Author Archives: Pastor Tommy

All things work together for the good of those who love God, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted with gold or silver. In the 15^th Century, Japanese Emperor Ashikaga Yoshimasa had broken a beloved tea pot. Instead of discarding it as most of us would do and replace it with a new one, he sent it off to China to be fixed. When he received it back, he did not like the way it had been repaired. So he brought in Japanese craftsmen to repair this beloved tea pot. In the process of this repair, they founded the art of Kintsugi, putting back together the broken pieces of the tea pot with lacquer mixed with dusted gold, making it stronger and more beautiful than it was before. Instead of trying to hide the cracks, they emphasized each one, where every visible line in the pot told a story of its journey for all the world to see.

This ancient art is a beautiful picture of the King of Kintsugi, Jesus, and how His redemptive and restorative power mends our broken pieces and shattered lives, making us stronger and more beautiful in our brokenness than we were before. Jesus is in the business of mending broken people, and that includes me and you.

The Bible does not shy away from revealing all of the brokenness in the people God uses for His glory and the expansion of His Kingdom. In fact, it highlights the brokenness, showing the importance of embracing all of the imperfections in our lives. To be sure, we live in a world that highly values flawless perfection, and we do everything within our power to hide our blemishes. Yet, the King of Kintsugi takes our brokenness and makes it beautiful. Jesus does not try to cover up our brokenness. Rather, He celebrates it by putting on display His amazing grace and marvelous mercy, as He continuously mends our breaks, making us stronger, better and more useful than we were before the break.

Both Kintsugi and the life of the Christian have profound parallels. They emphasize the beauty of broken imperfection and the awesome power of redemption and restoration. We need not try to hid our brokenness, but rather, embrace it knowing that all things are working together for our good, including every area of brokenness we experience throughout this life.  

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Elijah said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me to.” (1 Kings 19:10)

From the mountain top to the deep valley below, we all experience what the prophet Elijah experienced from time to time. It’s called burn out. Now I know some Christians are not willing to admit it because they have been taught to keep a “stiff upper lip” and never let anyone “see you sweat.” But this is as sad as it is silly. Because we have not been perfected yet, and won’t be until we are received into glory, we will all, from time to time, go through “Broom Tree Experiences” –

Exhausted

Depressed

Feeling Alone

Ready To Give Up

God had just used the prophet Elijah to defend His glory by defeating 450 prophets of Baal. And after one of the greatest victories in all of the Bible, he has come to the end of his proverbial rope because the pagan queen Jezebel sent word to him that she was going to kill him by the next night. So, Elijah experiences a false sense of failure and wants to simply end it all and make the pain go away, “He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die” (1 Kings 19:4). BUT GOD will have none of it. God meets Elijah in his place of deep need and miraculously provides for his needs. Elijah needs refreshment and restoration, and God provides food, both physical and spiritual. As he slept under the broom tree, the angel of the Lord shows up saying, “Arise and eat!”  

We have all found ourselves in “Broom Tree Experiences. We have given our all in the service of God and our all just didn’t seem like enough. We felt drained, depressed, and in utter despair. Then God showed up. And He keeps showing up every time we go through these seasons of struggle. When you find yourself under the broom tree for whatever reason, remember the Lord is with you, for you, and in you, and the words He spoke to Elijah He is speaking to you, “Arise and eat!” What a word of encouragement for every Broom Tree Believer.   

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. (Psalm 90:1)

Regardless of where we live, whether a mansion on a mountain or a tent in the wilderness, our God is to be our Dwelling Place. This biblical concept of God as our dwelling place expresses the dependability, reliability, stability, and immovability we have when we are resting in the Creator of the universe. Nobody understood this better than Moses, who was called by God to deliver His people out of bondage in Egypt, and wandered around in the desert for forty years with no permanent place to live. Our passage of Scripture comes from the only Psalm attributed to Moses who knew best what it meant to have God as his dwelling place. Check out how other psalmists put this truth:

You hide them in the secret place of Your presence (Psalm 31:20)

You are my hiding place (Psalm 32:7)

God is our refuge and strength (Psalm 46:1)

You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance (Psalm 71:3)

I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!” (Psalm 91:2)

Here is something else to consider with God as your divine dwelling place. You have unbroken fellowship and friendship with Him. When Jesus died on the cross for your sins, it was because He wanted to be in an intimate and loving relationship with you. In the Gospel of John, he tells us that Jesus came to “tabernacle” with us (John 1:14). When you find those times in your life when God seems distant, remember, it was you who moved, not Him. Jesus has promised to never leave nor forsake you, no matter what you do. The life, death, and resurrection of our Lord has given all of us access to Him moment by moment in order to enjoy the fullness of joy in His presence.

Let’s close with one of the most encouraging verses in all of sacred Scripture that should be written on your heart and emblazoned on your mind because you dwell with God:

Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Revelation 21:3).

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

One of the things that encourages me most about the Bible is all of the brokenness that is to be found in the lives of all of the so-called heroes of the faith. If there was no other reason to believe in the truth of the Bible, and there are many other reasons to be sure, seeing how the Bible does not hide all of the flaws, warts, blemishes of God’s people would be enough for me. Who would ever put such weakness and brokenness into a story other than God. Think about some of these biblical characters:

• Adam – the first man blamed God and Eve for falling into sin
• Abraham – the father of the faith, said his wife was his sister to save his own skin
• Jacob – stole his brother Esau’s birthright
• Moses – murdered an Egyptian taskmaster trying to help his people Israel
• Aaron – helped the Israelites create a golden calf to be worshipped in place of God
• David – committed adultery and murder
• Jonah – ran away from God’s call in his life
• Matthew – was a hated and despised tax collector before Jesus called him
• Martha – was encumbered by her service to Jesus and angry at her sister Mary
• James and John – wanted chief seats in God’s kingdom
• Peter – denied even knowing Jesus three times on the night he was betrayed
• Paul – arrested, jailed, and murdered early Christians before Jesus called him into service

The Word of God is unabashedly open and honest about the reality of the human condition and all of its brokenness. God does not hide it. God does not minimize it. God simply shows us we are all broken and beautiful in more ways than we would like to admit. I believe the honesty of the Bible is one of the best defenses for its truth. The Bible’s depiction of the reality of life in a fallen and broken world is as accurate as it is encouraging. We do not need to shy away from our brokenness and let the enemy convince us that God cannot use us. God uses broken people. God uses flawed people. God uses really messed up people because that is all He has in this world. We are all misfits for our Master.

So, where has your brokenness kept you from doing what God is calling you to do? Be encouraged by all of the broken people in the Bible knowing that God uses broken people to make His world whole once again, and that includes you and your beautiful brokenness.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.  (John 8:32)

The title of today’s word of encouragement comes from Charles Dickens 1859 classic novel, A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens was comparing and contrasting life in London and Paris during the French Revolution. He begins his tale with a clear vision that no matter how good it is in life, it simply cannot be matched with all the bad that goes with it. Conflict is all around us and in us – good and evil; light and darkness; wisdom and folly; love and hatred. And I think this accurately describes not only our cultural moment for the church today, but all of our individual lives on this side of glory. In looking back at our lives, we can all see times we would describe as both best and worst, yet our Lord used all of it for His glory and our good.

While the number of professing Christians are going up, the understanding of biblical Christianity is going down. Many in the church today know little of the Bible, and even less of the weight of God’s glory. They sit under the teaching of theologically barren pulpits that preach a false gospel of prosperity that mutes the biblical message of suffering, while at the same time magnifies the message that you can have your best life now. While numbers are up, knowledge is down. It is the best of times and the worst of times.

So, what is the best way forward? We need to remember there is a Truth and His name is Jesus Christ. Jesus is in control of all things at all times and in the lives of all people. He is working everything out according to His plan and purpose for the expansion of His kingdom. When Jesus promised trouble in this world, He was essentially promising we would experience both the best of times and the worst of times, but we would never experience either alone. Paul knew this truth by way of personal experience.

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret to being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. (Philippians 4:12)

Paul experienced the best of times and the worst of times throughout his ministry of service to Jesus.  And he provides the key that unlocks the door to living the “tail of these two cities” in the following verse – “I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME!” Regardless of the times we are currently experiencing, whether good or bad, high or low, best or worst, when we have the Truth in us, with us, and working through us, we have all we need to do all the things God has called us to do.

Because nothing is new under the sun, every age can say “It was the best of times and it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” Keep Jesus on the throne of your life and for you, it will always be a “spring of hope” even if you find yourself in “the winter of despair.”

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.  (2 Timothy 1:7)

Young Timothy was Paul’s spiritual son in the faith and he was facing mounting opposition to his service to our Lord, much of it because he was young in the faith. In today’s passage Paul was providing Timothy with eternal encouragement that can be summed up in a single statement – RESTORE YOUR ROAR!

Notice the three characteristics that Paul sets forth in encouraging Timothy as a leader in the church: power, love, and self-discipline. Let’s take a brief look at each one of these vital characteristics for every Christian that is available for appropriating because of the presence of the Holy Spirit that dwells within.

Power – because God is omnipotent, we have unlimited power at our disposal to be used for the expansion of His Kingdom. We must never forget that the same power that raised Jesus from death to life is the same power that dwells within each child of God . . . and greater is the power within us than any power that comes up against us.

Love – because God is love, we can be loving to everyone, even those who stand in opposition to us. We love because He first loved us and because of the presence of the Holy Spirit we are empowered to love even the unlovable. Love is to flow through us because it flows from our Fountainhead that can never run dry.

Self-discipline – as the writer of Hebrews tells us, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11). To be sure, self-discipline is painful, but it produces what is necessary for us to fulfill our calling.

So, in looking at your life right now, how would you rate yourself in the areas of power, love, and self-discipline? In which area are you the strongest? Weakest? Know this, He who began this good work in you has promised to complete it. God is not finished with you yet. Let Him have His way with you and you will see yourself growing daily in the power, love, and self-discipline that is yours because you are His and the Lion from the tribe of Judah has promised to RESTORE YOUR ROAR!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 4:19)

When we mix up our understanding of needs and wants, we can find ourselves dissatisfied with our lot in life. But what we must remember is God has promise to meet our every need, not our every want. If God cares for the birds of the air and the flowers of the field, and He does, He surely cares for you and will fulfill His promise to meet your needs, not just daily, but moment by moment. The only time your needs will not be met on this side of the grave, is when you have completed your ministry of service to Him and breathe your last. For then, you shall be in glory.

But does this truth mean God has no concern for our wants and ever satisfying them in our lives? Nothing could be further from the truth. One of the most memorable passages of Scripture can be found in Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” When we are delighting in the Lord, the Lord is delighting to give us our desires because our desires are in line with His desires for us. God delights in blessing His people with good things and we are to receive them with joy and thanksgiving, knowing that we are blessed to be a blessing to others.

Think about it from a parent’s perspective if you have children. Don’t you want to give your children the very best life has to offer. Of course you do, and that is because you love them. Well, the same is true for God. He loves all of His children and delights in giving them the desires of their hearts. Now the deepest biblical understanding in what it means to “delight in the Lord” is to make our Lord our greatest delight. When we do, we can be assured that our Lord will delight in not only meeting our needs, but in delivering to us the deepest desires of our heart.

As a pastor, I am often asked, “How do I know if I am truly delighting in the Lord?” The answer can be found only in looking at your time. If all you are using out of the 168 hours you have been given each week is 1 hour of it in the presence of your Lord, rest assured, delight for you is more like a duty. But if you are spending time each day on your knees and in His book, then expect your desires to be His desires for you and get ready to receive all that God has purposed and planned for your life. When it comes to the goodness of our God, I believe both needs and wants are ours when God is our greatest good.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

When you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God. (Genesis 3:5)

To be sure, there is much to be understood about the first temptation in the Garden of Eden that the devil delivered to Adam and Eve. There are many layers to the lies of the devil, but at bottom, was the temptation of self-sufficiency. Made by God, for God, Adan and Eve were to live in total and utter dependence upon God, as it says, “in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). It was God’s divine design for mankind to live in conscious, continuous, and consistent dependence upon Him.

In this first temptation of self-sufficiency, the devil tempted man to live in autonomy (a state of self-governing self-sufficiency) from the Almighty. So strong was this temptation presented by the devil, Eve first, followed by Adam, “saw the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, took some and ate it” (Genesis 3:6). But the good news of the gospel shows up immediately when God pursues rebels on the run, promises to send a Savior, and then graciously works in the lives of His people to cause them to realize their total dependence upon Him. That is the summary of the entire story-line of God’s people Israel. Here is how Moses described it.

Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeing you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 8:2-3)

When they were hungry, God fed them. When they were thirsty, God gave them water to drink. You would think after forty years in the desert the Israelites would not need any reminders of their total dependence upon God and how He met their every need. But they did . . . and so do we. Regardless of where we live and where this finds us, we are as dependent upon God to meet our needs as the Israelites were in their wilderness experience. How instructive to read, “causing you to hunger and then feeding you.” Regardless of the need, God has promised to meet it in the glorious riches of Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

Here is a great way to cause us to remember just how dependent we are upon God: What do you have that you have not been given? Everything we have comes from God and the more we have the more we are in debt to the One who has given it to us. Now, what we receive from the hand of God may not seem as miraculous as the food and water in the desert, but through His providential care, most often, using ordinary and mundane means, it is and we are to see it that way in order to slay the sin of self-sufficiency.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24)

There is a great little story I remember that speaks into conquering sin in our lives: There was this young boy who was struggling with a variety of temptations and so the parents invited the pastor to come and speak with him. After the young boy shared with the pastor some of the devil’s temptations, the pastor responded, “The next time the devil comes knocking, just ask Jesus to get the door.”

Here is what we need to remember when it comes to sin. Yes, sin still remains in the life of the child of God. Just read through Romans chapter seven if there is any doubt about sin in the life of the believer after salvation. But sin no longer reigns in that life. The power of sin was broken on the cross when Jesus paid the penalty for our sins . . . all our sins. But that’s not all. The power of death was conquered on that first Easter morning when Jesus walked out of the grave. Before Jesus showed up, all we could ever do was sin. But after Jesus raises us from death to life and gives us the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, we have to ability, for the very first time, not to sin. Here is how Paul puts this powerful truth.

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13).   

Here are a few truths to encourage you from this passage: everyone is tempted and temptation is not a sin. Never feel like you have been singled-out when wrong desires rear their ugly heads; because others have resisted temptation, you too can resist temptation – we all have the same Spirit and the same power to fight against the slings and arrows of the devil; God always makes a way out for all of us, if we are willing to walk in it.

So, is there any particular struggle you are facing in your life right now? Something in your personal life . . . professional life . . . family life? Just remember, when the devil comes knocking with his many temptations, just ask Jesus to get the door and I promise you, He will make sure that particular temptation will not overtake you. Let me close with a word of caution for all of us: we should never try and answer the door ourselves. None of us are strong enough. We simply need to ask Jesus to answer the door of temptation, and we shall receive our deliverance.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Carry each other’s burdens. (Galatians 6:2)

At first glance, when reading this title, you might be thinking I will be sharing some tips from our sport training ministry to help build up your upper body shoulder strength. Now, as much as I do enjoy this aspect of our church ministry having spent most of my life in sports, martial arts, coaching and training athletes, the shoulder strength I am talking about has nothing to do with weight lifting, but rather lifting weight.

Regardless of your age, athletic experience, physical ability, or station in life, as a child of God you have been given supernatural shoulder strength to help others in a variety of different ways. As Christians, we are called to bear one another’s burdens. We are called to let others lean on us when they are not strong. We are called to be a shoulder to cry on. We all have the perfect amount of shoulder strength to be a blessing to others in their time of need. It is God who has ordained the church to be His shoulders to help strengthen others in their time of need. Only when the entire body of Christ is engaged and working together will we be what God in Christ died to make us.    

So, how has God been using your shoulders lately? Remember, this has nothing to do with ability. It has everything to do with availability. God gives the ability to all of His children to be sources of shoulder strength to others. But it is up to us to make ourselves available to be used by God for the good of others. Just think back to the last time you needed a shoulder to cry on or someone came along side of you to help you bear a particular burden. We really do need each other because God will work no needless miracle to ease a burden when He has His children to be His shoulder strength.

Take some time to consider those closest to you and how you might be able to meet some particular need. Ask God to show you how He wants to use you in the life of someone who needs your shoulder strength, and you will be blessed beyond measure, “and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). And don’t forget, when you are helping carry someone’s burden, Jesus is carrying you every step of the way.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!