There is so much more

On the eve of lent and feeling strangely excited about denying myself the old normal of my past life. I'm wondering why I should require a special calendar time or method (like typing with my thumb on an iPhone) to reflect, pray, repent and give thanks for Jesus of Nazareth, my Lord and Savior.

The God Breathed Word

2 Timothy 3:16 “The Word” preached July 27 2008 by Ron Smith

Every part of Scripture (pasa grapheh) is God-breathed (theopneustos) and useful one way or another – showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way.

God-breathed –  There is a common theme throughout the Bible about the breath of God.  Because we understand God as spirit, God reveals Himself in elements like clouds, pillars of fire, burning bushes, etc.  The Biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek both use words for air and wind (ruach and pnuema respectively) to represent the spirit.  So when we read aloud the word of God our very breath participates in God’s breath and the air we use to sound out God’s scripture is sanctified by His word.  This mysterious way in which God communicates in and through us makes it clear why we should memorize, pray and meditate in God’s word as part of the abundant life Jesus promises to give us in this life and the next.

Showing us truth –  Pontius Pilot asked Jesus “what is truth?”  And Jesus was the living truth staring him in the face.  Jesus is the way, the truth and the life: no one comes to the Father except by Him (John 14:6).  And Jesus showed the man who was about to order His death that He was born to testify to the truth and that everyone who belongs to the truth listens to His voice (John 18:37).

Exposing our rebellion –  Our rebellion to the truth is most apparent at the trial and passion of Jesus Christ.  The truth is that we may “know the truth” but not know it well enough to do it or to find the truth in ourselves or in others.  When I pray and reflect on what to preach in church, it needs to be in my heart and in my actions as well.  It is not enough to remember what Isaiah said about the promised Messiah.  I need to remember that that same Messiah (the chosen one of God) lives in me and greater is He that lives in me than He who lives in the world.

Correcting our mistakes –  John Wesley put Scripture as superior over reasoning, experience and tradition when we are trying to know God and find out how to correct our mistakes.  When we try to solve our mistakes in life without God’s word and wisdom, then we are essentially telling God with our actions that we are going to continue in our rebellious life style and that what we do is somehow “beyond good and evil” – outside of God’s reality like this child’s computer game by that title (also a title of a book by the professed atheist Friedrich Nietzsche):

Training us to live God’s way – Plenty of examples of God’s way of living (that is Christ-like in nature) can be found in the book of Proverbs:  Try reading just one chapter for each day of the month (There are 31 chapters in Proverbs).  Happiness makes you smile (Proverbs 15:13).  A kind answer soothes angry feelings (Proverbs 15:1).  A true friend will keep a secret (Proverbs 11:13).  You will say the wrong thing if you talk too much (Proverbs 10:19).  Don’t tell your neighbor to come back tomorrow, if you can help today (Proverbs 10:19).  Everyone likes to brag about getting a bargain (Proverbs 20:14).  Wise friends make you wise (Proverbs 13:20).  It’s better to be honest and poor than to be dishonest and rich (Proverbs 16:18).  Telling lies will get you in trouble (Proverbs 17:20).  Don’t give up (Proverbs 24:10).  Make your parents proud, especially your mother (Proverbs 23:25).  Watching what you say can save you a lot of trouble (Proverbs 21:23).  Respect and obey the Lord (Proverbs 9:10).  Don’t tell everything you know (Proverbs 12:23).  Go looking for trouble, and you will find it (Proverbs 11:27).  Teach your children right from wrong and when they are grown they will still do right (Proverbs 22:6).  Not getting what you want can make you feel sick (Proverbs 13:12).  The hungrier you are, the harder you work (16:26).  Don’t try to get even (Proverbs 20:22).  All wisdom comes from the Lord, and so do common sense and understanding (Proverbs 2:6).  It’s a dangerous thing to guarantee payment for someone’s debts (Proverbs 11:15).  Don’t say, “I didn’t know it!”  God can read your mind (Proverbs 24:12).  Don’t argue just to be arguing (Proverbs 3:30).  Obey the teaching of your parents (Proverbs 6:20).  Know where you are headed, and you will stay on solid ground (Proverbs 4:26).  Don’t ever think that you are wise enough (Proverbs 3:7).  Share your plans with the Lord, and you will succeed (16:3).

Dear Heavenly Father, the most important thing I need to know is that you loved me and everyone in this world so much that You sent your only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).  I believe in Your promise of everlasting life.  I believe in Your Word.  I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior – in His name, Amen.

Obedience to Christ

John 14 21 “Obedience to Christ” preached by Ron Smith
“The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that’s who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him.”
This Sunday’s topical verse is God’s promise of a special intimate loving relationship made up with individuals 1) who know His commandments, 2) who keep His commandments, 3) who are loved by our heavenly Father, 4) who are loved by God’s Son, and 5) to whom Christ continues to reveal Himself – that is “make Himself plain.”
1. Even cowboys can Know Christ’s commandments! The Old Testament’s 613 “halacha” or ways to behave (including the 10 Commandments) had become interpreted (but never completely obeyed) before Jesus arrived as the chosen Messiah. So God substituted His Son Jesus Christ to apply the law properly and thoroughly with His life, as the living Torah – the living Way to salvation and reconciliation with God’s law in spite of the rest of the human condition floundering in imperfection and sin.
Jesus fulfilled all the law and all the commandments by loving everyone. And He asks you and me to do the same. To share the love of Jesus obediently is not just a nice feeling. It means doing His will, which we find in his commandments (obediently loving everyone according to God’s law).
2. Keep Christ’s commandments! We have been created “in the image and likeness of God.” And we stand before God as His “you” capable of having a relationship with Him. “Bless the Lord O my soul” – means that God has made us so that we can bless God in return. You and I keep Christ’s commandments by loving God and others – by being God’s friend and by being a friend to others – by communicating with God and with others in loving ways.
3. Receive the Father’s love! Christ’s commandments are His way of showing us His love and His concern for our personal individual lives. When we serve others in ministry and care, then we follow His example of service and sacrifice for others. We receive our heavenly Father’s love when we share, serve and care for each other in the name of (according the loving commands of) Jesus Christ.
4. Receive the Son’s love! We especially want to live out the commandment that Jesus claimed as His own – the one that is the sum total of all the others (likened unto it). His “new commandment” is to . . . . . . .
In fact, love is the fulfillment of the whole law. It is the best way – one way we are called to obediently follow Christ.
5. Know Christ plainly and clearly! How do we experience Christ and know Him plainly as He has promised? Each of us are charged with doing “even greater miracles” than Jesus’ earthly ministry. But we can start in small ways and build on the relationships and people around us right now.
Maybe you can write your own story of how Christ makes Himself plain in your life . . .
Dear Heavenly Father, help us to see Christ in our everyday lives and obediently follow His commandments of love – in the name and according to the ordinances of love lived and practiced by Christ, Amen.

God's Spiritual Market Target

Matthew 9:35 – 10:8 “God’s Spiritual Market Target” preached by Ron Smith
Do you poop out at parties? Has your get up done got up and went? Where is your whim, wigger and why-tally-tea? Can we treat our spiritual well-being the same way as Lucille Ball's wonder tonic? What does God really want from us? Micah says to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our Lord. Jesus came to shepherd and befriend each one of us, in spite of our failure to be just, merciful and humble. It's not about me. It's about You, God! In post-modern advertising lingo that's God's spiritual market target. God wants to be much more than a mere commodity for spiritual vitality. He wants to take the lead as your friend – to be the “You focus” of your life, even though the world's marketing strategy tries to keep you “me focused.” God is still targeting the world with His love (John 3:16). His Holy Spirit continues to work through the church as God goes everywhere preaching and teaching and healing. And crowds of people are still gathering with great need (although not always inside church walls). Like Jesus we are called to have compassion for them, because people around the world are still harassed and helpless (Matthew 9:36). We are called to surrender our love to God and to others.
The harvest is plentiful, but there are not enough people to do the work (or at least we're not as peppy as we could be). The mission of Jesus was (and still is) carried out by His disciples who were given authority to act in Jesus' name (Matthew 10:1, 5-8). In order to be His disciples we should encourage and support each other in the community of Christ to live a “You” life in a “Me” world. Three Simple Rules of John Wesley provide one place to start: Do no harm. Do good, Stay in love with God. But this is not an invitation to return to legalism.

God has placed in front of us a constant choice of Life and Good or Death and Evil. Love God, your God. Walk in His ways. Keep His commandments, regulations, and rules so that you will live, really live - live exuberantly, blessed by God, your God (

Deuteronomy 30:15-16). But like the apostle Paul, I keep failing to keep all the rules and please God. If you're like me, then you'll have to quit being a “law man,” in order to be God’s man and God's woman. Christ’s life shows us how and enables us to do it. We must identify completely with Him. We must be crucified with Christ. Ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that you and I appear righteous before each other or that we carry the best opinion about each other. And we are no longer driven to impress God, either. Christ lives in you and Christ lives in me. Our lives are not “our own,” but we live by faith in the Son of God, who loved you and me and gave himself for us (Galatians 2:19-20).

When w

e give up our life for Christ's sake, God promises to free us from the bondage of the law. The love of Christ enables us to do this, because through Him – once God became human, He stayed with us in human form. He humbl

ed Himself even unto death - like us. He didn’t claim special privileges. He lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death - by the worst kind of death – crucifixion. And because of that obedience, God lifted Christ high and honored H

im far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth - even those long ago dead and buried - will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that He is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father (Philippians 2:8-11). How will you show Him your love and devotion in the future? 

 

Here’s what I want to do, and what God promises to help each of us to do: We should take our everyday, ordinary life - our sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and our walk-around life - and place it before God as an offering. Let's embrace what God is doing for you and me as the best thing we can do for Him. Let's not become well-adjusted to our culture (conformed to this world) so as to automatically fit into it. But instead, let's target our individual attention on God. Then you and I will be changed from the inside out. We have to keep recognizi

ng what God wants from you and me so that we can quickly respond to it. Don't let worldly circumstances drag us down to its level of immaturity. Let God bring the best out of each one of us (Romans 12:1-2) – Amen! We are tempted to live for ourselves and forget the source of all things—including ourselves. We “do harm” when we conform to a “Me” world and forget that the most important thing is to live for the Divine “You”. God is ready to renew our minds in a polluted “me” world by “doing good” and living out our personal sacrifices instead of allowing the world to squeeze us into its mold. God doesn't just want our generosity. God wants our whole selves. God wants our love and our lives. Jesus wants us to be so devoted in love that our response to Him daily is “as you wish”.

Let us join the angels at God’s throne and praise the Lord with Psalm 150 as obedient instruments to the glory of God - in true worship to the One who wants to be the “You” focus of our lives.

080520 Tuesday Prayer Breakfast with Christian Attorney Craig Cornwell

Craig Cornwell practices law with the United States Department of Agriculture stationed in Montgomery, Alabama, but serving a large portion of the Southeastern U.S.

Craig’s personal testimony of his faith walk with Jesus Christ provides practical insight on how practicing Christians can and do work and live with daily and long term stresses.

080518 Trinity Sunday Worship including Matthew 28:16-21 "We Serve One God" by Pastor Ron Smith

Matthew 28 14 27 We Believe in One True God preached 5 18 2008 by Ron Smith
When John Wesley said “the world is my parish” he was reflecting a sincere trinitarian view. Because God is a loving father, He wants those who are growing into the image of His Sonto experience the full abundance of the Holy Spirit in the entire world – not just a small piece or with small numbers in our heads and hearts.
I gave many of you a short insight into the Doctrine of the Trinity at Margaret Pitts' and Margaret Lynn's home when we thought about how God's number – even if it is the number one – is always bigger than our number or numbers. Of course, I was limiting that thought to the number of people in a church congregation or the number that show up for a particular worship service. But each one of us is privileged to come in communion with a triune God who teaches how to grow into His image as triune reflections of our divine father, brother and comforter.
One of the reasons why many people don't want to dwell on this understanding of God is that the Trinity makes it so clear how strange and different God is than our wildest imagination. Mary Louise put it this way when she thinks about the Trinity: “Sometimes when I pray I tell God He can come in the door but He has to sit in the chair and keep quiet. I know it sounds stupid, but I don’t want any of the omnipresent, omnipotent stuff. That’s too scary for me. I tell God I would like to learn to be open and intimate with Him, but I don’t want Him violating me.”
This may give us some insight as to why Jesus' Baptism by John the Baptist was necessary – so as to take out notions of a threatening Father God and calm our instinctive anxiety with the “beloved Son” and “peaceful Holy Spirit.” Jesus comes out of the wilderness after wrestling with temptations from the Devil. He victoriously descends into the water as our human representative and comes out of the water with the the Holy Spirit descending on Him like a dove and the Father's voice announcing His approval and love of the Son.
Marriage is a perfect example of how God teaches us how to perceive the uniqueness and union interplay. But even if you are not married there should be similar experiences in your life. Very good friends or a husband and wife have to recognize the difference between Self-sacrifice and Suffocation – or the difference between Self-assurance and Loneliness. Listen to the basic tension in what we recite before the wedding vows are given: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh”
(Genesis 2:24).
The divine relationship is one that accepts and gives of oneself without becoming smothered. Jesus exemplified this in parables like the Good Samaritan and lessons that ended with "I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink," and, "Just as you did it to one of the least of these ... you did it to me" (Matthew 25:35, 40)
Our relationships have the same kind of scary stuff that the Trinity is made of. We span two major conditions Union and Uniqueness. We strive for union, while also wanting to maintain our own unique individual selves. How can we keep this up without fusing and losing our individual identities – or emotionally cutting ourselves off from each other without the support and pleasure of love? What is man that thou art mindful of him . . . that thou hast placed him a little lower than the angels. The angels are fused with the will of God and have no will outside merely acting as messengers and agents of God's will. Our non-fused selves have a built-in tension with complete mindless obedience, because God wants us to understand and experience more of what the Trinity experiences. We are privileged to share in God's triune dynamic.
The physical world around us gives many examples of how water assumes different characteristics depending on the environmental circumstances. Our relationships and God's Trinity exhibit different personalities and roles for playing out who we are. But the unique properties of H2O remain the same and God speaks through His creation. The heavens are telling the glories of God.
In the poem “God's Trombones” when God is about to create mankind He says, “I'm lonely. So I think I'll make me a man!” But that poet wasn't thinking out the Trinity or that God is so loving within Himself that He could not be lonely or without love for self within His perfect triune fellowship. God as creator father, loving son and holy spirit is totally self-assured. Whereas when any one of us behaves self-assured without others, then we inevitably become lonely. Like Tarzan without Jane or Robinson Crusoe without Friday we swing too far out on a limb or wander away on a deserted island in the abject poverty without our social context. The body of Christ is the most perfect reflection of the Trinity in our earthly lives because God is with us in this new creation.
Dear Heavenly Father, we confess that without Your example as a triune God we would be like lonely people on our individual islands trying to push our way across deserted oceans of time and space. You brood over the chaos of our imperfect suffocating and lonely lives in Your perfect Trinity and You remake us as Your new creation – the Body of Christ in Your triune image. Thank You for making us for each other to the same degree as You are not made, but having always been who You are – in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

080516 Friday Focus - “Discover the Leader Within” by Daniel Monplaisir from TeenPact

Daniel Monplaisir has been involved in leadership and speaking from the very young age of twelve. Even before then he was involved in theatrical programs in his community and church in New York City.
Now, hailing from Montgomery, Alabama, Daniel has been involved in leadership positions almost everywhere he goes. Recently, Daniel has been a Traveling Ambassador for TeenPact Leadership Schools, Chief Operations Officer for the Alabama Sports Festival and the “Let Freedom Ring!” Ceremonies, and a Cadet in the Alabama Army National Guard.
While traveling with TeenPact, Daniel had the opportunity to speak all over the country to all different age groups inspiring every person to discover their own capabilities of leadership. He spoke in several different states including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Arkansas, North Carolina, Iowa, Tennessee and Nevada.
Daniel has a special talent in the Arts and has been involved with Theatre at his alma mater, Faulkner University, and has been involved with puppetry through his church and an International Dream Team.
When Daniel was eighteen, he served as President of his Toastmasters International Club, was an umpire for Dixie Youth Baseball, and was involved with Upward Basketball and Special Olympics basketball programs.
Speaking to all ages and interests, Daniel Monplaisir has inspired so many people with high energy and interactive presentations to understand leadership and to become leaders themselves. Everyone can discover the leader within!
This particular speech is an expose of Daniel’s motivational leadership style.

080513 Tuesday Prayer Breakfast with Rev. Cory Smith of Woodland United Methodist Church

The last time Cory spoke at Dexter’s Prayer Breakfast was October 23, 2007. Since then, his wife Alicia has become our church secretary. Needless to say, we are all very bless to have this wonderful Christian couple serve in so many ways to help our inner-city church revitalize.
In this devotional message Cory shares his interpretation of John 3:1-17 where Jesus tells Nicodemus “the meaning of life.” Cory introduces us to a modern day parable where a woman goes to a monk in a far away mountain retreat - so as to find “the meaning of life.” She talks incessantly while the monk continues to pour tea until in overflows onto her and everything around her. She stops her chatter and says, “Stop! Can’t you see that my cup is too full and I have too much?” To which the monk said, “Just so. Come back when your cup is empty and then we can talk again.”
In comparison Nicodemus is like so many of us who are too full and cannot receive what God has to give us.

080511 Pentecost Sunday Worship Service including Sermon based on Acts 2:1-21 entitled "How God Kept His Promise" by Pastor Ron Smith

Come, Holy Spirit. Fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.
O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy Your consolations. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Happy Mothers’ Day and Happy Birthday to the Church on this blessed day of Pentecost! Jesus' disciples received power to continue His ministry and 3,000 more Christians joined the church after Peter preached to the crowd in Jerusalem. Besides reversing the Tower of Babel curse and allowing people to speak and understand each other "in new tongues" as Jesus promised His followers would do (Mark 16:17).

I believe all the gifts of the Spirit were manifest that day and it’s appropriate that we look at Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This was good stuff to remember last night on the capital steps up the street as the Attorney General and I led many grieve widows and mothers who would not have the happiest of Mothers’ Days today, because their husbands, sons and fathers lost their lives in the line of duty as police officers.

It’s not natural to have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control when others controlled by their evil and wicked passions senselessly snuff good lives out. The strange and miraculous change of heart and conversion of 3,000 souls in the streets of Jerusalem over 2,000 years ago happened because the evil and wickedness could not be projected over to some nameless criminal out there. They had “met the enemy and his is us” according to the Pogo Cartoon script.

We have hope because we can stop being God’s enemy and walk in the footsteps of Jesus. We can breath with Him, pray with Him, live with Him – ever closer to the mind and heart of Jesus.

Dear Heavenly Father, forgive us for not always paying attention to Your Holy Spirit and the example of Your Son Jesus Christ.

Please help me and everyone to be Your friend and not Your enemy. May the all days be mothers days for Your Church – in the blessed name and divine purpose of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

080422 Tuesday Prayer Breakfast with Bill Llewellyn of Troy University

William "Bill" Llewellyn is an English Tutoring Specialist with Troy University, Montgomery Campus. He is also an adjunct instructor of English and is taking graduate courses in English and Education at that same institution. He is an active member of Christ Church XP, which meets at Dexter Avenue United Methodist Church. He is marriage with one daughter at Duke University and one son doing Christian film production in Los Angeles. In this message Bill talks his faith and yours under the title "Spirit Flight."

John 14:1-14 “Jesus is the Way” preached 4/20/2008 by Pastor Ron Smith

Another cartoon that is not on the back of my sermon transcript shows an automobile balancing precariously over the edge of a cliff, with an embarrassed husband at the wheel and his disgusted wife sitting next to him. Meekly, he says to his wife, “Honey, there’s got to be a lesson here somewhere.”
There’s a lesson there all right: The only way to end up at the right destination is to choose the right road. If you’ve ever made a wrong turn in a strange place and found yourself lost, then you know how important that lesson is.

Life is a journey. Homer’s ancient epic “The Odyssey” follows Ulysses in a life-long journey (or at least 10 years of it) for about 300 miles from Troy to his home in Ithaca. Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress is an account of Christian’s journey from the City of Destruction to the heavenly city. Most of the Old and New Testaments follow people who journey from Eden, Babel, Ur, Egypt or Bethlehem to other times and places. God clearly tells us to choose the right path, but the world says there are “many ways to God” and any path you sincerely follow will eventually take you there. Not!

The internet contains both God’s singular path of righteousness and the worldly variety of rabbit trails. Some of us use Mapquest or Googlemaps to show us how to go somewhere. But it might not be the way, the truth or the life we’re supposed to take. These electronic maps sometimes get the right and left turns mixed up or they’re not updated with information about construction sites like the year long construction blockage on McDonough Street leading to this church from the south side of town or like the I-85 congestion as we came into Atlanta yesterday morning that turned a 10 minute final drive into a 2 hour long stop and start contest.

Maps on paper or on the Internet might give an unsuspecting person completely wrong directions, because the people giving you the directions haven’t really been where you are going. That’s why Annemarie and I called our daughter Erika and her friend’s home, where Erica’s baby shower was being held so as to get the truthful directions to our destination in Doraville and so that we wouldn’t end up balancing precariously over the edge of a cliff or encounter any further extreme delays.

Even though we had driven that direction hundreds of times and even though I was born and raised very near to where we were traveling – we might as well have been in a foreign country, because we discovered that our thinking about our way was not truthful and could have even cost our lives.
Jesus says that He is not only the way, but He is also the truth and the life. Drawing from our experience yesterday – it didn’t matter if we supposedly knew the way and “a truth” about that way on earlier trips. And there were literally hundreds (maybe thousands) of other drivers we witnessed yesterday who were also stuck in traffic going the wrong way with “false truths” directing them. They were needlessly using up their lives wastefully for the wrong purposes.
If you wanted to find the way to heaven, where would you look? Well, we have the Bible, don't we? The Bible gives us that same information that has the potential of helping us to know the way to heaven. We have other books too. We have libraries full of books that would help us to know how to get to heaven. We even have pastors and teachers who will help us to know how to get to heaven. These things are great, but if we want to find the way to heaven, we need to talk to someone who has been there AND who will always keep us current about the right way. Your walk with Jesus can be the real-time truth that leads to the abundant eternal life that only God can provide!

In today’s scripture Jesus tells us that He was going back to heaven to be with His Father. He tells us that one day we will go to be with Him. But Thomas, said, "We don't even know where you are going, how can we know the way?" Jesus answered, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except by me." If we want to find the way to heaven, we need to look to Jesus, because He is the way -- the only way!
Phillip chimed in and asked Jesus to show them the Father so that they might believe. Jesus gave us another important insight that proved that He gives us God’s way, truth and life. Jesus IS GOD. That’s right. Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Him and they are one and the same.
The great mystic Thomas a Kempis wrote “The Imitation of Christ” 600 years ago. It’s a wonderful imaginary conversation with Jesus Christ in which our Lord says, “Follow Me. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Without the Way, there is no going. Without the Truth, there is no knowing. Without the Life, there is no living. I am the Way, which you must follow, the Truth which you must believe, the Life for which you must hope. I am the inviolable Way, the infallible Truth, the unending Life. I am the Way that is straight, the supreme Truth, the Life that is true, the blessed, the uncreated Life. If you abide in My Way you shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free, and you shall attain life everlasting.”
“If you wish to enter into life, keep My commandments. If you will know the truth, believe in Me. If you will be perfect, sell all. If you will be My disciple, deny yourself. If you will possess the blessed life, despise this present life. If you will be exalted in heaven, humble yourself on earth. If you wish to reign with Me, carry the Cross with Me. For only the servants of the Cross find the life of blessedness and of true light” (Chapter 56).
Dear Jesus, as we search for the way to heaven, help us to know that You are the way -- the only way! We ask all these things in Your Name, for You are in our Heavenly Father and the Father is in You, Amen.

080418 Friday Focus with Rev. Holly Morales, Snowdoun UMC

Pastor Holly Morales and her husband Arthur are about to move back to the Mobile, Alabama area after a 3 1/2 years charge appointment at Snowdoun United Methodist. Holly recently graduated from Candler Theological Seminary at Emory University with a Masters of Divinity degree. Her pastoral skills are excellent. Her humor is disarming. Her cooking is fantastic (according to her shut-in parishioners who are fed regularly by her).

In this message Holly shares a recent spiritual development tool that helps each of us reduce and even eliminate the character flaw of complaining. Based on advice in 1 Peter 2:23-24: "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin; no guile was found on his lips. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he trusted to him who judges justly."

She uses a recent book entitled, "How to Stop Complaining and Enjoy the Life You Always Wanted" (featured at http://acomplaintfreeworld.org) so as to accomplish some immediate verifiable ways to stop complaining.

080415 Tuesday Prayer Breakfast with Corky Hawthorn, Christian Attorney

Christian Attorney - Corky Hawthorn is energetic for the Lord Jesus Christ! Since his near death life changing drunk driving automobile accident, he has preached taught cajoled and generally evangelized anyone and everyone he can relate with about the saving grace and knowledge of our Lord's transforming power.

Corky studies the Bible with different groups virtually every day of the week including Friday mornings with Pastor Ron, Al Perkins, Tom Bridges, Doug McCurry, Johnny Davis, Randell Thomas, Carmen Falcione, Hamid Sattari and other notable Christian pastors, lay speakers and prayer warriors - who are featured on these blog and podcast websites.

080413 John 10:1-10 "Abundant Life" by Pastor Ron Smith

What we’re dealing with here is: “Who is Lord and Master of our lives?” Is Jesus the Lord of your life, and, if not, who is? Who calls the signals? Who calls the shots? Who is the basis of your decision making process for your life?
Now most of you are going to say to yourself right here, “well, Jesus is the Lord of my life.” But is He really? Do you really let Him call the signals and shots? Is He really the boss of your life?

There are so many gods screaming for our attention on all sides of us. We live in a multitasking world with the media piping in just some of what calls the shots in our lives. Every one of these gods asks us to bow down and serve them. Wealth and money is a god for some, because the making and acquiring of money and keeping it is what cause some people to make decisions for themselves and others. Power is a god for some, because (like some politicians) they have a “fire in the belly” to acquire power before they do anything else; they’ll sell their own grandmother to acquire power. Pleasure is god for some people, when they seek to satisfy the lusts of the flesh even to the point of loosing secondary gods of money and power – like some of our recently fallen politicians, who throw discretion to the wind. Elliot Spitzer was like King Saul who outlawed sorcerers, but sought out and used the Witch of Endor to conjure up the ghost of his mentor Samuel (I Samuel 28) in direct disobedience of that law of Moses (Deuteronomy 18:9-12).

People who worship these other gods will not admit this in public. They may very well claim to worship God and follow Jesus. But when the phone rings and asks them to do something that serves the other god, then that’s where they go. So that’s how we can tell who their god is.

I don’t think there are any of those kind of people here with us right now, but our closeness to family and to our friends might be another god, too. Jesus shows us how to balance our service to God and family when He lingered at the temple with strangers, but came home when his family told Him to (Luke 2:43-52); when He submitted to God's timing, but still helped His mother at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11); and when He died on the cross for the best and the worst sinners, but first provided for His mother (John 19:25-27). We can serve God by serving our family's needs (1 Timothy 5:7-8, Ephesians 5:33 and 1 Corinthians 7:3-5). But we must seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). Even in the best of family relations Jesus must be the Lord of your life and mine.

There is a second question: Do we do what Jesus says we should do? Do we in fact follow Him, when there are so many different paths to go down? Jesus wants us to do two things: 1) Love the Lord God with all our heart, soul and might – and that’s not all that hard to do since we haven’t seen Him, but He’s given us breath and life and a land to live on and to sustain life. He’s given us Jesus and the church. He’s given us forgiveness. It’s not really very hard to love God with all our heart, soul and might. But Jesus didn’t stop there. 2) He said “. . . and love your neighbor as yourself.” Now the shoe starts to pinch, when some neighbors just aren’t all that loveable. There are some people who are awfully difficult to love. There are all kinds of people around here who beg and demand that we give them things. People say they are the “dregs of society.” And we are only a stones throw from the railroad tracks where they roll out from under the boxcars. But I have to remind myself that Jesus Christ died for each one of them, too. And in that sense there is no difference between them and me – at all! Each one of them is the neighbor that Jesus says I should love as much as I may love myself. So, loving your neighbor is much more difficult than loving God – at least it is for me.

What frightens me is how Jesus came to the end of His Sermon on the Mount and said, “Not everyone who says unto me ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 7:21). But You preached in our streets – and the Lord says, “I never knew you.” I hear people praying and saying “Lord, Lord” and I wonder. Who is it that says, “Lord, Lord” who will not enter into the kingdom of heaven? That’s frightening when some give the impression of piety and thankfulness, but who aren’t going to enter the kingdom of heaven. Like John Wesley, I’ve finally gotten around to understanding that there are some who are not going to make it into the kingdom. Jesus says some will not listen and follow Him. And just following the trappings of righteousness can be scary, too. People followed James Jones from California to South America and then followed him to death by drinking arsenic laced cool-aid. That shepherd was a very poor substitute for Jesus. But the rest of Matthew 7:21 quotes Jesus saying, “. . . but the one who does the will of my Father will enter into His kingdom.” And that’s the salvation part.

Dear Heavenly Father, it has been so difficult to love my neighbor and I believe there are several others here who have the same problem. Some neighbors remind me too much of the part of me that I don’t like. Some neighbors are the enemy of all that I love like Osama bin Laden. Some of my neighbors are such ingrates and will turn around and return evil for good or just reject love and kindness. But You are all about forgiving 70 times 7 and my excuses are not better than my neighbors. Please forgive our lack of love and forgiveness in Jesus’ name, Amen.

080411 Friday Focus with Hamid Sattari - Christian, Iranian and American

Hamid Sattari is a naturalized United States citizen who escaped Iran when the current Muslim extremists took over the rule of his homeland. His parents were killed at the close of World War II when Russian officials wanted their oil rich land. His intellectual curiosity led him to becoming first a medical doctor in Iran and then an Iranian Air Force pilot capable of flying all craft available. He rose to the rank of base commander under the Shah's regime. The Khomeini revolutionary forces planned to assassinate Hamid, but he managed to first get his American wife and children to the U.S. before persuading his fellow Iranian Air Force officers to grant him special leave out of the country. The pilot of his jet plane to Western Europe almost turned the craft around just to hand Hamid over to the assassins. But he was miraculously saved.

Even though Hamid remained Muslim while residing in Montgomery, he tried praying to Jesus because he heard that Christ was a healer and might save his dying sixteen year old daughter from eminent death. When his prayers were not answered he was at first very angry at God and in particular toward Jesus of Nazareth.

But then another miracle happened. Hamid was actually visited by Jesus Christ in his deepest depression and sorrow. Hamid declared Him Lord and Savior of his life. And today this man is a devout follower of Jesus Christ. In so doing he has lost relationship with his friends and family in Iran.

Hamid's testimony should help many people to understand the saving and redeeming power of Jesus Christ. Thank you Hamid for your wonderful Christian witness.

080408 Tuesday Prayer Breakfast with Rev. Steve Richardson, St. Paul Lutheran

The photograph in this blog and podcast shows Pastors Ron Smith and Steve Richardson. Steve is on the path of becoming a local pastor in the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod. He currently serves as a lay pastor at Saint Paul Lutheran in Montgomery, Alabama, while preparing to start a mission church in the Millbrook/Prattville area just north of Montgomery.

In this message Steve interprets Luke 18:31-34 and how it deals with questions of our personal identity. His journey with these questions takes some unusual turns of events in his life, which may resonate in others' experiences.

080406 "Walking On" by Pastor Ron Smith

Cleopas and the other disciple were walking away from Jerusalem when the resurrected Christ joined them. His death was so certain that they could not perceive Him to be the stranger who was listening and talking with them.
What do we have in common with these two and what can we expect to happen when we have renewed encounters with our risen Lord? My friend Al Perkins has helped me identify seven seasons of faith that we discover as disciples of Jesus Christ: curiosity, commitment, shock, disillusionment, hope, a deeper search and revelation. My walk with the Lord (and perhaps yours as well) continues to pass through these seasons of faith like weather patterns of my soul.

Curiosity is how they first heard Jesus when they first started to follow Him during His earthly ministry. Like the Greeks who came to meet Him in the Temple, all potential disciples say, “we would see Jesus” (John 12:20-22). Jesus is the Alpha to all meaningful relationships, which begin with curiosity and questions. When I asked Annemarie out for a cup of coffee after Christianity and Western Thought class more than 40 years ago, I was just curios. And so was she. But there was no real relationship until we committed ourselves to a real relationship.

Those disciples also made a commitment when they decided, “I’ll follow Him.” But they were supposed to be with Jesus admitting their discipleship during His trial and execution and they didn’t do that. In the same way today - it isn’t just wearing the right T-shirt with the right scripture verse on it. It isn’t about whether we show up on NFL televised games with the right signs declaring gospel messages, either. But it’s a start and some of us might never walk on beyond this stage or season of faith.

When we see a person we greatly admire fall into disrepute by the media, some of us are not surprised. But some of us who knew the person to be of good character just can’t believe it. These disciples were like the latter. They were in shock when they heard that Jesus had been arrested. The shocking truth is that He was crucified precisely because God loves us. And we did the arrest, torture and execution in our vilest sinful condition. Just as the cartoon suggests: we caught God looking at us “in that way” and we were determined to kill Him.

They were overwhelmed with disillusionment. All that they had hoped for – “that he was the one to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:20) - everything that Jesus had meant to them as the promised Messiah was gone and they felt that there was nothing else to look forward to. The two disciples were like the two characters in the fourth cartoon. As if one sign weren’t bad enough, “The end is near”, the other carries an even worse prediction: “You wish!” Without Jesus the end to the hellish conditions of this world are nothing compared to the prospect of no end to turmoil in hell after death without Him. These wandering disciples were so disillusioned that they could not see how close their salvation was. He was with them all that time of despair.

Hope seems to come from out of nowhere when this stranger starts helping these walking disciples to remember what the prophets had foretold: Sure, the Messiah was to be the prince of peace, counselor and ruler. Yes, even more. But Isaiah also said that by His wounds we are healed and He must suffer and rise up from the dead on the third day. Our salvation relies on repenting by His name so that He may forgive the sins of all nations (Luke 24:44-45). And just as “no scripture was harmed in the preparation of this sermon”, no scripture was altered in the preparation of your personal salvation through Jesus Christ.

They invited Jesus to stay with them. They wanted to make a further search about this stranger and what He had to say. They continued to listen to Jesus (the Living Word of God) review the scriptures including the earliest prophesy of how the Messiah would crush the head of the evil serpent who had brought death to our first parents in the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15). The end of God’s new creation story was in the battle in which Satan wounded the Messiah on the cross, but the Messiah destroyed death by His perfect life, submissive death and victorious resurrection (Isaiah 53). This journey of the hearts and minds of these two caused them later to remark, “did our hearts not burn within us?” But they didn’t express it with such emotion when they were with Him.

Finally, at the table when Jesus broke the bread with them – this is when and how they recognized Jesus’ true identity. This is the revelation that each disciple must have so as to find out who Jesus really is in his or her own life. It is not so much in what He says, but in what He does at the table. Walking on with God is only part of our relationship with Him. The full cycle requires revelation of the risen Savior and Lord in our midst.
Dear Heavenly Father, whatever season of faith we are in right now I pray that You send Your Holy Spirit to be with each one of us. If we find ourselves just curious, then give us more than just wanting to see Jesus. If we are committed to following Jesus, help us to stay the course and always walk with Him. If we are shocked by the cruel conditions in this world, give us the faith and grace to walk on with Jesus. If we are disillusioned from not feeling or sensing Your presence, then give us hope for the living of these days in expectation of Your coming. If we have hope, but fail to give others hope by sharing Your love and grace, please forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. If we are still searching the scripture for You, please reveal Yourself to us as living among us. For it is in dying that we are born to eternal life by His blood and name: King Jesus, Amen.

080404 Friday Focus - Monty Bogard, MFD Chaplain

Monty Bogard has been a volunteer Fire and Rescue chaplain for Montgomery, Alabama for almost one year. He has retired as a physicians assistant to surgeons at Jackson Hospital. He currently represents Stryker hospital equipment supply company for central Alabama.

Monty is on track for responding to God's call for his service as a local pastor in the United Methodist church. In this podcast he reveals his struggle with the call to preach and his repeated commitment to God, which led to a full "heart transplant" for the love of God. Thank you Monty for this message.

080401 Tuesday Prayer Breakfast with Tamara Massey & Matthew Flanagan AUM CDS

The following text was used in a powerpoint presentation by Tamara Massey and Matthew Flanagan during the Tuesday Morning Prayer Breakfast at Dexter Avenue on April 1, 2008. The soundtrack and movie of the presentation is being edited by the AUM staff before republication.

Their official titles are:

Tamara J. Massey-Garrett, Director
Matthew Flanagan, Assistive Technology Specialist

Auburn Montgomery (AUM)
Center for Disability Services (CDS)
Montgomery, Alabama

Negotiating Accommodations
Responsibilities of Postsecondary Institution Providing Accommodations
o Services provided under Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
o With reasonable notification, college is responsible for costs involved in providing reasonable accommodations and/or auxiliary aids to students.
o Student must self-identify disability, request services from DSS, and provide recent documentation of disability (cost of evaluation responsibility of student).
o Faculty will not know about student’s disability without written permission.
o Little or no parental involvement.
Responsibilities of DSS
o Student self-identifies and provides documentation to DSS, then DSS reviews documentation and determines appropriateness of documentation.
o DSS sets up an intake interview with student and determines reasonable accommodations, discusses DSS policies and procedures, and generates accommodation letter.
o Student picks up letter/memo, meets with faculty, and both communicate accommodation needs to DSS on contract and through one-on-one discussion's.
o DSS implements accommodations, e.g. proctoring
o As needed, DSS advocates for student.

Center for Disability Services at AUM
CDS serves approximately 200 students.
Disabilities categories include: learning disabilities, psychological, ADD/ADHD, Health/medical, Vision, hearing impairments, and TBI.
Students use accommodations as needed.
Students can use accommodations for classes on- and off-campus (distance learning, Auburn Guarantee Seamless Admission Program).
Students use assistive technology (AT).
Vision Impairments
CDS staff met with Biology department head, lecture and lab instructors before semester began.
CDS worked closely with Biology Department and the School of Sciences in preparation of accommodating these students including the recommendation to purchase a tactile plant cell model. Funding was appropriated from Academic Affairs.
Discussed need for diagrams, pictures, etc. being brailled and/or visual descriptions.
Modification of diagrams, pictures, exam questions.
Exams – use of braille and electronic text (e-text).
Lab assistant provided for one-on-one assistance (hands-on assistance and visual descriptions) – hiring by CDS.
Meetings with instructors, CDS staff and students on a regular basis and as needed.

Subject example: Biology
Using Braille & E-Text
Biology
Using Tactile Model & Lab Assistants
Student Using Tactile Animal Cell Model
Braille Image: Osmosis
Braille Image: Bacteriophage

Presenters Contact Information
Tamara Massey-Garrett
AUM-Center for Disability Services
P.O. Box 244023
Montgomery, AL 36124-4023

tmassey2@aum.edu
(334) 244-3754

Matthew Flanagan
AUM-Center for Disability Services
P.O. Box 244023
Montgomery, AL 36124-4023

mflanaga@aum.edu
(334) 244-3880