{"id":19196,"date":"2019-12-11T11:02:05","date_gmt":"2019-12-11T16:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/?p=19196"},"modified":"2019-12-11T11:02:38","modified_gmt":"2019-12-11T16:02:38","slug":"the-best-thing-to-do-this-or-any-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/the-best-thing-to-do-this-or-any-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"The best thing to do this or any Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a moment, I’ll tell you what the Lord did to me this week–and warn you it’s something He delights in doing to us!<\/em><\/p>\n

The reason some of God’s children find the Christmas season endlessly boring and monotonous is they have forgotten one huge fact:\u00a0 It’s not about you.<\/p>\n

We need to get out of our hour or God’s house and share His love with others.<\/p>\n

Consider writing something…<\/strong><\/p>\n

–Write a check–a big one, larger than anyone expects–for a ministry that is touching the world for Jesus.<\/p>\n

–Write a check–a small check if that’s all you can do–for a ministry that is touching someone for the Lord you couldn’t.<\/p>\n

–Write a note to someone who could use a word of thanks or encouragement or cheer.\u00a0 Tell them how special they are to you, or remind them of something they once did or said that lingers with you to this day.\u00a0 Hand write it, don’t type it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

–Write a one or two sentence testimony of what the Lord means to you and post it on Facebook.\u00a0 Try to get creative, to say it in an unusual way.<\/p>\n

–Text someone to say you were thinking of them today and you lifted them in prayer.\u00a0 Do not burden them by asking them to reply or particularly don’t be ridiculous and ask them to forward this to ten friends.\u00a0 Anyone who does that is blessing no one and burdening everyone.<\/p>\n

Okay, here’s what the Lord did to me…<\/p>\n

After I wrote “write a check,” the Lord brought to my attention a pastor serving a small town about five or six states away from here, a man I do not know, a town I’ve never heard of, but someone who is struggling financially and needs some help.<\/p>\n

I did what you expect I’d do. I made some calls to confirm that this need was legitimate and not someone running a scam.\u00a0 To our everlasting regret, there are so many people out there who will tell any lie, fake any sentiment, make any promise, in order to tug at the heartstrings of God’s people in order to work their way into their bank account.<\/p>\n

So, today, I’m writing a healthy check and sending to that church to help that pastor.\u00a0 (Note: I prefer to send it to the church and designate it for him.\u00a0 In most cases, churches have safeguards in place to govern the Lord’s money, coming in and going out.\u00a0 But in this case, I’d have sent the money directly to the preacher after learning the need is genuine and that assisting him would be Christ-honoring.)<\/p>\n

I’m remembering something and smiling. Some twenty years ago, when I was pastoring FBC of Kenner, LA, across the street from the New Orleans airport, my Wednesday night message was about “serving God when we are tired.”\u00a0 My text was John 4 where Jesus was tired and yet ministered to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.\u00a0 I did a good job, I thought, and dismissed the congregation.<\/p>\n

But the Lord was not going to let me off that easily.<\/p>\n

A young single mother who had been reached through our benevolence ministry came up.\u00a0 “Brother Joe,” she said, “I need to move tonight.\u00a0 If I don’t move tonight, I’m going to lose my deposit.”<\/p>\n

I thought exactly what you the reader are thinking: Wait a minute.\u00a0 You need to what?\u00a0 Are you serious?\u00a0 You want us to move you tonight?\u00a0 From where to where?\u00a0 Do you have another home to move into?\u00a0 And a hundred other considerations.<\/p>\n

Suddenly it occurred to me that the Lord had jus called my bluff.<\/p>\n

It’s one thing to preach about serving the Lord when we are tired, and quite another thing to do it.\u00a0 This was Wednesday night, the end of a long day, and it was 7 o’clock.\u00a0 People were about to leave the room where we were meeting.<\/p>\n

If I was going to do anything, I had to do it now!<\/p>\n

I got on the microphone.\u00a0 “Chuck, I need to see you now.\u00a0 Jim.\u00a0 Roger.\u00a0 Neil. Can you meet me over here at the piano now?”<\/p>\n

I said to about six or eight men and women who had gathered, “Carol here needs to move tonight.\u00a0 If she doesn’t, she loses her deposit.\u00a0 She has an apartment lined up at (address). She lives down here in River Ridge.”<\/p>\n

And then, I asked it…<\/p>\n

“Can you take your families home and come back here in one hour?\u00a0 Bring your pickup trucks, anything you have to haul things, and we’ll go together.\u00a0 I’ll see you here at eight o’clock.”<\/p>\n

I didn’t ask anyone, just said “be here.”\u00a0 And give them credit, they all came.<\/p>\n

It turned out that she had not done one thing about packing to move.\u00a0 The house was a shambles.\u00a0 But my lovely friends, God’s faithful whom I was privileged to serve as pastor, boxed up everything she owned and moved it into the new apartment (which was much, much nicer).<\/p>\n

We were out of there by ten o’clock that night.<\/p>\n

And I wasn’t tired any more.\u00a0 It had been a wonderful evening of fellowship and service.<\/p>\n

Today, the youngest child of that lady is about to graduate from college. For the past several summers, some of us have supported that young lady as she has served God in summer mission projects, on the Florida beach and this past summer in Asia.<\/p>\n

So, today, I’m writing a check.\u00a0 And doing it “as unto the Lord,” you may believe.\u00a0 I do not know the recipient, but God knows and I’m doing this at His command.<\/p>\n

God is so good.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a moment, I’ll tell you what the Lord did to me this week–and warn you it’s something He delights in doing to us! The reason some of God’s children find the Christmas season endlessly boring and monotonous is they … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas","category-pastors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19196"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19207,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19196\/revisions\/19207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}