Digging Deeper

This week we will be revisiting some of our previous posts

First posted 6/5/08

From time to time you know it’s going to happen. You have to write one of these things that just really bites you. Yeah, I have held grudges in the past. After a while they really get heavy. They become paralyzing. Sometimes you can’t even remember why you feel the way you do. Just let it go! Sure people hurt you. My grandmother used to say when you have pain you realize you are still alive. Sometimes things between people destroy a little piece of our heart. Some of you have given your total lives to a partner that turns on you and tries to destroy you. Been there and done that. So do I let it rule the rest of my life? Is that what God wants for me?

Forgiveness has to be intentional. Like in euchre, eventually, all the cards must be on the table. If you don’t win, you play again. Whatever they did to you, let it go. It is eating away at you like a cancer. Write it down, tell a friend, give it to God (novel idea), have your friend pray with you about or go to the person that has hurt you. Are you serious? They may not even know. They may wonder what happen to you guys. Once you have given it away…let it go! How do you know a balloon can fly? Let it go. How do you know how far you can throw a ball? Let it go. How can you be totally free from the stuff that keeps you from being all that God has planned for your life? Let it go!

One more thing before we go. FORGIVE YOURSELF! If God is willing to forgive you, give yourself a break. Somethings and relationships don’t always turn out the way we planned but your life is what God planned. The older I get, the more I realize that it’s not so much what we do or accomplish in life but how we react to the challenging things that come our way. It makes us who we are. O, one last thing…How do you know how it feels to fly from a rope swing? You have to let go.

Assignment: Pick out that one thing that you have been holding on to and let it go. Tell someone about it. Maybe the person that is involved

Read Hosea 14

Prayer “Lord if I have hurt someone, give me courage…

“We can forgive but we never forget the pain. God can heal the pain, then we can move on.”. Dr. Billy Graham

bt Rick Drake

“Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again” Ecclesiastes 11: 1

How did it go this week? I have heard from some that they have to be “careful” when they share. I agree but there is a need to risk something. In our scripture lesson above, the author makes note of a nautical slogan that unless you risk going to sea you will never see the full potential of what your business could be. Sort of like today if you don’t go globally, you will never see the full potential of what could be. There have been times when I have not risk enough, pushed the envelope, or jumped out of the plane without a parachute. This take total dependence on God and his providence for our life. We are not called to win anyone. Just be faithful with the message. When we do this, the Holy Spirit does what he does best…convicting and saving. Relax, share, and watch.

Have a great day!

Prayer: Father, let me depend on you for everything that happens and to you be the glory!

A snapshot of the Roman Road.

“For whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

- Romans 10:13 How You Can Know God’s Love

“There is a God in Heaven who loves you as you are and not as you should be.”

Good News! This Testament of God’s love is His Word to tell us that He loves us as we are. That love will save us from our sin and make us what we should be as God’s children.
John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
We hear Jesus say, “God so loved the world.” God’s love has no limitations. He loves “so”. More than we can imagine. He loves everyone – not just some ones.

Romans 5:8 tells us that God loved us so that “when we were in our sin Christ Jesus came to die for us.”
Romans 3:23
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
This verse tells us that all people have sinned. We have fallen short of God’s intended purpose for us. God made us to know Him…. to receive His love and to love him in return.

For love to be love… for God to be God… and for humans to be humans…. God gave us a choice. We can choose to love ourselves and turn to our selfish pursuits. That is sin. In our sin we cannot know God and His love. The result of sin is that we are lost… separated from God.

Romans 6:23
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Wages are just payment… due reward… what one has coming because of labor. The just payment for our sin is death.

The wages of sin is death. but God’s free gift is eternal life. While wages are earned, a gift is offered… no strings attached. God says He will give us eternal life – life with Him – in the place of sin’s payment of death.

How can God remain true to His holiness and forgive unholy sinners? Because Jesus, His Son, has paid the price for sin by His death on the cross.

Second Corinthians 5:21 says, “He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we may be made the righteousness of God through Him.”

Jesus arose from the grave to conquer sin and death for all who receive Him as God’s free gift.

How can you receive God’s free gift of love and life?

Romans 10:9-10
“that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

A person receives God’s free gift of love and life by placing faith in Jesus Christ. To believe is simply to take God at His word. With our heart (whole believing) we believe that Jesus is God’s Son who died for our sin on the cross and arose from the grave to live in us as Savior and Lord.
Will you now confess Him as your Savior and Lord?
Romans 10:13
“for Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
This verse says that any person who will call upon the name of Jesus, the Lord, shall be saved.
To call means simply to ask in prayer. The verse does not require one to know more… do better… clean up one’s life… or in any way try to add to what Jesus has done for us.

Will you now call upon Jesus to save you from your sin so that you can know God’s love and forgiveness?

Pray like this: “Dear God, I confess that I am a sinner, and I am sorry. I need a Savior. I know I cannot save myself. I believe by faith that Jesus, your Son, died on the cross to be my Savior. I believe He arose from the grave to live as my Lord. I turn from my sin. I ask You, Lord Jesus, to forgive my sin and come into my heart. I trust you as my Savior and receive you as my Lord. Thank you, Jesus, for saving me.”

When anyone calls on the Lord in this manner, that one is saved according to God’s Word. If you pray a prayer of repentance and faith, you are saved. You have God’s word on it.

If you have prayed this prayer to receive Christ as your Lord and Savoir, why not record your decision to follow Jesus as follows. Often times, a good place to write this would be inside the cover of your bible:

There it is! Hope this is helpful. Print it off and keep it handy. Good fishing today!

“Now faith is being certain of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” Hebrews 11:1

I remember that complete and utter feeling of euphoria and panic when I learned my son was on the way. In God’s providence, He gives us time to get used to the idea of a new birth. When it happened, I was not surprised but had been expecting him. When we share our faith, many times we don’t expect God to do anything. Unfortunately we think that we have something to do with bringing someone to Christ. Yes, we are expected to share but that is more for us than the people we share with. It brings us to a place of obedience. I actually heard someone recently at church allude to the fact that we are doing a good job “bringing people to Christ”. Don’t be deceived. It is not about us…..it is about Him. God sets the stage for persons coming to Him and at times uses us to fulfill His mission. When we share what Christ has done in our life, we need to expect something to happen. When God puts us in a position to share, we need to expect that Christ is going to be there and do what he does.

Recently, I was put in such a position to share. Someone else had been praying and prodding. After a few minutes with this person, (we were driving back from Cinncinati) I understood very quickly why we were together. I am sure that by now he believes that everyone else must serve Christ and he is out of the loop.

Visualize eternity. She was an old woman when I met her. Totty(as we called her) had a knack for baking cakes and always having a pot of coffee going. I think I gained most of my extra weight during the time I pastored there and spent many afternoons at her house. There was a crucifix on her wall and it concerned me. (Christ didn’t stay there on the cross) I asked her about that and she said she understood my concern but she explained. She had me pull it off the wall and look at the back. She had written the names of her two boys on the back. She told me when she prays for her boys to accept Christ, she visualizes them on the back of the cross, dying with Christ and forsaking their own ways. Expect it to happen. By the way, one of her sons is a Southern Baptist pastor, the other a prison Chaplain. Our scripture lesson, being sure of what you can’t see is what true faith is, is visualization God’s way. Use it, expect God to save your friends and loved ones. Have a great day sharing! What say ye?

Prayer: Father, help me to be faithful in my approach to sharing what you have done in my life.

‘be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ”

Philemon 1:6  (between Hebrews and Titus)

I hear people everyday talk about favorite restaurants, music, sports team or please pardon my gagging, what they have done on their imaginary farm on Facebook.  We feel comfortable talking about the stuff that seems benign and non-threatening because it is OK to disagree. We don’t talk about our faith for a variety of reasons. Recently, after much deliberation in my own mind, I shared my faith with a very nice looking lady that is single and lives next door.  I was really worried what the other neighbors might say so I have been bashful. She was very interested in what I had to say and shared that she had been looking for a church for a long time but didn’t want to go by herself. She will be here in the next few weeks.

What does it mean to be “active in sharing”? Do we have to beat people over head with our Bible or can we just be a great neighbor or friend? On Sunday, Darrel shared about the “Roman Road”, a direct no non-sense, plan of salvation but the nuts and bolts of evangelism and discipleship is more about being there. Jesus was just there. When Jesus met the man at the pool, did he start by quoting the prophets, or did he just get to know the guy?  Friendship evangelism is one of the most important things we do. The reason is 1) that person already trusts you and knows your life 2) studies show us that people brougt to Christ by friends will still be in the life of the Church 6 months from now or 6 years from now because of the relationship that originally brought them to know Christ.

What kinds  of things are you already doing to bring people to Christ?  Why don’t you share your faith more? This is a blog and not  lecture so talk to me. Take a few minutes and write me.

Prayer: Father, help  me be a great friend to my friends so that they might see you in me.

Top Ten Reasons

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” I Peter 3:15 (NIV)

Top Ten Reasons to Share your faith

#10 Practice makes Eternal

#9 Pastor Rollie says it’s fun! (what?)

#8 It is better than a poke in the eye.

#7 Beats all your friends, relatives, and neighbors going to Hell

#6 It could make you younger

#5 You don’t really know what you believe until you give it away.

#4 Helps you clean up your act

#3 It will help us fill the new building that we haven’t built yet.

#2 It will help people from losing hope.

#1 Jesus has commanded that we are His witnesses…everywhere!

Have a great Monday! Just remember the Holy Spirit has already prepared the person for you. Share what Christ has done in your life and it will take care of itself.

Prayer; Father give me the guts to do this today. I know we can do this together.

Looking Forward “Now that you have purified yourselves….love one another deeply” I Peter 1: 22 (emphasis is mine)

In our scripture, Peter was giving instructions to the young church for looking forward in their Eternal life. He was looking way out there into eternity. This is the deal. If we can purify ourselves in such a way to bring 1) Glory to Christ and 2) lead us to a deeper love and understanding then our eternal life has started and our leaving this world and passing into the next will be more of a transition into more and wonderful experiences for us all. My dear friend and mentor, Dr. Ronald Fowler, pastor of a mega church in Akron Ohio shared at a marriage retreat that he believed that the relationship between a man and wife in marriage should be a precursor to that eternal life we will spend with Christ. Consequently, the feeling reached at the pinnacle of lovemaking between a husband and wife is just a taste of the joy we will feel in the presence of Christ. Intense, fulfilling, safe, kind of can’t get enough of that stuff feeling that we will share in heaven with Christ. I personally believe that is why Christ uses so many metaphors about marriage. So keep yourself pure and enjoy the relationships we have here in anticipation of what is to come. God gave us sex because he loves us and wants us to be complete people but always within the protection of His love and care.

Scripture Revelation 19: 5-9

Prayer Father, thank you for all the great gifts you give and help me to use them wisely. Purify me and my mind to be better used of you.

P.S. I will be taking a break from writing for a while. Thanks for all you kind comments and encouragement. Peace my friends! The Drake

Guilt by association “not to associate with sexually immoral people…anyone who calls himself a brother” I Corinthians 5:9, 11a

It is very easy to start reclassifying sins to, well justify our own behavior. That is why we do that to certain sins. You see, some sin among us is very acceptable. Pride is sometimes confused with confidence. Thinking higher of one’s self has long been a problem in the church. However, it undermines the very fabric of the Gospel. I fear that if we withdrew from all persons with all different kinds of sin, we would become Amish. Even though I respect and love them for some of the stances they take about the world, they have their own corporate sin that violates a higher law. We have been talking about sexual boundaries the past few weeks and trying to find a higher plane that God wants us to operate on as the people of God. Really that is the bottom line with sexual sin or any sin for that matter. The question is not What Would Jesus Do? The question is what do we do as we try to live like the children of God? We know what Jesus would do in these situations. Choose the world or choose life…that is the question.

Scripture I Corinthians 5: 6-13

Prayer Giver of all good and perfect gifts, help me to always keep you in the context of my life with others and with you….

The Biggest Sex Organ “They are darkened in their understanding”
Ephesians 4: 18

A young man walked into my office one day and wanted to talk. I had known him through playing football with my son and his very open confession of Christ and His kingdom. I knew his pastor and his parents. He began to weep uncontrollably. As he began to regain his composure, he began to share with me his dilemma. He wanted to share with someone the battle that he was waging in his own mind. He shared that he was extremely afraid that the things going on in his mind, would come to reality in his life. I explained that his hormones are raging and that is the way God made us. I also shared with him that the battle for his mind was just beginning. At times we cannot control what pops into our head but we can control whether we invited it in for a chat. Dr. Dobson has shared on several occasions that the biggest sex organ is our mind. I try always to take my grandmother’s advice that everyone is my brother and sister. You wouldn’t think of your sister that way, would you? It has changed my perspective on things. It has taken a lot of practice but I’m sure has kept me from many things I could have gotten involved in and caused a major problem. Practice your thought life. Quote scripture, remove yourself, get out of there, take a friend…it works.

Scripture Ephesians 5: 15-21

Prayer Father, help me to guard my mind and

Giving the pieces away “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified”
I Thessalonians 4: 3a

God wants us to be sanctified. The word sanctified in the Greek means “to be set aside for a purpose”. If you are designated for a purpose, it is reasonable to think that we cannot be giving pieces of our heart away to different other purposes when God has set us a side for his ministry and life in the kingdom. When we give ourselves to someone else whether it be for pleasure or love, physically or in the playground of our minds, we dilute what God is trying to do through us. Within the confines of a Godly relationship, His purpose is being sanctified through you and your partner. Bottom line, God knows the future and where you will be in it. Only our decisions that break that line of communication with our perfect future and our God stand between us and a healthy view of what God demands and following the perfect will for our lives in Christ Jesus.

Scripture I Thessalonians 4: 3-8

Prayer Father, help us to understand that when we reject this teaching that we are rejecting you………..