White as Snow

This morning between the hours of 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. snow fell from the heavens at an incredible rate. I woke up to see a fresh blanket of snow about 12 inches thick covering everything. Eveything glowed white. As my eyes were still adjusting to this new light I thought of the verse Isaiah 1:18. It says, "though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."

My sins made me a bloody mess, unacceptable before Christ. But because Christ died for my sins and imputed his righteousness to me I became perfectly clean like fresh fallen snow. One great distinction must be mentioned here though. While the snow that falls to this earth is beautiful, it only covers up the brown muddy earth underneath it. The earth is still there. When Christ imputes his righteousness to me, my old sinful self dies and I become alive in Christ. His blood not only covers my sin but completely removes it.

Where faith comes from

Have you ever wondered where faith comes from? If you were to grow in your faith in Jesus Christ how would go about doing that?

Romans 10:17 answers that question for us. It says, "faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." If you want to grow in faith, if you want to increase your faith then you are going to need to spend time in the Word. Take some time today and read the Bible, maybe even start in Romans 10.

God did not give a tract he prepared a body

I have spent a great deal of time today working on my Sunday Evening message and the book titled, Tell the Truth by Will Metzger has been a great inspiration to me. The book is advocating for Bible-saturated Christ-centered evangelism.

Metzger says, "the airplane of Christian witness has 2 wings: our lives (conduct) and our lips (conversation). To remain silent and let others interpret our actions is wrong… God did not send a tract; he prepared a body." We can no longer afford to be deceived and believe people are going to flock to Christ just because of our lifestyle, we must use words to point them to Christ. People need to hear the wretched condition they are because of sin and about the powerful saving grace of Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:19 says,

"All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation."

You and I have been given the ministry of reconciliation. We are to live and speak the message of Christ to this fallen world. No one is excluded from this ministry. We are not able to give the excuse, "I am not gifted in evangelism." Paul says we have been entrusted with this ministry by God.

Buy the book, Tell the Truth and see how God uses it to shape and change your view of Evangelism.

Exchanging Glory

What happens when man exchanges the glory of God for something other than God? In Romans 1 God says that man "became futile in their thinking and their hearts were darkened." They acted with a worldly wisdom that did not relflect the love and glory of God. In response to man living apart from God, He "gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!" (Romans 1:24-25)

Man exchanged the truth for a lie. When we believe we are self-sufficient, when we think we no longer need God or even acknowledge Him then we are believing a lie. Lies come from the author of lies and that is Satan himself.

If we continue in Romans we see that man has rejected God and so God gives them over to their "dishonorable passions." Men and women exchanged natural relations with those of the same sex. Homosexuality is a product of rejecting God. When we reject God for a wisdom found in this world we have been deceived into believe a lie which will lead us into committing sinful acts against God.

1 Corinthians 1:18 says "the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God." May we never reject the salvific wisdom that can only come from God for a lie that comes from Satan.

Knowing The Will of God

I have often heard the statement, "The door was open so it must be God's will." I have never believed that ideology. Just because a door is open does not mean that God was the one that opened that door. 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 says, "And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness." If Satan and his demons can look attractive then why is it hard to believe that Satan can open doors that look appealing to us while not being in God's will? My advice is that we wait on God and listen to how he leads us and not simply rely on exterior appearances. Isaiah 30:18 says, "Blessed are those that wait on Him." Let us not make decisions based on a pro and con list but purely by the leading of the Spirit. One thing is very evident in the book of Acts. The Spirit of God led Paul and his companions. They did not rely on their idea of where they should go but they relied and depended on the guiding and leading of the Holy Spirit.

One thing I have learned is that the more I live a life of dependence on God (spending time in the Word, daily praying, having others keep me accountable) I find it easier to know when God is opening the door versus when someone else is opening the door. A flaming arrow (Eph 6:16) gives off light but that light is very different than that of Jesus Christ.

What to put on??

I love Colossian3. It is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. In verse 12-14 it gives us as believers 6 things we are to put on.
Colossians 3:12-14
"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgive each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive. And above all these put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony."

We are to put on:
1. compassion
2. kindness
3. humility
4. meekness
5. forgiveness
6. love

I find that all of these are interrelated. It is hard for me to be impatient if I am humble and compassionate. When I am kind I can easily love and forgive others. Working on any one of the traits will develop the others also.

My son growls

I have a son named Benjamin, and he almost 17 months. He makes typical animal noises (a fish and a tiger, so they might not be that typical.) Today he was sitting on one of my dogs and they growled. Benjamin then went around the room growling thinking he was so cute (which he was). Most kids say arf arf for a dog sound, not my kid, he growls.

Why Jesus Christ Is Our First Love #3

Genesis 3:23 says, "So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken."

Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

Man was made in God's image and God said it was good. However, when man sinned we became separated from God; we became a distorted image of God. There is none righteous, all men have sinned. There is nothing in man that is righteous; nothing in him can save himself from the wrath of God. This is why all of mankind needs a redeemer, a perfect and holy sacrifice that will be able to atone for our sins. Jesus Christ came and died for our sins, Jesus Christ is our redeemer. Jesus Christ is our first love because every person who has ever lived desperately needs him. Next time we will look and see specifically how Christ redeemed us.

Why Is Christ Our First Love #2

Genesis 1:31

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

The second reason we can boldly and proudly claim Christ as our first love is because he perfectly made us. After God made all of creation, He said it was "good." There were no mistakes. It was just as God wanted it. Man was in perfect fellowship with God at this time. There was no sin that separated man from God, and that was "good."