Teague Bible Church

SHORT-TERM THANKFULNESS
“Eat all your food! You should be thankful you have so much! There are kids starving around the world tonight and you are being picky about what I put on your plate!”
The above represents a good attempt by parents to get their kids to appreciate things. Nothing is worse than a thankless child! It is such an irritating thing to endure. Yet, even if the kid, “Gets it,” it seems they, and we, only stay thankful for just a little while before they, or we, are back into the negative territory of complaining about something that is not right around us.
When someone has gone out of their way to do something nice for us we usual express thankfulness to that person. I wonder why thankfulness does not last in us; to become a settled condition in us?
The Scripture calls thankfulness a “sacrifice” in several texts. Talk about an understatement! It hurts, at first, to be thankful. But it is exercising true faith, because you are called to be thankful, before you feel it. Then after a while you “feel” the blessing of a continued thankful life.
We had a kid in the youth group who got the idea of wanting to be thankful at all times. She realizing this was 100% the will of God for all of us. ( I Thessalonians 5:18- “in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”)
Her mom was so negative that the daughter would say to her, on occasion,
” Mom now that you stated a problem, tell me three things you are thankful for.” Mom simply blew that off as trivial. Good kid; poor mom.
So thankfulness by default, which means being thankful only because somebody else has it worst, is not the heart of thankfulness. The person who is only thankful in that setting, is also the person who can be really negative a moment later as they also compare themselves continually to the person who has it better than them. Even when there are thankful by default, they have a condescending attitude toward those less fortunate. What a mess; what a short-term view of thankfulness.
Thankfulness is like the heat given off by the light of the sun. If you stand in the sun (Son), you will warm up. It is the idea of knowing God’s heart and sharing His life which is in you by being a believer. Not so much trying to be thankful, by gritting your teeth to get it done, but rather being in the presence of God. Go where His heart stays.
I was in Colorado once and was engaged in a conversation about thankfulness with a friend. As we looked across the Continental Divide at Wolf Creek Pass, I ask why we seem to be so pathetic at giving thanks, at all times. He had two responses.
First, we are always looking for an excuse for our failures. If you have a lot to be thankful for, then someone outside of you might wonder why you are not happier. So being hypercritical makes you look smart, and covers up your self-absorbed life. Ouch!
Secondly, he told me to look around and breath in this mountain air. I did. Then he said, “You just have to live here to have this. Where do you live again?” I told him, but he really wanted to know where my heart lived. A few visits to the mountains is nice, but not a big help, long-term.
There is a real Godly thankfulness that transforms our lives, but we have to live there; short visits rarely help. Even unbelievers are good at being thankful by default. Believers must exhibit the real thankfulness. It starts as a sacrifice, it moves to joy, and is noticed by all who should say of us, “He must live in a wonderful place! I want to be like that!” JWP

“If You Had Only Been Here”
We all get it set in our heads how this life is supposed to be. We assume a lot of things about life, but rarely ask these important questions, ” Where did that idea come from, and why did I latch onto it? Will this plan I have hold up under the rigors of this life?”
Even after we discover some ideas we have are false, we may cling to them anyway just to get along with others who expect us to acknowledge the ideas worth. We may not really believe it any longer.
One of my friends always answers the greeting, “How are you doing today?,” with the words, “Oh, just living the dream!” He does not mean it when he says it. It is meant to be a joke, but many do not see the joke. They are still in the illusion that they can carve out their own happiness in this life without coming to God.
Even some of the most dedicated followers of Christ do not fully understand that eternal life in Christ engulfs this temporary life and thereby transforms it and makes sense of it. This natural life can fly along pretty good for a while but something always comes along to foul things up. Reminds me of trying to protect a house of cards from the wind. The wind surely comes. At that point we have to decide what last and brings meaning to this temporary life.
In John 11:21-45 we have the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. You probably know the story. In His planned delay to the scene, Jesus gets a reaction. “Martha then said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ ” You know the rest of it.
” ,,,Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?” John 11: 37. These were the ones on the scene who felt the best thing for everybody to be happy was to never have had the bad event take place. God had other plans; God had deeper plans; God always has a far-reaching plan; God has the best plan. Those plans may come at the expense of our best, self-made plans.
“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live (spiritually and eternally in heaven) even if he dies (physically,) and everyone who lives (physically) and believes in Me will never die (spiritually.) Do you believe this? John 11: 25-26.
So eternal life engulfs this temporal life and makes sense of it. All of our earthly dreams have to be transformed to something richer, and something not fully seen now. I get that, but I also get that Jesus is fully engaged in our present sorrows; our veil of tears we must experience while here.
” When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, and said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to Him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus wept. So the Jews were saying, ‘See how he loved him!’ ”
We do not have to ask God to come near in sorrow. He is so near in such times we need to simply act upon the fact that He is moved deeply when we are hurting. We need not say, “If you have only been here.”
We may want to say, “Lord nothing is out of your control. You can do amazing things, even now, in this situation for temporal and eternal good. I trust you to work the good and bring people into Your kingdom, using me as part of that plan. Allow me to be close to you and feel the power and comfort of that future kingdom in present time. Transform my sorrows for good. My good plans for my life are well-meaning but short-sighted. Help my unbelief. Thank you for Your incredible peace in my heart, even now.” JWP 11/8/17

TIME DELAY
I had this great adventure presented to me in 1985. A man in our church told me he would teach me to fly his airplane for free. The plane was a normal gas engine plane. That means when you pulled the throttle you got an instance response.
Later He let me fly a turboprop plane which has a jet engine but normal propellers on the front. The difference? When you pull the throttle you get a delay before you “feel” the power. It is that delay I want to talk about.
On the positive side we see this delay when we pray. Several verses encourage us not to give up in prayer. Many times there is a delay, but sometimes you get an instant response. Luke 18:1,” Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not lose heart.”
With the recent events in Texas I wonder why anybody would be puzzled when the demonic clearly shows itself. Someone on the news will take the side of this mass murderer and blame “society.” Really what you are seeing is a time delay. A world view fleshed out for all to see. Deep inside this 26 -year- old, all along his life, he made decisions. His world view was being established. There was a delay between his beliefs and his final actions.
He chose who he would hang around and what he read and what he looked at on the internet. He was free to choose differently but he did not. There are not enough safety nets in the world to forever keep someone from doing such a thing.
Each person is responsible for their actions. ” Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.” Ecclesiastes 8:11. The mercy of God gives all people a time delay to change their minds before it is too late.
This young man followed out what he really believed in the secret depths of his heart. The folks around saw many things in him that looked normal. That was only from an outside look, which is meaningless. He had set the throttle, and was probably shocked himself to see what came after the time delay expired; the final fruit of a tree planted long ago.
Flying a turboprop takes some getting used to. But once you set the throttle, and the power band rises up, you have another problem, a new problem. The power does not stop as soon as you pull back on the throttle! The point it that once you set your world view in motion you may get unintended consequences. You lose control, and forces take over which you cannot now stop.
Be very careful of what you put into your life. You may think it is ok to dabble in worldly things, or to run away from your problems, or blaming everybody else for your situation. You may think you can “fix’ it if the habits gets out of control. You would be wrong about that. Life is not a game. But this life can bring great purpose and joy if we abide in Christ daily.
And in those little daily inputs of “throttle” we will have a delay in results, but we will also have great reward and depth of heart that is more than a match for these evil days after the delay.
” For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world- our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” I John 5:3-5

“Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.” Galatians 6:9

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” I Corinthians 15: 58

” For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12: 3

11/6/17 JWP

Calling an audible on this one…..

This week, due to current events, the announced SPT topic has been changed. Our men’s group will be discussing the events of Sutherland Springs, TX and how they affect our own church and churches in general. We’ll also discuss the elements of a good plan of protection, both physically and spiritually, when faced with the dangers churches have faced throughout history. Join us Tuesday night, 6pm, at TBC……and bring open minds and faithful hearts.

Please join us in today’s word. And let us know what you think….either in our comment section or in person at our next service. Join us every Sunday at our new worship times–9:30am for Sunday School and at 10:45am for Worship Service. We’d love to see you here!

Please join us in today’s word. And let us know what you think….either in our comment section or in person at our next service. Join us every Sunday at our new worship times–9:30am for Sunday School and at 10:45am for Worship Service. We’d love to see you here!

GOD IS LOVE I John 4 verse 8 10 22 17

Please join us in today’s word. And let us know what you think….either in our comment section or in person at our next service. Join us every Sunday at our new worship times–9:30am for Sunday School and at 10:45am for Worship Service. We’d love to see you here!

This Sunday, 10/29/17, 10:45 a.m., we will teach about a bad kind of fear and a good kind of fear. All “fears” are not the same. The context in which that fear comes determines if it is a healing fear or a fear that stops our lives and keeps them in misery. Safe to say, many people are ruled by the fear of the “What ifs.” We might say, “What if this happens; what will I do then?” We might say, ” What if I am mistaken about the plans I have made?” We might say, ” What if I am wrong about God?”
The word “fear,” or its derivatives, are used about 400 times in the Scripture. So you are not alone if the reality of fear plays a role in your life. The question is; will it change the course of your life to an extent that you miss the life you should have lived?
I will leave you with an example of a good kind of fear. My first pastorate was in the Pacific Northwest. My boys were about 7 and 5, respectively, when a day came I thought I might lose one of them. Church had let out and the kids were in the church yard. The main, busy road was about 40 yards away.
But the 5 year old had somehow gotten 10 yards away from the main road. The 7 year old was 20 yards back from that, where he was supposed to be. I came out and spotted the older, nearer, 7 year old, but then was taken aback by the 5 year old’s position.
I did not have time to run and catch the 5 year old before he got in the road. I knew someone nearer who could. I yelled as loud and as firm as I could to the 7 year old : ” T____run and tackle your brother before the cars hit him!” To the 5 year old I yelled, “G____ Stop right now, do it!”
It seemed like the whole world stopped for me at that moment. What was I helpless to do with my body; I did with a history of my voice. That history of my voice,running through their young minds was something like this: ” Dad is very loving, will spend as much time playing as you want him to, but dad is nobody to trifle with! He means what he says an instantly follows through. He keeps his promises, the good ones and the ones that are not so pleasant for us. If he said it, then I had better do it!”
I did what I did out of love. If I had been a doting, wimpy parent, or a mean and selfish parent, for both reasons they would not have listened to me, or they may have hesitated to ask questions of me before obeying my voice. If that happened it would have been too late. A good fear instilled in them, because of the history of my voice, may have saved the 5 year old that day.
Sin has a blinding effect on all of us. It causes us not to fear the things we should; and fear a multitude of things we shouldn’t. Some “fears” are good; many are bad. Please sacrifice to be with us and find out which is which. Come for the sake of your own freedom from your enemies’ fear tactics.
So what happened to the 5 and 7 year old? Now this is funny. Well, at least me and the boys still think so. Mom? Not so much. So don’t tell her about this article.
G___ , the 5 year old, stopped in his tracks instantly and started crying, because my voice scared him. About 8 seconds later came the tackle of the little brother by big brother. That tackle knocked the air out of the little one. The 7 year old is holding the 5 year old on the ground. He was thrilled he got to do something he never got to do before without getting in trouble. The 7 year old say,” Got him dad, should I hit him now?” I said, “Absolutely not, just hold him till I get there.” As I approached the scene, the little one way swinging upward trying to hit the older one. He had not figured out the older one had saved him. The older one was laughing, telling me the little one has such short arms! Right there with me, as always, in such times it seemed, was a man who loved me soul-deep, who also had two boys. He said, “I love your boys, just like I love my two boys.” Good day at church; yep, good day at church.
JWP 10/27/17

DO THE BEST YOU CAN
“All you can do, is do the best you can.” I liked hearing that as a kid. It always made me feel good. As an adult I started asking, ” What if my best is not good enough?” To my surprise I realized I no longer felt good by just doing my best. I though that perhaps there may be another way to approach life than the approach I had maintained. At 19 I found that way.
I would not think much of a person, of course, who was not trying to do their best. Someone who was lazy and passive. Someone who always had a ready excuse for failure.
But as I walk with Christ now, I realize that the Christian life begins each day with a surrender. I start with Romans 12: 1-2. I start by admitting that the day will be largely a loss if I just “do my best.” Instead the day begins with, ” I cannot do this, You must do this through me or nothing good will come from it. I surrender. I yield to your plan for my life today. My best will not be good enough.”
If the day is left to my self-confidence and a “give it your best” attitude then it will end with disappointment. I can always think of more that can be done, and a better quality of doing to boot. I can always see someone doing it better. I am just wise enough to stop feeling any goodness coming from feeling like I did it better than some, or even most others. It is that comparison to others that puts me on the emotion roller-coaster that wears me out each day. Pride or self-condemnation; here we go again!
Christ has given me a new nature. When I live out of that new nature it is now, “His best” that ends the day. The hard part is the surrender, not the doing of the good we are called to do. Once the daily surrender takes place then things “flow” better.
A couple of scripture puts this paradox in perspective. About the time you feel that doing your best is not enough, the Word of God puts the final nail on the coffin of trying to please God out of the failing resources of the old nature. As you begin to feel a kind of death lay over “your best” when you read Matthew 10:38-39 then you feel this incredible relief as you read Matthew 11:28-29. A way to please God with a new heart is described; a less troubled way. Days end in peace instead of frustration and heartache.
So these two scriptures come to mind. They seem contradictory. Did the author did not know they were only several verses apart? He knew. And it is the open secret of the Word.
Matthew 10: 38-39 ” And he who does not take up his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.” Luke 9:23 adds that wonderful line here of, (“he must deny himself.”)
Soon after these impossible- sounding verses in Matthew 10: 38-39 we have the paradox verses coming in Matthew 11: 28-30. A passage to be appropriated after you have exhausted your attempt to do, “Your best” from your old nature, your old self-life. Until your are weary enough you may never understand these next verses.
” Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke ( this word has much in common with the word for “cross,” ) upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11: 28-29.
So you have a lot to do today. How do you think you will feel at the end of the day? How do you want to feel at the end of the day? You will be tired for sure, but it could be a good kind of tired; a peaceful, fulfilling kind of tired, or it could be that feeling that has been gnawing on your soul for years which says, ” I feel like I am drowning, and again, as before, my best was not good enough!” You can choose you know. JWP

I John 3 18 through 24 10 8 17

Please join us in today’s word. And let us know what you think….either in our comment section or in person at our next service. Join us every Sunday at our new worship times–9:30am for Sunday School and at 10:45am for Worship Service. We’d love to see you here!