The King's Invitation

God put salt in my oats

kingsinvitation | June 17, 2009 12:14

My dad was never much of a TV-watcher. He’d rather be outside doing something. But on Sunday afternoons when I was a kid, he and I would sit together and watch the Roy Rogers Sunday Matinee. He enjoyed a good western.

So, a few weeks ago, when I happened on an old western movie on the TV, I stopped and watched. It really took me back to those days as a boy, sitting with my dad. It was a good feeling.

In the movie, this marshal and his deputy were about to cross over a desert in pursuit of some "bad hombres", and they had stopped by a "watering hole" to prepare themselves for the journey. As they filled up their canteens with water, the older marshal was telling his young deputy what to expect on this journey across the wilderness. Do you know God can use the simplest things to teach us?

God always knows what’s ahead of us, and sometimes He just wants to give us a little advantage over the trials to come. In 2 Kings 8, God instructed Elisha to tell the Shunammite woman, "Arise and go, you and your household and stay somewhere else, for the Lord has called for a famine in the land for seven years." And she listened, left the country for seven years, and her household was spared. God knows the end from the beginning, and He still speaks to us today, through prayer and through His Word, He still speaks. It’s up to us to listen.

Now, getting back to our cowboys; After they filled their canteens, they lead their horses over to the water, but one of the horses wouldn’t drink. I guess he was satisfied, and didn’t desire any water. Ever heard that old saying, "you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink"? Well this horse wouldn’t drink.

But the horse’s master knew what was ahead, he knew the trials that would come, and he knew the horse needed to drink deeply of the water to prepare for the dry hours ahead. God offers us living water through Jesus Christ, a well which never runs dry. But sometimes, we’re satisfied with the way we are, and just pass the water by without desiring even a taste. Have you ever turned down the water? Have you ever sat on a pew while the Holy Spirit was working in the altar and said to yourself, "its not for me"?

The cowboy had to do something, so he took some oats out of his saddlebag, and pulled some salt out of another pack. He mixed a pile of salt into some oats and gave it to his horse. The horse ate the salted oats, and guess what? The horse became very thirsty and began to desperately drink the water.

Have you ever been desperate for God’s living water? David said in Psalm 42:1, "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for you, oh God." It’s in that moment of desperation for God that lives are changed forever. Consider the story of the prophet Samuel’s mother, Hannah. She was married to a man named Elkanah. Elkanah also had another wife named Peninnah. Doesn’t sound like a good idea to me, but that’s the way it was.

Now Peninnah had given Elkanah several children, but Hannah was barren because, according to 1 Samuel 1:5, "God closed her womb". Why would God do such a thing? Peninnah goaded Hannah constantly, telling her their husband loved her more because she had given him children, and year after year, child after child, it grew worse. Finally, Hannah took her troubles to the altar. The scripture says she told God if He would give her a son, she would give him back to the Lord to serve Him always as a Nazirite.

Eli, the old priest, saw her in the altar weeping, and thought she was drunk. Have you ever been so desperate for something it didn’t matter what anybody else thought about you? But Hannah explained to him that she wasn’t drunk, but that she was crying out of the bitterness of her soul. He recognized her seriousness, and asked God to grant her petition. Nine months later she gave birth to Samuel. So why did God close her womb? To put salt in her oats, so that through her desperation, something special would be birthed.

Consider also the story of the prophet Jonah. The Word of the Lord came to Jonah and told him to travel to the city of Ninevah, and preach against the city because of the wickedness there. What did Jonah do? He got up and caught a boat to Tarshish instead. Do you know where Tarshish was? In the total OPPOSITE direction of Ninevah! Have you ever found yourself doing just the opposite of what you knew God wanted you to do? Even the apostle Paul struggled with it. Paul said in Romans 7:15; "For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice, but what I hate, that I do." There is an ongoing battle inside of us between the flesh and the spirit.

But what happened to Jonah? First, God sent a great wind into the sea, causing the ship Jonah was on to begin to sink. Do you know sometimes storms are sent by God himself? Jonah was eventually thrown overboard, where the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow him. Then according to Jonah 2:2, Jonah said "I cried by reason of my affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me." He gave God praise and thanksgiving, and promised to carry out what God had instructed. And God told the fish to spit Jonah out onto the dry land. In the end, Ninevah, a city of over 120,000 people, was spared because they were given one last opportunity to turn to God and they took it. Why did God send a storm and a giant fish against Jonah? To put some salt in his oats. Job 5:17 says, "Happy is the man God corrects."

And in our western story, the men and their horses made it across the desert. They survived because of two reasons, first, one knew what was ahead of them, and second, they got their horses to drink plenty of water before they started. And I couldn’t help but think how this is so like us! If we trust God knows what’s best for us, and if we come to God thirsty for Him, He said He would satisfy us.

Sometimes, God gives us a nudge toward the water by putting a little salt in our oats. Maybe its to bring about His own purpose, as in the case of Hannah; maybe its to bring us into obedience, as in the case of Jonah; or maybe He just knows what’s ahead of us, and wants to prepare us for the trials to come.

In any case, the next time troubles come against you, before you murmur, before you look for someone to blame, before you say you don’t understand why God has let his happen to you – run to the fountain. Run in desperation to Christ and His living water, and drink deeply. It may be one of those moments that changes your life forever.

Take the church to someone this week – you’ll both benefit!

King’s Invitation Ministries, P.O. Box 501, Foxworth MS 39483

http://kingsinvitation.christianblogsites.com/blog/

the salesman

kingsinvitation | May 06, 2009 15:51

It was the fall of 1988. Three young men went into a local electronics store in Biloxi, Mississippi.

They met a young salesman there in his early 20’s, who showed them a couple of different pieces which would suit their needs. During the discussion, the salesman asked what they were going to use the equipment for. They told him they wanted to upgrade the equipment in their church, and invited him to join them in service some night. Thinking it might help him close the sale, the young salesman said he would do that.

They took some information with them that day, and returned a few more times over the following weeks to check prices and ask a few more questions. Each time, they talked to the young salesman about what God was doing in their lives, and invited him to church.

Now, the salesman had grown up knowing all about God. His mother was a devout Catholic who took her children to mass regularly. His father was a good man, but no longer went to church, although he had accepted Christ into his heart a few years back while attending a local Pentecostal church. But the salesman had never met Jesus. He knew all about Him, but didn’t know Him.

Finally, one night, hoping to get these young men to stop “pestering” him, the salesman went to a service at the Cedar Lake Christian Assembly. He sat near the back, in order to make a quick exit if necessary. But that’s not what happened.

By the time the pastor gave the altar call that night, the young salesman was in tears. He had realized the depth of his sin, and the severity of his offense against God. More than that, though, he had felt God’s love and His presence, and he knew God would forgive him if he would just ask.

The young salesman stood to his feet, slowly walked the isle, and fell to his knees at the altar. That night, he gave his heart and life to Jesus Christ, and was gloriously set free and saved. I know this story to be true, because I was that young salesman.

Never stop witnessing. You don’t know whose life you will touch. You don’t know who will follow you straight into the loving arms of Jesus Christ, our Savior, our King.

Take the church to someone this week – you’ll both benefit.

King’s Invitation Ministries

P.O. Box 501

Foxworth MS 39483

http://kingsinvitation.christianblogsites.com/blog/

an uncertain sound

kingsinvitation | April 23, 2009 20:21

Christianity is so confusing. How many different versions are there?

Some versions are all about feeling good. Some versions are all about financial success. Some versions are all about legalism. We have watered down the one true gospel in a misguided attempt to make it more acceptable and appealing to the masses, to widen the gate. The result is a powerless, ineffective Christianity, that is a reflection of the world instead of the Word. Paul wrote, “You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all.” (Galatians 1:6-7).

He also wrote, “For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle?” (1 Corinthians 14:8) An uncertain sound is one that is not distinct enough to be discerned from other sounds. In a nation such as ours, which is flooded with religious literature of all kinds, and TV and radio broadcast religious programs every day, we should be shocked to discover the overwhelming ignorance of the Word of God. The sounds are everywhere, but they are too vague.

Isaiah 56:10 reads, “For the leaders of my people – the Lord’s watchmen, his shepherds – are blind and ignorant. They are like silent watchdogs that give no warning when danger comes.” Have we become silent watchdogs? Do we really care enough to warn people about the coming danger? Or are we too afraid of offending someone? Jesus said, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” (Luke 12:51). There will not be world peace until Christ’s return. Any preaching or teaching otherwise is not biblical. Strive to speak the truth in love, not to speak what people love to hear.

We are allowing people to travel down that broad path to destruction by not proclaiming “Thus saith the Lord”. God warned about these uncertain sounds. He instructed the prophet Habakkuk to “write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others.” (Habakkuk 2:2) How many people are going about their daily lives, feeling they are ok with God, because they have not heard the correct message?

There is a battle on the horizon. We must proclaim the one true gospel to the world, loudly and clearly. We must run with the correct message. We must make a certain sound.

Take the church to someone this week – you’ll both benefit.

King’s Invitation Ministries

P.O. Box 501

Foxworth MS 39483

http://kingsinvitation.christianblogsites.com/blog/

are you wanted?

kingsinvitation | March 20, 2009 17:11

Are you important? Do you matter? Does anyone really care about you?

Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied. Then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44)

In the time Jesus walked as a man, if someone desired to protect their wealth, they would often bury it on their property. The man in this parable finds such a treasure. He is so overjoyed, he sells everything he has in order to buy the field. He knew if he owned the field, he owned the treasure.

The field in this parable represents the world. And the man represents Jesus.

Jesus gave everything he had, his life, his blood, in order to purchase the field and the treasure in the field. Why? If the field is the world, did Jesus buy the world because he wanted a planet? No, he bought the world because He desired the treasure that was there.

The treasure gives him great joy. Again, Matthew 13:44 says “then in his joy he goes out and sells everything he has and buys that field.” Hebrews 12:2 says “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

What is the treasure that Jesus valued so highly, He was willing to suffer and die for? You are. I am. We all are. How incredibly wonderful to know He loves us that much!

Malachi 3:17, “They will be my people,” says the Lord of heaven’s armies. “On the day when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure. I will spare them as a father spares an obedient child.”

1 Peter 2: 9, “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.”

Sometimes we can get so much stuff piled up on top of us – sickness, sorrow, sin - we find ourselves in a dark place, and we need someone to help dig us out. That’s what happened when Jesus bought the field; He dug up the treasure and brought it out into the light.

Paul wrote in the book of Romans, “But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us!” (Romans 5:8)

He didn’t say God proved His love for us after we started going to church….

He didn’t say God proved His love for us after we started reading the bible…

He didn’t say God proved His love for us after we started praying…

Now those things are important parts of a Christian’s life, and I think they’re necessary, but when we were still sinners He loved us. Think about it - When we were at our absolute WORST – He loved us, and found joy in us. Its so incredible!

Once I asked my dad how much something was worth, and he replied, "Its worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it." The next time someone tells you, or you think to yourself that you’re not worth anything, or that no one cares about you, please remember this – Jesus knows who you are and where you are, and thinks so much of you, loves you so much, finds so much joy in you, He sold everything He had to claim you as His treasure.

And He claims you by making you a child of God. When you ask Jesus to save you and to be the Lord of your heart and your life, you become a priceless jewel to Him. Maybe you have never received Jesus. Maybe you think you’ve done too many bad things in your life. Maybe you think you’re not good enough.

Paul wrote, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13). Not some, or even most, but EVERYONE. Jesus has already paid the price. All we have to do is call on Him, accept Him. We are God’s treasure.

Take the church to someone this week... you'll both benefit.

King's Invitation Ministries

P.O. Box 501

Foxworth MS 39483

http://myspace.com/kingsinvitation

people are like bottles of pop

kingsinvitation | February 28, 2009 09:25

People are like bottles of pop. You know… drinks… sodas… cokes… carbonated beverages…

We really are like bottles of pop – when we get shook up, whatever is inside will come spewing out! It doesn’t matter what is on the label, either. It’s what’s REALLY inside that comes out. Jesus said, “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:43-45).

What is this “treasure” of the heart? If it is good treasure, it is the Word of God. Psalm 119:11 says, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”; Proverbs 3:3 says, “Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart…” ; and Deuteronomy 30:14-16, “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments…”

The prophet Jeremiah, talking about learning the scriptures, said, “Your words were found and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart” (Jeremiah 15:16). And Paul, in his letter to the church at Colosse, said “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another is psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:16-17). We’ve got to look at ourselves beyond the label on the outside. When we really get shook up, what comes out of us? It’s sort of a diagnostic test on the state of our heart. If what comes out isn’t Godly – we must repent and strive harder to fill our heart with the things of God, so that when something happens which causes actions before thoughts, we will not betray our King, but instead glorify Him by showing the world a different, better, way to live.

Take the church to someone this week – you’ll both benefit.

King’s Invitation Ministries

P.O. Box 501

Foxworth MS 39483

http://myspace.com/kingsinvitation

how to break a man

kingsinvitation | February 18, 2009 09:03

I was a control freak. Whatever the task, I couldn’t let anyone else to do it – who could do it better then me?

Now don’t get me wrong, I was a believer. I was loving God, and serving Him, and everything was right with the world. Until we found out our newborn son had multiple heart defects. A week into his little life, my wife and I found ourselves hundreds of miles from home in a place we’d never been, while our baby boy was about to be taken in for what would be the first of several operations. The surgeon actually told us to take pictures of him, because at best, there was only a 50% chance he would survive the surgery.

I will never forget standing next to his bed, while they prepared to take him away. I could barely see his little body for the various tubes and monitor lines. He weighed only 5 pounds, and was about to have open-heart surgery. Open-heart surgery! And I was struggling to understand why this was happening to us. We were doing all the right things. We were attending church services every time the doors opened. We were tithing. We were praying. We were working in the kingdom. Why was this happening to him? Why was this happening to us?

As I looked at my son, I just cried. I wanted so badly to take charge and fix everything. Then something happened. It was as though I had no fight left. I realized there was absolutely NOTHING I could do for my son. I had NO CONTROL; I couldn’t help him at all. That’s when something inside of me just broke. Devastated, I leaned over onto his hospital bed and confessed to God, “I am helpless.” I begged God to take control of the situation, to have mercy on my son. And I put the outcome in His hands.

Despite the odds given us by the earthly physician, the operation was successful. Our heavenly physician saw us through. And He is still seeing us through. Not delivered FROM but THROUGH. But you know what I finally realized? I didn’t give control over to God; He was in control all along! Always has been! The outcome had been in His hands since the beginning of time! All I did was accept God’s sovereignty. You know, we can be so arrogant sometimes. Control freak… what a joke! I’ve never really been in control of anything.

It’s like two people trying to drive the same car. Just let go of the wheel and trust Him. You don’t have a clue where you’re going anyway, but He knows exactly where He wants to take you. That has been the hardest thing for me to do along this journey, and I’m still learning. But that idea of controlling my own life, that yoke, has been broken – and letting God be God is the most liberating thing I’ve ever done.

Romans 8:28 reads, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” I know God didn’t allow my son to be sick. Sickness exists in the world because we are in a fallen, sinful state, awaiting the world’s ultimate redemption at the second coming of Jesus our king and savior. But He used the situation for my good, and He is still touching lives as a result.

Try taking your hands off the wheel and let God drive. Then enjoy the ride of your life!

Take the church to someone this week – you’ll both benefit.

King’s Invitation Ministries

P.O. Box 501

Foxworth MS 39483

http://myspace.com/kingsinvitation

a light in a dark place

kingsinvitation | January 09, 2009 16:37

I got an email from an acquaintance today, who noticed I was missing.

It was just a note, actually. Nothing lengthy. Not even from someone who knows me very well. But it was like a small light in the dark valley I have been traveling through. Funny thing about lights… even a small one can been seen from a great distance if the night is dark enough.

Have you noticed someone missing? How often do we get caught up in our own lives and miss the opportunity to minister to someone in the simplest of ways? Sometimes all it takes is a note of encouragement, sometimes just a smile to someone having a bad day – a little light to draw them out of the darkness.

Did you have an opportunity to say “Good Morning” or “God Loves You” to a stranger today? You have no idea what’s happening in the life of the one you just walked past without speaking to. We are quick to judge someone we haven’t seen on Sundays in a few weeks. Are we just as quick to call or write that person we haven’t heard from in a while?

When Jesus takes up residence in our lives, He becomes the light of our world. We have an obligation, as His followers, to let that light shine before others. Jesus said, ‘No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it is a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light.” (Luke 11:33)

Is your light in a secret place? Afraid someone will see it? Jesus told His disciples, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed…” (Luke 9:26).

Maybe your light is under a basket? What are you saving it for? Jesus said, “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:21). We were redeemed for His service. How do you know your lamp is even lit if you can’t see the light?

Maybe you think it’s alright to keep the light to yourself. After all, what’s so wrong about that? Jesus said, “You are the light of the world…. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16-16). God will receive the glory from the light He gave you ONLY if others see the light!

So how about you? Do you know someone who is traveling through a dark valley? You may not be able to get them out of the valley… but have you tried giving them a little light?

Take the church to someone this week – you’ll both benefit.

King’s Invitation Ministries

P.O. Box 501

Foxworth MS 39483

http://www.myspace.com/kingsinvitation

The King's Invitation

God put salt in my oats

the salesman

an uncertain sound

are you wanted?

people are like bottles of pop

how to break a man

a light in a dark place

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