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The Truth is the Light!

June 25, 2016 by Rev. Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr. Leave a Comment

Based on Biblical Text: Joshua 7:1 NIV

But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel.

Let me provide a little background before moving forward.

God gave Joshua specific instructions before the Israelites invaded Jericho. God told the Israelites that every living thing was to be put to death, and all the “stuff” belonging to the people of Jericho was to be dedicated to the Lord’s treasury. He was absolutely clear that none of the Israelite soldiers were to keep any of the spoils. Joshua, the leader, knew it would not be a good idea to question God and His plans. Therefore, he gave the specific instructions to everybody. However, everyone obeyed God but Achan. Achan sinned and took some of the wealth for himself.

The truth is many of us might even sympathize with Achan. After all, he risked his life fighting hard like everyone else. This was Achan’s chance to get ahead. He could pocket a little “change.” Finally, something tangible for his devotion to Joshua. Why not get something out of the deal, right?

Well, the problem with Achan taking some of Jericho’s wealth is that it was an act of disobedience. God’s strict requirement was obedience, and what He got from Brother Achan was clearly disobedience. Lamentably, disobedience is a sin we are all too familiar with.

Far too often we allow the pursuit of something tangible to cloud our judgment. The truth of the matter is we often let our pursuit of “stuff” keep us from being obedient. In many instances, it is our desire to accumulate “stuff” that causes us to take our focus off God. We hear God say, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house.” However, we squander our tithes gathering more “stuff” at the mall, and we short-change God on Sunday. My point is, it is like Achan’s sin of disobediently keeping the spoils of battle when our “stuff” becomes our god.

I’ve learned over the course of my ministry folk do not like when the pastor talks about money. Believe you me, I don’t make it a habit. So, then, let me make it clear that our “stuff” does not have to be money or even a pile of tangible objects. No, Beloved, our “stuff” can be a frat or lodge meeting, a social gathering, a football, baseball or basketball game, or even a chance to get in some more hours at work so we can buy some more “stuff.” In other words, our “stuff” is anything that takes our eyes, our minds, our focus, and our heart off of God.

Our God is everywhere, knows everything, and sees everything. This one soldier did not escape God’s notice. God saw Achan’s sin when he took some of the ‘devoted things’ that belonged to God, and God’s anger was kindled, not just against Achan, but against all Israel. We need to understand that it only takes one!

Achan did not seem to care that his actions got everybody else in trouble. It did not appear that he gave much thought to the fact that his disobedience was going to cost Joshua his next victory. I make this point to warn us as we are inclined to point the finger of blame at Achan. Let us first take a look at ourselves. It is a fact that we are selfish by nature. We are in fact selfish enough to believe our actions only affect us. Most of us don’t stop to think about the effect our actions have on others. I contend that in many instances we just don’t care. We think, “It’s my life, and I’ll do what I want.” The preacher in me has to say, “I know I’m right about it.”

The truth of the matter is, our disobedient actions don’t just hurt us, they hurt others around us. Our text does not say that only Achan would suffer for his disobedience. It says, “but the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel.”

The fact is that God has rules for a reason. God’s rules are meant to help our carnal flesh keep its focus. Can you imagine what the kingdom of God would look like if all of us who profess to be God’s children obeyed His rules! God’s church bank accounts would be full, and God’s houses would be full.

The Truth is the Light!

June 18, 2016 by Rev. Dr. Charles R. Watkins, Jr. Leave a Comment

Based on Biblical Text: Acts 5:29:

Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Laws established by our elected politicians and appointed judges were patterned after the morality established and demonstrated by God in the Bible. The truth is that, until now, there were not many who would even think to challenge such laws.

It is so very obvious that we live in a different era now. In this time of technological genius, we appear to be so intent on maximizing our freedoms that we now have the audacity to challenge even God. We were led by God to draft a constitution affirming that He is no respecter of persons. We seem to have become no respecter of God.

We find biblical morality is being challenged on every front as the divide between church and state grows wider and wider. No prayer in school, no Ten Commandments posted in the courthouse. We find ourselves in an age of confrontation with the political “right” and “left.” The question is, what is a Christian to do?

The answer is very clear for those of us who are “the called according to God’s purpose.” We, who profess to be “children of the most High God,” are mandated to preserve the Word of God at any cost. It would certainly appear that the battle lines have been drawn. How far will we go to defend our cause for Christ?

In our text, we find that Peter and John have taken a stand for the Lord. They have preached the unadulterated Word of God in city after city despite warnings of imprisonment and even death. Now they find themselves standing before the Jewish high court. All the high priest needed to say was, “We gave you strict orders.” Peter and John boasted boldly, “We must obey God rather than men.”

As Christians, it is important for us to realize that we can sometimes do the right thing and end up guilty before the law and innocent before God. We must understand that it is never a light thing to break the laws of our nation. However, there are times when, as the Apostles did in Jerusalem, “we must obey God rather than man.” It is the way that we show that God is truly in charge. It is also the only way that the Word of God will be preserved for our future generations. Jesus warned that the Word of God would not, could not, and must not be altered.

The question for us now becomes “How much effort are we willing to put forth to preserve the influence of the Word of God in our daily lives?” Peter and John’s ministry did not fail the Lord, will ours? Will we have the courage to face off against the political enemies of God? Christ is seated at the throne of God, waiting for the Church to take a stand. Now is not the time for lukewarm Christianity! Clearly, it is high time for us to reach our boiling point and take a stand for the Lord. The truth of the matter is, it is time to get back to doing things God’s way.

In the same week we observe the anniversary of the senseless murder of the Emmanuel 9, we find ourselves grief-stricken as yet another lunatic has, for whatever reason, opened fire in a crowded night club killing 49 and wounding at least 50 others. Once again, the Church of Jesus Christ should have been overwhelmed with sadness to see our citizens pouring into the streets with lighted candles, searching for answers, and not knowing where to look. Again, too soon, we find folk forced to their knees by overwhelming circumstance, yet we still find that too many did not know how to pray or whom to pray to. Has the Church of Jesus Christ lost its influence and impact on America?

Well, I, for one, believe it is time for the church to clear its vision, re-align its priorities, revive its heart, and remold its attitude. It is time for us to once again submit to God’s authority with unyielding faith. It is time that we “lean not to our own understanding” and trust in God’s Word. It is time we come to grips with the fact that alone we have no strength to deal with evil. We must believe in God’s power and surrender to God’s will.

We are challenged in these critical times to take a stand for the Lord. We must summon the courage of Peter and John to face our adversaries, the wisdom of the Son of God to face our trials, and the assurance of the Word of God to overcome our temptations. Beloved, we need the help of the Spirit of God to restore our power. “Oh come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God; and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.” (Psalm 95:6-7) and “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” (Job 13:15)

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!

Based on Biblical Text: Joshua 7:1 NIV

The Truth is the Light!

Based on Biblical Text: Acts 5:29:

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:

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