Belief in the Son of God

One of the things that we definitely all know well is this:  Everyone we know, including ourselves, believes in something very strongly concerning life.  For some it is the the cause of the environment, for others it is government, while for others it is their own self determination, for some it is good works, and for many, they have some type of a religious belief system.  Everyone has some kind of belief system that guides them and shapes how they embrace and live it out life.  What would you say yours is?  What guides you toward purpose everyday when you get up in the morning?  What gives you strength to make it through when the storms of life roll in and come crashing down upon your world?  We all have a belief system and is yours strong enough to bring security in the deepest part of your life?  This is the topic for today.  Here is our passage of scripture for the week:                                                                                                                                                     14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.16"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  John 3:14-18  (emphasis mine)                                                                The true test of our belief system, I believe, is whether or not it is strong enough sustain us in every moment of our lives and free us from the condemnation that sin brings.  3 places here in these verses, we can see what belief in Jesus Christ can bring and we must ask ourselves whether or not our current personal belief system can bring these things that Jesus claims he can do.  I want to list them here for us to see better so that we can examine our belief system up against them.  Here we go:

1.     Belief in Him brings Eternal life – The bible says we all have eternal life, but the question is, where will our eternal life be spent, with him in heaven or in hell separated from Him.  For so many people today, they think that life on earth is the full extent of who we are, so why not live life to the fullest and do whatever you want to do.  But according to this passage, eternal life is completely based upon who we believe in and the person who it says we must believe in, is Jesus Christ.  It is not our good works or determination, but it is belief in him only.

2.     Our Belief must rest in Jesus Alone – Those who receive God’s eternal life, it comes when our faith in placed in Jesus alone.  It is not Jesus plus something else, but it is faith in him alone.  Where does your life philosophy rest? 

3.     Belief in Him frees us from Condemnation – This is significant as it speaks to something we all desire.  We want to know if God truly loves us and has a plan for us or are we, even if we have a personal relationship with Christ, consistently “in trouble” with him because we do not always make perfect decisions.  Do our wrong decisions place us immediately back in the path of his condemnation or are we protected from his wrath through the life and death of Jesus?  Faith in him brings freedom from condemnation and that is something that we all need to know.  That is what Jesus says here.  

Those things alone are enough to say to us that we need a personal relationship with Jesus.  He alone is God and it is he who died, rose, ascended, and is coming again.  No one else has done this or is coming back.  Let’s remember that our faith must rest “in him” alone and enjoy the freedom we have as we live in his love.  Are you “in Him” today?

Boldness in Prayer

Jesus once told a story of how important it is to be bold in prayer. Here is the passage in Luke 11:5-8:

"Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me 3 loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him'. Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything'. I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs."

The friendship between the two mean was not enough to move the man to get up and share his bread. It is something more that moves him to act in behalf of his friend. It is the boldness of the friend that made all of the difference. The man gets up and gives his friend as much as he needs. For me, I ask this question: Are my prayers to God marked with this kind of boldness? Where I am not afraid to come at anytime to ask God to move and act? That is the point Jesus is making. Are we going to quit praying because God has not yet moved? or .. Are we going to move him to action with our boldness?

Jesus now says this in verses 9-10, "So, I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks find; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened".

Jesus emphasizes that God is about answering, but are we going to ask, seek, and knock? I am asking God for these things: 1. Work full-time at the church ASAP 2. Reach the lost and disillusioned of our area 3. LifePointe would champion the glory of God and the down and out of our area. These are the bold things I am coming before God about and I will not let up.

Scriptural Perspective

I have been thinking of this blog for a couple of days and I honestly will not write much, but let the Word of God speak for itself.  As we look at today's events, we need to be reminded that whether things turned out the way we wanted or not the way we wanted - We need to remember that our hope rests alone in who Christ is.  Candidates cannot bring the real change our neighborhoods and our nation needs.  They never have been able to change the hearts of people.  Only Jesus can and in him our hopes must rest.  We should also remember that God did not want Israel to have a king, as he wanted to be their king and ruler alone.  When we allow him to rule, a person, a state, and a nation can find the real hope it desperately longs for. 

We still have the same issues this morning as we did yesterday as a nation, that only our sovereign God can heal and fix.  People will murder today, divorces will be finalized, adultery will be committed, angry words will be spoken, promises will be broken and people will lie straight to our face.  The hearts of man cannot be changed by earthly kings.  So, what do we do?

  

"So let us look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising its shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God".  (Hebrews 12:2)

So, here are some verses to remind us that our hope is in God.

"To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of his glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians 1:27

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage."

Psalm 33:12

"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people."

Proverbs 14:34

"I lift my eyes up to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth."  Psalm 121:1-2

"God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne." Psalm 47:8

"The King's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will."

Proverbs 21:1

Being Reminded in the Garage

At around 10:15 tonight, I was going through some boxes I brought back from Waco several weeks ago from my parents house.  In one of the boxes are a series of books that are sermon compilations from the 1920's.  I started glancing through them and was reminded of something in my garage.  The last 3 weeks have been tough for me, as I am having to work a full time job to make ends meet as we start the church.  With my commute and the hours worked, well, let's just say that many hours are being logged and they are not in the area of my calling and gifting. I so want to work full-time at the church, but we are simply not there yet.  I don't know how it is with you, but when we find ourselves in a different place that is really stretching us, it is good to get reminders of what Christ's purposes for us are.  I needed one and got it.  It was nothing magical and no bells went off in the garage, just the booming voice of God in my heart as I read the pages of one of those books.  In 1926, the 2nd president of Southwestern Seminary, L.R. Scarborough, wrote these words:
"The preaching of the gospel is probably the most potent factor in human society, aside from the immediate hand of God.  The voice of the preacher is heard around the world in every circle or uplifting life.  The proclamation of the Good News by faithful preachers is the mightiest human power aided by divine strength against sin, for righteousness and world betterment.  The preacher is God's key-man in the saving agencies of this world.  He is needed today as never before.  His office rightly filled outrules kings and outwars armies.  The force or program that corners or belittles gospel preaching is the enemy of God and man.  Any power that furthers good preaching is God'sagency for bringing in the universal rule of righteousness."For me, these words serve as a reminder of the calling upon all of our lives to be the people who herald the gospel story to a lost world.  I was reminded tonight, in my garage that there is a call upon my life that is bigger than me and that I must, above all things, embrace the truth of God and be a passionate pursuer and proclaimer of his glory.  

The Legacy of 90 Years

Last Friday, I drove to Waco for the celebration on the 90th Birthday of my grandfather.  He is a WWII Veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and someone who has walked with God and invested his life for the last 50 years to the cause of Christ.  I wrote him a letter expressing my thoughts upon his life.  I hope someone one day writes of me the way I did of him.  I want my life to count - not for that which fades, but continues on well after I leave.  Here is my letter:

Paw-Paw,

First of all, I wanted to wish you a very happy Birthday. 

I wanted to express from my heart today how thankful I am that you are my grandfather.  You have been one of the best models for ministry that I could have ever had.  As a kid coming to Amarillo for two weeks every summer allowed me the opportunity to watch and learn how to be passionate about preaching the word of God.  I believe that my passion to preach the word has come from seeing and hearing you preach so much as I grew up.  Thank you for instilling this passion in me.

When I think of the years you have lived, I cannot help but think of Deuteronomy 6.  You and MeMaw both exemplified the truth of this passage.

1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

You have taught your children to walk with God, they have taught their children, and now your grandkids are teaching their children to walk with God.  You have lived a life that fulfills this passage.  Of all of your accomplishments and praises that you have been given during your time on earth, this one, in my opinion stands above them all.  You have established a spiritual heritage that has been and is being passed down to the generations and will continue on after us all.

Thanks is not enough, but know that my thanks to you comes from the depth of who I am.

What will live on after we have gone?  That which we have invested in our families and friends. 

What will you and I live for?

Book Recommendation

I wanted to recommend a great read to you.  With my current schedule I have not been able to read as much as normal, but back in early September I began a book that I finally finished today in my lunch hour.  It is a biography of the life of Rich Mullins.  I found myself so moved as I closed it today at around 1:40pm.  Wow!  I don't recommend books much, but you should go by the book and allow a man who lived simply and passionately for the greatness of the glory of Christ, impact you and challenge you to live as he did.

The book is called - An Arrow Pointing Toward Heaven by James Bryan Smith.  

It is worth every sentence.

Friendship with God

In the middle of Jesus longest recorded discourse in the gospels (John 13-17), we come to a place where Jesus offers up his view of what friendship with Him looks like.  Here are the 4 verses:  John 15:13-17 - "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command you .  No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask in my name, he may give it to you."

Jesus is doing the defining of what friendship means.  It means we...

1.  Do what He says (vs. 14)

We are not to talk about it, write books about it, have conferences about it.  We are to do what he says.  How this would fix most of the issues in our lives, if we would be obedient.

2.  Acquainted with what He is doing (vs. 15)

Do we know what he is up to in our cities or the nations?  We as his friends should be intimately acquainted with what he is doing both in us and around us.  We should be concerned about this.

3.  Live with a "Going" Mindset that bears fruit (vs. 16a)

We are not to simply exist, but to live in such a way that bears the fruit resulting from obedience.  We are to do this "going", not just being lived out in the confines of the safety of the Jesus Bubble.

4.  Bear Fruit that Remains (vs. 16b)

This one is important.  So much of our lives are up and down and a re-learning of things we should know by now, but seem so often to forget.  Friendship with Jesus results in fruit that remains and continues to have impact.  How is this in our lives where we have been and served?  Do people think of us?  Does our investment continue to shape their relationship with God and how they are investing in the world?  Sobering questions.

5.  Ask for things that are in line with His name (vs. 16c)

Friendship with him means that we can freely ask the Father to do things in the name of Jesus and Jesus says that the Father may give it to you.  The request have to be in line with his name (his will), and when they are, he gives his friends what they ask for.  Just think of the implications.

So, what does our friendship with him look like according to his words above.  Maybe it is time to get some things "righted" in this friendship.