An ambition for God's glory in 2011 (and beyond)

“Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.” (John 12:42-43)

Many of us are probably looking back on the year 2010 as a great year. For some, how successful a year was is determined by how many great things they did or how many great things happened to them. We can all look back, then, and list the top three things that we loved about 2010. But what if I asked you to look back and list the top three things that were most difficult? In addition to the times that were great, I believe that we should also measure how successful a year was by the times we were humbled by God. I will go further and venture to say that, as Christians, if we cannot think back and remember even one time when we were humbled by God, where He brought something to the forefront of our mind or showed us something deep within our hearts, than we probably have not grown spiritually in the last year. So, my prayer is that for this coming year God would give us an ambition for His glory.

In the verses above, we find that many of the people in Jesus day believed in Him, but for FEAR of the pharisees they did not confess their belief in Jesus. (Vs. 42) This was because they would have been put out of the synagogue. Their religious reputation would have been sunk. This certainly would have affected their work, family and other relationships. This was a big deal. Before Jesus came along, life was good. After Jesus came along, things began to change. I want you to notice that while John writes that many people because of their FEAR of people did not confess Jesus, he writes in the next verse (Vs. 43) that the reason they did not want to be put out of the synagogue was because they LOVED the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. In other words, at the root it was not FEAR of losing what they had that kept them from following Jesus, but LOVE for what they had that kept them from following Jesus. The same can be said of us. At the root, it’s not FEAR of losing what we have that keeps us from following Jesus, but LOVE for what we have that keeps us from following Him. We feel great and successful when people notice us, accept us and praise us. We love our glory! But really we cannot follow Jesus unless we are willing to not be noticed, not accepted and not praised by others. In order for Jesus to draw our hearts away from ourselves and our glory, and near to Him and His glory, our hearts go through constant change. Because knowing Jesus is the greatest definition of success and joy, God lovingly comes to convict us, break us, mold us, to create a new heart within us and transform our desires, so that we can let go of everything we’ve loved to take hold of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is God's glory. To live for God's glory is to live for Jesus, to recognize and value Him as the heaviest and weightiest object of worth. Living for God’s glory means dying to my glory. I cannot live for Jesus and live for myself. Therefore, I must die to myself to bring glory to Jesus. This is good news since Jesus also says that those who seek His glory will be honored by the heavenly Father. (John 12:26) Such honor cannot compare with any other honor. May God give us an ambition for His glory in this new year and beyond.

The wave and the break wall

What would you think if a husband said to his wife, “I will love you in this house. As long as I am here, and you are here, I will love you.”? We might say that he doesn’t love her at all. Why? Because his love for her only exists in one place and not in all places. Now, what would God think if you and I said to Him, “God, I will love you in church. As long as I am here, and you show up, I will love you.” He would think that our love for Him is limited to a place.

In James 1:5-6 we read that the person asking for wisdom to live for God must be convinced that they want to live for God. This may seem obvious, but the reality is that many times our desire for God only exists in one place, but doesn't carry over into others. We ask of Him and seek Him with half our heart, but the other half seeks something else just as much. For example, there are occasions when I’ll look at a menu and make a decision on what I want to eat only to then notice another dish on the other side of the menu and choose that instead. I am uncertain and undecided, probably because I’m so hungry! In a similar way, we desire God, but then just as quickly desire something else. We are not satisfied with God alone. James describes this type of person that is unstable or uncertain in their pursuit of God as being like a wave picked up by the wind and then driven by the wind in any direction. This is not duplicity or hypocrisy, but a fluctuating of commitments, a transferring of allegiance back and forth between two masters, i.e. one day we want to serve God and the next we want to serve something or someone else. We are not faking it in church, but we are not faking it anywhere else either. James goes on to say that in this condition, God will not answer our prayers (James 1:7).

In the end, the divided heart will be conquered.

So what is God looking for? He is looking for a heart fully surrendered to Him. God desires for you and I to seek Him with our whole heart. This means we should always be aware of our sinful passions and we should pray before we go into places or circumstances where we know such desires will arise. But in addition to being aware of our own hearts, we should always be asking God to give us a united heart toward Him. This doesn't mean that we won't desire other things, but it does mean that our desire to please God outweighs and outlasts any desire for any thing else. This type of person becomes like a break wall. Being a break wall doesn’t mean that the waves won’t crash in around us or that the wind won’t blow against us, but it does mean that after it all subsides we remain by the grace and wisdom of God. In every place our desire should be to love Him, to seek Him, to serve Him, and to follow Him. Therefore, James says, God will answer our prayers (James 1:5-6).

In the end, the united heart will stand.

We are either a break wall of certainty in our pursuit of God or a wave of uncertainty in our pursuit of God. Which one am I? Which one are you?

Forgetting hell

ROBERT MURRAY M’CHEYNE once said: “As I was walking in the fields, the thought came over me with almost overwhelming power, that every one of my flock must soon be in heaven or hell.” Every one. That includes all and excludes none. All who are born will also die. And all who die will also live for eternity. We can talk about this all day if we’re talking about heaven. But if we start to talk about hell, we stop. We don’t usually talk about hell. But I don’t think we talk about it enough. In fact, many churches and christians simply don’t talk about it as much as Jesus did.

In Matthew 10:26-33 Jesus teaches that there is one thing above all that we should fear. But first He gives us three things that we should not fear, which incidentally are three things that many people consider to be their greatest problems.

1. We should not fear those who persecute us for His sake. This is to be expected Jesus said. (Matthew 10:25) We need to recognize that being a Christian will inevitably lead to some type of and some length of persecution. So, our greatest problem is not the person who does not like us.

2. We should not fear death (Matthew 10:28). For the Christian, as Paul taught, death is gain. (Philippians 1:21) It may not be desirable for many of us, yet it is not something that we should fear, because Jesus awaits us. And somehow, in a way we cannot fathom nor comprehend now, He is better than anything we have here on earth or anything we possess. When we see Him He will become our all-encompassing and ever-increasing joy. So, our greatest problem is not death.

3. We should not fear a lack of care or provision (Matthew 10:30). God knows everything about us and is aware of everything we need. Many people today are extremely anxious, though, because they don't have everything they want or think they need. Yet, our greatest problem is not a lack of things.

No. The greatest thing we should fear, Jesus says, is God. God is humanity’s biggest problem. Why? Because He is who can destroy both the soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)

God is holy, infinitely holy. God is just, infinitely just. God is righteous, infinitely righteous. He is perfect in all His attributes, meaning there is no imperfection or incompleteness in God. Therefore, in order to please God and be right with God you and I have to perfectly and completely obey His law. But this is impossible. The Bible teaches that no man or woman ever born has perfectly fulfilled God’s law. (Psalm 143:2) And no one ever will. Therefore, in the courtroom of heaven everyone stands as a convicted criminal before God, the Holy and Righteous Judge.

Where do criminals go? To prison. And depending on the gravity of the crime will be the duration of their stay. God is of infinite worth to whom we owe infinite obligation and obedience. The gravity, then, of any sin committed against a God who is infinitely good, holy, just and righteous demands an infinite punishment: hell.

Hell is eternal (Matthew 25:41, 46; Jude 7, 13; Revelation 14:10-11; 20:10).
Hell is punishment. (2 Thessalonians 1:5-10; Revelation 20:10-15).
Hell is destruction and death (Matthew 7:13-14; 2 Thessalonians 1:9).
Hell is banishment (Matthew 7:23; 25:41; Revelation 22:15).

The Bible often depicts hell using the following images:

FIRE
Suffering that is unbearable and inescapable:
-A fiery furnace, Matthew. 13:42, 50;
-Unquenchable fire, Mark 3:12; 9:43
-God’s judgment is “a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries”, Hebrews 10:27
-Those in hell “drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of His anger” and are “tormented with fire and sulfur”, Revelation 14:10
-They are “thrown into the lake of fire”, Revelation 20:15

DARKNESS (Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30) or Blackest darkness (Jude 13).
- There will be utter desolation.
- People will feel totally abandoned, disoriented, fearful and lost.
- People will be fully aware of the total absence of divine blessing and the consciousness of never being the object of divine mercy, but rather of divine wrath.

GEHENNA: A valley southwest of Jerusalem
-In the Old Testament it was where children were sacrificed to the God Molech. (2 Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 7:31; 32:35)
-Jeremiah prophesied it would one day be known as the “Valley of Slaughter” (Jeremiah 7:32; 19:5-6).
-In time it became a place where people burned garbage and refuse with fire and sulfur.
-This is a place that is cursed, a smoky, evil- smelling, incineration dump.
-A place “where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched”. (Mark 9:48)

With this particular image in mind, we all feel great compassion when we see pictures of families living in a garbage dump. The reason we feel compassion is because they’re not supposed to be there. How much more compassion should Christians feel when they consider the reality that is hell. But the Christian witness today has a major obstacle: A low view of hell. If I announced I was preaching on hell, many would not think twice about inviting a friend. They might say, “That would turn them off. . .They would be offended by that. . .God is a God of love....” Yes, He is a God of love. But God does not love me in that He is willing to overlook my sin. He does love me in that He is willing to give me a Savior precisely because He is unwilling to overlook my sin. The Cross is God's willingness to forgive sin. Hell is God's unwillingness to forgive sin.

The Church is the pillar of truth (1 Timothy 3:15), meaning, we must proclaim and protect the truth delivered to us once and for all in the Word of God. This Truth includes the reality of eternal punishment and hell. Hell is real precisely because man is a sinner without hope, a convicted criminal in the courtroom of heaven, sentenced to prison. The world does not recognize or realize this danger. Therefore, the greatest danger, the greatest thing to be feared by all of humanity is a danger that only Christians can warn about. We are sent to preach the good news of Christ crucified to a world in need of rescuing from the greatest threat it has faced, is facing and will ever face. No organization or government can do this. Only the Church can do this.

The offensive thing about this Gospel includes the reality that we all deserve to go to hell. Hell is part of the Gospel, but not because it is good news. Rather, because the good news is that we can be rescued from it!

We cannot forget about hell.
The blood of the Lamb saves us from the wrath of the Lamb. (Revelation 6:16)


We cannot forget about hell.
God is compassionate and loving, but he also “will by no means clear the guilty”. (Exodus 34:7)


We cannot forget about hell.
Because righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s throne, (Psalm 89:14) He cannot simply set aside justice and sweep sin under a big rug. 


We cannot forget about hell.
If there were no hell, the cross would not be necessary.


We cannot forget about hell.
If we minimize hell, we minimize the glory of Jesus on the Cross. We cannot brush aside what Jesus ultimately came to save us from.

AT THE FINAL HOUR, ON THE FINAL DAY, Jesus Christ will appear as “the Savior of the righteous and the Righteous Judge of sinners”. To one He will appear glorious, to the other dreadful. To the one there will be no reason to fear everlasting judgement, but instead to rejoice for everlasting life. But to the other there will be no reason to rejoice for everlasting life, only to fear everlasting judgement.

We must not forget about hell. In remembering, we glorify Jesus as the eternal hope of our salvation, the everlasting refuge of our souls and the endless joy of our reward.

CRAZINESS: Increase my helplessness

My youngest daughter just turned 1, which means she’s crawling, beginning to go up the stairs, eating more and different types of foods, and playing with baby dolls. In these small ways she’s beginning to become less dependent on her mother and father. Yet, the one thing she does that I totally love, is when she gets on her knees, stretches out her arms and squeezes her little hands together. She wants to be picked up, but she is also totally dependent upon me to pick her up.

How many times have you and I prayed for God to make us stronger, wiser and better? In other words, ways by which we would feel better prepared to live and face this life. This type of prayer is good and necessary. But what if I suggested to you that you also pray for God to increase your helplessness? Does that sound like craziness?! It does, since today our world and our mentality is to become less and less dependent on others. For some, their whole life is spent on making themselves so stable that if everything else falls around them, they have everything they need in themselves and their wisdom, and in their possessions and at their disposal. But this is not the Christian life. Ironically, the more mature a Christian grows the more dependent he becomes upon God. In our helplessness God has opportunity to strengthen us, but more importantly to change us.

In Luke 10:21, Jesus rejoices that God the Father has hidden the Kingdom of God from the wise and understanding. This means that God has not revealed His purposes to those who are self-sufficient. Why? Because the self-sufficient have no need for a Savior. They do not perceive that they are in fact utterly helpless. At the same time, verse 21 says, Jesus rejoices that the Kingdom of God has been revealed to little children. This means that God has revealed His purposes to those that are not self-sufficient, but instead to those, who like infants, are wholly and fully dependent. They do perceive that they are in fact totally helpless. And what is it that they need? They need to depend upon Him, Jesus, the One who will die on the Cross for the sins of the world. Jesus, the Savior, rejoices that the self-sufficient cannot find Him and He rejoices that the helpless and dependent will find Him. This is because God will be most glorified, not when He is treated as something that we need, but when He is perceived as everything that we need.

Nothing has changed. Nothing will change. We must recognize that our helplessness before God does not end when we believe in Jesus and what He did on the Cross. It continues on throughout all our life, so that in every circumstance we need to be praying, “God, increase my helplessness.” Why? Because depending upon Him guarantees our help and strength. This might not mean getting through the circumstance immediately or supernaturally. It may mean getting through slowly and patiently, day in and day out. But it is our helplessness, not our self-sufficiency, that God reaches down to touch with His faithfulness.

We must all be like my daughter, who though she is growing, still reaches up to have me pick her up. Somehow she knows that unless I reach down she could never reach me.

Big leadership or Mini leadership?

I struggle with leadership. I don’t mean I struggle with leading, but rather I struggle with what leadership is and why leadership is important. Many people think of success when they think of leadership. They think on a large scale and of a large sphere of influence, so that often what happens is that the small things are despised for being small. Of course, those entrusted by God with larger ministries are those that were first faithful in the smaller ones. But again, the small is not always small because we’re being unfaithful or are a bad leader. Others think of success as businessmen think of success: profit and loss. But in the kingdom of God how do we measure profit? Or loss? Growth should be our aim. But is growth always evidenced in an increased budget for the new year? Or are financial struggles always an indication of an unhealthy church? I struggle with the constant focus on leadership as a skill to be learned and perfected. I struggle with the constant bombardment of books on how to do a better job and how to become better. I struggle with the goal and aim of much of what I read on leadership to be rising to the next level, breaking through and breaking out. If I’m honest, I think a lot of this is “me” centered and not “Christ” centered. It’s “ministry” focused, but not truly “Kingdom” focused. I struggle with the motivations behind these goals and aims, and with the goals and aims we are motivated to reach. Could it be that in our pursuit towards big leadership, we are actually doing mini leadership? Leaders that pursue greatness for the sake of greatness are small. Ministry’s that pursue success can be less Biblically successful than they think. Churches that pursue to impact their community could be more marginalized than they care to admit. The result of my struggling has been a personal and pastoral re-evaluation of what leadership is, why do I lead, where am I going, who is following and how can I measure success. Here are ten things that I believe are true of leadership:

1. INSTEAD OF focusing on what type of leader I want to be, I should be focusing on what type of followers I want to have - If the church is to become like the One it follows, than we can also say that the Christian is to become like the leader he or she is following. Positively, this means that if I am following Christ then others will be following Christ. Negatively, if I'm not following Christ and following something or someone else then those that follow me will be also. So, before I ask what type of followers I want to have, I must ask myself who am I following? The leader is supposed to imitate Christ through following Christ. We cannot imitate what we have not seen. Paul encouraged believers to imitate him as he imitated Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1) Therefore, Christ-likeness must always be the goal of the leader and of his leadership. It should also be the goal of every follower.

2. LEADERSHIP IS first about character, second about skill - Character holds skill in it’s hand and uses it in a way that is according to it’s principles and convictions. Therefore, according to the depth or shallowness of my character my skills will be either useful or wasteful. It’s character that God blesses or withholds blessing from.

3. THE GREATEST WAY to be a leader of men is to be a follower of Jesus Christ - What type of leader was Jesus? What type of followers did He have? Ultimately, followers who became leaders. In the Kingdom of God, it will always be true that those who are most successful in leading (whether it’s their marriage, family, business, ministry, etc.) will be those who are following Christ wholly and fully dependent upon Him. Only after I seek Christ can I lead people.

4. DEFINE LEADERSHIP by discipleship - In Acts 11:26 the disciples were called Christians for the very first time. Being a disciple of Christ is first and foremost in the life of every believer. Only disciples of Christ can be called Christians. The aim and goal of my life in my home and my church is to make disciples. When I see a person growing in Christ, in their love of the Word, in prayer, in their worship and in their Christ-likeness, I rejoice! Leadership is bearing fruit.

5. DO NOT BECOME so consumed with leadership training, ability and success that I use the people I’m leading to prove my leadership! This is self-serving, arrogant and shameful.

6. LEADERSHIP INVESTS in and makes much of the followers for their own good, not for it's own good - I am a servant of Christ to them, those given to my care. God’s love makes it possible for me to be most happy when I’m giving my life for others, not when a lot of people know who I am. Furthermore, while I’m called to serve them by leading, they are called to serve me by following. Both are done out of love for God.

7. LEADERSHIP IN THE KINGDOM is the abandonment of self-pursuit, my own dreams and ideas for the pursuit of Christ, His dream and His ideas - it’s not about me, at all! The godly leader's deepest and highest ambition is the glory of God. When ambition for His glory replaces my ambitions for my glory, both contentment (where I am now) and dreaming (where I am going next) flourish.

8. ALL MEANS AND ENDS of leadership must be subservient to Christ and His Gospel and His Kingdom - If a leader will serve the Gospel, then his leadership will be blessed. Christ died to save sinners in order that they might become disciples (Christians), so that He might build His church on earth and extend His kingdom throughout. My leadership can pretty much be summed up in preaching the Gospel, making disciples and sending them out into the world. Everything has to serve one of these three purposes.

9. A DANGER in leadership is that I can come to believe that I create my own success, that I can hold my heart in my hand, that I know the way, and that I control the future by my gifts and talents.

10. A DANGER in leadership is to take pride in the needs of the people because then I am needed and feel validated and think that I have all the answers - the aim of leadership is to make more leaders, those who are better prepared than me. It’s about transition and passing along the Gospel to the next generation. This means that I desire for people to get better, to grow and mature, so that they can help others without me.  

Jared Wilson sums up what I am praying for myself, the leaders of my church and those that we are discipling and sending out: “Dear God, as you send missionaries to New England, please send those more excited about Christ's Lordship than their own leadership.”

Re-thinking sin?

They say that your first guess is usually the right guess. Have you ever pondered what gift to buy for someone. You’ve decided for weeks on what to get, and then the day finally comes and you begin to think whether or not it’s the right gift? How about a recipe? You know what ingredients are called for and the specific measurement of each, but then you begin to second guess whoever it is that created the recipe. You think you know better and alter it only to be totally surprised that it tastes nothing like what you thought it would taste like! Then there’s the test in school. You’ve studied for hours on end, you know the answer, you feel it, you see it, but then you begin to think that, just maybe, you’re wrong. You choose B instead of A and you kick yourself for the rest of the semester because your first guess was the right one. Second guessing. Re-thinking. We most often do it when we think that we’re wrong, someone else is wrong or that there’s a better way. The problem with re-thinking is that you eventually doubt everything you think.

There are some today attempting to re-think sin. That is, they are wanting to re-write God’s moral standards as given in His Word. It’s an attempt to be okay with their sin and, therefore, to be okay with another’s sin. This is a problem when Paul says that because of our sin we all fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) We cannot attain to His righteousness and holiness. Ever. Furthermore, Isaiah says that our sin has separated us from God (Isaiah 59:2). So, because of our sin, we cannot stand before a holy God and are separated from Him by Him. This is not good news. This bad news is the news that people want to erase or edit to make it say, “God is okay with sin. He loves you.” But God is not okay with sin. Even the desire to sin is sin. Some believe that if they don’t actually commit sin they have not sinned. This is dangerous because it implies that I can struggle with lust, but if I never act on it it’s not sinful. It’s sinful. Jesus said that a lustful thought was the equivalent of the act of adultery. (Matthew 5:28) It is not okay to be okay with our struggle with sin. We are called to fight sin by putting it to death by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:13) We cannot live with sinful desires in our hearts and take the approach that it’s the way it’s always going to be. In the heart of every believer, every disciple of Jesus, every born again Christian there is a desire not to sin, not to think sinful thoughts, not to make at home sinful affections, not to do anything that falls short of the glory of God or separates us from His presence.

Sin is serious. It’s not excusable at all. If sin is not sin, then we have no need for forgiveness. If there’s no need for forgiveness, there’s no need for a Savior. If there’s no need for a Savior, there’s no Gospel. But if we call Jesus Savior, then we must believe that He came to save us from something. That something is not poor choices or a bad lifestyle; bad character or our bad upbringing; bad looks or bad investments. Jesus ultimately came to save us from sin and the wrath of God. Whatever other problems we may have they do not compare to the problem of sin and the certainty of His wrath. The Gospel is not therapy to make us feel better. The Gospel is power to set us free. (Romans 6:6) The Kingdom of God is not about the unconditional acceptance of who we are by Christ, but the unconditional acceptance of who Christ is by us. The Cross sets us free to finally worship, serve and live for Christ alone. Jesus Christ came that He might become the only One of worth in our eyes. He becomes Lord and King, Savior and Treasure. This means that we conform to His ways. We are transformed into His image by His grace, mercy and love. And because He is Love, He is relentless in seeking His glory by bringing us joy in Himself, not in sin, which is infinitely contrary to Himself.

We should not re-think sin. We should think Biblically about sin. Therefore, every Christian needs to understand the difference between practicing sin and fighting sin.

1. Practicing sin (1 John 3:8) - John writes rather explicitly that whoever makes a practice of sinning is not of God, but of the devil. The devil has been missing the mark, falling short, since the beginning and so do all who follow him. There is nothing in Satan that desires to stop sinning. Everything within him hates God. Every act of sin is an act of hatred toward God. Satan is the deceiver of the whole world (Revelation 12:9) and has blinded the minds of unbelievers to the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4). The result is that sinners sin without regard for God, His Word or their eternal fate. They are not able to stop sinning. Those who practice sin have not known God. That’s pretty straightforward. No spin. If you or I are habitually engaging in sin we are in need of a Savior. Re-thinking sin does not change this fact.

2. Fighting sin (1 John 3:9) - John goes on to say that no one, not one person, born of God makes a practice of sinning. That is, he will not purposefully create new sinful patterns. Additionally, whatever practices or habits of sin he does have he will not be able to continue. This is not because he’s forced to abandon his sin, but because the life of God resides within him now, creating a new heart with new desires, and he longs for what is true and pleasing in the sight of His God and of His Savior Jesus Christ.

This is a huge distinction John is making. What he is calling "a practice of sinning" we should not call fighting with sin. This distinction is one that many want to erase today. To say that Jesus loves us, but is okay with our sinful practice, which is satanic, is to grossly misunderstand His work of love on the Cross. John says that the reason Jesus appeared on earth was to destroy the works of the Devil, which are the sinful practices the Devil has enslaved all mankind to. (1 John 3:8) This doesn't mean that we will stop missing the mark and falling short in our sin, but it does mean that we will follow Jesus out of our sin. We now ardently fight against it, because loving Jesus is hating sin and being loved by Jesus is being strengthened by His grace to do his will.

We need a Savior to free us from our sin. Repentance, not re-thinking, is the proper response to sin. One leads to Christ, who is our Life, the other leads to death.

Begging To Give

Growing up in the country of Mexico there were rarely any American toys. GI Joe and Star Wars toys were hard to come by. So anytime we travelled to the United States, I would dream of the toys I would see. The closer we got to the Texas border, the more excited I became. The moment we crossed the border, we begged my parents to make our first stop the mall. Why? Because inside the mall was the toy Store - my dream come true! Now, we all know what it’s like to want something and not stopping until we get it. But what if instead of begging to get something, we were begging to give something? Does that sound strange to you?

In 2 Corinthians 8:1-15 Paul is writing the Corinthian church about the church in Macedonia. Paul has been collecting an offering to send to the poor and suffering Christians in Jerusalem. The Corinthians have joined Paul and have been collecting their portion for close to a year. Paul is asking them to complete what they started by encouraging them with the Macedonian's effort to join them. Paul says that the Macedonians were being severely afflicted themselves, yet in their joy and in spite of their rock bottom poverty they were begging to join Paul in giving to the Jerusalem church. (2 Corinthians 8:4) They desired to give, they were ready to give, they were begging to give. And they did, according to their means, and some how, even beyond their means. Their generosity was a sign of the grace of God given to them in Jesus Christ - Paul goes on to say that Jesus, though He was rich became poor, so that out of His poverty we might become rich.

From this passage I identify three types of people:

First, those that are not ready to be generous: there is no desire to give, therefore any giving is forced. Unfortunately, these people have a HARDENED HEART and they ask “Why should I give? Why should I want to give?” But those who keep their money, home, possessions and lives to themselves will not know the grace, the riches of God’s love. On the other hand, the Macedonian's heart was anything but hard and gave all they could.

Second, those that are ready to be generous: there is a desire to begin to give, therefore there might be reorganizing and restructuring in their lifestyle (i.e. budget, etc.). Fortunately, these people have a CONVICTED AND REPENTANT HEART and they ask “Why do I not give? Why do I not want to give?” They begin to look away from themselves. For the Macedonians, generosity became a lifestyle, not just a one time gift.

Third, those that are begging to be generous: they give joyfully, sacrificially, abundantly, faithfully, meaningfully, helpfully, and worshipfully. These people have a THANKFUL HEART and they ask “Who should I give to? What should I give them?” Generosity must go beyond what we know and where we are. The Macedonians were giving to a people they had never met in a church they had never visited.

Which one of the three groups do I fall into? Which do you?

If generosity is the engine of serving and the proof of genuine love, then let me leave you with some questions I’ve been asking myself to help me uncover the proof of my generosity:

1. Do people like me?
2. How often do people seek me out?
3. How do I repay people I seek out?
4. How quick am I to help someone?
5. How hospitable am I?
6. Do I get away with giving as little as possible?
7. Do I get away with buying the cheapest gift I can?
8. Besides Christmas and birthdays, do I give to others?
9. Do I tithe to my church?
10. Do I give to people I don’t know, who will never know I gave to them?

Christians should be the most generous people on the planet because of the generous grace of God given to them in Jesus Christ.

Reality vs. fiction - IMAGE (BEAUTY)

The Bible speaks of beauty. It often says that a woman was beautiful in form and appearance. It says of men that they are handsome and admirable in strength and stature. The Bible speaks of physical beauty as something that God has made. Because God is perfect and pure in his beauty, all that He has made reflects His beauty. Man is drawn, notices and is captured by beauty. Our eyes see and become fixed on something beautiful. Our hearts think and daydream and dream about beautiful things. We watch the sunrise and sunset because they’re beautiful. Some enjoy the beauty of nature. Others the beauty of the heavens, the sky. Others see animals as beautiful. All of us recognize beautiful people. The things we make have a beauty, an admirable quality about them that we desire. God is beauty and His beauty is seen all around and because we are created in His image, we love beauty. It takes our breath away.

A Newsweek article states that women start to spend a significant amount of money on their hair, face and body, as early as their ‘tween’ years, the few years before they become a teenager. The report suggests that tweens spend an average of $7,170 throughout this phase, just to look and feel better about themselves. Over the course of a lifetime, the average woman spends nearly half a million dollars on beauty and hair treatments alone, say the editors at Newsweek. Additionally, Americans (men and women) spend around $7 billion on cosmetics a year, not including cosmetic surgery, diets and weight loss programs. We love our beauty. It takes their breath away.

I am convinced that we’ll never rid ourselves of the nagging thought, “How do I look?”. If I think I look good, I feel good about myself. If I know others think I look good, I feel even better about myself. We pursue beauty in order to be accepted. It’s possible to place so much emphasis on feeling good about myself that “how do I look” consumes my life. Clothing has a major part to play in this.

How we dress and undress our bodies speaks to how we view our image and the purpose of our beauty.

THE ORGIN AND PURPOSE OF CLOTHING AND BEAUTY

The concern over our image is a result of the fall of sin. Adam and Eve were not ashamed of their bodies and they did not need clothes, until after they sinned. Sin ushered in a need for clothing because of the shame over being naked. The origin of clothing should tell you everything about the purpose of clothing. Covering.

Genesis 3:21 states that God made clothing. Clothing is God’s idea. Every person since Adam and Eve wears God’s idea. Being clothed is God’s intent to cover our bodies; to cover our shame; to keep and guard and cherish our bodies. Clothing is not intended to consume us, but to remind us.

While clothing was a consequence of sin, it was also a demonstration of the grace and mercy of God in covering shame due to sin. The body reflects God, but clothing speaks to God’s care for the body and his promise of grace for our sin. Shame in being naked before others is, I believe, the physical counterpart to the spiritual reality of shame in being exposed in our sin before a holy God. Clothing is the physical counterpart to the grace given us in Christ. Many people, though, do not hesitate to undress their bodies. This is because they have no shame or fear over their sin before a holy God. A Christian engaged in sensuality does so because they have ceased feeling conviction over their sin. What once brought them shame to do now they do without delay or regret.

THE TWISTING AND RUINING OF THE PURPOSE OF CLOTHING AND BEAUTY

Proverbs 11:22 says, “Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without discretion.” In other words, if a woman dresses seductively, her beauty is as a gold ring in a pig's snout. What is seductively? To sexually stimulate another. This would be a waste of her beauty. But this is not a waste by the cultural standards of our day. Rather it is the height of achievement: how many men can you get to notice you and lust after you. The purpose of image and beauty has been twisted and ruined. Why do stores use half-naked people to sell clothes?! To make us feel as attractive and desirable as the people in the picture. Whereas God designed clothing to cover us, now we design clothing to be taken off.

In Peter’s day, the external use of adornment and cosmetics could be seen as an attempt to seduce. So, if a married woman left her home adorned and alone there was great suspicion. But writing to Christian wives whose husbands were not Christians but allowed them to go to Church, Peter asks them to consider their external appearance. (1 Peter 3:3-4) If she was to leave home without her husband to go to church, that would be questionable. But if she left the home without her husband, but also without adornment or cosmetic, her intent to go to church to worship God would be all the more clear. So, while today you don’t have to leave your home un-adorned, please understand that by the way that you look your intent is either confirmed or denied. Quite simply, your intent to follow Jesus is upheld or torn down by how you present yourself.

Tim Keller says that men perceive beauty as something to be prized. Women desire to be prized. Men feel powerful if they have many beautiful possessions. Women feel secure if they are treated as beautiful. The combination of these two factors makes for a dangerous scenario because men use power to acquire and women use beauty to be acquired - men take by force, while women want to be “purchased” or carefully chosen.

The twisting of a man’s natural desire and of the woman’s natural need results in men stealing and rejecting and in women seducing and disrespecting. The more a person calls attention to their body, the more they are going against God’s intent. To take off your clothes (or to wear hardly none at all) is to go against God by taking off what He has put on. To call attention to yourself beyond how God has made you is to go against God’s design.

THE RESTORING OF THE PURPOSE OF CLOTHING AND BEAUTY

The body is an image. The body is a temple. It is an image in the sense that it reflects something or someone it is in the likeness of. For the Christian this is Christ. It is a temple in the sense that it is the dwelling place of the presence of God. This is the Holy Spirit. This doesn’t mean that Christians should be the worse dressed and ugliest people on the planet! Not at all. But it does mean that we are not consumed with our image and by the things that will make us look and feel better. We will not draw attention to ourselves out of sinful motivations, namely pride and sensuality.

1 Thessalonians 4:4 says that we should control our body in holiness. This means controlling and using it in a way that is set apart for God and for His glory. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 says that our whole body, along with our spirit and soul, should be kept blameless. This means that we should take care and preserve our bodies in the knowledge of and recognition that Jesus is coming back.

Inward beauty determines outward beauty. An inner submission to God will result in an exterior obedience to Him. If you are submitted to God, in your heart, then your external beauty will reflect that. Why you dress will be pleasing to Him above being pleasing to any man or woman. When a person turns to Christ they begin to have a sense of His love for them and in turn they begin to do all things out of love for Him. While before they used their image to gain acceptance, now they use their image as a reflection of God. How you dress is a reflection of your heart’s desires. If you dress fashionably seductive, your heart is pursuing attention and affection. If you dress fashionably modest, your heart is content with or without attention and affection. We must empty ourselves of the desire to be beautiful for the purpose of being noticed and praised and having the power over someone. We must fill ourselves with the desire to be beautiful for the purpose of reflecting God, the true object of the desire of our heart. Internal beauty makes external beauty possible, not the other way around.

We would do well to remember Paul’s words in Romans 12:1-2. We are called to present our bodies as worship to God. We are called to not be conformed to the worldly way of thinking about our bodies, but to be transformed to the godly way of thinking. The mind, how we think, is critical. Our mind must be consumed with God, then we will be able to think and discern what is the will of God and how we should act, reflecting Him in a good, acceptable and perfect way.


“The Beauty Breakdown: What a Lifetime of Cosmetic Maintenance Will Cost a Modern Diva.” Newsweek 2010. Web. 20 April 2010

Reality vs. fiction - SENSUALITY

THE REALITY IS that sex is everywhere promoted and flaunted and paraded in our homes and streets. But sex is not the problem. Sensuality is. Sex is being exalted by sensuality. Corrupted and offered without restraint, sex is nothing more than something you do - like getting ice cream or a value meal, i.e. there’s a ton of options and they’re all cheap. Yet, sex is created by God. Sex is good. Sex is holy, an act set apart by God for a specific time and purpose. But like all that God has created, sin has distorted the act and purpose of sex. God is clear that when a man and woman are married, sex is not only then permitted, but is to be enjoyed fully. The banks of a river are not just to hold back destruction, like a flood, but to also ensure that the river be a constant source of life and growth. God’s boundaries for sex are both to prevent and to enable, to protect and to nourish. But sensuality promotes sex without boundaries. It’s false advertising of the worse kind. Sensuality erodes away the beauty of sex. It gnaws away at a right understanding of sex. What is left is sex disfigured, twisted and far from God’s design for it. As Christians we rejoice in all that God has made, remembering that when God creates something He also designs how it will live and flourish. In other words, we cannot take away or add to God’s design for sex, otherwise it dies. Today, the danger is that the church, the Christian, can begin to entertain sensuality and as a result give in to it and be shaped by it in understanding and practice.

In Numbers 25:1-3 we see that Israel was enticed by the women of Moab and eventually began to fornicate with them. This also amounted to spiritual adultery since Israel began to worship another god named Baal. But this process of being seduced by sensuality occurred in three phases.

1. Israel entertained an invitation by Moab to the sacrifices of their gods.
2. Israel sat down to eat with them
3. Israel bowed down to their gods

First, Israel began to share in the desires of Moab. (Numbers 25:2) They began to exchange their desires for others. Sin is deceptive, always attempting to get you to think that the pursuit of holiness and righteousness is empty and pointless. For example, there are always new fads, the new thing, that everyone wants to collect. Someone wants this thing in the worst way, diligently saving their money in order to purchase it. But if this desire is a craving or a lust as soon as that thing is held in your hand satisfaction slips from your grasp. All your left with is this thing. You actually dislike it now! You want the next best thing or you want to trade what you have for something that you think is better.

This is also seen in the story of Amnon and Tamar. Amnon is David’s son and loves his sister Tamar. But he doesn’t love her in the sense that he wants what is best for her. He loves her in the sense that he desires her sexually. Amnon ends up being consumed by his lust and after deceiving Tamar he rapes her. Listen to what the Bible says happened next: “Then Amnon hated her with very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her.” (2 Samuel 13:15) The object Amnon loved and desired he now hated and could not look at. This is sensuality. It was in the same way that Israel began to love (or desire) the Moabite women. What they were being offered was attractive and was beginning to both satisfy their sinful desires and grow those desires beyond being satisfied.

Second, Israel begin to succumb to the desires of Moab. (Numbers 25:2) The moment sensuality can get you to accept it’s invitation to consider sex outside of the God-given context, that thought has been planted into your mind. It begins to grow toward bearing fruit. Sensuality begins in the dark when one entertains cravings and lusts, fantasies and thoughts. If such feelings and thoughts are welcomed in they begin to spread across the heart and mind. This is similar in my mind to mold. I’m allergic to it. I can tell by my breathing that I am near mold. Most of the time, though, I can’t see it. It’s hidden somewhere dark and damp. Those who begin to succumb and surrender to sensual thoughts begin to show it in their treatment of others, primarily the opposite sex. Their spiritual life suffers as it is choked by sin. Yet, they refuse to bring their sin out of the dark and into the light. Light and heat does wonders for someone allergic to mold! So the light and heat of repentance and confession does wonders for someone battling sensual thoughts.

Practically, it’s usually when you are alone that sensual thoughts come knocking on the door of your heart. When that happens pull open the curtains, let the sunlight in. Walk out into the daylight. Or if it's night, turn on all the lights in the room you're in, and maybe even in the surrounding rooms. Do something that enables light to shine. This helps the mind and heart to chase away the dark thoughts of sensuality. If we don’t keep sensuality away from our hearts, sensuality will keep our hearts away from God and others. It will manifest itself sooner or later. Jesus teaches this in Mark 7:21: sensuality comes from out of the heart. When Israel exchanged desires with Moab, Moab’s desires became Israel’s and began to manifest in Israel's willingness to sit down and eat with the Moabites. This was a step toward outwardly committing a sin that had already been inwardly committed in the heart. At this point the battle was lost. We should not even entertain sensuality’s invitation to think it’s thoughts, because if we do we will next find ourselves sitting at it’s table as it lays out a feast for us. Most Christians think that the battle is lost when they sin, but most don’t realize that the battle is lost when they succumb to sinful desires by choosing to entertain them in a darkened mind. Run towards the light.

Third, Israel was shaped by it’s desires. (Numbers 25:2-3) The desires that were Moab’s became Israel’s desires now. Their lifestyle changed. Bad company corrupts good character and one’s character is seen in everything he or she does. Many want to blame others for their sin and the consequence of their sin. But in reality they’re reaping what they’ve sown into their character. If we go back to the story of Amnon, we find that Amnon was tormented because he did not know what do with his sensual, unstoppable desires. 2 Samuel 13:3 says, “But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab...” From Jonadab, Amnon received counsel outlining how he could get what he wanted. But what kind of friend is this?! The raping of Tamar was the result of Amnon sowing into his character the advice of his friend Jonadab. What friends do you have? Sin is not your friend. Satan is not your friend. Sensuality is not your friend. But yet, do you run to these? Do you let them give you ungodly counsel and do you then receive it?

We see that Israel bowed down to other gods by their own choosing. They were not forced to worship Baal. They did so knowingly and willingly because they had surrendered themselves to sensuality and now sensuality had given birth to sin in their lives. Not only were they committing spiritual adultery, but in their idolatry they were also committing fornication. Throughout the Bible their is a strong connection between idolatry and fornication. Whereas the worship of the true and living God brings holiness, purity, right understanding and right thinking regarding sex, false worship of another god brings the total opposite. Paul makes this clear throughout the first chapter of Romans.

Notice also, that now Israel is parading itself and flaunting itself sexually, for this is what sensuality does - sex becomes the object of uncontrolled lust. They are openly engaged with Moab in joint worship of Baal. For this God judges them by sending a plague and 24,000 die. Sensuality has deceived and killed it’s thousands. Our lifestyles are shaped by our desires. Our desires rule our hearts.

Today, as represented by two men in this story, each of us will respond to sensuality in one of two ways:
1.) While all Israel is weeping for sorrow, a man named Zimri strolls through the Israelite camp with a woman. In plain view of Moses and Israel, before the Tent of Meeting Zimri committs fornication in his tent. This is the epitome of sin: to commit sin before a God we know has commanded us to not sin. I am sure that what Zimri did in broad daylight was a result of what he had been doing in the dark for a long time.

2.) There was another man named Phinehas. He was zealous for God and the glory of God in Israel. As he watched Zimri enter his tent with the woman, Phineas became jealous with God’s jealousy (Numbers 25:10-11). Taking his spear he followed them into the tent, pierced Zimri and the woman and killed them. (Numbers 25:7-8) This is graphic. This is sin. Zimri died joined together with his sin. So it is for many given over to sensuality and it’s insatiable appetite: they will be devoured. They cannot get enough of their sin as Satan cannot get enough of his victims. But Phinehas was blessed by God because of his jealousy. God’s covenant blessing of peace rested not only upon him, but also upon his descendants. (Numbers 25:12-13)

By which man are we represented?

Have we begun to entertain sensuality and share in it’s desires? Are we sitting at it’s table, delighting in the feast before our eyes, succumbing to temptation? Are we shaped by it, bowing and worshipping it’s god, sex? We need to know the story of Israel and Zimri and learn to be like Phinehas. This culture is a Zimri-like culture, therefore we need a Phinehas-like Church. We need to be those who will not entertain or share in sensual desires. We need to be those who will not succumb and surrender to sensual thoughts and images. We need to be those who will not bow down to sensuality or be shaped by “friendly” advice. We will either be cursed like Zimri or be blessed like Phinehas.

Why Porno Shops Don’t Have Windows

Why Porno Shops Don’t Have Windows

Reality vs. fiction - MAGIC AND THE OCCULT

FICTION is invented either to entertain or to deceive.

REALITY is the state of things as they actually exist.

A list of bestselling books for teens on Amazon includes the following: “The Necromancer” (A necromancer is one who speaks to the dead); “The Sorceress”; “Spirit Bound” (The cover has a young lady offering her neck to a vampire); “Hex Hall” (A young lady discovers she’s the daughter of a warlock and that she has powers); “Dark Flame” (It is described as the author’s “most darkly seductive Immortals novel yet”); “Love Bites” (The main character wonders whether or not her vampire boyfriend will ever bite her and make their love immortal); “Spells” (One critic calls it, “Brilliant and Lovely”); “The Demonata #10: Hells Heroes”; the “Twilight” series.

American teens are fascinated with magic and the occult. But this is not exclusively a teenage interest. Humanity has always been intrigued by supernatural power and the spiritual realm. But why? Many times we have no idea why we’re attracted to something or someone. There’s something about “it” that raises our curiosity. This can be dangerous. To blindly follow someone only because there’s something about them that you like is probably not a good idea. We are attracted for unexplainable reasons sometimes. Our knowledge is limited and when something is beyond what we can understand we are intrigued by it. We have an innate desire for the unknown. This is good when we use discernment, but bad when we don’t. Do we consider what it might mean to read some of the above mentioned books or to watch some of the top grossing movies? Are they really harmless? Maybe we think we know, but are we really strong enough Christians to not be influenced? Or, more to the point, should Christians even take part in these things?

Magic is a predominant and widely accepted manifestation of the occult in our culture. But being predominant and accepted doesn’t make it profitable. Because it is appealing does not mean that we should pursue to engage it.

Do you think that Satan only speaks through the outspoken and self-appointed witch, warlock, and sorcerer? Or just through the demonstrably and visibly evil person or just through the hideous and grotesque? Think again. Satan is an Angel of Light (2 Corinthians 11:14-15) and a blood-thirsty lion (1 Peter 5:8). He is both and, therefore, subtly disguises his intent through desirable appearances. He speaks through people whom are held captive to his ideas and words. His servants appear innocent, as do his methods. Satan takes things out of the spiritual realm and puts them into the entertainment realm. Revelation 12:9, describes Satan as the Deceiver of the whole world. All of this amounts to another gospel: good news about how you or I can attain to happiness, success, joy, romance, riches, power, eternal life and god-likeness, all the while sowing to reap our own destruction. Any other gospel that does not preach Jesus as the source, center and goal of life and salvation is false. Any gospel that does not honor and glorify Jesus as King and Lord over all else is false. Paul writes in Galatians 1:9, that even if “an angel”, whether Satan or another, or a person comes preaching (proclaiming) words that are contrary to the Word of God, then that messenger should be handed over to God for judgment and their message should be discerned as being deceitful.

To not be deceived by lies, we need to know the truth. A biblically illiterate Church is a deceived church. The same could be said of any Christian. Hence, the great and urgent need of the church today is to teach and preach the Word of God - the Truth. Christians need to know what God says about what they need to believe. That being said, Christians live their lives under the banner (bumper sticker?) of What Would Jesus Do?. This is good and wise, but this is not learned apart from the Bible and the Work of the Spirit. So, concerning magic and the occult, here is the one BIG question that stands over all the others: DID JESUS USE MAGIC? If the answer is yes, then let’s define magic:

1. DICTIONARY.com says, MAGIC is “the art of producing a desired effect or result through the use of incantation or various other techniques that presumably assure human control of supernatural agencies or the forces of nature.” The key here is HUMAN CONTROL. But from whom and where does a person acquire this control?

2. Collegiate Dictionary says, MAGIC is “the use of means (as charms or spells) believed to have supernatural power.” But how and from where are these means acquired?

3. MAGIC is a skill that is developed in secret. “According to magical theory, the potency of a spell is bound up with it’s secrecy; if it be divulged, it becomes ineffective.” (F.F. Bruce, ACTS) The greater the skill the greater the level of secrecy. But who teaches this skill?

Back to our question. Did Jesus use magic? If we define magic as above, then the answer is no. Jesus did not use magic. Magic is always associated in the Bible with Astrology; Necromancy (speaking with the dead); Sorcery (divination by an alleged assistance of evil spirits); Witchcraft (the use of sorcery or magic). Magic is the power and witchcraft is the use of magic or sorcery. The key here is human control through demonic control.

What about witchcraft? What does “witch” mean? “One that is credited with malignant supernatural powers; practicing black witchcraft often with the aid of a devil.” What does “craft” mean? “An occupation or trade requiring manual dexterity or artistic skill.” Witchcraft is the learned craft (skill or art) and occupation of using supernatural power that is demonic in nature.

DID JESUS USE WITCHCRAFT? No. Jesus did not practice witchcraft. Jesus did not consult the heavens and he did not try to discern something by the assistance of evil spirits. Jesus was not a wizard. His craft or occupation was not supernatural power. Furthermore, Jesus did not speak to dead people. Dead people do not talk. Demons pretend to be dead people and talk. Magic is occult and the occult is not just magic, but much much more. The occult speaks of what is hidden, and things hide in the darkness, not in the light.

Consider these questions:
1. Does God ever speak of His power as witchcraft or magic?
2. Does God ever use spells or books or command anyone in the Bible to use such?
3. Does God ever put a spell on a person or does He ever use potions?
4. Are the words magic, sorcery, spells, witchcraft, etc. ever used in the Bible with reference to God?

In the Bible magic (withcraft):
-is rebellion (1 Samuel 15:23) Opposition to one in authority
-is a work of the flesh (Galatians 5:20) They will not inherit the Kingdom of God
-is deception (Revelation 18:23) God’s face will not shine on them, His voice will not be heard by them
-is immoral (Revelation 21:8) Their portion will be in the lake of fire that burns with fire and sulfur.
-is under punishment of death (Deuteronomy 18:9-22) Whoever speaks in the name of other gods shall surely die.
-is idolatry (Leviticus 19:31) I am the LORD (Yahweh) your God.
-is as murder (Ezekiel 13:17-23) It is like hunting souls.
-is secret (hidden), imitation and impersonation (Exodus 7:11; Exodus 8:7) God will expose you.
-is another teaching (1 Timothy 4:1)

Clearly, the Bible does not condone magic and witchcraft and will surely punish those who practice it. God has power, not magic. God does mighty works and does not work spells. God has always judged magic, not used it or excused it.

In addition, there’s an interesting story in Acts 19:18 that speaks to the sinfulness of magic. Paul comes preaching the Gospel to Ephesus and as a result many come to believe in Jesus that formerly were practicing magic. We read that “the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.” (Acts 19:20) The Word of the Lord grew and became greater in influence. It spread. The Word of the Lord was strong to overcome with great power. It increased in strength. The Gospel increased and prevailed, but over what? In general over wicked acts, but in context over magical practices. The influence the magicians had in the culture was great and the power of their magic over the people’s hearts was also great. But the influence that God had through His Word increased above all other influences and the power of His Word prevailed over all other strongholds and strangleholds of Satan. Those who practiced magic arts brought and burned their books in the sight of all. There was bold confession of Christ as their new Lord and Savior. There was clear repentance from their old and sinful practices, i.e. those things they devoted themselves to, things they were busy with. There was unmistakable joy as they abandoned their sin to abandon themselves to Christ and His work.

As Christians, we are to walk in power like Jesus and Jesus never used magic. He destroyed it, as seen above. But like Jesus did, we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that we pursue power. Rather, the Holy spirit is given so that we can continue to do the works of Jesus on earth, where we are. But at the opposite end of this, magic is pursuing power through the learning and developing of secret and hidden techniques and means to acquire power and to control super natural forces. Any power that does not come from the Holy Spirit comes from an evil spirit and, therefore, Satan. There are only two powers in the world: God and Satan.


Satan deceives through culture and engages our hearts. How many Christians would grow in their faith if they simply exercised discernment in their daily lives. Instead they are starving themselves. When we hear that Jospeh Smith, Jr., founder of Mormonism, received a secret, sacred text of faith from an angel; that the text was written in an ancient Egyptian language and needed to be translated by a seer stone, we would be quick to dismiss that message as false. But when we hear that author Stephanie Meyer, who is also a Mormon, received the idea for Twilight in a very vivid dream; that the vampire she saw was “fantastically beautiful”; that she couldn’t stop thinking about the dream; that the character’s were, “quite literally”, voices in her head and “They simply wouldn’t shut up”; that these conversations were continually happening, we are quick to accept it as fiction. When a messenger appears supernaturally with a secret message, or a new revelation or idea comes to us in an extraordinary way, what are we to make of it? Who were these literal voices speaking to the author? Where did they come from and where does their message come from? Is it possible that if one person follows the teaching of a man who was visited by an angel, that that person, believing in receiving messages via angels or visions or dreams, will be more susceptible to such a thing occurring to them? But more importantly, does what you believe in make you either more vulnerable to being deceived or better equipped not to be? Yes. Since the Bible speaks of Satan and lies and of God and truth, to not believe in God and to believe in something or someone else is to be victim to all forms and degrees of deception under Satan. But to believe in God and to follow Him is to be set free from Satan’s lies, and to be brought to a knowledge of the truth of God and of Jesus Christ. We cannot be bewitched by the many “angels” or beautiful things that appear, for it is then that we are seduced. If we yield to them we come under the power of untruth. Satan speaks through people that he deceives - people to do his every beckoning, promoting his desires in fantastically attractive ways. While some are outspoken in their service to Satan and knowingly advance his purposes, others are simply blinded to the fact that they are being used by him and for him. But it’s not the former that we have trouble identifying. It’s the latter. It’s through seemingly harmless things that we are destroyed and beautiful things that we are deceived.

Why should a Christian knowingly associate with Satan? Why should a Christian engage with evil power? Why should a Christian share in demonic desires through entertainment? All these things arouse and awaken ungodly desires and thoughts in our hearts. In fact, a good indicator and media filter for Christians is the fruit that results from something. We need discernment. We need the Word of God to increase and prevail over every tendency toward sin in our hearts, every hint of evil in the church and every stronghold of Satan in the world. We need to guard our hearts and our minds with godly wisdom and healthy fear, not blissful ignorance and blind arrogance. We need to be aware that magic and the occult are a doorway to demonic activity and influence, and that they are everywhere and everyday presented to us in a light that makes them appear on the surface what they are not in reality.

Reality vs. fiction - GREED

FICTION is invented either to entertain or to deceive.
REALITY is the state of things as they actually exist.

My wife and I recently went on vacation and along the way visited a very wealthy town. The scenery was beautiful and the weather was perfect for taking a walk. Oddly enough, I began to feel a tug and began to take notice of the town, the houses, the vehicles - the wealth. I began to daydream, “What would it be like if lived here? What would it be like to drive that? What would it be like to be able to buy that?” My attitude began to change and, somehow, so did the scenery. After leaving, the residue left by what I encountered was with me for a couple of hours. It sunk an arrow that I couldn’t seem to pull out. What was that residue? What was it that penetrated me? It wasn’t the wealth itself. Rather, it was a desire for wealth. It was a growing dis-satisfaction with what I had and a lusting for what I didn’t have. Here was a wealthy town, but more specifically, here was a spirit of greed.

Greed is the accumulation of money and/or possessions for one’s sole personal use at the expense or exclusion of another. Greed doesn’t consider others, not even in the same house or office or building or state or nation or world. Greed gathers, it hoards, in complete disregard of one’s own health or the danger to another. Greed is selfishness. Greed is worship - idolatry. Greed is serving another god - slavery. Greed is sin, therefore, greed is death. Greed will keep you from eternal joy, but deliver you to eternal misery. The greedy will not inherit eternal life. In other words, the greedy will not inherit Jesus Christ. (John 17:3)

Generosity, on the other hand, is giving. Generosity is kindness - sacrifice. Generosity is meeting the needs of another, at times even at the expense of one’s own needs. Generosity is love, because it does not seek anything for it’s own sake. It seeks another’s well being. Generosity is being like Jesus - it is a fruit of the Spirit - an attribute of God. Generosity finds it’s happiness in another’s happiness. Similarly, God rejoices when we rejoice over Him. Because we are satisfied by what God has given us, He is satisfied. He is glorified when He is received by us as supremely glorious and beautiful. Generosity is the heart of God. Greed is the heart of Satan, since Satan seeks the destruction of the glory of God in the joy of man. All that Satan does is evil from beginning to end. All that God does is good from beginning to end. Greed is evil because it is not love. Generosity is good because it is love. Love, then, is the difference between God and Satan, greed and generosity, good and evil.

Love is the motivation for not being greedy. Generosity is the antidote for greed, the great weapon in our arsenal in the battle against it. Hospitality is the armor-bearer. Inviting someone in to your home puts you in the position of a servant and being able to share in the burdens and meet the needs of another. Greed isolates you and numbs you down. In this country we spend approximately $7 billion dollars on our face. So this doesn’t include the rest of our body! With $7 billion dollars we could feed 7 billion people in the world for one week. They live on less than a dollar a day. Most of us would say, “One week is not really a long time. It won’t make that big of a difference. It’s just not worth it.” It’s just not worth it?! Only greed would rather spend $7 billion dollars on it’s face than fill the stomach of billions of people for a whole week. Greed is demonic. When you or I can stand by and watch someone in need and think that we are better served by our money than them, then we are sharing in demonic desires. Satan destroys. Closer to home, if you pursue a job to primarily provide for your family, that is good. If you pursue a job so you can primarily have more stuff, that is wrong. Really, the amount of money is not under consideration, but the spirit behind it is. The desire for wealth is a stumbling block for many and, in fact, like we’ve mentioned already is a reason why many will not follow and serve Jesus.

How badly does Jesus want us to give? When the rich young ruler came to Him and asked how eternal life could be inherited, Mark 10:21 points us, first, to the love that Jesus had for him and, second, to the words that Jesus would speak to him. But why? Mark establishes Jesus’ love as the reason for what Jesus is about to say. WHY DID JESUS LOVE HIM? Because a person cannot trust in riches and Jesus, cannot love riches and Jesus and cannot serve riches and Jesus. Jesus wanted all of the young man’s heart!!!! What was Jesus answer? It was to go and sell all that he had and give it to the poor. The young man was concerned about eternal life. So was Jesus. But the young man could not see that it was only by giving up all that he had - abandoning the pursuit and accumulation of earthly treasures - that he could gain eternal life and heavenly treasures. What does this mean? Salvation is the forgiveness of our transgressions against a Holy God, but it is also the forsaking of all other loves, idols, and gods. When Jesus forgives us He also cleanses us from the stains that sin has left and creates new desires in us for Him that overcome all others desires for anything other than him. It’s not that we don’t desire money anymore. It’s that we don’t desire it first for all the benefits it affords us, but first for the glory that it brings Christ by using it in a way that pleases Him. This is the transformation that Jesus brings to a heart. Whereas greed sought it’s own pleasure, now generosity seeks to please Christ, which brings the giver more pleasure than if he was a hoarder!

Many say that they will begin giving when they have enough to give. Some say that they will work until they don’t have to work and then they can give the abundance away and “build the kingdom of God”. That’s shallow, selfish and sinful. God has restrained His wrath from the beginning, in order to give mercy. He has always been generous. Giving begins the moment the need for giving arises. A Christian becomes a Christian the day he (or she) is born again, not the day he attains a certain measure of maturity. The moment a disciple begins learning at the feet of the Master, he begins to imitate his teacher and apply what he has learned. The worshipper begins serving God the instant he recognize God’s worth. Every Christian takes up his cross, denies himself and follows Jesus the day he confesses with his mouth Jesus is Lord and believes in his heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. (Romans 10:9) To not be greedy and to live a generous lifestyle will mean living an uncomfortable lifestyle of not getting, but giving NOW. Being a disciple of Jesus begins where you are and with what you have.

So Jesus told the man to sell all that he had. This wasn’t metaphorical. This was literal. And it wasn’t to finally push him over the minimal requirements necessary for earning eternal life. Clearly, the young man was a good keeper of the law. But the end of the law is Jesus. The fulfillment of keeping the law is found in Jesus. He stands at the end of the law as the reward for having kept the entire law. But if anything, Jesus taught the opposite. No man, as good as he is, even comes close to earning salvation. All men have sinned. All men are under the wrath of God. But Jesus stands as the sacrificial, wrath-absorbing, law-satisfying, perfect and pure Lamb of God. To go and sell all that he had was only possible if the young man believed that it wasn’t a means to an end, but a demonstration of love for Jesus and of trust in Him. Would Jesus be ALL that he wanted? We do not forsake all things in order to gain Christ, we forsake all things because we have gained Christ. The man sold his field because he had a treasure worth more than all the possessions in his possession. (Matthew 13:44) Joy was born in that field, not sorrow. But sorrow was born in the heart of this man, not joy. Mark says that he went away “disheartened”. (Mark 10:22) This man became sad. The sky of his heart became covered with dark clouds and Jesus face that was filled with love was hidden from his sight. He could not let go of all that he was holding onto and all that he was going after. He could not understand that to love Jesus was to, like Jesus, furnish the empty lives of people by supplying what they needed. God is love. Those who love God are known by God. (1 Corinthians 8:3) We come to love Jesus because He first loved us. We come to love others because we first love Jesus. If we do not love Jesus more than our possessions we will not, we cannot, love others.

Only God can give a person a generous heart and remove the greedy heart. Furthermore, generosity only becomes possible if and when Jesus becomes Lord of our possessions. And Jesus only becomes Lord of our possessions when He becomes the King of our hearts. Greed is our throne. Generosity is His throne. We cannot serve two masters.

In these days we must remember that Generosity is a sign of those who are going to inherit eternal life (Mark 10:17), but greed is a sign of those who are not going to inherit eternal life. (1 Corinthians 6:10) We must honestly look at our giving and our hospitality. We must search our hearts. If I held up a $100 dollar bill in front of a group of Christians, chances are pretty good that someone would run up to snatch it for themselves. But if I first read of a husband and wife with three small children moving to northern Tibet where their new home does not include running water or electricity, but only a wooden stove, and that they will have to build their own outhouse, my hope would be that then no one would run up to snatch it away. Maybe my hope is ill founded. But maybe the context would curtail greed. Maybe having a different perspective puts things into reality. Maybe if the church had a higher and more eternal perspective of possessions and earthly and heavenly treasures, we would have more weight in the world.

After the young rich man left Jesus went on to teach His disciples that there is no one who has left everything to follow Him that will not have everything they need. Though it may be little, they will be content. Though it may not seem like enough, it will be enough, somehow. May we as Christian’s spend less time being consumed with hoarding for ourselves all that we want and think we need. And may God give us mercy and deliver us from the spirit of greed, so that we might lay our gold in the dust and declare that He has become our gold. (Job 22:24-25)

Faith in the real life

I just got back from a vacation. It didn’t solve any of my problems. But then again, that’s not why I went on vacation. Yes, it was nice to not think about certain things, but the reality is that things don’t disappear just because I distance myself from them. There is no magical solution to eliminating problems. Problems are tackled, not avoided. Overcome, not swept away. Those who think that their problems will be solved by getting away or going around them instead of running straight toward and through them are fooling themselves. For example, if a Christian husband and wife throw a vacation at their problems they will simply buy themselves time. They should instead seek repentance and forgiveness; they should pray for each other and together. A vacation or a quick fix cannot change a marriage - it cannot change a heart. A short cut, a detour, or a scenic route to avoid the potholes, bumps and re-construction that all of us must face on the road of life is fantasy.

Faith, for some, is living in a fantasy land where God does all, fixes all and heals all. But faith in the real life is where God works with us as we walk in obedience to Him (Philippians 2:12-13); where God shows His kindness towards us if we continue in His kindness (Romans 11:22); where God works all things together for our good, but where “all things” includes tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and a sword. (Romans 8:35). Faith in the real life is where God heals sometimes, but not all the time. It is where God allows calamity to come and to take everything away from a man named Job. It is where problems arise out of no where, persist and sometimes, like Paul’s thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7), are with us everyday of our lives. Faith in the real life is not for the faint-hearted or the cowardly. Yet, a Christian is also not a super-human, but an exile. (1 Peter 1:1) And when we think of our exile we like to think of the Exodus and God’s incredible, supernatural and unstoppable deliverance of the Israelites, but not the 400 years prior of cruel slavery. Or we like to think of the woman with the flow of blood who simply touched Jesus’ garment and was healed, but not the 12 years she suffered before she was healed. (Mark 5:25-26) We like to think that the mourning before the dancing will last a moment. Or that we’ll wear our sackcloth for an hour before we’re clothed with gladness. (Psalm 30:11) We like to think that sorrow will pass quickly and then comfort will come and stay forever. (Jeremiah 31:13) But more often than not the reason the Bible calls us to persevere and to endure and to run the race and to fight the fight is precisely because these things, these trials, do not last a moment, but may last a long time, if not a lifetime.

For the Christian, perseverance is perspiration; it is endurance and discipline; it is running and crawling; it is fighting and waiting. Trials are not simply obstacles to our present-day, cheap and instant happiness. But they are fires by which we are purified and refined and brought into deeper relationship with God, our greatest joy. This joy supersedes are experiences and our expectations. This joy is not quenched by pain or suffering or even death because this joy is rooted in a measure of the love of God that can only be known through the fire. Husbands and wives fail to reach the glorious heights of marriage because they refuse to endure the deep valleys of trials. To know God, to love Him, to know others, to love them, is truly and only accomplished through hardship. Therefore, God will not remove our problems or save us from them because it's only through these circumstances that God purges sin from our hearts and refines us into His image.

This purifying, Peter says, is done through fire - trials, tribulations, temptations, problems. (1 Peter 1:7) This more than anything else results in the praise and worship and glory of God. Unfortunately, when we ask God to quench the fire that is purifying our faith, because we think He only wants to make life easy, we are asking God to stop bringing glory to His name. And where God's glory is not being sought, God's will is not being obeyed. If we choose to walk according to our will and not God's, then we are not walking by faith but in disobedience and blind arrogance. On the other hand, faith is trust and trust is no more evidenced than in times of great uncertainty, discouragement, frustration and pain. To trust in a sovereign God at a time when His sovereign work and purpose is hidden from us, is great faith. And faith results in glory and joy.

Paul’s famous statement, “we walk by faith and not by sight” is found in the context of suffering. And the context further teaches us that this walking by faith is not for believing that the present circumstance is going to change, but that though we are burdened and are groaning in our bodies that are wasting away, we will soon be with our God and Savior Jesus Christ. This is faith: to look forward to Christ. It is to look beyond today to the day when we will be with Him. This is faith: to hold on in trials and tribulations, in sickness and in death, to the promise of God that He works all things together for the good of those who love Him. This type of faith is clearly not for cowards who want to avoid all that Paul is talking about. This faith is not for those who want to please themselves and seek their own glory. This faith, Paul says, is for those who want to please Jesus Christ. How does this faith please Him? By not being discouraged by what we see, but by being encouraged by what we do not see, namely, His love and power working for His glory and our joy in ways that we cannot see or imagine.

Suffering must bear it's fruit. It must be brought to completion. We cannot cut it short. Too many of us run to books on how to be a better parent; on how to be a better spouse; on how to be a better Christian; on how to be a better pastor and preacher; on how to...While these have their place, walking by faith and not by sight is about trusting and seeking God day after day in the “realness” of what I face. Faith is evidenced in the normal daily grind before it is evidenced in the extra-normal and exceptional. God responds supernaturally to those who by faith trust in Him day in and day out, through the fire and through the valley. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:8 that Jesus will sustain you to the end. Yet, Jesus will not only establish you once and for all in the end, but He will keep you believing in Him until the end! This is a great promise. The promise is not that He will always do something miraculous or out of the norm, but that by His grace He will always richly supply you with everything you need to endure until the end, which may include the supernatural. There is nothing un-amazing about His grace! All signs and wonders are because of His grace, but His grace is much greater than this, enabling us to persevere as He prepares us through the burdening and groaning of life for fellowship with Him.

It takes great faith to trust a sovereign God in the midst of great trials. We cannot escape our trials. We are to quick to ask God to deliver us from them. We should instead be praying that He strengthen us to walk by faith and not by sight in this life, fully knowing that all that we have not seen will one day be revealed. Then our heart will fully praise and worship God, the Faithful and Sovereign One, when we have come to see that His good and perfect will was done upon the earth and in our lives for His eternal glory and our eternal joy.

UNHEARD AND UNKNOWN, ON EARTH...

Approximately 20 years ago, a concerned mother walked in to our church in Uruapan, Mexico, looking for my father to pray for her troubled son. My father, the pastor, gathered some of the elders to quickly pray for Jose Luis before the service started. The mother’s concerns were well founded. As soon as the praying began the demons possessing Jose Luis began to fight for his soul. To make little of Satan and to make much of Christ, Christ set him free and delivered him from all darkness and demonic control. Jesus saved Jose Luis that day from sin and death. Jesus became Lord and King over his life and all his possessions. Jose Luis was so transformed, thankful and filled with God’s love for him, that he informed his wife that he was going to give our church the piece of property that he owned. Now, our church was meeting on the rooftop of a women’s home at that time. We were outgrowing the size of the roof, not to mention that we regularly sat through violent thunderstorms. Needless to say, we were praying for a new home. This property was in the city, a prime location. God not only rescued a life, but through that life answered our prayer. Over time, Jose Luis’s wife came to Christ, as well as his children. He joyfully served the church and faithfully witnessed for Jesus in that city. Jose Luis died yesterday from cancer.

As I sit and reflect on his life, I am amazed at how God rescued one soul and through that rescue operation touched thousands of lives. It was through Jose Luis that we received the property on which we were able to build a new church and from there reach that city for Christ. The church still stands on that same piece of property and the Word of God continues to be preached, as every sermon is in a way the fruit of Jose Luis’s faithfulness and obedience to Christ.

You’ve never heard of him. You don’t know what he looks like. It doesn’t matter. The God of the universe chose him and saved him. He loved Him, a sinner. Our lives are unheard of and unknown to most of this world, but God has chosen us and saved us for His glorious purpose. His will is not something you can measure out or unfold to see all that He is doing or will do in you and through you. Our desire must be simply to be faithful to Him where we are and in whatever we do. You and I don’t know what kind of impact our lives will have on our family, friends, church, neighborhood, city, state, country or even the world. But I can guarantee you this: if you are not faithful with the little God has given you to do and thankful for what He is doing, your fruit will be minimal.

Here’s what I want written on my tombstone: “He was like a tree planted by streams of water that yielded its fruit in its season, and its leaf did not whither. In all that he did, he prospered.” (Psalm 1:3)

How do I want to prosper? Simply, in this way: I want to be faithful to love the God that loves me. I am convinced that to be faithful to God and to His Word and to be filled and empowered by His Spirit, will result in the bearing of fruit IN my life and in the bearing of fruit THROUGH my life. This He does for His glory, my joy and others good.

To help clarify what Christ does in us and, therefore, does expect from us, there is another unheard of and unknown man. His name is Archippus. He is mentioned two times in the Bible. We know that he probably worked in some manner with Paul in the ministry and that he might have been Philemon’s son. Yet, knowing as little as we do about who Archippus was and what he did, in these two verse two things are abundantly clear:

1. God had given Archippus a ministry. Paul says in Colossians 4:17, “See that you fulfill the ministry you have received in the Lord.” God had called him to be faithful in something, somewhere and with someone. When Jesus saved him, Jesus called him. Paul is encouraging him to complete the task, to run the race, to fight the fight. Paul is wanting him to take hold of that for which Jesus took hold of him. Paul is not asking Archippus to do something that he was unwilling to do. Paul knew what Archippus was going through and what he needed to make it through. Paul would die having devoted his life as a living sacrifice to His Savior. Those that die in their faithful service to God never fall short. They fully complete what God has given them to do. It may seem to us that their life was short or unfruitful. It may appear to us that they did nothing significant or with obvious results. But I am certain that God has spoken and that Jose Luis fulfilled the ministry he received from the Lord. Was it only to give the property to the church? Who knows! If it was, his obedience has led to the proclamation of the gospel to hundreds if not thousands of lives and has resulted in the salvation of multitudes of souls. I am certain that God spoke this same thing over Archippus. God spoke it over Paul. God will speak it over us. Whenever a faithful servant of Christ dies, I am convinced that God says to that servant, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have completed what I’ve given you to do.” This is hard to believe in the face of tragedy or a young one’s death, but God has established and knows the exact purpose we are to fulfill for His glory on earth and into eternity. We will do exactly that, nothing more and nothing less. Christ declares over each of His own, “My purpose is complete.” Be a Jose Luis. Be an Archippus. Know that you have received something to do: faithfully live your life for Christ.

2. God had equipped Archippus for ministry. In Philemon 2 Paul calls him, “our fellow soldier”. Archippus fought the fight of faith. He struggled and doubted I’m sure. He probably suffered like Paul. He may have questioned what he was doing and was it making any difference in anyone in anyway. Archippus would need to persevere and to endure and, like all those who are called, to put on the armor of God everyday. We do not live in a world at rest or at peace. We live in the midst of a never-ending war, a ferocious and incessant battle over the souls of men. Living for Christ is to live like Christ. If people hated Him, they will hate us. If Satan tempted Him, He will tempt us. If people betrayed Him, they will betray us. If people insulted Him, they will insult us. If Jesus had no where to lay His head, we may have no where to lay our head. The big question is: as a soldier, are you willing to give your life? God may ask you to do many things, to surrender many desires, to abandon many comforts? A soldier, Paul says, does not get entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. (2 Timothy 2:4). What is your aim? As a soldier, it must be to please the one who has enlisted us, who has saved us and called us to follow Him, and to complete the mission He has assigned us. God’s mission is not a worthless mission. Because God is completely worthy, all that He commands and desires and seeks and does is to uphold the worth of His name and to therefore bring Him glory. All that we are called to do serves the highest purpose that exists in the universe: God’s glory.

To be unheard of and unknown is for many undesirable. But we do not live for the glory of men. We live for the glory of God, which not coincidentally is to live for our joy! Our lives are not about us, at all. They are all about Him. Be faithful to the ministry he’s give you, whatever that might be right now. Serve Jesus. Be a soldier and aim to please Jesus as you follow His example and His Word. Love Jesus, for He has loved you.

We are not unheard of or unknown in heaven. There stands one on whose heart is written our names.

The Truth and The Lie

The Bible teaches us that there is one truth and there is one lie. (Romans 1:25) This one truth is that there is a God who is eternal and infinitely great, lovely, powerful, wise, holy and good. Because this is who He is, He is infinitely worthy of all the praise, honor, glory and power forever and ever. From eternity to eternity it’s all about Him. In between what has always been and what will always be is the here and now. We live this life on earth in the light of the glory and majesty of the one true God, the Creator of all things.

Since this is the truth, anything that distorts or denies this is a lie. Since our existence is because of Him and for Him, anything that suggests either subtly or overtly that this is not the purpose of our created existence is also a lie. These alternate descriptions and twisted presentations of the truth are countless and varied, yet they can all be summed up as one lie and attributed to the father of lies, Satan. (John 8:44) All of Satan’s attempts since the beginning have been aimed at robbing God of His worth by making Him appear to be less glorious and less beautiful than He actually is. This is his sole purpose in the world, and, even, in the church. My concern, then, is how can we expose the lie and set free those in the world caught in it’s deception and how can we identify the lie and awaken those in the church who are being led astray.

THE PROBLEM
In 2 Timothy 3:8, Paul writes to Timothy to remind him that these days will be filled with difficulty and this difficulty will come in the form of false teachers. These teachers will be opposed to the truth. Paul compares the false teachers to two men in particular, Jannes and Jambres. These are the names given to the magicians in Pharaoh’s court who opposed Moses. Paul is telling Timothy that these false teachers are like magicians! The way the magicians, Jannes and Jambres, opposed Moses was by imitating the signs that Moses did. The people and Pharaoh saw what Moses did and heard what he said and then turned and saw what the magicians did and heard what they said. As a result, they did not believe Moses because they were deceived by Jannes and Jambres. So here it is: today there are countless mis-representations of the truth; there are countless counterfeit and self-proclaimed gods; there are countless imitations of divine power. All of these serve to deceive people today into believing a lie.

THE SOLUTION
Now Paul presents to Timothy (and to us) the solution to the problem. He commands him to “Preach the word”. (2 Timothy 4:2) Every lie is eventually exposed by the truth. The way we will set free the captives and rescue the wandering is not by power or might or eloquence, but by the Spirit-empowered proclamation of the Word of God, which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This preaching of The Word is the ONLY solution for a world living in darkness and the greatest way to protect the church from believing the lie. This is not just any word. It’s not the word of any man. This is the Word of God, breathed out, spoken from out of the very heart of God. (2 Timothy 3:16) It is inspired, and therefore, illuminating. We need to believe in the power of the Word of God. When He speaks, He acts. He speaks through His written Word through the spoken Word.

Husbands and fathers, though this passage is written to a pastor, you are the pastor or shepherd or overseer of your home. Subsequently, the greatest way to lead, protect and feed your family is through a consistent reading of and teaching from the Bible. Would you make no use of the greatest weapon in your arsenal in the thick of battle? The only way you and your family will be able to identify the lie is by teaching and holding to the truth. Pastor, (Senior, Associate, Youth, etc.) the greatest way to lead, protect and feed the souls entrusted to you is through the faithful preaching of the Word of God week in and week out. Nothing else will make a bigger impact. To think that something other than God’s Word will be better or make a bigger difference is to already begin to believe the lie. If we consistently and predominately preach sermons with the main "text" being from a movie clip (or a book, an idea, a real life illustration, a good thought, etc) and not from the Bible, then you and I are poor excuses for under-shepherds and we are being unfaithful to the Great Shepherd. We should either repent or resign. These things can supplement, but never replace. We will be held responsible for these souls and if we do not lead them, protect them and feed them FROM the Bible, the Word of God, we have abandoned the truth about God and exchanged it for a lie and handed those precious souls over to destruction. Just as the magicians could only imitate God’s signs and power up to a certain point, so also imitations of the truth have limitations. God’s power overcame the magicians and they could no longer match the true God and His awesome power. They were convinced, ashamed, and God overcame. The Word of God goes forth to destroy strongholds and false ideas of God. His Word reveals that He is above and beyond all earthly powers and lies.

THE URGENCY
Having established the problem and the solution, Paul describes the urgency of the matter. In 2 Timothy 4:1 Paul lists two big reasons that teaching the truth is critically urgent:
1. We preach before the face of God. We surely live before the face of God. As I said above, as pastors preach, the congregation is not the only one listening and watching - God is also. Husband, you love and serve your wife BEFORE the face of God. Father, you love and discipline your children BEFORE the face of God. We do not live to please men or ourselves. We live to please the God who created us and created us for Him. Seeking the glory of men will lead you down a path of substituting God for another god and the Word of God for the words and strategies and ideals of man. Paul’s main concern and his biggest joy was to be able to stand before the face of God and say that he was innocent of men’s blood. (Acts 20:26) But the reason he was innocent was because he did not shrink back from declaring to them the whole counsel of God! The faithful preaching of God’s Word will either be the grounds for our innocence or our guilt.

2. We preach because Jesus is coming SOON to judge the living and the dead. The days of difficulty that Paul described to Timothy are not over. They have increased and multiplied. But the focus lies not on the difficulty of the opposition by the lie to the truth, but on the reality that Jesus Christ is coming soon. While we wait for Him, we preach Him. While we long for Him, we point to Him. If the hurricane is coming you will secure the house. If the thief is approaching you will prepare yourself. Prepare your house. Prepare your soul. Prepare the hearts of those commended to you by God. The greatest preparations you can make are through the Word of God. Jesus’ coming is both glorious news and terrible news. We will be held responsible for the words we speak and the words we don’t speak; for the words we hear and the words we don’t hear and ignore. He is watching, He is coming. PREACH THE WORD!

THE CHALLENGE
Finally, the challenge to confronting the lie and holding to the truth is enormous. What we need to do and what we are called to do is not easy. It will cost you time, money, friends, family, possessions, reputation and, potentially, even your life. Do you believe in the truth? Meaning, do you believe that God is worthy of everything you are and have? Do you believe that He alone is worthy of worship and praise? Do you believe that all things exist by Him, through Him and for Him? Do you believe that His Word is the truth? That in it God has revealed to us everything we need to know about Him, us, this world and eternity? That from it we receive wisdom and guidance for how to live our lives? Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 that the truth will be opposed. Humanity has exchanged the truth about God for a lie. We have exchanged the lie about God for the truth, but this only by the riches of His grace in Jesus Christ. He has opened our eyes, our ears and our hearts by His word. The truth has made us free. Yet, this same truth is offensive and those who proclaim it will be rejected for it. This is in accordance with the promise Jesus made that so many choose to ignore: “If they persecuted me they will also persecute you.” (John 15:20) We must expect difficulty. But know for sure, that if you are faithful to God and to His Word, He will be faithful to you and to His Word.

Preach the word and hold to the truth. Live your life from the Word of God and He who is The Truth and The Word will reward you not only in this life, but in the eternal life to come.