The Path to Righteousness

Today's passage is Romans 4:23-25, which says:

Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Abraham's faith was "credited for righteousness." If we are to know what this means, a couple words have to be defined. The first is faith, which means trusting in God, putting His ways and, well, Him before everything else. Faith is not just blindly leaping off a cliff into the unknown, but is instead trusting a God who you believe is really able to hold you. That's what Abraham did when he first followed the Lord: he believed that God could really provide for him and lead him, so he followed. Faith is trust based on past experience, current belief, and future hope; the longer we believe in the Lord in our current situation, the more we will draw on past faithfulness He has shown us and the more we will be confident hoping in His future faithfulness. 

Another term is important to know here: righteousness. We are all sinners (wrongdoers, rebels against God's commands). Therefore, we are all unrighteousness before God, and He will judge us at the end of days on our righteousness (or lack thereof). That's the truth the Bible makes clear. The only way to avoid that judgment is to be seen as righteous before God when that day comes, and that is exactly what this passage details out. 

Abraham was no more righteous than you or me. He was a rebel against the Almighty, and therefore needed to be made righteous before God. These verses show that Abraham was made righteous not because of anything he did, but because of Who he trusted. He trusted, or put his faith in, God, and that trust in God throughout the rest of his life made him a righteous man in the eyes of God. And that is available to us, too. 

 If we believe in Jesus, our Lord and King, as raised from the dead to pay for our sins (delivered for trespasses) and defeat death once and for all (raised), we too can be righteous before God (for our justification). Again, it's trusting, it's putting faith in Jesus. Have you done that? Are you actively doing that with your life daily? Trusting in Jesus is the only path to true righteousness.

This is the entire message of every evangelist that ever was, from the apostle Paul to Billy Graham. This is the message that fulfills the Great Commission to go and make disciples, or followers of Jesus, of all nations. This is the message of trusting in the resurrection of Christ in order to be made righteous! This is the epitome of the power of God on display in the good news of Jesus: you can be saved! Trust it today.

Maybe (Just Maybe) We Have Hope

We all have days where we feel a bit less ourselves, ya know?

Maybe we haven't been having a great time at work.

Maybe we were out of strawberries at the house when we made our morning smoothie.

Maybe we're afraid of failing those we love.

Maybe we have failed those we love.

Maybe we can't find Pikachu on Pokemon Go. 

Maybe we didn't get the job or the acceptance letter.

Maybe we didn't get that second date.

Maybe we didn't get a first date.

Maybe we won't get another date.

Maybe we can't get ourselves to the gym more than two days...a month. 

Maybe we missed our chance.

Maybe we overestimated our chance.

Maybe the doctor had something hard to say.

Maybe we finished a great show on Netflix and don't know what to do with our weeknights.

Maybe we haven't gotten a call back.

Maybe we're wondering if their phone works.

Maybe we know it does, and don't want to admit it.

Maybe we watch too much cable news and read too many Facebook posts and get discouraged.

Maybe we feel like the world is crumbling around us.

Maybe none of these sound like anything you've ever imagined, so maybe your life is peachy.

Maybe you're lying.

Maybe life has been handing you lemons, and you just don't know what to do with them because you don't have enough sugar and sweetness in your life to make this lemonade something you can drink.

Maybe you just need some hope.

The good news is this: we have hope.

I just spent the past six nights hanging out with my church family, loving on some elementary-aged kids. Let me be clear: this does not sound like an ideal week for me. Small children are not my favorite people to be around, and the idea of devoting my nights this past week to such activities kind of made me shiver. Yet, I knew before it even began that it would be a great week, and it was.

This past week was Pinckard Baptist Church's Vacation Bible School, and it was a blast. The kids had a ton of fun, and seven of them made a profession of faith! Yet, it was more than just a fun and spiritually educational time for the kids. For me, at least, it was a chance to dive deeper into my own faith.

The theme this week was "Submerged: Finding Truth Below the Surface," a theme based on Psalm 139:23-24, which says:

Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my concerns.
See if there is any offensive way in me;
lead me in the everlasting way.

This idea of God searching and testing our hearts lead to some fantastic themes each night. The points of the nights were as follows:
Jesus knows who I really am. 

Jesus knows my worth.

Jesus knows I need a Savior. 

Jesus knows my purpose.

Jesus loves and accepts me.

Maybe you need to hear one of these truths. I know that I did. The beautiful thing that God showed me this week was that Psalm 139, if you read all twenty-four verses, will lead you to each of these truths. 

It shows us that Jesus knows who we are, even when it seems like no one knows who we are or even cares to learn. Sometimes we can feel invisible, or maybe we feel like everyone knows us, but no one knows the real us. The good news of this passage is that Jesus sees deep inside us and knows exactly who we are, who we have been, and who we will be. We're not invisible to Him, and we cannot put up a fake version of ourselves. He knows us for who we really are. 

It shows us that Jesus knows our worth, even when we feel worthless. Maybe no one else sees us as valuable. Perhaps you feel used, or maybe you've done something that makes you broken. The good news of this passage is that Jesus not only knows us for who we really are, but He also knows our true worth. He made us, after all, in His precious image and in His precious, remarkable, wonderful plans. That's who we are to Jesus: preciously, remarkably, and wonderfully made.  

It shows us that, yes, we need a Savior. God has made us as His special imagebearers, but because He sees us as who we are, He knows that we're sinners. He knows we've lied, stolen, cussed, disobeyed, disrespected, lusted, and coveted. He knows we're made to worship Him and have chosen to worship our phones, our popularity, our problems, our situation, our jobs, or anything else that consumes our minds. The good news of this passage is that this isn't a mystery that needs to be figured out by Jesus; He already knows.

It shows us that Jesus knows our purpose. Maybe we feel like we don't have a purpose, or maybe we feel like our sinfulness has ruined that purpose. The good news of this passage is that Jesus has a purpose for every single one of us, and He can lead us to that purpose. How, you may ask? Why, by loving us.

Yes, this passage shows that Jesus loves and accepts us. We're His precious creation, full of purpose and worth. He knows us totally and fully. We have all sinned and failed to live up to that distinction, yes, but that does not keep Him from loving us and accepting us. He will test us and search us for anything wicked, offensive or idolatrous in us, and when He does, He is willing to root it out. He is willing to restore us to our purpose. He is willing to remind us of our worth. He is willing to save us, and that is because He knows, accepts, and loves us. In fact, He loved us so much that He died to save us from sins, if only we believe and confess Him as Savior and Lord. That's love and acceptance.

So maybe you feel hopeless today. Maybe it's been a downer of a day, week, or decade. Regardless, I want you to know that we do have hope, and that hope is found in Jesus. We have hope in a Lord that knows us fully, that knows our worth, that knows our purpose, that knows our sins, and yet also loves and accepts us as His own. 

Maybe, just maybe, this will bring you some hope.

Maybe Certainly He knows He can.

I Am Not Bradley Cooper

I'm officially done with my first year of graduate school. Sure, I've got a summer class in a few weeks (let's not talk about that...), but I have completed a fall and spring semester. That happened.

Woah.

It is during this year that I have come to see how much of a work in progress that I am,a dn my awareness of that only continues to grow. I'm a construction zone, and God is the foreman for a number of people sledgehammering away my old and decrepit parts or building up new parts of me.

I really have no idea what I'm doing most of the time. I think I do, but I don't. I just try my best, put my heart in it and go. So, what do I do? How can a person that knows very little do much of anything? Let's chat.

We are made to glorify God. That's what Isaiah says in 43:7. The real question comes down to how we do that (or avoid it), and it's here that I am really trying to grow. I want nothing more than for people to look at my life (and everything I'm doing in it) and see Jesus. I want God to radiate through me like sun through a window.

And yet, ain't it easy to get discouraged? You see, here's the part where I am trying to figure this out, and maybe you are, too. I try and try and try to do what I know to do, but I feel like there is never enough time in the day or people I can love or sermons I can preach or what-have-you. I am limited.

I don't know what to do in the moments that God does give me. I've had two ministry opportunities so far today, and honestly had no idea of what to do or say in either of them. I find myself Googling about this stuff and what to say to these people, because I haven't got a clue. I am limited.

I have people close to me that need me, and I don't even know how to help them. I have family and friends that want to spend time with me, and I am unable to do it all. I have ideas upon ideas for my ministries, and lack so much to make them happen. I am limited.

And so here's maybe what I'm learning most right now: I'm limited. I know that. You, if you know me, are probably more aware of my limits than I am. Ya know who else knows about my limits? God does. He gave me my limits. Like, they are on purpose. God didn't accidentally leave the parental controls on my abilities, blocking off things that I could be doing; He limits me on purpose. And I think I know why: so I depend on Him.

I'm one of those overly-scheduled, overly-independent, type-A kinda folks. I don't depend on anyone for anything if I can help it. I'm the Lone Ranger, Lone Wolf or Lonely Island or something like that. The problem with that is that I'm not an omni-God like the Lord that can truly pull that off. All my schedules and charts and calendars and what-not can do is help me use the limited time I have to use the limited energy I have to the best of my limited knowledge for His infinite glory.

And that's okay.

That's all He is asking for me to do. He just wants my best and my whole heart. To pour out myself for Him and others and do what I can. The best way to do that: rely on Him to help me do it. I can do infinitely more with my limitedness with His non-limited help. I am not Bradley Cooper in Limitless, but I worship a God that is all that and more, who loves me and cares for me and wants to help me through this life.

I'm a work in progress. Fines are doubled as you pass me. But if I rely on Him to get the project done, I can trust and hope that He will. He is my Rest, my Rock, my Salvation, my Stronghold and my refuge. So imma pour my heart out to Him, and hope and trust He'll get it done. I am confident in His promises.

That's certainly more than Lexington can say for Centrepointe, and that's all I need.

Until next time,
The Free-Flying Lightning Bug

Jesus: Mocked and Dying, Ultimately Loving

"He saved others, but He cannot save Himself! He is the King of Israel! Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He has put His trust in God; let God rescue Him now—if He wants Him! For He said, ‘I am God’s Son.'" -Matthew 27:42-43, HCSB

Jesus wasn't in the best spot here, y'all. He had been beaten, stabbed, dehydrated, whipped, slapped, pushed, shoved, and oh, by the way, nailed to a wooden cross. His breathing is becoming harder and more difficult. His legs ache, lactic acid in His calves building up from holding Himself up. His hands are throbbing in excruciating pain from the bones in His hands, shattered as a nail went through them.

Meanwhile, the crowds around Him are mocking Him. They are jeering at His condition, laughing at the fact that He is dying. They questioned His power, His authority, His trust in God, how much God loved Him and what exactly His relationship with God was.

And isn't that the case today? Do people not question His ability to save others? Haven't you heard people who doubt His authority as King of all? Don't people scoff at His power over this realm? Don't people question whether or not He was the Son of God, or even a deity at all? Could He have saved Himself?

Thank God He did not save Himself!

It wasn't that He couldn't save Himself, it was that He wouldn't, in order to save us instead.

It wasn't that God didn't love or want Jesus, but rather that God wanted and loved us, too.

It wasn't that Jesus wasn't God's Son. No, no it definitely is not because Jesus isn't God's Son. But, praise be to God above that He wanted and desired many sons and daughters, not just One.

"For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!" -Romans 5:7-8, HCSB

We didn't deserve the death of Christ. We are not good or righteous; we are sinners. Yet, to show His love for us, Christ, Jesus Christ, died for us. He died so that sinners could become sons and daughters of God.

So the next time people are mocking Jesus, praise Him. Praise God that He would sacrifice Himself, that He would kick His Son to the curb, that He would die for us. Praise be to God, the God who died in order to love the unlovable!

Do You Want to Get Well?

"When Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had already been there a long time, He said to him, 'Do you want to get well?'" -John 5:6, HCSB

I was reading John 5 this morning, and I came across this verse in my reading. It comes from a story about a man who was sick. This sick man was living in an area around a pool that moved every now and then when an angel made the water stir. This stirring of the water announced that the angel had been there, and the first person into the pool after the angel would be healed of their ailment.

Not surprisingly, this pool was constantly surrounded by sick people. I mean, think about it: if a pond could cure what ails ya, wouldn't this pond be constantly surrounded by people?

This man was one of those people. Yet, he was so sick that he couldn't get up and go to the pool when the angel came. Thus, for 30+ years, he remained sick. That's when Jesus walked up and asked him the question that I quoted at the top of the post: "do you want to get well?"

This got me to thinking: does Jesus ask everyone this? Everyone in the world is a sinner, and we are all sick with sin. We walk about in the world, sinning, and Jesus asks "do you want to get well?"

If you do not know Christ, you can get well. Your sin can be removed. Your addictions, your sins, your bad habits; they can all be removed by Christ. Put your faith in Christ, and accept the gift of grace!

And you, Christian, don't think you're out of the woods. How many Christians are battling with sins? How many Christians are hiding a porn addiction? How many Christians are gossips? How many Christians walk around arrogant, lying, hating, cheating and lusting after the world?

If you are a Christian, you should know that Christ has called you to a different life. Put away the life of the flesh and let the grace of God work in your heart. You may feel trapped in a cycle of sin, but He can heal you of that. The question is: do you want to get well, or are you content to lay around, sick in sin and worldly desires?

The Prize, Part One: What's In Your Rearview?

I have a few books in God's Word that really impact me regularly, and I'm bringing a passage of one of them today. Check out this passage from Paul's letter to the Philippians:

"...But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God's heavenly [or upward] call in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 3:13b-14, HCSB

What a great passage, right?! I mean, what an approach to life! Let's break this down and see how we can live this out:

1. Forget what is behind
-Your past doesn't mean a thing. I'm not saying to totally forget your past; I'm not one those types. What I am saying is this: no matter what is in your rearview, it is in your rearview. No matter what I see behind me when I am driving my truck, it is still behind me. Good or bad, I have driven past it and it is relatively unimportant to my further travel.

Yes, our past shapes the present and future. If I just drove through a rainstorm, my truck is now covered in water. If I just left the gas station, my tank is full. The events of our past often direct and effect the manner and appearance of our travels. Yet, we must also move on.

The bad things, the rain storms in your life, can be seen in a new light in Christ. I am not saying they will go away; if anything, I've found that the radar gets more shades of red and orange the further towards Jesus we go. However, our approach to these hard times can be altered by His guidance. If you are in a storm, trying to navigate on your own, it can be easy to get lost. Discouraged. Hurt. You may even veer off the road in the torrential downpours of life if you have no guidance.

With guidance from the Lord above, however, you are able to approach these storms with confidence. You can know that He will guide you through the heart of the difficulty. He will never abandon you, nor forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6).

In the end, we must forget the past. Our life before Christ is filled with not only storms, but rebellions, lusts, mistakes, lies, troubles... the list goes on. We cannot proceed toward the glory of God if we continue to carry all of this baggage with us.

In the book Pilgrim's Progress, our hero is loaded down with a massive load on his back. Before we come to Christ, we all have a similar load. Like the hero in Pilgrim's Progress, we must have that load removed before we proceed toward God and His purpose for our life. That load, that burdensome past of sin and troubled heart can only be removed by one Being: Jesus Christ.

He died and rose again to remove those burdens from our backs! Our past, no matter what has happened, can be and will be removed by your Savior the moment that you place your faith in His great gift of grace and salvation, calling on Him as your Lord and Savior. Put your past in the rearview! He can put it behind you; allow Him to do so!

Check back next week for the continuation of this passage. We've got the past behind us, so the question is: what's on the road ahead?

The Defeat of the Impossible

"For nothing is impossible with God." -Luke 1:37, HCSB

How many times have you heard that verse, right? It is a favorite verse of the underdog and athlete, the troubled and addicted.

 "There's nothing God can't help us achieve, and there is nothing that can stop us with Him at our side."

This is very true, but there is a definite asterisk next to this truth: nothing is impossible with God when He decides to do so. The passage that this verse comes from is the same passage in which the angel Gabriel is telling Mary that she will give birth to the Son of God. She is obviously flabbergasted and confused by this news, and so she asks (very humbly) how this could happen, considering that she was a virgin.

The angel proceeds to tell her of how her relative Elizabeth was currently preggo at an old age, and that "nothing is impossible with God." God is all powerful, but this verse is not meant purely to inspire us on fourth-and-goal with time expiring. It is showing that nothing will stop God on His mission. Nothing will prevent God from ruling the world, and nothing can stand in His way.

Old age? Nope.

Virgin? Not an issue.

Your past addictions? Nothing He can't overcome.

Your physical condition? Not a handicap in the working of God.

God can use whomever and whatever He so chooses to accomplish His plans. He's running the ship, and nothing can slow Him down.

You may wonder in this moment: "what role do I play in this? If God is in charge, and He is looking to accomplish His goals and plans, what do I do?" You do exactly what Mary did.

"'I am the Lord's slave,' said Mary. 'May it be done according to your word.'" -Luke 1:38, HCSB

We humbly accept God's power and lordship, and do as He says. We are His slaves, and He is our Good Master. He will accomplish great things through us, so long as we are humbly looking to accomplish His great things.

Perhaps God's purpose in your defeat of the impossible is to win a football game and give Him glory for it. Perhaps His purpose in your defeat of the impossible is to overcome your physical limitations to show the love of Christ to others. Perhaps His purpose in your defeat of the impossible is to share your story of addiction and redemption in order to help someone else see the love and freedom of life with Christ.

You never know what impossible task God may want to overcome through you, but He already did one. Your salvation through the blood and resurrection is a miracle in and of itself; who's to say He doesn't have something else for you? Humble yourself, and look to accomplish His plans with His power and might.

A Word to Young Ladies...From the Christ-Following Guys Out Here

This post is written to all of those young Christian ladies out there, from the point of view of a young Christian man. Hopefully, some of the young ladies that are following God out there will see this and be helped to see where the heart of many Christian dudes my age (college-aged) is. I don't tend to write more personal posts like this one, but it's really on my heart today, so enjoy. It's about to get real up in here.

Dear Ladies,

There is a massive problem on our college campuses (and in the world as a whole): the idea of a biblical man is becoming a rarer and rarer goal for guys our age (I'm sure I just got an "amen" from some of you). Dudes are simply not willing to man up and be the spiritual leader anymore. In fact, being a spiritual man isn't all that popular, in general.

However, there isn't only bad news. The God-fearing man is not extinct, and in many ways, is making a comeback. Many college-aged guys are striving to follow God in a more real and serious manner these days. While the total number of us may be few, there is a population of young men that are trying to follow after God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength.

Yes, we stumble. We fail. We don't always have it together. We may even fall in front of you. Yet, we exist. While many of us are growing in Christ, we are also not meant to be alone. This is where you come in.

This same group of men is looking for you. Ok, not you specifically. That would be creepy. We are looking, however, for a woman that is truly running after her Lord and Savior. We are searching for a girl who has sold out and given all that her heart can give to Christ and her walk with Him. We are in pursuit of a woman that sounds like the words of Solomon in Proverbs:

"Charm is deceptive and beauty

is fleeting,

but a woman who fears the Lord

will be praised."

-Proverbs 31:30, HCSB

You see, a nice appearance is great. This is not a letter suggesting that you swap the gym for the couch. No, I'm instead encouraging you to go deeper and deeper in your walk with God. Fear the Lord. Love Him. Be passionate about His mission, reflect His heart and walk in His grace.

All of this is to say: ladies, your Christian walk is important to us, as well. Not every guy is into yoga pants and low-cut shirts; some guys are into a woman with a bible in her hand and prayers on her lips. If you want to truly attract a God-fearing man, reflect the words of Proverbs 31 instead of Cosmo.

Don't be afraid to be that kind of woman. Encourage us to be the men of God that we should be. If both men and women in the Church would encourage the other sex to follow the Lord with all their heart, and help each other do so, there could be a lot of happy young men and women, all serving the Lord with all they have.

My prayer is that my generation would grab hold of this. I pray that young men would step up and take their walk seriously, becoming the spiritual leaders they are made to be. I pray that young women would put aside the opinions of the world and run headlong after their Savior, becoming the God-fearing woman of Proverbs 31. I pray that men and women of the Church would come together and serve our King in His mission, and I pray that y'all are praying for this, as well.

Ladies, stay steadfast. The biblically-based man is out there. I promise.

Sincerely,
A young man in search of the Proverbs 31 woman

Welcome to the New America

^"Where is the philosopher? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached. For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom, because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength." -1 Corinthians 1:20-25, HCSB

This verse speaks of how Christians will be deemed foolish by the world, and in the United States, we've escaped much of this. Our nation has long been a stronghold of Christian belief and religious freedom, regardless of what the rest of the world might think.

But it is all changing.

Yesterday, Louie Giglio withdrew from participating in President Obama's inauguration. The popular pastor of Atlanta's Passion City Church, as well as the founder of the Passion Movement, felt that it was for the betterment of everyone involved if he backed out from the great honor of praying before a presidential election. Why would he feel this way?

Approximately 15-20 years ago, Louie preached a sermon in which he clearly stated the sinful nature of homosexuality. Bear in mind, he didn't rake homosexuals over without stating that everyone sins and that we are all in need of a Savior; from the view of a Christian, this shouldn't be any different that stating the clearly sinful nature of murder or lying. All three actions are sins, and all three will equally deem one worthy of Hell.

Apparently some liberal watchdog group found out about this sermon, and started causing an uproar about how no one should be praying at the inauguration that maintains that homosexuality is a sin. Later, the Obama administration put out a notice that they were sorry for any offense taken to their choice (Louie was chosen to pray due to his work with the President on the abolition of slavery all over the world, and not on any other grounds), and that they would never want to go against the "strength and diversity" of this nation.

Yet, having a scenario where Louie felt the need to step down from this honor is also going against diversity. Now, due to this precedent, no evangelical pastor who holds to Scripture (1 Timothy 1:10) and believes that homosexuality is a sin is eligible to pray over the president's inauguration. As the president of the Southern Baptist Seminary, Albert Mohler, stated:

 

"The Presidential Inaugural Committee and the White House have now declared historic, biblical Christianity to be out of bounds, casting it off the inaugural program as an embarrassment. By its newly articulated standard, any preacher who holds to the faith of the church for the last 2,000 years is persona non grata. By this standard, no Roman Catholic prelate or priest can participate in the ceremony. No Evangelical who holds to biblical orthodoxy is welcome. The vast majority of Christians around the world have been disinvited. Mormons, and the rabbis of Orthodox Judaism are out. Any Muslim imam who could walk freely in Cairo would be denied a place on the inaugural program. Billy Graham, who participated in at least ten presidential inaugurations is welcome no more. Rick Warren, who incited a similar controversy when he prayed at President Obama’s first inauguration, is way out of bounds. In the span of just four years, the rules are fully changed."

 

There are many times when I am not a huge fan of President Mohler, but his post on this issue was spot on. Religion, particular evangelical Christianity, is being pushed out of the way in this nation. No longer is a biblical worldview the norm, or even acceptable to many.

 

Now is the time, Church in America. Now is the time to figure out where you stand. I believe that the next 20 or 30 years will change the religious structure in this nation completely, as the "wise" continue to ostracize and mock the people holding to truth of Christ. If you look at Europe, and the fall of religion there, it isn't unlikely that we will follow suit.

 

During the time that Paul wrote the words of 1 Corinthians, the Greeks were considered the wisest people around. Their use of logic and knowledge of the world made them a brilliant empire, and one that we still follow after today. Interestingly (and sadly), the United States is becoming much like the Greeks: arrogant in their knowledge and prideful in their logic. Much of this country, particularly young people (my generation) believe that the ways of religious orthodoxy are obsolete, ignorant of the world, and even hateful towards the rights of others.

 

To all of this, I simply say: "Yet, to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God's power and wisdom, because God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength."

 

You may mock us, disregard us, and call us whatever you like. My Savior died for me and I will reign with Him forever, regardless of what the world calls wise.

 

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.

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!

Are You a Doulos?

After taking a bit of a break from blogging over the Thanksgiving holiday (hope yours was great!), I'm back this week to focus in on a single word that appears over and over in the New Testament: slave. More specifically, the word we are looking at is the Greek word "doulos." Now, I've been told that since I haven't formally studied Greek, that I should refrain from talking about it. Yet, I was listening to a sermon preached by Louie Giglio (pastor, Passion City Church, Atlanta, GA) on November 15, 2012, and one of his points from James 1:1 was about being a doulos for Christ, and I just really loved what he said. So, without further ado, I'm going to go against what I've been told at times and share a bit about what I've learned about this word.

Doulos is featured in the New Testament 120 times, most notably a combined 57 times in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Also, almost every Pauline epistle includes the word (all except the two Thessalonian letters). The word is typically translated into English as slave or bond-servant. The implication of the word is not necessarily one of just servitude. Often, the word is referring to a person who has voluntarily gone into the service of an individual.

This person may have had a debt or a some need, and the only way that they were able to get rid of their debt was to give themselves into another's will. Christians, this is us! We had a massive debt: our sin put us so far into the red that we'd never be able to work our way out. We could never receive enough wages for our good, as we aren't naturally good. We are, according to Romans 3, "unrighteous...no one understands...no one seeks God...all have turned away." It goes on to say even more, but the point has been made: we were born into a God-hating, sin-loving flesh that, as Romans 3:23 makes clear, was heading for death. Not even physical death, but eternal death. We had no hope.

Our only way to avoid this fate is to give ourselves up to God and His will, becoming slaves to the Lord of the universe. And yet, through this servitude, we will find ourselves free. We are now free from sin, free from death and free from and eternity of punishment. Our servitude and giving in to the Lord God is precisely the way to become free.

Jesus says, in Matthew 6, that no one can be a servant of two masters. He says that you'll either love one and hate the other, or vice-versa. I would even argue, based on the book of Romans, that all of us are slaves to something. We are either slaves to sin, or slaves of God. Will you give yourself as a doulos to Christ and His will, or are you going to stay underneath the heaping trap of sin's slavery?

Be freed, and join the household of God, where it is better to be an outside doorholder than to be in the house of anyone else (Psalm 84:10)!

The Gospel

[This is the script from my October 8, 2012 speech in Communications 287-003 at the University of Kentucky. The assignment was to give a 4-5 minute informational speech with no persuasive element.]

Do you fear death? How do you cope with that fear?

That's a loaded question, isn't it? According to Hanson's 2005 article entitled "Fear of death and muddled thinking- it is so much worse than you think," the average American spends 15% of their total life wealth on medicines to make them live longer. That's an awful lot of money, all in order to push the limits of one's life span.

Fear of death, at least to some degree, is fairly common. It is also common to find ways to cope with fears, including this one. Many people trust in different things to deal with the impending end of life.

Today, I want to describe how Christians deal with their future death. I do not aim to convince you or persuade you; I want a good grade, and this is an informative project. Honestly, I'll probably still get some bad peer reviews for this.

Regardless, I'm here today to inform you on what Christians call "the gospel," which is their belief on how to deal with death. Specifically, we will look at why people are going to die, and what God does about that.

I will stating the rest as if it were fact, simply to save time from having to say "Christians believe" before every sentence. You can be the judge of the view; I'm just telling you what Christians believe.

In the beginning of time, humans were in a good relationship with God. All was good. God was running everything, and people were OK with that. Then, these people felt the need to go against what God had said. This feeling that people know better than God is called sin. More specifically, Wayne Grudem, in his 1994 book Systematic Theology calls sin "any failure to conform to the law of God in act, attitude, or nature."

Christians believe that God is the great King of the universe, ruling over literally everything. Trip Lee, in his 2012 book The Good Life, states that "there is no small sin against a great God." You see, Christians believe that not only is God the King and Ruler of all, but to go against His rule is to directly rebel against Him, which is sin. Just like an earthly government has punishment for rebellion and law-breaking, the eternal God has eternal punishment for people's sin and rebellion.

That punishment is called Hell, and every person that has ever done anything wrong in their life, no matter how big or small we may think it is, is headed directly for an eternal punishment. We are all, thanks to our rebellion, destined to die and go to a literal Hell. Fortunately, God wasn't cool with that.

Jesus came to earth, as Trip Lee says, "on a death mission." The entire point of Jesus, God's Son, coming to earth was, as 1 Timothy 1:15 says, "to save sinners." The entire point of His 30 years of sinless, rebellion-lacking life on this planet was so that He would qualify before God as a substitute for sinners. He died and took the punishment that sinners deserve before the Judge of the universe.

If the Son of God stayed dead, though, this ain't good news, is it? Instead, 3 days later, Jesus overcame the clutches of death and rose to life. Not like a zombie; I'm talking full. Normal. Life. And with that defeat of death, Jesus gives the same defeat to everyone who trusts and believes in Him.

I personally am convinced that I was a hopelessly doomed rebel, hurtling toward Hell. Then Jesus, my Savior, gave me a new life in Him, and I no longer fear death. Instead, I look death in the face and rejoice in my God that saved me.

So, to close, I ask again: do you fear death?

Confidence Ain't Always Easy

Last week, I wrote about Gideon's confidence in God. I wrote about how we should strive to have that level of confidence in our Creator. The fact is, though, that this can be hard for us to achieve. I mean, come on. Gideon was a judge of Israel. How can we possibly relate to that? I'll tell you: Gideon lacked confidence, once upon a time...
Before the thorn-scraping, before the conquest of the Midian army, there was a young Israelite farmer named Gideon. He was out working on his dad's farm when an angel appeared, telling him to go lead God's people against their oppressors.

Unlike what we saw from Gideon last week, our hero was, well, not so heroic. He stutters and stammers around, whining and making excuses. He told the angel how he was weak, and so was his family, and that he was no warrior.

He said to Him, “Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” -Judges 6:15, HCSB

However, God isn't really into excuses. When He decides that we should do something, He isn't real apt to say, "oh, never mind. Bummer that plan fell through." No, God gets what God wants, and if He wants you to do something, you will. So He persists.

“But I will be with you,” the Lord said to him. “You will strike Midian down as if it were one man.” -Judges 6:16

If God told me that, I'd like to think that would send the confidence meter soaring. However, given how Gideon responds, I'm not super positive. Turns out, even an angel telling you that God would make it to where you could whip an entire army wasn't enough for Gideon. It took not one, not two, but three miraculous signs from God to convince Gideon to even attempt to gather an army for an attack, and then it took another one to get Gideon to actually lead the attack on Midian.

That, my friends, gives us hope. If this man, clearly not a winner of the "Most Faith-Filled" award, can eventually get to the point of confidence in God that we saw last week, surely we can.

Will you strive to listen to God and put your faith in Him, or will you be a coward like Gideon was when the angel first appeared? That's a question for all of us.

Earth (Remix) [Feat. God the Maker]

I receive news updates from CNN on my phone in the form of push notifications. Rarely are these updates "happy." Yesterday, a Sikh temple was shot up, multiple people dead. A week or two ago, a man burst into a movie theater in Colorado and shot a whole bunch of people. Even in my hometown today, the top headlines include "Fatal stabbing in Perry County," "Two found dead in Louisville standoff," and "Paris police arrest man on child porn charges." Wildfires are currently torching Oklahoma, unemployment rates rose in July, and droughts are drying up crops in the Midwest. There was even a person struck by lightning and killed at a NASCAR race in Pennsylvania yesterday. All of this is just the current news in the United States of America. Add in the Syrian debacle unfolding currently, the tropical storm coming in on Honduras, and a Pakistani attack on NATO vehicles (just to name a few events), and one thing is clear to see: something is broken.

In Genesis 1, we see that God made everything. When it says that God made everything, that doesn't mean that He made everything in a shoddy, screwed-up way. No, when God made the universe, He "saw everything He had made, and behold, it was very good" (Gen. 1:31, ESV). Not just "aiight", not just "decent". He didn't even think that Creation was just "good;" no, Creation was "very good."

So, if God made everything, and said it was all splendid, how the heck did we end up with a world that looks like my opening paragraph? What happened? I'll tell you: Genesis 3.

In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve sinned for the first time in human history. They decided that they knew better than God, and were proven incorrect. Thus, with sin in the world, everything got messed up. Pain, evil, and darkness entered the world. Corruption and brokenness spread out from Adam and Eve and went into not just every person (since there weren't other people yet), but the entire earth. Romans 8:19-23 shows plainly the state that we find not only ourselves, but all of Creation in:

"For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." -Romans 8:19-23, ESV

Creation is groaning in anticipation for God to restore everything back to the way that it was. It says that the intensity of which all around us desires to be restored is comparable to a woman in labor. That, my friends, is an object or being that desperately wants to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Just like a pregnant woman, we and all of Creation are suffering right now. We have bodies that age and break and hurt and get oily and need food and water and shelter and numerous other issues; Creation has earthquakes and death and global warming and numerous other issues. All of this, though, will fade.

Just as a new mother's painful memories fade at the joy found in holding the newborn, all of Creation (us included) will be ecstatic at the new way of things when God remakes all. I will no longer need contacts, have a slightly messed up left ankle or even a tendency to develop tension headaches. Earth will not have hurricanes, volcanoes or disease-carrying mosquitoes. All will be made new through God, and I personally cannot wait for that to occur.

"For I will create a new heaven and a new earth;the past events will not be remembered or come to mind."

-Isaiah 65:17, HCSB

Suffering and Strife

Lately, God has been really bringing in a focus on suffering in my life. Everywhere I turn, it seems I am learning about how to handle suffering. Thus, I write you this to share some of what He is teaching me, and perhaps this will help those of us that are either going through suffering currently or are being prepped for suffering in the future.

The apostle Paul knew all about suffering. He was shipwrecked (twice), bitten by a snake, jailed, stoned, left for dead, beaten, excommunicated, and mocked. He lived with a "thorn in his side," a "a messenger of Satan" that gave him quite a bit of grief in his life. And yet, He was incredibly faithful. Was not Paul one of the greatest leaders of the early Church? Was he not the one that wrote thirteen books of the New Testament? What gives? Why didn't God protect him from that? By extension, why doesn't God protect those of us that struggle from our grievances? Check out 2 Corinthians 4:13-18 with me.

"¹³ And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke, we also believe, and therefore speak. ¹⁴ We know that the One who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and present us with you. ¹⁵ For all of this is because of you, so that grace, extended through more and more people, may cause thanksgiving to increase to God’s glory.
¹⁶ Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. ¹⁸ So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." -2 Corinthians 4:13-18, HCSB

This, Christian, should bring you great joy. I am falling in love with 2 Corinthians, and this is one of my favorite passages. You see, if you are a Christian, you have the Spirit of God within you. That Spirit raised Jesus from the grave, and it raised you from your death, as well. Without Christ, we are dead in our sins, rebels that have spit in God's face and told Him to get lost. Clearly, we were deserving of death. Yet the Spirit rose us from the grave and brought us into this new life that we live, re-born to follow Christ.

Now that we are re-born and alive with the Holy Ghost coursing through your body, everything is working to give glory to God. Yes, your struggles are supposed to glorify God. How? Check it out: by thanksgiving. Yeah, God glorifies in your thankfulness for His grace during struggles. Being thankful for the grace that He gives you is easy when all is well on the home front; being thankful for grace when the world is crashing in is much harder. Yet, when we are thankful for grace in the struggles, all glory for our lives goes to God.

As the passage continues to say, don't give up. Yes, struggle and strife can bring you down, but we have something else to focus on: not what is seen (our dying flesh and earthly life), but on what is unseen (our future in the glory of God). Christian, your life now is minuscule compared to the life you will live for eternity. We will live forever in the glory and majesty of the God of the universe, praising His name and worshipping on the new Earth. This world will be completely repaired, and God will remake it in all of it's majesty. Everything will be made right, and we will be heirs to this Kingdom. So, stay strong. Stand firm in the faith, and give thanks for the new life you have in Christ. For as Paul says, "our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory."

Hope Against All Hope

Do you ever feel like there is no hope? It's not an uncommon feeling. I mean, the world kind of sucks sometimes. The economy is in the gutter. Gas prices are through the roof. Politicians bicker and fight, yet seem to accomplish little. Maybe your grades are bad or you got dumped or didn't get the raise/promotion that you wanted at work. In the end, all this kind of stuff just seems to pile up and it feels like the end is never in sight. Yet, I would argue that there is always hope.

"18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.'" -Romans 4:18, NIV

You see, things didn't always go so great for Abraham, either. Like us, Abraham and his wife Sarah wanted things to "work out." I mean, who doesn't? Abraham had been told by God that he would be made into a great nation, with offspring as numerous as the stars. The only problem was that Abraham was really old; as in, senior citizen old. The dude would have long been on AARP, and yet God's over here telling him that he's going to have a kid. Do you think it was hard for Abraham to trust that promise? My vote is yes.

Yet, against all that, Abraham stayed fast and hoped that God would provide for him a son. Yeah, the odds were against him, but with God, nothing is impossible.

Are the odds against you? Do you need to hope against all hope that God will come through for you?

Names of God: God Almighty

QUICK! Describe, in your mind, this picture of a mountain. Any and everything, and I'm not talking about just physical description; I'm talking about the attributes of the mountain. Got 'em? Are they similar to: majestic, big, powerful, awe-invoking, immovable, strong and immense? If so, then you can begin to jive with where I'm headed in part one of our new series: Names of God.

Today, we're looking at the name "God Almighty" or "God of the Mountain." This is the Hebrew name El Shaddai that anyone that has been around church very long has heard. But did you know what El Shaddai meant? I know I never did. Let's look at it in Scripture and then discuss it.

"When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, 'I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life." -Genesis 17:1, NLT

The name we translate as God Almighty refers to God in a manner similar to how one would refer to a mountain: powerful, unmoving, strong. You see, we have a powerful God. By powerful, I mean POWERFUL. There is literally nothing in the universe that can move or wound Him. What could be a more difficult opponent than Mt. Everest? Can you imagine trying to take on Mt. Kilimanjaro? It would be impossible to defeat one of those mountains, right? In the same stream, who could possibly defeat God?! He's unmovable.

This directly relates to our life. The verse goes on to have God saying for Abraham to "serve [God] faithfully and live a blameless life." The King James Version puts it even more bluntly: "be perfect." Ha! How on earth are we supposed to do that?!

Obviously, we will not be 100% blameless and perfect. God is not being unreasonable here. He knows our limitations and abilities even better than we do. So why would he say that? Simple: he wants us to put our faith in Him and lean on Him. What is better to put all your trust and hope in something as solid as a mountain? How much easier is it to follow Him when we know how solid and secure He is? He wants us to rely on Him, and it only makes sense to do so. Putting our faith in anything else would be settling for less.

How does this affect your view of God? How does it change your thoughts and amount of trust you feel like you can put in Him?

Scar Tissue and Battle Wounds: When God Seems to Have Disappeared

Last week, I talked about how God is always with us, and how we are never alone. Yet, despite this, sometimes we still feel not just that we are alone, but that He has turned His back and done exactly what He said He wouldn't do in Joshua 1:9. Sometimes, we feel like God has dropped us off on a deserted island, and left us to fend for ourselves.

This is not an uncommon feeling. Even though we know that He loves us and saved us from our sins, and would never abandon us, we still feel this way. It's human nature. We are short-sighted and incapable of putting everything into perspective. Our problems we are having right now are always the "big one," the problem that's going to do us in. We won't ever recover from this one. We're forever doomed to sulk and weep, and it's all because God turned His back on us, right? I mean, He works for the good of His people, and this ain't good. Surely He has jumped ship!

No matter how spiritual you are, no matter how secure in your faith you are or how holy you think you are, you're going to have this feeling. I personally feel like this from time to time, and it is times like this where I cry out, "God, where are you?! I'm your child, heir and son. I'm saved by your grace, and I work for your good. Why won't you show me love?" This is why I love David.

David, the second king of Israel, slayer of giants and "man after God's own heart," was a lot like me in His approach to troubles. We both are/were emotional guys that wear our feelings on our sleeves. When things are great, David would sing a song (unfortunately, I cannot sing very well) and dance for joy. He loved worshipping the Lord. But when the crap hit the fan, David broke down. He'd scream and cry out and rip his clothes and fast and yell out to God, wondering why God would leave His side. Let's look at David's anguish in the 22nd Psalm:

"My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from my deliverance and from my words of groaning? My God, I cry by day, but You do not answer, by night, yet I have no rest...

Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted, and You rescued them. They cried to You and were set free; they trusted in You and were not disgraced...

But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by people. Everyone who sees me mocks me; they sneer and shake their heads...

Do not be far from me, because distress is near and there is no one to help. Many bulls surround me...

They open their mouths against me— lions, mauling and roaring. I am poured out like water,and all my bones are disjointed; my heart is like wax, melting within me. My strength is dried up like baked clay; my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.You put me into the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me; a gang of evildoers has closed in on me...

But You, LORD, don’t be far away. My strength, come quickly to help me. Deliver my life from the sword,my only life from the power of these dogs. Save me from the mouth of the lion!" -Psalm 22:1-2, 6-7, 11-16, 19-21a HCSB

These are the words of a broken, desperate man. Imagine mighty King David, no longer majestic, but crying. Imagine him screaming out to God. He feels like he is going to die, and that his end is near. He has been beaten, kicked and knocked down, and all the while, it feels like God is far, far away.

But guess what? God wasn't as far away as David thought. In fact, God was working for David's good all the while, as we see one of the quickest turnarounds in all of Scripture in the second half of verse 21. Check this out:

"You have rescued me
from the horns of the wild oxen.

22 I will proclaim Your name to my brothers;
I will praise You in the congregation.

23 You who fear Yahweh, praise Him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor Him!
All you descendants of Israel, revere Him!

24 For He has not despised or detested
the torment of the afflicted.
He did not hide His face from him
but listened when he cried to Him for help."

-Psalm 22:21b-24, HCSB

You. Have. Rescued. Me. Those are four beautiful words. God. Has. Rescued. Us. We are no longer beaten. We are not alone. In fact, we never were. God was fighting for and alongside us the whole time. We're gunna make it out of this. Even if there is a permanent scar (as fighters and warriors often have), that doesn't mean we lost. A scar shows we made it through. When we die, we will all have lots of scars. We may be getting beat up over and over again, but God will keep saving us.

Kevin DeYoung once said that "Christians often forget that life is a pilgrimage, and we think Heaven is on Earth. If we are looking for Heaven on Earth, we will be consistently miserable and disappointed. If we remember that life is more similar to a desert, however, we not only will be less disappointed by our troubles, but will actually find ourselves more happy" (roughly quoted by memory from Just Do Something).

Life's a desert pilgrimage. We are marching forward towards the Kingdom. Things will trip us up, things will knock us down. We will be jumped by bandits and collapse of exhaustion. But I urge you: keep fighting. God is by your side and in your corner. If our God is for us, than what could stand against? And trust me, He is for us.