By John Stallings
One of the funniest movies of the last few years was “Dumb & Dumber.”
We would expect zany Jim Carry to be able to carry off one of the leads in this movie. However, Jeff Daniels is a highly respected thespian with real acting chops, who among other serious roles recently portrayed George Washington in a made for T.V movie.
Daniels must be a more than adequate actor because in this bit of nonsense, he played dumbness to the hilt. I think the movie was hilarious.
THE LIFE OF DAVID OFFERS MANY EXCELLENT EXAMPLES OF THE DUMB THINGS PEOPLE CAN DO OUT OF FEAR AND DISCOURAGEMENT.
Discouragement remains the most destructive tool Satan has & it can make a person do crazy things. When anger can’t stop us, lust can’t reach us & envy finds no foothold, discouragement always seems to work to keep us from moving ahead. A person makes bad decisions & wrong turns when they’re discouraged.
I’d like to tell a little known episode or series of episodes in the life of David to prove the point. The story is told in 1 Samuel chapters 27-30. It begins; -- But David thought to himself, one of these days I’ll be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel.
DISCOURAGEMENT DESTROYS PERSPECTIVE.
David had been running from Saul for nearly ten years. Ten years is a big chunk out of a man’s life & David is tired & run-down. You can’t blame him for that. He felt that Saul might kill him in a year or it may happen tomorrow but sure as sunrise, it was going to happen. David was focusing on the negative & things will always look bleak when we focus on the negative.
You may recall that a few chapters before this, [I wrote a message a month or two ago about it called [“A great man’s descent into madness,] David got discouraged & afraid & went to live with Goliath’s people. He went to Ahimelech’s house & lied to get bread for his men. The episode ended with David being abjectly humiliated & slobbering all over his beard to make Achish think he’d gone nuts. His little odyssey also enraged Saul & caused him to kill a whole village of priests & their families.
This can serve as a warning for all of us. One act of spiritual compromise sets us up to easier make a compromise next time. One step in the wrong direction sets us up to take another step sooner or later.
GOD’S WORD IS CRYSTAL CLEAR
The children of Israel weren’t to mix with the surrounding nations. Over & over the warning was given & every time somebody tried it disaster resulted. David had compromised once before & gone down to live in Gath & that ended up with him looking exceedingly dumb, now he was going to do it again & look even dumber. Yes, David had a lot to discourage him but lest we forget, he also had the firm commitment from the Lord that he was going to someday be Israel’s king, so neither Saul nor anyone else was going to kill him.
DAVID’S DISCOURAGEMENT INVOLVED INNOCENT PEOPLE.
1 Samuel 27:2 says;--David & the six-hundred men with him left & went over to Achish son of Moach of Gath. Each man brought his family with him, & that means 600 men, 600 women & who knows how many children were involved? All these folk were now living with the enemy because of David’s choice.
The same thing happens to us when we compromise; we end up taking other people with us. We may not think about it at the time but at some point we discover that our impulsiveness has hurt a lot of innocent people.
So what happened? Well David’s second episode living among Israel’s enemies ushered in a surprising period of temporary peace & prosperity. Saul did stop chasing him. Also, David & his people were given their own little town to live in named Ziklag. 1 Chronicles 12 informs us that during this time a great many of Saul’s soldiers defected to David in Ziklag. Also we’re told that Achish king of Gath was very pleased with David.
On the surface it looked like David made a wise decision in going to the Philistines. I’m sure for awhile he felt vindicated. Things are good. David gets up in the morning & reads the Ziklag Gazette, goes down to the Gym & works out with the boys, in the afternoon he raids a nearby village [shame- shame] & in the evening maybe there’s a feast. Again, life is good.
DISOBEDIENCE OFTEN RESULTS IN A TEMPORARY LESSENING OF PRESSURE.
David felt better for a while. “There is pleasure in sin for a season.” Sin is fun for a while & compromise has its exciting aspects, which is exactly why so many Christians do it. But for David, compromise led him to greater sin. First there was discouragement, then desperation, then defection & now further disobedience that led to deceit & needless death.
David & his men would go on raiding parties while in Ziklag. David would take his men & raid villages to the south & southeast of Ziklag. But when king Achish would ask him, “Where did you go raiding today, David would answer, “I’ve been to the Negev of Judah,” which was south & east. The implication was that he’d been raiding his own people but the truth was he was telling the king that so he’d feel David was loyal to him.
Are you sitting down? I hope so, because…. on these raids, David didn’t leave a man or woman alive because “dead men don’t tell tales.” So- what started off as plundering parties ended up as bloody slaughter. David is now in a downward spiral & the worst is yet to come.
DAVID GOES TO HIS MAILBOX ONE DAY & FINDS A DRAFT NOTICE.
Things are going wonderful for David & his band of men. “Everything’s coming up roses.” 1 Samuel 28:1 puts it this way;-In those days the Philistines gathered their forces to fight against Israel. Achish said to David, “You must understand that you & your men will accompany me in the army.” Now David’s chickens have come home to roost. Achish welcomed David’s “defection” so many months ago because he fully expected to collect an IOU & now he calls it in. What’s worse, he names David as his personal body guard. That means that if the Philistines win the battle it will be the bodyguard’s duty to kill the defeated king; which means that David will be forced to….kill Saul!
David never intended to get into this mess. He knew he was never going to kill Saul. In his mind living among the Philistines was a temporary thing to buy a little time & space. But now he’s faced with the full results of compromise. Unless God intervenes he’ll be forced to fight against his own people. But that’s what happens when an individual lives apart from God; one little step leads to another- & before long they’re in too deep to get out. They think, “It’s O.K, I’ll make it.” But they don’t.
David is now the perfect picture of a carnal man operating on his own resources. I’ve seen young men with the call of God on their life get involved with unsaved, worldly young women. They thought they could handle the situation; at least the girl was coming to church with them. I’ve watched couples like that gradually move from the second seat in the church to the back seat, then out the door, all because the young man, not wanting to admit he was compromising thought he could follow God & still have a relationship with an nonspiritual young woman who had no intention of following God.
SO NOW THE SCENE IS SET
The Philistines gather at Aphek to war against the men of Israel. The soldiers gather in small groups, check their weapons, discuss strategy & wonder when the battle will began. Men are here from all the various Philistine cities---Gath, Ekron, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gaza—the total number is up in the thousands. This is no small border skirmish. David & his men are bringing up the rear.
All goes well until one of the Philistines says, “What are these Jews doing here?” Then someone else says, “Get those guys out of here.” Word shoots through the ranks & something like a small riot breaks out. The generals come to Achish & say, “What’s this man David doing here? Don’t you remember the song they used to play on the Hebrew Hit Parade ten years ago?” And they quote the little ditty that used to make Saul so mad, “Saul has slain his thousands but David his tens of thousands.” They object to David being near them because they fear he’ll turn against them in the heat of battle in order to regain Saul’s favor.
So Achish goes back to David & says, “Sorry, but you can’t fight with us. My men don’t trust you. Go back to Ziklag. We’ll let you fight in the next battle.”
THE WORLD DOESN’T TRUST A COMPROMISING CHRISTIAN.
The world doesn’t accept a compromising Christian because they’re smarter than that. They recognize true children of God & don’t respect us when we try to play on their team.
Any man who’s ever preached the gospel is forever branded as “preacher.” It doesn’t matter if he only preaches a year. He can preach a relatively short time & quit & live the rest of his life & if folk find it out, even if he goes to the penitentiary, they’ll still call him “preacher” as he walks to the death chamber.
The world respects Christians when they stand up for what they believe. They might dislike us or even persecute us but they respect us & they can’t deny the reality of our faith.
The end is almost upon David & he doesn’t even know it. As David & his men head back to Ziklag they are feeling pretty lucky. They just barley missed having to join in the attack on Israel. As they drew near home someone said, “I smell smoke.” Someone shouts, “Its Ziklag.” In a split second 600 men break ranks & run for the village but their eyes aren’t prepared for what they see. While they were gone, the Amalekites came & took their wives, took their children, took all their possessions & burned the village to the ground. Nothing is left.
The Amalekites were part of those villages David used to raid when he was playing that little game & pretending to attack Judah. Remember David not only raided the villages, he killed people to keep them from talking. Now the Amalekites have returned the favor.
David has been flirting with disaster for a long time. A simple case of discouragement has now led to something almost inconceivable. When he first came to the Philistines he only wanted to relieve the stress, he never meant for anything like this to happen. God has been trying to get David’s attention & when He finally does, David is totally unprepared.
The text says that David’s men wept until they had no more tears to cry. They were so bitter they even discussed stoning David. And why not? Ziklag is burning & it all goes back to the dumb leadership he provided & decisions he made. Discouragement, desperation, defection & disobedience have now led to disaster.
But now God is beginning to get David’s attention. Sometimes the Lord has to get rough in order to get through to us. Sometimes we have to stand in the smoking ruins of a part of our life to at last come to our senses. After 16 months of compromise & on this little “side trip,” disobedient David finally begins to look up. The tragedy is that it took so long & hurt so many people.
HOW DOES DAVID GET IT ALL TURNED AROUND?
The turn around comes so quick it’s easy to miss it. 1 Samuel says that;--David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” David’s problem all along was the fact that he was so gifted & talented he could operate pretty successfully apart from God. After all, he was handsome & strong, we know he was a gifted musician & a mighty warrior, he was attractive to women, & he was a born leader. In later years those qualities would make him Israel’s greatest king.
God had to put David through ten years in the obscurity of the desert to teach him not to rely on his own abilities but in the Lord alone. That’s a hard lesson for all of us to learn & doubly hard to learn for those with great natural gifts. As long as David leaned on the Lord those gifts could be used to accomplish great ends. We see it already & we later see it as he leads his people in the greatest era of prosperity they will ever know. But every time David did it his way he got in trouble & a lot of people were hurt in the process.
I may have shared this story with you before but it bears repeating & certainly fits here. When I was a kid, my mother’s greatest desire for me & my older sister was for us to learn to play piano. I was born with an ear for music, certainly not “perfect pitch” but non-the-less a pretty good ear for music. When I was four or five years old I could harmonize with someone singing lead. Let me tell you what this innate ability did for me; it robbed me of ever being a good pianist & it also robbed me of ever learning to fluently read music.
Why, you ask was my ear for music detrimental to my technical development? Well, just by using the inbred ear for music, I could sit down at the piano & chord any song- that is if it was in either of my two keys. Of the two keys I could play in, one was C & the other one wasn’t. When I sat down to “practice,” instead of learning to read the music before me I would take off on my own, in my limited way, & have a ball. However what I wasn’t doing was learning to read music, & consequently learning to play the piano. This was rather dumb of me & it became a heart break for my mother.
You might also ask if I can’t read music how can I write songs. I do it the same way the other uncultured & unfinished musician/writers do it; I put the songs on tape, in one of my two keys & let someone who’s qualified do the arranging. I can look at a piece of music & tell you what the notes are & I can do the same with a piano but that’s a far cry from sitting down & playing a piece of music. My point is my natural ability effectively vaccinated me against ever developing into a finished musician, because it was too easy to do it “my way.”
I know you’re way ahead of me on the spiritual application here. Like David, anyone with natural ability has to subjugate the desire to take off on their own, thinking they can work it out themselves, when in truth without God they will miss the really great things God could have accomplished in & through them. This weakness almost became David’s downfall.
WHAT ARE THE TAKE-AWAY TRUTHS IN THIS STORY?
We can learn that when we think we are standing firm we should take heed lest we fall. 1 Corinthians 10:12.
We can learn discouragement is inevitable when we attempt to face the problems of life in our own strength.
We can learn the world offers only a temporary solution to our problems.
We can learn God’s punishment is usually to let us face the consequences of our own wrong decisions.
We can learn that discouragement isn’t meant to knock us back on our heels but to bring us to our knees.
We can learn that God never gives up on us & loves us too much to let us stay in our sins.
We can see in this story a great warning but also a great hope. A hope based on the fact that God loves us so much, even when we’re acting like we don’t have two brain cells to rub together His love keeps calling us back home.
Some of us have done exactly what David did. Some of us are still doing it. Whenever we’re ready, truly ready, we can turn things around’.
The question is, how far will we have to go before that moment comes?
Every blessing,
John
Monday, June 26, 2017
Thursday, June 22, 2017
What Condition Is Your Condition In?
By John Stallings
You’re stale, you’re stagnate, you make me want to vomit.—Rev.3:16—The Message
A great Bible scholar was appointed by his denomination to be in charge of quality control for his organization’s educational ministries.
He would drop in unannounced at local churches & attend children’s Sunday classes.
One day he was in a class for boys when he decided to ask one of his standard questions, this one about Jericho. He blurted out, “Who caused the walls of Jericho to fall down?” There was dead silence for several seconds. Finally a little boy spoke up: “I don’t know but it wasn’t me.”
The visiting dignitary about lost it all. He was horrified. He turned to the teacher in the presence of the kids & asked: “What have you been doing in this class? I asked who caused the walls of Jericho to fall, & the only response I get is, I don’t know but it wasn’t me.”
The teacher looked thoughtful for a few seconds, & then she said, “Well, I’ll tell you. I’ve known Johnny all his life if that boy says he didn’t do it then he didn’t do it.”
The visiting expert was doubly distressed to see that this terrible ignorance existed even on the church educational staff. After the Sunday service he took his case to the pastor & told him the whole story. The pastor called an emergency board meeting. After it was over he called the expert & said, “Well, here’s what we’ve decided. We’ve known Johnny & his teacher for a long time & we don’t think they’d lie to us.
To be frank we don’t really believe Johnny did it either so we’ve decided to charge the walls off to “miscellaneous building expenses” & forget it.”
Kind of a cute little story but it’s built on a basic reality pointing up the lack of Bible knowledge many people have, even some who sit in church Sunday after Sunday.
Like the song Kenny Rogers sang, once in a while we need to ask-“what condition our [spiritual] condition is in.” What about the verve & zest of our daily walk with God?
LESSONS FROM LAODICEA
In the closing verses of the Epistle to the Colossians, Paul speaks of the church at Loadicea. He asks that when his letter is read, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans.
We know that the Laodiceans heard & likely treasured this letter. It’s a credit to them that they understood apostolic revelation. That’s good because a more majestic picture of Christ can’t be offered than the one found in Colossians 1-2. A clearer statement on biblical sanctification & Christian growth can’t be found than Colossians 3-4.
Yet for all of the spiritual blessing heaped on them some 30 years later they had grown smug, arrogant & self-dependent. Numbed by materialism, they met with the sternest rebuke of Christ in the letters to the churches in Asia Minor.
In the book of Revelation there are letters written by John to “seven churches which are in Asia.” But of course the words were Christ’s words. These weren’t denominations but rather separate local churches. John wrote to these churches regarding “things which must shortly come to pass” & events that would be “hereafter” These churches are identified as Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia & Laodicea. Each of these churches is addressed in chapters two & three.
Two of the churches are commended without any rebuke or indication of resident sin, Smyrna & Philadelphia. Five had sin & repentance was needed. Absent repentance, their “candlestick” or light would be removed. These seven churches are selected because they seem to represent every possible condition of local churches & the instructions given them applies to all churches in like conditions.
The Laodicean church is undoubtedly in the worst condition of all the churches, although outwardly it appeared to be in great shape.
Laodicea was the wealthiest of the seven cities known for its banking industry, & its manufacturing of black wool & a medical school that produced eye ointment. So rich was this city that when an earthquake almost destroyed it in 60 AD, its wealthy citizens refused imperial help in rebuilding the city, choosing rather to do it entirely by themselves. The people of Laodicea were well heeled & flaunted it.
The only downer about the place was their lack of good water.
The city of Hierapolis was only seven miles away & they were famous for their hot springs. The city of Colosse was about ten miles away & they had cool mountain water. Loadicea had to build a six-mile aqueduct & by the time the water arrived it was lukewarm & insipid, filled with minerals & chemicals. The water was noted to make people gag when they tried to drink it & sometimes they vomited.
Slowly over the years the culture of this city became the culture of the church & because of their riches, they became comfortable & complacent.
LET’S DROP IN FOR A VISIT THE NIGHT THE LAODICEANS RECEIVED THEIR LETTER FROM JESUS.
The letter as heard for us through the ears of a church member named Robert.
Robert arrived just as the meeting was starting. It had been a hectic day at work but he wasn’t going to miss this evening. The church was packed because everyone knew there would be the reading of “the letter” tonight & they were all looking forward to it.
Robert had heard about the letters the other churches had received & some of them had gotten a royal roasting. But as he thought about it, he felt they’d be O.K. He wasn’t aware of any sexual immorality in the fellowship, at least not like those guys in Pergamos & Thyatira. They had the riot act read to them but Robert was sure his church would be spared.
There wasn’t any false teaching here & the people didn’t get excited about every new fad that came along. The sermons weren’t all that exciting but at least they weren’t going to lead anyone astray.
The Smyrnans had been warned that they’d be persecuted & maybe even sent to prison but Robert knew he’d leave the church if it came to that. He wasn’t going to put his career at risk over religion. But, not to worry, Laodicea was a peaceful town & wasn’t the sort of place where that kind of thing happened.
No, nothing negative was going to happen tonight, not at this church. After all they had the biggest & most beautiful church in the area, the best dressed choir & the people of the church were all upscale folk. He thought they’d probably get about the same letter the good folk at Philadelphia got last week; that was rather encouraging stuff.
The pastor is starting to read… “The words of the Amen, the faithful & true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.”— “hey not a bad start” Robert thought.
The pastor continued. “To the church at Laodicea! I know exactly what you’re like. And frankly you make me sick. You think you’re so great but you are useless. Your self-satisfaction just makes me want to throw up.”
You could have heard a marshmallow fall on a carpet. The stunned silence held for a minute & then the people started glaring at each other.—“How dare He!”—they whispered ferociously to one another. “After all we’ve done.”
Robert just sat in silence, reeling from the blow. After all, there were no false teachings that are mentioned in the letter. It may not have been an alive & excited church but it certainly wasn’t a dead church. It wasn’t thriving neither was it dying.
We’ll come back to Robert a bit later.
The Laodiceans weren’t “risk takers” but they weren’t comatose either. The church was well within the range of evangelical respectability. You might say it was sort of normal. It was a safe place to have your membership. No big high-risk plans were on the drawing board in Laodicea. Nothing dynamic was in the offing, just a warm group of people meeting together to share middle class values & a Christian orientation to life in general.
They were just a group of benign believers content to cocoon together with other believers for an hour or so each week. They weren’t frozen & they weren’t fried. They weren’t hot, neither were they cold. Call them tepid, call them lukewarm, [call them irresponsible,] &, Oh, did I mention; call them disgusting in the eyes of Christ.
Jesus literally said, “I’m about to vomit. What’s going on at your church makes me sick to my stomach.” Unlike most of the other six churches, there are no words of commendation for this church. Once we get over the initial shock at what the usually meek & mild Jesus said to these folk we’ll proceed to learn why He felt that way. Before I go further with the Laodiceans, I’d like to ask you a question;
WHAT’S YOUR CONDITION WHEN IT COMES TO SPIRITUAL PASSION?
I’m not asking if you like pizza or Haagen-Dazs ice cream.. I’m asking “what is your passion?” What pulls you out of bed & keeps you going when there’s very little in the outward circumstance to encourage you?
What can make you burn the midnight oil? What would you do if you didn’t get paid? What would you sacrifice blood sweat & tears for? I’m talking about hunger, thirst, fire, passion & a drive for meaning & achievement in life.
One dictionary defines passion as; “Intense, driven, overmastering feeling of conviction, ardent affection, devotion to some activity, deep desire or interest.”
PASSION comes from the Greek word Pascho which means “to suffer” or “to sacrifice.” Passion is a requirement if we are to be truly successful at any enterprise.
When you think of successful people in any field you automatically think of passion. The truly great ones are always the ones who burn with passion for their sport. There’s Mohammad Ali who made me want to watch every fight. There was something about his enthusiasm that captivated me.
Basketball legend Michael Jordan is another man who has a passion for his sport that makes him a “star.” These athletes are people of passion & when you watch them you feel as though they’d play even if they weren’t so handsomely paid.
When we think of Bill gates certainly passion comes to mind. A man of mega-bucks but not only that, we think of a man possessed by computer software & how to make it accessible to as many millions as possible.
PHINEHAS
In Malachi chapter two, the prophet speaks highly about Levi and a covenant God made with him. Yet, when we look at Genesis or in the death poem of Jacob there is nothing complimentary to Levi. So, what is Malachi talking about? Who is Malachi talking about?
Malachi is clearly talking about a descendent of Levi by the name of Phinehas. We meet the exceedingly zealous Phinehas at Shittim, on the opposite side of the Jordan River from Jericho, after Israel has wandered through the wilderness for 40 years.
Settling in a land populated by pagans, the Israelites were being drawn into a web of idolatrous practices represented and symbolized by cultic prostitution. Spiritual adultery, not merely physical adultery, is at the heart of this story.
It was at Shittim that the daughters of Moab succeeded in seducing the sons of Israel to indulge in the sexual immorality associated with the worship of Baal Peor.
The Lord brought judgment and destruction upon Israel and all the people of Israel repented and stood before the Tent of Meeting weeping with sorrow for their sin.-Numbers 25.
While this act of penance was going on, Zimri son of Salu did something that can only be described as brazen. He brought a Midianite woman to his tent. He did this openly, boldly, right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel.
When Phinehas, son of Eleazar, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand and followed Zimri into his tent. He caught Zimri and the Midianite in the act of sexual immorality and drove the spear through both of them .The Bible tells us this was "credited to Phinehas as righteousness," because he was zealous with and for God Num 25:11. Ps 106:31
Zimri’s action was designed as part of a plot to draw Israel into the Midianite religious cult. This act of apostasy wasn’t a covert affair. It was done to provoke those who had gathered at the tent of meeting to mourn Israel’s deteriorating spiritual condition and the plague that had come as a consequence of it.
Have you ever heard a sermon on this story? To be frank, very few have ever been preached and many who’ve preached on it have gotten its meaning wrong, making it a warning against intermarriage rather than God’s judgment on sin.
This is definitely an Old Testament story, but Phinehas goes down in the sight of God as blessed because of his zeal to do that which was right in God’s eyes and his linage was blessed because of his selfless act.
John 2:17 says that Jesus was literally “eaten- up “with zeal. The word zeal is another word for passion. It’s defines as “eagerness & ardent interest in the pursuit of something.” When Jesus went into the temple to run the money changers out, He wasn’t mad as some have supposed. He sat down & weaved a whip of cords before going into the temple. A man freaking out with a temper fit doesn’t take time to do that. Jesus no doubt was disturbed but the scripture says it was His “passion,” or more literally: He was eaten-up with zeal & passion for His Father’s house.
Passion isn’t the temporary surge of joy a person gets when he/she has just been hired for a new job that will give them more money. Too often when this kind of job has been taken, the good feeling quickly dissipates when the reality of what the job entails sinks in. I’ve heard people say they hated their job so much they got physically sick on Sunday night because they had to go back to work Monday on a job they hated, even though the pay was excellent.
Maybe you left the small job you had because it wasn’t showing the flash you felt you needed but in truth it involved something you were passionate about. Now you may have a good paying job but the passion isn’t there & you hate every minute of it. I’m not deprecating good pay or any kind of work, or saying we have to be giddy & in love with every task we do. Gainful employment is necessary & a person must work to exist. However the truly happy person is the one who has found their life’s work & is so passionate about it that it really doesn’t seem like work.
LET’S LOOK AGAIN AT THE CONDITION OF THE LAODICEAN CHURCH
In Revelation 3:15-16 Jesus said, -I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other. So because you are lukewarm—neither nor cold, I’m about to spit you out of my mouth.
Unlike Colosse, whose water was cool & refreshing, & unlike Hierapolis, whose water was hot & healing, the water at Laodicea was lukewarm & hard to swallow. I don’t believe Jesus was saying that He’d want anyone to be openly hostile to him—although at least that would mean they had some emotion.
What Jesus was saying was; you’re all the wrong temperature, you’re passionless & indifferent & don’t take a stand for anything. You’re a group of half-hearted self-sufficient Christians & you’re making me ill.
The church at Laodicea was singing “standing on the promises,” but they were only “sitting on the premises.” They were “so satisfied they were petrified.” They were singing “throw out the lifeline” when they never made it any further than the “close line.” They were probably singing, “I surrender some.” And maybe, “Take my life & let me be.” And the ever beautiful “My hope is built on nothing much.” At the end of their services they’d probably stand & sing “Asleep in Jesus” & pass out.
But before we get too critical of these Laodicean folk, let’s ask ourselves if we’re familiar with any churches that are lukewarm. Most churches are filled with nice people are they not? They are meeting their budget. They are seeing some growth.
THE LAODICEANS DIDN’T SEE THEIR CONDITION
They “didn’t know what condition their condition was in.”
In Revelation 3:17---They say “I am rich; I have acquired wealth & don’t need a thing! ---But Jesus evaluates them & says,--you are wretched & pitiful, blind, poor & naked.
“There is none so blind as he who will not see.” Not only was this Laodicean church indifferent, they were ignorant of their true condition.
Have you ever looked at yourself from the side in a mirror & not been delighted with what you saw? I have. It feels awful, not to mention how it looks. You thought you were okay in the weight department until you got a gander at yourself in that big mirror. You didn’t realize the condition your condition was in until you turned sideways & got that side perspective. You’d been kidding yourself all that time. I hate those mirrors. That side-view never fails to put me back on my diet.
JESUS OFFERS SOME ADVICE TO THESE PEOPLE
“I COUNCIL YOU TO BUY FROM ME GOLD REFINED IN THE FIRE SO YOU CAN BECOME RICH; AND WHITE CLOTHES TO WEAR SO YOU CAN COVER YOUR SHAMEFUL NAKEDNESS—and salve to put on your eyes so you can see.
In a city that had plenty of gold as a source of its wealth Jesus says,
It’s not enough. You need gold from me. In a city known for its manufacture of black wool “You need to get clothes from me. In a city renowned for its manufacture of eye salve Jesus said, come to me for divine vision. You need a renewed spiritual vision so you can see life & eternity for what they are. Your eyes have been blinded by the light of culture but my eye salve works. Come to me realizing that you have no resources of your own you need my salvation & my power to be what you need to be.
JESUS ALSO SAYS, ACCEPT MY DISCIPLINE
Whom the Lord loves He disciplines. Jesus still loves this lukewarm church even though their love for Him has grown cold. Christ wants them to repent & rekindle their love for Him & replace complacency with a renewed zeal.
Revelation 3:20 is one of most graphic pictures of Christ in the Scripture. It’s the picture of Him standing at the door knocking asking to be allowed inside. By all rights, this picture should be reversed & we should be knocking on Jesus’ door, but here He is, in all His grace & mercy, knocking on our door.
We generally use this as an appeal to sinners but as we can see, the context here is lukewarm Christians. It seems Jesus is saying, “I’m the offended, the wronged party. You should be pursuing me but here I am again, seeking you out. I’m extending myself to you, I’m knocking at your door, and I’m taking the initiative.”
What is most astounding about this scene is; Jesus has obviously not even been asked into this church. He isn't included here. He's standing on the outside knocking. This isn't a den of iniquity where Jesus requests to come in to show His love & mercy to the unsaved & unchurched. Rather, this is a church where Jesus is seeking to gain admission.
Though it grieves me to say it, I've been in churches where Jesus' presence wasn't anywhere to be seen or felt. But still He stands desiring to be welcomed in. Though this statement seems ludicrous, just think what some of these churches who seem to be doing so good without Him, could do if they ever actually welcomed the Lord into their midst.
IT’S NOT TOO LATE FOR THE LAODICEANS
All they had to do was open the door, to be sincere & repent.
Back to the meeting where the letter has just been read & to Robert our eye & ear witness.
There was practically a riot when the pastor got through reading the letter. People were storming out left right & center. It almost reached stampede proportions. But Robert didn’t move. There were just a handful of people scattered across the church sitting quietly with their heads bowed & some were softly crying.
“Lord I’m so sorry.” Robert prayed quietly. And for the first time in his life he was really praying. “Lord I had no idea. Please forgive me. I hadn’t seen my condition until now. Please come into my life & make it your own. Thank you for not giving up on us!”
That night the church was reborn.
Blessings,
John
You’re stale, you’re stagnate, you make me want to vomit.—Rev.3:16—The Message
A great Bible scholar was appointed by his denomination to be in charge of quality control for his organization’s educational ministries.
He would drop in unannounced at local churches & attend children’s Sunday classes.
One day he was in a class for boys when he decided to ask one of his standard questions, this one about Jericho. He blurted out, “Who caused the walls of Jericho to fall down?” There was dead silence for several seconds. Finally a little boy spoke up: “I don’t know but it wasn’t me.”
The visiting dignitary about lost it all. He was horrified. He turned to the teacher in the presence of the kids & asked: “What have you been doing in this class? I asked who caused the walls of Jericho to fall, & the only response I get is, I don’t know but it wasn’t me.”
The teacher looked thoughtful for a few seconds, & then she said, “Well, I’ll tell you. I’ve known Johnny all his life if that boy says he didn’t do it then he didn’t do it.”
The visiting expert was doubly distressed to see that this terrible ignorance existed even on the church educational staff. After the Sunday service he took his case to the pastor & told him the whole story. The pastor called an emergency board meeting. After it was over he called the expert & said, “Well, here’s what we’ve decided. We’ve known Johnny & his teacher for a long time & we don’t think they’d lie to us.
To be frank we don’t really believe Johnny did it either so we’ve decided to charge the walls off to “miscellaneous building expenses” & forget it.”
Kind of a cute little story but it’s built on a basic reality pointing up the lack of Bible knowledge many people have, even some who sit in church Sunday after Sunday.
Like the song Kenny Rogers sang, once in a while we need to ask-“what condition our [spiritual] condition is in.” What about the verve & zest of our daily walk with God?
LESSONS FROM LAODICEA
In the closing verses of the Epistle to the Colossians, Paul speaks of the church at Loadicea. He asks that when his letter is read, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans.
We know that the Laodiceans heard & likely treasured this letter. It’s a credit to them that they understood apostolic revelation. That’s good because a more majestic picture of Christ can’t be offered than the one found in Colossians 1-2. A clearer statement on biblical sanctification & Christian growth can’t be found than Colossians 3-4.
Yet for all of the spiritual blessing heaped on them some 30 years later they had grown smug, arrogant & self-dependent. Numbed by materialism, they met with the sternest rebuke of Christ in the letters to the churches in Asia Minor.
In the book of Revelation there are letters written by John to “seven churches which are in Asia.” But of course the words were Christ’s words. These weren’t denominations but rather separate local churches. John wrote to these churches regarding “things which must shortly come to pass” & events that would be “hereafter” These churches are identified as Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia & Laodicea. Each of these churches is addressed in chapters two & three.
Two of the churches are commended without any rebuke or indication of resident sin, Smyrna & Philadelphia. Five had sin & repentance was needed. Absent repentance, their “candlestick” or light would be removed. These seven churches are selected because they seem to represent every possible condition of local churches & the instructions given them applies to all churches in like conditions.
The Laodicean church is undoubtedly in the worst condition of all the churches, although outwardly it appeared to be in great shape.
Laodicea was the wealthiest of the seven cities known for its banking industry, & its manufacturing of black wool & a medical school that produced eye ointment. So rich was this city that when an earthquake almost destroyed it in 60 AD, its wealthy citizens refused imperial help in rebuilding the city, choosing rather to do it entirely by themselves. The people of Laodicea were well heeled & flaunted it.
The only downer about the place was their lack of good water.
The city of Hierapolis was only seven miles away & they were famous for their hot springs. The city of Colosse was about ten miles away & they had cool mountain water. Loadicea had to build a six-mile aqueduct & by the time the water arrived it was lukewarm & insipid, filled with minerals & chemicals. The water was noted to make people gag when they tried to drink it & sometimes they vomited.
Slowly over the years the culture of this city became the culture of the church & because of their riches, they became comfortable & complacent.
LET’S DROP IN FOR A VISIT THE NIGHT THE LAODICEANS RECEIVED THEIR LETTER FROM JESUS.
The letter as heard for us through the ears of a church member named Robert.
Robert arrived just as the meeting was starting. It had been a hectic day at work but he wasn’t going to miss this evening. The church was packed because everyone knew there would be the reading of “the letter” tonight & they were all looking forward to it.
Robert had heard about the letters the other churches had received & some of them had gotten a royal roasting. But as he thought about it, he felt they’d be O.K. He wasn’t aware of any sexual immorality in the fellowship, at least not like those guys in Pergamos & Thyatira. They had the riot act read to them but Robert was sure his church would be spared.
There wasn’t any false teaching here & the people didn’t get excited about every new fad that came along. The sermons weren’t all that exciting but at least they weren’t going to lead anyone astray.
The Smyrnans had been warned that they’d be persecuted & maybe even sent to prison but Robert knew he’d leave the church if it came to that. He wasn’t going to put his career at risk over religion. But, not to worry, Laodicea was a peaceful town & wasn’t the sort of place where that kind of thing happened.
No, nothing negative was going to happen tonight, not at this church. After all they had the biggest & most beautiful church in the area, the best dressed choir & the people of the church were all upscale folk. He thought they’d probably get about the same letter the good folk at Philadelphia got last week; that was rather encouraging stuff.
The pastor is starting to read… “The words of the Amen, the faithful & true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.”— “hey not a bad start” Robert thought.
The pastor continued. “To the church at Laodicea! I know exactly what you’re like. And frankly you make me sick. You think you’re so great but you are useless. Your self-satisfaction just makes me want to throw up.”
You could have heard a marshmallow fall on a carpet. The stunned silence held for a minute & then the people started glaring at each other.—“How dare He!”—they whispered ferociously to one another. “After all we’ve done.”
Robert just sat in silence, reeling from the blow. After all, there were no false teachings that are mentioned in the letter. It may not have been an alive & excited church but it certainly wasn’t a dead church. It wasn’t thriving neither was it dying.
We’ll come back to Robert a bit later.
The Laodiceans weren’t “risk takers” but they weren’t comatose either. The church was well within the range of evangelical respectability. You might say it was sort of normal. It was a safe place to have your membership. No big high-risk plans were on the drawing board in Laodicea. Nothing dynamic was in the offing, just a warm group of people meeting together to share middle class values & a Christian orientation to life in general.
They were just a group of benign believers content to cocoon together with other believers for an hour or so each week. They weren’t frozen & they weren’t fried. They weren’t hot, neither were they cold. Call them tepid, call them lukewarm, [call them irresponsible,] &, Oh, did I mention; call them disgusting in the eyes of Christ.
Jesus literally said, “I’m about to vomit. What’s going on at your church makes me sick to my stomach.” Unlike most of the other six churches, there are no words of commendation for this church. Once we get over the initial shock at what the usually meek & mild Jesus said to these folk we’ll proceed to learn why He felt that way. Before I go further with the Laodiceans, I’d like to ask you a question;
WHAT’S YOUR CONDITION WHEN IT COMES TO SPIRITUAL PASSION?
I’m not asking if you like pizza or Haagen-Dazs ice cream.. I’m asking “what is your passion?” What pulls you out of bed & keeps you going when there’s very little in the outward circumstance to encourage you?
What can make you burn the midnight oil? What would you do if you didn’t get paid? What would you sacrifice blood sweat & tears for? I’m talking about hunger, thirst, fire, passion & a drive for meaning & achievement in life.
One dictionary defines passion as; “Intense, driven, overmastering feeling of conviction, ardent affection, devotion to some activity, deep desire or interest.”
PASSION comes from the Greek word Pascho which means “to suffer” or “to sacrifice.” Passion is a requirement if we are to be truly successful at any enterprise.
When you think of successful people in any field you automatically think of passion. The truly great ones are always the ones who burn with passion for their sport. There’s Mohammad Ali who made me want to watch every fight. There was something about his enthusiasm that captivated me.
Basketball legend Michael Jordan is another man who has a passion for his sport that makes him a “star.” These athletes are people of passion & when you watch them you feel as though they’d play even if they weren’t so handsomely paid.
When we think of Bill gates certainly passion comes to mind. A man of mega-bucks but not only that, we think of a man possessed by computer software & how to make it accessible to as many millions as possible.
PHINEHAS
In Malachi chapter two, the prophet speaks highly about Levi and a covenant God made with him. Yet, when we look at Genesis or in the death poem of Jacob there is nothing complimentary to Levi. So, what is Malachi talking about? Who is Malachi talking about?
Malachi is clearly talking about a descendent of Levi by the name of Phinehas. We meet the exceedingly zealous Phinehas at Shittim, on the opposite side of the Jordan River from Jericho, after Israel has wandered through the wilderness for 40 years.
Settling in a land populated by pagans, the Israelites were being drawn into a web of idolatrous practices represented and symbolized by cultic prostitution. Spiritual adultery, not merely physical adultery, is at the heart of this story.
It was at Shittim that the daughters of Moab succeeded in seducing the sons of Israel to indulge in the sexual immorality associated with the worship of Baal Peor.
The Lord brought judgment and destruction upon Israel and all the people of Israel repented and stood before the Tent of Meeting weeping with sorrow for their sin.-Numbers 25.
While this act of penance was going on, Zimri son of Salu did something that can only be described as brazen. He brought a Midianite woman to his tent. He did this openly, boldly, right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel.
When Phinehas, son of Eleazar, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand and followed Zimri into his tent. He caught Zimri and the Midianite in the act of sexual immorality and drove the spear through both of them .The Bible tells us this was "credited to Phinehas as righteousness," because he was zealous with and for God Num 25:11. Ps 106:31
Zimri’s action was designed as part of a plot to draw Israel into the Midianite religious cult. This act of apostasy wasn’t a covert affair. It was done to provoke those who had gathered at the tent of meeting to mourn Israel’s deteriorating spiritual condition and the plague that had come as a consequence of it.
Have you ever heard a sermon on this story? To be frank, very few have ever been preached and many who’ve preached on it have gotten its meaning wrong, making it a warning against intermarriage rather than God’s judgment on sin.
This is definitely an Old Testament story, but Phinehas goes down in the sight of God as blessed because of his zeal to do that which was right in God’s eyes and his linage was blessed because of his selfless act.
John 2:17 says that Jesus was literally “eaten- up “with zeal. The word zeal is another word for passion. It’s defines as “eagerness & ardent interest in the pursuit of something.” When Jesus went into the temple to run the money changers out, He wasn’t mad as some have supposed. He sat down & weaved a whip of cords before going into the temple. A man freaking out with a temper fit doesn’t take time to do that. Jesus no doubt was disturbed but the scripture says it was His “passion,” or more literally: He was eaten-up with zeal & passion for His Father’s house.
Passion isn’t the temporary surge of joy a person gets when he/she has just been hired for a new job that will give them more money. Too often when this kind of job has been taken, the good feeling quickly dissipates when the reality of what the job entails sinks in. I’ve heard people say they hated their job so much they got physically sick on Sunday night because they had to go back to work Monday on a job they hated, even though the pay was excellent.
Maybe you left the small job you had because it wasn’t showing the flash you felt you needed but in truth it involved something you were passionate about. Now you may have a good paying job but the passion isn’t there & you hate every minute of it. I’m not deprecating good pay or any kind of work, or saying we have to be giddy & in love with every task we do. Gainful employment is necessary & a person must work to exist. However the truly happy person is the one who has found their life’s work & is so passionate about it that it really doesn’t seem like work.
LET’S LOOK AGAIN AT THE CONDITION OF THE LAODICEAN CHURCH
In Revelation 3:15-16 Jesus said, -I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other. So because you are lukewarm—neither nor cold, I’m about to spit you out of my mouth.
Unlike Colosse, whose water was cool & refreshing, & unlike Hierapolis, whose water was hot & healing, the water at Laodicea was lukewarm & hard to swallow. I don’t believe Jesus was saying that He’d want anyone to be openly hostile to him—although at least that would mean they had some emotion.
What Jesus was saying was; you’re all the wrong temperature, you’re passionless & indifferent & don’t take a stand for anything. You’re a group of half-hearted self-sufficient Christians & you’re making me ill.
The church at Laodicea was singing “standing on the promises,” but they were only “sitting on the premises.” They were “so satisfied they were petrified.” They were singing “throw out the lifeline” when they never made it any further than the “close line.” They were probably singing, “I surrender some.” And maybe, “Take my life & let me be.” And the ever beautiful “My hope is built on nothing much.” At the end of their services they’d probably stand & sing “Asleep in Jesus” & pass out.
But before we get too critical of these Laodicean folk, let’s ask ourselves if we’re familiar with any churches that are lukewarm. Most churches are filled with nice people are they not? They are meeting their budget. They are seeing some growth.
THE LAODICEANS DIDN’T SEE THEIR CONDITION
They “didn’t know what condition their condition was in.”
In Revelation 3:17---They say “I am rich; I have acquired wealth & don’t need a thing! ---But Jesus evaluates them & says,--you are wretched & pitiful, blind, poor & naked.
“There is none so blind as he who will not see.” Not only was this Laodicean church indifferent, they were ignorant of their true condition.
Have you ever looked at yourself from the side in a mirror & not been delighted with what you saw? I have. It feels awful, not to mention how it looks. You thought you were okay in the weight department until you got a gander at yourself in that big mirror. You didn’t realize the condition your condition was in until you turned sideways & got that side perspective. You’d been kidding yourself all that time. I hate those mirrors. That side-view never fails to put me back on my diet.
JESUS OFFERS SOME ADVICE TO THESE PEOPLE
“I COUNCIL YOU TO BUY FROM ME GOLD REFINED IN THE FIRE SO YOU CAN BECOME RICH; AND WHITE CLOTHES TO WEAR SO YOU CAN COVER YOUR SHAMEFUL NAKEDNESS—and salve to put on your eyes so you can see.
In a city that had plenty of gold as a source of its wealth Jesus says,
It’s not enough. You need gold from me. In a city known for its manufacture of black wool “You need to get clothes from me. In a city renowned for its manufacture of eye salve Jesus said, come to me for divine vision. You need a renewed spiritual vision so you can see life & eternity for what they are. Your eyes have been blinded by the light of culture but my eye salve works. Come to me realizing that you have no resources of your own you need my salvation & my power to be what you need to be.
JESUS ALSO SAYS, ACCEPT MY DISCIPLINE
Whom the Lord loves He disciplines. Jesus still loves this lukewarm church even though their love for Him has grown cold. Christ wants them to repent & rekindle their love for Him & replace complacency with a renewed zeal.
Revelation 3:20 is one of most graphic pictures of Christ in the Scripture. It’s the picture of Him standing at the door knocking asking to be allowed inside. By all rights, this picture should be reversed & we should be knocking on Jesus’ door, but here He is, in all His grace & mercy, knocking on our door.
We generally use this as an appeal to sinners but as we can see, the context here is lukewarm Christians. It seems Jesus is saying, “I’m the offended, the wronged party. You should be pursuing me but here I am again, seeking you out. I’m extending myself to you, I’m knocking at your door, and I’m taking the initiative.”
What is most astounding about this scene is; Jesus has obviously not even been asked into this church. He isn't included here. He's standing on the outside knocking. This isn't a den of iniquity where Jesus requests to come in to show His love & mercy to the unsaved & unchurched. Rather, this is a church where Jesus is seeking to gain admission.
Though it grieves me to say it, I've been in churches where Jesus' presence wasn't anywhere to be seen or felt. But still He stands desiring to be welcomed in. Though this statement seems ludicrous, just think what some of these churches who seem to be doing so good without Him, could do if they ever actually welcomed the Lord into their midst.
IT’S NOT TOO LATE FOR THE LAODICEANS
All they had to do was open the door, to be sincere & repent.
Back to the meeting where the letter has just been read & to Robert our eye & ear witness.
There was practically a riot when the pastor got through reading the letter. People were storming out left right & center. It almost reached stampede proportions. But Robert didn’t move. There were just a handful of people scattered across the church sitting quietly with their heads bowed & some were softly crying.
“Lord I’m so sorry.” Robert prayed quietly. And for the first time in his life he was really praying. “Lord I had no idea. Please forgive me. I hadn’t seen my condition until now. Please come into my life & make it your own. Thank you for not giving up on us!”
That night the church was reborn.
Blessings,
John
Monday, June 19, 2017
Stop It!
By John Stallings
Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you. John 5:14--NIV
A successful young lawyer was driving one day & a policeman pulled him over for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign. The young man argued technicalities for a living so he thought he’d engage the young cop in some of his courtroom expertise.
The lawyer said, “I slowed down & no one was coming, & I moved on after looking both ways, why isn’t that enough?” The young man was doing what I see drivers do every day & that’s the “rolling stop.”
The lawyer said, “Why don’t you give me a good, practical reason why it’s so important that I come to a complete stop when I can slow down to a “snails pace,” look carefully & move on with great caution?” The educated to the hilt lawyer was asking the unsophisticated policeman to give him an illustration of the difference in slowing down, almost stopping, & coming to a complete stop.
The policeman asked the man to step out of his vehicle & when he did he proceeded to pull out his Billy-club & began hitting the young man repeatedly. As he swung the Billy-club across the back of the lawyer’s neck he asked, “Now, -- you tell me the difference in stopping & just slowing down.”
Some of the better truths in the story of Jesus healing the man at the pool of Bethesda happen after the man was healed & entered the temple, encountering the Pharisees.
In John 5:14, Jesus later found the man in the temple & spoke to him. Jesus had already dealt with the man in “grace” & now He applied “truth,” telling him to stop sinning or something worse would happen to him. Notice;
JESUS FOUND THE MAN IN THE TEMPLE
The narrative seems clear to me that Jesus went looking for the man He’d recently healed. It’s amazing how Jesus can always find us. Though we sometimes want to feel we went looking for Him, the fact is, God came searching for us. Do you know why it’s often said that Christianity isn’t a religion? Answer; religion is defined as, “Man’s search for God.”
In the strictest sense, a person can be praying to a bird or the Sun & be said to be practicing religion. Mankind is & has always been on a cosmic search for God.
But in Christianity, man wasn’t searching for God, but rather God came searching for man. It was happening all through the Old Testament through the prophets & other phenomenon, & it culminated in Christ coming to earth to dwell among men & die on the cross.
Paul said in Romans 3:11, --there is none that seeketh after God.
The Psalmist said in Psalm 14:3—there is none that doeth good, no not one.
Over & over it’s been demonstrated that when an individual sinks so far into sin all seems hopeless, --“man’s extremity is God’s opportunity,” & God finds that person.
WHEN JESUS FOUND THIS MAN IN THE TEMPLE, HE SAID, “STOP SINNING OR SOMETHING WORSE MAY HAPPEN TO YOU.”
STOP-SINNING!! Here’s one of the most profound theological commands ever uttered. Are you ready?
STOP IT!!
I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the YOUTUBE video on STOP IT with comedian Bob Newhart. If not, take six minutes & watch it. He’s at his funniest, stuttering, brilliant best.
Newhart plays a very different kind of Psychiatrist who charges five dollars for a five minute session. A woman comes into his office & unburdens her phobia about being buried alive in a box. Newhart asks her if anyone had ever threatened to bury her in a box or if there was any real basis for the fear & she says there isn’t. Then he looks at her & says; STOP IT!
Newhart’s finished in three minutes but he can’t break a five dollar bill for the woman so she stays for two more minutes to get her monies worth. She tells him she doesn’t think his advice is going to work for her, & he says, “O.k. if the two words aren’t enough for you I’ll give you ten words,
“STOP IT OR I’LL BURY YOU ALIVE IN A BOX.”
That little skit is humorous but in reality it speaks volumes.
We could read the Bible through & memorize every word of it but until we, as an act of our will make the decision to forsake sin & put it to death, we’ll never be victorious over sin. At some point we have to stop the action, habit or sin because no one else can do it for us.
Are you thinking negatively? STOP IT!!
Are you over-spending? STOP IT!!
Are you overworking? STOP IT!!
Are you gossiping? STOP IT!!
Are you judging others? STOP IT!!
Are you obsessive/ compulsive? STOP IT!!
Do you think your opinions are always best? STOP IT!!
Do you lose your temper? STOP IT!!
Are you overeating? STOP IT!!
Are you indulging in a secret sin? STOP IT!!
It’s like the man who went to the Doctor & told him when he lifted his arm a certain way it hurt. The Doctor, said, “Stop lifting it like that.”
I heard about a man who was having trouble with his voice. He went to a throat specialist, & after a long series of tests, the doctor told the man, the only thing I can tell you is; you talk too much. Stop it!”
Years ago I heard comedian George Burns, nearly one hundred at the time, tell about developing a condition that caused him to constantly clear his throat with a little short cough. He’d been doing it for thirty years & mentioned to his doctor that he was concerned about the cough especially since he smoked cigars. The doctor told him he could easily get rid of the cough for him & gave him instructions, “Stop doing it.” Burns said “that was fifty years ago & I’ve never coughed since.” They aren’t making doctors like that any more.
Here’s the best way I’ve ever found to lose weight; STOP EATING SO MUCH!!
You can do it the low-carb way, which is the way we’ve done it for the last few years, or you can eat 1,000 to 1,500 calories a day but however you do it, you’ve got to STOP EATING SO MUCH.
You may have a problem that isn’t a sin-- it’s just a bad habit but you can handle it the same way, JUST STOP IT!!
DON’T TRY TO MODIFY OR REDEFINE SIN, OR SLOW IT DOWN, JUST STOP IT!
In the seventies Dr. Karl Mennineger wrote a very good book called, “Whatever became of sin?” He talked about this problem of rationalizing sin or calling it by another name. Over thirty years later the problem has grown exponentially. Our society now has a hard time labeling things right or wrong. When President Ronald Reagan called The Soviet Union an evil empire, it upset a lot of people because they couldn’t come to terms with calling certain things or nation’s evil.
When I read Dr. Mennineger’s book in the mid-seventies, I humbly answered his question thus; “Sin went to the doctor & was diagnosed as a disease. Sin went to the psychiatrist & was diagnosed as a dysfunction.” Some people choose to try to modify their sin or cut down on it, like ordering a half-order of something in a restaurant. But the edict of heaven is still, STOP IT.
Jesus tells the paralyzed man,--SIN NO MORE!
You may think a Christian can’t sin but as long as we have a robe of flesh we will have a bent toward sin. The Lord’s Prayer says-- forgive us our sins; it doesn’t say –forgive them their sins.
You can be saved, sanctified & and filled with the Holy Ghost but you still have to STOP SINNING!! You can pray until your hair turns green but you still have to STOP SINNING!!
You can fast until you are skin & bones & God will certainly grant you His grace & power but at some point you’ll still have to make the decision to STOP SINNING!!
In Romans 8:13 Paul says, --For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh ye shall live. The word mortify comes from the same word that we get the word mortician. This is what must be done to sin.
It’s possible to be “too spiritual,” expecting to sit passively by while God comes in & takes the evil desires & temptations out of our way. He won’t do that but He’ll always create an escape hatch for us to escape the temptation. Of course we’ll have to take the time to look for His way of escape.
Listen how Paul handles a situation where a person has a problem with stealing;
Does he say to the person: “You know, stealing is so ingrained in you & you’ve been so defeated by it, the only hope you have to being victorious over stealing is to have the Lord come in & deal with it for you?” No! What does Paul say? Listen to Ephesians 4:28;
Let him that stole, steal no more! --- JUST STOP IT! Now that’s some deep theology, wouldn’t you agree?
Paul deals much the same way when it comes to growth in grace & spiritual maturity. He tells us in 1 Corinthians that he was at one time young & immature like everyone else. There were the same weaknesses & childishness in Paul’s life that all of us know about.
But did Paul say, “Well, I went to a great revival meeting & went forward & do you know what? God came & instantaneously took away all my childish ways in a heart-beat?”
No. What did Paul say? He said, -When I became a man I put away childish things.-1 Cor.13:11
Paul is saying that as an act of his will, he put away from him the juvenile things that were holding him back.
Paul also tells us how he was able to deal with his day by day attitudes. But he didn’t say;--“You know, I had such a problem with my attitude, I didn’t know what I was going to do.” He didn’t say; “I was always miserable & constantly complaining about my accommodations, the food, and the beverages & really just about everything in my life. But, you know, one night in prayer, God just came into the room & touched me. And since that night, I’m just as contented as one of those old contented cows, anywhere God puts me.”? No! Paul didn’t say that.
What Paul said was;
……For I have LEARNED, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Phil.4:11
Paul didn’t get his sweet disposition in a miraculous manner. No Sir! He had to cultivate it. He had to learn it. Have you seen these spiritual babies that are waiting for God to work a miracle & transform them from a miserable Christian to a happy camper? God isn’t going to do for us what, through prayer, study of His word, & bringing our flesh into subjection, we should be doing for ourselves.
AN OLD TESTAMENT WAY OF DEALING WITH SIN
In 1 Samuel 15, Samuel anointed Saul & gave him instructions to kill all the Amalekites. While God doesn’t need me to come to His defense, there was a reason for this seemingly cruel order to be given. These folk, a nomadic race & descendants of Esau, were the mortal enemies of the Israelites. This was the people who attacked Israel in the famous battle when Aaron & Hur had to hold up Moses’ arms. God had already told Moses he would utterly blot out the memory of these people from under heaven.
The bloody Amalekites were one of the reasons the Israelites disobeyed God & balked at entering the Promised Land. God’s anger burned against these people because they hated Him & detested Israel. In short, the Amalekites were very bad people & Saul was to be God’s instrument to execute judgment on them.
As we know, Saul didn’t obey the clear command of God & motivated by covetousness he kept all their best possessions & actually spared their king, king Agag. Maybe Saul’s pride led him to want a “king on a string.”
The disobedience by Saul was so serious to God that He sent Samuel to tell him God was taking the throne of Israel from him & his descendants forever. We don’t usually think of Samuel, that great prophet of God who was called as a youngster under the tutelage of Eli, as a harsh & vindictive man.
But what Samuel later did about this miscarriage of God’s justice is shocking. He coolly said, “Bring me Agag!” Agag thought he was safe & came to Samuel & cheerfully told him he was glad the threat of death had passed. Obviously Samuel wasn’t amused. Do you know what Samuel did then? He took a sword & cut Agag to pieces. 1 Sam.15:32-33.
This might seem cruel & merciless, but let there be no mistake; this was an act of divine judgment to show the holy wrath of an indignant God against a cruel & incorrigible people.
For proof, you only have to go to the end of the book of 1 Samuel not long afterwards, to see the reinvigorated fragments of the Amalekites were still running around the countryside, eating, drinking & pillaging & still causing trouble for Israel. It was they who raided David’s town Ziklag & took his family captive. David caught up with them & got his family back, fighting them all night long into the next morning killing all but four hundred of them.
I can’t think of a more perfect illustration of what sin can & will do if not dealt with harshly. Like the Amalekites, sin if not mortified has a way of reviving, regrouping & launching new & unexpected attacks at the worst times & in the most unexpected ways.
Let’s be real here; living a pure life is difficult today & sexual temptation is one of the strongest. Did Jesus talk about that? Yes He did & He gave us three ways to break the power of sin in our lives.
1. LOOK AWAY
In Matthew 5:27-30, Jesus said;
Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, “Thou shall not commit adultery: But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a women to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Jesus is saying that looking at someone lustfully is just as detrimental to our heart & soul as if we had physically committed adultery. If you allowed contempt & hate to build up in your heart against a person it would create a barrier between you even if you never acted on those feelings. Likewise, having lustful thoughts hurts us spiritually if we never act on them because seeing someone as a sexual object builds the wrong feelings & motivations. We realize that thoughts precede actions & thinking about something paves the way to acting it out.
Look away, divert your eyes. Looking refers to one who continues to look with deliberate intent. We can’t live in a world without visual temptations but we don’t have to stare. We can always get up & leave a theater. We can put a book aside & not finish it. Even though we rented a movie, if it gets weird we don’t have to watch it.
If you go on a diet the last place you need to go is to the Dairy Queen or Wendy’s. If you’re counting calories the last thing you need is to go somewhere they have luscious pictures of Lobster Primavera on the menu. Then Jesus said;
2. CUT IT OUT.
If your eye or hand offends, put them away from you. Now we know Jesus isn’t actually speaking of mutilation here, He’s speaking figuratively. What He’s saying is whatever causes you to sin, get rid of it.
I’ve heard of good honorable people who can’t have a computer because of the temptation to log onto a porn channel. Not having a computer prevents them from communication with relatives, checking their bank accounts, checking news stories, driving directions to different locations, purchasing things conveniently, using the spiritual materials that are available online, knowing what’s happening to ministries around the world, & a multitude of other good things. But they can’t trust themselves to have those conveniences because it could open a door for a temptation they feel might be their spiritual downfall.
There are others who can’t have cable T.V because they don’t trust their ability to change the channel. Some people won’t listen to certain kinds of music & even terminate romantic relationships that are leading them into tempting situations.
There are people who haven’t had a drink for years & won’t go places where alcohol is served because it’s a temptation they don’t want to have to deal with. We might look at these folk critically but the bottom line is; whether it’s canceling AOL, having cable television disconnected, transferring to another department at work, whatever is necessary to keep out of a situation that causes temptation to sin, it’s wise to cut it out. It’s better to go dateless, have no television, not get a promotion & forego the knowledge the internet could supply than to be trapped in sin.
3. GUARD YOUR HEART
David said; Create in me a pure heart O God….Psalm 51:10
I realize that temptation is a matter of the heart not just our surroundings & certainly our heart must be dealt with but in the case of many people, they feel by eliminating certain sources of temptation they get along better & give themselves the opportunity to focus on the real issues, the state of their heart.
God wants to purify our hearts so that dating isn’t a problem, surfing the internet isn’t a problem or working with an attractive member of the opposite sex isn’t a problem. But we have to do our part. In order to be victorious, we’ve got to eliminate certain distractions, learn to look away from temptations, learn to avoid sinful situations, & learn to focus on the work he wants to do in us.
Please understand the Christian life isn’t a cut & dried proposition, a life that we live in our own strength. While It’s true that we can never abandon our responsibility to mortify our own sin, as Christians, God’s Spirit is always with us working in us, both to will & to of His good pleasure. Phil.2:13. If we have a desire to do right in the first place, it’s God’s spirit that has come along side us to give us that desire.
In a very real sense, it’s as simple as this; “Walk in the Spirit & you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. Gal.5:16.
Let us therefore cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh & spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. -- 2 Cor.7:1
“When we all get to heaven” we’ll be rid of the flesh, but like the Amalekites, until totally eradicated, sin can always come screaming back with hellish fury when least expected.
Paul said, -But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 1 Cor.9:27.
We might as well accept the fact that we have a stalker named sin & it’s our duty, with the daily faithful assistance of the Holy Spirit, to mortify it, until we rest in gloryland.
Blessings,
John
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
Putting The Worlds Most Influential Evangelist To The Bible Test
By John Stallings
….beware of false prophets. Matthew 7:15
There are others with large audiences, but by her standards they are dwarfed.
She gets her message to more people than anyone else on earth.
Let’s face it, she’s number one; the world’s most powerful evangelist.
She’s a consummate entertainer, a publisher, publishing her own magazine O, which is a massive success, (2.7 million Monthly readership) and any book she promotes through her book club instantly becomes a bestseller. She’s an Internet powerhouse and her website is visited by millions. She’s the power behind an Internet and cable conglomerate called Oxygen that specializes in feminist programming. She’s a mega-business tycoon with her own Production Company, Harpo productions and studio. Her flagship Television talk show is always top rated; as a matter of fact, it’s the top rated talk show in history and reaches 30 million people a week in 111 countries.
She is also an award winning actress, a financial powerhouse worth hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as a mover and shaker who underwrites various and sundry causes. She is many things, but let’s talk about her as an evangelist. She is warm, down to earth, charming and is exceptionally good with ordinary folk. Her vast multimedia empire gives her a platform that no living preacher can match and believe me she’s using that platform to spread religion.
She espouses her own spiritual ideas and frequently features her favorite spiritual adviser's on her show. Her website offers answers to many spiritual questions. We’ve established the fact that she’s spreading religion, but what religion is she spreading?
THE MOST POWERFUL TELEVISION EVANGELIST IN THE WORLD TODAY IS OPRAH WINFREY.
I warn you in advance, if you’re an Oprah fan, some of the things I’m going to say will be tough to hear. And she is spreading the “New Age” religion & make no mistake, Oprah Winfrey isn’t a Christian nor does she claim to be. She is a consummate New Ager, and there’s no question that millions of 40- something housewives faithfully watch her and give a positive nod to everything she says. The massively influential Oprah was named in 1997 by Newsweek magazine, “The most important person in books and magazines.” It was that year when she started Angel Network, a philanthropic outreach that has raised 27 million dollars for needy people worldwide.
She got my attention when she endorsed Barack Obama for the Democrat candidate for the Presidency in 2008.That endorsement changed the political landscape giving America a problem we didn't need--THE OBAMA PROBLEM!
In 2004, Time magazine named Oprah one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2005, she received the prestigious NAACP Hall of Fame award. Let’s give credit where credit is due, in many ways Oprah’s show offers an alternative to some of the other trashy programming airing on daytime TV. She has the most magnetic personality imaginable. I give her that, hands down. She can be justifiably proud of the way she has risen from very humble and painful beginnings to such mega-stardom and world fame & at least Oprah is using her fame and influence to seek to improve people’s lives.
I’m sure that Oprah the evangelist has helped and encouraged multitudes to make many positive changes in their lives. Kudos are in order here. But remember, Satan is perfectly happy to let us mix in some of our own goodness, if in so doing he can take our eyes off the perfection that is in Christ Jesus alone.
Satan is happy to see us making short-term improvements in our lives, so long as we forget that it’s only the Gospel of Jesus Christ that can bring us real forgiveness for our sins and eternal life with God. How does what Oprah teaches harmonize with what the Bible teaches? Hold on tight, I’m going to tell you.
1. OPRAH FEELS THE BIBLE IS TOO LIMITED & BELIEVES NEW AGE THINKING ILLUMINATES & FILLS THE GAPS THE BIBLE MISSES.
She believes New Age thinking mostly agrees with the Bible, but it seriously doesn’t and there are huge life-or- death differences. Oprah believes in the FORCE- “I call it God,” she says. But this is a terrible mistake. The Lord isn’t a force, but rather an all-powerful Person. Oprah says each of us is part of that force and we have the potential to reach down deep inside ourselves and tap into that force. She goes on, saying that we don’t need Jesus and “Our biggest mistake is to believe that there’s only one way. Actually, there are many paths leading to “what you call God. There couldn’t possibly be only one way.”
If Oprah is correct, Jesus is a liar, for Jesus said,
I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. John 14:6.
So Jesus says he’s the only way, but Oprah contradicts Jesus and says there are many ways to God. She teaches that God cares more about our hearts than whether or not we call Jesus Lord. But Oprah is wrong! Houston, we have a problem.
Acts 4:12 makes it clear that, “There is no other name…by which we must be saved.”
2. OPRAH CLAIMS TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE SPIRITS OF HER ANCESTORS & OTHER DEAD PEOPLE.
New Age religion encourages such things but the Bible fiercely forbids trying to communicate with dead people or other spirit beings. The Bible clearly tells us in Isaiah 8:19 that we should inquire of God instead of going to old spirits or demons that are out to trick and destroy us. Old Testament King Saul in his backslidings started going to fortune tellers when God had forbidden it, seeking to learn from hell what heaven would no longer tell him. Oprah ignores the Bible and goes ahead and seeks the very type of contact that God forbids.
3. OPRAH FEELS TO LIVE WITH HER BOYFRIEND STEDMAN, UNMARRIED- IS PERFECTLY OKAY.
The Bible calls this fornication and obviously living in sin. The Bible commands that a couple be married before they live together. Oprah says, “it works so well this way, I wouldn’t want to mess it up.” So America’s beloved “Evangelist Oprah” slaps God in the face and by example, encourages millions of others to follow suit. Shame, shame Oprah! You feel that your feelings matter more than the facts of what God commands us to do. Your acid test is your subjective feelings rather than God’s objective commandments. Oprah’s religion contradicts the Bible. She spreads falsehoods about the most basic things: the nature of God, the way of salvation, the source of supernatural truth, and the standard for moral living.
4. OPRAH GETS HER THEOLOGY FROM GURUS AND NEW AGE TEACHERS.
New Agers like Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Shirley MacLaine, Betty Eadie and James Van Praagh are often on her program. These people don’t believe in a personal God but in an impersonal power. Shirley MacLaine goes so far as to say, “if everyone was taught one basic spiritual law, we’d all be happier and that law is that; everyone is God; everyone.” Oprah’s guru says, “The Universe is wise and compassionate and doesn’t burden you with a destiny. It provides you with potential. Your life depends on your choices. There are no right or wrong answers, only your holy life, and the experiences that you create in it.” These people promote a Godless religion and a Christless spirituality in a slick manner which popularizes the principle of reincarnation; which says that if you don’t get it right this time you will the next.
This is anti-Bible. What about salvation through Jesus Christ? These Guru’s deny this and speak of, no right, no wrong, no sin no judgment, no hell, no need for a savior. Your soul creates another life for you to live and die many times. This is re-incarnation. But the Bible says,
“Man is destined to die once and after that the judgment. Hebrews 9:27.
This is “Karma”…. “Nothing happens to you that don’t come from a choice you made, either in this life or a previous life. Its all in your hands and this is the lesson of Karma.” The message Oprah sends out is; -- don’t just listen to the Bible or think hard about the words God speaks; just watch Oprah and her Guru and feel them emote. They may sincerely believe what they’re saying but they have put there faith in lies, and are spreading those lies to millions of people. I’ll go so far as to give them the benefit of the doubt that they don’t realize that Satan himself is the author of the ideas they promote.
Satan isn’t stupid. He knows the best possible way to spread his message isn’t through some wild-eyed seemingly nutty person, but rather through a likable, warm woman full of good intentions, eager to help people. Another of Oprah’s Guru’s is a woman named Iyanla Vanzant who makes statements like, “The power is in your hands. The reason you are on this planet is to awaken to your God-self, to celebrate life, and to do what brings you JOY!” That’s just another re-hash of Satan’s old lie in the garden of Eden “You will be like God.” But now Satan doesn’t speak through a snake, he uses powerful and popular women. If we chose to follow our own warm-fuzzy feelings rather than the word of God, we are asking to become dupes of Satan. God says,
“Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit.”… Woe to the women “who prophesy out of their own imagination.” (Ezekiel 13:3,-17).
5. OPRAH & HER GURUS ARE BIG ON THE IDEA OF FORGIVENESS.
That seems strange to me because there’s never a hint of the problem of sin on Oprah’s shows. Only the power of positive thinking can change the world. Bad human behavior is only the result of the need for attitude adjustments or the “realignment of energies.” They can be heard talking about forgiving all the time but if there’s no personal God to sin against, and if there’s no such thing as a wrong choice or a sin, what real need does anyone have for forgiveness? What they teach is all about just keeping your feelings positive. Dismiss the notion that something is wrong with you or anyone else and delight in your own “evolving Godhood.” This view is a cheap counterfeit replacement for what Bible forgiveness really is. It’s an insult to the Son of God who died that we might be forgiven of our sins.
Personally, I like Oprah. I admire her talent and accomplishments. From the first time I saw her in the early eighties, I recognized there was something special about her and have often enjoyed watching her unique interviews. She’s a breath of fresh air in many ways & if nothing else, she provides a positive outlook when these days negativity abounds. Looking at her in purely human terms, “what’s not to like about Oprah?” However we must remember that while New Age Humanism sounds great, (who isn’t for the human race?), from a scriptural standpoint, Oprah the evangelist will destroy your spirit if you place your faith in the religion she promotes.
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit but try the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and now is already in the world.”(1 John 4:1-3)
THERE ARE SOME THINGS THAT CANNOT BE COMPROMISED.TO WIT….
God has provided only one message of salvation: the Bible. God has provided just one way to be saved. If you or I reject Jesus we will perish in hell. But if we believe in Him and Him alone, we will live forever in heaven. It’s just that simple. My prayer is; may God help people who are confused or deceived by false religion.
I AM PRAYING FOR YOU OPRAH, AND THAT’S THE TRUTH.
Blessings,
John
….beware of false prophets. Matthew 7:15
There are others with large audiences, but by her standards they are dwarfed.
She gets her message to more people than anyone else on earth.
Let’s face it, she’s number one; the world’s most powerful evangelist.
She’s a consummate entertainer, a publisher, publishing her own magazine O, which is a massive success, (2.7 million Monthly readership) and any book she promotes through her book club instantly becomes a bestseller. She’s an Internet powerhouse and her website is visited by millions. She’s the power behind an Internet and cable conglomerate called Oxygen that specializes in feminist programming. She’s a mega-business tycoon with her own Production Company, Harpo productions and studio. Her flagship Television talk show is always top rated; as a matter of fact, it’s the top rated talk show in history and reaches 30 million people a week in 111 countries.
She is also an award winning actress, a financial powerhouse worth hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as a mover and shaker who underwrites various and sundry causes. She is many things, but let’s talk about her as an evangelist. She is warm, down to earth, charming and is exceptionally good with ordinary folk. Her vast multimedia empire gives her a platform that no living preacher can match and believe me she’s using that platform to spread religion.
She espouses her own spiritual ideas and frequently features her favorite spiritual adviser's on her show. Her website offers answers to many spiritual questions. We’ve established the fact that she’s spreading religion, but what religion is she spreading?
THE MOST POWERFUL TELEVISION EVANGELIST IN THE WORLD TODAY IS OPRAH WINFREY.
I warn you in advance, if you’re an Oprah fan, some of the things I’m going to say will be tough to hear. And she is spreading the “New Age” religion & make no mistake, Oprah Winfrey isn’t a Christian nor does she claim to be. She is a consummate New Ager, and there’s no question that millions of 40- something housewives faithfully watch her and give a positive nod to everything she says. The massively influential Oprah was named in 1997 by Newsweek magazine, “The most important person in books and magazines.” It was that year when she started Angel Network, a philanthropic outreach that has raised 27 million dollars for needy people worldwide.
She got my attention when she endorsed Barack Obama for the Democrat candidate for the Presidency in 2008.That endorsement changed the political landscape giving America a problem we didn't need--THE OBAMA PROBLEM!
In 2004, Time magazine named Oprah one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2005, she received the prestigious NAACP Hall of Fame award. Let’s give credit where credit is due, in many ways Oprah’s show offers an alternative to some of the other trashy programming airing on daytime TV. She has the most magnetic personality imaginable. I give her that, hands down. She can be justifiably proud of the way she has risen from very humble and painful beginnings to such mega-stardom and world fame & at least Oprah is using her fame and influence to seek to improve people’s lives.
I’m sure that Oprah the evangelist has helped and encouraged multitudes to make many positive changes in their lives. Kudos are in order here. But remember, Satan is perfectly happy to let us mix in some of our own goodness, if in so doing he can take our eyes off the perfection that is in Christ Jesus alone.
Satan is happy to see us making short-term improvements in our lives, so long as we forget that it’s only the Gospel of Jesus Christ that can bring us real forgiveness for our sins and eternal life with God. How does what Oprah teaches harmonize with what the Bible teaches? Hold on tight, I’m going to tell you.
1. OPRAH FEELS THE BIBLE IS TOO LIMITED & BELIEVES NEW AGE THINKING ILLUMINATES & FILLS THE GAPS THE BIBLE MISSES.
She believes New Age thinking mostly agrees with the Bible, but it seriously doesn’t and there are huge life-or- death differences. Oprah believes in the FORCE- “I call it God,” she says. But this is a terrible mistake. The Lord isn’t a force, but rather an all-powerful Person. Oprah says each of us is part of that force and we have the potential to reach down deep inside ourselves and tap into that force. She goes on, saying that we don’t need Jesus and “Our biggest mistake is to believe that there’s only one way. Actually, there are many paths leading to “what you call God. There couldn’t possibly be only one way.”
If Oprah is correct, Jesus is a liar, for Jesus said,
I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. John 14:6.
So Jesus says he’s the only way, but Oprah contradicts Jesus and says there are many ways to God. She teaches that God cares more about our hearts than whether or not we call Jesus Lord. But Oprah is wrong! Houston, we have a problem.
Acts 4:12 makes it clear that, “There is no other name…by which we must be saved.”
2. OPRAH CLAIMS TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE SPIRITS OF HER ANCESTORS & OTHER DEAD PEOPLE.
New Age religion encourages such things but the Bible fiercely forbids trying to communicate with dead people or other spirit beings. The Bible clearly tells us in Isaiah 8:19 that we should inquire of God instead of going to old spirits or demons that are out to trick and destroy us. Old Testament King Saul in his backslidings started going to fortune tellers when God had forbidden it, seeking to learn from hell what heaven would no longer tell him. Oprah ignores the Bible and goes ahead and seeks the very type of contact that God forbids.
3. OPRAH FEELS TO LIVE WITH HER BOYFRIEND STEDMAN, UNMARRIED- IS PERFECTLY OKAY.
The Bible calls this fornication and obviously living in sin. The Bible commands that a couple be married before they live together. Oprah says, “it works so well this way, I wouldn’t want to mess it up.” So America’s beloved “Evangelist Oprah” slaps God in the face and by example, encourages millions of others to follow suit. Shame, shame Oprah! You feel that your feelings matter more than the facts of what God commands us to do. Your acid test is your subjective feelings rather than God’s objective commandments. Oprah’s religion contradicts the Bible. She spreads falsehoods about the most basic things: the nature of God, the way of salvation, the source of supernatural truth, and the standard for moral living.
4. OPRAH GETS HER THEOLOGY FROM GURUS AND NEW AGE TEACHERS.
New Agers like Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Shirley MacLaine, Betty Eadie and James Van Praagh are often on her program. These people don’t believe in a personal God but in an impersonal power. Shirley MacLaine goes so far as to say, “if everyone was taught one basic spiritual law, we’d all be happier and that law is that; everyone is God; everyone.” Oprah’s guru says, “The Universe is wise and compassionate and doesn’t burden you with a destiny. It provides you with potential. Your life depends on your choices. There are no right or wrong answers, only your holy life, and the experiences that you create in it.” These people promote a Godless religion and a Christless spirituality in a slick manner which popularizes the principle of reincarnation; which says that if you don’t get it right this time you will the next.
This is anti-Bible. What about salvation through Jesus Christ? These Guru’s deny this and speak of, no right, no wrong, no sin no judgment, no hell, no need for a savior. Your soul creates another life for you to live and die many times. This is re-incarnation. But the Bible says,
“Man is destined to die once and after that the judgment. Hebrews 9:27.
This is “Karma”…. “Nothing happens to you that don’t come from a choice you made, either in this life or a previous life. Its all in your hands and this is the lesson of Karma.” The message Oprah sends out is; -- don’t just listen to the Bible or think hard about the words God speaks; just watch Oprah and her Guru and feel them emote. They may sincerely believe what they’re saying but they have put there faith in lies, and are spreading those lies to millions of people. I’ll go so far as to give them the benefit of the doubt that they don’t realize that Satan himself is the author of the ideas they promote.
Satan isn’t stupid. He knows the best possible way to spread his message isn’t through some wild-eyed seemingly nutty person, but rather through a likable, warm woman full of good intentions, eager to help people. Another of Oprah’s Guru’s is a woman named Iyanla Vanzant who makes statements like, “The power is in your hands. The reason you are on this planet is to awaken to your God-self, to celebrate life, and to do what brings you JOY!” That’s just another re-hash of Satan’s old lie in the garden of Eden “You will be like God.” But now Satan doesn’t speak through a snake, he uses powerful and popular women. If we chose to follow our own warm-fuzzy feelings rather than the word of God, we are asking to become dupes of Satan. God says,
“Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit.”… Woe to the women “who prophesy out of their own imagination.” (Ezekiel 13:3,-17).
5. OPRAH & HER GURUS ARE BIG ON THE IDEA OF FORGIVENESS.
That seems strange to me because there’s never a hint of the problem of sin on Oprah’s shows. Only the power of positive thinking can change the world. Bad human behavior is only the result of the need for attitude adjustments or the “realignment of energies.” They can be heard talking about forgiving all the time but if there’s no personal God to sin against, and if there’s no such thing as a wrong choice or a sin, what real need does anyone have for forgiveness? What they teach is all about just keeping your feelings positive. Dismiss the notion that something is wrong with you or anyone else and delight in your own “evolving Godhood.” This view is a cheap counterfeit replacement for what Bible forgiveness really is. It’s an insult to the Son of God who died that we might be forgiven of our sins.
Personally, I like Oprah. I admire her talent and accomplishments. From the first time I saw her in the early eighties, I recognized there was something special about her and have often enjoyed watching her unique interviews. She’s a breath of fresh air in many ways & if nothing else, she provides a positive outlook when these days negativity abounds. Looking at her in purely human terms, “what’s not to like about Oprah?” However we must remember that while New Age Humanism sounds great, (who isn’t for the human race?), from a scriptural standpoint, Oprah the evangelist will destroy your spirit if you place your faith in the religion she promotes.
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit but try the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and now is already in the world.”(1 John 4:1-3)
THERE ARE SOME THINGS THAT CANNOT BE COMPROMISED.TO WIT….
God has provided only one message of salvation: the Bible. God has provided just one way to be saved. If you or I reject Jesus we will perish in hell. But if we believe in Him and Him alone, we will live forever in heaven. It’s just that simple. My prayer is; may God help people who are confused or deceived by false religion.
I AM PRAYING FOR YOU OPRAH, AND THAT’S THE TRUTH.
Blessings,
John
Saturday, June 10, 2017
He Can't Take His Eyes Off You!
by John Stallings
A land which the Lord thy God careth for; the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
Deuteronomy 11:12
Robert Goulet used to sing an old love song called If Ever I Would Leave You. The lyrics talk about not being able to leave his loved one in springtime because the thoughts of the sunlight in her hair were too vivid.
He couldn’t leave in autumn because he’s seen her in autumn and most certainly not in winter because there are those “snow-flakes in her hair” memories. I think you get the picture. I hope so, because I’m getting a little misty here. If you have an ounce of romance in your soul, to hear the song is like having your heart pulled through a knothole.
In this passage in Deuteronomy, this is exactly what Moses is saying to the people of Israel. They’re going to a land that God loves so much that His eyes roam over it constantly – “all year long.” He will never leave them. The Israelites had lived in Egypt for many years, and Moses is telling them that Palestine isn’t at all like Egypt. He’s telling them that here is a land that doesn’t depend so much on the labor of its people as it did on the goodwill of God. It’s a land of hills and valleys, a land of rivers, a land not dependent on irrigation, but rain from heaven.
In many ways it’s a picture of individuals. It’s a picture of the spiritual man and the carnal man.
• The carnal man has no one to look out for him.
• The carnal man has to be his own God.
• The carnal man has many cares and trials he has to handle himself.
• The carnal man lives a life of anxiety, sorrow, aggravation, and disappointment.
• He knows that he must be his own comforter and provider.
However,
• The spiritual man dwells in another country.
• The spiritual man is a citizen of heaven.
• The spiritual man has problems, alright, but they come to him under the supervision of a loving God in order to do him good.
• The spiritual man can cast his care upon the Lord.
• The spiritual man goes day to day knowing that “all things work together for good” in his life.
• God is his guardian and helper, and even in drought, he “lies down in green pastures.”
Ask yourself the question, “IS THERE ANY SEASON YOU COULD BE WITHOUT GOD’S WATCHFUL CARE?•
What about in times of prosperity?
No, no, we wouldn’t want to be without God in prosperity! But you may say, “Well it least I’d be free from worry if my business were prospering.” No, that would be like a wedding without a bridegroom. It would be like a day without light. Do without God in prosperity? A thousand times no. Think how self-centered and self-destructive we’d be. Would you want God to leave you or you leave Him when times were good? You would grow worldly and proud if that happened. We all realize how precarious success is. We realize that without God helping us and protecting us, we’d be on thin ice.
• What about times of adversity?
Could you be without God then? Without God when your heart is breaking? Without God when the waves of trials and tests threaten to take you under? Without God when you have no shelter? Without God when you’re going through a time of sickness? When you’ve just heard the word cancer? No, no, not then. God, don’t leave me then. Could you be without God then? With God, though it may sound strange, we can go through sickness with joyfulness, but without Him, what would we do?
• Can the young Christian be without God?
No matter how full of zeal he may be, can he do without God? No. How can a lamb be without his shepherd? How can a suckling babe be without its mother?
• Maybe the person in midlife can be without God.
No! He’ll be the first to tell you (if he’s wise) that this is his day of battle. The burdens of life and business are so heavy during this time that, without God, a man in midlife would be like a naked person in a barrel of briars and thorns – he can’t make it without God.
• What about the person in the older years of life?
Would they desire to be independent of God? They’ll be the first to tell you that as the weakness of body and problems of aging press in on them, to be without God would almost be sheer hell on earth. When the hair is white from the snows of many winters, that’s no time to be without our tender, loving, and caring friend who sticks closer than a brother.
FOR A MOMENT, LET’S DO THE UNTHINKABLE. LET’S IMAGINE A YEAR WITHOUT GOD.
Imagine a whole year with God not caring for us. Could anything be more horrible? Just think about going through . . .
January’s winter cold, the ice and the freezing weather.
the groaning of spring.
the hot summer months of sweating.
the fainting times of autumn
the times of struggling to the end of the year, and all of this without God to help us.
When God is gone there is
• No prayer
• No hope
• No promise
• We can cry out, but there’s no answer
Just think of this: The moment we pray, God will hear us! At that very moment, Jesus will come.
Since the eyes of God will be on us from the beginning to the end of every year we live, let’s . . .
. . . BE HAPPY
. . . BE FAITHFUL
. . . BE CONTENT
. . . BE GENEROUS
. . . BE INDUSTRIOUS
. . . BE HOPEFUL
. . . ALWAYS BE GROWING IN CHRIST AND LIVING IN THE SPIRITUAL PROMISED LAND BECAUSE . . .
… The eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
Deuteronomy 11:12
Blessings,
John
A land which the Lord thy God careth for; the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
Deuteronomy 11:12
Robert Goulet used to sing an old love song called If Ever I Would Leave You. The lyrics talk about not being able to leave his loved one in springtime because the thoughts of the sunlight in her hair were too vivid.
He couldn’t leave in autumn because he’s seen her in autumn and most certainly not in winter because there are those “snow-flakes in her hair” memories. I think you get the picture. I hope so, because I’m getting a little misty here. If you have an ounce of romance in your soul, to hear the song is like having your heart pulled through a knothole.
In this passage in Deuteronomy, this is exactly what Moses is saying to the people of Israel. They’re going to a land that God loves so much that His eyes roam over it constantly – “all year long.” He will never leave them. The Israelites had lived in Egypt for many years, and Moses is telling them that Palestine isn’t at all like Egypt. He’s telling them that here is a land that doesn’t depend so much on the labor of its people as it did on the goodwill of God. It’s a land of hills and valleys, a land of rivers, a land not dependent on irrigation, but rain from heaven.
In many ways it’s a picture of individuals. It’s a picture of the spiritual man and the carnal man.
• The carnal man has no one to look out for him.
• The carnal man has to be his own God.
• The carnal man has many cares and trials he has to handle himself.
• The carnal man lives a life of anxiety, sorrow, aggravation, and disappointment.
• He knows that he must be his own comforter and provider.
However,
• The spiritual man dwells in another country.
• The spiritual man is a citizen of heaven.
• The spiritual man has problems, alright, but they come to him under the supervision of a loving God in order to do him good.
• The spiritual man can cast his care upon the Lord.
• The spiritual man goes day to day knowing that “all things work together for good” in his life.
• God is his guardian and helper, and even in drought, he “lies down in green pastures.”
Ask yourself the question, “IS THERE ANY SEASON YOU COULD BE WITHOUT GOD’S WATCHFUL CARE?•
What about in times of prosperity?
No, no, we wouldn’t want to be without God in prosperity! But you may say, “Well it least I’d be free from worry if my business were prospering.” No, that would be like a wedding without a bridegroom. It would be like a day without light. Do without God in prosperity? A thousand times no. Think how self-centered and self-destructive we’d be. Would you want God to leave you or you leave Him when times were good? You would grow worldly and proud if that happened. We all realize how precarious success is. We realize that without God helping us and protecting us, we’d be on thin ice.
• What about times of adversity?
Could you be without God then? Without God when your heart is breaking? Without God when the waves of trials and tests threaten to take you under? Without God when you have no shelter? Without God when you’re going through a time of sickness? When you’ve just heard the word cancer? No, no, not then. God, don’t leave me then. Could you be without God then? With God, though it may sound strange, we can go through sickness with joyfulness, but without Him, what would we do?
• Can the young Christian be without God?
No matter how full of zeal he may be, can he do without God? No. How can a lamb be without his shepherd? How can a suckling babe be without its mother?
• Maybe the person in midlife can be without God.
No! He’ll be the first to tell you (if he’s wise) that this is his day of battle. The burdens of life and business are so heavy during this time that, without God, a man in midlife would be like a naked person in a barrel of briars and thorns – he can’t make it without God.
• What about the person in the older years of life?
Would they desire to be independent of God? They’ll be the first to tell you that as the weakness of body and problems of aging press in on them, to be without God would almost be sheer hell on earth. When the hair is white from the snows of many winters, that’s no time to be without our tender, loving, and caring friend who sticks closer than a brother.
FOR A MOMENT, LET’S DO THE UNTHINKABLE. LET’S IMAGINE A YEAR WITHOUT GOD.
Imagine a whole year with God not caring for us. Could anything be more horrible? Just think about going through . . .
January’s winter cold, the ice and the freezing weather.
the groaning of spring.
the hot summer months of sweating.
the fainting times of autumn
the times of struggling to the end of the year, and all of this without God to help us.
When God is gone there is
• No prayer
• No hope
• No promise
• We can cry out, but there’s no answer
Just think of this: The moment we pray, God will hear us! At that very moment, Jesus will come.
Since the eyes of God will be on us from the beginning to the end of every year we live, let’s . . .
. . . BE HAPPY
. . . BE FAITHFUL
. . . BE CONTENT
. . . BE GENEROUS
. . . BE INDUSTRIOUS
. . . BE HOPEFUL
. . . ALWAYS BE GROWING IN CHRIST AND LIVING IN THE SPIRITUAL PROMISED LAND BECAUSE . . .
… The eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
Deuteronomy 11:12
Blessings,
John
Friday, June 2, 2017
"Jesus Take The Wheel"
By John Stallings
A few years back Carrie Underwood won first place on the T.V talent show American Idol.
One of Carrie’s biggest hits has been the song “Jesus take the wheel.” It tells the story of a young mother who was trying to make it home for Christmas when her car spun out of control. In desperation she threw her hands up and asked Jesus to take control of the car.
Here are the words of that, I believe, powerful song…
She was driving last Friday on her way to Cincinnati
On a snow white Christmas Eve
Going home to see her Mama and her Daddy with the baby in the backseat
Fifty miles to go and she was running low on faith and gasoline
It'd been a long hard year
She had a lot on her mind and she didn't pay attention
she was going way too fast
Before she knew it she was spinning on a thin black sheet of glass
She saw both their lives flash before her eyes
She didn't even have time to cry
She was sooo scared
She threw her hands up in the air
Jesus take the wheel
Take it from my hands
Cause I can't do this on my own
I'm letting go
So give me one more chance
Save me from this road I'm on
Jesus take the wheel
It was still getting colder when she made it to the shoulder
And the car came to a stop
She cried when she saw that baby in the backseat sleeping like a rock
And for the first time in a long time
She bowed her head to pray
She said I'm sorry for the way
I've been living my life
I know I've got to change
So from now on tonight
Jesus take the wheel
Take it from my hands
Cause I can't do this on my own
I'm letting go
So give me one more chance
Save me from this road I'm on
Ooh, Jesus take the wheel
(James/Lindsey/Sampson)
These lyrics resonate with millions of people because they express what we all so often feel … the need for guidance in our lives. When in our humanness we’ve gotten things all messed up we reach out for a power beyond ourselves to take control.
SOMETHING NEW
In 1988 something new happened in the American political process. That year, for the first time in a long time, an avowedly evangelical candidate ran for the presidency of the United States.
George Bush won the election but if you roll the tape of your mind backwards—back before the Republican Convention, back to the early primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina, you may recall that Pat Robertson was also a candidate for president.
When Robertson entered the race, there was great furor among the mainstream media in America. How could an ordained minister, a “televangelist” at that, dare to run for president?
For a while it seemed as if Pat might actually have a chance to win. He won the Iowa caucuses, came in third in New Hampshire, and second in South Carolina. Nearly two million people voted for him. By the time of the Republican Convention, Pat Robertson, the man the media loved to hate, came in third place behind George Bush and Bob Dole. Third place would seem to be a good showing for somebody who was new on the national political scene.
After the general election was over and after George Bush had become President, Pat Robertson wrote the story of his political campaign from the standpoint of his Christian faith. The book that resulted is a book about the will of God called The Plan.
Bittersweet Victory
The book is about the fact of Robertson’s defeat in the 1988 election, and highlights the strange feeling among his delegates to the Republican Convention in New Orleans. On the one hand, they ought to be happy because their man had done so well. At last their views were being heard. But the victory was tempered by the reality that Pat Robertson had come in third. He paints the picture and poses the question this way:
“In the quest for the highest secular prize our nation has to offer, a third place finish is respectable. But my supporters were devastated. It was as if they mourned for the dead, feeling—as I did—that God had called me to win, not run third.
So in New Orleans I was asking one simple question—did God call me to run for president or not? And if He did call me, why did I lose?”
Pat Robertson’s book asked- How do you explain coming in third when you truly believed that it was God’s will for you to win?
WHAT HAPPENED LORD?
It’s a common question, isn’t it? You set out to get a new job, you work hard for it, you go through the interview, do your very best, believing your heart this is the job God wants you to have. Then somebody else gets the job. And you say, “Lord, I thought I was doing your will.”
Or you get the job, and you say, “Thank you, Lord.” Six months later you’re fired. And you say, “What happened, Lord?”
Or you think, “If only we could move to Florida, we would be happy.” So you move believing it to be the will of God. When you get there, you still are not happy. And you say, “Lord, did we make a mistake?”
You are a college student dreaming of being a doctor. You pray that God will help you get into medical school. You go through the grueling years of pre-medical courses, staying up late at night, taking chemistry, science and math courses. To your delight, you are accepted by the first school you apply to. Two years later you are washed out, unable to handle the pressure. And you say, “God, I thought you wanted me to be a doctor. Where did I go wrong?”
We know that we weren’t put on the earth without a purpose, to grope blindly through the darkness. But that’s the way life feels sometimes, especially when you come in third.
DISCOVERING GOD’S WILL
Let’s begin where a man named Saul began when he was struck down on the road to Damascus. After he learned that it was Jesus talking to him, he only asked one question:
“Lord, what do you want me to do?” (Acts 22:10)
Simple. Straightforward. No conditions or qualifications. It was the question that changed Saul the tormentor into Paul, the flaming evangelist.
“Lord, what do you want me to do?”
We all have to start right here. Same question. You’ll never discover God’s will if you start anywhere else. This is Step One and we can’t skip it.
It’s a primary question for those high school students who wonder if they should go to college, and if so, which one? It’s a central concern for all the college students who wonder what they should do for the next 50 years. It’s the crucial issue for every college graduate. What do you do now? Which job do you take? Should you get married? Where should you live?
It’s also the key question for the adults. It’s for the people who are in their thirties, their forties, the mid-life transition point. It’s for the people who are weighing one opportunity versus another, the job they have versus the job they want, the house they have versus another house they would like to have, a relationship they’re in versus another relationship they’d like to be in.
IS THAT ALL THERE IS?
Perhaps you’re in mid-life. You’ve put in 10 or 15 or 20 years at your job and now you’re wondering, “Is that all there is?” One day you wake up and realize, “My dreams aren’t coming true.” Maybe you’re at the top or you’ve just realized that you aren’t going to make it to the top. What do you do now? Being at that mid-life transition point seems to make the decisions harder, not easier. When you’re 17, you think the whole world is spread out before you. After 25 years the window of opportunity is slowly beginning to close. You can’t go back, you aren’t happy where you are, the future looks bleak, so you ask the question, “Lord, what is it that you want me to do?”
A few more years pass and now you are 55 or 60 or 65 or 70. If you’re a Christian, you want your closing years to count for the Lord.
OUR SECRET FEAR
We all want to stand before the Lord and hear him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” I think all of us have a secret fear that someday the Lord will say to us, “You did a good job at what you chose to do, but, unfortunately, it’s not what I sent you to earth to do.” We worry that someday after leading a very successful life; God will say to us, “Nice going, but you missed the whole thing.”
A WORD TO THE WISE
Ephesians 5:17 says,
“Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”
Knowing the will of God for your life is the primary difference between being wise and being foolish. In God’s eyes, the number one thing that makes the difference between you as a wise or foolish person is that you know, understand and do God’s will for your life.
The following IMHO are four wrong ideas about God’s guidance and a biblical answer for each one. Each of these myths is quite popular and devastating in its impact.
Myth # -1 GOD WANTS YOU TO KNOW THE FUTURE
What a mistake. It’s rarely God’s will that you should know your personal future. God isn’t interested in showing you your future. God wants to show you the next step. That’s how he reveals his will for your life—one step at a time.
Psalm 119:105 paints a clear picture about how we discover the will of God:
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”
The picture here is not of a blazing light. It’s a picture of a man in total darkness walking along a dangerous trail. There is no moon in the sky. Darkness clings to him. The only thing he has to illuminate his way is a lantern. As he holds the lantern in his hand, it lights the step right in front of him. When he takes that step, the light goes forward one more step.
ONE STEP AT A TIME
How does God guide his people? He’ll show us the next step. God isn’t about showing us what’s going to happen six months or a year from now. He wants us to know the next step, and nothing more.
Let’s face it; we all want to know the future. At least we think we do. We want to know what is going to happen next year so we can be ready in advance. But God won’t play that game.
GOD KNOWS—BUT HE’S NOT TELLING
Does God know the future? Yes, he does. But the Bible says,
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God.” (Deuteronomy 29:29)
God knows what will happen tomorrow, but he’s not telling anyone about it.
If you and I knew the future, we wouldn’t be able to understand it because there are so many factors that play into it. Most of us want simple answers, “Will the stock market go up or down?” “Should I take that new job?” “If I ask Sally to marry me, will she say yes?” God knows the big picture, but if he showed us, either we wouldn’t understand it or it would scare us half to death.
If we knew the future, it would make us either lazy or arrogant. It might make us lazy because we wouldn’t have to work so hard, already knowing what the future was going to be. Or it might tend to make us arrogant because we would know something other people wouldn’t know. Either way, whether lazy or arrogant, we’d be insufferable.
The most important reason it’s good not to know the future is that knowing your future destroys your faith. If you knew the future, you wouldn’t be walking by faith but by sight. It’s God’s desire to show you the next step, and he will.
DOES GOD HAVE A BLUEPRINT FOR YOUR LIFE?
Does God have a blueprint for your life that includes everything from the moment of your birth to the moment of your death? The answer to that question is “Yes.” But—and this is an all-important point…
I don’t know of any way you can get a copy.
He’s got the only copy, and he’s got it in a “lock box” up in heaven, and he’s got the only key. God wants to teach us to trust him- step by step. He reveals his will one step at a time so you will trust him moment by moment.
The second popular myth about God’s will is...
Myth # 2: GOD WILL GIVE YOU TOTAL CERTAINTY BEFORE YOU MAKE A DECISION.
Many people believe they must be 100% certain of God’s will before they make a decision. I can understand their thinking. After all, if you are facing a life-changing decision—a potential marriage, a cross-country move, a new career, which college to attend, whether or not to begin chemotherapy—you’d like to know in advance beyond any doubt that you are doing what God wants you to do.
If you have any doubt, don’t, or so the saying goes. If you aren’t sure about the new job, don’t take it, don’t make the move, don’t say yes, and don’t make any decision with less than total certainty.
But is that good advice? Is it realistic? Is that the way God normally works? I think not.
HOW MUCH DID THEY KNOW?
Did Noah know all about the flood? No, but he built the ark anyway.
Did Abraham have total certainty? No, but he left Ur of the Chaldees.
Did Jacob know where he was going? No, but he left home because he couldn’t safely stay there.
Did Moses understand what it meant to lead God’s people out of Egypt? No, but he said yes when the Lord called him.
Did Joshua know how the walls were going to come tumbling down? No, but he marched around Jericho anyway.
Did Gideon fully grasp God’s plan to defeat the Midianites? No, he doubted it from the beginning but God delivered his people anyway.
Did young David have a clue of what was to come when Samuel said to Jesse, “This is the one"? No, but the Spirit of the Lord came upon him anyway.
Did Daniel know Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in advance?
Did the three Hebrew children know how they would be delivered?
Was Daniel sure the lions would welcome him dropping in on them?
Did Peter know he could walk on water?
Did Paul know the serpent wouldn’t hurt him?
The answer is no. The life of faith means living with uncertainty even in the midst of doing God’s will. That’s the whole point of Hebrews 11. Those great men and women didn’t know the future, or have certainty, but they trusted God anyway, sometimes in the face of great suffering. And because of that, they won a great reward.
LOOKING FOR “THE MAN”
Acts 16 is a very interesting chapter. This chapter records Paul’s second missionary journey. He and his team had been preaching in various places in Phrygia and Galatia but when he attempted to go to the province of Asia, the Holy Spirit “prevented them.” (16:6) No one knows exactly how the Holy Spirit stopped them. So then they decided to go to Bithynia but “the Spirit would not allow them to.” (16:7). Then Paul had a vision in which a man from Macedonia appeared to him and cried out,
“Come over and help us.”
Macedonia was Greece, across the Aegean Sea. That was Europe. Going to Macedonia meant moving from Asia to Europe. Paul’s vision was a direct, supernatural message from God. So Paul and his companions crossed the sea, went to Macedonia, and began to preach the gospel.
Now, if you just took that story the way that most people take the will of God, there are several things you’d expect based on the vision of the man from Macedonia. First, that when you got to Macedonia, the first person you would meet would be “the man,” -right there welcoming you off the boat. “I’m the man you saw in your dream. Welcome to Macedonia.”
If it had been me I’d have had great expectations of what would be waiting on me. I’d have been expecting “the man” to run up and shake my hand and say, “Come on, you’re staying at my house. I’ve got a whole area set aside for you with big bedrooms and a sauna. Let’s hurry up. My wife has supper on the table. Man I’m glad you’re here. We’re gonna start a church.”
Thinking rationally a person would expect when they got to a crucial point in their ministry that God would give them another vision and show them the next thing that he wanted them to do.
Then they’d expect that they’d stay in Macedonia a long time, perhaps for the rest of their life, until another miracle took place.
But look what happened to the Apostle Paul when he got to Macedonia. The man from Macedonia was nowhere to be found. So far as we know, Paul never met the man who appeared in his vision.
Who’s the first person Paul meets in Macedonia? Not a man but a group of women, and one woman in particular whose name was Lydia. It was a man who said, “Come over and help us.” But Paul meets a woman.
Now, if we were following the 100 percent certainty idea, we might say to ourselves, “I can’t stay and preach the gospel to you because I’m looking for the man who appeared to me in the vision.” But that’s not the way Paul operated. Paul assumed that since there was a group of women there, they were the ones he was to preach to. Paul stayed there for many days, leading Lydia and the members of her household to faith in Jesus Christ.
JAILHOUSE ROCK
But that’s not the end of chapter 16. While he stayed with Lydia, a demon-possessed girl followed Paul around, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She was saying the right things but with a wrong spirit. The whole thing troubled Paul so much that he finally cast the demon out of the girl. But she had made money for the merchants as a fortune teller. So the merchants got mad at Paul and had him arrested. He was thrown in jail along with Silas after the two of them were savagely beaten.
They ended up singing hymns at midnight when a mighty earthquake destroyed the jail, breaking all the chains. The jailer woke up, assumed everyone had escaped and prepared to kill himself. When he discovered that the prisoners were still there, he fell down before Paul and cried, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul led him to Christ, then led his whole family to Christ, then baptized them all right then and there—in the middle of the night!
You might think that the stage is set for a great revival but that’s not what happened. The next day Paul and Silas were released but Paul didn’t want to leave town like a common criminal. So Paul demanded—and got—an official escort out of town. The town leaders in essence say to him, “Paul, you know we practice freedom of religion, but you’ve caused a lot of trouble here. We would like you to leave town just as soon as you can.” The Bible says that Paul thanked the people he was with, prayed with them, then he and his team went on to the next city. That’s Acts 16.
But where was the man from Macedonia? He never showed up. He was a “no-show.” So far as we know Paul never got another supernatural vision telling him what to do next. And he didn’t stay there for years. He only stayed in Philippi for a few days and then went on to the next city.
DID PAUL FLOP AT PHILIPPI?
From the world’s point of view, what Paul did in Philippi looks like a failure. He was in trouble almost from the moment he got there. He ends up having the town fathers asking him to leave quietly. Is this success? Where’s the great church Paul came to establish? Acts 16 appears from a human standpoint to record a dismal failure. But from God’s point of view what the Apostle Paul did was a success because he followed the leading that God gave him. He took a step, God gave more light, he took another step, and God gave more light.
Because Paul knew that God had sent him to preach the gospel, it didn’t matter to him whether he was in jail or on the streets, he was going to preach the gospel wherever he was. Paul continued to do the will of God as he understood it. And step by step, throughout Acts 16, even through twists and turns, Paul did exactly what God wanted him to do although what he did in the end was not what he expected to do in the beginning.
MOMENT BY MOMENT-STEP BY STEP
God leads his people step by step. You might have a supernatural vision along the way but it isn’t mandatory. What is necessary is a willing heart and a willingness to move out in faith in obedience in the leading of the Lord. You and I will rarely know the future, and things won’t always work out like we expect, but we’ll still be doing God’s will step by step.
Doing God’s will means taking the next step—whatever it is—without a definite promise about the end result. Without 100% certainty when the moment comes to decide, we must make the best decision we can with the information we’ve got, trusting God for the results. Sometimes we’ll know more, sometimes less, but living by faith means taking the next step anyway.
And that leads us directly to the third myth.
Myth # 3: GOD WANTS ME TO BE HAPPY
Millions of people buy into this false idea. They believe that it is God’s will that they should be happy. It sounds good, doesn’t it? “God wants me to be happy, fulfilled and successful.” That thinking has been used to justify all manner of bizarre and even evil behavior. That philosophy lurks behind the words of a song popular in the late 70s: “How can it be wrong when it feels so right?”
People have used this myth to justify every kind of sinful behavior. Some Christians have said, “It’s God’s will that I should divorce my spouse and marry someone else because we’re in love, and God wants us to be happy. After all, everyone has the right to happiness.” The correct theological term for that is “Balderdash and Bologna.”
NOT NECESSARILY HAPPY-BUT HOLY
If it’s not God’s will for us to be happy, what is God’s will? It’s God’s will for us to be holy. It’s God’s will for us to be like Jesus. It’s God’s will for us to be in a place of maximum usefulness for the kingdom of God.
Romans 8:29 says, “Those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.”
That is the will of God for your life. He wants you to become Christ like. Whatever makes you like Jesus is good. Whatever doesn’t make you like Jesus is bad. And God wants to shape our lives day by day into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Was Jesus a Failure?
If God’s will is to make us happy and successful, then Jesus was a failure. He was rejected, beaten, hated, despised, mocked, abused and finally crucified—the world’s ultimate sign of rejection. And to this day there are millions of people who mock the name of Jesus Christ, laugh at him, care nothing for him, and think he was a failure. Was he? Was Jesus Christ a failure? After 2,000 years has Jesus finally been vindicated? In the hearts of those who believe—yes. But to the people of the world—no.
Will God’s plan for you and me always bring immediate worldly wealth and success? No, but God’s plan will always bring peace and joy. Our duty is to find his perfect plan for our lives and to follow it with the ability that he gives us. It’s his responsibility to bring about the results.
Here’s the final myth.
Myth # 4: GOD MAKES HIS WILL HARD TO FIND
God wants you to know his will more than you want to know it. God is more committed to showing you his will than you are to discovering it. And he has taken full responsibility for getting you from here to there step by step. He said, “I will never leave you.” (Hebrews 13:5) And he won’t. He said, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.” (Psalm 32:8) And he will. He said, “Lo, I am with you always.” (Matthew 28:20) And he is. Basically God is saying, “Trust me.”
Sometimes that means victory. Sometimes that means coming in third.
In his book, Pat Robertson looks back at his campaign and draws three conclusions. (I am paraphrasing his words) First, “I now understand it was God’s will for me to run. It was not God’s will for me to win.” Number two, “I didn’t understand that until the end looking back.” Number three, “I see that out of the pain and humiliation of that defeat, God brought great blessing.”
Robertson talks about how thousands of Christians got involved in the political process for the first time and how the Lord used the defeat to prune CBN back so it was poised for even greater growth in the future. He concludes that what seemed to be a tragedy ultimately brought great blessing. That’s what often happens when we do God’s will.
Do you want to know God’s will? If the answer is no or if you are not sure, then let me ask a second question: Are you willing to be made willing? Are you willing to be made willing? If you will say, “Lord, I am not sure I am willing, but I am willing to be made willing,” he will lead you step by step.
In closing, here’s an excerpt from Pat Robertson’s book.
“The week before the Super Tuesday primary I flew into the Bristol, Tennessee, Tri-Cities airport for a rally. There were about one thousand people in that early-morning crowd-shouting, clapping, waving banners. After a brief speech, I walked across to shake hands with the people.
One member of that big crowd lives in my memory -- a little towheaded, freckle-faced boy about 10 years old. He looked up at me with eyes full of trust, and as I shook his hand, said with all the earnestness he could muster, "Please win!"
To him I must reply, "Son I don't know your name, but I want you to know this. I followed God's plan for me, so in His eyes I did win."
And you, too, can always be a winner, if you just put your hand in God's hand and walk on down the road with Him.
Blessings,
John
A few years back Carrie Underwood won first place on the T.V talent show American Idol.
One of Carrie’s biggest hits has been the song “Jesus take the wheel.” It tells the story of a young mother who was trying to make it home for Christmas when her car spun out of control. In desperation she threw her hands up and asked Jesus to take control of the car.
Here are the words of that, I believe, powerful song…
She was driving last Friday on her way to Cincinnati
On a snow white Christmas Eve
Going home to see her Mama and her Daddy with the baby in the backseat
Fifty miles to go and she was running low on faith and gasoline
It'd been a long hard year
She had a lot on her mind and she didn't pay attention
she was going way too fast
Before she knew it she was spinning on a thin black sheet of glass
She saw both their lives flash before her eyes
She didn't even have time to cry
She was sooo scared
She threw her hands up in the air
Jesus take the wheel
Take it from my hands
Cause I can't do this on my own
I'm letting go
So give me one more chance
Save me from this road I'm on
Jesus take the wheel
It was still getting colder when she made it to the shoulder
And the car came to a stop
She cried when she saw that baby in the backseat sleeping like a rock
And for the first time in a long time
She bowed her head to pray
She said I'm sorry for the way
I've been living my life
I know I've got to change
So from now on tonight
Jesus take the wheel
Take it from my hands
Cause I can't do this on my own
I'm letting go
So give me one more chance
Save me from this road I'm on
Ooh, Jesus take the wheel
(James/Lindsey/Sampson)
These lyrics resonate with millions of people because they express what we all so often feel … the need for guidance in our lives. When in our humanness we’ve gotten things all messed up we reach out for a power beyond ourselves to take control.
SOMETHING NEW
In 1988 something new happened in the American political process. That year, for the first time in a long time, an avowedly evangelical candidate ran for the presidency of the United States.
George Bush won the election but if you roll the tape of your mind backwards—back before the Republican Convention, back to the early primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina, you may recall that Pat Robertson was also a candidate for president.
When Robertson entered the race, there was great furor among the mainstream media in America. How could an ordained minister, a “televangelist” at that, dare to run for president?
For a while it seemed as if Pat might actually have a chance to win. He won the Iowa caucuses, came in third in New Hampshire, and second in South Carolina. Nearly two million people voted for him. By the time of the Republican Convention, Pat Robertson, the man the media loved to hate, came in third place behind George Bush and Bob Dole. Third place would seem to be a good showing for somebody who was new on the national political scene.
After the general election was over and after George Bush had become President, Pat Robertson wrote the story of his political campaign from the standpoint of his Christian faith. The book that resulted is a book about the will of God called The Plan.
Bittersweet Victory
The book is about the fact of Robertson’s defeat in the 1988 election, and highlights the strange feeling among his delegates to the Republican Convention in New Orleans. On the one hand, they ought to be happy because their man had done so well. At last their views were being heard. But the victory was tempered by the reality that Pat Robertson had come in third. He paints the picture and poses the question this way:
“In the quest for the highest secular prize our nation has to offer, a third place finish is respectable. But my supporters were devastated. It was as if they mourned for the dead, feeling—as I did—that God had called me to win, not run third.
So in New Orleans I was asking one simple question—did God call me to run for president or not? And if He did call me, why did I lose?”
Pat Robertson’s book asked- How do you explain coming in third when you truly believed that it was God’s will for you to win?
WHAT HAPPENED LORD?
It’s a common question, isn’t it? You set out to get a new job, you work hard for it, you go through the interview, do your very best, believing your heart this is the job God wants you to have. Then somebody else gets the job. And you say, “Lord, I thought I was doing your will.”
Or you get the job, and you say, “Thank you, Lord.” Six months later you’re fired. And you say, “What happened, Lord?”
Or you think, “If only we could move to Florida, we would be happy.” So you move believing it to be the will of God. When you get there, you still are not happy. And you say, “Lord, did we make a mistake?”
You are a college student dreaming of being a doctor. You pray that God will help you get into medical school. You go through the grueling years of pre-medical courses, staying up late at night, taking chemistry, science and math courses. To your delight, you are accepted by the first school you apply to. Two years later you are washed out, unable to handle the pressure. And you say, “God, I thought you wanted me to be a doctor. Where did I go wrong?”
We know that we weren’t put on the earth without a purpose, to grope blindly through the darkness. But that’s the way life feels sometimes, especially when you come in third.
DISCOVERING GOD’S WILL
Let’s begin where a man named Saul began when he was struck down on the road to Damascus. After he learned that it was Jesus talking to him, he only asked one question:
“Lord, what do you want me to do?” (Acts 22:10)
Simple. Straightforward. No conditions or qualifications. It was the question that changed Saul the tormentor into Paul, the flaming evangelist.
“Lord, what do you want me to do?”
We all have to start right here. Same question. You’ll never discover God’s will if you start anywhere else. This is Step One and we can’t skip it.
It’s a primary question for those high school students who wonder if they should go to college, and if so, which one? It’s a central concern for all the college students who wonder what they should do for the next 50 years. It’s the crucial issue for every college graduate. What do you do now? Which job do you take? Should you get married? Where should you live?
It’s also the key question for the adults. It’s for the people who are in their thirties, their forties, the mid-life transition point. It’s for the people who are weighing one opportunity versus another, the job they have versus the job they want, the house they have versus another house they would like to have, a relationship they’re in versus another relationship they’d like to be in.
IS THAT ALL THERE IS?
Perhaps you’re in mid-life. You’ve put in 10 or 15 or 20 years at your job and now you’re wondering, “Is that all there is?” One day you wake up and realize, “My dreams aren’t coming true.” Maybe you’re at the top or you’ve just realized that you aren’t going to make it to the top. What do you do now? Being at that mid-life transition point seems to make the decisions harder, not easier. When you’re 17, you think the whole world is spread out before you. After 25 years the window of opportunity is slowly beginning to close. You can’t go back, you aren’t happy where you are, the future looks bleak, so you ask the question, “Lord, what is it that you want me to do?”
A few more years pass and now you are 55 or 60 or 65 or 70. If you’re a Christian, you want your closing years to count for the Lord.
OUR SECRET FEAR
We all want to stand before the Lord and hear him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” I think all of us have a secret fear that someday the Lord will say to us, “You did a good job at what you chose to do, but, unfortunately, it’s not what I sent you to earth to do.” We worry that someday after leading a very successful life; God will say to us, “Nice going, but you missed the whole thing.”
A WORD TO THE WISE
Ephesians 5:17 says,
“Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”
Knowing the will of God for your life is the primary difference between being wise and being foolish. In God’s eyes, the number one thing that makes the difference between you as a wise or foolish person is that you know, understand and do God’s will for your life.
The following IMHO are four wrong ideas about God’s guidance and a biblical answer for each one. Each of these myths is quite popular and devastating in its impact.
Myth # -1 GOD WANTS YOU TO KNOW THE FUTURE
What a mistake. It’s rarely God’s will that you should know your personal future. God isn’t interested in showing you your future. God wants to show you the next step. That’s how he reveals his will for your life—one step at a time.
Psalm 119:105 paints a clear picture about how we discover the will of God:
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”
The picture here is not of a blazing light. It’s a picture of a man in total darkness walking along a dangerous trail. There is no moon in the sky. Darkness clings to him. The only thing he has to illuminate his way is a lantern. As he holds the lantern in his hand, it lights the step right in front of him. When he takes that step, the light goes forward one more step.
ONE STEP AT A TIME
How does God guide his people? He’ll show us the next step. God isn’t about showing us what’s going to happen six months or a year from now. He wants us to know the next step, and nothing more.
Let’s face it; we all want to know the future. At least we think we do. We want to know what is going to happen next year so we can be ready in advance. But God won’t play that game.
GOD KNOWS—BUT HE’S NOT TELLING
Does God know the future? Yes, he does. But the Bible says,
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God.” (Deuteronomy 29:29)
God knows what will happen tomorrow, but he’s not telling anyone about it.
If you and I knew the future, we wouldn’t be able to understand it because there are so many factors that play into it. Most of us want simple answers, “Will the stock market go up or down?” “Should I take that new job?” “If I ask Sally to marry me, will she say yes?” God knows the big picture, but if he showed us, either we wouldn’t understand it or it would scare us half to death.
If we knew the future, it would make us either lazy or arrogant. It might make us lazy because we wouldn’t have to work so hard, already knowing what the future was going to be. Or it might tend to make us arrogant because we would know something other people wouldn’t know. Either way, whether lazy or arrogant, we’d be insufferable.
The most important reason it’s good not to know the future is that knowing your future destroys your faith. If you knew the future, you wouldn’t be walking by faith but by sight. It’s God’s desire to show you the next step, and he will.
DOES GOD HAVE A BLUEPRINT FOR YOUR LIFE?
Does God have a blueprint for your life that includes everything from the moment of your birth to the moment of your death? The answer to that question is “Yes.” But—and this is an all-important point…
I don’t know of any way you can get a copy.
He’s got the only copy, and he’s got it in a “lock box” up in heaven, and he’s got the only key. God wants to teach us to trust him- step by step. He reveals his will one step at a time so you will trust him moment by moment.
The second popular myth about God’s will is...
Myth # 2: GOD WILL GIVE YOU TOTAL CERTAINTY BEFORE YOU MAKE A DECISION.
Many people believe they must be 100% certain of God’s will before they make a decision. I can understand their thinking. After all, if you are facing a life-changing decision—a potential marriage, a cross-country move, a new career, which college to attend, whether or not to begin chemotherapy—you’d like to know in advance beyond any doubt that you are doing what God wants you to do.
If you have any doubt, don’t, or so the saying goes. If you aren’t sure about the new job, don’t take it, don’t make the move, don’t say yes, and don’t make any decision with less than total certainty.
But is that good advice? Is it realistic? Is that the way God normally works? I think not.
HOW MUCH DID THEY KNOW?
Did Noah know all about the flood? No, but he built the ark anyway.
Did Abraham have total certainty? No, but he left Ur of the Chaldees.
Did Jacob know where he was going? No, but he left home because he couldn’t safely stay there.
Did Moses understand what it meant to lead God’s people out of Egypt? No, but he said yes when the Lord called him.
Did Joshua know how the walls were going to come tumbling down? No, but he marched around Jericho anyway.
Did Gideon fully grasp God’s plan to defeat the Midianites? No, he doubted it from the beginning but God delivered his people anyway.
Did young David have a clue of what was to come when Samuel said to Jesse, “This is the one"? No, but the Spirit of the Lord came upon him anyway.
Did Daniel know Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in advance?
Did the three Hebrew children know how they would be delivered?
Was Daniel sure the lions would welcome him dropping in on them?
Did Peter know he could walk on water?
Did Paul know the serpent wouldn’t hurt him?
The answer is no. The life of faith means living with uncertainty even in the midst of doing God’s will. That’s the whole point of Hebrews 11. Those great men and women didn’t know the future, or have certainty, but they trusted God anyway, sometimes in the face of great suffering. And because of that, they won a great reward.
LOOKING FOR “THE MAN”
Acts 16 is a very interesting chapter. This chapter records Paul’s second missionary journey. He and his team had been preaching in various places in Phrygia and Galatia but when he attempted to go to the province of Asia, the Holy Spirit “prevented them.” (16:6) No one knows exactly how the Holy Spirit stopped them. So then they decided to go to Bithynia but “the Spirit would not allow them to.” (16:7). Then Paul had a vision in which a man from Macedonia appeared to him and cried out,
“Come over and help us.”
Macedonia was Greece, across the Aegean Sea. That was Europe. Going to Macedonia meant moving from Asia to Europe. Paul’s vision was a direct, supernatural message from God. So Paul and his companions crossed the sea, went to Macedonia, and began to preach the gospel.
Now, if you just took that story the way that most people take the will of God, there are several things you’d expect based on the vision of the man from Macedonia. First, that when you got to Macedonia, the first person you would meet would be “the man,” -right there welcoming you off the boat. “I’m the man you saw in your dream. Welcome to Macedonia.”
If it had been me I’d have had great expectations of what would be waiting on me. I’d have been expecting “the man” to run up and shake my hand and say, “Come on, you’re staying at my house. I’ve got a whole area set aside for you with big bedrooms and a sauna. Let’s hurry up. My wife has supper on the table. Man I’m glad you’re here. We’re gonna start a church.”
Thinking rationally a person would expect when they got to a crucial point in their ministry that God would give them another vision and show them the next thing that he wanted them to do.
Then they’d expect that they’d stay in Macedonia a long time, perhaps for the rest of their life, until another miracle took place.
But look what happened to the Apostle Paul when he got to Macedonia. The man from Macedonia was nowhere to be found. So far as we know, Paul never met the man who appeared in his vision.
Who’s the first person Paul meets in Macedonia? Not a man but a group of women, and one woman in particular whose name was Lydia. It was a man who said, “Come over and help us.” But Paul meets a woman.
Now, if we were following the 100 percent certainty idea, we might say to ourselves, “I can’t stay and preach the gospel to you because I’m looking for the man who appeared to me in the vision.” But that’s not the way Paul operated. Paul assumed that since there was a group of women there, they were the ones he was to preach to. Paul stayed there for many days, leading Lydia and the members of her household to faith in Jesus Christ.
JAILHOUSE ROCK
But that’s not the end of chapter 16. While he stayed with Lydia, a demon-possessed girl followed Paul around, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She was saying the right things but with a wrong spirit. The whole thing troubled Paul so much that he finally cast the demon out of the girl. But she had made money for the merchants as a fortune teller. So the merchants got mad at Paul and had him arrested. He was thrown in jail along with Silas after the two of them were savagely beaten.
They ended up singing hymns at midnight when a mighty earthquake destroyed the jail, breaking all the chains. The jailer woke up, assumed everyone had escaped and prepared to kill himself. When he discovered that the prisoners were still there, he fell down before Paul and cried, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul led him to Christ, then led his whole family to Christ, then baptized them all right then and there—in the middle of the night!
You might think that the stage is set for a great revival but that’s not what happened. The next day Paul and Silas were released but Paul didn’t want to leave town like a common criminal. So Paul demanded—and got—an official escort out of town. The town leaders in essence say to him, “Paul, you know we practice freedom of religion, but you’ve caused a lot of trouble here. We would like you to leave town just as soon as you can.” The Bible says that Paul thanked the people he was with, prayed with them, then he and his team went on to the next city. That’s Acts 16.
But where was the man from Macedonia? He never showed up. He was a “no-show.” So far as we know Paul never got another supernatural vision telling him what to do next. And he didn’t stay there for years. He only stayed in Philippi for a few days and then went on to the next city.
DID PAUL FLOP AT PHILIPPI?
From the world’s point of view, what Paul did in Philippi looks like a failure. He was in trouble almost from the moment he got there. He ends up having the town fathers asking him to leave quietly. Is this success? Where’s the great church Paul came to establish? Acts 16 appears from a human standpoint to record a dismal failure. But from God’s point of view what the Apostle Paul did was a success because he followed the leading that God gave him. He took a step, God gave more light, he took another step, and God gave more light.
Because Paul knew that God had sent him to preach the gospel, it didn’t matter to him whether he was in jail or on the streets, he was going to preach the gospel wherever he was. Paul continued to do the will of God as he understood it. And step by step, throughout Acts 16, even through twists and turns, Paul did exactly what God wanted him to do although what he did in the end was not what he expected to do in the beginning.
MOMENT BY MOMENT-STEP BY STEP
God leads his people step by step. You might have a supernatural vision along the way but it isn’t mandatory. What is necessary is a willing heart and a willingness to move out in faith in obedience in the leading of the Lord. You and I will rarely know the future, and things won’t always work out like we expect, but we’ll still be doing God’s will step by step.
Doing God’s will means taking the next step—whatever it is—without a definite promise about the end result. Without 100% certainty when the moment comes to decide, we must make the best decision we can with the information we’ve got, trusting God for the results. Sometimes we’ll know more, sometimes less, but living by faith means taking the next step anyway.
And that leads us directly to the third myth.
Myth # 3: GOD WANTS ME TO BE HAPPY
Millions of people buy into this false idea. They believe that it is God’s will that they should be happy. It sounds good, doesn’t it? “God wants me to be happy, fulfilled and successful.” That thinking has been used to justify all manner of bizarre and even evil behavior. That philosophy lurks behind the words of a song popular in the late 70s: “How can it be wrong when it feels so right?”
People have used this myth to justify every kind of sinful behavior. Some Christians have said, “It’s God’s will that I should divorce my spouse and marry someone else because we’re in love, and God wants us to be happy. After all, everyone has the right to happiness.” The correct theological term for that is “Balderdash and Bologna.”
NOT NECESSARILY HAPPY-BUT HOLY
If it’s not God’s will for us to be happy, what is God’s will? It’s God’s will for us to be holy. It’s God’s will for us to be like Jesus. It’s God’s will for us to be in a place of maximum usefulness for the kingdom of God.
Romans 8:29 says, “Those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.”
That is the will of God for your life. He wants you to become Christ like. Whatever makes you like Jesus is good. Whatever doesn’t make you like Jesus is bad. And God wants to shape our lives day by day into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Was Jesus a Failure?
If God’s will is to make us happy and successful, then Jesus was a failure. He was rejected, beaten, hated, despised, mocked, abused and finally crucified—the world’s ultimate sign of rejection. And to this day there are millions of people who mock the name of Jesus Christ, laugh at him, care nothing for him, and think he was a failure. Was he? Was Jesus Christ a failure? After 2,000 years has Jesus finally been vindicated? In the hearts of those who believe—yes. But to the people of the world—no.
Will God’s plan for you and me always bring immediate worldly wealth and success? No, but God’s plan will always bring peace and joy. Our duty is to find his perfect plan for our lives and to follow it with the ability that he gives us. It’s his responsibility to bring about the results.
Here’s the final myth.
Myth # 4: GOD MAKES HIS WILL HARD TO FIND
God wants you to know his will more than you want to know it. God is more committed to showing you his will than you are to discovering it. And he has taken full responsibility for getting you from here to there step by step. He said, “I will never leave you.” (Hebrews 13:5) And he won’t. He said, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.” (Psalm 32:8) And he will. He said, “Lo, I am with you always.” (Matthew 28:20) And he is. Basically God is saying, “Trust me.”
Sometimes that means victory. Sometimes that means coming in third.
In his book, Pat Robertson looks back at his campaign and draws three conclusions. (I am paraphrasing his words) First, “I now understand it was God’s will for me to run. It was not God’s will for me to win.” Number two, “I didn’t understand that until the end looking back.” Number three, “I see that out of the pain and humiliation of that defeat, God brought great blessing.”
Robertson talks about how thousands of Christians got involved in the political process for the first time and how the Lord used the defeat to prune CBN back so it was poised for even greater growth in the future. He concludes that what seemed to be a tragedy ultimately brought great blessing. That’s what often happens when we do God’s will.
Do you want to know God’s will? If the answer is no or if you are not sure, then let me ask a second question: Are you willing to be made willing? Are you willing to be made willing? If you will say, “Lord, I am not sure I am willing, but I am willing to be made willing,” he will lead you step by step.
In closing, here’s an excerpt from Pat Robertson’s book.
“The week before the Super Tuesday primary I flew into the Bristol, Tennessee, Tri-Cities airport for a rally. There were about one thousand people in that early-morning crowd-shouting, clapping, waving banners. After a brief speech, I walked across to shake hands with the people.
One member of that big crowd lives in my memory -- a little towheaded, freckle-faced boy about 10 years old. He looked up at me with eyes full of trust, and as I shook his hand, said with all the earnestness he could muster, "Please win!"
To him I must reply, "Son I don't know your name, but I want you to know this. I followed God's plan for me, so in His eyes I did win."
And you, too, can always be a winner, if you just put your hand in God's hand and walk on down the road with Him.
Blessings,
John
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