Walk with Christ

2Ti 4:16 At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
2Ti 4:17 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
I have recently been wrestling with the doctrine of the Sabbath day; how exactly we are to keep it holy, and what the correct balance is between enjoying all God’s good gifts and yet making sure the day is separated for God. God has been showing me many things through His word, personal experiences, and godly counsel of parents, pastors and friends. However this post is about a different subject that I have been convicted about as a result of that study.
As I began to be more and more convinced that I was abusing the liberty allowed for the Lord’s Day, I tried to rationalize my continuation in such things, perhaps the foremost rationalization being that were I to conclude that the Lord’s Day is to be used strictly for spiritual thoughts, speech, and actions I would be isolated. Like most people, I’m a social creature, I don’t like being by myself when I know my friends are all off having fun somewhere, so I continued to fight the growing evidence of scriptural and natural revelation, knowing that embracing them would mean I would have to give up doing many things that I enjoy most and usually only get a chance to do on Sunday afternoons. (Watch football and play sports with my friends) God broke me this morning as I gave in to the truth that has been nagging me in the back of my mind all this time, if truth is truth, than to deny it for the sake of pleasure and convenience is an act of cowardice, hypocrisy, and idolatry.
Was not our Lord forsaken of all when arrested? Is it not enough for me to be as the Master? (Matt. 10:25) Was not Paul abandoned by all for standing for the truth? Have not many godly men stood alone through the ages? Are we not called to forsake all to follow Christ? I confess now that my rationalizations were nothing but a fight to feed the flesh that we are called to kill. So I write publicly to remind you, as I have been reminded, that there is an inherent cost built into true Christianity that we are called to count. If being alone is too much to pay than I am no true follower of Christ but a Pharisee, with white-washed walls but inwardly filled with dead men’s bones.
Once I settled this with myself, that I would attempt to obey scripture regardless of the cost, I was reminded that even if all men forsake me, I will not taste the full loneliness of our Lord when he cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, Lama, Sabbachthani” which being interpreted is “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” If I am forsaken by men it is only so I can walk with Christ, who has promised to never leave or forsake me. If there is an area in your life that is contrary to scripture, yet you are holding on to for fear of abandonment, I call you to mortify the deeds of the flesh and walk with Christ.

The father's role as bread-winner.

The following is an excerpt from my pamphlet The Proper Roles in a Biblical Family. Luke 11:11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
Luke 11:12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
Luke 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
The first principle I want to look at is the most basic duty of a father, that of providing and caring for those of your household. It is and always has been the responsibility of the father to provide for the physical necessities of the house. In this passage Jesus calls his own disciples “evil”, yet the assumption is that even the evil men take care of their households. As it is written in I Tim. 5:8, “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” It is not the responsibility of the wife or the children or the state to care for your family, it is yours and you need to do everything in your power to fulfill that obligation. The scriptures do not say that it is your responsibility to make sure they are provided for, but rather it is your responsibility to provide for them. It has always been Satan’s goal to reverse the decrees of God, he calls good evil and evil good, and he is attempting to reverse the roles in our families as well. Fathers, provide for your families and if you turn even a part of that over to another party, you are letting the proverbial camel’s nose into the tent.
Many ask, “What about the families that need the wife to work?” The situations where that is actually a necessity are few and far between, if the father is willing to work hard there will be no reason for anyone else to have to care for that man’s family. I’m not promising that they will have the same standard of living as the Jones, but no one else needs to work in the vast and overwhelming majority of American families in order for them to survive. The only exceptions I can think of might be if the father has a physical handicap that keeps him from working. I can say this with a fair amount of assurance, because I grew up in a family of eleven, my father was the only one in the family that worked until I, as the oldest boy, got old enough to get a job. Even then my father continued to provide me with all the things he had always provided me with until I moved out of his house, all I had to take care of were the extra things such as my car and cell phone. My father didn’t have a high paying job, yet somehow I always had food in my belly and a dry place to sleep, we had gas in our cars and our house was heated and air-conditioned. Now admittedly we lived in a trailer, our cars were at least ten years old most of the time, and we didn’t have the newest gadgets, but that was a conscious decision my parents made in order to be as biblical as possible. The idea that there has to be two incomes to support a family is a myth that is being propagated by the devil through our modern culture, and thousands of Christians have bought it hook, line and sinker and now go so far as to mock those who refute it. The scriptures always refer to the father as the one who cares for the physical provision of the family, and calls those who abandon it deniers of the faith and worse than infidels, or unbelievers. Fathers, husbands, it is time for us to reclaim our biblical role in our houses and that has to start with the most basic of duties, that of caring for our family’s needs.

Who can/should I vote for as a Christian?

Pro 29:2 When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.

1Ti 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
1Ti 2:2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

Rom 13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
Rom 13:2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
Rom 13:3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
Rom 13:4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
Rom 13:5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
Rom 13:6 For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.
Rom 13:7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.

A while back I had a friend ask me, “How do I know who to vote for as a Christian? The vast majority of the candidates are not people I would worship with, so on how much can we disagree without violating my conscience by voting for them?”
Let me begin by saying we have an extremely unique opportunity in America. The ability to have a say in who it is that will be making the laws that will affect you and your children for generations to come, is a privilege rarely enjoyed - not only in today’s world - but in the history of the world! With that in mind, the decision not to vote is not merely a mockery of the lives that were given to obtain that right, but an abdication of your Christian duty to procure a safe and moral country for yourself and your posterity. Should a day come when every candidate in a political race does not meet my most basic qualifications, I would still exercise my right to write in the name of someone I did feel was qualified. For I believe I will give an answer to God one day, for the people I made an attempt to put in authority with my vote! That being said, let me attempt to give some biblical and common sense qualifications that we should look for in a candidate.
The first thing we must understand in answering this question is that as Christians our first allegiance is to God and his laws, not America and her laws. Therefore, in voting for a candidate for public office, our first qualifications are not economic, national security or social welfare questions; but how does this candidate feel about God’s laws and how far are they willing to go to uphold them. Regardless of how much we may agree with a candidate on their social issues, if they are opposed to God’s laws, I cannot vote for them and still claim that my highest allegiance lies with God. The candidate that promotes or ignores the infanticide raging in this nation can never have my vote, for God has commanded us not to murder. The candidate that promotes fornication by promoting government sex-ed funding, likewise will not have my vote. Homosexual rights, militant government invasion on a parent’s authority over their children, racism, euthanasia of any sort and the force-feeding of evolution are a few other moral issues that would disable me from voting for a candidate whose platform included one or any combination of them.
All that being said, a candidate’s personal life will not keep me from voting for them, unless it is an area that would obviously change their legislative actions. I.e. I would vote for a divorced candidate, although I believe divorce is a sin in most situations. I would vote for a Catholic, although I would disagree with most of his doctrine. I would not vote for someone who was homosexual, because obviously they would have a personal motivation to legislate that particular immorality. I would not vote for an atheist, because he believes there are no moral absolutes.
Another important point in choosing a candidate is that a Christian should never stoop to voting for “the lesser of two evils”. To vote for a candidate that will legislate immorality, in an attempt to keep someone out that you think will legislate greater immorality, is twisted logic and not in any way biblical. As Bob Jones once said, “It’s never right to do wrong to get a chance to do right.”
The role of a government authority is to execute judgment on evil-doers and reward the righteous with a peaceful life. I encourage you to step up and perform your duty to put those in authority that will properly implement those standards. You will be judged both by future generations, and more importantly God, on either the way you voted or your apathy and abdication of duty in not voting at all. I encourage you therefore, to do your due diligence in finding the most qualified candidates, based on God’s qualifications, and vote both in the June 1 primaries and the November general elections.

Pride and evil speaking

Prov. 6:16-19
16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

I have recently been meditating on these verses, considering that if something is said to be hated of the Lord and even abominable to him; I ought to also hate it and examine myself closely to ensure I am not caught up in something found on this list. As I thought about each of these sins, how they interacted with each other and what they looked like extenuated out to their furthest end, I was struck with a startling truth. Every one of these sins are engaged when we gossip about someone in order to elevate our position or reputation.
It starts (as so many sins do) with pride, we view ourselves as deserving of some recognition that we are not currently getting and so go about to change that, by dragging someone else through the mud.
Secondly, it moves to that member that James said was the hardest to control, the tongue. We craftily work in barbs, "white" lies or simply exaggerated truths, about whoever we need to cut down, into our conversations with those we wish to impress.
We are now guilty of hands that have shed blood. Not only is the hatred in our heart considered murder by God, (Matthew 5:21-22) but to wreck someone's reputation has long been considered a physical offence in courts of law because of the damage it does to their ability to interact in society and even make a living.
Of course none of this just happens. Bitterness builds up in our hearts as we allow our pride to steep and continue to tell ourselves that deserve better, that we've been wronged. We decide which words will do the most damage to our victim with the person to whom we plan to speak, we decide what lead-ins will be the most effective to portray ourselves in the most innocent light and our comments the most natural to the flow of the conversation. All of this is followed by a justification in our minds for doing what we did or what we're about to do.
It is now time to execute our plan, we've decided what to say, who to say it to, how to say it, and we now find the most convenient time to say it, preferably sooner than later. The longer it goes unsaid, the longer we remain in our current state and the longer we have to watch the one we hate deserve recognition we think should be ours.
There is here the assumption that what we are about to say is not the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. This is the crucial link and the one we work hardest to convince ourselves we are not committing. For sure, there are times we can speak the truth with malicious intentions, but most of the time we, like Daniels opponents, have to fabricate something in order to maximize the effect it will have on cutting them down and ultimately building us up.
The last sin is exactly what we are hoping for; this entire process has been devised and executed with the sole purpose of driving a wedge. Many commentators say that when these lists are given ("six, yea seven", "three, yea four" etc.) the last item is the one with the strongest emphasis. When we consider the seemingly endless list of passages that call us to love the brethren, walk with them in unity, edify one another, forgive each other, and so many commands that are contrary to the notion of discord; we begin to understand how much God hates the one that sows such among his children.
Perhaps I've used some superlatives in this post, maybe I used words that you considered over-the-top or too strong for "such a small sin", but that is my great fear; that we are minimalizing something God sees as huge. Gossip, slander, lying, bearing false witness, sowing discord... these are sins that God despises and we are fools if we commit them and then try to justify ourselves by minimalizing them, they are wickedness of the highest sort!

All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable!

Gal 3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
I love this verse because it dashes to pieces many erroneous doctrines concerning the difference between the Old and New Testaments.
First we see that it does in fact call an Old Testament passage "scripture". Those who claim that the Old Testament is somehow inferior to the New, or less relevant than the New, do not recognize that they are cutting off the branch they are sitting on. Every New Testament writer consults the Old Testament, or calls it scripture, or uses it as a foundation for their arguments. The apostles would not have accepted Jesus Christ as the Messiah except for the fact that starting in the Law and the Prophets he showed them how the scriptures foretold of him. Peter and Paul could not have convinced the Jews that Gentiles now stood on equal ground with them in the sight of God, except for the prophesies that a day would come when those who did not know God would be called the children of the Living God and the prophesy that there would come a day when a light would be shined on those who walked in darkness. Without the Old Testament the New Testament writers would not have had a leg to stand on, so to diminsh the role of the Old Testament is to diminish the foundation on which the New Testament stands.
Secondly, this verse claims that the heathen were saved by faith, and because of that, God spake to Abraham a Gospel of salvation by faith. Abraham, Adam, Isaiah, the thief on the cross and Paul the apostle were all saved the same way I was... by faith! There can be no argument that the law was the avenue of salvation for the Jews unless we cut Galations 3 out of the Bible. Paul makes a very strong argument, Abraham came before the law so how could the law have saved him? And if Abraham was saved by faith, were the Jews after the law saved differently than faithful father Abraham? (Gen. 15:6 says it was Abraham's belief in God that ws counted as his justification before God.) The law was never meant to save, but to show men that they are incapable of saving themselves and must cast themselves upon the Messiah for mercy.
Thirdly, it says the message spoken to Abraham was "the gospel". The gospel is not unique to the New Testament, the Old Testament saints had it as well. They did not know that His name would be Jesus, but they knew a Messiah would come that would be God incarnate and would save his people from their sins, they knew that He would be God with them, they knew He would be born of a virgin and that it would please God to bruise Him. Even Adam and Eve knew that there would be a seed of the woman whose heel would be bruised by the serpent, yet would ultimatly crush the head of that Old Serpent the Devil.
If ever a man or woman has been saved on this earth, it is only because they believed God and that was counted to them for righteousness. It is only through faith that a sinless Messiah would take their sins and pay their penalty. Thank God that you and I have the New Testament to show us that His name was Jesus, but in the words of our Lord, "Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed".

Was king Saul saved?

Alright here's another question recently asked me, eat the meat, spit out the bones, but don't spit them at me! :-)

Was King Saul saved? And if so what does I Sam. 16:14 mean when it says “the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul,”?

The first thing that we must understand when dealing with this question is that we must be careful of attempting to say definitively whether someone was or wasn’t saved, when scripture is silent on the issue. While I say we must be careful in such a statement, I do not say that we cannot discern such issues based on what the scriptures do tell us.
When attempting to ascertain whether or not someone is converted, there are certain characteristics that the scripture tells us to look for. I will give you those traits and then we will lay them against Saul’s life and see how he measured up.
(1) A saved person trusts completely in God for his salvation, deliverance, and sustenance. (Gal. 2:16)
(2) Said faith will manifest itself in actions both personal and observable. (Jam. 2:14-18)
(3) A saved person loves God. (John 8:42, I Cor. 8:3, I John 5:2)
(4) A saved parson loves others, particularly his brothers and sisters in Christ. (I John 4:7-8, 20-21)

So then, let us now look at how King Saul matches up to the litmus test God has given us.

(1) Did Saul trust fully in God for his salvation, deliverance, and sustenance?
I could not find one place in scripture where it speaks of Saul’s faith and reliance on God, in a positive or negative way.

(2) Did Saul’s actions show faith in a personal and observable way?
While I could not find a place in the scriptures where it says that Saul believed in God, I did see two distinct events where he showed great reliance on self and no reliance on God. The first takes place in I Sam. 13, here the Israelites are planning to do battle (though greatly outmatched both numerically and technologically) with the Philistines. God has clearly commanded that there is to be no sacrifice offered but by the priest, in verse 9 Saul disobeys God’s command, bypasses the correct order of worship, and sacrifices himself. The second incident occurs in chapter 15, where God commands Israel to utterly destroy the Amalekites, yet Saul makes the executive decision to save alive the choicest animals and the king of the Amalekites himself. Now, I understand that great, godly, saved men often sin, sometimes in disbelief; but I found two elements that intrigued me concerning both incidents. The first is that both times when confronted with his sin he tried to pin the blame on someone else, in chapter 13 on the Philistines, the people and Samuel, in chapter 15 he again falsely accuses the people. The second correlation was that of no true repentance, the first time there was no repentance at all (I Sam. 13:15). The second time, while there was a show of sorrow, it was evidently to save face and not true repentance before God. (I Sam. 15:30)

(3) Did Saul love God?
Again the scriptures are silent on this issue, while I could find no place where the scriptures say Saul loved God not, I could neither find a reference that said he did love God. This becomes more troubling when we realize that the scriptures expressly say that the next two kings, David (Psa. 18:1) and Solomon (I Kings 3:3) loved God. Doubts then begin to creep into our mind as to why the scriptures say no such thing of Saul.

(4) Did Saul love others, particularly saved people?
This question has the clearest answer out of the four in my mind. Saul hated anyone that interfered with his plans. He attempted to kill David on multiple occasions, (I Sam. 19:10, I Sam. 24, I Sam. 26) he used his own daughter to further his agenda, (I Sam. 18:21) and even attempted to kill his own son for sticking up for David (I Sam. 20:33).
All of these facts along with the idea that God rejected Saul as a leader of His people, leads me to believe that Saul was in fact unregenerate. Like Pharaoh was set up as king so that God might be vindicated in His promise that Israel would repent that they had ever asked for a king.
As for the second part of the question, “What is meant by ‘the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul?’” All the commentators I could find agreed that this is not speaking of the Holy Spirit, which abides in a Christian for one’s entire life, but of the general graces which God had bestowed upon Saul previously. Clarke writes,

“The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul - He was thrown into such a state of mind by the judgments of God, as to be deprived of any regal qualities which he before possessed. God seems to have taken what gifts he had, and given them to David; and then the evil spirit came upon Saul; for what God fills not, the devil will.
An evil spirit from the Lord - The evil spirit was either immediately sent from the Lord, or permitted to come. Whether this was a diabolic possession, or a mere mental malady, the learned are not agreed; it seems to have partaken of both. That Saul had fallen into a deep melancholy, there is little doubt; that the devil might work more effectually on such a state of mind, there can be but little question. There is an old proverb, Satan delights to fish in troubled waters; and Saul’s situation of mind gave him many advantages.”

Some difficult passages

I recently had a facebook friend ask me about some hard to understand passages in scripture, as my response was too long to put in comment form I decided to paste it here on my blog. So, enjoy and if you disagree with me about something that is fine, just please be cordial and christian in your comments.

The parables in Matt. 25 are dealing with the world and particularly the church being unprepared for the final coming of Christ. The first parable tells us that some of the virgins (many old commentators think that this is dealing with the professing church, as a virgin would denote professed purity and singularity of heart to a particular person) had slumbered and had not prepared themselves adequately to meet the bridegroom, while others had fully prepared themselves for his coming. The second has similar implications of some servants who had kept the return of their lord in the forefront of their thinking and resulting actions and others who had for all intents and purposes forgot that the lord would come and demand an answer for his actions. If you are asking how this relates to the doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone, we must understand that those whom Christ as justified he will also ensure that they grow in grace and truth. (Gal. 3:3, Phi. 1:6, I Cor. 6:9-11, Jam. 2:17-18) when a person is truly converted God begins a sanctifying process in them, a spiritual washing (Eph. 5:26). Someone who claims to be saved and yet lives a life that shows no care for the things of God, that looks exactly like the rest of the world, that has not experienced victory over besetting sins over a period of time, such a person ought to examine himself to see whether he be in the faith. (II Cor. 13:5) Not to see if one has lost their salvation, but to see if they ever really had it at all.
Concerning Heb. 6:4-6, there is no denying that this as a hard passage of scripture to understand and has been debated by hundreds of theologians over thousands of years. My understanding through study is that it speaks of those who have "tried" Christianity out, never fully trusting in Christ but giving him a "trial period" of sorts, when such ones decide that Christianity is not for them, they are without hope. The venerable Dr. John Gill held to this position as well and gave Cain, Pharaoh, and Judas as examples of such. If they make a mockery of Christ's sacrifice for them and cast it off, how else will they be saved? There is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved, so it is impossible for them to be renewed to repentance as they have already made up their mind they will not submit to Christ's finished work.
Hope this helps in some way, I highly recommend John Gill if you can find any of his commentaries, they are available for free on esword.

Is Matthew 24 talking about the end times?

A friend of mine recently raised the question, "If Matthew 24 isn't talking about a "rapture", what is it speaking of?" Here are a few of my humble thoughts.

Let me begin by saying that I agree with Matthew Henry who held that Matthew 24 was speaking directly of the fall of the Temple and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, yet was a shadow and type of the end of the entire world. Verses 1-2 are self-explanatory, vs. 3-26 also took place in very real fashion between 40-70 AD, as is well documented in many historical and religious writings. Between the fierce persecution of the Christians from both Jews and Romans, and the heresies that were running rampant as we see from the majority of the epistles, we cannot deny that there was both fierce tribulation and false christs occurring during this time.Of verse 27 where Jesus speaks of the coming of the Son of Man, John Gill writes
"which must be understood not of his last coming to judgment, though that will be sudden, visible, and universal; he will at once come to, and be seen by all, in the clouds of heaven, and not in deserts and secret chambers: nor of his spiritual coming in the more sudden, and clear, and powerful preaching of the Gospel all over the Gentile world; for this was to be done before the destruction of Jerusalem: but of his coming in his wrath and vengeance to destroy that people, their nation, city, and temple: so that after this to look for the Messiah in a desert, or secret chamber, must argue great stupidity and blindness; when his coming was as sudden, visible, powerful, and general, to the destruction of that nation, as the lightning that comes from the east, and, in a moment, shines to the west."
Verse 28 makes an obvious reference to the Roman army (whose symbol was the eagle) encamped around Jerusalem. History reports that the banners bearing the image of an eagle were carried by each band of soldiers and were dotted all around Jerusalem during the siege. Verse 29 is also interpreted by Gill in a very figurative sense, which would seem quite plausible since verse 30 refers to "the sign of the Son of Man".
Verse 31, is actually one of the easier verses to understand under this understanding or interpretation of this chapter. It is universally accepted that the angels mentioned in the beginning of Revelation are pastors or preachers. If we read the word angels here with the same interpretation, we already know that the fall of Jerusalem shot christians into every corner of the world preaching the gospel with the noise and clarity of a trumpeter. Vs. 34 is the hinge on which this thesis turns, Jesus said it would happen within that generation or roughly within that 40-50 years. Vs. 40-41 are then understood as speaking of the stories where there were many who escaped both through miraculous as well as "natural" means, even when everyone else in their city was massacred.
Let me close with this, I don't do intense studying on the "end times" (though I do believe the Lord will return one day to judge the quick and the dead) for the same reason the reformers and Puritans didn't. I have enough studying to do on all those things that relate to life and godliness, that I don't need to know how it will all end. Regardless of what happens, my responsibilities as a christian here on earth never change. So why spend my time trying to figure out something that teases the edges of my imaginations, but has no practical relevance, when I can be studying those things which sanctify, wash, and grow me to make me more like Christ. So when I do see my Redeemer face to face I will be presented as a pure and spotless bride, I may not know everything about the wedding day, but I want to know everything about the Groom!

War for love.

I open this post with the disclaimer that this post is a summery of Dr. Paul Tripp's sermon on "The War of Love" that I heard him preach tonight and not an original work.
1Jo 4:7-11 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
A couple of words that we rarely if ever used in the same breath are "war" and "love", yet this scripture passage teaches that we are in fact fighting a war of love and there are four battlefronts where this war is seen.
I. The confrontation of definition.
There has been much damage done to the church of Jesus Christ in America because we have allowed the world to redefine what is meant by "love". It is more than respect, it is more that affection, it is more than an absence of dislike. Love is willingly and sacrificially giving of yourself regardless of whether the one being loved deserves it or not! Herein is love... [God] sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
II. The confrontation of motivation.
The motivation that is presented to us here has nothing to do with whether we feel like it or not, love is a duty. However, biblical love is always joyful because it is motivated by something greater than itself. Our motivation is to be that we have been loved when we were the least deserving, the vertical love from God to us should cause us to manifest horizontal love for everyone around us. All too often we are guilty of the sin of forgetfulness though, we go throughout the day without ever once thinking about the fact that God saved our souls from hell. We allow other's action or our feelings to be the motivation for our love, instead of remembering that the greatest love ever manifested was manifested towards us! Such a great love cannot be bottled up inside of us, we should not be able to help but love others because of that.
III. The confrontation of conflict.
It is our nature to be bent toward deceit, this is even (perhaps especially) true with self-deceit. We allow ourselves to believe that because we raise our hands in worship, or because we regularly attend church, or work hard, or tithe, that we really do love God. God has given us another test, he says that any man who claims to love God yet hates his brother is lying. It's not okay to argue with your spouse on the way to church, it's not okay to get angry at the slow driver in front of you, it's not okay to get fed up with the kid's bickering and just start smacking, IT'S NOT OKAY! God says "Quit lying to yourself, because you are proving that you don't really love me!" This war for love is being waged a very regular basis, since our sovereign God knew just what to give us as the ultimate litmus test to see whether we truly love him or not.
IV. The confrontation of calling.
There is an incredible truth given to us in one little word in this text, that is the word ought. When we read that word we often think of it as synonymous with should, such as "I ought to go to the grocery store today." We think it means a good idea or logical suggestion, while that is a good definition there is another connotation being carried here that we tend to overlook. That is the definition that means a natural course or literally designed for that purpose. Such as "Rain ought to be wet" or "The sun ought to be bright". When we apply this definition to this passage we find a radical concept, that is that as Christians a part of our new man that has been put on is an intrinsic design to love. That is what we are called to do, what we should do, and also the very thing we were designed to do; love is our purpose in life. When we fail to love our brother not only are we in disobedience, but we are also using our bodies and emotions in a way that they were never meant to be used, against their very nature.
Cool quote: "Love (God) rescued me from love (for self) so that I can love (others)!
I hope this short outline helped you in some small way, the way the sermon did for me in a large way. I was called to reexamine my view of brotherly love, love toward God, and my very purpose in life.

Couseling conference

I am writing today from Lafayette, IN where I'm attending Faith Baptist Church's annual counseling conference. On the superficial side of things the weather hasn't been too bad, we had some wind and rain today but overall not too cold, no ice or snow. As far as the real issues, the sessions have been incredible! They have done a good job of balancing the philosophical and practical sides of counseling. I. e. a sampling of some of the sessions from track one which I'm attending have been, Processing Data, Walking in the Light, Dealing with Depression, Growing in Holiness, The Biblical Principles of Sex. In other words, they have been very thorough in teaching the whole counsel of God concerning counseling. I now see that with the Scriptures as my guide, I am competent to counsel. I've learned in general that the main problem for every counselee is the heart, but I've also learned how to take an issue (Depression, Marriage Conflicts, Anorexia, Etc.) and use the scripture to diagnose what is causing them to act that way and use the scriptures to resolve the problems.
While Anna and I have been attending track 1 covering the basics of counseling, Pastor and Mrs. Michael have been going through track 5 which focuses on how to become NANC (National Association of Neuthetic Counselors) certified. He says there is a lot more paperwork and less lectures that are involved in track 5, but the information he is gathering will be invaluable when we go to get certified.
All the while Jason Wallace has been learning many of the more specific situations you will run across in counseling in track 2. Learning about issues like Miscarriage and Infertility, Eating Disorders and Provocative Parents.
The hope is that at the end of the week and in the coming weeks we can share notes, collaborate on issues and methodologies and ultimately have several certified and competent counselors of different age, gender and station in life. Be praying with us that none of this knowledge or these resources would go to waste, but that God would use us as able ministers to our church and our community.