We can love Him here and He feels it there

Posted on September 8, 2025 by Joe

If you love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15). He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me (John 14:21). If anyone loves me, he will keep my word (John 14:23). If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love (John 15:10). You are my friends if you do whatever I command you (John 15:14).

Anyone see a trend in these verses? He wants us to love Him and tells us how: Obedience.

With that in mind, the question before us is this: Is it possible to do something so loving, so affectionate, so Christ-honoring here on earth that Jesus will feel it in Heaven’s Throneroom?

Can I do something loving for Jesus here and have Him feel the love there?

Yes. Absolutely.

We direct your attention to the woman of Luke 7:36ff.

Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil….

What courage it took for this fallen woman–known to be so–to enter a home where she was not welcome in order to see the Savior. What depth of love drove her to His feet where she wept and worshiped. Then, seeing what she had done and with nothing to dry the tears on His feet, she let down her hair and used it for a towel. Then–in for a dime, in for a dollar–she broke open a flask of ointment and began to anoint His feet. The fragrance filled the house. No one was unaware of her presence or of what she was doing.

A drama ensued. The Pharisee-host fumed inwardly, and our Lord turned it into one of Scripture’s greatest object lessons. We do love everything about this wonderful story.

It’s a lovely story. We admire this woman. And in some ways we envy her. We wish we had her courage, ignoring what people were thinking in order to do something that pleased Jesus.

What Christ-lover would not relish the opportunity to sit at the feel of our Lord and worship Him with our tears and our touch.

That day is coming, saints of the Lord. Be faithful.

There is a sense, however, in which we can do that now.

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Meeting the Lord and facing your deeds

Posted on September 3, 2025 by Joe

“And their works do follow them” (Revelation 14:13).

“Pastor, my aunt Bernice would like you to visit her this week. There’s something she wants to talk with you about.”

I knew this young deacon’s Aunt Bernice. She was up in years and sickly, and while not a member of our church, she was related to several. With her years and health, I figured she wanted to talk with the minister about getting ready to see the Lord.

She did, but not in the way I had expected.

The next afternoon, as we sat in her living room, Miss Bernice said, “Pastor, I know I’m saved. I have no doubt about that. I remember being saved. But there’s something else bothering me.”

“Pastor, I haven’t done right by the church.”

She continued, “As a young adult, I got away from the church. I raised my son without the church and really came to regret it. And now I’m old and can’t even go. But if you’d let me, I’d like to put my membership in and become a member. I’ll pray for you all and send an offering from my monthly check.”

I assured her we would be honored to receive her, and took care of that the next Sunday.

On the way back to the church office that day, I asked myself, “Have you done right with the Lord’s church?”

Good question for each of us to consider.

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They asked you to pray at the secular convention and you agreed. Now what?

Posted on September 1, 2025 by Joe

Sooner or later this happens to every pastor: Some civic (translation: ‘non-religious‘) outfit calls and asks you to lead a prayer at their gathering. Sometimes it’s the city council or state legislature, sometimes it’s a convention or some club’s gathering. You are faced with the decision on what to say and what you should not say.

So here’s my story.

I was in my fourth year pastoring the First Baptist Church of Kenner, LA, in metro New Orleans (across the street from the New Orleans International Airport). I received a phone call one day informing me that when the American Dental Association held its annual meeting in our city a few months hence, they wanted me to offer the invocation. I was surprised and honored.

The caller said I would have three minutes for the prayer. She added, “And Pastor, please make it interdenominational.” In my journal I wrote: “Had she said to omit the name of Jesus, I would have declined the honor for the sake of principle. As it was, I felt I could do something that would satisfy everyone.”

The day came. It was a huge hotel in downtown New Orleans. Perhaps 700 to 1,000 people in the room.

Here is what I wrote in my journal:

“The President of the ADA is Dr. Gaines, a dentist from Greenville, SC. Said his SS teacher gave him my name. Dr. John Roberts, editor of the SC Baptist Courier. Just before the meeting started (8:30 am), backstage I met Heather Whitestone, Miss America 1994 (or is it 1995?), the near-deaf lass from Alabama. We spoke briefly. Before leading the pledge of allegiance she told the audience how much she loves this country and is grateful to those who have kept it free. Her chaperone whispered to me, “I never know what she’s going to say.”

After she finished, I prayed the invocation. Shall I record it here?

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The painful putdown can be a gift in disguise

Posted on August 28, 2025 by Joe

As we sat at the breakfast table discussing memories good and bad, my Bertha said something so special I wrote it down just so I’d get it right.

We have a wagonload of memories of God’s people who have loved us and cared for us. But we also have painful memories that we wish we could edit out of our lives. But the Holy Spirit has shown me that if He took out the pain and strife, He would also be removing the lovely things that happened during that same time. Or, that happened as a direct result of the bad event.

It brought up a painful memory from my junior high days. A teacher said something really harsh that forever left its mark on me. Over the years as I have sometimes reflected on that incident, my primary focus has been on the painful hurt he caused. I’ve thought about that teacher, why he said what he did, what it meant, and how I took it. But I realized something from what Bertha said.

He helped me.

The teacher who scarred the kid

I was a new student in that school. There were a hundred of us seventh-graders from across that part of the county, and that day we had been herded into the gymnasium. The band director–Mr. Keating was his name–called us to order and announced that today we would be electing class officers.

Now, for four years I’d gone to school in rural West Virginia and then we moved back to Alabama in time for my sixth grade in a two-room rural (I mean really, really rural!) school. So, now, we would ride the bus on into the county seat of Double Springs, AL for the rest of our schooling. Junior high and senior high classes were all held in the same building.

Of the hundred students in our class, perhaps half lived there in town. Since the rest of us were from across the county, only the town kids knew each other. So, when class officers were chosen, they nominated people they knew. As a result, the town kids were nominating one another. Only they were being elected.

So, I raised my hand.

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Turning putdowns into motivation

Posted on August 26, 2025 by Joe

“Jesus said, ‘No doubt you will quote this proverb to me, “Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.” No prophet is welcome in his own hometown’” (Luke 4:24).

John Fogerty’s group Creedence Clearwater Revival is unforgettable to anyone who has owned a radio in the last 50 years. Some years ago, in an interview with Dan Rather, Fogerty was remembering a key moment early in their career.

The group was one of many bands to perform at a particular event. As the final group to warm up, and thus the first band to appear on stage, suddenly CCR found they had been unplugged. John Fogerty yelled to the sound man to plug them back up, that they weren’t through. The technician did so reluctantly, then added, “You not going anywhere anyway, man.” Fogerty said, “Okay. Give me one year. I’ll show you.”

One year later, the group was so hot with multiple hit records (“Proud Mary,” “Born on the Bayou,” “Bad Moon Rising”) that “we were too big to play in that place any more!”

Turning a putdown into a healthy sic ’em!

As a new seminary student I began pastoring a church on Alligator Bayou some 25 miles west of New Orleans. This was April of 1965. The church averaged 40 in attendance, as it had done for the two decades of its existence.

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I owe an apology to Mary Hazel Miller

Posted on August 23, 2025 by Joe

I must have slammed that good lady a hundred times over the last two decades of preaching.

Here’s what happened, and how I learned that I probably did her wrong.

In preaching a sermon I call Rejoice Anyway–a staple of my preaching ministry for a number of years–I would mention two elderly women in a church I used to pastor who illustrated the contrast between how to do it and how not to. Here’s what I said–

Mary Hazel Miller and Maybelle Montgomery were both members of my church. They were perhaps 75 or 80 years of age, and as different as night from day. Maybelle lived in a humble cottage off the hill from downtown. She did not have a lot of this world’s riches, but was easily the happiest Christian lady I’ve ever known. She was always rejoicing in the Lord. .

They called from the hospital to say Mrs. Montgomery was in emergency with a broken hip. I dropped whatever I was doing and drove down to check on her. When I walked in the emergency entrance, she spotted me first. Lying on a gurney, she called out so everyone could hear: “Praise the Lord, Preacher! He left me one good leg!” I burst out laughing, and gave her a hug. I said, “What are we going to do with you?”

Now, Mary Hazel, on the other hand, was the most negative member I’ve ever had. I’d go visit her in the hospital–that kind of negativism seems to put you in the hospital on a regular basis–and all she would do is complain. “Oh, Doctor McKeever! I don’t know where those doctors are. The nurses rarely come by. My sisters said they were going to come see me but they’ve not been here, either.”

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If you visit this website…

Posted on August 22, 2025 by Joe

Joe has been posting articles here for over 20 years. There are literally thousands of articles on this website, directly for the most part to pastors and other church leaders.

To see Joe’s cartoons, there are several ways. We have a link above to some of them. Or, you may just google “Joe McKeever cartoons” and thousands will come up. The website for the Baptist Press has run one of Joe’s cartoons each weekday for two decades. Go to www.bpnews.net and click on “comics” and pull up a chair.

We have a few videos here, also. I notice we haven’t a link to my books. My email is joe@joemckeever.com if you are interested. Or if you have a question. Or wish to invite me to speak or draw at your event.

Thanks for visiting this page. Let me know how we can be of help to you. Oh, you may see my ministry schedule here (link above) also.

Ten biblical truths you might not want to hear

Posted on August 19, 2025 by Joe

From the beginning, the Lord’s people talk a better game than we live.

So many biblical truths look good on paper and sound great when we’re spouting them. And yet, judging by the way we live, the Lord’s people probably do not believe the following…

One. God sends the pastor to the church.

Churches survey their congregation to find the kind of pastor everyone wants in the next guy. People lobby for a candidate they like and rally against one they don’t. And they vote on the recommendation of their committee. And after he arrives, when some turn against him, they send him on his way.

Do we really believe God sends pastors to churches? They are God’s undershepherds (see I Peter 5:1-4) and appointed by the Holy Spirit as overseers of the church (Acts 20:28).

Two. God hears our prayers, cares for our needs, and answers our prayers.

In the typical congregation, what percentage of the people are serious about their prayer life?

If we believed that God hears, cares, and answers, we would be praying over every detail of our lives. “Pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17) would define our very existence.

Three. It is more blessed to give than to receive.

God wants His people to be givers, generous in every area of life. As a member of the church, He wants us to be sacrificial givers. (See I Corinthians 8:1ff).

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How to interview yourself and have fun doing it

Posted on August 17, 2025 by Joe

“Let every man examine himself….” (I Corinthians 11:28). The women too.

Toward the end of each issue, Vanity Fair magazine interviews some celebrity. The questions they pose are good ones. Consider answering them for yourself. (Bear in mind their subjects are well known in the secular world and not someone you and I will meet at the next denominational conference. So, don’t worry about how they answered these questions. In truth, I was often a little put out with them. But what I’m suggesting here is that you consider answering them for yourself.)

Here are the questions in one recent issue–

–What is your idea of perfect happiness?

–What is your favorite journey?

–What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

–On what occasion do you lie?

–What do you dislike most about your appearance?

–Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

–What do you consider your greatest achievement?

–What is your greatest regret?

–What is your current state of mind?

–If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

–Where would you like to live?

–What is your most marked characteristic?

–What do you value most in your friends?

–Who are your favorite writers?

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Pastor Joe McKeever

"Your words have stood men on their feet." Job 4:4

We can love Him here and He feels it there

Meeting the Lord and facing your deeds

They asked you to pray at the secular convention and you agreed. Now what?

The painful putdown can be a gift in disguise

Turning putdowns into motivation

I owe an apology to Mary Hazel Miller

If you visit this website…

Ten biblical truths you might not want to hear

How to interview yourself and have fun doing it