"God Reigns"

   We live in a very interesting day and time. While people seem to raise their fists to heaven, try to expel God from this nation and see how bent many are at outrageous sins to flaunt in the eyes of millions, God still reigns! Man doesn't! That's just a plain truthful fact.

  Kick prayer our of school. The Lord God still reigns! Start enacting laws that keep us from preaching against sinful practices that are abominations to the Lord. The Lord God still reigns! All the way back when God sent a flood on this earth and man was set in their heart to do evil, practice sin and give God no thought, still God reigns (Gen. 6:5)! David spoke in Psa. 29: "The Lord sat as King at the flood; yes, the Lord sits as King forever." When Rome ruled the world and began to oppress those who held to the Lord, they found out who reigns as God dismantled their world dominance as seen in Revelation.

  In Psa. 2 the question is asked: "Why are the nations in an uproar and the people devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, 'Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!'" While rulers and people try to distance themselves from the Lord, He still reigns!

  While in Buffalo, New York, they had an article in the paper about the region and religion. They found a mass exodus in the religion in their area. While people claimed this or that religion, the majority have become "unpracticing". Many said they were disillusioned with religion and that we are self-made and can maintain life without some make-believe Diety! This seems to be the shift in attitude of our nation "He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them." (Psa. 2:4)

  I pray we never loose sight of the One who reigns! Here is the advice God speaks to the rulers: "Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, for His wrath man soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!" (Psa. 2:10-12)

  God reigns at creation. God reigns at the flood. God reigns at the crucifixion of Jesus! God reigns when He brings this world to its close. Never, ever forget it! Fear the Lord and keep His commandments.

"Keeping On Keeping On"

  Today is an odd day for me to write my blog but I will be in the travel process on Monday. Let me help you with something in life called "burnout"! Too many get burned out of their jobs or pursuits and in the church. We go so hard, so fast and furious that we find ourselves...well, tired and bored. What really causes this? What are we to do? I will use my many years and share what I see.

  First, burn out is the result of no intake or lack of fuel. We all need nourishment and need to have the proper nourishment. That means it is more than just getting rest and relaxing. "In pointing these things out to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following." (I Tim. 4:6) "Constantly nourished" is the key. If one is "constantly nourished" that means it gives no rise to burn out. Paul said it to the church at Corinth this way: "Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." (II Cor. 4:16) Too many try to relieve the outer man and day by day the inner man starves. The result? BURN OUT!

  Secondly, learn how to say 'NO' to people. People want our time, demand our time and we are put into positions to be made to feel obligated to them. It is okay to say 'no'. When you say 'no', there will be those who will set up a house on guilt street and use that on you. However, in the Lord we have the privilege to say 'no' in situations and it isn't wrong. Guilt street wasn't built by the Lord but by demanding people who want to try to control you. "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Rom. 8:1) That's what my Lord says and if someone tries to condemn there is something wrong with their thinking!

  Lastly, remember not everything depends on you! It's not because you do something or don't do something that determines an outcome. God is what every thing is dependent upon. Some people have ideas they would like to do and act like the whole church is based upon their ideas. Sometimes we have things we would like to see implemented in the church but the rest see no need. What do we do? Get upset. Take a bad attitude as if everything depends on you or your idea. It is God who determines if something is worthwhile or not. God raises up people and He doesn't. Read your Bible and see how many times in the Old Testament (a comparison of the New Testament church) when God needed His people for a particular thing, not all were involved but those who were moved helped. (See Ex. 35:21-22) God causes all growth! God causes everything to move forward and it is not dependent upon me! I just have to be humble and try to do what I can when I can and let God have His way! "So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy." (Rom. 9:16)

  Burn out...it should not be for us in Christ Jesus! Take in nourishment daily. Say 'no' at times especially when you feel pressured. And learn things  don't advance just because of us. 

"Has God Short-Changed Us?"

  We aren't short on information. Just walk through a book store and look at the books that line the shelves about spiritual matters and teachings. I like to read books but I too realize they are just part of the mind of man with views of God. In other words, they are not the Lord and should be used just as they are written with that in mind.

  But then when it comes to the word of the Lord, so many seem to be looking for something thinking that God didn't give us all we need. There are things that some say are left out, things that weren't addressed and some speak as if God has 'short-changed' us. When we look at God's holy Scripture, some think that He didn't give us everything we need in this area or that. Has it ever occurred to us that God has given us exactly what we need and all we need? God points we have all we need and need to heed what is given!

  Here's the way to go: embrace with all our heart and live in the light of the truth that God has given us. If we start side-stepping and quibbling about the plain truth revealed, we start inserting ourselves as the authority and seeking things that aren't part of God. People seem to seek something but not what is revealed. Why even in the church, members of Christ's body seem to pursue something other than what the Almighty Creator and Sustainer of our lives has revealed. A lot of people want to tell us that God hasn't exhaustively instructed us in every area of our lives. We have the instructions, the proper teachings, why do we not go with them?

  I guess I'm one of those that is rather simplistic at times. People speak of lost books and writings and off they go to find something that they do not even know they are looking for. God has been explicit enough. Here's the thing: God has told us one major lesson that leads us to greater understanding. It's called "transformation!" In Rom. 12:1-3 God speaks loudly through the apostle Paul that we need to present ourselves back to the Almighty, say NO to the world and start renewing our minds so we can be transformed into something much different than we are where we can begin to understand the things that are good, acceptable and perfect in God's will. That is what will lead one into not thinking more highly of themselves! Let's not haggle over things. We have the instructions plainly laid out. When are we going to believe this is the way to God and living? It's not we have been 'short-changed' on information. We simply do not want to submit to the information we have in order to have 'formation!'

"I'll Be Fine!"

  We have watched many whom we love die. Death is something we have a difficult time with because we seem to know so little at what to expect. People ask questions, "Where do we go?" (I am speaking of those faithful in Christ) or "Are they in Paradise?" People reach for answers because they hurt in their heart at missing someone they love. We want to think noble things of our loved ones but we seek for answers.

  Recently my uncle died and the family told me that before he passed, he looked at them while their eyes were filled with tears and said, "It will all be alright! I'll be fine!" We have seen it in men and women in Jesus face this most unique journey with so many questions and they find peace and comfort. The only thing that seems to really bother them is saying goodbye to those they love. The godly lady sitting by her husbands side crying saying she didn't want him to go. He gently smiled at her and said, "I'm headed on a journey and if you want to come, pack your bags! I'll be fine!"

  "I'll be fine!" Paul said the same, didn't he? Didn't Paul speak about dying being a gain (Phil. 1:21)? Didn't Paul speak of his dying that he wanted to go and be with Christ (Phil. 1:23)? Paul felt and emotional pull to stay but his bigger pull was to be with Jesus. We need to take Paul's word at face value to understand what he understood about death. Wasn't it Paul who was caught up to hear some things that were in inexpressible words that man was not permitted to speak (II Cor. 12:4)? Whatever that was, it makes you wonder if he knew something that seems so obscure to us in regard to life and death. He was ready to depart and be where ever Jesus was and he told that boldly to the saints at Philippi!

  Peter expresses that we have been born again "to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (I Pet. 1:3) We have a living hope, not a dead hope. Jesus died our death but it was His resurrection over death that brings things to our hearts. We, because we are in Christ Jesus, have this same living hope. He is alive and well presently. We too, when death takes us from this mortal state, will be alive in Him, with Him and for all eternity. That's a living hope! We can expect the same state of being like Christ is presently. John says he doesn't know what that will be but whatever it is we will experience upon death, we will be just as He is because we are children of God (I John 3:2).And what is He like presently? LIVING!!!

  Yes, we as mortals miss our loved ones. It hurts our hearts because we depended on someone, loved someone so deeply and felt this hole in the middle of ourheart. Wasn't it always God's desire to bring us to Himself? Doesn't Jesus speak that? Doesn't God promise that? I pray upon facing death, we too can in reality speak the words from our heart of faith: "I'LL BE FINE!"

 

"Marriage"

  One of the greatest blessings in life from God the Father is marriage! It is a part of our history in this phase of our lives while on this earth. Marriage shows us what commitment is about, what holiness should be about and what our lives to the Lord are about!

  When someone speaks of monogamy, they are speaking of one man and one woman in marriage. But monogamy is more than that. It is one man and one woman that are so committed and so loving that they simply will not share that with anyone else in the same way they share with one another! Marriage is a man and woman that are so committed to one another that speaks: "We may have friends and relationships that come and go but I never will! I will be there no matter what! If you're sick, I'm your caretaker. I will do anything for you EXCEPT LEAVE YOU! That's the way God intended it to be. 

  Marriage isn't always easy. It's not always those flowers sent, candlelight dinners and as some say, "sweet nothings" whispered in the ears. But at the same time, marriage isn't all that tough either. What I have learned from the Lord in looking at His desire for marriage, marriage is what the Lord is to you! However you view the Lord and your relationship to Him, that's how you will view your marriage. We've seen those who loving, faithfully place themselves under the loving hand of Jesus. You look at their marriages and there is no doubt, those two will be those two until the day they die. They leave room for NO ONE else because they love the Lord, they love one another. There will be no adultery! There will be no one allowed to desecrate the relationship because they realize the preciousness of the blood and that preciousness is realized in their relationship to one another. 

  Our marriages are kept pure and holy because we are kept pure and holy in our faith to the Lord. Marriage relationships are nurtured! Marriage relationships are cherished! Don't we do that in our relationship to the Lord? Let go of the Lord Jesus and marriage will become less than the Lord intended. Look at your marriage and what do you see? Really, what do you see? Is it a reflection of the Lord? 

"What's Love?

  How difficult it is for us to grasp the love of God. Yes, it is very difficult. We don't understand His love very well. We make the love of God a sentimental swooning toward us. God's love is so grand and high that words cannot express it. One thing for sure, God's love understands that sin gets in the way between He and us and if we aren't humble in dealing with our sins before Him, His love must deal with us! Sin destroys everything God stands for and He will not tolerate it!

  We come to passages like I John 3:16: "We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." That should teach us something, right? Why do we have such difficulty in allowing God's love to shape us? Why are so many of us who have failed over and over afraid of God's love? We continue to read in I John 4:9-10: "By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 

  Something incredible and astonishing has taken place in the coming and the dying of Jesus Christ. We speak of His death each and every week in the Supper but do we really find ourselves partaking, fellowshiping Him in that Supper? You wouldn't know it by the way some treat His love in loving His brethren! Others cannot accept His love because of their personal guilt. They simply cannot get beyond their failures. Love is turned away in our hearts. What are we to do? Maybe we should spend more time listening, LISTENING to the Lord speaking through His word rather than filling our minds, hearts and mouths with religious chatter!!! We seem too well versed in verses we won't let speak to our souls and we end up with a bunch of empty, meaningless talk. It leaves us with little power to grasp hold of and little power in our lives!

  Bottom line, the dying of Jesus is not just an act of dying! It is a redeeming act, an atoning act and a sacrificial death! Let's stop taking the love of God as seen in the death of Jesus and lowering it to some sentimental act. There is too much sugary indulgence that falsely goes under the heading of God's love. Why do you think we are having trouble converting people? Too much talk on love is about our happiness and little on God's holiness!! The cross is the center of God's love and without that, we become a people that is bent on a relationship of personal delight with little care and concern for the needs and wishes of the One showing us His love!

"Naive Christianity"

  There seems to be more and more a movement toward "naive Christianity." What do I mean? First, "naive Christianity" is not compatible with the life of Jesus or His teachings. Second, "naive Christianity" is simply those who take a positive view of everything. In other words, everyone has good in them or every religion has something to teach us. It reaches to the banks of everyone should be fellowshipped who believes in the Lord. It even reaches that everyone will eventually make it to heaven. I'm not attacking things just trying to teach what is true and right in light of the Lord.

  "Naive Christianity" will cost people their souls. Here's why. Jesus knew that not everyone has some good in them. Jesus warned His disciples: "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw our pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." (Matt. 7:6)

  Jesus knew that there would be false prophets, men who look as if they are from God but aren't. "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves." (Matt. 7:15) The apostle Peter warned about false teachers who will be among the church introducing destructive heresies secretly. Many will follow and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned (II Pet. 2:1-2).

  Jesus taught that we should not fellowship the majority teaching: "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Matt. 7:13-14)

  Jesus did not teach that everyone who is good will end up in heaven one day but rather, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter."  (Matt. 7:21)

  Let's face it, "naive Christianity" will kill the souls of many. Just being "positive" is not the attitude Jesus manifested. On the other side, being negative is not proper either. There needs to be balance and that balance is based on the words of our Lord. "Naive Christianity" will rob people of truth that Jesus brought to man from His Father. Remember, those claiming God as their own, who worshipped Him, read His Scriptures, prayed daily and gave alms to the Lord were the very ones who crucified Him!