Monday, August 28, 2006
Alive But At What Cost?
The two FOX News journalists have been released. We rejoice because Steve Centanni and Olaf Wig were released Sunday morning (our time). They were held prisoner in GAZA by radical terrorists for two weeks.
The release came on the heals of a videotape made by the terrorists. In this, the last tape..... Steve and Olaf both read written statements saying that they had converted to Islam, and worship the one true god Allah. They had accepted the Prophet Mohammad. They condemned the western ways etc etc. The statements were read at gunpoint (even though the terrorists weren't in the film). And, showing this tape on American news outlets was part of the deal for release.
How does this strike us? I've been following an interactive news site that has had much discussion about this. Some will contend that these statements meant nothing. That God knows their hearts and judges them by what they really believe etc. Others will argue that these denied Christ before men. Both sides will make a biblical argument.
I asked my wife (who follows news as little as possible considering she lives with a news junkie) what she thought. Without even looking up from her book she said "God knows their hearts and what they really believe". So I asked her, but what about Daniel, could he have just eaten the kings food and been okay because God knows what he really believes. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego..... no need to go to the furnace? What about the Christians killed in the coliseums? Just say "Caesar is God" and live because God knows your heart? Bringing it closer to home, contrast it with Cassie who was killed in the Columbine murders because she stood up and said "yes I believe in Jesus".
I don't really know the answer. I'm certainly not judging them. I'm just thankful that I haven't been put in that position. I do think it's good to look at this and try to learn something from it about ourselves, and maybe about what might come. Imagine if we're here when the mark of the beast is being given out (assume the rapture is mid or post trib). Think of the pressure. Not only to live, but with the many religious leaders of the time saying .... "it's okay, God loves you, God wants you to be able to buy food for your family, God expects you to do what is necessary to take care of your family, God knows your true heart, you're already saved once and for all so taking the mark won't make a difference, God will forgive you after you take the mark if you just ask him, a conversion at gunpoint means nothing.... and on and on".
What would each of us do if we were over run by terrorists who demanded that we even "pretend" to renounce our faith in Christ, and publicly proclaim allah as god, or be killed?
The release came on the heals of a videotape made by the terrorists. In this, the last tape..... Steve and Olaf both read written statements saying that they had converted to Islam, and worship the one true god Allah. They had accepted the Prophet Mohammad. They condemned the western ways etc etc. The statements were read at gunpoint (even though the terrorists weren't in the film). And, showing this tape on American news outlets was part of the deal for release.
How does this strike us? I've been following an interactive news site that has had much discussion about this. Some will contend that these statements meant nothing. That God knows their hearts and judges them by what they really believe etc. Others will argue that these denied Christ before men. Both sides will make a biblical argument.
I asked my wife (who follows news as little as possible considering she lives with a news junkie) what she thought. Without even looking up from her book she said "God knows their hearts and what they really believe". So I asked her, but what about Daniel, could he have just eaten the kings food and been okay because God knows what he really believes. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego..... no need to go to the furnace? What about the Christians killed in the coliseums? Just say "Caesar is God" and live because God knows your heart? Bringing it closer to home, contrast it with Cassie who was killed in the Columbine murders because she stood up and said "yes I believe in Jesus".
I don't really know the answer. I'm certainly not judging them. I'm just thankful that I haven't been put in that position. I do think it's good to look at this and try to learn something from it about ourselves, and maybe about what might come. Imagine if we're here when the mark of the beast is being given out (assume the rapture is mid or post trib). Think of the pressure. Not only to live, but with the many religious leaders of the time saying .... "it's okay, God loves you, God wants you to be able to buy food for your family, God expects you to do what is necessary to take care of your family, God knows your true heart, you're already saved once and for all so taking the mark won't make a difference, God will forgive you after you take the mark if you just ask him, a conversion at gunpoint means nothing.... and on and on".
What would each of us do if we were over run by terrorists who demanded that we even "pretend" to renounce our faith in Christ, and publicly proclaim allah as god, or be killed?
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
What is Faith and How Do We Get It?
You know, there are lots of ideas about faith. Magical, mystical, rationalization, trust, blind. Each of these words has been associated with faith by someone at sometime or another.
If you look up faith in a concordance.... you could devote a considerable amount of time reading and researching scripture about faith. I've picked just a few here that I think describe how we get faith.
I always like to quote Hebrews 11:1 as it reads in the revised standard "faith is the confident assurance of things unseen". I think the NIV says "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
Romans 10:17 KJV says "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word (RHEMA) of God. In verse 20 of the same chapter Paul quotes Isaiah "I was found by those who did not seek me, I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me."
I think faith is a gift from God. I think it comes from God. As Ephesians says "for by grace are you saved through faith, it is the gift of God" I think this verse means our salvation and our faith are gifts from God.
Jesus says, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44). So then my Christian walk began with faith, and I received that faith from God through His Holy Spirit communicating with me. I don't think faith in God occures naturally in fallen man by his own rationalization, or thinking.
Hebrews 12:2 says "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the AUTHOR and perfecter of our faith"
Romans 12:3 says "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith GOD has given you"
If we think about faith starting with us, I believe we're starting in the wrong place. Faith in God is something that we can't do for ourselves. We can't make the faith that will rescue us from the fix we're in. Only God can create it in us. Luther was furious at medieval theologians such as Duns Scotus who could speak so grandly of an 'acquired faith' that we can get for (or make within) ourselves. He went back to the Bible to show that the only faith that counts is that which is 'poured in' to us by the Spirit. Faith does not spring forth from our inmost self. It comes from outside of us and then lodges itself inside of us. It's not our senses which give us faith, but the Spirit through the Word of God, who then lights up and directs our senses and our reasoning. We can't have a right faith by anything we do, but only what is given to us by the Holy Spirit.
1 Timothy 1:14 "The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus".
Anybody remember Bill Gothard? I remember going to his conferences when I was in Highschool in the 70's (ouch) He says "Grace is interrelated with faith.
It is not possible to define grace without at the same time referring to faith because the two are so intricately entwined, as stated in Ephesians 2:8–9. “For by grace are ye saved through faith.” Both grace and faith are gifts of God.
I think it's always good for me to think about what I believe. And why I believe it. And what I've found over time, is that 99% of the time, what I was taught as a young person in the "old days" is based on scripture. If I hear something that seems to maybe contradict what I was "always taught".... most of the time I can go to the bible and find that the people who taught me at CRBC "knew their stuff". The Phil Bailys of the world. The Donna Shoffners of the world. Ruby Reynolds, Laddie Adams', Les and Larue Hunter, Harvey Sparks, Norman Behymer, Fred Wilhoit, Wendle Estep, Pat Kerce etc etc. You know I need to send everyone of these people who are still alive a thank you card for teaching Sunday School classes, or youth bible studies.
It's like that song "thank you for giving to the Lord, I am a life that was changed".
I have been so fortunate to grow up at CRBC.
If you look up faith in a concordance.... you could devote a considerable amount of time reading and researching scripture about faith. I've picked just a few here that I think describe how we get faith.
I always like to quote Hebrews 11:1 as it reads in the revised standard "faith is the confident assurance of things unseen". I think the NIV says "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
Romans 10:17 KJV says "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word (RHEMA) of God. In verse 20 of the same chapter Paul quotes Isaiah "I was found by those who did not seek me, I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me."
I think faith is a gift from God. I think it comes from God. As Ephesians says "for by grace are you saved through faith, it is the gift of God" I think this verse means our salvation and our faith are gifts from God.
Jesus says, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44). So then my Christian walk began with faith, and I received that faith from God through His Holy Spirit communicating with me. I don't think faith in God occures naturally in fallen man by his own rationalization, or thinking.
Hebrews 12:2 says "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the AUTHOR and perfecter of our faith"
Romans 12:3 says "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith GOD has given you"
If we think about faith starting with us, I believe we're starting in the wrong place. Faith in God is something that we can't do for ourselves. We can't make the faith that will rescue us from the fix we're in. Only God can create it in us. Luther was furious at medieval theologians such as Duns Scotus who could speak so grandly of an 'acquired faith' that we can get for (or make within) ourselves. He went back to the Bible to show that the only faith that counts is that which is 'poured in' to us by the Spirit. Faith does not spring forth from our inmost self. It comes from outside of us and then lodges itself inside of us. It's not our senses which give us faith, but the Spirit through the Word of God, who then lights up and directs our senses and our reasoning. We can't have a right faith by anything we do, but only what is given to us by the Holy Spirit.
1 Timothy 1:14 "The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus".
Anybody remember Bill Gothard? I remember going to his conferences when I was in Highschool in the 70's (ouch) He says "Grace is interrelated with faith.
It is not possible to define grace without at the same time referring to faith because the two are so intricately entwined, as stated in Ephesians 2:8–9. “For by grace are ye saved through faith.” Both grace and faith are gifts of God.
I think it's always good for me to think about what I believe. And why I believe it. And what I've found over time, is that 99% of the time, what I was taught as a young person in the "old days" is based on scripture. If I hear something that seems to maybe contradict what I was "always taught".... most of the time I can go to the bible and find that the people who taught me at CRBC "knew their stuff". The Phil Bailys of the world. The Donna Shoffners of the world. Ruby Reynolds, Laddie Adams', Les and Larue Hunter, Harvey Sparks, Norman Behymer, Fred Wilhoit, Wendle Estep, Pat Kerce etc etc. You know I need to send everyone of these people who are still alive a thank you card for teaching Sunday School classes, or youth bible studies.
It's like that song "thank you for giving to the Lord, I am a life that was changed".
I have been so fortunate to grow up at CRBC.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
What's Going On?
I've been pretty tied up with work the past week, and not had the opportunity to type to my own blog.
So here's what's up.
Grafted In played the evening service at Hennessey Baptist Church on July 30th. We played the entire service and were well received. Told our jokes etc.... and played 19 songs. Some of our fans from Oklahoma City made the trip to Hennessey and that was nice. We really appreciate that kind of support. We'll be at Swadley's again this Saturday, August 12th.
Baptism.... Henderson Hills decided not to vote on the Baptism issue. And the Baptist Messenger came out with a very good "special addition" about Baptism.
Middle East..... The UN has reached an agreement on a resolution. Not many "experts" really expect either side to cease fire. I'm not an expert but I don't see an end to this in the near future. The bible prophecy sites are all pretty active right now. Many are talking about this as the start of what will be Armagedon. Who knows? I don't know, but my television is on Fox News all the time because I find it fascinating. And I guess I'm expecting some prophecy to be fulfilled at some point.
And lastly, I had an opportunity to "share the gospel" ..... sorta .... outside Walmart the other day. I'm not sure I did a very good job.
Acutally, I was at Walmart during lunch and as always when I go to Walmart, I parked about 2 acres away from the front door. It was the Walmart at Memorial and Penn. As I was walking up the "isle" that led to the entrance, I noticed the sound of the "music" getting louder. And could see that the traffic was stopped in front of the store, but there was an opening for people to walk between cars, in and out of the store.
Let's be honest, the music was Gangster Rap. And as I got there, the 3 African American young men in the car saw me coming. Let's just say the radio in the car was worth considerably more than the car was worth. I'm wearing dress clothes etc. So the driver decided to close the walk through gap that everybody else had been using, in front of me. And they thought it was pretty funny.
I was able to make it between their car and the car in front of them. As I cleared that narrow gap I looked back over my left sholder and semi-shouted..... turn that garbage down! OOPS. The driver bailed out of the car. He clearly looked like he could start at corner back for a number of division 1 collge teams. And, he began yelling at me. Again, being honest.... I didn't understand a lot of it. The music was loud, and the dialec was just ... unfamiliar. At some point I understood him to say "WHAT DID YOU SAY"?
I looked at him up and down, and me being the idiot that I am replied "I said pull your pants up, get in your car, and turn that garbage down." Well this set off a string of "colorful metaphores" and I quickly became pretty scared. In fact, I thought I was about to get the tar beat out of me. (I know there's at least a person or two who probably thinks that's a good idea :) ) But there was a number of people standing around. Not that they could hear what was being said, because of the loud gangster rap... but they were at least watching.
So when I had a chance to get a word in edgewise, I said... or kinda shouted "HAVE YOU EVER MET JESUS CHRIST?" He looked surprised, and after a couple of seconds started another string of colorful metaphores that were aimed at God instead of me.
By this time my heart is in my throat and I know I'm about to receive a black eye that was worse than our pastor's recent one :)..... He stopped talking for just a second, and I said... or kinda shouted again the standard Baptist question that we all get drilled into us. I said.... "IF YOU DIED RIGHT NOW, WOULD YOU GO TO HEAVEN OR HELL??" And as soon as I said that, I became afraid that he would take that as a "threat" of some sort. But he looked shocked. And he didn't say to much. And again being honest, what he did say I didn't understand much of because of the noise, and the dialec. But he turned around and got in his car.
They didn't turn the music down. And I went in walmart sweating profusely. It was about 102 degrees outside, and my blood pressure was setting an alltime high I'm sure.
I kinda reluctantly told my wife about this and she asked me to put a "in case of emergency" statement in the address book on my cell phone. :)
My Grafted In friend Angela said there was probably a big burley Angel standing behind me.... and not to try that again.
My mother said I was an idiot and that she thought she had raised me to be smarter than that.
But none felt like I had "shared the gospel". :)
Believe me, what I've described is not a normal event for me. Next time, I'm going to do a better job of witnessing, I hope! Or at least keeping my mouth shut when I'm around gangster rap.
So here's what's up.
Grafted In played the evening service at Hennessey Baptist Church on July 30th. We played the entire service and were well received. Told our jokes etc.... and played 19 songs. Some of our fans from Oklahoma City made the trip to Hennessey and that was nice. We really appreciate that kind of support. We'll be at Swadley's again this Saturday, August 12th.
Baptism.... Henderson Hills decided not to vote on the Baptism issue. And the Baptist Messenger came out with a very good "special addition" about Baptism.
Middle East..... The UN has reached an agreement on a resolution. Not many "experts" really expect either side to cease fire. I'm not an expert but I don't see an end to this in the near future. The bible prophecy sites are all pretty active right now. Many are talking about this as the start of what will be Armagedon. Who knows? I don't know, but my television is on Fox News all the time because I find it fascinating. And I guess I'm expecting some prophecy to be fulfilled at some point.
And lastly, I had an opportunity to "share the gospel" ..... sorta .... outside Walmart the other day. I'm not sure I did a very good job.
Acutally, I was at Walmart during lunch and as always when I go to Walmart, I parked about 2 acres away from the front door. It was the Walmart at Memorial and Penn. As I was walking up the "isle" that led to the entrance, I noticed the sound of the "music" getting louder. And could see that the traffic was stopped in front of the store, but there was an opening for people to walk between cars, in and out of the store.
Let's be honest, the music was Gangster Rap. And as I got there, the 3 African American young men in the car saw me coming. Let's just say the radio in the car was worth considerably more than the car was worth. I'm wearing dress clothes etc. So the driver decided to close the walk through gap that everybody else had been using, in front of me. And they thought it was pretty funny.
I was able to make it between their car and the car in front of them. As I cleared that narrow gap I looked back over my left sholder and semi-shouted..... turn that garbage down! OOPS. The driver bailed out of the car. He clearly looked like he could start at corner back for a number of division 1 collge teams. And, he began yelling at me. Again, being honest.... I didn't understand a lot of it. The music was loud, and the dialec was just ... unfamiliar. At some point I understood him to say "WHAT DID YOU SAY"?
I looked at him up and down, and me being the idiot that I am replied "I said pull your pants up, get in your car, and turn that garbage down." Well this set off a string of "colorful metaphores" and I quickly became pretty scared. In fact, I thought I was about to get the tar beat out of me. (I know there's at least a person or two who probably thinks that's a good idea :) ) But there was a number of people standing around. Not that they could hear what was being said, because of the loud gangster rap... but they were at least watching.
So when I had a chance to get a word in edgewise, I said... or kinda shouted "HAVE YOU EVER MET JESUS CHRIST?" He looked surprised, and after a couple of seconds started another string of colorful metaphores that were aimed at God instead of me.
By this time my heart is in my throat and I know I'm about to receive a black eye that was worse than our pastor's recent one :)..... He stopped talking for just a second, and I said... or kinda shouted again the standard Baptist question that we all get drilled into us. I said.... "IF YOU DIED RIGHT NOW, WOULD YOU GO TO HEAVEN OR HELL??" And as soon as I said that, I became afraid that he would take that as a "threat" of some sort. But he looked shocked. And he didn't say to much. And again being honest, what he did say I didn't understand much of because of the noise, and the dialec. But he turned around and got in his car.
They didn't turn the music down. And I went in walmart sweating profusely. It was about 102 degrees outside, and my blood pressure was setting an alltime high I'm sure.
I kinda reluctantly told my wife about this and she asked me to put a "in case of emergency" statement in the address book on my cell phone. :)
My Grafted In friend Angela said there was probably a big burley Angel standing behind me.... and not to try that again.
My mother said I was an idiot and that she thought she had raised me to be smarter than that.
But none felt like I had "shared the gospel". :)
Believe me, what I've described is not a normal event for me. Next time, I'm going to do a better job of witnessing, I hope! Or at least keeping my mouth shut when I'm around gangster rap.
