Author: pastortoney

2Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, 3knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  James 1: 2-3 HCSB

You should tell your face that you have the Joy of the Lord in your heart. Does that statement make you wonder? It does me when I see people who say they are saved. As I interact with people on a daily basis I wonder if they have told their faces they are saved. You see our facial expressions tell a lot about our lives. Now I understand that you may not always be happy. Since happiness is based upon your surroundings and what is currently happening in your life. We all go through those stages. Joyfulness is based upon what is in your heart. When you are saved the Lord places His Joy in your heart. You see you have passed from death to life, so you are no longer a walking dead person, but now have life. The Bible goes on to tell us that we should consider trials of this life a matter of Joy, because it will increase our faith. I know all of this sounds impossible, but when if you are truly saved then you know I am right. You see we as children of God are strange people according to the Bible. People do not understand how we are to have this joy going through tough times of life. But when our face doesn’t show the joy in our hearts, then why in the world would a lost person want what we claim to have? So I suggest that either you send missionaries to your face and let it know that you have accepted the good news in your heart, or maybe you really need to accept the Good news.

There are several objections why we don’t share our Faith. They are as follows; there are many ways to God, I do not believe or have always believed in God, how can a loving God condemn someone to hell, and why does God allow evil and pain to take place? All of these raise valid concern in an unbelievers mind and I a will attempt to answer these with both practical answers and biblical references.

First let us address the comment there are many ways to God. I will often agree with this statement and then clarify what I mean. I will say there are many ways to God, because at some point everyone will stand before Him for judgment. But John 14:6 says “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. In this verse we see that God is referred to, as Father and that will show the loving aspect of God. He has given us the chance to be one of His children through accepting the work of Christ on the cross. John 1:12-13 says But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.  They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.   You see thinking there are many ways to God and Believing in the One true way to the Father are completely different things.

Second we will address whether or not you believe in God. Let us tackle when someone says I don’t believe in God. I sometimes will say you can stand out in the middle of the road and say I don’t believe in big trucks, but if one hits you that doesn’t change the fact that it really existed. Or if you say I don’t believe in gravity and jump out of a plane without a parachute, it won’t change the fact that you will be picked up in pieces will it. See God doesn’t exist because we believe in Him or not, He has always existed as shown in Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,”* says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”  Next let us deal with the person who says I have always believed in God. Often times I say that is awesome so it should not be a stretch for you to believe in His son Jesus Christ and what He has done for you. I will even goes as far as giving them James 2:19-20 that says you say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. * Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. ²⁰ How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?

Third let us talk about if you face the question how can a loving God condemn someone to hell? I will often times just say off the cuff the it is not God that condemns people to hell, we take care of that all by ourselves. Then I will share John 3:16-18 that says ¹⁶ “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

¹⁸ “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.

Fourth let us deal with the question of why does God allow evil and pain to take place? I will instantly say that is not Gods fault that evil or hurt takes place. I will often times try and take them all the way back to the garden and walk through what sin has done to the world. Therefore explaining that it is not really allowing bad things to happen, but sin causing bad things to happen. Make sense?

Now to attempt to provide some comfort and assurance to people who have made a decision to follow Jesus Christ. We have all heard the parable of the farmer and the seeds, just in case here is a small part to illustrate what could happen “Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. ⁴ As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. ⁵ Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. ⁷ Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants.   I believe personally that after decisions to follow our sin nature automatically tries to make us believe that we really didn’t do what we thought. People will always doubt if you make Salvation out to be something it was not intended to be. I first want people to realize that Jesus simply says to follow Him first, He knows that you still have hang ups and your not perfect. He will change you from the inside out, just give Him time to work. I am also quick to share with them stories of the disciples Peter mostly and even Paul had struggles after he got saved. The most important thing I believe you can tell somebody is that Salvation is a one and done, you can’t lose it couldn’t give it back if you wanted to. Whom Jesus saves He seals and holds in His hands where nothing can ever remove you. You might have times that you need to check your salvation that is good that means the Holy Spirit is working in you to remove some impurities. Just stop and pray for guidance and trust in the finished work of the cross. If none of the above stuff seems to comfort them at all, I sometimes ask if they are sure they got saved or were they just following the crowd at the time. I then share my story of just following the crowd in third grade and show how dangerous that really is. People it is ok to pray with somebody again so that they know for sure they are saved. You would want somebody to do that for you.

16All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2 Tim 3: 16 -17 HCSB

Fourth, Scripture uses Scripture in a way that supports its inerrancy. At times an entire argument rests on a single word (e.g., John 10:34 – 35 and “God” in Ps. 82:6), the tense of a verb (e.g., the present tense in Matt. 22:32), and the difference between a singular and a plural noun (e.g., “seed” in Gal. 3:16). If the Bible’s inerrancy does not extend to every detail, these arguments lose their force. The use of any word may be a matter of whim and may even be an error. It might be objected that the NT does not always cite OT texts with precision, that as a matter of fact precision is the exception rather than the rule. This is a fair response, and an adequate answer requires more space than is available here. A careful study of the way in which the OT is used in the NT, however, demonstrates that the NT writers quoted the OT not cavalierly but quite carefully.

Finally, inerrancy follows from what the Bible says about God’s character. Repeatedly, the Scriptures teach that God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18). If, then, the Bible is from God and his character is behind it, it must be inerrant and infallible.

A second argument for biblical inerrancy is that this has been the view of the church throughout its history. One must remember that if inerrancy was part of the corpus of orthodox doctrine, then in many discussions it was assumed rather than defended. Further, the term “inerrancy” may be a more modern way of expressing the belief in the English language. Nevertheless, in each period of the church’s history one can cite clear examples of those who affirm inerrancy.

In the early church Augustine writes, “I have learned to yield this respect and honor only to the canonical books of Scripture: of these alone do I most firmly believe that the authors were completely free from error.”

The two great Reformers, Luther and Calvin, bear testimony to biblical infallibility. Luther says, “But everyone, indeed, knows that at times they (the fathers) have erred as men will; therefore I am ready to trust them only when they prove their opinions from Scripture, which has never erred.” While Calvin does not use the phrase “without error,” there can be little question that he embraced inerrancy. Of the writers of the Gospels he comments, “The Spirit of God . . . appears purposely to have regulated their style in such a manner, that they all wrote one and the same history, with the most perfect agreement, but in different ways.”

In modern times one could cite the works of Princeton theologians Archibald Alexander, Charles Hodge, A A Hodge, and B B Warfield as modern formulators and defenders of the full inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture.

Because epistemologies differ, this argument has been formulated in at least two very different ways. For some, knowledge claims must, to be justified, be indubitable or incorrigible. It is not enough that a belief is true and is believed on good grounds. It must be beyond doubt and question. For such an epistemology inerrancy is essential. Inerrancy guarantees the incorrigibility of every statement of Scripture. Therefore, the contents of Scripture can be objects of knowledge.

Epistemologies that do not require such a high standard of certitude result in this argument for inerrancy: If the Bible is not inerrant, then any claim it makes may be false. This means not that all claims are false, but that some might be. But so much of the Bible is beyond direct verification. Thus, only its inerrancy assures the knower that his or her claim is justified.

When discussing inerrancy we must also remember that if we take either side out of the equation (God or Man) it messes it up.

How are we to live out our lives concerning Scripture if we believe what this doctrine teaches is the difficult matter? We must first fully understand what scripture teaches about are fallen state. Romans 6:23 says ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. ^[1] Here in this verse we find what we deserve and we also see a glimpse of what God has done for us. We find it said in another way in Romans 5:8 ⁸ But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.^[2] The Bible tells us in I Corinthians 6: 19-20 You do not belong to yourself, ²⁰ for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.^[3] The early Christ followers would have understood this relationship somewhat better than their modern counterparts. See the practice of slavery was very much a part of society and once a slave was purchased they no longer had any rights of their own. We as Christ followers need to understand the same thing. We no longer have opinions on the matters of the world. When people ask us we just simply need to reply with what the Bible has to say about that topic. Paul often times referred to himself as the slave or bondservant of the Lord Jesus. Our entire lives need to hinge on the absolute authority of the scriptures in our lives. The Bible teaches of its own authority. Jesus spoke of its authority (Matthew 5:17-20 and John 10: 34-35) and says the Bible is indestructible. Something that contains errors cannot be our absolute authority in life.

I believe the reason many Christians don’t live out their faith is they have never fully surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus. We are taught a very important principle in Galatians 2: 20 ²⁰ My old self has been crucified with Christ.* It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ^[4] When we understand that when we accept by faith the payment Christ has provided we also need to understand the Father no longer sees us, but sees His Son instead. The Bible teaches in Hebrew 8: 25 ²⁵ Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save* those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. ^[5] When we have someone who has given so much for us shouldn’t we be diligent about wanting to obey everything that they command us to do. Jesus tells us that if we love Him we will obey Him (John 14:5). It stands to reason then if we truly love Jesus as we profess with our mouth that our actions would show. If you are a Christ Follower, then people should be able to look for and find fruit in your life. Why? Because a disciple of Jesus will produce spiritual fruit. Jesus said in John 15:8 “⁸ When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. ^[6]”

So in closing, for us to believe scripture is inspired and inerrant and not to obey it fully in our everyday lives would cause one to sue his brain for non-support.

16All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3:16-17 HCSB

Theologians have called the divine action by which the words of Scripture were put into the minds of human writers inspiration. Since God originated not simply the thoughts, but the very words of Scripture, the terms verbal or plenary (“full”) inspiration have been used.

The Latin roots of the English word inspiration suggest that God “breathed (his words) into” the biblical writers. This is not untrue, but it would be more in accord with biblical imagery to think of the expiration of Scripture. For example, Peter declared “God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ should suffer” (Acts 3:18; see also 1:16; 3:21; 4:25). Using this metaphor of oral speech (in which words are “exhaled” through the mouth), 2 Timothy 3:16 states that Scripture is “breathed out by God” (through the mouth of his spokesmen). This is the meaning of the Greek word theopneustos in that passage, which the NIV translates as “God-breathed” (KJV, NKJV: “given by inspiration of God”; NASB: “inspired by God”).

The relationship between inerrancy and inspiration is that inspiration supports inerrancy. For this to be true we must have complete Faith that every word is from God in some form or fashion. Believing God takes faith (Genesis 15:6). 2 Peter 1:20 – 21 says²⁰ above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, * ²¹ or from human initiative. No, the Holy Spirit moved those prophets, and they spoke from God. ^[1]   We believe God is perfect and cannot lie as scripture teaches. Hebrews 6: 18 says¹⁸ So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.^[2]

Inerrancy is the view that, when in its original manuscript and interpreted correctly, the Bible is completely true in all subjects it speaks on and about. Actually, the Bible speaks on its own trustworthiness due to its inspired nature (from God). 2 Timothy 3:16 says All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. ^[3] By believing that God and His nature are divine (perfect), we subject ourselves to the belief represented in 2 Timothy. Numbers 23:19 says  God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? ^[4] The Bible is His Book of Promises and by God, being perfect, divinely inspiring it makes it absolute truth.

The primary arguments for inerrancy are biblical, historical, and epistemological in nature.

First, the Bible teaches its own inspiration, and this requires inerrancy. The Scriptures are the breath of God (2 Timothy 3:16), which guarantees they are without error.

Second, in Deuteronomy 13:1 – 5 and 18:20 – 22 Israel is given criteria for distinguishing God’s message and messenger from false prophecies and prophets. One mark of a divine message is total and absolute truthfulness. A valid parallel can be made between the prophet and the Bible. The prophet’s word was usually oral, although it might be recorded and included in a book; the writers of Scripture communicated God’s word in written form. Both were instruments of divine communication, and in both cases the human element was an essential ingredient.

Third, the Bible teaches its own authority, and this requires inerrancy. The two most commonly cited passages are Matthew 5:17 – 20 and John 10: 34 – 35. Both record the words of Jesus. In the former Jesus said that heaven and earth will pass away before the smallest detail of the law fails to be fulfilled. The law’s authority rests on the fact that every minute detail will be fulfilled. In John 10:34 – 35 Jesus says that Scripture cannot be broken and so is absolutely binding. While it is true that both passages emphasize the Bible’s authority, this authority can only be justified by or grounded in inerrancy. Something that contains errors cannot be absolutely authoritative.

16All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,17so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3: 16-17 HCSB

In what sense is Scripture inspired? The short answer is in every way possible. Although I am sure that is not the answer that you are looking for. The essential point to be grasped is that when men wrote the Scriptures, their statements did not originate in their own thinking, but were put into their minds by the direct action of the Holy Spirit. They wrote the word of God in the sense that they wrote words that came directly from God. Thus, when Paul wrote, for example, “I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart” (Romans. 9:2), he was certainly expressing his own feelings, yet his desire to express that sorrow, and the words with which he expressed it, and perhaps also the sorrow itself, were put into his heart by the Holy Spirit.

Consider another example, that of Jesus’ disciples who would be taken before rulers to give an account of their faith. Jesus told them not to think about what they would say, but rather to “say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit” (Mark 13:11). Here Jesus explains what inspiration involves. When an inspired speaker or writer says something, even if it is first-person testimony, it is not he who is speaking, but God. Now of course the person is speaking in the sense that he expresses thoughts that are in his mind, but he is not speaking in the more important sense that he formulated those thoughts. The inspired speaker or writer utters only words put directly into his mind by the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4).

In 2 Peter 1:21, Peter explicitly denies that the Scriptures were written “by an act of human will.” The motivation to write Scripture came rather from the Holy Spirit, as we have seen. Scripture originated when “men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” That is, the Spirit impelled them to write, and they wrote only words that came from God. There is disagreement as to what verse 20 means, but in my judgment it refers to the writer’s interpretation of his subject matter: “No passage of Scripture expresses one’s own [i.e., the writer’s] interpretation,” since the impulse to write comes from the Holy Spirit, not the writer’s will (vs. 21).

Accordingly, when Paul declared “the word of God’s message” to the Thessalonians, they received it “not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:13; see also 1 Corinthians 2:12-13). The letters of Paul went out over his signature, and truly expressed the thoughts in his mind, but those thoughts were put there by God (2 Peter 3:15-16) and were expressed in sentences provided by the Holy Spirit.

Consider the Psalms, which were written mostly by the prophet David and which contain many prophecies of Christ. David’s own testimony about the origin of the Psalms could not be clearer: “David the son of Jesse declares, the sweet psalmist of Israel, The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue ” (2 Samuel 23:1-2). Similarly, Peter explains, “the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David” (Acts 1:16). When David and the other prophets prophesied of Christ and his coming kingdom, they were puzzled by the statements being formed in their minds, and so they were “seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow” (1 Peter 1:11).

Another interesting glimpse into the mental processes of an inspired writer is provided in Acts 2:25-31. There Peter (speaking “as the Spirit was giving [him] utterance,” vs. 4) explains that David, although writing first-person pronouns in Psalm 16, as in “Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades,” was not writing about himself (since he would remain in the grave), but about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Since David was a prophet (vs. 30a), God was giving him the words of Psalm 16 (see Deuteronomy 18:18), but as he wrote them, his mind was fully engaged to understand as much as he could of what he was writing. He recalled (presumably with the Spirit’s nudging) God’s promise that the Christ would come from his descendants (vs. 30b), and, with insight provided by the Spirit, he “looked ahead” to that day and (in words provided by the Spirit) “spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay” (vs. 31). The inspired writers evidently understood most of what they were writing, although some understanding of it was not granted to them (1 Peter 1:11-12).

29“But you,” He asked them again, “who do you say that I am? ”

Mark 8:29 HCSB

Who do you believe Jesus is? You see the way we answer this very important question will determine our eternal salvation. You might be thinking to yourself how is that possible? I was talking with a man today who was a very nice man. I asked him if he would join us one Sunday for fellowship. This man was very polite but declined my invitation, saying that he didn’t believe the same as we do. So as you probably guessed by now I asked him what he believed. After some circle talk he told me that he thought Jesus lived and even died upon the cross but wasn’t God’s son. He went on to say some other things that we will cover in further articles. You see much like this man there are many people who believe that Jesus lived and even died upon the cross but just want to believe that He was a good man, prophet or even a teacher. Then there are religions out there that believe that Jesus is a god, but not the God. Both of these views are completely contrary to what the Word of God says. The Bible tells us in John that Jesus (Word) was with God in the beginning and was God. It goes on to tell us at the baptism of Jesus, God spoke from Heaven telling us this is His Beloved Son. Maybe your thinking right now, everyone is entitled to his or her own views or opinions. Well you are right, but when they are wrong isn’t our duty as followers of Christ to share what’s right. When you are wrong about who Jesus is, that changes everything about salvation. You see our God doesn’t sit high upon a mountain and expect us to climb up to Him, He came to Earth in the form of His Son Jesus to redeem His creation back to Him. So they might be the best people in the world or sincerely believe something someone else has taught them. But when the rubber meets the road you can be well intentioned and still end up wrong. So let me ask you who do you say that Jesus is? You see Peter got this question right, what about you?

21“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord! ’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name? ’ 23Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’ Matthew 7: 21-23 HCSB

Well let me just say at the beginning that some of you may get mad and not like what I am saying in this article. Just remember that what I say is out of love and concern for your eternal destination. I have found that in my time as a follower of Christ that there are many fake Christians. Understand what I mean by that. You see if you just watch their outside actions you might even buy into the idea that they are a follower of Christ. The thing to remember is that the outside doesn’t always tell what the book is about. I found that many people sit in church and really don’t know why they are sitting there. Grandma and Grandpa sat here and mom and dad brought us as kids. You see they can’t answer the most important question. Let me ask you right now. If you died after reading this article and was standing in the doorway of Heaven looking through the door and Jesus was standing on the other side asking you why He should let you in, What would you say? Well what would you say? The sad thing is there are some of you sitting there that are firing away the same answers I hear on the streets. Let me see if I can guess any of them. I am a good person, I go to church, I walked the aisle, I got baptized, I am a member at so and so. Did I get any of them right? You see all of those things are good things in and of themselves. But not one of them will get Jesus to open the door for you. What they will do is cause Him to repeat the words of Matthew 7: 23 to you. You see sitting in church doesn’t make you a Christian; no more than sitting in the garage makes you a Buick. Nor does getting baptized save you, because if you weren’t saved prior to it; all you did was get wet. I guess what I am saying is make sure that you can remember a time when you surrendered your life over to Jesus and began a personal relationship with Him. You see the only thing that will get you into Heaven is to accept what Jesus has done for you upon the cross. God made a way for us because He knew we could not do it ourselves. Why take the chance? You can either hear Jesus say welcome home or you can hear Him say depart from Me, it is up to you.

9If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.10One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.11Now the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on Him will not be put to shame, 12for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord of all is rich to all who call on Him. 13For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10: 9-13 HCSB

For whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”  Mark 8: 38 HCSB

Have you ever heard of an Undercover Christian? You say what do you mean. You know the person who shows up on Sunday mornings and looks the part but on Monday your not real sure they are the part. I am not saying they aren’t saved, because only God can make that judgment. You see our society celebrates the fact that others stand up for what they believe. After all Muslims can protest and call for their customs to be pushed upon Americans. There are people who have decided that standing on the flag is better than letting it fly above them. (Although that is supposed to be illegal) If you are an Atheist it is ok for you to make that known in school and even teach our youth about it. But if you are a believer in Christ, it is wrong for you to stand up for what you believe. This attitude in society has created the Undercover Christian movement. Instead of standing up for what God has said they tend to keep their mouths shut. We even find that many Christians have even begun to bend or sway on what God says. You see I have said this a hundred times my opinion doesn’t matter it is what God says that matters. It is my responsibility to stand up for what God has said. I don’t have to be mean and rude about it.  You see when we keep our mouth shut for sake of unity or social acceptance we are really just slapping God in the face. I agree that when you begin to stand for what God says that your family, friends and even strangers won’t like it. The question is whom are we trying to please? You will have to answer that question for yourselves. Let me say that when you stand with God your on the winning side. Do yourself a favor and don’t be an Undercover Christian. The reason I say that is, you may be so undercover that Jesus won’t recognize you as a Christian.

Teach a youth about the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.  Proverbs 22:6 HCSB

Let me say before we get started that I am not the perfect parent, nor do I have it all together. The other day I was driving and had a thought. Why are all the young people leaving the Church Fellowship? Do we not have enough programs, or is the music and teaching not relevant? I don’t think either one of those are at the root of this problem. Allow me to take a rabbit trail as we call it. I am not saying it is un-important to have good programs or relevant teachings and music. After all we should have no junk for Jesus. Our kids are leaving the church in groves, so what is the answer? Well I think the blame should be put on the parent’s shoulders. You see we take ourselves out of the mix because we have ball games or we really just don’t feel like going to church. We get home and talk about all the negative things that happen and we don’t guard our children from watching or hearing this junk. Again, understand that I am not saying that I have it all together. As a father of six children I understand that I do a lot of things wrong. So what makes me think that I should give advice? I am not trying to be a finger pointer, just trying to share my thoughts. You see our children do exactly what they have seen us do. When we skip out on a chance to fellowship, they figure it isn’t important so why not do it themselves. When they hear us eat the preacher for lunch or talk about so and so why would they want to be part of such a loving family? The answer is they don’t. You see the world teaches our kids how to give up or quit enough stuff everyday. We want them to grow up and serve God, but we are showing them that we really don’t believe what we are saying. It is time that we began acting like the Christians that we say we are. You see when we live up to what we say; we will find that God will honor what He has said. Does that mean that your kids won’t still leave NO? What it does mean is that you won’t be on the hook for it. So chose today whom you and your house will serve. (But be real about it) Remember Joshua 24:15b but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. Train them up or Train them out you have the chance to make the greatest impact in their lives.

1Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.

Here is the subject that is the most essential to the Christian’s walk, yet the most difficult for us to carry out. You see we come to Christ based upon Faith. We at the very moment of salvation we have the faith that Jesus’ works are enough to pay the price we owe for our sins. But for some reason we struggle to have faith in other areas of our lives that Jesus has promised to assist in. Maybe you are of the mindset that I don’t have enough faith to trust God with this or that. As we look back in the Bible we find several stories of people that we should be able to relate to. First, let us talk briefly about a man named Abraham. Maybe you know him? God commanded him to leave his homeland and go somewhere else. Here is the kicker God said He would tell him when he got there. Yeah you guessed it; Abraham had no idea where he was headed. But the Bible tells us that he packed up his family and belongings and off he went. Talk about trust and faith. Abraham was able to experience God’s divine plan several times on this journey to a new land. But then since he had taken the first step of faith in trusting God for a home, God would soon promise to make him the father of all nations with a son at the age of 100. Had this been the first thing God had promised him it would have been hard to trust in this miracle coming true. But you see God started with other things first. God does the same thing in our lives. First, He gives us the miracle of Salvation and allows us to become part of His family through the payment Jesus made for our sins. You see that is a huge miracle. God raised us from the dead and made us alive. Sometimes God wants to do a miracle for us, but we must have enough faith to put us out there first. We have to be willing to allow our reputation to be put on display, but more importantly we have to be willing to let God’s reputation be put on display. That reminds me of another story in the Bible. After the children of Israel had left Egypt and wandered in the desert for forty years. They had seen many miracles and had every reason to trust God at His very word. I mean after all they had watched the Red Sea open up and walked across on dry land. They were fed from the sky, they walked around for forty years and clothes and shoes never wore out. Well right before it was time to cross into the Promised Land there had to be a step of faith. They still had to cross another body of water. The Jordan River, during flood season. No problem right? God could just part the waters like He had done before. Well this time God wanted them to step into the river first before He would part the waters. You see before God would issue the miracle, He wanted them to show trusting faith. We know how the story turns out, the priests step into the water and the water splits and everyone walks through on dry land. Pretty cool don’t you think? But what happens if the priests decided before hand that they weren’t going to get their feet wet and trusts God? Everyone would have missed out on the miracle. You see in both stories it took a certain amount of trust in God to take the first step. God has already paid the price for our redemption with the blood of His son. We trust Jesus for salvation. Why can’t we have faith in other things? Sometimes God just wants us to take the first step and He will do the rest. Like I said in yesterdays writing, when we are obedient we take all the responsibility off of ourselves and place it squarely upon God’s sovereign shoulders. That is not to bad of a place to put it either. God’s shoulders are certainly big enough to handle the responsibility. So the next time you feel God prompting you to step out and do something. Do it. You could be at the beginning of a miracle.