What is Your Mountian made of?

“…If you have faith the size of a mustard seed…” Matthew 17:20

I have often wondered concerning this little passage if Jesus was saying that even if the mountain in front of us was built by our own sin that with faith we could move it.  It seems very reasonable to me that if we are in the center of God’s will when we encounter an obstacle, then He, through our faith, will no doubt move whatever is in our way.  But what if we find ourselves as born again Christians in a mess made by our sin, would Jesus’ statement still apply?  The context of this teaching is that a man comes to Jesus requesting His help with his son who was having seizures.  The man had already brought the child to Jesus’ disciples and they could not heal him.  The Bible says that Jesus cast a demon out of the boy and he was healed from that moment.  His disciples then came to Him asking why they were unable to drive the demon out themselves.  Jesus told them that it was due to a lack of faith.  He goes on to say that with just a little faith they could come up to a mountain and tell it to “move from here to there” and it would move.  Now to use a little logic along with this we can see that Jesus commanded demons to go and they went, He ordered the winds and rain to hush and they did, He told the dead to rise and they did, but we never saw Him move a mountain.  It seems as if Jesus is saying that we will be able to do all that He did on this earth and more if we have faith.  But what about our initial question?  The truth is many of the mountains that we will face are due to our own sin, and I believe that it is never too late to allow your faith to seize control of a situation no matter how bad it is.  Think on this: the first time anyone allows their faith to move a mountain; it is their mountain of sin that must be forgiven in order for them to be saved.  We have all encountered that mountain, and through faith God has moved it for us.  God is never OK with our sin, but He is always willing to help us through the problems if we will turn to Him.  It may never be easy, but as Jesus goes on to say, “Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Who is your letter?

“You yourselves are our letter…” 2 Corinthians 3:2

We all seek validation.  We want others to recognize our work.  Some people will accumulate titles or degrees in pursuit of acknowledgment.   There is nothing wrong with education because surely it prepares us for the world we must face, but anyone with a little common sense will tell you that academic achievement with no practical application is a gross waste of time and talent.  Some titles are important but it is because of the working person who holds them.  A judge that does not judge fairly with blind justice has hollowed out his title and made it useless.  A doctor that does not seek to make sick a person well with his knowledge is just an over-educated dead-weight on society.  A Christian that must boast or seek the commendation of others in order to prove himself is most likely a very unproductive Christian.  What Paul is dealing with are false teachers who came into Corinth with letters of recommendation from the Jerusalem apostles (probably forged).  Now these fiends would teach whatever doctrine would milk the most respect or money out of the maligned Corinthian church.  They would also claim that Paul was not qualified to teach them because he came without a letter.  These false teachers had to attack both the truth and the source of the truth in order to be heard.  In a side note if that seems to be the case with any preacher, look for his living letters whether they are compassionate Christians or deceitful negative hypocrites.  Paul told the Corinthians that they were his letter of commendation, they were living letters.  Anyone could read his letters by observing those whom he led to Christ.  These are his testimony, a beacon of long standing Christian light in an abyss of paganism.  As Christians we can and should have these living letters, spiritual offspring, which testify to our commitment to Christ.  For the true judge it will be decisions made in the light of truth without respect to persons.  For the good doctor it will be a history of help and health given to generations in need.  For the Christian it will be proof of God’s hand in our endeavors.  For the Christian parents it will be God fearing children trained in the way they should go.  For the Christian minister it will be a legacy of integrity toward the Word and its people.  And finally for all Christians it will be a characteristic way of bringing people closer to Christ which will be written “not on stone tablets but on tablets that are hearts of flesh.”

The "OB"

I was reading through some old posts from the "OB," (the Original Blogger) and I was amazed by how real and fresh the content was after all these years.  The "OB" or David as most people call him posted most of his blogs back in the 10th century BC or about 3000 years ago.  Of the 150 Psalms, he is named as the author in 73 of them and the New Testament gives him credit for two more which brings us to 75.  There are another 26 psalms attributed to different authors leaving 49 anonymous.  If the "OB" didn' write any of these then he still wrote half of the psalms.  The word psalm actually means "praises" and that is exactly what we see from the "OB." Even in the times of darkest despair he found one reason after another to continue lifting up the name of God.  Let's face it, David had a harder life than us.  I don't want to belittle anyone's problems, but David had to fight a giant, over throw a king without blood shed, fight thousands of battles, manage multiple wives, rule a kingdom labeled by God as a "stiff necked people," and constantly be on guard against threats on his life.  David was cool, brave, and most of all a man after God's own heart.  He had his failures just as we do, but he always found a way praise God.  I thank God today that he is merciful toward me.  I don't deserve the life I have nor the very air I breath.  Praise you God because "Blessed are all who take refuge in Him." (Psalm 2:12)

What If...

What if I chose not to follow Jesus?  Sometimes I wonder what life now would be like for me if I have chose a different path.  Its not that I long to be free from the loving Master, quiet the contrary I delight in my Savior.  After being a follower for 15 years, I just wonder how many of my choices were actually based on my commitment to Christ.  I am ashamed to say that I still do not filter everything through Him, but there have been some big choices that have set many events into motion.  At 16 years old I submitted to the call to preach the Gospel.  That led me to the pulpit in Zion Hill Baptist Church on many occasions.  Eventually I chose to attend the University of Mobile which is certainly not the choice I would make apart from Christ.  There I met life long friends, and my wonderful wife Amanda.  Would we even meet apart from the Lord?  I have pastored two churches since then and had many other speaking engagements.  If God has done anything through me for any of the people in those churches or events, that would all be gone.  I mentioned my wife, we have been blessed with 2 amazing children.  They are just awesome.  If I had never followed Christ I would never have had a front row seat to the development of these two miracles.  Most of the time we think and talk about the things that you have to give up in order to follow Him.  For me it seems that I would lose more by not following Him, I believe the same is true for all of us.