Down The Rabbit Hole

Isn’t technology wonderful? I love the Carrollian “rabbit hole” that the internet offers, opening doors of exploration never before available to mankind. Why, Google alone offers us the opportunity to explore avenues of adventure that our predecessors would never have even dreamed of. One such adventure occurred to me the other day when I decided to Google my own name, just to see if there were any references to me on the internet. I have to say that the results about me personally were a little disappointing to my ego, but as I followed the links describing others who share my name, I was struck with an intriguing thought. What if you could get up every morning and decide which of the various and sundry lives of people that share your name you wanted to live that day? For me personally, I think it would be fascinating. With my personal fondness for sports, I think I would start out with a day as the Co-head Football, Girls Basketball, Wrestling, and Track Coach for Dundee County/Stratton Public Schools. Just about any day of the year would be interesting and exciting in the life of that Marty Hughes. If I wanted to see what the world of big business and high finance was like, I could spend a day as the Marty Hughes who serves as the Chairman and CEO of the brokerage firm, HUB International. If I wanted to try something new and exciting, I could take the place of the Marty Hughes who plays collegiate hockey for Boston College or the Stock Car Racer from Lancaster, PA. Some weekend, I think I’d like to sit in for the Jazz aficionado, just to see what the life of a musician is like. If I wanted to help people, I could take my pick of the North Carolina veterinarian, or the Optometrist from Tennessee, or even the humanitarian who is carrying on the work of Mother Teresa. They all share my name. If I need some time off, I can just fill in for the Nebraska fishing guide that specializes in fishing from a kayak. They call him Kayak Jack, but his real name is, you guessed it, Marty Hughes. But with my sense of humor, I think that the one on the top of my list would be the Marty Hughes who serves as the President of the Notre Dame Bagpipe Band, although I’m sure he can get annoying at times. This Walter Mitty fantasy journey is something that intrigues me, but then again, I am easily entertained. I have to say, most days, I really love the life I already have, so I’m sure it wouldn’t take long for me to head right back home where I belong. The Bible encourages us to be content with what we have.  I have to confess that although I have lived a charmed life and God has given me everything that my heart could desire, I sometimes find myself struggling with contentment.  I guess it is the human tendency to take things for granted and not live in the joy of the moment, but I have found that the best way to deal with it when it comes, is to begin to look at the things that I have to be thankful for.  God is good all of the time, even if we have to take a closer look to see it once in a while.  And besides, I don't even know how to play the bagpipes. :0)

Tearing Down Strongholds

The giants that we face in our daily lives are generally tied to spiritual strongholds.  Neill Anderson defines a stronghold as "a mindset, impregnated with hopelessness that convinces a believer that something that they know to be contrary to the Word and will of God is an unchangeable in their life."  The sin itself is not the stronghold, it is the deceived thought pattern that leads us into that sin again and again.  These are the rationalizations that we use to justify our actions and they keep us bound up in our sin.  "It's not hurting anybody."  "I know I have a temper, but I'm Irish."  "Well, I just speak my mind, and people will just have to get used to it."  We need to recognize that these false impressions build prison walls around us and they must be torn down if we are going to live victorious Christian lives.  The good news is that Jesus has provided the weapons that we need to tear down these strongholds, the authority of His name and the power of His blood.  Without taking up too much space today, let me walk you through the process of breaking free from the chains of spiritual strongholds.
First, you need to recognize them as sin.  This requires that you take a good, long look at your daily life and ask God to reveal anything that is displeasing to Him.  Then take some time just to listen for His voice and commit yourself to respond to whatever He asks.
Second, you must repent.  Repentance is a change of heart that leads to a change of direction.  It is both a decision and a process.  There must be a point of decision where you say, I am turning from my sin to God and there is a process whereby you actively move away from your sin and draw closer to the Lord.  It takes time and determination to break the patterns that you have developed in your life and to replace them with things that edify rather than destroy.
Third, you need to renounce the stronghold that Satan has had in your heart and mind.  A stronghold is a place of refuge that you have given Satan so that he can return again and again with the same temptation.  You need to evict him in the name of Jesus and through the power of His blood.  Do this out loud so there is no doubt that Satan will know that he no longer has any right to this area of your life.
Next, you need to ask the Lord to reclaim the ground that you have surrendered to this stronghold.  The time, energy, and resources that you have spent pursuing your sin should be dedicated to pursuing a closer walk with the Lord.  Surrender it to Him and ask Him to reclaim it for Himself.
Then, ask the Holy Spirit to refill that area of your life so that it brings forth the fruit of the Spirit instead of the works of the flesh.  The filling of the Holy Spirit is the active surrender of every area of our life to His control.  Strongholds reserve parts of our lives for ourselves or worse yet for Satanic influence.  We need to ask the Holy Spirit to refill that area and use it for God's glory and honor.
Finally, we need to rejoice in the victory that Christ has already won for us.  This is often an act of faith, because we may not see it outwardly immediately, but the Bible says that "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."  Your freedom is promised and assured, so go ahead and celebrate.  Show God that you take Him at His Word. 
II Cor. 10:4,5 talk about these weapons and encourage us to tear down the strongholds in our lives.  As long as we are bound up in the prison house, we will never be able to face our giants.  It's time to break free!

Fighting For Freedom

Most of the giants that we face in our daily lives are things that want to put us into bondage.  The Bible says that our enemies are the world, the flesh, and the devil, and each of these would like nothing more than to wrap us in chains so that we could never escape, chains of addiction, regret, bitterness, pettiness, unforgiveness, anger, and materialism.  Goliath tried to broker a deal with the armies of Israel.  He said, "Why should we take the risk of fighting a major battle at the cost of hundreds of lives, when we can just have a simple mano-a-mano contest with the prize being your liberty.  If you win, we'll serve you.  If I win, you will become our slaves. I'm sure that many in Saul's army were thinking that maybe this was the easy way out.  Sure, they would be slaves, but they wouldn't die in a hopeless battle against a giant and his minions. 
Goliath, like the giants that we face, defied the Lord.  He asserted that God wasn't big enough to give them the victory.  And most of the army of Israel believed that he was right.  Often, we simply give in to our problems because we don't have enough faith to believe that God is bigger than our giant. The result is spiritual bondage that saps us of our strength and passion to serve the Lord.  I Samuel tells us that the soldiers were fearful and dismayed, so much so that they wouldn't even fight for their freedom.  Many Christians have ended up in the same place.  They are so bound up in their sin that they aren't even fighting any more, and all because they have lost sight of just how big their God really is. 
David, on the other hand, had seen God work in his life before and knew that no giant was big enough to stand against Him.  He entered the battle with a confident faith that proved to be the deciding factor. 
If we are going to become Champions for Christ, then we are going to have to deal with our strongholds and break free from our chains.  The first step to freedom is getting a glimpse of just how big our God really is.  Once we know that, the giant doesn't look so big after all. And the victory that comes when we stand in the power of His might, brings a new freedom like we have never known. 

Prone To Wander, Lord I Feel It

Robert Robinson, in his classic hymn, Come, Thou Fount, expressed a common struggle that we all feel from time to time, the world's tug upon our heart.  He spoke of "how great a debtor" to God's grace he found himself to be on a daily basis.  His old heart was "prone to wander" and always tempted to leave the God that he genuinely loved.  Robinson recognized that he needed God's love and grace to bind his heart to God's heart and to seal it for eternity.  No matter how active we are in the service of the Lord, the world's siren song is always ringing out.  We need to beware the carelessness that could cause us to stumble and fall.  We need to walk closer to our Savior so that He can lead the way and protect us in the path.  The following is a poem that I wrote while thinking about this human struggle.  I hope it is a blessing to you.

THE WANDERER'S PRAYER

Alas, Dear Lord, I fear this day,

for I have chosen my own way.

This path that not so long ago

Seemed right for me. Now, I don't know.

The way is slip'ry, and sometimes steep

And I, just like a wandering sheep,

Have strayed from where you safely led,

By quiet waters and peaceful bed,

To this place filled with sin's loud call

Where careless steps may mean a fall.

O Lord, I need your guiding light,

A beacon in this lonely night,

I need your comfort and your love.

I need your mercy from above.

And strengthen me to face each test,

And help me know Your way is best

Overcoming Obstacles To Becoming a Champion

The story of David and Goliath is used regularly in our society to illustrate the struggle of someone who finds themselves facing insurmountable odds.  But as I have said throughout this series, David didn't just stumble into this circumstance, he fought to be there facing Goliath in the name of the Lord.  And if you read the account in I Samuel 17, there were several obstacles that David had to overcome before he ever found himself standing beside the brook at Elah.  Remember, David was just a teenager.  He had been a musician in the king's court for a while, playing the Iron Age equivalent of Muzak so that Saul's temper wouldn't flare up, but then he was sent back home and, as the youngest, was once again relegated to tending the sheep.  The one annointed to be Saul's successor as king of Israel, sitting on a rock watching the sheep graze.  So the first obstacle that he had to overcome was the common problem of inertia, getting started.  Many Christians live their entire Christian lives thinking, "One of these days, I'm gonna really do something for the Lord.  One of these days, I'm gonna make a difference."  And yet they never take that first step toward active service for God.  David's first step was to be the lunch delivery boy.  His father said, "Here, take these cheese sandwiches down to your brothers and bring me back a little report on how things are going."  So, off David went.  But when he got to the battlefield, he ran into another obstacle.  When David heard about the "Goliath predicament," he got stirred up.  How could this pagan Gentile be allowed to say the things he was saying against God and God's armies?  But as he looked around him, all he saw were eyes filled with fear.  And that's when the leader in David kicked in.  He pulled out his little soap box and started to proclaim the necessity for someone to stand up for the name of the Lord.  Someone had to vindicate God by dispatching this bully with a glandular problem.  And David's words were starting to have impact, when His big brother, Eliab, showed up. Now when you read this story, don't forget that it hasn't been that long since Samuel had overlooked, if not rejected, Eliab in order to annoint David king.  So maybe it was jealousy or maybe it was just a big brother's tendency to criticize the baby, but Eliab unloaded on David.  His words cut deep, implying that David had no right to be here, his job was insignificant and maybe he was too, he was arrogant and his motives were wrong.  Wow, Eliab, tell us what you really think!  David had seen the need and had stepped up to face it, but before he could ever confront the giant, he had to deal with criticism from someone who should have been his biggest supporter.  But David didn't let that stop him.  He simply answered, "Is there not a cause?"  As Christians, we must get past our petty differences, some that come from unexpected sources and are deeply painful, and we must focus on the cause, the mission, the giant that is in our path.  David turned from Eliab and continued to address the soldiers trying to motivate them to fight this battle, but in the end, David was the only one willing to take the risk and fight the giant.
When David was brought before King Saul, he faced more obstacles.  At this point David was attacked with doubt about his qualifications and his methods.  The king said, "You're just a kid.  Surely you can't do this."  Once David insisted that he was the man....uhh, or boy... for the job, then he faced another hurdle.  Saul insisted that if David was going to do this, that he needed to do it the way that Saul wanted it to be done.  Saul said, "Here, use my armor."  But it didn't fit David and it wasn't the weapon that God had already shown David how to use effectively.  Many Christians get caught in the trap of trying to do things the way that they have always been done or like old Professor Hornblower used to do it, when God may have a unique pattern and method that He has called for them to use.  David had to fight the battle using the weapons that God had provided and proven.  When David got to the brook at Elah, he found himself face to face with Goliath, and here he had to deal with the most difficult obstacle yet, his own fear.  Goliath saw David heading his way and he began to laugh and mock.  He threatened David that he was going to feed him to the birds.  If David was going to give in to fear, that would have been where it would have happened, but David was walking in faith and all of Goliath's threats slid off like water off a duck's back.  When David stood up after choosing his five smooth stones, there was no turning back. 
We need to remember that if we are going to be champions for God, then we are going to face obstacles.  We are going to have to deal with criticism from unexpected sources.  We are going to have to overcome the doubts of those around us.  And we are going to have to face our fears with faith that God is going to show up.  And we need to keep practicing with that slingshot! :0)

A Man After God's Own Heart

After my last blog post, I had a friend ask me, "How was David a man after God's own heart if he did all that he did?"  That's a great question, especially since David is viewed as such a hero and role model for so many Christians.  I believe that the answer is found by looking at when that statement was made about David.  We find it two times in Scripture.  The first time, in I Samuel 13:14, we hear Samuel telling King Saul that God had taken his kingdom away because of his heart of disobedience.  David was chosen to be king because his heart was wholly given to seeking the Lord and following after Him.  David's spirit was displayed in his attitude toward Saul, in his zeal for the name of the Lord during his battle with Goliath, and in his deep desire to build a dwelling place for God, and in the fact that he led the nation of Israel to worship God and God alone.  David's lapse and descent into sin, came much later in life, but even there, David displayed the kind of heart that honors God.  When David sinned, he came to full repentance, he humbled himself before the Lord, and he gave everything he had to be restored to fellowship.  One of the characteristics of Scripture that testifies to its credibility is the fact that it doesn't gloss over the failures and weaknesses of its heroes.  David's sin with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah, were horrible failures, but God is a God that looks at people as redeemable rather than disposable.  He forgave David, although the consequences of David's sin were long-lasting and far-reaching, and He restored David to a place of fellowship and blessing.
The second place in Scripture where we find this reference is in Acts 13.  Paul refers this statement as a part of his argument that Jesus is the Messiah.  He came through the line of David, a man after God's own heart, who would fulfill all of God's will.  This statement is a historical overview of the entire life of David, the place that he had in the history of the Jewish people and his role in the coming of the Messiah.  It was the sum total after all the good and the bad had been figured in.  David's downfall should never be used as an excuse for sin in the life of a Christian, but it should also never be used to set aside the things that God accomplished through him as a result of the great majority of his life when he followed hard after God with all his heart and soul.
So, we can use David as a role model in several ways, both as an example of the things that we should do in order to be the kind of man that God wants us to be, and as a warning against the kind of things that can destroy a man's life and testimony and rob him of fellowship with God.  And when we sin, we can follow his example of humble repentance, full confession and brokenness before God so that we can find that place of complete restoration that David found.  Not bad for the runt of the litter, huh?

A Heart for God

What was it that made David God's choice to be king over His people?  It wasn't the obvious things that usually set someone apart.  When Samuel came to Bethlehem to anoint a new king, his first impression was that David's oldest brother, Eliab, was the one.  But God had His own set of criteria for choosing a king.  He wanted a man after His own heart.  It wasn't his strength and stature.  It wasn't his outward appearance or the leadership skills that came with his birthright.  It wasn't age and experience.  God looked on the heart.  But what did He see when He looked at David's heart?  He saw a young man whose soul thirsted after God (Ps. 42:1).  He saw a student who was dedicated to learning God's ways and following them. (Ps. 25:4)  He saw a hungry soul who loved the Word of God like his necessary food.  He saw a worshipper whose expressions of praise flowed from a thankful heart.  And most of all, He saw a man of faith who believed that God would do mighty things through him if he would only place himself in God's hand. David's victory over Goliath is just the outward fruit of an inward reliance upon God that had been David's lifelong habit. 
If we want to see God working in our life in this way, then we are going to have to develop the heart for God that David possessed.  We cannot simply desire to see God's hand, we must seek His face.  Too often we treat God like a mail-order catalog, when He wants to have an intimate personal relationship with us.  The way that God works in our lives has everything to do with the relationship that we have with Him.  So the first giant that we must face in order to be like David is a heart that is hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.  We need to draw close to God so that he can do a work in us before he will ever do a great work through us.  My prayer for you today is that you become a child after God's own heart.

Running Toward Goliath

It's one of the most-beloved of all the stories in the Bible and it is probably the most often used analogy from Scripture applied in the arenas of sports, politics, and business; David and Goliath, the underdog tale of underdog tales.  Whenever someone seems to be facing insurmountable odds, this story is brought to mind.  But there is something here that many people miss, and that is that David didn't just find himself in an impossible situation, he fought to get there.  He had to overcome an awful lot of obstacles just to be standing there beside the brook at Elah.  And when he looked up at the giant, that wasn't fear in his eye.  It was the sparkle that comes when a person knows that he is about to see God do something amazing.  So who was this kid with the slingshot and the dead-eye aim?  Where did he get the 'chutzpah' to stand up to a warrior who had shouted the entire army of the Lord into cowardly silence? In actuality, David was the runt of the litter.  He had seven brothers who were taller, stronger, better looking and more battle-ready.  But David had one thing that they didn't have and it made all the difference.  David had a heart for God.  David had dedicated his young life to following after God, seeking His face, and stepping out in faith to fulfill whatever challenge that God had placed before Him.  When he was charged with watching the sheep, he took it as a sacred calling and defied the lion and the bear to stop him from fulfilling it.  When he found himself on the back side of the mountain in pleasant pastures and peaceful times, he filled the hours with worship and sought to know His God more intimately.  When given the opportunity to go to the warrior's camp, he jumped at it, eager to see the armies of the Lord, fighting the good fight and subduing God's enemies.  What he saw instead were a pack of whipped puppies with their tails between their legs. 
David's approach was simple.  He never looked at the Giant.  He stayed focused on his God.  He looked past the circumstance and looked to the cause.  He knew from experience that it was God's battle and that He would do the fighting.  All David had to do was be the weapon in His hand.  And so, as David crouched there by the brook, his carefully chosen weapons in his hands, he slowly began to rise, each step fell faster than the last until he was running toward the Philistine with all that he had.  And with a final twirl of his wrist made mighty by his passion for God and guided to its target by his surrender to the Spirit, David fired the shot heard down through the ages and Goliath fell.
Over the next several blog posts, I want to show you how to follow in David's footsteps and defeat the giants in your life.  There will be those that question your motives and qualifications.  Others will try to encumber you with their way of fighting the battle.  You will face the mockery of the enemy, but never fear.  The giant is going down.

Free At Last!

Ten years ago, the leadership of Independent Baptist Church saw a need to expand their ministry to young families in Grove. In response to that need they began the process of building a Family Life Center. When Pastor Marty Hughes came to the church in 2004, the building was up, the gym floor was usable, but the rest of the infrastructure was unfinished. Seeing the wonderful potential of what they had started, Pastor Hughes led the church to resume the building process. In November of 2007, the church entered a capital funds campaign that they called Faith2Finish, with the expressed goals of finishing the building and paying off the remaining debt in three years time. In September of 2008, IBC held a Grand Opening for its completed Family Life Center, featuring a fully furnished guest quarters for visiting speakers, a 30x30 youth meeting room, a 30x30 game and fellowship room, restrooms equipped with showers, and a concession area. On Sunday, June 6th, six months ahead of schedule, the church burned the mortgage achieving its dream of a wonderful ministry facility and freedom from debt.


Board Chairman Bruce Hensley, of H & H Construction served as General Contractor on the building and Deacons Chuck Nelson and Don Brewer spent almost every day for the final year and a half of the project moving the building toward completion. The faithful efforts and sacrificial giving of the entire Independent Baptist Church family have led to a wonderful tool for the thriving youth ministry of the church that is led by David and Khristi Hardesty and Jason and Becky Dantic. IBC's cooperation with the Grove YMCA has led to a steady flow of families through the facility since its opening, as the building serves as the venue for the YMCA's Adult Coed Volleyball League and as a practice site for their Youth Basketball League.

Pastor Marty Hughes said, "We thank the Lord for providing us with a place and an opportunity to reach out and minister to the young families of Grove and the surrounding area. And we plan to see that vision bear fruit in a powerful way as we head into the future."

Living the Examined Life

Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living."  I'm not sure of his context, but in the Christian context, this is a very true statement.  We have a tendency to go through the motions and wander off down paths that are either unproductive or personally harmful.  One of the most beneficial things that we can do is to take a step back and examine our thoughts, actions, attitudes, and beliefs with a somewhat critical eye.    When we do this, God will reveal to us those things that are weighing us down or causing us to stumble.  Some of these things are good things, just not the best things.  We often allow our lives to become cluttered with things that really don't matter much.  They rob us of the time, energy, and motivation to do the things that God has really called us to do.  One of the principles that I have learned from reading leadership books by John Maxwell and others is that, as a Pastor, I should delegate everything that I possibly can so that I can devote my time to the things that only I can do.  The Apostles did this in Acts chapter 6, when they chose the first deacons and gave them the responsibility of dealing with the needs of the widows in the church.  They did this so that they could devote themselves to the Word of God and to prayer.  Those were things that no one else could do for them.  As Christians, we need to take a little time each day to determine what are the very few things that only we can do and then set out with all of our resources, strength, and passion to see them accomplished.  By examining our daily practices and attitudes, we can focus on the things that really produce fruit in our lives.  The end result is a more fruitful Christian life and a more satisfying and fulfilling relationship with God.  So I would modify Socrates' statement just a bit and say, "The examined life leads to fruitfulness, faithfulness and fulfillment."

Yad Vashem

One of the most soul-stirring stops on my recent trip to Israel had little to do with it's role as the birthplace of Christ.  We took an afternoon at Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Museum and what I saw there had a great impact on me.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside, so the only ones that I have are from the Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations and the Children's Memorial, but I do have something else that I was left with after my visit.  As I wandered through each exhibit, I was struck by the cruelty and inhumanity that was perpetrated upon the Jews.  I saw how the Nazi regime systematically tried to wipe the Jewish race off the face of the earth.  In the spirit of Pharoah, Haman, and Titus, they set out to remove every remembrance of God's people from the record.  The name, "Yad Vashem" comes from Isaiah 56:5 and loosely translated means, "a place and a name."  As I walked through the museum, I could hear the voices of the 6 million Jews, over 1.5 million of them children, who were mercilessly slaughtered at the hands of diabolical men, whispering, "Please, remember me.  Don't let my death be in vain.  Never again allow the world to sit by and rationalize their inaction while people are being slaughtered."  The first couple of stanzas of this poem began to take shape while I was in the museum.  Other impressions were jotted down on paper in the days following.  It is only now that I have been able to gather those thoughts and impressions into coherent form.  I hope that they will stir you as they have stirred me.

Yad Vashem

Horrific scenes in black and white portrayed upon the wall,
From 70 years of darkness, their silenced voices call.
Their homes destroyed, their lives cut short, forced to hide or flee
I see them now and hear them say, Oh please remember me!

The stories of their brokenness, the pictures of their pain
The haunting questions of the past, and history’s shameful stain
The darkest secrets of our time, revealed for all to see
So that others will not have to die, Oh please remember me!

Down a pathway marked with broken stones, solemnly we are led,
Into a room of portraits, where children’s names are read
Five candles of remembrance, reflected endlessly,
The voice of every murdered child cries, Please remember me!

An Avenue of Righteous Ones commemorates the light
Brought to the hopeless darkness by those who saw their plight
The ones among the nations who heard their desperate plea
And sacrificed and risked their lives, when they heard, Remember me.

From the ashes of those tragic days, a nation has arisen
And like the phoenix they ascend from the smoke of hatred’s prison
The voice of the heroes reminds us of the price paid to be free
And lest this ever happen again, they cry, remember me.