You're Kidding Me, Right?

Fear and Trembling

Phil. 2:12-13

How do we approach our salvation and sanctification? Do we do so with great humility, or do we do so with pride and contempt of the truth, as if it was a work of our own?

In the scriptures above, Paul is not telling the Philippians that they should fear and worry about being saved, he is instead encouraging them to approach the idea of sanctification through other means. The method: Examination of their lives and their fruit, and to do this with fear and trembling.

It is an effort which we should joyously accept as part of our sanctification.... Knowing the truth of the scriptures, "He who began a good work in you, will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:5-7).

We should be moving forward continuously, never backwards or standing still, but always forward. If we remain idle, or worse yet, move further away from the truth and our faith in Jesus Christ, then there is great reason to wonder if we are truly saved at all.

Work out your salvation, and examine yourself (2 Cor. 13:5). Does your life reflect the life of a person who has been saved? Someone who has truly been born again? Is the Holy Spirit helping you rid yourself of the sin and evil in your life? If so, have confidence that you are a child of God and that He is perfecting his work in your life. If not, then you need to ask yourself this question...

How do you know you are saved?

Are We There Yet?

In an exert from his journal, Avery Cardinal Dulles paints a pretty interesting picture on how we (everyone) is given the opportunity to be saved.

This idea of universal salvation is not new, but it is becoming more and more accepted by people who view the idea of "one way to heaven" as a harsh. These people like to believe that the God they serve is more gracious than most hard-core-fundamentalist-Christians give him credit for. They would like to assume that no matter what your faith is, or lack there of, you will be awarded the opportunity for salvation.

This is an interesting theology, one that is easier to preach in today's world that demands tolerance and acceptance of everyone equally. Well, almost everyone. But this Gospel is dangerous, because it undermines and removes the truth behind the Holy Word of God. The Bible is clear on what it takes to be saved. In John 14:6 Jesus says, I am the way the truth and the light. No one comes the Father except through me. That is pretty straight forward, and exclusive; and it doesn't look anything like what you will read below.

Here is Avery Cardinal Dulles take on salvation:

"Who, then, can be saved? Catholics can be saved if they believe the Word of God as taught by the Church and if they obey the commandments. Other Christians can be saved if they submit their lives to Christ and join the community where they think he wills to be found. Jews can be saved if they look forward in hope to the Messiah and try to ascertain whether God’s promise has been fulfilled. Adherents of other religions can be saved if, with the help of grace, they sincerely seek God and strive to do his will. Even atheists can be saved if they worship God under some other name and place their lives at the service of truth and justice. God’s saving grace, channeled through Christ the one Mediator, leaves no one unassisted. But that same grace brings obligations to all who receive it. They must not receive the grace of God in vain. Much will be demanded of those to whom much is given."

Will the real Jesus, please stand up?

What does it mean to be "saved" by the blood of Jesus? Is it really his blood or death that saves us? If it was simply blood that saved, or the cross, then why Jesus? Why not someone who deserved it? Why not someone like you or me instead?

The truth is, God HATES sin. It is an abomination to his Holiness. It is blasphemy. God DEMANDS justice. It is his character and it is all that is Holy. God must poor out his wrath on sinners for their sin. No one has ever been sent to hell for rejecting the Gospel. They've been sent to hell because of their sin.

The blood of Jesus and his death on the cross shows the reality of God's anger at our sin. It was a way for God to display for all the world to see, how serious sin is in his eyes. Only through Christ's perfect life, his death on the cross, and his resurrection could God's wrath be satisfied.

Scripture shows us (Isaiah 53:10 and Rom. 3:24-25) that it pleased God to punish Jesus on the cross. God doesn't desire justice, he demands it. The only way that we could be ransomed and rescued from our sin was for someone to atone for our transgressions. Jesus was and is our only hope.

So why do we take away from the story of Jesus? Why do we try and make our Savior into something that he is not? Why do we try and paint a different picture of God and his Son for the world to see? Are we happy that they don't understand the truth about our Savior?

The Bible tells us that if we choose Jesus Christ we will be persecuted for that choice. So why doesn't it bother you when the world accepts your Jesus? Maybe it's because you don't know who Jesus is at all?

Please watch the video below and respond with your comments.

(Sound quality is not the best but the truth behind the message is)

S.O.A.P.

Luke 4:43 But he said, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent."

 

Jesus had just removed demons from some people and as He did the demons knew who He was and they said so.  And when He was leaving the people followed and told him that He should stay.  Then He told them, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." 

This is also the same reason that we are here.  Nothing we do here on earth matters when compared to spreading the Word of God.  All other things we do on a daily basis are meaningless in His eyes.  We think of so many things to do other than spreading the Gospel.  I would rather watch TV, play video games, play softball, broomball, work, ect.  If we are to be more like Christ, we should act like Him, even though we know that we are not perfect; and fall short of Gods glory.  If we take the time to get in the Word and learn it, we can become more like Him and hopefully begin to feel more comfortable in doing what we are all called by GOD to do...spread His word, and save souls.

 

Knowing my role as a Christian is important.  I need to be more like Christ and not stay in my comfort zone, I need to get out there and spread the Gospel.  I think by doing this everyday (getting into the Word) I can achieve this because I will become more knowledgeable in scripture, and learn to speak it, without feeling weak in doing so.

 

Father God,

I thank you for my support of my wife, in getting me up early these past few days so far, so that I can take time to be with you before my day begins.  I pray that with your help, I can continue to build my relationship with you daily, like I know I should.  I ask that as I read your Word, I gain in the knowledge of your scripture, so that I can be more like your SON, and spread the word to people that I know without feeling awkward, or scared.  Only through your love and guidance can I do this.  I ask that my time in Your Word be blessed and fruitful, so that I can help save souls for Your kingdom.  in Your Son Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

 

 

Doug

His Creepy Space

I am not a big fan of the social networking sites. Myspace.com has seemed to become the hangout for sexual predators and Facebook.com is a playground for those who are college aged but elementary minded. But if you enjoy the incessant influx of pointless surveys about your friends or find juvenile delight in the countless applications like superpoke then click away to either of these sites to fulfill all your geeky gleeness.

I must, however, admit that not everything about these sites is bad. I have found many of my old friends and coworkers on Myspace.com and Facebook.com that I wouldn’t have found by other means. I treat my accounts like additional email addresses and leave it at that.

Recently a new site has surfaced claiming that it is social networking for Christians called HisHolySpace.com. Intrigued, I ventured to this site just to check it out and quickly discovered that you can’t check out much of anything unless you have an account. I thought it over and decided that it would be cool to set up an account and try out this site as a way of critiquing it. Sounds like fun, right? Pumped with enthusiasm, I clicked my mouse button to start the process…which is where all the fun stopped.

I set up my account relatively quickly (even though the site was excruciatingly slow) and started poking around the site to see if there was anything of note. There was. First, your homepage at this site is basically your profile just like Myspace.com except that it is so full of unwanted advertisements and video clips that it is a pain to accomplish much of anything. Already aggravated I decided to leave it until the next day before making any more judgments.

When I returned I logged in and found that I have new messages. Goody goody. Upon opening my inbox I found that I had three messages: one from the site manager, one from a guy of 48 years old, and one from another guy who was 62. Not only did they message me but they posted comments to my profile.

I deleted both and started browsing random profiles. It didn’t take long to notice that everyone (including the girls) had the same postings on their profiles from the same guys.

After reading about 50 or so profiles from both girls and guys I found that this is by no means exclusively Christian and in fact found only about six profiles that sounded legitimately Christian.

Over the next two weeks, I engaged in an email conversation with a girl about her and my faith and about the site. And every day I had to delete more messages and comments from creepy old men. I actually started conversations with both a girl and a guy but oddly enough the guy was not interested with talking with other guys…weird, huh? My new friend ended up leaving the site because she felt uncomfortable by the creepy men and I left because I had had enough. We keep in touch on another site.

I think HisHolySpace.com is dangerous in that some will let their guard down thinking that they are at a Christian site when in fact it is just a poor Myspace.com knock-off with a seemingly Christian name. I would recommend steering clear of this site especially if you are a girl or have a daughter. You may find a real Christian friend (I did) but you have to wade through heaps of manure to find them and I believe there are better and safer ways to meet Christian people like getting out from behind your computer and heading to your local church.

Chris

Drive Thru Church

So if you could have church anyway you want it, what would church look like to you?



Jason

An Un-Edited Email From Kevin

Well, you see, the Bible was written long, long ago and was meant to lay down rules back when thinking was uniform of that time period so that all understood the meaning that was put behind the writing. However, because of the corruption of greed and the like, many now translate it into what they want it to mean, molding it to fit their wants and desires. Not only this, but many have conducted their own evils from this using the word of God as their excuse. Not only is it shameful to those that believe in God, but it is also morally wrong to use religion as a means to safeguard oneself from harm.

 

In a day where offending someone is a crime, we have no way to stop anyone by any means other than waiting for a court to get them, though loop holes are made. Thus, religion, poses a problem to many a public eye. The battles fought over religions many, many years ago, all the blood shed said to be in the name of God, really was not God's desire. If God wants all to be happy and well, then why is it he would start a war? No, the one's that started the "Holy Wars" were the men who desired power. A great movie on this would have to be Kingdom of Heaven.

 

To me, the Bible is no longer a source for which people to follow. Besides, no one really follows the Bible to the letter. If you only follow the parts you like, what does that say? It says you do not agree to all of the teachings so you have no right to say you live by the Bible. On top of that, why should you need to do so? If we all have the ability to be a good person or a bad person, why must we follow rules? Should we not be able to know what is right and what is wrong?

 

Also, another thing I found was odd... How can people say that the only way to get to Heaven is to follow the Bible to the letter when they themselves do not? Mind you, some do, but most do not and yet lie and say they do in order to appear better. Who cares what others think? Should you not be able to live your life, using your heart and mind and soul to become and good person or a bad one? Should you not be able to do what you think is good and just and be able to stand before God and say:

 

"I know that I may not have followed the scriptures, but I do believe I made good in the world and I never faltered in my moral standings, nor did I force upon others my will as that is corruption's purest of forms. For this and this alone, I do believe, I have completed the true goal put upon me by you; being a good person. May I now enter the gates of Heaven? "

I will tell you this, I am an agnostic. No, not atheist. Agnostic people are, literally, those who do not confirm nor deny the existence of any immortal or divine being. I, being heavily Irish, am very in tune to the supernatural and the ethereal realms. I believe there are many things that happen in life and in death. I do not fear death for one simple reason; I know I made bad choices, but I know I made more good choices to outweigh the bad and I have made people's lives better in my time being alive. No human lives forever, except in story and legend. Anyway, I do not want to say there is God or any other Divine Immortal. However, I do believe that something created that which created this existence and be it God or any other I do not know and will not determine until it is my time. If I can stand at the gates of Heaven and see that it is indeed God awaiting, then I will see it as fact and believe in that alone. I do not want to say something does not exist when it does nor do I want to say something does exist when it does not. I know there is something up there, but I do not believe it was they that created us. I believe we evolved, but I also believe something or someone created that which we evolved from somehow. The raw materials that created the Big Bang were used to make us. We may be an accident, we may have been created by mistake, but the point is that something created the universe from the nothingness that was once the universe. Whatever it was that made those raw elements is still there as it could not have just died. I do not believe it is a solid form and has to be some sort of spiritual being or force. I know my views may seem different and odd, but it is what I believe. After all, in a time where science and religion clash together, I have found a balance between them.   

 

I, myself, wish to become a microbiologist (scientist that studies microbes and viruses). I have formed my own view on things, though. Science is not perfect and can not prove everything, but it is helping us understand our physical world.   

 

You can rip my beliefs to shreds, you can crucify my ideas, you can condemn them, but I will not give in to any criticism. I will bravely take on any offensive strikes against my belief. I will hear out arguments, try to see things from their point of view, then, if they want me to, try to explain my side to them so that they can see my reasons for why I think the way I do and believe the way I do. After all, attacking someone because of belief is like, in a way, what happened to Jesus Christ. He was victim to undeserved suffering. I am not him, but to attack me without cause would be the same as being those who crucified Jesus Christ, you know? Think about that for a moment.

 

If anyone would like to discuss it with me, I will be trying to get on the show sometime soon in order to better explain this all as I can only type up so much before my hands begin to hurt.

   

 

Kevin

 

 

Question:

 

So, how would you respond to this email?

 

--
Jason