How would you finish this sentence: “There Is None Like…”
If I were to get you to be honest with me, what would you say keeps you moving forward? With whom or what are you sincerely in love What if I added that we are going to confirm your answer based upon evidence that it can be backed up by your daily decisions?
We are what we worship. Does God know where He stands on your life’s Billboard Top 40?
Don’t be singing that you love Him more than anything Sundays, especially if your behavior whistles a different tune Monday. Biblical faith should always be a demonstration of God’s power coming through loud and clear as we live our life stories.
It is not about people using God for their intentions and inventions to be blessed and successful. It must be rooted in the truth that one will surrender their will so God’s will can be accomplished in and through them.
If we long to see spiritual fruit on our branches, we must ensure each move is rooted deeply in who the Lord is.
Let’s stop telling everybody how much we are doing for God unless our actions produce examples that justify that we have been with Him. It’s not, “Jesus, come for a ride with me;” It’s, “Jesus take my steering wheel from now until eternity.”
Scripture defines God’s greatest commandment for us, and it has to do with how we love, not think. The brain must submit to the heart, for it is there that humanity’s engine room can be discovered.
Love the Lord, your God, first and foremost. Love Jesus above all other loves. Seek heaven, even as you reside on earth.
It must be vertically secured if we are going to impact culture horizontally, meaning we must surrender our pride so the spotlight stays on the Lord. We finally discover true peace and purpose when we forget about ourselves, concentrate on Jesus, and do everything we do to worship Him.
If what you’re doing can’t be deemed an act of devotion to God, stop it immediately. Sometimes, people can say they are about following Jesus, no matter what, but something happens that exposes the fact that it is easier to preach sermons than to live them.
Remember when Peter made his awesome declaration the night Jesus was betrayed? Unfortunately, his real dedication was founded in saving his own skin, rather than laying it on the line for the Lord.
Too many believers I know want God to elevate them and their ministry. They want to write bestselling books and speak on sold-out tours. They long to serve at the mega churches and have others elevate them, rather than the One from whom all blessings really flow.
How can I be like Chris Tomlin? How can I be recognized like Lauren Daigle? How can I have a church like Steven Furtick? How can I be as famous as Rick Warren? If you haven’t come to this conclusion already, none of these questions are valid.
I want and need to be more like Jesus. Is that true of you?
A Convair CV-240 departed the airport in Greenville, South Carolina, at 4:02 p.m Oct. 20, 1977, after being filled with 400 gallons of 100-octane, low-lead fuel. The band Lynyrd Skynyrd was headed for Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for their next concert. They never got there, at least not all of them.
It was an instant death for pilots McCreary and Gray and band members Cassie Gaines, Steve Gaines and Ronnie Van Zant. The assistant road manager, Dean Kilpatrick, was also dead in a moment.
Six were killed on impact, and six others were injured, including Powell and Pyle, band members Allen Collins, Leon Wilkeson and Gary Rossington, as well as Gene Odom, security manager.
In a look at the incident, in 2017, Rolling Stone magazine reported the other 14 survivors “endured shattered bones, torn flesh, lengthy hospitalizations and grueling rehabilitations.” A guy named Lenny LeBlanc was almost on that plane. LeBlanc and Pete Carr were promised seats, but that bond was broken, this time for the best.
Some people would give anything for a recording contract with one of the world’s largest, most influential music labels. LeBlanc and Carr had a top 10 record with “Falling,” in 1978. LeBlanc gave up his recording contract, money, possessions, fame and fortune so he could have everything.
Months later after that fatal plane tragedy, LeBlanc received a call from a close friend who lived in Florida.
“He was a big-time drug smuggler,” LeBlanc said. “He called me late one night and said, ‘Lenny, I got saved. I’m going to heaven, and I want you to be there with me. Are you saved?’”
This friend was like an older brother to LeBlanc, so what he said carried weight.
“I thought, ‘Oh man, this is great. Now that I’m successful and have all this stuff going for me, he starts talking about God.’ I had no idea what ‘saved’ even meant.”
That friend sent LeBlanc a Bible, he started reading, and God started revealing Himself. God started unveiling to Him how much he didn’t own and how he, too, needed a Savior.
LeBlanc said, “God’s love melted my heart. I started crying out to God for forgiveness, and I become born again, right there in my house.”
His friends suggested that he might be losing his mind.
“They thought I was nuts, that I was going off on some religious tangent, but I’d found the Lord,” he said.
At that time, LeBlanc was signed to Capitol Records as a solo artist and had one record left on his contract. As he sat down to write songs for it, praise and worship, not pop lyrics, fell from his lips.
“Every time I’d write a song, by the time I got to the chorus, it would be about what Jesus had done in my heart. I called my manager, in Los Angeles, and said, ‘Do you think they’d let me out of my record deal?’ He thought I was completely bananas.”
Crazy or not, Capitol Records agreed to put LeBlanc in suspension of his contract – he couldn’t record for another label unless they bought out his contract, which was unlikely, since Christian music was still a relatively small industry in 1981. Few Christian record labels could afford to buy LeBlanc from Capitol.
Forced into early retirement from the music industry, LeBlanc, a talented craftsman and musician, began making stained glass. He’d often get a job creating a window for a church, and the church would ask him to give his testimony to the youth group, sing a song during the Sunday morning service, or give a Saturday night concert.
At the same time, LeBlanc was still writing, but his songs were no longer about worldly matters. They were about God.
By the time LeBlanc wrote more than a dozen Christian songs, God began to open new doors. He soon met many of Christian music’s key figures, including Michelle Pillar, who recorded three of his tunes.
Two years after he left Capitol Records, Capitol realized no one was willing to purchase the contract and released LeBlanc from the agreement. Now, he recorded his own albums, but this time for Jesus.
LeBlanc used his life as an instrument for others to see Jesus. One of his first worship songs was “There is None Like You.” The second line of this composition says, “No one else can touch my heart like You do.” That’s where God wants to heal us first.
If we can get the priorities straight in our souls and learn to love the Lord first, we have got it right for eternity. No person, amount of money, fame, number of social media followers, or anything temporary could complete us as Jesus does.
I don’t care what you put up against a vibrant faith in God; it will never hold up.
How will you answer, “There is None Like Who?” Your answer determines your destiny.
ED. NOTE: The author is the senior pastor of The Lighthouse Church, 1248 Route 9 South, Court House.
