Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Better a dry crust with peace than a house full of feasting with strife.” Proverbs 17:1 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “What price will you pay for peace?”

 

I was once involved in a work situation that was very much a love-hate relationship for me. On the one hand, there were aspects of the work that I enjoyed. But on the other hand, it was a work environment that involved what seemed like an endless stream of drama, complaining, bickering, backbiting, gossip, and behind the scenes maneuvering driven by self-interests. And it never seemed to stop.

 

Because there were aspects of the work that I liked, I was reluctant to leave it. But because of all the behind-the-scenes nonsense, it was a toxic environment that brought out the worst in me. I knew I needed to remove myself from it for my own good. It was the price I needed to be willing to pay for my own peace of mind.

 

That same scenario plays out every day in life in thousands of different ways. There are plenty of people who, like in my own example, are in a toxic work environment but they stay for the money, or the prestige, or for some other reason, but they would be better off if they left. There are families with large incomes, living in expensive homes, and enjoying the best of every creature comfort, but they are constantly fighting, and arguing, and hurting each other. Their house is fabulous but their home is a war zone.

 

This is what Solomon was writing about in Proverbs 17:1. Peace is better than prosperity. You will be happier in a small home with limited resources but with peace, than you will be in a large home with lots of creature comforts but constant fighting.

 

There’s an old saying that goes, “Less is more.” What that means is that sometimes having less is better than having more. Sometimes giving something-up results in gaining something better. Giving up that high paying but high pressure job may result in you earning less money, but it could also result in a better quality of life that is more peaceful and therefore more satisfying. Likewise, getting away from people who are creating a toxic situation in your life may involve you having to make big changes, but it could result in much more peace of mind for you.

 

So what price are you willing to pay for peace? It really is true that peace is better than prosperity, less is often better than more, and giving something up can result in gaining something better.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “A wise heart instructs its mouth and increases learning with its speech. Pleasant words are a honeycomb: sweet to the taste and health to the body.” Proverbs 16:23-24 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “What comes out of your mouth reveals what is in your heart.”

 

In Proverbs 16:23 Solomon tells us that a wise heart will instruct its mouth. In other words, the heart controls what the mouth speaks. That’s true in more ways than one.

 

First we need to remember that when the Bible speaks of “the heart” it is not talking about the physical organ that pumps blood through the body. “Heart” is a metaphor that refers to the center of a person’s inner and personal life. It’s the place where thoughts, emotions, imagination, wisdom, and conscience all come together to form the person we truly are.

 

One of the most revealing and helpful truths about the human heart was given to us by Jesus in Luke 6:45 when He said, “A good man produces good out of the good storeroom of his heart. An evil man produces evil out of the evil storeroom, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.”

 

In the NIV that verse reads, “Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.” What Jesus means is that whatever you have in your heart, sooner or later it will work its way to the surface and come out of your mouth. Many people have all sorts of evil stored-up in their heart. They try to keep it bottled-up and hidden, and they usually can, for a while. But if your heart is filled with profanity, pornography, anger, bitterness, envy, or greed, no matter how hard you try to keep those things bottled-up and hidden from view, sooner or later, in an unguarded moment, they will pop out. Everyone can fake-it for a little while, but sooner or later what’s really in your heart will come out of your mouth.

 

That brings us back to Solomon’s point about the heart instructing the mouth. The heart controls the mouth. Therefore what comes out of the mouth is being driven by the heart – good or bad. The heart can instruct the mouth by teaching or training it. Even if a person has a heart that’s filled with ugly things, if the person wants to change that, they can begin to flood the heart with good and righteous influences. Then over time the evil things will be flushed out. In the meantime the heart can exercise control over the mouth and train it to speak only that which is good and righteous.

 

Solomon also said in those verses that a wise heart speaks words that increase learning, are pleasant to hear, and which are healthy and helpful. Such things come from the good storeroom Jesus was referring to.

 

So, if you want to know what’s really in a person’s heart, listen closely to what’s coming out of their mouth.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. Better a little with righteousness than great income with injustice.” Proverbs 16:7-8 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Don’t live too close to the edge.”

 

This morning I was reading the story of Abraham and his nephew Lot in Genesis chapters 13-19. In terms of right and wrong, Lot was a young man who liked to live life close to the edge. Lot was the nephew of Abraham. Abraham was known for his righteous behavior. He was wise, he was honest, he had integrity, and God honored him for it. Unfortunately Lot didn’t seem to inherit those character traits.

 

When it came time for Abraham and Lot to go their separate ways because their respective families and herds had grown too big to stay together, Abraham kindly offered Lot first choice of all the lands before them. Lot looked around and then chose what he thought was the best land for himself. Abraham graciously accepted the leftovers.

 

Lot then moved to the wicked neighborhood of Sodom and Gomorrah. The way the story unfolds, Lot first began by living in tents outside the city. Then we find him owning a house inside the city; and before long we see him sitting in a place of honor at the city gates with the town elders (19:1). Not long after that, Lot finds himself in the middle of a near-riot that consisted of a large crowd of Sodomites intent on raping two male visitors to their town. In an attempt to save the visitors, Lot shamefully offered the sex-crazed crowd his two virgin daughters.

 

What happened to Lot? How did things get so bad so fast for him? While his uncle Abraham was doing very well and was being blessed by God, Lot found himself drowning in a cesspool of sexual sin, attempted rape, murderous intent, and later, incest. He also got to experience fire and brimstone raining down from heaven.

 

It happened because Lot allowed himself to be lured by the things of the world. He thought he could live on the edge of sin, enjoying it just a little bit without getting fully sucked into it. But he wasn’t able to withstand the attraction of that lifestyle. It was just too strong to resist. And so, he was drawn deeper and deeper into it until he was eventually faced with catastrophic consequences. This is what happens when we try to toy with sinful situations – we sink deeper and deeper into it.

 

In Proverbs 16:7-8 Solomon constructed a contrast that fit the situations of Abraham and Lot to a tee. Abraham was the man of verse 7 whose ways pleased the Lord and who therefore enjoyed the Lord’s blessings. Lot was the man of verse 8 who thought he saw a better opportunity for comfort and riches and chose to go after it, even though his choice was leading him to a place like Sodom and Gomorrah.

 

When you live close to the edge you’re always just a step away from going over it. So the lesson is, “Don’t live close to the edge.” Stay well away from it. See the world of Sodom and Gomorrah for what it is and don’t go there! You will always be better off having less while living righteously, than having more but living in sin to get it.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “A joyful heart makes a face cheerful, but a sad heart produces a broken spirit.” Proverbs 15:13 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “The glass is half-full”

 

“Is the glass half-full or half-empty?” The answer of course is “yes”. It is both half-full and half-empty. It’s all a matter of how you choose to look at it. Typically the person with an optimistic personality will say it is half-full and the pessimistic person will conclude it is half-empty. The glass contains the same volume of liquid for both of them; the difference is in how they choose to think about it.

 

A joyful heart is a matter of choice too. It’s a matter of how you choose to view and think about the circumstances of your life, and it’s a matter of where your sense of joy comes from. Where does your source of joy come from?

 

Many people believe the source of joy is external and works its way into the heart. Therefore their joy is dependent on circumstances and people. If the circumstances of life are pleasant, if they have lots of money and nice things, and if the people around them are cooperative and kind, then they are joyful. But if circumstances are not to their liking, and if people do not behave in the way they want them to, then they’re not joyful. Such a person is allowing external influences to reach into their heart and control them.

 

The Bible teaches that true joy is actually internal and works its way out. In Galatians 5:22-23 the Apostle Paul taught that true joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit who lives inside the heart of the follower of Christ. That being the case, joy then originates inside, bubbles up, and flows out. A person like that is not under the control of external circumstances or other people. Instead, they’re under the control of the Holy Spirit.

 

Ok, now let’s consider the issue of choice. Can you really choose to experience joy or not? Yes you can. First, you must make a choice to cultivate the joy that is within you. You do that by growing in your Christian faith and allowing the Holy Spirit to have greater and greater control over your heart. The more you do that, the more the spiritual fruit of joy becomes a deep-seated part of who you are as a person.

 

Second, you can also train yourself to be optimistic instead of pessimistic. You don’t have to see the glass as being half-empty. You can train your thoughts to consider things from an optimistic point of view. I know this to be true because I had to do it myself. By nature I used to be a pessimist. For me the glass was always half-empty. But I didn’t want to go through life thinking like that and so I embarked on a training program to change my way of thinking.

 

In addition to diligent Bible study, especially of the book of Philippians, I also studied books like “The Power of Positive Thinking” by Norman Vincent Peale; “Life is Tremendous” by Charlie Jones; “How to be Happy” by Andrew Matthews; and of course, “The Traveler’s Gift”, “The Noticer”, and “The Butterfly Effect” all by Andy Andrews. All of those books are Christian and extremely helpful.

 

In Proverbs 17:22 Solomon comes back to this theme of joy when he writes, “A joyful heart is good medicine.” It’s true! On average, joyful optimistic people tend to live longer and they have a better quality of life. If you’re not seeing your glass as half-full I encourage you to take the steps and do the work to cultivate a joyful heart.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “A gentle answer turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath.” Proverbs 15:1 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “It’s not just what you say but how you say it.”

 

In Proverbs 15 Solomon had a point he wanted to make about the proper use of language. In verse 1 he told us to be gentle in speech rather than hurtful. In verse 2 he urges us to speak words of knowledge rather than foolishness. In verse 3 he calls for a tongue that heals and brings life, rather than one that is devious and causes hurt. In verse 18 he again returns to the idea of not allowing anger to fuel hurtful words, and in verse 28 he notes that a righteous person thinks before they speak but a wicked person just blurts out evil things.

 

Words are powerful. That’s true not just with respect to which words you use, but also how you use them. It’s not just what you say, but how you say it. Your tone of voice and the intended meaning behind your words matter just as much, if not more, than the actual definition of the individual words.

 

Words can be great tools which help us to control a situation and make things better, or they can be weapons which inflict pain and cause harm. Each of us is responsible for the words we speak, and we can in fact control our words if we want to.

 

Since as a Christian you have the Holy Spirit of God living inside of you that means that you are essentially a walking, talking, mobile temple of God’s Holy Spirit. Everywhere you go you bring the Holy Spirit with you, and you can therefore introduce the fruit of the Spirit into any situation you walk into. When you open your mouth words of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control should flow (Galatians 5:22-23).

 

I have sometimes asked people to consider whether or not they are more like a thermometer or a thermostat in this respect. A thermometer simply reflects the temperature, a thermostat controls the temperature. A person who is like a thermometer simply reflects back whatever they experience. So if there is anger in the room, the thermometer gets angry. If there is sadness, then the thermometer is sad too, etc …

 

A person who is like a thermostat on the other hand, controls things. If the thermostat walks into a room where there is anger or conflict, they speak words of love and reconciliation. If they find sadness, the thermometer speaks of comfort and hope. If the situation is tense and anxious, the thermometer speaks peace and calmness.

 

Words are powerful, and the way you use them matters very much. I encourage you to use your words today to be a blessing rather than a curse, a source of comfort and peace, rather than anger or strife.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “A wise man suspects danger and cautiously avoids evil, but the fool bears himself insolently and is (presumptuously) confident.” Proverbs 14:16 (Amplified Bible)

 

Our thought for today: “Don’t be an overconfident fool.”

 

As we continue to work our way sequentially through the Proverbs of Solomon, we come to a statement about an overconfident fool which is startling in its abruptness and directness. Solomon intentionally wrote it that way in order to be sure to get our attention. In the Amplified Bible it says that “… the fool bears himself insolently and is presumptuously confident”. The New Living Translation (NLT) renders the verse this way, “… fools plunge ahead with reckless confidence.”

 

A common characteristic of a fool (those who are biblically foolish) is that he or she is overconfident that they can toy with what is evil or sinful without being entrapped by it or without suffering harmful consequences. They always think “I can handle it”, or “That won’t happen to me.” A fool’s famous last words (just prior to a trip to the Emergency Room) are, “Here, hold my beer and watch this …”

 

The young man experimenting with marijuana boldly declares that it’s no different or worse than alcohol, foolishly assuming his drug use will never lead him to pills or heroin. And yet, it often does exactly that. A promiscuous young woman thinks she can fool around with casual sex without suffering bad consequences, and is then devastated when she ends up with an STD, or an unwanted pregnancy, or a soiled reputation. Parents use profanity in the home and are then shocked when they hear those same words coming out of the mouth of their six year old.

 

The fool always thinks he or she can play with fire without getting burned. But sooner or later fire always burns, and sin always does its damage.

 

This is why Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 26:41 “Stay awake and pray, so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” It’s also why the Apostle Paul told us in 1 Corinthians 10:12 “So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.”

 

Christians cannot afford to be casual about sinful practices. When it comes to right or wrong, good or evil, proper or improper, we must stay firmly on the side of holiness. We cannot tip-toe along the line, straddle the line, or momentarily step over the line. As Billy Graham taught, “We must avoid even the appearance of impropriety.”

 

The lesson of Proverbs 14:16 is that any Christian who thinks he or she can toy with sin and get away with it is a fool. And the obvious message is “Don’t be that guy (or girl)!”

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Every wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands. Whoever lives with integrity fears the Lord, but the one who is devious in his (her) ways despises Him.” Proverbs 14:1-2 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “A godly woman is a powerful influence for good.”

 

A greeting card company once ran an experiment in a prison. As Mother’s Day was approaching the company offered free greeting cards to the prisoners to send to their mothers. The response was so overwhelming that they ran out of cards and had to bring in more to meet the demand. They then did the same on Father’s Day, but this time they couldn’t give the cards away. Very few were taken. Obviously the prisoners held their mothers in high esteem, but most of those incarcerated men had badly broken relationships with their fathers – if they even knew them at all.

 

That experiment helps to illustrate the strong influence a mother has on her children. However there was also one other sad result revealed by that experiment. The prisoners who had bad mothers, mothers who had abandoned them or who had done drugs or who were prostitutes or who had in some way seriously failed to be the woman her children needed her to be – on Mother’s Day those men were deeply depressed, angry, and resentful – far more than those men who had bad fathers were on Father’s Day. Evidently being let down by your mother has a worse emotional impact on a person than does being let down by your father.

 

In Proverbs 14:1-2 we once again have a passage which contrasts the actions of a wise person and a fool. In this case we have a wise woman who takes right actions to build up her home in a positive way and who lives with integrity before the Lord; and then we have a foolish woman who hurts and even destroys those in her home and who is devious before the Lord.

 

I have had the privilege to know many women who were the model of Biblical wisdom and integrity. I have also known of some women who epitomized that foolish woman, consequently doing great harm to those in her home.

 

I have also known women who thought they could straddle the line between the two worlds. Sometimes a woman, along with her children, lives with a man she is not married to. She thinks such an arrangement isn’t sending a bad message to her children – but it is. There are single mothers who sometimes have boyfriends or other men spend the night with them, again thinking their children won’t notice or won’t be negatively impacted (they will notice and they will be negatively impacted). There are mothers who smoke in the presence of their children, or use profanity, or drink excessively, or engage in other behaviors that are clearly ungodly (and sometimes illegal), and they evidently think such conduct on their part won’t have a negative influence on their children. It will. It always does.

 

Women have a huge impact on those in their homes – be that impact positive or negative. God calls for you to be a woman of virtue and integrity, one who lives by Biblical values.

Straddling the line between the two worlds does not meet God’s standard and therefore I encourage you to stop doing it. Be the woman God wants you to be – the woman your children need you to be.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “The one who walks with the wise will become wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm.” Proverbs 13:20

 

Our thought for today: “There’s a good reason God repeats this lesson so often.”

 

Bible scholars (and anyone else who diligently studies the Bible), all know that when God repeats a lesson over and over again it’s because that lesson is so important and God wants to be sure we get it. That’s the case with Proverbs 13:20. This is just one of numerous passages in the Bible in which God warns us to choose our friends and associates carefully. In Proverbs God had Solomon write about it multiple times.

 

It’s a basic truth of human nature that over time we become like those we associate with. That being the case, we must decide what kind of a person we want to be and then we must spend time with those kinds of people. Our verse today is about wisdom. It’s the kind of Godly wisdom that results in a person knowing essential Biblical principles, and then applying them in a practical way in everyday life. If you want to be wise like that, then you need to spend time with others who are wise in that way.

 

There are many ways to accomplish that. The first and most obvious way is through your choice of companions. Who do you spend the most time with socially? Are they mature Christians who know God’s ways and then live by them? The people we spend the most time with in a social setting tend to be people we like, admire, and are comfortable being with. Therefore those are the people who really have the most influence on us.

 

Another important way in which we soak in and absorb the Godly wisdom modeled for us by others is by being fully involved in the life of a good church. A good church is filled with mature Christians who are truly living what they profess to believe. The more you’re involved with them, the more their wisdom will rub off on you.

 

Another way to associate with wise Christians and to be influenced by their wisdom is through books (this is one of my personal favorites). I’ve never met C.S. Lewis, Philip Yancey, Brennan Manning, Os Guinness, Richard Foster, or Dallas Willard, but I’ve read virtually everything they’ve written and I’ve learned so much from them!

 

Finally, perhaps the most important and essential way of being positively influenced in the direction of Godly wisdom is to have a mentor. Moses was mentored by Jethro; Joshua was mentored by Moses; Timothy and Silas were mentored by Paul. For me it was my pastor Oren Teel. We all need an older more spiritually mature Christian in our life from whom we can learn. And then, we all also need to be that person for someone else. You should have a Paul in your life (a mentor), and you should also have a Timothy in your life (someone you are a mentor to).

 

Choosing to “walk with the wise” is a lesson God teaches repeatedly in the Bible – and there’s a good reason He does! I encourage you to find one of those wise people and spend some time with them on a regular basis.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Wisdom”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but one who hates correction is stupid.” Proverbs 12:1 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “A wise person seeks to learn and grow and improve, a fool does not.”

 

As Solomon explained right at the beginning of Proverbs 1, and which he has then reemphasized over and over again since then, the intention of the Proverbs is to encourage us to seek Godly wisdom and then apply it to our lives. The literary device he chose to use to help make his point is that of contrast. All throughout the Proverbs Solomon contrasts the thinking, decision-making, and lifestyle of a wise person who seeks and lives by Godly wisdom, and the fool who does not. That’s what he does again in Proverbs 12. The entire Proverb is a study in contrasts between what happens when a person is wise, and what happens when a person is a fool.

 

In verse 1 Solomon tells us that if we love Godly wisdom we will discipline ourselves in order to develop more of it. The fool won’t be willing to exert the effort or invest the time to do that. That right there is the key to developing and living by the wisdom Proverbs – you have to want it and you have to be willing to work for it. We have to train ourselves to live this way and that takes discipline and effort.

 

Discipline and effort is required for any improvement we want to experience in life. If you want to be physically fit and healthy, you have to discipline yourself to exercise every day and to eat right. If you want to make your living as a professional musician, you need to discipline yourself to practice your craft every day and to continuously improve. That’s true whether we’re talking about getting good at baseball, bowling, carpentry, or yodeling. You have to be disciplined and you have to invest the time and effort. Spiritual growth is no different.

 

And just like with all of those other endeavors, there are rewards for the investment. The health nut ends up physically fit; the musician becomes increasingly accomplished; the baseball player hits home runs; the bowler makes strikes; the carpenter builds beautiful furniture; the yodeler wins trophies for being a world class yodeler; and the person with Godly wisdom reaps spiritual benefits and rewards. But it all took work and effort.

 

I love the way the Living Bible phrases 2 Peter 1:5-8:

 

“But to obtain these gifts, you need more than faith; you must also work hard to be good, and even that is not enough. For then you must learn to know God better and discover what he wants you to do. Next, learn to put aside your own desire so that you will become patient and godly, gladly letting God have his way with you. This will make possible the next step, which is for you to enjoy other people and to like them, and finally you will grow to love them deeply. The more you go on in this way, the more you will grow strong spiritually and become faithful and useful to our Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

A wise person seeks to learn and grow and improve. They invest the time and make the effort. The fool does not.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “… there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice.”

 

Men in military units, especially combat military units, often refer to themselves as “a band of brothers.” That’s because they’re often closer to one another than even biological brothers. The reason is that they depend on each other for their lives. In the heat of combat you have to know that your brother has your back and that he will even give his life to save yours. That’s why John 15:13 tends to be a very popular and oft repeated verse of Scripture in combat military units, “Greater love has no on than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

 

Today is Memorial Day 2017. It’s the day we set aside each year to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice by giving their lives in military service to our country. Please do not confuse it with Veteran’s Day. Veteran’s Day is in November and its purpose is to honor all those who have served our country in the armed forces. Memorial Day is just for those who have given their lives in the defense of our nation. Pause today to remember and honor them.

 

But then we must also recognize that when it comes to a “friend who sticks closer than a brother”, and one who will “lay down his life for his friends”, there is no one greater than Jesus Christ Himself. If you are a follower of His then He thinks of you like a brother or close blood relative, “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” Mark 3:35. He also thinks of you as His friend, “You are my friends if you do what I command.” John 15:14. And, He willingly gave His life for you, “I lay down my life for the sheep.” John 10:15.

 

On this Memorial Day remember those who died so you can live in freedom in this lifetime, but also remember the One who died so you can live in freedom forever.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim