Tiger Woods and his family are experiencing a nightmare. The jury is out on how the dust will settle, and how or if the marriage will survive.  What about his endorsements, his career, the way kids and adults admired him as an example?  The situation is sad and disappointing.  Undoubtedly, more details of the story will unfold over the next few days.

Why do these private matters come into public view?  The mistakes that are made, i.e., the text messages, recorded telephone conversations, and more details of behind-closed-doors experiences will surface.  This tragic news will develop a life of its own. My heart goes out to this family.

How and why does this kind of thing happen? When looking at the lives of countless leaders of our generation and exploring the details of people who fell in the Bible, several conclusions become apparent.  In my book, Success Kills, I give detailed answers to the “how” and “why” questions.

Here are some thoughts that can protect us from making decisions that we would regret:

• Whether we like it or not, we are public.  There are people who want what leaders have (confidence, ability, stability, talent, prestige, power, money, etc.) and leaders are like magnets.  Leaders (or sports heroes) are often the targets of attraction, of jealous people, and of people who would like to get into your life.  Others can be attracted to leaders because of what they represent, not “who” they really are.
• Leaders, popular athletes and political figures can develop a sense of entitlement…they can risk too much because of who they are, what they own, and what they think they deserve…i.e., they begin writing their own rules.
• Arrogance can become so subtle a person actually thinks they will never get caught…they begin thinking they are smarter, more clever, wiser, etc…and in all of that, they make mistakes.  In sending a text message, an email, or a phone conversation (that is recorded), they begin to be less cautious.  And – almost always – the other person will talk with someone else.

So what do we do? How do we protect ourselves?

• We need people in our lives who will ask us the hard questions.  People who we trust enough to tell us of any indiscretion, temptation, or emotional weaknesses they see…people who will ask us about our real issues.
• We need to build boundaries in our lives that will keep us from taking too much risk and compromise in areas we thought were not possible.  Knowing that money, sex and power are often issues that can tempt anyone to bend the rules can help you find the right people to be accountable to…people of integrity, wisdom and a history of good decisions.

Most of all, there is One who can keep anyone from falling, or if one has fallen, He will help the leader get it right.

“The steps of the good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand.” (Psalm 37:23-24 NKJV).

[Today's post is by Dr. Wayde Goodall, author of Success Kills. Goodall and his wife, Rosalyn, are authors, speakers, life coaches, ministry consultants and pastors traveling extensively around the globe holding family events and seminars. Success Kills, published by New Leaf Press, is Goodall's 14th book.]

What seems to be ignored with the whole “States Opt Out” provision in the senate version of Obamacare is how it affects individuals and businesses in the states. I really don’t see how it is a benefit to anyone; it is a distractive play to obamafuscate the truth.

1. If states “Opt-Out” do the state’s residents have only two options, buy Private Insurance or suffer penalties?

2. If a state Opts-Out, how do individuals Opt-Out of paying federal taxes and penalties to support the government (public) option of states that Opt-In?

3. If a state Opts-Out, will private business be able to Opt-Out of paying related taxes, penalties, or premium increases to support the government (public) option of states that Opt-In?

4. If a state Opts-Out, can private insurance providers Opt-Out of fees, penalties, federal payments structures and other federal mandates etc. to support the government (public) option of states that Opt-In?

5. If a state Opts-Out, how does an individual avoid premium increases as multi-state health insurance providers adjust premiums as a result of government (public) option in Opt-In states?

6. Will the CBO take into consideration as they guess about the costs of the Opt-In-Out option, the massive increase in bureaucracy necessary to sort through state options and interstate individual circumstances and the financial implications of a YES answer to any of the above questions?

If the answer to any one of the above questions is NO, then three things are apparent;

1. The Opt-In-Out option is a penalty, for conservative leaning states residents and an attempt to shift the public view of conservatives toward the left to avoid penalties

2. The Opt-In-Out option is a penalty that will be used against Opt-Out legislators in the midterm elections.

3. RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES OF Opt-Out STATES WILL BARE A DISPROPORTIONATE AMOUNT OF FINANCIAL BURDEN; THEY WILL PAY TO COVER Opt-In STATES WITH HIGHER TAXES AND THEY WILL PAY BECAUSE THEY WILL BE FORCED TO BUY MORE EXPENSIVE PRIVATE INSURANCE OR PENALTIES, A RESDISTRIBUTION ON TOP OF A RESDISTRIBUTION.

Please ask the hard questions and clear away the smoke that is getting blown in our faces.

One of our design school projects was to draw a notable piece of the architecture of our city. An annoyingly meticulous friend of mine decided to do the very ornate city hall. When it was deadline day, she sheepishly pulled out a pencil drawing that was stunningly beautiful. The main entrance and dome of the hall were rendered in dramatic shading of almost photographic detail, but the austerity and pomposity of the colonialist landmark quickly broke down into quieter minimalistic line-work towards the edges, leaving the composition light and dynamic. It was an inspired balance of tense, intriguing texture and easy, sensitive calm. However, she didn’t realise this. The first thing that she did was to apologise for not finishing the whole thing. Mercifully, time constraints had prevented her from brutalising the harmony of her drawing with oppressive OCD shading from wall to wall.

In studying the ‘unsolved mysteries’ of baptism and ambiguous portions of scripture such as Romans 7, the question on many pairs of lips has been, ‘Why did God choose to give us scriptures that are so full of puzzles and difficulties? It would have been so much easier if he had arranged for the writers to explain themselves a bit better from time to time.’ If, as we believe, God inspired every line of scripture, why would he fail to tell us precisely what we’re supposed to understand by baptism and who ought to be the recipients? Why is it that after 2000 years, it’s still possible to read Romans 7 faithfully in at least two entirely different ways? Why are some things so unclear?

And why did I start out talking about drawing? The reason why my friend’s drawing was better ‘unfinished’ than the monstrosity she had planned to produce is that a drawing rendered in unrelenting detail leaves the eye with no place to focus, and it leaves the mind with nothing to fill in. The weight of competing detail distracts from the centre, and the solution of all visual puzzles negates the need for the viewer’s imagination. In short, viewers are not sure what to look at or why they’d ever want to.

When it comes to thinking, it seems that humans would prefer to avoid having to do it if at all possible. It’s actually useful to be wired like this, because it prompts us to look for patterns that we can apply often, and usually means that we don’t waste time ‘reinventing the wheel’, that is, puzzling through the same kinds of problems as though it were the first time. We think things through once, and then repeat. However, this produces laziness, thinking ruts, and general closed-mindedness too. Some Christians like to use the Bible as a book that helps them not to have to think. They even make the wisdom literature (such as Proverbs), which is designed to make you think, into laws to be applied mindlessly.

I think that God crafted us a Bible that is sharply focused at the centre and blurry at the edges because of the kind of followers that he wants to produce. It is more important for us to think than to have an Encyclopaedia of Everything. It’s more important to learn how to disagree than to know it all.

It is more important to be a disciple than to be certain.

My life for the past ten months has been (willingly) given over to the ALLIES Joint Research Project (JRP) to Chile, where 4 Tufts students, along with 2 West Point cadets and 2 Naval Academy midshipmen, studied civil-military relations post-military coup and transition to democracy.

I was first involved in every aspect of planning the trip, then living it and carrying out the research, and now putting together our final paper/policy recommendations – which we’re unfortunately way behind on.  So for the past few weeks,  almost every free moment I’ve had has been dedicated to writing, editing, and rewriting.

Tonight, Taylor, also from Tufts and also on the trip, and I had a virtual writing and editing sess, which made us realize that we still disagree on a lot of key points.  What do “positive civil-military relations” mean, really? Is it more about civilian control and subjugation of the military (as Taylor argues) or mutual trust and cooperation (as I believe)? What IS the military’s proper role in a modern society? Should they be “back in the barracks” and out of sight and mind, or should they play active participatory roles in policy discussions (if not determinations)?

I love that at Tufts, I’m encouraged to explore these questions, and that I’m trusted enough to travel to Latin America and ask them – of the former army commander-in-chief, of current Congressmen and women, of presidential candidates.

I just wish that I had some clearer answers.

Today I want to open the Word of God and answer Four Hard Questions that I believe God wants us to ask ourselves.

1. How Do We Deny Jesus Christ?
2. How Do We Become Vessels of Honor?
3. How Do We become Ensnared by the Devil?
4. How Do We Worship a god of our own making?

The answers that we discover are essential in answering the overall question facing us this morning – Do We Need a Revival?

When asked about which Book of the Bible most Christians would like to know more about, the answer is usually the Book of Revelation. We all have a natural curiosity about what will happen during the last days.

• “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?”
• For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. Matthew 24:7-13

Jesus said this of the last days-many will fall away, there will be betrayal and hatred between brothers. There will be false prophets that lead many supposed brothers astray. Lawlessness will increase, and the love of many will wax cold. Peter described the last days in this way: “knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 2 Peter 3:3-4

In the last days people will scoff at God and His Word, they will cause many to doubt the coming of Jesus Christ. They will present a god that is without power and without the ability to keep his word. In other words, man will fashion a god who is non-threatening and merely to be used as a security blanket for the old and the weak. Before you get all curious about the Last Days, and about God’s Judgment, I want you the heed the Lord’s reaction when some other curious people wanted to know what a recent happening meant.

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Luke 13:1-3

(What Jesus Meant) “These men are not signal examples of divine vengeance, as ye suppose; but every impenitent sinner — ye yourselves, except ye repent — shall be like monuments of the judgment of Heaven, and in a more awful sense.” —Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Jesus wants us to realize that each of us is only a heart beat away from being a monument to the judgment of God. Either a Monument to God’s Grace, or a monument that will burn for all eternity in the bowels of hell.

Jesus said no matter what happens, consider your own heart. Make sure you have repented. See if there is a need for repentance. In the fine print Jesus says “Never take your salvation for granted!” I believe in eternal security. But I would never never assume that God owes me anything. I am nothing without Jesus Christ. Any boldness I have is solely because I am hid in Jesus Christ. But one thing Jesus wants us to know-our hearts are evil and so deceptive. We can be fooled so easily into thinking we are OK, even better than most of the folk around us simply because we prayed some prayer 20 or 30 years ago. Well if that prayer of salvation did so much for you why haven’t you told someone about it? If what you did was so life transforming, why are you afraid to tell even your good friend or a sister about what Jesus did for your life?

If President Obama was coming to your house to discuss health care with you and a few select friends, you would not hesitate to start calling so and so. Well, Jesus is coming very soon and you are afraid to tell those you love about it!

I’m afraid that too many of us are trusting in what we once did instead of repenting daily of our cold, careless hearts. There is a judgment coming for ALL mankind and we are just curios lookie Lou’s wanting to figure out who the antichrist is. If you want to know who the antichrist is, try looking around you. John says that there are many antichrists among us, in fact they begin as Christians sitting with you at church:

• Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. 1 John 2:18-19

Who is an Antichrist?

Anyone who denies Jesus Christ as Lord of their life. Continue with John:

• But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 1 John 2:20-22

What does it mean to deny? It doesn’t mean to reject, as those who reject the free gift of salvation. It means to refuse, such as Moses in Heb. 11:24 – “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter”. It also means not to know or recognize someone such as in Matt 10:33 “But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.  If you are a born again Christian, and yet continue to hide Jesus from your friends, from your loved ones, you’ve got to do some soul searching – because the Scriptures seem to say that you have the spirit of antichrist.

If we endure, we shall also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us; If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself. 2 Timothy 2:12-13

Revive comes from the Latin word revivere – to live again. In order to live again you had to be alive at one point, but now you are comatose or in a drunken stupor of some sort. A verse we will look about in a minute is 2 Timothy 2:26 “and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil” May come to their senses comes from a Greek word meaning “To awake out of a drunken sleep and become sober”CWSD. If we need reviving it means we are not dead, and need to become alive. How can we be dead if we have been born again. But if we need reviving, it is because we have allowed this world or the devil to get us in a spiritual state that our eyes are clouded and our head is foggy because we are in a drunken stupor. We need to come to our senses, we need to awake out of our drunken sleep. Once we wake up and clear our minds and hearts long enough to see, we must look long and hard and Holy God. We must look long and hard at His Holy Word. And then we must look long and hard at our love for Jesus, and then we must be honest before God and weep and mourn.

I’m not a believer in being slain in the spirit, but would to God that some of us might get slain in the spirit like John did when he saw the real Jesus! We need to see the real Jesus, the one who will judge us for every word we speak. We need to see the real Jesus, the one who one day will reveal that He knew all along what you did to Him – whether you have neglected his bread of life, neglected His water of Life, denied Him before your friends, failed to feed the hungry, clothe the poor, give water to the thirsty.

My greatest fear is not being eaten alive by rats or falling headlong into a pit of venomous snakes…my greatest fear is that one day I’ll look through the crystal portal of heaven (Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. Revelation 4:6 ) and look into hell and see some of you screaming in agony for all eternity. Why didn’t you take being a Christian more seriously. Why did you not realize that being born again is a changed life, not just some tears you shed because you prayed an emotional prayer. If you are born again there will be a continual desire for this Word. There will be a continual thirst for Jesus. Just as you can’t go for many days without food and water, you will not be able to go many days with nourishment from Jesus. Even in my most backslidden state I was aware of God pounding, pounding, pounding on my stubborn heart.

Some of you act like Jesus is no big deal. If Jesus is not a big deal to you, how can you even for a moment really think that Jesus lives in you? How can you even for a minute tolerate such a cold hard heart and even believe that the Holy Spirit tolerates it too?

Question #1: How Do We Deny Jesus Christ?

When we neglect him, when we forget him, when we act as if we don’t know him, when we refuse Him to be Lord over our life, our heart, our mind, our soul, our possessions, our marriage, our worship. Ask yourself this morning – How am I denying Jesus Christ in my life?

Continue reading in 2 Timothy 2 at verse 19

2 Tim 2:19 – But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”

Understand first of all, Paul is speaking of Christians.

He says that God knows who are His. We can not judge who a Christian is. Only God knows. But Paul does say that those who name the name of the Lord will depart from iniquity. Now iniquity is the adikos, that which ought not to be, that which is wrong. It is the opposite of díkē, that which is right and fit, hence unrighteousness.

One who takes the Name of Jesus upon their heart will stop doing that which ought not to be, that which is wrong!

Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. 2 Timothy 2:19-26

From our text we see the following: In any church there are vessels of gold and silver and vessels of wood and clay.

“Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable”

Now from the text you can’t say that only the vessels of gold and silver are born again. But I believe you can say that true Christians can be ensnared by the devil.

QUESTION #2 How Do We Become Vessels of Honor?

There are things a Christian must do in order to become a vessel of Gold and Silver.

• Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.

1. You must cleanse yourself from that which brings dishonor in your life.

• DISHONORABLE – Speech – attitudes -  disobedience -  thoughts -  actions

2. You must be ready and willing for good works

• Whatever you Say Boss!

• For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10 (2 Tim says honorable vessels are prepared for every good work).
• Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. Matthew 25:31-46

3. Flee Fleshly Desires

• Run away from, escape from their destruction, – Pride, lust, speech, thoughts

4. Engage in an INTENTIONAL Pursuit of the Character of Jesus Christ.

• righteousness, faith, love, peace, and do it with others of like pure (undivided) heart. No Two-Faced Christians allowed in your life.

5. Avoid Controversies and Quarrels.

• And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. 2 Timothy 2:20-26

6. Realize You are a Slave of Jesus Christ.

• You have no will of your own

• Obey the Commands of Your Master

7. Realize Your Life Can Be Used to Rescue Christian’s From the Snare of the Devil

QUESTION #3 How Do We become Ensnared by the Devil?

It begins when we deny Jesus Lordship over some area of our life. It can be music, what we look at, what we read, what we say, but we usually know when we resit Jesus in that area. The Satan starts to work. He loves to capture Christians with wrong thinking, wrong attitudes, wrong beliefs. He loves it when Christians start quarreling over things which get us off course, get us away from our passion for Jesus. If your life is going to be used to rescue people caught up in the snare of the devil, you must:

1. Not Argue
2. Be Kind
3. Be able to explain the Word
4. Be patient with those who treat you wrong.
5. Desire such to repent and allow God to show them His truth, that they may sober up and escape the snare of the devil, even after being captured to do his will.

The next few verses reveal what happens to this great house, the church, when we do not cleanse ourselves from that which is dishonorable. Paul is describing what will be apparent not among the unbelievers, (although if this is in the church you can bet it is in the world) but among those in the great house!

2 Timothy 3:1-5 – Dishonorable Christians Who Close Their Eyes to God

1 This know also, that in the last days

perilous – Violent, fierce. Used of demoniacs, wild, difficult (maniac of Gadara), hard to bear, distressing, referring to the times

times – kairos - a period of opportunity

shall come – will set in

2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves phílautos – Self-centered or selfish. The primary concern that things be easy and pleasant for oneself.

Covetous – philargyros: “loving money” in Luke 16:14 (Pharisees were lovers of money)

boasters – (James 4:16-you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.)

proud – hyperēphanos: “showing oneself above others”, always used in the evil sense of “arrogant, disdainful, haughty;” Jas. 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5; (God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble)

blasphemers – blásphēmos; from bláx stupid, and phémē, rumor. To be abusive, reviling, destroying one’s good name (a slanderer, blasphemer in respect to men)

For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: Mark 7:21-22

disobedient to parents – apeithés; Unwilling to be persuaded, unbelieving

unthankful – acháristos; (literally without favor or kindness). Unthankful, ungrateful (Unthankful people are without grace from God)

unholy - Ἁνοσιος unholy, synonym is Βέβηλος profane. “that which is trodden”. What is permitted to be trodden by people at large is unhallowed, profane. Esau is called βέβηλος in Hebrews 12:16, as one who did not regard his birthright as sacred, but as something to be sold in order to supply a common need.—Vincent’s

3 Without natural affection – Without family love (see Rom. 1:31).

trucebreakers – áspondos; (without offering) The absolutely irreconcilable person who, being at war, refuses to lay aside his enmity or to listen to terms of reconciliation (refusing to enter into treaty, irreconcilable). Implacable, in a state of war.

false accusers – diábolos; from diabállō, to accuse. One who falsely accuses and divides people without any reason. He is an accuser, a slanderer (1 Tim. 3:11 Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.); (Titus 2:3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things)

incontinent – akratés; (literally without strength). Unable to govern one’s appetites.

Fierce – anémeros; Not mild, ungentle, fierce, savage. Sometimes merciless.

despisers of those that are good aphilágathos; Unfriendly, hostile, a person who may have pity but does not necessarily do anything to relieve the suffering of another through self-denial. Hostile to good men.

4 Traitors – betrayers – Acts 7:52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered.

Heady – means “falling forwards”; reckless, headstrong in the pursuit of a bad end under the influence of passion. Only here and Acts 19:36 -”Since then these are undeniable facts, you ought to keep calm and to do nothing rash.”(When the silversmiths in Ephesus were wanting to kill Paul)

high-minded - tuphóō; To swell or inflate with pride. In the pass. tuphóomai, to be lifted up with pride

• (he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, 1 Timothy 6:4)

lovers of pleasures – philēdonos: “loving pleasure” (hēdonē, “pleasure”)

more than lovers of God – philótheos; from phílos, a friend or loving, and Theós, God.

5 Having a form – Here, the mere outward semblance, as distinguished from the essential reality. Outward shape without the reality.

of godliness – eusébeia;—Devotion, piety toward God. Although eusébeia in the NT is translated “godliness” (2 Tim. 3:5; Titus 1:1; 2 Pet. 1:3), the word “God” is not in it. Only in 1 Tim. 2:10 is it theosébeia, where the word Theós, God, occurs as a prefix instead of eú, good or well.

but denying – to deny, decline, reject, give up (Matt. 10:33; 2 Tim. 2:12, 13)

the power – dúnamis; Power, especially achieving power. All the words derived from the stem dúna– have the meaning of being able, capable.

thereof: from such

turn away - to turn away from, avoid, shun

(These are the dishonorable vessels we are to cleanse our lives of) These verses describe people a whole lot like the people mentioned in Romans 1:

• And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. Romans 1:28-32

We all know Romans 1 is speaking about infidels and reprobates (haters of God), so doesn’t 1 Tim 3:1-5 speak about the same people? No. In the total context, Paul is speaking of those in the great house who have allowed themselves to be dishonorable.  He is not talking about vicious Gentile unbelievers. These are not the Roman Gladiators who martyred Christians. These are not the Catholics of the Spanish Inquisition who tortured and murdered anyone who practiced any religion or belief outside of Catholic practice. This is not even talking about the Radical Muslims who will murder and burn any Christians whom they even hear make fun of the Qur’an. No, Paul is talking about you and me, Bible toting, church going, tithe paying Christians. But we have allowed ourselves to become dishonorable, and even get captured by the devil to do his bidding. It is possible for Christians to be deceived into thinking they are Christians. It is even possible for people who believe they are Christians to lead others astray.

Let’s read 2 Tim 3:1-5 again, from the Phillips translation:

But you must realize that in the last days the times will be full of danger. Men will become utterly self-centered, greedy for money, full of big words. They will be proud and contemptuous, without any regard for what their parents taught them. They will be utterly lacking in gratitude, purity and normal human affections. They will be men of unscrupulous speech and have no control of themselves. They will be passionate and unprincipled, treacherous, self-willed and conceited, loving all the time what gives them pleasure instead of loving God. They will maintain a facade of “religion”, but their conduct will deny its validity. You must keep clear of people like this. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 Phillips

These people may look like good Southern Baptists on the outside. They have the Bible, they may tithe, they may say God Bless You, They may use all the churchy words, but it is just a disguise. They are wearing a mask, even a full body mask, that is empty and devoid of the true power of Godliness-Jesus Christ!!
Just look closely at how they behave when they get home from church. Look at how they behave when they go to work, go out with friends. Look at how they talk about others, look at how they treat their wife or their husband. Look at how they treat the disadvantaged, the homeless, the poor, the destitute. Look at how tightly they hold on to their possessions, their money. Look at how greedy they really are.

• I know most of you are going “WHEW”, that doesn’t apply to me. But remember the words of Jesus, “unless you repent”. It is dangerous to think we are alright, that we are OK, that we are safe.

QUESTION #4: How DO We Worship a god (idol) of Our Own Making?

The truth is that at any point in our life we can get tripped up by the devil. These attitudes that are condemned by Paul in 2 Tim 3 can slowly creep into our lives. The danger is to accept being a common vessel. The danger is thinking that you are OK the way you are. You have made a little god for yourself, one who is not too holy, not too demanding, and not too judging. After all, my little god loves me and fogives me.  When we think this way, we are excusing our sin, we are trampling under foot that which is Holy.  We are not seeing Holy Jehovah God, but a clever looking god of our own making.

The essence of idolatry is to get for your self.

• Colossians 3:5 “Therefore, put to death (mortify, kill) your members which are here on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Covetousness is idolatry because it puts self-interest and things in the place of God. So a Christian who is covetousness can often be disguised as a servant that serves only for the praise or for what they think they will get from their god. But their religion, their service is all self-based.
• Col 3:5 says we are to “KILL” our self-centeredness, our selfish wants, our selfish pleasures. A person who is born again is radically transformed, with all your focus shifted away from you and placed squarely upon God! Anytime you excuse or allow sin or selfishness or self-indulgence in your life, you are worshiping an idol god of your own making.When you excuse sin in your life, when you continue to accept wrong behavior and wrong attitudes, not only are you worshiping at the altar of idolatry, but you should check your heart out, for perhaps the devil has captured your thinking and is using you for his will, and perhaps has deceived you into believing you are a Christian.

Anytime you are walking in your own strength, seeking your own interests, you are worshiping at the altar of idolatry.

But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me (FORSAKEN – to NEGLECT to depart, to abandon, and to loose. —TWOT) the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Jeremiah 2:4-13

• The truth is, that if we forsake the Lord, if you neglect or depart from the Lord God, if you refuse God as being the Lord of your life and your possessions, God will refuse, neglect and yes forsake you.
• In Malachi 3:8, God told his people that they were robbing God because they were neglecting the tithe. Because they were neglecting the tithe, God said they were cursed with a curse. What was that curse, it was the devils access to their goods. If they would God’s rightful place in their lives and show it with tithes, God said He would rebuke the devourer.
• The application is simple: when you worship at the altar of idolatry, you are forsaking God and are opening yourself up to the snare of the devil. Don’t presume upon God’s Protection and Blessing when you are an idolater.

The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded, and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. 2 Chronicles 15:1-2

When you make you own little god that pleases the way you want to live your life, you are being like the Laodiceans:

“ ‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Revelation 3:15-19

Now I don’t know what it means for Jesus to spit me out of is mouth, but I do not want to find out.

Are you lukewarm to the things of God? Do you think your walk with God is OK? What god are you walking with? The little idol god of your own making, or the Holy Righteous Almighty Creator of this universe? Jesus says if you are lukewarm that you are wretched, poor naked and blind. You need to have your eyes anointed so that you can see!

Are there secret rooms in your life that are shut off from God’s Holy Spirit? Are there rooms where the Holy Spirit has been barricaded? Is there a room cluttered with unclean pictures? Are there any skeletons hanging in your closets? Can you invite the Holy Ghost to walk down the corridors of your thought life? Can you invite him in to see the hatred in your heart toward others. Can you invite Him to listen in as you speak evil of others?

There are three people living in each of us:

• the one we think we are,
  

• the one other people think we are, and
  

• the one God knows we are.

Unless we are desperate to enter into the Victory of Christ’s Righteousness, we are so easy on ourselves and so hard on others. Self loves self. Too often we hide ourselves from ourselves lest the sight of ourselves should sicken ourselves.

Let us invite the searching eye of God to locate this corrupted, stinking self in us. Let it be torn from us and be “crucified with Him, that henceforth we should no longer serve sin (Rom 6:6) It does no good to call sin by another name. You can criticize someone for having a devilish temper, but say that yours is only righteous indignation. You can criticize someone for blatant gossip, but excuse you negative comments as “prayer concerns.” You can excuse your not speaking to a brother or sister or father or mother because of their “ungodly influence and lifestyle” yet God sees your Judging heart and says your are guilty of ungodly pride and an unforgiving heart.

The Holy Spirit will neither spare us nor cheat us if we will expose ourselves to His infallible scrutiny.

And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” Mark 10:51 He had once seen, but now he was blind.  Some of us had once seen the Lord, but our eyes are blind. We once walked with the Lord, but now we lie in a ditch on the side of the road moaning in a drunken stupor, too blind to see the devil has captured our minds our hearts, our souls, and he has stolen our heart from loving Jesus, he has stolen our hands from serving Jesus, he has stolen our eyes from looking at Jesus, he has stolen our strength from leading others to Jesus.

Let us pray that God will revive us from our drunken stupor of selfishness, carnal living and give us SIGHT AGAIN-upward, inward, and outward.

• Then like Isaiah, as we look upward, we will see the Lord in all His Holiness.
• As we look inward, we will see ourselves and our need for cleansing and power.
• As we look outward, we will see a world perishing and in need of a Savior.

Revival will come only when we throw off the drunkenness of Satan and this world or whatever else we have filled our heart with, and then we desire sight to see the Lord! Right now, close your eyes and imagine you are before God Himself. Not God as you hope He is, but God as His Word Reveals. Listen as He searches your heart with these probing questions:

1. Have you denied Jesus as Lord in any area of your life?
2. Have you done what Scripture commands to become a vessel of Honor/ Or have you trodden under that which is Holy and made it common, dirty, even profane as Esau did with his birthright?
3. Have you in any way allowed wrong actions and attitudes to ensnare you in the devil’s plan?
4. Have you been worshipping a god of your own making, one who accepts your sinful ways, one who excuses your apathy, your hardness, your selfishness?

If Jesus were to ask you what you desire, would it be selfish things or would you say, Lord restore my sight that I might see you as you really are?

]]> http://neosnowqueen.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/allegory-a-tale-of-two-rationales/ Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:22:04 +0000 neosnowqueen http://neosnowqueen.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/allegory-a-tale-of-two-rationales/

Theresa sat on the bus on the way back home from the hospital. The light was as clinical as those in the waiting room, and the frosted metal sides were unforgiving on her hip. Her hands were clasped in her lap. To onlookers, she seemed serene, but if they looked more closely, they would see the way her clasped hands clenched until the knuckles were white and the tendon in her forehead twitched as she clenched her teeth. She stared out the window with a haunted look in her eyes.

My mother has cancer, she thought. It was the simplicity of it, the very knowledge that such a terrible thing had become mundane, too common for affectations and accessories. Just cancer.

Clenching her hands harder, she prayed that God would heal her mother. Maybe she did not pray to God enough in her everyday life, maybe she could go to church and volunteer more often. But right now, she was desperate, and she did believe that he was there. And she believed absolutely that God would heal her mother of this cancer. After all, did Jesus not say that all a believer needed was faith the size of a mustard seed to move a mountain?*

Months passed, and Theresa had become very acquainted with this bus. Or maybe it was another bus. All the buses looked the same. She was discouraged, and tears threatened to fall from her eyes over her papery, pale, gaunt cheeks. It hurt her so much to see her mother suffer so much. And she could not help but be angry with God, although she knew that she shouldn’t. Her pastor told her that it was okay to be angry, that God could take her angry, and God wants her to be honest with him. So when she clenched her clasped hands again and looked out the window in prayer, she asked God in anguish whether she did not even have the faith of a mustard seed that she couldn’t heal her own mother.

Then she remembered that sometimes healing took time. Maybe this was a test, like how God tested Job with all of Satan’s might, refusing to stop Satan until the test was finished, no matter how much Job pleaded for respite. Who was Theresa to challenge God like this when he was the master of all, when he had visions for the future that she could not even dream of?** So she trusted that God would get Theresa and her mother and her family through this crisis, rewarding them as God rewarded Job.

More months passed. This time the windows were tinted dark because she wanted to ride with her mother in the hearse. She did not want her mother to be all alone with only strangers who never cared for her. The long trial was over for Theresa’s mother, but Theresa felt such a darkness of the spirit that she could not help but think she still had some time left in this valley.

Why? she asked God in the darkened car, in which no one could see her cry. Why was she unable to heal her mother? Through the touching of her hands, through the praying for healing – night after night, day after day, when she was watching her mother vomit what little food she had in her stomach, when she was watching her mother wasting away under a treatment as debilitating as the disease … she had tried everything that she knew, and still her mother had died. As she watched her mother being lowered into the earth, she had one more spark of hope. Jesus had waited until Lazarus was dead four days before resurrecting him and having the women remove the bandages. Jesus had wept through the mourning process before bringing the joy of resurrection to a close friend.*** There was still a chance that God’s miracle would be brought to earth to show the world his glory.

Time marched on through the months, as it always does, and as the days passed without resurrection, Theresa’s depression stayed stagnant and poisonous within her grief. Finally, she opened the Bible and read about the martyrs that had not escaped death, the ones that praised God in spite of their upcoming execution, some more gruesome than others. She read about the deaths of the saints. So many who probably had families praying for them, too. She remembered all the people at the hospital where her mother had been treated – other marble-eyed patients and the drawn expressions of their family and friends. Some of them eventually left in joy, praising the Lord’s healing. Others left as Theresa had left, filled with despair and wondering whether God even heard them anymore, whether the words she read in the Good Book were true.

Sometimes, Theresa realized, the dead were meant to stay dead. Sometimes the sick were meant to stay sick. It’s right here in the Bible, when Stephen himself did not return from the dead, or John the Baptist.**** Sometimes death is God’s message and mercy. Sometimes death is the cure. She was slowly able to return to her mother’s grave and stare at the statue of Jesus and not feel alone.

—–

This is not a true account; it is simply a story, perhaps an allegory, although I think the situation within the story is too real for it to be considered metaphor. And there is not a defined moral to make it a fable or a parable. Instead, there are two ways to read it.

The Christian will read this allegory and come to the conclusion that God is in everything. God is on a higher plane, and his plan is supreme – all we can ask for is intervention, the answer is not so important as the question. If it is in God’s will, there will be a miraculous healing, a slow healing, a resurrection, or a death.

The atheist will read this allegory and come to the conclusion that God is in nothing.

In terms of this story, both would be correct, because to the atheist, God’s will is indistinguishable from the way the world works without God. And if they are indistinguishable, it is not practical to believe that a god is there.

The answer depends on the perspective in which you approach it and the rationale used to understand it. We are human – we are excellent at rationalizing anything.

—–

* Matthew 17:30, healing of the seizures

** Job 38-40

*** John 11

**** Acts 7; Matthew 14

We love kids

We are friends with a couple from our small group and they attend our church. He is in seminary full time, attending Trinity Evangelical Seminary and she works full time. From time to time, we have the opportunity to watch their 3 year old girl. Well, she is the stage of her life where she asks everyone why? Why? Why? Why? It couldn’t get any more annoying, especially if you don’t know that answers. Jen, my wife, is 7 months pregnant, and her patience for children couldn’t be anymore shorter (also, we have an active two year old). My wife likes taking to a farm that’s nearby our home, it’s a place where the kids can get their energy out and have a good time. On the way back to our house, they are listening to a Casting Crowns song, we like to have worship music playing in the car, and the kid asks my wife, “Why is he asking all these questions? Why can’t he just get it?” The song is called “If we are the body”

Here is the questions that the little girl is refering to:

But if we are the Body
Why aren’t His arms reaching
Why aren’t His hands healing
Why aren’t His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren’t His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way

Jen, my wife, tries to explain to the little girl that he is asking the listeners of the song why aren’t they doing what Jesus did. And just the musician asks, why? then the little girl starts asking why the musician wants to know, too. Let’s say that my lovely wife didn’t have the patience or the answers to answer her questions.

Theological Implications

I find it to be sad to think and believe that the Body of Christ, at times, aren’t even wiling to ask themselves the question of why? Not the questions the lyricist asks of his listeners, but why don’t we even care to ask why bother or ask why at all or what is the motives behind asking. You see, the little girl didn’t mind the questions, but she wanted to know the motives behind asking the questions.

To me, or at least in my little mind, is that if we love Jesus, that we can him Savior, then there is a response that necessitates actions on our part. This isn’t a works based response, but a response of adoration, or respect, or an attitude of thankfulness, or all of them together. Those responses would cause us to act and respond like Jesus did. If we would just act and live like just like Jesus did, then we would act like his body or the body he would like us to be.

My question, if we act, participate, grow in the name of Christ, or at least attempt to, then why don’t we act like Jesus? The reality is that I don’t think many Christians, including myself, really know him. We don’t really know him or the content of his character or his heart on many matters in the world. And that is precisely why we don’t act like he did. That’s why the church ignores that most needy of his grace and mercy. And, that’s why we have songs like that. Because we either know him or we don’t. We don’t care to know why he wants to have his heart on every matter concerning life.

just something to think about.

“​​He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and ​​he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will ​c​disclose Myself to him.” John 14:21

Real Students Mobile Version

I avoided it for a while because so many were writing about it. This says it all, I couldn’t say it any better. Watch it, think about it, pray about it, where are you in the picture?

www.twitter.com\realstudents

• Why is the policymaker insisting that community medicine be handled by an MPH?
• Because they have this degree?
• Because their graduates have MPH degrees so they are forcing all the others to be just like them?
• Is this necessary to become a successful family practitioner – to be a public doctor?
• Is this to make the business of the MPH more profitable and in demand by forcing doctors to take up the MPH?
• What’s so important about community medicine that an MPH has to be included?
• Do they want all other hospitals with no MPH staff to hire their graduates who have MPH degrees?
• Is this another spur of the moment requirement that will fade with time?
• Because the head policymaker is an MPH is probably the reason why this is required?
• Where is clinical family medicine heading to – to be destroyed by these community medicine people?
• Did these community medicine people who did not have a home invade the turf of the true clinical practitioners and are now dictating the policies of Family Practice and in so doing is causing the demise of the Specialty?
• My program is better than your program?

“The other specialties don’t need to diminish Family Medicine in the Philippines, the policymakers can do the job even better of destroying us through biased, supremacist and misguided policies in training.”

• New Family Medicine Specialists now come almost purely from the ranks of those trained in accredited Family Medicine Residency Programs. A new generation of pure Family Physicians are being created. These are not graduates from other Specialties, general practitioners (new doctors who practice immediately after passing the Board) or teachers from medical colleges who know mostly community medicine, but real Family Specialists.
• Where do these new graduates go after training? Do all of them aspire to become public doctors employed by the government?  The answer is a big NO. A few may go into government practice, which is mostly unrewarding and stagnant, but most will go into private practice in their communities and want to treat their patients who are admitted in the hospital, preferably the one where they were trained.
• So why the insistence of policymakers in forcing Training Programs to spend a lot of time duplicating the work of the public health sector or barangay health center?
• Can you force your graduates to go into public service?
• Are the policymakers pushing away the Residents from Private practice to being public doctors?
• In so doing, are they killing the hospital clinical skills of Residents by insisting that community medicine be the focus?
• Do these policymakers in the first place know only community medicine, hence their preference for making new Family Physicians just like themselves?
• What are the training background of these policymakers? Were they trained in Family Medicine or community medicine?
• Where are the true private practicing clinical family physicians among the policy makers?
• Is Family Medicine being destroyed and converted to just ordinary community medicine and public health?
• Are they now making ordinary general practitioners again by this act?

]]> http://familymedtraining.wordpress.com/2009/07/19/destroying-family-medicine-in-the-philippines/ Sun, 19 Jul 2009 07:09:22 +0000 familymedtraining http://familymedtraining.wordpress.com/2009/07/19/destroying-family-medicine-in-the-philippines/

• Are the policymakers for the training of new Family Medicine Physicians in the Philippines actually killing off the Specialty?
• With absolute power in the hands of a few who believe that this is what a future Family Physician should be, are requirements being dictated upon the Training Programs that will make their graduates less and less capable of practicing in the Clinical Hospital setting?

A question has been mingling around in my mind that has challenged me to the core. This question is, “what in this world would I be willing to sacrifice my life for in order for something else to live? This is not the most positive question to have mingling in my mind, but I have come to horrific conclusions!

When the question first popped into my head I thought there would be a whole stream of things I’d be ready to give my life up for. However, after careful thought I’ve realized there are only two things I’d be willing to go to the grave in order that something else may live; that is God (sounds cliche, but I really would give up my life so others can experience the freedom there is in Christ Jesus) and the love of my life, my wife Raquel.

If most people answered this question they would probably say their children, their spouse or their parents. No-one would say their dog or cat, I hope no-one would say their house or car and tell me if I’m wrong but 99.9% would not say their church!

There were a band of brothers who lived two thousand years ago who were ready to give up their life in order for something else to live, this thing was something we call the church of Jesus Christ! They believed in the cause, the vision, the core values and the life of the church so much that they realized it was way bigger than themselves.

Today there are many people who say they are part of something way bigger than themselves. Well if this is true would you be willing to die for that cause if it meant that cause could live? How about the church you attend? What if on Sunday Morning as you are sitting in your favorite seat listening to the Pastor you so dearly love, when government officials came bursting through the doors and said this church can no longer exist. After debating and arguing with government officials they give a reprieve. They say, ‘we will let this church live only if one of you are willing to die for the cause! I’m sure we’d get a whole lot of takers!

However, this band of brothers did exactly that! They lay down their life so that the church could live! I want to be part of something that I am so moved by the vision, so shaken by the cause and so bound by the core values that I would realize my life cannot accomplish anything compared to this church and I would be willing to lay down my life at the drop of the hat because I know that church will be able to bring hope and life to thousands, and for that reason I’d be willing to die!

What about you? Are you part of something you would be willing to die for? What sort of cause and vision would it take for you to lay down your life?

"No One Comes Here Anymore", Oil on Panel.

Kendra Bulgrin
Want & Fear

1-5 p.m.

Kaw Valley Arts and Humanities
756 Armstrong
Kansas City, KS
913.371.0024

Hours: 1-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday (call for appointment)
Runs through: Aug. 8.

Artist’s site: http://www.kendrabulgrin.com
Gallery site: http://www.kvah.org

Kendra Bulgrin’s art wrestles with a tough question: What happens when you find what you’re looking for … and it’s not enough?

Bulgrin’s quest – for a past, for the people who gave her birth, for a sense of her true self – produced no tidy closure. It did, however, lead her to create a series of surreal, haunting, and sadly sweet paintings blending life-size farm landscapes and machinery with miniatures from a toy set Bulgrin owned as a child.

Her work is more than effective even without the backstory. Knowing what drives her images, though, brings Want & Fear — Bulgrin’s show at Kaw Valley Arts & Humanities — into sharp emotional focus.

My oil paintings examine the longing for identity and the subsequent expectations associated with identity and memory, she writes. I question how identity is constructed through family, animals, home and memory.

My interest in identity and memory stems from the personal struggle to understand and cope with my identity and past as an adopted child. Growing up, I had always imagined my biological family. I developed a set of overtly idealized images. I contrived expectations of who and what they could be and kept these ideals as stand-ins for them. Finding my biological family left the conundrum of the stand-in versus the real. I found myself questioning the replacements and thus asking again, “Who am I?”

I began working with the miniature farm set from my childhood and began taking photographs, often with dramatic and intense lighting. The miniature acts as a replacement not only for the childhood ideal memory but transcends that particular moment to stand for other instances. These methods of working with the miniature and photography allowed me to distance myself, yet at the same time create an idealized nearby place for my longing.

There’s something odd about that farm set, though: The miniature animals and machines are fairly detailed, but the human figures are featureless and not even the same color as real people. (The sea-green woman in No One Comes Here Anymore, shown above, is one of several stand-ins.) Bulgrin often paints these figures facing away from the viewer, deepening the sense of disconnect.

Even for those of us who knew our biological clans, Bulgrin’s work raises another question: How much of what we recall of our formative years is real, and how much is either idealized — or shut away because it can’t be faced?

For all of that, Bulgrin’s art is not bleak. It’s infused with both wistful sweetness and sideways optimism, a sense not only of What if? and Who am I? but also of These are my lives, and even if I cannot reconcile them, I will live them as best I can.

That’s a brave and worthwhile step for anyone to take, regardless of history, backstory … or childhood stories never told.

Daniel 9:10″O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”

I have much on my heart and mind as I begin to type this morning. The danger in this is the possibility of not having much clarity when I write.

I see almost on a daily basis the coldness of hearts around me. Some who claim to be His and others who would never make that claim. The ones that worry me the most are the ones who say they are God’s people and yet their lives reflect none of who He is. My heart is heavy for this reason. As I read Daniel 9 this morning, verses 3-19 is Daniel making his plea to God for God’s people. I am convicted over my lack of prayer for the body of Christ that has been replaced with complaint and worry.

I am concerned, this is true. But shouldn’t my concerns drive me to my knees?

 Daniel 9:3-19

Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. 4 I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5 we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7 To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. 8 To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him 10 and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. 11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. 12 He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, [1] by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. 13 As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. 14 Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. 15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

16 “O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. 17 Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. 18 O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”

My younger brother is becoming one of those life long students. He has just finished a degree in music composition and now he is about to undertake another undergraduate degree in theology. Why he is not doing a Masters I have no idea, but then again he is doing his theology degree at “THE” Oxford University. I think he got all the academic brains in our family.

The other day he ran into one of his old Chemistry teachers from school. When he explained to him what his next degree was going to be in, his old chemistry teacher replied by saying, “the vast and ancient study of theology is the same as the study of unicorns”!

Obviously my brother was not too pleased with this comment, and for those who want me to translate that comment, it basically means as unicorns are not real, so to is God, so what is the point to study something that is not real.

I find it interesting that a science teacher would make such a comment. Any expert in science knows that nothing can be proved exactly. Everything in science is a theory or a probability. The only way science would laugh or dismiss a theory is if the probability is very unlikely. For example no-one has (to my knowledge) ever seen a unicorn or the effects of a unicorns existence, so the theory that unicorns exist is very unlikely. However, when it comes to God the theory is on the other end of the spectrum. Okay, so nobody may have exactly seen God is all his being, but the effects of God’s existence, the testimonies of millions of people who claim to have experienced God in their lives, the probability of this earth having a divine designer, the inability to disprove there is a God and the fact that this “theory” has lasted and is growing throughout the history of humanity leads me to think that the study of God is a little more viable than the study of unicorns.

The ironic side of this, is that this chemistry teacher endorses the study of other theories that have no weight behind them at all. If that chemistry teacher was an expert in his field then he would follow the theory with the highest probability. You don’t need to be an expert to know if the existence of God has a higher probability than the cosmic event of a random big bang!

Often we can live our lives just like this chemistry teacher. We can be so marrow minded and stubborn in our thinking that we become irrational in our thinking, in our doing and in our speaking. I am a believer that God exists. Not only that he exists but that he wants a relationship with everyone of us. I believe this is possible because God became flesh over 2000 years ago in the form of a man Jesus, who died for our sins and to pay the penalty for our wrong doings. I believe this because the math tells me this is the best probability. I also believe this because I am one of those millions who can testify that God has changed my life, the life of my friends, the life of my family and I now can see God at work in every part of my life. I see him at work in nature, I see him at work in the human body and I see him at work in the human soul!

Sorry Mr Chemistry Teacher, but you have just lost a lot of credibility because you made a statement that was not very scientific!

I remember back to the days when I was at school and college. I made sure I picked the courses that were mainly exams instead of coursework or written papers. Most people hate exams, but not me! I found that I actually excelled in exams and failed miserably when it came to writing a paper.

There may be various reasons for this, but the major reason I realized was that I usually found the first thing that came to my head was in fact the right thing to write down. However, when I thought too much about a particular issue or topic or paper I normally got confused and did not write good papers. In the exam room you have to right down the first thing that comes to your mind when answering questions, there is no time to think.

I have been reminded of this character trait this past week. I have for a while been considering undertaking a project that I am unsure whether I should pursue. Some days I want to tackle it head on, others days I do not want to go near it. I had prayed about it, and even felt God speak to me about it through scripture. If this decision was in an exam room I would have probably already be undertaking it by now. However, I started to think it over,  like I use to do with my papers, I analyzed this decision to the bone. I got books on the subject, I did character studies to see if my type of personality would be successful at this project and I found out every detail imaginable before I made a decision.

This for most people is the wise thing to do. However, for a small percentage of people, people like me this is the wrong thing to do. This past week my wife told me, I think you should stop reading those books, stop analyzing it (she is normally the analytical one not me) and pray, seek God. When you are then 100% sure it is right, go back to the books and the research to help you make it happen. So for once I am going to take my wife’s good advice.

I say all this to encourage you. If you are thinking about going into something new. If you are at a cross roads in your life; instead of burdening yourself with a hard decision. Ask God, seek God and make sure you hear from God. Know from the deepest place in your soul which road to take, then prepare yourself for the road ahead. If you look at what you need before you decide which way to go, very often you may make a decision that you were not destined to make.

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That is a question that will make you think. It is July and the year is half over, so you still have time left to make some really good decisions.  I can’t take credit for this question, it comes from a blog that I read by Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church in Washington DC. Here is his blog post:

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I love the Bible

If someone asked me: what is the BEST DECISION you’ve made this year? It’s an easy answer. The decision to read through a one-year Bible.

Honestly, I’m falling in love with the Bible all over again. It’s the most inspirational book ever written because it was inspired by God himself. It’s the best sin deterrent I know of. And it’s the way you carry on a daily conversation with God. I’m not sure who said this first but it’s so true: when you close the Bible God closes His mouth and when you open the Bible God opens His mouth.

Nuff said.

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What about you? Is this a challenge you are up for in the final six months of 2009? Are you ready to hear from God in 2009? Sure it can be scary to think of, but it can be a great ride. Don’t have a bible, check out YouVersion a great new site that helps you read through the bible and offers 16 english translations, and even an apps for your iPhone, Blackberry and a mobile web version. Any way you can read the Bible is great. Go ahead and put the Bible  on your phone.

2 Timothy 3:15 – 17 (The Message)

15 … There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.16 Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way.17 Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.

So leave comment and let me know what your answer is.

What is the BEST DECISION you have made this year?

Be Real,

Jeremy

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How Many Ways?

How many ways are there to get to Heaven? That depends on who you ask. If you believe that the Bible is Truth then there is only one way for us to have eternal salvation. Jesus said in

John 14:6 (NLT)
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”

 Jesus said “I tell you the truth” or “I have told you the truth” 80 times in the four gospels. (I may have miscounted, check it out for your self HERE.)

Jesus was the only perfect person to ever walk the face of this earth, the only, the first, and the last. You will never find another who is with out sin, without fault. Jesus told the truth.

Unfortunately you will find many in your lifetime who will tell you there are different ways to get to heaven. Some will say “I am Catholic” or “I am a Christian” and assume they are going to heaven. Some will say just do your best and be good, then you will get to heaven. All of these people may believe in Jesus and the one true God, but unfortunately they are wrong, none of that will get you to heaven.

Even worse you will find those who think that you can follow different gods and still get to heaven. Jesus was very clear when he said in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” I takes more than just believing, it takes faith in what Jesus did. You see we are not good people, we break God’s moral laws.

You may have seen the old movie with Charlton Heston “The Ten Commandments” - you guessed it, they are real, all ten of them. Ever told a lie? I’m guilty, how about you? The Bible states that if we have broken one then we have broken them all. The church word for breaking God’s law is SIN.

Jesus said in John 12:48 “But all who reject me and my message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken.” If we believe Jesus only spoke the truth then consider this next passage of scripture, also the words of Jesus.

Matthew 5:21-22 (NLT)
²¹“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ ²² But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.”

To sum it all up we are guilty. If you are honest with yourself you can see that. We will be judged by the truth that Jesus spoke. The bad news is the penalty for our sin, or breaking God’s moral law is death. Death seperated from God in a place called Hell. Hell is a real place, and it won’t be a party despite what you may have heard from some people.

The Good News also comes from Jesus himself. Remember when he said in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” He paid the death penalty for us, he wasn’t guilty, but he willingly took our death sentence. He was murdered, executed on a cross for crimes he didn’t commit.

Why did he do that? Go back to the Bible, a verse you have probably seen on a sign at every NFL football game ever televised.

John 3:16 (The Message)

^16-18“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

Don’t make it hard. We broke the law, and our just punishment is death separated from God. Jesus paid that penalty.

So what do we have to do? Remember the ABC

1. Admit your sin to God and Ask for forgiveness.
2. Believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and died to pay the penalty for our sin.
3. Commit your life to Jesus and Live for HIM.

How about it, don’t wait, don’t let pride or procrastination get in the way. What do you need to do? Let me know.

There is only One way to Get to Heaven, but there are many ways to reach me. Below are a few, let me know what your decision is so I can pray for you.

Be Real,
Jeremy

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This week I have been blogging about when to know what the will of God is in our lives. On Monday we noted to first look into God’s Word (The Bible) for guidance, then on Thursday we saw how we must know the peace of God that goes past all understanding. Today I want to deal with a topic that is one of the hardest decisions anyone will ever make, and how we can know God’s will in that decision.

Should I move?

One thing I think I have become a bit of an expert at (only through experience) is moving house, state or country. When I was growing up my family moved three times to different locations around the United Kingdom. When I was 25 I moved a little further, across the pond to the United States. Then two years ago I moved from Missouri to Maryland. Each time knowing exactly that it was in the will of God, in fact more than his will, but it was ordained or planned by God.

When I moved country I knew it was the right decision because I was in a place of transition and learning in my own life. I had no real ties to hold me to where I was. I was in a secular job and knew my future was in full time ministry. My wife to be was in the United States in a position that was in ministry. She felt called to the place she was and I didn’t feel called to the place I was. So with no job, no visa and without much thought (because there wasn’t much need for thought), I quit my job, packed my bags, said my goodbyes and moved to the United States knowing God was in control. He sure was, within three months I had a job, a home and a visa to work!

When we decided to leave Missouri and move to Maryland it was for different circumstances (I talked a little about this in part 2). My wife and I knew God had led us out of our positions and he was leading us into new ones, we just didn’t know which new ones. We had a few opportunities and options. We could go back to the United kingdom, go to a few other places in the United States or go to Maryland. Out of all the options Maryland was my least favorite, yet after visiting and weighing up all the options, praying and seeking God we knew from the bottom of our hearts that Maryland was the place. It wasn’t the best option, nor the most appealing, but we knew the path God was leading us, and all the signs led to this path.

That is how we knew to move; we knew the path God was taking our lives and the road to Maryland went down this path, not the other options. At times we can be concerned with the best job, the nicest or cheapest place to live, the best schooling for our kids, the least amount of crime etc. These are all options, but if they lead you away from the place God is taking you it will end in failure. I have seen many people move because it was the easiest option, or not move because they were comfortable where they were; this has most often ended in either a huge time of testing in their lives, or they have settled into the status quo of their lives and not become all that God had intended them to be. Do not let temporary distractions take you from the path or road God is taking your life. He has big plans for you and a decision based away from this path will end in a life unfulfilled.

In the book of Proverbs the writer tells us in both chapters 16 and 20 that it is God who determines a mans steps, and it is God who directs a mans steps, so how can anyone but God understand it.

Where is God taking you? What is his plan for your life? Submit to this plan and you will spend your life walking and living in the will of God!

This week I am writing a three part blog on finding the will of God in different situations. I have already dealt with looking to God’s Word as the principle way to find God’s will in our lives. Today and on Friday I will deal with finding God’s will in two situations that affect everyone at some stage in their lives.

When To Quit My Job?

How many times have you thought over your career, “I wish I could quit my job”? Most of the time we do not do it because we need the pay check, or we actually like our job overall or we have too much investment in our employers retirement fund. However, there are times when we are serious about quitting our job but we ask the dreaded question, “is it God’s will for me to quit my job”.

All in all I believe God wants us to be happy. If our job is causing you to be depressed, causing health problems, or affecting your family life in unhealthy ways, then I believe you do not even have to ask the ‘God’s will” question. However, for others it is not so clear cut, so I want to give you an example from my life that may help. Firstly, there is a difference when it comes to ministry jobs and secular jobs. For some reason I think people find it much easier to decide what God’s will is if they are in a secular job. I worked in a few different secular positions and found the decision to move on a whole lot easier than in ministry roles. I do believe though the principles are still the same.

In January 2007 my wife Raquel and I decided to resign our positions at North Point Church in Springfield, MO. North Point had grown at an incredible pace (today I believe there are over 3,500 in attendance each week), we were doing some pretty unique stuff and the church was getting a name for itself. Furthermore, Raquel had been there from the very beginning. She lived and breathed North Point and we both had seen God do some impossible things. However, our decision to resign came as a shock to many in the church and people did not understand why. People thought either something was wrong with the church or we had lost our minds. However, we had prayed about this decision for over four months. Raquel had in fact told me a year before that she believed her time was up and God was moving us on.

In the September of 2006 we went to pray for three days in regards to this decision. After three days we felt God telling us that our time was not up yet. In December 2006 we went to India in a ministry trip and it was there that God spoke to both of us to say now was the time. So when we came back we handed in our resignations, not having any other employment opportunities in the pipeline. My US visa allowed me to work at North Point only and so on the surface it looked like we had lost our mind.

The reasons we felt our time was up at North Point was because the church was heading in a different direction to where they had been. We thought it was a great direction, but it was not a journey we could go on and give 100%. Our beliefs and values were not in that direction. We knew if we stayed it would be a restriction to the church and to our own lives. This was not to say they were wrong, but just to say this was the moment our journey’s went in two different ways.

This was the first reason we knew our decision was in the will of God. If you are in a ministry, church, organization or even employment and you cannot give the leaders, members and vision your 100% backing, it is time to start to think of another place to be. The second reason we knew we were in the will of God was because we just knew. I cannot explain it in words, but when you know something is right, it often is. We gave up a good salary, a visa, future recognition and a comfortable life because we just knew it was the right decision. Before we made the decision to leave we had no peace, after we made the decision we had a peace about the whole situation that I can only describe as divine. In Philippians 4:7 we are told that those who rely on God have a peace which no-one can understand which guards our hearts and mind through Jesus Christ. This is exactly what happened to us.

There have been many times when the peace of God has come into a situation that goes beyond understanding. So before you make any rash decision, before you ask the question, “what is the will of God?” Ask yourself if you have peace. Not a lack of noise, but a peace that is deep within that goes beyond understanding, a peace that others will question and a peace that puts your mind at ease when you lay your head on your pillow at night.

There is one question Christians find harder to answer than any other. This is even a question many stress over and find themselves losing sleep because of it. This week I am going to deal with this question in three parts, using three examples from my own life that have occurred on multiply occasions. This question is, ‘Am I living in the will of God?’

Before I get into today’s example, whether you believe in my theology or not, I do believe it is a lot harder to walk out of the will of God than it is to walk in it. I do believe God is sovereign, he is in control and nothing is a surprise to him. The basic answer to this question is keep trusting in God, put him first in everything you do and you will not walk out of his path. However, for most they are not convinced by this answer. So here are a few examples of God’s will in my life.

A guide from the guidebook

When I was 17 I knew already that God had called me into full time ministry. The obvious thing to do, and what anyone who wanted to go into ministry did was to go to Bible College, get a bible degree then go off to Seminary and come out as the next Billy Graham. That is what I thought anyhow. God had other plans. When I was praying over which Bible College to go to, God spoke to me so clearly through his word, I look back now in disbelief.

I opened my bible one night and read the story of David and Goliath. As I read it God spoke to me, ‘this is you’. Before you think I’m a giant slayer I’ll explain. You see David had already been anointed of God to be King. When he went to bring food to his brothers he saw the enemies of the Philistines making fun of Israel. David knew what he had been called to do, God was with him and he could take down this Giant. So David approached the leader of the army, King Saul and said he would fight Goliath. It is at this point God spoke to me. David put on Saul’s armor to fight. This is what you were supposed to do. It was idiotic to go to war without armor. However, David couldn’t stand because he hadn’t been trained in armor. So David took off the armor, and the rest is  history. That night God spoke to me and said, ‘I was glorified in David’s life because he trusted in me and didn’t rely on mans ways. So to, I will be gloried through you because you will not use mans ways, don’t go to bible college!’. What! Don’t go to bible college. This was the start of a long hard road for me. I went to a secular university, got used by God in some incredible ways, became a youth Pastor at 18, and experienced things I would have never experienced had I gone to Bible College.

When I graduated I thought to myself, now if I want to go into full time ministry I need to get some bible education. So I started a Masters in church ministry. I was doing great, getting A’s and would get my degree in no time. However, I hated doing it, it was a chore. I realized I did not learn one thing. During my time as a youth pastor I had felt so inadequate that I studied twice as hard. I read books and asked lots of questions to people way more wiser than I was. I found my Politics degree at my secular university hard, this masters degree was easy! This brought me to the place where I started to think, if I’ve not learning anything, why am I doing it! That is when God spoke to me again all those years later and told me, ‘I said you were not to go to Bible College, and this included seminary!’ I stopped the course, paid my tuition and decided that day never to do something because that is what you are supposed to do.

To this day, people do not understand that I don’t have a bible degree; I have even been told that was for then not for now! Men may say and believe what they may, but I know how God has spoken to me and he confirmed it in his word.

That is part one of knowing the will of God. Did God speak to you through his word. The bible is the very word of God, and you may read a passage that just pops out at you. It may be out of context, but you know God has just spoken. If this occurs, listen to what God is saying, treasure it in your heart and do what he says. Like me, you can do something that every other Christian is doing and even what the church says you should do, but it is not the will of God for your life. On the other side, you can do something that others say is not right, is not the path you should take, yet it is God’s will for your life.

Overall, if you are searching for God’s will in your life, switch of every distraction, close your ears to everyone and everything, go to God’s word ask God to speak and he will. Then open your ears back up knowing exactly what God has spoken to you through his word.

God tells us in Isaiah 55:8-9 that, “Our ways are not God’s ways, our thoughts are not God’s thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s thoughts higher than our thoughts.”