I was reading in Isaiah this morning, and this verse stood out to me in a big way:
Isa 29:13 "Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men..."
I have grown up hearing about how amazingly powerful and holy God is. The reverential fear of God is an often preached subject, and it should be, but the question that I have to ask myself is: "Is my fear of God a mental assent to what I have been taught, or is it from my personal experience of His majesty?"
The problem with the Israelites being warned in this passage was not that they were not religious or even moral. They adhered to the Scriptures, they revered the Word of God, but it was all superficial. They had no personal experience with God, only a powerless form of godliness!
I think that a pretty accurate gauge of where our fear, or respect, originates from is:
1) Are we submitted?
When God really shows up on the scene, the reaction is always acknowledging Him as Lord. When confronted by the risen Christ, Paul exclaimed, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" A fear of God stemming from personal encounters with Him is incompatible with a rebellious heart.
2) Are we broken?
When Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord, he said, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."
Moses' reaction was the same in presence: "Who am I??" He knew that he was less than nothing beside a Holy God.
When we really know who He is, in all His holiness, in all His power and grandeur, how could we be anything but broken over how we fail Him constantly? We should not dwell on past sins, but when we recognize an area where we fail, what is our reaction? I know that too many times my attitude has been, "well, God will forgive me, it's OK" That attitude shows only a weak fear of God taught only by precepts and not personal experience.
3) Are we serving?
After God declared Isaiah forgiven and cleansed, He posed a question: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?.." Isaiah's reaction was instantaneous: "I will go, send me!"
A real experiential fear of God can have lead to only one reaction when given the opportunity and privilege to serve God: Here am I!!! Use me any way you see fit, You are God alone. When I have no desire to serve Him, I know I have forgotten who He really is.
Paul's desire for the church at Corinth was,
"That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."
Where does your fear come from? Where does your faith stand?
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Great New Book!
Bro. Aaron, missionary to North Africa, has published a very original book: "Ramblings in North Africa". He and his wife Jillian have dedicated their lives to reaching Muslims with the Gospel of Christ, and they have been living in Morrocco for the last year. His book is a compilation of entries from his journal about their first year church-planting among Muslim people. It is an amazing and eye-opening book, make sure to get your copy! All profits from the book will go directly into the church planting efforts of Project North Africa!
Order online at our website: www.projectna.com or by mail: Project North Africa PO Box 519 Braselton, GA 30517. Checks made payable to “Project North Africa” for $14.95 for the book and $3 for shipping.
Order online at our website: www.projectna.com or by mail: Project North Africa PO Box 519 Braselton, GA 30517. Checks made payable to “Project North Africa” for $14.95 for the book and $3 for shipping.
But after that!!!!
We at Vision Baptist are preparing for a Revival service this coming week! Evangelist Lou Rossi has graciously accepted our invitation to be our main speaker, and we are looking forward to hearing from this great preacher. The services will be on January 13-17 at 7:oo PM.
If you have not already made plans to come, consider a great reason to be there, and prepare your heart this week:
Titus 3:3-4
"For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared..."
There are certain crucial conjuctions in the Bible that are really exciting, and this is definitely one of them! We were deceived and servants of sin, but after that the love of God came into our lives! A great reason to come is the opportunity to bring lost people with you, to have a part in making sure that they too have an "after that"! What a great privilege and opportunity!
If you have not already made plans to come, consider a great reason to be there, and prepare your heart this week:
Titus 3:3-4
"For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared..."
There are certain crucial conjuctions in the Bible that are really exciting, and this is definitely one of them! We were deceived and servants of sin, but after that the love of God came into our lives! A great reason to come is the opportunity to bring lost people with you, to have a part in making sure that they too have an "after that"! What a great privilege and opportunity!
Counsel Without Knowlege
I was reading this morning in Job 42, and God brought one verse to my attention in a very painful way. Job 42:3 says,
"Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not."
Job, who was very personally knowledgable of God and His ways, realized when he came face to face with Him that He in fact knew very little! He had questioned why God had allowed certain trials to come in his life, and my mind his reaction was certainly understandable. Everything he held dear was stripped away from him in a single day even though he honored God with his life.
I am sure most Christians (myself included) would have reacted much worse than Job did! However, when finally face to face with a Holy God, Job refused to question Him, and repented for ever opening his mouth and speaking in ignorance about things too wonderful and deep for him to understand.
As a loudmouthed opinionated person, this verse is pretty inconvenient to say the least. Convicting would be a better word! As I read this I thought, how many times do I brashly open my mouth and speak confidently about things that should leave me dumb with wonder?
How many times do I open the living Word of God with an attitude of arrogance. "Oh, I've read this passage probably 50 times, and I even wrote a paper on it." The very idea that God would leave His Word on earth and preserve it thousands of years so that I could know Him, and how I can please Him should drive me to my knees is amazement!
How many times has someone asked me about God, and I give them my small-minded pigeon-holed concept of the Creator God of the universe, and fail to impart to them the sense of awe and fear that I should hold Him in?
The Bible says that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. I think that, especially considering that we are preparing for a revival, I need to lay hold of the promise in James: ..."If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not..."
"Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not."
Job, who was very personally knowledgable of God and His ways, realized when he came face to face with Him that He in fact knew very little! He had questioned why God had allowed certain trials to come in his life, and my mind his reaction was certainly understandable. Everything he held dear was stripped away from him in a single day even though he honored God with his life.
I am sure most Christians (myself included) would have reacted much worse than Job did! However, when finally face to face with a Holy God, Job refused to question Him, and repented for ever opening his mouth and speaking in ignorance about things too wonderful and deep for him to understand.
As a loudmouthed opinionated person, this verse is pretty inconvenient to say the least. Convicting would be a better word! As I read this I thought, how many times do I brashly open my mouth and speak confidently about things that should leave me dumb with wonder?
How many times do I open the living Word of God with an attitude of arrogance. "Oh, I've read this passage probably 50 times, and I even wrote a paper on it." The very idea that God would leave His Word on earth and preserve it thousands of years so that I could know Him, and how I can please Him should drive me to my knees is amazement!
How many times has someone asked me about God, and I give them my small-minded pigeon-holed concept of the Creator God of the universe, and fail to impart to them the sense of awe and fear that I should hold Him in?
The Bible says that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. I think that, especially considering that we are preparing for a revival, I need to lay hold of the promise in James: ..."If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not..."
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
New Year, Old Lie
Melissa and I had the opportunity the spend New Year's Eve with some friends that we met at her work. They visited our church for our special Christmas service, and they both claim to be born-again Christians.
We had a great time with them and their friends, and discussed everything from politics to sports to different cultures. Their friends were not Christians, and I was praying that the Lord would give me an open door to bring Christ into the conversation, but everytime tried they would divert the subject to something mundane. Finally at about 1 o'clock, Klaus (a Swiss professor) began to speak of his religious views. He claimed to be a Catholic Christian, but was tired of people claiming that their way was the only true path. He was obviously disillusioned with established religion (a good place to start!), and he rejected and mocked the idea that the Bible is the infallible Word of God.
He went on to praise people like Ghandi, Buddha, and Mother Theresa. He went as far as to say that their lives were just as important as that of Jesus Christ's, He was merely a good human being.
As he continued his lecture on the evils of my version of faith, I could not help but notice how he was exactly the same in his message as the vast majority of people that I talk to about the Lord. Interestingly, they all seem to have the idea that their belief system is a new and enlightened way, that previous generations were unable to grasp, but societal evolution has now brought them to a place of wisdom and understanding. There is more than a little haughtiness as they pity their primitive forbears and those pitiful weak minded contemporaries who cannot relinquish their deathgrip on the archaic and intellectually untenable religious anachronisms.
It never ceases to boggle my mind that this message that has been regurgitated and revived for 6,000 years can still be made to seem fresh and innovative. Forget Coca-Cola, the real father of advertising is the Devil!
This humanistic message is the same lie told in the Garden of Eden. The packaging changes periodically, but the lie always contains the same elements:
1) Deny God's Word
"Hath God said...?" The Bible may be granted the status of a good book, a good basic moral compass (in the passages they like, at least), but the holy Word of God? A perfect standard of faith and practice? A living Book that changes and reveals the very nature of the Creator God? Never. This is always the first step on the slippery slope to humanism, and even many Christians struggle with this. They are ashamed to talk about the Bible or treat it with the reverence that it is due, because they are afraid that it really cannot be what it claims it is.
When you throw out the Bible as divinely inspired and the flawless standard, you are left with 2 choices: either God has another standard (ie other sacred writings, philosophies, etc.), or there is no such thing as absolute truth. Either choice suits Satan's purposes very well, because either way it involves man doing what is right in his own eyes.
2) Deny the penalty
"You shall not surely die.." There is no such thing as actual sin, because sin can only be paid for by death. The language of the lie is that it is merely wrong or a mistake if it hurts someone else, and that is why reincarnation is such a popular doctrine: you can pay for your own mistakes! There are no eternal consequences for disobeying a holy God. There is no accounting, no authority to whom one must bow before and acknowledge as sovereign. It is no more than an appeal to men's pride,which leads to the third ever-present principle:
3) Exalt Man to Divinity
"...You shall be as gods.." Interesting that Satan's first victim of this deception was himself, and for 6000 years he has convinced men to believe the same lie. It is easier to accept a concept of God that says that everything is God and God is everything than to accept that He alone is God and Creator of all else. Why? Because if everything is God, then we are God! Man is God! Much easier to accept than believing that you are a sinner who owes his very breath to the one who created you for His pleasure!
What is so frustrating is that Christianity's response to the lie is often to try to make it more palatable and pleasing to people, when the gospel has always been offensive. He is the Rock of offence, the stone rejected by the builders. When we deny the offence of the gospel we deny its power! It only has God's power as long as it remains God's message.
As I kept listening to Klaus's arguments and tirades againstthe Bible, my first impulse was my natural one: open my big mouth and argue with him. But then I remembered what my pastor always says: "You don't defend a sword, you just stab with it!" So I listened, smiled, and then said, "Well, you know that the Bible says this about it." For all his protestations and blustering about how he didn't care what the Bible said, he grew more upset and obviously shaken with every verse I quoted. I kept speaking calmly, but by the end of the night he was literally yelling at me, and I could see fear in his eyes; not fear of me or my words, but that he was wrong and would face a Holy God one day with nothing but his pitiful morality.
Klaus left still rejecting the gospel, but it was an amazing reminder to me of the power of God's Word, and the weakness of the lie. It was also very convicting, and made me realize just how desperately I need to be saturated with His Word.
What a lie, but what a Book!
We had a great time with them and their friends, and discussed everything from politics to sports to different cultures. Their friends were not Christians, and I was praying that the Lord would give me an open door to bring Christ into the conversation, but everytime tried they would divert the subject to something mundane. Finally at about 1 o'clock, Klaus (a Swiss professor) began to speak of his religious views. He claimed to be a Catholic Christian, but was tired of people claiming that their way was the only true path. He was obviously disillusioned with established religion (a good place to start!), and he rejected and mocked the idea that the Bible is the infallible Word of God.
He went on to praise people like Ghandi, Buddha, and Mother Theresa. He went as far as to say that their lives were just as important as that of Jesus Christ's, He was merely a good human being.
As he continued his lecture on the evils of my version of faith, I could not help but notice how he was exactly the same in his message as the vast majority of people that I talk to about the Lord. Interestingly, they all seem to have the idea that their belief system is a new and enlightened way, that previous generations were unable to grasp, but societal evolution has now brought them to a place of wisdom and understanding. There is more than a little haughtiness as they pity their primitive forbears and those pitiful weak minded contemporaries who cannot relinquish their deathgrip on the archaic and intellectually untenable religious anachronisms.
It never ceases to boggle my mind that this message that has been regurgitated and revived for 6,000 years can still be made to seem fresh and innovative. Forget Coca-Cola, the real father of advertising is the Devil!
This humanistic message is the same lie told in the Garden of Eden. The packaging changes periodically, but the lie always contains the same elements:
1) Deny God's Word
"Hath God said...?" The Bible may be granted the status of a good book, a good basic moral compass (in the passages they like, at least), but the holy Word of God? A perfect standard of faith and practice? A living Book that changes and reveals the very nature of the Creator God? Never. This is always the first step on the slippery slope to humanism, and even many Christians struggle with this. They are ashamed to talk about the Bible or treat it with the reverence that it is due, because they are afraid that it really cannot be what it claims it is.
When you throw out the Bible as divinely inspired and the flawless standard, you are left with 2 choices: either God has another standard (ie other sacred writings, philosophies, etc.), or there is no such thing as absolute truth. Either choice suits Satan's purposes very well, because either way it involves man doing what is right in his own eyes.
2) Deny the penalty
"You shall not surely die.." There is no such thing as actual sin, because sin can only be paid for by death. The language of the lie is that it is merely wrong or a mistake if it hurts someone else, and that is why reincarnation is such a popular doctrine: you can pay for your own mistakes! There are no eternal consequences for disobeying a holy God. There is no accounting, no authority to whom one must bow before and acknowledge as sovereign. It is no more than an appeal to men's pride,which leads to the third ever-present principle:
3) Exalt Man to Divinity
"...You shall be as gods.." Interesting that Satan's first victim of this deception was himself, and for 6000 years he has convinced men to believe the same lie. It is easier to accept a concept of God that says that everything is God and God is everything than to accept that He alone is God and Creator of all else. Why? Because if everything is God, then we are God! Man is God! Much easier to accept than believing that you are a sinner who owes his very breath to the one who created you for His pleasure!
What is so frustrating is that Christianity's response to the lie is often to try to make it more palatable and pleasing to people, when the gospel has always been offensive. He is the Rock of offence, the stone rejected by the builders. When we deny the offence of the gospel we deny its power! It only has God's power as long as it remains God's message.
As I kept listening to Klaus's arguments and tirades againstthe Bible, my first impulse was my natural one: open my big mouth and argue with him. But then I remembered what my pastor always says: "You don't defend a sword, you just stab with it!" So I listened, smiled, and then said, "Well, you know that the Bible says this about it." For all his protestations and blustering about how he didn't care what the Bible said, he grew more upset and obviously shaken with every verse I quoted. I kept speaking calmly, but by the end of the night he was literally yelling at me, and I could see fear in his eyes; not fear of me or my words, but that he was wrong and would face a Holy God one day with nothing but his pitiful morality.
Klaus left still rejecting the gospel, but it was an amazing reminder to me of the power of God's Word, and the weakness of the lie. It was also very convicting, and made me realize just how desperately I need to be saturated with His Word.
What a lie, but what a Book!
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