It's a wonderful plan

Philippians 1:29
"For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake"

  What a statement by Paul! He was shown what things he would suffer for Jesus and here he is telling us we will suffer also!

  Check out Philipians 3:7-8
"But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may when Christ".

  Is this the gospel you have heard proclaimed? Were you promised a wonderful life? What do you do with verses like these who say we will suffer?

  If we promise an unbeliever that God wants to give them a wonderful life, do they actually consider the cost? Its expensive to serve Christ! It costs us our desires, our goals, our families, our lives.

   So what's to gain? Freedom from sin. Oh that blessed freedom! Rejoice! Rejoice! Our sins are cast away, never to be remembered! Oh blessed Redeemer!

  Stop using God's blessings as "draw cards" to introduce people to Him. They may take you up on your offer, never repent and trust, and still be bound for hell.

  When I was fourteen I gave myself to God. I was promised a wonderful life and I took it. What changed for me?

  Nothing

  I still had my sinful nature. I just thought God would shield me from the consequences of my sins. I thought God would "open doors" and "bind up the devil" for me. After all, He promised me a wonderful life.

  Twenty-two years later and sin still had me in its death grip. How could I, God's child, be so vile and wretched? He was supposed to change my life into wonderful! I was duped!

  Paul says we are in a race. I got off to a false start! I "jumped the gun" and never repented. Jesus was a way of getting what I wanted. I wasn't given the opportunity to examine myself against God's law and discover my sinful nature.

  So, instead of being regenerated by Gods Holy Spirit, I was innoculated. I became a false convert.

  Today I see the truth. God didn't come to give me a wonderful life. He came to pay for my sins. He paid a huge price to pay for my sins. I am ashamed that I trampled the blood of Jesus by believing He came to give me "a wonderful life".

  Is it wonderful that He forgave my sins? Absolutely! But nobody thinks about their sins when we tell them, "God has a wonderful plan for your life".

  Paul suffered. He says I will also. I count that "wonderful life" that I had as dung. It was worthless.

Wrongful birth?!

Deborah and Ariel Levy: Portland couple wins case against Legacy Heath for 'wrongful birth' after daughter is born with Down...

Hey Folks, I get that the people will need extra money to pay for the extra needs of their daughter. But suing because they weren't given enough information to kill the child? This is utter depravity. When did it become ok to sue for "wrongful birth"?

  I hope the parents are having, or will have, second thoughts about ever wanting to abort this little girl. I know I have done tremendously wicked things in my life and God forgave me (for Christ's sake). I surely hope they repent of their wicked desire to abort their daughter. Yes, God can forgive them. Let's hope they come to Jesus and He washes them clean.

  I want to further the gospel a bit more. Friend, if you think your sins aren't as bad as these, think again. Our vileness is just as vile even if we don't think so. God looks upon the heart and proclaims hatred as murder. Looking with lust as adultery. If we have ever lied, He says, "You are of your father, the Devil, the father of lies". That's three of the "10 commandments". Do you really want to look at more to see if you get them right?

  I hope you catch the point. We are all condemned under the law. Let the law teach you that! Then, when you see your condemnation, agree with God about your wickedness (repentance), and cry out to Jesus. He suffered and died to pay for our sins. He has not promised you a terrific and wonderful life, but He does offer forgiveness for breaking His laws.

Survivor or victim

  Children of holocaust survivers were polled and asked how they felt about the trauma their parents went thru. The result of this was shocking!

  Those parents who described how they survived, the circumstances that caused them to make it, and those things that helped, their children had great empathy for what they went thru.

  Those parents who described how they were abused, the hardships they endured, and how they felt victimized, their children felt substantially less empathy.

  I take this to mean, if we share how we struggle, if we display our hurts and what we are doing to overcome them, people will more naturally want to care about us. If we show ourselves as victims only, people will have a difficult time relating to us.

  Why do I find this helpful? I want others to care about the hard things I face! Who doesn't? But, if all I do is complain those same people won't care as much. This is just reality. Sounds heartless and cruel, but its true.

  In recovery we have a saying, "Live in the solution". If we focus on only our problems, rejecting sound advice, who wants to be around us? 

  So, speak about our hurts and worries, talk about painful things. But don't forget to include the bit about how God is our rescuer. And if we do forget, don't poo-poo the fellow who steers the conversation back to recovery with God. 

  Lemme give an example from my life.

  I was a blackout drunk. Things I did were deplorable and hideous. I hurt many people deeply. When I first got sober I would say things like, "Why is this happening? I didn't mean to do it!". Naturally most people were not very empathetic.

  Today I tell what horrible things I did, what I am doing in recovery, and how God is working on me. Now I find people showing me empathy.

  I didn't change my approach to garner their good will. I just view what happened differently, so I talk about it differently. Instead of being a victim of blackouts, I am a sober/recovering scuzbucket who used to drown my sorry butt in alcohol and drugs. People relate better!

  What's it gonna be? Victim or survivor?

Dispensational truth

  Ahh, nothing like a theological term to title a blog. Really gets the interest piqued huh? Here is the scoop.

  My friend had always struggled with eternal security. You know, once saved always saved. He has finally gotten comfortable knowing he can't lose his salvation, but now he wants to show his brother (who thinks he lost his salvation). But he is unsure how to deal with Hebrews chapter six. Good question, how do you deal with Hebrews six if you can't lose your salvation?

  The first thing to point out is that Hebrews is God's command that men make the coffee. That being said, Hebrews is written to the Jews. So we must begin with a Jewish outlook about it. (I am going to say the Hebrews coffee thing in church sometime, deadpan all the way!)

  If you understand that the promises given to the Hebrews, and the promises given to the church, are different, then you have completed Theology and Eschatology 101. Oh sure, the promises can be similar, and there is overlap, but where they are different we should just accept that they are different. It really settles a lot of scripture.

  To keep it simple, if you want to get the message to the church correct, just pay attention to the Apostle to the Gentiles. That would be Paul. He shoots a straight message about salvation, in the church age, in all his epistles. If he authored Hebrews, he was clearly aiming at a different audience (Israel).

  Just like gleaning from the spiritual promises made to, say Noah, we must be careful not to apply the physical promises given to Noah incorrectly. We could end up with "gopher wood and pitch" churches! The physical promises made to the nation Israel are great for spiritual lessons, they can wreck havoc when applied literally (not spiritually) to the christian. (Gopher wood and pitch, a great Christian band name!)

  I hope I am not stirring the pot here. This dispensational belief I hold has been taught for many years and is considered orthodox. Yes, its a huge hunk o' spiritual meat. Some gag and some spit it out. But basically, its the only way to reconcile many verses.

  I have heard this called "The Kingdom of God" and "The Kingdom of Heaven". Since heaven isn't God (that would be pantheism) they must be different. Simply put, Israel's physical promises are "The Kingdom of Heaven". The church's spiritual promises are "The Kingdom of God". Are there overlap? Yep. Are the promises often different? You bet!

  Confused yet?

  I think for me the matter cleared up when I found myself unable to understand Hebrews 6, James 2, Acts 2, Matthew 5-7, and Matthew 24. They didn't make sense in light of Paul's epistles or the Gospel of John. How can you understand the diaspora (Matthew 24) if you think Israel's promises are to the church? Once I realised I was reading someone elses promises, I relaxed. Finally, I had peace and the Bible made sense. I was no longer trying to reconcile things that are meant to be different. I could gain great spiritual truths from those scriptures and not fret about the "works" that are in them.  

  Hope this helps. Hope I didn't just confuse you more. Next week, a study of hermeneutics. If you know what that last word means then you don't need to read next week!

  P.S. I really ain't writin bout none dem thar hermunooticks next week!