Redemption and Reconciliation

Men and Brothers,

The end of the year has come and gone. I find myself busier than I want to be--as usual. Duty at home, church, and work have kept my schedule very full. I am grateful though for my family, being an elder, and certainly for God's providence in my job. My heart is devoted to God, family, and church--first and foremost. I pray that you have found the peace of Christ in the end of last year and the beginning of this year. I also pray that our Lord God would transform our lives in a very real and powerful way this year. That we might be deemed true disciples of Christ by all who know us--believer and unbeliever alike! I pray for power for us men to be submitted to the lordship of Christ and to one another in God's gracious love. I also pray for diligence in serving all of you in godliness and humility. Encouraging and challenging you with the truths of the Gospel and God's Word! In the name of Jesus!

Today, I was very encouraged by the message at our Sunday morning service that was delivered by my brother elder Ed. He shared a poem that really blessed me and I want to share it with all of you. Please take the time to read and reflect the following:

The Awakened Sinner

O my forgetful soul,

Awake from thy wandering dream;

     turn form chasing vanities,

     look inward, forward, upward,

     view thyself,

     reflect upon thyself,

          who and what thou art, why here,

          what thou must soon be.

Thou art a creature of God,

     formed an furnished by Him,

     lodged in a body like a shepherd in his tent;

     Dost thou not desire to know God's ways?

O God,

Thou injure, neglected, provoked Benefactor

  when I think upon thy greatness and thy goodness

     I am ashamed at my insensibility,

     I blush to lift up my face,

     for I have foolishly erred.

Shall I go on neglecting Thee,

  when everyone of Thy rational creatures should love Thee,

  and take every care to please Thee?

I confess that thou hast not been in all my thoughts,

     that the knowledge of Thyself as the end of my being has been strangely overlooked,

     that I have never seriously considered my heart-need.

But although my mind is perplexed and divided, my nature perverse,

     yet my secret dispositions still desire thee.

Let me not delay to come to Thee;

Break the fatal enchantment that bins my evil affections,

     an bring me to a happy mind that rests in Thee,

     for Thou hast made me an canst not forget me.

Let Thy Spirit teach me the vital lessons of Christ,

     for I am slow to learn;

An hear Thou my broken cries.

--my brothers, may we be aware of our condition an ever dependent upon grace and mercy of our most merciful Father in heaven. Reflect, ponder, cogitate even, on the Ways of The Lord God almighty. For in His Ways are joy, peace, and salvation. Be resolved to be completely surrendered to Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God. 

To God Alone be the Glory!

INDNJC,

sam 

The Man of God

Men and brothers,

     A quote from brother Norman Wakefield:

"God's evaluation of a church isn't based on what happens on Sunday mornings, but what happens in the homes throughout the week. As the men go, so go the families. As the families go, so goes the church. Men who have a vision for how they can express the heart of God as a Father to their wives and children are men who make the pastor's gospel preaching powerful and relevant and have the privilege of preparing the next generation for a relationship with God through Jesus Christ." 

Enough said my brothers! We need God to give us this vision! Stand firm, stand strong, all for Christ. To God be the Glory!

INDNJC,

sam

How Saved are We?

Men and Brothers,

I thought this excerpt would be a good challenge to our thinking. Read and be blessed and challenged! Love y'all,

An excerpt from "How Saved Are We?" by Michael L. Brown:

"The American Church at the end of the twentieth century is experiencing a crisis. For years we have preached a cheap gospel and peddled a soft Savior. We have taught salvation without self-denial and the crown without the cross. We have catered to the unsaved and compromised with the world. Now we are paying the price.

Our "instant salvation" message has dishonored God and deluded men. Our faulty seeds have produced a flaky harvest. What a pitiful crop we are reaping!

     As American "believers" we:

     - spend hours watching television but minutes watching in prayer;

     - are hungry for the sports page but have little taste for the Word;

     - spend more money on pet food than on foreign missions; 

     - love to feast but hate to fast;

     - welcome God's blessings but are wary of His burdens.

Is this what Jesus died for? Is this our "new life" in Him?

Stop for a moment and think:

     Anyone who spends more time playing video games than seeking God in prayer has no right to call Jesus Lord.

     Anyone who takes delight in today's perverted TV shows is serving another god. 

     Anyone who cannot die to sports for a season is worshiping idols.

Scripture says: "If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him..." (1John 2:15)

                        "...because friendship with the world is hatred toward God" (James 4:4)

In reality, whose friends are we?"

Certainly something to think about my brothers. May God grant us grace and strength to be sold out to Him and His will.

To God be the Glory,

Papa Sam 

The Paradox of Choice

Men and Brothers,

I wanted to share an excerpt from a book "Costly Grace" by Jon Walker. I pray you are encouraged and challenged.

"And His commands are not burdensome...." --1John 5:3

  ---As we follow Jesus down the hard path through the narrow gate into the kingdom of heaven, we find He consistently moves us toward a choice--and then He demands we make a choice.Will you follow Him into the kingdom of heaven, or will you remain a citizen of this world?

     You can remain in the kingdom of this world, but then you are not His disciple. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, "It is the paradox of choice. When we live as a citizen of this world we seek easy choices that lead to an easy life. However, when Jesus brings us to a choice, the choice its self is easy, it is our decision that is hard because to follow Jesus means to abandon the life of apparent convenience."

     Bonhoeffer says the commands of Jesus free us from the chains of our own religious traditions. By submitting to Jesus wholeheartedly, we are free to be who we were created to be as we enjoy fellowship with Jesus.

     Jesus is not arbitrary or naive in His rule. He knows the realities of this life, but He also knows the realities of eternity. His eye is on the endgame. He knows there will be a judgement for those outside His grace, and so He approaches the world with a different point of view. Even on the cross, His prayer was for forgiveness and not for vengeance, and that is a perspective we must learn as we move from thinking like fallen beings to thinking like citizens in the kingdom of heaven.

     We may not understand all Jesus does, and that scares us, but that is also where faith emerges. It is at this critical junction between fear and faith that we can see the cost of discipleship clearly--and so Jesus pushes us constantly to this place of choice, where we follow in faith or pull back in fear.

     Think about your choices. What do they say about your relationship with Jesus?---

I pray these thoughts blessed you and gave you some real meat to chew on. There is no sense in us wasting our time pretending to love God. He will not be mocked. Chose to walk in God's ways today and every day. Rise up O' man of God! I love you and I'm praying for you.

 

To God be the Glory!

papa sam

Men and brothers, Starting in 2008 I created a blog and started sharing my heart and life with other brothers in Christ. My hope was to encourage and challenge us as godly men to be just that: godly men. As the Lord would share things in His Word with me through study, meditation, and prayer I would in turn write this in my blog for the benefit of the Church--at least the men of the Church. I recently have felt a pulling to share again via my blog and pray God would use it for His glory and our growth. I'd also like to repost some of my old blogs as well. I also made it a habit to sign them "Papa Sam" so everyone would know it was me and not Sammy! These blog post will come thru email but you can also go to the blog site to read(and leave comments-Please!!) and subscribe if you'd like. Again, I hope this is a blessing to all who read. To God be the Glory! Papa Sam

Radical Abandonment

Men and brethren,
Greetings in Jesus name! Something to consider for today and to encourage those in your influence to think on as well! We need a great awakening in American Christendom today!

Radical Abandonment: commanded by Christ!
"Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple."

What? Give up everything you have, carry a cross--daily, and hate or despise your own family? This sounds a whole lot different than--"Admit, Believe, Confess, and pray this prayer after me."

What has become of biblical Christianity? What have we abandoned for Christ really?

"Follow Me"--contained radical implications in the lives of the disciples. Jesus was calling them to abandon their comforts, all that was familiar to them and natural for them. He makes the same call for all that follow Him--even today, here in this land of convenience and prosperity! This must be how we come to Jesus and also how we must follow after Him. Grace is a free gift, but it comes at a big price! Jesus was willing to pay the price for us! Are we willing to pay the price for being His true disciple? Well?

To God be the Glory!
s. everett


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Is it humanism?

Beloved, are you saved? Yes! Of course you say! But are you sure? I'm not speaking of "assurance"of salvation in Christ. I'm asking if "you" are assured that you have come to Christ with the right intentions! Did you come to Christ because you truly understand the enormity of your sins before a holy God or did you just feel guilty and don't want to go to "hell" in the end? The first is contrition, the second is humanism! One is about the glorious righteousness of God and the other is about saving yourself! Think about it for a while! God's worth it! The end of all being is the glory of God not the happiness of man!


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