Hunting Season Thoughts

I have some pictures I want to share from my opening weekend hunt last November. This is for all you hunters. But First, I want to share a few words with you.

As we go through our lives, we are to be fishers of men and not hunters of them. The point I want to make is that Fishermen cast bait in an attempt to get a nibble and catch fish. They do a lot of luring to get their fish and even the right fish. Hunters, unlike fishermen, while they may bait what they are hungin, they actually stalk and sneak up on their pray and then kill. Jesus told Simon and his brother Andrew to follow him and that He would make them fishers of men. (see Matt 4:19 & Mark 1:17) I don't think they really knew what He was saying when He told this to them. This, howerver, is the exact method we should use in sharing Christ with non-believers. We should fish for them and not hunt for them. And when we fish, let's make sure that we are not fishing in a stagnant pond. That would be like hunting in the same spot and expecting Polar Bear to show up in the desert. When we have the opportunity to share Christ with someone, do it from a fisherman's view by "casting the bait" and luring them to Christ by first being an example and second by giving them little nuggets of wisdom that would encourage them to want to know more. Be the trailor or the advertisement such as in a movie and then allow them to decide how much they want to nibble or take the bait to get to know Christ more.

Now, here are a few pictures of the Axis Buck and Sika Buck that I got this past opening weekend near Rocksprings, Tx in Novemeber.  I've got a trophy Axis already but this one weighed in at 200 lbs and it's got a beautiful colorful hide. I snapped some really nice shots of a bigger Sika Buck but I just couldn't pass this one up...I just wanted to have this Sika Buck to add to the collection of exotics from the ranch.

How exciting!

http://picasaweb.google.com/AlbertSurovik/DeerHunt2007

Handling Success

Handling Success
II Chronicles 16:16-31

You are successful by virtue of God’s continual and abundant gifts of grace, provision, and love – all heaped upon you. The more you obey and love Him; the more you make Him the center of your life; and the more you are thankful for the many gifts he has given you, the more you will see Him amazingly at work in every aspect of your life.

Hezekiah was one of the few good kings of Judah to actually love, serve, and obey God as his predecessor, king David had. Scripture makes it clear that Hezekiah was victorious, innovative, and successful in all he undertook. God made Hezekiah look like a champion as the Assyrians were threatening to annihilate Jerusalem. He (God) intervened through many miracles and wonders to rescue the people of Judah. He also gave Hezekiah great riches and honor (v27).

I teach Christ-centered entrepreneurial and personal success as a profession and business. One of the points that you will hear often within the body of our extensive training is that success can actually be one of the worst things that can ever happen to a person if they are not very careful. The primary drawback to success is that it can easily take the place of serving and loving God. We can unwittingly become dependent on success – the accomplishment itself, rather than rightfully depending on God.

The fact is, few individuals handle success well. Why - because with accomplishment, wins, and/or financial gain, pride inevitably steps into the picture. Pride deceives us into thinking that our success is self-created. We get puffed up, thinking our talent, work, and special abilities are the reasons we’ve excelled. We start feeling invincible, and we stop being humble before God. We stop being grateful to Him for His mighty works, while thinking of our success as our own creation. We can easily fall into the trap of thinking that "we’ve got it made". But the fact is, we didn’t make the success. After our initial self-congratulations, we then become dependent on our accolades, titles, positions, and the material objects we’ve received in the process.

Dependence on our success, or anything other than God Himself, is a major mistake!
Hezekiah was greatly esteemed by the people of Judah due to the fact that he was king at the time God performed many mighty miracles - most notably, delivering the land from their powerful enemies. But it wasn’t Hezekiah who was responsible for that success. Yes, he was in office and he received the accolades; but it was God who sent an angel to wipe out the opposing forces (see vv 20-22). Sennacherib, king of Assyria, had to withdraw in disgrace after he had taunted, threatened, and demeaned Hezekiah publicly. To make matters worse, the disgraced Assyrian king was soon-after killed at the sword of his own sons. The rescue of Judah, and Sennacherib’s demise were orchestrated and actuated by God, not Hezekiah.
Hezekiah, according to the worldly viewpoint of his countrymen and even his enemies, was greatly successful. But as we read on, the chronicler says that Hezekiah grew complacent in his success. He took his wealth and victories for granted. When one begins to take his/her success for granted, they tend to forget that it was only by God’s kindness (v25) that they were privileged to receive those signs, healings, and victories.

Today, despite your challenges, you are living a life of success, probably not on a numerical or positional scale that Hezekiah experienced. Nonetheless, you have great success in your life regardless of ledgers or comparisons. Your success, where you are right now, is something you should greatly appreciate and never take for granted. God has given you great miracles, signs, healings, and victories that you should be exceedingly thankful for, regardless of your socio-economic or power level. Your success is not just a past or present phenomenon; your future also holds great promise as well. God has an exciting future for you – one of amplified miracles, favor, blessings, and wealth as you obey and love Him. You can trust in God’s goodness and abundance both now and forever.

The stern side of this message is that God is angered when we don’t recognize the good He has done for us. Hezekiah’s complacency and pride greatly angered God. Vs 25 states, "But Hezekiah’s heart was proud and he did not respond to the kindness shown him; therefore the Lord’s wrath was on him, and on Judah and Jerusalem."

The story takes a good twist, however. Thankfully, "…Hezekiah repented of the pride of his heart, as did the people of Jerusalem; therefore the Lord’s wrath did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah." (V26) How are you handling your success? Have you recognized it? Are you thankful to God for it, or are you like Hezekiah prior to his repenting? It is a serious folly to not be fully aware of the success that God has given us. It is also folly to not recognize that He is currently doing a magnificent work in our lives. We must constantly recognize our many blessings, and fall humbly on our knees before Him in expression of our sincere gratitude. Psalm 24:1 makes it clear, "The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." That certainly is all-encompassing, and includes our very selves, as well as our success, accomplishments past, present, and future. He has bestowed many riches on us – many successes, and many miracles are occurring daily for you and for me.

Let us think of ourselves in terms of our success. Each of us has many victories to count and savor. And we continue to be successful as we recognize, love, obey, and depend upon our mighty God. He wants you to know that you are successful. He wants you to know that He is the source of that success. And He wants you to know that he is and always will be faithfully and consistently caring and providing for you.

That is super reason for our humble thanks and our constant adoration, and that is how we should be handling our success – today, right now. To Him be the glory - all praise and gratitude to the God of success, provision, rescue, power, miracles, and wonders!
By: Tim Darnell
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Prayer: Father, we thank you that you have given us great success, regardless of what the world may think. We repent of not recognizing your many gifts and that You are constantly at work in our lives. Thank you, oh Lord, our Creator and great Provider. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

Serving the Almighty!