Tough Love

The date was June 28, 1997. Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson had gathered in Las Vegas for a heavyweight boxing match to see who was the best. This was their rematch, and it drew lots of attention. During the match, Tyson kept complaining because Holyfield was giving head butts which had given Tyson cuts, but the referee wasn't calling anything. Tyson resorted to biting Holyfield's ear. After a warning from the referee, the boxing continued with a still frustrated Tyson. Finally, he spit out his mouthpiece again and bit Holyfield on the other ear, this time removing part of his ear which he spit out on the boxing mat. Mayhem resulted from this action as people were watching all of this drama unfold. Do you think Holyfield was viewig Tyson as an enemy at that point?

Last week I preached on resisting the urge to retaliate from Matthew 5:38-42. Do you think Holyfield was thinking about the "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" scripture, or in his case, ear for an ear? In fact, I used this illustration to introduce the concept of tough love. Jesus made it clear that loving our enemies is tough, but we are called as followers of His to display the type of loving actions toward those who are in opposition to us. The duty of tough love demands loving action toward our enemies. The difficulty of tough love challenges us to rise above the standards of the world where it's easy to love those who are lovable, but it's difficult to love those who seem unlovable. The demonstration of tough love was already shown by our heavenly Father (Rom. 5:8), and it comes with the expectations that we are to show that kind of love in return (1 Jn. 4:11).

To whom do you need to show some tough love?

I Did It!

Last night I preached without notes, and I'm glad I did. I was able to maintain so much more eye contact with my audience, and it felt great to be able to present the lesson in that fashion. I am grateful to Marlin Connelly and Steven Guy who spoke about this last week.

The sermon last night was "Resist the Urge to Retaliate" from the Sermon on the Mount. In the sermon last night, I covered the following points from Jesus:
1) When others insult you
2) When others sue you
3) When others use you
4) When others cheat you

I hope you find it helpful, as I started off with a story of revenge of the noted Judge, Samson.

I'll Have to See It to Believe It!

You never know what you're going to see living in Maury County, Tennessee. Several years ago before Dianna and I were married, I was over at her house one particular day. She told me she had seen something cross the road in front of her on the way to work one morning. It looked like a deer, but not really. It hopped instead of running. It kind of looked like a kangaroo. I thought she was crazy. I would have to see it to believe it. Interestingly enough, her dad was sitting in the chair and said he hadn't told anybody, but he had seen something like that on the way to work in Nashville one day travelling north on Leipers Creek Road. I personally thought they were both crazy until a few years later, I heard about a deer hunter who had shot a kangaroo nearby. Go figure, huh?

The other day I was travelling north on Highway 31 having just crossed over Rutherford Creek when I looked to the right and saw a helicopter sitting on top of one of the powerline towers. I thought I was seeing things, but glancing again that seems to be what I saw. I avoided going back to see if that's truly what I had seen. I know that's what I saw. Later that evening I told Dianna what I saw. She said she had one word for me: KANGAROO!

There have been many people throughout the ages who have had to see things to believe them. There was a royal official who heard that Jesus was at Cana of Galilee, so he came from Capernaum to ask Him to come heal his sick son. Jesus replies "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe" (Jn. 4:48). Many people in life have that mentality. However, we are told that true faith is a blind faith, since we can't physically see what we believe (Heb. 11:1). Then again, the Hebrews writer tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus (Heb. 12:2). How can we do that if we can't physically see Him? John writes "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 Jn. 5:13).

Thanks be to God that we have the written Word so we can see Jesus. We don't have to go through this life looking for something to believe in, because He's made it known to us. Do you believe?

Preaching Without Notes?

I just returned from a most excellent presentation delivered by Steven Guy and Marlin Connelly on the art of preaching without notes. Veterans of the pulpit, these helpful tactics of preparation and presentation made me realize this was the best preachers' luncheon I had ever attended. I appreciate these godly men for what they do in His kingdom, but also for what they delivered to us today. God help us to be as effective as possible when we deliver the Word of God every Sunday.
I also wanted you to note the latest sermon addition from Matthew 5:33-37 where Jesus talks about making oaths. I hope you'll take a listen and give me some feedback. To swear or not to swear; that is the question.
By the way, Brother Guy and Brother Connelly have challenged me to attempt this Sunday's preaching without notes, and I've only done it one other time. Pray for me!

Sermon audio

By the way, the audio link has been added from last night's sermon if you want to listen. One correction I will make, I quoted from Malachi 2:14, but it should have been Malachi 2:16. I wanted to correct that mistake.
I am really enjoying preaching this series from the sermon on the mount. If you get a chance to come worship with us at the Bridge in Columbia, we start at 6:00 Sunday nights. See you there!

Jesus Teaches on the Big "D"

Many things in life are better the second time around. Consider a pot of homemade chili. Man, that's making my mouth water as I write this. Chili is good when it comes hot off the stove, but it's even better when it has had time to season another day in the refrigerator, maybe even longer. Also, secondhand furniture, the kind that is handed down in your family, holds special significance when it was in your house growing up as a child, but now it is in your house while you're raising your children. When you look at the marks on the furniture, perhaps even marks you made as a child, the furniture is simply better the second time around.

Sadly though, in the world, many people view marriage as one of those things that is better the second, or third or fourth time around. Pairing Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5:31-32 with another one of His teachings in Matthew 19:1-12, we need to take a look at what the authority sets forth as His expectations for all of us. Looking at both of these passages, consider what the Lord teaches.

Jesus recalls the provision of divorce
The first mention of divorce since the woman was brought to man in the garden of eden is found in Deuteronomy 24:1-4. Marriage was meant to be a permanent institution, but with divorce being rampant at the time, this provision or allowance was given for the man to divorce his wife if he found some indecency in her. Even though this was allowed by God, it was not pleasing to Him. Malachi 2:16 says "God hates divorce."

Jesus redefines the permission of divorce
While under the Old Law a man could give his wife a certificate of divorce, Jesus now says the only reason for divorce should be adultery. As Jesus redefined the permission of divorce, I'm sure many were scratching their head wondering what this new teaching was. Another passage that helps to shed light on this is Matthew 19:1-12. As the Pharisees had come to test Jesus asking Him if a man could divorce his wife for any reason whatsoever, they wanted to see which side He would take. Two Jewish schools of thought were present in that day and time from rabbis Shammai and Hillel. Shammai held the conservative view of divorce being acceptable for some indecency in the woman, as Deut. 24 states, while Hillel held the liberal view of divorce being acceptable for any reason whatsoever; i.e. - burning the biscuits.

Jesus didn't side with either of them, and he actually transcended even what the Mosaic permission of Deut. 24 said by going back to the original intentions of marriage in the garden of Eden. God wanted it to be one husband, one wife for life and no man should untie that knot (Mt. 19:4-6).

Jesus reveals the position of divorce
After reestablishing God's original intentions for marriage, Jesus makes it clear that divorce followed by remarriage will find you on one side of the fence or the other. There are Scriptural remarriages and Unscriptural remarriages. Jesus said the only way to divorce and remarry is if you are the innocent party of adultery (Mt. 19:9). When Jesus said in Mt. 5:32 that whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery, He is talking about marrying someone who didn't have the right to remarry. Anyone who marries someone who didn't have the right to remarry commits adultery, as He makes clear. Sadly today, many people don't accept this.

However, Jesus addresses this in Mt. 19:11-12 to silence the critics. The disciples after hearing Jesus' new position on this think it might be better not even to marry, knowing that it would be misery if they would be stuck in some marriage relationship that wasn't pleasant without the right to remarry according to Jesus.

Just as Jesus explains, "not all men can accept this statement..." (Mt. 19:11). Likewise it is today; there are many people who don't agree with this and they find every way in the world to justify their actions of being in a relationship in which God does not approve. Let's make sure if we enter into marriage that we are doing it God's way and not our way. Our souls are at stake as we will all stand before the Lord in judgment (Heb. 9:27).

Remove the Stumbling Blocks

Contact your doctor immediately if:

• A wound does not heal or there are frequent sores in an area
• An area of your skin turns to blue or black
• There is a foul-smelling discharge from any wound on your body
• You have persistent, unexplained pain in an area
• You have persistent, unexplained fever (https://health.google.com)

Anybody who knows anything about gangrene knows that it must be removed before it spreads to the rest of the body. Just as gangrene can ravage the human body, Jesus addresses the removal of stumbling blocks which can ravage our spiritual lives.

I've posted the latest audio from last night's sermon which comes from the text of Matthew 5:27-30. Jesus tells us how to get rid of sexual and heart disease before they result in fire disease, which will last for eternity.