The Prodigal Son

¹¹Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. ¹²The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.
 ¹³"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. ¹⁴After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
 ¹⁷"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' ²⁰So he got up and went to his father.
      "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
 ²¹"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.^[a]'
 ²²"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
 ²⁵"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ²⁷'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'
 ²⁸"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'
 ³¹" 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³²But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "

Let us take three important notes from this story:

1.  It took him NO time to squander his inheritance.  He "set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living."  Even the brevity of the sentence in the early part of the parable suggests the amount of time that it took the son to lose this money.  The "friends" he made in the world were doubtless happy to be part of his celebration - until the money was gone.  Can't you just picture him buying shots for everybody at the bar and tucking dollar bills into the waitress's skirts and buying lavish meals and clothing?  You might find it surprising, but even God himself concedes that there is pleasure in sin for the carnal man - but only for a season (Hebrews 11:25).

2.   Repentance is the Key.  The Bible tells us that the son reasoned "I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' ²⁰So he got up and went to his father."  This is a picture of true repentance.  This young man, after he came to his senses (reads v. 17) made a decision with the help of the Holy Spirit.  He decided to repent.  Sure, it required him to swallow his pride and ego and admit that he had royally messed up, but look at the mess he had created for himself and the life that his riotous living had caused.  I like that phrase, "after he came to his senses" in the NIV - repentance is a sensible thing!!  We are sinners, it's obvious, and the sensible thing is to realize that we are a mess and that are lives are filthy as swine and that we need Christ's unmerited favor on our lives.  He came to his senses, praise God!

3.  Unmerited favor was his for the asking.  "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him."  Can you just imagine that picture?!  I've found one online and provided it for you below.. I love it.  It's a sad picture, because it shows this young man in a humbled, kneeling, sad, rather contrite position, but if it were animated, I have a feeling that the next few scenes would be ones of exhilarated joy and happiness - the whole community would be there joining in the scene.  Near pandemonium erupted because the boy who had gone - perhaps presumed dead - had returned home and forgiveness, favor and unequivocal love were his. 

As many times as I have read this story, it just never gets old.  I guess that's the case because I realize that the Prodigal Son is really me.  I hope it's you, too.  Because if it's not, it means that you haven't gotten out of the pig field yet - you haven't had an encounter with the Lord Jesus.  I pray you have tonight - and I pray otherwise that you have a blessed night of peaceful rest in the hands of the Lord Jesus.

Do the Numbers

Do the Numbers

“Seventy…or…eighty years…pass quickly.”     Ps 90:10 NCV

Our souls aren’t hungry for fame, comfort, wealth, or power. Those things create as many problems as they solve. Our souls are hungry for meaning. We want our lives to matter. The Psalmist writes: “Our lifetime is seventy years or, if we are strong, eighty.” Eighty years is just under 30,000 days. Think about that in financial terms: $30,000 will buy you a car or the down payment on a house. It’s not that much money—and it’s not that much time. None of us knows how many years we’ve left, but we know how many we’ve been given till now. If you were to draw a line and add them up, eternally speaking, what would you have to show for your life?



Job said, “My days fly faster than a weaver’s shuttle” (Job 7:6 NLT); “What’s left…races off too fast” (Job 9:25 TM). Bryan Wilkerson says: “Teens count the number of friends they have, the number of colleges they get into. College students count grade points…credit hours…how many beers they can drink…Adults measure success by the number of bedrooms in their house, cars in the garage…or the yield on their investments. Most make two mistakes…they think they’ve so much [time] they can afford to waste it, or so little time they can’t possibly do something significant so they don’t try. Our days are like suitcases—all the same size—but some can pack more into them than others.



‘Fools idle away their time’ (See Pr 12:11 NLT). Numbering your days means offering them to God and seeking His direction for your life.”


(authored by Dr. Don Wilton, First Baptist Church, Spartanburg, SC)

Do You Need to Forgive Someone?

I just need to ask you - is there anyone in your life that you need to forgive???  I just have to ask.  For some reason, that subject has just been on my mind so very much lately.  I've been under the preaching of two of the finest preachers that a person could ask for -- and bitterness and criticism and forgiving others seems to be a reoccurring theme among each of them. 

And through that, and the spirit that God has given me, I find myself often examining myself, to see if there is unforgiveness in my spirit.  But it has also increased the sensitivity in my "smeller" for unforgiveness, and so when I observe and hear and feel it in the lives of others - especially my loved ones and friends - it hurts me in the deep places of my heart - because it just doesn't have to be.  Particularly for you who are my Christian brothers and sisters - you who love and serve the Lord Jesus. 

I ask again:  is there someone you need to forgive?

God deals with this issue in the Word of God in several different instances.  One thing I love about Jesus is that he loved spending time with his disciples and he invested in them and cared about them and poured his being into them one by one.

"Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?  Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."

Of course, Jesus did not mean that Peter should stop forgiving at 490 times (an intentionally odd number).  He was telling Peter that he should go on forgiving and forgiving and forgiving and forgiving and forgiving and forgiving and forgiving and forgiving and forgiving and forgiving and forgiving .... ad infinitum - to infinity - and beyond.

And these are quite simply some of the most sobering words of the Bible.  During his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus stated, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."  Do not mistake this passage.  Jesus is not saying that saved people will lose their salvation.  He is stating that Christians that refuse to forgive men their trespasses will suffer great loss as a result of their bitterness - both in this life - and in the life to come. 

Regardless of who is at fault - the bitterness and unforgiving spirit that can consume us if we allow it can do so for a lifetime and it is NOT worth it, friends.  The Bible says that the enemy has come to steal, kill and destroy.  (I John 4:9-10)  He wants your testimony, your earthy life, but most of all, he wants the souls of men.  Let us resolve to forgive those who have wronged us, so that the root of bitterness doesn't destroy us.  Perhaps the time has come to make a call, write a letter or pay a  visit to that person.  Heck, if you need me to pray about the matter with me, give me a call and I'd be happy to - 901-237-9504.  I love to pray with people about this subject matter.. May God bless your richly tonight.

Noah - and a Book Referral

I've got a new book I would really, really refer strongly to you.  I think I picked it up at the Bellevue bookstore (for my Memphis friends).  But if you don't live in Memphis, I'm sure you could find the book at Amazon.com.  Anyhow, the book is called Men of the Bible:  A One-Year Devotional Study of Men in Scripture - written by Ann Spangler & Robert Wolgemuth.

"Men of the Bible takes a close-up look at fifty-two men in Scripture - complex flesh-and-blood 'characters' whose strengths and weaknesses are similar to our own.  Heroes and villains, sinners and prophets, commoners and kings, their dramatic life stories provide us with a fresh perspective on the unfolding story of redemption."

I put quotes around the word "characters" because I don't like that word when used when talking about people from the Bible.  We must always remember that these people are not fictional.  The Bible is:  the direct, infallible, inerrant, God-BREATHED word of God.  And I think that using the word "characters" - even with innocent motive - can make it seem like we're referencing Jack and the Beanstalk. 

But I digress.

This book has just been a real blessing to me, and I really encourage you to order a copy right away.  I was reading the chapter on Noah today and I was impressed with the courage and "intestinal fortitude" of this guy - you might say "guts"!  God came down and gave Noah a really rather incredible, unbelievably awesome set of instructions.  Men were literally driving their camels past his house scorning and mocking him.  "So, still pounding away on that boat, are ya!? Ha ha ha ha ha!!!"  And on and on and on they laughed.  And Noah lived with that - and the doubting and stress that it placed on his marriage for nearly eight years.  But the key is that Noah trusted God.  But what I really loved about this passage from this book especially was this quote:

"Tucked away in this story is the secret to Noah's success.  Noah walked with God.  For Noah, surrender was not a decision or noteworthy event; it was a process.  A routine.  A journey.  A walk.  Obedience was the natural result of this methodical approach.  Walking with God meant knowing him.  Knowing God meant loving him.  Loving meant hearing.  Hearing, obeying.  And obeying God meant salvation. 

We can imagine that decades of subtle and overt ridicule may have led Noah to question God.  There had to have been moments of loneliness and genuine doubt.  But taking one step at a time along the path God had laid out for him kept Noah on track."

But really hear what the author is saying there - "Walking with God meant knowing him.  Knowing God meant loving him.  Loving meant hearing.  Hearing, obeying."

That is a deeply important and profound lesson for us as believers in Christ and it really has to do with Lordship and giving ourselves over to the Lord completely.  This really makes me think of the Lord Jesus walking up to a couple of guys with fish bait on their hands and telling them to drop their nets and follow him - that he was going to make them fishers of men.  What does the Bible say they did? -  - "they forsook ALL."  They didn't go home and consult their families.  They didn't stop and think about it.  They didn't even seem to ask many questions.  They trusted - they dropped their nets and followed him.  May we do the same.  God bless you tonight.

Thanksgiving

Well, it's certainly not Thanksgiving yet.  But Thanksgiving is truly one of my favorite times of the year.  It is because of the reasons that it is for so many people.  Not only because of the good food and the good times spent with people we love, but also because we stop and take an inventory of all of that we have to be thankful for.

Around Thanksgiving of 2009, I was sort of moping around and my dear cousin Judy encouraged me in this way to take it a bit further - to put pen to paper and write out a list of all the things I had to be thankful for.  Once my pen started flying (or, as it were, fingers), I found that I just couldn't hardly stop! - I want to share a few of these with you:

My Salvation - Guaranteed by God's authority and seal

John 6:37 - "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."

I John 5:13 - "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

The Knowledge That God Will Not Leave Nor Forsake Me; I am HIS -

Hebrews 13:5(b) - "..I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

Ephesians 2:13 -14(a) - "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise.  (v. 14) Which is the earnest of our inheritance..

I have received the earnest of my inheritance; I am HIS!  Hallelujah!

That Christ Himself Makes Intercession for me at the Throne of the Father -

Romans 8:34 - "Who is he that condemneth?  it is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us."

I John 2:1 - "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:"

This is simply stunning.  Christ took my sin upon himself.  He who knew no sin allowed himself to be ashamed and separated from the Father he had always known and loved:  just for me.  If that wasn't enough, he approaches the throne to act as an intercessor - pleading my case - with the Father.  If that doesn't boggle the mind...

My heritage and family

Mom Cope - Who lived a life of Christlikeness and fought a brave fight and loved me unconditionally.

Ralph Cope - who gave his heart to Christ and lived for Christ and worked with his hands and back his whole life and laughed hard and loved hard - and earned the respect of many by his quiet spirit and kindly, Christlike demeanor. 

Juanita Cope - who taught me the importance of memorizing scripture

Bob Shotts - who served the Lord his whole life in truth, put others before himself and led many to Christ because he saw evangelism with the urgency that the Lord Jesus intended us all to see it

Jude - My fav cousin.  Who encourages me always and loves me even when I'm cynical.  I love you so dearly.

Jamie - King of generosity..

Larry - Worker of workers

Well, I assure you the list goes on and on and on and on... and it includes many, many more people, and it also includes things like my job and education, but it also talks about tangible things, too, like a roof over my head and clothes on my back!  But there's no doubt about it, after spiritual things, humans beings are what dominate the day.  There's simply nothing that money can buy that is worth a whole lot in real terms.  On Thanksgiving Day, if you've got ten million dollars, it won't make much difference if you're spending the day in depressing loneliness and not knowing who God is.

This day, I hope you might consider putting your own list of Thanksgiving together.  I guarantee you, you've got a LOT for which to be thankful, regardless of what your lot in life may be.  May our dear Father in heaven bless you as you sleep tonight...