³⁵ Good people bring out good things from their good treasure. But evil people bring out evil things from their evil treasure. ³⁶ I tell you that people will have to answer on Judgment Day for every useless word they speak. ³⁷ By your words you will be either judged innocent or condemned as guilty.”

I grew up around a lot of folks who said what they thought without much restraint.  I don’t know if it’s something that is particularly prevalent in my family or if it’s more of a southern thing.  Recently I’ve said a few things at home to my wife that were put out there before I really thought about it, and had I taken five seconds to do so I would have chosen different words or I wouldn’t have said them at all.  I’ve also been on the receiving end of unkind words spoken about me and to me. Have you been there yourself?  It’s no fun.

I think that Jesus was more of a “think before you speak” kind of person.  When the woman caught in adultery was brought before Jesus and the legal experts and Pharisees questioned him, he bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger.  I always saw that as Jesus taking a moment to compose his thoughts and words, and what wonderful words he spoke when he stood up again.

Maybe we ought to be more like that when we speak to our loved ones, or our co-workers, or the people we go to church with, maybe we ought to think about how our words are going to impact other people before we speak.  Jesus tells us in this scripture that what comes out of our mouths says something about the condition of our hearts and that we will be judged by all those useless idle words that we carelessly let fly.   Sticks and stone may break my bones, -  but bones heal over time, where the impact that words may have can very well last a lifetime and carry over from one generation to another.

Lets all try to think about what we say before we say it and if necessary, temper it with the grace and love that we have available to us through God’s Spirit.

May God Bless you!

Michael L.

¹⁸Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. ¹⁹Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. ²⁰The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.

Someone sent this scripture to my oldest son last night in a txt message on his phone.  He didn’t know who it was.  There is a great message here.  I pray that the seed of wisdom that was sown will take root and bring about that “New Thing.”  Whoever it was that sent the message if you’re reading this – I thank you.

When I first came to Chapel Hill UMC Isaiah 43:19 came to my attention and became my theme for quite some time.  I felt as if God was doing a new thing by bringing me here where I was a little bit out of my comfort zone and learning to minister in new and exciting ways.  I became more dedicated and worked harder for God than I had in quite some time and it has been wonderful! 

Now God is doing more new things in my life as I consider returning to school to further my education and better prepare me for the work of God that still lies ahead.  Today I remember this scripture where God promises that he will do a new thing, but on this occasion I notice the previous verse as well.  Remember ye not the former things. 

A friend of mine whom I had lost touch with until recently shared a quote from the movie Young Guns “The past is like an old yellow-backed novel, when you’re done with it you throw it away and start a new one.”  In this I see God.

The past doesn’t matter, you can’t change it.  Tomorrow is going to come in it’s own time, there is no need to worry about it.  Today – Now – this moment is what is most important, it is Now that you can make a difference and start moving into a New Thing!

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Love, 

Michael

1 Understand that the last days will be dangerous times. 2 People will be selfish and love money. They will be the kind of people who brag and who are proud. They will slander others, and they will be disobedient to their parents. They will be ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, contrary, and critical. They will be without self-control and brutal, and they won’t love what is good. 4 They will be people who are disloyal, reckless, and conceited. They will love pleasure instead of loving God. 5 They will look like they are religious but deny God’s power. Avoid people like this.

It would be easy for me to take this scripture and use it as a convincer that we are in the last days. Surely all of us can see these things in our world around us. But I have a feeling that Timothy was seeing these things around him as well, and so was Paul, and so did many others who have read these words down through the ages. That is not to discount the warning – surely in the last days it will be dangerous times.

Notice that starting in v2 Paul talks about how people will be, selfish, greedy, braggarts and proud, slanderers, disobedient to parents, and on and on through v 5 where at the end of this verse he says, “Avoid people like this.”

One thing I’ve noticed during the course of my life is that most people, including myself, are easily molded by their surroundings and the people they hang around with. When I was running from my calling I hung around with people who were in alignment with that running. I didn’t hang around with people who would bring me closer to God and get me back on the path because at that time I didn’t want to be on the path. But it goes beyond that.

Hang around with people long enough and you might notice you start talking like them, using some of their catch phrases, eating similar foods, reading similar books or watching similar movies. We become like those we hang around with and like, we mirror those we are in contact with the most.

Depending on who we are around, this could be a good thing or a bad thing. It’s hard sometimes to make the choice to avoid someone. Especially if it’s someone we have grown to like. But Paul tells Timothy, avoid people who have these negative qualities.

Wait a minuite… Aren’t we supposed to minister to people like this? Shouldn’t we try to win them to Christ? Yes! But that doesn’t mean we need to be around them all the time to do so. Sometimes putting distance between yourself and people who are contrary to your spiritual health is nessesary.

I’ve been down the road of “I’m hanging around them so I might be able to witness to them.” And I’ve done that, (witnessed) but I’ve also seen my witness fall on deaf ears as I personally slipped further and further away from the path I should have been on. I see wisdom in Paul’s word here.

Be careful Christian. Yes you are sheep sent in among wolves – so be cunning and remain innocent. Don’t get caught up in the ways of the wolves.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father,

Help me to be an effective witness of your grace and love to those you put in my path. Let me be efficent in modeling a Christlike spirit to those who need Christ in their spirit. Keep me safe and protect me from the influences of people who would bring me into their ways which would be contrarty to a life pleasing to you.

Love Michael

Common English Bible (CEB)

²⁰ Timothy, protect what has been given to you in trust. Avoid godless and pointless discussions and the contradictory claims of so-called “knowledge.” ²¹ When some people adopted this false knowledge, they missed the goal of faith.

   May grace be with you all.

  As I reflect on this scripture today I think back over my life as a Christian.  When I was very young in the faith I ran into a lot of opposition regarding my beliefs.  I had several “study sessions” with people who, although I know had good intentions, basically used scripture to attack everything I had been taught.  The thing that bothered me the most was being told that I had not been baptized in the proper manner and that the method which was used for me was not sufficient enough for me to receive salvation.  I was so unsure and afraid that I hadn’t done the right thing that I ended up having three different baptisms over the course of a year.  I know this goes against the idea of “One Baptism” but I suppose it is what it is.  God was there, I’m sure He understood.

  I continued to struggle like this for several years, it was a back and forth argument on both sides of the fence.  I would go and talk with those whom I respected in the UMC, then back to those with opposing views.  I supposed I played Devil’s Advocate with both sides, bringing up opposing views with each of them and then trying to decide which answers were most acceptable.  It was all very confusing. 

  Even today I continue to struggle with opposing viewpoints and ideas about God, scripture, doctrines and theologies, and I imagine I always will.  The individual points of struggle change as time goes on, and my ideas and beliefs change sometimes to.  For instance, I don’t struggle with my baptism anymore. I feel confident that the first time was all I really needed.  I can go back and look at sermons which I preached early on in my ministry and some of them I couldn’t use today because my thoughts and my faith have changed so much.  Ideas I had early in my life have evolved and I believe that God has given me progressive revelations as I was able to bear it and accept it.

  So what does this have to do with our scripture?  I notice that Paul says “Timothy, protect what has been given to you in trust.” (my emphasis) And I think of what God has given me in trust.  It’s those things that have been revealed to me through my own life experience, through the scripture, through tradition, through reason and through prayer that I must protect.  If you are sincere in your faith, I know that God will reveal Himself to you in the way that you need, and as you are able to understand.

  I guess the question is, “What has been given to you?”  What has God revealed to you through your own life experiences?  It may not be the exact same thing that has been revealed to me, but that doesn’t mean it’s not valid, and it doesn’t mean that what I have been given isn’t valid either.  The trouble we run into is when we start thinking that we are right and therefore everyone else must be wrong.  That’s the way the world sees it.  But God is able to see above and beyond the limited thoughts of the world.  Maybe that’s why Jesus said the two greatest commandments are to love God and love each other.  We may not be able to see eye to eye on every issue, but if we can just love God and each other we will be doing alright.

Prayer:

God of all of us,

Help me to protect what has been given to me through the inspiration and guidance of Your Spirit which is with me always.

Love Michael

⁵ Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? ⁶ I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. ⁷ If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’^[a] you would not have condemned the innocent. ⁸ For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

I was once asked whether I had considered the fact that I was working on the Sabbath day by preaching and if I thought I was breaking the fourth commandment by doing so.  I couldn’t help but chuckle at this question when it was asked of me but after I realized that this person was really looking for an answer I quickly told them “No, I don’t think I’m sinning by preaching on Sunday.”  I wish I had thought of this scripture to share with them at that time, but I believe I went with  Mark 2:27 instead, “And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:”  The heart of this question though I think for us in today’s world is “How do I remember the Sabbath Day and Keep it Holy?”  Is it about working on Sunday?  Personally, I don’t think so.   I think that God is ok with the fact that some of us have to work on Sundays.  I can remember my Grandpa telling me when I started going into the work force that I should tell people “I don’t work on Sundays, I go to Church.”  That worked back then a little better than I think it does today.  Sometimes if you don’t want to work on Sundays, there are plenty of people looking for a job who will be glad to do it and if you put that out in an interview you may just not get that job that you need to help support yourself and family.

So if it’s not about working on Sunday, what is it?  How do we honor #4 today?  I think that making time for God is the key step.  God took one day out of seven and rested.  This is our example, if the almighty recognized the need for a break at least once a week, we should probably see that we need it as well.  Take one day a week and spend time with God and with God’s people.  There are plenty of opportunities to worship and serve in your local Church and community other than during worship time on Sunday mornings.  If your own congregation doesn’t do anything other than Sunday Morning service, I promise that if you look around just a little you will find activities that God would be proud of you for being involved in, and that will bless you and feed your soul in the process.

Although our view of the Sabbath and how to Keep it Holy is much different than that of the Jewish leaders in Jesus’ day, we should still strive to include this practice as part of a good health program for our souls.  If you are able to be in Church on Sunday mornings that is Awesome, and it’s a great way of remembering the Sabbath and keeping it Holy.  If you are not able to come for good reasons (and I’m not talking about not being able to come because of an early tee time, or kickoff, or something along those lines) make time to make the evening service, the mid week Bible study, or volunteer to help visit shut-ins with your pastor, I know he would be glad to take you along.  The Bottom line is, we must MAKE time for the important things in life.  Especially now in the midst of our hectic schedules and the high demands for our time, we must intentionally make time for God.    I hope to see you in Church on Sunday as we practice #4 “Remember the Sabbath Day and Keep it Holy.”

Prayer:  Holy Father,

Help me to remember you not only on the Sabbath but on every day of the week.  Help me to make every day Holy and acceptable and pleasing in your sight.  Keep my feet planted firmly on the foundation of Jesus Christ Your Son as I walk through each day, knowing that every day is a blessing from You.

Love Michael

As a Christian we are called to be different and to stand out from the normal way of seeing and reacting to the situations we face in life.  A Christian can be happy during hard times and persecution because they know that they are being prepared for a much greater place.  The Christian realizes that this world is not their home, but rather a training ground to prepare us for heaven.  Persecution, suffering, trials and tribulations are to the Christian what “growing pains” are to the adolescent youth.  If we don’t go through the struggles, we can not develop into the spiritual being that God wants us to be.  Without pain there is no growth, without suffering there is no glory, without struggle there can be no victory, if there is no persecution there is no reward. 

Christ never promised us an easy life here.  He promised us that our life here would be abundant with struggle and temptation.  Every day we are given opportunity to grow, situations that we face can either be building blocks or stumbling blocks as we pave the road to our home in glory.  May we embrace each day as a challenge to find the path that God desires our feet to follow.

Prayer:

Father,

Help me to see the difficult times as preparation for a greater day.  Help me to embrace those that are hard to reach as a challenge which I must overcome with love and compassion.  Show me the true path that I am to follow in all adversities that I find in my life and guide me into your everlasting home.

Love Michael

Often times we think we have a good handle on things and we believe that we understand what’s going on, but in reality something totally different is happening.  Things that are said can easily be taken in the wrong way and things that are unsaid are often misconstrued as an intentional kick in the teeth.  As a pastor I have often been on both sides of these misunderstandings, I have misunderstood others and had many misunderstand me.  Sometimes these unfortunate occurrences can lead people to leave a church and start searching for a new fellowship.  Outside of the church setting misunderstandings can lead to lost friendship, estranged family members and even broken marriages.

So how do we handle these most difficult situations?  WWJD?  First of all we need to remember that sometimes what we think is real, may only be a shadow of how things really are.  Until we meet Jesus face to face, our own perceptions of reality can never be fully trusted.  When we run into a case of misunderstanding I think Jesus would want us to address it in a spirit of love and understanding.  Go the extra mile to make things right.  Sometimes an apology (whether we feel we should have to make one or not) will salvage a valuable relationship.  Maybe you have a broken relationship in your life caused by misunderstanding – if so have you done everything you can to make it right?  You can not control the actions of others, the one thing you can control is how you deal with and respond to others. Look at it from a different point of view and remember that to them their version of what happened is just as real as yours is to you.

The last verse of 1 Cor 13 says “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” When you aren’t sure of what is really real, you can be sure that the love of God through Christ Jesus is the ultimate reality that all Christians are called to embrace and demonstrate in their actions and words.

Prayer:

Father God,

You are love – teach me to deal with misunderstandings in a way that demonstrates your character within my own.

Love Michael

⁴⁷"That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. ⁴⁸But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

Zechariah 4,5,6; Luke 12 – Passage Lookup – New International Version – BibleGateway.com

This is a fairly difficult teaching but an important one I think.  I have heard many people over the years say things like, "Sin is sin and one is just as bad as the other."  I don’t really agree with statements like that.  I will say that any sin, big or small is enough to condemn us as we stand before our Holy and Righteous God, that’s why Paul was correct in saying that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  We are all sinners there is no doubt about that, from the most holy person you can think of, to the rottenest scoundrel on the planet, we are all on the same boat when it comes to being a sinner.  However, that does not mean that every sin is equal. 

Furthermore, not every sin is the same for every person.  The same act may be more of a sin to me than it is to you depending on our understanding of right and wrong and our relationship and knowledge of God.  ⁴⁷"That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows.  That says that someone who does something wrong but doesn’t know that it’s wrong may be punished, but that punishment will be much less than a person who knows its wrong and does it anyway.  So we can see that there are levels of punishment.  Woe to those who know the truth, who have been raised with the proper knowledge of God and Jesus but refuse to accept it, to those who have been given much, much will be demanded. 

And while we are talking about this, we might also think about rewards.  Earlier in the same chapter Jesus said. ³³Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.  He’s telling us to lay up treasures for ourselves in heaven.  When I was growing up there were two songs we sang about heaven one is "I’ve got a mansion"  and another is "Lord Build Me a Cabin in the Corner of Glory Land."   I love both of these songs, and there is no doubt that just being in heaven, and living in a cabin would be wonderful, but why wouldn’t we want the mansion?  How do you get the mansion?  You get the mansion by laying up treasures in heaven, by doing good deeds, serving God, sacrificing and loving your neighbor as yourself.  By producing those fruits of the Holy Spirit that resides within, these are the things we do in order to provide for ourselves that purse that will not wear out. 

Have you ever known a student in school that is very smart but just skims by and passes by a few points because he or she just didn’t want to put in the effort and work hard enough to get the A+ that they are capable of?  I think sometimes Christians are guilty of this as well, we do just enough to get by, just enough so that we think we can "Make it" into heaven – "Just build me a cabin in the corner." 

The message I’m trying to share with you today is not intended to scare you into obedience and good deeds, but rather to encourage you to go above and beyond your normal levels of service and love so that you may increase your rewards in the life to come where our deeds from this life will certainly follow us.

Prayer:

Holy God,

Thank you for providing us with The Way to salvation through Your Son Jesus Christ and the sacrifice that you made through Him on the cross. Please help us all to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven by serving you on earth and loving one another.  Keep us ever watchful and expecting your return so that on that day we may rejoice as we see The Lamb of God returning as The Lion of Judah.

In Christ Name –

Amen

The Word Became Flesh

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was with God in the beginning.

³Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴In him was life, and that life was the light of men. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

Here at Chapel Hill UMC we have just recently started a new Bible study class that I’m leading from my study.  We hadn’t really nailed down any specific direction to go in the study yet and so today I was thinking about what to do when the opening verses of John came to me and I looked around my office and noticed the Pocket Testament’s that are laying around and it became clear that John is where we should begin.  So for any of you who may happen upon this entry before tonight and are attending the Bible Study, you’ll now have a leg up on everyone else by knowing what we will be studying!

You know when we read the scriptures from the Pulpit we usually end by saying “This is the word of God for the people of God.”  I believe that the Bible contains the word of God, I have no trouble or issues with that statement after reading scripture, but – (I bet you could feel that conjunction coming couldn’t you) I think think there is much more to God’s word than what is printed between the leather covers of our most sacred book. 

What is the opening words of the gospel of John talking about?  It’s certainly not talking about a book of any kind, I think most Christians would recognize right away that the Word is in fact Christ.  So we have the written word in the Holy Bible, we have the Word which is Jesus  AND – – we can have the Word of God in us!  That’s right, the Word of God can also come from our own lips as it emanates from our hearts.  When God created man, he made us in His image, yes we fell away through sin, but Jesus Christ is all about getting back to that thing that we lost when we left the Garden of Eden.  That divine spark  is still accessible to us through acceptance of God’s Son as our Lord and Savior.  

Have you ever heard the saying, You may be the only Bible some people ever read?  We should always be aware of the power of God’s word within us.  It is powerful enough to speak all of creation into existence, powerful enough to heal the sick, raise the dead and change lives.

Prayer:  Loving Father,

Thank you for your Word which is alive and powerful.  Thank you for the power of your word in the Holy Bible, in your Son Jesus Christ and in Your Spirit which resides within our hearts.  Help us all to recognize the powerful Word that can change lives and use it to do just that.

Love Michael

Mat 4:18  And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
Mat 4:19  And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Mat 4:20  And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

In the short time we have been in Chapel Hill we have had many experiences, I don’t want to say any were bad because I know that God uses all of these things to work together for our good (Rom 8:28) but some have been painful, as you know.  We have been blessed in so many ways though, and I can really feel the presence of God working with us here, I know we are right where we are supposed to be and I praise him for that today.

One of the things that has been a fun blessing to me since we came here is I have a renewed passion for something that I loved as a child but hadn’t done very much of in years.  FISHING! I had only been fishing once or twice in probably the last twenty-five years but when we got to Chapel Hill and I met our next door neighbor Larry, he invited me and Beth to go.  He took us out on his boat to Normandy lake and we had a really fun day fishing, didn’t catch anything but that was ok, we had a great time nonetheless.  So I really don’t think I had fully caught the fishing bug until  I went out with him a second time and managed to make this big catch…  (sarcasm intended)

Yes that is an actual catfish.  I know it looks more like bait than a catch but there it is anyway and I was happy to get it!  When I posted this picture on my face book, my aunt said…

Frances Ledbetter Matthews Well Mike at least you are a fisher of man…

Ha Ha – very funny! (I love ya Frances!)  But at the same time, what an honor it is to be thought of in that way.  I have worked very hard to be a fisher of man as Jesus called his disciples to be.

So this brings me to an interesting fishing tale that happened over the labor day weekend.  I was out at Henry Horton Park fishing with Beth, we had been there for a few hours when some of her friends from school showed up on the other side of the river and were swimming and splashing around.  We made our way over to them so she could join them and I was wading in the water casting a line, with absolutely no luck whatsoever.  Then I heard a voice from above me at the campsites say “Hey Preacher!” I turned to look and saw a curious sight.  It was a lady whom I had never met, she had a broken leg, purple hair and was wearing a Christian T-Shirt.  She asked me if I could baptize her, this kind-of threw me for a loop.  I had no thoughts of doing a baptism while I was out fishing, I was in no way prepared, it was very odd.  To make a long story short, we worked it out and I agreed to do the baptism.

You never know what you’ll catch when you go fishing in the Duck River. When she came up from the water she quoted Rev 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

Mary has a wonderful way of putting things into perspective for me.  When I went home, the first thing she asked was if we caught anything.  I told her no, then told her about the baptism.  She said “You never know what you’ll catch when you go fishing, you caught what you were supposed to catch.”

WOW – you know?

God works in mysterious ways!

Thank you God!

Thank you for putting us in the right place at the right time, and presenting us with opportunities to do your work.  Even though we may not know how or why, you are always there, always leading and guiding and watching over us.  Thank you for allowing us to experience the spark of Divine nature that can reside within when we allow you to have your way.

Love Always,

Michael