I just completed my message for Sunday from Luke 17:1-19.  Only after several hours of prayer and study, did I finally land on four lessons we can learn from this passage.

At first glance, verses 1-19 appear to be a random collection of teachings or proverbs from Jesus.  However, after deeper study, I realized these are not random sayings, but connected lessons for the reader.

Check this out.

We must live by GRACE.

1 And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!  2  It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.  3 Pay attention to yourselves!  If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

Luke 17:1-4

We must live by FAITH.

5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

Luke 17:5-6

We must live by SERVICE.

7 “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’?  8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’?  9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?  10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

Luke 17:7-10

We must live by GRATITUDE.

11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?  18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

Luke 17:11-19

I look forward to declaring what I learned.  Remember, if you pray me full, I will preach you full.  See you Sunday.

I came across this today as I was sitting in the doctor’s office to have my shoulder examined. To read the story on how I injured it, click here.

This passage, from Arnold Dallimore’s two-volume biography of George Whitefield, got me thinking about our men’s weekend in 2011.

“And what manner of men will they be? Men mighty in the Scriptures, their lives dominated by a sense of the greatness, the majesty and holiness of God, and their minds and hearts aglow with the great truths of the doctrine of grace. They will be men who have learned what it is to die to self, to human aims and personal ambitions; men who are willing to be ‘fools for Christ’s sake’, who will be reproach and falsehood, who will labour and suffer, and whose supreme desire will be, not to gain earth’s accolades, but to win the Master’s approbation when they appear before His awesome judgment seat. They will be men who will preach with broken hearts and tear-filled eyes, and upon whose ministries God will grant and extraordinary effusion of the Holy Spirit, and who will witness ‘signs and wonders following’ in the transformation of multitudes of human lives.”

Men, mark your calendars now for January 28 & 29, 2011. Steve Farrar will be our guest this year. You will not want to miss this weekend.

Meet Steven Castello.  He is the lead pastor of Ardent Church in Birmingham, Alabama.  I have known Steven since his high school days, when he was a member of the First Baptist Church of Center Point, where I served as his pastor.

Steven and I ate lunch together yesterday.  We’ve been in touch with one another since he and his family returned here from a ministry stint that took him through Alaska then to Arizona, and finally to return to Birmingham.  I thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship we shared over our meal.

I introduce you to Steven because I believe in him.  He has a healthy knowledge of the Scripture and his theology proves it. Steven also has a passion for developing a community of faith built on God’s Word and not man’s traditions.

I introduce you to Steven because I believe in his ministry.  Steven spends countless hours each week searching and seeking the unreached people of Birmingham.  One of his favorite times of the day is to hang out at local coffee shop just to strike up conversations with others in order to introduce them to Jesus.  He is also serious about discipling others to be devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

I introduce you to Steven because I also believe in the mission and vision of his church.  As his webpage declares, he and his small congregation are intent on embracing the city of Birmingham “with the Gospel and genuine Christ-like love for the redemption, reconciliation and revival of the people in the city for the glory of God.” He is so serious about reaching the city of Birmingham that he and his wife have purchased a house in the south side of Birmingham, just a few blocks away from UAB.

Please pray for Steven today, and his church, Ardent.  Pray for their effectiveness.  Pray for their perseverance.  Pray for their influence for the Gospel.  Pray for their protection and support.  Finally, pray for a way for CrossPoint to CONNECT with Ardent to propagate the Gospel.

I found the following video on The Gospel Coalition blog page.  I highly recommend you add the TGC blog to your favorites.

Heath McPherson at www.autumncountry.com mixes Tim Keller’s teachings with music and paired it with the drawings of another artist, Gustave Dore. Combined in one video, Keller, McPherson and Dore say in a few minutes what I have been trying to say for years.  They say it much more masterfully, however.

Congratulations, JUST ONE MORE readers, we have reached a major milestone in our blogging.  My webmaster, Jonathan “I Can Do That” Howe tells me we have reached blog #1,000 today on August 30, 2010.  For all those who hang in there with us, 1,000 thank you’s!

Check out just how far we have come from our first blog of April 15, 2006:

JOIN US FOR A VERY SPECIAL EASTER…

Those were the words typed across the placard attached to my receipt last Friday night after Vonda and I enjoyed a quiet meal with some friends.

The sub-print on the card read:

Easter Sunday is right around the corner.

Have you made plans yet?

Space is limited.

Make your reservations today.

Read the above phrases one more time.  Only this time read them through the eyes of the New Testament.  The restaurant’s invitation sounds more like an evangelistic appeal than it does a request for a busy afternoon meal.

Sometimes the world does a better job of advertising than the church.  Perhaps if the church treated their customers (the pre-Christians) with more care we would see people waiting in line to join us for worship.

Wow, compelling stuff, isn’t it?  Give me a break.  I was just learning how to blog.  Blogging 101 was not a course requirement either time I was in seminary.  It was hit or miss on my topics, and many will say mostly miss.

The landscape of blogging has changed dramatically since April, 2006, and it will continue to change.  As long as the Lord will allow us, we plan to continue posting blogs on this page each week. So, thank you 1000 times over.  Thank you for reading.  Thank for commenting.  Thank you for following.

I will be concluding Luke 16 this Sunday at CrossPoint.  The central lesson for both parables in the chapter concerns the abuse of riches.  Additionally, in the second parable (v. 24-31), Jesus warns of a literal life after death:

19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.  20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.  22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried,  23 and in  Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and  saw Abraham far off and Lazarus  at his side.  24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’  25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.  26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’  27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers —so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’  29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’  30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’  31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

Luke 16:22-31

Hell is no laughing matter.  Hell is real, and the discussion of hell is serious business.

There are many well-worn statements make about hell.

Some exert, “I can’t serve a God who sends people to Hell.”

That sentimental statement sounds well-intended, but it shows the person is clueless about the sovereign holiness of God and the wretched sinfulness of man.  The God of the Bible is holy and He cannot accept anything but perfection into heaven.  Because man is sinful and wretchedly depraved, He is found unacceptable in God’s kingdom.

Others inquire, “How can a loving God send someone to Hell?”

Again, that is the statement of a clueless or naïve individual.  The Bible teaches that God in His unmerited love provides man with the great escape by sending His Son to redeem those who will repent and believe.  Thus, God does not send anyone to hell.  Man sends himself to hell by refusing to receive God’s gift of salvation.

Another says: “I do not believe in hell.”

It does not matter what man thinks or says about hell.  Man’s statements or beliefs about hell do not reject or accept its reality.  The truth is Jesus spoke about hell, taught about hell and, thus, revealed the reality of hell.  Hell is a very real place.  It is a real place, with real people doing real things, in the same way that Heaven is real place.  If hell is not real, then Jesus is a pathological liar.

As someone astutely said, “To say eternal torment is an overreaction is to say God’s glory isn’t that big a deal.”

An individual who does not believe in the existence of a literal hell does not understand the comprehensive nature of God’s glory.

I spoke with a CrossPointer recently who shared a great analogy for what our week should be like as CrossPointers.  He said we should spend Monday through Saturday fishing, and then we should gather on Sundays to show what we caught and to be fed.  I like that analogy.

I went fishing last night.  I spent 20 minutes fishing for Frank.  He nibbled at the Gospel, even quoted some of it from heart.  And if I may continue with that correlation, he never took the bait, he never bit the hook.

Frank’s from Kenya.  His is a fascinating story.  Frank’s response to my inquiry was very enlightening.  If the Lord is willing, I will tell you more of his story in my message next weekend.

Frank works near where my brother lives.  So I called Rhett last night and requested he go fishing for Frank one day this week.  For those of you who do not know, Rhett has the gift of evangelism.  Fishing for souls for Rhett is as natural as chasing a cat is for a dog.

Please pray for Frank.  He knows who the Lord is.  He even knows parts of the Gospel.  Yet as he informed me last night, he has not yet repented of his sins and been born again.

The door of salvation is open.  I cannot wait to hear what happens next.

As 145 soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan walked through the double doors in Terminal D at DFW Airport last week for two weeks of R&R, they were greeted not only by their families, but by former president George Bush and his wife Laura.

Please take a moment to watch this heartwarming and inspirational video of President Bush welcoming home our military heroes.

(Via AFA)



My precious wife and I continue to adjust to our quiet, empty house.  While reflecting on our empty nest, I thought of this great little “preacher story.”

Enjoy.

An old man in Phoenix calls his son in New York and says, “I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough.”

“Pop, what are you talking about,” the son screams.

“We can’t stand the sight of each other any longer,” the old man said. “We’re sick and tired of each other, and I’m sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Chicago and tell her.” And he hangs up.

Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone, “Like heck they’re getting a divorce,” she shouts. “I’ll take care of this.”

She calls Phoenix immediately, and screams at the old man, “You are NOT getting divorced! Don’t do a single thing until I get there. I’m calling my brother back and we’ll both be there tomorrow. Until then don’t do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?” And she hangs up.

The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. “Okay,” he says, “They’re coming home for Christmas and paying their own way.”