Scripture is What We Need (Radio / Podcast)

More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
(Psalm 19:10 – ESV)

Scripture contains everything necessary for our spiritual life. It is surer than any experience. It contains divine principles that are the best guide for us. It makes the thoughts of God clear not cloudy. It is perfect and therefore lasts forever. It is true and capable of producing righteousness. Scripture is infinitely more precious than anything this world has to offer. Psalm 19 is a clear testimony to the power of God’s Word.

Psalm 19:1-6 – general revelation (in the world)

Psalm 19:7-14 – special revelation (in the Word)

Vs.7-8 – attributes of the Word

7a – its teaching makes you turn
7b – its witness makes you wise
8a – its guidance gives you gladness
8b – its instruction gives you insight

Vs.9-11 – appreciation of the Word

9-10 – its nature makes you hungry
11 – its nurture makes you holy

Vs.12-14 – application of the Word

12-13 – it exposes sin, makes you pray
14 – it evidences salvation, makes you praise

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Oh No You Don’t! (Radio / Podcast)

But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips?
(Psalm 50:16 – ESV)

Have you ever watched a program, or seen a conversation where someone who is an unbeliever nevertheless uses Jesus or the bible as an authority for what they say? It is tough when you watch them torture scripture or misrepresent the Christian message. Don’t you just hate it when they seem to get away with it, especially if you had an answer for them?

If unbelievers try and appeal to Jesus or say that you cannot do this or that because Jesus wasn’t like that, well, how would they know? “I’ve read the bible”, they will say. Sure. Anyway, 1 Corinthians 2:14 tells us they cannot truly understand it unless they are submitted to it. You can only exercise authority to the extent you are under that authority. Unless they quote chapter and verse, correctly understanding the context, then their rants are just useless interference and pure speculation. Why are they using Jesus as if they knew Him? You don’t have to argue with them, just correct their misunderstandings with scripture.

If they don’t believe in Christianity, why would they care what Jesus said anyway? For them to use Him as a reference against His own is absurd. What’s more if they think they know how Jesus would react or do something and it isn’t how we would do it, then what is stopping them from becoming a Christian? Why would they not follow Christ if He were so good compared to us? If they like how Jesus does it shouldn’t they call themselves true Christians?

Well we as true Christians know that He is so good compared to us and we don’t always do what Jesus would do or even know what that would be. But we are following Him and learn from Him, unlike those who just want to use Jesus as some sort of opposition to His followers when they have no real clue what Christianity is all about anyway.

Don’t get mad at people like that; just correct their incorrect assertions with the correct scripture, and pray for them. This is just one more reason they will have absolutely no excuse at the judgment. Those that talk so loud now will say “Lord, Lord (and they will say Lord all right), it was your followers fault I didn’t believe in you.” He will say, “Were you following them or me?” “If you thought they were false compared to me then why didn’t you live like me as an example? But no, you followed your own ideas, and you didn’t love me, and you hated those that did love me, and you will now go where you wanted to be from the start, away from me, and away from those that love me, forever….”

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Church of the Living Dead (Radio / Podcast)

…but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
(John 12:24)

There has always been a lot of talk by people about leaving, visiting, or experiencing a so-called “dead” church. To most, I suppose what they mean by “dead church” would be that it was cold and formal. When people say it’s a dead church they mean that it feels dead. This could be true, and as the venerable Jonathan Edwards said, you have to have both heat and light.

However, lets consider the other side, because I have seen just as many churches that are just as dead and yet have a whole lot of buzz about them. You know, they even have a buzz conference these days. They may have a lot of hype but no holiness, a lot of passion, but no power. So to me a dead church can look like a really lively one, for sure.

Today we have the church of the upwardly mobile, the church where everybody is somebody, the church where you can become the best you that you can be, and we even have a laughing church or two out there. We have the liberated church, the empowered church, the militant church, and the dead churches. I would put all of the above in the last category.

Today what we need is for people to be on fire for the gospel, but what we see are just more and more programs, promotions, politics, and purpose. We may have passion, but we don’t have any real power, because we lack purity (fuel): where there is no fuel the fire dies out. Flash fires, flash paper, and the flash in the pan all fade. Soon enough a fire that doesn't have real fuel dies out, and often gets replaced by a false fire built on feelings, fellowship, or flurry. People try and live off the fumes of a faded fire, and that, friends, is a dead church. Too many preachers in the pulpit and people in the pews are confusing anointing with adrenaline, and the busyness of man with the business of God.

A pastor in Illinois said something like this. “The modern day church looks exactly like a community service organization, like the YMCA. I love the Y, but I would not say I love the ministry of the Y. It is a health club, a safe place for families, and a place to go to have fun. The YMCA boasts having introduced millions of people to sports. One of their themes, “It’s more than a gym, it’s a community,” sounds a bit like the theme of the modern day church. Go to www.YMCA.net and view their website and compare it with most church websites. They are almost identical. Sadly, the modern day church has a lot in common with the YMCA.”

“Pastors who want to build churches by attracting people through programs and that sort of community, the YMCA could use your help. No one would say the YMCA functions like a church, but we can say many churches function like they are a YMCA.”

You see, church today has become little more than a socialistic country club atmosphere of fun seekers – not God seekers! Psalm 127:1 – Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain.

The question remains: what do you want to be a part of?

It’s good to be active, and organized, and lively, but it’s a must to be alive!

Do you want to know what an alive church is?

A church that is alive is a church where people are dying!

Dying to self that is…

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

God Knows Your Heart

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
(Psalm 139:23-24 – ESV)

How many times have you thought, said, or heard, “well, God knows my heart”? This happens often with people who want to justify themselves from the fact that they are blatantly ignoring the teachings of the Bible. We must be careful, for our motivations are not always as pure as we think them to be, and even if we are sincere, this doesn’t mean we are right. In fact, some might think that they want to do what is right but what they actually want is to get out of having to do what is biblically right. They say, well God knows my heart, and I say yes, He absolutely does, they are right about that (1 Samuel 16:7 / 1 Kings 8:39 / 1 Chronicles 28:9 / Proverbs 15:11 / Jeremiah 17:10 / Acts 1:24, 15:8 / Revelation 2:23).

Read through those scriptures and realize something important here. The problem is that while God knows your heart, YOU don’t know your heart, and let me further prove it to you.

Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

You say God knows your heart, and God says the Bible is how you know what He is thinking about your heart. God knows your heart and He shows you what He wants you to know about it in His Word. In His Word your heart is revealed. His Word reveals the condition of your heart, and so no matter what you think your heart looks like, God says that if you are directly disobeying some explicit command of His, then you are not as pure an innocent as you assume your sincerity makes you. Sincerity is no substitute for truth. The truth is that just because no one else is fulfilling their obligations, this doesn’t excuse you from fulfilling yours. Their disobedience doesn’t justify yours.

Yes God knows your heart, and He uses His Word to reveal to you the condition of it.

Proverbs 28:26 (KJV) – He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered. Jeremiah 17:9 – The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Proverbs 21:2 – Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart.

Perhaps it is time to pray in accordance with Psalm 19:12-14 / Psalm 139:23-24, and ask God to show you from His Word about that “heart surgery” you need.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Oh No You Don’t!

But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips?
(Psalm 50:16 – ESV)

Have you ever watched a program, or seen a conversation where someone who is an unbeliever nevertheless uses Jesus or the bible as an authority for what they say? It is tough when you watch them torture scripture or misrepresent the Christian message. Don’t you just hate it when they seem to get away with it, especially if you had an answer for them?

If unbelievers try and appeal to Jesus or say that you cannot do this or that because Jesus wasn’t like that, well, how would they know? “I’ve read the bible”, they will say. Sure. Anyway, 1 Corinthians 2:14 tells us they cannot truly understand it unless they are submitted to it. You can only exercise authority to the extent you are under that authority. Unless they quote chapter and verse, correctly understanding the context, then their rants are just useless interference and pure speculation. Why are they using Jesus as if they knew Him? You don’t have to argue with them, just correct their misunderstandings with scripture.

If they don’t believe in Christianity, why would they care what Jesus said anyway? For them to use Him as a reference against His own is absurd. What’s more if they think they know how Jesus would react or do something and it isn’t how we would do it, then what is stopping them from becoming a Christian? Why would they not follow Christ if He were so good compared to us? If they like how Jesus does it shouldn’t they call themselves true Christians?

Well we as true Christians know that He is so good compared to us and we don’t always do what Jesus would do or even know what that would be. But we are following Him and learn from Him, unlike those who just want to use Jesus as some sort of opposition to His followers when they have no real clue what Christianity is all about anyway.

Don’t get mad at people like that; just correct their incorrect assertions with the correct scripture, and pray for them. This is just one more reason they will have absolutely no excuse at the judgment. Those that talk so loud now will say “Lord, Lord (and they will say Lord all right), it was your followers fault I didn’t believe in you.” He will say, “Were you following them or me?” “If you thought they were false compared to me then why didn’t you live like me as an example? But no, you followed your own ideas, and you didn’t love me, and you hated those that did love me, and you will now go where you wanted to be from the start, away from me, and away from those that love me, forever….”

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

The Quiet Place?

"Be still, and know that I am God...”
(Psalm 46:10 – ESV)

We don’t need to go to some quiet place, empty our minds, and wait for God to speak. We need to find our quiet place, when we open our Bible, and hear Him talk. This Psalm, like many others, is not about the sound of silence but of the voice of the Lord, the mighty power from the mouth of God (Psalm 29)! He is not asking us to do something; He is telling us that He is going to do something.

Who is God talking to in this verse? What does stillness mean, and what does it mean that we will know God? Does it mean we will know God through it, in other words that we will know God by practicing stillness? How will we know God through it? Does this verse imply that we will know God through voices in our head, or spirit? Or does this verse mean we will know God is still in control through our tempests if we will stop striving to save ourselves in our own ways against the storms and instead look to the Lord, and then we will realize His ways?

This Psalm teaches us, not that we must be still to hear Him, but that God’s creation and God’s enemies will be still when THEY hear Him! God will protect His children from ultimate calamity and catastrophe. When the environment is unstable and the atmosphere is unsettling our God is our refuge. In this Psalm God is giving comfort to His people but in this particular verse He is declaring something about those things that cause trouble in our lives. God is telling us that He will silence all the storms with His own voice.

When the turbulence mounts, when the turmoil boils over, whatever your troubles in life are, you can look to the Lord. Whatever is causing you unrest, God is the place to find rest. Whatever is causing you to turn away, the key is to be still and remember, reflect upon the fact that God is in control. Look at the verses prior to this one within this Psalm, and realize God is Almighty. No matter how hard the once steady ground beneath you now shakes, or how many strong mountains are crumbling down around you, no matter how high the waves are, and how hot the battles become, no earthquake, volcano, hurricane, or war can stop God from being in charge.

It isn’t simply that we become still and hear God some other way, but that if we are still we can reflect on who He has revealed Himself to be already. It is not that when you make time you make God speak, but when you will be still and listen to what He says in the scripture, then you will hear Him more clearly through life’s turmoil and trials. In this life there will always be turbulence and tempests; will you always have trust?

This is a call to worship Him for who He is and marvel at what He has done, and will do, not a call to listen for new sounds. It is a call to hear His majesty even when everything else is shouting as loud as it can. This is not about us being silent; this is about God making the loud noises of negativity be silenced before Him and His people.

He is not telling us what to do, He is telling us what He will do. This is like the Lord Jesus calming the raging waters (Mark 4:39). When God wants to make them quiet He will, and nothing can stop Him, for He is invincible.

The world screams and shouts, but all the sounds of violence He can silence. This is not about some secret power you can have, but about reflecting on the power He has. This isn’t about some secret encounter you can enter into, but about the open demonstration when something encounters Him. You want to see God work? Stop and take a look around, be still for a moment, and reflect on Him.

Meditation is about reflecting on things God is, and things He has already said and done, not expecting Him to speak to us afresh with new revelation just because we are being still and quietly waiting. He has already spoken and we don’t seem to want to be still and hear that, so why would He “reward” us for doing what we are supposed to be doing already? Just who is God in this relationship? You want to hear something from God? Listen to what He is saying here in this Psalm.

Now in the first place, this is God speaking to the storms, but it also applies to us. This is God calming the chaos and we are stilled with wonder and worship. Now He often does it in our own situations, but no matter what we have to go through, it is only temporary. We can rest assured because God will raise His voice one day and we will rejoice in that day.

Just one word from God can silence any commotion; even in the midst of the Great Tribulation His Word will silence the raging war of Satan (Isaiah 11:4, 30:33 / 2 Thessalonians 2:8 / Revelation 19:15, 21). He is the One who will eventually, in His timing, say “enough!”

When our earthly father shouts, “quiet!” the whole house calms down. When our Heavenly Father shouts, the whole earth stands still!

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

The Guiding Hand

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
(Psalm 51:6 – ESV)

Your effectiveness as a Christian, in prayer and in all of life, is directly tied to your intimate relationship with Christ. The more intimate, the more sanctified, and the way to know Christ intimately is to know His sacrifice. The more we experientially sacrifice, the more intimately we know Him.

However, I am talking about sacrifice on His terms, not ours. That would include our obedience, because it is to sacrifice our fleshly desires. Hebrews 12:2 – it was for the joy of the sacrifice that Jesus gave His life, and He had to come to that place in Gethsemane, honestly pleading, and that is where we must start too. Don’t just give up something if there is no joy in it, first go to God and plead with Him, tell Him the truth about why you don’t want to give something up, and be willing to let Him make you into a joyfully sacrificial Christian.

Submit to the Guiding Hand instead of always opposing where it is leading. You know God is leading you to do away with that sin, but you want to save it till some later time when you think you will be stronger, more ready. By doing that you are opposing God. Instead you must learn submission by allowing yourself to be influenced by the Spirit, putting to death the deeds of the body when and while they appear before you, in those moments.

It is not your well mapped out battle plan that gets the job done, but submitting to God’s plan as revealed in time by experience and circumstance presenting themselves to you, and then the question is do you have faith? Yes we are to be willing and intentional about killing off sin, but we must remember, “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD” (Proverbs 21:31), and He is the one who brings us to battle.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Depression and Destiny

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
(Matthew 27:46 – ESV)

Because Christ suffered the penalty of sin for us, we can be assured that we will never be forsaken (Hebrews 13:5). God has not forsaken you no matter how far down in the pit you have sunk. His arm is not so short it can’t save; He can bring you out of the miry clay and stand you on the Solid Rock. He can do for you as He did for the imprisoned prophet Jeremiah and bring someone to pad the ropes as He pulls you up from despair (Jeremiah 38:6-14).

We may know this truth in our heads, but we need to have it in our hearts. We may have the conception, but we need to make the connection. The bridge from conception to connection is compassion. This is the way for His reality to become our reality. Jesus really suffered and He knows that we suffer, and we can call to Him in faith. Our cry to Him is not in vain; it is a very certain call.

For those of you have already called to God to save you, but you are living in a daily despair, let me make this connection even more real to you today. In this life we will have tears on our face and tears in our armor. It is no disgrace to cry out to God when bearing the cross and feeling the pain. God knows we live in an imperfect world. He understands our difficulties. He realizes that we will have complaints, but we have a right way and a wrong way to complain. We need to be honest with ourselves that we may be honest before God, and we need to learn to bring our case before Him in the right way. We should make our complaints with honesty, trust, and hope.

It is good to feel emotion. Sometimes it is good to feel bad; look at the Psalms, depressed feelings are often a legitimate part of our relationship with God, as strange as that may sound. We often think of Psalms as a book of praise (which it certainly is), but laments and grievances to the Lord make up more than 60 of the 150 psalms. God can interact with us through the context of our depression. He has wise and loving motives although we may not see them.

Christians can and do get depressed, to varying degrees, and for varying durations. This is not always about a lack of faith or a direct result of personal sin or some symptom of a problem with the spiritual life. Depression is not a punishment from God; it may be instructive to you and certainly for others. The truth is that it is in some sense compatible with Christianity.

We seem to sell the Christian life in America today with too much triumphalism and denial of feelings, but look at the Psalms, look at our text today and Psalm 22, and see that we as Christians need to embrace and realize a more fully orbed biblical dealing with feelings. This is not to excuse and embrace wrong thinking, but to deal with depression and emotion in the way we see demonstrated as correct in scripture. Not all of this in scripture is correct; we see both the right and the wrong way. The Jews in the wilderness complained in the wrong way (cf. Psalm 78:41) but also in the Psalms we see that you can complain to Him in a way that indicates you are trusting Him, instead of grumbling in a way that amounts to an unbelieving accusation. Take a close look a Psalms 42-43 to get a feel for what I am talking about. Remember, Jesus cried out to God, not against God.

Christ was forsaken that we might never be. His wasn’t an uncertain cry but a very certain call. Jesus cried this out so that we will never have to. He cried this out to show that even in the darkest moments we could have utter assurance of our final victory in God. Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:39). We can have real pain and suffering, and real tears as we cry out in seeming despair, but we can also know God in the midst of it all, and through it all, and through to the other side of despair to declare His victory.

We are not forsaken. Let us adore the One who endured for us. Amen.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Listen Up

If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
(Psalm 66:18 – ESV)

There are several reasons why some of our prayers don’t get answered the way we want them to. One reason that we get so many “no” answers is because we have sin in a cherished position in our hearts. Yes God answers prayer, even when we are in sin, because in some fashion, we always are. But when we are harboring intentional, willful, deceitful desires and we plot to do them, we cherish and relish them, then it affects our prayer life, there is no doubting that fact.

Who is the authority in the conversations between you and God? Obviously it is God, and so if both of you are trying to talk, which one needs to be quiet and listen first? We do, of course. So if we are cherishing some sin, God is trying to tell us to stop that and He won’t hear us until we listen to Him first.

You might reply, “I still have prayers answered”. Yes, that may be true, it would seem. However, let me tell you that it is probably because these things are things God was going to do anyway whether you prayed for them or not. They happened in spite of you not because of you and you cannot expect it to happen that way always, can you?

Yes, God hears us even when we are in sin. Bur we need to heed the words of Isaiah 59:1-2 – Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

The Lord is speaking to us about our sin, we see it, and we know it is there, but we don’t want to let go of it. God is telling us that our letting it go is more important to Him than answering our prayer about something else, at least most of the time. We think that the prayer is important to us, but believe me, God wants us to get rid of our sin more than we want what we are praying for. If we are unwilling to get rid of the cherished sin to get the prayer, then that is the proof.

Now God isn’t working on some, “give this up and I’ll give this to you” basis. Our sin isn’t a bargaining chip we can use with God. But think about it for a minute; if you don’t want to give the sin up, it obviously means you want it more than the thing you are currently praying for, doesn’t it? It is like we want God to give us a scale, or a chart that tells us what we can get if we will just give up this particular sin. As we are holding on to that cherished sin, we know that we cannot pray with any fervency, we cannot pray with any real faith, because we know that as we are asking God to give us something, He is asking us, “what is that behind your back?”

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Saturday Sermon: A Very Certain Call

Matthew 27:46 (Reading Psalm 22)

The days leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ are what we typically call the “Passion Week”. These days are marked by events that portray many prophetic passages from the Old Testament being played out. We could list many, but to name a few: Zechariah 9:9 – Matthew 21:5 (riding on a donkey) / Psalm 118:26 – Matthew 21:9 (the shouts of Hosanna) / Psalm 69:9 – Matthew 21:12 (driving out the moneychangers) / Psalm 8:2 – Matthew 21:16 (the praise of children) / Zechariah 11:12-13 – Matthew 27:9-10 (the thirty pieces of silver, the price of betrayal). This is important to note because, as the biblical writers point out, Jesus was revealing things in fulfillment of previous scripture, which had temporal fulfillments but their ultimate fulfillment in the Messiah was veiled, in a sense.

Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 that Jesus was crucified and resurrected in accordance with what the Old Testament had prophesied of. In Romans 1:1-4 Paul tells us that God used the prophets of old to show that the promise of the gospel was not a new thing. Jesus Himself stated in John 5:39 that the scriptures about the Messiah were about Him, and after His resurrection Jesus told the two disciples on the road to Emmaus that all the Old Testament essentially pointed to Him (Luke 24:25-27). And so it is no wonder then, to discover that this quote from Jesus, which seems such a mystery, is actually the fulfillment of a great Old Testament prophecy written by the hand of David. Part of the mystery of this verse, Matthew 27:46, is revealed by looking back at Old Testament scripture of Psalm 22.

This cry from Jesus illustrates the depth of His suffering of soul as He felt Himself regarded as sin though He was sinless (2 Corinthians 5:21). We are reminded of John 3:16, Isaiah 53, and 1 Peter 2:24 as we see the Son of God bearing the sin of the world. This cry of desolation comes at the close of the three hours of darkness. However, it was not only a seeming cry of desolation but also a declaration. Jesus was not simply playing a role, only acting out a part. No, His pain and suffering were very real, but even amidst this agony He knew what the conclusion would be.

Still, Jesus suffered the ultimate loneliness. Some of the people that had shouted “hosanna” were now shouting, “crucify Him”. Some of the disciples who had stayed with Him had now denied, deserted, and betrayed Him. But much worse than all of this, as bad as it was, much worse, more worse than we can possibly imagine, was the forsaking by the Father of His Son. The Father had spoken words such as, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” but now was silent. The Father had let the Son be beaten, spit upon, mocked and mangled at the hands of men, finally to be hung on a cross, a tree, a curse to a Jew, which Jesus was. But He was more than a Jew, He was the Son of God, and all this other pain and suffering was nothing compared to the absence of that sweet communion Christ had always known. Jesus’ faith did not fail, He cried out “My God, My God”, and He cried out to God, not against God, but the Father did not answer Him in tenderness, but with wrath (Isaiah 53:10). Even when Jesus had poured out His own blood in the prayers at Gethsemane, God the Father was still with Him, and He had the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, as He had always known. But He had known nothing of the pain of desertion and the suffering of damnation He endured on the cross.

Yet this wasn’t an uncertain cry but a very certain call. When Christ called out to God in this manner, clearly He was consciously quoting this part of Psalm 22 as an illustration of the fact that He was fulfilling all of this Old Testament prophecy. Jesus drew the attention of the Jews to Psalm 22 while He was hanging on the cross. The observant Jew immediately knew what Jesus was referring to. The observant Jew also knew that Psalm 22 was a Messianic Psalm. Now being a prophetic person (cf. 2 Samuel 23:2) David probably knew of the Messianic nature of this writing, but it did have original intent for him as well. David did not conclude in his prayer of Psalm 22 that God had in reality “forsaken” him; though it might have appeared that way to his enemies and the spiritually shallow who did not know the God of Israel that David knew.

Jesus, however, was in a real sense “forsaken”, yet He also knew the final outcome of all this, and so therefore endured the greatest suffering of all time. David had been victimized, but his was not the cry of a victim, but the voice of a victor whom God would deliver out of all trials. Jesus’ cry was about suffering the world’s penalty due to sin, but it was signifying more than just that. It was the voice of the eternal victor who proclaimed the eternal victory of the Messiah to His people who were the victims of their own sin. Every person who has ever been born has felt alone and forsaken and wonders if God is real and if He cares, even Christians go through these sorts of things. But only Christians, those born again to a living hope can also cry, “it is finished” (John 19:30), and thereby know that God will never leave nor forsake them, on account of Christ. When you do that it is not an uncertain cry but a very certain call.

Jesus, in quoting this first verse of Psalm 22, He was revealing that it prophesied of Him and how He would atone for the sins of man against a holy God. Jesus invoked and appropriated Psalm 22 as being applicable to that scene of the final hours of the cross. These words make manifest the agony and suffering that Christ was under as He is intimately and personally identified with the judgment of God upon man for sin. To suppose that He was merely complaining, or that He was unaware of the meaning of the words of that Psalm, is to completely ignore all His teachings on these subjects (Matthew 20:18-19). Christ knew He had to die for our sins, He knew the cup was handed to Him of God. This is the mystery of God forsaking God, and to try and separate God from the man Christ, who hung on the cross, is like confessing that God was made flesh, but then abandoned it when needed most. Christ suffered as a divine-human, yet in the sense of payment for our sins, Christ was separated from God.

So then how do we answer the objection of why Jesus prayed, "if it be possible, let this cup pass from me", and why did He cry, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me" when He already knew perfectly well? The answer is that these things were said and done of God for "man's benefit." He wasn't complaining as an eternal example of His own weak faith or His delicate nature, or His frail humanity. He said these things as a reference key for us to unlock the words of the prophets and the psalms that spoke of these things. Christ is revealing to us by these comments that "He" was the God-Man prophesied to come as the Savior of Israel, and the Savior of the world. In other words, God is telling His people to search the scriptures and compare scripture with scripture, that they may see what these words He spoke signify and pertain to.

Psalm 22:7 / Matthew 27:39
Psalm 22:8 / Matthew 27:43
Psalm 22:16 / Matthew 27:35
Psalm 22:17 / Matthew 27:36
Psalm 22:18 / John 19:23-24
Psalm 22:22 / Hebrews 2:12
Psalm 22:31 / John 19:30
Psalm 69:21-22 / John 19:28-30

Forsaken, He was literally suffering the pangs of hell for us, an atonement that is beyond our comprehension. We cannot comprehend it but we can adore Him for it. I have often said that when we can see the heights of His holiness compared to the depths of our depravity, then we will know the measure of His love to us.

Charles Spurgeon, in a sermon on Matthew 27:46, said it this way: You shall measure the height of his love, if it be ever measured, by the depth of his grief, if that can ever be known. See with what a price he hath redeemed us from the curse of the law! As you see this, say to yourselves: What manner of people ought we to be! What measure of love ought we to return to one who bore the utmost penalty, that we might be delivered from the wrath to come? I do not profess that I can dive into this deep: I will only venture to the edge of the precipice, and bid you look down, and pray the Spirit of God to concentrate your mind upon this lamentation of our dying Lord, as it rises up through the thick darkness – "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Jesus did not cry out over mere human suffering or despair. It wasn’t the physical pain that hurt so much, but the mental anguish, and the torment of His soul, that was the real suffering. That was what Jesus called the “cup” when He was agonizing in the garden of Gethsemane the night before. Many had been and would be tortured and placed on a cross to die, perhaps even other innocent men. But no other man would suffer for the sins of the world, the spiritual wrath of God upon mankind, placed upon Jesus at the cross of Calvary.

Christ spoke these words of seeming abandonment not because of His humanity as many suppose, but because God is illustrating that in essence, we were in the body of Christ (Romans 6:6-11). It was "we" who deserved to be forsaken of God, and to suffer. Our Savior was speaking on our behalf, taking that suffering as a substitute for us.

So the answer to the rhetorical question of "why," is because He had the body of the iniquity of us all. He had “become” sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). He was forsaken in the sense that God allowed Him to suffer and die upon the cross for the sins of man. God could have stopped His wrath at any time, but then we would have been condemned with the rest of the world, and His promise to Abraham unfulfilled. Christ had the sin of all His people laid upon Him, and that is why God had forsaken Him. His wasn't a cry of despair because He was a man, but of pointing out that God had prophesied this. He was forsaken that scripture might be fulfilled. He said it that we might understand that He was forsaken for us. When the great darkness fell across Calvary for 3 hours, it illustrated the purpose of Christ in absorbing the darkness of Hell that we deserved. These words from our Savior make it clear that, on the one hand, He understood why He had to suffer – this was His mission (Matthew 20:28) – and, on the other hand, that He was supremely confident of the Father's ultimate deliverance of Him through the resurrection of His body before it had even seen decay (Psalm16 – Acts 2:24-31), for the second half of Psalm 22 is hymn of victory (v.22-31). This wasn’t an uncertain cry but a very certain call.

Torment and triumph – Jesus went the way of the cross to atone for our sins, and also to help us to follow Him to the cross that we might put our trust in Him during trials, even those leading to death. Hebrews 12:2 – when you have to take up your cross and you feel the pain and it seems like God has forsaken you, remember, to look to Christ. Why has God forsaken Him, so that He might win for us the victory and when it seems like God has forsaken you it is so that He might give you the victory and to declare His glory.

Now we may understand this truth a little better today, but I do not want to stop there. I want you to make a vital connection with Jesus today. We may know this truth in our heads, but we need to have it in our hearts. We may have the conception, but we need to make the connection. The bridge from conception to connection is compassion. This is the way for His reality to become our reality. Jesus really suffered and He knows that we suffer, and we can call to Him in faith. Our cry to Him is not in vain it is a very certain call.

We can cry out knowing that we will not be forsaken. Jesus cried this out so that we will never have to. He cried this out to show that even in the darkest moments we could have utter assurance of our final victory in God. Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:39). We can have real pain and suffering, and real tears as we cry out in seeming despair, but we can also know God in the midst of it all, and through it all, and through to the other side of despair to declare His victory.

Because Christ suffered the penalty for us, we can be assured that we will never be forsaken (Hebrews 13:5). God has not forsaken you no matter how far down in the pit you have sunk. His arm is not so short it can’t save; He can bring you out of the miry clay and stand you on the solid rock. He can do for you as He did for the imprisoned prophet Jeremiah and bring someone to pad the ropes as He pulls you up from despair (Jeremiah 38:6-14).

For those of you have already called to God to save you, but you are living in a daily despair, let me make this connection even more real to you today. In this life we will have tears on our face and tears in our armor. It is no disgrace to cry out to God when bearing the cross and feeling the pain. God knows we live in an imperfect world. He understands our difficulties. He realizes that we will have complaints, but we have a right way and a wrong way to complain. We need to be honest with ourselves that we may be honest before God, and we need to learn to bring our case before Him in the right way. We should make our complaints with honesty, trust, and hope.

It is good to feel emotion. Sometimes it is good to feel bad; look at the Psalms, depressed feelings are often a legitimate part of our relationship with God, as strange as that may sound. We often think of Psalms as a book of praise (which it certainly is), but laments and grievances to the Lord make up more than 60 of the 150 psalms. God can interact with us through the context of our depression. He has wise and loving motives although we may not see them.

Christians can and do get depressed, to varying degrees, and for varying durations. This is not always about a lack of faith or a direct result of personal sin or some symptom of a problem with the spiritual life. Depression is not a punishment from God; it may be instructive to you and certainly for others. The truth is that it is in some sense compatible with Christianity.

We seem to sell the Christian life in America today with too much triumphalism and denial of feelings, but look at the Psalms, look at our text today and Psalm 22, and see that we as Christians need to embrace and realize a more fully orbed biblical dealing with feelings. This is not to excuse and embrace wrong thinking, but to deal with depression and emotion in the way we see demonstrated as correct in scripture. Not all of this in scripture is correct; we see both the right and the wrong way. The Jews in the wilderness complained in the wrong way (cf. Psalm 78:41) but also in the Psalms we see that you can complain to Him in a way that indicates you are trusting Him, instead of grumbling in a way that amounts to an unbelieving accusation. Take a close look a Psalms 42-43 to get a feel for what I am talking about. Remember, Jesus cried out to God, not against God.

Colossians 2:14 – There was a real record of our sin debt, and God the Father told Christ it must be paid. If that sin debt weren’t paid then no one would be allowed to enter into heaven. But Jesus Christ accepted His role as redeemer, he agreed to pay the sin dent of humanity with His own life, given for His own people who would call to Him in faith. God put the record of our sins in the palm of Christ’s hand and then He put a nail through it! Remember that when you feel like you are in the devil’s grip. Satan has no power to control you, he only fools you into thinking you are his instrument, but instead yield yourself to be an instrument of Christ’s righteousness. Jesus has got you in the palm of His hand.

Christ was forsaken that we might never be. His cry wasn’t an uncertain cry but a very certain call. Make no mistake, you are receiving a very certain call today. Do you believe that? If you do, then cry out to the One who will certainly save you. We are not forsaken. Let us adore the One who endured for us. Amen.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Wearing the Right Watch

Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts
(Psalm 90:12 – HCSB)

One way that we often forget to give thanks to God through Jesus Christ is by the use of our time. However, that doesn’t mean just to be busier “about God’s business” by just being busier. It means living each moment as an opportunity to serve God, in whatever situation you find yourself in, not just waiting to get to that thing you want to do for God (Colossians 3:23-24). Sometimes your responsibilities for God can keep you from God.

The difference between living out our purpose and being driven is most clearly seen in what we do with time. The driven are fanatical time managers – time-mongers, time-herders, and time-hoarders. Living requires time management, true, but not the kind that attempts to quarantine most of what makes life what it is: the mess, the surprises, the breakdowns, and the breakthroughs. However, that is what many if not most people do, especially as they become “successful”. These are pitfalls of trying to be a Christian success, one is acquiring, another is avoiding. Avoiding and acquiring hinder you from acknowledging God in every situation.

If you try and control every situation, you are controlled by every situation. Too much rigidity strangles purpose. The more we try to manage time, the more anxious we get about it, and the more we get distracted and lose our purpose. Many driven people, at some point, forget their purpose. They lose the point. The very reason they began something – something that may have been noble – fades under the weight of their striving. Being driven too hard, their purpose gets displaced by greed for more, or dread of setback, or force of habit. Their drive eventually becomes their purpose.

Truly purposeful people manage time less and pay attention more. The most purposeful people I know rarely over-manage time, and when they do, it's usually because they're lapsing into busyness and guilt. The distinguishing mark of purposeful people is not time management. It's that they notice what is really going on for all it is worth. They are being and living prophetically. They acknowledge God, they thank God in all and for all they do.

We can miss that, and miss wisdom. Too often we become so time-obsessed that we take no time to really notice. We look at our watch, and think that we need to just hurry up and get on with it; we need to go watch the big game, right? See what this text proclaims: those who number their days carefully gain a wise heart. However, it is not numbering them by the clock, but by the experience. The people who do this become God's wise men: those calm, unhurried people who live in each moment fully, savoring simple things, celebrating small epiphanies, unafraid of life's inevitable surprises, adaptive to change yet not chasing after it. We must learn this many times.

The truly purposeful are not trying to move on to the next thing, and scratching another thing off the list, they are living God’s purposes to the full in every moment. They are truly awake to the life of God. Instead of thinking about the next big thing, pay attention to how God is present in each moment, in its mad rush or its rigmarole. He is present in both.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

No Way Noah

By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
(Psalm 33:6 – ESV)

It is offered as a refutation of the Bible that all the biological diversity of the earth today could not have happened coming from the relatively few species able to be on Noah’s Ark. That simply isn’t rational, we are told. At first blush it may seem as if this really is a strong argument. I mean, there are all sorts of creatures we are still discovering, and hundreds and thousands of types of animals today, aren’t there? And take the fact that you have to divide the space on the Ark by at least two, because there had to be a male and female taken on the Ark, and some of them were taken in by sevens, so wow, how could all of this come from all of that? Indeed, it seems to be a most perplexing question.

Well, if that is the rationale against the Biblical record, and if that is such a problem, then I have another question. If so much couldn’t come from so few, then how did all the biological diversity of the earth come from the first species, or from some singular primordial goo? How can so much come from almost none? How did one animal give way to hundreds, thousands, etc.? Considering the original argument, if it is so impossible for it to happen with the animals on the Ark, how then of less?

Now, if the God of Creation could create something from nothing, then the Ark event is not so hard to imagine. Yes, we realize that our explanation of this would probably be unsatisfactory to a skeptical person looking to “disprove” the Bible. Of course we cannot prove that the universe was made out of nothing, by the decree of God, but it is reasonable, rational, and it accounts for what we have in the world. And when we start by looking at the human condition, and what the Bible says about it, this provides further evidence that what has been revealed to us in the Scriptures is indeed true.

Science is not a bad thing; we have depended on its advancement for many of our modern ways. But what can science tell us about sin, what advancement can it make over what the Bible reveals as our human condition, and what can it provide as a superior solution to sin than Jesus? So you may not believe in Noah’s Ark, but do you believe in the Cross of Christ?

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Saturday Sermon: Prayer in Passing

Psalm 90:12-17

And so we begin a New Year, and I want to start this New Year by going back and looking at something old. The book of Psalms, so rich with worship and good theology, is arranged into five books: book one – Psalm 1-41 / book two – Psalm 42-72 / book three – Psalm 73-89 / book four – Psalm 90-106 / book five – Psalm 107-150. So Psalm 90 is the start of book 4, but the books are not in chronological order. This is actually the oldest of the 150 Psalms, written by Moses, either at end of the 40 years in the wilderness, or perhaps even earlier, when Moses was in the wilderness, awaiting his return to Egypt to deliver the Jews. Psalm 90 is unique, in that that it is the only psalm attributed to Moses, and as such it makes a unique contribution in what it tells us about Moses himself, something we do not see anywhere else.

Many believe the background is from the sin of Kadesh-Barnea (Numbers 13-14). The unbelief of the ten spies and the people was a rebellion against God, Moses and Aaron. The Exodus generation, except all those under 20 and Joshua and Caleb, would die in the wilderness. This meant Moses had to see about 1 ¼ million people die during those 38-40 years, or about 87 deaths per day. After seeing a whole generation die away, including his brother and sister, Aaron and Miriam, this is the context Moses writes from. His prayer is for God’s work to continue on and that people would see it and be blessed despite the fact that Moses himself will not see it. He had made what might seem like one little mistake (Numbers 20:8-12) but he still wrote this prayer as it being good for the work to carry on. If anyone back then knew how to pray it was Moses, so lets pay attention to what and how he prays. Moses was saying this prayer even as his life was passing. We as Christians are also just passing through and this should be our prayer in passing. The time on this earth is passing away, and we need to pass our time in prayer.

Now some theologians, scholars and pastors believe that this wasn’t written in the wilderness, after the Exodus, but before the Exodus, when Moses was in the wilderness for 40 years before he went back to Egypt to deliver the Jews. Even if this is so, it still brings us to see Moses and his anguish of soul. To see and know of all his people who were in the bitter bondage of slavery, you can imagine what it must have been like for Him to know he had been a part of the Egyptian people who were persecuting the Jews, and now he had to wait to go and bring them out. Perhaps Moses wrote this near the end of the forty years, and so having endured all those years of grief, God sent him back to Egypt, back to his people, not the Egyptians, but his true people, the Jews, and then deliver them, back to the wilderness, and into the promised land.

How this is represented with godly men who shepherd the flock of God today. How we anguish in our soul to see so many in the bitter bondage to the slavery of sin. And how even more so when we see people who have been delivered by such a great deliverance, mightier than the Exodus, and yet they wander around their own self made wilderness, never entering into the promised land, the rest that God has for them in Christ. They have seen His hand of deliverance, they have worshipped Him as He has taught them, and they see His presence like a cloud by day and a fire by night, yet they don’t believe they can move on to conquer the foes who are in front of them, they think they cannot defeat the giants. They have seen so much they have to see it to believe it, that everything must be in place before they can move. They don’t realize that, “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD” (Proverbs 21:31). Christ has defeated sin, hell, and death, and in Him we can defeat anything that would keep us from crossing the Jordan, from entering into all God has for us, both now and for eternity.

Our sin has held us back, and it all stems from the sin of unbelief. This is not the day or the year or the time for unbelief to stop us. This is a time to believe that God has delivered us from sin, death, and hell. He is delivering us from our sinful flesh and enabling us to redeem the time we have on earth. And He will deliver us all the way home to heaven, to a place where we will have been delivered from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and even the very presence of sin for all eternity. Our promised land is the joy of Jesus Christ forever!

Here is a very brief outline of Psalm 90, with our focus today being verses 12-17.

Verses 1-6 – the transitory nature of man contrasted with the eternal nature of God

Verses 7-12 – reason for transitory nature, which is sin

Verses 13-17 – prayer to build upon and magnify His eternity through their mortality

This sermon today is going to be an interactive venture; we are all going to pray these things as we go through and discuss them. Corporate Prayer is a theme I want to stress this next year.

I pray I learn to count the days / I pray you will make the days count
Teach me to number them (teach me to be efficient)
I ask you to magnify and multiply them (help me be effective)

Vs.12 – people
So, IOW, the perplexities of verses 1-11 lead to this lesson
Verse 12 is the lesson of Kadesh-Barnea (or prayer that they make the most of their journey)

Make the most out the opportunities you have, don’t waste time, but not necessarily about being busy, but about doing God’s will with all of our time.

Teach me to count the days that you may make my days (life) count. The way you are productive may change, it will change, but we need to do what we can when we can.

Vs.13 – presence (Psalm 6:3 – how long)
Revival / Deliverance / Mercy

Vs.14 – promptness
In the morning means do it soon and we will be happy
External (rejoice) and internal (and be glad) joy – all our days

Vs.15 – proportionate
400 years of slavery / 40 years of testing and torment, not based on merit but mercy
Out of Egypt / Out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land
Plural and perhaps it wouldn’t include Moses but his people yet to be born

Vs.16 – providence and prolonging, progress (the work of God among them)
Prayer that God would reveal His power and presence among them. Like Paul’s prayer as pastor’s pulse (2 Thessalonians 3:1-5), we pray that the work would carry on, with encouragement and experience, that people would see His working on and in us and glorify God. That we would see God working in our lives and our children would recognize God at work.

Vs.17 – prosperity – Establishment – An illustration of grace and redemption
(Beauty) (vs.16) (Blessing) (vs.17) – The work of God (vs.16) through the work of man (vs.17) – Let them see your beauty through our blessing – Repeated for emphasis

Pray for grace to help us so that His glory would show forth from us (Matthew 5:16 / Philippians 2:15), that we would see God work and they would see God’s work. Father let Jesus shine upon us and then shine through us. Lord do it so that others can see you did it, this is for your Glory. This prayer is not about what you can get out of Him, but what He can get out of you; this is a prayer for God to get the most out of me.

This is a prayer that we may act in accordance with His character. We pray that we not sin against Him but be an instrument for Him. This life will soon be past only what is done for the Lord will last. Father, let us see the beauty of Christ and live in the power of Christ so that we, with our lives, in word and in deed, may show the beauty and power of Christ. This is our prayer.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Nice Wheels

Bless the Lord O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name
(Psalm 103:1)

When we read “and all that is within me” that doesn't mean that when we don’t feel like worshipping God, praising God, or obeying God that we can say "well, I just don't have it in me to do that for God". If you are a Christian and you say that, what do you mean, that you don't have the Holy Spirit? If you are a Christian you do have it within you to bless God. If you don’t bless God at all you are not born again of God.

Now we won’t always bless God with everything that is within us, we are not going to be perfect this side of heaven. However, that doesn’t mean we have some built in excuse to be passive. Obedience is about as optional as tires on a car; without them, you may have a pretty vehicle, but it isn’t going anywhere. When we see someone with a new car, why do you think we say, "nice wheels?" It is the car that we are saying is nice, but the wheels are representative of that car. In the same way, obedience proves our faith is driving us somewhere, proving that there are tires on our Truth car, and Jesus is at the wheel.

You can bless Him with your heart, your mind, your soul, and your strength. Of course you won’t do it perfectly, but that doesn’t change the fact that there is Life within you, the Life of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit that blesses God. The more you are filled with the Spirit the more you are blessing God. You can get to the place where you are doing so more each day. Of course sometimes our grieving the Holy Spirit has quenched the Life that is within us, and we have a spiritual flat tire. We need to get back to the filling station and get some air. Are you finding that more and more that is within you is blessing God? Is His Life filling you up, or do you have a flat tire?

Switching Gears?

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…
(Psalm 23:4 – ESV)

Our idea of blessing, favor and grace is warped by sin. The 23rd Psalm gives us an interesting insight that perhaps you haven’t considered before, and even if you have, it is worth visiting often, and seeing it reflected in other passages of scripture. Here in this Psalm, David begins to speak of God as his shepherd, his leader. He states that God leads him to green pastures, and still waters. The Lord restores his soul as he leads David to paths of righteousness for the sake of His name. It is the hand of God moving David into his place of blessing.

The place of blessing takes many different forms however. David isn’t finished describing what the Good Shepherd leads us into and makes us see and experience His hand in. Notice how David seems to switch gears here, from calm to chaotic. What stared out as still waters and green pastures and a restored soul, suddenly turns into the valley, and the shadow of death, with enemies all around. It would seem as if God is leading him to a place of cursing not blessing.

However, upon careful consideration, he is in the same stream. God is still there, He leads us everywhere and is with us all the time, and we will eventually make it all the way home, no matter which route it takes. Twists and turns only heighten our sense of His faithfulness, if we will but understand what David is saying here.

God is not switching gears; He is switching scenery, showing you that He is in full Shepherd mode no matter where your life finds you. His rod and His staff are there; do you see them in that shadowy, dry and dusty place as easily as you do beside the green pasture and still waters? Whether you do or not, He is just as much there as anywhere.

It is walking by faith not sight. When the sight is a green pasture, or still waters, or your cup runs over, praise the Lord. When you enemies are all around you, when you are in a dry and dusty place where death seems to be casting its long shadow over your soul, praise the Lord. If you are a Christian, mercy and goodness will follow you, and if you have this mindset, your testimony to God’s grace in the dark place will shine a light on others who need encouragement as well. That seemingly strange place of blessing will be a blessing to others in need.

He has anointed your head with the oil of His presence; you are to fear no evil. God’s blessing is upon you as a Christian no matter how dark life seems. His grace will lead you in goodness and mercy all the way home, where you will dwell in His house, forever. When God seems to be switching gears, remember to switch the channels of you perception.

Saturday Sermon: Remember

Psalm 119:49-56

This portion of scripture teaches us that remembrance is a powerful weapon and defense for the Christian. Remembering is proactive; we need to do this now not wait till its too late. Remembrance of God and His Word will give us hope and help to strengthen us in affliction, stoke us in adversity, and secure us from apostasy. We need this message now and always.

Hebrews 12:26-29 – As we get closer to Christ returning, through many means God will be shaking everything that can be shaken, but we have a sure foundation.

Three new challenges to Christian faith are in today’s world. However, Satan’s three-pronged attack is really just resurrecting old lies. This three-tiered tactic is coming against the same areas, just with new items. We must remember this, and remember God’s prescription is the same also.

Secular community (The Secret – New Book) – People want to act like God because they don’t believe in His holiness. They are chasing after fads because they haven’t found God.

Scholarly community (The Tomb – New Discovery) – People want to disprove God because they don’t believe in His power. They listen to any lie because they are starved for truth.

Sacred community (The Apostasy – New Tolerance) – People want to speak for God because they don’t believe what He said. They abandon the faith because they have no anchor.

Let us look at God’s plan to give us perspective in these and all troubled times.

(49-50) He prays for God to remember His Word when he is in pain and it gives him hope

49 – we remind Him in prayer, praying His will (hope)
50 – when we are getting killed out there in the world the Word brings life

(Romans 15:4 / 2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Instead of looking for some new secret we look to God and His Word for encouragement

(51-53) He remembers the Word of God in times of persecution and it brings him righteous fire

51 – when the fire gets hot don’t douse the flame – they scorn you down it spurs you on
52 – we can stoke the fires of remembrance to keep us warm (testimony)
53 – we burn hot with righteous indignation, and we wax bold against their cold

(Psalm 27:11-14 / Luke 24:32 / 2 Timothy 3:12-17)

Instead of listening to the fear and doubts we listen to His Word and it fans our desire

(54-56) He remembers the God of the Word and it keeps him persevering and growing in grace

54 – when all is against us God is for us
55 – God is true to His character and we will survive the coldest night if we keep His Word
56 – we can keep the fire burning if we keep His Word in our hearts

(Psalm 119:11 / Colossians 2:6-10)

Instead of leaning overboard to see what is out there we drop anchor and get grounded

Just as in David’s day there will always be challenges. We must remember, as David did, that just as sure as God acted back then, He will do now. We remember how He has brought us through, and we will see Him triumph. This is how we have hope in God’s providence because of this perspective, we see with God’s eyes as we continue to hold on to Him through His Word.

Now these latest challenges are actually all easily dismissed especially for the informed and grounded Christian. To help us in the battle, by God’s grace there are still many good preachers, good scholars and good churches in the world today. We still have plenty of help.

But what if we turned into just me?

What happens when there are no good preachers? What happens when there is no one to tell you that this latest fad is just a repackaged heresy? You know this is happening already; there are many in pulpits today that promote the type of error that is in this book, and more are climbing on the backsliding bus every day, what happens when they are the vast majority? Will you be counting on God and His Word, or will your hope be in some new thing? John 6:63-68

What happens when there are no good scholars? What happens when there is no one to stand up and defend the faith in public? What happens when everywhere you go you are met with intellectual scorn and worse, physical force? It is going to get worse and worse, will you stand for Christ at all costs, or will you listen to the lies of the learned? Psalm 115:1-3

What happens when there are no good churches? What happens when there is no one to fellowship with and no Christian community because believers are so scarce? When friends and family turn against God, where will you turn? Will you fall overboard or will you hunker down and hang on? Psalm 27:10

We need to remember the song of our salvation when we see the weapons of the world. When the world is bringing it we need to be singing it. Now is not the time to chase after every fad that feeds our feelings. Now is the time to be praying for God’s will with God’s Word. Now is not the time to listen to those who feed our doubts. Now is the time to fan the flames of a holy desire. Now is not the time to abandon ship. Now is the time to get in the ark.

The waters of this world are going to get rough – remember what God has said, remember who God is, and remember what God said to do.