The Nashville Turnaround

The Main Event is a Christian Men’s Conference sponsored by Lifeway each year.  It has been in Nashville for the past several years, and next year there will be one there but a couple of others at different cities across the country also.

They bring in some celebrity speakers and also some accomplished preachers to speak and inspire the thousands of men in attendance.  I would estimate I joined about 9000 others this year at the Bridgestone Arena.  The primary celebrity speaker was President George W. Bush, but you might also recognize names like Tommy and Bobby Bowden, Comedian Micheal, Jr., or NASCAR driver Darrell Waltrip.

There was a surprise appearance by Lee Greenwood, and of course he sang "God Bless the USA!"  Everyone sang along.  Fantastic!  Micheal W. Smith lead the worship music.

The celebrities all were interesting, many continue to be involved in various ministries.  President Bush told of being in Rwanda and meeting a group of orphan/refugees.  It was an impromptu meeting…he had no speech planned, so he just shook hands with the first refugee and said, “God is good”.  In unison the refugees replied, “all the time”.

Bobby Bowden told about sharing the Gospel with his football team, then one of his assistant coaches coming to his office and asking about eternal life and Jesus.  The assistant coach accepted Christ in his office, and is a well known Christian head coach today.

Darrell Waltrip talked a lot about his relationship with Dale Earnhardt.  He said his wife put a verse of scripture in his car and Earnhardt’s car before every race.  Though retired from racing, he is very involved with the ministry at the tracks.

Micheal, Jr. is funny.  ‘nuff said.  “I haven’t had a cigarette in over 2 years.”  *applause* “I never smoked in my life”.

We heard some good messages from the preachers also.  I came home with a fresh understanding of Ephesians chapter 5 and my role in the sanctification of my wife.

I titled this “The Nashville Turnaround” because the whole trip was about 40 hours.  I picked up my pastor, Bro. Chet Hensley at 4:30 Friday morning, and we were back in Ennis sometime after 1:00 Sunday morning.  Spending 40 hours with your pastor is a rare opportunity…one that I think very few men have an opportunity to do. What a blessing that was for me!

After we got back, God revealed some stuff to me about the 40 hours.  For me, I likened it to the children of Israel following Moses through the wilderness for 40 years.  Pastor Chet would take off up a flight of stairs at the arena with me following behind at turtle speed, and when I finally caught up with him, he’d say, “how’s your knee?”  I’d say fine, then he’d be gone again, and I would catch up with him again, and he’d say “how’s your knee?” again.  This happened several times.  I think Pastor Chet thought keeping up with him might heal my knee.  Maybe I haven’t waited long enough for the miracle yet.

For Pastor Chet, he might liken the 40 hours with me to the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness being tempted by the devil.  If you ask him that, please don’t tell me what he says.  I don’t want to know.

Any way you look at it though, it was a rare opportunity that few will experience, spending 40 straight hours with their pastor.  However, any of us have the opportunity to spend 40 hours with someone even greater, the Master.

I have been blessed to have taken a couple of overnight excursions with just me and my Bible…and all of that time to read and meditate on the Word and pray with Jesus.

If you ever get the opportunity to spend 40 hours with your pastor, I would recommend it, but you do have the opportunity to spend time alone with the Master.  Take advantage of it!

Wow...it has been a long time since I posted to this blog, and a LOT has happened since the last time I posted.  I have been very busy with things at church, but along with this "busyness" I have been able to grow in my relationship with Jesus.

Last year, for the first time ever, I was able to read the Bible all the way through.  What a blessing that was!  I read it on my tablet computer, and while I got a lot out of it and I am glad I did it, the tablet did not really lend itself to much in "study".

So this year, I decided I would start back through the Bible again, but this time I am using a study Bible and not only reading the scripture text, but I am also reading the notes and underlining and writing in the margins.  It will probably take a few years to finish going all the way through this way, but I am learning a lot.

When I take my time and study the scripture, even though I have read every word before, new things just jump from the pages at me.  The Bible is so obviously "living and active...."  However, I find it opens up so much better to me when I pray and ask the Holy Spirit to lead me as I read and study.

So like I said, a lot has been going on lately and I have a lot to post before I get caught up writing about what has happened.  I hope to post more soon...at least weekly.  Stay tuned.

Learning As I Go

Some of the most important lessons we learn, we learn from experience. Some call it the “school of hard knocks”. Often, the things we have read and supposedly learned, are seen in a whole new light as we experience the trials of life. At a church I formerly attended, our music minister used to sing a song that seems to apply I copied the words at the end of this post.

Last month, my four year old grandson became very jaundiced, as his liver was not functioning properly. As a result, he experienced and continues to experience itching all over his body. Doctors ran numerous blood tests and after a liver biopsy, are pretty confident in their diagnosis of benign recurrent intrahepatic cholestasis. Grandparents do NOT like to see their grandchildren suffer. Thankfully, as a result of much prayer and the work of many doctors, nurses, hospitals, and his loving parents, my grandson is improving and we expect things to go well from here on.

What I found myself doing, and what I learned through this was more about praying without ceasing. My understanding from Paul’s writing was that he was talking about constant communion with God about everything in life, not just a particular incident. However, the practical application that I learned as my thoughts were consumed with my grandson, was that I would find myself in prayer for him when I woke up in the middle of the night, and again as I woke in the morning. This was a new experience for me, and I learned a lot from it, and I hope to apply it more as I continue to learn more about constant communion with God, and having the mind of Christ.

This is a picture of my Grandson and me after my stent procedure at Baylor Hospital. He is still a little jaundiced, but considering what we've been through, we are in pretty good shape!

With all of this going on, last weekend I had a heart attack twenty miles into a thirty-six mile bike ride. You can read the whole story here at my other blog, but to make a long story short, I made it to the local hospital and was taken by helicopter to Baylor Hospital in Dallas to have another (my third) stent put in my heart.

The hardest part was while I was in the hospital in Waxahachie. The doctor said, “Mr. Smith, you are having a heart attack.” The pain in my chest was intense, radiating through my back. I considered that I might die, and I did not experience fear. I am very confident in my salvation. What I experienced at that point is a little difficult to put into words. I remember thinking, “If I die, what will it be like?”

So what did I “learn” through this experience that I had “studied” before? I learned that we are never closer to Christ than in our suffering. Christ suffered greatly on his way to and while he hung there on the cross. I know that He experienced more suffering than I will ever experience in this life, but I experienced some intense pain for what was close to an hour. In that hour, I was very close to Christ, and while I prayed for the doctors and nurses and for myself, I was totally dependent on God’s will.

THANK YOU, LORD
Copyright 1972 by Lexicon Music, Inc
Thank you, Lord,
for the trials that come my way.
In that way I can grow each day
as I let you lead,
And thank you, Lord,
for the patience those trials bring.
In that process of growing,
I can learn to care.

But it goes against the way
I am to put my human nature down
and let the Spirit take control of all I do.

'Cause when those trials come,
my human nature shouts the thing to do;
and God's soft prompting
can be easily ignored.


I thank you, Lord,
with each trial I feel inside,
that you're there to help,
lead and guide me away from wrong.
'Cause you promised, Lord,
that with every testing,
that your way of escaping is easier to bear.

But it goes against the way
I am to put my human nature down
and let the Spirit take control of all I do.

'Cause when those trials come,
my human nature shouts the thing to do;
and God's soft prompting
can be easily ignored.


I thank you, Lord,
for the victory that growing brings.
In surrender of everything
life is so worth while.
And I thank you, Lord,
that when everything's put in place,
out in front I can see your face,
and it's there you belong.

Acts 4:32 speaks of the early church, and the believers were all of "one heart and mind". A.W. Tozer explained this using the following analogy:

Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers [meeting] together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become 'unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.

Brother Jim's Mission Trip to Brazil

Brazil 2009

This is a picture of my brother, Jim, and me. Jim goes on a mission trip to Brazil every two years; I think this is about his 7th or 8th time to go. The following is his report of his trip in 2009. I love my brother as a brother by blood and a brother in Christ!


This year our team was a group of 23 people. The youngest was 12 years old and the “most mature” was 81 years young! We came from Canada, Virginia, Ecuador, Amarillo, Canyon and Lubbock. The dates were set a year ago and prayer and preparation has been an ongoing adventure for those taking care of the logistics of the trip. The group I was with would leave Amarillo Texas on June 30th and return on July 14th.
We met up with other team members at the DFW airport, 2 more team members met us at the airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil and we met as a total team of 23 when we reached Campinas, a city in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. We arrived at the Hotel Vila Rica on Wednesday July 1st around 1p.m. Most of the first day is spent unpacking, resting, getting money exchanged, going to a store for bottled water and did I mention resting…. Thursday, Friday and Saturday are spent training the new people…(a lot of training is done before we leave the USA, but this is where they will get hands on experience sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ)….the “trainees” will have opportunity to share in the hotel, in the parks, at the hospitals, bus stops, hot dog stands---basically anywhere there are people the opportunity exists!
On Sunday morning all the teams (we break up into smaller groups that individual churches can transport—usually 3 to 5 people per team) report to the church that they will be working with for the next 8 days and nights.
This year the team I was on was made up of 5 team members and 2 translators…our translators are most valuable as they communicate the words God gives us to share with the local people. Our translators were Alan and Annie—Alan is in his twenties and I believe Annie was eighteen years old. They both did an amazing job the whole week….they are both in a group currently studying so they can go do mission work in Indonesia for 3 years…Alan hopes to be going in the next several months and Annie should be ready in the next 2 years….
The rest of our team was made up of David, a former Amarillo man who has been a full time missionary who served in Chile for 9 years, Ecuador for 9 years and is preparing to serve in India when he returns to the field next. Glenice, a lady from Amarillo who is semi-retired and does estate sales to earn the money to go on mission trips. Perry from Canada who is retired from working in television and radio for many years. Alfredo who is a missionary from Ecuador (good friend of David) …Alfredo works with some 40 house churches in and around his city in Ecuador…he is currently planning to commit to going to work with David in India after David gets there and develops plans for reaching the people in the slums of Bombay. Final team member is Jim (me) from Amarillo who works in a convenience grocery store.
An old friend who has since gone to be with God used to always give a talk as we were preparing for our mission trips in which he stated: “You will be an ambassador for Jesus Christ as you travel to your destination, while you are there, and upon your return home.” That may not be the exact quote, but I believe it expresses the sentiment of why we go on these trips—to go on behalf of Jesus Christ and to share His message with other people. I am fairly certain that it is the same thing Jesus expects of all His children whether the mission field is in another country or in our own backyard.
The city our group was to serve in is called Apiai – it is a small city of about 40,000 people located in the mountains about 200 miles south of Campinas. Because it was so far away we would be staying in a local hotel, separated from the rest of the groups that would be working in the Campinas area. The city is known for its work with pottery, and has some caves and waterfalls which make it somewhat of a touristy place. It’s not like an American “resort destination”…..we had planned to see the caves and waterfalls on our one day off, but because of rain would not have been able to make it to the sites. The homes in the developed parts of the city were typical of South America—built with clay bricks, then covered in concrete and surrounded by a protective concrete wall with each home sharing a connecting divider wall between each home.
In the poorer areas where we generally work around the church, the streets are dirt. Many of the people are still working on the homes….some are made of the structure I mentioned, but many are of much lesser construction of wood pieces and cardboard type shacks. One of the things that has impressed me each time I have had the opportunity to go to Brazil is that regardless of where the people live, whether it be one of the nicer homes or one of the much poorer homes….the people seem to be content in their nothingness. I’m sure that probably may not be the best word to describe it and I don’t want to come across as rude or haughty. I must compare the standard of living to our standard in the USA, and say that compared to our standards, the folks we visit have nothing, but they are still a happy people. They are very hospitable, friendly and willing to share what they have. I cannot help but respect them and respect the place they live.
What to share? How do I express God at work except to give you a few examples of the visits we made in Apiai, Brazil. As I mentioned earlier about being an Ambassador for Christ, I think the best way to describe our actions is that we must constantly be in tune to what the Holy Spirit wants us to do and where He wants us to go. One of our first visits was to the home of an elderly church member, a blind lady who lives about 2 blocks away from the church on one of the dirt streets and in one of the lesser homes. The day was cool and there was a wood burning store in the house that was obviously used for cooking and for warming the “room” of the house. We visited with her and before we left Glenice prayed for her health and other concerns. As we left the home and went out into the streets there were two ladies that we were able to share with and they both prayed to receive Christ. After the two ladies I saw a man sitting at the end of the street and went to talk with him. I shared the gospel with him through our translator and with the use of our God/Man Visual aide that was developed many years ago and has proved to be a good visual tool we use in sharing Christ. This man prayed to receive Jesus into his heart. We learned that he was the son of the blind lady we had visited with earlier in the home…..she had expressed concern about him during our visit with her. Some would say it was just by chance that I was able to speak to him…I think maybe God had lined it up just that way, perhaps an answer prayer for a Mother…you decide!
We had many opportunities to share the word of God…..there was a local radio station and the first Saturday we were there, we went and shared on the radio in the morning and then again in the afternoon. In the morning we shared where we were from, what we did for a living in the USA and one of us gave a word of testimony. When we went back in the evening, David was able to preach a message. This is not a “Christian” radio station, but as it is the only station in town, it reaches a lot of people. You never know what chances will come our way to share.
We went one evening to the local town council meeting….and were invited to address the council…we did not offer an invitation, but the news of Jesus Christ was shared in this very public forum.
One day we were on the street and I stopped at a house on the corner…the lady invited us into the home. I shared with her and she prayed to receive Christ……while we were still there, a man came in and she introduced him as her brother who lived just next door. I asked him if I could share with him the reason I have come to Brazil and he said yes, so I shared with him and he also prayed to receive Jesus into his heart. As we were getting ready to get back into the cars, people were on the street as they were coming home from jobs etc…and I stopped a young man and asked if I could talk to him. He said yes….we shared with him, and he prayed to receive Christ into his life also. When he left the corner I watched and he went to the home where the man lived that we had just shared with……that made 3 people from the same family that all prayed to receive Jesus into their hearts ---all separate, yet at the same time! I’m sure God watches us and laughs at the things that we tend to marvel at  He had it planned that way all the time!
One last instance I feel compelled to share was when the whole team was on the same street, going door to door, and both sides of street. I was walking up the hill towards the next house when I looked to my left at a vacant lot on the street, but then Holy Spirit says “look up”….so I look wayyyyyyyy up and see a little old man watching us from his house wayyyyyy up on top of a hill. I looked up and saw him, thought about climbing that hill and thought “be a lot easier to keep going straight”…..Spirit says “are you sure”…..don’t try to argue with the Spirit as He is pretty convincing……..when I got through climbing to the top and then balancing on his garden wall to get to where he was….I told the little man I’d like to talk to him, but he would have to wait just a minute so I could breathe again! He was a 61 year old who was happy we had stopped to talk to him and he also prayed to receive Jesus Christ into his heart.
One more last instance…David had the chance to share with the son-in-law of Pastor John, our host, early in the week…he did not pray to receive Christ…however he did agree to show us around the farm where he worked the following Saturday….there would be some 80 families on this farm….well it rained and the roads would not allow us to make visits to most of the people…we did visit with one of the first men to settle there and then we went and were able to share with 1 man who did receive Christ…..it is amazing how sometimes you can see the countenance of their face change while you are sharing and this was one of those times…all that to say this….we had a service at church Saturday evening and the pastors son-in-law came to the service…when David gave the invitation, he came forward and received Christ into his heart. What a wonderful God we serve that would allow us to witness a family coming together in Christ !!! Our hotel manager also came to the service, heard the Word and did NOT respond. This is another amazing thing we witness yes is yes and no is no, but we keep praying for those that chose to say no, that God will continue to work on their hearts……the seed has been planted….who will water and who will harvest….it just might be YOU!
God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes might not perish but have everlasting life……the gospel in one verse….
GOD LOVED
GOD GAVE
YOU BELIEVE???
YOU RECEIVE!!!
If you’ve never prayed to receive Christ into your heart you can—right now!
Dear Jesus,
I know I’ve made mistakes and have sin in my life, I’m sorry for my sin and want you to forgive me for all my sins. Please come into my life and be the LORD and SAVIOUR of my life. Be the center of my life. Thank you for forgiving me and coming into my life. Amen
Respectfully submitted,
One of your ambassadors for Christ,
Jim Smith

The Spirit and the Flesh

Some accused Paul the Apostle of being "soft" on sin, because he taught that salvation was by grace and faith alone...that the law or good works could not save men from Hell, and anything added to salvation by faith alone was taking away from the true Gospel.

In Galatians Paul proves again that he is not soft on sin, as he specifially names many (but not near all) of the sins of the flesh. Paul's opponents would claim the concepts of grace and being led by the Spirit lead to unrestrained sin. Paul claimed the complete opposite--that only by the Spirit can we suppress the desires of the flesh and lead a life worthy of God.

Men's Breakfast: Introduction to Discipleship

It has been a long time between posts, but it is because I have been working on putting this little talk together for the men's breakfast at our church tomorrow morning. I've read about a half dozen books on discipleship, and to try to condense all of that into about 10 minutes has been a challenge! This is the text of my talk:

How many of you today will raise your hand and say you know Jesus?
Okay, how many of you know the song “Jesus Loves Me”?
(sing)
Okay, now I want to tell you about Jesus Loves Me. The words were written before the turn of the 20th century by Anna B. Warner, who lived from 1820-1915. The music was composed by William B. Bradbury who lived from 1816-1868. There are four verses in the Baptist Hymnal, but I looked on the internet and found that another 22 verses have been written over the years.
Now, how many of you know the song, “Jesus Loves Me”? Well I just told you all about it! Can you not sing along now?
Perhaps we should revisit the first question again also then. How many of you know Jesus? I can tell you that you know about him. Perhaps you know:
1. He is the son of God.
2. He was always with God and part of the Trinity.
3. He was born of a virgin
4. He was born in Bethlehem on December 25th, 0033 before He.
5. He grew up as a carpenter’s stepson in Nazareth
6. He became a teacher and healer
7. He performed miracles
8. He was crucified at a place called Golgatha, the place of the skull
9. He was buried in a borrowed tomb with a big rock in front of it
10. He rose on the third day.
11. He lives today in Heaven with God.

So, with all of that information…do you know Jesus? How well do you know him? Do you know Him as well as the man sitting next to you? Do you know Him as well as your wife, your children, your brother, your parents?

I have a young nephew named David*. David is 20 years old and in college in Denver*. A few months ago, David got a DUI. Not too long before that, he expressed that he probably wasn’t going to heaven because of the bad things he has done. He said his mother and brother would probably make it, but he and his father probably would not. My initial thought for David was that he needed to settle his life down and conform a little to the way things really are in the world, and lose some of his rebellious, self centered attitude. Then it struck me that David does not need to conform, David needs to be transformed, in accordance with Romans 12:2 that says;
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…"
On Easter Sunday this year, we had a Sunday School lesson about (what else?) the resurrection. Our lesson was out of Matthew, and the Sunday School board chose to stop the lesson right before Matthew 18 v 19, which you will recognize as The Great Suggestion:
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you...

My commentary today is to point out that not only are we not making disciples, but that we are not disciples ourselves!
How can we expect to make others into something that we are not ourselves? Can we teach others to obey what we do not obey? Should they do as we say and not as we do?
So what is a disciple? In its simplest (and most complex) form a disciple is a follower.
Lifeway conducted a survey in 2005 wherein they asked 1300 evangelical leaders across the world to name the top 10 issues facing today’s churches. According to the survey the number one issue facing churches today is prayer; discipleship was number 2. I’m going to go ahead and stress discipleship today, because being in the top 10 is still pretty significant, even though Bro. Johnny has indicated that in an effort to make our church more attractive than other churches in town, we will be going from 10 commandments to 8, and you can chose which two you want to throw out!
When Jesus called Peter to be His disciple in Mark 1:17, he simply said “Follow Me”. Do you know what the last thing Jesus said to Peter was, recorded in John 21:22? “Follow Me”.
So how do we do it? How do we follow Him? I have come to realize that I can read my Bible, that I can read every book in the library about Jesus, that I can teach my Sunday School class for the next 50 years, and still have never followed Him the way He intends for me to if I am to call myself a disciple of Jesus Christ.
What He wants from me is a personal relationship with him, whereby I get to really know Him. We can learn all about Him, but we prove we actually know Him when we begin acting on what we know about him.

We are all familiar with the parable Jesus spoke in Matthew 6:26 when he said, “And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act upon them, will be like the foolish man, who built his house upon the sand…”
In his book “The Cost of Discipleship”, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote:
Throughout the New Testament we see Jesus and his disciples despised and rejected of men, yet today we have a Christianity which can no longer see any difference between an ordinary human life and one supposedly committed to Christ.
He goes on to say that the grace that saved our souls from Hell is a costly grace, it is a grace that was paid for with a man’s life. When we fail to genuinely repent of our sinful life, and actually turn towards a life of following Christ, then we have accepted a cheaper form of grace. If all Jesus called you for was salvation, you would not be here today. You were created by God and recreated in Christ Jesus to worship God and to be like him. Max Lucado wrote a book called “Just Like Jesus”, and the theme of the book is that God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus.
Bonhoeffer also wrote that the command of Jesus “Follow Me” is hard, unutterably hard, for those who try to resist it. But for those who willingly submit, the yoke is easy, the burden is light. 1st John 5:3 says “His commandments are not burdensome”
Mt. 11: 28-30 says:
Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart….

Have you ever seen a young bull placed in a yoke with an old bull? By the end of the day the young bull is exhausted from fighting the yoke and the old bull’s path. Eventually he learns that if he’ll just go where the old bull leads, it makes for a pretty easy day.
We had a puppy a few years ago that I tried to teach to walk on a leash. I drug that puppy down the street til his little paws were raw, but he stubbornly refused to be led. The puppy learned to walk on the leash, and I learned a valuable lesson, as my children gently led the puppy down the street. The puppy knew the children loved him, and he wanted to follow them!
The easiest way to learn to follow Jesus is to spend time with him. Not just “formal” time, but everyday time. Brother Lawrence was a French Monk in the 17th century who decided to follow Jesus’ example and try to be in constant communion with God. He eventually reached the point where when he was called to prayer in the monastery, he could not see the difference between prayer meeting and sorting beans in the kitchen. A more modern example is Frank Lauback, a missionary teacher who traveled all over the world teaching people to read. At age 45 he resolved to live in “continuous inner conversation with God and in perfect responsiveness to His will.”
In Thessalonians Paul instructs us to give thanks in all things and to pray without ceasing. This is how we really get to know Jesus and be His disciple. This is how we are in the constant process of being transformed as we mentioned in Romans 12:2, and if you go on and read the conclusion of that verse “…then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

* I chose not to public post my nephew's given name or location.