"The key to understanding the Bible is to look for Jesus in the Bible. Jesus is the hero of the Bible. If you read the Bible and don't find Jesus, re-read it! The Bible has one hero, His name is Jesus; one villain, that is Satan; one problem, that is sin; one solution, that is salvation. That is what the Bible is all about." -Dr. Adrian Rogers

Monday, September 23, 2013

Just a Call Away

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Romans 10:13

A couple years ago, I wrote a blog post entitled “Call Out and Be Saved.” In that post, I explained how Romans 10:13 applies to far more than just our eternal salvation. Well, today, I want to reiterate that because I feel that so many of us are struggling and dealing with unnecessary pain and confusion because we have not yet fully grasped what it means to call upon the name of the Lord that we might be saved.

One of my absolute favorite hymns says, “Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!” God has caused me to realize that I have not taken hold of the promise of Roman 10:13. I’ve tried to fight life’s battles on my own so many times, but I’ve never been able to win on my own. However, He has proven time and again that, when I call on His name, He will come to my rescue; He will see me through.

Maybe you’re here today and you’re fighting your own struggle. I don’t know what that is, but God does. Maybe you’ve never acknowledged Him as Lord of your life. If that’s so, I urge you today to give complete control over to Him. Repent of all sin and trust Jesus alone to save you. If you do that, He will save you today and keep you saved forever!

Monday, September 16, 2013

Living the Word

She looketh well to the ways of her household,
and eateth not the bread of idleness.
Her children arise up, and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praiseth her.
Many daughters have done virtuously,
but thou excellest them all.
Proverbs 31:27-29

I’m sure any regular readers that I have will soon become tired of reading about my grandmothers, but I will never become tired of writing about them. My grandmothers are my heroes. They are not my heroes merely because of who they are, my grandmothers, or because of what they have done. No. They are my heroes because of the things that they have done because of who they are. My grandmothers are also my heroes because of what they have taught me just by living their lives. My father’s mother in particular has taught me what it truly means to live, to love, to give the way that Jesus did, expecting nothing in return.

Perhaps the first time I ever noticed the selfless and giving spirit of my grandmother was around her dinner table. Anyone who has ever eaten at her house knows that my grandmother is always the last one in line to fix her plate (we’ve always eaten kind of buffet style, helping our plates from the kitchen counter before sitting down at the table). Not only that, but you will usually find my grandmother eating standing up at the kitchen counter because there are no seats left by the time she has finished serving everyone else. Someone will almost always offer her their seat, but she always refuses.

When I walk around my college campus and I look at the people around me, I don’t see juvenile delinquents. No. I see young people who are hurting because they have no heroes. I see a whole generation of people who have made their own way in life because they had no one to pattern their lives after; they had no one to rub off on them. They may have had parents and grandparents who made rules for them, but they had no living examples of Christ’s selfless, unchanging love; they had no one to model the Word of God for them. Parents, this is the biggest mistake you can ever make with your children.

I used to get so mad at my grandmother growing up because I thought she hated everything. But then one day I woke up and I realized that not only was she quoting the Bible, but she was living it. It’s one thing to teach your children something, but it’s another thing entirely to live it before their eyes. My grandmother is the most genuine person I know, and watching her has made me want to know Him more.

Parents, listen to me. If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s this: Your children may not always hear what you say, but they always notice the life that you live. Let them see you on your knees before the Lord. Let them see you leaning over an open Bible. Let them see you giving all you have for Him because He gave all He had for you. You make God’s Word come alive for them that they may truly see.

If you are here today and you do not know Jesus as the Lord of your life, I plead with you to please come to do so before it is eternally too late for you. If you will repent of all sin and trust Jesus Christ alone to save you, He will save you today and keep you saved forever. No one who has ever come to Him in true repentance and faith has He ever turned away.

Monday, September 2, 2013

A Question for Parents

After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone
And our children sift through all we've left behind
May the clues that they discover and the memories they uncover
Become the light that leads them to the road we each must find
-“Find Us Faithful” by Steve Green

For about a year or so now, I’ve been reading the blog of a lady who lost her mother to cancer about a year and a half ago. The blog is entitled If I Were My Mother, I’d Tell Myself. In her very first blog post, she says this: “There are so many life lessons I learned from her and am continuing to learn from her, even through her death. I want her legacy to live on. I want my children to know her. I don’t ever want to forget one thing about her. So, to honor who she was and what she stood for, I am going to continue to write about her.” This tells me two things. First, it tells me that this lady’s mother must have been one incredible woman. Secondly, it tells me that she must have had an incredible influence on her daughter in order for her daughter to want to keep her legacy alive. That’s what this blog post is all about. When you are dead and gone and your children sift through the reservoir of memories of your life, what will they find? Most importantly, where will it lead them?

Parents were meant to rub off on their children, and children were meant to want to grow up to be like their parents. However, in today’s world, it seems as though that has been reversed. Instead of what we should be seeing, we see children rubbing off on their parents and parents growing down to be like their children. This therefore leaves today’s generation with no foundation and no stability. No wonder we are seeing an increase in divorce rates and teen pregnancies. No wonder kids are going off to college only to become hooked on drugs, alcohol, and pornography. It all boils down to one thing. Parents are no longer setting the standard by which their children were meant to live.

At the end of the biography of Adrian Rogers written by his wife, Joyce, there is a collection of things written about him by various people on whom he had a tremendous influence. There you can find the following written by his daughter Gail: “I know of few children who could say they have never, a single time heard their father curse, lie, gossip, or belittle someone else. What my father is in the pulpit, he is in the home when no one is looking.” That tells me that Adrian Rogers set the standard by which his children were to live. Not only that, but he lived it. He did not just expect his children to do what he said; he expected them to live by his example. That is precisely the problem we are having today; parents are no longer being role models for their children.

When I think about my Granny, I think of the tree we read about in Jeremiah 17:8 that’s planted by the waters and “spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.” Granny was just the same one day as she was the next. Her life was totally predictable. We could always tell exactly what she was going to say before she even said it. No one ever had to question how she would react about something. My Granny gave us a firm, solid, and sturdy foundation to build on. She brought consistency and stability to our family, and for that I will be eternally grateful.


When I look around today, I see a generation of young people who are confused beyond measure. They have no one to look to for guidance because their parents have failed to provide the consistency and stability that they so desperately need. So I ask you again: When your children sift through the reservoir of the memories of your life, what will they find and where will it lead them?