God. But He just did not seem to bless your efforts. In fact, He seemed to indicate displeasure with you, rather than pleasure! Join the club and meet someone who experienced the same frustrations, King David.

He knew the feeling! He had set out to do a worthy thing: move the ark of the covenant back to the city of David, Jerusalem. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, it was a very spiritual and noteworthy desire; but before it was over, David threw up his hands in despair and said, “How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?” Ever been there, asking “What am I doing here?” “Why doesn’t God bless what I am doing?” “What’s the problem here, anyway?”

You may have asked similar questions. I surely have.

Well, in David’s case, the problem wasn’t that he had not sought counsel, nor that he was not sincere in his effort, nor that he lacked enthusiasm. But, as the passage reveals, there were some major problems that caused David to fail in this noble mission:

  1. Wrong motive (I Chr. 13:12). Notice David’s lament: “How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?” One way to assure failure in any effort to serve God is to somehow believe the result intended is in any way “for me.” Paul reminds us that “whether ye eat, therefore, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” (I Cor. 10:31) John the Baptist set the standard: “I must decrease; He must increase.” (John 3:30) H. C. Morrison (1857-1942)—a Methodist evangelist and president of Asbury College—said, “We are foolish when we want to conquer the world; we are wise when we want to conquer self.” We, no doubt like David, will deal with that “self” problem until we no longer draw a breath. God had to cripple the supplanter Jacob before He could use him. David had to learn that moving God’s ark was not about “me,” but all about God and His glory.
  1. Wrong man (I Chr. 13:7, 15:5-13). At the first attempt to move the ark, we are simply told that Ahio drove the cart. In chapter 15, however—to make the second and successful attempt at moving the ark—David assembled all the Levites, and from them he carefully instructed specific priests to move the ark, indicating that “because ye did not at the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the order due.” (I Chr. 15:13-15)
  1. Wrong method. God had instructed the Israelites on the right method of moving the ark. (Numbers 4:15) The sons of Kohath were to bear the ark and “they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die.” I Chr. 15 demonstrates that in moving the ark, or attempting to, David ignored Numbers 4:15 and its clear instruction. Because of that disregard of God’s specific word about the right method of moving the sacred furniture, a man died. There is a right way to serve God, and there is a way that seems right unto man—but “the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Provs. 14:12)

God has given us a task, the Great Commission. He has given us a manual on missionary methods. We can go to the world or we can go to God’s Word. Paul knew that doing things the right way was so important that he wrote to Timothy “that thou mayest know how thou ought to behave thyself in the house of God.” (I Tim. 3:15) We must know what God says about how to do His work, the methodology. This principle would apply to soul-winning, music, dress, discipline, church polity, Christian education, and more. Paul would also write to Titus that he had left Titus in Crete to “set in order the things that are wanting.” (Tit.1:5)

I, for one, could give many a testimony of my attempts through 50 years of ministry of doing things that seemed logical, but upon further examination were not Biblical. God worked on me through various means to get things set in order. The earliest New Testament church learned the lesson the hard way, and to solve it, deacons were appointed to serve widows, for, the twelve affirmed, and rightly so, that “…it is not reason that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables.” (Acts 6:2) There is a right way and a wrong way. The Jerusalem church discovered that when the wrong was righted, “the Word of God increased, and the number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly.”  (Acts 6:7)

God’s ministry—done with a pure motive, by the right man, using biblical methods—will assure those involved in ministry in 2026 of the blessings of our great God. When the second attempt to move the ark was done in the way that God had prescribed, the Israelites succeeded. We read: “Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpets, and with cymbals, making a noise with psalteries and harps.” (I Chr. 15:28). There was great rejoicing through obedience, resulting in God’s approval and blessings, and in praise raised to God.

Can we do any less today as we attempt to fulfill His great commission in these last days?

“If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.” (Gen.4:7)

The Uttermost Part

That’s where Jesus told his disciples to take the gospel to:  “the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)  We sometimes hear that verse misquoted as “…the uttermost parts of the earth,” but it was to the very remotest, uttermost PART that the good news, having begun in Jerusalem, then in all Judea, then Samaria, was to be delivered by people whom Jesus labeled as witnesses who would be filled with the Holy Ghost.

That assignment has not been completed as of yet.  If any reader is in the Orlando area and has not visited the Wycliff Bible Translators world headquarters there, it would be a fascinating half-day for you to invest and would cost you very little but your time (which, in Orlando, FL, is a rare place to find, i.e. some place to visit that does not cost quite a good sum of money!) You will be amazed as your guide demonstrates to you the thousands of tongues and the myriads of places where there has never been a readable translation of scriptures produced in the native tongue of the local people.  

We know that Jesus also instructed His disciples before He made His final journey to Jerusalem that the end of the age would not come before the gospel would be preached “in all the world, for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” (Matt. 24:14).

In His “Great Commission” to the disciples just before He ascended back to Heaven, Jesus instructed them to teach (disciple) all nations (Matt. 28:19).  

The task seems almost impossible; in two millennia we have still not reached nearly two thousand people groups with a clear presentation of God’s plan of salvation!  What to do?

Well, as our Lord said, we should occupy until He comes.  He is coming back as He promised He would, for His church, the body of Christ.  That coming is imminent (I Thess. 4:13-18) and it will precede His second coming, what the Old Testament prophets and also the Apostles referred to as the “Day of the Lord,” or the “Day of Christ.” (I Thess. 5:2; 2 Thess. 2:2) 

It is before the second coming, the subject of Matt. 24 & 25, that the gospel will have been preached in all the world.  That will not happen before Christ’s return for His church, commonly called the rapture of the church, the blessed hope of every believer (Tit. 2:13).

That does not diminish our responsibility to fulfill our Lord’s Great Commission to disciple all nations.  The field Jesus said is the world.  We are to lift up our eyes and behold fields that are white unto harvest (John 4:35)  So, keep your eyes open and up, your heart tender, your hands ready and engage in the most rewarding employment at the most exciting and opportune time in the history of the church and where ever your Jerusalem is, get ready, get set and go! 

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:  and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

All Bundled Up

Ever been tied up in a sack with someone? Doesn’t sound too enticing, especially if the sack is burlap and the heat is like some days we’ve had of late!

Well, though it sounds bizarre, our text today (I Samuel 25:29: “Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God….”) speaks of being tied up together with someone. It may be difficult to imagine a closer kind of relationship. But, if you are a believer in Christ, your life is tied up together with God in a bundle of life.

That’s what a woman named Abigail said to King David. She reminded the young, yet-to-be crowned monarch that his life was in a bundle with God’s! If you are a Christian, so is yours! About this startling truth, there are some important things one should remember:

• The Reason for this truth: God is our creator, and He is our sovereign. So, there is a natural tie between men and God—as Paul, on Mars Hill, reminded a crowd of unbelievers: “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God….” No matter what the atheists claim, or the philosophers, it still remains a blatant falsehood that “Out of the night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be, for my unconquerable soul. It matters not how strait the gate; how charged with punishment the scroll—’I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.’” (Wm. Ernst Henley)

We are not god. God is God! We are not becoming God, nor will we ever become God! We are His creation; He is our sovereign—by a natural tie of the Creator to the creature. But that is not the “bundle of life” of which Abigail spake when she reminded David that he was bundled up with God.

There is, though, the supernatural tie to those who are children of God by faith: sons of God. Christ is in us and we are in Christ. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27b) We are “complete in Christ….” (Gal.2:10) A baby in a womb is in its mother, and the mother is in the baby—an inseparable union!

• The Realization of this truth:

First, there is a scriptural realization that can only come through faith. As we grow in grace, we become more aware of the spiritual life that is ours with and in Christ. “I am crucified with Christ,” Paul affirmed, “nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me: and the life I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal.2:20) How do you know that Christ Jesus the Lord is living in you? The same way you know that Christ spoke the worlds into existence: “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God….” (Hebs. 11:3) Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17) Hear the Word of God, grow in your faith as you do, and the realization of spiritual truths will become more settled in your soul.

• The Ramifications of this truth:

(1) We need never be afraid—afraid of what man can do to us, afraid of what the Devil can do to us; afraid of the known or the unknown. Ps. 27:1: “The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?” One day I saw a spider in mid-air, but upon closer examination, I noticed that there was one almost invisible thread the spider was latched onto; that one thread is all that the spider needed. Our God may appear to be invisible, but our life in Him is all that we need for eternal safety and security. We are in Him and He is in us!

(2) We can look upon obstacles as opportunities:

o Physical affliction can be an opportunity for God to show His sufficient grace and to prove that “His strength is made perfect in our weakness.” (II Cor. 12:9)
o Personal crises again provide an opportunity for God to demonstrate His faithfulness in taking care of His own. Isaiah was directed by the Holy Spirit to say it so beautifully: “When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” (Isa. 43:2)
o Spiritual “lows:” Confusion, droughts? Because our life is tied up in a bundle with God’s, we can take courage, assured that “He that hath begun a good work in us will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ,” and that, “He will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” (Phil. 1:6; Hebrews 13:5)
o Old age, infirmity, uncertainty, death? Because my life, as was David’s, is tied up in a bundle with God, I can face the uncertain future—assured that “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,” and confident that “My times are in Thy hand….” (Ps. 23:1; 31:15)

Therefore, “I will not doubt, though all my ships at sea come drifting home with broken masts…though all my prayers return unanswered…though sorrows fall like rain, and troubles swarm like bees…I will not doubt; well anchored in the faith like some staunch ship, my soul braves every gale….” (Ella Wheeler Wilcox)

And so it is with me. How about you?

“What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” (Psalm 56:3)