The End

We all go through different periods in our lives. One of the things that I had wanted to do for quite awhile was to start a blog. I'm not really sure why, I guess I just had a lot of stuff bottled up inside of me that I wanted to say and I thought this was a good way to say it. So on August 30th of last year I did it - I created a blog and started writing. It's been a lot of fun and today is my 75th blog. However, it will also be my last one.

The fact is that demands on my time have changed over the last year. Between a full-time job and my responsibilities at church, I just don't have time to blog like I would like to. So I'm going to retire from blogging. I wanted to say 'Thank You' to everyone that dropped by and took the time to read what I wrote. For those of you that took the time to comment on my blogs, I just wanted to say how much I appreciated that. Knowing that someone was reading it and taking the time to comment really made me feel good. I probably enjoyed reading the comments as much or more than you enjoyed reading my blogs.

If I can, I want to leave one final thought with you.

I have a wonderful marriage. Kathy and I have been married for 26 years and I can truly say that I enjoy being a husband and I find fulfillment in that role. I have wonderful children. I have two great sons who have enriched my life tremendously. I enjoy being a father and I find fulfillment in that role. I have some unbelievable friendships in my life - so much so that I can't even express how much those friendships mean to me. I find fulfillment in those relationships as well.

However, I have become convinced through personal experience that you will never be truly fulfilled as a Christian until you are fulfilling your role in the Body of Christ. There is just something about being a living, breathing, working and contributing member of the Body that completes you as a Christian. Why? Because it is what we are called to. If you are not doing that there will always be an emptiness, a sense of unfulfillment in your life. So I want to encourage each of you to find your gift and begin to use it to edify the Body. Does is take more time? Sure. Does it take more discipline? Of course. Does it take more commitment? Absolutely. But I can assure you, you will never regret it. The effort is temporal, but the rewards are eternal.

So thanks for reading - now go Live the Eternal Life.

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. - Galatians 2:20

26 Years in the Crucible

Crucible - A heat-resistant container in which materials can be heated to very high temperatures.

I've been thinking a lot this week about marriage. One of the reasons is that Kathy and I have been married 26 years today. I have learned so much over these 26 years. As those of us that are married know, marriage tends to bring out the good in us - but it also brings out the bad. Of all our relationships, marriage is truly the 'crucible' where we walk out our faith. Where else are two people thrown into a situation where every attitude, opinion and feeling is tested on a daily basis?

Just last week Kathy made the following statement to me:

"You need to practice what you teach".

She's right. I try and try to do the right things, and I can even do pretty good for periods at a time. But then a day comes when I am grouchy or frustrated or just having a bad day and things come out of me that I thought were dead and buried. When that happens, I usually take it out on her. I hate that. I hate the fact that I can't completely kill those things, and I hate the fact that she bears the brunt of it.

But this crucible continues to teach. And this past week I've learned again two lessons that it has taught me before, but it seems I need to learn again.

It teaches me just how much I need a Savior.

I am a changed man - I know that. I'm not like I used to be. But as long as I'm clothed in this earthly vessel there will never be a time that I can do it on my own. There will never be a time that I don't need Him. There's an old song by DC Talk that says it pretty well.

The disease of self runs through my blood
It's a cancer fatal to my soul
Every attempt on my behalf has failed
To bring this sickness under control

Tell me, what's going on inside of me?
I despise my own behavior
This only serves to confirm my suspicions
That I'm still a man in need of a Savior

It teaches me - through Kathy - what Love really is.

As always, I apologize and she forgives. That's what love is and that is how love acts. Through her I see love not just spoken, love not just explained on the pages of the Scripture, but love actually lived out.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. - 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs. - Proverbs 10:12

Happy Anniversary, Kat. I love you.

They're Watching

I was recently sent via email a link to a website that provides resources for teaching students. One of the links on the site took me to a video called "An Uphill Battle". The video shows a student walking down a typical school hallway. Every other student is going one way while he is walking the other, literally walking against the tide. The other students are bumping and jostling him and he has a look of dejection - a look that says he's tired of going it alone. As this is going on, the voice-over on the video talks about how we can and do get tired of going against the flow. How that sometime we come to a point where we feel that it would be easier to just give up, turn around and start walking the same direction as everyone else. As one student finally jostles him hard enough to knock his books out of his hand, he finally stops in his tracks. You can tell that he's had enough.

But then he turns his head around and looks back down the hallway. And there behind him are several other students who have been following him the entire time. He was never alone. There were always other people watching him, looking up to him and following in his footsteps. It's a powerful video with a powerful message. The funny thing is though that even though it's geared toward encouraging students not to give up on the Christian life, it spoke to me as a man.

When I watched that video, I didn't see a teenager walking down a hallway - I saw a man, a husband, a father. When he looked behind him I didn't see other students, I saw a family - a wife and children. We as men need to understand that our families are looking to us to be the spiritual leaders in our homes. They are looking to follow behind us as we navigate through the turbulent waters of this world. They are looking to us to be the leaders that God has called us to be.

Lately I'm around a lot of teenagers, both through time spent with my son's friends and through working with the youth at church. The damage done to these kids through divorce or through the actions of an absent father is a terrible thing, something that they will have to carry through their entire lives. Kids at that age shouldn't have to deal with bitterness and unforgiveness, but they are. They hide it well, but if you get them to open up you see the turmoil that lies just underneath the surface.

I'm sure the damage is done to both boys and girls, but maybe because I deal more with boys it seems the damage done there is more profound. They should have had a guide that they could walk behind until they were able to lead a family for themselves, but not only have they lost their leader but they've lost the one who was to teach them how to lead. These kids thought they had someone to follow, but have been left in a sea of turbulence to fend for themselves.

Men, when you are thinking about quitting - on Christ, on your marriage, on your family - please look behind you! Understand that your decisions don't just affect you. The decisions we make as men have long lasting effects on our children, so much so that those decisions will carry down to even our grandchildren and subsequent generations. We have a calling on our lives, to love our wives and children even as Christ loves the Church. It's not about why I want, what I need, what I desire. I am to give my life for my family.

Let us be like Paul, in that we can say to our wives and children ...

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. - 1 Corinthians 11:1

The Church (cont.)

Over the many years that I've attended church I've seen people come and go. The Parable of the Sower describes many of these - they spring up for a little while but then fade away. I understand that - I wish it were different but I understand it. However, I've also seen many true Christians leave a church over what seems like petty disagreements. That I've never understood. Why is that? Why do so many Christians seem to have the attitude of "I'll take my ball and go play elsewhere if you don't want to do it my way"? I believe the answer lies in the fact that a lot of us have a misconception of what church is all about.

Before going any further, I need to make something clear. When I speak of the church, I'm speaking of a local body of believers who congregate together. I am NOT speaking of a building - the building is where the church congregrates, but it is not the church.

Why do we attend a church? Before we answer that question let's look at what a true church really is. The purpose of a true church is five-fold:

Worship - This is our first responsibility. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.

Instruction - We are to preach, teach and disciple one another in order to grow in the knowledge of the Lord.

Fellowship - We are to fellowship and break bread with one another. We are instructed in Hebrews 10:25 to NOT forsake the assembling of ourselves together.

Evangelism - We are to spread the Gospel, fulfilling the Great Commission.

Outreach - We are to reach out to and love our neighbors by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and visiting the sick and imprisoned.

Seems pretty basic, right? I'm sure if we thought it about it long enough we could possibly fine-tune the list and add or modify a couple of things, but for the sake of discussion let's agree on those five as basically covering the purpose of the local church.

I mentioned earlier that it seems a lot of people have a misconception of what church is all about. I believe this misconception lies in the fact that people think that church is about meeting their needs. So when disagreements arise in the body they leave because their 'needs' are not being met. But that's not what it's about at all.

"But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all." - 1 Corinthians 12:7

As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God - 1 Peter 4:10

The Scriptures are clear - each one of us have been given spiritual gifts that are to be used for the benefit of others in the church. Let me repeat that - not some of us, not a few of us, but ALL of us have received gifts that are to be used for the benefit of others. Through these gifts the Holy Spirit manifests Himself and ministers to the body to strengthen and build it up. So in effect it's not about me and my needs at all - it's about me doing my part in the body.

Are you using your gift? Let me ask a tougher question - do you know what your gift is? If you don't, let me encourage you to find out. There is nothing more fulfilling in this life than to know what your gift is and to use it for the benefit of the body.

The Church

In our Sunday School class we have been going through the book of Acts. I like history, so the book of Acts has always held a particular interest for me. It just so happens that I've also been listening to some theology classes on Ecclisiology - the branch of theology that is concerned with the nature, constitution and functions of a church. So naturally these two have intersected and gotten me thinking about the church.

I've always gone to church. I was taken to church from the time I was born and to me it's just a natural thing to do. In fact, I've never even considered not going to church. But as I've been thinking about the church and it's role and purpose I've had to stop and ask myself a rather simple question - Why do I go to church? It seemed like such a simple question, but the answer didn't come quite as easily as I thought it would.

Have you ever asked yourself that question? If you would, I'd like you to ask yourself that same question and then comment. I'm really interested to see what types of answers we get.

Our Daily Bread

Some of you may have noticed that I have not blogged much lately. In fact, I've only written once since August 26th (I went back and checked). I would like to blame this on being too busy, but I can't. The real reason is that I just haven't had anything on my mind to write about, and for me that is not normal. For whatever reason, I've always got several things going on that I could write about. Some I choose to put down in words and others I choose not to, but there is normally no shortage of material. As I thought about it, I just realized that I was very 'dry' spiritually. But how did I get that way? I'm in the Scriptures every day - how did that happen?

It just so happened that I went to a short men's retreat over the weekend at St. George's Island. One of the things that was mentioned by the speaker was a man's "daily communion". Once he said that, I immediately knew what my problem was. Although I read my Bible every day, I haven't been having my 'Daily Bread'. Let me explain what I mean.

I teach a Sunday School class on Sunday morning, the church Youth Group on Sunday night and a Middle School class on Wednesday night. In order to do that, I have to organize my time. So here's what I do.

Monday morning - Sunday School preparation

Tuesday morning - Sunday School preparation

Wednesday morning - Middle School class preparation

Thursday morning - Sunday School preparation

Friday morning - Youth Group preparation

Sunday morning - Sunday School review

Sunday afternoon - Youth Group review

Most of that time is spent in the Word, so I should have a million things going on in my mind and heart that the Lord is working on. But I don't. How can that be?

What I realized is this - all of that time is for someone else. I'm digging in the Word to prepare Bread for others, not to feed myself. You see, there is no replacement for our Daily Communion with the Lord. We need that quiet time with Him . Without it, we become dry and empty on the inside. So this morning I got up and read my Bible - not to prepare a message or a lesson , but just to spend time with Him and His Word.

My Struggle with Suffering

Periodically - usually about once a year - I read through the book of Job. Like most people, I struggle with the reality of suffering in this world. I try to placate my struggles with the idea that suffering is good for a person. I think we all know and believe that going through hard times can make you a better person. There is a wonderful scripture in Ecclesiastes that teaches this:

"Sorrow is better than laughter, for by a sad countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth." - Ecclesiastes 7:3-4

I know that the suffering that I've gone through in my life has made me a better person - more mature, wiser and more trusting in God. But there are other types of suffering in this world that have no explanation, like the suffering of children for example. Try as I might, I just cannot come up with any good reason or explanation for it. So back I go to the book of Job.

Job was able to put a voice to the very question that I have - Why? And God answered him in three of the most amazing chapters in the Scriptures, chapters 38-41. And in those chapters I realize that if I were able to voice my questions to Almighty God even today, that He would answer me the same as he did to Job those many ages ago:

"Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me."

"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined it's measurements? Surely you know!"

"Would you indeed annul My judgement? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?"

And Job's reply says it all for me:

"I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

And in those chapters my soul is satisfied - satisfied in the magnificent wisdom of God. Satisfied that He is good and just and merciful. Satisfied for another year or so - until the struggle builds up again and I return again to the book of Job.

Has Judgement Come?

A couple of weeks ago I was in Omaha on a business trip. I was meeting two colleagues for breakfast downstairs at the hotel. One man I have worked with for years but the other was a woman that works in another state and I had never met her before. She came downstairs for breakfast with another woman, walked up to the table where my male colleague and I were sitting and proceeded to introduce us to her 'wife'. This wasn't a woman who was ashamed or trying to hide anything. It was a person who was proud of her perversion.

This really got me thinking over the next couple of days about Romans 1.

Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. - Romans 1:24-31

You'll notice that 3 times it says that God 'gave them up' or 'gave them over'. The Greek word used here is 'paradidomi' - which means to 'commit' or 'cast in prison'. I've heard a couple of messages on this over the last year or so stating the fact that the verses here carry the idea of judgement - that when a person, people or nation engage in the sin of homosexuality that judgement has already come.

So what do you think - has judgement come? Is there still hope for this nation to repent and turn back to God or do you believe the acceptance of our nation of the sin of homosexuality is a sign that judgement has already come?

I look forward to your comments.

Leaving the Nest

I just passed another milestone in life - my oldest son just recently moved to Virginia to go to school. That reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend a couple of years ago. I had heard that his son had moved out so I asked him about it to see how he was doing. He said "the two saddest days of my life were when my son moved out and then when he moved back in". I don't think he was serious :)

A lot of people have been asking my wife and I the same question: "How are you doing?". The funny thing is that we really haven't been that sad about it. Do we miss him? Terribly. But we're proud of the young man that he's become. We have enjoyed seeing him grow and mature and now it's time for him to make his own life. That shouldn't be a time of sadness, but of celebration. Obviously I'd like him to be right next door where I could just pick him up and go fishing anytime I want - but it's more important to me that God works His plan in Joshua's life. And I believe with all my heart that is exactly what He is doing.

His moving out has caused me to think about our Heavenly Father and what He expects from us, His children. C.S. Lewis has a wonderful quote concerning this subject in "Mere Christianity".

“Every father is pleased at the baby’s first attempt to walk: no father would be satisfied with anything less than a firm, free, manly walk in a grown-up son. In the same way, God is easy to please, but hard to satisfy.”

Just like we expect our children to grow and mature, God expects the same thing from His children. He is pleased with our feeblest attempts to serve Him and to keep His commandments. But He is never satisfied. He expects us to continue to grow and mature in Him and in His Word - to continue to be conformed to the image of His Son.

---------------------------------------

So Joshua - this last part is for you.

I love you and I am proud to be your Dad. Whatever life brings for you, please always remember that there is one thing that matters, and you have to keep that one thing primary in your life. That one thing I want for you is this - that you will one day hear these words:

‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

Now go make your Heavenly Father proud.

Acts 17:11

I'm sure that many of you who have been around the church for any length of time at all have heard the song "Thank You". It's a great song. When you hear it you cannot help but be moved emotionally. You know the one I'm talking about - the chorus goes like this:

Thank you for giving to the Lord.
I am a life that was changed.
Thank you for giving to the Lord.
I am so glad you gave.

The author of the song, Ray Boltz, was a Christian musician who sold about 4.5 million records before retiring several years ago. And one more thing - he came out last September and declared he was a homosexual. If you want all the details, you can Google his name and you can read all about it, but I've got another point to make here.

Discernment takes work. You can't just flip on the Christian radio station and say "I'm safe. I know this is good teaching because it's on Christian radio." You can't just pick up the book in the Christian bookstore and assume that it contains sound doctrine because it's sold in a Christian bookstore. You can't assume that just because a person is a skilled song writer or author that they are going to lead you down the right path.

Many influential Christian artists and authors are very good at writing songs and books that speak directly to our emotions. They are very good at describing problems in our lives and in the church. It seems that they can write in such a way that your heart really resonates with what they are saying because they are describing your life, your exact feelings and emotions and even the questions that you have.

But just because they describe all that so well does not mean that the solution that they give you is going to be a right one. Just because they can seemingly walk through your life and describe all that you've been through does not mean that you can turn off your discernment and just blindly accept what they say. You can't assume that the prescription that they give you will be true to God's Word.

We must be like the Bereans in Acts 17. We are told that they searched the Scriptures daily to make sure that what Paul said was true. If they would verify the words spoken by Paul, how much more should we verify the things we hear?

These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. - Acts 17:11.

Walk it Out

How do you become what you really want to be? Is it a matter of faith or a matter of action? If you listen to the Word of Faith peddlers they will tell you that you just need to believe it and speak it.

No matter what you need today, find a promise from God’s Word and believe it. Put it in your heart and in your mouth, and it will begin to work for you—that’s faith. There’s no getting around that process. Why? Because faith is a law. Jesus said, “According to your faith be it unto you”. So start calling things that be not as though they were. What are you calling your body? Your family? Your bank account? Say what God says about those things. Speak the answer you desire. - Gloria Copeland

In fact, this is nothing but New Age confession and visualization techniques. Kenneth Copeland has even admitted as much, although stating that the New Age is copying the Bible and not the other way around.

"Words create pictures, and pictures in your mind create words. And then the words come back out your mouth ... And when that spiritual force comes out it is going to give substance to the image that's on the inside of you. Aw, that's that visualization stuff! Aw, that's that New Age! No, New Age is trying to do this; and they'd get somewhat results out of it because this is spiritual law, brother." - Kenneth Copeland

So let's take a look at what the Bible says. We know from Galatians 5:22-23 that the 'fruit' of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self control. These are attributes that a Christian should exhibit. So how do we obtain these? The Bible tells us what to do in the next verses.

And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. - Galatians 5:24-25

So exactly what does it mean to 'walk in the Spirit'? You'll notice that those three words shown in bold above are verbs. They denote action on the part of the believer. Let me give you an example.

Let's say you want to be a more generous person. So what do you do? The first thing you do is you pray and ask God to change your heart and make you a generous person. The next thing you do is believe - believe that God is going to do it. Then do you just sit back and wait for it to happen? Of course not! You begin to live and walk like you are a generous person. You can start simply by tipping your waiters and waitresses more than the recommended 15%. It won't be easy at first and you'll have to think about it every time you do it. But after awhile an amazing thing will happen. As you 'walk it out', the Holy Spirit begins to produce the real thing inside of you. It becomes more than an action on your part - it becomes part of you.

My point is this - obviously faith is extremely important. Without faith it's impossible to please God. We should believe that He is and that He rewards those who seek Him. We should speak positive words, because the Bible teaches that life and death is in the power of the tongue. But what we have to understand is that to place all the responsibility on faith and the power of the spoken word is bad doctrine - it negates the responsibility of the believer to walk out their faith which is clearly taught in Scripture.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. - James 1:22

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven." - Matthew 7:21

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock." - Matthew 7:24

What do you need in your life?

Do you need to be a person of the Word? Walk it out. Start reading your Bible daily and asking God to make you a student of His Word. You'll be amazed what will happen.

Do you need to forgive? Ask God to help you and then start living like you are a forgiver. You know what I mean. You can't say you've forgiven and then get up everyday and talk and walk as though you haven't forgiven. You have to walk it out.

Do you need self-control? Ask God for strength and then start practicing it. If you struggle with lust and pornography it's not going to magically disappear if you keep going to those same website on that same computer late at night. Get rid of it! Do what you have to do to walk it out!

Let us have faith, of course. But if it stops there our faith is dead, no matter how much we 'speak' it out. We have to walk it out.

In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. - James 2:17

Lovers of Pleasure

Just recently I was asked to take on some additional responsibilities in my local church. I hesitated to accept, because I knew these responsibilities would take up a lot of my time and would also be a long term commitment. I would venture to guess that most people would completely understand that hesitation. However, as I thought and prayed about whether I should do it something odd happened. I began to focus not on the time and effort and commitment required, but I began to focus on something else - what was the real reason behind my hesitation?

We all say that we want to make a difference in other people's lives. In theory, we all agree that we should give of ourselves and our time in order to make that difference, but most of us never really do it. Sure, we're ok with a short commitment here or there - but don't ask us to do anything long term. Why is that? What is it that prevents us from doing what we know we should? What is it that prevents us from giving our time - our free time - to do His work? For me, the answer was found in this verse:

But mark this: 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. - 2 Timothy 3:1-5

We live in a society that loves it pleasure. We love to vacation, read books, watch TV, hunt and fish, play sports, shop and just hang out doing nothing. Don't get me wrong - there is nothing inherently wrong in any of those activities. But when we hesitate to do His work because of a love of our own pleasures then we have a problem. We work - not so that we have to give to others (as the Bible commands) - but to give more to ourselves. I hear people (myself included) saying "I just don't have time right now". Is that really true? Is every hour and minute of our day literally packed with activities that we just have to do? Of course not. What we are really saying when we make those statements is "I've got other things I'd rather do".

So I repented of my hesitation (or I should probably say I repented of my reason for hesitating). I decided to go ahead and make that commitment. I find myself pretty busy these days, but I find myself pretty fulfilled as well. As I write this, I hope I'm not putting any condemnation on anyone. That is certainly not my reason for writing. But as I get older I just realize more and more that our time is limited. We only have a short season to labor - to live our lives for the One that gave His life for us. Let's not waste it.

A True Christian

I was listening to a teaching last week and came across this quote from Mahatma Gandhi: “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Now I normally don't really care too much about Gandhi's opinions, but in this case I'm afraid many people today would agree with him. What was it about Christ that seems to draw people to Him? Even those who, like Gandhi, don't believe in Him as a Savior still seem drawn to Him and His teachings. What are we as Christians missing? What does it mean to be a 'true' Christian?

As I was doing some reading on this subject, I ran across a blog that discussed the subject "What is a true Christian?". The author said it a lot better than I could.

What, then, are the Scriptural indicators that a genuine work of grace has taken place in the heart of a sinner?

One of them is a principled pursuit of godliness with an increasing attainment in holiness (1Jn 2.3-8, 15-16, 19, 29; 3.3, 6, 10, 24; 4.13; 5.2-5, 21). The hypocrite likes the reputation of holiness, but the true child of God is satisfied only with the substance. He considers his ways, and turns his feet back to God’s testimonies (Ps 119.59). The world no longer sparkles as it did – or, at least, his attraction to it and affection for it have been fundamentally altered – and now he lives for God, called to be holy as God himself is holy (1Pt 1.16). The bonds to sin have been broken, and the persistent habit of unmortified sinning has been shattered because of his union with Christ. The new root brings forth new fruit (Mt 7.20; 12.33-35). His obedience – though not yet perfect – is universal (throughout the whole man), habitual, voluntary and persevering. He has taken up his cross, and continues to do so daily, as a disciple of a crucified Christ (Mt 16.24-25). He pursues Christlikeness – it is the burden of his private and public prayers. He increasingly manifests the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5.22-23); he has no love for the world (Jas 4.4); the previous pattern of conformity to, company with and compromise for the sake of the world is over (2Tim 3.4; 1Cor 16.33). This is not sinless perfection, but laborious progress. It does not mean that a Christian faces no battles but rather than he fights great battles, opposed as he now is to a raging and committed enemy of malice and power (Rom 7.13-25). Sometimes he wanders; sometimes he is on the back foot; sometimes, grievously, he backslides. However, the tone and tenor of his life is one of advance. The trajectory of his life over time is upward. The points plotted on his spiritual graph are not a seamless upward curve, and there are painful plateaus, but the line of best fit indicates persevering progress over time as sin dies and godliness is cultivated.

http://eardstapa.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/what-is-a-true-christian/

How many 'true' Christians do you know? How many people do you know that not only profess a faith in Jesus Christ but are actively and sincerely seeking to emulate Christ in every area of their life? I want you to think hard about this and make yourself a list.

Then ask yourself one more question - am I on someone else's list?

Integrity

I'm sorry I haven't been posting much lately. I have been extremely busy with some different things so I just haven't had much time. However, over the last week or so some different situations have come up that have got me thinking about the subject of 'integrity'. If you look up 'integrity' you'll find a couple of interesting definitions:

Integrity: firm adherence to a code of especially moral values.

Integrity: is consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations and outcome.

What I've realized is how 'personal' integrity is in our culture today. In other words, it's not something that is defined for us by an objective moral standard - each person seems to define it for themselves. For example, to save money on taxes a person buys a car and then lies to the tag office and tells them they only paid $2000 when they actually paid $10,000. They justify this to themselves for any number of reasons - but if you ask them they would probably consider themselves a 'person of integrity'.

So here's my question to you - What does integrity mean to you and how important is it to you to be a person of integrity? I appreciate your comments.

Temporal vs. Eternal

In doing some reading over the last few weeks, I ran across a couple of names that really brought into focus for me the difference between a temporal and an eternal viewpoint.

Keith Green was a Christian singer. He had a wife and 3 kids, with another child on the way. On July 28, 1982, Keith climbed into a plane along with two of his children, three year old Josiah and two year old Bethany. Also on the plane was the pilot along with visiting missionaries John and Dede Smalley and their six children. The plane crashed upon takeoff and all 12 people were killed. Keith Green was 28 years old.

Bertrand Russell was a philosopher, mathematician and historian. He was born in 1872 and died in 1970 at the ripe old age of 98 years old. Just think about that for a minute. He was born in the age of horse and buggies and died having seen a man walk on the moon. He lived a long and full life. And one more thing - he was an athiest.

Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly the terror of the unknown and partly, as I have said, the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes. [...] A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretful hankering after the past or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men.

—Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not a Christian

From a temporal viewpoint I look at these two men, their ages and the manner of their deaths, I can't help but say "that's not fair". The man who serves the Lord, who tries to do the right thing dies a violent death before the age of 30 along with innocent children. While the athiest, the man who not only doesn't believe in God but actually publishes works trying to convince others not to believe in God - that man lives to be 98 years old.

But then I see if from another viewpoint - the eternal one. And from that viewpoint I see a God that is so merciful that he gave Bertrand Russell 98 years to change his mind - 98 years to repent and turn to Him. I don't know why Keith Green, John and Dede Smalley and those 8 innocent children died that day. But I do know they lived their lives from an eternal viewpoint, and because of that they are enjoying eternal life. While Bertrand Russell lived his entire life - a long life by human standards - based totally upon a temporal viewpoint. And because of that he is suffering eternal death, an eternal separation from God.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Vacation

I'm heading to the beach for a week's vacation with the family. We're heading to Cape San Blas for scallops, fishing, sand and naps - not to mention at least a couple of good books. I just got the book "Love Your God With All Your Mind" and I'm really looking forward to reading it. I'm not sure I'll have any Internet access so I'll be out of the blogosphere (so to speak) for awhile. Hope everyone has a great 4th of July weekend and I'll post again when I get back.

What's Your Testimony?

The other day we were in church and the pastor asked for testimonies. So naturally my mind began to think 'OK, what can I testify about?'. The funny thing is that I didn't or couldn't think about any particular 'thing' that God had done for me. All I could think about was the following verse.

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. - Galatians 2:20

To be honest, at first it suprised me because I don't normally think about Scripture when I think of a testimony. But after thinking about it for awhile I was thrilled - although it may be hard to put into words why. I just know that right now in my life it's not about things - it's about Him. It's not about victories or miracles or even answered prayers - it's about dying to self so that He can live in me.

So that verse literally is my testimony. So here's my question to you - what verse of Scripture would you choose to be your testimony?

Restoration? Not for Me.

A friend of mine gave me a CD a few weeks ago and asked me to listen to it. It contained a message from a preacher and she said that there were some things in it that just didn't sound right and she wanted me to listen to it. I only got about 5 minutes into the message when the word "Restoration" started to come up. Now anytime I hear that word my ears prick up and I listen very carefully. Why? Because that is a favorite word of the false teachers. They all want to pass along some nugget of truth that is going to "restore" some blessing that you've either lost or never knew you had.

Go search the New Testament for that word. You'll see if a few times regarding things such as restoring a brother who has sinned, a withered hand restored, sight being restored or Zaccheus restoring what he had stolen. But you never see it mentioned - at all - with regard to the restoration of spiritual blessings. There is a reason for that - there is nothing to restore.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ - Ephesians 1:3

Christ is sufficient! In Him we are blessed with EVERY spiritual blessing. We have everything we need and lack nothing.

"... in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." - Colossians 2:3

"For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power." - Colossians 2:9

"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work." - 2 Corinthians 9:8

"But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption" - 1 Corinthians 1:30

Restoration? Not for me. I'm complete in Him. I have all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, all joy, all peace, all value, all meaning, all truth, all purpose, all hope, all fulfillment - all in Christ.

Afraid to Ask

When we read the Bible, I think that we sometimes forget that the people involved were men and women just like us. Even as I wrote that sentence, I started to refer to them as "characters" instead of people - but I realized that calling them that lends itself to the idea that they are players in a drama, or participants in a story. But they were real, breathing human beings with all the flaws and faults that we ourselves have. For example, notice the following scripture:

For He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.” But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him. - Mark 9:31-32

You see, I can identify with the disciples. There have been many times in my life where I did not understand certain spiritual things, but I was afraid to ask. Lately I've asked myself why that was. What makes us afraid to delve further into things that we don't understand? Don't we want to know the truth? In my case, I think there are a couple of reasons:

The first reason, unfortunately, is spiritual pride. Spiritual pride can make a person afraid to ask questions because they don't want other people to think less about them. Think about the disciples for a minute. Don't you think that people looked at them differently as they walked with Jesus? Thought that they were more knowledgeable, more spiritual than other people because they were close to Him? Do you think they struggled with spiritual pride? Of course they struggled with it. In fact, if you go back and read Mark 9 in its entirety you'll see that while they were on the road to Capernaum they were disputing amongst themselves who was the greatest.

The second reason is lack of faith. I have been afraid to delve further into things because I was afraid of what I might find - afraid that the answer I uncovered might not fit into my nice little structured view of Christianity. I was more comfortable just going with what I'd always been taught as opposed to digging into the Word of God to find out if my tradition lined up with the Scripture.

What was in the disciples minds that day on the road through Galilee? I don't know. Was it spiritual pride - were they all afraid to be the first one to speak up and say "I don't understand what you are saying"? Or was it lack of faith? They were looking for a King to restore the glory of Israel, not a suffering Messiah. Would delving further into His statement of death and resurrection somehow shatter their views and beliefs? Were they afraid to ask because they were afraid of what the answer might be?

What about you? Have you ever been afraid to ask?

A Social Gospel? (Part 2)

Over the last 25 years, there has been a movement among American Christians to get involved in calling our nation to a higher level of morality. We are encouraged to engage our energy, our resources, our time and our money in an effort to politically change the moral climate of our country. And let me state that this desire for morality and virtue is a noble one. We should desire virtue, integrity, honesty and morality. These traits are God's will for our lives. We all support Biblical morality - what Christian could do less? It is our responsibility to address sin, to confront sin, to call it what it is, to expose it and to attack it. But that's really not the issue. It's not about whether we're against immorality - of course we're against immorality, of course we desire righteousness rather than unrighteousness. But how we get there, how we produce that morality - that is the issue.

We have to ask ourselves - is this the Christian mandate? Is this our ministry? As always, we must turn to the Scriptures to see what is said there.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. - 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

There it is, clear as a bell. Herein lies the mandate and ministry for the Christian in the world - the ministry of reconciliation to God through Christ which brings about righteousness, transformation and a new creation. God is pleading with the world through us to be reconciled to Him, and in this reconciliation - this new creation - there alone lies the ability to practice the morality, virtue and righteousness that we all long for. We can add to this the great commission, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel." If we are not fulfilling our commission then we're doing something that we have not been mandated by God to do. Anything other than this, no matter how noble, is off target.

Are we to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and visit the sick? Absolutely! Can we volunteer in hospitals, pregnancy centers, schools and homeless shelters? Yes, yes and yes! But notice in all these cases that we are only helping, fulfilling our purpose to be the salt and light of the world - not trying to enforce morality. Moralism has never been the message of the Scriptures. Isaiah said, "All your righteousness is as filthy rags." Romans says "There is none righteous, not even one. There's none that understands. There's none who seeks after God." So whatever imaginary righteousness men have, whatever superficial morality they may exhibit - in the end it gains them absolutely nothing. Men can come through some crisis and decide to clean up their life. They can turn away from living an immoral life and begin to live a cleaner, better life - and it has no bearing on their relationship to God. Whatever somebody's external degree of morality might be, all are condemned sinners headed to hell. You might be the most moral Pharisee in Israel, you might be the most moral rabbi, you might be the most moral cleric, the most moral Mormon - unless you are reconciled to God through His Son Jesus Christ it will make no difference whatsoever.

So we can see how dangerous it is for us to be diverted from the singular ministry and mandate that we've been given. This effort at cultural morality has many issues -here are a few notes and comments to think about:

• It wastes tremendous amounts of precious resources, time, money and energy. It doesn't matter whether you go to hell as a prostitute or a preacher, it only matters that you go to hell. We spend all this effort to clean up America through political and legislative means - but as Jeremiah asked "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or can the leopard change his spots"? Ephesians 5:16 says, "Make the most of your time because the days are evil and understand what the will of the Lord is and don't be foolish." The will of the Lord is to preach the message of reconciliation. To do something else is to be foolish and to waste time.


• It is bound for inevitable failure because you can't do it. No one can be truly righteous and moral before God apart from the transformation of his soul by the Holy Spirit through the gospel. If you don't change the heart, all you do is redirect the sin. If some sins become illegal, then people will just commit other sins or they'll commit the illegal ones in secret.


• It fails to understand the nature of the Kingdom of God. Jesus said "My Kingdom is not of this world." There's no connection between the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world. To spend all your time and energy and effort fighting for some element of human society is asanine and fails to understand the nature of the Kingdom. The Kingdom is the realm of salvation where God rules over and blesses those who are in Christ. Why is it that somehow we've gotten this idea that we have to position America politically for the advancement of the Kingdom of God? They have absolutely no connection. I've heard people say, "If America keeps going the way it's going then we'll lose our freedom to preach and practice the Gospel". Let me state this clearly - there is nothing that can be done on the face of the earth by men politically or socially that has any impact whatsoever on the purposes of God in redemption.


• It fails to understand the spiritual significance of the salt and light as indicated in Matthew 5. People that promote a political and cultural solution to the problems in America today say "Well, we have to be the salt and the light". That is true. But the salt and light that Jesus is talking about are not moral influence, they are the gospel witness and the power of holy living. It is the imagery of us shining forth the truth (light) and the preservative of godly living and the manifestation of good works (salt).


• It has no New Testament model or pattern to follow except the Pharisees. They were the moral ones. Jesus said about them "When you're through making somebody a convert to your morality, you have made him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves." I don't think I would be rejoicing to live in a Pharisaic dominated society - dominated by the mandates of self-righteous, cruel, merciless legalists who laid heavy burdens on people and gave them no help to bear them. There is no New Testament model for political action - absolutely none.


• It creates unholy unions in which the unbelieving and enemies of the gospel are joined together. You can find a lot of non-Christians - Mormons, Muslims, Jews, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. - to agree that we ought to have a more moral country. Political alliances are then created in order to work for certain moral causes. When you create these unions you do exactly what 2 Corinthians 6 says not to do, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship has light with darkness, what agreement has Christ with Satan? Come out from among them and be separated." But this is exactly what you get when you're trying to achieve something through the legal system, the court system, through lobbying or through the media - you embrace other people who agree on the issue regardless of their spiritual status. The gospel is eclipsed and takes a back seat to the aims of the organization. Once that happens, it starts to stretch the boundaries of the Kingdom of God to embrace these people who are not in Christ, and before you know it we are accepting a Gospel of Inclusivism.


• It is very selective as to the sins it attacks. You don't find people fighting against a sin like pride. You don't see a great effort against materialism, divorce or adultery. It's a fight against homosexuality, pedophilia, abortion and pornography. Those are all "big" sins that we can all agree on. But let me tell you - it does not deal with the biggest sin in the world. The greatest commandment is "To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength." Therefore doesn't if follow that to break that commandment is the greatest sin - to have failed to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength? If you want to go after America's immorality, then let's indict the whole nation for not loving God. If we're going to call America to morality, then let's indict them where they need to be indicted and let's indict our own hearts where we need to be indicted and say we've broken the first and great commandment and we do it all the time and therefore we are all condemned to hell in desperate need of grace and forgiveness and salvation. That's the message.


• It fails to understand the true nature of spiritual warfare. To engage in human political efforts is not spiritual warfare. Spiritual warfare is smashing down all human ideologies with the truth of God. You have a whole world of people who think wrong. They think wrong about themselves. They think wrong about God. They think wrong about Christ if they think about Him at all. They need to think differently. They need to know the truth. They need to know the gospel. They need to know the truth about themselves, the truth about God, the truth about Christ, the truth about His work, the truth about salvation, grace, forgiveness. And it's when you bring that truth to the person and you engage in the war with their mind so that you can bring the truth to bear upon wrong thinking, that's the real spiritual war. So what is the church to be doing? To be preaching the glorious, extensive, complete and whole message of redemption in Jesus Christ and to take that great message to these people who are fortified in these ideological fortresses in which literally they're going to die unless somebody smashes the walls of those lying fortifications with the truth. It's a spiritual war - not a political one.


• It makes those we are commanded to lovingly reach with the gospel into the enemy rather than the mission field. The unbelievers, the immoral, the pornographers, the homosexuals and the abortionists all become vilified and hated within the Christian community. They become the enemies. But they aren't the enemies - they are the mission field. We need to make sure that the sinners in the world know that we love them enough to offer them forgiveness. The old adage of "hate the sin but love the sinner" still stands true.


• It reverses the divine order. That is, it makes morality the power for salvation. The idea is if we could get a more moral America, then it gives more opportunity to deliver the gospel and more people are going to believe the gospel. And that's really a reverse of the divine order. Morality is not the power for salvation, salvation is the power for morality.

So there are the problems - the reasons why I believe that it is wrong to try and enforce a cultural morality on this nation and any other. So what are we to do? Well, I could tell you what I believe we should do, but Sherry said it much better in her comment than I ever could.

Sherry's Comment:

I think it is right to vote according to the values of the Bible, not our wallets or our political party. I am not against campaigning for a Christian Candidate. I have done it. However, I know that my blessings do not come from Washington D.C., they come from the Creator of the Universe! My hope is in Jesus Christ and my life is in His hands, not the President, Congress, or anyone else for that matter.

When I read this blog this morning and the comments, all I could think about were weeds. Sounds crazy doesn't it? Let me explain:

There was a time that I had a huge yard. I desperately wanted to have a lawn that was just eye catching and felt like carpet when you walked on it (weird, I know). However, when I looked out over the yard all I could see were weeds! Have you ever tried pulling the "endless weed"? I would pull one, and it seemed like it would not only reappear in a few days, but it would bring company! I felt hopeless. I had children who played in the yard, pets whom made our yard their haven, so no chemicals were going to be used on the weeds. But how on earth would I get rid of them? One day I finally figured it out! Plant more GRASS! And so I did. I bought a huge bag of centipede grass seeds and got busy! Those grass seeds sprouted and grew and before I knew it, the grass choked out the weeds! If I planted more of the very thing I wanted and spent less time trying to pull out the very thing I didn’t want, I got better results. Go figure!

Our country is full of weeds, better known as sin. I look at our society, I see weeds of depravity, weeds of moral decline, weeds of political corruption, weeds of violence, weeds of abuse and weeds of crimes against other human beings, weeds of hate, weeds of pride, and I see the weeds that entangle the lost and keep them prisoners of the enemy. It does make you want to just jump up, run out and start snatching up weeds. But what if we planted grass instead? (1 Corinthians 3:6)

Picketing abortion clinics are like trying to pull weeds that are scattered out in a million acres, but supporting homes for unwed mothers or mentoring teens and pouring Christian values into their lives are like planting the grass.

Instead of spending time getting signatures against gay marriages (pulling weeds), why don't Christians spend more time with their spouses, have good marriages and be godly role models for their families and communities (that's planting grass).

We need to be planters. And who knows if each Christian would plant grass in their community, in their area of influence, could it be we wouldn’t have to worry so much about the weeds?

We need to take a stand in America alright, but it needs to be on our knees praying for this lost and dying world. Instead of looking at people with disgust, can we see the weeds that entangle them and mourn for their condition? Could we drop our TV remotes, movie theatre tickets, shopping trip plans, or endless hours on Facebook, or whatever seems to steal our time, and get on our faces and weep for souls? This is the watering.

A Social Gospel? (Part 1)

I'm going to try something a little different with this blog. I normally tell you what I think and then let you comment, but this time I'm going to turn it around. I have some questions to ask and then I'd like to see your comments and answers. I'll then come back in a few days with 'Part 2' and let you know what I think. I'll tell you up front that the questions - and probably the answers - may not be simple.

Several weeks ago our Sunday School class was going through the C.S. Lewis book Mere Christianity. In one of the chapters he asked the question "Should Christians try and force their morality on unbelievers?". That is a great question and it really got me thinking. We live in an age today where the Evangelical Church in general is significantly involved in trying to influence the culture in which we live. Is that right or wrong?

If that's too general a question then let's get more specific:

• Should Christians involve themselves in politics and political campaigns to try and elect officials who hold their same values?
  
• Should Christians involve themselves in the anti-abortion movement and activities such as picketing clinics?


• Should Christians campaign politically against same-sex marriage and go door-to-door to collect signatures against it?

Those are just a few of the issues, but there are many others. Like I said, the answers are not always simple and easy, but I want to encourage you to think about this. I look forward to your comments.

When Did I Get Saved?

I have thought about writing this blog for awhile, but I put it off for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I was afraid that some might misunderstand what I'm trying to say. Secondly, I'm not that proud of what I'm going to tell you. The road I've traveled to the faith I have today is not a story of faithfulness and steadfastness on my part. However, after much thought I decided to go ahead, because I think the point I'm trying to make is worth the risk.

12 Years Old - I attended a "Royal Ambassadors" summer camp with other boys in a local Baptist church. The days were filled with activities, but every evening they held a church service with different speakers. One evening an old missionary was speaking and at the end of the service he gave an invitation. Although that was 34 years ago, I still have that 'picture' in my mind. Conviction came upon me and I knew I needed to be saved, so that evening I accepted the invitation and walked down the aisle.

I don't remember much about that experience - it was a long time ago. I don't remember what the missionary said and I don't remember what I said. I do remember that afterward they took us to an area for additional counseling and I distinctly remember crying like a baby. What I do know is that at 12 years old I didn't have much of a grasp of theology. I didn't know about repentance or atonement, justification or sanctification. I just knew if you wanted to get saved you 'walked down the aisle'. So that is what I did - I walked down that aisle and asked Christ to be Lord of my life.

18 Years Old - As a teenager I did my own thing. I attended church with my family, but my heart was far away from God. But after graduation from high school things began to change. I knew it was time to put away childish things. An older lady came to visit our family and we sat down to talk one Saturday evening. Even though she was an older woman and on the outside we had nothing in common, she had Christ in her in a way that I've seen few other people have. The next day I walked the aisle again to ask Christ to be Lord of my life.

33 Years Old - Over the past few years I've married and started a family. I have a good job so that my wife is able to stay home and raise the children. We attend church regularly, but God is not my priority. He is important in my life, but He is not the most important part of my life.

Then my daughter dies and my faith falls apart. I won't go into all the details of those years, but suffice it to say it was a hard, hard time. Not just because of the natural grief you experience, but because of the loss of faith. When the entire world view that you held of God is questioned - His goodness, His compassion, His mercy - in some ways that is even worse than the grief.

I questioned everything about God, even His very existence. But somewhere down deep in my soul I knew He was real. All the 'junk' got stripped away and all that was left was a miniscule faith that said, like Peter, "Where else can I go? You alone have the words of life". So again, I asked Christ to be Lord of my life.

Today - I am saved - there is absolutely no doubt in my mind. It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. How do I know? Because I have examined and tested myself in the light of the truth of Scripture.

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. - 2 Corinthians 13:5

Here's my point that I want to drive home: I cannot look back and base my salvation on an event that occurred when I was 12 or 18 or 33. Even now I'm not exactly sure when and where it occurred. But the important thing is that it has occurred. I have to base my salvation on 'today'. How many people are out there today that would say they are saved because they walked down an aisle or signed a card 20 years ago - yet there is no evidence of a living faith in their life today? That is a very dangerous thing to do. It is so important that we continually examine ourselves to make sure we are in the faith.

John Macarthur gives the following illustration:

"A family sent their child to a high school camp. At camp, this kid broke down and confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The youth director told the parents that the kid had made a genuine commitment to Christ, and confessed sin and was so thrilled with a new faith. And the parents were irate because, they said, we were with him when he made his childhood decision. How dare you question the reality of that decision? And they yanked the kid out of the youth group."

Do you see how ridiculous and dangerous that is - to base your salvation on an event that occurred years ago as opposed to a current and living faith?

I hope that no one has misunderstood me. It's not my intention to belittle someone's salvation experience. Many people can pinpoint an exact place, date and time that they invited Christ into their lives, and I think that is a wonderful thing and should be cherished. However, others may find that they cannot do that. I would think that we can all agree that what is important in either case - what is vital - is the genuineness of our faith today.

For He says: “ In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. - 2 Corinthians 6:2

Truth Hurts

There is an old adage that says 'the truth hurts'. Just recently this was brought home to me in my life when I found out that something I had thought to be true about myself was, in fact, not true. Now some will say that finding out the truth is always a good thing. But if we're honest with ourselves, I think we will admit that sometimes we find out things we'd just as soon have never known. That is true in my case - finding out the truth hurt.

I learned a real lesson in this. I had an idea about myself of who I thought I really was - but it turned out I wasn't that person. With that reality comes disappointment. But truth is like that - it is not discriminating. What I mean by that is that truth really doesn't regard the results. It just shines the light on the darkness and what is there is there. We have to deal with what the truth uncovers, and many times that can hurt.

So we all have a choice to make - do we let the light of the truth uncover the darkness in our lives and then deal with it? Or do we do like Pontius Pilate?

Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all. - John 18:37-38

Now what really jumps out at me from this passage is the following line:

"And when he had said this, he went out ..."

You see, Pilate asked the question and then just walked away - not waiting for the answer because he wasn't interested in the truth. He had 'the Truth' right in front of him, but he wasn't willing to address it. Many of us do the same thing - we are unwilling to let the truth in because we know it will hurt. It will not only show us things about ourselves that we don't like, but it will demand that we address those issues.

I mentioned earlier that truth shines the light into the darkness. One of the things you see in Scripture is that 'truth' and 'light' go hand in hand. One does not exist or work without the other.

For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” - John 3:20-21

If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. - 1 John 1:6

Is it hard to let the truth and light into every area of our life - to uncover hidden sins and corruption we don't want to admit are really there? Of course it's hard. But look at the next verse.

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. - 1 John 1:7

This is an amazing verse of scripture. Do you see how it works? As we walk in light and truth, sin will naturally be uncovered in our life. As a result, we are able to confess that sin and be cleansed through His blood. So in effect, the very fact that sin is being brought into the light and disposed of is a direct consequence of walking in the light and truth - it is a direct consequence of being His child!

In fact, John drives home the point in the next verse:

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. - 1 John 1:8

Wow. He's saying the ability to recognize and confess your sin is a test of being a child of God, while those who do not or cannot recognize their sin show evidence that they are not His.

Does the truth hurt sometimes? Sure it does. It hurts when we think we are one thing and the truth of God shows us that we are something else. But we need to understand the process - that He is uncovering things that need to be cleansed so that we can be purified and become a vessel of honor for Him.

Staying In Our Lane

In the world today there is an all out war being waged - an assault on the Truth. One of the things that frustrates me sometimes is that I feel my part in this war is so small. This may not be true of all of us, but I think that many of us from time to time just want our voices to be heard. The Truth can seem so clear to us that we just want to shout it from the housetops so the whole world can hear it - but I don't have that ability. We look at others and see what they are doing in their lives and in their ministries and in comparison our contributions can seem so small. That's why the following scripture is so encouraging to me. Paul says that we have all been given a 'sphere' of influence - in other words, a lane to run in.

2 Corinthians 10:12-18

12 For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

13 We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us—a sphere which especially includes you.

14 For we are not overextending ourselves (as though our authority did not extend to you), for it was to you that we came with the gospel of Christ; 15 not boasting of things beyond measure, that is, in other men’s labors, but having hope, that as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere, 16 to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s sphere of accomplishment.

17 But “he who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”

18 For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.

• Recognize your lane

Look around you and make sure that you are aware of your lane. Many a person has run off chasing spheres of influence and forgotten their most immediate area of importance - their family. Fathers, mothers, sons, daughters; be the person God has called you to be within your family and make sure to encourage, exhort and be a help to those around you.

If you are called to a ministry within your local body of believers - secretary, usher, mentor, teacher, etc. - then that is the lane you are called to run in. At some point in the future God may choose to expand your lane or even give you another one - but while you are where you are fight the battle there. You are called to hold that one place in the line - don't let the enemy through!

• Be content in your lane

Your lane may not be as big as someone else's, but it's yours and it's been given to you by God. Don't get caught up in comparing yourselves to others and what they may or may not be doing(in fact, Paul says he "wouldn't dare" compare himself to others). That is not your business. Do what God has called you to do and be content with it. If you are doing good and great things are happening for you - give the glory to God and don't take it for yourself. Even if it seems that 'little' is getting done - give the glory to God and thank him for the opportunity that you've been given. If you are giving everything you have in your lane then God will do the commending at the proper time.

• Give your all in your lane

Most importantly - give it your all. Don't look back at the end of the race and say to yourself 'I could have given more'. Life is so short - run the race with everything you have.

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. - 1 Corinthians 10:31

Did She Know?

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” - John 2:1-5

We are all probably very familiar with the story of Jesus turning the water into wine. But it's a story that has always perplexed me. We are told in the Scriptures that "this beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee". So we know that this was His first miracle. He had never performed one previously.

So why would His mother tell the servants "Whatever He says to you, do it"? Did she expect Him to perform a miracle? Did she expect Him to make wine appear in some way? If your answer to that is "yes", then I would have to ask you another question - Why? If he had never peformed a miracle before - why in the world would she even expect one? Did she somehow know that this was going to be the site of the first miracle of His ministry?

What do you think? I'd like to hear your comments.

The Amazing Bible

The more I learn about the Bible, the more I come to understand what an amazing book it really is. The Bible was written thousands of years before we had all the scientific knowledge that we have today, and yet there is not one single statement in the Bible that contradicts known scientific facts. Contrast that with other 'holy' books like the Hindu Bible. In the sacred writings of the Hindus you find such nonsense as this:

"The moon is 50,000 leagues higher than the sun, and shines by its own light.”

“Night is caused by the sun setting behind a huge mountain several thousand feet high located in the center of the earth.”

Keep in mind that if the skeptics could find even one single statement like that in the Scriptures then the Bible would be discredited completely - but they can't. In fact, we find just the opposite. The Scriptures reveal a source of knowledge far ahead of its time - a source that could only be divine.

“He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.” - Job 26:7

For thousands of years people thought the earth had to be somehow supported by something. Yet Job - without the benefit of a telescope of modern science - said that the earth was hung on nothing. How did he know that?

“It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers - Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.” - Isaiah 40:22

For thousands of years people thought the earth was flat, even into the middle ages. But Isaiah somehow knew that the earth was a circle. How did he know that?

“In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away … I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left.” Luke 17:31-34

I don't know if you've ever noticed this scripture before - but note that in the first part Jesus says "in that day" but later he says "in that night". Now he's only talking about a single event - one that would have to occur in the day and the night. He could only say that if he knew it was day on one side of the earth and night on the other side.

“Have you entered the treasury of snow,or have you seen the treasury of hail?” Job 38:22

When Job made this statement no one had yet looked at a snowflake under a microscope and discovered the wonders of it. How did he know that?

“You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen - Even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas.” - Psalms 8:6-8

It would be thousands of years before scientist discovered that there are actually 'rivers' or 'channels' that run throughout the seas and oceans. How did the psalmist know that already?

“A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave.” - Number 19:18

Did you know? In the Old Testament hyssop was used as a purifying agent. Science has shown that hyssop oil has been shown to contain 50% anti-fungal and anti-bacterial agents. How would they have known that then?

“He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant.” - Genesis 17:12

Did you know? Medical researchers recently discovered that the two main blood clotting factors, Vitamin K and Prothrombim, reach their highest level in life, about 110% of normal, on the 8th day after birth. These blood clotting agents facilitate rapid healing and greatly reduce the chance of infection. Any circumcision done earlier requires an injection of Vitamin K supplement. How would they know that?

I've recently been studying the 'history' of the Bible, including how it was accumulated and how it was transmitted down to us. Throughout history it has been attacked again and again by unbelievers, attempting to discredit and destroy it. But it has withstood them all and continues to be the only source of truth. The evidence for its divine authorship is simply amazing.