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Don’t You Feel Like Giving God Praise?

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Two years ago this coming January my dad went to be with Jesus.  I miss him.  His love and insight to God’s Word was life-changing for me, and for many others.

When I was about eight years old my dad was preaching on a Sunday morning.  All of the sudden he stopped and said,


“The Holy Spirit is here.  I feel God’s presence.”

As people began praising the Lord response, my eyes and head were turning every which way.  I was looking up and down, forward and back in the Sanctuary.  So convinced by what my dad said, and how he said it, that I was certain one would be able to see God somewhere in the room.

It wasn’t uncommon for dad to stop in the middle of his sermon and say something like,


“Don’t you feel like giving God praise right now?”

To which people would begin to speak out their thanks and love for the Lord.  I can recall the first time I did that.  I told Jesus I loved Him and felt Him warmly embrace me with His love.  It was life changing.

Dad taught us over the years many things about God’s Word and our faith in Him, but he also taught us about the heart of God.  It’s in the spontaneous moments of stopping everything that dad showed us the simplicity of experiencing God’s presence. 

This is something we need to do more of. 


What can I offer the Lord for all he has done for me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and praise the Lord’s name for saving me.
(Psalm 116:12–13, NLT)

Think of everything God has done for you.  Why not stop for a moment and tell Him what He’s done for you, what He means to you, and how thankful you are.  You’re going to sense His love and presence, and if there is anyone around, they will too!

 

 

Thanks dad…

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In January of 2013 my dad passed away, but not his memory, nor the things he taught me.  Two years ago on Father’s Day he spoke one of his last messages.  It was unforgettable.

Because he had been sick for awhile, it was awesome that my dad was able bodied enough to come and minister to us.  The insight he had to God’s Word has been life-changing for me, and for many others.

When I was about eight years old my dad was preaching on a Sunday morning.  All of the sudden he stopped and said,

“The Holy Spirit is here.  I feel God’s presence.”

As people began praising the Lord in response, my eyes and head were turning every which way.  I was looking up and down, forward and back in the Sanctuary.  So convinced by what my dad said, and how he said it, that I was certain one would be able to see God somewhere in the room.

It wasn’t uncommon for dad to stop in the middle of his sermon and say something like,

“Don’t you feel like giving God praise right now?”

Then people would begin to speak out their thanks and love for the Lord.  I can recall the first time I did that.  I told Jesus I loved Him and felt Him warmly embrace me with His love.  It was life changing.

Dad has taught us over the years many things about God’s Word and our faith, but he has also taught us about the heart of God.  It’s in the spontaneous moments of stopping everything that dad showed us the simplicity of experiencing God’s presence.  It’s something we need to do more of.

Thanks dad…see you soon

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Waiters Loved My Dad

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My dad was something else. To know him was to love him.  But also, to know him was to learn something.  He was one of the best teachers you could ever meet.  He knew more about the Bible and its application then anyone I’ve ever known. 

The great thing about my dad’s teaching abilities was how he put things in practical terms.  He used all sorts of unforgettable sayings that would bring every lesson home. For instance, get him talking about diets and health food, and it wouldn’t be long before you hear him say, “It ain’t whatcha’ eat, but wud eats you.”  That’s a classic.

He used another saying often,

“There’s a direct nerve between your heart and your pocketbook.”

I didn’t fully understand the depth of that quip until the first time I did some teaching on tithing.  To say the response was cool is an understatement.  However, I’ve come to firmly believe that the principle of tithing is one of the most important keys to blessing in our lives.

Dad’s teaching, however, was not limited to folksy little one-liners.  Everything my dad taught he lived.  Being generous was something he said was important to being a blessed person, and one could see his generosity within a few moment of being with him.

When you’d go out to eat with dad he’d fight you for the check.  And then when it came to the tip, forget all those little calculators, he just rounds things up to the nearest ten, or more.   You may think that’s extravagant, but dad would tell you, “Put yourself in that waiter’s position. Trying to make a living.  I want them to know that there’s a God who not only loves them, but wants to bless them.”

Jesus put it this way,

“For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.” (Mt 7:2, NLT)

Last Words and Burial

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Today we are burying my dad. Burial for loved ones of the person who has died can be an incredibly difficult time. It’s so final, so sad, grim even. But today won’t be as hard for me as it could be. It has to do with one of my dad’s last coherent sentences before he passed away,


“Righteousness…… .is a gift . . …from God”

Dad managed to get those words out in a tone of voice that caught my attention. He mustered extra strength to say it. As I reflect on this moment, those words sum up so much of what dad lived for, and they make today much easier.

Whether it was in the halls or classrooms of L.I.F.E. Bible College during the 60’s, or from the pulpits of places like Hillsboro, Oregon’s Evergreen Christian Center in the 70’s, and Escondido Christian Center in the 80’s and 90’s, or in the classes of Escondido Bible College, or out on the golf course, or at the dinner table, or at Spires Restaurant, or in the car, or on the phone, or just hanging out with me on Wednesdays getting ready to eat our notorious bacon, tomato, lettuce, and peanut butter sandwiches, dad would talk about righteousness.

Not some stuffy, works-based righteousness, but righteousness that is imputed to us by God through Jesus Christ. Nor some loosey-goosey, anything-goes grace, but grace that imparts a new nature in us through the Holy Spirit. This is what dad lived for, died speaking about, and will today be buried with the hope it gives.


“Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4)

Although my dad’s health has been failing for the last few years, he’s actually been dying for the last 65 years. He’d been dying to the flesh, the old man, to sin, and the old nature.


“We have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by…” (Romans 7:6)

This is not done through some kind asceticism or self-denial, but by faith. Faith is the only thing that vindicates our spiritual and moral failures. Paul said that we are “justified by faith apart from the law” (Romans 3:28). We are told that without faith we cannot please God (Hebrews 11:6). Yet the most profound and wonderful thing is found in a verse that my dad referenced all the time,


“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8)

Dad’s determination to teach these things to me was not to prepare me to be emotionally strong for the day of his burial, though it certainly helps, but to prepare me for everyday. To help me understand that sin cannot be controlled in my life until I consider myself dead to it and alive in Christ. To realize, and to teach, that the most powerful truth in the world is the one he died saying, “righteous is a gift from God.” Thanks dad. See you soon.