“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live though Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” I John 4:7-10
One rainy Sunday evening when I was in the sixth grade, I needed a ride home from our United Methodist Youth Fellowship (UMYF) group. My parents had asked one of our youth leaders if he could drive me home because they were unable to do so. There was also another good friend of mine who also needed a ride home that evening for the same reason. My home was to be the first stop. As we turned down my street, our youth leader asked me which home was mine, but before I could answer, my friend broke in abruptly and said, “Louie lives in that little shack down there on the left!” Well, I laughed about that statement but on the inside my friend’s comment had me torn up inside. I felt embarrassed, ashamed, upset, and angry.
So, after I was dropped off and the driver was headed down the road to take my friend home, I was met by my parents and as soon as I walked in the house I began to cry and cry! So, my parents sat me down on the couch; my father on one side and my mother on the other, and they listened patiently as I spilled my feelings of rejection and embarrassment to them. And, at the core of my feelings as expressed to them, was my regretting that I lived in the modest home I lived in with the desire that my family and I lived in a nicer two-story home likened to my friend’s home. And although my parents were not pleased at my friend’s comment, they quickly redirected our conversation to the fact that we lived in a nice home and that I should be thankful for the family and the blessings that I had. And looking back on that painful and powerful evening, I realize now, two unchangeable things were present: My parent’s love for me and their presence when I was hurting and needed them so.
The most amazing message of the Bible is this: God will never stop loving you. Christian, He will never stop loving you even when you mess up or drift from Him! Or, you may be a declared agnostic, atheist or a “None” professing no religion at all. You may say, “I have rejected God.” But know this, no matter what, that doesn’t change the truth that God loves you! Yes, you! God loves you the same as He does an authentic Christian but what He desires most is that you receive His Son into your life as Savior and Lord so that His cleansing and healing love may begin to transform your heart and life as well as your love for others and for yourself. God is love: that’s who He is, and when you know Him personally, you will know what it means to have the one true God of the universe walk beside you when you’re in pain and hurting and don’t know where to turn. And, OH! What an eternal home awaits the Christian! (See John 1:12-13; 3:16-17, and 14:1-7).
Pastor Louie
Sand Mountain Sermonette 79
Genesis 1:26-28; I Samuel 2:8; 2 Corinthians 5:17
Revolution 100-Evolution 0
“Then God said, “Let us make man (humankind) in Our image according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:26-28
“For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and He set the world on them.”
I Samuel 2:8
When I was attending Junior College in Alabama in the 1970’s, I was blessed to know a man who not only went to my hometown church but who was a professor at that same college. (Interestingly, unknown to me at the time, he would become my brother-in-law in the future)! So, when I began to work on an assignment in one of my classes on “The Theory of Evolution,” I chose to take the easy road out on writing my paper by having my mom call my friend-professor whom I had known for a while and ask him if he could give me some materials in which to begin my work on my paper. And I will never forget what he said to my mother. He said, “Tell Louie to do his own work!” Which I did!
Now, even before I wrote a paper on Evolution, a theory I do not believe, in support of God as creator according to His word, I have often looked back on my brother-in-law’s response with gratitude for his boldness. Therefore, I believe God is calling each of us to go to His word and see for ourselves what it has to say on the subjects of creation and the origin of life, on God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit; on forgiveness, the afterlife, etc.
Christianity is a “revolutionary” and transformational reality which always runs contrary to the popular lure of the world system which always opposes the totality of truth contained in the word of God. The same sovereign God reflected in Hannah’s Song of Praise and Thanksgiving over the birth of her son, Samuel, as found in I Samuel 2:8, speaks of the one true God who placed planet earth on its foundation and who created man and woman as well as creating the animals (etc.) after their own kind.
We live in a world today in which young people are asking the right questions-questions which we Christians need to be prepared to answer such as, “How did the world come into existence?” “Did man descend from apes?” and “Why am I here?” For you see, when we deal with these issues, we are prepared to address the New Testament issues of grace, salvation, and eternal life as eager minds are open to the truth and the movement of God.
2 Corinthians 5:17!
Pastor Louie
Sand Mountain Sermonette 80
Isaiah 26:3; John 14:27; Isaiah 9:6; Colossians 1:20
When the Floor Drops Out from Under You!
“You will keep in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” Isaiah 26:3
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither l it be afraid.” John 14:27
During my teenage years, I used to love to go the yearly carnival that would set up on the grounds beside Albertville High School. One of my favorite rides was the one constructed via a high metal wall, circular in form, and seated onto a hydraulic lift. Once you entered the ride, you selected one of the areas along the wall fashioning left and right bars for your hands to grip with enough space to stand in between, and with your back placed flush against the wall and your feet firmly planted on the floor, you were set to go. Then, when everyone was in position, the carnival-ride man would turn the wheel on and it would begin to spin and spin while the lift caused the spinning wheel to rise into the air and then, once the motion of the wheel reached centrifugal force, the floor beneath you dropped down and there you were-suspended in air without a floor to stand on. Afterwards the floor would return, the wheel would lower as it slowed down to its “stop” position and you would exit the ride.
As we enter the New Year, you may be feeling as if your life is spinning out of control as you find yourself pinned against a wall as if in a state of suspended animation! It’s as if the floor has dropped out from under you whether that be of a financial, relational, job-related, or medical nature. It’s difficult to find peace of mind and heart during the days in which it seems the world itself is steadily spinning out of control. But the key question for each of us is, “Where do I find true and lasting peace in the world of today?”
The prophet Isaiah tells us there is a genuine growing peace of well-being produced in the life of the Christian believer whose mind is “stayed” (leaning/resting) upon God because that believer trusts in God to lead, guide, and care for him each day. And the wonderful truth of Scripture is—the more we trust God with our lives the more we understand who He is which further motivates us to trust Him more! And John tells us that Jesus Himself; the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), is our peace who enables us through His Spirit living inside us to neither let our hearts be troubled (very frightened) or afraid (timid). Peace of mind and peace of heart-courage and strength for today! Are you yearning for this peace?
The Bible says the place to find true peace begins at the cross of Jesus Christ! Colossians 1:20 tells us that Jesus has made peace between sinful man and a holy and loving God through the blood of His cross. Invite the Spirit of the living Christ to impart Jesus’ Peace to your mind and heart, today! And remember, daily conversation with God(prayer) and spending time in God’s word will daily renew your mind (and heart) for God’s kingdom!
Pastor Louie
Sand Mountain Sermonette 81
Acts 8:30-31; Isaiah 53
The Night Sawdust Flew High at the Revival!
“Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So, he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.” Acts 8:30-31
One evening, when I was a preschooler, my mom took me to one of those classic preaching tent revival services that was taking place in my hometown of Albertville, Alabama. The tent was set up on a parcel of ground adjacent one of the Baptist churches in town, the metal fold-out chairs were in place, and the flooring existed of sawdust spread upon the ground. My mom also told me that before the evangelist began to preach, she had placed me on the ground beside her because I had gotten a little restless, and after a few minutes, she couldn’t help but get “tickled” because she looked down and I was throwing sawdust up in the air during the sermon!
In today’s passage, a co-laborer in Christ by the name of Philip was called of the Holy Spirit to change his direction and travel the old dessert road out of Jerusalem towards Gaza. Along the way he met a eunuch who was the royal treasurer to Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians, who was on his way home having returned from worshipping at the temple in Jerusalem. When Philip saw him, the Holy Spirit told Philip to go near the eunuch’s chariot and walk alongside it. Philip’s obedience to the Spirit lead to the eunuch’s inviting Philip to sit in the chariot with him which opened the door for Philip to share the meaning of the Scripture passage the eunuch was reading, with him! And this, in turn, lead to Philip’s pointing that passage of Scripture (taken from Isaiah 53) to the gospel of Jesus Christ, which led to the Philip baptizing the eunuch in body of water along the way as a sign of the eunuch’s new life in Christ!
That evening, I was just throwing sawdust in the air; too little to understand what the preacher was reading, but I have often thought about that night and about my loving mother who, sitting nearby, was placing her son within ear-shot of the word of God so that one day, I could know the Jesus who was being proclaimed from an old wooden pulpit, under a tent affixed a saw dust floor, on that special night!
Whether it be on the road to Gaza or seated in an outside tent; let us be ever ready to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with someone who has a hungry heart and who is seeking an understanding of God’s word. The Holy Spirit will take your availability to someone else’s journey of faith and bridge a most beautiful road of repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation to God along the way!