Posted November 17th, 2011 by John Ed Mathison
Thanksgiving is a time for genuine reflection and thankful expression for the many good gifts that God has given to us. It is time to count our blessings. David said, “I will praise God’s name with singing, and I will honor Him with thanksgiving. For this will please the Lord.” Psalms 69:30,31 NLT
I heard once about a church from North Carolina who sent a mission team to a leper colony on the Caribbean Island of Tobago. The team met a lot of sad patients afflicted with leprosy. One memorable experience was a worship service that they held in the campus chapel.
The lepers came in and took their seats on the pews and the mission team led them in hymns. The pastor of the group was a man named Jack. He noticed that there was one leper on the back row who was facing in the opposite direction. All the rest of the lepers were facing the song leader.
Jack announced, “We have time for one more hymn. Does anyone have a favorite?” About this time the leprous lady on the back row turned around and for the first time faced the song leader. Jack said that it was the most hideous site that he had ever seen in a human being. She had no nose or lips. Her head was almost like a skull. When she raised her arm in the air, she had no hand. It was just a nub.
The pastor then reported that this leprous lady said, “Could we sing Count Your Many Blessings?” It was at that point that the whole mission team experienced something that they had never experienced before. Here was a lady, with relatively nothing to be thankful for, asking to sing Count Your Many Blessings. At first they couldn’t even lead the song, and then they sang it with new meaning;
When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
If a leprous lady on the Island of Tobago had as her favorite song Count Your Many , how much more should we not just sing the song but do what it says?
Blessings
We can’t count high enough to list all of our blessings. Not even a computer is capable
of counting that high.
Time to start counting! 1 2 3…10… 100…1000…10,000…
Posted November 9th, 2011 by John Ed Mathison
I remember watching the NBA All Star game in 1979. As the teams were going through their pre-game warm up, the commentator mentioned one player that he didn’t recognize. He began to attract attention. The player was actually taking some practice shots with the All Star team.
Upon closer scrutiny it was discovered that the man was Barry Bremen. He had eluded security, had an NBA All Star uniform that he had stolen, and made his way onto the basketball floor. Johnny Carson thought it was so unique that he had Bremen on his Tonight Show.
Bremen decided he would try other ways of being an imposter. The next year the Philadelphia Phillies were playing the Kansas City Royals in the World Series. Bremen stole and wore an umpires uniform and stood with the six other umpires at home plate as the National Anthem was played.
As you know, in baseball there are only six umpires. It took a while before people realized that Bremen was a fake. He had actually sneaked onto the field at Veterans Stadium. The fun he enjoyed at impersonating people began to repeat itself at other events.
Bremen even went so far as to dress up in a cheerleaders outfit with a blond wig and appear on the sidelines at a Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins football game. Being 6-foot-4-inches tall, he looked like a pretty big cheerleader. He was immediately kicked out, but he enjoyed it. He later was an impersonator on the PGA golf tour and for a few holes played with PGA champ Curtis Strange.
Bremen didn’t just limit his impersonations to sports figures. In 1985 he attended the Emmy awards. When Betty Thomas received an award for her role in Hill Street Blues, she was slow to stand up when her name was called. Guess who got up to receive the award?
Someone once said, “If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”
We might be amused at the impersonations of Barry Bremen, but do a lot of us act as impersonators, especially when it comes to the Christian faith? It is much easier to impersonate a Christian than to be one. Imposters enjoy a short experience before they are caught. A real Christian is 24/7 and enjoys life forever and ever and ever.
Jesus was really hard on impersonators. Read Matthew 23 where He exposed impersonators and told of their dire consequences.
Paul states in I Corinthians 11:1 that we ought to be imitators of Christ. Read I Corinthians 4:16, II Thessalonians 3:7, and Philippians 4:9 and see how Paul instructs us to imitate fellow Christians.
It is amusing to see somebody impersonate an umpire, a basketball player, a cheerleader, etc. The great challenge for each of us is to examine whether or not we are deceptive impersonators or real imitators of Christ.
Posted November 2nd, 2011 by John Ed Mathison
The 2011 World Series was tied 2-2 between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers. In that pivotal game, the score was tied 2-2. It was a critical time for each team.
At this point a bazaar thing happened. Tommy La Russa, manager for the St. Louis Cardinals, phoned the bullpen to have the right pitchers warming up in relief. It was a critical time to communicate effectively.
Part of the problem is that he was using a black handset telephone with gray pushbuttons. It was a device that came out the same year the National League was formed! The game will always be known as the “Phone Foulup.”
In an age where we have texting, email, Skype, iChat, Facetime, and many other forms of communication, the communication system in the ballpark was archaic. As Keith Olbermann, a baseball historian and television commentator said, “With all this technology, they can’t get a phone call completed from one part of the building to another part of the building.”
The bullpen coach at first did not hear the phone ring. When he did answer, La Russa told him to have left-hander Marc Rzepczynski and right-hander Jason Motte warm up. The bullpen coach only heard Rzepczynski. Motte, his ace closer, was not told to warm up.
But that is not all. When La Russa noticed that his ace closer was not warming up, he called the bullpen again. Again there was a miscommunication. The bullpen coach thought he heard “Lynn” for right-hander Lance Lynn, who had already thrown too many pitches in the previous game. The coach didn’t tell Lynn to warm up.
Without his closer ready, La Russa had to leave Rzepczynski in the game to face Napoli. All the percentages were against this match up – and the percentages were correct. Napoli hit a ball into the gap for a two-run double – and a two-run loss for the Cardinals.
Poor communication – it was a colossal foulup.
Maybe La Russa should have had one of the guys standing next to him in the dugout run down to the bullpen and deliver the message person to person. Most of the guys standing around him looked like they could use a little exercise. It would also have been a more accurate way to communicate.
How many times are there foul-ups because of poor communication? Think about work in the office place. Somebody fails to get the message, or gets the wrong message. Sometimes we are not using the best technology. What we think we hear is not what the person sending the message was really saying. These same factors occur in marriage, in family relationships, and in church.
Excellent communication is critical in the Christian faith. The Gospel is Good News. People need to hear that. We don’t need any foul-ups. While the best of technology needs to be used in sharing the Good News, the best way is person to person. We all need some spiritual exercise while carrying the message person to person. Read I Corinthians 9:18-23. Paul says “I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.” (I Corinthians 9:23 NLT)
In Game 5 of the World Series, communication failed twice! Two times the message was not received.
Maybe as individuals, or businesses, or families, or the church, we have failed one time in communicating. Maybe this lesson should be that we won’t fail a second time.
The bullpen needs to know what to do! The game of life is on the line! You are the manager!
Communicate! No phone foul-ups!
Posted October 26th, 2011 by John Ed Mathison
He may have had a part in saving your life – or the life of one of your family members. Or he is playing a part in possibly saving your life in the future.
His name is George Kirchoff. I met him when I was preaching at the Fairhope United Methodist Church. He helped develop the whole idea of the airbag for cars. He has eleven patents on these safely mechanisms!
His life is an example of how God can use people to make a difference in the lives of other people. What he did with airbags came from a strong commitment to biblical principles.
When he was 40-years-old he had three kids and was working in the aerospace industry in North Carolina. The big company for which he worked downsized. He was left without a job. What does a man with a wife and three kids do?
He said at first he thought about feeling sorry for himself and trying to find someone to blame. He then decided that wouldn’t get him anywhere. He began to look for something where he could utilize his gifts and talents and make a difference in the lives of people. Read I Corinthians 10:24.
He loaded up his family and moved out to the northern part of Utah. He began to collect ideas about safety. He met some big obstacles. He had some failures, but he didn’t let his failure become fatal. He never quit. Hebrews 10:36 says “Patient endurance is what you need now, so you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.” NLT
He gives God the credit for his ideas and accomplishments. George told me that one of his big honors was when Ralph Nader gave him an award in Washington. He said he wanted to make it clear to everyone that it was not his accomplishments but how God had used him. Read Acts 4:7-10.
His eleven patents and the widespread use of airbags as a safety device in vehicles, helped me deal with some important questions of life. If I lose my job, do I complain and grow sour or do I look for a better opportunity ahead? When God closes one door, He always opens another door. When I encounter temporary failure, do I quit or do I stay focused on the purpose God has for me? Do I take credit for what I accomplished, or do I know that God provided everything for me? Am I utilizing my gift to help people? Am I more interested in making money or making a difference?
George is a lay speaker in the United Methodist Church. He is very energetic, enthusiastic, and excited about his local church. He is giving leadership in his church to make a difference.
George’s church has been studying the Treasures of the Transformed Life. With great excitement he looked me in the eye and said “I love your book and your study. It puts into focus what I have experienced in my life.” Wow!
I hope you never have to use what George has patented. If you do, thank God for a man who is making a difference.
Are we making a difference?
Posted October 19th, 2011 by John Ed Mathison
John records an interesting incident in the life of Jesus. It reflects two vastly different attitudes and viewpoints on life.
Jesus is speaking to a huge crowd and the people have had nothing to eat. He presents the food issue to Philip. Philip’s response is, “Eight months’ salary would not buy enough bread for each one to have one bite.” (John 6:7 NIV) Another disciple, Andrew, said, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish.” (John 6:9 NIV)
Philip was a closely calculating person who probably missed a lot of miracles in his life because he had to subject everything to the math test. He already had figured out exactly how much money it would take for each person to have one bite.
How often do we sit in meetings at a church or an organization and someone comes up with a great idea, but then it is quickly squashed because people start “running the numbers” to show how unfeasible it would be? Generally the idea is shot down pretty quickly.
I remember reading one time about Henry Ford. The story goes that he called together some of his brightest visionary thinkers. He wanted them to sit down and spend a day together dreaming about new ideas for the Ford product. He only had one requirement – nobody could bring a slide rule. (For those of you who are very young, a slide rule is what was used before the calculator, which was used before the computer, to quickly derive math answers.)
Mr. Ford wanted people to think, without immediately reaching a negative conclusion based on preliminary numbers. He wanted to spend a whole day dreaming about possibilities.
Philip’s whole approach was to focus on what they didn’t have. He could think up a lot of quick reasons of why something couldn’t be done.
The other character here is Andrew. He reflects a different point of view. He didn’t reflect long on Philip’s analysis of what they didn’t have – he simply made a statement of what they did have.
When we face things in life we can usually spend our time and energy on what we don’t have – or what we do have. I have a hunch that God gets very excited when people want to look at what we do have, and take it and use it.
Andrew suggested that they did have five small loaves and two small fish. Now anybody could look and see that even that was not mathematically feasible. But Andrew didn’t deal with the math. He created the possibility of a miracle when he brought the little boy to Jesus.
Here is the miracle – Jesus took a little and did a lot with it. He blessed that small boy’s small loaves and small fish and fed 5,000 men, not counting the women and children. The crowd must not have contained many Methodists because there was a lot of food left over – twelve basketfuls!
The Philip view produces a safe, calculated, business as usual, lifestyle that misses miracles. The Andrew view produces surprises, unrealized potential, exciting possibilities, and a lifestyle that puts us in the middle of miracles.
What will it be today – Philip or Andrew – math or miracles?
Posted October 12th, 2011 by John Ed Mathison
What is the driving force in your life?
Landry Jones, quarterback for the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners, was asked that question. His answer was quick, “faith and football.”
Since Landry Jones stepped into the picture as quarterback when Sam Bradford was injured, he has started 27 games, won 22, including two bowls, and he has set seven Oklahoma University passing records. He still has this year to go.
Last year he threw 38 touchdown passes for over 4,700 yards. In their two biggest games last year – the Big 12 championship game and the Fiesta Bowl, Jones averaged 413 yards and accounted for nine TDs!
But football is not his main driving force – it is his faith. He says “I gave my life to Jesus Christ two or three years ago.” Since then he has become a relentless witness for Jesus Christ.
Last summer he and eight other Oklahoma football players were in Haiti serving on a Christian mission trip. They got word that a teammate, linebacker Austin Box, had died in an accidental death involving a mix of prescription painkillers and an anti-anxiety drug. While he was 2,000 miles away from home, Jones became the quiet spiritual leader for those fellow football players.
Landry Jones is for real. Head coach Bob Stoops says, “Players can’t fool players and as a coach, I can tell when a guy is real and when he isn’t. Landry Jones is for real.”
Landry Jones is not sure where his life will take him after Oklahoma (and professional football). He is sure he will wind up in some kind of ministry. It might be a pastor or a chaplain. But he says, “Whatever it is going to be it’s going to be the ministry that God calls me to. I am going to do it.”
John records how Jesus had an interesting encounter with a woman at a well. It had been a full day and the disciples knew that Jesus was hungry and asked if anyone had brought Him food. Jesus heard the conversation and shared the driving force in His life. He said, “My meat is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.” (John 4:34 ASV)
Jesus was not driven by hunger, but by doing God’s will. He was not driven by physical needs, but by accomplishing God’s work and purpose for Him.
Landry Jones is high profile. His ministry will be on a big stage. God has given each of us a talent and a gift. I hope the driving force in our lives is our faith and utilization of our talent in fulfilling and accomplishing God’s purpose for each of us.
What drives you?
Posted October 5th, 2011 by John Ed Mathison
During the summer everyone wondered if there would be a professional football season. We had strikes, lockouts, endless negotiations, etc. It seemed that the NFL players and the owners could never get together on a solution. The whole season was threatened. A similar situation exists right now with the NBA.
I have heard many people use one word to sum up the essence of the whole situation. It is the word “greed.”
Fortunately the strike was settled. The only game missed was the opening Hall of Fame game. Professional football is at the top of the list in fan interest, money earned, etc. Even with all of this, greed almost cancelled the season.
A few months ago hedge-fund billionaire Raj Rajaratnam went to trial. A lot of people suggested you heard more about Rajat Gupta than you did about the accused. Gupta headed up a consulting firm who allegedly tipped off Rajaratnam about Warren Buffett’s $5 billion investment in Goldman and other insider news about quarterly gains and losses. These tips allegedly were used by Rajaratnam to execute lucrative trades.
The question people asked was – “Why did Gupta do this?” He was described as “once one of the world’s most trusted advisers to companies.” What happened to him?
It was obvious that he didn’t need the money. He had been very instrumental in raising millions of dollars for various charities. He was friends with some of the most powerful people in the world, including President Barrack Obama.
Author Shoba Narayan, the wife of a former investment banker, contends that he slipped over the ethical line because “that whole New York milieu where people measure themselves by their net worth, the size of their bonus, or square footage of their house. If he’d lived away from that incestuous Wall Street set, perhaps none of this would have happened.”
Greed – when we associate with greedy people, we tend to become like the people with whom we associate.
Greed isn’t a new phenomenon. It is addressed throughout the Bible. Here is a sample. “Greed brings grief to the whole family.” (Proverbs 15:27 NLT) “Greed causes fighting, trust in the Lord leads to prosperity.” (Proverbs 28:25 NLT)
Can we learn a lesson? Jesus said, “Beware, guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” (Luke 12:15NLT) One of the truths of life is, “Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness.” (Ecclesiastes 5:10 NLT)
Giving is the medicine to cure greed. Unlike the description of New York, what would happen in your community if people measured themselves by how much they give, the size of their net giving, or the scope of their contributions to meet the needs of people. Instead of an incestuous Wall Street, what if we started creating an infectious Main Street where people try to out give each other!!
There is not enough for everyone’s greed, but there is enough for everyone’s need!
Posted October 3rd, 2011 by John Ed Mathison
The August/September time frame offered a lot of various opportunities for ministry. I will briefly share a few of them below.
August 6 – Officiated at the wedding for Erin Gowan. I have a long relationship with the Gowan family. Erin’s grandmother use to look after me when I was 2- years-old living in Loxley, Alabama. I also served the Woodland Methodist Church in 1960 as I was a senior in college. The Gowans’ had moved to that area and were members. Erin’s father Lyn was born. They asked me to baptize him. He was the first person that I baptized as a pastor. I am not really sure now that I was authorized to do it, but I did it anyway. The baptism took!
August 7 – Preached at Frazer UMC for the three morning worship services, had a memorial service Sunday afternoon, and preached at the evening worship at Frazer. I also had an interesting experience with Greg Calhoun. I met Evander Holifield, Isaiah Thomas and other atheletes in conjunction with his charity golf tournament. I wrote a blog about it on August 10.
August 8 – Met with some young pastors to focus on ministry opportunities.
August 11 – Went to Birmingham to give the opening devotional for the Board of Directors meeting for the United Methodist Homes for the Aging for North Alabama and Alabama-West Florida Conference. My Dad served on that Board for some 30 years, and I have had the privilege of serving on the Board in recent years.
August 12 – Had an opportunity to speak to about 1,100 public school teachers in Autauga County. Greg Faulkner is the School Superintendent. I shared a blog about this experience that was posted August 17.
August 14 – Went to LaGrange, Georgia, to preach at the First United Methodist Church. That church was preparing to begin the Treasures of the Transformed Life stewardship study. Dr. Harold Lawrence is the Senior Pastor.
August 16 – Went down to Calhoun High School to speak to the football team. This school is located in rural Autauga County. I was greatly impressed with Coach Williamson who decided to go there and coach. He had to have three fundraisers to buy enough helmets so that all 24 of his players could have a helmet. I watched one kid practice without football pants. Since most of the boys do not have any form of transportation, most of them could not start football practice until school started. One big challenge is to keep the boys there on Friday afternoon when they have a game Friday night. Regulations will not allow them to have food out of the cafeteria so Coach Williamson has to provide a pregame meal. He currently has negotiated with Subway for that pregame meal.
August 19 – Spoke at the Frazer Men’s program. This is an exciting ministry for men. They had over 150 men present.
August 20-23 – I traveled to Brownsville, Tennessee, for a Preaching Mission. Brownsville is located northeast of Memphis, Tennessee. I enjoyed a great experience there with Rev. Philip Cook and the good people of Brownsville. This is also where Bishop Paul Duffey grew up.
August 25 – Attended a meeting for the Alabama Sports Commission. This is a very interesting group that I will tell you more about later. I also participated in a conference call for the Confessing Movement.
August 26 – Retired staff members from Frazer get together once a quarter to visit and pray together. We meet at Steak-Out on Taylor Road and usually have about 15 staff members and spouses present. It is a good time of reflecting on past ministry.
August 27 – Officiated at the wedding for Bethany Black and John Neubauer. I also officiated at the wedding of Bethany’s parents – Buddy and Rhonda Black. Bethany’s mother Rhonda has served on the Frazer staff for 17 years.
August 28 – Preached at the Notasulga Methodist Church homecoming. My Dad served five years in Notasulga. My brother George was born while we lived there. Notasulga is the place where I got in deep trouble for a babysitting incident with my brother where I tied him to a tree while a group of us boys played football.
August 30 – Attended a special meeting to raise funds for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Troy University. I posted a blog about this on September 7.
September 7 – I was invited by Buzz Phillips, Athletic Director at Huntingdon College, to speak to 526 student athletes at Huntingdon. This was an impressive group of young men and women. Buzz Phillips wanted to be sure that the young people stayed focused not only on athletics and academics, but also setting goals for future achievement in their profession and the development of their spiritual life..
September 9-10 – Traveled to North Carolina. Lead a stewardship seminar at the Fuquay- Varina United Methodist Church, which is a suburb of Raleigh. Several former members of Frazer are members of that church. Dr. Albert Shuler is the Senior Pastor.
September 10-15 – Traveled to Mocksville, North Carolina, to preach at the Sprinkle Preaching Mission at the United Methodist Church. Rev. Joe Collins is the pastor there. On Monday I lead a seminar for a group of District ministers. On Tuesday noon I spoke at the Rotary Club. Each night we had worship services. I drove on a lot of highways in North Carolina in the space of those seven days.
September 18 – Preached at Frazer at the three morning worship services and at the evening worship service.
September 20 – Attended our Annual Conference Committee on Episcopacy meeting. This was a time of evaluation for Bishop Paul Leeland. He scored as high as could be scored on his evaluation. We are blessed with his leadership. Bishop Lindsey Davis came to Montgomery to assist in that process.
September 23 – Attended an event honoring Bishop Paul Duffey as he has served faithfully in our Annual Conference. I was one of the presenters for this occasion. Bishop Duffey is moving from Montgomery to North Georgia to be nearer his family members.
September 25 – Preached at the homecoming for Fort Deposit Methodist Church. Reverend Dennis Carlson is the pastor. It was the 150th anniversary of that church.
September 26-30 – Drove to St. George, South Carolina for the Indian Field Camp Meeting. I began on Monday night the 26th and preached each night of the week. This is a Camp Meeting that has 100 hundred cabins in a circle around a large tabernacle. Each of these cabins will sleep about 20 people. I will write more about this unique experience.
As usual, I was on the road quite a bit the last two months. I do block out time each day I am in town to be in the office for study, preparation and meeting with pastors. One of the growing opportunities is to counsel individually with young pastors. During this next year I am going to be meeting with some small groups of pastors.
Thank you so much for your interest in and support of this ministry. I receive a lot of communications from pastors that indicate that this leadership ministry is making a difference in their ministry. That is really what I am about.
Posted September 30th, 2011 by John Ed Mathison
Every day we make choices concerning what is valuable to us. While we sometimes would like to have different values, what we choose really indicates what our values are. The big question is “Are my values really the real value?”
A couple of months ago a 17-year-old Chinese teenager, known as Little Zheng, had a kidney removed surgically so he could have money to buy a new Apple iPad. He was paid $3,000 for his kidney. He valued the iPad more than his kidney. When his mother found it out she said, “I felt like the sky was crashing down on our family.”
Football oftentimes is too big a value for those of us living in the bounds of the Southeastern Conference. (That is a dangerous statement to make.) Football is important, but oftentimes we get the value scale out of balance.
Just a warning early in football season; putting too much value on football can be detrimental to your health and even kill you.
Researchers at the University of Southern California examined how the Los Angeles Rams’ fans reacted about how the Rams fared in the Super Bowls of 1980 and 1984. When the Rams lost the first game, cardiac deaths spiked by 15 percent in men, 27 percent in women, and 22 percent in seniors. When the Rams won four years later, the death rates didn’t budge.
Robert Kloner, the study’s lead author, suggests that when too much emphasis is placed on how a football team performs “it can increase a fan’s pulse rate, raise blood pressure and potentially trigger a cardiac event.”\
Some young people can teach us some good values about how we handle money. Allan Guei had such good grades in High School that it earned him the right to compete in a free-throw contest for a $40,000 college scholarship. He won the contest. He also received a basketball scholarship to college so he donated the $40,000 to the seven runners-up in the free-throw contest. He said, “I’ve already been blessed so much and I know we are living with a bad economy. This money can really help my classmates.” Good value.
Ashley Donaldson is 15-years-old and found $2,000 in a parking lot in Dallas, Texas. Police told her it would be hers if no one claimed it within three months. When the money was unclaimed, the city changed its mind and kept the money. Ashley was happy with that decision. When an unnamed donor found it out he gave Ashley $4,000, then the city reconsidered giving the teen the $2,000. I have a hunch she will give that away.
What value choices are we making today? What value do we place on the way we spend our time and energy and money? Technology and iPads are important – but not as important as our health. Football is important – but not as important as our health. Money is important – but not as important as our attitude and commitment to giving.
Remember Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and everything you need will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)
That is the priceless value choice!
Posted September 26th, 2011 by John Ed Mathison
The letter was postmarked from Montgomery, Alabama. It was dated August 9, 1944. It was sent to a Miss R. T. Fletcher in California. The letter finally arrived the second week of March 2011.
We have developed the terms e-mail and snail mail. I believe 67 years even exceeds snail mail.
A military facility now used by the California National Guard received the letter from Montgomery. It was addressed to Miss Fletcher at the camp’s America Red Cross Hospital. The hospital was torn down decades ago.
Because of the uniqueness of this situation, the national news reported a brief story about the letter. Fletcher’s daughter heard about it and figured it might have been sent by her late uncle to her mother , who is 90-years-old and lives on the East Coast. To ensure that the letter was actually to her mother, she sent authorities a sample of her uncle’s handwriting, and officials sent her the unopened letter.
I would love to know what the letter said. I would also like to know where the letter had been for the past 67 years. Somebody messed up delivering that message.
The command to every Christian is to go and share the good news of the message. The good news of God’s redeeming grace gets held up a lot of times. There are people who are beyond the age of 67 who haven’t received the message yet. It is never too late.
In Matthew 28:19, when Jesus said, “Go and make disciples,” I wonder what part of “go” don’t we understand. We have the message. It is to be delivered.
Jesus’ commission to us did not mean that we should do it if it was “easy to deliver the mail,” or if it was “convenient to deliver the mail.” He certainly didn’t put any qualifications as to whether or not the “postage on the message” would be sufficient. He just said “Go.”
The world is filled with Miss Fletchers, who are either waiting to get the mail or don’t even have any idea that the message has been sent. The opportunity for you and me is to “deliver the mail.”
I hope the news in the letter was good. The news of the message we have to deliver is the best news that people can ever hear. The church must get beyond the pony express and get the message delivered by personal sharing, social media, television, and any new delivery system Jesus teaches us!
Check your mail!