Sufficient Grace

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

1 It is necessary to boast; it is not helpful, but I will move on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who was caught up into the third heaven 14 years ago. Whether he was in the body or out of the body, I don't know; God knows. 3 I know that this man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— 4 was caught up into paradise. He heard inexpressible words, which a man is not allowed to speak. 5 I will boast about this person, but not about myself, except of my weaknesses. 6 For if I want to boast, I will not be a fool, because I will be telling the truth. But I will spare you, so that no one can credit me with something beyond what he sees in me or hears from me, 7 especially because of the extraordinary revelations. Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so I would not exalt myself. 8 Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away from me. 9 But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me. 10 So because of Christ, I am pleased in weaknesses, in insults, in catastrophes, in persecutions, and in pressures. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul was, in what most of us agree, a man of God who we all would like to emulate. He was shown something that was unspeakable. God allowed him to see something we all would love to see. How special was he? How great was this man of God. Probably in the "Hall of Fame" of heaven. If God had an All-Star team, he would be one of it's captains. Who would disagree with that?

Paul, however, was making the that he wasn't anymore special than anyone else. How many of us would not be puffed up with pride in ourselves if God allowed us to see what Paul saw and experienced? Paul always presented himself as a failed human who was no greater than the next person. He knew how much he needed God's grace. "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and I am the worst of them."(a)

"As we never try to fly, because we have no angelic wings; so we do not aspire to supreme holiness, because we imagine that we have not apostolic advantages. Indeed, this is a very injurious idea and must not be tolerated. What the ancient saints were, we may be." Charles H. Spurgeon

We are just as much a saint as Paul. Don't you get that? We have been given the right amount of grace that was needed. We are Saints! We don't need to be canonized. We were given sufficient grace to make us the exact servant God wants us to be. Now that we have excepted Jesus as our savior, and have already received the Holy Spirit, we can be as great as we want. It is a choice of our own will.

Some of you may think you have too many handicaps to be great. Paul said 7 so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so I would not exalt myself. 8 Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away from me. 9 But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me. God doesn't expect us to do more than we can. We are to do what we can. Some are given less glamorous jobs, some more.

I have always said that God didn't give me great looks and a great body. This used to bother me, until I realized that God made me the way I am for a reason. He uses what I do have. Plus it probably has kept me out of more trouble than I could have possibly imagined. Some may say this is false humility. Some may say this is what Paul was portraying. Paul had no reason to be falsely humble. His actions spoke for the man he was. He was also trying to tell the Corinthians they needed to strive to be the best they could be in their service to God. We don't know exactly what Paul's thorn that the Lord wouldn't remove was. I think we weren't told for a reason. Maybe because we all have things in our life that we let stop us from doing God's will. Our own "thorns in the side". Maybe it's alcoholism, or you've been married several times, or you've been in an adulterous affair. Only you know. Don't let that stop you from doing what God wants you too. Use your failures in life to help others.

Remember who was ridiculed in Jesus' parable of the talents.(b) It was the man who did nothing with his talent. Think of the talent, or minas, as the talent that God gave you. You are not necessarily responsible to become the next Billy Graham. You are, however, responsible to use the gifts (talents) God gave you. No matter how small it may seem to you.

Boast in your own weakness. You never know who you may bring to the Lord because you did boast in your weakness. Maybe the next Billy Graham. God grace was and is sufficient enough for you.

(a) 1 Timothy 1:15
(b) Matthew 25:14-28

Asleep In The Boat?

MARK 4 35-41
35 On that day, when evening had come, He told them, "Let's cross over to the other side [of the lake]." 36 So they left the crowd and took Him along since He was [already] in the boat. And other boats were with Him. 37 A fierce windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38 But He was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke Him up and said to Him, "Teacher! Don't you care that we're going to die?"

39 He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Silence! Be still!" The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 Then He said to them, "Why are you fearful? Do you still have no faith?"

41 And they were terrified and asked one another, "Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey Him!"

Alister Begg told this story as good as I have heard. Begg once wrote "more spiritual progress is made through failure and tears than success and laughter." He was absolutely right.

I heard his sermon on Mark 4:35-41 during one of the roughest times of my life. I felt as if Jesus was asleep in the boat. I am even at this moment having trouble with my faith. I am trying to steer my boat through this storm myself. I panic. "Teacher! Don't you care?" Time and time again the answer comes back "Why are you fearful? Do you still have no faith?" I don't know why! I still lack faith.

Divorce, debt and relationships have been like that storm. I have a grip on the wheel. Only the steering wheel isn't hooked up. I am not through the storm yet. When will it end? When can I be happy again? What is going to happen that will make that happen again? I don't know, I just don't know! I panic again and again. I get frustrated and "WHY ME" comes out of my thoughts. My house is being foreclosed on. My debt is killing me. I ache for my kids that see their mommy and daddy get divorced and a family is broken.

My life has been a series of cycles. Ups and downs and ups. Today is a down day. The storm is here tearing up my life again. Just when I think everything is starting head in the right direction and I see that beautiful light, it goes dark. It is dark today...again. But as I said in my earlier blog, God didn't promise a wonderful life. We were to expect the opposite.

The one thing God does promise is that He will prepare us to go through trials. He knows what we can handle and doesn't allow us to go through more than that.

Today I also realized something else. Time and time again the storms have come and I have survived. This may be a down day, week, month or maybe a year, but every time I have suffered though the storm, God has done something great in my life to make it better. This time will be no different. He will get me through it again. If He is preparing me for something more difficult, I will thank Him for preparing me to handle it. No matter how bad the next storm is.

Today I am sad, fearful and lack faith, but I will defeat this. I will be ok. God will see me through. So I have peace through prayer. God has comforted me again. Nothing can be thrown at me I can't handle. I have released the wheel and will let God drive the boat. Unseen, but in total control. In my head I know I will once again be rescued and hear Jesus say "Silence! Be still!"

My Dad, My Hero

“The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared…a real man will never let his fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to his country and his innate manhood.”


I didn’t write that, but I could have. That was spoken by General George S. Patton on the eve of the Normandy invasion. That’s the way I saw my father.


It kind of funny the way a child thinks and believes.

My heroes have always been a different kind of hero.

Sure I had the usual kind growing up. I loved Johnny Bench. I’m still a Reds fan to this day. There was no better quarterback than Roger Staubach. Not only one of the great NFL quarterbacks of all time, but one of the best human beings of all time. Who was a true example of a Christian gentleman.


I have to say, though, that my real heroes were men in my family. I would like to say just little about some of them.


Uncle Gilbert, a police officer. I wanted to be a cop myself at one time. Until he told me he would kick my butt if I did join the police force. I can still remember things that I would hear. Like the time there was a prison riot and he had to go. At least I think that’s correct. You never know about a kid’s memories. I would imagine him standing behind his door with a shotgun ready to shoot or with a riot shield running into a mass of people.


His son and my cousin, Greg. I always looked up too. I wanted to be the athlete that he was, but couldn’t be. Not much use for a 135 lb defensive back that runs a 4.9 40. Even at Northwest Classen. I always thought it would be cool to be like him. He always made his goofy younger cousin feel like he was just one of the guys.


There was my uncle Jim Moseley. I thought was a great athlete. I guess I’ve always wanted to be an athlete, I just wasn’t able. He also became a cop.


I also looked up to my uncle Jimmy Rogers. He was the coolest guy I ever knew. Rode a bike and had a van. I still remember getting in his van as a kid. We won’t give the details of that adventure. I’ll just leave it to your imagination. He was definitely a rebel. I know our parents were scared to death we would want to be like him. He left this world way too early. I remember being told “your Uncle Jimmy died”. I just knew it was Uncle Jim Moseley because he was a cop at the time.


Uncle Fred, who probably doesn’t realize this, but he was one of the reasons I chose to go into the service in the first place. He is the main reason I started looking at the Air Force when I decided to go. He is a man who is always there when you need him.


Uncle Jack. To me he was a real war hero. I can still see in my mind the day he left at the airport. I assume, looking back at it, that he was leaving for Vietnam. I can still remember him in his uniform, strips on his sleeve. Everyone was hugging and crying. I have never sat down and talked to him about it, but just the little I do know, I know he is a real war hero. Purple Hearts, Bronze Star and all. He also was a great witness for Christ.


My Grandpas I looked up to. Grandpa Moseley could be a bit hard sometimes, but he had a heart of gold. He was an athlete growing up. The thing that always stuck in my mind was he always believed in doing the RIGHT thing. No matter the cost. My dad's dad, I believed, was the wisest man on the planet. He knew more about the bible than anyone. A true spiritual leader, especially to us growing up. For us grandkids, we loved and respected him totally.


There is my older brother Rowdy. To me, he did everything right. I couldn’t think of a single person who didn’t like him. I used to say he was 40 when he was 18. He just was a mature guy who believed in doing what’s right and he still does. He was and IS one of the most dependable people I know. He is always there when you need him. As a kid all of his friends used to try and make fun of me by calling me “Little Pickle”. They didn’t know I was proud of that.


The biggest hero of them all, however, well that was my dad. He wanted to be a police officer, but he was too short to pass. That never did make sense to me, because I thought he was “10 feet tall and bulletproof”. Sometimes I think he thought he really was too.


I never felt the need to get into the “my dad is tougher than your dad” fight. What was the use? Everyone knew my dad was the toughest. Heck every time family got together he had to show all the kids his muscles. Everyone loved him.


I remember looking at the picture grandpa had in his office of him in his Uniform. He was a paratrooper. I mean he used to jump out of perfectly good airplanes. He was part of the 82nd airborne. What could be cooler than that? We would go to the fair and couldn’t walk ten feet before someone would yell “Hey Red”, “Uncle Sam” or just Bob. I thought he knew everyone on planet earth. There was joke about him and the pope. I just know it was originally written about him. He was walking with the pope in a mass of people when everyone started looking around asking “who’s the guy in the goofy hat with Bobby”.


He was a man with an Iron stomach. He would eat anything. One of things he would do is to get up at 2 or 3am and drink a cup of Salsa. I love Salsa, but not that much.


To me he was John Wayne. Maybe that was because the only thing he ever watched was westerns. Bonanza, Gun Smoke, Shadow Riders, the Sackett’s, you know those kind of shows.


It’s funny what a young man thinks and believes.


As you get older, you lose that childlike innocence and start to see things a bit differently. You realize that we are all failed human beings. You start to see your hero as a man. You start to understand what Christ meant in Luke chapter 18 verse 19 “Why do you call me good?” “No one is good except God alone”. You discover that the 10 commands are impossible to live up too. Try it. Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever stolen anything, even if it’s small like a paperclip? Have you ever used God’s name, the God who gave you life, as a cuss word? I wouldn’t even use a friend’s name as a cuss word, why would I think so little of God to use His name.


I remember the day I realized I needed Christ. Dad was taking me fishing. We had stopped at the bait store. I waited in the truck. I did something to myself and said…well let’s just say I took the Lords name in vain. I knew right then, I had broken God’s law and I would receive His punishment. I told dad that night, it was the night before church in the morning, that I wanted to be saved. The next morning during the alter call dad whispered to me “you ready?” I took off down the isle with him in tow. I prayed to receive Christ right then and there.


See, that’s the thing about my family. They, the men and women in my family, raised their children to know who Christ was. I thank God that he put me in THIS family. He gave me the greatest opportunity to find him. I know God had a purpose for putting me with them. I thank Him for that all the time. God allowed me to go through a lot this past 3 or 4 years. I am not the same man as I was even two years ago. It would have been a lot harder without them.


It’s funny what a man thinks and believes.


You see I’ve come full circle now. My heroes are my heroes again. Because they allowed God to work through them. The men and women of this family are truly my heroes. They did follow Christ. They did raise their children with God.


My greatest hero? Well that would be my dad. I lost my hero. He left this world to be with the Lord on February 24 of 2010. He was a man who has definitely left an imprint in this world. A legacy that will continue for as long as there are people on this world. He has gone on to be with the Lord forever and ever. He will always be my hero no matter what. He once again is “10 feet tall and bulletproof”.


I’m going to miss you dad. Until that day when we are together again.

Wisdom and Common Sense

Common sense. God gave us common sense. He wants us to use it. Another word for common sense is wisdom, but there is a difference. How do we get wisdom? I will tell you, but your not going to like it. It requires work. I also do believe both aren’t very common anymore. People seem to think their sense is the only common sense. But both come from experience and education. True wisdom, however, comes from God. Solomon could have asked God for anything he wanted. Fame, fortune, women, etc. He asked for wisdom. God was so pleased with Solomon’s request that He not only granted it, but also gave him the fame and fortune too. So we pray, pray, pray for wisdom. We also read God’s word for wisdom. Hopefully we learn from what we read. Whatever you do, don’t pray for wisdom and hope that it just comes down from heaven and invades your mind. Although I think God does open your mind to receive it. The other way we get wisdom is through experience. I have often said I wished I wasn’t so hard headed. It takes too long for God to pound it into my head. Trials and tribulations can be a very good teacher. I do know this for sure.
We don’t always use our God given wisdom. Solomon didn’t use his later in his life either. It should be a great lesson for us. We need to be wary of falling into the same trap. I had to bring up this point about common sense and wisdom before I wrote anything else. It would do me no good at all to talk about anything else on my mind without first getting you to understand that we all need more wisdom.

A wise person is humble and knows when to listen. God called Job “a man of perfect integrity”. What did he get for this integrity? He was allowed to endure more than most could have conceived. He lost his wealth, his entire family and his health. Jobs “friends” spent a lot of time with Job trying to figure out what sin Job was guilty of. What would have brought this judgment on him from God? Job defended himself from them. “I have done nothing wrong”. Job was trying to explain God’s view and what God was to him to his friends. It should give you pause before speaking for God. God finally interjected Himself into the conversation. He began asking Job series of questions Job couldn’t answer.

Job 38
4 Where were you when I established the earth? Tell [Me], if you have understanding.
5 Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 What supports its foundations? Or who laid its cornerstone
God was only a little way through with His questioning of Job and he had this response to God…

Jobs response...

Job 40
4 I am so insignificant. How can I answer You? I place my hand over my mouth.
5 I have spoken once, and I will not reply; twice, but [now] I can add nothing.

Job knew when to keep his mouth shut and listen. Listening with humility to what God said. This leads to the next mistake we make when making decisions. The process of using our feeling to determine a decision.

Instinct or Gods word?

We’ve all heard the saying “he doesn’t have the sense God gave a goose”. Of course we know that God doesn’t give a goose sense. Wisdom and sense are only given to man. The goose must rely on instinct. We are separated from the animals in that we can rely on wisdom and common sense. Too many people, however, DO rely on instinct. The first thing that will perk up my ears is to hear someone say “I believe this is what God wants” or “I feel God is leading me in this direction”. Oh really? Well maybe, but how did you come to that conclusion? Did you study God’s word on the matter or is it just something you feel and want? I doubt very seriously God WANTS you to have the Lexus with all the bells and whistles. I’m not saying that you’re wrong in having one. If God blessed you so you can have a nice home or car, wonderful. I love seeing people that are prosperous. I hope to be that blessed myself someday. But lets just admit that it was what you wanted, not God.

One other place we derive wisdom. That is learning from history. People tend to read history and think that it somehow doesn’t apply to them. “Oh that could never happen here”. I believe if you give people enough information, they will make the right choices. The problem gets to be that truth is hidden and no one wants to investigate it.

That was a long introduction to set up the subjects I wanted to talk about in these next few blogs. It should give you some insight on how I look at things. That is, where my arguments come from. Don’t get me wrong, I can make a fool out of myself like the next guy. You know, opening my mouth before I think. I have become quite the expert on that. That is usually when my “feelings” rule what I say and not my mind.

Part One: Governments Roll

(SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher. – Thomas Paine “Common Sense” 1776)

Government should be very limited. We have allowed the government in this country to grow so big, I see no reversing it. I have experienced government for many years. I work for the government now. If my job went away tomorrow, I know I would be fine. God always will take care of me.

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." – Benjamin Franklin 1755

We have given up a lot of liberty lately. Well actually it started about 100 years ago with the progressive movement. More and more government programs to “help” the masses. It always seems to come along during a crisis. The depression of the 1930’s brought us the “New Deal” and ushered in programs like Social Security. The really bad thing about programs such as Social Security is what happens to most government run systems. Whether or not you like Social Security and whether you think it was a good idea doesn’t matter. The bad thing is anytime government sees a chance to grab power or money, it will. When Social Security first started it was taking in a lot more than it was paying out. Shortly there after, Roosevelt expanded it to cover the survivors of workers. This was all based in the fact that there were so many workers putting into it and so few taking out. Fast forward to today. Social Security is losing money fast. No way to stop it. If a politician even mentions fixing the problem, he is demonized. This is the one single biggest problem with big government programs. People get dependant on them and will not let them go no matter what the cost. Once they are in place, there is no getting rid of them.

Medicare and Medicaid are two more examples of how a failed government program that loses money by the boat load cannot be fixed. Once again it would be political suicide. The next big thing down the pipe is government health care. Once it’s in, we are stuck with it to the very collapse of our country. Once you have that many more government employees, how could you possibly get rid of it. Why can we not go to a flat tax? Think of all of the out work IRS workers would be unemployed. Not to mention the power that the government would be giving up. The Republicans have said lets try tort reform and limit liability of Doctors. Now I don’t know if this would work or not, but I do know that if it were to fail it could be reversed. Not so with another government agency.

But really, how could someone be against health care for everyone? Wouldn’t that be what God would want? As President Obama recently told a group of religious clergy "we are God's partners in matters of life and death". Sounds good, but is it biblical? I have heard the argument that you couldn’t possibly be taking a Christian view point if you oppose this plan. That’s what Christ would want, right? We should WANT to take care of our brothers and sisters right?

I know what some of you are thinking, that the President doesn’t want government health care, just a government option. He does. He just knows he couldn’t get that passed. So they are taking the "lets just get a foot in the door” approach with the government option. Don’t believe me, believe him…

“I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care program.” (applause) “I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent of its Gross National Product on health care cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody. And that’s what Jim is talking about when he says everybody in, nobody out. A single payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. And that’s what I’d like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have to take back the House.” Obama speaking to the Illinois AFL-CIO, June 30, 2003.

Really would you want the government running 14% of the GDP? The problem with this whole thing is I totally disagree with the argument that your somehow “not following Christ’s example” if your against this. Progressives like to believe that all people are basically good and may have just gone astray. But if we can give them a hand up or reform them to their natural self, they will be good again. The bible says the opposite, Mark 10:18 "Why do you call Me good?" Jesus asked him. "No one is good but One—God.

Capitalism does something nothing else does. It turns men’s greed into a force for good. How? I will bust my tail to make extra. To do this, I must make you as a trading partner happy or you simply will go to the next guy. This competition makes things more efficient, better and cheaper. Do I think we don’t need any regulation? No, but very little. Punish the wicked when they do corrupt things. But don’t destroy the system to fix one thing. If you give away free stuff, people become complacent and lazy.

Matthew 26:11 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.

Jesus didn't say maybe. He said ALWAYS have the poor. We should do our best to keep as many as we can from being poor, but know that you can only go so far to eliminate poverty. Socialism is not the answer.

The pilgrims had already experimented with socialism long before Marx and Lenin. They nearly starved to death. William Bradford realized the futility of collectivism and abandoned the practice. Instead, Bradford assigned a plot of land to each family and permitted them to market their own crops and other products, thereby unleashing the power of capitalism. What Bradford had wisely realized was that these industrious people had no reason to work any harder than anyone else without the motivation of personal incentive.

That’s just the way it is. People are still the same. You can't give away things for free. People start feeling entitled to it. They don’t appreciate the work people did to give it to them because it is given by the nameless government. If people get a hand up from the church or the community, they actually appreciate it. Is it perfect? No, but until we all become robots it is the best way. Has the church fallen down on the job in these areas? I would say maybe, but why shouldn’t they when “Christians” are looking to government for these things too.

God never promised us nothing bad would ever happen to us, quite the opposite. We will have trials and hardships. It’s up to God’s family to take care of downtrodden. Not the government.

Lastly, this republic was set up in a great way. States have power to make laws that are suited to the people of that state. Just because you want something in your state doesn’t mean it should be forced on mine. Things that may work in California, doesn’t mean they will work in mine. If my state starts becoming tyrannical, I can move to another state that fits my beliefs better. Utopia is not attainable. The more you reach for it the further it slips away. The Soviet Union thought they were building Utopia.
One other thing to mention. That is the term liberal. Liberal is a term that has been highjack by the progressive movement in this country. They are not "liberal" at all. Other than the belief we should legalise drugs they don't believe in much of anything liberal. A liberal doesn't grab control and power the way these modern day "liberals" do. The founding Fathers were liberal in their thinking and beliefs. Limited government, liberty and such are liberal ideas. We were free to pursue life, liberty and happiness. Even if we failed to do so. We were free. Free to succeed or free to fail. For if we are to become slaves, it is by our own hand. So far we seem to be going in that general direction.

So from now on read about the people you elect before you elect them. Read history so we don't repeat it. Ask questions. Always ask yourself why you believe what you do and why. Know why you believe what you do. One last thing. Question God. It's ok to question God. Only you have to read His word to get the answer. He will answer you. Only ask!