Author: Dale

Raised in the south, I have a passionate love for the Lord, my wife, my daughters, my son-in-laws, my grandsons, preaching the Word of God, pastoring people, discipleship, the University of Kentucky Wildcats, Clemson Tigers football, running the Tweetsie Trail, and hiking through the awesome TN/NC/VA mountains!!

Been to the Holy Land Twice in One Month

by Dale, posted in Christian Living, Israel, Men, Praise & Worship, Prayer, Uncategorized

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“Why go to Israel?”  “Aren’t you afraid?”  “You wouldn’t catch me dead over there.”  “This isn’t a good time to go over there.”  These are only an assortment of questions and statements I heard in the days leading up to our trip.

Why did we go?  Because Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.  He is the most important person in my life and will be for all eternity. He died and rose again for me, and my heart and life is enriched by being in the place where He ministered, suffered, was rejected, crucified, buried and rose again for me and the whole world!

Why go to Israel? God’s Word is the most important book in my life.  His Word is forever alive (Isaiah 40:6-8; Hebrews 4:12), but it becomes 3-D when you have an opportunity to visit Capernaum, ride a boat on the Sea of Galilee, visit the Garden of Gethsemane, sing “Jesus Paid It All” in the prison where He was scourged, stand at the Garden Tomb, and walk the Mt. of Olives where Jesus will return at His Second Coming (Acts 1:9-11).

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My second Holy Land visit this month occurred last Thursday through Saturday as men from our church joined 600 plus other men in Roanoke, VA, for the annual Men’s Prayer Advance (christlifemin.org).  What an absolute thrill to unite with these men in genuine heart-felt singing; multiple opportunities for passionate, honest prayer; listening to soul-stirring, Holy Spirit convicting preaching; and watch God at work in changing lives for His glory!!

Israel and Men’s Prayer Advance, two trips to what I’ll call the Holy Land because these were days set apart to meet with our Lord, to know Him better, to hear His voice, to walk in His will, and to gather at His Throne of Grace (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Oh, by the way, I’ll be walking in the Holy Land today, too, because everywhere I go, Christ is there.  He will never leave me nor forsake me (Hebrew 13:5-6); He dwells within me (Colossians 1:27).

Clippin’ Grace Coupons in Ministry

by Dale, posted in Christian Living, Joy, Prayer, Uncategorized

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While looking back through my journal for this the first week of the New Year, my, how faithful, good, and loving God has been.  But, true is, that is not surprising because that’s Who He is!  So when you come to know Him, you watch for where He is at work, you recognize His revealed character/attibutes, and then you respond to Who He is.  I promise you, if you recognize Who He is, you will never miss what He does.  So with that in mind, here’s a recap of some of God’s grace this week.

#1  Answered Prayer!!

I could on and on about this one!!  One of the best is the reminder to never stop praying for our unsaved family and friends.

In Wednesday’s post, I wrote about Barbara Chandler’s investments in others’ lives. Her greatest investment was in prayer, especially for the salvation of her husband.  For many, many years she labored in prayer for him.  He was known for his many trips across the state line where he would get drunk and also squander their money on the lottery.

I learned while attending her funeral on Tuesday that God answered her prayer and the prayers of countless others.  Seven years, at the age of 81, Ralph humbled himself before the Lord and received Him as his personal Lord and Savior (Romans 10:9-13).

May we have the heart of Barbara Chandler as well as the Apostle Paul who said, I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, […]Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. (Romans 9:1-3; 10:1)

 #2  Blessed Quietness


How wonderful to spend a day on the lake, in the Word, in prayer, seeking the Lord for what He would have me preach.  The serene quiet, the voice of the Lord, and setting at Jesus’ feet is invaluable time spent.

Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He (Jesus) went out and departed to a solitary place, and there He prayed. (Mark 1:35)

#3   Encouragement

Yesterday was a full day of ministry opportunities that included a funeral, a hospital visit, and mentoring to name a few.  When I arrived home around 9:15, I checked my Facebook and found I had been tagged by my oldest daughter.  Here’s a throwback video of a song that has meant so much to me over the years.  I needed this last night. I needed to be reminded that in the midst of all of life and ministry’s demands, Jesus is always the center of my joy.

(Also made me think of a very special group of teenagers who gathered in Spain two years ago!)

Center of My Joy

Making Investments

by Dale, posted in Christian Living, Death, Discipleship, Evangelism, Heaven, Ministry, Serving, Uncategorized

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There she lay.  Her earthly labors were over.  Her bodily tent had been comfortably tucked inside a beautiful, stained wooden casket adorned with a regal spray of flowers.  Her days here were over, but her life in Heaven had only just begun for all eternity on Saturday (John 14:1-6; 2 Corinthians 5:7-8).

As her pastor approached the podium, he read from Proverbs 31 and then described her life by two words, one of which was, investments.

An investment is “an act of devoting time, effort, or energy to a particular undertaking with the expectation of a worthwhile result.”  This dear lady, 83 years old, had spent most of her making investments . . . into people.

She invested . . .

  • The gospel into lost souls of every walk of life not matter who they were, the color of their skin, or their lot in life.
  • Time and energy in prayer crying out to the Lord.
  • Time and effort in prayer crying out to the Lord for the salvation of her husband. God heard and answered her prayer!
  • The Word of God into her children, her grandchildren, and her Sunday School class by her teaching and her example.
  • In “throw aways,” people that others did not want to “touch.”
  • In her pastor by encouraging him and praying for him.

I am quickly reminded of what Jesus said as recorded in Mark 10:42-45, But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Jesus came, died on the cross, and rose from the tomb to make an eternal, soul-saving investment in any one who would receive Him (John 1:12).  Barbara Chandler, a devout follower of Christ, made investments in others for the cause of Christ to lead others to Christ because Christ lived in her (Colossians 1:27).

I never knew her in this life. No matter, even in death, she made an investment in me.

What are your plans in 2017 to make investments in people, to make a difference other’s lives, to make those eternal investments?  I believe it’s called laying up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21)!

Clippin’ Grace Coupons in 2016

by Dale, posted in Christian Living, Uncategorized
31-Day Sabbatical, August


As I look back over 2016, two passages of Scripture come to mind.

The first is a declaration of praise recorded in Psalm 103:1, Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name!  Every beginning, every ending, and all in between is due to the sovereign, faithful, holy, loving, righteous, merciful, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, transcendent God Who is my  Heavenly Father, the only true God, Jehovah.  He alone is worthy of our praise (Psalm 150:6)!

The second is the foundation for this recurring Friday blog post, And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8).  God always operates on the basis of His grace, so everything in life is sustainable, sufficient, and supplied by His grace.  God is good all the time.

So here are a few pictures to share that are all of God’s grace and for His glory!

 

Celebrating 35 years of marriage!!
Vacation Bible School
Celebrating Boones Creek Bible Church’s 60th Anniversary

 

Christmas Play 2016

Living Well in 2017

by Dale, posted in Christian Living, Prayer, Uncategorized

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“The Christian life starts with the promises of God. He makes claims about Himself and gives us promises about our salvation and our future. Then, having trusted in those promises, we respond in faith and obedience to God’s commands.” (Kevin De Young)

There are over 7,000 promises in the Word of God.  One of the most well-known involves prayer.  Let’s sink our tap-roots into Jeremiah 33:3 for a moment and note with me four promise words from this passage:  Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.

COMMAND

Call to me – “to cry out, call aloud, literally to roar”

Here is the promise of an invitation in the form of a command.  God knows exactly what we need for life, and He does not leave us wondering. At the very root of prayer and our great need is simply crying out to God.

Believers who really believe in the promises of God, who walk by faith, are not fearful to cry out to God!

Psalm 4:3             But know that the Lord has set apart for Himself him who is godly; The Lord will hear when I call to Him.

 CONFIDENCE

I will answer you – “to heed, to pay attention, to give answer”

Here is the promise that God will answer you.  He gives us His undivided attention every time we cry out to Him.  His answers are always best, even when there is delay or a no.

Matthew 7:7-8 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

CHARACTER

I will show you great things

Show – to make conspicuous something that was previously unknown

Great – in importance, as here, God Himself

Here is the promise that when we pray, God will reveal Himself to us.  God operates totally and consistently based upon Who He is.  Study through the Old Testament and see how He revealed Himself to Abraham, for instance, via His names and His attributes.  The great things in prayer are not first of all His answers but the revelation of Who He is.

In response to Jeremiah’s prayer recorded in chapter 32, God responds in verses 26-27, Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?

So, when you pray, look for Who God is, then watch His hand.

CLEAR

I will show you mighty things

Here’s the promise of God taking you into the secret place of His counsel, the intimacy of His fellowship, into the Throne of Grace (Hebrews 4:14-16).

This word mighty refers to “hidden, inaccessible” things.  It pictures an impregnable city protected by high walls.  When you pray, God takes you behind all the ‘stuff of this world,” all the circumstances of your life, things you do not understand, and He brings you into the secret place of His grace, His wisdom, His love, His mercy, His power, His resources, His faithfulness, and on and on and on.

No one can touch the mighty things of God; they are inaccessible.  You have access to them by the work of Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit (John 16:13; Romans 5:1-3; Ephesians 2:18-19; 3:12; Hebrews 10:19-23).

 

The strongest believers are those on their knees surrendered and believing the promises of God.  That’s living well in 2017.

Wise is he in the day of trouble who knows his true source of strength and who fails not to pray. (E.M. Bounds)

Christmas In the Past; Life in the Present

by Dale, posted in Christian Living, Christmas, Parenting, Praise & Worship, Prayer, Uncategorized

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The build-up and anticipation of Christmas is unequaled in our country!  As is often said, “The preparation for Christmas seems to get earlier and earlier each year.”  Indeed, Christmas is a very special holiday and one that many folks prepare for throughout the whole year.  But, what about the days after?  Is there a let-down?  After all the planning and performing of cantatas as well as children’s plays, buying and wrapping gifts, preparing for company and meals,  taking family photos, and  celebrating firsts (marriage, children, house, job), is all over, how will you handle the days and the weeks after?

  1. Begin today in God’s Word reading it with the same passion as you did all the “Christmas passages.” Memorize other portions of the Word of God with the same fervor as you did to memorize Luke 2:1-20.  Read books about the life of Christ beyond the cradle with the same zeal as you did all the Christmas books.  Read them to your children, and make Christ’s life BIG to them every day!!
  2. Live with a daily anticipation of the next biggest day of your life as a believer—the Rapture & the Bema (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Titus 2:11-14; 12 Corinthians 5:10).
  3. Enjoy singing songs of praise and worship to our God all the other months of the year with gusto and joy on your face as you did the carols of this season (Psalm 96:1-9).
  4. Be a giver today as you were on Christmas (Acts 20:35).
  5. Open up your home for family and guests today and into next year (Romans 12:13; 1 Peter 4:9).
  6. Walk in the same grace today that was sufficient yesterday as you dealt with the “tug in your heart” over that special person that was not here this Christmas season (2 Corinthians 12:9).
  7. Be as energetic today about the gospel as you have been prior to December 25 (Philippians 1:27).

2 Peter 1:3-8

According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(Photo:  Steven Lawson)

A Parent’s Best Gift

by Dale, posted in Christian Living, Christmas, Discipleship, Family, Parenting, Uncategorized

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Let’s go back to the Sears Christmas Wish Book I mentioned yesterday.  So many memories..

Here’s a few of them:

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Wow! A banana seat bicycle!  Pop a wheelie!
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Can you taste it?
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This was serious right here!!

How many times I would pour over the pages of the catalog, mark what I wanted, then proceed to my mom and dad and say, “You know what I want for Christmas?”  And how many times did I hear them say, “We can’t afford that.”

What could they afford?  The same thing that every parent can afford—time.

When I survey Scripture, I see God’s instructions to parents taking time not money.

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

  • To train, discipline (which is teaching, instructing, and correcting) and nurturing takes time.

Proverbs 29:15 The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.

  • Often children get into trouble because they are just crying out for someone to pay them some attention. They want to know where you will draw the line.  It takes time to teach what is right, what is wrong, what to do to stay right, and what will happen if we choose to go our own way.

Proverbs 13:24 Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.

  • Please note again the meaning of discipline and the need to take time to be diligent to fulfill the complete picture of discipline/discipleship. If a child does need a spanking, it should not be a quick strike out of anger, but a time of loving correction and training.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9        And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

  • Once again, you cannot teach, train and disciple on the run. It is your lifestyle.  It takes time.

Parents, your greatest investment on this earth will be your children.  They don’t need you to buy them things to make up for where you have failed.  They need your love, attention, character-training, and fun times.  They need you to teach them the Word of God.  They need to hear how you came to salvation.  They need you to pray with them.  They need you to make spiritual applications of life with them throughout the day.  They need you to teach them how to work, how to eat, how to be hospitable, how to serve others, how to talk, how to be a blessing to others, how to make their beds, how to get up and make the day count, how to cook, how to do life in general by the grace of God.

They need you.  They need you every day.

Parents, this Christmas, rather than spending so much money, spend a lot of your time.  Give your children something that will eclipse that banana-seat bicycle.  Give them the best gift—your time; give them you.

I Want an iPad for Christmas

by Dale, posted in Christian Living, Christmas, Family, Parenting, Uncategorized

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Christmas is four days away?  Seriously?  It seems like just yesterday that we celebrated Christmas 2015!  Of course, the older you get, the faster time seems to slide by.  Also, retailers help us get cranked up for Christmas in August each year. So, here we are just days away!

My wife and I have always loved Christmas since our earliest recollections.  My, how I remember waiting for the mailman to deliver the Sears & Roebuck Christmas Wish Book.  By the time December 25th rolled around, it was well-worn with many dog-eared pages.

One of my all-time favorite gifts was in the fourth grade . . . an electric football set with the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears.  The quarterback could even throw a felt football.  If you hit your receiver with the football, it was a completion!

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Another huge favorite was the seeming miles of Hot Wheel track, supped-up Hot Wheel cars and a Hot Wheel power house to send those cars tearing around the track.  I can still hear ‘em!

Oh how I loved the snowfalls of Christmas in southeast Ohio and West Virginia.  One Christmas in Bluefield, it snowed a foot by Christmas morning!  What a time we had building sled runs and just wearing it out!

Those were simple, innocent Christmases that are etched in my mind and thought of with great joy and thanksgiving.

This Christmas, I am fearful that many parents will unknowingly give their children and teens a gift that could turn simple, innocent Christmases and lives into sinful, indecent, regret-filled Christmases and lifestyles.  Please take time to read the following blog post and take heed.  I am begging you to do so!!

Please Do Not Give Them Porn for Christmas

And What’s My Excuse?

by Dale, posted in Christian Living, Evangelism, Family, Marriage, Serving, Uncategorized

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She has lovingly taken care of her husband since his dementia diagnosis in 2005.  Now he lies in a hospital bed at home in their beautifully decorated sun room with full-blown Alzheimer’s.  Demonstrating her marriage vows, she wipes his face, pats his head, speaks to him in terms of endearment, cleans up his bed, combs his hair, and listens for any signs of life.

Her home is beautifully attired with all the dressings for Christmas, but one stands out among all others.  Next to her beloved husband’s bed, she has prepared a second tree, “just for him, although he doesn’t even know it’s there.”

“His biological clock has not stopped working.  He wakes up nearly every morning at 5:00 a.m.”  She sleeps in the bedroom next to the sunroom so she can respond to his needs through the night.  “He will cough, but it’s not a real cough.  I think it’s just a ‘Hey, I’m awake cough,’ and I get up to go check on him.”

Sunday evening, my wife, another couple, and I stopped to sing Christmas carols to them.  She had the bar counter prepared with Christmas goodies and fourteen cups set out waiting to be filled with warm apple cider or hot chocolate.  In the midst of her trial, she had gone to great lengths to prepare for company.  I was saddened that she expected a “small crowd,” and it was only a very small crowd of four.

While visiting around the counter and enjoying the tasty treats, this dear lady said something that arrested my attention.  “Last week, I invited some of my friends here for a meal.  We had a house full.  These are folks from up on the mountain where I’m from.  I am concerned about one lady in particular.  I’m not sure she is saved.”

Wow!  I mean, wow!  Here’s a lady whose life is consumed with the care of her husband, and she intentionally prepared a large meal, invited guests to her home, and all for the purpose of sharing the gospel.  In the midst of caring for her born-again husband suffering from the awfulness of the sin-curse and will one day know no more pain or memory loss, she reaches out in compassion to those who will suffer for an eternity in hell, if they do not receive Christ as their personal Savior (John 1:12; 3:16-17).

Enough said.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36).

And of some have compassion, making a difference (Jude 22).