He said, “I want you to meet a friend of mine.” We were just two teenagers walking down the street when we came face to face with another teenager. My friend had a big smile on his face, but I quickly detected that the other teen didn’t have the same demeanor. This individual was cussing under his breath as my friend was introducing me as his best friend and telling how wonderful I was. The conversation ended when this friend of mine told the boy we’d meet him in Canada that night and may the best man win. Not sure if it was my pal or I that was to take him on.

Needless to say, I had no intentions of visiting Canada that night and neither did my friend. This was my best friend and he was a character.  He could sell ice cubes to the Eskimos and make a profit.  My philosophy was as the song says, “Stay away from trouble if you can.”

Sometimes trouble is self-manufactured and sometimes others draw you into their creations. However it comes about, it’s still trouble. This is what the Bible has to say:

Job 14:1

 “Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble.

Philippians 4:14

Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.

The next time you see trouble coming down the street, remember it is just something we were born into.

Give it some thought.

Gary

The shepherds in Luke chapter two represent social poverty and the lower rungs of humanity, yet they received the message about the birth of the Messiah. There were no political powerhouses or any of the religious elite attending that event. The wise men would only worship Him years later when He would be residing in a house and not a stable.

The angel’s message was to broken people. The Gospel means “good news.” That message has been around for two thousand years. The message was only allowed to be given by an angel to announce His birth. Through the centuries this message has been carried to broken individuals by a great multitude of characters. That message is simple, “There is born to you a Savior.” Those shepherds needed His salvation and so do we.

Luke 2:10-11

Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.  For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 

I wasn’t guarding sheep by night when I heard this message, but I was a poor, lost sinner blundering through this life. Do you understand this business of being lost? If not, maybe you’re in the same field as the shepherds when the angel appeared.

Give it some thought.

Gary

I read that on the average a person eats a hundred tons of food in a lifetime. That same individual will drink 45,445 liters of water.  According to my bathroom scales, I’ll probably go over that.  I just heard potatoes weren’t good for you.  My response is, “What a good way to go by eating potatoes.”

Why am I here breathing this air, eating this food, and drinking this water? That’s the question that so many can’t seem to find an answer to.

Edward Hale wasn’t much of a believer in truth, but on this subject of life he came close. This is what he wrote:

   I am only one, but I am one.

   I can’t do everything, but

   I can do something.

   And what I can do, I ought to do.

   And what I ought to do, by the

   Grace of God, I shall do.

     – Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909)

As a Christian, remember God by His grace saved you for a purpose. You might not be a Moses, Joshua, Daniel or Paul, but you have been saved for a purpose.  Start in Genesis and read through the Scriptures, discovering God’s will for you in this life. You can make a difference.

Hebrews 13:20-21

Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Give this some serious thought.

Gary

Remember these lines from a famous old hymn,

“Do you have any rivers you think are uncrossable? Do you have any mountains you can’t tunnel through? God specializes in things thought impossible. He does the things others cannot do!”

So the children of Israel came to the sea, and Pharaoh’s vast army was right on their heels. In addition to that, the mountains had them blocked on the other two sides. They were trapped.

Moreover, Pharaoh’s army was the best-trained and equipped in the world. The cowering Israelites didn’t have one sword or AK-47 amongst them.

What now?

Exodus 14:15

And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.”  

It was a little more direct than this in Scripture, but here is the contemporary interpretation. Stretch out your hand over that sea with that rod in your hand. Simultaneously, God was protecting them by providing them light while He was enveloping the Egyptians in darkness.

He could have said in plain English, “Moses, you do what I tell you to do and leave the impossible to me.”

Let’s repeat it.

“Do you have any rivers you think are uncrossable? Do you have any mountains you can’t tunnel through? God specializes in things thought impossible. He does the things others cannot do!” 

Stop crying and give it a thought. We need to know He is with us, and with what we find in our hand, it can be possible.

Think about it.

Gary

“Don’t let me preach the same message over and over again with different titles.” That’s what I told my wife after listening to someone’s preaching tapes with the same message, but sporting different titles.  It seems at that point in that preacher’s life, he was down to one interesting message, so he just gave it different titles on tapes.

All of us who handle the Word have special passages that we are comfortable with and preach them at every opportunity. I can’t do that here because I’ve preached at the same church for forty years.  Sometimes I’ve considered gathering up the most interesting ones and going to preach at some other church for three years. I know you caught that. I’m afraid that about thirty-seven-years’-worth fall in the drowsy-zone.

God has given the same commandment to all of us who have been called to handle Scriptures:

2 Timothy 4:2

preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

What a powerful statement! What preparation! What limitations! What responsibility! What danger! What resolve!

Give it some thought.

Gary

His name was Bob Dowie. He was an Irishman who had immigrated to Canada in the fifties. He became an instructor at the New Brunswick Bible Institute. This individual had more Scripture memorized than any man I’d ever heard tell of.

How did he become a Christian? He encountered the gospel in the shipyards of Northern Ireland where he worked when he wasn’t drinking. An electrician taught a Bible study during the noon-hour break.  For some reason, Bob attended one of these studies and, as a result, became a believer.

For many years he would spend the last weekend before Christmas with us here at Mountain View Bible Church. He died a number of years ago and we certainly miss him.

This little account is not about Mr. Dowie, but the unnamed electrician who was so instrumental in bringing a young boozer to Christ.

Acts 13:47

For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,

“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

Life for the Christian is about where you are and what you can do for the furtherance of the gospel. This tradesman probably did more for God’s kingdom than most ministers.

Give it some thought.

Gary

“I don’t feel happy or sad. I wish I could feel something.”  He was in an institution telling me about the effects of his medication on his emotions. For the record, I was just visiting.

This led me to consider what life would be like without emotions. It is commonly stated there are 27 emotions: admiration, adoration, aesthetic appreciation, amusement, anger, anxiety, awe, awkwardness, boredom, calmness, confusion, craving, disgust, empathic pain, entrancement, excitement, fear, horror, interest, joy, nostalgia, relief, romance, sadness, satisfaction, sexual desire, and surprise.

Now try to imagine life without these key, motivating factors in it. Let me relate to you where they come from.

Psalm 139:13 

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

Ephesians 2:10 

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Jeremiah 1:5 

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you

God made us as emotional beings. He put us in charge of these necessary ingredients to help us navigate the stream of life. The only thing we need to keep in mind is that we need to control our emotions and not allow our emotions to control us. Many the Bible character and fellow human being failed miserably because they had this thing reversed.

Give it some thought.

Gary