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HEED THE CALL

11/27/2017

As it is the custom of so many churches to focus on missions this time of the year, I wanted to share a story I once read about the importance of hearing and responding to the missionary call. In his book titled Something Happens When Churches Pray, Dr. Warren Wiersbe shares the following personal memory…

Some years ago, a very good friend of mine, Dr. E. Myers Harrison, gave a missionary message that I cannot forget. It was to a small group of people, but I will never forget the sermon. Dr. Harrison is now at home with the Lord, but he was a great servant of God and a great missionary statesman. He said that each of us as Christians must hear what God has to say.

There is the command from above: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). Have you heard that?

I've heard people say, "But God wants our church to be different. We're not supposed to have a missionary program." I don't believe that. I believe the command from above is given to every Christian and to every assembly that God has raised up.

Then there is the cry from beneath. Remember the rich man who died and woke up in hell and begged for someone to go and tell his brothers? (see Luke 16). "I pray thee, therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house (for I have five brethren), that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment" (vv. 27,28). There is the cry from beneath. If you and I could hear the cries of people in a lost eternity right now, we'd realize how important it is to get the Gospel out.

There's the command from above. Have you heard it? There's the cry from beneath. Have you heard it?

Then, according to Dr. Harrison, there is the call from without. Acts 16:9 says, "Come over into Macedonia, and help us." People around us are saying, "Please come to help us!" So much money, time and energy is being spent on routine church matters in America when there is a whole world to reach for Christ! We face so many open doors!

Have you heard the missionary command from above? The cry from beneath? The call from without? Any one of these by itself should be sufficient to motivate us to embrace missions. But when combined, the three of these together ought to compel us to share the good news of Jesus Christ with a lost and dying world. May we be faithful to do so.

SOURCE: Warren Wiersbe, Something Happens When Churches Pray (Lincoln, Nebraska: Back to the Bible Publications, 1984), pp.102-3.

A PRAYER FOR THANKSGIVING

11/23/2017

Our Heavenly Father, for the beauty of creation, whether a stone or a star, a molecule or a Milky Way, an egg or an elephant, a rhododendron or a redwood – we give you thinks.

For a sunset flaming, a waterfall tumbling, a mountain heaving massive shoulders against the sky – we give you thanks.

For the way of a bird on a wing, the way of a horse on the run, the way of a fish in the sea – we give you thanks.

For country byways, for the cattle on a thousand hills, and homesteads in a thousand valleys – we give you thanks.

For the magic of music, the beauty of brush and pigment, the quintessence of great literature – we give you thinks.

For kind words cheering, for strong arms lifting, for unconditional love accepting – we give you thanks.

For homes, health, and happiness, for the flag rippling in in free winds, for a million church steeples pointing to the heavens – we give you thanks.

For your promise that know no breaking, your forgiveness that knows no returning, your love that knows no diminishing – we give you thanks.

For your comfort under dark skies of loss, for your light in shadowed valleys of fear, for your guidance in the wild wilderness of confusion – we give you thanks.

For bright moments and dim memories, for hearty laughter and welling tears, for all that time and distance cannot erase – we give you thanks.

For thanksgiving Day, for renewing of family ties (old, new, near, and far), for roast turkey and pumpkin pie – we give you thanks.

For all of this life and the world to come, made possible by Jesus Christ – we give you thanks.

For no blessing in all of history compares to Him – He Who is the Good Shepherd for all who stray, the Rock of Ages for all who are beset by the quick-sands of doubt and despair, the Bread of Life for all who hunger, the Light for those who see dimly, the Peace for those who know turmoil, the Resurrection and the Life for all who have faced the sorrow of death and separation – for Him above all else do we pause to give you thanks!

Amen.

SOURCE: Excerpted from Gerrit D. Schut’s Prayers For All Occasions (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, 1992), pp. 260-262.

NO THANKS!

11/21/2017

In his commentary on the book of Colossians, Warren Wiersbe tells the story of a ship named the “Lady Elgin” that ran aground on the shore of Lake Michigan on September 8, 1860. A young ministerial student named Edward Spencer witnessed this from land.

Without hesitation, he plunged himself time and again into the frigid waters, eventually pulling seventeen desperate passengers from what would have otherwise been certain death.

But that heroic action was not without cost. Repeatedly plunging into the icy lake permanently damaged the young Spencer’s health. Sadly, years later, at Spencer’s own funeral, it was noted that not one of those seventeen people snatched from death that day ever bothered to contact him and say, “Thank you!”

Commenting on this story, Steve Arterburn over at www.newlife.com observes:

“We live in a day and age where too many people are convinced that they are entitled. Consequently, thankfulness seems a lost - nearly extinct - art. Yet while culture hasn’t helped us in this department, the problem’s much deeper. It’s rooted in our fallen hearts.”

In light of these things, who do you need to take the time to say thank you to this Thanksgiving? If we would be honest, our list may grow quite lengthy. But even if that happens, let us not fail to include God Himself on that list! For He has done more for us than anyone!

PRIMARY SOURCE: Warren Wiersbe Be Complete (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2008), pp. 52-53.
ALSO AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET AT: https://books.google.com/books?id=MrmtgX42ZPgC&pg=PA52&lpg=PA52&dq=warren+wiersbe+edward+spencer&source=bl&ots=O_7NMc8vTy&sig=bts74id1yxH_pmkU0-8YXd1bRwU&hl=en&
sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEp-LN483XAhVI6iYKHeEjCr0Q6AEIQzAE#v=onepage&q
=warren%20wiersbe%20edward%20spencer&f=false.
SEE ALSO: https://newlife.com/edward-spencer-unsung-hero/.

UP AND AT ‘EM!

11/18/2017

Approximately forty-eight hours after we returned home from our recent trip to Israel and Jordan, I came down with some sort of severe illness. Not being an authority in medical affairs, I can only describe it as the “stomach flu”.

Now, I do not get sick very often. What is more, I am the sort of person who, when well, cannot really remember what it is like to be sick. Conversely, however, when I am sick as I have been this past week, I find it hard to remember whenever I was feeling well.

In any event, four days later, by mid-week, my wife and I both realized that I was not going to get any better by treating myself with over the counter products. As a result, my wife made an appointment with our family doctor and took me in to see him.

After a succession of questions, exceeded only by the number of tests he administered, he reached a conclusion, gave me his diagnosis, and prescribed some appropriate medication. As he did so, he made this statement: “Go home, take the medicine I am prescribing for you, and then go to sleep. When you wake up in a few hours, you will already feel like a whole new man!”

I am happy to report that I did exactly as he directed; and as a result, everything he said proved to be true! After just a day or two on the medication he prescribed, I already feel like a whole new person!

As I have reflected on this episode, I have been reminded of another place we visited while in the Holy Land. In the Biblical village of Bethany, on the southeast slope of the Mount of Olives, about 1.5 miles east of Jerusalem, sits the tomb of a man named Lazarus.

The eleventh chapter of the New Testament Gospel of John records the story of how this young man named Lazarus became sick. His sisters, Mary and Martha, sent for the Divine Physician, Jesus. But by the time Jesus arrived, four days had passed, and Lazarus had died.

Nonetheless, in response to the faith of Lazarus’ sisters, Jesus raised him from the dead. And when Jesus called him forth from the grave, Lazarus came up out of the grave a whole new man, with a whole new sense of well-being, and a whole new lease on life!

Granted, I did not face anything at all this past week compared to what Lazarus faced. All I went through this past week was the flu, not death itself. Nonetheless, I believe that the same God who took care of Lazarus so long ago is still taking care of me today. And if He can handle death, then He can surely handle sickness. And if He can handle sickness, then He can also surely handle the multitude of other, smaller problems I face as well.

What about you? What have you faced this week? No matter what you are currently up against, I hope you have learned to give it to the Lord and let Him handle it for you. It may take a little time (it took four days before Lazarus was resurrected and it took four days before I started feeling better); but in the end, God will take care of His own!

A SIGHT TO BEHOLD!

11/13/2017

My regular readers will have noted by now that I have been away from my blog for quite a while - two weeks to be exact. For on October 30, my wife and I joined a group for a tour to Israel and Jordan. We enjoyed our trip, to be sure; but it is certainly good to be back here in beautiful east Tennessee.

I have been privileged to do a fair amount of traveling in my life. But at the end of the day, for sheer beauty, few places can compare to the part of the world in which we are blessed to live. One can drive up to the top of Chilhowie Mountain, and with the beautiful Great Smokey Mountains at his or her back, behold the awesome sight of the Tennessee River valley.

Or one can drive down to Chattanooga and climb Lookout Mountain where, from one spot, one can behold seven different states: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Once one has viewed this gorgeous panorama, he or she will not soon forget it!

While in Jordan, our group visited the top of Mt. Nebo. This was the place that Moses was taken before he passed on to Heaven in order to be allowed to view the entirety of the Land of Promise across the Jordan River.

While there, we stood on a spot where the whole panorama of the land of Canaan can be viewed. I took the following photos to give my readers the impression.

Here one can see the Jordan River valley with Dead Sea to the left and the land of Canaan beyond. It is indeed a sight to behold!

This is the very view that Moses was allowed to behold before he died. No doubt it was quite a sight for him. For this faithful servant of God had labored for forty years to get the children of Israel out of Egypt and across the desert to this very spot. And even though he, himself, would not be allowed to enter the land, he died with complete assurance that the children of Israel would.

But Moses died with another assurance - that he would now be going to a far better place than even Canaan. Like Abraham, he looked for a city not built with the hands of men, but rather whose foundations had been laid by God Himself! For a man raised in the splendor of Egypt, he must have wondered just how marvelous a city built by God would be!

I am privileged to live in a beautiful part of this world. I have also been privileged to see the land of promise up close. But neither of these places can compare to that other place I will one day dwell! For, as the Bible puts it (in chapter 2, verse 9 of the Apostle Paul’s First New Testament Letter to the Corinthians):

“That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.’”

Amen!

SOURCES:

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN SEVEN STATES PHOTOS SOURCE: http://www.seerockcity.com/gallery/entry/views.

MT. NEBO PHOTOS SOURCE: Taken by the author.

SCRIPTURE SOURCE: http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/2-9.htm.

HEED THE CALL

A PRAYER FOR THANKSGIVING

NO THANKS!

UP AND AT ‘EM!

A SIGHT TO BEHOLD!

Cleo E. Jackson, III

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