Recently, Joe Don Baker passed away. Some of you may remember Baker who was an actor and starred in films like “Cool Hand Luke”, “Tomorrow Never Dies” and lots of other movies. I know him because of a movie he made in 1973, a favorite of my parents that I watched every time it was on TV .
The movie was called “Walking Tall”, based on the real life sheriff of McNairy County, Tennessee, Buford Pusser. Pusser, played by Baker in the movie, was a former wrestler turned lawman, who used a large hickory club to enforce the law in his county. In the movie, the Pusser character frequently destroys property and injures the bad guys while cleaning up the corruption.
Pastor
Sometimes, as believers, we probably have our moments where we wish we had those hickory clubs so we
could clean up the world. It gets frustrating for us to see the dark path the world is heading and where it is
leading others. In those moments we want to be like Jesus in the temple, run the money changers out so the light of God can be seen and heard, while waving this big hickory clubs.
Pastor
Sometimes, as believers, we probably have our moments where we wish we had those hickory clubs so we
could clean up the world. It gets frustrating for us to see the dark path the world is heading and where it is
leading others. In those moments we want to be like Jesus in the temple, run the money changers out so the light of God can be seen and heard, while waving this big hickory clubs.
But that’s not our jobs. The temple no longer exists. The temple is us, where God, Christ and the Holy Spirit reside. That’s what Paul is telling us in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?”
We don’t walk around with large pieces of wood to knock someone on the head, but we do walk around with the word of God, which the writer of Hebrews 4:12 says is better than a bat, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
The only way to clean up the world is to clean the dark hearts that exist out there and the only way to do
that, is to share Jesus Christ. Again, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” When we turn our eyes to Jesus we are changed and that change first takes place in the heart. The heart is the reflection of who we really are.
I am often reminded, that before we can change hearts, we have to make sure ours are changed. Once it is
changed, we have to daily go to God and ask for protection, so our hearts don’t turn back to the old way of
life. Be changed, then seek to change others.
changed, we have to daily go to God and ask for protection, so our hearts don’t turn back to the old way of
life. Be changed, then seek to change others.
See you Sunday!
Pastor Glen
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