Christianity

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Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid,
nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9)

God has led me through some frightening times...times of not knowing what the future will bring.

Maybe even more frightening have been the times when I knew exactly what the future was going to bring.

And there is more frightening times and more uncertainty facing me right now.

Yet God has commanded us...commanded...that we not be afraid.

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." (Romans 8:15)

Woodrow Kroll writes "Lessons for Living"

A child had to walk each evening past a dark, spooky house. Some adult
friends tried to give him courage. One handed him a good-luck charm to
ward off the ghosts. Another installed a light at a particularly dark
corner near the house. A third took a more spiritual approach, saying,
"It's sinful to be afraid. Trust God and be brave!" It was good advice,
but not much help. Then one friend said with compassion, "I know what it
is to be afraid. I'll walk with you past the house." Instantly the child's
fears were gone.

"Lucky charms" don't work, mantras don't work.

It is because we are adopted children of God that we know that He walks with us.

It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. (Psalm 18:32)

So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" (Hebrews 13:6)

Do not trust men...they will fail you  Only God will never fail.  And He will walk with you through the scary parts.

You can go through life thinking that there will always be somebody there - a "rock" - but that's not true.

Sometimes, it's just you...and God.

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Here is one example:

“Father, I know that I have broken your laws and my sins have separated me from you. I am truly sorry, and now I want to turn away from my past sinful life toward you. Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again. I believe that your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.”

Most often (in my experience) the invitation to pray this prayer is in response to a sermon in which the Gospel is presented.

Honesty, the points of salvation are in there.

  • Admission of sin
  • repentance
  • forgive me
  • I believe that Jesus died for my sins
  • please become Lord of my life.

If a person believes this and prays this...I believe they are saved.

And I believe they are babes.  It is the fault of the church who does not feed them milk after they are born and leaves them to founder that is the shame of the church, not that babes are led in this prayer.

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On the way home this morning I was listening to a past White Horse Inn episode and something really struck me.

(not a direct quote) -

Whatever you preach from the pulpit will be what your church looks like.

True.

If what your pastor preaches is examples from his life, pictures of his family, portraits of his marriage...you are going to have a church that looks JUST.  LIKE.  HIM.

If you preach the gospel...if you hide the man behind the pulpit and preach nothing but the Word, that is what your church will look like.

Monroe doesn't have a lot of depth...but it has a lot of love.  That is what is preached from what substitutes for a pulpit.  And that is what we look like.  We seldom hear personal stories, never see family photos.

We have a pretty diverse church and lots of love.

Update:  what it lacks is the Gospel

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Can God Make a Rock So Heavy Even He Can't Lift It?

I remember when I first heard this bit of immature atheistic reductio ad absurdum. I was in high school, and I didn't respond to it because the Nirvana-shirted, long-banged drama stud who said it didn't say it to me. He was laying it on his friend like it was theist's kryptonite.

My answer then, steeped in C.S. Lewis as I was, would have been along the lines of the nonsense of the question as framed. It is a rhetorical and hypothetical "gotcha" with no sincerity behind it, and in any event, it is sort of like asking, "Does the number nine smell red or yellow?"

My answer today is different. My answer today would not be to skewer the nature of the question but to inject its insincerity with the sincerity of God and all the weight of the gospel.

The truth is that God did make a weight so heavy he couldn't lift it. He did so not by building an immovable force -- we did that with our sin -- but by incarnating the frailty of humanity and willingly subjecting himself to the force. As one of us, yet still himself, he created the conundrum of the incarnate God, bearing a cross he both ordained yet could not carry by himself, becoming condemned in death and also victorious. And God was crushed according to the plan he himself projected from the foundation of the world.

So, can God make a rock so heavy even he can't lift it?

Yes. And he did. For three days only. And then he drop kicked it out of the mouth of the tomb.

Link to:  "Gospel Driven Church"

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The Book of Revelation is also known as "the Revelation of John".

That's not what the book says.

v.1 The revelation of Jesus Christ (...) to his servant John

Is this important?  Maybe not...but we begin to think of it as "the Revelation of Christ, to John", we have a greater understanding of who the message is from.

It is for us...from Christ...through John.

I just got a study guide from Back to the Bible.

If Christ is the One who gave this revelation about Himself - how many ways does He describe Himself...in verses 4-8?

  • Him who is, who was, and who is to come
  • faithful witness
  • firstborn from the dead
  • ruler of the kings of the earth
  • Him who loves us
  • Him who freed us from our sins by His blood
  • Him who made us to be a kingdom and priests
  • the Alpha and Omega
  • the Almighty

And yet...if someone were to ask me today who Christ is to me...

  • Savior
  • lifter of my heart
  • the Son that the Father sacrificed so that He could adopt me

I think that the important lessons from the book of Revelation:

not...what can we learn about the future?

it IS...what can we learn about Christ?

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Satan takes God's Word...

For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. (Psalm 91:11-13)

and then He uses it...

...and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
"'He will command his angels concerning you,'
"'On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.'"

It is when we hear the words..."Did God REALLY say..." that we need to put our guard up.  Perhaps Satan didn't realize at the time that the passage he was using to tempt our Lord was part of a prophecy about himself.

You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

When Satan was tempting Christ...he was reminding Jesus (not that He didn't already know) that the tempter would be defeated.

I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel." (Gen 3:15)

And Christ (outside of time and space, knowing what would be written in Scripture)

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

Satan is an expert at deception...we need to be sober-minded and watchful.  That doesn't mean "don't have fun"...it means that we should be aware that Satan will use whatever he can to draw us away from the Strong Tower

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Of all I would wish to say this is the sum; my brethren, PREACH CHRIST, always and evermore. He is the whole gospel. His person, offices, and work must be our great, all-comprehending theme. The world needs to be told of its Savior, and of the way to reach him . . . Blessed is the ministry of which CHRIST IS ALL . . . No Christ in your sermon, sir? Then go home, and never preach again until you have something worth preaching.