One of the main messages of the Bible is that we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ. We also live the Christian life with power and grow by faith in God’s Word, the Bible. Hebrews 1 says that “without faith it is impossible to please God”. Jesus said that if we had faith the size of a mustard seed we could move mountains and nothing would be impossible for us. Our faith is also the key to facing and dealing with trials and suffering as a victor rather than a victim. And how we do in the midst of suffering is the best measuring device we have for determining how much faith we really have.

If I knew without a doubt that Jesus was coming back to take His Bride, the Church to heaven tomorrow, nothing that happened to me today wouldn’t affect me much. If someone was rude to me, I wouldn’t really care because tomorrow I am going to be in heaven with Jesus and with my new glorified body. Any and every trial, no matter how difficult, no matter how much pain would be easily endured with no fussing, because what does it matter, I am going to heaven very soon.

Psalm 39:4–5  “LORD, make me to know my end And what is the extent of my days; Let me know how transient I am.  “Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; Surely every man at his best is a mere breath.

James 4:14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

Philippians 3:20–21 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;  who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.
I like to sing songs during the day that are simple, short, and easy for me to remember. One of my favorites is “Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King”. I sing that line over and over and over and then when I feel like it I switch to “No more crying there, we are going to see the King”, again over and over and then ending the song with, “No more dying there, we are going to see the King”. I have been known to sing that song for 30 minutes straight while fishing or working on a car.

“Soon” is obviously relative, but if we grow strong in our faith, waiting eagerly for Jesus to take us to heaven, it becomes more and more the focus of our life and our faith, and it is so much easier to deal with problems, big problems when we know it won’t be long now.

Pastor Mike began a series of sermons this weekend at JBC on suffering. This Wednesday night as I continue my preaching through the book of Philippians, I will be on

Philippians 1:29, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake”.

Isn’t that an interesting statement, “it has been granted to us”, which means, “Wow, we are incredibly blessed to get to suffer for a Jesus”! I bet not many of you get to the end of the day and say, “Thank You Jesus for the suffering that I went through today!”

Acts 5:40-41 after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.

You have got to be kidding me😳 they rejoiced because they got flogged! which was a very painful experience, many even dying from it. Why would they do that instead of complain and grumble and possibly even wondering if God really loved them? It seems like they had some understanding, some level of faith, and some character that most are missing today. Jesus is called the suffering savior, why? What was the purpose of His suffering?

Hebrews 2:10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.

Hebrews 5:8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.

So, let me make a few obvious observations about these 2 verses;

1. God the Father caused the suffering to happen to Jesus.

2. Jesus was almighty God, but He emptied Himself of all that He was as God, and became flesh just like us. Though He never sinned He was born without character, just like us, but the Father “perfected” Him, that is developed character in Jesus through suffering.

3. I am now a son of God, born again and adopted into His family, and I need the character of Jesus in me.

4. I am pretty sure that if Jesus needed to suffer to learn obedience to the Father, and to be made perfect in character, I do as well.

5. If God the Father “for whom are all things, and through whom are all things” brought suffering into the life of Jesus, He will bring suffering into my life as well, guaranteed.

So now the question is, “What am I going to do when that God caused suffering comes into my life? Feel sorry for myself, grumble and complain, wonder why this is happening to me, doubt God’s love for me, get bitter, all of the above, or can I choose to rejoice and ask God for the strength to endure with joy. If I choose to react the way the world as a whole does my suffering designed by God to build the character of Christ in me will have been wasted, but if I consider it all joy I will grow towards the goal of God of becoming “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing”. I think I will choose to trust God with my life and rejoice always.

My life purpose statement is to influence as many people as possible to become devoted followers of Jesus, and to influence as many followers of Jesus as possible to bear much fruit for Him. One of my tools for accomplishing this life mission is writing this blog. I pray every day for wisdom in writing it, and I pray and ask God to bless it and use it for His glory. In 2018 there was 57,300 views of my blog not counting Face Book, and this year there was 67,500 views, which is a 1,200 view increase. My personal goal for 2020 is that I will have 100,000 views which will be an increase of 2,500.

My strategy to accomplish this goal is to pray about it everyday, and to ask God to give me wisdom in my writing so that I write in a way that does influence people spiritually, and is also written in a way so that people enjoy the reading experience and are inclined to continue to read it, and to encourage others to read it. I also am reading books on how to write successful blogs, and listening to audio and video presentations on successful blogging.

I would like to ask those of you who are subscribers of my blog to help me in my pursuit of my goal. The first thing you can do to help me is by recommending it to others. A great way to do this for those who are on face book is to repost my blog so that your face book friends can read it. A second way is to email or message me any suggestions you have on how to write it better. It might be grammar or spelling suggestions or it might be style or content suggestions. I believe in the Biblical principle that “in many counselors there is victory” so counsel away!

Do you ever have times when you feel really, really up, positive, happy, full of bubbly (not literally), you just feel good for no apparent reason that you can pin point, just joyful. I do occasionally, like tonight, and I think and ponder on why. If there is a reason I would like to figure it out so I can do it again, but for the life of me I can’t connect any dots. It seems so random and arbitrary, but I know there is a reason. The hard part about trying to figure out the cause or condition that was met is that God’s blessing of joy is seldom a reward for something we did today, but usually a blessing from last week or month or even a year ago. When Jesus was baptized the Father spoke from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”. In the parable of the talents the servants with the 2 and the 5 talents both doubled them, and heard the master say to them, ” well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master”. I believe that when we have lived our life in such a way that the a Father is pleased with us that we sense His pleasure in the form of inward joy. One of the things to consider, especially this time of year when you are writing your goals, is that faithful Bible reading, memorization, and meditation is a major source of joy.

Jeremiah 15:16 Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart;

I read 14 chapters in the Bible every day, and I spend 30 minutes every day memorizing Bible verses and reviewing those I have already memorized. Some would say that I do that because I am a Pastor so I am just doing my job, but if I were running a dairy and milking cows 10 hours a day, I would keep the exact same schedule and discipline that I have now for Bible reading, study, and memorization. The reason is because of all the blessings that come into my life because of my devotion to the Word of God.

Have you ever bought something that you were very excited about, only to get it and not be able to get it to work? I bought a Tactacam camera that is water proof, it will fasten to the front of my bow, to the top of my scope on my rifle, the top of my bicycle helmet, and the top of the helmet I will be wearing when I raft down the Grand Canyon section of the Colorado River, which was my main motive for buying it. I fiddled with it for over 2 hours tonight and I still couldn’t figure out how to get the dumb thing to work. I know, I know what you are going to say, “Call the number that is on the bottom of every one of the 20 pages in the operators manual”, and ask for help. I knew I could figure it out on my own without their help. There is this weird pride in me that just can’t dial the number and ask for help. I think I will see if I can find a You Tube video on it, and watch that. I am a highly intelligent person, I should be able to figure this out.🤪

It kinds of reminds me of people who I have talked to about how to get into heaven when they die. When I ask them if they know for sure that they are getting in when they die their response is “I think so” or even worse, “I hope so”. When I ask them why they think they are getting in, their response is, ” I have tried to follow the golden rule” or something about being good or reasonably so. When I share with them that nobody is going to make it by being good because God requires perfection, that is you have never sinned, not even a little bitty one. There obvious answer is, “Well, nobody is going to make it then”, and I respond by saying, ” I am, and I know that for sure, without a hint of a doubt that I am going to live forever and ever in total joy and beauty.” Could I share with you why I know for sure and how you can as well? “No thank you”!

You have got to be kidding me! It is strange to me that when we are talking about forever and ever, heaven or hell, that a person is willing to just hope for the best rather than take a free gift from God by just believing. My stubbornness and pride has a little consequence, but those who think that they can make heaven on their own will experience an incredibly serious consequence forever with no chance of parole, ever.

Vision is the long range goal we are pursuing. Very few people have established what theirs are. Everything we do without exception is in pursuit of a goal, but if we don’t make any goals that are clear and precise we will switch into our default setting. Our general, overriding goal will be the pursuit of comfort. As we go through the day our goals control our choices, and if comfort is our goal we will consistently choose the easy and broad way, which will not lead us to any kind of success in life. I have 71 goals for this year, but I have one overriding vision for my life that controls everything I do, including the goals I write.

My vision is ” To do as well at the ‘Judgment Seat of Christ’ as is possible with the time I have left, with the opportunities that are given to me, with the health that I will or won’t have, and with the gifts and abilities that God has given to me.” I express that vision every morning in my prayer of commitment by praying, “today Lord Jesus I will live my life as if it is the last day I have before I stand before You at the ‘Judgment Seat of Christ’, and am rewarded by You for the life that I have lived for You, the character that I have acquired that is like Yours, and the work that I have accomplished for You that has built and blessed Your Bride, the church. Please grant me the wisdom and the energy to serve You well today, and to accomplish a ton of work.”

Read, consider, ponder, and meditate on these verses for a week.

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

1 Corinthians 3:13-15 each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

Romans 14:10-12 For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall give praise to God.” So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.

Colossians 3:24-25 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.

Here are some question to ponder about these verses:

-When you stand before Jesus what will be the difference for you for all eternity between doing very well as opposed to doing poorly.

– 1 Corinthians says we will be rewarded for what we have done, what do you think some of those rewards might be.

-What impact will doing well at the Judgment as opposed to doing super bad, have on your relationship with Jesus.

– Why do very few people ever think about the day they will stand before Jesus and give an account to Him for the life they have lived.

-Most believers are incredibly naive about this end of life event, why? Are you?

Today is a new year and a new decade, a perfect time for new beginnings. Most people’s new beginnings are a result of events and circumstances just working out that way, there really wasn’t much thought, planning, or decision making involved in it. The statement that Joshua made to the people of Israel is still a good one for each of us.

Joshua 24:15 If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

The key phrase, “choose for yourself today whom you will serve”. I personally make that choice every morning saying, “Today, Lord, I will serve You, I will obey You, I will do Your will for my life, no matter how hard or difficult it is.”

Today choose to read your Bible every day with a plan. Today choose to spend at least 15 minutes with God in prayer every day using a prayer notebook or journal. Today choose to treat your church as the “Bride if Christ”, and this year ask yourself the question, what am I doing to make my church beautiful, healthy, growing, instead of asking what is my church doing for me. Make some choices on improving your marriage, your family, and your relationship with others in your life.

As my father used to say to us kids on the farm growing up, “Don’t just stand there, do something!”

I think legalism is my least favorite word that there is. The reason is that I hear so many people use it as an excuse for lukewarmness and apathy in living the Christian life. Legalism means trying to earn your salvation by good works, we can’t earn our salvation we receive it as a gift by faith. Now, that I am presently saved by faith, a child of God, and one who has their name written in the Lamb’s book of life, legalism is no longer a word that applies to me. Now the issue is my growth to become like Christ in character, and that takes diligence, self-control, discipline, faithfulness, sacrifice, commitment, and obedience. But whenever I talk about diligence, and self-control someone will inevitably wave the legalism flag. Every time it happens I think to myself, “no wonder there are so few champions for Christ!”

2 Peter 1:4-11 that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, . . .Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. . . . Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

Notice the use of the word diligence, twice in these verses. Also notice the progression of building character into your life by diligence. At the end of this passage is the very interesting phrase, “for in this way the entrance into His eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.” What does that mean? “Abundantly supplied to you”. For sure it would mean that those who are less than diligent in pursuing character will not have their entrance into the kingdom abundantly supplied to them.

I spend a significant amount of time sitting and thinking about what that means, mulling over in my mind the difference there will be in eternity between being a person whose “entrance into the kingdom is abundantly supplied to them” as apposed to a person whose entrance into the kingdom is not abundantly supplied because of laziness, apathy, and lukewarmness.

One of the things my Dad used to say when we got hurt on the farm was, “Just rub some dirt on it”. He really didn’t mean it literally, at least I never saw him rub any dirt on his “owies”, it just meant don’t whine about it. So when I get hurt that is what I say, though I have never rubbed any dirt on any of my “owies” either. But sometimes those who hear me say it think I am being literal, and therefore think that I am some kind of nut. A couple of days ago I was working on the roof of my shop with a son and a couple of grandsons. We were taking off the old rusted metal roofing and putting on some 3 tab roofing, and in the process of throwing the metal roofing off of the roof of the shop a piece fell across the back of my hand and cut it pretty good. The tricky part was trying to climb down the ladder with one hand bleeding all over the place, and the other hand holding my coat against the cut to keep it from bleeding any more than it was. Patty and our daughter Sherri got all excited and insisted that I go in and get some stitches in it, but that didn’t sound like much fun to me so I said, “I will just rub some dirt on it!” They both rolled their eyes, so I said. “Lets just pour some hydrogen peroxide on it and tape it up good, and I can go back to work, hydrogen peroxide works almost as good as dirt”. They again rolled their eyes, but taped it up good, and today it had healed up enough so that I preached 2 services and a leadership class with no covering on it. It still looks pretty ugly, but it is much better than it was, so I declared myself healed.

Our bodies are fairly fragile, and get bruised, cut, broken, and infected easily. Some of the accidents we have only results in a bruise and minor soreness, but others can result in casts, crutches, and wheel chairs. The Apostle Paul using the word house for our physical body says that we groan as a result of the pain we experience in life.

2 Corinthians 5:2 For indeed in this house we groan,

Now at the age of 71 I have a lot of pain in a variety of places, in a variety of levels, for a variety of reasons, but it all hurts, and I groan. I also take ibuprofen and other pain killers, which helps a lot, but I still groan. But because of my upbringing I never whine or complain. I have memorized Romans 8:18, and I meditate on it when I get to hurting a lot.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Suffering produces character, the character of Christ in me, and I want that so I choose to say “thank You Jesus” when I am tempted to complain about my “owies”.

I sat down at 10:00 pm to write this blog and I didn’t feel very energetic so I sat in my chair doing nothing for an hour, and then decided to do something that almost always gives me a shot of energy, make a bowl of popcorn and put a half of a cube of butter on it! I really couldn’t write while I was eating popcorn so I watched replays of great plays in both of the semi-championship games in college football that were played this afternoon and evening. I fell asleep while watching and woke up at midnight. I was so groggy from sleeping that I couldn’t think of anything to write about. One of my motto’s when I get stuck and nothing profound comes to me is “Just write something, anything, but just write ,something”, so I wrote this and fell asleep again and it is now 1:30 am so this is all there is