Why God Must Judge - Greg Laurie - www.harvest.org
"Say to them: 'As I live,' says the LORD God, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?' " -Ezekiel 33:11
God takes no pleasure in bringing judgment. In the New Testament we find Jesus grieving over the city of Jerusalem and weeping over her: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!" (Luke 13:34).
And in Ezekiel 33, God said, "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live" (verse 11).
Then why does God send judgment? Answer: Because He is a just God. Abraham rightly said, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Genesis 18:25). If people can flagrantly and continually break God's laws, committing murder and perverting anything and everything that is right and good, would it be right for God to turn away and ignore it? Do you expect God to simply turn a blind eye to all injustice? Or do you expect Him to do something?
"But it is not loving to bring judgment," someone might say.
Let's say that you were the parent of a toddler who was playing in your backyard. Suddenly a wolf comes along, and you see that wolf climb over the fence and sprint toward your toddler. What are you going to do? Are you going to run and give that wolf a big hug? No. The wolf has become your enemy because he is trying to hurt your child. Because you love that child, you hate anything that would harm the one you love.
God is saying, in effect, "I love you, and I hate this wickedness and this sin. I want you to turn away from it." God's heart aches over our rebellion.
"Say to them: 'As I live,' says the LORD God, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?' " -Ezekiel 33:11
God takes no pleasure in bringing judgment. In the New Testament we find Jesus grieving over the city of Jerusalem and weeping over her: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!" (Luke 13:34).
And in Ezekiel 33, God said, "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live" (verse 11).
Then why does God send judgment? Answer: Because He is a just God. Abraham rightly said, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Genesis 18:25). If people can flagrantly and continually break God's laws, committing murder and perverting anything and everything that is right and good, would it be right for God to turn away and ignore it? Do you expect God to simply turn a blind eye to all injustice? Or do you expect Him to do something?
"But it is not loving to bring judgment," someone might say.
Let's say that you were the parent of a toddler who was playing in your backyard. Suddenly a wolf comes along, and you see that wolf climb over the fence and sprint toward your toddler. What are you going to do? Are you going to run and give that wolf a big hug? No. The wolf has become your enemy because he is trying to hurt your child. Because you love that child, you hate anything that would harm the one you love.
God is saying, in effect, "I love you, and I hate this wickedness and this sin. I want you to turn away from it." God's heart aches over our rebellion.
"Jesus said, 'If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'" John 8:31b-32 (NIV)
I lay awake, eyes staring at the ceiling, mind racing with fearful thoughts. "What if" questions consumed every last remnant of the fragile peace I'd managed to scrounge together during the daylight hours. In the dark, fear unpacked its bags and took up residence. Not just one day, but it went on for weeks.
I didn't tell anyone how afraid I was. It was embarrassing. After all, others saw me as a leader . a strong Christian. What if they knew fear over the results of a pending medical test had me sleepless? Fearful to the point of actual trembling? Sick to the point of not eating?
My pride kept me silent, a prisoner to the fear.
Night after night the fear kept me wide-eyed. And day after day, I silently suffered while waiting for the doctor's call.
After several weeks of this misery, I stumbled upon a Bible verse. I wasn't looking for help; I just happened to find it. But something in the words spoke deep to my spirit. It was James 5:16: "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective" (NIV).
It was one of those instances where I sensed God trying to tell me something, but I couldn't figure it out. Kind of like when you have a word on the tip of your tongue, but you just can't pull it from memory. I wanted healing, but what was the sin? Surely fear for my health wasn't sinful, I thought. So what was God trying to tell me?
Then I had a dream.
In the dream, I found myself in a storm-ravaged house, looking out a broken wall at another storm coming. I got down on my hands and knees and crawled through a cage tunnel to escape. The tunnel led to the safety of someone else's house.
Immediately I understood James 5:16.
The broken-down house was my heart. The storm was the fear battering my heart. To escape the fear, I had to humble myself before others, and fully confess my pride (that was the sin) and the depth of my fear.
So I started dialing and through sobs, confessed it all to a handful of people, asking for their prayers. With each confession, fear lost its grip.
My friends' prayers spoke truth to the lies Satan had planted in my mind. Their confidence in God's power helped restore my weakened faith. Their love reminded me I wasn't alone and still wouldn't be if the worst happened.
Before the doctor's call ever came, I was healed from the fear. God's truth battered down my prison door.
Years before, I'd heard my pastor teach on today's key verse in John 8:32, "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." My pastor said the only truth that can set us free is the truth we know.
My experience with James 5:16 proved this true. If I hadn't read that verse and applied it to my life, fear would have had its way with me. The truth of God's Word made an immediate difference in my heart.
Here's the problem: If we don't know the truth in the Bible, how can it make a difference in our lives?
If my Bible sits on my shelf, pages closed, dust gathering, it's like a caged lion. But when I open it up and read it, soaking in its truth, it unleashes God's power in my life.
Mighty, life-changing, heart-restoring, healing truth saturates every page of God's Word! It has the power to set us free from fear, anger, loneliness, pride, betrayal - just as Jesus promised it would.
The doctor's call came, and the results were negative. Was it the powerful and effective prayers of my friends? Maybe. But I know for sure I experienced the power of God's truth in a way I'd never known before. And I'm hungry to experience it again.
Heavenly Father, thank You for generously sharing Your truth in Your Word. Forgive me for ever reading it like it's a history lesson. Help me see its power to set me free and change my life today. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
"Whatever you did for one of the least of these . you did for me." Matthew 25:40b (NIV)
I will never forget the day my son Hudson learned what an orphan was. A close family friend had just returned from Haiti where she visited an orphanage and had taken heartbreaking photos of destitute children in desperate need of loving homes.
As a wide-eyed 3-year-old, Hudson stared at the pictures and asked, "Who dose kids? Why dey sad?"
I explained that the children in the photos were orphans, children without a mommy or daddy. As Hudson pondered this, his heart was gripped with compassion. He suggested we go to Haiti and bring home 20 orphans to live with us.
I smiled at his childish enthusiasm and then informed him I didn't think we'd have room in our house for 20 more children. A few days later, Hudson led me upstairs to see several "orphan beds" he'd created. Each bed consisted of a blanket, a pillow and one of his favorite stuffed animals.
There were two orphan beds in Mommy and Daddy's room, two in his sister's room, and five in Hudson's bedroom. (He'd taken the greatest burden of caring for these orphans upon himself!)
"See?" he exclaimed. "We do have room!"
I was speechless.
God was using my 3-year-old to remind me of His simple solution for the orphaned, the destitute and the starving: sacrificially sharing what we have with those in need.
That day, God challenged my heart with some poignant questions: Was I willing to serve the weak, even if it required personal sacrifice? If Hudson was willing to share his mommy, daddy, bedroom and favorite stuffed animals with children in need - then what was I willing to share?
Those questions changed the course of my life. While we didn't bring home 20 orphans, God has led us to adopt four children in need of a loving home. The journey has not been easy, but through it we have seen God's amazing faithfulness.
In our noisy, busy world, it's easy to become consumed with self-focused pursuits and remain indifferent toward the needs of the lost and dying around us. I have been guilty of this attitude many times.
Whenever I'm struggling with a self-focused mindset, I'm reminded of a sobering story I once heard about the Jewish Holocaust.
In the story, a German church sat next to the railroad tracks where cars of Jews rattled by the church, on their way to the concentration camps. The prisoners would scream as loudly as they could, begging the churchgoers to help. But the Christians didn't want to get involved. Instead, as the cars rolled past, they sang their hymns loudly to drown out the cries of the suffering.
Astounding, isn't it?
Still today, there are cries of anguish resounding all over the world - from the starving child to the persecuted Christian. Yet how often do we drown them out with entertainment, busyness, materialism or selfish ambitions? God asks each of us to turn down the noise in our lives and learn to love and give the way He does, embracing the inconvenient and holding nothing back.
Naturally, this will look different for each of us.
Some of us might be called to minister to the homeless, others to adopt, others to fight for the unborn, others to help orphans, others to encourage the persecuted - and countless other possibilities.
Cultivating a sacrificial lifestyle often starts with one simple step, such as ministering to someone in our community. I encourage you to let God stretch you beyond what is comfortable and easy. He will open your eyes to the ways in which He desires you to become His hands and feet to those in need.
Throughout history, the Christians who've made the most impact for God's kingdom rarely lived comfortable or convenient lives. Their mighty acts for God required enormous personal sacrifice and a willingness to venture far beyond the realm of the easy and convenient. If today's Christians are too busy, who will take up the torch of Gospel-centered rescue work in this generation?
Lord, help me learn to look past myself and see the needs of others. Teach me to love others the way You love them, sacrificially. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
The Comfortable Church
Matthew 28:16-20I think it's fairly evident that the society we live in is very self-centered, and this same characteristic can be present in a church. Whenever a local body of believers develops an inward focus, its fruitfulness in ministry begins to decrease, and each member's Christian walk is hindered.
Many believers want their church to be cozy and comfortable. They come to listen to a nice sermon, fellowship with friends, and have their needs met. But Godnever intended for the gathering of His people to be like a country club; He calls us to join an army that will bring the gospel into enemy territory.
An effective church-one that poses a real threat to the Enemy-is a body of discipled people who have been taught the truth of Scripture, trained for service, and helped to mature spiritually. But all this is accomplished for the purpose of going out into the world, not for becoming a self-contained sanctuary of Christian comfort.
The urgency of the Lord's command and the desperate condition of humanity should motivate us to leave the safety of our Christian fellowships and deliver the message of salvation through Jesus. To avoid this responsibility is to miss the Father's plan for your life and the opportunity to help build His kingdom.
None of us want to waste time or energy on trivial things and thereby miss the exciting fulfillment of God's will. He has called us, not to a life of comfortable tradition, but to an adventure of obedience. Answer His call-you'll help fill His kingdom with people from every tribe and nation.
Choosing to Believe
John 3:1-21
Faith isn't something we can lay claim to because we were born to believing parents or have citizenship in a Christian country. Nor can we attain it by attending or even teaching Sunday school, though I've often heard such incorrect assertions. Instead, the following should be true of genuine believers.
A clear understanding of the gospel is essential for a person to believe and receive the good news of Jesus Christ. His death on the cross was the only sacrifice required to remove our sins. God offers His grace as a gift to anyone who will receive it.
A definite decision at a particular point in time serves as a sort of landmark of the heart and mind. People do not just slip into Christianity; faith in Jesus must be chosen. Believers are those who have made a deliberate decision to trust the Lord and follow in His ways.
A blessed assurance follows the clear-cut decision so that believers can be certain of their salvation. God wants confident, assured children (1 John 5:13).
A visible symbol of what happens when someone receives the Savior--namely, baptism--illustrates dying to one's old ways and rising to new life in Christ Jesus. Believers are to take this step as a public way of identifying with Him (Matt. 28:19).
A man or woman of faith chooses to surrender to Christ, embraces the Word of God, and lives fully for the Lord. True believers no longer muddle through the practices of religion out of habit, but instead worship and rejoice in a vibrant personal relationship with the Lord.
CLIMATE MODELS WILDLY EXAGGERATED
Genesis 8:22
"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."
What scares you more - the polar ice caps melting and a worldwide cataclysm or the increased prices of everything you buy because of exaggerated global-warming claims? What upsets thinking people are all of the false and preposterous claims about global warming they hear on the nightly news.
A new study in the journal Nature Climate Change compared 117 climate predictions made in the 1990s to the actual amount of warming. Out of 117 predictions, only three were roughly accurate, while 114 seriously overestimated the amount of warming. On average, the predictions forecasted two times more global warming than actually occurred.
"It's a real problem," said climate scientist John Christy, a professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. "It shows that there really is something that needs to be fixed in the climate models." He added, "I looked at seventy-three climate models going back to 1979 and every single one predicted more warming than happened in the real world."
Exaggeration and scare tactics seem to be the name of their game. Remember how in 1972, Arctic specialist Bernt Balchen said that a general warming trend over the North Pole is melting the polar ice cap and may produce an ice-free Arctic Ocean by the year 2000? This and many other failed predictions reveal that climate science forecasting is even less reliable than the weatherman on your TV.
No, Christians need not fear anything, especially global warming!
Lord, help us to be responsible stewards of this planet You have given us. And yet, make us mindful of the fact that the Earth is not to be worshiped, for You alone are worthy of our praise! In Jesus' Name. Amen.
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/09/12/climate-models-wildly-overestimated-global-warming-study-finds/#ixzz2enV95yA8. "Climate models wildly overestimated global warming, study finds," Fox News, 9/12/13. Photo: Caption on right: Contrary to predictions that the ice would have vanished by this summer, it has actually increased by 29 percent from last year. Courtesy of MailOnline. Used for educational purposes under U.S. fair use doctrine.
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY ALL NEW PROPHECY AND CREATION DESIGN WEBSITES. THERE IS A LOT TO SEE AND DO..........
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.