Given April 1, 2006
We are called to be doers of the word, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. James 1:22” Jesus said, “.… I must be about my Father’s business. Luke 2:49“. Some of us are called to leadership positions in the church and all of us are called to tell the Good News in various ways. But how much is too much?

I was reminded this day of the Father’s love for me and His desire to fellowship and talk with me. But sometimes I get so busy, I can hear the Father asking, “Son, where are you today? And I answer, “I’m rght here Dad but I’ve got to take care of some church business right now. I’ll talk to you later.” I don’t know if God gets sad but, as a father of four sons, I get sad if one of my boys doesn’t have time for me.

It reminds me of the 1974 song by Harry Chapin, “Cat’s In The Cradle”, in the last chorus it says, “When you coming home, son?” “I don’t know when, But we’ll get together then, dad. You know we’ll have a good time then.” We surely don’t want this scenario to unfold with our kids and God doesn’t want it either. Go talk to Him now.

Given March 25, 2006
As humans, we are a needy people. As Christians, we are a needy people. It seems we pursue lots of things we think we need, and many of them, we do. On this day, I got this picture of the things we pursue.

Picture us on a road making our way toward Jesus who is up ahead. We are sick and need a healing but the healing is off to the side of the road. So, we take the exit and pursue the healing. Or we are controlled by something and need a deliverance but our deliverance is off on the other side of the road. So, we move off the road to pursue our deliverance. Or, we might even be seeking blessings and see a sign to them on exit 3A.

In each of these cases, we are seeking the healing and not the Healer; the deliverance and not the Deliverer; the blessings and not the Blesser. Is this what we do? Do we take our eyes off Jesus in pursuit of what we need? Think about it.

But the final frame of this picture shows the right way. If we turn from our pursuit of the things we need, focus on Jesus and fall into His loving arms, I see Him holding us close to His chest but motioning to the healing, the deliverance, and the blessings saying, “Come on over here. My son needs you.” ” But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33” Oh, it’s goose bump time!

Given March 29, 2006
” A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. Luke 6:45.” This verse is pretty clear. What is in your heart, is usually what you’re going to be talking about. But, some people are good at saying the right things according to who they’re around. You know anybody like that? They cover up what’s in their heart pretty good.

I heard this analogy the other day that made it more clear to me. This guy said, “Whatever you’re full of is going to spill over when you get bumped.” Now, I can see that! If a glass is full and you bump it or shake it, it’s going to spill over and everyone around will know it. When we, as Christians, are bumped, jostled, hit, jolted or in some way tested, whatever we’re full of is going to dictate the reaction we’ll display. If we’re full of God, we’ll react correctly, we’ll be a good witness to those around us and God will be pleased. If we’re full of something else, we’ll probably embarass ourselves, be a bad witness and have to repent.

Think about it; how do we react when someone doesn’t move right away when the light turns green? Or when we hit our toe on the couch leg? Or when someone falsely accuses us or wrongly mistreats us? If we’re sloshing junk over on those around us, we need to repent and ask God to empty our dirty vessel, clean it up and refill it to overflowing with Himself. That’s what I’m doing!

Given March 19, 2003
Probably the most well known Psalm, the 23rd, can be quoted by young and old alike. There is so much “meat” in there that a whole series of sermons could be done from its six verses. But a revelation was brought to me on this day three years ago that shed some positive light on my life.

Verse 5, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” In all the previous years I’d read and heard that verse, I pictured a long banquet table in Heaven with every good thing to eat and angels all around. But a TV preacher reminded me that my enemies won’t be in Heaven! This table prepared for me is not in Heaven but here on earth! Maybe you all realized that but it was good news to me!

God has prepared a table for me HERE, on earth and now the picture I see is different. I see me and other “children of God” sitting at this great, long table heaped high with every good thing. The room is long and norrow and my enemies are there up against the wall right behind me. They have to stand and watch me partake of the King’s fare and they can’t do a thing about it! Wow, what a time. God wants to bless us now, we don’t have to wait till we get to Heaven. Hey, your table’s ready too. Go have a seat and enjoy!

Given March 17, 2006
God has shown me this concept several times and I was reminded of it again recently because it’s spring planting time again. I love this time of year with new life coming up everywhere; it’s so encouraging. And I love to garden and already have my lettuce and pea seeds in the ground.

But getting back to this revelation; planting real seeds is a faith lesson. You put the seed in the ground, hidden, and you wait. You make sure it’s watered and not disturbed and you know, by faith, that soon you’ll see that little green plant emerge. If you lose faith and begin wondering, “What is going on under there? That thing should have come up by now. I’ll dig it up and see.” You’ve contaminated the process and probably destroyed your plant.

It’s the same way with the spiritual seeds you plant. If you’ve planted a spiritual seed before and seen the harvest, it’ll be easier not to dig it up. But if this is the first time, you’ll be tempted to try to help it along. (Now who tempts you to do that?) Right! Don’t do it! Continue to water it with prayer and have faith that it’ll come up and produce the harvest you’re looking for in God’s time.

And, one good sideline, when you plant one seed, you don’t get just one great big seed when it comes up. No, you get a bunch of seeds, a plant, leaves and a stalk. Much more that you planted! “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. John 12:24” Isn’t God’s plan great?