Month: June 2023

Our text today is taken from John 11:39-44. In this story we see that Jesus loved Lazarus, the bother of Mary and Martha. We know Jesus loved him because when Lazarus got sick, they simply told Jesus, “The one you love is sick.” Jesus knew who that was. In John 11, Jesus stands at the 4-day-old tomb of his dead friend. Standing and weeping beside the grave, Jesus told them, 

“Take away the stone,”

“But, Lord,” said Martha, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

There is something special in this story. More than anything, Martha wanted her brother back, but he was dead. Not only dead, but dead so long that by now he stunk. She remind Jesus of this. Did she think Jesus didn’t know?

Sometimes there is a little of Martha in all of us. We want God to do something, but it just seems to big to ask. Even when God says he will do something, we seem reluctant to think that he is up to the task.  Instead of reminding God of how big the task is, we just don’t ask. By the way, Martha didn’t ask either. 

This calls to mind Ephesians 3:20 where God is identified as the one who “is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think.” Sometimes we don’t ask or think. James told us, “You have not because you ask not.”

Jesus didn’t chide her for her faith failure, he just preformed the miracle of raising a four-day-old dead man. Our text continues.

“Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

The world and worldly Christians may doubt the ability and power of God, but we must never doubt. 

As Jeremiah wrote of God,  “His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

He is not only faithful to you, but great is his faithfulness.

Lonnie Davis

Our Scripture for today is Psalm 102:25-27.

Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end.

These are encouraging words. They tell us about the nature of God. God does not change.

The God who met with Moses at the burning bush, knows us. 

The One who led Israel in the wilderness with a pillar of fire by night, leads us with his light.

The One who sent the angel to lead Peter by the hand out of a midnight prison, still leads us.

He has not changed. 

In this crazy world of change, it is wonderful to have something that stays the same. It is even more wonderful to know that something is God.

The world has changed a lot in the last 100 years. 100 years ago, the life expectancy for men was 47 years. There were only 8.000 cars in America and 114 miles of paved roads. If you were lucky enough to have one of those cars, you bought your fuel at the drug store. 

Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen. Coffee was fifteen cents a pound. Sounds good until you learn that the average wage was only 22 cents per hour.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph. My granddad lived in Beaumont, TX and had one of those cars. He told me that people called him, “That reckless McCain kid who drives through town at 15 miles per hour.”

Only 6% of all adults were high school graduates. Most doctors had no college degree. Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

So if the world has changed that much in the last 100 years, how much will it change in the next 100 years. Don’t dismiss that as unimportant because many of our children’s children will live in that world.

The only reason I do not fear for that time is because I know the God who knew Adam and Moses and Paul and me, will still be around for them. I do not know what the world will be like in 100 years, but I know what God will be like.

As Isaiah wrote, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary.” (Isaiah 40:28).

Lonnie Davis

In our scripture today, Jesus is just arriving at the house of Mary and Martha. It was four days after their brother Lazarus had died. As you can understand they were in a state of heartbreak. As we begin our reading, Jesus is just getting to their house.

John 11:21-25

Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. “Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” Jesus *said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha *said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,

May God bless the reading of his word.

There is an adage that reads, “You are you are in a squeeze.” Of course this means that we don’t really know ourselves until we are under pressure. When death visits a family, the squeeze always comes with it. In this time of stress, Mary learns that there are three kinds of faith.

#1. There is faith for yesterday. 

Mary told Jesus, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ She believed that Jesus could have healed if he had only been there. 

#2. There is faith for tomorrow.

When Jesus told her that her brother would rise again, she responded with the great faith she had for tomorrow. She said, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

3. Faith for today.

What she was missing was the faith for the present moment, the faith for today. She can see that things would have been good last week, or someday at the great resurrection. What he needed was a faith that knows that Jesus can handle today.

Don’t be like Mary. Don’t just believe that God will help you someday. Have a faith that says God will be here for you now.

So which of those three faiths do you need to work on, faith for yesterday, faith for tomorrow, or faith for today?

I know which faith I need to work on.

Lonnie Davis

My old Grandad, Zack McCain will never be known by my own kids, at least not in the way I knew him. He was a good man and the anchor for the whole extended family. My mother told me the story of when someone told my silver-haired grandaddy that God could use him. He replied, “God can’t use me.” 

From time to time, most of us have felt that way. The light on ourself shines very brightly to us. As I remember that story, I read today Scripture:

– Revelation 22:16-17

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches.
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” 
And let the one who hears say, “Come!” 
Let the one who is thirsty come; 
and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

From Genesis 3 and man’s fall to Revelation 22, when the pen of inspiration was put down, the Bible tells one story. It is the story of whosoever will may come.

Jesus put it in these words.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” -Matthew 11:28-30

One writer beautifully pointed out that God’s call has always been to all. A call for whosoever will. 

 Jacob was a cheater, 
Peter had a temper, 
David had an affair,
Noah got drunk, 
Jonah ran from God, 
Paul persecuted and jailed Christians, 
Gideon was insecure, 
Miriam was a gossip, 
Martha was a worrier, 
Thomas was a doubter, 
Sara was impatient, 
Elijah was moody, 
Moses was an excuse maker, 
Abraham thought he was too old
Lazarus was dead. 

God used all of them.
He even uses me…and you.

Lonnie Davis

If I were to tell you that today’s scripture is about forgiveness, you mind might go to how God forgives us or how we ought to forgive one another. That is not what we will discuss in this story of forgiveness. Let’s read Matthew 27:3-5

Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!” Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.

So when we read this verse, a person might ask what it has to do with forgiveness? We all understand how much we need God to forgive us or even how much we need to forgive those who hurt us, but this lesson is about a different kind of forgiveness. It is about our need to forgive ourself. 

We all have probably done something that we feel guilty about. We may have hurt someone else. Once you have confessed the sin to God and made things right with others, you must learn to forgive yourself. Unless you do, then you will always be emotionally and spiritually damaged.

Let me illustrate this with a true story from Shoeless Joe Jackson. Have you ever heard of “Shoeless Joe Jackson?” Shoeless Joe was an amazing baseball player in the first part of the 20^th century. Unfortunately he allowed himself to get mixed up in the Chicago White Sox scandal. Players took money to fix the World Series. Several players, including Joe, were banned from baseball for life.

After leaving baseball, In 1922, Shoeless Joe Jackson returned to Greenville and opened a dry cleaning business. Later he and his wife opened a place called, “Joe Jackson’s Liquor Store.” They operated that place until his death. One day the famous player, Ty Cobb and sportswriter Grantland Rice entered the store. Jackson showed no sign of recognition towards Cobb. After making his purchase, Ty Cobb finally asked Jackson, “Don’t you know me, Joe?” Jackson replied, “Sure, I know you, Ty, but I wasn’t sure you wanted to know me. A lot of them don’t.”

Baseball historians argue about how much Shoeles Joe was really involved in the scandal, but no one can question that Joe never forgave himself. When you don’t forgive yourself, you will always be emotionally stunted. 

Lonnie Davis

Our text today is about the death of Jospeh. It is found in Genesis 50:24-26.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.” So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten..

What a way to go! At 110, he died with his around him. He died with the privilige of the palace at his command. He died knowing that his family would be okay and their future would work out right.

It was not always so for Joseph. If we were to write a book about Joseph, our chapters might look something like this:

Chapter 1 – Joseph is hated by his brothers.
Chapter 2 – In the Pit with Joseph.
Chapter 3 – Joseph is a Slave.
Chapter 4 – Joseph in Prison. 
Chapter 5 – Joseph befriends the Pharaoh.
Chapter 6 – Joseph harshly meets his brother’s again.
Chapter 7 – The Family is Reunited
Chapter 8 – The death of Jospeh

So you see, his life wasn’t always like it was at the end. There were many chapters to his life, hard, cruel, and painful chapters. Along the way he was betrayed by his brothers, his slave owner, and those who he helped while in prison. But, in the end those were just chapters to get to the good chapters. 

I said all of this to help you (and me) realize that we all have chapters in our lives. There are easy and fun chapters. There are also the dark and hard chapters. We must not stumble of the hard chapters and miss the joy of the good chapters to come. 

If you are in a hard chapter right now, hold on. A different chapter is coming. At the end of your book on you, “All things work together for good (Romans 8:28).

Back in the days of my counseling chapter, while people were waiting for some word of wisdom, I would tell them that I had a book that told their whole story. Then I would hand them a book full of blank pages. I would tell them they are writing their own book and how it ends is up to them.

Today, you are writing one of your chapters. Whether it is a hard or fun chapter, do not mistake it for the end of your book.

Lonnie Davis

Do you remember the Jesus’ story of the Prodigal Son? Let me read a few verses of it for you. It is from Luke 15:14-20.

After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country…So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. When he came to his senses, he said, “How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father.” So he got up and went to his father.

Why did I give this story the title of “The Pig that Got the Permanent Wave?”  When I was a teenage preacher, my preacher told me this title and I never forgot it. This title reminds me of one of the great lessons from this parable. When life tumbled in for the prodigal, he knew he had to give this up. He waved goodbye to the pigs and went back to his father. 

I love this thought because it is the way out of a problem that all of us should learn. When we mess up, we need to just fess up and do the right thing. He decided to go back to where life had been good and he just went!

There were no 15 sessions of counseling or endless talking to his friends. He knew the right thing to do. He knew what worked before and he just did it! He said goodbye to the pigs and went home.

You’ve heard people say, “People won’t change until they hit rock bottom.” The prodigal hit rock bottom. Then he followed the advice of “The first thing you do when you hit rock bottom is to stop digging.” He stopped digging and went home.

So what do you need to wave goodbye to? Just do it! This would be the point of Jesus’ story for you.

Lonnie Davis

Our text is from Genesis 50:15-21.

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.” So they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.”’ Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.” 

And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

Question: Why did Joseph weep? There are 4 possible answers.

#1 Because he loved his brothers, inspite of all they did to him. That is the true nature of love. Anyone who holds out till they find a mate who will never, never cause them pain, will die alone.

#2 Because they were afraid of him. After they threw him into the pit, they had to go back home and tell their father that a wild animal killed him. They lied to their own father. After that they lived with the lie.

#3 Because it was the nature of his brothers to lie when it was convent to them. the Bible doesn’t say it, but I am do not believe that his father told them to tell Joseph to forgive them. It should not surprise Joseph that his brothers would lie to him. They lied to their own father and about the death of Jospeh. Anyone who will lie to you, will lie about you.

#4 Because their lie to him meant that they had not learned the lesson. Joseph could not really trust them. As Nietzsche said, “I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”

Well to close our thought for today, let’s finish out text from Genesis 50. Because of Joseph’s character, it has a beautiful ending.

Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.” Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. “Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

Lonnie Davis

Our reading for today is the first 50 words from the Bible.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.”

I believe these words are the foundation words in all of Christianity. If these words are not true, then nothing matters. I believe these words are some of the most misunderstood words on earth. I believe these words tell us a truth so great that to understand them explains the nature of God Himself.

In fact, the first five words of the Bible are the secret to understanding God’s omnipresence and omniscience. Those are just fancy words that mean, he is everywhere and he knows everything.

Look at those five words again. “In the beginning God…”

These words say that God was here at the beginning. To be more accurate, God was here at the beginning of the heavens and the earth, the universe. God was here the day that man first began. God was here when time itself began. However there is a deep thought in these words. 

Even scientist will tell you that nothing comes from nothing, so before all of these things came to be, something had to exist. 

Genesis 1:1 tells us that something is God. Before space and matter and time existed, God existed. Since God existed before time, then he is not bound by the laws of time. He told us this in 2 Peter 3:8, “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

He can be everywhere at once. He can hear every prayer, because time stands still for God. He can answer those prayers, because time is not a factor in God’s existence. 

I know this requires deep thinking, but if you get this truth then you will understand God’s nature a little better. You will believe and practice prayer on a higher level, because you will believe that God has time for you.

Lonnie Davis

One of Jesus’ powerful stories was that of the rich man and beggar who both died. 

Today’s reading is from that story. The rich man had been selfish and neglectful in his time, but in the next world things were different. In our text the previously privileged man is begging Abraham for mercy.

Luke 16:24-25

“Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.”

But Abraham replied, “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.”

This Jesus teaching ought to comfort us for 2 reasons.

#1. It teaches that death is not the end.

 We are made in the image of God, the eternal nature of God. When life is over here, we will go there. 200 years ago you did not exist, but there will never be another time when you do not exist. Your great, great, grandchildren that you will never meet on this earth, you can meet later.

#2. It teaches that everything works out in the end. 

If it has not worked out yet, then it is not the end. The begger had lived on the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table, but not anymore. Whatever injustice or wrong that happened to you  , God will make it right. Be patient and trust him. 

I love the story of the little boy who came home from school with a bruise on his face. He told his mother that Johnnie hit him. He added, “when I get back to school tomorrow, I am going to pay him back.”

 The mom tried to teach him better and said that God will take care of things. 

Little Johnnie thought about it and said, “Okay, I will give God until Friday and then I will handle it.”

We don’t need to get even, we just need to trust God. It will all work out in the end. We have God’s promise on that.

Lonnie Davis