Neither is there Salvation in any other for there is no other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Acts 4:12

What Jesus Christ did for us at the cross is astounding. Let’s go there for a moment and observe His timing, grace and mercy in action.

A grand and telling scene was set when three crucifixes marked the mount at Calvary. There was the Son and Lamb of God hung between two opposing souls. While both of the lesser figures were guilty as charged for their previous crimes, the Lord was blameless on all accounts. The very purpose of Jesus expressed itself when one thief decided to rebuke the King of kings and the other exhibited a heart cry for forgiveness. The disrespect of the hardened thief proved fully productive to lasting death, while the humility of his counterpart resulted in the greatest gift any man could receive—the promise of personal eternal life. Of course, the rest is His story.

Jesus willfully died on that cross to become the only redemption of sin. There is no greater spiritual example of justice, love, and fulfillment of God’s perfect will. In every sense, Jesus Christ faithfully lived the essence of His Word. It’s something of matchless beauty and worthy of our best effort to emulate and pursue.

Family and friends, it doesn’t matter who we are, from where we came, what we have done, or how old we might be to repent and get right with God. What does matter is our choice to do it now rather than later because our next breath is never guaranteed. It has been said that the ground beneath the cross is level for all concerned. That is some great news! We can’t be too good to earn our way or too nasty to be denied. What really counts is opening our heart to personally encounter the timing, grace and mercy of Almighty God !

Luke 23: 39-43

“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” Jn 13: 34-35

I can remember several years ago being asked by the Major in charge of the  Salvation Army in New Bedford, MA why I volunteered my time there.  After some serious thought, this was my answer:

When I think of all the teams, civic groups, business associations and committees I’ve been on during my several decades of life, volunteering at the Salvation Army has been most rewarding.

Jesus, in Matthew Chapter 25:31-46, shared something vital with those in the position to help. His pleasure lies with the compassionate folks who sacrifice to meet the needs of the less fortunate. How encouraging it is to see this in action at the Salvation Army in New Bedford!

In my estimation, the local outreach ministry of the Salvation Army superbly represents the working church of Christ and shines as our area’s Center of Eternal Hope. For over 135 years, it has faithfully and effectively served others, transformed lives, and brought a living hope.

Admittedly, there are no perfect people or organizations. The highly effective missionary work of the Salvation Army, however, speaks for itself. On a Christ-like basis, multitudes of the least, last, and lost among us are fed, clothed, supported, and encouraged to live a life in a relationship with Christ. The labor of love saturates the atmosphere in this New Bedford service community.

My reader friend, please assess how you are investing your time, talents, treasures and energies. The work to be done in our communities for those in dire need is constant, comprehensive, complex and challenging. By God’s grace and your willingness to join the cause, your local Salvation Army or comparable Christ-driven organization will have the human power and resources necessary to not only fight poverty and despair, but to win the battle in dramatic fashion.

Will you consider joining me as a volunteer at a Salvation Army facility or similar ministry near you? I promise — you’ll find it more than worth it!

1 Cor 11:1; 1 Cor 10:31; Rom 8:28; Jn 15:16-17; Luke 4:18

Little faith will bring your souls to Heaven, but great faith will bring Heaven to your souls. – Charles Spurgeon

The official Mother’s Day celebration was a number of weeks ago.  Acknowledging that, if you don’t mind, I’d like to celebrate something more about my wonderful mother with you this week as well.

Herein is a photo of her grave site. When I visit here, I tend to planting flowers in her little garden, sprucing it up, or taking time to reflect back on how blessed I was to have “sweet Alice” as my mom.  Far more importantly is the comfort and joy I get in reading the opening scriptural segment from Psalm 23 she chose that says, The Lord is My Shepherd.  That means so much to me because when I meditate on each of those five words I trust that my mother is still being tended to in the most loving way.  Here is what I mean…

The is a qualifier or definitive.  It doesn’t say a lord, some lord, or any lord—it says The Lord –That means there is a specific noun involved or a one and only.

Lord isn’t just another term of nobility. Lord means master or a person possessing supreme power and authority.

Is locates us in the present.  Not was, might be, will be, could or should be, but IS — right here and right now!

My — not yours, his or hers, but belonging to me — mine!

Shepherd – A man employed in tending, feeding, and guarding sheep in the pasture or the pastor of a parish, church or congregation; a minister of the gospel who superintends a church or parish and gives instruction in spiritual things.  God and Christ are in scripture named shepherds as they lead, protect and govern their people, and provide for their welfare.

 The Lord is My Shepherd may be just five words, but they combine to share a confidence in the blessing of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ—the one and only eternal shepherd worthy to lead us all, both now and forever more.  From the Garden of Eden, to my mother’s little garden, may we all be firmly planted in the garden of the love of our eternal redeemer!

We pray fervently that The Lord be Shepherd over all our family and friends; not only as an effective reminder engraved in my Mom’s stone, but especially in a loving relationship etched and alive in our hearts as well.

Psalm 23; John 10; Romans 10:9-10

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Heb 12:1

Scripture says that God is love and His kind of love never fails. Not only that, He’s perfect, everlasting and without beginning or end.  That means He doesn’t or can’t quit either.  In today’s message, may we take a look at the advantage that comes with an honest relationship with this awesome God that those who believe…call Father.

Growing up, athletics was my passion.  All sports were attractive and fine with me; both as a spectator or participant.  As a player or participant, my mother, was always my biggest and most loyal fan.  There was one funny story and a profound lesson to go with it that I’ll never forget. It was during my first attempt at running a half marathon in New Bedford, Massachusetts some forty-five years ago.

Not really prepared by training, pacing, strategy, or in knowledge of proper equipment, I naively set out over the city-wide course with a bunch of other runners on a very cool and blustery day in March.  When my mother got there to root me on, she positioned herself at the finish line.  Later, she told me she thought she arrived too late and that I must have won.  Why?  Because old women and children were crossing the finish line and she hadn’t seen any sign of me.

Well, for miles her “champion” was agonizing with side pains and trudging along with what seemed like hundred pound feet. Only one thought rattled in my mind — Don’t quit.  Praise the Lord, although people finished telescope distance ahead of me, I finally made it alive without stopping or quitting. So where is the profound lesson?

From a real runner’s standpoint, one way to assess my performance (with old women and children whipping me) was that I was a dismal failure.  For me, it was more than that.  I won because I didn’t quit, and it serves as a personal and practical application to the point of this story.

In a far more significant way, as we run our race over the course of life this week, we need God’s never-failing, never-quitting Holy Spirit to assist us in overcoming the stitches and heavy feet of personal challenges.  When we run with and for Almighty God, we win.  Remember, before you put on your running shoes, look up and know that with Him in your nature, you may fail here and there, but quitting isn’t in you.

1 Cor 9:24-27; Josh 1:9; Gal 6:9; Ps 27:14; Deut 31:8; Phil 1:6; Josh 1:5

When His disciples asked Jesus how to pray, His first two words were… “Our Father…”

Theodore Cuyler describes hope as the flower of desire.  He writes, “There is no happiness which hope cannot surmount, no grief which it cannot mitigate. It is the wealth of the homeless, the health of the sick, the freedom of the captive, and the rest of the laborer.” As passionate and wonderful as these overcoming exchanges seem, there is another inspiration that we would like to share this week that is even more amazing and foundational.

If you have a Bible, please look in 2 Corinthians 6:18. It says, “I will be your father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” Can you imagine anything more hopeful than to hear and receive the spiritual truth of what God is saying to us in this scripture? In effect…

• He is saying to those of us fortunate to have great biological or legal fathers, that He is the potential to be their Father too.
• He is saying to those of us mourning the death of a parent, that He is available to us as our comforting Father.
• He is saying to those of us who do not even know our biological father, that He is the Source to supply all our needs as Father and Dad. 
• He is saying to those of us who doubt eternity, that He is our hope of glory to be with as our forever Father in Heaven.
• He is saying to those of us with illnesses or afflictions that He is our Father of everlasting wholesomeness and restoration.
• He is saying to those of us seeking liberation from bondage, that He is our way, our truth, our life, and Father of real rescue.
• He is saying to those of us who are weary or somehow trying to work our way into His family, that He, as our Father, brings us forgiveness, rest, and salvation through His Son, Jesus.

The Bible says, if we delight in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4). May the flower of hope that blooms from deep within us be planted and rooted in what God’s Word says. May we all become personal, focused, motivated, and hopeful to truly and openly receive God’s amazing promise to Father us. If we are to be about His business this week and beyond, it is simply a must!

Family and friends, HE is I AM THAT I AM.  Whatever we need, HE IS that!! May His parenting grace, peace, and presence be ours today, this week, and forever!!

John 14:18; Isaiah 61:3; Prov 311-12;Phil 4:20;John 10:28-30

The words I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. John 6:63

There’s something wonderful about the real thing.  Plastic fruit has its place, but give me fresh fruit any day! Play money works in the Monopoly board game, but I’ll take the real dinero, thank you very much! Wearing clothes that are too big may help to make me look thinner, but actually being fit is a far better option!

If you are old enough, you remember the famous television show whose hero was introduced with this inimitable description: “Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.” Of course, it was none other than……SUPERMAN! Well, that entertaining and fictional show, like every other, eventually found its way into a vault of archives, where its only exposure to the light of day now would come in the form of a re-run. As captivating as that series was, there’s something far greater and more enduring that comes from Isaiah 40:31 in the Bible!

This verse says: “Those who wait upon the Lord (who expect, look for, and hope in Him) shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up (close to God) as eagles (mount up to the sun); they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint or become tired.” A reference like this is so uplifting and encouraging that only a supernatural Spirit can boast. If the living God says we can have an intimate relationship and perspective that comes from and in Him, that we can endure the marathon of life with His inspired energy, and that we can take on the details of daily activity with a confident diligence and excellence, then…give me what God’s prophet said in Isaiah 40:31!

No plastic, no games, no imaging, no science fiction or phony news.  Family and friends, the truth and freshness of this super message of hope comes straight from the script of Almighty God and will never qualify as a re-run. Let’s accept it, take it with us this day, and watch it work wonders in our lives!

Gen 1:26; Gen 17:1; Rev 1:8; Prov 3:5-6

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Ps 127:1

Back in the mid 1990’s, I had the good fortune of working in the New Bedford Public School System as a facilitator in a federally funded Home School Goal Project. The primary purpose of this program was to cut costs by integrating out-placed special needs students into the local system. Of course, the challenges and complications along the way served to highlight some of the strengths of those involved. I, for one, received an interesting compliment from a Harvard PhD who was acting as a consultant to our team. He pointed out that I had a special gift of being able to “make sense out of nonsense.”

In all fairness to our consultant, he was really referring to my organizational/administrative ability to simplify complicated situations as opposed to literally making sense out of nonsense. Not one person in all of history has been able to do that. To “make sense,” one has to completely agree with the actual design/nature of the thing or circumstance being discussed. Make sense? It should, because a nonsensical approach can only produce more of itself. Everything produces after it’s own kind!!

Now, the highest version of making sense is to gain the perspective of truth as God would have it. After all, He is the One who gives meaning to every detail of this created world. What’s interesting is that people (this includes you and me) constantly try to warp or alter God’s truth by applying spins of all kinds. In reality, that is trying to make sense out of nonsense. We already know this cannot happen. Trying to add our spin to God’s perfection could be viewed as an attempt to make nonsense out of sense.

So why don’t we go to the place where making sense often clashes with the full spectrum of nonsense? God, in His Word, tells us that the only way to Heaven or eternal life in Him is through the honoring of Jesus Christ, His Holy Son. Many believe they will be able to come to Him via their own design, be it through good works or another method. Sadly, they will have put their faith in something of no proven basis. It is the ideal example of trying to make sense of God’s heart using the nonsense of our own.

There is but one supreme and holy Superintendent. What’s so cool is that His goal is to call each of us back into His Home School. Recognizing our special need for His guardianship, guidance, governance, grooming and growth is our privileged choice. Remaining in an outside placement or in an unholy system of our own makes us an outcast of God and a devotee to all things nonsense. This is a personal and eternal cost way too expensive to pay! So let’s do the obvious and strive for that which truly makes sense! He is the way, the truth, and the life and His name is Jesus.

 Romans 8:28; John 14:6;1 Cor 1:25

Editor’s Note: Our special needs are universally shared, and through Christ, our special needs have been eternally provided.

God operates in commandments, not suggestions. Edwin Louis Cole

Something of a question is stirring inside me that I pray will come across effectively in today’s message.  As confessed Christians, do we find ourselves simply working for Christ, with good intentions in our imagination, or are we actually walking in Him and co-laboring with Him?  In other words, are we a true follower of Christ?  If so, how do we efficiently anchor ourselves for the challenging journey of the fulfilling life He’s promised?

Clearly, these are uncharted waters in which we live.  It is in such perilous times of advancing lawlessness that “easy” Christianity simply will not do.  To live the counterfeit lifestyle while calling it the genuine article of living for Christ is to enhance or enable the downward slide of society. The wisest move to make is to turn to the true standard and live it out with a newfound gusto. God’s way is the only purely magnetic and flawless solution. There is no one but Almighty God (Lord & Commander) who could issue the absolute (not obsolete) commandments in stone.  He is the only One who could promise prophetically to write them on the Spiritual tablets of our heart (Jer 31:33).  He stands alone to personally die in our honor to pay for our sins to fulfill the law He originated.  Amazingly, by faith in Him, His grace makes us righteous and re-energized to live as overcomers in this fallen world.

Let’s take an honest look at our date book and checkbook to assess if some lesser “thing” is first in our life, or if The Lord God, Jesus is.  The Biblical God, Commander and Savior, also named Jesus, said the following: “Where your treasure is there will be your heart be also (Matt 6:21). You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you (John 15:14). This is love, that we walk after His commandments (2John 2:6). This new commandment I give you that you are to love others like I have loved you (John 13:34).”

Family and friends, when we read and hear the Holy Spiritual life-giving, light- bearing, and liberty-releasing  words of the true God or Lord and Commander Jesus Christ, everything relational about us in Him must uncompromisingly move, adjust, and reconfigure in obedience to His unchanging and perfect standard or command.  He is also best at helping us to do that, so in prayer…

Dear Father God in Heaven,

Please let us live, move and be in the divine reality of You being our Lord, Holy Commander, and Shepherd.  May we surrender our lives, not to retreat, but to prosper in our entire being.  Your genius is perfectly authoritative and whole.  No one is before You, behind You, below You, or above You.  It’s not by our might or power but by Your Holy Spirit that works in us both to will and to do Your good pleasure. You promised to write Your commandments upon our hearts. As we hold You near, we receive Your standard promise right now, for such a time as this.  We pray and receive this amazing blessing, in the name of our Lord God and Commander Jesus Christ, and in the Ultimate Word of His power.  Amen!

 Exodus 20; Matt 5: 1-16; Matt 6:33; Psalm 1; 2 Cor 5:21; Phil 2:13

Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts. Psalm 90:12

It’s easy, in this season of hard-nosed political and cultural warfare, to detect different party and group agendas.  In the midst of this obvious reality, may we focus on what is far more subtle and personal in nature.  Even if it’s hidden or hard to detect, we all have an agenda or a life plan.  Whatever we believe and think way down in the boiler room of our heart determines what we value and ultimately the way we think, plan and act. The question then arises… What is my agenda?

In today’s message we will use the Bible as our authoritative and balanced resource. As we do that, let’s get a sense of personal focus.  Let’s zoom in on three different scenarios using an imaginary friend, named Tim.

1. Tim is in a stadium with his wife and two children. They’re all dressed up as pirates, jumping up and down and rooting fanatically for their favorite baseball team, the Pittsburg Pirates.
2. This same Tim is in a building called a casino. He’s alone, drunk, waging family money he can’t afford, using foul language and batting his eyes at some strange woman who isn’t his wife.
3. Now our friend Tim is with his family. They are in a building called a church. His and their hands are raised, singing away in reverence and sincerely worshipping God.

The first situation is a great example of a normal, yet uniquely family-spirited agenda.  Tim, as the head of his household, has a life strategy that vitally includes his family. His “wholesome activity” and safe excitement adds to a good family-album-type memory. His family is what’s most important to Tim; it’s deep inside the generator of his heart and the authority of his thoughts, plans and actions.

In the second situation, we find Tim hijacked from his family.  He’s in a swamp of poor judgment and discipline, high action temptation, sin, and despair.  The family of unholy evil is at play in him because the devil’s agenda is to steal, kill, and destroy him. (John 10:10).  Tim is literally a puppet of the enemy; totally separated from his God-graced potential.

In our final scene, Tim falls under God’s agenda.  As head of household, His united (not perfect) family is under a Holy God, which means God is over them in spirit, soul, and body.  The power of God, not self, or the devil is now the actuality.

May these examples awaken us to the truth. People have an agenda, and so does the devil and God Almighty. One is either submitted to self glorification, to destruction, or to experiencing life Himself. God’s agenda is for welfare and peace, not calamity or distortion. The light of Psalm 90:12 clears the fog and distractions for Tim, you, and me.  Encouraging us to appreciate God’s blueprint and to function in His successful agenda for each of us makes eternal sense.

Family and friends, when we seriously appreciate God’s gift of life and the time we have on a daily basis, and when we behave in godly skillfulness, our journey will be as good as it gets. Not only does His Scriptural Word help us to prioritize wisely, they are hopeful, strengthening and the inspiration necessary in answering the question:  What is my agenda?

 Jer 29:11; 1 Cor 10:31; Josh 24:15

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

What is success?  One of the minor ways some people measure success is yelling Bingo! on a Wednesday or Friday night.  There’s excitement in the caller naming the letter and number to fill their card first!!  On a grander scale, if life was a type of bingo, what letters and numbers would have to be called in order for us to consider ourselves successful?  I listened to a noted sales consultant offer six elements he said the great thinkers and researchers over the span of time have agreed make up success.  According to him, bingo in life is to fill the following card.  We must have…..

B – Peace of Mind

i –  Health and High Energy

n – Loving Relationships

g – Financial Freedom

o – High Ideals and Reasonable Goals

! – A Sense of Fulfillment

Please notice in his insightful formula the vital omission of the Greatest Caller of all, God Almighty.  If we consider the first commandment (Love, honor, and to please God above all else), then the rest of our success card would take on an even greater significance.  As a support scripture, in Matthew 6:33 it says, “Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”  In other words, bingo without God is (at best) a game of human fashion and luring chance.

This message of hope is not against the game of bingo and sees some truth and value in the Bingo! formula listed above.  What we’re asking to consider, however, is for us to forfeit a game of chance, when a sure thing is available by faith.  It’s either our way of looking at the measure of success through the eyes of experience and intellect or seeing it through the eyes of the One who is calling us to His eternal family.  To hear “Well done My good and Faithful Servant” at the close of our lives is to have the ultimate peace of mind, health and energy, loving relationships, financial freedom, ideals and reasonable goals, and fulfillment with one major difference…. It will be the kind of success that calls and lasts forever.  Now that’s real BINGO!! 

 Matt 25:21; 2 Cor 5:8;Ph 1:21-23 Ph 3:20-21; Jn 3:36; Jn 14:6; Jn 17:3

Editor’s Note:   Success is as easy as 1,2,3:  1 Kings, Chapter 2, Verse 3 —  And keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you go.