"But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea," Matt. 18:6.
The events that have transpired this week at Penn State University have caused much outrage and stirred much discussion. A lot has been written about this horrific, alleged tragedy but there is one area that I have not seen given much if not any analysis and I will focus my attention on it. In this area of the world, the Omaha/Lincoln Nebraska area, we have a radio celebrity who often likes to claim that, "you cannot legislate morality." This comment is self refuting, ridiculous on its face, yet this host has been outraged by the alleged immorality of many of the people involved in the Penn State fiasco. My point is this: his outrage must be based almost completely on the foundation of a Biblical worldview. It is only supportable from the presupposition that child rape/molestation/pedophilia is wrong. This my friends, is not a universal belief among the cultures/religions of the world. In fact, it is an anomaly as we take even a cursory look at how most cultures view this detestable practice.
"He(prophet Muhammad) stayed there two years or so and then he married Aisha when she was a girl of six years of age, and he consummated that marriage when she was nine years of age," Bukhari vol. 5 book 53, ch. 43, no.236, pg. 153. It is uncontroversial outside the western world among Sunni Muslims that Muhammad married(you can't marry a six year old!) a six year old girl and had sex with her at nine. This is child rape and Muslims around the world practice this in many Muslim countries and export it to the west. They follow their leader. The Koran also instructs instances where child rape is allowed. Lest we impugn only Muslims, we must concede that pagans around the world have little to no issue with this practice. I recently read an account of a Nobel prize winner partaking in the pleasures of little boys as was the practice in the pagan land he was living in. The comments on the blog were indicative of a relativistic understanding of law and many commenter's considered the issue of child rape to be a cultural issue. I was always struck by the undercurrent of child perversion found in Greek mythology as well when I studied it in high school for mythology contests that I used to study for and enter. Even in my pre Christian days this habit for child molestation by the Greek gods deeply troubled me.
As Christians, we must point out the hypocrisy of those who claim to not want to, "legislate morality" and then get outraged at "immoral behavior". It seems they want to "legislate moronity" instead. It is a sin against God to rape a child. It is a sin, period, to have sex outside of marriage and raping a child certainly falls well within this construct. The Old Testament teaches us this much and it is amazing how relevant our culture can be to the Word of God when we just take a moment to ponder where we get these ideas about morality/immorality.
This is where the law and the gospel are so important. Romans 1 tells us that people are without excuse, wherever they are, they have knowledge of right and wrong. We must never tire of standing up for God's law and not allowing foreign ideologies to give outrage at sins that fall inside the parameters of their licentiousness. We must call them on their hypocrisy, share with them their sinfulness and evil and direct them to the perfect One who fulfilled all of the law that they have flaunted all their life. We must tell them that they have to surrender themselves to Him whom they have pierced and repent of their old way of life. Oh, we must always live in light of His glorious gospel and be generous in proclaiming it upon every occasion wherever we go.
Friends, lets learn, live and love the Gospel.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Monday, October 31, 2011
What Does This Mean? Is God a Man of War?
"They sing the son of Moses, the servant of God..." Rev. 15:3a.
Their is so much misinformation and bad doctrine out there regarding God and who He is. While doing my regular Bible reading I read this verse in Revelation and then cross referenced it with the passage in Exodus 15. Verse three is what really caught my attention, "The LORD is a man of war; The LORD is His name."
I thought that I would open this one up to discussion as I have not found much decent commentary the Song of Moses, verse three in particular. But I would like to focus our attention on: How does this square with our modern notion that Jesus was some sort of meek, mild and mushy Savior who just wants everyone to spread love around? And: Is this a reference to Christ, in the Song of Moses, as John Gill suggests and if so, what does this mean in the context of Revelation 15?
I would appreciate your comments, remember, learn, live and love the glorious gospel of Christ!
Their is so much misinformation and bad doctrine out there regarding God and who He is. While doing my regular Bible reading I read this verse in Revelation and then cross referenced it with the passage in Exodus 15. Verse three is what really caught my attention, "The LORD is a man of war; The LORD is His name."
I thought that I would open this one up to discussion as I have not found much decent commentary the Song of Moses, verse three in particular. But I would like to focus our attention on: How does this square with our modern notion that Jesus was some sort of meek, mild and mushy Savior who just wants everyone to spread love around? And: Is this a reference to Christ, in the Song of Moses, as John Gill suggests and if so, what does this mean in the context of Revelation 15?
I would appreciate your comments, remember, learn, live and love the glorious gospel of Christ!
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
The Blasphemy of Purgatory
"So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, 'It is finished!' And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit," John 19:30.
Recently, this has become very personal to me. A loved one told me that they were paying the Catholic Church to perform Masses for their loved one in Purgatory. My wife and I both expressed our incredulous disbelief. Yet, this person was unwavering in their understanding of the Hellish doctrine of Purgatory. Even more, I came across this writing from popular Christian author C.S. Lewis,
"Of course I pray for the dead...At our age, the majority of those we love best are dead...I believe in Purgatory...Our souls demand Purgatory don't they?"
This has distressed me, both my loved one's indulgences and a popular author exposing his heretical views, more than anything I can recently remember. The doctrine of Purgatory is so obviously repulsive to a correct understanding of the Gospel it is hard to understand how people can be so blind to its blasphemy. Here are at least three obvious reasons that Purgatory is wrong:
1) First and most important, it denies Christ's word and His sufficient sacrifice for our sins. Christ said, "It is finished!" He did not say, "It is finished. Except for those nasty little bitty sins that your loved ones can pray away." Purgatory is an absolute rejection of Christ and His penal atonement for our sins. Someone who believes in Purgatory does not understand Jesus Christ and His work. Only Christ's sacrificial death on our behalf can purge us and cleanse us of our unrighteousness, Romans 5 explains this.
2) Purgatory demands a system of works righteousness. My loved one had to pay an indulgence to have a priest offer up prayers, his own works, for someones purification to enter into Heaven. Someone, somewhere, somehow must do something to ease access to Heaven.
3) Purgatory takes peoples minds off of the Gospel. C.S. Lewis said that he wouldn't know what to pray for if he couldn't pray for the dead! Think of that ignorant statement for a moment. That is amazing. "Seek first the Kingdom of God," Jesus told us. We are to "Pray continuously", Paul exhorted. Our mind is to be on Christ and His glorious Gospel and its spread all over this earth. The idea is that as we go about our day we are to be conscious of everything around us and to be in prayer for it always. Pray for the children in the street, praise the beauty of trees, mourn when driving past a funeral procession, ask for supplication for the coworker with health troubles and always pray for the gospel. Let the dead bury the dead, they cannot hear us. We must praise God for their blessings in our lives but we cannot afford to pray for purging and sanctification. Jesus said that each day contained enough troubles itself, lets not worry about the days of the dead.
Purgatory is a doctrine of death which smears the gospel and blasphemes our Lord. It is unbiblical and must not be allowed to go unrebuked. Which is all the more reason why we have to learn, live and love the gospel.
Recently, this has become very personal to me. A loved one told me that they were paying the Catholic Church to perform Masses for their loved one in Purgatory. My wife and I both expressed our incredulous disbelief. Yet, this person was unwavering in their understanding of the Hellish doctrine of Purgatory. Even more, I came across this writing from popular Christian author C.S. Lewis,
"Of course I pray for the dead...At our age, the majority of those we love best are dead...I believe in Purgatory...Our souls demand Purgatory don't they?"
This has distressed me, both my loved one's indulgences and a popular author exposing his heretical views, more than anything I can recently remember. The doctrine of Purgatory is so obviously repulsive to a correct understanding of the Gospel it is hard to understand how people can be so blind to its blasphemy. Here are at least three obvious reasons that Purgatory is wrong:
1) First and most important, it denies Christ's word and His sufficient sacrifice for our sins. Christ said, "It is finished!" He did not say, "It is finished. Except for those nasty little bitty sins that your loved ones can pray away." Purgatory is an absolute rejection of Christ and His penal atonement for our sins. Someone who believes in Purgatory does not understand Jesus Christ and His work. Only Christ's sacrificial death on our behalf can purge us and cleanse us of our unrighteousness, Romans 5 explains this.
2) Purgatory demands a system of works righteousness. My loved one had to pay an indulgence to have a priest offer up prayers, his own works, for someones purification to enter into Heaven. Someone, somewhere, somehow must do something to ease access to Heaven.
3) Purgatory takes peoples minds off of the Gospel. C.S. Lewis said that he wouldn't know what to pray for if he couldn't pray for the dead! Think of that ignorant statement for a moment. That is amazing. "Seek first the Kingdom of God," Jesus told us. We are to "Pray continuously", Paul exhorted. Our mind is to be on Christ and His glorious Gospel and its spread all over this earth. The idea is that as we go about our day we are to be conscious of everything around us and to be in prayer for it always. Pray for the children in the street, praise the beauty of trees, mourn when driving past a funeral procession, ask for supplication for the coworker with health troubles and always pray for the gospel. Let the dead bury the dead, they cannot hear us. We must praise God for their blessings in our lives but we cannot afford to pray for purging and sanctification. Jesus said that each day contained enough troubles itself, lets not worry about the days of the dead.
Purgatory is a doctrine of death which smears the gospel and blasphemes our Lord. It is unbiblical and must not be allowed to go unrebuked. Which is all the more reason why we have to learn, live and love the gospel.
Friday, October 14, 2011
The Impending Collapse of the American Evangelical Church: and Why it is a Good Thing!
"And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, 'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: I know your works that you are neither hot nor cold. I could wish that you were either cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth," Rev. 3:14-16.
Are we ready to be spit out of God's mouth? The general temperature of the evangelical church in America sure seems lukewarm. We are rich and don't see our poverty. We are well dressed and do not realize our nakedness and we are blind yet our eyes see the most magnificent blasphemies the world can dream up. God's grace daily reminds me of my evil. Why He loves me is too much to understand so I want to make that clear. This post is about me more than anyone. My collapse is to God's glory. Those closest to me know how much grace God has poured into me and they have to praise Him in glory when they see what He has done to a wretch like me! All the glory to Christ!
The Church(I mean the American Evangelical Church) is almost indistinguishable from the world at large. We revel in the same disgusting entertainment as anyone else. In fact, we are buried so deep in our fornication with Hollywood that we often play their blasphemies in our services! We care so little for holiness and believe that our whoriness will attract the world to us...and it does. They become twice the whores we are and they are further from the Kingdom then when they first came! Holiness, we must understand, means that we will be hated. I don't want to be hated, but that is what we are called to. We serve a crucified Savior and He was not crucified because He was a whore but because He was Holy! Jesus never promised us a rose garden. We will be hated. Are you ready, brothers and sisters to be hated...like our Savior?
The Church refuses to stand upon God's word. It refuses to stand for righteousness and allows false teachers like those in the Purpose Driven Movement, theistic evolutionists(like Tim Keller, C.S. Lewis etc.) and Word of Faith folks to parade in their pews and spew their putrid dogma. We even have groups that parade their gospel faithfulness standing mute in the face of such heresies.
It has been said that a lie travels half way around the world before the truth even has a chance to put its boots on. In this Internet age with info traveling at light speed, that old axiom is quaint and vigilance is required to an even greater measure. While we must continually battle these evils and must acknowledge that they have penetrated the Church to its core, we must also believe and understand that the smoking rubble of the soon to be buried Church will result in a stronger more faithful Church that will glorify Christ. How this will happen is to be seen but the evangelical witness will come back and God will be glorified. It is up to us to keep our eyes on Him who was pierced and to learn, live and love the glorious Gospel! God Bless you.
Are we ready to be spit out of God's mouth? The general temperature of the evangelical church in America sure seems lukewarm. We are rich and don't see our poverty. We are well dressed and do not realize our nakedness and we are blind yet our eyes see the most magnificent blasphemies the world can dream up. God's grace daily reminds me of my evil. Why He loves me is too much to understand so I want to make that clear. This post is about me more than anyone. My collapse is to God's glory. Those closest to me know how much grace God has poured into me and they have to praise Him in glory when they see what He has done to a wretch like me! All the glory to Christ!
The Church(I mean the American Evangelical Church) is almost indistinguishable from the world at large. We revel in the same disgusting entertainment as anyone else. In fact, we are buried so deep in our fornication with Hollywood that we often play their blasphemies in our services! We care so little for holiness and believe that our whoriness will attract the world to us...and it does. They become twice the whores we are and they are further from the Kingdom then when they first came! Holiness, we must understand, means that we will be hated. I don't want to be hated, but that is what we are called to. We serve a crucified Savior and He was not crucified because He was a whore but because He was Holy! Jesus never promised us a rose garden. We will be hated. Are you ready, brothers and sisters to be hated...like our Savior?
The Church refuses to stand upon God's word. It refuses to stand for righteousness and allows false teachers like those in the Purpose Driven Movement, theistic evolutionists(like Tim Keller, C.S. Lewis etc.) and Word of Faith folks to parade in their pews and spew their putrid dogma. We even have groups that parade their gospel faithfulness standing mute in the face of such heresies.
It has been said that a lie travels half way around the world before the truth even has a chance to put its boots on. In this Internet age with info traveling at light speed, that old axiom is quaint and vigilance is required to an even greater measure. While we must continually battle these evils and must acknowledge that they have penetrated the Church to its core, we must also believe and understand that the smoking rubble of the soon to be buried Church will result in a stronger more faithful Church that will glorify Christ. How this will happen is to be seen but the evangelical witness will come back and God will be glorified. It is up to us to keep our eyes on Him who was pierced and to learn, live and love the glorious Gospel! God Bless you.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Qualified Elders and the Idolatry of Satelite "Churches"
"For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you...v. 5, holding fast the faithful word that he(the elder) has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict," Titus 1:5, 9.
There is no time to mess around, we must cut to the chase here. The American Evangelical Church, those who claim the title evangelical, is about to die. It has given in to almost every crass whim of culture and is breathing its last breath. The final sign of its impending rigor mortise is this: the satellite "church". What I mean, to be clear, by satellite "church", is a "church" whose primary teacher/preacher is piped in on a big screen from miles(sometimes hundreds or more) away. A recent survey showed that 59 of the 100 fastest growing churches in the country are of the satellite variety. Friends, what this displays is a complete and total lack of discipleship and the fawning adulation of the celebrity pastor. This trend is sweeping the church and even once reliable men like John Piper are allowing this charade to be played, miming the idiocies of the business conference world. Mark Driscoll, James McDonald, Ed Young Jr. and multitudes of other popish pastors are emulating this silliness forgetting that their primary charge is to disciple others and furthermore, as Paul admonished Titus, select particularly mature and faithful men to teach and exhort their flocks.
Having sounded the alarm, more will have to be said as the rotting edifice of American evangelicalism collapses upon itself. While it may sound as if I am alarmed, I know that God will keep those who are His, He is sovereign, holy, gracious and just. What arises out of this destruction will be a stronger, more faithful and more loving church in America. It is in times such as these that we must, more than ever, learn, live and love the glorious gospel of our loving Savior!
There is no time to mess around, we must cut to the chase here. The American Evangelical Church, those who claim the title evangelical, is about to die. It has given in to almost every crass whim of culture and is breathing its last breath. The final sign of its impending rigor mortise is this: the satellite "church". What I mean, to be clear, by satellite "church", is a "church" whose primary teacher/preacher is piped in on a big screen from miles(sometimes hundreds or more) away. A recent survey showed that 59 of the 100 fastest growing churches in the country are of the satellite variety. Friends, what this displays is a complete and total lack of discipleship and the fawning adulation of the celebrity pastor. This trend is sweeping the church and even once reliable men like John Piper are allowing this charade to be played, miming the idiocies of the business conference world. Mark Driscoll, James McDonald, Ed Young Jr. and multitudes of other popish pastors are emulating this silliness forgetting that their primary charge is to disciple others and furthermore, as Paul admonished Titus, select particularly mature and faithful men to teach and exhort their flocks.
Having sounded the alarm, more will have to be said as the rotting edifice of American evangelicalism collapses upon itself. While it may sound as if I am alarmed, I know that God will keep those who are His, He is sovereign, holy, gracious and just. What arises out of this destruction will be a stronger, more faithful and more loving church in America. It is in times such as these that we must, more than ever, learn, live and love the glorious gospel of our loving Savior!
Friday, September 16, 2011
3 Reasons to Start Discipling Using Genesis 1:1
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," Gen. 1:1.
Tomorrow I will be teaching a group of men and I decided I would start at the beginning, Genesis 1:1. Here are at least 3 good reasons to start with this text.
1) It is foundational. God started here and He could have started with anything. He could have told Moses about our sin and need for redemption through His Son Jesus Christ right away but He, in His truly infinite wisdom, started with, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." So this seems like a great place to start discipling men. Even more, we have such a low tolerance from so many "evangelicals" for the first two chapters of Genesis. This silliness started with C.S. Lewis who often showered contempt on the Old Testament and believed that the OT was more myth than anything. His disciple, Tim Keller, continues in his tradition and mangles the creation account of Genesis into something so far fetched not even a three year old could believe it. Evangelicals who take the whole counsel of God seriously need to return to sanity and teach and understand the whole of scripture as it was intended to be understood. We must turn from the heresies of men like Lewis and Keller.
2) It magnifies Christ's atoning sacrifice for our sins. Modern evangelicals have largely reduced the gospel to what Christ did on the cross for our sins. They provide no context for this and largely ignore the rest of the gospel. Yes, there is more to the gospel. Mark' account starts off with, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." He didn't launch into the Crucifixion account immediately but told the whole story of Jesus starting with the beginning of His ministry. Included in this are the words of Jesus' about God's creation and Jesus took it seriously. We are also told, in John's Gospel, that Jesus was the one who God the Father created everything through. Christ is not just our redeemer but He is the One who spoke and the universe leapt into existence. Christ upholds all things even now. He is the all powerful creator of the universe, "whom was pierced for our transgressions and who was wounded for our iniquity. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him and by His stripes we are healed," Isaiah 53. When we juxtapose these two awesome truths, it makes Jesus' obedient, loving sacrifice that much more astounding. Like finally walking to the edge of the Grand Canyon after only seeing it in photos all of your life. He "traded Heaven's throne for a cross," 1John, and that is beyond compare!
3) It magnifies/glorifies God and puts man in his place. We all need to see things from God's perspective. Before we judge someone, we are always told to "walk a mile in their shoes." Genesis 1 helps us to put God's shoes on. Genesis one tells us that God is before time and He is in time. Confusing? Yes. Contradictory? No. I'm not going to explain it, well, because I can't, but meditate on it. He also created everything. We are, in reality, not able to create anything. Sure, we can rearrange God's stuff to make stuff, but we can't speak it into existence. God did and can. Because God created all things, He knows it all. I can't remember more than ten phone numbers. There are many other things that we can know about God through this one verse, but that is for you to ponder and meditate(biblically) on. We should consider these things and it should help us to see God in all His glory and that should motivate us to speak of God and His power and glory to those we meet. It will make all our problems seem insignificant next to God's all consuming power and love. It has been said that, "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." Those are powerful words and Genesis 1 is our first step to knowing Him and enjoying Him for all eternity.
God bless you and learn, live and love the Gospel!
Tomorrow I will be teaching a group of men and I decided I would start at the beginning, Genesis 1:1. Here are at least 3 good reasons to start with this text.
1) It is foundational. God started here and He could have started with anything. He could have told Moses about our sin and need for redemption through His Son Jesus Christ right away but He, in His truly infinite wisdom, started with, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." So this seems like a great place to start discipling men. Even more, we have such a low tolerance from so many "evangelicals" for the first two chapters of Genesis. This silliness started with C.S. Lewis who often showered contempt on the Old Testament and believed that the OT was more myth than anything. His disciple, Tim Keller, continues in his tradition and mangles the creation account of Genesis into something so far fetched not even a three year old could believe it. Evangelicals who take the whole counsel of God seriously need to return to sanity and teach and understand the whole of scripture as it was intended to be understood. We must turn from the heresies of men like Lewis and Keller.
2) It magnifies Christ's atoning sacrifice for our sins. Modern evangelicals have largely reduced the gospel to what Christ did on the cross for our sins. They provide no context for this and largely ignore the rest of the gospel. Yes, there is more to the gospel. Mark' account starts off with, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." He didn't launch into the Crucifixion account immediately but told the whole story of Jesus starting with the beginning of His ministry. Included in this are the words of Jesus' about God's creation and Jesus took it seriously. We are also told, in John's Gospel, that Jesus was the one who God the Father created everything through. Christ is not just our redeemer but He is the One who spoke and the universe leapt into existence. Christ upholds all things even now. He is the all powerful creator of the universe, "whom was pierced for our transgressions and who was wounded for our iniquity. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him and by His stripes we are healed," Isaiah 53. When we juxtapose these two awesome truths, it makes Jesus' obedient, loving sacrifice that much more astounding. Like finally walking to the edge of the Grand Canyon after only seeing it in photos all of your life. He "traded Heaven's throne for a cross," 1John, and that is beyond compare!
3) It magnifies/glorifies God and puts man in his place. We all need to see things from God's perspective. Before we judge someone, we are always told to "walk a mile in their shoes." Genesis 1 helps us to put God's shoes on. Genesis one tells us that God is before time and He is in time. Confusing? Yes. Contradictory? No. I'm not going to explain it, well, because I can't, but meditate on it. He also created everything. We are, in reality, not able to create anything. Sure, we can rearrange God's stuff to make stuff, but we can't speak it into existence. God did and can. Because God created all things, He knows it all. I can't remember more than ten phone numbers. There are many other things that we can know about God through this one verse, but that is for you to ponder and meditate(biblically) on. We should consider these things and it should help us to see God in all His glory and that should motivate us to speak of God and His power and glory to those we meet. It will make all our problems seem insignificant next to God's all consuming power and love. It has been said that, "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." Those are powerful words and Genesis 1 is our first step to knowing Him and enjoying Him for all eternity.
God bless you and learn, live and love the Gospel!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Pray Without Ceasing: Don't Flirt With Disaster
"Pray without ceasing," 1 Thessalonians 5:17.
Today as I was driving my route truck down a dusty gravel road in south central Nebraska, I heard a sports talk show host incredulously ask why people would pray for an athlete's contract negotiation. He remarked that he wouldn't go into detail regarding his religious views yet his dogma's showed forth despite his foggy pronouncement. He was reading a Buddhist book and remarked that he kept his prayer life focused on his families health and the well being of those in the midst of disastrous occurrences.
We see this elitist incredulity pop up often this time of year as camera's will glance at large men, all geared up, sitting in a circle and praying before and/or after a game. These folks will banter about why God would care who won a football game when there are earthquakes, wars and famines all over the world! The aforementioned sports talker cajoled that, "these people(who pray for players contract negotiation) are probably the type who pray for kitties!" Yep, I pray for my dog, I would pray for a cat too if we had one. But, we must ask, are these elitist's correct? Does God have more important things to worry about than football stuff, kitties and dogs?
Well, yes He doesn't! There are people scattered around our globe suffering beyond what we can imagine and people living right in your neighborhood who are in desperate condition. God can handle them. In fact, God may use us as an instrument of mercy in their life. Yet, the question reveals a lot about the questioner's faith. They have a deficient view of God and a complete misunderstanding of the Christian life at the very least. Their view of God seems to indicate that they believe in a less than all powerful deity. They seem to think that God only has time and or energy to deal with the really, really big stuff. We can handle the small stuff on our own. We don't want to overload poor, kind of powerful God. We are strong ourselves and can do some of the lighter lifting, allowing God to do the really heavy stuff. This view shrinks God and elevates man. God owns the the cattle on a thousand hills(understatement) and spoke the universe into existence. I don't even own the house on our hill and I speak my ignorance into infamy daily. God can handle anything...anything. Me on the other hand, I'm a fairly impotent little man.
Even more, this question reveals that those who ask it do not understand the Christian life(or the Gospel itself) at all. "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God and His peace that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus," Philip. 4:6-7. We are to "pray without ceasing". How is this done if we do not pray about the situation at hand, whether it is a football game, a hurting neighbor, an election, a hurt toe or any number of other random, normal occurrences that present themselves daily. A Christian's life is to be marked by prayer. How did Daniel's enemies trap him? They set him up so that his righteousness, particularly his fervent prayer life, would get him thrown into the Lion's den. Nehemiah prayed silently to God and requested a great favor from King Xerxes at the same time! Who said that men cannot multitask! Prayer to a Christian should be a continuous conversation with God. It is a relationship and God does not want us to take our eyes off of him. When a brother/sister has an issue, tell them you'll pray for them...and do it, now, and then again later. If your car is making weird noises, ask for God's help. It would seem to be an easy enough problem for Him. Is there such a thing as a big problem for God? His answer isn't always our desire(it should be) but we must learn to turn to Him on all occasions, with fervency and humility. Even if it is for your kitty.
God bless you all and learn, live and love the Gospel!
Today as I was driving my route truck down a dusty gravel road in south central Nebraska, I heard a sports talk show host incredulously ask why people would pray for an athlete's contract negotiation. He remarked that he wouldn't go into detail regarding his religious views yet his dogma's showed forth despite his foggy pronouncement. He was reading a Buddhist book and remarked that he kept his prayer life focused on his families health and the well being of those in the midst of disastrous occurrences.
We see this elitist incredulity pop up often this time of year as camera's will glance at large men, all geared up, sitting in a circle and praying before and/or after a game. These folks will banter about why God would care who won a football game when there are earthquakes, wars and famines all over the world! The aforementioned sports talker cajoled that, "these people(who pray for players contract negotiation) are probably the type who pray for kitties!" Yep, I pray for my dog, I would pray for a cat too if we had one. But, we must ask, are these elitist's correct? Does God have more important things to worry about than football stuff, kitties and dogs?
Well, yes He doesn't! There are people scattered around our globe suffering beyond what we can imagine and people living right in your neighborhood who are in desperate condition. God can handle them. In fact, God may use us as an instrument of mercy in their life. Yet, the question reveals a lot about the questioner's faith. They have a deficient view of God and a complete misunderstanding of the Christian life at the very least. Their view of God seems to indicate that they believe in a less than all powerful deity. They seem to think that God only has time and or energy to deal with the really, really big stuff. We can handle the small stuff on our own. We don't want to overload poor, kind of powerful God. We are strong ourselves and can do some of the lighter lifting, allowing God to do the really heavy stuff. This view shrinks God and elevates man. God owns the the cattle on a thousand hills(understatement) and spoke the universe into existence. I don't even own the house on our hill and I speak my ignorance into infamy daily. God can handle anything...anything. Me on the other hand, I'm a fairly impotent little man.
Even more, this question reveals that those who ask it do not understand the Christian life(or the Gospel itself) at all. "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God and His peace that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus," Philip. 4:6-7. We are to "pray without ceasing". How is this done if we do not pray about the situation at hand, whether it is a football game, a hurting neighbor, an election, a hurt toe or any number of other random, normal occurrences that present themselves daily. A Christian's life is to be marked by prayer. How did Daniel's enemies trap him? They set him up so that his righteousness, particularly his fervent prayer life, would get him thrown into the Lion's den. Nehemiah prayed silently to God and requested a great favor from King Xerxes at the same time! Who said that men cannot multitask! Prayer to a Christian should be a continuous conversation with God. It is a relationship and God does not want us to take our eyes off of him. When a brother/sister has an issue, tell them you'll pray for them...and do it, now, and then again later. If your car is making weird noises, ask for God's help. It would seem to be an easy enough problem for Him. Is there such a thing as a big problem for God? His answer isn't always our desire(it should be) but we must learn to turn to Him on all occasions, with fervency and humility. Even if it is for your kitty.
God bless you all and learn, live and love the Gospel!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)