For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5

My wife Cynthia and I belong to our town-sponsored fitness center and we both have a fond memory of an older gentleman who also attended. If he was there when we went, he’d always be smiling from ear to ear; and when he wasn’t exercising on one of the pieces of equipment, he’d be greeting someone by their first name.  Sadly, Ray has since passed on, but we’re still convinced if there was a “mayoral election” at the gym back then, Ray would have gotten all the votes.

In my earlier years in business, there were two very successful people who I was privileged to know and at some point informally interviewed about the secret to their success. One was Sue Wong, who owned a Chinese Restaurant called the Cathay Temple. The other was Manny Gomes, who owned Manny’s Gas and Service Station.  Both told me the same thing. It wasn’t about what seemed most obvious—the best Chinese food or the highest octane gas: it was about a working relationship with people and purposefully calling them by name.

These examples serve as evidence of the influence and success in the “bothering” to know someone by name. A book by Franklin Graham, entitled The Name brings this concept and process to the greatest focus. The name he talks about in his book is Jesus Christ—the one name that is the lightning rod because it represents the division of life between good and evil, God and Satan, light and darkness, righteousness and sin and heaven and hell.

Isn’t it amazing how so many people these days are quick to dismiss, defame, or take the name of Jesus Christ in vain? Sadly, it’s bordering on the politically correct thing to do. Before we join those ranks and the eternal consequences associated with such foolishness, we need to know what God’s word says. The Bible says there is no other name for us to rely upon to be saved, that we should pray to the Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus, and one day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father.

What’s in a name? If we’re referring to the real Jesus Christ, the anointed One and Son of the Living God, then it’s the name that profoundly transcends earthly elections or business success. It’s the name that simply means everything!

Family and friends, we share this short closing prayer to our Almighty King… May we bring honor to You and bring glory to Your name by the way we conduct every aspect of our lifestyle. To You and to You alone we pray, in the matchless name of Jesus Christ. Amen!

Psalm 138:2; Acts 4:12; Col 3:17; Eph 1:21; Matt 24:24; Rev 15:4

“Working for fulfillment is better than working for money.  The purpose of a job is work, not money.” – Dr. Myles Monroe

In our final look at work, it is only fitting that we return to it’s biblical wisdom and understanding, so brilliantly captured by the late Dr. Myles Monroe in his book, Releasing Your Potential.  As an interesting side note, in 2012 my wife Cynthia and I went on our first cruise out of Miami and into the Caribbean.  One of our land excursions was to Freeport in the Bahamas.  Dr. Monroe’s ministry was located in the Bahamas. The picture herein is yours truly holding this particular book in Dr. Monroe’s home area of influence.

To be unaware of something is to be ignorant.  To learn something to be true and choose to ignore it, as if unaware, is foolishness.  In the 13th chapter of his text, entitled Understanding Work, Dr. Monroe highlights the principles we need to truly grasp as he contrasts the scriptural perspective of work with what the world system teaches.  May we go ahead and copy his summarized list of work-enlightening nuggets:

1. The achievement of greatness requires work.

2. Labor delivers your potential.

3. Work is… activated strength and energy, the effort required to bring something to pass, the use of your abilities and faculties to do or perform something, and the means to produce a desired result.

4. Faith without work is unproductive.

5. God designed you to fulfill your purpose by working.

6. Work multiplies your resources, be they large or small.

7. Idleness invites the company of lazy people.

8. The release of your potential is dependent upon your expenditure of the necessary effort to change your thoughts into visible realities.

So family and friends, in conclusion, let’s be encouraged to especially study the scripture directly or supplementary books like Releasing Your Potential to gain further evidence of what God’s favored four letter word – WORK means for us personally!!   As we do, we’ll be reminded of this….Potentially, We are God’s workmanship!!

Gen 2:15; Eph 2:10; Prov 13:4; Phil 4:13; 1 Tim 5:8; Prov 16:3

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.  Ecclesiastes 9:10

Have you ever asked yourself, “What work is most important?” Today’s message is designed to identify and discard the more probable human answers and make way for the only truth that satisfies such a superlative question.

Please understand that there certainly is nothing wrong with being self-employed or working for someone else, a just cause, or another company/organization. However, to place the highest focus on any of these without first acknowledging God’s creative and founding place in all of it is where many of us have room to grow. When Jesus’s contemporaries asked, “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” He was quick to explain the heart of the matter: “This is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom He hath sent” (John 6:29).  So the opening question of this message suddenly takes on a new light. Is working for myself, another, a just cause, or others more critical than working for God?

As believers—if we hold that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life—our thoughts and feelings should line up with the truth of what He says. According to the Lord, all our imagining, memories, thinking skills, meditating and flexing are secondary. The most important thing we can do is simply believe in Him. This is our most critical work.

While the idea is simple enough, it certainly doesn’t mean that walking it out will be easy. We can claim to believe yet not agree by upholding a confused thought life. Personal integrity that comes with a contrite attitude of heart must blend with the way God would have us think. Apostles Paul and Peter, John the Baptist, and most significantly, Jesus, were all known for their admonishing cry for repentance (rethinking).  In Romans 12:2, it reads, “We are not to be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of our mind.” Scripture also says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is” (Proverbs 23:7).

So family and friends, having a relationship by faith with our gracious God should bring His love nature into our heart or inner being. Our faith in Him generates hope in all we do because we work out our lifestyle to please Him. Studying to show ourselves approved becomes a critical part of our new pattern—whether we work for ourselves, someone else, for a just cause, or another company or organization.  Working with a divine perspective (even without pay) honors and glorifies the One who labored so magnificently to make us His children and the work of His love in the first place!

Phil 2:5; Phil 2:12; 1 Cor 3:21; John 8:50; John 17:22; Phil 4:19-20; Rev 20:12-13; 1 Tim 4:11; Acts 15:18; 1 Cor 10:31; Book of Ephesians; James 2:17, 20, 26

To love someone is to work for their highest good.  Edwin Louis Cole

Last week we established a significant difference between a mere job and the potential to work in a way that honors God. Today, let’s take a moment to explore work a little deeper and understand more clearly how valuable work is for each of us.

Sam Smith, the ever-perceptive and witty founding Pastor of Faith Christian Center, in Seekonk,MA., the church my wife and I attend, used to say, “If something was worth doing, it was worth doing right.”  His fresh quips were invariably traceable to his most faithful source—the Bible.  He knew good works are an expression that springs from the principle of our love for God.  It’s a heart-felt condition of gratefulness in those who truly believe.

Our individual understanding of who God is must not dismiss the fact that He is a working God.  Beside working to create all things, He created us in His image and likeness which means not only do we look like Him, we can act or work like Him too.  According to author Dr. Myles Monroe in his book Releasing Your Potential, several things complement this subject: 1) Refusing to work is to deny the opportunity to fulfill our potential. 2) The absence of work is stealing. 3) We rob ourselves and others when we are lazy. 4) The cure for poverty is hard work.

How many of us love responsibility, but not the accountability that goes along with it?  The accountability piece eliminates the excuses, blaming others, and the quitter options.  Rather than being the wild card we’ve all used to bail out from what we are supposed to do, accountability is the all-in commitment that tethers us to the fullness of our working assignment.

Let’s do ourselves a favor this week and take a moment to make an honest assessment as to where we are in terms of our job/work package and our accompanying attitude.  Let’s examine our hearts to check our motive.  No matter what we are doing, are we merely jobbing or are we laboring in love for the highest good of those around us.  God knows and so should we!

Finally, family and friends, may we adopt the feisty outlook of former President Teddy Roosevelt. It was he who said, “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.”

1 Cor 10:31; John 14:15, 23; Gal 5:6.

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. Prov 16:13

Our goal in this short series of messages is to shine a light on one of God’s preferred four letter words: WORK.  Seeing more clearly how vital (rather than burdensome) work can be offers a more wholesome perspective we all need.  Too many of us seem to be ignorant of, passively ignore, or aggressively reject the essential benefits of work.

In 1998, after almost thirty years of service, I officially retired from my job as a Special Needs Teacher with the New Bedford Public School Department.  “Retirement,” in this sense, has no relevance to my overall position of work and life.  In the greater picture, I consider myself to be in “refirement,” not retirement. If God, my eternal Father, never retired and is always working, then why shouldn’t I do the same? If His pattern is to work six days and rest one, then why shouldn’t I follow that as well? Retirement may apply to a particular job, but it can never apply to the life energy that comes in our privilege to live, to move, to have our being in a work place.

Work is not synonymous with a job.  A job is more interested in drawing a paycheck, watching the clock, and heading home. Work is the secret treasure necessary for a fertile life. It is the inner storehouse that God designed to draw on our potential to be helpfully and hopefully productive.  Within that store-house, our Creator has placed the abilities, talents, energies, and opportunities for us to meet and overcome life’s challenges. Work is the energy or currency that God deposits in us so we can personally succeed in being and doing what’s necessary to gainfully mature; all the while simultaneously pleasing and glorifying Him.

It’s interesting that the first commandment man (Adam) was given was to tend, guard, and keep the garden (Gen 2:4-7).  In other words, “Get to work, Junior!”  Everything the Creator had placed in Adam was contingent upon his exercising his untapped reservoir of inner attributes necessary to accomplish the work God commanded.  Let’s also remember that God’s commandments are loving guides designed to be obeyed for holy fruitfulness, not mere suggestions to consider or reject.

Family and friends, we need a renewed mind to desire and appreciate work. We deprive ourselves of true development, deployment, and employment if we don’t! To be continued…

Proverbs 14:23; Nehemiah 4:6; Colossians 3:23; Psalm 90:17; Proverbs 12:11

** Special thanks to the late, Dr. Myles Monroe, and his book, Releasing Your Potential; the inspiration for this series.  

With God, all things are possible.  Matthew 19:25

Charles (Chuck) Colson, who passed away ten years ago, remains as one of my all time heroes.  He had two contrasting histories – one of his power brokering military and political life and the other as a repentant sinner transformed into a serving minister of Jesus Christ.  As best-selling author and the founder of Prison Fellowship, his episode below in an Indiana Maximum Security Prison, is taken verbatim from his book, Loving God (Pgs 200-202).  I’ve read these words to myself and read them out loud several times to others.  Even writing them has had the same affect –  I cry with joy in the amazing grace of God!   Now, if you don’t mind, it’s your turn….

After speaking to more than two hundred inmates in the auditorium for a Prison Fellowship seminar, I asked the warden to let us visit death row.  I knew things were tense there because Stephen Judy had just been executed (electrocuted). But I wanted to see two Christian inmates with whom I’d been corresponding.  The warden agreed and invited a group of our volunteers to come along as well.  So about twenty of us made our way through the maze of concrete cell blocks to the double set of barred doors that led into the most despairing of all places – death row – the end of the line where men live for years from appeal to appeal.  The only way out is a new trial or death.

The warden opened the individual cell doors, and one by one the men drifted out, slowly mixing with our volunteers and gathering in a circle on the walkway.

I was especially glad to meet Richard Moore, whose wife had written me such moving letters, and James Brewer, a young black man who, though seriously ill with a kidney disease, was a powerful witness to the others on death row.  Whether his death would come swiftly by several thousand volts of electricity or slowly by uremic poisoning, James was at perfect peace with God and his warm smile showed it.  Nancy Honeytree, the talented gospel singer who often goes with us into the prisons, played her guitar and sang a few songs.  I spoke briefly.  Then we all joined hands and sang “Amazing Grace.” (Nowhere do the words of that hymn have richer meaning than among a group of society’s despised outcasts condemned to die for the most awful crimes.)

My schedule was extremely tight, so after we finished “Amazing Grace” we said our goodbyes and began filing out.  We were crowded into a caged area between the two massive gates when we noticed one volunteer had stayed back and was with James Brewer in his cell. I went to get the man because the warden could not operate the gates until we had all cleared out.

“I’m sorry, we have to leave,” I said, looking nervously at my watch, knowing a plane stood waiting at a nearby airstrip to fly me to Indianapolis to meet with Governor Orr.  The volunteer, a short white man in his early fifties, was standing shoulder to shoulder with Brewer.  The prisoner was holding his Bible open while the older man appeared to be reading a verse.

“Oh, yes,” the volunteer looked up. “give us just a minute, please.  This is important,” he added softly.

“No, I’m sorry, I snapped.  I can’t keep the governor waiting.  We must go.”

“I understand,” the man said, still speaking softly, “but this is important.  You see, I’m Judge Clement.  I’m the man who sentenced James here to die.  But now he’s my brother and we want a minute to pray together.”

I stood frozen in the cell doorway.  It didn’t matter who I kept waiting.  Before me were two men: one was powerless, the other powerful; one was black, the other white; one had sentenced the other to death.  Anywhere other than the kingdom of God, that inmate might have killed that judge with his bare hands—or wanted to anyway.  Now they were one, their faces reflecting an indescribable expression of love as they prayed together.

Though he could hardly speak, on the way out of the prison Judge Clement told me he had been praying for Brewer every day since he had sentenced him four years earlier.

The next morning the judge cancelled his court calendar and spent the day in the Prison Fellowship seminar.  His testimony—and his story of meeting with James Brewer, which quickly spread through the prison grapevine – brought dozens of men to Christ.

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Matt 19:26

Some of us have a tendency to aim for a target that is below our potential. Our wholesome desires and expectations can be subverted by our own doing. The truth of the matter is that a positive, humble approach may be all that is needed to hit the higher and more honorable mark. May we be encouraged today to look up in a way that provides the power, direction, and determination to fight the good fight of life.

One of the best indicators of our repressive ways can be heard through our “yeah, but” pattern of speech: “Yeah, I could help so and so, but they live too far away; Yeah, I could give to such and such, but a vacation fund is more pressing; Yeah, I could go to school, but I’m too old…”

May we consider a new pattern that can change everything–one that stresses the positive by holding to the words “But God“:

• We say, “Yeah, but it’s not worth it.”But God says, “It will be worth it” (Romans 8:28).

• We say, “Yeah, but nobody loves me.”But God says, “I love you” (John 3:16, John 3:34).

• We say, “Yeah, but it’s impossible.”But God says, “All things are possible” (Luke 18:27).

• We say, “Yeah, but I’m too tired.”But God says, “I’ll give you rest” (Matthew 11: 28-30).

• We say, “Yeah, but I’m not able,”But God says, “I am able” (1 Corinthians 9:8).

• We say, “Yeah, but I can’t do it.”But God says, “You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you” (Philippians 4:13).

• We say, “Yeah, but I’m too worried and frustrated. “But God says, “Cast all your cares on me” (1 Peter 5:7).

Family and friends, let’s be reminded that it’s not so much what we think in our head but who we know in our hearts that makes the difference. When the relationship springs from the heart, the “Yeah, buts” inevitably will fall away to a renewed mind and the  hopefulness of the “But God’s.”

Speak these words with boldness and watch as our potentials unfold!

Rom 12:2; Ps 73:26; Rom 8:9; Jon 2:6; 1 Cor 1:27; Gen 50:20; Heb 13:5

He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.  Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you. Matt 28:6-7

English clergyman and writer, Benjamin Jenks (1647-1724), said, “O our God, let your grace be sufficient for us.” 

With Easter approaching, many voices will try to share what is the essence of this celebrated time. Some will consider Easter as simply another day. Others will say it’s a festive time with egg hunts, bunnies, new outfits, baskets of goodies, and/or one of the few times during the year to attend church or a family meal. Sadly, some will insist that Easter is another religious nuisance–one that comes from a pagan origin and is a myth, deception, or fairy tale.

Given the reality of these voices, I’d like to share what I believe to be the core value of Easter from a Christian perspective. It is found in God’s unmerited favor and power at work. The word for this is grace.

There is no other source that states this profound distinction of grace as precisely as it does in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake, God made Christ to be sin for us, who knew no sin; so that in and through Him we might become the righteousness of God.” By God’s grace, Jesus Christ came to deliver us from our sinful condition.  By dying on the cross, He fulfilled His divine purpose on earth. In resurrecting from the dead, He not only overcame our sin, but prevented our death or eternal spiritual separation from Him as well.  His grace is the absolute difference and our profound solution.

We openly rejoice that Jesus is no longer on the cross, and no longer in a tomb.  He is risen, He is alive, and He is the Spiritual hope we have to endure life’s daunting challenges, this side of Heaven.  It is a matter of honoring what God has done for us and appreciating what He’s done within us. We, therefore, celebrate Easter by recognizing His amazing grace!

Acts 4:33; Acts 4:33; Luke 24:6-7; Matt 27:65-66; John 11:25-26; Rom 6:8-11

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  Romans 10:13

The intention today is for us to learn and grow in asking the following sensitive question:  What do you think about when someone says the word “handicap”?  Many may react with thoughts of blindness, deafness, or some crippling condition. That was my reaction until I met a job-coach specialist for disabled people during a course I took as a member of the New Bedford Public Schools Special Needs Department way back in the mid 1980’s.

As a quick backdrop, most of us are familiar with golf handicaps, horse handicapping, or providing odds to gamblers to make their bet “fair” or made even somehow. The job-coach specialist offered a similar connection with his insightful work perspective.  He said a handicap is not the individual, but what one does to offset or equalize the condition of that individual. For example a blind person has lost sight. That person may be “covered in a handy way” or “handicapped” by use of a Seeing Eye dog, Braille, or walking cane. A “crippled” person can not walk. That person is handicapped by use of a strategic parking space, a wheel chair, and/or a ramp to facilitate access into a building.  On a personal level, I’ve been “handicapped” on two separate occasions with a hip and knee replacement.

His fundamental goal during this course was for those of us who worked with special needs students to become more effective in placing disabled people into the work force. Our personal focus of separating the essential worth of the person from his/her imposition or disabling condition was the motivation he shared that brought all of us a new and fresh approach.

If this seems revealing, logical, and understandable, then what do we regard as the Ultimate Handicap?  The Bible says “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” and “for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”.  The Bible also reads, “for whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved”.

Serious physical, mental, emotional, social, economic, and educational conditions abound and are real among us. In the midst of all our earthly challenges, however, we have a need for “handicapping” our sinful condition because of its most significant consequences.  Because you and I qualify as a whosoever, we have Jesus Christ to call upon as our free gift.  By God’s grace and His declaration of our true value, we may be sinners but we are not our sin.  With His new nature in us, we are still capable of sinning, but the tendency to sin, although still natural to our flesh, is now unnatural to our new creation spirit. More than our spiritual condition being offset, we’re blessed by a brand new one.

If you haven’t already, won’t you call upon Him right now to come into your heart, forgive you of your sins, and be Lord and Savior of your life. In faith, to receive the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ and become a child of the living God is work-free, an everlasting placement, and our Ultimate Handicap!

Have a great week…..learning and growing in the hope and difference only God can provide.

John 3:16; 2 Cor 3:5; 1 John 5:18

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope, the power of the Holy Spirit.  Rom 15:13

Some time ago, a friend sent me this description of an encounter that the late Mother Teresa had with a radio interviewer who also owned the station.  After the interview, the interviewer was so impressed with the heart and testimonies of Mother Teresa, he asked her what he could do for her. “There is nothing you can do for me,” she replied.  The interviewer went on to attempt to get her to understand that he owned the radio station.  He could get her a lot of publicity.  Mother Teresa then said, “I’m not here for publicity.” Almost begging her to see the light, he told her he could help raise a lot of money on behalf of her cause.  At that point, Mother Teresa said, “You seem like a good man. You seem like a sincere man.  I’ll tell you what you can do for me.  Tomorrow morning, when it is still dark at 4 AM, I want you to get up and go out on the streets of Phoenix…. Find someone who is alone and convince him that he is not.”

In our estimation, the story of Mother Teresa’s powerful insight qualifies as an obvious message of heavy-weight hope.  This note of encouragement we share with you today recognizes that probably none of our family and friends are living on a city street.  We also know, however, that in spite of our comfortable looking surroundings, sometimes we, too, can feel depressed, defeated, and lonely. So, it may not be the streets of Phoenix, it may not be 4 AM, but at any time and place we’re taken by Mother Teresa’s wisdom and desire to be a true encourager.  We come to you this morning with a word of hope. This week you will not feel depressed, defeated, or lonely.  As a matter of fact, your level of victory this week will be so great that you will have the wherewithal (maybe even at 4 AM on a city street) to tell someone else that they are not alone.

Our prayer this week is for us to have a measure of God’s love pour through us in a way that’s as evident as His love that flowed through His compassionate servant, Mother Teresa. In Jesus name, be faithful, grateful, hopeful, helpful, and enjoy your level of victory this week.

 Phil 2:7