Christ's Influence on the World via St. Patrick - Larry Lilly Live

Humility is a Good Indicator of Success-Mike Todd

6/28/2017

LLLV17 6-28-2017 Humility is a Good Indicator of Success Mike Todd

Webster defines humility briefly: “the quality or state of being humble in spirit: freedom from pride or arrogance.”

Biblically, humility is urged by Paul, Peter, David, Solomon, and Humble 40 times.

Years ago, Mike Todd, a successful Hollywood Producer, pilot and once married to Elizabeth Taylor, suddenly lost it all. One day he bought a newspaper and during the exchange the newsboy asked:

“Mr., didn’t you used to be somebody?”

Some of us know the pain of such a question. To have been somebody and suddenly, from the worlds perspective, we are reduced to, nothing, because we as humans are somebody, a soul inside a body. But there is the inner desire to rise above the crowd and become “a somebody,” one that rises above the others, a hero of sorts.

To have, and suddenly to have not, is humiliating. Humiliation can bring such havoc to a personality that the person, feeling already annihilated, commits suicide, becomes addicted or ends up in psych ward. Others manage to continue, as did Mr. Todd, and overcome the sense of humiliation and become positively marked by a sense of humility, the attitude recommended by the Bible and defined by Webster.

Have you ever said or heard someone say, “I was never so humiliated in all my life!”
Here’s Webster’s note on humiliated:

“to reduce to a lower position in one's own eyes or the eyes of others: injure the self-respect.”

As humans, we are said to be God’s highest creature! Therefore, if we have a correct sense of our “self” we should be people of humility, for humility’s level is not measured by have or have not, but by what we are by creation. So, if in the course of life, we lose a house, a job, a fortune, we are still who we are by creation and this is doubly true when we are “Joint Heirs” with Jesus Christ, stripped of a false arrogance etc. If you lose pompousness, be thankful. I’m certain this was in Marcia Lynch’s mind when she wrote:

“Humility is evidence that you have successfully failed." Marica Lynch.

Copyright © 2017 Larry Lilly
Truly Superior IT Work. Oral Deckard

Your name or addy will never be sold or given to anyone! Your comments are welcome and appreciated.

Living Letters-Catalyst of Change

6/25/2017

LLLV17 6-26-2017 Living Letters- Catalysts of Change

In 1962 Kenneth Taylor paraphrased the New Testament into a language that a child could read and understand. He called it Living Letters, which is a true title for the Bible, as the Word of God is alive. No publisher would publish Kenneth’s work, so he self-published 2000 copies. In 1963 Billy Graham read Living Letters, ordered 50,000 copies for His Hour of Decision and Living Letters became a runaway best seller!

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (NKJV).

An epistle, letter, is, according to Paul, more widely accepted than is the leather-bound letters we call the Bible, note:

2Cor 3:2 “You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3:3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.” (NKJV).

People who are saturated with God’s word demonstrate the reality of Christ and the Bible from the heart more vividly than any papyrus or paper ever could.

The early church had no completed Bible! That’s right. The Bible was being written by the Spirit through men and He took His time. For over three hundred years the main weapon used by God and His followers to reach the world and turn it right-side up, was the epistles (letters) mentioned in the above scriptures.

Some wonder at many of the revivals in times past. More are wondering at modern revivals, where at least some preferred doctrine is absent, “How can this be of God?” It’s really very simple, the revived ones are clearly demonstrating in everyday life that something supernatural is written on their heart.

Many people are not reached due to what we say, being trumped by what they see us doing!
What kind of Story is your life telling your loved ones and people at large, when they read you as their letter, their epistle?

Over fifty years ago my pastor at the time, Dr. Tom Wallace, who at 87 years still travels around the world preaching Jesus, said, “Loud preaching cannot overcome a life that contradicts what you are saying.” WOW.

Copyright © 2017 Larry Lilly
Catalyst for IT Work! Oral Deckard

Respect and Rodney Dangerfield

6/21/2017

“I get no respect at all - When I was a kid, I lost my parents at the beach. I asked a lifeguard to help me find them. He said, "I don't know kid, there are so many places they could hide". Rodney Dangerfield.

We live in a time when respect for anyone, anything or idea is hard to find. Children do not respect their parents, parents fail to show respect for the local policeman/woman and respect is given to our candidate only, not the other parties fool.

Yet, every person on earth has a longing to be respected. Some mistakenly feel that being respected should be given automatically, others act as if they don’t care and a few get the idea that respect from others must be earned.

The truth be known, respect is given only when the person graving respect earns it via achievement, contribution or when respect from them to another is given. It’s a given that if a person fails to respect themselves it’s unlikely that anyone will respect them. Just a fact of life.

Love and respect are closely aligned and when a man and woman have a true love for each other, respect flows from the fountain of love. When it’s said, “I love, but have no respect,” someone is kidding themselves. To respect is to highly esteem.
When the Bible says, “God is no respecter of persons” based on the evidence of His love demonstrated at Calvary, it means that he deals with all fairly, not favoring the highly favored financially with more esteem than the poor beggar, as both are included in His love.

For others to truly respect you, you must build a reputation that is foundational to trust, confidence, i.e. a person of commitment. Note what a grand pastor, writer and gentleman wrote on this:
“Confidence is necessary to respect. You cannot respect a man in whom you have no confidence.” A.W. Tozer.
If you are feeling disrespected, why not take time for a personal inventory.

Copyright © 2017 Larry Lilly

Respectful IT Work Oral Deckard

Chief Joseph on Troubled Situations

6/18/2017

LLLV17 6-19-2017 Chief Joseph on Helping Troubled Situations

A friend asked me, “Larry, why do you quote so many men and women of color?” My answer is simple, all humans are people of color. Black, White, Red, Yellow and variations of the above. Personally, I am part Red and part White. The dominate Gene appears to be Red. So, If I won’t quote people of color, must I quote a bark from old Yeller or perhaps Bambi?

Here’s a quote from a man of Dark Brown color, Booker T. Washington:

“There are two ways of exerting one's strength: One is pushing down, the other is pulling up.”

No matter what shade of humanity this quote comes from, it is helpful to all of us in that we are more like our Creator when we extend help to someone that needs a kind word or deed.

Put downs really have no place in the life of those of us who believe in Jesus Christ. All of Christendom will be better served when we learn to say and mean it, “Neither do I condemn thee…” thus following the example of the one who did the same for us.

One very wise person told me that I was going to get “burned” good, for attempting to help a certain person that had fallen out of favor with his group. I suppose the “favor of the group” is more important than doing the will of Christ and extending grace. It’s a matter of record that Jesus helped unpopular people and got crucified. Can we men and women of grace and courage do less?

Mahalia Jackson wrote:
“If I can help somebody, as I pass along,
If I can cheer somebody, with a word or song,
If I can show somebody, that he's traveling wrong,
Then my living shall not be in vain.

If I can do my duty, as a good man ought,
If I can bring back beauty, to a world up wrought,
If I can spread love's message, as the Master taught,
Then my living shall not be in vain.”

“I believe much trouble would be saved if we opened our hearts more.” Chief Joseph.

Are you “keeping down” or “helping up?”

Copyright © 2017 Larry Lilly
Non-Troubling IT work. Oral Deckard
Your address will not be sold or given to anyone for any reason.

Dr. Phil, Oprah and Candy Machine Lesson

6/14/2017

Had a spell of writer’s block and while staring at the blank screen, the phone rang, I answered and it was another tale of marital woe. I do recall a time, around 50 years ago, I was going through the same block and a man called to tell of his wonderfully happy marriage. I haven’t had such a call since. Life is strange, so you may identify with this from my morning Facebook rummaging:

“Anyone who says their wedding was the best day of their life, has never had 2 candy bars fall down at once from a vending machine!” Dianne Wilkinson.

It’s amazing how when you pray, God, just out of nowhere answers. Candy Machine, simply fell into my life, fresh from the Throne of Grace, wrapped in feathers from angel wings. What a way for the Lord to arouse me from writer’s block.

Now, instead of wading through piles of marriage counseling literature from the pens of Dr. Clyde Narramore, Dr. Phil, or Oprah Winfrey, I will redeem much of the Lord’s time by offering people four dollars to try their luck at a candy machine. I think there is one at the airport just up the road.

It’s probably a known psychological truth that 2 candy bars for the price of one, will, with infallible occurrence, trump a less than ideal marriage. The time I could have saved, the happiness to be poured into the world with this help I received moments ago is incalculable.

I know that some of my dear readers, perhaps you, will doubt the efficacy of an extra candy bar to wipe away the tears of a less than ideal marriage. But, hey, you’ve probably tried everything else.

We are taught that married people are to love each other as Christ loves, and to give ourselves, lock, stock and barrel to each other. Easy to say.

I am getting short on space, so Please Do Not Share this on Facebook! Joyce has an account. If she gets wind of this article I will spend a fortune in Candy Machines.

Copyright © 2017 Larry Lilly ROFL
Best IT Work. Oral Deckard

Charles Bukowski on Plain Speech

6/11/2017

LLLV17 6-12-2017 Charles Bukowski on Plain Speech

The speaker droned on and on. Many were fighting off the nod of fatigue and I was ready to scream. Why? Simple! A self-supposed genius was boring everyone to tears with his pretense of intellect. The subject was simple, yet he went around the known world to complicate it via 25 dollar words.

As he droned on, a phrase I had speared as it swam by came to mind:

“An intellectual is a man who says a simple thing in a difficult way; an artist is a man who says a difficult thing in a simple way.” Charles Bukowski.

While Bukowski was called “a low life writer” he reveled in the title, and lived the low life as one of the characters he wrote about. Yet, as I read about him and noted today’s quote, I thought, “Why can’t those of us who at least aspire to the higher moral plane, learn to use his common-sense advice and work on sharing the highest lifestyle in Creation in as simple a manner as possible? “

2Corinthians 3:12 “Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:”

The Apostle Paul was assuring his readers that while he was teaching the highest purpose of the Ten Commandments, and why they drive people to Christ, he was not using over the top words, past the understanding of the average person, but was choosing bold, simple, easily grasped words.

If I understand the biblical teaching of reaching the world with the truth of Jesus Christ, I am certain that the world needs the truth given in an understandable, level.

The Bible teacher, and by this, I mean all believers who want to be effective witnesses for the Lord, must, over time, learn the high intellectual meaning of the scriptures and then learn to state the truths in the dialect of the readers or hearers. The giant preacher of the 19th Century, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, taught his students to use language that brought the intellect to its highest peak, while putting some on the lower pantry shelf for the less learned.

We Christians, as artists who communicate the divine, must use words that are understood, else our magnificent artistry sits in a corner unsold.

Copyright © 2017 Larry Lilly
Simple IT Work. Oral Deckard

When commenting your email addy will never be sold or given to anyone.

The Apostle Jude and The Hokey Pokey

6/7/2017

LLLV17 6-8-2017 The Apostle Jude and The Hokey Pokey

Many churches are abandoning the old standby names and going to more up to date, hip types. Many old dried up names in our town have been thrown aside, in efforts to attract the “younger crowd.” Of course, others are wrestling with the idea of just how do you make a crucifixion attractive.

Our church will celebrate its 30th year about the Middle Fall season and we are thankful for this relative longevity in today’s ever-changing world. I did come up with a name, one that will also communicate what we are all about. Before proceeding I warn it did not go over very well. But then the congregation that I serve is well along in years, as am I. I fear to be still for over one minute because they may embalm me!

Tell me what you think about our suggested new moniker and slogan:

The Hokey Pokey Church, “The place to turn your life around.”

The complaints varied from serious theological conflict to outright disdain for giving the idea any thought. Most really liked the idea of the name as they recall the catchy song of a few years ago. (1826). The main objection was the fear that some would start doing the Hokey Pokey and break a hip. The second most, vociferous objection was the implication that people need to change. This surely would fly in the face of our politically correct members and drastically offend any outsider that was exposed to the old rants of change of this or that. We have come a long way since those archaic days and sermons. After all, relatives of several members have that, you know what kind of change, and we don’t want their feelings hurt.

So, here’s my dilemma; Do I split the church, continue the search for a newer, more meaningful name, one that will offend no one, or do I forget all about it and continue fervently serving, while being very careful to not offend with brutal crosses and supposedly delivered addicts, etc.?

Jude 1:3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

Leave it to the Bible to complicate things.

Copyright © 2017 Larry Lilly
Non-hokey IT Work. Oral Deckard
Comment! Your email addy will not be sold or given to anyone.

Why Wallow in the Quagmire of Self-Pity?

6/4/2017

Don Talafous tells of talking with a barrister who challenged him concerning religion with this statement:

"Give me a bit of wisdom, something to think about."

Don Responded with this:

“I recall a line from a writer who as a child of ten had discovered the murdered body of his mother. Asked in later years about how he has coped with this, he said, as if to distill his wisdom: "The abandonment of self-pity is the beginning of wisdom."

Self-Pity is a pit into which most of us fall on occasion. It’s a deep pit, and often we really need help to escape. Some use the phrase “wallowing in a sea of self-pity.”

I was and am deeply moved by Don’s statement to the barrister, “The abandonment of self-pity is the beginning of wisdom.”

The false causes of self-pity seem to number with the stars. The oldest one is used by Cain who pitied himself because God would not change His plan to suit him and so he killed his own brother. Self-pity is not usually an isolated problem with the person wallowing in it, but is a wide, spreading circle of destruction. Ahithophel, the grandfather of Bathsheba, hated David so much that he joined with the rebels to kill David and when that failed he took his own life. His self-pity destroyed him, as it did Cain. The list is long in biblical history as well as secular.

If ever a man had a case for self-pity it was Job, yet Job suffered the loss of lifelong achievement and accumulation as well as heart rending personal loss of family members. Yet there is no mention of Job taking his eye off God, and wallowing in a regimen of feeling sorry for himself.

When life hands you loss in whatever from, understand the Lord has His purposes and they are ultimately good. So, follow the lead of Job in his long reply to Bildad and repeat, out loud;

Job 19:25” But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, He will stand upon the earth. 26, After my skin is destroyed, then in my flesh shall I see God,”
Copyright © 2017 Larry Lilly
Worry Free IT. Oral Deckard
Darrell Case's new book, Tales From my Back Porch is available here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ukWQq5ak8s&feature=youtu.be
My June 17 Journal is now loaded you can read it by simply clicking on Journal June 17 at the top of site.
Your Comments are welcome. Your email address will never be sold or given to anyone for any reason.