Boasting Is Dangerous #218

Jeremiah 9:23-24

23 This is what the Lord says: 
“Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom,
 or the powerful boast in their power,
 or the rich boast in their riches.

24 But those who wish to boast
 should boast in this alone:
 that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord
 who demonstrates unfailing love
 and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth,
and that I delight in these things.
 I, the Lord, have spoken! (NLT)

Jim’s claim to fame and reason for bragging was his experience of having survived the famous Johnstown, Pennsylvania flood. Everywhere he went he talked to anyone who would listen about the flood. Eventually people avoided him to keep from hearing about his adventure. He eventually died and in heaven God sat everyone down in a big circle and announced that everyone was going to have all the time they needed to tell of the most interesting and exciting thing that happened in their life. Jim was thrilled for the opportunity to talk forever about his flood experience. God then looked straight at Jim and said, “You will be next to speak; right after Noah.”

That might take the wind out of anyone’s sails. It seems that there is something in everyone that awakens a desire to want to brag or boast. Jeremiah gives God’s perspective about bragging. The prophets often used words equivalent to “Thus says the Lord.” Here is one of those occasions when God says words that are powerful and pointed. Don’t brag about certain things, like your wisdom, your power, or your riches. If you desire to boast, boast that you truly know God and understand that He is Lord. Brag about the Lord who has unfailing love. Brag to others that God is a God of justice and righteousness, and that you delight in God and His ways.

Always be cautious about bragging about anything other than God. Normally bragging is not received well by other people, nor is God honored and glorified by our self-aggrandizement. Talk about what a great God you know. Tell people how much He loves them and how powerful, wise, rich, and loving He is. Tell yourself and others that God is Good.

____________Today's personal note from Dennis

Greetings from Starbucks in beautiful Tempe, AZ,

For a grandfather this could not have been a better week. I was able to go with Johnny and Burke to Bass Pro Shop. Burke climbed the wall, shot targets, and enjoyed watching Johnny take it all in. The animals were of special interest to Johnny. Collin and I sat on the bleachers and watched eight marching bands perform on Tuesday night. It was exciting. He has a band concert on Thursday night. Bennett will be 15 on the 8th. We are celebrating his birthday on the 5th. 

Not to be outdone our yet to be born grandson decided he wanted to come early on Sunday night. It is way to early (24 weeks). They were able to get the labor stopped and Mandy, although restricted, is back to work. Please keep praying that this little one will wait for another 8 weeks or longer. Isn't that a great week for a grandfather that has the name "TAPAW?"

Sunday during the middle of the night I received a phone call from the nursing home in Missouri where my Dad lives. He had gotten up in the night, passed out, and fallen. He fell backward and hit his head causing a concussion. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital. He is alright now but doesn't remember what happened.  I would really appreciate your prayers for him. 

The Watchman's class at First Baptist Church of Tempe graciously listened to my teaching on Sunday. I will again teach for the next two weeks. I enjoy the opportunity of sharing God's word. Sunday I taught from 2 Corinthians 12. It is the scripture that tells of the Apostle Paul's struggle with what he calls his thorn in the flesh. The main point I made was that we often have a thorn in our flesh that never goes away and yet God's grace is sufficient to meet our needs. It also reminds me that even when I am weak that in Christ I am strong. What a good God we know, love and serve. 

First Baptist Church is kicking off its Fall Men's Ministry on October 13th. I have been asked to be the speaker at the breakfast. The men's leadership team have a great vision for men's ministry. I am excited to share that vision with the men. Pray for me and the men's ministry.

I continue going to Starbucks most mornings. It is my privilege to meet someone new almost every day. It is always my hope and prayer that I can share with them about my own experience of God's grace and tell them about the Lord. Most everyone is receptive and it is my prayer that God will allow me to plant some seed of faith in their life. Please continue to pray for this vital ministry. 

If the Lord is willing Sandy and I will be out of town next week for a few days on R&R. Really looking forward to a few days to enjoy one another's company and maybe do some sight-seeing and just relaxing. I am so grateful for this opportunity. God is so good.  

I pray that God will bless your life this week with unexpected blessings. God is our Father and I believe that fathers love to give blessings to their children. You are His child. He wants to bless your life this week. Let me know how God blessed you.  ~ DGW

Red-letter Words #217

Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. (NIV)                                                     John 6:31 Do to others as you would have them do to you. (NIV)               John 14:13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. (NIV)                                                                 Matthew 20:25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Great spiritual leaders are often known by their sayings. They are identified with and by their words. The Chinese spiritual leader is known primarily by “the sayings of Confucius.” Buddha is known for the “eight-fold path of Buddha,” that are the sayings of Buddha. Philosophers are also known by their verbal and written words. “I think therefore I am.” Rene Descartes

Jesus is likewise known for His famous sayings. All the scripture above are words that Jesus spoke. Many Bible translations print the words of Jesus in red letters in order to emphasize the words that He Himself said. Often His words are hard or difficult sayings. To take his words and only give them shallow attention will leave you with a lack of understanding. Read through the words above again and allow God’s Holy Spirit to speak to your spirit. The words are truth, spoken by God’s only Son. They are words of life and words to live by.

His words are not always easy to apply or to even absorb. They are words that challenge, encourage, admonish, and guide. Take some time and read through the red-letter parts of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to get the message of Jesus through His words. ~ DGW

________________________Today's personal note from Dennis

Greetings from Starbucks in beautiful Tempe, AZ

God is so good!! I continue to praise Him for the recovery that I am experiencing. The last thing that corrected was my appetite. It returned on Monday. The weight loss was over 25 pounds. It is good to actually want to eat again. I have discovered over the past several years that when the liver is infected the appetite goes. I assume this also means the infection is gone. 

Several of you have commented how good Sandy and I looked in the picture in last week's Encourager. Some of you said for people in your 60's that we looked real good. The truth is that picture was taken in 1988 when we moved to Arizona. Wish we did look that good now. I will try to send a more recent photo in the coming weeks. 

Sandy and I are planning a few days away from beautiful Tempe to get a little R&R. I know you may think that as retired old folks that all we do is R&R. Well it may seem that way, but we still like to get away for a few days now and then to spend some time together. 

Mandy and John took Johnny to the store. He tried on all the hats. See the picture of him in my favorite one. Isn't he the cutest. Mandy is in her 23rd week of her pregnancy. She is doing well. Continue to pray for her to go full term. We look forward to this 5th grandson. 

Sandy and I had the privilege of attending band concerts and choir concerts last week. Burke and Bennett both did fabulous. We are so proud of them. Collin has a band concert next week. 

God continues to open ministry opportunities for Sandy and me. Sandy is teaching on Tuesday mornings at First Baptist Church of Tempe at 9:30AM. Join her. I will be teaching our Sunday School class the next three Sundays. Our teacher is on vacation. I really look forward to sharing the Word with the class. FBC is kicking off the fall Men's Ministry and have asked me to speak at the first meeting. I am excited about the Men's Ministry and the opportunity to disciple men.

We have currently canceled meetings that require much travel. We both have found we don't travel as well as we used to and also with my health going up and down we are a bit reluctant to get very far away from our doctors. We still plan on being in Quartzsite for the annual Campers on Mission project. Sandy and I both will be speaking during the week as well as doing ministry at the Rock and Gem Show. The Quartzsite church has asked that I stay over and preach on the Sunday after the project. They are a wonderful church and their pastor, Aaron Chicon, is a great man of God. 

I was challenged again this past few weeks concerning my purpose in life. Sometimes it becomes confusing with so many things pulling each of us in different directions. I was reminded again that my purpose is to glorify God. I am not on this earth for me, but for Him. I also know that God has given me the privilege and responsibility of making disciples of those He puts in my path. What an awesome calling. "Go and make disciples." 

"Love the Lord with all of your heart and go and make disciples;" a purpose that is hard to beat. What is your purpose for living?  ~ DGW

 

Teach Us To Pray #216

Matthew 6:9-10

"Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. 'Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. (NAS)

Jesus disciples requested that He teach them to pray like John the Baptist had taught his disciples to pray.  No doubt they had watched Jesus pray and had also observed the results. It is no wonder that they wanted that kind of power. Their thinking was very simple, “If we pray like He prays then the results will be the same.”

How would Jesus respond to such a request? Would He give them some magical formula, or possibly the way to become spiritual enough to have their prayers answered? No, instead He responded with a simple model prayer that we call the Lord's Prayer. It was a model prayer that gave us a pattern for our prayers. 

Our prayers are addressed to God who is called Our Father. His address is heaven and His character is Holy. His purpose for us is to do his will on earth as it is in heaven. So our prayers are directed to Our Father, the Holy One, to answer our prayers with our desire to for His will to be done. We cannot improve on a prayer that desires the will of Our Heavenly Father to be done in our lives.  

As you yield your life to Christ more and more, and allow the Holy Spirit to be in control of your life, you will find His will is done through you. You are finding answers to your prayers.

Why not ask your Father in heaven to allow His will to be accomplished in your life. You may be afraid, lacking faith, not sure of the future, questioning God Himself as the source of your life, or maybe just not desirous of God’s will. The disciples learned about prayer not by saying what we call, “The Lord’s Prayer” but by learning that prayer is about a Holy God, called Our Father, with the desire that His will be done in your life.

Jesus knew that if the disciples wanted to learn to pray they would need to begin with the basics of who is God and is it their desire that His will be done in their lives.

It is the same with you. Are you eager for the will of God, your Heavenly Father, to be accomplished in your life?  

________________Today's personal note from Dennis

Greetings from Starbucks in beautiful Tempe, AZ

Praise the Lord. Last week at this time I was awaiting a procedure to remove a tube from my liver. That procedure went well. The following days were filled with pain and fever and infection, but the end product is good. As of today (THURSDAY 20th) I am free of fever. I am still on the antibiotics to continue to 

fight the cholangitus. The two procedures to put in the tube and to remove it all in a two week period took a toll on my body. I am still fatigued and have no appetite.

Please pray for both energy and appetite to return. The oncologist has told me I cannot have any treatment for the cancer itself. Basically I am trusting day by day for God's will to be done and that He will allow me to live every minute for His glory. 

I am more and more convinced of God's goodness to all of us. Instead of looking to the circumstances we are in need is to look to God who loves and cares for our every need. He is an amazing God with an amazing grace. 

The teacher of our Sunday School class will be absent on September 30th-October 7th & 14th. He has asked that I teach for him. I look forward to the opportunity to again share God's word. I will be preaching the evening service at First Baptist Church of Tempe on October 28th. SEE: God is good!!

My wonderful wife of 46 years takes such good care of me. I love her dearly. We were at the grocery store standing in line as the groceries were being scanned. I was teasing her about who was paying, how hard I worked to buy her food, etc. The check out lady looked at us and asked, "How long have you two been married." We together answered, "forty-six years." She replied, "It shows." I am not sure if that was good or bad. We just had a good laugh. 

We have three musical concerts this week. Bennett had a choir concert and a band concert. Burke has a band concert scheduled on Friday night. The only thing I dislike about the concerts is related to all school activities. "WHY DO THE CHAIRS HAVE TO BE SO UNCOMFORTABLE?"

Sandy and I had our picture taken for the church directory. Of course everything is digital and you saw the picture immediately and had the opportunity to decide how much money you could afford to spend on your favorite photo. I took a look at my picture and was taken aback. I LOOK OLD!! Sandy graciously said it was because of the weight loss. She has such a great way of being diplomatic. 

We have been residents of beautiful Tempe, AZ since 1988, over 24 years. It is the longest time we have either lived in one place in our lives. (see pic) We love Tempe, the people, the weather and the atmosphere. We tolerate the heat in the summer in order to enjoy the most wonderful winters on the planet. Come see us sometime. I'll buy you a cup of coffee at my favorite Starbucks. 

Thank you for your prayers and your emails, cards and love expressed to me and Sandy these past few weeks. You are the REAL ENCOURAGERS!!

May God bless you this week with kindness coming your way. I love you all.  ~ DGW

Your Will Be Done #215

Matthew 26:42 Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, "My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done."

The New Testament is replete with the prayers of Jesus. He prayed in front of people, with His disciples, and alone. It was His prayer life that so impressed the disciples that they asked Him to teach them to pray. Although Jesus was a great teacher the disciples did not ask to be teachers. They asked to pray as Jesus prayed.

Have you ever had something to pray about that was hard? I am sure you have. You have struggled with decisions, with needs, with alternatives and could not make a decision. Jesus had prayed many times but no doubt His most difficult and challenge prayer came in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was praying with the disciples who were having difficulty staying awake. After all it was in the middle of the night He had caught them a second time asleep. As he returned to his place of prayer in the Garden He prayed a most profound of prayers.

His prayer was a result of His understanding of what was coming next in his life and that was death. He was headed to the cross to die for all of mankind. He also knew that He was going to suffer much. The cup he referred to was the “cup of suffering.”

His suffering would be more than physical torture, rejection and pain. He was to suffer the weight of the sin of the entire world upon Him as Savior. His suffering was the punishment for sin that He Himself would bear for all mankind from every tribe and nation. He prayed to God the Father to remove that suffering, but then said, “But your will be done.” That is a hard prayer to pray. He was leaving in the hands of the God the Father His life and His death. He was willing to suffer in order to glorify God and bring forgiveness and salvation to all creation.

You are not being called upon to die for humanity, but you are being called upon to yield your will to His will; “not what I will, but what you will.” God does know best. He loves you and has His perfect will that is found in your surrender to His will and His Spirit. Let your prayer be as Jesus’ prayer.

Won’t you say with Jesus, “Your will be done.”

______________Today's personal note from Dennis

Greetings from Starbucks in beautiful Tempe, AZ

I used to have a plaque that hung on the wall in my office, (when I had an office) that read "PRAYER CHANGES THINGS." I was more concerned at that time that prayer grow the church that I pastored into one of those big churches. (later mega church) I never saw that happen. Prayer did change things. Prayer through the power of the One who answers prayers changed lives, including mine. 

I picked up a little phrase from someone along the way, It simply said, "Prayer should be our first choice not our last chance." I have come to the place in my life that prayer is both my first choice and my last chance. I continue to ask for your prayers.

I am so thrilled!! I get the tube out of my liver on Friday. The ones I had before were in for almost two years, not two weeks. I praise the Lord. Pray that when the liver is checked the tube has done its work. The biliary needs to be open to allow the flow of bile from the liver. These two weeks have been not so easy. I have continued to have lots of pain and some fever. I don't like either. Thanks so much for your prayers. Continue to pray for Sandy.  

Sandy and I are on hold for our Anniversary Celebration. Several of you have written about the DQ and Paradise Bakery night out on the town for our anniversary and are not satisfied that Sandy got what she deserved. I agree. 

Thanks for your correspondence with me. I try to answer every email I receive. I am so blessed to have all of you. 

May God bless you today with a peace that passes understanding. 

DGW