“Where are you going?” That is a question that we ask very, very often. Children ask their parents where they are going sometimes every time they leave the room. Parents ask their sons and daughters where they are going when they are leaving the yard and at times will even ask what time are they returning. If an employee leaves their work station the boss wants to know where they are going, and sometimes they ask why. It is a very common question in the world we exist in and we have all asked it and have heard it.
I had the privilege to attend a wonderful revival meeting this week and heard a powerful message. The speaker did a tremendous job and certainly the Lord was with him as the preacher brought glory to Christ and edified the people of God. After the service the preacher friend I was sitting with walked me to the parking lot and as I was about to enter my pickup, from across the parking lot he yelled to me and asked “Where are you going”. Jokingly, I said to him that I didn’t know where he was going but I knew where I was going. I told him I have my name written in God’s book of life and that Jesus was preparing a place for me. I was going to Heaven and that was home for me. We both chuckled and in our spirits rejoiced that that is God’s promise to us because Jesus has saved our souls.
Today people are constantly going everywhere and it seems they are never getting there. I can’t help but wonder that when they leave this life if they really know where they are going. Jesus said that there were two paths to travel. One is a narrow way with a straight gate and this way leads to life everlasting in the presence of Christ in glory. The other is called a broad way with a wide gate and many enter into the way but it is a way that leads to condemnation and separation from God and Heaven (Mathew 7:13, 14). I’m wondering this morning as I type these thoughts…Where are you going? I hope you have made preparations to be with Jesus in Heaven someday.
Peter, upon hearing Jesus sat to the disciples that he would be leaving them to return to the Father, asks him, ‘Lord, whither goest thou?’ Jesus went on to tell him and the other disciples those encouraging words found in John 14:1-6. “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye now, and the way ye know…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” Thomas said in verse 5 that they did not know where He was going to which Jesus said three times “believe” in the next few verses. And there is the answer to the question “Where are you going?” God’s Word has promised that if you want to know you are going to Heaven then believe in Jesus and what He did on the cross of Calvary and you will know where you are going. So…my question is, do you know where you are going? I know where I am and hope to see you there!

Until then…
Brother Glenn

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE

I buried my aunt this past Sunday. She was 97 years old and was loved greatly by us all. She was known to me as Aunt Stell. Her real name was Sybil Estell Whaley. Born in 1925, she saw a lot of changes in this world. A lot of those changes are seen by many to be “the way it has always been.” She probably didn’t even know what an I-pad was nor had she ever owned a cell phone. To my knowledge she never drove a car nor had any use for a driver’s license. A lot of things changed in her lifetime and there are things that are still changing even though she is gone on to Heaven. However, there are some things that will never change. People are still being born and people are still dying. People are still going to Heaven and people are still going to Hell. I suppose that is one thing that will never change as long as this is still a fallen world. As a matter of fact, I can’t think of one thing that is not changing in this world.
There are somethings that will never change. One of the great truths from the Word of God is that God is holy and righteous and that for one to come and abide in Heaven, that person must be holy also. But God has told us that our righteousness is filthy in His sight. We cannot measure up. We fall short of the glory of God and thus need Jesus to impute His righteousness into us. That is a need man has and will never change. However, God has said that to as many as believe in Jesus as Savoir, they will be saved for all eternity and will enter into His Heaven. God seeks faith and that will never change. God’s love will never change “But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them who fear Him, and His righteousness unto children’s children.” Psa. 103:17. His mercy is His love. It also recorded in Isa. 54:10 that…”For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hat mercy on thee.” Another thing that will never change is the Word of God, no matter how much and how hard man tries to change God’s mind and Word. Jesus said in Mathew 24:35, “Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my Words shall never pass away.” What is so interesting about those words of Jesus is that He is speaking as the authority on time. You see, Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.” Isaiah 55:11 says, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” God keeps His promises therefore we see that His promises never fail. They never change. Comforting is it to know that God’s promise of a home in Heaven is real to those who have accepted Jesus as Savior, but sad is it also to know that the same One who promised Heaven is also the same One who promised Hell to those who refuse to believe in Him. Please, if you haven’t put your faith in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for you, do it today. Accept Him now. Aunt Stell knew Jesus as her Savior and God has promised me that someday I will see her again. Thank you, Jesus, for your unfailing promises.

Until then…

Bro. Glenn

SUCH A BEAUTIFUL BOUQUET

There is something wonderful about flowers. God’ love and heart and smile are seen in each part of creation but there seems to me to be no greater display of the enhanced and magnified picture of these than the flower. It doesn’t matter what kind or what color…God is somehow on display in each petal, stem, from the largest flower on earth – the Rafflesia Arnoldii, which weighs up to 15 pounds and grows to 3 feet wide, to the Wolffia which is the smallest flower on earth and is the size of a grain of rice.
I mention this because I have been in some deep thoughts about something I did yesterday. I visited the cemetery where my parents are buried along with my grandfather, grandmother, brother, his five year old son, my niece, my cousins, aunts and uncles, and kin folk that I never met. I looked across the cemetery and saw many graves of loved ones from many, many families. Dates were different. Names were different as well. Ages were varied from the time of ones birth to one’s death. Some were days. Some were months. Some were many years. Each represented a life that someone loved and that someone missed greatly. I thought, this grave represents someone who brought joy and laughter into someone else’s life and in some way brought color into their world. I thought how I missed these that defined the world I grew up in and that were the flowers from God placed in my world to make me recognize God’s blessings to me. To that thought I say, “Thank you, Lord, for loving me with such love that you would put these flowers in my life.”
My thoughts brought me to another place. How God must love flowers, too. You see, God loved us so much that He gave us His only Son in order to provide is a way to be with Him forever in Heaven. We are promised from God in His Word that we will all enter into life eternal and we can be with Him at home and to be with those that we love that put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I know where my grandparents, parents, brothers, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles are who have already have been called home…they are adorning God’s throne. You see, God loves flowers too. Some of Gods greatest gifts are found written in His Word…grace, love, joy, mercy, redemption, salvation, hope, etc., and there is nothing that can diminish these at all. But it is just like God to make home just a little sweeter by having flowers waiting on us. Not just one or two but heavenly bouquets. Everywhere is seen bouquets full of splendor and beauty…and the greatest beauty of all will be the one that loves me the most – Jesus Himself.
So from now on when I see a cemetery, I will be reminded of home where there is only beauty and that every new grave will be a reminder for me that God is still preparing a place for me. God has told us that that home that He is preparing is a place in which there will be no more tears, no more death, no more sorrow, no more sickness, only joy, for God Himself will wipe away all of our tears and we will know no more grief or sorrow. What a beautiful home.

Until then….

Written in memory of my aunt – Mrs. Joan York buried September 27, 2018.

When I was just a boy I was introduced to a song that I am sure many children have learned while growing up but the message of the song is not lost in adult hood.  That song is the song Be Careful Little Hands What You Do.  Of course the song has much to say about our ears and what they hear; our feet in where they go; our eyes in what they see.  But it seems there is a very important reason for us to be careful about our hands and what they do.  What our hands are doing says a lot about us.  When we are clapping our hands we are showing our appreciation for an event, such as a ball game, or for an entertainer in whom we have enjoyed listening too.  When our fists are tightened into a ball then were are assumed to be angry and retaliatory an action disliked by us.  However, God has given some things in His Word to consider when it comes to our hands.  Like, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might…”, (Eccl. 9:10).  It would appear that God is very interested in us putting forth an effort in the things our hands find to do especially the things we do for His glory.  He doesn’t want a half-effort job.  It is also important to do the things we do for His glory prepared to do them.  Not enough is it to do it with all our might by also to do them “...with clean hands.” (1 Thess. 4:11), and that we are to keep our hands from evil as stated in Isa. 56:2.  He has also instructed us to have “...clean hands and a pure heart…” if we are to approach Him in holiness (Psa. 24:3, 4).   As God, in the days of Nehemiah, strengthened their hands to work in rebuilding the temple He will strengthen our hands for the work He has for us to do.  So, as the song says, Be Careful Little Hands What You Do.

Aren’t you glad that Jesus promised us that His hands are quite capable of doing their work.  He guarantees us that His hands are great enough that no man is able to pluck us out of His hands.  No, no one.  And to top it off, He says no one is able to pluck us out of the Father’s hands.  We are secure in God’s hands.  I for one am happy for this promise.  Today, lift up holy hands to Jesus and serve him with ready hands as you are careful in what your hands are doing.

Until then,

Bro. Glenn

I can’t believe another Christmas is upon us.  How time flies! Christmas is such a very special time of the year.  I love it.  I love it because of the affect it has on people.  You see kindness, warmth, joy, and so much more.  But there are those who relate more with Ebenezer Scrooge that with those who are enjoying the Christmas season.  Why?  I think I know the answer.  They can’t answer the best Christmas trivia today.  It is found in one of my favorite Christmas carols…Do You Hear What I Hear?  The song begins with “Said the wind to the little lamb…” and ends with “The child will bring us goodness and light.”  But in the middle of the song is the trivia questions.

“Do you see what I see” was the first question asked.  The answer is the STAR.  The wonder of wonders.  Isaiah said, “For unto you us a child is born, unto us a son is given…” (Isa. 9:6).  The star was a proclamation that God so loved the world that he gave us His Son to bare the sins of man.  Luke tells us “For unto you is born this day, in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).

The second question asked in the song was from the lamb to little shepherd boy.  “Do you hear what I hear?”  What did hear?  The same thing that everyone who has received the message of the star – a SONG sung in the night and there is no night darker than the night of sin that engulfs a world without Jesus.  The angels sung the song when Jesus was born for it is recorded in the Christmas story found in Luke chapter 2:13 “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men”.  Every Christmas carol brings to mind the wonderful song of truth of a Savior born to men.

The third and last question in the Christmas trivia is from the little shepherd to the king.  He asked, “Do you know what I know?”  This question was offered to the king by a lowly shepherd boy.  That little boy asked his king a this question to ascertain if he had heard the message of the Savior being born.  This reminds me that no matter your position in life, whether a shepherd boy or king, the gospel is a treasure entrusted to those who have believed to share and a hope to those who haven’t received Jesus from boy to king.

What did the king do?  He told in his kingdom to listen to what he had to say…”this child brings us goodness and light”.  Maybe the remedy for a Scrooge Christmas is right there in this beautiful carol.  See the love of God in sending His Son as the Savior of the world, and then hear the message of gospel and letting God put a song in their soul and thirdly, know this Redeemer of man on a personal level through the salvation experience.  It is my belief that if this were to happen, we would see and hear more people saying “Merry Christmas” because it would be their message of Christmas to all that Jesus is the reason for the season.

MERRY CHRISTMAS….and thank you little shepherd boy.

Bro. Glenn

As you look across our great country today you will be amazed at all there is to see.  There will be mountains, lakes, beaches, country scenes including streams and meadows.  These are the scenes of beauty and wonder.  Not to mention the wildlife.  Wow!  After returning from a two week trip to Alaska I am still in awe at the incredible sights of God’s creation and touch.  How beautiful are thy works of thy hands, O Lord.

But on the other hand, if you look again, you will see our country laced with roads from one side to the other as though it was strapped down with the cords of asphalt with stripes and winding to who knows where.  They may be streets, blacktop, dirt roads, interstate highways or maybe even an documented path.  What ever the road, our lives have been shaped to depend on them for our very existence.  They have become a very important part of our everyday life.  Try getting to work without a road.  A trip to the doctor would be impossible.  We could not visit family and friends without the roads that connect our lives.  Roads have become a welcome friend to us.  We even incorporate road travel as we journey to worship  services on Sundays and Wednesdays.

God, in his Word, uses roads to convey to us so much of who He really is and wants

Take for instance the Saul of Tarsus in the book of Acts.  He was on a mission to stamp out the very existence of Christianity.  On the road to Damascus, he met the blinding light of the very One he was trying to destroy.  It was on this road that he came to the realization of who Jesus truly was.  It was on this road that he saw Jesus as Lord.  This road is the road we were on when we were saved and saw Jesus as our redeemer.

And what about the road to Emmaus?  There was a man named Cleopas and another gentleman who walking on this road and were discussing the events of the things they had witnessed concerning Jesus.  He came promising deliverance yet he was crucified and had now died.  How disappointing to them this was.  They were in a very low time of there life.  In the depths of their despair and when it seemed no solace could be found, another came along side them and comforted them by telling them the plan that God had for his Son before the world was ever created.  Afterward, they were amazed and exited at who had been with them in the very low time of their life – Jesus!  This is the road we are on when in our trials and disappointments that Jesus comes along side of us and holds us in our low times.  He is our greatest reliever.

Then, another road is the road called Via Dolorosa.  This is the street believed to be the path in the old part of Jerusalem that Jesus walked on the way to his crucifixion.  We can never know the load that was carried on that day upon the back of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He had the heavy load of mankind’s sin, and that included my sin, bearing down on him and he, willingly and wantonly,  carried this load alone.  All the way to the cross.  The Lamb of God facing death for our peace.  Never has there been a road like this road.  It was His road.

There are two other roads the Bible speaks of that we need to make mention.  One is the wide road and the other is the narrow road.  God says the wide road is the road to perdition.  Many are on that road because it’s gate is wide and it leads to destruction and is the way of the flesh and the world.   The narrow road is the road to Christ.   There is a narrow gate and not many enter into that gate because it is the way of holiness that leads to our sins being cleansed and our path to godliness.  Its end is a place called Heaven…Home!

What road are you on today?  Is it the Damascus Road?  The Emmaus Road?  What about the wide road and you see Jesus walking the Via Dolorosa for you?  Will you enter the narrow road today?  I pray so.

Until then…

Bro. Glenn

Two teams are battling on the football field.  Both have fought hard for the entire game and the clock is running out.  Both want to win and have given sweat, blood and every ounce of energy they have to win.  The clock is ticking: 5, 4, 3, 2, and then 1.  The buzzer sounds and every head in the bleachers gaze at the score board for the final score.  For one team it is a declaration of a victory. To the other team it is a loss.  To one team it is a celebration.  To the other team it is a declaration of defeat.

In the past few months I have been thinking and pondering about how that, in so many ways, life is very similar to the football game.  We all want to finish the game a winner.  But in life, just as on the field, there are many fumbles, missed assignments, dropped balls, mixed signals, injuries and maybe even some who have just worn out in the battle.

In life, as in football, there are those who win and those who lose.  But there is a great difference in that in the game of football, the loss of a game is eventually forgotten or at least the sting of defeat is gone.  I have many fond memories of football practice, games, and pep rallies, the smell of grass on the field just before the game, having my ankles taped and the great sense of comradery as we as a team marched into battle to cheer of great fans, but there are very few games I can remember which were in the win column and which were in the loss column and even fewer scores are remembered.  However, in life it seems I can recall just about every time I have “dropped the ball”, or, “missed my assignment”.  They are, seemingly, ever with me.

We have an enemy, God calls him our adversary, and he is constantly fighting against me and laughing at my failures and repeatedly tells me I have lost the game.  Many of us may finish our lives and are convinced that we have wasted them through our fumbles, failures and forfeitures.  Our “final score”, based in our own performance,  is not very impressive and we find ourselves ashamed and without hope.

The GOOD NEWS is that we have a loving God who knows that in the battle of life and against sin and the devil, we are certain to lose every time.  This is the very reason He sent His Son into the World that we find one in whom to find a hope.  Jesus is the Rock for every believer.  He is the Victor for every child of God and in Him we never need to be ashamed.  The Apostle Paul said in the book of Romans that even he was a loser in the game of life.  He said, “For the good that I would do I do not: but the evil which I would not do, I do.”  (Romans 7:19).  He knew the agony of defeat.  But he also knew the thrill of victory.  His strength was in the knowledge that his victory was solidly in Christ and in Him alone.  “O wretched man that I am!  Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord…” (Romans 7:24, 25).

Every person who puts their faith and trust in The Lord Jesus Christ will be declared the victor when our life is over and we hear the buzzer and we face the final score.  God has promised us, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, (fumbling the ball) or distress, (missed a block) or persecution, (run a wrong pattern) or famine, (grow tired and unable to go on) or nakedness, or peril, or sword (being injured and unable to finish the battle)?   As it is written, for the sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.  Nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” (Romans 8:35–37).

Regardless of how many times you have failed in life and have disappointed yourself, Jesus never sees you as someone He is ashamed of and disappointed but as one He loves and for whom He died on the cross.  Only in Jesus will we finish well with a good FINAL SCORE.  In Jesus – 100000, in flesh without Him – 0.  How are you scoring in life today?

Until then…,

Bro. Glenn

WHAT’S IN A CHRISTMAS NAME?

Another year has rapidly gone by.  It seems like just a month ago that Christmas was upon us and 2016 was rushing in and we all had wonderful expectations for the coming year.   Prayer was being raised to Heaven for grace and hope in the coming year.  Now the year is drawing to a close and 2017 is peeping around the corner.  However, regardless of our thoughts on the New Year, it is always ushered in by Christmas.  What a beautiful way to end one year and to look forward to the next.

Christmas is not, as some would say, a secular holiday.  It is a biblical treasure and its meaning is explained over and over in the Holy Word of God.  Our Heavenly Father is very purposeful in describing the varied components in His plan that constitute the Christmas story from the immaculate birth to the crucifixion of the Lamb of God who was born to die for the sins of man.

In His descriptive purpose God tells us that the name of the One of whom Christmas is about is a special name.  It is more than “Joseph’s son”, more than Mary’s son”, more than “Jesus, the Savior of the world”.  God said His name shall be called “WONDERFUL”.  WONDERFUL!  That is who He is and what He is.  His name shall be called “COUNSELOR”.  He is my Counselor.  He is that voice in the darkest night of my fears that says to my soul, “Be Still”.  In my most trying hour He says to my anguishing heart “Fear Not”.  He says to my doubting mind “I am with you always”.  He says to my sinning nature “Repent and Confess” to his waiting ears “Forgive me for I have sinned”.  His name shall be called “THE MIGHTY GOD”.  Thank you, Lord, for who you are for to my accuser you are the Mighty God who is greater than my mightiest enemy.  He gives me victory always.  His name shall be called “THE EVERLASTING FATHER”.  He is my Everlasting Heavenly Father who loves me enough to hold me when I need holding, encouraging me when I need encouraging.  He loves me enough to discipline me when I am wrong and always with a heart of love.  His name shall be called “THE PRINCE OF PEACE”.  Oh how there has been in my life and I am sure in yours as well, in our endeavor to walk the walk of faith with the Lover of My Soul, that we have done so many things opposite of “running well” and it breaks our hearts.  How many times has our enemy told us that God doesn’t love us and that we aren’t in His favor only to have our Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God and Everlasting Father and the very Prince of Peace speak into our brokenness and raise us up AGAIN!  Oh what a name.  It is in His name that we truly are made aware of the NAME OF CHRISTMAS…EMMANUEL (GOD WITH US).

Merry Christmas!  Worship His Name this glorious Christmas season.

Bro. Glenn

What a wonderful time to be a child of God. Today I woke to the reality that I belong to him and in an uncertain day with all of its unknown possibilities that only God knows what they are and where they are I am comforted by the truth that today is a good day because I am in His hand and He is in control. Thank you, Lord. But in the beauty of this thought, I am reminded that I have been given the task of making the right choices in the unfolding of the day before me. We all have been given this responsibility. Easy was entering into this day but difficult is it to make all the right choices. Some choices are made because we know them to be the right choice to make. Some choices are made in spite of our knowing what is right and wrong. It is a battle we all have to fight. The Apostle Paul discussed this in his letter to the Romans where he talked concerning his own battle in this area (Romans 7:15-25).
In this world with its manifold choices just waiting to be made whether right or wrong, what are we to do? The only sound answer to this is to be honest and admit that left to myself I am bound to have a poor batting average in this choice making thing so I am resolute to go to my God and ask His help in making choices that are pleasing to Him and in making them I know they will bring Him glory. That is the true key to knowing what choice to make.
Soon, we in America will be given a great privilege to voice our choice in who will be the next president of our country. Some may be making a choice on whom to marry while some may be making a choice in careers and at the same time others may be making a choice on whether to retire or not to retire. Choices everywhere! Every choice we make is important and carries an eternal record. Whether we are making a choice on whom we will marry or whether to retire or not we need God’s help in making the right choice. This November, may we seek His face and not our own desire based on what we think is right for us or based on a political party we align ourselves with or whatever, may we do as Saul demonstrated on that day he was converted on the Damascus road where is recorded him saying “Lord, What would thou have me do?” (Romans 9:6). We will never go wrong when we seek God’s will in every choice we make. Today, choose Jesus. Joshua said it thus…”Choose this day whom you will serve…as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15). Great choice!

Until then…
Bro. Glenn

Good day to all.  My name is Glenn York.  That may not mean a whole lot to a great deal of people and a vast number of people will never know me and will never hear my name.  That’s o.k.  There are a lot of people in this world that I will never know.  But my name is important to some very important people…my family, my friends, my church, etc., but most important is it that my name is known by my Heavenly Father.  He knows me and calls me by name.  We are on speaking terms and I am welcome into His presence at any time.  How important it is for Him to know our names.  Not as though He doesn’t know us from “Adam”, so to speak, but to know us personally.  In addition to us having our name known by so many, it  is also important to know what our name says to them when they hear our name or think on our name.  God’s Word says that “A good name is rather to be chosen that great riches and loving favor than silver and gold.”  (Proverbs 22:1).   We need to guard our name by ensuring that the life that is attached to that name is a life that brings honor to it and to the God we serve.  We call it ‘our testimony’.  In Ecclesiastes 7:1 we are told, “A good name is better than precious ointment”.  A good name should have a positive effect on those hear it .  When people hear your name what thoughts would it conjure in their minds and would it be a name that brings honor to the Lord Jesus Christ when it is spoken.   May we never ber ashamed of our name.  Who has the greatest name?  That would be Jesus Christ, for there is no other name given under Heaven among men whereby we must be saved.

Until then…

Bro. Glenn