A Living Parable
17 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Max Lucado Tags: Christ, Gospel, Gospel of Matthew, Jesu, New Testament, Parable, Recreation, Shopping
Lurking fears. They’re illogical–perhaps. But they’re also undeniable!
I watched a father and his two small daughters at play. He’s in the water; one of them jumps into his arms. The dry one gleefully watches her sister leap. She dances up and down as the other splashes. But when her dad invites her to do the same, she shakes her head and backs away. A living parable!
How many people spend life on the edge of the pool? Consulting caution. Ignoring faith. Never taking the plunge. They’re content to experience life vicariously through others. For fear of the worst, they never enjoy life at its best.
Like this:
Drumroll, Please . . .
10 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Joe Stowell Tags: Abraham, Christ, God, Gospel, Jesu, Jesus Christ, Old Testament, Second Epistle to the Corinthians
“I will bless those who bless you, . . . and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:3
There are some moments in Scripture that I would have choreographed a little differently if it had been up to me. Now, before you start writing in to tell me I’m a heretic, please know that I believe wholeheartedly in the final authority of Scripture and the sovereignty of God. I don’t want to risk a lightning bolt and am not slacking off in my theology!
But if you or I were consulted about some of these moments in Scripture, we might have orchestrated them with a little more fanfare. For instance, the moment when Adam woke up to find Eve before him had to be a “fireworks, roses, and violins” kind of moment! Or what about the birth of Christ? Though God had a purpose in it, we probably would have chosen something a little more dramatic than a dingy stable and a few shepherds.
I have the same kinds of thoughts when I read through Genesis 12:1-3. This conversation between Abraham and God occurs in the middle of nowhere. I think of Abraham as a great patriarch, but in this moment he is an uninitiated nomad with no doubt an idolatrous background. And yet, here in this conversation between God and a rather unlikely person, God makes an earth-shattering promise. God shows up and tells Abraham that he would become a great nation. Then God promises—this is the moment we would cue the drum roll and a thousand-trumpet fanfare—that through him, “All peoples on earth will be blessed.”
This is one of the first prophecies of the coming of Jesus Christ through the seed of Abraham. Take it personally—you and I, who are followers of Jesus today, are recipients of the phenomenal benefits of that promise.
Both genealogies of Jesus in the Gospels trace His lineage back to Abraham. Through the entire Old Testament, even when it seemed that the promise had been jeopardized by the unfaithfulness of Israel, God was faithfully preparing to keep His promise to Abraham. And then the moment arrived when the promise was fulfilled. On the hill of Calvary, it was a descendant of Abraham hanging on the cross, giving His life for us so that, as the promise predicted, you and I could be “blessed” in massive proportion. And it all started with a promise made to a wandering nomad over 4,000 years ago. No cheering crowds or angelic choirs—just God, His promise, and an unlikely recipient.
And here is the good news. God still shows up to speak to rather unassuming people like you and me. Every time we read His promises to us it is a profound moment. Behind every promise and plan He lays out for us in His Word, there are ramifications of strategic proportions. You may not hear a lot of fanfare, but the God who was faithful to Abraham will be faithful to His promises to you! So strike up the band—drum roll, please—God still speaks and delivers on His promises! Are you listening? Do you believe?
YOUR JOURNEY…
- Think of a specific promise that God has made to you. Perhaps it’s that His grace is sufficient for you (2 Corinthians 12:9), or that His presence is always with you 24/7 so you need not fear anything (Hebrews 13:5). Think of His promise to give you wisdom when you need it (James 1:5) and to supply your needs as you are faithful to Him (Philippians 4:19). Or perhaps it’s His promise to forgive your sins as you confess them to Him (1 John 1:9). Do you really believe that the promises are true? If He waits a while to fulfill a promise in your life, will He find you still trusting?
- What would you expect to experience if your heart was fully confident of God’s faithfulness in keeping His promise? Words like peace, perseverance, patience, and praise in advance of the provision should come to mind!
- Could you cling to His promise even if it weren’t fulfilled in your lifetime?
Like this:
Are You a Living Demonstration of God’s Truth? by Mark D. Roberts
17 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in The High Calling Tags: Christ, Ezekiel, God, Gospel, Jerusalem, Jesu, Lord, Prayer
Ezekiel is your sign. You will do everything that he has done. When this happens, you will know that I am the LORD God.
Ezekiel had a tough job. Not only was he called by God to deliver the bad news of God’s judgment, including the destruction of Jerusalem, but also he often had to demonstrate his message through his own life (see, for example, chapter 4).
Surely, his most difficult assignment came in chapter 24, when God’s judgment was soon to fall on the people but God did not want them to grieve publicly even when the temple was destroyed. Ezekiel would model this kind of “stiff-upper-lip” behavior in a heartbreaking situation. The Lord told him in advance that his wife would die, but Ezekiel was not to “mourn or weep” before the people (24:16). Remember, Hebrew culture made plenty of room for sadness, including ritual practices that accentuated grieving. But the Lord forbade Ezekiel from participating in these.
When his wife died, Ezekiel did exactly as God had instructed him. He did not grieve, which caused the people to be confused and curious (24:19). Ezekiel explained that his behavior was a model for them when God’s painful judgment falls. “Ezekiel is your sign,” he said, “You will do everything that he has done” (24:24).
Honestly, I don’t think I could have followed through on God’s command as Ezekiel did, though perhaps he had divine help to keep from grieving. I don’t want to be a sign in the mode of Ezekiel, that’s for sure. But, in fact, you and I are called to be signs of God’s truth, like Ezekiel. Unlike Ezekiel, our lives testify to the great news of God’s love and salvation through Jesus Christ. If we live freely as forgiven people committed to serve the Lord, if we exemplify the Gospel in all relationships, then we are indeed a sign for others. We become living proof of God’s love and grace. What an extraordinary opportunity and high calling!
QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: Do you ever think of yourself as a sign of the Gospel? What might you do in your life to reflect the good news of God’s love in Christ? What might you do at work? in your neighborhood? in your family? among your friends?
PRAYER: Gracious God, I must admit that I cringe when I consider the assignment you gave to Ezekiel. It seems terrible, difficult, virtually impossible. Yet the prophet understood that he was not just your spokesperson, but also a living sign of your word. How I thank you for his faithfulness!
And how I thank you for the privilege of being a sign for you, yet of very different news. You have called me, as you have called all of your people, to be a sign of your love and grace. I am to demonstrate the Gospel in my daily life, so that people might be drawn to you. This is also a difficult job, Lord, something I could not accomplish without your help. So I thank you also for the presence and power of your Spirit, who helps me to live as a sign of the Gospel. May this happen more and more, Lord, as I grow in you and offer my whole self to you each day. Amen.
http://www.thehighcalling.org/reflection/are-you-living-demonstration-gods-truth
Like this:
He lives! How do I know?
07 Apr 2012 3 Comments
in American Decency Association Tags: Christ, Christian, Christianity, God, Gospel, Jesu, Jesus Christ, Lord
On this special season of the year when Christians celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ, I always seem to stop early in the day to recognize that there are many that don’t know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.
There are multitudes that think Christianity is a bunch of bunk – first that there is even such a thing as a God – let alone a God that sent His only begotten Son to come into the world to be sacrificed for the sins of a wayward, lost, sinful, corrupt people like you and me.
Millions have grown to detest the Christian faith because of its exclusivity. They hate and detest that for it degrades and diminishes their bent toward godlessness of many strips (Islam, Mormonism, Christian Scientist, Jehovah’s Witness, etc. There is only one true God and there is only one way to get to Heaven – through faith in Jesus Christ. We must acknowledge that we are sinners in need of a Savior and believe that His shed blood on the cross of Calvary cleanses me of all unrighteousness.
I remember such a day in my years as an under graduate at Michigan State University.
I was above all of that. I was a part of the intelligentsia. Christianity was a crutch.
I had a pastor once make a special trip to talk with me and tell me about Christ. He tried to show me my need. He was a nice guy but I remember laughing (though not at him) at his supposition that I was a sinner. “I’m not a sinner,” I said.
A few months went by. Little by little I began to recognize that clearly despite my self-righteousness, I had done a lot of rotten things. I had stolen, I had lusted, I had taken the Lord’s name in vain, etc.
I began to go to church (begrudgingly) with a gal that I was interested in. As we sang those songs of faith, I found myself unable to sing because tears were choking me up. God was moving upon my heart, soul, and spirit. I didn’t understand it much but I began to realize that something was going on that was like nothing I had ever experienced before.
God began to move upon my heart wooing me to be His child. I went to the Lord in prayer, confessed my sins and acknowledged my need of Him as Savior and Lord.
All of that self-righteousness was stripped away. All of that unbelief little by little turned into faith. I had spiritual eyes that were able to see and hear and believe and trust. He began a good work within me that has continued every day now through thick and think over these 44 years of being a new creation in Christ.
To God be the glory great things He has done. Though I’m far from perfect, I see more and more clearly the spiritual evidence of His hand upon my life!
It is sad to see our once spiritual nation turn its back upon the Lord. So much could be said here.
I think of the ABC/Disney show GCB [Good Christian B—-es) that so outrageously demeans our faith by making Christian women look like bimbos, hypocrites, perverts.
I see how godless leaders at all levels are fleeing from being identified with Christ, the cross, the Ten Commandments, Christmas carols, and the Christian faith!
Our Lord suffered, was persecuted, laughed at, mocked, cursed, rejected, murdered. He tells us in His word “they hated me. They will hate you, too.”
He also reminds us through the Gospels that broad is the way that leads to destruction. Narrow is the way that leads to eternal life. Take up your cross and follow me. He who is last is first. He who is first is last.
For those of us who know Him, who have seen so clearly and fully His life in ours, have experienced His resurrection power through heartache, trial, tribulation, roadblocks, defeats, illness, death, and loss, we know that our faith is real. He lives. My Saviour lives. How do I know? He lives within my heart!!!
http://www.americandecency.org/archives/he-lives-how-do-i-know/#more-6535
Like this:
The Ninth Station: Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem by Mark D. Roberts
02 Apr 2012 3 Comments
in The High Calling Tags: Christ, Crucifixion of Jesus, Gospel, Jerusalem, Jesu, Jews, Luke, Pontius Pilate
A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
Growing up, I pictured the last week of Jesus’ life in stark, simple terms. Jerusalem, in my imagination, no doubt colored by Sunday school film strips, was a small town of maybe a few hundreds residents. All of these people came out to hail Jesus as king on Palm Sunday. Then, all of these same people showed up at Pilate’s palace to call for his crucifixion. Though I wasn’t an intentional anti-Semite, I believed that “the Jews” wanted Jesus dead because he claimed to be God.
Whenever I pictured Jesus meeting the women of Jerusalem along the Via Dolorosa, there were just two or three women, no doubt followers of Jesus, who were weeping for him. Meanwhile, the rest of the Jewish crowd was egging on the Roman soldiers, eager to see Jesus crucified.
But a few years ago I began to study the New Testament records of Jesus’ death with greater care. To my surprise, I saw things I had completely overlooked before, things that changed my perception of Jesus’ last hours.
For example, Luke 23:27 notes that “a great number of people followed [Jesus]” as he walked to Golgotha. Luke gives no indication that they were crying out for Jesus’ death. In fact, by mentioning the women weeping for Jesus, Luke implies that a “great number of the people” were upset by what was happening to him. There’s no evidence that that were egging on the Roman soldiers, as I once imagined. Luke makes this even clearer a few verses later, after Jesus’ death: “When all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts” (Luke 23:48). This can only mean that the great majority of Jews who witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion were horrified, not happy, to see him die. They were certainly not among those who had earlier called for his crucifixion in Pilate’s courtyard.
The fact that only a small minority of Jews in Jerusalem actually wanted Jesus to be killed is confirmed by another passage in the Gospels that I had once overlooked. In Matthew, as Jesus is teaching in the temple during the days before his death, we read: “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet” (Matthew 21:45-46).
The Jewish leaders wanted to arrest Jesus, but “they feared the crowds.” Why? Because the crowds “regarded him as a prophet” and, by implication, would have been horrified to see him arrested and crucified.
My close reading of the Gospels, combined with study of first-century Jewish history and culture, has corrected my youthful misunderstandings. I now recognize that Jerusalem wasn’t a small village, but a substantial city of perhaps 30,000 residents. During the Jewish holidays, such as Passover, the population would swell to as much as ten times this amount. This means that a tiny percentage of the Jews in Jerusalem actually called for the crucifixion of Jesus. His death was surely engineered by the Jewish leaders in collusion with Pilate and his Roman cohort. As far as we know, the vast majority of Jews in Jerusalem were horrified by what happened to Jesus.
I think it’s important for us to understand what really happened in the death of Jesus for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the sad history of anti-Semitism among Christians. For too long, it was acceptable to utter the familiar refrain, “The Jews killed Christ.” And for too long, many Christians used this as an excuse to persecute Jews who lived centuries after the death of Jesus, and who therefore had nothing to do with his death. In fact, some Jews were involved in the death of Jesus, mostly the leaders of Jerusalem. But Pontius Pilate alone had the authority to crucify Jesus. According to the Gospels, the majority of Jews who had any awareness of Jesus’ death were grieved, not glad. If we blame “the Jews” for the death of Christ, we’re making a mistake.
And, of course, we’re also missing the main point. Jesus did not die primarily as a helpless victim of Roman or Jewish injustice. He chose to die on the cross in faithfulness to the Father’s will so as to bear the sin of the world. If anyone is to blame for the death of Jesus, we are, because we have sinned. Thus in looking upon Jesus’ death, we join the women of Jerusalem in weeping, not only for Jesus, but also for ourselves. In the death of Jesus we see what we deserve and we rightly feel appalled.
Then the mystery of grace astounds us. We realize that Jesus is bearing our sin so that we might be forgiven, that he is dying in our place so that we might live in his place. We sense the wonder expressed in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake [God] made [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might because the righteousness of God.” How amazing!
QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: How have you pictured the events of Holy Week in your imagination? What shaped your vision? In what ways do you relate to the women who wept for Jesus?
PRAYER: Gracious God, to whatever extent there are remnants of anti-Semitism in me, please forgive me and cleanse my mind and heart. Help me not to blame others for the death of Jesus, but to see my own sin as sending him to the cross. Even more, help me to grasp the mystery of your grace, to see in the death of Jesus that which gives me life. May my weeping over the suffering of Jesus, and my sorrow over my own sin, turn to joy when I recognize the majesty of your mercy. Amen.
http://www.thehighcalling.org/reflection/ninth-station-jesus-meets-women-jerusalem
Like this:
The First Station: Jesus on the Mount of Olives by Mark D. Roberts
25 Mar 2012 6 Comments
in The High Calling Tags: Gethsemane, God, Gospel, Gospel of Luke, Jesus, Luke, Mount of Olives, Prayer
He came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. When he reached the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.” Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” [Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.] When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.”
Growing up as a Christian, I always found the scene of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane to be a comforting one. My feelings were shaped less by the actual story in the Gospels and more by a popular representation of the scene, first painted by Heinrich Hofmann and often reproduced by other artists and in other genres. I once purchased a small wooden plaque with a reproduction of Hofmann’s original. I was reassured by the serenity and strength of Jesus in the Garden, whose halo reflected the light of God shining down upon Him. My plaque sat alongside my bed for many of my young years, encouraging me to pray and to trust God more.
I still love that classic image by Hoffman, perhaps because it reminds me of my early devotion to Jesus. But, as I have studied the Gospel texts that describe Jesus in the Garden, I’ve come to believe that Hofmann’s image doesn’t capture the full reality of the scene. To be sure, in the end, Jesus accepted the Father’s will and faithfully chose the way of suffering. But his time of prayer was anything but serene.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke emphasize the agony of Jesus in the Garden. The Gospel of Luke specifically mentions Jesus’ “anguish” or “agony” (using the Greek word agonia, which can also mean “struggle”). Moreover, Luke adds that Jesus was so intense in prayer that his sweat became like drops of blood. In the other Gospels, Jesus explains that he is “deeply grieved, even to death” (Mark 14:34; Matt. 26:38). Those Gospels also show Jesus as praying more than once before he was ready to accept the Father’s will. He was indeed struggling in the Garden. (Verses 43-44 are in brackets in the NRSV to indicate that they don’t appear in all ancient manuscripts. Some scholars believe that the verses were excised by certain scribes because of their shocking portrayal of Jesus. The majority of scholars hold that these verses were added later and came from some tradition about Jesus that was not in the first edition of Luke.)
As I reflect upon the Gospel texts today, I sense Jesus’ struggle with his divinely appointed destiny. A struggling Jesus? A Jesus who at first wants something other than the Father’s will? A Jesus who wishes to pass on the cup of suffering? If you’re a Christian who believes that Jesus was not just a human being, but also the unique Son of God, the Word of God in flesh, then the scene in Gethsemane is shocking. It stretches our understanding and boggles our simplistic explanations of who Jesus really is. In Gethsemane, perhaps more than in any other scene of the Gospels, we see the fully human Jesus, the One who “in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15).
This means, among other things, that Jesus understands when we are tested, when we are weak, when we aren’t sure we want God’s will for our lives. In Jesus we have, not a god who is watching us from a distance, but One who knows our every weakness and who is there to help us in our time of trial. Indeed, Scripture teaches that Christ Himself intercedes for us (Rom. 8:34).
Whatever picture of Gethsemane you keep in your mind, may you let the text of Scripture fill out its meaning. May you be encouraged to come before God with complete honesty, holding nothing back. May you pour out your heart to the Lord. May you wrestle with God’s will for you. As you do, know that Jesus understands and is there to help you.
QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: How do you picture Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane? What influences the way you envision Jesus in prayer?
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, as I reflect upon your experience in Gethsemane, I am once again astounded by your utter humanness. You are not God-in-flesh-well-sort-of, but truly God in human flesh. You are Emmanuel, God with us. Thus you are also God with me. You understand me. You stand with me in hard times. You encourage me when I wrestle with the Father’s will. And you intercede for me. How I thank you, dear Lord, for who you are, for what you have done, and for what you are doing in my life today. Amen.
http://www.thehighcalling.org/reflection/first-station-jesus-mount-olives
Like this:
How the Apostates Take Over, Part 2
25 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
in TownHall.com Tags: Atlanta, Bishop, Christian, Evangelicalism, Gospel, Michael Youssef, Troy, women's ordination
In my previous column, “How the Apostates Take Over, Part 1,” I explained how apostates used the cause of equality to gain a destructive foothold within the church.
Some of my readers have missed the point of this 2-part column all together, thinking it is about women’s ordination. People will see what they want to see. The deeper point is that those who deny the core of the Gospel used an innocent issue, such the role of women in the church, to flood the church with non bible-believing men, women, and homosexuals.
This is how it happened:
Initially, whole denominations acquiesced and allowed women to be ordained, but most churches still did not call women to be pastors. But with an influx of women into the system, something had to be done. So while the men worked by pastoring to parishes and parishioners, many women aimed at taking over denominational committees. Time and persistence had a way of succeeding.
By the early 90s, women made up only 20 percent of the clergy in some denominations, but they controlled every single committee.
With control of the ministerial candidate selection committees, for example, they focused on expanding the number of women clergy, not expanding the Kingdom of God. Time after time, I saw good young men turned down for ordination while spiritually unqualified women were given the green light.
I once asked why so many good men were being rejected. I was told that it was necessary to “make up for past injustices.”
But once the dam had been cracked, the people who flooded in were no longer those who argued for justice and equality. They were people whose hidden agenda was nothing short of apostasy and control.
From that point, committee leaders began to push for extreme feminism, abortion rights, homosexual advocacy, and other issues that were repugnant to biblical obedience.
All of that inevitably sapped the energy of the faithful. They no longer had the time or strength to preach the Word of God and witness to others. Although they still called themselves “the church,” they had strayed from the fold.
Today, the flood waters continue to rise and are even encroaching into some evangelical churches. But thank God for those who still stand strong, for they represent the last great hope for biblical submission. We need the evangelical church to refuse to put on the garment of compromise, to not bow to the gods of social acceptability and popular culture. We need it to never surrender to the secular armies and their weapons of manipulation and false accusation.
Back in 1980, I met with the retired Episcopal Bishop of Atlanta, who had been Bishop during those tumultuous times. It was soon before his death, and he told me, “If I had known all this would happen, I would not have been quick to give in.” He went to his grave in regret.
The apostates are like the ancient Greeks who destroyed the city of Troy by offering them an apparently innocent gift—the Trojan horse. The people of Troy willingly took the deceptive symbol of peace and moved it within their walls. Later, under cover of night, Greek soldiers crept out of the giant horse, opened the city gates, and ushered in the enemy army.
As with Troy, apostates today take over the church through means that seem innocent at first. For that reason, bible-believing Christians must stand at the watchtower and be prepared to defend biblical truth, even when the threat seems harmless. If not, many more Christian leaders will go to their graves with deep, deep regret.
Michael Youssef
Dr. Michael Youssef is the author of 27 books including his most recent and timely Blindsided: The Radical Islamic Conquest. His blog: www.michaelyoussef.com Follow on Twitter: @MichaelAYoussef
In my previous column, “How the Apostates Take Over, Part 1,” I explained how apostates used the cause of equality to gain a destructive foothold within the church.
Some of my readers have missed the point of this 2-part column all together, thinking it is about women’s ordination. People will see what they want to see. The deeper point is that those who deny the core of the Gospel used an innocent issue, such the role of women in the church, to flood the church with non bible-believing men, women, and homosexuals.
This is how it happened:
Initially, whole denominations acquiesced and allowed women to be ordained, but most churches still did not call women to be pastors. But with an influx of women into the system, something had to be done. So while the men worked by pastoring to parishes and parishioners, many women aimed at taking over denominational committees. Time and persistence had a way of succeeding.
By the early 90s, women made up only 20 percent of the clergy in some denominations, but they controlled every single committee.
With control of the ministerial candidate selection committees, for example, they focused on expanding the number of women clergy, not expanding the Kingdom of God. Time after time, I saw good young men turned down for ordination while spiritually unqualified women were given the green light.
I once asked why so many good men were being rejected. I was told that it was necessary to “make up for past injustices.”
But once the dam had been cracked, the people who flooded in were no longer those who argued for justice and equality. They were people whose hidden agenda was nothing short of apostasy and control.
From that point, committee leaders began to push for extreme feminism, abortion rights, homosexual advocacy, and other issues that were repugnant to biblical obedience.
All of that inevitably sapped the energy of the faithful. They no longer had the time or strength to preach the Word of God and witness to others. Although they still called themselves “the church,” they had strayed from the fold.
Today, the flood waters continue to rise and are even encroaching into some evangelical churches. But thank God for those who still stand strong, for they represent the last great hope for biblical submission. We need the evangelical church to refuse to put on the garment of compromise, to not bow to the gods of social acceptability and popular culture. We need it to never surrender to the secular armies and their weapons of manipulation and false accusation.
Back in 1980, I met with the retired Episcopal Bishop of Atlanta, who had been Bishop during those tumultuous times. It was soon before his death, and he told me, “If I had known all this would happen, I would not have been quick to give in.” He went to his grave in regret.
The apostates are like the ancient Greeks who destroyed the city of Troy by offering them an apparently innocent gift—the Trojan horse. The people of Troy willingly took the deceptive symbol of peace and moved it within their walls. Later, under cover of night, Greek soldiers crept out of the giant horse, opened the city gates, and ushered in the enemy army.
As with Troy, apostates today take over the church through means that seem innocent at first. For that reason, bible-believing Christians must stand at the watchtower and be prepared to defend biblical truth, even when the threat seems harmless. If not, many more Christian leaders will go to their graves with deep, deep regret.
Michael Youssef
Dr. Michael Youssef is the author of 27 books including his most recent and timely Blindsided: The Radical Islamic Conquest. His blog: www.michaelyoussef.com Follow on Twitter: @MichaelAYoussef
Like this:
The Cross and the World — Part I
24 Mar 2012 3 Comments
in O Christian.com Tags: Christ, Crucifixion of Jesus, God, Gospel, Israel, Israelites, Jesu, Jesus Christ
I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel–Mat 15:24
I, if I be lifted up…will draw all men unto me–Joh 12:32
We have but to read the record of the Gospels, to find confirmation of the former of these texts. The whole activity of Christ on earth shows Him as sent to the lost sheep of Israel. Within the boundaries of Israel He was born, and within the boundaries of Israel He died. With the one exception of the journey here recorded, He never in His maturity left the Jewish land. His twelve disciples were of the Jewish faith; His friends were inhabitants of Jewish homes; His enemies were not the Romans, but His own, to whom He came and they received Him not. For His teaching He sought no other audience than the men and women of the Jewish villages. For His retirement He sought no other solitude an that of the Galilean hills. And all His miracles, with rare exceptions, which were recorded because they were exceptional, were wrought for the comforting of Jewish hearts, and for the drying of tears in Jewish eyes. The whole story of the Gospel, then, is a witness to the truth of our first text. In the fulfilling of His earthly ministry Christ confined Himself to Jewish limits. And He did so because of His assurance, that He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Christ, However, Anticipated a Wider Ministry
But as we study the words of our Redeemer, one thing gradually grows very clear. It is that He anticipated a ministry that should be wider than these Jewish limits. I am not thinking just now of any words He spoke after He was risen from the dead. I am thinking only of His recorded utterances in those crowded years before the cross. And what I say is that no reasonable man can study the discourse of the historic Jesus without discovering that He foresaw a ministry which was to be as wide as the whole world. There is, for instance, the second of our texts today–”I will draw all men unto me.” There is that beautiful word of an earlier chapter, “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold.” There is that utterance at Simon’s table, when the woman broke the alabaster box, “Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, this that she hath done shall be told of her.” I ask you to observe that these great sayings have stood the test of the most searching criticism. They are so germane to the mind of Christ that they have come triumphant through the fires. And they tell us this, that through the earthly ministry, confined as it was within the house of Israel, Christ had the outlook of an approaching lordship over the nations of mankind.
The Cross and the Worldwide Empire
But these utterances tell us more than that, and to this I specially invite attention. They tell us that in the mind of Jesus His death and His worldwide empire were related. So far as we can learn about the mind of Christ, we can with reverence say this about it. It was when the cross was clearest in His thought that the worldwide empire was most clear to Him. If you will think of the texts which I have cited, and consider the occasion of their utterance, you will understand quite easily what I mean. Take for instance that most beautiful word, “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold.” What are the words which immediately precede it? “The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” At the very moment when the thought of shepherding kindled the vision of the shepherd’s death, at that very moment there flashed upon the Lord the vision of the sheep beyond the fold. Take again the scene at Simon’s feast where Jesus spoke of a Gospel for the world. “Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there this deed that she hath done shall be remembered.” And what was it that the woman had done under the interpreting eyes of Jesus Christ? She had anointed His body for its burial. In other words that womanly act of hers had spoken to Jesus of His coming death. Over the table where the guests reclined, it had cast the awful shadow of the cross. And it was then, anointed for His burial by an act which no one else could understand, that Christ in vision lifted up His eyes and saw the Gospel preached to the whole world. Clearly, then, Christ looked upon His death as the great secret of a worldwide empire. When the one grew vivid in His thought, there rose on Him the vision of the other. And that to me is a matter to meditate on, as one of the most momentous of all truths, by every man and every woman who is interested in the world empire of the Lord. Now the question is, can we follow out that thought, and see even dimly where the connection lies? It is that which I should like to attempt to do.
The Motive of Missionary Enterprise
In the first place, it is the death of Christ which supplies the motive of missionary enterprise.
We must ever remember that when we speak of the death of Christ, we speak of a death different from our own. Our death is the cessation of activity; Christ’s was the crown and climax of His life. “I have power to lay it down,” He said, and that is a power no other man has shared. We die when our appointed hour comes, and when the hand of God hath touched us, and we sleep. But Christ never looked upon His death like that, as something inevitable and irresistible. He looked on it as the last free glorious service of a life that had always been a life of love. Here in one gleam, intense and vivid, was gathered up the light of all His years. Here in one action which we name His dying was gathered up the love in which He wrought. And it is just because of the power of that action, concentrating all the scattered rays, that Christ could say, “I, if I be lifted up,…will draw all men unto me.” How true this is as a fact of history we see in the story of the Christian Church. There is the closest connection in that story between the death of Christ and missionary zeal. There have been periods in the Church’s history when the death of Christ was practically hidden. The message of the cross was rarely preached; the meaning of the cross was rarely grasped. And the Gospel was looked on as a refined philosophy, eminently fitted for the good of men, inculcating a most excellent morality, and in perfect harmony with human reason. We have had periods like that in Scotland, and we have had periods like that in England. God grant that they may never come again with their deadening of true religion. And always when you have such a period, when love is nothing and moral law is everything, you have a period when not a hand is lifted for the salvation of the heathen world. For it is not morality that seeks the world; it is religion centering in love. It is a view of a divine love so wonderful that it stooped to the service of death upon a cross. So always, in evangelical revival, when that has been apprehended in the wonder of it, the passion to tell it out has come again, and men have carried the message to mankind.
And may I say that it is along these lines that the road must lie to a deepening of interest. To realise what it means that Christ died, is to have a Gospel that we must impart. There are many excellent people who, in their secret heart, confess to a very faint interest in missions. They give, and it may be they give generously, and yet in their hearts they know that they are not interested. They know almost nothing about mission-fields, and are never seen at missionary meetings, and take the opportunity to visit a sister church when a missionary is advertised to preach in theirs. With such people I have no lack of sympathy, for I think I understand their position thoroughly. I have the gravest doubt if any good is done by trying excitedly to lash up their interest. But I am perfectly confident that these good people would waken to a new and lively interest, if only they realised a little more the wonder of the love of God in Christ. What think you, my brother and my sister, is the most wonderful thing that ever happened? It is not the kindling of the myriad stars, nor the fashioning of the human eye that it might see them. It is that once the God who is eternal stooped down from heaven and came into humanity, and bore our burdens, and carried our sorrows, and died in redeeming love upon the tree. Once realise what that means, and everything else in the world is insignificant. Once realise what that means, and you must pass it on to other people. And that is the source of missionary zeal–not blind obedience, nor any thoughts of terror, but the passing on of news so wonderful that we cannot–dare not–keep it to ourselves.
http://devotionals.ochristian.com/george-h-morrison-devotional-sermons-devotional.shtml
Like this:
“He hath remembered His covenant forever” (Ps. cv. 8).
17 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
in O Christian.com Tags: Abraham, Christ, God, Gospel, Jesus, Religion and Spirituality, Righteousness, Sinai
So long as you struggle under law, that is by your own effort, sin shall have dominion over you: but the moment you step from under the shadow of Sinai, throw yourself upon the simple grace of Christ and His free and absolute gift of righteousness, and take Him to be to you what He has pledged Himself to be, your righteousness of thought and feeling, and to keep you in spite of everything, that ever can be against you, in His perfect will and peace, the struggle is practically over. Beloved, do you really know and believe that this is the very promise of the Gospel, the very essence of the new covenant, that Christ pledges Himself to put His law in your heart, and to cause you to walk in His statutes, and to keep His judgments and do them? Do you know that this is the oath which He sware unto Abraham, that He would grant unto us. “That we being delivered from the hands of our enemies, and from all that hate us, might serve Him without fear, in righteousness and holiness before Him all the days of our life.” He has sworn to do this for you, and He is faithful, that promised. Trust Him ever.
http://devotionals.ochristian.com/a-b-simpson-devotional.shtml
Like this:
A Word To The Weary
17 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
in This N That Tags: Christ, God, Gospel, Gospel of Matthew, Israel, Israelites, Jesu, Messiah
The people of Israel were struggling. They had been taken captive by the Babylonians and forced to live in a country far from home. What could the prophet Isaiah give these weary people to help them?
He gave them a prophecy of hope. It was a message from God relating to the promised Messiah. In Isaiah 50:4, the Savior Himself described the comfort and consolation He would one day bring: “The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary.”
These were words of dual comfort—both to the people in exile and to future generations whose lives would be touched by Jesus’ compassion. In the Gospels we see how Christ fulfilled the prophecy with “a word in season to him who is weary.” To the crowds who followed Him, Christ proclaimed: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). Words of compassion indeed!
Jesus left us an example of how to minister to people who have grown weary. Do you know someone who needs a timely word of encouragement or the listening ear of a concerned friend? A word of comfort to the weary can go a long way.
