For many years I have watched mankind as a whole. Looking at what people do consistently. Life as we know it is pretty regular. We go after the 3 basics, food, shelter and clothing. It seems that our lives are mundane or even boring. Unless something interrupts our daily lives. 200 t0 300 years ago, it would be a wagon train coming into town or a ship sailing into harbor. If you lived by the sea. Columbus watched the ships sail in and out of Genoa, Italy and discovered that the earth was round. A 100 years ago, it would be a circus that came to town or God forbid a war breaking out somewhere. Life would go along until something exciting came along. Some people like the routine of life. It makes them feel safe and secure. While others like the adventure and excitement of the unknown. But I have noticed a recurring cycle or error in the lives of mankind. The cycle is about 40 years. It is generally referred to as a generation. In that cycle is a glitch, a recurring error in every generation. I first discovered this glitch in a story over 2000 years ago. It is the story of Ephesus in Asia Minor. As the Roman army spread across the world, they would conquer countries. But if the city surrendered to them they wouldn’t destroy it. The Romans would collect a tribute and leave a garrison in the city. Ephesus was one of these cities. It was an important port city and very wealthy. When the Romans came, they brought their technology with them. Ephesus became a thoroughly modern city. They had features that we have today. Such as paved roads, running water, sewers, and even air conditioning. They had street lamps to light the main roads. They also had a large population. The city was over 100,000 people. The need for agricultural products was very great. The farming was very intense. The land around Ephesus was farmed so intently that there was a great amount of erosion. And all the run off went into the harbor. The harbor silted so badly that the city of Ephesus is now 10 miles from the sea. Their prosperity didn’t help them to survive for more than 60 years. I’ll finish the story tomorrow.

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Did you ever stand on the edge of a cliff to look down into the valley? It is called the brink. There are many beautiful views in the Great Smokey Mountains. I took a boat ride down the Pigeon River. It had was a class 3-4 whitewater rapid river. 2 of my sons and I rode the river. It was exciting. In the middle of August, the river was 65 degrees. It was cold. We just had to jump in and ride the river. I fell in the river and had an extremely hard time getting back to the boat. But I will do it again. I came to the brink and drove into it. During the 60’s, political activism was encourage for everyone to be involved in the shaping our country. Many pastors thought that this was a way to keep the influential power of the Church. It worked for a time because the general thought was that we are a Christian nation. Churches were involved in political campaigns. Many Christians won. More people were interested in programs than the Gospels. It was and is a popular way to run a church. It isn’t the first time this has happened. It happened in the 1^st century with the new Christian church. Ephesus was the center of Christianity in the 1^st century. It was a free Roman city. It was very wealthy and modern. It had paved roads, running water, sewers, street lamps and air conditioning. The agricultural was so extensive. They had to keep planting crops just to keep up with the demand. It caused erosion and silted the harbor. Ephesus is still there, but it is a city 10 miles from the sea. The Christians became obsessed with making money that they literally lost their way. They came to the brink. You can read the story in Ephesians and Revelations. In 40 years, Ephesus went from the most powerful Christian church, to a church on the brink of failure. And guess what it has happened again. Look around and see what is left of the Church in America. Jesus was very specific about this. He told them to return to their first love or He would remove their light from them.

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To err is human and to forgive is divine. It is a quote from Alexander Pope in the 18^th century England. He understood how important forgiveness is in one’s life. Knowing that we can be forgiven lifts such a great burden off of our lives. I understand this all too well. I thought I was going to die because in I was in such need of forgiveness in my life. When it came there was such a relief. It felt like I floated home. I have seen people crushed by the weight of their lives. Sometimes they just get into a death spiral and can’t get out. Not receiving forgiveness is a death spiral. So where do you go to get forgiveness? Jesus forgave a person’s sin and the religious leaders objected. Saying only God has the authority to forgive sin. They were right only God can forgive sin. And this is why God wants us to be like Him and forgive. Jesus said how can you say that you love God who you can’t see. And hate your brother who you can see. If we want to be like God, then we need to forgive. The disciples asked Jesus how often do we forgive someone who has sinned against us. They said 7 times. Jesus said 70 x 7.  Jesus came to this earth for several very important reasons. The 1^st and foremost was to die for the forgiveness of our sins. Then He came to show us how we can live just as God said. He is our example of what life is about. Forgiveness is part and parcel to our living. It is to be given and to be received in our lives.

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It is a word in our vocabulary that we use constantly. Most people don’t even pay attention to time. There is even a song by the Rolling Stones called “time is on my side”. There are clocks, sundials and also put a stick in the ground that will tell time. But what is it? Why do we have it? time is given by God to measure hours, days, months, years and seasons. Most people act like they have all the time in the world. Despite, the time that the world has, we on the other hand have a limited amount. The world also has a limited amount of time, but it is greater than ours. Since, the great biblical flood, man has only lived from 40 to 60 years. Even, with the advent of medicine, no one really lives passed 100 years. Before the flood, man lived up to 900 years. So, what affects time so much? The answer is simple. Sin is the major influence on time. Man is dead in sin, spiritually speaking. But, it will catch up to your physical body, sooner or later. The only place to relieve this problem is to go to God and ask for forgiveness. Then allow Jesus to come into your heart and renew you. Time was given by God and is control by Him. He will forgive you, if you just ask.

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I have always been goal oriented. I have worked since I was 13 years old. In college I worked 40 hours a week and took 12 hours of classes. It worked for me until a girlfriend and a fraternity came along. Then it all went sideways. Then came the military for 6 years. I wish I had taken the advantages offered me in the military. When I didn’t have a job or a goal, I felt lost. It was like the world had stopped for me. I was 28 years old when I took on the biggest challenge of my life. It is strange because I am a quiet person. If I don’t know you I usually don’t speak very much. When I took on the biggest challenge I had to become an extravert. I had to learn to speak well and convince people I was sincere. I would have rather not opened my mouth. I have learned that words have power. They can create or destroy. So I began to speak and people responded to me. I have always had a saying, say what you mean and mean what you say. So I did and I saw results that I never had before. There was a young man I knew. He sat on a fence post most of the time. He wouldn’t commit himself to anything. I told him a story one day. I said, what would you say about a person who saw his neighbor’s house on fire and said nothing. He knew that his neighbor was in the house. You would say that person was no good. Then I turned and pointed my finger at him and said, your house is on fire and you are dying. I told him that Jesus died to set him free. God has offered a promise that is good only for your lifetime. He is there waiting for you. And all you have to do is ask.

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We have free will. We can make choices in our lives. As much as we would like to blame other people for our bad choices, we really can’t. Today we celebrate Jesus making a choices to help us. This is the day before His death. Jesus had to make a choice of living or dying. He assembled His disciple for the Passover meal. They broke bread and drank wine together. They also ate a meal. All the disciples were happy and full when Jesus asked them to come with Him to the Garden of Gethsemane. This is where Jesus had to make a choice. Whether He was going to die for our sins or not. He told them to wait while He went a little further to pray for guidance. Jesus prayed hard because He didn’t want to die, but He knew that God’s will was more important than His. He went back to the disciples and they had fallen asleep. Jesus woke them up and asked them to pray with Him about this most important decision. Again Jesus went by Himself to pray about this decision. The bible said Jesus sweat blood over this decision. But He knew that God’s will was more important than His. He went back to the disciples and they had fallen asleep again. He woke them up and asked them to pray some more. Jesus went back to pray for a 3rd time to ask God not to die. But Jesus knew that God’s will was more important than His. So Jesus made a choice. There in the Garden of Gethsemane He chose to die on the cross for our sins. It was not long after that the chief priest’s guards came to take Him to the trial for His life. Making a choice sometimes isn’t as easy as it seems. When choosing the right way, you sometimes have to think about what you are doing and then choose. Because making a choice can sometimes be the hardest thing you ever do.
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Our lives are filled with many emotions. We are taught as we grow up that we need to control our emotions. We have all seen what unbridled emotions can do. In Orlando is a perfect example of it and road rage and many, many others. But this doesn’t mean that our emotions are bad. They just need to be controlled. Emotions are a part of life and truthfully if we didn’t have them life would be empty. Do you remember when you were young and you discovered something. And you became passionate about it. You were so excited you couldn’t contain yourself. Your excitement became contagious.  People were seeing what you saw. This is passion. In my life I have seen many things and some I wish I had never seen. But when I saw God for the first time and felt His hand on me, I became passionate. There was nothing else in this world that could match God Himself. I wanted to do nothing else but to tell people about God and His grace. Not everyone accepted what I had to say. But those who did, their lives turned around. And they became passionate. It is unfortunate that people want what they want and aren’t willing to hear. It has been 35 years since I met God and accepted His promise. And I am still as passionate as I was in the beginning. I wouldn’t want to live any other way. God is waiting for you. All you have to do is ask.

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One of the scariest things in my life was the unknown. When I graduated from High School I began to realize that I was leaving the comfort of home and going into the unknown. I had a frown on my face. As I passed my mother on the way out, she said put a smile on your face. It was hard to smile because I was afraid. If there is one thing that I have learned on my journey through life is that everything changes. It changes every day and every minute of that day. It kind of genders insecurity. You have to learn who you are and like yourself. Sometimes people take the wrong road and get struck in life that is destroying them. I have found that anyone who believes that they know everything and which way to go are fools. Don’t follow them because they will destroy themselves and anyone who will follow. I have only found one person who knew which way to go and was willing to lead me there. His name is Jesus. You see I was one of those people who lead people astray. I know from personal experience that it was the wrong way. It was by the grace of God that I came back from hell and have survived my stupidity. I can’t say that my journey was always successful. There were many valley experiences. I had to go through the valley of death so I would be able to see the life that God has for me. I didn’t like going through the valley, but it was for my good. Even when one of my sons was dying, I knew that God would lead me through. I put my trust and faith into His hands, and my son was healed in 4 days. I have had prays answered immediately. Then the longest time for a pray to be answered was 22 years. In all that time I had to walk through the unknown with only trust and faith in my heavenly Father. What God did for me, He will do for you. All you have to do is ask and He will answer.
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Before a soldier goes into battle, he is trained to do whatever it takes to win the battle. Roman soldiers were trained for 5 years before they ever enter a battle. They were trained to defend 6 feet of ground with their lives. This is one reason why the Roman army was so effective. Most of us aren’t soldiers but we are trained to accomplish our goals. The training is to be able to accomplish our goals and to bolster our resolve. No matter what the objective is our training will kick in. And according to our training is how effective we are. Before any Roman citizen enter the army, they had to make a choice about entering into that level of commitment. To them it was an honor as a Roman citizen to serve in the military. This is why they conquered the known world. It is the same with us in any profession. We make decisions based on our knowledge and training in that particular field. We go into our chosen profession with gladness and open heart. We go into our arena with the hope that we don’t have to inflict damage on anyone. Or that the damage is minimal. Or that we will come out of the arena unscathed. Sometimes it is necessary and sometimes it is just collateral damage. But we always questioned did we do the right thing? We are moral beings. No one starts out to crush everyone else. And when it does happen there is always self-recrimination. I know I have pulled some bone head stunts. And I have hurt people I didn’t want to. One was a life changing stunt. I have only found one place where I can go to ask for help to change my mini disasters. That person is God Himself. He alone has the power to reverse my mistakes. And I know that He has done so for me. That is one of the reasons why I trust God with my life. And why I will continually serve Him with my whole heart. Praise be to God.

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Death and Life are the opposite sides of the same coin. One places us here in this world and the other in the next world. You can’t have life without death. They come hand in hand. Yet they are both monumental in every aspect of our lives. And both scare the hell out of people. People are afraid to live like God wants them to live. Then death puts fear into every person. Death is one scary being. But on the other hand God made death. So tell me who is more powerful? Death has to go to God to ask permission to do anything. Every created being owes their existence to God. And at any time God can require the life of any being. Yet man has tried to prove that they are god and are all powerful. If it won’t so pathetic, I laugh my head off. And this isn’t a new development. This has been going on since the beginning of time. Do you know what the Tower of Babel was built for? The king of Babel wanted to shoot an arrow at God to say that they didn’t need God. At that time everyone spoke the same language. Then God scrambled everyone’s language and each group left Babel a deserted city. God intervenes in the affairs of man. Thank God for that. One of His such interventions was Solomon. He was the youngest son of King David and he became king over his brothers. God gave Solomon the wisdom of the ages. Wisdom far beyond any man. Then God gave Solomon great wealth and God gave him control over the known world. He is the only man ever to do that. In the wisdom of God, Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs. Most of it was written in one day. Solomon said this in Proverbs 18:20 “A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. 21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” O death where is thy sting and grave where is thy victory.

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