You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet!

Romans 8:18

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed in us.

Sometimes it is easy to be consumed in your present sufferings that you forget to look forward to your destiny. If you can just make it through the night, Joy has got to come in the morning. One of my favorite movies is the Shawshank Redemption with Morgan Freeman and his friend Andy. Andy goes through insurmountable odds to free himself from a living hell. He is wrongly accused of murder, imprisoned, raped, betrayed, beaten, extorted, used and abused. But he never gives up hope. Morgan Freeman’s Character has given up in his “present suffering” but Andy never stops Hoping. Morgan tells Andy that hope is dangerous but Andy knew what Romans 8:24 said, For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

Andy persevered through his unjust treatment and day in and day out he dug through his wall with a spoon emptying the dust from his pants in the yard. He then crawled 500 yards through raw sewage to get to his freedom. How bad do you want to be free?
We can’t let our present sufferings stop us from our future Glory. Everyday when you struggle tell yourself, “This does not compare with where God is taking me.”

What can we learn from Andy?

1. That which does not kill us makes us stronger. The enemy can throw everything he can at you but when you are purposed by God they can’t kill you. I refuse to die I got too much to live for. My revenge is to live and see my enemy’s face when God takes me where I’m going.

2. Use your gifts to get you out. The bible says your gifts will make room for you and bring you into the presence of great men. It seemed that the warden was using Andy, but Andy was using his gifts to make a way of escape. Everyday you go to work you ought to be using your gifts to get to the next level in spite of who you work for. Get Free!

3. Never give up Hope! Your present sufferings don’t compare to where God is taking you. Get a picture in your mind of where you are going. Put it on your wall. Hang it in your cubicle. Set a goal for your life and don’t stop until you get there.

4. Take your wall out a little at a time. Andy dug through six feet of concrete with a spoon. Time and pressure will even weaken rocks. Whatever is standing between you and your freedom take it out a little at a time. Pay off one bill at a time. After you pay that one off, add your money to snow ball the next one until you are on the other side of debt freedom. Take out that wall.

5. Crawl through other people’s crap if you have to until you get to a place where you don’t have to take no more crap. The race is not given to the swift or to the strong but to those who can make it through a bunch of crap and get to the other side!

6. Start over fresh once you get out and head in a New Direction from the inside out. Andy moved to Mexico and never looked back. He had money, a new identity, and a new start. Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and life more abundantly. "When you are in Jesus you are a new creation, old things have passed and all things have become new.

7. Don’t forget those who helped you out. Andy sent for his friend Morgan an invitation. He didn’t go back for him but he left him an invitation. You never go back to prison to get people but if they are ready for where you are they will come and join you if they are meant to. Many are called but few are chosen.

Dear God, what I’ve been going through does not compare with where you are taking me. Eyes haven’t seen, ears haven’t heard, neither has it entered into the hearts of men what you are about to do for me. These present sufferings almost made me lose focus on my destiny. The devil thought he had me but Jesus came and grabbed me. God you held me close and you didn’t let go! Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come. I’m excited about my future. I’m ready now! Let me get up now and wash this crap off me, I got places to Go!

In Jesus Name!

Amen.

Aroused by the Law

Romans 7:5

For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.

Have you ever been conflicted in your mind/body as to how to live Holy? You know what to do but you cannot carry it out. Being human can be complicated especially when you are trying to live clean in a dirty world. Common sense would tell you that when you breathe in the cultural air of porn, lust, and sensuality from secular sources, nine times out of ten you will cause a reaction contrary to the word of God. But has it ever dawned on you that when you read the word of God that those passions can also be aroused? Many of us are afraid to look at passions and desires that have long since been repressed . Paul said we are aroused by the law because it brings attention to what is already in us. In verse 7 he says, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “you shall not covet.” Reading the bible is good but it’s not enough to kill your desire. We don’t kill our desire, passions by not talking about them. We have to deal with this confliction of the soul.

In verse 23 Paul says, “I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin…O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? It’s easy to avoid dealing with our issues when we refuse to read the bible especially as it pertains to our certain proclivities that we want to deny that we have. Reading the law (God’s word) is the starting place but it is in relationship with Jesus that we are delivered from the fruit of shame. Apart from Jesus, we are just a bunch of righteous wannabees wrapped in a then garment of worn out clichés. It is only when we wrestle with who we really are in God’s word and allow Jesus to be our righteousness. The word of God reveals to us that we have some issues. Revelation 3:17 you say, I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. Underneath our garments, we are all in need of God’s healing and need to deal with our issues. Who then can help us if the law only stirs up what we are trying to avoid?

Romans 8:1 there is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. Being chaste is not the absence of desire, but it is the constraint of the desire by the Help of the Holy Spirit as a result of our relationship with Jesus.

The Holy Sprit is the equalizer between our fleshly desires and our righteous intentions. The law pulls the cover back on our sinful desires however repressed they might be and the Holy Sprit helps us to manage our mess and to walk in a way that is pleasing to God. It reminds me of the old hymn we used to sing in my little country church:

Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and thou bidds’t me come to thee, O Lamb of God I come! I come!

Just as I am tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt. Fightings and fears within, without. O Lamb of God I come! I come!

We have got to make up our minds that we are going to stop hiding behind our inept coverings of religiosity and come out to face God just as we are. WE can’t be afraid to deal with our passions and desires but to present them to God so that the Holy Spirit can lead us in a way that is pleasing to God and a way that can make us whole, not fractured. The law by itself can only arouse who I am but it is Jesus who makes me whole.

Dear God, reconcile all of who I am by the power of your spirit. Channel all of my passions into positive expressions that give you Glory and Fulfill my life and bless those around me so that I can be clothed and in my right mind.

In Jesus name,

Amen.

Who Made You Judge?

Romans 2:1
Therefore, you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.

It is amazing how people can judge a book by its cover or form an opinion from excerpts of your life. We live in a “Paparazzi” infected world where each person has their own camera and gavels and with our limited evidence and opinions, we have made people guilty who are innocent out of our own insecurities. We judge people by laws we don’t keep ourselves. We hold people to higher standards that we don’t even attempt to reach all because something we see in the other person strikes a cord of discomfort in our own fractured self image.

Paul says that people like this are inexcusable. He said when you judge someone else for whatever reason you have already condemned yourself. The more people put their mouths on someone else the more they condemn themselves. What you condemn in a person is really a reflection of something fractured in yourself.

The key point of this scripture is when Paul says, “For you who judge practice the same things!” Paul asks them in verse 21 “You therefore who teach another, do you teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say, Do not commit adultery, Do you commit adultery?

This hypocrisy must stop! When we find ourselves joining the lynch mobs of the ill informed opinionated masses we should back up and look at ourselves and ask, what is it about the person that has me ready to condemn them? Is there anything in me that could stand to be condemned?

It’s like Jesus when they caught the woman in the act of adultery and dragged her in front of Jesus. Jesus wrote in the dirt. I think he was writing the sins of every man in that room. The mob said, “According to the law this woman deserves to die, what do you say?” Jesus said, “He who is without sin cast the first stone.” They all left from the youngest to the oldest. Jesus said to the woman, “Is there anyone left to condemn you?” She said, “NO my Lord.” He said, “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.”

Its not the cover you should judge and not one excerpt from a person’s life but the full content of their character.

Verse 29 but he is a (Christian) who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

Dear God, you are the only one who can judge me. You know my heart and my intentions. May the words of those who judge me be turned against them. If you find anything in me that’s wrong take it away and forgive me. Thank you for not condemning me but instead you saved me from the hands of blood thirsty men. Thank you for the blood of Jesus that covers me and washes away my condemnation.

In Jesus Name.
Amen.

I Am Not Ashamed

Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.

If you have a call by God to preach, you can’t be quiet and keep it to yourself. Jeremiah got tired of the ridicule and backlash of being prophetic and said, he wouldn’t prophesy anymore. But when he tried to be quiet he said, “God’s word was like fire shut up in my bones.” Society doesn’t want to hear the truth of god’s word because it always cuts against the grain of what is accepted. When you know the truth, the truth sets you free. Free from what? Free from the need of approval of what other people think about you. When you know something to be true, you can’t be ashamed of it. The gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God, he gave his life for our sins and God raised him from the dead. I’m not ashamed. He came to set the captives free. I’m not ashamed of that. He came for prostitutes, lepers, and sinners. I’m not ashamed of that.

When God sent me 20 years ago to preach his gospel, I remember a key scripture Luke 9:26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when comes in his glory and in the glory of the father and of the Holy angels. We have a tendency to get ashamed of someone when other people don’t accept who they are. We shy away. We distance ourselves.

Preaching is the ability to stand for truth even when your subject matter is unpopular, radical and counter-cultural. But when you are not ashamed in front of men, Jesus is not ashamed in front of the father. He says, “Daddy that’s my servant, he’s telling the truth!”

I am not ashamed of the gospel because:

1. It is the Power of salvation. When you preach Jesus, souls are saved. When I see lives being transformed, and the lost being found, it really doesn’t bother me when people misunderstand my mission and scandalize my name. I am not ashamed.

2. For everyone who believes…there are so many people hurting, blind and lost. When you see that light come on in their eyes, it’s worth it. When Jesus healed the blind man, the religious people tried to get the healed man to say Jesus was a sinner for healing on the Sabbath. The blind man said, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I do not know, but one thing I do know whereas I once was blind now I see.”

3. The Jews first, but also the Greek…the gospel is for the religious, those who think they know and also for the Greek, those who have not come to know but are looking. As long as there are both groups left, I got to keep on preaching. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Dear God, I can’t shut up. I will not shut up. I know too much about him for folks to make me doubt him. Whatever you tell me to say, I will say it. Whatever you tell me to go, I’ll go. Here I am Lord, send me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you. Lord, I pray in Jesus Name!

Amen.

Don't Grow Weary

2 Thessalonians 3:13

But as for you brethren, do not grow weary in doing good.

It can be disheartening when you are doing all you can to help people only to be misunderstood and demonized. Like Marvin Gaye said, "Makes you want to holler throw up both my hands the way they do my life.” (who, by the way, was shot by his own father because he was jealous of him). The early Christians faced the same type of challenges that we face in the 21st century. They were caught between two dominant cultures. The established Jewish culture of Judaism and the heathen culture of idol worshippers. In the midst was an emerging Christian culture trying to survive the crushing effects of both. The early Christians were trying to live out the tents of Jesus' teachings under the scrutiny of those who thought they were law breakers because they didn’t keep the traditions of men and then you have the worldly influence of pagans trying to infiltrate the church with things like temple prostitution, people who could work but refused to work, sacrificing to idols, etc. All of these things were draining on the new leaders, but Paul encourages them to not grow weary in doing good.

It can be draining trying to do cutting edge ministry in a “religious town.” Apostolic ministry is pioneering. The early apostles had to blaze a new trail in places that had never received the radical message of Jesus Christ. The early apostles were labeled as blasphemers for teaching about this Jesus who was raised from the dead. While they were trying to reach Gentiles, they were being scrutinized by the old religious guard for their methods and their theology, but Paul says do not grow wear in doing good. It sounds easier than it is because as it says in Isaiah 40:31, Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. We all get weary and when our good is misunderstood for evil, it makes you want to quit. But this scripture speaks to me this morning and I hear God saying, “Do not grow weary in doing good.” When you are at work and everyone around you is doing enough to get by and you are wondering why should I keep busting my behind. …do not grow weary in doing good. When you are single trying to hold on to your virtue and everyone around you is doing whatever and with whomever…do not grow weary in doing good. When you are trying to help people and people around you criticize your every move…do not grow weary in doing good.

How do you not grow weary when it seems you are fighting against two opposing forces?

1. Remember who you are fighting for. Only what you do for Christ will last. When you are fighting for God, God will fight for you.

2. Remember who you are helping. Matthew 9:11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners’ 12 On hearing this , Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ..For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Even Jesus was misunderstood when he stepped out of the box of tradition to help people who were not otherwise welcomed in church so he went to where they were. If they misunderstood Jesus, they will misunderstand you. When I know who I’m helping it doesn’t matter what the people who are not in my target audience think about me.

3. Remember where all your help comes from. Psalm 121:1-2 I lift up my eyes to the hills where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip, he who watches over you will not let your foot slip.

4. Work with the end in mind. James 1:12 blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who live him.

5. Push "Pause" if you feel faint. I’m working on this P90X workout routine and the trainer reminds me periodically if I ever feel wasted to push pause and take a break. Luke 5:16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. When the grind of life gets to you it’s okay to push the pause button and take a break. When you get your wind back, jump back in and finish.

6. Get in his presence. Before Jesus was able to finish his mission he had to go in the garden to pray. There are some hard assignments God gives us and the only way to finish is to get in his presence and get some strength from our father.

7. Take care of your body. I Timothy 4:8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. We need to take care of our temples with what we watch, eat, and put in our bodies. We need to exercise physically and spiritually.

8. Laugh, Love and Live. Ecclesiastes 3:4 There is a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. Life is short and you should learn how to enjoy every day that God gives you. All work and no play makes you a boring and burnt out person.

9. Update your Status. I don’t understand why some people are on Facebook. They never change their status. The reason some of us don’t finish is that we never update our status. You may be somewhere that God is no longer present. Check your status.

10. Check the company you keep. If you are in the company of draining people, it causes you to fall short of finishing what God tells you to do. Bad company corrupts good morals.

Dear God, it's draining sometimes when you are trying to help people and you feel the crushing force of opposition. But what keeps me going is when I know you are pleased with my service and your people are being helped. Give me the strength to endure, protect my family, mature our church, so that one day we can hear you say, “well done my good and faithful servant, you’ve been faithful over a few things now come on up and I will make you ruler over many.”

In Jesus Name.
Amen.

Which One Is Telling the Truth?

I Kings 3:27 So the King answered and said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him, she is his mother.

It’s hard sometimes to separate the truth from a lie. Lawyers have put together compelling cases to set people free who should have been locked up, and they have also dressed up a lie to look like the truth and sent innocent people to jail. How do you then rightly discern the truth from a lie?

This was Solomon’s dilemma. He was a young king who had taken over his Daddy’s Kingdom. He didn’t know anything about leading a Kingdom but God showed up in his dreams and asked him to name whatever he wanted. He didn’t ask for Riches, he didn’t ask for the death of his enemies, and he didn’t even ask for long life. But he asked for wisdom and knowledge. Wisdom and Knowledge will help you discern the truth from a lie. Wisdom is the God-given insight into complex situations and knowledge is the accumulation of facts, not opinions. When you put the two together you come up with the truth. Someone quoted Jay Z the other day on my FB Page, “Men Lie, Women lie, but numbers don’t.”

Solomon’s first case as a new King was a perplexing dilemma between two prostitutes. They both had babies around the same age. One of them rolled over on her baby in the night and suffocated the baby. Somewhere in the night she switched out babies with her roommate. In the morning, the other woman noticed that her baby was dead but upon further examination she discovered this was not her baby. So they took their argument to the new King.

This was before the days of birth certificates and DNA testing, so it was one woman’s word against another. They went back and forth saying the baby was the others. Solomon said, “Bring me a sword and I will divide the baby in two. “ The one mean spirited prostitute said, “Yeah go on and cut him in half that way neither one of us will have him.” But the other women threw herself at the King and said, “Please don’t take his life, let her have him.” Wisdom and knowledge begin to kick in to Solomon’s spirit. Flesh and blood didn’t reveal this to him. He said,”Give the baby to this woman, she is the real mother.” When he saw the love in this woman who was wiling to give up her baby so that he could live eventhough she couldn’t keep him, he knew then that this was the real mother and she was telling the truth.

How did he know who was telling the truth?

1. The truth never seeks to harm another. You don’t tell the truth to see another person destroyed. The Prostitute who said, “Go ahead and cut him in half.” Only wanted to see the other woman as miserable as she was. Whenever someone has to tear someone else up to absolve their own misery, that person is a liar.

2. The truth doesn’t divide the living. The lying prostitute wanted to divide the living baby just to prove her point out of her own misery. The real mother was willing to concede just to save the baby. Truth tellers don’t keep ripping innocent people apart just to make themselves look right.

3. The truth always expresses the ugliness of the guilty and the compassion of the innocent. The lying prostitute showed how ugly she was on the inside when she told the King to cut an innocent baby in half. What kind of person would want to put innocent children in danger just to prove they are right?

4. The truth always wants what is best for others not just yourself. The real mother made a conscious decision; even if I lose my baby at least he will get to live. The other mother wanted to win at all cost even the life of an innocent baby.

5. Wisdom and knowledge make the final decision not opinions. King Solomon had to use his wisdom in making the final decision. After you have heard what people have to say, you next have to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to your heart. Above all else pray for Wisdom and knowledge and turn off ignorance and opinions.

Dear God, the devil only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Give me wisdom and discernment to separate the real from the fake. Help me to stand for truth and righteousness. Let God be true and every man that lies be exposed. Help us to know the truth not opinions, for the truth will set us free!

In Jesus Name.

Amen.

You Build the House

I Chronicles 22:11

Now my son, may the lord be with you; and may you prosper, and build the house of the Lord your god, as he has said to you.

There are things that our fathers wanted to do with all their hearts but they were not able to do because of the limitations of their humanity. They had the noblest of intentions but God had to let the next generation fulfill the desire of the previous generation. In 1984, Jesse Jackson ran for President of the United States of America but because he fought so hard for Civil Rights he was not in a place where he could unify all people even though he was a great hero of American History. His son, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. was able to help elect our first African American President because God used the next generation to build the house.

David wanted to build a magnificent House for the Lord. He gathered up precious stone, iron, timber, workers but he had to pass it to his son because God told David, “You have shed too much blood in my sight, but I will give you a son who will build the house.” David was a man of war but his son Solomon, whose name meant peace, was to build the house.

For decades the United States has been at war with the world and our House has been divided amongst racial and class lines. We now have a “Son” of both races, both the motherland and the “United States” to rebuild the House that our Father’s couldn’t finish. This generation is more prone to fight for Peace than they are to make War. This generation is about making sure that all people have adequate health care and equal opportunity. Dr. Martin Luther King was murdered because of his financial dream that poor people would have access to wealth just as the powerful few. This fear of rebuilding the house caused the government to assassinate its prophet because it threatened their profit. Now a son of the movement has to finish the house.

Our Fathers shed a lot of blood but we are to be sons/daughters of Peace. There are some things our fore-parents wanted to do but it’s up to us to build the house. Our Fathers wanted to build stable homes but because of the dysfunction of broken homes and generational curses they fell short, now we must build the house. Our Fathers wanted to build the House of racial unity but fell short because of the blood of lynching and racial terrorism, now we must build the house. Our Fathers wanted to build a country where every man/woman regardless of race, color, or creed could have the inalienable right to pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness but we fell short because of the blood, now we pick up our pieces, roll up our sleeves, put aside our difference and Build this House.

In order for the next generation to build properly they need the blessing David gave Solomon:

1. May the Lord be with you. Notice David didn’t say, “I hope you fail.” Neither did he say, “Solomon talking down to black people…I want to cut his #$# off.” He said, “May God be with you! We must speak life into the next generation. Just as God was with Moses so he will be with Joshua. Whenever we closed in Benediction at my country church we would sing, “May God be with you, May God be with you, until we meet again.” This generation needs to know that God is with them. They need your blessing.

2. May you prosper! David left resources for his son to be in a place of prosperity. David worked hard to make provision for his son. David had to shed blood to establish his Kingdom. What David did disqualified him from building a house for God. Our Parents sacrificed their chance for us to have a chance. There are some parents that had to bust their knuckles in factories so that we could go to college. The best way to honor their blood is to take advantage of the open doors and build the house. The bible says that a righteous man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children.

3. Build the House! It’s time for this generation to take action! We have to Build the house. We need to get involved with efforts like Habitat for Humanity and rebuild homes for people who can’t afford them. We need to go to New Orleans, Mississippi, Alabama and help rebuild homes devastated by tornadoes and storms. We need to go into our neighborhoods and help restore dignity and help first time homeowners get the dream of owning their own homes. One of the Principles of Kwanzaa says, we should practice Collective Work & Responsibility to build and maintain our community together and to make our Brother's and sister's problems our problems and to solve them together.

Dear God, give us the strength to build the house. Help us to pick up where our father’s left off. It's time to build and restore peace to a world torn by war. Your house shall be called a house of prayer, Lord help us to rid the house of robbers and thieves. Lord, let us build you a house of prayer, peace, and prosperity for all people.

In Jesus Name.
Amen.