Salvation Army sing and ring!

Happy birthday to my good friend Oscar Hyde in England! Oscar is now 16 years old. We send our love across the Atlantic to you, my friend!

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This Saturday I will be at the West Town Mall in Knoxville along with some of my students, ringing and singing for the Salvation Army. We're going to be having a little songfest as people come by to put their money in the kettle for the Salvation Army. This is going to be fun! I am not a singer, not at all - but I enjoy the Christmas carols, and I've always had a desire to help out the Salvation Army at the kettle locations. If you are in the area, we will be at the mall between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. near the main entrance.

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"The eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy. " —Psalm 33:18

I think the one thing I missed most in my childhood is that I didn't have a daddy who was around to see the important things that mean so much to a child. I first learned to ride a bike on my own. My baseball games, wrestling matches and football games had no fatherly spectator.

It heartens me to know, though, that my Heavenly Father is watching over me with a constant and loving eye. Just when things get hardest, I get the gentle nudge to remember that I'm not alone.

Yesterday I read the blog of a fellow who angrily wrote that he could not find God evident - he couldn't see Him, hear Him, smell Him... the fellow was not a Christian, and was trying to put God on his own terms. I felt for the young man, because in reading, I saw that he was putting God on the level of a policeman, theater usher or a schoolteacher - a limited level. God's so much more than that.

I've felt God's hand as I prepared a message to deliver to a congregation. I've experienced God's power as we heard a dynamic message in school chapel yesterday. I've seen God when I saw the conversions of numerous people, from business executives to Viet name war vets.

And I've felt Him when I've been hurting and needed Someone to help me through a struggle.

To quote David Enger,

"One of the wonderful joys of being a believer in Jesus is knowing that our Father in heaven is always watching over us. The promise expressed by David in today’s psalm applies to us wherever we go. Whatever confronts us, the “eyes of the Lord” are on us and His ears “are open to [our] cry” (Ps. 34:15)."

The Craig debates

This is a sample of some of the craftwork done by my brother Brent. He resides in Salisbury MD, working for the Utz Corporation. Brent has won three national art display titles and two regionals, I believe. Still, he has time to do artwork on the side and have great showings at local craft fairs and conventions!

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I've found some fascinating reading in the apologetics and head-to-head debates of William Lane Craig. Specifically, I've followed the 1996 debate that took place at North Carolina State University on the subject Does God Exist? The debate was between William Lane Craig and Douglas M. Jesseph, both well-respected in their fields. Follow this excerpt from the debates (the entire debate can be read at http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/docs/jesseph-craig0.html). It is Dr. Craig's response to the question about God's existence, specifically in the area of morality (His words are marked in yellow):

What about objective moral values in the world? Here Dr. Jesseph simply asks, "What are objective values?" Objective values are values that hold independently of whether anybody believes in them or not. That is what an objective value is, and I submit those can't exist unless there is God to ground them.

He says, "Well, what is special about human beings? I answer that they suffer pain."

But what I want to know is why on an atheistic view is it wrong to inflict pain on organisms? Animals do it all the time to each other, and that's all we are on an atheistic view. Richard Taylor, the ethicist, imagines people living in a state of nature without moral laws. Suppose one person kills another one and takes his goods. Taylor says this:
Such actions, though injurious to their victims, are no more … unjust, or immoral than they would be if done by one animal to another. A hawk that seizes a fish from the sea kills it, but does not murder it; and another hawk that seizes the fish from the talons of the first takes it, but does not steal it -- for none of these things is forbidden. And exactly the same considerations apply to the people we are imagining. (Richard Taylor, Ethics, Faith, and Reason (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1985), p. 14.)

In a world without God, who is to say what is right and wrong? Who is to say that moral values exist? It seems to me that we would just be like these animals in the animal kingdom. But, as I think we both agree, this is obviously wrong. There are objective moral values that exist, and therefore it follows logically and inescapably that God exists.

Bravo, Dr. Craig! I enjoy reading your simple and straightforward answers. Occam's Razor, indeed - the simplest answers are most often the correct ones. Simplicity gives a clear answer here.

Booksigning on November 18th

My pastor Sam Polson took this camera as I was signing books at Cedar Springs Christian Bookstore on Saturday November 18th. Let me tell you, this is one ugly author. That's one of the reasons I gave up a career in televsion and stuck to radio.

Advent Devotional Day 2

This marble artwork is the "Annunciation, Birth of Jesus and Adoration of the Shepherds" completed by Nicola Pisano in 1260. It is part of the marble baptistry in the town of Pisa.

Luke 1:26-29

In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.

Something new was happening in Mary and Joseph's life. The routine was broken. The old would be replaced by the new. This news troubled Mary - what would God have her do? We often become troubled when we have to break the routine, especially when it comes to spiritual matters. We're comfortable with the familiar, happy with the regular pattern.

The proof of it is in your holiday traditions. For instance, the Zockoll household has plenty of them. One of them is that I buy a small present for each family member to open on Thanksgiving Day to start the holiday season. We also enjoy the tradition of reading Scripture and giving testimonies at the Thanksgiving table each year. Then there's buying the tree - we'll do it this weekend. We start early, I know, but that's the way we are.

I used to have a private Christmas holiday tradition: I remember as a teen, I would walk the streets of our small town in Delaware, walking the whole perimeter of the town and seeing the homes of my friends and their families as they celebrated the night before the special holiday. It took a few hours but I always had this secret little tradition of seeing other people enjoying the holiday.

No doubt Mary and Jospeph had their routine. Wouldn't a craftsman such as Joseph have a normal day to day pattern? Yet God was about to turn their world upside down - and it would be great. They were ready. They were willing.

What if they had rejected the interference?

Ever think about it? What if they ignored and even ran from the announcment?

Many times I'm afraid we run from God's calling and we miss monumental opportunities in our lives to see God work in amazing ways. Have you been ready for the Lord's leading? Pray today that your heart would be ready for any new opportunity that God might send your way.

ADVENT DEVOTIONAL DAY 1

Good day to you! Well, the holiday season has officially begun, and the Advent walk toward Christmas officially starts here.

Let me ask you, what Christmas gift are you going to give to Jesus this year? perhaps its a gift to a charity. Maybe it's finally witnessing to that non-Believer who needs to hear the words of hope.

How about displaying to others what the kingdom of Heaven is like?

Matthew 13:31 and following: He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”

Could you start planting the seed of hope to people around you? Just a small seed, representing Jesus Christ and what He means to you.

Volunteering and reading the Bible to an ESL class, or sending a greeting card with a promise of prayer in it to a lonely neighbor. Giving some groceries to a needy family along with a message of hope. Raking an old lady's lawn. Reading the Bible to a shut-in. Making a phone call to a relative who hasn't heard from you in a while.

Plan now on the presents - the seeds - you will be handing out this season.

You might be amazed, as the Scripture says, as how it grows and how people will find their rest in it. It will become monstrous and become a refuge for many who seek solace in this world. Jesus will make the refuge possible; you only have to plant the seed.

I can recall, as a child in a single-parent household, ho we struggled to make ends meet. There were six of us kids and my mom was hurting finanacially. One night as we were eating a simple dinner of homemade waffles, a knock came at the door. A nearby church was droppng off bags and bags of groceries. We didn't attend that church but it didn't matter; the Christians wanted to help us. I will always remember the cheerful face of the man who happily brought in the bounty to us and how we kinds just beamed. I think that was the first time I saw an act of Christian kindness towards our family and it's always stayed with me. I've tried to imitate that act many times over the years, because I know what it meant to me then. It was a seed of love openly displayed that grew in the heart of this little boy. It was the love of Christ.

May you look for ways to plant the seed this season. It should be first on your gift-giving list.

Thankful, thankful

It's 8:11 am. and I have been up most of the night working on our smoked turkey. Here at the Zockoll household we present two turkeys to our guests, a smoked turkey and an in-the-stove turkey. The smoked turkey is coming along fine, but I'm chilled from having to dodge out into the night air and throw in more charcoal, clad only in my pajamas.

I am so thankful for the many things that God has placed in my life. I can think of at least four times in my youth that I could have been killed and never have enjoyed the opportunity of a life getting to see blessings here on earth.

As a kindergartner, I was swimming at a band camp that my father was hosting, and got caught in the middle dividing line rope of the pool and went straight to the bottom. They had to pump the water out of me.

Then, as an eight-year old (I don't think anyone in my family, my mom or anyone else knows of this to this day) I was downtown, trying to figure out a way to cross the busy main street of Dallastown, PA after running to a friend's house to play. I looked to my right and started to sprint across the street when after only one step, I heard screeching to my left. I turned and saw a delivery van sliding towards me with the driver standing on his brakes. I was almost hit, and it surely would have been fatal at the rate he was moving.

Then there was the time in Delaware that I jumped off the front hood of a moving car that was doing about thirty five (stupid teenage goofing around - I slid about twenty feet on my back) and the time the policeman almost shot me as I was running away after breaking the law and turned a corner - I almost ran into the officer, who had his gun drawn (one of the incidents that led to my salvation).

Thankful, that, despite my stupidity, I am still alive to enjoy my beautiful wife Jill and my wonderful children, Nicholas, Peter and Julianne.

Thankful for an amazing church, West Park Baptist Church. Thankful for friends. Thankful for my great job at CAK.

Most of all, I am thankful for Jesus. I mean it. I am stunned by His love. I am truly thankful. Thank you, Savior.

THANKSGIVING EVE

To the right is a picture of my amazing church, West Park Baptist Church. Our pastor, Sam Polson, is a blessed teacher of the Word and a very dear friend. I cannot begin to tell you of the numerous times Jill and I were carried through many a rough time because of the prayers and care of these dear fellow Christians. PLus, the Scripture is given without any watering-down, and that's what I need.

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Hard to believe, but my book, Fireside Psalms, sold out of its first order! If you'd like to get a copy of this Advent devotional, please click on Barnes and Nobles' website here:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=fireside+psalms&z=y&cds2Pid=9481
or Amazon's website here:
http://www.amazon.com/Fireside-Psalms-Thanksgiving-Christmas-devotional/dp/0595415318/sr=1-1/qid=1164066841/ref=sr_1_1/103-7845402-8092646?ie=UTF8&s=books

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Please make sure that you stop by our house during this Thanksgiving vacation! I love it when friends , family and former students come by for a coffee and conversation.



It's finally here - can you believe it? Today school will have an abbreviated schedule and I'll be heading home to help prepare for the guestsd who will be coming. We'll be having Jill's parents, Robert and Marlene Livesay, heading over from Oak Ridge. We'll also be hosting the Skurtu family from just down the street. Perhaps if anyone else wanders by, we'll throw out an extra plate for them as well. Nicholas is coming home from ETSU for the holidays, and I imagine he's ready to chow down.



Peter and I are trying to pace ourselves as far as how much to eat. There's a reason, and we take it very seriuously around here (okay, maybe not too seriously): You must not eat too much on Thanksgiving Eve or you'll not have your stomach sufficiently ready for the feast on Thanksgiving.

And here is what we'll be sharing during the opening parts of the feast. Maybe you'd like to copy this and read it aloud before your opening prayer.

1 Chronicles 29:11-13 (KJV) - "Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name."

Psalm 107:1 (NIV) "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."

Psalm 31:19 (NIV) "How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you."

Psalm 95:1-6 (KJV) "O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker."

The Bible

"The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian." - AW Tozer

The sealing of the Holy Spirit

Ephesians 1:13 - In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise...

That word "sealed" is fantastic. It's the Greek word "sphragizo" and it is used here as to denote ownership, just like when someone puts the seal of ownership on an item.

The Bible writer Gaebelein says “The seal is therefore the Holy Spirit Himself, and His presence in the believer denotes ownership and security. The sealing with the Spirit is not an emotional feeling or some mysterious inward experience.” It's ownership - we are God's!

Note: It comes after we believed. The faith in the truth of the Gospel is what brings us to Christ and gives us this sealing.

I love my identification with bonds that I love. I am proud to be a Zockoll. I enjoy telling people I am an alumnus of the tiny Delmar High School of Delmar, Delaware, winner of four state football championships. I enjoy letting people know that I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a hard-working city with an ethnic blend that few other cities can boast.

And I enjoy telling people I'm a Christian. I love the reaction it brings. Sometimes it's joy. Other times it's surprise and even anger. It often brings questions; some are rhetorical, others are truly honest. But it''s rarely a situation where the reaction is neutral.

You, Christian, and I are sealed with the Holy Spirit. We have the imprint of Jesus on our lives, just like the signet ring that was pushed into the wax. May we show Him to the world.

When things don't seem to add up

Ephesians 1:10-11:

"...with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, {that is,} the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will..."

"Sum up” (anakephalaiomai ) was a word used in Paul's time to tell of the adding up a column of figures and writing the sum up at the top. Paul writes that God will be sure to see that all things “add up” at the end.

This is especially important for us Christians to know. Did you ever feel like things weren't "adding up" when you look around you? I remember when I was being called to a church in the San Jose years ago. I received numerous phone calls from the search committee, being interviewed over the course of weeks. Finally the vote came one evening and we waited in our home to hear the results.

Imagine my shock when I found out that I had been voted in by the percentage needed, but right before the vote, a faction had "pre-counted" the possible votes and worked the group to change the percentage needed. i won - but I didn't

I was crushed. Went into deep depression. Why would God allow me to be so close... and yet take it away?

It was about six years later whne I ran into a pastor from the San Jose area and told him of the "near vote" I had experienced.

"Oh, that church?" he asked. "Listen, it was a good thing you didn't pack up everything and move out west. That church was falling apaprt from the inside. Within a year of that vote, the church folded. Closed its doors. Brad, the best thing in the world was for you not to be called to that church."

I couldn't see God's overall picture. It didn't seem to "add up" to me...but God was correct (as He always is) in the final tally.

And so it is with His work in our lives, even to the final days when we will go to be with Him.

Thank you, Jesus.

Ephesians: the map gets opened

Here is the next section of Ephesians, chapter 1 verses 6-9:
...to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him.

I see two words that intrigue me so I'm going to park here and take a look...

the first is lavished - "the riches of His grace which He lavished on us"

The second is mystery - "He made known to us the mystery of His will"

First:

lavish is the greek word perisseuo and it means to "exceed a fixed number of measure, to be left over and above a certain number or measure." It means to give and give to the point that the receiver can hardly handle the abundance...there's almost no room left!

Think of it: Jesus has REDEEMED us...paid for our salvation by dying on the cross. Redemption means to pay a price for freedom ...it's the Greek word lootruo, which means, “to liberate on the receipt of a ransom.” (Gaebelein)

God just unloaded the ransom money, a true fortune. This should never be taken lightly. The cost was monstrous. Our gratitude should be the same. Stop right now and thank Jesus for what He's done for you to give you a path to Heaven. We can never comprehend the vast fortune of grace paid for our salvation.

Second:

The mystery is something made available to us once we become Christians. WE get to see GHod's will unraveling before us! Epheisans 2:10 says we are created in Christ Jesus to do good works, and we start seeing these roads open up before us.

“In the New Testament sense a mystery is something which is hidden to the heathen but clear to the Christian.” (Barclay)

The Greek word is musterion and it means " a hidden or secret thing, not obvious" or as Strong's says, a hidden truth, "secret counsels which govern God in dealing with the righteous, which are hidden from ungodly and wicked men but plain to the godly."

The late Bible scholar Ray Stedman helps explain:

Verse three of the first chapter is in many ways the theme of the letter---in Christ---is the key:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

"There are many who take the phrase, "the heavenly places," which appears several times in this letter, as a reference to heaven after we die, but if you do this, you will miss the whole import of Paul's letter. While it does talk about going to heaven some day, it is talking primarily about the life you live right now. The heavenly places are not off in some distant reach of space or on some planet or star; they are simply the realm of invisible reality in which the Christian lives now, in contact with God, and in the conflict with the devil in which we are all daily engaged."

God opens up the road map and lets us peek at the next road ahead, or the ways we can find a detour around frustration or temptation. Thank the Lord for the revealing He makes known. What a gracious Lord!

Looking at Ephesians

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and {who are} faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed {be} the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly {places} in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

Here are the first five verses of Ephesians; the theme of the book could be called "Maturing in Christ," and I think all Christians want to do that. Paul is the writer here, and he is not berating the church at Ephesus for any wrong. Rather, he is encouraging them and explains some of the great teachings of Christianity so we can all better understand and serve the Lord.

I've included a picture of a Cedar of Lebanon tree in this post to remind us of how majestic the tree can become. Just the same, there is magnificent potential for the Christian who simply lets Jesus take over.

As you read the above Scripture, realize that as Paul writes this magnificent book, he is in prison! He's suffering for the faith, but no whining here.

Read the passage again and note that we have already been given a blessing from God.

Listen to what Charles Spurgeon says:

“We are not sitting here, and groaning, and crying, and fretting, and worrying, and questioning our own salvation. He has blessed us; and therefore we will bless him. If you think little of what God has done for you, you will do very little for him; but if you have a great notion of his great mercy to you, you will be greatly grateful to you gracious God.”

I think of my old friends, the Rohr farming family in Ohio. They faced bankruptcy, the near-death of a child, and Mrs. Rohr barely surviving a botched surgery. I never saw these people complain! They were newly saved out of a restrictive and dead-end religion, coming to Christ one by one until their whole family (11 of them) could confidently say they had Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I remember the Bible studies we used to have. What a wild time! These people were a riot - they were clamoring to know more about the Bible. These people couldn't help but rejoice in the freedom and blessing they received in Christ, no matter what the outside circumstances!

Today, take a check of your life. Is it met with complaining and a "me first" attitude? Have you stopped to thank Jesus for what He's made available to you?

New American Standard Bible © 1995 Lockman Foundation

Troubling report

MSN news is running a story about the necessity to be thin in order to be successful.

A report by Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and his colleagues in a study for the European Commission said that "these findings could reflect biases linked to the social acceptability of body images."

This is a disturbing trend among peopole, and Christians are as guilty of this as non-Christians. More than once I've heard curt and cutting remarks about someone. What was the point of the attack? A disagreement about doctrine? A concern about a wayward life? A matter of opinion?

No. Simply that the person was obese.

I find that we Believers are shamefully callous towards people in the area of weight. Surely we see that they are aware of their plight? They don't need a reminder from you, one which would surely ruin their day.

I recall a friend who visited his college after a few years and his marriage. The president's first words to him were, "I see you've packed on a lot of weight." The gentleman told me, "Here I am, looking at him, and the president had lost about half of his hair. How would he like it if I would have reminded him that he was going bald?"

Numerous times I've counseled teens whose main trouble was simply that society didn't accept them because of their weight.

Kindness is Christianity with its working clothes on.

Let us think about each other and help each otherto show love and do good deeds.~Heb. 10:24 ~

Those who bring sunshine to the lives of otherscannot keep it from themselves.~Sir James Matthew Barrie ~

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is,What are you doing for others?" - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Remember to welcome strangers,because some who have done this havewelcomed angels without knowing it.~Heb. 13:2-3~

Our stand in Christ

No totalitarian authority nor authoritarian state can tolerate those who have an absolute by which to judge that state and its actions. The Christians had that absolute in God's revelation. Because the Christians had an absolute, universal standard by which to judge not only personal morals but the state, they were counted as enemies of totalitarian Rome and were thrown to the beasts.
- (Francis A. Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live?, Ch. 1)

Are you Christ's servant?

"If any man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor."-John 12:26.

THIS VERSE IS ALL about serving, and service; three times over you get the word "serve" or "servant." Each clause of our text has in it a part of the verb "to serve." You cannot have Christ if you will not serve him. If you take Christ, you must take him in all his characters, not only as Friend, but also as Master; and if you are to become his disciple, you must also become his servant. I hope that no one here kicks against that truth Surely it is one of our highest delights on earth to serve our Lord, and this is to be our blessed employment even in heaven itself: "His servants shall serve him: and they shall see his face."

Learn hence, then, all of you who would have Christ as your Savior, that you must be willing to serve him. We are not saved by service, but we are saved to service. When we are once saved, thenceforward we live in the service of our Lord. If we refuse to be his servants, we are not saved, for we still remain evidently the servants of self, and the servants of Satan. Holiness is another name for salvation; to be delivered from the power of self-will, and the domination of evil lusts, and the tyranny of Satan,—this is salvation. Those who would be saved must know that they will have to serve Christ, and those who are saved rejoice that they are serving him, and that thus they are giving evidence of a change of heart and renewal of mind.

- part of a sermon delivered by C. H. SPURGEON, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in Newington, England on Thursday Evening, June 27th, 1889.

Hope to see you Saturday!

Here's our latest picture of Julianne, who is now officially 2 years and 1 month old. Grandpa sent me this picture. Notice the expression: is she up to something? Probably so. Her favorite programs are Dora the Explorer and Thomas the Tank Engine. She loves to sing Christian songs about Noah and Jonah.

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The day has finally arrived! On Saturday my Advent devotional book FIRESIDE PSALMS will be introduced. I hope this makes a wonderful Christmas present...really, a "Thanksgiving present" you can place next to someone's plate!

This Saturday I will be having a booksigning at Cedar Springs bookstore for my Thanksgiving/Christmas Advent devotional book FIRESIDE PSALMS. The booksigning will start at 1 p.m. and go until 3 p.m. We'll have giveaways and refreshments.

If you'd like to take a look at the book please click here:

http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0-595-41531-8

I will be interviewed tomorrow (Wednesday) at 7:20 a.m. on WRJZ AM 620 about FIRESIDE PSALMS.

I hope to see you Saturday at Cedar Springs! It's located on North Peters Road.

Tribulation, but carrying on anyway.

Rainy and cold weather here this weekend. Lots of muddy fields and slick roads all around, so I believe we're seeing the front edge of what is the winter season. bring it on! We're ready for the holidays to begin. This is fine, stay-at-home-in-your-socks-and-dink-hot-tea weather. I'm relaxing for the first time in many a week.

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I've been studying the book of Jeremiah today and find him a fascinating man with a heavy burden to bear. Chapter 11 of Jeremiah lets us know that the home-town prophet was not welcome. His words of correction weren't being accepted by the people who knew him from youth; his friends and neighbors alike were warning him to stop preaching. Possible violence was threatened. Yet this man relied on God and kept moving forward.

Amazing the boldness and power that God can give to the common folk like you and me whenever we let Him take over.

"God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain." - CS Lewis

The weekend is here!

Thank goodness the weekend is here. It's time to be with my wonderful wife and my wonderful family. I love the students at CAK, but it's been a busy week for all of us, so I think we're all going to crash and just sit on the back deck, listening to the birds and watching the leaves fall off of our three huge trees in the back yard. I don't even want to thik about raking. I'm going to hope for a violent windstorm. Or at least a strong rain that washes the leaves downhill.

I received an e-mail from some very dear friends, the Kliewer family who live in South Carolina. They were among my first friends when I was a starving single youth pastor trying to do some good in this world. They took me in and befriended me despite my goof-ups and immaturity. I'll never forget their acceptance.

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I love archaeology and wanted to pass this on:

One of the oldest human structures still in use today is the tunnel commissioned by King Hezikiah of Israel to bring water into the city of Jerusalem (it helped Judah fend off the siege of the city by the Assyrians in 701 B.C.) Now known as the Siloam Tunnel, it is the first structure mentioned in the Bible (II Chronicles 32: 3, 4 and II Kings 20:20) to be confirmed conclusively by archaeologists. The tunnel has been dated by the carbon-14 method to 700 B. C., with organic material in the plaster used to construct it - the structure is still strong and stable.

Friday's reflections.

We had a great time celebrating Jill's dad's birthday last night. We stopped over at our favorite haunt in Oak Ridge TN - a great Chinese place that has fantastic food. The holiday season officially began at the Zockoll household as of yesterday! Christmas music keeps getting turned on - I've even put up Christmas lights in my classroom at school!

Julie is doing fine, wearing Grandma's and Mom's jewelry (She's 2 now. This picture was when she was much younger. ) Nicholas called us from ETSU and he has strep throat. Please pray for his recovery. He sounded pretty bad on the phone.

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The seriousness of a relationship with Christ has been the topic in my class this week. Yesterday we reviewed James 2:19 in light of the many people who fel that just a simple regard that there is a God is enough to get them into Heaven:

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that–and shudder.

I can't help but note James' sarcasm when he says "good!" I guess he's making a serious point here to listeners who feel they are "good" enough to bypass God's rules for getting into Heaven. We face a time in this world when there is a casualness in regard to the things of the Lord and a nonchalance when it comes to obedience. May we be delivered from that type of dangerous attitude.

“If your heart takes more pleasure in reading novels, or watching TV, or going to the movies, or talking to friends, rather than just sitting alone with God and embracing Him, sharing His cares and His burdens, weeping and rejoicing with Him, then how are you going to handle forever and ever in His presence...? You'd be bored to tears in heaven, if you're not ecstatic about God now!” - Keith Green

"I lack the fervency, vitality, life, in prayer which I long for. I know that many consider it fanaticism when they hear anything which does not conform to the conventional, sleep-inducing eulogies so often rising from Laodicean lips; but I know too that these same people can acquiescently tolerate sin in their lives and in the church without so much as tilting one hair of their eyebrows." - Jim Eliot

Ah, coffee!

Good morning to you!

I sit here, ready to have my morning devotions, and I sip the nectar so necessary for my mental wellbeing: coffee! I realize that I am not the only one who sings praises of this magnificent beverage, for its praises have been sung down through the ages:

The morning cup of coffee has an exhilaration about it which the cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot be expected to reproduce. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., "Over the Teacups," 1891

No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness. ~Sheik Abd-al-Kadir

Coffee falls into the stomach ... ideas begin to move, things remembered arrive at full gallop ... the shafts of wit start up like sharp-shooters, similies arise, the paper is covered with ink ... - Honore de Balzac


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I sat and prayed with a dear student whose friend is gone and cannot be found. This lost friend has been facing depression and is wandering somewhere around the county; he has been fighting God and has mentioned suicide before. He parents called my studetn and they were frantic; he's nowhere to be found. He was missing since the night before. Please pray for this lost teenager.

So special is the chance to pray with a student who would trust me enough to share such a heartbreaking burden.

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Forgiveness? Is it possible?

Many of us find it nearly impossible to completely forgive someone who has wronged us. It eats at us and tears into our soul, but we still hang on and harbor that same spirit of unforgiving.

Perhaps the best response to teh question, "how could I forgive someone who has wronged me?" comes from a Q & A session with pastor/teacher John MacArthur:

...who am I not to forgive someone else, who myself, though not committing perhaps the same sin, am so in need of forgiveness.

Let me give you an illustration, Matthew 18, there was a king and this king had a large territory, and he had apparently some providences and some provincial governors. It was time for him to collect from them the money they had collected in their own providences for taxes. So all these governors came in and it was a time for them to account for what they had done with their responsibility. One of those men came before the king and it says that he owed the king an unpayable debt. He owed him. . . .it uses "murion" which is the highest Greek term for a number, so it is an unnumbered amount, and unpayable amount. Even if it translates 10,000 talents, it's astronomical, because the whole national debt of Galilee for one year was 600 talents. So he owed 10,000 talents or he owed an unpayable sum.

So he falls on his knees before the king, and he says, "Have patience with me and I will pay everything back," and he means well. The king looks at him and says, "I forgive you." Now that king is God, and that man is any sinner, and any one of us who come to the Lord and fall on our knees before Him and recognize that we have defrauded God, and we have sinned against Him, and we can never pay for our own sin, and God then forgives us--we are in the same situation.

Then that man who had been forgiven an unpayable debt who deserved hell, in fact, the king said, "I am going to sell him and his whole family and get all I can get out of them," which is what hell is: not getting what God deserves, but getting all He can get. The guy who was forgiven then went out, found a guy who owed him 300 denari (a few hundred dollars), grabbed him by the neck, strangled him, and the guy said, "Be patient and I will pay, I will pay!" Instead of forgiving him, he threw him in prison.

So here's a guy who has been forgiven an unpayable debt by God; he goes out and he won't forgive some guy that owes him a few bucks, and he throws him in jail, and then the parable says, "That some others who knew about it (other servants) went and told the king what he did, and he went back and punished that guy," and the whole point of the parable is this (and that's just it in a nutshell), the whole point of the parable is this: who do you think you are not to forgive someone who has offended you, when you have so offended a Holy God, as to be in debt to Him to a level that you could never ever pay?

So on the basis of God's free and comprehensive forgiveness of you, you ought to be able to forgive another brother who is a sinner like you.

Thine, O LORD, [is] the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all [that is] in the heaven and in the earth [is thine]; thine [is] the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all. - 1Ch 29:11

"Majesty" is the Hebrew word howd, meaning to be eminent, beautiful, to become lofty. Few words can better express the descrition of our Lord. He is to be lifted up in our praise, and we are also reminded that He is above all things: our problems, our faults, our petty differences among neighbors and co-workers...He alone stands perfect, and our only hope for true joy in this life is to come to Him.


All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thankful memories

In this all-too-quick life, a few cherished memories:


Mr. Orlando Kliewer trying to teach me German in one quick evening; we laughed so hard that Orlan fell off the kitchen chair and his kids thought he was having a heart attack.

Seeing over 30 teens come to Christ at a youth rally we had organized in Knoxville Tennessee. No words can describe the feeling.

Seeing my son Nicholas (now 18) go nutty when he discovered "Santa's footprints" (actually baking soda dust in a stencil) heading to the fireplace in our home.

My precious wife Jill planning and carrying out a surprise birthday party at the Red Lobster while I was an interim pastor in North Carolina; over sixty people showed up. I was shocked that so many people even knew me, let alone liked me.

Having a Bible study in the cozy English kitchen of our dear friends the Hydes during our stay in England. How I miss them!

Finally, finally getting my doctorate and my whole family coming to Indiana to see me, especially my very favorite mother in law of all time, Marlene Livesay.

The Thanksgiving when Jill and I, newly married, had 13 people over for the dinner; most had never celebrated Thanksgiving before. Smashed them into our apartment. We invited anybody who would come. What a riot!

Leading my first ever convert to the Lord; a prisoner in a medium security prison in South Carolina. I was stunned and overjoyed. I was 18 at the time.

Getting to see the birth of my three children and realizing the dedication Jill has to go through that brutal pain of delivery.

Seeing my first novel published. I still remember the shock. Why would anyone want to read my stuff?

The true and faithful friends I have on staff at the Christian Academy of Knoxville.

Seeing my father -in-law Robert Livesay play Simeon in the Christmas pageant. That's one of my favorite parts of the Christmas story.

The true and faithful friends I have as students at the Christian Academy of Knoxville. How did I deserve such good students? Two years running...

Getting together with West Park Baptist friends each Christmas season for the holiday outreach. It's a time of friendship I literally count the days until the enjoyment of the event.

Dan Prince stopping by to say hello and chat a bit.

Matt Mueke seeing me at the football game and letting me know he's doing okay.

My son Nicholas' laugh.

My "adopted" niece Ruthie Polson. She'll always be Ruthie, not Ruth, to me.

The times the Polson family and our family got together at Chili's or Ryans and had no plans for the evening other than to run our mouths all night. Man, what great therapy.

Any time my brother Brent calls.

Christmas morning, before anyone gets up and I can spend a precious quiet time thanking the Lord for giving me such a wonderful life.



I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. - Phl 1:3

Frost is On!

On the right is a photo of Peter, my ninth-grade son who is growing up quickly. He's on the school football here at Christian Academy of Knoxville. They're in the first round of playoffs, and last night they were victorious over South Greene High School by a score of 9-0. It was freezing weather and the South Greene team had home field advantage but our Warriors never gave up. Peter plays running back and linebacker and although as a ninth grader he has seen limited action, he is in there, plugging away like the rest of the dedicated players.

I am extremely proud of Peter.

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I got up this morning and saw the outside thermometer: 28 degrees F here in Knoxville! Frost on the ground...reminds me of one of my favorite poems, "When the Frost is on the Punkin" by James Whitcomb Riley. Here's the last stanza:


Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps

Is poured around the cellar-floor in red and yaller heaps;

And your cider-makin's over, and your wimmern-folks is through

With theyr mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and sausage too!...

I don't know how to tell it—but ef such a thing could be

As the angels wantin' boardin', and they'd call around on me—

I'd want to 'commodate 'em—all the whole-indurin' flock—

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

Talking about Time and Eternity

"The difference [God's] timelessness makes is that this now (which slips away from you even as you say the word now) is for Him infinite." - CS Lewis

I've been reading Lewis' Mere Christianity and am intrigued by chapter 25, concerning time. We as humans are in the limited sphere which is called time and we tend to think that God is bound by this same boundary.

However, as God has invented time, He will not be bound by His own creation any more than you would be bound to stay on your front porch. God's existence is timeless.

The point I'm making?

Prayer.

We tend to think God is rushed or limited in answering our prayers since He has so much to do. He's busy, right?

No - think about it. What is it about being busy? The fact that you have so much to do in a little space of time. Well, God has no limits like that. He can sit in His realm and study your prayer as if it were the only prayer in the universe. Our lives -- timelines, if you will -- are like a straight line. Lewis explains that if our lives are a timeline drawn, then God is the page on which they are drawn. He is over, above and all around the time line that is our life. He has all eternity to listen to our prayer this morning. He is paying attention!

Boy, this truth empowers my prayer life every time I think of it. God is not moving ont o something else. He is listening and watching over my conversation with Him...personally.

Ready to travel in 2007

“ Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires; but what foundation did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded an empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him." - Napolean Bonaparte

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Starting in January, I will begin traveling and speaking in churches on Sunday nights and Wednesday evenings. Some will be lectures (Revelation End Time series, Greek power words in the New Testament, Hebrew treasures of the Old Testament, etc) that will be on Powerpoint; others will be preaching (the holiness of the Lord, forgiveness, finding Christ in the Old Testament, etc). Please pray as I arrange my schedule. I just want to be used by the Lord to reach out to the church community with the great treasures of the Bible I've been able to learn.

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There's an excellent youth conference coming up in February. The Gatlinburg-area Boot Camp will be in full gear, energizing teens for Christ. You can take a look at it by clicking here:

http://www.smyc.org/

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“For the Christian, heaven is where Jesus is. We do not need to speculate on what heaven will be like. It is enough to know that we will be for ever with Him.” - William Barclay

“There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus” - Blaise Pascal

A lot of fun last night

We were involved at our church's Trunk or Treat program last night, as a Halloween fun night for families throughout Knoxville. Here's the way it works:
Members of our church pull their car into the church parking lot at designated spaces and pop open their trunk, which is filled with boxes of candy to give out to children who come by. One of the cars was a Hawaiian tropics scene. Another was an actual old wooden outhouse - hilarious! One was a Nerd paradise and still another was a Motocross scene. Each car decorates and makes the atmosphere festive. I know last year we had thousands come to the party, but last night I' not sure how many due to a pretty severe rain about halfway through.

I got to see my old youth group member last night. Bobby Edington, a dear friend, introduced me to his wife and baby. That made the evening even more special.

I love this outreach. It's a time that I get to laugh and joke with families throughout the city. I wore my graduation robe and had a grand time. A couple of Chinese univeristy students stopped by and took pictures with me. It was a lot of fun.

My car? Peter and I covered my 1990 Jeep Cherokee with Christmas lights, front to back. We won first place!

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I look forward to our college students coming home for the holidays. Nicholas, our son, alwasy brings joy when he comes home, and when his classmates from CAK stop by, we have a grand time.

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If faith is the gaze of the heart at God, and if this gaze is but the raising of the inward eyes to meet the all-seeing eyes of God, then it follows that it is one of the easiest things possible to do. ... A. W. Tozer