Moved By Grace

Amazing grace how sweet the sound!



Are you astounded by the grace of God? I was recently reminded of a great chapter in the timeless tome by J.I. Packer on God's Grace. (Knowing God)

This extended quote is from pages 132, 137.


(Begin quote)

We can only claim from Him justice--and justice, for us, means certain condemnation. God does not owe it to anyone to stop justice taking its course. He is not obliged to pity and pardon; if He does so it is an act done, as we say, "of his own free will," and nobody forces his hand. "It does not depend on man's will or effort, but on God's mercy" (Rom.9:16 NEB). Grace is free, in the sense of being self-originated and of proceeding from One who was free not to be gracious. Only when it is seen that what decides each individual's destiny is whether or not God resovles to save him from his sins, and that this is a decision which God need not make in any single case, can one begin to grasp the biblical view of grace.

The grace of God is love freely shown toward guilty sinners, contrary to their merit and indeed in defiance of their demerit. It is God showing goodness to persons who deserve only severity and had no reasons to expect anything but severity. We have seen why the thought of grace means so little to some church people--namely, because they do not share the beliefs about God and man which it presupposes. Now we have to ask, why should this thought mean so much to others? The answer is not far to seek; indeed, it is evident from what has already been said. It is surely clear that, once a person is convinced that his state and need are as described, the New Testament gospel of grace cannot but sweep him off his feet with wonder and joy. For it tells hour our Judge has become our Savior.

It has been said that in the New Testament doctrine is grace, and ethics is gratitude; and something is wrong with any form of Christianity in which, experimentally and practically, this saying is not being verified. Those who suppose that the doctrine of God's grace tends to encourage moral laxity ("final salvation is certain anyway, no matter what we do; therefore our conduct doesn't matter") are simply showing that, in the most literal sense, they do not know what they are talking about.

For love awakens love in return; and love, once awakened, desires to give pleasure. And the revealed will of God is that those who have received grace should henceforth give themselves to "good works" (Eph.2:10, Titus 2:11-12); and gratitude will move anyone who has truly received grace to do as God requires, and daily to cry out thus--

Oh! To grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be;
Let that grace now, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love
Take my heart, oh, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above!

Do you claim to know the love and grace of God in your own life? Prove your claim, then by going and praying likewise.

(End quote)

Lance Armstrong Is A Liar

“All liars will have their part in the lake of fire.”

“Thou shall not lie.” --- God


Lance Armstrong cheated and then lied about it.

I used to be a huge Lance fan. His story (which turned out to be a lie) was so compelling. An elite athlete…sidelined by cancer…fought and beat cancer…came back and won a record 7 times. Winning the Tour de France is an incredible athletic accomplishment. Winning it 7 times is historic. Coming back from cancer and winning 7 times is legendary. Now, it is all a lie.

What makes the story worse is that for years Armstrong was accused and denied the accusations with incredible consistency and vehemence. He sued people who accused him of doping. He was ruthless to those who said he was taking peds. He publicly denied that he used steroids over and over and over again. Now, in an interview with Oprah, he has admitted the lie publicly.

Lance Armstrong is a cheater, a deceiver and a LIAR. Lying is a sin against God. Lying is serious to the Lord. The Bible says that all liars deserve to be thrown into the waves of fire that make up the place called hell.

I am glad I am not Lance Armstrong. You probably are too.

I have never lied about taking performance-enhancing drugs in order to win the Tour de France. You probably haven’t either. But, but, but, but….I HAVE LIED…about other things.

The sad truth is that I haven’t just told one lie in my life, I’ve told more than one. And you know, YOU KNOW, that you have lied too. Hasn’t everyone? Do you think there is one person on this planet that has never told even one lie? No way! We have all told lies. The fact that everyone has told lies does not lessen the offense to the Lord. If everyone were a murderer it wouldn’t make murder less serious. The same is true with our lies.

Let’s try and quantify our lying for just a moment. If we were to estimate the number of lies we have told, would it be: in the hundreds or thousands? It’s hard to truly remember them all, but they are numerous…aren’t they?

So, what do we call someone who has told numerous lies? A human being. Of course, but more specifically someone who tells multiple lies is a LIAR. We don’t just tell lies we are liars. Those who commit sins are sinners.

This is a direct violation against the law of a Holy God. He is infinite in His Holiness, Righteousness and Justice. That means that even the little white lie is cosmic treason and rebellion against a Holy God. When we break His law we deserve the just punishment for our crime.

The Bible says that the punishment for our sin is certain and eternal death. (Romans 6:23) The Bible says that “all liars will have their part in the lake of fire (hell).” (Revelation 21:8)

If God gave us liars what we deserve it would be the punishment of an eternity in hell. That is what we deserve.

Well, maybe we can make up for our lies. Maybe Lance Armstrong can do enough good deeds to pay for his lies. He has, after all, done some incredible good. The Livestrong Foundation has done some great work in battling cancer. Lance should be applauded for his charity and philanthropic works. But, does his good deeds absolve him of his status as a liar? Not with God.

Think of it like this: if a murder comes to the judge and says, “Judge, I know I murdered by I have done all of these good things, and I promise that I will do even more good things in the future…can’t you let me go free because of my goodness?” No good Judge can let a murderer go free of his crime.

God is a just and righteous Judge. He cannot let sin go unpunished.

Uh oh! We are lying sinners and deserve the punishment of God, and there is nothing we can do about it. That is the truth. But, God is also amazing in Love. He loves sinners so much that He has done something for us that we could not do for our self. God has a solution to the problem of our sin, something only God could accomplish.

Sin had to be punished and paid for. We could never pay it to satisfy the demands of justice. Jesus could and did. Jesus, the sinless Son of God, came to pay for our crimes. He did this because He loves you and to satisfy the demands of justice.

It’s like this; suppose there is someone guilty of a crime. They are before the judge and the just penalty is 1 trillion dollars. The guilty man has no money; there is no way he can pay the fine for his crime. The Judge cannot and will not let the man go without the fine being paid. Then a stranger comes into the court. He walks up the judge. He has the full amount that he earned through his own hard work. He pays the judge the full amount for the crime of the guilty. The judge accepts the payment and offers freedom to the guilty.

When Jesus died on the cross He was paying for our crimes of sin against God. He paid, with His life’s blood, for our sin against a Holy God. He took what we deserved. And He rose from the dead on the third day. He lives. And because of Jesus, the demands of justice have been met and God extends the love of His grace towards sinners. It is His free gift of forgiveness that He offers to us.

What do sinning liars have to do? Simply receive the free gift that Jesus purchased on the cross. The Bible says the way we receive the gift of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life is by repentance and faith. (Ephesians 2:8-9; Acts 3:19)

Repent means to turn. Turn from yourself and your sin and turn TO Jesus Christ.

Believe means to entrust your entire life into the hands of Jesus. You give Him complete control of you. Faith is not just going to church or assenting to certain facts. True faith is giving everything you are over to Jesus to be the LORD and BOSS of your life.

This is the only hope for Lance Armstrong. It is the only hope for all of us liars.

Please consider this and turn to Christ in repentance and faith today.


If you have never done this and would like to, one way you can express your desire to repent and believe is to say a prayer like this:
Dear God,
I admit to you that I am a sinner. I am guilty of sin and deserve Your punishment. I realize that Jesus died for my sin on the cross and that He rose from the dead. I desire to turn from my sin and trust you as my Lord and Savior. I want to give my life over to You today. Thank you for saving me, forgiving me, and coming to live in me. Thank you for the promise of heaven.
I ask this in Jesus’ name,
Amen


(if you have just done this, please let me know)

Perpetual Disappointment

Is God perpetually disappointed in me?

What an odd question. Do you ever feel like that? Do you ever think that God is always disappointed in you?

I have and do sometimes. Maybe it's because there are times that I am acutely aware of how sinful I am. There are so many clear scriptures about the horror that is my sin and rebellion against the Lord. I begin to think to myself that my failures and shortcoming must disappoint and displease the Lord. My remedy for that is too try harder not to sin. Some days I do pretty good and think, "God must be pleased with me today." Other days, far too many, I fail to live up to my His expectations. Honestly, it feels like there are many more days like that, than the first example.

It can become a vicious cycle of deep introspection, discouragement and the thinking that God must always be disappointed in me.

And that is completely false.

In fact, the opposite is true. God is not disappointed in me. God is not displeased with me. God does not disapprove of me. Why? It is not on the basis of what I do, or what I don't do. It is on the basis of what Jesus has already done for me.

Hebrews 11:6 says that "without faith it is impossible to please God

. The converse of that is faith pleases God. God is pleased with me on the basis of faith. Faith in what? The gospel of Jesus Christ. That gospel is the lens through which God sees me. That gospel proclaims this: there is nothing good in me, and yet God still loved me enough to send Jesus who died for my sins, by faith in Jesus I am justified before God. My approval is based on the cross, not on my successes or failures.

Really, what I am doing when I feel like "God is perpetually disappointed in me" is taking my eyes off of the cross and becoming a bit narcissistic and self focused. That always leads to a negative view, and a wrong view.

I've heard this truth many times, "You can't do anything to make God love you more, or do anything to make Him love you less."

God is not perpetually disappointed in me, He loves me...the cross proves it.

"But God demonstrates His own love for us in this, while we were still sinners Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

Mission Greece Reflection

It's been about a week since I got back from mission trip Greece and I wanted to write a post-trip recap and review.

First, I was a bit bummed that I didn't have the capability or time to do more blogging, photos, and videos while in Greece. It just was what it was.

This was truly an incredible trip! I think we saw God do some things that were huge and not always what we had planned on.

Main task: seed sowing and gospel distribution.
We weren't the first team to go to Greece. Other teams had gone in previous years and we were truly building upon the foundation and ground that they had plowed up in previous years. Our strategy was mass distribution of an evangelistic website via cards, fliers, and wrist bands. We had about 7000 total pieces to get out. Based on previous trips, that amount would take about 5 days to distribute because people are very reluctant to take anything.
This year was different. We distributed our supplies in about a day and half! God was really opening people up. The cards and bracelets had a message about "hope" and people were literally chasing us down to get a hold of these things. It was amazing! Now, not everyone took one, we got rejected plenty, but the fact that we saw the whole supply disappear so soon was truly remarkable.
The evangelistic website was tracked. After we returned we learned that there were 1050 unique households that visited the website. That is an amazing return! I pray that God will water that seed that was sown and that lives would be changed by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Second task: sports ministry/clinics
The afternoons were planned to do a basketball clinic. Well, that didn't work out the way we planned, but God had another plan. We ended up getting to do some pic-up basketball games, teach american football, and play soccer with a bunch of people. We rotated between two main courts playing and sharing Christ until it was too dark to do it anymore.
This was another incredible thing God did. Team members got to meet and build relationships with many Greeks--younger and older. We got to share Christ with a bunch of people. I was trying to figure out how many, but we didn't keep tabs -- it was a bunch.
One of our team members got to share Christ with a guy after playing some hoops. The guy asked, "Why are yall here from America?" Nick says, "to tell you about hope." The guy says, "I don't have any hope, tell me more." After going through the gospel, Andrew respond by placing his faith in Christ. Incredible!

After we had passed out all of our supplies we were wondering what to do next. How can we maximize the impact of the seed sown. Well, God supplied an answer. It wasn't what we had expected or planned, but something happened in that community and the entire neighborhood was buzzing about us and the bracelets. It was truly God ordained.

That is just a snap shot of the week. I barely scratched the surface and didn't even go in detail about visiting ancient Thessalonika, the ruins of Philippi were Paul was beaten and imprisoned, and the actual site of the baptism of Lydia. (read Acts 16-17)

What an incredible week! I praise God that I was able to be a part of His mission to reach people with the love of Christ. I ask that you please pray for the people of Greece--they are in desperate need of the hope that only the true gospel of Jesus can bring.

Team Greece

It's been a great week! I haven't had the opportunity or capability to do more blogging or post videos-just the way it is.

We spent several days working long days. Some things we planned, some we did not- but everything was orchestrated by The Lord.

The mornings were spent canvassing the neighborhoods passing out fliers and bracelets that had a message of hope and a web address that people could go to. That website had the gospel of hope in Jesus.

We had about 6 thousands pieces to get out. Past teams had not been able to get it all out. We were able to in record time. Why? Your prayers, Gods grace, previous work here, who knows? The bracelets became a huge hit. Everyone wanted one.

The afternoons we went to some courts and parks to play sports. We encountered lots of kids, teens, and adults. We taught them American football, played basketball and soccer, and shared with them. This took us all the way till dinner around 9 pm.

It's hard to describe the incredible things The Lord did. This will sound vague, but it was truly a work of God. Lives were changed, seed was sown, the gospel lived out and shared, the enemy reared up, God was victorious, and hope was delivered.

What a privilege to be called a child of God and see His kingdom advance.

Made It

I just arrived at my hotel in Athens. I am tired, but glad to be here. The hotel is walking distance from the ancient Athens acropolis-look it up. I also got to share the gospel with another cab driver.

Leaving For Greece: Take 2

My flight yesterday got cancelled due to some mechanical problem. That puts me a day behind, but no big problem. I did spend 5 hours at the DFW airport and went no where. I ended up taking a taxi home. On the ride I got to share the gospel with the Muslim cab driver. Pray for Ali.

I am now scheduled to fly out of dfw at 6pm, stop in London, and then to Athens. I'll get there, Lord willing, at 5:40 pm Athens time on Saturday.

Leaving For Greece-Kinda

Well, I'm pumped about heading to Greece to share Christ. I got to the airport to start the first leg of the journey. The flight was a bit delayed, then we boarded, pulled out from the gate and then pulled back in to the gate. They called the mechanics and now I'm just sitting here waiting. Oh we'll, you never know what these trips might bring. At least I get some good Bible reading time in.

Should Pastors Make Political Endorsements

This is an election year. This year, as every election year, will determine the President of the USA and the direction our country will be heading. Should a pastor, should I, be political? Should a pastor make a political endorsement of certain candidates?

This year on Oct. 7th several hundred pastors are going to make a political endorsement from the pulpit of their church in defiance of the IRS code that specifically forbids non-profit organizations from making a political endorsement(read here). The supposed penalty for making that political statement will be a loss of non-profit status. This means that contributions made will not be tax-deductible for those making the contribution.

I think this is wrong. Even if it is allowed and was legal, I don’t think a pastor should go so far as to endorse particular candidates.
I think this is an issue of wisdom and priorities. Let me break this down into a few different lines of thought: offense of the gospel, Biblical issues inform political ones, and shepherding people from all parties.

#1 The offense of the gospel.
A pastor and church should never shy away from the offense of the gospel. The gospel will offend. That is a non-negotiable. But, we must be careful not to offend with things that are optional. My making an endorsement of one political candidate or party, we run the risk of offending those people who are for the other guy or other party. A pastor needs to make sure that the gospel is the first priority, not an election. The good news of Jesus is the primary proclamation that should come from the pulpit of a pastor. Everything a pastor chooses to say is also excluding something else he could be saying. To be overly political runs the risk of lessening the gospel of Jesus Christ.

#2 Biblical issue inform political ones
Don’t get ahead of me yet. While I think it is unwise of a pastor to endorse a particular political party or candidate from the pulpit this does not mean that he should not address issues and values. A pastor absolutely has a responsibility to preach the whole counsel of the Word of God. The Bible gives believers many mandates that are relevant to modern social issues. A pastor should never shy away from faithful proclamation of the Biblical view of these social positions.
For example, it is critical necessary for a pastor to preach sound Biblical messages on the horror that is abortion. The Bible is unequivocal on this issue. We can’t let politics hijack our courage from preaching the Biblical truth that abortion is wrong. Obviously, that Biblical position should be used by the wise Christian to guide us in who to vote for.
I think the wise course of action would be for a pastor to defend the sanctity of life without saying, “Don’t vote for Obama, you must vote for Romney.” Preach the Biblical truth unashamedly, but don’t mandate a particular vote. This is true for other important issues of the day that are addressed by scripture: the sin of homosexuality and same-sex marriage, the sin of abortion, and many others.

#3 Shepherding All
The pastor must shepherd, minister, and teach all different types of sheep and church members. Some are more mature in their faith, some are not. Some are from one political party, some from another, some from no party affiliation at all. The church is not an arm of the Republican National Convention. It is the body of Christ. As a pastor I lessen my leadership ability by being overly political from the pulpit. Teach the Biblical issues and lead the people no matter what party that they might prefer. It is my opinion that this philosophy is the wisest course for a pastor.
I do not think that this means a pastor cannot have a personal opinion. He does, and he does have a vote. I will not endorse a candidate from the pulpit, but if it comes up on a personal level I have no problem voicing my political opinions.

The Jesus' Wife Fragment, or Watch Out For All The Manure

Watch Out For All The Manure
The Lost Art of Truth Detection
The Jesus' Wife Fragment



(The true scholars have weighed in. If you haven’t heard the headline, a Harvard professor has discovered and published a report on a papyri fragment that mentions Jesus had a wife.
If you want the scholarly rebuttal, read the always venerable Dr. Al Mohler.)

Here is my take:

Reason, rationale, logic, common sense…does anyone remember these things anymore? People have forgotten the importance of critical thinking skills. Even the back-wood-country-boys use logic and reason; they just call it something different… “good sense”. (among other more colorful descriptions).
Critical thinking is even more important in an information age. We are bombarded with information like never before. This makes it more necessary to employ critical thinking and reasoning than ever before. And yet, it seems, the opposite has occurred. While more and more information is spewed less and less reason is applied to evaluating that information.
Do you need some examples? How about POLITICS? I don’t care which side you are on, political information is in desperate need of a critical thinking filter.
Another example, the recent discovery of the “Jesus’ Wife Fragment”. Karen King, a liberal Harvard Divinity professor, supposedly found a fragment that mentions Jesus’ wife.
Since the news broke, serious scholars have weighed in to debunk this bit of fiction reported as fact. It seems Karen had an agenda, the fragment is from over 300 years after Christ, and it is the size of a worn out business card.
But it doesn’t take a scholar to recognize something as bogus. Let’s apply some simple country good sense to our information filters. If it smells like cow manure, looks like cow manure, it is probably cow manure. It doesn’t matter how it is packaged or described, it’s still cow manure.
We have a biblical mandate to employ the brain that our Creator has given us. There is another good biblical word for this: wisdom. We must use wisdom as a filter for the information that is ever flowing from all types of sources.