When you fear God, it’s the end of fearing man.”
              –Jim Burnett (The Bible and the Badge)

    “He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.  Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”
              –Matthew 28:6 (NKJV)    
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Sometimes I find myself shaking my head at things that are moronic.  I read a couple of days ago about a survey that took place in the United Kingdom.  The results of this survey showed that over half of the “Christians” in the UK do not believe in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Come on!  If they don’t believe in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus they cannot be Christians, for that is the foundational creed of Christianity.  I don’t know about the world in which we live, but I do know…

         “I serve a risen Savior, He’s in the world today;
          I know that He is living, whatever men may say;
          I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer,
          And just the time I need Him He’s always near.”
                   –A.H. Ackley

With all the stupidity that is taking place in the world, the Lord is still there beside me, taking care of me and showing His mercy to me. With all of the problems in the world He still shows mercy toward mankind.  He cares for me, He leads me through the darkest nights and the storms that may come my way.  Right now, I trust in Him to be with me in the situations that may confront me.  Right now, he holds my hand as we walk along this life, but soon, very soon He will come for me.

         “In all the world around me I see His loving care,
          And tho’ my heart grows weary I never will despair;
          I know that He is leading, thro’ all the stormy blast,
          The day of His appearing will come at last.”

Though there are troubles in the world, we, as Christians, those who believe in the risen Lord, should be singing His praise.  Paul implores us to “rejoice, and rejoice some more.”  The world is searching for answers but man has none, however, if they turn to the Lord He will give them hope.  In the midst of the world’s jeering and mockery, He looks for me to praise Him.  What else can I do, for He is “so loving, so good and kind.”

         “Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian, lift up your voice and sing
          Eternal hallelujahs to Jesus Christ the King!
          The Hope of all who seek Him, the Help of all your find,
          None other is so loving, so good and kind.”

A person is not a Christian unless he believes in the crucifixion and the resurrection.  There must be that genuine born-again experience.  One that changes the hearts and allows Jesus to reign and live there.  An experience that cannot be taken away.  He is risen!  He is risen and because of the defeat of death, hell, and the grave I have the hope that He will walk with me all the way to Glory.

                        “He lives, He live, Christ Jesus lives today!
                         He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.
                         He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
                         You ask me how I know He lives?
                         He lives within my heart.”

That was final proof of the strength of nature to soothe, to clarify, to stabalize the tired and weary and upward-gazing soul.  Stronger than the recorded deeds of saints, stronger than the eloquence of the gifted uplifters of men, stronger than any words ever written, was the grand, brooding, sculptured aspect of nature.  And it must have been so because thousands of years before the age of saints or preachers—before the fret and symbol and figure were cut in stone—man must have watched with thought-developing sight the wonders of the earth, the monuments of time, the glooming of the dark-blue sea, the handiwork of God.”
              –Zane Grey  (The Call of the Canyon)

    “He answered, ‘I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out!'”
              –Luke 19:40 (HCSB)
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Listen!  Listen to the sound!  My mercy, the roar is amazing–that is the sound of nature in praise to its Creator.  This is not any New Age jibber jabber, mumble-jumbo, or codswallop.  Sit near the sea and listen to the roar of the waves.  Go to the forest, sit down on the cool earth and listen to the babbling of the book.  Lean against a rock in the high mountains feeling the crisp, clean air and look at the windswept peaks.  Watch the lilies bloom, the hawk screech, the wolf wail.  A person just cannot get away from the glory of God.  
    I have often stood amazed wondering in His presence in the midst of His great cathedral.  From the painted sands of the desert to the high lonesome to the deep canyons and gorges all declare His majesty.  In His glorious craftsmanship the silence of His work sends a symphony proclaiming that He is God!  You must take time to ponder and meditate on this portion of Scripture, Psalm 19:1-6 (HCSB).  In fact, see how nature reacts during the crucifixion.

    1 – The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands.
    2 – Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge.
    3 – There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard.
    4 – Their message has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.  In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun.
    5 – It is like a groom coming from the bridal chamber; it rejoices like an athlete running a course.
    6 – It rises from one end of the heavens and circles to their other end; nothing is hidden from its heat.

Someone has said that “the silence of the skies is deafening.”  That is unless you get caught in one of those high country lightning and thunder storms.  There the majesty and power of God is clearly evident.  The skies, the heavens are there to remind us of the majesty of God.  It’s a shame that the true meaning of the rainbow has been lost upon many people.  Another thing that evil has tried to diminish and drag in the muck and mire, but the rainbow–the sign of the promise of God that He would never destroy the earth again by water.  When you look at a rainbow what do you think of?  Lepracauns and buckets of gold, or the treasure of God’s promise?
    It is important to remember, and this is vital or you could get stumbles with the jibberish of the Cosmic Humanist, that man does not see God by looking at the sky or in other places in nature.  He only sees the glory of God.  God is not nature; it is a creation of His Word, “let there be…”. The Old Testament word for “glory” is the outward “clothing” of God.  It did not hide or cover His “being,” rather it “revealed” His actions.  My, my, what a God!!  This is why Paul could declare, “For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20, HCSB)
    No matter what happens, the heavens are there to remind us of God.  There is a story where a leader of the French Revolution, Jean Bon St. Andre said to a peasant, “I will have all your steeples pulled down, so you will not be reminded any more of your old religion.”  One of the goals of the French Revolution was to rid the country of Christianity.  The peasant was said to reply, “But you cannot help leaving us the stars.”  The heavens are always there; the stars, the moon, and the sun.  They will always be there to tell us of His glory.

                   “The unwearied sun, from day to day
                    Does His Creator’s powers display,
                    And published to every land
                    The work of an Almighty hand.”
                          –Joseph Addison
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Today in the Texas Revolution:  Santa Anna and his army arrive at Harrisburg.

Daughter, wish you’d come pull off my boots.”
              –Ernest Haycox  (The Border Legion)

    “Fathers, don’t over-correct your children or make it difficult for them to obey the commandment. Bring them up with Christian teaching in Christian discipline.”
              –Ephesians 6:4 (Phillips)
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She almost made it; well, at least it’s Friday.  It was 45 years ago, my mercy! on Good Friday, that a blonde, no not quite right, bald-headed, blue-eyed little girl was sent by the Lord to brighten up our lives.  I was stationed at the USAF Academy when Shauna entered our lives.  What memories I have!  In fact, we were talking the other day about her first birthday.  We had a little party with her cousins, Carrie and Sherrie who were born on the 10th several years before.  Shauna was laughing and making a mess.  He was enjoying her ice cream, (ahem with her hands) and then started crying because her hands had become cold.  
    The years rolled on.  A move, another move, another…  Now, she is actively working in the children’s ministry of her church in Maryland.  Once in a while I was told that I was too hard on them, but I couldn’t be more proud to know that they love the Lord and are serving Him faithfully–Shauna and Kimberly both!  To me, that is the purpose of life–to make sure they are properly trained and on their way to heaven.
    HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
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    Here is a lesson I tried to instill in them.  Today, more than ever, there is so much out there that is fake; we are surrounded by superficiality.  There is very little common sense, and stupidity and evil are beginning to reign.  We are confronted on every hand by something external, yet the Bible teaches that the most important part of man is internal.  “The heart is the mainspring of our being.  It is the center that controls our thinking, feeling, and desire.  It is the secret chamber that controls our whole life.” (Ralph Heynen)
    Courage, honesty, integrity, love, and other virtues flow from the inner self and express themselves in our conduct.  Fear, hostility, hate are also born there.  We must guard the gates of the heart so that the evil desires and longings may not rise up to hurt us. That is part of the purpose of proper training and discipline. 
    Heynen, continues to say, “To truly guard the citadel of our inner selves, we must encourage that which is good and lovely, honorable and clean.  We must bring ourselves under the control of noble ideals, of uplifting thoughts, and of motives that lead to confident and courageous living.  When we allow fears and hostilities to fester in our hearts, our lives will be colored by them.”  (cf., Philippians 4:8)
    It is what we are that counts.  When Jesus touched a person, He would often give them some kind of admonition, such as, “Go and sin no more,” or “Take up your bed and walk.”  Never once did He say, “stay the way you were.”  Change takes place and then comes our part as we grow in the Lord, to discipline that change, to train our hearts, minds, and bodies.  When we are being trained by the Holy Spirit, and that includes others in our lives and our own work, then when we find a time we need Him we will be able to find Him easily for He is already working and living in our hearts.
    David pleaded with the Lord that He would create in him a clean heart.  We need the Lord to continue to work in us–training is never over.
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Today in the Texas Revolution:  David Burnet and cabinet barely escape the arriving Mexican army.  Santa Anna crosses Fort Bend on the Brazos River.  

Vigilance was the price of life.”
              –Louis L’Amour  (The Rider of Lost Creek)

    “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
              –Luke 21:28 (NASB)
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We have lost our vigilance!  We are in the process of being duped!  Lies, lies, lies, who can be trusted?  Friend, you better know and continue steadfastly in the Word of God for the days are coming where you are going to be forced to make a choice.  Choices are made every day, but we are not often vigilant in our choices; we go traipsing off singing some kind of song and what may be will be.  
    Look around you!  You are in a wilderness, or will be.  The wilderness will force you to make choices.  The choices you make could mean life or death:  physical or spiritual.  The choices will determine whether you live or die, surrender or survive.  It may be of a physical nature if you are truly in the wilderness environment, or it may be of a spiritual nature in which case your eternal soul is at stake.  Seek, search, be vigilant, find solitude, stay alert and if the midst of the wilderness, you will find God–if you make the right choice.

         “So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea.  And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.”
                   –Exodus 13:18 (NKJV)

    Notice that they went “by way of the wilderness”!  This is not some aimless wandering.  Oh, some of the people might have thought so, especially with all of the murmuring and complaining we see, but when God leads, it is never aimless.  He has a particular purpose in mind.  Also notice, not only are they in the wilderness, but they are now stopped by a great obstacle in their path.  In your wanderings you may think, “What in the world is going on?” and if anything could get worse–it does.  You are trying to find yourself; trying to find God.  Then smack dab in the face of your travels and searching there is an overwhelming barrier to cross.
    Often we wander in the wilderness, not realizing that it is God who is doing the guiding.  This presents a couple of the greatest dangers of the wilderness–making our choices and not listening to Him, and not recognizing His guidance.  The obstacle looms–make a choice–go back, quit, swim, fight, surrender, turn to the left or the right, or listen to God.  We want to strike out on our own, do something on our own, or murmur that it was better back from whence we came.

         “Then they said to Moses, ‘Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?  Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt?'”
                   –Exodus 14:11 (NKJV)

    This is a great danger–forgetting the guiding hand of the Lord, and being deceived by falsehoods.  First, the people bought into a lie.  No graves in Egypt?  The bones were drying up in the sand of Gaza.  This was a direct slap in the face of Moses, God’s chosen leader, and therefore, a slap in the very face of God.  Oh, how many times have people rebelled against their guide after they are in the wilderness and then who will they turn to?  False, pseudo-leaders, who say they know the way, but would actually guide them out into the wasteland to their death.
    There are two interesting facts that are brought to light and are very true of people who are wandering through a spiritual wasteland.  Where they find themselves after making the choice in these two facts will determine their destiny.
         1)  People often turn against the leadership when they find themselves in the wilderness.
         2)  People often prefer slavery to the world rather than the struggle they will find in the wilderness with God.
How will you choose?