Monthly Archives: September 2015

Unknown God

Acts 17:22-25 Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.

I have been reading through Paul’s journey in the book of Acts this morning; always amazed at how the Holy Spirit set forth his journey of many places. Paul had been set forth to spread the Gospel, to reach the unreached (the Gentiles), and to go proclaim the good news to all that had never heard it before. Paul was going to suffer for the sake of the Gospel, and he did repeatedly. Mostly when Paul fled from one city to another, it was a result of persecution or knowledge of it coming. Paul also knew when to stay put, even when the doors of the jail were opened by a great earthquake. All of this served to spread the good news of Jesus, and Paul even returned to many places where he was persecuted to strengthen those who needed encouraging.

When Paul was in Athens he was overcome by the idol worship there. He still preached the gospel to all that would here, and his message found him before the leaders wanting to know more of what “new thing” he was teaching. Paul above, the expert orator, used their own idol against them. Their unknown God was being proclaimed to them boldly! I am headed to a country that worships almost countless God’s and I am not knowing how to proclaim the only one true God. I rest in the same wisdom as Paul thousands of years ago, that Jesus has gone before me preparing hearts, designing situations, using his sovereignty and his Spirit to guide my paths and speech.

Do you see how many idols are among us today? What is the first commandment? Exodus 20:3 You shall have no other gods before Me. Not only other countries have many Gods. An idol, or god, is anything you hold in such high value that you worship it. Think about money, or possessions, sex, appearances, conceit or any list things you worry too much over. Today, sadly even in our churches is the coming age of universalism, or pluralism; the idea that all paths lead to God and heaven. This is the broad road that leads to hell. Matthew 7:3 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. The unknown god that the Romans worshipped, is the same God that you may find yourself worshipping today. Don’t fall into the trap of the broad road, but get focused like Paul on the gospel yourself, and sharing it to all that He designs for your life’s journey.

Simple, peaceful life

Proverbs 15:15-16 All the days of the afflicted are evil, but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast. 16 Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble with it.
I lived so much of my life with the motto “the one who dies with the most toys wins.” I don’t know if I was winning, but I was surely trying with my ever growing list of stuff. That is how we are measured in society, by our material wealth and possessions. We strive to be outwardly rich, pursuing happiness in material gain. We are trying to fill a void in our hearts, fill a pain within us, with purchases that bring temporal satisfaction. The term “buy me some happy” is how we all have felt and dealt with a problem in our lives. We went out and bought anything that brought pleasure until the new wore off it, and then we focused on our next prize. It is a never ending cycle of emotion that brings the pain of debt, dwindling cash, and every problem that comes with ownership. There is nothing material in this world that we will take into eternity, the list is wiped clean. Solomon wrote of the vanity of overworking ourselves, and how it was left to someone else in the book of Ecclesiastes.

God has stripped me of so many of my material possessions in recent years, although I am still far rich by worldly standards. There is nothing material you will ever gain, that does not come with trouble. The trouble can be the financial investment, the time lost with family, the responsibility and problems that come with ownership, the worry of it, the time that could have been better spent on relationships that last, instead of possessions that don’t. That is the only thing that carries into eternity; relationships with your Savior, and the people you invest in. Sharing the Gospel with those who God places around you is how you invest eternally. If the Lord has blessed you financially, return that blessing to him financially by supporting churches and ministries. I read of Jacob’s vow, of his simple plea this morning after experiencing a heavenly vision. 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the LORD will be my God 22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” (Genesis 28) Do you see the simplicity of his request to God?

There is a peace that surpasses all worldly understanding to those who focus on eternity and not worldly wealth. Matthew Henry put it, “It is therefore far better, and more desirable, to have but a little of the world and to have it with a good conscience, to keep up communion with God, and enjoy him in it, and live by faith, than to have the greatest plenty and live without God in the world.” Seek God and pray for him to give you just enough, and to encourage those around you with the simple peace and pleasure that come with it. There is much peace in the simple life.

Only Believe

Mark 5:36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid; only believe.”

Jarius, a person of Jewish stature, a ruler of the church, had humbled himself at Jesus’ feet and pled for Christ to come heal his deathly ill daughter. He was going against the religious of the day, and believing Jesus could perform that miracle. He had the faith to ask for help, and not the pride to resist. Jarius witnessed a healing of a woman on the way to his home with Jesus; she had simply touched His garment and the power had went out of him because of her faith also. Jarius’ faith was surely strengthened again by witnessing it. Then messengers reached them with the news of his daughters death; Jarius likely lost it and went into shock of emotions. Fear set in with the reality of loosing his daughter, yet he walked by the side with the One who held life in his hands. Jesus assured him to just calm down and have the faith to believe it all was under God’s control. Jarius was about to be a part of a miracle to the point it made historical history in the Bible to encourage us today. Just to have faith that God is always in control.

We can’t grasp it; the fears and the questions always come in life. We always wonder why some things happen to us, why other things don’t, why evil abounds, why bad people prosper, why God allows the things God allows. Our sin nature, the sin in us, the power Satan has in us that breeds those fears. Our sin weakens our faith, but God is always in control. I was reading of Solomon this morning, and how Israel became divided after his death and was about to war upon each other. God sent a prophet to Rehoboam and said, “’Thus says the Lord: “You shall not go up or fight against your brethren! Let every man return to his house, for this thing is from Me.” (2 Chronicles 11:4) God is always in control. There is a purpose behind every thing that happens in our lives. Free Will is intertwined with God’s control through a complexity we cannot begin to grasp.

What weakens your fears and strengthens your faith? Simply put is the daily pursuit of God through prayer and time in his Word. The heart that seeks him is the heart that finds him on a level that will change your outlook on life. Once you begin to experience the revelations of how real God is, how personal God is, how he controls even the smallest details of your life, your faith will be strengthened. You will begin to understand that fear is from Satan, sent only as a Spiritual attack. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7) God will use your faith to encourage and draw others unto himself by your testimony to him. You will walk with a new outlook on life, seeing this life as it is, temporary, and see the blessing of eternal paradise with Him. That alone strengthens your faith to face whatever comes for the day. You begin to face life only one day at a time. Fear is worrying about a future event, and your future is secure in heaven.

More Valuable than Gold

Psalm 119:65-72 You have dealt well with Your servant, O Lord, according to Your word. 66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge, For I believe Your commandments. 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word. 68 You are good, and do good; Teach me Your statutes. 69 The proud have forged a lie against me, But I will keep Your precepts with my whole heart. 70 Their heart is as fat as grease, But I delight in Your law. 71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes. 72 The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of coins of gold and silver.

I love how God works. I heard a partial sermon yesterday on Psalm 119 and how the writer compared the Word of God to be better than gold to him (Psalm 119:127). Pastor Begg was preaching on another topic, but I could not escape how just that scripture had spoken to me. I rose up even earlier this morning to study. I stopped reading at the passage above, feeling that same stirring of the Holy Spirit. As the study deepened, I was moved by a commentary of my favorite pastor, CH Spurgeon. “However God has dealt with us, he has dealt with us better than we deserve; and all in love, and for our good. Many have knowledge, but little judgment; those who have both, are fortified against the snares of Satan, and furnished for the service of God. We are most apt to wander from God, when we are easy in the world. We should leave our concerns to the disposal of God, seeing we know not what is good for us. Lord, thou art our bountiful Benefactor; incline our hearts to faith and obedience. The psalmist will go on in his duty with constancy and resolution. The proud are full of the world, and its wealth and pleasures; these make them senseless, secure, and stupid. God visits his people with affliction, that they may learn his statutes. Not only God’s promises, but even his law, his percepts, though hard to ungodly men, are desirable, and profitable, because they lead us with safety and delight unto eternal life.”

I have an immense load of “life” upon me now as I am sure you do also. Even when we crack under the pressures of it, the sovereign hand of God is in control of it. All things pass through God’s control, and our limited minds cannot comprehend that. But the question that the unknown writer, (most scholars think David), asks here is, where is your faith in your Bible and your God? Where is your faith, where is your heart in the pursuit of God found in your Bible? Are you pursuing the truths found there, or are you led by this temporal world you are just passing through? Your heart for God is measured my it’s pursuit of him through the Spiritual Disciplines of prayer, meditation on scriptures, fasting, and living your life in accordance to them. A heart for God does not measure itself by it’s Sunday church attendance record and list of good works.

Listen how Spurgeon described just Psalm 119, which in itself describes the whole Bible which had not been written yet. “It spread itself out before me like a vast, rolling prairie, to which I could see no bound, and this alone created a feeling of dismay. Its expanse was unbroken by a bluff or headland, and hence it threatened a monotonous task, although the fear has not been realized. This marvellous poem seemed to me a great sea of holy teaching, moving, in its many verses, wave upon wave; altogether without an island of special and remarkable statement to break it up.”

Is your Bible more valuable that gold to you?

Where time matters most

Acts 18:20-21 When they asked him to stay a longer time with them, he did not consent, 21 but took leave of them, saying, “I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem; but I will return again to you, God willing.” And he sailed from Ephesus.

In the context of this passage, it is written of the Apostle Paul visiting about six places. All of his stops were to strengthen the churches. Paul would visit an area, men would come to faith, and Paul would prepare them to lead their new church God had entrusted them with. Paul would usually return at a later time to help with the problems that have arisen, and encourage them to be strong in the tasks of building the kingdom. Do you realize that most of Paul’s New Testament writings are to these churches that he started? Paul life was focused, focused on one thing that truly mattered; a heavenly focus to share the heavenly hope of God’s grace and mercy available to everyone who will repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

I am a workaholic by nature, I relax by doing work projects. My job is incredibly demanding, and living a life on call is difficult at the highest level. Only a few people truly understand what it is like to live your life on call, never able to truly take off from work. Some of us are so bound by work we miss the joy of life because we are focused on the next sale, the next promotion, or just the money for the next pleasure. My youngest son prayed for me to not have to work so much this weekend……it hurt to the core. Are you missing out on what truly matters in life, investments in the only things that matter? Eternal investments are in people. In their lives, in their eternal lives, in their knowledge of Jesus Christ and understanding that this life is temporal.

The Apostle Paul got it. He lived his life focused on the next life. Colossians 3:2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. Paul lived his life abiding in Christ; he was in a state of being in Christ. He focused on what truly mattered, sharing the gospel to a dying world. When you begin to spend daily time with God, seeking him in prayer and his Word, every, single, day, you become more like Jesus. Romans 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. You are transformed by the power of God through his Spirit that opens the truths of God to you. You begin to see what truly matters, like Paul, you begin to seek making eternal investments. Is whatever you are focused on today, going to make a difference in someone for eternity? Is the next purchase going to get someone close to you the keys to heaven? Why not spend time asking God to open your heart and eyes to someone close to you that needs the Good News today? Spend some time…….where it matters most.