Tag Archives: God

Finding Spiritual Happiness

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Romans 12: 3-8…(Apostle Paul Speaking) “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”

Peace and joy are the primary ingredients that make up what every human ever to live seeks – Happiness. Merriam-Webster defines happiness as “a state of well-being and contentment.” Isn’t this what our Lord promised in sending the Holy Spirit to us? Romans 15:13 states…”May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Throughout the New Testament we are promised these wonderful things…joy and peace. Do you feel them?

The answer many give is: No. We are also promised a rough road to traverse. A cross to bear. A roaring enemy stalking us and setting traps. Do we feel those? Overwhelmingly, yes. Where is our spiritual happiness? If the Holy Spirit is indeed dwelling with you, it’s right there too. Guaranteed. We are just still holding onto to our worldly existence, and peace and joy are not allowed to be brought forth by our own misunderstanding of it all. Contentment is not something we excel at is it? We are taught by culture to want…to envy…to create our own dreams and plans…and to stop at nothing to attain them. We are taught these are the qualities of the justly ambitious and best among us. The exceptional. Who is planting those seeds? Christ or the enemy?

Even in our places of worship contentment is considered a foul word. They must be grown. They must have more. We must keep up with others. What God has provided is never enough. God’s direction is ignored and replaced with man’s direction…who claim to speak for God while they give it. The structures within our churches push their flocks for more and more. Give more, do more, say more, lead more, take up more…do, do, do…for Christ. You owe our Lord this. Lies. That’s the world talking, not our Lord. We are one body of Christ serving many different functions, just as Paul described, and he actually was divinely inspired to speak on God’s behalf. In short Paul is saying, “Do what you do best and don’t try to do too much. Stay within the gifts God has given you for his purposes and glory, and give them your best.” Is that the message you hear in your churches and groups?

In all my years of involvement in the church, I’ve said no to hundreds of things, and yes to only a few. Why? Am I a malcontent, selfish Christian only wanting to do what I want to do? Nope. I’m doing exactly what Paul told me to do. What are the gifts loaned to me by grace? I communicate well through writing, so I write on his behalf…without asking for compensation. I play percussion well so I serve my churches in that way…without asking for compensation…and have done so for nearly 20 years. I’ve been given the ability to recognize suffering and need that comes in my path, and God gives me the ability to offer encouragement. I do that every time I’m led to see it. Without asking for compensation. And God has blessed my family with resources that enables me to share…so I give generously to where I’m led. Those are my gifts, and they are all given to my Lord’s kingdom. No, I’m probably not going to go on a 10 mile walk…because that’s not my calling. I’m not going to agree to lead groups where I’m not qualified to lead them. I’m not going to serve this ministry and that ministry, because my function within the body doesn’t mesh. But do and will I support each and all? Absolutely. The body is one and we all work in unison. Know your role. Contentment follows.

There exists a billion dollar plus industry that caters to God’s people and their desires to find peace and joy…happiness. Christianity in America has largely become the world’s largest self-help seminar. This is why our nation’s faithful confuse and anger so many on the outside. Everyone has a book to sell, a bible study series to peddle, a viral video to expose…and they all have the secret. But nobody is happy. Why? The Holy Spirit isn’t present. No Spirit equals no joy…no peace…happiness nullified. When courageous church leaders and pastors do step up to their flocks and speak God’s true words to them…congregations recoil in horror. “That’s not what our church is about!” “That’s not what we believe!” “You’ve lost your mind!” “You’re pushing political agenda!” No, dear faithful, they are just telling you what God’s word actually says. The Spirit dwelling within them requires they not add or subtract a single word. They are to teach what God has instructed. Period. Want to see a big ol’ controversy in modern churches? Preach the gospel. It got Jesus hung a cross, and it still has the same effect today.

Which leads me back to finding spiritual happiness. Want it? John 14:6…”I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Those are the words of Jesus Christ – King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Philippians 2: 9-11…”Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Jesus is Lord of all creation. To find spiritual happiness, as part of that creation, submission to that must occur. God the Father, whose Spirit provides that peace and joy, cannot be reached, but by Jesus Christ. Few will do so. Few will ever sincerely submit. Want to know peace, joy and happiness? Eternal life? Jesus tells us we must enter through the narrow door. The narrow door is truth. Few accept it, most reject it, and all exploit it.

To conclude I offer the words of our Lord from the gospel of Luke. Seek the narrow door.

Luke 13: 22-30…”Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, ‘Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?’ He said to them, ‘Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’ There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

Call on Christ to come rescue you. He will send the Spirit. Listen to Him. Submit. Repent. Live.

Gary Abernathy

 

 

 

 

 

The Role of Bible Prophecy

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Psalm 16…A miktam of David…

“Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.’ I say of the holy people who are in the land, ‘They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.’ Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take up their names on my lips. Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”

If you ask me, this Psalm of David is prophecy for all the faithful. This is where the redeemed should be looking when they seek answers to the unknown…to the fearful sights, actions and paths of the world. It isn’t just David worshipping…this is David giving us the answer to what shall be our lot. This is living word. For us, God’s children, there is a “delightful inheritance.” We do not run after other gods seeking their assistance. We do not offer sacrifice to them for safety. Apart from God, we have no good thing. We are counseled by his Spirit…even in our sleep…and the path of life is made known to us. Joy is the prophetic word that belongs to us…because we are already, and forever shall be, in his presence.

My very first recollection of Godly teaching stems from around age 4 or 5. My family was in church when I was born, so God was being made known to me already, but this is my first memory…a neighborhood children’s bible study my mother sent me to. It was led by a woman in our neighborhood and we met at her house. I vaguely remember she was young with dark hair. I remember her giving us all children’s bibles. I also remember she scared me to nightmares. She was teaching us Bible Prophecy. The only memory I take from that event was her telling us that Jesus was coming at any moment…and one would be taken and one would be left. In my child brain, that boiled down to either me or my brother. I had no idea if I was supposed to want to be taken or left. I just knew she scared me to death. I never went back. Isn’t this the effect that most “teachers” of biblical prophecy have? It’s fear porn. And it’s a huge moneymaker worldwide.

I guess psychologically, that first learning stuck with me, because I’ve been interested in prophecy and the ties of world events to it ever since. It’s almost like she put a dark cloud over my head and I kept waiting for it rain for many decades. That is not how a soul reborn in the Holy Spirit sees the prophetic words given to us…we see them as 1) The promise of hope and justice; and 2) Tools of warning to non-believers. It’s within number two that “teaching” often goes astray. Put those tools in the wrong hands, and that’s how you wind up with a 5 year old scared in his bed at night that some mysterious person from the sky is going to yank him away from his family.

In my late 20’s when God was pulling me back away from the world and home towards him, it was once again prophecy that was used to get my attention. I was a young married dad feeling God’s call on my heart, and a television prophecy huckster, Jack Van Impe, started showing up in my orbit. “Y2K will destroy us all,” was the basic premise. “God is using the computers to usher in Revelation.” I might as well have been 5 year old Gary again. It wasn’t going to be me ,”left behind,” I’ll tell ya that. Into deep study I went…and I never missed Jack and his wife every Friday night. My wife watched too. What I wasn’t really noticing was Jack and the bride sure had a whole lot of merchandise to sell during their half hour doomcasts. The for sale merchandise is where you got the “whole story” you see. I did however start to get drawn in, and I even bought myself a “Jack Van Impe Prophecy Bible.” It’s very nice. All the doom is highlighted for you. I was learning a lot about Jack’s particular version of the “End Times,” but I wasn’t being drawn towards the gospel…I was being taken away from it…by fear. How you can physically bring a soul into Matthew’s gospel, but yet never teach them a thing about Christ’s love and hope, takes a special kind of talent. But God had sufficiently gained my attention. I began to question my Pastor, Chuck Wilson, about why he never talked about these things in church. Didn’t he know that Y2K was going to cause Russia’s missiles to malfunction and start Armageddon? For the love of Pete, man, warn your flock! I was way off base, but what did I know? God was teaching me a particular talent that he puts to good use with me now. I can discern “situations” on a highly skilled level. It took sorting through a giant mess of deception for years to learn that trait.

The current days are a mega-dream for those who wish to distort God’s word for profit and deceiving. The king of Christian prophecy writers, Tim LaHaye, has TWO books in Amazon’s top 6 Christian best sellers as I type. Business is good, brother. In case you don’t know who he is…Left Behind…and all the books that followed. Don’t get me wrong, Jack Van Impe and Tim LaHaye might be God’s greatest messengers…who am I to say? But what they do isn’t in accordance with Paul’s teaching from anything I discern in the New Testament. Speaking as one who was enamored with the work of both of them…none of their works ever led me to anywhere but having less money and a great deal more worry. The fruit is rotted coming off those vines.

So are the words spoken by Christ in Matthew 24 true? Is all of it true…the prophecy found cover to cover in the God’s word? 100%. Matthew 24: 6-8…”You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.” That’s Jesus answering the disciples question as to what the signs will be of his returning. “See to it that you are not alarmed,” Jesus says, right before telling them…“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.” Matthew 24:9. See to it I don’t worry? That sounds horrible. This is where the dividing line of understanding comes in. The reason we aren’t to worry is because our faith assures us that what Jesus has spoken to us is infallible. Though some of us may even be put to death, he promises not even one hair on our head will be harmed. It takes the spirit within you to understand what that means. The peace that promise brings despite facing a whole world that hates us and wants to kill us…can only be supplied by the spirit of God. If that spirit is not present, then the vault is open for fear to be exploited in a mighty way…and that’s what so many have and still do. Jesus goes on in Matthew 24…“At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.” Deception…something man is extremely adept at. Read the entire chapter. There is a lot more. It is our call to know these things. Jesus speaks in Matthew 24:42…“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” Which brings me to why I was taught the things I was taught…How to be his watchman. So I am. And what I can report to you on this day free of charge, and with no extra merchandise for the rest of the story, is this: We don’t know when he’s coming. That’s the truest statement anyone will ever say to you. You can purchase all the material you wish, written or produced by people far more educated than me, but at the end of the day all it says is…”We don’t know.” But they make it very compelling and interesting getting to that point…I’ll give them that.

So, if you want my little opinion, and you’re reborn in the Holy Spirit and saved by the blood of Christ…go to David’s words. Read a Psalm every day, and read a chapter in Proverbs every day. One teaches you how to get along with God, and the other teaches you how to survive in this world righteously. Do those two things…and no matter if a volcano swallows you, a marauding band of Christian haters attack you, a friend betrays you, a war engulfs you, an earthquake rattles you, or an asteroid falls on you…not one single hair on your head is going to be harmed. “See to it you are not alarmed.” That’s the role of bible prophecy.

Gary Abernathy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Peace of God With Us

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Philippians 4: 4-9 Final Exhortations…”Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

 

  1. Rejoice. Emphasized again so we are to be perfectly clear – Rejoice! How are we as Christians doing with that one? I can only speak for myself and what I see in others. We fail every day to simply rejoice in the work of the cross and the victory of Christ’s resurrection. We complain, we bicker, we worry, we spread angst…I’m world class at those things. I do however rejoice as well in my Lord daily, but am I fully transformed in that joy? No. I have a long way to go. So do you.
  2. Let your gentleness be evident to all. Do people see you as gentle? For me, I think it very much depends on who is answering and in what setting. By nature, I’m a pretty gentle soul. But I’m also very cunning and have the ability to tear things to shreds that I feel need torn…and there is nothing gentle about it. Is my gentleness evident to all? No. Is yours?
  3. The Lord is near. Do we feel his constant presence in our lives? Me…absolutely. Christ is at the forefront of my thoughts and my actions. Why I still act against instruction I do not know. It’s extremely difficult to discern God’s will in each moment. I often feel as though I’m acting in Godly accordance, but then in my daily scripture study, I’ll find a contradiction to what I thought compared to what God commands.
  4. Do not be anxious, but instead in every situation, pray with a thankful spirit, and present your requests to God. In my transformation, I’ve become very good at this. I’m on my knees most days thanking my Lord just for the moment I’m in…good or bad. For the opportunities to serve him…good or bad. And always seeking his direction. I’m also far less anxious than I once was. How are you in these things?
  5. The Peace of God that transcends all understanding. Is this something when you read it you say, “Yes!” Have you felt that moment where chaos surrounds you and you should be chaotic too…but you’re not? You can’t explain why…but at the height of confusion, you’ve never felt more at ease? I know this. I believe it’s the Holy Spirit that dwells within me.
  6. Whatever is True, Noble, Right, Pure, Lovely, Admirable, Excellent, and Praiseworthy. Think about those things. Is this where we place our thoughts, our hopes, our dreams, our ambitions…our hearts? I surely try to. It goes back to learning discernment deeply and intensely. This is the guide. They aren’t always obvious and easy to spot. We have to dig deep for these things. We have to tear past the delusions and illusions…the facades of the world. Peel back all those layers…and we find these things. Do you peel, or do you just accept what the world places in front of you as its or His? Satan is powerful on this earth, and most times it comes with a smile and a friendly hug.
  7. Do we put into practice the things Paul has left for us in word and example? No. We do not. The world would be a completely different place. It would be the Kingdom that is to come. Are we trying and transforming? I am. How about you?

With God’s peace, we are capable of “evolving” far past the existence we think traps us in these human shells. Paul had it through the process of receiving the Holy Spirit, and then putting into practice the strict discipline required to reach such a place. That place…Is the kingdom we all seek that is promised. Few will get there. Paul has left us the directions. What will you follow?

Gary Abernathy

When Disaster Strikes You

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Proverbs 1: 20-33 Wisdom’s Rebuke

Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square; on top of the wall she cries out, at the city gate she makes her speech:

“How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings. But since you refuse to listen when I call and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand, since you disregard all my advice and do not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you; I will mock when calamity overtakes you – when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you. Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me, since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord. Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.”

If you’ve ever been to Hollywood, CA you’ve surely picked up on the extreme diversity of fortunes in the area. The very heights of human fame and glory mixed side by side with the lowest depths we can sink. Shining wealth mixed with rotting decay. When I was walking around Hollywood last summer I took the picture above to capture that feeling I had. My hotel a hotbed of cool, and the outer surroundings a cesspool of desperation to gain entrance into that club. All around me plastic idols to worship, and human suffering and lost souls to absorb. Spray painted graffiti on a wall less than a mile from where the Oscars are held it reads: “Expect us cappin”…and I do expect such. That’s the nature of wicked man that has always played out. Wisdom calls out and no one pays attention when she stretches out her hand. She promises that when disaster strikes…they will call to her and she will not answer. She will laugh.

Last night in Australia, one of America’s iconic famous people, Madonna, had another onstage meltdown, as her life spirals out of control. While on stage in front of thousands, she begged to the crowd, “Someone please (F-word) me.” Then she pleaded to the crowd…”Somebody take care of me please. Who is going to take care of me?” Wisdom has turned her back. Madonna who once sang to an entire generation of impressionable young girls, “Papa Don’t Preach,” now begs to those aged fans to care for her, as they witness her implosion.

Kim Kardashian, world famous, fabulously wealthy, married to Kanye West equally both, and whose father is another world famous icon as an athlete, who is now a woman named, Caitlyn, just couldn’t help herself but to post a totally nude selfie to the world this past week. Never stopping to think of how much influence she wields, and what that behavior adds to the world below she lives on top of. She begs for more adoration down to her very flesh – worship all of me she pleads. Wisdom turns her back.

Richard Simmons, cultural American exercise icon and silly personality, who lives in the Hollywood Hills, was revealed this week by his friends to be of great concern and worry. Cutting himself off suddenly from the world over 2 years ago and holed up in his Hollywood mansion. Many fear he’s under total control by his housekeeper and manager. They called out in a published article for someone to help him. One friend even claimed voodoo and black magic are being used on him by the housekeeper. The occult. Richard Simmons…cut off from the world where is face is universally known.

Legendary rock music artist, Keith Emerson, shot and killed himself this week. His girlfriend said the 71 year old was deeply depressed and hurt by online comments mocking his playing ability at this stage in life. He suffered from nerve damage that left him not as talented as he once was. He had shows coming up in Japan that he feared he would play terrible during. He killed himself. His fans who rose him up, ultimately took him all the way down.

This past week, Randy Meisner, legendary bass player and vocalist from, The Eagles, was also involved in more iconic tragedy. 1 1/2 hours after police had left their home for a domestic disturbance call, his wife accidently shot and killed herself by moving a loaded weapon. Not long before Randy was involved in a foiled murder/suicide threat. His wife is now dead and he’s in lockdown in a mental facility in LA.

Even world famous Christian pastor, Max Lucado, recently felt a taste of wrath tied to complacency, when he dared to step out on a limb and call out presidential candidate and billionaire, Donald Trump. Pastor Lucado, author of many best selling books and bible studies, and having a net worth estimated around 10 million dollars gained on the back of Christianity, was shocked at the hit back he received from Trump’s supporters. I was proud of the pastor for having the guts to put his brand (his name) on the line to say something important. It showed that wisdom has been calling out and he heard her and acted. This leader who was so far disconnected to the reality of the world all around him, as he rested comfortably in a bubble of false teaching for profit, suddenly made a dent into Satan’s grip on this world. The result frightened him. It should have. Welcome to the spiritual war, Pastor.

When disaster strikes, who will have your back? Do you know? Can you run safely into the arms of God because your relationship with him is rock solid in teaching and understanding? Or will you be like Madonna…”Who is going to take care of me?” Disaster is going to strike…it’s assured. In my life it has struck several times already, and I’m only 49 years old. I run towards God and his protection. His grace. His love. His discipline. His rebuke. He has surrounded me with loyalty and I give it back equally. He has instilled in me values and knowledge to comprehend the moments I am in. These things haven’t happened by accident. I had to hear her. I had to see those arms stretched out and listen. I had to accept her rebuke.

One of the hardest lessons I’ve had to accept, and I still struggle with it, is not getting personal credit for the things I do. Why don’t I? God protects me from stories and endings like all the ones I just listed from just this past week. I understand that’s why, but I also live in this world where Hollywood’s exist and my worldly ego feels it belongs in them. God knows where that leads and I belong to him. He won’t allow me to go there. Thanks be to God. The rebukes will keep coming until I fully relent once and for all. Even Pastor Lucado…that’s not for me. That’s not my destiny. I work for Him. It’s just how it’s to be. Glory be to God…not to Gary’s. This is the most dangerous ground I walk upon, and that’s why all those stories above ring in my heart and capture my attention. Yet, even though I still struggle with this, God pours abundance upon me uninterrupted, as he uses me for his purposes. Always showing and teaching me the way it all works in harmony between He and his own. I want for nothing. My purpose full of meaning and wonder. I’ve come a long way in this lesson. I will not turn back. I hear her and adhere to her teachings.

Do you? When disaster strikes you…where will you turn?

Gary Abernathy

 

 

The Harvest

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Be Holy

1 Peter 1: 13-15…”Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’ “

This weekend my wife blurted out a sentence that struck fear into me…”Do you want to clean out the garage today?” I know very well what my garage looks like. It’s a storage building for 20 years of being together and 17 1/2 years of being parents. It’s all the boxes, all the decorations, all the junk, all the toys, all the…stuff…that an American family accumulates over time and has no idea what to do with. If our garage was a metaphor it’s this…The spoiled excess of the upper-middle class American lifestyle that fills our souls literally with junk so that we’re so cluttered the thought of cleaning ourselves up is far too much work…so we just sink into rot and decay.” That’s the metaphor. Sorry for being so deep with it. Truth can suck.

So, my wife, like most wives, got her way, and we began the process. Begrudgingly I went along with this exercise in garage humility. The organization plan was to have 3 piles.

1 – Keep

2 – Charity

3 – Throw Away

Overwhelmingly, the throw away pile was the big winner. (2) full van loads of stuff we’ve been holding taken to the local dump, and another full load still to be taken tomorrow, because today is Sunday and apparently the dump observes the Sabbath. When we started, you could barely open the garage door or side door. Fully stuffed. When we finished, not only did the riding lawn mower and giant smoker grill go back in easy, there is ample room for an actual car to be parked in there now. That’s how much was discarded and how little was kept. On a side note, I kept thinking of one of my favorite Billy Graham lines…”Just because you’re born into a Christian family that doesn’t make you a Christian. You could have been born in a garage, but that doesn’t make you an automobile.” What really makes that line funny is his very distinct accent when he says automobile. Classic. But I digress.

Mankind. There are rules God has established. We don’t follow them. None of us. So, the penalty for that is death. After death, there are ample descriptions and visions of where a soul goes being found guilty without redemption at death. I’ll leave that there. Jesus Christ is our redemption. Because we cannot, God sent his Son here to live the life we aren’t capable of living, so that we might live (our eternal soul). If we believe and accept that, we are offered salvation and washed clean of our guilt (sin). MANY accept that invitation by proclamation. However, the heart is lacking. The heart is all that matters in this equation. Peter speaks to that in the above scripture. We were brought out of ignorance and given salvation. Given the Holy Spirit. A truly reborn soul can’t help with the spirit within them to feel the pull of what Peter’s words allude to in their life. The command issued…”Be holy, because I am holy.” Though we fail daily to fully live up to that, our hearts feel our failures, and our soul always seeks rebuke and correction so that we may each moment move towards a truly holy state of being. Anyone you see as a “Christian” obviously not feeling that pull and seeking repentance, has missed something.

There is a great harvest underway. A separating. A division. Just like the piles my wife and I created. There are His that shall be preserved and saved. There are those hanging in limbo not with the Spirit, but hope still remains they will call and Jesus will send the Spirit to rescue them. Then there is the junk to be tossed away. In scripture it’s described as being, “tossed in the lake of fire.” Which is what happens in a harvest. You burn the chaff. There will be far more chaff burned than wheat collected in the final harvest. Christ will sit on his judgment throne and say to many…”Go from me, I never knew you.” How can you be sure to be wheat in that moment?

You’ll know because your entire existence will begin to transform. What you’re passionate about, what’s important to you, how you love, how you view others…it all changes. Not instantly, but also not too slowly either. When you are reborn in the Holy Spirit instantly the process begins of ripping all the junk stored up inside you out…and replacing it with the holiness Peter speaks of. It’s a very ugly process. Be prepared to cry a lot. Be prepared to try to hold onto for dear life the sin the Spirit is ripping from you and having a whole lot of rebuking placed upon you for it. God punishes his like any good parent does a child. It’s a progressive form of punishment. It’s learned pretty quickly that you do not want to go to the hardest forms. If it’s necessary, God will completely break you down to heal you. David being a prime example. I’ve pushed the Spirit to the limits of him getting very serious. It’s not pleasant…at all. Repent. He cannot use us in an impure state. So we will be made pure at any cost.

If that paragraph above is not something you understand immediately when you read it…well…go to prayer. Get in scripture. Plead for the Spirit. It’s all that matters in this small time we are here. When the harvest arrives…chaff will be burned. 100% guaranteed.

Wheat…shall live.

Gary Abernathy

 

In God We Trust

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Proverbs 3: 1-10…Wisdom Bestows Well-Being…”My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commandments in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity. Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

The picture above is one of the two bibles that rest on the altar just steps away from where I write. One of them is my own study bible that originally drew my heart into hearing God’s words for me. The instrument that began to explain in detail to me why he created me. The other is the one pictured that belonged to my wife’s grandmother. A simple and devoutly faithful woman who lived in rural Kentucky her entire life. My wife Lisa holds her in the highest esteem. Her grandmother was God’s bedrock placed in her life as she grew up. The one who instilled the promise of salvation within her as she stumbled her way to eventually finding that promise to be true. When I put together that altar in the process of enormous change in my life to keep me grounded in relationship, and to display to my own family the vital importance of God’s daily presence in our lives, she quietly placed that bible along with mine. One day it wasn’t there and the next it was. When I pray daily, there is a symbolic piece on the altar where I ask to be made good soil for his word to be sown. There is a rock that I brought from the summit of Mt. Pisgah in an exercise of obedience, where I ask for just that…to be given strength to be obedient, and there are the 2 bibles. I place my hands on both, and I ask that his wisdom and knowledge be poured into me, so that it may come back out correctly for his will, his purposes, and his glory. Then I say, “And say hello to Lisa’s grandmother for me.” I do this mostly every day.

I never knew her grandmother. I only attended her funeral. She died from Alzheimer’s disease. I never got to meet this woman my wife holds in such high regard. But I know where her trust was. It was in her Lord. My wife has conveyed this to me repeatedly over the 20 years of our togetherness. Lisa, her mom, and her brother, pretty much fought the world alone as she grew up, with a faces coming and going, and her father abandoning her when she was too young to even know what that meant. But her grandparents provided home base. Grounding. God. I see these people I never met all over the 3 of them even today many years past their leaving the world. They were that strong of Godly presence. It was her grandmother that was God’s vessel for her husband and the three of them.

I want to be that for my family. I want to be so transformed by him that my family for many coming generations will thrive from the rock placed within our blood. I was the least likely and poorest person to pick for such a position. But God has plucked me from my wretched nature and continues to shape me how he desires. It’s an ugly process. Some days I feel like I’m already walking in heaven, and other days I feel like my soul is ripped up into an infinite shred of shame and tears. But as time has moved, my trust has grown strong in my creator. I do not trust my worldly instinct any longer, and when I need a reminder why, God provides it with mirrors into the horribleness of what that worldly instinct created. I recoil at the sight of it when I recognize in the moment what’s going on. As if for a split second, I get to see myself as he does. That altar I put up has a wood surface. My tears flow upon it. Just before typing this they flowed and I squeezed my eyes as hard as I could…as if wringing out a soaked towel. My tears to my hands and absorbed into the wood. I offer them to him in worship. My weakness turned into his strength. And maybe…he can use this soul for something good. Something righteous. Something holy.

In God we trust? Solely. Wholly. He will make our paths straight.

Gary Abernathy

 

Building the Foundation of Eternity

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Matthew 13: 37-43 (Jesus Christ speaking)…”The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be a the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

Not many pastors dwell among these words from Christ when speaking to their flocks. If you want to run someone off quick, start explaining things like this and you’ll be preaching to only the few remaining faithful. That doesn’t fit into the church growth model. Into the outreach expansion goals or the exotic mission field desires. So they leave the devil, fire, and blazing furnaces tucked away in the gospel they know most of their flock aren’t going to read on their own anyway. Over time this has led to the worldly image of Christ as nothing more than a friendly hippie with some wise and nice things to say.

Jesus Christ came to build the foundation of eternity – His kingdom. “I came to bring fire and how I wish it was already time,” Jesus said. Luke 12:49. God is the creator. He builds things. When he came to earth, the Son of Man was first a carpenter. He built things. As his ministry began, so did the ultimate and final project – the kingdom. We are in that process now as he is growing us from his seeds that have been sown. We are mixed together with the weeds. How do we know which is which? How are we to be sure?

Examine our hearts. Where do our passions rest? What are the motivations that drive us? What do we fear? Where do we place our hope? If Christ isn’t the driver to the answers of all those questions, it’s a very good chance we’re weeds. Weeds eventually are bundled and tied, then tossed into the blazing furnace. Don’t be a weed.

To be clear, we are all deserving of being burned with the weeds. At the same time, with the work of the cross and the resurrection, we all can become good seeds that will bring about the final vision. However, it’s not enough to accept salvation because it’s free or from a sense of survival, and then go right back to being a weed. A great many are in the field waiting to be harvested without a clue they are actually weeds. Their eyes never in the word that is our daily bread, their hearts steeped in worldly sin, and their passions given to shortsighted earthly ways. Their knees never bent in prayer asking to be taught, forgiven and transformed. To the good seeds…the Holy Spirit guides, rebukes, disciplines, and transforms. For the weeds…they are left to the fickleness and playful torture of the devil, who can rise up and destroy any time it suits his fancy or purposes. This is not written as a condemnation of the reader…it’s written from experienced knowledge. I was once an unknowing weed with the confidence of the saved. The Spirit came to me and woke me up from the delusion I was under. The intent of this writing is to wake you up from the same.

Hurry and stir. The harvest nears each hour.

Gary Abernathy

 

Spiritual GPS

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Proverbs 16:9…”In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”

There is an old joke/wisdom that goes something like this (paraphrased)…A terrible hurricane was underway and storm surge began flooding a Godly man’s home. The water kept getting higher until all he could do was stand on his roof. He was full of faith and trusted the Lord would save him. Along came a rescue boat and they called out to the faithful man, “Grab this rope and we’ll take you to safety, Sir!” The man replied, “No thank you, the Lord is going to save me.” The rescuers moved to the next house. The water was now lapping over the roof and around his ankles. Here came another rescue boat just in time. “Grab the rope, Sir! You don’t have much time!” The man said, “No thank you! I trust in my Lord. Only he will save me!” The rescuers moved on. All of a sudden a Coast Guard helicopter appeared and down dropped a brave young rescuer to save the man. “Hold onto me, Sir. I’ll take you to safety!” The man was annoyed. “How many times do I have to say it??? The Lord will save me. Leave me alone!” The Coast Guard flew away. Now the water was crashing over the roof and the man was swept away in a huge wave. He drowned. The man arrived at the Pearly Gates and there was Peter. The man was angry and he said, “Hey, Peter…what happened there??? Y’all let me drown!” Peter replied…”We sent you 2 boats and a helicopter. What more did you want?”

Spiritual GPS is every bit as important as the global positioning system we’ve all grown so dependent on in this century. How do we know which way to go? It’s been my experience that it’s always the most simple direction staring us right in the face. But like the man in the story our faith is blinded by our own will. “In their hearts humans plan their own course.”

When I was 25 years old I felt certain my life course was all but set in stone. My career path had 2 options – one in business and one in music. I applied my time to both equally. I wanted music but kept business as my safety net. A man divided cannot stand, but I wasn’t smart enough to understand that yet. In my personal life, I was in a serious relationship that seemed for life. My home was in my birthplace and I didn’t believe that would ever change. The only outcome yet to be decided was the final career path. God’s steps never entered my equations.

Just 10 years later every single thing about my life was different. Not one thing left unchanged. Not in a million years would I have guessed any of the changes. First, God took me out of one relationship, cleared my mind, and then into the one he chose for me. As if literally coming straight down from heaven, this woman appeared in my lap. We’ve been together ever since. Then he sent a pastor into my life to open my eyes to my creator. It had never been effectively done by any other human, but this one succeeded. Then God transitioned me away from my own music pursuits and into service of his. I was in the first wave of “praise band” musicians that changed the face of the modern church. I went from playing original music in music venues and bars, to playing a beat up electronic kit (gasp) with a black gospel piano man/vocalist in church. “What? How did I get here?” The next thing I know life spun another circle, and I found myself a married dad of 2 children and living far away from my birthplace. Business gone. Music as a career gone. Past relationships gone. I was completely remade. A blank slate. “Start over,” my spiritual GPS spoke.

I’m now nearly 15 years past God’s hitting of my reset button. I have a fully different life in an entirely different place. Like I was placed in God’s witness protection program. The Lord establishes their steps. If we look at it from the Godly perspective it’s…”We can do this the easy or hard way. What’s it going to be?” I can just hear a guardian angel saying to another…”Why do they always choose the hard way?” Then they take the wrecking ball to our plans.

Are you surrounded by God’s signs and ignoring them like the man in the story? We are all guilty of this repeatedly in life. The way we learn to hone our spiritual senses to God’s direction is by putting our souls deeply into relationship with him. There is no shortcut to this. It requires daily prayer and daily scripture study. If your knees haven’t knelt in worship and prayer and your bible is covered in dust, it’s certain you’re trying to plan your own course. God is going to place his chosen where he sends them no matter what. It’s far more difficult when we aren’t in contact with him to understand the directions. Much of our misery is connected to this failing of our faith. Like the picture above, no matter how deeply we are buried, God is giving us directions. Can we see them?

Take some time reflecting on your past plans and what the reality you have today is. Find God among the changes and how he guided your path. Go back in your mind and try to spot the rescue boats he sent and were ignored. The people who came to warn us. The things placed in our lives that tried to change the course but we wouldn’t have it. God wants to prosper us and use us. He cannot when we are in rebellion. The consequences to rebellion is misery in one form or another. Some of the seemingly most fortunate people on earth are in reality in absolute misery. Kanye West comes to mind as a current example. Fame and wealth is overflowing with miserable humans. We can only find true peace and contentment, as well as purpose, when we are following the path our creator intends for us.

So what’s it going to be? The easy way or the hard way? Consider this post a rescue boat sent your way. Don’t blame Peter at the gate if you fail to grab the rope.

Gary Abernathy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amnesty – Forgiveness of Sin

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1 John: 5-10…Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness…“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”

Americans have three or four of everything. Even most of our poorest citizens are wealthy compared to a large portion of the world. Cups overflowing? You bet. My own home is a 2 story building with closets and drawers all over. There isn’t a single spot to store anything else. Every drawer and every closet filled with stuff. 90% of which my family will never touch again. We make regular sweeps of clothes, toys, furniture and other items, and give them away to charity, and still…the cup overflows. Most Americans live this way even if they don’t realize it.

I was watching an old Billy Graham Crusade from Tacoma, WA in 1983. Within it Billy had this to say about America’s waste: “You could take our garbage in America and feed a great deal of the world. We’re all getting too fat. We’re trying to stop eating and they’re trying to start.” That was in 1983. It’s only become worse 33 years later. In 2016, even our pets live better than most human beings on earth. My dog has a healthcare plan. He literally has better coverage than I do. He eats $50 bags of the best dog food. The one with the buffalo on it. We’ve lost our minds.

We’re sinful not only in our excess and waste, but we’ve also become dismissive and blind to the suffering all around us. In another devotion on this site, “Jesus is the First Responder,” I told of my experience in a Target story where a little girl was lost from her mother and sobbing. I witnessed (2) moms with children stroll right past that little girl without blinking an eye. Where was their instinct to notice a distraught child right beside them? I submit that we all have become blinded in this way here in America to the suffering all around us. We live in bubbles of utter delusion.

The word amnesty has been made into one of the most reviled words in America by media pundits. Day after day, week after week…people paid large sums of money to give their political opinions shout the word amnesty in the same light that we hold the word, holocaust. If you say amnesty in political circles get ready to duck. People recoil in fear first, then they are conditioned to go on the attack and tell you why it’s so horrible. Amnesty in America means the idea of pardoning the tens of millions of illegals living on our soil. No one knows the official numbers of this huge issue. Somewhere between 11-35 million living and breathing human beings are illegally in America. The people want them caught. They want them punished. And they want them thrown out. We’ve fought as a nation about this for a very long time. Meanwhile as we fight with no solution ever implemented, the border has never been more open. Living beings of God continue to pour into the deluded bubble of America. Nobody is stopping it. Apparently we will live with that, but do not dare say – Amnesty. We (as a people) have made this group of people in our minds nameless, faceless and something less than human. That’s not how God sees them.

In the same Billy Graham 1983 message speaking to a crowd mostly under 30, he was trying to impress upon them that God sees each and every one of them as an individual. To that he spoke: “The bible teaches that God loves you as an individual. You’re not just a person lost in a crowd here – You’re an individual before God. You’re standing or sitting before God as an individual. He sees you as if you’re the only person living.” He’s correct. Does the same God not see the millions of illegals in the same way? Did he not send them to our shores for his people to care for? It certainly appears that way. We walk right by them and pretend we don’t see it. Then we shout for their removal. They might take our stuff. The trouble is…God keeps sending more. If we are indeed the people walking in the light and truth John writes of in today’s scripture, how are we to justify our actions? The word amnesty is defined – Forgiveness without penalty. Does this concept sound familiar?

This sort of thing is not a new thing to man. Since Cain and Abel man has been at odds with other men. We separate, we divide, we conquer, we oppress…we kill – all to show our own dominance, doing so completely in defiance of our creator. Speaking on his work in Civil Rights, Billy Graham said this to the young people that night about racism: “The story of the Good Samaritan is really a story about the race question. The Jewish people of that day had very little to do with the Samaritans. They were of a different ethnic background. And this is the story that Jesus tells directly to teach who our neighbors are. Our neighbors are people of a different race or cultural background, and we’re to love them. When Jesus went back to his hometown in Nazareth he was well received, until he spoke about the race problem. When he spoke about that…they tried to stone him.” – Billy Graham, Tacoma, WA Crusade 1983

Here’s a sociological experiment I’d like you try – Spend a single day on social media inserting yourself in conversations involving border control and illegal immigration. Take the pro-amnesty stance side of the conversation. Watch what happens. As I stated…duck. They will try to stone you just like they did Jesus. Keep in mind that most of the people you’ll be debating identify as Christians. They count themselves washed clean by the blood of Jesus on the cross. Their debt paid in full by grace. Amnesty. Then they will turn around and stone you for daring to bring up the same concept for fellow human beings. It will open your eyes.

I offer this devotional today not to stir up conflict or create strife. I offer it from my heart with the message….America’s power is bamboozling us. Its pundits and talking heads are doing Satan’s best work. They are teaching us to revile THE central aspect of faith that we all cling to as our one hope – Forgiveness of sins. Consider it.

Gary Abernathy

 

 

 

 

 

Green Pastures

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Psalm 23 (a psalm of David)…”The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love with follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Faith = Trust. Trust = Right Path. Right Path = Abundant Life and Peace…eternally. That’s the formula. If we are to be honest, most of us hold a shaky faith and we never move to trust. We can’t complete the first equation. We are stuck in fear behind a rock in the darkest valley. After rescue and we find faith, trust holds the key to all that we dream we could find. Why can’t we grasp that hand? Why did Peter sink on the water instead of just trusting? Matthew 14: 28-31

David in his psalm spells out to us where God wants to take us. Green pastures beside quiet waters. Our enemies (the things blocking us from God) silenced. Refreshed like a perfect blooming flower. Taken to His glorious place we were created to dwell in. Fear abolished from our soul by trusting his perfect wisdom – His Son. Abiding by the guidance of Christ to find true peace and joy. Our cup literally overflowing with goodness and love for all eternity. That’s where the good shepherd, the Lord, wants to lead us. Who in their right mind wouldn’t go? Why did Peter hold onto the world just like we do? It’s a mystery.

My Grandfather died in his 60’s from diabetes. Before a heart attack took him away, he had lost both legs, one at a time, and a once proud man full of life and laughter, had been reduced to rubble. It was a mercy killing at the end. I have much in common with my grandfather. I was cut from his mold…in my sense of humor, my habits of roaming, and my diet…my intense love of food that isn’t the best for us. I’m soon to turn 50 years old. I have a beautiful wife and (2) teenage daughters. There is much life left for me to enjoy. The future holds great achievements, weddings, grandchildren, and wonderful special moments with my bride. Legs and feet would be useful for these things.

A few weeks ago I walked into an empty room at my doctor’s office. I was handed 3 pieces of paper to review before the doctor came in. The results of my blood work a week earlier. The reading wasn’t too bad at first. I had improved in cholesterol since the last time. Then I got to page 2. My fasting blood sugar level had now moved into a diabetic range. The first image in my mind was my legless grandfather in a wheelchair try to hug his 8 year old grandson. I was just a kid that didn’t understand of course, but I still hold a sadness seeing him that way. I knew what he had been. I knew the both love and fear I had of him. My brother and I spent a great deal of time there, and we would sleep at night in the living room of my Grandparent’s house. We had all kinds of games we would play when were supposed to be sleeping, including my favorite, sock baseball. It drove my PawPaw nuts. He would take as much as he could stand before he would come storming out of his room yelling. That was our cue to actually go to sleep. Intimidating as he was though, he never once laid a hand on me except with those of love. He was a great man.

So there I sit with this paper in my hand telling me that before me is the same future. It’s not like I haven’t been repeatedly warned. I like my doctor. He’s a young, enthusiastic guy and he seems to genuinely care. He’s also old enough to know these things don’t usually turn out well. He said as much. I have a window of opportunity to reverse course. “Eventually the pancreas gets fried and there is no turning back from that,” he spoke to me. He told me what to do to lower this blood sugar level before it’s too late. He looked at me with eyes saying he didn’t have any faith that I would do it. He sees this every day. Jesus sees us look at him with the same eyes. Full of doubt and skepticism. “You of little faith,” Jesus said to Peter, “why did you doubt?”

Trust. This is where I am. Will I trust him to take me down the right path and eventually the safe green pastures I should be? It seems so simple. Why hold tight to the world when I can have that? Do you understand? Are you in the same type place? I believe most of us are. The shaky faith we hold we believe is enough. It’s not. We must believe. Truly and trusting…believe. Less…we sink…just like Peter.

We can transform away from this misery. Our life can be overflowing with wonderful Godly abundance. Trust. We must walk to him in trust. Like a child lifted up by his father and placed safely back down on secure ground. We have to let go…

Pray for me, please. I will be in prayer for you. Peter cried out in his fear as he sunk, “Lord, save me!” Cry out. He’ll come.

Gary Abernathy