God Can Make a Way

Posted on March 30, 2017 by russellmckinney

One of the better-known stories from the book of Acts involves an angel breaking Peter out of a Roman prison. The story is found in Acts 12:1-19. Herod Agrippa had Peter arrested with the intention of trying him and executing him to gain favor with the Jewish religious leaders. However, lest he stir up the Jewish population to riot, Herod couldn’t carry out that trial and execution during the Jewish feast time of Passover and the following seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Consequently, Peter was left to languish in prison, awaiting his trial and certain execution, until the weeklong Feast of Unleavened Bread was completed.

Peter was kept in chains and guarded by four tetrads of Roman soldiers. Each tetrad consisted of four soldiers and the tetrads worked in rotating shifts. When Peter laid down to sleep at night, he slept in chains between two soldiers while two other soldiers guarded the prison door. His situation couldn’t have been more dire.

All that Peter had working in his favor were the constant prayers the church in Jerusalem were praying on his behalf. As things turned out, though, those prayers were enough as on the night before Peter’s trial and execution, God sent an angel to lead a jailbreak. While Peter was sleeping, the prison suddenly became filled with light as the angel appeared. The angel struck Peter on the side to awaken him, caused the chains to fall from his hands, told him to put on his garments, and then supernaturally walked him straight out of that prison without any guards seeing them. When Peter and the angel got to the iron gate that led out to the city of Jerusalem, the gate opened all by itself. The angel then accompanied Peter down the adjoining street before departing from him.

After the angel’s departure, Peter made his way to the nearby house of Mary (the mother of Mark) and knocked on the door. A group of Christians were gathered at Mary’s home to pray, and no doubt the top item on the prayer list that night was Peter’s scheduled trial and execution the next day. The way the story unfolds is somewhat humorous as it takes a while for Peter to convince those Christians that it’s really him and that they should open the door. They could believe that the man knocking on the door was Peter’s angel but they couldn’t believe it was actually Peter himself!

There are several details that are worth noting from this story. Here are four of them:

  1. Peter was sleeping soundly on the eve of his trial and execution. The angel actually had to strike him to awaken him. Obviously, Peter was at perfect peace either with living or dying. He must have had the same attitude that Paul would later express in Philippians 1:21: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
  2. Even though Peter, along with the other apostles, had previously been broken out of prison by an angel (Acts 5:17-42), Peter wasn’t expecting a repeat jailbreak that night. As evidence of that, he didn’t initially think the angel was real or that what was happening was actually taking place. Instead, he thought he was experiencing a vision. He didn’t realize that his jailbreak had literally occurred until he was out on the street and the angel had departed.
  3. The fact that those Christians had real trouble becoming convinced that it was actually Peter who was standing at their door proves that prayers prayed with imperfect faith can still produce the desired results if the requests are God’s will.
  4. The next day, after Herod Agrippa I had thoroughly questioned the soldiers who had been assigned to guard Peter, he had them put to death. We aren’t told if the entire group of sixteen were put to death or if it was just the four who were on duty the night of the escape, but either way it makes for an unpleasant part of the story. I can’t imagine that those Christians who prayed so earnestly for God to rescue Peter realized that their prayer request would lead to the deaths of at least four men. While I don’t mean to imply that those Christians were wrong to ask God to rescue Peter, all of us need to understand that our prayer requests, if granted by God, might produce unintended consequences – sometimes unpleasant ones.

In the end, though, the main thought that I’ll leave with you from this story is this: God can make a way where there seems to be no way. If He chooses to do so, He can fix your situation by natural means or by supernatural means, and He can do it by using people or angels. Whatever problem you are facing right now, it’s probably not as potentially fatal as the one Peter faced as he lay there asleep in that prison that night. And yet, God made a way for him where there didn’t seem to be a way. So, don’t underestimate what God can do. Remember that He is still on the throne, His angels still walk among us, and He still responds to prayer.

Posted in Adversity, Angels, Belief, Death, Faith, Fear, God's Provision, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, Needs, Prayer, Prayer Requests, Problems, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Man Who Had to Lose His Eyes to See

Posted on March 28, 2017 by russellmckinney

It’s a shame that many people won’t become spiritually broken unless some type of tragedy happens to them. Samson is a classic case in point. He was Israel’s strongman, the champion of the tribe of Dan and the slayer of Philistines. He was a man of faith (Hebrews 11:32-33) who served as one of Israel’s Judges for twenty years during the era before Israel had a king (Judges 15:20). He was fearless and daring, a true legend in his own time. Unfortunately, he was also unbroken, narcissistic, quick tempered, and downright scandalous.

When the Angel of the Lord (an Old Testament, preincarnate appearance of Jesus) appeared to Samson’s barren mother, Manoah, and told her she was going to give birth to a son, the Angel instructed her that the child should be a Nazarite from the womb (Judges 13:5). This meant that Samson was to live his life under the Nazarite vow that was a part of the Mosaic law (Numbers 6:1-8). Anyone taking this vow was required to separate himself completely from the fruit of the grapevine. This included separate from all alcoholic beverages, vinegar, wine, grape juice, fresh grapes, and even raisins. A Nazarite was also supposed to let his hair grow uncut and keep far away from the dead bodies of not only people but also animals. Typically, someone taking this vow would uphold it for thirty days. According to the Angel of the Lord’s word to Manoah, however, Samson’s vow was to last for the duration of his life.

The truth is, though, that Samson never seemed to mind ignoring his Nazarite vow. As evidence of this, he ate honey from a nest some honey bees had built inside the carcass of a lion he had killed earlier (Judges 14:5-9). He even gave some of the honey to his father and mother without telling them that he had broken his Nazarite vow by reaching inside the carcass to get that honey.

Even worse, Samson simply could not contain his lust for non-Jewish women. His trouble with such women began when he got engaged to a Philistine girl from Timnah. This engagement violated the Mosaic law’s prohibition against Jews marrying women from idolatrous races (Deuteronomy 7:1-3).

Samson was actually fortunate that the girl’s father married her off to Samson’s best man before her marriage to Samson could be consummated (Judges 14:1-20). But Samson didn’t see it that way. Instead, he took his revenge by setting ablaze the Philistines’ grain fields, vineyards, and olive groves (Judges 15:1-5). That, in turn, led the Philistines to burn both the father and the girl to death for causing them trouble with Samson (Judges 15:6).

The Philistines also tried to arrest Samson so they could put him to death, but he used the jawbone of a freshly dead donkey as a weapon to kill 1,000 Philistines (Judges 15:15-17). Of course, Samson using that jawbone meant that he again violated his Nazarite vow by touching yet another dead body. I guess we can classify that victory over the Philistines as God hitting a straight lick with a very crooked stick.

Some years later Samson went to the Philistine city of Gaza and had sexual relations with a harlot (Judges 16:1). The Philistines laid in wait to kill him the following morning, but he arose at midnight and easily escaped them by performing another miraculous display of strength (Judges 16:2-3). Ah, but Samson just couldn’t stay away from those forbidden women, and it wasn’t long afterward that he fell in love with another one. Her name was Delilah, and she would prove to be his undoing (Judges 16:4).

It was Delilah who betrayed Samson by nagging him into telling her the secret of his strength, lulling him to sleep, and calling for a man to sneak in and cut off his hair (Judges 16:5-20). The lost hair symbolized Samson’s lost God-given strength, and that lost strength allowed the Philistines to capture him, bore out his eyes, and make him a chained, pitiable object of public humiliation (Judges 16:21). Ironically, however, that was the tragedy that finally led to Samson’s spiritual brokenness and allowed him, with his dying act, to kill more Philistines than he had killed over the course of his entire life. (Judges 16:22-31). Summing up the situation, we might say that Samson had to lose his eyes before he could finally see clearly enough to do his greatest work for the Lord.

There are several spiritual principles that we can glean from Samson’s story, but here is perhaps the best one: Even if you are a servant of the Lord, you can’t dabble with sin and not eventually pay a price. Like a coiled rattlesnake, sin will strike you sooner or later and in so doing get you with its poison. As the old saying goes, sin will take you where you don’t want to go, keep you there longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you can afford to pay. Consider this post a warning to you if you think you can play around with sin and not get burned. Samson had to lose his eyes before he could see the truth, and may the same not be true with you.

Posted in Addiction, Backsliding, Brokenness, Character, Choices, Confession, Depravity, Desires, Disobedience, God's Chastening, God's Work, Personal Holiness, Rebellion, Repentance, Separation, Sex, Sin, Sowing and Reaping, Submission, Temptation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Why I Don’t Fill Out a NCAA Bracket

Posted on March 24, 2017 by russellmckinney

Well, it’s March, which means that a whole bunch of people will be enjoying the games of the NCAA basketball tournament. We don’t call it “March Madness” for nothing! For many people, half the fun of the tournament is trying to predict the outcome of the games by filling out a complete bracket even before the tournament begins. Some fill out their bracket as a harmless amusement, with no money involved. Others, however, bring gambling into the equation and thus rob the realm of college athletics of whatever innocence it still retains.

I myself don’t fill out a bracket. I did for years, but it’s now been quite a while since I filled out my last one. Back when I did do one, it was always just amusement to me. I never made $1 on a NCAA tournament game, but I never lost $1 either. At some point along the line, though, I stopped filling out a bracket. And what was my reason for stopping? I stopped because me worrying about my bracket was preventing me from enjoying the games.

I’m a North Carolina State fan. That goes back to when I was eight years old watching David Thompson, Tommy Burleson, Monte Towe, etc. win the 1974 NCAA tournament championship. I was also fully on board when N.C. State won the tournament in 1983, my junior year in high school. That was the “Cardiac Pack” team that seemingly tried to give their fans heart attacks by playing so many close games. I was one of those fans who experienced a lot of undue stress on my heart that March.

So, let’s say that N.C. State makes the NCAA tournament and plays Kentucky. On my bracket, I’ve got Kentucky winning and advancing to the next round, but with every fiber of my being I want N.C. State to win. This creates a conflict of interest for me as I sit down to watch the game. On the one hand, if N.C. State wins, I’ll be thrilled. On the other hand, that thrill will be dampened by that outcome messing up my predicted bracket. That dampening will be made even worse if I had Kentucky advancing two or three more rounds into the tournament.

Believe it or not, we are actually getting into a life principle here. The principle goes like this: As long as you remain emotionally detached from something, you can’t be hurt by it. You see, the potential for hurt only comes into play when you get personally involved in a situation and start investing feelings and emotion into it. This means that as long as I remain an uncommitted “island unto myself,” who just happens to be sitting and watching a basketball game, I can’t get hurt by the outcome of the game. But the second I start pulling for one particular team to win, I open the door for the possibility of me getting hurt.

At first glance, this appears to make me living as an “island unto myself” the better way to go. Ah, but the problem with living such a life is that it really isn’t God’s plan for me or anyone else. As Exhibit A of this, I submit the life of Jesus. If His life proves nothing else, it proves that God the Son was not content to sit in His ivory tower of heaven and keep Himself isolated from a human race that had become ruined by its progenitor’s fall into sin. That’s why Jesus opened Himself up to the potential for hurt by becoming a fetus in the womb of the virgin Mary, being born into this world, and living for 33 years in it.

And did Jesus get hurt by doing that? Yes, He did. As a matter of fact, He was put to death by way of crucifixion, something that wouldn’t have happened had He remained in heaven. Does this mean, then, that He made a mistake by getting personally involved with the human race? No. By getting involved, specifically by being put to death, He was able to make a way for anyone who voluntarily believes in Him as Savior to experience a heavenly afterlife of eternal bliss, happiness, and joy.

This is clear evidence that there is an upside to dropping your guard and getting emotionally involved. Sure, you might get hurt, but you might also do incalculable good. No one is denying that getting involved is a hit-and-miss proposition, but in the long run the pain and disappointments of the misses (as bad as they might be) can be outdone by the joy and blessings of the hits.

Of course, as I sit here and write this I’m struck by my hypocrisy. Remember that I said that I don’t fill out a NCAA bracket because I don’t want to become emotionally involved with the outcomes of the games and thus open myself up to the possibility of being hurt by those outcomes. That certainly keeps me all safe and snug as I sit in my living room and watch the games, doesn’t it? But is that really how to enjoy the NCAA tournament to the fullest? Surely it isn’t.

So, right now I’m thinking that I might actually fill out a bracket some year, maybe next March. I can see it all now. I’ll have N.C. State beating the Duke Blue Devils in the final-four round. Then they will beat the UNC Tarheels in the championship game. Yep, that will work. Sounds great. Hand me my pen.

Then again, N.C. State might not be good enough to even make the tournament next year. Truth be told, there’s a greater likelihood of that happening than there is of them beating Duke and Carolina to win it all. Uh oh, I think I already feel a tinge of hurt building inside me. I sure do wish that God would stop throwing me into the fray of life, expecting me to live life to the fullest, with its roller-coaster ride of ups and down, thrills and disappointments, joys and pains. If He’s going to do that, wouldn’t you think that He could at least make N.C. State a basketball powerhouse? That would definitely help.

Posted in Christ's Birth, Christ's Death, Current Events, Disappointment, Doing Good, Fear, Gambling, God's Will, God's Work, Human Life, Humor, Influence, Ministry, Personal, Salvation, Service, Sports, Witnessing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Nobody killed me. I had a wreck.”

Posted on March 22, 2017 by russellmckinney

Twenty-five-year-old Jamie Peavy had a job working at a barbecue restaurant. One day, after work, she got in her pickup and drove to meet a friend. She tried a new route that day, thinking it would be a shortcut. What she didn’t know was that the road was under construction, and she ended up driving her truck down into a ditch that was ten feet deep and filled with water in the area of the Dallas-Fort Worth airport.

For approximately 60 hours (two-and-a-half days), Peavy remained trapped inside her pickup with her legs pinned and the steering wheel keeping her upper body pressed tightly up against the seat. She knew that no one else would be foolish enough to drive down that road while it was under construction. Even if they did, her truck was hard to spot down there in that deep ditch. So, she figured that she would be dead before anyone ever found her. The only thing she had going for her was the fact that she could move her arms a bit. That allowed her to scribble a small note to her friends and family. The note read: “Nobody killed me. I had a wreck.”

Fortunately for Peavy, her story didn’t have a fatal ending. After those two-and-a-half days, an airport worker happened to get close enough to hear her faint voice saying, “Hey, help me.” The worker went to investigate and found Peavy still clinging to life. A rescue was begun, and Peavy lived to tell about her terrible ordeal.

The fact is, though, that many a person has a life story that could be summed up with the words: “Nobody killed me. I had a wreck.” Fatal “wrecks” happen all the time. They go by names such as: alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling, adultery, pornography, homosexuality, greed, lying, theft, idolatry, murder, pride, stubbornness, refusing to forgive, etc. These sins and others surely have the potential to leave you wrecked in a figurative ditch.

Here’s hoping that you don’t ever find yourself in such a ditch, but if you do, that’s the time for you to surrender yourself 100% to Jesus Christ and cry out to Him for help. In Psalm 40:2, David provides us with a helpful word about what the Lord can do in the life of a person who yields himself or herself to Him, and it’s a word I’ll leave with you right now. David says of the Lord:

He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. (N.K.J.V.)

Posted in Addiction, Adultery, Alcohol, Backsliding, Confession, Conviction, Drugs, Extending Forgiveness, Gambling, God's Love, Greed, Guilt, Lying, Pride, Rebellion, Repentance, Sin, Submission, Temptation | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Kicking at the Goads

Posted on March 20, 2017 by russellmckinney

When the risen Jesus met Saul of Tarsus – who would become the apostle Paul – on the Damascus road, one of the things He told Saul was, “It is hard for you to kick against the goads” (Acts 9:5). At the time, Saul was “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1) and was on his way to Damascus to locate any followers of Jesus and bring them back in chains to Jerusalem (Acts 22:4-5). These arrests would be in line with Saul making “havoc of the church, entering every house and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison” (Acts 8:3).

Saul had the legal right to do all this because he was operating under the auspices of the Jewish High Priest and the Sanhedrin (the Jewish ruling council). At the time, Saul was one of the most promising young Pharisees in Jerusalem (Acts 26:4-5). He was “a Hebrew of the Hebrews” (Philippians 3:5) who had studied under Gamaliel, the famous rabbi (Acts 22:3). Saul had devoted his life to the Jewish law and to zealously living out the Jewish religion of Judaism. In his way of thinking, Jesus had been a false Messiah and those who continued to promote His cause even after His crucifixion needed to be stopped at all costs.

But what did Jesus mean when He told Saul, “It is hard for you to kick against the goads”? Well, a goad was a pointed instrument that was used to prod livestock to go where they didn’t want to go, and sometimes an animal would kick back against the goad. Accordingly, in the case of Saul, God was prodding him with a goad to get him to change his direction in life but Saul was kicking back hard against that goad.

This raises the question: What was the goad that God was using on Saul to get him to change his course? The answer is: the martyr’s death by public stoning that Stephen had recently died just outside Jerusalem. Saul himself had been a player in that stoning. Some believe that Saul was a member of the Sanhedrin council that had ordered the execution, but even if he wasn’t, he had certainly been in agreement with the Sanhedrin’s verdict (Acts 8:1). He himself hadn’t thrown any rocks, but he had looked after the garments of those who had pulled off their cloaks to do so (Acts 7:58).

In other words, Saul had been a personal eyewitness to Stephen’s execution. He had heard Stephen’s powerful defense of himself, a defense that had retraced much of Israel’s history (Acts 7:1-53). He had heard Stephen say at the trial, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” (Acts 7:56). He had heard Stephen pray, even as the rocks had begun to fly, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59). And he had heard Stephen request with his dying words, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin” (Acts 7:60).

Saul had been running on too much raw emotion at the trial and the stoning to let all of this affect him, but ever since then his conscience hadn’t let him forget the way Stephen had died. No one will die for what they know to be a lie, and yet Stephen had died singing the praises of Jesus. This was the goad with which God had been prodding Saul since Stephen’s death.

Saul’s problem was that, like a raging animal, he had been kicking against the goading. Rather than admit that he was on the wrong side of this “Jesus thing,” he had stubbornly doubled down on his wrong mindset. Years later, he would admit to causing the imprisonment and subsequent deaths of many Christians (Acts 26:10-11) and say of himself, “I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it” (Galatians 1:13).

That’s how it works with goads of conviction. If you kick at them and refuse to change your course you will instead start running all the harder in your wrong direction. I’ve seen it happen time and time again in peoples’ lives. God brings them under conviction over their sins but rather than yield to that conviction and repent of those sins, these folks plunge even deeper into the sins. You see, the thing about goads of conviction is that once God starts prodding you with them, your situation will have to change one way or the other. You’ll either yield and in so doing go God’s way or you’ll refuse to yield and in so doing go your way all the harder. What you won’t do is remain the same.

So, I ask you right now: Is God currently prodding you with some goads of conviction in an attempt to get you to change your course? And if He is, how are you responding to those goads? Are you giving into them and making the necessary changes in your life? Or are you stubbornly kicking back against the goads and picking up speed in your wrong direction?

Posted in Backsliding, Change, Choices, Conscience, Conviction, Disobedience, Dying To Self, God's Chastening, God's Guidance, God's Will, Guilt, Obedience, Rebellion, Repentance, Sin, Submission | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

God’s Terms of Salvation

Posted on March 18, 2017 by russellmckinney

A businessman was trying to win his banker acquaintance to Jesus. After the businessman had shared the story of Christ’s virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary death, and victorious resurrection, he pressed the banker to believe in Jesus as Savior. The banker, however, was appalled at the whole concept of such a plan of salvation. He asked the businessman, “Are you telling me that Jesus died on the cross to pay for my sins and that me getting into heaven has nothing to do with my own efforts other than believing in Him as Savior?” The businessman said, “Yes, that’s right.” To that the banker replied, “That’s crazy. I just don’t believe that getting into heaven works like that. It has to have something to do with me living the right kind of life.”

At that point the businessman could see that he wasn’t getting anywhere, and so he decided to try a different approach, one to which the banker could relate. He said to the banker, “Okay, suppose a man comes into your office today and says, ‘Mr. Banker, I need your bank to loan me some money.’ Tell me, who would have the right to set the terms of that loan – you or the man who needs the loan?” The banker replied, “I would.” “Well then,” said the businessman, “you need to think of God as the great Banker and you as the one who needs the salvation. You don’t get to dictate the terms of that salvation; HE DOES.” It was then that the banker understood the error of his thinking, came under conviction over the sinful manner in which he had so arrogantly rejected God’s offer of salvation through Jesus, and placed his belief in Jesus as his personal Savior.

Of course, the great thing about salvation is that it is not a “loan” that must be paid back. Neither is it a down payment after which the one who takes out the loan must keep up the monthly payments or else forfeit the down payment. No, salvation is a gift, pure and simple, and like any gift it can only be accepted or rejected. The moment it becomes “pay” or a “reward” it ceases to be a gift.

Jesus, through His death on the cross, purchased the gift for you and now offers it to you to either accept or reject. Just as the way to accept the gift is to accept Him by placing your belief in Him as Savior, the way to reject the gift is to reject Him by refusing to place your belief in Him as Savior. Those are God’s terms of salvation, and you, like that banker, must make a choice concerning them. What you can’t do is rework the terms.

Posted in Assurance of Salvation, Belief, Choices, Christ's Birth, Christ's Death, Christ's Resurrection, Eternal Security, Evangelism, Grace, Heaven, Salvation, The Gospel, Witnessing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How Would You Describe Your Walk With the Lord These Days?

Posted on March 16, 2017 by russellmckinney

Vance Havner, the renowned preacher, once told the story of a writer who knew an elderly lady who loved to give her testimony in church. The lady would always begin by saying, “Forty years ago…” After hearing her do that many times, the writer said, “I felt like asking her, ‘Lady, hasn’t anything happened since?'” Havner then played off the illustration to say:

We thank God for the happy day that fixed our choice on Him as our Savior and our God, but there should be more happy days all along. Christian lives sometimes become like some married lives — they get to where there is nothing left but anniversaries.

I’m going to ask you a few questions, and I’ll trust you to give honest answers to them:

  • What is your spiritual condition right now?
  • How is your faith in Christ right now?
  • How is your trust in Him right now?
  • How is your confidence in Him right now?
  • Are you currently overjoyed about the way God the Father is running the universe or do you currently find yourself somehow disappointed in Him, perhaps even mad at Him?
  • Have you seen some prayer requests met recently or has it been a while?
  • Are you happy serving Christ or has it become more like clocking in for work?

I myself have enjoyed some mountaintop experiences with Jesus. Then again, I’ve endured some valley experiences with Him. There have been times in my life when serving Him was the greatest passion of my life. Conversely, there have been other times when I was hurt at Him, disappointed in Him, and (I’ll admit it) downright ticked off at Him. I’ve seen prayer requests answered the same day I made them. On the other hand, I’ve seen plenty of times when my prayer life seemed to have no effect at all upon my daily life. And my guess is, all of that makes me normal.

One thing I don’t do, though, is dwell on spiritual anniversaries. Even though I remember the day I got saved, I don’t remember the exact date. Even though I remember the evening I got baptized, I don’t know that exact date, either. Even though I remember the time of my life when the Lord called me to preach, I can’t pinpoint an exact moment when I yielded to that call. Rather than dwell on what happened umpteen years ago, I just get up each day and try to submit myself to Jesus afresh and anew that day.

I once met with the pulpit committee of a church that is located on the North Carolina coast. I saw their pastoral vacancy in an online ad, submitted my resume, and made the cut down to their last three candidates from a stack of resumes. At that point, their pulpit committee asked me to drive down to Denver, NC, and meet with them in the conference room of a hotel.

The interview went fine as those things go, but in the end the committee chose another candidate over me. That stung a little, but it wasn’t the first time I had been turned down by a pulpit committee. However, the one thing I remember the most about that meeting was a question one of those fellows asked me as a part of the interview. He looked me squarely in the eye and asked, “How would you describe your walk with the Lord these days?”

I’ve gotta tell you, that question struck me like a harpoon that day. It did so because at that particular moment in my life I was still reeling from a time when the Lord had allowed our local high school football coaches to perpetrate some downright evil stuff on my oldest son, Ryan, in the realm of athletics. I’m not talking about physical abuse or anything like that, but I am talking about emotional, mental, and psychological abuse. I won’t go into all the gory details, but suffice is to say that it had been by far the worst experience of not only Ryan’s young life but also the lives of his parents.

And what had made the experience all the worse had been the fact that during it all Tonya and I had begged the Lord each day to deal with those men and right their wrongdoing. In the end, though, God just hadn’t done it and that had really hurt our faith, trust, and confidence in Him. So, as I was still trying to process all of that hurt and disappointment with God, I drove down to Denver that day and had that man ask me out of the clear blue, “How would you describe your walk with the Lord these days?”

Now, I could have painted some glowing, flowery picture about the awesome times the Lord and I had recently been having. In other words, I could have lied. But, instead, I just gave the man an honest answer. I started out with something like, “Well, right now I am coming out of the hardest time I’ve ever had in my walk with the Lord.” Then I went from there.

Did my answer cost me the opportunity to pastor that church? Possibly. I prefer to think, though, that a pulpit committee member insightful enough to ask such a probing question was appreciative of an answer that was obviously genuine. Regardless of whether my answer hurt or helped my cause that day, what I can say with certainty is that I don’t regret telling the truth. If I had lied and become the pastor of that church, I’d have felt like I got the job by way of false pretenses.

Anyway, my purpose in writing this post is to motivate you to set aside some time to do a thorough spiritual assessment of where you are with Jesus Christ right now. Ask yourself, “What is my spiritual condition at this very moment?” You see, what I’m doing is playing the role in your life that pulpit committee member played in mine that day. I’m looking at you and asking, “How would you describe your walk with the Lord these days?”

Speaking from personal experience, I can tell you that if you will drop your guard long enough to be REAL about your answer, you will then be able to talk things over with the Lord in prayer and in so doing take your prayer life to a much deeper level. Never forget that the Lord doesn’t want anything fake from you, and whatever difficult conversations you need to have with Him, He is more than willing to have them. I’m not saying those prayers will be pleasant and leave you feeling like you’re ready to take on the world, but I am saying they will keep your walk with the Lord authentic and fresh. Most importantly, they will keep you moving forward with Him, and that’s infinitely better than becoming locked in place concerning some experience (either a good one or a bad one) that happened to you way back there sometime in your past.

Posted in Adversity, Belief, Children, Depression, Disappointment, Doubt, Faith, Family, Fatherhood, Honesty, Loneliness, Parenting, Personal, Personal Holiness, Prayer, Prayer Requests, Problems, Sports, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The Temporary Victim

Posted on March 14, 2017 by russellmckinney

When Joseph’s older brothers sold him into slavery a series of events was initiated by which God, over the course of 13 years, caused Joseph to become the second highest ruler in Egypt. Nine years later, after Joseph’s brothers had come to Egypt seeking grain during an intense famine, Joseph revealed himself to them. That revealing and the events that followed it allowed the entire family to be reconciled in Egypt. The climax of the story came when Joseph said of his brothers selling him into slavery:

But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring about as it is this day, to save many people alive. (Genesis 50:20, N.K.J.V.)

This quote from Joseph is the Old Testament version of Romans 8:28, which says to Christians:

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (N.K.J.V.)

It is fair to say that Joseph was a victim because, unquestionably, he was victimized by the actions of his brothers. However, it is also fair to say that he didn’t remain a victim. Unlike so many people who have wrongs done to them, Joseph didn’t allow himself to bathe in self-pity and self-centeredness. Rather than fade into bitterness and isolation, he made the best of his new life in Egypt.

How was Joseph able to do this? The answer is simple: his faith in God. Joseph knew that God was big enough to take the evil that had been done to him and actually use it as building blocks to accomplish His good purposes in Joseph’s life.

As is the case with so many scriptural truths, the greatest example of this one can be found in the life of Jesus. The Jewish religious leaders and the Romans were in sin when they worked in unison to get Jesus crucified. That’s why Jesus’ first words as He hung on the cross were, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). Nevertheless, even as Jesus was uttering those words, He already knew that God the Father was going to use His death on that cross as the means by which the sins of the entire human race could potentially be forgiven (1 John 2:1-2).

You see, God the Father, in His perfect omniscience and foreknowledge, saw the sinful actions of those Jews and Romans far in advance. How far in advance did He see them? According to Revelation 13:8, He saw them before the foundation of the world! And it was that unfathomable foreknowledge that allowed Him to devise a plan whereby He would use all that evil to accomplish His good purpose of providing a path of salvation for sinners. As Peter says in Acts 2:23, Jesus was “delivered (to the cross) by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God.” 

So, was Joseph a victim? Yes, he was but only temporarily. In the end, God used the evil done to Joseph to transform him from victim to victor. Likewise, was Jesus a victim? Yes, he was but only temporarily. In the end, God the Father used the evil done to Jesus to transform Him from victim to victor. And are you a victim if someone has sinfully wronged you? Yes, you are. The key, though, is to see yourself as a temporary victim rather than a permanent one and claim God’s promise that He will use the evil done to you to transform you from victim to victor.

Posted in Adversity, Attitude, Christ's Death, Comfort, Complaining, Disappointment, Encouragement, Faith, God's Omnipotence, God's Foreknowledge, God's Omniscience, God's Sovereignty, God's Work, Patience, Persecution, Perseverance, Problems, Restoration, Revenge, Reward, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

God: Your Captain

Posted on March 12, 2017 by russellmckinney

Thomas Stevenson was the father of Robert Louis Stevenson, the famous author. That in itself will get you a brief mention in the history books. Actually, though, Thomas was a touch famous himself, especially in his day. His fame came from his groundbreaking innovations in lighthouse designs. In all, he designed more than thirty lighthouses around the rocky coastlines of Scotland.

One stormy night, Thomas Stevenson was aboard a ship that was drifting perilously along a dangerous coastline. He and the other passengers were below deck, and they were all panicked with fear, certain the ship was going to be bashed against the rocks at any moment. When Stevenson couldn’t take the suspense any longer, he went up on deck to examine the situation for himself. There he saw the ship’s captain standing tall and firm with his hands firmly at the ship’s helm as he fought inch by inch to turn the ship away from the rocks. When the captain noticed Stevenson, he just gave Stevenson a smile and carried on with his business. But that smile was enough to calm Stevenson’s fears. Stevenson then went back down to the other passengers and said, “It is all right; I have seen the captain’s face, and he smiled.”

Perhaps today, Christian, you find yourself in some kind of frightening storm and you are thoroughly convinced that your ship is going to be broken up against the rocks. My question to you is, “Have you gone up top and consulted God about your situation?” He is, after all, the Captain of your life.

Isaiah 6:1 opens up with the prophet Isaiah reporting that Judah’s King Uzziah has died. Uzziah had become king when he was 16 and had reigned for 52 years (2 Chronicles 26:3). He wasn’t perfect – there even came a time when his pride caused God to strike him with leprosy (2 Chronicles 26:16-21) – but he is generally described as being one of Judah’s better kings.

For the purposes of Isaiah 6:1, though, the thing to understand is that a long-reigning king has died and his death has brought the people of his kingdom, including Isaiah, to a new era. It’s not that the people of Judah don’t know who their next king will be. The new king will be Uzziah’s son, Jotham, who has been reigning with his father as coregent ever since Uzziah became a leper (2 Chronicles 26:21-22). The issue is that the people are now in uncharted territory. Many of them have never known a time when Uzziah wasn’t their king and they are now asking questions. What will the future hold? Will Jotham be a good king? Will their lives get better or worse under him?

Sometime in the middle of all of these transitional worries, Isaiah goes into the temple in Jerusalem and has a vision. In Isaiah 6:1-4, he writes:

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim (a seraph is a type of angel); each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. (N.K.J.V., explanation mine)

This scene is awesome enough to make the godly Isaiah say:

Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. (Isaiah 6:5, N.K.J.V.)

Be sure to notice that last part of Isaiah’s quote. He says, “…my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” I don’t have to tell you that he’s not talking about Uzziah or Jotham there! You see, Isaiah’s vision reminded him that the true, eternal King was still on His throne. Yes, Uzziah was dead, and, yes, Judah’s future was looking a bit cloudy at the moment, but everything was perfectly fine in heaven. There was no fear, panic, or worry there. God was still firmly in control of His creation.

And, Christian, what you need to realize right now is that the same mighty God who Isaiah saw sitting upon His heavenly throne is still seated upon that throne (Revelation 4:1-11). He’s not dead, old, past His prime, or perplexed by your situation. Like the captain of Thomas Stevenson’s ship that night, God is faithfully manning the helm of your life, and nothing is going to happen to you that doesn’t first pass through the loving hands of what He will allow and won’t allow to happen. Therefore, take heart because your King is still high and lifted up on His throne and your Captain is still steering your ship’s wheel through the teeth of your storm.

Posted in Adversity, Angels, Comfort, Courage, Death, Decisions, Depression, Encouragement, Faith, Fear, God's Holiness, God's Love, God's Omnipotence, God's Omnipresence, God's Guidance, God's Omniscience, God's Provision, God's Sovereignty, Heaven, Perseverance, Problems, Trials, Trusting In God, Worry, Worship | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

John Wesley’s Pound Notes

Posted on March 10, 2017 by russellmckinney

This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. (Titus 3:8, N.K.J.V.)

The great preacher/evangelist John Wesley heard of an associate who was having serious financial problems. Wesley wrote the man a note that quoted Psalm 37:3. The note read:

Dear Sammy,

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.”

Yours affectionately,

John Wesley

Wesley then placed the note, along with several English pound notes, in an envelope and mailed it.

A few days later, he received the following reply:

Rev. and Dear Sir:

I have often been struck with the beauty of this passage of Scripture quoted in your letter, but I must confess I never saw such beautiful expository notes as those you enclosed…

An encouraging word. A heartening phone call. A complimentary email. An uplifting text. A nice Facebook comment. A sweet card. A kind letter. A check mailed. A “$100 handshake.” A meal. A visit. An act of service. These are all “good works” that are “good and profitable to men.”

Christian, someone you know right now needs you to live out Titus 3:8. I have no idea who it is, and I have no idea what God wants you to do for them, but if you will simply open your heart to God’s will and seek His mind on how to carry out that will, He will make your job clear. “Sammys” are everywhere, but unfortunately there aren’t enough “John Wesleys” to go around.

Posted in Doing Good, Encouragement, Giving, God's Guidance, God's Will, God's Work, Influence, Ministry, Money, Needs, Service | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment