Tag Archives: new birth

No Participation Trophies

I remember several years ago Sherry and I were in Georgia watching our oldest grandson play soccer. When we got to the soccer field I noticed a large, long table, with about 50 little trophies on it. I wondered why there were so many trophies. After watching the children play – and being young, none were very good – one team finally made a goal after about two hours. I remember one team made a goal before that, but the little boy kicked the ball into his own team’s goal, so it didn’t count. After what seemed like an eternity the two teams lined up and everyone got a trophy. Everyone.

Welcome to American confusion.

The child who never touched the ball got a trophy, along with the one child who scored the goal. The child who kicked the ball in his own team’s goal got a trophy. The child who got hot, and walked off the field got a trophy. The child who got distracted and chased a butterfly rather than the ball got a trophy. Everyone got a “Participation Trophy”.

Life is not like that.

People complain that the male players in the NBA get paid more than female players in the WNBA. The NBA generates $10 billion in revenue each year. The WNBA generates around $200 million in revenue each year, about fifty times LESS revenue than the NBA. Women are paid less because, dear friends, there’s no “Participation Trophies” in sports. Where more money is generated, more money is paid.

Life does not give out “Participation Trophies”. Those who work harder are rewarded with better pay and better status. Children who grow up believing in “Participation Trophies” become adults who believe that they should be rewarded just for showing up. Continue reading

Posted in Romans, Sermons Preached | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Do You Love Jesus?

I was reading an article on “The 3 Misconceptions That Many Muslims Have About Christianity” the other day. I love to read, and learn much by it. One of the largest problems in witnessing Christ to Muslims is that they believe the West is “Christian”. Muslims regard their faith – Islam – as both a religion and a state. If I had never been exposed to Christianity and was told “America is a Christian nation”, I’d have some serious problems with that. If you brand America as “Christian”, then you must believe that sexual immorality, shedding of blood, and celebration of drug and alcohol use are endorsed by Christ. That’s not true. Neither America nor the West are Christian. The bloody “Christian” Crusades endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church are not “Christian”.

Do you know what “Christian” is? It is to love Jesus. It is to obey His Commands, regardless as to what anyone thinks. That’s “Christian”. Anything else is fake.

Being “Religious” does not make you “Christian”. You can know all the songs in the Baptist hymnal by heart and be lost. Jesus’ greatest critics were the Pharisees, who were extremely religious. God turned the tables on the Pharisees when He knocked down the one called Saul of Tarsus (Acts 23:6 & Philippians 3:5) on the Damascus Road, converting him to Christianity. After Saul of Tarsus became Paul the Apostle he often spoke against those who …

“had a form of godliness, but denied the power of God”
(2 Timothy 3:5).

Illustrate: Have you ever seen a Rubik’s Cube? I owned one years ago. The Rubik’s Cube has 43 quintillion (a quintillion has 18 zeros), 252 quadrillion, 3 trillion, 274 billion, 489 million, 856 thousand likely patterns that you have to overcome to unscramble it. I figured out how to unscramble a Rubik’s Cube in about 10 minutes. I peeled off the little paper colored squares, and re-pasted them where they were supposed to be…. Continue reading

Posted in Following Jesus, Hebrews, John, Sermons Preached | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

You Must Be Born Again!

Jesus gives a beautiful illustration of the Holy Spirit here. The Holy Spirit – just like a wind in the trees – you do not see His coming nor His movement, but you see the effect on the trees. I did not see the Holy Spirit walk into the Church the day I was saved. But I felt Him blow through my soul. I felt my heart change. What I loved before, the sins I cherished, I now hate. The light I once shunned so that I could dance in the darkness, now I despise it. The lonely life I once lived, now I live in Christ. The Apostle put it this way:

Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
16 me, and gave himself for me. Continue reading

Posted in John, Sermons Preached | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

1. The Musts Of The Christian Faith: You MUST Be Born Again!

The Baptist Evangelist F.B. Meyer once wrote:

“The present decline in Church attendance may be largely due to the failure of the pulpit to meet the demand of the human spirit for a more adequate presentation of the spiritual and eternal aspects of our Christian faith, and for a more powerful dynamic and a clearer analysis of the steps that lead through darkness unto God.”

When I read the long and educated sentence – I’m but a country preacher – I must respectfully say that I agree with the first part of the sentence. The Coronavirus Pandemic has caused a massive decline in Church attendance – and rightly so… Continue reading

Posted in Five MUSTS Of Faith, Sermons Preached | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Redeemed! How I Love To Proclaim It!

The Bible says two things of every believer in Christ. It says that we are redeemed, and that we are born again. Continue reading

Posted in 1 Peter, Sermons Preached | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

You MUST Be Born Again

Jesus is LORD! He may have taught, but He is more than a Rabbi. He is LORD. He is God incarnate, God among us, God in the flesh. He is LORD. His Words are LIFE and LIGHT. Continue reading

Posted in John, Sermons Preached | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment