Stepping on Toes - My Article in the Southside Messenger

Spirit & Truth # 159

"Stepping on Toes"
By Rev. Greg Smith


When I turned 35 years old, I took a trip to the doctor, because I wanted to hear what he might say about entering middle-age. After much poking, prodding, and blood-letting, he said, “You’re a tad overweight, and your triglycerides are a touch high.”


Here was somebody telling me some pretty negative things about myself, but did I get offended? No. I'd gone to him just so he could tell me negative things. I went to him so he would tell me what I needed to change in my life.


Often, I have finished a sermon and been greeted by a parishioner who said, "You stepped on my toes today, Pastor." Sometimes they're smiling. Sometimes they're not. Most people don't like getting their toes stepped on.


Many people don’t come to church to be challenged. They only want to hear pleasant messages. They flock to be one of thousands attending televised megachurches whose pastors preach a feel-good message without any substance. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 says, "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths" But when we go to church, we need to be open to hearing from God, so that we will be challenged--so that we will be changed.

The message that John the Baptist preached was a hard one to hear. "John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire (Luke 3:7-9)." But people listened to his painful preaching and they gave a receptive response. In verse 10, the people say, "What should we do, then?" Verse 15 says they were "waiting expectantly."

How do you respond to the tough teachings you get from the pulpit? Do you get offended? Or do you allow yourself to be totally transformed? Sometimes a sermon steps on our toes, but thank God that Jesus only steps on our toes when we trample on His heart! Maybe it's time to listen to God's message.

Instead of coming to church wearing steel-toed boots that protect your precious toes, we need to listen to God's word from Exodus 3:5, ""Take off your shoes, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." Make yourself vulnerable. Let God step on your toes, so you can be totally transformed.

The Main Characer in Your Life

“The Main Character in Your Life”

By Rev. Greg Smith


Then Jacob called for his sons and said: "Gather around....” He blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.... When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people. (From Genesis 49:1, 28, 33)



Every one of us was born, and every one of us, like it or not, is going to die. From the first breath to the last, we are the main characters in our own lives. Unlike any of the other characters in our life’s story, we view our own experiences from start to finish. Nobody else witnesses our secret moments or sees the depths of our hearts. Likewise, we can never see the hidden places in the lives of others. The only life we see completely is our own.

While it is true that we are the main characters in our own lives, it is not true that our lives are all about ourselves. The apostle Paul says, “If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord (Romans 14:8).” The truth is, we are not the only one who sees the full scope of our lives from beginning to end. God is the invisible witness who sees it all. We must remember that we do not live or die to ourselves alone.

As he faced his own death, Jacob was aware that he did not die to himself alone. While each of his sons was the main character in his own life, Jacob’s death would be a major chapter in the personal history of each of his children. At least for a time, Jacob would become the central player in the family drama. He would, in fact, pass on from his own life, leaving his sons to pick up the pieces and figure out how to move on. Truly it could be said that his death was not all about him. His death was all about them. Knowing that his time on earth was finite, he used his final days to bring blessing to those around him.

The same can be said about us. Though you are the main character in your life, you are also the main character in someone else’s life, at least for a time. Think of the family gathered around Mama’s death bed. In their eyes, it’s all about her. But she makes a choice. Is it all about her? Or will she make it about them? Will she leave them with a parting gift of wisdom? Or blessing? Or peace?

In reality, none of us can predict the hour of our own passing. It may be in sixty years, or it may be tomorrow. So it remains for us to live today as unto the Lord. Likewise, our imminent destruction must make us live for others, and not for ourselves. The more we invest in ourselves, the more we invest in the destructible. The more we invest in those who will live beyond us, the more we invest in immortality. Will you make somebody else the main character in your life today?

Spirit and Truth # 158 - Painful Preaching

Spirit & Truth # 158
“Painful Preaching”

By Rev. Greg Smith

"See, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to His temple, the Messenger of the covenant you desire—see, He is coming," says the LORD of Hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who will be able to stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner's fire and like cleansing lye. (Malachi 3:1-2 HCSB)

He is coming. Can you feel it in the air? Can you hear it on the wind? Even as we wait, the Messiah is on His way. We don’t know when He will arrive, but He is coming still. Are you ready?
Malachi had a vision of the coming Messiah. But he knew that the people’s hearts weren’t ready to receive the Lord. He foresaw that before the Lord would come, another messenger must arrive, to fertilize the soil of their souls. John the Baptist must come before the Messiah, preaching that people should repent and be baptized.

John was anything but what the people might expect. From the beginning, he turned people’s expectations upside down. His message was the photo negative of everything that they already knew. It was completely backwards from the way their minds worked. John Opposed sin and invited repentance. Specifically, he decried the sin of King Herod, who had taken his brother Philip’s wife as his own. John knew that the people take the morality (or immorality) of their political leaders as an example to follow, so he confronted Herod’s sin directly. John preached a message that would turn the establishment on its ear. And that kind of message is dangerous.

Sometimes preaching can be painful to the hearer. Powerful preaching can burn away our impurities like a refiner’s fire. It can scour our hearts like strong lye. And that can be uncomfortable. Yet it is necessary if we’re to become what God wants us to be.

Preaching can also be painful to the preacher. John stuck his neck out, and ended up losing his head. Yet he was willing to risk it all. As a result, Jesus would say that there had never been anyone born who was greater than John.

God calls every believer to be a preacher like John. Maybe we’re not called to wear camel’s hair and eat locusts—but we are all called to speak God’s truth, even if we know it won’t be well received. Even if it gets us into trouble (Mt 11:11; Lk 7:28). We can’t be afraid of criticism. We can’t be afraid of people getting mad. When we, like John, become “a voice crying in the wilderness,” then “the crooked will become straight, the rough ways smooth, and everyone will see the salvation of God (Luke 3:4-6)."

Peace On Earth, Good Will Toward Men

Spirit & Truth # 157
“Peace On Earth, Good Will Toward Men”

By Rev. Greg Smith

As we enter into the Christmas season, we remember the angels’ words, “Peace on earth, good will toward men (Luke 2:14).” Some Bible scholars say this verse is mistranslated, and should read, “Peace on earth toward men of good will.” The difference between these two interpretations is tremendous! One says that we should have peace with everybody. The other says we should have peace only with people of good will. What does Jesus say?

Jesus is perfectly qualified to talk about enemies. He probably had more enemies than anybody who ever walked the earth. His enemies were politicians, religious leaders, the rich and famous. The poor and needy rejected Him as well, if He didn’t meet their needs in the way they thought he should. His followers cried, “Please, teach us!” But then when he taught them things they didn’t want to hear, they turned against Him. His friends betrayed and abandoned him when trouble came. Even before His arrest and crucifixion, the crowds tried to stone Him (John 8:59), while the priests and teachers of the law were trying to kill Him (Luke 19:47). And this doesn’t even take into account the demonic attacks on Jesus throughout His life.

All of this uniquely qualifies the Prince of Peace to talk about enemies. In Luke 9:54-56, Jesus’ disciples are angry because the people did not welcome Him. “When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, ‘Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village.” Some manuscripts add that Jesus said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."

Jesus didn’t say, “No—they don’t deserve to have fire fall on them from heaven.” Perhaps they did deserve it after all. Maybe even your enemies deserve it. But the reserve Jesus expressed had nothing to do with the enemies—it had everything to do with the kind of spirit that dwells in the believer. We choose peace, not because our enemies don’t deserve our wrath—but because the Spirit of Peace lives in us. We choose peace because we deserve to be peaceful people. And that changes everything.

Romans 12:18 says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” This is what Jesus did, even to the point of laying Himself down on a cross. As we remember the manger this season, let’s remember to truly have peace and good will toward everyone, even those people who we don’t think deserve it.

The Starving Times

Spirit & Truth # 156
“The Starving Times”

By Rev. Greg Smith

New Englanders want to lay claim to the first Thanksgiving service in America, but we Virginians know that it really happened in Jamestown, in the year 1610. The Jamestown colony started well, laying the foundations in faith. Captain John Smith wrote about the first church in the new land: "When I first went to Virginia, I well remember we did hang an awning (which was an old sail) to three or four trees to shadow us from the sun; our walls were rails of wood, our seats unhewed trees, till we cut planks; our pulpit a bar of wood nailed to two neighboring trees; in foul weather we shifted into an old, rotten tent, for we had few better…This was our church till we built a homely thing, like a barn, set upon crotchets, covered with rafts, sedge, and earth; so were also the walls...Yet we had daily common prayer morning and evening, every Sunday two sermons, and every three months communion till our minister died."

Soon, however, the colonists took their faith in gold more seriously than their faith in God. They also abandoned their farming in exchange for searching for the yellow stones, hoping to barter and trade with the Indians for their winter supplies. But when Smith left the colony, tensions grew between the indigenous people and the settlers. The Powhatan Indians refused to trade with the English, thus leaving them without provisions for the winter of 1609-1610. This period would be known to historians as The Starving Time—when colonists resorted to eating shoe leather, horses, and the bodies of people who had died of starvation. Of the original 490 colonists that Smith left in the autumn of 1609, only 60 remained in the spring of 1610.

They decided to abandon the colony, boarded a ship, and followed the river downstream. At the mouth of the James, they encountered a flotilla of English ships, led by Lord Delaware, filled with supplies and fresh colonists. The bedraggled survivors returned the Jamestown, encouraged by the bounty and provision. The Rev. Mr. Buckle held a service of thanksgiving to God, filled with songs of praise that were heard even by the Indians who sat on the outside of the assembly.
Simply put—there would have been no Thanksgiving without the Starving Time. We must go through struggle and trial and hardship in life, if we are to be brought close to God. The prophet Amos said, “’The days are coming,’ declares the Sovereign LORD, ‘when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD (Amos 8:11 NIV).’”
God designs the starving times that we go through in order to make us hungry and thirsty for God.

Is this Thanksgiving a struggle for you? Do you feel like you’re in your own personal Starving Time? Remember that there can be no Thanksgiving without a struggle. Let the lean times bring you closer to God. Thank Him, in advance, for the sustenance you need—even if you don’t see it yet. Then wait, and see the salvation of God.

Crabtree Falls Hike

This past Monday, my friend Jed and I hiked most of the way to the top of Crabtree Falls, in the George Washington National Forest. (Click here to read about the layout of the falls, etc.) We had a great time! Here are some of the pictures I took on the hike.

Along the way, we stopped at a cave, which opened in the back as well. It had a natural chimney, and we could tell from the charred remains that somebody had taken advantage of it. Below is a picture of Jed in the cave.

Crabtree Falls is the highest (tallest) waterfall east of the Mississippi. This might look strange to you, from these pictures. But remember, this is the tallest...not the biggest. It's no Niagara, but the trail is a nice 2.2 mile round-trip hike, which takes longer than you might think, because of the steep incline. A nice hike.

Crabtree Falls is 1,200 feet high, and absolutely beautiful.

On the way back, we stopped at Harmony Presbyterian Church to admire its beautiful stonework. What a beautiful day to spend in the mountains!

An Awesome Michael Jackson Video

Since this is the "Love the Word" Blog, I thought I'd share this with you--just because I love words, and the words in this video are absolutely awesome!