Category: Solve Church Problems

by: Dr. Bob Gray Sr.

Judges 7:2, “And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.”

Have you like me ever noticed the testimony of the giants of the faith? They were born in poverty, dad an alcoholic, and mom the spiritual leader, struggled in their youth, or a tragedy early in their lives. I do not know of a great man of God who has built something for God who was born into wealth with a silver spoon in his mouth.

Get the picture! Gideon was chosen by God to lead the people of God against the Midianites. He called for a volunteer army and 32,000 men showed up. We read how God responded to this by saying that He would give the victory in Judges 7:2.

The main thing in this story is this, too many men, too much strength, too much prowess, too much ability, and God said to them you are not going to win the battle with those 32,000 men with their strength, their prowess, and their ability. God then instructed them to trim it down to 300. God is saying you have too much strength to win and you must become weak to win. God is saying I must get you where you will start depending on me again.

The truth is, an army of 300 men going to war would have to depend on God. These 32,000 men did not need God, but those 300 did. The reason a lot of people are never used in roles of leadership by God is because they have too much going for them. Young people do not become too excited about your pretty face or your handsome looks because it does not impress God at all. Do not become too wrapped up with your youthful figures young ladies. It won’t help you at all in God’s work. After nineteen children, I bet Susanna Wesley did not have much of a girlish figure left. There is nothing as ugly as a female who has a pretty face and knows it. There is nothing as ugly as a handsome male and he knows it. Sometimes God has to trim a man down to size so God can give the victory, and other times He chooses the base and foolish, the inadequate, and the weak in order to give the victory.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29, “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But 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; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.”

God is saying, I cannot give wisdom to those who are wise, but I can give wisdom to a foolish man. That is why we need Bible college students to be under a local church attending their services rather than attending vesper services, Shakespearean theatre and Art Museums on campus.

Zechariah 4:6 says, “…Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.” It is not by looks, nor by intellect, nor by talent, nor by genius, nor by ability, nor by heritage, nor by a deep mind, nor by personality, but by my Spirit saith the Lord. God is saying to us, “I have to do one of two things…

• Trim down to size those who have it all so I can use them.
• Build up the base, the foolish, and the weak so I can use them.

Some of you reading this article have too much going for you and some of you have nothing going for you. God wants to use both of you. How in the world will God do his work?

God allows us to fail, sometimes.

Why would God allow that? The reason is so that we will throw ourselves at God’s feet and beg for His help when we fail. God said, “I will bless the weak and not the strong. If you are strong you will have to become weak.” God wants to cause you to become strong with his strength. If one is weak, all they have to do is yield themselves to God.

Sometimes God allows the strong to fail. I can preach a sermon around the country and feel like I just touched Heaven and then next time feel like an absolute flop. God wants you and I to empty ourselves and become a nobody, base, foolish, and weak. God wants us to trim ourselves of our own wisdom, intellect, knowledge, abilities, talent; human might, and fall down at the feet of Jesus begging for His help while baring our soul to him. God then can use that person.

32,000 men are too many, God says. 20,000 is too many, 10,000 is too many, and Gideon is down to 300 with God giving the victory. That is what God did with a Tom Malone, John R. Rice, Carl Hatch, Curtis Hutson, Lee Roberson, Jack Hyles, Kevin Wynn, Rick Martin, Hugh Pyle, and Billy Sunday. Great God…little me! That is the formula.

John the Baptist said, “He must increase and I must decrease.” Sometimes, God comes along and says you have too much going for you. Sometimes, God comes along and allows us to be born into poverty, a broken home, or a financial struggle. Why, because God wants us to see that we cannot do it without Him.

God sometimes says, I want to use a certain man but he is too smart, too talented, too much of a Mr. Personality or a pretty boy type. God says, I believe I could use this girl, but she is too pretty or too stuck on herself.

Sometimes God chooses the one who sins.

Why, because he is base, weak, and a nothing to the world, vulnerable and he needs God. There is no one who has sinned whom God cannot use.

Jesus was at the head of the table and the twelve were sitting around it. Our Lord said, “Someone sitting at this table is going to deny me.” Peter said, “Not me Lord! It may be John, but it will never be me. Maybe Thomas, or Philip or James will deny you, but not me.” However, God had a Pentecost for Peter to preach and a local church for him to pastor. God had a world for Peter to reach so God said, “I’ve got to get that pharisaical attitude out of him. Peter you have too much going for you.”

God waited for Peter to fall in order to pick him back up. Peter was too much of a leader, public speaker and too talented for God to use. There is no doubt about his having too much going for him. There was no leader like Peter. God allowed him to fall so He could pick him back up to be used to preach on the day of Pentecost, pastor a church and reach the known world.

God seems to never choose the obvious one or the one man would choose. God is going to choose someone who’s not so smart, talented, strong or attractive, that way He will receive the glory. God is saying to the high and mighty to come down from your high horse. God is saying to the down and out to come and trust Me and let Me use you to confound the high and mighty. Hey, Mr. Pharisee, come down off your high horse. Hey, you who are down and some have counted you out, rise up and trust God to use you.

Peter cussed, denied the Lord, denied his faith, denied his church, denied his brethren and ran with the wrong crowd. Peter had too much going for him, but now he is down and out so God can finally use him.

Gideon had too much going for him with 32,000, or 20,000 or 10,000, but 300 was just right, not for Gideon, but just right for God.

Sometimes God chooses to use those who are afflicted.

Sometimes God chooses to use those who fail, sin or are living in affliction. The Apostle Paul had a thorn in the flesh. Charles Spurgeon and his dear wife had fifteen years of physical affliction, yet the Christian world has never forgotten what God did with them.

Russell Anderson was born in Kentucky, raised in poverty, worked in the coal mines as a teen and was a wild youth, yet God saved him and used him to give 35 million dollars to God’s work while making him a multi-millionaire. Jack Hyles was born in poverty, alcoholic dad, and single mother, raised in poverty, most unlikely to be called to preach in his church, and later kicked out of his own Baptist denomination. Dr. Lee Roberson for one long year could not preach because of vocal chord problems, yet he ran 10,000 in attendance while baptizing a 1,000 converts that same year. Dr. John R. Rice anointed him with oil and God gave his voice back to him.

God allowed affliction to come to Evangelist Joe Boy in his 90’s, yet he had some of his greatest campaigns in his later years. Evangelist Lester Roloff had such a severe boil problem that he would have to sit in a hot tub for hours to get any relief. He became one of the greatest examples of living by faith the world has ever known.

God chooses to use the unknown.

God is not interested in using the most popular one, He is interested in using the one whom nobody notices. God uses a David working it the field caring for his dad’s sheep, a zealot like Saul of Tarsus, a fisherman like Peter, an orphan like Moses, a second-man like Joshua, a woman like Deborah, a maiden like Mary, sisters like Mary and Martha, a brother by the name of Lazarus, a young captive like Joseph, a little lad with his lunch, a man by the name of John who was exiled on the isle of Patmos, or a young preacher by the name of Timothy. God is looking for the one who is unknown so that He may make him known for God’s glory.

Dr. Bro Gray Sr.
http://solvechurchproblems.com

by: Dr. Bob Gray Sr.

Galatians 5:22, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.” 

Unfortunately, we know absolutely nothing about most of the ingredients of the fruit of the Spirit. If it appeals to our senses we will indulge in it or give it a chance, but if it requires sacrifice on our part then forget it! This is an “instant coffee” kind of generation. This is an “instant tea” kind of generation. Most Christians do not know what real love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness or temperance is!

1 John 3:17, “But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” God is saying here the love of God does not “dwell” in this man. If you have goods and see that your brother hath need and you do not do anything about it, even though you say you have love, the truth is you do not!

1 John 4:9, “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” Love is a fruit and not a root! 1 John 4:10, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

1 John 5:3, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” It does not say that we should tingle on the inside, it says, “…keep his commandments…” Love is a fruit and not a root! Love that is not seen is not love.

One year, for Christmas, I bought Mrs. Gray a bread maker. During the Christmas holidays, I had a bronchial infection and the doctor gave me a shot, some pills and sent me to bed. That was hard to do! So, I read my Bible, ate, read my Bible, ate, read my Bible and ate. You get the picture. One morning I was sitting at the table reading Galatians chapter five, and watching Mrs. Gray put together a gooey looking mixture. I asked her what it was and she said, “It will be a loaf of bread when it comes out of the new bread maker.” I thought to myself, “Wow, that’s it!” It is not really bread until it comes out and that is why God calls it the fruit of the Spirit. It is not really “love” until it comes out. It is not really love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness or temperance until it comes out.

That is what 1 John 3:17; 4:9-10; 5:3 is saying! Bread is not bread until it comes out of the bread maker. When it comes out of the bread maker then you can enjoy the loaf of bread. Someone says, “Down inside he has a heart of love!” NO! He may have the ingredients of love, but it is not love until it comes out!

Love is a verb! Love cannot dwell! Love only becomes a noun, after it has first become a verb. You love and then you can have love. You do not have love and then love. Love cannot dwell! To be love, it must have an object. Love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, is not love until it is expressed.

A husband says, “I think she loves me but she doesn’t express it.” No, she does not love you until she expresses it! You say, “Preacher I love him. I just don’t tell him.” No, you don’t love him until you tell him that you love him. “But I have love for him!” No, you cannot HAVE love, you can only GIVE love! Again it is not bread until it comes out of the bread maker and it is not love until it comes out. It is a fruit and not a root!

Some husband thinks he has merit because he has love in his heart for his wife. No! You cannot HAVE love; it is not love until it comes out of the love maker. It was not bread in that machine.  It was bread when it came out of the bread maker and coming out of the machine is what made it bread! It is not love until it comes out! You cannot HAVE love in your heart. You can have the ingredients, but that is not love.

When you were a child, did you ever talk your mama into letting you eat the cake batter? Nothing tastes any better or will make you sicker any quicker than cake batter or cookie dough. Vanilla extract smells so good, but when you taste it the extract tastes horrible. It is what comes out that is good for you and what is good for others. Love is not love until it is told! If you don’t say, “I love you,” it is not really love. It is not love until it comes out. It becomes love when it is expressed!

In my 42 years of ministry, as of this writing, I have counseled thousands of people. In my counseling, it always amazed me that people would brag about being an icebox in their marriage. One person said, “Well I’m just not the affectionate type!” If that were true, I dead sure wouldn’t brag about being backslidden! But preacher, I’m a real he-man and he-men don’t get emotional!” Oh yes, real men do become emotional! Real men do show love! Real men do express love! Real men tell of their love!

It is absolutely impossible for one to possess love and not want to express it. It is only love when it is professed, and not possessed, and that happens when it comes out of the love maker! “Preacher my mind is filled with love!” No, it isn’t! Pay attention to this; “I love you” is impossible. Loving you is possible! It is not love until it comes out of the love maker. “But preacher that is mushy stuff!” WOW, now you are catching on! There is no such thing as an “un-mushy” love! It should be “gooey” like the bread dough. The expressing of it, and the telling of it, is what makes it so special, just like a hot loaf of bread!

Love cannot become a noun, until it first becomes a verb! It must come out of the machine before it is bread! It is not bread in the machine and it is not love in the heart. It is bread when it comes out of the machine and it is love when it comes out of the heart! The coming out is what makes it bread and the coming out is what makes it love! “But preacher I’m not the affectionate type.” There is another option here. You could get right with God and become the affectionate type!

One lady said to me, “I’m sorry, but I don’t feel it down inside.” Quit making excuses, you simply do not want to express it! If you really felt love on the inside, it would soon pop out on the outside. It is too powerful of an emotion to be kept inside! The expressing of it is the loving. It is the fruit, not a root!

Another person said, “Well my mother wasn’t very loving and never showed much affection!” That is nothing more than a cop-out for you not to express your love. Let me see if I understand what you are saying. If your mother or daddy did, or did not show affection, then you are supposed to do the same. That is insane! You have been listening to Oprah, Dr. Phil, and Dr. Laura too much. You ought to spend more time listening to Dr. Jesus and realize you are accountable for yourself. Your father is not accountable for you. Your mother is not accountable for you. Your grandparents are not accountable for you. You will give an account of yourself to God! (Romans 14:12)

If you are not loving, it is because you have chosen not to be loving. The ingredients are there, but it is not love until it comes out of the love-maker. Love is an expression! Love is a verb! 1 John 4:10, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” The Scripture does not say that God felt love toward us. It says that He “sent” his Son. God gave His only begotten Son for payment of our sins. The giving of His Son was not an expression of His love, it WAS love.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, etc. That which comes out of the ground is fruit. It is not fruit when it is in the ground. Love is a fruit not a root! Joy is a fruit not a root! Peace is a fruit not a root! This is a deep statement. Read it carefully! If you cannot see it, it is not there! You don’t go root picking! You go fruit picking! The fruit of the Spirit is that which is seen and not that which is unseen. From the root comes the sprout, from the sprout comes the fruit, and it is the fruit that is life giving and not the root.

It does not matter if you think you have love down in your heart. It is not love until it comes out of your heart. It matters not if you have peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, or temperance because it is a fruit not a root! “But preacher, I do feel love for my wife!” (No, love is the loving because love is a verb!) The wife in defense of her husband said, “He loves me, but he just doesn’t show it.” No, he doesn’t love until it comes out. Love is the showing! When I talk about love, I am not talking about hugging only. I am talking about expressing it!

SUMMARY

·      You do not have the fruit you give the fruit.

·      Fruit is meant to be consumed by others.

·      Fruit is for others and not the tree.

·      The tree is at its healthiest when giving fruit.

Dr. Bob Gray Sr.
http://solvechurchproblems.com

by: Dr. Bob Gray Sr.

Genesis 9:23, “And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.”

This is an ugly scene! This is a terrible scene! Picture the man who for 120 years had built an Ark, the man who was called the preacher of righteousness, the man who found grace in the eyes and sight of the Lord, the only man whose family was saved from judgment in the flood, a man who never wavered for 120 years, and a man who believed God when it had never rained before and preached that there was going to be a flood! What a man!

He is now with a sordid and ugly scene happening in his life. This wonderful man is found drunk. It is so easy after a great victory to stumble. Check the Scriptures and you will see it. It was right after the great victory on Mount Carmel that Elijah became scared and ran in a backslidden state. It was after the great victory where we find Job, who had stood the test, becoming proud and God had to bring him back down to his knees. It was right after the great revival in Nineveh when Jonah backslid and began to pout.

Now the victory is over and the flood is over and we find Noah in this awful gory scene, as he is drunk naked inside of his tent. Yet, there is a beautiful and decent little golden thread that runs through this story, something that you will not see unless someone calls it to your attention.

Here is Ham! He goes inside the tent and there is this awful sordid picture. May I divert just for a moment and address the modern psychologists who insist that parents bathe with their children and say they are nuts! My Bible says that a child is not supposed to see the nakedness of his parents.

Ham goes in and sees the nakedness of his father. He goes out and says to his two brothers, Shem and Japheth, that dad is in the tent drunk and naked. Shem and Japheth don’t want to see the nakedness of their father. They know he is in the tent naked, but they do not want to see it. So, they take a garment and go backwards into the tent to place that garment over their father.

Think about this! They knew their dad was not perfect, but they did not want to see the imperfection of their dad. These boys did not have the Scriptures, the written Word, Genesis, Deuteronomy, Numbers, or Leviticus where God taught they were not to see the nakedness of their parents.

They knew their father was not perfect. They knew their father was a sinner, drunk, and naked in that tent, but they did not want to see it even though they knew it was true. Anyone who is over you is there because God placed them there in your life, and if you are not careful you will miss the fact that God put them there and you will end up excusing your rebellion because of their imperfection. Here are some sons who said, “We know it’s true, but we don’t want to see it.”

I had the wonderful honor of preaching with Dr. Jack Hyles at least once a month for 22 years. Wait a minute, I knew he was not perfect because he was a human being like me, but I did not want to see his imperfection. I needed a hero. You need a hero. I knew he had weaknesses, but I did not want to see them. I knew he had sins, but I did not want to see them. I refused to allow myself to get that close.

Most divorces are caused because there is no mystique between husbands and wives anymore. Ladies, dress up for your husband like you would for guests in your home. Most church splits are caused because people become too close to each other. They begin to see all the warts. They see all the imperfections. They see all of the sins and here comes trouble in that church.

If you become too close to a staff member, let me tell you what you will find! As it is written, he is not righteous, he does not understand, and he does not seek after God. Let me tell you what you will find if you get too close to anyone. Romans 3:10-18 describes what you will find. Paul is speaking here about the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews thought they were better than the Gentiles. The Apostle Paul is saying you are no better than the Gentiles. He describes every human in these verses. This is the biography of Dr. Jack Hyles, Dr. John R. Rice, Dr. Curtis Hutson, Dr. B. R. Lakin, Dr. Lee Roberson and the Dr. Tom Malone’s of this world.

We have lost our mystique! You are going to find that your wife has the poison of asps under her lips, she is unprofitable, a throat that’s an open sepulcher, a tongue that uses deceit, her mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, her feet are swift to shed blood, and wives who become too close to their husbands will find the same thing out about them.

Let me see the beautiful forests, but do not let me become too close to see the knots, broken branches, dead branches, serpents, insects or the spiders. Let me stay at a distance and see the autumn time as the forest puts her coat of many colors on like Joseph of old. Let me step back and see it! Don’t let me become too close to see the diseased and dying tree. These two boys said, “We know daddy is a sinner, but we do not want to be reminded that daddy is a sinner.”

Tell me of Peter’s sermon on Pentecost, the 3,000 souls saved and baptized. Tell me of Peter saying in Matthew chapter 16 when Jesus asked, “Whom say ye that I am?” and Peter rose to his eloquence and replied, “Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God.” Tell me about Peter when he saw 3,000 saved. Tell me about Peter when he was crucified upside down. Tell me about that, but don’t let me get so close that I see him cursing and denying the Lord. Don’t major on that!

Tell me about David defeating Goliath, taking his own hands and killing a bear and a lion. Tell me about David who was forgiving Shimei for hurling stones at him and cursing him. Tell me about David when he knew that King Saul was attempting to kill him and he found Saul at the opening of his cave. He pulled his sword out of its sheath and could have pierced the heart of Saul, but he did not do it. Tell me about David when he wrote, “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.” Tell me about David when he wrote the Psalms. Tell me about David when he was so happy when the Ark came back, but don’t tell me and don’t major on what happened with Bathsheba and Uriah. Please allow me to go backwards and place the garment over the Bathsheba and Uriah incident. I know he did it, but I don’t want to see it. I want to think about David with the slingshot and the felling of the giant.

Tell me about Moses going to Pharaoh and telling him, “Let my people go…” Tell me about Moses coming to the people and explaining to them the Passover Lamb. Tell me about Moses when he led those people out of Egypt. Tell me about Moses when he took the rod and smote the waters of the Red Sea and they parted. Tell me about Moses when he walked over and led the Israelites over on dry ground with those waters being parted by God Himself. Tell me about Moses when he prayed to God and was given manna from Heaven. Tell me about Moses when he smote the water in Horeb and water gushed out to give water to three million plus Jews for forty years. Tell me about Moses who led three plus million Jews for forty years in the wilderness. Tell me about the great Moses who followed the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.

However, please let me back up and cover that which caused Moses to have to go to Mount Nebo. Please let me back up and cover up that which caused Moses not to be able to go into the Promised Land.

Ladies and gentlemen, the reason we do not have any heroes today is because we are more interested in publishing weaknesses rather than strengths. Our society of Christians, as well as our societies in America, needs the assets of leaders and less talk about their liabilities. Don’t tell me what happened at Mount Nebo. I don’t want to know!

Please tell me about John Marks’ book, the Gospel of Mark. Please tell me about how he went to Paul when he was in prison in the last days of Paul’s life, when Demas left John Mark stayed beside Paul. Don’t magnify what happened at Pamphylia. I don’t want to hear what caused him to go back home. I’m going to back up with a garment and cover it up because I don’t want to know. Let God take care of the punishment and let me not see it. Too close!

Tell me about Abraham leaving the Ur of the Chaldees. Tell me about Abraham and Sarah packing up and leaving their home, neighborhood, town, with no car, train or bus, and no airplanes to follow God by faith. Tell me about Abraham and Sarah’s faith. Tell me about Abraham going up to Mount Moriah after a three-day journey when he put his own son Isaac on an altar, but please don’t tell me and please don’t major on what happened in Egypt. I want to back up and put the cover over Abraham like Shem and Japheth did for their father. Please do not tell me what happened with Abraham in his backslidden state.

There is not a man or woman reading this article who can withstand close scrutiny. None of us have a right to look down on someone else, and when we become too close we expose our critical minds too destroy relationships that ought to be a blessing instead of a curse. Every one has their own pet convictions that nobody else has, but that does not make you any better of a person than those who do not hold to your convictions. The poison of asps is still under your lips and with your tongue you have used deceit. Your heart is desperately wicked. No sinner has a right to sit in judgment on another sinner! Romans chapter 3 describes you as well as me.

Tell me about John leaning on Jesus’ chest, being in the inner circle, being the disciple whom Jesus loved, going with Jesus to the Mount of Transfiguration, standing by Jesus while others forsook him and fled. Tell me about John being one of those who turned the world upside down for God, but don’t tell me about what happened when his mother wanted him to have seats at the right hand of God the Father. I want to back up and cover it up! Please don’t major on the bad qualities. Major on the good qualities.

Shem and Japheth were not covering up sin. That is impossible to do. They knew he was a sinner and that he had sinned, but they did not want to see it! He’s still was dad! He still was their father! He still had a life to live! They knew he was not perfect, but they did not want to see it!

That is why couples end up in divorce court. That is why churches split. That is why preachers leave churches. That is why church members keep changing churches. That is why churches keep changing pastors. If you do not watch it, someone will end up doing to you what you are doing to others.

Tell me about the 120 years of preaching and building! Please do not misunderstand me, Noah was wrong. He should not have gotten drunk. He should not have been naked, but how about the 120 years of preaching and building. Think about it! Who is hurt the most over this drunkenness and nakedness? Noah who did it or those who talk about it? It was Noah and his family who paid the price. Why ruin your life by not learning from the 120 years of preaching and building? How about looking at the whole picture.

Pause for minute and consider this, if Noah had been drunk for 120 years his sons would not have tried to back up and cover up his nakedness. The fact that they were shocked and did what they did was because of 120 years of serving God faithfully. Tell me about Noah a preacher of righteousness. Tell me about Noah who was blessed of God and found grace in the sight of God, but don’t let me see his naked body lying drunk in the tent.

Tell me about Lester Roloff’s walk with God, his faith, the battle for troubled children, and going to jail for fallen young people, but don’t tell me his faults. I don’t want to know! I didn’t want to get too close!

Tell me about Dr. John Rice and his great prayer life and the Sword of the Lord paper. Tell me about his books that sold millions and his influence on preachers around America. Tell me about Dr. Rice and his bringing back revivals to America. Tell me about his emphasis on the doctrine of the fullness of the Holy Spirit to Baptist churches. Tell me about his bringing the prayer closet back to America, but don’t tell me his weaknesses. I do not want to see them. I know they are there, but I don’t want to see them.

Tell me about Dr. Bob Jones Sr. and his great campaigns, his wisdom and his citywide campaigns, but don’t tell me about his weaknesses. I know he had them, but don’t tell me about them.

You are married to the love of your life and then you become too close to her. You have a new pastor and then you become too close to him. You have a friend and then you become too close to them. You have a child and become too close to the child. Don’t tell me about my daddy’s failures. Don’t tell me about my mama’s weaknesses.

THINGS TO DO

• Realize people were human before you noticed their humanity.
• Do not be shocked by what people do.
• Be close to every one and not too close to any one.
• Be quick too forgive.
• When you find yourself becoming critical realize it is because you are getting too close.
• Focus on the assets of people and not their liabilities.
• Pray for those involved in your world.
• Let the mind of Christ rule your mind.

Dr. Bob Gray Sr.
http://solvechurchproblems.com

by: Dr. Bob Gray Sr.

Genesis 3:1-4, “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”

“And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:”

“But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”

“And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:”

In verse 1 it says, “the serpent said” and in verse 3 it says, “God hath said” and in verse 4 it says, “And the serpent said.” Now we see the battle for man’s soul!

God made Adam and from his wounded side he took the rib and made his wife Eve. God had prepared wonderfully for Adam. God had given Adam and Eve taste and then provided delicious food for Adam and Eve to eat. God never creates an appetite in man without giving him the fulfillment of that appetite. No matter where around the world you may go, mankind is always talking about a Heaven of some kind or a supreme being. If God has placed in man a desire for a Heaven, then God must also provide a Heaven for man to choose to go.

God had given Adam and Eve sight while providing beauty for them to see with that sight. God gave them hearing while providing the singing of the birds for their hearing pleasure. God gave them love and provide someone to love. God gave them a desire to love and then gave them His love with the love of a mate as well. He gave them thirst while providing refreshing waters for them. He gave them speech while providing someone to whom they could converse.

God provided the sun, moon, stars, lakes, rivers, streams, the rose, the lilac, the magnolia, the daffodil, the palm trees, the orange, the apple, the pear, the corn, wheat, barley, the Earth, heavens, and the seas. All of these things God provided for man, and by the way, all of these things were there when man arrived on the scene. All of these preparations God had performed for man. God gave man dominion over it all. God put all things under man’s feet. God made man a little lower than the angels. All of these things our great God did for man along with many other things.

I have just listed three types of water, three types of flowers, three types of trees, three types of fruit, and three of each. God had provided all of these marvelous things for man.

God put all things under man’s feet. God made Adam and Eve a little lower than the angels. God gave them fellowship with Himself.

The lion and the bear obeyed man. The deer and the peacock entertained them. The nightingale serenaded them. It was a wondrous Eden splendor. All of this God made just for Adam and Eve.

Every tree was pleasant to their eyes. Rivers flowed peaceably in verdant valleys. Every sound was a melody. Every scene was a delight. There was no war to disturb the heart, sickness to cause the fear of death, no leaf ever withered, no wind ever chilled, no perspiration ever moistened the brow.

WOW, isn’t God wonderful to man! All of these things God prepared for man. There was no profanity to curse the ear, no weariness, no heat, no sleet storms, no cold, no blossoms were smitten by a tempest, no withering frost chilled the rose, no sorrow of guilt clouded the mind, and no need to weep or sigh.

It was wonderful! These were just some of the preparations God made and did for man. Please note this carefully, for suddenly another appears. He was attractive but he had done nothing for man but talk! NOTHING! Not one single thing did he do for man! He was just attractive and that was all. He had not done one single thing for man. Adam and Eve now find themselves having to choose. They have a choice of whom to listen to and follow.

Genesis 1:1-4 it says, “the serpent said,” then it says, “And God said…” Once again we see where it records again “the serpent said…” with a follow up of “God said.”

Man has a choice to believe the one who has done nothing for them or the One Who had done everything for them. One who had not given them one bit of enjoyment or pleasure verses the One Who had provided the sun, the moon, the stars, the fruit, the vegetables, the lakes, the hills, the mountains, and all of these wonderful things that man enjoys. All of this was placed for the pleasure of man, and all of them under man’s feet, by a great Omnipotent, Eternal God, Who had done every thing for man.

Then enters this attractive personage who had done nothing for man. They choose to believe and obey the one who had done not one blooming’ thing! All he has is his attractiveness! Adam and Eve, what is your answer to whom you will follow?

They chose the one who had never given them a drop of water, or air to breathe, or the sun by day, or the moon by night, or the stars to light the sky. They chose the one who had never done one single thing over the One Who had done everything for them. This is unbelievable, unthinkable, and irrational.

It has been 6,000 years since that day, and not much has been changed. The same thing happens in the homes of America every day.

MOTHERS

A woman can suffer for nine months, enter into the jaws of death for you, travail to give life, clean your house for a life-time, wash your clothes, iron your clothes, cook your meals, can feed you from her own breasts, feed you when you could not feed yourself, teach you to eat, buy your clothes, change your dirty diapers, bathe your body, carry you in her arms, teach you how to walk, teach you how to talk, sit by your bed side, feel your fevered brow, and give you medicine to keep you alive. That woman can teach you how to bathe yourself, shop for your groceries, and you believe in someone who has done nothing for you over that mother who has done everything for you? Ridiculous!

Perhaps an attractive professor whose done nothing for you, and you will believe him before you will believe your own mother? Perhaps another young person whose done nothing for you, but just because they are attractive you will follow them before you will believe and follow your own mother. Maybe it’s a pretty face or a pretty form? Perhaps it’s a handsome or a big physique, and you will choose to follow some young peer before you will believe your own mother?

It just does not make sense to me. It doesn’t make sense that man would be the recipient of all that God did for him and then follow a dirty creature like the Devil just because he is attractive. The Devil has done nothing for man! It does not make sense for young people to follow a bunch of children who have done nothing for them while turning their backs on their mothers who have done everything for you!

FATHERS

6,000 years has passed and not much has changed. A man suffers for a lifetime providing food, working to make the house payments, pay your utility bills, light bills, heat bills, water bills, work hard to buy food for you to eat, the bed in which you sleep, the chair in which you seat, the table where you eat, the lamp that gives you light, the tub in which you bathe, the water you drink, the tuition that sends you to school, the car that transports you, gasoline that fuels that car, the roof that keeps you dry, the cabinet that holds your food, the food in the cabinet, and the refrigerator that keeps the food fresh.

By the time a child is 15 years of age their dad has gotten up 3,150 times to go to work to keep their houses, clothes, food, and yet that young person can choose to turn their backs on their own dad whom they begin to call the old man, then on top of that choose someone who has done nothing for them all because this someone is attractive!

Please tell me what a liberal Baptist preacher has ever done for you? Please tell me what the liberal independent Baptist preacher who denies preserved inspiration of the King James Bible for the English speaking peoples has done for you other than being very attractive?

Would you please tell me what the bartender has ever done for you? Would you please tell me what the rebel at school has ever done for you? Would someone please tell me what the rock star has ever done for you? Would someone please tell me what the Hollywood Charlie Sheen’s, whores, and whoremongers have ever done for you? Would someone please tell me what the young temptress has ever done for you? Would someone please tell me what the young lose boy has ever done for you? Would someone please tell me what the worldly neighbor kids have ever done for you? Would someone please tell me what the dope peddler, worldly hero, Michael Jackson’s, famous athletes, schoolmates, boyfriend, or girlfriend, the rebel, rebel-bleached blonde, or the mini-skirt wearer female has ever done for you?

It just does not make sense for Adam and Eve to be the recipients of all that God made, all of God’s preparations, and here comes a suave, tempting, attractive, well spoken personage, then turn their back on God, and follow the attractive one. However, it makes as much sense as it does for you to believe someone who’s never done anything for you instead of your mom and dad. It bothers me when we send our young people off to college believing and trusting that they believe as we do at home then all of a sudden we find out the pastor there does not believe the same. All the sudden he says the King James Bible does not have preserved inspiration! WHAT? Where did this come from? Then because he wears $1,000 suits, sparkling cuff links, Jesse Jackson tie bar, an orator, and has a big church that all of that attractiveness overwhelms the investment of mom, dad, and pastor back home!

PASTORS

Please allow me to ask the question? Would you please tell me how a pastor could give his life for a lifetime and members flippantly turn their back on their man of God? Let me ask this question please, where did those buildings come from that your church enjoys? Where did the gymnasium come from that your church uses? Did it just drop out of the sky? Where did all of the ministries come from? Did you just wake up one day and all of a sudden there they were? Who was used to raise literally millions of dollars over a lifetime? Who was used to keep the doors of the church open for all of these years?

Who was it that literally taught thousands of Bible studies for you and your family? Who was the one who counseled with thousands of people for three decades? Who led you in adding missionaries to help reach the world with the Gospel? Who was used of God to lead in the building of your classrooms? Who walked around the ministries making sure they were kept from deteriorating. Who organized the Sunday schools, wrote Sunday school lessons, oversaw a staff, preached thousands of sermons, and who was it that kept the work going? Yet, you grow up, being taught character, work ethics, to dress right, pay your debts, say, “yes sir” or “no sir,” cut your hair if you are a male, to dress modestly, to stay pure, and chaste.

You then grow up, marry, then choose some young attractive pastor, and leave the man who’s given you his life. You are doing the same thing that Adam and Eve were doing in the Garden of Eden. If you grow up in your church and receive what your church has given you, then you owe a debt to that church. Please forgive me for writing this, but you owe a debt to your pastor, your mom, your dad, your Sunday school teacher, your school teacher, your principal, your youth director, the deacons, and you will go somewhere else simply because you want a new start with a pastor who has done not a solitary thing for you.

How about your youth director who gives his life for you? He gives his life for you, and what you do is simply walk away following someone who is more attractive, who has done nothing but are simply more attractive? Young people follow some worldly attractive personality over a man whose gives his life as your youth pastor. You end up following the attractive flashy lights of the world sometimes disguised as a church.

You who do such things are no different than Adam and Eve who had received all that God did and followed someone who had never done one solitary thing for you.

• Adam you owe a debt.
• Eve you owe a debt.
• Son you owe a debt.
• Daughter you owe a debt.
• Church member you owe a debt.
• Teenager you owe a debt.
• Parents you owe a debt.
• Staff member you owe a debt.

Hard to believe and understand how we are so blind to our debts. How about Sunday school teachers who have loved you? How about the countless others whom have sacrificed for you?

Adam? Eve? Did it ever dawn on you where that sun came from that is up there in the sky? Did it ever dawn on you where the river of life came from? Did it ever dawn on you where the tree of life came, those peaceful animals, and those stars came from?

Yet, here comes an attractive, beautiful, suave, and subtle personage who in reality is a dirty, stinking, thief, and liar! I’m writing to young folks who are attracted to attractiveness while being deceived into believing someone who has never done a cotton-picking thing for you. After all that God Almighty has done for you then you just simply turn your back on God in favor of attractiveness. No student knows as much as the teacher knows!

JESUS

The One Who left Heaven and came to Earth. The One Who was born in Bethlehem’s manger of Nazareth. The One who’s coming was announced to Mary and Joseph. Angels announced the One who’s coming as they sang to the shepherds watching their flocks by night. The One Who was here for 33 years away from Heaven. The One Who said goodbye to His Heavenly Father and for 33 homesick years spent His life on Earth.

Foxes have their holes, birds had their nests, and the Son of man had no place to lay His head. While others slept on their pillows in their homes, the Son of man used the rocks of the Mount of Olives for a pillow and the Mount for a bed.

Hated by His own generation, rejected by His own people, excommunicated by His own synagogue, expelled from His own city, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Wait a minute! He could have been in Heaven, being served by 10,000 angels, but He chose to come to Earth to suffer in your place and mine.

After 33 years He was wrongly indicted, tried, convicted, beaten beyond recognition, nailed to a cross, dipped his own soul into Hell, paid your penalty, and you follow the Devil simply because he is attractive? Did the Devil ever suffer for you? Did he go to the cross for you? Did he leave Heaven for you? Did he come to Earth to die for you?

What in the world has the Devil ever done for you? The Devil has not done one single thing for you except to try to allure you away from the One Who did everything for you!

JUST A THOUGHT!

Dr. Bob Gray Sr.
http://solvechurchproblems.com

by: Dr. Bob Gray Sr.

Jeremiah 48:11, “Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.”

Zephaniah 1:12, “And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.”

Moab was a small nation. Moab had been at ease from his youth, he settled on his lees or dregs. He had not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither had he gone into captivity; therefore his taste remained in him for his scent was not changed according to the Scriptures.

God is saying here that Moab the nation has not been poured from vessel to vessel, and because Moab has not been poured from vessel to vessel he settled on his dregs and he doesn’t taste any better. His taste has not improved! His scent or odor has not improved because he has not been poured from vessel to vessel.

This ancient people had lived a passive life. They lived undisturbed! No external enemy had attacked them. No great natural national disaster had befallen them, and for this reason they made no progress. They had become a contented and complacent people; therefore, they were not a blessing to anybody in the whole world.

THE EXAMPLE OF THE NATION ISRAEL

On the other hand the little nation Israel had been and would influence the entire world for good.

• From Israel would come the Word of God.

• From Israel would come the Son of God.

• From Israel would come the New Testament Church.

Israel the nation was a blessing for Israel had a good taste and a sweet scent. Why? Because Israel had been poured form vessel to vessel.

God uses the example of making wine. When the grape ripened it is taken from the tree, put into a vat 8-foot square with little holes in the bottom. Below that vat is another vat 5 inches lower. The people would come and trample those grapes or tread those grapes. The juice would fall from the pulp and go down into the vat underneath. Then they would take the juice and pour it into a vessel. They would leave the vessel there for a short period of time. They would take the juice and pour it into another vessel. They would leave it there for a while more that way some of the dregs would be left. They would take and pour it into another vessel and keep on pouring this juice form one vessel to another vessel. Now every time they poured it, some of the dregs were taken off and it made the juice a little better. The scent was better!

God is saying Moab had not been poured from vessel to vessel, and because Moab has not been poured form vessel to vessel, she has not been a blessing to the world. However, the little nation of Israel had been poured from vessel to vessel.

The entire history of Israel is an alternation between prosperity and trouble. Under one king they enjoyed the blessing of peace. Under another king they endured the hardships of war. During one age they endured a revolution that divided them and in another age it brought the humiliation of exile. From vessel to vessel they were poured, and as a result they were a blessing.

However, Moab sat there on his lees: no disturbance, no heartaches, no problems, no burdens, and thus Moab was not a blessing.

THE EXAMPLE OF JACOB

Jacob was the man after which the nation Israel was named. His name was Jacob at first, then his name was changed to Israel, which means “prince.” This man went from out-bargaining Esau, deceiving his own father, out-smarting Laban, and he went on to become the prince of God. How does this man become the prince of God? He was poured from vessel to vessel with the disobedience of Simeon and Levi, the trouble between him and Hamor, and the death of his beloved Rachel, the mysterious disappearance of his son Joseph, the detention of Judah in Egypt, and the demand for Benjamin. All of these are God making him a prince by pouring him from vessel to vessel to vessel! God is saying, “I’m going to make Jacob a prince so I will have to disturb him with burdens, heartaches, problems, and heartbreaks.” God is saying, “I must pour him from vessel to vessel to vessel!”

No one has ever been used of God who has been allowed to stay like Moab! If God is to use His people mightily He will have to disturb them by pouring them from vessel to vessel.

THE EXAMPLE OF GREAT CHURCHES

Who are the churches that have blessed a nation the most? They are churches like Dr. J. Frank Norris’ church, Dr. G. B. Vick’s church, Dr. Lee Roberson’s church, Dr. Dallas Billington’s church and a Dr. Jack Hyles’ church.

Wait a minute! All of these churches have something in common for the hand of God has disturbed them. They have been poured from vessel to vessel to vessel. Are these churches that were satisfied with the status quo? NO! Are they churches that sat in their lees? NO! Are these churches that had arrived and not need to gain higher ground? NO! Are they churches that were comfortable and sat in their lees? NO!

The First Baptist Church of Fort Worth, Texas, under Dr. J. Frank Norris had been poured and poured and poured and poured! This church was the mother church of the independent Baptist church movement in the United States and was a blessing to a nation.

Hold it! When that same church no longer wanted to be poured from vessel to vessel, she went back into the Southern Baptist Convention and no longer was a blessing to a nation but she sits in her own dregs!

Temple Baptist Church of Detroit, Michigan, under the leadership of Dr. G. B. Vick was poured from one vessel to another vessel to another vessel for years resulting in her being a blessing to a nation. However, one day she no longer wanted the stigma of old fashioned fundamentalism and now even the Baptist Bible Fellowship is ashamed of her Saturday night rock and roll shows. That same church is no longer being poured, and she has ceased to be a blessing to our nation for she sits in her dregs!

In every case, when the pastor that pastored those churches was poured from vessel to vessel to vessel the church was a blessing, but when those men of God died, or resigned, someone came in who refused to associate with old-fashioned fundamentalism. The result was the dregs began to collect, the taste was gone, the scent was gone, and a nation went unblessed!

THE EXAMPLE OF FAMILIES

Hey dad and mom? Do you want your family to be a blessing? Then you thank God for the burdens, heartaches, trials, heartbreak, tears and pain, and let God pour you from vessel to vessel to vessel. However, the minute you decide you don’t want to fight anymore for right or struggle anymore for right, you will ceased to be blessed. When you decide to let your little pin-headed son or daughter take you out of the battle and refuse to let God pour you from vessel to vessel you will end up sitting in your own dregs. Your family life will be filled with dregs, a bad taste, and a bad smell.

God said to Moab, “I cannot use you! You will not have a good taste or scent and I can’t use you! You have been sitting there complacent in your peace, no attacks, no battles and no outside enemies.” God is saying, “Moab, I cannot use you” but I will take little Israel and I’ll pour her in this vessel and then pour her over and over again into other vessels and she, not Moab, will give us the Saviour, the New Testament Church and the Scriptures!

My mama who went to Heaven on Christmas Day of 2010 at 98 was poured from vessel to vessel to vessel. She scrubbed floors in a nursing home to help support the family. She finished her GED for high-school diploma. She went on to college and became an administrator of several Nursing Homes. She was poured from vessel to vessel to vessel. She never sat down in her own dregs and as a result she was a blessing!

THE EXAMPLE OF PREACHERS

God comes looking to seek a preacher, and he does not want Mr. Personality, Mr. Orator, or Mr. Pretty Boy, for God is looking not for the obvious leader, but a boy born in poverty with a drunken dad while being reared by a single mom. It is the Jack Hyles’ for whom God is looking. These are the ones poured from vessel to vessel to vessel who are not sitting in their own dregs. These are the ones who are a blessing to a nation and not afraid to be the off scourging of the earth, for they have lived that way for a lifetime.

These were not born with a silver spoon in their mouth! Ignorant and unlearned much like Acts 4:13, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” When some Reverend rails on you for being unlearned and ignorant, praise God for it!

Some of you reading this article have been poured from vessel to vessel to vessel, and I want you to thank God for it! You are sitting here reading this and asking yourself, “When will the hurt ever stop and end?” The truth is you are going to be mighty tasteful one day! You are going to have a sweet scent about you one of these days!

What preacher gave us “Pilgrims Progress?” It was John Bunyan who was poured from vessel to vessel. Check the biographies of great men and you will not find any who had it easy! The Moody’s, the Spurgeon’s, the Paul Radar’s, the B.R. Lakin’s, the Beauchamp Vick’s, the J. Frank Norris’, the Lester Roloff’s, the Lee Roberson’s and the Jack Hyles’ were all poured from vessel to vessel and were not found sitting in their own dregs.

The John Wesley’s were poured from vessel to vessel. The John R. Rice’s were poured from vessel to vessel. The Bill Rice’s were poured from vessel to vessel. The Billy Sunday’s were poured from vessel to vessel. These men were not found sitting in their own dregs. Too much pouring to have them sitting in dregs!

I must allow God to pour me from vessel to vessel so that I may be available to be a blessing! I do not say run toward suffering, but I do say if you do right and refuse to run with the compromisers you will suffer! When this happens, keep letting God pour you from vessel to vessel so you can avoid the dregs of life!

When God chooses to take a husband from your side, or a wife from your table, or a little child from your arms, or your health or the health of a loved one, never forget God is pouring you from vessel to vessel. He does this so you will taste good, so you will have a sweet scent, and you can be a blessing to the world around you!

Dr. Bob Gray Sr.
http://solvechurchproblems.com

by: Dr. Bob Gray Sr.

Genesis 4:1, “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.”

I am thinking of a man whose father is a nationally known preacher. This man went to a Christian school and grew up in a Christian home. He had all the love of a mom and dad that a boy could receive. He sang songs such as Jesus Loves Me, and The B-I-B-L-E, and Zacheaus Was a Wee Little Man. He participated in all of the teen activities. He went soul winning. In spite of this, today he is living a wild, ungodly lifestyle. He is involved with liquor, the Hollywood lifestyle, and illicit sex. He even burned down his parents’ house, trying to kill them.

There is a well-known pastor who has preached behind my pulpit. If I were to list the ten most popular preachers of our generation, he would be on that list. He loves God, and he and his wife had a great marriage. However, his daughter was loose. She thought she could go to Lovers Lane, neck and pet, and not be affected. Soon, she became pregnant out of wedlock, and her dad’s heart was broken. His second daughter followed the same path.

Billy Sunday was one of the greatest evangelists who preached across this nation. He fought the liquor crowd. He went to his pulpit one day, and someone handed him a newspaper. The headlines announced that Billy Sunday’s own son had been involved in a drunk-driving accident.

Dr. Hyles told me the story of one of the men who drove him around. This man was a graduate of Tennessee Temple Schools. His dad was a well-known pastor, and this man became a popular evangelist. One day, the evangelist went into a bar to collect a debt. He took his first drink and walked out drunk. He was married seven times, and his life was ruined. He ended up in the Hammond Rescue Mission.

There are teenagers sitting in churches all over the country who are sold out soul winners. They think they can live for God while they fool around with the world, but they cannot do both. Before long, their lives will be wrecked and ruined, and they will be looking for help and advice from their preacher.

Maybe you visited a church and found it was different from any other church. The pastor preached strong convictions and soul winning. People were saved and baptized. You sensed the Spirit of God working. You laughed at the jokes, cried, and went to the altar. You even found yourself saying, “Amen.”

You joined the church, thinking you would have it made. You thought things would go well for you if you had that particular pastor—a pastor who preached separation from sin, who had a bus ministry, who preached Hell-fire damnation, who held standards and never changed. You thought your children would automatically turn out right if you put them in the Christian school. You thought your sons and daughters would turn out right in that college with an electrifying soul-winning atmosphere.

Now something has happened to you. You discovered the preacher and the staff members were human. You discovered the members had faults. You discovered the members gossiped at that church, just as they gossip in every church. It did not bother you until you were the target of the sermon or the target of the gossip. It did not bother you until your child received demerits you thought he did not deserve.

Suddenly, you find that you are backslidden. Your children are backslidden. You do not understand how it could happen in such a great church.

I believe “influence does influence,” and that is why it is called “influence.” A Christian school pushes for right. It helps those who want to be right with God. On the other hand, it hardens those who do not want to be right with God. If you want to serve God, it will help you be above average; but if you want to be average it will be a thorn in your flesh. No amount of influence and environment can ever make you spiritual or make you do right; it simply makes it easier to do right and be spiritual.

Think about Cain. Both of his parents were saved. God had given both of them coats of skin; they were washed in the blood and born again. When Cain was born, Eve said, “I have gotten a man from the Lord.” Cain’s name means “acquisition.” He was cradled in a lullaby of love and faith from infancy. He worshipped with his parents at the gate of Paradise. Every Sabbath day his dad killed a lamb, placed his hands of faith on its head, and sacrificed it on an altar. He saw the cherubim and the flaming torch. He actually heard the voice of God.

Cain’s parents probably showed him the results of sin. They made him feel the thorns on the plants, and then they showed him the poisonous snakes that had once been peaceful. They showed him the weeds in their gardens. They warned him that sin would ruin his life, just as it did the rose, the wild beasts, and the serpent. They showed him their wrinkled brows and stooped shoulders caused by sin. They explained that their fatigue at the end of the day was caused by sin.

There were no dirty magazines in Cain’s home. No flashing lights lured him to watch a dirty movie. No wrong crowd led him astray, and no fallen woman lured him to sin through lust. There were no atheistic professors to ruin his mind. No slum area caused his fall, and no ghetto pushed him to dope. There were no adult bookstores, no profanity, no television, no bars, no rock music, and no Playboy magazine. There were no disco joints, no country and western music, no miniskirts, no drug dealers, no pimps, and no red-light districts. There were no Kennedy’s, and no John MacArthur’s. There was no NIV, ASV, or RSV.

Cain lived where it was easiest to serve God. He lived in a utopian place. Yet, he disobeyed God by bringing the wrong sacrifice, and then he murdered his own brother.

If you had been in the Garden of Eden, you would have blamed God for your fall. You would have blamed Paradise. Yet, it is no more the church’s fault that you are not right with God than it was God’s fault that Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden. You have no one to blame but yourself.

Church is a marvelous place, but it will not make you spiritual. Members come and go. They become upset with the preacher when they quit reading their Bibles and going soul winning. They quit going to Sunday school and start working on Sundays, and then they wonder why their children turn out wrong. They quit tithing and giving offerings. They blame the preacher because he did not keep them right with God.

God did not give you a preacher and a church to keep you right with Him. It is your job to stay right with God. If you do not read your Bible for the entire week, you cannot expect the preacher to keep you right with God. Pray and read the Bible for yourself.

The youth pastor only has your children one hour on Sunday morning and one hour on Sunday afternoon, so it is not his fault if your children turn out wrong. There are 168 hours in a week, and the pastor only has you for three of those hours. It is your responsibility to keep yourself right with God.

A dad once said to me, “I gave my kids to fundamentalism, and look what happened.” I replied, “You should have kept them because it is your responsibility to raise your children.”

If you are backslidden, you have two choices. First, you can look for another church that matches your spiritual condition. You can justify your backslidden condition by gathering other backsliders around you.

Second, you can face the fact that the atmosphere cannot keep you right. It can only point out your backslidden condition. Even though you are backslidden, stay in your church. Then, get right with God. When your child gets some sense, he will have a place to come home.

If you backslide at church, you cannot go to a better place to get right with God, so stay and get right with God. There is no better Book to help you get right with God than the King James Bible. All the other “bibles” are simply perversions. There are no better truths to give you. There is no better cause than keeping people out of Hell. What else motivates you and keeps you right with God? It is your responsibility to keep yourself right with God.

The greatest tragedy is when a Christian goes to church, hears the great music, sees the salvations and baptisms, hears great guest preachers, hears Bible studies and sermons, and goes to summer camp, yet backslides and longs to return to Egypt. You walk sacred halls, sacred buildings, and sacred classes every day, but you are not right with God. You go to chapel and hear men of God preach, but you are not right with God. You are in a spiritual utopia, yet you are backslidden. Your church preaches the King James Bible is the only Word of God, and you are backslidden. Instead of realizing it is your fault that you are backslidden, you blame the pastor.

It is easier to lose your temper with the principal or youth pastor because your child was supposedly wronged than it is to lose your temper at the child for doing wrong. No, it is not the preacher’s fault, the church’s fault, or the school’s fault; it is the home’s fault. You have no one to blame but yourself. We can make it more conducive for you to be spiritual and for you to raise your children right, but you have to choose to do right.

Parents do not let your guard down. Students do not let your guard down. The preacher will not make you spiritual. The church and school will not make you spiritual. Throw away the TV Guide, brush the dust off your Bible, and read it. Spend time with God. Being around spiritual people will not take the place of your personal walk with God.

You were attracted to the church and people because you were spiritual. You loved to see people saved. You were the best producer at your church. You loved the singing and the preaching. They used the right Bible. You loved the bus routes. You went to that church because you were on a spiritual high.

The church became unattractive because you became unspiritual. The people did not change; you simply became unspiritual. If you had been spiritual, you would have forgiven. “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.” Now you are cold and backslidden, and the church is unattractive. The preacher is unattractive.

God puts imperfect people in perfect positions on purpose. The pastor is an imperfect man preaching a perfect Book to imperfect people, trying to perfect them. The pastor’s imperfection is used by God to help you become more spiritual and forgiving.

You became unspiritual because you depended on the church to make you spiritual.

I was in a Question and Answer session once with Dr. Jack Hyles when a man asked him, “Dr. Hyles, how do you keep Mrs. Hyles right with God?”

Dr. Hyles replied, “It is not my job to keep Mrs. Hyles right with God. That is her job.”

If you are very irritated by the preacher, you are unspiritual. When you depend on the church to keep you spiritual, you will be unspiritual. Did you read your Bible this morning? Did you pray?

If you joined a church because of right, you will not allow your wife or child to make you leave. However, if you joined the church because of your wife or children, you will leave because of them.

One man said, “You did not get the heart of my son.” The Bible says, “My son, give me thine heart.” It does not say, “My church member, my youth member….” Dad, go home and claim your child’s heart. Quit blaming the church because your children are not doing right.

Why did you choose your church? Why did you choose that particular church over another church in town? The answer will determine how long you stay at your church. Our church has great benefits; however, you should not join a church because of its great youth program, its music, its preaching, its college, its fame, or even its soul winning. You should join a church because it is the right church for you to attend.

As father and priest of your home, if you do not believe your church is the right one, neither will your children. They will believe and act what your heart believes. If you believe in your church, your children will believe in it, too. No youth activity or school will induce your children to love Jesus and serve God.

If you believe in your church, you will stay in it even if your children go to the Devil. You will not be affected by the emotions of your wife or the rebellious behavior of your children. You will not be prodded, coerced, tormented, or manipulated into leaving it.

Your wife will be secure and happy, knowing that you will not move when times are tough, when friends leave, when the children do wrong, or when she has a bad day at church. Your children will be happy and secure because you support the preacher, the principal, the teacher, and the youth director. In fact, if your wife and children think they can sway you or change your mind in such a weighty decision, they will lose confidence in you as a leader. If you leave for the sake of their happiness, they will actually be less happy.

This unwavering determination to stay because it is right for you and your family has two benefits. First, your choice to stay where God wants you gives your marriage stability. My wife is happy and secure because she cannot change my mind. Second, this decision to stay gives my children the confidence to stand for right and the example to follow to turn out right.

Too often parents change trying to salvage their marriage or their teenager and actually end up destroying what they were attempting to salvage. If you tell them you were lying about the church being right, they will wonder what else you lied about. You will become merely a politician who takes a poll before making a decision or giving a speech.

When your child is a college student trying to decide what is right for him, your stability and confidence will make it easier for him to decide the same. He may not decide the same, but it will be easier for him to do right if he knows mom and dad are staying, regardless of his choice.

The church will not make you spiritual. It cannot make you do right. You must be responsible for your own spirituality.

Dr. Bob Gray Sr.
http://solvechurchproblems.com

by: Dr. Bob Gray Sr.

Matthew 5:18, “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled.”

Luke 16:17, “And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.”

1 Kings 8:56, “Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.”

I not only believe in plenary inspiration, which is the complete canon of living Scripture from eternity past to eternity future, I believe in verbal inspiration, which is an every living Word Bible from eternity past to eternity future, but I also believe in “jot” inspiration and “tittle” inspiration. A jot and a tittle would be like an accent mark such, as we would use to emphasis a syllable. God is saying not only will not one word pass away, but also not one accent shall pass away or not one punctuation will pass away.

In 1 Kings 8:56 when it speaks of Moses His servant, He is speaking of the first five books of the Scriptures called the Pentateuch. This is not two weeks after the Pentateuch has been written for this is 2,500 years later! This verse was written as close to the Pentateuch as we are to the human penning of the New Testament.

Miraculously for almost 2,500 years God’s Word has contained preserved inspiration and God said not one word has failed. The word “failed” could be defined “diminished, changed,” or “fallen.” It is exactly as it was in Moses’ day!

The Longview Baptist Temple of Longview, Texas, has for 50 years, as of the writing of this article, been a church of the King James Bible. That church was built on the King James Bible.

In the first three centuries after Christ, ten times the Roman Empire attempted to stamp out the Word of God. Today the Roman Empire is buried in the cemetery of kingdom failures and the Holy Scriptures live on! In the eighth century Mohammedism tried to exterminate the Scriptures and it only led to it’s spreading to the rest of the world. Nero ordered its destruction, and Nero is in Hell and the Scriptures live on. Hitler said he would he would destroy the Bible, and Hitler is dead while the Bible lives on. Stalin said he would trample God’s Word under his feet. Today Stalin’s feet are turned to dust and the Bible marches on. Lenin said the Bible would cease to exist in his day. Lenin ceased to exist while the Scriptures live on. Thomas Payne said the Bible would cease to be printed in his lifetime, but after he died they printed Bibles on his own printing press. Voltaire tried to destroy the Bible. Today Voltaire is dead and in Hell while the Bible lives on. Khrushchev tried to destroy the Bible and Khrushchev is dead while the Bible lives on. Mussolini tried to destroy the Bible and he is dead and the Bible lives on. Nebuchadnezzar attempted to destroy the Word of God and he has been dead for several thousand years while the Bible still lives on. Herod tried to destroy the Bible and Herod is history while the Bible is still prophecy.

In our day secular universities are trying to destroy the Bible. Long after secular professors are in Hell the Bible will still live on. Thomas Nelson publishers have unwittingly tried to destroy the Scriptures with Bible perversions, and long after Nelson Publishers are a sentence in history, the King James Bible will still be alive for the English-speaking people. Broadman Press, Zondervan Publishers, Southern Baptist Seminaries, so-called Christian colleges, and Bible Institutes have attempted to pervert, add too, take away, revise, change the Scriptures, and after they have failed the King James Bible will live on!

This King James Bible is the only eternal book in existence. This Bible is not all that God has said, but all in this book is what God had said! In Heaven God’s people will be able to spend an eternity not only on what God wrote, but also all that God has said! WOW, what a thought!

Every word in the Scriptures is what God has said, and it is the only eternal book in existence. Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away.” Psalm 119:89, “Forever Oh LORD thy word is settled in heaven.”

Someone said Paul wrote his part of the Bible in his own style. NO! God wrote the entire Bible in His style and made men like Paul to write it in the same style! Then some big theologian comes along and tries to make the rest of us feel bad and coined the phrase “mechanical dictation.” Now, it does not matter what you desire to call it. This King James Bible is the Word of God for the English-speaking people.

1 Peter 1:23, “The word of God which liveth and abideth for ever.”

Matthew 13:31, “Heaven and earth shall pass away but my word shall not pass away.”

I Peter 1:25, “The word of God endureth forever.”

Isaiah 40:8, “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.”

Matthew 5:18, “One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law.”

Luke 21:33, “My word shall not pass away.”

The Scripture is the only writing that will endure forever. When the kingdoms, dictators, kings, and presidents of this world are history the Scriptures will still be alive. When the mountains have been leveled and the valleys have been raised, and when kingdoms have crumbled the Scriptures will still be alive.

Yet, it sits in your house closed up while you listen to talk show hosts’ statements about life! American Christians listen more to the words of Hollywood than they do the words from Heaven.

Some will not enjoy Heaven because your favorite reading material will be missing from Heaven. Your romance novels will not be there. Your National Enquirer will not be there. You really ought to use to the Scriptures because that is all that will be sold at the newsstands of Heaven. If you don’t enjoy the preaching of God’s Word here or the teaching of God’s Word here what makes you think you will enjoy Heaven. If you do not enjoy what God says here, what makes you think you will enjoy what God says there in Heaven? You will spend an eternity listening to Moses teach a course on the Pentateuch. Paul will be teaching the Epistles, David the Psalms, Solomon the Proverbs, John the I, II, and III John, Isaiah teaching the major prophets, Hosea teaching the minor prophets, Job teaching on patience, Paul teaching church history, David teaching music, Philip teaching soul winning, and Jack Van Impe learning Bible prophecy! Ha! Like it or not, you and I will spend an eternity with the Scriptures.

By His Word He created the earth.

By His Word He lifted the Rockies.

By His Word He elevated the Alps.

By His Word He painted the deserts.

By His Word He made the mighty Amazon.

By His Word He whittled out the Mississippi.

By His Word He filled the oceans.

By His Word He powered the lakes.

By His Word He lowered the valleys.

By His Word He leveled the plains.

By His Word He rounded the hills.

By His Word He chiseled Gibraltar.

By His Word islands were resurrected form watery graves.

By His Word He formed the pillars of the clouds.

By His Word He scented the Gardenia.

By His Word He painted the rose.

By His Word He arranged the daffodils.

By His Word He formed Diamond Head.

By His Word He formed the Grand Canyon.

By His Word He formed Carlsbad Cavern.

By His Word He stilled the stormy winds.

By His Word He calmed the nervous seas.

By His Word He gave sight to blind Bartimaeus.

By His Word He raised Lazarus from the dead.

By His Word He directed a fish to swallow a coin.

By His Word He called that fish to Himself.

By His Word He caused that fish to vomit up that coin.

By His Word He healed the cripple at the Pool of Bethesda.

By His Word He expelled devils.

By His Word He feed 5,000 with 5 loaves & 2 fishes.

By His Word He turned the water into wine.

By His Word He commanded devils.

By His Word He opened deaf ears.

By His Word He resisted Satan’s temptations.

By His Word He healed crippled legs.

By His Word He gave intelligence to mute tongues.

By His Word He postponed a funeral.

By His Word He cast devils into hogs.

By His Word He caused those hogs to commit hog-a-cide.

By His Word the sun rises and sets.

By His Word the moon changes its shape.

By His Word the rain falls.

By His Word the snow tiptoes to the Earth.

By His Word the lightening gives off a great fire works display in the heavens.

By His Word the applause is given by the thunder for those fire works.

By His Word He laid the foundation of the Earth.

By His Word He laid Earth’s cornerstone.

By His Word He drops the morning dew.

By His Word he sends the hoary frost from heaven.

By His Word the raven is sent with a lunch.

By His Word He painted the wings of the Peacock.

By His Word He commands the eagle in its flight.

By His Word He shakes the Earth into a quake.

By His Word He files the flight plan for the birds.

By His Word He determines where the birds will fall.

By His Word He charts the watery journey of every fish that swims.

By His Word He leads the instinct of every beast in the field.

By His Word He chose to give us the mighty lion.

By His Word He chose to amuse us with the funny hippo.

By His Word He chose to startle us with the strange giraffe.

By His Word He gave us fruit.

By His Word He gave us vegetables.

By His Word He created man in His own image.

By His Word He created the loveliest of all creatures…the horse (No! It was woman!)

She was adorned with all of Heaven and Earth. All that Heaven and Earth could bestow upon her to make her amiable. Every gesture possessed dignity and love. Perfection stamped upon her manner. The sons of God shouted for joy. The morning stars sang together. Eden was transformed. The earth was glad. The Garden was wowed. The hermit signed, and the woman smiled!

CREATION VIA GOD’S WORD

The first day God divided light from darkness by His Word. The second day He divided the waters above from the waters beneath by His Word. On the third day plant life appeared by God’s Word. On the fourth day the sun, moon, and the stars were made visible by His Word. Then on the fifth day God created the beast of the field by His Word. On the sixth day He created man, and the ever living and never dying Word of God created woman by His Word for all!

LIVING VIA GOD’S WORD

Psalm 119:11 tells us His Word keeps His children from sin. Psalm 119:28 says He keeps us strong. 1 Peter 2:2 says His Word helps us to grow in grace. 2 Peter 1:4 tells us His Word makes me a partaker of His divine nature. Acts 20:32 says His Word builds us up. 2 Timothy 3:6 says His Word reproves, corrects, and instructs.

God’s Scriptures tell me when I am doing wrong, it gives me the right things to do, and then teaches me how to do what is right!

Hebrews 4:12 says His Word gives me proper thoughts. Proverbs 25 tells me that His Word shields. Joshua 1:8 says His Word makes me prosperous and successful. Psalm 119:165 says His Word keeps me from being offended. Luke 1:70, 79 says His Word gives me peace. John 8:32 says His Word gives me freedom. In Psalm 119:105 it says His Word is a lamp to my feet and a light unto my path. In Proverbs 4:20-22 it says the Word gives me health.

One book called the Scriptures, which most have not the time to read and is closed while endless hours of TV are watched. It is kept closed by most and read less than the daily newspaper. The Scriptures will do you more good than health clubs, motivational books, success seminars, AA, Robert Schuler or Norman Vincent Peale. The Scriptures will do more for you than the Promise Keepers, TBN, PTL, or the 700 Club will ever do for you, and there it sits closed collecting dust.

In light of all of this, what makes us think we can rear our children without it, have a marriage without it, run a business without it, have education without it, have a country without it, build a ministry without it, and build a local church without it?

If marriage were God’s institution then who would know best how to do it…you or God? If our children are given to us by God, then who would know best about how to rear them…you or God? If the New Testament church were God’s church, then who would know best how to run it…you or God? Are finances a blessing from God? Then who would know best how to handle them…you are God?

We cannot have a successful government by kicking the Word of God out! The public school system is not fit for a dog! Why? The Word of God was expelled! No one can run a business, school, home, marriage, government, church, college, or nation without the Holy Scriptures!

You can have your “word of knowledge,” I will take the Word of God! You can have your “visions” for I will take the Word of God! You can have your “possibility thinking,” I will take the Word of God. You can have your NIV, NASV, NJV, Readers’ Digest Condensed Version, Philips Translation, Goodspeed translation, Amplified New Testament, Book of Mormon, Koran, etc., but I will stick with the Holy Scriptures. Just give me the indestructible, all-powerful, eternal, undefeatable, inexhaustible, and verbally inspired Word of God, for not one Word has failed, nor jot or tittle shall pass away. The English-speaking people have a preserved, inspired, jot and tittle, every Word King James Bible to read and use!

PROPHECY VIA GOD’S WORD

Russia will come on Palestine because she wants the rich oil deposits in the Middle East especially the Dead Sea. Libya, Germany, Turkey, Iran, and others will march with Russia on little Israel.

When that happens America will come to Israel’s defense. The Revived Roman Empire will be led by America and from a Western Coalition. This Coalition will fight with Russia on the mountains of Israel. America will be winning the battle when Russia will seek help from the East. China and Japan will come to attack little Israel. Russia and her Allies from the north with China and Japan from the East and the Western Alliance will come against each other, but this is not the Battle of Armageddon. The Western Alliance will win this battle for Israel.

A man called the antichrist, or man of sin, will rise up and be the dictator of all the Earth. This will be the beginning of the seven-year tribulation period. He will look to the South and say, “I’ve conquered the South!” He will look to the North and say, “I’ve conquered the North!” He will look to the West and say, “I’ve conquered the West!” He will look to the East and say, “I’ve conquered the East!”

However, there is one place He forgets to look and that is up. The sky shall open and Jesus Himself with all of the saints of God will come back on white horses. How will Jesus destroy the forces of the antichrist? Will it be with bombs, planes, guns, or the Atom Bomb? No! With the Spirit of His mouth He will speak and the battle will be won!

Revelation 19:13-15, “And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.”

JUST A THOUGHT!

Dr. Bob Gray Sr.
Pastor Emeritus
Longview Baptist Temple
Longview, TX
http://solvechurchproblems.com

by: Dr. Bob Gray Sr.

Exodus 2:12, “And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.”

Moses was a strong man. Moses was an outdoorsman. Moses was a shepherd.

Exodus 4:10, “And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.”

Notice Moses’ strength was demonstrated in “smiting.” Note his weakness was “speaking.” He said he was not eloquent.

Exodus 4:11, “And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?”

Notice Moses’ strength was smiting and his weakness was speaking.

Numbers 20:7-8, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.”

What was Moses’ strength? It was smiting! What was Moses’ weakness? It was speaking! What did God tell Moses to do to the rock? He told him to speak! Thus, God was asking Moses to use his weakness.

Numbers 20:9-11, “And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.”

What was Moses’ strength? It was smiting! What was Moses’ weakness? It was speaking! What did God ask Moses to do to the rock? He asked him to speak. What did Moses do to the rock? He smote the rock!

Numbers 20:12, “And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.”

God told Moses that he would not be able to go nor lead God’s people into the Promised Land. God said to Moses you have been with my people for forty long years and you have led them. God said Moses I told you to “speak” to that rock and you “smote” that rock. Because you did not obey me you will not enter into the Promised Land.

My question is what was the sin that Moses committed that kept Moses from entering into the Promised Land? It was the sin of using his strength instead of his weakness.

What was Moses’ strength? It was smiting! What was Moses’ weakness? It was speaking! What did God ask Moses to do to the rock? He asked him to “speak” to the rock. What did Moses do to the rock? He “smote” the rock. Moses’ strength was in “smiting” and Moses weakness was in “speaking.” God is saying to Moses, “I want your weakness, not your strength.”

When you and I give our weakness to God and He uses it, God receives all the glory. When you or I succeed with our strength we receive all the glory. God was saying to Moses, “I want you to speak to the rock because you are weak in that area.” Moses said, “I want to smite the rock because it is my strength.”

The truth is not many people succeed in the field of their strengths. Very few of these folks succeed and that is why God desires our weakness. That is why Paul said, “In my weakness am I made strong.” Why? Because you do not beg God to help your strength for we beg God to help our weakness. In your strength you do it by yourself. In your weakness you do it with God’s help because you know you can’t do it by yourself.

Some have a difficult time in school while others seem to have little trouble in school. To some weakness is learning, memory work, comprehending, or reading. Both the strong and the weak will graduate, but the one with a weakness will receive the education. Grades are not necessarily an indicator that one has received an education.

I was an introvert in school and at church. My strength was on the ball field. My weakness was speaking and being a natural leader. God wants our weakness so we will depend upon him and not ourselves. Someone says about another, he or she has “a great talent” in a certain area. That may be true, but chances are he or she will never use it for God.

If God uses you He will probably use you in a weak area in your life where you will have to throw yourself at His feet and beg for His help. Your weakness plus God’s strength is stronger than your strength without God’s strength. All of us will come nearer begging God for strength when we do not have any strength of our own. God made it very clear in Scripture that he has chosen the weak, the foolish, and the base things of this world to confound the wise and to set at naught the mighty. Why? Because God receives the glory that way.

The leader who makes it is always some little guy who says, “I don’t think I can do this?” He goes alone out into the woods and begs God, “Oh, my God I’ve got a responsibility that is beyond my capabilities, and I do not know how to do this. Oh, God you have to help me?” God says, “That’s what I’m looking for in a leader. I am looking for weakness.” Thus, he and God provide the necessary leadership.

God is looking for leaders who give their weakness to God and allows Him to add His strength. It is then that the job is done God’s way.

OBSERVATIONS

God wants your weakness not your strength.

Your weakness plus God ‘s strength is stronger than your strength.

Your strength crucified can become weakness.

Yield both your weakness and your strength to God.

Uncrucified weakness is as dangerous as uncrucified strength.

God’s work must be done in God’s power and God’s way.

Bob Gray Sr.
http://solvechurchproblems.com

by: Dr. Bob Gray Sr.

Hebrews 7:16, “Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.”

The thing we fear most in life is the end of life. It doesn’t matter how saintly one is or how spiritual one is; we all shrink from death. In my 29 years of pastoring the Longview Baptist Temple of Longview, Texas, I conducted over 150 funerals. We literally had an LBT north in Heaven. We had our own church in Heaven. None of God’s people really know about life. Life is like a thin line that can be clipped so quickly.

As a pastor I lived with death not only in Longview, but also around the country because of my weekly travels. About the time you arrive to a place where you know enough to do anything, you are too weak to do it. About the time you figure it out you die, or about the time you become good at what you do you die.

Why is this? Why didn’t God make us smarter when we were young? Of course, that is what the average teen thinks God did. It is amazing, for the more you learn it seems like the less able you are to physically do what you have learned.

I have written in my Bible, “remember Bill Nelson” and “remember Cecil Kammediemer” and “remember Joe Simmons” and “remember Dr. Paul Duckett Jr.” and “remember Chris Wick” and “remember Ken Neiland.” It doesn’t make sense to me, and it is puzzling to me, when I look at Bill Nelson’s parents and I wonder why?

I think of him graduating from TEXAS BAPTIST COLLEGE, beginning his full-time service on the faculty of TEMPLE BAPTIST SCHOOLS, young, in love, about to marry, excellent science teacher, and all of a sudden he is taken in a tragic car accident after running his Sunday school bus route. Don’t you wonder like I wonder, “Why would he all of a sudden at the beginning of his young life be taken so suddenly in his 30’s?”

LIFE IS A TRAINING PLACE FOR AN ETERNAL OCCUPATION

Life is an internship for God’s children. It is a preparatory school. My life is not my final work. Each day is a school day on Earth and each lesson to be used someday in Heaven. Thus, death is a commencement exercise for all of these 65 years I have lived, for I have in reality been going to school.

My final vocation is found in Heaven. My final work is to be found in Heaven, and I am going to school here on Earth, for I am in training for my final work in Heaven. This is a prep course of study I am taking on Earth.

THE LENGTH OF TRAINING DEPENDS ON THE OCCUPATION WE WILL HAVE IN HEAVEN

On Earth, medical doctors have to go through ten years of training before they are allowed to be full-fledged medical doctors. Surgeons like LBT’s Dr. Jim Marvel, have to wade through rigorous schooling to be the great surgeon that he is today. These surgeons need twelve or more years of internship to prepare and be prepared for their life’s work.

A lawyer, like LBT’s late Mike Fetter, did not go to school as long as a medical doctor, but he still had to spend several years before he could hang his sign to practice law. On the other hand, an electrician or a carpenter or a plumber would maybe take less years than that in order to practice their profession. There are other jobs that take far less time and some jobs may take just a few weeks for which to prepare.

The Scriptures teach in Heaven we are going to serve our God. You and I will have an occupation in Heaven. We are in training now for that particular occupation. It may be that some will need to live to be ninety or over in order for their training to be complete. There are others who only need to live fifty years, because after fifty years they are ready for their occupation in Heaven.

God’s children are not going to go to Heaven and float around on clouds sprinkling sparkly dust everywhere with a set of wings to fly with and play bumper cars with their clouds. God’s children are not just going to spend all their time walking the streets of gold saying, “Glory to God.” The Bible teaches that the redeemed will serve for all eternity and never become tired.

The redeemed will have vocations in Heaven. God has a specific job for you to do in Heaven. Heaven is a city! It is a city like Dallas, Fort Worth, Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Boston, and Los Angeles. It has streets like a city has. It has houses like a city does. It is a real place. The Bible says it is in the north. I think it is a planet, a real planet. I know for sure it has streets, houses, river, and catfish (Ha).

I know we will have work to do if we are all serving. I know we will have bodies with which to do that work, but we have to spend the appropriate time on Earth preparing and training for our occupation in Heaven.

BILL NELSON NEEDED JUST A LITTLE OVER 30 YEARS TO BECOME READY FOR HIS OCCUPATION

Excuse me, but why should Bill hang around if he has graduated? He prepared for 30 years and was ready, so why not start his vocation?

This world is not my home I’m just a passing through

My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue

Pastoring LBT was not my work, for it was training and preparatory work for my main work in Heaven. Being an author is not my work, for it is again preparatory work for my main work in Heaven.

ONE DAY THE REST OF US WILL BE READY FOR OUR OCCUPATION IN HEAVEN

When I graduated from Bible College it was hard to leave. My wife was Dr. Wendell Evans’ secretary and I was on the college staff. I had been asked to head up the Bible Department of the college for the coming school year. The truth is, Mrs. Gray and I wept when it dawned on us we were leaving to pastor. I graduated and in some ways it was like a death to us for we dreaded leaving. No one wants to leave their loved ones, but you will graduate and your loved ones won’t want you to leave, but you have graduated.

I became the pastor of a Baptist church, then the workload started piling up, and all of a sudden I am buried in the work. When I accepted the call to Longview Baptist Temple of Longview, Texas, I thought I would die. I would have to leave the loved ones of that church. I had to leave my one-legged deacon Jack Lewis and others that I loved.

It is normal for one not to want to leave, but leave one must. God knows when you are trained and ready. God will pass out your diploma at commencement time when you are ready for your vocation.

WHEN YOU ARRIVE TO YOUR ETERNAL OCCUPATION YOU WILL FORGET YOUR EARTHLY OCCUPATION

You and I will be serving God himself in our Heavenly occupation. We will labor, but never become exhausted or even a little bit tire. We will love it and the struggles of the training and preparatory time will disappear. We will be serving God and serving each other for an eternity and loving every moment of it. Prepared and serving for all of eternity!

GOD’S CHILDREN WILL SERVE WITHOUT PAIN AND HEARTACHE

Our service to our God will be accomplished in our glorified bodies. These bodies will never age, never break down, never become ill, never become weak, and will never die. Our ability to serve God and each other will be a service without exhaustion or exacerbation. This will continue for all eternity with perfect peace.

Dr. Bob Gray Sr.
http://solvechurchproblems.com

by: Dr. Bob Gray Sr.

John 13:7, “Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.”

Job 35:12, “There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men.”

None of us can make it alone in life. None of us can keep on going alone in life. We need our God and we need each other. There is a great mistake being made in our Christianity in America for we have divided the laity and the so-called clergy too much in our nation. The truth is we have in each local church a man chosen to spend more time in the Scriptures and with God than the rest of the people.

However, the one who is chosen is weak himself. Preaching is one doubter preaching to a bunch of doubters attempting to convince all of us not to doubt. Preaching is an imperfect man preaching a perfect Book to imperfect people attempting to perfect them. Preaching is one weak man preaching to a bunch of weak people attempting to cause all of us to lean upon Jesus for strength.

So, the preacher comes as at best a man to preach God. When I preach on joy I do not have joy all the time, but I work at it and as a result I have joy most of the time. When I preach on strength I do not come as one that always has strength, but I know where to go to receive strength and I do go there most of the time.

I do not come to the congregation with all the answers, but I do come to them with a Bible that has all the answers. I have the same fears, doubts, apprehensions, temptations, and trials that the congregation has.

The Bible says Jesus was tempted in all points like as we are. The Bible says, “There is no temptation taken you such as is common to man.” Every testing I have you have and every testing you have I have. The great preachers of the past such as Jack Hyles, John R. Rice, Bill Rice, D. L. Moody, C. H. Spurgeon, Lee Roberson, and Billy Sunday were all human beings. To find fault in them is to find fault in you and the rest of the human race.

When I was in grade school we use to have schoolbooks that had the answers in the back of the book. We would grade others papers by going to the back of the book and look up the answers. When we would take a test I can still hear the teacher saying, “Don’t look at the answers until the test is over.”

Think about that? We all need to think about that. It is not time to look at the answers now in life while we are being tested. During the testing time it is not time to look for the answers. Why, because you will not learn anything if you get the answers before the test is over. I use to say to myself, “But that is when you need the answers the most.” However, the teacher would say, “You will not learn anything by getting the answers before the test is over. Wait till it is over and then look at the answers to find out how you did.”

Here we are today being tested and we want to know the answers. I find myself getting on to a plane sometimes saying, “Why?” I check into a hotel sometimes asking myself, “Why?” and I can hear my grade school teachers saying, “Wait till the test is over before you look for the answers.” All of us want the answers during the test, but the answers do not come till the test is over. The truth is none of us will learn anything. We must wait until the test, the trial, or the testing time is over.

John 13:7 Jesus said, “I’ll tell you hereafter” for it is not time now to tell you. It is not time to look at the answers. I pastored for 33 years and have been honored to be in the ministry going on 39 years and I knew the dear people God gave me to pastor. I knew their testing and I knew they were asking why just like I was asking why for all of us do it. They had their airplane moment, motel moment, and they all wept as we all asked why.

May I tell you what my grade school teachers use to say to us. “Don’t look for the answers until the test is over, because you will not learn anything by knowing the answers without the test.” There is no great merit in trusting God if you have all the answers. God wants you to trust him without the answers. God wants you to work your way through the problem. Once the test is over or the problem is worked through then you can look at the answers. Only then will “why” be answered, but we all are so prone to fuss at God telling him we want to know the answers now.

However, God says in Job, with Elihu speaking to Job, that Job was tested and asking God for the answers. He was asking why did my ten children die, why is my health gone, why is my wealth gone, why are my friends turning on me, and why did my wife lose her faith and loyalty in me. Job was asking God why? “There has to be an answer why all ten of my children died, my health is gone, my wealth is gone, my so-called friends have forsaken me, and my wife said, ‘Curse God and die!’ God why?”

Elihu comes to Job and says, “God is not interested in you.” Oh, Elihu you are so wrong! God is interested in Job and in every one of his people. God knows your name, your house number, your social security number, you blood type, your telephone number, your blood pressure, your height, your weight (ouch), your heartache, and your personal pain. You and I are not an uh oh with God. All of a sudden a cloud comes and the presence of Jehovah God appears to Job.

“Why God?” asks Job. Why my health, wealth, ten children, disloyal wife, and so-called friends who became disloyal. I can hear Job say to himself, “Wow! God is here and God is going to tell me why.” He heard the voice of God and God is going to tell him “why” he thought, but God did not tell him “why.”

In the 39^th, 40^th, and 41^st chapters of Job when God came to Job he never told Job why one time. God said, “I want to show you something Job. Look at the streak of lightening across the sky. Can you do that?” Job felt that mighty rush of wind and God asked Job, “Can you do that?”

God gives him a display like no one could imagine. God shows his power, omnipotence, wonders, and creation, then He says to Job, “If I can do all of that then don’t you think there is a why?” “If tornadoes are my footprints, hurricanes my breathe, snow comes from me, I can cause the rain to come then stop, and I can put on a lightening show of electricity in the sky, don’t you think you could trust a God like me? Don’t you think Job, I have a reason for every thing?”

Why don’t we quit looking for the answers while the test is being given? Why don’t we just work through the problems? Why don’t we just work our way through the trials, tribulations, and tests? Why don’t we just learn some things? It’s not answer time for it’s trusting time. It’s time to trust God not to find answers from God. If you and I found the answers it’s not going to help us until the test is over.

God says to us, “Trust me.” When you can’t see your way through just trust God to guide you through. Tell God you do not need to know why because your God knows why.

LESSONS

• We waste our time guessing at the whys or the answers
• We may guess wrong
• We may make a wrong decision based on a wrong guess
• We cannot know the answer until you work through the problem
• If we knew why in the middle of the test we would disagree with the answer
• The testing time is more help to us than the answer time