Tag Archives: God

3 Thoughts on Newtown

Church Bulletin, Culture, Daily living, News, , , ,

Evil is real. We need to understand that the devil is as real as Jesus although, thankfully, he is not as powerful as our Lord. Many are asking questions today about the Connecticut shooting. People want to why such a thing could happen in a peaceful town. Some are questioning God and asking why a loving God would allow such a thing to happen. Others only want to know how to get through the day in the face of such horror. There are answers to their questions but now may not be the best time to enter into deep theological discussions.

Many in Newtown, instinctively turned to God when they heard of the attack. In their hearts they knew that God alone could bring them through the pain. They knew Jesus would care. Let’s remember these three thoughts.

Jesus hurts with his people

The Bible says, “we do not have a high priest who cannot be touched by the feelings of our infirmities” (Hebrews  4:15). I recall a touching moment in Jesus’ life when he saw the grief of those in the home of his dear friend Lazarus. The Bible simply says “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). Jesus’ grief over Lazarus himself, for he was about to raise him from the dead, instead Jesus grieved for the people who were so pained at the loss of their brother and friend.

Then there was a widow walking in her only son’s funeral procession. You can feel the pain of this frightened woman. Of this woman, the Bible says, “he had compassion on her” (Luke 7:13).  There is no doubt that this morning our Lord is grieving along with those who lost their loved ones.

Evil is always among us 

Evil is constantly near us but it is not always so obvious. The events of the past few days paint the obvious horrible, demonic picture of Satan at his worst. Thankfully, these shootings are not every day events. But the Bible speaks of evil as always being near. Peter warns,  “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

Sometimes, evil is so insidious that we may miss it altogether. Paul warns of Satan, “even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Our adversary is deceitful and dangerous. It is good that we are horrified at the scenes of such shootings, but never forget, the same devil is always near. Remember, there is always a moment of peace for the antelope just before the tiger pounces.

God heals

Those most affected by this shooting and by others like it, find themselves caught in the swiftly moving currents of life. They are forced to move on but are heavily burdened by grief. There is no way to forget or ignore the pain in this life. But our God will help. In our darkest day, he remains the light. The Sermon on the Mount reminds us of God’s great care. He reminds of the care God gives to a bird or even to a blade of grass and he then asks is we are not greater (Matthew 6:25-34)?

In the life to come, God himself will dry away our tears (Revelation 21:4) God will also bring Satan into final judgment. While we seek justice in this life, God will bring perfect and complete justice to bear on the wicked.

You and I should be praying for the families of Newtown, Connecticut. We should pray often and fervently for their strength. The God of comfort will come near.

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?

 

Are You Looking in the Right Mirror?

Church Bulletin, Daily living, ,

Most take a quick look at themselves before leaving home each morning. A quick check confirms that hair is properly styled, that clothes are neatly fitted and that no evidence of breakfast remains on the teeth. Throughout the day we often sneak another peak just to make sure nothing has changed. We want to look our best.

But what we see and what others see may be different especially when we think of the intangible qualities; those internal characteristics that make us unique. What do people see when they look your way? Better, what do you want those people to see?

For some the external image is important. For others emphasis is placed on the intangible qualities. For the Christian, neither is correct. The Christian should reflect the qualities of God, not of himself.

For example, consider David. For all of his thoughts he was still understood to be a man after God’s own heart. His accomplishments as a King notwithstanding, he is best known as one who sought the things of God.

The apostle John, first introduced as one of the “sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17) came to be known to us as the apostle of love.  John’s writings reflect the love that best describes our Father in heaven (1 John 3:10 ff).

Paul describes the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-26. Those qualities are  the qualities of the Spirit which you and I ought emulate.

Jesus said,  “You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). The perfection comes from God’s forgiveness, not from any moral perfection we discover.  When we submit to God in simple faith and obedience he does not charge our sins against us. Consider Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:19: “…God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses to them…”

Aren’t there some people that you think of as especially godly? They are not perfect but they are wearing the Spirit’s fruit in their lives. This is the kind of reputation we should strive for.

In the bliss of Eden, man stood before God having been created in his own image (Genesis 1:27). That beauty was destroyed when sin entered but it is not lost forever. We can again attain unto the perfection that is in Christ alone.

So the next time you head out the door, check your appearance in the bathroom mirror but also check your spiritual appearance. What are you reflecting to the world? A hurried mom too busy to think about anything but the next school event? A harried salesman trying to grab the next contract or sale? Let the glory of God be reflected every moment. You are a Christian. Look  the part!


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)


Just Leave It To God

Bible General, Daily living, , ,

I’m sitting in the middle of nowhere right now. I’m in the woods and a long way from the busy world. I’m sitting under an old water oak and just noticing God.
A few minutes ago a single orange butterfly came by. Soon it was joined by two more. Now the three are happily frolicking around a bush about 50 feet away.
Before that a squirrel popped his out just above me. He quickly scurried off but then three more came out just across the small glade from where I sit. Like the butterflies they are playing without concern. So too are the birds, insects, turtles and other unseen critters.
Their apparent lack of anxiety reminded me of something Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount: “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not if more value than they?
Ok, Lord, enough said.

Has God Surrendered?

Apologetics, Culture, Doctrine,

It’s over. The battle has been fought. We lost. It’s true, science has finally beaten the Bible.

New Age spiritualist Deepak Chopra, a friend of Michael Jackson, Oprah Winfrey and an author of many self-help books has offered two pronouncements: Science has won over Genesis and organized religion is unnecessary. The Indian born American educated M.D. He opines:

I’m thinking instead of Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution has proved victorious over the Book of Genesis and its story of God creating the universe in seven days. Since then, God has been found wanting when measured against facts and data. With no data to support the existence of God, there is also no reason for religion and science to close the gap between them.

I am afraid, sir, that you are just wrong. While opponents of the Biblical account of Creation like to suggest a victory they are short-sighted and over confident in their thinking. Despite all their pronouncements, the moment of Creation remains beyond their ability to observe or test. Without observation and without the ability to test and replicate those tests, science is powerless. At the very best, a scientist can offer educated speculation about the Creation but he cannot know that his imaginations are accurate.

In other words, and building on Chopra’s comment, there is no data to support scientific ideas of Creation. It cannot be seen, observed, tested or replicated. It cannot be known through science.

Somehow, people have elevated science to god status. Yet science is ever changing and can never offer a truly stable foundation for any eternal question. But the Bible, rooted in the truth of God, does not change. It is true that God changes his methods in order to deal with man appropriately in every age but He does not change nor does his truth.

Curiously, Chopra argues in the above article against the current attitude of science. He notes that researchers are today asking questions that sound more like religion than old style science. In this he is correct. Scientists of renown are beginning to ask the basic “how” and “why” questions. Their answers are moving many closer to the concept of intelligent design in which some knowledgeable force set the world in motion. Now, that’s still a long way from the God of the Bible but it is a start.

As to the question of organized religion Chopra notes in passing its passing from the scene:

Religion and spirituality didn’t go away just because organized religion has been losing its hold, as suggested by showing decades of  declining church attendance in the U.S. and Western Europe.

There is some truth in that statement. Church attendance is declining. But Chopra is trying to make the case for his brand of internal, isolationist faith which is driven by feelings. He uses the Bible to support his claim.

If God is to be found anywhere, it is inside the consciousness of each person. Even in the Christian West we have the assurance of Jesus that the kingdom of heaven is within, while the Old Testament declares, “Be still and know that I am God.”

Like many false teachers, Chopra does a fine job quoting the Holy Scriptures.  Satan knows the Bible (Matthew 4:5-6), can appear as an “angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14) and trembles at the presence of God (James 2:19). But the Bible teaches that he church was given by Jesus Himself (Matthew 16:18) and was bought and paid for by Jesus’ own blood (Acts 20:28). It is true that attendance is declining. But it is not true that people have found a better way. Instead they walk the path of emotion and navigate the trail of feelings. They indeed have a zeal without knowledge (Romans 10:2).

Chopra may have some good ideas about alternative medicine, I don’t know, but he is bankrupt when speaking of the divine path of salvation.


Not So Minor Prophets

Church Bulletin, , ,

The Minor Prophets are one of five subsets of the Old Testament. The other four being the Pentateuch, History, Wisdom Literature and the Major Prophets. The grouping includes the books of Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. Far from being a collection of obscure prophecies from people with strange names the 12 books contain vital lessons on the great God of Heaven. Both His angry wrath against sin and His tender compassion toward His people are the focus of these books. It is sad that these books were ever termed “minor” although Continue reading Not So Minor Prophets →

Maybe You Are Not Listening

Zechariah, ,

God hears prayers. Do we hear God? When God speaks He speaks loudly. But sometimes He seems so far away. We have real and immediate problems and we pray for his guidance yet it never seems to come. If God really cares then he shouldn’t seem so far away.

God loves us deeply and cares immensely for us. Could it be that we are not really listening? Or maybe God is not saying the things we want to hear so we filter Him out. Communication requires both a sender and a receiver. The person receiving the message must be in tune to the sender or else no message arrives. I suspect we are often on the wrong frequency. We’ve tuned to the wrong station and we are missing His message.

But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts.  “As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,” says the LORD of hosts.” (Zechariah 7:11-13)

Continue reading Maybe You Are Not Listening →

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.

Understandable Truth | 20 Reasons

Bible General, , ,

Have you ever heard someone say, “I just can’t understand the Bible!” Or maybe this one, “Well, that’s just your interpretation. Ask 10 people what a verse means and you will get 10 different answers.” I’m sure you have either heard these comments or maybe even made them yourself. Truthfully, they are bogus. That’s right, nonsense. Don’t you think that sometimes those are just convenient crutches to avoid a teaching or conclusion that people do not like? I think so.

My thesis is that the Bible can be understood. Let me make my case.

Truth Comes from God

To some this is a truism that really doesn’t need repeating. To others it is hogwash. We have previously talked about the inspiration of the Bible and have argued that the inspiration of Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16) is so important because it means the words of Scripture are from the very mind of God.

But for our purposes now we understand that any communication from God can be understood. God is not the author of confusion in spiritual matters (1 Corinthians 14:33). He seeks to be understood. Even in the early days of the church the Christians were reminded not to speak in tongues unless someone was present who could interpret (1 Corinthians 14:27, 28). Since the Bible comes from God it can be understood. If God created us then he can communicate with us.

Think about it. If you can read the manual and understand how to program a DVD recorder, you can certainly understand God. God is all-knowing while the DVD people are not. He knows you personally, the DVD people do not. The issue really boils down to a single question. Can God communicate with his creation? The answer must be “yes!”

It is God’s desire that we all speak the same thing and stand in the same mind or agreement (1 Corinthians 1:10). Divisions are opposed by the Lord ( 1 Corinthians 1:10-18). If these things are true – and they are – God would play no role in creating or contributing to religious misunderstanding and division. Truth comes from God. Men are the source of confusion.

Confusion Comes from Men

If we are correct that the Bible can be understood and if God is able to communicate with us, then why all the confusion? That’s a really good question. Hundreds of denominations and sects, each teaching something different makes for an embarrasing religious landscape. It is the not the Bible’s fault.

We struggle with understanding the Bible because of one of four reasons:

  1. We have not yet studied enough to come to an understanding;
  2. We do not like what it says;
  3. We have been taught wrong by someone else who does not like what it says;
  4. We are too lazy to study for ourselves and have entrusted a mortal to teach us what we should learn on our own.

Pretty harsh assessment? You are correct. But argue against it and please leave your comments here so they can be seen by all readers. Keep in mind a few key verses as you comment. (To my facebook friends I invite you to comment here if you like. On FB is fine too.)

“Knowing this first, that no prophecy is of any private interpretation.” (2 peter 1:20)

“You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:32)

“…so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.” (Luke 1:4)

God’s word can be understood. While there may be some questions that are not answered in Scripture God has given us all we need for our salvation. Let us all try to speak the same truth and stand on the same ground so that the unbelieving world can be saved.