Scary (yet kind of funny) picture

Here’s a picture that I saw on foxnews.com earlier. The story linked to the picture said that the driver of the boat, Joe Peroceschi, shattered his pelvis. That’s too bad, but it looks like it could have been worse. Check it out:

A Sermon Everyone who Claims Christ Should Hear

It’s long. It’s difficult. The video quality isn’t the greatest. It leaves you feeling like you’ve been mowed over by the Holy Spirit of God. Nonetheless the sermon linked below is a message that I believe every person who claims to be a Christian ought to listen to. It will take you a solid hour (58 minutes and 58 seconds) to listen to the entire message, so set aside some time. Before you choose not to watch the sermon, ask yourself “Am I willing to sacrifice one hour of my life to hear what could be the most important message of my life?” Here is Paul Washer speaking at the 2002 Youth Evangelism Conference in Montgomery, AL.

Monday Worship - The Passion of the Christ

Today’s edition of Monday worship is a bit different than the previous editions. Be warned now, it is difficult to watch. It is a selection of scenes from The Passion of the Christ. My purpose today is very simple: I want to help you reflect upon what our Savior did for us. Have a blessed day.

Monday Worship - How Great Is Our God

Here is this week’s installment of Monday Worship. This is one of my favorite songs as of late. The Lord has used this song by Chris Tomlin, How Great Is Our God, to encourage me on many occasions. I pray that it will do so for you today.

I’m in revival this week in Avery, TX, so this will be my only post this week. Please pray that God will move among these people here and that He would have His way in each of their lives.

Have a great week.

Monday Worship (one day late) - More Amazing Grace

First, a word of explanation. A lightning strike to the church that knocked the internet out virtually all day long Thursday prevented me from posting as I had hoped on the topic of God’s amazing grace. So with this post I will resume my plan from last week.

Nothing known among humanity is as incredible and even unfathomable as is God’s grace. The Tyndale Bible Dictionary defines grace as “the dimension of divine activity that enables God to confront human indifference and rebellion with an inexhaustible capacity to forgive and to bless”. Grace is simply when individual received something they don’t deserve. In the context of Christian faith, it is God’s unmerited favor extended to humans. As someone once said, grace is “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense”.

Let me note two important aspects of God’s grace. First, it is undeserved. Isaiah accurately penned the natural human response to God. “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.” It is the natural inclination of the sin nature to hate God and to rebel against any directive, instruction, or desire that He has for us. Due to the fact that we were born in sin and that our sin has corrupted every part of our being, we stand in the position of being required to bear the full weight of the just penalty for sin. And that penalty is eternal separation from God in hell. Had God chosen to allow every human being who ever lived to suffer the full eternal consequences of sin, the only proper response to Him would have been to declare “Holy is your name for you are just.” However, God wasn’t satisfied to allow us to suffer the full eternal consequences of our sin. Paul said “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God did for us what we could not do for ourselves. His grace extended to us through His son Jesus is completely undeserved.

God’s grace is also sufficient. It is not accurate to say that God’s grace is unlimited for to make such a claim would be to say that God’s grace would extend even to unrepentant sinners. It is fair to say that God’s grace is unlimited for those who have come to Him in repentance and confession of sin and who have committed themselves to Jesus as a lifelong disciple. But the best way to understand God’s grace for the believer is to say that it is sufficient. God’s grace meets our every need in every season. Whether it be a season of temptation, a season of suffering, a season pain, or whatever season life may bring, God’s grace is sufficient for the believer in that season. Moreover, God’s grace is sufficient for eternity. We can trust that on that great day when we stand before the Lord, His grace will be sufficient in that moment. It is worth noting that in that moment only His grace will be sufficient. If we try to stand before Him in the sufficiency of our own goodness, in the sufficiency of our own merit, in the sufficiency of our own righteousness, or in the sufficiency of anything other than His grace, we will find ourselves sorely lacking and we will find all those things acutely insufficient. Only God’s grace will be sufficient when we stand before Him to give account.

No wonder John Newton was able to say “Amazing Grace, how sweet that sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see.” Praise be to God for his AMAZING GRACE!!

An Important Story - Courage in the Trial

Ryan Vaughan posted a story on his blog of a family who is in need of prayer. Their 15 year old daughter, Kelsey, had a tumor removed from her brain stem. She is now undergoing follow up treatment. This is a very critical situation that we as believers should commit to the Lord in prayer. You can click here to read the story on Ryan’s blog.

Kelsey has written a poem that is pretty special considering the health issues that she is enduring. I’ve copied and pasted it below. Have a great day.

I like to be by myself, but I can’t stand being alone.
love the dark, but I hate not being able to see
I enjoy meeting new people, but I hate being with strangers,
I want my voice to be heard, but I despise talking loud.
I want to be in a hall of fame, but I don’t like being the center of attention.
I want to have my most complicated problems solved, but I don’t want complicated answers.
I want to always be healthy, but not have to take medicine.

The answer: GOD!

With God, I can be away from the world, by myself, but not be alone, for He is with me.
With God, I can be in the dark, be blind, but see more than people of this world can.
With God, I can meet new people, but they won’t be strangers, because they are children of God, just like me.
With God, my voice can be heard even when I whisper.
With God, I can enter His hall of fame, but not deal with the pressure of earthly fame.
With God, I can have even my most complicated problems solved with a simple answer.
With God, I can have an incurable disease, yet be healthy in what matters most.

WITHOUT GOD, I will be with the world, and be totally alone.
Without God, I will walk around with my eyes wide open, but not see as much as the Christian blind man sees.
Without God, I will meet all the people in the world, but they will always be strangers.
Without God, I will have to raise my voice as loud as I can to be heard, but still not be heard when it matters most.
Without God, I will have work extremely hard to get into a worldly hall of fame, but not get into the highest one.
Without God, my most complicated problems, can’t be solved, and the attempts will be so complicated, I won’t understand them.
Without God, I will have to take pill after pill, but will always be incurably sick.

With God, I can achieve anything.
Without God, I will achieve nothing.

©Kelsey Harris 2008

Inspiration for the Week - God’s Amazing Grace

One of my favorite artist’s these days is Wintley Phipps. I had never heard of him until late last year when I happened across the video clip below on another blog. In this clip Wintley tells the story of the origin of the tune to Amazing Grace, one of the most cherished hymns of our faith. Even as the clip is a bit lengthy (8:49), it will be well worth the time you take to view it. Later in the week I’ll have more to say about God’s Amazing Grace. Enjoy the clip.

Horton Hears a Who’s Beautiful Message

Tonight Val and I are going to take the girls to see Horton Hears a Who as a part of ESBC’s children’s ministry spring break outing. As much as I hate to admit it, it will be our third time to see it. Val went last week with Katherine’s preschool class. I went the next day with Katelyn’s preschool class. Last Friday we went to see it again with Macie. Tonight all five of us are going to see it yet again.  I think after tonight we will all be Horton Hears a Who‘d out.  Nonetheless it will be a lot of fun watching the movie with our friends from church.

I can’t help but to like this movie a whole lot. Let me give you three reasons why:

1. First, it is short.  Its run time is only an hour and twenty eight minutes.  That’s perfect for squirmy five year old twins and their sometimes cantankerous nearly three year old sister. 
   
2. Second, it’s really funny.  There is clearly humor aimed at adults that goes right over the heads of kids.  The closing scene involves the characters singing ” Can’t Fight This Feeling” by REO Speedwagon. Now that is pure hilarity for a child of the 80’s and early 90’s.  Steve Carell’s falsetto crack me up every time. Also, the vulture choking on the bone is classic.  And of course the “bad Vlad” vs. “good Vlad” shtick is just plain funny to me.
   
3. Third, and probably most important, the movie has a good message. Horton’s line “A person is a person no matter how small” is beautiful. Not to turn this post into a philosophical discussion, but that quote in a nutshell explains why I am and will always be prolife.
   

Have you seen Horton yet? If so, what did you think? Funny? Stupid? Oscar worthy? A waste of money? Let me know what you think of it.  

Have a great day.  

What Happens When we S.U.F.F.E.R. for the cause of Christ?

Those of you who are observant noticed that the original question in the previous post that advertised this post has changed from “Next Post: What does it mean to S.U.F.F.E.R. for the cause of Christ” to “Next Post: What happens when we S.U.F.F.E.R. for the cause of Christ?”. There are six observations that I want to make about what happens when a person suffers for Christ. But before I get to them, let me note a couple of things about these observations. First, these thoughts are simply observations. They are not based on scientific study or sociological experiments. They are just my thoughts. Second, there is no systematic order o this list. When a believer endures hardship for the cause of Christ, he or she may experience all of these or only a few of these and he or she may experience them in varying degrees and times. With that in mind, here are six things that happen when persecution comes on account of Christ.

First, when persecution comes true believers seek the Lord with passion and fervor.

It is amazing how persecution has the opposite effect than is generally intended. Rather than silencing believers, persecution emboldens them. Rather than breaking Christians, persecution strengthens them. And rather than driving Christians away from faith, persecution leads true believers to seek the Lord with passion and fervor. Prayer takes on a whole new level of focus and resolve when the difficulties of suffering begin. The necessity of the words of the Scripture as the bread of life becomes much more apparent in the day when faith leads to suffering. Those who suffer persecution seek the Lord with passion and fervor.

Second, when persecution comes true believers understand what really matters in life.

In the U.S., where most of us are wealthy compared to the rest of the world, where most of us owe more on our credit cards that millions in our world will ever make in their lifetimes, where most of us will spend more on vacation this year than many people in our world will earn this year, the great blessing of wealth has become the great curse of materialism. Our focus has overwhelming shifted to things that do not matter and stuff that has no eternal value. But when persecution comes those things are placed in their proper perspective. Historically when persecution comes wealth and material possession go. And those whose lot is to endure suffering gain a renewed perspective on what really is important and what really matters.

Third, when persecution comes true believers find out who their true friends are.

Suffering on account of Christ has a great purging effect. Things that do not matter and people who are not really friends are burned out of our lives like dross in the refiner’s fire. But the people who are true friends, those who share in the fellowship of the Spirit of Christ, those who truly are brothers and sisters in Christ stay for the long haul. Come what may the true fellowship of believers remains intact. True friends are the kind who stand at the foot of the cross of their crucified Lord. They are the ones that stand at the funeral pyre of their beloved pastor. They are the ones who risk life and limb to come to the aid of their imprisoned and suffering brethren. Persecution and suffering for Christ helps determine who real friends are.

Fourth, when persecution comes true believers have their fear replaced with faith.

As I said in the previous post, I cannot imagine that some measure of fear did not grip Polycarp as he considered what awaited him. And I would suspect that the same is true for all of those who undergo persecution on account of the precious name of Jesus. But it seems that it is a fairly consistent response that true believers tend to respond in faith rather than fear when they are put to the test. Now certainly that is not universal. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs contains stories of how some believers recanted their faith when the moment of persecution was upon them. Some leaped out of the flames when the torches were lit. However, the majority of those put to the test passed. The majority of believers who have been required to suffer for the faith have chosen to suffer for the faith rather than recant. And that points to the simple reality that in the moment of persecution, the faith of the true believer is greater than the fear of the true believer.

Fifth, when persecution comes true believers experience the fury of Satan’s wrath.

The ultimate force behind persecution is the adversary of God, Satan himself. The Scripture is replete with story after story that illuminates Satan’s hatred for God and for His Son Jesus. The hatred that Satan has for the Gospel manifests itself in fury against believers. When a believer endures suffering for the cause of Christ, he or she can be sure that what comes at the hand of his or her persecutors is nothing less than the wrath of hell and the fury of Satan. But in these moments when the fury of Satan is unleashed in a believer’s life, he or she would do well to remember John’s words in the second part of the fourth verse of the fourth chapter in his first epistle:

“…the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

Sixth, when persecution comes true believers receive a wonderful reward from God.

Simply stated, the wonderful gift that comes in the moment of persecution is assurance. God gives true believers the assurance that there is something greater that awaits them. God gives the true believers the assurance that his strength will carry them through whatever they are given to endure. God gives true believers assurance that even the most difficult circumstances work to bring glory to His holy name. In times of suffering, the Lord gives true believers the wonderful gift of assurance.

There you have it; six observations about what happens when a believer suffers on account of Jesus. I thank the Lord for the fact that no matter what the future holds, whether good or bad, His grace is sufficient and will carry the true believer through.

Reflections on Polycarp

The account of Polycarp detailed in the last post is a story that is challenges me on a personal level.  Every time I read it I am confronted with the question:

Would I be willing to suffer such great persecution and even lay down my life in the most cruel of fashions because of my love for and devotion to Jesus?

I can only hope and pray that in such difficult circumstances my resolve to stand for Christ would be as strong as it is in the moments of life when the circumstances are in no way threatening. I love the following line from the account of the martyrdom of Polycarp:

Now, as Polycarp was entering into the stadium, there came to him a voice from heaven, saying, “Be strong, and show thyself a man, O Polycarp!”

I would pray that in the difficult hour as well as the peaceful hour the Spirit of God would be so prevelant in my life that, like Polycarp, I would be able to stand and show myself a man. A man committed to Christ come what may. A man empowered by the Holy Spirit to endure whatever trial was appointed for me to suffer. A man sure of his faith in the face of certain persecution. Let me make a couple of observations about Polycarp.

1. Polycarp’s ability to stand in the moment of persecution was given to Him by the Holy Spirit in the years of devotion to Christ.

Unfortunately we as believers have a tendency to want to bypass the hard work of the private, devotional life. The busyness of our lives coupled with the ease with which we can practice our faith in our society often leads us to neglect what one pastor called “the holy hour”. But the strength to stand in the difficult day doesn’t come in the difficult day. It comes in the years, days, and hours of personal communion with the Lord that occur before the difficult day dawns. The reason that Polycarp willingly submitted to the flames on the day of his death was because of the fact that he had willingly submitted his heart and mind to prayer, study of the Word, and fellowship with Christ for many years prior to his martyrdom. If I am unwilling to surrender my life to Christ in the day of peace, chances are very slim that I will surrender my life on account of Christ in the day of persecution.

2. Polycarp’s faith was greater in his moment of trial than was his fear.

I cannot imagine that some measure of fear did not grip Polycarp as he considered what awaited him. As those prophetic words “I must be burnt alive” rolled off his lips, it seems only logical to conclude that there must have been a sense of dread for Polycarp as he understood what was to come to him because of his faith in Christ. But even amidst the fear he surely experienced, his faith was always greater. Through faith he knew that God would give him the strength to endure his suffering. Through faith he knew that the Lord would empower him to maintain a bold witness for Christ all the way through. Through faith he knew that the glories of heaven awaited him once his martyrdom was complete. His faith was never compromised by fear.

3. Polycarp’s story proves that God is faithful - even in the fire

In the end, the story of Polycarp’s martyrdom is not about Polycarp. His story is about the Lord. Now the Lord didn’t prevent Polycarp from having to suffer the fire. However, the Lord did carry Polycarp through the fire. The testimony of how the fire arched around Polycarp without consuming him reminds me of how the Lord protected Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fiery flames as recorded in Daniel 3. It’s a powerful reminder that the Lord cares for His own. Even when His own encounter pain, suffering, persecution, and death, God graciously carries His own through their trial. Whatever the circumstances of life may be, the reality is that God is faithful to the end.

I hope that the story of Polycarp encourages you and inspires you. I pray that your commitment will be to walk in fellowship with Christ in all circumstances, good and bad, faithful to the end.

Next Post: What happens when we S.U.F.F.E.R. for the cause of Christ?
Later this week: The Chronology of the Passion Week