My latest book is "TRUE"...regarding faithfulness in marriage. It's about being true to God, true to yourself, and true to the one you married. If you're interested in obtaining a copy, they're $15...you can email me at michael-mason@charter.net.

I'm interested in teaching the message of the book to couples or singles groups at church. If you'd like to know more, let me know. Michael

2010 Preaching Engagements:

2010 Preaching Engagements:

January 25 Muscle Shoals Baptist Assoc. Pastor's Conference, Moulton, Al.

February 6 TRUE Conference, Canaan Baptist, Hoover, Al.

February 12 Bailey Smith "Real Evangelism" Conf., Wheeler Grove Bap., Corinth, Miss.

February 26-27 TRUE Couple's Wknd. First Baptist, Winchester, Tenn.

March 1 Marvelous Monday, Black Creek Baptist, Boaz, Al.

March 7-10 (pm only) Revival Lakeview Baptist, Pembroke, Ky.

April 1 East Cullman Assoc. Senior Adult Revival, FBC Hanceville, Al.

April 11-14 Pleasant Hill Baptist (M-W) Decatur, Al. p.m. services only

April 25-28 Revival FBC Union City, Tenn.

No Regrets

No Regrets for the Believer
Luke 16:25-26
Regrets...we’ve all got ‘em. Regrets about jobs we should have taken and school we should have finished and homes we shouldn’t have sold and cars we wish we’d kept and people we wish we’d been nicer to and trips we wish we’d taken and things we wish we shouldn’t have said and things we wish we had said and time we wish we hadn’t wasted and money we wish we hadn’t spent and visits we should have made and phone calls we shouldn’t have made and apologies we should have made and... and if we had it all to do over again we do things differently, or so we say.
Regrets....I wish I had studied harder in high school. ....I wish I had spent more time sitting in the swing with my papaw Mason watching him whittle and talking about nothing. ...I wish I hadn’t quit high school basketball. ....I wish I had taken guitar lessons when I was a kid. .... I wish I hadn’t sold my first car a 1973 Mustang. ....I wish I had never bought that Volkswagen Rabbit. ....I wish Crystal had been older than 15 when I first met her. ....I wish I had gotten to know my dad better when I was young. ....I wish I hadn’t been in such a rush that night in the hospital before Mother died.
Regrets....My greatest regret has to do with my salvation. I first felt God speaking to my heart when I was just a small boy maybe 8 years old. I didn’t get saved until I was 19. I think about all the growing I missed out on. I think about the call I felt at 19 and wonder if I would have felt it earlier if I had gotten saved. I wish I had been a Christian in high school. I wish I had been the president of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I wish I had been the guy the coach called on to ask the blessing.
Regrets....The Bible is full of men and women who lived to regret their foolish decisions. People who bet the farm and lost believing they could sow to the wind and not reap the whirlwind. You will reap what you sow whether you believe it or not. May God help us live a life we will not regret...and stand before God unashamed of our faithfulness to Him.

So....What happens? What makes us do what we know we will one day regret?
1- We get Trapped.....Luke 16:25-26 But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.' NKJV
Woody Allen said, “My only regret in life is that I am not someone else.” (What They Said) I wonder if Tiger Woods has wished that lately? I don’t want to beat up Tiger but suggest that he is a modern day “rich man” we read about in Luke 16. ....I think Tiger got trapped in a lifestyle he never intended. I can’t imagine him choosing the life he has lived. Trapped? I think so.
Let’s ask John Edwards. He and his wife are now legally separated. Could he have gotten caught in a trap carefully laid by Satan? His political life and family life are over. Some would say he is ruined. We can trace his steps and read his story but we cannot really understand his actions. .....A politician and a professional athlete, but we’d better remember...We’re all vulnerable. Don’t get in the position to be trapped.
In Luke 16, the “rich man” is told to “remember in your life...” I hate to think that he spent eternity with an instant replay continually running in his head reminding him of all the times he turned God away....and laid up more treasures on earth and mocked the cripple at his gate. *Are you caught in a trap...wanting to be free? Believe God!

2- We get Tired......Matt 21:28-32 "But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go, work today in my vineyard.' 29 He answered and said, 'I will not,' but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, 'I go, sir,' but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?"They said to Him, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.” NKJV
Do you ever get so tired of the daily routine that you just want to say, “No, I’m not going.”? In the Matthew passage one son said he would go and didn’t and the other said he wouldn’t go but did. How many times have you made commitments to God with no intention of ever keeping them? *This son who said he’d go but didn’t never intended to go...but it sure sounded good. .....It was not his first time to say he was going and not go. Sometimes fatigue is the offspring of laziness. Sometimes we reward laziness – hard workers are few.
The son who said he’d go but didn’t is a picture of the Pharisees. Everything they said or did was done to be seen of men. ....The son who said he wouldn’t go but did is a picture of the outcasts, harlots, and publicans. Because of Jesus, salvation was no longer limited to a nation, but whosoever...people like the woman caught in adultery.
But the reason behind this man’s fatigue was his feelings of superiority.

3- We get Tangled......Mark 10:21-22 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." 22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. NKJV “He went away sorrowful”... Imagine that. In 2 Peter 2:20 we read about false teachers who become entangled in the world and are overcome... In Galatians 5:1 we read Paul’s words to new believers not to “become entangled in a yoke of bondage”...but to stand fast in their liberty in Christ.
We weave tangled webs when we allow the world to have too much influence on us. Families become tangled where Christ is not the center...Churches become tangled through rumoring, lack of vision, and false teaching. Individuals become tangled when our lives are consumed with possessions, power and prestige...and we ignore God’s call to be Holy.
Sad ending to this story. Jesus did look at him, love him and level with him...but in the end, when the man turned his back, Jesus let him go.

4- We Get Tricked...... Matt 27:3-4 “Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood."NKJV In the KJV, Judas “repented himself.”...which has nothing to do with repentance. His actions had more to do with getting caught than being committed. Francis Chan said, we don’t necessarily want to be forgiven of our sins...we just want to be forgiven of the penalty of our sins.
Judas was suckered in. Did God know about this in advance? Of course...He’s God. Call it a plan, call it the natural course of action...God allowed Judas to put himself in a position to be tricked and to trade in the potential for eternal life for the guarantee of eternal damnation.
You think Judas regretted his actions? You bet...and in Acts 1 when he hanged himself it was his way of escaping the wrath of his own regret. ... “The serpent was more subtle...”

Paul was a believer who lived with no regrets...
True......Phil 3:10-14 “...that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” NKJV

We have two choices... We can live our life trapped, tired, tangled and tricked...or we can be true to what we know, living the abundant life looking forward to the eternal life.

For Better For Worse

For Better – For Worse
Gen 2:24 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be
joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Does “true love” exist anymore? Is there a husband and wife out there anywhere who actually love each other more than anything or anyone else in the world? Anyone who’s committed to being “true” for a lifetime? Anyone who’s actually committed to being and having all God intended for them? Being “true” to your marriage may be a little old fashioned, but it is what God intended.

In a recent article in the local newspaper, The Decatur Daily, I read an interesting piece by Lisa Heyamoto regarding the brevity of marriage today. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the average length of a marriage in the United States is about seven and a half years. It seems, however, in Hollywood the length is more like seven hours.

For example, the great Rudolph Valentino was married to Jean Acker for just six hours in 1919. Their marriage hit a wall after she locked him out of their honeymoon suite. There are others who evidently were not in it for the long haul as well. Zsa Zsa Gabor and Felipe de Alba were married for a single day in 1982. Britney Spears and Jason Alexander were married for two days in 2004. Dennis Hopper married Michelle Phillips for eight days in 1970. Drew Barrymore was married Tom Green for five months in 2001. Lisa Marie Presley was married to Michael Jackson for twenty months in 1994 and then to Nicolas Cage for four months in 2002. Jim Carrey and Lauren Holley were married for just ten months in 1996.

Isn’t the Bible a little outdated in establishing marriage as one man and one woman for life? Are we ridiculous to support, and even teach, the idea of two people becoming “one flesh” as we read in Genesis 2:24?

What does it mean, in our everyday lives, to become one flesh? I don’t believe the evidence is earth shattering. I think you can see this idea of two becoming one all around us. Look at the couple in their late seventies, still married, still in love. They have endured storms together. They have shared joys together. They need each other. Each one makes the other complete. There it is...right before our eyes…two becoming one. She finishes his sentences. He knows what she’s thinking. They read each other’s mind. What a wonderful thing to see…Two people who have grown together as one over fifty or sixty years.

Now look at the couple in their early twenties. They have been married almost three years. Do they have anything in common with the couple in their seventies? Absolutely. In Christ, they are one. And, over the next forty years or so their oneness will become more and more evident. Storms will make them stronger. They’ll have more struggles than they can imagine to help them grow together as one. Some would have them believe there is a marriage out there somewhere free from heartache. Somewhere, somehow there is a life where the weather is never too cold or too hot. The sun is always shining and a cool breeze is always blowing.

While doing an internet search I discovered and interesting thought about submission. Ponder these words from Russell Moore: “Perhaps in all our talk of romance and candlelight, we should re-emphasize that sometimes the romance is deferred, sometimes the fireworks are postponed. Perhaps rather than always pointing to the example of a sexy young married couple, we should point our older teenagers and young married couples to the eighty-seven year old man who has been wheeling his wife into the congregation every Sunday for thirty years, since she lost the use of her arms and legs in a stroke, or to the sixty year old woman who faithfully shaves the face of her Alzheimer's-riddled husband, even as he curses and swats at a woman he doesn't remember.”


I can learn a lesson from a gentleman who did more than repeat his vows. He lived them. While surfing the internet I ran across the story of Robertson McQuilkin and his wife Muriel. Robertson McQuilkin was the President of Columbia Bible College until 1990 when he retired to take care of his wife, Muriel, who was crippled with Alzheimer's disease.

He first noticed changes in her while vacationing in Florida. She repeated a story she had told just five minutes earlier to a couple they were visiting. Three years later after having tests ran on her heart the doctor suggested to Mr. McQuilkin that he should consider the possibility of Alzheimer’s. Even though he dismissed the possibility, he couldn’t ignore the changes taking place in his wife.

Muriel McQuilkin had been as involved in the ministry as her husband. She had a morning radio program called “Look Up” especially designed to encourage women. She traveled extensively to various speaking engagements. She counseled with those who sought her advice. She would read and record textbooks for blind students. Needless to say, her life was busy with the things that make life worth living.

At that time Robertson McQuilkin was just 57 years old and wondered if he could take care of Muriel as well as hold on to his job as president of the college until he was 65. What would happen in the next eight years of Muriel’s life? As her abilities declined, Robertson began to ponder his future. Would he sacrifice his job to care for his wife? Or would he sacrifice his commitment to his wife to fulfill his duties at work?

Even though several colleagues and friends recommended that he put her in an institution of some kind, he just couldn’t do it. He said: "The decision was made, in a way, 42 years ago when I promised to care for Muriel, ‘in sickness and in health…till death do us part.’ She has cared for me fully and sacrificially all these years; if I cared for her for the next 40 years I would not be out of her debt."

I do not understand why Muriel McQuilkin and others like her must suffer with a disease such as Alzheimer’s. Neither do I understand completely why Jesus waited while Lazarus died and was buried. What I do understand is this - Life is hard but God is good.

In my life and in my marriage I will face hardships that will either make me or break me. In those circumstances I will find out if I really do trust the Lord. And, in those situations I will discover afresh the faithfulness of God. Robertson McQuilkin did. And with faith in Christ, you will too.

My latest book is "TRUE" about love, loyalty, and Lordship in marriage. If you're interested in getting a copy, email me at michael-mason@charter.net. They're $15. I am available to come to your church for a "TRUE" conference...If I can help you in that matter let me know. Thanks. Michael

Cries of the Coyotes

I was raised up in the country. When I was a boy I could stand out in my back yard and not see a single light. It was pitch black. If I stood in our front yard I could barely see the lights of three homes. No one had "security lights" back then. It was just plain 'ol dark outside. I remember walking out at night in the middle of the hay field behind our house and staring up at the stars. The darkness seemed to go on forever. On a clear night the stars were so clear you'd think you could reach out and touch them.

Out in the middle of that field on a starry night it was peace and quiet. You wouldn't hear a sound except for an occasional dog barking and....sometimes late at night, the crying of coyotes. I was talking to a friend of mine this week. He and his wife were camping recently down in south Alabama in a very remote wooded area. It was like they were in the middle of nowhere. They got the camper set up and were settling in for the night when they began to hear the coyotes. He said it sounded as if there were at least a hundred. My friend said he told his wife he'd be back in a minute, "I've got to see how many coyotes there are out there." He said he grabbed his pistol and headed out in the direction of the sound of the coyotes. He walked a few hundred yards from the camper and the sound was almost deafening. He said he felt like he was surrounded by coyotes. He said, "I felt like they were on top of me." As he walked carefully toward the sound he topped a small rise and there they were. Not a hundred. Not fifty or sixty. There were two. Imagine that.

Sometimes we feel may feel like we are surrounded by the enemy. Like the devil is roaming about seeking to devour "us"... Just remember when you feel like the world is against you, like you're surrounded by a hundred coyotes, chances are there are only two. Keep your eyes on Jesus....don't focus on the two who are against you...focus on the ONE who is for you.