I can remember when my doctor, at 16, told me that “I probably would not have children.” Looking at it today, it makes me laugh. Five of them with two that we miscarried and all of them incredible testimonies to the God of the universe.
God decides the path of our lives.
He alone.
And He does it in a way that blesses us to the core of our being.
But we must have faith.
As far as a title, I guess I will call this “Seeing It Before It Is Part 2”.
The spring has humbled me in many ways. There are new challenges and new disappointments. There are new misunderstandings and new mountains to climb.
The hills and valleys of life can be very discouraging.
But I again reach back to Faith.
Hebrews 11 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
And this is just it. We must be sure of what we hope for … and sometimes hope is so removed that we can’t even get half way to faith. And so the word for today is to: Be SURE of what you hope for. It is to be sure of it until Jesus removes it from your dashboard and tells you to go for something else.
This is a simple word but an important one.
David knew this in his prayers and times with God. His prayer in Psalm 18 is one that I say repeatedly. It is hope for the day.
Psalm 181 I love you, O LORD , my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 3 I call to the LORD , who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.
Go forward in hope. Go forward in faith. Go forward with Jesus. And be sure of what you hope for “it” until He moves you on to something else.
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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When an NFL player hits a crisis, it must be very hard to pull out of it. The quarterback, in particular, is in the eye of the storm. Surrounded by hostile grown men whose primary purpose is to bring pressure and physicality, the quarterback must face the hurricane and deliver in the biggest moments.
CJ Stroud is the new generation of men who “walk into the lions den”. And he seems to know who he is and who he belongs to. In every interview that I have seen, he thanks God through Jesus and plays for something bigger. Bless him for representing.
The reason he is in those interviews, in my opinion, is that he has adopted another character trait that Jesus recommends:
“Seeing It Before It Is”
Some would call it Faith. I call it FAITH AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL.
And Jesus knew this faith and taught this faith.
Matthew 1613 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
Jesus saw Peter.
He saw the plans of the enemy.
He saw the sins of men.
He saw the future.
Jesus chose Peter to build the church before he was worthy to be even a member.
And He sees what lies in front of you.
That’s a leader that makes the best NFL quarterback look like a Pop Warner back up.
And it is who we should be following as we navigate a rocky future. Jesus Sees It Before It Is … He is worthy of my devotion and surrender. He is the Christ … the Son of the Living God. All praise and honor and worship to the God who loves us too much to let us go.
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Yesterday, I had the honor to speak at Valdean Peppler’s funeral. If you are a family member and want a copy of the Grave side service or Eulogy, you can find it here. For the blog, just read on.
When Valdean Peppler started a conversation with her friend Elaine she would always say: “Elaine, today we are one day closer to paradise.” On March 20, 2024 she left our earth to do just that. She looked forward to her entrance into heaven and even told my wife in the months before she died that she had dreamed of a new house that was being built for her and that all the streets were Bible names.
I have a hard time contemplating this whole scenario. But Valdean … she did not. And when her son Glen Junior reached out to her dear friend Elaine to let her know that she had passed away, Elaine shouted with joy! They had both prepared themselves for this moment.
And her life represented that:
Well into her life, Valdean found a freedom in rediscovering the offer of John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
From the moment she accepted that word, and Him, Valdean’s life was changed forever.
She could not stop reading her Bible. She lived a life of purpose. And she became an Agent.
A Change Agent
A Travel Agent
A Prayer Agent
Valdean was Change Agent
Upon hearing that a strip club was going to open on Main Street in Longmont, Valdean and her small group began to pray. They prayed that the Boardwalk would not open. Not too long after that, not only was there no Boardwalk, there was a Lord’s Walk. The Lord’s Walk Christian Book Store was not so much a business…it was a beacon, a family run and influenced place to be encouraged, prayed for, and ministered to. The Lord’s Walk changed a city. Valdean was blessed by having family help her run the business, but more than that, she was blessed to influence thousands of people.
Valdean was a Travel Agent
Those of us who knew Valdean heard “Travel with Angels” every time we left her. It was not just a saying. Never would this be more vital then a Glenn Junior accident. Driving too fast, he veered across highway 287, hit a telephone pole, and ricocheted into an enormous tree. He ended up waking up in the passenger seat and the tree had pushed the steering wheel completely through the driver’s seat. Some would say that not wearing a seatbelt saved his life. More would say that God did.
Valdean was also a Prayer Agent
Any Time Someone Needed Prayer, or counsel, or advice, or encouragement, Valdean was a Beacon of Wisdom. It wasn’t just her gift, it was her willingness to cry out to God in prayer and request … she activated God to help her … and others.
This didn’t apply to just big things, it applied to ALL things. Over 30 years ago, Valdean was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. It was a grim situation. When Valdean heard that her heart was failing and nothing could be done, she simply “prayed and spoke” Psalm 73:26 “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Her heart began to improve and her granddaughter Leissa awoke one morning to hear her grandma screaming as her doctor told her “your condition is supposed to be degenerative but by all intents and purposes you had a perfectly normal echocardiogram.
I have always asked: “Why in some cases does God seem show up and not in others?” I do not know, and Valdean did not know either. But she celebrated the victories and kept her faith in the defeats. She chose to give all glory to God and I know that He was blessed by her worship through the good … and the bad.
I will leave you with this:
Jesus is real.
His house is real.
His love is real.
And He has prepared a place for us…..as John says in John 1: “To those who would receive Him, to those who would call on His Name, He gives the right to become children of God”
And it is never, ever, too late to live a life of purpose.
It can start today.
And all it takes is discovering, OR rediscovering, the offer of John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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As I watched college basketball last night, I saw a commercial that convicted me. Mike Krzyzewski said:
“You Belong To Something Bigger”
How prophetic.
I think that is the theme today. “You Belong To Something Bigger”
We are sometimes trapped in a rat race that never ends.
We strive to complete our daily tasks and make our daily wage.
We chase after a security that will never come.
We desire to be immortal only to discover that we are brittle and broken.
Take a minute today and rest in the fact that “You Belong To Something Bigger”. You belong to the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
This Jesus, the Jesus who carried His own cross to the hill on Calvary, He did it for you.
This Jesus, the Jesus who forgave the broken, He did it for you.
This Jesus, the Jesus who challenged the privileged in front of the broken, He did it for you.
And it was this Jesus who gave us these words: “In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart … I have overcome the world.”
Not long after this, He was betrayed, abandoned, brought before a mockery of a trial, beaten, sentenced, and executed as His clothes were gambled over by two Roman soldiers. It was hardly the “overcome the world” that we wanted to see. But it was the only thing that could possibly save us.
And He made it possible … So that we could Belong To Something Bigger.
As you read this verse today:
Revelation 19 11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
Remember: this was written by John after an ugly exile to Patmos. It wasn’t the ending that he wanted for his life.
But he belonged to something bigger.
Bow before the Father today.
Commit your life to Him.
Let go of your thoughts and your theories and your vision for the way that you think life ought to be … and begin to press into what it truly is … a broken world that could never be right on its own accord, with people who could never be right on their own accord, ruled over by a God who made it right on His own accord.
Thank God that …
You Belong To Something Bigger
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Matthew 16 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
This is Peter. And this Peter is the guy who promised loyalty and ran. This is the Peter who denied even knowing Jesus, the guy who swore just to make that point crystal clear. This is the guy who fell asleep in Jesus’ darkest hour.
A rock?
Not even a pebble.
But our view of the gospel is always tainted.
We choose to be judged by what we intended to do …
But we judge others by what they did.
But the reality of the universe is really very simple.
God says we will be judged in EVERY WAY. And the reality is that even a person will say: “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”
And so here we are …
On the road to Hell.
Enter Jesus.
Full of grace and truth.
Healing the sick. Raising the dead.
Putting His hands on the unclean.
Standing up for the broken.
But above all of that … He is calling up those who are not equipped — like Peter.
And He is calling you too.
So bring your broken self to the foot of the cross.
Accept His grace.
And go give away His love.
That’s enough for today … and the reality is … It Is Enough For A Lifetime.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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I love reading this verse. It is challenging to our culture in 2024 in so many ways:
Luke 16 1 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’
3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’
5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
6 ” ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’
7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ ” ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’
8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
13 “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.
Many people view heaven and wonder: “What is the cost of admission?”
What is the cost of admission?
We are short on our accounts and when the payment is due we will not have enough to pay it.
And then there is Jesus. He shows up and cancels the debt for us and our entrance goes from impossible to certain.
This is a message to the believer and the unbeliever.
It is easy for a follower to say that “I have been doing this for years and because of that, I am going to the front of the line.”
It is easy for a newcomer to say, “I am not worthy.” Or “I will go to the back of the line because I am not good enough.”
But this is not what Jesus says:
He says: Welcome. Enjoy your promotion. Welcome to the family.
When we are in we are in. And we are in because Jesus decided to pay the price of admission.
This message is not a good one to the individual who can buy everything or influence everything or overpower everything. There will be no money great enough, no influence great enough, and certainly nothing powerful enough to push our God around.
I mean: He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
He equips shepherd boys with rocks to take down giants.
He shuts the mouths of lions.
And He will certainly stand in front of an army and be undaunted.
The concept of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah ruling over us excites me as much as it humbles me.
And He did, unequivocally, pay the price for our admission … and yours.
So when you sit in worship today … THANK HIM for that.
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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This is a long message … but I implore you to read it and listen to the song at the end!
Genesis 37 5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”
In one conversation, Joseph set his life on a different course.
When you approach older brothers and make statements like this, you are showing yourself to be arrogant, entitled, pompous, ungrateful, clueless, … just to name a few …
And not long after this, he was enslaved, falsely accused, and thrown into prison.
Reading the story, it is by God’s protection alone that he lived through the incident with Potifer’s wife.
But that is not what this is about.
This blog is about YOU and it is about YOUR DREAMS.
It is about knocking the baggage off of your life and reclaiming what you have lost …
It is about you fighting to get back in the driver’s seat while at the same time allowing God to be the driver.
It is about us facing the realities in front of us. It is true, when we enter into this world, we start with two strikes against us.
Strike One is talked about in Revelation 12:10B, and it relates to the Accuser. Day and night, he releases accusation after accusation that do nothing but condemn us.
Strike Two is that those accusations, for the most part, are true. We are guilty as charged in most cases. And, the reality is, we have nothing on this earth to defend ourself from those serious charges.
It is about us not letting the story end here. Just like Joseph, our actions have been a viable part of our destination at the prison cell. We are there for good reason. But we are not there to stay. We are there to be released by what Jesus said in John 3:16. We are there so that we can truly understand the freedom that He is granting.
God convicted me this last weekend about one of the greatest stories in the Bible, and I never would have connected it to Genesis 37, but I was happy to see the connection.
Matthew 25 14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17 So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18 But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’
21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
22 “The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’
23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
24 “Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 ” ‘Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29 For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Jesus is challenging us to stand up and dream again. But He is challenging us to give these dreams away even as we pursue them.
He is challenging us to be Kingdom builders … to not bury our talents … to not view Him in our world but as He is … to GIVE OUR LIVES FULLY AWAY.
If we don’t use our talents to bless other people, not only will it cost them, it will cost us too.
If we bury our abilities, not only will they die, but we will to.
If we want to be more fruitful, we must aspire to be more faithful.
I believe that these are biblical truths that we must truly try to find in all that we are aspiring to do … and in them … we will have life.
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Genesis 37 5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”
Lord, what does this have to do with me? And what does this have to do with what I might talk about today? … I say that because I was convicted to speak about:
“The Fight Before You”
What could this possibly be about?
I am not the sharpest tool in the box … And God sometimes has to hit me over the head for me to even begin to understand …
The reality is this:
All of us have dreams. And all of us are destined and called by God to pursue those dreams. And all of us are going to have to STAND UP AND FIGHT for those dreams. Because those dreams will not be given to us …
And Jesus proved, without a shadow of a doubt, that He does not want us PLOWING OVER THE BROKEN IN PURSUIT OF OUR TRIUMPH.
Now while what I am saying is obvious, this is exactly what what do, and we should all be willing to admit, confess, that this is exactly what we do.
And so it was with Joseph.
God had put a dream on his heart, he was proud to stand over his brothers and lord over them … even in their brokenness.
God had given him a dream to save them, and he was professing it like bragging rights in a high school locker room.
And so here are my words for you today. Because whether you are 2 or 14 or 17 or 35 or 50 or 90 … you should be pursuing your God-given dreams like they were the most important things that you could ever hold onto. But as you do … be warned of that very verse above. Because that’s the verse that set Joseph up to be a slave and put him on his way to prison. It broke up his family and devastated his parents. It wreaked havoc on his life and the life of his family.
So here is my advice today on March 1, 2024:
Jesus Is The Lion Of The Tribe Of Judah. God has put a pecking order over our universe. Watch the pecking order in a pride of lions. One King. One Rule. One Ruler. And in that order they are safe, well-fed, and loyal.
Dreams Can Never Be Idols. Because of bullet point 1, a dream as an idol will NEVER, EVER, work. It might be a short term victory … but it will NEVER, EVER, work.
You Are Called To Lead In Humility. This could mean early mornings and late nights. It could mean giving up your first choice. It could mean that you are frustrated, or tired, or exasperated.
There Will Always Be A Fight In Front Of You. This doesn’t make you a fighter in the physical sense, but it means that you are always a fighter in the spiritual sense, in the character sense, in the repentance sense. And, most of all, you are always a fighter in the chase after God sense.
Things Are Not Always What They Seem. The very execution stations that Haman set up (Esther 7:10) were the very things he died on …
Persevere, Worship, And Give Everything To God. His plan is better than yours. And your plan is not even a close second. This takes faith.
I am not sure how to end this.
So maybe I will end this by encouraging you to read the “end of the Joseph” story. It is an incredible story of redemption, faith, and family.
And, while his dream comes to fruition, it was not at all where he took it in his lust to brag.
Thank you Jesus that you love us where we are and in the midst of where we are going.
You, Jesus, and You alone,
Hold the keys to eternal life.
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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When you are sharing the gospel, encourage your friends to ask the right questions.
When I researched about Patton growing up, I read about him in books, watched the movie, and studied history. I very well could have asked 3 questions:
Who was Patton?
Why was he killed?
What happened afterwards?
Patton was a general in the United States army who was a key figure in World War 2. His men fought hard for him. It seemed that they related to him. And it is certain that he had much success in the war.
I do not know why he was killed. But I do know that it was a suspicious car accident.
One theory was that he was killed because of his dislike for Russia and communism. He was very outspoken about it.
After he was killed, we signed a treaty that ended the war. We were able to work with Russia to divide Germany and come to a resolution.
What more do I know? Not much.
But I am confident that I know a good bit about Patton based on history books.
I could now ask the same things about Jesus:
Who was Jesus?
Why was He killed?
What happened afterwards?
These questions I can more easily answer.
He was killed for saying things like this:
John 10 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.
Jesus, by historical accounts, was a “magician or prophet” who many followed. He was killed because of what He said: He claimed, as in this verse, that He was God–that He … was the Messiah.
Both Jesus and Patton were killed for things that they said. Patton, while successful among his men, was not a politician and upset many with his beliefs and comments.
Jesus was much the same in that His words angered many—especially in the upper class of wealth, power, and social status.
So what are we to do with this?
My recommendation to those I talk to is this:
When someone comes and claims to be God and we have much of our current culture, traditions, dates, and beliefs based on Him, we should consider research.
It is my belief that, while we do not do a good job in basing our lives upon Him, there is great reason to research who He was and make a WHOLE-HEARTED decision based on what we discover.
And so my question to someone who may not be a Christian is this:
If someone stands at a door that gives entrance to the greatest place you could ever go in terms of protection, wealth, happiness, and well being, would you want to know how to get in?
I want to know how to get in.
If what Jesus said is true … you might want to surrender to Him.
In The Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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2 MINUTE WARNING 