Abundant Living

Scripture

“A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

~John 10:10

They say, “Through our tongues we have power; our lips are our own ​— ​who can be our master? ”

~Psalm 12:4, CSB

Quote

Sometimes, not being in control is the most beautiful thing in the world.

~Image Quotes

I was reading in Psalm a few days ago and I came across this verse {Psalm 12:4}…They say, “Through our tongues we have power; our lips are our own ​— ​who can be our master? ” Of course, the verse reeks with pride but this is how so many feel. They don’t want anyone telling them what to do, not even Jesus. The essence of sin is found in our self-will. As Dr. Jack Taylor use to say, “We want what we want when we want it and we will show out if we don’t get it.” I imagine Jack Taylor took this from James…”You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them”. Dr. Bill Bright said, “The self-will is characterized by an attitude of active rebellion and passive indifference.” The world is Antichrist: they are opposed to His rule and reign. I do think there are some who do not realize that they are sinners. Morality is good and always makes for a better neighborhood but it can lead to pride and self-deception. There are probably a lot of folks out there that do not see themselves as sinners. Then there is a group which does not deny sin or their participation in it. Some of them are so laden with guilt that they afraid that God’s grace lacks the power to save them. Of course they are misguided: there is no one beyond the reach of His grace other than a person who had committed the unpardonable sin and no seeking soul has committed that sin. No one is so good that they do not need God’s grace and no one is so bad that they can be saved by His amazing grace.

With that said, let me tell you what I think and fear in many cases. The big issue is this: people do not want to commit their lives to Jesus. They want to retain control of their lives. I don’t think they doubt the power of His grace, they simply do not want Him as their LORD and Master. I think they are afraid to trust Him. They are afraid to give Him absolute control. Oh, I think they want to go to heaven and they would gladly take His gifts but they are not willing to surrender control. It some cases, they are clinging to a lifestyle and ironically, one that is destructive. Their goal is happiness and their destructive lifestyle will never produce happiness: it will produce the opposite.

I did not want to be a preacher. I wanted to be a football player for Alabama and the Pros. Midway through High School, I became fairly certain, neither were going to happen. Now that I am 69 {in a few days} I chuckle with I think about my crazy dreams. As a preacher, I am having the time of my life. How many 69 year football players do you know? I’m not going to lie: I surrendered my life out of fear. I knew the LORD was calling me to preach and I was afraid to rebel. I had more doubts than you can imagine. I was fully convinced that I was in for a horrible life. I told God more than once that He didn’t know what He was doing. I came to Danville for only one reason, to prove God wrong. I basically said, “This is not going to work and I am going to show you.” Well, who showed who?

I just wish I had to power to communicate the truth. Surrendering my life to Christ was the best thing I ever did. I know now for certain that no one loves me like Jesus but I didn’t know that then. I know that He is not going hurt me and He is certainly not going to make me unhappy and miserable. I would not trade Jesus for football, drugs, SUV’s, UTV’s, RV’s and certainly not TV’s. Don’t you dare feel sorry for me and don’t grieve when I am promoted: not for me anyway. I have said enough; I don’t want to put a curse myself by making prideful statements. My intention is to glorify JESUS and He will and does keep His promises.

  • Hard to believe but it is BLOCK PARTY WEEK. We need rain and we all know we will get a good as soon as we get set up. We may have to move it to 1120 Iron Man because I want a rain bad. That one last night went right by us.
  • You DBC folks are in for a surprise: we gave the old campus a face lift yesterday. Most of you will like it but there will be a few that will not. I know one thing: Hugh Fitzgerald was right! Had he been living on this earth, he would have gladly helped us yesterday.

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