Don’t Lose Out

“On the third day, behold, it happened that a man came from Saul’s camp with his clothes torn and dust on his head. So it was, when he came to David, that he fell to the ground and prostrated himself” (2 Samuel 1:2).

No battle is filled with more shame than at Gilboa. Herein is where Jonathan and his father Saul, the King of Israel, died. Saul was deserted by the Lord and the Philistines ransacked the nation and Saul preferred suicide than to fall into the hands of his enemy.

A more noble death could have been Saul’s tenure. Yet he continually refused the Word and will of the Lord, for he rebelled and reneged on his only hope. We should pray, “Lord, help us to end well.” Saul had a good beginning but it had a terrible ending.

One can start in light and end in darkness, begin with great courage and end in fear, to start with wisdom and fall into folly and foolishness. David ended his life in great standing before God. Though David was a great sinner we learn that David had a great Savior. He prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).

Defeat, death, and disgrace hounded Saul because Saul chose to disdain God’s chastening hand. He lost his crown, his life, his family, and his nation. Saul lost what he could have found. Let us end well.

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    “Woe be unto the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! Saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 23:1).

     

    You remember the story of Little Red Robin Hood? She was speaking to the wolf who tried to disguise himself with her grandmother’s cap. Red Robin Hood kept mentioning body parts of the wolf until finally she said, “What big teeth you have.” Of course the reply came back from the wolf, “All the better to eat you with, my dear.”

    There are a lot of shepherds out there who rather eat the sheep instead of feed and teach the sheep. The True Shepherd will come one day and sue for malpractice. God’s people are to be teachers and learners at the same time. Many are hirelings who flee at the intrusion of anything. The wolves in disguise cover themselves in religious overtures but reveal themselves for what they are in the day of trouble.

    May we remember that God will set up in His kingdom teachers who will lead and not drive, visit and not be self-serving, and learners instead of just talkers. One of the reasons for the mess that many local churches are in is because of many who talk Bible but who do not incarnate the Word of God.

    True Shepherds will feed the sheep so that they will not fear, nor be dismayed, neither lacking in their lives. Yes, Red Robin Hood saw correctly, but she was slow to see before it was too late.

  • Mary Ida Sutton Stephens

     

    Mary Ida Stephens will be spoken of today in our church where she attended faithfully and participated beautifully. As her pastor, there is an emptiness that has affected me since her sickness and Home-Going. It was the last few weeks of her life that really concerned me, that drew my heart to the God of heaven for her and the family she loved. Early on Sunday morning she passed into glory; that still leaves a void in the heart.

     

    I am so grateful for God’s good work in her and God’s good work through her. She brightened our lives and others. Her fingerprints will continue to be seen and missed. Mary Ida touched a lot of lives. She is indelibly etched upon our hearts and minds.

     

    At this time we are reminded of God’s gift He gave to us here at Kinnett. Lots of good things happened when Ron and Mary Ida made their way to Morehead Street in Burlington. They were such a blessing!

     

    We love her family. They have been supportive of Ida and have been very kind to her. We have seen the grace of our great and wonderful God to her children and her family. It is hard to replace a lady like unto her. But who wants to replace her?  She was unique, loving, talented, and gracious.

     

    I pray that when God takes us home that it will be said of each that we have effected change.  May it be said, “We loved God more than anything or anyone.”

     

    Give God all of yourself; don’t hold anything back – for only what’s done for Christ will last. We think if we hold on to this or hold on to that tightly that all be good. No, my friend, what we give up and give over and lose will be that which we will hold in eternity.

     

    We look forward to the day when we will see, again, Mary Ida Stephens. Her body will be laid to rest today awaiting resurrection. She is not here. She is with her Lord and all of the saints of glory! What a reunion it will be when we will see Mary Ida in the light of Christ’s glory.

     

    I love you dearly,

     

    Pastor Don

  • God on the Throne

    “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon the throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple” (Isaiah 6:1).

    On January 2, 1953 Queen Elizabeth’s coronation took place at Westminster Abbey in London, England. The train of her robe flowed behind her with six maids holding the six yards of material that was exquisitely fabricated. You say, “Who does she think she is, the queen of England?” Ah, yes she does! That is why the designer went over the top to form and fashion her robe.

    Isaiah saw the King’s robe and it filled the temple, not just for six yards, but the whole temple of glory. Back and forth, back and forth, doubling and redoubling until the symbol of God’s holy splendor packed the house. “Who is like you, O Lord?”

    The answer to this question can not be completely answered by our finite minds. There is absolutely no one like God. No one. That’s because He is holy. He is separate. He is completely unlike us. God’s throne is high and lifted up. God is distinct and uncommon, separate, and holy. His throne is not on our level.

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    Father, thank you for Your Son and thank You for You. We recognize you as being above us, beyond us, highly exalted, over me, and totally separate from me. I am getting in a position for a downpour of your grace.

  • Accountability

    “Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all” (I Tim. 4:15).

    Over the years, our understanding of discipleship has changed — and not always in a good direction.  Discipleship has shifted — from an ongoing process over the course of one’s life to a class you sign up and hopefully complete.  Usually after some time the class that started with twenty dwindles to eight or ten.

    I grew up on the tail end of the “training union” of the late 1960s and early 70s.  But even in this the shortcomings were felt.  Again, it was based upon this premise…you come and sit, I’ll teach.  You and I ought to be dissatisfied with mediocrity.  God has placed in each of us the desire to minister and develop through others.

    Discipleship should not be left to chance.  The Lord Jesus was intentional and calculative from the beginning.  In fact, as Jesus discipled the twelve men who would change the world, He gradually released them into ministry through a definitive four-step process.

    First, Jesus ministered while the disciples watched.
    Second, Jesus allowed the disciples to assist Him in ministry.
    Third, the disciples ministered with Jesus’ assistance.
    Finally, Jesus observed as the disciples ministered to others.

    If Jesus had a model and a plan, shouldn’t we have one?  If discipleship was then, should it not be for today?

  • Revival Means To Live in a New Way

    “The LORD is good unto those who wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him” (Lamentations 3:24).

    J.D. Grear in his book, “Jesus Continued”, said, “In an awakening, the Spirit of God does not typically do a “new” thing; he simply pours greater power upon the “normal” things faithful Christians are already doing. Prayers become more intense; worship becomes more joyous; repentance becomes more sorrowful; and the preached Word yields greater effect. The Spirit of God multiplies the effectiveness of our “normal” work of seed-planting, bringing a bountiful harvest. And he does more in a moment than we can accomplish in a lifetime.”

    This is what I dream of everyday that I awaken from my sleep. Looking, longing for this is a great desire that many have for their churches and for their land. This passion should drive each of us to our faces before a holy and righteous God. Yet the passion runs deep and the need arises paramount.

    Don’t you want to serve as a spiritual pyromaniac in igniting the heart of the church for Christ’s glory? Are you dreaming of this too? Could God do it here in Alamance County? Could you and I be used of God to help lead the way in a movement of unprecedented proportions to see the Gospel of God spread like wildfire and countless lives transformed?

  • On the Shoulders of Others

    “And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him [Moses] in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.”  (Exodus 3:2).

    John Newton, Anglican Pastor from the 1700s who gave us “Amazing Grace”, had a favorite image in the Bible. It was the unconsumed burning bush which Moses saw and from the bush heard the voice of God. To Newton, the bush was a metaphor for Christians who undergo severe suffering.

    He wrote, “Some Christians are called to endure a disproportionate amount of suffering. Such Christians are a spectacle of grace to the church, like flaming bushes unconsumed,  and cause us to ask, like Moses, ‘Why is this bush not burned?’ The strength and stability of these believers can be explained only by the miracle of God’s sustaining grace.”

    There are stalwart saints, like John Newton, William Law, Bishop J.C. Ryle, Elisabeth Elliot, Joni Eareckson Tada, Stephen Davey,  and more who have battled but not burned. Their tough take on suffering has helped deepen my walk with Christ and given me something rich to pass on to others. A spectacle of grace for others to see Jesus in us!