"Satan's Beatitudes." If the devil were to write his Beatitudes they would probably go something like this:
- Blessed are those who are too tired, too busy, too distracted to spend an hour once a week with their fellow Christians--they are my best workers.
- Blessed are those Christians who wait to be asked, and expect to be thanked--I can use them.
- Blessed are the touchy. With a bit of luck they may stop going to church--they are my missionaries.
- Blessed are the troublemakers--they shall be called my children.
- Blessed are the complainers--I'm all ears to them.
- Blessed are they who are bored with the minister's mannerisms and mistakes--for they get nothing out of his sermons.
- Blessed is the church member who expects to be invited to his own church--for he is part of the problem instead of the solution.
- Blessed are they who gossip--for they shall cause strife and divisions that please me.
- Blessed are they who are easily offended--for they will soon get angry and quit.
- Blessed are they who do not give their offering to carry on God's work--for they are my helpers.
- Blessed is he who professes to love God, but hates his brother and sister--for he shall be with me forever.
- Blessed are you when you hear this and think it is about other people and not yourself--I've got you.
As I thought about that list, two things immediately hit me.
• Number one: I can honestly say I have been pastor of every one of those types of church members.
• Number two: What the church desperately needs is more members who simply love their church.
But not only love their church, but love their church the way God loves the church. You see, God loves the church sacrificially. He gave His Son for it. God loves the church unconditionally-- when He's pleased with it and when He is not pleased with it. God loves His church eternally.
Tommy
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Just One More Word on Friendship
The late Erma Bombeck said, “A friend is somebody who won’t go on a diet when you’re fat.”
Someone else said, “A friend is someone who multiplies your joys and divides your grief.”
But the best definition I have ever read is this one, “A friend is someone who will walk into your house when the whole world has just walked out.”
Ben Franklin said, "Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing a friend."
Someone else wrote this: "I love you not only for what you are, but what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you are making yourself, but what you are making me." A friend is someone who will make you a better person. It is someone who will draw you closer to the Lord.
All of us have relationships, and with few exceptions, success in life depends on the ability to establish and maintain proper relationships with the right people. Relationships can make your child or break your child (and you for that matter). Proverbs 12: 26 tells us, “The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray.” Be friendly to everyone, but don’t have everyone as a friend. I think it is fair to say that there are people in hell today because they chose the wrong friends.
Someone else said, “A friend is someone who multiplies your joys and divides your grief.”
But the best definition I have ever read is this one, “A friend is someone who will walk into your house when the whole world has just walked out.”
Ben Franklin said, "Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing a friend."
Someone else wrote this: "I love you not only for what you are, but what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you are making yourself, but what you are making me." A friend is someone who will make you a better person. It is someone who will draw you closer to the Lord.
All of us have relationships, and with few exceptions, success in life depends on the ability to establish and maintain proper relationships with the right people. Relationships can make your child or break your child (and you for that matter). Proverbs 12: 26 tells us, “The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray.” Be friendly to everyone, but don’t have everyone as a friend. I think it is fair to say that there are people in hell today because they chose the wrong friends.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Practical steps on being a BFF
First of all, a real friend is willing to tell you the truth. Prov. 27:9 says, "Ointment and perfume delight the heart, and the sweetness of a man's friend does so by hearty counsel." You see, a real friend will tell you the truth no matter what you ask him. He may not always tell you what you want to hear, but he will always tell you what you need to hear, and he will tell you not to hurt you, but will tell you to help you.
When I go to the doctor and he examines me. If there is something wrong with me, I want to know the truth. If he is my friend, he will tell me the truth, not to hurt me but to help me.
Furthermore, a real friend is willing to confront you when you are wrong. Now a genuine friend will never criticize you behind your back, but if necessary, he will confront you to your face. He will never condemn you when you are wrong, but he will confront you so that he might correct you and help make you right.
Prov. 27:6 says, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." You see, Judas kissed Jesus, but Judas was not his friend.
You need to remember that one of the reasons why God brings a friend into your life, is to sharpen off rough edges that you might have so that you can be all that you can be for His glory and honor. Prov. 27:17 says, "As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend." Now you don't sharpen an axe on a pound of butter, and a real friend will have a sharpening correcting influence on your life.
I will be forever convinced that Richard Nixon lost his presidency because he didn't have one true friend around him. He did not have one person who early on could have said, would have said, and should have said, "Mr. President, this is wrong. You cannot do this. You must do what is right and uphold the law and the Constitution no matter what." One friend could have saved his presidency.
Also, a true friend is willing to bring comfort when you're hurting. It is amazing how many people are willing to be around when you're laughing, but few people come around when you're crying. Did you know that the Indian word for friend translated into English means, "One who carries my sorrows on his back."
Finally, a real friend is someone who is willing to bring light to the dark. That is, a real friend is someone who will talk to you about Jesus if you're lost, and if you need to be saved. You see, the best friend you will ever have is a friend who loves Jesus and who wants you to love Jesus too.
You think about this. If heaven is real, and if hell is real, then no person can possibly be your friend who does not care whether you spend eternity in heaven or hell. If you are truly a friend of a sinner, you cannot rest until you have at least given that person an opportunity to receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and as his Savior.
Rosalie Carter wrote a poem once entitled, Only God Gives a Friend, and it goes like this:
I think that God will never send
a gift so precious as a friend;
A friend who always understands
and fills each need as it demands.
Whose loyalty will stand the test
when skies are bright or overcast;
Who sees the faults that merit blame
but keeps on loving just the same.
Who does far more than creeds could do
to make us good, to make us true;
Earth's gifts a sweet contentment lend
but only God can give a friend.
Only God can give a friend, and the greatest friend God will ever give you is the Lord Jesus Christ. John 15:13 says, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." What a friend we have in Jesus, because Jesus laid down His life when we were His enemies, so that we through faith in Him could become His friend. There is nothing like a friend, and there is no friend like Jesus and those who love Him.
When I go to the doctor and he examines me. If there is something wrong with me, I want to know the truth. If he is my friend, he will tell me the truth, not to hurt me but to help me.
Furthermore, a real friend is willing to confront you when you are wrong. Now a genuine friend will never criticize you behind your back, but if necessary, he will confront you to your face. He will never condemn you when you are wrong, but he will confront you so that he might correct you and help make you right.
Prov. 27:6 says, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." You see, Judas kissed Jesus, but Judas was not his friend.
You need to remember that one of the reasons why God brings a friend into your life, is to sharpen off rough edges that you might have so that you can be all that you can be for His glory and honor. Prov. 27:17 says, "As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend." Now you don't sharpen an axe on a pound of butter, and a real friend will have a sharpening correcting influence on your life.
I will be forever convinced that Richard Nixon lost his presidency because he didn't have one true friend around him. He did not have one person who early on could have said, would have said, and should have said, "Mr. President, this is wrong. You cannot do this. You must do what is right and uphold the law and the Constitution no matter what." One friend could have saved his presidency.
Also, a true friend is willing to bring comfort when you're hurting. It is amazing how many people are willing to be around when you're laughing, but few people come around when you're crying. Did you know that the Indian word for friend translated into English means, "One who carries my sorrows on his back."
Finally, a real friend is someone who is willing to bring light to the dark. That is, a real friend is someone who will talk to you about Jesus if you're lost, and if you need to be saved. You see, the best friend you will ever have is a friend who loves Jesus and who wants you to love Jesus too.
You think about this. If heaven is real, and if hell is real, then no person can possibly be your friend who does not care whether you spend eternity in heaven or hell. If you are truly a friend of a sinner, you cannot rest until you have at least given that person an opportunity to receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and as his Savior.
Rosalie Carter wrote a poem once entitled, Only God Gives a Friend, and it goes like this:
I think that God will never send
a gift so precious as a friend;
A friend who always understands
and fills each need as it demands.
Whose loyalty will stand the test
when skies are bright or overcast;
Who sees the faults that merit blame
but keeps on loving just the same.
Who does far more than creeds could do
to make us good, to make us true;
Earth's gifts a sweet contentment lend
but only God can give a friend.
Only God can give a friend, and the greatest friend God will ever give you is the Lord Jesus Christ. John 15:13 says, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." What a friend we have in Jesus, because Jesus laid down His life when we were His enemies, so that we through faith in Him could become His friend. There is nothing like a friend, and there is no friend like Jesus and those who love Him.
A True Friend (Part 3)
A true friendship is a loving relationship. You see, a real friend is not only someone who likes you, it's someone who loves you. Prov. 17:17 says, "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." A real friend is someone who wants to be a friend to you, not because of what you can do for them, but for what they can do for you. There are some people who are your friends as long as it is convenient.
I heard about a little boy who walked into the dentist's office with a friend of his, and he said, "Doc, I've got a tooth that's got to come out right now and I don't want any gas, I don't want any Novocain, I don't want any shots to deaden the pain. My friend and I have got a lot of things we want to do today and I just want to get down to business and get this tooth out right now."
The doctor said, "Son, I have never seen a young man with courage like yours. Which tooth is it? The little boy turned to his friend and said, "Show him your tooth, Tommy."
Well, in a real friendship, your friend will always want what is best for you, not what is best for himself.
I heard about a little boy who walked into the dentist's office with a friend of his, and he said, "Doc, I've got a tooth that's got to come out right now and I don't want any gas, I don't want any Novocain, I don't want any shots to deaden the pain. My friend and I have got a lot of things we want to do today and I just want to get down to business and get this tooth out right now."
The doctor said, "Son, I have never seen a young man with courage like yours. Which tooth is it? The little boy turned to his friend and said, "Show him your tooth, Tommy."
Well, in a real friendship, your friend will always want what is best for you, not what is best for himself.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
A True Friend (Part 2)
"But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." I want to tell you, there is not enough gold in Fort Knox, nor enough oil in Saudi Arabia to buy that type of friendship. When I think about a real friend, a true friend, a friend that really deserves to be a friend, I realize from this scripture what kind of a relationship it should be.
A true friendship will be a loyal relationship. The word "stick" refers to how the skin sticks to the bone, and this is a picture of how a real friend will stick closer to you through thick and thin than your skin will stick to your own bone. One thing you will never have to question about a friend is his loyalty.
A true friend will always be your defense attorney before he will become your judge.
You see, one of the marks of a friend is that though he may point out your faults from time to time, he will overlook them and never let them come between you. Henry Ward Beecher once said, "You ought to keep a big cemetery in your backyard where you can bury the faults of your friends." I've got news for you. You cannot eat your friends and have them too.
Somebody has said that the reason why a dog has so many friends is because he wags his tail instead of his tongue. If a person is truly your friend, you will never have to worry about what they will say behind your back.
Diana Craik put it so well when she said these words:
Oh the comfort--
The inexpressible comfort
of feeling safe with a person;
Having neither to weigh thoughts
Nor measure words--but pouring them
all right out--just as they are--
Chaff and grain together--
Certain that a faithful friend will
take them and sift them--
Keeping what is worth keeping--
and with a breath of kindness
Blow the rest away.
Somebody has said that if everybody knew what everybody else said about them behind their back, nobody would have more than four friends in all the world. That is probably true. Prov. 16:28 says, "A perverse man sows strife, and a whisperer separates the best of friends."
A true friendship will be a loyal relationship. The word "stick" refers to how the skin sticks to the bone, and this is a picture of how a real friend will stick closer to you through thick and thin than your skin will stick to your own bone. One thing you will never have to question about a friend is his loyalty.
A true friend will always be your defense attorney before he will become your judge.
You see, one of the marks of a friend is that though he may point out your faults from time to time, he will overlook them and never let them come between you. Henry Ward Beecher once said, "You ought to keep a big cemetery in your backyard where you can bury the faults of your friends." I've got news for you. You cannot eat your friends and have them too.
Somebody has said that the reason why a dog has so many friends is because he wags his tail instead of his tongue. If a person is truly your friend, you will never have to worry about what they will say behind your back.
Diana Craik put it so well when she said these words:
Oh the comfort--
The inexpressible comfort
of feeling safe with a person;
Having neither to weigh thoughts
Nor measure words--but pouring them
all right out--just as they are--
Chaff and grain together--
Certain that a faithful friend will
take them and sift them--
Keeping what is worth keeping--
and with a breath of kindness
Blow the rest away.
Somebody has said that if everybody knew what everybody else said about them behind their back, nobody would have more than four friends in all the world. That is probably true. Prov. 16:28 says, "A perverse man sows strife, and a whisperer separates the best of friends."
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