"They're not interested. Now what?" Whetting the spiritual appetite of your friend.

You're someone who loves God, because you've found real life in Jesus Christ.

Your passion is to share the life you're experiencing in Christ with a friend, or a loved family member.

You also understand the stakes.  Your friend, your mom, your colleague could "perish," forever.

THE PROBLEM - they are not interested.

Years ago, a shirt-tail relative sat all the family down in the farmhouse living room and gave us his pyramid-business pitch for the product line that could revolutionize all of our lives.  I remember sitting there with two impressions.  First, if I bought his shtick, it would change HIS (economic) life for the better, not mine.  And second, I have no interest in this WHATSOEVER.

Understand, it's not that I didn't need cleaning products and vitamins (the jury is still out on the vitamins).   I just didn't need them that night when I was at the farm to relax and enjoy the company of family.

So often, what we may be experiencing in Christ comes off like that pyramid-pitch.  "You're pressing me for a response for your benefit, not mine."  The heart is simply not ready for the remedy for life you are ready to provide.

The people we all know are at so many different "places" in their thinking and readiness for a discussion of spiritual realities.  Still, we want to "jump in."   We too quickly assume that our proximity to them is the signal for sharing.  Proximity is good, but usually, God puts us next to people initially for a different purpose.

FIRST STEPS - start by learning, praying, listening

How often have we heard this and nodded in agreement.  People don't care how much we know until they truly feel how much we care.

With disinterested friends, the best opportunity proximity provides us is to love.  Love is felt by learning and caring about what is going on in their lives without an agenda.  Love is advanced when we take what we learn and pray for what we are hearing.  Has your friend just shared about her children and the challenges they are facing.  Get on your knees for THAT, and ask God's Spirit to start showing up.   Is your colleague frustrated with the lack of opportunity in his job?  Get on your knees for THAT.  Ask the Spirit to increase the frustration, and give him a sense that "there must be more to life than this."

Pray about what you are hearing, without providing solutions or spiritual answers.  Conversationally, only walk through the doors that your friend or relative open up for you after you've been learning, praying, and listening.

Look at the Lord Jesus' life;  study how He dealt with people  He rarely initiated private conversations that went directly to "Are you going to heaven or to hell?"  [Did he ever?]  Rather, he took time to ask questions.  He told interesting stories, without quickly explaining the meaning.  He more often loved and did good things, and then waited for people to come and inquire of Him.

TIME IS ON YOUR SIDE - patience in the Spirit

A father asked me, "How can I convince my son that having eternal life is important?"

Answer: you can't.  From what I read (John 16:8-11), only God's Spirit can do that.  But He does want you in the game.  So love.  Listen.  Learn.  Pray.  Listen some more.  Don't shove the door open; wait for someone to open it to you.  Then, be ready...not to unload the whole truck, but to share gently, prayerfully, and only as much as the other person seems able to digest.  Then, back off.  Pray some more.  Let the thirst happen, the hunger pang grow.

If you are prayerful and patient, God will use you to lead someone into the presence of Jesus by faith.  And your joy will know no bounds.

God's Incredible Mercy and God's Severe Judgment

Whenever those of us who love the Christian Scriptures begin to talk about God's mercy (God releasing us from what we deserve) and God's grace (God giving us what we don't deserve), invariably someone who has read the Bible will ask, What about God commanding Israel to wipe out the nations (including women and children) when they conquered the land of Palestine? (cf. Book of Joshua)

How is that a God of mercy and grace?

It's a very fair question.  If we insist (as we do) that "All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, etc." (2 Timothy 3:16)...and if we insist (as we do) that Scripture is God's self-revelation -- giving us insight into who He is that general revelation (i.e., creation) does not give -- then we should think this through.

Genocide is a tough charge to lay at a merciful God's doorstep.

So, let's be frank and straightforward about what we find in the Bible, and in the Old Testament specifically.

First, Scripture reveals that God has revealed Himself and His righteousness to humanity -- giving ample evidence that He exists, that He is powerful and divine.  According to Romans 1:18-20, the fitting response to that revelation is "thankfulness" and an acknowledgement that we, as human beings, are dependent upon the uncreated God who is the cause behind and power in Creation.

Second, Scripture goes on to reveal that very often -- VERY often -- in the history of humanity, collections of human beings have rejected the truth God has given them and turned to endless expressions of idolatrous worship, which has often led to grotesque sinfulness and debauchery.  Romans 1:21-32 describes a downward spiraling into sin which is "worthy of death" (vs. 32).  Romans 1:20b says it succinctly, "They are without excuse."

Third, the history recorded in the Old Testament demonstrates that God does not immediately judge cultures and nations of people who head down this path.  He is patient, and often sends them godly messengers who know God, live for God, and warn of pending judgment.  VERY often, these messengers are rebuffed and rejected, along with their repeated warnings.  As Peter says even about our present day, "God is patient, not willing that any should perish"(2 Peter 3:9).  But Peter goes on to say, "The day of the Lord will come."  Divine patience (God's mercy and grace) has its season, but that season comes to an end.

Fourth, this is precisely what you see often in the Old Testament.  Noah and sons spent 120 years building an ark, and preaching "righteousness" (2 Peter 2:5) to his violent, sinful generation of humanity.  Time was given to repent, but the time came to a close with the shutting of the door on the ark.

THE 7 NATIONS OF PALESTINE (1400 BC)

So what about those nations of peoples (7 of them) who occupied Palestine when God led His people in under Joshua?  Joshua and the armies of Israel were to leave nothing breathing in their conquering of land promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants.  Did God give these peoples sufficient warning?  A chance to live?

Over 400 years earlier, Abraham himself was told what would happen, when his descendants would be released from slavery and be led back to their land.  "They shall come back here," Abraham was told, "in the 4th generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete" (Genesis 15:16).

What does that mean?  It means that God knew that the sinfulness and the debauchery of the Amorites (a collective title for the peoples living in Palestine while Israel was enslaved to Egypt) would progress, getting worse and worse.  And it did.  The nations in Palestine practice horrible worship practices, burning their children in fire to their gods, and many other unspeakable things.  Over 500+ years, the debauchery of the peoples in that land multiplied, until it became "complete."

Thus when God wanted to send his redeemed people into the land promised to Abraham, He also wanted those sinful cultures to be (finally, and rightly) judged and taken out of the way.  He had no interest in His people becoming like that.  Sin was so imbedded in those ungodly cultures, and it was a Righteous God's right to finally judge.   Joshua and the armies were to leave nothing breathing.

GOD'S MERCY - GOD'S JUDGMENT

In these difficult day of war and judgment, was there yet opportunity for mercy?  Yes.  Joshua's early chapters reveal that Rahab chose to believe in the God of Israel, and was spared.  In fact Rahab became one of the women in the very line of the Messiah!

What we must realize is this.  First, God is extraordinarily patient with men.  He communicates who He is, sends His messengers, gives opportunity after opportunity.  "Today is the day of salvation."

But second, God will also righteously judge.  Read the Psalms!  The Hebrew song writers worship God because "He is coming to judge the earth; He will judge the world with righteousness"(cf. Psalm 98:7-9).

To our peril, we dismiss the portrait of a God who will judge after a day of mercy.  It is time to be humble, and like Rahab, place our faith and lives in the hands of the God who has revealed himself to Israel, and through Jesus, to the world.

IS GOD LOVING? Answers to 12 questions from Sunday, July 26, 2015

Answers from Pastor David Staff * Christ Community Church, Ames IA

1.  What makes God’s perfect love feel less like that for so many?  Should I explain it, or show it to them?

People are at so many different “places” when it comes to their expectations of what God should (or should not) do, or whether or not they feel God is intervening in their lives with His love.  As I’ve suggested, so many expect God to UNCONDITIONALLY ACCEPT them (and what they choose to believe and do) while at the same time UNIVERSALLY PROTECT them (keep all the bad stuff).

God’s perfect love means He knows what each of us needs to happen in our lives.  He also knows how we’ll respond to what He is quietly arranging or allowing.  It takes them a while to realize what a perfect Father is doing toward them.  His goal, of course, is for us to be humbled before Him and to trust Him.  That process of learning to trust Him may or may not feel loving.

Of course, we should all join you in both explaining God’s love to someone else, but also showing it in the way we love them.  The explanation may not be accepted, especially if there is truth that stings in it.  But then again, when disinfectant is cleaning a wound of what infects, it may sting, but ultimately it heals, right?

Of course, persistently showing God's love to someone is the very best way for them to see the Lord Himself, and be drawn to simple faith and trust in Christ.  Love on!!!

2.  With the “innermost” love of God, is it possible in your view to move in and out of that love?

All of us vacillate through seasons of being disobedient to the Lord (in one season) and then being obedient to God (in a season of humility and repentance).  In the OT period of the JUDGES, God’s people would repent (and God would draw near and help), and then later they would rebel (and God would draw away and discipline).

Jesus’ John 14-15 promises are very simply stated.  Obey God in the things His Word and Spirit teach you, and you find yourself drawn into greater intimacy with the Lord.  Disobey and go your own, willful way, and it is likely you will experience a detached prayer life and a distance from your Father.

3.  What is the elevator-answer or summary on why horrible things happen to good people,  sometimes on a very large scale?

I’m a bit wary of “elevator” answers.  People ask important questions that are complex by their very nature, and unfairly expect a sound-bite response that satisfies.  Horrible things happen to good people because we live in a very fallen, sin-drenched world.  There is a complexity to the things that ripple through our everyday lives.  Hope for moving beyond our tragedies is found only in the Lord Jesus Christ, who rescues us from the penalty of our sin, and promises that accounts will be rectified and settled when God one day judges sin, and ushers us into a new world where righteousness dwells.

4.  How do you get someone to want to talk about how awesome God is?  How can you be a model for Christ?

One suggestion might be to have this friend read a book about the wonders of God’s creative hand.  Richard Swenson’s MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: Fascinating Glimpses of God’s Creative Design would be a great book to read.  Tough to put down, and could be a real coffee-shop-discussion starter.

5.  How do we know the difference between what is God’s love vs. evil from the devil?

At one level, we may not be able to “tell” it right away.  For example, when all that stuff hit into Job’s life (OT Book of Job, chapters 1-2), he really didn’t know who was behind it.  He later laid the blame at God’s feet.  In Job’s case, God let the destructive power of the devil have some impact in Job’s life. 

It may not be, ultimately, important to know the source of the struggles.  More important to remember is that if we love God (Romans 8:28), God is “able to work all things together for the good…for those who are called according to God’s purpose.”  God is asking us to TRUST HIM no matter what happens, or where it comes from.  Even Job’s struggles had a limit because of God’s restricting hand.  And, in the end, God worked all things together for the good in his servant Job’s life.

6.  How do we embrace and receive God’s love?

First, we can embrace and receive God’s love by understanding what God has told us about His loving.  This is why I presented this teaching from Scripture on July 26.

Second, in the experiences of life, we embrace and receive God’s love by framing our experience with the truths that we know from the Bible.  Sometimes, we hear God tell us something, but then later in our experience, we forget what He’s said.  We fail to apply the truth in the situation in which we are living.  To not apply is to forfeit embracing God’s love.

Third, I think we best embrace and receive God’s love by sharing His love with others.  Being loving to others.  Doing God’s love helps us understand what it is.  Whom in your life is experiencing God’s love through you these days?

7.  If God is love, what is (the) devil?

Jesus said that the devil, whom He called “the thief,” comes only to steal, kill, and destroy (see John 10:10a, the 1^st ½ of the verse). The devil does not love people (i.e., sacrifice himself for their good).  His only objective is to take life from them, kill what is good in their lives, and destroy them through sin. 

8.  God’s discipline or punishment for my sin?  Isn’t my sin cleansed by Jesus’ blood?  How do we continue to accept that punishment and continue our faith?

I like these questions.  They are important.  Here are several words we need to be clear about. 

DISCIPLINE – this word speaks of God using difficult circumstances in living to shape and develop and strengthen Godly character.  There is no punishment involved.  Rather, difficulty is used to make better. 

PUNISHMENT – this is the death penalty that comes with sin.  You are right to remember that Jesus took our punishment for sin, fully, on the cross.  God never punishes his own children, who are declared righteous in Christ, for their sin. 

CONSEQUENCES – God’s children may experience the inherent consequences in their lives should they choose to sin.  For example, Proverbs says that a man who “commits adultery against his wife lacks sense…like someone who takes burning logs and hugs them in his bosom.”  The point – adultery destroys what is good in  a person’s life.  It’s an unavoidable consequence when anyone chooses sin. 

Summary – God doesn’t punish his children for the sin that Jesus paid for.  That debt is paid.  God may discipline his children, using difficult things which come into life, to mold and shape their character into godliness.  God will allow his children to experience the consequences of sin if they choose to do it, not a s a punishment, but to teach that chosen sin is indeed a foolish choice.

9.  Does the world not understand God’s love because they don’t know the battle is spiritual and not physical?

I believe the world often misunderstands God’s love because people in the world are not aware of the character of God nor why He does anything in the world.  It may be correct that they assume struggles are merely physical things, and thus think that they can simply manage the physical and life will be great.  Of course, we know that the world doesn’t work that way.

10.  How do we best recognize when God is trying to teach us through hardships?

James says, “If any of you lacks wisdom (about the trials you are going through), let him ask of God, and God will give it (wisdom) to him”  [James 1:2-4].   A simple direction – ask God for insight into your hardship.  He gives wisdom about these things generously, if we are willing to ask and wait for Him to speak.

11.  If God is love, why does He take the ones we love?  My brother died in a car crash at 27.  He was a great believer and man.

I’m sorry for the (temporary) loss of your brother.  No doubt the hurt and absence in your life is very real.  We don’t know why God’s hand takes some of his own special servant “home early.”  You’ll remember from Actds 7-8 that a very gifted and committed Christian, Stephen, was stoned to death and went home to be with Christ, whom he saw “standing at the right hand of God.”

Even in the tough, seemingly pre-mature losses of loved ones, God assures of this.  “It is very much better to depart and be with Christ” (Philippians 1:23).  Let me ask you – do you believe that?  That to depart and be with Christ is “far better” than staying here?  We struggle to accept that.  WE think that it would be far better for your brother to still be here.  Should we not, though, believe what God has said about this, rather than our cherished opinions.  I would nudge you to believe what God has said.  It is better – though hurtful for us – that He is with Christ right now…what could be better?

12.  If Christians don’t obey, are they Christians?   Matthew 7:18-21?

We know from the letters written to Christians in churches in the New Testament that very often Christians disobey?  Don’t you disobey sometimes?  To be sure, as Jesus points out, when a Christians lives disobedient lifestyles, they are not showing the fruit of Christ to the world.  Some pretending Christians may also be among those who show their true colors by not bearing any fruit in their lives.

But we mustn’t, I believe, deny the reality that very often, Christians struggle to obey.  This is why Paul wrote to the Ephesians, for example, and said, “Look, you have to take off the old man and put on the new man (Eph 4:20-24), replacing some very bad, disobedient habits (like laziness, filthy speech, etc.) with renewed-in-Christ habits (like hard work, pure speech, etc.).  Christians can disobey, and should be in a process of becoming more and more obedient to the Lord Jesus.

 

 

Answers to 18 Questions from GOD IS RIGHTEOUS teaching - July 19.2015

July 19, 2015 Questions from Sermon  

GOD IS GOOD: “Straight Arrow” Righteous

Answers from Pastor David Staff

 

1.  Was it common for animals to talk since the snake spoke to Eve?  I would say probably. There was a talking donkey too. But I thnk it was only when God made them talk through the HS.  Not all the time.  BUT not sure about Garden of Eden?

As you’ve observed, it was NOT common for animals to talk.  Interpreters of this passage (Genesis 3:1f) have noted that this should have been a troubling signal to Eve (and Adam, who was with her, vs. 6) that something was amiss.  But how could this serpent speak? 

A common theme in Scripture is that evil spirits in the spirit world seek to find or have a physical habitation (cf. Matthew 8:30-31, 12:42-44).  Here, it seems, Satan himself was allowed to inhabit and even transform a snake’s natural capabilities, and suddenly, you have a created animal with the ability of language communication.  Elsewhere in Scripture, spirits that are aligned with Satan do find an abode in physical bodies, and even communicate through them (cf. Mark 1:23-25, where unclean spirits speak out through a man).

Since using the snake (or serpent) as his instrument of deception, Satan has been ever since identified as “that ancient Serpent” (cf. Revelation. 12:9, 20:2), God’s fallen-angel arch enemy.  His end has already been determined.

2.  I wonder if Adam after asking God what he should have do instead of listening to Satan, if he could have asked God to just remove that tree from the garden if God would have removed it?

While removing the tree would have been one way to, perhaps, eliminate the possibility of a wrong choice, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was necessary, in order that a true and loving relationship between man and God could happen.  As I mentioned in one service’s Q-A, for true and mature and enriching relational love to develop in us, choice must be present.  Otherwise we are nothing but robots, and not truly human nor made in God’s image.

3.  Is faith a work of righteousness?

No.  Faith in never presented as a work of righteousness, or a work that merit’s righteousness.  It is always spoken of in Scripture as simple trust in God’s promises, and not a meritorious act.  Cf. Romans 4:3-5.

4.  It is stunning how SPONTANEOUS Adam & Eve's choice seems. Apparently they had no idea of the cosmic cost of that choice. Are we any better at choosing God's Way of Shalom?

Not without the enabling help and power of the Holy Spirit, to be sure. 

Did Adam and Eve have an idea of the “cosmic cost” of their choice.  We’re not told directly, but Adam and Eve were brilliant individuals.  The crippling effect of sin had not been imposed on the physical world nor on their human capacities.  One might argue that they did know the stakes involved, and chose to believe that Satan’s suggestion would impact the “cosmos” better than God’s way.  Admittedly, speculative thinking about this, but the first human beings were very smart.

5.  Wasn’t it in God’s plan that adam and eve would sin?   HOW else would the story of the bible have unfolded?  What would our life be like now if adam and eve had not sinned?

This is a VERY interesting question.  Let’s break it down abit.

Was it in God’s plan that Adam and Eve would sin?  No, and Yes…I would offer as the right answer.  “No,” in the sense that God’s plan did not coerce or require them to sin.  Had they not sinned, but remained sinless and unchecked in their growth in God, a whole different story could have been told.  But “Yes,” God’s plan certainly anticipated that they would sin, and thus before the foundation of the world, it was planned that God the Son would come and be the Lamb-of-God sacrifice for the world that He had created (Revelation 13:8).   There is a mystery in this “no” and “yes” answer that we cannot fully explain or reconcile.

Life without sin could have been extraordinary….and will be in the new heavens and new earth (cf. Revelation 21-22)!

6.  I desperately want to follow God's plan for my life to honor His righteousness, but struggle greatly in understanding what that plan actually is.  Why might it be so difficult to discover His plan?

When the Scripture speaks of God’s “plan” or “will” for our individual lives, it appears to speak concerning several aspects of that plan.

One aspect – the primary one – is that it is the Father’s plan that we become like His Son (cf. Romans 8:29-30)…in our character, thinking, obedience, kingdom-living.  The details of what it is like to grow in Christ and become like Him in our daily living are very clear – outlined and taught in the New Testament books (or epistles) from Romans – Revelation.

A second aspect of God’s plan for each of us has to do with specifics concerning things like where to go to school, who to marry, what vocation to choose and work in, where to live, etc, and the timing of all those things.  This part of God’s will for us is more driven by the wisdom we get from the Holy Spirit THROUGH God’s Word (application of) and God’s people (who mentor us).  Scripture urges that we listen for wisdom and use it, in all of the choices God presents to us in life.

Both parts of God’s “plan” for us can be discovered if we patiently use the resources of truth and people that He places in our lives.

7.  How and why was Satan created if he was around in the beginning to be able to tempt Adam and Eve?

Scripture suggests that Satan was originally one of God’s most beautiful and capable angels (“Lucifer”), who had been given the power of choice even as an angelic being.  If the boastful careers and words of two ancient monarchs (who may have well be led and directed by Satan) are a revelation of what originally happened (cf. Isaiah 14, and Ezekiel 28), the “star of the morning” (in Latin, “Lucifier”) became proud of his beauty and capability, and attempted to dethrone God.  Unsuccessful in his pride and rebellion, he and angels who were aligned with him were cast out of heaven and confirmed in sin/unrighteousness. 

When this fall happened vis-à-vis the original creation of the universe, world, and humanity, is not precisely know.  But it seems to have happened before Adam and Eve were created, because Satan was present (in the Serpent) to get the man and woman to fall in sin the way he had.

8.  How do I navigate a sinless life when that's all that around me?

Scripture teaches that we CAN navigate a life that is pleasing to God when we (1) seek to become like the Lord Jesus Christ, (2) daily depend on the Holy Spirit for God’s work in our life, (3) stay connected for prayer and encouragement with other followers of Jesus.  Psalm 1, for example, suggests that there is blessing for the one who “delights in the Law (or Word) of the Lord, and in that law (word) he meditates day and night.”

9.  So why do you think God put the tree as a (test) or forbade them to eat of it?  He had to know what they were going to do....right?

          See the answer to #5. Above.

10.  Psalm 11:7 states that God loves righteous deeds.  Does God loves these deeds because they *are righteous*, or are these deeds righteous *because God loves them* ?

Interesting question.  I’d say, I guess, that God knows when a deed is “righteous” (that is, conforms to His standard of what is right, good, and excellent), and thus loves to see them done!

11.  Are believers "declared" righteous or "made" righteous?

First, “declared” (or reckoned) righteous by grace through faith, and then “made” righteous through an increasing Christlikeness in living through the power of the Holy Spirit and application of the Word.

12.  I understand why we need a new earth, but why do we need a new heaven?

God knows we need a new universe which is not under the curse and frustration of sin.  The whole universe was impacted by the moral choice of Adam and Eve (cf. Romans 8:20-23).

13.  Why did God give us free will if he knows that some people would just do evil?  Why does God let our loved ones die when they are sick especially when we pray so much for their healing? What are somethings to do to set my soul on fire and be all in for Christ?

See answer to #5. above. 

We die in this world because we are part of a fallen creation which is subjected to death.  Adam was told that his moral choice of disobedience would result in death.   We are encouraged to pray for healing, but we also know that God can and does say “no” to some requests for healing because He knows that what is coming, in the next life, is “very much better” (cf. Philippians 1:23 – “to depart and be with Christ is VERY MUCH BETTER”).  In other words, healing and staying alive in this life is not always the better result!  How about that!?

“Your soul on fire for Christ” – the more you know Him, the more your soul and your life will be all in for Christ (cf. Philippians 3:12-17!).

14.  Is there any idea of how long Adam and Eve lived before sinning?

We don’t know.  But it was before Eve conceived for the first time, and given the command God gave them to be “fruitful and multiply,” one might suspect that Adam and Eve began to be intimate very soon after they were created for each other.  That would suggest that the pre-conception temptation by Satan occurred fairly soon after the events of Genesis 2.

15.  Were animals created male and female? Before humans were?

It appears so, yes.  They were to also “be fruitful and multiply,” which would necessitate the complimentary genders in order to facilitate reproduction.

16. How do you respond to Intelligent Design evolutionists who claim that God imparted Spirit and humanness to a hominid to make modern man?

It’s an interesting theory, and I’ve heard it before.  The problem I have with it is that there is no literary or linguistic indication of it in the text of Genesis 1-2.  In fact the text of Genesis 2 teaches that God did NOT use a living animal of any kind as the entity from which a human being was created.  God did a unique work “of the dust of the ground” (Genesis 2:6) in creating (“bara” – to create from nothing) the male.  Nor was the woman an existing hominid, but “fashioned” (different word, the word of an artist) the woman from the rib taken from the man.

17.  July 19 question #1. If God loves it when things are right, why do those that choose righteousness still feel the effects of a sinful world? Why do some that live righteously still suffer horribly?

There are several facets of the answer to your questions.  First, Jesus is the model for us.  No one lived more righteously; no one suffered more in this world as a righteous person.  Righteousness suffers in a fallen, not-right world, and God does not choose to alieve the suffering of the righteous.  In fact, He chooses to use their suffering as a powerful testimony both to the awfulness of sin, and to the hope alone found in the death/burial/resurrection of Jesus.

Second, if God had decided to simply alleviate the suffering of the righteous, we might be very much tempted to both be satisfied with this fallen creation, and to trust God in order to get from God what we want in this world – success and no suffering.  The bottom line is that God does not want us attached to a fallen world (note…he kept the tree of life from fallen Adam and Eve in the garden, Genesis 3:24, so that Adam and Eve would not attempt to live forever in their sinful bodies)…but asks us to anticipate a future, recreated one “in which righteousness dwells, 2 Peter 3:13).

18.  July 19 question #2. It seems every day we see the world (and more specifically our nation) reject Christ more and more. Are we experiencing a slow progression of turning away from Christ or have there been worse times in the past?

We are in the “last days,” the days between Christ’s Ascension (Acts 1) and Christ’s Personal Return (Revelation 19-20).  Here’s what the Spirit says about these “times” – 1 Timothy 4:1-4, 2 Timothy 3:1-5).

IS GOD MAKING YOUR DAY? Reflections on living with purpose #1 - Exercise!

Our beachside motel overlooks a stretch of the Pacific Ocean.  Across the street, a palm-lined walkway running north-south, with stairs down to the sandy beach.

Residents and tourists can run on cement or sand.  "Run" is an elastic word.

Some run.  Some walk upright (with a measure of determination), or deliberately plod a bit bent over.    Still others leisurely stroll.

There go two on skateboards!  A dad, mentoring his son.   Down the oceanside path.

Some have dogs pulling at the leash, which means they half-run, half-walk.

Others jog.  Some stretch.  Others do pushups on the grassy areas.  Deep knee bends next to the white  railing fence.

Still others wave their arms in loops.  Some stretch their sides, first one, then the other.

Some on bikes peddling fast, or peddling slow.

My point - just about everyone is doing something, and doing something different.    But they are all out, in one form or another, exercising.  Doing something to stay in shape.  Not merely sitting.

So what are you doing to strengthen your walk (or run) with God today.

IT IS SO EASY...

• to do nothing
• to skip one day, then the next, and then yet again, another
• to let days go by when God is not on your calendar and you rarely speak meaningfully with Him, or give Him the time to speak meaningfully to you

AND THE ENEMY OF OUR SOULS WINS.

"Job would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of his children...thus Job did continually."  Job 1:5

Take some time to be with God today.  Exercise, spiritually.  Offer the sacrifices of prayer for your heart, your spouse's, for your kids and grandkids.  For your friends.  You don't have to exercise the way another does.  It's the exercise...the time with God and He with you...that's important.

THE SUFFERING OF THE SAVIOR

As is typical on a Tuesday morning, our staff team sat in a circle in C1 and (what was not typical) was doing a craft.  750 small wooden crosses needed to be "threaded," so that guests to our Good Friday services could receive a small token from the evening.

After most were threaded, I asked the question, "What does the cross mean to you?"  Our team pondered the question and wrote down 2-3 personal thoughts.  Sharing those thoughts around the circle was enriching.

Perhaps the most sober moment came when I mentioned what Jesus was facing "in the next 12 hours" after his last supper with his disciples.  "He knew he was going to be physically ripped apart.  Scripture predicted (cf. Isaiah 53) and describes (the Gospel accounts) the merciless brutalization of Jesus.  He knew he was willingly stepping into indescribable pain.  Which one of us would willing choose this?"

There were moments of silence and head shaking.   For some reason, just saying that ushered in some very holy and sobering moments.

WHAT OF THE SPIRITUAL AGONY?

During last Sunday's teaching, someone texted in this question.  Could you speak to the spiritual agony?

In some true sense, it is impossible to plumb the depths of our Savior's spiritual agony.  "He who knew no sin became sin for us..." (2 Corinthians 5:21).  How does the God-man, with two natures in one holy, human person, "become" sin, the very antithesis of God's character?

What we feel about sin, when we are feeling rightly about it, is what we feel when we walk through a holocaust museum littered with pictures of charred bones and skulls and emaciated faces on stick-line human frames.  Or when force ourselves to try to imagine the pain and fear of an abused and tortuously murdered child.  Even writing these words makes my insides turn, and yet somehow, God's holy Son, in taking on the likeness of sinful flesh, suffered in his soul the "you are the guilty one" agony of not just a few sinful thoughts or acts, but the totality of guilt and shame for all the sin that has been committed by the billions within the host of humanity.

Not only did he bear the guilt, but he also suffered the misunderstanding of what was happened.  Isaiah predicted, "We esteemed him stricken of God."   He was thought by many to be, rightly so, under God's curse.

To describe the agony of the Savior's soul is impossible.  Words cannot explain, express, or contain it.   The hymn tries to capture the wonder, "Jesus paid it all."

THE SACRIFICE OF LOVE

Perhaps most sobering is that God's holy Son chose to suffer physically and spiritually in order to demonstrate the immeasurable love God has for us.  "God demonstrated his own love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

My request is that if you are reading this--perhaps worshipping in your heart the Savior who took your place -- that you love Him back.  Love Jesus.  Love Him back.  Believe in Him.  Worship Him.  Thank Him.  Follow Him.

If you do, the next time you see Him, you will hear not the agony of"My God, My God, why have you forsake me!!" but rather, "Well done.  Welcome home!"  He died to bring you home, to God.

CLARITY: God's Will, My Desires, and Obeying

You're an unashamed follower of Jesus Christ.  You love belonging to God through faith.  You resonate with Paul's words: We make it our goal to please Him (2 Corinthians 5:9).

And, we understand that MUCH of "God's Will" is revealed in the pages of God's Word.  All Scripture is breathed out by God, and is therefore profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man/woman of God may be adequate, thoroughly outfitted to do what God desires (2 Tim 3:16-17).

We get it.  When SCRIPTURE gives us a command to obey (e.g., "Share with God's people in need", Romans 12), or a sin to avoid (e.g., "do not show favoritism"  James 1), in dependence on the Holy Spirit, we cooperate in obeying, or avoiding.

Obeying Scripture is living in the will of God.  Sometimes we may not want to do these things, but we submit to God because we desire to please Him and be a person of God.

BUT WHAT ABOUT...?

Christians also speak about something else which they call "God's Will."   God's will in this second sense is not clear Scriptural commands, but something else, something like "what college to attend" or "which major to choose" or "which person to marry" or "what to do with my life (vocationally, or as a career).

Sometimes Christians identify this as a "calling" from God.  Jesus followers will say, "I think God has called me to be an overseas missionary," or "I believe God is calling me to serve in the military."

Know this - this second kind of "God's Will" has often been debated by teachers of the Scriptures.  Here's why.  Scripture is clear that

1. God "calls" us to salvation  (1 Corinthians 1:26)
2. God "calls" us to holy living (i.e., obeying His Word, e.g. 1 Thessalonians 4:2)
3. God "calls" us to use our spiritual gifting (Romans 12:3-8, 1 Corinthians 12, 1 Peter 4:10-11) to advance the kingdom

But does "call" us to a vocation or to specific marital partner or to a college or to military service?

Certainly, God CAN do this, and I have no doubt He does direct us specifically to a person, or to a job.  But discerning this (I have learned over the years) requires more than just concluding that a dominate thought in our own hearts should be identified as God's voice or call.

DISCERNING SPECIFIC CALLINGS FROM GOD

Specific, directional "callings" from God require at least two  things: Clarity and Confirmation.

When I was in Junior High School, my home church often has missionary conferences.  Missionaries from around the world would spent 7-10 days at our church setting up booths about the countries in which they served, speaking in our worship services, and encouraging young people to consider missionary service.  I was particularly compelled by "people in India who had never heard the gospel."  When asked to compose a "Career Project" for English class in school, my folder boldly sported on the front cover MY LIFE IN INDIA.  I researched India, and I was convinced God was calling me to be "the Billy Graham of India."  Even in High School, my girlfriend and I spoke of going overseas together and winning people to Jesus.

As I matured and continued to listen to God, I realized that the sold-out passion I had to serve God and make the gospel clear was indeed His calling, but India was not the place, and "being the next Billy Graham" was not the specific way I would live out God's will.  What I learned was that I needed to listen, not only to my own heart, by also to the counsel of godly people around me -- who were full of God's Spirit -- to arrive CLEARLY at where my passion and God's gifting should be expressed.

In other words, I needed help -- beyond what I was feeling in my heart -- about CLARITY when it came to what God wanted me to do, and where.  And...with whom.  I didn't marry my high school sweetheart, though she was (and still is) a committed Christian.

CONFIRMATION on God's specific calling also required multiple "readings."  I knew God was calling me into Christian ministry because (1) there was a green light in Scripture to spend your life for the gospel, (2) there were many other older, godly Christians who were moved by the Holy Spirit to say to me, "Yes, David, you should do this.  I sense God's leading you this way," and (3) I had been  given a gifting in communication and a passion for speaking about Scripture.  In other words, this calling into ministry fit with Scripture, Wisdom, and my Passion.

Conversely, I've often seen Christians conclude that "God wants me to do ------------," but at the same time, this "calling" was badly out-of-alignment with other pieces in their life.   They were misreading Scripture, others around them didn't see the "fit," and the "call" didn't along with how God had made them or what He had actually gifted them to do well.

BOTTOM LINE

When it comes to "God's Will," always be ready to obey clear Scriptural commands.  The majority of God's will is wrapped up in becoming like Jesus himself through Spirit-dependent obedience to the Word.

And, when it comes to "God's calling" (to a vocation, a spouse, etc.), take the time to allow this calling to be marked by CLARITY and CONFIRMATION.  Yes, listen to your heart, but listen also to those around you who have God's Spirit and God's wisdom about you and your future.

"GOD...COULD YOU SEND AN ANGEL?" Hearing God's Direction

Someone asked recently about hearing clearly from God.


"Should we not be visited by an angel from God, how can we hear God's truth?"   The question came as a group of us recently spent time in Acts 27, where Paul was visited by an angel and told what would happen.


Unfortunately, most of us do not get regular angelic visits.  At least not the kind where we see the angel and hear a voice (though, quite frankly, we Jesus followers probably get more daily, angelic help than we realize...see Hebrews 1:14!).


But what about regularly HEARING GOD'S TRUTH?  Can we hear from God regularly?


No doubt about it.  Here's how.


FIRST - take time to READ A BIBLE.  Why?  Jesus said it - actually, He prayed it.  "Father, set apart my disciples by your truth.  Thy Word is truth" (John 17:17).  Any person who will prayerfully set aside time to read and reflect on what he/she is reading in the Scriptures will "hear" the Spirit of God speaking.  "For the word of God is quick (living) and powerful (active), piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, discerning the thoughts and intentions of (my) heart" (Hebrews 4:12).


GO ahead...try it.  Read Ephesians chapter 4 or 1 John 1, or Philippians 2.  Take 30 minutes and read it over 5,6,7 times and think about what is saying...while you ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you.  Unless the heart is hard and the ears of the mind stopped up, you will hear God's Spirit.

SECOND - take time to DISCUSS WHAT YOU'VE READ WITH SOME FRIENDS.  "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.  We impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual"  (1 Corinthians 2:12-13). 


Did you notice the "group" dynamic in those verses.  "We...we...us...We...to those"  I've never been in a group of Jesus followers who are discussing Scripture without hearing from the Holy Spirit.


THIRD -  ASK FOR WISDOM from GODLY FRIENDS WHO KNOW GOD'S WORD and ARE FULL OF GOD'S SPIRIT.   I believe you can bring just about any "practical" question to a set of serious Jesus' followers who will listen and then open the pages of Scripture...and you will hear from God.  Proverbs 12:15  "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice."  God "gives wisdom generously, and is not stingy" (James 1:2-4).


My sense is this - there are plenty of God's "ministering angel-spirits" (Hebrews 1:14) who are at the ready to make God's voice clear as a bell in your everyday life.  Read the Word, discuss the Word, listen to people of the Word. 

When Life Throws You Overboard

In the "big wave" scene in THE PERFECT STORM, a crew in a small boat is caught in something which captain Billy Tyne (George Clooney) realizes "won't let us out."  Their one against-the-odds chance is to gun the engines and run their ship up the face of the wave, hoping to crest the top before the crest tops them.

They don't make it.  Screaming yells are drowned in an overpowering wave.  The boat bobs to the surface upside down.


Life gets that way sometimes.  Whiplashing circumstances, declining health, unforeseen setbacks, accidents, attacks, economic crash, hurricane or flood or 8' of snow, you name it -- sometimes our fault and sometimes not...and suddenly we feel completely swamped.  Because we are.


The boat upon which we were sailing through life suddenly starts to come apart under the unrelenting storm winds and sea waves.  Disoriented and throw around, we're just hoping for a plank upon which we might safely drift to shore.  If we don't freeze to death first.


Someone asked me recently in a public Q-A time, "How can we call upon God when our life becomes 'shipwrecked.'?"


WHY SHIPWRECKS HAPPEN


Why can't life avoid major setbacks?   Why do so many of us in the human race (arguably, ALL of us) find our boats overwhelmed and overturned.


The Biblical answer is SIN.  But that answer needs explanation.

First, the Bible teaches that Adam and Eve invited the CONSEQUENCES OF SIN into our physical world when they morally disobeyed God (Genesis 3:1-19).  Pain in childbirth for women.  Toil in work for humanity.  A "very good" physical order was now under the curse of God's judgment against sin.  Humans designed for eternal life and the good blessings of God, would now die under the relentless curse and consequences of sin.  "The creation was subjected to futility," Paul explains in Romans 8.  It  "longs to be set free from its bondage," and awaits "the revelation of the sons of God."  Until then (and there is coming a time when it will happen), the physical world we live in doesn't work right.  We have to fight to make our living quarters cooperative.


All human beings since the first couple have struggled with these consequences.


This means that some of our "shipwrecks" come from simply living in a world that still physically struggles under the judgment and curse of sin.  We get sick.  Our genes can be faulty.  The whole physical order (including the natural world, the animal kingdom, and the human race) needs to be recalled due to its innumerable defects, which makes life unpredictable and painful.  Greedy, self-centered humanity abuses individuals within the race.  The thief (Satan) loves to "steal, kill, and destroy" according to Jesus (John 10).


It's the fallen world we live in, and sometimes we get hit with the full force of its fallenness simply because we live here.


Second, the Bible also teaches that when human beings CHOOSE TO SIN, they invite yet a further expression of disaster into their lives.  James 1 teaches that sin always results in the death of something good.  People can choose to repeatedly sin in their daily living, to repeatedly ignore God's wisdom, and in so doing, to invite additional "shipwreck" to happen in their lives. "The wages of sin is death."


WHAT TO DO IN WHEN SHIPWRECKED


So what if you are "shipwrecked" by the overwhelming difficulties of living in a fallen physical order?  What should you do?


The Bible urges all men who are struggling with a fallen physical order to realize their only true hope is found in God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  "I have come," Jesus said, "that people might have life, and have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).    Peter tells us that the God-man, Jesus, came to reclaim God's rule over a fallen universe and to redeem made in-the-image of God men and women and boys and girls into the family of God.  He died to pay sin's penalty and rose from the grave to reverse sin's curse.  No matter what the shipwrecks of life have done to you, you can turn to Christ and find real hope, and the promise of eternal life to come will be free from the shipwrecks of this.


This is why Jesus' servant Paul could write this about our hope:  "I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us...the creation itself will be set free from its bondage and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God" (Romans 8:19,21).


Even the severest physical struggles we face will someday yield to the joy and life that is found in the life to come.  When we belong to God by faith in Christ, we have the promise in this life that God "works all things together for the good, to them that love God" (Romans 8:28).


But secondly, what if you are "shipwrecked" by the difficulties which you have invited into your life because you've ignored God' wisdom and are suffering from the consequences of personal sin?  What if you sinfully invited the "shipwreck" into your life?


You may remember that Jonah did that.  God called him to "Go to Ninevah" and preach a message of God's impending judgment.  Not wanting to give the Assyrians a chance at forgiveness, Jonah fled the other way, in a boat, headed west to Tarshish.  In the Mediterranean sea, the storm came and the boat was about to be shipwrecked.  The sailors had to throw the disobedient prophet overboard, only then to be swallowed by a large fish (yep, it's possible).


Jonah's "shipwreck" had been self-imposed.  The solution?  Personal repentance.  "I called to the Lord out of my distress, and He answered me; out of the belly of Sheol, I cried, and He heard my voice" (Jonah 2:2).


God hears a broken voice that comes from a repentant heart.  He hears.  He forgives.  And He can rescue from the shipwreck. 


That abundant life Jesus promised can be had when someone humbly calls from floating on the plank.