Sheep Tend to Stray. First Peter 2:25 says that before we come to Christ, we continually stray like sheep naturally do without a shepherd to guide them. Until God changes us through a relationship with His Son Jesus, we live selfish, sinful lives. We have a natural inclination to go astray spiritually and turn to our own way (Isaiah 53:6a).

Sheep Can Return. According to 1 Peter 2:25, we can return to the Shepherd. When the Lord convicts a person of his sin, he can then repent and return to God in salvation (Acts 3:19). Unless a person repents of sin, he cannot be saved (Luke 13:3,5). We must first repent and then believe in Christ alone to save us (Mark 1:14-15). Repentance precedes regeneration.

The Shepherd Receives Sinners. Jesus, our Good Shepherd, never refuses to receive a repentant sinner into His flock (John 6:37). Regardless of how sinful and rebellious you’ve been, come to Christ and He will forgive you. He wants to be the Shepherd and Guardian of your eternal soul (1 Peter 2:25)!

An old hymn says, “I’ve wandered far away from God; now I’m coming home! The paths of sin too long I’ve trod; Lord, I’m coming home!” Have you strayed from God? Repent and come home. He longs to take you in as one of His precious sheep.

That’s the type of worship described in Nehemiah 8:6. Ezra blessed the Lord and all the people answered, “Amen! Amen!” while lifting up their hands. Then they bowed low and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

We should worship God verbally. The people expressed their praise with words. As a Christian, my praise to God should be continually “in my mouth,” according to Psalm 34:1. The redeemed of the Lord should “say so,” according to Psalm 107:2. God desires to hear our worship.

We should worship God physically. While the people worshiped, they lifted up their hands. Afterwards, they bowed low. We, too, can worship the Lord with physical activity. We can “lift up holy hands” (1 Timothy 2:8), clap our hands (Psalm 47:1), and bow and kneel before the Lord our Maker (Psalm 95:6).

We should worship God reverently. The worshipers in Nehemiah 8 were reverent in their demeanor. They respectfully stood when the Scriptures were read, and afterwards they bowed low and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Enthusiasm in worship does not have to degenerate into fanatical emotionalism.

We should worship God both privately (Matthew 6:6) and publicly (Matthew 18:20; Hebrews 10:24-25). Worshiping the living God through His Son Jesus is the greatest privilege we have on earth. Enter His presence and give praise to God today!

One day I arrived at the Atlanta airport coming from Tel Aviv via Zurich. I thought I had plenty of time to make my connecting flight to Dallas. But to my surprise, because of Daylight Savings Time I only had 35 minutes. By the time I went through customs and rechecked my bags, the flight to Dallas had left. No other flight was available. I had been awake for 24 hours.

I decided to rent a car and drive to Birmingham, but due to the Masters Golf Tournament, no cars were available. Now I was upset. I prayed, “Lord, I’m out of options. Show me what to do.”

I looked up and noticed an angry lady who had lost her luggage. She was scheduled to make an important presentation the next day, and she had no clothes for the meeting. I introduced myself and found out that her name was Angela. I told her I was a Baptist preacher and asked if I could pray for her. She said, “Please.” When I said, “Amen,” she was smiling through her tears. She thanked me, and I thanked the Lord for reminding me that I was not the only one with problems.

Philippians 2:3-4 encourages us to regard other people as more important than ourselves. It says, “Do not look out merely for your own personal interests, but also for the interests for others.”

Guess what else happened? I went back to the counter and was able to rent a car! I drove home and spent the night in my own bed. The next morning I caught a plane to Dallas and made my meeting. Everything turned out fine when I stopped thinking about my problems and started thinking of others.

How many “Angelas” out there could use your support today? Look around. Someone is hurting more than you. Will you help them?

Lord, You tell us in Your Word not to despise the day of small beginnings. The beginning of our nation was small, but today America has become a mighty nation because You’ve blessed it. Over these last 234 years we have not always been what we should have been nor have we done what we should have done, but we thank You that by Your grace and mercy, You have corrected us and brought us back to Yourself.
Our country has tremendous enemies, not only from without, but from within. People are challenging our Christian heritage and trying to corrupt the moral fiber of this nation. Sometimes we don’t know what to do, but we’re like Jehoshaphat of old. He prayed to You and said, “Lord, we don’t know what to do against these invading armies, but our eyes are on You. Today, we, too, confess that our eyes are on You.

Lord, we pray that our leaders will walk in righteousness and be led by Your Spirit. Help them to make wise decisions. Thank You for our brothers and sisters in the military. As they defend our freedoms, we ask You to put a hedge of protection around them and their families from whom they are separated.

Lord, bless Your Church in the United States of America. I pray that we who are Your people and who are called by Your name will humble ourselves, pray, and seek Your face. I pray that we will turn from our wicked ways and that You will hear from heaven and heal our land. How we need a fresh revival among Your people! Bring us back to You, Lord, that we might be one nation under God.

Trials are part of God’s plan for our lives. James 1:1-4 says, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect (or maturing) result, so that you may be perfect (or mature) and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Trials give us the opportunity to display joy. Trials are opportunities to display the fruit of the Spirit, which includes joy. Do you know Jesus? Is the joy of the Lord your strength? Do you have the joy of His salvation in your life? Christians can rejoice in the midst of trials. We don’t fear anything in life, and we don’t fear anything in death!

Trials give us the opportunity to develop endurance. The great Italian “theologian” Rocky Balboa once said, “It’s not how hard you can hit that makes you a winner, but how hard you can get hit, get up, and keep on going.” Aren’t you grateful that when the devil and sin gave Jesus their best blow, He came out of that grave? He took their best shot, and He kept on going!

Trials give us the opportunity to display maturity. Our flesh doesn’t like to struggle, but if we never go through struggles, we will never grow to be what God wants us to be. We would rather be comfortable, but God didn’t put us on this earth just to have an easy life. Maturing comes through trials.

Whether as an individual, a family, or a church, when believers go through trials together, they come out stronger. You can be sure that God will use the most difficult times in your life to make you a better Christian and to bring glory to His name. That’s the blessing, and that’s the treasure in trials.

On the other hand, the best thing a person can say to someone is, “God bless you.” The writings of the Apostle Paul are filled with blessings. Second Corinthians 13:14 tells us exactly what “God bless you” means.

Be blessed with the love of God. “The love of God…be with you all,” Paul wrote. God loves everyone (John 3:16), both Christians and non-Christians. He loves the people on earth, all who are in heaven, and even those who, having rejected Him, are in hell. No one is outside the parameters of His love. “God bless you” means “God loves you.”

Be blessed with the grace of Jesus. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ….be with you all,” Paul also wrote. Though God loves everyone, He only extends His grace to Christians. His saving grace is given to those who repent of their sins and trust Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9). No one in hell has known God’s saving grace. It is reserved for the redeemed.

Be blessed with the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Then Paul wrote, “The fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” All are blessed with God’s love, and Christians are blessed with Christ’s grace, but only obedient Christians are blessed with the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Worldly, rebellious believers miss out on the Spirit-filled life.

“God bless you” is a mouthful. It means, “May the Father bless you with His love; may the Son bless you with His grace; and may the Spirit bless you with His fellowship.” May God’s love, grace, and presence be given to you abundantly today.

It was a brisk, fall day on a sidewalk leading to the college cafeteria. The most beautiful girl I had ever seen was walking to class alone with her head down. As the sidewalk I was on was about to merge into hers I said, “Look up, it’s a beautiful day!” She awoke from her state of concentration, smiled, and said, “Hello.” We made small talk until we reached the building, and then we separated to go to our individual classes. But something happened to my heart during that brief conversation that I’ll never forget.

Donna Dodds was “Miss Everything” at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. She had been Miss Union her freshman year and went on to place very high in the Miss Tennessee Pageant. She had always fared well in such competitions. At Union she was also president of Chi Omega sorority and captain of the cheerleading squad. Every year the student body selected her as one of the campus favorites.

I had transferred to Union as a junior after playing football for two years at a Division II school called the University of Tennessee at Martin. It was at UTM that I really fell in love with Jesus. I transferred to Union to study the Bible and to prepare for the Gospel ministry.

Dr. Bob Agee, who at that time was a vice president at Union, had told us both a year before that he thought we were “made for each other.” But when we had met a year before, things just didn’t click. Donna was dating someone else, and I really wasn’t interested in dating at the time. But a year later, everything was about to change.

I mustered enough courage to ask her for a date, and she said, “Yes.” That date took place on December 1, 1978. I went to watch her cheer for both the men’s and women’s basketball games on a Friday night. We ate dinner afterward, and had a wonderful time. I played my guitar and we sang worship songs, as well. When we prayed at the end of that first date, I sensed the Holy Spirit come down on us both. I knew God was doing something wonderful.

At the end of the month, on my 21st birthday (12/31/78), we told each other we loved each other. A few months later on April 23, 1979, I asked Donna to marry me, and once again, she said, “Yes.” We married on June 14, 1980. That was thirty years ago.

I love Donna more today than ever before. Why do I love her? Maybe it’s because of how she unselfishly taught school to help put me through seminary. Perhaps it’s because she gave us our four beautiful children and stayed at home to make sure they were cared for by their mom. She never complained about my meager salary at my seminary church. Money was scarce, but love was abundant.

I love Donna because of her love for Jesus. She is more like our Savior than anyone I know. Over the years she has studied and become an outstanding Bible scholar and teacher. Hundreds of women benefit from her teaching and discipleship sessions every week. She is an author and a very gifted speaker.

I also love Donna because she has always been supportive of me. When I was in seminary, she helped me grade papers and helped me study for tests. She even typed my papers before I learned how to use a computer. When I became very ill with myasthenia gravis in 2000, she helped me in ways I never thought anyone would have to. She would comb my hair and tie my shoes before I went to the church to preach. She would rub my feet when they cramped at night from the muscle contractions. She did all that and much more.

Every good memory I have has Donna in it. She has sat on the front row of five different churches to hear me preach, week after week, sermon after sermon. I can’t walk out of the house on Sunday before she prays for me. We sit together in worship services, and I cannot go to the pulpit until she prays for me.

Now, all of our children except one have moved out. The “baby” will be a senior in high school this year. After that we will enter the empty nest phase of life. We are grandparents, and we enjoy that immensely. We still love our children, and most of all, we still love each other. I still sing love songs to her, and we still sing worship songs of love to the Lord.

These past 30 years have gone by like a blur. I can still remember vividly pulling that Ryder rental truck up to the front steps of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, with my bride of two months. We were both 22 then. A lot has happened. We’ve had some great times, and we’ve gone through deep valleys, but we always did it together.

I wouldn’t want to live a day on earth without her. I write this with tears in my eyes. Donna Gaines is the best person I have ever known. I thank God for the privilege of being her husband. That day on that college sidewalk I didn’t just find “a good thing;” I found the love of my life.

On Monday, June 14, 2010, Donna and I celebrate 30 years of marriage. All I know to say is, “Thank you, Don Don, for saying “Yes.” I love you.

T.B. (Steve)

We will rest in our heavenly home. Jesus is preparing a place for us in the “Father’s house” where we will dwell forever (John 14:1-6). Nazareth’s Carpenter is also heaven’s Architect and Builder. There we will rest in mansions made by our Master.

We will rest in God’s presence. When we die, we will be “absent from the body and present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6-8). Regardless of what we see before we leave this earth at death, the moment we slip away from here into eternity, we will see the blessed face of Jesus and abide in His glorious, peaceful presence forevermore.

We will rest in a place void of sin, sickness, and suffering. In heaven there will be no tears, no death, no crying, and no pain. These “former things” will have all passed away (Revelation 21:4-8). Heaven will bring joy, peace, comfort, and rest.

You can only enter heaven through Jesus Christ (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5). If He is your Savior, you have spiritual rest now, but you also have God’s guarantee that one day you will experience eternal rest with Him in a land that is fairer than day.

Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.”

Foolish people say in their hearts there is no God (Psalm 14:1f), but in their minds they know better. Everyone knows there is a God. The beauty of creation proves it. The majestic mountains cry out, “There is a God!” The vast oceans teeming with life proclaim, “The Creator made all this!” The innocent face of a newborn baby shouts aloud, “I am not an accidental result of nature, nor am I the product of billions of years of random, biological mutation. I have been fearfully and wonderfully made by a holy God!”

I have seen the sun rise over the hills of the Golan Heights as its rays reflected off the waters of the Sea of Galilee. I have ascended the slopes of the Colorado Rocky Mountains at night and seen the same stars we saw in Arkansas. I have stared in rapture as the sun sank into the majestic plains of Texas. I have seen these, and many other sermons in the sky. Do not tell me there is no God. The sky is shouting, “He is!”

In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus issued one of the greatest invitations to mankind. He said, “Come unto Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Spiritual rest comes only to those who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. You will not find it apart from Jesus. Romans 5:1 says that when He saves us, we have peace with God. Then we can begin to experience the restful peace of God (Philippians 4:7).

Jewish rabbis in Jesus’ day referred to their relationship with their students/disciples as being yoked together with them. Jesus Himself is the source of peace, so when we take His yoke upon us, we learn from Him as a disciple. He says that His burden is light and that He is “gentle and humble of heart.”As we become like Him, our souls are transformed from worried and agitated to restful and calm.

How can we maintain this restfulness? First, we focus on the Lord and He will keep us in perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3). Then, when we pray instead of worrying, His incomprehensible peace guards our hearts and minds (Philippians 4:6-7). Finally, we can “cease striving” and relax, knowing that He is God (Psalm 46:10).

If you’re tired of life’s turmoil, come to Jesus. He is your answer. In His arms of grace you will find redemption, restoration, and most importantly, spiritual rest.