Author Archives: Pastor Tommy

Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar! (Psalm 120:5)

When Jesus prayed His high priestly prayer for His people, He did not pray that we would be taken out of this world, but that we would be protected from the evil one (John 17:15). We must embrace this truth today: What Jesus did not pray for us we must never pray for ourselves.

It is wrong to cry “Woe is me!” and wish to be received into glory. We have been left here to carry out God’s work in this world, just as our Lord did when He walked the streets of Palestine. We are in this world, but we are not of this world, and we are called to impact this world for the glory of our God. Jesus has sent us out into this world to be salt and light, and we are to prayerfully do everything we can, relying on His wisdom and strength, to preserve what good there is in the world around us and to shine His light into every dark place.

Where would you expect to find a doctor except where you find the sick in need of his or her care? Where would you expect to find a soldier expect where you find the battle raging? So too with the saints of God. We are to be found wherever Jesus is needed — and that, beloved, is everywhere on this side of the grave. To be sure, we dwell in Meshech and live among the tents of Kedar; our world is filled with the powers of darkness and the forces of evil at every turn. But this is the very reason that our Savior did not ask for us to be taken out of the world, but rather that we would be strengthened and protected to live in it.

Remember, God has not commissioned us to expand His kingdom in this world in our own strength. We have been given the power of the Holy Spirit to do all that He has called us to do; when we do that, we are bringing glory to God and eternal good to all those we come in contact with. So if you find yourself weary in your witness, remember it is wrong to cry “Woe!” when you know that your Savior has commanded you to “Go!”

Let these words from Paul encourage you and propel you forward in your ministry of service to God. The apostle Paul knew what it meant to transform the confession of our lives from “Woe” to “G0!”

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)

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

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. (Mark 4:39)

In a moment He went from sleeping in a boat to saving an entire fleet of boats; Jesus Christ is our Almighty Admiral who protects all those who are His. Make no mistake, it is wise to sail with our Savior! When the storm winds begin to blow and the waves of challenge start to wash over us, He will direct us to the safety of the harbor.

Don’t miss this: When the disciples got into the boat with Jesus and other boats followed along, they were not safe from storms. The storm came up even with Jesus by their side. But they were safe IN the storm, as are all the saints of God. Jesus by our side does not keep us from storms; rather, He takes us through them to the other side. In short, Jesus does not promise us smooth sailing, but He does promise sure arrival at His intended destination.

When the storms swept over that Galilean lake, the disciples were convinced that shipwreck was certain. Let that be a lesson to you today! When all hope is lost in the natural, we must shift our focus to the supernatural, because Jesus is our Almighty Admiral who has promised to get us to the other side of every storm we face. Not a single boat in the convoy of the disciples suffered shipwreck that night. Jesus was all they needed for safe passage . . . and He is all we need today.

I will close today’s word of encouragement with this profound biblical truth that the disciples and their friends learned on the night when a furious squall nearly swamped their boats; it will strengthen you in any storm you are facing:

You will never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have!

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

I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. (1 Samuel 1:27)

Hannah prayed for a child, and the Lord answered her prayer. She named her son Samuel (the name means “heard by God”) and dedicated him to the Lord. Samuel was an answer to her prayer, and she delighted in delivering her precious child back to the One who had given him to her. Every saint of God has his or her own “Samuel” – a time when God heard and answered a heartfelt prayer. And when our answer is as precious to us as Samuel was to his mother Hannah, we are to dedicate it back to the One who gave it to us.

Our God blesses simply because He is a God of blessing. But oh, how sweet are the blessings received after earnest supplication and continual cries from the heart! Like Hannah, we find ourselves overwhelmed with thanksgiving because of our God’s faithfulness to answer the petitions of His people.

Here is the question that must be answered by every child of God: What “Samuels” has God delivered into my hands through the doorway of prayer? Whatever they may be, let us dedicate them to the Lord, just as Hannah dedicated her son Samuel for God’s glory and the good of others.

My years as a pastor have taught me that the answers to all our prayers are to be consecrated to our Christ, whether the answer is “Yes,” “No,” or “Wait.” What we have received from heaven must be released back to heaven for the glory of the One who has given it to us. All that our God delivers to us must be dedicated back to Him. How much more must we dedicate those things which we cried day and night to receive from His holy hand of mercy?

Let me encourage you to let this be a day marked by unceasing prayer and an unwavering promise that when your answer comes, you will consecrate it for the expansion of God’s kingdom, having given it the name “Samuel,” because you asked of God and He granted you what you asked of Him.

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

Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again. (Proverbs 24:16)

We all fail. Failing is simply part of the life we live as broken people living with other broken people in a broken world. However, failure is merely a detour, not a dead end, as the esteemed Christian businessman Zig Ziglar was fond of saying. Do you agree with that statement? Is failure a detour or a dead end in your life today?

With God on your side, failure is never final. You may fall seven times; get up eight times! Failure is never final unless you fail to get up. We all fail — some of us fail many times — but we are not failures. Every failure turned over to God is nothing more than a detour on His preordained path for us to to live for His glory and the good of others. But if we let the wicked whispers of the devil permeate our minds, we can fall into the trap of allowing failure to become a stopping point — a dead end.

But this is not for you! In the nail-scarred hands of Jesus, every failure is simply a setback that is setting up your comeback. Jesus will use every misstep, mistake, failure, falling, shortcoming, and sin to grow and mature us in our faith. He told us that we would encounter trouble along the way to glory, and He also promised that we would get to the other side of each trouble in His strength and in His timing. When we read about the saints of God in the Bible, we see that they all failed over and over and over again. But God used each failure to strengthen their faith and grow them into the person He was calling them to be. Can the same be said for you and me? Are we standing up again after we fall and reaching out to take God’s hand?

Remember, if you think of your failures as a test, you need only get back up to pass that test! Then that test becomes your testimony to share with those who are going through similar trials and challenges in life. Christian, keep Romans 8:28 in mind and hold fast to the truth that God is working all things together for your good and His glory. Do that, and you will be a living example of one who sees failure as nothing more than a detour — never a dead end.

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

I will pour out my Spirit on all people – your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. (Joel 2:28)

The Scriptures are filled with accounts of men and women who dreamed dreams and saw visions and brought them to life because of their faith in God. One of the best examples is Nehemiah. When he heard about the dilapidated condition of the walls around Jerusalem, Nehemiah began praying, thinking, planning, dreaming, and creating a vision of victory. But he did stop there; Nehemiah acted on his vision in the strength of the Almighty. He secured permission to return to Jerusalem, organized a task force, and stayed focused when facing criticism, distractions, and opposition. And in 52 days, the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt to the glory of God and for the good of His people.

What has the Lord laid on your heart? What is Jesus calling you to do to expand the cause of His Kingdom? Know this: God never gives a dream or a vision to someone without giving them every resource needed to make it come to life. I have said many times here that God is not in the business of calling the equipped; rather, He equips the called. God will give you everything you need to do everything He is calling you to do.

If you feel ill-equipped or inadequate for something you know God is calling you to do, fear not! Moses felt completely inadequate, and he gave God every excuse in the book to try and get out of his calling to deliver God’s people out of bondage in Egypt. Yet God gave Moses everything he needed and used him to set His people free from what was the most powerful nation in the world at that time.

It’s not likely that God is calling you to go up against some world leader to expand the cause of His Kingdom. But He might be calling you to volunteer to help out in Sunday school or some other ministry at your church. Perhaps He is calling you to start a new ministry, and you feel like you just don’t have what it takes to make it happen. Remember, God loves taking ordinary people like you and me to do the extraordinary for His glory and the good of others. We simply need to go from dreaming dreams to doing them and leave the results up to the One who gave us the dream.

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

The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle. (Psalm 78:9)

There are many things in this life that can tempt us to turn back and go in the opposite direction from the one God is calling us to take. Sin can and often does cause us to shrink back from the call of our Lord. Forgetting the promises of God can do this as well. We see that the men of Ephraim were well-equipped, but apparently they were trusting in their arms and not the Almighty, and they turned back on the day of battle.

How do we protect ourselves from turning back when we are tempted to do so? Jesus warned us that there will be storms in this life; we may be tempted to turn back during those storms. How can we come to the end of our lives and be able to say, as Paul did, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7)? We keep our focus on our Savior and not on the storms.

It’s hard to find anyone in sacred Scripture, other than Jesus, who endured more storm winds in life than the apostle Paul. Yet through it all, Paul never let the waves of challenge wash out his witness for Jesus. He was able to rise above the circumstances in life because he rested in the reality of his Redeemer.

Far too many men and women who profess faith in Christ turn back from following their Lord when they are confronted by the hardships and difficulties that are part of life on this earth. Rather than submitting to Christ, they let circumstances control the outcome of their lives. Regardless of what you are facing today — and I am not minimizing any tragedy or difficulty that has befallen you — remember this: Greater is the power that is at work within you than any power that comes against you. When you are tempted to turn back, trust and press on, knowing that He who began the good work in you has promised to bring it to completion.

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

Know that the Lord, He is God! It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise! (Psalm 100:3-4)

Inasmuch as we are known as the people of God . . . children of the light . . . followers of the Way . . . more than conquerors . . . disciples of Christ . . . we see today that we are also known as “the sheep of His pasture.”

Sheep get a bad rap, and for good reason! No one has ever described these creatures as “intelligent.” I saw a blog post from a man who owns sheep and described them as “mind-numbingly stupid.” Sheep frequently wander away from the flock and get lost. They are easy prey for predators, and they need constant care and protection if they are to survive in even the most benign environment.

But today I want to encourage you that, as one of the Lord’s sheep, you have a wonderful character trait: Sheep know the voice of their shepherd and will not respond to unfamiliar voices. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice and they follow me” (John 10:27). Jesus is our Good Shepherd, and we are to follow Him just as four-legged sheep follow their shepherd.

To know and respond to the voice of our Good Shepherd means we are in an intimate and personal relationship with Him. Jesus calls us by name (John 10:3) and we are empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit to listen and follow wherever He leads. How do you know that you are one of Jesus’ sheep who knows His voice? The answer is simple: Are you obeying Him?

We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. (1 John 2:3-6)

Remember, when Jesus speaks of “My sheep,” He is affirming that there are true sheep and false sheep. The false sheep do not know Him, hear Him, or follow Him. But the true sheep know Him, hear Him, and follow Him. We still follow Jesus like sheep – imperfectly . . . sometimes even stupidly – because we are still prone to wander. But when we do, we know that our Good Shepherd will rescue us and bring us back into His sheepfold.

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

It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Philippians 2:13)

All true disciples of Christ want to live lives devoted to Christ. The problem for many, though, is that they are fixated on behaving better before believing better. Our failures in our walk of faith are not rooted in our behavior, but rather in our belief. What we believe about our salvation determines how we will behave.

Please don’t misunderstand what I am saying here; I am not saying that believing is more important than behaving. Both are important; belief and behavior both matter to God. James, the brother of our Lord, famously warned that faith without works is useless (James 2:20). But we must understand that what we believe determines how we behave, and how we behave demonstrates what we believe.

Maturing in the Christian faith is based on remembering Whose we are and what He has done on our behalf. Our verse for today tells us that God works His work in us, and that work that has already been accomplished by Christ. Philippians 2:12 is also telling us that our behavior is strengthened by a deeper understanding of — and belief in — His behavior on our behalf. The more we believe in the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ, the better we will engage in the works God has given us to do.

Believing better is believing that we are secure in our relationship with Jesus, not because of our faithfulness to Him, but rather His faithfulness to us. When we have that settled in our mind, our behavior will begin to change, and we will start living more and more for the glory of God and the good of others.

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

The Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. (2 Thessalonians 3:3)

The reality of opposition in this life is as promised as it is personal. Jesus made it clear that we will have trouble in this life (John 16:33); that trouble will come at us from the world, the flesh, and the devil. Yet our God is in complete control of all things, including the opposition we face (Psalm 119:91). And because our God is Omnipotent, no weapon formed against us can possibly prevail (Isaiah 54:17).

All of the promises of God are ‘Yes’ and ‘Amen’ in Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:20). Not one promise of God will fail, in spite of the opposition we face in this life. Satan cannot overcome or overturn any of God’s promises to us or His purposes for us. The Lord is faithful, not only to strengthen us but to protect us too (Isaiah 41:10). Regardless of the opposition you may be facing today, the truth of today’s passage is to be received and responded to. No matter how attacked or assaulted you may be, the Almighty is assisting you to rise above it all. Take just a cursory glance at your past; can you not see how faithful God has been to you during every storm that blew your way?

Christian, what God has done in the past, He has promised to do in the present. Never let any opposition you are facing cause you to question the validity of God’s promises and purposes for your life. Because of your relationship with Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit, who resides within you, greater is the power at work in your life than any power that is trying to work against you (1 John 4:4). Because of the Omnipotent God who is working all things together in your life for your ultimate good (Romans 8:28), receive every opposition as simply another opportunity to cling to the One who has promised to never let you go.

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 . . . and that includes you and me. God’s grace in Paul’s life was not without effect, and it is not without effect in our lives either. I’ve said it here several times, but it bears repeating: God never calls the equipped; rather, He equips the called. God glories in calling the inadequate into His service, and then, by His grace and through the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, He makes them 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)

Paul knew he could nothing apart from God’s enabling grace. Nothing of any eternal value could or would ever be accomplished 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.

To be sure, Paul had to do his part. He had to work and minister where God called him to go. But he knew he had to do all of it fully surrendered to the strength of his Savior, Jesus Christ. The power of Christ was at work in Paul’s life, and that same power is available to each one of us — “the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength” (Ephesians 1:19 NET).

Remember, if there ever was anyone who could have relied on his own strength, upbringing, background, and education, it was Paul. Trained under the widely respected rabbi Gamaliel, Paul was a Hebrew of Hebrews and a scholar of scholars. Yet he considered all his accomplishments to be rubbish (“dung,” if you read the King James Version) after Jesus showed up in his life. He surrendered everything he had been and everything he was in service to His Lord and Savior. And in surrendering his entire existence to Jesus, Paul not only received God’s unmerited favor, he received God’s enabling power.

What about you today? Is the grace that saved you also strengthening you for the work God has called you to do? May this be the confession of all our lives.

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