Beautiful Clothes

Proverbs 31 (.19-25)

It has always amazed me how you ladies can sew. I definitely do not have that talent. Fortunately Lucy does. My grandmother had that ability.

Can I let you in on a secret? I was a big Superman fan when I was a kid. One time I asked
my Nana to make a Superman costume for me. I had one incredible Nana. What a blessing her memory brings! I tried to explain to her what Superman’s costume looked like. Finally my mom said, “Tell her what time and channel the show is on and she can see what it looks like for herself. “ And so decades before we knew what a DVD was, when we can sit and watch an old show like Superman whenever we wish, my Nana, took time out that week to watch her grandson’s favorite show, not to be entertained by its adventure but to get a pattern in her mind to make a very unique gift given for no other reason but that she loved me.

When it arrived I was the envy of the neighborhood. It even had a cape that was held on by snaps. I was Superman of Martin Avenue in Bellmore for few years all because of a Nana who could work magic with her fingers when she sewed.

I have seen some of you who have sewn your own clothes. I am very impressed. What a wonderful gift.

This lady here whom we read about this week was like that. She could sew.
*She sewed for those in need. (v.19-20)
There is a selflessness about the woman of noble character. Obviously it is from the LORD. Jesus was the most selfless Person Who ever lived. With all that power (all power) He never did a miracle to meet His own needs. We need to use what He has given us to serve others.

* She sewed for her family. (v.21)
We need to take care of our families. This lady did.

* She sewed for herself. (v.22)
She took care of herself. There was a beautiful and spiritual independence about her.

*She sewed for her husband. (v.23)
This is definitely one of the reasons he was respected. She had him in fine clothes. We ought to express appreciation guys for our wives who do that.

* She sewed for a business she had. (v.24)
She was a very industrious woman who knew how to make money.
There is clothing that is spiritual and she had it! Colossians 3.12-14


1. She is clothed with strength

Might- personal, social and political.

She is a woman of influence and she used that influence to bring glory to God by blessing her family.

Her value is far above rubies- you could not buy her out. Oh for people of integrity who do what is right, not to get elected or applauded but simply because it is right.


2. She is clothed with dignity.

Ornament, splendor, honor, majesty, glory

The LORD is clothed in splendor and majesty Psalm 104.1 Hadar= Ornament, splendor, honor, majesty, glory

There is something splendid and majestic about a person who lives for the LORD. They share in His nature. He lifts us up as we walk with Him. He brings us to places we never dreamed of and except for His work in our lives we don’t belong in! David’s words to the LORD in II Samuel 7.18-20

This woman and all who live like this reflect the LORD’s glory and majesty. We are clothed in it!



3.These are the most beautiful clothes of all.

The spiritual clothes are what makes a person beautiful, truly beautiful. All physical beauty is either fading or passing. What you are on the inside will determine your spiritual clothing.

Seek to be clothed with these things we read about in Colossians 3.
Compassion= pity, mercy
Kindness= moral goodness, integrity
Humility= a deep sense of one’s littleness, modesty
Gentleness= gentleness, mildness
Patience= endurance, temper which does easily succumb under suffering, restraint

When people look at you this is what they see? Is this the clothing you wear?
Forbearance - bear
Forgiveness and around all of them Love (binds them together in perfect unity)



Seek to be filled with the Spirit
To be clothed with power from on High (Luke 24.49)
To be clothed with the fruit of the Spirit. Don’t be like the fig tree in Mark 11. Be like the woman here Proverbs 31, full of the fruit of the Spirit.

Final word about fruit. It is not gotten in an ornamental way as you would hang a decoration on it. It is what is happening to the roots and the feeding and the pruning and the care that develops fruit. Sunshine and even rain are necessary to have a harvest. All of this is true in our lives spiritually.

Dig deep into God’s Word.

Submit to His discipline.

Follow Him.

Enjoy the sunshine.

Be thankful for the rain for what it produces:

Makes plants healthy.

Enables them to bear fruit.

Keeps them from drying up.

Extends their lives.

Helps them produce more seed for more plants.

Romans 13.8-14

Two Things I am Asking the LORD For Before I Die

Proverbs 30.7-9

When we are young we talk about things we would like to accomplish in our lives. We dream and plan. As we grow older and we begin to realize we are not going to be on this earth forever we begin to talk about things we want to do before we go. It may be a trip or some adventure or going to see someone we love and live far away from. It could be a book or a set of books we are going to read.

God’s Word as something to say about this. The writer of this chapter of Proverbs speaks of things he wants, actually asks the LORD for. His prayer requests show his heart, as do ours.

These are things that are worthy of our asking of the LORD too!

1. Keep Me Honest

*Put great distance between me and lies. Don’t even let me get close to being dishonest. Keep me as a person of integrity. May all my dealings be above reproach. May my integrity never be questioned, but if I am called into account may everything in my life speak of purity. This is what this man Agur is praying.

We do not realize the inherent blessings in this… sleep, peace, never having to worry about what you said or did. Goodness and integrity have their own rewards.

*Keep me from a meaningless existence.
This isn’t “You need to get a hobby type of thing…” It is being involved in God’s kingdom. It is giving as much of yourself as you can to the LORD Jesus Christ and walking with in the paths He has set out for you.

This is not about being busy. You can wear yourself out with stuff that at the end of time is going to be burned up.

This about giving ourselves to things eternal. For example teaching a Sunday School Class is a wonderful thing. One of the guys who has prayed for my dad and called and encouraged my parents this past year is Dr. Kenny Brown. Kenny is a professor at a Christian University now. He was one of my dad’s Sunday School students in Queens back in the 1950’s. When we give to the kingdom we never know how it will come back to us.

May my life be forever focused on the Kingdom of God.

Another request…

2. Keep Me Depending on You

Jesus has promised His followers that they would have food to eat and clothes to wear. He pointed to the birds and the blooms (flowers-actually lilies) as an illustration of God’s care for His creation and for the care of those who love Him.

We can depend upon the LORD to take care of us if we are seeking His kingdom first. That doesn’t mean we sit around, on the contrary we work but we are ultimately depending on God, as we said last week, even for our strength

The two extremes he prayed to avoid are riches and poverty. We would do well to pray that way. It is wise.

Poverty is not safeguard for sin. It can make a person a thief. The sin of the poor can be envy and jealousy. This is can lead to thievery. As technology has increased so has the ability to steal.

Rich- to have too much, to have all my desires fulfilled, to be satisfied, to have in excess. To glut. Some desires are better left unfulfilled. The history of nations (including Israel) is that the richer they became the less dependent upon God they became and the more independent spiritually from Him they became.

The sobering thing about Israel was that Jesus said they were honoring Him with their lips but their hearts were far from Him. They had the words down. They spoke of the LORD but in their hearts were idols, other gods, their own self interests.

To disown- to grow lean, to be untrue, to be found to be a liar- not living up to a previous commitment of faith. This is the story of Solomon. As wise as he was he went against God’s Word. He didn’t follow the directions for kings. He went and made a deal with the King of Egypt and married his daughter an while this brought him increased favor, military might and wealth an the nation with him, it also brought someone who wasn’t a worshipper of the True and Living God into the life of King Solomon and his heart was eventually turned away from God!

Jesus asked, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul.” (Mark 8.36)





3. My Life Will Come To an End One Day -Keep Heaven Before Me

Before I Die- all of what we have been speaking about. The LORD gently reminds us that we aren’t here forever but that we will be somewhere in eternity. God has placed eternity in the hearts of men.

Not everyone is going to heaven. Jesus said that not even everyone who says, “LORD. LORD will enter the kingdom of heaven but only those who do the will of the Father Who is in heaven.”

Heaven is described in Revelation 21.1-8, 22.1-6

The past few weeks I have been at a few funerals. I have prayed for people to be healed. I have watched pain in people’s lives, amazing how holidays can bring out pain. Yet there is hope. Mary Butler, my neighbor in Bellmore growing up went to be with the LORD on Monday Morning. I was with her family whom I have known since I was 2 years old. She was a great woman of faith. Just hours before she died she cried out, “Sweet Jesus, take me home.” What a way to go! I love that faith, that blessed assurance!

You can live out your life with Jesus so that death loses its sting and the grave has no power over you. You can be sure where you are going today. Whoever calls upon the Name of the LORD will be saved.

God has made the plan of getting to heaven so simple a child can understand. I know. I was just 7 years old when I asked Jesus to come into my heart and be my Savior. In fact Jesus said we must become like little children in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. We must depend upon God completely. Little Philip is completely dependent upon John and Sophia. Jesus wants us to come to Him like that.

LORD Jesus, please come into my heart, forgive me of my sins,
I believe You died for me on the cross.

Proverbs 30.7-9

The LORD's Day June 15, 2008 Happy Father's Day!

Bring Joy To Your Father

Proverbs 29.3, 4.1-23

June 1968- 40 years ago this past week, Robert Kennedy was gunned down by an assassin, Sirhan Sirhan in California. Just two months earlier Martin Luther King had been killed as well. Those were horrible days for our nation.

I remember June 1968 for another reason, one much more joyful. I graduated from sixth grade from Martin Avenue Elementary School in Bellmore, complete with cap and gown and diploma!

I also had an autograph book. Classmates, teachers and family wished me well in it.

My Sunday School Teacher wrote Proverbs 3.5-6 in it and said to use this as a guide for your life. I have sought to do that.

It was my grandmother who wrote a portion of the scripture we read this morning, Proverbs 4.23 “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” 40 years ago I received it. 40 years later I am sharing it with you on this Father’s Day. God had this all worked out. This is a moment when we are onto something He lined up from the beginning.

God, the Father, Our Father in Heaven, was obviously speaking to me back then 40 years ago so much that He had my Nana write it down. He is speaking to me and you today. He wants us to walk with Him. He wants us keep guard over our hearts.

It is His design that Proverbs are in the father-son or father-sons dialogue. It was Solomon speaking to his son, but it was and is God the Father speaking to you and I as His children in these Proverbs.

We are told a man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father. He makes him glad. To love wisdom is to have it close as you would a friend, it means to be like it. The man who holds wisdom close, who reflects in his life will bring joy to his father.

On this Father’s Day let’s think about our heavenly Father for a few moments and let’s thinking about making Him glad by the fact that we have embraced wisdom like a close friend and we love it so deeply that our lives reflect that.
First let’s speak of this point of making our Father in Heaven glad. This is definitely something we do not think of enough. We think of what we need and what we are concerned with. We think others needs. We struggle at times with doubts and ask the LORD to help our unbelief but we do not very often think about this matter of making glad the heart of God.


How do we bring joy to our Father in Heaven?


1. We bring joy to Him by obeying Him. Genesis 22.17-18
“Because you have obeyed Me.” First time the word obeyed is mentioned in the Bible is with the father of the faithful, Abraham, and in reference to his obedience.

God has not made it complicated for us to understand obedience. He has wrapped it up into daily living. He has given us basic commandments. Jesus boiled it all down to loving the LORD our God with our all and our neighbor as ourselves.

We know His will by knowing His Word. A great reason for the lack of obedience to God is that many do not know what His Word says. A great deception takes place among believers when they have not become grounded in God’s Word.

All of us Dads know what a joy it is (or was) to have our children obey us. It made our hearts glad. It brought harmony between us. We also know that there is no such thing as a perfect child. We know the pain and struggle there is with disobedience. Bring that to the relationship we have with our Father in Heaven. It is to our advantage, for our good that we obey Him. The motive should be first that we love Him. The whole growth and development of a child is here.

In John 14, after He said that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him, He said “If you love Me, you will obey what I command.”- John 14.15


2. We bring joy to our Father in heaven by keeping in touch with Him regularly.

Prayer is not just asking God for things when we need them, it is having fellowship with Him all the time.

Those of us who are older like to hear from our kids. We love to do things for them but we enjoy just hearing from them for no reason other than wanted to say hi. Unfortunately our high paced world is making that more difficult.

Few of the LORD’s children ever reach the joy of fellowshipping with Him on earth in quiet waiting and wonder in pausing and giving Him thanks and praise. This is not only a wonder filled experience for us it is brings joy to our Father in Heaven.

A Daily Quiet Time is so needed. I know of one couple where the husband would watch the children so his wife could have her time of quiet with Jesus each day. I believe that not only brought joy to the wife but joy to our Father in heaven.

Hang out with the LORD- you will experience joy in your soul while making the LORD glad.

3. We Bring Joy to our Father in Heaven by Lives of Wise Choices Springing from Wisdom

This is one of the purposes of Proverbs. Proverbs 1.1-7

It is not live and learn rather it is learn and live. Many young people today are suffering the consequences of foolish choices. They made bad choices because they lacked wisdom. Had they been taught the Proverbs and become friends with it, become like the book itself in that their lives spoke of the Proverbs by their actions they would have avoided so much pain and suffering and sorrow. If that is your situation this morning, God has grace for you. All is not lost. There is a way out. Make Jesus LORD of your life and begin to read this book and aim to live by it. We can avoid scars through applying wisdom.

4. We Bring Joy to our Father in Heaven by giving gifts to Him.

We are really not giving things that are ours in the first place. God is the giver of all good gifts. They have come down from Him. We are in reality honoring Him by giving and acknowledging that He is the One Who has given these things to us in the first place. You say, “Well I worked hard for what I have.” Oh and Who gave you the strength?


We think God needs us to give. How ludicrous! We need God He does not need us.
In fact I’m at that point now where I have a great deal of stuff- too much! My mother got upset when I told her there was nothing we really needed for Christmas this past year. However I still enjoy getting gifts on Father’s Day from my kids, not because of need but because of it is a way they express their love for dear old dad. It is a personal thing.

Now God has set up the church so that the giving to Him in part supplies the needs of ministry. If everyone gave what God placed in their hearts to give all the needs of the church would be met. I personally do not believe that stewardship campaigns were part of the early church. There were no needy among them because everyone was moved by the Spirit to give out of love for Jesus.

5. We Bring Joy to the Father in Heaven by guarding our hearts and lives. 4.23

We are not home yet. We must be on our guard. If we think it cannot happen to us we are in great danger of falling. We are all tempted. Many have fallen in their last years. What a tragedy! A mature Christian getting caught in a sin is possible and when it happens it is very sad.

Guard you heart.

Two meanings- blockade it- God’s Word and Prayer, Fill it with good things and thoughts
Confine it - Do not let certain things in, Keep it from imaginations that are evil.


Bring Joy to your Father in heaven- guard your heart- out of it are the issues of life. An example: Greed in the heart can result in stealing from someone. Love in the heart will result in giving.

Bring joy to your Father in Heaven:
Obey Him
Talk to Him
Live a life of wise choices
Give gifts to Him
Guard your heart and your life- keep it for Him!

The LORD's Day, June 8, 2008

A Faithful Man

Proverbs 28. 1-20
A faithful man will be richly blessed

The Word of God has a lot to say about being a faithful man, not so much in amount as in depth. It is interesting how so often we look at quantitative things to the exclusion of depth. There are a few verses which specifically speak about the faithful man but each one carries with it a depth of character and meaning.

The first thing we are told about a faithful man is found a few chapters back and that is:

1. A Faithful Man is hard to find. Proverbs 20.6

Many a man claims to have unfailing love, but a faithful man who can find?

It is not in word only.

Many a man claims to have un failing love. I have had many people tell me they love me. Most of them are nowhere to be found today. Words are cheap. Unless they are backed up by action they are meaningless.

I have some pretty outrageous promises made to me in my ministry. When I was young I used to fall for these things. I used to tell people about them. As I have grown in the LORD I have learned to test the spirits. I have learned that time will tell if what is being promised is true or not. I have learned that Jesus never lets me down. He never fails.

So be careful when you hear promises. Wait. Time will tell if they are true or not. We are being told here that the percentages are against such claims.

It is more in life that a faithful man comes through.

What is a faithful man?
*Firmness, fidelity, steadfastness, steadiness
He stands firmly on Christ.
He is dependable, not given to empty promises.
*faithfulness, trustworthy
You can entrust things to him and they will get done.

A faithful man...
* person who show himself faithful in the transaction of business, the execution of commands, or the discharge of official duties. A faithful man pays his bills on time, including his tithe and offerings, he carries out what has been given to him to do by his superiors. He submits to authority. Give him a job to do and it is as good as done- just a matter of time. Time proves faithfulness. A faithful man can be relied on.
A faithful man is
* one who keeps the faith
He knows the Word of God and lives by it. I Timothy 3.9 One of God's qualification, He had Paul write, for a deacon in the church: They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. Hold=To have a firm grip, to be married

* in the NT one who trusts in God's promises
A faithful man has faith. He trusts God and what the LORD has said.

* one who is convinced that Jesus has been raised from the dead
This is vital. This is the cornerstone of our faith. Christmas and Easter are not just holidays- Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection is so central. This is doctrine that unites us as believers. You cannot be a follower of Christ without believing this first.

You may find someone who is fairly reliable who is not a Christian, but the word faithful is wrapped up in the knowledge and trust of God’s Word.

* one who has become convinced that Jesus is the Messiah and author of salvation
A faithful man trusts in the LORD as his Savior. He knows Acts 4.12 personally, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

believing, confiding, trusting

2. A Faithful Man will be richly blessed

Blessed= prosperity
This is prosperity of the soul first. A faithful man is going to be richly blessed in his soul. There will be all the rest of the fruit of God’s Spirit in his life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control.

The faithful man will be full of spiritual riches. He will be generous but never boastful in sharing them with others.

How about financial prosperity? Well a faithful man is going to give to God. He will tithe his income and give offerings. There is this promise: Malachi 3.10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the LORD Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
There are material blessings that come to those who are faithful. The spiritual blessings are greater. Not everyone is going to be rich but God will bless you if you are faithful and you are being faithful for the praise and glory of God and not to become rich.

a gift, present

treaty of peace Psalm 37.37 Consider the blameless, observe the upright;
there is a future for the man of peace.

3. A Faithful Man is able to pass spiritual truths onto others.
Paul wrote to Timothy (II Tim 2.2) And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Most of what I learned about the LORD came through my Sunday School teachers and my parents. Kids today still need that It is interesting how great a role the dad plays. I sent my parents an anniversary card this week with a picture I had redone of their wedding day. It was in the Nazarene Church in Springfield Gardens, Queens. I was born 2 years later and that was my first church. My mom taught Sunday school there and my dad as well. She had the little kids, my dad the teens. Through this fall and everything good has come, a number of his students, one a pastor now, have written and encouraged them. They are just normal Christians who love Jesus and have been very faithful to pass on spiritual truths. I know my dad passed them onto me, by the way he lived and the words he taught in the home and at church in the teen Sunday School Class.

I was blessed with godly pastors in my youth. They were men who took me under their wing and encouraged me in the faith. One of the youth directors I had just retired. He said with tears at his retirement how he remembered praying with me and encouraging me. He passed on spiritual truths to me- he was a faithful man.

In Bible College I had three professors, two of which are in heaven and one who is our LINKS Missionary this year, who were models of godliness and faithfulness.

I am in great debt today, but so are you. You have been given God’s Word- entrusted with it! It is our responsibility to pass it on to others. What are you doing with your entrustment these days? Too many are being unfaithful.

The gospel is passed this way. We share with one person and then another shares. Do you know we can trace our roots back to the church at Jerusalem- to the disciples?

Be a faithful link in the chain!

A faithful man is hard to find, a rarity. He will be richly blessed. He holds and at the same time passes on the deep truths of the Word of God.


By God’s Grace and for God’s Sake and Those you Love, be a faithful man

The LORD's Day, June 1, 2008

How To Face Tomorrow

Proverbs 27.1, Matthew 6.25-34

We all have known people who boasted. We also knew people who were worry warts. These two sets of people are on different ends of the same spectrum.

The issue here is tomorrow and how to face it. The word tomorrow can mean the literal tomorrow as the next day or it can be translated the future.

Interestingly, one extreme is the trusting in oneself and the other is the lack of faith in God. Both are sin. In one there is a inflated opinion of self and in the other a deflated view of Almighty God.

I read this week in Nelson Bell’s biography, Billy Graham’s father-in-law, that he was influenced by a Chinese doctor, Leland Wang, to read a chapter of Proverbs every day. Dr. Wang said, “because it is the book which allows us to relate our own lives to fellowmen.” 20 years later Nelson Bell would pass on that habit to young Billy Graham. No wonder, as I have told you before, that Billy Graham wrote in the foreword of this book, “Dr. Nelson Bell was one the major influences in my life and my ministry, in fact, as I look back, I am convinced that one of the reasons, God, in His providence, allowed Ruth Bell to become my wife was so that Dr. Nelson Bell would become my father-in-law!” One of the things he passed on was this daily reading of a chapter of Proverbs. This is something we would do well to practice in our own lives!

I think we need to read this verse regularly because how often do we take comfort in our circumstances. If things are going well, praise the LORD. If they are not, What shall we do?!

We need to trust in the LORD with all our heart and not lean on our own understanding. Boasting about tomorrow is leaning on our own understanding. It is saying, “I’m all set. I have a good life ahead. Everything is coming my way.”

Jesus spoke about the man who did this. Luke 12.16-21. He thought he was all set for years ahead and he did not realize that he was going to die that very night!


1. Do not Boast About Tomorrow 27.1

Boasting is aimed at our fellow man. How we desire to impress them! It makes us feel good. It gives off an air of superiority. When I was young and did not understand this dynamic, I would be in the presence of a boaster and come away feeling pretty low. They have a way of doing that.

Put this to death! If it rears its ugly head in you put it down. Humble yourself. Don’t fall into this trap of praising yourself, glorying in yourself.

Boasting is a lot of hot air! Puffed up and let out. It is unbecoming to those who are following Jesus Christ. He humbled Himself. He became a servant. When a believer boasts he breaks fellowship with His LORD at that point. He must repent!

Boasting is foolish!

I Corinthians 4.7 What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

A message to Ammon in Jeremiah 49.4 Why do you boast of your valleys, boast of your valleys so fruitful? O unfaithful daughter, you trust in your riches and say, 'Who will attack me?'

Our greatness as a nation as we spoke of last week was not and is not in our military might. I am thankful for our military. However if you go back to our past, our history- there are lessons to be learned. We were vastly outnumbered during the Revolutionary War. It was not our might that won. It was we were humble and depended upon God.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1.17

If you couple the verse from the Corinthians and the verse James writes together you see why boasting is foolish.

Do not boast. James has more to say on the subject of boasting about tomorrow.
James 4.13-16
As believers we should be humble about our travel and business dealings and all of life. We should all come under the authority of God’s will, in our praying and in our planning. The LORD has designed things to be that way and in following Him we avoid so much grief and pain in our lives.

Now how to handle tomorrow... I would say that boasting for the most part is not a huge problem for us but there is something about tomorrow that is and that is worry!


2. Do Not Worry About Tomorrow Matthew 6.34

Worrying is aimed at God. It is a lack of trust in not only His ability but His will for us.

Worrying is as foolish as boasting. While many of us would not boast about tomorrow we worry about it. We imagine all kinds of horrible scenarios for our lives. Worrying can actually make us sick! Physically ill! We use the phrase worried sick- it is an apt description.

What is worry?

Psalm 139- know my thoughts= sar`aph = disquieting thoughts. Now we are on to something. You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26.3 Perfect peace comes from focusing on Christ instead of how He will meet our needs.

Take no thought/ do not worry ...Worry in the New Testament= merimnao- to be anxious, to be troubled with cares, to care for, look out for (a thing), to seek to promote one's interests, caring or providing for

What is the “normal” state of mind for the believer?
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26.3 The normal state is kept in perfect peace.
Keep = to guard, watch, watch over, keep, to preserve, guard from dangers
observe, guard with fidelity, to be kept close, be blockaded, watchman The LORD does this so we can rest. It is His work. If you ask me to do watch guard duty I could fall asleep, but He Who watched over Israel neither slumbers or sleeps. His vantage point, His power, etc.

Perfect Peace = Shalom Shalom
completeness, soundness, welfare, peace, safety, health, prosperity
quiet, tranquillity, contentment, with God especially in covenant relationship
complete peace
quiet safety
sound contentment
peaceful tranquility
healthy prosperity

We lose our peace when we look attentively at our problems and predicaments and wonder how we can resolve them. Our sights are off Jesus and His promises. We are leaning on our own understanding.

How do we regain it?
Repent and do the things you did at first

Years ago when I was driving my car and stressing and fretting over a situation out of my control, my daughter, Theresa, who was in her late teens at the time and sitting in the back seat, began singing this song:

My only hope is you Jesus,
My only hope is You.
From early in the morning til late at night,
My only hope is You.

Maybe you need it sung to you this morning. I have been singing it a lot lately.

We face tomorrow with the LORD. We don’t boast about tomorrow. We don’t worry about tomorrow. We know Who hold tomorrow and we know Who holds our hand! I love Jesus’ words

do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

My only hope is you Jesus,
My only hope is You.
From early in the morning til late at night,
My only hope is You.

The LORD's Day, May 25,2008, Memorial Day Weekend in The USA

One Nation, Under God

Proverbs 14.34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

Solomon wrote this. God inspired him to do so. Solomon was king over Israel. Israel had been a theocracy, a nation without a human king. This was God’s will for Israel. He desired to be the One Who would lead this nation and use them to bless the whole world. What God desired for them did not the match the people’s desire and He knew it. He knew when they got into the land He had promised them that they would look at the other nations and desire a king like them.

Deuteronomy 17.14 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,... Then God went on to tell them His qualifications for the king

It is sad that the nation of Israel never really got to experience the fulness of what it would have been to be a theocracy. They wanted a king and except for David the ends of those kings were for the most part tragic.

Here we are on another Memorial Day Weekend. It is a time among many other things of remembrance. As a nation tomorrow we remember those who gave their lives so we could be free while on this earth. For the next few months we think about this- this weekend, Flag Day and the Fourth of July. I read recently that the founder of the Church of the Nazarene, while he was still a Methodist pastor, used to drape his pulpit with the American flag during our nation’s Civil War, in support of the union and the freedom of slaves. His congregation burned him an effigy.

Our nation is in the throws of great confusion today. We are in danger of electing a president not on what he believes but on how appealing he is. I could go on about our flaws. You know them. We need to pray for the Americans today. We are flirting with the things that brought other nations down.

The way for a nation to be exalted is given here.

1. Righteousness Exalts a Nation

America rose up from a concern about religious freedoms. The Pilgrims came seeking a place to worship as they wanted to without an attachment to the government. This conviction was basic to our constitution. There was to be no state religion. That is what separation of church and state means. It wasn’t to protect the nation. It was protect the church

God blessed America. Its development was ordered by God. America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.
Alexis de Tocqueville


America became high and lofty. God exalted her. We did not become the world’s lone super power by ourselves.

Let me give you the whole of what Tocqueville said:
I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers — and it was not there … in her fertile fields and boundless forests — and it was not there … in her rich mines and her vast world commerce — and it was not there … in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution — and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.

God blessed America. He set her on a high place. If you go to a National Cemetery and look at those white head stones you will not find one solider who died for his country in act of aggression. Quite the contrary, you will find men who died for someone else’s freedom- ours or some other nation under a tyrant who needed to be removed for the good of humanity. America has never begun a war that was not for the sake of human freedom in one form or another.

That is one reason people become Americans. They feel uplifted just being here “This is the America they told me about ”- Christian Sarmiento +

God has been faithful to our nation for generations. Righteousness exalts a nation.

Righteousness exalts a nation. This has to do with justice in our courts. It has to with a fair rule. Our courts were set up to give justice to all. We were lifted to a position of power not because of ourselves but because God honored the way we treated people. Our flaws have been there all along. We did bad things but our history shows they were corrected and the truth has come out.

Part of righteousness is humility and when mistakes in error were made reparations were made.

Righteousness exalts a nation. Our nation has a history of treating its most vulnerable citizens, the young, the old and the disabled with respect and honor. That is our heritage.

In many ways there are similarities to our history and Israel’s. For years the school children of America heard the Word of God read to them in school. In 1963 this was declared unconstitutional and it was banned along with prayer. Here we are 45 years later with mass shootings in our schools, we have metal detectors and security cameras in our public schools. Good teachers have retired early.

2. Sin is disgrace to any people- even Americans and Israelites

It is a shame that we lost so much We mourn the loss of our soldiers this Memorial Day, from the Revolutionary War until the last young man who died in Iraq.
But the other loss in America is our morality and our sense of right and wrong. We lost the respect and fear of God we once had.

Israel thought they had a special favored nation status. They thought they could go against God without paying a price. They thought Psalm 135.4 For the LORD has chosen Jacob to be his own, Israel to be his treasured possession meant they could do whatever they wanted. They were wrong.

This morning on this Memorial Day we need to listen to what God is saying to our country...

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

II Chronicles 7.14 If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

17 As for you, if you walk before me as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, 18 I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, 'You shall never fail to have a man to rule over Israel.'

19 But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 21 And though this temple is now so imposing, all who pass by will be appalled and say, 'Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?' 22 People will answer, 'Because they have forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why he brought all this disaster on them.'

We pray for a movement of God that would cause this nation to return to its roots. We cry out to God for mercy because it strikes fear in our hearts to think we might get what we deserve

We pause this morning and you are here this morning because you care about the LORD and you care about what happens here on earth, in our nation.

May the LORD draw us back. May Americans realize what they have today has come from God. He has blessed us. But as He warned Israel, there is danger in being blessed. The blessings can come before Him. If they do they are idols and other gods. Don’t let that happen to you. Keep your eyes upon Jesus. If it has happened Turn your eyes upon Jesus
L.S. Lawrence’s book excerpt.
(The essence of II Chronicles 7.14)

The LORD's Day, May 18, 2008

What a beautiful LORD's Day here on the Island this morning! May God bless you as you read this message.

How To Keep A Good Reputation

Proverbs 25.1-12

A good reputation is earned. It is maintained by the same things that earned it for that individual.

Paul writing to Timothy about the qualifications of a pastor...
I Timothy 3.7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap. 8 Deacons, likewise, are to be men worthy of respect,

As believers we should be concerned about our witness by the way we live or our reputation. Our reputation reflects on our church and our faith. Here is the proper motivation for a good reputation- not to impress others but please God and bring glory to his name. We were bought with a price therefore we are to honor Him.

We cannot please everyone. If we try we will kill ourselves and still not do it. Some people are impossible to please. A young pastor came to D.L. Moody and said, “People are saying terrible things about me.” Moody responded, “Just make it your business to see that none of what they are saying is true.” They criticized Jesus, Paul and others. Billy Graham has his critics. Even God had His critics in heaven

We are not talking about being a people pleaser. We are talking about living in such a way your reflects Jesus Christ to the praise and honor of God.

How do we keep a good reputation?


1. Live a life of Humility (v.6-7)

This is not easy. It is a multifaceted battle. We can even become proud of our humility

A life of humility is having an honest and accurate opinion of myself.

Pride gets us into all kinds of problems that can lead the ruin of our good name.
We think we can handle temptation rather than asking God to deliver us from it.
We think of ourselves more highly than we ought.
We think we know more than everyone else.
We think we are better than everyone else.

Pride makes us boast.
James 4.16 As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.

Do not exalt yourself swell- honor oneself.
Proverbs 27.2 Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips.
It is so unbecoming to hear a person toot their own horn, to listen to someone tell of their successes or accomplishments. I Corinthians 4.7 What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

A life of humility is means I will seek to think of others higher than myself. The aim is to always do that, becoming like Jesus.

Maintain a good reputation by...
2. Have a lot of Grace (v.8)

Don’t jump to conclusions... work out problems without the legal system when you can.

About this matter of jumping to conclusions... We need to be very careful- lest we damage another person’s reputation. What we see with our eyes is processed through our minds and then conclusions are drawn. Since we are flawed people our opinion is often incorrect. When we are wrong we desire grace. We should be as generous with others as we want God to be with us. God’s grace is abundant.

A person who is full of grace has a good reputation if it is genuine grace and not what Dietrich Bonhoffer referred to as cheap grace. We are told that Jesus came from the Father full of grace and truth. (John 1.14) Again let’s seek to be like Jesus. He had grace for the worst sinners but not a lot of tolerance for the self righteous.

We need an abundance of grace today. This is not compromise. It is the ability to navigate through a society that has lost its way. We cannot accommodate sin but we cannot condemn sinners. Be like Jesus Who came to seek and to save that which was lost.

Be a grace giver!


A good reputation is maintained by...

3. Keep Confidences (v.9-10)

Maintain confidentiality.

A person once told me that they are carrying secrets with them to the grave. I doubt it.

People that are always asking me not to say anything to anyone about what they are telling me are the telling me what they are doing- exactly that. Your speech betrays you.

We keep confidences by never talking about the fact that we are

We keep confidences by forgetting what someone has told us- don’t think about it

We keep confidences by being people of few words- listening more than we speak.

Don’t fall into the sin of gossip. It will stick with you. This idea of a reputation has to with whispering and defamation. I knew a lady whose family referred to as “Aunt Gossip” - how horrible! She loved to talk about others and tell all.



4. Let your conversation always be seasoned with salt (v.11)
Colossians 4.6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Speaking at the right time.

Saying good things that people thirst for more good things!

Appetizing

Zest

Godly

Like Apples of gold in settings of silver! Absolutely beautiful. A person of grace will have thta conversation going out of their lips.

5. Always be teachable (v.12)
Even when it means receiving rebukes.

It is not a pleasant thing to be rebuked. But when were kids it wasn’t pleasant to eat certain vegetables. I hated Lima Beans. My mom loved to buy them. I begged her not too. She didn’t listen to me. Imagine that?! She knew they were good before we knew what fiber was! I shivered when I ate them. They were good for me.

Being rebuked by a wise man is good for us. A wise man’s rebuke is gentle and to the point and points out things in our lives that need correcting.

No one likes a self assured smart aleck. A person like thta has an unteachable spirit.

A person who has a closed mind is unteachable.

Always be growing in the knowledge of the LORD Jesus Christ.

We are doing all of this to bring about praise and glory to God.
When we do that we benefit- we are blessed.

God blesses us with a good reputation.

A good reputation means less stress in our lives and more joy in our soul.

Blessed is the person who has a good reputation. Maintain it!