🆓I’m Free! Really?🧐

The one who wants to lead the orchestra must turn their back on the crowd. 

Max Lucado

 “This is the way, walk ye in it” are we told what the way is? We are! 

John 14:6 (KJV) Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

“I am the way”  “The” means the only way! There is no other way that works.

In the book Matthew chapter 7 there are two gates or two ways that are mentioned.  

Matthew 7:13 (KJV) Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

We read of the “strait gate” but we read nothing of it here but we immediately read about the Wide Gate.  It’s “broad” wide! We read where it leads “to destruction” and we read that “many” go in. This is sad and reminds me of cattle that are taken from the farm to the slaughter house. They are what we call dumb but we aren’t dumb. Yet many leave the farm on their way to be destroyed and don’t even realize it. The “strait gate” is mentioned first by name only, now we read about the “strait gate”

Matthew 7:14 (KJV) Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

One is called strait and the other is called wide. They are both described for us. One leads to  life and one leads to destruction. 

• First though, I want the door to life. 

That’s what we do? We go to college and get a degree; why is that? Because we want a better life. We work hard to have a better life and all the time there is a thief just waiting to rob us. Al maybe the one who will do it’s best to take what you worked so hard for and give it to those you don’t even know. Al will introduce you to a Judge and in some cases to 12 good citizens who will determine your future. Al is very powerful at ruining and running your life, his real name is alcohol.  

• Watch out there are many more than Al.

1. Drugs
2. Sex
3. Gambling
4. Pleasure
5. Greed

All these come with the idea that if you do this it will Satisfy, you’ll finally be Happy. Only to find that they have been lies. We are told 2-times by the wise Solomon that there is a wrong way that seems to be the right way, that is satisfying and happy but it turns out not to be so.

Proverbs 14:12 (KJV)  There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Proverbs 16:25 (KJV) There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Notice what Solomon is saying “There is a way” Solomon is writing about a  “way” Webster says this about  “way” A passing; hence, a passage; the place of passing; hence, a road of any kind; a highway; a private road; a lane; a street; any place for the passing of men; cattle or other animals; 

Solomon says there is a way that seems right. 

• It looks right, 
• it appears to be right, 
• my mind says it is right, 
• I feel like it’s the right thing to do. 

None of those feelings have anything to do with the right way. It’s not our feelings that determine the right way. Feelings will mislead you and disappoint you more times than not. I was cutting up with my wife not long ago and I said to her “look me in the eyes!” Then I said “I have strong feelings for you.” She said “you better have more than feelings for me!” Feelings will mislead. I’m not looking for a way that seems right or feels right. One night my wife and I were going to our granddaughters home. I turned right when I should have turned to the left. My wife said where are you going? Hating to admit my mistake I felt like there was another road on the left that would take me over to the road I needed to be on. There wasn’t and I had to admit my mistake and go back. It’s not wrong to be going the wrong way. It’s wrong to continue going the wrong way. Remember there is a way that seems right, but it’s not. We can follow the crowd or we can join the few. The crowd seems to be right. How can so many be wrong? Which gate offered freedom?

📖Wish Book👀

Millions saw the apple fall but Newton was the one who asked why.

When I was a kid every year about this time there would come in the mail a catalog from Sears called the "Wish book." I would open that catalog up and look at all the different kinds of toys and I would start to wish I had this toy and could even image that very toy being mine. Before long I was wishing a lot of those toys were mine but that was all I was doing, just wishing. That is fine for a young boy to wish, but when one becomes older there is more to it than a wish. God gives us a plan and it's called prayer not wishful thinking but prayer and He teaches us how we are to go about it. Look with me for a moment in the book of Matthew Matthew 7:7
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

Matthew 7:8
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Matthew 7:11
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

As we read that I want you to remember one word, for it will help you later to remember the process God wants you to take and that word is "ASK." Let me explain. Ask- {To request or petition} this means we must in prayer ask what we desire for the Lord to do.

Seek- {to go in search or quest of} We ask in prayer then we go in search for the quest we made. As one of my college professors taught me long ago "keep going through the doors until they shut."

Knock- {to knock under, to yield; to submit; to acknowledge to be conquered} Keep pursuing after what you asked for. How bad do you want it? Things just don't float out of heaven Ask go after and God will open the doors for you. Take the first letter of each word and you come up with the word Ask, Seek, Knock. What make this principal so important? The same way you get an automatic door to open is the way to get God to open a door for you. You have to start moving in that direction. You have to start walking toward it before it will open. You can look at that door all day and it won't open for you; you can even wish it would open for you but nothing will happen until you start walking toward the door and then and only then will it open up for you. So what do you want God to do in your life? Have you asked Him? Are you seeking Him? Are you walking in that direction? If not then all you have is a wish book!

✝️Our Permanent Home:🔜🗯️

 There are generations yet unborn, whose very lives will be shifted and shaped by the moves you make and the actions you take. Andy Andrews

Psalms 23:6 (KJV) Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

I like that word “and” that means there is more to come. You hear all the time on those TV advertisements “and that’s not all.” 

There are two “and” in Psalms 23 in verse 4 and 6. In verse 4 it has to do with our protection and in verse 6 our permanent home. The Lord is our shepherd that leads us to a place of rest and still waters. He restores the broken. He overcomes our fears because He never leaves us. The table is prepared for us and there is more than enough. His goodness and His mercy follow us all our days. But there's more. We have a forever dwelling place. As my military enlistment was coming to an end my wife and I drove to Altus Oklahoma, my last duty base. We left our 10 month old son with his grandparents after I had returned from an 18 month tour. It was a long 18 months and as Forest said “and that’s all I’ve got to say about that.” Altus was a whole lot closer to home and I only had 8 months. I said all that to say that we were not looking to buy a house. We were only looking for somewhere to live temporarily. Is that not what we are reading about here? All the days of my life. That tells me that where I am living now is not my permanent home, it's only temporary. This life I’m living now comes to an end. Then comes the permanent home God’s house “I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.” I don’t completely understand that but read this. 

Philippians 1:6 (KJV) Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

I’m confident (convinced) that God, who has begun a good work in me. Will perform (carry it all the way through to completion) until the day of Jesus Christ.

Wow, it’s easy to get off track. Why is it so hard to get back on track? Why is it so easy to let our troubles become the engineer?  There are many things that if I allow them will distress me, things I can do nothing about. The weather is one. To many times I have found that the old rock way to tell weather is best. Place a large rock close by a window if you look at it and it’s dry, it’s not raining. If it’s wet with water running on its sides it’s raining, if it looks white it’s snowing. It will never fail you but the weather man will. Turn on the radio and what do you hear? Do you have enough to live comfortably in retirement? Keep listening to that and you will get stressed out for sure. Tangled up in life’s journey when we should be enjoying living life’s journey. Yes we prepare like going out into the cold air we put on a coat. Question? Are we preparing for our permanent home? Are we more excited about our vacation than going to heaven? One only has to go to a church service to see how excited some are. Look over there at Linda Jane she is checking FB to see if anything has happened she should know about in the last 3 minutes. Oh it has, Gail her friend is now at the EZ Stop getting butter for a cake. Now that is present time stuff one needs to know. Then there is Tim Drew whose eyes have gotten a bit heavy and oh there they go they are shut. While the songs of heaven are sung there are a crowd of people whose minds are somewhere else. While the preacher preaches, with tears of joy  running down his cheeks. He talks of his permanent home in heaven where his family and friends are rejoicing around the throne of the Faithful Lord Jesus Christ. Well it’s so quiet and unresponsive why there’s more excitement at a funeral. Oh but you say we should be reverent in God’s House of Worship. You think? Is that the way it is in our Heavenly Home? 

1 Thessalonians 4:16 (KJV) For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Revelation 5:11 (KJV) And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;

It may have been a little hard to keep all these reverent around the throne in Heaven but I’m sure they were.  Revelation 5:12 (KJV) Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

That’s not what we are used to. Don’t be more excited at the brochure of Coco beach than you are of the Heavenly shores of Glory. Coco beach with the sand running over you feet as you walk toward the ocean as it rushes up over you feet. We are here for a whole week, you tell yourself. Sunday to Sunday a 168 hours minus the 56 you will sleep and 21 hours you will spend eating and the 16 hours it takes you to travel round trip. That’s 93 hours and if the weather is good leaves you with a wonderful 75 hours of real vacation time. Oh I’m not saying not to take a vacation I’m trying to show us the difference. A vacation as wonderful and relaxing as it may be is nothing compared to our Heavenly Home for it’s forever. Oh our guide in Heaven will be our Great High Shepherd the Lord Jesus Christ. Who we should know personally for He was with us all the way through this life we are now living. He was with us, He our Shepherd. When we had needs, when we were weary and worried and thought all was helpless. Our Great Shepherd restored our soul.

When guilt and grief tried to overwhelm us our Great Shepherd guided us. When death showed its awful face He our Great Shepherd was there with us in these moments of great sorrow of the great shadow and comforted us. He gave us rest from loneliness, reminding us of the Great Table and our enemies will soon be past when we stand in our forever Home where darkness refuses to shine. For our Great Shepherd is the light of our Forever Home. That’s why will need a different way of hearing “the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;

Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb”

Next time at Church remember it’s only the training ground for our Forever Home so lift up your voice.

  

 

👺Forgiven😇

 Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness.

Billy Graham

Psalms 23:6 (KJV) Surely goodness and mercy 

• Did you notice the first word? “Surely” Webster says it means “Certainly; infallibly; undoubtedly”  
• Certainly goodness and mercy shall
• infallibly goodness and mercy shall
• undoubtedly goodness and mercy shall
• Notice the very next word in that verse 
• It’ A Huge Statement:
• shall follow For how long? “all the days of my life” God’s Word gives such comfort. Look how it didn’t read. “goodness and mercy shall follow all the days” that I am good. That’s impossible! Know why? If you know what your Bible says you do.  
• Romans 3:12 (KJV) They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
• ”goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days” that I am seeking after God. No, that's wrong too. 
• Romans 3:11 (KJV) There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. Is that not what we read in the book of Luke? 
• Luke 19:10 (KJV) For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. He’s seeking us. I was talking with a young man one afternoon and I asked him if had been saved? He told me that he had done too many bad things for God to ever consider saving him. Now I’m not always this sharp. I then said I’m so sorry may I ask you who you killed? He quickly said no one! I then said you are in good shape then. Do you know that there was a man who became King over all Israel and God even calls him a man after God’s own heart. Well that King let his lust overtake him that resulted in another man’s wife getting pregnant. That King thought he had solved the problem when he had her husband killed. That King asked God to forgive him and you know what God did? He forgave him. So my friend God will forgive you too. That man’s name was David. He was the King  of Israel, read how he prayed.
• Psalms 51:1 (KJV) Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
• Psalms 51:2 (KJV) Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin
• Psalms 51:3 (KJV) For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
• Psalms 51:6 (KJV) Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
• Psalms 51:10 (KJV) Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
• Psalms 51:17 (KJV) The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
• God is not interested in our good works, our righteousness which we have done. God saves us, forgives us by His Mercy. 
• Titus 3:5 (KJV) Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
• We might think that God is sitting on His throne ruling but that’s not what we read here. Oh no God is doing what? Following! God wants the best so He follows us with His Goodness and His Mercy. It’s not our performance that will bring God’s Goodness and Mercy. No a Good and Merciful God came to save us not because we pleased Him, because we haven’t. It’s because He loves us, because He does. Genesis chapter 3 we read of the first ones God ever went seeking after, remember their names? Sure you do Adam and Eve. God didn’t wait for them to come to Him. Why is that? They did wrong and covered it up the best they knew how and all looked good until God came seeking. John 4:23 (KJV) But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
• I never had a desire to come to God until God first came to where I was.  1 John 4:19 (KJV) We love him, because he first loved us.
• 1 John 4:10 (KJV) Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation (payment) for our sins.  
• Here’s a secret which is plainly right out in the open that will restore a marriage if it is practiced. 
• Ephesians 5:25 (KJV) Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
• If a husband will love his wife like that his wife will without doubt love her husband. Husbands don’t marry a wife to divorce her later in life. (Husbands, love your wives) then as husbands we are given an example. I like examples they teach us how to solve the problem (even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;) My wife's name is Judy and she loves going to the beach. I on the other hand could care less about the beach. So why do I go? Because Judy likes the beach and I love Judy and I want to be where she is. I wrote all this to say that no amount of money will buy love.  1 John 4:10 (KJV) Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

☕️My Cup Runneth Over🤗

We don’t need more to be thankful for, we just need to be more thankful.  

~Carlos Castaneda ~

Psalms 23:5 (KJV) Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

We all understand what overflow is. Like the time you left the water running and forgot all about it until the time you remembered. Oh the mess you had to clean up. Maybe not but it was a well watered yard. Whatever it was that ran over it was a bit much for the container to hold. This is the picture that is being painted for us here. Notice it’s not someone else's cup oh no it’s “my cup” that is “runneth over”  

Drinking From My Saucer

 

Verse 1

I’ve never made a fortune; I guess it’s too late now

Oh but I don’t worry about that none cause I’m happy anyhow

As I go along life’s journey, I’m reaping better than I sow

I’m drinking from my saucer, cause my cup has overflowed

Verse 2

Ain’t got a lot of riches, sometimes the goings rough

But I’ve got a friend in Jesus and that makes me rich enough

I thank God for all His blessings, and the mercy He’s bestowed

I’m drinking from my saucer, cause my cup has overflowed

Verse 3

I’ve been through hard trials, sometimes my faith grew dim

But it seemed like one day the sun shone through again

So Lord help me not to grumble about the tough rows I have hoed

I’m drinking from my saucer, cause my cup has overflowed

Verse 4

And if I should go on living if the way gets steep and rough

I won’t ask for other blessings cause I’m already blessed enough

May I never be too busy to help another bear his load

And I’ll keep drinking from my saucer, Lord, cause my cup has overflowed

Tag

Yes, I’ll keep drinking from my saucer, Lord, cause my cup has overflowed My cup has overflowed

We can let our cup run over with Jealous and here’s the results  Proverbs 14:30 (KJV) A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.

Someone has more than you. More money, more land, more horsepower you have 650 HP but then Eddie your friend went to 700 HP. Well you had no choice you put on that turbo and now you have 850 HP. Put that in your piece pipe Eddie! Weather it’s HorsePower, Money or Land or more hair that keeps you up at night the Bible says it rotting your bones. The wrong cup is running over. In your Christian life what’s running over? Here are a few to consider. 

Does your cup overflow with God’s Blessing?   Romans 5:20 (KJV) Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 

Does our cup overflow with God’s Grace?

Are my sins too great? No, read what is written “where sin abounded” great quantity “grace did much more abound” in greater quantity.   

What would one say to my friend Phillip? 

• He suffered from PTSD from Vietnam. 
• Then he lost his son to cancer which he discovered were the results of agent orange. 
• Then he had a liver transplant caused by agent orange. 
• Then he lost his wife and now he’s all alone. 

But wait he had something else, his Christian Faith. Paul says it this way: don't give into the questions you can’t answer. For these questions will not promote God's plan. Instead center on your faith.  

1 Timothy 1:4 (KJV) Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.

Does your cup runneth over? You bet it does. Phillip would agree but I can’t ask him, he went to heaven in April of 2020. Our cup may be low on a lot of things but not on the Mercy of our God for its overflowing Matthew 9:13 (KJV) But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

If we understand that we are sinners and ask God for forgiveness (repent). Then our cup is running over with God's mercy. Isaiah 55:7 (KJV) Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.  Let wicked people  abandon their direction and their thinking. Let them return unto the Lord for He will have MERCY upon them for the Lord will abundantly pardon. I’m afraid I have been guilty. Yes I have wanted even desired to have. A man once told me there’s nothing enough money won’t fix. Is that true? I always wanted an airplane. I just like them. Now I have no idea how to fly one but I love flying. Sometime back a friend of mine asked me if I would like to buy into a plane he and some others had ownership in. I told him I didn’t know how to pilot one. He said that’s no problem, we will teach you. We also have an instructor in our club. After you learn we’ll get him to finish you up. Are you kidding? Wow what great news my dream is coming true. Then it happened. I watched all my excitement go up in smoke. The plane crashed, the instructor, well I never got to meet him. I watched it all crash right in my living room floor when I asked my wife what she thought about me learning to fly. Her words and facial expressions were not what I wanted to hear. “🤨JUST WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE TIME FOR THAT?✈️💨 yes we all have dreams that never happen. You know what, I will never have a plane, I will never have a 1965 GTO sitting in my garage, I will never have more money than I could ever spend; now I’m getting a bit hoggish. They are dreams. Now what I do have outshines all that and more. You see I have abundant life, abundant Grace, abundant Faith, and I have a home in Heaven. Yes I have Jesus, what could I possibly want more? My cup runneth over. Plane, GTO, Money won’t do that but Jesus will. 

Jesus loves me:

Jesus protects me:

Jesus walks beside me:

Jesus understands me:

Jesus forgives me:

Jesus restores my heart:

Jesus opens my path:

Jesus never leaves me: