The Pastor's Pocket

  “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices” (II Corinthians 2:11).  Satan’s devices (tricks, schemes, methods) are many.  Anyone who has ever gone fishing knows that you use any kind of bait that will work to catch fish.  I enjoy fishing for bass.  I have all kinds of bait (lures) in my little tackle box.  If one particular lure is not successful in helping me catch anything, I will try another. Satan is somewhat of a fisherman.  He has many ways in which to snare unsuspecting people.  We must be aware of his “baits”, his schemes.  The devil is a deceiver and his plan is to destroy our God-given purpose and to distract us from the will of God.  Here are some of the lures Satan has used successfully to ruin the testimony of many: The appeal of the world (II Timothy 4:10) Things – material possessions (Luke 12:15, Mark 10:21) Money – the hunger for wealth (I Timothy 6:7,10) Sexual temptation, seduction (Judges 16:4) Disappointments, bitterne

  Genesis 18:1, “And the LORD appeared unto him (Abraham) in the plains of Mamre…”  Exodus 3:2, “and the angel of the LORD appeared unto him (Moses) in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush…” (at Horeb, the mountain of God). We must always celebrate turning points to our lives.  It is important that we attach significance to the places where God speaks to us. Throughout the Bible, we see God revealing His will to various people at specific places.  Paul, on the road to Damascus (Acts 9) was told what God wanted him to do.  At the brook Cherith, God told Elijah to go to Zerephath because He had commanded a widow to sustain him during a famine (I Kings 17).  Over and over in the book of Jeremiah it says, “and the Word of the Lord came to me saying…”  At specific places, God spoke to His prophet and revealed to him what he was to do. The greatest day of my life happened at a specific place – at an altar in Charlotte, North Carolina – where I received Christ and God called me to preac

  “Christ…loved the church, and gave Himself for it; That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word,” Ephesians 5:25b & 26.   You cannot have a great life unless you have a pure life.  You cannot have a pure life unless you have a pure mind.  You cannot have a pure mind unless you wash it daily with the Word of God.   We all want a great life, don’t we?  A great life is the result of maintaining a clean life – a life lived in obedience to the will of God.  A clean life is an extension of a clean thought-life, which comes from consistent time in God’s Word.   God’s Word will wash impure thoughts and attitudes away, which leads to a pure mind and a great life.  You just can’t by-pass your time in the Word and expect to live a clean life (Psalm 119:11).  Let’s face it, we live in a “dirty” world, a culture that is filled with nasty stuff that will influence our behavior.   Why not determine to bathe your mind daily in God’s Word this year.  That decision a

I've noticed recently the squirrels are busy!  All around us (in the woods where squirrels live) they are preparing for winter.  Gathering leaves for their nest and gathering nuts to hide, they are getting ready for cold weather. Most of you will get up tomorrow morning and get ready to go to work.  You'll shower, get dressed, warm up the car, you are preparing for your day ahead.  When you are expecting visitors, you straighten up the house and prepare for their arrival.  The airline industry works hard to make sure their planes are ready to fly.  Athletes "warm up" to get ready for competition. Jesus says, "get ready, I'm coming".  Are you ready for His return?  Folks, we'd better be prepared and get our house in order, for one day the Lord will surely come.  How can you be sure you are ready for this anticipated moment?  (1) Make sure you are saved.  (2) Make sure you are serving Christ in some capacity.  (3) Make sure you are doing the will of G

Yep, I'm starting our devotional thoughts for this week with "lug nuts".  You may be wondering, what do "lug nuts" have to do with my spiritual life? Well... I was watching a NASCAR race a couple of weeks ago and I remember hearing that one of the cars had made a pit-stop, gone back out onto the track, and then had to come back into the pit because, you guessed it, a loose "lug nut".  That one little item could have caused a wreck if not corrected, if not fixed.  You and I have to pay attention to the little things in our life, things that may be causing us problems in our relationships, things that are bothering us personally, things that may be drawing us away from the Lord.  A little resentment, anger, frustration, jealousy, allowed to sit and fester in our mind, can cause major damage later. "Lug nuts", little things do matter!  It's the "little foxes that spoil the vines", Song of Solomon 2:15 From The Pastors' Pocket W

Never gaze at something that does not belong in your future, either some thing , some one   or some   place .  Our adversary can use these to break our focus upon the Lord and His purpose for our lives. Many a good Christian has been side-tracked from the faith by coveting things that God never intended to be in their future.  This is why it is so very important that we guard our eyes.  What we look at long enough, we desire (Genesis 3:6).  What desires are fed and cultivated, lead to pursuit. The Psalmist wrote, "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes..." (Psalm 101:3a).  David, a man after God's own heart, knew there were just some things that should not be coveted. There are some   people   that  don't belong in your future.  In Proverbs, Solomon warned his sons to stay clear of fools.  He warned of our association with angry people, carnal people, lazy people, deceitful people and so on. There are some   things   that don't belong in your future.  Any thi

  We live in the most sophisticated and advanced technical society in the world.  We have massive communication power at our fingertips.  We can touch the numbers on our cell phone and in a few seconds, we can be in contact with someone clear around the world.  We have PCs (when they’re not “down”) that allow us to reach around the globe instantly. We can explore the internet, “google” something and find practically anything we want to know.  Our television sets now in HD make it feel like we are right there. Satellite radio provides listening pleasure without static!  Yet with all of this technology, it’s hard to have a real one-on-one relationship.  For example; when someone “texts” you, you can’t see their facial expressions, hear the inflection in their voice, and when you are emailed, often you don’t even know who it is that sent it to you.  I know that in the first century A.D. none of this technology was available, yet when I read in Acts 8 about a man who was seeking for truth,

Where were you on September 11, 2001?  Most likely you remember it well.  I was in New York – just two miles from “ground zero”.  I will never forget that day.  The sky was clear and the air was brisk with just a tinge of fall in the air. There were four of us men heading towards the World Trade Center towers when we noticed a plume of black smoke pouring out of the one of the buildings. I kept thinking, “How will they ever put out a fire in a building 110 stories high?”  Before the day was over, two of the most recognizable buildings in the New York skyline were gone!  The Pentagon in Washington, DC had a hole in one side and a plane had crashed in Pennsylvania.  America had been attacked by a faceless enemy and fear had gripped the nation.  None of us would ever forget the tragic events of 9/11.   Had I gotten to the area of lower Manhattan 15 minutes earlier, I most likely wouldn’t be the Pastor of Faith Baptist Church today.  Why do things happen like they do sometimes?  If I knew

  We’ve never really given a problem over to God until we completely trust Him with the outcome. So much of our faith in prayer is tied to getting God to do what we think is best. We rejoice as long as God does what we ask or as long as God responds as we think He should.  But what if God has other plans? Is He any less faithful? The truth is, God sometimes does have plans that differ from our own agenda.  As we pray, we must be willing to accept whatever God determines best.  That’s never easy, but it’s a place we must come to in our understanding of the Holy One. We all know the story of the three Hebrew young men (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) and the fiery furnace.  The story is found in Daniel chapter 3.  A decree went out from the Babylonian king that everyone in the province was to bow down to the golden statue (an idol), and if anyone refused, they would be thrown into a fiery furnace.  I love the approach of these three men in verse 17 when they said that God is able to deli

  Fervent, aggressive prayer yields amazing results!  Perhaps one difference between the prayers of the earliest Christians and the prayers of today’s church; they prayed fervently, aggressively, seriously and with great intensity.  They had too!  Their very survival depended on it.  The heat of resistance was prevalent in the first century.  Persecution was real! For example: Acts chapter 4 tells us that Peter and John were put in prison by a religious sect known as the Sadducees for preaching a gospel that declared the resurrection.  The rulers in Jerusalem got together, questioned them, threatened them, and then let them go.  What did they do? They called a prayer meeting and prayed for boldness (verse 29).  What was the result of that prayer meeting? Verse 31 – 33 tells us that God granted them favor. Acts chapter 12 tells us that King Herod had James executed and sought to persecute the Christians.  Because some were pleased with this course of action, he had Peter arrested also.

  Luke 5:16, “And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.” Matthew 14:23, “And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.” It is obvious that Jesus often withdrew from the crowds and got alone with His Father.  He used these times to pray, to refresh His soul, and to seek direction.  What an example we would do well to follow. After Jesus got away from things, He would return with renewed power and begin to minister again. Jesus knew that fatigue could be costly, that’s why He taught His disciples the principle of periodic isolation (Mark 6:31). God created the universe in six days and on the seventh day, He rested; He paused.  Why is pushing the pause button so hard to do in our own lives?  Why do we think we can have power with God without periods of isolation. The ministries of Moses, Paul, John the Baptist, John the Disciple, and the Apostles were intermingled with seasons of isolat

  Psalm 100:3 tells us, “…we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.” In Psalm 23:2, David writes of “…green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.” Peter instructs Pastors in I Peter 5:2 to “feed the flock of God which is among you.” God’s sheep, green pastures, still waters, a flock. I wonder sometimes if to God, we look more like a herd of stampeding cattle than a flock of God beside still waters.   For many of us life is hurry, hurry, hurry – rush, rush, rush. (Been on the freeway lately?)  Think about it, how can we be mighty in God, mighty in prayer if we don’t slow down long enough to commune with the Lord? I’ll admit it – life can get hectic at times!  We live in a fast-paced culture her in America.  As we discussed last week, there are constant distractions and interruptions to deal with.  We get married, start a career, have kids and the next thing we know the kids are gone, our career is over and we find ourselves asking, “how did it all go by so fast”? A lot

  Life is full of distractions! They come suddenly upon us at times, but they always come.  They come in all shapes and sizes.  Sometimes it’s some-thing, sometimes it’s some-one. You know how it is – you have your day planned and then out-of-the-blue something interrupts your day.  It can be minor or it can be major, but it’s an interruption none the less. We must learn to deal with distractions if we are to be effective prayer warriors.  You see my friends, prayer requires focus!  Prayer is the one thing we cannot neglect. As a Pastor, I’ve learned to prioritize things rather well.  I’ve had to, because I’ve learned that if I miss my time alone with God, I cannot deal with the “stuff” that comes my way.  I have to hear from God!  I have to have His power if I’m going to lead with wisdom. So I pray, study, witness, and deal with things as they come. Then, I turn the page and move on. Paul was a focused individual.  Let’s note what he wrote in Philippians 3:10-14.  Do you see it?  He p

  Let’s move on from the subject of purity, to the subject of power.  Remember though, that a pure life before God leads to power in prayer! As I continue to preach (now in my 33rd year of ministry), I am convinced that I cannot be effective without the power of God.  Jesus said, “without Me, ye can do nothing” (John 15:5).  That includes prayer – effective prayer. We need power when we pray!  To pray with power, we need to be men of power. So how do we attain the power we need? First, we must develop a lifestyle of prayer.  Three Bible characters come to mind: Joshua, Daniel and Cornelius.  As you know Joshua was Moses’ “right-hand man”.  When Moses got a word from God, Joshua was often right there. Exodus 33:11 says he “departed not out of the tabernacle”.  No doubt Joshua developed a lifestyle of prayer under his mentor’s leadership.  The Bible tells us that Daniel was tossed into the lion’s den because “he prayed three times a day” (Daniel 6:10), even when forbidden to do so.  Corn