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The Truth is the Light!

June 11, 2016 by Rev. Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr. Leave a Comment

Based on Biblical Text: Romans 4:20:

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God”

Sometimes we need to ask the question, “How well do we take care of our faith?” Think about it — we take care of our hair, our nails, and our pets. We are meticulous about our cars, electronic toys, and our golf clubs. But really, how well do any of us take care of our faith?

If faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen, it makes sense that we would care for the substance and the evidence that will carry us toward the things we hope for. The New English Version translates, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” The truth of the matter is, that kind of faith does not just happen; it has to be nurtured.

The fact is that faith is nothing more than belief in a promise. Folk in biblical times were certain of that promise. They were confident that God would do exactly what He promised. That is the essence of faith.

The concept of Christianity is really quite simple. The concept of Christianity is faith. We faithfully believe there is a God who sits high and looks low. We live by faith in His promise to be our provider, our sustainer, our healer, our direction and our light in darkness. When we are faithful, we live as if God will keep His promise. When we apply our faith, we conduct our lives as if God is who He says He is, and He will do what He says He will do! Living by faith is taking God at His Word. The question for us is, “How firm is our faith?”

The Bible is filled with promises for believers. So, then, living by faith requires that we become familiar with those promises. It would be encouraging and even nourishing to our faith if we would take time to review God’s promises. We could begin by taking time to scan the list of promises from forgiveness, to protection, to our relationship with God, and the promise of Eternal Life. Reviewing God’s promises can help bolster our faith.

Consider this, the circumstances surrounding us right now have nothing to do with whether or not God loves us. The extent to which God loves us was settled over 2,000 years ago with the sacrifice of His Son on the cross of Calvary.

The truth is we have to learn to take care of our faith. Why, because if we want blessings from God, nothing can fetch them down but faith. Our prayer will not be answered unless it is the earnest prayer of a man or woman who believes. Faith is the invisible wire that links earth and heaven. If that wire is not connected how can we receive the promises of God?

“How firm is our faith?” Firm faith is believing God when it looks bleak and even when we are in trouble. Firm faith trusts God when we are surrounded by the enemy. The truth is, firm faith believes and trusts God even when all the conditions around us say that we should be frightened, or scared, or disappointed.

We can keep our faith firm by feeding it a daily diet of healthy scripture. We can keep our faith firmed up by remaining faithful to the worship experience and applying our bible knowledge to our daily living. This is the way we feed our faith! “How firm is our faith?”

The Truth is the Light!

June 4, 2016 by Rev. Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr. Leave a Comment

Based on Biblical Text: 2 Corinthians 5:17:

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”

There comes a time when we should long for the chance to fix what we believe has gone wrong in our lives. We wish for the opportunity to start over seeking the reassurance that no matter how much we may have messed up things from now on might be different. Given another opportunity somehow this time we’re going to get it right.

One thing for sure, we all need correction. Truth be told some of us need more correction than others, for we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Starting fresh is a good idea for all of us. We all could use a time of reflection, when we can take a good look at ourselves in the mirror and ask the Lord to fix our flaws. The truth of matter is that what one person thinks is a flaw another person flaunts. That could be because we are not very good at judging ourselves. We tend to see ourselves through rose-colored glasses.

I’m wondering if there are some among us who are not afraid to stand before God and let Him do the judging. Do we desire to let the Lord purge our soul of all that is displeasing and unrighteous?

I wonder if anyone of us have given any thought at all to our traits and habits. For example, what if God made a list of the character traits and habits He desired to correct in us? What would God want to remove from us? The truth is that deep inside of all of us are the suppressed sins of a Christian trying hard to get it right every day. That may surprise some folk. However, just because we are all avid church goers and committee members does not mean that we are perfect. We would probably not want to share our list with everyone. However, we are all sinners saved by grace. We are all striving to press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus. There are times when we find ourselves frustrated and angry. We get impatient, intolerant, selfish, and a bit self-seeking.

Thank God there is something we can do about all that. That’s right — we can work to keep ourselves pure and undefiled. The truth is, we can stay connected to our Savior. We can keep checking our mirror’s reflection to make sure that we are looking more like Him than ourselves.

Our text warns that we must “be in Christ.” We must understand that to be “in Christ” is to be completely enveloped and surrounded by the glory and power of Christ. When we are “in Christ,” we are new creatures. What that means is the “old self” of ours no longer has power. That old attitude, old way of thinking, and old way of dealing with our concerns won’t have a chance to drag us down. Please know that Satan may try! But Christ has promised that no weapon formed against us shall prosper because we are new creatures in Christ. The preacher in me can’t help but say, Hallelujah!

Maybe an agricultural reference would be helpful. Imagine with me that our lives are like a strawberry field. Our intent is to produce huge, sweet strawberries, but for some reason, all we seem to be able to do is keep the weeds cut low. Fruit doesn’t appear all that often, and when it does, it’s not very good. The reason is that strawberries need good soil. The only way to produce good strawberries is to plow up the whole field and start over with perfect soil and new plants.

That is how it is with us and sin. The truth of the matter is, we have so much difficulty living right because there is bad soil of temptation all around us. Try as we might, we seem only able to keep our sins down low, hidden from sight. The problem is, living like that we will never bear fruit. We must let Christ “plow our field” and let Him replace it with good soil. Christ in us, (our soil) and He can make all things new. We will be absolutely amazed at the fruit we will bear.

The Truth is the Light!

May 27, 2016 by Rev. Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr. Leave a Comment

Based on Biblical Text: Mark 10:17-18:

And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.

Our text from Gospel of Mark is the story of a sad encounter between Jesus and a rich young man. This young man was challenged to take inventory of his faith.

Many retail organizations take an inventory of their stock, at least annually, to assess the true value of their assets. The inventory process normally is in at least three distinct phases. There is a count performed to determine the amount of finished goods in the warehouse. Next, a value is set on all the materials in the plant that are used to create the finished products. Finally, an assessment is made to determine the value of land and equipment. The second phase determines “goods in process” and the final stage is capital assets. The sum total of the physical inventory, assessment of materials used, and value of land and equipment represents the company’s value.

Taking inventory is a tedious process that involves climbing, counting and digging in order to make absolutely sure every “thing-a-ma-jig” and every “do-hickie” is counted. It is, however, a very worthwhile and necessary undertaking as it is the only way to determine true value. The inventory is complete when leadership receives a financial report of the company’s worth. The final report is considered very valuable as it can be used to prove net worth when needed to secure loans, borrowing against the company’s value.

In our text, we find the rich young man trying to borrow against the value of his faith. He wanted a guarantee that he would inherit eternal life. Jesus challenged him to take inventory of his faith to determine if he had sufficient assets to make the withdrawal on judgment day. The final assessment shows that the man actually came up short, merely posing as a man of faith, having a flaw in his relationship with God. In other words, the man had insufficient “faith assets.”

The man’s faith lacked hope. By addressing Jesus as ‘Good Master,” the same courteous title everyone gave to all the religious teachers, we see that the man did not believe Jesus was the awaited Messiah. The man lacked a repentant heart. He already thought he was perfect. The man revealed his unrepentant position, replying “Master, all these have I observed from my youth.” In essence, he was telling Jesus he was already ‘walking the walk.’

We cannot be too hard on this man. The truth of the matter is the man is very much like folk we know. He is like the many Christians who think they don’t have to come to church every Sunday, or study the Word of God with their church family, or pray at the prayer service. They don‘t think they have to, because in their mind, they’re already perfect.

When we begin to think our relationship with God is perfect, it is time to take inventory. When we have convinced ourselves we have done all we need to do to inherit eternal life, it’s time to take inventory. When we begin to think we are already walking the walk, it is time to dust off our spiritual shelves and assess the commitments we have cast off, the projects we have not completed, and the ministries we have left unattended.

It is easy to appear to be perfect. However, Jesus knows the real deal, the real us. He knows our heart. He already knows if we have taken an honest inventory of our faith.

The Truth is the Light!

May 21, 2016 by Rev. Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr. Leave a Comment

Based on Biblical Text: Exodus 24:12:

And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.

I think we have reached a point where our spiritual vision has gotten lazy. What I mean is, I think we have a problem understanding the things of God because we don’t take the time to distance ourselves from our troubles and get alone with God. We need to put some distance between our troubles and take the time to be one on one with God. The truth is that we tend to confine the truth of our own finite understanding, and in doing so, we limit the Divine to what we know.

The question for us is, when was the last time we stretched the limits of our understanding of God? The truth of the matter is, many of us are muddling our way along this Christian walk, hoping to make it on what we learned of God when we were at our mother’s knee or in Sunday School. If we were asked to recite a scripture verse from memory, a lot of us would quickly respond with, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me.” Some of us would still use that old familiar “Jesus wept.”

Unless we have the Spirit of God in us, we have no might within and no means without to battle our storms. We will be like an unfinished building with no roof on it. We can attempt to live in it, but storms will keep raining on us. In order to put a roof on our faith, we have to get alone with God.

It is a fact that nothing can come out of us that has not been deposited in us. In other words, it is a requirement that we receive before we can give. We must be equipped for our task. We are on a journey and what we do to equip ourselves for our journey will largely determine our success or failure. Before God sends us out to do the work He has purposed for us, He first wants to equip us. The equipping process must include time alone with God. If we would be all the Lord would have us to be, we must first be willing to develop a probing, venturesome theology that solicits God’s wisdom above all else.

If we are to be all the Lord would have us to be, we must get alone with Him. We must develop an open line of communication with Jesus that will, in time, reveal His purpose for our life, and give us new direction. We must refrain from putting a time limit on God and just get alone with Him and learn of Him.

We cannot fight the good fight unless we get to know the Battleaxe. We will have a problem telling the story until we have spent time with the Author and Finisher of our faith. We will be unable to face our storms without our ship’s Captain. There is no way to expect light in the midst of our darkness, unless we spend time with the Bright and Morning Star.

The Truth is the Light!

May 14, 2016 by Rev. Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr. Leave a Comment

Based on Biblical Text: Isaiah 40:11:

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd

To fully grasp the meaning of this, we must first understand the role of shepherds. Shepherds are committed to the welfare of the flock. The shepherd is always with his sheep using his staff to protect them against anything that would seek to harm them.

The shepherd is no good to us if we don’t follow Him. In other words, if we dismiss ourselves from the shepherd’s presence, wandering off to do our own thing, we are defeating the purpose of having a shepherd. A question we should consider is – why do we need a Shepherd, if we worship Him on Sunday, but we are back “in the world” on Monday? We pray on Wednesday, but spew venom on Thursday. Isaiah prophesied about the Shepherd more than 700 years before His arrival. The Bible says, “He shall feed His flock like a Shepherd.” The truth of the matter is, we are less likely to leave the shepherd when we know what he does for us and how it is that Christ feeds us.

Christ, our provider, is our limitless resource for salvation and sustenance. He reminded the disciples, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). We could hardly imagine Christ would have much more to give than to sacrifice himself for our sins, and create for us a path of reconciliation to His Father! The fact is, we needed a Savior! We needed someone whose passion for His people is greater than His love of life. We needed someone who could overcome the sins of the flesh by the power of His Father, and once and for all, pay the price for our salvation.

Christ doesn’t just rescue us and provide for us; He is our Perfector. The fact is, He improves on us. In other words, He takes our tattered, corrupt, sinful flesh and molds and shapes us like clay on a potter’s wheel. The Bible says, “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (Hebrews 13:20-21).

We need to understand that the “Great” Shepherd’s purpose is to make us perfect in all that we do for Him. His purpose is to teach us, by example, how to live righteously, so we will be pleasing to God. To that end, Christ can peel away our vain conceit and teach us how to put others first. Christ can strip us of our self-centeredness and teach us how to live a God-centered life. The Shepherd doesn’t just save us; He improves on us. The Shepherd (Christ) gives us a common focus, a desire to serve and work together. Christ gives us a common reference point, moving us to live in harmony with each other, pursuing our common goal of offering Christ’s salvation to the world.

If we trust Jesus Christ as our Shepherd, He will teach us how to fight the good fight, bear our cross, obey His commands, and gain the victory. Because “He shall feed His flock like a Shepherd!”

The Truth is the Light!

May 4, 2016 by Rev. Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr. Leave a Comment

Based on Biblical Text: John 15:13:

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

I submit that the word friend is one of the most loosely interpreted and most frequently used words in our vocabulary. Friend is used to describe so many kinds of relationships that it makes it difficult to verify the true meaning of the word. We find in the dictionary friend is one who is attached to another by affection, regard, or esteem. Friend is also described as an intimate acquaintance or an ally and a supporter of a cause.

We can agree that these definitions may be scholarly and academically sound, but I think we can also conclude they are somewhat limited. Many of us have to admit that we have used the word friend in more situations than these definitions include.

We find even in the Bible the word friend is used to describe various relationships. A good example is when Brother Job was dealing with his trials. The Bible says some brothers stopped by who were called friends. We find that these “friends” were not as much help lifting Job’s spirits as they were a bother adding to his burden. It is a little confusing characterizing these brothers as friends when instead of lifting Job with encouragement, bringing light to the situation, they crushed him with false accusations and sarcastic insinuations, contributing to his darkness.

We can agree that it is quite interesting how friendships are formed. Friends sometimes come together in a common bond as a result of some sickness or tragedy. Friends grow up in the same neighborhood and never lose contact. Some become friends meeting at church finding that they enjoy working together. Folk may serve on the same committee, or sit in the same pew, Sunday after Sunday eventually discovering they have forged a friendly relationship.

Lamentably some friendships are formed for evil reasons. Some folk with nothing in common at all, bond together simply because they share the same enemy. We find an example of that evil alliance in Pontius Pilate and King Herod. They were bitter enemies until they were both confronted with the man called Jesus Christ. They had absolutely nothing in common but their shared fear of Jesus. They collaborated in order to execute their common enemy. These are the types of friendships we need to be wary of!

There is a way however we can determine who our real friends are! The truth of the matter is the folk who are willing to tell us the truth about ourselves without fear of reprisal are our true friends. These are the folk who display a genuine spirit of love and concern when we are doing something wrong. These are our real friends!

We can also determine who our genuine friends are by recognizing how consistent they are. Folks, who are only loyal as long as we are popular, are not our real friends. Folk who hang around only when we have money in our pocket are not our real friends.

Truth be told, true friends are a rare commodity. We live in a world of cutthroat competition where folk will drop us like a hot potato to gain an advantage over us. In fact, the friend we may have counted on the most will disappoint us and not be there when we need them.

The preacher in me has to say right here, I know somebody who is a real friend by any standard. His name is Jesus! He passed the supreme test of friendship when He gave His life for you and me! In fact, Jesus discussed the subject of friendship on the very night before He was crucified. He had just experienced a triumphant ride into the City of Jerusalem, where throngs of people gathered to wave palms as He passed by.

In the Upper Room Jesus is giving His disciples a few parting instructions, before the tragic event of Calvary is to take place. Jesus says, (paraphrasing), “Now that I am about to make my departure, I want to call you, not my servants, but my friends. And when I call you my friends, I want you to know exactly what I mean. I want you to understand the depth of my love for you. We have an unbreakable bond, you and I. Love and friendship are like Siamese twins; inseparable. One cannot live without the other.” “I have been displaying my friendship ever since I called you to be my disciples. And not only have I been a friend to you, I have shown my friendship to all with whom I have come in contact. And now I am about to demonstrate the ultimate act of friendship. In fact, greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

The Truth is the Light!

Based on Biblical Text: Romans 4:20:

The Truth is the Light!

Based on Biblical Text: 2 Corinthians 5:17:

The Truth is the Light!

Based on Biblical Text: Mark 10:17-18:

The Truth is the Light!

Based on Biblical Text: Exodus 24:12:

The Truth is the Light!

Based on Biblical Text: Isaiah 40:11:

The Truth is the Light!

Based on Biblical Text: John 15:13:

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