Category Archives: Christian

Be Real, March 2, 2020

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

This week I helped train a bunch of people in my occupation. My occupation helps put food on the table. I get paid to do that stuff most of the time. God sets my vocation, “Go make disciples.”

Let’s get back to my occupation.

In every group, it seems there is one or two that know everything.

Well, at least they think they do. And that person wants to show everyone else just how much they know. You know the type. Hand in the air with every question, or more often, blurting out an answer before the end of the question arrives. They think they have all the answers and think they have all the experience and could teach the classes better than the instructor.

Most of the time, though, it doesn’t take long for the “hand-waver” to show they don’t know as much as they think they do. It’s not long before the rest of the students start to roll their eyes when words start pouring out of the hot-shot’s mouth. The rest know the answer is wrong, or at least isn’t the answer that the instructor will project from the platform. The class starts to drag because no one wants to hear any more from the self-proclaimed expert.

Teaching in that environment drains you and requires intervention quickly to keep control of the situation. Otherwise, the rest of the students suffer, and the points you need to get across don’t. You almost dread coming into the empty room the next day, knowing the same students will be there for round two, and you may go through the same battle again. Such is the life of instructors and teachers. Unfortunately, that’s part of the job, like it or not.

The situation often reminds me of the warning Jesus gives his followers as he shares the dangers of pride. In his discourse, we call the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shares these words:

“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

“Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding.

“When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure—play actors’ I call them—treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that’s all they get. When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.

“And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?

“When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don’t make a production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity but it won’t make you a saint. If you ‘go into training’ inwardly, act normal outwardly. Shampoo and comb your hair, brush your teeth, wash your face. God doesn’t require attention-getting devices. He won’t overlook what you are doing; he’ll reward you well.

“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.(Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 TM)

Jesus pointed out what many would think were exceptional practices. Gold and silver coins make a beautiful sound when they spin around the trumpet, the conical opening of the temple treasure box at the door of the outer court. Long melodious prayers sound lovely with the ancient words from theological treatises lifted to the Lord. Giving up things you enjoy as an example to others seems a great way to mentor young followers to show them the sacrifice that discipline requires. All these are exemplary, right?

We would make these guys deacons and elders and put them on our boards and committees in a heartbeat – marvelous examples of Christian living. But not according to Jesus. Their praise from those they impress around them accounts for the sum total of their reward. That’s it. God is not impressed.

What does Jesus tell us? Be yourself, do things for others, but do it in a way that no one knows about it. Secret gifts might not make it to your tax return as charitable giving, but it makes it to God’s accounting records. Those random acts of kindness performed anonymously might not get headlines in the city’s newspaper, but they will find their way into God’s daily journal. Prayers in a secret place never tickle the ears of the congregation, but God hears and answers the prayer warrior’s faithful intercession. Which do you prefer, man’s recognition or God’s? As for me, I’d much rather know God is paying attention to my life than my neighbors. I’d much rather know I’m following the path of righteousness God recognizes than the way of religious piety that man approves. It makes a huge difference at the end of time, standing at the judgment seat accounting for our actions. Whose reward were we seeking? The praise of men or the voice of God saying, “Well done good and faithful servant.” I hope that is a rhetorical question for you.

Jesus laid out a simple way of life for us to follow – love God and love others. He qualified those two commands and said we are unable to love God whom we cannot see if we don’t love others we can see. That sets the rules for us. Easy to remember, not so easy to follow. In fact, impossible to follow without his spirit living in us. But when we let him inside, when we let him control every part of us, he enables us to love as he loves. He lives through us to touch a world that needs his grace.

Will you be that secret partner to share his grace in the world? That’s the command. Go do it.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked TM are taken from THE MESSAGE: THE BIBLE IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH (TM): Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE: THE BIBLE IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH, copyright©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group

Seek Silence, February 24, 2020

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

We live in a noisy world. And we’ve become so accustomed to the noise that we have a hard time with silence. We often say we want to get away from the noise and the clamor that surrounds us, but many of us get home, and the first thing we do is turn on some sound machine. Whether it’s a radio or the television or some other device, we have a problem with silence.

I think that’s one of the reasons we have a hard time finding God today. You don’t discover God in the noise and business of the day. You meet him in quiet places. We picture him in his throne room surrounded by singing angels, but I think when he comes to us, he wants our full attention away from the distractions that the business and clamor of the world cause.

We aren’t the first generation to experience the problem of noise getting in the way of finding God. It happens to every generation. Remember, Elijah looked for God in the thunder and lightning and the earthquake. He expected to find God in the noise, the clamor, and excitement. But Elijah discovered God in the whisper of the gentle breeze that passed by the mountain.

God wants to meet with us but wants our undivided attention. As I sit in my study preparing this podcast, I’m aware of the dryer tumbling clothes in the room next to me. The HVAC system activated, and I hear air moving through the vents. Next door, contractors are putting the finishing touches on the fence my neighbor put up for his new puppies. A truck just passed by that needs a muffler repair. I hear a mower a few yards down the street. An airplane just flew overhead on its last turn before getting into the landing pattern in San Antonio. And even the clicking of the keys on my keyboard as I take notes can distract me from listening to what God has to tell me.

With all the noise, can we find silence? And do we want to? That’s an important question because when we find stillness and let God start to talk to us, two things begin to happen. One we desire, fellowship with the Father, letting him pour into us his love as only he can. The second, we don’t particularly like as he points to things in our life we need to change or actions we need to take on his behalf.

But do we really need that quiet time to hear God, you might ask? Jesus did. Look at the many times the gospels record that he went alone to pray. Moses did. He waited six days on the mountain before God called him into the cloud to give him the laws for the new Israelite nation. David did. Read his psalms and see how many times he admonishes us to wait on the Lord. Those 120 who met together in the upper room did as they prayed together for ten days waiting for something they did not understand to happen.

All of them emptied themselves and found that quiet place to commune with God. They found a place away from the business of life, apart from the noise that distracts us, away from everything except their attention focused on God. Then they listened. It’s when we get into the silence of our heart that we can begin to hear his voice.

Jesus told us to go into our closet to pray, and what we say to the Father in private, he will answer and bless us publicly. The implication is we need to get away from the noise. We need to follow his example and get alone in a place away from all those distractions so we can listen, not just talk. Prayer is more about listening to God than talking to God. He is so much smarter than we are, after all. If we will stop and get away from the noise, and listen to what God tells us, we might find out he has a pretty good path laid out for us. We might make fewer blunders along the way if we stop to listen in those quiet times. We might find listening to God a better use of our time than talking to God as we become his pupil for life.

How do we find quiet places? It’s not easy anymore. As you heard a few minutes ago, as I try to find calm in my study, noise still surrounds me. The decibel levels are low, but there nonetheless. If I’m not careful, I can let them take me away from what I should be doing. It becomes more difficult every day to find times and places to find silence in our world.

So what do we do? Ask God for help. Find as quiet a place as possible and ask him to help you train yourself to shut out the rest. Ask him to assist you in focusing your mind on him and him only. Ask him to help you recognize when your thoughts slip off onto something apart from him and immediately bring your focus back to him.

Is it easy to find that inner focus on God and him alone? No, it’s not easy. It takes discipline, a dirty word in today’s society, but one that God expects of those that follow him.

Extol the LORD our God; worship at his footstool. Holy is he!

Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called on his name. They cried to the LORD, and he answered them.

He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept his decrees and the statutes that he gave them.

O LORD our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.

Extol the LORD our God and worship at his holy mountain; for the LORD, our God is holy. (Psalms 99:5-9 NIV)

God is worthy of our worship and our time. He is worthy of our attention. The invisible God will come to us when we invite Him into the temple of our hearts. But God comes only when he is the center of attention. We must discipline ourselves to push away all the distractions around us. The best way I’ve found is to find that place of solitude and seek silence as best you can. Then focus on the Holy One and let Him speak.

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV): Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™. Used by permission of Zondervan

It’s a Good Way to Live, February 17, 2020

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Do not cross the double line. Do not pass. Do not enter. Do not steal. Do not kill. Do not lie. Do not commit adultery. Do not covet. Do not. Do not. Do not.

Have you ever noticed how negative life can sometimes get if we are not careful? We can get trapped in the “do not” whirlpool and feel like everything around us is taboo. Anything we do will bring lightning bolts down on our heads. Growing up, I felt that way. I grew up in an era when the church laid down lots of rules and regulations and said if you don’t do any of these things, you’ll be alright with God.

It’s funny how easy it is to get trapped in that mentality. The church still has that problem in many ways. The Pharisees still live in too many of our congregations. They quickly point to the things we shouldn’t do and tell us how evil we must be because of our behavior.

Jesus never seemed to work that way. It seems to me that he operated from a different point of view. It’s not that he didn’t understand the laws the Pharisees preached. His Sermon on the Mount proved that and went far beyond what they held as the universal standard. You can hear his explanation of the law in his words recorded by Matthew:

“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire.

So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.

“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

“Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one. (Matthew 5:21-37 NIV)

These demands certainly go much further than the Pharisees required, but Jesus puts a spin on what he asks of us that the temple could never do. Remember the two commands he says sums everything up? He puts those in pretty positive terms. Love God and love others.

How much more positive can his commands get? He gives us two and says he will send his Spirit to empower us to keep these two commands. He gives us simple rules to follow, then tells us he will provide us with the means to do it — what an extraordinary deal.

We could never keep the old rules. Jesus comes and explains the old rules start with thoughts we harbor and mull over until they become more than just ideas. They grow into acts of disobedience. Murder begins with anger. Rape and adultery start with lust. Theft grows from the seed of covetousness. Acts of disobedience don’t just happen; they germinate from ideas planted in our minds because of the evil desires within us. We take the God-given emotions and feelings we have and allow Satan to twist them and try to satisfy them in unhealthy disobedient ways to gain temporary pleasure.

Those who listen to Jesus’ words and follow him have found the promise God gave to the Israelites pretty applicable in their everyday life as well. Moses shared it with them in Deuteronomy 30, and it goes like this:

See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the LORD swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. (Deuteronomy 30:15-20 NIV)

I think I’ll choose life by following his decrees as simple as they are: love God and love others. It’s a good way to live.

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV): Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™. Used by permission of Zondervan

Spice Up Your Life, February 10, 2020

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Not often enough, I take it upon myself to clean out our refrigerator or pantry. When I take on the fridge, I’m sometimes surprised at the small containers that hold some mysterious gelatinous substance that no longer resembles the original product the box once held. I sometimes try to label those things I put in there (usually called leftovers), so I know what and when they first found their way onto the shelves, but I seldom keep up and so continue to find those mystery boxes.

The pantry task is even more fun. I hate to admit it, but even after trying to do a thorough job every once in a while, but obviously not often enough, I’m surprised to find products that expired, not months but years earlier. I’m not sure how that happens. I’m beginning to think elves come in at night and change the labels just to give my daughter and grandkids, who usually prompt me and help me take not on the task, a good laugh. We fill bags of expired stuff, drag it to the trash, and in a few months, seem to repeat the same process again and again and again.

A month or so ago, I decided to do the same thing with our spices. They sit in a separate space in our kitchen because we want them handy for cooking. Makes sense, right? The problem is they don’t get into the same not often enough clean this stuff out routine. I was a little more than embarrassed when I went through our spices. We used to joke that we have a kitchen because it came with the house, but we do a lot more cooking at home now that both of us are mostly retired. The expiration date on spices becomes a little more important. I don’t think that makes any of them dangerous, but it certainly makes them less potent in recipes.

So I started the process. I began to go through our two shelves of spices and divided the expired from the nearly expired, and the not expired. You know where this is going.

The three piles were not even by any measure. I think I counted the not expired collection on one hand and those probably because they had no expiration date on them. The nearly expired pile was smaller. If I remember correctly, two would expire within a couple of months. Then I looked at the heap of spices with expiration dates long past. Remember, this sorting happened at the end of 2019. I found spices that expired in the 1990s. Did you get that? Expired more than 20 years ago! How could that happen? And what good were they if they were that old?

I’m replacing spices as I need them. Most of those expired ones, we seldom use, which is probably why they found their way to the back of the shelf and ignored for so long. But the exercise caused me to think about a couple of verses in the lectionary from this week.

Matthew records what we call Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Early in that sermon, he says this: “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled underfoot.”(Matthew 5:13 NIV)

Today salt remains salty a long time because of the way we process it. Sodium chloride the chemical name, and the two ingredients in pure salt can be extracted and purified to a high degree so that our salt stays pure for decades. That wasn’t true in Jesus’ day. They used sea salt and sea salt loses its saltiness. Why? Because it isn’t pure. It has other minerals in it that, over time, break down the chemical composition of the sodium chloride that is also in the mixture.

Does that mean sea salt is bad? No, some of the minerals are good for you. It’s just that those same minerals reduces the longevity of the salt’s properties. The people of Jesus’ day understood that very well. It’s the only salt they could buy. It’s the only salt they used. They replaced it often because it lost its potency and then could no longer be used as a spice or preservative, one of its most important uses to keep meat and fish from decaying.

Because we buy our salt from the grocery store and seldom kill, butcher, and salt meat and fish to preserve it, few of us understand the importance of these properties. We know salt as a spice to make things taste better, and we might use it to remove ice from our sidewalks, but we seldom try to save meat throughout the year by salting or smoking it. We just freeze it or more often go to the store and buy it fresh without knowing or caring how it appeared on the shelf. We just wonder why the price keeps going up.

Take a look at Jesus’ words again. “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?”

As his followers, we live here, we hope for heaven, but we’re not there yet. We are the salt, not of heaven, but of the earth. Live now, be salt now. Be the spice that makes the world better now. That’s part of the problem the world sees with Christians today. What are we doing to make the world a better place? If we are truly the substance in this place to make the world better the way salt makes food taste better, the world should recognize it.

I’m not a FaceBook person, partly because too often when I peak at entries from many who call themselves Christians, I have seen words that certainly don’t make the world better. I don’t see comments that lift people. I see judgment, criticism, hate, the things Jesus talked about with the Pharisees. I quickly retreat from the page before I get caught up in the vitriol that spews from the keyboards that I’m sure would never come from their lips if they were standing face to face with you. We hide behind the screen and seem to think we can say and do anything. Not so. I think we will be judged for every word we write.

The sea salt that lost its saltiness became good for nothing. People threw it out. The only positive property at that point, let it kill the grass and weeds that grew up in the road. People threw their useless salt on the path to kill the undergrowth and keep it clean; well, not so clean, but vegetation-free.

So what message does Jesus give us in these words? We’re salt. We’re supposed to add spice to the world and make it better. We’re sprinkled in the world like salt is sprinkled on food. But one last thing. Remember Jesus talked about salt losing its saltiness. It happened. Everyone knew it. Salt expired which means when you bought it, you started using it right away. You didn’t hold on to it and put it away in the back of the cabinet like my 1990s spices. You kept it up front and used it often, then went and got some more.

It’s like the daily bread for which he taught to us ask. Get enough for today and use it up. Then get more and use it up. Then get more and use it up. Rinse and repeat as the bottle says. We are the salt of the world so he expects us to be used up, restored, and used up again like those little bottles of spices. That was the problem with many of my expired spices, I bought the big bottles, cheaper per ounce to save money, then threw most of them away, wasting more money because I didn’t use them up. The small bottles would have been cheaper in the long run because I threw away spices I didn’t use.

I’m learning. Fresh is better in cooking. Fresh is better in spiritual warfare. Fresh experience is better in sharing what God is doing in your life. Fresh is better to act as salt in the world. Let Jesus spice up your life so you can make the world a better place as his salt in a world that truly needs it more than ever.

Some Things Don’t Make Sense, February 3, 2020

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Some things just don’t make sense. Why do most animals in a herd point the same direction in a field? Why do penguins live only in the coldest climate on earth? Why do most whales, the largest animals in the ocean, eat only the plankton, the smallest of sea life? Why is an octopus considered one of the smartest of sea creatures, incredibly ugly, and seldom seen in the wild? Why do some areas of the world get torrential rains while others get only a few inches of rain over decades?

We sometimes call them imponderables, things that have no concrete answers. Science is uncovering some logical responses, but still, we are baffled by the mysteries of the world and the whys that surround us every day. We have learned more in the last 100 years than in the rest of man’s history, but we still have many unanswered questions about the world in which we live.

We think we’re pretty smart today since we know a lot about quantum physics and how things stay together. We’ve learned about the universe and the fact we are not the center or even near the center of one of several billion galaxies. Our Milky Way seemed so large until we began to compare it to more enormous galaxies around us. We thought we understood the weather until we found we really don’t, and our weather folks still get it right about two-thirds of the time. Yep, we think we are wise today with the trillions of words housed in the Library of Congress on floating around on the Internet.

Paul got it right, though, when he wrote his first letter to the members of the church at Colossae in the first century.

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.

He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Everyone around him thought they were wise, but compared with God’s wisdom, we are pretty foolish. We don’t know much of anything. Scientists will tell you the more we know, the more we figure out we don’t know. But God is the creator of all things. He knows it all. He’s the one who made all the rules we are just on the edge of trying to figure out. In the 1970s, we sent two experimental crafts called Voyager, to explore the outer edge of our solar system. Forty years later, they found out all our assumptions about the border of our solar system were wrong. Now those two satellites are still headed where no one has gone before but have barely scratched the surface of real space travel.

Our brilliance turns into ignorance when we see all that is out there beyond the confines of our puny planet. Our greatest wisdom appears as foolishness compared to God’s understanding. And what does Paul use as his comparison? The cross.

How can we explain why God would do such a thing? We can’t, except that he loves us more than we can ever understand. We disobey him, but he loves us. We run from him, but he loves us. We curse him and do everything he asks us not to do, yet he loves us enough to wrap himself in human flesh and live among us to show us just how much he loves us.

He died the most horrible death imaginable, crucifixion at the hands of Roman soldiers, after an unjust kangaroo trial. He never did anything to justify the suffering he endured, but he took it, all the same, to show us how much he loves us. Jesus taught radical lessons that said follow a pattern set by a heart filled with love instead of the rules given to the prophets and priests. He said to do two things, and you’ll be in good stead with the creator. Love God and love others.

He never said it would be easy to follow those two rules, but that’s a straightforward list to remember. It’s sure a lot easier than remembering the laundry list of dos and don’ts most organized religions give us to follow. Just love.

Paul tells us what that looks like, and again, it doesn’t make sense to us. It looks like the cross. Be ready to be hated by the world. Be ready to be misunderstood. Be ready to suffer when you share the good news of what God has done to redeem us from the deceiver who wants to capture our soul. It sounds crazy to those who have not given themselves to him. But for those who have, for those who know his forgiveness, the cross is the answer. The empty tomb is proof.

Are you ready to let go of the wisdom of the world and accept the wisdom of the one who created all things? It takes faith. It costs everything. God never accepts second place in your life. He wants everything you have and everything you are at his immediate disposal. But God never makes mistakes. He knows how best to bring you safely home. All you need to do is believe and follow him. It’s a good day to start.

Let Him Shine, January 27, 2020

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Last night the lights went out. It was dark. I mean dark. I went to the front of the house to see if the whole neighborhood lost electricity or just us. By the time I reached the hall, I had realized it was a bad idea. I headed back to retrieve a flashlight from the nightstand before I stumbled over a chair or table or something left in a spot I didn’t expect. I couldn’t see anything with cloud cover and the darkness.

It made me wonder about people living before electric lights. Just two hundred years ago, candlelight would have been the extent of the illumination to lead me through my house last night. Have you ever traveled through a house by candlelight? It’s not much. Certainly, more than pure darkness, but not much.

Candles produce about thirteen lumens, less than a two and a half-watt small Christmas tree bulb. Can you imagine living with no more light than that? Picture yourself as the woman looking for the lost coin with just a candle. Or think of the fear of huddling in the darkness during one of those famous Texas thunderstorms with only your oil lamp to provide some relief from the dark and the howling wind that threaten to overtake you.

Our kids don’t know much about physical darkness today. Few have seen the beauty of the Milky Way with their eyes. Light pollution from most of our cities keeps us from observing that band of stars that populate our galaxy and stretches across the sky. The lights from towns mask the brilliance of the stars except on oceans or deserts. We don’t know darkness, so we don’t appreciate the light.

Now that you’ve given a little thought to life without electric lights. Now that you’ve spent a moment putting yourself back a couple of hundred or a couple of thousand years into the past looking into the darkness of the night that surrounds you wondering about the predators that might be lurking in the shadows. I’d like you to listen to the words Isaiah wrote concerning the coming savior of the world.

They come from the book by his name from chapter 9.

But there will be no more gloom for those who knew such hardship. In times past, God humbled the land of Zebulun and Naphtali; later, He will restore the honor and glory to the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee, home of the nations.

The people who had been living in darkness

have seen a great light.

The light of life has shined on those who dwelt.

in the shadowy darkness of death.

And You, God, will make it happen. You bolstered the nation,

making it great again. You have saturated it with joy.

Everyone in it is full of delight in Your presence,

like the joy they experience at the harvest,

like the thrill of dividing up the spoils of war.

For as You did back in the day when Midian oppressed us,

You will shatter the yoke that burdens them,

You will lift the load that weighs them down,

You will break the rod of their oppressor.

About whom is Isaiah talking? The God-Man, Jesus. He sheds light on the darkness of our hearts. He opens our minds to what God intends us to be. He makes a way for us to enter into the presence of a holy God when we know we do not deserve to be there. Jesus, God wrapped in human flesh to show us how much he cares for us. He came to pay the price for our disobedience. He died for you and me so that we might live.

From an earthly point of view, he grew up in the most unlikely place, Galilee, and in one of the most unlikely villages in that region, Nazareth. No one would have thought the King of all kings would come from a place like that. He knew what it meant to grow up on the “other side of the tracks” in poverty and crime-ridden neighborhoods. Nathaniel understood Nazareth when he commented, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

But something did. Someone did. Jesus. The one who brings light to a dark world. His light is not that lumen candle the people of his day used to illuminate their darkened houses in a storm, but John described his glorified body in his Revelations as brighter than the sun. You can’t look at the sun for more than a few seconds without some serious pain; the light is so intense. That’s the light Jesus brings to our hearts.

The end of the first month of 2020 approaches fast. We’ve talked about the coming of God into our world and how we should listen to him, seek him, share him. We should also let him illuminate our lives in such a way that he can shine through us so that others see him in us. We should reflect his light in all we do. Today is a good day to start, don’t you think?

Leap to Your Feet and Get Started, January 20, 2020

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Growing up in middle Tennessee, I had the opportunity to go spelunking in high school and college relatively often. I enjoyed the experience of exploring deep into the earth and seeing some of the beautiful formations most people never get to see. I sometimes wonder why God would create such beauty in places so inaccessible that only he could enjoy it.

Every once in a while, we would get into places we probably should have avoided. I remember going through a few spaces, cracks, chimneys, and holes I wasn’t sure I would get through or back through on the return trip. The squeeze was pretty tight, even with my much thinner frame. We would wiggle and squirm for what seemed like hours to get through some of those tiny spots to get to a few of those caverns that revealed their unbelievable beauty when we finally shed light in those darkened vaults. I will never forget some of those incredible experiences.

I will also never forget a few of those close calls. The scary times. The times when we tried to climb out of those underground streams when we forgot to anchor ropes at the top of the slope and suddenly found ourselves at the bottom of a 15 or 20-foot slick stone wall ankle-deep in thousands of years of accumulated muck.

I remember one of those mistakes that took us several hours of work to get out of that predicament, four of us finally standing on each others’ shoulders until the top one could reach a spot dry enough to get a handhold and pull himself up. Then we waited for another hour or so for him to find a place with rock instead of clay firm enough to hold a pivot to anchor ropes we could climb to get out of our predicament. In the meantime, the three of us tried to wait patiently.

I lost my backpack in the stream that flowed fast enough that it pulled it through an opening in the small chamber before I could catch it. The second in our threesome forgot to bring extra batteries, and of course, his lamp went out before our rescuer could return. My extra batteries were in that lost backpack. The third turned his light off while we waited since he was now the only one with extra batteries and a chance to keep us from being in utter darkness. We were not a cheerful group that day.

I wasn’t a big fan of the Psalms in my youth, but this one could have calmed my heart had I learned it early and put it in my bank of scriptures for memory and meditation. David wrote it millennia before my time, but that psalm sure fit our predicament that day. Psalm 40:

I waited a long time for the Eternal;

He finally knelt down to hear me.

He listened to my weak and whispered cry.

He reached down and drew me from the deep, dark hole where I was stranded, mired in the muck and clay.

With a gentle hand, He pulled me out

To set me down safely on a warm rock;

He held me until I was steady enough to continue the journey again.

As if that were not enough,

because of Him, my mind is clearing up.

Now I have a new song to sing—

a song of praise to the One who saved me.

Because of what He’s done, many people will see

and come to trust in the Eternal.

Surely those who trust the Eternal—

who don’t trust in proud, powerful people

Or in people who care little for reality, chasing false gods—

surely they are happy, as I have become.

You have done so many wonderful things,

had so many tender thoughts toward us, Eternal my God,

that go on and on, ever increasing.

Who can compare with You?

Sacrifices and offerings are not what You want,

but You’ve opened my ears, and now I understand.

Burnt offerings and sin offerings

are not what please You.

So I said, “See, I have come to do Your will,

as it is inscribed of me in the scroll.

I am pleased to live how You want, my God.

Your law is etched into my heart and my soul.” (Psalms 40:1-8 The Voice)

I read those words and think about the agonizing hours my friends and I spent standing in the muck by that stream in that cave and understand what it’s like to be stranded in a deep, dark hole, mired in the muck and clay. If there had only been three of us instead of four, I’m not sure anyone could have found us or if we could have found a way out.

That’s not the only time in my life I’ve been one person or a few minutes from disaster. As I think back through life, I realize the fractions of a second before or after a crazy driver ran a red light and would have collided with me at high speed. Or the day I left before some disaster happened in the city I just left. I remember the just in time events where moments could have meant the difference between life and death. But here I am recording a podcast to share the promise that God cares about us and knows our needs. Does he always give us what we want? No. Does he always stop the disasters in our life? No. But he cares and sees us through even the worst times of life.

When we stop and realize the Old Testament passed down through generations orally, we need to think about what we are doing today. The Hebrew Scriptures Jesus and his disciples knew were written and collected in the fifth century BC, about 1,500 years before they gave their first sermons. And remember they spoke about the events they saw. Scholars believe the earliest New Testament books, Galatians and Mark, found their way to paper around 50 AD, almost 20 years after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. So for 20 years, all their work, all their witnessing was oral. They told the stories and teachings of Jesus and God’s transforming work in their lives.

The Psalmist convicts us as he continues in his song as he writes:

I have encouraged Your people with the message of righteousness,

in Your great assembly (look and see),

I haven’t kept quiet about these things;

You know this, Eternal One.

I have not kept Your righteousness to myself, sealed up in the secret places of my heart;

instead, I boldly tell others how You save and how loyal You are.

I haven’t been shy to talk about Your love, nor have I been afraid to tell Your truth before the great assembly of Your people. (Psalms 40:9-11a The Voice)

As we continue to move through this leap year, 2020, I invite you to think about these three verses. They convict me. I haven’t been as bold as I should. I leap in my heart over the things God has done for me, but have I exuberantly shared as David did? I must admit I have not. I am not ashamed of my salvation. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Have I enthusiastically shared the good news with the world as did Peter and Paul and those who traveled with them? No.

Perhaps we, including me, can leap into the fray, be bold in our witness, talk about your love, and not keep you in the secret places of our heart. If we share what God has done for us, not parrot what the Bible says, I think we can impact the world for Christ as we failed to do over the last several decades. Let’s leap to our feet and let his spirit help us in this mission.

Seek Him, January 13, 2020

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Last week I talked about John’s description of Jesus as the Word. We are bombarded by words every day that attempt to sway us to the world’s way of thinking, but Jesus gives us truth because he is truth. I want to go back to John’s description again, but in a different light.

Imagine yourself living in Jesus’ day. You live in a small village outside Jerusalem and see Roman soldiers pass through your town almost every day. When you see them coming, you do your best to make yourself invisible because the Roman soldiers have a reputation for cruelty. You hate the very fact they occupy your nation and live among you. You detest the abuse they inflict on innocent villagers who happen to be in their way or hesitate to do what they ask or look at them with anything other than honor and respect.

You’ve witnessed the verbal abuse, the floggings, and the crucifixions these beasts made an art form in their heinous subjugation of others. You’ll do anything to keep your family and yourself out of their sight as they pass through.

The Pharisees that rule the synagogues and temple are not much better. The rules they pile on you to appease God create such a burden it seems impossible to please the God Moses told us to serve. Is he any different than the pantheon of Roman and Greek gods who demand so much? The Pharisees have added so many laws, things we must and must not do to please God, it seems easier to satisfy Zeus than Jehovah.

But you’ve heard of a prophet named John, who has said the Messiah has come. He says we should repent, and he has called the Pharisees vipers because they tell us to do things they do not do themselves. He calls them hypocrites to their faces. So you go out to see this prophet. And you happen to be there when the writer of the gospel of Matthew describes an incredible event: “Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.

And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:13-17 NIV)

God arrived. The Kingdom of heaven came to earth. The Messiah, the Redeemer, lives with us. There is hope for peace and relief from the struggle you’ve faced all your life. Something good is about to happen. This man you saw come up from the water will change everything. You can feel the excitement in the air as all around you experience the beginning of his ministry today.

Someone beside you reminds you of the power of the voice of God as they sing out one of David’s Psalms:

Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

Ascribe to the LORD the glory of his name; worship the LORD in holy splendor.

The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over mighty waters.

The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.

The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.

He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.

The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire.

The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

The voice of the LORD causes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forest bare; and in his temple all say, “Glory!”

The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.

May the LORD give strength to his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace! (Psalms 29 NIV)

This man is the one. His voice carries the strength and power of the Almighty because he is the Son of Jehovah. His voice separated the waters at creation. His voice has the power of the whirlwind and shakes the earth. His voice rings across the water and through the valley where you stand, and you feel the majesty in it. As he speaks, you know he fears nothing.

The Romans from whom you cower are nothing to him. The Pharisees standing on the shore quiver at his gaze. The poor and outcast feel his compassion. The mood of those around him changes as his eyes make contact with theirs. It seems no one can encounter him without being affected. It’s like he can see into your soul.

The crowd would follow him anywhere right now. But he left as soon as he came out of the water. No one really knows where he went. Some think he went to Jerusalem, but the road is too busy for someone not to notice him. Some say he went back to Gallilee, but again the road is too heavily traveled for him just to disappear. Some say he was led into the wilderness by an angel. But who is to say how an angel looks?

Whoever this man is, you know you want to see him and hear his voice again. Wherever this man has gone, you know you want to follow him. There is something about him that draws you to him like a moth to a flame. You know he will satisfy the hunger in your heart as nothing else can. If only you can find him once more, you will never let him get away from you…ever.

Perhaps a few thought like the man described in this story. Most did not. The same is true today. We have 2,000 years of evidence that Jesus is who he said he was. We can trace with our technology, all the cross-references between Old Testament prophecy and Jesus’ fulfillment of those prophecies, almost 500 of them. The odds that Jesus is not the Messiah based on prophecy fulfillment statistical analysis alone is so great as to be irrefutable, better than our best criminal DNA matches to a single individual.

So, if that’s true, why do we resist him so much? He never told us to do anything that would hurt anyone, or that would hurt us. His commands are simple: Love God; and love others. Those two commands are not always easy to carry out, but they are simple to remember. So, why do we not listen? Why do we push him away? Why are we so insistent on having our way and not his? A single word answers the question and it’s the same word that caused Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Selfish. I want what I want. Period. Even at the expense of eternal separation from the God who made me and gave his all for my redemption.

This year, put yourself in the place of the man in the story just outside Jerusalem. Long for the one John baptized. Seek the voice of the one who can give peace and joy in a world filled with war and anger. He is here. He wants us to find him. It doesn’t take much effort, but we do have to walk away from the world to him. I guarantee it is worth the effort.

Listen to the Word, January 6, 2020

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

The new year is here. We’ve had almost a week to figure out what we expect from it. So far it looks like the same old politics and news and violence between nations. We’ve already had mass murders in our country and others. We’ve had an attack in Iraq that killed an Iranian general. We’ve escalated tensions in the Middle East again. We’ve riled the public and politicians against each other as to the actions taken in retaliation of the assault on our embassy. Was it too harsh? Was it too late or too early? Should there have been more talk? What’s next?

Yes, this year has started out much like the last. Lots of words by lots of people and most of what is said is meaningless. The Teacher in Ecclesiastes had it right thinking about what goes on the world. “There is nothing new under the sun, and it’s all meaningless.”

We could be pretty pessimistic about the future if we chose. We could look at the new year the way I’ve described it above and give up on the world. It would be so easy to just let things go and not worry about anything because we know where everything will eventually end up. Armageddon will eventually become a reality and the world will end. Some will find salvation in believing in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Many will be eternally lost because they refuse to believe the evidence that he is God and came to save us.

But I don’t think that is what God expects us to do in 2020. I don’t think the year is as bleak as it appears in the news reports or as horrid as some want us to believe. We are bombarded by words that the world uses to create a picture of despair and hopelessness. However, 2000 years ago a man named John penned a description of one whom he identified as “the Word.” Not words to sway a crowd, but the originator of all there is. The one present at the beginning of creation. The one credited with giving us the ability today to put thoughts together to sway men and women. It is through his creative act that we have the ability to reason and think and communicate, unlike the rest of the animal kingdom.

John described “the Word,” the personification of truth and grace. He came from heaven, lived among us for some 33 years, taught us what God was like, died as a sacrifice for our sins, rose from the dead, and sits as our intercessor with the Father. As we listen to the deluge of words that come through the multimedia jungle, remember the real Word. The one who brings peace to troubled hearts. The one who heals broken relationships. The one who mends shattered lives. The one who forgives and frees from guilt. The one who welcomes the outcast and brings hope to the hopeless.

2020 will come with its share of good and bad events in life, just like every year before and after it. The question for each of us is whether we will face it with the hope that Jesus brings or try to move along without him. I can tell you from experience, the bad that comes is so much easier to handle when he is by your side. So, replace the words that the world sends your way with “the Word,” the truth, the light, the life, the way, the hope, the joy, all you could really want because he is God and knows you better than you know yourself. Give yourself to him fully and completely this year and you will find the world’s words cannot hurt you or put you in a state despair or keep you from the joy and peace he has to offer. It’s the legacy he leaves for those who follow him.

Welcome to 2020. A great year to listen to the Word.

Pray for Our Leaders, December 30, 2019

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Well, 2020 is here. The lectionary reading in Matthew this week reminds me of just how politically selfish and self-centered most of our elected federal representation in Washington seems to be. Regardless of your views on the actions, investigations, character, or status of our president, all indications seem to point to the fact that the Senate will soon start a trial that will end along party lines as did the impeachment proceedings in the House. One side will proclaim guilty, the other not guilty and the not guilty side is currently in the majority. Again, whatever your views, it means we will have wasted millions of dollars and thousands of manhours that could have been spent on something much more worthwhile. Both parties knew the outcome before the circus started, and here we are grandstanding before another election, spending millions more and thousands more manhours with known results.

So, what in the lectionary makes today’s news headlines so familiar? The passage comes from Matthew, chapter 2.

After they [visitors from the East] had left, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and said, “Herod will be looking for the child in order to kill him. So get up, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you to leave.”

Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left during the night for Egypt, where he stayed until Herod died. This was done to make come true what the Lord had said through the prophet, “I called my Son out of Egypt.”

When Herod realized that the visitors from the East had tricked him, he was furious. He gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its neighborhood who were two years old and younger—this was done in accordance with what he had learned from the visitors about the time when the star had appeared.

In this way what the prophet Jeremiah had said came true:

“A sound is heard in Ramah,

the sound of bitter weeping.

Rachel is crying for her children;

she refuses to be comforted,

for they are dead.”

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go back to the land of Israel, because those who tried to kill the child are dead.” So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went back to Israel.

But when Joseph heard that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as king of Judea, he was afraid to go there. He was given more instructions in a dream, so he went to the province of Galilee and made his home in a town named Nazareth. And so what the prophets had said came true: “He will be called a Nazarene.” (Matthew 2:13-23 GNT)

Herod wanted no competition. He was one of those political animals who wanted his way no matter what. He would do anything to stay in power, even kill his wives and sons. Talk about ruthless.

The wise men, magi, visitors from the East, whatever title you might give them, heard from God after visiting the king, little “k.” They knew the subterfuge Herod played when he wanted the location of the newborn King, capital “K,” and went home another way.

What Herod did cannot be excused. We sometimes believe the slaughter numbered in the hundreds and thousands of toddlers in our mind’s eye. In reality, the small villages in and around the region probably held few toddlers, and most scholars estimate the number killed at around 20. But imagine soldiers bursting into your home, grabbing your young son, dragging him into the street, and killing him in front of your eyes. This happened in all the villages in and around Bethlehem. The census had passed. Most who came for Caesar’s counting left months ago. Mary and Joseph only stayed because Jesus was still too young to travel. That is until the angel told Joseph to go anyway to Egypt.

Herod’s action only added fuel to the fire of hatred the Jews had for this tyrannical King. They were only too happy for his reign to end. So was Rome, apparently, since the empire divided Herod’s territory into four sections ruled by his four sons instead of remaining under one ruler. The kinds of things Herod did to please himself to hold his seat of power doesn’t seem much more self-centered than much of the drama and power struggle we see all around us today.

I’m glad God doesn’t take political sides. He didn’t take the side of Pharisees or the Sadducees. Nor did Jesus say either was wrong because of their belief, only because they didn’t live what they believed and wouldn’t believe what they saw right in front of them. He befriended “sinners,” Gentiles, and outcasts. But he also befriended some in the temple and synagogues. Jesus just lived the two commands he gave us: love God and love others.

In fact, if the Bethlehem story were replayed today, with our country as its background, he would be born in a broken-down shack in Iowa or more likely in Mississippi, in some backwater town no one could find on a map. The politics in Washington would be of no concern to him. However, everyone would ask him which side he preferred, he would never give an answer to such a stupid question. Particularly since all parties have become so corrupt in recent years, no exception.

Every religion would tell us how corrupt he is because he refuses to play by the rules. He wouldn’t raise money for their cause. He wouldn’t join the bandwagon of most of the charities across the country because they put more in the administrations’ pockets than they do their client benefits.

Jesus would be unimpressed by our wealth, our things, our burgeoning economy, our technology, our entertainment, our leisure, most everything we think is great. I think he would look at it and tell us, like the rich young ruler, to get rid of the surplus and give to the poor to inherit the kingdom of heaven.

Things aren’t bad. Wealth isn’t bad. Money isn’t bad. Jesus never said any of those things are bad. It’s the priority we put on them. Unless he is above all else, he takes no place in our life. Jesus refuses second place.

Over the next several weeks and months across the country, a lot of people will try to get you stirred up about the circus happening in Congress. Frankly, whatever happens, doesn’t matter. God is still in charge. He doesn’t play politics. Never has. He allowed Donald Trump to be elected. Not the Russians, not the Democratic or Republican Parties, not some computer hacker somewhere. This is God’s world, and he allows people in power to govern.

We might not like it. The Israelites didn’t like it when the Babylonians took them into exile or when the Greeks and Romans ruled over them. But they also understood that God calls the shots, not them. If we understand God, we realize that he still cares for us, and the things of the world never shake him off his throne. We don’t need to get excited about what will happen, or not, throughout the Washington circus. We can be frustrated at the waste of our tax dollars. Still, if our Congressmen and women weren’t spending the millions on this fiasco, they’d probably be spending it on something just as ridiculous and wasteful. So enjoy the new year, trusting God to take care of you when you love him and others. Remember, too, we are directed to pray for our leaders – both parties. Their good means good for our nation. So pray for their good.