Mrs. Vaughan was a lovely senior lady and the grandmother of Cindy Hardin who was dating our oldest son. Because we adored Cindy, we came to know Mrs. Vaughan and to treasure her. She was white-haired, soft-spoken, and a member of the neighboring Methodist Church.

That morning, noticing her name on the hospital list as a new patient, I stuck my head in the door and asked how she was doing.

“Oh, it’s nothing, pastor,” she said.

“What happened is that I passed out yesterday. When I came to, I was lying on the floor. I live alone, you know, and so before pushing the LifeLine to summon help, I decided to take inventory and see if I might have had a stroke.”

“I pulled myself onto the bed and moved my arms and legs. They worked. I wiggled my toes and my fingers and they were all right. Then I began to sing. I knew if I could still sing, I was all right.”

I laughed, “I want to thank you for that incredible insight into life. If you can still sing, you’re all right.”

As your pastor, faceless/nameless friend reading this, I’ve come today to tell you something about your song you may never have known or perhaps forgot. I hope you will take this to heart.

One: God wants you to sing.

Singing is all through Scripture, beginning with the song of Exodus 15 on the heels of Israel’s triumph over Pharaoh and ending with the “new song” of Heaven in Revelation. Someone has said that ours is the singingest religion in the world.

No doubt you recall the well-known passage of Ephesians 5 which calls on believers to sing: “…speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord….” (vs. 19)

Perhaps you have heard the super-spiritual among us tell singers in church that “this is not a performance; you’re singing to the Lord.” They’re half right; it is to the Lord.

We are also to sing to one another. We provide the audience for each other’s songs.

God has so arranged His work that when we do something unto Him–whether it’s praying or praise or mowing the lawn or bringing an offering or singing–we touch each other and encourage one another.

So, go ahead and clap after the solo. You loved it and the singer needs the encouragement.

Two: God gives us the song.

Continue reading →

A reporter interviewing me by phone said, “I’ve read some of your blog. You’re something of a provocateur.”

Not sure if he coined a new word there, but I confess to liking it.

Provoking people is a lot better than lulling them to sleep.

We’re commanded in the Word to “Provoke one another to love and good works.” (Hebrews 10:24)

So, we could say I have a biblical mandate for this!

Incidentally, the NIV translates that word “provoke” as “spur one another on.” Whether this brings to mind the spurs on the heels of the barnyard rooster–a frightening weapon, believe me–or those decorative silver things on the cowboy’s boots which he digs into the flank of the horse to get that extra effort–either way, it communicates the same point.

Therefore, today, instead of solving any problems or answering any questions or blessing any souls (like I’m ever able to do any of those!), I’d like to try to provoke readers into some Bible study.

Here are 10 provocations to get you to open the Word of God. They are being tossed in your direction in the hope that at least one or two will stir you (spur you?)to get your Bible down and dig a little deeper than the superficial, random stuff some of us engage in and call “studying the Word”.

10. In church, we talk about salvation as a matter of “believing in the Lord Jesus.” But what if He doesn’t believe in us? Does that matter? John 2:24-25 speaks of people who believed in Jesus, but He did not return the favor.

9. We speak of salvation as a matter of “knowing Jesus.” But when our Lord referred to salvation by turning that around. He made it a question of whether He knows us. In Matthew 7:23, He says to some, “Depart from me…I never knew you.”

Continue reading →

I was sitting on the platform, ten feet off to the left and rear of the pulpit, studying the 300 people in the congregation. In five minutes, I would walk to the podium and, as the guest preacher, bring the sermon. The thoughts running through my mind were not helpful.

“They know all these things. I’m talking about the church in this sermon. And these people are at church on a Sunday night, of all things. I might as well go into a diner and speak on the joys of eating. Or to a gym and talk about the need for exercise.”

Then, sanity returned. I knew this was not the case at all.

Nothing cleared my focus better than remembering the times I sat where they sit. Many a time back then I needed a strong reminder from the Lord’s spokesman of the proper value to be placed on the church, of how solidly God feels about it, of the price Christ paid for it, of the assignments He has given it, and yes, reminders of the sorry way the church is being treated by some of its friends.

There was a great need for this message, and on this night I would deliver it as strongly as I knew how.

I gave it my all. The response at invitation time–not always the best barometer, I know–indicated the sermon had hit its target.

The best barometer, and one I’m not privy to, would be the behavior of the members of that congregation over the next few weeks and months.

Continue reading →