Living for the Gospel

"Be of good courage, and let us be courageous for our people, and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him." - 2 Samuel 10:12

The setting of these words is quite a remarkable story. David has sent delegates to expresses his sympathy for the death of the former king. Upon their arrival, the advisors around the new King, Hanun, whisper in his ear that the delegates have come to spy and get word back to David. In an act of utter humiliation, half of the representatives beards are shaven off and their clothes are cut off at the hips by the Ammonites. They leave and word gets back to David who sends Joab to battle against the Ammonites. In the meantime, Hanun the king of the Ammonites has enlisted the Syrians to help him against Joab and the mighty man. As Joab and the warriors arrive, they become surrounded in the front and rear. Facing real death, Joab says to his brother Abishai the words above.

So here they are, facing death in the eye, and they see and know that they are living for something bigger than themselves and do not walk away, but get more courageous. How do we do this? How do we see the gospel as so valuable that we are willing to die for it? 3 key things are found in the verse:

1. Be of good courage - What Joab is saying is "Be strong in God". Let what we do today not be based in past experiences in the battle or in our strength but let us rest in God today. Only he can pull this off so all of our focus must be on Him. Where is your strength today? In you or in God?

2. Courageous for our People - Joab calls the men to fight for the good of God's people. He calls them to lift their eyes off of the impossible task before them and the potential slaughter of their lives to the people who are God's people. He calls them to look beyond themselves and fight for others.

3. Love and fight for our Cities - The reality is that the people of God should love their city more than anyone else. Government never will love the city the way the church can and should. If we would take our eyes off of our buildings, budgets and the how many butts we have in the seats, we could go out better into the actual streets where people live. Would you say your church calls your people to be at the building more or in their neighborhood more? I recall Jesus one time saying in Luke 14:21-23

"23 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23 And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.

For the first time in my life, I learned what loving a city meant when we lived in Duesseldorf. I loved it so much (still do) that I think of it everyday. After 4 years of walking the streets sharing, praying, building relationships I learned to love the city and hope Christ offers. It is what I am beginning to really feel for the cities of Collin County.

I pray we all love our city and are willing to invest and fight for its good even if it costs us our life.

You Can Come Along God, if you want

If we were all real honest, we would all admit that we move on without God at times. We decide our way, and if he would like to come along, he surely can. It is in this mindset that we get to a place where we are out there and we think he has led us, and truthfully, he has not. A couple of weeks ago, I was reminded of something that happened in the life of Moses that we can learn from. Look at his conversation with God below about never moving on without God...

12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ 13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” 14 And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?17 And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”

Moses confesses to God that he did not want to do anything if God was not going to be a part of it. Moses knew that walking to a place without God would not hold the life and the purpose God wants for us. Where do we really arrive at if God has not led you where you arrive? Do we really want to be at that place? Moses in his mind walks down the road of what arriving somewhere without God would be like and he wanted no part of it.

Q: Does a fear of this grip those in ministry today? Do we want God to lead so much that we will wait until he does lead? or Does our pride or pressure from the church get us to move to fast? Why do we plan more based on our creativity and very little through fasting and prayer? Why do we read the latest book first of the latest new speaker instead of getting in a closet with the Bible, pen, and notebook?

You see, Moses knew that God must be present and leading us or we will fail? Our mode of operation today is that huge numbers constitute success. Moses could have taken large numbers into the promised land, but without God. He wanted no part of it. Large numbers do not mean God has lead. So, what is it going to be for us? Do we want God's leading or what we can come up with?

Prosperity Gospel

I just watched something on Joel Osteen and listened to the message of how by just believing and being positive that God is going to bless so much in such a way that brings stuff and a comfort we have ever known.  I immediately thought of something the scripture records about the Apostle Paul and how this mindset would apply to his life.  Look at what he wrote of his life in 2 Corinthians 11:

23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food,in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.  

Did you see all the things Paul describes in these verses?  I wonder why  he could never believe enough to get to a place of comfort and ease.  What problems of faith Paul must have had!!  He ultimately is beheaded in Rome and never experienced the message of the prosperity gospel.  He must have never been able to figure out how to be positive enough to be free from trouble.  Obviously, based on the life of Paul, the prosperity gospel is shattered.

  We will never be free of trouble, and simply because it comes into our lives does not mean that some thing is wrong with us or that we do not have faith enough in God.  So, the ultimate question comes, was Paul prosperous?  I think he would say that he was, for to him knowing Christ was the ultimate experience and reality for him and everything else paled in comparison to that.  That is what is truly prosperous. 

Message to Men

We have now been back in the states for 1 year and one of the things that has become apparent to me is the void of spiritual men in our land.  I am referring to men who fight for injustice, truth, their family, who are servants, full of integrity, and are willing to lead their families instead of their wives.  This could very well be the real crisis of the church and why our culture has the issues that it has.

About 10 years ago, my grandfather gave me a book that had impacted him significantly during the middle part of his ministry years.  I have not looked at it in about 7 years until last night.  As I read some of it this morning, I was struck by the words from Leonard Ravenhill in his book "Meat for Men".  Read this quote from page 19.

"God hungry men find God.  As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so the souls of the Upper-Room crowd panted for the living God.  Spiritually naked, they fled to Him that they might be clothed upon with the blessed Spirit.  Empty, they craved to be filled.  Powerless, they tarried until they were endued.  Bankrupt and beggar-like, they pled the riches of His grace.  Then this fear-filled crowd became fire-filled messengers.  Though swordless, these soldiers of Christ fought the might of imperial Rome and won.  Though without ecclesiastical prestige, they opposed the frozen orthodoxy of sterile Judaism and pierced it to the heart.  Unlettered, they unblushingly declared the whole counsel of God and eventually staggered the intellectual Greeks.  Without question, the greatest need of this hour is that the Church shall meet her ascended Lord again, and get an enduement that would usher in the revival of revivals just before the night of nights settles over this age of incomparable corruption."

We need to become men as described above.  Our churches, communities, and nation need men who pant for God and who are empowered with God to win the cultural and spiritual battle we face right now.  Where are these men?  I want to be counted among them.  How about you?

Be Careful Who You Get Advice From

Since we live in a day where so many Christians are seeking advice from pastors, counsellors, books, medication, etc., etc., is there a way we can make sure that what we are seeking is the right kind of advice that lines up with scripture. After all, if our desire is to get the help we need, then we should not just seek out anyone, but the right one who gives counsel grounded in truth. While reading through James 3 this morning I came across some great counsel about counseling. Here it is:

"But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere." - James 3:17

The wisdom that we need and can make a difference for us has to come from above, not from earth. The wisdom from above is saturated with several important things and if the advice we are getting is not characterized by these, then we need to walk away. Here is what James says the wisdom from above is known by:

- Pure

- Gentle

- Open to reason

- full of mercy and good fruits

- impartial

- sincere

Though I have never been in a counseling class, I wonder if this is what is taught to those who are studying it. The reality is that the only way we can give or get advice like that is to be totally immersed in the truth of God. The working out and expression of wisdom from above is characterized by those 6 things. We should not sit under any instruction for our life that is not known for pure, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, and sincere.

Finishing Well...I Never Thought I Would...

Have you ever said about an area or issue of your life, I never thought I would have done... (fill in blank).  We most likely all have and the real question is, how did we get to a place we said we would never arrive at?  The life of Solomon speaks to this reality.  

1 Kings 11:4 For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.6 So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. 7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. 8 And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

This is quite a long way from the day where he asked God for wisdom so that he could govern God's people well in regard to what is good and evil (1 Kings 3:3-9).  What brought about this change for Solomon?  Here are some thoughts:  1.  Live with a vision for the last day of our life - "When he was old".  If we do not live with a vision of finishing well, we will not make all the right decisions along the way to get there.  2.  Who we Surround ourselves with can make all the difference- "his wives turned his heart after other gods".  It does not appear that Solomon surrounded himself with men who would keep him living in the right way.  

It is here where it all fell apart for Solomon.  The road to compromise will always lead to a cliff and as crazy as it may seem, some are willing to step off the cliff for the thrill of whatever it is.  It never ends up well either. This I have found to be true in my life and in the lives of others:

What we tolerate - We eventually will approve of - then, ultimately we will participate in   

When we leave God out of our lives we will be capable of doing anything, even that which we never thought we would do.  Solomon's prayer to God early on was to govern people with an eye on what is good an evil and in his old age he threw all of this out the window.  In his old age he allowed that which was evil to be established throughout Israel as he allowed the worship of Chemosh and Molech.

So, what is the answer to finishing well?  It lies in worship and the nearness of God.  We are capable of anything if we do not live in the nearness of God.  Let us draw near today and stay there, live there, breath there and die there.  That is how we can finish well.

Fresh Thoughts from a Pro Life Worldview

Here are some thoughts from Kathy Ireland about being Pro-life:  (found this on Fox News)

"My entire life I was pro-choice — who was I to tell another woman what she could or couldn’t do with her body? But when I was 18, I became a Christian and I doveinto the medical books, I dove into science," Ireland told Tarts while promoting her insightful new book "Real Solutions for Busy Mom: Your Guide to Success and Sanity."

"What I read was astounding and I learned that at the moment of conception a new life comes into being. The complete genetic blueprint is there, the DNA is determined, the blood type is determined, the sex is determined, the unique set of fingerprints that nobody has had or ever will have is already there."

However Ireland admitted that she did everything she could to avoid becoming a believer in pro-life.

"I called Planned Parenthood and begged them to give me their best argument and all they could come up with that it is really just a clump of cells and if you get it early enough it doesn’t even look like a baby. Well, we’re all clumps of cells and the unborn does not look like a baby the same way the baby does not look like a teenager, a teenager does not look like a senior citizen. That unborn baby looks exactly the way human beings are supposed to look at that stage of development. It doesn’t suddenly become a human being at a certain point in time," Ireland argued. "I’ve also asked leading scientists across our country to please show me some shred of evidence that the unborn is not a human being. I didn’t want to be pro-life, but this is not a woman’s rights issue but a human rights issue."

Ireland also asserted that she believes "no justification is adequate" (for an abortion) unless another the mother's life is in danger.

"In that instant, your intention is not to kill but to save the life of another. If we’re about to demolish a building we make absolute certain there are no human beings in there before we take a wrecking ball to it, but the unborn doesn’t have a voice so it's up to us to speak for them," she added passionately. "If I see someone abusing a child I am going to stand up against that, and that’s how I feel about abortion. Women are not given all the facts, they’re told it is a harmless procedure and now it has turned into such a political football."

"You have to figure out your own values and why you have them. People are going to try and push and pull at your convictions, so you have to have boundaries and put them in place," she said.