A true friendship will stand the test of time, trials, and troubles. There's no such thing as a "fair-weather friend." As a matter of fact, you know what I have learned? I don't need friends in fair weather, I need friends in foul weather. A fair-weather friend is truly no friend at all.
A false friend is just like your shadow. As long as the sun is shining, he sticks right by you. But the minute you step into the shade, he disappears.
I was thinking about what a real friend really is, and I came across several that are worth noting:
• A friend is someone who multiplies your joys and divides your grief.
• A friend is a watch which beat true for all time, and never runs down.
• Irma Bombeck said, "A friend is some-body who won't go on a diet when you're fat."
• But this is my favorite definition: A friend is someone who will walk into your house when the whole world has just walked out.
• That is my favorite definition. Friendship lasts through thick, through thin, through hot, through cold, through good, through bad. There is a friend who "sticks" closer than a brother.
Charles Colson tells the story of how soon after being released from prison, he was the guest speaker at George Washington University. He was speaking to a very hostile crowd there in Washington, DC. Questions were being thrown at him rapid-fire, and the crowd was becoming increasingly angry.
One student stood up and referred to a vicious criticism that Henry Kissinger had leveled at Richard Nixon. Then he asked Chuck Colson this question: "Do you agree with this criticism?" Chuck Colson said as he scanned the room, he could tell every ear was listening and every eye was watching to see what he would say.
He took a deep breath, set his jaw, looked straight into the crowd and said, "We all know Mr. Nixon's negative qualities. He's been dissected in the press like nobody in history. I could tell you his good points, but I don't believe I could persuade you to accept them. But what it comes down to is, "No, I don't go along with Henry Kissinger's comments. Mr. Nixon is my friend, and I don't turn my back on my friends."
Colson said for an instant he thought the roof would cave in, and it did, but not like he expected. After a moment of silence, the students stood up and gave him a prolonged standing ovation. Because even they could appreciate loyalty to a friend.
If you want to find out who your friends really are, I can tell you very easily how to do it - just make a mistake. Somebody has said, "In prosperity our friends know us, but in adversity we know our friends."
A true friend doesn't allow others to put us down, but defends us.
Tommy
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Moths, Lions, and Silence
In Hosea 5, we read of the consequences of spiritual adultery, spiritual immorality. When God’s people put other things ahead of Him, when they go after other gods instead of being faithful to the one true God, the God their Savior, there is a series of consequences--unbelievable pictures.
Look at verse 12. This is God talking. "There will I be unto Ephraim as a moth… Have you ever sat outside on a warm summer night. You have the porch light on and a moth comes around that light. Just flittering and fluttering. Nothing big, just a moth tormenting, staying at him, working with him. Has God been to you like a moth? Have things come into your life that just sort of bug you? It may be God's moth to wake you up.
Look at the second picture in verse 14. "For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion….” There is a big difference between a moth and a lion, wouldn’t you say? The moth is pesky, but the lion is ferocious. The lion comes swiftly, suddenly. The lion comes reeking havoc. Has God tried to get your attention through some pretty traumatic things in your life? But some still get away from the lion.
Here's the most terrible of all in verse 15. God says, "I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense….” If you get away from the lion, God says, “I’ll go away.” Why? Because you have neglected the relationship—you have pushed him out. If you are no longer feeling the “moth of God” bothering you when you are not being faithful to Him in things; or when the stuff of life is “roaring like a lion” in your life because you are not where you know you should be, at least you know God’s presence. But what about when He goes away?
How long does He go away? Verse 15, “’til they seek my face...” God says—then I'll go back where I came from until they come to their senses. When they finally hit rock bottom, maybe they'll come looking for me.
Believers in America, how long until you return?
Look at verse 12. This is God talking. "There will I be unto Ephraim as a moth… Have you ever sat outside on a warm summer night. You have the porch light on and a moth comes around that light. Just flittering and fluttering. Nothing big, just a moth tormenting, staying at him, working with him. Has God been to you like a moth? Have things come into your life that just sort of bug you? It may be God's moth to wake you up.
Look at the second picture in verse 14. "For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion….” There is a big difference between a moth and a lion, wouldn’t you say? The moth is pesky, but the lion is ferocious. The lion comes swiftly, suddenly. The lion comes reeking havoc. Has God tried to get your attention through some pretty traumatic things in your life? But some still get away from the lion.
Here's the most terrible of all in verse 15. God says, "I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense….” If you get away from the lion, God says, “I’ll go away.” Why? Because you have neglected the relationship—you have pushed him out. If you are no longer feeling the “moth of God” bothering you when you are not being faithful to Him in things; or when the stuff of life is “roaring like a lion” in your life because you are not where you know you should be, at least you know God’s presence. But what about when He goes away?
How long does He go away? Verse 15, “’til they seek my face...” God says—then I'll go back where I came from until they come to their senses. When they finally hit rock bottom, maybe they'll come looking for me.
Believers in America, how long until you return?
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
God Sees our Motive
For His Eyes Only
Matthew 6:1-4
If you have ever gone for a job interview, one of the questions that you will be asked is something like this: "Tell me what you have done in the past that would qualify you for this job?" Or, they may ask you something like this: "What character qualities do you have that would make me want to hire you?"
But if you will think back to any job interview you have ever had you were never asked this question: "Why do you do what you do?" When people try to size us up and find out what kind of persons we are, they go to our methods, but never to our motives.
I heard about a young lady who wrote this sweet note to her ex-fiancée, whose heart she had broken a year before. It said:
Dear John,
I have been unable to sleep since we broke off our engagement. It has shattered me. I just cannot live any longer without you. Won't you forgive and forget? Your absence is breaking my heart. I was a fool to leave you. Nobody can take your place. I love you so much. Please call soon. I wait anxiously by the telephone to hear your voice.
Love Always,
Donna
Then she added this:
P.S. Congratulations on winning the $6 million lottery!
Now when we judge people, or even judge ourselves, we tend to look at the body of the letter and don't pay much attention to the P.S. That is how we are so different from God because we look at the "what" where God looks at the "why." We look at "how much" God looks at "how." We judge a person by "their methods" God judges a person by "their motive."
Remember the Sermon on the Mount is telling us, truth by truth, "the only way to live." The Lord Jesus is going to spend almost the entire chapter before us, teaching us that the only way to live is to live without hypocrisy. Here He deals with the area of giving to the poor; doing things for other people. He makes three simple statements to remind us that when we give to others, or do for others, it is to be "for His eyes only."
Matthew 6:1-4
If you have ever gone for a job interview, one of the questions that you will be asked is something like this: "Tell me what you have done in the past that would qualify you for this job?" Or, they may ask you something like this: "What character qualities do you have that would make me want to hire you?"
But if you will think back to any job interview you have ever had you were never asked this question: "Why do you do what you do?" When people try to size us up and find out what kind of persons we are, they go to our methods, but never to our motives.
I heard about a young lady who wrote this sweet note to her ex-fiancée, whose heart she had broken a year before. It said:
Dear John,
I have been unable to sleep since we broke off our engagement. It has shattered me. I just cannot live any longer without you. Won't you forgive and forget? Your absence is breaking my heart. I was a fool to leave you. Nobody can take your place. I love you so much. Please call soon. I wait anxiously by the telephone to hear your voice.
Love Always,
Donna
Then she added this:
P.S. Congratulations on winning the $6 million lottery!
Now when we judge people, or even judge ourselves, we tend to look at the body of the letter and don't pay much attention to the P.S. That is how we are so different from God because we look at the "what" where God looks at the "why." We look at "how much" God looks at "how." We judge a person by "their methods" God judges a person by "their motive."
Remember the Sermon on the Mount is telling us, truth by truth, "the only way to live." The Lord Jesus is going to spend almost the entire chapter before us, teaching us that the only way to live is to live without hypocrisy. Here He deals with the area of giving to the poor; doing things for other people. He makes three simple statements to remind us that when we give to others, or do for others, it is to be "for His eyes only."
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Purity of character
I found this in a sermon from several years ago. . .
Proverbs 11:20, "The LORD detests men of perverse heart but he delights in those whose ways are blameless."
Sometimes people get excited and they let charisma, popularity, crowds, and peer pressure take the place of seeking a man who is faultless.
See if you can identify this world leader. Times were never better. The national economy was strong during his tenure. Inflation, which had plagued the country for twenty years, was under control. Peace and prosperity characterized the nation. Many consider him to be one of the most gifted politicians to come on the national stage. One journalist wrote of him, although there was uneasiness about his character and the allegations of corruption and immorality swirled around him, none of his political opponents could touch him. He was too slick for his accusations to stick. So charming and personable was this leader that the religious leaders overlooked his lack of integrity.
Do you think you know whom I am talking about? Well, if you think it is Bill Clinton you are wrong! It is Adolph Hitler. These words were written about Adolph Hitler in 1940, just a few centuries before Hitler came to power, Germany was the bastion of spiritual faith. It was the place where Protestantism was born. It was the sight of the Great Reformation and Great Revival in Europe. What was it that brought this nation from being such a great spiritual power to being a nation who committed the Holocaust? Well, the people began to overlook the flaws in their leader's character and began to overlook the obvious immorality and lack of integrity and instead they were charmed by a fanatic's deceitful words. And a whole nation bought it, hook, line, and sinker.
Proverbs 11:20, "The LORD detests men of perverse heart but he delights in those whose ways are blameless."
Sometimes people get excited and they let charisma, popularity, crowds, and peer pressure take the place of seeking a man who is faultless.
See if you can identify this world leader. Times were never better. The national economy was strong during his tenure. Inflation, which had plagued the country for twenty years, was under control. Peace and prosperity characterized the nation. Many consider him to be one of the most gifted politicians to come on the national stage. One journalist wrote of him, although there was uneasiness about his character and the allegations of corruption and immorality swirled around him, none of his political opponents could touch him. He was too slick for his accusations to stick. So charming and personable was this leader that the religious leaders overlooked his lack of integrity.
Do you think you know whom I am talking about? Well, if you think it is Bill Clinton you are wrong! It is Adolph Hitler. These words were written about Adolph Hitler in 1940, just a few centuries before Hitler came to power, Germany was the bastion of spiritual faith. It was the place where Protestantism was born. It was the sight of the Great Reformation and Great Revival in Europe. What was it that brought this nation from being such a great spiritual power to being a nation who committed the Holocaust? Well, the people began to overlook the flaws in their leader's character and began to overlook the obvious immorality and lack of integrity and instead they were charmed by a fanatic's deceitful words. And a whole nation bought it, hook, line, and sinker.
Monday, May 31, 2010
What We Need
For years I have heard the claim of those who want to tailor the church to fit the prevailing culture. The claim is that this would attract more people to the message. Now we are more than twenty years into a post modern culture that says, nothing is right, nothing is wrong, and our churches are emptying. Southern Baptist, of which we are a cooperating church, comprise the largest segment of protestant churches in America. Church membership and attendance was on the rise in the 1980s, plateaued in the 1990s and through the first ten years of the 2000s I have read and heard that over 90% of Southern Baptist Churches are declining.
Our seminaries are theologically sound for the first generation in years. Our denomination is standing for the right things, but our churches are not going forward. Something is drastically wrong. The culture no longer fears God or respects His Word. And we seem to have lost the power and in some cases, the will to communicate it.
It is not what is wrong with America; it is what is wrong with God's people--each and every one of us. That is where it has to begin. We must have people who come back to that obedience to God and His Word and His commands. We have been secularized by society. We have become so much like the world that we think like the world and act like the world. Many in the church today think they don't have time for the things of God. We don't have time for worship, but we have time for just about anything else. That is the way the world thinks.
The Bible teaches that believers are not to be of the world. The Bible says we have been washed, we have been cleansed, we have been changed, we have been born again, and we have been transformed.
The church today needs revival. We need an old-fashioned, fire from heaven, sin convicting, life transforming, Christ honoring, soul saving, Holy Ghost revival. I wonder will oceans of blood and rivers of tears and seas of sweat be the price that a Holy God will demand of this nation?
Our seminaries are theologically sound for the first generation in years. Our denomination is standing for the right things, but our churches are not going forward. Something is drastically wrong. The culture no longer fears God or respects His Word. And we seem to have lost the power and in some cases, the will to communicate it.
It is not what is wrong with America; it is what is wrong with God's people--each and every one of us. That is where it has to begin. We must have people who come back to that obedience to God and His Word and His commands. We have been secularized by society. We have become so much like the world that we think like the world and act like the world. Many in the church today think they don't have time for the things of God. We don't have time for worship, but we have time for just about anything else. That is the way the world thinks.
The Bible teaches that believers are not to be of the world. The Bible says we have been washed, we have been cleansed, we have been changed, we have been born again, and we have been transformed.
The church today needs revival. We need an old-fashioned, fire from heaven, sin convicting, life transforming, Christ honoring, soul saving, Holy Ghost revival. I wonder will oceans of blood and rivers of tears and seas of sweat be the price that a Holy God will demand of this nation?
Elections and Character
Local elections are taking place around the county. Our mid-term elections for U. S. Congress are soon upon us. Once again I find myself asking, where are the people of character, the people who through the years have risen to the occasion, locally and nationally (even world-wide).
In our present elections beliefs do matter. I am reminded that God says, “What a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7) Those people who believe the politicians who say “elect me. It doesn’t make any difference how I live or what I believe, because I can work in office,” are finding out that what a person thinks is exactly what he will do. What he thinks in private is what he will do in public. It is essential we know as much as possible about a candidate.
We are seeing a tremendous breakdown in leadership because those who are being offered for political office are to often people lacking in character.
How do we describe character?
• Someone has said character is what we are when nobody is looking.
• Someone else has said character is there when the charm goes away.
It is not the same as reputation. Reputation is what people may think of us; character is what we know that we are. As you approach the election this year remember, you know what a man really believes by how he behaves. Don’t listen to what he says, watch what he does.
In our present elections beliefs do matter. I am reminded that God says, “What a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7) Those people who believe the politicians who say “elect me. It doesn’t make any difference how I live or what I believe, because I can work in office,” are finding out that what a person thinks is exactly what he will do. What he thinks in private is what he will do in public. It is essential we know as much as possible about a candidate.
We are seeing a tremendous breakdown in leadership because those who are being offered for political office are to often people lacking in character.
How do we describe character?
• Someone has said character is what we are when nobody is looking.
• Someone else has said character is there when the charm goes away.
It is not the same as reputation. Reputation is what people may think of us; character is what we know that we are. As you approach the election this year remember, you know what a man really believes by how he behaves. Don’t listen to what he says, watch what he does.
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