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For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10 The end of a God encounter is a change in us. The beginning is recognition of who we are and who God is. Too many attempt to have a spiritual transformation without a God encounter and, particularly, without the first step of recognition. This leads to all kinds of confusion. Many have “accepted” Jesus without recognition. Unless we realize that we are sinners in need of a Savior, no real relationship with God is possible. Many see God as a valuable counselor, loving grand father, potent provider, or future landlord. God is all these things, but these are not the greatest relationship He desires with man.  Many see God as a loving creator who desires that none should perish. He is. They fail to acknowledge that without a miraculous change, they are doomed to perish. God wants to restore us to the Eden relationship. He wants intimacy with us: the ability to enjoy His presence in quiet walks though the garden. For this to be possible, we must be pure enough to […]

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Matthew 7 Yesterday I heard a great sermon on “Encountering God.” The bottom line is that we don’t change unless we encounter God. We may engage in various spiritual exercises but they are without substance unless God is encountered. The purpose of life is to know God. We gain that knowledge through encounters. Those encounters lead us to increased knowledge and the knowledge of God changes us and the way we act, the things we do. I grew up thinking that God was encountered in church. I remember the quiet solemness of the church building. I remember the reverence of the music and the humbleness of those in attendance. We can encounter God in church. We can encounter Him in prayer and in reading His word. I think […]

Today is my sixty-fifth birthday. By all accounts this is a real milestone. I get to trade Obamacare for Medicare. I have my little Medicare card in my wallet. Not too impressive. It’s made of paper. I get mail every day reminding me it doesn’t pay for everything and that I really need a supplement. Many of the clichés about aging turn out to be true: If I would have known I would live this long I would have taken better care of myself. Sixty-five doesn’t seem nearly as old when you’re sixty-five as when you’re twenty-five or forty-five for that matter. I am a much firmer believer that we need to respect the elderly and love to babble on about the “good old days.” It will be a great day. My granddaughter is cooking for me. She is a great cook. The whole family will be there. The Cajuns and Gators are both playing for conference championships. I may have to  miss my traditional nap. I really have had a great life so far. I spent eleven years in the Navy part of it working for the National Security Agency as an electronic spy and part as a paralegal. […]

I have been an attorney for nearly 35 years. I am familiar with scheming. However, I learned about it long before I passed the bar. Some of the worst scheming I’ve witnessed didn’t occur in court, but in church.  There was scheming for the 11 years I was in the Navy.  Spend some time on Facebook. There’s lots of scheming going on. I have seen scheming in all aspects of life. Scheming is everywhere and lately seems to be epidemic. It doesn’t take talent to be a schemer. There’s nothing complicated about it. Proverbs 24:8 says, He who plots evil will be known as a schemer. If you have ever plotted evil, you’re a schemer. Notice even if you don’t carry out your evil plots, you are still condemned as a schemer. Scheming is a bad thing for a number of reasons. It’s a rejection of the will of God. When we scheme we try to bring about what we want instead of being satisfied with what God wants. Can’t be anything good about that. Scheming is a conspiracy. We involve others in our rebellion. A plot requires more than one person. Solo sinning is bad enough; involving others multiplies our guilt. Scheming […]

Last night at our home church we were challenged with the challenge of staying challenged. It’s not as silly as it sounds. Facing and overcoming challenges is what makes life meaningful. It’s not always easy to stay challenged. Anyone who knows me or reads this blog knows I’m a sports fan and in particular a Florida Gator fan. It’s a great time to be both because Florida’s mens basketball team is number one in the country. They just completed the regular season only losing two games. They were undefeated in conference play. This week is the conference tournament. To win the tournament Florida has to win three games over teams they probably beat twice during the regular season. Any coach will recognize this as a trap situation. The Florida coach will have to work hard to keep his team focused and aware that no matter how favored his team is, each game must be played with complete energy and focus. Compare lowly Mississippi State. They only won three conference games all year. To win the tournament they will have to win five games against teams they have already defeated them, sometimes twice. They face an entirely different challenge. They […]

I came across a good article yesterday, The 20 Things You Need to Let Go to Be Happy. We all have things we need to let go of. You would think that 20 would be enough to cover the most important ones, but I think the article missed the top 4. 4. Unforgiveness. Most of us harbor some unforgiveness. It doesn’t hurt anyone but us. The person we haven’t forgiven probably doesn’t even recall the hurt. Harboring unforgiveness is like drinking poison and thinking it will kill the person we can’t forgive. 3. Guilt. When we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive them. The memory of them is done from his mind. We keep digging them up. Try to do what God does to your past failings. Forget them. Let them go and forgive yourself. 2. Sin. On the other hand, we hold on to current patterns of sin. Maybe we just find comfort in some of the dumb things we do. We think it if we give up the wrong things we love to do that somehow our life will be less pleasing. That’s a Satan lie. Don’t buy it. We may think that […]

I know in the end times things will get pretty bad, even  churches. If you listen to some folks, we must be in the end times because, according to them, lots of churches are bad. My problem is that much that is considered bad, to me, just isn’t. Mega – One of the signs of a bad church seems to be lots of people. So called “mega” churches are considered bad. All I know is the first church we hear of in the Book of Acts had several thousand members the first day and daily the Lord added to their number. So what’s the problem with “mega?” I think it might be jealousy. Some think if a church is that big they must be cheating. They probably aren’t telling the whole truth because after all the gospel doesn’t work. Did I just say that? It seems to be what they are saying. I think it might be a control issue. More people are harder to control and control freaks seem to do the most “bad church” talking. The other problem is when you have a lot of new people, you are bound to get people different from yourselves. That […]

There are a lot of bad acts in the world. Just read a newspaper, watch television, walk around a mall or look in a mirror. We like to believe that most folks are good, but sometimes they just slip up or satan gets hold of them. We wan to believe our precious offspring, the person we sleep with, our bosses, or friends, our pastor and the government are good. To believe that we would have to be blind or stupid. Scripture teaches that human nature is basically rebellious and, dare I say it, sinful. When we come to Christ we become new creations with the power to overcome the sinful nature, but it’s still hanging around. Satan is real and a busy guy, but so is sin. Being wrong-headed about the nature of man leads us into all kind of trouble. If we think man is basically good, we can miss the fact that we all need a savior. That’s a terrible personal and eternally significant mistake to make. If we think man is basically good, we can go through life naïve and we will be repeatedly disappointed by those we assume are good. When we discover they have faults, […]