Speak Up

As Chairman of the National Board of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, I met many involved in sports who had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Many had become Christ followers as the result of another sportsman. One was Jim Brawner who shared with me the following.

He played football at the University of Arkansas during their glory days when Frank Broyles was coach. He was not a Christian at the time. He related this story of the day Arkansas defeated the University of Texas 31 – 7. After the game the exuberant team piled on the bus. Excitement reigned. Jim sat down on the front seat next to the window as wild as any on the bus. Coach Broyles got on the bus and sat next to him. Immediately he felt he couldn’t be quite as rowdy as he intended to be. Coach Broyles sat down and said, “We have to give glory to God for that victory. We owe it to Him.”

Jim said, “That wasn’t what I was thinking.” He was thinking what a whale of a game he and his team mates had played. 

Jim said that after he got off the bus he couldn’t think of anything else but what Coach Broyles had said. He didn’t sleep a wink that night for thinking about it. Not being a Christian, he nevertheless got up the next morning and went to church. There he realized Christ was the missing element in his life and that he needed to be saved. Right then and there he gave his life to Christ and experienced transformation, new life.

It all happened because a Christian coach expressed his faith spontaneously.

“…those things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart.” (Matthew 15: 15)

Like a bubble under water constantly seeking to rise to the surface, what Coach Broyles had in his heart bubbled to the surface and he expressed his faith. What he had in his heart spontaneously came out of his mouth. Scripture says, “…faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)

A direct sharing of the gospel evangelically in order to try to lead a person to faith in Jesus is to be encouraged.  However, often the spontaneous expression of one’s faith leads to another person’s initial interest in faithful trust of Him.

Not only does having the Word “hidden in our heart” serve as a shield against evil, but it also leads to  unpremeditated revelation of faith. Such reflexive faith is inspiring. Don’t muffle yourself. Feed your faith that it might be so natural it shows, and is heard.

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight….” (Psalms 19: 14) The way to insure the reflexive expression of your faith is to meditate on things pleasing to the Lord. Ruminate on them. A cow has four stomachs enabling food to be chewed on over and over. Thus, it is spoken of as rumination. It is a delightful word meaning to think over and over on God’s word. Soon you digest it and it becomes systematic. That is, it becomes your operational speaking system. It is a way of showing the way. Speak up!

Let Jesus “Easter In You” 4/12/98

Matthew 28:1-7
Page 1460 Come Alive Bible

Jesus Christ put on the form of a man, slipped into the envelop of time, and entered our space. He, Immanuel, “God with us,” came to rescue us from our plight resulting from our self-imposed doom. There were requisites necessary to achieve this. The drama of redemption was played out in three acts.

ACT ONE: Bethlehem. He had to be born of a virgin and thus have no old sin nature and thus have no old sin nature. Because of His virgin birth every infant that dies, and every individual lacking the mental capacity of making a valid choice is assured of a heavenly home.

ACT TWO: His life. He had to live a sinless life. Thus having no personal sin He was capable of being the all-sufficient sacrifice for our personal sins.

ACT THREE: He had to die for the sin of the world and have put on His vicarious death the seal of God the Father’s approval.

The noise of the crowd flooding Jerusalem had not yet reached the crescendo of mid-day when the still air rang out with the sounds of hammers. Christ was fulfilling the last requirement in the drama of redemption.

The seventh of His final shouts was heard from the cross, “Father, into Thy hand I commend My spirit…” (Luke 23: 46). He reclined His head against the old rugged cross and breathed His last.

Essentials one and two had been fulfilled. Now all heaven expectantly waited to see the Father’s vindication of the Son.

His lifeless form, wrapped like a cocoon, hopelessly lay in a small cave that served as His borrowed tomb.

By the dawns early light a mighty angel came and rolled away the stone that sealed the tomb. The Roman guards were so startled and convinced of what they experienced there that they fled to report the phenomenon to their superiors.

Anticipating the final anointing of His lifeless body a small band of ladies came to the tomb early in the morning. With sad hearts they were puzzled by how to get the stone rolled away from the tomb. Roman soldiers would have found it laughable to see their feeble failed efforts.

Fright and elation swirled in their hearts like two liquids blended. They were greeted by the angelic messenger who told of Christ’s resurrection from the dead.

Immediately the ladies ran to tell the disciples.

Mary, one out of whom Christ had cast demons returned to the tomb.

Bewildered by what she had just heard from the angel she still was in a state of disbelief. There she encountered Christ, but assumed Him to be a gardener. She inquired, “Where have they taken Him. Where is He laid.” Then He spoke her name, “Mary!”

That intonation, the inflection, the resonance, that was the voice of Christ. She turning to see Him fell at His feet and appropriately greeted Him, “Master.”

The rush of reality engulfed her for the first time. Christ is alive! She became the first person to see the risen Christ.

Understandably the title she used for Him means “My Great Master.”

Lovingly she wanted to cling to Him, but He insisted that she go and tell the others He was risen.

Peter and John came to the tomb to be overwhelmed by the angel’s message, “Why do you seek the living among the dead. He is not here. He is risen as He said. Come see the place where the Lord lay.”

This was the moment of the awakening of human conscience to the reality of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was indeed alive.

Requirement number three was met. God the Father endorsed the birth, sanctioned the life and confirmed His Son as our Savior by His resurrection.

EVERY ARGUMENT FOR THE RESURRECTION IS HISTORICAL. What followed the resurrection were not hallucinations resulting from ambitious believers. They did not anticipate nor at first believe in the resurrection. The Gospel of Mark notes Christ… upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not…” (Mark 16: 14).

“These words seemed to them like an idle tale” (Luke 24: 11).

However it was no fabricated fantasy. Modern psychologists agree hallucinations are:
1. Associated with expectation. They had none.

2. Highly individualistic, yet there were small groups as well as hundreds, who witnessed the resurrected Christ. Group hallucinations are unknown.

3. Suitable circumstances contribute to hallucinations. Sunny beaches, open roadways, hilltops, and large crowds aren’t conducive.

FACTS: He was dead. His tomb was empty. He was seen by many to be alive.

Easter is God the Father’s “YES!” to Jesus.

It was also a bold “BRAVO!”

Bravo Jesus for a life well lived.

Bravo, Jesus for suffering and dying faithfully in love and trust to the end.

The curtain is still up at the end of act three. God the Father calls for encores by the Son. Death is swallowed up in victory. A forty day celebration results with numerous curtain calls.

This drama is the affirming disclosure of what God is really like. Christ is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1: 15). He is the God of the impossible and hopeless.

The resurrection is the ultimate breakthrough of God into our world in a manner that defies history and nature.

It is a miracle comparable to removing the yoke from an egg without piercing the shell.

The fact such a thing could not happen does not mean it did not happen. The One with Whom all things are possible intervened in the laws of nature He designed to give us boundaries forming a comfort zone. He did not make those laws of nature as a straight jacket for Himself, but as guidelines for us.

One fact stands out. Those who reported the resurrection believed it. A review of what happened in those forty days after the resurrection reveals why they believed it. They used three of their five senses to confirm for themselves what they could not by nature believe. They touched Him, talked with Him, walked with Him, and on more than one occasion dined with Him.

This report of the resurrection so disturbed the members of the judiciary that the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of the day, appointed a brilliant young intellect as a special prosecutor with subpoena power to investigate the rumors.

He interrogated individuals under the threat of death trying to get them to renounce belief in what they knew to be true. That young advocate was Paul. He accumulated more facts regarding the resurrection than anyone. His purpose was to refute it and dispel the rumors once and for all. His evidence turned on him and became for him convincing proof of the fact of the bodily resurrection of Christ. The detractor became a devotee.

Hear in part his report resulting from his exhaustive investigation.
“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time” (I Corinthians 15:3 – 8).

Reports of the resurrection was not a conspiracy. Conspiracies unravel with time. Accounts of the resurrection have only become increasingly confirmed. First century believers suffered and died because of their confidence in the resurrection as a fact.

If His friends had stolen the body they would only have had to returned the lifeless corpse to relieve themselves of persecution. They would have if they could have, but they knew Him to be alive.

If His enemies had stolen the corpse they could have revealed it and made a mockery of the resurrection charade. They would have done so gleefully if they could have. They could not because he was alive.

The resurrection celebrated at Easter is God’s class action suit against sin and death.

Although the resurrection is without precedent, it is only natural that it should have been normal for Christ. He arose because it was His logical response to death.

Paul put all his Easter eggs in one basket: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain” he said, (I Cor. 15: 17).

He had not destroyed death as a fact. He had done better, He had destroyed it as a force. Christ is risen to put love in our hearts, decent thoughts in our heads, and more steel in our spines. He is risen to convert us, not from life to something more than life, but from something less than life to a life full of possibilities.

Let Christ “Easter in you.” That is, let Him give your life which He referred to as “the abundant life.”

To accept the resurrection as a fact is an act of faith. To deny it requires no less faith. Either way our response is an act of faith. Faith ceases to be faith when it can be explained.

EVERY ARGUMENT OPPOSING THE RESURRECTION IS PHILOSOPHICAL.

A lack of faith response to the resurrection is the relentless revelation of our unwillingness, if it be so, to admit that there is something out there which we will never grasp and understand fully, this side of heaven. Our acceptance and enjoyment of the Easter message hinges on our willingness to face this human limit unashamedly. This can be done without apology to the intellectual world which still believes that if we can’t fully understand it, it doesn’t exist. There are many other phenomena by which we all live, and which we do not understand.

In light of Job’s critical questioning of God, the Lord responded, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” Job, with things in better perspective, replied acknowledging God’s actions were “things too wonderful for me, which I did not know” (Job 42:3).

The resurrection is too wonderful for me. However, the evidence stimulates my faith response and I rejoice.

A Muslim in Africa who became a Christian was asked why. He replied, “Well, it is like this. Suppose you are going down the road and suddenly the road forks in two directions, and you don’t know which way to go. There are at the fork in the road are two men, one dead and one alive – which would you ask which way to go?”

At the end of life’s road it forks. There you will find many men – all dead, and a man who is alive, Jesus Christ. Which will you ask which way to go?

If we could prove God’s power in a lab it wouldn’t be the ultimate power which it is. Ultimately we all act by faith. Faith to believe or faith to reject.

The resurrection through God’s eyes is seen as logical. It was His way of confirming His Son as our Savior. The decision for or against Easter faith is not taken on the grounds of this miraculous event but on whether we are willing to see life from God’s viewpoint. When we do then we are ready to rely totally upon God in life or death.

The resurrection of Christ resurrects hope in us. Life tends to rob us of hope.

Christian hope alerts us to the possibilities of the future as a field of action, and as a consequence, fills the present with energy. A life filled with hope is a life built on the foundations of the promises of God.

Psychiatrist again and again report that many are unconsciously or subconsciously suffering from despair. People are afraid they will become an appendage of a machine. People feel they have less and less to say about their future; how they will live and what they will become. There is a sense of hopelessness resulting from fear we can’t control the technology we have created. Will acid rain, water poisoning, air pollution, and biological warfare be our modern day Hiroshima or Holocaust?

Jesus did not come to make the world perfect but to perfect us for the next world. He came to enable us to live the “abundant life” amid the hopeless state of society.

The citizens of Feldkirch, Austria, didn’t know what to do. Napoleon’s massive army was preparing to attack. Soldiers had been spotted on the heights of the hills over looking the town which was on the Austrian border. A council of citizens was hastily summonsed to decide whether they should try to defend themselves or display the white flag of surrender. It happened on Easter Sunday, and the people had gathered in the local church.

The pastor rose and spoke, “Friend’s, we have been counting on our own strength, and apparently that has failed. As this is the day of our Lord’s resurrection, let us just ring the bells, have our services as usual, and leave the matter in His hands. We know only our weakness, and not the power of God to defend us.” The council accepted his plan and the church bells rang. The enemy, hearing the sudden peal, concluded that the Austrian army had arrived during the night to defend the town. Before the service ended, the army of Napoleon broke camp and left.

When we celebrate the power of God in our moments of presumed doom He is there to work on our behalf.

Hope is not only threatened by despair but by our conscious fears. Many fear the encroachment of age. Others have the fears associated with youth. Can we make it as a youth? Will the work force offer me a carrot of a job only to snatch it from me when it appears I am about to obtain it? Will I lose my job? Will I be forced to retire before I want to or really can? Will we be bullied or babied in a nursing home?

Many fear God’s anger over their sin. How can I face such a hopeless lifestyle? Christ Who overcame life, death, and the grave gives hope a jump start. He who did all that can enable us to live for Him with confidence.

The resurrection asserts there is something out there beyond the grave. We can’t explain it because we haven’t experienced it. However, if we know Who is out there beyond this life and world we know what is there. Christ stated as His reason for His exodus: “I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am there you may be also.”

Heaven is a prepared place for prepared people. Are you prepared?

ACT THREE still involves one remaining curtain call.

When the disciples arrived at the tomb and peered in they saw His grave clothes laying deflated like a balloon out of which all air had escaped. They were not unwound and disheveled. They were neatly in place.

Customarily a napkin was bound over the face of the deceased. It too was there neatly folded in place.

This is significant because in that era when a person crumpled a napkin and left the table it meant they were finished and would not come back. If the napkin was folded and left in place it meant the person was coming back.

Christ is coming again. He left us the sign of the folded napkin.

He is risen! Deal with it. What does it mean to you? How have you responded?

The world is a better place because Michelangelo didn’t say, “I don’t do ceilings.”

The world is a better place because Mozart didn’t say, “I don’t do symphonies.”

The world is a better place because Noah didn’t say, “I don’t do arks and animals.”

The world is a better place because Moses didn’t say, “I don’t do swollen seas.”

The world is a better place because Jesus didn’t say, “I don’t do crosses and tombs.”

Your world will be a better place if you don’t say, “I don’t do repentance and faith.”

When Is a Helping Hand Not a Help

“Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6: 2) KJV

“For each one shall bear his own burden.” (Galatians 6: 5) KJV

Do these two passages postulate a conflict? No, and no others do either when properly understood.

The Greek word in verse 2 translated “burden” is “baros,” literally means grief. These are burdens of the heart.

The Greek word in verse 5 translated “burden” is “phortion,” literally means responsibility. These are burdens of personal responsibility.

Compassion moves the needle regarding meeting needs or not meeting them. Some social parasites can’t be helped because they won’t help themselves.

Immediate aid may temporarily relieve them, but not really help them.

Often we sympathetic Christians get the two mixed and as “do-gooders” want to fix everything for everyone. It can’t be done until the persons are willing to do all within their capacity to help themselves. 

A compassionate social worker said to me that in helping others they find the same person coming back time after time. If they are given help they never learn personal responsibility and to help themselves.

Studies show that the average person on the street or roadside soliciting funds makes an average of $35.00 an hour.

Though we are not to judge others, that is their motive, Scripture notes “by their fruit you shall know them.” That is not judgmental, it is wise discernment. Now, turn attention to yourself. Before judging others, do as verse one advocates “considering yourself.” Often a primary hindrance to helping others is pride.  We are not to judge others, but we are to judge ourselves. The landmark statement of Christ is to consider the 2X4 in your own eye before trying to get a speck out of another person’s eye. There is not a sin that can be committed by non-Christians that can not be committed by a Christian out of the will of God.

If we don’t examine ourselves in light of Scripture, we might deceive ourselves. Self-deception results in us thinking too highly of ourselves. “Let us not become conceited.”  (Galatians 5: 26)

Self-examination should be done in light of Romans 14: 12, “So then each of us shall give an account of himself to God.”

“Each one shall bear his own burden…,” responsibility. “Each one” includes you. That is, we each have our own responsibilities. We are to avoid being lazy or careless about our own responsibilities.

It is good and proper to give funds to help people in need. It is wise rather than giving to individuals who have a proven record of not assuming their own responsibility to give it to an agency committed to that task that has the will and skill to evaluate real need. In this way your compassion is doing the most good possible.  Some persons don’t have the ability to help themselves. Those we should help. If you know of a specific need of a responsible person who is in need, do what you can to help that person undemonstrably. 

Charity is wise if it is wise charity.

Help in Finding God’s Will: Part Two

Acts 11: 1 – 14

In Acts 11:1, seven principles are found to have been used by Peter in proving that what he had done was God’s will.

What Peter had done violated four basic, ritualistic taboos. Therefore, the religious leaders “contended” with Him. The word means they kept on persecuting him. This was no academic debate; it was a verbal war.  Peter had:

–  Eaten with a Gentile. That simply wasn’t done.  He ate Gentile food.

–  This Gentile was a Roman.  He stayed in the house after dark.

In light of their contention, Peter “explained” his actions. The word means he kept on explaining it in historical order. The order was as follows.

Prayer was the first principle in seeking God’s will.

He said “I was in the city of Joppa praying….” (vs. 5) 

Prayer is essential in the search for God’s will. It is making a humble request of the Lord. Prayer is not a system of rationalization.  Prayer, though essential, is not enough alone. Other factors must converge.

Thinking was the second principle in seeking divine guidance.

Peter said “I observed it intently and considered….” (vs. 6)

The word literally meant “to put your mind to something, to ponder.” It is a reference to objective thinking. That is, thinking for a long time apart from emotions. 

God’s Word is the third principle involved in seeking divine guidance.

Peter did not have the Word like we have today. Therefore, before the Word was written it was rarely miraculously spoken. However, Peter heard the Word three times before it sank in. Prayer, the first principle in seeking God’s will must be combined with a knowledge of the Word.

Providential circumstances are to be considered in seeking divine guidance.

While Peter was praying and considering the vision, three men suddenly appeared with a special request. (vs. 11)

If circumstances are contrary to God’s Word, they are not of God.

Holy Spirit guidance is a vital part of seeking divine guidance.

Verse 12 shares a strategic principle. It is this. The Bible was not yet fully authored; and thus, Peter didn’t have the New Testament as his source of instruction. It must be ours. He had God’s Word vocally. We have it written. The vision was equivalent for him as the Word is for us today.

The Holy Spirit will NEVER lead anyone to do anything contrary to the written Word of God.

Comparisons are a factor in seeking divine guidance.

In verses 13 – 15 Peter and the men compare notes. This takes us back to the principle of thinking. As they compared notes, their insights dovetailed. This convergence was of God.

Scripture memorization is a vital part of seeking divine guidance.

Peter recalled the Word of the Lord as recorded in Isaiah 44:3 and Acts 1:5.

Under pressure it is the Word of God you know that helps you find what you don’t know. All of these principles must be taken into account in seeking divine guidance. Seek and you shall find.

In Times Like These Draw Near To God 8/30/98

James 4:7-10
Page 1763 Come Alive Bible

JESUS CHRIST said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).

Memorize that. Put it on the screen saver of your mind and reflect on it often. Invest your life in it and it will pay eternal dividends. We need such a truth to which to anchor our soul in our societies tempestuous sea.

Jesus Christ also said there would come a day in which there would be “distress among the nations, with perplexity” and “men’s hearts failing them for fear and expectation of those things which are coming on the earth” (Luke 21: 25, 26).

Is this that day? The international money market crisis seems to be worsening by the day and our own economy beginning to quake as a consequence. There is a moral crisis in the White House that appears to be being condoned by a majority of Americans and youth confused as to what is right or wrong.

Because of our tendency to assert there are no absolutes and all truth is relative we have lost our moral compass. Truth is now spoken of as being subjective. That is I alone, the subject, determine truth. There is no absolute objective truth in the marketplace. What influence is this having on our society?

Extensive studies show that youth who refuse to accept objective standards that govern their lives are:
65% more likely to mistrust people. Why shouldn’t they?
48% more likely to cheat on exams. Why not!
36% more likely to lie to their parents.
Twice as likely to lack purpose in life.
Twice as likely to be resentful.

People without objective truth, that is, the Bible to guide them live by what is called “cultural ethics.” That is whatever the ethic of the culture that is what is right. Whatever the culture approves is proper. In light of that America is headed toward a deeper abyss of immorality than ever imagined. By approving of the immorality made so public in Washington we are saying it is our new “cultural ethic.” There is a problem with that.

Many saw the movie “Schindler’s List” which depicted the horror of the holocaust. Was there anything wrong with the atrocities of the holocaust?

After the war when the Nazi officials were tried for war crimes in Nuremberg, Germany their defense was “how can you come from another culture and condemn what we did when our culture said it was acceptable?”

In condemning them the world court said there is something above culture that determines what is right or wrong. We say that something is the Scripture.

The international threat of terrorism is causing us to barricade our monuments and cower ourselves. There is indeed “distress among the nations, with perplexity.” The hearts of people are failing them because of fear.

Oscar Wilde once wrote that in our postmodern society, “People know the price of everything but the value of nothing.”

This has been called the “Age of the Sellout” in which “Everything is for sale. Honesty and integrity are traded off like chattels, for money and power.”

Whether it is the “Age of the Sellout,” or the “Age of the Fallout” or the “Age of the Blowout” it is our Age. This is the time in which this generation of Christians have been called upon to give light. This is our only time to be “the salt of the earth.”

In such a time as this we need to establish on the marque of our minds the words of Christ:

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).

James 4: 7-10 lists some steps of preparation we each need to take in order to achieve this balanced mental, emotional, and spiritual state.

I. SUBMIT TO GOD (VERSE 7)
A. First, positively. You must “Submit yourselves therefore to God.”

This calls for a conscious willful action on your behalf. It requires you making a choice. Some persons arrogantly refuse to submit themselves. Each of us must respond to the self asked question: “Whom shall I serve, God or myself? Shall I make it my chief concern to do the will of my Heavenly Father, or shall I demand and assert my own way?”

It is said that when Aaron Burr, one of the most controversial personalities in early American life, reached the age of 21, he squarely faced the issue of whom to serve. Resolutely he decided to turn his back on the God of his fathers. He became a disgraced murderer and tried for treason. In death his body was laid to rest at the foot of the grave of his grandfather, Jonathan Edwards. Edwards was one of the most revered clergy/statesman of his era. The graves of the two illustrate the difference between one who seeks first the kingdom of God and who chooses slavery to self.

B. Second, negatively. “Resist the devil…”
The devil and his two allies: the world and the flesh, have designed and do desire your spiritual destruction.

A couple of decades ago the devil was thought to be only the figment of the imagination of radical Christians suffering a type of paranoia. Today devil worship proliferates. It is the natural Frankenstein created by a nation that has decided it can make it on its own.

When a decadent nation turns its back on God it turns back to the gods of decadence. Today Satan is more cunning than when he appeared to Eve. He is most effective as an angel of light.

Resist the devil: Through prayer. Pray “deliver us from the evil one.”

Bible study.
Regular public worship.
Association with friends who are committed Christians.

II. DRAW NEAR TO GOD (VERSE 8)
A. “Cleanse your hands” is a reference to outward actions. It is an appeal to our outward lifestyle. We must strive to maintain a clean lifestyle.

Verse 4 gives us a warning: “Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” The Christian who endeavors to do so is described in our text as “double-minded.”

B. “Purify your hearts” is a reference to an inward attitude. Medical science had not progressed in that day. A common concept was that blood carried in it ideas. They became conscious thoughts when the blood flowed through the brain. It was known that the heart pumped the blood. Therefore, it was thought that the heart was the point of origin of all creative thoughts. Hence, an appeal to cleanse the heart was a directive to change the thought pattern. Don’t let your mind dwell on evil ideas. Purify your thoughts by driving out the wrong concepts and ideas with Bible oriented ideas.

A critical negative spirit is a condition which needs to be purified. If you are going to think the Christ thoughts the mind must be purified of negativism.

There is a new book entitled “The Theory of Twenty-One.” The author shows as a result of research that out of every 21 people, 20 think negatively about everything. Only one is a positive person.

In another book by a different author entitled “Hide-N-Seek”, persons are urged to inventory their 16 closest relatives. Be objective who among them was negative and who are positive. Most persons will conclude they were reared in a negative environment.

Pray to be the “one” among 21.

An article in “The Christian Herald” tells the story of a senior executive in one of New York’s largest banks. In it he recalls his start with the bank. Shortly after being hired as an office boy the bank president called him in and told him he wanted him to work with him each day. The boy expressed reluctance saying he knew nothing of banking. “Never mind,” said the president, “you’ll learn a lot faster if you just stay by my side and keep your eyes and ears open.”

The young boy did and later acknowledged, “Being with that man made me just like him. I began to do things the way he did, and that accounts for what I am today.”

If we live each day as close to the Lord as possible we gradually become more like Him. Draw near to God and draw nearer to His likeness.

III. CONFESS TO GOD “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep…” (vs. 9)

These are three evidences of repentance. Don’t waste your pain. Let it be used of the Lord to draw you to Him. Our life experiences can help us develop and maintain some admirable qualities.

1. A settled belief that the principles of God are true. This is a contrast to acceptance of the undefined postmodern dogma called “tolerance.” The choice between the two is as distinct as a sailor who charts his course by the North Star and one who maps his course by a pen light on the wall of his room.

2. Convictions which are rooted not grafted. Grafts often wilt easily in heat. When your convictions are rooted they withstand the heat of criticism and complaint.

3. The courage to act based on conviction not consensus. The issue is “Thus saith the Lord, not thus saith the majority.

4. Resilience born of heavy burdens and personal suffering.

IV. HUMBLE YOURSELF BEFORE GOD (VERSE 10)
“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord”

The word “covenant” means an agreement or testimony. Actually, our Bible is divided into a new and old testament, literally, new and old covenants. A covenant is an agreement. Therefore, agree with the Lord that you are going to “humble yourself.”

It can result in a new beginning as written of in “The Land of Beginning Again” by Louise Fletcher Tarkington:
So I wish that there were some wonderful place
Called the Land of Beginning Again
Where all out mistakes and all our heartaches,
And all our poor selfish grief
Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door
And never put on again.
A renewed covenant will result in guidance.

King George VI of England during World War II made the following words vital in his new year’s address: “I said to a man who stood at the gate of the year – ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’ And he replied: ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way.'”

The Lord will guide persons who made a covenant with Him.

Again I say this calls for a willful personal commitment from you. You are called on to make a choice.

George Beverly Shea, a name well known in Christian music, had to make such a decision as a young man. He was offered a significant secular recording contract and a major media job. During the time he was wrestling with this decision the Lord used his Godly mother to help make the decision. She copied 2 verses of Scripture and placed them on the piano. Shea came in and found them and sat for a time meditating on them. Slowly his fingers began to wander across the keyboard as ever so gradually his commitment as expressed in his newly emerging song beloved by millions. He wrote and sang:
I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I’d rather be His than have riches untold;
I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands;
I’d rather be led by His nail-scared hand.
Than to be the king of a vast domain
And be held in sin’s dread sway;
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.

Beverly Shea made a covenant with God. He decided to follow Jesus and that decision has influenced every other decision he has made.

Make your decision today. “Boast not thyself of tomorrow” (Proverbs 27).

HE WILL LIFT YOU UP (VS. 10C).

God will never put you down if you turn to Him.

He will build you up.