The Bible says, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57). Our church family lost two precious people this week. Mike Waters and Janice Peters are now in heaven with Jesus. They have won the victory. God’s perfect plan has been fully realized. They are now in their mansions prepared for them in glory by the Lord Jesus Himself. Praise God!
 
Mike Waters shared with me his testimony about almost getting to heaven. He was suffering from a terrible motorcycle accident. He was in the hospital fighting for his life when God opened a portal and gave him a glimpse of glory. He said that he had never felt peace like that before. Every care, every worry, every sorrow, and heartache was all swallowed up in the beauty and splendor of heaven’s glow. He said that he wanted to go in, to be in that place where he felt at home and at rest.
 
He saw his mother who was there to tell him that it was not yet his time to enter. He could not understand why. She told him that he was to return to this life because he had more to do. So, he returned. He recovered from his injuries. He came home from the hospital to do those things that God had given him more time to do. But he was forever changed. He saw his life in a new way. He lived in the afterglow of glory. He lived each day anticipating what he had seen and heard on the doorstep of heaven’s promise. To Mike, heaven was more than an idea, more than a far-off vision. Heaven was for him a real and happy fact.
 
I believe in those kinds of things. I believe that some people are blessed to see further and look beyond what exists in this life. I believe God shows eternity to those He chooses to open heaven and let them take a peek. The apostle Paul said, “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the boy I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven” (2 Corinthians 12:2). The “third heaven” is the closest place to Jesus and to God’s throne a person can go. The reference is not about levels in heaven, but about getting to the place where Jesus is. I believe Paul was talking about himself. He went there and he saw the Lord of glory sitting upon his throne.
 
I’ve heard other stories from people who have been close, but not allowed to proceed into heaven’s splendor. Doug Peppers has shared with me his story of a near heaven experience. I believe heaven is real and we go there because Jesus is waiting to welcome all those who trust in him. For Mike Waters and Janice Peters, heaven is not a vision. It is not a place to visit and then come home. Heaven, for these two faithful saints of the Lord, is where they belong. It is now their home. They are together with Jesus in heaven, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). I look forward to the victory of heaven.

In over 55 years of ministry, Billy Graham preached to over 255 million people in 185 countries of the world. After a crusade meeting one night in 1954 during the invitation period at the end of the sermon, a person who came forward at Haringey Arena in London spoke to Billy Graham saying, “I have come here every night, listened to many sermons, and I have only heard one message.”

​Billy Graham responded saying, “You are right, there is only one sermon that matters, and it comes straight out of God’s word, ‘For God so love the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life’” (John 3:16 NKJV). To be a great preacher, you do not need to be cleaver. Preaching does not require the latest and the greatest techniques or methods. Preaching is not about big screens, light shows, or colored backdrops. Preaching calls for the faithful proclamation of God’s word.
 
The apostle Paul told the church at Corinth, “For since the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe…but we preach Christ crucified…because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:21, 23a, 25). Preachers are not to be men pleasers, but God pleasers. Preaching requires faithfulness to the gospel message, not applause from satisfied customers. The very first words Jesus preached when He came into Galilee at the beginning of His public ministry were, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). The preaching of Jesus is the best there is. No preacher exceeds the simple, to the point, call to faith that spilled out of the mouth of our Lord. Never mistake clever rhetoric or elaborate staging for the true, undefiled, pure preaching of the gospel.
 
I am afraid today people seek to be wooed and wowed rather than convicted and transformed. Preaching is not easy. It is not done to please people, but to change them. Preaching is not comfortable. It is anything but comfortable. Real preaching should jolt people into the posture of repentance. It should cause us all to recognize our need to be forgiven. Preaching should cause a person to recognize the need to reach out, reach up, and reach for cleansing. Real preaching puts people in touch with the Holy Spirit that convicts and coverts, “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:9). People today want preaching that is palatable rather than powerful. People seek out preachers who make them feel better, rather than point them toward radical change.
 
One of the worst condemnations ever spoken about preaching was made in reference to the preaching of Jesus, “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). The fact that men loved darkness did not change the message proclaimed by the Light of the World. Preaching penetrates and separates. It converts and changes people into disciples of the Light. Real preaching never concedes or gives in to the darkness.

I am praising God today for the dedicated and dependable women of our church. Where would we be if it were not for women of love Jesus and serve Him faithfully weekend and week out.
 
There are some who believe that men are more valuable than women. You must go someplace other than the Bible to find that untruth. The truth is, God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18). The only thing that was not good in all of God’s creation was a man without a woman. God made woman to complete the man, to make him better than he was by himself. Woman was declared by God to be good for man.
 
Then God put them in the garden together, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply in number; fill the earth and subdue it…” (Genesis 127-28a). Both man and woman were made in the image of God, they both bear the same resemblance, they both look like, act like, and both man and woman belong to God. The word IMAGE means TO CUT OUT. We have been CUT OUT of God Himself.  We are chips-off-the-old-block. Every person, male and female, have the presence and person of God planted into them. We are not God, but we are made in the image of God.
 
We are not only made in the image of God, but God put both male and female into the same place and gave them the same job to do. The Bible says that we are to be FRUITFUL. We are to be progressive. We are to add value. We are to “FILL THE EARTH…”, which means that both males and females are to make the earth full. We are to complete the earth. We are to accomplish and fulfill what the earth was created for in the first place. We are a part of God’s creative order. He created and we keep on creating. We make children. We make households. We make communities. We make nations. We keep on creating what God created the world to be. God turned His creating ME into a creating WE. Males together with females create and keep on creating because that is what God made us all to do--MAKE THE EARTH FULL. That has little to do with procreation. It has everything to do with recreation. With every generation, we keep on recreating what God started.
 
Our women of Grace are recreation geniuses. Whether in Sunday School every week, Vacation Bible School every Summer, every Fellowship Meal, Worship Service, Picnic, or you name it, our women do something over and above the expected. They are constantly working to make something special, memorable, or imaginative to give glory to God. Just this week, our women took lunches and dinners to some of our widows. This evening at Bolding Mill Park our women will bring their signature dishes, deserts, and homemade ice cream recipes that will add an amazing taste and touch to our church picnic.
 
Thank you ladies, mothers, grandmothers, and women of Grace for your sacrifices of love that make us all better disciples of Jesus. We love and appreciate you all.

Today we finish preaching about the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit. When we say that we believe in one God, we state our faith that God has made Himself known to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
     God the Father is the only God that will ever be.
     God the Son is the only God this world will ever see.
     God the Holy Spirit is the only God living in me.
 
That is a good way to remember who God is and how He has revealed Himself to us. The best thing to remember is that God has made Himself known to us. We do not have to search for Him. He has come to us, and we find Him most clearly revealed in His word, the Bible. God has shown Himself to us personally through His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus is God in human flesh, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). If you want to know God, look at Jesus. He will show you in all He did, all that He said, and the manner of His life the character and person of God Himself.
 
The apostle Paul calls on us to shun the ways of the world by living as wise people who are filled with the Holy Spirit. He says, “…be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ” (Ephesians 5:15-21).
 
The word DISSIPATION is located right in the center of Paul’s prescription for living the Spirit Filled life. Unwise people; foolish people; people who party and get full of booze live a DISSIPATED life. That means that those people live a WASTED life. You could say EMPTY life, or POINTLESS life. Folks who live without the Holy Spirit wind up with NOTHING to show for it. All their substance, all their achievements, all their claims to fame in the end evaporate and blow away.
 
On the other hand, people who walk in the Spirit of God keep on singing.
 
     Isn’t it amazing that the Spirit Filled life is marked in Paul’s mind by singing?
 
Birds sing. Angels sing. The hosts of heaven sing the praises of God. Singing is the language of heaven. When people are filled with the Spirit of God, they sing and make melody in praise and thanksgiving to God. Spirit Filled people join with the hosts of heaven with joy to lift up the name of Jesus.
 
It is not surprising that our church, along with the good people of Mountain View church, our closest neighboring church, will join together on the last Sunday night of August to sing together in praise to the Lord. We will do exactly what Paul tells us to do, “…speak to one another in psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.”
     Instead of DISSIPATION there will be MELODY.
   Instead of unwise and senseless banter there will be thanksgiving and praise.
 
This Hymn Sing will be filled with the Spirit as we all subject ourselves to one another in love in the name of Jesus. Mark your calendar now,
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I love my country. I still believe in America because it is still a country in which there is freedom to worship and follow God’s leadership according to your own conscience. I’ve been in a place where it is not lawful to own a Bible. I’ve been in a country where believers may be monitored, searched, or even jailed if they fail to comply with the government’s prescription on how one’s faith should be displayed. I’ve traveled abroad to a place where the average lifespan is 60 years of age. There are no people there my age. On the street, very few people have hair the color of my hair. There’s no need of Social Security in this country or even Medicare. People don’t live that long. There is no other place on earth as blessed as the United States of America.
 
I hear people every day talk and complain about what is wrong with my country. I hear people make jokes about the age of our president. I’m not going to joke about his age. I’m almost as old as he is, and I have the privilege here and now to be a pastor of a great church where I can preach the gospel like the Holy Spirit leads me to preach it. Where else in this world is it possible for an old man full of wisdom and years of experience to be president. Where else in this world can an old man read his Bible and preach the gospel to a room full of people who are hungry to hear it. Abraham was 70 years old when God called him to service. Noah was over 900 years old when he built the ark. Joshua was almost 100 when he entered the promised land. The apostle John was an old man when God showed him the wonder of heaven from a prison cell on the Isle of Patmos. Like in the Bible, age is honored in America. This country cares for people who have served well and lived long. I’m an old man who loves his country because his country loves him.
 
America is still a place where the truth matters. I’m not talking about opinions or competing versions of truth. I’m talking about the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Truth matters to God because every word from His mouth is true, “All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal” (Psalm 119:160). We still put our hand on the Bible and swear, “I promise to tell the truth…”. The laws of this country plus the health of our social order depend on our commitment to that premise. The truth is still the bedrock of our constitution, our legal system, and our daily practice. We believe in the power of truth that not only sets us free but keeps us free (John 8:32).
 
I love America because here Jesus can be Lord over all things. Not a manmade king. Not a clever, well-positioned, or financed politician. Not a billionaire or mega corporation. People in America can make Jesus Lord rather than the government or any secular institution. We live in a place where the kingdom of God is greater than the kingdoms of this world. People in America still believe in Jesus and are free to choose Him over anything manmade. America is still a country where what Jesus said in Matthew 6:33 actually happens, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given unto you.” That’s why America continues to be the most blessed nation in all the earth. People here are free to make Jesus Lord of their lives and put His kingdom first.
 
This July 4th, I’m still thanking God that I have been blessed to live in the greatest nation ever. I’m proud to be an American.
 

This year’s Vacation Bible School theme is about God’s amazing purpose and work to make His children more and more like Jesus. The memory passage is, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)
 
God’s purpose has never changed. He has always planned for those who trust in Jesus to look like Jesus, think like Jesus, and be like Jesus in all our ways. Children do that better than anybody. Children want to be like Jesus. They are not corrupted yet by the ways of the world. They are tender and trusting. Children show us adults what pure uninterrupted Christlikeness looks like. If you want to see what God’s eternal purpose is, just show up this week walk around the church and watch the children.
 
We have over the past couple of years lost a lot of our children. Their families have moved away to other counties. We are now rebuilding our children’s ministry at Grace. This year’s Vacation Bible School will give us a great opportunity to reach out into the community to locate and enlist children that need to be a part of the ministry here. We not only need these children in our church, but they need our church to show them who Jesus Christ is. You can help reach children and their families to bring them closer to Jesus. Invite neighboring children to join us in Vacation Bible School this week. Bring your extended family member’s children each evening at 6:00 pm to join in the exciting activities taking place. Encourage your friends with children to come and participate in all that Jesus will do this week.
 
Most of all, pray. Talk to God about Vacation Bible School at Grace. Ask God to do miracles this week. Pray that God’s word will be clearly taught and that the Holy Spirit will guide our children to faith in Jesus. Seek the Lord in your own life this week. God is ready to do a mighty work of faith in all of us as we become more like Jesus through Vacation Bible School. God is willing to accomplish His purpose in us. Pray this week, that our children as well as all of us grown-ups will let God do His amazing work in us.

We started a new Bible study series this past Wednesday night. It is called “A Survey of First Things.” The first topic for our study was the life of Abraham. While Abraham is not the first father in the Bible, he is certainly the most important when it comes to his life and influence upon his family and the people of God. His name means “Father of a Multitude.” It can be translated as “Exalted Father.” Abraham was both. He was exalted by God, “I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great…” (Genesis 12:2)
 
To be blessed by God means that you share in the character of God. You can say that the blessing of God makes you Godlike. Abraham was a living example of God’s presence and likeness in all that he did.
 
God promised Abraham that through him, “…all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:3b). That means that God chose Abraham to show the world who God is. Abraham would display God’s likeness to people of his day, but when you add the word “all” you also include everybody, everywhere, for all time. Thus, Abraham is a chosen father for God whose influence and testimony continues even today. We are blessed because God chose Abraham to be a blessing.
 
     How does God use Abraham today to bless me and everyone all over the world?
 
The answer is repeated three times throughout the Bible:
“…he believed in the Lord; and God reckoned it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6)
 
Those words are repeated by the apostle Paul in Romans 4:3, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” And then again in James 2:23, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.”
 
There are two ways Abraham’s blessing becomes our blessing. First, we are blessed by Abraham’s testimony of faith. He believed God.
 
R.C. Sproul said, “It’s one thing to believe in God and another thing to believe God.”
 
Abraham believed God by doing what God wanted him to do. His faith was lived out by his actions. Abraham was a father who believed God and showed us how to be a friend of God.
 
Then, Abraham was a blessed father who was righteous before God. God declared him to be “right.” In other words, Abraham was the right kind of father. He was right in God’s eyes.
 
     Was Abraham perfect?
 
No, he messed up occasionally. But every time God spent time with him to renew his faith, Abraham did the right thing. Abraham worshipped God, listened to God, and trusted God.
 
Righteousness is putting God where He belongs in your life. You cannot be right with God and put God in some place other than on the top shelf where He belongs. 
 
We thank God today for our fathers. They are truly blessed men of God who have been a blessing to their families and many others. Fathers renew your faith in God on this Father’s Day. Determine to walk by faith like Abraham did. Ask God to give you what you need to be righteous in His sight. Put God at the center of everything and you will truly be blessed.

​While on vacation last week, I started reading Billy Graham’s book, “The Reason for My Hope.” It is a book about the truth and hope we have in salvation. Billy Graham talks about his hope because he knows Christ Jesus as his personal savior. He talks about the reality of sin in our world and in our lives. Without hope that comes through salvation and the forgiveness our sins, we are lost in our sin and without hope in the world. We have hope because Jesus died to cleanse us from sin through His shed blood on the cross.
 
He talks about the hope we have through the cross. Jesus died in our place. He gave His life to redeem us and restore us, “The Bible says that we are doomed to eternal banishment from the presence of God because sin separates man from God. Remember, sin brings about a penalty, ‘The soul that sins shall die’ (Ezekiel 18:20). But Jesus Christ said, ‘I will die in their place. I’ll take their judgment. I’ll take their death. I’ll go to the cross.’ This is what Christ did for you and for me. Two thousand years ago, God invited a morally corrupt world to the foot of the cross. There He held your sins and mine to the flames until every last vestige of our guilt was consumed.”
 
Like the hymn writer wrote, 

​The cross upon which Jesus died,
Is a shelter in which we can hide;
And its grace so free is sufficient for me,
And deep is its fountain and wide as the sea.
 
There’s room at the cross for you,
There’s room at the cross for you;
Though millions have come, there’s still room for one,
There’s room at the cross for you.
 

There is another great point that Dr. Graham makes in his book about the truth and validity of Jesus. The Bible is true. It is not a book of fables and wishful thinking. Its truth has been verified by multitudes of witnesses of centuries of time. The Bible has not lessened in its importance, but increased in its impact upon history. This book quotes world figures, scholars, public leaders and historians about the truth and reliability of Jesus. Here are just of couple of examples:
 
Vincent Van Gogh: “Christ…is more of an artist than the artists; he works in the living spirit and the living flesh, he makes men instead of statues.”
 
Lord Byron: “If ever man was God or God man, Jesus Christ was both.”
 
H.G. Wells: “It is interesting and significant that a historian, without any theological bias whatever, should find that he cannot portray the progress of humanity honestly without giving a foremost place to the penniless teacher from Nazareth… One like myself, who does not even call himself a Christian, finds the picture centering irresistibly around the life and character of this most significant man… the world began to be a different world from the day that His doctrine was preached.”
 
Billy Graham’s hope is firmly grounded in every word the Bible uses to tell us about Jesus. The Bible is true and Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life (John 4:6). Amen, Brother Billy Graham! My hope is built on nothing less that Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. Jesus is my solid rock of hope too.

 
I am sitting at my desk this morning writing to my beloved church family an article for this Sunday’s bulletin while 19 little ones are laying cold and lifeless along with two of their teachers because of a brutal and senseless massacre in an elementary school outside of San Antonio, Texas. Two weeks ago, it was in a grocery store up in Buffalo, New York where the carnage took place. Senseless shootings, murders, and suicides happen regularly in our day because there are too many guns in the hands of too many people and all of us have stood idlily by and let it happen.
 
“Forgive me Lord because I am guilty.” This is my prayer this morning. I have become a part of this problem. I don’t own an assault rifle. I don’t have a pistol, or a weapon designed to take another human being’s life, but I have been too silent and too complacent for too long in speaking out against those who make millions of dollars promoting an industry that profits beyond reason by the sales and promotion of these awful tools of human carnage. I can no longer keep quiet.
 
Jesus referred to a place where the fire is never quenched, the worm never dies and there is continual weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mark 9:48). He made that reference just 6 verses after He talked about children who are made to stumble and fall resulting in millstones that are promised for those who do the dirty work.
 
A person who abuses children, who attacks children, who leads children to suffer, and die is a person who is destined for the eternal fire in hell. This assault on our children is not a political problem or a reflection of social disfunction. It is a spiritual problem that all of us share and for which the only answer is to repent. There are people in high places who bear responsibility for the death of these children in Texas. There are people who have profited by the production and sale of weapons that were used to kill these children. Even the high and mighty need to repent. I live in a country in which children are on the front lines of a battlefield every time they go to school or even to the grocery store. Listen to what God says,
 

(Luke 13:3)
​

 
The National Rifle Association meets next week in Houston, Texas. Political leaders, national gun manufacturers, lobbyists, and lifelong members will come together and to talk about protecting the right to bear arms guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment. They will show off the newest weapon models hitting the market this year.

​Those attending will share their affinity for personal freedom and individual rights. Maybe they will have a moment of silence for the parents and loved ones of dead children over in Uvalde, or maybe someone will offer a prayer for those who grieve.

I venture to say there will be no repentance or united change of heart and mind. No one will look up into the face of God and beg for forgiveness and tell God that the binge we have in this country to purchase and possess tools for killing people is wrong.
 

GOD PLEASE, PLEASE FORGIVE US!
 
GOD FORGIVE ME!

(John 13:12-14)

 
Today and tomorrow our church will be paying close attention to the command of Jesus to serve one another. Servanthood marks the character of the church. Every born again believer in Jesus is called to serve others like Jesus served others. He said, “Who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:27). Jesus is our example in serving others. No one ever served like He did. He laid down His life in service, and without His sacrifice, none of us would be saved. Salvation is a product of His service. We are called to give ourselves as living sacrifices in service for the sake of others, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship” (Romans 12:1).
 

 
Preaching and teaching today and tomorrow, our friend and co-laborer in Christ will help us in our desire to become more like Jesus in our service to God and to each other. Brother Ricky serves Georgia Baptists in volunteer ministries and chaplaincy all across Georgia. I’ve known him for years and I know he has the heart of a servant. I pray you will commit yourself to participate in the studies tonight beginning at 5:00 pm and then again tomorrow evening beginning at 6:30 pm. We will be studying together under Brother Ricky’s leadership an old book entitled, “THE BAPTIST DEACON.” Deacons are called and elected to serve others within the membership of Grace. Surely, deacons must display a servant’s heart and manner. But they are not the only one’s called to serve. All of us are called to serve.
 
I pray that our women and young adults will join in the timely and spiritual opportunity to listen to God’s word and share together how God can use you in service. The younger members of our church family will become our future servant leaders. God is going to plant the seeds of love and commitment with our teenagers and 20 something’s that will grow and bloom as time passes. We are to become a people who are “Saved to Serve not Sit and Soak.”
 

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I look forward to seeing you and sharing with you what God has to say to us today and tomorrow.