Focus 40: Day 13

Joy Is Just a Way to Live and Die                                                    

“You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.” —Matthew 5:7 msg

There is a ballad by John Denver about his Uncle Matthew that tells the story of Matthew’s life, of joy and sorrow, having and losing, life and death. When I hear that song, I always think “That’s how I was raised.” Most of the time we do not recognize that life and death go hand in hand and the key to living is to live with joy. The way we as Christians experience life and respond to the death of a love one is a powerful witness to the world of the hope of eternal life that we possess. People facing death themselves or facing death with a loved one grasp for hope from those around them who have the hope and serenity of being in a right relationship with God.

When my father experienced his second stroke within a week’s time, he was in the intensive care unit in a deep coma, so deep he did not even respond to pain stimulus. The whole family—Mom, three children, four grandchildren and their spouses—gathered in his hospital room. The doctor, nurses, and we knew there was little hope of recovery. We asked permission to sing in his room since music and ministry was part of our lives. We sang his favorites, “The Old Rugged Cross,” “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say, ‘Come unto Me and Rest.’” I was watching Dad’s vital signs and his heart rate was erratic, but as we sang his breathing became even and his heart rate smoothed out as though he relaxed and was at peace.

During this time of looking death square in the face, there was a knock at the door. A woman was standing outside the door wringing her hands. She said, “My husband is in the next room dying. I heard you singing. Does anyone in here know how to pray?” My husband and I were closest to the door, so we left with her and entered her husband’s room. She told us that she was not sure if he was a Christian or not. We held her hands and her husband’s hands and prayed for his salvation before meeting God. Whether he could hear, whether he could respond, whether he had already made his peace with God, we did not know. Hopefully, his wife received comfort and sought God for her own salvation after this experience. What we do know is that God, like the waiting father of the prodigal son, is eagerly waiting when his wandering created-ones to turn toward home; and like the thief on the cross next to Jesus, hearts and lives are transformed! And we wonder if, in God’s seeking grace, the man opened his heart to Jesus, and he and Dad walked through the gates together? We don’t know, but it does resemble the heart of the Waiting Father, doesn’t it?

The doctor told us to go home, go back to work and be prepared for days, weeks, months or years of Dad being in this kind of coma. We did, except two of the family remained overnight. The call came early the next morning that Dad died peacefully in his sleep. There was no doubt in our minds about the mercy of God, the love of God, and the joy in both living and dying. While each of us daily cared for congregations of people and carried their burdens, several hundred people came from all over the country to pay their respects to our family. Your faith, your witness, in fact, your whole theology is on display to others as you live and as you confront death. Transforming Hearts…Transforming Lives!

Lord, let our lives count, let our lives be “care-full”, so that when we need to be cared for, we rest in your arms.

Ø  Rev. Mary Bruce Fuller, Minister & Attorney, Florence, Mississippi

Focus 40: Day 12

Fasting as a Way of Bearing One Another’s Burdens                

“Bear one another’s burdens.” —Galatians 6:2 nrsv

Dan is a believer in his early fifties. He has a wonderful supportive wife in every aspect. His two children are grown and living very productive lives. However, Dan was called upon to face what he had never faced. He had grown up in a poor economic environment. He had therefore determined he would rise above this level. He spent the important years preparing himself through education, training, and experience to always be able to provide for himself and family.

Suddenly, at the age when he thought he would have reached his professional apex, he found himself without employment for the first time in his life. The first few months he took it as a challenge and set about spending time becoming credentialed in areas of his field that he thought would bring more opportunity. Yet after months of such advanced training there were still no job opportunities. As most men would he threw himself into sending out more resumes hoping that the law of percentages would be on his side. Still the months moved on without a concrete job offer. Then the phase began when the few offers that came called for him to enter new fields or relocate jeopardizing his wife’s career.

All the time he was serving his local church and going through an elder-in-training program. During one of his meetings with the Board of Elders and me (his pastor), I suggested we as an elder board and spiritual brothers of Dan join together. Let us designate a specific day for fasting and prayer on behalf of Dan’s employment issue. A few days later Dan e-mailed me with a thank you stating how encouraging it was to have a group of men in his life willing to fast and pray for him. This very effort brought him closer to each of us as we fasted and prayed every Wednesday for Dan. Each man was weekly in contact with Dan. They were naturally drawn to seek Dan out each Sunday to speak a word of encouragement or pray with him.

This time of committed fasting continued for the next four months. During those four months, Dan reported to the board of elders various possibilities, with all the highs and lows of expectations rising and falling.

On September 1, 2011, I opened an email from Dan that read; “Hello All, The prayer and fasting has been answered. I start my new job on September 12.” The new job was in his field and was just twenty minutes from his home. Dan would later share with the elder board that although he was unemployed for over a year, his checkbook balance ended $400.00 above the day he lost his job.

The bearing of one another’s burdens will produce “perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us” (Rom 5:3–5).

Dear Father, may I not waste the use of spiritual disciplines just on myself. Help me to see that in engaging in these spiritual disciplines I can benefit another. May I come to experience that your discipline in my life will produce a blessing in another’s life. I yield myself to you, O Lord, this day for your spiritual formation in my life. Amen.

Ø  Rev. Claude Robold, Pastor, New Covenant Church, Middletown / Franklin, Ohio 

Focus 40: Day 11

God-Flavors and God-Colors                                                            

“Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” —Matthew 5:13–16 msg

In 1982, I became an ordained minister in the Church of God and served side-by-side with my husband in pastoral ministry. We co-pastored churches with Tom preaching in the morning worship services and me preaching in the evening worship services. My preaching always seemed to turn into teaching. At times I looked back and wondered why my messages were not evangelistic. However, two occasions stand out in my mind when God validated my style of ministry. And two phrases come to mind: Life-style evangelism and marketplace evangelism.

On one occasion at our daughter’s wedding, her friend from high school came into the bride’s dressing room and said she wanted to tell me something. She thanked me for letting her stay in our home on many occasions throughout high school. She said my example as a mother and a Christian woman influenced her life and was the reason she is a Christian today and raising her children in a Christian home. (Not my preaching.)

The second occasion was this past summer while visiting with friends of nearly thirty years. As we all sat around the table with mutual friends from the same time period and same pastorate, my friend said, “Mary is the reason I became a Christian. (We worked with our desks pushed together so that day in day out we faced each other.) Mary never pushed her faith on me. She was just my friend through a very difficult time in my life.”

Wow! People were watching my life, not particularly hearing me preach. So, in our homes, in our churches, at our jobs, where we shop and do business, people are reading our lives and making decisions to follow Christ because they see something in our lives that they want. The old hymn “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind” says it best: “Drop Thy still dews of quietness, till all our strivings cease; Take from our souls the strain and stress, and let our ordered lives confess the beauty of Thy peace.” My mother, Lois Bruce, had this gift. Once she entered the intensive care newborn nursery where she was the head nurse and one of the doctors declared, “Here comes the stabilizing presence of calm.”

Lord, let us be salt wherever we are placed, so people can experience all the flavor of God. Help us be light in a dark world so people can see all the colors and beauty of God and sense his stabilizing presence of calm. Amen.

Ø  Mary Bruce Fuller, Minister and Attorney; Florence, Mississippi

Focus 40 Third Sunday's Message

March 4, 2012

Luke 15:11-32

Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything.’  So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.  Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’  But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate;  for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate. 

Forgiveness…

The son said to the father “I wish you were dead”.  He takes from the father and leaves his family behind to do as he pleases with what the father had given him.  Soon the son finds himself alone with nothing.  It’s then that the son begins to remember the days he spent with his father.  Life with the father was better than life without.  So he sets off for home humbled and ashamed.  The love of the father is greater than the wrongdoings of the son.  The father welcomes the wayward son home, hears his confession, honors him, and begins to celebrate.  The focus of the father isn’t on the wrongdoing of the son.  Instead the father forgives and celebrates the return of his beloved son.  What do we expect when we come to God?  Our Lord sees our shame, fear, and humility.  Our Lord knows our wrongdoing.  Our Lord responds with forgiveness and celebration.  We were once lost, but now we are found.  God’s love forgives.  May we forgive as well.

Focus 40: Day 10

You Had a Hole in Your Lung, but It’s All Healed Up Now!


“If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.” —Exodus 15:26


My friend Ken (hunting, fishing, and general mischief farmer buddy, who always lived on the edge of everything he did) had a four-wheel drive pontoon army vehicle. He loaded up his two kids and several neighborhood kids and was driving up a huge mound of dirt in a vacant lot. As he was going over the top of the mound, his foot slipped off the clutch and the pontoon flipped over backward. Most of the kids were thrown off safely; Ken’s two-year-old, Mandy, had a broken collar bone. The steering wheel landed in the middle of Ken’s chest, and he had to be rushed to the emergency room.  


When I arrived, the nurse escorted me into his room. Ken was in extreme pain, having difficulty breathing. His skin was ashen color, and I was fearful that he might not make it. When he began trying to talk, with excruciating pain and effort, he said, in broken sentences, “Sam…I’ve got it figured out…” I thought he was going to say something deeply spiritual and profound, like, “If I don’t make it…take care of my family,” or “This is what I want you to do at my funeral!” He continued, to my consternation, “I’ve got it figured out…when I get out of here, we’re going to put some roll bars on that thing!” I didn’t know whether to laugh, or cry, or punch him! I blurted out, “Oh, no, you’re not! Janet and I have already decided to sell that pontoon before you get out of here!” Of course, he was under heavy pain medication, and in a lot of pain, and wasn’t up to saying much more. I took him by the hand, and in prayer I lifted him up before the throne of our healing Lord. After praying, my heart was heavy, and I needed to cry a bit, and I wanted to see Janet. He still looked ashen, and every breath was extremely painful. I went out and visited with Janet and the family, and had prayer; and because I felt so intensely for Ken, I went back to pray with him.  


I was not prepared for what I witnessed! He was breathing normally, effortless, freely. His skin was back to its normal ruddy complexion. He was talking clearly and smoothly. He said, “Sam, get the doctor. I’m ready to go home!” Our friend Elvan had been to pray with him a few minutes before my first visit in the room. Ken said, “After you prayed, as you were walking out of the room, suddenly, I started breathing normally and feeling better!” Of course, he still had sore ribs and muscles, but his breathing was good; and that was the main thing he needed. The doctor came in and discharged him and Janet took him home. Later that night, Ken’s neighbor, a doctor, came to see him and said, “Let me check you over and see how your ribs are.” The doctor said, “I’m taking you back to the hospital. There’s air in your abdominal cavity; you have a hole in your lung!” After the doctor ordered new lung X-rays, he said, “Ken, over here is a scar from when you had Valley Fever; but here is a new scar. You had a hole in your lung, but it is all healed up! You’re OK, and the air will go away.” Ken told him about Elvan and me praying for him and how he started breathing normally as I walked out the door; and the Muslim doctor raised his hands and said, “Praise be to Allah. Only God could have done this!” I remembered the words of God to Moses, at Marah (place of
bitterness), in answer to his prayer, where God sweetened the bitter water and said, “I am the Lord, who heals you!” (Jehovah-Raphe).


Thanks, Lord, for that day in the emergency room when you demonstrated the awesome power of prayer to you, the One who says without hesitation, “I am the Lord, who heals you.” Transforming Hearts…Transforming Lives! Amen!


 Dr. Sam Bruce, President, Sam & Sandie Bruce Ministries; Pastor, Hope Point Church, Pearl, Mississippi; Online Instructor, Mid-America Christian University, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
                                                

Focus 40: Day 9

A Simple Invitation


Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote--Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” —John 1:45


In greater and greater numbers, I discover people who are burned out on the institutional church.  Some have given up on church but have not given up on God. In our outreach to our respective communities, let us not neglect this key group. Let us not give up on them, either. With time and the right opportunity, they will come back.


Robert is a local business owner in our community who needed some computer work done within his store. He heard about someone named Bill, who had computer skills, and invited him to come by his business to provide an estimate. In the course of their dialogue, Robert invited Bill and his family to our church. For Bill and wife, Susan, there was immediate hesitancy, due to a debacle that happened at their previous church that had left them jaded and confused. Needless to say, their ecclesiology took a major hit. After some time, though, they came and brought their children.  What they found was not what they expected, which was “more of the same.” What they found, instead, was a loving community of people who helped them heal and believe again. Note this excerpt from a testimony written by Susan and published on our church’s web page:


"I knew in my heart that not being a part of a local church was not healthy and more importantly not something that I should be doing with my children. At the beginning of 2008, I started a prayer journal. One thing that I put on my list of goals for 2008 was to find a church home. In February of 2008, I had my third child, and I knew that the most important thing for her life was to be raised as a Christian. In April, my family attended Olde Towne for the first time. What a difference this church has made. We were welcomed and celebrated before we could get out of the car. The people were loving in a way that I had never experienced. The services are so God-centered and worshipful 
that I have begun to let go of my fears and hurt. Olde Towne has restored my life in Christ by freeing me from religion and laying the pathway back to the relationship I had with God when I was first born again."


Bill and Susan are now totally involved in the local church and serve as lay leaders. Just think: it started with a simple invitation, just like the one Philip extended to Nathanael. For the family listed above, they are grateful that someone reached out and dared to extend hope where hope was needed.


Lord Jesus, help us to extend invitations to those who are separated from the body and need to find a home among your people. In your name, Amen.


 Dr. Marshall Stokes, Pastor, Olde Towne Community Church, Ridgeland, Mississippi

Focus 40: Day 8

I Could Have Traded Five Dollars for a Hundred Dollars! 


“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.” —1 John 4:18


When I was a child, Dad was president of Wesley College. When I was eight years old, Dad made me a member of the worship team and paid me ten cents each time I sang in a service. I kept my dimes in little bank the size of a dime coin roll. I had saved almost five dollars. I counted and stacked them in dollar -size piles and put them back in the bank. One day, a lady where we were having dinner held out her tightly closed hand and said, “I’ll trade what I have in my hand for your bank and dimes!” I was curious to know what was in her hand, but I knew what was in my bank and how long it took me to accumulate my treasure; fifty dimes represented fifty songs! After much inner struggle, I decided to keep my dime bank and five dollars. When the lady opened her hand, I saw a hundred dollar bill! I was so disappointed that I cried.  


Many people are like that, holding on to their puny little desires and toys, a few little joys, some happiness, a few fleeting thrills, along with a lot of fears, frustrations, heartaches, and anxieties. Then Jesus Christ, the Liberator comes along and offers to trade them eternal life—a life of inner peace and freedom, purpose and meaning, fulfillment and joy. Yet, they cling to their little empty or partially full lives because they are afraid to trust him, afraid to lose that which will not last or satisfy for what is eternal and will satisfy immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine (Eph 3:20). I didn’t know if I could trust that lady, and I didn’t know what she was offering in exchange for my bank, but as you spend with our Lord, listening to his thoughts, delighting yourself in him, getting the desires of his heart, making them the desires of your heart, you learn to trust him because his offer of salvation and abundant life is clear. “There is no fear in love. Perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18).  


Jesus Christ has proven himself across ages of time to be absolutely trustworthy. Millions of changed lives attest to his ability to save and satisfy people, who, in simple faith, trust him and ask him to come into their lives and take control. God the Father made an offer to trade gis gift of eternal life for our time on earth. He sent his Son Jesus to complete the plan and make the offer. We choose to reject or accept it. To accept God’s offer gives new life, opportunities and relationships more valuable than anything we can dream or give up. Jesus asked, “What can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:37). He said, I am leaving you with a gift—peace of heart and mind—worth more than gold, silver, or anything else. What an offer! It’s like trading five dollars and a fifty cent bank for a hundred dollars—only the results of this trade are much more important, with eternal consequences and higher stakes! Choose to follow and serve Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord and enjoy eternal life with him.  


I was speaker at a men’s retreat where we gathered around a bonfire. Several gave testimonies of God’s work in their lives. One young man said, with deep emotion and tears, “I declare an end to dysfunctionality in my family tree for generations! I am going to be a godly husband and father!”  That night he made a better trade than giving up five dollars for a hundred dollar bill; and his wife and children got a new husband and father. Years later, he is still soaring high with the Lord, and is a Christ-follower and leader in the church. That’s a God kind of trade! Transforming Hearts…Transforming Lives!


Thanks, Lord, for your offer to trade your eternal life for my brief life, your full life for my empty life, your presence for my loneliness. Help me to always live in intimate relationship with you, and to offer your gift to everyone I meet. I love and trust you! Amen.


 Dr. Sam Bruce; President, Sam & Sandie Bruce Ministries; Pastor, Hope Point Church, Pearl, Mississippi; Online Instructor, Mid-America Christian University, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma