Okay smarty pants.... Dummy up!

New International Version
At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.  Luke 10: 21

We are not necessarily at an advantage when we are smart or intelligent. Smart and intelligent is a good thing for taking tests, makes us better learners in some situations and
looks good in a resume if it has led us to success in academic endeavors. Yet, these
abilities can become a real stumbling block when it comes to our ability to accept the
miraculous, accept the things that we weren't meant to understand regardless of our
I Q score. It can become a hazard when it comes to matters of faith and our eternal
souls.

Being human, and let's assume for a moment, somewhat smart, brings the habit of
accepting only that which can be proven. Empiricists we tend to be, relying on that
which we can observe and that which can be recreated and thus proven to happen 
multiple times. "If you expect me to believe that, better show that it is true." It's 
just the nature of our educational system, the scientific method and, quite frankly,
our inability to accept the fact that there are things our there that we were never meant
to understand.

How about a virgin conception?  That doesn't happen! How about calming the winds
and waves with a word? What about being transformed into a creature of immaculate
light only to be returned to a normal state, speaking for a man dead several days to
come out of his tomb. rising from death to resurrection, ascending into the heavens
with the full promise of a similar return when all will take to their knees? 

That which is miraculous is absolutely tied to the concept of faith. One cannot
have faith without a realization that there are miraculous things that God has
designed that we, as humans, cannot, will not and shall not be able to prove.... ever.
We are hindered by our own maturity into adulthood, hindered by losing the child-like,
not childish, ability to accept a truth in the heart.  We are just too smart for our own
well-being and when that creates a block between us and God that leads to unbelief...
well that's a truly frightening thing!

So dummy up, won't you. Take to your knees and ask God to strengthen your belief
and dissolve your doubt. Your eternal existence depends upon it!

Praise God!

If you are going to blaspheme... don't choose the Holy Spirit!

The act or offense of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things; profane talk:  Oxford
  English Dictionary

Don't know about you, but the word blaspheme sounds like something one shouldn't be
doing, even before one looks it up in a dictionary. I have been reading, and greatly enjoying
the sermons of Charles H. Spurgeon. There are two sermons preached in 1855 at the New Park Street Chapel in Southwark, England, that deal with the Holy Spirit of God. They are worth the read!

So who is this Holy Spirit and what does it mean to blaspheme Him? Well Mr. Spurgeon
spends a great deal of time explaining and using scripture to back up the fact that He is God
and that He is a person. He is, in fact, "God with us" now that Christ has ascended; Jesus
promised His disciples that He would send one just like Himself, so that they would still
have Him with them. The Spirit of God, seen descending in the form of a dove at the
baptism of Christ Jesus," coming upon"Mary as Christ was miraculously conceived, is
within each Christian as a teacher and a counselor. He is one who helps us understand
the Bible, as He was present when man co-wrote the books, He is one who helps change
our prayers into a form acceptable to a Holy God and He is the one who is grieved by
our sins, striving to make us aware of them along the path to sanctification. In other
words, you need go no farther than your own heart to find this member of the trinity.

So Christ chastised and warned the Pharises when they accused Him of doing miracles
and healing by the help of the devil. He as much as suggested that one can be forgiven
for speaking against God the Father, against Jesus, but never forgiven, that is never, for
speaking against the Spirit of God. In today's world, with Christ at the right-hand side of
the Father, we are warned against the sin of disbelief: the sin of rejecting and turning
away from God, of refusing to believe. 

I suppose that shows the importance of the Spirit to us and to Jesus and God the
Father. The relationships among the members of the trinity are exceptionally
valued by each member. They all are from eternity to eternity, alpha and omega and
they all interact within the framework of a team, of a family. 

We tend, sometimes, to know and think less about the Holy Spirit of God than
about the other two members of the Trinity; we would be very smart to treat the
presence and gift of the Holy Spirit with love and respect.... and never think
about blaspheming.

Praise God!




 

Man is ANTI- GOD

²³ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;  Romans 3: 23

In this short blog I am using ideas which I have been hearing from an Alistair Begg sermon
series entitled "An Extraordinary Encounter." I am using them out of context and mixed throughout these fine sermons because the general idea expressed above hit me like a ton of bricks due to its obvious truth.

Man does not seek God; Man runs away from God. Now this may be something that
many of my Christian brothers and sisters have known for a long time. Want to know why
evangelism is so very difficult? Want to know how people can hear the wonderful news of
the gospel of Jesus Christ and oppose talking about it with a myriad of excuses? Want to know why those you love and cherish may refuse the Word and end up in eternal damnation? The answer, as Mr. Begg expressed it, is that Man has, from birth, within him a dispensation to reject God.  It is part of our sin nature, part of our genetic makeup having been related to the first man and woman who sinned against a Holy God.

So we are faced with an amazing reality; if left to our own devices, we will not reach out
to God. We will actively oppose Him. It's human nature to wish to be separated from
God, to treat ourselves as beings not in need of our very creator. We can get by on our
own, fix things that need to be fixed and figure out our existence through education, science,
material wealth, idols.....  I could certainly go on. But the amazing part? GOD reaches
out to us.

The very God of the universe, the one who saw our coming into existence within the
womb, the one who, within the Godhead, devised a plan, the only possible plan, that
would lead to salvation for His created,  He initiates our acceptance of the plan! 
He woos us, He reaches for us, He sends His son into time to die upon a cross so that
we might share in His fatherhood.... yet, without His initiative, we will run the other
way and come up with a million trite excuses to ignore the good news. 

It's truly an amazing fact that this loving, Father God, who will not overlook our
sinfulness and who is prepared to bring it to full account, has done what only this Loving
Father can do, He has become the initiator of the only means to avoid condemnation
and be reconciled.

Praise God!
 

The happiest people you meet should be.....

Christians!

Isaiah 12:6 “… Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

  It always seems odd that various preachers, both local and national, frequently mention

the long faces they encounter on those in their congregations. Does it seem strange to anyone else that people who have encountered the grace of the Lord Jesus would be

characterized by anything other than an extremely positive outlook on this life we lead?

Those called by a loving God into adoption as members of His family have real answers to

the basic questions that all people ask: Where did I come from? Why am I here and where

am I headed? We have been given the gift of forgiveness, our sin accounts have been

erased by the once and done sacrifice of God become man. Our future is eternal, hopeful,

blessed and certain. Yet.....

I am reminded, here, of my favorite Wendy's commercial from bygone days. A lovely
old woman sits in front of a plate staring at a hamburger about the size of a large lima
bean and asks, "Where's the beef!"

Well...Where's the joy? 

We are still struggling with life! Becoming a Christian, unlike what some modern
preachers seem to suggest, does not promise an end to the issues we all face in this
messed-up world. We certainly have support but the challenges continue.

We still sin! If anything, we are now much more aware of this sin and that can cause
us to be troubled and depressed if we do not remember that we have been washed by
the precious blood of Christ once and all for sins past, present and future. The sins are
not overlooked; they are forgiven.

We have to earn our salvation, don't we? There it is. That issue with being
certain, underneath, that there is still a scorecard. What if we draw a "go back three
spaces" card? What if we aren't actually good enough to be called righteous. Aren't
we supposed to be working toward our salvation?

God may have forgotten me! He's busy, you know. I haven't heard from Him
in awhile. I'm really pretty insignificant in the scheme of things. NO! God took
the time to woo you, brought you to justification through the work of Jesus Christ
and you are therefore His. He will not forget you, He will not relinquish you, and He
will not be unaware of you at any time.

So, c'mon. One of the major forms of bringing others to Christ is in the way we
live. Evangelism is often wordless. People can sense and see real, not feigned, joy
in a person's actions, even in a person's countenance. 

Forgiven? Without a sin account? Adopted into the family of your Father Jehovah God? 
Preparing for an eternity in His presence? Aware of why you are here, what you
are doing and where you are going? JOY! JOY! JOY!

Praise God!

The I AM's

The seven I AM statements from the Gospel of John:

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (John 6:35 ESV)

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12 ESV)

I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. (John 10:9 ESV)

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (John 10:11 ESV)

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25, 26 ESV)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6 ESV)

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. (John 15:1 ESV)

These wonderful Bible verses were sent to the members of Crossroad Christian Church

in a Bible verse share that we are conducting. I am hoping that my friends will be

okay with my sharing them with you. They present a wonderful picture of the presentation

of self that characterized Christ Jesus' short ministry. Of course, in these self-descriptions,

He was also describing the attributes of the Father.

What about you? What would you list as "I am's?"

For me....

I am a sinner in need of a savior.

I am forgiven. Once and for all. Reconciled through the precious blood of Christ Jesus.

I am in grace and have been given what I do not deserve rather than that which I do deserve.

I am God's creation and therefore He is my LORD and King. My life I give willingly for

His good purposes.

I am blessed each minute that I am alive. I have been wonderfully formed from dust, to

which I will return only to be resurrected with a new body into loving arms of Christ.

I am whatever name is emblazoned upon the palm's of Jesus' hands. That is my name!!!

Praise God! 

Thomas...you need doubt no more!

John 20:24²⁴ Now Thomas (also known as Didymus^[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
²⁶ A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
²⁸ Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Ah, faith!  It's very easy to talk and write about, but it isn't all that easy to have. As an
English teacher, one of the things that I stressed in research and just knowledge-searching
was the need to use primary sources. These would be sources of information that were
actually present, that actually saw or experienced events first hand. The internet is full
of sources, but primary sources are preferable even though they decrease as time
separates the event from the present.

My namesake, Thomas, was one who, despite the joy and excitement of the other
disciples, found it very hard to believe what they were telling him. How could his
Lord, who hung lifeless and seemingly defeated on a cross, suddenly have reawakened
and come to see them. No... Thomas would believe only when he was able to see,
first hand and touch with his own hands. Of course, that is exactly what transpired,
giving life to that famous expression, "My Lord and My God!"

Jesus would go on to define real faith.....
²⁹ Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

That's the key; believing that which cannot be seen or touched through faith granted,
honestly, by the Holy Spirit. We, being human, want desperately to hang onto that
empirical crutch; we want to see, touch, experience before we believe. The process
of becoming less dependent is one that happened, to me, gradually. But when it
did happen, I knew that I believed. No more doubting, Thomas.

Oh the joy of knowing in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your salvation,
eliminating sin as your life force, changing you into an adopted son of God,
emancipated from the condemnation of God. The veil is torn, access is
granted all for the sake of asking Jesus into ones heart. Reconciliation from
judgment. 

How glorious is our God! 

Amazing Propitiation

"Propitiation means the turning away of wrath by an offering. In relation to soteriology, propitiation means placating or satisfying the wrath of God by the atoning sacrifice of Christ." Charles C. Ryrie (1999-01-11). Basic Theology: A Popular Systematic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth (Kindle Locations 5503-5504). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition. 


English Standard Version
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 2: 2

Had someone quickly said, "propitiation" to me until several years ago, I might have answered with, "Gesundheit!" What an unusual word; yet, in the understanding of what
God has done for His adopted, it is a word with few equals as far as importance. Alistair Begg, in one of his wonderful teaching sermons, mentioned something that almost sounds
like a brain teaser. Let me see if I can paraphrase...  The one who needed to be propitiated provided for His own propitiation. That's close and it is both tough to sort out and miraculous at the same time.

We all know that a just, righteous and Holy God cannot abide by sin. It must, by His character, be unaccepted and it must be punished. Those who sin, and the last time I
checked, that would be all of us, were therefore under condemnation, separate from God,
dead in sin.  This is the major dilemma facing mankind. So what could be done?

Here is where God, as only God could, stepped in, long before creation and brought
about the plan for salvation. Man was not able, due to his very sinful nature, to exact
forgiveness from a Holy God. The Godhead brought about the one and only possible
solution to the problem- an atoning sacrifice involving God incarnate. The eternal God
was to come onto the earth and, "die for the sins of all!" God offered up His precious
only Son so that He could be satisfied. A solution for sin was created by the creator
that would allow those who believed on His son to stand before Him in the
righteousness of Christ Jesus.

It's almost more that a humble person can imagine, but what else or who else could
have provided such a loving, miraculous astounding gift. I am still trying to wrap my
brain around it. 

We must praise our God for His grace, His love and His ability to do all!