God's Grace

Here's the typical question from many unbelievers: How can a loving God send people to hell? Or, If there is a loving God, why does He allow pain and suffering to exist?

I have written about this before but the answer bears repeating. So many potential believers get hung up on this one thing - blaming God for everything that goes wrong in their lives. It's not His fault, it's ours.

"The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity. There is none who does good.

God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one." - Psalm 14:2-3

In God's just world, the punishment for sin and disobedience is death. But God . . .

God provided a way out of our death sentence. His name is Jesus. It is through our belief in Him, and our submission to Him, that we are saved. Through HIS extendingly amazing grace to us, and our acceptance of it, Jesus becomes our Lord.

Then comes the challenge. We must act like He is our Lord. But let's get back to those two questions in the opening paragraph.

How can a loving God send us to hell? God is a just judge. There is a penalty for our sin and God will hand it out. WE are the ones who chose sin over obedience. WE chose to disobey.

How can God allow pain and suffering? Why doesn't He cure cancer and let us live forever?

We ALL will live forever. It's just a matter of location. Sickness and death entered the world when WE sinned in the Garden of Eden.

So the real question we should be asking becomes this: How can a loving God sacrifice His one and only Son for a bunch of sinners like us? Good question.

But He did. It's called grace - God's grace. Isn't God worthy of our praise rather than our disobedience and sin? That's another good question that we ALL must answer.

“Seek the Lord while he may be found;

call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. 

For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you

shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” - Isaiah 55:6-13

Go Out With Joy - Maranatha Singers

The Duration

Here's something they don't tell you when you volunteer to be a youth leader at church. It's for life. At least it's turned out that way for me.

For example: I walked into Subway the other day and there was a youth group "kid" I knew behind the counter - from 10 years ago, when the kid was in youth group! Our smiles were immediate.

Another kid from youth group gives me tomatoes when we talk. Another one sends me songs to listen to. "Youth Leader" IS a lifetime job!

Of course, one could ignore all of their Facebook posts and messages and simply unfriend them all, but that's not what God wants us to do.

Once you read the Bible, God's plan, and His will for our lives, is to love one another. It's really that simple.

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God." - 1 John 4:7 

"And He (Jesus) said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." - Matthew 22:37-39

We get the picture. The question then really becomes this: Is love a finite thing? Can we love someone, and then just STOP loving them at some point? No! And, should we actually ever stop loving someone, was our "love" really even love in the first place?

Love is eternal. At least it should be.

My point is this: This world is run by Satan, not God. God is still all-powerful and intervenes whenever He so chooses. But "God is love" as it says in 1st John, and we are "children of God." We are commanded to love! You read the verses. We should be exuding love wherever we go!

When we sign up to be a youth leader it should be because of our love for kids, especially for the lost. That love should never die. It might fade for a bit or become stagnant but it should always there.

That's when we must fan the glowing embers of love into flames of love for God's glory. Quite honestly, to do anything less is a sin.

Who will we exhibit unconditional agape love for today?

In Spirit and Truth

"God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” - John 4:24

Everyone has their favorite worship songs, right? They are songs that strike a particular "chord" in our hearts, and we can actually get quite emotional singing them.

There are the old standards like Amazing Grace and How Great Thou Art. But there are also newer songs that can hold a special meaning as well. Today's story is about one of those songs.

I was playing this song the other day on YouTube. The thing about YouTube is that once you click on one of their videos their algorithm pummels you with the same songs over and over again. That can get quite annoying. However, that is not true for this song that is currently stuck in my head, and in my heart - Is He Worthy? by Andrew Peterson.

The reason it has so much meaning to me, I believe, is because nearly all of its lyrics are scripture. The whole thing is pretty much Bible verses. The chorus for example:

Is anyone worthy? Is anyone whole?

Is anyone able to break, the seal and open the scroll?

The Lion of Judah, who conquered the grave

He is David's root and the Lamb

Who died to ransom the slave

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” - Revelation 4:11

"And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?”" - Revelation 5:2

"Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”" - Revelation 5:5

These things that John saw were all very emotional to him, the writer of Revelation, saying:

"I wept and wept." - Revelation 5:4

It is also quite emotional to Andrew Peterson, the writer of today's song. Near the end of the video he gets choked up and can't finish one of his own lines.

Another thing I love about this particular version of the song is the way that it is constructed, with a choir answering every question that is posed to it. That choir will be you and me one day. And we won't need read sheet music either. We will know every word by heart.

"And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne." - Revelation 2:3

So, is Jesus worthy? Oh, yeah.

He is!!

Is He Worthy - Andrew Peterson 

Chippy!

Boy, it was cold in the house this morning! I checked my weather app - 37 bloody degrees! Yikes!! Winter is approaching. The cold air is just a sign of the times.

Here's another sign that winter is approaching. Chippies! They are running everywhere - digging up holes in our yard, searching for food that they can store up for the cold months ahead when their food will be scarce.

They also like to sit on our wood pile and "chip" at anything that moves - a shadow, the neighborhood cat, my wife, etc. They're just trying to warn other chipmunks of impending danger. Nothing wrong with that.

Speaking of impending danger, we have an election coming up. Each of the two candidates says the other is dangerous. Regardless, one of the two will win and we are stuck with them for four years. That's true.

I saw a video this week that listed the top ten Dollar Store things you should have on hand should things go bad. Here they are, just in case your candidate loses.

1. Matches / lighters
2. Candles
3. Band aides
4. Water
5. Chlorox disinfectant 
6. Ramen noodles
7. Batteries
8. Ibuprofen 
9. Flushable moist wipes
10. Tooth paste / brush combo 
11. Ziploc bags

I guess that's 11. Somebody can't count and it's probably me. Those are good items to have but the Bible has a better list, and it's short. One item, and His name is Jesus.

When times get tough, Jesus is the one thing you NEED to have. Why? Well, He doesn't take up any storage space, He's free, and with Jesus in your heart, you can live forever!

The Bible says that things will get bad before Jesus returns. It looks like that's happening right now. Don't get caught without your name in the Book of Life when He returns. That would be extremely bad.

"Anyone whose name is not found written in the book of life will be thrown into the lake of fire." - Revelation 20:15

You do NOT want to go there!

Heed the example of the chipmunk. Store up Jesus in your heart while you still can. If Jesus is Lord of your life, you WILL be saved. If He is not, well, you read the verse.

Here's better verse:

"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." - Romans 10:9

A New Heart

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." - Ezekiel 36:26

I'm not really sure where to begin today's story. Perhaps by rewinding to 2008 - (sixteen years ago? That long??). I had just volunteered to be a youth leader at church.

Kortney was just "one of the kids" in the youth group back then. We met a few times at Dairy Queen to talk, but our conversations weren't as weighty then as they are today.

These days we talk about transplants and tests, families and bucket lists.

I thank God for our renewed friendship, but always in the background is the thought that our future conversations may be few. So I make a point to be positive and funny while also being encouraging and empathetic at the same time. 

There are currently 103,223 people on the National Organ Donation Waiting List. 3,436 of those are waiting for a heart to become available. 943 are waiting for a lung, or two.

My friend recently completed five LONG days of testing at UW - Madison's hospital. She is now on the official waiting list. Can you imagine what that must be like? I can't.

What is the Christian response in situations like this? Prayer, of course. But James tells us that "faith without works is dead." So, what can we do?

My Wisconsin driver's license has a little star on it in the lower right corner. That means that I checked a box on an application at some point. It also means that I am an organ donor. Are you one? If not, please consider it. 17 people die each day, waiting for a life-saving organ transplant.

But what else can be done? Hmm. That's a tough one but here it is. Talk to people about Jesus. It's a critical conversation to have when someone is facing an unknown future.

Another thing you can do is to pray WITH them. Let people hear your words. Ask if you can pray for them, then do it. Right then and there.

The thing we need to remember that anyone who is struggling just needs to know that they are loved and that someone cares. It's sounds simple but it requires being open and vulnerable.

Just look at the world we live in. Pain and suffering seem to be everywhere. It's almost like the world needs a giant heart transplant, right? And only God can do that.

Love, pray, act, repeat.

The Devoted Things

Shortly after Moses died, Joshua was charged with bringing God's people into the Promised Land. There's a major lesson to be learned in this.

God's people had just taken Jericho according to God's command. The walls came tumbling down and God brought about a great victory. However, not everyone obeyed what they had been told NOT to do. Joshua told them this:

"The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord." - Johsua 6:17

That seems pretty clear. And then Joshua emphasized this in the next verse too.

"But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it." - Joshua 6:18

Again, that's pretty clear. And note the word 'trouble.'

"But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel." - Joshua 7:1

Uh-oh. That's not good.

[Side note: Achan's name literally means 'trouble' in Hebrew.]

So, the Israelites were feeling pretty confident after taking down Jericho. TOO confident. They attacked the next town without consulting The Lord and were routed.

THEN Joshua talked to God to find out what was wrong and God let him know. They soon figured out it was Achan and confronted him. Achan was then stoned to death and the devoted things were burned. Yikes!

This story begs the question, "What are OUR devoted things?" And do we have anything in our possession from other religions or beliefs? What are WE devoted to? Let's think about it.

Do we have a yoga mat? Maybe you think I'm "stretching things" a bit too far but yoga is a religious practice. Let's look it up.

Traditional yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as practiced by the Jain, Buddhist, and Hindu traditions.

Are you or your kids dressing up for Halloween? What as? Or do you like Taylor Swift? Lots of people do. Read this from an article in the Christian Post about Taylor Swift:

"As Christians, who are filled with the Spirit, should we be entertained by, sing with, and expose our kids to lyrics that aren't just different than what you believe, but are actually mocking what you believe?"

Look what's covering Taylor's costume in the picture above. Hmm. Looks like a bunch of . . . SERPENTS. Or am I wrong?

Are we devoted to God? Or are we devoted to the world we live in and the things in it?

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will." - Romans 12:2

Taylor Swift - The Christian Post

Something's Missing

My wife and I recently attended a special Grandparent's celebration at our grandson's school. It was wonderful!

Our grandson came and sat with us in the bleachers and we listened to a pastor present the Gospel. That too was wonderful.

We heard about how we are all sinners.

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

Then we heard that Jesus died for our sins, once for all.

"He (Jesus) sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered Himself." - Hebrews 7:27

More wonderfulness. But it seemed as though something was missing.

I went back over what we taught children at VBS this past summer - Repent, Believe, Forever Receive. Again, that's all good, but there's still something missing. What is it?

Jesus summed it up in one single question. It's a question we ALL must answer.

"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' but do not do what I say?" - Luke 6:46

We can believe in God (even the demons believe) but if we are not changed by that belief, our faith is useless, as James says:

"You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone." - James 2:24

Works do not save us. Works are EVIDENCE that we have been saved. If the Good News of Jesus' death, resurrection, and life does not change us, our faith is meaningless. We are still dead in our sins.

"If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." - Romans 10:9

And there it is. That's what was missing. Not only must we 'believe,' we must be changed! Jesus MUST be our Lord! He must be in our heart.

What all of that means is, we must do what He says. We must love our neighbor. We must love God. We must not lie. We must not covet. The list goes on. But here's the thing . . .

Example: Why do so many Christians celebrate Halloween? The holiday started out with good intentions (remembering the dead), but it has been perverted by "the world" into something totally different.

Example: Why do those who profess faith in Christ support those who want to kill their own babies? This is an abomination to The Lord!

Jesus MUST be Lord of our lives or we simply will not be saved. We must DO what God commands us to do. Study the Bible. What are God's commands? Are we doing them?

We've got an election coming up. Do any of the candidates profess faith? Do they back what they say with their actions? Or is their faith dead?

Our remaining time here on earth is short. Make the change. Serve the Lord.

"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God." - 1 Corinthians 6:19:20

Jesus Is Lord - Voddie Baucham

Hurt People

We all have been hurt at somepoint on our lives. Why do people do that? We love these people and suddenly we find them hurting us. Why?

My wife and I went to a Sidewalk Prophets concert a few weeks ago. They were debuting one of their new songs - "Hurt People." The song implies that people who have been hurt in their lives are the ones who in turn hurt others.

Hurt people hurt people,

Broken hearts break hearts

If true, that's something we need to remember the next time someone breaks OUR hearts or hurts US in some way.

Lashing out at someone in response to their lashing out at us is no way to act for the Christian. Yet there is still a strong desire to lash out, indicating that we ourselves are far from perfect. So, what do we do?

"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven." - Matthew 5:44-45

That's Jesus speaking. He's telling us to love and to pray. It's that simple.

And just to drive Jesus' words home, that Sidewalk Prophets song ends with this line:

But love will heal our hearts.

It really is that simple. Love others enough to take them to God in prayer.

Here's an idea. Let us take the first line of the song and change it up a bit.

Loved people love people.

God loves you and God loves your enemies too, wishing that none would perish. So, what are we waiting for?

Love! Pray! Repeat!

Hurt People - Sidewalk Prophets 

The Dividing Line

You cannot see it, but it is there. It separates us, divides us, as surely as if it were an impenetrable wall of stone. It pits one side against another. What is it?

Look at this verse from the Apostle Paul. Can you see just what it is that divides us?

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." - 1 Corinthians 1:18

The line that divides is "the message of the cross" - Jesus Christ, our Savior. Jesus, and "the message of the cross," divides those who are perishing from those who are being saved. 

But Jesus is the Prince of Peace. How can He divide us? Let's ask Him and see what He says.

"Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” - Luke 12:51-53

That sounds like a battle to me and not peace. And indeed, it IS a battle.

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." - Ephesians 6:12

It is a spiritual battle. And it is being waged right now!

And finally, these words from Pink Floyd's Division Bell album - sung perhaps by someone on the other side of the divide:

Encumbered forever by desire and ambition

There's a hunger still unsatisfied

Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon

Though down this road we've been so many times

The grass was greener

The light was brighter

The taste was sweeter

The nights of wonder

With friends surrounded

The dawn mist glowing

The water flowing

The endless river

Forever and ever

High Hopes - Pink Floyd

Pros and Cons

Prefixes can be confusing sometimes. For example, the prefix "anti" means to be 'against' something, right? Anti-freeze, anti-vax, Anti-Christ. But that standard does not always hold true. I'll explain.

The prefix 'pro' means you are for something, like pro-life, 'con' means you are against something, like CONtraception.

A few weeks ago our pastor gave these last two prefixes a slightly different, and opposite, meaning in his sermon.

PROfess - "to declare in words or appearances only."

CONfess - "to acknowledge to God."

A "profession of faith" is different from our "confession of sin." Even though they mighty seen similar, they are both really quite different.

For example: a man can profess to be a woman. He can wear women's clothing, get hormone treatments, and be surgically altered to 'appear' like a woman. But his DNA says he is still a man. His profession is a lie. 

Similarly, and this is how our pastor used the 'profess' side, someone can profess their faith in Jesus. Even though they might not live it out in their lives. They too are lying.

"They claim to know God but by their own actions they deny Him." - Titus 1:16

Now, on the opposite side of things, to confess one's sins against God is actually a good thing. It is an admission of guilt against a Holy God. It is the fourth stop on the Romans Road.

“That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” - Romans 10:9

It is better to confess than profess. Confession is acknowledging a truth. Profession can be a lie.

We've all seen the political ads on television lately. Tell me, are they professing things, or confessing?

Professing a faith in Jesus is meaningless if it is not coupled with our actions.

"For as the body apart from the Spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead." - James 2:26

There is a line from a Sidewalk Prophets song that asks the question, "Is there evidence that I've been changed?" That's the test right there that each of the 'professors' must pass.

James and Paul recognized 'false converts' way back in their day. They still exist in our world today.

It is my opinion that none of the apostles truly believed until they encountered the resurrected Jesus. Everyone one of them abandoned Jesus when He was arrested.

We must not merely profess our faith in Christ, we must make a full confession of our sinful nature and live a life relecting that faith every day of our lives. We must not only SAY we are Christians, we must LIVE like it.

Live Like That - Sidewalk Prophets

One Minute After

When the rapture occurs, what will be happening here on earth . . . one . . . minute . . . after?

For those left behind there will initially be massive confusion. Millions of people just vanished! Where did they go? Christian drivers on the freeways are suddenly not in their cars (which are doing 80mph+ around Chicago). That will be a mess. Planes falling from the skies because some planes have Christian pilots flying them. Or did. That's scary stuff.

But a prominent world leader will come on the scene. He will somehow make sense of everything. He will comfort the people and they will trust him. But really he will bring about a great deception upon the people and it will be all downhill from there.

Some however will realize the truth, that they have been 'left behind' and that their Christian family members and friends have been caught up to be with Jesus. Oh, the sadness and remorse that will overcome them will be huge.

They will realize then that what those 'annoying Christians' had tried to tell them about Jesus was actually true. I would hate to be them when they figure THAT out.

When Jesus returns for us, we will not be the first to meet Jesus. Those believers who have died before us get that honor.

"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:" - 1 Thessalonians 4:16

THAT will be interesting to see. But then . . .

"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." - 1 Thessalonians 4:17

Think about that. We will forever be with the Lord!

And that's where we will see Jesus. In the air! It says so right there in verse 17!

What then? Do we just float there in the clouds? No. But we will be Jesus. Forever. Maybe this will help answer the question.

"He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then He said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children." - Revelation 21:5-7

We will receive all this . . . "one minute after."

Who Is Your Master?

"They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity - for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning." - 2 Peter 2:19-20

There are two kinds of slaves - willing and unwilling. You and I as Christians submit willingly to our master, Jesus/God. We do, or should do, everything He commands us to do. That's a tough one for many people. Even for those who believe. But that must be our desire. We are willing slaves.

"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord' and not do what I say?" - Like 6:46

There are also unwilling slaves. We fought the Civil War to free unwilling slaves. Most were captured, against their will, and sold into slavery. There are still unwilling slaves in the world today.

Today's picture is of some present day slaves over in China making clothes you and I to wear. They are Uighurs. Have we looked into where we buy things? Probably not. Are we then unknowingly supporting slavery? Probably.

Go back to what Peter said. "People are slaves to whatever has mastered them." What masters slave owners? Money. Power. Self.

What does Jesus command us to be? In the Book of Matthew He tells us that "the greatest in His Kingdom will be the servant of all."

"The greatest among you shall be your servant." - Matthew 23:11

Paul warns us against the love of money saying "it is the root of all evil."

"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." - 1 Timothy 6:10

A willing slave will do whatever his master tells him to do. Do WE do that? We say 'yes' but do we really? Do we 'love our enemies?' Or do we kill them? Do we claim faith in Christ yet vote for people who support the killing of babies? Do we skip worshipping God so we can set up our tailgate party at Lambeau?

Bob Dylan wrote, "It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you're gonna have to serve somebody."

Who do I serve? Is it my bank account? Is it my job? Is it my own selfish desires? Or is it God?

"But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” - Joshua 24:15

Joshua had it figured out.