What Do You Do While Singing at Church? - Apples of Gold - June 18, 2008 -vi-

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for June 18, 2008

“What Do You Do While Singing at Church?”

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

What runs through your mind as you sing at church?

I know, there are thousands of things to think about, right?

You can think about the song leader, or the worship team.  Your thoughts can range from admiring to bored to downright critical.

And what about the song selection?  “Why is it the same old songs?  Oh, wait a minute.  What?!  I don’t even know this song!”

“And why do they sing so long anyway?  Then when you finally get into it, they quit.”

Where do you get the song lyrics at your church?  From a song book?  In the bulletin?  On a big screen?  This alone gives you a lot to think about while you sing.

Here’s a favorite pastime:  watching other people sing.  It goes from how they are dressed to their hair to their movements.  Are they stiff or animated?  Do they look like they love God when they sing, or do they look all sour and scrunchy?  Must be some secret sin…

And that’s just the beginning, because we all know how the train of thought takes off from there.  It starts with, “Hey, this song reminds me of another song.  What is it?  Oh, yeah, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’  That was my cousin Frankie’s favorite song.  Oh, man, he did it karaoke at that wedding!  Bob and Sally’s wedding.  They didn’t make it, though.  Bob got married but forgot to stop dating.  I wonder if he still works at the newspaper?  Oh!  I need to get our ad in for the yard sale.  I better write myself a note right now.”

The next thing you know, you are making up a to-do list right in the middle of the singing!

Then later when someone asks you about your church you say, “Well, the worship’s just not as powerful as it used to be.”

Now what happens if you multiply that across the whole congregation?  Sure, their lips are singing, but where are their hearts? 

It’s like Jesus said in Matthew 15, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  They worship me in vain…”

This is what we do when we sing at church but we don’t really engage.  We honor God with our lips, but our hearts are wandering off willy-nilly like undisciplined children.

Now let me use children as a positive example.  With four kids of my own, I have been to countless birthday parties.  Have you ever tried to uber organize a kid’s birthday party?  It’s just not possible.  It’s like herding cats. 

But there is always that one moment when everyone is on the same page.  Can you think of it?  What is that one moment at every kid’s birthday party when there is unity?  All distractions cease.  All other activities halt.  Everyone is unified in this one action.  What is it?

It is the singing of “Happy Birthday!”

Think about it.  As soon as you start singing, the chattering stops and everyone joins in.  Kids even run in from the other room.  They want to be a part.  This is the main event.  Everything else is just prelude and postlude.  Do whatever you want the rest of the day, but when we sing, we all sing together.  We are in unison.  For that moment we are one.

This thing of singing together is a blessed gift.  What brings the most warm fuzzies at a concert?  It’s that moment when the band stops playing and all you hear is the audience singing as a mighty chorus.

I remember signing up to go to Promise Keepers, and they gave me a recording of the songs we were going to sing.  It was important that we all knew the songs ahead of time so that we could sing together in unity.  And how awesome it was to be in the Georgia Dome, full of men’s voices raising the roof together, praising God.

Singing together brings about a certain unity.  In a way, we melt together – from individual parts into one unified body.

But this only happens when we are engaged in the singing.  However, because of a lot of reasons, it’s easy to sing at church and not be engaged.

So what can we do about it?  Here is the key.  When we sing at church, we need to focus our minds on the Lord.  We need to open our hearts directly to Him. 

Remember how He said we honor Him with our lips, but our hearts are far from Him?  So what we need to do is make sure our hearts are drawing near to Him. 

The good thing is, that’s easy to do simply by paying attention to the lyrics.  So when we sing at church, we push aside all distractions, we open our hearts to the Lord, and we pay attention to the words we are singing.

And the result will be just what we find in Romans 15:6.  When we sing the Lord’s praises together, we will, “with one heart and mouth…glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

And our worship will not be in vain.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
 

© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

Can Jesus Be Just a Wise Moral Teacher? - Apples of Gold - June 16, 2008 -vi-

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for June 16, 2008

“Can Jesus Be Just a Wise Moral Teacher?”

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

He’s a young man, and here is what he said about Jesus – that he was a wise moral teacher.

Yes, he had many wise sayings, like Confucius, but he was not all that Christians make him out to be.

Here’s the problem with that.  The same book that contains Jesus’ wise moral teachings also contains his outrageous claims.

So who is Jesus really?  Let’s start by looking at what he said about himself.

In Matthew 26 Jesus was on trial before the high priest.  The high priest said, “I charge you under oath by the living God:  Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.”

So this is not some offhanded comment Jesus is about to make.  It’s not something he whispered to his buddies around a campfire.  He is about to answer the question while under oath in a hearing with the high priest.  His answer will have serious consequences.

Here is what he said when asked if he was the Christ, the Son of God.  “Yes, it is as you say.” 

And if that wasn’t outrageous enough, he added, “In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

With that answer his trial was over.  He was condemned to death on the charge of speaking blasphemy.

But it wasn’t the only time Jesus made outrageous claims about himself.  He was constantly doing it.

For example, one time he told the Jews, “Before Abraham was born, I am.”  That about got him stoned.

In John 17 he prayed, “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”

Now you need to know that Jesus often referred to himself as the “Son of Man.” 

In John 3 Jesus talked interchangeably about the Son of Man and the Son of God.

He said that the Son of Man came from heaven, and that he was God’s one and only son.

He said, “I am from above…I am not of this world.”

He said that everyone who believed in him would have eternal life.

He said things like, “the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

He said that the Son of Man would come in the clouds one day, with power and great glory, and “gather his elect from the four winds…”

He said that the holy angels would appear with him, and that all the nations would be gathered before him.

He said he had authority on earth to forgive sins.

He said, “One greater than the temple is here,” and “one greater than Jonah is here,” and “one greater than Solomon is here.”

He said, “I am the bread of life,” and “I am the living bread that came down from heaven,” and “I am the light of the world,” and “I am the good shepherd,” and “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

He said he was teacher and prophet and Lord.

He said that heaven and earth would pass away, but that his words would never pass away.

So far so good on that one.

Pilate asked him if he was the king of the Jews and Jesus said, “Yes, it is as you say.”  Then he added, “My kingdom is not of this world…my kingdom is from another place.”

He kept talking about how he would be killed, then rise from the dead on the third day.

In Luke 24 he referred to himself as “the Christ.”

So in addition to Jesus’ wise moral teaching, he also made many outrageous claims about himself.

And this is where it gets sticky.  How can you call Jesus a wise moral teacher, when so much of what he taught was outrageous?

I like how C.S. Lewis broke it down.  He said we have three choices about Jesus, that he is either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord.  Either he made all those claims falsely, knowing they weren’t true, making him a liar, and not very moral.  Or he made all those claims falsely, but actually believed them, making him a lunatic.  Or the third option is that his claims were true, and that he really is the Lord, the Christ, the Son of God and Savior of the World.

So make your choice:  liar, lunatic, or Lord.  Jesus is one of those.  But here is one category he just can’t be put in, and that’s the category of just a wise moral teacher.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
 

© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

Jasmine in the Air - Apples of Gold - June 12, 2008 -vi-

This is one you will really want to hear.  Listen on our website:  www.wave94.com

 

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for June 12, 2008

“Jasmine in the Air”

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

And now…the radio drama entitled:  “Jasmine in the Air.”

(open with eerie dramatic music)

An evil wind.
He’s unaware.
He smells jasmine in the air.

A woman bathes.
He is staring,
Captured by what she’s not wearing.

He sends to find out more about her.
Uriah’s wife.  Eliam’s daughter.

“Send for her.”
The night was wild.
A price was paid.
“I am with child.”

“Joab, send Uriah home!”
“Uriah, go, don’t sleep alone!”

“I will not while the rest are fighting.”
“Fine, I’ll make her more inviting.
Have some food, now drink, drink up!”
Uriah, have another cup!
Your wife must think you’re quite a hunk,
Oh just go home.  You’re drunk!”

Uriah, honorable as he was,
Did not go play the man.
And from the king’s dishonorable mind
Sprang a more grisly plan.

“Dear Joab, here’s your man Uriah.
Less a lover and more a fighter.
Push him right up to the line
Then pull ‘em back and let him die!”

So Joab and his fighting men,
The city under siege,
They drove right up there to the wall,
Uriah in the lead.

“The city’s greatest warriors?
Put Uriah over there.”
The odds were stacked against them
And their shouting filled the air.  

The enemy was winning big.
Uriah wouldn’t run.
He was fighting for his king.
The battle must be won.

Some men were killed around him,
And he noticed something weird.
No more were sent to help them,
And he felt a stab of fear.

“Dear David,” Joab’s message said,
“The Hittite…is dead.”

Bathsheba grieved her husband’s death,
Then married with great speed.
A little boy was born to them,
But God was way not pleased.

He sent the prophet Nathan by
To tell the king a story.
It started with a couple guys
And ended kind of gory.

A rich man stole a poor man’s lamb
And cooked him up for dinner.
The king exploded at the thought.
“Condemn that wretched sinner!”

“That’s right, he must be punished.”
Nathan played his clever plan.
He pointed at the king and said,
“Thou art the man!”

King David sinned against the Lord,
God judged the whole affair.
And men should all take heed
When they smell jasmine in the air.

(fade out intro music reversed)
 
Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
 

© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

A Core Belief, The Resurrection - Apples of Gold - June 11, 2008 -vi-

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for June 11, 2008

“A Core Belief – The Resurrection”

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

One of the core beliefs of Christianity is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

In First Corinthians 15 Paul wrote, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance:  that Christ died for our sins…that he was buried, (and) that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…”

Now listen as Paul spells out his evidence for the resurrection.  He said that Jesus “appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.  After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time…then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me…”

This is a key reason why we believe in Jesus’ resurrection – because so many people witnessed it personally.

Paul went on to say that if Christ didn’t rise from the dead, then the Gospel is useless and the apostles were liars.  And if Christ wasn’t raised, then we are still in our sins, and every Christian who has died is lost.  If Christ didn’t rise from the dead, then we are to be pitied above all men, he said.

But we believe Christ did rise from the dead, and we believe for two reasons.  First of all, like I said, we believe the testimony of the witnesses who actually saw the risen Savior.  And second, we believe because of the new birth and the living hope God has placed within us.  First Peter 1:3 says that our living hope comes “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

Because Jesus is alive, we have hope for life beyond the grave, eternal life with him.

We believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and one proof of that was his resurrection.  Romans 1:4 says that Jesus was “declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead…”

While Jesus walked this earth, several times he predicted his resurrection.

Matthew 16 says that Jesus explained to his disciples that he would go to Jerusalem, be killed, and “on the third day be raised to life.”

One day the Jews demanded Jesus give them a miraculous sign to prove his authority.  Here is the proof he offered them.  He said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”  He was talking about his body, and his resurrection.

After the transfiguration in Mark 9, Jesus told Peter, James and John, “Don’t tell anyone about this until after the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”  Then they discussed among themselves, “What does he mean, ‘risen from the dead’?”

Even on the night of his betrayal he told his disciples, “…after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”

Even though Jesus taught his disciples about his resurrection, they just didn’t see it coming.  In Matthew 17, after Jesus explained his death and resurrection, it says his disciples were filled with grief.  All they seemed to hear was the part about his death.

Luke 18:34 gives us a reason why the disciples didn’t pick up on the resurrection part.  It says, “Its meaning was hidden from them.”  Luke 24 says it wasn’t until after his resurrection that Jesus “opened their minds so they could understand...”

Jesus’ opponents certainly understood his prediction to rise again.  That’s why, in Matthew 27, after Jesus’ crucifixion, they went to Pilate and asked him to secure the tomb “until the third day.”  Otherwise his disciples might come and steal that deceiver’s body, and his “last deception will be worse than the first,” they said.

So Pilate gave the order, “Make the tomb as secure as you know how.” 

But it didn’t work.  Jesus did rise from the dead.

Angels announced it to the women who came to the tomb.  “Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here.  He has risen!”

Luke 24:34 says, “It is true!  The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”

Soon the disciples became bold witnesses of the resurrection.  After Pentecost, Acts 4:33 says, “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus…”

Acts 2:32 says, “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.”

When Peter preached at Pentecost he said, “…wicked men put him to death by nailing him to the cross.  But God raised him from the dead…”

When a crowd gathered after a crippled beggar was healed, Peter preached, “You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.  We are witnesses of this.”

In Acts 4, Peter preached to the Sanhedrin that God had raised Jesus from the dead.

In Acts 5 Peter preached to the high priest that “the God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead.”

At the Gentile Cornelius’ house, Peter preached that “…God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen…by witnesses whom God had already chosen – by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.”

In Acts 13 Paul preached that “God raised him from the dead, and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem.  They are now his witnesses…”

In Thessalonica Paul proved from the Scriptures “that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead.”

In Athens, Paul stirred up the philosophers by telling them about Jesus and his resurrection.

When standing before Festus and King Agrippa, Paul told them that Jesus had risen from the dead.

The epistles are full of references to Jesus’ resurrection. 

Romans 4:25 says that Jesus “was raised to life for our justification.”

Romans 10:9 says that if we confess with our mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved.

First Corinthians 15:20 says that “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

Second Corinthians 4:14 says, “we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us…”

And this is our living hope, that because Jesus was raised from the dead, we, too, will be raised from the dead, and will live with him eternally. 

We do have hope, and we have it because of this core truth:  the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

 
Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
 

© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

Handsome, Brilliant, Who Wouldn't Want to be Like This Guy? - Apples of Gold - June 10, 2008 -vi-

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for June 10, 2008

“Handsome, Brilliant, Who Wouldn’t Want to be Like This Guy?”

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

I want to be a man like Daniel.

Who wouldn’t?

He was handsome, with “no physical defect” the Bible says.

He was brilliant in many subjects. 

He was just an exile from Judah, but some Babylonian big shots saw that Daniel was something special, so they enrolled him in a three year training course.  The goal?  To prepare him to serve the mighty King Nebuchadnezzar.

A smart young man like Daniel certainly appreciated this opportunity.  But something came first for Daniel, and that was God. 

God had given the Jews dietary laws, but now these Babylonians gave him food that broke those laws.  Daniel could have said, “Ah, just go with the flow,” but instead, look what it says in Daniel 1:8.  “Daniel resolved not to defile himself.”

Now that is a phrase we should all pound into our brains.  “I resolve not to defile myself.”

Look around.  What is it that defiles you?  Now make this your resolution, like Daniel.  “I resolve not to defile myself.”

Daniel didn’t throw a big, stinking fit about it.  He didn’t start a protest in the lunchroom.  Instead, he simply went to the proper official and, get this, asked for permission to eat something else.

What a combination!  He was resolved to do the right thing, but he humbled himself before his authority.

Daniel had a truckload of talent, and Daniel 1:17 reveals where it came from.  All that knowledge and understanding?  God gave it to him, including the ability to understand dreams and visions.

With talents like that, Daniel quickly rose up in the ranks.  The king found Daniel and his friends to be 10 times better than all the rest. 

At one point Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, and he demanded that his wise men both tell him his dream, and its interpretation – or he would kill them.  Of course they couldn’t tell him his dream, so he started rounding them up, including Daniel and his friends.

Now look what it says in Daniel 2:14.  When the commander came to arrest Daniel, it says, “Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact.”

Again, here is the great Daniel, handsome and wise, with the true ability to interpret dreams, yet he didn’t brag or boast.  He wasn’t full of himself.  Instead he spoke to the commander with wisdom and tact. 

Then it says they pleaded with God for mercy, and that night God revealed to Daniel both the dream and its interpretation.

Then when Daniel stood before the king, he was so humble, he took no credit for himself.  He said that no man could explain the king’s mystery, that only God could do that. 

Even so, after that the king put Daniel in a high position as one of his rulers.

Now once Daniel had this cushy government job, he could have laid low and enjoyed it.  But no, God still came first. 

In Daniel 4:27 we see Daniel speaking so boldly to the king as to say, “Renounce your sins…”  But again, he didn’t do it in arrogance.  He was humble before the king, saying, “O king, be pleased to accept my advice…”

In Daniel 5 he is offered many gifts to interpret the now famous writing on the wall.  But he told the king he could keep his gifts, then he interpreted the writing anyway, which was a message of judgment.

After that scathing report, amazingly the king elevated him to the third highest position in the land.  

Then Darius the Mede became king, and he also recognized Daniel’s leadership skills, and made him one of his three main leaders.  Daniel did his job so well that Darius planned to promote him. 

When the other leaders heard about it, they decided to cut Daniel down to size.  They checked all the angles, analyzed all of Daniel’s work, and get this, Daniel 6:4 says, “They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.”

Did you get that?  He was neither corrupt, nor negligent. 

That’s a great example of how we should do our work.  Yes, we have no corruption.  But just as important is this, that we are not negligent.  We are not slack or lazy in our work.

They finally tripped up Daniel over his commitment to prayer, and got him thrown in the lion’s den.  As he was going in, the king said, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you.”

What a testimony!  Even the king saw Daniel’s spiritual integrity, that he served God, not just when it was convenient, but continually!

And God did rescue Daniel from the lions, and two reasons are mentioned in Daniel 6:  because Daniel was found innocent in God’s sight, and because Daniel trusted in God.

After that Daniel prospered, both under the rules of Darius and Cyrus.  At times he fasted and prayed and sought the Lord.  He repented of his own sins and the sins of his people.  He studied the scriptures and served the king. 

Daniel 10:12 said he set his mind to gain understanding and to humble himself before God.

In Daniel 9:23, Gabriel told Daniel that he was “highly esteemed.”

In Daniel 10:11, a man who looked a lot like Jesus in the book of Revelation, told Daniel that he was “highly esteemed.”

Daniel 10:19 says it again, that Daniel was “highly esteemed.”

Oh, there are so many reasons to look up to Daniel.  His commitment to God.  His prayer life.  His integrity.  His service to the government.  His humility.  His brilliant mind.  His stately appearance.  And what more can you ask than to be “highly esteemed” by heavenly authorities?

I look at him, and I want to be like him. 

Like I said when I started, I want to be a man like Daniel.

 
Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
 

© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

Apart From You I Have No Good Thing - Apples of Gold - June 9, 2008 -vi-

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for June 9, 2008

“Apart From You I Have No Good Thing”

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

In Psalm 16:2, David made a powerful statement. 

He said to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from You I have no good thing.”

Think of the temptations we would avoid if we only took this attitude:  apart from God I have no good thing.

See, temptations hit us when we look out there and see some nice thing, and we want it.  Then we start scheming to get it.  It takes our time and our effort.  We use our brain power.  We dream about it and plan for it. 

But what if we said, “Lord, apart from You I have no good thing”?

This is a phrase that is constantly rattling around in the back of my brain.  It creates a foundation for all my wants and desires. 

I can look around and see a lot of stuff I want, and things I want to do.  But then I turn back to this foundational phrase, “Apart from You I have no good thing.”

This world has a lot of good stuff, doesn’t it?  Who doesn’t want all the new things?  I admit, I want all the latest, the cell phones and computers and cars and cameras.  Keep me on the cutting edge, baby!

But then I return to these roots, “Apart from the Lord I have no good thing.”

This keeps God first in my life.  This keeps me coming back to the Lord every day, and desiring to walk in His Spirit.  He is first, and everything else pales in comparison. 

It applies to relationships, too.  I can work on having a good family, but apart from the Lord I have no good thing. 

I can have a great job with all the benefits, but apart from the Lord I have no good thing.

Here is one way I think this applies to my life.  If I don’t have the Lord, nothing is good. 

And by “having the Lord” I mean living right, and walking with Him each day. 

Now here is something that amazes me.  Sometimes we will compromise our walk with the Lord in order to get something we think is good.  We will cut corners, or take the low road to get something.  We will push the Lord off into a corner so He doesn’t stop us from getting what we think is good.

And yet apart from Him, nothing is good.  Anything we have to compromise our standards to get is not good.  I don’t care how good it seems, apart from Him there is no good thing.

James 1:17 says that every good and perfect gift comes down from our Heavenly Father.  That means if it doesn’t come from Him, it’s not good.  Apart from Him I have no good thing.

If you have to compromise the Lord to get it, you don’t want it.  It’s not good.  It will end up like sand in your hands. 

So apart from the Lord there is no good thing, but now get this.  With the Lord we get all good things!

Psalm 34:10 says, “…those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.”

Psalm 84:11 says, “…no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless.”

Matthew 6:33 says, “…seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you…”

Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

Psalm 103:5 says the Lord “satisfies your desires with good things.”

Psalm 145:19 says, “He fulfills the desires of those who fear him…”

Now you might think that if you put God first, then you will get whatever you desire.

Well, yes, that is true, in a certain way.  When we put God first, then we are walking in the Spirit.  We are in tune with His Spirit every day.  Romans 8:5 says, “…those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.”

So, yes, we will get what we desire – and those desires are in accordance with what God desires.

But now look, we still have a sinful nature, and it has its own desires.  Galatians 5:24 talks about crucifying the sinful nature and its desires. 

Ephesians 4:22 says our “old self” is being corrupted by its deceitful desires. 

So we have two kinds of desires, the desires of the sinful nature, and the desires of the Holy Spirit inside us.  When we put God first, we are in tune with the desires of the Holy Spirit. 

It is these desires that God grants us in abundance, because these are all good things!

So it’s really a matter of priorities.  When we put God first, then He gives us good things.  But if we ever put any thing before God, then it’s not a good thing anyway, because when you drill down to the foundation of it all, it’s like David said to the Lord in Psalm 16:2.

“Apart from You I have no good thing.”


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
 

© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

Jesus in Revelation - Apples of Gold - June 6, 2008 -vi-

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for June 6, 2008

“Jesus in Revelation”

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

Jesus is easy to picture as a little baby in a manger.

It’s easy to see Him teaching thousands on a hillside.

It’s not even hard to imagine Him hanging on a cross.

Rising from the dead is a bit of a stretch, but still, He didn’t look all that different, except when He showed up out of thin air in a locked room, or when He finally just lifted off the ground and disappeared in the clouds.

But there He is, dark hair, clothes made out of real cloth, leather sandals – just a regular guy.

And then He appears to John in the book of Revelation.  John didn’t say, “Wow, Jesus, is that you?  You look just like a regular guy.”  No, instead he dropped to the ground like a dead man.

Have you ever had someone sneak up behind you and blast you with a trumpet?  A trumpet can be loud and piercing, and that’s how Revelation starts.  John suddenly hears a loud voice like a trumpet behind him.

He turns around and sees what looks like a man standing among seven golden lampstands.  But this was no normal man.  His eyes were like blazing fire and his face was bright like the sun. His head and hair were as white as snow.  He wore a long robe, all the way down to His feet, with a golden sash around His chest.  And His feet were glowing like hot metal.

Jesus spoke, and His voice was not meek and mild.  It was loud and powerful, like the sound of whitewater rapids.  And to top it off, out of His mouth came a sword!  And in His right hand He was holding seven stars.

This is not Jesus meek and lowly.  Listen to some of the ways Jesus is described in the book of Revelation.

He is known as “The Amen,” “the ruler of God’s creation.”

He is the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah.”

He is the “Root and the Offspring of David.”

He is the “Bright Morning Star.”

His name is “The Word of God.”

In Revelation 19 John sees Him as the rider on a white horse, and He is called “Faithful and True.”  On His head are many crowns, and He is wearing a robe dipped in blood.  On this robe is written a name, the same name that is written on His thigh.  It says, “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”

But the King of Kings is not the only side of Jesus we see in Revelation.  At one point John saw Him looking like a Lamb that had been killed.

Revelation 6:16 uses a strange phrase, “the wrath of the Lamb.” 

Revelation 7:17 uses another strange phrase.  It says the Lamb will be their shepherd.

So yes, Jesus is the Lamb that was slain, but He’s no dead lamb.  This Lamb is a shepherd, and this Lamb lashes out in wrath at those who make war against Him. 

And He won’t be alone.  Revelation 19 says the armies of heaven ride with Him.  They are all dressed in white and riding white horses.

Revelation also tells us about “the wedding of the Lamb” and the “wedding supper of the Lamb.”

Revelation 21 talks about “the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”  Then it describes the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

It says the Lamb is the lamp of the city, and the throne of the Lamb is in the city. 

And Revelation 21:27 tells us who will be able to enter the city, “…only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

This is a very important item that belongs to the Lamb.  Revelation 20:15 says, “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

That sounds dreadful, doesn’t it?

So let’s balance that with Revelation 22:17 which says, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’”  “Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”

He concludes by saying, “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches.”
John calls Him, “Lord Jesus.”  Jesus Himself says, “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
Revelation 22:20 says, “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’”
And John responds with this simple prayer, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”
So you see, Jesus is not just the baby in the manger or the teacher on the hillside.  Jesus is also the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  He is the warrior on the white horse.  His name is the Word of God, and He wins battles with the double-edged sword from His mouth.  In His possession is the Lamb’s book of life, and from His throne flows the water of life.
And this Great One invites all to come to Him for the free gift of the water of life.  And this Great One says He is coming back, and He is coming soon!

Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
 

© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

You Can't Carry the Burden - Apples of Gold - June 5, 2008 -vi-

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for June 5, 2008

“You Can’t Carry the Burden”

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

We can’t carry the burdens of this life.

We just can’t.  We weren’t designed to.

So many people become alcoholics because they can’t carry the burdens.

So many people turn to antidepressants, or illegal drugs.

And I’m not just talking about people at the bottom of society.  These are people from all walks of life, many of them very smart, even brilliant. 

“Well maybe they’re just weak; they just can’t handle the pressure.”

No, this applies to everyone.  None of us can carry the burdens of life.

Have you ever lost a loved one?  It’s unbearable.  Yes, life goes on, and time dulls the pain, but really, death is a burden we just can’t bear.

Have you ever had a broken heart?  It rends you to the core.  You can’t even breathe.  A broken heart is a burden we just can’t bear.

Have you ever hurt someone?  You can’t take it back.  It’s done, and you hate it.  It’s guilt and remorse.  It’s a burden we just can’t bear.

Have you considered your own mortality?  You look in the mirror and see the age.  You look ahead and, man, don’t even go there.  Mortifying thoughts of our own aging and death – it’s a burden we just can’t bear.

Some people cope by not thinking about it.  That’ll get you through the day, but it’s living like a scared rabbit. 

Are you trying to do everything right – your marriage, your job, your children, your money?  You just want to get it right, all of it.  The home.  The career.  The retirement.  Even your life as a Christian.  Then what happens when things fall short?  Maybe your child becomes a prodigal.  Maybe your investments crash.  Maybe you lose your job.  How do you cope?  When you really look at it, getting it all right is a burden we just can’t bear.

So what do we do, give up?  Just stop thinking and working?

If you do that you are just adding to the world’s problems.  No, we need more thinking and working, not less.

So how can we do that when life’s burdens are just too heavy?

Well let’s look at what Jesus said in Matthew 11.  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Jesus offers a tremendous solution.  He’s not telling us to think less or work less.  It doesn’t involve drugs or alcohol.  So what does it involve? 

“Rest for your souls.”

See, this is where we carry the burdens of life.  We think about them, but they’re not really in our mind.  We work on them, but they’re not really on our back.  No, the burdens of this life are carried in our soul.  It’s a burden you feel gnawing at your gut.  Call it worry or anxiety or stress. 

Life gets messed up, and it eats away at you.  But Jesus offers us rest for our souls. 

First John 3:19 talks about our hearts being at rest in God’s presence.

Psalm 68:19 says, “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.”

It’s a burden swap.  He bears these burdens that we just can’t carry.  Then we take on His burden, which He said is light.  “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Well, what is His burden?  Here’s what He said in that same passage.  He said, “Come to me…”  and He said, “…learn from me…”  That sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? 

We put our faith in Him.  We trust Him.  We submit to Him.  We let Him lead us and teach us.  We surrender the reins of our life to Him. 

And He takes our burdens, and gives us rest for our souls.

When we lose a loved one, we can hand Him the burden, take His hand and let Him lead us through.

When our heart is broken, we can hand it to Him and trust Him to mend it, better than before.

When we’ve hurt someone else, we trust Him to forgive us and make us clean.

When we consider our own mortality, we can relax, trusting that the Good Shepherd will carry us through, wherever the valley leads.

And you know what?  This sets us free to think more and work more.  See, it’s not that we stop thinking or working.  We can now think and work more externally, because we have been set free from the debilitating burden internally.

We are free!

He gives us rest for our souls!

This is God’s plan for us, because He knows that no matter how strong we are, none of us can carry the burdens of this life.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
 

© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000

-vi-

I Was a Van Halen Fan - Apples of Gold - June 4, 2008 -vi-

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for June 4, 2008

“I Was a Van Halen Fan”

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

Valerie Bertinelli has a new book out, which I picked up the other day at the library.

It’s called “Losing It,” and I thought it would be all about how she lost weight and developed a more healthy lifestyle.

Then I saw those magic words:  Van Halen.

When I was a teenager I loved Van Halen, which was a rock group named after two of its members, Eddie and Alex Van Halen.

Well I had forgotten that Valerie Bertinelli had married Eddie Van Halen back in 1980.  And what I thought was going to be a health book turned out to be an autobiography full of information about their life together.

I knew almost nothing about them, because when I gave my life to Christ back in 1984, I trashed all my secular music and discovered something much better to follow than pop culture.

So this book fascinated me.  It was like a study in sowing and reaping. 

Looking back over my life I see so many wonderful results from doing things God’s way, according to the Bible.  Not that I even understood it all.  Sometimes I just did it because the Bible said to.  And now, looking back, I just shake my head and say, “God, you are awesome!”  I look at my marriage and my children and family and all I can say is, God’s way works.

But let’s go back to the early 1980’s.  Eddie Van Halen was a mega rock star, best guitar player in the land.  I would have traded places with him in a heartbeat.  What a life!  Big bucks.  Crazy fans.  Sold out concerts.  Rock and roll every night and party every day.  He had it made.  Then marry a TV star and what more could you ask for?

But it just didn’t work.  He was building on sand, like Jesus talked about in the Sermon on the Mount. 

In the book, his wife talks about all the unfaithfulness in their marriage.  There was betrayal and mistrust.  Eddie drank a lot and became an alcoholic.  He had fits of rage.  She tells of one family gathering where Eddie was loaded and unruly and her dad ended up punching him in the face. 

She said he used alcohol and drugs to handle the pressures of his career.  He spent many nights in his recording studio rather than coming home to his wife.  He smoked a lot and eventually had part of his tongue cut out due to cancer.  They did interventions to try to get him into rehab, which he tried but it just didn’t take.

After 20 years together they finally separated and eventually divorced.

So I compare his life of sowing and reaping to mine.  And remember, his is the life I would have traded for so quickly back in the early 80’s.  Here is what I find.  He continuously sowed bad seed, then reaped a destructive harvest.  His life looks like a train wreck.

So does that make me better than him? 

Not at all.  I know how quickly I would have traded places with him, and I probably would have done the same thing.

What made the difference?  Was it because I chose to follow Christ back in ’84?

No, because I don’t really know why I did that.  It wasn’t like I woke up one day and decided to become a Christian.  I didn’t hit rock bottom.  I didn’t think it through at all.  I just ended up at a church altar one night, and from that point on God changed my life.

It reminds me of Colossians 1:13.  God rescued me from the dominion of darkness.

So why me and not Eddie? 

I don’t really know why, but here is a guess.  God rescued me because people were praying for me.  They prayed and they were persistent.  They just kept on praying for me.

For example, I know my parents were praying for me, probably nonstop.  I’m sure other family members were praying, too.

And I’ll bet there were people like teachers and neighbors and friends and other parents praying for me.  And they weren’t just tossing up prayers.  Many of these were Godly people, saints who knew how to get a hold of the Almighty.

Then there were prayers being prayed, not for me by name, but by category.  People praying for the students on my campus.  People praying for those who would come to the church that night.  People praying for a harvest among teenagers.  The pastor of that church.  The evangelist that night.  The members of the church.  The prayer warriors in that town.  The Christian kids on my campus.

You throw all that together and you end up with a lot of prayers that applied to me. 

Does that work?  Does it change anything?

In Luke 18 Jesus tells of a persistent widow.  The judge acted because she bugged him so much.  And Jesus said prayer is like that. 

Well the Bible doesn’t say this, but think about it.  You have a widow who keeps coming back to the judge.  What if the widow suddenly showed up with a thousand of her friends?  How much more quickly might he have acted? 

Prayer might work the same way.  The more people we can get praying about the same thing, the more effect it has on God.

Like I said, I don’t know if that’s true, but it makes sense to me. 

So I want to thank all the people who prayed for me in those days.  I don’t know where I would be without all those prayers.

And if you know someone who needs the Lord, someone who needs to be rescued from the dominion of darkness, then line up the prayer warriors!  And don’t quit.  Keep on bombarding heaven for that person. 

I think it was the prayers of God’s people that brought about the change in my life, and I think God is ready to do the same for so many others – as we are persistent in prayer.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
 

© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-

Lord, Give Me an Undivided Heart - Apples of Gold - June 3, 2008 -vi-

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for June 3, 2008

“Lord, Give Me an Undivided Heart”

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

It’s not that hard to be good on the surface.

After you’ve been in church for a while, you know what’s expected.  It’s no big deal to keep a good Christian image if you want to.

In fact, you can be one of the better Christians – just do something sacrificial.  I’m telling you, bro, do something sacrificial and you’ve hit the mother lode of looking like a good Christian.

It works, it really does . . . on people. 

But you know what?  God doesn’t buy it.

When God looks at me, He sees right through my image.  He even sees right through my actions.  He sees through my prayers and my many, many words.  His eyes penetrate deep into my heart. 

He sees it all.  Everything.*

And now get this.  As a true believer, I know that God’s Holy Spirit lives inside me.  I don’t know where, but somewhere in there, somewhere, is the Holy Spirit. 

There is a fount of holiness inside me, a source of holiness.  And He is here to teach me and to guide me, to counsel me and convict me.  He will lead me, if only I will follow.

So why don’t I follow, all the time?

Because I am divided.  Part of me wants to go all the way with God, and part of me seems stuck – partly stubborn, kind of willful, don’t want to be too different from everyone else, want to walk in the flesh sometimes – and why?  Partly because it’s what I’m used to.  Partly because I have a sinful nature that wants to be enticed.  Partly because we have an enemy that wants us dirty.

But I know that anything apart from God is just messed up.  His way is the true way, and every other way is . . . really, it’s just a disaster.  Not always an immediate disaster, but an eventual disaster.  Houses built on sand are an eventual disaster.

I don’t want that. 

When God’s eyes penetrate to my deepest parts, I want Him to see no shades of variation.

Imagine digging deep into the earth.  There are different layers with different colors.  Those are divisions. 

But when God sees my heart, I want no layers, no divisions.  At each stage that He digs, I want Him to find the same thing:  holiness.

That’s not an easy thing to say, because I think, “Holiness, yes, but at what price?”

Ah, but the better question is, “Unholiness at what price?”

Any area of unholiness is an area of darkness instead of light.  An area of friction instead of smooth.  An area of stumbling instead of running strong.

So I must let the Holy Spirit have His way.  I must have no divisions, no layers.  I must be one layer through and through:  holiness.

And you know what?  I can’t do it.  I don’t even want to, at least part of me doesn’t.  But I want that part banished.  That’s my sinful nature, my “old man,” and I want it starved and I want it gone. 

Instead I want what Galatians 5:16 talks about.  I want to “live by the Spirit” so that I “will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”

I want to walk in the Spirit and be led by the Spirit.  I want the Holy Spirit to teach me to be holy in all circumstances.  I want His holiness to well up within me and overflow through me.  I want His nature to become my nature, and my sin nature to be drowned by a flood of holiness, by those streams of living water.**

I want what it says in Ezekiel 11:19, “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them…” 

My prayer is Psalm 86:11, “Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart…”

Won’t this make us stand out? 

Oh, yes.  We will be like Philippians 2:15, …blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation in which we shine like stars in the universe.

Yes, we will stand out like beacons of light in the darkness.  This is what God wants.  And He gives us His Spirit to make it happen.  And the Holy Spirit will do His great work in our life – once we decide that we simply must have an undivided heart.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
 
*  In Acts 1:24 they prayed, “Lord, You know everyone’s heart.”
                Psalm 44:21 says, “…He knows the secrets of the heart…”
                First Samuel 16:7 says, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

**  In John 7:38-39 Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”

© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
To subscribe to your own daily “Apples of Gold” e-mail, write dougapple@wave94.com.
If you want to be removed from this e-mail list, simply click reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE on the subject line.
If you want to catch “Apples of Gold” in its original audio format, go to www.wave94.com
To search through the large archive of past articles, go here:  http://www.wave94.com/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive
If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
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How Do We Know If We Are Bearing Good Fruit? - Apples of Gold - June 2, 2008 -vi-

Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for June 2, 2008

“How Do We Know If We Are Bearing Good Fruit?”

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

I want to bear good fruit.

I want to bear a lot of good fruit.

That’s one of the reasons I got into Christian radio, so I could scatter seed far and wide constantly.  Even at midnight I’m scattering seed.

I want to bear good fruit in my home.  I want to my marriage and my children to be very fruitful.  If there is a scoreboard for fruitfulness, I want to run up the score as high as I can.

But is it ever enough?  If I’m not the next Billy Graham, have I done enough?

Speaking of, let’s talk about Billy Graham.  Billy was one of the great producers in the kingdom, right?  But now he’s old, and wow, he just can’t produce like he used to. 

Is good fruit production only for the young and energetic?

What about single parents who work hard just to make ends meet and keep their kids out of trouble?  What kind of numbers can they put up on the fruitfulness scoreboard?

Do Christians with more public gifts like speaking and singing outscore those who don’t?

And how does God keep score anyway?

Have you noticed how all of this is based on performance?  I bear good fruit when I go out and produce, changing people and changing the world.  And if I’m not out there producing, well then I’m not bearing much fruit, am I?

We live in a performance culture.  The home run hitters are the producers and the bat boys aren’t.  And we Christians see ourselves the same way.  There are home run hitters bearing all kinds of good fruit, then there are the bat boys who, if they are producing any fruit at all, it’s hard to tell.

But you know what?  I don’t think that’s the way God looks at it. 

So how does God look at it?  First Samuel 16:7 says, “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.  Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

The more I read the Bible, the more I realize the emphasis is not on what I’m doing “out there.”  The emphasis is on what’s happening in here, inside me.

“But Doug, aren’t we to be expanding the kingdom of God…out there?”

Well, where is the kingdom of God?  Jesus said in Luke 17:21, “…the kingdom of God is within you.”

So if we want to bear fruit in the kingdom, where is that?  It’s inside of us.

So if bearing fruit is not so much about how many souls I reached, or good deeds I did, then what is it about? 

I think it’s about Galatians 5:16.  Are we living “by the Spirit”?  Are we “walking in the Spirit”?  Verse 18 talks about being “led by the Spirit.”

Now I know some of you are saying, “This is getting weird.  How am I supposed to be led by the Spirit?”

Jesus said in John 14:17 that the Holy Spirit would actually come to live inside of us.  And what is He doing in there?  He is working to produce good fruit, but He can only do that as we let Him lead us.

The opposite of this is being led by our sinful nature, which includes selfish ambition.  So what if we do good deeds out of selfish ambition?  Do our good deeds bear good fruit? 

For example, you might say, “Okay, so I witnessed to 12 people just to show off, and 3 of them got saved.  Isn’t that bearing good fruit?”

Not for you.  The only fruit you produced was pride.

Do you want to check for good fruit?  What should you look for?  The number of good deeds?

No, because our good fruit is found right here, inside of us.

How do we know if we are bearing good fruit?  We look for what Galatians 5 calls “the fruit of the Spirit.”  Here is that list of nine qualities:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

Ephesians 5 adds a couple more:  righteousness and truth.

These are inner characteristics, and they come from God’s Holy Spirit.  The more we are led by His Spirit, the more good fruit within us.

If I am a bold witness for Christ, but I’m impatient and unkind, am I really bearing good fruit?  If I give money to the poor, but I lack love, am I bearing good fruit?  If I’m in fulltime ministry, working for God all week long, but I lack joy, am I bearing good fruit?

In Acts 5, when Ananias and Sapphira gave a bunch of money to the church, it looked like they were bearing good fruit.  But because they were lying, actually their fruit was rotten. 

See, the kingdom of God is not “out there.”  And the fruit of the kingdom is not out there.  No, the fruit is in here, and we bear that fruit, not by doing good, but by walking in the Spirit and being led by the Spirit.  As we give the Lord control, then He bears the good fruit within us.

So it’s not about how many good deeds I do.  It’s not about how much Gospel seed I sow.  It’s not even about being a good spouse or a good parent.  The fruit God is looking for is the fruit of His Spirit, and He’s not looking out there.  He is looking inside me.

And if that’s the measurement, then yes, Billy Graham can still bear much fruit today, not by getting out and working like he was 40 again, but as the Spirit bears fruit within him. 

Single parents can bear much fruit, even if they don’t have a bunch of time for outside ministry.  People without the more public talents like speaking or singing can bear much fruit.

Because bearing fruit comes down to this.  It’s not about what we do “out there.”  But it’s about what we let the Spirit do “in here.”


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
 
Does that mean we don’t have to do good deeds or witness or give?  On the contrary, BECAUSE we are walking in the Spirit, and the Spirit is bearing good fruit within us, then good deeds just FLOW out of us!  And they are done with pure motives and joy!

© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
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If you have trouble reaching me at my main e-mail address, try this one:  douglas_apple@msn.com

(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
-vi-