Pastor Chuck’s Blog

8-30-2023

There’s a story in W.A. Criswell’s biography that illustrates how you can never measure the impact of your ministry. Dr. Criswell tells about the day of his conversion: It was Autumn, 1920. His church was holding a revival and W.A. received permission to skip school to attend a special mid-day meeting.

At the close of the service, he responded to the invitation and accepted Christ as his Savior.

Seven years later he was licensed to preach. He soon began a lifetime of ministry, including 55 years as pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas. He wrote more than 50 books, led untold thousands to Christ, trained hundreds for the ministry. He was one of the most influential pastors in America during the 20th century.

But this story is really about the man who preached that 1920 revival which changed the course of Criswell’s life.

His name was John Hicks. He had been a guest in the Criswell’s home during the two week revival, and young W.A. had been greatly impressed with the evangelist’s manner and character. This admiration compelled the 10 year old boy to attend every service and hang on every word the preacher spoke.

Years later, as Hicks lay dying in Baylor Hospital, his friend Wallace Basset sat with him during his final moments. Hicks said, “Wallace, my life is over, my preaching days are done, and I’ve never done anything for Jesus. I’ve failed, Wallace. I’ve failed.”

Apparently John Hicks never knew about the immeasurable contribution he had made to the kingdom of God: how one revival meeting held in a small Texas town — and specifically one sermon preached on an autumn morning — touched the heart of a young boy who would, in turn, touch the lives of millions in the years to come.

The words of Paul come to mind:

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58)

Maybe you can’t see the full results or impact of your life at this moment. Maybe today it seems that your years of sacrifice and hard work resemble next to nothing. The truth is that you’ve accomplished things that you don’t know about — things you may never know about this side of glory.

During those days when measurable results remain elusive, be steadfast. Don’t give in to despair. God is using you in ways you cannot see.

Keep up the great work, LifePoint. YOU are making a difference!!

8-24-2023

“Holy” Conversations

The famous baseball manager, Connie Mack, said this:

“No matter what I talk about, I always get back to baseball.”

He said this in an interview with the Sporting News magazine in March 1951. He was 88 at the time, retired from the game, and yet he still couldn’t stop talking about baseball.

We’ve all known those whose conversations inevitably arrive at the same destination. Some to an off-color joke, others to a bit of gossip, or a complaint about this or that, or a vein-popping political rant. No matter where the conversation begins, it always comes to the same ugly place.

And then there are others whose conversations always lead to an uplifting thought … a prayer request … a praise report … a word of encouragement. It has a lot to do with what’s on your mind all the time, but I would argue that it has more to do with what’s in your heart than anything.

That’s why Jesus said, “What you say flows from what is in your heart.” (Luke 6:45)

So what if, just, what if we were to “edit” Connie Mack’s quote to read like this:

“No matter what I talk about, I always get back to Jesus.”

I’m not talking about some obnoxious rant, but about how Jesus changed your life, how Jesus is helping you through a challenging time, about how Jesus has made life better and made you better at life. The options are endless. Perhaps this is what Peter meant when he wrote this:

But as he who has called you is holy, so you be holy in all manner of conversation…..

Look for opportunities to have those “holy” conversations wherever you go, and watch God at work.

8-16-2023

Let The Weak Say…..

There is a song playing on Christian radio right now that I really like. The title is, “You’ve Already Won” and it’s sung by Shane and Shane. I love the chorus of the song:

And I’m fighting a battle
You’ve already won
No matter what comes my way
I will overcome
Don’t know what you’re doing
But I know what you’ve done
And I’m fighting a battle
You’ve already won

What’s interesting, however, is that the average person talks to themselves thousands of times a day, and according to one study, much of what they hear from themselves is negative. Maybe that’s you, too……saying things like: “Why can’t you do anything right? You’ll never succeed. You’ll never change. You don’t have a chance.”

These words reinforce what we believe about ourselves, and they influence the actions we take. The sad thing is, we find it far too easy to believe in the power of our weakness, and far too difficult to believe in the power of the One who promises to transform us into His likeness.

God spoke through Joel this simple phrase: “Let the weak say ‘I am strong.'” (Joel 3:10) He was referring to the day of battle, guaranteeing for His people a victory.

Every day is the day of battle for followers of Christ. We come face-to-face with temptation, discouragement, apathy, and failure — day in, day out. And in the midst of battle, God reminds us that we’re fighting a battle that He’s already won.

We haven’t sung it in awhile, but there’s a short chorus we’ve sung in the past that says:

Victory, victory shall be mine!
Victory, victory shall be mine!
If I hold my peace and let the Lord fight my battle,
Victory, victory shall be mine!

So let the weak say I am strong for, just as David proclaimed when facing Goliath, “The battle is the Lord’s.”

8-9-2023

You and I will face many ups and downs in life. Just like the earth experiences spring, summer, fall, and winter, we experience different seasons in our lives. There will be times of significant growth and excitement…..and there will be dry spells (and everything in between). And when the dry spells come it’s easy to get discouraged and, in some cases, want to give up.

The key to enduring these dry spells is to respond in faith rather than fear. If you’re going through a dry spell right now, remember these truths. If you’re in an easier season, store these truths away because one day you will need them.

1. Feelings are unreliable. The Bible warns us not to trust our perceptions (Proverbs 3:5). Feelings come from many sources—chemical imbalances, food you’ve eaten, movies you’ve seen, and so on. We don’t need to listen to everything we think or believe everything we feel. Moods and emotions often lie to us, so we shouldn’t let them control our actions.

2. Life has both good and bad times. Ecclesiastes 3:1-6 reminds us that life is a series of opposite actions. There is a time for everything under heaven—time to plant and uproot, build up and tear down. Life goes through periods of expansion and pruning. We need these tough seasons to help us to grow.

3. Dry seasons help build our character. God uses dry seasons to teach us to live by faith when feelings are gone. He wants to build perseverance and maturity in us.

Dry seasons can feel like desert seasons—and deserts are a time for testing. Ask the children of Israel. The 40-year journey they took in the desert could have been a couple of weeks. But God wanted to test them and build their character.

4. Remember, you’re serving God, not people. God is our ultimate boss. We serve others because we’re serving Him. Our motivation—our “why”—determines how we do what we do. Paul faced all kinds of suffering for Christ. He was beaten and jailed, experienced starvation and thirst, and faced many sleepless nights (see 2 Corinthians 11:24-29). But he knew who he was serving, and that helped him endure all those troubles. Paul lived for an audience of one – an excellent reminder for us.

5. Your life makes an eternal difference. Many times you can’t see the impact you’re having on others. But God is watching the overall story of history. He sees an eternity we can’t.

6. You’ll have eternal reward. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 that eternal rewards far outweighed the temporary pain he was experiencing. “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (NIV).

Our pain is short-lived too. No matter what you face today, it is minuscule compared to the rewards of eternity.

7. You’ll spend forever with Jesus. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. Keep your eyes on the goal. One day, you’ll celebrate forever with Jesus. You won’t be thinking about the problems you’re enduring right now. You’ll be with Jesus, and that will be all that matters.

7-26-2023

No Worries……

Connie Mack will always be remembered as one of the greatest personalities in baseball. After coaching the Philadelphia A’s for 50 years, he retired in 1950 at the age of 87 as the winningest manager in history. Books could be written, and probably already have been, on the management techniques of Connie Mack. Leaders have a lot to learn from his example.

One management technique: he refused to worry.

Early in his career, when he realized how worry was threatening to destroy his ability to lead – especially worries over past defeats – he forced himself to get so busy preparing to win today’s game that he didn’t have time to worry about yesterday’s losses. He summed up it by saying, “You can’t grind grain with water that has already gone down the creek.” This colloquialism is probably lost on most of us, but it is Mack’s way of saying what Paul said …

But I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. (Philippians 3:13-14)

It works.

The act of preparing today keeps your mind off yesterday’s regrets and away from tomorrow’s uncertainties.

So give your attention to what is really pressing this day … and press on.