“Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah”

As many of you know, I was in Detroit last week for the 36th General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.  The GA was wonderfully up lifting, with inspirational preaching and teaching.  I wish all of you could one day experience the EPC General Assembly.  Having said that, I did have some difficulties with the Detroit area and thought I would share a little of those escapades.

During my arrival at Detroit and my departure, I felt like one of those Isaiah spoke about in Isaiah 9:16:

“For those who guide this people are leading them astray; And those who are guided by them are brought to confusion.”

Once securing a rental car, I pulled out my GPS to put in the address of hotel.  The GPS said, no such address.  So I put in the address of Ward Church where GA was being held.  No such address popped up again.  So I tried several times with the same result.  I called the hotel and the desk clerk said, “Your GPS must be possessed.”  I think she was serious, but regardless, she offered no help on getting me from the airport to the hotel.  I thought, I have a smart phone and can use google maps.  Yeah!!!  Plugged in the address and here we go.  One problem, it gave me a route, but not whether to go east or west on I-94.  Seeing signs, one to Detroit and the other to Toledo, I choose Detroit.  Seemed logical to me.  Long story short, I got to see downtown Detroit, Ford Field, the Ford Dearborn plant and the east side of Detroit.  Once I decided I went the wrong way, I pulled off of an exit to turn around and go in the other direction.  At the stop light two cars pulled up and the gentlemen in the cars starred at me and had to be thinking, “What is this old white boy doing in our neighborhood?” Heading in the right direction now, an hour later I found the hotel.  Oh, by the way, I had the honor of passing by the airport again on the way.  Yeah, I arrived at my home for the week.  

Now comes Sunday morning, 5:45 a.m. and time to head to the airport to fly home to Raleigh.  We were told that south I-275 was closed for several miles and we would have to find an alternant route to the airport, but the church gave us no directions.  There was no signage giving detours to I-275 south.  There was nothings but “South bound Closed.”  So I decided to go on google maps again and find another route.  Hagherty Road looked to be the best route.  Sunday morning I left the hotel and picked up Hagherty Rd south.  Went 3 miles south as google maps said, but NO ramp to I-275.  Drove in a circle for 15 minutes trying to find a ramp.  I got back on Hagherty Rd and drove another 7 miles south and finally found a ramp to I-275 South.  Needless to say, I was frustrated with Detroit’s DOT.  I did finally arrive at the airport.

As I sat waiting to board my plane home, I thought about my escapades in my arrival and departure from Detroit.  I realize how much I depend on my GPS to guide me in places unknown.  We used to use paper maps, but now rely on satellites to guides us.  GPS (usually) gives you the route to guide you to your destination.  

So here is my question, if your destination is heaven, where are you getting your guidance (directions) from?  From the world?  From the culture of the day?  From secular writings?  From your schooling?  Where?  If heaven is your destination, then your guide must be the LORD and HIS Word.  There is no other source that will get you there.  Here are just a few passages that remind us of that.  Psalm 31:3: “For You are my rock and my fortress; For Your name’s sake You will lead me and guide me.”  Psalm 73:24: “With Your counsel You will guide me, And afterward receive me to glory.”  Psalm 78:52: “But He led forth His own people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock;…”  Revelation 7:17: “…for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

I am so thankful for our LORD’S guidance in our walk with Him.  One of the hymns I love to sing is “Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah.”  The second verse ends this way:              

Lead me all my journey through

Strong Deliverer strong Deliverer

Be Thou still my strength and shield

Be Thou still my strength and shield  

Here’s the deal folks, without the LORD and His guidance, we will find ourselves lost and traveling in life in the wrong direction.  Seek the LORD and be guided by His Holy Spirit.  That is the only true way.

Let our cry be: Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah!!! And He will!

Blessings my friends,

Pastor Marty   

Worship, Grow, Serve                      

'Fatherhood"

“Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Proverbs 22:6

I remember sometime after I was married I heard the verse I’ve quoted above.  Yes, I grew up in the church.  I was in Sunday School just about every Sunday from as early as I can remember until I graduated from High School.  The verse may have been quoted or preached on, but to be honest with you, it really had very little meaning to me, thus I don’t remember hearing it.

BUT let me tell you, when I began to contemplate the idea of being a father, wow, everything from secular and Biblical writings on being a father began to infiltrate my life.  I thought, “If I’m going to be a father, I have to be the best father I can be.  So, I need to learn all I can to do just that.”  A great plan, but plans are just plans unless they are executed.  All of you in the business world know that.  You may think you have the best business plan in the world for your business to succeed, but unless it is executed, it is just a plan on a piece of paper.

What happen to my plan?  LIFE!  EVERYTHING!  My intentions were good, but I allowed everything else going on in my life to get in the way of allowing God to help me be the father HE wanted me to be.  I allowed work, my desire for play, etc, to fill my life.  My preparation time to be a father really never happened.  Some of you can relate.

Then the call came, “We have an infant baby boy for you to adopt.  You can pick him up and sign the paperwork on Tuesday.”  The call, ironically came on Good Friday.  I’m going to be a father I shouted inside of the store I managed.  I thought, here is comes, ready or not.

That Tuesday, as I was introduce to my son, Christopher Martin Duffell, Chris (as we lovingly call him) decided to introduce himself to me.  His diaper was full, so I told the Social Worker I would change it.  As I folded back the cloth diaper, Chris decided it was time to christen me as his dad.  Yes, a nice upward flow wet me all over.  I smiled, laughed knowing it was just beginning and I was going to love being a dad!!!

Marrying Terry, who had 7 children and one of those in diapers, then 2 years later having our daughter Emma Grace, fatherhood has been challenging and hard at times. I have dealt with things I thought I would never have to deal with, but it has been fantastic all at the same time.  I would not change it for a moment.  I love ALL my children dearly and love to hear the word “DAD” spoken everyday.

Over the years this verse in Proverbs 22 has been ever present on my mind.  How am I living into this call of God as a father?  How am I training my sons and daughters to be godly children of our heavenly Father?  Am I setting a godly example for them?  When I fail, do I ask for their forgiveness?  Yes, theirs!  It is a tough job being a parent.  But it is also a blessing.  

This Sunday is Father’s Day 2016.  Some of us, like me, will remember our fathers who have gone on from this world and probably remember the good times and bad.  Many of you will call or visit your dad this Sunday.  I pray it will be with love and happiness.  But for some this will be a sad day.  They will remember only the bad times and the poor job their father did in raising them.  

Here is my prayer for us all.  We have the absolute best Father there was, is, or ever will be.  That father is our Heaven Father.  He loves us beyond measure.  Enough to allow His Son to died for us!  How awesome it that.  I love being a father, even with all its ups and downs.  I love it!!!  But the bottom line for me is my Heavenly Father has trained me so that, I know where I will spend eternity, because of the Father He has been to me.  Celebrate your earthly father this Sunday, but don’t forget to thank the heavenly one!!!

Blessings my friends, 

Pastor Marty

Worship, Grow, Serve                      

  “Increasingly Concerned with Today’s Message”

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.  For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”   Matthew 7:13-14 
    

I am increasingly concerned with today’s message by many pastors and churches.  I have heard interviews with some of the large mega-church pastors lately and while they state a fact of scripture, “God loves you,” they use that statement to then proclaim that because God loves you He will not condemn anyone, but all will make it to heaven.  In light of the scripture above and the teachings of Jesus, Paul, James, Peter, and John, this is the furthest thing from the truth.

It seems to me that two things are happening simultaneously.  First, pastors want growth (I do for the sake of the kingdom), but in their desire to pastor large churches so many have decided, in order to accomplish that, they must not offend anyone with their preaching and teaching.  So to do that, they use topical preaching, such as, “How To Be a Good Parent,”  or “How Do We Speak Well of Our Neighbor?” It becomes the “How To’s of Life.” Often they use secular books instead of the Bible to preach from.  The idea is to move away from the hard sayings in scripture, the sacrifices that are needed to walk a holy life, the consequences for living a life outside of the gospel and commands of Christ to an easy gospel where, if you love, you’re “in.”  That’s all there is to it.

I had a conversation with a young man this past week and he attends a mega-church.  He said, “Do you follow the format like my pastor, topical lessons?”  My answer was, “No.  I use scripture as my basis of preaching.”

The second reason I think there is movement by many pastors away from biblical preaching is that Satan begins to whisper in their ears, as their churches grow larger and larger, “See, you are doing right.”  “See, your church is growing!”  “Keep up the good work and you will grow even larger.”  Many get caught up in the growth and size, over the message. Thus growth is equated with, “I’m doing the right things, see we are growing.”  I, for one, do not buy that.  No, I do not currently pastor a mega-church.  But I have.  I have served a church with 2,000+ members before.  But even in that setting, God’s Word was the basis of my preaching.  God’s Word is the only basis for preaching.  Anything else is a watered down attempt and perverts the gospel message.

Scripture reminds us that the Christian walk will not be easy.  It will cause us to make difficult decisions, to lose friendships, to be persecuted, to be considered crazy for our beliefs, for we are living in the world, but not of the world.  Those who stand on His Word and His commands on living a holy life will be viewed by the world, and even by many within the church, as backwards, hateful, and non-progressive in their thinking.  If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a 100 times, “God has changed His mind on things.  The Bible no longer is the authority over life.”  “REALLY?,” is my answer.  “When did God change his mind?”

The preaching of many today is that of a broad path and they say all will enter it.  Jesus says differently.  Are we to preach love to all?  Absolutely.  In the verses prior to this quoted above, Jesus says to love others as you love yourself.  But love also includes truth.  And then He says but, “…the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few (not many) who find it.” 

Paul instructs Timothy in 1st Timothy 4:6, “In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the Words of faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.”  He then says in verses 7, “But have nothing to do with worldly fables… On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness…”  

I am concerned with the message being preached today because I believe many are being led astray.  Many are being told if they just love, they can live their lives any way they please and that is acceptable.  I do not find that in scripture.  Here is what I do find as spoken by Jesus and recorded in Matthew 7:22-23: “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”  

We all need to be sure that what we are hearing is in line with God’s Holy Word.  There in lies the truth and the only true practice of faith.  We are to always test what is being preached and taught by God’s Word.  I am to love everyone, but always stand on God’s truth.  Something to think about folks!

Blessings my friends,

Pastor Marty

Worship, Grow, Serve                      

"Prune Any Lately?"

“I am the vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”

John 15:1-2

We have a tree in our yard that is near one of the security lights we have on a pole to light up our backyard.  Over the past few years the branches on that tree have grown so that it covers the light and does not illuminate our backyard.  Terry said, you have to do something about that.  So I did.

I went to Lowe’s Home Improvement and bought a tree and limb pruning device.  It extends up to 14 feet and can prune or saw off unwanted limbs.  This past weekend I did just that, I pruned off the unwanted limbs and shaped up the tree branches so that the light would shine clear and be productive again.  Terry’s response:  “Thanks!  But I didn’t know you were going to cut that much off.”  Me: “I needed to cut that much off for the light to shine properly and cover the yard complete as it should.”

Many of you know me, that gets me thinking and relating my experiences back to the Gospel.  

Jesus is teaching His disciples in the upper room prior to His arrest as is recorded in John 15.  He wants to make sure they understand the call on their lives and what it will take to serve Him.  In chapter 15 of John’s gospel, Jesus gives us one of the 7 “I Am” statements.  “I am the vine.”  Jesus reminds His disciples that they are to stay connected to Him for life, for He is the life giver.  Without Him, being connected to the source of life, all others will die.  John 15:6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.”

Jesus also says though, “My Father is the vinedresser.”  Our heavenly Father prunes the branches.  He prunes us of those things that need to be cut away so that we can be productive, so we can illuminate His Word to a dark world.  He wants our light to shine complete, not hid under a basket or covered by “stuff” in our lives so that others do not see Him.  God will prune us at times whether we want to be pruned or not.

But His desire is that when we see areas of our lives that need to be pruned, we take the initiative to do some pruning ourselves.  You know what I mean folks.  All of us have things going on in our lives that really have nothing to do with nor support our walk with Christ.  In fact, in many cases, it hurts our witness for Christ.  When God convicts us by His Holy Spirit that those things need to go, what do you do?  Say, “Oh, God, I can handle both!  No worries God, I’ve got this.”  OR do you say, “God, I see I’ve been covering up my light (witness) for You and I’m going to cut that out of my life so that I can be a better witness for You.”

Done any “Pruning lately?”  My tree I pruned looks so good, or at least I think so, because it is shining as intended to light up my backyard.  My desire is to prune away the things in my life so that my light shines completely for HIM.  

“Pruned Any Lately?”

    

Blessings my friends,

      Pastor Marty              

Worship, Grow, Serve