Category Archives: God

Farewell 2012

Culture, Daily living, Encouragement, General, God, Jesus, Satan, Sin, , , , , ,

2012 change 2013We close the books on 2012 today. It’s over and I’m hoping for a better 2013. It has been a difficult year in so many ways. Hardly a month has passed without some horrifying event taking place which rattles us and makes stop to ask “why?” Let’s think about the big events of 2012 and see if we can find some answers:

  • 12 were slaughtered in Aurora, Colorado
  • 27 died at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut
  • 3 dead in a mall shooting in Oregon
  • 125 died in Hurricane Sandy and her aftermath
  • In fact, there were 16 mass shootings this year which, together, took 84 lives.
  • The great winter storm of 2012 claimed 6 lives
  • Lies, name calling and rancor marked our national political system
  • The economy still struggles and many are still without jobs.

I could go on and on and on some more but you get the point. This has been a tough year in many ways. 2013 holds promise for better times or at least that is what we tell ourselves. But the truth is that there will be bad things happening in 2013. We shouldn’t be surprised, Satan is the “ruler of this world” (John 12:31). Although the evil one is greatly restricted his influence is great and his arrogance unabated.

Truth teaches that we will suffer in this world at the hands of the evil people. By inspiration Paul said,

“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (1 Timothy 3:12, 13)

We are pilgrims (1 Peter 2:11) and just passing through this old world. As the song continues, “my treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue.” Trouble comes but we are prepared.

What are we to do? If this world is bad and only going to get worse, what can we do? How to we survive? Paul answers immediately after his warning above:

” But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,  that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (1 Timothy 3:14-17).

There are three keys for continued life in this sinful world.

Continue and Do Not Give Up

Paul tells Timothy that he already knows and has been taught the truth. It came through the teaching of his mother and his grandmother and through his association with the “sacred writings.”  For Timothy, that would have been what we call the Old Testament. Timothy must not change because of the times. Instead he was to continue.

That’s good advice for us too. We know the sacred writings and we ought remain in them. We have firmly believed  and no matter what may happen in some place near or far we do not change. To surrender is beyond our comprehension.

Know the Book

Do you notice the very central place given to Scripture? We read of both sacred writings and Scripture. Both are the same and are first formed in the mind of God (1 Corinthians 2:11) and then given to man through the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21).

The necessity of knowing the truth cannot be overstated. We must take it in (Psalm 119:11) and dwell upon it. I fear that most do not give adequate place in their lives to Bible reading. A horrible pestilence of biblical illiteracy has settled upon us. That ignorance allows and sustains false teaching which arises from the devil himself. If we are to stand against the troubles of this world, we must know the book.

Be Equipped

Any soldier knows that his equipment is vital to the success of his mission and even to his own survival. There is no difference with the disciple. We must equip ourselves for combat knowing that Satan will assault us at every turn (Ephesians 6:16, 1 Peter 5:8). There are many tools with which we must equip ourselves (Ephesians 6:10-18) but none so important as a knowledge of the truth of God’s word. Everything we know about God, about Jesus, about sin and salvation, comes from the word of God. We cannot live without it.

We make so many preparations in this life. We prepare for emergencies with insurance policies, we prepare for retirement with Roths and IRAs, we prepare for a high quality of life with gym memberships and well prepared meals. Do we also prepare for life and the spiritual troubles that are certain to come our way? We must be equipped.

We welcome 2013 with open arms and great hope. We seek more followers for the kingdom this year. We seek to spread the word further. But we know that troubles are on the horizon. Nevertheless we do not faint for out hope is in an unfailing Lord who gave us all!

 

Bryant Evans may be reached at bryant at bryantevans.com. You can follow Bryant on Twitter  @jbevans.

John 3:16 – Massive Love

God, Jesus, John, ,

We have previously spoken about John 3:16 in an effort to remind our readers of some overlooked aspects of the verse. But to better complete the study I will consider the great love evident in this short verse:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

God’s love is enormous. His capacity to love, in spite of our failings, is nothing short of incredible. In the Golden Text we see God’s love directed toward all of humanity. Every person who has ever lived, is living and will live is deeply and personally loved by God. That includes great men of faith like Enoch, Abraham and Elijah. It also includes the sinner with the most horrible record of offenses. Remember that as Jesus was being crucified, he looked down and said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”  (Luke 23:34). This is an example of love directed toward the executioners.

We should not be surprised. After all, the Bible tells us that “God is love” (1 John 4:16). He is the source from which all love flows. therefore, we would expect him to be great in his love toward us. God’s love has been evident from the very beginning. In an act of tenderness, God provided Adam with Eve to meet needs that Adam had but could not be fulfilled otherwise. He loved men enough to provide for their salvation immediately following the rebellion in Eden. God’s love has flowed throughout history but finds its greatest display in the giving of Jesus.

I think the question for us, is what we should learn from this example.

God’s Love Withholds Nothing. Paul says it so well in Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” If God withholds nothing, what should we learn? We should learn that true love gives freely to others.

God’s Love is for All People. God’s love is unrestricted. The love was given to the entire world so that all men could be saved. Often we may feel unworthy of God’s love. We may feel our sins are too extreme to allow us to be loved by the Almighty. Some think God only seeks to save a few when in reality God loves all and that salvation is possible for all people.

God’s Love Saves. Salvation is the end result of God’s love. It saves us from horrible wrath and allows us to live personally with God forever. Just a we want to be near those whom we love, God desires us to be near him and has thus provided a way for that to happen.

Let us love as God loves and let us learn from his example in this great text. God loves you immensely and wants to free you from sin and its bondage. Will you love him?

 

God and Orion

God,

commons.wikipedia.orgThere is nothing like the crispness of an early Fall morning. When the skies are clear and the only sound in the neighborhood is an occasional, distant, bark of a dog, I can enjoy the few sweet moments of solitude before the day gets going. At this time of the year, the great constellation Orion hangs above the backyard like an overseeing warrior.

The ancients often looked to the skies and saw their gods outlined in the stars above. The Greeks believed Orion was a great hunter who was blinded by his father but eventually had his eyesight restored. At his death on the island of Crete Orion was placed among the stars by the Greek god Zeus. This mythology is quite late to the Orion story. The constellation was known as far back as the days of Job (Job 9:9; Job 38:31). In the passage from chapter 38 God asks Job if he has any control over the constellations of Orion and Pleiades. The obvious answer is “no.” Amos also mentions Orion and Pleiades (Amos 5:8) in his cry against Israel and declares that it is Jehovah who set them in the heavens, not Zeus.

God, through inspiration, has used Orion as an example of his power and might. It should not be surprising as the starry outline is considered one of the most obvious and best known of the constellations. Because of its location almost directly above the equator Orion is visible to the entire world.

But to me, its grandeur is not in its position or popularity. Its significance is in the God who put it there. The brightest star in Orion is Rigel. If it were possible to travel at the speed of light (about 6,000,000,000 miles per year) one would reach Rigel in about 800 years. The distance is staggering. Yet, the God of the Bible placed it there. How powerful must He be?

By the time God and Job spoke of Orion it was already an old friend to travelers and known well enough to refer to by name. Since Job is thought to have lived even before Moses we begin to appreciate it ancient nature. But God was there when Orion was begun!

Although Orion’s position is changing (by 14,000 AD it will be too far South to be seen in Great Britain) it has been so stable that men can actually use it and its stars for navigation. I have become accustomed to just looking up and seeing the hunter almost every night. He reminds me of the stability of Jehovah God. The psalmist declared of God, “from everlasting to everlasting you are God” (Psalm 90:2). Later he would say, ”but you are the same, and your years have no end” (Psalm 102:27).

God’s magnificence outshines the brightest star and is more beautiful than the most colorful sunset. As you look up into the night sky, be reminded of his beauty, power and eternal being. With David say,

“The heavens declare the glory of God!”

(Psalm 19:1)


In the Beginning God…

Apologetics, Genesis, God,

The first verse of the Bible says a lot.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

God marks the beginning and ending of all we know. He was present at the first sunrise and will be the one to bring everything to an end. It’s hard to think about but God came before the beginning. He caused the beginning. Sometimes God is described as the prime force or the first cause. God alone is sufficient to be the first cause he remains outside of our Creation and far beyond our existence.

It was God who got to work and caused all that we know to come into existence. From the most basic elements of the periodic chart to the great mountains and deepest seas. From the frequencies that give us music to the complex laws of math and physics that govern it all. God is the Creator.

But his power is not raw or unbridled. He carefully directed into just the precise needs of mankind. And when it seemed that his anger would break through and destroy it all he restrained himself (Genesis 6:6-8; Deuteronomy 9:13-29). God’s power is not precipitous but carefully measured to achieve his own plans.

All that we know come from God. God is beyond full understanding for he is apart from our outside of our ability to study him. He is only knowable to the degree he reveals himself to mankind. In the coming weeks we plan to publish numerous articles about Jehovah God. We hope you will join us.