10

Jump Start # 4110

Posted on July 10, 2026 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 4110

 

Malachi 1:6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master where is My respect? Says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. But you say, ‘How have we despised Your name.’”

 

The book of Malachi reveals some powerful spiritual lessons. A person can come back home. He can restore things externally. Everything can look good and seem fine, but the heart was never moved. Walls were repaired. Rubble was removed. Gates were put back in place. But what was not touched was the heart. The heart of the people was far from Jerusalem. The heart was not where it ought to have been.

 

What a great reminder for us. “Get to church,” we tell a family member, and out of guilt, pressure, fear they come. We are so happy. They are back we tell everyone. Yet, they are not back. Their hearts and minds are galaxies away from the Lord. They sit in a church building, but they do not follow the Lord.

 

And, in the development of these verses in Malachi, three fundamental principles are established.

 

First, God can be offended. We’ve gotten to the point in our culture where we have made God so desperate for our worship and attention, that He’ll accept anything. From rock concerts, to food courts, to dancing to comedy clubs, to dating services, the modern church has turned so far left that it cannot even see the Bible anymore. A few verses are sprinkled into pep talk sermons that are nothing more than self help talks.

 

In Malachi we find, “With such an offering on your part, will He receive any of you kindly?” What was the offering? Sick, crippled and diseased lambs, the stuff that no one else wanted. Don’t want to breed a diseased animal. The disease may carry on. Certainly can’t eat a diseased animal. They are worthless. So, this was the basis of their sacrifices. Give to God what nobody else wants. God will take it. He’ll take anything. God was offended. How little they thought about the Lord. How insignificant God was to them.

 

We need to open our eyes and see that what we do in worship may make us laugh, feel good on the inside and fire us up, but those very things might insult and offend the Lord. God may reject our worship.

 

Second, God is aware of what is going on. How did God know that the sacrifices were diseased and crippled? He saw. He knew. Malachi 1:7, says, “You are presenting defiled food upon My altar…” He saw. He knew. God knew when they complained that worship was so tiresome (1:13). Sleeping in worship, God sees. Playing on your phone during worship, God sees.

 

Not only does God see those things, He sees into our hearts. He knows the motives, the reasons and the attitudes that we carry. A right sacrifice can be ruined by the complaining heart of the one giving it.

 

Third, God was expectations. God was expecting honor and respect. Our verse shows that. We should never settle for substandard worship. We ought to try to bring the best to God every time. He has always given us the best.

 

In a broken system of worship, as we find in the opening sentences of Malachi, we find wonderful principles about how we ought to worship. Bring the best ought to be running through our veins and be woven into our spiritual DNA. This starts by thinking about Sunday other than on Sunday. Get to bed early on Saturday. Get things ready for the coming Sunday.

 

Don’t allow others to sour your attitudes or get you distracted by talking about weather, sports and politics. I hear this going on right up to the start of worship and as soon as worship is over, it fires back up again. So little “other time” to talk about the Lord. It seems that we are in a hurry to get thought worship so we could talk about the things we really want to talk about: sports, politics and the weather. It’s as if we have squeezed God in just as something we have to do.

 

Bring excellence. Bring the best.

 

Roger

 

09

Jump Start # 4109

Posted on July 9, 2026 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 4109

Psalm 116:15 “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones.”

 

Throwback Thursday: an article written from the past

 

The Death of a Christian

 

The Psalmist tells us, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones” (Ps 116:15). We also read in the last book of the Bible, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now one!” (Rev 14:13). It is often hard on us when we are feeling the pain and sorrow at the passing of a beloved Christian to think that such events are precious and blessed. But the death of a Christian means something that we often fail to see.

 

  It means that one has become what God wanted him to be. The life of a Christian is “choice and precious in the sight of God” (1 Pet 2:4). God wants us to be “conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom 8:29). Living for Christ is exactly what God wants us to be.

 

  It means that one has finished what God wanted him to do. God not only has an image that He wants us to be like, He also has a work that He wants us to be busy doing. Revelation 14:13 says concerning the dead who die in the Lord, “yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.” There is no reward for the one who quits. There is no praise to the one who fails. But to those who finish what God wants done, their death is blessed. Paul could say that he “fought the good fight, finished the course, and kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:7). Paul did what God wanted Him to do.

 

It means that one will enjoy what God has awaiting for him. Jesus has gone to “prepare a place” for the Christian (Jn 14:2-3). Christ calls us to “enter into the joy of your master” (Mt 25:21).

 

Indeed the life of a Christian is worth it. The death of a Christian is precious. It isn’t the end, but just the beginning of something special. The best is yet to come!

 

Roger

June 1996

 

08

Jump Start # 4108

Posted on July 8, 2026 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 4108

 

2 Corinthians 5:11 “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.”

 

Ambition—fire in the gut, get up and go, drive, motivation, achievement, however you word it, it’s one of the keys to making a difference in the world. The opposite of this word brings images of laziness, slowness, clueless and procrastination. Ambition in business makes sales and brings in the cash. Ambition in sports leads to victories. Ambition in education leads to advanced degrees and scholarships. But, somewhere along the line, we’ve seemed to drop the ball when it comes to spiritual ambition. Some are content to coast. Some have settled for mediocracy. Some like being average, whatever that is.

 

Our verse today, one of many, that paints the picture of a Christian who cannot be stopped. He is driven. He has goals. First and foremost, he wants to please his Lord. Here, there, anywhere, his heart is shaped around the Lord. At work, he’s God focused. At home, God is on his mind. On the golf course, in the movie theatre, on a road trip, his heart is pleasant because his mind is determined to please the Lord. He doesn’t define his life by what he owns or where he has been. Those things are nice, but that’s not what life is.

 

Lazy Christians stuck on autopilot don’t add much to a congregation. They won’t be evangelistic. They make poor deacons and terrible shepherds. Kicking the can down the road is the mindset of those who lack ambition. Jump in there and tackle the big project. Roll up your sleeves and get busy for the Lord.

 

Sixteen years ago, as we began this little venture of writing these daily blogs, I chose the title, “Jump Starts.” Just as a car battery might need a jump to get things going, so do we spiritually. That was the intent and idea behind this project. Start the morning with a passage and a few sentences from me and let that motivate you to do great things in the kingdom. Jump Start. Sometimes the car battery can’t be jumped. The battery is dead. Nothing more can be done expect replace it. Spiritually there are times when some may need a jolt to wake up and use their talents for the Lord. A serious talk about the direction of their life, or some opportunities to get involved may be the very thing that some need. Pew potatoes is not what our Lord needs.

 

So, let me share with you one aspect of getting the drive back in your spiritual life. This isn’t the only thing, but this is a big thing. It requires effort, time and risk. But, what a wonderful difference it will make in your life.

 

First, everyone needs a mentor to learn from. Someone who spiritually you admire. Someone who is spiritually farther down the road than you are. More knowledgeable, more mature, more active, more influential than you and you recognize that. You admire that. You want to be like that.

 

Reach out to that person. Have lunch with that person. Talk seriously about how they got where they are. Ask for tips. Ask if you can tag along as they do things. Ask if you can study with them. You are learning. Your ambition needle is moving in the right direction. You hope to become like them someday. You know it isn’t by luck or chance, but by the spiritual choices that they have made. Find out what those choices were. The person doesn’t have to be older than you are. In fact, they may be younger than you.

 

Do you have a spiritual mentor in your life? I’ve been preaching nearly 50 years and I do. In fact, I have several. My they have helped me in the area of attitude, patience, Biblical understanding and faith. Love my mentors. Can’t imagine what life would be without them.

 

Second, everyone needs a friend to encourage. Be the fresh air upon someone’s soul. Help someone in the congregation. The closer you are to such a person, the more you will share life with each other. You have laughed together. You have worked on projects together. You have prayed together. You have cried together. You’ve shared concerns about family and church. You have shot straight with this person, even saying the hard stuff with them. But through the years the encouragement bouncing back and forth between you and your spiritual friend has been incredible. What a joy this person is to you soul.

 

Many do not have such relationships in the congregation. They assemble weekly with the same people, know them superficially and casually but wouldn’t consider them deep spiritual friends. Gotta work on that. Go out of your way and build those relationsips. You need it. They need it. They may be waiting for you to take the first step.

 

Third, you need a protégé to teach. You need to become the mentor for someone else. Let them ask you the questions that you’d ask your mentor. Let them probe into your heart and soul to learn to be a true disciple of Jesus. Be there for them. Give time for them. They look up to you and they admire you and they want to be like you.

 

And, right there, we have established ambition. Someone ahead of me to learn from. Someone beside me to encourage. Someone behind me to teach. When you have all three going in your life, you are busy. You heart is full. And, you’ll notice a spiritual drive that hasn’t been there for a long, long time.

 

Mentoring, encouraging, and teaching—you can do that. Give it a try.

 

Roger

 

07

Jump Start # 4107

Posted on July 7, 2026 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 4107

 

1 Peter 3:15 “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.”

 

It is interesting the vast amount of detail that goes into Paul’s journey to Rome. All told, Luke gives us 58 verses highlighting that journey. There is more verses about going to Rome, than Peter’s sermon in the second chapter, or the first Gentile converts in chapter 10. Now, if one is not careful, they could falsely conclude that the trip to Rome was more important than the conversions, based upon the amount of verses used to describe these things. But, that is not the case.

 

Many things happened on that journey. God detailed it for us to know. How easily the text could say that Paul got on a ship and a while later he is in Rome. But the journey was frightful. Death was in the air. They feared a shipwreck. Then the guards threatened to kill the prisoners fearing that some may escape. Reaching  an island, Paul is bitten by a poisonous snake. Tucked neatly in these verses are the care, providence and even a few miracles of God. As Paul journeyed to Rome as a prisoner, the Lord was with him.

 

And, that may be the reason Luke gives us so many verses about this ocean trip of Paul. There are moments in our lives that are scary. There are times when we are alone.  There are many moments when we must rely upon our faith to get us through. And, these last pages of Acts can really encourage and help us.

 

Some thoughts for us:

 

First, sometimes the promises of God may seem like just words on a page until we see them in action. Paul shows us that God is true and faithful to what He has said. We know and now we see. God did not desert Paul and the Lord will not desert us.

 

Second, these pages reminds us that God does not shelter His people from scary moments. The ship Paul was on nearly went down several times. He told the Corinthians that he was shipwrecked three times and spent the night in the ocean waters. Frightful times. We have them as well. Ambulance rides to the hospital. Calls late in the night telling us someone was at the door of death. Moments that demand prayers. Moments when we can’t but pray. Paul was there. We understand.

 

Third, we see the confidence and faith in Paul. He is not losing his cool. He has not abandoned faith. He seems in control of an out of control situation. When all around are screaming the sky is falling, you remain calm and prayerful. When others declare that nothing like this has ever happened, you know the stories from the Bible. The winds blow. The waves crash in. However, we remain sure and steadfast because we have built a foundation upon the rock. That rock is Jesus. That foundation doesn’t stop the wind and the waves, but it does keep us from moving.

 

There is a hope, as our verse today highlights, that many are seeing in you. That hope rises quickly to the top in seasons of crisis and trouble. When everyone is scrambling to figure out what to do, you know. You are sure. God is there and to God we will be true.

 

Many are on the move today. Away from the Bible to embrace feelings and something new. Some are always looking for something new. Never satisfied and never content, they blow like a paper plate on a windy day. Chasing the latest fad. Reading the newest book. Listening to the most popular podcast.

 

But it was what Paul knew that kept his faith that remained true and sure.

 

Roger

 

06

Jump Start # 4106

Posted on July 6, 2026 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 4106

 

1 Timothy 4:12 “Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.”

 

I’ve noticed in the news lately a number of “pastors” who have been fired or arrested for inappropriate sexual behavior. Some committed adultery while they were married. Some have been involved in sexual activity with underaged young people. Warren Berkley in one of his books about preachers stated that he knew of more than fifty gospel preachers that had been involved in adultery. I don’t know as a “profession” if preachers have a higher rate of unfaithfulness than attorneys, or athletes or plumbers. Those of the world, who live by the standard of self, aren’t shocked by these things. Those of faith are. We are more shocked by the trouble within our fellowship. Too close to home. They ought to know better. Something is wrong.

 

Here are some thoughts:

 

First, the steps toward adultery begin with a heart that is not committed, focused nor intent upon the Lord. Preachers need to listen to their own sermons. What is missing are the daily spiritual habits of faith that keeps one connected and close to the Lord. Our faith can easily turn into a church building, Sunday morning external event that is left at the building when we go home. Sunday worship is just one part of our faith. It is not all of our faith. Those daily disciplines are a must to keep one in the lane that God wants us to be in.

 

Young Timothy, from our verse today, was to be a model of faith. Young people CAN do it. Speech. Conduct. Love. Faith. Purity. Inside of you, outside of you, alone or with others, your faith in Christ is what must be real, alive and active.

 

Second, we must realize that the devil knows us. He knows what buttons to push. He is a master at temptation. Away from home. Tired. Late at night. Those are all the proper settings for Satan to start pumping thoughts into our minds that are not wholesome, pure and right. Toss in some movies or videos that we ought not to be watching, and now temptation is pounding on the front door of your heart.

 

It’s time God’s people become honest, open and aggressive about pornography. It’s tearing hearts away from the Lord, ripping apart marriages and leaving a trail of ruined lives. Pornography is NOT grounds for divorce, even though some around us are proclaiming that. Yet, that does not mean porn is innocent and ok. It’s not OK. And, stats now show that women are into porn about as much as men are.

 

Paul told the Corinthians, “We are taking every thought captive for the obedience of Christ.” The Philppians were told to let their minds dwell upon what was pure. Impure actions come from minds that are thinking impurities. The battle for faithfulness sexually begins with the battle within our minds. Allowing yourself to become weak spiritually not only hurts yourself, but it hurts your family and it hurts the congregation. Be strong, the Ephesians were told. Resist the devil, is what James said.

 

Recognize the moments when you are vunerable. Know when the devil is coming after you. Wars are rarely won by one single battle. It’s a series of skirmishes. One after another. Keep yourself pure today.

 

Third, don’t put yourself in situations that will compromise your faith. Don’t do that. Preachers, if a woman wants to talk with you, include someone else. Meet in a public place. Tell others what you are doing. Give no reason for someone to question what you are doing. Being naïve, clueless or thinking nothing would ever happen is just the way Satan wants you to be. Take that away from him. Don’t put yourself in harm’s way. I’d much rather others think that I am an old fuddy duddy than to come across as a flirt. But that’s not enough. Others may come flirting towards you. And, here is where I believe many of the preachers and “pastors” of the world get into trouble. We love attention. Tell us how great we are. Feed the ego. And, like that, we drop our guard and love the praise and adoration that comes our direction. Like screaming fans at their favorite rock stars, preachers who are not settled in their faith nor understand their role in the kingdom, are swooned into the arms of someone that they are not married to. Deep inside they know this is wrong, but they don’t get that kind of attention at home. A moment crosses the line of decency and right and wrong and just like that sin takes place. Satan smiles and the deception, lies and cover up begins.

 

Long before any of this happened, humbleness was lost. Some preach because of the thrill that they get each week from members fanning over them. Their heads swell because they have believed that they have become the greatest thing since the apostles. The problem is not sexuality. It is understanding that you are just one of God’s  many tools. You can’t walk on water. You are not one of the chosen. You are just one avenue to help people see Jesus. Instead of hiding behind the cross, some have come out and stood in front of the cross. We now can’t see the cross because the preacher is standing in front of it. All we see is the preacher.

 

Humble yourself. Quite thinking about yourself and focus upon the Lord. These things are a faith issue.

 

May we do better. It begins at home. It begins in our hearts.

 

Roger