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

The Holy Spirit is a down payment

Great study notes:

Ephesians 1:13,14
In whom ye also [trusted], after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

That word EARNEST stands out. Why is the Holy Spirit called the earnest of of our inheritance?

A quick word study shows that the translation of the Greek word "earnest" (arrhabon) means:
"money which in purchases is given as a pledge or downpayment that the full amount will subsequently be paid" (Strongs 728)

In other word, all the joys, miracles, encouragements, insights, and wonders that the Holy Spirit brings to the Christian is just a small "down payment" - a glimpse of what Heaven will really be like!

"A church in the land without the Spirit is rather a curse than a blessing. If you have not the Spirit of God, Christian worker, remember that you stand in somebody else's way; you are a fruitless tree standing where a fruitful tree might grow." - Charles Spurgeon

Oscar Hyde and Whoopie Pies

On the left is a picture of one of my international students and a very dear friend, Oscar Hyde. This is not a recent photo; Oscar is now taller than me and is active in his youth group in England. Oscar and his parents, Jeremy and Barb Hyde, live in Steelton in the Somerset area of England. Oscar, please e-mail me soon! I will drop you a line today. The Zockoll family misses you immensely!

I can recall the day when Oscar was a young middle school and I was explaining to him about our Thanksgiving holiday here in the States. Oscar picked up on two receipes I had discussed: pumpkin seeds and Whoopie Pies! He made them both for his family! YOU SAY YOU'VE NEVER MADE A WHOOPIE PIE???? Then I'm here to help. Please click on the address below and prepare to make yourself a treat:

http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,whoopie_pie,FF.html

...and yes, I do cook a lot. I enjoy being in the kitchen. It's culinary therapy, okay?

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Brilliant words from the late Oswald Chambers:

"Faith is a tremendously active principle that always puts Jesus Christ first. The life of faith says, "Lord, You have said it, it appears to be irrational, but I’m going to step out boldly, trusting in Your Word" (for example, see Matthew 6:33 ). Turning intellectual faith into our personal possession is always a fight, not just sometimes. God brings us into particular circumstances to educate our faith, because the nature of faith is to make the object of our faith very real to us. Until we know Jesus, God is merely a concept, and we can’t have faith in Him. But once we hear Jesus say, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" ( John 14:9 ) we immediately have something that is real, and our faith is limitless. Faith is the entire person in the right relationship with God through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ."

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Matthew 16

13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
14They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ,[a] the Son of the living God."
17Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.

Clarence Darrow was chicken!

What hsitory student would not know of the famous Scopes trial of 1925, which pitted William Jennings Bryan against Clarence Darrow in a classic confrontation over the teaching of evolution and creation in the public schools.?

Many revisionist reports of history would have you believe that the great attorney Clarence Darrow convincingly demolished Williams Jennings Bryan in a spectacular and heroic stand for evolutionist and against Biblical creationism. The fact, however, is that the 1926 trial was quite different and Mr. Darrow did not finish in the heroic fashion that many are led to believe!

In an article written by by David N. Menton, Ph.D.m the facts from the actual court transcript are reveal a much different story:

"After spending much of the seventh day of the trial systematically grilling and ridiculing Bryan for his belief in numerous miracles of the Bible, Darrow abruptly ended the trial by asking the Court to instruct the jury to find his client guilty (abstract page 306)! This incredible concession, together with the judge's decision to strike Bryan's testimony from the record, was very much to Darrow's personal benefit because it prevented him from being subjected to the same kind of inquisition he had just put Bryan through.

"Bryan had agreed to take the witness stand to answer questions on his Christian beliefs with the understanding that Darrow would then also be required to take the stand to answer questions about his own agnostic and evolutionary beliefs (transcript page 284). Both Judge Raulston and Darrow had agreed to this condition. When Bryan asked if Darrow, himself, knew the answer to some of his more ludicrous questions (ie. "Do you know how many people there were on this earth 3000 years ago?"), Darrow responded with "wait until you get to me." Despite the increasing hostility of Darrow's questioning, Bryan thwarted repeated attempts by his colleagues to stop it.

Bryan:
"I want him to have all the latitude he wants. For I am going to have some latitude when he gets through."

Darrow:
"You can have latitude and longitude." (transcript page 288)

It is most unlikely that Darrow had any intention of giving Bryan "latitude and longitude". He had, after all, been unwilling to let Bryan question even his expert witnesses on their religious and evolutionary assumptions, how much less likely would he be willing to subject himself to such questioning after what he had put Bryan through? As it turned out, of course, Bryan was given no opportunity to ask Darrow his questions during the trial."

On other words, Mr. Darrow chickened out! He was afraid to stand up for what he believed, so he actually threw in the towel and let his client lose rather than for Darrow to lose face.

Interesting...

More can be read at http://www.gennet.org/facts/scopes.html

Lesson from a coffee recipe

2 Timothy 4:6-7
"For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith..."

A backwoods country preacher wrote George Bernard Shaw in 1935, having heard the playwright was particularly adept at brewing coffee a certain way. The pastor was interested in the method and asked Shaw to explain the "recipe." Shaw sent a reply in detail, adding, "I hope this is an honest request and not a surreptitious mode of securing my autograph."

The preacher answered, enclosing Shaw's signature cut out from his letter. He wrote, "Accept my thanks for the recipe. I wrote in good faith so allow me to return what it is you infinitely prize, but which is of no value to me: your autograph."

I laugh whenever I read the above illustration. So many of us live our lives with an eye outward, looking to see if people are watching and admiring us. We wish to create a stage-play model of life, formed with a desire to have every facet of our life admired by others. Life is like a dress-up game with no reality involved.

Christians, first of all, why don't we look upward and see the Lord's guidance for our lives for the day, the week, the months and the years ahead.

Like Shaw, perhaps some of us have a higher estimation of ourselves than is real. May we get a "reality check" of our true worth as a child of God. May we see ourselves as, among other great things, one who has been put here on earth to worship Him, not ourselves.


"Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God" -- William Carey

Bits 'n pieces.

Nicholas will be stopping home tonight to say a quick hello. He had sent me word that his report card looked fantastic: all A's! We'll be able to see him all weekend in about ten days. East Tennessee State University is fine with him; he's involved in some great Bible studies and has made some good friends. Here he is flexing or showing off or doing something nutty.

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Peter's last football game is tonight. Christian Academy of Knoxville takes on Sweetwater for a Thursday night game to close out both team's regular season. We go to the playoffs!

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I'll be teaching an adult evening class tongiht while Jill takes little Julie and goes to enjoy the game in Sweetwater. Although this will be a late night for me, I really enjoy sharing the Bibel truths with adults. Jill is slowly sneaking fall decorations around the house along with some Thanksgiving items. Things are getting exciting as we ready for the holidays...I know, I know. We get going a bit early in the Zockoll household. That's just the way we are. My two favorite holidays are Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the other holidays are far behind.

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I had contact with an old youth group member, Chris Jones, who now works for Fed Ex. Good to hear from you, buddy!

Facts about Heaven

We have a destiny in Heaven; how come there's not more preaching about it? I love studying the truths of Heaven. Here are some facts:

It's a simple faith that gets us to Heaven...
And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. -- Matthew 18:3

The closeness of Heaven is only a breath away...
And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. --Matthew 3:2

The tree of life awaits us...
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. --REV 2:7

It's a place of righteousness...
But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. 2PE 3:13

Our entry could happen at any time...
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. - 1TH 4:17

A Dying Man's Cry

Maurice S. Rawlings, a cardiologist at the Diagnostic Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, had an encounter that literally scared him into looking towasrd salvation. Rawlings took Jesus Christ as his own Savior as a result of an experience with a dying patient.

Rawlings wrote:

The patient began "coming to." But whenever I would reach for instruments or otherwise interrupt my compression of his chest, the patient would again lose consciousness, roll his eyes upward, arch his back in mild convulsion, stop breathing, and die once more.

Each time he regained heartbeat and respiration, the patient screamed, "I am in hell!" He was terrified and pleaded with me to help him. I was scared to death. In fact, the episode literally scared the hell out of me! It terrified me enough to write this book. . . .

He said, "Don't you understand? I am in hell. Each time you quit I go back to hell! Don't let me go back to hell! . . . "

As a result, I started working feverishly and rapidly. By this time the patient had experienced three or four episodes of complete unconsciousness and clinical death from cessation of both heartbeat and breathing.

After several death episodes he finally asked me, "How do I stay out of hell?" I told him I guessed it was the same principle learned in Sunday school--that I guessed Jesus Christ would be the one whom you would ask to save you.

Then he said, "I don't know how. Pray for me."

Pray for him! What nerve! I told him I was a doctor, not a preacher.

"Pray for me!" he repeated.

I knew I had no choice: It was a dying man's request. So I had him repeat the words after me as we worked--right there on the floor. It was a very simple prayer because I did not know much about praying. It went something like this:

Lord Jesus, I ask you to keep me out of hell. Forgive my sins. I turn my life over to you. If I die, I want to go to heaven. If I live, I'll be "on the hook" forever.

The patient's condition finally stabilized, and he was transported to a hospital. I went home, dusted off the Bible, and started reading it.

Source: Maurice Rawlings, Beyond Death's Door (New York: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1978), pp. 18-20.

Through the clouds

It has been a difficult week, as many of you close to me might know. I have had to deal with unruly behavior - even among adults - as well as meeting deadlines, overcoming financial worries and handling the household while Jill struggles with her fibro myalgia.

Yet in spite of all that is thrown into our little household, I can see the Light that comes through the clouds, beckoning us not to get discouraged. We might have eyes that are weary from the pollution of the world's problems, but Jesus reaches out and grasps my hand when I cannot see His.

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to {His} purpose." - Romans 8:28

"And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." - Phillpns 4:7


"It is not hard for the Lord to turn night into day. He that sends the clouds can as easily clear the skies. Let us be of good cheer. It is better farther on. Let us sing Hallelujah by anticipation." -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon

"The purpose of Christianity is not to avoid difficulty, but to produce a character adequate to meet it when it comes. It does not make life easy; rather it tries to make us great enough for life." -- James L. Christensen

"Therefore the Christian heart, since it has been thoroughly persuaded that all things happen by God's plan, and that nothing takes place by chance, will ever look to him as the principal causes of things, yet will give attention to the secondary causes in their proper place." -- John Calvin

He is Here Every Day

I find God making Himself known all around me. I see Him in the sunrise on the Tennessee horizon. I see Him whenever I am shown kindness by a fellow Believer. I see Him in my daughter's eyes as we romp around the room. I hear Him in the solid preaching of our pastor. I enjoy Him in the songs we sing in church.

I even discover Him when I'm flat on my back in frustration. I see Him pointing the way whenever I'm in the maze of trials and challenges that seem impossible to escape.

He's glorious and He's personal. What more can a man wnat that that, to enjoy the Creator on a daily basis?

"and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. {These are} in accordance with the working of the strength of His might..." - Ephesians 1:19

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"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell." - C. S. Lewis

I'm Angry Right Now

Besides being hurt by some extremely unkind comments, I'm downright mad.

Really.

A friend had relayed to me that a third party had done a vicious hack job - unjustly at that - on my character. Furthermore, this person had lied in order to make the accusation more powerful. And I'm the target.

And you know what? I got angry. Hot under the collar. Steamed.

It was a fellow Christian who indulged in unwarranted gossip, so now I'm at a crossroads: do I match the person's attitude and reply in kind? Boy, I used to be pretty good at that. Remember, I used to host a radio call-in show. You want to argue? I'm ready.

Or do I throw myself under God's instruction and let Him handle the problem? The Bible is straightforward about this kind of problem:


Prov. 10:12, "Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins."

Prov. 12:16, "A fool's wrath is presently known: but a prudent man covereth shame."

Prov. 17:9, "He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends."

Prov. 19:11, "The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression."

I Pet. 4:8, "And above all things have fervent love among yourselves: for love shall cover the multitude of sins."

Ah, Lord, You know the path I'm to take. I've got to let it go. I must deal with the attacks from the "high road." My flesh doesn't want to - the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Yet I know if I let You handle this, it will come out pointing toward You, not me.

Every Christian is a missionary

God's message of salvation in Jesus Christ is the package that every Chsitian should carry about and show to each man, woman and child in the world. In effect, we are all missionaries, ministers of God' Word.

This world would have us believe that it is the duty of every person to seek his own fortune, but the things of the world will pass away soon enough. Let's get athe right mindset.

Oswald Chambers says,

"The key to the missionary’s devotion is that he is attached to nothing and to no one except our Lord Himself. It does not mean simply being detached from the external things surrounding us. Our Lord was amazingly in touch with the ordinary things of life, but He had an inner detachment except toward God. External detachment is often an actual indication of a secret, growing, inner attachment to the things we stay away from externally."

Delight in Jesus Christ. That's the key.

Charles Spurgeon says,

"Oh! the delights of fellowship with Jesus! Earth hath no words which can set forth the holy calm of a soul leaning on Jesus' bosom. Few Christians understand it, they live in the lowlands and seldom climb to the top of Nebo: they live in the outer court, they enter not the holy place, they take not up the privilege of priesthood. At a distance they see the sacrifice, but they sit not down with the priest to eat thereof, and to enjoy the fat of the burnt offering. But, reader, sit thou ever under the shadow of Jesus; come up to that palm tree, and take hold of the branches thereof; let thy beloved be unto thee as the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, and thou shalt be satisfied as with marrow and fatness. O Jesus, visit us with Thy salvation!"

"...He awakens {Me} morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple." - Isa. 50:4

"My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips." - Psalm 63:5

The book is ready!

YAHOOO!

The Fireside Psalms books is online and ready to be shipped out! You can see the front cover and the general info here (simply click on the address below) :

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

or you can read a few sample passages here:

http://books.iuniverse.com/viewbooks.asp?isbn=0595415318&page=fm1

We're having a booksigning party at Cedar Springs Christian bookstore on Saturday November 18th. You can get directions and read more about this store (one of the nation's largest independent Christian bookstores) here:
http://www.cschristian.com/e/home.asp

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Here's a great message sent to me by Mike and Krisi Hulsey:

"...you may remember my request for prayer about my 18 year old cousin that died tragically in a car accident. For those who were not there, Aayla was a young woman who had made a hard 180 u-turn in her life, she went from drugs alcohol to a life lived for God.Her funeral was an amazing event in her small town! (More than 1,000 attended) The family decided that Aayla would want them to take this opportunity to share Christ with all that came so they gave a true Salvation message at both the visitation and the Funeral (20 people came forward during the visitation to accept Christ) The next day the funeral was so crowded that they had to send folks into the gym to watch on a big screen. Once again the message of God’s grace was shared and many came forward. A revival has hit this small town in Missouri all because a young girl was brave enough to trust in God’s love, set her pride aside and live for our KING! Praise God for the testimony Aayla left behind, that so many would say 'I want what She had.'"

Welcome to new friends

I want to say a big HELLO to the many new friends I made while speaking at the ACSI Convention in Greensboro NC. I had promised you that if you would come to this site you would find info on new teaching ideas and helps for your classroom.

As you read this, I am constructing a whole new page that will be loaded with ideas for your use. Please allow me a few more minutes to complete the construction of the new page and I will post the page below.

At convention

I'm in Greensboro, North Carolina in the Koury Convention Center right now, readying to speak at three seminars during the ACSI Convention throughout the rest of this week. The Association of Christian Schools International is a great organization, and I look forward to my opportunities to run workshops each year. I do miss my family terribly, though. When I'm away from my family, I feel as if a part of me is missing.

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Ah, what a great reading in devotionals today.

"Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens." —Lamentations 3:41

We're raising hands of dependency toward God, recognizing Him as Father and Lord. It's a comforting truth in the harried lives we lead.

Charles Spurgeon says this:

"The most healthy state of a Christian is to be always empty in self and constantly depending upon the Lord for supplies; to be always poor in self and rich in Jesus; weak as water personally, but mighty through God to do great exploits; and hence the use of prayer, because, while it adores God, it lays the creature where it should be, in the very dust. Prayer is in itself, apart from the answer which it brings, a great benefit to the Christian."

The Christian's daily cry

This moan, “O wretched man that I am,” expresses the normal experience of the Christian, and any Christian who does not so moan is in an abnormal and unhealthy state spiritually. The man who does not utter this cry daily is either so out of communion with Christ, or so ignorant of the teaching of Scripture, or so deceived about his actual condition, that he knows not the corruptions of his own heart and the abject failure of his own life.
- - A.W.Pink, The Christian in Romans Seven

Response to John Lennon's "Imagine"

"Imagine there’s no Heaven
It’s easy if you try…"

Actually, I can think of few things harder for me than to imagine that there is no peaceful goal for mankind than the assurance of an eternal rest beyond the life we now live.

"No hell below us
Above us only sky …"

Universal salvation without repentance seems to me rather like a chess game with no winner, or perhaps no gameboard at all…the whole reasoning for the set-up is skewered.

"Imagine all the people
Living for today "

Uh, that’s why we had the Serial Killer running around Phoenix, shooting at random. He was living for the thrill of today with no thought of remorse or justice in the hereafter.

"Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do"

Well, that’d make the World Cup kind of confusing, wouldn’t it?

"Nothing to kill or die for"

Personally, I’d fight pretty hard for a good slab of beef ribs with an ear of corn and a dish of ice cream, but then that’s just me.

"And no religion too"

If you mean liturgical ritual for the sake of ceremony and not a relationship with God, then I agree, but I don’t think that’s your whole thinking here.

"Imagine all the people
Living life in peace"

That’s Heaven, John

"You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one"

I think we all want a life beyond this one filled with joy and peace, but my dream is made a reality through the Word.

"I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one"

I would say contrariwise that if you had seen faith in Jesus Christ in its pure unadulterated form, you would have felt differently. I wish that you would have joined us.

"Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can"

Well, yes I can. I’m on a teacher’s salary

"No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world"

I am in agreement, but John, if you had read the Bible and saw the clear picture of Jesus, you’d see that this is the Christian’s joy, of bringing gifts of all kinds to the peoples of the world, especially the one great Gift.

"Merry Christmas" vs. "Happy Holidays"

I've been contacted already about the upcoming fight to keep the word "Christmas" in our holiday season. Buttons are being offered to me to wear to show an aggressive love for the "Christmas" word in order to let the world know that I will not neutralize the effect of Christ in the holidays.

I admire the people who sustain these drives to fight the alteration of our seasonal language, but one thing still itches and I cannot seem to scratch it. "Have a Merry Christmas" - we spend a lot of time protecting the sentence but very little in promoting the Savior.

Come now, tell me of an aggressive outreach taken by Christians during the holiday season. A Christmas cantata? A light display? A food plate?

2 Timothy 4:2 says "preach the word; be ready in season {and} out of season"...well, this is a season for sharing the Jesus we know and love. What kind of outreach do we have? Not to sound sarcastic, but is it limited to fighting over phrasing?

I'm outwardly seeking ways to give the truth of Jesus this Christmas season. I do it every year - it's my birthday present to the Savior. Please understand, I do agree with those who would defend our right to express a Jesus-first holiday. I'd just like us to give a reason for the fight.

God sends us a gift every morning

Of the many beautiful words in the Hebrew language, I find that "khesed" is one of my favorites.

Whenever we sink into depression or cry out for help to God, is He indifferent or even offended?

No. He responds with Khesed.

Khesed is one of four Hebrew words for love. Khesed is an overwhelming desire to give of your self to the other person, for their benefit, no matter what it costs you. Note in Psalm 42:8 - The Lord will command His khesed in the daytime.

It is His command to give this overpowering care for us through the struggles of the day. This is God’s command, that we be loved and cared for. Corrie Ten Boom’s father told her “Our Father in Heaven knows when you will need the strength to be a martyr for Jesus Christ. He will supply all you need - just in time."

He will do more than that - He will give you strength through His khesed to make one day at a time as well. It is more than a command. It’s also a “personal effort” by God to make sure we receive our personal attention. I believe I can use that phrase without any disrespect to our Father, since I can read Psalm 57:3 and see “He will send forth (literally stretch out, direct) from Heaven...He will direct His khesed ...” God extends Himself toward us, reaches out, so that we may feel His presence and sense His love.

Random thoughts

We're doing a study on Old Testament Hebrew words this week in school. There are treasures galore in the book that the Jewsih community calls the Tanakh. I will share some words int he next blogs to come.

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I grieve for the families of the little Amish girls who were shot in the rampage in Pennsylvania. I can only imagine the terror that these little girls went through as they were chained and shot. My good friends in the Amish community from years past showed a great strength in the Lord and I pray that God shows them a powerful closeness as never before.

Father, please give the families the peace found in Phil. 4:7 - a peace that passes all explanation; a peace that can only come from You.

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My book Fireside Psalms - an Advent devotional - is set for a November release in time for the Christmas holidays. We'll be having a booksigning at Cedar Springs Christian bookstore here in Knoxville on November 18th. I thank the Lord for this avenue of writing opening up and becoming possible.

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Jill and Sue Polson, wife of Pastor Sam Polson, have become walking buddies. They are planning on covering some serious miles of hiking each day (most of it in malls and walkways) while sharing prayer requests and spiritual encouragement. What a great idea!

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Speaking of exercise, I've now hit the six mile mark in my running efforts. I fell great - I haven't run this distance since college. I'm able to keep the pace at 47 years of age! Hope I don't keel over.

A brave heart in Kingston Tennessee

Just down the road from us is a city called Kingston, Tennessee. Within their public high school there was a moment of bravery and boldness that I must share with you. One of my fellow teachers here at CAK passed this one to me:

This is a statement that was read over the public address system at the football game at Roane County High School, Kingston, Tennessee, by school principal Jody McLeod.

''It has always been the custom at Roane County High School football games, to say a prayer and play the National Anthem, to honor God and Country.
''Due to a recent ruling by the Supreme Court, I am told that saying a prayer is a violation of Federal Case Law. As I understand the law at this time, I can use this public facility to approve of sexual perversion and call it "an alternative lifestyle," and if someone is offended, that's OK.
''I can use it to condone sexual promiscuity, by dispensing condoms and calling it 'safe sex.' If someone is offended, that's OK.
''I can even use this public facility to present the merits of killing an unborn baby as a 'viable means of birth control.' If someone is offended, no problem...
''I can designate a school day as 'Earth Day' and involve students in activities to worship religiously and praise the goddess 'Mother Earth' and call it 'ecology.'
''I can use literature, videos, and presentations in the classroom that depict people with strong, traditional Christian convictions as 'simple minded' and 'ignorant' and call it 'enlightenment.'
''However, if anyone uses this facility to honor God and to ask Him to bless this event with safety and good sportsmanship, the Federal Case Law is violated.
''This appears to be inconsistent at best, and at worst, diabolical. Apparently, we are to be tolerant to everything and anyone, except God and His commandments.
''Nevertheless, as a school principal, I frequently ask staff and students to abide by rules with which they do not necessarily agree. For me to do otherwise would be inconsistent at best, and at worst, hypocritical. I suffer from that affliction enough unintentionally. I certainly do not need to add an intentional transgression.
''For this reason, I shall 'Render until Caesar that which is Caesar's,' and refrain from praying at this time.
''However, if you feel inspired to honor, praise, and thank God and ask Him, in the name of Jesus, to bless this event, please feel free to do so. As far as I know, that's not against the law--yet."
~~~~~
One by one, the people in the stands bowed their heads, held hands with one another, and began to pray.
They prayed in the stands. They prayed in the team huddles. They prayerd at the concession stand and they prayed in the announcer's box.
Kingston, Tennessee, remembered what so many have forgotten. We are given the Freedom OF Religion, not the Freedom FROM Religion.

WHAT KIND OF MESSAGE?

I confronted a praise group who planned to perform before a Christian congregation. As I was placing my notes on the podium prapring to speak, I spotted two stacks of their music. On the right hand side of the podium was the praise music for the morning's service. On the left was the stack of secular music that they were secretly practicing early Sunday morning. Seems that they were going to moonlight somewhere in town... I have no problem with that - I DO however, have a problem with the lyrics I was reading from that particular left-handstack. Vulgar language; a worldview that was "gimme gimme"; suggestive lyrics about girls; mockery of authority and a "don't tell me wht to do" line of thinking ...this is what a Christian group is supposed to sing?

I confronted them about this hyprocrisy. They were running a serious danger of sending out a two-faced message to the congregation and the community at large. You're going to sing praise songs on Sunday but perform hedonisitic entertainment the rest of the week?

James 3:10-11 " Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?"


There seems to be a real ambivalence about total commitment in the area of following Christ. Read the words of the late Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

"...one thing is clear: (Jesus) did not go to the cross to ornament and embellish our life. If we wish to have him, then he demands the right to say something decisive about our entire life. We do not understand him if we arrange for him only a small compartment in our spiritual life... there are persons who would not even bother to take Christ seriously in the demand he makes on us by his question: 'Will you follow me wholeheartedly or not at all?'"