Long time

Hey everyone,

It's been too long since I've been on here, but I wanted to catch you up to speed on some things. I've been busy with church work, songwriting and family life. I have not taken the time to post things on here in a long while. However, let me try to post a couple of things.

I've been asked by the elders to help them keep track of some among our number here at West 7th who have been absent for quite a while. This will be a tough task, but they know I'm glad to help where I can. I think between the senior adults, teaching and preaching at assisted living homes, teaching Sunday mornings, coordinating the Barnabas Factor mailouts and calling some of our absentees I am going to stay plenty busy.

I've written several country songs since I wrote "We've Not Forgotten." I don't know if anything will happen with it or not, but I've made several connections. I'm in the process of getting some of my original material to a producer in Nashville, and he's going to help me with a few things. I'm excited to see where this will go for me in the near future. I'm scheduled to play at a couple of benefit dinners this fall. I'll be playing at the benefit for State Representative Sheila Butt (yes, she's my aunt) on Oct. 13 along with Cowboy Troy. That night ought to be exciting. Also, I'm scheduled to play at a benefit for the Maury County Sherriff's Dept. sometime in November along with a couple of other country artists. This will be some good exposure for me. I recently showcased my music at Nett's Country Store and Deli in Bethel and several from West 7th came out on the church bus to support me! What a surprise. I'll be playing some songs with Jerry Elder at the upcoming teachers' appreciation dinner here at West 7th on Saturday, August 27 as part of the entertainment that night. It ought to be a lot of fun.

I was busy today visiting St. Thomas Hospital and Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville. Sometimes we'll go for a while without having anybody in the hospitals, but then it seems like it happens all at once when they need to be there. Maybe once we get them squared away we won't have anyone up there for a while.

Everybody have a great day, and I'll catch up with you later!

Update of "We've Not Forgotten"

http://west7thcofc.com/Jeremy/11-05-31-17-05-30.wav

Hey everyone, here's the latest audio recording of the song which adds a bridge and third verse.

New Song

Hey Everybody,

I'm excited as I just got my first song copyrighted. It's called "We've Not Forgotten," and it's a follow-up to Darryl Worley's song "Have You Forgotten?" You can listen to it by clicking on the title of the blog entry. Tell me what you think. I'm in the process right now of trying to contact a music publisher about picking up the song.

Jeremy T. Butt

Is It Real?

Being around older people a lot, I hear some of the funniest things. One of them came on Sunday night while preaching at the Bridge. After services were over I had finished serving communion to one of the ladies when she wanted to ask a personal question if I would give an honest answer. My mind began wondering what she wanted to know that was so personal, but I figured it was concerning my preaching. After telling her that she could ask me, she proceeded to ask me if my hair was real. I thought that was one of the funniest things I'd ever had asked about me in my life. I told her of course it was real. Then she said "can I touch it?" That was even funnier than the original question. I bent down and she tugged on my hair (I guess she thought it was a toupee or some other kind of hair piece). She said "you have beautiful hair!" After laughing I said "thank you!" I don't know that anyone has ever asked that about me before. However, does it make you wonder if anyone wants to question us if our lives as Christians are real?

Jesus condemned the Pharisees for their hypocrisy in Matthew 25, and John tells us in 1 John 2:4 that if we say we know the Lord but don't keep His commandments we are a liar. We need to live our lives in such a way that people know we are Christians and that we are living for the Lord each day (Matthew 5:16). People should not have to ask us if our lives are real, for it should be evident by the way we live.

A hairpiece or any other kind of "fake" hair serves a purpose, but fake spirituality serves no purpose. What are you doing with your life to make sure people know your Christianity is real. I know what I have as a Christian is real, but how would I react if someone questions that? Can I show them? I sure could show the lady at the Bridge that my hair was real, so I better be able to back up the truthfulness of my Christianity. Is it real?

Remove the Filth

Remember the character from the Peanuts comic strip named PigPen? He walked around everywhere surrounded by a cloud of dust because he stayed filthy. If we were to try to come in the house when we were younger our mothers might be heard saying "take those filthy clothes off before you come in this house!" They did not want filthy garments in their clean house; they didn't belong. We would have to remove those filthy clothes before it was acceptable to them.

Isn't sin like that? Ever since the first sin in the garden of Eden we became dirty in the eyes of God. Before we could be acceptable in His sight we had to do something about our sin. There is an example of someone standing before God who is filthy and in need of changing their garments. Read Zechariah 3:1-5. Satan as the accuser tries to point out our sins that separate us from God, thus symbolized in this story as the filthy garments. Thanks be to God that the power of the accuser is not as great as Heaven's Oxy Clean. The Lord knew just how to make us clean in His sight.

For those of us since the death of Christ the way to be considered clean in the sight of God is through the blood of His Son. Have you been washed in the blood of the Lamb by being immersed into Christ? (Acts 2:38; Rom. 6:3-4; 1 Pet. 3:21) If you haven't obeyed the gospel and you're at the age where you know your sins have hurt God (2 Cor. 7:9) you're still standing before God in filthy garments with Satan accusing you night and day. Are you like those in the church at Sardis who had soiled their garments or are you like the others in Sardis who are walking with the Lord in white? (Rev. 3) The choice is yours as to whether or not you wash your robes and make them white in the blood of the lamb (Rev. 7:14). If your garments are filthy, change your clothes to remove the filth!

Podcast Cancellation

Thanks to everyone who either read the transcript or listened to the podcast the last several weeks, but I am making a decision to cancel Biblically Speaking because of time constraints with my work schedule. I will still have audio sermon files available on the blog as well as articles from time to time, but I do feel it is best if I take this small load off of me for the current time.

Deception, a symptom of the Gehazi syndrome

Back in my former days as a student at Harding University some of the most remarkable memories come from meal times in the cafeteria. One particular day some students were taking bananas from the line, mashing them with their hands without opening the peeling and placing them back in the fruit basket for others to take. The purpose of squooshing the banana was to play a prank on them by deception. The fruit appeared as though it had not been touched, but when the banana was opened the student would realize they were the victim of a good banana squooshing.

The purpose of deception is to mislead someone by a false appearance or statement. One such character in the Bible who used deception to their advantage was Gehazi, Elisha's servant in 2 Kings 5. On the heels of the story of the cleansing of Naaman the leper we find the response from Gehazi who became upset because his master, Elisha, wouldn't take a present from Naaman. Gehazi came up with a plan to use deception against Naaman in order to get a present for himself. He ran after Naaman and told him a story about two young men of the sons of the prophets who had come to stay with them and they needed two talents of silver and two changes of clothes. Naaman knew that Gehazi was Elisha's servant, so he was deceived into believing this was true. Gehazi's appearance and story was used to deceive Naaman out of the present. Gehazi ultimately paid the price for his deception when Elisha confronted him about the matter and struck him with the leprosy from which Naaman had been cleansed.

Jeremiah said "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?" (Jer. 17:9) Have you deceived anyone lately. Granted you might not have mushed up any bananas to pull a prank on someone, but perhaps you've been giving the appearance by your actions in order to deceive. It's a heart condition, and it's one of the symptoms of the Gehazi syndrome that can only be cured by the Great Physician. Will you seek the help you need today?