Psalm 84:5; 7a Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage... they go from strength to strength.
I don't know about you, but my heart gets set on many, many things. So many of those things produce stress, strife, anxiety and/or temporary fulfillment that never satisfies. In the 84th Psalm they are headed on a journey toward Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles to celebrate in worship.
Worthy of congratulations is the man whose heart is set on God. That's what the word "blessed" means - worthy of congratulations. Wow - can you see it? The person who SETS their hearts on pursuing God is never lacking in strength. In fact, it says that they go from "strength to strength." That's an unending, renewable power that the government and the green industry knows nothing about!
There's just something about pursuing God - HIM - not just the "stuff" of Him that powers our lives. Can I tell you something pretty cool? In Acts Chapter 2, they were in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles; it coincided with Pentecost. The Jews of that day were descending upon Jerusalem with Psalm 84 in their mouths as they had their hearts set on the worship of God. Then came the sound of the rushing mighty wind! The power and strength they had before was incomparable to the strength that was now coming with the giving of The Promise of The Father - the Holy Spirit!
Now when we set our hearts toward the pilgrimage of worship, it manifests inside us according to the power of the Spirit. Consider this favorite Scripture of mine in Ephesians 3:20: Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the POWER THAT WORKS IN US. Verse 20 began with acknowledging Him ("Now unto Him") - look at verse 21: to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. There's the praise given in the journey.
Set your heart on the journey of worshipping God. When you do, strength to strength is your new life's motto. When you do, the Spirit of God will empower you with unending, all-renewing, unstoppable strength. Now let's end with the final verses of Psalm 84:11b-12: The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. 12 O Lord of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You!
Congratulations are in order for you today, my Christian friend. Blessed indeed!
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Spend-a-palooza; living like the Government
"The borrower is slave to the lender," so says the Book of Proverbs. We've all been there and done that some time. The only possible way to get out of that unenviable situation is to spend LESS than you earn. In other words, we cannot use money to buy things when we don't have enough to pay for it. I hear a collective, "DUH!"
So, as many families are having to do, we seek ways to cut our monthly expenses. For my household, I don't drive the 11 minutes home for lunch; instead I stock the freezer with microwave dinners and bring a canned soda from home. We also cut cable and opted for Netflix instead.
If I may be so bold... and since I'm a duly authorized taxpayer... I think I shall be SO bold... I'd like to suggest a couple of areas the US Government could cut.
How about my tax dollars NOT being used to pay for abortions... in FOREIGN COUNTRIES. To be honest, I don't think they should be paid for here at home either. Planned Parenthood can raise funds for their operating expenses from the likes of Hollywood.
How about NOT sending tax dollars to countries that hate us... like Bolivia and some other communist/socialist leaning nations?
How about NOT paying for artists to create works of "art" the denigrate Christianity, like the infamous picture of a crucifix in a glass of urine. De-fund the National Endowment for the Arts.
I guess if I wanted to do business like the government, I could just print more money and spend it... wait... I think that's against the law for the private citizen. Ok, so that's counterfeiting. OH! I got it! I'll just write checks regardless of whether I have money in the bank to cover it... aw man... that's against the law, too!
So, if it's against the law (and implicitly, if not explicitly a moral evil) for a private citizen to do this... how's it legal for the government? It must be that the government just keeps getting loans to cover our inability to stop spending. Who exactly are they borrowing from? Well, not from us... we're actually being enslaved to debt for decades. Our children and perhaps even our grandchildren are saddled with it.
Maybe we won't have to worry about the guilt-factor, having saddled future generations with our debt. After all, we won't be able to understand our grandchildren or even communicate to them... because they'll be speaking CHINESE, the language of those who really own America being the holder of the largest portion of our debts.
And for my parting shot consider this scandalous thought: If the Chinese take over America maybe the Chinese churches could show us the way to a great revival in the churches of America like they are currently experiencing... just a thought
So, as many families are having to do, we seek ways to cut our monthly expenses. For my household, I don't drive the 11 minutes home for lunch; instead I stock the freezer with microwave dinners and bring a canned soda from home. We also cut cable and opted for Netflix instead.
If I may be so bold... and since I'm a duly authorized taxpayer... I think I shall be SO bold... I'd like to suggest a couple of areas the US Government could cut.
How about my tax dollars NOT being used to pay for abortions... in FOREIGN COUNTRIES. To be honest, I don't think they should be paid for here at home either. Planned Parenthood can raise funds for their operating expenses from the likes of Hollywood.
How about NOT sending tax dollars to countries that hate us... like Bolivia and some other communist/socialist leaning nations?
How about NOT paying for artists to create works of "art" the denigrate Christianity, like the infamous picture of a crucifix in a glass of urine. De-fund the National Endowment for the Arts.
I guess if I wanted to do business like the government, I could just print more money and spend it... wait... I think that's against the law for the private citizen. Ok, so that's counterfeiting. OH! I got it! I'll just write checks regardless of whether I have money in the bank to cover it... aw man... that's against the law, too!
So, if it's against the law (and implicitly, if not explicitly a moral evil) for a private citizen to do this... how's it legal for the government? It must be that the government just keeps getting loans to cover our inability to stop spending. Who exactly are they borrowing from? Well, not from us... we're actually being enslaved to debt for decades. Our children and perhaps even our grandchildren are saddled with it.
Maybe we won't have to worry about the guilt-factor, having saddled future generations with our debt. After all, we won't be able to understand our grandchildren or even communicate to them... because they'll be speaking CHINESE, the language of those who really own America being the holder of the largest portion of our debts.
And for my parting shot consider this scandalous thought: If the Chinese take over America maybe the Chinese churches could show us the way to a great revival in the churches of America like they are currently experiencing... just a thought
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
It's Legal... but is it Moral? Is it right?
Ponder this: "legal" and "moral" are not the same thing. If this were true, genocide under the Nazis, under Stalin, under Pol Pot, under Mao Tse Tung, in Rwanda, Somalia would not be immoral - it was legal. Thus, legal and moral are NOT equivalent. Just because it's legal, doesn't mean it's right (moral). Corrupt people produce corrupt laws.
Look around around the "land of the free and the home of the brave" today. A judge struck down the "will of the people" as it relates to the "special rights" that the severely minority gay population seeks to secure. There are a variety of great articles written by smarter men than I on this topic, so I won't take the time to unpack it here today. (go to str.org for some great resources on this topic).
Infantcide - the murder for convenience of innocent, defenseless human persons - we call it abortion - justified as "choice."
The Homosexual Agenda - the absolute relentless assault against what is clearly "natural." I don't need to quote a single Scripture to demonstrate that this is an aberration and perversion of our clearly evident biological order.
Are there other moral issues? Yes there are. In my estimate, these are two of the most egregious issues off all time. Are they legal? Yes they are. In fact, living as a homosexual and even receiving the same "rights" as a married couple are ALREADY GIVEN to homosexual couples. What they are after is the name "marriage." It forces cultural acceptance. That's what they hope to accomplish - forcing their view on all the rest of us and then outlawing free expression to disagree. Freedom to disagree and publicly express it is a hallmark of the American nation. They are not concerned with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, however.
Let me be clear. I stand against the sin of homosexuality with the same fervor as I do against heterosexual adultery. I stand against abortion the same way I stand against gossip. Sin is sin. Sin always robs us of God's perfect plan - AND - in the process it rapes, pillages and plunders our own lives and the lives of those around us. I stand, as a prophet to a culture gone mad, shouting for them to turn around as they paddle their boats ever closer to the falls called Niagra. Don't kill yourselves - don't kill your children! You may like the luxuries of this cultural ship, but that which lies beneath will strike you down and all the splendors of sin will go down with you, O Titanic culture!
Love God - Love People - Reject that which ultimately ravages people...for the sake of people. All the unjust can rule, but they will rule unjustly. It is not moral to kill babies. It is not moral to commit adultery. It is not moral to commit sodomy (homosexuality). You can say it is legal, but your moral intuition tells you it's wrong and lamentable.
Here's some good news. If we confess (call "sin" what God calls "sin") our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We've all sinned even though it was "legal." Jesus joys to wash our immorality and issue us His own morality.
Look around around the "land of the free and the home of the brave" today. A judge struck down the "will of the people" as it relates to the "special rights" that the severely minority gay population seeks to secure. There are a variety of great articles written by smarter men than I on this topic, so I won't take the time to unpack it here today. (go to str.org for some great resources on this topic).
Infantcide - the murder for convenience of innocent, defenseless human persons - we call it abortion - justified as "choice."
The Homosexual Agenda - the absolute relentless assault against what is clearly "natural." I don't need to quote a single Scripture to demonstrate that this is an aberration and perversion of our clearly evident biological order.
Are there other moral issues? Yes there are. In my estimate, these are two of the most egregious issues off all time. Are they legal? Yes they are. In fact, living as a homosexual and even receiving the same "rights" as a married couple are ALREADY GIVEN to homosexual couples. What they are after is the name "marriage." It forces cultural acceptance. That's what they hope to accomplish - forcing their view on all the rest of us and then outlawing free expression to disagree. Freedom to disagree and publicly express it is a hallmark of the American nation. They are not concerned with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, however.
Let me be clear. I stand against the sin of homosexuality with the same fervor as I do against heterosexual adultery. I stand against abortion the same way I stand against gossip. Sin is sin. Sin always robs us of God's perfect plan - AND - in the process it rapes, pillages and plunders our own lives and the lives of those around us. I stand, as a prophet to a culture gone mad, shouting for them to turn around as they paddle their boats ever closer to the falls called Niagra. Don't kill yourselves - don't kill your children! You may like the luxuries of this cultural ship, but that which lies beneath will strike you down and all the splendors of sin will go down with you, O Titanic culture!
Love God - Love People - Reject that which ultimately ravages people...for the sake of people. All the unjust can rule, but they will rule unjustly. It is not moral to kill babies. It is not moral to commit adultery. It is not moral to commit sodomy (homosexuality). You can say it is legal, but your moral intuition tells you it's wrong and lamentable.
Here's some good news. If we confess (call "sin" what God calls "sin") our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We've all sinned even though it was "legal." Jesus joys to wash our immorality and issue us His own morality.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Run with Endurance...is there any other kind?
I've taken to running three times weekly. And, no, those legs on the right are not mine! My route is closing in on four miles. When I was in the Army it was like pulling teeth to get me to run the two miles required. That was about 50 pounds ago, by the way...when it would have been much easier! Now, I'm approximately 20 years older and suddenly able to do such a thing. Is it the ability to do it or the willingness coupled with the endurance to keep it up?
Endurance is an interesting issue. As I was running this morning, there's a long stretch of road with a slight incline that is the end of my route. It requires some endurance to keep going because my breath grows faster and more labored and my muscles are wearing out. "Maintain a tight, proper form - keep your eyes up." These things I remind myself.
Endurance requires faith. Faith that sees the run OVER ALREADY! :-) Faith that sees pounds coming off, a healthy heart, feeling better physically over all. Faith "sees." It sees a preferred future - ah, now that's "vision." Proverbs says that "without vision people cast off restraint." Trust me, if I can't "see"[vision] I can't "believe" [faith] and hence I cannot "endure." See how one fuels the other?
"Do not become weary in doing well, for in the right season you will reap the reward if you don't give up." Do you see endurance, faith and vision in that verse in Galatians 6:9?
How about Hebrews? 1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [VISION], let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us [ENDURANCE AGAINST THE FLESH], and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith [FAITH/VISION], who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God[ENDURANCE ILLUSTRATED AND VISION]. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls [THE RESULT OF NOT ENDURING].
Whatever you're pursuing today, don't give up. Don't stop praying, believing (faith-ing), working - don't stop! You can stop once you enter Heaven's Gates to hear, "well done, my good and faithful servant." One last Scripture?
1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Wanna Lead? Get Down!
Mt. 25:25 "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. 26 YET IT SHALL NOT BE SO AMONG YOU; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave-- 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
Just prior to this statement, a mother had asked that her two sons be given seats on the right and the left of Jesus' own throne. They felt they were up to the task to drink the cup He was going to drink. This whole conversation infuriated the other disciples, probably because they wanted thrones next this his also! But, Jesus, as usual, redirects.
He tells us how power/authority works in the world. Power has a tendency to force itself on others. "Because I said so" is the last bastion of "positional authority." Jesus says, that the way Kingdom leadership is captured in the phrase "because I DO so." The Bible says of Jesus that He emptied Himself of all His well-deserved glory and took upon Himself the form of a servant. Who can forget the picture of Jesus kneeling before the disciples' feet to wash them?
By extravagant service and the loving heart it flows from is influence, leadership, given. They follow because you have served them well. They listen because you have listened well. Ultimately, they will die well, because you showed them how to die well...spiritually and then physically.
"Because I DO so" - "Follow me as I follow Christ"
Just prior to this statement, a mother had asked that her two sons be given seats on the right and the left of Jesus' own throne. They felt they were up to the task to drink the cup He was going to drink. This whole conversation infuriated the other disciples, probably because they wanted thrones next this his also! But, Jesus, as usual, redirects.
He tells us how power/authority works in the world. Power has a tendency to force itself on others. "Because I said so" is the last bastion of "positional authority." Jesus says, that the way Kingdom leadership is captured in the phrase "because I DO so." The Bible says of Jesus that He emptied Himself of all His well-deserved glory and took upon Himself the form of a servant. Who can forget the picture of Jesus kneeling before the disciples' feet to wash them?
By extravagant service and the loving heart it flows from is influence, leadership, given. They follow because you have served them well. They listen because you have listened well. Ultimately, they will die well, because you showed them how to die well...spiritually and then physically.
"Because I DO so" - "Follow me as I follow Christ"
Thursday, January 22, 2009
I regularly listen to podcasts produced by some very intelligent men; Greg Koukl with Stand to Reason (str.org), Dr. William Lane Craig (reasonablefaith.org) and Dr. Ravi Zacharias (rzim.org). These men are masterful Christian apologists, which is to say they are very skilled in the defense of the Christian faith. Incidentally, their podcasts can be found on ITunes if you are interested.
On this week’s podcast by Dr. Craig, he mentioned a recent debate he participated in with an atheistic professor of philosophy. In most debates, polite applause is saved for the end of the debate and is not considered “proper” during the course of the debate itself. In this case, the debate’s student organizer encouraged applause during the debate at any point where one debater’s points resonated with the student body.
If you don’t know much about Dr. Craig I will fill you in. This guy makes my head spin. With publications like, “The Only Wise God: The Compatibility of Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom,” “Time, Reality, and Transcendence in Rational Perspective,” and “Einstein, Relativity and Absolute Simultaneity,” I sometimes listen hoping to glean some insight by sheer aural osmosis. Bottom line: this is a very smart gentleman.
So, as you can imagine, he was making some solid, logical and coherent points in his debate with his atheistic opponent. Periodically, however, the other professor would rattle off some kind of crowd-stimulating rhetoric, which would cause the professor’s “fans” to pound their desks and applaud loudly, almost in an attempt to scorn Dr. Craig. The problem is that these titillating comments bore no consequence for the point at hand. In fact, the comments themselves were either logically self-refuting arguments or remarks of complete inanity. Mockingly the professor declared: “It is also logically possible that there is a flying spaghetti monster,” followed by eruptions of applause. These students looked truth “dead in the face” and instead of acknowledging the truth (or at least a skillful, and well-reasoned viewpoint), they sought to mock the truth and then paraded their intellectual shallowness. This was repeated throughout the debate much to Dr. Craig’s chagrin.
Dr. Craig would repeatedly and soundly refute these ridiculous comments, demonstrate their lack of merit based on science, philosophy and history, but the atheistic students continued to miss the point. Now, if Dr. William Lane Craig, as skillful and winsome as he is, was unable to “score points” with this crowd, where do we (the much less educated and skilled) stand?
I am by no means the caliber of Christian apologist that these men are, but I do try to get into the world and stir up conversations in the pool of ideas. My experience has shown me a couple of things that I’d like to share with you.
I have assembled stacks of documents to help people “read-up” and answer their unresolved “Christian/God/Faith” issues. I have spent many hours debating and conversing about all manner of defensible issues with regards to faith and the Bible. At the end of nearly every one of those dialogues there is no commitment to faith in God, nor is there typically an assent to the ideas that I have just labored to present. Why is this? And, what do we make of Isa. 55:11: “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
Consider the consequence of the atheist’s acquiescence to our arguments. If there is a God, then there are implications of lingering, if not immediate consequences. If there is, in fact, a God, then that changes the entire worldview, which is a fear-laden proposition regardless of their worldview. If Dr. Craig’s arguments were compelling….and they were…. why the blatant rejection of their validity? It is a heart issue. It is nearly always a heart issue.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” – Jer. 17:9
Consider this passage: John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."
God does His ultimate act and makes it abundantly clear by sending Jesus in human flesh – to talk – to walk – to be…but men did not receive Him. They rejected the truth. Why? Their deeds were evil. It was fundamental rebellion against God. It was a spiritual heart issue. He had answered in intellect, in heart, in spirit and still it was rejection. Consider also Romans 1:18 where it speaks of God’s wrath being revealed against men who “suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” The degradation of personal conduct in the verses that follow are a direct consequence of that suppression. Verse 25: “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” Verse 28: “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind to do things that are not proper…”
To return to Isa. 55:11, the “prospering” that is accomplished by the Word is the consequent judgment that comes against those who are “condemned already.” (John 3:18c). One function of God’s truth in the world is the justification of all who believe and trust Him, but also the condemnation of those who suppress truth and live with a willful rejection of the very knowledge of God.
Now, lest this sound too berating, our duty is to pray for them and to continue to sow seeds of truth. But, we should not be surprised that they may not respond to God’s truth even if we are as well prepared as Dr. William Lane Craig, B.A., M.A., Ph.D, D.Th. Jesus Himself came to “His own” and “His own” did not receive Him. (John 1:11). We know that Satan has blinded minds so that they might not see the “glorious light of the Gospel.” (2 Cor. 4:4) Our job is to pray for that revelation that even with the Apostle Peter, did not come from “flesh and blood” but was revealed to him by God Himself. (Mt. 16:17)
We can never do more than pray until we’ve prayed – unknown. Knowledge and discourse alone cannot change the heart, but prayer has a way of softening and liberating it.
(Hey, do me a favor….if I end up preaching this in church someday…could those of you present pretend it’s the first time you’ve heard it?) ;-)
On this week’s podcast by Dr. Craig, he mentioned a recent debate he participated in with an atheistic professor of philosophy. In most debates, polite applause is saved for the end of the debate and is not considered “proper” during the course of the debate itself. In this case, the debate’s student organizer encouraged applause during the debate at any point where one debater’s points resonated with the student body.
If you don’t know much about Dr. Craig I will fill you in. This guy makes my head spin. With publications like, “The Only Wise God: The Compatibility of Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom,” “Time, Reality, and Transcendence in Rational Perspective,” and “Einstein, Relativity and Absolute Simultaneity,” I sometimes listen hoping to glean some insight by sheer aural osmosis. Bottom line: this is a very smart gentleman.
So, as you can imagine, he was making some solid, logical and coherent points in his debate with his atheistic opponent. Periodically, however, the other professor would rattle off some kind of crowd-stimulating rhetoric, which would cause the professor’s “fans” to pound their desks and applaud loudly, almost in an attempt to scorn Dr. Craig. The problem is that these titillating comments bore no consequence for the point at hand. In fact, the comments themselves were either logically self-refuting arguments or remarks of complete inanity. Mockingly the professor declared: “It is also logically possible that there is a flying spaghetti monster,” followed by eruptions of applause. These students looked truth “dead in the face” and instead of acknowledging the truth (or at least a skillful, and well-reasoned viewpoint), they sought to mock the truth and then paraded their intellectual shallowness. This was repeated throughout the debate much to Dr. Craig’s chagrin.
Dr. Craig would repeatedly and soundly refute these ridiculous comments, demonstrate their lack of merit based on science, philosophy and history, but the atheistic students continued to miss the point. Now, if Dr. William Lane Craig, as skillful and winsome as he is, was unable to “score points” with this crowd, where do we (the much less educated and skilled) stand?
I am by no means the caliber of Christian apologist that these men are, but I do try to get into the world and stir up conversations in the pool of ideas. My experience has shown me a couple of things that I’d like to share with you.
I have assembled stacks of documents to help people “read-up” and answer their unresolved “Christian/God/Faith” issues. I have spent many hours debating and conversing about all manner of defensible issues with regards to faith and the Bible. At the end of nearly every one of those dialogues there is no commitment to faith in God, nor is there typically an assent to the ideas that I have just labored to present. Why is this? And, what do we make of Isa. 55:11: “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
Consider the consequence of the atheist’s acquiescence to our arguments. If there is a God, then there are implications of lingering, if not immediate consequences. If there is, in fact, a God, then that changes the entire worldview, which is a fear-laden proposition regardless of their worldview. If Dr. Craig’s arguments were compelling….and they were…. why the blatant rejection of their validity? It is a heart issue. It is nearly always a heart issue.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” – Jer. 17:9
Consider this passage: John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."
God does His ultimate act and makes it abundantly clear by sending Jesus in human flesh – to talk – to walk – to be…but men did not receive Him. They rejected the truth. Why? Their deeds were evil. It was fundamental rebellion against God. It was a spiritual heart issue. He had answered in intellect, in heart, in spirit and still it was rejection. Consider also Romans 1:18 where it speaks of God’s wrath being revealed against men who “suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” The degradation of personal conduct in the verses that follow are a direct consequence of that suppression. Verse 25: “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” Verse 28: “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind to do things that are not proper…”
To return to Isa. 55:11, the “prospering” that is accomplished by the Word is the consequent judgment that comes against those who are “condemned already.” (John 3:18c). One function of God’s truth in the world is the justification of all who believe and trust Him, but also the condemnation of those who suppress truth and live with a willful rejection of the very knowledge of God.
Now, lest this sound too berating, our duty is to pray for them and to continue to sow seeds of truth. But, we should not be surprised that they may not respond to God’s truth even if we are as well prepared as Dr. William Lane Craig, B.A., M.A., Ph.D, D.Th. Jesus Himself came to “His own” and “His own” did not receive Him. (John 1:11). We know that Satan has blinded minds so that they might not see the “glorious light of the Gospel.” (2 Cor. 4:4) Our job is to pray for that revelation that even with the Apostle Peter, did not come from “flesh and blood” but was revealed to him by God Himself. (Mt. 16:17)
We can never do more than pray until we’ve prayed – unknown. Knowledge and discourse alone cannot change the heart, but prayer has a way of softening and liberating it.
(Hey, do me a favor….if I end up preaching this in church someday…could those of you present pretend it’s the first time you’ve heard it?) ;-)
Monday, January 12, 2009
And it was good....
Over and over again in the creation account in Genesis 1, we see that God created and pronounced it "good." You know, there are still some "good" things in the world. We tend to be overwhelmed by the excessively negative news media. You hear all the "bad" news and then they try to get a "good story" in there, usually an animal story: poor little kitten is caught in a storm drain.
There's more good than that and we don't need the news media to report on it. All we need do is look around with an "attitude of gratitude." Relationships: the only thing that we have in this world that is eternal. If you love your spouse/kids/relatives and they love you - that is GOOD. If you have a job (especially these days) - friends, it's GOOD. Love, music, all manner of talents, nature, literature - there are many good things around us. Thank God for them.
Refuse to live in a down-in-the-mouth, murmuring existence. I was reading Romans 5 this morning and came across the Scripture that God really made alive to me: 1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Check it out: HOPE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT - hope looks for the good - hope expects to see the good things that God has already produced and those things which He is continuing to bring to pass. It's amazing how a confession and life lived in hope produce a heart and mouth of praise, isnt it?
Go on - say it - "it's all good" - God is saying it: He is working ALL THINGS together FOR GOOD to those who love the Lord and are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28
There's more good than that and we don't need the news media to report on it. All we need do is look around with an "attitude of gratitude." Relationships: the only thing that we have in this world that is eternal. If you love your spouse/kids/relatives and they love you - that is GOOD. If you have a job (especially these days) - friends, it's GOOD. Love, music, all manner of talents, nature, literature - there are many good things around us. Thank God for them.
Refuse to live in a down-in-the-mouth, murmuring existence. I was reading Romans 5 this morning and came across the Scripture that God really made alive to me: 1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Check it out: HOPE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT - hope looks for the good - hope expects to see the good things that God has already produced and those things which He is continuing to bring to pass. It's amazing how a confession and life lived in hope produce a heart and mouth of praise, isnt it?
Go on - say it - "it's all good" - God is saying it: He is working ALL THINGS together FOR GOOD to those who love the Lord and are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28
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