I Am an Adopted Child

“Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”

I understand some adopted children have a problem with not knowing their real parents, and this I understand. But personally, as an adopted child, I have no such difficulty; I know my Original Parents and want nothing whatsoever to do with them. They sold me into the house of bondage, and were responsible for the shameful deformity I’ll carry with me throughout this life.

But I am glad to say I am now happy, content, and I think fairly well-adjusted, considering my first state. O, how well I remember being lined up with the other urchins, all cleaned-up and in their nice clothes, standing tall and straight, hoping to impress. And there I was, at the end of the line in my wheelchair, crippled, and in my filthy rags.

All my peers were waiting with bated breath, anticipating the kind looking man stopping by them with a smile of approval. But I had no such expectation. I was very conscious of the fact there was nothing about me, an untainted MAN such as I beheld, would desire to call His son. But miracles of miracles! as He stood over me, looking down with eyes full of tears and compassion, He uttered three words that will remain with me throughout eternity, “I choose him.”

And what do I call the parent who adopted me? I refer to Him as, “MY HEAVENLY FATHER!”       

Richard. D. Sandlin

Bold Preaching

“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”

If you were to ask me the greatest change I have seen in churches in my fifty-five year ministry, my answer would be one word: “preaching.” We today, as Paul foretold us, have gone from preaching to teaching. It is important to realize, men are called to preach, then gifted as teachers, pastors, evangelists, etc. No man can hide behind his gift as an excuse for neglecting bold preaching!

A pastor friend in Canada, who is also a veterinarian, told me they now have a procedure where they cut a dog’s vocal cord to keep them from barking and bothering neighbors. The Old prophet spoke of this kind of preacher. He described them as, “dumb dogs [that] cannot bark.” Dumb, not as in intellectually, but as in audibly. Years ago, a preacher said to my home pastor, “I wish I could preach to my people the way you do to yours.” He could, it’s just that he wouldn’t.

We no longer hear fiery messages on Bible topics such as: judgment, sin, wrath, sodomy, death, sowing and reaping, etc. When we stopped preaching on hell from the pulpits they started living like it in the pews. I think, to hear some preachers preach, they believe the word apologetics (concerned with the defense or proof of Christianity), means to apologize for their preaching.

The norm today is that love is all that counts. No! Truth is what counts. Paul tells us love rejoices in truth. Dr. Bob Jones used to have a message to preachers who trimmed their messages in the pretense of love. The text he used was, “Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love?” God help those preachers who, so to speak, tiptoe through the tulips.

Some preachers, before preaching ask, “Who is out there?” Then load or unload their gun. Others go to the pulpit and shoot, and then ask, “Who’d I hit?”

Richard. D. Sandlin

50th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY PICS

Dear Readers,

My wife and I celebrated our 50th Wedding Anniversary two years ago this October 14th. My daughter, Leah, who is a photographer, planned to visit during that time and take pictures, but was unable to do so. 

 

She visited with us recently and was able to make good her and our desire. Here are a few of the photos she took of Salle and me at Carmel by the Sea, CA during her stay. Since I am not on Facebook I thought some of you might enjoy seeing the 'old man' (80 in Oct.) and his young looking wife.

 

 

 

*The Saints Saucer

“My Cup Runneth Over”

I can remember, as a boy, seeing my Kentucky bred Grampaw drinking his coffee out of his saucer, while eating a breakfast of bacon and eggs, along with his biscuits and gravy. He was like the trucker I heard of, who when asked by the waitress if he wanted his cup filled, answered “Yep, and my saucer too!”

I notice today in homes and restaurants old fashioned saucers are not much in use, if at all. I can only surmise from this that people no longer desire full cups. This doesn’t trouble me, but Christians not craving the “fullness of God,” does. David drank from an overflowing cup; his saucer, if you please.

O, that each of us will seek God’s fulness until, like the wine skins, we are about to burst. Every spiritual need in the Christian’s life is found in the Spirit’s nine-fold fruit. When we unreservedly yield to Him, then our lives will yield His fruit.

“Yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members [as] instruments of righteousness unto God.”

Richard. D. Sandlin

My Favorite O.T. Bible Story

“[There was] a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it: Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. Then said I, Wisdom [is] better than strength: nevertheless the poor man's wisdom [is] despised, and his words are not heard. The words of wise [men are] heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. Wisdom [is] better than weapons of war...”

I recently read something about Alexander the Great that illustrates this passage. “When Alexander the Great was about to destroy the city Lampsacus, his old master Anaximenes came out to meet him. Alexander, suspecting his design, that he would intercede for the city, being determined to destroy it, swore that he would not grant him anything he should ask. Then said Anaximenes, ‘I desire that you destroy this city.’ Alexander respected his oath, and the city was spared.”

To be sure, Alexander was a great man, but, as Job tells us, “Great men are not always wise.”

There are seven pearls, so to speak, in this shell of truth.

1. Wisdom can be found among obscure places and people. “Little city...few men.”

2. Wisdom is not limited to position. “A great king...a poor wise man.”

3. Wisdom is to be used for others, to help deliver them from dire circumstances. “By his wisdom delivered the city.”

4. “Wisdom is better than strength.” It’s not brawn but the brain of the wise that wins out.

5. Wisdom many times gives birth to jealousy in those who do not possess it. “The poor man’s wisdom is despised and not heard.”

6. Wisdom is heard best in quiet. “Heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools.”

7. Wisdom is the best of all weapons. “Wisdom [is] better than weapons of war

True, such wisdom is soon forgotten by the ones who have been helped by it. But the wise man is wise enough to know, his “All wise God” hasn’t!”

Richard. D. Sandlin

The Big Picture

“For God so loved the world...”

We need to learn to emulate God when it comes to where to start in any and all situations. He starts with the big picture, and then works toward the more detailed. This is seen in such things as Creation, and the building of Noah’s ark.

The little quip, “The devil is in the details,” most certainly is not true in every case, but is in some. It is the latter of the two that needs guarded against. A bird’s-eye view will always help us see more clearly. Don't lose sight of the whole in people or problems.

Many times majoring on the detailed is what causes disagreement and division among us. For example, all Bible Believer’s believe in the second coming of Christ. The difficulty comes when the subject become exhaustive. This is also true of rightly dividing the Word; you can slice it so thin, there’s not enough left to feed on or to go around.

Let us all back off awhile; some of us “can’t see the forest for the trees.”

Richard. D. Sandlin

Sick Saints

“And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.”

Doctor Luke, “the beloved physician,” penned these words from the mouth of the Great Physician. Many times Jesus takes physical truths to illustrate spiritual ones. It is easy to miss the former because of the importance of the latter. Nevertheless, the physical has its place.

As hard as it may be for some of the “spiritually elite,” to accept this fact, Jesus did say if you are sick, go to a doctor. Yes, like the woman with the issue of blood found, there are quacks among the medical profession, like any other, but that doesn’t change what our Lord said. The Bible way in sickness seems to be first, seek the Lord; then, if no clear cut direction, use the means God has provided.

Beware of applying historical truths from the Gospels, primarily to the Jews, and rejecting Paul’s teachings for us Gentiles today. And even in the Epistles one needs to be cautious. For example, early in the apostle’s writings he expected of Lord’s immediate return; toward the end he taught His imminent return. So it was with healing. In his latter letters he left a friend sick at Miletum. Timothy was to take a little wine for his stomach and “oft infirmities.” And one companion was so sick he was nigh unto death.

Sickness is part of a fallen humanity, saved or lost. If one is healed, ultimately we wind up in the cemetery with the rest of mankind. Isaac had poor eye sight as he got older, Elisha died from a sickness, David complains of some kind of bone disease, and Paul was sick all his ministry.

Whether we are healed directly or indirectly (by the use of means), God is to get the glory. And because one is cured through the latter does not mean he or she is any less spiritual than those healed by the former.          

Richard. D. Sandlin

Permanent and Temporary Necessities

“For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things”

It is fitting that the first Church council be held at Antioch. The disciples were first called Christian in this city, and the first New Testament missionaries were called from the church there. In this conference three men spoke, Peter, Paul, and James, each giving his own opinion to the solution to the problem that had arisen among two factions in the churches.  

You will remember in the beginning, the primitive church consisted mostly of all Jewish believers, but later on, the door was opened to the Gentiles, and a great host of them were flooding into the assembles. Naturally, difficulties occurred between the traditional Jews and non-religious Gentiles. The problem was wisely handled by presenting to both sides the “necessary things,” required.

Some of these necessary things (fornication) were for all time, while others were only for that time (strangled things, etc.). We need to be careful not to make a present necessity a perpetual rule. Time, geography, and culture, on occasions, dictate that we abstain or do something out of necessity for the glory of God and the help of others. But this is transitory; it is never meant to be an enduring standard. Paul wished all men were like him (single), because of the “present distress.” But, that passed and is not a rule for men today (other than an exception).

Richard. D. Sandlin

The Truth about Our Kin

“To Titus, [mine] own son after the common faith...” “Titus...[is] a Greek”...“One of themselves (Greeks), [even] a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians (Greeks) [are] alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies...” “This witness is true.”

I read that when you're referring to the Greek people, you would say "Greeks," but if you're referring to Greek culture and art, you could optionally say, "Grecian." One way or the other, Greeks are Grecians, and visa-versa.  

Titus had that rare spirit wherein he could hear derogatory truths about his own kindred without taking offence. He was not a John Mark who ran home to Mama when he felt his uncle Barnabas got a raw deal.

Paul was straightforward in calling Titus’ people, “liars, evil, and slow bellies,” (referring no doubt to gluttony and sloth). Until one first faces and admits to themselves disparaging truths about loved ones, they will always be in a defensive mode. This does not help them, their loved ones, or their relationship to those who know the truth about their kin.

“The tie that binds,” must be broken when it conflicts with truth! If not, then you will spend your life justifying loved ones who are wrong, and by your actions, tell others such a life is acceptable in your eyes.

I find behind all family prejudice is pride. Which thing God hates.

     Richard. D. Sandlin

Always-"My God"

“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

This is one of the many texts in the Bible that has both an immediate and far off meaning. The Old Testament is filled with scriptures that have present and prophetic truths connected with them. In this article I will not discuss the doctrinal aspect of our text, but rather its practical application.

Whether David or Jesus on the Cross (as representative man), we are all capable of the same intense cry. If one has not yet gone through his or her Calvary experience, the feeling of complete abandonment, you will, if you follow on to know the Lord. If Hebrews 13:5 be an argument against what I say, I remind you that Jesus, prior to His desolate cry told His disciples, “I am not alone, because the Father is with me.” We may feel forsaken, but we’re not forgotten.

The Lord brought to my attention recently that in spite of a sense of being forsaken, they, Darling David and His Beloved Son, still owned Him as, “My God.” In fact, over and again they repeated it, “My God, my God.”

When dire circumstances strongly argue for spiritual desertion, we must still call Him, “My God.” We must trust Him, no matter the situation. We must hold to the horns of the altar, so to speak, and as Job of old cry out in our agony, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.”

D.L. Moody said, “Wait for His promise. He always returns by way of His promise.”

Richard. D. Sandlin

When Prayer Becomes Distasteful

I realize the title of this article will be objectionable to the “Spiritually Elite.” Those who make a “pretense” in prayer, whose long prayers come from “feigned” lips. Who desire to be seen always on top of the spiritual heap, so to speak. But the common Christian knows better. We ordinary folks recognize prayer is not always a bed of roses; at times, because of the thorns in our way, it can be very difficult. Listen to Job when things got grim, “If I had called, and he had answered me; [yet] would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice.”

Nevertheless, during those tough times we need to heed the words of the gospel song, “When you don’t feel like praying, pray.” When we do not want to pray we need to pray all the more. Spurgeon said, “When you can pray, and long to pray, why then you will pray; but when you cannot pray, and do not wish to pray, why then you must pray, or evil will come of it.” He goes on to say, “He is on the brink of ruin who forgets the mercy-seat.”

Prayer is the breath of the child of God’s spiritual life. When it ceases, we die, and are left only with an outward dry and crusty shell, the inside empty of any life. You can be assured, lifeless Christians are prayerless Christians! A great misnomer is, “Prayer Changes Things.” This little cliché is not always true, but it is a fact that prayer changes us. How many times has one entered their prayer closet a dead man or woman and came out a living, vibrant, fire-brand?

“And when they had prayed, the place was shaken ...and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost... And ... great power... and great grace was upon them all.”

Richard D. Sandlin

How "The Man Christ Jesus" Lived the Christian Life

“And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost...was led by the Spirit...And Jesus...[said]...man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”

Since Jesus Christ was the founder of Christianity, it behooves all Christians to follow the original pattern laid down by Him in living for God on this earth. Following man-made methods can sometimes be disastrous. It caused Bible teacher, Harry A. Ironside to have a nervous breakdown, and J.I. Packer came close to one, according to his testimony. They both found, to their chagrin, the men who espoused such teachings did not come up to them their own selves.    

I discovered years ago in studying and adhering to the “Deeper Life” teachings that it led to a constant scraping of my spiritual insides. I dissected each and every thing in my life; it all went under a microscope.  There was never a moment of inner peace, only turmoil. I oft questioned my spiritual sanity. I thought of David’s words on many occasions, that these things were, “Too high for me...I cannot [attain] unto [them].”

Jesus’ life was a simple one when it came to living for God. He yielded Himself to the indwelling Spirit and soaked His life with the scriptures. He was saturated with both! He lived by a set of principles laid down in the Word by the Holy Spirit. As a result, He was able to obey His God on a moment by moment basis. There was no frustration as to what was on down the road in the distant future; only “now” and “next” concerned Him.

“Thy word [is] a lamp unto my feet (now), and a light unto my path (next).”      

The Character of God

“Who being the brightness of [his] glory, and the express image of his person...”

Our English word character finds its roots in the Latin, Greek, and French. Taking them jointly, we come up with the meaning: to engrave, imprint, stamp, mark, or inscribe. The artists and craftsmen of Greece used this word to describe the etching on the face of a seal and the engraving of a face on a stamp.

As Caesar’s exact image was inscribed in a coin, so also is the image of God engraved in the face of Jesus Christ. That is, the character of God is seen only in Christ Jesus. As one author wrote, “The Father’s whole “character” is fully and for ever stamped and sealed upon His Son.”  

Therefore, the spiritual and moral character of God, and that of us, His children, should be our chief interest. His character, and then our own, these two things ought to most concern you and me in the whole world.

Death will one day strip us bare of all that we now pursue and possess. Only one thing shall endure for ever, the image and likeness of our characters to that of Christ. And like Him, we also shall carry to the same place the same things that He carried. And by the way, they’re the only things we possess here that are worth carrying there!

Richard. D. Sandlin

Band-Aid Solutions

"And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple."

There is a great lesson to be learned from this lame man. How many of us, like him, labor under the wrong assumption? We spend most, if not all, of our lives thinking the lesser is the answer to the greater. This pitiful paralytic thought he needed certain things, but, in reality, what he needed was just one thing— to get on his feet.

There is an imaginary need and a real need in all of our lives. The former, at best, is only temporary. The latter is permanent. Isn't it interesting, when we finally get what we feel will fix our condition, shortly after, we're again looking for new solutions. When will we ever learn, the answer is in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

When you're totally dependent on Christ, you'll find the independence you long for.

Locking Both Doors

In one of my old revival sermons, I have an illustration of a Royal Stag. This magnificent creature would drink each evening from a pond in a meadow. Because he was blind in one eye, he always drank with his good eye toward the meadow. After observing the animal for some time, a wise hunter circled around and came at him in a canoe from the pond side. It took only one shot to fell him. He was what they call, blindsided. 

I fear far too many of us lock the front door, while leaving the backdoor opened for the enemy to enter. Samson could boast he kept that part of his Nazarite vow by not getting drunk, while committing whoredoms surpassed by few in the scriptures. Satan always comes at a time and in a way he is least expected. He knows our temperament and shoots his fiery darts at our most vulnerable area. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

“And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.”

Richard. D. Sandlin

 

The Cost of Putting Christ First

If any [man] come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

Three conditions must be realized and met before one can truly say Christ is preeminent in their life. The first requirement is a parental one; the second, personal; and the third, relates to the material. Before deciding that Jesus is going to have first place in your life, these three musts, must be considered. In the middle of our context, Christ tells His followers, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have [sufficient] to finish [it]?

In that outstanding cop movie, The Untouchables, there is a great statement. Kevin Costner plays Elliott Ness, who is attempting to get Al Capone, but with no results. Sean Connery’s character is an old-fashioned Irish beat cop, Jim Malone. Ness asks Malone how he can get Capone. The old Irish cop answers his question with a question, “What are you prepared to do?”

This is the question each child of God must ask themselves from time to time when confronted with going deeper with Christ. You must consider what it will cost you, and if you’re willing to pay that price. To go all out for Christ one must offer up to Him their very life. Not in theory, but in reality! This is not a game.

Since I am an avid movie buff, allow me one last illustration. In the film, The Wind and the Lion, Sean Connery plays the part of a rugged desert chieftain with great principles. In one scene, he asks his compatriot “Is there not one thing in your life that is worth losing everything for?”

In closing this article let me ask you, my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, “Is there not one thing in your life that is worth losing everything for?”

Richard. D. Sandlin

 

 

Life Goes On

"...the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before." Life goes on. God never intended us to live in the miracle but in the minute. We are to be doing in the present moment not doting in past miracles.

Special and spectacular events are just that— events. They are but short parentheses in our lives. We should remember them but not attempt to relive them. They are part of the past, but the Christian life is to be lived in the now. No matter how great mountaintop experiences are, there is a normal life to be lived at its foot.

Normal Christianity is living a normal life in the Spirit.

The Limitations of God

“With God all things are possible”

Upon reading my title for this article I can already hear someone cry out, “Blasphemy!” They would argue the very scripture I use proves their charge. But since we’re told the Holy Ghost teaches by comparison, let us do just that. The writer of Hebrews tells us it is “impossible for God to lie.”

Isn’t it wonderful our God is limited in this area? That there is something in the life of God even He cannot do. Magnificent I say, because it is impossible for God to break His Word! Moses puts it this way, “God [is] not a man, that he should lie...hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”

But David tells us of a second limitation of God. His hands are tied by our lack of faith. Speaking of God’s people, he writes, “They...limited the Holy One of Israel.”  It seems unbelief binds God that He cannot work on His peoples’ behalf, as He would. We are told when Jesus came to His hometown, “He could there do no mighty work...because of their unbelief.”

Therefore, a limited faith can limit a limitless God! “Lord, increase our faith.”

Richard. D. Sandlin

Birds of a Feather Flock Together

The axiom I entitled this article has been in use since at least the mid-16th century. Its meaning is clear; those of similar taste congregate in groups. In our universe, we have what is called, “The law of gravitation.” But there is also another similar to it, “The law of moral gravitation.”

In the book of Acts we’re told the early Christians, as soon as they were released from prison, “...went to their own company.” The first opportunity they had to choose—they chose to go to their own kind. The real test of who and what we are is seen when we are free to choose. To whom and to what are we drawn? Rules and laws can’t change human nature.

All of us have a moral attraction. That is, we’re attracted to our own kind. We are comfortable with them. Martyn Lloyd-Jones tells when, as a young medical doctor, he attended a stage-play with a worldly couple. Afterward, as they left the theater, he noticed a Salvation Army band playing hymns on the street corner. At that moment, he said to himself, “These are the people I belong to.”

I seriously question anyone who says they’re going to heaven that is not drawn to a spiritual atmosphere on earth.

Richard D. Sandlin

 

*Childhood Agonies

“How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.” “And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him.” Some of us also have experienced satanic attacks in particular areas of our lives from our youth up. We are made to believe, because of the longevity of its nature, we need not hope for deliverance. But time, distance, and condition are no problem to the timeless, eternal Miracle Worker.

Today’s psychological jargon, under the disguise of being spiritual, tells us we cannot expect change, but, rather, we are to accept these things. But whenever we determine a thing originates with Satan, and that he is the source, we are never to accept it as the norm. Those of us who have experienced child abuse, rejection, and a score of other childhood tortures, can still be freed from the agonizing memories of those dark ordeals, if we will simply come to Jesus and allow Him to deal with the devil. “But,” you say, “I do not have enough faith.” In such cases, just say, “I believe, help thou mine unbelief.” It worked two-thousand years ago and I guarantee it still does. For, you see, it worked for me.

You cannot carry the unpleasant memories of childhood into adulthood and expect to be mature.

Richard D. Sandlin

Rise up O Men and Women of God

If the devil can keep a saint of God cowering in a corner, then he or she will never break out of their prison; a prison of despair, if you please. This jail without bars will keep them bound indefinitely. Fear will so paralyze the prisoner that they will never venture beyond their 6 by 6 cell. It will be a life sentence of confinement.

The scriptures tell us when Peter lay in prison, chained between two guards, God sent His angel to deliver him. When Simon awoke to the fact and arose to follow his emancipator, it says, “and his chains fell off.” Not while Peter was passively lying there was he freed, but after he actively arose in obedient faith.

I read that in India they bind their young elephants to a stake with a straw chain. As the animal grows older and larger, it does not attempt to pull away, believing it cannot. O, beloved child of God, why not give that chain that has held you for so long a good yank by faith, remembering, Jesus came to set captives free.

 Arise, my soul, arise,
shake off your guilty fears;
The bleeding sacrifice,
in my behalf appears.

Richard D. Sandlin

Top Priority

“He is before all things” And why is this? Because He was before all things; all things were created by and for Him. All things consist because of Him. All things in our universe would fall apart without Him. And so will it be in an individual’s life. He is the only one who can keep things together, whether it is the world, a church, our family, or a person’s life. If Christ is not first of all, then He is nothing at all!

The turning point in this world’s history was when it went from B.C. to A.D. Thus it was in the life of the apostle Paul. Before Christ, he simply existed, but after he met the risen Son of God, his testimony was “Christ... is [my] life.” If one used contemporary vernacular in telling Paul to, “Get a life,” his reply, I’m sure, would have been, “I have!” Christ was the very breath he breathed. When Christ became his all, he found his all.

The world’s Christ is good, but the Christ of the Lord is God. A good man is limited in how much he can do for another; the God-Man knows no limitations. And that my friend, is why I say with the great apostle, “For me to live is Christ.”

Richard D Sandlin

The Starting Point

A homespun saying I use to help those (and myself) who’ve made a mess of things in their lives, is “Begin from where you’re at.” Waiting for an opportune time is to wait in vain. The best way to take care of any type of bad situation is by starting where you’re at. Wherever “here” is, that’s where you start.

Those who refuse to start from where they are, spend their lives at the starting gate and never go anywhere in life’s race. Someone has said, “Don’t be paralyzed by the past, stay riveted on the present moment.” Yesterday is history; whether glorious or gory, it is the Sacred Now that is the secret to life.

Contrary to what most of us have been taught, we cannot go back and make a brand-new start. But we can start from now and make a brand-new ending. It is never too late to be what you might have been. You may not be that person as long as you wished, but you can die being that person with whatever time you have left.  

St Francis of Assisi once said, “Start by doing what is necessary. Then do what is possible. Suddenly, you are doing the impossible.”

Richard D. Sandlin  

Taking Away the Dross

“Take away the Dross...”

One dictionary’s definition of the word dross is: Waste or impure matter; the scum that forms on the surface of molten metal as a result of oxidation; worthless, commonplace, or trivial matter.

Amy Carmichael once asked a refiner how he knew when the gold was purified. He answered, “When I can see my face in it.” Oh, child of God, should we then hate the fire that purifies the gold?

Every pain He inflicts is to lessen self’s hold on us and make us more like Him. Peter was unaware when standing at the fire that the Lord would use His own fire as a means to burn away the dross in his life.

The true worth of a saint lies beneath his or her external life. It was when God stripped Job of everything he held dear, his crown, health, wife, children, friends, finances, and reputation, you see the real value of the man.

And suffering Job understood this. Listen to him cry out from the midst of God’s fiery trial. “[When] he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” And so will it be with you, my dear hurting brother and sister.

 Richard D. Sandlin

 

**WAIT! WAIT! WAIT!

Would you like to know one of the chief difficulties in my Christian life? It is waiting on God. It seems I'm always ready when God isn't. I know it is hard for some of us to grasp, but God's delays are not denials. Whenever we wait for God, we're showing Him our complete helplessness. Every Bible saint, greatly blessed of God, knew what it meant to go through a long waiting process.

Noah waited for the promise; David waited for a kingdom; Joseph waited for deliverance; Moses waited for God's call; Zacharias and Elizabeth waited for a child; Elijah waited to be used; Paul waited for revelation; and our blessed Lord waited for God's time, working as a carpenter. You win by waiting!

Let me encourage you by listing a few scriptures. "My soul, wait thou only upon God"..."On thee do I wait all the day"..."Let none that wait on thee be ashamed"..."Wait on the Lord"..."Wait patiently for Him"..."They waited not for His counsel"..."Wait on the Lord, and keep His way"..."I will wait upon the Lord"..."We have waited for Him"..."Blessed are all they that wait for Him"..."They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength"..."They shall not be ashamed that wait upon thee"..."The Lord is good unto  them that wait for Him"..."It is good that a man should quietly wait for the Lord"..."Wait for His Son from heaven"..."Wait on God continually"..."Therefore will the Lord wait-blessed are all they that wait for Him." 

I think you get my drift.

 Richard D. Sandlin 

Ecclesiastes Christians

There are three types of people in this world: those with a saved life, but a lost soul; those with a saved soul, but lost life; and those with both a saved soul and saved life. During the time of this transitory experience in Solomon’s life of which he writes, he would fit into the second category of the above three mentioned.

Life at best can be perplexing at times. Hard to understand, let alone control. When we attempt to comprehend things from the human standpoint, we’re standing in the wrong place. As David said, “When I thought to know this, it [was] too painful for me.” That is, until he looked at it from God’s perspective.

It is not looking at the things under the sun, but unto Him above the sun. The Ecclesiastes Christian says, “Life is not worth living.” The Spiritual Christian, “Life is worth living.” The first finds life without God is gloomy; the second, life with God is glorious! You cannot enjoy life to its fullest without the Giver of Life’s breath upon you.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

 R.D. Sandlin

Honorable Men and Women

The Bible speaks of both honorable men and women. And these were not honest because it was the best policy, but, for them, there was no other policy. There is only one avenue open to this sort of glowing character.  

Ludwig van Beethoven said, “To me, the highest thing after God is my honor.” Honest folks are not without faults, but they are without guile. As another has said, “The worse mistake an honest man or woman can make is an honest mistake.”

In the movie, Rob Roy, a son asks his father, “Father, what is honor?” To which the parent answered, “Son, honor is something a man gives himself, and no one can take it from him.” “An honest man or woman is the noblest work of God,” says one.

“I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an “honest man.” (George Washington)

 R.D. Sandlin

Let's Pray About It-No!

I understand the conventional and acceptable thing to say in any situation is, “Let’s pray about it.” But woe be to the man or woman who suggests, “Let’s think about it first.” Behind all meaningful prayer you will find sanctified thought. Think it through, then pray it through.

When Paul mentions making our requests known to God, it necessitates prior thought. Esther was ready to make her request known to the king when asked, because she had thought her petition through. We give more thought to what we will request of a banker than our King.

My wife and I visited a church some years ago and I was asked by the pastor to lead the congregation in prayer. I hesitated a few moments to gather my thoughts. While I was doing so, he once again asked, thinking I had not heard him.

I wonder sometimes when some of us come to God in prayer, if He doesn’t ask the angels, “What will this babbler say?”

R.D. Sandlin

Monotony in Prayer

Take Christ out of our service to God and you find boredom; leave Him out of your prayers and you’re faced with monotony. Prayer, like the Bible, is to be Christological to the core. One reason our prayers, both privately and publically, are so dry and dull is because there is so little of Jesus in them.

What a wilderness we make of our prayer life when, as one old divine puts it, we have “untheological devotions.” Paul was a great intellect, as well as theologian, but we see Paul at his very best in his prayers. I read recently somewhere that Paul was our master teacher in divinity, but especially in devotion. He fell asleep at night full of praise and prayer to Christ Jesus, and in the morning he began again where he had left off the previous night.

I encourage each of you to take note, when reading Paul’s epistles, how he fills his prayers with the person of Jesus Christ. Nowhere will you see this man’s magnificent mind and great heart revealed more than in his prayers. It was, Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus, Jesus, my Lord, Christ Jesus, Christ, and the Lord Jesus Christ, in every prayer of his. He knew how to get God’s ear; he incessantly bragged on His Son. Nothing will endear God to a man or woman like constantly speaking to Him of His only begotten Son.

God never tires in hearing such prayers. And you can always be assured of an immediate audience when such prayers are offered up!

R.D. Sandlin

The Majority Report

“If God be for us, who [can be] against us?

When God is for you, your minority status moves up to majority. Dr. Bob Jones Sr. used to tell his preacher boys, “When you and God enter a town, you’re with the majority.” Therefore, the popular saying, “Daniel in the lion’s den,” to be Biblically correct, should be, “The lions in Daniel’s den.” God is not now, nor has He ever been, or will He be in the future, in the minority.

God is the supreme eternal majority: He can out wit, out vote, out fight, out think, out maneuver, out last, and out run, any and all, from eternity to eternity. He always has the last say and deciding vote in every situation. If God is against you, it matters not who is for you. Ask Pharaoh.

Jesus was always conscious of the fact that His crowd was in the majority. On one occasion, He mentioned He could call twelve legions of angels if He so desired, and God would presently supply them. If you use a Roman legion as a standard, that would be 72,000 angels. The full strength of a legion was 6,000 men. You might recall in the Old Testament one angel killing 185,000 of His people’s enemy.

Elisha’s Prayer

“And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that [be] with us [are] more than they that [be] with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain [was] full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”

ONE MAN OR WOMAN OF GOD IS THE MAJORITY!

R.D. Sandlin

 

 

Lifetime Repentance

“God...granted repentance unto life.”

When the Methodist preacher, William Taylor, was asked what he would choose for a gift in his old age, he answered, “Repentance unto life.” In his book, The Apostle Paul, Alexander Whyte writes, “If you are well read in Paul’s old-age Epistles you will find far more repentance unto life in his last years, than even in his years of immediate conversion and remorse. You meet with an ever deeper bitterness at sin, and at himself, as time goes on with Paul: and, then, a corresponding amazement at God’s mercy.”

Studying Paul’s Christian life from start to finish you’ll find the following: at the beginning he says, he is “the least of the apostles”; later on, that he is “less than the least of all saints”; then, as an old man, declares, “I am chief [of sinners].” It is well to remember, “Christ in you,” does not negate the sin that is in you. The more Christ fills our lives the more sinful we will see ourselves to be. The Biblical principle is that light manifests darkness. This, seeing one’s sinfulness, is not a bad thing, but rather a good thing. It is here we learn true mercy and grace!

When a saint believes he or she is getting worse in God’s sight, in reality, they are getting better.”