Black Friday

Today is Black Friday in the USA, the day that is supposed to represent the official start of the Christmas holiday shopping season. Many stores opened their doors at 10:00 PM or at midnight on Thanksgiving, while other stores opened their doors at 4:00 AM this morning. TV news video showed hundreds, and sometimes even thousands, of people lined up in the middle of the night outside of stores, and then storming the doors once the stores opened for business.

It is all so obscene and vulgar.

In California, a woman injured 20 other shoppers with pepper spray at a Walmart so that they would not grab the items that she wanted to buy. In North Carolina, there was gunfire outside of a store. In past years there have been deaths on Black Friday. In New York a man was trampled to death outside of a store when people stepped and stomped on him as the store opened its doors in the middle of the night.

In Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 (NKJV), the author, presumed to be Solomon, wrote, "Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure ... And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind."

In Luke 12:15 (NKJV), Jesus said, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."

Black Friday has become a day of unbridled greed and materialism, in direct contrast to what Jesus taught in Luke 12:15.

Black Friday.

It is a day that is very appropriately named.

Thanksgiving

Psalm 50:14 (NKJV) - "Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High."

Psalm 95:2 (NKJV) - "Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms."

Psalm 100:4 (NKJV) - "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name."

JFK Dallas 11/22/63

48 years ago today, on November 22, 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Any American who was alive that day will remember exactly where he or she was, and exactly what he or she was doing, when the news was broadcast that President Kennedy had been killed.

John F. Kennedy was just 46 years old when he was assassinated on that fateful day in Dallas, and his wife, Jacqueline, the First Lady, became a widow at the young age of 34.

As the presidential motorcade wound its way through downtown Dallas on November 22, 1963, and as the motorcade slowly made its way past the Texas School Book Depository building, it is highly unlikely that President Kennedy was aware that his life was about to end in a matter of mere seconds.

But it did.

One of the lessons that we can learn from the tragic events of November 22, 1963, is that life is fleeting.

Psalm 103:15-16 (NKJV) says, "As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone ...."

Psalm 144:4 (NKJV) says, "Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow."

Isaiah 40:6-8 (NKJV) says, "All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever."

Life is fleeting, and our days are like grass, or a flower of the field, or a breath, or a passing shadow.

Our lives on this earth are fleeting and transitory, but the word of our God - and God Himself -stands forever.

That is where our focus should be as we remember the events of a very dark day in Dallas on November 22, 1963.

Sparrows

In 1905, Civilla D. Martin wrote a beautiful and timeless hymn entitled, "His Eye Is On The Sparrow." This classic hymn's refrain states, "For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me."

Martin's hymn is based on the words of Jesus found in Matthew 10:29-31 (NKJV), when Jesus told His disciples, "Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows."

In this cold, hard world, oftentimes it can feel as if God somehow has forgotten you or has abandoned you. We are particularly prone to feel this way during the darkest days and nights of our lives. Yet the words of Jesus in these verses, and in His comparison of our lives to those of the sparrows, shows how even the smallest details and the most insignificant circumstances of our lives fall under God's control, will, providence, and sovereignty.

God cares about the smallest sparrow and He cares even more about you. For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me - and you.

Pain

C. S. Lewis once wrote, "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

True Christianity involves pain and suffering, and for many believers it can be extreme, severe, and life-altering.

Joseph suffered severe abuse and injustice in his life, including when his brothers, who hated him, sold him as a slave to passing Ishmaelites. Yet after his slavery, his unjust imprisonment, then his rise from prison to being the most powerful man in Egypt after Pharaoh, and his subsequent reconciliation with his brothers, Joseph was able to say to them, in Genesis 50:20 (NKJV), "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive." Joseph's saw God's hand and God's will and God's sovereignty in his 13-year-long pain, suffering, and injustice.

Isaiah 53:3-4 (NKJV) says that Jesus was "despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief ... He was despised ... And carried our sorrows ... Smitten by God, and afflicted." Jesus suffered on the cross. As a result of His suffering, as Isaiah 53:5 (NKJV) declares, "And by His stripes we are healed."

In Philippians 1:29 (NKJV), the Apostle Paul wrote, "For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake ...."

Jesus said in Matthew 7:14 (NKJV), "Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."

True Christians will suffer in this life, and it may be extreme in nature. But take heart if you are suffering, knowing that Jesus suffered as well, as did Joseph, Paul, and countless other believers and martyrs throughout history. God may be using your pain as a megaphone in your life, but also know that He will never leave you nor forsake you. He is there with you, right in the midst of your most extreme pain and your most anguished suffering, and in the darkest of your most excrutiatingly painful days and nights.

Dachau

Christian Reger was a minister in the Confessing Church in Germany in the years leading up to World War II. Because of the church's stance against the ruling Nazi regime, Reger and other Confessing Church ministers, including Dietrich Bonhoeffer, were imprisoned by the Nazis. Reger, in fact, was betrayed and handed over to the Nazis by his own church's organist.

Christian Reger was imprisoned by the Nazis from 1941 to 1945 at the notorious Dachau concentration camp, located outside of Munich, Germany. The daily horror of life in a concentration camp was enough to cripple the faith and quench the spirit of most people.

But Christian Reger was not like most people.

In Philip Yancey's book, entitled "Where Is God When It Hurts?", Yancey writes the following about Reger:

"Christian Reger will tell the horror stories if you ask. But he will never stop there. He goes on to share his faith - how at Dachau, he was visited by a God who loves."

"Nietzsche said a man can undergo torture if he knows the why of his life," Christian Reger told Philip Yancey. "But I, here at Dachau, learned something far greater."

"I learned to know the Who of my life."

"He was enough to sustain me then, and is enough to sustain me still."

Titanic

On the evening of April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank in 12,000 feet of icy cold, black water. 1,507 passengers went down with the Titanic. The Titanic was supposed to have been "unsinkable." In fact, an engineer working on the construction of the Titanic was alleged to have said, "Even God Himself could not sink this ship!"

Famous last words.

One of the most amazing facts about the Titanic disaster is that, while the ship did have many lifeboats, most lifeboats were empty or only partially filled with people when the Titanic sank to the bottom of the icy, dark sea.

Think about it: how in the world could it have been possible for so many lifeboats - representing safety and survival - to have been empty or only partially filled that fateful evening? Why didn't more Titanic passengers enter them?

A main reason is that even after the Titanic hit the iceberg, many passengers still did not believe that the ship would ever sink.

Many passengers stayed on the Titanic, even as it began to take on more and more water and begin to sink into the depths of the ocean, rather than head for the safety of the lifeboats.

Many passengers thought that they were safer on the "unsinkable" Titanic, even after it began to list and sink, than in a small lifeboat.

That type of thinking cost hundreds of Titanic passengers their lives that night in the North Atlantic.

Do we see the same mindset in the Christian church?

It seems as though many people prefer what they see as the safety or security of remaining in a large denomination, or in a large church, or in a large ministry, even though it has lost its spiritual moorings, has hit an iceberg, and is getting ready to sink.

Many so-called Christians seem to think that they are safer in a large-but-sinking denomination, church, or ministry, instead of in a vessel that may be smaller in terms of size, but which offers far greater spiritual security.

In Matthew 7:13 (NKJV), Jesus said, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it."

On the night of April 14, 1912, many Titanic passengers foolishly placed their safety in the broad way which was represented by staying on the sinking ship. It led to their destruction. They paid for it with their lives.

In Matthew 18:20 (NKJV), Jesus said, "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."

Many of the Titanic's lifeboats only had two or three people gathered in them. But those groups of two or three gathered in the lifeboats survived the Titanic disaster.

Is your denomination, church, or ministry true to God's Word? Does it preach repentance, salvation by grace alone, Christ as Lord and Savior, obedience to God's Word, and submission to God's will?

Or is it another Titanic, listing from side to side, and ready to go under, even as everyone on board considers it unsinkable?

Don't make the same fatal mistake that so many hundreds of passengers on the Titanic made.

Get off of a large, sinking ship.

Head to the greater safety of a smaller lifeboat instead.

Servanthood Vs. Leadership

Many pastors, church leaders, and church members lust to be leaders. They attend leadership conferences, read leadership books, and spout leadership quotes and phrases.

But if the truth be told, there are very few authentic leaders out there who are worthy to be followed.

There are a lot of pretenders, but very few contenders.

The problem is that many people who want to be leaders have the wrong motives. Many of them are on a power kick, a desire to be the king of the hill and nothing more. This is not God-honoring, and God knows the true desires of anyone who seeks to be a leader.

If one truly desires to be an effective, God-honoring, and God-glorifying leader, then the formula is clearly stated in the Bible.

In order to be an effective leader, one must learn to be an effective servant.

Just like Jesus.

In Matthew 20:25-28 (NKJV), Jesus was speaking to His disciples about ambition, authority, and leadership. Jesus said to His disciples, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave - just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many."

Jesus practiced such service in John 13 when He washed His disciples' feet. Footwashing in that culture was the job for the lowliest servant in a household. Yet Jesus did it. He showed His leadership through such lowly service. In John 13:14-15 (NKJV), Jesus told His disciples, "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you."

In Luke 14:11 (NKJV), when speaking about worldly ambition and honor, Jesus said, "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Do you truly want to be a God-honoring, God-glorifying leader?

Then lead like Jesus, in humble service to others.

Patrick Henry

In May of 1765, in a speech to the Virginia House of Burgesses, American patriot Patrick Henry observed, "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!"

That same month, writing on the back of the Stamp Act Resolves, Henry commented, "Righteousness alone can exalt them as a nation. Reader! Whoever thou art, remember this, and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself, and encourage it in others."

Many years later, while reflecting on the Revolutionary War, Henry remarked about America's new-found independence that "whether this will prove a blessing or a curse, will depend upon the use our people make of the blessings, which a gracious God hath bestowed on us."

Can God bless America?

Should God bless America?

Only when the nation and its people return to the roots of righteousness of which Patrick Henry wrote.

Proverbs 14:34 (NKJV) - "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people."

The Church As A Mission Field

Do you know which world mission field today is in desperate need of faithful, obedient, and submissive missionaries?

It's not Africa.

It's not Asia.

It's not the 10/40 window.

It's not Muslim countries.

It's the so-called Christian church.

Many different surveys and studies have shown that the Christian church, tragically, is losing relevancy and impact in society today, all around the world.

The so-called Christian church has only itself to blame for this.

The so-called Christian church, all around the world, has been poisoned by those who preach false gospels, be it the prosperity gospel, or the "health and wealth" gospel, or the "name it and claim it" gospel, or "easy believe-ism", or cultural compromise.

In Galatians 1:6-7 (NKJV), the Apostle Paul writes to the church at Galatia, "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Jesus Christ."

The Apostle Paul would also write to Timothy, in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NKJV), that "the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables."

That time, of which the Apostle Paul writes, has come.

The impact that the Christian church should have on this world has been diluted by a different gospel, a perverted gospel, unsound doctrine, and a preference for fables instead of God's truth.

That is why all authentic believers must look upon the Christian church as a mission field of utmost importance and high priority.

Numbers

C. I. Scofield once was scheduled to speak at a small, country church in North Carolina on a Sunday evening. That Sunday had been a very stormy day, and when Scofield arrived at the small North Carolina church that evening, only a handful of people were there.

The church's young pastor was greatly embarrassed that only a few people had turned out to hear Scofield speak, and he apologized profusely to Scofield for the low number of people in the pews that evening.

"Don't worry," Scofield told the young pastor. "Jesus only had 12 followers, so who am I to ask for more?"

Scofield's humility was the exact opposite of what we see today in so many churches and among so many pastors.

So many pastors lust after big numbers today. This is sinful.

So many pastors want to fill up their churches, but with the wrong motive. Today, sadly, it frequently has become more about bragging rights than about transforming people into authentic, obedient, repentant, and submissive followers of Christ.

No pastor will ever admit to lusting after big numbers - it isn't the "pastoral" thing to do, of course - but most pastors are guilty of it. Many pastors will justify their desire for big numbers as merely wanting to reach the lost, but far too frequently the truth of the matter is that they really are seeking to build up their own, earthly kingdom instead of the kingdom of God.

Lusting after big numbers is based on the sin of pride. It is not based on authentic, Christ-like characteristics such as humility, meekness, and suffering.

God punished the Israelites harshly when David counted the people (2 Samuel 24). God was angry with David's motives, which probably were based on pride and self-glory. God also knows the true motives and the true hearts of all pastors who seek fame or fortune or celebrity from big numbers instead of being true shepherds of their flocks.

If you lust after big numbers, then play fantasy football instead of pastoring a church. God knows your heart, and He also knows your true, inner motives.