Unshakeable

Unshakeable: “It means that we trust that our Lord will provide and we move on with the decision He has given us peace with.”

One statement taken out of context will never be able to capture the essence of a message that is so moving, so profound, yet so inspirational. Allow me to introduce you to a lady named Maegan. I have never been formally introduced to Maegan, but she and my wife went to college together and were in the same sorority. Last night, as I was finishing an action movie we had taped, Kim decided to log-on to facebook (which is a rare occasion) and she stumbled upon Maegan’s blog, A Different Remedy.

On Tuesday, November 29th, Maegan published a post entitled “Sowing in tears…waiting for shouts of joy.” Maegan and her husband, Jeremy, had just received some devastating news. While attending the 20 week ultrasound, they learned that their little Ellanie Beth has Anencephaly, the rarest and most severe form of spina bifida. It is described as a “neural tube defect that causes the baby’s skull and brain to stop developing.” Anencephaly is undetectable, untreatable, and always lethal. Maegan and her husband were faced with two options, induce early or carry to full term. They decide to seek the Lord’s guidance before making a decision.

Three days later, Maegan and her husband saw a team of specialists at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. The doctors confirmed their worst fears – the situation had not improved and little Ellanie did not have any brain development or activity. If this news wasn’t enough, the doctor began to describe the complications of carrying the baby to full term. The stress on the mother’s body is tremendous and the normal “event triggers” during labor do not occur. The choice that Maegan and Jeremy were leaning towards was just confirmed… they must induce.

The story does not end here.

The doctor explains that this procedure could last anywhere between 12 and 72 hours and the doctor and hospital bills would be tremendous. The problem is that Maegan and Jeremy’s independent insurance will not cover the surgery. The new insurance that Jeremy receives through his new job will cover the surgery, but it does not take effect until the next week. Maegan’s logical conclusion was, “wait a week”. This, however, poses a legal problem. The state of Alabama just amended a law four weeks ago that states it is illegal to deliver after 20 weeks despite any complications (changed from 23).

The doctor looked at Maegan and Jeremy and said, “You do realize what this means don’t you?”…

Before I go any further, I want you to put yourselves in Maegan and Jeremy’s shoes. In the past week, you have been told that your unborn child has a fatal birth defect. This defect could severely affect your health if you choose to keep the baby until full term. On top of that, you have to pay EVERY dime of the costs. What emotions would you feel? Anger at the independent insurance company? Fear of financial distress? Resentment at God for such a situation? How would you respond to the doctor’s question?

Do you know what Maegan said?

After the doctor asked her if she knew the situation, she responded, “Yes sir. It means that we trust that our Lord will provide and we move on with the decision He has given us peace with.”

Unshakeable [Faith].

She has looked the enemy in the face… she has looked death in the face… she has looked into the face of possible bankruptcy and essentially said, “I will point to my faith in my Saviour, Jesus Christ, because He will provide for me.” Wow. That is faith.

Maegan’s determination to let God’s plan direct her life is certainly an example that all of us should strive towards, but we should all remember who set the best example of all.

Jesus Christ endured as much or more humiliation and defeat than any of us ever will on Earth, yet his one mission was to “please the Father.” In Matthew 26:42, Jesus prays, ”My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.” At this instant in history, Jesus knows that He is to be crucified. He knows that His earthly life will come to end because of the work He has done and yet to do… But He also knows that he is part of God the Father’s plan and that He must lay down His life. Why? God’s plan was to punish Jesus for the sins of mankind so that they do not have to endure the same punishment. See… Sin is what separates us from God. He is so Holy that anything sinful cannot be in presence, thus, a sinful person cannot enter Heaven…

Here comes the reality check: you cannot enter Heaven… except with the help of Jesus Christ who paid for your sins. You must accept that Jesus Christ died on cross for the forgiveness of your sins and must rely fully on that fact for your salvation.

What does He ask for in return?

[Unshakeable] Faith.

The most appropriate passage to insert here is one of the most famous, “”For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17).  We must believe and have faith in the work of Jesus Christ not only for our salvation and forgiveness of sins, but for everything in our lives… Our finances, our children, our health, our jobs…everything. He has made the promise to provide if you believe.

Maegan knows this. Do you? Do you read her story and think to yourself, “I wish I had what she has?”. Friends, you can… All you have to do is ask and have faith.

For more information about Maegan and about the memorial fund that has been set up for Ellanie, please visit this link.

Are you “comfortable” for Christ?

When I was younger, my Dad taught me a very valuable lesson while we were dove hunting. We would get up very early on the opening day of dove season and head to the corn field where the hunt was going to be held. We had to carry heavy gear like seats, coolers, etc to our location while still half asleep. We had to be there around dawn to mark out our location within the field. By law, hunting could not begin until noon. This meant there was a wait from 6am until noon which usually meant some boredom. Six hours is a long time to wait for a child with little to no patience. For those who do not know, dove season begins in September and for those living in Alabama – it is still very hot and very humid. Most dove hunting fields do not offer much shade and sitting for hours in the hot southern sun is not what most would call appealing. This is not a comfortable situation. I asked my Dad one day why we have to sweat, sacrifice sleep, and wait for hours in order to hunt. I will never forget what he said, “if you are comfortable, you aren’t trying hard enough.” In a way, he was saying, anything worth doing is worth doing right. A couple years later he explained to me how sacrificing your comforts can actually make you more focused; more “in-tune” if you will. Why am I telling you this? The same lesson can be said about the Christian walk; “if you are comfortable, you aren’t trying hard enough.”

I assume that most people who read this post are Christ followers. The title, “Are you comfortable for Christ?” implies two things when broken down. The words “for Christ” implies the following, approval, or acceptance of Christ. The words “Are you comfortable” implies not only a question, but a self evaluation as well. The purpose of this post is for you to look at yourself and your opportunities and determine whether you are comfortable or whether you are confident for Christ. I will use myself as a prime example; see if anything in my life sounds familiar to you…

My wife and I shopped around for a Church about a year ago and found one we really liked. The pastor was great at preaching undiluted messages directly from the Bible and the people were very friendly. A couple weeks later, we started going to a small group and began to meet tons of new friends. We began to spend time with these new friends and became comfortable with them. In fact, my weekend became a routine. A “routine” in the comfortable sense – not in the negative connotation.

This was a typical weekend: Friday, after work, my wife and I would usually have a date night or spend time having dinner with family. We had dates to the movies, dinner, etc. Saturdays in the Fall were spent watching College Gameday followed by every SEC football game. Saturdays in all other seasons of the year were spent running errands, taking day trips, doing home projects, and spending time with friends and family. Sundays were Church service at 9am, followed by small group, followed by lunch, followed by relaxation.

If you saw me at the coffee pot on Monday morning and asked me how my weekend went, I would say, “Good. We went out to dinner Friday, watched football on Saturday, and went to Church on Sunday.” Sound familiar? It sounds like a nice, comfortable weekend to me.

Recently, my Church and small group has been covering the life of Saul of Tarsus (otherwise known as the Apostle Paul) from his first mentioning in the Bible to his last days. After listening to a couple of lessons and looking around the immediate area for application of the lessons, it has brought me to this post. Now, how exactly does my typical weekend relate to a study of the Apostle Paul? Frankly, my weekend in its current form cannot compare to even a day in the life of Paul. Friends, Paul was not “comfortable” like I am/was. What did Paul do on a typical Saturday? Most likely, he was spit on, yelled at, cursed at, shipwrecked, imprisoned, stoned, mocked, beaten, or lashed all in the hope of winning one person to Christ. That is not my definition of “comfortable for Christ.” That is my definition of “Confident for Christ.” By this comparison to my current routine, I am most certainly comfortable. Where do you stand? Let’s find out.

1. Have you ever been mocked or lost a friendship for sharing your faith in Jesus with others?
2. Better yet, do you share your faith on atleast a weekly basis?
3. When  your Church has community wide events to reach more people, do you go and help in any way you can?
4. Do you go out of your way to make time in your day for your friends that do not attend Church in order to provide a Christian influence in their lives?
5. Do you read your Bible daily?

To borrow a joke format from a prominent southern comedian, if you answered “No” to more than one question above, you might be “comfortable.” If you sit on your couch during major Church functions, you might be “comfortable.” If you speak to someone at work on a daily basis and that person still doesn’t know you are a Christian, you might be “comfortable.” If the only people you associate with are members of your Sunday school class, you might be “comfortable.” If you are not actively searching for truth instead of waiting for someone to tell you truth, you might be “comfortable.” If you have never sacrificed anything for the good of the Kingdom, you might be “comfortable.”

When you get to Heaven and Jesus asks you what you did with your life, are you going to say, “I wish I would’ve skipped that Church function and watched more football.”? I’m pretty sure God gave us DVR for this reason. Are you going to say, “I wish I would’ve never spoken with so-and-so about Christ because I had to spend hours of my life teaching him/her.” I doubt anyone would say these things, but are you not saying these things now with your day to day choices? Actions speak louder than words.

One verse in the “Great Commission”, Matthew 28:19 states, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Word selection is very important here. This verse does not say, sit, call, text message, email, nap, etc. This verse says “go.” One small simple word implies so much. First, it is a action verb meaning that you must take part in some event. Second, it is an instruction given to all believers. Third, it implies that you must relocate from your current location to another location in order to complete your task whether this is across town or across the globe. Your re-action to this action verb is what speaks louder than words.

If you are not reaching outside your comfort zone with your faith and with your actions… It’s time to get uncomfortable. It is time to go talk to that coworker who is struggling with life right now. It is time to go talk to your neighbor that you have not met and invite them to your local Church. It is time to go with your Church on missionary efforts across town and maybe even across the sea. It is time to go to small group or sunday school even though you are uncomfortable because you do not know anyone. It is time to go appologize to the person you have done wrong. In turn, it is time to go forgive those that have done you wrong. It is time to go get in your Bible daily. It is time to sacrifice some of your desires in order to go be a part of something for the good of others. Most importantly, it is time to go to God in prayer and ask him what He would like you to do.

In my case, my “go” starts with dedicating my time to helping a Church get started in the small rural town of Hatton, Alabama. I will miss some college football. I am definately going to miss a mini-vacation that my wife and I planned. I might even miss a date night with my wife, but I can do that another weekend, God-willing. More importantly, I have a date with God and the community of Hatton, AL and hopefully I can help someone set up an appointment with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. This effort may place me outside my comfort zone in the fact that I might will have to talk to strangers. I will have to sacrifice time and the creature comforts of my home, but I know that God is working in the situation and I have nothing to fear. I know the next step after going from comfortable to uncomfortable is to become confident. After repeated trips to the “uncomfortable zone” regarding your faith and service, you will become confident. Remember, actions speak louder than words and if you show God that you are willing to sacrifice your time and your comforts in order to serve Him, he will give you peace and confidence. He has already given you every tool you need to serve him. Don’t believe me?

1. Can you read the Bible?
2. Can you communicate?
3. Do you have faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ?

If you answered yes to those questions, you are already equipped with everything you need. The only thing preventing you from serving God with all your heart is your comfort level.

In no way am I saying that actions are more important than faith. What I am attempting to convey to you is that if you have faith, you should desire action out of obedience instead of choosing complacency.

After reading this, do you feel convicted? Do feel a burden laid upon you that there is task God intents for you to complete. If so, I’m sure your small group or local Church has something you can get involved in. Join me and lets get uncomfortable for Christ because he was uncomfortable for us first.

I am no better than…

I heard a song the other day by a band called “Sidewalk Prophets” entitled “You love me anyway.” There is a part of this song that hits me like a ton of bricks.

“I am the thorn in your crown, but You loved me anyway.

I am the sweat from your brow, but You loved me anyway.

I am the nail in your wrist, but You loved me anyway.

I am Judas’ kiss, but You loved me anyway.

I am the man who yelled out from the crowd for your blood to spilled on this earthshaking ground. Yes then, I turned away with a smile on my face with this sin in my heart-tried to bury your Grace and then alone in the night, I still called out for You. So ashamed of my life, my life, my life… But You loved me anyway…”

Is that not amazing?

We know that as sinners, we are essentially all in the same boat awaiting the same punishment. With sin, there is no ranking system, you are either in or out; sinful or sinless. If you claim sinless, you are liar (Romans 3:23) and will then fall into the sinful category anyway. Two passages that come to mind are James 2:10 and Romans 6:23. ”For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10), and Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” When these two passages are put together, you can infer something like this: “it doesn’t matter how big or small or few or many my sins are, I still recieve the same punishment.”

Now, take that last statement and instead of putting the focus on yourself and your punishment, put the focus on Jesus.

“It doesn’t matter how big or small or few or many your sins are, you still receive the same forgiveness.”

Wow.

If me and my sin are no better or worse than anyone else, I might as well have hammered the nails myself. I might as well have placed the thorny crown upon His head. I am no better than the Roman soldiers who mocked and beat our Lord. I am no better than Peter who disowned Jesus three times before the rooster crowed. I am no better than Judas who heard the teachings of Jesus first hand, yet failed to follow them. I am no better than the angry mob who sentenced Jesus Christ our Lord to death, but I do the same thing every day. My sins caused Jesus to suffer immense pain and take my punishment so that I may have everlasting life through faith in the personal work of Jesus Christ… I am thankful for those nails. I am thankful for the stripes on His back so that I do not have suffer for eternity! Despite everything I have done or will do, Jesus loved me enough to be my sacrifice so that I could be forgiven, but not just for me. He has already done the same for you and is waiting for you to embrace Him as your savior.

What would you do?

What would you do… if you are stuck at the bottom of a well?

On October 14th, 1987, something terrible happened.  An eighteen month old baby named Jessica McClure fell into a well that was only eight inches wide but 22 feet deep.  The world watched helplessly as rescuers frantically tried to rescue her.  Amazingly, after 58 hours, ”Baby Jessica” was pulled from the well with nothing more than a cut on her forehead and the loss of a toe due to gangrene.  Some would call this a miracle.

Now, let me re-tell this story. 

On October 14th, 1987,  eighteen month old Jessica McClure fell into a deep well.  Her parents, neighbors, and community tried to help rescue her from the well.  Finally, ”Baby Jessica” took it upon herself to save her own life.  Inch by inch, Jessica clawed and scratched for survival. She stuck her tiny eighteen month old toes into the nooks and crannies to hold herself up.  Her fingers desperately clinging to any place to hold in the damp well.  Eventually, “Baby Jessica” climbed out of the well.

Wait a minute…. That doesn’t make sense.

You would think I’m crazy if I met you on the street and tried to pass that story off as true. We both know that 18 month old “Baby Jessica” could not pull herself from a 22 foot vertical hole in the ground.  The moment she fell, she was helpless. Absolutely helpless.  There was nothing that she was physically able to do in this world to save herself – she was at the mercy of her rescuer.

I used the true story above illustrate exactly how helpless we all are.  “Baby Jessica” fell, needed helped, and was rescued.  Since the “fall of man” when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden tree in the garden of eden, we have been sentenced to imprisonment.  An imprisonment of sin.  Due to the natural ”sin nature” of man, we cannot possibly remove this imprisonment ourselves – we need help. You can’t possibly climb out of this well yourself.  No matter how independent you are, you have been helped sometime in your life.  Some parental/care-giving figure changed your diaper because you could not do it yourself.  Someone gave you food to keep you nourished.  Someone obviously taught you how to read.  You did not do these things on your own – someone had to help you.  At these points in your life, did you refuse the help? Did you refuse to be rescued from your own lack of knowledge? Unless you are that kid from the eTrade commercials sitting at a computer you taught yourself to use, feeding yourself baby-food, and wearing a diaper – you accepted that you needed to be ”rescued” from your infancy in order to help yourself. 

If you accepted the help earlier in life in order to develop into a more mature and self sufficient human being, why would you deny Jesus Christ who is willing to rescue you from the punishment of your sin in order to develop you into a more mature spiritual being? If it is not blantantly obvious that you are as helpless in the spiritual context as Jessica was in the physical context, allow me to try and open your eyes.

If you are stuck down in that well, would you push His hand away in order to rescue yourself? Friends, there is nothing you can do short of accepting that Jesus Christ died for your sins that will save you in this world and beyond.  No hocus pocus ”religion” with spells can do it. Belief in nothing is futile and quite possibly one the least logical conclusions anyone could draw – that is essentially the belief that you are your own god. If there are multiple “gods”, then why are there no stories about these multiple “gods” challenging my God? Some people worshiped another “god” in 1 Kings 18, why don’t you ask them how that turned out? On second thought, you might not want to go to where they are to ask them.

Where are you at in life?  Do you feel that you are stuck at the bottom of a dark well? Do you feel that despite all of your attempts to improve yourself and your life, they are all in vain?  Do you want to come out of the darkness of the well and into the light of day? Have you ever thought that you might be where you are because you deny Jesus Christ? It is entirely possible as God has killed people for less in the past, so withholding blessings is entirely within the realm of possiblity. Am I promising that if you accept Jesus Christ, things will get better? Yes. They may not get better this week, this month, this year, or this decade – but I guarantee they will get better. Trust me, I know how bold this sounds. How can I make this guarantee? How can a mere man guarantee that if I accept and follow Jesus, my life will get better? The answer is simple: Heaven is a vast improvement over hell.

No sugar-coating here. Not today. 

I have tried the method of “prosperity” and “warm fuzzies” some people use to tell people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but when you strip away everything else, you are left with one definitive event and one of two results. You are going to die and you will go one of two places for eternity: Heaven or hell.  Why refuse the hand that is helping pull you out of that pit and into Heaven? Friends, your eternal savior has already paid the price for you.  He was beaten, whipped, mocked, impaled, and hung from a cross to die an extremely painful death for what? So that you could contently read this and intellectually ”walk away” without feeling anything? NO! Jesus Christ died as your replacement for punishment of your sins. He even told of his rise from the dead in order to prove everything he ever said, including the statements that nobody can go to Heaven without going Him.  Jesus knew every sin you would ever commit, yet He still took the punishment so that you could see the rewards. Jesus also knew that one day you would hear or read this message and be faced with a choice…

Forgiveness.

This post is more of a personal catharsis for me as I work through something in my own life, but this message is profitable to everyone since we have all been wronged one time or another.  

Allow me to introduce you to the parable of the unforgiving debtor (Matthew 18).

“Therefore the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him.  In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold – along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned - to pay the debt.”

“But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’  Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.”

“But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars.  He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time.  ‘Be patient with me and I will pay it,’ he pleaded.  But his creditor wouldn’t wait.  He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt was paid in full.”

“When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset.  They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant!  I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me.  Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’  Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.”

“That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”

Another passage to consider is Mark 11:24-26.

“I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.”

These two passages are hard for our pride to stomach.  The first instinct our fleshly bodies has to “get even.” You start thinking, “What can I do to make this person feel as hurt as I do?” You can even begin to start justifying those actions in your head because that person “may learn a lesson” from your vengeful actions. 

Friends, the instant gratification from revenge is not worth the consequences – relationships can and will be damaged. Not just earthly relationships, but spiritual relationships could be damaged. We just learned from the previously stated passages that in order to be forgiven, you must forgive.

Now, the question I pose to you is this – “What debt/grudge/revenge is worth putting between you and God?”  At first read, this may seem a little harsh, but in more than one occasion in the New Testament, God reveals that He will not forgive you if you still have not forgiven those who have wronged you. 

If you refuse to forgive someone, your prayers will not be answered and may not even be heard. Personally, this is what drives me to forgive and forget. This is what overwrites the burning desire that my body has to get even. Why? Because I am a sinner and I need forgiveness even if it means swallowing my pride to forgive someone. 

Why should I harbor a grude against someone when they have only done wrong against me once? It does not matter how severe this wrong-doing was, it only happened once.  I sin on a daily basis.  It doesn’t matter what the sin is, it matters who I sin against and on a daily basis – I sin against the One who has already forgave everything I have ever done.  There is absolutely nothing that anyone can do to me on this earth that can even compare to the disrespect and pain felt by Jesus Christ as he was humiliated and suffered in my place – yet he forgave instantly for eternity.  That is humbling. Imagine what kind of love it takes for Jesus to constantly forgive our wrong-doings, yet he never holds a grudge.  Day after day, sin after sin, and He still forgives.  Friends, I urge you to forgive those who have done you wrong so that you too may be forgiven.

You can’t make this stuff up. Skeptics welcome.

Chances are you know, you were, or you are someone that thinks Christianity is simply a “made up religion.” Why do they think this? Personally, I think it is because someone who had influence over them told them it was a lie, they were never exposed/taken to church, or they did independant investigating outside the Bible to determine its validity. If you think Chrisitianity is “made up”, do one of those aforementioned reasons apply to you?

People that think Christianity is “made up” tend to seek out examples of extremist Christians and use them for evidence against the faith. Friends, nobody on this earth is perfect -no matter the beliefs. These people will google something to the effect of “flaws in the Bible” or “contradictions in Christianity” and use the results of a search engine to justify their beliefs (or lack thereof) without doing research in the Bible. Have you ever done this?

People who believe Chrisitianity is fake will say such things as, “I’m a very spiritual person, just do not believe in God.” The entire essence and definition of the word “spirituality” means to be connected to something greater than yourself. If a person claims to be “spiritual,” yet made up the rules of their own spirituality, they are essentially un-spiritual. See what I’m saying?

Someone reading this is going to get mad. That is fine. My goal is not to anger anyone. It is not to condemn anyone for not believing in God. My entire goal for writing this is to perhaps change just one person’s perspective from “it is fake” to “I’m going to find out for myself.”

The thing about Christianity is that you just can’t make this stuff up. There are much more deeper topics to cover, but I want to focus on this. If you were going to make up a religion, would you make one of the rules, “I have to forgive someone who has done me wrong”? Would you make a rule that says, “I’m not the center of the universe, but the one who created me is”? Would you make it to where “you are to give to the needy”? Would you say, “if you have hate in your heart, you have committed murder”? These would most likely not be our rules if we were “making up” a religion. Why? Our human nature propels us to acquire and keep as much as we can today without worrying about others. That is our culture and our nature.  

If you think Christianity a the made up religion, allow me to paint you a mental picture. Most all religions in the world have one or more gods sitting at a higher authority than mankind. Imagine, Jesus, Allah, Buddah, and some Hindu gods at the top of the mountain yelling, “come to me”. What is mankind to do? Obviously, we are to get to the top of the mountain, correct? This mountain is high and getting to the summit is going to be hard. Now, only one of those gods offered to come and help you up that mountain. Jesus Christ is the only historically proven god in any major religion to come to mankind instead of mankind coming to him. Buddah was a man and not a god – he never claimed to be. Hindu gods give blessings, but never came to help mankind – yet alone sacrifice for them.

I say historically proven and someone will say, “you got that from the Bible.” Yes and No. First the Bible is not the only ancient writing. Ptolemy the Younger wrote of people attesting the diety of Jesus Christ shortly after Jesus’ crucifixion. There are multiple accounts of Jesus’ life from writers outside the Bible yet nobody seems to analyze them. Ignatius of Antioch (AD110) wrote, “God incarnate… God Himself appearing in the form of man.” Justin Martyr (~AD100) wrote, “being the First-begotten Word of God, is even God.” Irenaeus (AD177) wrote, “…the Father is God and the Son is God; for He who is born of God is God.” Melito of Sardis (AD177) wrote, “He was man, yet He is God.” Some of these men were more philsopher than Christ-follower, yet they still wrote of his diety. There are plenty more, yet nobody ever thinks to look at other writers outside the Bible to confirm it’s validity. The same ideal could be applied to Julius Caesar who had multiple books written about him during and after his lifetime yet nobody questions if he was “real”. Do you have to believe Julius Caesar was real in order to read and write about him? Is it not interesting that we can find plenty of ancient texts to testify to diety of Christ, but we cannot find one text from an eyewitness arguing that Jesus did not do what was claimed in the Bible?

When I said historically “proven” – that is exactly what I meant. How do we “prove” anything? I cannot prove that I ever met my wife, yet I am married. You cannot prove that you ever ate at Burger King, yet you might have a receipt. Why? These events in history are not repeatable. Therefore, we have 2 options. The scientific method and reasonable doubt. If I say soap floats, and you say that it most certainly does not – we will fill up a sink and drop soap into it. If one of us does not like the results, we repeat the process. The key here is that it is repeatable. If history is not repeatable, the only method to prove something is to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt – like in a court of law. Well, what evidence does the court of law use? Verbal testimony, written testimony, and physical evidence. If Christ was the defendent in a court of law and the prosecution was trying to prove that Christ never existed, which side should win? Well, according to the things we have already covered, Christ has written testimonies inside and outside the Bible, believers that are willing to verbally testify for Him, and physical evidence such as geographical landmarks (salt pillars near Sodom, Mt.Moriah, etc). What does the prosecution have? Nothing but the thought, “this can’t possibly be real.” Seriously? That’s it. The judge overseeing this case would laugh it straight out of the courtroom. So why do you still prosecute Him?

Now that we know Jesus lived and that his life would hold up in the court of law, yet some of you are still thinking he might not have been God. There are only 3 options as to “what” He was/is. Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord. There are no other options as they are mutually exclusive for reasons explained below. If Jesus’ claim to be God was false, that leaves us with two options – he either knew His claim to be false or he did not know it was false. Now, one of the main fundamentals of His teaching was honesty. Not only would He be lying about being God, but he would essentially be a demon because he told others to trust Him for their eternal salvation. Also, His claim to be God is what got him killed – which he had the chance to change his stance and did not. If he claimed to be God and did not know that his own claim was false, he was a lunatic. This is the same man who spoke some of the most profound words in all of history, predicted events, and performed miracles. I doubt that he was a lunatic and many prominent psychologists have analyzed Jesus’ personality and found him not to be a lunatic. That only leaves one option. Jesus is Lord. There is no wiggle room. He cannot simply be a “man with good teachings.” (For more info on this explanation, read More Than a Carpenter).

Now that we know Jesus lived, if you are still debating whether he was God or not, think of this. Everyone of the Apostles (Jesus’s close friends/followers) was depressed when he was killed. They wondered what they would do next now that their leader was gone. In the Bible, it says that Jesus appeared to them after his death. I know you are getting skeptical, but hear me out. Everyone of the apostles went from depressed to excited immediately. From depressed to “I will give my life for this.” Friends, if you knew someone was telling a lie or feeding you a story and instructed you to spread this rumor – would you do it? Better yet, if you knew that you would be killed for spreading the rumor – would you do it? Everyone of the 12 apostles died a martyrs death except one. Would you lay down your life for a lie?

You can’t make this stuff up.

If you re-read this post, you will see that I did not point to one Bible verse in order to make my point. Honestly, I did not need to. I simply used logic and evidence. Have you been prosecuting Jesus? Have you been walking through life telling youself He was not real or not God? Can you honestly read this and logically rationalize that it makes more sense to not embrace Jesus than to embrace Him and His teachings? I pray you cannot, do not, and will not ever question that Jesus is Lord again. If your eyes have been opened and you are ready to embrace Jesus as Lord and your personal savior, let me know and we will find you some resources.

allen.wampler@gmail.com

If you believe, you have been called.

Every believer in Christ has been given at the very least one spiritual gift. Never heard of spiritual gifts or do not believe me? Ephesians 4 tells that God has given his believers gifts that they are to use ”to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” 

Now, what are these gifts? Romans 12: 6-8 gives examples of some of these spiritual gifts, ”In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness, do it gladly.”

Now that we know that every believer has a gift and why we have a spiritual gift, shouldn’t we find out what our gift(s) is?

Before reading any farther, take 5 minutes to complete the following questionaire. There are a list of questions that you must select one of five options as to how the question pertains to you. For example, I cannot play a musical instrument so all of the questions get the response “Rarely true of me.” I cannot tell you how important it is to honestly evaluate yourself while you do this. If you have never spoken to anyone about Christ, do not put “Very True of Me” on questions that ask about sharing your faith. Be honest and you will get an honest evaluation. The website link is: http://www2.elca.org/evangelizingchurch/assessments/spiritgifts.html

What were your top 2-3 gifts? Perhaps you had only one that stand outs. Some people will have multiple gifts in the middle range and lower ratings on all others. Every evaluation is fine and just because yours does not match someone elses do not mean you or they are superior in faith.

In the following link you will find each gift explained in purpose with a biblical reference: http://www2.elca.org/evangelizingchurch/print/spiritgifts.html

I know you are sitting there thinking, “What I am supposed to do with this gift?” The simple answer is: USE IT or LOSE IT.

Matthew 25:14-28 tells a story of man who was going on a trip and his three servants that he left his estate to. He entrusted 5 bags of gold to the first servant, two bags of gold to the second servant, and one bag of gold to the third servant. When the man returned, he checked with each servant to see what he had done with the gold. The first servant had increased his five bags to ten and because he was faithful with a few things, he was put in charge of many things. The second servant had increased his two bags to four and he was put in charge of many things as well. When the man checked with the third servant to see what he had done with his one bag of gold, the servant replied that he burried it. The master immediately called the third servant wicked and lazy. He also explained that he should have at least given the gold to the bankers so that it would’ve drawn interest. So, the master took the one bag of gold from the third servant and gave it to the servant with 10 bags of gold.

The moral of the story is that everyone has been given a gift, but if you bury it and do not use it – it will be taken from you and given to someone who has been faithful with what they were given… Use it or lose it.

If you believe, then you have been given a gift. If you have been given a gift, you have been called to use it. This rings true for every believer from your pastor to people on the maintenance crew who ensure the air conditioner is running before service. If you remain faithful and use your spritual gift to the best of your God given ability, you will be blessed. Perhaps you will notice that you received more gifts than you thought. Never in my wildest dreams did I believe evangelism would be my gift, but after putting it into practice – I’m seeing more and more gifts surface like teaching, serving, and writing. This is not an exercise of self evaluation and self improvement, but an evaluation of our role in the body of Christ and how well we are using what we have been given. Honestly look at yourself and ask, “am I the first servant, the second servant, or the third servant who hid his gift?”