Author Archives: Pastor Tommy

But avoid foolish controversies. (Titus 3:9)

Oh, what wonderful and wise counsel we have before us today. Avoid foolish controversies.  Why? The passage goes on to tell us, “because these are unprofitable and useless.” I call this – Majoring in the Minors, and sadly, the church is full of those who do just that. 

To be sure, there are some major things that we hold on to with all our might, things that matter most as it relates to our salvation. Jesus is fully God and fully man. Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, died a sacrificial death, and was raised supernaturally from the grave on the third day. He ascended into heaven and even now, sits at the right hand of God the Father, making intercession for us. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him . . . by trusting in Christ alone for eternal life. This is keeping the main thing the main thing, and to these truths we must hold fast. 

Yet, there are so many minor things that we make major and when we do, we find ourselves sowing in so barren a field. Think about all the controversies that Christians attend to where the Scriptures are silent. Some have made their life study as to the return of Christ, even making predictions as to the day He would return. However, even Jesus said only the Father knows when the Son will return (Matthew 24:36). It is foolish to focus on when Jesus returns. Rather, we are to live our lives in a posture of being prepared for His return at any moment. 

Think of all the foolish controversies that have hurt the witness of the church when it comes to human ceremonies and religious traditions. How foolish to sow in so barren a field. But the adversary, the devil, loves to see the saints of God muddling around on the mud-flats of man-made rites and rituals, arguing over matters that matter not, instead of advancing the cause of the kingdom of Christ. In the end, the final result can be summed up as “high heat” and “low light” and no one involved is the wiser.

So how do we keep from sowing in so barren a field? We remember that our time here is brief and we must invest what little we have in the work Jesus has set before us. When Jesus said to the man He healed of demon possession, “Go and tell how much God has done for you” (Luke 8:39), He was telling him to keep the main thing the main thing. His call was clear – to spend his life telling others about Jesus, which would keep him from foolish controversies. You see, when we are advancing the kingdom of Christ, we are at the same time, avoiding foolish controversies, and sowing in a field that will return 30, 60, 100-fold. May that be the confession of our lives.

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

Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)

What a word of encouragement we have before us today. Much is impossible with man, but with God all things are possible. In other words, the believer is to look at life through the lenses of our Lord and live a life that rises above IMPOSSIBLE to HIM-POSSIBLE!

In my years in the personal development field, I was a student of all things positive. I was a fan of the 1952 book, The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale, which, by the way, stayed on The New York Times bestseller list for 186 consecutive weeks. Basically, the thrust of the book was rooted in a positive mental attitude. Believe and succeed with the power of positive thinking to overcome any obstacle that stands in your way. Not bad advice and we should all strive to live out each day with a positive mental attitude. Yet, in our passage of Scripture today, we have something far more powerful than a positive mental attitude. We have the very power of God at our disposal, which allows us to go from IMPOSSIBLE to HIM-POSSIBLE.

• Troubles at the office
• Difficulties in your marriage
• Prodigal child
• Broken friendship
• Financial shortfall
• Mounting debt
• Sickness and disease

Perhaps you have something to add to this list? Regardless of what it is that you are currently facing that seems absolutely IMPOSSIBLE for you to overcome, it only seems that way because you are trying to overcome in your strength rather than His. To go from IMPOSSIBLE to HIM-POSSIBLE is to go from living in the natural to the supernatural. It is walking by faith and not by sight. It is trusting God even when we cannot trace Him. It is looking at something that seems utterly hopeless and yet still having hope. Why? Because with God all things are possible. 

Listen, God did not bring you this far just to leave you here. He has promised to get you to the other side, but He did not promise to get you there trouble-free. In fact, He promised that you would experience trials and tribulations on your way to the Celestial City. But what must be remembered is this – trials and tribulations are simply tests to see in whom we will trust. Will we trust in the self or will we trust in our Savior? You can indeed go from IMPOSSIBLE to HIM-POSSIBLE but you can only do this by going to HIM. At a time when many disciples turned their backs on Jesus, He asked the Twelve, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” To which Peter responded, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” And that is how we go from IMPOSSIBLE to HIM-POSSIBLE. 

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

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105)

Most people have a Bible somewhere in their homes. Sadly, for far too many, it is gathering dust on some table top or book shelve. The Bible is the number one, best-selling book in the history of the world and has had a profound impact on Western civilization from its beginning. The question is, has the Word of God had a profound impact on you and the life you are currently living?

God gave us His Word so we would read it. He could have left it up to the Holy Spirit to encourage, motivate, and inspire us to do His will in this world. But He did not. He gave us His Holy Word so that we would read it and respond to it and therefore, be changed by it. When Jesus was being assaulted in the desert by the devil in His wilderness experience, He responded with, “It is written!” Jesus knew the Word of God and was able to use that word to resist and ultimately defeat the attacks of the devil. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

Think about going a day or two without eating. You will not only grow hungry you will grow weaker and weaker. Now multiply that by a week or even a month. Just as our physical bodies need nourishment to sustain life, our souls need nourishment to sustain spiritual life. We need to come into God’s presence each day and marinate in and meditate on His Word. When we do, we will be able, like Jesus, to fight against everything that comes up against us in this life, achieve victory, and give God all the glory.

Remember, God’s Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. We live in a spiritually dark world and need the light of our Lord’s love that is found on the pages of sacred Scripture to guide our steps into God’s will for our lives. Along the way into glory, the Word of God will give us both direction and correction to live a life for the glory of God and the good of others – all others – including ourselves.     

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

“Let my people go, so that they may serve me.” (Exodus 8:1)

These words came from God through Moses to Pharaoh when God was getting ready to free His people from bondage in Egypt. God was setting His people free from slavery in order that they would worship and serve Him. What was true thousands of years ago is still true today – we have been saved to serve.

Now many in the church today have messed up this biblical truth. Instead of understanding we have been saved for service, they believe they are saved by service. This, of course, is a false gospel rooted in our merit, not God’s mercy. Salvation is all of God. There is nothing we do to get saved. But after God saves us, we are not called to serve the One who has set us free from the bondage to sin, Satan, and death. We are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God through service. And in the most practical sense of understanding the truth that we have been saved to serve, we are to live lives of sacrificial service to others – all others – regardless of cost or circumstance.

We have blessed to be a blessing. We have been healed to help. We have been saved to serve. This is the call for every child of God, not just those who are in vocational ministry like pastors and missionaries. Every Christian is in “full-time” Christian service, regardless of what profession they have chosen. The butcher, baker, and candle-stick maker all are called to serve their Savior. A “non-serving” Christian is a contradiction in terms of gargantuan proportions.

Remember, as you continue growing and maturing in your faith, keep in mind that your maturity is always for ministry. As Jesus said, “He came to serve, not be served,” and the same must be said about those who are His disciples. Is your life reflective of the truth that you have been saved to serve? Where are you serving right now? Where might God be calling you to serve today?

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

And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ. (1 John 2:1)

An advocate is someone who supports, strengthens and stands in the gap for another. Inasmuch as the Bible identifies the Holy Spirit as our Advocate, it also identifies Jesus in the same capacity. Today I want to encourage you with a word about Jesus, your Almighty Advocate.

First, Jesus is your Advocate at the moment of your salvation when God the Father accepts you as His own, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). Here is what the conversation might sound like between Jesus and His Father:

Father, this one is mine. Yes, he was guilty as charged. Yes, he was dead in trespasses and sins. But you said my death would pay the penalty for his sins and now my blood has cleansed him from all unrighteousness. You put your stamp of approval on my work being totally sufficient for his salvation when you raised me from the dead. Not only now, but forever more, there is no condemnation because I was condemned in his place.

Second, this imaginary last statement tells us that Jesus remains our Almighty Advocate forever and ever. We were not only sinners in need of a Savior when we got saved. But we are sinners in need of a Savior every moment of every day thereafter. We still sin and when we confess our sin, Jesus is faithful to forgive us, over and over again. And don’t forget this. Because Jesus was fully man as well as fully God, He knows exactly what you have gone through, what you are currently going through, and what you will go through in the future. He knows your suffering and your sorrow. He lived it Himself, yet without sin, and can sympathize with you every step of the way into glory.

Remember, regardless of where this finds you today, your Almighty Advocate is not only for you, He is with you, and He is in you. Pray that God would open the eyes of your heart today, as he did for Stephen when the religious leaders were stoning him to death, when he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at His right hand (Acts 7:55) . . .  AND HE WILL . . . because Jesus is your Almighty Advocate.

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

One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. (Proverbs 11:24-25)

The simplicity in this proverb is simply supernatural in its impact. Read on and be greatly refreshed today.

So, what does it mean to refresh? The dictionary uses a variety of words to describe what the word refresh means:

• Restore
• Revive
• Renovate
• Replenish

Perhaps the best way I can explain the biblical meaning of what it means to be a refresher would be – making the lives of others better! A refresher is being the kind of person other people want to be around. Here is one of the best ways to sharpen your understanding of being a refresher: who in your life right now would you describe as a refresher . . . someone who lifts you up whenever they get around you . . .  someone who shoulders your burdens with you . . .  someone who’s glass is always have full rather than half empty.

Refreshers shine their light into the darkness and help you see the way forward. They are quick to listen, slow to speak, and always ready to serve. They have a tendency to make your world not only brighter, but better and even bigger. They help to enlarge your vision of yourself and the call God has placed in your life. Their encouragement empowers you to get up every time you fall down and to keep going even when you would rather not. So, does this describe the kind of person you are in the lives of others?

Oh, don’t forget the promise in this proverb. All those you have identified in your life as refreshers, are themselves refreshed everything they refresh others. And the same will be true for you. You simply cannot refresh others without being refreshed yourself. Remember, the greatest Refresher the world has ever seen is Jesus, “He makes me line down in green pastures, and leads me beside quiet waters and refreshes my soul” (Psalm 23:2-3). The more we refresh others, the more we are like our Lord. Today is a great day for a “refresher course” wouldn’t you agree?

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

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (Matthew 22:37)

Here is a great question that every Christian should be able to answer: Is Christianity a “reasonable” faith? Or is it a “blind” faith? What is your answer? Let’s take a brief look and be both comforted and challenged. As Francis Bacon once said, “God has given us two books as sources of truth: the book of God’s works (creation) and the book of God’s word (the Bible).

Within the pages of the Bible, we see the inspired importance of the pathway to reason as we pursue truth, for ourselves and for others. For the person who is willing to look through clear lenses, God has revealed Himself in every aspect of creation. And for the person who is willing to look through clear lenses, God has revealed Himself on every page of the Bible. And within the pages of sacred Scripture, we find God driving us to study both of these books:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2).

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correc5tly handles the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

In our verse today, we are reminded to be thinking Christians. We are to love God with every fiber of our being, including our mind. Sadly, for many who profess the name of Christ, their minds have not been transformed through consistent and diligent study. They have the same basic worldview they had before becoming Christians. But this is not for you. Make no mistake, the proper use of reason is essential if we are going to share the truths of the gospel in ways that connect deeply with audience and this will only happen when the mind is renewed.

Here is the single most important key to renewing the mind: KNOWLEDGE – “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds” (Hebrews 10:16). A. W. Tozer once said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Our love for God grows as our knowledge of Him grows. The more we grow in our understanding of God, the more our heart beats for Him.

Remember, the Bible makes it clear that faith in God is built upon substance rooted in real evidence, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (Hebrews 11:3). Our faith is indeed a “reasonable” faith that, while renewing the mind, also the recalibrates heart, and realigns the will. Let that truth comfort and challenge you to pursue God’s call in your life regardless of the cost or circumstance.

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

“It is finished!” (John 19:30)

Two little letters at the end of a word make all the difference in the world. Please read on and be greatly encouraged today.

I remember back before I was saved and visiting a local church and the pastor would say often, “It’s not about a religion, it’s about a relationship.” It took a while for me to understand that biblical truth, but when I got it, I understood the difference between the words “DO” and “DONE!”

The religion I grew up in was about doing, doing, and doing some more. The list of things to do was endless. What was being taught was heaven was available for all those who could do enough to get in. The great challenge with this was how would you know when you actually did enough to have God unlock the gates of heaven and let you in? Sadly, you would never know, and because you would never know, you would never experience the freedom, joy, and peace that is promised in the gospel.

But Christianity is about what God in Christ has done for us. What Jesus did for us we could never do for ourselves. Why? Because we are way too sinful to save ourselves. The Bible tells us, “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5). Sinners need a Savior and His name is Jesus. Our verse today is perhaps one of the most well-known in all of sacred Scripture, and it can be said in one word – DONE!

Our debt was paid in full. Our salvation was accomplished and secured in Christ. Every religion in the world is built upon the foundation of DO. Only Christianity is built upon the foundation of DONE. Perhaps there is no more difficult truth for us to grasp than the truth that God saves us by His grace and not our good works. To be sure, there is much to do after we are saved, but our good works are the fruit of our salvation, not the root. So, does your life reflect the truth of DO or DONE? The last two letters make all the difference in the world.

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

Jesus asked, “Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:15)

In a discussion with His disciples, Jesus asked them, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They gave him a variety of answers: John the Baptist; Elijah; Jeremiah; or a prophet. But Jesus was not concerned with what “people” say. He wanted to know His disciples say then and now. This is the most important question in the world.

In our contemporary culture today, the answer to this question will cover a range of categories:

• A good man
• A great prophet
• A first-century wise man
• A misguided guru
• A misunderstood teacher
• A mythical character of the early church

What the wisdom of the world will not say is what Peter said on behalf of all of the disciples, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). What we need to remember is what Jesus actually said about Himself. He said He was the promised Messiah. He said He came to save sinners. He said He and the Father are one. If what He said about Himself was not true, then Jesus could not be a good anything. He would be crazy. In the words of C. S. Lewis, Jesus would be a liar, or a lunatic, or the Devil of hell, or something worse. But if what He said was true, and it was, then our answer must be the same as Peter’s. There is no other option.

Both His message and His miracles backed up His claim to be God’s Son who came into this world to save us from our sins. He lived a sinless life, died a sacrificial death, and was raised from the dead supernaturally . . . FOR YOU! So, what is your answer to this most important question in the world? Now I am not only asking for your verbal confession. What is even more important is the confession of your life. James was right when he said, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17).

To be sure, we are saved by faith alone, as the Reformers reminded us, but not a faith that is alone. True faith is always accompanied by good works because the grace that saves also sanctifies as we make our way into glory.

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

The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men.” (Judges 7:2)

Perhaps you are familiar with the phrase, “There is safety in numbers,” which is the hypothesis that states being part of a large number of people, the particular individual is safer and has the best possible chance to avoid something bad happening. Yet, nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to the safety you have in the One who has called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light. Oh, what a word of comfort we have before us today.

In God’s economy, there is safety not in numbers, but in One. If you remember the story, the Lord God called Gideon to lead Israel in battle against the Midianite Army. Gideon started with 32,000 warriors but God told him he had too many. The Lord took away 22,000 men followed by another 9,700, leaving Gideon with only 300 men to battle against the entire Midianite Army. Safety and success for Gideon would not be found in numbers, but in the One who would give him victory.

Here is a biblical truth that will bring you cosmic comfort: with God on your side, you are always on the winning team. Every great hero of the faith we read about in the Bible understood this truth by way of personal experience. Under King Hezekiah’s reign, the Assyrian army was set to sack Jerusalem if they did not surrender to him. But the prophet Isaiah told King Hezekiah to trust in the One who could save him. He did and the rest is history – for that night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp.

Remember, when you are “against all odds” your safety will not be found in numbers, but rather, in One. God has been faithful to deliver you in the past and He will deliver you once again. When the apostle Paul said he would boast in his weakness it was because God made it clear, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). No matter what you are facing today in your personal or professional life, face it in the strength of the One and you can rest assured God’s grace will be sufficient for you every step of the way.

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