TR & The Man In The Arena

In 2 Timothy 4:7 (NKJV), the Apostle Paul writes Timothy, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

Fighting the good fight is a key component of the true Christian faith, and we are continually told in the Bible to persevere in our faith and during our spiritual trials and earthly battles. We must be willing to fight the good fight, just like the Apostle Paul did, and not shirk from it or avoid it, no matter how difficult it may seem to us at the time.

On April 23, 1910, former United States President Theodore Roosevelt echoed a similar theme in a speech that he gave at the Sorbonne in Paris, France.

TR famously declared:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Jeshua

In Matthew 1:21 (NKJV), an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and told Joseph that Mary would "bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."

The Hebrew name for Jesus is Jeshua.

The Hebrew name Jeshua means "the Lord is Salvation."

Eternal life and eternal salvation, as offered by Jeshua and by Jeshua alone, is the greatest Christmas gift of all.

Nobody

Pastor Charles Swindoll has said that the life of Moses can be divided into three, distinct, 40-year periods.

In the first 40-year period, Moses thought that he was somebody.

In the second 40-year period, Moses learned that he was nobody.

In the third 40-year period, Moses learned that God can use a nobody.

In fact, God told Moses as much in Exodus 4:11-12 (NKJV), when God declared to Moses, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say."

God, through His own divine help, can use a nobody to accomplish great things for His kingdom.

God can use a nobody.

A nobody.

Like Moses.

Or you.

Or me.

Humble Or Humbled

Charles Spurgeon:

"Every Christian has a choice between being humble or being humbled."

At All Times

St. Francis of Assisi:

"Preach the Gospel at all times and, when necessary, use words."

Evidence

If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

Tim Tebow

If you are a fan of the National Football League, then you know all about Tim Tebow.

If you are not a fan of the NFL, then you need to know that Tim Tebow is the starting quarterback of the Denver Broncos. The Broncos were 1-4 this season before Tebow took over as their starting QB. Since that time, the Broncos have gone 5-1, including multiple come-from-behind, last-minute or overtime victories.

Tim Tebow also is a deeply-committed Christian, and he is very bold about showing his faith on the football field. As a result, Tebow has many fervent supporters, but he also has attracted a whole lot of equally-fervent detractors. Football fans tend to be very black or white in their opinions about Tebow, either loving him or hating him. A large part of this, I believe, is due to Tebow's very-public faith stance.

God has given Tim Tebow a very public stage on which to show his faith, and I admire him for his boldness in doing so. Whenever I see Tebow publically proclaiming his faith in Jesus Christ on the football field, or during a TV interview, I think of the Apostle Paul's words in Romans 1:16 (NKJV), "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." In Matthew 10:32-33 (NKJV), Jesus declares, "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven."

Tim Tebow has shown himself not to be ashamed of the gospel of Christ, and he has confessed Jesus Christ publically before many millions of men and women. He is to be commended for the boldness of his faith on a very public stage.

Black Friday

Today is Black Friday in the USA, the day that is supposed to represent the official start of the Christmas holiday shopping season. Many stores opened their doors at 10:00 PM or at midnight on Thanksgiving, while other stores opened their doors at 4:00 AM this morning. TV news video showed hundreds, and sometimes even thousands, of people lined up in the middle of the night outside of stores, and then storming the doors once the stores opened for business.

It is all so obscene and vulgar.

In California, a woman injured 20 other shoppers with pepper spray at a Walmart so that they would not grab the items that she wanted to buy. In North Carolina, there was gunfire outside of a store. In past years there have been deaths on Black Friday. In New York a man was trampled to death outside of a store when people stepped and stomped on him as the store opened its doors in the middle of the night.

In Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 (NKJV), the author, presumed to be Solomon, wrote, "Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure ... And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind."

In Luke 12:15 (NKJV), Jesus said, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."

Black Friday has become a day of unbridled greed and materialism, in direct contrast to what Jesus taught in Luke 12:15.

Black Friday.

It is a day that is very appropriately named.

Thanksgiving

Psalm 50:14 (NKJV) - "Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High."

Psalm 95:2 (NKJV) - "Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms."

Psalm 100:4 (NKJV) - "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name."

JFK Dallas 11/22/63

48 years ago today, on November 22, 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Any American who was alive that day will remember exactly where he or she was, and exactly what he or she was doing, when the news was broadcast that President Kennedy had been killed.

John F. Kennedy was just 46 years old when he was assassinated on that fateful day in Dallas, and his wife, Jacqueline, the First Lady, became a widow at the young age of 34.

As the presidential motorcade wound its way through downtown Dallas on November 22, 1963, and as the motorcade slowly made its way past the Texas School Book Depository building, it is highly unlikely that President Kennedy was aware that his life was about to end in a matter of mere seconds.

But it did.

One of the lessons that we can learn from the tragic events of November 22, 1963, is that life is fleeting.

Psalm 103:15-16 (NKJV) says, "As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone ...."

Psalm 144:4 (NKJV) says, "Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow."

Isaiah 40:6-8 (NKJV) says, "All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever."

Life is fleeting, and our days are like grass, or a flower of the field, or a breath, or a passing shadow.

Our lives on this earth are fleeting and transitory, but the word of our God - and God Himself -stands forever.

That is where our focus should be as we remember the events of a very dark day in Dallas on November 22, 1963.

Sparrows

In 1905, Civilla D. Martin wrote a beautiful and timeless hymn entitled, "His Eye Is On The Sparrow." This classic hymn's refrain states, "For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me."

Martin's hymn is based on the words of Jesus found in Matthew 10:29-31 (NKJV), when Jesus told His disciples, "Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows."

In this cold, hard world, oftentimes it can feel as if God somehow has forgotten you or has abandoned you. We are particularly prone to feel this way during the darkest days and nights of our lives. Yet the words of Jesus in these verses, and in His comparison of our lives to those of the sparrows, shows how even the smallest details and the most insignificant circumstances of our lives fall under God's control, will, providence, and sovereignty.

God cares about the smallest sparrow and He cares even more about you. For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me - and you.

Pain

C. S. Lewis once wrote, "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

True Christianity involves pain and suffering, and for many believers it can be extreme, severe, and life-altering.

Joseph suffered severe abuse and injustice in his life, including when his brothers, who hated him, sold him as a slave to passing Ishmaelites. Yet after his slavery, his unjust imprisonment, then his rise from prison to being the most powerful man in Egypt after Pharaoh, and his subsequent reconciliation with his brothers, Joseph was able to say to them, in Genesis 50:20 (NKJV), "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive." Joseph's saw God's hand and God's will and God's sovereignty in his 13-year-long pain, suffering, and injustice.

Isaiah 53:3-4 (NKJV) says that Jesus was "despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief ... He was despised ... And carried our sorrows ... Smitten by God, and afflicted." Jesus suffered on the cross. As a result of His suffering, as Isaiah 53:5 (NKJV) declares, "And by His stripes we are healed."

In Philippians 1:29 (NKJV), the Apostle Paul wrote, "For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake ...."

Jesus said in Matthew 7:14 (NKJV), "Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."

True Christians will suffer in this life, and it may be extreme in nature. But take heart if you are suffering, knowing that Jesus suffered as well, as did Joseph, Paul, and countless other believers and martyrs throughout history. God may be using your pain as a megaphone in your life, but also know that He will never leave you nor forsake you. He is there with you, right in the midst of your most extreme pain and your most anguished suffering, and in the darkest of your most excrutiatingly painful days and nights.

Dachau

Christian Reger was a minister in the Confessing Church in Germany in the years leading up to World War II. Because of the church's stance against the ruling Nazi regime, Reger and other Confessing Church ministers, including Dietrich Bonhoeffer, were imprisoned by the Nazis. Reger, in fact, was betrayed and handed over to the Nazis by his own church's organist.

Christian Reger was imprisoned by the Nazis from 1941 to 1945 at the notorious Dachau concentration camp, located outside of Munich, Germany. The daily horror of life in a concentration camp was enough to cripple the faith and quench the spirit of most people.

But Christian Reger was not like most people.

In Philip Yancey's book, entitled "Where Is God When It Hurts?", Yancey writes the following about Reger:

"Christian Reger will tell the horror stories if you ask. But he will never stop there. He goes on to share his faith - how at Dachau, he was visited by a God who loves."

"Nietzsche said a man can undergo torture if he knows the why of his life," Christian Reger told Philip Yancey. "But I, here at Dachau, learned something far greater."

"I learned to know the Who of my life."

"He was enough to sustain me then, and is enough to sustain me still."

Titanic

On the evening of April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank in 12,000 feet of icy cold, black water. 1,507 passengers went down with the Titanic. The Titanic was supposed to have been "unsinkable." In fact, an engineer working on the construction of the Titanic was alleged to have said, "Even God Himself could not sink this ship!"

Famous last words.

One of the most amazing facts about the Titanic disaster is that, while the ship did have many lifeboats, most lifeboats were empty or only partially filled with people when the Titanic sank to the bottom of the icy, dark sea.

Think about it: how in the world could it have been possible for so many lifeboats - representing safety and survival - to have been empty or only partially filled that fateful evening? Why didn't more Titanic passengers enter them?

A main reason is that even after the Titanic hit the iceberg, many passengers still did not believe that the ship would ever sink.

Many passengers stayed on the Titanic, even as it began to take on more and more water and begin to sink into the depths of the ocean, rather than head for the safety of the lifeboats.

Many passengers thought that they were safer on the "unsinkable" Titanic, even after it began to list and sink, than in a small lifeboat.

That type of thinking cost hundreds of Titanic passengers their lives that night in the North Atlantic.

Do we see the same mindset in the Christian church?

It seems as though many people prefer what they see as the safety or security of remaining in a large denomination, or in a large church, or in a large ministry, even though it has lost its spiritual moorings, has hit an iceberg, and is getting ready to sink.

Many so-called Christians seem to think that they are safer in a large-but-sinking denomination, church, or ministry, instead of in a vessel that may be smaller in terms of size, but which offers far greater spiritual security.

In Matthew 7:13 (NKJV), Jesus said, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it."

On the night of April 14, 1912, many Titanic passengers foolishly placed their safety in the broad way which was represented by staying on the sinking ship. It led to their destruction. They paid for it with their lives.

In Matthew 18:20 (NKJV), Jesus said, "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."

Many of the Titanic's lifeboats only had two or three people gathered in them. But those groups of two or three gathered in the lifeboats survived the Titanic disaster.

Is your denomination, church, or ministry true to God's Word? Does it preach repentance, salvation by grace alone, Christ as Lord and Savior, obedience to God's Word, and submission to God's will?

Or is it another Titanic, listing from side to side, and ready to go under, even as everyone on board considers it unsinkable?

Don't make the same fatal mistake that so many hundreds of passengers on the Titanic made.

Get off of a large, sinking ship.

Head to the greater safety of a smaller lifeboat instead.

Servanthood Vs. Leadership

Many pastors, church leaders, and church members lust to be leaders. They attend leadership conferences, read leadership books, and spout leadership quotes and phrases.

But if the truth be told, there are very few authentic leaders out there who are worthy to be followed.

There are a lot of pretenders, but very few contenders.

The problem is that many people who want to be leaders have the wrong motives. Many of them are on a power kick, a desire to be the king of the hill and nothing more. This is not God-honoring, and God knows the true desires of anyone who seeks to be a leader.

If one truly desires to be an effective, God-honoring, and God-glorifying leader, then the formula is clearly stated in the Bible.

In order to be an effective leader, one must learn to be an effective servant.

Just like Jesus.

In Matthew 20:25-28 (NKJV), Jesus was speaking to His disciples about ambition, authority, and leadership. Jesus said to His disciples, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave - just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many."

Jesus practiced such service in John 13 when He washed His disciples' feet. Footwashing in that culture was the job for the lowliest servant in a household. Yet Jesus did it. He showed His leadership through such lowly service. In John 13:14-15 (NKJV), Jesus told His disciples, "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you."

In Luke 14:11 (NKJV), when speaking about worldly ambition and honor, Jesus said, "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Do you truly want to be a God-honoring, God-glorifying leader?

Then lead like Jesus, in humble service to others.

Patrick Henry

In May of 1765, in a speech to the Virginia House of Burgesses, American patriot Patrick Henry observed, "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!"

That same month, writing on the back of the Stamp Act Resolves, Henry commented, "Righteousness alone can exalt them as a nation. Reader! Whoever thou art, remember this, and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself, and encourage it in others."

Many years later, while reflecting on the Revolutionary War, Henry remarked about America's new-found independence that "whether this will prove a blessing or a curse, will depend upon the use our people make of the blessings, which a gracious God hath bestowed on us."

Can God bless America?

Should God bless America?

Only when the nation and its people return to the roots of righteousness of which Patrick Henry wrote.

Proverbs 14:34 (NKJV) - "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people."

The Church As A Mission Field

Do you know which world mission field today is in desperate need of faithful, obedient, and submissive missionaries?

It's not Africa.

It's not Asia.

It's not the 10/40 window.

It's not Muslim countries.

It's the so-called Christian church.

Many different surveys and studies have shown that the Christian church, tragically, is losing relevancy and impact in society today, all around the world.

The so-called Christian church has only itself to blame for this.

The so-called Christian church, all around the world, has been poisoned by those who preach false gospels, be it the prosperity gospel, or the "health and wealth" gospel, or the "name it and claim it" gospel, or "easy believe-ism", or cultural compromise.

In Galatians 1:6-7 (NKJV), the Apostle Paul writes to the church at Galatia, "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Jesus Christ."

The Apostle Paul would also write to Timothy, in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NKJV), that "the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables."

That time, of which the Apostle Paul writes, has come.

The impact that the Christian church should have on this world has been diluted by a different gospel, a perverted gospel, unsound doctrine, and a preference for fables instead of God's truth.

That is why all authentic believers must look upon the Christian church as a mission field of utmost importance and high priority.

Numbers

C. I. Scofield once was scheduled to speak at a small, country church in North Carolina on a Sunday evening. That Sunday had been a very stormy day, and when Scofield arrived at the small North Carolina church that evening, only a handful of people were there.

The church's young pastor was greatly embarrassed that only a few people had turned out to hear Scofield speak, and he apologized profusely to Scofield for the low number of people in the pews that evening.

"Don't worry," Scofield told the young pastor. "Jesus only had 12 followers, so who am I to ask for more?"

Scofield's humility was the exact opposite of what we see today in so many churches and among so many pastors.

So many pastors lust after big numbers today. This is sinful.

So many pastors want to fill up their churches, but with the wrong motive. Today, sadly, it frequently has become more about bragging rights than about transforming people into authentic, obedient, repentant, and submissive followers of Christ.

No pastor will ever admit to lusting after big numbers - it isn't the "pastoral" thing to do, of course - but most pastors are guilty of it. Many pastors will justify their desire for big numbers as merely wanting to reach the lost, but far too frequently the truth of the matter is that they really are seeking to build up their own, earthly kingdom instead of the kingdom of God.

Lusting after big numbers is based on the sin of pride. It is not based on authentic, Christ-like characteristics such as humility, meekness, and suffering.

God punished the Israelites harshly when David counted the people (2 Samuel 24). God was angry with David's motives, which probably were based on pride and self-glory. God also knows the true motives and the true hearts of all pastors who seek fame or fortune or celebrity from big numbers instead of being true shepherds of their flocks.

If you lust after big numbers, then play fantasy football instead of pastoring a church. God knows your heart, and He also knows your true, inner motives.

Preach

Always preach the Word of God as if you were doing so for the very last time in your life.

One day it will be.

Camel

In Matthew 19:16-26, as well as in Mark 10:17-27 and in Luke 18:18-27, Jesus encountered the rich young ruler. Jesus told the rich young ruler, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."

The rich young ruler went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

The rich young ruler, as wealthy as he was, did not want to pay the high price that it cost (and that it still costs today) to be a true follower of Jesus.

Jesus then told his disciples, "Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

I believe that one of the reasons for this commentary by Jesus is that when a person has great wealth, then he or she tends to put his or her trust in said wealth instead of in God.

A rich person tends to put his or her trust, and his or her faith, more in his or her savings, or bank account statements, or investments, or property holdings, or ownership interests, or retirement funds, instead of in God.

A rich person tends to put his or her trust in the tangible evidence of his or her wealth, instead of in God.

God clearly has blessed certain believers with great wealth. Old Testament examples include Abraham, David, and Solomon. New Testament examples include Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.

At the same time, however, I have seen how earthly wealth and earthly riches have destroyed the testimonies of countless so-called believers, as they switched their faith focus from God to their earthly accumulations.

God has blessed you with wealth, then use it all for His great glory.

If God has blessed you with wealth, though, be very, very careful, as the enemy surely will try to use your wealth to snare you, and to get you to lose faith in God and gain faith in your riches instead.

Don't let your earthly riches cost you a place in God's eternal kingdom.

Think of a camel trying to contort its way through the eye of a needle.

That's what you're up against.

Prayer

In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NKJV), the Apostle Paul wrote, "Pray without ceasing."

In James 5:16 (NKJV), James wrote, "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."

In Luke 18:1-8 (NKJV), Jesus spoke a parable about a widow and a judge. The widow sought justice from the judge against her adversary. The judge, who did not fear God nor regard man, nonetheless eventually granted the widow's request for justice because of her persistence and her perseverance. Jesus concluded the parable by saying, "Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"

God rewards the believer who persists and perseveres in prayer. God's response may not be as speedy as the believer desires, and may not even be in the exact form that the believer desires, but God will respond to believers who cry out in anguish for His almighty help and deliverance.

Persevere and persist in prayer. Cry out day and night to Him. God is listening. He will respond in His sovereign time and in His sovereign manner.

Take Up His Cross Daily

One of the most consistent messages of Jesus, as seen in Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, and Luke 9:23, was, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."

Denial and the daily taking up of the cross run contrary to the grain of our fleshly nature, but such is the true cost of following Jesus.

Denial and the daily taking up of the cross may come in the form of obedience, service, surrender, trial, tribulation, suffering, and even death itself.

Our fleshly nature will always seek ease, comfort, and pleasure, but such is not the true cost of discipleship and submission to Christ.

In Matthew 7:14, Jesus adds, "Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."

Flee from anyone who tells you that the Christian life should be one full of comfort, ease, and pleasure. Jesus tells us the exact opposite, that the true Christian life will be difficult and will involve significant self-denial and the daily taking up of the cross.

True Christianity is not easy and never will be. Just look at the price that Jesus paid.

Covetousness

In Luke 12:15 (NKJV), Jesus addressed a crowd, and He told them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."

We live in a world which is addicted to materialism and riches. We always want more stuff. We always want the latest item or the newest gadget. If it's trendy or stylish or hip or cool, then we've gotta have it.

Tragically, that attitude also has infected much of the church by way of the poison of the prosperity gospel. Too many so-called Christians see God as really nothing more than a genie in a bottle, ready and waiting to grant us all of our materialistic wishes and covetous desires.

Tragically, that also is what far too many churches and pastors teach these days, and it is destroying the reputation of the church, as the world sees so-called Christians who covet and lust after earthly treasures just as much as anyone else does.

God does not want you to be rich. He wants you to be righteous.

God does not want you to be happy. He wants you to be holy.

God does not want you to be comfortable. He wants you to be a person that reflects His character.

That is true abundance.

A Roaring Lion

In 1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV), Peter writes, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."

Be alert. The devil is absolutely vicious and bloodthirsty, and he will do all that he can to tempt you, to discourage you, and to ruin you, your walk, and your testimony. The devil loves nothing better than to see people abandon the faith and return to the world, and he will stop at nothing to accomplish it.

I have seen far too many seemingly faithful believers who have gone off of the Christian path and who have abandoned the faith. It is so utterly sad and so utterly tragic.

It is vital to remain firm in the faith, no matter your life's circumstances. It is vital to remain obedient to God's Word and submissive to God's will, no matter what. It is the only way to resist the roaring lion that will never give up trying to devour you.

Suffering For Christ

In 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 (NKJV), the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in the city of Corinth about how he had been suffering for Christ. Paul listed the multitude of sufferings that he had endured, including how he had been "in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness - besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches."

In today's day and age, the vast majority of Christians have absolutely no interest in suffering for Christ as Paul did.

In today's day and age, the vast majority of Christians are more concerned with personal comfort, materialistic prosperity, and earthly treasures.

In today's day and age, that is why the church is becoming more and more irrelevant in so much of the world.

In today's day and age, the church needs fewer comfort-seekers.

In today's day and age, the church needs more Pauls.

Striped Candy

A. W. Tozer once reflected on the sorry state of the contemporary evangelical church. Tozer observed:

"It is now common practice in most evangelical churches to offer the people, especially the young people, a maximum of entertainment and a minimum of serious instruction. It is scarcely possible in most places to get anyone to attend a meeting where the only attraction is God. One can only conclude that God's professed children are bored with Him, for they must be wooed to meeting with a stick of striped candy in the form of religious movies, games, and refreshments. This has influenced the whole pattern of church life, and even brought into being a new type of church architecture designed to house the golden calf."

Tozer also commented:

"The striped candy technique has been so fully integrated into our present religious thinking, it is simply taken for granted. Its victims never dream that it is not part of the teachings of Christ and His apostles. Any objections to the carryings-on of our present golden calf Christianity is met with the triumphant reply, 'But we are winning them!' And winning them to what? To true discipleship? To cross-carrying? To self-denial? To separation from the world? To crucifixion of the flesh? To holy living? To nobility of character? To a despising of the world's treasures? To hard self-discipline? To love for God? To total commital to Christ? Of course, the answer to all these questions is 'no.'"

What is amazing is that A. W. Tozer died back in 1963.

A. W. Tozer died 48 years ago.

A. W. Tozer's words and his criticism of the sorry state of the contemporary evangelical church, and its striped candy mentality, however, are as timely today as they were a half-century ago.

Rivers In The Desert

In Isaiah 43:118-19 (NKJV), God tells Israel, "Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."

In these verses God is telling Israel how He will deliver them in the future. We today also can take comfort in these verses and know that God similarly will deliver us and make roads in the wilderness and rivers in the desert for us as well.

One of the enemy's most common attacks against believers is to get them to focus on past mistakes, errors, and sins, so that they get discouraged and stop serving God. Frequently the enemy wants us to focus only on former failures, while God wants us to focus on new opportunities to honor Him and to glorify Him. That's where God provides roads in the wilderness and rivers in the desert for us.

Repent of your sins, learn from your mistakes, correct your errors, and focus on your walk with God and the future that God has in store for you.

You can't drive forward if you're stuck in reverse.

Hands

Elisabeth Elliot:

"Leave it all in the hands that were wounded for you."

Faith

Elisabeth Elliot on faith:

"Faith's most severe tests come not when we see nothing, but when we see a stunning array of evidence that seems to prove our faith vain."

"Faith does not eliminate questions. But faith knows where to take them."

Amused

To follow up on yesterday's "Jesustainment" blog post, today I offer the words of Charles Spurgeon on the same issue:

"I fear there are some who preach with the view of amusing men, and as long as people can be gathered in crowds, and their ears can be tickled, and they can retired pleased with what they have heard, the orator is content, and folds his hands, and goes back self-satisfied ... Now observe, if I, or you, or any of us, or all of us, shall have spent our lives merely in amusing men, or educating men, or moralizing men, when we shall come to give our account at the last great day we shall be in a very sorry condition, and we shall have but a very sorry record to render; for of what avail will it be to a man to be educated when he comes to be damned? Of what service will it be to him to have been amused when the trumpet sounds, and heaven and earth are shaking, and the pit opens wide her jaws of fire and swallows up the soul unsaved? Of what avail even to have moralized a man if still he is on the left hand of the judge, and if still, 'Depart, ye cursed,' shall be his portion?"

(Charles Spurgeon, "Soul Saving Our One Business," The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. 25, 674-676)

Jesustainment

I've invented a new word today, and that word is "Jesustainment."

"Jesustainment" is what is substituted for true teaching and true worship in many churches today.

"Jesustainment" dilutes God's Word and turns Sunday morning church services into something more akin to a flashy Broadway show or production, without offering anything of true or lasting spiritual substance.

"Jesustainment" offers amusement instead of true spiritual edification.

"Jesustainment" favors the world's entertainment values and gimmicks over a pure presentation of God's Word.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones once observed, "The glory of the gospel is that when the church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it."

"Jesustainment" should not come as a surprise to the authentic believer. In fact, Paul wrote about it to Timothy, in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NKJV), when he predicted, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables."

If "Jesustainment" is the norm in your church, and if Sunday mornings have become nothing more than a weekly, "feel-good" entertainment show or production, then flee for your soul.

Not My Will, But Yours

In the Garden of Gethsemane (which means "oil press"), prior to His trial and crucifixion, Jesus prayed (Luke 22:42, NKJV), "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done."

Jesus' prayer, uttered as "His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22:44, NKJV), was one filled with anguish and obedience. That is what total submission to God's will is all about.

Elisabeth Elliot has observed, "I realized that the deepest spiritual lessons are not learned by His letting us have our way in the end, but by His making us wait, bearing with us in love and patience, until we are able to honestly pray what He taught His disciples to pray: 'Thy will be done.'"

Jesus taught His disciples to pray, "Thy will be done", and then He prayed it Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane.

We, too, must pray, "Thy will be done", but it can be very difficult for us to do at times, because our fleshly nature frequently wars against it. Oftentimes our fleshly nature tries to convince us that our will should trump God's in our lives, and that we know better than Him concerning what is good, right, and spiritually edifying for us.

But we must follow Jesus' example. Jesus deliberately subjugated His human will to God's perfect will, even though Jesus also knew and also understood the enormous pain, suffering, and sacrifice on the cross that would be a part of it.

But it made all the difference.

The next time that you are tempted to think that your own personal will should trump God's in your life, think of Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, and how He subjugated His own will to God's, and how His subjugation of His will, and His sacrifice on the cross, made eternal life possible for you and for me.

The Cross

Elisabeth Elliot:

"To be a follower of the Crucified means, sooner or later, a personal encounter with the cross. And the cross always entails loss."

Rightly Govern A Nation

George Washington:

"It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible."

Suffering

Elisabeth Elliot:

"Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering. The love of God is of a different nature altogether. It does not hate tragedy. It never denies reality. It stands in the very teeth of suffering. The love of God did not protect His own Son. That was the proof of His love - that He gave that Son, that He let Him go to Calvary's cross, though 'legions of angels' might have rescued Him. He will not necessarily protect us - not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process."

Doormat

Charles Spurgeon:

"Do not desire to be the principal man in the church. Be lowly. Be humble. The best man in the church is the man who is willing to be a doormat for all to wipe their boots on, the brother who does not mind what happens to him at all, so long as God is glorified."

A Lesson In Cuba

I have had the great privilege and honor of ministering in Cuba on multiple occasions. One time, after I had finished speaking in a wonderful church in Havana, the pastor of the church asked me if I knew the difference between Cuban Christians and American Christians.

"What is the difference?" I asked the pastor.

"Here in Cuba, we do not have the distractions that you have in America," he responded.

The Cuban pastor was absolutely correct.

Here in the USA, our high-speed lives are filled with the likes of iPhone, iPad, Xbox, Wii, texting, tweeting, Facebooking, and a million other distractions that cause us to busy ourselves more and to glorify God less.

In Cuba, the average person makes about $5-10 a month. Yes, you read that right.

In Cuba, the average person cannot afford to buy a computer, let alone have access to high-speed, or even low-speed, Internet. The same goes for the average Cuban not being able to own an iPhone, iPad, Xbox, Wii, or being able to text, tweet, or Facebook.

But in Cuba, the Christians are not as distracted as we are here in America.

Distractions are ruining the American church.

Distractions have caused us to stop gazing heavenward.

In Matthew 6:33 (NKJV), Jesus says, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness ...."

Too frequently in America today we seek pleasurable, amusing, and entertaining distractions instead of the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

It took a Cuban pastor to show me this. And he was right.

Scourging

The gospel accounts of the events leading up to the crucifixion of Christ tell us that Pontius Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged by Roman soldiers prior to crucifying Him. The scourging of Jesus would have involved stripping Him, tying Him to a post, and beating Him with an instrument which consisted of a short wooden handle to which several leather thongs were attached. Each individual leather thong would have had pieces of jagged metal or bone attached to it on the end. The purpose of the scourging was to physically weaken and to humiliate Jesus prior to His crucifixion. If you have ever seen "The Passion of the Christ", then you most certainly remember the brutal scourging scene in the film.

Jesus was scourged prior to His crucifixion, but Hebrews 12:6 (NKJV) tells us that God also scourges His true children as well:

"For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives."

Verses 7 and 8 then tell us that only God's true children receive His scourging and chastening. In fact, a person who has not been chastened and scourged by God may not be one of His true children.

Scourging is brutal, radical, and extremely painful. Generally, scourging in our lives comes in the form of testings, trials, and sufferings, all as allowed by God as part of His sovereign will and plan. God scourges in order to educate, train, discipline, and perfect His true children, even though the process is an extremely painful one. The objective of God's scourging is to yield "the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:11, NKJV)

Scourging is never easy and it is never pleasant. God allows it, however, for the perfecting of His true children, and as proof of His love for them.

God Is God

Elisabeth Elliot:

"God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to."

Evil & Good

Joseph's brothers cast him into a pit and then sold him as a slave. Joseph was then unjustly accused of rape by Potiphar's wife and spent probably 13 years in prison for a crime which he did not commit. Joseph correctly interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh's chief butler and chief baker while in prison, but then the chief butler forgot about Joseph for two years. Finally the chief butler remembered Joseph when Pharaoh was looking for someone to correctly interpret his own dreams. Joseph was presented to Pharaoh, correctly interpreted his dreams about seven years of abundance and seven years of famine in Egypt, and then Joseph was made Pharaoh's second-in-command. God used Joseph to save Egypt from the coming famine, and God used Joseph to save his brothers and their families as well, the exact same brothers who had hated him, cast him into a pit, and then sold him as a slave.

In Genesis 50:20 (NKJV), after Joseph had revealed himself to his brothers and had been reunited with his father, Jacob, prior to his death, Joseph told his brothers, "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive."

Joseph's brothers had meant evil against him, but God had meant it for good. God showed His sovereignty over both the evil and the good in the life of Joseph.

People will hurt you. People will wound you very badly. People will mean evil against you. Those closest to you may hurt you the most, and may wound you the most, and may mean the most evil against you. You may suffer greatly, just as Joseph did. But God, in His sovereign will, may even take man's evil against you and use it for His eternal good. Only He can do that. Ask Him to do so.

To My Knees

Abraham Lincoln is revered by many as the greatest President of the United States. Lincoln served as U. S. President during the nation's bloody and divisive Civil War between 1861 and 1865. More than 600,000 soldiers died during the war.

At one point during the Civil War, as the nation appeared to be near death due to self-inflicted wounds, Lincoln confided to an associate, "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go."

President Abraham Lincoln was right.

Crises draw us closer to God.

Crises strengthen our prayer lives.

Crises drive us to our knees.

It's the best place to be.

Need & Have

Dutch Christian and World War II Holocaust survivor Corrie ten Boom:

"You may never know that Jesus is all you need, until Jesus is all you have."

The Will Of God

Elisabeth Elliot, whose first husband, Jim Elliot, was killed in 1956 while attempting to make missionary contact with the Auca Indians in Ecuador, once made the following observation about the will of God:

"The will of God is never exactly what you expect it to be. It may seem to be much worse, but in the end it's going to be a lot better and a lot bigger."

Pains

C. S. Lewis:

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

(The Problem of Pain, 1940)

Will

Charles Spurgeon:

"When your will is God's will, you will have your will."

Missionary Or Imposter

Charles Spurgeon:

"Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter."

Humble

Charles Spurgeon:

"Every Christian has a choice between being humble or being humbled."

The World & The Church

Charles Spurgeon:

"I believe that one reason why the church of God at this present moment has so little influence over the world is because the world has so much influence over the church."

A Nation

Proverbs 14:34 (NKJV):

"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people."

Do you want God to bless your nation?

Then work to make it a nation of righteousness.

Heal

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV):

"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."