ARE YOU COUNTING THE COST?

In a quiet moment this morning I began to contemplate the words of Jesus in Luke 14:28 “FOR WHICH OF YOU, INTENDING TO BUILD A TOWER; DOES NOT SIT DOWN FIRST AND COUNT THE COST, WHETHER HE HAS ENOUGH TO FINISH IT”


Your life is like a tower; through it you can reach great heights. But such heights can only be reached through patience and careful planning. A hastily built tower may be beautiful, but with the proper foundation and inter-structure it will not stand the test of storm or time.

Whatever our dreams, they must be built with careful consideration; the finished product will never be better than the preparation and unseen foundation.

Jesus focuses here on another problem; it doesn’t matter if you have “enough” to begin a project if you will not have enough to finish it. “Enough” what, you may ask, Enough money, enough skill, enough endurance, enough vision, enough cooperation, enough of whatever is required to build the tower.

For example, if I choose to build a home and I consider the price of the land, the materials, the time or the energy, but I do not consider what it will cost me to supply lights and heat and transportation to and from that home, if I do not consider what it will cost to insure it or make repairs or to do regular maintenance, than I may very well be able to be a house that I cannot afford to move into.

If I buy my “dream home” and it has all the luxuries a house could offer to a man, what good is it if I cannot afford to live there for any length of time?

Consider a race; you do not win it by how fast you begin. You win a race by how well you finish it.

Whether you’re talking about a race, a house, a tower or your life; the success of it will be measured by how well you finish.

So how do we finish well? Jesus gives us the answers; first He says you need to “SIT DOWN”. Life has a way of rushing us into what we are not prepared to finish. The most important step toward finishing well is taking the time to stop the present momentum of life BEFORE we begin to build.

Only by stopping and sitting down can we honestly “COUNT THE COST”. Every dream comes with a price tag. The question becomes are you willing and able to pay the price for your dream?
We live in an age of entitlement thinking; many people believe that because they have the desire for something, a house, a car, a child, a wife, a retirement; that their desire alone entitles them to their desire.

I may want a luxury automobile, but before I decide to buy one, I need to ask whether I can afford also to store it, as well as operate it. What good is my luxery car if it is sitting unoperational out in the elements?

I am convinced that most people do not count the cost of the most important decisions of their life, therefore it is not surprising that they do not count the cost of how they will finish their lives either.

If we divide our lives into thirds; Youth, Adulthood and Retirement, we can easily understand that in our youth we plan for EVERYTHING; in fact what do you almost automatically ask every child you meet? Don’t you often say, ‘WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW-UP?” We do this instinctively because we understand the importance of a child to possess dreams.

As young adults we plan for our marriages, our children our homes and our kid’s schooling, everything.

Surprisingly most people never plan to get older. In a recent survey of Americans; over 70% said they “plan” on social security to keep them in their retirement. In the same survey nearly 70% of the same people said that they expect The Security System to collapse before they can collect from it. U.S. Census Population Estimates supports such pessimism, it says; “For every 20 people entering the 50+ market... only 1 will be entering the 18-49 demographic over the next five years.” This married to the fact that the Federal Government has already emptied the social security accounts by “borrowing” from them what it cannot afford to repay paints a grim picture indeed.

So in reality, most people have no plan of how they will survive the last third of their lives; a time when, ironically, they will have increased living expenses, especially medical, and little or no income.

If we are going to live well; if we are going to leave a legacy of a job well done, we must heed the words of Jesus, here in the New Living Translation; “SUPPOSE ONE OF YOU WANTS TO BUILD A TOWER, WILL HE NOT FIRST SIT DOWN AND ESTIMATE THE COST TO SEE IF HE HAS ENOUGH MONEY TO COMPLETE IT?”LUKE 14:28

Bitter or Better

Lately almost daily God has been reminding me that with each day I have a choice to make; I can choose to be BITTER or BETTER. I know it sounds trite but it really is a simple choice that we each need to make.

I can awaken and be thankful for the blessings scattered throughout my life or I can allow myself to focus on the darkness that often evades my space. I can concentrate on the silky beauty of the rose petals; the glory of their beauty or I can dwell upon the ugly stem with its thorns, which prick my skin.

Each day, God hands you a Rose. Each day you have the option of how you will view it. Life is not all beauty, but neither is it all ugliness.

Jesus said, “IN THIS WORLD YOU WILL HAVE TRIALS, BUT I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD”. So trials will come and with each trial, I will be tested, if I persevere with an attitude of gratitude my life will become sweeter and as I press against the burdens, I will ultimately become stronger and BETTER or I can allow the trails to crush me and I will, within my defeated frame of mind become BITTER. Bitterness will not allow me to escape the present heart-ache; however searching the redemption hidden within the trial will certainly help me to endure.

Life is never easy. Some days are better than others, some days are worse. We can, as the old hymn suggests; COUNT OUR BLESSINGS and be thankful for a single ray of hope engulfed in the world of darkness or we can keep a close account of every failed expectation, every disappointment and every accumulated sorrow. Such book-keeping will most certainly leave you feeling worse for your trouble.
Some years ago I was in the midst of losing everything, including my immediate family, as I sat with a Pastor he brought me back to reality. He said, at this point in your life you will either fall upon the One who is The Rock or this Rock of tribulation will fall upon you and crush you. It was a simple if, irrational choice, I could either thank God and fall upon Him or I could surrender and allow the weight of the trail to crush me; I chose to fall upon God.

A few nights later I found myself lying on the ground under the open night sky; as I was lying there looking at the beauty of the constellation I realized I was thanking God that I could freely serve Him; I had no restrictions, nothing more to lose through my obedience to Him and as the Word tells us “THOSE WHO CHRIST SETS FREE ARE FREE INDEED”. What can the enemy take from someone who has already lost it all? I didn’t know where I would be living. I still didn’t have a job or my family. I was out lying in an open field, but beneath that ebony blanket of twinkling stars I realized that I was the King’s Kid and I had nothing more to lose!

You can’t predict what will happen in your life today; neither can you prevent it, but you have a choice will you see the beauty of life or will you cast that beauty aside, afraid of thorns which surely accompany that beauty; the choice is yours, will you become BITTER OR BETTER?

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE

Valentines Day is a great day toreexamine this wonderful Blessing called Love. While much of the world will only be celebrating the physical aspect of love, for the Christian Believer
Love ought to be a celebration of who we are; if Our God is Love and we are to
like Him, we also ought to exhale Love.

Love is not an Emotion; true love is so much more. True Love is Commitment and Covenant and sacrifice. Love is giving; true love cares more for the other person than for ourselves and we cling to one another, not until or emotions run dry, but as they ebb and flow
throughout life.

I spoke to a man who wasburying his wife of 60 plus years. I said, "And you never had a bad day . ." He laughed, "very few bad days, we had a couple bad
months and even a couple sets of bad years, but in our later years we never
left one another and we were so glad that we had held on, but of course, we
were never abusive or anything like that, but we weren't always friendly . .
" he paused and with a tear running down his face said, "We always
loved one another."

We use the word LOVE to describe our favorite TV show to our House to our
spouse and children; we most often forget hat REAL LOVE is, Let's go bad to the
God's Word and rediscover God's definition of LOVE:

1 Corinthians 13

 

If I speak in the tongues of men or
of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging
cymbal.

² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries
and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not
have love, I am nothing.

³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body
to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is
patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

⁵ It does not
dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no
record of wrongs

⁶ Love does not
delight in evil but rejoices with the trust

 ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always
perseveres.

 ⁸ Love never fails.

But where there are prophecies, they
will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is
knowledge, it will pass away.

⁹ For we know in
part and we prophesy in part,

¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.

¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a
child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of
childhood behind me.
¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we
shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I
am fully known.

 ¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the
greatest of these is love.

How To Love Your Wife

Ok men, this is a day late, but just as valid as if I had
written it yesterday.

This lesson comes as much from life-experience as anything I
have ever heard or read. In as much as you and my fellow men need to feel
respected in order to know we are loved, our wives need to feel “cherished”

This is a tall order, if you think not consider the words
of  The Apostle Paul; “HUSBANDS, LOVE
YOUR WIVES, JUST AS CHRIST LOVED THE CHURCH AND GAVE HIMSELF UP FOR HER .  . .”
EPHESIANS 5:25

A newly-wed husband recently asked me, “When am I going to
figure out my wife?” Isn’t that just lie a man? Give me the instructions, tell
me what to do and I can make this thing work! Give me the code now and I will
be gold for the next 60 years or whatever we might have together  . . . I answered the young groom as honestly as I could, “NEVER! About the time you begin to know what pushes her buttons,
the buttons will change! Once you know where they are, the buttons will move!”
The young man look like he wanted to cry. I said, “Son, Marriage; like life is
a journey, not a destination! "

I can’t ‘tell’ you how to cherish your wife, but she can and if you listen, she will
and those directions will change about as often as you change your socks. You
can only hope that you are doing your best, in loving her as she needs, in as
much as you are in constant communication with her. Doesn’t the love of Christ
Always find us, regardless of where we are? And so must your love always be
there for her. The only way to define it or where it should be is to be in
constant communication with her. This much I can promise, the only love which
will allow her to know that she is cherished is the love that is costly to you.
Real, eternal, unconditional love will cost you EVERYTHING, ETERNALLY. You must
not only be willing to lay down your life for your wife; real love can be
experienced by any lesser price.

But in the words of a wise man; “THE ONE WHO LOVES HIS WIFE,
LOVES HIS LIFE” EPHESIANS 5:28             AMEN!

MAY YOU EVER BE CAPTIVAED BY HER LOVE

“A LOVING DOE, A
GRACEFUL DEER – MAY HER BREASTS SATISFY YOU ALWAYS, MAY YOU EVER BE CAPTIVAED
BY HER LOVE” PROVERBS 5:19

I remember a
Christmas movie in which children had to quote a Bible Verse in order to get a
Christmas treat and a rotten little boy quoted this one and shocked the bitter
old bitty from the church handing out the goodies. My best friend Dave use to
also claim this as his favorite passage of Scripture, but the truth is every
bit of Scripture is given to us for a reason.

We live in a day, where ungodly prudishness and self-manufactured righteousness
prevents the church from addressing life-issues in a meaningful relevant manner
or in some cases where God’s gifts of desire and the mystery of a Godly union
is depicted as something lurid and disgusting by men and women with an
unhealthy view of love and marriage and the marriage bed.

In recent years the divorce rate among believers is as high as it is among
non-believers, adultery is rampant and pornography use among believers is
epidemic. The occupation with the second highest divorce rate is pastoral
ministry, this ought not to be.  You
rarely see married believers showing any signs of affection for one another;
many, once they are married no longer care about their physical appearance or
whether or not their spouse still finds them attractive and we wonder how sin
creeps in.

If we men
would take the instruction for our relationships from God’s Word; if our women
would look within for their instructions as well, the divorce rate would not
match that of those who do not serve our God, Christian couples would be, as
they should be among the closest and happiest and most satisfied, throughout
their long live together.

As Valentine’s
Day approaches, here is a suggestion from God’s Word how men should desire
their wives; “A LOVING DOE, A
GRACEFUL DEER – MAY HER BREASTS SATISFY YOU ALWAYS, MAY YOU EVER BE CAPTIVAED
BY HER LOVE”  Men; see what God is saying -  your wife is a beautiful, graceful creature –
let HER BEAUTY satisfy you always! The beauty that drew you to her the beauty
that captivated you – the longing you still possess, he says your wife is to be
the woman that you desire. And here is the natural progression of a man’s love;
her physical beauty may attract you, but He says allow her love to hold you.
God says; literally allow yourself to be a prisoner of her love; a bond slave,
just as it was Christ’s great love for us that allowed Him to give Himself for
us, so our great love for our wives ought to allow us to love our wives as
Christ loves the Church. Women; understand, God has created your husband to
desire your physical beauty, so rather than resent him for that, understand
that is how he is wired. While no one wants a one dimensional love, (That’s all
he wants from me!), a smart woman understands her man’s desires and feeds those
desires to keep as they use to say, the home fires burning.

Tomorrow a
word to you men about your women need.

What is Church?

I can remember sitting in Sunday School as a 4 year old and being taught
that "the church" was God's People, wherever they gathered. That was
what I was told, but through the years "Church" became defined by practical
experience of being something much more mechanical and artificial.

I soon learned that "Church" as it was practiced was not so much a
living organism, but rather a stale organization. It was a business based upon
a formal hierarchy; our product was Jesus, our customers; were believers who
had to give according to code and attend a certain number of meetings to stay
in good standard. You were expected not only to attend, but also to
"Volunteer" so that the business would grow, although we always told
ourselves that our business was to reach unbelievers.

I learned that "Church" was a complex spider web of laws. These
laws were to be found in the Bible. The particular important laws were decided
by either the Church board or the Church Pastor.

Every church I ever attended had a liturgy; an order of service, in the more
formal churches this was written out for you in a bulletin, in the ones that
considered themselves "more spiritual" the liturgy was just known
with the key elements projected on the wall by overhead. In the more formal
church we dressed-up more, with suit and tie and sang songs out of hymnals; in
the “more spiritual” churches we still dressed-up, but out of choice to “honor
God”, rather than by compulsion and we sang our songs “more freely” because
they weren’t written on paper, but shone on the wall. In the more formal church
we had a choir, in the “more spiritual church” we had a worship leader, who was
like the Mick Jagger of Church because he fronted the Praise band. In the more
formal church the songs were old, tried and true; in the “more spiritual”
churches they were new and often less true. One thing all the church structures
had in common; Church  was about how many
services you attended and how much you gave, either financially or personally
through work to the church.

Today, by God’s grace and direction, we have gone back to being “The Church”
as identified when I was a child. We are God’s People and Church happens
wherever we happen to be, sometimes in the most uncommon of situations – just
like often happened with Jesus.

When we gather, we may or may not sing; we seldom preach, there is still an
order of service as much as we try to break that pattern. Attendance,
participation and giving are out of desire not compulsion. We have no programs
or formal “ministries”. Each member of the body is a minister and participates
in the service as God leads and may function through any of the Spiritual
Gifts, which are seen as function rather than position. Our model is the New
Testament Church, rather than the religious tardyons of men. We are not “More
Spiritual” than any other form of Church; we are true to who God has called us
to be. It is exiting to be more Organic; a living organism that functions
without board, horizontal hierarchy. We don’t go to church; we are the church.

The Forgotten Song of Praise

Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" So when He saw them, He said to them, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? "Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?" LUKE 17:12-17 Ten men came to Jesus; each were equally in need, ten asked to be healed, Jesus performed the same miracle for each one of the ten and ONLY ONE came back to say, “Thank you!” That is the nature of ministry. How often have you been discouraged by the thanklessness of people you have reached out to help? How many times have you wanted to turn your back on anyone else due to the rotten attitude of most? Men were no different when Jesus walked the earth; they came needy and asking and receiving, but having received they quickly moved on and quickly forgot to give God praise. So many times I have seen good men and women of God pour their very lives into people who not only walked away, but forgot them or even turn on them, as well. So many times the children of Pastors have been pushed aside as their father do their best to carry for others, who then walk away ungrateful. Those who have received never consider the cost, not only to the Man of God, but to his family as well. His family has lost hours with their father that he will never be able to give back to them in order to care for others who in turn, never even say, “Thank you!” Even more interesting is the fact that the man who did return to say “Thank You!” was the unbeliever. While Christ healed believers and unbelievers alike, it was only one of the unbelievers who returned to praise God, why? It is the man who KNOWS that no goodness resides in him that appreciates the vastness of the goodness of God when he experiences it. It is the broken man, the fallen man, the sin-stained man, the humble man who understands that he does not deserve to have his negligent ways rewarded by God’s direct attention; “I ONCE WAS LOST, BUT KNOW I’M FOUND – WAS BLIND BUT NOW I SEE!” It is often we; who claim to love God, walk with God, trust in God who come to believe somehow because of our belief in Him that He OUGHT to reward us; God help us. Please understand; God does NOT love you because you are good and He does NOT hate you because you are bad, neither do you go to Heaven because you ARE good and to Hell because you are bad; you are rewarded, you experience God’s goodness because HE IS GOD and HE IS GOOD. Let us each one Thank God for His Unmerited Favor. Amen!

Thank God Who Never Fails

 "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever." Amen. Ephesians 3::20,21

Do not let us forget from whom our blessings come. Frustration becomes manifest in our lives and anxiety in our hearts when we take upon ourselves the burdens of succeeding. Our good Father knows beyond and before we can ask or even think of what our needs are. Will not the One who cares for the smallest of His creatures care for you and I.

Regardless of the challenge before us today, join me in giving glory to God. Let us thank Him for His goodness. Let us thank Him for His abundance. Let us thank Him for His eternal love, with which He loves you and me and for His boundless mercies, which are new every morning. "THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD - I SHALL NOT WANT!"

Thank you Lord for watching over us this day. Thank you for your boundless love and matchless Grace. Thank You for going before us and opening the gates of your favor. Thank You for making the way in the wilderness where there seems to be no way. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen!