Monthly Archives: May 2017

Abundant Life

John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

How many paths can this scripture take you; how many sermons lie in the depths of it’s context, and the simplicity of it alone? How many sermons can be preached on the war of good and evil, this life, death, and the life thereafter? Do you see all of life wrapped up in this one sentence? Do you see the root of all life’s problems, and the Answer to them? All of eternity lies here, and the One who died to give you the paradise found in it calls you here, opens the door as the good shepherd and welcomes you, protects you, and provides all that you need under his care. This is one of Jesus’ great “I am” statements in the gospel of John. Jesus tells us of how he is to be everything to us, and with him we have nothing to worry about. He holds the key to paradise, he stands at the door to it, summoning those who hear his voice. If you feel that tug, even the inquisition means you hear his voice. What you do in response to it, determines your eternity. So many do not understand that they do not “find God,” but we respond to a calling from God from deep within our souls.

What is this “abundantly” Jesus speaks about? Prosperity gospel preachers could run wild with this passage and proclaim we are to have all of life’s wealth, and lead many astray. I have always wondered what the heretics did with the Bible telling us how we will suffer for our faith; likely they avoid all-together or twist the scriptures. 2 Timothy 3:12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Jesus told his own disciples, his own chosen twelve how the world would hate them; we are no different from them because of our faith 2000 years later. John 15:18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. The closer you draw to Jesus, the more you resemble him, the more the world hates you. The blessing that lies within it is that you care less what the world thinks of you. Leonard Ravenhill said, “If you want to be popular preach happiness. If you want to be unpopular preach holiness.” Sadly there is many a packed churchs today of people seeking happiness, not holiness, and the void within them is still there because they have not pursued becoming a true disciple of Jesus Christ. The abundant life that Jesus speaks of here, is the one that looks past this life through the lens of the gospel, and sees and feels the paradise that awaits them eternally. Living a carefree life because eternity is in view, abiding with Christ, obeying his commands for the day, repentance, prayer, and studying his Word, lead to a joyful spirit that would be abundant life defined.

We will rejoice

Psalm 118:24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

I sat this morn on the porch, in prayer of a plea to be a good leader in so many ways. I sat and prayed for big decisions personally, and over the result of big decisions in regards to our business; we find ourselves at a level we have not been in almost 10 years. The Lord has blessed us and built a team for us so clearly, that I seek to just properly lead what he is providing. This is bringing about many other decisions, much on my heart, yet somehow my prayer was transformed into a praise by the Holy Spirit; this passage rolled off my tongue before I knew, and he lead me to the peace of the still waters as only he can. He calmed my soul in the understanding of himself at work in our lives. It is hard to properly articulate the transition of a Holy Spirit lead moment, but it is humbling beyond words, the evidence of God before me.

I came in to read and study the Psalm, and through that came to realize that Jesus likely sang this hymn the night of his betrayal unto death. He praised his Father with this, knowing what the immanent hours held. I thought of the prayers and discussions I had with customers this week; those in the midst of the trials of life, struggling with the paths God had them on. My prayer is that the Lord will encourage them in their journey as I point them today to this Psalm. vs. 6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? God will take us himself, or let Satan do a work that will backfire, all to conform us into the image of his Son. 2 Corinthians 3:16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

These days we live in are perilous times; the Christian persecution is at a level that is increasing daily, sometimes openly, many times covertly. Your faith is a point that many disagree with, and the more you try to live righteously, the greater your battle with the world becomes. The more you try to adhere to the Biblical standards, the more the world will do war with you. It is an honor to be persecuted for righteousness’ sake; it is an honor to struggle in life for the same; look at the life of Job, the most righteous, and how God allowed the unimaginable temporal pain, yet heavenly, eternal rewards for what he endured and never left the faith. Praise God today, thank him for his mercy, and his undeserved grace that he bestowed upon us in Christ.

Temple Cleansing Our Minds

Luke 19:45-48 Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ” 47 And He was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him, 48 and were unable to do anything; for all the people were very attentive to hear Him.

Yesterday I had someone reference this passage in a context that I thought of as strange in the topic of conversation we were on. This morning in prayer, the word “unable” was the word that came to me to research in God’s Word. In only two texts in the NKJV, was unable found, and the passage above grabbed my attention with reference to hearing it again. What was God telling me? Jesus showed us righteous anger at the level of sins within the temple’s arena. Jesus was angry at all those buying and selling and doing it unethically. I know I can stand before God at how I run our company, to the best of my ability and not hiding behind Christian banners while perpetrating unethical practices. I am listening to an Alistar Begg sermon series on that topic right now; the outward symbols of Christianity while the inward man struggles……ahhh….that’s it.

I have heard, and know it to be true personally, that the thought life of many Christians and many pastors is their greatest struggle. I know of how Satan comes at me in ways I dare not repeat, of thoughts that are indeed great sins, and how he takes them and produces all types of imagery, all types of fantasy, all types of things that the world proclaims victorious, but they go agains the Word, laws, morals, integrity, and all the Bible teaches us. What if the passage is meant for us, for me, to understand how much Jesus wants to cleanse our temples? 1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. I truly believe that many of us do not grasp such a pillar of Christianity as this that Paul proclaims. Jesus told us; “16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever– 17 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. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. (John 14) We have Christ living inside of us; his Holy Spirit to guide us in all truth, yet we grieve him when we allow sin to run rampant in our lives; that sin may be outwardly seen, or inwardly hidden, but He knows it all.

How do we battle and fight these unseen wars? How do we battle these thoughts that we seemingly cannot control? How do we stop, or even just keep them from making forward progress in our minds? Willfully pray against them upon inception, and pick up God’s Word and read. Nothing else needs to be said…….

Driving Where?

Philippians 4: 6-7   Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

This passage in my favorite Bible is going to melt through to the next from all the ink I have laid all over it. The Lord continues to give me this passage throughout seasons in my life; a front porch prayer this morning over big things, seemed small when He brings to remembrance the passage above. Big worldly problems, big decisions, or whatever we face seem small through the lens of eternity. Overwhelming anxiousness is replaced by glimpses of understanding of the power of a sovereign God in the details of our lives. Satan wins the war in worry, he is defeated in Philippians 4:6-7 by the power of God in our souls.

The context of Paul’s letter, his epistle while under duress, gives new meaning to the power of the peace he speaks of. Paul suffered likely greater that we even read of; beatings, shipwrecks, hunger, and even the imprisonment from which he writes. Paul quoted the most mis-used passage in the Bible (Phil.4:13 I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength), while in prison. Paul was speaking of contentment, not excelling at any given sport, trial in life, challenge set before us, but to be content with the tough things in life. Paul was speaking of how to handle the difficult, of how to see the sovereign hand of God letting him be on life’s path at the current place in his life. Paul was content in the highs, and many lows, but sought to draw glory to God through all of them.

Where do you go, what do you turn to, whom do you turn to when life gets tough? Is it some substance, some place, or someone? Do you hid from your trials, or mask them from others, or lay them at the feet of Jesus? He knows your struggles, knows your sins, and yet he still loved you enough to die for you so that you may gain the paradise that he is preparing for you. The peace that comes with a heart that seeks him, is the peace that Paul writes of; the peace that comes from prayer and time in God’s Word, for the world only produces the anxieties that drive us away from it.

Crawl to the Altar

2 Timothy 4:3-6 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
Are we brave enough to look at ourselves as Christians? Are we brave enough to reflect on many of our Sunday worship services, asking of how God sees them? Are we drawn to Sunday worship for the entertainment; for the concert, the lights and sound, the flashy mega-preacher that has a cult-like following? Are we disillusioned when we are not entertained, complaining how the music was not right, or the message was just not clear? I have sat many a Sunday in the pews, only to drive home and critique and complain about the above, and Satan smiled….we all have done it. Leonard Ravenhill said, “I read of the revivals of the past, great sweeping revivals where thousands of men were swept into the Kingdom of God. I read about Charles G. Finney winning his thousands and his hundreds of thousands of souls to Christ. Then I picked up a book and read the messages of Charles G. Finney and the message of Jonathan Edwards on ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,’ and I said, ‘No wonder men trembled; no wonder they fell in the altars and cried out in repentance and sobbed their way to the throne of grace!’ Hell is missing in our doctrine, our preaching, and the fear of it in our lives.

When is the last time your pastor preached on Hell? Likely some length, because they are fearful the pews will be vacant the next Sunday. If your pastor has fulfilled his duty, remain at that church if he is preaching the only Savior from it, the free gift of God’s grace, but not a works based doctrine of yourself that sends you to it. Paul was writing his final letter to Timothy, knowing how Timothy would struggle against the world in proclaiming the gospel. Paul was seeing the early growth of the movements of heresy that still thrive today; just enough Jesus to tickle the ears, but enough of the world to condemn the follower. Ephesians 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them. Paul knew many other teachers were going to struggle with exclusivity of his doctrine, how they would twist it to tug people away from all Jesus had provided. They would still preach Jesus, but deceptively not the clear gospel of John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Today many times we hear there is enough bad news in the world, that preachers only want to preach the good news. There is no bad news greater than Hell, there is nothing you are facing today that compares to eternal damnation from a Holy God, there is nothing to compare to Hell. Why would we not proclaim the One who died to save us, rose to rescue us, and builds mansions in Heaven to dwell with us eternally? When you see how little your worldly problems are, how great your eternal problem is, why would you not crawl to the altar in repentance such as the great revivals of the past?

Y’all Listen

Isaiah 6:9 And He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’

How many times in life are we misunderstood? It may be a case where the words just came out wrong, a case where we didn’t know how to express what we desired to say, or a time we couldn’t understand why someone couldn’t understand us. Those headings cover most misunderstandings, and the reasons behind them may be complex. We all struggle with the first; misspoken words are a part of life. James epistle puts it pretty plainly about our speech; James 3:5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. It really isn’t that hard to understand why our mouths get us in trouble, for James even proclaims they are from Hell itself, and Satan really knows how to use a tool such as that.

Likely the second category may be slightly related to the first. We can’t find the right words, but our passions have us blurting out the wrong words. We can’t bring to memory what we are really trying to say, but that unruly evil is the rudder that steers the ship astray many times. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 17:27 He who has knowledge spares his words, And a man of understanding is of a calm spirit. The Bible is full of the topic of our tongues; the Bible is full of the call to remain silent, and the command to shout it from the mountaintops. This world needs many to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, loudly and clearly from whatever pulpit He has given us. A call to repent from sin, a call to turn from worldly pursuits and live with an eternal focus. A call to preach both the promise of heaven, and the fear of hell to those who don’t believe.

I have been in a season of misunderstandings; a season of all three categories. I have remained silent for a time for the fear of the offense, but that time is over. As God woke me up in the middle of the night, stirring my soul with many things, he called me back to Isaiah six, the chapter of Isaiah’s calling; a calling to an incredibly tough ministry of pointing out Israel’s sin. God called me out early in my walk to a tough ministry; the sins of us Christian’s as a church. Growing up in religion, it was only later in life I understood grace, and I now realize how many of us will not see eternal paradise. A painful calling God has placed upon me, one seemingly more difficult than salvation to the sinner, but the salvation to those who think they already have attained it.

It is as Isaiah said of his own sins, “I am a man of unclean lips, living with those just like me.” I am no greater than you, my list of sins embarrass me, the need for daily repentance is evident in my thought life endlessly. It is of no judgement, but one of God using me to proclaim the truth, to all those he has prepared to hear, and may he grow his kingdom by his own mercy and grace.