Monday, August 31, 2020

Unity Unites – Part 2

Fototapete »Mirror Lake«, 4-teilig

Attendance in Heaven is not what God would like it to be. Let’s reduce the population of Hell by fulfilling the Great Commission of making Discipleships. Jesus commanded us in Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. May this commandment never be the church’s great omission in its ministry, but profess and practiced in unity worldwide. The Christian church may be scattered around the globe, but the mission is the same everywhere to evangelize the world to the foot of the Cross for the Lord. While going about our everyday activities, as the Holy Spirit gives us opportunities, we are to plant the seed of the Gospel message, and to water seeds of the Gospel that others have planted by speaking the truth of Jesus Christ to those who are lost in sin and unbelief, that they may repent of their sin, accept the atoning redemption of Christ on the Cross and receive the free gift of eternal life now, with Heaven as their destiny. We may even be able to harvest the crop of born-again believers as the Holy Spirit regenerates the spirit and transforms the soul.  

The Apostle Paul hears that there are contentions and divisions within the Corinthian church. It’s not unusual to have problems within a church. The church of Corinth had a sectarian issue, labelling themselves as following different church teachers and intolerantly disagree with each other. Cliché’s that say “My way or the Highway”. But, a devout Christian is a dedicated Christ bearer and devoted Christ Follower as a disciple of Jesus, who is worshiped, praised and given the glory. Only Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and is Lord of all. There are only Christians in Heaven because only by His blood shed on the Cross for your sins may you enter. Paul pleaded in the name of Jesus Christ for Christians to find “common ground” and come into unity in the Lord; not seek division. 

Paul asked three rhetorical questions for them and us today. (1) Is Christ divided” No, so the body of believers should be divided either! (2) Was Paul crucified for you? No, neither was anyone else, except Jesus, the Blessed Redeemer. (3) Were you baptized in the name of Paul? No, you are only baptized in the name of the God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The dissention within the church is discouraging as the integrity of the body of Christ is marred. Baptism is a beautiful sacrament, commanded by the Lord in unity of His death and resurrection, symbolizing the death of the old heart and receiving the new, in righteous obedience and holy subservience to God. Unity in Christ, unity in doctrine, unity in the Word of God and unity of Christian experience and belief in Christ that Jesus was sent by God to redeem mankind by dying in a Cross for their sins, He rose on the third day according to the Scriptures to defeat sin and dear, He ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father interceded for us, and He shall come again to earth at the end of the age to judge the living and the dead. It was St. Augustine of Hippo that once said: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” There are denominational differences in non-essential issues, but all Christians have unity in the essential issues in thought, word and actions centered in Christ.  

Romans 10:13-15 For “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”

There are thousands in this world that need a gentle touch and a gentle voice of a Christian because they are seeking that peace that surpasses all understanding which is only found in Jesus Christ. They are looking for a safe place in that loving relationship with Jesus Christ and most of them are only going to find it if the children of God offer the good news of the Gospel to them. If we (His church) are willing to be what God called us to be and fulfill the Great Commission to go and make disciples and teach them to obey all that He commanded. We are to go and tell the story of glory in Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Go and tell them!

In Christ, Brian     

Sunday, August 30, 2020

Unity Unites - Part 1

landscape photography travel #LandscapePhotography

1 Corinthians 1:10-17 “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.”

Last Sunday, Pastor Herk restated just how important the “Great Commission” of our Lord Jesus Christ is to the Christian church and needs to be constantly in the forefront of ministry. Another important element of church is unity because Jesus was a unifier and stressed unity, so we are to be unifiers as Christians. The Apostle Paul was pleading to the Corinthian church for both unity of word and unity of action. It is easier to be critical that it is to be correct, so we need to patiently and wisely hold our judgments and criticism. Paul begs the church to speak “the same thing” (autos)There should be unity of doctrine, unity of word, and unity of action. In matters of ministry, the church body of Christ universal must be unanimously united, or else someone is out of fellowship with Christ’s holy word, will and way. The reason being is that the Holy Spirit does not disagree with Himself. When not in alignment with the Holy Spirit, then Satan has a foothold and we are seeing and reaping that reality today. The old axiom says: If you talk about what you believe, then you have disunity. If you talk about who you believe in, then you have unity. 

Ephesians 4:10-16 “He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”

As it takes centuries for an acorn to come to full fruition as a mature Oak tree in the fullness of its growth, those graces of God that are most precious and durable to us, are going to take us longer to produce. In ministry, some opportunities spring up quickly and doors open with some worth, but we cannot look for permanence and lasting value in temporal things that come up quickly and easily to us. Our spiritual growth takes time, and it develops a solid character within us. In the church body, the Word of God is expounded upon the saints (those who have been sanctified, consecrated and hallowed) to ministry to others saints. 

 

Hebrews 10:24-25 “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Let's continue Pastor Herk's message on "unity in Christ" on the next post.
In Christ, Brian

Saturday, August 29, 2020

5 False Gospels within the Evangelical Church - Part 2

Sunset

Continuing the Christianity.com article, False Gospel 3: The Gospel of New Age Spirituality 
Many younger evangelicals do not feel at home in church. They gravitate to groups where they can be personally involved in honest sharing, caring for the poor, and ongoing relationships. Predictable formal worship services that follow a script often lack the vitality some of them are looking for. Worship God is lost for who He is and whose we are is lost. Therefore, they are a “seeking” generation and uncomfortable with being told what to believe but are committed to finding a faith that is right for them.
Despite many admirable qualities, this generation is open to seeking spiritual experiences independently of Bible doctrine. Thus, in order to be more relevant, false New Age spirituality, which is widely accepted in our culture, is often taught alongside biblical teaching in our evangelical churches and seminaries. In many instances, the textbooks used contain New Age teachings based on mystical experiences of God rather than the Scriptures.
Such books and others like them are popular because they present God as more accessible, more easily experienced without much need for specific Bible doctrines. However, we have to teach our people that the only sure knowledge we have of God is based on Scripture, which must be believed whether we experience God or not. We might learn some things about God when we experience the world, but only in the Scriptures do we have a reliable guide to lead us to encounter God and salvation. Sometimes we have no experience of God at all but, “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).
False Gospel 4: The Gospel of My Sexual Preference
Is the evangelical church willing to practice the biblical teachings about church discipline? Most would say no. I spoke to one pastor who said they allow people into their membership wherever they are in their spiritual journey; unmarried couples who are living together, a homosexual couple with children, etc., are allowed to become members despite the church’s opposition to these lifestyles. But that church has concluded that those who become members must join in order to grow in their faith rather than saying, “Membership is not for you.” In short, this church was reluctant to raise the bar of church membership beyond vague generalities.
There is another reason why churches are reluctant to administer church discipline: they know the power of being shamed, despised, and targeted. They don’t want to be accused of being hateful rather than loving.
To all those pastors who fear that a loving but firm stand against same-sex relationships would brand your church as a hate group, and thus do damage to the gospel, put yourself in the shoes of the apostle Paul: just reread Romans 1:18–32, and remember he was writing to a church within a culture that was rife with defiling sexual sins of every sort. Yet he wrote candidly about God’s view of homosexual relationships, knowing his letter would be read publicly to the congregation. He knew that truth hurts, but it also heals (1 Corinthians 6:9–11).
False Gospel 5: The Gospel of Interfaith Dialogue 
Our culture has chosen to submit to Islam, and there’s pressure on the church to follow suit. Let me say from the outset that I am not opposed to those who engage Muslims in conversations about the difference between the two religions outside the setting of the pulpit. I have enjoyed such exchanges. Becoming friends with Muslims is a privilege given to us by the Lord. I am opposed to arguing, trying to prove who is right, and expressing words of condemnation. We should not attempt to win an argument but to win trust and show respect and caring. In fact, I’ve heard testimonies from Muslims who converted to Christianity, and all of these stories have the same theme: unexpected love and caring from Christians.
However, under the guise of tolerance, love, and some would even say, evangelism, Muslims are being invited into churches to present a special revised version of Islam. Interfaith dialogue in the church gives Muslim leaders an uncontested platform to speak publicly and invites them to present a version of Islam that simply does not exist in Muslim countries. Nor is it based on Islam’s history or its foundational writings.
If a church wants to learn what Islam believes, why not invite a convert out of Islam to come into a church and share his/her story? I’ve personally discovered that these testimonies are instructive and helpful to understand life in Muslim countries without the influence of Western values. We have much to learn, and there are many who can teach us.
As a means of evangelism, other opportunities exist for reaching Muslims with the love of Christ and the message of the gospel. Christians and Muslims can connect with each other in their homes, schools, neighborhoods, and workplaces. Jesus calls us to reach across the chasm and represent Him well wherever we find ourselves. This is the time for us to remember the words of Jesus to His disciples: “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16).
Thankfully, we can count on the Good Shepherd to be among us each step of the way. Go and make disciples of Jesus Christ.
Adapted and abridged from The Church in Babylon: Heeding the Call to Be a Light in the Darkness by Erwin  W. Lutzer (©2018). I highly recommend that you buy a copy of this book and tell others.
In Christ, Brian

Friday, August 28, 2020

5 False Gospels within the Evangelical Church - Part 1

  

The current worldwide COVID outbreak and civil unrest in the nation, many are turning to the Christian church for answers to stability, yet over the last decades some watered-down versions which omit many of the biblical doctrines that have altered and/or redefined portions of the Word of God to say that it doesn't mean what it plainly states, thereby deceiving the people thirsty for pure truth and true spiritual meaning apart from the sinful human flesh desires that have caused the decline in the Christian church and fall into political correctness of a secular pagan culture. It has been identified and generally referred to as "the Social Gospel", where hedonistic human relations over-rule the person's relationship with God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). God is love (yet, a kind of distorted view of love), but not the Almighty Sovereign Ruler and Sustainer of His created cosmos, including mankind. Christ is a friend, a brother, maybe even someone who paid for their sins, but not Lord of their live. It's a false gospel and people do not find spiritual fulfillment plus feel a false sense of salvation but have no conviction or shame, feel good about themselves and are entertained well. National revival is impossible in this “no talk about sin”, all-get-along, self-help and interpersonal relationship message and the churn is high as the focus is wrong and trends fade. 

Many Christ-centered churches are centering back on the full and pure Gospel of Salvation, that we are all sinners with the righteous wrath of God upon us, destined for eternal punishment in Hell and have no way to save ourselves. But, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, God incarnate to live a sinless life and die an atoning death on the Cross for the sins of the world, so that whoever will repent of their sins, believe in the finished work of Christ in their place and follow Him as Lord would be saved, receive the Holy Spirit and bear godly fruit in good works in God’s ministry of redemption and life eternal as a citizen of Heaven. Love God, trust God, obey God, glorify God, know Jesus, believe in Jesus, follow Jesus., learn from Jesus and walk by faith in the. Spirit. 

Christianity.com reported that the church has always been tempted to dull the sharp edges of the Christian faith, to abandon hard truths in the face of cultural and religious pressure. Passing a vibrant faith to the next generation is always a challenge, especially without the support of the government, the courts, the media, public schools, and the national zeitgeist that insists that we simply flow with the raging river of cultural opinion. Listed herein are just five of the many doctrinal temptations the church faces.
False Gospel 1: The Gospel of Permissive Grace 
Many people have been rescued out of sterile, joyless, and performance-based Christianity when they learn that we are not only saved by grace, we are also daily renewed and accepted by grace. They have been delivered from a life of rules without relationship and outward compliance without joyful obedience. Grace, once understood, is truly amazing, not just for great sinners but also for struggling saints. But today we are witnessing a perversion of grace in what we can call the Grace Movement: teachers and preachers who offer people grace in advance, even before they are convinced they need it.
Today, many preachers say that “God loves you unconditionally” and “God loves you just as you are.” Unconditional love is interpreted as unconditional acceptance of one’s lifestyle. God does not love everyone in the same way. He loves His people, those who are “in Christ” unconditionally, even as He loves His Son (John 17:20–23). But this does not mean that God is always pleased with our conduct; nor does it mean that God does not discipline us for our waywardness. Although God is kindly disposed to everyone and loves the world (John 3:16), “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). And again, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28–29).
False Gospel 2: The Gospel of Social Justice 
In the early twentieth century, many churches left off preaching the cross of Christ and replaced it with “doing good to their fellow man.” They justified their stance with verses from the Old Testament, such as “bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause” (Isaiah 1:17) and similar texts in the New Testament, where Jesus taught that when we visit His followers in prison, we are visiting Him (Matthew 25:35–40). Social concerns replaced the finished work of Christ who died and rose again to save sinners, and the gospel of God saving us from sin was almost entirely neglected. In reaction, fundamentalists rejected the social gospel and, for the most part, confined themselves to the urgent need for individual conversion, neglecting the social implications of the gospel.
History is repeating itself today, but with a different twist. Many millennials, feeling as if they don’t fit with evangelicalism’s romance with conservative politics, have chosen to devote themselves to social justice, and sadly, many of them have abandoned the doctrine of personal repentance and opted for what they see as a more practical gospel, helping the poor and needy.
We are commanded to live radically like Christ, committing ourselves to the needs of others, body, soul, and spirit. But we must serve with a redemptive mindset, always seeking for opportunities to build bridges that will lead them to eternal life. We need gospel-driven social work that serves people because they are needy and because we want them to trust in Christ. If compassion motivates us to help alleviate the suffering in this present world, how much more should compassion motivate us to share the good news to alleviate their suffering in the world to come?
Let's continue this article on the 5 false gospels in the church next post.
In Christ, Brian

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Our Sure Foundation – Part 2



According to 2 Timothy 3in the last days, men shall be lovers of sin, self, pride and pleasure, rather than lovers of God and His truth. These earthly values undermine a once-strong civilization and precede the catastrophic failure of every great civilization that has fallen into ruin. Psalm 121 says, “shall I lift up mine eyes unto the hills? From whence cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord that made heaven and earth. He shall not suffer thy foot to be moved. Yea, He that keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” To seek refuge in the Lord, means to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. He alone is our refuge and strength. Jesus said, “if you abide in me and my word abides in you, you shall bear much fruit.

Michael continues that it seems as if the enemy (the sinful flesh, the God-rejecting world and the devil) doesn’t play by the “rules of the game.” Righteousness is bound by truth, whereas the wicked, because they’re wicked, disregard the rules. When a nation’s judges are devoid of righteous judgement; when the legislators and executives forsake God’s righteous standards, acquiesce to the world’s ungodly standards, and call good evil and evil good, there is no foundation of truth and the nation is bound to fall. As individuals and as nations, the choice is truth or consequences.

Our God is a consuming fire. We should not be intimidated and shaken by the affairs of this world that are undermining the foundations upon which our country was built — one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all. A warriors ethos says, “I will always place the mission first. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade.” The question is, what is it that you value? The ethos is a vow that I will be a better man or woman to uphold values that transcend my own self-serving pride. Life is hard, the enemy’s onslaught is relentless, but greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.
We have the legacy of Christ in us, the hope of glory. In the midst of the spiritual battle, the Lord will never leave you nor forsake you. Martin Luther understood what it means to stand on the firm foundation when he posted the 95 Theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg. This defiant act started the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther knew that the leaders of the Roman church had vowed to take his life. After meditating on the word of the Lord, Luther took comfort in the words of Psalm 91. After meditating on these words, Luther penned the words to the great hymn of the faith, A mighty fortress is our God:

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; our helper he, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe does seek to work us woe; his craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate, on earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing, were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God's own choosing. You ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is he; Lord Sabbath his name, from age to age the same; and he must win the battle.

That Word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them abideth; the Spirit and the gifts are ours through him who with us sideth. Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
the body they may kill: God's truth abideth still; his kingdom is forever!" 


Abraham Lincoln said, “The question is not if God is on our side but rather if we are on God’s side.” If God be for us who can be against us? The Lord is our sure foundation that we may ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!

Your brother in Christ, Michael

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Our Sure Foundation - Part 1


Psalm 11:1-4 “In the Lord I put my trust; how can you say to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your mountain”? For look! The wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow on the string, that they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord’s throne
is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.”

This week, Micheal writes that Israel's King David wrote this Psalm while he was on the run from King Saul. In the midst of the spiritual battle, we’re helpless against the powers of darkness, against “the prince of the power of the air (the devil), the spirit that works in the children of disobedience”. Our adversary is in hot pursuit. To whom do we look for our help?

Christian writer Oswald Chambers said that a crisis is a situation that has reached a critical stage. This unstable situation will result in catastrophic failure unless God’s people take immediate corrective and preventive action. God will allow a nation built upon the wrong foundations to crumble and fall. However, God gives his people a point of decision — an inflection point to change direction and turn their hearts back to the Lord. According to verse 4, God is in his holy temple. He has not moved. God is faithful to His word for His word lives and abides forever.

What can the righteous do if the foundation is destroyed? In 2 Timothy 2:19, the Apostle Paul tells us, Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” Regardless of the culture wars and the world’s insistence on so-called “political correctness,” God’s righteous standard, and therefore ours, is his Word of truth found in holy Scripture. Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh, is our sure foundation and our chief cornerstone. The men and women who wield the powers of this world are not the enemy. The adversary, the devil, holds ungodly men and women captive at his will. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness from on high.

According to. Psalm 127:1, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” 1 Peter 4 says that Judgement starts in the house of the Lord. That which can be shaken will be shaken. According to Matthew 7:24-25“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: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.” Jesus Christ himself is the rock, the chief cornerstone, the firm foundation of our faith.

Peter said, we should obey God rather than men. What is it that you value most? It’s not about the cost, it’s about the value. We pursue that which we value. Jesus, for the joy that was set before him endured the cross and is set down upon the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus valued our redemption and this was his joy and rejoicing, the purpose for which he was called.

Let's continue Michael's message on our sure foundation in the next post.
In Christ, Brian 

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Dispelling Disbelief - Part 2


Mark 16:15 -20 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. These signs will accompany those who have believed:
in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed. And they promptly reported all these instructions to Peter and his companions. And after that, Jesus Himself sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.”

(2) Go and tell. The second way to remove unbelief is by sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Someone shared Jesus with Pastor Herk before he knew the Lord as Savior and it changed his life. It is a common story in most Christian lives. The second way is by hearing the “Good News” of the Gospel. Jesus says to go and tell. When you look what’s going on in this country, you see that the need for the life-changing Gospel is urgent. It’s a sin problem and God is the problem-solving remedy through Jesus Christ. Unbelief can be removing by simply carrying the “Good News” message that needs to be heard about sin and salvation. 

Why are so few coming to faith in Jesus? Why is church attendance decreasing, instead of increasing? There are plenty of people in every community that need to now about Jesus, that have not met Him or know of His offer of redemptive forgiveness and atoning salvation. Maybe we can talk to these people and help them rid their disbelief and lead them to saving faith in the Savior of the world. They may go to another church but be in the family of God; all Christian churches are a part of the same body of Christ. We need to do what Jesus called us to do. The Lord Jesus said in Luke 15:7,10 “I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Are we (the church) failing in the Lord command to “Go and tell,” to make disciples? Seriously, think about that. Did we become Christian and commit our lives to Christ, so we could be pew-sitters? Does that change the population in the kingdom of Heaven? No. Pastor Charles Spurgeon once said, “We are all called to be missionaries and if not, we are imposters” (making a profession of faith and carrying the title, but not engaged in the profession). And the mission field is right outside our door. Everywhere you look, you see the need for ministry. It’s not that God’s power is not available to us anymore or that God has turned His back on us as a nation, but we are simply neglecting our God-given mandate to share our faith, what is the Gospel and how it changed your life. People are thirsty to hear what they have never heard before, and when they do hear what truth you have to say, ripples from the Holy Spirit go through them that make that stop and think.  
  
Could it be that the Great Commission by our Lord to go make disciples and tell them about Him has become the great omission in His church? It’s easier to think that people don’t want to hear what you have to say and you’ll save embarrassment by not going. We have no right to keep the gospel truth in the “Good News” of salvation in Jesus Christ to ourselves. It was not meant to be consigned to silence. Take it into the world and let people heard it. Go and tell this message. We have to share it to those who do not know Jesus. 

The Lord tells us in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” Sadly, there are clergy and parishioners in the Christian church who are not going to inherit that kingdom of God because they never accepted Jesus the Christ as Savior and Lord. Share the gospel; go and tell.

(3) Stand in awe. The third way to remove unbelief is by signs. When we get turned around, signs point us in the right direction and guides us to the right paths. Those who believe, share the truth and direct others to come to Jesus. It confirms that Jesus is the Christ, who has the power to forgive sin, transform hearts and raise people to new life. Stand in awe as God works through you. Have you ever done something that was obviously from God and stood in awe because God has worked through you for others to see and believe in Jesus? There are times when God works through us in miraculous way and we stand in awe … awestruck.  

Mark 16:15-16 And Jesus said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.”

The devil is real. We need to pray that the Evil One be cast out so Gospel truth and peace prevail. We have authority in Jesus name to cast out demons. Use your authority. The bigger lie that the devil has gotten the church to bite is that he doesn’t exist. Don’t buy into that lie and stay on mission. There are times when God intervenes to protect His people and He empower them to lead people to Jesus. You are a sign of God, so point the way. Everyone who comes to Jesus is a miracle. God is performing miracles and Salvation is the greatest of them. Unbelief is removed through miracles, of miraculous acts going on in and around us. Unbelief is removed when we see Jesus by faith. Unbelief is removed when we share the gospel with others and when people witness God’s signs and wonders around them. When in doubt, come and see, then go and tell as you stand in awe with all that God is doing all around us. Stand in awe and watch God working.   

Think about where you can get involved. We are not accomplishing anything out in this lost-i-sin pagan secular world by sitting in the pews. The church is equipping the saints to go out and make an impact on the unbelieving world, so get involved. If you want to be sure that you are in God’s Will and doing God’s work, see where HE is working and go join in there.

In Christ, Brian 

Monday, August 24, 2020

Dispelling Disbelief - Part 1

  

The other Sunday, Pastor Herk of that little church at Bass Lake preached on removing disbelief. He asked: “What walls need to come down?” Maybe a wall against unbelief. A wall that the angels put in place or God’s hedge of protection against the enemy’s attacks.  

Mark 16:9-14 “Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping. When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it. After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either. Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.” 

Removing disbelief is accomplished in three basic steps. These three steps (1) Come and see, (2) Go and tell, and (3) Stand in awe are being utilized worldwide to bring belief to unbelievers today. The book of Mark makes it very clear that this gospel is a book about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead, should leave no doubt in our minds that Christ is the blessed Savior of the world. Most spiritual poverty exists because people refuse to believe, even when there is overwhelming evidence. In Mark’s gospel, we read the emphasis on the Disciples’ refusal to believe in the resurrected Christ. Unbelief leads people into spiritual poverty. 

Despite all of the eye-witness accounts that took place, despite all the circumstantial evidence that was present, despite the growth of Christianity that has changed lives for the better, we still have a high percentage of unbelief in the world. There is something wonderful and life-changing being offered in Christian church around America and the world. It’s called “Salvation unto eternal life in Heaven” and it is a free gift to anyone who repents of their sin and believes in the finished work of redemption in Jesus’ atoning death on the Cross in their place for those sins and His conquering resurrection. What can be more important than eternal life? Yet, people still refuse to believe, saying: “How can I believe that; it’s unnatural (supernatural)?”. We may have been one of those people at one time in our life.  

John 1:45-46 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip *said to him, “Come and see.”

Jesus rebukes His Disciples for their stubbornness and unbelief. (1) Unbelief is removed by seeing – Coming and seeing Jesus. The people who saw the resurrected Christ, but the people who had not seen Him in the flesh doubted. Incontrovertible fact: Jesus was crucified and died. Also, Jesus is alive and appeared before eye-witnesses. But, it wasn’t until people actually did see Him with their own eyes, heard with their own ears, and felt with their own hands that He was alive from the dead that they actually believed. How about Jesus’ appearance to us today? Some people say that we cannot meet Jesus as these disciples back then did. That is where they are wrong. We shall see the Lord just as the disciples did. Philippians 2:9-11 tells us, “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” As Judge to unbelief and as Savior to belief through the eyes of faith. See Him with the eyes of faith today.

When you see Jesus and unbelief is removed, it is as British Pastor C.H. Spurgeon once said: “Faith sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, touches the intangible and does the impossible”. That is when the soul comes in contact with the Divine living God, its Creator and receives the gift of sure and unshakable faith. If you have seen God this way, then you are blessed because your unbelief was removed. When people finally come to believe and receive Jesus, their life lights up and changes where everybody can look at them and see that there is something different and better about them. They have come to know Jesus on a personal level and their life is filled with the light of Christ. Unbelief is removed by seeing and we are blessed when we see by the eyes of faith. In John 20:29, Jesus said to Thomas, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

Let's continue Pastor Herk's message on dispelling disbelief in the next post.
In Christ, Brian

Sunday, August 23, 2020

Finding God in Crisis - Part 3

Planning a Trip in yosemite national park in november only in travelarize travel ideas

Continuing Pastor Kyle's message, he states thirdly, remember that forgiveness is God’s preferred method of procedure, mode of operation, and default way of working. Some have wrongly come to believe that God’s core way of working is against them. God’s core way is merciful grace and to forgive us when we repent and restore us to an upright position. 
  
Joel 2:18-20 Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, and pity His people. The Lord
will answer and say to His people, “Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil,
and you will be satisfied by them; I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations. “But I will remove far from you the northern army, and will drive him away into a barren and desolate land, with his face toward the eastern sea and his back toward the western sea; his stench will come up, and his foul odor will rise, because he has done
monstrous things.” Joel 2:25-26 “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming
locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, my great army which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to shame.”

Just as God promised to restore the lost years in the lives of the people in Joel’s day, He is speaking to us today, if we will repent and turn to Him. Where there was pain, God brought provision and prosperity back into the land. And, where there is pain today, may God restore the lost years to us. God doesn’t just want to just forgive us and be gracious to us. He wants to pour out His Spirit upon us in a fresh way, to see life with godly eyes. When we just live in survival mode, we stop dreaming with the eyes of the Holy Spirit.  

Joel 2:28-32 “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams,
your young men shall see visions. And also, on My menservants and on My
Maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome say of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord
shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the
Lord has said, among the remnant whom the Lord calls.”

This Scripture was actually fulfilled in Acts 2:16-21 when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the Disciples at Pentecost. Because of that, today anyone who accept Jesus, believes and receives the Holy Spirit and seals their adoption as sons and daughters of God and helps them walk as Jesus walked.  But, Pastor Kyle tells us that the Holy Spirit has not speaking and dreaming new dreams for us today because we are living in a crisis. God wants more than survival mode. His Spirit has been poured out on all those who call Jesus Lord. Maybe the restoral of the lost year of 2020 begins with the renewal of the Holy Spirit in own lives. 

Hold on to the hope that God loves to turn repentance into restoration. God loves to turn coming judgment against sin into blessing and free from the fear of God’s righteous wrath against inequity and walking in the Spirit. When we live in a constant fear of bad things happening, then we cannot open our eyes to the new dreams that God has for us. Staying huddled in a place of fear and darkness, never lets us see God’s brighter future for us. The same power that rose Jesus Christ from the dead can take the Christ follower out of the place of fear. God wants us to dream of a godly bright future. It may not happen overnight, but it is possible today if we open our eyes and recognize that we have been living in fear and not how God wants us to live. It starts when we make the decision to not live in the place of fear anymore and trust in the promises of God. But, first we need to repent of our former way of thinking, speaking and living in sin. Ask God to restore you and open your eyes to the divine dreams and new visions of living rightly in the eyes of the Lord, walking in His perfect Word, Will and Way. 

The good that was gone will be replace and renewed, and even multiplied again, but we need to believe that in our hearts first before God is going to bring that to pass. Find god and follow Jesus.  

In Christ, Brian

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Finding God in Crisis - Part 2


Joel 2:1-3, 11 “Blow the [a]trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord is coming, For it is at hand: a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, the like of whom has never been; nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many successive generations. The Lord gives voice before His army, for His camp is very great; for strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; Who can endure it?”

This is the point; God was behind this devastation in Loel. The Locust was next to nothing compared to the judgment to come from the Lord. This coming army was fueled by the power of God and His tool of judgment against Judah. This was the Day of the Lord coming because of years and years of disobedience. Deuteronomy 28:15 tells us, “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:” This is what God says will happen if we do not obey Him. 

Isaiah 1:19-20 “If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword”; for the mouth of the Lord
has spoken.”

They refused and rebelled, so faced the first punishment, then faced the second, which was the Day of the Lord and perishing by the sword. God explained what to do and what not to do over and over, yet they continued to do the wrong thing. If you are a true Believer today, you do not need to fear the Day of the Lord or disaster in your life. When we are right with God, we want the Day of the Lord. We long for Him to show His strength because we know that we abide in Him. When we are not right with God, we dread the Day of the Lord, because God shows show Himself strong. His strength may work against us. In Joel’s day Judah was not right with God, so the day of the Lord would be nothing but darkness and gloominess to them. 

There is the Great Day of the Lord to come, when God judges the world, but that does not bother the Christian. God will carry you through every crisis. How would you respond to a message like the one received from the prophet Joel? Here are some tips on what to do. (1) Take a good, hard look in the mirror. Acknowledge God and His power, not yours. It is not about doing the religious thing, but about doing the “right” thing in the eyes of God. Running to a church in a crisi, but it stops there, then that is “empty” religion. The journey of looking to God should drive us to look inward, into ourselves 

Joel 2:12-14 “Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So, rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him—a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?”

Joel says to repent and pray for the best from God. Rend your heart means that God wants your soul and not your religion by outward appearances. When you look in the mirror and see sin in yourself, stop it; go and sin no more. Some sin addictions mean that you may not be able to suddenly stop a whole destructive cycle of sin, but you can surely take a step in the “right” direction by confessing the sin, seeking forgiveness and begin moving forward. What does that have to do with a crisis? The first response to a crisis is to look inward to see how God wants to use it to change you, improve you and equip you to handle better whatever else is ahead. If you see sin, stop it. If you don’t see sin, pray and hold on until the storm passes. 

Second, keep in mind that God’s justice and His judgment comes as a package deal.  1 Peter 4:17 says, “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God.” We are always to start with ourselves. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 and 2 Corinthians 5:10 talk about how we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, so each one may receive for what they have done in the body.  There are two judgments every Christian goes through. First, the judgment for Salvation by receiving the free gift of eternal life from Jesus Christ on this side of Heaven. By believing in His name and fished work on the Cross for our sins, and make Him the Lord of our lives, Christ’s righteousness will be imputed upon us and our sin will be forgiven and whipped away as a new child of God with the indwelling Holy Spirit for eternity. The second judgment is the one where Jesus determines what we did on planet Earth in faith and rewards us accordingly. Be sure not to make it to Heaven and realize that you wasted your life on this side. 

LEt's conclude Pastor Kyle's message on finding God in crisis in the next post.
In Christ, Brian

Friday, August 21, 2020

Finding God in Crisis - Part 1




Joel 1:2-12 “Hear this, you elders, and give ear, all you inhabitants of the land! Has
anything like this happened in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? Tell your children about it, let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten. Awake, you drunkards, and weep; And wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the new wine, for it has been cut off from your mouth. For a nation has come up against My land, strong, and without number; His teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the fangs of a fierce lion. He has laid waste My vine, and ruined My fig tree; He has stripped it bare and thrown it away; Its branches are made white. Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. The grain offering and the drink offering have been cut off from the house of the Lord; the priests mourn, who minister to the Lord. The field is wasted, the land mourns; For the grain is ruined, the new wine is dried up, the oil fails. Be ashamed, you farmers, wail, you vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley; because the harvest of the field has perished. The vine has dried up, and the fig tree has withered; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree—All the trees of the field are withered; surely joy has withered away from the sons of men.”

Last Sunday, Psstor Kyle  preached a short sermon on the book of Joel. Even in the aftermath of a devastating event, God warns the people of Judea that something even bigger is coming. They had seen a bad situation, but God was warning them that they hadn’t seen anything yet. Joel 1:1 says, “The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.” Joel’s name means (Jo = Jehovah & El = God) or Yahweh is God. One of the hallmarks of someone who loves God is an unwavering spirit in the face of tragedy. All of us face times when we have to pick up the pieces after something devasting happens.  It is about finding God before, in the midst of, and after a crisis … and everywhere in between. 

The people in Joel’s time had just experienced a devastating locust attack that destroyed all their crops. Some have connected Joel’s description to another in Revelation 9:1-10, when the fifth trumpet is blown in the end times. We may or may not be living in the last days, but we are surely one day closer than we were before. The Joel locust caused a famine that affected everyone.  Joel tells the people what to do in the aftermath of this crisis. 

Joel 1:13-14 “Gird yourselves and lament, you priests; Wail, you who minister before the altar; Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you who minister to my God; For the grain offering and the drink offering are withheld from the house of your God. Consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land Into the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.”

Joel called them to assemble for a massive fasting and worship service to cry out to the Lord for mercy. But, thing were about to get much worse.

Joel 1:15-20 “Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand; It shall come as destruction from the Almighty. Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seed shrivels under the clods, storehouses are in shambles; barns are broken down, for the grain has withered. How the animals groan! The herds of cattle are restless, because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment. O Lord, to You I cry out; for fire has devoured the open pastures, and a flame has burned all the trees of the field. The beasts of the field also cry out to You, for the water brooks are dried up, and fire has devoured the open pastures.”

It seem s that a devastating fire followed the locust attack and burnt up most, if not all of the remaining resources and structures. But, that was not the end of the crisis.

Let's continue PAstor Kyle's message on finding God in the crisis in the next post.
In Christ, Brian 


Thursday, August 20, 2020

A Theology, Not a Religion


The late Pastor RC Sproul taught that the disappearance of theology from the life of the church, and the orchestration of that disappearance by some of its leaders, is hard to miss today, but oddly enough, not easy to prove. It is hard to miss in the evangelical world—in the vacuous empty worship that is so prevalent in many churches, for example, in the shift from God to the self and interpersonal relationships as the central focus of faith, in the psychologized preaching that follows this shift, in the erosion of its conviction of sin, in its strident noisy pragmatism, in its inability to think incisively about the hedonistic material culture, and in its reveling in the irrational. 

There is a profound difference between the study of religion and the study of theology.
For those who are reading this presentation, I have put on my blackboard a brief diagram where I distinguish between two approaches to the question of faith. One I call “God-centered,” and the other I call “man-centered.” The illustration that I use here has a circle with the word theology in it and a line coming underneath it to a sub-circle, which says anthropology. The purpose of my diagram is to show that in a God-centered approach to faith, the study of humanity, or the science of anthropology, is subsumed under the science of theology.

This reflects something of the way in which university courses were structured in the Middle Ages when it was said that theology was “the queen of the sciences.” The idea was that all other disciplines in education are subsumed under the search for ultimate truth, which is found in the study of the nature and character of God. It assumed that the study of humanity was always to be pursued in light of our understanding of God. Since man is created by God and we are the image-bearers of God, in order to have a proper understanding of what it means to be human, we have to first study the prototype rather than looking at the reflection.

The other diagram I have illustrates the man-centered approach to faith. It is indicated by a circle that reads anthropology, then under that is a smaller circle that says religion. If we go to secular universities today and study religion, usually that study will take place in the context of the Department of Sociology or Anthropology (The Study of Human Behavior). The difference is this: the study of theology is the study of God Himself first and foremost, while the study of religion is the study of a particular type of human behavior. In this difference, Christianity is based on a Theology, not a Religion.

Noah Webster wrote in his first American Dictionary in 1828 : RELIGION, n. relij'on. [L. religio, from religo, to bind anew; re and ligo, to bind. This word seems originally to have signified an oath or vow to the gods, or the obligation of such an oath or vow, which was held very sacred by the Romans.]
1. Religion, in its most comprehensive sense, includes a belief in the being and perfections of God, in the revelation of His will to man, in man's obligation to obey His commands, in a state of reward and punishment, and in man's accountableness to God; and also true godliness or piety of life, with the practice of all moral duties. It therefore comprehends theology, as a system of doctrines or principles, as well as practical piety; for the practice of moral duties without a belief in a divine lawgiver, and without reference to His will or commands, is not religion.
2. Religion, as distinct from theology, is godliness or real piety in practice, consisting in the performance of all known duties to God and our fellow men, in obedience to divine command, or from love to God and His law.
3. Religion, as distinct from virtue, or morality, consists in the performance of the duties we owe directly to God, from a principle of obedience to his will. Hence we often speak of religion and virtue, as different branches of one system, or the duties of the first and second tables of the law. Let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion.
4. Any system of faith and worship. In this sense, religion comprehends the belief and worship of pagans and Mohammedans, as well as of Christians; any religion consisting in the belief of a superior power or powers governing the world, and in the worship of such power or powers. Thus, we speak of the religion of the Turks, of the Hindoos, of the Indians, etc. as well as of the Christian religion. We speak of false religion, as well as of true religion.

We notice that there are all kinds of religions in the world, and when people are involved in religion, they’re involved in certain characteristic things like prayer, worship, sacrifice, singing, devotions, and so on, all of which belong to the trappings of human religions. When we study religion from a human perspective, we are examining how people who have certain beliefs about the supernatural behave in their personal lives and in their cultic lives. But when I say at the outset Christianity is theology, not a religion, I mean that it is not simply a way of behaving that we can determine by studying the affairs of men. Rather, it is a belief system that is an entire life and worldview with God at the center. It’s not what we do, it’s who and whose we are.

We live in a culture that has certain axioms and adages that are popular in the nomenclature of the day. For example, you’ve heard it said, “It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere.” This idea communicates that God is really concerned that we be religious. It doesn’t matter what the religion is, as long as we’re sincerely religious. That idea is on a collision course with biblical Christianity because the Bible acknowledges that man is incurably religious, he’s homo-religiosus. It also acknowledges that wherever we look in the world, we find all kinds of manifestations of religion.

When the Jewish people were called by God, consecrated, and set apart to be a holy nation, they were not the only religious people in the world. All the nations around them had their peculiar religions. But when Creator God made His covenant with His people and called them to be holy and different, He made certain things absolutely clear at the beginning of His law. The first thing was, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me” (Ex. 20:3). The second was, “Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image” (Ex. 20:4).

At the very beginning of the Old Testament covenant at Sinai was an emphasis on faith that was to be different from other religions, a faith that would be focused on the character of God Himself, a Theology, not a Religion.