Speaking God's Truth in Love

Speaking God's Truth in Love "Having the Right Perspective"

“Or how can you say to your brother, ‘brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank that is in your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.” (Luke 6:42)

 It’s easy for us to look at others with a discerning eye, but many times it’s difficult to review and be critical of our own mistakes.  One of the great truths of Scripture is that God uses the humble to do great things in His kingdom.

If we want to have a great ministry then we need to see ourselves as Paul saw himself in Romans 7:24, “O wretched man that I am.”

God is eager to do a great work in us, but he uses those that know who they are and who He is.  Keep a good perspective on who you are.

Speaking God's Truth in Love "It Takes Discipline"

Would you consider yourself to be a disciplined person?  Smoking, eating, shopping, watching television.  We can be undisciplined in a wide variety of ways.  There used to be a funny little ditty, “I don’t smoke and I don’t chew, and I don’t go with girls that do.”  It takes discipline to be successful in any avenue of life.  Whether you want to be a successful athlete, or a successful business man, discipline is a key to your success.

The same can be said for your spiritual life.  The apostle Paul wrote a letter to a young pastor and friend Timothy.  In that letter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he wrote, “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.” (1st Timothy 4:7)

Just as a person should have discipline in their lives when it comes to eating, saving, or working out, there are also certain things that we should discipline ourselves to do in order to be successful Christians and to grow in our Christian lives.

These things are called the spiritual disciplines.  The spiritual disciplines help us focus on the right things, including the most important of all; knowing and glorifying God.  At the same time, practicing the disciplines also helps us prevent some bad habits. 

We don’t have to figure out how to meet with the Lord or experience Him.  God has established paths for us to have fellowship with Him.  Those paths are called the spiritual disciplines and they include-Bible intake, prayer, worship, service, evangelism, fasting, silence and solitude, journaling and fellowship.  These disciplines make our spiritual walk with God more satisfying. 

However, just as in any other discipline, there is always a cost.  “No pain, no gain.”  Any progress in godliness will require much effort and purpose on the part of the Christian.    But, if you practice the spiritual disciplines correctly they can bring simplicity and order to the process of becoming more like Jesus. 

The first discipline I mentioned was Bible intake.  The question for you to ask yourself is, “how disciplined am I on the intake of the Bible.  In order to answer that question you must ask yourself these questions.

• Do I attend worship services regularly and listen to the preacher?
• Do I read my Bible each day.
• Do I study my Bible each day?
• Do I spend quality time with others in the form Bible study each week?

There is so much more to Bible intake than just making it to a worship service once a week.  Bible intake requires discipline to get into God’s Word in many ways, not just during a 30 to 45 minute message once a week.  If you are going to succeed as a Christian you will have to put time into learning what God has to say in His Word. 

I hope you will begin to concern yourself with becoming more spiritually disciplined this coming year.  God wants you to grow in Him.  He wants to have tremendous fellowship with you, but you must begin to exercise your faith toward Him.

Speaking God's Truth in Love "Learning to Lean on Jesus"

Proverbs 3:5
5 Trust in the Lord with all your hear, and lean not on your own understanding;

One of the hardest things for us to do in our walk with God is to learn to lean upon His wisdom and not our own.   It is especially difficult when we are facing a trial where absolute trust is necessary.  Many times we spend all of our waking hours, (and many hours when we should be resting) worrying and fretting about how things will turn out.  Most of you know from experience that much of what we worry about days in advance of a situation never comes to pass anyway. 

I remember a time when one of my grandsons was playing in our backyard.  He was about 3 years old and he loved to play in the dirt.  One day he came across a rock that he wanted to remove from his play area, but it was too big for him to move.  He spent time trying to lift it out of the way, he pushed on it and wrestled with it until finally it got the best of him and he just sat down and cried.  I sat watching this entire episode from a patio chair as he eventually turned his head toward me with tears in his eyes and said, “Pops, I can’t move this rock would you help me.”

As soon as he asked me for help I got up from my chair, walked over to the rock, picked it up with one hand and threw it over the fence.  The rock was much too big for him, but it was only a minor chore for me.

I believe my grandson’s dilemma is a good example of what happens many times in our life with God.  We wrestle with a problem over and over until it gets the best of us.  We wait to call on God for His help until we are in tears.  He is watching all of the time waiting for us to turn to Him so that He can be a solution to our problem and show us His glorious power.

It is just like a child to want to be independent and do things on their own.  They want to prove to themselves that they can handle things on their own.  The more stubborn the child the longer it takes to stop wrestling and start asking for help.  Is any of what I am saying hitting home?

The mark of maturity in a child, as well as in a Christian, is when they learn that they have help at their beckon call.  With my children and my grandchildren I have always been eager to help them because it was one way that I could prove my love for them.  God loves His children in much the same way.  He wants to guide you through your life and lift you through the rough spots, if only you will ask.

Isn’t it time to become more mature in your spiritual life and begin to lean on and trust God instead of yourself?  Believe me, His power, strength and love for us is overwhelming.  He is eager to be your savior and Lord.  Stop wrestling and start asking in prayer.  

Speaking God's Truth in Love "Sharing the Wealth"

Acts 4:32-35
Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.
33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.  And great grace was upon them all.
34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold,
35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.

If you listen to the protestors in the streets today you hear a message of equality.  You hear that the person who has more stuff ought to share their stuff with those that have less.  The idea of dividing the wealth which is communistic at heart is gathering steam. 

According to these people, they should be able to live the way they want and do very little work and still share in the wealth that others accumulate.  So how is what they are spouting any different then what the early Christians did with their possessions?  Didn’t they share the wealth?

Well, there is one glaring difference.  Those Christians, out of love for each other shared their possessions with those less fortunate, but they weren’t forced by the government to do so.  The glaring difference is having a generous heart verses being told that you have to give it up.

This nation is the most generous nation in history.  We have given more money, food and volunteer labor to more people in need around the world, yet the world hates our very existence. 

I am tired of hearing this idea of sharing the wealth.  I have worked hard in my life and I am by no means wealthy.  But I do not harbor any ill feelings toward a person who has also worked hard and been able to accumulate much more wealth than me.  This country was founded on people that had a vision to fulfill a need in society, put their neck on the line and succeeded in their endeavor.

There is no comparison between a wealthy person who freely gives to a cause and to a government that freely takes away from the wealthy to pay for a cause they have manufactured themselves. 

The politics of spreading the wealth will kill what this country stands for and very soon our country will be dependent on government for everything we have.  Let’s stop this movement in its tracks and put this country back on track to prosperity and wealth.

A quick note:

Because of the work hours of my new job I will be changing the time of day when I publish my blog.  From now on the blog will be posted by noon each day instead of early in the morning.  I appreciate all of you that are loyal readers.

Thanks,

Neil

Speaking God’s Truth in Love “The Powerful God We Serve”

It never ceases to amaze me how people perceive God and Heaven. I hear preachers say that almighty God, the creator of the universe is pleading with you to give up the life that you live and follow Him. This leaves the idea that God is some beggar that depends on you for salvation. It leaves people with the notion that Jesus might have died and resurrected and God is just hoping that you will come to Him. This God that saved 8 people and two of every kind of animal in the Ark, this God that parted the sea to save the children of Israel, this God that stopped the Sun in its tracks for an hour, this God that sent His Son in the flesh to save us from our sin. This great God that holds the earth in its place is pleading and begging His people to come to Him.

I am sorry, but the God I see from Scripture is an awesome, powerful God that sets nations in place and has authority over all.

Psalm 22:28
28 For the kingdom is the Lord's, and He rules over the nations.

Psalm 33:10
The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing, He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.

The God of Scripture breathed the breath of life into His creation, no leader leads, and no nation exists without God's allowance and approval. But we leave this image with people of a God that pleads and begs for you to come to Him. The apostle Paul might plead, I, as a pastor, might plead, but God set this entire plan in motion and He has certain expectations for salvation. He has made the way and He has paid the price, He built the bridge and He offers the way into His kingdom, but the God of the universe never has before and never will in the future go begging. Jesus said it much better than I can.

Matthew 7:13-14, 21-23
13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Then again a few verses later Jesus says:

21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'
23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!"

Make no mistake about it! Jesus loves you and He died a terrible death to give you eternal life, but He isn't a beggar at the door. He is the creator of the heavens and the earth, He is alpha and omega, He is the one that gives us every breath that we breathe and the life that we live. Love Him for who He is and what He has done, but don't think for a minute that this all powerful God goes wanting for anything. You aren't smarter than everyone else because you follow Jesus, it isn't your intellect that brings you eternal life.

Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

I want people to come to Jesus just as much as any other preacher. I want them to kneel before Him and offer their life to Him. But I don't want them to come thinking for a moment that they are doing God a favor. He is God and we are His creation. His love for us is mighty and never ending. But it is because of who He is and what we are that this whole death and sacrifice things is so unbelievably awesome.

He is everything and He created everything, yet He loved us enough to come to us and die for us. We come to Him because this remarkable God is too wonderful not to love, not because He has to beg us. We should fall before Him, not stand proud before Him.

Thank you Jesus for your love for Me!

 

Speaking God's Truth in Love "Saving the Unborn"

Jeremiah 1:5
5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

I had the privilege of visiting the Hope Pregnancy Center in Oklahoma City, on Monday.  Hope is a Southern Baptist sponsored center where women of all ages can come for information and education when they find themselves in the situation of an unwanted pregnancy.  I won’t go into the details of the center, but will only say the people at Hope are doing a great and mighty work for the kingdom of God.  They are making a difference in the lives of hundreds of people each year.

We can all agree that people are not beating our church doors down to get in and I have been checking the salvation statistics to see that even the best of our churches might have 30 to 40 salvations a year.  The Hope Pregnancy Center in south Oklahoma City had 105 salvations in 2010, and is on schedule for another great year this year.

Women come to the center and receive prenatal counseling, parenting education, adoption counseling, abortion counseling, and most of all, they hear a Gospel message given by professional spiritual counselors.  Hundreds of lives are being changed for God’s kingdom everyday inside the walls of this facility.

It is exciting to see God at work and to meet people with such a passion to save the lives of the unborn and to also save the lives of the women that are carrying these babies.  They also have an opportunity to reach the boyfriends and husbands of these women. 

All in all, it is refreshing to see our Southern Baptist cooperative dollars being spent in such a great way.  Wouldn’t it be great if we could see 105 souls saved at one location in our association?  What a difference maker!  Pray for the Baptist Pregnancy centers of Oklahoma.  Pray that God will continue to bring women to them who are questioning whether they want to have their baby.  So they might learn the importance of what the Bible says about the unborn.  Pray that God will continue to save lives and souls through this great work.    

Speaking God's Truth in Love "A Convenient Time"

Acts 24:24-25
24 After some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.
25 Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, “Go away for now, when I have a convenient time I will call for you.”

It’s amazing how every detail in Scripture has such a tremendous meaning for the lives of people throughout the centuries.  Can you see how these verses relate to our society today?  Think about it.  Felix portrays the natural man of today, Paul, like many that preach and teach the Gospel today, reasoned with him about righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come. 

The Scripture says the reason that Felix didn’t respond to the Gospel Paul was preaching was because he was afraid.  Nothing much has changed.  Today we reason with a lost world about righteousness, self-control and judgment and people still answer with the same, “Go away for now, when I have a convenient time I will call for you.”

Christians and lost people alike are using the same excuse as Felix.  When the Christian is called to teach a class or fulfill a responsibility in the church the answer is, “when I have a convenient time I will.”  When a lost person is presented with the Gospel, much of the time the answer is the same. 

It’s all about convenience.  I am certainly glad that Jesus didn’t tell His Father in Heaven to forget about the cross.  I am glad He didn’t say, go away for now, when I have a convenient time I will die for their sins.  His love for His creation compelled Him to complete His mission.

It is much too easy for us, as Christians, to turn away from serving the One who gave His life for us.  We should be so happy about what He has done to save us from our sin.  We should be ready to jump through hoops to please Him and obey Him.  It is odd indeed to see how little we seem to care about following Him.    

If you are a believer in Christ, answer this question for me.  How long will you continue to tell Him to go away, I will do my part when I have a convenient time?  As is the case in most situations, there will never be a more convenient time then right now.  You will always be too busy, too tired, to something.  It’s time to show your love for Him.  Go to your church this week and tell your pastor that you are ready to serve.  Get started and see what you have been missing for so long.

If you haven’t accepted Christ into your life and you have somehow stumbled on to this blog.  Let me reason with you for a moment.  History has proven that Jesus Christ of Nazareth lived 2000 years ago.  History also proves that He died a terrible death crucified on a cross.  The Bible gives us the reason that He lived and the reason He had to die.  It also tells us that He resurrected from the dead.

Having faith in Christ puts you in a right relationship with God the Father and gives you eternal life.  Once you have faith in Christ you then can have the confidence that He will never leave you.  There is a satisfaction in a relationship with Jesus that is more fulfilling then anything this world has to offer. 

Don’t turn away from Jesus with the excuse that you will believe at a more convenient time.  Today is the day to fall in love with Jesus.

Speaking God's Truth in Love "It's All About Love"

God created the universe and all of the things in it.  He created it in perfect harmony.  Satan, on the other hand, has never created anything.  He has only taken what God created and perverted it.  He is the great deceiver, the father of lies, and a fallen angel.  The system that he has been allowed to design on this earth is diametrically opposed to God’s design.  One of the parts of the system that Satan has perverted is the way we humans define love.  God created man and woman to “cleave” to each other.

Genesis 2:24
Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall  become one flesh.

It makes no provision anywhere for a man cleaving to another man or a woman cleaving to another woman, but homosexuality isn’t the subject of this post. I just thought I would throw that in.   What is the subject of the post is love and how this world defines love compared to how the Bible defines love.

The Bible says that a man is supposed to leave his mother and father and “cleave” to his wife.  The word cleave means to be joined to, to cling or adhere to the other person.   It seems as though we simply dropped the ‘c’ from the word and our new translation says that a man, or woman, is supposed to “leave”.  We see a lot of leaving these days.

So why is there so much disobedience to the Bible way of marriage?  Is it because there is a lack of knowledge of God’s way?  Is it all Satan’s doing? (The devil made me do it)  I believe it is because of the perverted definition of love that our society has picked up over the years.

The best description of true love that I can find is the one that we see in 1^st Corinthians chapter 13.  The apostle Paul, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, gives us the definition of what God’s idea of love really is.  I want you to notice what is missing from God’s definition of love.

1^st Corinthians 13:4-8
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up’
5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails.  

What is missing from this Godly definition of love?  It is anything that has to do with desire, passion or lust.  God is a wonderful God, and He created desire.  He understands desire completely.  Yet, He left it out of the definition of love, hmmmm.  If you talk to the average person on the street and ask them what love is, how many do you believe would mention any one of the attributes that we just read from God’s Word?

Satan has done a tremendous job of twisting and perverting love.  To the world love is about happiness, passion, feeling good, being hot for each other.  God’s definition is about commitment, patience, kindness, humility and truth.

Until a couple hundred years ago almost all marriages were arranged between families, many from birth.  The moms and dads got together and made the decision about your future long before you could walk.  This notion of, “I just can’t be happy with this person or that person”, where does that come from?  The “this person just doesn’t trip my trigger” idea didn’t matter in days of old.

If you study Scripture you will see that passion almost always was the cause of problems in the Old Testament.  Some examples are:  Sampson and Delilah, David and Bathsheba, Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.  Desire got people into trouble.

I am not saying that you shouldn’t have desire for the person you are married to.  What I am saying is that desire should take its place on the priority list somewhere down the line and not be the prevailing thought in everyone’s mind.  God can bless any marriage where the two people are being obedient.  He can give the desire to you for your mate.  He’s a big God.  He raises people from the dead, He heals the sick, He causes the blind to see, He can give you desire.  He created it for goodness sake!

Read through these verses again in 1^st Corinthians 13.  See if you can find any room there for lust or beauty.  If you can, then by all means go to the bottom of this column and send me a comment and show me.  But, if you can’t, then stop following the world’s definition of love and start living the Biblical definition.  When you do you will find that God will begin to bless your marriage like never before.

Speaking God's Truth in Love "A Christian Nation"

At a press conference in Turkey, in 2009, President Obama made this comment.  "One of the great strengths of the United States," the President said, "is ... we have a very large Christian population – but we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation.

On June 28, 2006, candidate Obama made these remarks, “Given the increasing diversity of America's population, the dangers of sectarianism have never been greater. Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation”;

On June 28^th, 2006, candidate Obama said these things about the Bible, “Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy?  Should we go with Leviticus, which says slavery is ok?  Or we could go with Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith.  Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount, a passage that is so radical that it is doubted if our own defense department could survive its application.  He mocks the Bible yet in another speech he calls the Koran a Holy book. 

I am sure it is accurate to say our nation is no longer a Christian nation.  I think what bothers me is that he brags about the fact and truly believes that not being a Christian nation is a good thing.  In his own words we would be better off if we weren’t guided by the Bible to set our policy.

We are fast moving in a direction that leads to ruin for our country.  We are watching as people take the word “Christian” and make it a mockery.  Scripture tells us how God deals with a nation that turns Him aside.  Yet our leaders move faster and faster away from God and Christianity.

There could be a day coming when we Christians are treated in our own country the way we are treated in Muslim countries.  Let me remind you that Jewish soldiers fought for Germany in WWI and were decorated for their bravery.  It was only 17 years after the last Jewish soldier was decorated with a medal for heroism until the first Jewish prisoner was killed by German soldiers before WW II.  Things happen in a hurry.

Look at these verses about how God treats nations that obey Him and those that do not follow Him.

Psalms 33:12
¹²      Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.

Proverbs 14:34
³⁴      Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.

 Psalms 9:17
¹⁷      The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

We are told of rewards for a nation that follows God.  We are warned about God’s wrath coming upon a nation that puts God on the back burner.  We have enjoyed hundreds of  years of blessings in America, but now the future of our way of life is looking shaky.  It doesn’t seem to matter at all right now what our government tries to do to fix the problems.  We just go further and further in debt and un-employment gets higher and higher.

It’s time to wake up and fix this situation.  No politician is going to be able to come up with a special plan that can fix what is happening.  Only a turning back to God and a genuine repentance from our people will put us on the right track.  We all need to begin to pray that God will give us another chance to put Him first.

Speaking God's Truth in Love "What is Love?"

1 Corinthians 13:1-8
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding bras or a clanging cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy, love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails.

What is love?  It’s relatively simple by reading these verses.  So, instead of me dwelling on the obvious that you can read for yourself, let’s look at what love is not.

• Love is not lust. 
• Love is not selfish desire. 
• Love is not fragile. 
• Love is not fleeting. 
• Love is not a “many splendored thing”.

The world has twisted the meaning of love to be some perverted idea of passion.  Yet nowhere in Scripture do we find the command to love having any idea of desire and lust.  As a matter of fact, every time we see lust or desire as a topic in Scripture it is causing trouble.  Lust instead of love caused problems in the Old Testament for King David, for Samson, for the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah, for Solomon, and for the adulterous woman in the New Testament.

Until the last 8 or ten decades most marriages were arranged while the couples were still children or before they were born.  In many parts of the world arranging marriages today is still the custom.  For the majority of our history marriage was an act of survival.  It was less about looks and more about what attributes each person had in order to complement each other. 

Not that desire for each other is a bad thing. God has given us a healthy dose of desire for the opposite sex, but the world through the engineering of the devil has perverted that desire to a point that hardly anyone uses the New Testament model anymore.

The world’s definition of love has nothing to do with kindness or truth.  In the world you are kind only as a motivation.  How many times have you seen a person be kind in order to get their way and once they have accomplished their goal their attitude changes? 

Spend a few minutes this morning surveying these verses and taking inventory of your life.  Ask yourself if your definition of love matches God’s definition.