Don't Tread On Me!

 NOTE HOW GOD ALONE IS ABLE TO MEDIATE OUR CASES BECAUSE HE ALONE KNOWS US INTIMATELY:  
Pertinent verses:  
"... Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?.." (Romans 8:33, ESV).  
"... If God is for us, who can be against us?"  (Rom. 8:31, ESV). 
 "Put Me in remembrance, let us argue our case together; state your cause, that you may be proved right"  (Isaiah 43:26, NASB).
"Consult together,  argue your case.  Get together and decide what to say..." (Isaiah 45:21, NLT). 
"I have refined you, but not as silver is refined.  Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering" (Isaiah 48:10, NLT).   
"... [T]hrough many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God"  (Acts 14:22, ESV).
"We hear that some of you are living an undisciplined life.  They aren't working, but they are meddling in other people's business"  (2 Thess. 3:11, CEV).  
"The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all his innermost parts"  (Prov. 20:27, ESV).   "The LORD's light penetrates the human spirit, exposing every hidden motive" (Ibid., NLT).  
"Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life"  (Prov. 4:23, NKJV). 
"... [F]or the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought..." (1 Chronicles 28:9, ESV).  
"O LORD, you have searched me and known me! . . . and are acquainted with all my ways"  (Psalm 139:1,3, ESV). 

Scripture teaches us to mind our own business and not to get on each other's case or become busybodies, "meddling in other people's business" (cf. 2 Thess. 3:11, CEV).   Just as Paul admonishes the saints at the Thessalonian church:  "Aim to live quietly, mind your own business, and earn your own living, just as I told you"  (1 Thess. 4:11, CEV).  In other words, get off your brother's case!  We all have unique situations and cannot judge by the outward appearance, for God looks on the heart (cf. 1 Sam. 16:7) and sees the motives:  "All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirit [motive]"  (Proverbs 16:2, ESV; cf. Prov. 21:2); Jesus also commanded us not to judge by appearance but with righteous judgment in John 7:24.  We are fruit inspectors, for we shall know them by their fruits (cf. Matt. 7:20):  "....for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh"  (Matt. 12:34, KJV).

We don't have the wisdom to label people and labeling is wrong, as an amateur diagnosis or prognosis--what's more, it's judging!   What would you take a man for who constantly psychoanalyzed you and tried to peg you or label you?  We shouldn't put our friends and neighbors into boxes and think we have them figured out, for only God sees the heart.  We cannot judge simply because we don't have access to all the facts and we are inherently biased.

But there comes a time to intercede for someone and to come to his aid by taking up his case and giving him all the aid we can accommodate.  'You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life.  You have seen the wrong done to me, O LORD;  judge my cause"  (Lam. 3:58-59, ESV).  God is in the position and has all the authority to come to our aid in our time of need. We are likewise to become a Good Samaritan and see the needs of others in their time of crisis and do all we can muster of our God-given resources.

Job thought he had a case against God and relied on his own righteousness; the flaw of his character was self-righteousness, though. Keep the faith!  "[F]or he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men" (Lamentations 3:33, ESV).  They say:  God is too wise to make a mistake, too kind to be cruel, and too deep to explain Himself--so we never have a case against God, and He doesn't owe us an explanation for anything He allows to happen by His sovereignty in our lives.  "No one can tell him what to do, or say to him, 'You have done wrong'"  (Job 36:23, NLT).

God is all ears if we want to come to him in sincerity and seek truth and an honest dialogue:   "Let us review the situation together, and you can present your case to prove your innocence"  (Isaiah 43:26, NLT).  Let me end with one more verse:  "For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil'  (2 Cor. 5:10, ESV).
Soli Deo Gloria!

As A Man Thinks

"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he..."  (Proverbs 23:7, KJV).  

"Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life"  (Prov. 4:23, KJV).

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Phil. 4:8, ESV).  

"Therefore gird up the loins of your mind [muster all your intellectual resources]..." (1 Pet. 1:13, NKJV).

"Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established" (Prov. 16:3, KJV). 

"A man is what he thinks about all day long." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

"The most important things in life are the thoughts you choose to think." --(Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor and Stoic writer)

The most important aspect of our personality is the thoughts we allow and choose to occupy our time and mind; we can't always control what enters our minds, but we don't have to entertain and meditate on the wrong ideas.  The computer principle of GIGO applies garbage in equals garbage out! Mark 7:21, ESV, says, "For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts...." The  Word is a judge of thoughts and the intents of our hearts (cf. Heb. 4:12).

David prayed in Psalm 19:14 that the words of his mouth and meditations of his heart would be acceptable to God.  They say that we aren't what we think we are, but we are what we think!  When we fill our minds with holy thoughts, the feedback is holy and we reap what we sow! Our mouths betray what's on our minds and in our hearts! Our own thoughts either excuse us or blame us by virtue of our conscience (cf. Rom. 2:15).

We make the decision not to offend with our tongue--to use expletives or take God's name in vain--no matter how commonplace.  New Agers fill their minds with mantras (a name of a Hindu deity), yoga (union with God), or TM (transcendental meditation), and these seem to work for them, as their nomenclature for meditation is not what God instituted, and biblical meditation or thought digestion (on the Word) is the lost art of Christians.  New Agers say that it relaxes them and puts them in a good mood, to empty their minds, but real meditation is focused thinking with a purpose on something, not just letting random thoughts preoccupy our minds.

We don't fool God with our veneer, for He sees through the facade and demands an ingenious, sincere, humble, reverent, and honest prayer life.  We are to pray without ceasing, which means we can be in a quasi-meditation all day long, as we enjoy fellowship with the Godhead, walking in the Spirit.

Our minds are like gardens that are either well-cultivated and conducive to good fruit or run wild and full of weeds, bearing only foliage.  The presence of fruit indicates the presence of a fruit tree, bush, or vine, and God is constantly pruning us, that we would produce more.  The branches that are unproductive, or fruitless, are cut down and thrown into the fire, so to speak.  Cf. Jeremiah 17:9 which says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it?"  Yes, we shall know them by their fruits (cf. Matt. 7:14), and Jesus was right on when he said that evil thoughts proceed from the heart of man (Matt. 12:34, KJV, says, "...for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh")--nevertheless, think no evil (cf. 1 Cor. 13:5).

"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually"  (Gen. 6:5, KJV).  Cf. Proverbs 4:23, which says, "Guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life."  Paul exhorts us to "let the word of Christ dwell" in us richly--part of the process of learning to think godly thoughts, and most importantly to "take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ," as Paul commands in 2 Cor. 10:5.  Being spiritually mature implies thinking with a divine attitude, worldview, and viewpoint--thinking godly thoughts per 2 Cor. 10:5, ESV, which says, "We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ."

We are to be "transformed by the renewing of our minds" (cf. Rom. 12:2) and to "be renewed in the spirit of [our] mind"  (Eph. 4:23, NKJV).  Paul tells us what sort of things to entertain our minds within Phil. 4:9, basically to "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus"  (Phil. 2:5, NKJV).  We also need to constantly gird up the loins of our minds, or get into gear and stay focused and the result will be a sound mind per 2 Tim. 1:7. and set our minds on things above (cf.. Col. 3:2), not of the worldly realm or domain of Satan. 

God gives us a new mind, as well as spirit, emotions, and will upon salvation--the flesh profits nothing though, and it will be redeemed in heaven into glory! I am a firm believer in positive thinking and trying to see the bright side or the light side of a crisis and that we can rejoice in all circumstances, because of our filling in the Spirit and we are never alone.

Rene Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am!"  He should've started with God in the picture, not himself--he's being introspective and making himself the center of his world.  He is really saying that we have the innate ability to arrive at knowledge apart from God, whereas we wouldn't know anything apart from the revelation of God and that He chose to reveal.  Thinking requires a thinker, ergo entities!

It makes more sense to use the biblical concept:  "In the beginning God...."  The only system of thought that Christ will fit into, according to church father Athanasius, is the one where Christ is its beginning premise or the beginning presupposition!  When you rule God out of the equation, you enter the sphere of chaos, for, without logos, there can be no cosmos or orderly universe with a purpose, and science wouldn't be possible with the laws of the universe and make any sense (cf. Job 38:33).

This is why Secularists deny the supernatural: a Creator-god, a Lawgiver, and a Judge--they don't want accountability or to let a Divine Foot in the door, trying to desperately explain everything without God in the picture, no matter how bleak an outlook it is.  Communists go so far as to declare:  God does not, cannot, and must not exist!  Indeed, it's atheism that's the primary handicap and problem of Marxism.

In summation, it is vital to get our thinking straightened out and to learn how to think with a divine viewpoint the way God would--i.e., biblically sound thinking!  Christianity applies to all of academia and to every discipline and the problem is that Christians are losing the war of ideas and isms by default--they succumb to pressure and don't realize their position is defensible. All in all, in the final analysis, "[Be] careful how [we] think; [our] life is shaped by [our] thoughts"  (Prov. 4:23, GNT).
Soli Deo Gloria! 

Finding Purpose In Life

"Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless."  (Bertrand Russell, philosopher and mathematician and noteworthy atheist)

"The LORD has made everything for his own purposes..."  (Proverbs 16:4, NLT). 

"Think constantly of him enduring all that sinful men could say against him and you will not lose your purpose or your courage"  (Heb. 12:3, J. B. Phillips). 

"For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep...." (Acts 13:36, ESV). 


"It is suicidal to live for yourself and to know no scheme or interest larger than your own little world--we must think outside the box and have a purpose in life.  We can become very busy with no aim in mind, but it will be futile.  We can become a success in the eyes of the world, achieving the so-called American dream and be a failure spiritually.  Every note we strike in this life makes up a chord that will vibrate for all eternity--we don't live for ourselves, but have an effect on others; i.e., no one lives nor dies unto himself, but has an impact and leaves a legacy, good or evil. Life is only a trust, a staging area, a rehearsal, a test or tryout to set us up for eternity; we fit into God's scheme uniquely. We should all seek to leave a legacy larger than life and bigger than ourselves that will have importance and impact in the future.

The point in life is not to have fun, win a lottery of life, become successful, but to contribute something back to society and leave your mark or lasting influence felt.  Einstein said that we shouldn't strive to be a man of success, but a man of value.  No one wants to be forgotten as if they never lived:  the trouble with most is that they live like they'll never die, and die as if they never lived!   We must live each day as if it were our last and always be prepared to meet the Lord of glory in glory!  We should have no unfinished business leftover, and leave no loose ends to tie up.  When we wake up we should say, "Lord, will today be the big day?"  You really aren't ready to live, till you're ready to die and you aren't really living if there's nothing or no one you would die for.  Greater love has no man than he lay down his life for his friends, according to our Lord.

Everything in the universe was created teleologically (by the intelligent design of a wise Creator),  or with purpose-orientation.  There is a reason for everything in creation, and God doesn't make junk or anything in vain.  That includes you and me and Proverbs 16:4 says God made everything for His purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil!  We should have the conviction that God will fulfill His purpose for us in real time (cf. Psalm 57:2; 138:8, ESV, which says, "The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me...."

The very words teleology, purpose, and design are forbidden concepts to secularists who deny there is any rhyme or reason behind creation because these words imply a Designer or Creator.  But you don't have cosmos without logos (the expression or revelation of God: logic)!  If we had no purpose in our cosmos there would be chaos, the enemy of science--but we have laws of the universe to depend on (cf. Job 38:33, ESV, which says, "Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?  Can you establish their rule on the earth?") that we can know and manipulate to serve us, and science would be impossible without these laws, which implies a Lawgiver.

Colossians 1:16, MSG, says that everything "finds its purpose in him."  We are like that:  knowing God gives us purpose and meaning, an abundant and fulfilling life with meaning and direction, not chaos.  We are designed to know God and the God-shaped blank in us is only fulfilled by a personal relationship.  If we don't surrender the ownership of our lives to God, it will be chaotic, and not beautiful.  God does have a plan for us according to Jer. 29:11 and we can relinquish our lives to His lordship and behold the new life unfold.  

For He doesn't just change our lives but transforms them.  We become new from the inside out!  "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away, behold, the new has come" (2 Cor. 5:17, ESV).  A full life involves living with a purpose or on purpose, and seeing your mission and finding some ministry to be used by God in service, for we are all servants of Christ in the final analysis.  We live for Christ, not for ourselves and this is the secret of happiness, to get our eyes off ourselves and realize it's not about us!

Nothing in life is haphazard or a fluke (we're no freak accident of nature!)--we are part of an intricate plan and we fit in somewhere because there's no one who doesn't have some special and unique purpose from God.  One noteworthy astronomer has compared the cosmos as one gigantic mathematical equation from the mind of a Great Mathematician!  As Christians, we are vessels of honor, not dishonor or wrath, and rejoice when God uses us to His glory!  

Don't worship at the altar of Almighty Chance and believe in impersonal forces such as fate, chance, luck, nor fortune.  They are all contradictions of God's attributes.  Fate is impersonal, while God is personal and knows us; chance is a nonentity and mathematical odd, while God is a certainty and sure thing; luck is dumb, while God is omniscient; fortune if blind, while God is all-seeing and knows all (Prov. 15:3, ESV, says, "The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.").

Life is not a game so it isn't all about winning, neither is it a race, that speed is of the essence, and neither is it a marathon, and so endurance and longevity aren't the only factors (we all have an individual race to run tailored for us), it isn't a party either, and therefore having fun is not where it's at, as the main objective; and life isn't a puzzle to figure out and that God is hiding its secrets from us, and only those "in the know" can succeed in life!  Life's secret is in Jesus ("in him was life, and the life was the light of men").

God makes us all good at something and gifted in our own way so that we are suited to do His will and glorify Him:  "The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever," according to The Westminster Shorter Catechism!  Let me add that God has no backup plan or Plan B, we need to get with the program and be obedient to the heavenly calling or vision! If you aim for nothing, you will get nowhere!   In conclusion, let's note what Job concluded when God didn't answer his questions about his suffering:  "... 'I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted'"  (Job 42:1, ESV).

In summation, let me quote Isaiah 49:4 (NLT):  "I replied, 'But my work seems so useless!  I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the LORD's hand.  I will trust God for my reward."   Soli Deo Gloria! 

O.J.T. In The Real World

"[B]ut man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward"  (Job 5:7, ESV).

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous:  but the LORD delivereth him out of them all"  (Psalm 34:19, KJV). 

"But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold"  (Job 23:10, ESV).  

"For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him"  (Philippians 1:29, NIV). 

"More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance character..." (Romans 5:3-4, ESV). 

"For he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow [" for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men," ESV]"  (Lamentations 3:33, NLT).

"... Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad? ..." (Job 2:10, NLT).

"Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty"  (Job 5:17, NIV).

"Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law"  (Psalm 94:2, ESV).

"I create the light and make the darkness.  I send good times and bad times..."  (Isaiah 45:7,
NLT).


Christians would be wise to heed the Word of God and pay attention to their elders and teachers, much more their parents as children, because they stand in loco Dei [in the place of God]!  We learn to rebel and question authority at a very young age and we all lose faith at some time in those that deserve our respect.  If we don't learn our lessons the easy way from Scripture, we will learn the hard way in the school of hard knocks!  We all do need backup training in the on-the-job-training (OJT) of real-life--this may be the dog-eat-dog world, the rat race, or the law of the jungle with the survival of the fittest, but we should be assured that when we go through the fire we will not be overwhelmed according to Isaiah 43:2, ESV:  "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you."

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience [and the Word, of course], but shouts to us in our pains," C.  S.. Lewis has said.  There are no shortcuts, easy paths, nor simple formulae to follow to maturity--no magic formula or Eightfold Path [of Enlightenment] either like Buddha taught.  No matter how many noble truths we think of we cannot save ourselves nor find the truth.  We all learn by discipline as God is putting us through the crucible of life as one does a piece of silver, refining it till one sees himself in the reflection.

Experience is not what happens to you, but in you, it has been said, but note that the same sun melts the butter, hardens the clay, some people become bitter, and some better because of the same event--God knows what is best for us and what we can handle. Christ didn't exempt Himself from suffering and our crosses pale in comparison--He doesn't expect anything of us He didn't accomplish or endure; suffering, trials, temptations, adversity, trouble, and discipline are inevitable!  This is par for the course!

There are pitfalls to life and God doesn't promise us a bed of roses or a rose garden.  We learn from our mistakes and hardships, not our successes and prosperity.  Trials are a learning experience that we should welcome as friends that teach us the basics of life--the facts of life.  If we don't learn from the Bible, we will learn one way or another, probably by our mistakes and failures.  We will learn that making plans without God in them is vain and futile.  We don't bring our plans to God for His approval but seek His will in all we do.

Our life is but a pilgrimage or spiritual journey that is meant to glorify God and mold us in the image of Christ.  Just like a sculptor makes a horse from a slab of marble by taking away everything that doesn't resemble the horse, God is taking away everything that doesn't look like Jesus!  There comes a time to apply what we know and get our heads out of the books and step into the real world and learn by trial and error, if not by heeding the Word,  how to obey Christ, and abide in His will.


We have matriculated in the school of Christ and discipleship is largely discipline, accountability, and acceptance of authority.  God is determined to make us Christlike--it comes with the territory! We cannot opt-out of discipline--it's a mandatory course and a requisite--"for whom the Lord loves He chastens," and Christians don't get away with anything and God oversees everything--the good news is that everything is Father-filtered, and nothing happens outside His will for our lives.  (Note Lam. 3:37, NLT, "Who can command things to happen without the Lord's permission?")   

We must not disdain the Lord's corrective discipline:   "But consider the joy of those corrected by God!  Do not despise the discipline of the Almighty when you sin"  (Job 5:17, NLT); "Then why should we, mere humans, complain when we are punished for our sins?" (Lam. 3:39, NLT).  Christ exhorted us to "count the cost"--don't be surprised that your faith must be tested!  We will find out by experience that the Christian life is not hard, it's impossible!

One can endure any suffering if one sees purpose and meaning in it--Christianity alone offers this--and we can be assured of what we signed up for:  no cross, no crown!  God places nothing in our path we cannot handle and cannot learn from.  Trials are a vote of confidence from God that He deems us worthy of being tested--if the Lord got you to it, He'll see you through it!  

Jesus wasn't afraid to get His hands dirty doing the Father's work, He joyfully got down and dirty with the so-called scum and outcasts.  In summation, when Christ makes the final audit of our lives at the Bema, Tribunal, or Judgment Seat, of Christ will we have accomplished His will for our lives and glorified Him with all our resources, talents, skills, money, opportunities, gifts, relationships, and time management?
Soli Deo Gloria!  

Where Is The Word Of The LORD?

"Behold, they say to me, 'Where is the word of the LORD?  Let it come!'" (Jer. 17:15, ESV).
"And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?"  (1 Cor. 14:8, ESV).
"... When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.  Let all things be done for building up"  (1 Cor. 14:26, ESV).
 
NOTE TYPES OF PROPHET CALLS
Micah's commission:  "But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin"  (Micah 3:8, ESV).
Jeremiah"s ordination:  "... 'Look, I have put my words in your mouth!'" (Jer. 1:9, NLT).
Jonah's call:  "'Get up and go to the great a city of Nineveh.  Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are'"  (Jonah 1:2, NLT).  
Isaiah's dedication:  "The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary"  (Isaiah 50:4, NKJV).   
Amos's conscription:  "But Amos replied, 'I'm not a professional prophet, and I was never trained to be one.  I'm just a shepherd, and I take care of sycamore-fig trees.  But the LORD called me away from my flock and told me, 'God and prophesy to my people in Israel'"  (Amos 7:14-15, NLT).  
Admonition:  "Don't be like your ancestors who would not listen or pay attention when the earlier prophets said to them, 'This is what the LORD of Heavens Armies says:  Turn from all your evil ways, and stop all your evil practices" (Zechariah 1:4, NLT).  

Amos prophesies of a coming time when men will thirst for a word from the LORD and not be satisfied:  "... they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it"  (Amos 8:12, ESV).  Yes, there shall be a famine in the land, but not for food, but for the hearing of the Word of God (cf. Amos 8:11), because there will no prophets to warn the people of their sin and denounce it. Ezekiel says:  "... for they hear what you say, but they will not do it.  When this comes--and come it will!--then they will know that a prophet has been among them"  (Ezek. 33:32-33, ESV).  Truly, "... a people without understanding will come to ruin"  (cf. Hosea 4:14, ESV).

When we pass on what we hear from God He reveals more and we must keep the channel turned on to His frequency; i.e., keep in touch and stay in fellowship--abiding in Christ!  Actually, with the rise of prophets, we see the light and there is also the rise of false prophets, saying just what the people of God want to hear with their itching ears.  Lack of prophets in the land can be a sign of judgment, and even in the church we have those who prophesy in the Spirit, edifying the body, lifting up the Lord and speaking forth the Word; for prophets don't just foretell the future, but they forth-tell the Word to edification (i.e., building up--telling it like it is!), even denouncing sin and afflicting the comforted in Zion (those with complacency), while comforting the afflicted (those who see their need per Isa. 40:1)) with the good news from the Lord.  "Do not my words do good to him who walks uprightly?"  (Micah 2:7, ESV).

We all need to be built up in the faith and the prophet can interpret the times and often warns the body, able to discern truth (note 1 Chronicles 12:32, NKJV, which says, "of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their chiefs were 200....").  The official office of prophet was instituted by Samuel, the first of the prophets and last of the judges, as it were, and the primary task they had or job description, was to speak to the people on behalf of God, while the priest primarily spoke to God on behalf of the people, often interceding and offering corporate confession for Israel or Judah.  We don't have the office of prophet in the church or body of Christ, but we have the gift to prophesy in the name of the Lord to edification.

The prophets had a thankless job that was to tell news no one wanted to hear, it was rarely good, but pronouncements of judgments and sometimes they were even known as doomsayers.  If the prophet spoke against Jerusalem it was considered unpatriotic, like what happened to brave Jeremiah, who was subsequently thrown into a pit. The Israelites and Jews rejected the prophets, they killed most of them, and Jesus was their last chance to respond (cf. Deut. 18:18), and they rejected Him.

The fourfold purpose and calling of a prophet was to expose sin, call people back to God, warn of impending judgment, anticipate the Messiah (prophecies had present and future implications and interpretations).  The church doesn't have the office of prophet per se, but the gift of prophecy to edify and interpret the times is still available and valid. If you have heard of the time-interpreting expository preaching of Charles Colson, you'll realize what a modern-day prophet he was. 

Hosea says, "... the prophet is a fool; the man of the spirit is mad"  (Hosea 9:7, ESV).  You may have heard that in a mad world, only the mad are sane--well, the prophet was the only one who was right, and the whole nation was often in rebellion--God challenged Jeremiah to find just one just man in Jerusalem!  The end result is that the rebels won't find the Lord:  "... they shall go to seek the LORD, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them"  (Hosea 5:6, ESV).  We get the prophets, teachers, and leaders we deserve, according to Micah 2:11!  The principle lesson to heed is that, when light is ignored or refused, it's taken away!   Soli Deo Gloria!  Hallelujah!  Amen!

By Nature Children Of Wrath

VERSES FOR PONDERING AND MEDIATION REGARDING DEPRAVITY: 


"The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually"  (Gen. 6:5, ESV, emphasis mine). 

"They have gone deep in depravity ...  He will remember their iniquity, He will punish their sins"  (Hosea 9:9, NASB). 

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"  (Jerimiah 17:9, ESV, emphasis mine).

"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart"  (Prov. 21:2, ESV, emphasis mine).  

"No man can justify himself before God by a perfect performance of the Law's demands--indeed it is the straight-edge of the Law that shows us how crooked we are" (Rom. 3:20, J. B. Phillips, emphasis mine).

"The LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts"  (cf. 1 Chronicles 28:9). 

"... God withdrew from Hezekiah to see what was really in his heart"  (cf. 2 Chronicles 32:21).

"... God left him [Hezekiah] to himself, in order to test him and to know all that was in his heart"  (2 Chron. 32:31, ESV).  

"Being made then free from [the power of] sin, ye became the servants of righteousness [Christ]"  (Rom. 6:18, KJV).

NOTE THAT WE ARE SINNERS BY NATURE, BY BIRTH, AND BY CHOICE! Augustine said we are, in Latin, non posse non peccare, or we're unable not to sin--all we can do is sin!

WE ARE SINNERS NOT BECAUSE WE SIN.  RATHER, WE SIN BECAUSE WE ARE SINNERS, ACCORDING TO A FAMOUS THEOLOGICAL AXIOM.

Paul said in 1 Cor. 15:10, ESV,   "But by the grace of God I am what I am...."  We are what we are by nature, just like a pig is only acting according to its nature when it wallows in the mud after cleaned, we act consistently with the nature God gave us:  whether we are sanguine, choleric, melancholy, temperamental, even easy-going, or happy-go-lucky!  The good news is that our God always acts according to His nature and that means He acts perfectly according to a perfect nature, and He cannot act contrary to it.

"See,  this alone, I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes"  (Eccl. 7:29, ESV).  For all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory (cf. Rom. 3:23)!  If sin were a color like red, we'd be all red--you cannot be only a little depraved, no more than a little pregnant. We are radically corrupt, with no peripheral goodness to boast of in God's presence--our righteousness is as filthy rags and His gift to us, not our gift to Him. We are as bad off as we can be with our hearts totally evil and corrupt, that includes our will, mind, and affections.  They say we are totally depraved, but not utterly depraved--we're not as bad as we can possibly be, but as bad off.

We soon find out in life that we all have feet of clay and the adage that to err is human and that no body's perfect.  But we tend to compare ourselves with others and the run-of-the-mill sinner seems to estimate himself a saint compared to the likes of Hitler, the paradigm of evil in our times.  We have solidarity in Adam, sharing original sin and the effect of that sin in the perfect environment of the Garden of Eden.

Depravity is God's estimation of man, not our own self-estimation!  Some people indeed think they're okay in their estimation and don't even think they've sinned.  However, man is not basically good, but inherently evil and our sin permeates our very core of being.  The complete heart is depraved: the emotions in Psalm 37:4; the will in Exodus 7:20; and the intellect in Matt. 15:19.  In other words: Sin permeates our very being and our reasoning power is dead (cf. Rom. 8:7); our conscience is corrupt (cf. Tit. 1:5); our will is stubborn (cf. Rom.1:32); our desires are selfish and base (cf. Col. 3:5); and our thoughts are evil (cf. Gen 6:5).  Our minds, wills, bodies, and spirits are corrupt--our total soul and being.  We must expose the dark side to see ourselves for what we are--fallen creatures!   We have no intrinsic goodness nor intrinsic merit nor value nor dignity, but only extrinsic worth and dignity because we are in the image of God and are clay in the Potter's hands.

The trouble, someone has said, is that most people don't see how bad they are, and the catch-22 is that we must see how bad we are to be good and qualify for goodness, and we don't know that till we've tried to be good and seen the futility of the attempt without God.  Man never ceased to be man with the power of choice, but ceased to be good!   Indeed we are bad, but the good news is that we are not too bad to be saved, if we will only confess it and confession or homologeo in Greek means to say the same thing as we need to agree with God and come clean with Him.  Man's basic problem in thinking he's good is that he thinks he does good deeds (Isa. 64:6 says they are filthy rags!), and God says no one does good, no not one!  He is delusional in his self-estimation and is only being self-righteous.

"Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?  Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil"  (Jer. 13:23, ESV).   None of us even lives up to our own standards and perfectly obeys his own conscience:  Ovid said, "I see the better things and approve them, but I follow the worst."  All you have to do is read Romans 7:24, ESV, which emphatically says: Wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?") to see Paul's struggle with evil within.  We are great sinners, but there is a Great Savior!

The point in salvation is that we cannot clean up our act and that Jesus sees through and penetrates our veneer or masquerade.  We must realize that we are never good enough to be saved, but bad enough to need salvation by grace with nothing we can do to contribute to God's accomplishment on our behalf.  We assume God grades on a curve, but we are all in the same boat known as the universality of sin and all have fallen short of the ideal standard set by God through His Son.  We can't play games with God or fool Him!  God judges our motives, and even good deeds can be done for selfish reasons or evil motive, even to gain the approbation of God.  "And he [Amaziah] did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart"  (cf. 2 Chronicles 25:2).  Our solidarity in Adam always gives us away!

God sometimes lets man go his own way:  "But they say, 'That is in vain!  We will follow our own plans, and everyone act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart'"  (Jer. 18:12, ESV);  "'But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.  So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels"  (Psalm 81:12, ESV).

The reality, which is a paradox, is that man is not born free, but born a slave and in bondage to sin and the old sin nature; "... People are slaves to whatever has mastered them" ["... For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved"  (2 Pet. 2:10, ESV)]  (cf. 2 Pet. 2:19);  "... You belong to the power you choose to obey" [... "you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness" (Rom. 6:16, ESV)] (cf. Rom. 6:16). We "by nature children of wrath," according to Ephesians 2:3.

We need to be set free from our own wickedness and nature, and this can only be done by the power of Christ transforming our souls upon salvation.  "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36, ESV).   Paul says, "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace"  (Romans 6:14, ESV).

However, the problem of man is that he doesn't see his own sin and must be convicted (only the Holy Spirit can do this too), because man instinctively justifies his own sin and fails to see his shortcomings, but tends to think too highly of himself, in the best possible light, and that he is basically good, and not inherently evil through and through with no inherent goodness intact.

As Christians, we have been set free from bondage to Satan and our sin nature and don't have to obey sin or be its slave.  "... [A]nd let no iniquity get dominion over me"  (Psalm 119:133, ESV).  "Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me!"  (Psalm 19:13, ESV).    Soli Deo Gloria!

Life With A Capital "L"

ARE YOU EXISTING OR LIVING, IF YOU DON'T KNOW CHRIST YOU HAVE NO LIFE, PERIOD.  TO KNOW HIM IS TO LOVE, HIM AND THE HAPPIEST, MOST FULFILLED PEOPLE ARE THOSE IN LOVE AND HAVE PURPOSE FROM GOD, THAT IS BIGGER THAN LIFE.
Christians don't have to sin and have the power to overcome by faith:  "Being made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness"  (Rom. 6:18, KJV).  


Jesus came to bring us life, and life to the full, i.e., a more abundant life per John 10:10 and most Christians are living defeated lives, succumbing to the so-called Anfectung (German used by Luther), or attack of Satan, our adversary, and opponent. Eternal life isn't just in reference to time but begins upon salvation and we share in God's very life!   Christians don't have the right to live in the flesh, but the power to live in the Spirit!  When we sin, we don't show our freedom, but demonstrate our slavery, if we are overcome by a sin, and if any brother is caught in a sin (Gal. 6:1, ESV, says, "Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted"), not leading to death (1 John 5:16, ESV, says, "If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask...") we should pray and restore him.  To live the abundant life you must learn to walk with God like Noah did:  "Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God."  "Enoch [also] walked with God, and was not, for God took him" (i.e., raptured him to heaven!).

We don't just have the selective indwelling, but the permanent residence of God in our hearts to stay in sync with God and on the same page as the Spirit!  We are filled by God in order to accomplish a God-ordained and given task to His glory; we don't walk around on cloud nine or with our heads bowed in holiness.   We must cultivate the fruit of the Spirit and it is grown by grace, not all at once, but over time--we must be patient.  Love is the ultimate fruit of the Spirit, and the other eight winsome graces are but manifestations of it in various forms.  We walk in love, speak the truth in love, do deeds in love, and demonstrate God's love by loving our neighbor and people will know we are disciples by our calling card of love as the keynote.  ("They'll know we are Christians by our love!")

God gives us richly all things to enjoy per 1 Tim. 6:17 and will withhold no blessing from us that is for our own good (cf. Psalm 84:11 ) "... no good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly [walk with God!]").  We are blessed in all our endeavors and God makes it fruitful as we bear fruit that honors God in our work, which is done to bear the image of God.  There is a false,  prosperity theology, that says we can cash in on God's riches and we are automatically guaranteed riches and financial prosperity if we are right with the Lord.  But this is not what being prosperous and successful is.  Mother Teresa of Calcutta says, "God doesn't call us to success, but to faithfulness."

God doesn't want our achievements, he wants us and our obedience!   We don't do anything for God, He only uses us as vessels of honor to accomplish His will and glory; for our purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, according to  The Westminster Shorter Catechism (ca. 1646).  God says for us to open our mouths wide and He will fit it in Psalm 81:10 and many times says He will satisfy our needs and meet them when we are in His will (cf. Phil. 4:19).  God satisfies us with good things to enjoy, just as He gives food to all creatures.  Even our appetite comes from God, for some people have lost theirs and no longer enjoy food, which was meant to be our portion of blessing, along with our work, according to Eccl. 3:13.

This is our portion: to find purpose and meaning in life through Christ--there comes a time of maturity when we aren't looking for fun, but meaning and impact, and we want to leave a legacy, not just be thrill-seekers, living for the here and now; we are to live in light of eternity and live for something bigger than ourselves--that's the key, not to just live for yourself, in your own little world and reality. Living for self or having selfish ambition is a recipe for disaster and a formula for suicide.  We are meant to love others, not just ourselves!  Albert Schweitzer said that the only truly happy persons are those who have learned to serve others.

When God gives us a ministry to our brethren and/or a mission to our lost friends and neighbors, we commence to live and realize our potential in with the aid of the Spirit's filling and anointing. Paul sums it up in Col. 1:10, ESV, as follows:  "... bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God [Note that good works and knowing God are correlated!]."  Soli Deo Gloria!  

By The Grace Of God

"[H]e predestined us ... according to the purpose of his will"  (Ephesians 1:5, ESV). 

Paul would not boast, but in the Lord, but he was forced to tell of his sufferings for Jesus (cf. 2 Cor. 11) as if they were the marks of Jesus, a crown, and not just a feather in his cap.  Jesus warned him of the great things he must suffer for sake of His name upon his salvation experience in Acts 9:16.   We are all that we are by the grace of God, not just Paul. "By the grace of God, I am what I am..." (cf. 1 Cor. 15:10).   George Whitefield said, upon seeing a man dragged to the gallows, what he thought:  "There but for the grace of God, go I." That's humility, thinking of others rather than yourself, (if God were to withdraw His restraining grace from us, we'd be all worthy of prison or worse!), and thinking of your unworthiness compared to the grace of God.

None of us was elected conditionally, but unconditionally, and not according to anything we did or didn't do, or any work or righteousness in the flesh.  "Grace reigns through righteousness." (Cf. Rom. 5:21), and that means that grace is sovereign and when God decides to send grace it's irresistible and effectual in its purpose according to the will of God. God's sovereignty is over everything and absolute and is not limited by our freedom--what He says and decrees will happen according to plan! We have "believed through grace" (cf. Acts 18:27), and God quickened faith within us, as we received faith or were given it,  and didn't achieve it--it's a gift, not a work!  If it were a work we would have merit to boast of.  Merit is opposed to and counter to grace; we cannot earn salvation, didn't deserve it, and can never pay God back for it.

It is important to be grace-oriented to get away from the paralysis of legalism and the mentality that we have a performance-based faith and works earn favor with God or that we can ingratiate ourselves with Him.  "The faith you have is the faith you show, they say in theology.  Christians aren't saved by good works, but unto them and in order to do them as a result of gratitude and a changed heart.  We are indeed saved by faith alone, as the Reformers taught, but not by a faith that is alone!  Faith without works is dead, according to James 2:17 and we are not saved by them, nor without them, for they prove our faith as fruit--as a sign of a good tree.  (Ephesians 2:10 says we are "saved unto good works, which God ordained beforehand, that we should walk in them.")   God's providence guides us to a productive life of good deeds and works.

We cannot believe, except by grace, because Jesus said that we can do nothing apart from Him:  "Apart from Me you can do nothing"  (cf. John 15:5).  Every good thing comes from God, the Ultimate of Goodness or Supreme Good (of Plato), and source of all blessings; and every perfect gift is from grace to us to be stewards of.  Our righteousness, then, is not a gift or offering to God, but His gift to us!  "Who makes you to differ?  What do you have that you didn't receive?"  (Cf. 1 Cor. 4:7).  If left to ourselves, none of us would've chosen Christ (cf. Matt. 22:14, "Many are called, but few are chosen" and cf. John 15:16, "You did not choose me, but I chose you"). We weren't inclined to come to Him, and our destiny is ultimately in the hands of God, not ours!

The good works we do are God working through us as vessels of honor doing His bidding and will.  "I will not venture but to speak of what Christ has accomplished through me"  (cf. Romans 15:18).  "... you have done for us all our works"  (Isa. 26:12, ESV).  Our fruit is from God per Hosea 14:8 and the fruit of the Spirit is God's blessing on our lives as He cultivates us and causes us to grow; gifts are given, fruits are grown.  We don't automatically exhibit all the fruits as infant believers, but must grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord, as 2  Pet. 3:18 exhorts.

Understanding grace is paramount to comprehend that salvation is all grace  (the work of God according to John 6:29, ESV, which says, "... This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent..!) and not our work:  "Salvation is of the LORD," according to Jonah 2:9 and that means it's not synergistic or a cooperative venture with God, nor a work of man alone apart from God's aid, but wholly accomplished by God;  salvation is the accomplishment of God, not the achievement of men, which is religion trying to gain the approbation of God and reach out to Him--Our God took the initiative and reached down to us in grace, seeing our hopelessness, and desperateness without His intervention.  He called us, not because of our works [of righteousness or pre-salvation works], but according to His purpose and grace (cf. 2 Tim. 1:9).  Works say "Do," while God says, "Done."

 No one can pat themselves on the back or give themselves kudos for achieving salvation as if they were wise, good, virtuous, or even intelligent!  It remains a mystery why God chooses some and not others ("the elect obtained unto it and the rest were hardened" according to Roman 11:7 and Acts 13:48 says that "as many as were appointed unto eternal life believed."

The Golden Chain of Redemption from Romans 8:29-30 makes it patent that God loses no one in the shuffle from foreknowledge to glorification--all who are called are justified, not some lucky ones who endure through trials or don't "lose their salvation." These verses militate against the prescient view that God elected us because we had or would have faith, instead, we are elected unto faith, not because of it--there is no room for any merit in our salvation.  You must distinguish between the inward call of God, which is always effectual, and the outward gospel call given by us to the lost to exhort them to repent and believe in Jesus, which can turn on deaf ears and be ineffectual.

And so none of us has the right to get a big head, even Paul had a thorn in the flesh to keep him from getting one, and we are all one in Christ, with no elite believers who are privileged or especially blessed--God is no respecter of persons and shows no partiality (cf. Rom. 2:11; Acts 10:34).  If we think we came to Christ on our own and by our own ability without being wooed, we probably left alone too and don't have the Spirit.  If we don't need regeneration or grace to believe, what good is it and who needs it?  The only ones who get the call are the ones the Father grants can come to Him and the ones He draws or woos (elko or to drag in Greek--implying force). 

There is no second blessing, or higher life, or work of grace, as some holiness-movement believers (Neo-Pentecostal or charismatics) will have you believe--nowhere are we commanded or exhorted to seek the "baptism" of the Spirit.  "We are all baptized into one body by the Spirit"  (cf. 1 Cor. 12:13).  There is one Lord, one faith, and only one baptism according to Eph. 4:4!  Soli Deo Gloria!  

Who Does Jesus Think He Is?

"And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes"  (Mark 1:22, ESV).

"The officers answered, Never man spake like this man" (John 7:46, KJV), who reported to the authorities.  Jesus was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God (cf. John 10:33), even claiming that the Father and Him were one [in essence].  In one sense the triune God is a threesome or three (in one), but in another, it is a unity of one being with three persons in a relationship.  Elohim, the plural of God (El) is used by God in Genesis and God refers to Himself as a unity of one in Deut. 6:4, using the Hebrew echad, meaning one as in a cluster or unity.  They are one in Spirit and one in purpose and will, but three in self-distinction and personality.

Jesus didn't go around advertising that He was the Son of David, or the Son of God, though He never denied it (He was forced to confess it at His trial as the Son of the Blessed One). Note that with all due respect to the founders of all the other world religions, only Jesus claimed to be God (cf. John 8:58, says, "Before Abraham was, I AM" and  John 8:24 really says, "Unless you believe that I AM, you shall die in your sins" and in John 14:9 He says, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father"), and this is why the authorities despised and hated Him and were jealous of His powers and influence of the people--they knew what He was claiming!  "If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him..." (John 11:48, ESV).

Jesus usually used figures of speech, but He didn't always beat around the bush by indirect claims but spoke plainly enough for his disciples to recognize Him as the Messiah or Christ the Lord.  Peter confessed Him as the Son of God.  His favorite title for Himself was Son of Man (cf. Daniel 7:13), showing Him identifying with us as the Messiah, as this was a known messianic title from Daniel. George Gordon, Lord Byron said that "if ever man was God, or God man, Jesus Christ was both." He wasn't half God and half man, but the God-man (theanthropos in Greek), being all God and all man in one permanent incarnation or personification.  Some find it incredible to believe a man could become God or deified, but they can accept the historical fact of the incarnation when God became man! They besought Him to tell them plainly and He did, but they wouldn't listen or understand. John 12:37 says that even though he performed many signs, they would not (not could not) believe in Him.

The most striking aspect of His teaching and some just saw Him as a good teacher ("... Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God:  for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him"  (John 3:2, KJV). It is patronizing to think of Him only as a good teacher or moral leader or even martyr for a good cause--these are not valid options to consider concerning Him.  "You call Me Lord and teacher, and so I am."  He never prefaced His teachings with "thus saith the Lord" but directly said it as if speaking as God, not for God.  He didn't speak by authority, but with authority, and no man ever spoke so audaciously before; others would commonly quote the authorities, like renowned and learned teachers and Pharisees.  When He spoke it was not introduced by phrases like "It is said," but "I say unto you."  The critics would just mutter, 'Who does He think He is?"  In respect to His teaching:  "[F]or he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not their scribes"  (Matt. 7:29, ESV).

About calling Himself the Son of God and not denying it (John 1:49 says, "... Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel"), He pointed out that we are all sons of God in the sense of being His creatures and challenged them: who was David's Son? When He referred to Himself as the Son of Man, the Pharisees knew very well that this was a messianic title and just who He was claiming to be.  Indeed, the teachers and Pharisees got the message and weren't as clueless as they pretended--they even remembered that He predicted His resurrection, which the disciples didn't understand or anticipate.  Even Nicodemus, the so-called "teacher of Israel," didn't know where He was coming from at first, but after the encounter at night came over to sympathize with His cause, and took His side--even helping to anoint and bury Him.

Normally you don't believe someone who makes claims of deity or divinity which they can't substantiate (Father Divine of Philadelphia, now deceased, and Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church of Korea and whose followers are called Moonies, for instance), but Jesus' claims were consistent with his credentials and the witness of signs and wonders.  There have been numerous wannabes and would-be messianic figures, but they are easily dismissed.   If Jesus had been a devil, a madman, sincerely deceived teacher, or a liar, wouldn't the disciples had figured it out and had Him pegged after three years of close contact; familiarity normally breeds contempt!

People will die for what they believe is true, but these men were in a position to know the truth, fanatics and religious extremists aren't.  Napoleon thought he could conquer Europe, but languished on St. Helena in exile, reading and studying the Bible, contemplated Jesus:  "I know men, and I tell you Jesus was no mere man." When anyone considers the evidence the only credible hypothesis is that Jesus is the Son of God, but acknowledging this is not salvation, you must know Him, love Him, and follow Him as you trust in Him as Savior and submit to Him as Lord.

Other religious leaders are self-effacing, while Jesus was self-advancing or promoting and His teaching was self-centered.  You can take Buddha out of Buddhism and the faith remains intact, but Christ is what Christianity is all about; its essence is that Christ is God in the flesh!   Actually, the whole of Scripture is all about Jesus on every page and in every book.  It wasn't just Jesus who was His own witness: the Father and Holy Spirit gave approval of Him, and said, "This is My beloved Son...."

His miracles were really signs of His deity and were consistent, not helter-skelter, for prestige, personal gain, showy, fantastic, haphazard, capricious, without any reason, ostentatious, nor for personal gain or profit, but out of love as the motive to confirm faith.  He did everything that you would expect a God-man to do and was everything you'd expect Him to be.  I rest my case: there's no reason to doubt due to lack of evidence or irrationality.  If one is willing, God will authenticate the truth--He's no man's debtor--"seek and you will find" (cf. Matt. 7:7).

The conclusion of the matter is that anyone can make claims and do to be a somebody, and many have claimed to be Israel's Messiah, but their lives have to be consistent with their testimony and not belie it.  Jesus' life was of such caliber and moral uprightness that there is sufficient reason to believe he wasn't a deluded madman, lunatic, liar, or mistaken because he invariably practiced what He preached and preached what He practiced.  Usually, familiarity breeds contempt, but not in this case, the disciples recognized His holiness and no one could convict Him of sin or convince Him of it, they verified in their writings that He was without sin.  One disciple says to Christ:  "Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man."

They willingly verified and proved the veracity of their witness to His resurrection by the sacrifice of their lives in martyrdom--people don't normally lie when threatened with death.  Just like Elvis impersonators are easy to spot, it is easy to realize that Jesus will never be surpassed or equaled (neither by predecessor nor by disciple nor by wannabe nor even rival).  You don't compare others with Him, but you contrast them with Christ.

Fanatics and religious extremists will die for what they believe is true, but they are not in a position to know the truth, as the disciples were, and they died to prove their veracity concerning their witness of the resurrection and the risen Jesus.   You don't normally believe someone was born of a virgin either (Buddha claimed his father was a white elephant and Alexander the Great and Augustus Caesar claimed their fathers were serpents!), but if they lived like Jesus there would be ample reason to believe it. Soli Deo Gloria! 

Heart Of Worship

"... [Shout] unto God with the voice of triumph"  (Psalm 47:1, KJV).
"I WAS glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD"  (Psalm 122:1, KJV).
"Blessed is the people who know the joyful sound..."  (Psalm 89:15, KJV).
"Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with song of praise" (Psalm 95:2, ESV).
"Blessed are the people who know the festal shout [call to worship]"  (Psalm 89:15, ESV).

The heart of the matter of worship is that it's a matter of the heart; it reflects the condition of your heart and the extent of its surrender and offering to God, not how much of the Spirit you have, but how much of you the Spirit has.  When someone says that he didn't get much out of worship, it only reveals his ignorance of its purpose--to glorify, extol, and lift up the Lord--that your motives are wrong and your worship for the wrong reason.  The reason we worship is that we are designed for it and it is only natural--we are called homo divinus, or homo religiosus, meaning we are fulfilled and meant for worship as religious beings--much more, we will worship someone or something, if not God; however, God is the only one worthy of our worship.  "Worthy are you ... to receive glory..." (Rev. 4:11, ESV).

Worship is about having an encounter with the God who is there; in fact, Christianity is not about believing in God,  but the God who is is there.  Francis Schaeffer says, "He is there, and He is not silent."  Indeed, God melts us, molds, fills us and then uses us in worship as we recharge our spiritual batteries and get our checkup in the corporate worship experience of the local body of believers that we congregate and assemble with regularly. There is no one-size-fits-all for worship and that's probably why there are so many worship experiences; some are demonstrative, some stoical, but God sees the heart, while man looks on the outward appearance (cf. 1 Sam. 16:7).  Posture and gestures can be important, but mere lip service is vain and fruitless.  We don't want to be  like Israel:  "... 'Is the LORD among us or not?'"  (Ex. 17:7, ESV).

Worship is what church is all about, even in our giving we are doing it.  And going to church should not be considered something on our to-do list or something we do perfunctorily, but something we gladly and willing do; you could say we "get to" worship God, not that we have to.  Some say that they can worship God in the cornfield, so why attend church?  Worship is more than music (Jubal invented in in Gen. 4), and some think they only go to church to hear a sermon, but we must realize that there is a purpose for each part of the service in our worship experience.   They haven't discovered the power of corporate worship and that whenever two or three are gathered together in His name, Jesus promises to be present.  Hebrews 10:25 exhorts us not to forsake the assembling together of ourselves--this is a command--God gives no advice, suggestions, or hints.

Worship is important to us because we learn to connect with God and it changes us, not God--God invites us to join Him in His joy and gladness (cf. Neh. 8:10).  The call to worship is to focus on who God is and what He has done as we thank Him for His actions, and praise Him for His being.  We have the right attitude when we are in awe and humble ourselves before Him in Spirit and in truth.  Remember, worship is about God, it's not about you!  We learn to seek the presence of the Lord and His face and to be used by God in our surrender to bring Him joy.

We need to be reminded of the Spirit on a regular basis to keep in touch and not lose track of our fellowship--it's easy to drift off and backslide without regular fellowship and corporate worship--none of us is a rock or an island that needs nobody else--we all need each other for expression and mutual ministry  Remember, worship is active and not passive, not something we listen to, but take part in and put all that we are able into it.  Some have a form of godliness in so-called will worship, but deny the power thereof (cf. 2 Tim. 3:5).

Church, then is not a place for the goody-goodies to gather or those who think that it's a crutch for weak people or losers--indeed, no perfect people need apply, as God calls not the righteous, but sinners to repentance and church should be viewed as a hospital for sinners, not a hotel for saints.  They say that it's filled with hypocrites too, but we should tell them to join in because they'd feel right at home!   We don't abandon church or Christ as believers, but we can drift away slowly and should know the warning signs, like our worship becoming routine and perfunctory and hypocritical.  The church is our lifeblood and the means of our renewal because the body needs each member and we are all in it together to glorify God and fulfill the Great Commission.  The church is not meant to be a comfortable place for sinners to feel at home, but where the gospel is preached and people are enjoined to come to a decision, and making no decision is making a "No!" decision.

We must realize that "God inhabits the praises of His people"  (cf. Psalm 22:3) and that we enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with joy (cf. Psalm 100:3) and that we should bless Him with all that is within us--all our being (cf. Psalm 103:1)--and be ourselves, not hypocritical.  God thrives on worship and "The Lord takes pleasure in His people"  (cf. Psalm 149:4a, CEV).  We must worship God "in Spirit and in truth" (cf. John 4:24).  The essence of worship is bringing joy and pleasure to God, and whenever we feel this joy in the Spirit, no matter what our endeavor--even working--it is worship and brings glory to God. "... [W]hatever you do, do to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31, ESV).  When God smiles on you, or you feel His pleasure, you're worshiping.

You can go to church to worship God or you can go to the factory to worship Him, for authentic worship is the offering of ourselves the way we are in our daily lives--we live and breathe worship! We must see the whole world as His temple and fertile territory for worship.  Wherever we sense awe, love, respect, and fear we have the right attitude to come before His presence in thanksgiving for what He's done and praise for who He is and put ourselves in the frame of mind to worship.  Our life is an offering to God as we present ourselves to Him in devotion and live to His glory as vessels of honor!   Let all that is within us praise the Lord!

Just like prayer, worship should change us, not God, and one should say that they realize we have been in the presence of God or have been with the Lord, as your "cup overflows."   Finally, we must realize our need for worship and that it is a litmus test of our spiritual growth and condition, and we cannot thrive or grow without it having its rightful place. Soli Deo Gloria!