“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped (to be used to His own advantage), but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:5-8
My father retired as a City Letter Carrier (mailman) for the United States Postal Service. He loved His job! Dad loved the people and getting outdoors to deliver the mail; he just loved everything about it-hard work and all! But there were two things he didn’t like. One had to do with casing and carrying those weekly advertisement “circulars” because he said it slowed his route down too much for that day. The other was the day after postage stamp prices increased. Here’s why. Dad’s route included two totally different destinations for the daily distribution of mail he was responsible for at that time. One delivery route was to the poorest section of town and the other was to the richest section of town which was known by the locals as “Million Dollar Avenue.” And it never failed, some of the folks who lived on “Million Dollar Avenue” would be waiting by their mailboxes to complain verbally to my dad regarding the stamp’s increase of a few cents whereas, the folks who lived on the other side of town were always pleasant and smiling and waiting to wish my dad “a good day.” Dad even told me once that many of the children who lived in this part of town didn’t even own a pair of shoes or if they did, they were of poor quality at best.
Christian, the Bible says “Pride” is a most disruptive and deadly foe to our conduct, character, and conversation. It can not only hinder our relationship with out loving Father, it can also offer a poor witness for Christ in the environments in which we live. Proverbs 16:19 reads, “It is better to be humble in spirit with the needy than to divide the spoils with the proud.”
Paul tells us of Jesus’ example of humility that is our model for humility in this world that places “SELF” above and at the expense of others. The Bible tells us Christ “emptied himself.” Jesus did not surrender any of His Divine rights when He was born in a manger in Bethlehem, but Paul tells us He voluntarily laid aside His rightful glory and authority and humbled Himself to the point of death on a cross by taking the form of the lowest class of servant in that day. Paul tells us in Romans 8:3 that Christ exchanged His glory for flesh because only a human could he die in your place and mine (taking our sins upon Himself at the cross).
How do you handle humility? When we desire to live like Christ through the enabling and the power of the Holy Spirit it will always look different than the world’s way of handling things, but the present and eternal value it holds is priceless!
Thanking my heavenly Father for my dad’s lesson on Jesus and on life!
Pastor Louie
Sand Mountain Sermonette 87
Genesis 2:9; Genesis 2:17
Sand Mountain Sermonette 87
Albertville’s Dennis the Menace
“Out of the ground the Lord caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Genesis 2:9
I love that old television series, Dennis the Menace-the series I grew up watching! Ol’ Dennis was always getting into trouble with his next-door neighbor, Mr. Wilson. But what if I were to tell you of my Papaw Mabrey (Mr. Wilson) who lived next to neighbor to Albertville’s version of Dennis the Menace? Next door to Papaw and Mamaw Mabrey lived a young boy by the name of Ronnie. His parents, J.C. and Betty , were not only good friends with my grandparents, but also with my dad and mom. But the truth is, Ronnie was a Dennis.
For one thing, he took the mower blade off his dad’s riding lawnmower and drove it around his yard like a “go-kart,” something my grandad Mabrey didn’t appreciate. But here’s the clincher. For several days Ronnie had taken the notion to mess with Papaw and Mamaw’s beautiful flower garden located directly in front of their house. Well, one day Ronnie was at it again. He had just gotten home after being dropped off from school on the bus. Immediately, he walked across Papaw’s front yard on his way to the home on the other side of Papaw’s house, and as he did, he reached down and grabbed the heads off several flowers as he passed by.
Now Papaw had been watching for several days through the sheer curtains that covered his three long front picture windows. So, he came up with a plan. Later that afternoon when Ronnie was in his home from the night. Papaw walked down behind his house to his holly and pulled off a few of its sharp pointed leaves carefully in his hand. Then he walked around to the front of his house and strategically placed those holly leaves in some of the flowers. The next dad Papaw got a kick out seeing Ronnie jump off the school bus and head towards his flowers. However, when Ronnie reached down and grabbed a hand full of flowers this time, he immediately jerked his hand back, looked both ways, and then put his fingers in his mouth to sooth the pain. After that, Ronnie never bothered Papaw flowers again!
Genesis Three record Eve’s plucking off the forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and evil-the one tree; the only tree, God had told Adam and Eve not to eat of for in the day they broke God’s command, they would surely die (Genesis 2:17). But note the other tree in the Garden: The Tree of Life. I’m so thankful that we are given new and eternal life in Christ! Due to our fallen state, our nature is that of sin and destruction. Malice stings! A controlling and mean-spirited tongue stings! Betrayal and abandonment sting! But, because the Rose of Sharon and the Lilly of Valley allowed Himself to be mutilated on a Roman cross, the way for you and me to be forgiven and reconciled to God has been made as well as the makings for a new way of living—daily conformed to Christ’s image!
Pastor Louie
Sand Mountain Sermonette 88
Hebrews 10:39; Hebrews 12:1-2
Policemen Afoot!
“But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul (Hebrews 10:39)…Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us (“The Hall of Faith”-Hebrews 11), let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us (unbelief), and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author (pioneer-trail blazer) and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
In the early 1960’s, my dad, Skeeter, served on Albertville City Police Department with one of his best friends, Scarborough. Late one night, when they were patrolling the streets and alleys of Albertville working the graveyard shift, where, in 1963, it was as quiet as the fictional TV town of Mayberry, they were so bored they decided to do something about it.
They were wide awake and so they parked their patrol car next to the Albertville Clinic, walked over to a nearby traffic light, got ready and when the light turned green, they set themselves to run a foot race-drag race style- to the next traffic light, one block away which was on the corner where the Police Department sat across from the Rexall Drug Store near downtown. Well, that’s just what they did! When the light turned green, they set off apparently at lightning speed and daddy said he had Scarborough by a nose as they were just a few feet from the finish line when all-of-a-sudden dad’s feet caused him to flip and roll over and over on the asphalt! Scarborough was able to get dad to the Clinic where a nurse apparently called Doctor Lavender who lived nearby and he decided to keep dad overnight.
And here’s where the story turns the corner. I rode with mother the next morning to pick up my dad and when we pulled into the back of the clinic and he walked out, to a little kid like me, I distinctly remember my father looked like Boris Karloff’s portrayal of Universal’s Mummy monster: He was all bandaged up face, hands, and arms! And then, mother proceeded to let him have it! And after dad went back to work a few days later, the Chief of Police called these two policemen afoot into his office and said, “I can’t leave two grown policemen alone without them going off and doing something like this!” But mom and the police chief got over it, and Dad and Scarborough went back to driving normally rather than foot-racing on their beat.
Christian, we are called to run courageously the race of life; a race that often entails twists and turns that could trip us and lead us down paths of destruction were it not for the One true Son of God who walked to the cross to die for our sins so that we could be made right with God now and forever! And did you notice in our Scripture passage how we are to run? We run, like the faithful before us, by laying down the cumbersome wrappings of unbelief as we keep our spiritual eyes on Jesus “the perfecter of faith,” and with Jesus in our sights, the Bible promises we will one day cross the finish line! “Victory in Jesus!”
Pastor Louie
Sand Mountain Sermonette 89
Matthew 27:46; Matthew 27:46; Isaiah 61:10
Rejected at “Ring Toss”
“About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani?’ that is, ’My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’” Matthew 27:46
I will never forget something that occurred when I was attending Mrs. Montgomery’s fourth grade class. It had been raining that day so Mrs. Montgomery gave permission for a couple of students to go to her familiar closet full of games and pull some of them out for our in-door recess time. One of my favorite games brought out that day was “Ring Toss” in which two teams competed to see how many of their circular ropes (four per team marked with either blue or red wooden beads accordingly) could be “tossed” so as to land on a wooden peg affixed to a cardboard backing positioned a specified distance away (sort of like the game of horseshoes, just with rope). That day I walked excitedly up to a group of my peers who had gathered around this game as they were choosing sides, but when they reached a certain number, they told me they had enough so I would have to find another game to play. And although, I was just a kid and the game was just a game, I can still remember the rejection I felt for not having been chosen to play that day. I went over to another corner of the room and just stayed there because I felt “left out.” Eventually, I did find another game to play but that didn’t take the sting of abandonment away!
Have you ever been forsaken? The promise “to never leave you” made by your spouse at the wedding altar has not proven true? An absentee parent who promised to be at your ballgame or your graduation but who never showed still haunts you? A best friend’s betrayal continues to recycle through your mind?
The cry of Jesus in Matthew 27:46, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me…” penetrated the darkness! Yes, Jesus was forsaken, but why? Because there, on the cross, bearing our sin, Jesus was momentarily forsaken of the Father (to whom the Bible says cannot look upon sin; see Matthew 27:46), in order that we might never be forsaken! And the good news is the God who has never forsaken His children (such as Daniel in the Lion’s Den) is the same God who, through Christ’s robe of righteousness applied to every Christian believer at the time of salvation, will never forsake you or me! Christ was forsaken so we could be forgiven! As you spend time with God meditating on His word in prayer, He will begin to heal those places in your heart where you have been forsaken and renew your spirit through His Spirit for new days ahead (See Isaiah 61:10)!
Pastor Louie