The Bottom Line

Jimmy Tucker

The Bible is full of accounts where God spoke to people and told them to do things that didn’t make sense. For example, the Old Testament tells us that Naaman had leprosy and Elisha, God’s prophet, told the king of Israel to send Naaman to him. So, in 2 Kings 5:9-14 we read the details of Naaman‘s predicament. In order to receive his healing, Naaman had to obey what he was instructed to do. And that’s where the temptation to doubt and disobey came into the picture. Naaman was expecting Elisha to come out and meet him, wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord and heal him. But no, Elisha sent a messenger out to him and the message was: “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of your leprosy.”

Naaman didn’t want to wash in the muddy Jordan River. However, he did want to be healed. His officers convinced him to do as the man of God had instructed him. So Naaman obeyed and went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times and his skin became healthy again. I don’t know if Naaman was having doubts by the sixth dip, but he obeyed explicitly — even if it didn’t make a lick of sense to him.

Another time in 2 Kings 6:1-7, we find a bunch of prophets cutting down trees and an ax head came off the handle and fell into the river. This was very disturbing to the wood cutter, because the ax was borrowed. Elisha asked the man where it fell into the water, and he showed him the place. Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water at that spot. Then the ax head floated to the surface so the man could grab it. That didn’t make sense as far as I understand ax heads and water. But it worked because that’s what the Spirit of God told Elisha to do.

The wedding feast at Cana wasn’t a disaster because the servants obediently filled some jars with water. That didn’t make a lick of sense, but it worked because that’s what Jesus said to do. The blind man washed the mud from his eyes in the pool of Siloam and could then see. That didn’t make any sense, but he was healed because he used his faith and obeyed.

When we come to the end of our time on earth, all the challenges we faced will be forgotten. But before we enter eternity, we’ll want to be sure that we didn’t get distracted from obeying God and fulfilling our assignment.

The Bottom Line: When you need a miracle, do what God tells you to do — even if it doesn’t make sense.

Pastor Jimmy Tucker

620-223-1483

Diamond Community Church

10:45 a.m. Worship

Snakes in the Dark

“And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” John 1:5

The great philosopher and thinker, Indiana Jones, once said, “I hate snakes.” I couldn’t agree more. I absolutely hate snakes. I really do. I used to say, “The only good snake is a dead snake.” However, that is not even true. Did you see in the news a while back where a man in Texas nearly died when he was bitten by the severed head of a dead rattle-snake. I hate snakes – big ones; little ones; live ones; dead ones; and rubber ones. I hate them all.

Not long after I moved to Fort Scott, I joined the American Legion. We hold our meetings at Memorial Hall which is two blocks from my house. When we have a meeting, I usually walk there. One night, I was getting ready to leave the monthly meeting when one of the guys in the Legion said, “Hey preacher, I read in your newspaper column that you are scared of snakes. You better be careful out there. The copperheads are crawling tonight.” I just laughed and thought, “What a crazy old man.”

I walked outside, and it was dark, but the streetlights were bright enough to enable me to see the sidewalks. So, I started walking. I was almost home, when I saw the biggest copperhead I have ever seen. He was stretched out across the sidewalk. He looked like a python. He must have been ten-foot long. I swear he looked at me and hissed. My heart was pounding in my chest.

I was stuck. The snake was between me and my house. I had to go around him. Then I thought, “There’s probably hundreds of them in the grass, waiting to get you.” But I had no choice. I ran as fast as I could through the grass around the giant copperhead. I ran into the house and screamed, “There’s a giant snake out there that almost killed me.” My wife, Amanda, rolled her eyes at me and said, “Poor baby.”

The next morning, I looked outside, and the giant snake hadn’t moved. It was still there!

I was shocked and amazed. I couldn’t believe the copperhead was still there. I looked closer. Then I realized it was a tree branch. A limb had fallen on the sidewalk. I nearly had a heart attack running from a tree branch.

The next time we had an American Legion meeting, I just drove the two blocks.

The point is: Things are always worse in the dark. When it is dark, we don’t see things like we normally see them. However, there are some things in the dark that are not a tree branch. Things like doubt, discouragement, and demons.

Often, when darkness comes in our lives, we tend to think, “God, I can’t see You. God, I can’t feel you.” When shadows obscure our walk, we believe we are walking alone. We focus on the gloom and forget God. We may even ask, “Lord, Are You still there?”

Even though you can’t see Him, Jesus has never taken His eyes off you. Even though you are walking in the darkness, He is still with you.

The Bible tells us that Jesus is the Light of the world. He shines in the darkness, and the darkness can’t overtake Him. If you are traveling down a dark path, you don’t have to be afraid of the dark because the Light is with you. In Jesus, we have the only Light that we need to find our way through the darkness of this world.

Are you walking in the Light?

James Collins will be signing copies of his latest book “Don’t Throw The Believer Out With The Baptistry Water: The Best Of The Point Is… Volume 1” today (July 20^th) from 10 am until 2 pm at the Fort Scott Public Library’s LibraryCon. For more information about the LibraryCon, please call (620) 223-2882.