Daily Truth

Today's Bible reading is in Nehemiah 8. Lord, give Your people a renewed hunger to get together just to hear the Truth of Your Word (v. 1) so much that we would sit for 6 hours to listen attentively and obey it (3). Help me allow your Word to change my life to show how much I value the Word (they stood) and its Author (they bowed) (5-6). Help Your Spokesmen make it clear (8). Grieve me concerning ways i don't keep Your Word (9). Then give me joy simply because I have understood Your Word (12). Remind me and help me celebrate that my life (like Israel's life in tents or booths in the wilderness) is only temporary and that my permanent house is in the heavenly promised land with You, my King (13-17). Help me celebrate Your Word (18).

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Take Up and Read

If you are like most folks, this is the time of year you take inventory of your life. We tend to think about the areas in which we are falling short of our ideal and begin to contemplate the ways we can improve. I am told that more exercise equipment is sold immediately after the New Year than the rest of the year combined. I have an elliptical in my bedroom collecting dust and laundry that was purchased as part of a New Year's resolution a few years ago.

While losing weight and committing to physical exercise is valuable, it falls far short of the commitment to spiritual exercise we need to make. As the exercise equipment flooding garage sales and eBay can attest, resolutions are easy to break. Commitments are not. 

This year, I encourage you to commit to a Bible reading plan.  Several good plans are available.  Justin Taylor has an excellent summation of several good plans, including links to plans for your mobile phone.  If you are looking for a very challenging plan that will give you variety each day and will enable you to read parts of the Bible several times in 2012, check out the plan I will be using.  While this plan is attributed to Professor Grant Horner, it is very similar to the plan my Papaw Drake used for years, before he died in 1985. 

Regardless of the plan you use, it is important that you have a plan.  After you pick your plan, plan your time.  Some will be more faithful to keep a morning time, those who cannot function in the mornings will need to plan an evening time.  Early mornings work best for me, before the hectic busy-ness of the day begins.  Regardless of the time you pick, you must pick a time or it will never happen. 

Pick your plan, plan your time and prepare your place.  May I suggest a place that is as free from distraction as possible?  As a recent iPad convert, I have found that I must disable all of the "Push Notifications" in order to use it for effective Bible reading.  Otherwise, I become too distracted by the interruptions.  Email, texts, Twitter, telephone, television and Facebook need to be absent from the place you prepare.  Every effort should be made to provide for yourself a place free from distraction.  When that happens, you can immerse yourself in the Word. 

Pick your plan, plan your time, prepare your place.  Finally, proclaim your intentions.  Part of the reason for writing this post is for accountability.  I would love for you who read this to periodically post a "how goes it" comment.  The threat of having to answer you should keep me going during the times when it will be much more appealing to sleep than get up and read ten chapters.  But the fact is, I don't see most of you who read this blog.  I need to seek accountability with those whom I see regularly--and so do you.  Proclaim your intentions to them.  Invite them to challenge you and hold you accountable to your plan.  When you fail, seek their encouragement.  In doing so, you will encourage their growth as well.

Pick, plan, prepare, proclaim--let's do those things and celebrate the joy of daily being in God's Word together this year.

2 Timothy 2:15 KJV

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The Inevitable Reality of Death

This past week, LifeWay Research released some new data on how Americans perceive and pursue spiritual realities. The statistic that most struck me is the fact that 46% of Americans NEVER wonder about whether they will go to heaven. It’s not that they don’t believe in heaven or hell. It’s just that they simply don’t think about it.

I have often lamented the impression that we live in a culture of death. Skulls and skeletons have moved from underground Goth subculture to mainstream fashion. Death, gore, murder, blood and violence fill movie screen, television programs and video games. The current generation has been desensitized to images of graphic violence.

But despite the numb, calloused reaction to IMAGES of death, many people in our culture are not confronted with the actuality of death. Death is fictional. It is a caricature. For average, comfortable suburban people, it isn’t real.

Although I am speculating, I would imagine that very few of the 46% have been personally impacted by the stark reality of death. Seeing the cold, lifeless body of one whom you have loved—not a made-up corpse or a cremation urn—inevitably raises questions of the afterlife. With our society’s comfortable embrace of the images of death, we seem to have lost touch with its reality.

Amos 6:1

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Holiness Among Us

God became a baby. He entered a world of problems and heartaches.
“The Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness” (John 1:14 NLT).

The operative word of the verse is among. He lived among us. He donned the costliest of robes: a human body. He made a throne out of a manger and a royal court out of some cows. He took a common name—Jesus—and made it holy. He took common people and made them the same. He could have lived over us or away from us. But he didn’t. He lived among us.


Max Lucado and Terri A. Gibbs, Grace for the Moment : Inspirational Thoughts for Each Day of the Year (Nashville, Tenn.: J. Countryman, 2000), 49.

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Daily Truth

Today's time being shaped like God is in Nehemiah 7. Lord, make me a person of integrity who fears you more than most people do (7:2). Lead me by clearly putting Your will in my heart (7:5). May others recognize by my life that my name is on the list of those who have been freed from slavery to sin (7:5-7). The average Joe israelite gave 1/4 of their annual income to Your work (7:72). Lead me to be as generous with what You have given me so that people will both be Your disciples and make disciples.

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Daily Truth

Today's time learning God's way of thinking is in Nehemiah 6. Lord, don't let the enemy distract me from doing Your work, even if they try repeatedly (6:3-4). Cause me to work consistently. Let me not be weakened in Your work by fear or threats (6:9). Don't let me sin or give anyone reason to accuse me (6:13). Strengthen my hands today (6:9). Make it obvious today to those against me that my work is really you working in me (6:16). Finish Your work in me and through me (6:15).

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Do We Really Need Another Church?

There is much talk about planting churches in Southern Baptist circles these days. Questions of methodology, strategy and means tend to dominate the conversation. But before addressing any of those issues, we must be clear on the need.

All too often it is said that we have too many churches already—what is the need to plant new ones? It is true that the many parts of our country are littered with small evangelical church buildings—especially in the southeast. The problem is that many (if not most) of them are in various stages of death and decay. If that does not describe your church, then praise God! But I can confidently make that charge about most American churches because of the vast numbers of lost people right outside their doors.

Crime, drugs, child abuse and neglect are key indicators that what we are doing isn’t working—because people who have been transformed by the Gospel don’t act like that. The only solution to the problem of our communities is the Gospel. It’s not social programs, food pantries, clothes closets or other giveaways. Those things can be helpful in the right context, but they do nothing to solve the core problem of lostness.

The only thing that will fix the problem is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But according to Romans 10:14-15, the only way the lost will hear the Gospel is if someone proclaims it to them. And the only way that someone will proclaim it to them is if they are sent. Church planting, at its core, is sending.

The church growth models of recent years—while good for what they were good for—were primarily designed to bring. Church planting is primarily designed to send. Bringing builds crowds and budgets which can be good if focused and directed properly. Sending inherently builds disciples. And disciples are what the Great Commission calls us to build.

The Great Commission is clear. We must build disciples. But disciples will not be built if they do not hear. And they will not hear if no one is sent. And sending is best done by planting churches. Therefore, we must plant churches.

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Daily Truth

Today's time in the Word is in Nehemiah 5. My God, Help me keep my promises to You (5:13). Make me a giver in Your body, not a taker (5:15). Make me live so that others remember the good I have done for Your people (5:19) rather than what I did for my own benefit.

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Daily Truth

Today's time being transformed by the Word is in Nehemiah 4. My God, let my work building Your kingdom be a threat to Your enemies (4:1-3). When they accuse me of weakness, be my strength (4:2). When they accuse me of blind ambition, be my success (4:2). Make them see that You are great and awesome and lead them to repent (4:14). Help me not do Your work half-heartedly (4:6). Make me always prepared to work for You (4:23).

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Christopher Hitchens, Kim Jong Il and... Rehoboam?

Sometime in the past 48 hours, the political landscape in North Korea—and possibly the world—dramatically shifted. Last night, news reports began to trickle in about the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. My first reaction was the same as when I heard of Christopher Hitchens’ death—neither of them is an atheist any longer.

But after my initial reaction, I began to think about the void that each of those influential atheists will leave behind. Those who will fill the void left by Hitchens’ passing will continue to spew the same venomous blasphemy he did, albeit with less adeptness and aplomb. People who eulogized him by saying there will never be another like him were wrong.

There have been militant atheists since Genesis 6, and there will continue to be militant atheists until the events of Revelation 20 come to pass. Men like like Sartre, Comte, Nietzsche, Mill, Marx, Hitchens and countless others were brilliant polemicists of their atheism—and countless more will fill their shoes. Christopher Hitchens—though brilliant—was not really that special. Historically speaking, you could say that men like him are, and always will be, a dime a dozen.

Although not unique, Hitchens’ intellectual influence was undeniable. On the other hand, Kim Jong Il’s power was more tangible. Unlike Hitchens, Kim Jong Il was a unique man with a unique and powerful role. As the tyrannical leader of nuclear North Korea, he had the sheer power to oppress, starve, intimidate and terrorize the people of his nation. In doing so, he nearly completely suppressed the witness of the Gospel to millions of people. While Hitchens poisoned minds with rhetoric, Kim brutalized people with starvation and force—producing one of the most oppressively atheistic nations in the world.

While countless people will fill Hitchens’ shoes, only one has been chosen to succeed Kim Jong Il. Kim Jong Un has been named as “the great successor” to pick up where his father left off. In the days and weeks ahead, he will be hearing advice from many of his subjects. That advice will likely look like the advice given to Rehoboam in 1 Kings 12 upon the death of his father Solomon.

Rehoboam’s first advice came in verse 7 from those who had the pulse of the nation: “And they said to him, ‘If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.’” Rehoboam was not satisfied with that advice, so he sought another opinion in verses 10-11: “And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, ‘Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, “Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,” thus shall you say to them, “My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs. And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” ’ ” Rehoboam took the advice of his cronies and sent Israel into chaos.

Christopher Hitchens’ successors can do no more damage than he or any of his atheistic predecessors have done, but Kim Jung Il’s successor can slaughter millions and potentially plunge the world into war. Knowing this, we should pray that in the coming days Kim Jung Un will listen to the advice of more moderate voices. Pray that he will be a servant to his people and speak good words to them. Pray specifically that he will allow food to reach his people, and more importantly, pray that he will begin to allow the free spread of the gospel among his people.

In the days and weeks to come, whoever Kim Jung Un listens to, remember that God is always in control. No matter what Hitchens' successors will say or how eloquently they attempt to say it, God was in control in Rehoboam’s day and He still is today: “So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD that he might fulfill his word, which the LORD spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.”

Proverbs 21:1

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Daily Truth

Today we are in Nehemiah 3. Lord, cause your people to get busy about Your work, side by side (3:1-4). Help me see that my task may not be the same as that of my co-worker, but all will be for the building of the kingdom. Don't let me be too good to do the grunt work (3:5). Let me do work that people think I am too weak to do (3:12) so You get the glory. Let me be passionate about the work You give me to do (3:20). Help me build your kingdom right around my own house (3:23, 28). Help me build up Your body to maturity. Use me to make it ready for the enemies attacks.

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Know Christ. . . Parent Kids — 1 John 1:1-2

John, the disciple Jesus loved, was an old man when he wrote his three letters to the church. His exile on the Island of Patmos where he penned the book of Revelation was past, and he was pastoring, likely in Ephesus.

John addressed his readers as “children” thirteen times in the five chapters of first John alone. He viewed his audience as his own spiritual children and viewed himself as their spiritual father. As a result, He offers many insights about how to parent.

We find the first bit of wisdom in 1 John 1:1-2. John’s first point is that he has had first hand
experience of Christ, the One who was “from the beginning,” “the Word of Life,” and “the eternal life that was with the Father.” John had heard this Christ, seen this Christ, observed this Christ, and touched this Christ.

Do you have firsthand knowledge of this Christ to share with your teen? Have you heard His voice today in His Word, the Bible? Have you sensed the leading of His Spirit today as you read and prayed? Do you know the touch of His encouraging and correcting hand through the Church?

It is impossible to teach your teen what you don’t know. So make it a point today to know Jesus more. . . in His Word, Spirit, and Body. If we don’t know Jesus firsthand, we cannot parent as God created us to parent. Without firsthand knowledge of Christ, parents can merely raise nice, law-abiding teens.

Parenting out of firsthand knowledge of Christ, however, leads teens to recognize Jesus when they see Him, know what it is they need to become, rightly evaluate themselves compared to Christ, and want Him with all their hearts. What firsthand knowledge have you passed on to your teen today?

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Daily Truth

Today's time learning how God has worked through His people is in Nehemiah 2. God of heaven, let those close to me notice my sorrow over what really matters instead of over silly selfish things (2:2). Remind me to seek You before each step I take (2:4-5). Provide all the resources needed for me to do Your will (2:7-8). Give me the faith to trust that I will live in the promised land one day even though now I live in this imperfect place (2:8). Help me know what I must do to build Your kingdom, involve others in that work, and tell those who oppose us that You, God, will give us success in the work You gave us to do (2:12-20).

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Daily Truth

Today we start to read a short book in the Old Testament, Nehemiah. He was an Israelite living in Susa because Jerusalem had been destroyed and the Jews had been taken into captivity. Today, read Nehemiah 1. Yahweh, God of heaven (1:5), break my heart when I hear of Your people living in the destruction of their own sin (1:4). Help your Church and remind me to pray for it day and night (1:6). Your people and I have lived as if You don't exist (1:7). You are just to punish us, and faithful to restore us (1:8-9). Hear my prayer for help (1:11). Cause me to delight in an awareness of You greatness (1:11). Make me successful in what You call me to do for Your people (1:11).

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Daily Truth

Today's time lining our lives up with God's Word is Romans 16:17-27. "Only wise God (16:27), keep me from causing division in Your Church or saying anything that does not agree with Your Word (16:17). Don't let me live to get what I want, but to want what You want, and let my speech, however clumsy, lead others to Your truth (16:18). Let those who have taught me to follow You be able to celebrate because of my obedience to You (16:19). Use me soon to crush the work of The devil around me (16:20). Push me to lead people from all nations to obey You simply because they trust You (16:26). Let my life display Your greatness today for all to see (16:27).

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Daily Truth

Today's reading is in Romans 16:1-16. Lord, make me a servant in Your Church, a giver, not a taker (16:1-2). I want to risk all for the gospel (16:4). Use my house to grow Your church (16:5). Make me a hard worker in Your kingdom (16:6,12). Help me be a friend in the Lord to everybody, especially those it's hard to like (16:8). Help me to remember my family as those to whom I minister and disciple (16:13). Thank You for seeing me as a saint, a holy one (16:15). Let Your thoughts and wants so permeate me that even my kisses are holy/godly (16:16).

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The Two Things for which God Rescues Us - 2 Timothy 4:9-18

Paul was at Rome in prison for the second time, likely awaiting his execution. Demas had abandoned Paul due to a love for the things of the world. Paul sent other friends away to minister and only Luke was with him. Paul was alone, facing winter’s onset with no coat, striving to minister without his dear Scriptures, and was likely suffering physically since Alexander the coppersmith “did great harm” to him. In this seemingly hopeless situation, Paul identified two things for which God rescued/will rescue him.
The first rescue followed Paul’s first hearing in court. All of Paul’s friends deserted him, but God stood near to him. God strengthened him to speak the message of Christ fully to the Gentiles present in court, and God rescued him from certain death (“from the mouth of a lion”) so that he could continue ministering from prison. Paul’s intent to make full use of this rescue from immediate execution is made clear by his request for Timothy to bring his scrolls and parchments. These “books” were likely the Scriptures that Paul would need in ministry. Every rescue by God from death is for the purpose of making Christ known.
Paul anticipated his second rescue (v. 18) which was deliverance from this life and entrance into heavenly life. The second reason God rescues us is to take us home to be with Him.
To be rescued from death is to make Christ known to all. To be rescued by death is to be present with Christ in heaven. We must use the life God has given us to make Christ known. If not, whom will we have to present mature in Christ when we are rescued from this world by Christ.

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Lottie Moon Week of Prayer: Rio de Janeiro

Sprawling along the hillsides beneath the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue, Rio de Janeiro is a city of juxtaposition. A middle-class gated community may share a wall with a gang-controlled slum. This proximity allows Eric and Ramona Reese to reach out to both extremes within the Brazilian megacity.

While Eric focuses on ministering in the favelas (slums), Ramona reaches out to the middle-class wives and mothers she encounters as she works out at the gym or takes their two daughters to school and ballet practice.

“We’re here in the city, and we try to make relationships with the people who are around us,” Ramona says.

One person Ramona has become friends with is Eliane Santos, a mother she met at the ballet studio. “We were just sitting and talking,” Eliane says. “Eventually, Ramona shared Christ and asked if I had asked Christ into my heart. I said, ‘No, I haven’t.’”

That night in her home, Eliane reflected on Ramona’s message and placed her faith in Jesus.

“I look to Ramona as a mother in the faith,” Eliane says. “She’s someone that encourages me and makes me want to go on.”

When Ramona heard about Eliane’s conversion, she was overjoyed.

“Go out and seek the lost,” Ramona says. “Relationships are what it’s all about.”

Pray God will help the Reeses be His heart, hands, and voice as they build strong relationships with Brazilians from opposite walks of life. Pray many Brazilians will accept Christ through these friendships.

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Lottie Moon Week of Prayer: European City

Sanaz left Iran with nothing but her daughter and a will to live.

At 27 years old she had seen enough destruction. Her workplace, her family, her hopes for the future had been chewed up in a political machine determined to obliterate dissent. Not knowing whether her husband was dead or alive, she set out on an invisible passageway well trafficked by refugees fleeing oppression in North Africa, Afghanistan, and Iran.

She ended up on the crowded doorstep of a European city.

Here she found a government overrun with requests from asylum seekers. She found a society groaning under economic pressures not helped by a burgeoning immigrant community. Instead of freedom to pursue a new life, she found barriers.

Until some Afghan friends told her about a place where IMB workers are welcoming weary travelers. With food, training, and the good news, they are helping refugees find spiritual freedom—perhaps not what they left home to find, but something better.

For Sanaz, this has made all the difference. “I have hope that my future is bright because my heavenly Father is with me.”

Pray for IMB workers in this European city to have wisdom and skill in crossing cultural and language barriers with refugees who are arriving daily from places like Afghanistan and Iran.

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Lottie Moon Week of Prayer: Dongguan

Factories are the bus stops and the monuments and the landmarks. Everything exists to serve them in Dongguan, China.

The city is divided into 32 districts, each one specializing in a different kind of manufacturing with more than 3,000 factories crammed into one town.

IMB worker David Rice* believes that by reaching the factories with the Gospel, an entire generation of migrant workers will take the message back to their homes. These villages are often so remote that they are not even on a map, let alone on the radar of Christian strategists.

“People come here from all over the country looking for a job,” Rice says, noting in one year’s time he has met at least one person from all 34 provinces.

Rice and his ministry partner, Delun Kao*, see this group of 10 million 17- to 35-year-olds primed for making major changes in their lives. They are away from the strongholds of their culture back home. They are lonely and searching for meaning.

“We know they won’t stay here forever,” Kao says, noting that most return to the village by age 35. “So, the goal is to train them to be a catalyst for a new church.”

Through the years, Kao’s seen the training model work as migrants return to their villages and start new fellowships. Still others switch factories and start churches in their new workplace.

Pray that factory workers in China will open their hearts to the Gospel and take it back to the village.

Pray how you will give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering to support workers like Rice who partner with national believers to be His heart, His hands, His voice.

*Names changed

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Daily Truth

Today's time being changed by His Word is in Romans 15:14-33. God, in addition to joy and peace, fill me with goodness, knowledge, and the ability to disciple others (15:13-14). Let me be fruitful so I can brag about You more (15:17-18). Help me to agonize in prayers for my fellow believers and give me times of refreshing with them (15:30-32).

Sent from my iPhone

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Lottie Moon Week of Prayer: Johannesburg

Lisha* was just a little girl who trusted her pastor, but he raped her. As a teenager she trusted her friend, but he raped her repeatedly. When Lisha’s mom found out she was pregnant, she kicked Lisha out, forcing her to find a home with her abusive boyfriend. He soon realized he could profit from selling Lisha to his buddies for sex. Lisha is now 33 years old and still trapped in forced prostitution.

Lisha is just one of an estimated 27 million victims of human trafficking around the world. Human trafficking is the practice of deceiving individuals or taking them against their will, selling, buying, and transporting them into slavery. Trafficking encompasses more than just sexual exploitation; men, women, and children are also trafficked for forced labor.

IMB missionary Martha Richards*, who lives in Johannesburg, met Lisha while researching trafficking in South Africa. As Lisha shared her story, Richards was eager to help girls escape from bondage.

“We need to open our eyes and take a hard look at the reality around us,” Richards says. “Many of these girls have never received genuine love. They desperately need to know the love of Jesus.”

Richards tried to help Lisha and another woman escape, but their “owner” found them and forced them back into prostitution.

Pray that God would save trafficking victims and their owners. Ask Him how He wants you to join the global fight against trafficking, whether through prayer, support, or personally rescuing victims of modern-day slavery.

*Names changed

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Lottie Moon Week of Prayer: London

Though she has always lived in London, Fatimah grew up observing her family’s Islamic rituals, just as if she were living in her father’s homeland of Iraq. And she has faithfully passed these traditions on to her own children. Fatimah’s parents make the hajj to Mecca every year, and she has been five times herself, she says.

“We don’t drink alcohol or smoke, so we save that money to use to go to Mecca,” she explains. “It’s really lovely there, like a festival, with everyone there for the same purpose,” she says, her eyes shining as brightly as the tiny diamond piercing her nose.

Fatimah lives in an area of west London teeming with ethnic restaurants, clothing shops, mosques, and Sikh temples. To walk the streets of Southall is to encounter a very different London from what most tourists to Britain experience.

“London is an amazing place to get to relate to people from all over the world,” says Patrick Sims*, IMB missionary. This multicultural aspect of London brought Sims, strategy leader for the London team, to work here nearly a decade ago.

The world has indeed come to London: schoolchildren here speak more than 200 languages, and more than 40 percent of London schoolchildren speak a language other than English at home. As in urban settings everywhere, building relationships is a challenge for missionaries serving here.

Pray for missionaries in London to develop deep, cross-cultural relationships in this urban environment.

London is the focus of International Mission Study 2011 by Woman’s Missionary Union. Visit www.wmu.com/london.

*Name changed

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Lottie Moon Week of Prayer: Karachi

Aadam Channar* was only a boy when Baptist missionary Hu Addleton first brought the Gospel to his province in Pakistan. Today he is an evangelist trying to reach Pakistan’s largest city.

“Karachi is the largest city in Pakistan. When we arrived there [in 1956], it was 1 million population. Now it’s 17 to 18 million,” said Addleton, who retired after serving 34 years in Pakistan with his wife, Bettie. “It is a picture of the whole country, because you have every ethnic group living in Karachi.”

About 97 percent of Karachi follows Islam. Christians make up only about 2 percent of the city’s population, according to the US State Department.

Channar grew up in a tiny Hindu village very different from the bustling hub of Karachi, but that did not keep him from approaching the city with the intention of sharing the good news of Jesus among its many people groups.

“God gave me this vision: ‘Go [to] Karachi. Leave your home, area, village.’ So God sent me here,” Channar said. “That’s why I am in Karachi.”

Addleton, who discipled Channar, encourages Southern Baptists to continue giving through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

“We ought to continue to pray for [Pakistani Christians] and to challenge people to go,” Addleton said.

Please pray for Channar as he represents the Lord as His heart, His hands, His voice in the city of Karachi, and ask that more Pakistani Christians would respond to God’s call to do the same.

*Name changed

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Teaching Teens How to Die in Order to Teach Teens How to Live - 2 Timothy 4:6-8

Aware that he was about to die a martyr’s death in Rome, Paul taught
Timothy how to live by sharing with him how he (Paul) intended to die. Paul
began by referring to himself as a “drink offering.” In the Jewish Temple, a
drink offering was poured out at the base of the altar after the sacrifice and before the singing of a song of praise to God by the priests and Levites. When Paul said “I am being poured out as a drink offering,” he was telling Timothy that the sacrifice of his life for the cause of the Gospel was complete, and that he was about to begin a heavenly song of praise to His Lord in God’s presence. The anticipation of this time of praise was possible for Paul because of the way he had lived. He had fought the “good fight.” He had run hard to lead many to follow Jesus well and had trusted Jesus all the way to the end. Now he anticipated the fulfillment of his salvation, the perfection of righteousness without any more struggle with sin (cf. Rom. 7). He told Timothy that to live a life led by the Lord makes death something for which one longs. Do we lead our teens to be ready and excited to meet Christ at death? Do they see that we have fought, run, and endured for Christ? Do we teach them that being with Christ is far better than life here? What do we communicate about Christ by what we say about death? Are we willing to die daily now so that others will share in crowns of righteousness and songs of praise in heaven? When you die, will your kids be able to describe your life as a drink offering poured out to God?

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Lottie Moon Week of Prayer: Jerusalem

As Jesus approached Jerusalem for the last time, He wept. He thought about the people within its walls and said, "If you had only known on this day what would bring you peace.” He knew within hours He’d be crucified by the very people for whom He wept.

Would Jesus still look over the city and weep 2,000 years later?

Most believe He would. Jerusalem is a city where stress runs high, and the strain of so many people practicing so many religions in such a small area makes the tension palpable. They seek a blessing or a healing or some connection with God through well-meaning, but mistaken, devotion.

Bitter division resides just below the surface. Christians, Jews, Muslims—no faction would be disappointed if the other two groups would exit the city walls and disappear into the barren countryside. Many who want peace see it as something to be politically brokered.

“We work toward peace, we work toward bridging the gap between cultures and between the differences in people, but really it’s God’s grace and only God’s grace that will ever appear,” says an IMB worker.

“The situation in Jerusalem will decide what will be the situation in the rest of the world,” says a local messianic pastor. When Jesus comes, “there will be peace in Jerusalem and there will be peace in the rest of the world.”

Pray that the people of Jerusalem will begin to recognize the things that bring true peace.

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Lottie Moon Week of Prayer: Tokyo

In Japan’s male-dominated society, a man’s identity centers on his work. Companies reward loyalty, hard work, and long hours. But losing one’s position is a fall from grace that leads to shame. For many Japanese, losing a job means losing their identity. For some touched by the ministry of International Mission Board (IMB) workers to the homeless, it means new birth.

Hironobu Honda, Kiyoshi Sugioka, and Katsuo Yamamota are three of the nearly 1 million Japanese who lost their jobs during the global economic decline that began in 2007. As their foundation of pride and self-sufficiency crumbled, all three found themselves homeless. All three contemplated suicide.

Then they found Christ through the witness of IMB personnel helping the homeless in Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park. Today these men are involved in small Bible groups throughout Tokyo.

On March 11 a crushing earthquake and tsunami dealt Japan another blow. A nuclear crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant complicated relief efforts and led to the temporary evacuation of American citizens from Tokyo, including IMB missionaries Mark and Wendy Hoshizaki who minister to the homeless.

“Even before the earthquake, the homeless were beginning to ask, ‘What is important? What is real? Isn’t there some hope?’” Mark said.

Sugioka saw opportunities in the crises.

“Japan has been too comfortable and maybe this is what Japan needs to turn to the Lord,” Sugioka said.

Pray that both the earthquake and economic crisis will lead more Japanese to turn from their pride and self-sufficiency to faith in Jesus Christ.

Pray that small groups begun among the homeless will grow into reproducing churches.

Pray the spiritual rebirth among the homeless will spread to other sectors of Japanese society as they become bold witnesses for Christ.

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Lottie Moon Christmas Offering

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Week of Prayer, Dec 4-11, 2011

If you are a follower of Jesus, you are part of the task to fulfill the Great Commission.

Paul says, “All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27). Jesus has commissioned us to be His heart, His hands, His voice. Through praying, giving, and going, Southern Baptists have fulfilled this legacy for more than 160 years.

Yet billions remain lost and time may be running out for them. We must pray more intentionally and give more sacrificially than ever before. Our churches must take direct responsibility for helping reach the nearly 3,800 unengaged, unreached people groups that missionaries may never be able to get to.

And, since most unreached people groups likely are represented in the world's urban centers, we have unique challenges and opportunities to reach the world through the cities, as illustrated in this year’s week of prayer features.

What can you do, individually? Start by being “Southern Baptist missions” through your prayers to be an extension of His heart, hands, and voice through unprecedented giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering®.

Taken from IMB Connecting

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Forlorn Hope

John Clough was called to the harvest field while working in one. He had grown up without religious inclinations, and in college seemed resistant to evangelistic efforts by friends. His roommate tried to read the Bible and pray with him each evening, but John, growing exasperated, drew a chalk line down the middle of the room, forbidding prayer or Scripture on his side of the line.

But the Holy Spirit worked on his heart, and one evening, unable to study and overwhelmed with his need, he crossed the line and knelt by his roommate. Shortly after, hearing a missionary sermon, John wondered if God would have him overseas, and he applied. He was atop a four-horse reaper breaking off grain when a farmhand approached him with a letter from Boston. Clough wiped away his sweat and tore open the news from the Baptist Foreign Mission Board. "What do you know!" he shouted. "They want me to go to India as a missionary!"

Missions officials wanted to send him to "Forlorn Hope"—Telugu, India—where 17 years of painful, plodding effort had produced no apparent results. On November 30, 1864 Clough and his wife sailed from Boston on a tiny ship, hardly seaworthy, called the James Guthrie. It rolled and pitched its way across the ocean, finally limping into India the following April. John, leaping into service, was immediately confronted with a dilemma. The higher caste of Indians refused to attend church with the lower caste and outcasts. Praying for wisdom, Clough randomly opened his Bible and read in 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 of God choosing the lowly. Across the room at the same moment, his wife randomly opened her Bible to the same place. Clough, amazed, took it as divine guidance. He announced that all were welcome in his church, that he would not accept a segregated congregation.

He started preaching, and conversions multiplied. Fifteen months later two Indian preachers stood in a river and began baptizing the converts. When they grew weary, other preachers relieved them. By five o’clock 2,222 had been baptized, and the baptisms continued for two more days.

Robert J. Morgan, On This Day : 365 Amazing and Inspiring Stories About Saints, Martyrs & Heroes, electronic ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000).

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Christmas Family Devotional Guide

The Week of Hope

For hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus, the Hebrew people believed that one day God would send a great leader to deliver them from bondage and fear. Their nation was captured, people were taken captive, and their temple was destroyed. But the saddest part was that they knew that their sin had forever separated them from God.

But they never gave up hope. They knew that they needed a redeemer and that God’s Anointed would one day come to shepherd them.

The world today is also in need of the Redeemer’s leadership and hope. Jesus Christ came and gave hope to all who would believe in Him.

(Light the first purple candle)
As the first purple candle is lit say: “I light this candle on the first Sunday of Advent to remind us of the hope we have in our Redeemer. Jesus came to give us the hope of our salvation and the hope of our future glory.

Read: Isaiah 7:14
Micah 7:7

“O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear. Rejoice, Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel! (John Mason Neale, Henry Sloane Coffin).

Have a family discussion on the hope that you have as a family because of our Emmanuel.

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Loving God with the Whole Heart

Matthew 22:37-38

We must not love God only with the heart, but with the whole heart. Pray mark this: perfect hatred and perfect love know no such thing as the world calls prudence. If you perfectly hate any one, all things about him displease you; whatever he says or does, though it be never so good, it seems to you to be evil: so if you perfectly love any one, all things about him please you. Some expound this totality by this distinction: We are to love God with the whole heart positively and negatively: positively, where all powers of the will are set to love God; and this we cannot perfectly do while we are travellers, till we come to our heavenly country: but, negatively, thou shalt so love God, that nothing contrary to the love of God shall be entertained in thy heart; and this we may attain to a pretty tolerable perfection of in this life.

The whole heart is opposed either to a divided and dispersed heart, or to a remiss and a sluggish heart: God doth as much abominate a partnership in our love, as a husband or wife abhors any such thing in their conjugal relation. We must love nothing but God, or that which may please God. He that loves God with his heart, and not with his whole heart, loves something else, and not God.

As the whole heart is opposed to a remiss and sluggish heart, the meaning is this,—the care of our heart should be set upon nothing so much as upon the loving and pleasing of God; we must prefer God alone before all other objects of our love, and there must be an ardency of affection: whatever we do, it must be for his sake, and according to his will. - Samuel Annesley (1620-1696)

Puritan Sermons, Volume 1 (Wheaton, IL: Richard Owen Roberts, Publishers, 1981), 576-77.

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Romeo, James Dean, Twilight and Other Forbidden Fruit

Here we go again.  Another Christmas season, another Twilight movie.  As I watched reports of people lining up for hours to earn Breaking Dawn Part One a whopping $139.5 million over its opening weekend, I thought it was probably time to repost this article.  I originally posted this in 2008 as I first became aware of the popularity of the novels.  At the time, I could not imagine the sustainability of the Twilight franchise.  All the more reason to repost the original warning:

Ladies, meet the 21st century James Dean. His name is Edward Cullen and he’s… a vampire.

Being old and out of touch, I was late in realizing the phenomenon that is the Twilight book series. The premise of the series is simple enough—teenage girl falls in love with a boy she’s not supposed to fall in love with. Forbidden fruit is a romantic premise that is older than Romeo and Juliet. But here’s the difference—in the Shakespearean world of four centuries ago, Romeo was wrong for Juliet because of familial disputes.

Fast forward to James Dean in the 1950s. Same story, new chapter—teenage girls fawn over a boy they’re not supposed to. But by this time, society had “progressed” to the point that the forbidden fruit had nothing to do with his heritage. Instead, the illicit attraction had everything to do with the boy’s rebellion against the puritanical rules of society. James Dean was forbidden fruit because he smoked. He drove fast cars. He was disrespectful and slightly dangerous. He wore the clothes of street gangs and didn’t fit into the straight-laced structure of Mom and Dad’s world. He was sexy because he broke the rules.

That formula worked to create teen idols of young men from Dean, to Elvis, to John, Paul, George and Ringo. It moved from the anti-establishment rebellion of cigarettes and leather jackets to long hair, love beads and psychedelic drugs. It continued past the ‘60s into the ‘70s and ‘80s and blossomed into free love relationships, “friends with benefits” and even homosexuality. Each illicit attraction enticed by the sexiness of forbidden fruit.

But in today’s age of tolerance, none of that fruit is considered forbidden. Society says it is now normal to be rebellious. It is acceptable to lead an immoral lifestyle. Society says that sex is just a physical act with no consequences or even moral implications. As long it is consensual and “protection” is used, anything and everything is okay. And because everything is now okay, teenage girls have to plumb even lower depths to find their forbidden fruit.

And they have—except Romeo is no longer in the land of the living. They’ve found him in depths of the spiritual underworld. James Dean smoked cigarettes—the forbidden fruit of today drinks blood. James Dean didn’t fit into the structure of Mom and Dad’s world. Today’s forbidden fruit doesn’t fit into the realm of God’s creation. James Dean was always on the brink of breaking young girls’ hearts. Today’s forbidden fruit wants more than the girl’s heart—he wants her eternal soul. As the young girl told the interviewer on the Today Show a couple of weeks ago—he is sexy because it is wrong. James Dean was sexy because he broke the rules of society. Edward Cullen is sexy because he breaks the rules of God. The worst thing James Dean could steal was a young girl’s heart. The unseen spirits behind the vampire novels want to steal her soul.

2 Timothy 3:1-7

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Introducing: MeinHerrundmeinGott

I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome James Boyd as a new contributor to Deep Riches.  James holds a PhD from Southwestern Seminary and serves as Associate Pastor of First Baptist Church in Princeton, WV.  He is married with two beautiful daughters and has a deep conviction that all Christians should be disciple-makers.  His “handle” is MeinHerrundmeinGott, which is German for “My Lord and my God.”  I know his writings will edify you.

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How Parents Can Help a Teen Fulfill His/Her Ministry—2 Timothy 4:1-5

In 2 Timothy 4:1-5, Paul exhorted Timothy, his spiritual child, “to fulfill” the ministry God had given him. What can parents learn from this exhortation about how to help their teens be faithful to the mission of Jesus? First, Paul established the serious basis of the exhortation by reminding Timothy that to ignore it would incur God’s judgment and trivialize the second coming and rule of Christ. Parents have no excuse for trivializing their teens’ ministries in the kingdom. Of all the ways parents expect teens to excel, excellence in following God’s will in ministry ought to be the top concern. Second, Paul described the nature of Timothy’s ministry. Timothy was to share the truth of God’s Word patiently, when easy and when difficult, allowing the Word to point out sin, direct in righteousness, and encourage its hearers unto holiness. Sharing is certainly something parents teach their children, but how have you helped your teen share the truth of God’s Word with their friends this week? Third, Paul identified the reason why Timothy needed to focus intently on sharing the Truth of God’s Word. There were many who wanted novelty rather than the true teachings of the Bible. These people gathered teachers who contradicted what Timothy taught. Paul exhorted Timothy to share the Word in order to combat these lies. Teens must understand that their ministries will be a fight for the Truth. They will be opposed and it will not be the easy path. Does your teen observe you sharing the truth in love? Equip your teen to wield the sword of the Spirit with skill to combat the lies that deceive so many. Finally, Paul told Timothy how to succeed. Timothy needed to be clear-headed, having his mind untainted by the world’s lies. He needed to be willing: 1) to suffer for the Truth, 2) to tell the good news, and 3) to endure until he was able to say that he had completed the work God had given him to do (see also John 17:4). Are you helping your teen: prioritize God’s mission most, understand what that work should look like, prepare for the battle it entails, and endure until they complete it? If not, are you really parenting like the heavenly Father parents?

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Future Uncertainty

In 1750, at the end of his ministry at Northampton Church, Jonathan Edwards wrote a letter to his dear friend, a Scottish minister named Reverend McCulloch.  After completing over 20 years of ministry in Northampton, it was clear that Edwards did not know what the future held for him.  But it is also clear that he knew Who holds the future and was determined to submit to His will.  In that letter, he wrote:

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No Man's Land

One of the most enduring images of World War I is the horrific innovation of trench warfare.  Opposing sides of the battle would entrench themselves in parallel holes in the ground.  Defensively, the trenches were brilliant.  It was nearly impossible for the enemy to advance his position against a well-entrenched army.  They were so defensively effective, offensive warfare was completely stifled.  Every time either side would attempt an advance, it resulted in massive casualties and little success. 

What resulted was stalemate.  For days and weeks and months, troops would fester in filthy, rat-infested, disease-ridden pits that more closely resembled cesspools than military encampments.  Despite the appalling conditions within the trenches, they were far better than the area between the trenches. 

In the No Man’s Land between trenches, the ground was churned up beyond recognition from the constant futile barrage of the warring factions.  Scout teams that ventured into that area were ripped to shreds—often from both sides simultaneously.  Human and animal carcasses lay strewn about, unattended for days as the stench of death permeated the air.

Tragically, this is the image that often comes to mind when one is called to be a peacemaker between warring factions.  When both sides of a battle are content to stay entrenched in their opposing positions, the degradation becomes obvious in their attitudes and language.  Unreasoned vitriol and unjustified accusations roll off tongues resulting in a kind of bitterness that begins to eat away at those within each trench.  When a peacemaker wanders unguarded into No Man’s Land, more likely than not, he will be ripped to shreds by both sides. 

So if that is the case, and human nature says that it is, then how are we supposed to be the peacemakers that Jesus calls us to be?  Is it Jesus’ desire for His peacemakers to be churned up like the forsaken soil of No Man’s Land?  Of course not.  In the same Sermon on the Mount where Jesus called peacemakers blessed sons of God (Matthew 5:9), He also said that God will take care of His children (Matthew 6:25).

Wandering into No Man’s Land is a terrifying proposition.  But Jesus has called each of us to be peacemakers.  When we seek to make peace between warring factions of His people, He calls us His children.  He is our strength and shield and will guard and protect us as a Father guards and protects His children.  When we act as the peacemakers that Jesus has called us to be, we go in His name—under His authority, with His strength and power.  And as a son of God, no matter the shots you might have to take, the battle is not yours.  The battle is the Lord’s—and because of the cross, He is already victorious.  He will prevail and peace will come.

Psalm 28:7-9

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Hearing God's Call

Soren Kierkegaard once wrote in his journal, “The thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wants me to do; the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die.”

Though his statement is fraught with theological pitfalls, it is completely understandable to one who is actively pursuing God’s will for his life.  The call of God is a mysterious thing.  A universal question of those who are serious about their relationship with Christ is, “God, what do you want me to do with my life?” 

When I was 16 years old, I attended a Centrifuge camp at Glorietta.  It was there that God clearly called me into pastoral ministry.  At the time, I didn’t like the specificity of His call, so I diverted it—redirected it to a more personally preferable path.  I thought it would be a lot more fun to be a DJ than to be a preacher.  My plan was to be a DJ on a Christian radio station—that would be how I would fulfill my calling.  But that was not what God called me to do, so I failed miserably. 

For over 15 years, I ran from my call, to the point that I completely forgot it.  It was as if my experience at Glorietta was completely wiped from my memory.  It was not until I was placed in the middle of a Saudi Arabian desert that the Lord graciously regained my attention.  He reminded me of His call on my life without restoring the memory of Glorietta.  That memory was not restored until a protracted period of obedience, preparation, prayer and study. 

At the time, His calling was vague and unspecific, but nonetheless unmistakably real.  From that point, I began asking every man of God I could find, how they were able to discern God’s call on their lives.  I began to seek discernment on my knees and look for examples of God’s calling in His Word.  What I discovered was disconcerting for a linear thinker like me. 

I like to plan.  I like to know.  I thrive on consistency and systems and linear progression.  But God’s call is not so.  God’s call is very specific and linear and consistent—but He seldom reveals it to us in that way.  His plan, purpose and calling have been set since before the foundation of the world.  But He has chosen to reveal them only as we trust and obey Him each step along the way. 

Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  It is a very familiar verse that we don’t often ponder the meaning of.  God’s Word is a lamp—but what does the lamp illuminate?  To keep us from stumbling over immediate obstacles or stepping in a hole, it lights our feet.  To keep us heading in the right direction, it lights our path.  It does not light up the whole field so that we can see everything that is behind, around and before us.  That would be overwhelming and would seriously diminish our need for faith. 

The more we see, the less we need to rely on faith, but the Lord loves us to walk by faith.  Trust Him to handle the plan.  Trust Him to reveal the call in His way and in His timing.  In the meantime, walk in the light He gives today.  Avoid the pitfalls of sin, worry and disobedience.  Place one foot in front of the other in the direction His Word leads.  And in time, according to His sovereign plan, God’s calling will become clear.

2 Corinthians 5:6-10

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Blessed Assurance

Though blinded at six weeks of age through improper medical treatment, Fanny Crosby wrote more than 8,000 gospel songs texts in her lifetime of 95 years. Her many favorites such as "Blessed Assurance" have been an important part of evangelical worship for the past century. Only eternity will disclose the host of individuals whose lives have been spiritually enriched through the texts of Fanny Crosby’s many hymns. Engraved on Fanny J. Crosby’s tombstone at Bridgeport, Connecticut, are these significant words taken from our Lord’s remarks to Mary, the sister of Lazarus, after she had anointed Him with costly perfume—"She hath done what she could" (Mark 14:8).

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Perfect submission, perfect delight! Visions of rapture now burst on my sight; angels descending bring from above echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

Perfect submission—all is at rest; I in my Savior am happy and blest; watching and waiting, looking above, filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

Chorus:

This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long; this is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.

--Taken from Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions

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Faith Tested

Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith, and it is likely to remain dwarfish so long as it is without trials. Faith never prospers so well as when all things are against her: tempests are her trainers, and lightnings are her illuminators.

When a calm reigns on the sea, spread the sails as you will, the ship moves not to its harbour; for on a slumbering ocean the keel sleeps too. Let the winds rush howling forth, and let the waters lift up themselves, then, though the vessel may rock, and her deck may be washed with waves, and her mast may creak under the pressure of the full and swelling sail, it is then that she makes headway towards her desired haven.

No flowers wear so lovely a blue as those which grow at the foot of the frozen glacier; no stars gleam so brightly as those which glisten in the polar sky; no water tastes so sweet as that which springs amid the desert sand; and no faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs in adversity.

Tried faith brings experience. You could not have believed your own weakness had you not been compelled to pass through the rivers; and you would never have known God’s strength had you not been supported amid the water-floods. Faith increases in solidity, assurance, and intensity, the more it is exercised with tribulation. Faith is precious, and its trial is precious too.

Charles H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening : Daily Readings, Complete and unabridged; New modern edition. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2006).

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Jesus, Bring the Rain

When a person looks back over his life, there are certain events that come to mind almost immediately and stand out above the rest.  Certainly, there are the wonderful memories.  The sight of the rippling water when I was baptized at 12 years old will never leave me.  The water was rippling, not because of the baptistery, but because I was so nervous the pastor thought I was having a seizure. 

I will never forget the night I got down on one knee in the crowded dining room of Simms Landing to ask my bride-to-be for her hand in marriage.  I don’t really need all of the pictures and videos—our wedding day is as clear in my mind as if it happened yesterday, even though it was over 24 years ago. 

I remember the expression on my wife’s face as I nearly passed out at the birth of our first daughter.  And I remember the expression on the Security Forces Airman as I flew through the back gate of Keesler Air Force Base to get to the base hospital just in time for our second daughter to be born.  I also remember the sheer terror as they took our son to neo-natal intensive care because he wasn’t breathing. And the sheer joy when the doctor told us he was okay. 

The call to ministry, my ordination, finally walking across the seminary stage after over 15 years of night school and distance learning classes—each of those are wonderful memories that I will cherish forever.  Just like I will cherish the day that the Lord called me to pastor Brushfork Baptist Church and the wonderful times my family and I had serving there.

But when a person looks back, he not only remembers the wonderful memories, he cannot help but recall the painful ones as well.  Family deaths, broken relationships, sickness and tragedy are part of everyone’s life and we bear the emotional scars for a lifetime.  Yesterday was one such moment for me. 

Yesterday, I had to tell a group of people I deeply love that I will no longer be their pastor.  It was my desire that the Lord would keep me there forever and we would grow into a strong, healthy, multi-generational world mission center—but for some reason, He saw things differently.  I don’t know exactly where He will call us or what He will call us to do next. But I know that my family and I will bear yesterday's emotional scar for a long time.

For those who have followed this blog (despite the paucity of recent postings), this will be the last entry here.  I will continue—hopefully with more regularity—posting on Deep Riches.  I will also be starting a new website within the next few days.  You will be able to find it at www.deepriches.com.

It amazes me how God uses everything in our lives—the good, the bad and even the ugly—to mold and grow and shape us into the people He wants us to be.  As the song says,

Bring me joy, bring me peace

Bring the chance to be free

Bring me anything that brings You glory

And I know there’ll be days

When this life brings me pain

But if that’s what it takes to praise You

Jesus, bring the rain.

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Justice Was Served

I must admit, I was not one of the millions of Americans who was glued to the Casey Anthony trial on television.  I didn't even really know what was going on until a few weeks before the verdict was announced.  I don't typically watch much Fox News or CNN, preferring to get my news from online sources.  Apparently the trial headlines did not capture my attention. 

Within the past few days, however, that all changed.  I had to see what all the buzz was about, so I tuned in to the news channels and sampled their coverage.  From everything that I saw, Caylee Anthony was guilty of murdering her precious little daughter in cold blood.  She could not have seemed more guilty if she had owned a white Ford Bronco and a black leather glove. 

Then came the verdict.  Once again, I was not one of the millions of Americans who tuned it to watch it live.  Around 3:00 PM, my cell phone starting buzzing as I received texts, tweets, messages and various other notifications that Casey was aquitted of the murder charge.  Public outrage ensued. 

For those of us who remember the O.J. Simpson trial, the parallels are unmistakable.  The only thing missing is the racial tension.  But with the proliferation of social media, the vitriolic public cries for justice are just as loud, if not louder.  The public knows that Casey Anthony is guilty.  And the guilty must be punished.  Justice must be served.

Whether Casey Anthony is guilty or not, I can't say.  I wasn't in the courtroom to hear the evidence and I didn't keep up with the trial closely enough to offer an educated opinion.  Regardless of her guilt or innocence, true justice will never be completely fulfilled until Jesus returns. I thank God that justice was poured out upon Jesus on the cross of Calvary. Jesus offered Himself as an atoning sacrifice so that He would receive the true justice that we deserve.

Between the cross and Jesus' second coming, we live in a time where true justice has been accomplished but not yet fully realized.  I eagerly await the time when justice will be fully realized at His return. Until then, we will continue to see injustice played out in our lives, our courtrooms and our world.  When we see horrible injustice like the murder of a precious child played out before our eyes, it should make our prayer be that of the Apostle John on the island of Patmos: Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!

Romans 3:21-22

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A Preacher's Plea

Unconverted friends, what dead hearts you must have; all the preaching in the world cannot put life into them. What hard hearts yours must be; the heaviest hammer we can lift cannot break them. We speak the weightiest arguments into your ear, yet all will not move you. We must lift up our voice, and prophesy to the Spirit; we must bring down the Almighty Spirit before we can touch your heart. We try to convince you of sin; we show you how you have broken the law, and that “cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them;” that you must be under that curse, that you will not be able to bear that curse, that it crushed a Saviour to the earth, and will crush you to the lowest hell. You are somewhat impressed, and we hope that your heart is touched; but your impressions are like impressions on the sand when the tide is out, and the very next tide of the world effaces all. We try to convince you of righteousness. We tell you of the love of the Saviour, how it passeth knowledge; how there was an ocean of love in that bosom, which no line could fathom—love to lost sinners like you; how he served in the stead of sinners, obeying the law for us; how he suffered in the stead of sinners, bearing the curse for us. We tell you to believe in him, and be saved; you are melted, and the tear stands on your cheek; but, ah! it is like “the morning cloud and early dew—it quickly passes away.”

Ah! brethren, what hard, iron hearts you must have, when all that man can do will not melt them. Your hearts are too hard for us; and we have to, go back weeping to our Lord, saying: “Who hath believed our report?” In all other things we could persuade you by arguments. If your bodies were sick, we could persuade you to send for the physician; if your estate were entangled, we could persuade you to be diligent for your family—oh! how readily you would obey us; but when we demonstrate that you are the heirs, soul and body, of an eternal hell, you will not awake for it all. Even if we could show you the Lord Jesus Christ himself—the bleeding, beseeching Saviour—your wicked hearts would not cleave to him. You need Him that made your hearts, to break and bend your hearts. Will you not, each of you. go away, then, beating on the breast, and saying: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner?”

Robert Murray McCheyne, The Works of the Late Rev. Robert Murray McCheyne, Vol. 2 (New York: Robert Carter, 1847), 380.

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