Choosing Sides
A big theme through out the Bible is how man has a choice. From the beginning God designed us with this innate gift. Eve chose to eat the fruit. Adam chose to follow her. I chose my wife. It was my choice to follow Christ. In the same way, when I sin, it is my choice.
Some may see decisions as something much larger than whether to wear blue or black pants. So what is a big decision? Buying a car, a home, having children? The decision to follow Jesus and God’s will is the single most important decision in everyone’s life.
The choice to follow Christ is what sets us apart. God could have made us to blindly follow Him without a will of our own. Imagine yourself receiving a reward. Everyone in attendance is forced to tell you that you are wonderful. Is that truly meaningful? By making the choice to follow Christ and become a servant of God, it brings glory and praise to Him. He wants us to choose.
Similar to Joshua’s challenge to the Israelites, we need to be challenged. We need to make the choice to live for God. I am challenging you today. Do you live for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit or are you living for yourself?
Commitment
Recently I taught the youth group at church since the director was unable to be there. She gave me the material to look through for Sunday and I began to prepare for the class.
Needless to say, I was nervous. I have taught little ones before, but had yet to teach the upper age groups. Despite the number of reasons one might dream up for me teaching that day, it all really just comes down to me helping my sister by filling in.
The lesson was on The Shema. Here is a very little bit of Jewish tradition and biblical history for you. The Hebrews escaped from Egypt and then wondered in the wilderness for 40 years. As the time approached for them to claim Canaan as God had promised, Moses needed to reiterate the law. The book of Deuteronomy details these laws.
Shema in Hebrew is “hear” or “listen.” Moses repeated addresses the people Shema Yisrael. Hear O Isreal. The Shema is the greatest commandment of these laws. Jewish tradition will uses these verses as a pray in the mornings and at night. As Christians, it’s a base line principal that we all should be living our lives by.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (NIV)
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
You should have heard something like this by now. Golden rule, Greatest Commandment, etc. We use them in songs and in prayer. But how committed are we? That was the real point of the lesson. The commitment. God promised to give the land of Canaan to his children. They were are verge of entering that land and taking all it had to offer for themselves. All God asked them to do, all he asks us to do, is love. Let’s read on for just a bit.
Deuteronomy 6:6-9 (NIV)
These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Moses plainly gives ways for the Israelites to be committed. We do some of these things today. Have you ever seen a T-Shirt or desk calendar with these words on it? Of course. One of the most important would be passing your commitment to your children.
Deuteronomy 6:10-12 (NIV)
When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
Finally. Moses gets to the point. Here he reminds them that yes, God made a promise, and He is keeping it. So also, we should never forget what He has done for us. His Son, a sacrifice for our sins, because He loves us. To sanctify our hearts so we can be with our creator forever.
Praying Mantis
After he was gently moved to the tree and shown to the family, we let him go on his way. As people, we are not much unlike this little insect. We too are God’s creation. The mantis was purpose built as was man and both are capable of being harmful and helpful.
For the mantis, it will seek and destroy the pests in a garden. However, it will also take out the beneficial members of its community for its own benefit. Humans constantly do the same thing. We can be helpful to one another, the community and the environment. Yet, we are also willing to destroy these gifts with barely a second thought.
The next time you are walking through the yard and see a bit of God’s creation starring back at you, stop for a second and discover its beauty and detail. And remember that it was made for a purpose, just like you.
Who turned on the spotlight?
This week our preacher spoke on our responsibility to bring more people to Christ. There are many around us that believe they are Christians, but do they bare fruit for the master? Do I? For the last 8 or 9 months I have had this urge to serve and learn. In the process I have had many opportunities at church and at work, but something else is dwelling in my mind.
So where is the spotlight? I don’t know. Maybe its our steadfast God and I am just noticing Him more. I don’t think its my peers here or at church. I wouldn’t say that I try to be noticed in any particular way. But I can see that sin is pouring over our world and it causes me to wonder if I am doing all that I can to serve and to fight evil.
God, I know I use the gifts you have given me, but how else can I work for you? Please Lord, give me patience to see your will be done on your time table. Open my eyes to see and my ears to hear you.
Bible Study
God is so awesome. Seriously think about it for a second. God, created…everything. Pretty simple. This week has been a rough road for my family. I’m low on sleep. Wife gets sick so I take the kid to dance class. She is still sick the next day. So kiddo and I run an errand. Car breaks down and it’s…expensive. The next day, kiddo gets sick.
Normally, this would have been a rough week for me. But the Spirit moved me and worked in my life throughout this period. While waiting at dance, I decided to take in my Bible to read. I finished reading Daniel. Talk about a guy that was burdened. God revealed images of the end times to that man. Can you imagine trying to get through a week after seeing what will happen to the world in the future?
Yesterday, I was able to sit in on the Bible study at church. This is one of the first ones I have been to in ages. Normally, I am trying to down dinner before choir practice or leaving work late. Hopefully I can continue to study with that group.
I fear that Christians are failing to spend time in the scriptures. 100 years ago the number of distractions was far fewer. So pulling out the KJV was just part of the evening. Read your Bibles. Read stories to your kids. It will make a difference in your life and help you to recognize when God gives you a little push now and then.
De-Christianization Is Well Underway
De-Christianization has been going on for decades. As Christians we see it all around us…especially today. Did our grand parents see it as well? I suppose in the 50’s it wouldn’t have been very apparent.
For example, I know there has been a movement for years to force standardization of the Common Era dating. Wikipedia has a nice article on it if you ever want to read more into what CE/BCE is. Here is the two cent version. CE/BCE is the same as AD/BC without the Christian reference. Apparently people are too sensitive to use the AD/BC numbering that has been used for centuries.
Well this is perfectly in tune with the movement of our culture. Wow. To think, from the early AD 1980’s when I was but a wee little lad, that I was not being sensitive to the people around me. Huh. When Jesus comes back how sensitive is He going be to the people that haven’t been saved? Maybe very. But from reading the New Testament, it sure looks like he will say exactly what needs to be said and not dance around with politically correct verbiage.
I saw a show on TV a few months ago where a child was being interviewed. She was being raised as a charismatic Christian…speaking in tongues and all that. What really got me with what she said, and what broke my heart for her and her family, is that she believes the other Christians in the world are all fakes because they don’t act the way she does. Specifically, she mentioned the Christian that sits in the pew and sings the hymns from the song book, and listens to the preacher.
She started on a really good point. There are people that call themselves Christians that don’t really understand what it means to be a Christian. But then she dumped in the brainwashing that so many receive which is, if they aren’t like us then they are wrong.
Why am I wrong? Why aren’t you wrong for judging me? I sit in the pew. I sing the songs. I live a Christian life to the best of my ability and I yearn for the Lord to return to take me home. She’s right and wrong on this one. She is right to question if people are truly being Christians, but so very wrong in her knowledge and understanding of people and faith.
Despite the de-Christianization of our culture, despite the views of other Christians, our responsibility is to Christ. We need to spread the gospel. Eventually evil will spread throughout this world and Jesus will descend again to destroy it forever. It could happen before you finish reading this post or it will happen generations from now.
One thing is for certain, I will be with Him singing His praises. I won’t worry about how people number the years. I know who the real judge is. The only opinion that matters is the Son’s.
Christians, Again the Underdogs
Well…we can either start passing blame or blame ourselves, but it really doesn’t matter. Obviously Christians are not getting in their Bibles and not learning anything in their churches.
There is not an alternative way to salvation. Jesus died for my sins so I can have eternal life. “50% still agreed that other faiths might offer a path to eternal life”. What? Are you people kidding me!
Our Christian culture and society is losing this subvert war. “Christian” is no longer someone that is saved by Christ and has faith, etc. It is now simply any nice person. Oh, she must be a christian because she helped the guy cross the street. Wrong!
Take a moment to read Rev 3:14-19. (I’m going to read into the Church in Laodicea. Sounds a bit familiar.)
I was telling my wife about a new PC game I have been playing called Sins of a Solar Empire (SoaSE). There is a game feature that allows you to passively defend and attack other space empires. Oddly enough, its called Culture. Basically we watched an entire movie together one night as I left the game running and unattended. To my pleasant surprise, the majority of the map was covered by my empires culture and I had great wealth stored. All I had to do to finish the game was wipe up a few planets with my overwhelming fleets.
After reading this article, here is her reply…
[15:01] k: It is like your game
[15:02] s: with culture? ya.
[15:02] k: Satan plays the game and then sits back and lets his cultural destroy everything
Yeah, she hit the nail on the head. That’s why I love her so much and thank the Lord everyday for her being in my life.
The big difference is that this is real life. And billions of souls hang in the balance. The good news is that God never looses. I’ve picked a side. Jesus Christ saved me. He saved you. You just need to accept it. There is no other way to be saved.
Doomed by Sin
I just returned from an outstanding week of camp with the church’s youth. The preacher this week was simply put…awesome. He taught in a style that I haven’t heard in decades. Very blunt. Very potent.
The content of his message focused on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. He didn’t necessarily preach it differently than what I have heard before, but his style made it wholly new to me. I will try to recap some of my favorite points from his week of sermons.
Old vs. New
Perfect vs. Imperfect
Forgiveness
The old law and the new law are heavily contrasted in these chapters. Jesus speaks to His disciples specifically regarding several of the laws and how they have changed. Without the old vs. new theme many of the other themes in the sermon would be missed.
God is perfect. By being perfect he cannot be with the imperfect. That pretty much means we are all going to hell. There is NOTHING we can do to change that. The best of people are still dripping with sin in the eyes of God.
God doesn’t forgive just to forgive. Something had to be sacrificed to remove the wrath that would send us downstairs. Jesus was that sacrifice. He died for me and all of humanity. Everyone, regardless of the ugliness of their sin can have salvation through Him. How wonderful! As Christians, I see many of us forgetting this. So get in your Bibles and do some reading. If you haven’t accepted Jesus as your savior, then start to ask questions and begin your walk with Him.
Without Christ, we are doomed. There is absolutely no way around it. We need Jesus to fix our problem with sin. He died for us and by having Christ in our hearts we are saved.
Welcome
So what IS happening to our morality? Welcome to my little rant and investigation into why people believe the sin they are engaging in is right and normal. God is very clear about what sin is and what it means to us here and now and in our life after death.
A recent news article sent to me by a friend wrote about two homosexual women and their disagreement for being stopped in the public display of affection for one another. Has our society here and even globally declined to the point that attitudes and feelings of the majority are completely drowned out by the shrill whining of the minority?
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