Month: April 2015

EVERY PERSON IS VALUABLE AND EVERY PERSON COUNTS

/ Dr. Daniel Merritt / 4 Comments

We have all heard the statement, “Every person is valuable and every person counts.” That was certainly proved on Tuesday, April 28, 2015, when twelve Elkin girls won the Mountain Valley Athletic 1/A-2/A Conference Track and Field Championship team title held at Starmount High School. It was a gorgeous spring day, with wispy white clouds scattered about a beautiful blue sky.ConfMeet2015 018

Competing against eight other schools, the team to beat was 2A Ashe County. It is a school that is more than twice the size of Elkin. With only twelve girls every Elkin gal had to do four events and every point was of the utmost importance. Championship meets brings out the best in runners, so everyone from every team was performing at a high level. It means every race is an all-out effort and by the end of the meet you have some very tired girls.

The meet was nip and tuck throughout the whole day. We would lead awhile, then Ashe County would take the lead and then we would take it back, then they would take it back again. You get the picture. Elkin took the lead by 8 ½ points after the 200 meters. There were two events left, the two mile and the mile relay. In the two mile Ashe County picked up eleven points we picked up five points. Our lead was cut to 2 ½ points. After a six hour meet, the winner of the conference championship came down to one race.

What had to happen was simple, because we had a 2 ½ point lead we either had to beat Ashe County or could finish no more than one place behind them. I explained to the girls exactly what they had to do and told them I believed in them and that I had no doubt they would do it in spite of being tired from other races. I told them, “You are not required to feel good, you are only required to run as fast as you can.”

As the 4×400 unfolded it was apparent Ashe was going to get second in the race, which meant we had to finish third. The problem was we were also racing against a time that was run in the previous 4×4 heat run before us. The Elkin girls ran with guts, determination and heart. They gave everything they had. Finishing just behind Ashe in third place, we had to wait to see if our time beat the time from the other heat. It did, by 3 seconds.

We waited for the official announcement. After all the dust had settled, the Elkin girls were announced as MVA Conference Champions by the slimmest of margins.  The final score 128 to 127 ½. We won by ½ a point!!! In four decades of coaching I have been privileged to be on the winning side of  many championships, but I have never been associated with one this close!

Looking over the results after the meet it goes without saying, the effort of every person counted. Every point from every person was as valuable as gold. From those who won getting ten points to those who placed eighth and got one point was valuable beyond words.

The win was a total team effort. If one person had failed to do their job the team would not have won. If one person had quit or given up we would not have won. If one person thought they would not make a difference we would not have won. Every single person made a difference.

Athletics is a microcosm of life. Just as every single person was important in the team victory on Tuesday, so is every person valuable and counts in life. The Lord created us all to make a difference where He has put us. No matter where we find ourselves in life we can make a difference. We were created with value and our lives count. We are not required to do what someone else does, we are required to be and do what He has created us to do with the talents and abilities He has given us. We are to live seeking to make a difference in the lives of those around us.

Like in a race we may grow weary and tired on the race course of life, but let us keep striving to give our best and do our best. That is what constitutes a winner. That is a winner.

After all, we are all valuable and we all count.

Blessings,

Dr. Dan

WHAT DETERMINES ONE BEING A CHRISTIAN?

/ Dr. Daniel Merritt / Leave a comment

There seems to be much confusion today about what determines one being a Christian. Many say they are Christians, but they have a misunderstanding what determines whether one is a Christian or not. I read a bWhat-Is-A-Christianlog not long ago by an atheist who said he resented not being considered a Christian, because after all he said he sought to live his life by the teachings of Jesus. I have had people tell me they were a Christian even though they didn’t believe in the divinity of Christ and see the cross as a necessary component of Christianity. Is it possible to deny the divinity of Christ and the necessity of the cross and be a Christian? People have some confusing ideas about what determines one being a Christian.

Just because one quotes the Bible verbatim doesn’t make them a Christian.

Just because one attends church doesn’t make them a Christian.

Just because one seeks to follow the teachings of Jesus, as noble as that is, doesn’t necessarily make them a Christian.

Just because one sees Jesus as a great moral teacher doesn’t make them a Christian.

Just because one believes in a Higher Power, a Creator, doesn’t make one a Christian.

Just because one hangs around other Christians doesn’t make them a Christian.

Just because one seeks to love their neighbor, which we should all seek to do, doesn’t make one a Christian.

Just because one was born into a Christian home doesn’t make one a Christian.

What then makes one a Christian?

One is a Christian who recognizes they have offended and sinned against a Holy God and embraces the Christ of the Cross who the Holy-Father has provided as the Perfect Sacrifice and Paymet for the sin-debt each of us owe, but which we could never pay. You see, you and I and have a big problem that must be dealt with – it is called sin. Because God’s nature is holy He opposes sin. God’s holy-love demands that man either render unto Him perfect holiness or pay the just judgment for not being able to comply with His holy demands. God’s holiness opposes sin and demands it be dealt with in judgment, yet God’s love longs to forgive us. The answer to God’s “dilemma” is found in the Christ of the Cross! It is in the Christ of the Cross judgment upon sin and the provision for the forgiveness of sin meet in a divine solution.

The marvel of the Christ of the Cross is that the holy-love of God accomplished in Christ what we could never accomplish and never do. Christ, as our Representative, by His perfect life complied with the righteous and holy demands of God and then on the cross He took for us the just judgment we deserve for being unable to comply or conform to the holy demands of the Creator.

We are all guilty, we have all failed, we have all sinned and come short of what God would have us to be (Romans 3:23). A Christian is one whose conscience and spirit has been awakened by the Holy Spirit to realize they are guilty before a perfect and holy God, they have failed and they have sinned against His holiness, but knells in acceptance and submission to the Christ of the Cross recognizing He did for them what they could never do for themselves. A Christian is one who recognizes that in Christ our Creator became our Redeemer, and in eternal gratitude embraces Him as Savior. A Christian is one who realizes that Jesus paid the sin debt for them; that He and He alone is the perfect provision for ALL our sins, and that He alone enables them to stand before the God of the Universe uncondemned and their sins forgiven. A Christian is one who in wondrous amazement is thankful for what Christ did for them on the cross and willingly submits their allegiance to follow Him. A Christian is one who sees Jesus as more than a prophet, teacher, or a moral example, but who sees Him as their Lord and Savior.

A Christian is one who when they sing “Amazing Grace” can do so with joyful confidence that His grace is truly amazing because the holy-love of God provided in Christ the solution to the vileness of their sin and the deserved judgment upon it. A Christian is one who has come to realize that Christ in His living, His dying on the cross and in His resurrection, He as their Substitute, was doing and providing for them what they could never do or provide for themselves. A Christian is one who upon embracing Christ’s perfect and finished work on the cross, begins a lifelong journey of following the Savior and Captain of their salvation.

A Christian is not perfect, but they walk daily with a Savior whose perfect provision on the cross for their sins was perfectly accepted by the Father. A Christian is not one who is striving for acceptance before the God of the Universe, but one who joyfully embraces their acceptance that has already been provided for them by the holy-love of the Father in the prefect provision of Jesus Christ.

There is much confusion today about what a Christian is, but it is really very simple. We find what it means to be a Christian in the response of Thomas when He was confronted with the Risen Lord. Thomas, upon the examination of the nail prints of Jesus, which He willing received on Thomas’ behalf, fell down at His feet in wondrous acceptance and awe and cried out in belief, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:24-29).

One truth is certain, once you encounter the Christ of the Cross and embrace in believing faith what He did for you, you will never be the same again. Then you will understand what determines one being a Christian.

Blessings,

Dr. Dan

The Colorful Col. Martin Van Mabe

/ Dr. Daniel Merritt / 1 Comment
A  new 200 page book by Dr. Daniel Merritt you might be interested in has just been released. It is on the life of Col Martin Van Mabe.If you would like a copy they are $15, which includes postage and handling. Just send your address to his email address at pleasant_ridge_runner@yahoo.com and a copy will be sent your way.  Thanks
View book information at http://www.48hrbooks.com/Book/17152

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“Bitter Tongues, Buried Treasures” is the true story of the fascinating  and colorful life of Colonel Martin Van Mabe.  Born in Stokes County, North Carolina in 1838, Mabe’s grandfather was a Revolutionary War veteran and his grandmother of Cherokee descent. Entering the Civil War he fought bravely on the battlefield and with courage endured being a POW in a Union prison camp. Returning to Stokes County after the war, he became one of the most successful and prosperous businessmen in the county. His influence was felt statewide. He became a United States Commissioner. Never marrying, he hired his first cousin, Nancy Jane Mabe, to be his housekeeper. Neighbors and kinsman became jealous of his success and spread vicious rumors that Martin and Nancy Jane were “living in sin.” They even had to go to court to prove the charges false. Nancy Jane vowed that none of her neighbors and relatives would at her death inherit any of her possessions. What she chose to do to keep that from taking place the reader will find most intriguing.

A LEAP INTO THE LIGHT

/ Dr. Daniel Merritt / Leave a comment

CrossLightThe atheistic philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) once stated, “Faith is not wanting to know what truth is.” He believed that one who embraced faith would never discover truth. Sadly, he spent his whole life searching for truth and fighting against the very source of truth — Jesus Christ. He dismissed faith as irrational and angrily concluded that God was dead. He spent his final days in a state of insanity. His dismissal of faith in Christ as the road to discovering truth took him down a road that led him into madness.

Unfortunately, many today see faith as irrational. If they can’t see, touch, taste or reason it, then it must be dismissed. However, faith is not some nebulous attitude or wishful outlook on life that is built upon shifting sands. Faith is not, as the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) said, a leap in the dark.

The Christian faith is not a leap in the dark, but it is a leap into the arms of Him who said, “I am the Light of world” (John 8:12). As P.T. Forsyth said, “Through the Cross to the Light.” Faith is not, as Nietzsche said, not wanting to know what truth is, but it is just the opposite; faith is the road to discovering what truth is. Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). Not waiting for an answer, he turned and walked way. He didn’t have eyes to see that he was standing in the presence of Him who declared that He was “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Faith is not a irrational violation of one’s will, but is willingly knelling before the outstretched arms of the Christ of the cross.

The Christian faith is built upon the bedrock of the Christ of the cross. It was there at the cross He dealt with the sin debt which humanity owes to a Holy God, which debt we could never pay. Faith is the deep seated conviction that at the cross Christ, as our Substitute, did for us what we could never do for ourselves. When Jesus cried out on the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30), the transaction between God and Christ was completed that resulted in our sin debt being marked – PAID IN FULL! We find provided in the Christ of the cross that quality of rightness (righteousness) that allows us to find right standing before the Holy Father. For in Jesus Christ is found the fulfillment of what the perfect Law of God demanded and what the prophets promised.

The Christian faith is not creative in regard to what is truth, it discovers and embraces He who is truth and what He has already accomplished for us on the cross. The Christian faith is not in an idea or merely a creed, but in the person of Jesus Christ who is our Savior, our Mediator, our Advocate, our Rock and our perfect Righteousness. Faith is not a leap in the dark, but is built on that which was done in the light – the perfect life of Christ, His Substitutionary payment on the cross for the sins of humanity, and His resurrection from the grave. Faith is anchored in the knowledge of the historic revelation of God in Christ Jesus.

Oswald Chambers defined faith as “implicit confidence in Jesus. Faith is committal to One whose character we do know because it has been revealed to us in Jesus Christ.” Faith is not closing one’s mind to reason and truth, but realizes implicit faith in the Christ of the cross is most reasonable and the road to truth. Faith is the highest kind of reason, built on the knowledge of who Christ was and is. Faith in Christ is an action that enables us to apprehend, grasp and sense what is beyond us and otherwise unattainable. Faith in the Christ of the cross gives an understanding to the riddle of life and the problem of humanity. Faith in Christ enables us to soar like an eagle into the very presence of God, which would otherwise be inaccessible.

There is much more to living life than just by our sensory-perceptions and only believing what can be proven in a laboratory test tube. When one’s life is built on the historic and solid foundation of the Christ of the cross, one will discover He will prove Himself in the test tube of our lives that He truly is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The Christian faith rests in and on the Christ of the Cross in whom we can trust with certainty, confidence and assurance.

And may our faith be found fleshing out Truth in a world that so desperately needs HIM.

Blessings,

Dr. Dan

EASTER IS EVERY DAY

/ Dr. Daniel Merritt / Leave a comment
Easter Sunday Christians will gather early in the morning for Easter Sunrise Services to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Only time will tell whether the skyline will yield a reddish glow from a sun whose early morning rays pierce through the darkness or yield clouds that will seek to hide the sun’s radiance. No matter the weather, I am thankful on that first Easter morning the clouds of sin, the devil and death could not keep Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness, from piercing the darkness of this world with His glorious Light of redemption and EveryDayreconciliation. As Christians gather for Sunrise Services the cool gentle morning breeze that will brush our cheeks should reminded us of His ever abiding presence. As we lift our voices in praise that Christ arose from the dead let us joyfully sing of His triumph over the grave. As we gather if we listen closely we can still hear the proclamation of the angels on that first Easter morning echoing in the air, “He is not here, He is risen.” Yes, “this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, [being raised from the dead] sat down at the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12). That Christ arose from the dead is truly a wonderful truth worth lifting our voices in praise.
 That Christ arose from the dead is a historical fact. Evidence from eyewitnesses of the Christ-event and even from writings other than the Bible by first century writers verifies the historicity of His resurrection. The cross and resurrection of Christ is the central point of eternity, history and the Christian faith. While Christians can celebrate the historical reality of Christ’s resurrection, for the Christian Easter is every day. But how does Christ’s resurrection impact our daily lives?
 For the believer Easter if every day, for the same power that raised Christ from the dead is available to us each day of our lives. Paul writes about this amazing truth, “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you” (Romans 8:11). Did you get that, the same power that raised Christ’s lifeless body from the dead dwells with us and in us; such power is available to us in our daily lives. WOW!!
 If the resurrection power of Christ dwells with us and in us why should we think we can’t face and get through the obstacles, difficulties and mountains that we confront in life? Yes, we place our faith in a historical event, but much more, His living presence is accessible for the practicality of daily living. It matters not what the trial, the testing, or the temptation the resurrection power of Christ is there to strengthen us. Paul, as he faced his own obstacles, writes, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13). Writing from a prison cell he knew the practicality of Christ’s resurrection power to help him in his daily situations.
 The believer has access to “the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which [God] wrought (exerted, accomplished , brought to decisive finality) in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand…” (Eph. 1:19-20). This verse tells us that the power we have available to us was put to the ultimate test when Christ was raised from the dead. If such power was victorious in the raising of Christ from the cold dark tomb, cannot “the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe” help us in the adverse circumstances of our lives. Can you think of a situation that His power is not able to give us victory?
 P.T. Forsyth eloquently writes, “From the New Testament point of view the seat of chief power and authority in the universe is the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ…For Paul the omnipotence of God was chiefly shown in raising Christ from the dead… [the] act wherein was exerted the whole power of God for the world – the resurrection of Christ.” Forsyth goes on to say the center point of the Christian’s faith must be in the two-fold event of the cross and resurrection and we must not lack faith in “the greatest exertion of omnipotence ever known – the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We only [live] by the power of his resurrection.”
 Our Christian faith rests upon Christ’s resurrection and His living presence in our midst. Yet are you and I living daily by the power of His of resurrection? Do we desire to know the power of His resurrection working in our lives? The practicality of the resurrection is that its power is sufficient to empower us daily in all of life’s storms and struggles. The supreme exhibition of the power of God is found in Christ’s resurrection, but are we relying upon such awesome power each day? While we gather this Easter Sunday to celebrate His resurrection, it is an event we can celebrate every day of the week. We can celebrate knowing His presence and power penetrates and invades every area of our lives.
Blessings,
Dr. Dan

DON’T BE FOOLED BY THE ENEMY

/ Dr. Daniel Merritt / 2 Comments

APRILFOOLAh, April Fool’s Day. April Fool’s Day has become a day when people seek in some way to pull a trick on or to fool friends and loved ones in some way. How did this tradition come to be?

Though there are several versions, the observance is said to have originated in France after the adoption of the Gregorian calendar instituted in 1564 during the reign of Charles IX. France was the first nation to adopt the new calendar. Up onto that time the New Year celebration began the first day of spring and ended April 1. When New Year’s Day was changed to January 1, many people still celebrated the New Year as before ending their celebration on April 1. These people came to be known as April fools. The custom of fooling friends and relatives on that day became popular in France and eventually spread to other countries.

I don’t know if anyone has pulled an April Fool’s trick on you or not, but one thing is for sure our old Foe, the devil, is fooling people everyday into falling for his tricks. Don’t be fooled by the enemy. Paul warned us not to be ignorant of the devil’s tricks. Paul used the word “devices,” which means cunningly thought-out plans (2 Corinthians 2:11).
Satan fools lost people into thinking they don’t need Jesus or that they have plenty of time to “get right” with the Lord. Christ on the cross made provision for our sins to be forgiven and for our acceptance before a Holy God, but we must appropriate His finished work on our behalf by embracing Him in faith. However, the Bible warns us not to be fooled into the thinking that we have plenty of time when in actuality we know not when our last heart beat will take place. That is why we are told, “Prepare to meet thy God,” (Amos 4:12) and that “today is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). To think otherwise is to be fooled by him who Jesus called a liar (John 8:44).

He fools Christians into thinking maintaining a vibrant Christian faith is not important, Bible reading, worship  and prayer are not necessary, using our talents for the Lord not essential, and living a consistent Christian life in this compromising day is out of step with society. Our Adversary puts temptations before us that may seem innocent at first, but in the end will short circuit our relationship with our Heavenly Father. We can be assured when the great Trickster of the ages seeks to point us down a road that seems smoothly paved we can rest assure it will not be long before we discover it is full of potholes.

He fools Christians into thinking that because we are going through some trial that the Lord has abandoned us. He whispers in our ears, “If the Lord really loved you, you wouldn’t be going through this trial.” You have heard that, I know I have. My dear friend, reject the devil’s deceitful voice. We can be assured that NO trial or testing can EVER separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:38-39) and that whatever comes into our lives, good or bad, the Lord in His infinite wisdom promises to work it out for our good and His glory (Rom. 8:28). Don’t be fooled into not believing in the eternal promises of God that never fail. We can rest in the promise that our Lord “cannot lie” (Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18).

Through the years I am sure we have all have fallen for some April Fool’s trick, but let us not fall for the tricks of the devil who seeks to detour, derail, and distract us from what we know to be right. Paul tells us if we are going to be a fool, let’s not be one for the devil but let us be a fool for Christ’s sake (II Cor. 11:23) by daily living faithfully for Him.

Blessings,

Dr. Dan