"Final Thoughts"

It's that time of year when things are crazy for many. I guess I am no exception. We will be visiting family next week so this will be the last blog for this year. What do I write? I have been pondering this for a couple of days.

Let me first encourage each of you, seek and love the truth of God's word. That's the foremost thing I could tell you. There is too much religion and little truth seeking. I had an e-mail from a reader questioning something I had said in a blog I wrote. I appreciated their willingness to write and take a slight issue with me. It shows they are thinking on their on. What hit me was their idea of what they thought was right was based completely on something they had been taught and it never came from the word of God. It sounded good and right, but when compared to Scripture, it was found false. They acknowledged that when I responded to them. That's a sign of a good heart! Jesus did not come to establish more religion. He came to establish the truth from God for man! All treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Jesus (Col. 3:3). That means the sincere must seek them out, looking only to one source for their answers. Remember the warning given to the Thessalonian brethren, "...because they did not received a love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness." (II Thes. 2:10-12) That should stir all our hearts to seek and love the truth and not blindly follow someone.

Secondly, spend time in prayer. Prayer is such a vital part of our lives, or at least it should be. Prayer is faith! Prayer is trust! Prayer is strength gained! Prayer is submission! Pray for open doors and opportunities to share the gospel with family and friends. Look for those doors to be opened.

Finally this new year coming up, if the Lord continues to allow it, there will be many shocking moments in the lives of many. There will be disasters and deaths. There will be illnesses and difficulties. Work on trusting God and growing in His name because the next thing that might crop up will be something serious you might have to deal with. I am not trying to be a downer here. It's reality! Heaven is our goal and that should be our focus in life. Reach forward to what lies ahead and let go of what is behind. We need the strength of God to continue. If you have any concerns or questions, please feel free to write. I simply want to serve. If you wouldn't mind, click the "follower" link and join in please. Until 2010...God's blessings be on each of you.

"Grumblers"

Let me say a few words today about one of the greatest things that can endanger the soul. Some people live their lives this way with such normalcy, they think it is...normal! You have been around them or maybe you are one of them. I had an individual who on a weekly basis would stop by my office and it flowed from them with such ease. What am I speaking of? GRUMBLERS!

The term "grumblers" (some Bible versions use the term 'murmurers') literally means "to say anything in a low tone." In other words, it is always spoken quietly to others. Most "grumblers" are careful not to be heard but they want to make sure others hear, if that makes sense. Grumblers express an indignant displeasure for a situation or person. In Exodus 16-17, God's people in their wilderness journey were grumblers and it cost them their lives! They never entered God's blessings because of it. They displayed their indignant displeasure at grumbling against the lack of food, the lack of water and their leadership. In all, God helped them more and more and they continued to grumble.

The warning to us: "Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages have come." (I Cor. 10:9-11)

We have been given an example that grumblers will not make it! Grumblers were destroyed. That should get our attention. God is not tolerant of grumblers, complainers, backbiters, gossiping, bickering brethren. For people to do such, something is wrong with their heart. Jude speaks of such people in the church that are ungodly: "These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; the speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage." (Jude 16)

We need to be careful and not be a grumbler. Our words and conversations should express faith in God and His word. Instead of grumbling at the leadership, the way things are gone about, line up with the Lord and help. There one will find the strength and insight to understand how to better help a situation than run down the situation while expressing your discontent. At that point, God must deal with you as a problem!

"Children Are Givers"

Children are simply...amazing! I never realized how being a "grandpa" could change the way you looked at children. Children are just fascinating! No wonder Jesus said they were the greatest in the kingdom of God (Matt. 18:1-4). Jesus spoke to the adult that they needed to be converted and become like children. Why? They trust, can change their attitudes and love so easily and quickly. Even when little children are in abusive homes, they still reach out to their parents for their love and acceptance. It is just amazing the capacity of their heart!

One thing that really catches my attention about children is their willingness and wanting to give freely! They don't know a penny from a dollar. They have no idea of a dollar from a twenty. It makes no sense to them about amounts. The only thing that they desire is to give and give it all away willingly. To a child, giving is love in action. I remember one of my sons, when he was about 4 years old came and brought me all the money he had in his little bank. He told me to take it and I asked him why he wanted to do that. Apparently he had over-heard his mom and I speak about things being difficult for us financially and in his heart, he wanted to give it all knowing it would help. I'll never forget that evening!

Here's the strange part...parents take away this desire to give from their children and seem to train in to have a heart for greed! That's what Peter reminds us about those ungodly who reside among us in the church. "Having a heart trained in greed..." (II Pet. 2:14). For some reason we as parents have taken our children and taught them to hoard, to get, to want and flood them with every gift we can get out hands on all in the name of love! We say we love them that we want them to have what we didn't or couldn't so we train them, advise them and encourage them to be selfish and keep. As they grow up, they become "wanters" and when things don't go the way they want, it upsets them. What are we doing?

Children have this ability to sense the need of the moment. They see an opportunity and delight in helping. We need to train our children to understand the value of a dollar but it is more important to train our children, encourage our children the value to continue to be giving. Paul encouraged the elders from Ephesus, "In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" (Acts 20:35) As I observe many of our young couples today, most have spent themselves into such a tight budget that hoarding is natural and giving has gone by the way. Their children have everything it seems and there is little giving both monetarily and with their lives. No wonder many never find the blessings of God.

Jesus knew that children are the greatest and maybe we need to re-think what we are training our children into becoming. Are we training them to have a heart for greed or giving is always much better than receiving? Oh, for a heart of a four year old!!!

"Overcoming"

Recently while listening to an individual that was going through some marital difficulty, the husband and wife decided to seek out a counselor in the world. The wife went in to visit by herself, then the husband. The conclusion by the counselor: they had seen situations like this for many years and never once has the problem like the husband had ever been overcome! In other words, once you have a particular practice, there is no cure. We have heard that for many years. Once an addict, always an addict. Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. Once a sex addiction, always a sex addiction. Once a liar, always a liar. I have heard this MANY times over the last 30 years of my preaching/counseling experience.

The question that needs to be asked: is this really true? The majority of counselors and psychologists deal with the lost world. People that are separated from Christ are in their sins and controlled by sin. That is why many can never change or it is a limited change by acting out certain practices in their own lives. "Count to ten to manage your anger!" and things like this to control our lives. God spoke from the beginning to Cain that "sin was crouching at the door and its desire is for you." (Gen. 4:7) Paul spoke of himself, before he came into Christ in Romans 7 that sin dwelt in him and it was sin that controlled his life, even when he desired to do what was right! But what about a person in Christ? Paul taught that such a person has a "new self" that can be "renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him." (Col. 3:10). The new self is from God, created by God, according to the image of God. Paul reminded the Ephesian brethren to put on this new self, which is in the likeness of God (Eph. 4:24). The brethren at the Rome congregation were instructed that it was the predetermined plan of God that His children would be "conformed to the image of His Son." (Rom. 8:29) In all this, we find that one in Christ can change, can overcome and not be a hopeless case. The world has no power to become conformed to God in righteousness and truth. They have not been united with Christ, raised with Christ so there is no help from God! Unreconciled people are still in their sins and they conform to the image of sin!!

When Jesus said He had overcome the world that one could take courage in Him because in Him we have peace (John 16:33), He wasn't speaking of behavior modification. He was talking OVERCOMING! John reminds us: "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world..." (I John 5:4). If one is in Christ, the only issue is will we put on the new self or resurrect the old self that was buried with Christ in baptism (Rom. 6:6-7) that is enslaved to sin? Too many are listening to the world, taking the advice of the world, thinking like the world and having to depend on the world's resources to control their lives. What if we would listen to Jesus? "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come." (II Cor. 5:17)

"What's The Purpose?"

Someone wrote and asked me the purpose of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. To the reader, they look like many of the same things restated but to those who want to grasp a deeper meaning, they aren't just repeating the same incidences over and over.

Matthew, an apostle and tax collector (Mark calls his name Levi - Mark 2:14, His Jewish name), is a book that is completely Jewish in nature. There is one purpose for the book and that is to show the Jewish Christian that Jesus is the Messiah. The Jews were the first to hear the gospel message of Jesus Christ! One can quickly pick up on it in the genealogy of the first seventeen verses. Genealogy was major to the Jewish culture. Matthew often records the Old Testament prophets to show the fulfillment of the Messiah, the anointed of God.

Mark is also Jewish in nature. It is probably the first of the four gospel accounts that was written, around 50 AD. The purpose of Mark was to stress the action and works of Christ to prove He was the Son of God. It focuses heavily on the miracles in His life.

Luke is the only Gentile writer in the Bible and written to the Gentile (what most of us are). He addresses Theophilus, which we know little about. One thing for certain, Luke made certain each and every detail was accurate (Luke 1:3-4). Luke does not rely heavily on the Old Testament Scriptures as Matthew and Mark because a Gentile would not be as familiar with them. Luke stresses Jesus as the Son of man. Luke focuses more heavily on the prayers of Jesus as the Son of man than Matthew or Mark.

John the apostle wrote this book. John spells out his purpose in John 20:30-31 to produce and keep producing faith of those who are in Christ. In other words, his book was written mainly to the church. John stresses three things in particular: (1) "Believe (2) "Life" (3) "Truth".

Read them, study them. Keep in mind their purposes. Read with a heart to understand and look at Jesus. Therein you will find answers to life and His purpose.

"Don't Walk In Their Ways"

They were completely surrounded. It looked like doom for sure. Assyria was the world power! Syria and Israel had allied against Judah to get the Judean troops to side with them in their fight against Assyria. In the eyes of those of Judah, there was no way out! Judah was in the full blown state of panic. What were they going to do?

God grabbed tightly to Isaiah and said that he was not to walk in the way the people! (Isa. 8:11) The word of the Lord thundered, "You are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it." (Isa. 8:12) The people were being carried away by their own hysteria and fear. If Isaiah was going to be in dread of anyone, it was to be the holy Lord God Almighty (Isa. 8:13).

People who do not know God or have little faith in God turn to people to sooth their fears and woes. What is difficult is that those who profess to be servants of the Lord God Almighty turn to the same avenues of fears as those of the lost realm. I realize it is easy to be carried away when everyone is in a state of fear. It's hard sometimes not to be carried away in fear when it seems all you hear and see in every news broadcast how bad certain things are and the spread of sicknesses. But maybe that's the more reason God's people should NOT follow the ways of those around us. It is the times of panic and fear that we could do our best work for God, making it clear that He can be trusted!

God is very aware of how things look and He knows how people tend to respond when it seems like things around us are flying apart. Our faith is so weak at times, we react instead of trust. Trust is something difficult amid troubles but that's not an excuse. God is still God and wants His people to put their whole being into Him and stop listening to the fears of those around. Because people panic and are fearful is not reason for us to respond the same. God has control and knows all the answers. In the end of all matters, God expects His people to consult in Him rather than turn to the people around for their insight (Isa. 8:19) It is very troubling to see the people of God talk, react and think like the faithless. Was it not Jesus who spoke, "In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)? He overcame the world and the only way we are going to overcome is by our deep convictions and trust in Him. Where are we turning to for our answers and insight? I know things can be troubling when we look at the seen, but God still speaks and says, "Don't walk in their ways!"

"Christmas...According To Christ?"

I need to say a few words about the Christmas season. This might be a little long. Because of some emails I have received and people visiting with me personally, I will address this. Let me start with this, believe me I am no Scrooge! I enjoy holidays and use them as a time with my family but we need to look honestly at Scripture and see what needs to be addressed in light of Scripture.

Over and over we hear, "Jesus is the reason for the season!" or "Happy Birthday Jesus!" Some say to put "Christ" back in "Christmas." There are other forms of this. Before we address any Scriptures, let's think about this for a moment. How did someone determine this was Christ's birthday? Remember, today it is winter in that part of the world also. They would not be out this time tending their flocks but they are stabled through these cold months. No one knows what time of year Christ was born (other than not in the winter) so that will obviously mean it came from someone making it up therefore making it a tradition of men.

Paul warned the church at Colossae: "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ." We must be careful we aren't taken captive. It was the 4th century that a fellow by the name of Nicholas, a Bishop in Asia Minor, who gave gifts especially to children, that the Catholic Church sainted. That's where the idea of St. Nicholas came from. It was from this Bishop, in order for the world to accept it as a religious holiday, they tied it to Jesus. Do a little research and it might surprise you.

It is easy to be taken captive by man's traditions and empty deception. If one wants to see if they are captive, listen how upset people become when you start teaching the truth about this holiday season that it is not from the teaching of Scriptures. What are we to do? Make certain that whatever we do is "according to Christ." He is the true source. What's the source of Christmas? The word itself means "the mass of Christ." Does that make the source of men or of God's word? Many teach and preach against copying the world and following the world in many areas of their lives but when it comes to the world-wide holiday, no one seems to give it little thought.

Let me give you a quick illustration for your consideration. In Matt. 17:4-8, Peter, James and John were with Jesus when He was transfigured before their eyes. Appearing with Jesus were Moses and Elijah. Peter spoke up and wanted to make Jesus equal with Moses and Elijah, making three tabernacles, one for each. God spoke and said "No!" God instructed them to listen to Jesus and Him alone. The point was to make certain that Jesus was not made common and blended with other things about man!

In the church at Colossae, someone was making angels equal to Jesus (Col. 2:18). Others were thinking they saw visions or acted so contrite and humble that was a sure sign of their superior Christianity. Paul had to straighten all this out and tell them the problem was people have stopped holding to the head, Jesus Christ. What they were doing was not "according to Christ!" To blend Jesus with a fake man called Santa Claus (St. Nicholas) is not proper holding to the head, Jesus Christ.

What is the real reason for the season? It's not Christ even though man says it is. Man has made this a tradition. When Jesus sent His apostles into the world preaching, what message were they to preach? The birth message? The gospel message is what the apostles were commissioned with (Mark 16:15-16). What is that gospel message "according to Christ?" His death, burial and resurrection (I Cor. 15:1-4). That how people would be saved! The birth of Jesus would not save one soul! The birth of Jesus was NEVER honored by any of the teachings of Jesus. It was recorded in Scripture to show the fulfillment of prophecy of the Old Testament prophets 500-700 years earlier. That was the sole purpose. Paul announced the book of Romans that he was an apostle set apart for the gospel of God (Rom. 1:1). That gospel of God concerned Jesus and Jesus was declared the Son of God with power by raising Him from the dead (Rom. 1:4)!

The religious world presses us to observe this time as the birth of Jesus. It is not "according to Christ" or Scripture. What are we, as Christian's to do? If one will carefully read Romans 14, there you will see that a person is allowed to use days individually. It is alright to use the time to be with family and renew friendships but to use this as our worship to God, tying it to Jesus because man ties it to Jesus, that's not proper because it is not of God. It is a tradition of men, an elementary principle of the world. The greatest danger is to be taken captive and forget the will of God! Oh, by the way, when are we going to put FUN back in "funeral"?