4 Reminders from the Total Eclipse

I may have originally downplayed it, but once the eclipse happened on August 21^st I think I realized how significant the event really was. It got cooler. It became nighttime for a few minutes in the middle of the day. Crickets chirped and animals responded and then there was the corona – there are no words! We were looking straight into the direction of the sun for two and a half minutes. I have never seen anything like that before. What’s more is that it happened in my backyard while my daughter was celebrating her 10^th birthday. It was a day to remember forever.

Here are 4 things that keep going through my head about “The Great American Eclipse”:

1. “What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?” (Psalm 8:4). I don’t know about you, but I felt very insignificant and small as I considered my place in the universe. The expanses of the heavens lie beyond human understanding and we cannot reach or see their beginning and end. And yet God spoke them into existence with the words of His mouth in a mere moment. I am nothing. The same God who made the cosmos and all that exists in the material universe took on flesh and came to earth and died for me.

2. “All flesh is grass, and all of its loveliness is like the flower of the field” (Isaiah 40:6). Our earthly life is temporary. While the ages roll on generations come and go from the earth. I read that 1918 was the last time such an eclipse travelled across the continental United States. The adults that witnessed that have now passed on to eternity. Supposedly it has been hundreds of years since the last time that eclipse happened in my backyard. It was no backyard then, but was seen only by the forest and any animal or bird that happened to notice. While our life blooms like a flower and then fades away, God’s creative work continues.

3. “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26). For a moment all human beings were equal. The color of our skin did not matter. Our political views, social status, cultural background – all the things that separate us – for a few minutes they ceased to exist. I was not only mindful of the equality of humanity in the world today, but the equality of humanity for all time.  I thought about how thousands of years ago there were people living on this planet who saw the same moon that I saw block the same sun. I felt closer to mankind for a moment. I felt the way I am supposed to feel about humanity all the time.

4. “Look to the heavens and see; And behold the clouds—They are higher than you” (Job 35:5). This earth is fraught with problems. We are preoccupied with them. Life is a series of joys and exaltations, struggles and disappointments. There are good times and bad times and we are in a rat race and we have forgotten the things that really matter. We don’t look up enough. We do not appreciate the stars. We have a God that is far above the clouds, whose ways and thoughts are higher than ours. There is strength in looking upward. There is peace in knowing that beyond the sun and moon there is a God who is incontrol, who loves us and who has saved us. We need to look up more. If we want to see awe and majesty and divine splendor we don’t have to wait for an eclipse day to do that. We can see it every day.

A Day is coming when we will all look up. But on that Day, nothing will block out the Son. Maranatha!

Sometimes you need to have a cow

A friend was telling me about the adoption of a calf that had been separated from its mother. The calf had been a twin, and the mother had chosen from the time of the birth of her offspring to care for the other sibling. But the weaker calf died, and once it was gone, the mother cow no longer wished to tend to the living calf. So the calf was adopted by the compassionate next door neighbor. A special place in the yard was fenced and the woman fed the calf straight from a bottle.

Over time this calf and its caregiver grew to be very close. Sometimes it was treated almost as if it were a human. It had also been periodically placed among the sheep and would make sheep sounds now and then. After a while a donkey was put inside the calf’s fence in order to keep the coyotes away. Finally, it was decided that another older cow needed to be placed inside the fence. Why? Because the calf had never seen a reflection of itself. It didn’t know if it was a sheep, a donkey, or even a human. It needed to be with one of its own kind. It needed an example cow. Sometimes you need to have a cow.

When God created the heavens and the earth, He made the animals to be creatures after their own kind. They each had the seed within themselves to reproduce offspring and raise them to adulthood. Animals of similar kind congregated and became communities of creatures with a common identity and specific design. It was in God’s plan for every creature to know its kind and fulfill the purpose for which it had been created.

Human beings were created in the same way. The only difference was that they were also made with an eternal spirit, fashioned after the image of God. Ironically, they lost their identity and purpose and forgot who they were. So God created a new community. He fenced them in. And then He sent Jesus. Even then God’s people did not understand. It was only after the Son of God had died that they realized He had come to save them and to be their example. Jesus had been brought into the confines of the human world to save mankind from itself. He came to solve man’s identity crisis. He came to show the reflection of God and to be the ultimate example of the potential of men.

Every day in our world I meet people who are going through life without understanding who they are and why they are here. You see, it is entirely possible for you to exist in a pen. You can be fed with milk from a bottle. You can grow and mature into adulthood. You can live a long life and experience health and all of the blessings of the physical world. But if you don’t know what you are supposed to be, if you don’t have the right example, then you will never really know who you are.

That little calf needed a cow. And we needed Jesus. And we still need Him.

“As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ So he arose and followed Him.” – Matthew 9:9

Parents: Stop Wimping Out and Lead Your Children!

I have many conversations weekly with numbers of parents who are currently in the same place we are in our home – trying to raise Christian children in a world that is less and less friendly to those who love the Lord. I hope every parent will read this prayerfully. This is not aimed at any family I know in particular. I write this as humbly as I know how and as I do so, I solicit your prayers as both a preacher and a parent. I need help: from God, from older mentors, and from other parents of children who are still living at home. Having said all of this, I would like to be blunt.

Parents, will you please stop wimping out and make the firm commitment to lead your children? I don’t know what has happened since I was a boy, but I find that kids are having way too much say-so these days when it comes to the decisions that are being made at home. Maybe it is because parents are too preoccupied with their occupations and the human rat race. Maybe it is because parents have listened to too many modern day child psychologists. Maybe it is because parents are just getting too lazy and are failing to follow through with needed discipline. Maybe it is because parents are not making the commitment to put God and His kingdom first.

Case in point: I am coming into contact with more and more parents who are letting the children decide what the family will do over spiritual matters. Probably no less than 10 times over the last year parents have talked to me about their family’s spiritual goals and decisions and have made the following statements:

1. We decided to let the kids choose which church we would attend.

2. We know that congregation is not doing what is right, but our kids are so involved in the youth group and we hate to take them away from their friends.

3. Our kids really like that church and so we want our kids to have a good church experience so that they will want to go when they are older.

4. I know we miss services and events quite often for ball games, but we don’t want to make our kids hate church and we don’t want to let the coach or the team down. Our kids have made a commitment to the team.

I could list many more statements I have heard that are similar to these. But what is the real problem here?

Parents, you have both a right and a responsibility to make the correct spiritual decisions for your children. If the kids don’t like the decisions you make, too bad. This is not a democracy. For a while, dad and mom are king and queen. They will learn to do what is right by obedience. Even Jesus had to suffer and submit to His Father by obedience (Heb. 5:8-9).

I am not afraid that my kids will hate church because I never let them miss. I am not afraid that they will hate church because the church doesn’t cater to their whims. I am not afraid that my kids will hate church because they miss a ball game to go to VBS. But I am afraid that one day, because I have not led them, that they will not know that God must be first in all things. And I am afraid, that one day they will leave the church, because I wimped out when I should have been stronger than they knew how to be. I am afraid, that I will be guilty of provoking my children to wrath, because I did not bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:4).

Parents, I am not the authority on parenting. But God is. Step up and lead your kids! It is not your job to acquiesce to their request. But it is your job to lead them in the way everlasting (Psalm 139:24).

“For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them.” – 1 Samuel 3:13

A Preacher's Thoughts on Easter

When I think of Easter I think of growing up and hunting eggs with my family. I remember all of those Sunday mornings I woke up to see my new candy-filled, Easter basket on the kitchen table. There are pictures of me sitting out in our lawn in California in my diaper eating a huge hollow chocolate bunny. They are horrific. I think the only way they got me clean after that was by hosing me down. I remember going to our friends’ house one Sunday after church and playing with a new rabbit they had received as a gift after we had eaten lunch and searched for eggs. I remember an 88 year-old widow lady from our church, my secret pal when I was about 10, who had bought me a new shirt to wear for church one Easter Sunday. I wore it and sat next to her. I was so thankful for her and for the shirt. Easter for children is about candy, egg hunting, and fun times with family and friends.

When I grew up and got behind a pulpit, Easter took on a different meaning for me. It was the day I could expect the biggest crowd of the year in our building. I began to think of ways I could make the biggest impact on visitors and the people in the church who were not faithful in their attendance. I learned each year by trial and error how to preach meaningful lessons that would hopefully bring people back another Sunday. I have been excited, nervous, stressed, and have felt just about ever other human emotion you can imagine in anticipation of the pulpit opportunity an Easter Sunday brings.

Easter is different for the preacher. The reality is that after the largest crowd of the year in the morning, the lowest crowd of the year is that evening (see also Mother’s Day). It is ironic that this man-made holiday, which supposedly seeks to elevate the Christ, is really more about people, their families, and their traditions. If you are a preacher you really have a choice to either be happy that you had an opportunity to preach the gospel to more people than usual, or you can let yourself be disillusioned by the people who are somewhat disingenuous. You could become depressed when you see Christians who are usually faithful Sunday nights cater to their unfaithful families for a day because you know they are just trying to keep everyone happy and together.

I am personally confident that there is a reason why God never ordained specific religious holidays for the New Testament church. For one thing, God knows that man’s nature is to change the original intent of any religious observance to suit himself. The Israelites did this with every holy day in the Mosaic system at one time or another. They were often disciplined for it, and eventually God completely wiped the old covenant away by bringing His Son to the cross. It is merely my own opinion, but I believe that in the Christian age God has refused to give men an opportunity to celebrate a specific religious holiday regarding Jesus. He knows man will always abuse it and change it. In the meantime, we have made new religious holidays anyway. And for each person, these holidays mean something different.

What you need to know about Easter, or Christmas, or any other religious holiday that man has created, is that you are not obligated to observe it. At the same time, you need to respect what these holidays mean to those who observe them and respect their right to act according to what they know. Romans 14 teaches us that while we know certain days mean something to some and nothing to others, we ought not to offend anyone who esteems one day greater than another. Trust me, whenever I have written or taught about man-made religious holidays I have always approached the subject with trepidation. I am hugely in the minority. My views on Easter and Christmas and other religious holidays are largely unpopular. I understand that teaching what the Bible says about those things is going to be an eye opener for many. It may even offend them or cause them to struggle to understand the point I am actually wanting to make. And when this happens everything else I may have been trying to accomplish with those I want to influence for Jesus and the church can be lost in the shuffle. Even today, if I post this some people will have to argue with what I have said here. They are too convicted in their own thoughts about it. They won’t be able to stand it. These struggles I face are all a part of being different from the world.

But Bible facts are Bible facts. There are no “high days” for Christians. Not when everything we do or say is supposed to be done in the name of the Lord Jesus (Col. 3:17). Not when every Sunday has been set aside by God for worship and the commemoration of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Not when there is zero authority from the text to observe a day that is not in the text. Not when the apostles never observed them. Not when the church of the Bible never observed them. Not when God never asked for them to be observed.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE Easter. Though instituted by man, it is to me a reminder of what my Lord did for me, and I am thankful that a great portion of the world is still remembering that, even if it is just for a day. This holiday also ushers in the spring, warmer temperatures, and the beginning of new life after several months of death, and no doubt this is spiritually analogous for people in the northern hemisphere as to what God can do on the other side of the grave. Did I mention I also LOVE jelly beans? Easter is jelly bean season! There is a whole aisle in Walmart dedicated to different kinds of jelly beans! And beyond all of this I am going to have an opportunity to talk to people about Jesus for a Sunday who I might otherwise never get to meet.

I remember years ago in my younger preaching years talking to a man who rarely attended church services. He had just gone to an Easter service the week before at a neighboring congregation. He said the preacher got up and berated all the people who only come twice a year. The visitor’s response was that he was never going back again. He said, “And he wonders why I don’t come! Well who would want to come and hear about what is wrong with them all of the time? I need encouragement. I already know what is wrong with me. I don’t need the reminder the one time I actually get up enough courage to come to church.”

Funny, isn’t it, how we humans are? The reality is that we desperately need God. We need His word every day. We need to be faithful. And we need to actually be able to distinguish between man-offered religion and God-ordained religion. Easter is a true reminder that we are struggling in this world as a people to follow God. In the background is the remembrance of the event that changed the world, and in the foreground is the fact that many people don’t even know that God never asked us to celebrate Easter at all. It could be said that the world has not been changed by the death, burial, and resurrection as much as it needs to be changed. Jesus died that we might all die to ourselves, and yet because of our lack of attention to His Word and our desire to do things our way, we still find ourselves in a place of confusion as to what we are actually supposed to be practicing in the name of the Lord.

As I look to this Sunday, I am promising myself that I am going to be thankful. I will not concentrate on local Easter gimmicks from big city churches. I will not be cynical and judge the hearts of the people who I may not see again for 6 months. I will not be a 21^st century scribe and pretend that I have everything figured out when others do not. Instead I am going to take this opportunity to love God, and to love people, and to pray that this one day will lead to many other days of faithfulness to the One who bled and died for all men.

Easter, even if it is man-made, definitely does one thing that is absolutely undeniable and beyond human comprehension. It reminds us that God’s love cannot be quenched. In a world lost and spiraling away from God in the sickness of sin and death – there is still a day remembered – yes, even set aside because Jesus died and rose again. It is an absolute fact. Jesus came. He lived. He loved. He died. He arose. He ascended. And the world knows it. And the world, as long as it remains, will always know it.

“He is not here, but is risen…”- Luke 24:6

Believe the Best

God believes in people. He believes in people even though they sin against Him, reject Him, and ultimately fail to be like Him. But God believes in people because He created them. And a Father always wants to believe in His children.

We tend to be the same way with our children. We give our children a longer leash than anyone else in our lives. We do this because we know they have to grow and we understand that in their maturation process they are going to make mistakes.

What if we took the same approach to believing in others as we take with our children? What if we allowed people to have their own personality, their own weaknesses and strengths, and their own opinions about those things which were not matters of faith? If we could do this the church would be better, happier, and more love and peace and joy would abound in our fellowship.

Unfortunately we often don’t practice brotherly love. One of the last things Jesus told His disciples was, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another.”  Jesus knew that not only was this best for the hearts of all believers, it would be what distinguished them from the world.

Why is it then that we seem to judge our brethren more harshly than anyone else? While Paul taught the Corinthians to work out matters amongst themselves, and to examine themselves individually and collectively and to deal with sin in the church, the overtone of the whole experience still expressed the need for humility and grace and love. Why is it that from time to time we stereotype our brethren, think the worst of the best people, and tend to write off the people with whom we worship as soon as they do something we don’t like or approve?

The church everywhere could be benefited with a heaping dose of humility. In a world so full of sin and strife the church is supposed to be a refuge. We can stand for truth without being hall monitors. We can preach the saving gospel without always making the worst kind of assumptions about people, especially when we have scarcely sacrificed any of our time and energy to truly understand them.

If you want the church to grow, if you want it to be full of peace and comfort, if you want it to be a place where joy and love abound – then you need to believe in the people. Don’t go to church, be the church. Don’t be a part of a click, but get out of your comfort zone and fellowship with the whole body. Learn about your brethren, their lives, their circumstances, their dreams, and their challenges. See how God is working through them, and look for something in them that you know you need yourself.

Sitting next to you in the pew or across the building somewhere are the people who are the salt of the earth. They are the best of this world, so believe the best about them. They are the blood-bought people of God. They are the faithful followers of Jehovah. They are the people who truly make up your spiritual and eternal family. They deserve the benefit of the doubt. They deserve your love and affection. They deserve your time and effort. They deserved to be loved with the love of Christ.

To my church family: I love you.  I believe in you. And I am happy to call you, “brethren.”

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” – 1 John 4:7

Committing to the Covenant

God is a covenant making God. He is good. He blesses. He promises. He delivers. In fact, God is so perfectly good and so completely holy that it is sometimes hard to fathom why He would be willing to make covenants with mere men. God is not like man (Num. 23:19). He never breaks a promise. He never fails to keep His part of the covenant. Nevertheless, because He is a loving God He makes covenants. He has not only made covenants with men, but He has even made covenants with all of creation (Genesis 9:9-17).

Since God offers covenants in benevolence and mercy and love, they ought to be embraced! It is  time for the rest of us to realize that God expects us to accept our part of the covenant. The truth is that we struggle with covenants because we know upfront we are going to break them. We know we are fragile and weak and many times we even fail to please our own spirit. So we look at God's contractual offer and we often turn away, feeling that we'd better not commit to anything like a covenant, especially when it involves the One who is going to judge our souls. But to err on the side of caution - is still to err!

There are two common examples of our failure to commit that can be seen in every day living. They both involve the two greatest commitments a person can make during their lifetime. They are the two basic forms of marriage, spiritual and physical. We have the spiritual marriage of making a commitment to Christ through obedience to the gospel. We have the physical marriage that involves the public exchanging of vows to be once and for all obligated to our mate. In these two cases there are some common denominators that describe each individual's fear of commitment:

1. We are afraid we will regret the decision to give ourselves up completely.
2. We are afraid things will not turn out as we had hoped, that our expectations won't be realized.
3. We are afraid we will fail in our duties to the one to whom we have made the promise.
4. We are afraid we don't have enough experience or knowledge to perform our commitment as we should.

Remember this - God knows how weak we are. He knows how sinful we are. He knew Jesus would have to die for us even before He made us. He made us anyway. He wants us anyway. He loves us anyway. He is a gracious and merciful God! Do we not understand that God is not as interested in our ability to perform as He is in our desire to love Him completely?

Noah agreed to a covenant and then committed an egregious sin that broke up his family. Abram agreed to a covenant and then lied about who he was. Moses agreed to a covenant and then failed to give God the glory. David agreed to a covenant and then committed adultery and murder. All of these men broke the covenant, but they repented and turned back to God and God restored them. They are considered spiritual giants! God was willing to be patient and let them learn and grow until they could love the way He loves. God will do the same for us.

If we needed to be perfect to enter into a covenant with God, we would forever be lost and cut off from His holiness. God simply wants us to know the means by which we can enter the covenant, and then He wants us to enter the covenant with our whole heart. The rest we will figure out as we go. And if we stay humble, His grace will be there for us.

Stop making excuses about why you can't make a promise. Realize that it is in the covenant alone that love and hope and salvation and joy and relationship exist. Without covenants, without relationships, our lives would be meaningless and loneliness would abound. God saw that it was not good for man to be alone. So He made covenants. Now it is your turn. Make the commitment! Walk by faith! Enjoy the blessings of the covenants God has made available! Live your life in praise and glory to the God who offers covenants!

"Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments." - Deuteronomy 7:9

Control

Control: Some people think they have it, and most people want it. Well, forget about it. You never had it and you never will. The weather this past week humbled us all and reminded us how small we are. As I watched tree limbs crash in the woods behind our house, as I saw people slip and slide on the roadways, as I continued to get reports of people losing their electricity, as I called a friend each day who is sitting up at the hospital with his wife waiting for a better day for her and getting no answers from the doctors – I kept thinking about how powerless we all really are in this world.

We have created for ourselves straw houses that we believe are made of bricks. We have a false security, a carefully constructed façade. When it comes to sickness and death and tragedy, we pretend we are removed from it, that it will never happen to us. When it comes to future plans we make them as if nothing is going to change our ability to make them realities. When it comes to spiritual matters we put them on the shelf, falsely claiming that our sins aren’t that bad, that they don’t need to be dealt with immediately, and even if they are ruining our lives and our eternity we still will have plenty of time to deal with them later.

Wake up, people! God is in control! “He sends out His command to the earth; His word runs very swiftly. He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes; He casts out His ice like morsels; Who can stand before His cold?” (Psalm 147:15-17). This weather event was nothing to Jehovah. As we slept and wondered if trees would fall on our homes, the majority of the rest of the world wasn’t even aware of any danger. And then there is our God, who somewhere through the vast expanse of space exists in His heavenly home, having created the entire universe with the breath of His mouth.

And yet it is God who cares the most. It is God who has visited us in our time of need. It is God who looks down from heaven and considers our ways and our thoughts and the meditations of our hearts. And the ironic part is that He is wondering when we will ever stop trying to have control and let Him be in charge when there has never even been one second in time when He wasn’t on the throne.

And so I will stand at the invitation song again this Sunday, if Sunday ever comes. And I will look out to several hundred people who either have the illusion that they are in control, or are simply just unwilling to stop trying to have control. This must be the case. Otherwise we would have revival. Otherwise we would have restoration. Otherwise we would have responses. Otherwise we would have repentance and baptism for the remission of sins.

It is time that we stop pretending. “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God…” (1 Peter 4:17).

“Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust…” – (Psalm 40:4).

“Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.” – (Isaiah 12:2).

Sowing All Over Again

January is usually a rainy season in the south. The fields are wet and muddy. The water table is recovering. The hope of spring is still several freezes away. But it is not too early to start getting ready for new growth.

A new year sparks evaluations and resolutions. Many assess the past year and consider their ways. People usually don't go into the year saying, "I am hoping to have the worst year I have ever had." They think about opportunities and challenges and they dream that everything is going to be great. They want success, and happiness, and peace. But how can they help it happen?

Our lives are like fields. They primarily contain weeds. We do not just come up producing strawberries. Sometimes we try to mow the weeds, cutting our problems down on the surface. But if we really want to bear fruit we must go deeper. We need to get under the soil. We must plow the field and sow all over again.

This year, you will bear fruit if you...

1. Plow up the weeds of anger and resentment you have and remove them from your life. Did someone hurt you? Did you get a raw deal at work? Are you unhappy about some circumstance? Are you holding something in your heart? Such weeds will dominate your field and leave little room for growth. Forgiveness is one of the main ingredients to success in life. It is an attribute of God (Psalm 86:5).

2. Plow up the rocks of idleness. Most people bear no fruit because they sow no seed. Christians are supposed to be living stones built upon the foundation of Christ (1 Pet. 2:5). But many are just cold hard rocks taking up space. Jesus explained that people cannot belong to Him of they do not bear fruit for God - "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples" (John 15:8). We cannot bear fruit alone. We need Christ (John 15:4).

3. Plow up the old, dead ground. You have to cultivate the soil. You have to add nutrients to your field. The best additive to your field comes from above. The farmer knows that nothing is better than good seed and the rain from heaven to water it. The Word of God is the seed (Luke 8:11). The rain that we need will come from God if we patiently and confidently wait (James 5:7).

"Father in heaven, thank you for today. Thank you for a new year. Thank you for hope. Be with us and help us. Help us to grow closer to you. Help us to sow all over again. Help us to glorify your name. In Jesus name, Amen."

"But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." ~ 2 Corinthians 9:6

The Nice List

This past week has been a very nervous one in our home. My two youngest children have been concerned about what Santa might bring. One of them said that Christmas Eve was the most stressful night of the year. When you are a kid you have a lot invested on what may happen on Christmas morning. This is the magic of the holiday - the joy of innocent imagination and the laughter of experiencing the reception of realized dreams.

And then my daughter said something to me, tonight, December 23, that really made me think. She was talking about whether or not she was on the nice list. Her anxiety about it brought her to tears. She knew her cousins were soon arriving and that she had one more day to be good. She said she would be good all day and share her toys and make sure that Santa would know that she was a nice person and that even though she wasn’t always good she surely wanted to be good. Being on the nice list matters to my daughter! It matters enough that she is deeply sorry for anything she might do to remove herself from it.

There was a time for all of us when being on the nice list mattered. It was when there was someone watching over us whom we considered more powerful than us – who held the key to our happiness. We did not want to disappoint him. But when we grew up and our innocence was lost there were many of us who no longer cared about our presence on the list.

A lack of genuine kindness is usually an adult problem. We become cynical, impatient, and we get distracted with things that are not important. One minute we are volunteering at a soup kitchen and the next minute we are cutting people off for a better parking spot at a busy holiday shopping mall. One minute we are delivering a fruit basket to a widow and the next minute we are cross with the waitress who isn’t serving our every whim. Kindness spent on others is often lost on our spouses and children. Patience we extend to a person for whom we have compassion is often shortened for anyone we don’t respect. And the scariest thing from all of it is our general justification for our bad attitude. We just don’t cry at the idea that a nice list might be something on which our name would not be found.

Jesus’ appearance to the earth was not just for salvation, but for peace on earth and goodwill toward men. Titus tells us that the kindness and goodness of God toward man presented itself in the person of Jesus Christ. This is when grace came that taught us how to respond to love of God. Nice should not be a stretch for a people visited by the Son of God who willingly spilled His blood and forgave His murderers while still hanging between heaven and earth.

My child taught me a great lesson this evening. She reminded me I should always want to be on the nice list. She reminded me that the very thought of not making it on the list should reduce me to tears.

“But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” – Titus 3:4-5

Jesus and the 21st Century Sabbath

It was a three and a half year sticking point: Jesus and the Sabbath. In John 5 Jesus healed a lame man on the Sabbath. From then on it was all the unbelieving Jews could think about. The very next week His disciples were found plucking the heads of grain and eating them, again, on the Sabbath. Jesus spoke about the Sabbath on several occasions and expounded on why the Rabbinical teachings on the Sabbath were out of line. Jesus never violated the Sabbath. He simply exposed the Pharisees’ improper interpretation.

Two statements from Mark 2:27-28 basically explain why Jesus acted the way He did from Sabbath to Sabbath. “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” “The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” The first statement explains that God set aside the Sabbath to teach man a spiritual lesson. It was not just about the obedient resting, it was about learning what God had done. The second statement is a call to understand that Jesus was involved in creating the material universe, and every holy law. He had the right as having the divine nature in Himself to change any law He created without being questioned.

God ordained the Sabbath as a holy day for the Jews because He wanted them to remember His creative work. The Sabbath was a reminder of the fact that God had ceased from that work. But Jesus explained later (John 5:17) that since day seven the Father and the Son had continued working. Jesus had not taken a day off since day seven. When He came to earth He was doing the work of God seven days a week.

If one were to closely examine everything Jesus did during His human life on the Sabbath, it would be impossible to prove that he had in any way broken the commandment. The Jewish Mishnah, (a Rabbinical commentary on the law), had come up with 39 specific activities that were unlawful to do on the Sabbath. Jesus certainly broke many of them, and in the meantime encouraged others to do so. He knew it did not matter, because the Mishnah was an addition to the Law of Moses. It was therefore not binding, and in fact it was causing people to miss the entire spiritual purpose of the commandment.

We can learn some very important things from Jesus’ treatment of the Sabbath: 1. God’s law is for a purpose, it is divine, and men must do it. 2. We are not supposed to do more or less than has been commanded. 3. It is important for us to see why the law is there as much as it is important for us to follow the law. 4. The only one who has the right to make adjustments to the law or set it aside altogether is God.

Jesus shocked the people by what He did on the Sabbath. But He never broke it. They were just doing it wrong. Which makes me wonder, if Jesus came into our churches each Sunday, what we He do differently? Would we realize it was us, and not Him, doing it wrong? And would we accuse Him?

“For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” – Matthew 12:8

Falling in Love all Over Again

Do you remember when you first fell in love? I am not talking about your first schooldays crush. I am not talking about your first infatuation. I am not talking about the time when you saw that person and thought to yourself, “I would be happy if they were mine.” I am not referring to those moments in your life because those moments were not about love at all. Those moments were about you, and genuine love at its very core is not about you. It’s about others.

I am talking, however, about the first time you really fell in love. When you knew that you and the other person truly cared for each other. When you knew the two of you were willing to do anything for one another. When it was a joy to hear their voice on the phone and you anticipated the next time you would hear it as soon as you sadly had to say goodbye. When every song you heard reminded you of them, and when everything you read found a relationship to your relationship with them, and when every thought you had somehow included them, too. And then that love matured when you came to the point that you decided to make a lifetime commitment to this other person and become their spouse.

Marriages go through periods in which the feelings of courtship fade and the relationship needs to be renewed. Couples must keep dating. They must continue to express their feelings and love for each other in a variety of ways. Exciting new things sometimes become everyday regularities. The once unexpected blessings soon become normal and there is a danger of each person in the relationship taking the daily sacrifices of their companion for granted. But a committed relationship also leads to seasons of falling in love all over again. The more things in life you experience together, whether good or bad, the more that you realize your mate loves you. The loyalty of your spouse and their constant support and sacrificial giving will hopefully lead to you falling in love with them over and over again.

Spiritual renewal is very much the same. Inward revival is falling in love with Jesus all over again. We remember the first time the cross brought conviction and tears. We recall the overwhelming weight of our sin coupled with the unconditional love of our Father. Then we add in the suffering of the cross and the yearning of Savior for our souls and we conclude in our minds and hearts that we are in love with Jesus. Because Christianity is also a lifetime commitment, the more time we stay in the relationship the more opportunities we have to fall in love with Jesus. And His blood remains. And His blood cleanses. And we love Him all over again because of it.

Every person wants to be loved the way they were loved in the beginning. It seems natural then to conclude that God also would want the same. Every new day is an opportunity for us to look at our loved ones and be thankful for their presence in our lives. By their simply being there and loving us we can appreciate what they mean to us and fall deeper in love with them - one day at a time.

When you woke up today I hope your first though was Jesus. I hope your second thought was of a very special person here on earth who loves you. And I hope that each day that you live God will grant you the ability to keep falling in love with them over and over again.

“The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.’” – Jeremiah 31:3

The Part of You God Doesn't Have Yet

One hundred percent! We have made an effort for this Sunday to have all of those people in attendance who have made themselves a part of the local congregation here at Willow. This is an impossible task. Some people will be sick or shut-in. Some people will be traveling. Some people will decide not to come. Some people will be at work. Some people will somehow not know about it (they must live on Mars).  So many barriers stand between us and one hundred percent. But does this mean we should not try?

Obstacles in life can remind us that there are things that are keeping us from completely belonging to God. Even if you are a strong and faithful Christian, there is a part of you that God doesn’t have yet. Although you may argue for it, you cannot convince me that you have given God everything. Your effort may be admirable and even worthy of imitation, but your activity gives you away. Be honest with yourself. It may be your thoughts, it may be your time, it may be your love – it really could be just about anything. The most important question deals with whether or not you have been able to identify which part of yourself you have been holding back from the Lord – and whether or not you plan to give it to him.

God knows everything about us. He knows every thought in our mind. He knows what our goals are. He knows what we are doing now and what we did five minutes ago. He knows for certain what part we have been holding back from him. He not only knows about it, but he desires for us to give it to him. This truth has been exemplified throughout human history in God’s interaction with mankind. Why else ask Abraham to offer Isaac? Why else ask for daily sacrifices from Israel? Why else consider the greatest commandment of all to be to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? God wants to know if we truly love him altogether. After all, this is the way he loves us.

The Bible says, “Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart!” (Psalm 119:2). The beginning of giving God our all has to do with what we are seeking. If we have no intentions to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Jesus, then we cannot be his disciples. Though we will always fall short of God’s glory, our Lord will be satisfied with our effort to be like him and much as possible. If we run the race with less than our very best we have missed the whole point of even running (1 Cor. 9:24).

There is something extremely exciting about unreached potential. It means we still have a purpose. It means we can still make gains. It means we can do more than we have ever done before. It means the future can be better than the past. God made us people with unlimited spiritual potential because he knew we needed hope. He created us in such a way that in the flesh we would never be perfect. God wants us striving, reaching, trying, so that one day when we have given all we can give and yet we have still failed to be just like him, he can take us home by his grace. In that moment God will know that we loved him because we gave everything we had. In that moment we will know how much he loves us because he accepted us in our weakness. In that moment there will be no more need to try, because God will have accomplished it all. In that moment we will give him all the glory and worship him in joy for eternity.

“I entreated Your favor with my whole heart; Be merciful to me according to Your word.” – Psalm 119:58

Advice for Younger Preachers

I am amazed that I am writing this article. It means I am getting older. But at 41, I am not in the 20’s and 30’s group anymore. I claim no great knowledge or wisdom. I do have more experience than before. I am just doing the best I can with all of my flaws to serve in my Master’s kingdom. It is a privilege to do so all of the time. Christ is everything. I am nothing. The world does not need me at all. But the world definitely needs Jesus.

Over the past several years I have been watching and rooting for our younger crop of ministers. I am doing everything I can to encourage younger men to enter this vocation. I believe preaching is the greatest occupation in the world. It is not easy but the sacrifices and challenges are well worth it. I always do my best to think the best of the younger men and give them the benefit of the doubt (I needed that early on and still need it). With all of this in mind I would like to address a few areas in which I believe younger preachers are struggling. Younger preachers, I love you and I believe in you.

1. Please get out of your office. Younger ministers in the 21^st century love blogging and texting and writing and the interchange they can receive over social media. They love being great from the pulpit on Sundays. It builds our confidence, boosts our ego, and helps us to see we are making a difference. Articles and books and our best Sunday morning sermons are great and we need them, but lost people are dying and they need a minister’s personal touch. Rarely is personal evangelism emphasized anymore – door to door work – home Bible studies – hospital visits and phone calls - these are invaluable. Even if this is not your area of expertise it needs to be developed. The book you write with your feet will have more eternal impact than the one you write with your hands.

2. Please respect the past generation. I am reading more and more articles by younger preachers that are full of idealism for the 21^st century church. While they may seem full of light, they are at times questionable when it comes to practicing pure Christianity. I know we cannot do things the same way the older generation did them. I know we are restoring the first century church anew in every generation. But some of the folks that have been restoring it for decades are still here. Don’t isolate them by making them feel that they are out of touch. Spend some time with them and learn what mature Christianity is like. It will bless you and also let them know that all they have labored for will not be in vain. Don’t forget that any work you do for the kingdom is done while you stand on their shoulders.

3. Be careful about vanity. Early success in ministry can be both a blessing and a curse. When you are younger people love you. You are Absalom and David is old hat. Everything you do is fairly new because you are new. But eventually you will have been preaching a while and something else and someone else new will come along. If anything, this humbling reminder helps you to refocus and give the glory to God. He must continually increase while you decrease. The greatest preacher in the brotherhood has no individual fame and is probably only known by the lives he has personally touched.

4. Take criticism with grace. Early on in preaching I thought because I loved the Lord that I could not be doing anything wrong. Well guess what, I was wrong. I need help and I need criticism. I need criticism of all kinds from all kinds of people. Jesus was probably criticized more in 3 years than any other preacher in history, and He was perfect. In time, you will see that you can love the Lord and do your best and continue to make improvements along the way. Your best day is still a work in progress. Therefore we need to embrace counsel. While no chastening seems good for the present, in time it will bring the peaceable fruit of righteousness by those who have been trained by it.

5. Preach the Word!  (2 Tim. 4:2). That is all.

6. Don’t quit. Even if you are fired. Even if you are cheated. Even if you are ridiculed. No matter what happens, the Lord needs you. The church needs you. The Lost need you. God chose the preaching of the gospel to save those who would believe. He has no other plan. Love Him always with the same fervor you had when you decided to preach in the first place.

Preachers of all ages, God loves you and I love you. Second to Jesus, you are my heroes. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for preaching the glorious gospel of Christ!

“Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.” – 1 Timothy 4:15-16

Can We Choose When We Die?

Brittany Maynard, age 29, has terminal brain cancer. She says she does not want to die. But she has chosen when. You can read and watch here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/10/08/terminally-ill-brittany-maynard-29-has-scheduled-her-death-for-nov-1/. This link will make you sad. You will empathize with this family. Cancer is a terrible disease. I was diagnosed 10 years ago. I have had many friends and family die from cancer. As a preacher I have been there until the last breath was taken numerous times. I have seen the worst it has to offer. But consider for a minute with me the moral issue at stake with euthanasia. Excuse me, in 2014 the political world prefers to call it, “Dying with dignity.”

I am not going to pretend to tell you that I think I have all of the answers to such a sensitive subject. One of my best friends and mentors in ministry took his life several years ago. He had suffered from bipolar disorder and chronic depression for years. He had been suicidal on occasions that caused periods of hospitalization. Suicide is not a black and white issue. There are people who take their lives who are so fragile mentally and emotionally that it would be difficult for any human being to say what was happening in the moment they chose to kill themselves.

For any person who is reading this article that has been affected by cancer, or some other terminal disease, or for any person out there who has had someone close to them choose to end their life, I want you to know that I love you. I could never understand how much you have suffered and how difficult it has been to go through such a terrible experience. Please understand that what you are about to read is being expressed for the purpose of pleasing God and promoting mental and physical and spiritual health for all people. Life is very precious. It is God’s greatest gift to man both now and eternally. This is why the issue of ending life is so important. Do we have the right to choose what day we die?

Arguments and discussions about specific situations can go on and on concerning this topic. Without a doubt, I would never think it was morally right to force someone to try to keep themselves alive by unnatural means. But I want to simply address the particular case at hand. Brittany Maynard has chosen doctor-assisted death for November 1, 2014. She moved to Oregon because it is one of 5 states that allow it. She has rejected other forms of medication and treatment. In the meantime she has been traveling and spending the last few months and weeks with the people she loves.

The scenario in which one chooses early termination of life has been thrust upon us recently through the tragic death of actor Robin Williams. So many things were written about that episode, that I chose to write absolutely nothing. In his case, nobody would say he died heroically. Rather, he was a victim of mental illness and he needed help. For many his iconic superstardom swept the morality of the issue aside while people celebrated his achievements. I enjoyed many of the things he brought to the entertainment world, but I also realize that putting people on a pedestal is dangerous and can be spiritually unhealthy. Our determination should be that of allegiance to the one Man who ever lived perfectly. Jesus Christ is not only Lord, but our only ideal example, role model, and hero.

There are several moral questions that trouble my mind in Maynard’s case. Is it ok to be euthanized while refusing forms of treatment, even if we have been told there is no cure? Is it ok to accept defeat and not battle for earthly life as much as is within us when we know this world is not our home anyway? Is it ok to refuse to suffer any pain that may come to us in life or death? Is there a difference between what Maynard is doing and people who choose not to be resuscitated, or cancer patients who accept a morphine-induced coma at the last stages of their illness? I believe so.

The difference is faith. Faith believes in unseen things (Heb. 11:1). Without faith, pleasing God is impossible (Heb. 11:6). What if even though no one has ever survived this disease, Brittany Maynard was the first? What if November 1 rolls around and on that particular day she is feeling healthy and strong? What if the experience of suffering caused her to rely on spiritual things over physical things, and helped her to change her mind about what she really wants to do? What if this suffering changed her future eternally? I have some current relationships with a few very close friends who I love dearly who are dying at this moment from terminal illnesses. They do not know how long they have. Some have days, maybe weeks to live. But they have not chosen the day of their death. Are they not also, “dying with dignity”? I would like to tell you that I believe beyond all others they are. You see, they believe in God, but they will not play God. They trust in God, and they know that we are not supposed to “die on our terms.” After all, are we even supposed to live on our terms (1 Cor. 6:19-20)?

I am afraid that we are living in a world that is progressively devaluing life. I have heard no mention of God in this case at hand. My heart goes out to this young lady and her family. On some level, but admittedly not completely, I understand their dilemma. I was 31 when I found out about my cancer. I had a wife and two small children. I did not know what was going to happen to me. But I chose life, not death. By the grace of God ten years later I am still here. But if I had not lived, I would not have chosen euthanasia. Because God is the giver of life, and God alone has power over death. And whether I live or die, I am the Lord’s. And I accept His will for my life, and also for my death, no matter the suffering.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” – Romans 8:18

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” – 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

 

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” – 2 Timothy 4:7-8

Why Forgiveness is Hard

Have you ever been hurt? I mean really hurt. I am not talking about falling down and scraping your knee hurt and getting a bandage from mommy. I am not talking about some wound that was your fault or that happened accidentally. But I am talking about being hurt by someone you loved so sincerely and completely that you fail to understand why they hurt you. I am talking about that part of yourself that says you would never do to your worst enemy what has been done to you by someone for whom you would have given your very life.

How do you forgive when you have been hurt so deeply by someone you love so deeply? Why is forgiveness so hard?

1. Forgiveness is hard because forgetting is impossible. I know we've heard and been told to "forgive and forget." I have counseled with Christian people who have said hatefully, "I will forgive them but I will never forget what they've done!" I have walked away knowing that there was no forgiveness there. But can we really forget? No. Will we forget? Impossible. But will we learn some things about trust? Yes. Will we learn some things about healthy boundaries? Yes. Will we lean on God more knowing that He alone will never leave us or forsake us? Yes. God wants us to remember so we can learn lessons and thank Him for His steadfastness.

2. Forgiveness is hard because trust is difficult to regain. If you have been lied to, if you have been betrayed, if you have been slandered, or if your loved one has cheated on you, there is a wound that has been created that goes all the way through. This wound rarely heals completely. Whenever a familiar moment arises that reminds you of the time trust was broken, the surface that has healed above that wound is removed and you begin to bleed again. Human beings have a hard time trusting because we tend to over-emphasize our own personal feelings. We categorize and compartmentalize faithfulness. We forget that we are not always trustworthy in all things. We decide that if our loved one has broken trust in an area that we feel is more significant, they can never truly be trusted again.

3. Forgiveness is hard because it is natural for us to try to protect ourselves. We build physical walls to protect our families, mental walls to protect our intellect, emotional walls to protect our hearts, and even spiritual walls to protect our individuality. Anytime a fortress has been penetrated we are prone to pack up and leave an area that was once safe, never to return. If you have been hurt bad enough even one time, you would rather experience anything than to be hurt in that same place all over again. We don't want to be fools, so when we have been badly injured we wrap up and find a cave. There is no forgiveness for the one who has inflicted the pain when we are too busy sulking and licking our wounds.

4. Forgiveness is hard because everything is amplified when it is our loved ones who have been hurt. We would much rather be hurt ourselves than to have it be our spouse or children. Especially in cases where the sin was egregious and unnecessary and cast upon the innocent - we find ourselves seeking retribution and justice. We suppose that if we could see the guilty party suffer for what they have done at least we would have something to hold on to over which we had some control. It is hard to forgive when you are reeling. It is hard to forgive when you see the pain in the face of your pierced and yet sinless child.

And then it hits us. We can't forget, but God has promised He will forget our sins. We can't trust, but God has forgiven us enough to trust us with the precious gospel and adopt us into His family. We can't be vulnerable, and yet God has opened the gates of His eternal abode and invited us into His most intimate dwelling place forever. We can't overcome the suffering of our loved ones, and yet God has forgiven us for crucifying His only Son.

Forgiveness is hard for one simple reason. We make it about us! God forgives so freely and perfectly because for Him forgiveness is about others. This is the love of God. When we deserved punishment, He chose mercy. When we deserved banishment, He chose fellowship. When we deserved nothing, He chose to give us everything. When we did what was unforgivable, He chose to forgive.

"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." - 1 John 4:10

5 Mistakes Parents Keep Making

As I write this I am scooting my chair up to the table and fastening a bib around my neck in order to keep from allowing any humble pie to get on my clothes. Parenting is tough! I have made and continue to make many mistakes. I constantly pray to God for help and forgiveness. But thankfully, with God as my heavenly parent and with His manual close by, in this process of being a father I am learning. Through my own misguided struggles as well as my observations of others, I would like to share with you five major mistakes parents continually make.

Some parents worship their children rather than worshiping God. It is easy to love our children and to do things for them. We are happy when they are happy. But when does their happiness become too important to us? What children want and what children need are not always the same. Our children are here to be loved but not worshiped. We need God-centered homes rather than kid-centered homes. Our lives are supposed to be about God first so our relationships must be guided by the same principle (Exodus 20:3).

Some parents try to live their second childhood through their children. Maybe it is because they never got to live their first childhood, since their own parents rode piggyback, too. Parents need to be parents. When you grow up you are supposed to put away childish things (1 Cor. 13:11). It is time parents stop trying to make their kids be the sports stars they never were. No more with the baby pageants. No more with the crazy parents in the stands. No more with the excessive efforts to make the world adore your children. God loves them. You love them. That should suffice.

Some parents believe their children can do nothing wrong. Let me qualify this problem by saying it usually only starts when the kids leave the house. We may see their faults at home, but the minute a teacher or friend or authority figure accuses our child of anything but excellence, the guard goes up. If our children are going to have any respect for authority, we have to back up those people who are not us who are trying to do their best for our children. Your kids not only can do wrong but they certainly will. When others see your children struggling, take it to heart. They may draw attention to something they need help with that you have been unable to see because you are their parent.

Some parents choose friendship over discipline. Sorry, mom and dad. You cannot be your teenager’s BFF. Not now anyway. Right now they need boundaries. Right now they need to be told, “No.” Right now they need you to tell them that even though that is cool and popular with their friends it is not cool and popular with you and it is absolutely not good with God. Friendship is easier than discipline. It is tempting to be a neat parent. But wimping out when it is time for discipline will lead to disrespect. They may not like you now when you keep them from getting their way. But they will love you and thank you later and be your best friend when everyone becomes an adult.

Some parents don’t let their kids be kids. This one may be the biggest mistake of all. In an age of information our kids are learning things they don’t need to learn. Children cannot process adult topics and problems and they were never meant to. In the name of entertainment we have all said, “Oh, I think they can handle this movie,” and then came regret. Not limiting their internet and phone access and exposure is the same as letting them play with the devil as if he were a schoolmate. Giving into pressure from others about having “the talk” too early keeps a child from retaining innocence. The days are coming when sin will be real and innocence will be gone forever. Our young children are sinless now. Why would we initiate and encourage the process?

Children are our heritage and joy. They are both our greatest blessing and our greatest responsibility. There is too much at stake to keep reliving the same mistakes over and over. Remember the child. Ask God for help. Do your best. Pray often.

“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.” (Matthew 18:6)

The Great Disappointment

William Miller was a prosperous farmer and Baptist preacher from the state of New York who began to share his predictions about the Advent (Second Coming of Christ) in 1833. Through extensive studies of Old Testament prophecies he predicted that Jesus would come again in 1843. During a period between 1843 and 1844, approximately 50,000-100,000 people followed his teachings. After several unfulfilled predictions from 1843 to 1844, hundreds of "Millerites" left their homes and businesses behind and all of their earthly possessions, concentrating on the specific date of October 22, 1944, when Jesus would surely return. When Jesus did not appear the date became known as "The Great Disappointment."

Since the first falling away until the restoration, and even today, Christianity has been bombarded with disappointments that are the direct result of men going beyond what is written. To predict the Advent is to not accept words of Jesus in Matthew 24:36 - "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only." If God had wanted us to know the specific time of our Lord's return, He would have told us. But instead His admonition is, "Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect" (Matt. 24:44).

Our 21st Century world is now full of beliefs that are merely warmed up leftovers of human doctrines that have been inserted over the centuries. The early church never worshiped with man-made instruments, but not only are they all over the landscape today, most people truly believe God will accept whatever worship they may offer. "Once saved, always saved" remains through the influence of Calvanism, and many religious groups still have part or all of this doctrine in their creed. Sprinkling of infants, salvation by faith alone, and the aspects of premillenialism, to name a few, are ideas that live in the hearts and minds of many religious people. Confused by what they have heard time and again, it is now to the point that many risk their very souls to put faith in teachings that cannot be found in the Scriptures.

Perhaps the saddest truth of all...people don't know that what they believe is not of God. We cannot believe differently about salvation and all be right. We cannot believe differently about the identity and worship of the church and all be right. We cannot believe differently about the return of Christ and the judgment scene and all be right. The only way to be in line with God and abiding in truth is for us to stop automatically believing what we are told. Remove the filter, open your Bible, and be taught of God!

Jesus is coming again with clouds (Rev. 1:7). He may come at any time, and when He does, even atheists will bow (Rom. 14:11). I cannot help but think that for many it will be another "great disappointment." But for those who follow God and keep His word in truth and humility, it will be a day in which Christ will be admired and glorified by those who are truly His (2 Thess. 1:10).

"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world." - 1 John 4:1