Debate: William Lane Craig vs. Alex Rosenberg - Is Faith in God Reasonable?

This is the full video of last nights debate... give it a view and let me know who you think won.

(Spolier alert: All three judging bodies (the internet, 6 on site judges and the audience) overwhelmingly feel Craig won this debate)

On Hope for the Hopeless - JP Moreland

Such a great message from Dr. Moreland. This has been an invaluable tool for me in my life. Listen, digest and meditate on this information. You can renew your hope by rekindling your faith in God and re-framing your difficulties.

Surviorman Wisdom...

I was watching an old episode of Surviorman with survival expert Les Stroud the other night. He was backpacking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and he had to survive for seven days. The weather was holding up well for him considering it was late spring. However on the third day into the survival challenge, rain came upon him quickly. It was at this point that Stroud utilized his experience and knowledge to get him through a tough spell. Stroud had learned that in order to stay warm, naturally you would need a fire and in a place like the Sierra Nevada's the temperature can change quite dramatically at night and get below freezing. To prevent the storm from drowning out the fire you have to make a big enough flame to withstand the downpour.

Then it hit me...

What an amazing principle for us Christ-followers. Right now you may be experiencing a particularly great season of weather in your life. However, storms, trials and tribulations can come at any time and most unexpectedly. The question is, how big is your flame right now? Could it hold off the storm? Will your flame be put out by the rain?

What you do with the great weather in your life will determine if you make it through the rain. If your fire is kindled hot for God during the good times that same fire will withstand the storm when it comes, and it is sure to come. However, if you ignore your spiritual fire during the sunny times when the rain comes your flame will be easily extinguished and then you will be unable to withstand the storm.

If you are in the midst of a sunny season take this opportunity to read God's word everyday, pray and devote your heart and joy to him. Build in those great habits and practices that draw you every closer to the source of your fire and when the storm comes, which as I said before it will, then your fire will stay lit. Don't get caught with a small fire.

If you are in the midst of the storm right now (as I am) it is never too late to rekindle your fire. Find a great friend to pray with you, spend some time working on your relationship with your creator, read a great devotional book, rekindled your fire and your faith will be stoked and your hope returned. Just as the storm came, it will too come to pass, you must expect this to happen because our God promises these things for us! Have confidence in Him to deliver you from the storm and the next time a trial comes your way your flame will stay lit!

God bless you all and I will be praying for your fire!

Use Your Own Initiative

Reflecting this morning on a pending major-life decision I came across a few illustrations in the Gospels that reflected the sort of attitude we should take towards making a directional change in life.

On multiple occasions during his life of ministry Jesus healed a diverse following of people. He healed blind, paralytics, lame and so on. I want to draw on these examples to elucidate my point.

Whenever Christ healed someone he granted them this opportunity but he left the option open to the person receiving the healing. For example in Luke 5 Jesus heals a paralytic man who was lowered through the roof by his faithful friends (vv. 19-20). The Pharisees in an uproar ridiculed Christ for saying he can forgive the man's sins (v. 21) yet Jesus carried on his work and beckoned the man to stand up (v. 24).

This last verse is the key to my point, Christ did not lift the man up, he commanded the man to stand. It is at this very crossing point in the decision making process that will determine the result of the working of our Lord. If the man did not heed Christ's call what would the result have been? Though Scripture does not answer this hypothetical question I think we can draw on similar hypothetical questions in Scripture to demonstrate my point.

When Jonah received his instructions for the people of Ninevah, God was allowing a counterfactual to occur. If the people of Ninevah did not repent they would be destroyed. Seems a pretty direct statement. But if they did repent the city would be spared. Thus we have a clear example of a counterfactual in Scripture, so lets use this to play out the scenario of the paralytic.

If the paralytic responds to Jesus' call to stand and take his bed with him (v. 24) then the man will be healed (v. 25). However, if the man does not stand he will remain paralyzed. What we see is indeed a counterfactual situation unfolding. If the man doubts Christ can do this then he will lack the faith necessary to receive the healing offered to him (I know this last statement can be used to attempt to show that God can heal you if you have enough faith but that is not the intended use here). If he does respond his faith will be put into action and the miracle will be witnessed by all.

This is the initiative we must take to test our faith and to see if God is with us. If you are facing a tough decision in life, if you are in need of a cure and you feel God summoning you to a particular decision or cure then take the initiative and give it a try. If God is in it He will make it abundantly clear whether through circumstances, a word of a friend or a complete shutting of the opportunity before you could pursue it. The key point here is again that God requires us to take the step in faith. We cannot expect God to direct a parked car, yet when we put the car in drive and ease away from the curb onto the street then we can expect God's direction if we have sought it.

Remember, take the initiative because He is faithful!

In Weakness we are Made Strong

"For to be sure, He was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God's power. Likewise, we are weak in Him, yet by God's power we will live with Him to serve you."

-2 Corinthians 13:4-

This message from Paul is a powerful reminder that our God is mighty. However this show of God's force is not when we are impregnable rather when we are feeble. God's perfect power, his love cannot be given the gravity it deserves under the guise of human pride and arrogance. God's power does not work in such cluttered environments as man's egotism.

This is a repeated theme throughout Paul's second letter to the Corinthians. When we are made low, humbled and fraile then God's mighty strength can be seen in its true glory. Working through the broken-hearted, the downtrodden and those with no hope, God's ultimate love can be shown for his concern and care for us when we are in our greatest need. Surely a heart that is boastful has no room to invite the sustainer of the cosmos in, and why should that person, after all, they believe they have the world in their hands, they can do no wrong. Such hubris is not the proper breeding ground for life changing work to be done.

Are you looking for God to transform your life? What areas of pride and dignity must you lay low in order to allow God to work his perfect power in you? Examine yourselves and see what is in need of a Godly adjustment and surrender that to him so he may transform you!

"'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

-2 Corinthians 12:9-10- 

Philosophy Friday - Reasonable Faith

"It is sometime claimed that faith and reason are hostile to each other, and whatever is of reason cannot be of faith. But this represents misunderstanding of the biblical concept of faith. The biblical notion of faith emphasizes personal trust (fiducia) or belief in God and the data/content of his revelation (noticia). But belief in rests on belief that. One is called to trust in what he or she has reason to give intellectual assent (assensus) to. In Scripture, faith involves placing trust in what you have reason to believe is true. Faith is not a blind, irrational leap into the dark. So faith and reason cooperate on a biblical view of faith. They are not intrinsically hostile."


J.P. Moreland, "Philosophy." in Opening the American Mind, ed. W. David Beck, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1991), 47-66.

"The Light of the World" - A Most Interesting Sight

Here is a copy of the sermon message I am giving this morning at Cornerstone Community Church. Hope you enjoy.

So in the message last week Pastor Craig touched on this idea about Jesus as the “Light of the World.” Now in today’s study we are going to see how Jesus brought a kind of light into a blind man’s life, which will reflect the similar claim Jesus made in the previous chapter. You heard a few different scriptures describing what might have been understood by the Pharisees and those listening when Jesus proclaimed in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”[i] I want you to keep this scripture in mind for later on when we come to the text for this morning. It should help tie this all together.

           

            The idea of light it certainly something we take for granted in our modern society. Today we can flip a switch and lights just pop on. We don’t have to light a candle or start a fire to light our path in the darkness, we have flashlights and even our cell phones to shine a light on the way. If you’re a little scared of the dark, never fear, we have a night-light specifically designed to let your mate sleep while providing you with enough light to quell your fears. We even invented lights that pop on and off by us clapping (I realize I just dated myself by doing this). Worried about nighttime travel, well we invented headlights for your vehicles.

What is Evangelism?

What do you think of when you hear the word "Evangelism"? Do you think of the guy holding the "Trust Jesus" sign at sporting events or high school graduations? Do you think of the guy yelling curses to all apostates and sinners from the top of a soap box on the street corner?

If you do let me say read on a bit because I hope to help change your perspective on what Evangelism is all about.

Those who had the memories of the type above will be happy to know that most of Christianity doesn't see evangelizing the world in quite the same manner. Now you might be thinking well I don't know of any other forms of evangelism and you sadly might be right. You haven't likely seen a true Evangelist do his or her thing because either one it was very subtle or as is the case for the other part no Christian has taken the chance to share the Gospel of Christ with you.

So what exactly is evangelism supposed to look like? Well first before answering that let me say that to those who are Christians we need to take more seriously the words of Jesus in the 28th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew when He says,

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

Matthew 28:19-20 NIV

These words weren't merely a friendly suggestion of the type of things we should be doing but its okay that were not doing it. These were more than suggestions or options for the Christian, these were plain and simply Commands from our Savior and we would be wise to heed the command of Him who knows best how to reach a people in desperate need of His saving grace.

So now that we know that its a command, what does this look like? Well quite simply put, Evangelism is about relationships. If I asked you the question, "Would you marry someone you just met that sat down next to you at Starbucks?" how would you respond? Most sane people would respond with a resounding "No". What if I asked, "Would you marry that same person you met at Starbucks and had a conversation with for 30 minutes?" how then would you respond? Probably in the same way. Marriage is a serious commitment. What if I asked you, "Would you respond to an invitation to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior from a complete stranger, someone you have never had any dialogue with, and not to mention you don't even know who Jesus is besides a cuss word." How would you then respond?

Remember when Evangelizing its about building a relationship. The mission of Evangelism is certainly spreading the word and helping to "convert sinners into winners" eternally but can this be done by force or by a one-time conversation from a stranger? Not likely and if you think of your own experience with coming to a saving knowledge of Christ, you likely didn't do so after one experience. It may have been that one experience that started you off on a step by step path to discovering the truth of the Gospel but it was just one step in many that led to true conversion. If someone is closer to a decision for Christ then perhaps you can be the one to pray with them and witness their conversion but it would not have been without the hard work of others gone before you. 

Also, be prepared to become a guide for the person seeking Christ. Be open about your faith but give room for the person to doubt, question and research the things that don't sit easy with them. Remember, a relationship with Christ is like a marriage and if that is the picture we get then certainly it is a good thing that much thought and study go into making a decision to follow Christ. This is why many people, not just Pastors get to witness conversions. Any who labor for the Gospel will have their part, whether emotionally, prayerfully or intellectually, in the conversion story, none is more important than the other. The important thing is to focus on the task of reaching and reasoning with the unbeliever and being relational with them. It is hopefully through this process (which takes years sometimes) that we can see souls won for Christ.

So in closing, when Evangelizing to the world (a clear command from scripture) keep in mind that you don't have to get a prayer, or a conversion every time you talk with someone. Its not our job to do the saving, that's God's work but we would be wise to take a tip from Paul in regards to Evangelism when he said,

"I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow."

1 Corinthians 3:6 NIV

Be about the job of planting and watering the seeds of the Gospel and if you are faithful to the work you will see God make these seeds grow. 

Go "All-In"

Some time ago I got what I liked to call poker fever. It was back when Chris Moneymaker became the first real non-professional poker player to win the World Series of Poker held annually at the time at Binnon's Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. I played this game weekly with some friends, practiced on-line and even went to the local card room to hone my skills. Much like the famous call from a player who is willing to bet all he has on this one hand because he is sure he can win whether or not he has the cards to do so or not, I was "All-In" when it came to learning and dominating poker.

Years later now sitting in church last Sunday the pastor mentioned the phrase "All-In" when talking about our faith and our walk with Jesus. It brought back memories of my poker days when I was willing to risk my entire stack on a hand I was pretty sure was the best. The question is do I know have the same feeling about Christ and Christianity? Am I willing to risk my eternal destiny on some guy who died 2,000 years ago? That is truly what it means to be a Christian. You have to be willing to say to this God that you cannot see or touch that you believe He is the best bet for my life. You have to be willing to walk after His commands if you truly want to be "All-In" with Jesus.

His commands are quite simple and if you would read the Gospels you would find the gift of salvation quite attainable. There are no rituals, no amount of chores or works to get you in, all you have to do is admit you are in need of a savior to cleanse you from all unrighteousness, believe that Christ Jesus can do this and commit yourself to following His every command. This is what it looks like to go "All-In" for Christ. Yes you will have trials, you will suffer, hey you might even be harmed for you faith in the Savior, but if the Shepherd was killed what more might happen to the sheep? Going "All-In" isn't some decision that should be taken lightly, it should be considered the greatest life changing decision you'll ever make.

Look at your hand right now, you have the best hand possible, the hand that can take the pot, are you willing to bet it all and lay your hand down?

If you do you will lay down the Creator, Sustainer and Ruler of Heaven and Earth to take the pot of Eternal Life the greatest reward for the best hand in the poker game of life.

Go "All-In" today!

Absolutes and Faith?

What if the Bible were 100% accurate or true in the regard to all physical reality? What would this do to the idea of Faith?

Wolfthart Panneberg basically said that the basis for faith in Christianity could be found in the reliability of the historical Christianity itself. Basically truth can be known plausibly with the facts of the past or within history.

This got me to thinking about the following, what if the Bible and its facts were 100% true in all known physical reality, would it remove faith altogether? What faith does it take to believe in something that is an absolute, at least physically speaking?

In this case it would seem that absolutes would nullify the concept of faith altogether.

In reference to scripture, this is not to say that scripture cannot be inerrant, but it must take into account both physical and spiritual realities to be fully inerrant.

If scripture were only spiritually true then that too would nullify our necessity for faith and belief because it (scripture) would simply become incomprehensible as a whole. How could we perceive fully of something we cannot experience temporally.

It would seem the bottom line point would be this: Some things can be explained in regards to the scripture physically, some spiritually and some by both, but they cannot be explained 100% of the time in both realities of understanding, otherwise we would become as God, knowing and understanding all things or better said we would be omniscient.

The statement and thought that God is good (in particular, always good) can be misunderstood if you merely think of God as being good in physical reality. This can take away from the truth that God is good. You must take into account the idea that God is good as a whole, and by that I mean God is good all the time whether physically observable and or spiritually observable. To say that God is not good because the little girl dies of cancer is to discredit and apply the potential for God’s divine goodness to physical reality alone. God is still good, but in this case Spiritual reality maybe be better equipped to explain and nurture the true goodness of God in that particular instance. Again in each circumstance one must weigh whether or not God’s goodness is observable to them physically and if its not then we should simply defer to the divine and attempt to understand his plan outside our observable reality. If we take this approach God would maintain his status as all knowing, all-powerful and always just and good. 

The Acts of the Holy Spirit

So at our small group on Wednesday we started reading the Acts of the Apostles. This details the early years of the church. One thing we all took notice of was that this was in fact the Acts of the Holy Spirit more so than the Acts of the Apostles.

So the question is do you have the power of the Spirit residing in you? If you don't there is a simple remedy.

1. If you are a Christian, all you need to do is pray for a recharging or refilling of the Holy Spirit each day. When you do this you will be amazed at the things you can do to further the Kingdom of Heaven that you thought were out of your comfort zone or greater than your capabilities. Certainly the Apostles couldn't have achieved the success they experienced without a daily filling power of the Holy Spirit.

2. If you are not a Christian, there is a dormant power available to you just waiting to be called into action. The Spirit can help to inspire you to search out a deeper understanding of why you are here, why there is a God and so on. With this Spirit's urging the hope and prayer is you will accept the gift of salvation paid for at the Cross of Christ. Then this dormant powerful Spirit can be enacted in your life and you too can have the indwelling and the filling of the Holy Spirit to allow your life to transform in ways you never dreamed possible.

Please take some time to ask questions, seek out why these Christians say Jesus is the only way to salvation. Ask the questions about why do I need salvation, what is sin and so forth. If you find someone willing to listen and work with you it is my sincere hope that upon hearing the message of the gospel you will accept fully what it says and give your life to Christ.

Have a great weekend!

I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me."
                                   -John 14:6-

The Parachute of Faith

So tonight, stirred on by a great meeting with some friends, I was led to this little example to sum up faith...well at least as well as I can explain it.

Okay so first lets envision you were duped into going on a skydiving trip with a few friends. You are super terrified of jumping out of a plane not to mention you are scared of heights so jumping out of a plane at any height greater than 3 feet is too much for you to bear.

You decide to do some research about skydiving and the parachutes that will help to ensure your safe landing on terra firma. You study the weight capacity of the parachute, the oxygen level when you jump from the plane, you study the success rate of jumpers landing without splattering all over the ground and so on.

The day of the jump is here and you have prepared yourself with all the information possible and you have rehearsed what the jump will look like but still you are not settled because you have no way of knowing whether or not you will land safely. Now in an ideal world, like in the movie Back to the Future, you can travel to the future and verify that you actually land safely.

So you are standing there all ready to go. You have thought through this but you realize again you can't know for sure so you hold on to the side as you jump. Did you really let go and trust in the parachute to do its job?

Maybe you jump and you wait and wait and wait for the parachute to open itself, eventually you hit the ground having not pulled the cord to release the chute and well you guess what happens to you.

But on the other hand maybe you let go of the side, jump and when the time is right pull the string and glide safely to the earth below you. You did it! You took the leap of faith and trusted in the parachute and it didn't let you down.

Here is where I was going with this. We can reason, research and do all the intellectual things involved in attempting to know God, just like we did before our skydiving trip.

Eventually we come to the point where we realize we cannot reason and research anymore because we realize that knowing God is more than just reason and fact. There is a huge chasm that seperates us from God and eventually we have to jump.

Don't jump holding on to the facts that led you this far thinking that becasue you still cling to you reason that faith will lead you to the answer while you never let faith actually do its thing and become  well, faith.

Also, don't just jump into faith waiting for God to do something for you before you actually try to pull the parachute of faith for yourself, if you do this you will wait and wait and wait until splat...its too late.

Instead jump, pull the string and let the faith you say you have guide the parachute open and land safely in the arms of the Savior.

Are you willing to jump in faith for God? It is my sincere prayer that you are... I will be praying for you all that God's divine parachute opens and guides you safely home!

Why did he do that?

Have you ever just sat around wondering why something happened a particular way it did?

Why did that car cut me off?

Why did the waitress not hear me ask for some more water?

Why did I throw my back out just bending over?

So we can ask a bunch of why's and this week I found myself finally resolving a why for myself.

I was reading the story of the Exodus and the encounters between Moses and Pharaoh. It struck me as strange why God would purposely harden the heart of Pharaoh. I realize in my limited knowledge as a human I cannot fully perceive of what it must be like to have supreme power and knowingly make decisions that will effect the outcomes of certain lives in different ways. But then it struck me...God did this because of the reaction that it would cause and the response that would come from the Israelites.

Go with me here on a small journey and picture if you will the story of the Exodus if God had not hardened Raamses heart.

As Moses approaches the people of Israel full of strife he realizes he must do something, he comes to Pharaoh and demands that he let his people go. Pharaoh laughs him off and the plagues begin. After a few of the plagues on the land Pharaoh realizes that the Hebrews have a powerful voice and they need to be released and allowed not to be a curse on the land of Egypt any longer. Pharaoh in his infinite wisdom and grace allows the people to go into the wilderness as Moses requests and Israel begins her journey to the promised land. Here is where the story takes the turn. In recognizing the graciousness of the Pharaoh instead of turning their praise to the God in heaven they turn their love and admiration back to Pharaoh for the mercy he showed them. They actually build statues to him and volunteer to return to live and worship Pharaoh in the land from which they were once slaves.

What could go wrong with that???

How about everything and anything...that's a dead-end road for the Hebrews. In worshiping a man they would have most certainly doomed their existence in Egypt and probably have been wiped off the face of the earth after generations of slavery and euthanasia.

However, the Lord came to the rescue in history. He did harden Pharaohs heart and the result, the people left the land triumphantly. They took riches from the land, and who got the praise, not Pharaoh, not Moses but God. Who did the people worship, God...at least for a little while but that's for another time!

The point, in God's infinite and divine foreknowledge and middle-knowledge, He could see the outcome either way it went down and he knew how his people would respond. In order to truly allow them to leave the land he had to put in front of them the choices that would lead to their ultimate freedom and he had to harden Pharaoh's heart. No one deserves slavery and God saw to it that this people would be freed from it. This was much like in our own country, God intervened in the lives of the Christians who moved a country to abolish slavery through President Lincoln's decree.

Why did he do that...to give peace to His people and he can do the same for you if you call on His name accept him with faith and follow His word and do as He says. Then you can be assured of the gift of Salvation. Will you do that today?

I sincerly hope so!

Have a great weekend all!

The Lord is My Rock!

So reading this morning in the great book of II Samuel I came to chapter 22. This chapter holds a song of David to his beloved Lord God Almighty. This song is well written and the first few verses struck a chord in my heart so I figured why not stop and write them and share them with my internet friends. Here they are as I read them:

"...The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; The God of my rock; in Him will I trust: He is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, My high tower, and my refuge; My savior; Thou savest me from violence. I will call on the name of the LORD, Who is worthy to be praised..."
                                 -II Samuel 22:2-4 KJV-


Just sit with those words and descriptions of God:
Rock
Deliverer
Shield
Refuge
High Tower
Savior

With descriptions like these its no wonder our Lord God Almighty is able to lift us up when we are weak, comfort us when we are broken and feed us when we are hungry.

It is good to give thanks and praise to the one who is worthy of it!

It is my prayer that you would do so today. OH PRAISE HIM...HE IS HOLY!

Need a recharge?

So I am a self-described health nut. I love eating organic, I take loads of vitamins and supplements to keep my old body in tip top shape.

When I feel a little sick or under the weather I reach for the home remedies, elixirs and vitamins to supplement and solve my body worries.

But what do you do when your spiritual life and body need a recharge or they start to feel run down and under the weather...

Well do I have the supplement for you, its a old remedy and has a new catchy slogan,
"When your spirit feels like your run down bod, reach for Vitamin GOD!"

That's right a healthy dose of Vitamin G-O-D will cure what ails ya!

When you are feeling spiritually out of energy just reach for the Word of God, get on your knees and pray and I promise you he will restore your faithful soul to a refreshed sense and get you back out in the field to spread his word.

Remember reach for the Vitamin that many of the top disciples have used for centuries, reach for Vitamin GOD!

What happens when we turn from our ways?

So what does happen when we turn from our ways? I don't mean just the bad ways, what about the good ones too?

Here is what God's says in Ezekiel 33

"When the righteous turneth from his righteousness and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby. But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby."
                                Ezekiel 33:18-19 KJV-


So what does this all mean. Basically this, if we know the truth and as Christians we should, then if we are living righteously then all is fine. But if we turn from the righteous way and the righteous God we will surely die in our sins, and if we die in our sins we likely know where we are headed when we depart this world.

On the flip side if the wicked stays on his wicked path he too will suffer the fate of the one who fell from righteousness. But he too, the wicked man, can turn from his ways, follow God and his ways, accept what is lawful and right (thanks to Christ's sacrifice he became both which is lawful and right) he can be saved from the torture of Hell.

Bottom line to these verses if you are on the straight and narrow do all you can through prayer and relationship with God to stay on that path (he will do the rest), and if you are not on that path, reach out to God to show you the way, and when you get there stay on that path as well because as Christ puts it in Matthew 7:

"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." 


Be counted as one of the few my friends!

The Hardest Command

So do you ever wonder what the hardest thing Christ ever commanded us was?

I certainly do and I feel as though this is the hardest command for me.

No, not love your neighbor, or care for the widow. It is even more daunting than that, at least to me it is.

"...And He said unto him, 'Follow Me.' And he left all, rose up, and followed Him."
                                -Luke 5:27-28 KJV

This description was about the encounter of Jesus and Matthew (Levi) the tax collector. This is the hardest thing I believe our Lord commanded us to do.

"Follow Me."

It seems simple indeed, but when you really look at it, it seems to require so much more, yet again it is simplistic in its idea.

Matthew left all to follow Jesus. This ALL isn't a figure of speech. This ALL is everything he had, owned, desired, everything and everyone he had ever known. That is what makes this so hard. Sure it seems easy to leave it all behind and follow someone you never knew and we assume its easier because we know the stories of the Gospels but think about it for a minute.

How great a sacrifice was this for men, the disciples, to do? Matthew was no doubt paid well enough by the Romans to eat and have a roof over his head. He had a job, family, friends. Yet in one moment in his life he left it all behind to follow a stranger. Amazing!

Simon Peter too in verse 11 of this chapter also followed suit in leaving everything to follow Jesus. What faith and strength!

In today's day and age we have great possesions. Thanks to Facebook and MySpace we have more friends than Tila Tequilla. Money, homes, cars, we have it all. Yet Christ is calling us similarly as he called his disciples, "Follow Me."

How many of us have answered this call? I know I have not fully embraced this. I marvel at the thought of giving it all away. Things I have worked so hard for. The career path I have embarked on. My family, friends and day to day happenings. All left behind because he calls me.

I have left friendships, time with my wife and family, even time spent with my job to pursue ministry at our church, yet I have not left everything to follow HIm. Maybe I am missing the true nature of this statement?

All I know is I am trying to pursue Him where he calls but giving it all away to follow Him I have not done. Maybe there is hope for a confused guy like me. Maybe its the willingness when he calls to leave it all. When he calls me to High School Ministry at our church, do I forgo business trips, family dinners, Raiders games (I hope you continue to read on after you discovered I was a Raider fan, please forgive me, I am a sinner!)? I have to answer that with a sometimes. Business trips seems to be the hardest thing. I do not receive a salary for my work with the church so it is hard for me to justify in my tiny brain missing out on mandatory meetings to serve in the ministry. But maybe God doesn't desire us to loose our jobs for Him, at least maybe not at this moment.

Know this, no matter how overwhelming this verse is to do, when He calls you (I believe it will be unmistakable He is calling) then be ready to leave it all behind. True He has already called us into relationship with Him and today we pursue to strengthen those ties with Him, but when that call comes to Follow Me be prepared to go where he wants you to go and be willing to sacrifice it all for the sake of the cause, no questions asked.

I pray the Lord strengthen us all when He calls us to have the faith it takes to do what He says. Would we all FOLLOW HIM! AMEN!

Defintion of our Faith!

Here is a brief but great definition of our faith from the greatest quite possibly of all the apostles Paul

"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manisfest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."
                                1 Timothy 3:16 KJV-

God was made manifest in the flesh and we called him Jesus Christ.

He is the maker and sustainer of our faith and lives. This one we choose to follow first chose us to make. This is a precious gift of God and salvation to us who choose to believe upon him and all he has for our lives.

I hope you have a blessed week friends and may you remember this scripture when someone asks you about your faith you can tell them who he is!

Because the LORD God of Israel...

In my morning quite time I read chapter 10 of the great book of Joshua. The Israelites are gaining strength and they are conquering many peoples along the way as the Lord God had commanded them to do. But on the second to last verse it reads:

"And all these kings and their land did Joshua take at one time, because the LORD God of Israel fought for Israel."
                                 Joshua 10:42 KJV-


Did you catch that part, because the LORD God of Israel fought for Israel, that is the key.

If God is for us who can be against us, but if God is not for us then how do we evaluate our actions, responses and postures towards him to ensure he is for us?

First off God loves all his creation. I know this might seem odd considering that means he loves guys like Hitler, Manson, Stalin, Ahmadinejad and etc. But He is just simply good. I threw one at you there is he just good or is he Good and Just?

Of course he is both and that means loving his creation equally.

I know, I know, Yes he did hate Esau but that was because of what Esau did, but he did not hate Esau in the womb only when Esau turned from God by selling his birthright. 

Back to my point...

However that also means judging his creation equally, that means my sins are counted equally with the sins of Pilate. We are judged on the same scale whether I think thats fair or not.

But when you think about it if God did judge on different scales how right and just of him would that be? No your very right, God should not show favoritism in judgement heres an example:

"Chris you have been a good guy, you followed your own right path, even though I think stealing is wrong you only stole a few small things in your life namely bubble gum, so I guess well your in! Just do me a favor and stay away from the bubble gum isle at our heavenly convenience store."

So I only stole little things and I was allowed entrance into the kingdom, well what about you maybe you never stole anything, how fair is it that a thief like me enters the kingdom? How about that guy that stole a car once in his life, should he get in? I mean I stole gum a few times but he stole a car once, which is worse, once or multiple times?

Do you see how this whole judging thing could get out of hand if God did not hold everyone accountable on the same scale? I hope you do. I doesn't matter, gum, money, boats, cars, if you steal then your a thief plan and simple and that's how the judge will see it.

So now your thinking well God is love and he won't judge me, and you would be right your god won't judge you, that's because the god you created in your mind doesn't believe in that but the God of the Bible is clear he will judge his people someday.

No one is perfect and I know that better than anyone, and God is perfect and his law is perfect by which he judges our actions and life. So how can we being imperfect hope to achieve this state of perfection and everlasting life. We can't imperfect will never equal perfect just like 2 cannot have the same value as 5 no matter how much time and effort 2 puts into being bigger and stronger and holier he can never equal 5.

Now don't loose hope, remember how I told you that God was perfect, well he is and he came down in the form of a man to pay the penalty against that perfect law that judges us. With his death, burial and resurrection Jesus defeated the law's penalty for us and if we take his name into our hearts and live him out, believe fully in his promise we to can be saved.

I pray this message reaches you with joy and you find the hope that I have found in the savior, Jesus Christ. Remember if God is for us who can be against us!

May God richly bless you this day friends!

God Will Move Waters For You!

This morning while reading in the Old Testament book of Joshua I was stirred with a thought. In chapter 3 the people of Israel, once led by Moses in the wilderness, are preparing to cross the River Jordan. Joshua, the newly appointed leader of Israel, was given a command how to approach the river and how to cross it to take the land promised by God to be the habitation of the Israelite people. Most people don't realize that God parted the waters for the Israelites not once but twice! Originally when God used Moses to call his people out of slavery and oppression at the hands of Pharaoh, he led them across the Red Sea which he parted by Moses stretching out his hands over the waters. They passed on dry ground provided by God. Well that was to bring them out and here in Joshua 3 we see God again parting the waters as his people went in to claim their land.

"And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the People were passed clean over Jordan."
                                 Joshua 3:17 KJV-

When the Levites stepped into the waters of the Jordan holding the Ark of the Covenant the water would rise up and split apart making the way for the Israelites dry and safe. Twice God moved the waters for his people to cross through unharmed.

That is his continued promise which I thought about this morning. First off God is the same yesterday, today and forever.


"For I am the LORD, I change not..."
                                Malachi 3:6 KJV-


"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever."
                               Hebrews 13:8 KJV-


If he protected his own back then what makes any of us think he won't do the same today?
The fact is that he will stand up for his own. In the last book of the Bible we read of a special protection given God's people in the last days to stand up against the evils taking place on earth during the great tribulation. We read:

"And then came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth; and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the Seal of God in their foreheads."
                               Revelation 9:3-4 KJV emphasis added-

With this wonderful promise it makes me wonder why anyone wouldn't want to have God do the same for them. The true fact is however, many people in this world choose not to follow God. They either don't believe, don't care or worse, they have never heard his gospel message.

If you are a Christian and you are looking for God's will in your life, its quite simple really:

"And He said unto them, 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.'"
                              Mark 16:15 KJV-


"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (Spirit)."
                              Matthew 28:19 KJV emphasis added-

So you see God's will for our lives is to spread his message to the whole world. Go preach, teach and give speech to the lost ones and help them come to a place that they can truly say they are found!

For those of you who are reading this and don't know the gospel message, please read some of the previous posts. If it is still unclear after reading please feel free to email me and I would love to respond to your questions. If you have heard the message of promise from the gospel before but it never really took hold in your life then its not to late to change that, here's what you can do to accept the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Repent- Turn your heart from the ways of sin in your life, confess to God about your sins and he will forgive you.

2. Believe and Trust-Believe and Trust on the Lord Jesus Christ and his resurrection and you will be saved (John 3:16).

3. Get and Read a Bible daily-This is a sure way you will stay grounded in your faith by learning daily who it is that has saved you, what you have been saved from and the very nature of the one who saved you!

4. Get in a good Bible based church-This helps build community and a support system for you. It helps grow the body of Christ as well.

5. Share what you have experienced with others who do not know the promise and truth of the Gospel. They are lost but can be found like you were.

I hope this has helped your understanding this day, Enjoy this day to the fullest.

God Bless friends!