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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

080330 Worship Service including John 20:19-31 sermon "Peace be with you" by Pastor Ron Smith

The first Easter was a busy day for Jesus. First thing - He got out of the grave and spoke to Mary and the other women and told them what to do. Then He walked seven miles to Emmaus with two disciples. He broke bread with them and came back to Jerusalem for the event we just read about. He first blessed them with “peace be with you” and then commissioned them as those who are sent (apostelon) just as the father had sent Him to the world.
Thomas might have gone to the restroom or he might have gone out for a walk to console himself in grief. But when he returned, the others said, “We’ve seen the Lord. Jesus was here.” And Thomas didn’t believe them. His reaction was like saying, “’Peace be with you?’ Yeah, right! I don’t believe you. I won’t believe – until I can put my fingers in the holes in his hands and side.” That’s an act of Thomas’ will. And that’s something that speaks to all of us. It begs the question, “Are we going to believe or are we not going to believe.” And you know we’re not going to believe unless we WANT to believe. Each of us have a decision to make: either I will believe or I will not believe. Kierkegaard called this the “either/or” of faith. When we defy Proverbs 3:5 and lean on our own understanding, then we are saying “I will believe when I can be convinced, empirically that this is so – then I’ll believe.” So we can WILL to believe or WILL not to believe that Jesus is resurrected and was standing there before those other disciples.
The following Sunday – Jesus came back with the same greeting and this time Thomas was with all the other disciples. Now if Jesus went to all the trouble of getting crucified to get us into the kingdom, it doesn’t seem strange that He came back to get Thomas. Thomas was part of the team and when the commissioning came on he was not there. Jesus came back, because He wanted Thomas on the team and He made Thomas aware of His resurrection.
This gospel passage is traditionally used on the Sunday after Easter every year, because this is an important passage. And what makes it important is that this is when it happened. And that makes a difference. Christianity is based on factual events that actually happened in a moment in history. At a moment in time God called Abraham and told him He found a family. God in a moment in history spoke to Moses and said, “You go back into Egypt and let my people go, bring my people out.” At a moment in history a real virgin had a real baby in a place called Bethlehem. At a moment in history that baby had grown up and went into the water and was baptized. There were other people, who saw each event. In a moment in history this man Jesus performed all kinds of miracles with many witnesses. He fed the hungry, gave sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. He made the lame walk and even raised the dead and expelled evil spirits. At specific moments in time these things actually happened and that’s the difference between Christianity and all the other faiths that people profess around the world.
These events really did happen. And the people in the scripture really had the same kind of feelings that you and I have. They were tempted and purged like you and me. When Thomas said to the eyewitnesses, “I don’t believe you,” then he fell out of fellowship with the other disciples. One of us might respond the same way, if you excused yourself for a moment from this sanctuary only to miss out on a great miracle. You might tell the rest of us who experienced the event, “I don’t believe you.”
Each of us might try to convince you in different ways: “You don’t believe us . . . that means you don’t trust us.” Our mutual fellowship and faith would be damaged. Some of us would feel sad for you. Somebody might feel like you’re calling us liars or you’re saying we’re crazy. And we’d feel offended and hurt.
But the Thomas-in-us wants tangible proof, because it’s too important a thing to happen without reasoning and drawing logical conclusions. Some of you have attended the Brownsville Revival or a Billy Graham Crusade when hundreds of people were being saved every night. When I joined Billy’s evangelism team in 1996 I was still trying to explain logically what God does in people’s lives. Last Thursday the Gideons and I handed out close to 800 New Testaments to law enforcement and 911 communications personnel who started immediately reading what I had tried to get them to do for two years. This was for me a powerful witness that Jesus still shows up in our everyday lives.
Jail chaplain, Tom Bridges witnessed vivid proof the other day when he experienced his first demon possession and deliverance at the close of a worship service with female inmates. One of the women moved around a lot and seemed to be hurting. She consented to letting him anoint her and pray for her, but the Lord spoke to his heart and told Tom to stop. The Lord told Tom, “I don’t want you to lay hands on her and pray for her. I want you to point your finger at her and caste the demons out.” He obeyed and just pointed his finger at her and said, “In the name of Jesus Christ get out of her.” She immediately raised about 18 inches and fell to the floor with her legs bowed under her torso. She dragged her body across the floor. Her eyes went completely white. Her tongue started to hiss like a snake. Two correctional officers were poised to use mace. After a few minutes of this he offered to help the woman off the floor while asking her name. Her eyes opened and she gently said, “My name is Shirley - Peace be with you.”
Dear Heavenly Father, Your Son and Holy Spirit are still showing up in our lives to say, “Peace be with you.” Thank You for Your facts and events in scripture and in our lives that are so real – that are not made up as delusions or apparitions. For all knees shall bow and tongues confess, Jesus Christ is Lord, in His name, Amen.

080328 Friday Focus with Jim Roden, Gideons International

Jim Roden is among the thousands of Gideons who actively support and volunteer a great deal of time and energy to the distribution of Biblical scripture around the world.

Having God's Word can lead people to faith in Christ, and those new Christians can then grow by studying their Scriptures and even use them to share their faith with others.

For this reason, Gideons International focuses on distributing complete Bibles or New Testaments. These Scriptures are printed in more than 80 languages and are either given directly to certain individuals or placed in selected public locations where large numbers of people who may be searching for answers will have the ability to encounter the Word of God.

Distributing complete copies of God's Word also . . .

Plants powerful seeds that God can use in His timing. (I Corinthians 3:6)
Allows people to read the truth for themselves. (John 8:32)
Provides a continuing witness when the Gideon is no longer present. (Hebrews 4:12)
Makes it easier for the people we reach to in turn reach others with the truth about Jesus. (II Timothy 2:2)
Makes it possible for new Christians to learn and grow through personal Bible study.
(II Timothy 2:15)

Scriptures are distributed one by one by members of The Gideons International to these groups:

Students in the 5th grade and above
Prisoners and police, fire, medical and military personnel
Anyone else Gideons witness to individually
Scriptures are placed in certain locations, including:

Hotels and motels
Hospitals, convalescent homes, medical offices and domestic violence shelters
Prisons and jails

080325 Tuesday Prayer Breakfast with Kevin 'Sinclair' Nero, WVAS Radio Announcer

Kevin is on the board of directors for the Nat King Cole Society in Montgomery, Alabama. He is an avid Jazz enthusiast and promoter. For several years he has programmed and announced the local Jazz program on the Public Radio Station in Montgomery broadcasting from the Alabama State University campus.
This message is his very touching autobiography that focuses on his family heritage and identity. For most of his life his family kept a "secret" from him about his being adopted. The mother and father who raised him were actually cousins and one of his cousins turned out to be his biological father. He has never met his biological mother, whose last name is Bently (his middle name).
Below is Kevin's biography that his has proved for publishing on this podcast and blog syndication.

Kevin ‘Sinclair’ Nero
Born: January 25, 1956
Place of Birth: Brooklyn, New York – Childhood spent in Queens, New York
In August of 1974 – I moved to Daphne, Alabama (new permanent residence)
Started my college career at Alabama State University – January 1975
I received a “walk-on” - 4 year - athletic scholarship in track – March 1975
Graduated in the summer of 1980 with a BS degree in Computer Information Systems
Currently working on my Masters in Human Resource Development
Full – Time Position – Program Manager for the sustainment of Legacy Supply Systems for the United States Air Force.
Part – Time Position – Radio Announcer for WVAS FM 90.7 – The Voice of Alabama State University

WVAS –
I started working at WVAS, as a volunteer, August 1984 and became a paid member of the staff January 10th 1985
Known as the “Vagabond of Jazz”
Created the “Night Service of Sound”
The sole host of the Top 20 Countdown for the past 6 years

I have interviewed:
1. Rachelle Ferrell
2. Nancy Wilson
3. Norman Connors
4. Lizz Wright
5. Al Jarraeu – 3 times
6. Marcus Miller – 2 times
7. George Duke – 3 times
8. Michael Ward – 4 times
9. Dianne Reeves
10. Angela Bofil
11. Norman Brown
12. Phil Perry
13. Will Downing – 3 times
14. Nathan East – 2 times
15. James Ingram and John Tesh
16. Debra Franco
17. Eric Essix – 5 times
18. Euge Groove
19. Frank McComb – 4 times
20. Stanley Clarke
21. Earl Klugh
22. Kurt Elling
23. Najee
24. Nnenna Freelon
25. Joe Sample
26. Lalah Hathaway – 2 times
27. Michael Franks
28. Sean Franks
29. Jeffery Smith
30. Bluey Maunick – Incognito
31. Maysa Leak
32. George Benson
33. Jeff Golub
34. Joyce Cooling – 3 times
35. Ronnie Loew
36. Ronnie Laws – 2 times
37. Wayman Tisdale
38. Larry Carlton
39. Rick Braun
40. Ronny Jordan
41. Boney James
42. Roy Ayer – 2 times

080323 Worship Service including Sermon based on Matthew 28:1-10 "Easter is VERY Different" by Pastor Ron Smith

Award ceremonies after a great contest such as the playoffs in a season of sports or a graduation from school or a retirement from a successful career – all these bring everyone involved at that final event to an awareness of what the victors have won. They stand on stages or other places of prominence where everyone becomes emotional. They cheer, sing songs, applaud – and some cry for shear joy. Awards are raised high. Olympic officials raise three flags of the bronze, silver and gold winners and the national anthem of the gold medalist is played.
Our hearts tell us something else is happening at these events: The ones who receive the awards are not the only ones who win. Their fans, teammates, family, friends and (in the case of the Olympics) whole countries – also win. Notice how the media tries to find parents and hometown supporters so as to get the full impact of everyone who shares in on the victory. Somehow, everyone watching on can feel that he or she shares in the victory.
Shortly before Evel Knievel died last year, he told Robert Schuler that he had accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior AND believed in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9). Schuler and his church applauded and rejoiced with the angels above for another soul who was won for Jesus Christ. That means that no matter how reckless or ungodly Knievel had been, he now shares in Christ’s resurrection that Peter witnessed to the newly birthed church on Pentecost: “God raised Jesus Christ up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it” (Acts 2:24). One of the most dare devil characters of recent time died with his “life hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-4). Therefore, since he had been raised with Christ, God allowed him to “seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (3:14).
The resurrection story makes two great affirmations. One affirmation is that Christ has won the victory from death, which no one else could possibly win. But the second is a promise throughout the gospel narratives - that even 11th hour decision-makers like the thief on the cross and Evel Knievel are winners, too. Even though each of us is a sinner who deserves eternal damnation – you and I can also share in Christ’s victory on Easter day. Our Lord’s victory is his vindication, but it’s also our vindication, too. Through Him our relationship with God is made right.
Easter is VERY different because Jesus’ resurrection is totally different from any of the other people raised from the dead in the Bible: Elijah brought the widow's son back (1 Kings 17:17-22), Elishah raised the Schunammite's son and an unnamed man (2 Kings 4:32-53 & 13:20), Jesus called forth Jairus' daughter, another widow's son and Lazarus (Matthew 9:23-25, Luke 7:11-15 & John 11:43), Peter raised his own mother-in-law and Dorcas (Acts 9:36-40) and Paul did the same with Eutychus (Acts 20:9). At the time of Jesus’ resurrection, "many bodies of the saints... came out of the graves... went into the holy city, and appeared unto many" (Matthew 27:52).
The difference is that Jesus’ resurrection is a true victory over death itself – not for just a little while – only to die again. His eternal life is tied to His sinless-ness. The great apologist R.C. Sproul puts it this way: “For God to allow Jesus to be forever bound by death would have been for God to violate His own righteous character. It would have been an injustice, an act that is supremely impossible for God to commit. The surprise is not that Jesus rose, but that He stayed in the tomb as long as He did. Perhaps it was God’s condescension to human weakness of unbelief that inclined Him to keep Christ captive, to ensure that there would be no doubt He was dead and the Resurrection would not be mistaken for a resuscitation.” Amen – this is not some kind of super-CPR act on the part of God.
As many as 500 eyewitnesses of the risen Christ certified the integrity of their faith with their own blood as non-Christian Jews and Roman officials began to torture and kill them and many other believers as divisive rebels against the established religious and political order for 300 years. The ancient church was willing to die for their hope of shared Resurrection with Christ, because they believed “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
In 1633 Pastor George Herbert composed this beautiful “Easter” poem: “RIse heart; thy Lord is risen. Sing his praise . . . Without delayes, Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise . . . With him mayst rise: That, as his death calcined thee to dust, His life may make thee gold, and much more, just. Awake, my lute, and struggle for thy part . . . With all thy art. The crosse taught all wood to resound his name, . . .Who bore the same. His stretched sinews taught all strings, what key Is best to celebrate this most high day. Consort both heart and lute, and twist a song … Pleasant and long: Or, since all musick is but three parts vied … And multiplied, O let thy blessed Spirit bear a part, And make up our defects with his sweet art.”
“I got me flowers to straw thy way; I got me boughs off many a tree: But thou wast up by break of day, And brought’st thy sweets along with thee. The Sunne arising in the East, Though he give light, & th’ East perfume;
If they should offer to contest With thy arising, they presume. Can there be any day but this, Though many sunnes to shine endeavour? We count three hundred, but we misse: There is but one, and that one ever.”
Dear Heavenly Father, we praise You and Your risen Son and for our being raised in His name & life, Amen.

080321 Good Friday Service with 7 Preachers Interpreting Christ's 7 Last Words from the Cross for 7 Minutes Each

Below is the order of worship with assigned speakers and times for this very unique ecumenical service representing church leaders from the Church of God in Christ, Episcopal, Anglican, Baptist, Presbyterian, Non-denominational, and United Methodist Churches.

Good Friday Service
7 Words – 7 Ministers – 7 Minutes
March 21, 2008

Words of Welcome Pastor Ron Smith
Opening Prayer Pastor Ron Smith

11:30am THE FIRST WORD Rev. Al Perkins
Luke 23:33-34 - When they came to the place called “The Skull”, they nailed Jesus to the cross there, and the two criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Jesus said, “Forgive them, Father! They do not know what they do”.

11:38am THE SECOND WORD Rev. Johnny Davis
Luke 23:39-43 - One of the criminals hanging there threw insults at him: “Aren’t you the messiah? Save yourself and us!” The other one, however, rebuked him, saying: “Don’t you fear God? Here we are all under the same sentence. Ours, however, is only right, for we are getting what we deserve for what we did; but he has done no wrong.” And he said to Jesus, “Remember me, Jesus, when you come into your kingdom!” Jesus said to him, “I tell you this: Today you will be with me in Paradise”.

11:46am THE THIRD WORD Rev. Ed Diebler
John 19:25-27 - Standing close to Jesus’ cross were his mother, his mother’s Sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there; so he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son”. Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother”. And from that time the disciple took her to live in his home.

11:54am THE FOURTH WORD Rev. Tom Bridges
Mark 15:33-34 – And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elo-i, elo-i, lama sabach-thani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

12:02pm THE FIFTH WORD Rev. Doug McCurry
John 19:28 – After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, to fulfill the Scripture said, “I thirst”.

12:10 pm THE SIXTH WORD Rev. Carmen Falcione
John 19:29-30 - A bowl was there, full of cheap wine mIxed with vinegar, so a sponge was soaked in it, put on hyssop and lifted up to his lips. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished”.

12:18pm THE SEVENTH WORD Rev. Clifford Terrell
Luke 23:46 – Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this, he breathed his last.

Benediction Pastor Ron Smith

080316 Matthew 26:14, 66 "Unpredictable Love" by Pastor Ron Smith

Many writers and thinkers have suggested that we live in an age of narcissism. This concept is based on the mythological god named Narcissus, who very predictably fell in love with himself after a goddess, whom he rejected, cursed him with self-infatuation. Judas’ behavior predictably resembles Narcissus and some other betrayers in the Bible like Absalom. That earlier “son of David” was a predictably self-absorbed and manipulative individual. Absalom used his manipulative charm to win the hearts of the common people. He predictably tried to take over his father's throne. Absalom, Judas and Narcissus all exemplify our personal hubris (character glitch) that predictably kicks in when we think or behave like we know what is really best for us and those around us – instead of God Almighty.
Palm Sunday is based on Matthew 21:1-11, which celebrates Jesus Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem during the Passover feast. Many people who cheered and chanted the entry greeting “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord – Hosanna in the Highest” – many of them used this passage from Psalm 118, precisely because it was the prophetic greeting for a victorious king entering Jerusalem. But less than a week later those same people had seen no king like they had expected. They were telling themselves and God Almighty that THEY knew what was best for themselves and that THEY didn’t want this Son of God – this heavenly king of peace and righteousness.
They had a passion for a king they could manipulate with parades, compliments and political favors. But God had a passion for His chosen one to save us all from our petty spoiled selves. God’s passion won out as it was supposed to do. That’s why we call this coming week “The Passion of Christ.” As foretold in Isaiah He ‘gave His back to the smiters,’ and His ‘cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;’ He did not hide His face ‘from shame and spitting’ (50:4-9a). Yes, He “heard the whispering of many people and demons -- terror on every side!-- as they schemed together against Him, as they plotted to take His life. But He trusted in God His Father, O LORD, He said, "Thou art my God." (Psalm 31:15-16). “Though He was in the form of God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8).
Tragedy and pathos led up to Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice. Judas Iscariot represents each one of us - as a fickle self-centered follower who cheers God on with pretended devotion on Palm Sunday and betrays, mocks and derides Him a few days later. Bipolar treacherous hearts beat against the steady forgiving love of God through Jesus Christ on the cross.
I have turned against God and betrayed the love of Jesus, while expecting only the worst from God in return. Then when God didn’t punish me I have occasionally chosen to continue to punish myself in spite of God’s forgiveness and grace. I won’t go so far as to try suicide, but I have thrown money or something else back at the people or things that were involved with my wrongdoing, so as to make myself feel better, like Judas giving back the 30 pieces of silver in disgust or out of remorse.
When I resign myself like Judas – to try to undo the wrong by myself - repenting under my own strength and becoming hopeless, then I will inevitably – predictably - fail. When I shoot at the sinful targets of unbelief and self-centeredness – God’s prevenient grace and love has blown and steered circumstances around my misguided arrows to His unpredictable will – in spite of my worst intentions.
Here is the great hope for those who draw near to God: if Judas’ betrayal became part of the best way to bless all creation, then how much greater will God bless us all when we individually follow God’s will and truly accept God's grace. When I am less self-reliant or self-absorbed, then I begin to reestablish a right relationship with God.
The blood of Jesus can cleanse us of even the most awful sin. Jesus is always willing to forgive us and to receive us in love – just like He did on the cross when He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
We can choose to be unpredictable like Jesus and forgive those who have wronged us. Then God will in unpredictable fashion make us whole again.
Dear Heavenly Father, You enable us to embrace the joy and happiness that comes from forgiving and being forgiven. Your throne of mercy and grace is unequaled and far more glorious than any earthly ruler – including those we sinfully obey in our own hearts and minds when we sin against You. Forgive us Lord and teach us to forgive. Empower us to pick up our cross daily and follow Jesus Christ – in His name we pray, Amen.

080217 John 3:1-17 "Night Visit II" by Pastor Ron Smith

This sermon is based on the same scripture passage and the same written script that Pastor Ron used that Sunday morning at Dexter Ave UMC. But here he delivers a somewhat different message to Delraida United Methodist Church in Montgomery for their evening worship service at the invitation of their very capable pastor, Ed Deabler, who spoke at Dexter earlier and is recorded for this podcast series.

080217 John 3:1-17 "Night Visit" by Pastor Ron Smith

New birth is basic to our Christian understanding of how God reconciles you and me to Himself. I’ve walked in the flesh (instead of the spirit) like Nicodemus was walking that night and those drear and somber states of the soul may still come over me again before I leave this earth. Walking in the flesh sounds and feels like this: “Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” (“Invictus” by William Earnest Hinley). This me-centered flesh attempts to control destiny by being my own master and opposing God’s will. Then I miss the mark and live in sin away from God’s perfect plan.
Jesus introduced Nicodemus to a rebirth into his spiritual existence. This is life changing for anyone. For me as a 10-year-old boy having asked Jesus to come into my heart. I still didn’t feel changed very much. By the time I was to be baptized at 11, the preacher had done such a good job of convincing me that all my sins would be washed away and that I would be a totally new person – I was convinced that I was going to die and another person, “a new creature” was going to take my place. In my child’s mind and imagination I was easily mixing my preachers sermon messages up with many tales I heard or watched in the movies. That summer a horror movie played on our local Saturday morning matinee called the “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” It convinced me that there might be some evil forces that could make perfect physical duplicates of original people out of big plant pods. They would be indistinguishable from the original person, except for their milk toast bland lack of emotion. Rev. J. Omar Jones preached about a loving God who could change me into a good person, one who would be more obedient to my parents and even maybe make better grades in school. So I thought it would be better to get in the first punch on this body snatching business and let God snatch me into being more like Jesus in a permanent kind of way.
This kind of playful imagination still goes on in many children’s minds and hearts. And although I have convinced myself that I have a more grownup understanding of what Jesus does in my life, I still remember the feeling that I was really going to die when I so much as touched the water for my baptism. Then when the pastor put me under and pulled me out while saying, “buried with Christ Jesus and raised to walk with Him in newness of life” I was astounded that I seemed to be the same person.
My friend Fred Craddock used to teach preaching at Emory University and he still likes to say in his sermons one particular phrase to explain how much of God’s grace it takes to change a person’s life: “It’s enough . . . it’s just enough.” That night when Nicodemus was with Jesus - those few words spoken were “just enough.” There was a little part of me that did die when I asked Jesus to come into my heart so as to make room for Him. And then when I was raised from the water still a little bit must have died for God’s Holy Spirit to work in me. That seed of faith God planted changed me “just enough” at that time and continues to grow in my life. Some people give this process after new birth in the Spirit a fancy title like “moving on to perfection” or “growing in grace” or “the process of sanctification.” All I know for sure is that it’s “just enough” for God to still change me. I feel sometimes like I’m still walking down that aisle with Jesus.
The Spirit’s basic lesson plan is “death and resurrection.” There are themes of captivity and exodus, wandering and finding a home, exile and return, forgetting what is behind and pressing toward the goal, putting off and putting on, dead to sin and alive to righteousness, sin and grace, cross and tomb, being strangers and being made members of the household of faith.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You so very much for not changing me or my brothers and sisters here with some body snatching spirituality of instant overwhelming promises, packaged relief or honey-coated Cracker Jack savior. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit that changes us “just enough” from wintry waiting periods that can only be learned with a fever of 104. Thank You for Your faith, love and hope that come to us in the waiting for You, “so the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.” For the darkness shall turn to dawning, and the dawning to noonday bright; And Christ's great kingdom shall come on earth, The Kingdom of Love and Light. I wait for You and I hope that all of us here wait for You to rebirth this church and these people, in the precious name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

080120 John 1:29-42 "Getting the Names Straight" by Ron Smith

I’m going to end this talk with “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen (which means ‘so be it’).” This invocation of names means something to all Christians, because we don’t just recognize Him as the Savior (Yeshua), but the Christ (the Messiah, the Chosen One) and most importantly “Lord” the One whom we serve as our Living God – representing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
When I was 16 and the president/founder of the FROGS social club at Henry Grady High School, I got a mysterious call from a girl who would not identify herself. My mother yelled through the house, “Ronnie, telephone call.” I could tell the voice was familiar, but I didn’t know immediately who it was. As she talked, I could guess. It was probably one of the members of the SNAPS social club trying to figure out what my moral and ethical make-up was about. She made a lot of suggestive statements that I cordially continued to ask questions about, but I could tell she was as uncomfortable about asking the very forward and even immoral suggestions – I sensed that there were others “listening in” somehow. I knew my character was on the line and I had to behave respectful, friendly, but reserved. Apparently, I passed the test. And a few days later, I was named the “Sweat Heart” of that social club and the FROGS reciprocated by making one of the SNAPS leaders our “Sweat Heart.”
God says, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1).
And God reveals His identity with special names that speak of identity, power and grace. God reveals who and whom. God is. God loves. And we love and devote ourselves in return.
John saw Jesus coming toward him and yelled out, “Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world!” John admits that he didn’t really know who Jesus would be, but that His behavior would get God’s people ready for the Holy Spirit. John watched the Spirit, like a dove flying down out of the sky, making himself at home in him.
John was much more than a mysterious caller from a high school social club. He didn’t just want to tell whether Jesus was a clean living, honest, young man who would not betray His trust with certain people in a select group. John the Baptizer was focused only on obeying “The One” who authorized him to baptize with water. And “The One” told him that when the Spirit appeared like He did on Jesus, then He is the “Son of God.”
Andrew and the other disciple followed up on the Baptizer’s initial call. They would share the message that Jesus is “God’s Passover Lamb.” Then they went after Jesus.
Jesus shows that He isn’t impressed with the great names people were using about Him any more than He would have been impressed with “Sweet Heart of the SNAPS social club.” He didn’t need to just rest on laurels or titles. So He said to His new followers, “What are you after?” They said, “Teacher,” “where are you staying?”
And Jesus invited them to follow Him were He was staying. “I love the house where you live, O LORD, the place where your glory dwells” (Psalm 26:8).
After Andrew and the other disciple saw where he was living, they stayed with Him. Immediately, Andrew went to his brother Simon Peter, and told him, “We’ve found the Messiah” (that is, “Christ”).
He immediately led him to Jesus. That’s what being with Jesus is about. If you are living with Jesus you are bringing others to Him. You bring others to where Jesus lives in truth and in spirit. And when you do this, start listening to what Jesus wants to call your friend you brought to Him. Will your friend have to answer to “What are you after?” – like Andrew and the other disciple. Or will the one you bring to Jesus receive a new name like Simon, who became Cephas (or Peter, which means “Rock”). Jesus transforms you when you get the names straight or, better yet, when you have to live with Jesus like Andrew and all of His true disciples.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for revealing Yourself in Jesus Christ, who in turn reveals who each of us really is – by behavior, calling, and true character – to Your service and glory. Help each one of us to fulfill our function with You as Your obedient children and with others as truly forgiven and loved sisters and brothers – in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

080119 "Obstacles to Grace" by Pastor Ron Smith

The most unpopular subject in the universe is sin. Gary was 9 and I was 11. When our next-door neighbor Mrs. Nix hired us to dig out a cave under her house, we crawled under the side of her house to dig out a place for her canned preserves under her wooden floor. After about an hour of digging with shovel and pick I heaved a load of dirt out the door of the crawl space and accidentally struck Gary’s ear with the sharp edge of my shovel. We rushed to stop the bleeding and after a lot of emergency measures my brother’s ear was stitched back together and a couple of months later there was no apparent scar or pain. But the memory of that experience has taught me a lot about what gets in our way from receiving and sharing God’s grace.
This is Ron Smith presenting a talk about OBSTACLES TO GRACE. Transcripts will be given afterwards, but please take notes.
I still suffer from the consequences of negligent sin. This is just one example of how even accidents can be obstacles to grace and keep us from enjoying God’s loving relationship. Sin is the absence of God. God-less self-centeredness is what is portrayed on daily television must of the time instead of God-centeredness.
John said, Jesus Christ must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30). The flame on this candle first flickered, and then steadied. We don’t notice its soft and forgiving presence, because the other competing light around us that would take away our focus on it. We may miss out of the streams of smoke and the smell of molten wax. The flame will lengthen and the candle will become smaller. Is this moment special? – Is it lasting? – Will this experience mean anything the next day? "Never forget - Christ must increase; I must decrease." Obstacles to grace keep us from being aware of God.
When my day care children sing about inviting Jesus into their heart – “into my heart, into my heart – come into my heart Lord Jesus” then I know Jesus is real aim of God’s love.
Sin - “Hamartia” misses the mark or target of being in God’s will. We miss the mark and miss out of God’s love when we disobey God’s law. Something or someone gets in the way of your relationship with God. Something “messes with” your relationship with others. These are the vertical and horizontal obstacles to grace.
Exodus 32:19 says that Moses threw the tablets of the law from the mountain to those worshipping a Golden Calf. I felt like one of those people when I saw my brother’s bleeding ear. I had worshipped the money Mrs. Nix was going to pay us instead of focusing on God’s ways of moving slower and more carefully. Deuteronomy 5:7 mandates that when I just worked hard for money from Mrs. Nix without reverence for the safety of my brother, then this was Idolatry to false gods. I didn’t curse God, but the potential of blasphemy was in my heart so that when I heard others speaking irreverently or profanely about God I remembered this hardened hearted feeling of blame toward God (Deut. 5:11). 1 Thessalonians 5:19 warns against my intentional resistance against God. And Deuteronomy 5:12-15 seems to say that I’m still guilty for just negligently ignoring God for not taking care to protect my brother, Gary. My disobedience is sinfully rejecting a relationship with God, who only wants the best for me (Luke 9:ll-27). Every time I experience unbelief, then this is my failure not God’s. I may ignorantly alienate myself from God and others. But Jesus points out in the Beatitudes in Matthew 6 that when I pridefully focus on myself rather than giving honor and glory to God (verse 5) or when I chose not to forgive God or others, I cannot be forgiven (verses 9-15).
Horizontal obstacles would prevent loving relations with others. If I had swung my shovel just a little bit harder I would have killed by brother, accidentally. This would not have been intentional murder, but its consequences would have been a devastating obstacle to my relations with my parents and others. I didn’t become addicted to drugs or sex or anything like that, but I had the same symptoms like masking my feelings of guilt, my brother’s rejection and my sense of shame with denial on an addictive scale. I lied to myself and to others about how much hurting my brother hurt me, too. This acted like gossip or slander in my soul, because it spread a lie of whether God, my brother or my parent’s really loved me. This was like sinful theft that stole something valuable from other people that didn’t belong to me. My sense of guilt stole deeper loving feelings for my brother and my parents. I coveted my brother’s position as the innocent little brother. I even became lazy about caring for other people and things because I felt unable to be a good steward of the life, gifts, graces, property, and power that God had entrusted to me. I had dishonored my parents and others. My only hope then and my only hope today is to pray a sinners pray and ask for God’s forgiveness and for others like my brother to forgive me and receive forgiveness grace-fully.
Please pray with me right now this personal prayer so that God will remove our obstacles to His grace.
Dear Heavenly Father, please send Your Holy Spirit right now into my heart. Help me to pick of my cross of victory and love each day and follow Jesus and His way. Take away my bitterness. Remind me of how You baptize me with Your water, fire and spirit. Teach me how to avoid each obstacle and resist evil and renounce the forces of the evil one. Restore my love for enemies and neighbors. Help me to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. Give me Your grace that is greater than my sin. Thank You for making sure that no obstacle can separate us from Your love in Christ Jesus. Thank You for all the colors “De Colores” of Your love and grace in Him, Amen.

080118 Friday Focus - Dale Osterman YMCA

Dale Osterman's career has been devoted to managing YMCA programs. He now manages the downtown Y and oversees the greater Montgomery YMCA with it's board of directors. Dexter Avenue United Methodist Church has maintained a long standing relationship with the Y and currently send our underprivileged inner city youth to summer, Christmans holiday and Spring break YMCA camps.

Dale is a lay leader in the Prattville United Methodist Church and a member of the Walk to Emmaus community of Central Alabama. In this message we hear his personal testimony of ministry in the Y and his passion for helping others find Christian fellowship and personal development through this organization.

071209 Matthew 3:1-12 "Fruit That Befits Repentance" by Pastor Ron Smith

John the Baptist’s life was completely absorbed in getting himself and others ready for Jesus Christ. His whole life was an Advent Season. Our personal relationship with Jesus as Lord of our life means that we can get ready for Jesus like John the Baptizer in three ways: 1) You can prepare your heart by retreating often in prayer and Bible study – alone (like John in the desert) and with other sincere disciples (like John’s disciples and later the disciples of Jesus). 2) You can go where the people are – like John did at the Jordan River. And 3) you can proclaim fearlessly the Word of God – even in the presence of powerful people like the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
1) We also have a simple message of hope in our spiritually dark and barren surroundings. It’s hard to repent and “change your life for God’s kingdom” when you’re too busy trying to belong to the right social group or say and think the right kind of things to please people and not God. You and I can claim Isaiah’s prophecy, too. Do you feel like your voice is calling in words and deeds to point each person to God’s ways, but it seems to fall on deaf ears and hardened hearts like it would in an empty desert? God’s word will not return void, for you tell of the King of Righteousness and Glory! The King-of-Kings’ road will be leveled out – made smooth and straight (Isaiah 40:3) – in spite of the deaf ears and hardened hearts.
2) People poured out of Jerusalem, Judea, and the Jordanian countryside to hear and see him, the preacher, in action. He drew large crowds because he was unusual. He lived oddly, dressed oddly, and ate oddly. Untainted by the materialism of the culture or the legalism of the Pharisees, he could hear God clearly and make that truth known to others. As we untangle ourselves from materialism and religiosity, we too will hear God and become ready to be restored.
3) John speaks fearlessly to me at this time in my life and not just to a group of insincere Pharisees and Sadducees. I am snake-like when I do church things just to be popular – or just to react to what others are doing – or try to gain the confidence of others without gaining God’s approval. Snake-skin is water proof. Just as water does not change or affect snake skin, God’s cleansing and washing of sins will not work against a stubborn and unrepentant heart. Neither water nor God’s forgiving grace will make any difference to a life that is not ready for change.
When I feel someone is wrong or I feel how badly I'm treated, not much change will happen. God’s plan for restoration requires a complete change of MY mind, so that I'm willing to look at myself and admit my wrongdoing and my need of help.
When I accuse or even castigate others, the Holy Spirit will respond to my sincere confession and request for forgiveness. The fruit of this repentance is to ask forgiveness from those whom I have wronged (when I am made aware of it) and then to allow the Spirit to wash away the dirt and silt of my selfishness and stubbornness. Even if the others whom I have wronged are no longer available - the prophet Joel invites us to become cleansed by fasting, weeping, and mourning -- by genuine repentance.
I can’t just shed crocodile tears like a snake at the Jordan with John. I must ask for forgiveness from a contrite heart. God’s new life awaits: Instead of anger I get peace. My selfishness turns to helpfulness. My stunted spiritual growth becomes the joy of growing in thankfulness. Change is the fruit of true repentance.
Every moment of your life can be a baptizing experience in the river of life, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. But the “fruit that befits repentance” has to start showing up. And God promises to send His Holy Spirit, like John promised Jesus’ arrival: When you repent - the main character in your life’s drama comes in and you’re not just a stagehand looking for the next prop or the next pathetic trophy of this world that will only tarnish and disappoint.
Jesus has promised to ignite the kingdom life within you, like lighting a fire within you. It is the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house - make a clean sweep of your life. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false He’ll put out with the trash to be burned.

Dear Heavenly Father, please help every one of us to be like John the Baptizer and act as a road sign that points people beyond ourselves to You in Jesus Christ. Help us not to point to ourselves, calling attention to our knowledge of the Bible or our holiness. Rather, in our message and in our conduct, may we be signs that point beyond ourselves to God, in the blessed name that we wait for and anticipate in our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.