Men rise on steppin’-stones of their dead selves to higher things.”
               –Zane Grey  (The Mysterious Rider)

    “Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?”
               –Matthew 6:27 (NLT)
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I have taught adult Sunday School classes various times, and I always start with a study of God.  If we do not understand at least to some degree the Person of God we have no basis for further study.  I have found over the years that not many people actually question God’s existence, but they do wonder and do not understand about His nature.  Truthfully, many do not want to understand the nature of God, for it would force them to recognize who He is and then begin to conform to His image and act accordingly.  When we begin to understand His nature it will determine how we act and even more, who we are.
    Here are three facts about God that we must understand: (see 2 Corinthians 5:18-21)
         1)  God is for us.  He takes a personal interest in us, in all aspects.
         2)  God accepts us.  God’s acceptance does not depend on our performance.  This does not give us an excuse to sin.  God does not overlook our sins for He is holy and righteous.  However, He accepts us because of Christ on the cross.
         3)  God has a purpose for us.  He really doesn’t need us, but He allows us to be part of what He is doing.  We have the privilege of representing Him in this world.
    One aspect in the natural attributes of God is that of His sovereignty.  Sovereignty is one of those things we do not understand nor do we want to understand.  Sovereignty means that God is in charge and that man is not autonomous.  However, it is one of the most vital studies within His nature.  Simply speaking, sovereignty means that God can do what He wants.  Look at these words from David:

                    “Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever.
                     Yours, O Lord, is the greatness,
                     The power and the glory,
                     The victory and the majesty;
                     For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours;
                     Yours is the kingdom, O Lord,
                     And You are exalted as head over all.
                     Both riches and honor come from You,
                     And You reign over all.
                     In Your hand is power and might;
                     In Your hand it is to make great
                     And to give strength to all.”
                                –1 Chronicles 29:10-12 (NKJV)

To close this little devotional note let me leave you with a few things to ponder.  First of all, here is a theological question:  How can man be truly free and responsible and at the same time worship a God who is truly sovereign?
         1)  God is in charge; things don’t just happen.  TRUTH
         2)  We are free and responsible human beings.  TRUTH
         3)  Man wants to make a logical system out of God’s actions.
         4)  God is outside our logic.
I have always believed that whenever God could be understood by our minds that He would cease to be God.  God is so immense and beyond our comprehension.  However, we are to know Him and draw close to Him. 
(Thanks to Stephen Brown for some insight)

He’s a good man. A hard man, a lonely man, but a good man. I think, to use a term the cowhands use about some horses, he’s a stayer. He wouldn’t quit when the going got tough.”
–Louis L’Amour (Where the Long Grass Blows)

“I have chosen to be faithful; I have determined to live by your regulations.”
–Psalm 119:30 (NLT)
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Being in education for 39 years I saw it slowly begin to creep in. I spoke out against it, but to no avail. It was a subtle move, not totally wrong, but within it there is deception. That is the concept of the gods of math, science, and their religion of technology. There is nothing wrong with any of those subjects, but where are they now in the curriculum?
As a teacher and administrator I always pushed for a rigorous academic schedule, but there is a problem when the emphasis becomes math/science. I fully believe that a person with the aptitude for math and science should strive to take the tough courses, for example, calculus. But I do have a problem with calculus or even pre-calculus being required for every students. There are several things that can happen in this area. First, is that there will be a high failure rate, or second, because of the difficulty and the failure rate the tough courses will be “dumbed-down,” so few fail. What happens to those students who struggle with lower math and are thrust into the higher math?
Now, don’t give me the baloney that “another day went by and I didn’t use algebra.” I would venture to say that most days you actually will use algebra along with some geometry. Anytime you are searching for an “unknown” you are using algebra.
Oh, now comes the new cop-out phrase, “I’ll just google it.” If I don’t know it, I simply go to my technology to find the answer. That’s the reason there is no need for social studies. And, come on, what is the purpose of studying some dead guys’ writing? Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, what purpose do they serve–add along to that the Bible?
Here is the deception. Go back to the beginning of our country; the first public school law was the Ole Deluder Satan Act. The act stated that if a village had so many children there had to be a school. The main reason–to learn how to read. Reading is now one of the few things that the modern, enlightened, tech-savvy child want to do. Yet the purpose of knowing how to read is to be able to read the Bible; and the reason the Bible should be read is to understand that the great “Deluder” the great “Deceiver” is Satan. You must know your Bible to fend him off.
One more little rant before leaving you this morning. Where are the life-skills? One of the requirements, when I was an administrator, was that students had to take a course in life skills. Of course, there are now those things called “apps” so who needs to cook, just order something up, or now you can ask “Alexis”.
Oh, my, we’ve come a long way (dare I say–“baby”?).
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Ponder This: “Don’t do nothin’ too much.”

A man who could spare time to inquire deeply into the affairs of others did not have enough to do.”
–Elmer Kelton (The Pumpkin Rollers)

“If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs.”
–1 Peter 4:15 (NLT)
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In years past I have often read of the circuit-riding preachers. Many of them lived unbelieveable lives. One of the most famous, and posssibly the greatest of these circuit-riders was the person responsible for their beginning and administration. Here is an excerpt of his life.

“During his lifetime Francis Asbury was one of the most famous men in America. He once received a letter from England that was addressed to ‘The Rev’d Bishop Asbury, North America.’ The sender knew that someone as wellknown as Asbury could be located.
He did not have a fixed address. In his long career preaching and supervising Methodist churches in America, Asbury traveled 300,000 miles on horseback. His aim was to grow the church, and he did–from about 5,000 Methodists at the time of the American Revolution to more than 200,000 at the end of his life in 1816.
Asbury was born in England in 1745. He joined the Methodists at fourteen. When he showed an eagerness to go to America, Methodist leader John Wesley sent him off. Later Wesley conferred the title ‘superintendent’ on Asbury, although American Methodists referred to him as ‘bishop.’ The title was not important but the willingness to do without home, wife, or any form of earthly comfort was. Asbury’s diary is almost a catalog of health problems, yet he gritted through his ailments, depression, and doubts, not to mention foul weather and sleeping in barns and woodsheds. The circuit-riding preachers he supervised were tough men too, but many married and settled down–they called it ‘locating.’ Asbury himself never married nor even seems to have considered it. God had given him a task. He did it.
…It took men like Asbury–who described himself accurately as ‘steadfast as a wall of brass’–to create and sustain vital communities of faith on the American frontier.
Having preached more than sixteen thousand sermons, Asbury died on March 31, 1816, meeting the God he had served with distinction.”
(taken from The Christian History Devotional by Stephen J. Lang)

I have his diary in an abridged edition somewhere in my books that are packed up. If you want some exciting reading about the dedication of a man of God I would encourage you to read about the life of Francis Asbury.

“Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory.”
–2 Corinthians 4:17
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Ponder This: “When the horse dies, it will do no good to have a committee work out a plan to get the horse back on its feet.”

Being a cowboy meant knowing how to work, how to prepare to work, and how to do the actual work.”
–Bobby Cavazos (The Cowboy From the Wild Horse Desert)

“Whatever you do, do well. For when you go to the grave, there will be no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.”
–Ecclesiastes 9:10 (NLT)
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This day is often referred to as Resurrection Monday. I do not have a problem with that, but that means also that tomorrow will be Resurrection Tuesday and the following day Resurrection Wednesday. Each and every day since that Sunday when Christ came forth from the tomb is actually a resurrection day. Every day for the Christian should be one of resurrection. The old life is gone. It reminds me of the chorus we used to sing based on Romans 8:11.

“If that same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead
Dwell in you, dwell in you,
If that same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead
Dwell in you, dwell in you;
It shall quicken your mortal bodies,
If that Spirit dwell in you,
It shall quicken your mortal bodies,
If that Spirit dwell in you.”

Resurrection Day is everyday for the believer. “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow…and life is worth the living just because He lives!”
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Listen at times to the prayers of people. Most of it is gobbledegook, or bless me, me, me. Folks who really know how to pray impress me. When you can feel the Spirit in their prayers; when you can also feel their spirit linking up with the Spirit of God it is amazing. One thing I have noticed over the years is that those who truly know how to pray are very humble. I recently came across an very good article on prayer by Rev. Bob White and want to share some of it.

“Why not listen to how much you are praying? Much of prayer is not prayer at all. Many times prayer becomes an informing session, telling God what He has overlooked. Prayer can become an instruction session, telling God how He should deal with certain matters. Some prayers are prayed to stir up God where His concern would equal ours…
I want you to notice in the Pharisee’s prayer [Luke 18:10], he contrasts himself with the sins of others which he things are worse… . I believe God wants to meet all our needs as we look to Him to help us and heal us from our self-centeredness. Let’s choose to pray with a humble heart!”
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Ponder This: “A lot of mud holes are deeper than they look.”