Proof

John 20:24-29

People often need proof to believe something. "Seeing is believing".

In the 16th centrury, a method of determining alcohol content was often used by soaking gun powder with the rum or whiskey. If the gun powder could be ignited, then that was considered "proof" that the alcohol had not been watered down. This method was standardized in the U.S. in 1848. 50% alcohol by volume (ABV) was considered 100 proof.

The Apostle Thomas wanted proof. He needed to see and touch (John 20:24-25).

When Jesus appeared to the Apostles in a locked room, He invited Thomas to put his fingers in the holes in His hands and to touch His side where He had been speared. Thomas' reaction was beautiful (John20:28), "My Lord and my God!"

Jesus' answer to Thomas was quite scathing, in my opinion. "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

If you have to have evidence before you believe, then you don't trust anything the Apostles have written as eye witnesses. The Gospel of Jesus Christ requires faith to believe. Faith is the key to receiving the righteousnous of Christ Jesus (Genesis 15:3-6 and 1 Peter 1:8-9).

We believe because of the hope Jesus holds out. We believe because our Great God has made a way for us to escape His wrath and to be able to stand in the presence of His Glory (Jude 1:24). We believe because of the goal set before us (2 Corinthians 4:16-18) so we can keep moving forward, not blindly, but by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Because in Christ, there is joy and peace in all circumstances (John 16:33 and 1 Peter 1:8).

Soon, this life will be a very distant memory (Isaiah 51:6 and Revelation 21:1-4). So we have not seen, but we believe.

God is AWESOME!

All of Your Mind

Matthew 22:37

I listened to a sermon online that focused on the part of Matthew 22:37 that says "with all your mind".

It got the wheels turning in my little head. I had to ask myself if I did that. The harsh reality is that the answer is no.

The Bible warns believers to guard our hearts and our minds (Provers 4 20-27; Romans 12:2). I fell under great conviction.

Does it mean I am to meditate on God's Word day and night? Well, yes. We are told to hide it in our hearts (Psalm 119:11; Isaiah 26:3). We are to be very careful about what we let into our minds (Ephesian 6:17) because once it worms it's way into our hearts, our words can greatly affect our testimony (Luke 6:45) and eventully cause a falling away (Isaiah 29:13; Luke 15:7-9).

We are redeemed, Christ Jesus has imputed His righteousness to us, but we still have not shed our sinful nature. We have that constant battle with the flesh, lustful, greedy, angry, envious thoughts that crop up in our hearts and minds (Galatians 5:19-26). We must use every tool available to fend them off. One of the most useful resources that we are given is our brothers and sisters in Christ (Hebrews 10:23-25; Galatians 6:1-2).

Practice disciplining our minds (Philippians 4:8). The sciences are great for this. The more we learn about how the physical and natural world work and how vast and beautiful the universe is, the more in awe we stand before our Great and Glorious God and we bask in the wonder of all of it having been created through and for and being held together in Christ Jesus (Colossian 1:15-20).

God is AWSOME!

Eternal Security

Colossians 3:1-4

Christ Jesus came to bring back to life that which died in the Garden (Genesis 2:15-17 and Genesis 3:1-19). Not only bring back to life, but to eternal life (John John 1:1-5;14 and John 3:16-17).

Before the Earth was formed, before the universe erupted into being from the holy lips of God, our wise Father gave us to the Son (John 17:1-3;24). Jesus has such an intimate relationship with the Father that only He truly knows His Father. He has revealed His Father to those whom He has chosen (Matthew 11:27).

Once we have been redeemed, our names written in the Lamb's Book of Life, we are sealed (Ephesians 1:11-13) for all eternity. Our life eternal is secure (Colossians 3:1-4). God does not change His mind, especially in matters as weighty as this (James 1:16-18). Our great God is faithful, regardless of our actions (Deuteronomy 32:1-4).

To say that there is anything you can do to lose this salvation is to assign a power to yourself even greater than God Most High (John 10:27-30). A salvation brought about, not only to keep His promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:3) and not only because He loves us, but for reasons that have nothing to do with us (Ezekiel 36:22-36), for the sake of His holy Name. To say that you can lose this is, in my opinion, blasphemous.

God is AWESOME

A Powerful Work

Colossians 2:12-14

I have a group of friends who come over once a week, we have been studying Paul's letter to the Colossians. We are currently going through chapter 2.

As I was reading the verses for our study this week, it struck me how casually I can sometimes read God's Word. In Colossians 2:12-14, Paul is talking about how we have been raised from the dead with Christ in "the powerful working of God".

Again, I was struck with that phrase, how casually I read it. It was as if the Holy Spirit told me to go back and read that with reverence and awe. As I read it again, a little movie played in my head. I had to stop. I closed my eyes and watched it play again.

Words are too clumsy to describe what I watched in my little head. I would ask you to read these verses of scripture before finishing what I have written here: Genesis 12:1-3; Genesis 28:10-15; Job 9:32-33; Job 19:25-26; Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 22; 1 Peter 1:10-12

Christ Jesus, our Redeemer and Lord, took upon Himself all of our sins and erased all of our transgressions. He bore the wrath of God and gave us His righteousness. He died. On that third day in the rich man's tomb, God once again took up, with trembling hands, the lump of clay that was the mangled body of His only Son. He leaned in and with a Holy and powerful act, as Abraham, Job, David and all the prophets looked on in awe, He breathed life... and our Sovereign opened His eyes.

God is AWESOME!

The Full Armor of God

Ephesians 6:10-18

The Christian life is often a tumultuous one. We have battles on so many levels. There is the battle against our own flesh, the battle with our own mind and the battle with the devil.

The battle with the devil, I think, is the hardest. He is relentless. Anything he can do to lead you astray, he will throw it at you (Ephesisans 6:11). Not a soft throw either. A big league fast ball.

It is the hardest battle because the devil is smarter than us. He knows all of our weak spots, and he will use them against you.

But, thanks and praise to the Lord Jesus the Christ! He sent us a helper. Someone to help us in donning the armor that He provides as one of the benefits of being in Christ.

The belt of Truth (Isaiah 11:5), The breastplate of righteousness (Isaiah 59:17), the Gospel of peace (Romans 1:16), the helmet of salvation (Isaiah 59:17), the sword of the Spirit (Hebrews 4:12).

Let's look at the One who forged this armor. He is the image of the invisble God (Colossians 1:15-18). He is the One who calmed the storm and the One who cast out demons after they begged Him for mercy (Mark 4:35 - 5:13). He is the One who is an all consuming fire (1 Kings 18:20-40) The One who brought to life a vast army of dead and dry bones (Ezekiel 37:1-10).

With God as our Father, Christ Jesus as our savior and King and living Word of God, and the Holy Spirit as our coach, and the armor He equips us with, we really have no reason to fear and every reason to fight.

God is AWESOME!

Easier Said Than Done

Job 1:20-22

There are sometimes things that happen in the lives of believers that are so bad that it can shake the faith of even the most devout followers of Christ Jesus (Job 1:18-19 and Luke 22:54-62). These are the times when it is important to remember the sovereignty of God.

Our wise Father has a purpose for everything He does, even in the suffering of His children (Malachi 3:2-3 and Romans 5:3-5). He will sometimes need to fine tune some of us through His purposeful trials (James 1:2-4 and 1 Peter 1:3-7) that will purify or refine our faith and increase our peace and joy in Christ.

Let us remember that even Christ Jesus Himself understood that suffering is not something anyone wants (Luke 22:42-44) but He endured it all for His Name's (Ezekiel 36:22) sake and for our sake (Romans 3:21-24).

In our trials and suffering, we need to look to the example of our Great King and savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 12:2).

God is AWESOME!

A Prayer For The Lost

Ezekiel 37:1-14

I am not a very well read person. I am a slow reader and have always had a reading comprehension problem. I get frustrated with it, so I don't read much. I decided if I read more, it will help. So I bought a book about Puritan prayers. The title is Into His Presence by Tim Chester.

There are prayers under different headings. One of the headings is Prayers For The Lost. In one of these prayers, Joseph Alleine refers to the lost as "a valley of dry bones". That got the wheels in my little head turning.

It is astonishing...the absolute genius of God. Everything in His Word from Genesis to John the Baptist points directly to Christ Jesus.

The prophet Ezekiel had an odd experience. The Spirit of the Lord took him and set him in a valley filled with dry bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14). As I was reading about Ezekiel's experience, I was struck with one part, In verses 9 and 10, God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the four winds, so he did, and breath entered the bodies on the ground (Genesis 2:4-7 and John 20:19-22). They were dead. They had been dead for a really long time. They could not have decided they were alive , that they wanted to suddenly start to breathe. God made them alive (Ephesians 2:1-5 and Colossians 2:13), again pointing directly to Christ.

As believers in and followers of Christ Jesus, we have had the amazing experience of being made alive in Christ. It is now our responsibility to take the Gospel to the valley of dry bones (Romans 1:16-17).

God is AWESOME!

All In

Philippians 1:15-18

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is at the center of the Christian life (Romans 1:16-17). Out from that flows so much more that leads to fulfillment in our minds and spirits, like ripples in a pond (Galatians 5:22-23, Jeremiah 17:7-8).

The Christian life is far from easy. Unfortunately, a lot of other things come with being a Christian, chief among them are mockery, persecution and a whole host of attacks from the enemy (Matthew 10:16-22, Ephesians 6:10-12).

There are those who use the gospel as a means to become wealthy and to lead people astray (Matthew 7:15). They attempt to make a mockery of God and His holy Word. But it will backfire on them. No one is capable of outsmarting God (Galatians 6:6-8, Psalm 73, Isaiah 55:10-11).

So let them mock. Nevertheless, Christ is preached.

God is AWESOME!

The New Song

Psalm 33:1-3

Music can affect us in many different ways. It often has a soothing effect (1 Samuel 16:23). As followers of Jesus Christ, we have our moments when we think about all the benefits we have in Christ, we cannot help but worship and sing praises to our Savior (Psalm 5:11).

King Solomon, in his great experiment that he documented in the book of Ecclesiastes, concluded that there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9). But in Christ Jesus, there is newness (Revelation 21:5). One of the things He made new is the song He put in our hearts and minds (Psalm 33:3; Psalm 40:3; Isaiah 42:10; Revelation 5:9).

The new song puts joy in our hearts and on our lips, so much so that we must express it openly (Psalm 35:27; Psalm 47:1).

Sometimes this newness gives us a joy so profound that we have no way to express it other than being silent and worshipping our great God. The Apostle Peter said it best in his first letter (1 Peter 1:8) "...joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory."

God is AWESOME!

Our Only Righteousness

Hosea 10:12

The prophet Hosea said to sow for ourselves righteousness. He said to break up our fallow ground and seek the Lord and He will rain righteousness on us.

God told Abraham that his offspring would be as numerous as the stars and Abraham believed Him. God counted it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:3-6).

Seeking the Lord and believing Him is key. The problem is that our sinful, wicked and deceitful hearts will not seek God (Jeremiah 17:9 Romans 3:10-11 Psalm 14:1-3 Psalm 53:1-3).

Then there was our Savior, the Lord Jesus the Christ. He raised up for Himself 12 Apostles and He laid down His life and bore on Himself God's wrath (Luke 22:47-70 to 23:1-46). And then, in three days, He took up His life again (John 10:17-18) and after appearing to the disciples, He gave them the Holy Spirit (John 20:21-22) and He is the one who convicts people of their sins and causes them to seek the Lord. He breaks up the fallow ground of our hearts and replaces our hearts of stone with a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:25-27)

Christ Jesus covered us in His blood and rained righteousness upon us.

God is AWESOME!

Running Into Grace

Jonah 2:1-10

In the book of Jonah, God called Jonah to go and preach repentance to Nineveh. Jonah ran (I think deep down Jonah knew that trying to run from God is a bad idea).

Most people know the story of Jonah being swallowed by a big fish (Jonah 1:1-17). I was struck and inspired by Jonah's prayer while he was in the belly of the fish.

So many people in the bible have cried out to God in their distress. They weren't in the belly of a giant fish, but distressed none the less. We see it all through the book Job, the Psalms are riddled with songs written by King David and Asaph telling about their times of anxiety and dispair and how they cried out to God. The Apostle Paul in his letter to the church at Corinth told about asking God to remove the thorn in his flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).

I noticed that all throughout scripture, the desperate cries to God turned into beautiful worship.

In the end, God's grace and His mercy brought them through and His purposes were achieved in the lives of those who cried out to Him.

Just like the people in the bible, those of us who have had occasion to seek the Lord and cry out to Him have benefitted from His intervention, and it is in hindsight that God's grace is truly understood.

God is AWESOME!

Only The Weak

2 Corinthians 12:9

In the past few years, I have had to learn some hard lessons. I used to be a musclebound guy with brute strength, then I got sick. I was diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease. The more kidney function I lost, the weaker I got. It was a hard pill to swallow, going from the strongest guy in the room to needing help with almost everything. It is a humbling experience.

Fast forward a year and I went blind in my right eye as I was getting ready to train for home dialysis. Fast forward another two years and I had developed some major blood flow issues in my legs and had to have my right leg amputated below the knee. To say it was a low point is an understatement.

I dug my heels in and said I was going to trust God no matter what. In my mind, I repeated one of my favorite bible verses: Jude 24. To paraphrase, God is strong and is able to keep you from falling and can bring you into the presence of His glory with no wrong in you and give you great joy. And I remembered that it is only in the strength of Christ Jesus I am upheld.

It is amazing how God's word can refresh your soul and replenish your strength (Philippians 4:10-13).

The peace that Jesus brings to even the most turbulent times is beyond our understanding (Philippians 4:4-7 and John 14:27). The peace that comes from abiding in a Holy God, even in the worst of circumstances is demonstrated in 1 Kings 19:1-12. A gentle whisper.

In our weakest moments, beneath the noise and the pain, there is a joy that keeps us from surrendering to the temptation to turn away from God. A joy that causes the paradox of strength in weakness (Nehemiah 8:10).

In our weakness, God's immense power can be seen (1 Corinthians 1:26-31 and 2 Corinthians 12:9).

God is AWESOME!