Ward's Words | BY WARD PIMLEY

Sharing the Lord's Message of Grace

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Tag: Prayer

  • IS JESUS BOTH YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR?

    THE BIBLE TELLS US that all who call on Jesus’ name and believe He is the Christ will be saved from eternal damnation, but it also tells us to receive Him as our Lord. Many who identify as Christian have received Him as Savior, but is He also their Lord?

    MESSAGE BY WARD PIMLEY

    THE ‘ALTAR CALL’ — Inviting those in worship to make a confession of faith in Jesus Christ and trust Him for their salvation — is one of the more emotionally fulfilling moments in a Christian worship service.

    Image of lighted cross

    The process rivals baptism — another public profession of faith — for its seriousness of purpose and determination of one’s eternal destination.

    Philippians 2:9-11 (NKJV) “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

    The Bible tells us that at the end of history, when God judges the world, all people, small and great, will recognize the Lordship of the Creator, even if they rejected that truth during their earthly lives.

    Many people claim the mantel of “Christian.” Self-reporting data show some 2.2 billion individuals in the world declare themselves to be Christian, making it the world’s largest religious group, In addition, surveys show some 65-70 percent of Americans claim the mantel of “Christian.”

    Watching new hearts walk down the aisles toward the receiving pastors and kneeling before the Cross to confess their need for Jesus as Savior is riveting and a cause for celebration.

    Despite those staggering numbers, does anyone seriously see evidence, in either North America or the world at large, that Christianity is dominant in its influence?

    If not, then what’s going on here?

    ‘NARROW’ PATH v. ‘BROAD’ PATH

    ONE POSSIBILITY is that many people who claim to be “Christian” do not understand that it is more than a “cultural” designation, much like one is of English or German or Italian descent (or Nigerian or Japanese or Bolivian), or a host of other nationalities and ethnic groups.

    To be a Christian is a conscious decision to receive the Holy Spirit into one’s heart by declaring the sin in their hearts, the truth of Jesus’ divinity and sacrifice on the Cross, and their need for His healing touch.

    JESUS SAYS, “CHOOSE THE NARROW PATH.”

    That process is called “justification,” or the cancellation of a debt paid in full.

    Next, comes the process of “sanctification,” in which the saved individual grows in his or her walk with Jesus. This is the life-changing process by which the person becomes more like the Savior in word and deed.

    It may well be, as Jesus points out, that too many people fail to take that second step.

    In Matthew 7:13-14, He tells us there are two gates and two pathways in life: one is narrow, that leads to life; the other is broad, that leads to destruction. He warns us that only a few enter the narrow gate and live for Jesus, while most people enter the broad gate and live life on their own terms.

    Most likely, our churches are filled with cultural Christians — those who identify as “Christian” because of the culture — and immature Christians — those who have been ‘justified’ but stopped short of “sanctification.”

    JESUS IS BOTH LORD AND SAVIOR

    JESUS WANTS TO BE both our SAVIOR and LORD.

    In Luke 6:46, He laments that we call Him “Lord, Lord,” but fail to obey His commandments. In casual parlance, “we talk the talk, but we don’t walk the walk.”

    Can you imagine how dynamic and vital the Christian-claiming world would be if we actually believed what we claim we believe and lived out the Gospel in our daily lives.

    Romans 10:9 (GNT) “If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from death, you will be saved.”

    Romans 10:10 (ESV) “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

    Even with the modicum of faith that many Christians display, Christian influence has been significant: from the elevation of women’s status to equality with men, to building of hospitals and medical research, to the proliferation of science and systematic knowledge, to moral teachings to be in kind to others and lend help when others are hurting.

    That’s with just the modicum of faith most Christians display. What could be earth-shattering if every Christian actually held Jesus not just as their Savior, and so will avoid eternal destruction, but also as Lord, and lived according to His commandments.

    The altar call, wherever it is practiced, is a beautiful reminder of God’s promise of what He can do when His creation, who are called by His name, humble themselves, seek His face, pray, and repent of their sin. (2 Chronicles 7:14).

    ______________

    PRAYER

    Image of Holy Bible generated by AI by Freepik

    FATHER GOD, We confess we have drifted so far from You we don’t always take our faith walk as seriously as we ought to. Within our midst, O Lord, are fellow Christians who have not turned their lives over to Jesus as Lord but are content with calling Him their Savior. Help us to reach out to them in love with the truth and guide them toward maturity in their faith; and as we do so, O Lord, keep us from falling into the same trap. In Jesus’ name.

    AMEN

  • ARE YOU HEARING OR JUST LISTENING?

    Weekly Message by Ward Pimley

    YEARS AGO, I VOLUNTEERED to be a *mentor*  for a minority individual interested in becoming a journalist. Through the program, I mentored two individuals — both Vietnamese.

    “GO ON, I’M LISTENING.”

    Before beginning our work, we were taught some basic strategies for mentoring. The first one — the most important one — was the Art of Listening. 

    That’s counter-intuitive, isn’t it, to the way most of us would consider the role of mentor. 

    We’d love to fill the air with our bon mots, our pearls of wisdom, as we talk down to the individual who, we believe, should be eternally grateful to have been assigned to our care.

    Mais non, sugar-breath, that’s not at all how it works, despite our well-intentioned tendency to dominate the conversation. 

    As proper mentors, we need first to listen, to actually hear what our mentee is saying, as he/she expresses feelings or frustrations or makes observations or asks questions or even segues into a seemingly unrelated area of discourse. 

    When the mentor can build trust in the relationship, the mentee (don’t you just love that word?) can open up about deeper, more important issues.

    REAL TRUST

    THE LIFELONG BENEFIT of learning to listen in a mentoring situation  carries over into our non-mentoring lives; in fact, into our daily conversations with our wives/husbands, our children/parents, our neighbors/friends/co-workers, and even casual strangers.


    Jesus said: “Anyone with ears to hear
    should listen
    and understand!”

    Matt. 11:15 NLT

    So, you’d think from what I’ve written here that I have mastered that lesson and employ it rigorously, taking in every morsel of observation, truth, fiction, humor, emotion, instruction, and whatever else comes my way with the serious intention it deserves.

    If so, you would be wrong.

    I don’t. 

    It’s not that I don’t believe I should or that I discount what others are saying, it’s just that my mind drifts, and I comfort myself in the warm cocoon of “Ward’s World,” my wife’s term for the insular world I’ve built around myself. 

    Yes, I can focus intently on messages, like sermons, teaching, and other items that speak seriously into my life; it’s just that everyday conversation tends to be — in my mind — largely pointless. I mean, how often can one comment on the weather?

    CONNECTING POINT

    CLASSES ON MENTORING tell us there are three types of mentoring: 

    “I HEAR YOU, BRO. LET’S PRAY.”
    1. TOP DOWN, where the mentor helps, assists, teaches, encourages the mentee, 
    2. HORIZONTAL, where each partner is both mentor and mentee, sharing and encouraging one another, and 
    3. BOTTOM UP, where the mentee benefits from the loving attention of someone more experienced or skilled in a particular matter.

    All of us can benefit from the second and third forms, and as we gain experience, we can benefit others through the first form.

    To maximize effectiveness, in whichever form we find ourselves in a particular relationship, listening is the key trait, not just a key trait but the key trait.

    It also is important in our other relationships, and it’s a lesson I would do well to take more seriously. 

    “Hmm, did you just say something? Go on, please. I’m listening.”

    PRAYER

    FATHER GOD, HELP ME TO LISTEN. Your Son told us to listen to His Words, that they will never fade away, and You have said Your Word will never come back to You void. You created our fellow men/women in Your image, and as imago dei, their words are important, even if we don’t think so in the moment. Those words are connecting links, ways of building community, and each of us needs to pay attention when someone addresses us, even if it’s to comment on the weather. Thank You, Father God, and now bless us to be a blessing to others, those You put in our lives. In the name of Jesus.

    AMEN

  • THE BODY OF CHRIST CONFRONTS A RIGGED ELECTION: WHAT NOW?

    Philippians 1:12-13 (CSB): “Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually advanced the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard, and to everyone else, that my imprisonment is because I am in Christ.”

    Matthew 13:24-26 (NKJV): “Another parable He put forth to them, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.’”

    ________________________

    “DARK WINTER” AHEAD

    THE APPARENT VICTORS of the recent U.S. election for President and Vice President have promised a “very dark winter” is coming.

    TWO CONCLUSIONS ARE EVIDENT.VOTING

    FIRST CONCLUSION: The election results are highly suspect, leading 73 million Americans convinced the tabulation was fixed, and the election was stolen, meaning the “victors” are imposters.

    SECOND CONCLUSION: The new administration will use the apparent “health crisis” as a pretext to implement draconian regulations over every area of our lives.

    OBSERVATION: Polling shows that 99 percent of white evangelical Christians voted for the “losing” candidate, the incumbent President, not because of the individual’s personal qualities but because his policies were consistent with Christianity’s — and a well-ordered society’s — foundational values.

    QUESTION RAISED: How do committed Christians, those who profess a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, react to the prospect of a rigged election giving sanction to strong foes of Christian values unfettered power to exert their will in response to a “crisis”? 

    GLOOMY ASSESSMENT

    GIVEN THE NATURE of the election’s outcome, credulity is stretched to the breaking point to believe the election was conducted “fair and square.”FRAUDULENT_MISREPRESENTATION

    CONSIDER:

    • The apparent “victor” never campaigned,
    • The incumbent President increased his vote total by 10 million over the prior election, with the most votes of any sitting President in U.S. history,
    • Massive campaign to ensure one party casts its votes by mail-in ballot, which Democrats, like actor Rob Reiner, said would give them a landslide victory, 
    • The “victor” could not bring in with him one member of either the House or the Senate, while the apparent loser did,
    • Vote counting in several swing states stopped for three hours in the middle of the night while additional “ballots” were trucked in,
    • Credible reports were lodged, with supporting affidavits, of
      • Malfeasance in counting, with some voters being afforded an opportunity to fix or “cure” errors in their ballots, while others were not, 
      • Failure to account for different signatures on the ballot and envelope,
      • Numerous ballets counted in which the voters only chose a presidential candidate, ignoring down-ballot candidates,
      • Votes for the winning candidate run through the vote-tabulating machinery multiple times,
      • More people voting in a district than are registered,
      • Coding irregularities in the electronic systems used in some districts that reportedly switched votes cast for the losing candidate to be recorded for the victor.

    This is the stuff of third-world banana republics. If the voting irregularities are not clearly identified and fixed before the off-year election in 2022, our republic may be irretrievably lost. 

    Certainly, the era of two-party politics, as we have known it since the Republic’s beginning, will be damaged or even destroyed.

    ANTI-CHRISTIAN AGENDA

    WHILE THIS GLOOMY assessment of a dark winter coming was based on reaching a total of 10 million American citizens having been diagnosed with Covid, the phrase could serve as watchwords for the draconian specter of intense and overreaching government regulation of nearly every facet of our lives the administration-in-waiting represents.LEGISLATION

    As such, it is a pretext for the new administration’s real agenda

    Headlines tell us that Biden/Harris promise a four-year reign of terror by promoting:

    • Abortion-on-demand  
      • Allowing babies that survived abortion to die naturally
      • Rescinding “freedom of conscience” exceptions allowing health care providers to avoid performing abortions
    • LGBTQ+ “rights” being ratified into law
      • Requiring churches to perform “marriages”
      • Requiring court clerks to issue “marriage” certificates
      • Requiring vendors to support “marriages”
      • Requiring employers and insurers to honor “marriages”
    • Roll-back of religious liberty
      • Stifling freedom of expression
      • Regulation of personal energy use
      • Socialized medicine (Medicare-for-all)
      • Tipping the election machinery to benefit themselves:
          • Eliminating the Senate filibuster
          • Adding 1 or 2 new “states”with assured Democrat Senators
          • Giving amnesty to millions of illegal residents, whose amnesty will be a “gift” from the Democrats
          • Packing the US Supreme Court to ensure a liberal “progressive” majority
          • Opening the borders to increase the flow of illegal immigrants-to-amnesty status
      • Increase in racial tension
      • Harassment and punishment of those working for, and those supporting, the former President.

    DIVIDED_USAIn other words, “everything is on the table,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the Senate’s minority leader, vowed. He said, if his party wins the two Georgia run-off elections on Jan. 5, 2021, Democrats will “change the world.” He later scaled it back to “change America.”

    The phrase “never let a crisis go to waste,” used by many but popularized in the United States by left-wing activist Rahm Emmanuel, is the strategy governing the activities of the incoming Biden-Harris Administration.

    The slang expression this scenario best fits is this: “You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.”

    JESUS IS SOVEREIGN

    DESPITE THIS GRUESOME picture, there is no reason for committed Christians to despair, even in the midst of trials and tribulations, because our Lord Jesus is on the throne. He remains sovereign over all.

    The Book of Revelation tells us that, in the end, Jesus wins, and his children will be victorious along with Him.

    Revelation 15:4 (NKJV): “Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested.”

    Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi also sounded a note of pure optimism and hope:

    Philippians 2:9-11 (NKJV): “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

    J3x.Turning From God-WorshipAs antipathy toward conservatives grows, especially those conservatives who are seen to be Christian, there could be a beneficial outcome to the Christian church, which has become too complacent in modern America. 

    The fissures within denominations over doctrine, and the factions within non-denominational churches, could escalate as Bible-based members separate from the “cultural Christians” among them, just as in the Judgment Day, the wheat will be separated from the weeds. (Matthew 13:24-30)

    In some cases, the casual Christians could “wake up” to the challenges; while in other cases, they would melt away to join their unchurched neighbors. In either case, what is left could be a more vibrant, alive church of Christians committed to their faith. 

    Paul, from a Roman prison, writes: 

    Philippians 1:14 (ESV): “And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”

    The faithful may well find themselves persecuted. What form that might take in the United States is yet to be determined, but, based on recent events, it certainly will entail branding, shaming, doxing, harassing at home or on the street or at restaurants, and even opposition at work.

    Paul tells us: 

    Philippians 1:29 (CSB): “For it has been granted to you on Christ’s behalf not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.”

    We need to stay in prayer (1 These. 5:17) and know that our Savior will be victorious:

    Job 19:25 (NET): “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that as the last he will stand upon the earth.”

    David Schopp, a member of Community Bible Church in Beaufort, SC, characterized our circumstances this way:

    “Right now, we can feel like darkness is closing in all around us. The challenges we are facing just seem to keep coming.  The best way for us to do battle and shine our light in the darkness is on our knees.” — David Schopp, 12-10-2020

    On our knees. Indeed.

    The apostle Paul again:

    Philippians 4:7 (CSB): “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”lone_cross

    ________________

    PRAYER

    OUR HEAVENLY FATHER, we find ourselves in a gruesome situation in the U.S. where an incoming administration may have gamed the system to win the election and then promises to oppose every foundational issue sacred to Christianity. We know You remain sovereign, and we are to pray for their faithfulness to Your design. Strengthen us, O Lord, to be bold in our witness for Christ, even in the midst of harassment and possible persecution. In Jesus’ name we pray. AMEN