Christmas Blog

Like you, my heart has been grieved over the last several days as we have watched one tragedy after another.  It's been devastating, disheartening, and we have stood in disbelief.  Rightly so, many are asking the question: why?   Others are trying to control behavior by more laws, mandates, or other government restrictions.  But this Christmas I think there is a rather simple and quiet answer.  It is an answer that we as a nation will probably miss, and one that we will likely overlook.  The answer is not in some complicated bill or background checks.  The answer is not in some long psychoanalysis of our culture.   What we simply need is right before us, and has been there all along. 

This Christmas the world is in need of a Savior!   We are not in need of a political solution; we are not even in need of some great compromise in Washington!   It might be nice, but it's really not what we need, what we need is Jesus to control our hearts, minds, and our lives.  It would be nice to have a solution to the violence, gas prices, and our world economics.  But these things are not our greatest needs.  Today, our greatest need is a spiritual remedy.

That which we are missing in America today is a spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ that can altar the way we live from the inside out.  We are so given to what we see externally that we forget what Christ can do internally.

Many people today are asking the question how can God allow these evil things to happen in our world.  Why do we ask God “why”, when we have spent so much time methodically taking him out of our culture?  We sought to remove his influence from our schools... We have sought to remove his influence in our courtrooms; we have sought to remove him from any public gathering whatsoever!    We have sought to remove him from our conversations during the holidays, which is clearly influenced by the birth of Christ, Did I tell you,  “Merry Christmas?”  if not I meant to!

On other holidays like Easter, when we are supposed to celebrate the death of and resurrection of Christ, we have made it into an Egg fest with candy and bunny’s... and if we have crosses they are the chocolate ones of course!  Gee, I don't know, why would God allow such evil things to happen?   I can’t imagine things we have done to Him?  {The better question is found in this: What have I done for him?”}

I think all these things that we see taking place in our nation have a purpose!   Go ahead call me crazy but consider again the evil in our schools and other public places.  The dry land below our feet, or in flooded waters above our heads.  Much of the nation has experienced unexplainable and unusual hot, dry weather.  Yes, who can forget the natural disasters that we have seen!  Can anyone think maybe just for a moment that God is calling out to us!  God is patiently crying out for us to return to him?  Why is that conclusion so hard to accept?  I tell you why...  BECAUSE WE DON’T WANT TO!   We want Jesus to do for us what we want when we want it...  and we don’t want it any other way!   In order for things to change things have to change!

On behalf of our nation let us who call ourselves Christian fall to our needs and repent, on behalf of our brothers and sisters, our friends our neighbors, yes our nation.  Let us beg God for his mercy, and may we plead for him to send a fresh revival.  

Deep Deception

Deception is real and the Christian must stay on guard.  The recently concluded a study on my radio program from the book of Nehemiah.  God reminded me many things from that study.  One of the things was how Nehemiah dealt with conflict.  There was all kinds of conflict in the life of Nehemiah.  There were those who came from without, and made fun of the nation of Israel as they were seeking to follow God.  At one point in the book the adversaries pointed and said, “Look, a Fox could knock down that wall.”  Discouragement began to set in.   There were times when Nehemiah fought battles from inside Jerusalem.  Family units not getting along with one another.  Individuals criticizing others, some taking advantage of their brothers. 

I thought about the opposition that we as Christians face today.  One such real threat is the threat of deception.  And there are a lot of threats from the outside that would try to deceive us, but one such threat comes from within the evangelical camp itself. The church is fallen victim to a very deceiving doctrine.  There is a deception and the prosperity gospel.  It is subtle but real.  Their are a lot of people today who think, “I should never suffer, I should never have a need, and I should never be down.”  Many today have the attitude:  I should never have a want to my life.    The prosperity gospel sounds so spiritual. 

But I think the prosperity gospel flies in the face of the life of Joseph.  Recently, I've been studying the life of Joseph in preparation for a sermon series.   For years he was down in the dungeon.  Joseph was falsely accused, and condemned without purpose.  The prosperity gospel is not the message of the Bible and it is not the message of the early church.  It is not the message of men and women of faith throughout the church, who have faithfully served God through good days and bad. 

The more we pursue such deceiving doctrines, the more we will end up like pampered children.  Getting everything we want will not turn us into soldiers for Christ.  God will sometimes put us in the place of difficulty to prepare us... Not to prosper us!

Yet because we live life in such a prosperous society we have our eyes fixed on the wrong things.    Hebrews tells us: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Thoughts from Joshua

On Wednesday night’s I have been studying through the book of Joshua.  It has been a very rich study indeed.   There are at least 7 major themes can be seen in the book of Joshua:

(1) The land

(2) God's promises

(3) The covenant

(4) Obedience

(5) Purity of worship

(6) Godly leadership

(7) Rest

 These themes combine to form a rich theology that consistently points to God as the major character in the book. He was the giver of the land in fulfillment to his promises. God is the one who deserves our allegiance and our obedience. God who is holy and jealous for his people appointed Joshua as the successor of Moses to continue to lead the people to the land of promise. Once there, it was God Almighty who fought for his people, and ultimately gave the rest. This book, then, for all its battles and war and land distributions, points to a greater cause: that God is above all else!

For more study on the book of Joshua why not visit my website:  http://expectinganencounter.com/~expectin/character.php

WHEN HEROES HURT

Not sure if you saw the story but it's rather remarkable. But AutoZone worker in Virginia slips out of store after a gunman walks in and threatened the life of his manager.  He goes to his vehicle, where he retrieves a registered handgun to him.  He proceeds to go inside the building and he runs off the gunman, saving the store and the manager’s life. 

This man an employee did the right thing.  He did what I hope I would have done.  He did what any one of us should have done; protect the lives of the innocent.  I say he's a hero.  However, the corporate office at AutoZone does not agree.  They fired this employee because they have a strict no handgun policy.  Take a look at this interview:

http://video.foxnews.com/v/2011960289001/air-force-veteran-foils-robbery-and-is-fired

There many times that heroes find themselves hurt.  You know what really gets me is that we now live in a culture that will elevate policies over people.  We care more about what is written on paper than we do about the person that the policy is meant to protect.  I understand the need for policies. I can appreciate the need for policies.  But when a person's life is in danger because some idiot is trying to rob and threaten the life of other people the reaction of this corporate office just doesn't make sense to me.

Listening to this news report kind of reminded me of a biblical character up and studying lately.  His name is Joseph.  Joseph was knocked down again and again. Do you think he ever thought, “what in the world is going on?”   By the time we read about him in Genesis 39 I have to believe he is asked maybe just once: “what is going on here?”   He stood for right and was knocked down again and again!  Can anyone reading this identify with Joseph?   Back in Chapter 37 he takes a stand for what is Godly and his brothers hate him for it.  They cannot stand him.  They cannot speak to him. They loathe him.  His father says to go out and check on your brothers, for he is concerned for them.   Joseph in obedience sets out to check on his brothers.   As he finds them they turn on him and throw him into a pit and they sell him into slavery. He is just being obedient to what his father asked of him.  But consider what happened.  He was abounded and left alone.  He was sold as a slave. When he arrives at Potiphar’s house.  He rises above several obstacles.   First, there is the loneliness. Can you imagine how incredible lonely he must have felt?  On top of the loneliness, Joseph overcomes the disadvantage of the language and culture barriers that he faces. There were several obstacles that Joseph faced in making the transition to Egypt.  He did so with integrity, godliness, and a very good attitude.     Potiphar learns to trust him and in fact gives him control and influence over everything he has. 

It is in those moments that Potiphar’s wife approaches him and propositions him to do something immoral and this young man stands with conviction and Integrity and with morals and he resist this great temptation, but she falsely accuses him. In the moment when Joseph did right, everyone in the house of Potiphar, including Potiphar turns on him. 

All of us have done things that were right and yet others have turned on us. This happens to Joseph in crazy proportions.  Many of us have acted in the right kind of way and we have tried to do what was godly and Biblical and Christ like and then someone turns on us causing us to suffer because of it. 

A lot of times Christians become confused and even angry at God.  Many times people become so jaded that they almost give up on God and his church.   They drop out of church and Bible studies and sulk in bitterness.  In their hurt and confusion their hearts become hard and they virtually want to have nothing to do with God.  Not so with Joseph!  

He is a man of amazing disposition. Joseph really is a hero.  He found himself in the midst of hurt.  Yet, he did not get mad or angry with God, nor did he pout.  He did not he wash his hands of God or God’s ways, but simply trusted God through everything.    I want you to encourage you to read Genesis chapter 39, and ask God to help you respond godly in ungodly circumstances.  Ask God to help you see how to respond to unjust, and undeserved circumstances. 

As for the former AutoZone worker, I do not know if he is a Christian.  However, I do think he's a hero, and also think there's a lesson to be learned there for us all.