"Judgment Day"

You have surely heard the expression:  Judgment Day..  What is it?  Is it real?  Will it really happen?  We’ve heard a bit about it in popular culture.. Hollywood has even had its proverbial crack at the matter in “Judgment Day” (1999) starring Ice-T and “Terminator 2:  Judgment Day” (1991) starring that great theologian, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

But what does the Bible have to say about Judgment Day?  There are really two different judgments spoken of in the Bible:  The Great White Throne judgment (for people who have not trusted Christ) and “The Judgment Seat of Christ” for people who stood with Christ in this life. 

The Great White Throne Judgment

Revelation 20:11-15 says “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Let’s take a look at that:

The books were opened.  We know that God is omniscient.  That is to say, He knows everything.  He always has and he always does (present tense intentional).  He knows eternity past and eternity future.  He knows the inner-most feelings of your heart.  And he certainly knows all of your words and deeds for the entirety of your life.  The books will be opened and we don’t know exactly how God will do it, but he will expose or “lay open” all of it.. whether it be good... or whether it be bad.

Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.  My friends, if that isn’t a sobering thought, I don’t know what is.

The Judgement Seat of Christ

II Corinthians 5:10 reads “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”
Now Paul tells us that all will appear before the judgment seat of Christ.  He was writing to Christians at the Church of Corinth.  All Christians will appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ.  People who accepted Christ’s offer of salvation and repented of their sins will know about the bad they did in this life.  And they will receive Heavenly rewards according to the good they did - according to the “kingdom investments” they made. 

Matthew 6:20 says “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal…”

Friends, there’s no doubt about it:  there will be great reward in Heaven for those who made kingdom investments.  And what is kingdom investment?  When you are undertaking for people, when you’re obedient to God’s commandments, you’re laying up treasure in Heaven. 

Matthew 25:34-47 speaks of the sheep and the goats; the goats will be to the left, and the sheep to the right.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. ”

When you called on widows, when you gave a drink to a thirsty person, when you made an anonymous gift to a person in need, when you visited a prisoner, when you stopped to help a stranger, God was aware.  And you will receive rewards as if you had done these things for Christ Himself. 
At the end of a day, it is worthwhile to consider how you spent that day God gave you.  Today, I made a couple of kingdom investments.  I witnessed to a person without Christ.  I prayed with a couple of sisters in Christ who just needed a word of encouragement.  (and I certainly am not sharing this to elevate myself or give myself some kind of a pat on the back.  To the contrary, I give God the glory that He spoke into my heart that I should do these things.) 

Those are things for which God will reward me.  But today, there were also a lot of careless words spoken.  There were unpure thoughts.  There were purchases made that probably could have gone without.  Those things will not stand the test of time.  The only things that really matter in God’s economy are the kingdom investments - and frequently that involves people.

The Christian need not fear judgment.  If we have confessed with our mouths the Lord Jesus, and if we believe indeed that God hath raised Him (Jesus) from the dead, we are saved!  Hallelujah!  We have nothing to fear. 

But we have every reason to follow Jesus’ commandments:  Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”  These are the things which we should “be about” in this life - not only because we wish to receive good rewards, but we should seek to live out these fruits of the spirit out of love for the one who took our just reward (death) upon Himself on our behalf. 

I wouldn’t be telling the whole story, though, if I didn’t say this.  The person who has not repented of sin and placed trust in Christ has every reason to be concerned.  This is one of the saddest word pictures in the Bible found in Luke 16:19-31:

19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 

20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Even now, the rich man spoken of here in the Bible is suffering in the torments of Hell:  still in darkness, still alone, still begging for a drop of water to cool his tongue.  And if someone could tell him that he would be freed from that awful place in a million years, he would rejoice.  But the sad truth is that Hell is his all time future.  There will be no mercy once the Sinner has breathed his last, crossed over that great divide and found that his name was not in God’s book in Heaven.  Only regret, only heartache and perhaps worst of all, permanent separation from the One who paid his sin debt.  But it’s too late.  He’s there now and he’ll be there ten million years from now, with no possibility of parole or pardon.

I encourage you, my friend, if you’ve not turned from your sin and trusted Christ as your savior, do it while His spirt is speaking into your heart.  If God is speaking to your heart, don’t turn away.  The Bible tells us in a very sobering way that “My spirit shall not always strive with man...” (Genesis 6:3a)  That is to say that you don’t have control over God’s spirit, which is the only way you’ll ever be convicted of your sin - the only way you’ll ever realize you need God.  Once God takes His hand off of you after you’ve rejected him over and over, your heart will harden to the Gospel.  So many women and men are suffering in Hell because they committed the unpardonable sin which, contrary to popular theological opinion is this:  rejection of Christ. 

Don’t reject Christ.  Realize what He did for you on Calvary and receive Him unto yourself.  If you’d like to give your heart to Christ, click here for more information from a source I deeply trust:

http://www.theencouragingword.org/discover-jesus

Praying this writing meets you with happiness and peace of heart,

Rudy

What is the City Upon a Hill?

In his farewell address to the nation on January 11, 1989, Ronald Reagan uttered these now famous words:

“I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don’t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it.  But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here.  That’s how I saw it and see it still…”

In this political season, I could not help but reflect on the saying as many candidates have mentioned it in days recent.  But with due respect to the late President, the phrase did not originate with him (nor did he claim it did).  Nor does it belong to the pilgrim John Winthrop who wrote about the city Upon a Hill in 1630, stating:

“the Lord make it like that of New England:  for we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world, we shall open the mouthes of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God and all professors for God’s sake; we shall shame the faces of many of God’s worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into Curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whether we are going…”

Winthrop was speaking concerning Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus said “You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

Although the origin of the phrase comes from the lips of our Saviour himself (Matthew 5:14-16), there is some good wisdom in the sayings of both President Reagan and John Winthrop. 

President Reagan said that the City would be one “built on rocks”, and that it would be God-blessed.  He went on to say that if it had walls, the walls would have doors so that anyone with the will to get there could.  When we place our trust in Christ, we really are building our mortal and spiritual home on a solid rock.  And if the City of the Gospel does have walls – indeed it does and it must – there is a door.  And anyone who comes into the City must come by way of the cross at the door’s entrance. 

When Christ spoke these words, he was talking to believers.  When push comes to shove, we are all here for one very specific reason:  to worship God, which is what Jesus says in the last verse:  “Let your light so shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

As much as I love America – and as much as I believe in American exceptionalism – America is certainly not the City Upon a Hill.  YOU are the light Christ is referring to if you’re trusting in Him today – and I am.  WE, the Church, the bride of Christ, are the City Upon a Hill.  We are his pride and his crowning creation achievement. 

And as Winthrop rightly points out, “the eyes of all people are upon us”.  They are watching to see what we do and what we say.  Christ instructs us to do good works.  Winthrop warns us not to “deal falsely with our God”, lest he withdraw his help from us.  One needn’t look through the Bible very far to see that there is precedence for God doing this.  When God’s people turn their backs upon him, when they look to idols, when they defiantly dive headlong into deliberate sin, God will not be mocked. 

Especially as we enter this new year, I cannot help but think of this verse (to my mind, one of the greatest calls to repentance in the scriptures):  “If MY (Christ- emphasis mine) people, which are called by MY name (CHRISTian), shall humble themselves (you – and me), and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I (God) hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”  II Chronicles 7:16

That, to me, seems like a great way to approach this new year.  Not with resolutions, but with an honest commitment to obey from the heart that form of doctrine which has been taught us.

1.    Humble Myself (only when we search our own hearts can we tell what causes pride to well up within us – I think it can be different for different people)

2.    Pray (even when we don’t know what to pray, spending time with God)

3.    Seek His Face (this comes not only through prayer, but through absorbing God’s Word)

4.    Turn from Sin (God gives help to do this – I Corinthians 10:13).  Whatever it takes to turn from sin is worth it, even if it calls for drastic action.

It seems like a great recipe for 2012.  I hope 2012 is the best year of your life – and mine.  And I earnestly hope that people of America – and across the World – will consider what they would do with Christ.  Neutrality equates to denial in God’s economy. 

In Memory of Sonny Dockins

In Memory of Sonny Dockins

My friend Sonny Dockins went to be with the Lord Wednesday evening around 9 p.m. 

Sonny and I had a few things in common.  We both loved the game of golf and played countless rounds together since I began playing in between the summers of my 8th and 9th grade (the summer of 1991). 

In fact, Sonny came along side of me and helped me to develop my golf game.  I played my first ever 9-hole round of golf with Sonny in June, 1991, and had a birdie on the 7th hole of the Crawfordsville Municipal Golf Course (blasting it in from the sand).  In that same summer, Sonny took me out to the soccer fields on Whitlock Avenue where we hit balls together out of his “shag bag”.  Sonny had a real passion for the game of golf.   He was a highly skilled, left-hand player with a fine short game. 

And then I recall the many times I attended services at Fremont Street Baptist Church sitting a seat or two behind him.  I think most churches (at least most Baptist Churches) have “Amen’ers”.  Sonny was a very faithful “Amen’er”.  And when the pastor made what he believed to be a particularly important point, Sonny would say “that’s true!” 

But apart from our golf together, we had another thing in common.  Like me, Sonny had received - by faith - God’s gift of salvation.  He loved the Lord Jesus and saw himself for what he was - a sinner in need of God’s saving redemption.  Salvation is a miraculous thing - because it is a transaction that happens individually for each person and - accompanying it - is that person’s very unique story and path to that place.  I don’t know all of the details of Sonny’s story of salvation.  But he liked to tell the story of how his two oldest boys, Bobby and Gary Duane, wandered into the Fremont Street Baptist Church one cold wintry morning and asked Ralph Cope, who was there early to turn the heat on for that morning’s services, if they would be welcomed to attend church there.  “Well, of course you can!” - as I stated, Sonny loved to tell this story. 

To make a much longer story quite short, those boys did come.  God was doing a work in the Dockins family.  Sonny worked at the Raybestos automotive parts company and so did his wife, Carol.  One of Fremont’s dear women, Mrs. Marie Lewis, began to share the Gospel with Carol Dockins.  I believe I’m stating correctly that Carol gave her heart to Christ first and Sonny shortly thereafter.  My best guess would be that the year of their salvation would be around about 1968.  Sonny - as he would tell you - was inextricably, instantaneously, unalterably changed.  He told me within the last year that - after he gave his heart to Jesus - he laid it all aside.  He laid aside - and lost the desire - to continue the ways of the past.  I asked him “you mean you never had another drink?”  His response, “nope, I never had another drink.”

The bar room visiting, the smoking, the absence of God in his life for any direction - - that was all changed when it became clear what Jesus had done in his life. 

In fact, as I got to thinking about it, what sticks out about Sonny more than anything was that he was a man of passions.  He was passionate about his golf.  He was passionate about his family.  He was passionate about his local church and he loved his pastor and supported him.  He was absolutely passionate about his love for the Lord Jesus. 

I’ve told you a bit about his golf. 

But then, as I mentioned, Sonny was passionate about his family.  His heart was broken when he lost his two oldest boys, Bobby and Gary Duane, within about five weeks of each other.  His wife Carol and his remaining children - and their offspring - were the light of his life.  About four years ago, one of Sonny’s grandchildren, Warren, and his dear wife, presented to Sonny a boy named Colton.  Let me tell you, I’ve never seen a grandfather’s eyes light up as Sonny’s did with this boy.  And I wasn’t around to see so much of their interaction.  But I didn’t miss much, because Sonny would tell you about him.  Oh, how he loved to spend time with that boy playing together and hanging out at the golf course or in the woods or in the garage.  I think Sonny’s last years were some of his most fulfilled because of the joy that Colton brought into his life. 

And then, Sonny was passionate about his local church and his pastor.  I have shared with you before my love of pastors and - as I have thought about that - I really believe I owe much of that disposition to Sonny Dockins.  Sonny taught me, through his actions and word, that it was rightful and proper to love one’s pastor and serve the man of God faithfully:  to be a friend to him and to help him and to love him.  Sonny was faithful to our pastor, Dan Aldrich.  He was faithful to help at the church (particularly after his retirement).  He mowed the lawn dutifully and shoveled snow past the point a man of his years usually would. 

He was passionate about telling others what Jesus had done for him - and that Jesus could and would do the same thing for them.  Sonny was a regular in participating in soul-winning efforts at the Indiana State Fair.  I believe many gave their hearts to Jesus by Sonny’s sharing. 

Sonny was passionate about Jesus.  I think back on so many times Sonny gave a testimony on a Sunday evening - or the dozens and dozens of times he would be called upon to pray in service.  Almost without fail, he would become emotional as he reflected on what the Lord had done for him, a sinner.  Tears would come to his eyes as he pleaded with the Lord to touch someone’s spirit, that they might be saved.  

Sonny’s illness was painful, debilitating and merciless.  But he approached this, too, with unwavering faith.  He told his son, Alan, “Don’t cry for me.  I’m going someplace that will be beautiful and wonderful - where we’ll worship all the day long.  You’ll have to stay behind.  Cry for yourself!” 

I visited with Sonny about three weeks before he went to be with Jesus.   There was no “why me?” or “I sure am scared” or “I just don’t understand this”.  He knew that the Lord would be with him.  To the end, as the songwriter said,

But I know Whom I have believed,

And am persuaded that He is able

To keep that which I’ve committed

Unto Him against that day.

I know not how this saving faith

To me He did impart,

Nor how believing in His Word

Wrought peace within my heart.

I will see you on the other side, my dear friend.


http://www.burkhartfh.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=1334053&fh_id=10733

I welcome others who would like to leave a remembrance about Sonny..

The Inside

This past weekend, I decided that I had had enough with my car’s interior.  To say that it needed detailed is exponentially understated.  I just can’t even describe it.  Simply put, it was disgusting.  Wrappers everywhere, bags from McDonald’s and Chick-Fil-A with 6 month old pickles in them, dirty and random clothes, books.  I had one pair of tennis shoes with horse stuff on them from a trip to the State Fair and the cattle and horse barns.  I just didn’t want to deal with it, but I didn’t want to throw the shoes out!  Worse still, the front seat was stained from where I had spilled coffee, ketchup, gravy and just about every other food one could imagine.  And then of course there were french fries under the seats and down in the crevices of the seat cushions.  

I got to the car wash and detail shop and the gentleman asked me what I wanted done to the exterior of the car – it was like he had blinders on!  I almost laughed out loud (wasn't it obvious)!!  “I’m not even worried about the outside!” I said.  “But the inside needs the works! – anything and everything you can do to clean it up.”

He told me that I could come back in three hours to pick it up.  I slipped inside the shop to pay my bill thinking in my mind “if only I hadn’t let it get this bad in the first place”..  But as I walked across the street to the mall to camp out and get something to eat (this time not out of a bag), I began to think about the unbelievable symbolism in my visit with the car wash people. 

The Bible has some very important things to say about the condition we keep our soul in.  First, it says in I Samuel 16:7(b) “for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."  God looks on the inside, because outward appearance can be deceiving.  We can be seemingly “clean” on the outside, and be dirty as a pig in slop on the inside.  To the world, a person can be “a good man”, but have sin patterns that the Lord Jesus disdains.  He might think that they are in private – that only he knows.  But God knows us inside and out; through and through.  

Jesus also spoke directly to this subject during one of his stronger admonitions (from Matthew 23:27):  “"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.”  Jesus is warning us here, no doubt.  And then Jesus talks about being “double-minded”.  

My car served as a great reminder to me of these truths.  These are some of the lessons I have considered:  

• I let it go to a point that it made me sick and depressed.  If I had cleaned out the inside from time to time and just kept the trash out, things wouldn’t have gotten so out of control.

• There came a point when I realized things were so bad I couldn’t get it cleaned on my own; I was going to need help

• My car probably fooled a lot of people.  On the outside, it looked like pretty much any other car.  You had to really get up close and look around to see just how disgusting it was on the inside. 

I want to encourage you – keep “short accounts” with God.  Don’t stray far from Him.  You don’t want to allow your insides to become so dirty that you’re headed for disaster and the need for radical intervention.  On this note, God says in Hebrews “God disciplines those he loves.”  We may fool a handful of people by keeping a neat and clean outside, while living like the devil when no one is around.  On this note, Paul wrote to the Galatians: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

I love you, my friend.  But Jesus loved you before I did and he loves you deeper and better, too.  Think about it:  He (Jesus) laid his life and soul down to satisfy the Father’s blood sacrifice for sin.  Receive Jesus today if you haven’t already.  It’s time, isn’t it?  And if you have a relationship with Christ, return to your first love.  Ask God – as David said – to restore unto you the joy of His salvation!

God bless you today.

How were Old Testament saints (BEFORE the birth, death and resurrection of Christ) saved?

Have you ever thought about that before?  At some point in my walk with Christ - many years ago - I wondered inside but never asked anyone or sought to find an answer with the sort of urgency that I should have had concerning such an important theological question..

We know that one can only be saved by trusting on the name of Christ - “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12)

And don’t misunderstand:  “believing on his name” doe NOT mean that you simply believe that Christ and his resurrection are mere historical facts.  The Bible says that “the devils also believe, and tremble.”  (James 2:19)  Intellectual ascent does not equate to believing upon Christ for salvation, committing to him your life and trusting in him for salvation.

But how could one believe on the name of Christ if they had never heard his name?

There are a few points here that are noteworthy.

1.  Jesus has been “in existence” for all time:  from eternity past to eternity future..  Although we didn’t have a human encounter with him until he came to earth being born to the virgin Mary over 2000 years ago, he is God’s son and always has been.  It’s difficult to wrap your arms around, isn’t it?  Thinking along these lines evince questions like “well where did God come from?”  I have thought about that many times.  And I am by no means a biblical scholar.  But I know this:  first, I realize that God’s thinking is different than mine and yours.  There is a limitation in our ability to “see” the world and the God of the universe.  Infinity and eternity are concepts that are outside of our life experience and scope of thought.  Second, the Bible tells us that “the secret things belong unto the Lord our God.” (Deuteronomy 29:29)  Next, we must believe by faith.  But our faith is not blind.  Believing on Christ is a logical and reasonable thing to do based upon the Gospel, history and the hundreds of prophesies fulfilled.  I have heard many saints say that it would take far more “faith” to NOT believe in Christ than it takes to place one’s trust in Him.  There were dozens and perhaps hundreds who saw with their own eyes His execution by means of crucifixion, his burial and - three days later - watched him walk the earth, fellowship with his disciples - and ascend into the heavens in glory and unspeakable light.  That - my friends - is the God of the universe. 

2.  Abraham - and any and every other Old Testament person who believed on Christ - is in Heaven today.  But - you may ask - how could he have believed on Christ if he didn’t even know Christ’s name?  “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was COUNTED UNTO HIM for righteousness” (Romans 4:3)  We see something very special here - something very noteworthy:  Abraham was NOT trusting in his own works or goodness for salvation.  Although he didn’t know Jesus’ name, he knew that his own works were not sufficient for salvation.  He knew that the key to being in fellowship with God is by having faith in Him for salvation.  And what is faith?  I think the scripture says it better than I ever could:  “Abraham believed God.”  Very simply, he took God at his word.  Isn’t that wonderful!?  He just believed God.  There’s so much application for you and I to take away from this simple lesson of truth.  We must believe God and his Book of promises.  After all, think about his reliability in your life - and in mine.  I mentioned to my brother the other day - that if God played baseball (and I don't mean that irreverently) - he’d be batting 1.000.  He never misses.  He never fails to answer a prayer.  Think about his credibility.  He’s never lied and the Bible says he is indeed, incapable of lying.  It is outside of God’s character to lie.  Moreover, the Bible says that he is interested in our good - and that he desires that no one should be without him. 

II Peter 3:9 reads thusly: 

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

You see that?  It is reaffirmed that “God is not slack concerning his promises”.  I just love that.  Beyond the shear beauty of the language, one finds comfort and solace in the reality of its truth.  Moreover, though, Peter tells us the truth I earlier mentioned:  He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

3.  God is unwilling that his prized creation - you... and I - should deny him - or remain “silent” concerning his offer of salvation and relationship with us.  There are presently some seven billion persons on the face of this earth.  Nearly 350,000 people are born each day - and nearly 150,000 people die per day and - as hard as it may be to conceive - God knows each and every one through and through.  The Bible says that He has the hairs on your head counted.  And that IS a fact.  When one hair falls out, He knows.  If He knows that, be assured that He knows all about the content of your heart.  He knows where your real love lies.  And to use the parlance of Hollywood, He really “knows what you did last summer.”  You can keep nothing from Him and you cannot hide yourself or your heart or anything else in a closet.  The Bible says it will all be “laid bare” before Him on Judgement Day (II Peter 3:10).

And we’ve talked before about Abraham.  The Bible tells us that he (Abraham) received a message from God:  “And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." (Genesis 22:22)

What did Abraham do in response to this seemingly unspeakable request?  He obeyed.  He believed God.  Which one of us - if presented the same situation - would be willing to obey God and just take Him at His Word?  I realize it’s not a realistic hypothetical.  We do not live in the same day.  Thankfully, God doesn’t make those types of requests of us.

Here’s what he does command:  “I therefore urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercies, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices that are holy and pleasing to God, for this is the reasonable way for you to worship.”  (Romans 12:1)  In short, we are to devote ourselves to God’s business, which God says is a reasonable request.  You might ask:  “why is it reasonable for me to give my life to God?” 

I respectfully submit to you:  He bankrupted Heaven by Christ’s shed blood for you.  And if you - you who are reading these lines - had been the only one for whose sin Christ was needed, God would have sent Him to the cross just for you... just for me.

God bless you tonight.  Take God at His word.  Trust Christ for salvation and Him alone and serve Him with all of your heart.  Then tell someone else you did.  He will change your life for all time, as He has mine. 

I love you tonight.  Please let me know if you have any questions about these passages, if this message has blessed you - or if I can be praying for you in some way.

Rudy

Do I Really Know God?

Do I really know God?

It’s a very simple question - no pretense is intended. 

I hope you will join me through this short blog entry to examine yourself, as I do the same; it’s a very healthy thing.  The Apostle Paul exhorted members of the early church on two separate occasions to “test themselves” to be certain their faith was real.

II Corinthians 13:5  “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test?

I Cor 11:28,31 (NAS) But a man must examine himself... If we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.

There are several hallmarks we can look for in our own lives to know where we stand with God.  Here are just a few:

1.  What is my attitude about the Word of God?

The scriptures tell us “All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”:  Another translation, the New International Version, reads “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”

That is a powerful descriptor:  “All scripture is “God-breathed”.  When one considers the content of the Bible, we know that Jesus himself did not author ANY of the scriptures.  Common men, from Luke the physician, Matthew the tax collector and (most notably) Paul, former persecutor of Christians turned evangelist and church planter - authored letters under the “inspiration of God.  God literally took control of their hands to craft the message of His heart, and providentially allowed only those texts that He inspired and desired to be a part of the finalized “Canon”. 

The way we think about the scriptures is extremely important.  I had an acquaintance, years ago, with whom I talked about this important issue.  When the subject came up, I shared with him that I was blessed in that - since the time I received Christ’s offer of salvation for myself - I had always believed every word of the scriptures as absolute gospel, not disbelieving a word.  He shared with me that he felt “most” of the scripture was reliable, but that he didn’t necessarily believe every word.  That is a very unfortunate thing, and I pray that God will do a work in his heart and life to change that through faith.  And my prayer and desire for you is that you should come to a place of absolute confidence in the scriptures.  After all, if one regards certain sections as reliable and absolute, but then questions the reliability of another, what confidence can be had in any of the writings?  In other words, if some is unreliable or untrue, what is to prevent the whole thing from being considered “in question”. 

And the beauty of the scriptures and confidence that we can have in reading them and trusting in them lies in the consistency, wholeness and lack of contradiction from one account to the next.  Moreover, we have confidence in the reliability of the scriptures because of the hundreds and hundreds of prophecies throughout the Word of God that ALL have come to pass - many more of which have been prophesied and we await.  

But what about you?  How do you feel about the Word of God?  Do you trust it?  Do you rely upon it for daily living?  Do you have a hunger for God’s Word, or can you go weeks and weeks without reading from God’s Word and not be phased by it?  Job 23:12 reads “Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary [food].”  Job regarded God’s Word, the scripture, as being more needful to his sustenance than day-to-day meals.  A strong desire to be “in” God’s Word should be the desire and practice of a born-again child of God. 

2.  How high a priority do I place on spending time with God in prayer and devotion?

I Thessalonians 5:17 says “Pray without ceasing”.  Luke 21:36 says “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”  Prayer is our channel to God’s throne.  Imagine having living parents and never calling, writing or visiting for a year.  What would they think?  Surely they would think that you didn’t have a very high esteem for them.  When the rubber meets the road, we demonstrate our love for people by spending time with them.  You can buy the Toys-R-Us out of everything they’ve got and give it all to your children.  But they won’t feel loved by your giving of gifts.  They will feel loved because you invest time in them.  The same is true of our heavenly father.  He desires to hear from us, even when we don’t know what to pray.  And the Bible tells us in Matthew 6:7 “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen [do]: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.”  We shouldn’t pray in repeated chants and phrases the same each time.  That is ritualism, not prayer.  Talk to him - in the same personal way that you would your earthly father.  Cast your cares upon him, for he cares for you.  Nothing is too trivial, and no sin too great or to small to confess. 

Someone once shared with me a great idea for prayer, with the word “ACTS”.  Acknowledge, Confess, Thanksgiving, Supplication.  Acknowledge God’s power and holiness and control over your life.  Confess your faults.  Give Thanks for all he has done for you.  And then, finally, let him know about your needs and desires and concerns.  A true child of God certainly desires to spend time with Him in prayer. 

3.  Have I received of the Holy Spirit?

I John 4:13 reads “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.”  Well how can I know that God has given me of his spirit, you might ask me.  Well, the best I can tell you is “I know it in my knower."  My spirit bears witness with his spirit.  When I read God’s Word, I am in agreement.  When I sin, he convicts me of my sin and I feel pained by it.  Another great hallmark of the true Christian is his desire to be around others of God’s people (this point really deserving of its own elaboration).  The Bible tells us in Hebrews 10:25 that we should not forsake the assembly, which is to say that we ought to have a desire to be in church, around other believers, and draw joy and strength from it. 

4.  What is your attitude about sin? 

Heb 10:26-27 (NIV) If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
 7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is     righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

Being saved, my dear friend, does not ensure that you and I will not sin.  The truth is that we are weak, and we have an enemy in Satan who is single-minded in his desire to see us fail, fall and bring shame to Christ.  We will fall down - and often.  But we must get back up, confess our sin to a caring and forgiving God, and move ahead.  Paul warns us that we do not have license to sin just because our sin will be forgiven.  Indeed, as children of God, we have a higher responsibility to try to live in righteousness and holiness, not succumbing to our own selfish desires for pleasure.  The true Christian is heartbroken when he realizes his sin; he feels “at a distance” from God and desires to be restored to fellowship with the Father.

5.  What is your attitude about lost people?

Do you have a concern for those who do not believe in Christ?  Do you desire to see them enjoy the riches of salvation?  Do you rejoice at hearing that someone has prayed to receive Christ into their hearts?  Are you willing and eager to share your faith with others?  The true child of God realizes what Christ’s blood has spared him from, and will go to great lengths (including persecution, ridicule and in many cases around the world, risk of physical harm) to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Well, my friend, I hope that this gives you some things to think about.  And I hope that you can look through these writings and identify affirmatively to these “Signs of the Christian”.  I hope your life is marked by the signs of the Christian according to God’s Word, which is all I have shared with you.  If you simply can’t identify with these things, I pray that you will seek out the truth of the Gospel with all of your heart.  Seek it out day and night.  The consequences of saying “no” to God - or responding in silence (both are the same) - are too heavy.  As always, feel free to email me with any questions or if you need someone to pray for you.

God bless you tonight.

Rudy

Barnabas: Profile of an Encourager - II

In the last several days, as I have reflected some on what I shared with you last week concerning Barnabas - and as I have continued on in my study from the book of Acts - I feel compelled to share a bit more about Barnabas, as the Holy Spirit has brought it to my attention. 

As a review, we noted together in our first study of Barnabas that he was “a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.” (Acts 10:24a)

And we noted that there were three essential points of action that Barnabas took relative to the faith:

 1.  He surrendered all to Christ
 2.  He defended the Gospel
 3.  He exhorted

These are some of the very important additional distinctions and points to be made.  The Bible tells us in Acts 4:36-37 that “..Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation), a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” 

I don’t intend to repeat portions of Part I just for repeating them, but I shared those just to review for these additional observations.

1.  Barnabas’ heart was correct

This attitude stands in stark contrast to Ananias and Sapphira - a Christian couple referenced in Chapter 5 of Acts:

    1But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, 2And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. 3But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
     4Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.    5And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.     6And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.  7And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.  8And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. 9Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. 10Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. 11And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. 12And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. 13And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them. 14And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)

The story of Ananias and Sapphira is a very sobering one.  It tells of people - people who had believed on Christ and received him into their hearts, mind you - who conceived sin in their heart.  They lied to God, according to the scriptures.  We are told by the scripture that they would well have been “within their rights” to keep back a portion of the proceeds, as the land rightly belonged to them (as much as anything belongs to anyone, when we realize that when push comes to shove, all that we have and all that we are belongs to God). 

The moral of the story is that God will not be mocked.  And he was sending a powerful and assertive message to the early church that hearts to deceive would not be tolerated.  These days, we rarely see a person or couple straightway struck dead if they fail to give to the local church or in some other way “hold out” on God (so far as I know).  But don’t be fooled; just because God doesn’t appear to resort to this degree of “earthly punishment” doesn’t mean that there isn’t a heavy price to be paid in spiritual separation and the natural consequences of sin in this life and the life to come. 

Barnabas’ heart was correct; this is a distinction that the writer and the Holy Spirit wants for us to see - and an example to follow.

2.  Barnabas embraced his spiritual giftings and executed them with happiness unto God

Have you ever given any thought to what your spiritual giftings are?  The Bible says we all have them.  According to I Corinthians 12:1 “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.”  The Greek simply reads "spirituals" (ton pneumatikon), meaning "things characterized or controlled by the Spirit."  V. 8 goes on to say “For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; v. 9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same spirit; v. 10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits, ; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another interpretation of tongues:  v. 11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.”

We ALL have spiritual gifts - and that is for another blog entry - but if you haven’t really considered what yours is - or you don’t know what it is - consider taking this spiritual gifts survey:  http://www.bellevue.org/uploads/giftsintro.htm

Well, all of that to say this:  Paul knew his place in the ministry.  Someone from the outside looking in might say “Gosh, a guy with Barnabas’ tenure, seniority and caliber should not be being obscured by, overshadowed by or “folding in to” Paul of Tarsus.”  After all, as we spoke about in the first study, look at Paul’s record.  He was a murderer and a persecutor of the apostles and early Christians.  It might have been easy for Barnabas to say “Wait a second here, I’m in command.  This is MY ministry.  I don’t know where you get off trying to act like you own this show.” 

But the fact is that Barnabas gently and kindly accepted his role in God’s ministry, wherever the Holy Spirit revealed to him it was.  Sometimes we can really get caught up in ego - and I daresay that it happens just as much in ministry as anywhere else (unfortunately).  Barnabas didn’t allow this to happen;  as Paul’s reach, anointing and power by the Holy Spirit grew, Barnabas remained agile, moldable and submissive to the Holy Spirit. 

3.  Barnabas had a forgiving spirit

We saw this first in Barnabas in his approach to Paul.  You couldn’t have found a great many more people around that area where Paul’s name - when mentioned - wouldn’t have been quickly followed by a cry to stone him or run in the opposite direction.  But Barnabas came beside him and mentored him with Christ-like care and compassion.

Barnabas and Paul traveled to a great many cities together preaching and leading people to Christ.  When they returned to Antioch, they prepared for their second missionary journey.  Barnabas proposed that they take Mark (John Mark) on this second journey, but Paul strongly objected on the basis that Mark had left them on their first trip.   

The scripture tells of the affair in this passage from Acts 15:

    36 Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” 37 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38 but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. 41 He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.”

There you have it:  “they had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company.”  I have a feeling that this was a real, knock-down, drag-out fight.  Not a fistfight, mind you.. but it just doesn’t get much more descriptive than that.  This argument led to broken fellowship between these two.  And frankly, I have always thought that Barnabas was right and Paul was wrong.  Paul demonstrated through his ministry a very no-nonsense approach:  a certain rigidness.  We don’t know all of the details about why Mark left them on their first trip, and whether his cause may or may not have been justified.  But if anybody should have been willing to forgive, it should have been Paul. 

BUT - God worked it out.  The Bible tells us in Romans 8:28 (one of my favorite verses in all of scripture), that “and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” 

Am I suggesting God planted this rift?  Not necessarily.  But I am saying that rather than having this one team of Barnabas and Paul, the situation ended up creating a team of Paul and Timothy on one trip and Barnabas and Mark on another.  PLUS - through those trips, I believe Paul was able to disciple Timothy and Barnabas was able to disciple John Mark in ways that would have been possible had the original plan gone through.  I believe it turned out just the way God wanted it. 

And the scripture tells us that - later on - Paul and Barnabas came together again in fellowship.  And if I was a betting man, I would submit that Barnabas probably sent Paul an email and asked him to lunch, saying “hey, let’s get this silly dispute ended.”  Our friendship means more than that.  That’s just the type of man he was. 

I sincerely hope that these two studies have given you a glimpse of this good man.  I know that reading about him has edified me, and helped me to want to be more of an encourager, as Barnabas was. 

God Bless You tonight..  Get ready - next blog is going to be on this topic:  “Do I really know God?”  I promise you, it’s going to be a humdinger.