October 5, 2014

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made."  John 1:1-3

Mohammed and Joseph Smith claimed to be prophets. Buddha and Confucius were silent on the idea of God. Only Jesus claimed to be God in the flesh.

A claim like that needs solid evidence. Consider these historical facts.

On Good Friday, Jesus was flogged 39 times with a cat-o-nine tails. This process injured Him so badly that, by the time it was over, His flesh was in ribbons and His organs were exposed. A crown of thorns were forced onto His head tearing the flesh and His scalp and forehead. Then a crossbeam weighing over 100 pounds was placed upon His shoulders. Following the savage beating He was far too weak to stand up under that weight and He was unable to carrying up the hill to Golgotha, so when He stumbled under the weight a bystander named Simon from Cyrene was drafted to carry the beam instead. After being crucified on that cross He was pronounced dead by a Roman executioner, who verified the pronouncement by piercing the pericardium surrounding His heart with a spear. So, His death was certified by official Roman records.

But it wasn't His death that separates Him from other religious leaders, it is His resurrection that sets Him apart. He arose from the dead on the third day exactly as He had predicted!

Consider these facts verifying His resurrection:

• His disciples were initially skeptical over reports of His resurrection but later died horrible deaths rather than deny it! Something happened to convince them!
• His tomb was officially sealed by the Romans and the penalty for breaking a Roman seal was dead by crucifixion - upside down. Who would mess with that?
• The huge stone that closed His tomb was rolled uphill! Who would have the strength or the numbers to accomplish that?
• The Roman unit guarding the tomb was trained to stand their ground against an entire battalion and fleeing meant execution. Who could could have caused them to abandon their post?
• When Mary, Peter and the others went into the empty tomb they discovered the burial linens lying undisturbed in the form of a body but caved in and empty! How could that happen?
• In addition to the few who examined the empty tomb on the third day, history records that the Resurrected appeared to some 515 eyewitnesses from various stations of life and different levels of belief. Apparently His appearance before them dramatically changed their lives, caused them to proclaim the news to others, and made them willing to die rather than disavow this truth!

If this evidence was introduced into a court of law, the prosecution would have a nearly impossible task of refuting it!

Only God could predict His own death, His own resurrection and then accomplish it exactly as predicted.

So what say you?

Is Jesus a lunatic, a liar or the Lord of Heaven and earth?

October 4, 2014

So far I have presented three arguments for the existence of God:

1) The existence of the universe

2) The evidence of a designer

3) The existence of moral and ethical codes

Former avowed agnostic, C. S. Lewis illustrates the reasoning behind the fourth argument for the existence of God in his classic work "Mere Christianity":

"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse."

So, when you contemplate the claims of Christ there are three possibilities:

• He was a lunatic
• He was a liar
• He was the Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, as He declare

One of those three statements has to be absolutely true and the other two incorrect.

Here are some of Jesus' claims:

"Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? "John 14:6-9

When He was under the pressure of a trial and directly confronted by the Sanhedrin, Jesus boldly proclaimed:

"Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One? “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Mark 14:60-62

What do you think?

Is Jesus a liar?

Is Jesus a lunatic?

Is Jesus your Lord?

How you answer will make an eternal difference!

October 3, 2014

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened." Romans 1:18-21

How many times have you started to do something, and an alarm in your head said, "Don't do that!" but you did anyway?

How often have you opened your mouth to say something, and your conscience said, "Don't say that!" but you said it anyway?

You always seem to know what the right thing is, even if you don't always do it.

Where did that sense of "rightness" come from? This is the third evidence for believing in God: we all have a moral standard that is higher than we are.

Leith Samuel writes in HIS magazine, "Many missionaries point out that the heathen know more than we think. They know that there is a God. There are no atheists among heathen tribes. There has never been discovered upon earth a tribe of people, however small or depraved, which has not believed in some kind of god or had some system of worship... the heathen in so-called primitive tribes know that they have sinned. When a Christian comes to them and talks about sin he often finds ready acknowledgement that this is true. The heathen seem to know that their sins must be punished. They seem afraid of punishment, and afraid of death (as are most men everywhere). They know that sin must be atoned for, and they seek ways of appeasing their angry deities."

Moral codes and ethics vary from culture to culture and from person to person, but every human being has an innate moral standard. Where did this moral standard come from?

Since it is impossible to invent something that is greater than we are, there is only one reasonable answer: There is a moral Creator who put this standard in us!

October 2, 2014

13 

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it." 

The French skeptic, Voltaire, once declared, "I shall always be convinced that a watch proves a watch-maker." In the same way the existence of such a vast and complex universe lends strong credence to the existence of God.

Who would want to believe in a random spontaneous universe when it is more logical to hold to the Biblical concept of an orderly universe Created and sustained by a Gracious God?

Only those who fear the moral accountability demanded by the existence of such a God, maybe?

Many parents have kept every crayon drawing fashioned by their child from the time they were developed enough to put crayola to paper.

Why do they do that?

That artistic creation is a reflection of its creator, their flesh and blood!

When someone pays the exorbitant price to purchase a Rolex watch, they don't assume that time piece randomly came together. Rather, they lay down the big bucks because they believe in the quality of every component of the watch and the quality of the workmanship that built it. They place their faith in the product because of they believe that creation is a reflection of its creator.

The second evidence for the existence for God is the fact that every design is the reflection of its designer.

Plato came to the conclusion it was reasonable and logical to believe in God based on "the order of the motion of the stars, and of all things under the dominion of the mind which ordered the universe."

Sir Isaac Newton said, "When I look at the solar system, I see the earth at the right distance from the sun to receive the proper amount of heat and light. That did not happen by chance."

The Psalmist marveled over his own body and was overwhelmed by the intricacy of how he was created and came to the same conclusion as Plato, and Newton, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made!" In other words, "When I look at how I am designed, I know I have a wonderful designer!"

There really can be no denying a design is evidence of a designer and a design as complex and intricate as our universe certainly reflects an intelligent Designer. 

It takes far less faith and makes much more sense to agree with the conclusions of Isaac Newton, Plato and King David, than to believe in a random cosmic event as our origin.

From cover to cover the Bible makes clear that God is the Designer of the universe of everything in it. He is also the Creator and Sustainer of the universe and everything in it. And through that majestic creation He desires to reveal His existence and nature!

15 

October 1, 2014

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." Psalm 19:1

Hal Seed, a popular pastor, speaker and author continually surveys his people regarding their most pressing questions. Over the past fifteen years the four most commonly asked questions are: 

• Is God real?
• Is the Bible true?
• Do all roads (and all religions) lead to Heaven?
• How can a good God allow suffering?

Over the next five days I want to share five compelling reasons for believing God is real.

The first reason for believing God is real is the universe.

Psalm 19 expresses this argument for the existence of God when it states, "The universe declares the existence of God!"

You may doubt the existence of God but you cannot deny the existence of the universe. If it didn't exist neither would you!

So, the big question is, "Where did the universe come from?" Or, in another form, "How did it get here?"

The fact that something exists is evidence that something greater caused it to exist. Animals came from their parents, plants came from seeds, houses came from builders and cars came from assembly lines. Where did the universe come from?

Was it a random spontaneous explosion of cosmic gases that accounts for this vast collection of galaxies or was it spoken into existence by an Eternal and Almighty God, as the Bible contends?

A corollary question is, "What keeps the universe together and operating so precisely?"

If the universe came from a spontaneous random event, how could it have become so precise that seasons can be predicted and time can be measured by it? How has it not, like just about everything within the universe, decayed or worn out or ceased to function?

To me it makes more sense that the precise and orderly existence of our universe is strong evidence for the existence of a Supreme Being Who is actively involved in sustaining our universe according to His goodness and power.

If that God is powerful enough to sustain our universe by His wisdom, by His will and according to His Word, would not that God also be powerful enough to have created the universe?

Many of the great thinkers of human history have concluded through their study and observation that God truly is the Creator. I am talking about such revered men as Abraham, Moses, St. Paul, Jesus Christ, Thomas Jefferson and the Founding Fathers who clearly believed that God was their Creator and the Maker of the universe and were not afraid to say so!

Maybe, if you have doubts, about the existence of God begin your search with a thorough and unbiased study of God's Word. Give yourself to the study of unbiased scientific research and I believe that you, like thousands before you, will come to the conclusion that the Psalmist did, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." Psalm 19:1

September 30, 2014

"....so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." Ephesians 4:12b-13

I have a passionate love for healthy local churches because I believe they are the hope of the world. God's plan to evangelize the world and make disciples is impossible apart from healthy local churches.

I am the product of such a church. I have been privileged to serve in several healthy churches and witnessed the transforming power that resides there.

When I think about local churches I think of the tale about the little girl who had the curl in the middle of her forehead who, when she was good was very very good, but when she was bad she was horrid.

That has been my experience with local churches. When they are healthy and well led they can be very very good, but when they are unhealthy they can be horrid.

So, what does a healthy local church look like?

"It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." Ephesians 4:11-16

For the next few posts I want to talk about the dynamics of a healthy church and cast a vision for such a church. These thoughts are taken from one who also had a consuming passion for the Church. He gave his life to the Church and for it. It was his ministry and vision that brought the church to the European Continent. This passionate apostle was the founder of this very church at Ephesus to which he writes this letter.

A healthy church has to be surrendered to Jesus and committed to serving Him because the Church is all about Him. He is the Lord of the Church.

You would think that goes without saying. The New Testament is crystal clear about who is the Lord, the life and the love of the Church. An yet, so many local churches end up lifeless and loveless. 

How can that be?

September 29, 2014

"And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." Hebrews 9:10-14

The value of anything is a function of its demand and its availability.

Also, value is determined by the price someone is willing to pay.

This is why redemption is such a highly prized commodity. Everyone would love a second chance in life but those are hard to come by. In fact, it was impossible to have a second chance until Jesus purchased it through the shedding of His blood upon the cross of Calvary. On that cross He bought back in blood what Adam had lost by his sinful rebellion against God.

Adam sold us out when he disobeyed God in Eden. God had created him especially to tend the garden and produce food to meet the needs of his family. When he allowed himself to be deceived by Satan he surrendered the power and authority given him by God. Jesus, born sinless and living without sin, He became the sacrifice tfor our sins to settle the debt for those sins.

Being redeemed means you have been bought back out of slavery and into God's glorious freedom. Through the shed blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, God paid the price to ransom you from slavery to sin and death and hell. As the song declares, "He paid a debt He didn't owe to release you from a debt you couldn't pay".

When God redeemed you from slavery He didn't take you as a slave but He adopted you as a child! As a child of God you are a joint-heir of all the riches and all the authority that belonged to Jesus. So, redemption means you were set free - you were bought back from abject poverty and absolute slavery into glorious freedom as God's child! You have gone from having nothing to having everything!