creation above the Creator?

There is an issue sweeping our world in regards to origins and creation. We know as Christians, our God created the universe in all its extravagant features simply by opening his mouth. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.(Gen 1:1)" The Bible, the book of truth, opens with the first truth man needs to know about life. That is that God created everything we see. It gives presidence and glory to Him as the responsible artist for all the amazing creation that is visible. It is interesting in light of the scriptures perfection and complete guide to the Christian life that it ends by saying "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." This beginning and ending should characterize our Christian lives which begin with the acknowledgment of the power and humbling perfection of our God, and end with the desperate desire to be with Jesus Christ making the death of our flesh sweet. All the other things in between are contained in the sanctifying treasure of scripture which will continue to "complete us so that we lack nothing". 1 John says, concerning this Jesus we wish to meet, that He was in the beginning with God. "In the beginning was the Word...All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being." The Greek word in its original form used for beginning, or origin is archae. It means the beginning of the time space universe. The trinity was responsible for all we see.
Anaximander was a greek philosopher around 550 BC who reused the word to suit his own definitions for it.

"For him, it became no longer a mere point in time, but a source that could perpetually give birth to whatever will be."

Anaximander was actually the first person ever to suppose Evolution. And considering his philosophical background and basis, it is not hard to quickly see that his own man centered mind tried to explain everything in the world from the perspective of a flawed mans view. All Philosophy is man centered thinking. It is mans attempt to explain life with the arrogant assumption that man is even capable of doing that in the first place. It is interesting to know that philosophies are always changing. They are always synonymous with the culture in which they surround, as is psychology. Wouldn't the best explanation of life and its origins be God? Since when has the created become the determining factor of the creator? The answer behind the creation is in the Word of God which is the truth. It does not change over time. It can be applied to any culture to have the same ultimate ends always. The true people of God loved him the same in the Old Testament, as we love him today. Their righteousness was founded in faith just as ours was, which led to a true love of God.

The idea of Atheism mostly paralleled with an evolutionist backing, is sweeping our nation and world as we know it. Its origins stem as we can see from philosophers like anaximander who attempted to explain life, making himself the authority. Let me assure you that the arrogant heart that thinks it can solve life's answers alone, is the same arrogant heart that denies a loving God. Clouded by the presuppositions rooted in pride will give no distinct answer to anything, much less the beginning of life as we know it. All that can stem from these speculations is error and deception. Atheists today are drowning in their pride and their desperate attempt to refuse submitting to the Lord of Lords. This refusal to submit is obviously the underlying motive in their belief. Because as time goes on, atheism, just like the philosophies of time, are fading with the culture. Science itself is beginning to prove that view very, very wrong. We were created to live by an authority, but just as Adam and Eve rebel and chose their own way, so do we.

18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

19because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.

20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

21For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

22Professing to be wise, they became fools,

23and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

24Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.

25For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Romans 1:18-25

This text says that "the truth is suppressed in unrighteousness" which is exactly what is happening with all views opposing scripture. The atheist essentially suppresses what is true and right by his desire to sin and continue on in that sin.

"because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."
Romans 1:19,20

"Evident within them" makes it clear that God has sovereignty planted evidence of His existence in the very nature of man by reason and moral law. We are made with a conscience that deep inside of us condemns or relieves us. Also note that the same conscience that condemns non believers, is the same conscience that shaped by Gods truth, gives believers absolute assurance of their salvation. Sin in the life of an unbeliever blinds him to Gods truth, and sin in the life of a believer, provokes doubt because it blinds him from the truth that He is totally Gods. Sin is nevertheless blinding whether you are a Christian or not. This is why God hates sin because he is light, he is truth, and the untruth and darkness opposes His nature in every way. Men are without excuse, God has faithfully made it clear to us in multiple ways.

1.)Conscience
2.)Creation
3.)God's Word

How foolish can we as humans be? Even in your minds, if there is the SLIGHTEST chance that there could be a God, wouldn't you do the research and seek it out. Wouldn't you at least have somewhat of a humility enough to seek God if there is any possibility of Him? The thing is that there is not just "any possibility" of Him, He is the only possibility! But, it is because, "even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened." This is what they do! "Futile" is a great word to use here. Their speculations are essentially WORTHLESS! Man's own search for meaning and purpose will produce only vain, meaningless conclusions that only last temporarily. God does not receive the glory and thanks He deserves. Giving thanks to God is a direct result of trust in Him. That is why Philippians 4:6-7 says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with THANKSGIVING, present your requests to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." When we are giving thanks to God we remind ourselves of His glory and doubt, anxiety, fear, all leave us. Thankful hearts are always absent from those who do not know God. They spend their entire lives seeking more because in their futile state and their sin, they are deceived into thinking that the next thing will make them happy. Futility and dissatisfaction is the mark of an unbeliever who refuses to acknowledge and give thanks to the gracious God who made them and gives them everything they own.

"Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. Romans 1:22-25

Nothing ever changes. In the same way that the Israelite elevated the creature above the creator, so do atheists today. NATURE is supreme in their worldview. Charles Darwin was a NATURALIST who denied God and any possibility of the Supernatural. Atheism essentially states that the universe created itself elevating nature to the level of God. The claim the evolutionist makes is that "NATURE IS ETERNAL!!!" Blasphemy! This ridiculous notion is JUST AS RIDICULOUS as worshiping a golden calf over the God that rescued you from the Egyptians. We serve a God who has rescued us from eternal hell. The majority of Americans have heard of Jesus and the claim that is made by Christians and yet there are still so many who refuse to believe because of their temporary desires. Atheists "serve and worship the creature, rather than the Creator." The Atheists are serving and worshiping the CREATION ABOVE THE CREATOR! It is plain stupidity. Oh, the blinding and devastating nature of sin! Do you look at a painting standing next to the artist and commend the painting for the great job it did on itself?!

Don't forget God and what he has done for you. If you are living in sin and pride, know that God can save you. Turn from your pride and skewed view of life, and embrace the truth. Allow it to permiate your thinking. Accept and believe in Jesus Christ, and the sacrifice that God made on your behalf. Turn from your pride, agree with God, and submit to His loving authority. "Confess your sins, and He will be faithful and righteous to forgive your sins!(1 John 1:9)" Go to the Word of God and allow it to change your heart. Look at creation and thank God for what he has done, thank him that he has given you the ability to make moral judgements, and then last of all thank Him for being faithful in providing his everlasting words for us to live by!

1 John 2:6 Walking as He Walked!

Today I read through 1st John. There was a verse that Hit me that I just felt like was a good one to send you!

"The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked."
1 John 2:6

I just kindve want to go through out some implicaitons that we can exhaust from from this verse but first off the immediate context. Chapter 1 outlines the concept of walking in the "light". Being in the light instead of the darkness. Chapter 1 is a basic salvithic verse and just basically says if you are walking in the light of the fact that you are a sinner and need Gods grace and confess your sins to him, then He is always faithful and righteous to forgive them. On the other hand if you are walking in the darkness and havent admitted that you are a sinner, your in trouble. Light and Darkness are simply references to Truth and Untruth. We are either walking in the truth or not walking in the truth.

"If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."
1 John 1:6,7

Notice how the word "Light" is capitalized. It is another proof apart from the context of the whole first chapter that it is another word for Gods WORD.

So coming away from this concept we can see verse 6 in chapter 2 more clearly...

"the one who says he abides in HIm ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked."

How did He walk? What does 1 John 1:6,7 command us to walk in?
The Light! Jesus Christ walked in the Light. Essentially in its contextual structure 1 John 2:6 is talking about how Jesus walked in the TRUTH!
Jesus walked in the truth of Gods love, the truth of the Word, and every other way that completely pertained to and fulfilled the scriptures. 1 John goes on in the latter chapters of 2-5 to talk about how Love plays into lives, being the main fruit of the Holy Spirit. So stemming of that what are some implications we can pull from "walking in the same manner he walked."

The command is to walk in the "Light"(the Truth of His Word) as Jesus did. What does this mean?

1.)We walk in humility.

For Jesus, he constantly walked in absolute humility. For us Christians, unfortunately we are sinful so humility comes as a sanctifying work of the Spirit. We grow in humility. The one goes hand in hand with walking in the truth. Humility begins the moment the Holy Spirit endwells us and we are sanctified into the depth of humiliation throughout our life. We begin to see that walking in the truth and viewing our world and our sin as God does means that we MUST be humiliated daily. We MUST be humble. For if we do not find an increasing humility stemming from our hearts, we must seriously question if the Holy Spirit is in us sanctifying us. Be encouraged by being low. Be encouraged by brokenness and the trial that God allows to "bring you down". For you will realize that in your brokenness you will be more like Christ than ever before!

2.) We walk in Love. (1 John 2:9-11)

We cannot be walking in the truth if we do not love! The truth opens our eyes to the disgusting nature of our sin and if we have realized this and come to know our Lord, then we will be aware of Satans attempts to thwart all Godly relationships and ruin them however he can. In our grasp of truth and spiritual perspective we can choose to really walk in love as we need to.

3.)We walk in purpose.

Jesus spent his life increasing in the knowledge of His purpose, when God made it clear to him that he was here to die, he followed Gods will even to death on a cross. He walked in the truth and light of the fact that he was here to achieve Gods purpose. In walking in the truth he was killed on the cross, but was then glorified to the highest position!

The list goes on. I could walk through every commandment of scripture, the fruit of the spirit, and all the fruits we see as a result of knowing are Jesus and you will find the same pattern. You will begin to see that walking the truth is the core of all spiritual fruit. That is the point of 1 John 2:6! When we "walk in the same manner as He walked" in the Truth of the Word, we will see all the fruits manifest in our spiritual lives! To truely be more like Christ we must saturate ourselves in the Word. To walk like Jesus did we must walk in the truth of who He is!!!

Salvation By Grace ALONE

When breaking down the Christian faith, it is easy to see that grace is the basis of our entire belief system. We all know specifically that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of Christianity and the entire body as a whole is held together at the head, which is Christ Himself. It only takes one look at the cross to realize that the point behind Jesus entire existence on earth was to display God’s grace. Only grace would send a King to be born in a manger, to live the life of a servant, and to die an unbearable death on a cross. Ephesians 2:8 clearly states, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” This verse is the cornerstone of the concept of “salvation by grace alone”, and in the context of Ephesians and of scripture as a whole, it confirms that Gods grace is the only reason we have the free gift of salvation. Not only is our salvation God’s grace, but the fact that we get to know him and begin an eternal relationship with Him here on earth. Because we are so sinful and blemished, it took Gods absolute grace through the sacrifice of his son to make a way for us to have a relationship. In John 17, we can see Jesus stressing the oneness he desires for us to have in the body and ultimately with Him. As we grow in our salvation daily and spend time in Gods word, we begin to realize that God’s grace is bigger than we could ever comprehend. It is only by this never-ending grace that we, sinners, are saved.

It is a common misconception amongst the world and even among Christians today that grace is only found in the New Testament. They somehow conclude that the God of the Old Testament was one of judgment and harsh punishment. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Although more judgment is seen in the Old Testament, God has always been characterized by grace and patience, and was always patient with the people. We see Gods grace in scripture in Genesis all the way to Revelation. In Genesis in the garden God assured Adam and Eve that they should refrain from eating the fruit from the tree of good and evil or else, He said, “you will surely die.”(Gen 3:3) Despite God’s warning, they disobeyed and ate the forbidden fruit. It was Gods mercy and grace that allowed them to live at all after they partook of the fruit he commanded them not to. Not only did he allow them to live for about 900 years after their disobedience, but Genesis 3:21 says that “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.” Gods grace can also be seen in allowing mankind to die. Had Adam eaten from the tree of life following his disobedience of God, we wouldve been stuck in these sinful fleshly bodies forever. Out of Love, God banished Adam and Eve from the garden, knowing that in the future His perfect son would atone for their sin and make the way for them to live like he had originally created them in His presence! Like a loving father, caring for his children, God cared for Adam and Eve and for his people all through the Old Testament.

The second way in which we can see God extending his grace to us in scripture begins in the 4 gospels of the New Testament where we find that God himself sent his only Son in the form of a humble servant. From the manger to his death on the cross, we can see Jesus humbly submitting each day to his fathers will as the ultimate example for every believer to live by. There are numerous ways in which the fruits of Jesus life on earth displayed grace towards sinners. For one, Christ came to live amongst us all, which is grace. We are such sinners, it is amazing God would even want to come down and be in our presence. Second of all, Jesus was constantly healing the sick day by day, showing his majesty and confirming his deity as God. The main thing displayed in his proof of inclusion in the Godhead was His grace. Third, and the most important display of grace was, Christ dying on our behalf. He took our place on the cross and took our iniquities from us. God’s wrath was forced on His son so that we might live. There was no more merciful thing than sending Jesus to live humbly on this earth so that we could learn the only way to God.

Lastly, concerning Gods gift of grace to us, we see Gods grace in our salvation, which is the result of his sacrifice. We see a picture of our salvation, in the death and resurrection of Jesus, and through the rest of the entire New Testament. Through the epistles and letters, we get a collection of defenses, boundaries, and definitions of what true salvation should look like. There is a truth that becomes more evident the more we come to know our savior. That truth is the wretchedness of our sin. God detests sin and cannot look upon it. As we grow closer to Him and our will becomes more paralleled with His, we begin to conform to his likeness through His son and we accumulate a greater hate for what He hates. The more we come to terms with this hate, the more we realize nothing but the grace of God could’ve saved us from our fate in hell. Jeremiah Burroughs said, “the smallest sin contains more evil than all the torments of hell, we could not remain unconcerned about mortifying our sins. God gave the law precisely so that the exceeding sinfulness of sin would be evident.”(Burroughs 2,3) We were lost in ourselves and in our transgressions, and by God’s loving grace we have the gift of salvation. A lot of times we as humans tend to downplay our sin and push it off as a mediocre problem. “Sin is the death of the soul. A man dead in trespasses and sins has no desire for spiritual pleasures. When we look upon a corpse, it gives an awful feeling. A never-dying spirit is now fled, and has left nothing but the ruins of a man. But if we viewed things aright, we should be far more affected by the thought of a dead soul, a lost, fallen spirit. A state of sin is a state of conformity to this world.”(Henry 102) This system of thinking that our sin really isn’t that bad is a trap from the enemy, and is to think apart from our Father who desperately loves us. We need to realize that one sin cannot be paid off for an eternity in hell, and utilize this thought to realize how gracious our loving God is who paid for our sin with his son.

The reception of this grace is marked with the humble admission that we without Christ are helpless and doomed to eternity apart from Him. This basic truth is outlined in 1st John and points to the one characteristic that leads us to Christ. That one trait is humility. The humility is obviously driven by the Holy Spirit to let us know in our hearts that we need Christ to be in communion with God. The death of His perfect son cancelled out the written code of decrees against us and gave us a door to life, and only in humility can we admit that we need the Lord. One of the main characteristics that should characterize the mature Christian life is a large amount of humility. The same humility we exhibit in submitting our lives to Christ in the first place, is the humble state of mind that drives us to wake up everyday knowing we need to be on our knees and in the Word to prepare our hearts to serve Him. Philippians 2 is a model of this humility. We are to reflect Christ's example and stray away from seeking equality with God. The mature Christian should be characterized by the traits of our Lord Jesus Christ. To be like Jesus is obviously the ultimate mature state of the believer so the question we must ask is what was Jesus most outstanding trait. When examining his life we can conclude that he was clothed with humility, beginning with the manger and finishing with the cross. We must spend more time with God in His word at a deeper level. We must not only set aside time to read, but to set aside time to meditate and think about Gods truth, and to spend time in prayer talking to the author of that truth. The more we realize how much we need the word on a daily basis, the more we will mature as believers. Mature Christian's everyday lives are characterized by affection for scripture and time with their maker. As we cloth ourselves with humility daily, the desire for all these necessities will grow, and as we crave and take in Gods word, "we will grow in respect to salvation." (1 Peter 2:2)
John Macarthur in His commentary on Ephesians gives a great exposition of verse 2:8 when he states,

“When we accept the finished work of Christ on our behalf,
we act by the faith supplied by God’s grace. That is the
supreme act of human faith, the act of which, though it is ours,
is primarily God’s---His gift to us out of His grace… A person
who is spiritually dead cannot even make a decision of faith
unless God first breathes into him the breath of spiritual life.
Faith is simply breathing the breath that God’s grace supplies.
Yet, the paradox is that we must exercise it and bear the
responsibility if we do not.”(Macarthur 61)

One of the most important aspects concerning Gods grace is that we are totally depraved. This concept of total depravity, included in John Calvin’s 5 points, really gives grace its value. Without God we are lost. It is important to note this negative aspect of grace to aid our understanding of it. Our faithful acceptance of Gods “breath” of grace is even aided by God. His grace is shown is us accepting the grace itself. David Guzik states, “Yet, even our faith is a gift of God. We cannot believe in Jesus unless God does a prior work in us, for we are blinded by our own deadness and by the god of this age.”(Guzik 6) In view of this essential truth, we can be quickly overwhelmed as to the infinity of our Fathers grace. This overwhelming realization of truth when healthily taken turns to thankfulness; which in turn drives our spiritual fruit from the vine.

There is an argument conceived by the Arminian side of theology that states that the word “that” in the construction of Ephesians 2:8 refers to salvation and not faith. The argument states what it does because the Arminians believe that we have free will and that we are positively involved in our salvational decision. Their argument concerns the fact that the structure for the word “that” in the Greek is in neuter form. The word faith is a female construction. A neuter word cannot support that of a female word. They say that “this proves that it is only by salvation that is not of ourselves, but faith is.” Yet there is another argument as said by Vincent Chueng which states, “even if we altogether ignore the Greek and all other parts of scripture, the immediate context of the verse, forbids the idea that man has any positive role in his own salvation.”(Chueng 72) Chueng is right. The idea that we could have any positive role undermines God’s grace as a whole in our salvation. Macarthur states, ““that” refers to the entire previous statement of salvation, not only in the grace but the faith. Although men are required to believe for salvation, even that faith is part of the gift of God which saves and cannot be exercised by one’s own power. God’s grace is preeminent in every aspect of salvation.”(Macarthur 1774) I would even go as far as to say that faith by our own merit is a work in attempt to reach God by human power. True faith is Spirit driven. “That the guilty should stand before God with self-complacency, and refer his salvation in any measure to his own merit, is so abhorrent to all right feeling that Paul assumes it (Rom. 4, 2) as an intuitive truth, that no man can boast before God.”(Hodge 60) It is important to come to terms with the fact that the entire positive side of salvation is consistent with God’s roles in it.

As Christians when we receive God’s grace through humility, we begin to produce the fruit of grace, which is also known as the fruit of the spirit. Ephesians clearly states that salvation is not a work of us but a work of the Spirit. Therefore if it is the grace of God through the Spirit that brings us to knowledge of the truth, then it is the same Spirit that drives us to progress in spiritual purity on a daily basis. It is the fruit of the Spirit that produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. A lot of the Spirits work consists of working through our thankfulness for Gods grace. When we identify with Gods grace on a daily basis by getting in the word and spending time with Him, we not only humble ourselves, but we also remind ourselves of God’s grace. It is this daily commitment that drives a consistency of thankfulness in our hearts. It is this Spirit driven thankfulness that makes producing fruit easy. Focusing on God’s grace in the Old Testament, in Gods grace through Jesus, and in God’s grace that has allowed us to know him all are affective reminders that drive us to produce the Spirits fruit.

One of the biggest things that stand out about the Christian faith is the concept of salvation by grace alone. This concept is the key to Christianity and really portrays its uniqueness. It is important that we examine Christianity up against the common doctrine of other beliefs that portray good works as primary. Eph 2:8 clearly says that our salvation has nothing to do with us. It is the only doctrine in the world that makes since. We all know that people are naturally sinful. All you have to do is look around to see that evil is constantly at hand. It is easy to establish that we are sinful. It is also easy to establish that God is perfect. Look at the world and how everything functions in perfection. There is a perfect order to the earth that you cannot argue against. Therefore with the established fact that God is perfect, and Man is flawed, we know that God cannot accept us as we are. We are inadequate. Grace is the only answer. To think that man is capable of pleasing a perfect God is plain stupidity. We are totally depraved in the sight of a perfect God. We are in need of grace for our salvation.

What is wrong with our perspective???

I sit here in shock. Its 2 o clock in the morning and I can't sleep. I have no desire to sleep and am crushed beyond words. Today a good friend of mine passed away. One month ago I sat at Starbucks with her and talked about God, life, and everything else. I spent 3 months getting to Lauren Williams and was blessed to have her as a friend. It is comforting amongst all of this to be convinced that she is with our Lord. If only our puny minds could wrap themselves around that concept.

Death is one of the hardest things we as humans deal with because we understand the least about it. We understand the eternal concepts and that our faith by Gods election determines our destination. But in all reality we know little about whats on the other side. We know we will be either in the presence of God our outside of it. But the point is this, we know nothing but this earth. We cannot even begin to imagine the implications of heaven or experiencing the fullness of Gods presence.

Remember Ezekiel in the Old Testament trying to describe God in heaven. He does the best this human mind can to try and put what he sees into words and it makes almost no human sense. He cant even describe with human concepts what he sees! It is impossible. Paul likewise in 2 Cor 12 said he could not even speak of the things seen in the "third heaven". See, we as humans have this complex. When we don't fully understand something we have a problem with it. Christianity and faith in Jesus Christ and His Word breaks all the rules that apply to our "complex". Every main truth of scripture ends in a paradox that we will not ultimately understand until we are made perfect. "Now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known."(1 cor 13:12b).

We as believers must come to this balanced understanding of scripture. The understanding that craves the Word because it is essential for our spiritual growth coupled with the truth that we will not know everything and cannot on this earth. From that perspective, the concept continues. We begin to see things differently as we grow in our sanctification. Our lifestyle begins to be transformed to a practice of righteousness and conformity with the will of God. We start to separate from the world in everything from the way we live our lives. This happens because the entire core of the way we thing has been rerouted. We perceive things from a Godly lens. In other words, our perspective has become eternal, rather than confined by our understanding of a 4 Dimensional, temporary world. Our short life on this earth is NOT all there is to living. In the midst of this transformed thought process, we begin to grasp the concept of selflessness. This concept of removing self and replacing it with Christ in our lives drives us to live unselfishly. From here we begin to grasp the deeper truths. Truths such as the joy found in suffering. Although suffering according to the temporary controlled mind is negative, we as new creations understand that suffering drives us closer to our Lord. We begin to love the trials because we are allowed to take up our cross and suffer like Jesus did. We realize that our true joy is found apart from anything derived from selfish motives, and so suffering becomes our joy.

Finally, following the concept of suffering is the concept of death. In a culture that says death is gloomy and negative, we serve a God that says that death is our prize. Our culture has deemed death as something to fear. Why? because we aren't sure of whats on the other side. The concept of true faith has been stripped from this age. Everyone is living for the temporary pleasures of each day. People fall further into the distraction of sin as God gives them over to the lust of their flesh(Rom 1). As their futile minds dig deeper graves, they are blinded to the concept that the death of the flesh we fight against is the best thing. Nothing here satisfies. Nothing but Christ alone can provide us with life on this earth. You know what the main problem is though. People do not know Jesus. If people had a serious and in depth love relationship with Jesus Christ, then death wouldn't be so dark in this world. Yeah, its natural that we all have an innate fear of it because we don't know what its like. But let's correct our perspective and begin to view death as the beginning instead of the end. The death of our flesh equals being in the presence of our precious Jesus in the state of perfection apart from sin and its consequences. I cannot wait to kiss his wounds, to tightly hold my Jesus, and to tell Him how thankful I am for His unending love. To even try to imagine the concept of actually being in the presence of my Savior overwhelms me...

I want to fly,
up into the sky,
turn my back on this old world,
leave it all behind.
this world is not my home,
its got nothing for me,
only leaves me with emptiness,
and tears in my eyes.
-Shawn McDonald


...may this be our perspective...


...and when our perspective becomes eternal, like our Lords, we begin to model Jesus Christ's example...

"And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."

1 John 3:3

The definition of a TRUE leader!

Today I read Luke 15-17. Luke 15 begins by stating that all the sinners(irreligious Jews) were coming near to Jesus. "Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." As I read that I just stopped for a second. As I read the gospels it has really been laid on my heart to grasp the problems of the pharisees. Here's why...

The pharisees had a better knowledge of the law than anyone in their day. Many of them would memorize the Pentateuch and large segments of Old Testament scripture. As a pastor one day we all know that I am called by the Lord to " Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth."(2 Tim 2:15) This is my occupation as a man of God. To be a man who displays the truth. That means I not only know it but I live it through a life that is above reproach. It must even characterize my life so much that my family is held to the same standard as I am. I not only must show that the truth is evident in my life, but that all those who I lead are consistent in following the truth. It is a serious issue. God says that teachers will be judged "twice as strictly"(James 3:1) and that not many of us should aspire to that occupation because we all stumble in many ways.

So what was the pharisees problem? If they knew the truth back and forth why did Jesus constantly rebuke them?

It is easy to misunderstand Jesus rebuttal of the pharisees. Many people have associated judgment period with the pharisees. I will make a corrective statement to another Christian and they will point me to scripture where Christ rebukes the pharisees for their judgement. In this case it is easy to misinterpret what the text is communicating. Many people try to use the pharisees to rule out judging period. In attempt to justify their lifestyles and actions they will call believers who rebuke their sin a pharisee. But lets remember something. Jesus said to the pharisees, "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." Following up on the removal of the "log", Jesus states that when the issue is removed, that they will see clearly to help remove the issue from their brothers eye! Lets not miss that part! We are called to judge Christians! In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul clearly states that we are to hold those in the church to the standard of the Word of God.

As I read that verse it clarifies the question I have regarding the pharisees. That question is, what is the log? If they knew the truth back and forth what was the log? What was the problem? I think the text of Luke 15 really hits the nail on the head so I want to do my best to exposit its meaning.

So, we see sinners coming to Jesus and Him openly receiving them and being in their midst. The pharisees followed this notion with grumbling amongst themselves saying "This man receives sinners and eats with them." I want us to stop here for a second and think about something. The pharisees in this statement reveal their hearts about who they think they are. They identify the "irreligious Jews" as the sinners. They fail to recognize that even they are sinners. The pharisees display here how they see themselves. They view themselves as sinless. By labeling the irreligious Jews as sinners, they are putting themselves on a pedistool that removes the word sin from describing their nature. In essence the pharisees have put themselves on the level of a perfect God. This is why they hated Jesus. They saw themselves as so holy. They became their own god. In the pursuit of seeking to know the truth they elevated themselves to a place of holiness where no human belongs. It is interesting that later on in this passage Jesus after sharing the parable of the lost sheep makes a sarcastic reference to them. "I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance." You see, the pharisees really thought in their hearts that they were righteous and in no need to repent. How could they study the truth for so long and miss it?!

In the sight of God we are disgusting. We are wretched sinners who are headed for hell in our sin. The pharisees missed the entire point of the gospel. If only they would've embraced humble hearts and walked away from their pride! I think its interesting how Jesus chose to come to the earth in this time. obviously He predestined it to happen that way, but it proclaims the glory of God to see the time in which He decided to send his son. He came at a time in which the truth of the Gospel would be most magnified. Here are the pharisees who everyone thinks got it, and Jesus comes and says ya they do all the right things, but their insides are filled with "dead mans bones." God doesn't care about the fruit if its not coming from the right heart. The pharisees painted a perfect picture of MAN-MADE righteousness. The fact that Jesus came when he did shouted the notion that ""THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE"(Romans 3:10). The fact that Jesus came to earth when He did was extremely effective in pinning the religious leaders to down to say that humility is the mark of a true follower of God.

So what does GOD-MADE righteousness look like? If the pharisees are not what we aspire to be, than who is our aspiration. The man who we aspire to be like was standing right next to them. He was God himself who was displaying for us what true perfection is! True perfection in the state of humanity means absolute humility...

"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, althought He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phillipians 2:3-11

Did the pharisees regard others as more important than they? absolutely not! They were so doused in themselves and their own interests that they lived a false gospel of pride. Jesus even says in Luke 16:14 that the pharisees "were lovers of money" right after stating that "You cannot serve God and wealth"(Luke 16:13).

Heres the entire point...The pharisees pride was the core of all their problems. Their elevation of themselves made the claim in their lives that they were god. "If we say that we have no sin we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us."(1 John 1:8) Realizing the truth of the gospel means that we demote ourselves to NOTHING and make Christ EVERYTHING. This is why service is crucial in the life of a pastor. The true leader is defined by selflessness. As a pastor I not only have to know the truth, but to live the truth. This means following Christ's example and emptying myself. I walk in the truth when I am a servant. I walk in the truth because I have realized who I am (a worthless vessel of wretched sin headed for hell) who has been granted Gods love and eternal life and been made into a vessel for His glory!!

Less of us and more of Him...That is what our lives should proclaim! Let us grasp this simple truth of the misunderstanding pharisees so that we do not fall into the same pit. The pharisees although they knew the Word of God missed the heart of God. We read His word to know Him and His heart. A heart that has come before God in the absolute humility of the truth is one that can really grasp the truth of the Scripture. The application that this text today has in my life is tremendous. As I continue on in the pursuit of the truth in order to teach others what it really means to know Jesus, my prayer is that my heart might be one of humility. That I would be characterized like Christ in the service of others. If I fail to speak the truth without love as Ephesians 4:15 commands I become a pharisee. True love that should accompany the truth of the Word is sacrificial love. The word agape in the Greek defines this type of love for us in the New Testament in reference to Jesus. Agape is the sacrificial love that Jesus showed us on the cross. The last thing a pastor should be is a pharisee. May the teachers of the truth today recognize the fatal flaw of the teachers in Jesus time, embrace agape love, and teach the church to live in this way!

To know Him and to make Him known!

Alright...here goes...I never thought that I would have a blog, but I have been encouraged to do so. My prayer is that these blogs might encourage and edify all who read them. If one person reads these and feels strengthened then the purpose will be accomplished...

We know that knowing Christ more is our continued sanctification. 1 John 3:2 says " We know that when He appears, we will be like Him..." why will we be like Him? "...because we will see Him just as He is." For so long I missed the magnitude of truth contained in this verse. For so long I would read through it without grasping the depth it entails. How amazing is our God that the sight of Him alone and who He is will one day perfect us. The thing that hits me hardest about this verse is that that very concept applies to us today! The more we know Jesus and see Him for what He truly is, the more we continue in our sanctification. The only way for us to know Him more is to pursue this relationship by saturating our hearts and minds in His Word, meditating on those truths, and seeking Him through prayer.

The core of sanctification is not sinning less. Yes sinning less is the fruit, but the roots are planted in knowing our Saviour. I promise, that when we know more of his heart, and begin to realize the tiny amount that this earthy mind can grasp about our Lord, we will pursue purity and sin less. It is impossible not to. Those who continue in a lifestyle characterized by sin that are claiming to be Christians are as John would say are "in the darkness." The definition of a Christian is someone who is driven by the faith in Christ Jesus, a hope for His appearing, and a love for who He is. The truth is all it takes. The truth of who our Jesus is is all it takes to transform our hearts. John would define this transforming truth as "the light". It is the light that finds us and opens our eyes Sanctifies this sinful body until we are Glorified. It is the path to our perfection! I promise that a life characterized by the practice of sin is not headed for a Glorified body. Realize that it is our progressive understanding of who Jesus is that sanctifies us, and that when we get to see Him in his fullness and really grasp who He is, we will experience perfection. True Salvation is defined by this direction(1salvation, 2sanctification, 3glorification). It makes no since to claim to know Jesus and continue in the practice of sin. It fact it is impossible. Salvation is a work of the Lord therefore we will see a following sanctification so that the Lord might graciously use us as vessels for His glory. After all this, we will experience the final stage of perfection and unity with God that every heart has been constructed to desire. The Lord desires "all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."(1 Tim 2:4) This is why we are alive. We are being sanctified in our relationship with Jesus and as His perfect will changes our lives we will watch our hearts be paralleled with His in this same desire. This is why we are alive. To know Him, and to make Him known. Thats it!