J. Vernon McGee has been on the radio for 53 years and I've listened to him for 51 years. What an influence! This morning I heard him say this -        

 "When you took that basket of fruit over to that dear, lonely, sick person: that old lady, that wonderful child of God, but everybody's forgotten her, and you took that basket of fruit over to her, you were a priest, offering a sacrifice to God, and it was well pleasing to Him."  "And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased." Heb.13:16  J. Vernon McGee

 "The greatest compliment I ever received was from a country boy wearing high-buttoned yellow shoes. After morning service he came to speak to me, he groped for words then blurted out, "I never knew Jesus was so wonderful!" He started to say more but choked up and hurried out of the church: as I watched him stride across the field I prayed, oh God let me always preach so that it can be said, "I never knew Jesus was so wonderful!"

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  The poor may be very wealthy. We all use our differing gifts but to one end, that Jesus may save, restore and heal. The rich fall into many snares, and they may be much different than the financially poor, but sin is sin, and poverty is truly about the soul. We are reminded of that each time we hear about some rich person who takes their life. Mother Teresa always said the greatest poverty she saw was in America, was the poverty of the soul. But if we have no desire to reach the poor of soul, regardless of their economic position, we have reason to question if the spirit of Jesus dwells within, or that we hear His voice clearly. Even smoking flax and bruised reeds love the poor. There are few that will find all walks of their life are conforming to the word; but we press on. But in our failings, we don't want to fail in the things that will bring the most judgment; and failing to love will always be our greatest concern. Our God is loving the poor of all kinds in the world today through His body, the church, and if we fail to love we have failed greatly.

  Satan doesn't always roar.....

  
"Blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear." Mt. 13:16

  I saw something yesterday and I heard something; the first was a quote by Robert Louis Stevenson which said - 

  "If we are indeed here to perfect and complete our own natures, and grow larger, stronger, and more sympathetic for some nobler career in the future, we had all best bestir ourselves to the utmost while we have the time. To equip a dull, respectable person with wings would be but to make a parody of an angel." 

 The thing I heard were the lyrics to a song which said - 

  "I've been to hell and back so many times, I must confess, you kind of bore me."

 I see the same theme in both; the first compels us to grow in sympathy and experience, not just so we can be respectable, holy and free of sin, but also to become wise and aware of the needs of humanity so we can be a true light in society. 
Educated, not just in the letter, but educated in "cheek to jowl" personal interactions with those Jesus commanded us to love. 

 The lyrics to the song echo the same sentiments; I take it to mean, the sanitized presentation you make fails to relate to my world. 

 I can't tell you how many times I've heard a pastor confess the sin of anger at someone who cut him off in traffic, suggesting that is the worst sin he's dealing with, while I struggle with issues he makes me fear to mention. 

     We are to prepare to break down the gates of hell which include vile affections, addiction, poverty, suicide, teen pregnancy, abortion, child trafficking, pornography, unbelief and the breakdown of the family, to mention a few. 


  

    The following piece is so insightful and so important because it explains what true soul ministry is about. Sadly, it's written in very formal English and hard to follow. Because of that I'll try and set the stage. The author is talking about a person who has grown in wisdom and sensitivity for the inner feelings of others; meaning their thoughts, sorrows, fears and failings. And anyone who confides in him has a feeling of trust, unity and love. 
The person counseling has learned how to open up heart-to-heart conversations and reach the deepest needs where no one but God had ever gone before. And it is done in such a warm, loving and sympathetic way that it disarms the listener and breathes new life and faith into their soul and they leave feeling a newness of hope, in God, and in themselves. 
Isn't that what it means to have "the mind of Christ"? 


   "There is no human being to whom we look with so true a faith, as to him who shows himself deep-read in the mysteries within us; who seems to have dwelt where Omniscience only had access, and traced our momentary lines of feeling, whose rapid flash our own eye, could scarcely follow; who put into words weaknesses which we had hardly dared to confess in thought; who appears to have trembled with our own anxieties, and wept our very tears. 
This initiation into the interior nature is the quality which, above all others, gives one mind power over another. If it comes upon us from from the living tones of a friendly voice, we listen as to the breathings of inspiration.
  That someone could have so penetrated our subtlest emotions, and caught our most transient attitudes of thought, and should have so detected our sophistries of conscience, and witnessed the miseries of our temptations, and known the sacredness of our affections, that we appear revealed anew even to ourselves, this truly seems the greatest of the triumphs of genius." James Martineau.  

  "You talk of speak of sovereign decrees. God has no sovereign decrees; God's decrees are all paternal. The decrees of a despot are meant to clip the subject's wings; those of the Father are meant to expand the wings. Why are you forbidden to be selfish? Because selfishness locks the soul. Why are you commanded to love? Because love is liberty. Why are you commanded to be compassionate? Because compassion is power. Why are you commanded to sympathize? Because sympathy is the heart's soaring. The commands of your Father break the cage and set you free."

George Matheson. 

   I love this quote! 
The songs of the relieved, do you know it? Have you heard it? Like in Job 29:13 where he says, "I made the widow's heart sing for joy." I visited the widow to break her lonely days; to be hearing ears to her laments and her joys. Man, this is a power packed quote. 

  This is Emily; she has mental problems and lives on the street. She comes into the mission daily for meals and she is abrupt, short tempered and the best way to react to her is to simply serve what she points too and don't upset her. Sometimes she puts her nose up at what's being served and walks away, and then maybe she'll repeat that a few times and then, with a condescending look, take what's served. She is referred to as "The pointer" because she is usually pointing here and there, high and low. She will be combative if you cross her; indignant if you speak to her and all around an ill-tempered soul. I've seen her come in with clothes so baggy she was exposing herself and I wanted to help her but I know that would lead to a great commotion and be futile. How she lives in such continual danger is a mystery to me, but she's been there for years. Her wrath probably saves her.

And when a stranger walks by and sees her and murmurs under their breath, "shame on this woman for choosing to live like this because of her bad choices" it makes me want to just slap them silly!

 
 There's a lot of controversy around the women's place in the ministry; I think the future generations will decide that based on how they interpret scripture. I'll leave it for them to wrestle with. Now when I consider what women have added to my Christian education it is immeasurable. When I think of Amy Carmichael and Elizabeth Elliot I think of their influence on me for purity; I think about Elizabeth Fry who taught me how to minister to the broken and abandoned; I think of Billy Graham's daughter Anne Graham Lot who teaches me how to share the gospel in boldness, simplicity and without compromise; I think of young Malala who taught me courage; I think of Dorcas who taught me charity; I think of Debra who taught me about wisdom; I think of my wife who teaches me self-control; I think of my own Daughters-in-law who teach me how to rear Godly children; and most of all I think of Mother Teresa who taught me, and the world, how to love like Jesus.

  My Christian values have been shaped by both men and women, but if the contributions of women were removed the loss would be immeasurable.   

   

  I was reading in Luke 5 today when this verse stood out. Jesus told Simon - 

 "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." 

  As I meditated on it I heard His message reminding me that if I would be a fisher of men, I will need to be in "deep water." The souls of men will not be reached in the shallows; if I'm to see souls saved, restored and healed, I must reach the deep recesses of he heart. 
I think that process begins with "eyes that see and ears that hear". 
Soul rescue is personal, intimate engagement with the downcast. God's anointing connects us and opens hearts; theirs and ours. 
The ingredients are trust, kindness, candor, truth and love. 

So that's a feeble attempt to explain how I've seen God work.