Without Faith ………..

A Saturday evening here where the northern plains meet the north woods. Raining outside, the first time in a month or so. The weather has been a blessing, these weeks without rain because in September it was raining all the time and things were mighty soft around this place. But the dry weather dried down the corn to absolutely dry and its all harvested and in a bin, the corn stalks are baled up into big round bales and we have an abundant supply of bedding for the cattle in case the winter gets rough out there, which is usually the case except in rare years.

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6 NKJV

Was just finishing up a message for tomorrows church service at our country church and this is the main verse I’ll be using. This verse covers  a lot of territory, believe me! In fact, this is one of those nutshell verses, a type of verse where large amounts of the Bible are compressed into a single verse. Yep, this is one of those.

Faith, our God is a faith God! And nothing pleases Him without faith. Any obedience must be done in faith, loving our neighbor must be done in faith, going about our daily lives must be done in faith, or He is not pleased. Giving our tithes and offerings must be done with faith, or else its just a dead act that is not pleasing to God nor will it have any rewards.

Running cattle must be done on faith too! I’d sure hate to be without it, but if we run our operations with faith that God is taking care of it, well, He does. If we don’t believe that He really cares, in other words, having no faith, well, then He doesn’t. Simple.

Faith, that simple word that means so much!

Outcasts

Just finished up another day out here. It was a whirlwind type of day for a while. Running around like nuts this morning getting things ready for synchronizing heifers for A-Iing next week. I didn’t know that they had tightened up the rules for some of the products that we use in this and it requires a prescription from the vets. So there was allot of running around the countryside this morning and I felt like some big time rancher driving, (fast) down the rural state highway, on the cell phone putting things in order. All’s well though, things got taken care of, the stuff got sold to me, even though I wasn’t picking it up. Just got sold on my name and because of my name. That’s one thing about life out here in fly over land allot of regular folks don’t believe or understand, how a reputation and a man’s word mean so much. I know that most of the folks that I call friends are using plastic in order to by stuff. But I guess I’m just an old hold out and prefer cash, green. It never fails to amaze me how many businesses love it when paid this way!

This is the way that I love to live though. Straight forward, no nonsense, where the word is everything. I know that’s really falling by the wayside nowadays, even in the church. Guess you could call me old school in many ways. Some say,”well now Tom, you gotta keep up with the times!”, but I don’t really care. Just look at how churches today are trying to be models of suburbia. Now let me tell you,  you start trying to shove modern suburban religion down this old cattle man’s throat and the out come ain’t all that great. I remember years ago, when I wasn’t on fire for the Lord, but still attending church here and there, I would always say that I’d trust the good ol’ boys at the salesbarn or the bar borrowing money from me than these church folk.Cause I knew that the chances of being paid back by many of the church folk were nil. In fact, and this is a fact, a few of them would spend more time in bankruptcy court than trying to pay back what “they owed”. What they borrowed. Now nobody forced them to borrow, they just had to keep up with the Jones.

Then a life changer happened to me a few years ago, about this time of the year. I attended a wake and a funeral for one of the good ol’boys in the area. Now this good ol’ boy was a rock solid Christian although I do believe he would be looked down at in many of today’s high class churches. And it was at those events where I know I received a major call on my life. Why? Because there was allot of “good ol’ boys” attending. In regular work clothes, some didn’t know that they should take their hats off during the funeral service and all. If ever I had a tug on my heart from our Lord Jesus Christ it was then. That was when I seen the call on my life, to go to the outcasts, to go the regular folk. And there are so very many!

I was dwelling on this today after running the heifers down the chute and I finally went out baling in a meadow. There I have time to think, to dwell, to talk with God. This is why I love the Gospel. This is why I’m attracted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because it destroys the high and mighty and reaches down to the unwanted. This is why I always said that its better to be a town drunk than a modern church goer most of the time.  At least when your a drunk you are what you are. Jesus went to the unwanted, Jesus loved them. Jesus also loved the high society, religious people cause He ain’t no respecter of persons. Jesus didn’t reject those high society religious folks, they rejected Him. But the outcasts didn’t.

They call the Gospel of Luke, the Gospel of Outcasts and it truly is true. When a person reads it with that in mind, that comes shining through like a bright light! I don’t want some religion where everyone acts so “good”. Cause its just an act and that’s all it is. I don’t want to waste my time with suburban religion, nope, just keep it simple and talk about the Blood and the Cross. Stick to the truth, not tickling folks’ ears. Yep, that’s why I love the Gospels. That’s why I read them over and over because without them a fella has nothing. I don’t think I’ll ever be an epistle preacher because I am more the Gospel type person. I love to proclaim the Gospel, I love the Good News!

Praise the Lord for the Good News! That news that can set anyone free. Jesus suffered and died on the cross for the outcasts, as much as for any proper church folk. The countryside is full of people starving for the real thing, not what’s called church by in debt, middle America, but the real thing. A God that changes lives, not making folks proper to attend these modern churches where they aren’t welcome anyhow. The outcasts, saved by the Jesus on that cross. Lord, how I love this Gospel! The hope it brings to the folks that aren’t understood and are looked down upon.

Mid Summer Report

The summer work load continues out here in the countryside. The weather is warm, if not down right hot, but the pastures and crops look good across the area. The cows are fat, the calves are growing, and this is one happy fella even if there is a big work load. But better a big work load now than a winter with limited feed! I was just checking today about when the two local rodeos were being held this year and both are in August. One right at the end of August and I sure do hope I can attend at least one, if not both of them. I always loved that, made my summers and sure do hope all falls into place so I can go!

Ah, feels good to sit down here this evening. I just came in from a couple of pasture checks and all is well out there. Looking forward to tomorrow, even though there is nothing planned but regular work. They’re talking possible storms and rains tomorrow,we’ll see when the time arrives. You never really plan everything according to the forecast, just get out there a do what needs doing. I’m also getting things lined up for working a bunch of heifers next week and getting them ready for artificial breeding. I’ve done this a few times before and it has worked out really well in the past. Breed em to a 20 or 30 thousand dollar bull for $12 bucks a piece, my kinda deal! But these ain’t no regular bulls, oh no they ain’t, these are the good doing kind, smaller framed, what I call “real Angus”. Seems like in this day and age the good breeds just keep getting bigger and bigger until they’re losing most of the good traits that made them famous. Through years of observance I have seen in our own herd of Angus and Herefords that the smaller framed cows will out do and out last the larger ones, sometimes by allot. Plus they eat a heck of allot less than the big girls do. Then come the beginning of September when we chop silage corn, allot of that too, I know it goes further than if they were all a bunch of huge cows.

After silage this year is what I’m really looking forward to. That signals the end of gathering in the crops for the year. The feed supply is set then, no more wondering. The way it looks at present there will be a huge supply here and I will even be able to sell allot of small grains. I haven’t done that for a while and that will be a huge boost to the income around here. Then later in October its calf working time, separating them from the mama cows, listen to them beller for a few days and then backround them for a few months till mid-winter when the prices are usually much higher than fall. But once that silage is chopped and put in the pit and one a secondary pile, the workload really does go down and the days are getting shorter. This is when farm and ranch ministry gets allot more attention.

Everything is set, and more things are happening. Bibles are on hand to be given away, allot of them. Gonna clean up the three quarter ton flatbed truck and get a new seat cover and that’s the local ministry truck. Anything further than local can be done with a car. I’m looking forward to a new season, the workload will diminish and the Lord’s work will take up much more time. But I don’t feel guilty doing limited ministry work in summer, the bills have to be paid and the cattle operation takes care of the bulk of that. Glory to God for His provision! That don’t mean He’s going to just plop it into a fella’s lap, more than likely a fella has to work his butt off gathering the provision God has provided! And I praise Him for it! God is good, all the time! Even a few years ago during the terrible droughts here when there was very limited feed, God provided, I just scrambled to keep up with what God provided! And there are so many huge testimonies from that period, on how God kept this cattle herd going. Times were tough, no doubt about that but God seen us through. Not once did we go below zero, close to zero but never under!

Our God is an awesome God that cares for His own!

Are You The One?

Matthew 11

Jesus and John the Baptist¹After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.

²When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples ³to ask him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”

⁴Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: ⁵The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. ⁶Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”

⁷As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? ⁸If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. ⁹Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ¹⁰This is the one about whom it is written:
” ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’ ¹¹I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. ¹²From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. ¹³For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. ¹⁴And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. ¹⁵He who has ears, let him hear.

I’ve read these passages countless times in the past but today at a small mid-summer joint church service which our little church was involved in these verses literally exploded into my heart. It was a beautiful day out here in the countryside. Sometimes we take it for granted living out here that this is the way it is for everyone, but I know that its sure not when a person sits down and dwells on it. But today’s message, given by a local county chaplain who is a rarity amongst them, one who is one fire for Jesus Christ and not just a generic chaplain,  was a life changer of huge proportions!

The message was about doubt, about wavering faith. The message was about how a person can be on the mountain top with all the faith seemingly possible and then be brought down into the pit and the faith starts to shake. Now some religious folks figure a person has to maintain an air of perfect faith all the time and never complain or question, just keep putting on the show and making it look like everything is OK. Well, I don’t know about anyone else but sometimes things are not OK. Ol’ John was in prison for months for speaking out the truth against Herod. John had seen Jesus baptized,he had seen the Holy Spirit descend on Him. John knew that He was the Lamb of God. But John was now locked away for a long time and doubts started to creep in. Where was this new Kingdom,where was this new day?

Ever have times like that? I sure do, all the time. They creep in quietly, they creep in especially after being on the mountain top where a person figures it’ll never get bad again. But that’s when the hit comes. It happens to all Christians, the question is how do we deal with it. How did John deal with it? How did others in the Bible deal with it? The answer is that they came directly and asked God, are you Him? How did David deal with everything that happened so tragically in his life? The answer is he came and asked God, sometimes in anger, sometimes in frustration,but he always brought it to Him.

How do we deal with tragedy? Do we just try and put on our church act where we act like everything is OK? That’s just dishonesty. It ain’t OK, so why put on a show. The saints can’t help, or share when the show is being put on. When John had his disciples come to Jesus there wasn’t a rebuttal for unbelief. On the contrary Jesus gave John the Baptist some pretty good praise! Because John honestly questioned while being down in the pit.

This got me thinking today. A good day by all standards. Was at the small town joint church service. After that had some treats and coffee from a neighboring church. Then found a good spot, set out the lawn chairs and watched the annual parade for an hour. Came home and in an hour or so got together with some really close friends from church and went to the city 35 miles south east of here and ate and then went to a plant nursery where everything was bare bones price. My kinda deal. Both families each bought a cherry tree and we helped each other plant em at our respective places. Got home this evening did pasture checks and I was still dwelling on this message today. A life changer if I ever heard one.

Jesus knows what its like to be in the pit. He knows what its like to wonder where God is. He knows the darkest hour and the terrible feeling of not knowing where God is in all of it. Don’t believe me? Yes, He knows! Matthew 27:46

About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Jesus will never leave us, never! He knows what we go through, no matter what we go through. In our darkest hours we have the right to call out to Him! You know, that’s real faith! When all hell is breaking loose, to call out to God. A person is smashed down to nothing. What we perceive as faith is almost non existent. And in the misery and dispare we call out, we cry out, we yell out, or we can’t even find words and just groan. Is God ashamed of us as some religious folks would have us believe? The Biblical answer is no. That’s when He is closest!

Dry Bones

The summer is progressing here where the Great Plains meet the north woods. Making hay all the time and already have more made than all of last year, and there’s allot to go.  Just started the meadow hay and as I work daily I see the second cutting hay is growing up rather rapidly and there won’t be much of a break between the first and second crops. This weekend there’s a large summer carnival in a small town about 13 miles away and we’ll be heading over that way this Sunday morning for a joint church service of area churches, although several churches supposedly are involved, only two really show up and do the work. But that’s the way it usually goes in this day and age.I must say though, that those two churches are the type of churches that I feel very comfortable with. The real thing, not some old dead religion.

With all this summer work its almost my off season as far as ministry work goes. Just a bit too busy most of the time, but the way it looks, the ministry season should start earlier than the last few years this year because things slow down here, well kinda, after corn silage is chopped. I don’t pick much corn and won’t be picking any this year that I know of so if silage chopping is around Labor Day, things will slow down so at least the evenings will be much more open. I can’t wait! I was thinking about getting a different pick up truck but have decided not to, to many other things that want that money, so instead of a good used pick up to drive around the area in I figure on cleaning up the three quarter ton flat bed truck and buying a new seat cover and away we go. That thing is a gas hog but its a bear in bad weather. It’ll go through almost anything.

There’s stacks of Bibles to pass out, and there will be stacks of tracts too. A while back I was reading a book called Apostle Cowboy Style, written by the late Glenn Smith and he was writing about his earlier days in ministry and how the Bible opened up to Ezekiel and he got inspired to go on with the thankless ministry that he had been doing. And after a while it did take off because he was doing it God’s way, not his way. That evening while checking out what ol’ Glenn had read the pages landed on Ezekiel 37 and I read on. What I read amazed me and spoke to me.

¹The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,

²And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.

³And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.

⁴Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.

⁵Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:

⁶And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

⁷So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.

⁸And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.

⁹Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.

¹⁰So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

When I read this I had a vision. Now let me tell you, I’m not one of those folks that has visions all the time. In fact I have only had two that I can ever remember and this is the second one. The first one was over four years ago. This is a day time thing not a dream. But I seen something that has shook me allot. I seen a valley, a valley in fact where the town where the carnival is happening this weekend, and I seen it all from an areal view, perfectly. I seen a valley of dry bones, I seen a people living there, the living dead, so many of them. And the Lord say, “go speak to these dry bones and I will make them alive.” There’s allot more to it all, the surrounding town, farms and ranches, but this is the nucleus of it. To preach the Cross, to preach the Blood. Its not up to me to convince anyone, its not up to me to “save” anyone. Heck I couldn’t even save myself, Jesus did that for me on the Cross! My calling is to say, “Thus saith the Lord.” To preach to any that God sends in front of me. To wait on God’s timing,not Tom’s timing.  To not worry what man thinks, to only fear the Lord, not man.

The Lord showed me what would happen with simple obedience, the dry bones would come to life. Since this vision happened a couple of months ago, I brought it to the prayer group before every service at our little rural church and we have been praying this through. We have been speaking it forth in prayer, believing, standing on the Word of God!

Behold the Lamb of God!

A Methodist preacher in those days, when he felt that God had called him to preach, instead of hunting up a college or Biblical institute, hunted up a hardy pony of a horse, and some traveling apparatus, and with his library always at hand, namely, Bible, Hymn-Book, and Discipline, he started, and with a text that never wore out nor grew stale, he cried, “Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world.” In this way he went through storms of wind, hail, snow, and rain; climbed hills and mountains, traversed valleys, plunged through swamps, swam swollen streams, lay out all night, wet weary, and hungry, held his horse by the bridle all night, or tied him to a limb, slept with his saddle blanket for a bed, his saddle or saddle bags for his pillow, and his old big coat or blanket, if he had any, for a covering. Often he slept in dirty cabins, on earthen floors, before the fire; ate roasting ears for bread, drank butter-milk for coffee, or sage tea for imperial; took, with a hearty zest, deer or bear meat, or wild turkey, for breakfast, dinner and supper, if he could get it. His text was always ready, “Behold the Lamb of God”, etc. This was old fashioned Methodist preacher fare and fortune. Under such circumstances, who among us would say,”Here am I, Lord, send me?”

The spring that sprung here the last couple of weeks is hanging on with very nice weather for this time of year in these parts. Got up into the fifties again today, mostly sunny with a nice breeze to aid drying of the mud. The writing above is from the book, “Autobiography of Peter Cartwright”, perhaps one of my favorite books of all time. Written over a hundred and fifty years ago it comes alive for me today. In the late evenings after Bible reading I like to page through and reread parts of it. If anything inspires me, this book does.

Now being like most folks, American folks anyhow, I always like the action packed parts, the huge camp meetings, the huge conversions, the fights with the drunken rowdies and all. But in reality as I read through the book I sense that the vast majority of the ministry was much less actioned packed than that. The paragraph above shows of sorts that life was not always comfortable, in fact rarely for those men that stormed hell’s gates in the great Mississippi Valley of this land. Sometimes hell’s gates are not in the place where the action is, but in the day to day mundane places of life. Meeting folks one on one as they traveled, stopping at homes and cabins every day when they could be found. One on one ministry with hurting folk. I do believe this was the reason for the huge success of the campmeetings in those days, the year’s worth of one on one ministry anywhere and everywhere.

What would it take nowadays for someone to spread the Gospel like these men did? I highly doubt that the conditions would be as bad as those preachers went through as far as the elements were concerned, but human nature hasn’t changed a lick from then until now. We have that sinful nature with us in humanity now the same as they did back then. About the only difference is the fact we have a lot more opportunity to sin easily with the abundance of wealth that we have in this country nowadays. We have a false sense of security in this society that “will” get us if we don’t hand our lives over to God. It is impossible to have one foot in the heavenly Kingdom and another in the world system. Want to dance with the world, well, that’s where a person will end up, and the world will perish!

One of the rarest things about the history of circuit riders is to read a sermon from them, at least a full sermon. Why? Because they never wrote sermons or read them! And its difficult to come across anything remotely close to one. But I do know that they took Bible verses, what I call power verses, and could preach the bark off an oak tree, for hours! The listeners would hit the ground, the power of God coming across so strong that folks would literally lose it. Many times it was recorded that there was a noise like a loud rushing wind when the Holy Ghost swept in. And this was very common. Why I wonder, why then and not now?

The answer is simple. They preached the Word. They preached it without fear of man. Nowadays they would be considered by the vast majority of the church as lunatics. They stepped on toes, allot of them. They’d point sinners out in the crowd, they’d tell it straight, never mushing it up. They didn’t worry about lawyers suing them, they had to watch out for bullets, a mob’s hanging rope, rowdies beating them to a pulp. But they had ministries that were John the Baptist ministries, fear no man, just belt out the truth.

Lord, how I want the anointing they had, I covet it! To fear no man, to spread the Word to any and all who will listen. To preach to one or to a thousand, makes no difference. To lay it on the line and never back up because someone was offended. Preaching against sin will make any preacher unpopular, let me tell you. Folks want a feel good about themselves religion where by they can feel good coming out of church and sin like hell the rest of the time, falsely believing that they have it made and can live like the world and do a one hour duty every week or so and they have the keys to heaven. But nowhere does it say that in the Bible, no where. It says, do not sin. Simple. And if you do, repent, bring it to God, get it covered by the Blood and move on.

There’s hurting people out there, hurting allot. Town or country, it makes no difference. Society is in a bankrupt tailspin. The false sense of security that decades of material prosperity instilled in most folks is crumbling. People want answers. The government wants to provide every answer but in reality just keeps digging a deeper hole that will be very difficult, if not impossible to get out of. There is only one answer and that is Jesus Christ. No matter who it offends, no matter what folks think, He is the answer, the only answer. He is the only way to eternal life. No roads lead to eternal life except His road. If it offends folks, good. They need offending! They need truth!

God Said It, That Settles It

The flooding is pretty well  done around here. The creek is going down rapidly and today was the first time this year I made it to the back forty to take a look around and see if it was still there. Yep, its still there! I drove around on the Honda four wheeler and just generally enjoyed myself for a while, looking at fences, looking for dead trees to cut up for some spring firewood and for next winter’s supply. The only wildlife I seen out there was an owl I spooked, oh, and a bunch of geese. There’s so many resident geese here in the river meadows that I almost forgot about them. Its getting so they don’t even count as wildlife, more like our herd! I reckon they’ll be laying eggs soon, those are the earliest reproducing birds around these parts with the young’uns swimming around before I even get to planting corn.

They say the big four lane bridge over the Mississippi at our county seat is closed. Anyway that’s what I heard last evening at church. Ice jams on the big river have those who know nervous about the integrity of that huge bridge. This is Minnesota and huge bridges falling into the Mississippi are not unheard of so all the highway traffic is rerouted right through town, just like years ago. It doesn’t affect us one bit out here, just some local news is all. Church went pretty well last evening, was out in Children’s Church doing my thing. Had a good sleep despite all the tar like coffee I downed last evening and today cleaned another barn, deep stuff, a whole winter’s worth of manure. I’m still not able to haul it into the fields so I just stockpile it but if this weather continues that manure spreader could be making tracks in the fields soon. I promised myself that I’d get stuff together for this Sunday’s church service, a whole one page of notes, extra large print, on the subject I want to talk about come Sunday morning. Now I do have a real bad habit of never getting hardly anything together for a service till its just an hour or so before we take off to church. I will try extra hard tonight to do something, trouble is I’m more of a pressure worker, get er done just before the deadline.

I figure the talk will be on the verse I’ve written about here a few times recently, Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today and forever.” Been thinking in the mornings about it and now that I’ve been hauling manure in the afternoons that gives me even more time to think about it. I figure a person could preach a lifetime with that verse being the main verse. I think I could do nothing on this blog except start every post with that verse and never run out of things to say.The same today. I guess His name ain’t “I WAS”, He told Moses “I AM”. Or He didn’t say “I’m Gonna Be”, no, He said “I AM”! Now day after day dwelling on this is making a huge impact on my journey of faith. Its much easier to have faith in a now God then a once was God. A God that knows our every need, even if we don’t.

An amazing thing came to me, I was thinking about our youth at church. They don’t have that old religious dry rot that us older folks have.Most, if not all of the adults in church came from religion. But the youth didn’t. I was really dwelling on this the last few days. I’ve seen it time and time again,something that would clobber one of us adults right down to the ground basically glances off the youth. From disease to injuries. They can’t quite seem to take hold. Injuries that should have taken weeks, even months to heal, healed in a day. Recovery from emergency situations a matter of hours, not days or weeks. And I will stress this is not because they are young and healthy. This is because they aren’t spoiled, ain’t got that rot of religion in them to keep them down.

Oh Lord, thinking about this the last few days has really got me thinking. Thinking how things run on simple faith. Now,I know some folks that won’t believe nothing in the Bible if they can’t make human sense out of it. I must say that when this happens there is nothing but a life of total defeat heading their way. Why? Because of simple unbelief. What I’m about to say might actually shock some but I’ll say it anyhow. A person doesn’t have to figure out scripture. No they don’t! Because if a person is trying to figure it out from our tiny human level it’ll never get done, rest assured. Folks that supposedly know all about the scriptures after years and years of schooling aren’t hardly any closer than when they started. Amazing huh?

This is one reason I don’t have a study Bible. Because I don’t want someone’s opinion about every scripture in the Book. There’s a good chance that they are way off on some of them and I figure why go down with em. I go by what that preacher of old, Smith Wigglesworth said, “just believe it”. That’s it, just believe! Looking back at anyone that ever had a hand in the huge moves of God there is a very definite pattern. Some were educated, some weren’t. But the similar thing between them all was that they just believed. Our God is a faith God and our God will move mountains for those that just believe!

Smith Wigglesworth would read nothing else other than the Bible. I do believe it was just a plain Bible too. Just read it every chance a person gets, read it till it becomes a part of your very life. More than a part, how about life itself?! Just believe it. Not trying to figure it out, because when a person believes in faith the divine revelation comes. Revelation that studying with the mind could never accomplish. That’s what I see in the youth at church. That’s what I see more and more in my own life. Just believe it, don’t try and figure something out that no one on earth can figure out anyhow without God implanting the revelation in them through the Word.

Just thinking tonight, just dwelling. Just looking at the people that changed the world for Christ. They had simple belief.

Spring is Springing!

A week ago if anyone would have told me that most of the snow would be gone I wouldn’t have believed them in the slightest. But its almost history around here. Just some deep banks left and in the yard the snow piles are melting down that the Bobcat piled up over the long winter. I was even able to roll out a big round bale today on the gravel knob in the calving pasture and as of this evening I see the entire cowherd is resting over there on that gravel nob because its about the only dry and firm place on the farm as of this moment. Its about an acre in size right now and it will expand rapidly as things firm up. Some spots will take weeks to firm up, but as long as a person gains some ground for the cattle to eat and rest on things go pretty good. Heard my first killdeer last evening and this evening while cutting some slab wood up for the outdoor boiler I heard my first Sandhill cranes about a mile away. Took me by  surprise hearing them, hearing them above the robins tweeting like robins do in the back yard, and above the noise of the geese down at the flooded creek a couple hundred yards to our west. Things are changing here fast!

Well, today I had the rarest of days, I had three hours off this afternoon, or should I say I literally forced myself to have some time off, first time in a long, long time and a good friend of mine from church took me to the city thirty five miles southeast of here and we went shopping for a rifle. The last twenty years every time I went to a sporting goods store or even a super store that sells rifles ol’ Tom is always known to be checking out the lever action 30-30s. Never could bring myself to buy one even though they are fairly affordable. Twenty years of looking every time, but today I found one that I had to take home. A used Marlin 30-30, lever action. Simple rifle but a durn good one to have around this place. Have it leaning up here in the office as I write. In fact I do believe I’ll use it more than all my rifles combined and only that old double barrel 12 gage seems to get more use around here.

Another thing we were doing today was looking around in this huge sporting goods store, (its always funny how a country boy can feel at home in a place like that), we were looking at targets, clay pigeons and other things for some things we are planning come the warm season. A few days ago we started talking about this , how some summer get togethers for the guys around here would be a great thing to do this summer, and in this neck of the woods that usually means guns. Shotgun, rifle, pistol, and black powder. This might cause some city slickers to go into shock, but things are different here, and much better if you ask me. Already as the little bit of news goes out I have heard that some folks who really don’t trust churches would like to come to this, full knowing this is a Christian thing. Well, if stiff and dry church won’t get em, do something that will, and have a good time doing it as well. Fathers, single guys, youth, whoever are welcome! So this is in the works and I can’t see it being stopped, its to much in the men’s blood around here.

Oh Lord, things are happening fast around here! The fast melt that I never expected, church stuff is picking up the pace again with the resuming of preaching for yours truly starting this next weekend after more than a month off of my own asking. Plus preach a little Sunday and immediately when its over take over the Children’s Church as a Sunday fill in teacher. So this coming Sunday should go by like a whirl! No big deal! And being that it’ll be double duty I figure I might as well do the same message in both churches, Hebrews 13:8. “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today and forever!” Been teaching that for over a month in Children’s Church and I see no sign of letting up with it. A rock solid base for the kids, the base that Jesus is not just a yesterday God, nor just a future God, but that He’s our right now God and He does what He did back then, and that nothing has changed one single bit! Amen! That’s the rock solid thing a feller don’t even need notes for in either church! I’ve written about it several times here because its so durn important in the life of all Christians. And I believe that without this simple fact that this verse presents a Christian’s life will not have the victory that God intends for His children to have.

Yep, a good outlook when spring comes knocking at the door around here.There was plenty of cabin fever around these parts this winter, the long winter that never had much change to it. But people are waking up, there’s smiles on people’s faces everywhere a person goes. Finally its breaking! Minnesota nice has become much nicer this past week! But there’s work to do around here both on the farm and in the field that Jesus has commanded us to work for Him.

Freely Given

Wet is the word around these parts today again. Even had thunder and lightning, the first time this year and it kinda caught me by surprise. Had strong rains at times, even some hail a few different times. What a mish mash of weather in March. At least it didn’t come down as snow, so the melting process doesn’t have to kick in gear. Its already heading down the creek for the Gulf of Mexico. Everything around here is mud and slop. There’s a lot of winter to get rid of and it ain’t happening over night I tell you. Good thing I don’t calve this time of the year, that would be the ultimate disaster.

Been reading in the evenings and for once they ain’t faith based books although they seem to be building my faith anyhow. Western novels, written by my favorite author Elmer Kelton from down Texas way. I hear Elmer passed away last summer but his novels are for me the best I have ever read. Have read them for years and years and have many hear in the house that I either purchased or had given to me. One thing I love about the two different novels that I’m reading is how he does mix real life into them. How he has a preacher or two in them and they usually are some pretty good folks. Some tough folks too!

But enough of that now that folks know what I read in my spare time. I was talking a moment in a conversation at church last evening, yup I was able to be in the church for once and it sure was a welcome relief. A person needs that once in a while cause its rough just giving and not receiving. We were talking about the nature of God. Nowadays  there’s a lot talked and written about the love side of God and sometimes its at the expense of not mentioning the truth side. A feller leans to heavily in either one and one thing is for sure, they will get out of balance and head for a ditch. Being to far in either side can cause problems, either liberalism or on the other side, legalism.

There’s plenty of either side on the internet also. Extreme liberalism where God loves you and it finally ends up that a person can just about live any way they want and still figure they have it made eternally, to oppressive legalism that believes that our own works are what justifies us. Many parts of both sides have truth behind them, but are never the less out of balance and could be stuck deep in the ditch. Ditches that are about like the ones we have around here now, impossible to get out of on your own power.

The Bible is perfectly balanced and I know when I read it I’m harsh about judging myself. The easiest trap to fall into is to read the Bible in order to justify my own opinions,my own beliefs. That always ends up becoming a disaster. The Bible is God’s Word to us, and God don’t change no matter what the high and mighty say. We had better change! He is a Holy God, a perfect God, we ain’t.

Tired tonight, but I’ll do a short post anyhow. God is love and truth. His love is limitless, His justice perfect. We  have the choice, to accept, or to reject. There ain’t anyone going to hell against their will. Don’t believe me, read the first chapter of Romans. I’ve taught about the quite extensively the last couple of months on Wednesday evenings. That’s usually a shocker for some, some want to argue it, but I stand on the Word of God and just ignore anything said to the contrary.

God is perfect, we ain’t. Simple! God has put in every persons heart an awareness of Him. He sent His Son to this world to save a dying humanity. The offer for eternal life is freely given and one can freely accept.

The Cross and the Blood

1 Corinthians 1:18

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

This has been burning into me all day long.  Busy day here, gloomy, muddy, slow melting, light rain falling from time to time. The verse above has been in a post or two in the past, can’t rightly remember how many times or where I put it but this is one of those power verses in my humble opinion. Preaching the cross, and I might add, the Blood! This is as foundational as it gets. Without the cross, without the Blood, well, there’d be nothing, absolutely nothing. And in this day and age I know its not that popular to preach about these to things, heck I even heard a bigshot preacher talking against them a while ago. Saying we should be concentrating on the benefits of our salvation. Hello! There are no benefits without the cross, without the Blood! This was on my mind and in my heart heavily today.

Think, just think what this verse says. This is just Tom’s figuring here. Nothing borrowed from Bible school, nothing borrowed from some big time preacher. Just look at the verse! Look at the Living Word! It says that preaching the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. I tell you, that says a bundle! Think what this means, think what God is saying in these verses. When we water down the Gospel, when we make it seeker friendly, when we don’t preach the cross, preach the Blood, in order that we won’t “offend” someone because it might seem foolish to them. Because it might make them uncomfortable this verse says we will perish. Not in those words but that’s the meaning. Either the preaching of the cross is the power of God, the center of the Gospel, or else we are on the perishing side. Egad!

The cross, the Blood, the very center of belief! Without it a person perishes. Without it there’s no salvation.

¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth,  Romans 1

To believe that Jesus bore our sins, to believe that He suffered and died, taking our place, a place we deserve. A gift. Nothing done through us, nothing.

Ephesians 2

⁸For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

⁹Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Jesus did it all. This is the Gospel! This is the salvation that no church can provide. This is the salvation that no preacher or priest can provide. Salvation is not a thing, salvation is a person and His name is Jesus. Our being set free was bought at an incredible price! But we must believe. We must believe that Jesus did go to the cross for us, that He shed His Blood for us. That there was nothing in this world that we could do to be right with God in our own power. Religion won’t get you there, good works won’t, only Jesus.

Foolish, I know it sounds foolish. Foolish to the world, foolish to religion, foolish! But it is the Gospel!

1 Corinthians 1

²⁷But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.

No matter what a person believes, no matter what denomination they go to, this is bedrock. This is the only Way. This is the message that is preached in the byways and out of the way places, the places that society shuns. This is the message that gets preachers kicked out of a surprising number of churches nowadays. It makes folks uncomfortable. Its much easier to hear nice mushy messages, non convicting messages, those that don’t show what people really are. Those that don’t show people that they are perishing in their own sins. Its much more fun to go to church and hear messages that promise you that God wants you rich! That you can have all the stuff and live like the world and God loves you and just thinks every thing’s OK.  But it doesn’t work that way, in fact its much simpler than what religion and a modern luke warm church preach. Just believe.

My limited experience has shown me that the down and out only want truth, they only want an answer. They don’t want gimmicks, and neither do I. I want God and I know that I know that there is nothing ol’  Tom can do to please God using my own power, nothing. I will fail no matter what. But Jesus solved that problem. He saved me from myself . He saved me from this world that is perishing. A gift, not cheap, an incredible gift.

Sometimes I get a little down. It happens and I ain’t proud of it. I gotta get to the Cross more! I gotta kneel down at the foot of that old Blood stained Cross and worship Him. The old timers knew this, but its been getting diluted over the years until there’s powerless religion with no real hope in this life or after. Allot of times churches are yammering that they want to see God move, or someday God will move in their church. Wanna know something? Why not now? Preach the Blood, preach the Cross and I promise that God will move in the church. Folks want the Holy Spirit to come with power, but it seldom happens. Preach the Blood and the Cross and buckle up! Cause things are going to move! Why do I say this? Just read the second half of the verse on top of this post. Tom might tell a tale once in a while but God ain’t a liar!