Most times as we pay bills we are paying in arrears.
We buy an item, charge an item, write a check for an item.

If cash is exchanged the transaction is completed.

The times we pay later…
it’s in arrears.

It’s the normal way of personal commerce

When we give dollars away to those in need,
when we invest in the places God directs and to whom God directs… we are “laying up treasure” in Heaven.

Paying It Forward.

Spiritual Commerce.

It tends to bend away from the normal and customary concept of consumer spending.

It is a payment we may not see a “return” on.
These are payments which may not make sense to anyone but you and Your Creator.
And….it could be a payment which makes sense ONLY to your Creator.

He may lead you to give even when the gift or the one receiving the gift …. makes no sense to you.
It does not necessarily need to make sense.

It’s not your money anyway.

Read 1Chronicles 29:10-13.

Your Creator gives you the ability to work.
He might have given you the desire to do a particular thing at which you succeed.

He led you to particular opportunities in which to prosper and grow experience.

So….
Your talent, like His Money ….is Gods Gift.

I fully believe your desire, talents, opportunities and even the realized results are brought to you by the One Who knew you before you ever breathed air.

Therefore…. where did the financial gain come from???

Your Creator and the One Who paid your Largest Debt…..
gave and gives you all necessity, excess… luxury and essentials.
And, the desire to give some of it away.

Our culture has encouraged the populace for decades to accumulate, set aside… and save for your later years.

Our human nature drives us to set aside and accumulate funds for when we may not earn a wage.

And, as a friend reminded me tonight..,
we are encouraged to save even more now because of the weakness of the social security and pension systems.
Fear can lead you to tighten your fingers around what you think is yours.

Pay It forward.

Deposits into the lives and places where The Spirit leads us to …..is investing into His Kingdom.

Have you ever looked upon someone and knew God was unmistakably leading you to give money or time to them?.

Your reaction???

Give His Money to whom He directs.

Give His Gift of Time to the people He leads you to,

Be looking out for people to whom God will lead you.
The earth will not move nor will the sea part…but you WILL KNOW who these people are.

If you are confused…
test the leading with Scripture. If it passes the scriptural examination…let the money or time or effort follow that leading.

Really, to quote a well known slogan….”Just do It.”

Listen to the leading.
Follow through and obey It.

Pay it Forward.

Terry
August 2015

 

SOLA SCRIPTURA…is a Christian doctrine which states that The Bible is the supreme authority in all matters of practice and belief. Paraphrased, it means… “by Scripture alone”. Therefore, if we hold that as Truth, we are bound to what It says.

Last night, in the Republican debate, a candidate stated he would show unconditional love for a friend who was a homosexual. He stated he had attended this friends “wedding”.
The gentleman continued to say that he could love this person without condoning their lifestyle choices.

I agree completely.

I would refrain from going to the “wedding”.
That would be condoning or taking part in the blessing of disobedience. I can show the instructed love of Jesus to a homosexual friend without blessing or condoning the disobedience.

A very close friend of mine had been separated for a year and was divorcing his wife, with whom I was also friends.
He invited my wife and I to meet a woman he was “dating” and planning to marry, after the divorce was final.
My wife said she could not go because he was yet to be divorced. Her words convicted me.
I was and still am close friends with him…..but did not attend the invited dinner..

We are told in Scripture that Jesus did not hesitate to eat with tax collectors. He did not refuse to
give time, attention and blessing to the Samaritan woman at the well. He did not condemn the woman brought to Him, having been supposedly caught in adultery. He released her from the punishment aimed at her, then told her to go and “sin no more”. He did not condone their disobedience.
He did show them His Love.

Condemnation should only be rendered by a proper Judge.

We are not proper Judges.

In the heaviest doctrine in the New Testament, Paul dates that there is “no condemnation” to those in Christ. Jesus withheld from condemning most sinners.
Hanging on the Cross, your Savior looked at one hanging for the right reasons, next to Him,
did not rehearse any sin the man had committed and told him he would be in Heaven shortly. That was proper Judgment from One who had earned His Robe.

Scripture also tells us that Jesus spoke the words which instruct us today to “Love Thy neighbor as thyself”.
This new commandment, was said by Jesus, to be HIS commandment to His followers.

Therefore, we ought not to condemn those around us. Nor ourselves.

Be careful with what comes out of your mouth.

Judgement and condemnation flow easily out of a proud and disobedient heart. What does Scripture say?

Any words rendered along those lines might come back to roost in your own life. Leveling judgment upon your self is a disobedient act, as well.

We are to love ourselves, God made us.
We are to love those like and unlike us. God created them and granted them life, as well. You can love those who are living in disobedience….
because you have been and might be living in some degree of disobedience, yourself.

We put degrees on disobedience, on sin.

Sin is sin is sin is Sin.

Putting degrees on sinful behavior is judging behavior
Homosexuality is no worse a sin in Gods eyes than the sin you committed last week.

Read that again.

Name an atrocious sinner….Hitler, Jeffrey Dalmer….
Paul said he himself was chief among sinners.
So am I.

I. cannot. judge. anyone.

The Love of Christ compels us to love as He did.
If He did it…we can do it, as well.
He said we could, in John 14.

Feeling guilt after a disobedient act is not God condemning you. The Spirit will convict us of disobedience.
That conviction can, and maybe should, bring guilt.
It’s not condemnation.

That guilt should lead us to confession and repentance…..
and restoration.

Some believers think that the conviction which leads to guilt is condemnation. Romans 8 tells us this is not the case.

Conviction keeps, or should, keep us from “living in a sin”. Conviction and the subsequent guilt should stop us shortly after stumbling. And therefore, keep us from slouching further into dwelling in a disobedience.

It’s not condemnation.

Conviction is a rescue by The Holy Spirit.

If we hold the SOLA SCRIPTURA position….
which Hebrews 4:12 and 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us we should …
then we must hold to the Truth that we are not to condemn or judge ourselves or anyone.

If we excuse our own behavior using Paul’s definition in Romans 7….
“The things I do want to do I don’t, the things I don’t want to do , I do…. It is no longer I, but the sin living within me”….
then we are bound to define the sins of others the same way.

Without condoning, accept.
Without judging, love.
Without condemning, allow the Love and Mind of Christ to rule your behavior toward yourself and those in your realm.
Act as He did.

When we act in love toward another….we edify, elevate and encourage them.
When we judge and condemn another….we sentence them and ourselves.

Leave it up to The One Who earned His Position paying for our disobedience.

Terry
August, 2015

There is an Auschwitz in Your Town

Before and during World War II, the German Army led by the SS operated many concentration camps in Poland and their other occupied countries. By some accounts there were over  1,200 camps.

Many people in the towns nearby these camps were ignorant or were intentionally unaware of the events transpiring at these death camps. A story goes that when General Patton came to one city he made the local civilians walk through the camp to see and acknowledge the atrocities.

There is a well known photo taken by Margaret Bourke-White, of a German woman walking by a stack of murdered Jewish bodies, holding her hand over her eyes….as if to hide her eyes from the horrific sight.

Is that us in modern America?

You know, there is an Auschwitz in in your town.

Since 1973, when Harry Blackmun somehow deciphered a privacy clause in our Constitution and used it as basis for his advocacy of eliminating unborn children…. there have been, according to respected statistics, about 58 million babies aborted in the U.S.

There is an Auschwitz in your town.

There have been over 1.3 billion children worldwide who have had their existences ended in this way since 1980.

And a CNN commentator verbalized his horror today that one lion  was killed in Africa.

We have seen outrage in the past year or so about black children and young people being killed by police either by cause or accident. Those same statistics show that since Blackmun’s leading and The Court’s ruling in 1973…. 17 million black children have had their lives ended not by accident… but by the premeditated decisions of their mothers and the facilitation of physicians who took the Hippocratic Oath.

There is an Auschwitz in your town.

I wonder if PETA would voice their horror if unborn animals were aborted on a mass scale?

There was such animosity toward the Germans that trials were held and executions took place after the scenes at Weimar, Auschwitz and other camps.

There is an Auschwitz in your town.

Now we hear of these nearby  facilities harvesting and selling organs from these children whose unborn bodies have not been”crushed”.

What is more atrocious… millions of people being shot, poisoned or gassed….in Europe… or unborn American  children being torn apart inside their mothers bodies by glorified vacuum cleaners??

Read that paragraph again.

To top that , what is more horrific.., soldiers leading decimated people into gas ovens or comfortable women sitting in American restaurants having casual conversations about how they are careful in their technique with the bodies of murdered babies so not to “crush” the organs they want to preserve and sell?

There is an Auschwitz in your town.

Statistics say the number is 58 million. Thats 58, ooo, 000.

Digest that number.

Which one of them might have been 40 something now and about to discover something of great value? Many people are concerned about tax revenue, about Social Security being broken in a number of years. If the oldest would be 42 and the average age was about 30, then these 58, 000,ooo Americans would be approaching or at full adulthood with the capacity to contribute, pay taxes, have children and be fully functional citizens.

They never had the chance,  because ….

There is an Auschwitz in your town.

Do What You Say You Are Going To Do

 

How many times have you heard someone tell you they were going to call you?

How often have you told a friend you would pray for them?

One encompassing fault so many have is that we say we will do something….
and we fail to follow through.

Why is that?

Life gets in the way, the phone rings, we get pulled to another meeting, the children have an event to go to, the spouse brings up the plans you both made last week.

Interference.

Interference cause static in relationships and in getting done those things we have promised to do.

Many years ago, before satellite television and even before cable television, everyone had antennas which assisted in reception. There were only three to five channels and the programming actually ended at midnight and a “test” pattern  showed on the screen.

When the reception would get grainy, or the signal wavered….one would go adjust the antenna to improve the picture. At that time …depending on how much one wanted to see the show…..you got out of your chair, walked to the set and moved the antenna to hopefully improve the reception and also the picture.

 

How far into interference do you go before you get up and make an adjustment?

 

In your marriage, if adjustment tarries and one gets accustomed to interference…
the relationship will eventually crack and brake.
Especially after the children are grown and out of the house.

In relationships, when you say we are going to pray for someone,

when you say we will go to the hospital,

when you say you will show up to help…

.and then some degree of interference arises…
what do you do?

When the picture got grainy, it took getting up and removing the interference.

It takes changing your course, getting up and making adjustments.

When we say we are going to pray, show up, or go see someone who is sick….
how important is it to do what we say we are going to do?

Do you not get irritated at people who fail to follow through?

Its a matter of credibility.
Its a matter of how important that person is….to whom you committed an act, word, or visit.

Its an indictment of your care for them when you fail to do what you committed to.

As Christ-followers we should be conscious of what we say we are going to do.

As Disciples we are to be ones who operate with discipline.

Discipline should teach us to follow through.

When you say you will pray for someone….do it, right then.
A suggestion…..pray for them right there, at the moment they ask you to.
On the phone, in Church, at the restaurant table.

Stop. Do not allow any interference to keep you from doing it.

What matters more at that moment?

Does it matter more to pray for them or how you will look in front of people you do not know?
If you do not know them, what does it matter?

Follow through.

Determine to be one who keeps your word.
We might all be imperfect…..
but we can attempt and through attempting develop the discipline to do what
we say we are going to do.

It reflects on our commitment to the person asking.
Our response reflects on us.

Our response reflects on the One we say we follow.

Today, remember and be thankful He did what He said He was going to do.

We can do the same.

Terry
July 2015

Pat Riley said the last comment his father made to him was,

“Son, there will come a time when you have to plant your feet, straighten your back,

take a stand, and be a Man.”

As David lay dying, he said to Solomon, “be strong and show yourself as a Man”.

The world we live in today is somewhat resistant to this advice. The “slouching” of society has been

in another direction.

I will say that we need to reverse this trend. The great Men of history were not emasculated as the current

culture attempts to execute on young males. The heroes we have learned about and admired throughout history were not

meterosexual beings who doubted their gender. They were Men, without apology.

Children of today, women of today, whether they admit it or not, and younger guys…..need men to be Men,

The “cuteness” and cynicism of our current culture has bent the phrase “a Man’s man” ..to have double meaning.

Its time to say….enough of that.

My encouragement to all men today….is to stand up,” Man-up”….don’t worry about verbal “slings and arrows”…

and be a Man. Without apology. Realistically, there is nothing to apologize for.

God made us in His Image. Is that anything to apologize for?

The world needs Men, not anesthetized eunuchs.

Don’t wait until you are 50 to realize this. Your wife needs you to be a Man, now, today.

She may not say it aloud, and the world will disagree, but she needs you to lead. Not manipulate. Lead.

Your son needs the lifelong example, your daughter needs the proper treatment and she needs a

role model for her husband-to-be and all younger guys around you need to see a “Man-in-full”.

What does this mean?

Be strong in The Lord.

Know and know how to use Scripture.

Be what God calls you to be throughout His Word. Seek and Discover what that means.

Fight any and all battles which need to be fought.

Know that Father knows best, without apology. for your family.

Walk with Integrity.

Don’t be or act like a boy after you turn 25.

Learn and live by the proper Principles.

Have transcendent causes such as Faith, Family, Country…..which take precedence over any hobby, or career.

Put away childish things……get help if you do not understand this.

Do not be ashamed or apologetic about being a Man, once again…God made you in His Image.

With all the above evidence, plant your feet….straighten your back,  take your stand…..be a Man.

Terry

July 2015

Do you like what you do occupationally?

It seems that many people do not. That would be the reason for “hump-day” and  T.G.I.F. ,

and other references to the ending of the work week.

If people enjoyed their work…they would enjoy Monday as much as the weekend.

As someone who has enjoyed my vocation for the 30 years I have been in and at it , I recommend to

any young person starting out….do as Mark Twain suggested many years ago…

“Make your vocation your vacation”.

Ask people who know you, get tested, look into and discover what it is that you love to do….

that your talents and desire drive you toward…and build a career out of it.

Even if you are 40…..why suffer through another 20-30 years of drudgery in a career field you

do not like or enjoy.

I believe a secret to life is searching for and finding that thing you love to do…

and have talent and gifting toward…and commit to building a career around it.

If you like and enjoy your work…..it will not seem like work. You will have a constant craving

to learn, grow and will most likely succeed because you have a God-gifted talent and a

God-gifted desire to do this particular thing.

Recognize that not only did Our Creator bless you with a talent toward something…..

He placed within you desire to draw you toward the thing in which you could realize the most fulfillment and success.

He is not One to trick you. Throughout the message of His Word He continually tells us He is with us.

He is for us….He has good intention toward us.

Know these things.

If you know and believe He made you, He bent you toward certain things. Those things are probably what you enjoy.

These things are what you should seek to build a working-life around. Seek to build around your interests.

I know of many people who work at a career for their whole life ….and never enjoy it. Those people most likely

carry some of that unhappiness home with them everyday. That lends itself to venting about the day. Venting about the unhappiness at work will eventually breed unhappiness at home. It cannot help but occur. A cycle of dreading work can be laid upon children who then hear the constant complaining from an unhappy parent who never took the time nor effort to discover a vocation they found uplifting and enjoyable. That child listens and learns that work is a drudgery. And the cycle continues.

Break it.

Make your vocation your vacation and it will keep you youthful. Your mind and your energies and your creative

juices will be flowing forever. You will not complain at home….you will be sharing Joy. You will be sharing your talent.

My father knew at 19 what he should be doing vocationally. He settled for several other jobs and spent 17 years doing

these other things before becoming what he was intended to be.

At 37, he stepped out and changed his life.

He became the Minister he knew at 19 that he had been gifted and talented and instructed to be.

When he died at 55, he had been so effective in those 18 years that there were about 1500 people at his funeral.

That is effective living.

Work can be fulfilling. Work can be not only productive but pleasing.

What talent or gift within you has been corralled in by doing a job you do not enjoy?

Has it slowly made you into a complaining, unhappy family member?

My encouragement would be to seek the things you know within you that you love. Take a risk.

Take the risk of enjoying a career of working at things you are gifted to be great at.

It can be done. If you have life and breath, it is not too late. There are people who can and will prosper

from your talent, gifts and effective energies.

Vocation. Vacation. Fulfillment.

Terry

July, 2015

On April 11, 2009, Susan Boyle walked onto a stage in England.

She answered questions from the panel of judges. She expressed herself in a funny, quirky way. Even doing a little twist with one answer. She was unknown to the crowd and to the questioning panel. She appeared a bit unkempt and probably out of her element. As she answered questions, the crowd rolled their eyes and shook their heads not really believing she belonged there. The judges were vocally polite, but their eyes and their facial expressions indicated their belief also that Ms. Boyle did not belong in front of them, aiming at a prize.

Then she sang.

Within five seconds the judges expressions changed.

Very quickly the crowd, whose faces looked at Ms. Boyle with skepticism, now had their mouths hanging open in amazement. Within 30 seconds they were applauding.

She sang.

As she sang she was not the quirky, unkempt middle-aged woman. She sounded like a trained artist. As she continued to sing two of the judges rose in admiration, the crowd stood and cheered her on. She won them over with her voice.

She won them over because she opened her mouth and sang in the face of the skepticism she had to see in front of her. Take a moment and go look at the YOU TUBE video of the performance, You can see the faces of the judges and the crowd. Then, as she sang you can see the transformation of the crowd, the judges,  and how they now perceived with amazement this middle-aged woman expressing her beautiful gift.

We are all a bit like Susan Boyle.

We may look different. We might be younger or older than she was that day. We might express ourselves in a more sophisticated manner.

But, we have all seen skepticism on the faces of those around us at times. We have seen others look at us with rolled eyes and shaking heads. We have seen doubt and have probably felt somewhat inferior.

When Ms. Boyle stepped out of herself, and expressed the GIFT within her …..all of the opinions changed. Those in front of her, those judging her, those watching her now saw the GIFT rather than just her.  They now saw and heard the GIFT, rather than the seemingly simple woman who stood on the stage.

Like Susan Boyle, you have a GIFT.

It might not be vocal. It might be another form of Art. It might be one of encouragement or teaching.

Allow the GIFT within you to be seen, heard and experienced by those all around you. It will change the way people view you.

The GIFT within you has been placed and prospered by the One who made you.

Open yourself up, express the GIFT uniquely placed within you, and you alone.

To me, one of the secrets of life is to uncover, decipher and discover the GIFT God has placed within you.

You can develop it and grow it, But, you cannot create it.

Its there, within you.

It may be the thing you like to do the most.

It most likely is something that benefits or blesses more people than just you.

We are all a bit like Susan Boyle.

We all need to be more like the Susan Boyle who sang in front of those who doubted her.

You can and will change doubt into applause.

It might only be the “applause of Heaven”, but you will be fulfilling the Intention behind the GIFT.

When we express the GIFT given us by God, we glorify Him. That is the intention of all of creation…to express the glory placed within us….by fully using the GIFT granted to us.

Susan Boyle sang.

There is a GIFT within you, waiting to be revealed.

What is your wedding anniversary?

When did you graduate high school?

What was your Mothers birth date?

Our lives are filled with significant dates and occasions which hold fast in our minds and memories, giving our lives color, definition and clarity.

You know your birthday.
You know your wife’s birthday.

Your wedding date is in your mind or you are reminded.
The children you have brought into the world have birth dates you can recall.

Can you recall the date you accepted Christ into your life?

Life is bordered by significant and important and memorable occasions and dates.

I really believe you should remember your spiritual birth date.

Of all the dates in your existence IT will define your life and your eternity.

What’s yours?

I have asked people when they came to know Christ ….and some have said……..

 “I’ve always been a Christian.”

Not quite.

You have not always been alive.

You have not always been married.

It does not occur through osmosis.

It required a choice and a follow through.

It was a event.

It has weight which is heavy enough and is important enough to be remembered and acknowledged.

11/22/63…9/11/01…6/6/44..12/7/41..7/4/1776

More than those dates, your spiritual birthday began your eternal existence with Christ.

I asked a friend once and he quickly replied, “January 17, 1977.”

Encourage others to know their date.

Write down for your children the date they accepted Christ.

Do the same for your grandchildren.

Encourage those to whom you are close to “know your date”.

The Most Significant date.

Terry

Other than asking the question of “Who am I?” individually as we all do growing up and at various stages of life….this question should be asked by any and every individual and all corporate bodies at important times.

It is the question posed to The Supreme Court by itself this week through the voices of the Justices in the minority on Friday, June 26.

A lack of self-examination creates a life  that Socrates would say was not worth living. That life possibly pushes progressively forward, but can become an existence without definition or clarity and the lack of understanding regarding the consequences of one’s actions.

The Justices voicing the minority opinion on the 26th made the statement about “Just who do we think we are” in the context of undoing centuries of conventional wisdom and biblical definition by a small number of highly educated and seemingly cloistered people.

Any time you have the power and ability to influence, lead or direct other people….this question should be considered.

As a parent you have the Right and Obligation to assert your opinion, influence, preferences and belief system toward your children.

In a school, teachers, coaches and administrators are placed to instruct, teach and lead young people.

Church leaders are called to do the same according to the beliefs and structure of their particular denomination….under the direction of God, in the form of The Holy Spirit.

All of these influential people and entities though should self-examine by asking the titled question above….                           “Just who do we think we are?”

Without the influence of and belief in The God of The Bible, one can answer that question with any answer they “feel” right about at the moment.

Decisions based on feelings or situational ethics can change like the climate and be as unpredictable.

My personal answer to the title question is that I am a Child of God, brought into this world by my parents and subject to the Laws of The Old Testament. Having failed miserably in the quest for obedience, I am pardoned by the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

The decisions I make and influence I now have are guided by The God of The Bible.

I am able to love people but not make judgements about them according to my feelings or political preference. For who am I to make a judgement about someone else short of adhering to the Word of God. It is that Word which gives clarity to most every consideration.

“Just Who Do We Think We Are?”           

If you are one who has or asserts influence over others, please know there is more expected of you. Please know your decisions cause and lead to consequences.

Whatever the Courts decision brings, it will bring consequences. All influential choices do. 

Our roles as Parents, Teachers, Preachers and Leaders should give us pause as the assertion of our offices carry great weigh. As the Justices asked themselves…we must ask of ourselves the same question. As their decisions bring political reactions….our assertions toward those in our small circles changes thought, creates habit, leads lives to change and brings upon us an eternal accountability.
Terry
June 2015