Game On, but it's not a Game!

Anyone else heard a great sermon from church that was totally inspiring?  Especially one that related to reaching the lost?  Do you recall what your drive home was like?  I'm going to share my experience yesterday and I'd venture to say that you have experienced something similar - assuming you've been to church and been inspired to do your part to reach the lost.  (Sidenote:  if you haven't been to church or you have and haven't been inspired to reach the lost then I would invite you to Central Baptist Church in Sioux Falls where we take seriously God's call to us to "Connect people with a life that counts for eternity by building disciples who go and change lives!")

Back to our regularly scheduled programming...  So, it wasn't a few minutes after our sermon got over and our son had received some money from our worship pastor that he is supposed to use to help meet a need that he sees during the week.  Andrew's initial response:  "Mom, can I use this to buy something for me?"  Attack #1.  A few minutes later, my wife and I are in the van driving home and we actually argued about how we should use that money or how we should help Andrew figure out how to use the money.  Attack #2. 

I have seen this happen consistently and repeatedly since our church has been focusing on reaching the lost.  Every time we focus on the mission for which God created His church, the distractions start to pile up.  As you can tell from the examples above, Satan does not waste any time either.  This is by far the most difficult part of being a follower of Christ.  So often times we fall pray to Satan's distraction techniques and forget that we already have victory over him.  He is powerless!  How do I know? 

John 16:33

³³ “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
 
1 John 5:3-5

 ³ In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, ⁴ for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. ⁵ Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

1 Corinthians 15:56-58

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 ⁵⁸ Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

We already have victory available to us because of what Christ has already done - victory over death!  Satan thought he had dealt a fatal blow to God, but by Christ's death, burial and resurrection the victory has been won!  Not only for God and His son, Jesus Christ - but for us as well!

Practically speaking, how are we to overcome Satan on a day to day basis in this spiritual battle?

Ephesians 6:10-20
¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
 ¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. ¹⁹ Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

The war has begun. It's been raging for thousands of years. Men and women from the very beginning have been trying to fight this battle in their own strength.  God never intended that to be the case.  He simply wants us to focus on Him and not ourselves.  He has given us and continues to give us everything we need.  He has already defeated Satan.  Satan has no power because of Christ. 

Since we are already in the midst of the battle, whether we want to be or not, it's time that we act like it.  There are 2 sides - there is not neutrality in this war.  The stakes are high.  The outcome has already been determined in terms of which side has gained victory.  The question is, will you claim victory or succumb to defeat?  I claim victory - by getting on my knees, confessing my sin and my total dependence on God and by living in this world by the power of His spirit and not my own strength.  What do you choose?

Ephesians 3:20²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

 

Slippery Slope

Continuing the study of Genesis this week, we move on from Adam and Eve, the first born of creation to their two children, Cain and Abel.  Again, a lot of us are familiar with the story of Cain and Abel.  In summary, Cain is jealous of Abel because God is pleased with Abel's offering but not his.  God confronts Cain about his attitude and Cain goes off and kills Abel.  Seems pretty straightforward.  At least that's what I thought until this week's study.  As we dig a little deeper into the story, we realize that Cain's story is our story in a lot of ways - or it at least has the potential to be.  Check this out...

First, let's explore a modern day Cain's story.  Here in Sioux Falls, a tragic story unfolded over the past 7 years.   

http://www.argusleader.com/article/20121016/NEWS/310160023/Execution-Key-dates-Eric-Robert-s-life

Although some of the information is missing from the above story, the tragedy did not really begin 7 years ago.  It had begun long before.  It only became something other people were able to visibly see 7 years ago, although his previous wife had seen what no one else was able to see.  Eric had a problem of agression toward women.  He had grown up in a home with no father and a mother who worked 3 jobs.  He took care of his younger sister, worked hard in school and put himself through college.  He volunteered to coach little league and was a genuinely nice guy.  Somewhere along the line, he began to listen to the temptations and to succumb to the bitterness, frustration and anger that was building up inside for reasons that we don't know or understand.  He likely didn't understand them either.  However, he fed the frustration, the bitterness and the anger and eventually, he acted that out in a way that landed him in prison.  Instead of being remorseful and repentent, he continued to feed the frustration, bitterness and anger to the extent that he murdered a prison guard during a planned escape from prison.  If you are like me, when you heard that a man had killed a prison guard, you imagine that this would have been a person that had always been a troublemaker and was likely in and out of prison for many reasons.  However, that is not the case.  He obviously had some struggles and some issues towards women that went unchecked and untreated.  However, he's not that far from the average person.  He just fed those sinful desires and behaviors.  He did not turn to God, even when he was "caught".  He continued to rebel.

This is exactly the story of Cain.  Cain was a farmer.  He worked the land and produced fruit and vegetables to eat.  Because of the curse on the land as a result of Adam's sin, this was hard work.  His brother Abel was a shepherd who tended the livestock.  When it came time to sacrifice, it was understood that Cain and Abel were to both bring an animal, one of the best of the livestock to sacrifice to the Lord.  This meant that Cain would have to exchange some of his crop for Abel's livestock in order to give the sacrifice to God. 

At face value, I had always been a bit confused by this story.  I did not understand fully why God did not accept Cain's sacrifice.  After all, he was giving the first fruits of his labor.  A little more in depth study reveals that Cain likely knew full well what he was supposed to do and just refused to do it this particular time.  The reasons for this are based on what God had done when Adam and Eve had sinned.  He killed an animal and provided the skin for covering for Adam and Eve - the first example of blood atonement.  Then, it is likely that Cain and Abel were alive and going about the routine of sacrificing to the Lord for around 129-130 years.  During that time, it is implied that Cain must have brought an appropriate sacrifice and knew full well what was expected.  It is likely that over the course of those years, he had developed a bitterness toward his brother.  He must have been sick and tired of having to go to his younger brother to get an appropriate sacrifice.  His crop wasn't "good enough" for God.  He finally reached his breaking point and made the decision he was going to just bring his own crop to sacrifice.

Genesis 4:2b-5:
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. ³ In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. ⁴ And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, ⁵ but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

Now, God's reaction is a bit different then I would expect.  He simply asks Cain what happened and gives him some advice/warning about what happens when you don't deal with your sinful attitude. 

Genesis 4:6-7:
⁶ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? ⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

Cain, however, has made up his mind and rejects God's advice, ultimately killing Abel.  When God questions Cain about this occurrence, Cain flippantly responds and disrespects God again.  This results in God handing out a signficant consequence.  Cain's response?  Whining that the punishment was too harsh.  Not a hint of remorse or shame or repentence at all.

Genesis 4:9-13:
⁹ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰ The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. ¹¹ Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

¹³ Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear.
How did God respond?  With grace.  He still followed through on the punishment, but if you follow the story further, God allowed Cain to build cities, have many descendants and live a full life.  He continued to rebel against God, however, as did his descendents.

Conclusion:  So, two stories.  Two murderers.  Two severe punishments.  What about you and me?  How does this relate?  It's simple.  Here's the question.  What sinful attitude are you feeding that may lead down the slippery slope to distruction for you or your family or your kids or your grandkids?  Is it cheating a little bit here and there?  Is it laziness?  Pornography?  Bitterness toward your spouse?  Greed?  Pride? 

The problem is that the sinful behaviors that we all abhor don't start as behaviors.  They start as thoughts that over the course of a long time work themselves into behaviors that lead toward destruction. 

There are two antedotes to ensure that you don't find yourself sliding down this slippery slope.  Repentence and worship.  Shine the light on the darkness in your heart and the Lord will be glorified and you will be free from destruction!  Be encouraged.  Take some time this week to read through Psalm 34. 

Psalm 34:15-16:
¹⁵ The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are attentive to their cry;
¹⁶ but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to blot out their name from the earth.

A link to Psalm 34 is below:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2034&version=NIV

God's Best vs Man's Reality

As we continue our study of Genesis and we move from God's creation of the world and mankind, we quickly move to the Fall.  Amazing how quickly that happens, doesn't it? 

So, the past year has opened my eyes to the reality of this world beyond what I had understood before in one main area - suffering.  Pretty much everyone in the world goes through some level of pain and suffering on an ongoing basis.  If it's not some kind of sickness or illness that they are dealing with, it is a broken relationship or a lost job or addiction or loneliness or ...  You get the idea.  We are all going through something.  It varies to the level of difficulty, but we can all relate to the challenge that it brings. 

Recently, I have been grieved and saddened by some families that have had to deal with loss at a level that I can't imagine.   One family has experienced the loss of a young toddler age son who was strangled to death by the string on some blinds in their home.  Another family has lost a 49-year old father fell out of a tree stand while hunting.  His 14 year old son will be facing life without his dad.

Our initial human reaction in the midst of these circumstances is to question God and to ask why He would allow that to happen.  It seems so unfair and so random.  Questions like:  "Why do bad things happen to good people?" and "Why didn't God save him?" and "Where is God in this?" roll around in our minds when this happens to us.  And make no mistake, tragedy hits us all in some way in life.  We all are faced with it.

Let's take a step back for a minute.  What is the answer?  I would propose that the answer is that we are asking the wrong question - or at least directing the question to the wrong place.  Here is what I mean.  If we go back to creation, it is clear that God was pleased with His creation and there was no such thing as death, pain and suffering.  That is, until Adam and Eve decided to disobey God.  That is the beginning of pain and suffering in this world.  That is the beginning of death. 

We all know the story of the actual act of sin by Adam and Eve pretty well.  Do we remember what the consequences were exactly?  Check this out as a refresher...  from Genesis 3:16-19 in regards.  From God in regards to the consequences Adam and Eve must bear as a result of their desobedience.

¹⁶ To the woman he said,

“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”

¹⁷ To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”

This is the beginning of pain, suffering and death in this world.  It is a direct result of the original sin by Adam and Eve.  The woman now has pain in labor when having children and will desire to be in control of our household and over man, but man will rule over her.  Man will toil in his work and have thorns and thistles to deal with and will sweat...ultimately man will die and return to the dust of the ground.

If this was the end of the story, our lives would be hopeless and lack anything good.  But that is simply not true.  We know this is not true based on experience.  We do experience joy along with the pain and suffering.  We are fulfilled in our work and feel a sense of satisfaction when we accomplish things.  However, it is tainted because of the pain and suffering around us. And, that is not the end of the story.

Revelation 22:1-5

Eden Restored

1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. ³ No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. ⁴ They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

Now that is hope!  There is a day when Christ will return and Eden will be restored for those who have faith in Him.  And, even better yet for us who are still living in this broken world... from the mouth of our Saviour...

John 16:33
³³ “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

and...

Revelation 22:6-7
⁶ The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.”

⁷ “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.”

 

Take heart!  He is coming soon!

It's About Time!

So, as I sit here dumbfounded at how long it's been since my last blog post, I am at the same time energized by what God is stirring in the world around me.  My last post was on 9/11/2006, which was the 5 year anniversary of 9-11.  Now, a little over 11 years later, that particular day is a distant memory in a lot of ways.  However, it is still one of the pivotal events of my lifetime in terms of re-focusing our nation on our Creator.

"Coincidently", I happen to be studying the book of Genesis in Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) this year, which is giving me a thorough review of exactly who our Creator is.  In fact, He is many things.  Too many to discuss in this blog in one sitting.  After all, He created everything.  The most amazing part of that fact, however, is not that He created everything...from nothing...by simply speaking it into existence.  It's that He created it for a purpose...He created me for a purpose...He created you for a purpose...

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:10-14

What is our purpose?  Work.  Men, we are here to work.

¹⁵ The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Genesis 2:15

I have been convicted that too much of my life revolves around entertainment.  TV, Basketball, Golf, Video Games, playing games with the kids, etc.  None of those things are all bad.  However, they all take time away from things that need to get done.  They lead to laziness and self-centeredness, rather than selflessness and fulfillment.  I am missing out on God's best when I seek entertainment in the place of work.  I do believe that God wants us to enjoy life, but I think the lie is that enjoyment should be entertainment.  I believe enjoyment (or joy) should be in our work which leads to fulfillment and ultimately pleasing God by doing what we were created to do.

²³ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, ²⁴ since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Colossians 3:23-24

Each day, I need to re-orient my thinking around Christ, receive joy from the grace He has extended to me and do my best at what God has called me to do.  In so doing, God will bless my work and multiply the harvest!  (that's a teaser for the next blog post... stay tuned!)