Monday Evening 3/18/2013

Last week I heard a talk show host make this statement: “People have blind faith in their political leaders but not in their Savior. It should be the other way around.”

We recently saw a new Pope elected. People were climbing over each other in Vatican City to see the smoke. The television networks were all there waiting to get a glimpse of the next leader of billions of Catholics. Billions of people put their blind faith in this man, elected from his peers, to lead the Catholic Church into the future. But he is not the Savior. Jesus Christ is Lord!

It seems we are stuck in this cycle where the government is slowly taking over every part of our life and we do not like it. Many have put blind faith in the President as the Messiah, the Promised One. Now many feel he is not delivering on what they expected. And as much as the media wants to spin the truth, one thing is for sure. Jesus Christ is Lord!

 Like most Christians, we find ourselves saying that we believe God is all powerful, merciful, bountiful and good. But then in some strange way, we live like He’s not. We act like we need to help Him out sometimes, like He can’t handle anything Himself.

In the Foreword of the book “Kingdom Matrix” by Jeff Christopherson, Ed Stetzer writes: “To the world, we are like children playing with our imaginary friends. And the devil is content to allow that impression to persist.”

When will we get serious about Jesus command to go and make disciples? What will it take for us to bring the Good news of Jesus death, burial, and resurrection to a world that exalts a man for becoming leader of the Catholic Church? Jesus Christ is Lord and His command was clear and direct. “GO.”

In John 8:44 Jesus declares that Satan is the Father of lies. And we swallowed every lie Satan has. God, however, will not be satisfied until all His children are gathered in heaven with Him through the Name Jesus Christ alone.

Why is this important? Check out what Peter said in his warning to the church: “In the past there were false prophets among God’s people. [Divide] It is the same now. You will have some false teachers in your group. [Distract] They will teach things that are wrong—ideas that will cause people to be lost. And they will teach in a way that will be hard for you to see that they are wrong. [Deceive]They will even refuse to follow the Master who bought their freedom. And so they will quickly destroy themselves.” (2 Peter 2:1)

Is this true today? You tell me. It should not come as a surprise that the Bible warns us that there are going to be many false teachers and false religions in the world. “They will have no love for others and will refuse to forgive anyone. They will talk about others to hurt them and will have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good.” (2 Timothy 3:3)

Jesus warned, “Many false prophets will come and cause many people to believe things that are wrong.” (Matthew 24:11)

The Apostle John said, “My dear children, the end is near! You have heard that the enemy of Christ is coming. And now many enemies of Christ are already here. So we know that the end is near.” (1 John 2:18)

The world ridicules Jesus Christ and Christians for obedience to God. We are content to let the world go ahead with it. When will we stop, as Stetzer so correctly points out, “playing with our imaginary friends?”  When will the Name of Jesus be lifted up and exalted above all other names? Satan wants us to think that telling people about Jesus someone else’s job. And many of us think that’s okay.

Sad, very sad.

“So God raised him up to the most important place and gave him the name that is greater than any other name. God did this so that every person will bow down to honor the name of Jesus. Everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth will bow. They will all confess, “Jesus Christ is Lord,” and this will bring glory to God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

Our faith and trust is  in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross alone. Only when we fully understand this, “Then we will no longer be like babies. We will not be people who are always changing like a ship that the waves carry one way and then another. We will not be influenced by every new teaching we hear from people who are trying to deceive us—those who make clever plans and use every kind of trick to fool others into following the wrong way. No, we will speak the truth with love. We will grow to be like Christ in every way.” (Ephesians 4:14-15)

That’s the way it should be.

Monday Morning 3/11/2013

One of the hardest questions for someone to answer is, “Why does God let bad things happen." It could be the death of a loved one, child, spouse, or friend, or it could be person enduring a long illness, the total destruction of all property by a killer tornado, or this maybe the senseless act of a criminal. If we are so quick to ask why God allows something bad to happen, Shouldn’t we ask Why He allows something good to happen as well?

This great “Why” is the one of the most difficult questions any Christian has to face.  In Luke 13 Jesus does not equate individual sin to suffering. But he does point out that it’s a question of one’s heart. Because of sin everyone is separated from God. Jesus urges repentance by all people whether things are good or bad.
Jesus was addressing a problem that was important in his day and is still important today. The view people have of God that shows him to be an angry father, punishing His children for every little act of disobedience. The question that is asked time and time again is, "Why?"

Think about it. If God is always angry at us , wouldn’t we be getting more pain, more suffering and more problems than we do now? Many people view God this way because they don’t know Him or trust Him. God is not the angry Judge. He does not hand out punishments of sickness, death and tragedy. This is not the correct view of God as we see him in scripture. However, this is why so many people blame God when bad things happen and forget him when good things happen. Everything that happens, everything good or bad,  God allows to happen to keep our hearts completely focused on HIM.

God does not love us because He must love us, He loves us because He wants to love us. We tend to forget that. Sometimes that means He will use whatever is necessary to get our attention. Isn’t that the view of God that we see from the cross? A God who cared enough for his people that he died on a cross so that the people would live? God's love is so huge that He sent Jesus His son to earth to die so people would not be separated from him any longer. God did everything he could to be caring and loving for his people.
Instead of blaming God in the bad times, we should fall on our knees and ask God to walk with us, to strengthen, us, to build us up, to give us the courage to continue building His Kingdom, not our own kingdom. And, because God is there when we are blessed, we should, in His mercy and His power, fall on our knees and ask God to walk with us, to strengthen, us, to build us up, to give us the courage to continue building His Kingdom, not our own kingdom. Yes it’s the same thing.
God can handle whatever situation comes up. If we think the situation is terrible and overwhelming, God is bigger and better. If we are blessed beyond measure, God is still bigger and better. We must let God do His job in good times and bad. When we do, then we will come to know the great and powerful love and mercy He has for us. God can handle it, period. Let Him. God is a patient God who wants his children to come to him. Our response to God when we encounter bad things or blessing in the brokenness of the world is not to blame Him, but to come to Him in repentance, as he waits for us.
God does not want to see his children separated from Him, He will wait, He will give them many chances to change their ways, to repent, to build a relationship with Him. God is so much more than an angry judge, He is a patient, kind, loving father. He gives His children many chances to rely on Him.  Romans 8:28 says “We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. These are the people God chose, because that was his plan.” Trust Him now with ALL your life.

Monday Morning 3/4/2013

There is so much going on right now and things are happening so fast that we barely have time to keep up with it.

-          School shootings

-          Politics

-          Wars

-          Economy

-          Taxes

And I’m sure we can all add our own things to the list.

-          Marriages

-          Schools

-          Relationships

-          “Permissive” and “Progressive”

-          Satisfaction

You get my point. There is so much going on and what are we to do? To whom can we turn in these difficult times? Remember, the disciples were struggling with this and more in Matthew chapters 24 and 25. The question seems to be the same today as it was then, “How will we know when Jesus is coming back?” And we seem to be asking more and more, “Where is God?”

Psalm 46 answers this by saying that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

The writer goes on by saying even though terrible things happen both in the physical world and the spiritual world, don’t be afraid. God is in the midst of EVERYTHING, His plan will not be shaken, and He will NOT give up His righteousness for anyone or anything. The writer finishes with God saying, “Be still, and know that I am God. I am the one who defeats the nations; I am the one who controls the world.”

“Be still and know that I am God.” Easy to say, harder to apply.

 The Bible says there's one thing that gets God's fullest attention more than anything else, and that is innocent blood which cries out to Him. Where is God in all the terrible things that happen? He is Very present! He is all over every kind of situation, giving His Grace as only He can do. We have no clue how to understand it.

What we cannot understand is that it’s not so much about whether God can or cannot do something. It’s about His plan for all creation and His plan of redemption. He created and planned for us to have the ability to make a choice. He made a way before the world was ever created for man’s redemption. He knew full well that man would make foolish choices.

Nothing captures our attention more than some tragic event that happens that we scratch our heads and doubt God’s presence and His ability. What happened at the school shooting in December? Where were you on September 11, 2001? Where were you when your closest friend died at a young age? We can all clearly remember these things and what we were doing what we thought how we felt. We can vividly recall every thought feeling and emotion. God’s heart broke at each one of those because He was there and nobody noticed. But we still ask ourselves, “Where is God?”

He was there when Adam rebelled in the Garden of Eden and God promised a Messiah.

“Where was God?”

He was there when Noah built the Ark and destroyed those who turned their back on Him.
“Where was God?”
He was there when Joseph was rotting in jail. When people accused and mistreated Joseph of doing something when He was really standing up for His God. Joseph was able to honestly say, “You meant it for harm, but God meant it for good.” I’m sure Joseph must have wondered at times where God was, in the end all knew well He was there all the time.

“Where was God?”

He was there when Job lost everything he had because God knew Job would not lose his faith. Job lost everything of value; even his precious children. Where was God? Had He turned His back on Job? No. Would Job return the favor by turning his back on God? No! God had not deserted Job. And Job would not curse God, even though he was urged to do so.
“Where was God?”
He was there with Moses preparing Moses for greater service.

He was with Jonah even when Jonah went a different direction than God called him to go.

He was with Daniel in the face of jealous men who sought to end his life because of his testimony.

He was with Peter and John who were physically beaten for preaching the Gospel.

He was with Paul when he was being stoned, shipwrecked and imprisoned. While at the same time being assured that all things work together for good to those who love God and act according to God’s plan.
“Where was God?”

He was there on that Friday when His own son's innocent life was being taken from Him. He was very present Very enduring the pain for the benefit of others. God was there bearing the weight of the sins of the world pressing down on His shoulders.  

“Where was God?”

Can’t God prevent bad things from happening? Is He helpless? Does He know what’s going on? Does God even care?

“Where was God?”
Of course He knew! Of course He could have prevented it! Of course He could have stopped it! Of course He was not and is not helpless! Of course He was and was aware! And, of course He cares! God knows what is going on. We are the ones who shut Him out and do not acknowledge Him in ALL He does.
“Where was God?”
He was using the actions of some with evil hearts to bring about the redemption of mankind. He reminds us that … “my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

“Where was God?”
God is saddened by our disbelief and out lack of faith. God does cause bad things to happen, But He does comfort those affected by it. God may allow other things to happen, but He will provide peace to those whose hearts turn to Him.
Let us pray that every believer responds to this wake up call. While sad, terrible and tragic things will continue to happen, God will mightily use each thing for His purposes of good, and that we will return to Him, and that multitudes will come to Jesus like a little child in faith. Let us pray against the way Satan wants to use this.

“Where is God?”

He is right here. Be still and know that HE IS GOD. He is our protection and source of strength. He is always ready to help us in times of trouble. I'm thankful that this world is not my home, I'm just a traveler. In these last days, in these times of trouble remember every event and know that even though we feel helpless and powerless, God is there. Our comfort is to know and trust His Word.