Looking Up When You're Down

Two amateur prospectors were dredging for gold in the north fork of California’s American River. Twenty-three-year-old Mike Astle was in scuba gear, guiding a suction hose over the gravelly river bottom. His cousin, 26-year-old Dave Burgess, was on the shore maintaining the dredger.

While under the water, Mike heard a booming sound. Curious, he surfaced just in time to see a huge rock tumble down the mountain and hit Dave square in the chest.

The blow sent Dave backward into the water where the five-foot-wide boulder pinned his legs to the river bottom. He was left in a sitting position with his face three inches below the surface.

Mike quickly plunged the mouthpiece of his air tank into Dave’s mouth, but the regulator malfunctioned. Underwater, Dave could only arch helplessly toward the life-giving air so close to his face.

He thought of his wife in Sacramento, five months pregnant with their first child. In his heart, he lifted a prayer: “O God! Get me out of here!” Then he blacked out.

Mike shouted for help and men in the area responded. One of the responders was a 28-year-old Polish university professor visiting a friend in the States. He didn’t know English, but he did know underwater mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and he forced gulps of air into Dave’s lungs while other men began to pry the boulder off the legs of the unconscious man.

It took 15 minutes to clear the big rock and get Dave to shore. Two days later he left the Auburn Faith Community Hospital on crutches with his wife by his side.

Have you ever felt like you’re drowning in difficulties? The poet who wrote Psalms 42-43 felt like that. He cried out, “All your waves and breakers have swept over me.” And yet, he interrupted his miserable thoughts. “Why, my soul, are you downcast?” he asked himself. “Put your hope in God.”

The poem is a perfect model for how to handle anxiety and depression. Like the poet, we also need to be honest about our despair and yet refuse to let it define us. George Herbert (1593 –1633) put it beautifully in his little poem, “Bitter Sweet.”

I will complain, yet praise;

I will bewail, approve:

And all my sour-sweet days

I will lament, and love.

Are you able to maintain this perfect balance? I’ll talk about how to do that at Hillcrest this Sunday. Join us on campus or online.

--Tom

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Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Treatment for a Global Dis-ease

A sports reporter talked with the wife of a New York Yankees ballplayer who had just signed an $89 million contract. He had held out for a long while before signing, hoping that the management would match the $91 million offer of another team. The Yankees did not budge. His wife later said, “When I saw him walk in the house, I immediately knew that he had not succeeded in persuading them to move up from eighty-nine to ninety-one million. He felt so rejected. It was one of the saddest days of our lives.”

Where do I sign up for that kind of rejection?

We ache for more. I haven’t met anyone who wasn’t touched by this dis-ease. Not one. Contemporary folk singer, David Wilcox, sings:

No there’s never enough.

I mean, even when I’ve got everything I need,

I can tell myself times are tough.

No there’s never enough.

Our discontent touches more than our income. In Luke 12:15, Jesus told us to “be on your guard against all kinds of greed.” All kinds—

More recognition.

More appreciation. 

More exposure.

More power.

And what have these cravings done to us? For one, they’ve kept us from just enjoying our God-given talents. Ecclesiastes 5:18 (NASB) says, “Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor.” I love that scene in Chariots of Fire when Olympic runner Eric Liddel explains his love of running: “God made me fast! And when I run, I feel His pleasure!” Discontent can rob us of experiencing the simple joy of a job well done.

Two, discontent can keep us from living a balanced life. We know that we’re to give attention to more than just our work, but the gnawing craving of ambition can cause us to focus exclusively on work to the neglect of our health, our family, our spiritual development, and the care we should show to our neighbors.

Three, raw ambition can lead us to make questionable ethical choices. We end up using people, coloring the truth, and skirting the edge of honor in the pursuit of whatever it is we think will make us happy.

Serious stuff. That’s why this Sunday we’re going to look at how to wean our soul from such corrupting cravings. We’re going to learn how to pray the prayer of Psalm 131 at Hillcrest this Sunday at 10am. See you on campus or online.

--Tom

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Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Give Yourself a Good Talking-To

“Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?”

A physician-turned-preacher asked that question. In his classic book, Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure, Dr. David Martin Lloyd-Jones wrote:

Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but there they are, talking to you…. Who’s talking? Your self is talking to you…. The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself.

You may have never thought about your interior life like that, but it’s true. Throughout the day, you are either listening as your self talks you out of a commitment, or you’re telling yourself to rise to it. You are either listening as your self flogs you for your worthlessness, or you’re reminding yourself that you’re a child of the King.

You need to talk to yourself instead of just listening to yourself.

At the start of a new year, I often turn to Psalm 121. The poet of this composition was beginning a journey, and a new year is like starting on an adventure, too.

In the first two verses, he speaks about himself: “I lift up my eyes . . . my help comes from the Lord.” But in the rest of the psalm, he speaks to himself: “He will not let your foot slip, the Lord watches over you, the Lord will keep you from all harm.”

What is he doing? He’s preaching to himself: “Soul, whatever anxiety you feel as you set out on this journey, know that God will be with you every step you take.”

As you begin this new journey called 2024, decide to talk to yourself more than you listen to yourself. Read Psalm 121 and convince your soul of the same truths the poet told his own soul to remember!

If you want more help on this subject, we’ll dive deep into Psalm 121 at Hillcrest this Sunday at 10am. See you on campus or online.

--Tom

Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

The Startling Drama Behind the Manger

In our nativity crèches, wise men and adoring shepherds kneel before a manger as various livestock placidly look on.

But according to the last book of the Bible, a startling drama was taking place behind that manger scene. In Revelation 12, John saw a woman “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.” This resplendent woman “was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.”

Then John saw a disturbing sight: An “enormous red dragon … stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.”

The woman “gave birth to a son, a male child, who ‘will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.’” And immediately “her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.” After that, the dragon “went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring.” John heard a loud voice from heaven declare, “He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”

This is Christmas?

This is Christmas.

It’s about shepherds and Magi and a baby in a manger. It’s also about a dragon who knows his remaining time is short because the Messiah has come.

A missionary once told of an enormous anaconda that slithered right through the front door of his home. His wife ran outside screaming and a machete-wielding neighbor calmly walked into her kitchen, and he sliced off the head of the serpent.

But a headless snake will continue to writhe. So, for hours, the missionary couple stood outside while the body of the snake smashed furniture and windows and beautiful decorations.

In Revelation 12, John said Satan’s behavior is like that today. Amid sickness and sorrow and death, it’s disturbing to see what damage a serpent can do who is “filled with fury.” But the child who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter” has been born, and the countdown to the dragon’s defeat has begun!

We’ll dive deep into Revelation 12 at Hillcrest this Sunday at 10am. See you on campus or online.

--Tom

Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

The Genesis of Christmas

Parents have to be prepared for the “why” questions this time of year. Why do we put a tree in the house and decorate it? Why do we hang stockings on the fireplace mantle? Are chestnuts roasting on an open fire any good?

Kids want to know the origins of the customs and traditions surrounding Christmas. Truth be told, most of our American Christmas traditions come from the Victorian era only about 200 years ago.

But the genesis of Christmas is a lot older than that.

When we speak of “the genesis of” a thing, we’re talking about its origin, its beginning. And it may surprise you to find out that the genesis of Christmas is, well, Genesis.

Genesis is the very first book of the Bible. In the first two chapters, Adam and Eve are in perfect fellowship with God in a perfect Paradise. But when you turn the page and begin reading the third chapter, sin enters the world. A snake-like creature tempts Eve and then Adam to distrust God and disobey his word. And so, God comes into the scene and says to this serpent-like creature (Genesis 3:14-15)—

“Because you have done this…, I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
    and you will strike his heel.”

And that is the genesis of Christmas. It was a promise to the serpent that he would not get the last word. The serpent had successfully tempted Eve and her husband to rebel, but an offspring of that very woman would come to destroy the serpent and all his works. The implication is that everything could then be restored to the original intent: perfect fellowship with God in a perfect world once again.

When Mary gave birth to Jesus, it was in fulfillment of this ancient prophecy. Jesus’s death and resurrection canceled the power of sin and death, and it began the countdown to the ultimate elimination of Satan’s ruin. That’s what we celebrate at Christmas! Let’s go deeper into this truth this Sunday. See you at 10am!

This Sunday is the last day we’ll have the sale table at the Hillcrest coffee fellowship following the worship service. At this table, you can buy extra copies of “Repeat the Sounding Joy” and my debut novel, “The Last Man.” If you need to order online, get the Christmas book by clicking here and get “The Last Man” by clicking here.

--Tom

The drawing is called “Mary Consoles Eve.” It was created in 2005 by Sister Grace Remington of the Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey in Dubuque, Iowa.

Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Repeat the Sounding Joy!

“The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.” That’s the advice of Buddy in the beloved holiday film, Elf.

Buddy’s right. It is the best way to spread Christmas cheer. Everyone loves the familiar songs of the season. Here are two ways to tap into this love of Christmas music for outreach.

One, give a friend a copy of Repeat the Sounding Joy!

In four places in Luke’s account of the Christmas story, people break into song. This book draws out the meaning of each of those songs. John Parker and I wrote it a couple of years ago, so most subscribers to this newsletter already have a copy. But who can you give a copy to this year?

Bring a friend to the December services and they can pick up a copy for free. You can also buy books after the service for stocking stuffers. We’ll have a sale table in the gym during the coffee fellowship. Also, several of you have asked how to get additional copies of my new novel, The Last Man: A Novel of the 1927 Santa Claus Bank Robbery. So, we’ll have some of those on sale, too. If you’d rather order online, I’ll tell you how to do that at the end of this newsletter.

Second: Bring someone with you to “Come, Celebrate Christmas.”

At 10am on December 10, all the great musical talent of our church will come together to present songs that remind us that in the coming of Jesus “a light has dawned” (Matthew 4:16). Mark it on your calendar now!

The children's storyteller, Dr. Seuss, wrote of a Grinch who tried to steal Christmas from Whoville. The curmudgeon stole the decorations and the presents, and even the roast beast for the feast. And yet on Christmas morning—

Every Who down in Whoville,

the tall and the small,

was singing without any presents at all!

I hope you find your reason to sing this Christmas!

Can’t make it to the sale table at the Hillcrest coffee fellowship on Sundays? Get the Christmas book by clicking here and get The Last Man by clicking here.

Click here to check out Jane Rodgers’ article about my new novel in our state convention’s magazine, The Texan!

--Tom

Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Three Reasons to Give Thanks

A man had grown tired of his small ranch and decided to sell it. He met with a real estate agent, who said she would write an ad describing the house and the land.

The agent took it over to the owner when the ad was ready. She read it to him.

After hearing it, the owner said, “Read it to me again.”

She did.

The owner pulled at his lip in silence for a moment, then he said, “I don’t think I’m going sell after all.” When the agent asked why, the owner replied, “I have been looking for a ranch like that all my life, and I did not know I already owned it!

We’ll have that same reaction after reviewing what we have to be thankful for. Tomorrow, on your own or with your family, read Psalm 65 and join the poet-king in giving thanks for three things.

First: Thank God he has met our guilt with his forgiveness. David wrote, “When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions” (verses 1-4).

Second: Thank God he has met our crisis times with his power. The king said about his King, “You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds, God our Savior” (verses 5-8).

Third: Thank God he has met our daily needs with his generosity. Verses 9-13 are some of the most beautiful words of Scripture. It’s a harvest song:

You care for the land and water it;

    you enrich it abundantly.

The streams of God are filled with water

    to provide the people with grain,

    for so you have ordained it.

You drench its furrows and level its ridges;

    you soften it with showers and bless its crops.

You crown the year with your bounty,

    and your carts overflow with abundance.

The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;

    the hills are clothed with gladness.

The meadows are covered with flocks

    and the valleys are mantled with grain;

    they shout for joy and sing.

When you give thanks for these three things, you’ll be reminded again of what you already have in your relationship with God. We talked about this in last Sunday’s sermon, which you can review here. Happy thanks …. giving!

Tom

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Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Are We a Church for Seekers? Should We Be?

How do you relate to those who “seek God” (Acts 15:17 and Acts 17:27)? I find Christians and their churches fall into four categories. Where does our church fall? What about your Life Group fall? How about you?

Seeker-Hostile. Churches and individuals in this mindset would say that individual believers must be kind to non-believers and look for ways to share the gospel. But they would insist that corporate life of the church is no place to involve a non-believer. Therefore, the study topics, conversations, and even jokes in the Bible study classes or worship services create an environment that is unfriendly to a seeker’s questions or objections.

Seeker-Indifferent. Church groups with this mindset are indifferent to the concerns and questions that non-believers have of the faith. They believe the job of the church is simply to provide Bible studies and activities that meet the needs of believers. Churches that are seeker-indifferent may have evangelistic activities and support mission causes, and they may encourage the individual members to witness to non-believers. But it simply doesn’t occur to these churches that they have a responsibility to engage the concerns and questions of spiritual explorers. I believe most churches and Christians fall into this category.

Seeker-Sensitive. Church groups with this mindset focus on building believers while connecting with the seekers that believers bring with them. They believe the church exists to build a strong community of believers, but they pursue this goal with sensitivity to non-believers who have begun to be attracted to the faith through their friendship with believers.

Seeker-Targeted. Church groups with this mindset direct everything they do toward reaching the non-believing world with the gospel. The music, the sermon topics, and the approach to Bible-study is all done with the aim of catching the attention of non-believers and persuading them to embrace the gospel truth.

Of the four labels as I’ve defined them, we need to be seeker-sensitive. At Hillcrest, everything we do is about building believers while also connecting with earnest seekers that believers bring with them.

As one of our slogans puts it: We’re a place where people find and follow Jesus together.

Let’s pray that God is glorified as we pursue this goal!

Tom

Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Gorillas in the Midst

Maybe you’ve seen that video created by two Harvard psychologists. It’s become one of the best-known experiments in psychology. I think it’s become so popular because it reveals how we see our world -- and how we don’t see it.

In the experiment, test subjects were told they would see a short video of a team in white T-shirts and a team in black T-shirts. They were told to count the number of times those in white passed the ball to each other.

But in the midst of all the basketball passes, someone in a gorilla suit walked into the frame, beat its chest, and walked out. At the end of the video, the viewers were asked how many passes they counted. Then they were asked whether they had seen anything unusual. In every setting where the video has been shown, only about half noticed the gorilla. There’s no accounting for age or gender or level of education: Some see it, and some don’t.

I see a lesson on evangelism here. Opportunities for spiritual conversations show up in our lives all the time, but we often miss them. We’re too busy counting basketball passes. Our whole focus is on getting through football practice or band practice or completing our school assignments. Our whole focus is on our work obligations or meeting budget. Our whole focus is on the fact that we don’t feel well, and the doctor hasn’t quite figured out how to fix it. We’re just counting basketball passes; and right in the middle of it all, opportunities for natural spiritual conversations arise like a gorilla beating his chest, and we don’t even notice.

In Colossians 4:5-6, Paul wrote, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

Notice he did not say, “Make opportunities.” Rather, he said, “Make the most of every opportunity.” In other words, evangelism isn’t artificially shoe-horning Jesus into conversations that weren’t already heading that way. Evangelism is just walking through the open doors for spiritual conversations. We just need to be sensitive to those times.

We discussed this in last week’s message. If you need to review it or join the study for the first time, watch here.

Tom

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Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

God’s Forward Observers

Have you noticed how often the words “watch” and “pray” are combined in the Bible?  Our praying should make us more attentive, and our attentiveness should lead us more often to prayer, which should make us even more attentive.

If we should we watchful, for what should be watching?  Be alert to the activity of God and pray for its success and be alert to the activity of the Evil One and pray for its defeat.

I remember a story from a pastor who was a Vietnam vet.  He recounted how his battalion would set up a firebase in the jungle with huge 8-inch guns.  Then, companies of soldiers would fan out in four directions from the base, looking for the enemy.  Often, when the enemy was found, they would be in much greater number than the company of American soldiers.  When that happened, the company would simply get on the radio and call in the coordinates of the enemy so the firebase could rain shells down on them.  The vet said that Christians are God’s forward observers in enemy territory.  And when we encounter the enemy, we must call down the firepower of heaven.

Ever since he visualized prayer in that way for me, it has energized my prayer life.  We must be alert to the work of the enemy.  We must be sensitive to his encroachment in personal relationships, church matters, global affairs -- and when we discover his movements, we must radio those coordinates to heaven, calling on the power of divine guns.

But some of us are so focused on our own plans, pains, and pleasures that we have no sensitivity to the spiritual warfare around us.  Maybe today you need to confess, “When it comes to my prayer life, I want to be more alert.  I’ve neglected to be God’s forward observer.  I’ve been AWOL, but I want to count for him again.”

We discussed this in last week’s message. If you need to review it or join the study for the first time, watch here.

Tom

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Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Take This Job and Love It

(You may have noticed you’re receiving Winning Ways on Wednesdays instead of Fridays, and the devotional thought is referencing last Sunday’s sermon instead of pointing toward next Sunday’s sermon. We’re trying this format for a few weeks.)

Take a moment to think about all the people God employed to get a bowl of cereal in front of you this morning.

He used farmers to plant and cultivate. 

He used suppliers at farm equipment companies, and bankers who arranged the financing for these businesses. 

He used scientists who checked the food for purity. 

He used plant operators who processed the grain into crispy flakes. 

He used manufacturers of the trucks that get the boxed-up cereal to market, and the truck drivers, and the truck stop operators who make their routes possible. 

He used the engineers who designed the highway, and the laborers who laid down all those miles of road work. 

He even used the humble pallet makers who hammered together sturdy wood strips to make it easier for the forklift drivers (whom God also used) to unload the boxes of cereal at the delivery dock of your grocery store. And then there’s the person who stocked the shelves and the clerk who scanned your selection at check out.

God used a lot of people to get breakfast to your table this morning.

Your work, too, is a vital part of this vast, complex system God directs to meet the needs of this world. Because of that, God is as interested in the quality of your work as he is the quality of your prayers. In Colossians 3:23-24 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

We discussed this in last week’s message. If you need to review it or join the study for the first time, watch here.

Tom

(The illustration about breakfast cereal comes from a book by Doug Sherman and William Hendricks called Your Work Matters to God.)

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Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

The Song Your Child Hears

Have you ever tried to run errands with a cranky two-year old?

Richard Foster once told the story of a friend whose little tyke was growing increasingly cantankerous as the afternoon wore on. The father tried everything to soothe the child, or at least distract him, long enough to get the shopping done.

Then, in desperation, the father scooped up his son, held him close to his chest, and began singing a love song. Not one from the radio. This love song was made up on the spot. None of the words rhymed. He sang off key.

The words spilled out: “I love you…. I’m so glad you’re my boy…. You make me happy…. I like the way you laugh.”

As the father completed his errands, he continued singing off key and making up words that did not rhyme. “The child relaxed,” Foster wrote, “He became still, listening to this strange and wonderful song.”

Once the shopping was done, they went to the car. As the father opened the door and prepared to buckle his son into the car seat, the child lifted his head and said, “Sing it to me again, Daddy! Sing it to me again!”

What “song” is your child hearing from you? In Colossians 3:21, Paul wrote, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they won’t become discouraged.” Moms need the warning, too, of course. But the fact that Paul singled out dads in this verse lets us know the powerful impact a father has on a child’s self-regard.

We discussed this in last week’s message. If you need to review it or join the study for the first time, watch here.

Tom

The story of the impromptu love song comes from pages 3-4 of Richard Foster’s book Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home. The audiobook is currently on sale for $6.

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Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Your Church is Not a Seed Bank

On a remote island near the Arctic Ocean, scientists have built a seed bank. It’s forty-three stories underground inside a frozen mountain. The only purpose for the vault is to protect millions of seeds of the most important food crops around the world.

Informally, it’s called the “Doomsday Vault.” That’s because the vault is designed to protect the seeds from nuclear holocaust or natural disasters. Scientists say the seeds can last for ten thousand years in the vault.

It's good we've got a backup for our most important crops. But when I read the story, it made me think of something else.

Too many of our churches have become seed vaults.

In those churches, members come into the seed vault every Sunday to sing about the seed and hear about the seed and break into small groups to study the seed. But they never get around to scattering the seed of Christ’s words out where it can do some good.

In the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13), Jesus talked about a sower scattering seed across four types of soil. When we study the story, it makes us wonder, “What type of soil am I?” We should consider that question, but Jesus also meant us to ask, “What kind of sower am I?”

When Jesus called you into a relationship with him, he gave you a bag of seed to strap over your shoulder. Maybe it’s been a long time since you reached your hand into the bag, scooped up some seed, and scattered it among the people you know.

Don’t reduce your church to just a seed bank. Instead, think of it as a seed store where you come and get everything you need to do the work of spreading God’s good news!

Tom

P.S., my thanks to Dr. Bruce Murray for preaching for me while I was away. I used the time off to return to Eastland, Texas, to promote my new novel. It’s closely based on events that happened in that county in the 1920s. I posted some photos of the weekend events here. If you want a copy of the book, email me to arrange a pickup in Austin. If you don’t live in Austin and you want a signed copy of the book, order directly from me at this site (U.S. orders only). For other options, I have a list of vendors at my website.

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Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Marriage Makeover

I read an offbeat news item from the Netherlands a few years ago. A Dutch woman named Jennifer Hoes got married—to herself. According to Dutch and German newspaper reports, she wore a wedding gown and stood before a registrar with her family as witnesses and promised to “love, respect and honor” herself in good times and in bad.

If you want a successful marriage, the first thing you must come to terms with is that you did not marry yourself. You married another person with different needs than you have.

In Colossians 3:18-19. Paul pointed out that there is a unique need in your partner that you must meet. Husbands, your wife most needs your security-giving love. Wives, your husband needs your confidence-building respect.

In last Sunday’s message, I talked about how husbands and wives have different needs, face different challenges, and yet follow the same example. Husbands and wives simply need to be Jesus for each other. You can watch the lesson online by clicking here.

Of course, I’m reminded of a mother who was preparing pancakes for her little sons. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson.

She told the boys, “If Jesus were sitting here, He would say, ‘Let my brother have the first pancake. I can wait.’

The older boy turned to the younger boy and said, ‘You be Jesus.’

Sometimes we might be tempted to tell our marriage partner, “I’m tired of being Jesus; you be Jesus today!” But let’s keep trying to follow Christ’s example every day in every way.

Tom

P.S., thank you for your interest in my novel! If you’ve finished it, please leave a review at Amazon (direct link) and/or Goodreads (direct link). If you want a copy of the book, email me to arrange a pickup in Austin. If you don’t live in Austin and you want a signed copy of the book, order directly from me at this site (U.S. orders only). For other options, I have a list of vendors at my website.

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Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

YOLO

On social media you’ll sometimes see the acronym YOLO. It stands for “You Only Live Once.” The acronym is usually associated with doing a single adventurous act just for the thrill of it. So, you post about your bungee jump or the black diamond ski run with the hashtag #YOLO because “you only live once.”

Here’s the interesting thing. The acronym YOLO originally meant just the opposite. As far as we know, it was first used by Mickey Hart, the drummer for the Grateful Dead, in the early 1990s. Hart poured his resources into a California property he called the YOLO Ranch. It was a recording studio and a hub for encouraging and supporting musicians. He invested himself long-term in something he considered meaningful because, YOLO—you only live once.

I think it’s a sign of our age that an acronym that once meant “Pick something meaningful and deeply commit to it,” now means, “Do that one fleeting daring thing, post a picture of you doing it, and move on to the next adventure.”

Pete Davis called this “infinite browsing mode.” This was the image he used in a graduation speech he gave to his class at Harvard Law School in 2018. Browsing is what we do online, scrolling through a huge number of choices to find something to occupy us for a little while.

Davis says that’s the mode at which we now approach not just our time online but our jobs, our volunteer service, our hobbies, and even what should be our most important relationships. We scroll through our options, looking for something to occupy us for a little while.

By doing so, he says we’re missing out on things that can only happen when we stop browsing and dedicate ourselves to the choices we’ve made.

In Colossians 3:15-17, we’re told to break out of our infinite browsing mode and commit deeply to the people who belong to God. In last Sunday’s message, I talked about how to do that. Now that we’re at the halfway mark in the week, it would be good to review how we’re doing at practicing those principles. You can watch the lesson online by clicking here.

Tom

P.S., thank you for your interest in my novel! If you’ve finished it, please leave a review at Amazon (direct link) and/or Goodreads (direct link). If you want a copy of the book, email me to arrange a pickup in Austin. If you don’t live in Austin and you want a signed copy of the book, order directly from me at this site (U.S. orders only). For other options, I have a list of vendors at my website.

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Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Dress for Success

At the end of each college semester, Diane and I had different routines of dealing with final exams. She would show up for finals dressed brightly with her hair and makeup all done. I would show up in flip-flops, ragged jeans, a T-shirt, and a ballcap over tousled hair.

Yes, I said tousled hair.

For both of us, it was our different ways of dealing with the stress of the exams. She dressed like she was excited to be there, and I dressed like I didn’t care how I did on the test. Both approaches worked for us. I graduated cum laude and she graduated summa cum laude.

In Colossians 3:12-14, Paul tells us that how we dress contributes to our success in life. “Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience,” he wrote, adding, “And over all these virtues put on love.”

Church relationships are hard. I’m sure you’ve read the corny old poem before:

To live above with those we love,

Oh, that will be glory;

To live here below with those we know—

Well, that’s another story!

But you have only two choices as a Christian. You can avoid conflict with others by doing nothing in God’s kingdom, or you can risk conflict by ministering in God’s kingdom. Tension will occasionally appear when people serve God together. So, our souls should be wearing certain attitudes like clothing: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and love.

We looked at this subject in last Sunday’s sermon. (Watch it here.) Now that we’ve reached the halfway point in the week, it’s a good time to review what items are missing from our wardrobe.

Tom

P.S., thank you for your interest in my novel! I ran out of books last week, but I’ll have plenty this Sunday during the coffee fellowship after the service. Or just email me to arrange a pickup in Austin. If you don’t live in Austin and you want a signed copy of the book, order directly from me at this site (U.S. orders only). For other options, I have a list of vendors at my website.

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Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

What Kind of Soil is Your Soul?

Botanist Elaine Solowey successfully grew a palm tree from a seed.

Not impressed?

Maybe I should add that the seed she planted was two thousand years old.

During excavations at Masada in the Holy Land, archaeologists found a storage bin of ancient seeds. Though they had been lying around for two millennia, when Solowey planted them, life sprang up!

In one of his most famous parables, Jesus compared his word to the life-giving power of seed. In Matthew 13, he told of a farmer who scattered seed across his fields. Some fell on the hard-packed pathway, some fell on shallow soil, some fell on weed-infested soil, and some fell on good soil.

In Jesus’s parable, only one of the four patches of soil let the seed yield fruit.  

The seed was ready to bear fruit on the hard soil, but it would not let the seed in.

The seed was ready to bear fruit on the shallow soil, but it would not let the seed penetrate deeply.

The seed was ready to bear fruit on the weed-infested soil, but it had all kinds of weeds that choked out the good plant.

Only the patch of soil that took the seed readily, deeply, and completely saw the seed come to fruition.

Jesus wanted you to think about how you receive his word. I covered this in more detail in last Sunday’s lesson. Now that we’re at the midpoint of the week, it would be good to ask yourself how receptive you are to God’s word.

What kind of soil is your soul?

Tom

P.S., to reinforce the point of the Parable of the Sower in last week’s sermon, I told you the story of the Santa Claus Bank Robbery. That true crime from 1927 is the subject of my debut novel, The Last Man.

If you want a signed copy of the book, order directly from me at this site (U.S. orders only) or just email me to arrange a pickup in Austin. For other options, I have a list of vendors at my website.

By the way, at my website you’ll find out how to get a free booklet called, “The Santa Claus Bank Robbery in Photos.” It’s a beautifully formatted booklet of photos of the real characters and places behind my novel. Find out how to get your copy of the booklet here.

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Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

The Parable of a Texas Crime

Jesus’s Parable of the Sower and a 1927 Texas crime—do they have anything in common? I’m going to make the connection in the sermon this Sunday, September 10.

Who can you bring with you to our 10am service this week? Forward this email newsletter to them with a personal invitation.  

The 1927 Texas crime I’m referring to is what the Associated Press immediately dubbed “The Santa Claus Bank Robbery.” The ringleader dressed as Santa to hide his identity from his neighbors while he and three others took everything. It was only two days before Christmas, so he thought it was a clever way to disguise himself from people who would have recognized him.

But their easy heist went sideways fast when armed lawmen and citizens assembled to claim a new reward for dead bank robbers. Taking hostages, the gang forced a path through a frenzied and bloody shootout, setting the whole Lone Star state on their trail.

One bandit died in the getaway. One was executed in the electric chair. One swung from a rope in a mob lynching.

The last man found good news that changed his life.

In Jesus’s Parable of the Sower, there were four patches of soil, but only one received the seed and saw the fruit. In the story of the Santa Claus Bank Robbery, there were four bandits, but only one received the gospel and saw the fruit.

The story of this 1927 true crime has been told and re-told for nearly a hundred years. What is never told, however, is the way the gospel changed things for the last surviving bandit. I decided to remedy that by writing a novel closely based on the spectacular story. The book is called The Last Man: A Novel of the 1927 Santa Claus Bank Robbery. It launches on Sunday.

After I tell the story in the sermon Sunday morning, I won’t be selling or giving away copies of my book at church. But I’d love for you to drop by my house for our Launch Party on Sunday afternoon. It’s a come-and-go affair anytime between 3:00pm and 7:00pm. Books will be on sale, but you don’t have to buy anything to just come and share our joy at this finished project. Click here for directions.

Can’t make it to the party but you still want a signed copy of the book? You have 2 options:

• If you live in Austin, contact me at tom@hillcrest.church or

• If you live in the U.S., find out how to get a signed copy shipped to you at this website.

Also, I have a list of vendors at my website, including Amazon.

By the way, at my website you’ll find out how to get a free booklet called, “The Santa Claus Bank Robbery in Photos.” It’s a beautifully formatted booklet of photos of the real characters and places behind my novel. Find out how to get your copy of the booklet here.

I’ve been fascinated with this true story for 30 years, and I hope I’ve done it justice in my novel. I look forward to telling the tale during the sermon this Sunday, September 10!

--Tom

Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

When All You Have is a Barbie Fishing Rod

David Hayes was fishing with his granddaughter one afternoon. She had a little pink Barbie fishing rod that she had received for Christmas. When she needed to go to the bathroom, she asked her grandfather to hold her toy fishing pole.

Shortly after she left, he felt a yank on the line. Within minutes he had pulled in a huge catfish. 

It turned out to be the North Carolina state record at 21 pounds and 1 ounce. And at 32 inches long, it was 2 inches longer than the toy rod-and-reel it was caught with.

Maybe you shouldn’t tell your wife that story if you’re hoping to spend $300 on new fishing gear!

Jesus once said to a group of fishermen, “Follow me and I will show you how to fish for people.” So, if you aren’t fishing for people, you aren’t following Jesus. Part of following him means looking for opportunities to draw people to his message.

Now, some of us may avoid fishing for people until we’ve completed lots of training and we’re prepared to respond to every possible question. In the end, though, this could turn out to be an excuse for neglecting evangelism. Good preparation is valuable for the work of sharing our faith, of course. But it’s no replacement for simple obedience.

As we venture into a conversation with someone about our faith, we may feel as self-conscious as David Hayes holding his granddaughter’s pink Barbie fishing rod. But David Hayes can testify that we can never predict what can happen when we simply put a line in the water.

So, put a line out this week and see what happens!

This is our last Friday delivery of Winning Ways. The weekly devotions aren’t going away. We’re just moving the delivery day to Wednesdays. So, look for something in your inbox starting next Wednesday. By putting it in the middle of your week, we hope it will be that weekly shot of encouragement that will get you through the rest of your week!

--Tom

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Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.

When He Shows Up

I have a particular memory from my childhood that comes back to me often. I’m in late-afternoon football practice as a kid in Alabama. No waistband Velcro flags for us. We may have been in elementary school, but this was full contact in helmets and shoulder pads.

About halfway through the drills and scrimmages in the crisp late autumn weather, I would see him.

My dad.

He’d stop at our practice field on his way home from work to watch our progress. One moment the sidelines were empty and then the next moment I’d get up from a tackle to notice he was there.

It’s been over fifty years, but I can still remember the little thrill that welled up in me to find he had arrived. He’d be standing there with his hands in the pockets of his overcoat, almost a silhouette in the twilight.

I never knew when it would happen, so I ran every drill and executed every play knowing that he might show up in the middle of it.

Jesus wanted us to live every day anticipating his arrival. After forty days with his disciples following his resurrection, Jesus ascended before their eyes. Their astonished silence was broken by the words of two angels. “Why do you stand here looking into the sky?” the angels asked. “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11).

The disciples’ approach to life changed because of this promise. The thought of Christ’s return motivated the first Christians to make the right moral choices, to be patient, and to keep their faith during persecution. The Apostle Paul even summarized the Christian life as simply “to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven” (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).

Whether you play football or lead some great moral cause or do another pile of the kids’ laundry, one day it will happen. You’ll look up and see that he’s arrived.

Jesus.

Live in such a way that he will be pleased with you when he shows up.

--Tom

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Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.