150th Post!

So, I couldn't decide what to do with this post. I debated on making a bigger post, posting a video of me preaching and multiple other ideas. And then it hit me: a big announcement. So, without further ado, here we go:

Beginning January 1, 2013, my Tumblr account (www.operationworld.tumblr.com) will be up and operational. It is currently working, but it will change on the first day of the new year. Starting on the 1st, #Operationworld will become a hub for prayer. Every day will have multiple posts going up to help anyone who visits in prayer for the nations. It will feature daily posts from:

-Operation World, a ministry of GMI that helps you pray for the entire world over the course of the year. I got the name for my Tumblr from them, but am in no way affiliated with them. I just think "Operation World" is a perfect name for what they do, as well as what I want my Tumblr to do.

-Voice of the Martyrs, a ministry that will help us pray for the persecuted church every day.

-Joshua Project, a ministry that posts an unreached people group to pray for each day

Also, my other blog (www.lttchurch.blogspot.com) will return with a weekly letter from me to a part of the Church in some portion of the world.

Hopefully you will join me for this new ministry that I'll be working with. It may be sketchy for a while, but hopefully I'll be able to provide a kind of "prayer hub" for people to come to and pray for several different needs. Let's make 2013 a year of increased prayer for the nations and for our Lord's Church!

Have a Heart

So, the world didn't end on December 21, 2012. Shocker. While I would have loved to have been able to go see Jesus, I'm not upset that the world didn't end. After all, "to live is Christ (Philippians 1:21)." Life is a good thing. In fact, it's a great gift of God.
The truth is, though, that the world as we know it will end. Some unknown day (Mark 13:32), the world will end. With that end of the world will come a judgment day.
Every person will be judged on their deeds. Since we are all sinners that have rebelled against our great God, the verdict for every single one of us, left to ourselves, will be guilty. Some, however, have received the gift of salvation in this life, and will be declared "not guilty" before God on judgment day (courtesy of the blood and death of Jesus Christ).
Unfortunately, not everyone will come to Christ. There will be lots of people who will die between now and judgment day, and those people will not have received grace. They will not have let Jesus' blood cover their sins and they will not have believed in Jesus as Lord. They will die, be judged guilty before the holy God of the universe, and will be sentenced to an eternity in Hell. That's a never-ending future in a literal Hell.
And you and I know what can keep them from this. You and I, fellow Christ follower, know the great gospel of Christ. You and I know the truth of Jesus. You and I know the sweet goodness of our Lord and Savior. Yet, like a kindergartner on the playground, we want to keep it to ourselves and fail to share the greatest gift we could ever receive.
Oh, that we would have a heart for the damned and doomed like is described in Ezekiel 21! Read with me please:
"Therefore groan, son of man! Groan before them with broken heart and bitter grief. And when they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news that is coming.'" -Ezekiel 21:6-7a, NIV

Oh Church, may we groan! May we groan before the lost with broken heart and bitter grief. We know that bad news is coming! Let us actually care! Oh Lord, please help us to have this heart for those who are hurtling toward destruction! Please let us legitimately have broken hearts, weeping for those who don't know Christ. Please let us bitterly wail into the night for those that do not know our Lord. Pray that we feel this way! We have the truth of Christ, let us want to share it and prevent this impending doom!

A Letter to You, Self-Centered Christian

Dear Christian,

Should you go to church? Should you be in a bible study (or two or three)? Should you give money, or fast, or put the Jesus fish on your car? It depends. Are you going through the motions, doing it all for yourself?

In Zechariah 7, the prophet Zechariah is talking to God about Israel, wanting to know if a certain period of fasting should continue. God's response was as follows:

"Say to all the people of the land and the priests, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted? And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?" -Zechariah 7:5-6, ESV

God ain't interested in us just doing stuff for our benefit. Sure, He wants us to find pleasure in Him. If the point, however, behind your prayers and church attendance and tithes is getting a warm and fuzzy feeling, a pat on the back or a check off on your cultural Churchianity checklist, then don't bother. Don't go through the motions just to benefit you; instead, your Christian walk should be God-focused.

When you pray, is God the center of your prayers? If not, make Him the center.

When you go to church, is it to truly worship the holy Lord of all, or is it to give you a "Jesus energy boost," like chugging an energy drink of religion to get you through the week?

We must keep our focus on Him, not on ourselves. He's Creator; we're creation. He's master; we're slaves.

As my friend Won Kwak posted on Twitter yesterday (as a quote from another person),

"To me, Christianity was more about being a good person and a means to seek comfort... I knew a lot about Jesus, but I didn't know Jesus."

We must know the Lord, not just know about Him in an effort to seek comfort. We must make the goal to know and praise Him. All of the comfort and behavior change will naturally flow out from that.

Sincerely,
A Self-centered, Wanting-to-know-God-more Disciple

Who Is Your Confidence In?

Ever feel like God wants you to do something, but you feel you aren't capable of doing it? Welcome to the life of Moses.

In Exodus 4, Moses claims that he is not "eloquent..because I am slow and hesitant in speech." He said this to God because God had decided that Moses needed to be a spokesman for Him before Pharaoh. Moses tried to tell God that this wasn't a great idea, but God wasn't feeling the same way. God told Moses that He was in charge, that He gives people the ability to see and hear and speak. Moses still didn't buy it, and God allowed Aaron (Moses' brother) to speak for him.

Yet, in Acts, I found an interesting passage. In the middle of a sermon on Israeli history and God's goodness, Stephen drops an interesting line:

"So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was powerful in his speech and actions." -Acts 7:22, HCSB

Here, we have an intriguing tidbit of Moses' backstory. Before he was the "slow and hesitant speaker" in the desert, Moses had been trained in Egypt growing up, and was considered a great speaker. Moses claimed he had never been a good speaker, but he was lying. He was, in fact, a good speaker. HIs problem wasn't in his ability; his problem was where he placed his confidence.

Moses was putting his confidence in speaking in himself, and the idea of speaking before one of the most powerful people in the world will make anyone "slow and hesitant." Instead, as God tried to make him see, he should have put his confidence in God.

God makes us how we are, and gives us gifts that we can use. We may not think we have them, but if we put our faith and confidence in God, we will allow us to be able to do whatever He has called us to do.

Who are you putting your confidence in? Yourself and your skills, or the One that gave them to you?

School Shooting and a Call to Christians

My heart is broken. This, my readers, is a sad day. For those of you that haven't turned on the news today, I'll fill you in: this morning, a 20-year-old man went into a Connecticut elementary school and shot almost 30 people (confirmed at the time of me writing this; I pray that no more are added to the number), many of them children.

When tragedies like this arise, it brings many questions to the forefront of our minds. Why would he shoot those people? Why little kids? How did he get in? Where is God, and why did He allow this to occur?

I'm not writing this post to answer any of that. I don't know the answers to any of these questions, especially when it comes to why God allowed this to occur. If anyone tells you they have the answer to that, they're lying. We don't get it, and likely never will.

All I know is a few things: God is sovereign over all. This didn't sneak up on Him. Simultaneously, people are sinful and naturally inclined to do evil. Sometimes this evil ends up being something that words cannot properly express.

So, today, I do not call for Christians to start debates. I do not believe now is the time to get into massive amounts of discussion about God's soveriegn control, man's sinfulness, and how all of that correlates. There's a time and place for that, but now isn't the time for us to argue about that. Now is also not the time to rant about gun laws and restrictions.

No, now is the time to love and pray, and give it all up to God.

Now is the time to pray for the families of the victims.

Now is the time to pray for the survivors.

Now is the time to pray for public officals and service workers that are dealing with this.

Now is the time to pray for the shooter's family and friends.

Now is the time to pray for our world, and the brokeness that needs fixing.

Now is the time to lift all of it up to God and say, "God, fix this. I know all is in your timing, but we are yearning for your return. God, we are heartbroken, and we know you are good. We don't understand why this has happened, but may you, in some way, be glorified in this."

May we, as Christians, put down our stupid issues and just love these people. May we be His hands and feet in this tragedy. May we be the crying shoulder for the broken, the comfort for the saddened, and the light to this world.

May we shine bright, Church, in this dark world. We carry the gospel of light in this world; may we hold the light up in grace and love during this time of mourning in our nation.

We don't have the answers. All we can do is pray, trust in God, and show His love toward those affected. Let us do that.

Money and Possessions: It's All About the Heart

"But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property. However, he kept back part of the proceeds with his wife’s knowledge, and brought a portion of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Then Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds from the field?  Wasn’t it yours while you possessed it? And after it was sold, wasn’t it at your disposal? Why is it that you planned this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God!”  When he heard these words, Ananias dropped dead, and a great fear came on all who heard.The young men got up, wrapped his body, carried him out, and buried him.

There was an interval of about three hours; then his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.  “Tell me,” Peter asked her, “did you sell the field for this price?”
“Yes,” she said, “for that price.”

Then Peter said to her, “Why did you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out!”
 
Instantly she dropped dead at his feet. When the young men came in, they found her dead, carried her out, and buried her beside her husband. Then great fear came on the whole church and on all who heard these things." -Acts 5:1-11, HCSB

Every now and then, the Bible gets intense. Everything will be going smoothly, then BAM! Things get real. Quick. This is one of those times.

The book of Acts flows smoothly (relatively) from the beginning to here: Jesus ascends to heaven, the Holy Spirit descends to the Church, Peter preaches, the Church grows, the disciples do some other stuff, the Church grows more. It's a pretty fluid deal, until we get to Acts 5. Here, we see a man and wife named Annias and Sapphira, respectively. They didn't apparently jive with Acts 4:32-37, which speaks to the massive generosity of the early Church.

They sold a plot of land, and then decided to keep part of the profit. This isn't wrong, but it appears that they gave the money they gave a) under the guise that they were giving all the proceeds, b) making a show of their giving, or c) both. Regardless, the issue here is the same: they had a heart problem.

The whole attitude for giving in Christ is found in Matthew 6, specifically verses 1-4. Here, Jesus makes it clear: giving is a heart deal. We aren't to make a show of ourselves when giving, saying "hey, look at me! I'm holy and give so much!" That defeats the point of giving; we are to make much of God, giving Him what is already His. Making much of ourselves in giving takes the focus off of the Gifted and puts it on the gifter (whom is giving to God what was already His to begin with).

Also, if they simply wanted to hoard, Matthew 6:19-24 is Jesus' answer to that. He talks here about gathering up treasures and such here on earth, and how stupid and pointless this is. We're all going to die (or be raptured); there ain't a single one of us taking our crap with us. If Annias was wanting to hoard, then his problem was Matthew 6:24; he had made himself a slave to money, not God. One cannot be a slave to two masters.

Are you a slave to money, or God? Are you giving to make much of you, or to make much of God? What's at the core of your approach and attitude to money and possessions?

Do It All For His Glory

"Now this is what the Lord says—
the One who created you, Jacob,
and the One who formed you, Israel—
'Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name; you are Mine.

I will be with you
when you pass through the waters,
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not overwhelm you.
You will not be scorched
when you walk through the fire,
and the flame will not burn you.

For I Yahweh your God,
the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior,
give Egypt as a ransom for you,
Cush and Seba in your place.
Because you are precious in My sight
and honored, and I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you
and nations instead of your life.
Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your descendants from the east,
and gather you from the west.
I will say to the north: Give them up!
and to the south: Do not hold them back!
Bring My sons from far away,
and My daughters from the ends of the earth—
everyone called by My name
and created for My glory.
I have formed him; indeed, I have made him.'"

-Isaiah 43:1-7, HCSB

 

This, my friends, is a beautiful passage. It was written as God speaking to His nation, Israel, but I believe it can be extended to His current nation, the Church (1 Peter 2:9-12).

 

There are a lot of great things in this passage, such as the fact that God is always with us, or that He redeemed us, but I want to focus on a line at the end: "everyone called by My name and created for My glory."

 

If you are called by the Name of God (which is another focus for another post), then you are created for His glory. Actually, everything is ultimately for God's glory, but we aren't going to get into that right now. Let's just focus on the fact that Christians, who are "those called," are "created for God's glory."

 

Christians, our task is to glorify God. Not to be a good Christian, but to glorify the God of the universe. We are to do everything with the goal of glorifying Him. When we do our jobs, it's to His glory. When we take finals (looking at you, college students like myself), we do it for the glory of God. When we do anything, it is all for the glory for God.

 

It is by Him and for Him that we do all things. Whatever we do, whatever talents and gifts we have, we do it for Him. So let's give Him the credit, gang! Let's do everything with the purpose of lifting up the Name of God and glorify Him!

Filth and Truth: How Grace and Works Combine

"Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and evil, humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save you." -James 1:21, HCSB

This passage is in my all-time favorite book, James. James is a short, six-chapter book toward the end of the New Testament. It was written by Jesus' brother, which is pretty cool. What makes James my favorite book, however, has nothing to do with its size or author; I love how "real" James keeps it. James encourages us to take our theology and put it to work. Jesus knowledge is fantastic; necessary, even. Yet, if you do nothing with it, you're just a filing cabinet. I'd much rather use my info to do God's work than be a spiritual file folder (even though that's not always what I do!).

This verse is classic James: a mixture of deep truth and a practical, "Just Do It" attitude. It starts off by saying that we should "[rid] ourselves of all moral filth and evil." I'll get right on that!

See, James doesn't pull punches. If I had written this, I'd have probably said "try to push all sin out of your life, continuing to get better at it as you grow." James just tells us to do it. And honestly, we cannot. There is no possible way to perfectly follow this, or even follow it at all on our own. Check out the second half of this verse:

"...humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save you." This half is the key to the first half; the truth of God's Word, His gospel, is the only thing that can save us from our sin, ridding us of all moral filth and evil. The only way that we can escape the clutches of sin is to humbly receive God's gift of grace and accept this glorious Word.

Without God's Word, we remain trapped, trying as hard as we can to fulfill the first half of the verse. But that is the beauty of this passage, and of the entire book of James: we cannot work righteously without God's working through and in us, and we cannot live out God's truth without working in response to this truth, walking in a righteous manner and following God.

This, my friends, is the gospel! A saving grace and truth, a miracle, and a changed heart that works as a result of that, running away from sin and toward holiness and righteousness. Christian, rejoice in this! It's amazing!

Milk Jug Evangelism

"And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, 'you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.'" -Acts 1:4-5, ESV

Here we have a scene at the beginning of Acts, where Christ is speaking to His disciples just prior to His ascension back into heaven with the Father. He directly tells them not to go out and tell people of His gospel, but to "wait for the promise of the Father...the Holy Spirit."

He did not want them to tell people the good news without the Holy Spirit being with them. Why would that be? It's actually pretty straight forward. How does one come to faith in Christ? It is by the grace of God, through faith. The Spirit is the Being behind all that grace and faith, working over hearts like Ty Pennington on a messed-up house.

It is by the Spirit's working that we are saved, and it is by the Spirit's power that we are able to share this great gospel with others, and it is by the Spirit that these people may come to faith in said gospel. If I haven't made it clear enough, it is the Spirit that does the work in evangelism; we are merely a vessel for Him to do His work through.

If you had an empty milk jug, how much good would that do for a bowl of dry cereal? Not much; nothing is going to come out of that milk jug, and no change is going to occur to that bowl of Fruit Loops. Yet, if that jug has milk in it, then that milk can pour into the bowl and change everything about the cereal: taste, consistency, protein levels, etc. It is not the jug, but the milk inside that does the changing. Similarly, it is not the Christian, but the Spirit inside that does the work.

Oh, and by the way, we don't have to wait like the early disciples did. If you are a Christ follower, then you have already been baptized by the Spirit and now have the power of God inside of you. Spreading the gospel is now something you can do, because you already have the Spirit! Rely on His power to save lives, not your own! You and I cannot save anyone, but the Spirit inside of us can! Be encouraged, as all you are is a vessel.

As long as a milk jug holds milk and pours it when it is supposed to, it is doing the job it was made for. As long as we hold the Spirit (which we do) and pour it out when we are supposed to (which should be a lot), then we are doing our job. Be a milk jug, and leave the rest to the Spirit. That's part of why we have Him.