I Can Do It All By Myself!

"I can do it all by myself!" Have you ever heard these words before, possibly from a child who is very independent? There are many times in life when we think we can handle everything on our own, whether it be job-related, church-related or otherwise. It's great if you can tackle many projects at once, but is it always best?

Delegation is the word that comes to mind with this particular subject. Hesitation is also another word that comes to mind, because so often we hesitate to delegate! Why is it that we are hesitant to pass things off to others to keep us from being bogged down and becoming inefficient? It seems that pride and fear keep us from delegation: pride because we want to show people we can accomplish the task and fear because we don't want to look like a failure for saying we need someone else to do it.

Consider the church. The role of servants (which I believe eventually developed into the role of deacons as described in 1 Tim. 3) came about as a result of the daily distribution of food needs which were threatening to take the apostles away from what they really needed to be doing. They needed to focus their efforts on prayer and the ministry of the word (Acts 6:4). It wasn't that the apostles didn't have the abilities to do this, rather it was that they needed to let someone else do it so they could fulfill their roles as apostles. This is called delegation, giving others responsibility to perform a certain task, and in turn it gets them involved in the work of the church. Though we don't have apostles among us today, the elders of the church should focus on the spiritual aspect of shepherding by delegating other areas of work to the deacons.

Go way back in time with me to see one of the earliest examples of delegation. Moses had a lot of responsibility placed on his shoulders in leading the Israelites out of Egypt. There was a point in time where he not only was a prophet, but he was also acting as a judge to determine the outcome of disputes between the people (Ex. 18:13ff). When his father-in-law, Jethro saw what was happening by these judgments taking up so much of Moses' time, he told Moses "what you are doing is not good" (17). This not only was taking too much time but it was going to wear everybody out. Jethro recommended a plan of action that would allow Moses to appoint others to judge the cases of the people, but Moses would be consulted when there were hard matters upon which to decide. Because of the advice of Jethro, Moses was able to delegate and therefore take a heavy burden off of his back, per se.

Never be afraid to delegate some task to someone else. Let go of the pride and/or fear that might cause you to help get someone else involved in the Lord's work. Delegate - don't hesitate!

Small Game Hunt

I have recently been asked by my local game warden and buddy, Eric Anderson to help guide for next weekend's Maury County Youth Small Game Hunt. I'm excited about this as I'll get to serve as a guide to a young person who wants to bag a coyote. I'm not a professional in this field, but it can be a lot of fun. I'll give it my best shot and we'll see what happens. It would be great to get a young person interested in varmint hunting.

Also, I now have the latest audio up from the Revelation class last night. Next week's lesson is on the man-made doctrines of premillenialism and the rapture. Thanks for stopping by and checking out the blog!

The Need for Narrow Navigation

Last night's sermon outline is as follows:

The Need for Narrow Navigation
Luke 13:22-30
I. Those who are lost will be wondering (why can't we enter the narrow door?)
II. Those who are lost will be weeping (in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth)
III. Those who are lost will be watching (part of the misery in Hell will be having to watch the saints enjoying the blessings of eternal life)

Make sure you are measuring your life right now to see if you will fit through the narrow door found by walking the straight and narrow road.

Lost and Found

Here are some excerpts from last night's sermon on Zaccheus:
He didn't let an obstacle become a debacle!
Whether it was sheer curiosity or intense desire, he climbed a sycamore tree to lift him higher!
Just like Zaccheus, many people need to rush to get to Jesus.
Many people react negatively when accused of things (hence the recent Derek Anderson accusation when he was caught laughing on the sidelines during a football game the Cardinals were losing badly and he rebuked the reporter for questioning his professionalism), but Zaccheus actually saw the need for repentance.

For all of my preaching friends, here is my basic outline from last night:
Lost and Found - Luke 19:1-10.
Zaccheus rushed for investigation (1-4)
Zaccheus responded without hesitation (5-6)
Zaccheus repented for salvation (7-10)

New Audio from Revelation Class

We were able to meet for our Revelation class at Antioch after being postponed last week due to the weather. Our lesson was actually a merging of two lessons into one because of the cancellation, so we covered the background behind the book as well as the spiritual condition of the recipients of the letter. This lesson is just over an hour, so make sure you have time to listen. I hope it's helpful.

Sunday Morning Surprise

It was an ordinary Sunday morning much like any other previously passed, but this one would turn out to be a little different as things transpired. A morning trip to the bathroom for a shave and a shower aren't usually too exciting, but this particular Sunday proved otherwise. After I made my way into the bathroom and commenced with the turning on of the shower, there was what looked to be a toy snake on the floor about five inches from my toes. It was behind the trash can next to the wall and toilet. It didn't move (as a toy snake shouldn't) until after shaving I proceeded toward the trash can again to see the snake revert to a defensive pose. That's when I knew this was not a toy!



If Dianna had been the one in the bathroom instead of me, there's no telling what noises and commotion would have sounded forth through our house. Since the snake was acting defensive the following attempt to procure the specimen did not entail laying hands on it. Let's just say the snake was cleverly corralled into a mesh net that used to hold bathroom toys. After some pictures were taken for proof of the sneaky serpent, the harmless reptile was relocated to the mulch bed in front of the house on that cold, Sunday morn. It was not permanently disposed of due to the rodent population around the Butt house that needs to be kept in check. This will be one of the few times that PETA would be proud of me, but the details of other hunting and killing excursions will be intentionally unsaid at this time.



Jesus told his disciples as he was sending them out to "be wise as serpents and harmless as doves" (Matthew 10:16). It seems as if the snake had a bit of wisdom as it found its way into a warm house to escape the cold of the winter. Can you blame the serpent for relocating to a comfortable climate to station his scales. It's just that the scales needed to be stationed somewhere else before Dianna awakened!

We are told by James to "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (4:7). This was something Adam and Eve did not do, as they gave in to the tempting powers of the serpent. The snake was trying to flee from me even though it had nowhere to go but into the net that captured it. Are we living our lives in submission to God to make the devil flee from us?

New Class in Revelation

I cannot believe it has been this long since I've posted anything, but I do want to catch you up to speed on what is going on in my life. I have recently started teaching a new class on Tuesday nights at the Antioch congregation pertaining to the book of Revelation. This is a condensed study which should last about eight weeks, and we are meeting on 6:30 Tuesday nights. Anyone is welcome to come if you are in the area, but I will also post the audio to my sermon files on the blog the following day after class. I hope they will be helpful to you, as I have tried to make it as simple as possible. For anyone interested, I'm using Ken Butterworth's Revelation Workbook. It's the best concise explanation of Revelation I've ever seen. You can purchase it from Promise Publishing in Columbia, TN or even likely from your local Christian bookstore.

I hope the New Year is being kind to all, and I would love to hear from all of you as to what's going on in your life right now. God bless all of you!