Author Archives: Pastor Tommy

I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. (Romans 7:19-20)

And that is why we hate sin! We are in a constant struggle against sin and dealing with the warfare within. And note this: if the great apostle Paul was not immune to struggle with sin living within him, you and I certainly are not.

So how do we get better at winning the war within?

First, we give the struggle over to the Lord and cry out with the apostle Paul, “What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” And the answer? “Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25).

Saint Augustine understood this war from his own internal struggle and penned these profound words:

By these links, as it were, a chain was I held, shackled with a hard bondage. So these my two wills—the one old, the other new, the one carnal, the other spiritual—contended together, and by their discord disturbed my soul.

Their discord disturbed my soul . . . This is the daily experience of every child of God. Inasmuch as sin no longer reigns over us because of the cross work of our Lord Jesus Christ, it still remains in us. We will contend with sin during every step on the stairway to heaven.

But sin need not keep us captive as a conquered victim! Jesus gave us probably the greatest weapon for winning the war within, and that weapon is clearly explained in Holy Scripture. All three Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—chronicle Satan’s efforts to tempt Jesus after His forty-day wilderness experience, only to be defeated by Jesus’ use of the power of the Word of God to blunt Satan’s temptation and win the war within. Three times Satan dangled temptation, and three times Jesus quoted Scripture: “It is written,” our Lord said. “It is written . . . It is written.” The devil was defeated and finally left Jesus alone.

So . . . how often are you taking up “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17) in your battle against the temptations you face? Remember, if you are going to use the Word of God in your war against sin, you must know the Word of God. In other words, you must be in the Word of God daily so that the Word of God gets in you. Add to that a consistent prayer life and communion with the saints at your local church, and you have the spiritual weapons you need to slay sin and win the war that rages within.

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

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.  (James 1:19)

On Monday we began a three-part series of articles about three keys to kingdom living. I’ve said that these articles are not meant to encourage us to live a self-controlled life, but more specifically a “Savior-controlled” life. Part One presented the first key to kingdom living: being “quick to listen.” Part Two highlighted the second key to kingdom living: being “slow to speak.” Today we will conclude with a discussion of the third key: being “slow to become angry.”

KEY # 3 – Be slow to become angry!

To be sure, this third key flows out of the first two. When we are quick to listen and slow to speak, we will be slow to become angry, and that is a good thing . . . a very good thing indeed! Christian counselors report that more than half of their clients seek help with their inability to control their anger. This further confirms the truth of how poorly we are at being both quick to listen and slow to speak. Scripture often reminds us of the virtue of being slow to become angry:

A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense. (Proverbs 19:11)

Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city. (Proverbs 16:32)

To be sure, there is a righteous anger, and we are right to express it. The challenge is that we are so broken, we often believe we are expressing righteous anger when in fact we are simply sinning with our man-centered anger. This is most often the case when we lash out at those who have differing opinions from us. Angry outbursts do nothing to advance our position and most often leave hurting hearts and seared souls in their wake. In addition, our inappropriate anger hinders us from hearing God’s leading.

In closing out this week, let me ask you one last time: On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your ability to be slow to become angry? How would those closest to you rate you? The three keys to kingdom living—being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry—are the keys that unlock the door leading to living the Savior-controlled life God is calling us to live. And that makes all the difference in the world!

Think about it this way: most of our conflicts and unhappiness would dissolve and disappear if we would surrender control of our lives to our Savior and consciously practice being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.

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

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.  (James 1:19)

On Monday we began a three-part series of articles about three keys to kingdom living. As I said, this is not just about living a self-controlled life, but more specifically a “Savior-controlled” life. Part One presented the first key to kingdom living: being “quick to listen.” Today, we will look at the second key: being “slow to speak.”

KEY # 2 – Be slow to speak!

James makes it clear that the twin towers of clear communication are being quick to listen AND slow to speak. Scripture has much to say about the critical importance of being able to control the tongue.

Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues. (Proverbs 17:28)

Do you see someone who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for them. (Proverbs 29:20)

Most of us have heard the wise adage, “We have been created with one mouth and two ears, so we ought to be listening twice as much as we are speaking.” Let me encourage you to reflect for a moment: does that saying describe your communication style? We can all look back at our lives and recall the times when we were not slow to speak and the problems that caused us. Have you ever said something that you wish you could take back as if it had never been said? We have all done that because we are all fallen, broken, and hurting. And know this: hurting people hurt others. When we feel hurt or attacked, our default mode is to lash back with words designed to hurt.

Perhaps no better advice outside of the Bible was ever given than these profound words from St. Francis of Assisi: “Seek to understand before seeking to be understood.” When we seek to understand another person more than we seek to be understood ourselves, we will be slow to speak and quick to listen. This is a sign of great maturity and humility, and being “quick to listen, slow to speak” are keys to ministering to others at their level of deepest need.

So . . . let me ask you a very similar question to the one I asked on Monday: on a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your ability to be slow to speak? How would those closest to you rate you? This second key to kingdom living unlocks the door leading to being slow to speak.

Next, we will take a look at the third and final key: slow to become angry.

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

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.  (James 1:19)

These words from James remind us of the critical importance of self-control in the life of the saints of God, especially as it relates to the words we use. Later in his epistle, James goes on to say this about the tongue:

The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. (James 3:5-6)

This three-part series about kingdom living is about three keys to living, not just a self-controlled life, but more specifically a “Savior-controlled” life. Throughout this week we will take a brief look at each of these three keys individually, with the goal of being able to demonstrate increasing Savior-control in the areas of life that matter most.

KEY # 1 – Be quick to listen!

Have you ever wondered why the Spirit of God moved James to instruct us to be “quick to listen?” The answer, of course, is that we are often very slow to listen, both to God and to others. Most of us talk way too much and listen way too little. And when we do this to other people, we send an unmistakable message that we believe that what we have to say is far more important than what they have to say.

This advice to “be quick to listen” is good advice for everyone, everywhere, and at all times.

• Corporations must listen to their clients
• Businesses must listen to their customers
• Organizations must listen to their employees
• Players must listen to their coaches
• Students must listen to their teachers
• Children must listen to their parents & parents must listen to their children
• Husbands must listen to their wives & wives must listen to their husbands

This list could easily be expanded to fill pages. Being quick to listen shouts to the person speaking, “I CARE ABOUT YOU AND WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY!” Every Christian is called to witness for Jesus and a good witness is a good listener. Only those who have mastered the skill of listening well will be able to discern the needs of others, and therefore be able to minister more effectively.

Entire books have been written about the critical importance of listening to God; I will give you just one verse from Scripture here. Speaking to Christians everywhere, our Lord says this:

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.  (Revelation 3:20)

If we expect to enjoy fellowship with our heavenly Father, we must be quick to listen to His Word to us. As Peter confessed to Jesus, “You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). We must be quick to listen to others in order to build strong horizontal relationships with them, but we must be even quicker to listen to the Word of God, in order to grow in our life-giving vertical relationship with our Redeemer.

So . . . on a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your ability to be quick to listen? How would those closest to you rate you? The first key to kingdom living unlocks the door leading to listening well, both to God and to others.

Next we will take a look at the second key: slow to speak.

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

Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you.” (Mark 10:28)

Jesus had been speaking to the Rich Young Man and teaching him about the Kingdom of God. Peter, who was never at a loss for words, spoke up and uttered perhaps the greatest expression of surrender in all of sacred Scripture. I don’t know how many of us could honestly say what Peter said to Jesus: “We have left everything to follow you!”

When we truly surrender our lives to Jesus, we experience a special blessing that will only be found on the other side of surrender. C. S. Lewis put it this way: “The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become—because He made us.”

To surrender is to say “YES” to God and “NO” to everyone and everything else. If we surrender to self instead, and say “No” to God, we deny our own humanity . . . which is exactly what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. They refused to surrender God (to depend, to trust, to count on Him), and their stubborn rebellion plunged all of creation into a tailspin of brokenness. But God did not leave them—or us—in that state of despair. The perfect, surrendered Savior was already on His way to reverse the curse brought on by Adam and Eve’s sin.

The life of Jesus Christ teaches us that surrender to God is not a passive resignation that leads to fatalism and accepting the status quo. The surrendered life is a life that is offered and available to be used by God—whenever and wherever He chooses—even when it does not make sense to us.

Surrender did not make sense to Abraham when God told him to sacrifice Isaac, yet Abraham set out in obedience early the next morning, and God blessed him (and us) with one of the most beautiful pictures of substitutionary atonement in all of Scripture. Surrender did not make sense to Moses, but he was obedient to God’s call and returned to Egypt to deliver God’s people out of bondage. Surrender did not make sense to Saul as he was persecuting the first century church, but he was obedient to God’s call and went on to become the apostle Paul and write more than half of the New Testament.

Let me ask you two critical questions: Where in your life is God calling you to surrender? And could it be that you are resisting simply because it doesn’t make sense to you? William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, once said, “The greatness of a man’s power is in the measure of his surrender.” On a scale of 1-10, how great is your power as it measured by your surrender to the Savior—personally . . . professionally . . . relationally?

Look at it this way:

EVERYONE SURRENDERS TO SOMETHING!

If you are not living a surrendered life to God, you are most certainly living a life that is surrendered to something smaller than God. For many, that “something” can be found in this list: power, prestige, position, prosperity, or pleasure.

Let me encourage you to resolve today to surrender as Peter did and to leave everything behind and follow Jesus. There truly is no sweeter life to be living!

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

Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.  (Psalm 119:165)

Do you have a special place that you go to when you want escape the hustle and bustle of life and enjoy a moment of peace? I’ve heard stories of mothers of young children locking themselves in a bathroom or closet just to “get away from it all” for a few minutes. The world we live in longs to experience peace . . . often peace at any price. And sadly, there are a great many people who never find it. Well, I have a word of cosmic comfort for you today; I’d like to tell you about a “peaceful place” that is like no other place you’ll find on this side of the grave.

When was the last time you thought of the Bible as that “special place” for you to go and find peace? All too often we see the Scriptures as the place of last resort after we have tried everything else.

But this is not for you! The psalmist knew the only place where he could consistently find peace: in the Word of God! And notice the kind of peace Psalm 119 identifies: “great peace.” Great peace is offered to those who look to nothing smaller than God and His Holy Word.

So here is a question that must be asked. Do you love the Word of God? Perhaps the best way to objectively answer that question is by looking at the amount of time you spend in the Word of God—daily . . . weekly . . . monthly. When you love something, regardless of what it might be—a favorite food, a faithful pet, or an enjoyable hobby—you simply want to spend time with it. Think about those movies you love so much that you can watch them over and over and over again, to the point where you know what the actors are going to say before they say it. Can the same be said about your desire to read through the Bible over and over and over again?

Here’s one other thing to consider before we leave today’s passage: those who love the Word of God have stability, even when others around them stumble. Think about it this way: whether in a season of plenty and prosperity or a period of scarcity and lack, the one who loves God’s Word does not stumble, like so many do who find it difficult navigating the waters of either advantage or adversity. Those who are anchored in the truths of the Almighty are able to rise above the challenges of temporal life.

Remember, the more time you spend with God in His Word, the greater the peace you will experience in your life . . . regardless of the circumstances you face.

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

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)

Other than our Lord Jesus Christ, no one in all of sacred Scripture endured more suffering than the apostle Paul. Paul did not pen his epistles from some cushy ivory tower; rather, many of Paul’s letters while he was sitting on cold prison floors while chained to Roman guards. But he endured so much more than that!

• He was scourged by the religious leaders five times
• He was beaten with rods three times
• He was shipwrecked three times
• He spent a night and a day adrift at sea
• He was stoned one time
• He was in danger from rivers and robbers
• He was in danger in cities and deserts and on the sea
• He endured hunger, thirst, and sleepless nights

So how could a man who had experienced so much pain and suffering say, “When I am weak, then I am strong?” The answer is that in his human weakness, Paul relied on and rested in God’s supernatural strength . . . the strength that sustained him through everything he had to endure for the advancement of the Gospel.

As paradoxical as it seems, it is only when we acknowledge our own weakness that we begin to advance in the strength of our Savior. Trusting in our own strength removes Jesus from the throne of our lives and inevitably leads to pride and self-sufficiency. But when we acknowledge our own weakness, God pours His strength out into our lives.

Now, God is not expecting us to seek to be weak. We have been commanded by God to do everything in our power to accomplish His will in our lives. Paul himself was inspired to exhort us, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart” (Colossians 3:23). But when we realize that we cannot do it all in our own strength, we begin to tap into the strength of the Almighty. Without our weakness, we would never realize our need for God’s grace to sustain us when the storms winds of life are blowing. Paul knew it was only through the strength of his Savior that he was able to fight the good fight of faith and finish his race.

So . . . do you know this truth today? When you sense your human weakness, do you lean more into your Lord? The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that resides in you. And that power is able to sustain you in every storm. Remember, only what we do in His strength brings glory to God and eternal good to others.

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

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.  (John 17:15)

What a powerful prayer Jesus sets before us this day! If Jesus is not praying that the Father would take us out of this world, that means we still have kingdom work to do. If our work was finished, we would be at home with our Lord. Because we are not yet home, we have unfinished business to complete for the glory of God and the good of others. Soon enough we will have finished the good fight of faith; but until we do, let us continue doing all God has called us to do with everything He has given us to do it with.

I’m sure that every servant of the Most High God has occasionally thought the same thoughts as the apostle Paul:

I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.  (Philippians 1:23-24)

It would indeed be far better for us to be absent from our bodies and present with our Lord Jesus Christ, but that blessed existence will not be ours until we have finished the work He has set before us. God’s best for us is often not what we want, but rather what He wants for us. And because you are reading this right now, it is “more necessary” for you to remain where you are, to grow where you are planted, and to serve all those whom God places in your path. Remember, God doesn’t need you; He wants you . . . but everyone else needs you, whether they want you or not!

I recognize that we sometimes look forward to departing this life and being with our Lord simply because of the struggles and storms we face in this life. Our thoughts may sometimes yearn more for the absence of storms than for the presence of our Savior. But that is only because we are fallen, broken human beings who take our eyes off of Jesus, as Peter did when he stepped out of the boat and walked on water . . . until he took his eyes off of Jesus and started looking fearfully at the wind and the waves. To guard against this tendency that we all have, let us remember the prayer of our Lord and commit the life we have left on this earth to be used by God for anything He so desires to use us for, for as long as He sees fit.

We know we have unfinished business because we still have life. There may be some blinking beacons of unfinished business in your life right now that would benefit from your attention. Perhaps it is related to your education? Possibly it is in a relationship within your family? Maybe it is relating to your career or finances? Whatever it might be, go to work on it in the strength of the Lord and rest in the truth that God knows when it will be finished.

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

I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. (1 Corinthians 1:4)

Here are two of the most forgotten words in the English language: “Thank You!” These words should be applied to both our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationships with each other.

So let me ask you right now: When was the last time you gratefully, wholeheartedly said those two words to God . . . and to others?

Here is an idea to keep in mind that should help you and I strengthen our commitment to using these two forgotten words. When was the last time someone said “Thank you” to you for something you did? How did it make you feel? First, their words let you know you were appreciated. Second, didn’t you feel affirmed in the deep place, knowing that the one who was thanking you was acknowledging your importance in their life?

Sadly, we live in a cultural context of entitlement, a mindset that no longer sees much need of thanksgiving. After all, if you are “entitled” to something, there is no need to be thankful when you get it. When this sense of entitlement rises to the level of God and His gift of eternal life, it becomes the ultimate blasphemy.

Look at it this way: if you think you have earned God’s favor and merited your way into eternal life, there is no one to thank but yourself. As Paul observed in his epistle to the Romans, “To the one who works, his pay is not credited due to grace but due to obligation” (Romans 4:4 NET). In other words, if you believe that you earned eternal life by “living a good life,” then eternal life is not a gift; God is obliged to repay your good works with eternal life. But when you see everything—including eternal life—as a gift from God’s gracious hand, gratitude begins to seize you and the two words “Thank you” begin to flow through you.

When you think about everything in your life right now, is there anything you have that you have not been given? Paul asked the Christians at Corinth, “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). Paul’s rhetorical question had been answered years before by John the Baptist, who said, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven” (John 3:27 ESV). And even when you “earned” something by the sweat of your brow, that strength and skill to labor is a gift from God, who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways (Daniel 5:23).

Cicero once said, “A thankful heart is . . . the parent of all other virtues.” In other words, a thankful heart is the key that unlocks the door leading to living a life that truly matters.

Let me close with two final thoughts. First, is there anyone in your life right now who could benefit by hearing those two words—“Thank you!”—from you today? Second, what should you be thanking God for right now? The more you say “Thank you,” the more you will become thankful, and that is a very attractive quality—both to God and to all those He places in your life.

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

The Lord your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you. But the Lord your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed.  (Deuteronomy 7:22-23)

If you are anything like me, you would much rather experience victory all at once, not “little by little.” I would, more often than not, prefer to win with a single blow to the enemies of God than do battle day after day after day after day. But regardless of what we might prefer, we all know full well that it often takes years to break through strongholds in order to expand the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

When the Lord told the people of Israel, “You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once,” we know He had a perfect reason for saying so. A victory too easily won might just as easily be overrun. Achieving the victory is one thing; maintaining the victory is another thing altogether. God must not only give us the victory, He must also grow us through the victory in order to maintain the ground our God has gained for us. And that beloved, takes time . . . often a great deal of time!

The years of serving as a pastor have taught me that God, in His providence, often chooses to work by degrees. To be sure, we can look back and see the miraculous that happened in a moment. Perhaps God brought you through a sickness. Maybe God delivered you from the hands of a gossip or slanderer. Possibly God met a financial need in an instant. But for the most part, God chooses to work His miracles in our lives by degrees, and here are three reasons why:

#1. He increases our dependence upon Him

#2. He increases our faith in Him

#3. He increases our character through Him

Let us thank our God today for the victories He brings into our lives little by little. It really does help us to release our “white-knuckle” grip on fleshly security! Thank God for those incremental advances, because we can be fully assured that one day soon, God will add together your many “littles” and bring you into a final, victorious whole.

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