What Does the Bible Teach About Drinking Alcohol? (2)

Posted on October 12, 2011 by russellmckinney

In the previous post, I said some things about wine in the Bible. Here now, with this post, I want to do the same concerning “strong drink.” In case you don’t know, “strong drink” is different from wine.

The Hebrew word that gets translated as “strong drink” is shekar. It is used a little over twenty times in the Old Testament. The New Testament equivalent of the Hebrew shekar is the Greek sikera, and it is used just once in the New Testament (Luke 1:15).

I’m generalizing here a bit, but I think we can basically employ two broad categories of alcoholic beverages. One category is “wine” and the other one is “strong drink” (beer, liquor, etc.) For the record, there are three other Hebrew words that the classic K.J.V. translation renders as “liquor” or “liquors.” They are mishrah (Numbers 6:3), mezeg (Song of Solomon 7:2), and dema (Exodus 22:29). However, all of these words can rightly come under the heading “strong drink” without doing any harm to their meaning.

And so, what does the Bible say about strong drink? Does it allow for any drinking of such beverages? Well, you might be surprised to learn that it does. The passage is Deuteronomy 14:22-26. Let me lay the groundwork for it.

These verses are part of that body of law that gave to Israel, and they specifically relate to Israel’s tithing. I won’t take the time to trace down every detail of what the law taught about tithing, but I will point out that the law called for the paying of three separate tithes. These were the “Levite’s tithe” (Numbers 18:21-24), the “poor tithe” (Deuteronomy 14:28-29), and the “festival tithe” (Deuteronomy 14:22-26). It’s the “festival tithe” that we want to examine more closely.

Each year a Jew was to round up a tithe (tenth) of the yearly increase he had seen from farming. This included his grain, new wine, oil, and the firstborn of his flocks and herds. He was then to take all that tithe to the tabernacle. Once there, he and his family were to eat a feast out of that tithe. Whatever was left over from the feast went to the Levites, Israel’s priestly tribe. (When the temple was ultimately built to take the place of the tabernacle, the “festival tithe” was to be taken there and eaten.)

Now, some Jews lived many miles from the site of the tabernacle, and that made paying the “festival tithe” difficult for them. God understood this. That’s why He built a plan B into the law. By law, if a Jew lived far away from the tabernacle, he could gather together his “festival tithe,” sell all the items for a fair price, and then take the money to the tabernacle. Once there, he was to use the money to buy whatever his heart desired for his feast before the Lord.

Here now is where we come to our verse. Read it carefully and see if you notice anything:

And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household. (Deuteronomy 14:26, K.J.V, emphasis mine)

In case you are wondering, the Hebrew word that is translated there as “strong drink” is indeed shekar, which means that the translation is thoroughly correct. So, right about now, you might be saying, “Russell, are you telling me that God’s holy law actually allowed a Jew to drink not only wine but also strong drink as a part of a feast at the tabernacle, the most holy site in all Israel, the site where God manifested His presence?” Yes, that’s what I’m telling you.

Let me shock you even more. The Holman Christian Standard translation and older versions of the New Living Translation even translate shekar in Deuteronomy 14:26 as “beer” rather than “strong drink.” Drinking beer and wine at the tabernacle? With God’s approval no less? You got it.

Okay, with that said, is there any other Bible passage that allows for the consumption of “strong drink”? Yes, there is. Proverbs 31:6-7 says this:

Give strong drink (shekar) unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. (N.K.J.V.)

Of course, some people contend that this passage’s call to give “strong drink” was exclusively meant for medicinal purposes to ease the intense pain of the one at death’s door. This would be akin to the way today’s hospitals give morphine to the dying. But what do we do with the call to give wine to those that be of heavy hearts? After all, having a heavy heart isn’t exactly a terminal condition. Also, the last part of the passage talks about drinking to forget your poverty and misery. That’s a far cry from drinking to relieve the pain of a medical problem.

In closing, I feel like I should mention that I never drink anything stronger than Dr. Pepper. So, trust me, I haven’t written all this to justify, rationalize, or explain my own imbibing of beer, wine, or liquor. No, I’ve written it in an attempt to be honest and legitimate about what the Bible teaches about drinking “strong drink.” Is this all that needs to be said on the subject? No, it isn’t. Along those lines, my next post will deal with certain restrictions to drinking wine and “strong drink” as well as the sin of getting drunk off either. But, for now, I’ll stop right here because I trust that I’ve made the point that I was trying to make with this post.

Posted in Addiction, Alcohol, Choices, Christian Liberty, Personal Holiness, Series: "What Does the Bible Teach About Drinking Alcohol?" | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

What Does the Bible Teach About Drinking Alcohol? (1)

Posted on October 11, 2011 by russellmckinney

One of the more passionately debated Biblical topics is that of the drinking of alcoholic beverages. Does the Bible make some allowance for such drinking or does it forbid it altogether? This is a question to which I’d like to devote several posts. For this first one, I’ll deal with what the Bible says about drinking wine.

I should begin by pointing out that the Bible uses the word “wine” well over two hundred times, and it offers many different Old Testament Hebrew and New Testament Greek words for wine. The Hebrew words are: yayin, tiyrosh, raaph, chamar, mamcak, cobe, aciyc, enab, and shemer. The Greek words are oinos and gleukos. The most used Hebrew word is yayin, which is used over 130 times. The most used Greek word is oinos, which is used over 30 times.

And is the “wine” of the Bible alcoholic (fermented, as opposed to being mere grape juice)? Yes, it is. Do you remember that I said that yayin is the Old Testament’s most common word for wine? Well, it was yayin that got Noah drunk (Genesis 9:21). Do you remember that I said that oinos is the New Testament’s most common? Well, Ephesians 5:18 says: “And do not be drunk with wine (oinos)…” You can’t get drunk on grape juice.

What we have to understand is that wine was as common to the Jewish way of life as milkshakes are to ours. I went with milkshakes because the Jews didn’t drink wine for their typical meals like they did water or milk. They usually saved it for special occasions such as feasts and celebrations (Genesis 14:18; 27:25; 2 Samuel 13:28; John 2:1-10). But make no mistake, wine was common to them. Let me offer three evidences of that.

First, the Jews saw wine as nothing less than a symbol of God’s blessing. When Isaac pronounced his patriarchal blessing upon Jacob, part of it was that God would give Jacob “plenty of grain and wine” (Genesis 27:28). Moses told the Jews that if they would faithfully obey the law that God had given them they would receive great blessings, and some of those blessings would be “your grain and your new wine and your oil” (Deuteronomy 7:13). Also, Psalm 104:15 clearly lists wine as a blessing on par with oil and bread. (By the way, that verse describes wine as that which “makes glad the heart of man.” Grape juice doesn’t do that.)

Second, the Old Testament law commanded the Jews to tithe their wine (Deuteronomy 12:17; 14:22-23). This makes perfect sense in light of the fact that they viewed wine as being a blessing along the same lines as oil and bread. Since it was made from harvested grapes, they also saw it as a part of their harvests, which certainly qualified it for tithing.

Third, under that same body of law, the Jewish priests were to use a specific amount of wine in the daily offering of two “drink offerings” (Exodus 29:38-45). One drink offering was to be done in conjuncture with the morning sacrificing of a lamb, and another drink offering was to be done with the evening sacrificing of a lamb. For the record, the Hebrew word that is used in that passage for “wine” is that familiar word yayin, which makes it alcoholic wine, the same kind that got Noah drunk. Yes, God really did command that alcoholic wine be used as a part of certain daily, holy sacrifices to Him.

You see, the idea that the Jews of the Bible were teetotalers is just plain wrong. They knew all about drinking wine. Furthermore, the idea that the wine was non-alcoholic grape juice is just as wrong. I’m not trying to make anybody mad or suggest that each of us should go have a glass of wine. I’m just conveying what the Bible teaches and letting it say what it says, not what some of us might like it to say.

Okay, so is this all that I have to share on this subject? Certainly not. This has simply been an opening post to cover some of the basics about the Bible and wine. Hang with me for the rest of this series and I promise that we will cover much more ground, topics such as: “strong drink,” drunkenness, Jesus drinking wine, Jesus making wine, prohibitions against drinking, Christian liberty, and causing a brother to stumble. So, please, stay tuned.

Posted in Addiction, Alcohol, Bible Study, Choices, Christian Liberty, Doing Good, Personal Holiness, Series: "What Does the Bible Teach About Drinking Alcohol?" | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Cautionary Tale About Rebellion

Posted on October 5, 2011 by russellmckinney

Sixty-year-old Jan Davis was a professional parachutist. She was also involved in the dangerous sport of “BASE jumping.” “BASE jumping” is leaping off fixed places, plummeting toward the earth for a few seconds, and then pulling your parachute chord. The letters B-A-S-E represent the fixed places from which one can jump: B (buildings), A (antennas), S (spans, bridges), and E (earth, cliffs).

On October 22, 1999, Jan and four other jumpers were in California’s Yosemite National Park to jump off the 3,200 foot granite cliff known as El Capitan. They were jumping to protest the fact that the Park had made BASE jumping illegal in the wake of the six deaths and numerous injuries that jumpers had incurred in the Park. In the minds of Jan and her group, their jump would prove the safety of their sport. Jan’s husband had come along to film the event, and several reporters were also on hand.

Jan was the fourth of the five jumpers. She launched off the cliff, fell for twenty seconds, and then fatally crashed into the rocks. As it would later be learned, her chute had failed to open properly. Her husband and the reporters stood there stunned, having just watched Jan plunge to her death. The husband even had it on film.

I’m really not trying to be insensitive to the Davis family, but I think we can glean a spiritual lesson from Jan’s needless death. Over and over again the Bible warns against the sin of rebellion — such as rebelling against a logical law that has been enacted. Consider the following passages (all from the N.K.J.V.):

1. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry… (1 Samuel 15:23)

2. An evil man seeks only rebellion; Therefore a cruel messenger will be sent against him. (Proverbs 17:11)

3. There are those who rebel against the light; They do not know its ways Nor abide in its paths. (Job 24:13)

4. “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword”; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. (Isaiah 1:18-20)

5. God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound in prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land. (Psalm 68:6)

It is with these verses in mind that I ask you, “Are you, in some way, playing the rebel these days?” If you are, my next question is, “Do you really think that God is going to let your rebellion go unpunished?” If He did that, He’d become a rebel Himself, a rebel against His own written word. And since that isn’t going to happen, your wisest move is to quit playing the role yourself.

Posted in Attitude, Backsliding, Character, Choices, Coming Judgment, Decisions, Disobedience, Dying To Self, God's Holiness, God's Wrath, God's Judgment, Man's Freewill, Obedience, Personal Holiness, Rebellion, Repentance, Sin, Submission | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Yes, We Know That Man”

Posted on October 4, 2011 by russellmckinney

A missionary assigned to a foreign land zealously embraced his new ministry by promptly telling a crowd of natives about Jesus. He spoke of Christ’s love, compassion, and power to heal. As he spoke, he was surprised to see the people smile and nod their heads. It was as if they already knew all about Jesus.

Finally, at the end of his sermon, the missionary asked, “And how many of you have ever heard of this man?” Oddly, the entire crowd indicated that they knew of him. This puzzled the missionary and he began to further question them. What he discovered was that they all thought he was talking about a Christian doctor who had lived among them at one time and faithfully ministered to them.

That, Christian, is what you are after! To live such a life that the unlearned could so closely associate you with Jesus is the ideal. The apostle Paul described it this way:

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:20, N.K.J.V.)

There’s an old gospel hymn entitled “Let Others See Jesus In You.” Christian, do your best to live out that ideal today. You’ll be amazed at the impact it makes not just upon you but upon others as well.

Posted in Character, Discipleship, Doing Good, God's Work, Influence, Ministry, Missions, Personal Holiness, Service, Witnessing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Forgiveness, But Not Change

Posted on October 3, 2011 by russellmckinney

I live in a small, rural county in the so-called “Bible belt.” It’s the kind of place where there is a church on every corner, down every sideroad, and up every holler. Consequently, it can be hard to find someone who has no qualms about admitting to not knowing Christ as Savior. What I mean is, it seems like just about everyone I meet was baptized as a kid, has their name on a church roll, claims to attend somewhere, knows pastor so-and-so as a friend, etc. You get the idea. We’ve got religion, church, the Bible, and prayer running out our noses.

With that said, what bothers me about our little county (approximately 15,000 in number) is how easily we blur the line between authentic Christian conduct and rank worldliness. For example, some of the same people who go to church every Sunday morning don’t mind doing a good deal of drinking and carousing on Saturday night. Some of the ones who rant and rave about the sexual sin of homosexuality evidently don’t understand that premarital sex and adultery fall into that same category. Some of the ones who are quick to request prayer for themselves or their families are also far too well versed in backbiting, gossiping, and rumor spreading.

My point is that a lot of people love to hear about Christ, the Bible, forgiveness, grace, and salvation, but the numbers dwindle significantly when the topics become repentance, godly conduct, separation from the world, and personal holiness. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not promoting a works-based plan of salvation here. I myself sin every day and have to spend more time than I should asking the Lord for forgiveness of those sins. I like to think, though, that with me, sin is the exception, not the rule. It’s the uncommon, not the common. That’s what salvation has done to me.

Maybe an illustration will help me say what I’m trying to say. Little Billy was dressed for church in his Sunday best, but his mother wasn’t quite ready to go. That gave Billy time to go out into the back yard and play in the dirt. Naturally, in just a few minutes, his clothes were absolutely filthy. When his mother saw him she became furious and threatened to punish him. Passionately, Billy said to her, “Mom, I’m real sorry. Please forgive me.” She replied, “Okay, you’re forgiven but go change.” But Billy didn’t want to go back inside the house and go to the trouble of dressing again. So, he said, “No, I’ll just go as I am.” You see, he wanted forgiveness but not change. And, unfortunately, there seem to be a lot of Billys running around out there these days.

Posted in Adultery, Alcohol, Backsliding, Change, Church Attendance, Discipleship, Disobedience, Drugs, Forgiveness, Hypocrisy, Personal, Personal Holiness, Rebellion, Salvation, Sanctification, Sin | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The Power of a Word of Praise

Posted on September 30, 2011 by russellmckinney

Benjamin West was a famous British artist in the 1700s. He also served as the President of the prestigious Royal Academy of Arts. He was especially known for his paintings of historical scenes.

West first become aware of his artistic talents on a day when his mother had him babysit his younger sister, Sally. While his mother was gone, he discovered some bottles of colored ink and attempted to keep Sally amused by painting her portrait. In doing so, he made quite a mess. West expected to be reprimanded by his mother upon her return, but what she did instead was look beyond the mess, pick up the rather crude painting, smile, and say, “Why, it’s Sally!” From that point, West’s mother became his greatest source of encouragement in regards to his talent. He would often say, “My mother’s kiss made me an artist.”

We have no idea just how much influence we have over the lives of others. A well-timed word of praise can go a long way in building a person’s confidence, just as an ill-timed word of criticism can go a long way in destroying that confidence. The single greatest thing that my father ever said to me was, “I’ve seen all these ballplayers around here, and you can play with any of them.” To this day I remember how that one sentence made me feel. It made me feel like I was as good a ballplayer as anyone in our county. Maybe I wasn’t actually as good as the best players in our county, but that didn’t stop me from feeling like I was.

Rev. Jay Orr was my pastor when I felt God’s call to the ministry, and I will always be indebted to Jay for helping me to yield to that call and fulfill my God-appointed role in life. In particular, there was one line from Jay that especially found a home in my heart. We were sitting in his car talking, and he looked me squarely in the eye and said, “Well, you’re preacher material.” The funny thing is that I’m sure that Jay had no idea the impact that statement had on me.

So, the purpose of this post is to get you to find someone and brag on them a little. You don’t have to make a big deal out of it, and I definitely don’t want you to lie. But chances are that you’ll cross paths with someone very soon whom you can sincerely praise for something. Perhaps it will be your child. Perhaps it will be your spouse. Perhaps it will be someone who looks up to you. All I’m saying is, whoever it is (a budding artist, a young ballplayer, an aspiring preacher, etc.) you just never know the lifelong impact your word of praise might have.

Posted in Children, Communication, Encouragement, Fatherhood, Influence, Motherhood, Parenting, Personal, Sports, Youth | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Description of Prayer

Posted on September 28, 2011 by russellmckinney

Christian, have you prayed today? If you have, what motivation did you have for praying? I hope you’re not like the little boy who was asked, “Do you pray every day?” He answered, “No, some days I don’t want anything.”

Of course, I realize that God’s word does tell us to make our requests to Him (Philippians 4:6; Psalm 21:1-2; James 4:2). I get that. But God’s word also teaches that prayer should be so much more than just you handing God a grocery list or sending Him on an errand. If that’s all your prayers are, you’re no better than that little boy.

The moment a person genuinely believes in Christ as Savior, he or she is “born again” (John 3:1-21), and to be “born again” is to have God the Holy Spirit literally come into your body and take up residence (Romans 8:9-11). Furthermore, it is through this glorious experience that you become nothing less than a child of God. In one sense, you become His child by way of birth (the new birth, which is not a physical birth but a spiritual one). In another sense, you become His child by way of adoption as He adopts you into His family (Romans 8:15-17; Galatians 4:4-7). All this explains John 1:12-13, which says of Jesus:

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (N.K.J.V.)

Okay, now here’s where I’m headed with this. Imagine a child who only talks to his or her father as a way of putting in requests. “Dad, take us on vacation this year.” End of conversation. “Dad, give me some money.” End of conversation. “Dad, buy me a car.” End of conversation. “Dad, make that guy be my boyfriend.” End of conversation. How do you think a father would feel if the only talking his child ever did with him involved the child requesting him to do something? Surely that father would think, “I’m just a magic genie to this child. This child doesn’t love me or want to spend time with me. This child isn’t interested in hearing my opinion or allowing me to impart my wisdom. I’m just a means to an end.”

Well, if that’s what an earthly father would think about such a child, do you think that God, the Christian’s heavenly father, thinks any differently? You see, Christian, God wants your prayer time to be a dialogue with Him not a monologue at Him. He wants it to be a confessional booth in which you confess your sins to Him. He wants it to be a psychologist’s couch upon which you lie down and pour out your deepest feelings, emotions, fears, hurts, disappointments, and regrets. He wants it to be an altar at which you resolve to live for Him and do His will. He wants it to be a classroom in which He instructs you. He wants it to be a dining table at which you feast on His wisdom and His word. He wants it to be a general’s desk at which battle plans for how to defeat the enemy are laid out and discussed. He wants it to be a pickup truck in which the two of you just drive along and talk about anything and everything under the sun.

So tell me, Christian, is your prayer time all these things? If it isn’t, then the problem is with you, not God, because He longs for your prayers to be everything that I’ve described and even more. And here’s hoping that, starting today, your prayers times will become just that.

Posted in Discipleship, God's Love, Prayer, Prayer Requests | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Let Me Illustrate

Posted on September 26, 2011 by russellmckinney

All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables, and without a parable He did not speak to them… (Matthew 13:34, N.K.J.V.)

Several years ago, at the close of a funeral service we both attended, I talked with a friend of mine named Geraldine. Previously, I had given her some c.d. copies of a sermon series I had preached on the life of David, and she had listened to them. In commenting on them, she had just one question. She asked me, “Are you enjoying having Josh on your football team again this year?”

I have to say that the question caught me off guard, and I got a deer-in-the-headlights look for a moment as my mind began to race. I thought, “Josh? Josh who? And how does Geraldine even know that I’m helping coach youth-league football right now? What’s the connection that I’m missing here?”

Since there were currently two boys named Josh on my son Royce’s team, I stammered out something like, “Yes, I am.” I don’t think Geraldine could tell that I was trying to bluff my way through the conversation, but the truth was that I was still trying to get up to speed subject wise. But then she said something that made everything clear. It was something along the lines of, “I thought the way you used him as an illustration was just perfect.”

At last I knew exactly who and what we were talking about. In one of the David sermons, I had spent a couple of minutes talking about how “little Josh” was the best tackler on Royce’s football team even though he was one of the smallest kids on the team. Since Geraldine knew that I had preached that sermon about a year ago, she rightly assumed that I was helping coach Royce’s football team again that following year and that Josh, being the same age as Royce, would be on the team again. Once all that clicked in my mind, I told her that, yes, Josh was on our team again, and, yes, he was still our best tackler. We both got a good laugh out of that.

As Geraldine and I exited the funeral service and went our separate ways, I couldn’t help but be impressed by how she had remembered my Josh illustration. She hadn’t asked about a sermon title, an outline, or a finer point of some text. No, apparently the top thing that had stuck in her mind from all my preaching was an illustration that I had used, a personal one at that. I guess that Jesus, being the master communicator, teacher, and preacher that He was, knew exactly what He was doing when He spoke in parables.

The word “parable” comes from the Greek word parabole. Literally, the word means “a placing beside.” Therefore, a parable is a story that is placed alongside a teaching to help illustrate the teaching and make it more memorable. You see, Christ’s parables were what we would call sermon illustrations. Of course, His illustrations were of a significantly higher grade than ours!

The book Love Worth Finding is the biography of Adrian Rogers, the great Baptist preacher. His life certainly makes for an interesting read, but my favorite part of the book is its closing section, which is entitled “The Preaching Philosophy of Adrian Rogers.” Concerning the use of illustrations, Rogers says this:

One of God’s great ways of communicating spiritual truth so it is easily understood is by use of illustrations. I attempt to include an illustration with every outline point of the sermon.

Likewise, Rick Warren, in his book The Purpose Driven Church, writes:

Jesus was a master storyteller…In fact, the Bible shows that storytelling was Jesus’ favorite technique when speaking to a crowd (Matthew 13:34). Somehow preachers forgot that the Bible is essentially a book of stories. That is how God has chosen to communicate his Word to human beings…Long after a pastor’s clever outline is forgotten, people will remember the stories from the sermon. It is fascinating, and sometimes comical, to watch how quickly a crowd tunes in when a speaker begins telling a story and how quickly that attention vanishes as soon as the story is finished.

Now, I realize that every Christian is not a preacher. But I also realize that every Christian is supposed to share not only the gospel but also a multiplicity of nuggets of truth from God’s written word. So, how can we effectively do this sharing? Well, I don’t think there is a canned answer to that question, but surely one of the best ways is to incorporate interesting, relevant, thought-provoking illustrations into what we are saying. After all, if Jesus, who was God in the flesh, chose to major on this way of teaching, who are we to think that we can come up with something better?

Posted in Communication, Evangelism, God's Work, Ministry, Personal, Preaching, Sunday School, Teaching, Witnessing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Throw Up Your Cap

Posted on September 21, 2011 by russellmckinney

So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:11, N.L.T.)

Years ago, in a small fishing village on the coast of New England, a winter storm blew up suddenly and caught the small boats out at sea. The fishermen rowed hard to reach the safety of the harbor, and all the boats made it in except for one that was captained by an old man named John. Just when that boat was almost to safety, a huge wave struck and hurled it up against a rock. With his boat in ruins, John did the only thing he could do: pull himself up onto the rock and commence to hang on for dear life.

John’s fellow fishermen saw his plight, but there wasn’t anything they could do about it. The idea of taking rescue boats out into the teeth of the storm was ludicrous. To further complicate matters, it would soon be dark. So, being the practical New Englanders they were, they decided to wait until the morning to attempt a rescue. In the meantime, they built a bonfire on the shore and dedicated themselves to keeping it burning all night. Every now and then, by the light of that bonfire, one of the men would throw his cap up into the air just to let John know they were there and hadn’t abandoned him.

Finally, after a long, rough night, the winds subsided and the dawn broke. The fishermen quickly put out their boats and were able to rescue old John. After he had warmed himself by the fire and been given something to eat, they asked him what it had been like out there on that rock all night. Here’s what he said:

Well, it was the longest night of my life. I made out pretty well at first, but then a big wave came along and flattened me out and I felt myself slipping. I was worn out. I was ready to give up. My old father went down at sea, and I had decided my time had come. But just as I was ready to let go, I looked through the darkness and saw somebody’s cap going up in the air. I said to myself, “If there’s somebody who cares enough about old John to stay out on a night like this, I guess I’m not going to quit yet.” Just then the winds seemed to ease up, and I got a fresh hold, and well, here I am.

With this story in mind, I’ll ask you to throw up a cap yourself today because Johns are out there everywhere, just trying to hold for dear life. Find someone who needs some encouragement and tell them that you appreciate them. Show them that you care and that they’d be missed if they weren’t around. You never know how much influence your encouragement might have. It could just be that an encouraging word from you will give that person reason to keep pressing on rather than quit.

Posted in Communication, Doing Good, Encouragement, Friendship, God's Work, Influence, Ministry, Missions, Service, The Tongue | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Got a Need?

Posted on September 20, 2011 by russellmckinney

A small Bible college was growing so fast that it desperately needed more dormitory space. If a new dormitory couldn’t be built, students would have to be turned away. So, the school’s president took the matter to God in prayer and left the request with Him.

Not long afterward, the president was invited to speak at a conference in another city. One night, after the service, he was handed a small envelope with a note inside it. The note was an elderly woman’s request to meet with the president.

The following day the president went to the woman’s home for tea. All the while, as they sat there drinking tea and talking, he hoped that God would work through her to meet the financial need. Much to his disappointment, however, no offer had been made as the visit began to draw to a close.

Somewhat dejectedly the president headed for the door, but as he did, the woman’s face suddenly lit up. She said, “Oh my, I almost forgot.” Then she left the room momentarily and came back carrying a small folder. As she handed the folder to the president, she said, “This is for you and the work you are doing for the young people.” The folder contained many thousands of dollars worth of stocks and bonds, the cash value of which totaled up to the exact amount needed to build the dormitory.

While this story is supposedly true, the fact is that the Christian realm is filled with such stories. Preachers like myself know all about books of illustrations, and these books offer many such stories about God meeting people’s needs. Actually, the stories are so numerous as to be almost cliched. But are they true? Do such things really happen? Does God really meet needs?

I speak from personal experience when I answer, “Yes.” During my first few years of Disciples Road Church, a church I started and pastored for over eight years, God ran me through a lengthy class on this subject. Whereas I had always preached that God would meet every need, I found out that it’s a different deal altogether when you find yourself sincerely wondering how you are going to pay the light bill, the phone bill, the car payment, the mortgage payment, etc. That’s when you truly learn whether or not all those corny old stories you’ve read are for real. And again let me say: they are.

So who am I writing this to today? Is it you? Do you have some pressing need staring you squarely in the face right now? If you do, then take heart because God can and will meet that need if you will sincerely turn it over to Him and leave it there. Remember, Philippians 4:19 is still in the Bible, and it is applicable for any and all genuine needs. That verse says:

And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (N.K.J.V.)

Posted in Comfort, Doubt, Faith, Fear, God's Love, God's Omnipotence, God's Provision, Money, Needs, Personal, Prayer Requests, Problems, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments