I Thank My God

Philippians 1:3-4 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy…

Whenever Thanksgiving comes around I start going down a mental list of all the wonderful people God has placed into my life. From the time of my first breath God has surrounded me with loving family, friends, and Christian brothers and sisters.

Of course I thank my God for my wonderful wife. I can’t imagine what life would be like without her. I thank my God for my parents, my brother and his massive family, my grandparents, my aunt and uncle as well a plethora of cousins, and all their families. I am a blessed man, and I thank my God for family.

As a teacher and coach I was blessed to have MANY people, both adults and children, come and go in my life; some for only a short time and others to become lifelong friends. I thank my God for friends.

And then there are all the people God placed in my life through the church. Many loving brothers and sisters in Christ have crossed my path over the years and I thank my God for all of them.

I’m sure most of you feel the same way. You have family, friends, and fellow believers God put into your life, maybe for a short time or maybe for a lifetime. But in every case those people are gifts, and we should always be thankful for gifts. Who do we thank for all those loving people, all those gifts? I thank my God for them upon every remembrance. So should you.

Happy Thanksgiving.
Have a God Filled Week,
Brother Donnie

Manipulation

2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Beware of those who would manipulate you. That warning is clear throughout Scripture. In this verse Paul reminded the Corinthian Church of what happened between the serpent and Eve back in the Garden of Eden. The serpent manipulated Eve and that caused her to sin against God.

False teachers, preachers, evangelists…still use the same method today; they manipulate people. And though manipulation is rampant in all forms of ministry these days I think youth evangelism is one of the areas where such manipulation is most evident. Many “leaders” in youth ministry put a lot of pressure on kids to “accept” Jesus Christ as Savior. Rather than using their position as a Youth Pastor, Sunday-School Teacher, VBS Teacher, (or whatever title they bear) to lovingly proclaim the Good News about Christ, many of these people use high pressure manipulation tactics to acquire a “commitment” from young people. “Get them to say the prayer, sign the card, raise a hand, and get baptized as quickly as possible.” That seems to be the preferred method of youth evangelism these days.

Friends, that’s not evangelism; that’s manipulation. Youth leaders have a God given responsibility to present the Good News about salvation through faith in Jesus Christ to young people, but they cannot do the work of the Holy Spirit for Him. Rather than manipulate kids into a “commitment” all they need do is present the Gospel Truth about Jesus and then let the Holy Spirit take over. There’s no need for high pressure tactics, no need for the “make a decision right now” approach, no need to hit them with the Sinner’s Prayer or the Commitment Card… Just tell them the truth about Jesus and let the Holy Spirit take over from there.

Have a God Filled Week,

Brother Donnie

Veracity

2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

Veracity is another word for truth—absolute, valid, authoritative truth. The problem is that we live in a culture that doesn’t know how to define truth. Even worse, this culture often denies there is such a thing as absolute truth. They say no person can know the truth. For this generation truth has become gray rather than black and white. This culture demands that truth be flexible, pliable, and even malleable. In other words, the world around us has no veracity. Truth is whatever any individual determines it to be at any given moment and it changes based on shifting conditions. Our culture believes there are multiple truths and what might be true for one person isn’t necessarily true for another.

But the culture is confused. Even more than confused, the culture is wrong about the truth. There is only one truth. God is the author of all truth, and with God there is no shadow of turning, no change in His truth. One of the major themes of the Bible is “Truth.” There is one God, one truth, and the only way to know His truth is to know His word—the Bible.

We who know the truth have a responsibility to spread the truth, obey the truth, and defend the truth. We’re to fasten the belt of truth around our waist and stand firm in that truth. God’s truth is firm, unchanging, and unyielding. And the same truth applies to everyone, there is no difference. In this culture people are “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (2 Timothy 3:7) But we who have come to saving faith in Christ know the truth, and since the truth has set us free we must live a life of veracity.

Have a God Filled Week,

Brother Donnie

Drought

Revelation 7:16-17 They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

A few nights ago I saw a news story about people living in Madagascar. Little known to the rest of the world they’ve been suffering a terrible drought there.
People are starving; not hungry in the way we think of people being hungry here in the United States. I mean starving to death hungry. There are no foodbanks there, no government programs to sign up for. It hasn’t rained there in over five years and there is no food or water to be had. To see the children with their extended stomachs and tiny arms and legs brought tears to my eyes. There were people digging pits in the bottom of dried river beds in hopes of finding a few gallons of muddy water to drink. A mom was boiling cactus because it was all she had to feed her family.

Scripture says there will come a day when such things will not happen, a day when God’s children won’t hunger or thirst anymore, a day when the sun won’t strike them and they won’t suffer from the heat. And God will wipe away their tears. That’s the future.

But in the meantime let us pray for the people of Madagascar. Pray they receive food and water. Pray that God will send the rain they so desperately need. If God leads you to do so consider a monetary donation of some sort, but this a crisis for nearly a million people living in a poor nation halfway around the world. This is a God sized problem. The only long term solution is rain and only He can provide that. Pray for the people of Madagascar; pray that God will send them rain.

Have a God Filled Week,

Brother Donnie

Stumps

Job 14:7-9 “For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, And that its tender shoots will not cease. Though its root may grow old in the earth, And its stump may die in the ground, Yet at the scent of water it will bud And bring forth branches like a plant.

This morning I decided to remove some tree stumps from my yard. I had cut the trees a few years ago and I’ve been patiently waiting for the stumps to rot so I can get them out of the yard. Two of them came out easily enough, but one is stubborn. Not only does it refuse to rot, it keeps spouting new branches.

As the book of Job says, a tree that has been cut down still has hope that it will live again, that when the old roots make contact with water new sprouts will grow. We Christians are like that. We live in hope that when these mortal bodies are cut down our deep roots of faith will find living water that will make us sprout into new life.

Jesus said, “…whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14)

One day these old trees will be laid low. Our mortal bodies will cease to draw breath. But if we have deep roots of faith that drink in the living water Jesus provides our stumps will spring forth with new branches. New life will come to those who persevere in their faith, eternal life that flows from “a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Have a God Filled Week,
Brother Donnie

One, Two, Three

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Two are better than one. Because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Alone is a difficult place to be. The English poet, John Donne, once wrote, “No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main,” and he was right, especially concerning Christians. No believer is better off alone. God designed us to be together. When believers work together the results are magnified. When we fall together we don’t stay down; we lift each other up. When we’re cold and lonely we encourage each other, and when one of us overpowered we stand up for one another.

As believers our relationship with each other makes us stronger, but our saving relationship with Jesus Christ makes us indestructible. When brothers and sisters are corporately empowered by our faith in Jesus there is nothing we can’t do in the name of our Lord. Nothing can keep us down and nothing will chill our spirit. There is no power that can stand against us.

Yes, one is a lonely number; two are definitely better than one, but when the Lord Jesus is interwoven in the relationship three becomes imperishable—eternal.

Have a God Filled Week,
Brother Donnie

Two Gifts

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God…

For centuries people have argued over whether we are saved by God’s sovereign will or man’s free will. Calvinist would say you are saved because God sovereignly chose to save you, and Armenians would say God chose to save you because you made a free will choice to believe. Who is right? Both.

You see, salvation comes to us through two gifts from God—grace and faith. You can’t have either of those gifts unless God chooses to offer them to you. They are His gifts to give to whom He chooses. Yes, God sovereignly chose to offer you the gift of faith; you had nothing what-so-ever to do with that. But by His sovereign will God also gave you the free will choice to accept or reject the gift of faith. Now if you decide to accept God’s gift of faith God will grant you a second gift, the gift of grace, and that second gift is irresistible. Once God decides to pour the gift of His grace into you, you have no choice but to accept it.

There’s an order to our salvation. God chose to call us through the power of the Gospel; God chose to offer us the gift of faith; and God chose to pour out the gift of grace on those who chose to accept the gift of faith.

You see, there are two gifts leading to salvation. Both grace and faith are gifts from all mighty, eternal God. If you accept God’s gift of faith you will receive God’s gift of grace. You have been saved by grace through faith.

Have a God filled Week,

Brother Donnie

Walk Worthy

Colossians 1:10 …walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him…

I like walking. I go outside and walk when I’m feeling good and I go outside and walk when I’m feeling bad. I hike for fun; I walk for exercise; I simply like to walk.

But scripture tells me I need to walk worthy of the Lord. What does that mean? In God’s word to walk is synonymous with living. We are to live in a way that is worthy of the Lord—fully pleasing to Him. To walk worthy is to please the Lord.

Now, what pleases the Lord? Paul told the Colossians, that’s people who went to church in a city named Colossae, they needed to be fruitful in good work and they needed to increase in their knowledge of God. That would please God. And he goes on to tell them they needed to remain strong in the power of God and be patient and joyful. He says they needed to be thankful to God for the salvation He’s given them through the redeeming blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Fruitful work such as obedience to the Lord’s commands, increased knowledge of God through studying the Bible and going to church, strengthening our faith during our trials and tribulations, attitudes of patience, joy, and thankfulness… That’s what it means to walk worthy.

Sure, I like to walk—physically. But as I walk out my life I find more and more that I love walking spiritually with my Lord. My heart’s desire is to please Him. I pray you’ll join me in that walk, a walk worthy of the Lord.

Have a God Filled Week,
Brother Donnie

In The Beginning

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

It seems that every generation or so a new attack comes upon the Genesis account of creation, and again that ugly monstrosity is raising its head. But this time the attacks are coming from inside the churches and seminaries. Too often I hear of preachers and teachers who deny the Biblical account of creation. Repudiating the Word of God in Genesis chapters 1-11 they proclaim the Genesis account as no more than symbolic Christian Mythology.

Those preachers and teachers do exactly what scripture warns us against, placing value on human wisdom and philosophy. In doing that they deny that God created the world in six days and teach the Bible as literature rather than literal. They twist the words of God to make them align with the words of man’s intellectualism. They deem science as more trustworthy than Scripture.

The danger in that is paramount for us as Christians. If preachers and seminary professors deny a literal interpretation of any portion of the Bible they open the door to denying all the Bible as truth. To proclaim the Genesis account of creation as “mytho-historical fantasy,” as one Houston Baptist College professor recently did, cuts the legs from under all we believe about God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and salvation, and we should never allow that.

It’s time for true Christians to take a stand on the Bible, and that stand begins with, “In the beginning.”

Sanctification

1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sanctification is a word that often confuses people of faith. It’s often either misunderstood or absent from the believer’s vocabulary. But it is an important part of our salvation and we need to understand it. So what does it mean to be sanctified?

In the case of a Christian it means to be set a part for God, to be separated from the world, unbelief, and sin. Because we are justified by our faith in Jesus we are also sanctified. In one sense sanctification is something that happens instantly, at the moment of salvation. But in another sense sanctification is an ongoing process in the believer’s life.

When you are saved the Holy Spirit begins a work of sanctification in you that continues for the rest of your life. As a saved believer who is living out your faith on a daily basis the Holy Spirit will guide you to be separated from your sin and become more and more Christ-like. The sanctifying work of the Spirit within you will lead you into a life of submissive obedience to the Word of God and a life of increasing holiness.

But understand this. You are now living in daily conflict. The sanctifying power of the Spirit within you is in constant battle with the sin of your flesh. No person is sinless, but through the power of the Spirit working in you, you will sin less, and less, and less…until that day when you are completely sanctified.

Have a God Filled Week,

Brother Donnie