Looking Up

Matt Miles • February 2, 2021

     What is your focus centered on during these dark days? Is your hope in a governmental party? Is a vaccine your salvation? Does your sustenance rise and fall with the stock market? Or, do you continue to look up for your eternal destiny?

     Our focus this year at CTF is to exhort you to keep LOOKING UP, as the author of Hebrews tells us in the second verse of the twelfth chapter. Fixing our eyes on Jesus is our utmost priority. With everything going on around us, we can be easily distracted. Yet our focus is to stay on Christ, because he is the Author and Perfecter of our faith.

     His authorship obviously began at creation, and this qualifies Him like none other to be our prime focus in these days. We need the only One who has been here since the beginning, the One on whom all rests, the only One who is absolute and almighty, the only One in ultimate authority! All of this may seem quite trite, but if we are real with ourselves, nothing else can sustain. We could try to look else where, but all other avenues lack His authority as Author to guide us through life.

     He is also our Perfecter – the one who perfected this life like no one else could in all of history. Sin has come into the world and marred it. We have blemished the perfection of creation. Our relationship with the Author has been damaged and we have no way to restore it under our own power. The world is in chaos and we keep trying to fix it, but even with our best efforts life continues to spiral out of our control. We are in desperate need of the Perfecter to restore our relationship and life like only He is able. He holds the keys to life because He, as the author of Hebrews relates, endured the cross with great joy in the midst of shame and chaos, so that we may be perfected from our sin and death that we encounter, sometimes it seems daily.

     Our sustenance, salvation, comfort, rest, and hope can only be perfected through the Author of life and conqueror of death. Let us continue in 2021 to keep LOOKING UP at Him, Jesus Christ, and nowhere else. And before you know it, things might start looking up, or at the least our comfort level in the midst of the chaos will begin looking up. Blessings in this year 2021!

By Ryan Cox June 18, 2025
Moses & History (part 3)
lined up books
By Matt Miles June 18, 2025
Over the course of time a person can accumulate many things. Most of the stuff we collect is meaningless to most everyone else, but when a person collects books, they can be treasured for a lifetime and even beyond. In this age of digital media, physical books seem to be less important to many people. Digital books are searchable, and copy/paste functions make it easy to use those great quotes. Yet, there is still something great about a physical book, things you can’t get digitally: the turning of pages, the feel of it in your hand, and the “book” smell. For our founder Dr. Sharp, physical books could never be replaced by digital. While my collection of books is growing each year, it is dwarfed by Dr. Sharp’s collection. Over the years he collected thousands of titles for research and enjoyment. Through the course of his ministry he had to sell his book collection a couple of different times to support his family, only to start collecting again when he was able to do so. When Doc passed his office full of packed bookshelves to me and said he would clear the shelves, I laughed out loud at the prospect of having loads of empty bookshelves. So I urged him to instead leave his books for my, and anyone else’s, use. Little did I understand that the four bookcases in my office were only a fraction of his entire collection. A couple of years back when Doc moved from his house, it was decided that his book collection would be stored at the office. Our thought was to establish a library, yet none of us had time to plan, organize and catalog all 79 boxes of books. They sat piled in his office until last year when my daughter Megan joined our ministry. She has a love of books, both reading and writing. So we offered her the task of cataloging and establishing Doc’s library. Can you picture me, a bbq lover, being offered a table full of succulent smoked offerings - brisket, sausage, ribs, pulled pork, chicken, turkey and all sides? Yep, that was Megan’s response to the library. For over four months she cataloged and organized the entire collection. The Dr. G. Thomas Sharp Library was completed earlier this year in his old office space, with overflow into my office. The entire 2700+ volume agglomeration is digitally cataloged for searching and locating. As you might expect, there is an extensive collection of creation and evolution subject matter, yet the library is full of many different categories. It very much reflects Doc’s love of gaining knowledge and research. An extensive commentary collection and multiple Biblical reference sections are invaluable to our ministry. There is even a whole bookcase housing books that are over 100 years old. Our desire was not to just house books but to also make a place of honor and inspiration. One wall exhibits Doc’s many diplomas, and throughout the library we have placed personal memorabilia of the mission trips he took over the years. Come, grab a book, relax in the sitting area and allow Doc’s handwritten notes from the margins or post-it notes bring a smile to your face. For those who may be more ambitious, Doc's office chair resides at the credenza for anyone to sit and be inspired to study. This is a place to honor Doc’s life and love for books. We at CTF have already utilized this great resource for further study, and we are so thankful to Diane and their family for donating these books for continued Kingdom growth. Blessings.
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