From Tragic to Triumphant #134

Matthew 27:22

Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" They all said, "Let Him be crucified!"

Matthew 27:50

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. (NAS)

Death seems so tragic and senseless. We struggle to find meaning in the death of a baby or teenager. When someone is killed in an accident we question the reasons why anyone would have to die in such a meaningless way. Yet there was one death that on the surface looks tragic and senseless and meaningless, but when observed through the eyes of God makes all the fog roll away.

Jesus' death was not an ordinary one. He died for a reason. He died to be a substitute and a sacrifice for us. He died with the sin of the whole world on Himself. He took our place in order that we might have eternal life. He also died to forgive us of our sin. We sinned against a Holy God and needed forgiveness. Jesus' blood that He shed on the cross washes away our sin. He also died to give us direct access to God.

His death was unique in that He did not stay dead. Three days after His death and burial He arose from the dead. His resurrection not only proves He was God, but also provides each of us with life, His life. Religion offers rules and laws that give a false hope of eternal life. Jesus' death and resurrection provides a relationship with God that gives true hope. That hope is not only for life in eternity, but life right now. Jesus declared that He came to give us life and life more abundantly.

By faith and trust in God's way of salvation through Christ you can experience the life He has for you. God is only a prayer away for each one of us. Ask God to forgive you. come into your life and place your faith in Jesus' death and resurrection and you can be saved. Jesus made the way possible. He died that you might have hope; not only in this life but for eternity in a place called heaven. Have you come to faith in Jesus? Do you know Him? Have you heard that He loves you? Trust Him for life today.

______________________Today's personal note from Dennis

Greetings from Starbucks!

Sandy and I had a great day worshipping with the First Southern Baptist Church in Miami, AZ. Sandy texted Roger and told him I was preaching in Miami on Sunday. He told us to have some Cuban food for him. Wrong Miami, Roger! We even had some snow on the way to Miami on Sunday evening. It was really special to see the white stuff fall from the sky, but mighty glad I don't have to shovel it.

Our family is doing well. Mandy and John have their first baby shower on Sunday. We are looking forward to that. Mandy continues to do well. Susan is close to moving into her new town home. It has taken several months to do the remodel, but it will be worth it.

Roger, Jen, Burke and Bennett are busy folks. Bennett has a lead role in the upcoming school musical, "Bye, Bye Birdie". He spends his time with rehearsals and homework. He managed to attend a youth retreat over the weekend.

God continues to open doors for ministry. It is such a joy to talk to people about the Lord.

I would appreciate your prayers for an upcoming Doctor's appointment on Friday. I am still having considerable pain in the area of my liver. I don't know what it is, but hopefully the Doctor can discover the cause, and that it will be nothing serious.

You are an encouragement to both me and Sandy. Thanks for your love, concern and prayers. We praise God for our support system. It means a lot.

May God bless you today. May you be encouraged at home, at work, at school and at church.

~ DGW

Pride, Humility, & Worth #133

James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. (NAS)

1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time. (NAS)

The world you live in has lost sight of the great truths of the Bible. Insights into the Word of God reveal the forgotten truths that seem to be absent in this twenty-first century world. Concepts such as: we gain strength through weakness, grace through helplessness, mercy from need, hope through suffering, holiness from brokenness, life from dath, power from the Holy Spirit, and exaltation throught humility have been replaced with self-centered theology.

Both James and Peter, early disciples in the Jerusalem church give a proper presentation of the truth that your humility in the hands of God produces an exalted life. Instead of exalting yourself God encourages you to humble yourself. It is not thinking of yourself in negative condescenting terms, but to realize you are who you are by God's grace.

1 Peter 5:5b . . . clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. (NAS)

The opposite of humility is pride. Pride is your exalted estimation of your value and worth apart from God. Pride is believing you don't need God or others to achieve your worth because you are sufficient within yourself. God desires for you to humble yourself under His mighty hand; humble yourself toward God and others and recognize God is opposed to self worth apart from God. You may try to impress; look at yourself as worthy apart from God and God will oppose you.

It is as you humble yourself before God and recognize that He alone can give you your worth that you will be exalted. A proud and boastful heart will only lead to humiliation not exaltation. Give to God the glory and the credit for who you are, what you are and what you have accomplished. God will then exalt you. Jesus, our example, humbled Himself by going to the cross to die; but at His name every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord. Humble yourself today and give glory to God. He will exalt you when His time is right.

_______________________Today's personal note from Dennis

Greetings from Starbucks!

Hope and pray this day brings God's encouragement to you. He is the Great Encourager!

Many of you have asked about the visit to the oncologist. Test results showed great news. All tumors are either non-existent or stable. Good news. Lab work showed improvement in almost every area. Some blood leavels are in the normal range for the first time in several years. Good news. The oncologist does not need to see me for another four months. Good news. Except for some minor pain. I feel good. Good News!

God continues to open doors for ministry. I will be preaching at 1st Southern Baptist Church in Miami, AZ on Sunday, both morning and evening services. Good news.

We were blessed last Sunday at Northpoint Baptist Church in Chandler, AZ with a great service. Also a big surprize as friends from our church in Wisconsin came into the service just as it was starting. We had no idea they were in town. We have known Robin and Jeff for almost 29 years. What a joy to see them. Good news!

Two of my grandsons, Burke and Collin begged to go swimming on Sunday afternoon. The pool temps are still in the 50s so I said no. They did end up with the water guns, garden hose and all the neighborhood kids having a water fun time in the front yeard and the street. The street looked like we had experienced a major rain storm by the time they were finished. WAY TOO COLD for my comfort. They seemed to not be bothered by the cold water.

Please continue to pray for good health and ministry opportunities. God continues to open doors for me to share "what He has done" with many people. Good news!

Our daughater, Mandy, is doing well with her pregnancy. She is due May21st; so it is not long now. She and husband, John, are doing well and very excited, as are the rest of us. Pray for this las trimester to go well. Good news!

I appreciate all of you, your prayers, concerns and support. God bless you. I pray God will bless you today with strength and courage for the challenges of the day. Love you all. - DGW

Beware of the Destroyers #132

Matthew 16:5
5 And the disciples came to the other side and had forgotten to take bread.
6 And Jesus said to them, "Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
7 And they began to discuss among themselves, saying, "It is because we took no bread."
8 But Jesus, aware of this, said, "You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread?
9 "Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?
10 "Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets you took up?
11 "How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
12 Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. (NAS)

Ever notice how there is often a lesson within a lesson? Jesus and His disciples had traveled to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. As they approached the other side the disciples realized they had forgotten to bring anything to eat. The first words from Jesus' mouth was about leaven. Leaven caused bread to rise. The disciples immediate thoughts went to the times in the past when they had forgotten to bring bread. Feeling a bit guilty they began to discuss their forgetfulness.

Enter the first lesson. "Where is your faith? Do you not remember?" How it is to forget the provisions of God. Two different times Jesus had fed the disciples as well as four thousand people once and five thousand another time. Could they never get the lesson straight. God will provide.

Enter the second lesson. Jesus was speaking of the leaven of the Sadducees and Pharisees; the legalism and hypocrisy that invaded the life of freedom that Jesus brought to His followers. Beware! There will always be those who would destroy the freedom you have in Christ with rules and laws that promise what they cannot produce. Jesus always was concerned that what He came to give, "life and life more abundantly" would be snatched from His followers by a substitute religion based on performance and not grace.

Never forget the lessons of Jesus. First, He can meet your needs and second He came to give life through grace not life through rules.

_______________________Today's personal note from Dennis

Greetings from Tempe's best Starbucks!

What a great time to visit with friends, total strangers and anyone who will talk. I find myself nearly every morning at Starbucks. This morning I saw a pastor friend, Bob Dodridge. It was good to see him again.

Sunday, I will be preaching for another pastor friend, Ron Cannell, at Northpointe Baptist Church. I am grateful for pastors who think of me when they are out of the pulpit and give me an opportunity to preach.

God continues to bless in so many ways. Our new grandson is only a little over three months from entering our world and bringing joy to our lives. Momma Mandy is excited as she enters the last trimester. Daddy John is getting the house ready with eager anticipation of the arrival of his son.

I will see the oncologist on Monday, the 14th, to get the results of the CT scan and the Ultra Sound and Lab work. Anticipating the report to be great. Appreciate your prayers and concern not only for health but for ministry opportunities. Thanks.

I hope and pray that you and your family are doing well. I continue to enjoy hearing from you. May God bless you today with special mercy and grace and may He be your strength today.

God Wants To Use You #131

Luke 9:1
And He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons, and to heal diseases.
2 And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God, and to perform healing. (NAS)

Luke 10:1
Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them tow and two ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come.
2 And He was saying to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. (NAS)

The song says, "People Need the Lord." It is so true that people need the Lord, but equally true is that the Lord needs people. God in His infinite wisdom determined that He would use people to accomplish His purposes. When Jesus chose His disciples to go into all the world to proclaim the Kingdom of God He had in mind that He would use people. He first sent the twelve, then the seventy. As He sent the seventy He not only sent instructions to precede Him to every city into which He was going, but to also pray for more laborers. Why would He ask for more laborers? His reason was that He uses people to spread the gospel of the Kingdom of God. He chose you. He saved you by His grace, called you into service for the King and sent you to be His servant to those in need of the hope of eternal life.

William Carey, the father of modern missions, was confronted with the words, "when God pleases to save the heathen HE will do it without your aid and mine. "His response came later as he said, "Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God." His strong conviction that God uses people to proclaim the gospel was one of the motivations for the establishing of the Baptist Mission Society in 1792.

God wants to use your life to share the Good News. He has chosen to use people like you to be the laborers in the mission field of the world. He desires that every person hear the message of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Allow God to use you today. He still uses people just like you to accomplish His purposes.

______________________Today's personal note from Dennis

Greetings from Tempe, AZ!

It is cold in Arizona. At least for Arizona! The wind is blowing, temps in the upper 20's and feels like 30 degrees below zero. Well, maybe not that cold! We just get used to warm weather and this cold stuff is for you mid-westerners.

Seems between the weather and the world situation (especially Egypt) things are not so good. Glad we know that God is in charge and that there is hope. I am personally grateful to God for His continued blessings. He is worthy of our praise.

Sandy and I are enjoying some time at home and with family and friends. I do miss preaching and teaching though. Pray for opportunities here in Arizona for us to use our gifts.

I had a CT Scan, Ultra Sound and labs done on Monday and Tuesday this week I will not know the results until the 14th when I see my Oncologist I am praying for good reports. I still am doing well, but am bothered by quite a bit of pain in the area of my liver. The lab tech who did the Ultra Sound showed me a tumor on the right side of my liver. Praying it is nothing to be concerned about, but it is where the pain is located.

Thank you always for your prayers and concerns. Sandy and I love you and appreciate it so much when you drop us a note. I try to answer every email sent to me. Thanks for your encouraging words. ~ DGW