Category Archives: Matthew

Tony Funderburk shares messages of faith, hope, and love found in the book of Matthew

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There is no greater love than this….

…that a man be willing to lay down his life for his friends. Do you have a love like that living in your heart? It doesn’t mean that you have to be killed in order to prove you love your friends. It means you’d be willing to do that if things ever got to that point. I pray you never have to face a circumstance like that. But I also pray you’d be able to if and when the time comes. And I pray that for me, too. Because that kind of greater love comes from above.

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Imagine if you never committed a crime. Never even sinned. Then imagine being scorned, ridiculed, mocked, and even beaten half to death by people you were trying to help. What would you do? How would you feel? Could you stand having everyone hate you for just being you? And what if they wanted to kill you? Would you be able to forgive them?

It takes a greater love than I have.

I can only imagine what Jesus must have felt in the last days of His life. He became the only person ever to be found innocent of his charges and then sentenced to death. And keep in mind…He didn’t do what He did because He had no other choice. When they came to seize Him and take him to face his charges, He let them know they couldn’t possibly do this without His willingness. He told them He could merely pray and legions of angels would come to His aid. I think I would have prayed that prayer. Wouldn’t you?

But He didn’t do that because He had chosen to become a man in order to be able to give His life for His friends. His eternal life. For eons and eons past He had always been undying Spirit. And yet, His love for and toward us was and is so great, He became a flesh and blood man. Then, He became sin for us. And then, He actually endured a tortuous death so we wouldn’t have to. You won’t find greater love than that anywhere or anytime.

I don’t know about you, but knowing what Jesus went through makes me want to get to know how anyone could love me that much. If God, who created all the heavens and earth and lowered Himself to our level in order to give us eternal life, is FOR us, then…

…It doesn’t matter who’s against us.

They’re inconsequential in comparison.

God says that tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword will not separate us from Him. And the Apostle Paul was convinced that “…neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

Do you agree with me now, when I say there’s no greater love than this? Yes or no…let me know

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I share it with believers who want to focus on the power of God’s love and rightly divide the word of truth. Spend your time reading, listening, and watching good stuff based on the power of God’s love instead of looking for it. And, to show my sincere appreciation for your time and attention, I’ll send you download links to music and The Very First 6 Days (a rhyming book for kids about the creation week) right away. Kids from 3 to 103 can enjoy these fun goodies. Just add your email to the form and let’s connect right away.

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Are you on the winning team?

Or are you hanging with losers? This is bigger than your weekend softball team. Or school sports or even pro sports. If you’ve ever played sports of any kind, I know you remember how much more fun it was to be on the winning team. Right? Of course, it’s good to be a gracious loser, because no team wins 100% of the time. But it’s so much better to be a winner. And that’s even way more important in your “real life”. (Click on the player, below, to listen to this message…and a song.) Or read on…

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The winning team never runs out of steam.

A man named David talked about the winning team that outlasts them all.

He said all the nations of the earth will eventually belong to one person. In fact, all “the ends of the earth” will belong to one person. If you’ve read much history, you might think that would be a bad thing. After all, every time one person tried to conquer the whole world, they turned out to be power-hungry, greedy, selfish, tyrants. Alexander, Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin…they all wanted to be top dog. But they were all mad dogs. And they all ended up losing. First their status, then their power, and finally (most likely) their eternal souls.

If you follow someone like that, or trust in someone like that, you stand a good chance of sharing their dark fate. But the One David talked about, when he said all the ends of the earth would be His possession, is not like that. Never was. Never will be. What makes Him so different? In a word…

Love.

Show me a ruler, or leader, or king who is willing to die for his people rather than making them die for him. And I’ll show you someone who can (and will) put together a winning team. And, in this case, I’m talking about THE winning team. The ones who ran the race to get the prize of eternal life through the gracious gift of the one, true, living, loving Creator of Heaven and Earth.

Wouldn’t you rather be on the winning team with forever fruits of victory?

Why miss out on all that awesome time without end? Imagine how much you can do with endless time. No more death and decay. No more destructive forces. Believe me, you don’t deserve this break. Neither do I. No one does. But, thankfully, the winning team of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit loves you (and me) enough to make the Way for us to join.

The winning team never runs out of steam,
And you’re a member when you trust
In the one who died and was glorified
To redeem all of us from dust. ~TF

We Win - words and music by Tony Funderburk

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Wholesome words lead to wonderful ideas

I’m a fan of puns. In fact, I’ve been called Tony Punderburk by a fellow punster, and I suppose the shoe sometimes fits. I recall, one time back in my full-time musician days, as we were setting up to play for an evening crowd in Denver I made a pun about something. Can’t even remember what it was. But a guy who was helping set up the gear said, “Ooh, a pun! Those are the lowest form of humor.” I immediately replied, “I guess if you leave out dirty words and vulgar jokes about women, different races or ethnic groups, body parts, and bathroom humor…maybe you have a point.” He didn’t have a comeback. And I wondered how using puns or any other humor with wholesome words and ideas could ever be considered “low”.

Just exactly what are wholesome words?

The dictionary describes wholesome like this: conducive to or suggestive of good health and physical well-being: the food is plentiful and very wholesome. OR conducive to or promoting moral well-being: good wholesome fun. So, what’s wrong with wanting wholesome words instead of profanity and vulgarity? The short answer is “Nothing”. Think about it. There are grocery store chains based on wholesome foods. And most everybody would agree it’s better to have wholesome good health and physical well-being. But paths diverge when it comes to moral well-being. Weird.

Why do you suppose most people don’t mind being told what foods are good but hate being told what words and ideas are good? It’s difficult to even get a consensus on what “good” is anymore. These days, it’s whatever is right in your own mind. Trouble with that is…a lot of people have a lot of dastardly things in their own minds.

You can’t go wrong with wholesome words.

If you’re currently of the mindset that nobody can tell you what to say or think, consider trying something different today. Look up a word (or two or three) that you don’t know the meaning to…and discover what it means and where it originated. Then, see what kind of ideas pop into your head. I promise ideas WILL pop into your head. And when something less wholesome pops in there, focus more on your new ideas. Guess what will happen when you do this on a regular basis. You’ll become an idea person. And you’ll be able to rise above the dirty jokes and curse words. You’ll find you no longer need them to feel strong. Your ideas will strengthen you.

Try it today and share your first ideas with me. What have you got to lose…besides bad taste?

Here are some words I shared, a few years back, to get kids interested in writing…

Open Your Head

Open your head.
Pour words right in.
Then shake your head
And let ’em spin.
They’ll bubble up
Like polka dots
Into some bright
And bouncing thoughts.
Just let them float,
And let them grow.
When they’re just right,
You’ll let them go
Live on a page
Where they’ll be read
And poured into
Another head.    © 2013 TF

If you enjoy a good pun (or even not so good), let’s stay connected. It’s super easy. Here’s how:

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What does it mean to have an effective prayer life?

Are your prayers effective? Do you even know? Is there any way to know? What evidence could prove you have an effective prayer life? These are tough questions for most Christians. And if you’re not a Christian, I can guarantee you don’t have an answer to them, let alone an effective prayer life. But I’m gonna share a simple solution to knowing how to get one…and knowing when you’ve got it.

You’ll hear a lot of Christians saying you should “pray without ceasing” or “pray for a healing” or “I’ll pray that God intervenes in your life”. Those are not effective prayers. The first thing to remember about prayer is how it builds your relationship with God. It’s communication. And just like you wouldn’t say something over and over to the person standing next to you, you shouldn’t talk that way to God. He doesn’t like “vain repetitions“. Who would…right?

Next, to pray for healing or to ask God to intervene in the lives of others isn’t effective either. Because you’re asking Him to violate the laws of nature He put into motion a long time ago. He even told the Apostle Paul that His “grace is sufficient” when Paul asked him to remove “a thorn in the flesh“. God knew He would help Paul through his trials, and Paul understood how God answered his prayer above and beyond what he had asked.

An effective prayer life requires a special ingredient.

Thanks.

Yes, when you pray, you should be thanking God for all His blessings for you. It doesn’t matter what your circumstances are. And you certainly don’t have a special status exempting you from thanking God. You’re only here on planet earth because God put your soul into the egg that contained your 23 chromosomes from your mom and 23 from your dad. God gave you life. So your prayer life should always include at least one “thank you”. Sure, it’s OK to make your requests known to God. But if you’re praying for change, make it about changing you. If you’re praying for people to accept Jesus as their savior, make sure you’re asking for wisdom and knowledge to be a voice to those people.

And whether or not you see the positive answer to your prayer, thank your one true, living, loving Creator and Heavenly Father for another day of life. How many more of those do you think you can be sure of? Here are some great things to ask God to give you…

Oh give me love…give me justice…
Give me Grace and the strength to endure.
When the world comes against me,
Give me Your Spirit steadfast and sure.
(from my song “Give Me The Whole Jesus” – in an episode of the The Power of God’s Love Podcast)

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Is there a chance you might not be a Christian?

Yes. That’s the short answer. What I’m about to share with you might make some people feel uncomfortable. Truth, so often, has that effect. But truth needs to be shared even though it’s getting more and more difficult for many people to hear it. In fact, I might have already offended you, and I’ve hardly even begun to illustrate how you might not be a Christian. However, I hope you’ll stick with me and check my statements with what the Bible says about it. And I promise to make this quick and easy…maybe not painless, but easy.

I’ll list five fairly common misconceptions that many Christians pass around. And I’ll share Biblical evidence to refute those ideas. Here goes…

1. Judge not –

This is one of the biggest signs you might not be a Christian. If you call yourself a Christian and you say Christians aren’t supposed to judge, I wonder if you’ve actually read the entire passage in Matthew 7. What that passage is actually teaching is that you ARE supposed to judge. It’s telling you not to judge IF you don’t want to be judged yourself. In other words (found in the same passage) don’t judge like a hypocrite.

2. It’s all part of God’s plan –

The world is full of chaos, confusion, and evil. None of that is part of God’s plan. Yes, He has a plan. But…hold onto your seats…it’s not the same plan He started with when He created the world. God tells us not to do evil so that good may come of it. He also tells us He is not the author of confusion. He even tells us things happen by chance…and that’s written in RED. God is not like a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do father. He wants us to follow Him and His ways. And, like any good and loving father, He allows us to mature and make our own decisions. Trouble is…we make bad decisions.

3. God loves everybody the same –

Ooh…this is a tough one, isn’t it? Let me ask you a quick question. Do you think God loves the people in hell the same way and just as much as He loves the people in Heaven? Here’s the thing…God desires that no one would go to hell. But He realizes that in order to give us our choice to love Him or not, most people choose not to love Him. It’s uncanny. It’s surreal. And it’s true. So, God made a place where you can go if you don’t wanna live with Him, in His love, forever.

4. God created evolution –

This one is too complicated to go into at length, but let me say…if you don’t believe in the literal, six day creation account found in Genesis (and confirmed in Exodus), then you might not be a Christian. That’s because it’s the foundation for the whole Bible. If you can’t trust that God could create the whole universe and everything in it in six literal days, then you’re vulnerable to any other lie perpetuated about the rest of God’s word.

5. God made you “that way” –

No. God created you to be either male or female. Not something in between, and not something you can transition from or to. He lets you choose who you’ll be…even though He knows most will choose unwisely. He lets you choose whether you’d prefer to live with Him forever or be apart from Him forever. And if you’re willing to simply accept anyone as they are…unrepentant and rebellious against God and His design, you might not be a Christian. Your worldly wisdom might make you a fool.

OK…I told you it might not be painless. But it was quick and easy. What do you think? Agree? Or disagree?

Here’s a clip of lyrics from my song on this subject called “A Thousand Times No”…

And who are you to judge?
Your eyes can clearly see
That you’re no holier
Than him or her or me.

So should you shut your mouth
And skip the words of Paul?
Did he misunderstand
The Lord’s enduring call?

No, no…a thousand times no.

If this landed somewhere good with you, let’s stay connected. It’s super easy. Here’s how:

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It’s good stuff based on the power of God’s love. And, I’ll send you download links to music and The Very First 6 Days (a rhyming book for kids about the creation week) right away. Kids from 3 to 103 can enjoy these fun goodies. Just add your email to the form and let’s connect right away.

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Don’t leave yourself in a compromising position when it comes to life.

This year, in particular, Christian conservatives might feel like they have to give to get when it comes to voting for a candidate who isn’t Hillary. Believe me…I understand not wanting her for a president. But I’d like you to consider something much more important than whether the president is Donald, Bernie, Ted, or Hillary. The issue that’s infinitely more important is life. Every candidate running for president has taken a compromising position on the issue of life. And I hope you won’t leave yourself in a compromising position by voting for any of them.

I’ve heard it said more times than I can remember that if you don’t vote for one of the 2 parties’ candidates, you’re throwing your vote away. Nothing could be further from the Truth. I capitalized Truth for a reason. If your presidential candidate compromises on the issue of life (our first and foremost God-given right), then what do you suppose they won’t compromise on? Budgets? Spending? Foreign policy? Entitlement programs? All of the above?

Consider this perspective on a compromising position.

If there was one candidate who compromised on all of those issues but wouldn’t budge on the right to life of every human being…from conception to natural death…you could still vote for that candidate with a clear conscience. After all, I don’t expect any office holder to live up to a perfect standard. None of us can. But if a candidate states (and they all do) they’ll compromise on how many unborn babies to kill, that one issue disqualifies them. Period.

If you’re a Christian, and you truly believe the Bible is God’s word, you cannot vote…must not vote…for any presidential candidate now running. It’s better to obey God and let the chips fall where they may. And Jesus said (in red letters) “inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to Me“. Look at that phrase carefully.

Jesus used words purposefully and meticulously. He said “one of the least.” He didn’t say “some” or “part” or “all.” And He said “one of the least of these.” And you can’t get any more “least” than unborn babies. When you take the compromising position that it’s OK to abort even one unborn baby, you disqualify yourself from having any wisdom. And what America needs, in a leader, is wisdom. Not merely winning.

I know there are Christians who struggle with this issue of life because of their own past. But I ask you to remember that Jesus died for ALL your sins. And He wants you to use wisdom to help others see further down the road than you did. Just because you made poor decisions in your life doesn’t mean you can’t use and share God’s wisdom with others who might be struggling with the same decisions you once faced. One way you can help them is to show them you will no longer compromise on the basic human, and God-given, right to life.

And remember this…God wants you to stand up for His Truth.

He’s much more concerned about the souls of men and women than who is elected president. Elections, presidents, and even countries and nations will pass away. But God’s word will never pass away. And He says it’s never right, for any reason, to shed innocent blood. So, as you consider voting this year, consider whether or not your vote will leave you in a compromising position with God’s word.

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Share The treasure because faith comes by hearing

How many movies have you watched where an archaeologist, or scientist, or group of adventurers went on a quest to find a secret treasure? A lot, right? You have – The Treasure of the Deep – National Treasure – Treasure Island – The Lost Treasure of the Mayans – The Treasure of Sierra Madre and many more. They all have something in common…the treasure found in each movie never lasts. But the treasure found in God’s word can take you into and through all eternity. Now that’s a true treasure. And here’s a very cool way you can share God’s word with people who have never heard it, and remember: faith comes by hearing.

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Did you know there are still so many people who have never read or heard the word of God? They’ve never heard the name of Jesus. Paul wrote that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The Treasure is such a great way to help reach “all the world” with God’s word. It’s solar powered. It’s been field-tested in rainforests, high mountain terrain, desert, and seaside.

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Now, maybe you don’t know me well enough to buy something from me, yet. Ok, let’s change that. Get to know more about me and my worldview. Join the growing body of believers who’ve signed up for the Tony’s Rhyme and Reason Daily Devotional. And bask in daily, delightful flashes of light from the power of God’s love.

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