The New Tolerance - Part 1

 

The New Tolerance - Part 1

 

Isaiah 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

 

Many years ago, I watch the late Pastor Kennedy’s sermon from 2003 where he stated, in case we missed it, we just passed into a totally new age. We passed through the Age of Modernity, and we are now in the Post-Modern Age. You may remember that modernism (aka rationalism) – the Age of Reason, is supposed tp have begun, of at least dated at the fall of the Bastille and the end of tyranny of France. It lasted until that new scientific, rationalistic world, no longer the Ade of Faith, but now the Age of Reason and modernism, reached its pinnacle in the atheistic, scientific evolutionary, socialistic world. The Age of modernism is dated to have ended with the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, exactly 200 years from its inception. So now we are in the Post-Modern Age. I wonder how many of us noticed that? We all have surely noticed the division it created in our country.

 

We might want to look around and find out what is being taught to our children today. It is a new age and altogether different. If you think that things are the same as they were. You have a surprise coming. The one thing being taught to our children today that is the dominate theme of the post-modern curriculum. Tolerance. You may say, “Well, that’s wonderful. We are all in favor of tolerance.” Of course we are – at least tolerance as we have always known tolerance to be. And the dictionary defines it for us: “Tolerance is being willing to put up with, endure, bear with those whose views or lifestyles are different from others’ views witho9ut agreeing with them.” And every Christian should be tolerant in the correct and historic meaning pf that word. It is what the Bible means in the love chapter of 1 Corinthians 13, “Love endures all things”. Every Christian should be tolerant. It is the sign of a lady and gentleman to put up with people who have strange ideas or even strange habits or customs, even though you don’t agree with them. 

 

But, if you think that is what is being taught in the curricula of this country, you are very wrong. The future of this country, in a very strong way, depends on our understanding what is happening to young people today, and it has a great deal to do with tolerance. The “New Tolerance” means this: Not only do you put up with and endure and bear with those who have different views, habits, and/or lifestyles than your own, but you agree with their views, as well. Furthermore, you hold that their lifestyle is equally true and equally valid as your own and, therefore, there is no possible way that you could be intolerant because there is nothing to be intolerant of. Furthermore, you must even be willing to promote and endorse that other lifestyle, since it is every bit as good as yours. 

 

Now, you say, “That is a totally foreign ideology. Wrong is wrong”. I guarantee your children have heard about it. How can this be? Well, it begins with the idea that there is no absolute truth. There is a new belief being maliciously taught that there are no absolutes. Everything is relative. That is one thing they have learned. Therefore, one kind of lifestyle is as good as another kind of lifestyle. They say that you mustn’t judge because there is no absolute standard to judge by. Therefore, everything relative; there are no absolute truths or standards or morality in their book. Consequently, you can’t look on their views as inferior to yours. They say that you must agree that they are equal. Furthermore, there is a total concept of “feelings” that is involved in Post-Modernism. The Post-Modernist says, “Reason has failed. We must resort to feeling.” How often you hear people say, “Well, I feel that … so and so.” We don’t feel that, we think it. But, it is always not “I think,” but “I feel”. The only important thing for them is how they feel. 

 

We have even invented a new Civil Right – the civil right for my feelings not to be hurt. Part of the Post-Modernism is this universal individual or the global citizen. They say that we do not have countries. We don’t have anything except the individual. They say that there is no human race. There is just the individual and his or her feelings, and they must not be offended. We have gone from a democracy – government of the people, by the people, and for the people – to a government by the sovereign individual, by the sovereign individual’s feelings where there is no truth, there are no moral absolutes, and the important thing is my feelings. So, it is the end of all truth. Truth dos not exist in any objective sense, and it is always limited to a particular culture. 

 

That I why Pastor Kennedy has repeatedly said that tolerance is the last virtue of a depraved society. When you have an immoral society that has blatantly, proudly, violated all of the commandments of God, there is one last virtue they insist upon: tolerance for their immorality. They will not have you condemning what they have done as being wrong, and they have created a whole world construct in which it is not, and in which they are no longer the criminal or the villain or the evil person, but you (Bible-believing disciple of Jesus Christ) are! And so the call evil good, and good evil … and that is just the beginning.        

Let's continue Pastor Kennedy's message on "the New Tolerance" in the net post.

In Christ, Brian 

The Intolerance of Darkness

Isaiah 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

 

The ideological division that the nation and the world is facing today is the age-old conflict between faith and unbelief. The Lord Jesus explained it well with the metaphor of darkness and light in John 3:18-21, “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. 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. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” But, there are those Christians who believe that the polar opposites of the sinful rejection and disobedience of the darkness of unbelief and the accepting embracement and dedicated obedience of the light of Christian belief can somehow exist without conflict or compromise. 

 

Psalm 18:28 “For You will light my lamp; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.”

 

This mentality has led to the watering down of the Christian faith by many, the acceptance of sin against God and man without conviction, the non-necessity of our Creator God in life and the preaching of the false “gospel of permissive grace” that has led to the decline of the Christian church and their influence on the culture and society with the “Good News” of forgiveness and salvation in the Savior Jesus Christ as Lord, advancement of the Kingdom of Heaven and ,therefore, sacrificed the peace. The light retreated and darkness advanced because unholy unbelief caused (so-called) light to compromised the holy Word of God, commandments and statutes of Almighty God. 

 

Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

 

Out of the fear of appearing intolerant, many in the Christian church have hidden the light from the lamp of truth and allowed the darkness of sin and unbelief to pervert the truth and dominate society, throwing the light into the closet of the four walls of the church, and all-the-while rejecting, ridiculing, slandering, and criminalizing the character and institution of the children of God and crippling its ministry impact. It will not be tolerated. The result has been the Christian church becoming a more “interpersonal relationship” focused organization than a Christ-centered, Bible-believing, Disciple-making and a declining membership. Evil is called good and good is proclaimed evil. The message of “tolerance of sin” instead of “repentance of sin” has caused the loss of the “understanding of sin” and the respect of God or Christ, fostering unbelief or false belief. It truly is rebellion against their Maker. It saves no one because they remain in their willful sin and the wrath of God abides on him. They neither have true life or eternal life. Their life of "glory be to me" is a lie unto death and eternal damnation. Return to God.

 

1 John 5:12-13 “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

 

Time to shine the light of truth in Christ in a dark world. Now the truth and speak the truth in love. 

In Christ and making disciples, Brian

As a Thief in the Night – Part 4

 

 

It is good and well to delve into End Time prophecy and learn more about it with awe and wonder, but remember that we should all want to be on the “Welcoming Committee”, not the “Programing Committee”. We should be careful not to let our Theological systems of understanding End Times in the Bible allow us to potentially miss the joy of His coming. The true details of that day and time belong to Heaven and no one, except God, knows exactly when it will happen. 

 

The next question is: “What should we do while we are waiting?  The fourth thing that the Apostle Peter wants us to know about the end times is that we should live godly obedient lives as we wait for His return. In 2 Peter 3:11-12a, the Apostle tells us, “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God”. This is how we wait well for Jesus. The Apostle goes on to tell in 2 Peter 3:12b-13 that, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” Remember that as a born again child of God, we are citizens of Heaven and this earthly pilgrimage, possessions and property is not our home. We are living for new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells. We are going to be there!   

 

Revelation 21:1-7 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”

 

Are you prepared for the moment that Jesus returns? One of the biggest reasons that this pandemic has been so devastating is that our world, largely speaking, was not ready for it. We were not prepared. Everyone will under-equipped, with no known medicines, and the few treatments that finally arisen where in extremely short supply. The previous years of research on viruses did not prepare us for this pandemic. The world was not ready when this one hit. We were not prepared. Our health, our nations and governments are not guaranteed, but there is One that we can depend – the Lord Jesus Christ. In contrast to the unpreparedness of the world during when the Coronavirus hit, but God is prepared and has a plan for the End Times, so we can be excited about it. We are not just randomly here. We are here with a plan.

 

And that plan includes sharing the “Good News”, not just to share the news. Turn on any television, Cell phone or computer and you hear news on COVID-19. But, GOd says that those of us who have seen and tasted the goodness of the Lord should not be silent, especially during these times. This is the time to speak up about our testimony, the power of God, and the “Good News” of Jesus Christ., helping the world to find salvation at the foot of the Cross and get ready for His Second Coming. Like Jesus said in Matthew 24:14, “this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”  Are you prepared for your Savior’s return? Are you ready to meet Him face to face? Would your life have enough evidence that you are a “born again” Believer? Or, you one of those who will say, “I was still undecided about God, the Bible, Jesus Christ. I didn’t see it coming. I thought that I had more time.” 

 

Our lives should reflect that expectant reality that the End Times will happen and Jesus is coming soon. We are all living in our last days, whether or not we are living in the last days. I’ll see you here, there or in the air.    

    

In Christ, Brian

As a Thief in the Night – Part 3

Ezekiel 18:23-32 “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? 24 But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die. 25 “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? 26 When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die. 27 Again, when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life. 28 Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 29 Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? 30 “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. 31 Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.”

 

The 2000 plus years since Jesus’ ascension may seem like a long time, but it is really not. In 2 Peter 3:8, the Apostle makes it a point to paraphrase Psalm 90:4 “For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.” God created time but God is not confined by time. God operates within time because his creation (including us) are confined by time. In Heaven the length of eternity will be compared to the shortness of time on earth. James 4:14 says, “You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” I

 

In 2 Peter 3:9, the Apostle tells us, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” In 1 Timothy 2:1-4, the Apostle Paul instructs us, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

 

(3) The third thing that the Apostle Peter wants us to know about the end times is that Jesus is coming back soon. In 2 Peter 3:9a, the Apostle tells us, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.” In Matthew 24:40-42, the Lord Jesus says, “Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” The whole point is that we are not to fear and panic about the end of the world. The point of the Apostle Peter and Jesus’ words as a reminder are to stay awake, be aware and “remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles”. Live like today is the day that Jesus returns because it very well could be. 

 

Habakkuk 2:3 “For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.”  

When the Bible tells us that Jesus is coming back soon, we naturally ask: When is that happening? God says, “Trust Me”. We live in expectancy for that day, but to live every day for Jesus. The Apostle John tells us in Revelation 1:1-3 “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.”  

Let's conclude Pastor Kyle's message on the "End Times" in the next post. 

In Christ, Brian

As a Thief in the Night – Part 2

Matthew 24:3-14 “As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. 9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. 10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

 

We are not the first people to be trying to figure out if we are living in the “End Times”. We now have the vehicle for the gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations. That’s something to think about today. There is also the “Abomination of Desolation” and “the Tribulation” before Christ return. But, Jesus tells us in Matthew 24:36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” Only God the Father knows when the end of days is coming. Jesus said to His disciples again in Acts 1:7, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. Jesus goes on to say that what matters most is that we all are ready. Additionally, Jsus instructs His disciples in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

 

Revelation 6:10-17 tells us, They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. 12 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14 The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.15 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

 

It will be cataclysmic at the end. The Apostle Peter tells us “you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles”. The reason to keep these Scriptures fresh is not to scar us; its so that we will be ready for the end times. The goals is to encourage us, to know what is happening and know how to respond when you see these events taking place, if they happen in your lifetime. It doesn’t mean to watch the news daily with your Bible open comparing or figuring out who are the figurative figures in Revelation are. We are to be aware enough to recognize the events, but live in the daily Commandments of God without fear. 

 

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

 

(2) The reason that Jesus has not returned yet is because God is patient and wishing that no one should perish. The Apostle tells us, “that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming?” The rise in scoffing about God’s existence, His Creation of the Cosmos, the anthropic Earth, the origin and purpose of life and about Jesus Christ will return and exponentially grow in the last days. The willful and ignorant sinners on earth who reject God and His teachings, statues and commands, those who are perishing unto eternal damnation in Hell, will misinterpret God’s patience against the truths in the Bible. When the end comes, judgment will come to the wicked unbelievers. Scoffers in unbelief will misinterpret God’s patience and subsequently twist that since “all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation” to mean that God is not real and that Jesus is not really coming, but actually God’s is just buying time for those very scoffers.  

Let's continue Pastor Kyle's message on End Times in the next post.

In Christ, Brian

As a Thief in the Night - Part 1

This last Sunday Pastor Kyle continued in our church’s sermon series through the New Testament book of 2 Peter. He opened by stating that over the years, he has observed something about thieves and that is that they never phone ahead or leave a text message to let you know they are coming. They don’t do that because you’d make all kinds of preparation ahead of time. What’s makes thieves successful in their deeds of darkness is the element of surprise. The Apostle Peter tells us that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.

Jesus is not going to by giving us a heads up of His “Second Coming”, it’s just going to happen one day. With all that is happening in the year of our Lord - 2020, are we living in the last days? Life is short and we are all going to one day meet the Lord, whether through our own death or when Jesus returns. Even if we are not living in the “End Times”, we are supposed to be living here and now as if we are and Judgment Day is just around the next bend in our journey. 

 

2 Peter 3:-1-13 “This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a housand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

 

In the Apostle Peter’s last days, he wanted to make sure that all of us understood that we are to live with a sense of expectancy and urgency of the Lord’s return. 1 in 30 Bible verses talks about the “end times”. 216nchapters in the New Testament contain over 300 references to the “End Times”. 23 out of 27 New Testament books talk about the “End Times”. This has been a hot topic since Christ’s first visitation and ascension to Heaven. There are four things that Peter wants every Christian to know about the end times. Keep the predictions and the Commandments of God’s Word fresh in our mind. (1) The Apostle uses the tool of reminding when he says. “I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.” Sincerity in the Christian faith is always a great thing, but reminders are still necessary for all of us. 

 

In our last sermon, we talked about how important it is to remind ourselves about sin and its consequences, no matter how many times we think that we’ve heard it. This week, Peter tells us that it is important to remind ourselves of God’s Word in the Holy Scriptures of the Bible and to keep it fresh in our minds. But specifically, the Apostles mentions two aspects of God’s Word that we need to keep fresh. The first one is the predictions of the holy prophets. The second thing is the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.

Let's continue Pastor continue Pastor's Kylee on the "End Times" in the next post.

In Christ, Brian

Is It Well With Your Soul? - Part 2

Men and women begin to stumble when they focus on the selfish motives of their sinful flesh. According to verse three of this Psalm, when Asaph looked through eyes of envy and covetousness at the seeming prosperity of the wicked, he began to lose his joy. The evil seems to be better off than those who profess the Lord’s righteousness. The foolish who prosper in the riches of this world wear their pride like a golden chain. They look for opportunities to exert their power over the righteous. They revel in their pride and in their power over their innocent victims. The ungodly even dare to speak to God as if they are powerful and God is not.

The anarchist “political correctness” in our culture is evident. With on-line learning during the Corona virus social distancing mandate, one patriotic student in class was not allowed to show his face in the video call since he had an American flag on his wall. God’s holiness starts with separation from ungodly, evil practices. Holy means to separate from the darkness of this fallen sinful world according to the purpose for which God has called us.  

In Psalm 73, the Psalmist laments about the oppressiveness of the wicked and the darkness of this fallen world. However, there is an inflection point, a point of repentance ... of turning around. In verse 17, the Psalmist said, when I went into the sanctuary, into the house of the Lord, then I understood their end. He shifted his focus from the darkness of the world into the light of the sanctuary, where God dwells. The sanctuary is the place where God is welcome to help Himself to the lives of His people. According to 1 Corinthians 6, Paul wrote by God’s inspiration, “Do you not know that you (collectively) are the body of Christ, the temple, which is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit? In the sanctuary, God revealed the end of the destruction of the evil that permeates this sinful world of darkness. According to verse 18, surely he has set their feet on slippery places. When the blind lead the blind, they both fall in the ditch.

God allows the prosperity of the worldly people, to allow them to fall in their own pride and conceit. The outcome of the ungodly will come to naught. Therefore, the Psalmist concludes that nevertheless God has taken hold of our right hand. The right hand is the hand of blessing. When confronted by the darkness of this world, our responsibility is our response to His ability. Our responsibility is to walk in the light as He is in the light. 

Psalm 73:26-28 “My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry. But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all Your works.”

 

Our calling isn’t to condemn the unjust, but that God through His mercy and grace would turn their hearts from the darkness of this sinful world and unto the glorious light of the gospel of truth through Jesus Christ. Our calling is not to be overcome by evil but to overcome evil with good. Our Lord Jesus Christ came not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Jesus Christ 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.

Despite the darkness of this fallen world, our joy is in the Lord and our hope is in the redemption of our vile sinful bodies, His purchased possession, at His return. Therefore, let your light so shine among men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven. Whom have I in heaven but you Lord? ... our flesh and our heart will fail, but our portion is in you alone ... for in Thee and in Thee alone, it is well with our soul ... that we may ever live to the praise of the glory of Thy grace!

Your brother in Christ, Michael

Is It Well With Your Soul? - Part 1

This week, Michael says: The question for today is, “Is it well with your soul?” If we look at the world around us and at our own circumstances, we’ll be stressed, depressed and distressed. However, our joy is in the object of our joy ... our joy is in the Lord. Joy is not the absence of pain; joy is the presence of the Lord. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. Through it we make a deliberate choice to position our heart inside of God’s heart. Therefore, Philippians 4:4 says, Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Within the joy of the Lord, although the storm rocks our boat and the waves crash around us, it is well... it is well with our soul.

Psalm 73 is a Psalm of Asaph, one of David’s chief choir directors. David himself was a musician. Part of rejoicing is to lift up our voices as a choir in harmony unto the Lord as we “tune our hearts to sing thy praise.”

According to Psalm 73:1-28 “Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart.

But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; My steps had nearly slipped. For I was

envious of the boastful, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men. Therefore, pride serves as their necklace; Violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with abundance; They have more than heart could wish. They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression; they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walks through the earth. Therefore, his people return here, and waters of a full cup are drained by them. And they say, “How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?” Behold, these are the ungodly, Who are always at ease; They increase in riches. 

Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been plagued, and chastened every morning. If I had said, “I will speak thus,” Behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children. When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me—Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awakes, so, Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image. Thus, my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind. I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You.  Nevertheless, I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry.  But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all Your works.”

It’s easy to stumble when we look at the sinful world around us. The Psalmist began this psalm with a lamentation. It seems that the world around us is full of chaos, confusion, darkness and evil. Why would God allow the darkness? From the perspective of our fallen sin nature, God will appear like an unkind friend, an unnatural Father and an unrighteousness judge ... but he is not. God is not like the injustice and the unrighteousness of this fallen world. If we look around us we’ll be stressed, if we look at ourselves, we’ll be depressed, if we look at others, we’ll be distressed, but if we look at the Lord, our God through Christ’s eyes behind our eyes, we’ll be blessed.

In verse 2 the Psalmist looks at the battle inside his own soul. The Apostle Paul said, “I buffet my body to bring it under control”. The spiritual battle is first a battle for our own soul ... for our own hearts and minds. In 2 Peter, there are seven characteristics to add to our faith to make our calling and election sure. 2 Peter 1:5b-9 “add to your faith virtue, (superior excelling excellence) to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love (the unconditional love of God). For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.” If you give your utmost diligence to these things to make your calling and election sure, you shall never fall.

Let's continue Michael's message on the soul in the next post.

In CHrist, Brian

The Equation for Salvation

John 1:12-14 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

 

The late Pastor McGee wrote that the day God saves you, He makes you His child and you are brought into the family of God as a full-grown heir. The Bible uses the word “saint”, which is defined as “anyone who has been sanctified in Christ”. Anything any mature saint could understand in the Word of God of the Holy Bible, You and I could understand because that mature saint needed the Holy Spirit to teach them just as much as you and I did. 

 

Romans 8:16-17 “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

 

God brings us in as full-grown heirs so we can understand spiritual growth. If you don’t understand it, it is your own fault because He has made every arrangement for you. To pastor McGee, the greatest tragedy in our Christian churches today is the number of Bible illiterates that fill the pews who are not able to find their way around the Bible in spite of how available it is to them. With all the books and electronic devices at our disposal, there is a virtual Seminary accessible to everyone at their finger tips. 

 

John 14:15-17, 26 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”

 

God wants us to understand spiritual truths on this side of eternity because “God has revealed them to us through His Spirit”. Most of our learning comes through the ear-gate) what we hear) and the eye-gate (what we see). But if we are going to get divine truth, then we will only get it because His Spirit teaching it to us through our heart-gate. 

 

1 Corinthians 2:10-14 “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

 

As we grow in our faith and knowledge of God’s Word, God gives us an experience with Him. Many of us tend to play down experience. However, a sadness has come over the saints today. Many need to have the experience of the Spirit of God making real in their lives the fact that they are sons and daughters of God through Jesus Christ. In spite of circumstances, they are still a child of God. God’s Spirit whispers the Father’s nearness to the child of God.

 

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works.”

 

My friend, He gives the experience of being His child. God’s Law cannot give that to you, only faith in Christ can give that to you. You need to know in this hour that it is only faith in Christ that can save you – faith plus nothing. That is the equation for salvation.

False Bible Teachers – Part 3

Continuing Pastor Kyle’s message, he states that mature Christianity means that we need to be able to discern between an optimistic perspective and the voice of God. You must try not to confuse your personal sense of optimism with God’s will (though sometimes they are the same). We are hopeful and praying for optimistic things to happen, but we cannot attach God’s name to our desired outcome, unless it is crystal clear and confirmed by the Lord. We need to be like Micaiah and say, “As the Lord lives, what my God says, that I will speak.” It is okay to listen to optimistic voices, but we also need truth-telling voices that will remind us of our own sin, even when we don’t want to hear it. Surround yourselves with people who love God, who love the Bible, who love you and who will (occasionally) tell us what we do not want to hear, then you will grow.

 

2 Peter 2:4-18 “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, 13 suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 15 Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 18 For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error."

 

In verse 10, the Apostle Peter says that God is especially hard on two types of sin. (1) Sexual sin. (2) those who despise authority. The first is no surprise, but the second seems like a low-level offense. We may not like a system or leader who is over our lives, but if we do not submit to it, Peter makes it clear that we are out of line with God. Remind yourself about sin and its consequences – even if you’ve heard it thousands of times. In verse 5, Peter uses the example of sin back in Noah’s day. We know that sin goes all the way back to Adam and Eve. There are two stories that the Apostle uses to remind us of the consequences of sin in the segment of Scripture. (1) Noah and the flood, then (2) Abraham’s nephew Lot being rescued for Sodom. They conclude with judgment for sin in the end. 

 

The Apostle Peter knew that righteousness come from God, not man. Noah’s and Lot’s righteousness comes from God. It has never been about the preachers, ministers and spiritual leaders. It has always been about God’s power and His righteousness. Even fallen, wicked Angels who rejected the Lord are not exempt from the consequences of sin and rejecting God. The point is: it doesn’t matter how important someone thinks that they are. We all have to give an account of our lives to God. And if Christ is the cornerstone of our lives, we’ll be saved from Hell and be welcomed into the Kingdom of God when we die.  When Christ is the cornerstone of our lives, we’ll be used by God while we are here on earth, even though we are imperfect in the flesh. Sin and its consequences are nothing new, but really good to be reminded of – no matter how many times we’ve heard it. 

 

Remember Galatians 5:16-17? ”But, I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” Sin permeates all of us and every part of us. It is in our fallen nature from Adam and Eve. What we have to do is teach what is right in the eyes of the Lord and do it. We all struggle with the basics of the Christian life. Sin and its consequences are nothing new, but they are still great to be reminded of. Just like God did not spare sin in biblical times, He will not spare false teachers or sin today. 

 

2 Peter 2:9 says, “the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment”. Continually thank the Lord that He knows how to rescue the godly from trials. God judges those who willfully sin without repentance, and those who ignore Him as God as a lifestyle, But, He protects those who stay faithful to Him. Psalm 91:1-4 tells us, “Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.” The punishment of the wicked will not be upon the Believer. Jesus paid for their sin upon the Cross.

 

The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 18:12-14 “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” The Apostle Peter reminds us that the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials. This passage is way more than about false teaching. It’s about staying close to the Deliverer and blessed Redeemer. False teaching is a form of disobedience, another way that we stray that leaves the protective covering of the Almighty’s supernatural wings. What we need is the Rescuer, the Deliverer, and keep His protection over our lives. Whatever you are going through right now, God’s got it covered and God’s got you in the midst of it. 

 

In Christ, Brian

False Bible Teachers - Part 2

 

Continuing Pastor Kyle’s message on false teachers, he points out that 2 Peter 2, Verse 2 says that people will follow false teachers leading down the wrong path as they “follow their sensuality”, which is basically sexual immorality. One of the ways that we spot a false teacher is to look at the things that they do in secret and to look at the deeds that their followers do in secret (which eventually always becomes known). Greed is also mentioned as one of the deeds that exposes a false teacher, but words are too. One of the ways that people are exploited by false teachers is with “false words”. It is clear that words and deeds matter. We are the summation of our thoughts, words, and actions. Our words and deeds arise from our thoughts. Proverbs 23:7 says,  “For as he (a man) thinks in his heart, so is he (in word and deed).” Keeping our heart’s thoughts, words and deeds right is so much easier said than done. 

 

Matthew 15:17-20 “Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.”

 

So, our words and our deeds (actions or inactions) are just a reflection of what is in our hearts. All of God’s family ministers and need to keep their hearts right with God and on mission. But, in the flesh, we are every bit as sinful and prone to wander from God. When we are not right with God, our teaching starts getting unbiblical, their lives start getting off, and then others in the church who follow the teaching get misled as well and fall. Personal holiness is super important. Never hide your sin, but go get help for it to get back on God’s track and restored to an upright position before the Lord. How do we balance the reality of being on track with the Lord for the sake of Christ’s church with the soul care needs of the ministering saints? 

 

There is a difference between someone struggling in sin and false teaching. We all struggle on this side of heaven because we are still in the sinful flesh (Galatians 5:16-17). Struggling is not what makes or breaks a person. Struggling is just evidence that we are human beings who need Jesus, the Savior of the world. By Christ, we have more than enough, we are an overcomer, and He adds weigh to our words and ministry. Mutual accountability, mutual honesty, vulnerability and personal responsibility are essential. We can be in an accountability group and lie or never open up about what is going on in our lives. Churches need to be committed to help people in their struggles with sin. Church leaders and members bear responsibility mutually. 

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Likewise, we need to surround ourselves with people who love God, who love the Bible, who love you and who will (occasionally) tell us what we do not want to hear. These are the people that you want in your inner-circle of our life. Just like God judged the false teachers in the old and new Testament, He continues to judge new false teachers in Christ’s church in our time also. A lot of times, we put the blame of false teachings on a rogue pastor, but we forget that people are responsible for their own decisions too. If you choose to sin, that is not your pastor’s fault. Each of us with stand before Christ at the Great White Throne on Judgement Day and give an account of our thoughts, words and deeds in our life. People are often just seeking a sympathetic voice to their willful sin, and so they flock to preachers and people what already say what they want to hear or don’t talk about the sinful things in their life that they do not want to hear. 

 

2 Chronicles 18:13 But Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, what my God says, that I will speak.”

 

False prophets have no divine authority when they speak. Jesus spoke of One with authority of God, because He did have that authority. Minister’s speech is subjective to the specific hearers of the message. False teachers in the Bible had a consistent message of good news, prosperity, promising peace and security in contrast to prophet that spoke of judgment that was coming. A lot of times, we just make a plan and expect God to bless it. But, we need to seek the Lord in our planning to make sure that we are doing the right thing by Him or we will make a lot of bad choices along the way. People will go to great efforts to bring people who will say what they want to her, but won’t bring in the one person down the street because they speak up with the Lord’s truth.   

 

In Christ, Brian

False Bible Teachers - Part 1

Pastor Kyle continues in our Sunday Sermon series through the Bible’s book of 2 Peter chapter 2 and starts by stating that when he thinks about false teachings of the Bible, he thinks about Cults and people that don’t read their Bibles and don’t know how to apply the Word of God to their lives. People that reject standard and foundational Christian doctrines and go off in their own spiritual direction. All of that is 100% true as examples of false teaching. How did those espouse and believe false teachings get to that place in the first place? Many of them, likely, never heard or believed the gospel in the first place and they struggled with the concept of God all along. 

But, pastor Kyle knows other stories that are a lot more complicated than that. He’s known people that seemed to really believe in the Bible and the Lord, that subsequently strayed into some strange belief systems that looks a lot more like the secular culture then it does than belief in God and His teachings. He doubts if people just wake up one day and say: “I want to believe in some strange Theology today. I want to become a member of a Cult.”  It’s never that simple. Folks are not that nonsensical and we all are responsible for our own choices. Sin is also a huge factor; we’d be naive to under-estimate the pull of sin. Many times people doubt standard biblical Christian doctrine when they just want to justify their sinful lifestyle; they do not want to change. None of these things are universal truths, but they are contributing factors. The Apostle Peter was writing to the people that believe in the Lord and wants them to know that any one of us can head down that path of false teaching. How do we all make sure that we do not get there?      

2 Peter 2:1-3 “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”

The Apostles state that false teacher have been among the people in the past and will arrive in the future. We are all accountable to belief and teach good spiritual doctrine but the Bible is clear that God holds ministry leaders to a higher standard than those who do not teach, especially when it comes to the right teaching and preaching about the Word of God. James 3:1 tells us, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” Jesus spoke of the hypocrisies of some of the Pharisees, who taught one thing but didn’t hold themselves to the same standard. SO, with just cause, the Apostle Peter focus’ in on ministry leaders that propagate false teaching first. Because so many will follow false teaching and be led astray, Peter starts at the top. 

Church leaders and teachers must be sure that they are on-tract with God personally and that what they are teaching is from the Word of God and from God Himself. To be sure that teaching lines up with God, make sure that it lines up with the Holy Bible. Plain and simple, if something in not in-line with the Bible, then it is not in-line with God. If church leaders and teachers do not take what they are teaching seriously, then God is going to deal with them. But, this is not just for ministry leaders; you do not get a free pass. This truth applies to you. This is for every Christian. We all need to take the topic of false teachers and false teaching very seriously. 

Galatians 5:16-17 ”But, I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”

If we are on-tract with God, then we are very unlikely to stray into false teaching. Check your heart and your relationship with God all the time. 2 Peter 2:1-3 should be a heart and a gut check for all of us because we need to constantly be monitoring our relationship with God. False prophets arose among the people. It’s easier than we’d like to admit to slip into false teaching. Peter tells us that people secretly bring in destructive heresies. When we lead down the path of false teachings, we bring destruction upon ourselves. The antidote is to be a people that love God’s Word and check our hears against the Bible constantly. 

Let's continue Pastor Kyle's message on false teachers in the next post.

In Christ, Brian

Heavily Defended Territory – Part 2

Continuing Michael's message, he writes that the best way to love your children is to love your wife. The best way to love your wife is to love God above all. Loving thy neighbor as thyself depends on loving God first. Then we can serve others with Christ’s heart behind our heart. Then we can understand Jesus’ words of wisdom: “inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me” - Matthew 25:40b. Warren Wiersbe said that Christian service is a result of Christian devotion. God must make the worker before He can assign the work. Jesus doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called. As Christians, our responsibility is our response to His ability. Therefore, meditate on these things in the Word of God. As it is proclaimed in 1 Timothy 4:15 “Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Commit thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear unto all." 

As we meditate on His word, he will weave into our hearts the fabric of his will. The wisdom and understanding of the Lord will be manifest in our lives when we make his will our will and his purpose our purpose. We are told in 1 Peter 2:9 “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” We’re called from the darkness of this world to declare the excellency of God’s grace, mercy, and peace ... for God alone is worthy to be praised. The purpose of His calling is that we should be to the praise of the glory of His grace ... for He alone is worth of all glory and honor and praise.

He gave us His power so that we could attain patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. The patience is in abiding with and within our Lord Jesus Christ. In John 15: 5 Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.”

The devil attacks men and women of God so that they will forget the reason for their calling. To make it as God’s man, we must spend time in His presence and in His word. To hunger and thirst after righteousness is an acquired taste. According to Proverbs, taste and see that the Lord is good. The prophet said, I found Your words and I did eat them. And they became unto me the joy and rejoicing of my soul. When we deliberately delight ourselves in the Lord, making His desire our desire and his delight our delight, then he will give us the desires of our hearts.

The battlefield is for hearts and minds and it is heavily defended territory. It begins in our own hearts. The spiritual battle is the battle to turn our natural mind into the super-natural mind of Christ. A people of God’s heart’s desire is to spend the rest of their life learning to become just like Jesus. It’s not done easily. It’s the result of deliberately choosing the right moral choices according to His word. The prophet Isaiah said, “as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, and waters the earth and makes it bring forth and bud, so shall my word be that proceeds out from my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing where unto I sent it.”

Jesus said, “If my word abides in you and you abide in me, you shall bear much fruit.” According to Psalm 1, “blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the. Lord and in his law doth he meditates day and night. And he shall be like a tree that is planted by the rivers of (living) waters. His leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

We must give up the egocentric rights to ourselves in order to obey God’s command ... trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thy own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths. So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and men … that we may live to the praise of the glory of His grace!

Your brother in Christ, Michael