Dear Pop - A Birthday Letter To My Dad

I struggled with whether or not to share this private letter I wrote to my Dad for his 61st birthday, but I decided it may provide encouragement for others out there that have family members that aren't saved.

I read the letter below out loud to him after dinner tonight. He has heard the Gospel before, but this was the first time I was able to make it all the way through without it turning into a Catholic vs. Protestant debate. In addition to this letter, I gave him a copy of Mark Cahill's book, "One Heartbeat Away".

Please don't wait until it is too late to share the Gospel with those you love.

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Pop,

Happy Birthday! I just wanted to take a few moments to reflect on the past and let you know how much I appreciate the father you have been to me. I look back over the past 31 years and it is full of such powerful memories; some good, some not so good. Even with all the struggles, the memory that is always foremost in my mind is how you carted me around to every conceivable sports game in which I was a part of. While I would not have been able to play on those teams without transportation, the most important aspect was that you stayed for every game. I know I didn’t appreciate it fully (or even grasp this at the time), but looking out into the stands during my baseball games and knowing that you were always there was so incredibly comforting. It showed how much you cared for me. I never once felt alone, I never once felt like you weren’t there for me. I never once doubted how much you loved me.

I know these are the types of things I couldn’t possibly have understood as a child (or a teen), but now that I find myself in the struggle between family & career, I know how much you must have sacrificed in order to be there for me. As I look back through this new lens, I know that you were there because you wanted to be there …that is what means the most to me. I know I haven’t always been the easiest to love, but you were still there. I know I wasn’t kind, or appreciative, or even remotely loveable…but you were still there. I know I wasn’t always respectful, but you were still there. You were there because you are my Dad, and that is what “real” Dad’s do...they are there.

The other memory that comes to mind is in much of the same vein. I’ll never forget how you played ball with me in the back yard as a boy. Countless hours of ground balls, you playing catcher and chanting “Umdada Beee Umdada Boy” as I would pitch at you from our makeshift pitcher’s mound. I can still hear the symphony of the bug zapper and the crackling of the AM radio as we tried to listen to the Orioles. I thought I was Cal Ripken, but only because you made me feel as if I really was. I am now only starting to understand the joy you must have felt then, as I get to experience it with my boys.

If only I could just fast forward and forget all those years between then and now. If only I could just skip over all the hurt I caused, avoid all the pain that resulted, and just arrive to where we are today. But we can’t, and that’s OK. Each and every one of those experiences has helped shape my full appreciation of you as a father. If there is one thing I have learned in the past few years, it is that if you don’t see the bad news, you’ll never fully appreciate the good news.

You see, that perspective is also part of what has caused some dissension between us over the past few months. I finally understand the “bad news” of how I look to the Perfect, Righteous & Holy God. I finally realized that I am not “good” when compared His Holy standard. I used to compare myself to others, and compared to them I do look quite good. I don’t do what “they” do, or I’m not as bad as “them”. But that isn’t how God says it works. We are not going to be judged according to our standard, we are going to be judged according to God’s standard, God’s perfect law.

Hebrews 9:27 says, “it is appointed for men once to die and after this comes judgment”, and when we die we will each be judged. And the result of that judgment is eternal. You see “all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God” (Romans 3:23). None of us can possibly be found innocent, we have sinned against an infinitely Perfect God, and His Word is clear that the punishment is an infinite punishment in hell. I finally realized that I deserve to go to Hell. I broke God’s law, and I deserve to be punished. So that is the bad news.

But here is the Good news. God doesn’t want us to go to hell. God is Love. And how does He demonstrate that love? “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) See, I deserve the punishment of hell. But God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth to pay my fine. He didn’t “just” get beaten, bruised, and mocked, die & then rise again defeating death…He took the full wrath of God upon His head so I didn’t have to have it on mine. And He did the same for You.

The bible is clear Pop, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36) You can see that John displays the meaning of the word “believe” by showing that the opposite of “believe” is “not obey”. Believe is much more than “acknowledging” Jesus is who He said He was. It is “obeying” Him. If you look throughout the bible you find that Jesus uses two words to describe this “belief”. In Mark 1:15 Jesus uses the words together as He arrived in Galilee, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” In Luke 13:3 Jesus says, “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

If we repent (turn from our Sins) and trust in Jesus to save us He will cause us to be born again. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3) He changes the desires of our hearts; we submit to His authority in our life, we are consumed by our desire to serve Him.

Pop, here is why I wrote this letter. Life is short, who knows how much more time we have left. I didn’t want to risk another day to go by without me telling you how much I appreciate what you’ve done for me. I don’t want to risk the chance that I would look back after you are gone and say, “I wish I would have told Pop how much I loved him.”

But at the same time, I also don’t want to look back and regret not sharing the most important thing I have, the Good News of salvation. I know you may think that I’m just trying to convince you I’m right, but that isn’t the case at all. Think about it this way, if I know this to be true (which I do) than how could I possibly hold it to myself? How could I possibly let my Pop, get a day closer to eternity without telling you one more time about the only way to avoid the wrath of God?

I love you Pop, thank you for all you’ve done for me. Happy Birthday, and I praise God for giving me such a dedicated dad.

Love,

Michael

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Deeper Conference 2009 - Wow

WOW! Praise God! That's all I can say about it for now. I met a lot of great folks, heard some powerful preaching, participated in 2 of the most God honoring worship ceremonies in my life, and open aired preached in the dreaded "Little 5 Points" area of Atlanta. My faith is definitely "Deeper", but it's going to take me a little while to articulate it all. Stay tuned....
-W.S. (Mike)

Your Kids Listen To Your Actions - Part 2

Last November I posted about how our kids listen to our actions, and just this last Sunday I was blessed to be able to witness another example just last that I want to share with you.

Before I share this story, I want to reiterate that I do not share this as any sort of righteous testimony to my competency as a parent, or out of pride for the actions of my daughter. I know I have many shortcomings as a parent, and there are likely many more that I have yet to realize. I am sharing this as an encouragement for each of you; so you can see that the children in your life are watching you...they are listening to your actions.

Each Sunday morning for the past few months, my 5 y/o daughter "Minnow" and I wake up and head off to church early so I can finish my prep for the Youth Sunday School class I teach. My wife (who is expecting) and our 2 boys (2 & 3 y/o) stay back and arrive later in time for worship. Minnow & I have developed a bit of routine on Sundays. We leave the house in plenty of time and stop by a local gas station/convenience store and get some breakfast. We typically bring at least one million dollar bill tract in with us to give out in the store, and usually leave one at the pump if we need gas that AM.

Last Sunday as we pulled into the parking lot Minnow asked me, "Daddy, can I give a million dollar bill to the lady at the counter?" I had a feeling this was coming, as we had been talking about whom we would give the tract to ever since we left the house. "Of course!” I replied, and we walked into the store. We picked up my coffee and her water, our sandwiches & some pastries for the boys and my wife and went up to the counter to pay. Without any hesitation whatsoever she handed the tract to the woman at the counter and said, "Did you get one of these?" and immediately followed up with "Read the back when you get a chance." I was quite impressed with how smooth it came out for her, but this isn't even the part of the story that I wanted to share. It gets better.

On the way to church we were listening to a sermon and talking some more about the Gospel. Minnow asked me if she could have a couple of tracts to keep in her bible, and I gave her a few after giving her some instructions:

a) They are for giving away, not to be kept and treated as toys.

b) They should always be kept crisp and new looking.

After church, I headed out the front door and back towards the rear of the building where we parked my truck. As I started walking down the hill I noticed three little pony-tailed heads huddled around the opposite side of my truck. I was wondering what they were up to, and my first thought was that it wasn't something good. I decided to slowly approach the truck and keep the cab of the truck between us to shield their view of me.

As I approached, the only voice I could hear was Minnow. What she was saying absolutely melted my heart. This is what I heard:

"Here girls, take these. They are not real money, they are Gospel tracts, and they have the Gospel on the back of them. Here's what you do with them. You give them to someone that doesn't know the Gospel. Just say, "Did you get one of these?" and then you ask them to read the back when they get a chance. Remember, don't keep them for yourself, they aren't toys. Oh yeah, and don't wrinkle them all up. Keep them flat."

I must admit I was quite filled with pride at that moment, and I had a hard time not just interrupting their little pow-wow and picking up Minnow to give her a giant Daddy-sized hug and kiss. But I quickly checked myself and focused on how pleasing this must have been to the Lord, and thought of how I could use it to teach Minnow a lesson on obedience. It is so often as parents that we only teach lessons of obedience when we are battling disobedience.

On the trip home I asked Minnow why she gave those tracts to her friends and she said, "Because I don't want people to go to Hell, Daddy. They need to know about the Gospel so they don't go to hell."

Maybe I need to start listening to her actions more.

(Matthew 18:2-4)

-W.S. (Mike)

A few weeks ago, my Pastor asked me to sub in for him and teach our Wednesday night bible study. He and I talk quite often about evangelism, and he knows the burdent the Lord put on my heart about reaching the lost, so he asked me to teach on that subject in particular. It turned out that there was no way that I could fit it all into a 1 week class, so it has turned into a 3 week series.

The first session was focussed on two main ideas, "What is evanagelism" & "Why we don't evanglize". Below is the 1st of the 3 sessions, if you are intersted in evanglism I urge you to give it a listen. If you're not intersted in evangelsim...I beg you to listen to this message.

I know there are a lot of smart people that read this blog, and I would love your thoughts and comments on this message, but not related to me. I would like them to be focussed as to how this message could be improved and how effective it was in Glorifying the Lord. That's why we preach & teach, for His glory.

The Most Important Thing We Have (Session 1/3)

(1Cor 15:1-4)

"Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" (emphasis mine)

1. What is evangelism?

• a. Evangel literally means "_______________" - Or Good "___________________"


• b. Evangelism is the _______________ of "Good News"


• c. An Evangelist is the ______________of "Good News"

2. What is the Good News? The Gospel

The Gospel is

• ________________________________________________________________________________________________


• ________________________________________________

3. Why don't we evangelize (more)?

• Not my gift (Eph 4:11-12)


• I don’t know how (2 Timothy 2:15)


• Not my personality (Eph 6:20)


• What if it doesn’t work? (2Cor 4:1-5)


• I don’t know enough of the bible (Eph 3:8-9)


• I don’t like confrontation (2Ti 4:1-2)


• People don’t want to hear they will go to hell! (2Ti 4:3-5)

The video referenced (and audio heard) in this message is called "Do you believe the Gospel?" from I'll be Honest

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Or download the MP4 directly HERE.

For His Glory,

W.S. (Mike)

People You Shouldn't Witness To - Really

I learned a valuable lesson yesterday. There are some people you shouldn't approach to hand a gospel tract. Even if you think you have a good idea for how to approach them.

You see, after my Dr.'s appointment I had to go to the pharmacy that is inside a local grocery store. As I walked out there was an armored car and two guards there unloading cash from the back. This is when I got this "oh so" bright idea as to how I could give them a million dollar bill tract.

As I exited the store, I started walking towards the truck. My first clue should have been the guards reaction...they stopped in their tracks (not tracts) as I approached the open truck filled with money. They just stared at me. Then, I reached into the inside pocket of my jacket (another bad idea) and they changed their posture again. I then proceeded to take out a million dollar bill and said, "Here, I think you dropped one of these." Clever, right? No...not at all.

"No I didn't, now get out of here." He replied. Whoops. My bad.
-W.S.

Get Out Of Your Own Way – Share The Gospel

There I was, at the airport on my way to St. Louis for a business trip. Sitting all by myself I had commandeered (unbeknownst to me) the only working power outlet and was charging up my gadgets. I was alone for a while, but soon the terminal started to fill up. A man sat down a few chairs away from me and tried to use the outlets below his chair. But no dice, they weren’t working. He slid down closer and tried the next set with the same result. So I offered to unplug mine so he could charge his phone. I knew this was the Lord’s doing and my opportunity to start a conversation, but I blew it and just let him plug his stuff in and slide back down to his seat.

About 30 minutes went by and I was so convicted it was driving me nuts. But as each minute passed by, the awkwardness increased and it was harder and harder to start a conversation. I couldn’t get out of my own way.

Finally, I just asked, “So, where are you headed?” Seems like such a simple question to ask in airport, doesn’t it? But to me it felt like the hardest question I’ve ever had to ask. It seemed like such an awkward and forced question. Why was it forced? It was forced because the reason I was asking him the question was to get to something. I wasn’t asking because I cared for the answer. Do you see the subtle difference? Do you see the lesson to be learned? I share the Gospel because we care, so I need to care to share the Gospel. I know I’ve learned my lesson, I pray you will learn from my mistake.

Anyway, it turns out his name was Gabriel. He was in the Army (served in Iraq), got out about a year ago and just got the call to go back to active duty and return to Iraq. He went to church “sometimes” and thought he was going to go to heaven b/c he was a good person. He heard the Gospel and it was amazing to witness once again the power of the Holy Spirit convicting him of his sin, and his need for a savior. He had never heard the Gospel like that before. I know the Lord brought us together for a reason that day, please pray for Gabriel.

-W.S.

Is The Gospel Real To You?

I stumbled across another amazing video this AM, and I wanted to share it. It's another in a great series of videos from the folks over at I'll be Honest. There's nothing I can add, except I urge you to watch this video and heed the message.

Is the Gospel real to you? from I'll Be Honest on Vimeo.

You can view this video in HD here.

-W.S.
(mike)

Men's Retreat: An Amazing Answer To Prayer

Last weekend, I traveled with about a dozen men from my church to Marengo Ohio for the Ohio Church of God Men's Retreat and Ox Roast and I was able to witness one of the most amazing answers to prayer in my life. Let me set the stage a bit:

The original worship leader for the retreat had a death in the family and had to cancel the night before things were set to begin. This led the organizers of the retreat to scramble around to try and find a replacement at the last minute. They were able to find a very talented Christian artist from Indiana who plays with the Gaither's. No that isn't the answer to prayer, well at least not mine.

While leading worship at the Friday night service (and doing a fantastic job) this individual also mixed in a few songs that they had written themselves, one in particular which was about how Jesus called us to be the "salt and light" of the world (Matthew 5:13-16). That by itself wasn't the issue, however it gave me pause when he went on asking us if we ever noticed "that neither salt or light make a sound". His primary point in the song was that as Christians we have to live "right" and let the Lord's light shine through us. Don't get me wrong, he was right we ARE called to do that...but that is a biproduct of salvation...not our primary goal.

While he was singing his song, I just bowed my head in prayer. This is something I often do when I don't agree with the theology of a particul song in worship (even at my own church). Rather than get myself upset and lose focus on the fact that I am there to Worship my Lord, I simply continue to worship through praise and prayer. This time I prayed (hard) that the Lord would find a way to make the message clear this weekend that we are NOT called simply to live a good life, but we are called to seek others and share the Gospel with them.

Enter Joel Penton. Joel is a former Defensive Lineman for the THE Ohio State University. (This made him quite a hit in the middle of Ohio, and everyone was elated to have him be there). Joel delivered a message on Friday night that was powerful entitled "Real Men Love Jesus", but the answer to my prayers came on Saturday.

It turns out that Joel noticed the same thing I did about the artist's "Salt & Light" song on Friday. He struggled quite a bit after hearing that song (and other conversations in fellowship afterwards), and decided to work late into the night and change the message of his Saturday sermon to clear things up. He delivered an amazing message on "How Do We Respond To Jesus' Coming, Dying, Rising? We Must CLEARLY Articulate The Gospel."  The entire message was focussed on how we are all called to share the Gospel clearly, not through our ambiguous actions...but through the Word of God.  

Think about it.  What if you were wathing as a friend of yours was out for a walk one day while listening to their iPod.  Now this friend is so engrossed in their music that they don't realize they are walking right out onto a busy 8 lane freeway, and a tractor trailor is bearing down on them at 65 MPH...and you know they will surely die.  Which of these would you choose?

1. Just sit back and walk back and forth on the shoulder, hoping that they will see your example and realize that they should stop walking on the highway?
2. Yell, scream, and run and get their attention doing everything in your power to warn them about what is about to happen?

I bet you would choose #2.  But yet each of us know countless people that are headed to hell b/c of their sin, and we don't do a single thing to warn them. We just sit back and hope that they will notice what we are doing, and come to be saved that way.  We are called to warn them about their certain peril and tell them about the Gospel and what Christ did.  The real display of love, knowing what we know about Jesus and what he has done, is to share the Gospel and persuade them to Repent & Trust in Jesus so they don't end up in hell: 

2 Corinthians 5:11 (New American Standard Bible)

 11Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences.  

Wow, how awesome was that? What an amazing answer to Prayer!  Here is a little bit of Joel's sermon, mixed together with some photos...all put to the special theme song that the worship leader wrote for the Ox Roast:

Thanks Joel for allowing yourself to be a vessel of Truth, all Praise and Glory to the Lord!

-W.S.