What I Believe

What I Believe

I believe that the Bible is the collection of 66, God-breathed, Holy Spirit inspired books that reveal to us the nature and character of our triune God - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit - and His eternal plan of redemption for mankind throughout the ages. 

Because of the sin of Adam and God’s great love for us, He sent His only begotten Son Jesus to be born of a virgin, live a sinless life, die a sacrificial death, and resurrect from the grave three days later victorious over death, hell, and the grave so that whosoever calls upon His name in faith and repentance shall be eternally saved. 

While not a requirement for salvation, every born again believer should follow our Lord in believer’s baptism, completely immersed under water to show the likeness of our Lord’s death and the new life He has resurrected us into. This baptism unites us with our fellow believer’s in membership to our local church, and we join with them in observing the Lord’s Supper and fulfilling the Great Commission of going into all the world to witness to the lost, baptize converts, and start local churches until the Lord’s pre-millennial, pre-tribulational return. 

Half-Hearted Sympathy

As the very sad news of the passing of Pastor Rick and his wife Kay Warren's son made its way through Twitter, I began to see tweets of condolences that upset me. Now, anyone that keeps on top of the issues knows that Rick Warren is a controversial figure, no matter which side of the issue you are on. Many conservative evangelicals are often at odds with how he practices his theology.

So, at a moment such as this, where a family is hurting after the loss of their son, is it really time to take a shot at your differences with that person? I say that because I kept coming across tweets that said things like, "While I often disagree with him, I am praying for the Warren family and am sorry for their loss." Really?!?! Why can't you just say you are praying for them and are truly sorry for their loss?

When you say or post similar statements during people's suffering, what you are really doing is revealing your own heart -and it's wicked! True compassion for others does not mean you take a person's tragedy to remind them why you think they are wrong.

Half-hearted sympathy is full-hearted sorriness.

What The Bible REALLY Says About Marriage

There has been plenty written and said recently about marriage, same-sex union, and the Bible. Many Christians have loudly and repeatedly shared, said, or posted the words of Jesus when He is speaking to some Pharisees in Judaea:

Matthew 19:4-5 (KJV 1900) — 4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

Now, is Jesus saying that God created man and woman and brought them together in what we call today "Holy Matrimony"? 

YES! 

But......that is not all Jesus is saying.

Unfortunately, many who champion the words of verse 4 overlook the following verses, and the overall context of what Jesus is really trying to teach. First, lets look at the entire conversation Jesus had with the Pharisees:

Matthew 19:1–12 (KJV 1900) — 1 And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judaea beyond Jordan; 2 And great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there. 3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? 4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? 8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery. 10 His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry. 11 But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given. 12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.

As you can see, the Pharisees initiated the conversation, and it has nothing to do with same-sex marriages. The question was asked in relation to DIVORCE, and Jesus' answer is a description as to why and how God began the institution of marriage. Did God design marriage to be between one man and one woman -YES. But also JUST AS IMPORTANT, God designed that marriage to be FOR LIFE! It is interesting to me to read and see how so many Christians are up in arms with this issue today, yet they have no problem with divorce. Truth be told, many of them are divorced themselves. Where is the consistency?

Have you ever stopped to wonder if our hypocritical attitude on this subject is actually repelling more people away from the Gospel instead of drawing them in? If you think the Bible is against same-sex marriage as a viable option (and it is), then you should also feel the same way about divorce (because Jesus does).  Where is the outrage over people discarding their sacred vows, tearing apart families, and causing confusion as to the Bible's stand against divorce? We cannot pick and choose the issues that we support or are against. Consistency is needed not only in the pulpit, but in the pew/seats as well. 

Just as those who have experienced divorce like to be treated with love and compassion, maybe we should be willing to extend that same grace to those fighting with the issue of same-sex marriage?

Deposit of Audio Sermons

The following is a link to some of my audio sermons that are posted online from the last year, or so:

SERIES: Stop Doing and Start Growing - https://www.box.com/s/a52a1155d6ccc996c5a0

SERIES: Students of Prayer - https://www.box.com/s/y1jw2rubduju14bv4ie6

What Does God Look For In A Worship Service - https://www.box.com/s/tud7y48lt6gz48rfj8aj

Excuses: I'm Too Young

Jeremiah 1:4–6 (KJV 1900)

⁴ Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, ⁵ Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. ⁶ Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.

Many people offer to God every day the same excuse that Jeremiah did, I’m just a child. It is said that Jeremiah, at this time, was somewhere under the age of 25.  While he may have felt himself too young to do anything for the Lord, God already had a plan and purpose for His life. This reminds me of Paul’s advice to young Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12 Let no man despise thy youth, but be an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, impurity. There are many Christians who feel just like Jeremiah. They think they are too young to serve the Lord. Church is for the “old” people, and they say, when I get older, then I’ll start coming faithfully and serving God. You are never too young, or old, to serve God.

But many Christians give this same excuse, even though by human standards, they are not considered old. They may not physically be a child, but they feel as if they are one, spiritually. Many Christians use their lack of Christian experience as an excuse to not get involved. But here’s the catch – you never gain the experience you feel you need until you get involved. Many Christians have not taught a Sunday School class because they did not feel as if they knew enough of their Bible. Yet, a great way to learn your Bible is to study a Sunday School lesson all week before you teach it. This was how my church started my training after I received Jesus Christ as my Savior and surrendered my life to His will. I became the helper in the 4-5th grade boys Sunday School class. Every week, I studied their lessons and helped in the class when Sunday came around. Soon after, i was teaching about once a month. I learned more then because I had to study every week to be prepared for that class.

The strange thing is - many who use their lack of Bible knowledge as an excuse never actually do anything about it. They won’t read their Bible more, they won’t listen more attentively in the service, and they won’t even volunteer as a helper in a class to get the experience. 

If God has placed an opportunity in front of you, realize this – God wouldn’t put you into that position unless He was going to equip you with the tools needed to succeed. God will not set you up to fail.

When you site your lack of Christian knowledge and experience as a reason why you cannot serve God, you are really telling God that He can’t get it done. It is one thing for us to know our weaknesses, but it is quit something else for us to say that our weaknesses prevent God from getting anything done.

Instead of being humble, we are being very prideful.

God has heard the excuse of time.

eBook Review: Who Do You Think You Are

BOOK DESCRIPTION 

You are a saint ...You are blessed...You are saved ...You are afflicted ...You are heard.

Pastor Mark Driscoll answers the one question you need to ask: Who am I in Christ?

Being a Christian can be like driving in a foreign city. You try living on the straight and narrow but instead take a wrong turn onto the wide avenue of sin and temptation. In the process, you become discouraged and condemned, limping along in your faith—or giving up altogether.

But this isn’t the real Christian life. You can make a U-turn.

Pastor Mark Driscoll knows that underlying our struggles in life is the issue of our identity. “The fundamental problem we have in this world,” he says, “is that we don’t understand who we truly are—children of God made in his image—and define ourselves by any number of things other than Jesus. Only by knowing our false identity apart from Christ in comparison to our true identity in him can we finally deal with and overcome the issues in our lives.”

Who are you in Christ? Among other things:

You aren’t what’s been done to you but what Jesus has done for you. You aren’t what you do but what Jesus has done. What you do doesn’t determine who you are. Rather, who you are in Christ determines what you do. These are fundamental truths that Pastor Mark explores in depth throughout Who Do You Think You Are? Finding Your True Identity in Christ.

MY THOUGHTS: I found this to be a helpful book, based on Ephesians, on a subject that there doesn't seem a lot written about. This issue of who we identify with and in is important and should be understood more by the average Christian. Like any book outside of the Bible, you won't necessarily agree with every point the author makes, but the positive definitely outweighs the negative. The author is unapologetically Reformed, which I am not, but that did not take away from the over-arching truth this book proclaims.

While it is in no way written to be a practice commentary of Ephesians, it would be immensely helpful and useful to any Bible preacher or teacher doing a work through this book of the Bible. Even if you are not a teacher or preacher, this book will help you realize your true Identity in Christ.

DISCLAIMER:
This book was given to me free in exchange for a review. This did not change nor effect my thoughts, comments, or review.

Love and Free Will

I wanted to share a quote that I read from William Barclay's commentary on the letters of John and Jude  in relation to 1 John 4:16, in which we learn that God is love:

Unless love is a free response it is not love. There can be no love which is not spontaneous love. Had God been only law He could have created a world in which men moved like automata, constantly obedient to the laws of the universe and of God because they had no more choice than a machine has. But, if God had made men like that, there would have been no possibility of a personal relationship between God and man. Love is of necessity the free choice and the free response of the heart; and, therefore, before men could love God in any real sense of the term, their will had to be free; and, therefore, God by a deliberate act of self limitation, had to endow men with free will that the very purpose of creation might be fulfilled.

The fact that God is love and wants us to love Him reveals to us the nature of free will. Man exercises that free will in choosing to love God will all their heart, mind and soul.