He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” Revelation 22:20
Nancy and I began our ministry as a pastoral family at Beymer Memorial United Methodist Church in Winter Haven, Florida, in 1989. While serving there, I was invited as a young minister to present a Sunday evening vesper’s service at one on the high rise assisted living facilities near the church. I remember enjoying being with some of our own church folks who lived in that facility and being showered with their kindness and receptivity to my being there, but I will never forget the question posed by a sweet little old lady who walked up to me following the service—words I have often pondered since that day. She asked me, “Brother Mabrey, why don’t Methodist preachers, preach “Ye must be born again, anymore?” And I remember vividly her question’s finding the quickest route possible to the deepest recesses of my heart the moment she asked me that question. I didn’t really have an answer for her regarding other ministers, but I knew deep within that I must never neglect my calling as a minister to preach the gospel message with clarity and with sincere and passionate commitment towards keeping the main thing the main thing in the future! And that being keeping the main thing the main thing: Christ and Him crucified, risen, returning, and the only way to the Father. Scripturally speaking, this dear lady was referencing John, Chapter Three, where Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus at night inquiring as to His true identity because he had a heart which was open to know Jesus as God’s true Son. And, in refence to a discussion Jesus and he were having regarding physical and spiritual birth, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again [literally, “born from above”], he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Why should we preachers and teachers never neglect “Ye must be born again in our proclamation of the gospel? Because John the apostle tells us in today’s verse that Jesus is coming back and when He does, He’s not coming back to be the Savior as He entered the world to be at His First Coming, He’s coming as the sovereign King and Judge of all people as appointed by His Father! Jesus loves you! Have you experienced the new birth?
Pastor Louie
Sand Mountain Sermonette 71
Ecclesiastes 12:13;
“Red” Mabrey
“The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.” Ecclesiastes 12:13
In my thirty-one years of ministry, there is a very familiar question I have been asked many times, “What does it mean to live in the fear of the Lord?”
When I was a little kid all the way up into my early twenties, every time I would visit with one of my father’s relatives everyone referred to as “Red” Mabrey, “Red” would look at me with a great big smile on his face, reach into his pocket to pretend to get his pocket knife (which he always had with him), and say to me, “Louie, I’m gonna come over there and lower those ears, boy!” That was the first thing he would say to me every time I saw him at our annual Mabrey reunions or wherever else it may be. But I loved “Red” for he was really a great guy!
What does it mean to fear the Lord? Is the Bible saying we need to fear him because He’s going to “lower our ears” or hit us on the head with a big old stick if we don’t do what He says? However, nothing could be farther from the Biblical truth! The most common Old Testament word for “fear” means to stand before God with reverence and respect and the most common New Testament word for “fear” speaks of a reverential awe that becomes the controlling motivation for our lives as Christians.
Over the years God has been teaching me that seeing Him for who He truly is in prayer and through His word, increasingly makes all the difference in how I live my life. For example, when I view God as an unpleasable taskmaster instead of the loving and patient God He truly is, I become much more impatient, fearful, frustrated, and discontented with myself and with others. And, when I attempt to run my life on my own terms rather than reverencing and respecting God as being the sovereign and holy God He also is, I find myself often overwhelmed by all the “things” I need to get done as pastor each day.
The Bible says Solomon (the author of Ecclesiastes) is the smartest man who ever lived but Ecclesiastes also tells us that Solomon had come to learn that life itself was empty without God but full and purpose-filled when one “feared God and kept His commandments, because this applies to every person.”
One has said that in many places of worship we have forgotten the holiness of God and I agree! But, what if you and I began to invite the Holy Spirit to instill within our hearts and minds a new reverence and respect for the Lord so that we want to follow Him more and the ways of the world, less? What do you think would happen? I believe a new hunger for God’s word and an attitude of thanksgiving and praise would leap from our lips and our hearts for a listening ear is much more rewarding than the erroneous fear of a “lowered ear.” Enjoy the majestic God who loves you so!
Pastor Louie
Sand Mountain Sermonette 72
Matthew 25:36; Matthew 25:36; Mark 12-28-31
"I solemnly charge you in the presence of god and of Christ Jesus...preach the word..." 2 Timothy 4:1,2
"...I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me." Matthew 25:36
When I was a young boy there were two preachers to whom God was using on my journey to becoming a United Methodist minister in later years. These two ministers were: Reverend "Bill Ray" Cash and Reverend Hoyt Hambrick. Now, don't get me wrong, there were many other pastors I loved and who ministered to my heart over the years, but these two stand out.
Bill Ray Cash was the first minister I ever knew as a young kid while attending my hometown church, "Hewett Memorial United Methodist Church" in Albertville. I still remember being glued to his pacing back and forth across the stage with a Bible in one hand and a folded white handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his brow in the other, as he passionately delivered the message on Sunday mornings. Billy Ray loved God's word and he shared it passionately, truthfully, and consistently, every Sunday! And I love to share God's word from the pulpit too!
The other pastor was Reverend Hambrick who had a heart to visit his congregation at home and in the hospital as well as attend to the grieving and troubled in spite of his being confined to a wheelchair due to his being wounded in World War II. He, like Reverend Cash, was a very kind and humble man. Many years ago God confirmed a fresh calling upon my life for caring for the bereaved among the other ways to care for my congregation through visitation, etc.
Who has or is being used of God today, to speak to your heart regarding your loving Him and others with fiery zeal of the Holy Spirit burning brightly within your soul? As clergy and laity, we often complicate the sharing and the living of the gospel within and without the walls of the church building. But passion for Christ and a sacrificial love and care for others in His name is at the heart of Jesus' teaching (Mark 12:28-31).
Who do you know who needs to hear the gospel of grace and who do you know who could use a phone call, a card, or a visit as well as your prayers?
As we serve the Lord passionately as one Body!
Pastor Louie
Sand Mountain Sermonette 73
Psalm 116:15; John 3:16-17
The Ring
“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones.”
Psalm 116:15
As I write this devotional we are in the midst of the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons; times in which individuals and families prepare for sacred and joyous get-togethers. For some however, this is the first holiday season without their loved; the one who has preceded them in death. For others, it is yet another year in which they are grieving the loss of a loved one. I know as a pastor now of thirty-one plus years, this time of the year often finds the hospitals overflowing with folks in need of care and whose care rendered is often the result of stress, loneliness, and grief.
The author of Psalm 116 was going though something in his life so tumultuous that he thought he would physically die in the process and yet God, speaking to his heart, reminded him of His faithfulness and deliverance. And, in context of this psalm, we see our psalmist declaring, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (King James Version). The word translated “precious” as used here does not mean desirable but of something most valuable to the Lord!
Dear reader, are your dreading the holidays for any reason and/or because you are grieving? If you are, I invite you to look upward to God in your heart and in your spirit for He understands your pain and your grief and He will make a way to living His water in the barren desert you may now find yourself living.
When I was sixteen, my mom surprised me with a simulated gold finger ring housing an “L” (for “Louie”) set against a black stone. I still have this ring. Christian, you are marked for resurrection through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ! “Precious” is your life, death, and your life to come in the sight of God. And non-Christian, Jesus loves you, too! You are so very precious to Him! Will you receive Him Into your heart, today (John 3:16-17).