Could You Be the April Fool?

fool

The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.” – Psalm 14:1

Those of us who are unashamed followers of Jesus may be quick to exempt ourselves from that verse. Don’t be so quick to exonerate yourself.  At some level, we are all unbelievers.

Notice that David observed that a fool says in his heart that God does not exist. The fool is not merely the one who dare proclaims with his tongue an arrogant disbelief in the existence of God. It is equally foolish – no, even more foolish – to allow our hearts to misbelieve the promises of God about who He is and what He has done for us in Christ.

In the Biblical sense, the heart is “command central” of our lives. The heart represents our thoughts, affections, desires, emotions, and will. Our heart DETERMINES our behavior.

To “say in our heart” there is no God goes beyond the “macro-belief” in the existence of God. Rather, it  involves the “micro-belief” of our trust Him, His word, and His work for the daily situations of our lives. We say there is no God when we live even one moment in misbelief of God and His plan of redemption and restoration.

While we may never be so brash as to verbalize a disbelief in God’s existence, we all too often loudly proclaim our disbelief when we apply human answers to the problems of everyday life.

What A Fool Looks Like

Several actions constitute such a non-verbal proclamation:

  • We may blatantly disobey something God has clearly told us to do or not do.
  • We may selfishly desire something God doesn’t want us to have.
  • We may plan and plot without considering God’s wishes and His plans.
  • We may harbor ill feelings toward others and refuse to offer the same grace to them we have received from God.
  • We may seek our own fulfillment and self-gratification rather than finding our pleasure in Him.

Be sure today that your heart is not playing an April Fool’s Joke on you. Examine your heart – your actions, affections, attitudes and see if your heart is disbelieving God.

Thankful TO Is As Important as Thankful FOR

thankful
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For the last several days, I have heard people talk about the many things for which they are thankful but fail to mention the One who is the giver of those thank-worthy things.  Though lamentable, we might expect today’s secularist to leave God out of his celebration, but for the Christian to be thankful for things without thanking the Giver of those things comes dangerously close to idolatry.  We can easily begin to worship the created things rather than the One who created them and forget that we are desperately dependent on Him for everything in our lives.

Psalm 100 is one of the most often read Bible chapters this time of year.  David mentions the Lord in every line of the Psalm either directly by name or by pronoun referring to Him.  This serves as a stark reminder that giving thanks is useless unless one gives thanks to the sources of those blessings.

Thanksgiving should be an occasion to praise the Giver of the blessings rather than worship the gifts themselves.

It is good to give thanks, but rather than merely giving thanks for the blessings you’ve received make a bigger deal of the One from whom you’ve received them.  Worship HIM this thanksgiving rather than the things He has given you. Recognize God as the source of your blessings.

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
    Serve the Lord with gladness!
    Come into His presence with singing!

Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is He who made us, and we are His;
we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving,
and His courts with praise!
Give thanks to Him; bless His name!

For the Lord is good;
His steadfast love endures forever,
and His faithfulness to all generations.

The Holiness of God – The Missing Element

holiness

I am finally writing about a burden my heart has carried for some time now.  I believe there is a missing element in the faith practiced by many believers these days. The missing element? An understanding of the holiness of God.

What Is the Holiness of God?

I find it best to think of God’s holiness in at least 3 ways.

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Change All Around Us, But God Does Not Change

change

Facebook has a new feature that I kind of enjoy.  When I sign on for the first time most days, Facebook displays a past post for me to remember. Most often on my feed, it is a picture of my daughter from her younger years.  Those pictures provide warm memories but also a chilling reminder of how much things have changed over the years. Change is inevitable.

Indeed many things have changed over the course of my life.  In fact, things have changed more in the last 10 years than the first 42 years of my life combined.    The cost of living has risen while cultural morality has declined. We now call entertainment things that used to shame us. And we pay big bucks for that entertainment.  My daughter will come to adulthood in a totally different world from the one which greeted my adulthood.

Things have changed more in the last 10 years than the first 42 years of my life combined.

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Many are unsettled by both the abundance and uncertainty of the change that is taking place around us.  Many have exchanged hope, peace, and confidence for fear, stress, and disillusionment.  The good news is that while the world may change around us, our God has not changed, nor will He.

In Malachi 3:6, God declares, “I, the Lord, do not change.”  When things are changing uncontrollably around us, we can turn to the ONE who never changes.  Theologically, we call this attribute of God His Immutability.  God’s unchanging nature is not just an intellectual reality, but a relevant truth on which we can hang our faith.  Consider these ways our God does not change.

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Why We Fail to Listen to God

While not everyone suffers with hearing loss, we all suffer from time to time with “listening loss.”  We fail to pay attention, we miss an important announcement, we disregard a warning siren and all of a sudden we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of an otherwise avoidable mess.  We need to make sure we are listening…ESPECIALLY to God.

listening-dogThe good news is that God speaks to us and personally interacts with us; the bad news is sometimes, we fail to heed His voice. The Bible includes many accounts of persons who either disregarded or ignored God’s instructions and subsequently suffered the consequences.

In His landmark book and Bible study, Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby shares four ways that God speaks to us. Read More

A Word of Encouragement to the Hopeless

hope

“I hope so.” I’ve heard that many times; often from my own lips. Of course, when we use the word “hope” we are expressing a desire, but an uncertainty as to the realization of our desire.

“I hope it doesn’t rain.” – Maybe it will, but I’ll take an umbrella just in case.

“I hope I get some good news.” I really would like that, but I am bracing for the worst.

“I hope the preacher doesn’t preach too long today.” Oh, who are we kidding?!?! LOL!

Unfortunately our world is filled with a lot of hopeless people. They feel overwhelmed by circumstances and trapped by insufficient resources. They want to think better days are ahead, but no evidence lies before them. The best a hopeless person can do is just survive.

Maybe you are one of those hopeless people. Your circumstances seem insurmountable and your abilities to cope with those circumstances seem seriously lacking. The good news is that the Biblical concept of hope differs 1800 from our contemporary definition. Our hope is uncertain and subjective, but Biblical hope is objectively assured. When the Bible speaks of a hope, it speaks of something that is guaranteed.

Allow me to poke a pinhole in the dark wall of hopelessness and shine a laser beam through it in the form a Bible verse.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. – Romans 15:13.

Don’t miss that last phrase: “abound in hope.” Not have a little, not just enough to get by, but ABOUND. More than you need. Overrunning. Excessive. God offers the hopeless not just a ray of hope but a blinding floodlight. That pinhole in the dark wall becomes a shaft of warm, life-giving light.

First, notice the source of hope: God. He is the God of hope. Our hope does not lie in our abilities, resources, or even in the betterment of our situation. HE is the creator, author, and bestower of hope. When you feel hopeless, turn to Him and rest squarely in the knowledge that He is good and that He is in control. By the power of His holy Spirit, He will give the abundance of assurance.

Second, see the results of the hope God gives – He fills with joy and peace. Joy is not dependent on circumstances, but rather a settled inner assurance that no matter how things look at the moment, when God decides to change it, He will…for the better. Peace is not the absence of hostility or anxiety, but the quiet heart that rides out the storm knowing who is the Master of the Wind.

Finally, notice how that hope is appropriated – in believing; that is our part. I have often defined faith as “an active trust in all that God has said concerning His person, His promises, and His precepts.” To live in hope, we choose to believe what we KNOW about God over how we FEEL in our circumstances.

Tony Evans says it this way:

“Faith is acting like it is so, even when it’s not so, in order that it might be so, simply because God said so.”

In those hopeless moments, return to the light that God’s hope gives. Choose to trust Him and He will bring you through your storm.

 

When A Church Got a Pastor at a Yard Sale

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I’m not much of a yard sale person, although I readily admit one can find some tremendous deals at a yard sale. I remember the last yard sale we had; the temp was below freezing and the chill factor below zero. We advertised to begin at 7:00am and at 5:30am when I raised the garage door to move the stuff out, people were already standing in line. By the end of the day we offered everything on tables for “one low, low price.” I never realized someone could find a useful purpose for the stuff that had become “clutter” in my house. The old saying is true, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

Last week marked my one-year anniversary as pastor at Bellevue Baptist Church in Macon. What does that have to do with a yard sale? Read on.

I left my last church in what would be considered a “forced termination.” I wrote about how that felt back in a couple of October blogs. Suffice it to say, I felt I had been thrown out with the trash and that ministry would no longer be an option for me. Thankfully, by the grace of God, I was wrong.

I am thankful for the support, unconditional love, and encouragement that came from my family, both immediate and extended. I also realized how blessed I was with a great number of friends. Looking back, I am most overwhelmed by the providence and plan of an intentional God. Things panned out the way they did because HE had HIS PLAN.

The brave people of Bellevue took a chance on me when other churches passed me over due to my circumstances. I guess those other churches weren’t willing to bring home a “yard sale pastor.” I am thankful that God brought my family and me into the Bellevue family. We have a wonderful church family whom we love dearly. I am so glad they were willing to find treasure in another church’s trash.

I share this with you because I hope it will be an encouragement to you. No matter how difficult a blow life has delivered you, nothing can snatch you from God’s hand and His plan for your life. In fact, He may have allowed that painful circumstance in your life for the sole purpose of moving you on to something better He has in store for you. So don’t lose heart. God is not finished with you. In God’s eyes you are NEVER trash and you are always His TREASURE.

I recommend the following Bible verse for your reading and meditation. You need to know just how God feels about you and what He promises for your life.

Zephaniah 3:17

Romans 8:28, 31-39

Philippians 1:6

Never In My Wildest Dreams

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“Never in my wildest dreams.” Have you ever used that expression? I have…lots of times…several times over the last 48 hours. Then again, that’s how God works – beyond our wildest dreams.

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. – Ephesians 3:20-21

Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever imagined moving back to my hometown to pastor a church. Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever imagined having the opportunity to lead a church with such a rich history and promising future. In fact, there were times times over the last several months I wondered if I would ever have the opportunity to pastor again…anywhere.

Thankfully, however, God is not bound by our measly imaginations; He works in ways we cannot see or believe to accomplish things so awesome that ONLY HE can receive glory for them. My family and I have experienced His glory in just such a way this past weekend. I was called as Senior Pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in my hometown of Macon, Georgia. NEVER IN MY WILDEST DREAMS, but easily within the sovereignty of an all-wise God. TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

What impossibilities or difficulties challenge your faith? As one who has experienced the miraculous hand of God, let me encourage you to hang in there and keep your eyes in the Lord. He is at work around you, and in His perfect timing, God will act in just such a way in your life.

As I shared with my new church family today: THE BEST IS YET TO COME. That is just as true for you individually as it is for us as a church.

The Devil’s Up to his Old Tricks Again

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I had the privilege Tuesday of attending a rally at the Georgia State Capital for former Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran who was recently fired because of his Biblical beliefs. If you are not aware of the story, feel free to click here when you are finished reading the blog and you can catch up on the events of the last couple of months.

At the heart of the conflict is an increasing view in our culture that the Bible is not the authoritative standard for faith and morality. This, of course, comes as a shock to no one since we have all witnessed over the last several decades the decline of moral accountability and the rise of moral relativism. This attack on the authority of God’s Word is not new; in fact, the devil has used this strategy since his first encounter with Adam and Eve.

When tempting Eve in Genesis 3:1-7, the devil first created doubt as to the content of God’s instructions to Adam and Eve (“did God actually say…), then the truthfulness of God’s instruction (“you will not surely die…), and finally the intent of God’s plan (God knows that …you will be like God…). For millennia, the devil has used the same strategy – create doubt, distrust, and disobedience.

At the core of our culture’s moral relativism is the denial of the authority of God’s Word. Chief Cochran wrote and self-published a book to help men understand the grace and forgiveness available only through a relationship with Jesus Christ. The book is based on Biblical truth, and as is often the case, Biblical truth offends those who do not wish to live under God’s authority. If you would like a copy of the book you can purchase one by clicking here to go to Amazon.

So, what can we as believers in Jesus do in these times when God’s Word is under attack? Let me suggest 3 important practices.

First, we must KNOW God’s Word so that we do not fall prey to the devil’s trick of doubt, distrust, and disobedience. Now more that ever, we need to regularly READ and STUDY the Bible. The best way to recognize the devil’s lie is to be confidentially acquainted with God’s truth.

Second, we must OBEY God’s Word. We cannot expect others to uphold a standard to which we do not hold ourselves. We must not rationalize and marginalize the Bible, but rather submit ourselves to ALL of its teaching.

Finally, we need to unashamedly STAND for the principles of God’s Word, encourage others who publicly stand in that Word, and challenge our leaders to lead according to the TRUTH of God’s Word. Jesus has called us as His followers to be a positive influence and a shining example to those around us (Matthew 5:13-16).

Do not let the devil trick you with his oldest scheme of doubt, then distrust, and disobedience.

When We Leave Jesus Out of the God Talk

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It is somewhat fashionable these days to talk about God. In many such conversations, God is viewed as a talisman, sugar-daddy, or teddy bear who only wants to make our lives successful, comfortable, prosperous, and without sickness or disease. Yes, it is fashionable to talk about God, as long as that talk is all positive and affirming.

Many dangers accompany such God-talk, not the least of which is a misrepresentation of the God of the Bible. Many today have broken the second commandment by verbally creating an image of God to worship that suits their tastes and perceived needs. The Maker of the universe, the Sovereign God does not stand ready to fulfill our commands.

Another subtle but even more dangerous element of this type of God-talk is that it leaves Jesus out of the conversation. I can understand why that is – this verbal golden calf God is nonthreatening, but Jesus is offensive. When we speak of Jesus, we are reminded of his cross and to the lost person that is offensive (1 Corinthians 1:18). That Jesus came reminds us that we are hopeless sinners who stand in need of God’s intervention.  We are not OK, we cannot look within ourselves for answers, we are desperately in need of a Savior.

The Bible makes it clear that Jesus is the central focus of any conversation about God, life, death, eternity, etc.

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. (Colossians 2:8-10)

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him,“Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 16:13-17)

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

Listen (and read) carefully what others are saying about God. If they speak of God only in general feel-good terms and leave Jesus, the Cross, repentance, and obedience out of the conversation then avoid and ignore them. Let’s talk up Jesus. Let’s proclaim Him. Submitting to His Lordship is the ONLY solution to our culture’s ills and the only answer to the deeply seated issues we face in life today.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…(Hebrews 1:1-3)