Katrina and I made it to Valdosta, GA, today and I’m pleased with how well she did.  It’s hard making car trips with MS, but we left Nashville about 10 AM and arrived here about 7 PM.  That’s a long day, but we’ve listened to the new Jeffery Archer novel on CD and stopped at an antique mall and found some of the little green glasses we collect; and, after checking into our motel, we walked up the street for supper.  Tonight I’m trying to tackle some of my backlogged e-mails.

Tomorrow we’re going on to Venice, FL.  I’m speaking tomorrow night, Saturday morning, and Sunday morning at the Good Shepherd Church of Englewood.  If you’re in the Tampa area, please join us.

Before leaving Nashville, I received an e-mail from a young man who was concerned about his family.  “I was just sitting here ,” he wrote, “thinking about some members of my family, and my question is:  ‘How do you deal with family members that are struggling with their relationships with God?  How do you intervene in their lives when you don’t want to come across as super-spiritual?’  I just don’t know how to show them I love them.”

My counsel, for what it’s worth, was this:  There are four things you can do (and this could be a sermon outline).

First, put them on a regular prayer list alongside verses that you’re going to “pray into” their lives.  Select some specific verses that correspond to the needs of each loved one, write those verses under their names in your prayer notebook, and make it a project to intercede for them regularly using those verses.

Second, be as cheerful, friendly, helpful, and kind as possible.  The key passage on this is 1 Peter 3, which says, in essence, we’re to be so radiant, friendly, and selfless in our attitude that over time our lost loved ones will come to Christ with virtually no words being spoken.

Third, there will come times when we can speak words, so we should just have verses rolling around in your mind all the time.  If they come out in naturally and easily — not in a nagging or preaching way (not that those two things are synonyms) — then the Holy Spirit, using God’s Word, can take it from there.

Fourth, be prepared for it to take time, but be equally expectant for God to do it.

I’m working on my sermon for March 9 tonight, from 1 John 5:14-15 on the subject of prayer.  This is one remarkable verse, or actually two:

This is the confidence we have in approaching God:  that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him.

The overriding emphasis has to do with the assurance we can have in the medium of prayer.  John wants us to know that prayer isn’t a hit-or-miss affair.  Notice the pattern of words:

We have that opening word:  Confidence
We have one occurrence of the word:  Anything
We have two occurrences of the phrase: He Hears Us
We have two occurrences of the phrase: Whatever We Ask
We have two occurrences of the phrase:  We Know
We have two occurrences of the phrase:  We Have
And we have three occurrences of that word:  Ask

This is the confidence:  He hears us… He hears us… Anything…  Whatever we ask… Whatever we ask… We know… We know… We have… We have… (so) ask… ask…ask….

There’s just one blessed condition:  according to His will.

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Thou art coming to a king. / Large petitions with thee bring, / for His grace and power are such / none can ever ask too much–John Newton

I’ve watched Cliff Barrows leading the Billy Graham crusade choirs for years, even when I was a child watching crusade telecasts with my parents on our little black and white set in Elizabethton.

Later when I as a sophomore at Columbia Bible College, Cliff came to our campus, preached for several days, and talked with me about going into the ministry. In the mid-1970s, I worked in several of the Crusades and watched him close up. He had a rich, warm smile in his voice, and even amid the pressures of leading 100,000 people in song, I never saw him ruffled or tense. He’s possibly the friendliest man I’ve ever met.

Recently I had a pleasant reunion over lunch with Cliff and his wife, Ann. He is 85 and suffers a number of aliments including one that limits his vision. He walks with a cane and needs some help getting around. But his voice still has that friendly lilt that makes is so effective. His mind is as sharp as his heart is warm.

I asked him if, in all these years, he had ever battled discouragement. He thought a moment, then said, “Rob, I never recall a despondent day.”

“How can that be?” I asked in amazement.

Cliff smiled and testified with earnestness, “The joy of the Lord is the strength of my life.” Then he quoted by memory the words of an old Bonar Hymn, which begins: “Fill Thou my life, O Lord my God, / In every part with praise, / That my whole being may proclaim / Thy being and Thy ways.”

The poem ends: “So shall each fear, each fret, each care / Be turned into a song, / And every winding of the way / The echo shall prolong; / So shall no part of day or night / From sacredness be free; / But all my life, in every step / Be fellowship with Thee.”

Thanks, Cliff!

I’m off to Pigeon Forge today to conduct a retreat for a group from the Columbus, Georgia area.  I’ve become good friends with Jerry and Linda Scarborough, the organizers of the annual gathering, and I’m looking forward to being with them and their expanding group of friends.

Before leaving Nashville, I found a fascinating article in today’s Christian Post.  It has been disturbing to follow the saga of modern-day Islam in Great Britain.  The Muslim influence, which does not and will not assimilate into the British culture, is increasingly strident, demanding, and intimidating to British officials.

The most recent episode involves library books.  Librarians have been told to place all religious texts on the top shelves of bookcases, following complaints from Muslims about the positioning of the Koran on the shelves.  Islamic leaders complained that the Koran should be placed above “commonplace things.”  They demanded that the Koran be placed on the top shelves above all other books. 

As a result, libraries have moved all religious texts, including the Bible, to the top shelves, out of reach to many people.

That is the exact opposite of how Christians feel about the Bible. While we know that the Bible a book unto itself, unique and God-Breathed, we believe it should be accessible to all and placed right in the middle of our culture.  It isn’t to be marginalized, top-shelved, and banished from everyday life. 

One Christian leader in England said, “One of the central planks of the Protestant Reformation was that everybody should have access to the Bible.”

Amen and amen!  For the complete article, click here.

I’m not a huge fan of topical preaching; I prefer biblical exposition.  But one of the best topical preachers of the twentieth century was the late W. Herschel Ford, whose series of “Simple Sermon” books are classics.  He sometimes had intriguing titles to his messages.  One of my favorites is entitled, “If I Were Satan.”  It’s included in his volume, “Simple Sermons for Saints and Sinners,” published in 1954.  Here is Ford’s Outline.

If I Were Satan
Text:  1 Peter 5:8
Introduction:  If I were Satan and wanted to prevent the salvation of people, what would I do?

1.  If I Were Satan I Would Deceive People As To Myself
2.  If I Were Satan I Would Make Sin Attractive
3.  If I Were Satan I Would Hinder God’s Word
4.  If I Were Satan I Would Try to Destroy the Power of the Churches
5.  If I Were Satan I Would Make Church Members Stumble
6.  If I Were Satan I Would Try to Give the World Another Gospel
7.  If I Were Satan I Would Get People to Give Excuses.

Conclusion:  The old message of Jesus and His love is the message the world needs.  Do not let Satan deceive you any longer!

The New York Daily News carried a frightening article today about two boys, 7, who were watching television in a Brooklyn apartment.  Suddenly they felt something on the sofa behind them.  When they moved the cushions to investigate, a huge snake slithered across the fabric and fell into a ball at their feet.

They screamed for help, and soon the police evacuated the apartment on 62th street.  But even the police were spooked, and it was the Animal Care and Control Center that finally removed the boa from the room.  The snake had apparently crawled into the apartment through the plumbing.

It’s a lesson to us all.  The “old serpent” is closer than we think.  He creeps into our homes, slithers through our offices, and tries to deceive us just as he deceived Eve. 

Satan is snake-like and diabolical, and Paul warned the Corinthians, “I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3). 

That means our greatest defense is a “sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”  The devil can’t do much with a person who is sincerely and purely devoted to the Lord Jesus.  He has no answer to a committed disciple, and no weapon formed against us will prosper.  And one day soon the great Animal Control Center of heaven will throw that old serpent into the “lake of burning sulfur” (Revelation 20:10), and we’ll be done with him forever.

PS – You can locate one of several newspaper accounts of this story here.

PPS – There’s also a story in today’s Christian Post about a poll that only 3% of today’s teenagers see clergy as role models.  Click here for this story.

I have one remaining obligation here at the Alabama FWB Pastor’s and Worker’s Conference; and I think I’m going to speak from the prophet Zechariah and his vision of the Lampstand and Olive Trees in chapter 4.  The key lessons in the passage are in verse 6:  “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” and in verse 10:  “Do not despise the day of small things.”

Sometimes our work seems small and unimportant, but when ministry is done in the power of the Spirit, little is much!

That brings to mind the stry of Frank Jenner.  One day in 1953, Rev. Francis Dixon was traveling and preaching in Bournemouth, England, when he met a British sailor with an unusual story.  While on shore leave in Sydney, Australia, this sailor was approached by a man on George Street who asked him, “Young man, if you were to die tonight, where would you be, in heaven or hell?”  After pondering that question for some time, the sailor eventually gave his life to Christ.  The story of the sailor thrilled Rev. Dixon.

 Shortly afterward, Dixon was amazed to hear a similar story coming from another sailor.  While on shore leave in Sydney, this man, too, had been approached by a soul-winner on George Street who had asked him, if he should die that night, if he would go to heaven or hell.  This sailor, too, had later been saved.

 When Rev. Dixon visited Australia on a preaching tour, his first sermons were in the city of Adelaide, and during one of the meetings, he told the story of the two sailors.  A man suddenly jumped to his feet and said, “I’m another!  I’m another!”

 Going on to Perth, Dixon again told the story.  This time he was approached by the leader of the Christian Endeavour Society for Western Australia, who told him he had come to Christ through the witness of a street evangelist on George Street in Sydney who had asked him about his eternal destination.

 By this time, Rev. Dixon was eager to get to the bottom of the story.  Arriving in Sydney, he finally tracked down the man.  The evangelist’s name was Frank Jenner.  As Dixon related the testimonies of these converts, Jenner’s eyes filled with tears and he began praying and thanking the Lord.

 Jenner confessed to Dixon that though he had been witnessing to ten people a day for sixteen years, this was the first time he had ever heard of any lasting results coming from his ministry.  Earlier in life, he’d been addicted to gambling, a habit he’d acquired as a sailor.  He’d also suffered a number of physical problems.  But God had saved him and called him to the ministry of soul-winning.  After coining his heaven-or-hell question in 1937, he had asked it to over 10,000 people.  Now, after 16 years, he learned for the first time that God had blessed his efforts.

 The story doesn’t stop there.  A month later while Dixon was preaching in a Methodist Church in Keswick, England, another man approached him, saying, “I, too, was challenged by Mr. Jenner and now I am in a soul-winning work myself.”  Four years later, in India, Dixon found another convert from George Street.  All in all, Francis Dixon personally learned of ten people who had come to Christ as a result of Frank Jenner’s ministry—though the street evangelist himself had known nothing of the results.  And only the Lord knows the ultimate number of converts that came from this on faithful worker.

Little is much when God is in it….

Not by might nor by power, but by the Holy Spirit.

PS – This story is told more fully in “The Frank Jenner Story” by Stephen Tucker, and in Jenner of George Street by Dr. Raymond Wilson.)  You can also watch a video of it from Godtube.com .

Both yesterday morning at TDF and tonight in Birmingham, I spoke from Joshua 1:8 on the practice and power of meditation.   I contrasted two interesting experiences I had in college.  As a freshman at King College, I listened to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s presentation about Transcendental Meditation in which one uses a “mantra” to empty one’s mind.  As a sophomore at Columbia International University, I was taught by the Navigators how to fill my mind with Scripture and to unlock its meaning by meditating day and night.

I still have a little Navagator booklet I purchased in 1971, that said:  “Meditation is the skeleton key that unlocks the greatest storeroom in the house of God’s provision for the Christian…. (It is) holding the Word of God in your heart until it has affected every phase of your life….  Beware of getting alone with your own thoughts.  Get alone with God’s thoughts.  There is danger in rummaging through…thoughts that can be labeled daydreaming or worse.  Don’t meditate upon yourself but dwell upon God…. Make this a built-in habit of daily living…”

I’ve never been a fan of the Maharishi, but I’m a huge fan of the practice and power of biblical meditation.  Find a verse, read it, study it, memorize it, visualize it, personalize it, and meditate on it.  Think it through as you drive to work.  Ponder it as you walk along the greenways.  Mull it over as you go to sleep, and you’ll wake up brighter in the morning.

I’m leaving today for a series of messages at the Alabama FWB Pastors and Workers Conference.  Yesterday was a great day at the Donelson Fellowship, with four professions of faith, three good services, and one interesting Discovery Dinner.

Yesterday’s morning message was from Joshua 1:1-9.  The setting has to do with accepting and managing change-chapters in our lives.  Joshua and the Israelites were about to undergo a sea-change in their circumstances.  In chapter 1, the Lord sought to prepare them for it.  If you are facing changes in your life, spend some time looking at these lessons in the first chapter of Joshua:

1.  The Future Belongs to God (Joshua 1:1-5)

2.  We Must Trust and Obey Him (Joshua 1:6-7)

3.  Success Comes from Meditating on God’s Unchanging Word (Joshua 1:8-9)

You can read the entire message here.

I just read an interesting little book about the French Impressionist painter, Edouard Manet, and gained an insight about little things — small blessings, Bible verses, flower blossoms, and special moments.

Manet easily became frustrated with his own work and dissatisfied with his paintings.  Sometimes he would destroy the canvas by cutting out small scenes with which he was pleased and which seemed good enough to stand by themselves.

These small cut-outs became masterpieces.

A good example is “Women at the Races,” which is now in America, displayed at the Cincinnati Art Museum.  This was originally part of a large painting, but Manet deemed it the only part of the scene worth saving; so he cut it out and the smaller painting (about 17″ by 13″) is a wonder in itself.

We love all of the Word of God, but sometimes just a small verse cut from the Bible thrills our hearts.  We love sceanic visits, but sometimes a single cloud or a solitary beam of sunshine can lift our spirits.  We’re grateful for long volumes of interesting literature, but sometimes just a sentence or brief devotional can encourage us.  A long sermon or extended lecture is sometimes useful, but an insightful sentence from a friend can sometimes do more good than an entire collection of homilies.

Thank God for brevity, economy, small blessings, simple pleasures, and the miniatures of His grace!