Author Archives: Pastor Tommy

Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. (Psalm 51:12)

Storms that stir up chaos in our lives are inevitable. I often remind our congregation that all of us are either in the middle of a storm, or we’re coming out of a storm, or we’re on the verge of going back into another storm. Chaos is simply a part of life on this side of the grave. Yet even when we are right in the middle of seasons of chaos, we find great comfort because of the One who is with us in every storm we face.

Our passage today comes from David’s prayer of repentance after he was confronted by the prophet Nathan. You may remember that David slept with another man’s wife, got her pregnant, tried to cover it up, and when that didn’t work, he ordered for her husband to be killed on the battlefield. This whipped up a storm that wreaked havoc in David’s life and the lives of many others, and David was the one fully responsible for it all.

This is not always the case. To be sure, some storms are a result of our sinful rebellion, but others are simply a result of the brokenness in our world and the people around us. But either way, chaos will come, and the only way to get through it is to cry out to Christ for the comfort only He can bring.

David’s plea for forgiveness was a plea for comfort. David’s plea for mercy was a plea for comfort. David’s plea for cleansing was a plea for comfort. And what was “comfort” for David? It was the restoration of the joy of salvation. Do you remember when you were first saved? Do you remember the overwhelming joy you experienced? If you were saved as a child and do not remember a particular experience, surely you can remember a time when you knew the joy of salvation — the joy of walking with God through the details of your life.

So if you find yourself in a storm of your own making, do like David did and confess your sins! That will set you on the path to restoring the joy of your salvation. And if you find yourself in a storm that God simply sent for your good and His glory, do like David did and ask that God would grant you a willing spirit to rise above the waves of challenge, knowing that God is sustaining you through chaos into comfort.

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

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)

Everyone in the world has the exact same number of hours in a week . . . 168 . . . so how are we to explain the difference in the production level of the high achievers? The answer is found in a single word – priorities! It has been well said that “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.”

What have you been aiming at lately in life? Is it in line with God’s plan and purpose for your life?

For the Christian, ranking an order of priorities for life is not something we need to try and figure out or even pray about. Jesus made it perfectly clear what our priorities are to be in life. To be sure, if we are married, our spouse is to be a high priority. If we are a parent, our children are to be a high priority. If we are working, our job is to be a high priority. But regardless of our roles in life, we are, first and foremost, a child of God, and our highest priority in life must be Jesus. As the Lord said in our verse for today, we are to seek God first in life. When we do, we can rest assured that all the other priorities in life will fall into place. But that will only happen when God and God alone is seated on the throne of our lives.

When we allow anything to move God off the throne of our lives, we set ourselves up for failure. We may be putting in lots of hours and working with a disciplined effort, but the results will always be less than God’s best for our lives, because we are seeking less than God’s best. The apostle Paul helped us recognize the importance of making the most of the time God has given to us by admonishing us that “Now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for our salvation is nearer than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11). Remember this powerful truth: When you spend an hour you have one less hour to spend . . . so spend it wisely.

I doubt that anyone would disagree with the statement that the less time there is in life, the more valuable it becomes. As Paul said, we are closer to our salvation than when we first believed. We are nearing the Jordan, and soon we shall cross it and enter into our Promised Land. But before we do, let us take time to evaluate our priorities and make sure we have them in the right order: God first and everything else after God.

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

Not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and this hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given us. (Romans 5:3-5 NASB)

On Monday we saw that there is hope that can only disappoint us, because that hope is located in something smaller than God. Today we will plumb the depths of a hope that cannot and will not disappoint, because that hope is found in the One and Only, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, Jesus Christ Himself. And for that truth, we must be eternally humble and thankful.

When the Bible speaks of “hope,” we are to understand it as a confident assurance of our good God working all things together for our good, no matter what. Unlike the typical way in which we use the word “hope” to mean we wish something will happen, a wish grounded in uncertainty (as in “I hope we have good weather tomorrow”), biblical hope is as certain as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. Because this hope springs from the heart of God, we can rest assured that it cannot fail, it cannot falter, and it absolutely will not disappoint. This “holy” hope that springs forth from our Holy God is the message we must preach to ourselves — not just daily, but moment by moment. It is, as the psalmist shows us, a kind of arguing within the soul, what I call preaching to yourself:

“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God” Psalm 42:5

Our sinful nature is continually cast down and daily disquieted, which is why we must be proactive and intentional about keeping this hope before us as “a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul” (Hebrews 6:19 ESV). We must see it, we must speak it, and we must savor it, regardless of the circumstances we are facing in life. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews described this hope beautifully: “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). You see, this hope that is rooted in Jesus is full of faith, and the faith that is rooted in Jesus is full of hope . . . and that hope simply cannot disappoint.

As you ready yourself for Thanksgiving tomorrow, would this not be a good time to prayerfully consider just how thankful you truly are for this hope that cannot and will not disappoint? Remember, the certainty of this hope that promises the blessings of God comes through the presence of the promised Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). And when you find yourself in a season when storm winds are blowing and you feel discouragement tugging at your thoughts, remember the ultimate hope: the return of Jesus Christ, who will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and there will be no more pain, no more sorrow, and no more death.

Oh, what a glorious hope we have! It cannot and will not disappoint, because our hope is rooted in the conquering King.

Have a hope-filled Thanksgiving!

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

Not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and this hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:3-5 NASB)

This being Thanksgiving week, I would like to help prepare our hearts with a two-part message rooted in a hope that will not disappoint us — not ever.

Because we live in a fallen and broken world as fallen and broken people, there is nothing we have ever been involved in that did not deliver us some kind of disappointment at one time or another. Whether it was the job we hoped to get, the relationship we deeply desired, or that one thing we waited and saved for years to purchase, eventually, all of it eventually delivered us some measure of disappointment . . . in many cases a super-sized measure! But when we consider this sad reality, we know that this is the only thing this fallen world can deliver.

We can take just a cursory glance at the evening news, and virtually any hope we are clinging to seems to be dashed against the rocks of disappointment by unending waves of bad news. With every story, it seems like crime pays, honesty is not the best policy, and the bad guys keep right on doing bad things. A hit song from a secular band in the 1970s lamented that “The rats keep winning the rat race,” and that would certainly seem to describe our world today. And when all that dust settles, if we are still feeling even a little bit hopeful, we find enough disappointment within ourselves to last two lifetimes. I can testify that far too often in my own life, even when I am right about something, I inevitably deliver the message the wrong way, feelings are hurt, and hope disappoints once again.

So what is the way forward when life seems to be continually marked by one step forward and two steps back? We must reevaluate where we have placed our hope. When we place our hope in anything in this life, we will always be disappointed. Yet even in the hope that disappoints us, we have reason to be thankful, because God is at work through the grace of disappointment. You see, if the things of this life could provide a hope that did not disappoint, we would only grow into a fraction of the person God is calling us to be, and we would grow cold and distant in our relationship with Him.

The key that unlocks the door leading to a hope that does not disappoint is to place that hope, not in something, but in Someone, and His name is Jesus Christ. At this level of living, we have a hope that simply cannot disappoint, because it will be rooted in the One who will not disappoint us in any way — ever!

We will take a closer look at that truth on Wednesday.

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

Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” (Mark 5:36)

A man named Jairus, the elected ruler of the local synagogue, sought out Jesus because his daughter was dying. Jairus believed Jesus could heal her with simply a touch of His hand, and he fell at the Lord’s feet, pleading earnestly with Jesus to come to his home and heal his daughter. Jesus readily agreed, but along the way, Jesus paused to heal a woman who had suffered from a bleeding condition for 12 years. While Jesus was still speaking to the woman who had been healed, men came from Jairus’ house and reported that his daughter was dead. The hope Jairus had for Jesus to heal his daughter had now turned into hopelessness. Or had it?

Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” To be sure, the circumstances in the life of Jairus argued against all hope. His daughter was dead. It was too late; there would be no healing for his sick daughter. So instead of a healing, Jesus provided a resurrection from the dead. Whatever Jairus was thinking after being told his daughter was dead, he still had hope that Jesus could work a miracle. He had hope in an utterly hopeless situation.

What Jesus said to Jairus then — “Don’t be afraid; just believe” — He is saying to you and me today. Whatever trial or sorrow is afflicting you, look to Jesus and fear not, because the God of Hope is at work in your life. Nothing is impossible for God, and because of God’s great love for you, hope must be our response, regardless of what we are facing. Greater is the power that is at work within us than any power that comes against us. Let that truth give you hope in any seemingly hopeless situation.   

Remember, God brought water from a rock, bread from heaven, turned the Red Sea into a highway for the Israelites to walk across on dry ground, and raised Jairus’ daughter from death to life. What miracle do you need today in your life? No matter what, there is always room for hope!  Don’t be afraid, Christian; just believe.

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

“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:67-69)

On July 16, 1999, J. F. Kennedy Jr’s single-engine plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean not far from its destination of Martha’s Vineyard. The FAA said the crash was due to “spatial disorientation.” What started out as a clear night flight, soon deteriorated into a fog that distorted the young pilot’s perception. Pilots who are are confronted with adverse weather conditions are trained to fly by the instruments, because human perception cannot be trusted. John Kennedy did not have that level of training, and it cost him and his two passengers their lives. One of my student athletes who later became a Navy pilot told me that learning to “fly blind” — trusting only in the instruments — was one of the most difficult skills he had to learn.

Many of us will never climb into the cockpit of an airplane, but when the fog of troubles, trials, and temptations rolls into our lives, our emotional perceptions can become distorted, causing what I call “spiritual disorientation.” Our perceptions of God’s plan and purpose, God’s will and wisdom, and God’s love and leading in our lives can become clouded and confused. This is when we need to trust in our training and fly by His instruments of promise, which are contained in the Word of God. You see, when the storm winds are blowing in our lives and the waves of challenge are washing over us, we simply cannot trust our perceptions, for “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 NKJV). We must return to God’s promises, knowing He is always true to His Word.

What have you been trusting in lately? Your perceptions of your circumstances? Or God’s promises? Remember, you always have a choice when you are facing any situation in life. You can choose to trust God’s promises or trust your perceptions. Our God is a faithful, promise-keeping God, who never has and never will break any promise He has ever made. You have His Word on it!

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

By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. (1 Corinthians 15:10)

God’s grace not only saves the unworthy, it strengthens the inadequate . . . including you and me. God’s grace in Paul’s life was not without effect, and it is certainly not without effect in our lives either. We must remember that God never calls the equipped; rather, God equips the called. God glories in calling the inadequate into His service and, by His grace through the work of the Holy Spirit, He makes them adequate — more than adequate!

We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me. (Colossians 1:28-29)

Apart from God’s enabling grace, Paul knew he could do nothing — that is, he would never accomplish anything of eternal value in his own strength. But because Paul relied on the grace of God and responded in the strength of the Almighty, his ministry changed the world.

Paul had to do his part, to be sure. He had to work and minister where God called him to go. But he knew he had to do all of it surrendered to the strength of his Savior, Jesus Christ. The power of Christ was at work in Paul’s life, and that same divine power is available to each one of us.

If ever there was someone who could have relied on his own strength, upbringing, background, and education, it was Paul. Trained by the widely respected rabbi Gamaliel, Paul was a Hebrew of Hebrews and a scholar of scholars. Yet he considered all his credentials and his pedigree to be rubbish after Jesus showed up in his life. Paul surrendered everything he was in service to His Lord and Savior. In surrendering his entire existence to Jesus, Paul not only received God’s unmerited favor, he received God’s enabling power.

How is it with you today? Is the grace that saved you strengthening you for the work God has called you to do?

“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11)

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

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. (1 Peter 5:5)

When we are facing the storms of life, we always have two choices: We can humble ourselves before the mighty hand of Providence or we can grumble. I have a sinful nature just like you do, and I will readily admit that it is far easier for me to grumble than it is to humble myself. In other words, it is far easier for me to resist the providence of God, especially when it is a painful providence, rather than to humbly receive it. But this will not be the case for those who see God’s sovereign hand behind everything that happens in life

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand that he may lift you up in due time. (1 Peter 5:6)

God’s Word is telling us to submit and surrender to God’s providential working in our lives, both the pleasant and the painful. Now, the only way we can possibly begin to do this is to see God’s mighty hand behind everything that is going on in our lives. Paul exulted that “From Him and through Him and to Him are all things” (Romans 11:36 NASB). God’s hand is behind our accomplishments and our adversities. God’s hand is behind our happiness and our heartaches. As my seminary professor Dr. Sproul was fond of saying, “If there is one maverick molecule in the universe, you cannot trust God for anything. Either God is in control of everything or nothing.” The clear testimony of Scripture is that He is in control of everything. “He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: ‘What have you done?'” (Daniel 4:35).

The Bible is filled with accounts of those who understood and lived out this truth in their lives against all odds. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and spent years in prison in Egypt. But God was with Joseph and blessed everything he did. Eventually, Joseph was raised up to the position of second in authority in all of Egypt. When famine struck the land, his brothers came to Egypt looking for food. When they arrived, they got the food they were looking for and the forgiveness they could have never imagined. Joseph made it clear that he saw God’s hand behind everything that was happening in his life when he told his brothers, “It was not you who sent me here, but God” (Genesis 45:8).

Joseph knew that God had used even the sinful acts of his brothers to accomplish His perfect purposes. Joseph could have grumbled about his misfortune, but he chose to humble himself under the mighty hand of God. And because Joseph chose the way of humility, God did indeed “lift him up in due time,” as 1 Peter 5:6 promises.

What God did for Joseph, He will do for you and me if we will exchange our grumble for humble.

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

There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

The great enemy of God and His people is Satan, who is also known as the accuser. Once a holy, beautiful, and righteous angel, Satan rebelled against God and was cast down out of heaven; today he is busily engaged in accusing believers in the hopes of discrediting them before God. But Satan, who prowls around the earth like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8), has no teeth and his accusations are not to be accepted.

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation. (Colossians 1:21-22)

This passage comes under the heading of “The Beautiful BUTS of God.” We were alienated from God — we were actually His enemies . . . BUT God reconciled us! For all those who have, by grace through faith, trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, the assurance of God’s forgiveness and love is absolutely assured. Now, you can’t keep Satan from accusing you and you can’t keep others from accusing you. But never will God accuse you!

For me, the most compelling and complete picture of this truth is the one that was given to the prophet Zechariah.

Then [the angel] showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?” Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you.” (Zechariah 3:1-4)

Christian, you are clothed in the righteous robes of Christ, and you are totally, completely, and eternally free from accusation. Because God pronounced judgment on Jesus, who took our sin and nailed it all to the cross, there can never be any judgment against us. Because God pronounced the “guilty” verdict over Jesus, who paid the penalty for all our sins in full, He will never make the “guilty” pronouncement over us.

Remember, all our sins have been removed as far as the east is from the west, and that is a distance that simply cannot be measured! We have been cleansed from all our sins by the saving blood of the Lamb of God, and we have been clothed with the rich garments of His righteousness — not because of anything we have done, but because of His mercy. We are accepted by God because of Jesus Christ, and when Satan or anyone else sends an accusation our way, we are to respond, “Accusation unaccepted!” For God has said —

“No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me,” says the Lord. (Isaiah 54:17 NKJV)

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

“You bless the godly, O Lord; You surround them with Your shield of love.” (Psalm 5:11-12)

When we say that God’s love is unconditional, it is important to understand what unconditional does not mean: It does not mean that we are left unchanged. C. S. Lewis emphasized that truth this way in his book The Problem of Pain:

To ask that God’s love should be content with us as we are is to ask that God should cease to be God; because he is what he is, His love must, in the nature of things, be impeded and repelled by certain stains in our present character, and because He already loves us He must labor to make us lovable. We cannot even wish, in our better moments, that he could reconcile Himself to our present impurities.

Lewis was essentially underscoring God’s goal for us that is expressed in Romans 8:29 – “To conform us to the likeness of his Son.” God’s love is true love because God’s love is at work within us, changing us and conforming us more and more into the image and likeness of Jesus. It has been well said that God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you there. God is making us more and more lovable with each passing day. God’s love for us is growing and maturing us in our faith and making us more like Jesus in thought, word, deed, and desire. This is the ultimate goal for every child of God.

Because God wants what is best for us, He refuses to leave us in the condition He found us in. True love takes us from self-absorption to self-sacrifice. True love takes us from self-centeredness to other-orientation. True love takes us from “My will be done” to “Thy will be done.”

Remember, Christian, this does not happen in a day, but daily. You are a work in progress, and it will take all the days of your life for True Love to make you perfectly lovable. Let that truth set you free to press on toward the goal every day.

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