WHITEWASHED TOMBS

by Rev. Jack Hulsey

Norm Abrams, Public Broadcasting’s expert carpenter (often seen on New Yankee Workshop and This Old House), used to say as he was in the process of restoring an ancient, decaying hulk: “they don’t build ‘em like they used to- thank goodness.”

You could tell what Norm meant as he tore into these ancient houses: builders in the old days didn't really know how to engineer a structure for safety and longevity, nor did they have the materials and tools we have to erect four walls that can stand the test of time.  (Actually no one can, except God.)
When the White House was built, between 1792 and 1800, the builders undoubtedly hoped it would last for eternity. But by the time Harry S. Truman became president, in 1945, it was a dump. It was so structurally unsound that the floors didn't just creek, they swayed. The president’s bathtub was sinking into the floor. A leg of Margaret Truman's piano actually broke through the floor of what is now the private dining room. Ceiling plaster was sagging as much as 18 inches in some places. Century–and–a–half–year–old wooden structural beams had been weakened by cutting and drilling for plumbing and wiring.  The addition of a steel roof plus an entire third floor in 1927 added so much weight that upon close inspection, engineers declared that the entire building was on the verge of collapse.

It was so awful that they recommended it be demolished and a duplicate White House built in its place.  Instead, Truman persuaded Congress to appropriate funds to restore the mansion.  In 1949 the Truman’s moved into Blair House while construction crews completely gutted the White House leaving only its original sandstone shell standing.

Jesus could just as easily have been talking about the White House when He referred to the Pharisees as "… whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside, are dead men's bones and everything unclean." (Matthew 23:27) The trusted symbol of authority, be it the Pharisees of old or the White House of Truman’s day, both looked solid, immovable, and everlasting on the outside.  On the inside, it had almost nothing holding it up. Mrs. Truman might have brought the whole building down by simply hammering a nail to hang a picture on the wall. The same goes for the moral structures of the Pharisees, who knew God's law inside out but still couldn't tell right from wrong.

Houses can be rebuilt, thankfully, and our inner structures can likewise be repaired and replaced. Those who live in Christian-on-the-outside shells, whose internal load-bearing beams are made of greed, pride, envy, anger, lust and lies are in danger of sudden collapse into a pile of dust and rubble.  “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain." (Psalm 127:1) None of us can fix or save ourselves. Only the Master Carpenter can restore us, fixing the internal and changing us from the inside out.

Stop Crawling on the Ice

By Rev. Jack Hulsey

A man was traveling from one city to another on a freezing winter night knowing that he would have to traverse a rather wide river in the dark, to reach his destination. When he reached the rivers edge, he was concerned because he didn’t know if the ice was thick enough to support his weight. He had come too far to turn back and knew if he tried to stay the night on the river’s edge he would not survive because of the freezing temperatures.  The only choice that he had was to proceed forward. Fearful that he might fall through the ice he cautiously began to crawl across the frozen river on his belly.  It was cold and seemed that his journey across the ice was taking forever. Then all the sudden there was a noise behind him that progressively got louder.  As it came closer he heard a voice, “What are you doing?”  The traveler looked up and saw a large wagon loaded with a family’s possessions, drawn by 2 large horses.  The traveler responded, “I wasn’t sure the ice could support my weight, so I was crawling because I feared falling through. How did you know that the ice would hold you?” The wagon driver replied, “Because in the last town I asked, and the mine workers said they pull their wagons full of iron ore to the mill every day across this river.”  The traveler was then offered a ride on the wagon and he was carried the rest of the way with all his fear allayed.   

I think we often, like the traveler, find ourselves alone out in the wilderness. (Note: That means we had to abandon what the Lord has promised.)  We know that difficulties lie ahead and we must do something. That is when we begin to scheme and devise our own plan without seeking counsel or all of the information. Our plan is set!  So, just like the traveler, we begin to crawl on our bellies, gripped with fear and doubt hoping that our plan works, forgetting that the foundation beneath us is solid because of what Jesus did at Calvary.  Why do we doubt?  Why do we follow our own plans built from fear and pride?
The wagon driver sought out the information and listened to those who traveled across the river daily.  He placed his confidence in the experiences of other who knew the river. 

Many of the passages in the Bible are the voices of experience giving warning, encouragement, and instruction.  When we heed these words, fear will no longer drive our plans and our foundation will never come into question. 
So the next time fear or doubt come and try to compel you to belly crawl on the ice, take heart and read verses like Proverbs 3:5-7 (NASB)  Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD… THEN GET UP AND GET ON HIS WAGON.

Keeping Our Hearts On the Right Path

By Pastor Jack Hulsey

“Listen, my son,” is a familiar phase found in several of the Proverbs. It has always fascinated me and compelled me to study at a deeper level because of the familial connotation. In Proverbs 23:19 you will find this phrase attached to some very good advice.  “Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path”.

Satan attacks us every day, and he does it so quickly and without warning. 1 Peter 5:8-9 (NASB)
“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.”

He attacks our hearts and our souls – the places where hopes are born, decisions are made, and truth is stored. His attacks strike deep in the places where wisdom is formed. It's little wonder that the writer in Proverbs cautions us to keep our heart on the right path. How do we do this? The best way is to exercise the utmost caution about the things we keep in our hearts, as well as what we keep from our heart.

As Christians we know what we should try to keep out of our hearts: doubt, fear, anger, hate, lust, depression, guilt, and worry. this is just a short list.  Satan throws adversity at us in every imaginable form.  He wants us to believe that every person on earth has a unique problem to cope with. King Solomon said, “There is nothing new under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9-10.  Our faith is tested continually and as hard as it sometimes is, we must choose to keep negative feelings from dominating our lives. 

We must think about the things we need to keep securely locked in our hearts. Things like a love for God, a love for people, a humble spirit, a willing heart, a determined devotion and a loyalty to truth. We can't hold these feelings and attitudes in our hearts without help. Each day we must depend upon the spirit of God and choose wisely our path.

Imagine what our world would be like if all of us could keep our hearts on this path.  You can be sure that Satan imagines what it could be like – and because he does, he is waiting for us at every turn. So, take the wise approach offered by God's word:  listen, be wise, and keep your heart on the right path.

SEEING PAST THE FOG

by Rev. Jack Hulsey

Keep your eye on the ball, your shoulder to the wheel, your nose to the grindstone, your feet on the ground, your hand on the throttle, your back to the wind.  Do all this, and you’ll have to call 911 to get the first-responders to come out and untie you from the knot you’re in.  Or I should say the knot you’d be in if you tried to follow all the bits and pieces of free advice people dole out. 

Back in the 1940’s, there was a famous distance swimmer named Florence Chadwick who said something very important about reaching goals.  In 1950, she later became the first woman in the world to swim the English Channel in both directions. Earlier in her life she set several other lesser known records.

One of those records was a speed record for swimming from the California mainland to the island of Catalina.  Two months before Florence set the record she had a failed attempt that ended only a half mile short of her goal.

On the day of the failure, it was cold and miserable, and the fog was thick enough to cut with a knife.  The conditions took their toll on Florence as she tried to make the goal, but the main reason she quit (she later said) was that the fog kept her from seeing land.  Had she been able to see, she probably would have made it.  In fact, when she did make it two months later, she attributed her accomplishment to the fact that she could clearly see land.

We see something similar in scripture.  Matthew 14:22-33, is the account of Jesus walking on the water and what happened when Peter asked to walk out to him.

Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”  And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.  But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”  Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

It’s difficult, if not impossible, to make it to a goal if you don’t keep your eyes on it.  Life sometimes fogs us in with all kinds of barriers — financial difficulties, personal relationships, bad habits, and worst of all, losing sight of the one whose hand is always out to help us when we are most in need, our Lord Jesus Christ.

When Children Go Wrong

by Rev. Jack Hulsey

Woodlake Baptist Church Praise & Worship, June 18, 2017

It has been said losing a child is the worst thing that can happen to a parent and while I have never experienced losing a child, I have been there for parents who have. Over many years of experience I have found there is something that might rival the loss of a child for parents.  These parents undergo torturous introspection. With such questions as: "Where did we go wrong? What did we do? What didn't we do? We loved our child. But things didn't turn out the way we planned, our child has gone down the wrong path and we don’t know what to do.”

I would like to share with you the following article by Rev. Mark H. Creech, executive director of the Raleigh- based Christian Action League of North Carolina. He says, “Granted, most children who end up on the wrong path in life got there because their parents failed them. It may have been they were too busy and lived unbalanced lives. Maybe they were absorbed with their work or careers and neglected to give their child the proper attention. Sometimes children turn out bad because their parents failed to discipline them.”  He continues, “Children who never experience firm correction are generally headed for trouble. Other children devoid of necessary parental emotional connections act out in various forms of rebellious and anti-social acts .But there are circumstances when mothers and fathers did the right things and they lost their children anyway. The Scriptures record a number of cases where children ended up on the wrong side of the tracks and it wasn't the parent's fault. Think of Joseph, he was a very godly man, raised by a less than perfect father, Jacob. Yet his brothers were nothing less than scoundrels. Joseph turned out good and his brothers were less than virtuous, but the Scripture doesn't hold Jacob responsible for the differences between them. Samuel, the great prophet of Israel, a man of impeccable character, raised children who turned out bad, and he was never incriminated for their actions.

Jesus told the story of the Prodigal Son who took his inheritance from his father and left home for "riotous living." His father, however, who gave his child at the proper age the freedom to choose, was never charged with raising his son unsuitably. In fact, the story conveys just the opposite truth – the way the father was exemplary in the treatment of his son.  Sadly, children can turn out rotten despite their parents. This doesn't mean parents shouldn't be diligent in child rearing. They should make every effort to make the home their priority. Children should be disciplined, loved, and given proper attention. Nevertheless, this is the hard fact of the matter: there are no guarantees a child will become a good and responsible person.  Some may be quick to disagree, pointing to Proverbs 22:6, which reads: "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Nevertheless, this proverb was never meant to be taken as an absolute, but only to convey a probability of things likely to occur.

In other words, every child reaches an age to where they either choose or reject the heritage of their parents. In the final analysis, it's up to them. Nonetheless, at least for those parents who were scrupulous about providing their children with godly training, there is the assurance that what was taught will always be with them, and it will continuously be in them calling them home.

He concludes, “There is no pain quite so excruciating as that of a parent watching a child falter in life. Nonetheless, the cause is not always the parent's fault. And, some parents needn't take responsibility for things they can't control. Their children have minds of their own and are ultimately responsible to God for their actions. Therefore, they should turn their children over to God in earnest prayer. Furthermore, they should take comfort in knowing that God himself identifies with their heartache.”

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