Words from a Small-Town Pastor: Reflections for Standing Firm in Times of Unprecedented Chaos

By Thomas E. Tarpley Sr.

Some may consider calling the period we are living in chaos, an understatement. Others consider doing so an exaggeration. But the truth of the matter is that we find ourselves living in a time where we are required to face things individually and as a country and world that we have never experienced before.

Readers will find help in facing these times in Thomas E. Tarpley Sr.’s book, Words from a Small-Town Pastor. Using the Bible, his experiences as a minister, and the writings of others, Tarpley helps believers in their faith walks and leads them through self-examination into a life-changing relationship with Jesus. You will find words that will inspire you when you feel like you are struggling as life starts to close in on you. You will also find reflections to lift you in times of trouble and give you a sense of hope when things seem hopeless. If you are not a believer, or you are finding it difficult to hold onto your faith, Words from a Small-Town Pastor will help you discover—or rediscover—the necessity of faith and help you find your way through the difficult times through God’s love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Feb 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664219557

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CONTENTS

1.     Preview

2.     Introduction

3.     New Year’s Greetings!

4.     The Holy Scriptures

5.     The Main Thing

6.     Reassessing Our Relationship

7.     A Case for God’s Existence

8.     Prayerlessness

9.     Start Your Day with Jesus

10.   Message from My Heart

11.   Seek after Wisdom

12.   Reflecting the Light of Christ

13.   The Light of the World

14.   A Time for Reflection

15.   Trust and Obey

16.   Intimacy with God

17.   Do You Know Your Greatest Need?

18.   On Whom or What Are You Building?

19.   The Way I See It

20.   When Adversity Strikes

21.   Memorial Day

22.   God’s Word

23.   Where Is Your Treasure?

24.   The Never-Ending Pursuit of Happiness

25.   The Biblical Truth

26.   Beware of False Teachers

27.   Finding Time for God

28.   Becoming Radical for Jesus

29.   The Attitude of Christ Jesus

30.   Why We’re Not Reading the Bible

31.   Topsoil Will Not Sustain Permanent Growth

32.   The Key to Living a Godly Life Is Having a Healthy Prayer Life

33.   Is Jesus Weeping over America?

34.   Finding Satisfaction

35.   The Way to a Pure Heart

36.   The Simplicity of the Gospel

37.   Do You Believe the Gospel?

38.   Turn Back to God

39.   Transformation

40.   Love One Another

41.   What Is the Truth?

42.   Hard to Be a Christian

43.   Conforming or Transforming?

44.   Happy Thanksgiving

45.   Make Sure Jesus Shows

46.   Attitude of Gratitude

47.   Christmas Letter to God

48.   The Greatest Gift

49.   Reflections after Christmas

50.   Created in God’s Image

51.   Relationships

52.   Compromise

53.   Once upon a Time

54.   Good without God

55.   Obedience

56.   Be Strong and Courageous

57.   The Goal of Satan

58.   Self-Righteousness

59.   The Fall of America

60.   Don’t Be Duped by the Press

61.   Pause, Relax, and Reflect

62.   Replace Your Fear with Love

63.   The Whole Truth

64.   The Problem with Fear

65.   Making the Right Choice

66.   The Consequence of Disobedience

67.   The Desensitizing of a Nation

68.   God Is Still in Control

69.   Turn Back to God

70.   Does God Care?

71.   I Have a Dream

72.   Let Your Light Shine

73.   The Truth Will Set You Free

74.   The Ministry of Reconciliation

75.   The Power of Words

76.   Making Right Choices

77.   Do You Know Your Good Shepherd?

78.   Distractions

79.   Turning the Other Cheek

80.   Jesus Never Fails Us

81.   Living Together in Peace

82.   Praying Effectively

Preview

I HAVE A DREAM

How wonderful and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in harmony. (Psalm 133:1)

The world has not known peace since Cain murdered Abel. I don’t think men can live together in harmony because there will always be people who are driven to follow after the flesh’s desires instead of allowing themselves to be led by the power of the Spirit.

A question has been playing over and over in my head as I watch the demonstrations taking place around the country and listening to the rioters chanting, Black lives matter: If black lives matter, why are there so many black-on-black homicides? I can’t understand why, when a white person commits a crime against a black person, it becomes a reason for blacks and outside agitators to start rioting and demonstrating. But each day, black people commit the same types of horrendous crimes against one another, and nothing is said about it.

Over the Memorial Day weekend in St. Louis, there were at least nineteen shootings and four deaths. Chicago had forty-nine shootings, with ten fatalities. Most of these were black-on-black crimes. Where was the outrage? Why didn’t the news media splash photos of those dead bodies all over the web? Why weren’t the black clergy and political leaders screaming about brutality, criticizing that violence, and demanding justice for the deceased and imprisonment for the perpetrators? It seems like the death of a black man is only newsworthy if the perpetrator is white.

I know my way of thinking is not popular, especially since racial tension is so high.

I will be labeled by many as a sellout, but so be it. I’m not buying into what I see happening in our country in the name of BLM.

All lives matter to Jesus. When He died on the cross, it was for all people’s sins, regardless of their skin color or pedigree. It is time for those who follow Christ to stand up, step up, and speak up. We must make our voices heard and do what we can to help people understand that we are all created in God’s image. We must lead the way toward a movement to stop the hating and persecution of those who don’t look like us or are seen as inferior.

Genesis 1:27 (NIV) says, So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Since God created us, only He should be the one to destroy us. We do not have the authority or the right to take the life of another human.

In Genesis 1:31 (NIV), we read, And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good.

This was after the sixth day of creation. Everything God created was good. So what happened? Sin happened.

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they set the pattern for all those who would come after them.

God’s perfect world was no longer perfect. The people He created to occupy the world turned away from Him and sought to make their own way in life. As a result, we have a world today where many people deny that God even exists.

We’re living in the times that are described in 2 Timothy 3:1–5 (NIV): There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power.

Each day, it breaks my heart to see people disrespect the principles of God.

It tears me up to see the violent and evil deeds being perpetrated against one another. I know it must be breaking God’s heart as well.

I have a dream that one day, people will choose to love one another in the same way that Jesus loves us. There will be no need for police officers, courts, judges, or any other legal authority because people will be living as God intended.

I have a dream that all people, regardless of their nationality, status, color, or religion, will one day turn from their wicked ways and look to the one and only God and Creator of the universe.

I have a dream, a dream that a revival will break out all over this world, as it did in Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, back in 1970. One morning in 1970, without warning, all heaven broke loose during Asbury College’s ten o’clock chapel service.

While students across America were burning down buildings and rioting in the streets, students at Asbury were strangely drawn to their knees to pray. The service, a routine meeting, was scheduled for fifty minutes. Instead, it lasted 185 hours nonstop, twenty-four hours a day. It continued intermittently for weeks. Ultimately, it spread across the United States and into foreign countries. 2020 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the landmark Asbury College revival, an unplanned, unled display of enthusiasm that has been compared to the Great Awakenings of 1740 and 1800.

Yes, I have a dream. A dream that I know will one day come to fruition when Jesus returns to gather all those who love Him and are found faithfully waiting for His return. A dream based on the promises of the God of heaven.

We have all we need to live godly lives because we have the Holy Spirit of God living inside us. The problem, as I see it, is we are not allowing the Spirit to lead us. One day, the battle between the flesh and the Spirit will end. Until it does, we have the responsibility, as believers, to help as many people as we can come to Christ in repentance.

Introduction

When the local editor of my hometown paper approached me about writing a column for him every week, I reluctantly accepted his offer. Up until then, I had never done any writing.

It all came about shortly before I retired from a full-time position as a United Methodist Church pastor. After the morning service, the editor, a member of the congregation I served, asked if I would be willing to write an article for his paper. Naturally, I wanted to know what he wanted me to write. He said, Tell your story.

The next week, I wrote a column telling about my early childhood. The response I received from those who read the article inspired me to continue the same storyline. Each week, I shared more of my life story, describing how I went from being an alcoholic and drug-abusing sinner to becoming a born-again believer in Jesus, fully dedicated to serving our Lord.

After I completed my life story, the Holy Spirit compelled me to continue writing, only now, I wrote to inspire and motivate people to turn back to God. Each week, I used scripture or some life experience to reach out to my readers and share something valuable to them on their journey of faith. This book is a collection of some of those writings.

My goal in life is to share the good news about Jesus with as many people as possible, hopefully with many who have never heard the gospel message or have turned away from the Christian faith.

It is no secret that we are living in unprecedented times. People worldwide are struggling with many different issues that threaten to steal the joy of living away from them.

The coronavirus, civil unrest, the persecution of Christians, anger against the government, abortion, and gender identity are a few of the concerns that make people fearful and disheartened with the way things are playing out. If I can help even one person to connect with Jesus and accept Him as their Lord, my time on this earth will not be in vain.

Some people spend too much time worrying about when things will get back to normal. It would be more beneficial to focus on what they can do for Jesus that will help someone trying to get through these troubling days without Him.

If you read something here that helps you remain steadfast in your faith and gives you some peace amid this terrible storm we’re facing, I encourage you to share it with others who may also be having difficulty hanging on.

Note: I used many scriptures in my writings. Unless otherwise noted, all quotations are from the New Living Translation (NLT).

New Year’s Greetings!

JANUARY 7, 2018

It’s time for new beginnings. It’s time for a fresh start. It’s time to make some resolutions. These are often statements made by many people at the beginning of a new year, and we as Christians are not all that different. Who wants to remain the same as before? I know I don’t. I want to continue to grow in the Lord, as well as put off some of those things that have held me down from being all He wants me to be. We struggle in our endeavor to move forward, as failings and difficulties from the past create a drag on the vision for the future.

I’m reminded of a beautiful scripture that helps me each time those thoughts come into my mind:

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12).

In Paul’s declaration of forgetting, he said he does one thing. However, we see that one thing is broken down into three parts.

Forgetting what is behind is the first one. It seems that the more difficult a situation is, the harder it is to forget. Paul wasn’t saying there’s no way we would remember these things, but he was simply saying those things would not be enough to hold us back from forwarding progress.

The next thing he said was, he would strain toward what is ahead. There are times serving God when even moving forward in life takes some straining. Yet be reminded that one day, it will truly be worth it all.

Lastly, he said he would press on toward the goal to win the prize. We need to remember that we will be rewarded one day. We must keep our eyes focused on the prize, and the greatest prize we will ever receive will be on the day we see our Savior face to face.

Last Saturday, during my daily devotional time, I was reminded of how easy it is to be distracted from straining and pressing on toward the goal to win the prize that Jesus has for all who believe in Him and have committed their lives to Him. As I sat and tried to meditate on the scriptures, my mind kept wandering, and I found myself struggling to stay focused on Christ.

Every time I sit down to spend time with God in His Holy Word, the enemy will try to distract me. He will do everything in his limited power to keep me from moving forward in my desire to grow more spiritually in unity with the will of God. He is a shrewd and cunning adversary who will stop at nothing to keep God’s people from spending time with him in quiet meditation.

But with the power of the Holy Spirit and the truth of God’s Word to help us, we will find that we can effectively resist Satan’s temptations. I thank the living God that the Spirit who lives in you [us] is greater than the spirit who lives in the world (1 John 4:4).

It is the Holy Spirit’s power that gives us the power to overcome the sin and temptations that bombard us each day. If we have the spirit of Christ residing in our hearts, then we have what it takes to resist the flaming arrows the devil sends our way.

The Word of God has always been our best defense against Satan. So the better we know the Word, the easier it will be for us to claim victory over our daily struggles. The psalmist tells us, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you (Psalm 119:11). When Satan tempted Jesus at the beginning of His ministry, He recited the scriptures to rebuke him.

So it is essential and necessary to be faithful and diligent in studying God’s Word,

Because we must keep our hearts pure and focused on Christ, we must live according to what we learn from the Word of God.

As we begin this New Year, we need to take Paul’s words in Philippians 3:12 to heart: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.

It is hard to move forward if we are continually looking back. There is nothing we can do about our past hurts, hang-ups, or habits, which have caused us to struggle and stumble along our faith journey.

We must focus on the future. We must press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12).

The Holy Scriptures

APRIL 8, 2018

The Holy Scriptures found in the Bible were written under the direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit. These words are divinely inspired, and by His divine power, God has given us everything we need to live godly lives (2 Peter 1:3). Because God guided and directed the men who wrote the scriptures, nothing was added or taken away. Only what God wanted is included. Therefore, all scripture is suitable and profitable for teaching and correcting us as we travel through the journey of life (2 Timothy 3:16–17).

When we pause and look at society today, we see the evidence of what happens when people get away from using God’s Word as the absolute authority for living their lives. People have allowed their human way of thinking and reasoning to replace the authority of scripture. Therefore, everyone has their idea as to what is right and what is wrong. Because we have abandoned God’s Word, the Lord has given us over to our sinful desires (Romans 1:24).

Many of our ancestors failed in their duty to teach the Word to their children, and these children have failed to teach theirs. Because of this, God’s Word has lost its importance in the lives of modern-day people. We have moved our human desires and priorities up ahead of the things that the scriptures tell us are important.

We have fallen into the trap that the enemy of God, the devil, has set for us; he is leading us down the road that leads to destruction. We have reasoned God’s instructions right out of our lives.

Many people today don’t believe the Bible. They say it is nothing but foolishness. To them, it is foolish because people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means (1 Corinthians 2:14).

God doesn’t want any of His children to perish, but many will because they refuse to accept the plan of salvation He offers us and reveals to us in His Word.

Some time ago, a friend of mine asked me this question: What if you live your whole life believing and following after Jesus, and then you die and find out there is no God?

My answer was, In that case, I will have lived a good life, and it will all be over. But then I asked him, What if you live your life believing that there is no God, and when you die find out there is?

The Bible is not just a book of fables or made-up stories; it is the authoritative Word of God. Therefore, we need to spend as much time as we can reading, meditating, and discerning what the scriptures say and mean. Our eternal destiny depends on it.

Every day, people are dying without ever having read the scriptures or getting to know who Jesus was and what He did for them. They are dying with no possible chance of ever receiving the wonderful gift of salvation; Jesus paid the ultimate price so we could spend eternity with Him.

Suppose you are a person who believes in God, and you have accepted Jesus as your Savior. In that case, you have the responsibility and the mission of sharing what you believe and why you believe it with others who are not in the spiritual family of God. We are to teach as Jesus taught. It was through divine instruction that Jesus was prepared for the role He was to perform as the Son of God.

That same divine instruction is available to us, if we take the time to do what Jesus did: study the Word, spend time in prayer, and listen to God. Then step out in faith and do what the Holy Spirit instructs us to do.

I never wanted to become a pastor. I never wanted to leave the comfort of my familiar surroundings and begin life all over again in a different culture. I never wanted to be a writer. These things were not on my radar. But when I accepted Christ and began to spend time in the Holy Scriptures, the Lord God transformed me from the inside out into the person I am today. I am a child of the King. My destiny in the world of eternity is secure—bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus. The hope I have for my future is based on what the scripture tells me and the precious blood of Jesus Christ. I know that God wants me to share my belief and knowledge of the scriptures with those who are lost.

The scripture tells us, We are not to conform to the ways of the world; instead, we are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:2).

When we spend time in the Holy Scriptures and earnestly seek what God has for us, He will give us the desires of our hearts because our hearts are being synced in accordance with God’s Holy will.

What I do today, I do not do for myself. I preach and write because I want to help others find the joy in living for Christ the way I have. I want to help as many people as I can avoid the penalty of being separated from God for all eternity.

If you’re not a spiritual person or a believer in Christ, you may find what I write to be mere foolishness. If that is the case, you are destined for a world of pain that you can’t even imagine. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you will be thrown out (Luke 13:28).

The phrase weeping and gnashing of teeth appears seven times in the New Testament as a description of the torment for those who refuse to accept Jesus as Savior. Don’t you think it is time for you to check out the Holy Scriptures?

The Main Thing

APRIL 15, 2018

For a long time, I have felt that my love for God has not been what it should be or could be. I say this because I spend far too much time in the pursuit of things that have no real value except to give me a little temporary happiness and pleasure.

Several times before now, God has nudged me to write