The title is not a typo. It’s Hawaiian pigeon English e.g. “I no more nothing for do!” “Den Go brah!”
Recently our good friend Malia, wife of Kahu (pastor) Jason Kerr of Pukas Ministries on Kauai, asked me to preach on missions. “Pukas” means “holes” in reference to the holes in Jesus’s wrists and feet on the cross.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
“Nations” is Ethnos – “people groups.” It refers to your own neighborhood, not just other countries.
Here’s how for do dat.
And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.”
First, write your detailed sermon. Writing helps to solidify and clarify what the Lord wants to say to and through you. Now save the scripture. Throw the sermon in the trash. Unless, of course, your sermon is a blog. That said, don’t just memorize scripture. Meditate on scripture. Meditate means “to chew” as a cow chews its cud. Chew and digest scripture. Your ability to remember will be a fruit of your meditation.
Compile your Resume
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned
Your resume is not a list of your giftings and accomplishments. It is not a declaration of “why I am the best.” Your resume is compiled out of your brokenness. Today, I minister to dependent, neglected children, addicts, and inmates because I was all of these things. I am an expert in how to wreck my own life. I can tell you about how God can unwreck the most unsalvagable of people and use them for His glory.
I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Even Paul boasted of his weakness, not his education and gifting because,
But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God
The purpose of any message or sermon is the glorification of God, not the speaker.
Identify Obstacles.
Before the Fall, Adam and Eve’s entire focus was on God. There was no “Thee and Thou,” only “Thou.” Self-centeredness was the first fruit of the Fall in Genesis 3. It is our primary obstacle to everything good.
And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
Deny is aparnéomai – utterly disown, abstain, to affirm that one has no acquaintance or connection with someone, to forget one’s self, lose sight of one’s self and one’s own interests.
In my opinion, selfishness, and self-centeredness are the root of almost every mental and emotional malady. Selfishness is more for me at the expense of everyone else. Self-centeredness can be everything about me for the benefit of everyone else. Your “GO” message glorifies God or it is worthless deception.
Take the pressure off.
Paul addresses the issue of comparison in 2 Corinthians 10.
But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.
Those who insist on praising, promoting, and thereby glorifying the messenger instead of the source are contributing to the future fall of the messenger. Hence Paul writes,
What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
One plants, one waters. Those who plant and water are the same. They are nothing. Only God gives the increase 1 Cor 3:5-9
Prepare for Go.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
I have written and spoken endlessly about the biblical path of transformation the purpose of which is that that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. We are commanded to test everything especially any message that declares “THUS SAITH THE LORD!”
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.
We test everything by the Word of God, which is our compass, our lens, and the mirror through which we view ourselves, our lives, and the world in which we so temporarily reside. We cannot hope to do so until we have surrendered our entire lives and beings to the God who created and sustains us.
The next step is to remain in a constant state of delight in the Lord.
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Giving you the desires of your heart does not simply mean giving you what YOU want. It means He makes His desires YOUR desires. We align our mind, will, and emotions, with His such that His desire becomes your desire. This is the next step in “deny self“.
“Deny self” is condensed and summarized in Proverbs 3.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.
Your lane or The area of influence God assigned to you correlates with your resume. I can confidently boast about being a juvenile delinquent, an addict, and a prison inmate. I can boast of my knowledge of how not to live. I can testify of the blessings that come with surrender to Jesus. My gifts, e.g., counseling, writing, and teaching, are not a product of the almighty “I”. I am the guy whose Special Ed reading teacher declared him “the stupidest boy I ever met!”. My gifts were given by God. Any scripture I recite or expound upon is a product of Holy Spirit bringing it to remembrance because I delighted myself in Him and acknowledged Him in all my ways. Everyone in Christ has a resume and corresponding gift, and can do the same.
For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
1 Corinthians 12:8-10 mentions wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues.
Que Rompe tu Corazon? – What Breaks Your Heart? Psalm 37:4. How often does the church sing, “break my heart for what breaks yours.” If we pay attention, the people group to which God is calling us is probably the one that breaks our hearts. It could be those in a third-world nation. It could be the family next door. It might be your child. One thing is certain. If you follow the aforementioned steps, you will know for certain. He will confirm it with His peace.
JUMP!
As my high-school soccer goalie coach, Fuji, taught me, “Pay attention. When you see your opponent coming down the field with the ball; watch. When his foot goes backward in preparation to kick the ball, then jump. It’s easier to change direction when you are already moving than it is to get moving and then change direction. Now get the ball!” The same formula applies to missions.
Romans 11 is one of the most important eschatological passages in all of scripture. Eschatology is the study of the end times. One’s understanding of scripture, identity, and worldview, along with any impetus toward ministry, is ultimately driven by our view of the end. For example, those holding to a pretribulation rapture view may be provoked to evangelize but they are unlikely to be driven to prepare to endure to the end. Mat 24:13 The expectation is an escape from suffering. Those with a Postmillennial view or what some call Victorious Eschatolgy work frantically to transform society according to some version of The Seven Mountains Mandate in preparation for Jesus’s return. The expectation is increasing influence and prosperity for the Body of Christ. On the other hand, those with a post-tribulation view of the Harpazo, 1 Thess 4:17 will hear the
The expectation is that we will endure persecution and suffering. Things will get harder before the perfect comes. One thing is certain. Our view of the end times will become more or less coherent as time goes on.
As Bereans, we endeavor to follow the method of the earliest church fathers like Polycarp who was discipled by John. Hence, we assume the most literal interpretation of scripture leads to truth. We allow scripture to interpret scripture instead of our imagination. We apply the laws of coherence and noncontradiction and assume that Jesus meant exactly what He said in the Olivet Discourse.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
What is the ultimate purpose of the call to endurance and faith? I contend that it is the same purpose given by Paul in Ephesians 1:3-10 and Romans 11.
Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. In as much then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.
Many gentile Christians, whom Paul describes as wild olive branches, errantly view themselves as superior to the cultivated ones (The chosen Jews) because the Jews rejected their savior and demanded His crucifixion. Some believe the church has replaced the Jews. But the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. Rom 11:29 Paul makes clear that we Gentiles would never have had the opportunity to be saved were it not for the transgression of His chosen people. Hence we are warned
do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.
The geographical nation of Israel begins In approximately 1250 BC at the end of the 40-year Jewish Exodus from Egypt when Joshua took the nation of Israel across the Jordan River into the promised land. Joshua 1-24 At that time it was occupied by Canaanites, the descendants of Cain who murdered Able. Genesis 4 Wars and turmoil continued as the Israelites gradually gained more control over the land. Ezekiel 48 explains that the total area God gave Abraham includes Lebanon, part of Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.
The nation of Israel has yet to occupy all of it.
The Israelites’ history has been an ongoing and repeated cycle of receiving a blessing from God, followed by disobedience and entitlement, resulting in God’s discipline. God’s discipline produced repentance, which led to restoration, and renewed blessing. The ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise to the Jewish people is not based upon their being better than the rest of the world. Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:1-20 Rather as we are learning in our study of Romans chapters nine through eleven, it is based on the irrevocable calling of God and His purpose of election.
God chose Jacob over Esau
though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls
Interestingly, Muslims today refer to Jesus as Esau. At the end of the day we must keep in mind that God does what He does, and chooses whom He chooses based on who He is, not who we are.
Fast forward…
Jesus was born and rejected by a majority of His people, the Jews. He was crucified, and resurrected, thereby conquering sin and death. The Gospel of Salvation was fulfilled. This is the foundation, not the completion of God’s redemptive plan. (See all four Gospels). Jesus ascends to the Father, the Holy Spirit is given and the Christian church is born. Acts 1-2.
The Origins of Palestine
The name Palestine is derived from Roman Emperor Hadrian changing the name of Judea to Syria-Palestinia following the 132-135 AD Bar Kokhba revolt. Simon Barcoba was a Jewish Zealot, a leader in a political movement that attempted to overthrow the Roman rule over Israel and make Israel great again. After Bar Koba was defeated, Hadrian wanted to eliminate any trace of a Jewish presence in Judah. The geographical area known as Gaza, Palestine today is the original home of the Philistines. The first mention of the Philistines is found in Genesis 20 in 1897 BC. Abimelech was king of Gerar in the plain of Philistia.
The first battle between the nation of Israel and the Philistines is mentioned in Judges 3:31 and occurred sometime between 1400 and 1000 BC. Joshua conquered Jerricho Judges 6 in 1405 BC and began taking the land that became the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel continued until 70 AD when the Roman Emperor Titus sacked Jerusalem, the 2nd Jewish Temple was destroyed and the Jewish people were dispersed around the globe as Jesus prophesied in Mathew 24:2.
Israel did not exist as a nation again until “The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel” by the UN on May 14, 1948. This was prophetically alluded to by Jesus in Mathew 24:32-33. The people displaced by the UN charter in 1948 are contemporary Palestinians. These are a melting pot of Arabic people, and Roma (gypsies).
In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.Isaiah 11:1-12
The current geographical boundaries that included Israeli control of Jerusalem were established during the Six-Day War, June 5-10, 1967.
Muslims believe Israel and especially Jerusalem belong to the descendants of Ishmael. If you are Jewish or Christian, then there is no disputing that the land of Israel is Jacob, over whom Jesus reigns. It belongs to God’s chosen people, the Jews, into whom we Christians are grafted. Of course, many Jews and some Christians, do not realize this…
yet…
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.Romans 11:17-18
As for Hamas and the rest of Ishmael’s descendants, they have never validated the existence of Israel, and in their own words, they never will.
There is an ever-growing pressure in the world to align with Esau and Ishmael against Jacob and Issac. Therefore, all Christians should carefully read and understand Romans chapter 11 regarding God’s plan for Israel and Israel’s relationship with the church. Or should I say the church’s relationship with Israel? As I will show, it includes a dire warning concerning God’s judgment at the end of the age.
Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.Romans 11:22-23
The people known as Hamas today are, in fact, Nazis and are supported by those who have sought the eradication of the Jewish people since Hamann in the book of Esther Chapter 3. Both Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood have the same roots.
What should we do?
We must destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God2 Cor 10:5-6 We must take captive any thought that would dare turn anything in God’s word into a pejorative. Zionism is once again becoming a pejorative. Zion has everything to do with both Judaism and Christianity. Zion was first mentioned when David captured Mount Zion 2 Samuel 5:7 in the 10th century BC. Zion is the City of David from which Jews know their Messiah will rule. Christians already know that the Messiah is Jesus. Mount Zion is Mount Moriah, where Abraham offered Issac, and God provided a sacrifice in a foreshadowing of Jesus. Mount Zion is the site of the 1st-century Jewish Temple. Today it is the site of the Alasque mosque commonly known as the Dome of the Rock. It is the most contentious piece of real estate in the world over which and upon which the most significant end times events will play out.
Dome of the Rock 2018
There is a lot of left-leaning and supersessionist propaganda that has changed the definition of Zionist to mean secular and political Jews who want to dominate the world. True Zionists are those who rejoice that Jesus will eventually rule from Zion. One thing is certain. At some future point, Jesus will descend upon the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem to set up His millennial Kingdom. Zechariah 14, Revelation 20. This is also declared in Psalm 2 written in 1044 BC.
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree…Psalm 2:1-7
So where are we on the time line?
For starters, it looks like what Zephaniah prophesied in 620 BC is taking place in Gaza now.
For Gaza shall be deserted, and Ashkelon shall become a desolation; Ashdod’s people shall be driven out at noon, and Ekron shall be uprooted. Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast, you nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines; and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left.Zeph 2:4-5
If that is the case then Islamists, Antisemites, and confused supersessionists can take a deep breath. Contemporary political Israel is not the same Israel from which Jesus will reign. Those in Israel and all other nations (people groups) who continue to reject Jesus as savior are not off the hook. If my interpretation of scripture is correct, God’s judgment falls on them next.
Or should I say, “falls on us”?
“Therefore wait for me,” declares the Lord, “for the day when I rise up to seize the prey. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger; for in the fire of my jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed.”
My exegetical analysis of scripture leads me to the Ezekiel 38-39 war. Barring a rise in American antisemitism that turns the USA from Israel entirely, it seems to me that NATO must become so tied up with its own crises e.g. wars, that it is unable or unwìlling to come to Israel’s aid.
God began returning the Jews to Israel in 1948 in fulfillment of His promise declared in Ezekiel 36. Not because Israel deserved it. They did not. God did it for the sake of His Holy name.
Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.
The valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37 is none other than the restored Nation of Israel that we see today.
Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”
Still, Israel is anything but righteous. Hence, we see the greatest chastisement of the Jewish people coming in Ezekiel 38. The map above shows the nations or elements from within nations that will descend upon Israel.
“Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say to Gog, Thus says the Lord God: On that day when my people Israel are dwelling securely, will you not know it? You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army. You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.
Yet Israel will prevail. Not because of their army or the Iron Dome, etc., but because God will intervene on Israel’s behalf with an earthquake, torrential rains, fire and sulfur…
So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
Having observed the shifting Arab geopolitical alignments since the AL Aqsa Flood on October 7th, 2023. One thing seems certain: those who believe righteousness is rooted in Esau, not Jacob and Ishmael, not Issac, will never back down. Those who hold the reverse to be true will also never back down. Neither side is correct regarding righteousness apart from Jesus. Hence these wars that were foreknown rather than caused by God must take place because they are the trajectory of original sin that will only be rectified by surrender to Christ Jesus.
I continue to watch the lead-up to Ezekiel 38 in real time as Israel continues to prepare for an all-out war with Iran. Meanwhile, the entire Arab world just united over Palestine on November 11th in a Resolution of the Extraordinary Arab and Islamic Summit, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
On November 11, an urgent Arab-Islamic summit was held in Riyadh, addressing the issue of Palestine. This was an extremely significant event. Noteworthy was the simultaneous participation of Assad and Erdogan, a convergence that would have been impossible until recently. Additionally, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke not only about Palestine but also about the need to support Iran and Hezbollah — a sensational shift, as Saudi Arabia and Iran have traditionally been considered adversaries. The same applies to Hezbollah...Muslims can only unite through a common war against a common enemy. It is at the doorstep.
Among other things, this conglomeration of Arab / Islamist states that includes every territory named in Ezekiel 38 and more, agreed that Jerusalem, what Islamists call East Al-Quds, is the Palestinian capital.
Recently Turkey, who is a NATO member, severed all diplomatic ties with Israel. Previous to that Russia and Iran signed a mutual defense treaty. Does this mean the prophesied conflict is imminent? Not necessarily.
We need a catalyst that kicks the whole thing off.
An oracle concerning Damascus.Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city and will become a heap of ruins.
Damascus, Syria, is the oldest, most consistently populated city on earth. It has never been destroyed. For quite some time, I have felt that the fulfillment of this prophecy would be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel’s back and unleashes the fury of the Arab world against Israel. Again, this is my interpretation of scripture. I am a Watchman, not a prophet. Recently, Israel said, that they are going to deal with Syria when they finish with Hezbollah. Previously Damascus and Aleppo, Syria, were the primary venues through which Iran supplied its proxies with weapons. Now Assad’s pro-Shia government in Syria has been overthrown by Sunni Al Queda and ISIS. Some are breathing a sigh of relief. However, these Western and Turkish-backed rebels are claiming they will take Al Quds.
Stay tuned…
After God, not Israel, subdues Israel’s Ezekiel 38 assailants; I will be looking for a man or an entity of peace to come on the scene, resulting in the return of the Jewish worship on Mount Moriah, including the restoration of daily sacrifice. The contemporary Sanhedrin had a portable altar ready when we were in Israel in 2018. I am told they now have a tabernacle ready to be assembled within days. That said,
While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
At some point after that the daily sacrifice will be taken away and the abomination that causes desolation will be set up. Mat 24:15, Dan 12:11 This will be followed by 3.5 years or 1290 days or 42 months Revelation 13:5 of tribulation.
For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be
The great tribulation is the wrath of the dragon who knows his time is short Rev 12:12, not the wrath of God. I am noting this because pretribulation rapture proponents quote 1 Thess 5:9God has not destined us for wrath, as proof that the Church will not be here. While I will be happy if I am wrong, I believe the church will be here and God will preserve it as he preserved Israel in the wilderness during Exodus.
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
Jesus (the son of man) will return the way he left Acts 1:9-11, and was prophesied in Dan 7:13-14, and finally confirmed by The Son of Man Himself in Mat 24:29-31. No one knows the day or the hour, but we do know the season. It will mark the fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets followed by the Feast of Atonement and The Feast of Tabernacles.
The true purpose of God’s plan is to reconcile all the children of Abraham. It is spelled out in verses like Zephania 3:9-20, Isaiah 19:16-24 and Romans 11. So often man makes divisions that God does not see. Can we fully comprehend God’s plan in the context of our limited human cognition? Probably not. Hence Isaiah 55:8-9, and Paul’s similar conclusion to Romans 11.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
But don’t take my word for it. I’m just a guy with a Bible. Be a Berean and search the scriptures yourself to see if what I am saying is true. Even if I am wrong regarding exactly how end-time events play out God’s ultimate plan of reconciliation is the goal. 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 Passages like Romans 11 foster greater depths of reverence and awe.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Paul’s warning regarding the broken branches which are the Jewish people, is connected to a more dire warning concerning God’s judgment at the end of the age. As you may know, Mathew 24-25, the Olivet Discourse, contains an outline regarding events leading up to the end of the age and Jesus’ return. Verses 3-31 tell us in near bullet point form what we will see taking place and what may happen to us if we are alive at the time. Verses 32-52 are allegorical descriptions of what those days will be like. Mathew 25 contains instructions on how believers should respond. Mat 25:31-46 is the final judgment marked by the all-familiar parable of the sheep and the goats. Verse 40 is the most oft-quoted.
And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
While Jesus loves the poor and downtrodden, the least of His brothers is not the starving child in a third-world dump. In fact, He said these are the greatest. Mat 18:1-5. Consider that Jesus was a Jewish Messiah who came first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. The least of Jesus’ brethren when He spoke to His Jewsish disciples, were the Jews who rejected Him and were about to have him tortured and crucified. Given the legal right under a Sanhedrin their descendants would persecute and kill His followers today. Hence Paul wrote,
As regards the gospel, they (The Jews) are enemies of the gospel for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Rom 11:28-29
Be careful. Arrogance toward the broken branches, a.k.a. “Zionists” could result in your hearing,
‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. May 25:41
Righteousness will only be found in Jesus. A righteous government and society will not exist until He returns to rule from Mount Zion.
So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. Acts 10:34-35
We are playing a very small role in redemptive disaster relief efforts in East Tennessee and Western NC. At this point, our focus has been on partnering with other ministries to get much-needed supplies into underserved areas.
Temperatures are dropping fast in Appalachia and the acute risk of hyperthermia for people rendered homeless by Helene is real. Yesterday, we partnered with Harvest Time Encounters and three other ministries to deliver a twenty-foot Uhaul truck full of cold weather supplies to Banner Elk, NC, a community with a large and now homeless Hispanic migrant population numbering at least one hundred men and women and children. If that last statement spikes your blood pressure,
Bear with me…
I realize there is a narrative stating that FEMA isn’t helping in Helene relief efforts because all the money has been spent on illegal migrants. If so, there are profound legal and constitutional issues at stake. However, the word on the ground here is that these people do not qualify for government assistance, including FEMA. As for us, we are Christians. God’s kingdom is not of this world. John 18:36 We are in the world but not of it. John 17:16 In the meantime, we have a mandate from God regarding the sojourner.
He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.
Having served as missionaries in Honduras and become homeless due to a landslide, see Making Sense of Calamity, we can empathize with the sojourner. We can also assure you that the migrants that so many Americans are encouraged to despise are just as much or more victims of the current political situation as American citizens in the USA. Beginning in 2020, Latin American news, especially CNN, encouraged people to venture across the border with the assurance that they would be welcomed with an abundance of opportunities to improve their way of life. Were they used as political pawns? Perhaps. In any case, the caravans began. Too often, these people are framed as terrorists and criminals. In truth, there are terrorists and criminals in every people group. One sure way to turn regular hard-working people into so-called “terrorists” is to marginalize and persecute them. That’s what happened to Honduran and Salvadoran migrants during the late 1980’s and early 90’s the fruit of which was and is Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13.
Most of these people simply want to make ten dollars per hour instead of ten dollars per day.
In any case, human beings created in the image of God are currently at risk for freezing to death in Appalachia. Let me ask you a question.
What would Jesus have us do?
“America is God’s country!” you say. True. So is the rest of His creation.
So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation (people group) anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
Unfortunately, just as nature abhors a vacuum, the American mind abhors an unanswered question. Many today can not cope with the tension of not knowing. Hence any answer may be regarded as better than none. As is the case in much of the USA, rumors and conspiracies abound in Appalachia. That’s not to say that none are valid. As one senator whose name escapes me recently said, “We need new conspiracy theories because all of the old ones have already come true.” Even so, we have yet to encounter any militia, looters, or FEMA. All we’ve seen are compassionate, hard-working people representing exactly what America is supposed to be.
Banner Elk
“It takes a village”
is an understatement when it comes to disaster relief. We had all sorts of skilled and talented people who could have planned and built a city. Leon and Paula from Harvest Time Encounters initially organized the trip. Then Leon had to go to Uganda and realized he couldn’t make it back from NC in the required time frame. They knew we’d already been making runs to NC and they asked us to make the trip for them. Of course we said,
“Yes!”
Leon and Paula
We also had Musy and Laura. There are a lot of things I could say about these two. But suffice it to say that they are organizational “Git-er done” pros.
Laura is in the middle next to us, and Musy is to her left.
We had the entire warehouse staff at two distribution centers helping as well.
That being said, anyone who has been on the mission field, knows that chaos always abounds. Some people blame the devil.
I think it’s a testimony of God’s glory and sovereignty in the context of human foolishness and frailty.
It took all of the veteran missionaries and administrative experts two full days to coordinate gather, load, and transport sleeping bags, tents, heaters, propane, gasoline, generators, winter clothing, and food for people camping in freezing weather with none of the above. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Everyone one with overseas missions experience kept asking,
“why is this so hard to do in America?”
We were ready to go when Elizabeth, our contact person on the ground in Banner Elk said the guy who owned the hangar where she was receiving donations needed his hangar back. She could not receive any more donations until she found a new location. The donation distribution center refused to load us up without a verified contact person and delivery location. It looked like the trip was a bust. Then Musy remembered an old friend and learned he is now pastoring in Western North Carolina. As it turned out, he is in Boone, NC, just outside Banner Elk. She called him and he told her about a displaced Hispanic community at risk of freezing to death. He was “headed there now with peanut butter sandwiches”. Little did we know he was also meeting with a lady named Sherry in Banner Elk.
The next day we started afresh with Pastor Scott as a new contact. Only now, I guess we looked pretty flaky. Those in charge at the distribution center seemed reluctant to take us seriously. So we left and went to another center. Just as the second center was getting ready to supply us, the first center called back, apologized, and said they were “ready to load us up”. As we learned later, the request we had been trying to fill the entire time was originally from the same Sherry in Banner Elk. It had come in three days earlier and evidently had been misplaced. So, we returned to the first center while Musy and Laura stayed behind to fill their pickup truck with as many relevant supplies as they could get. The plan was to add it to our Uhaul load.
“I doubt they will fill our truck. We’ll have roomfor what you can get.”I told them.
Boy, was I wrong! The first center had pallets of supplies ready to pack our truck to the proverbial gills. They had some of every item requested. We’d gone from severe miscommunication and not having enough stuff to having too much stuff to fit in our truck. That’s when Pastor Bill showed up.
“I can take a load in my truck.” He said.
Bill had no agenda of his own that day. In fact he’d just finished asking the Lord what he was supposed to do when he laid eyes on us and overheard my frustration.
Sometimes we just need to abide in Prov 3:5-8 and get out of God’s way.
We did. God directed our path and did what the expert humans could not. That said, anyone can load a truck and drive it somewhere. We are not heroes.
Meet the heroes.
Bruce and Jeff
Pastor Scott was tied up when we arrived in Banner Elk. So he sent two fire chiefs from Fort Worth, Texas. Bruce (left), is retired. Jeff is still active. Bruce told me Jeff is one of the top disaster response experts in the country. They’d been chainsawing all day and we could tell they were exhausted when we met up at four in the afternoon. The two men attend the same church in Texas and are in Banner Elk, volunteering for another week.
They were there to help us unload.
There was lots of emotion when we arrived. Some were thanking Jesus for the volume of supplies that we brought. Others were freaking out because they didn’t know where to put it. Everyone began brainstorming. Or should I say “storming”? We unloaded in one area then reloaded and unloaded…. That’s when Jeff said,
“Stop!”
“I think there might be a warehouse we can use.”
He consulted the General in charge. For the record, she’s not really a General. But she is a veteran.
Sherry Trice
Sherry Trice is the quintessential Appalachian woman and resident of Banner Elk. Sweet as a kitten or a Pit Bull depending on who she is addressing, she comes from a long line of Appalachians with “ministries” of serving. She said that when she first looked out upon the resulting devastation caused by Helene, she distinctly heard,
“You serve here.”
I’m not sure if she knew who was talking, but she obeyed. She is coordinating much, if not most, of the relief efforts in Banner Elk. “If we have the money and resources, people with time to spare can get it done,” she said. If there is one thing that Appalachian’s embody, it is a spirit of mental toughness, endurance, and selflessness. These are the original “Git-er done!” people. Many who have lost everything are more concerned with their neighbors than they are with themselves. “Don’t worry about me. Give it to someone who needs it more.” is a common response. Sherry says she wants nothing to do with the church, she only wants the church people. We get it. I met Jesus at the barrel of a shotgun over two decades ago. I’ve been working out my theological errors ever since. As we were leaving, Sherry declared more than asked, “You’re coming back next week!” “Maybe,” I replied. “A man makes his plans, but the Lord directs his steps.” Sherry immediately looked up to the sky and proclaimed,
“I need them to come back next week!”
Cathy and I really like this lady.
Lord willing we’ll be back.
There was a fair amount of temptation to become offended along the way. We could debate who to blame, in the spiritual and the natural realms ad infinitum. I asked Jeff why things get so crazy and disorganized when Christians respond to dire needs. “It’s because everyone just jumps in and starts doing.”, he replied. This morning in our devotions Cathy and I discussed how Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing. We suspect that God is teaching us all something about that. He’s teaching us a lot of things. The impetus and urgency that drove this trip was a rumor that fifteen people had died of hyperthermia in Banner Elk. It went viral on social media. The local news debunked it. No one we met in Banner Elk said otherwise. Still, the risk of freezing to death is increasingly real. At the end of the day, God causes all things to work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Our job is to love God. If it works out, it’s because He did it. Period! He did. Another important point is that while none of us desires the pressure that is tribulation, sometimes tribulation is required if redemption is to be found within the only hope that does not disappoint. Rom 5:3-5 Quite often redemption involves the stripping that Cathy and I so often talk about.
Finally, Cathy repeatedly heard the word “contingency” the other night and during her morning prayer time.
Continigency provision for an unforeseen event or circumstance which is possible but cannot be predicted with certainty.
Anyway, now that you know the backstory, here’s a two-minute snippet that makes two days of abject chaos and confusion look smooth and easy. Pay special attention to the song as it describes the true spirit and disposition of everyone involved.
Romans 9 is key to the formation of the doctrine of predestination espoused by John Calvin in 1536. Arminianism is the response to Calvin’s doctrine of predestination framed by Jacob Arminius in 1610. The primary difference between the two is in their Soteriology. Soteriology is the study of the doctrine of Salvation.
Calvin said that man has no role or power in choosing to be saved. God chooses whom He will choose and rejects whom He will reject. The chosen are the elect and can not resist salvation once they hear the gospel. Once they are saved they are always saved.
Arminius said that man has free will and the power to decide whether or not He is saved. God desires that all men be saved 1 Tim 2:4 God has foreknowledge of who will be saved. But He does not force anyone to come to Him against their will. Free will reigns supreme, therefore man can accept the gift of salvation and then later reject it.
Now, you might say, and rightly so, that Calvin and Arminius are not in the Bible. Yet every Christian denomination that does not represent outright heresy leans towards Calvinismism or Arminianism – predestination or free will.
Take a moment and consider which way you instinctively lean. How did you come to know Jesus? Did you choose Him or did He choose you? What made you believe the gospel? Did someone argue you into it? Or did something just seem to click into place and you suddenly believed? Before you answer consider this. Suppose every one of your thoughts, decisions and actions were predetermined by God.
How would you know?
What does scripture say?
Paul begins Romans 9 with a lamentation. He says he wished he were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of his brothers, to whom belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises, the patriarchs. It was from them that Jesus came. It may be worthy to note, especially here, that accursed is the same word Paul used in Galatians 1:8-9 regarding anyone preaching a different gospel than the one they have heard. Accursed means going to hell. This lends greater weight to his admonition not to go beyond what is written. 1 Cor 4:6. The word of God is not something to toy with or take lightly as so many charasmatics do.
Paul is grieving that so many of his Jewish brothers who seemingly should be saved are not saved. He might have wished he could go to hell in thier place. Yet his wishing had no effect.
Think about that.
But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac,
though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who callsshe was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
God told Jeremiah,“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”Jeremiah 1:5 God knew Jeremiah and by extension us before we were in the womb. Some might wonder, albeit philosophically; did Jacob and Esau act in ways before they were born that predetermined their status before the womb? Did we? Paul clearly answers that it was not because of works but because of him who callsshe was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
It seems that Calvin might have a point.
All that being said, it occurs to me that while God knew them, the Bible does not say that Jeremiah, Jacob, and Esau knew God. Could it be that our only purpose on earth is to know God? If so then it follows that the entire work of God is to believe in the one He has sent. John 6:29 Thats it! Solomon who wrote the ultimate “been there, had that, done that” book of Ecclesiasties concluded the same.
Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.
Of course we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Eph 2:10. Arminians might imagine God needs our works to complete His plan. Calvinists would say He does not. We simply have the privilege of coming along for the ride. Speaking of Ephesians 2, exactly how much free will are dead people able to exert?
Paul continues to affirm the doctrine of predestination by quoting Exodus 33:19 and Exodus 9:16. A common argument among Arminians is that God only hardened Pharaoh’s heart after Pharoah first chose to harden it himself. Yet God told Moses beforehand that He would harden it so that Pharaoh would not let the people go. Exodus 4:21 Still, an argument previously put forth by me is that the “hardening” was more akin to a “giving up” or “giving over” to sin as described in Romans 1:24-28. If we insist on sinning, God allows us to go the way we desire. That may be true in the context of Romans 1. As it turns out I was wrong. The hardening – chazaq– of Pharaoh’s heart in Exodus 4 means exactly that. God, not Pharaoh, chose to harden Pharaoh’s heart because that is the prerogative of a Sovereign, omniscient, and omnipotent God. Argue with the Potter if you will.
But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”
So many today presume to know and declare the plan purposes of God. Some do it propheticly. Others make philosophical assertions. Meanwhile, His word declares.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your waysand my thoughts than your thoughts.
God doesn’t want us to know what He is doing and why. He wants us to know Him.
Of course, Paul is not debating Calvin versus Arminius here. He is laying a foundation for explaining the relationship between Israel and the gentile church in the context of His perfect sovereign will. Israel is not Israel because they were superior. Israel is Israel because God, in His sovereignty, chose Jacob to become Israel before he was in the womb. Gen 32 The same principle is applied to the gentile church. Paul paraphrases the prophetic declaration from Hosea 2:23
“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’” “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”
Hosea was told to marry and remain faithful to a prostitute who remained a prostitute. The prostitute represents Israel, and as we will see, us, the church.
Paul concludes with a prophetic reference to about Jesus in Isaiah 8 and Isaiah 28:16.
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
As I said, I’ve always tended toward Arminianism. I preached the gospel to sell Jesus. I did good works in hope that people would see Jesus in me and “accept Him.” Anyone will believe if I can just make a good enough case – offer an apologetic defense that is solid enough. Aside from illustrating the futility of ideas that counter biblical claims, I don’t think that debate has ever worked. Not even once. Roland Baker who is a Calvinist, recently posted the following.
When I was coming to Christ, I thought I was doing it all myself, and though I sought the Lord earnestly, I had no idea the Lord was seeking me. I do not think the young convert is at first aware of this… One week-night, … the thought struck me, “How did you come to be a Christian?” I sought the Lord. “But how did you come to seek the Lord?” The truth flashed across my mind in a moment – I should not have sought Him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek Him.I prayed, thought I, but then I asked myself, How came I to pray? I was induced to pray by reading the Scriptures. How came I to read the Scriptures? I did read them, but what led me to do so? Then, in a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of it all, and that He was the Author of my faith, and so the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me, and from that doctrine I have not departed to this day, and I desire to make this my constant confession, “I ascribe my change wholly to God”
-Spurgeon Carry The Light-
If I am honest the same truth applies to me. I didn’t come to Jesus of my own free will. Heck! I was trying my very best to reject Him and die. He saved me despite me. Not because of me. It occurs to me that the driving force behind Arminianism might be the very self that Jesus commands us to deny as a first step in becoming His disciple. Mat 16:24 Here in the charismatic I-dentity culture, we can not fathom that the imagined exaltation of the almighty “I” in His eyes might be the problem instead of the solution it is proported to be. If indeed I am in Christ Jesus, then I am a new creation. 2 Cor 5:17 I am also dead. Col 3:3. Becoming a new creation is not an invitation to shift my focus from Him to my I-dentity. Today, I am more convinced than ever that my sole purpose on earth is to know HIM and deny the little “i”. Less of me. More of HIM is key. I will be eternally grateful to be nothing here on earth if I can simply pass through the gates of heaven into His Holy presence for eternity.
As the reality of loss from Hurricane Helene begins to settle in and among those directly affected, we are still learning from our own similar experience in Honduras.
Those who know us are aware that Cathy and I survived a landslide caused by Cat 5 Hurricane Iota on November 20th, 2020. It came just ten days after Cat 4 Eta.
Cathy barely dodged this.
The photo above was the first landslide that happened at 3:30 pm. Cathy had just opened the gate and narrowly escaped being buried alive. The effects on the Honduran survivors were beyond what most people can imagine. Landslides were the number one cause of death during both storms.
I wrote about the revelations gleaned from wrestling with God’s isolation during COVID-19, the loss of everything but our lives, followed by suddenly becoming homeless in a third-world country. The first was that God had miraculously preserved both our lives.
The large stone is were my head would have been in our bed. The smaller one represents Cathy’s.
The second revelation is that preservation is often attended by a stripping.
The story of Jacob wrestling with God in Genesis 32 has always been one of my favorites. It was during our morning devotions the other day that the word “preserved” emerged again in verse 30. I’d never really noticed it before. We looked it up and found the original Hebrew word is “Natsal” – to “deliver, rescue and save.“Natsal” also means to “plunder” and “strip”.
We had been stripped of all our worldly possessions and memorabilia.
And yet a strange supernatural peace enveloped us as well as an even stronger bond between us as husband and wife. That bond and peace remainwith us now.
We felt instantly closer and more intimate with the Lord than at any other point in our walk with the Him. Meanwhile, the people in our village descended on the ruins, digging out whatever they could find.
A group of women washed the mud out of Cathy’s clothes. It was a genuine act of love from the people whom we had come to love and serve and live among. We were so very grateful.
“How do I tell them?” Cathy asked?
“Tell them what?” I inquired.
“I don’t want any of it.” She replied.
Something had happened within us individually and as a couple. Granted, we’d surrendered a lot when we left for the mission field. Only now did we truly recognize the proverbial ball, and chain of materialism that drags so many of us down, and the freedom of having it removed. That included twenty thousand dollars worth of photography and video equipment that supported my path and passion for the mission field. In a moment God whispered,
“You’re done!”
Long story short, Cathy gave all her clothes to the village women.
Cathy’s birthday came two days after the landslide. I had nothing to give her so I wrote The Most Incredible Woman and reflected on what a gift from God she was and is to me. This amazing woman never batted an eyelash as we continued our mission.
The featured image in the title of this post is from the before and after video God is Good Testimony. It is a reminder of how precious she is to me and how precarious and short-lived is our existence on earth. At least one hundred people died that day in a country about the size of Tennessee. Only the Lord knows how many just lost their lives in similar circumstances here in Tennessee and North Carolina.
Many more have lost property and generations’ worth of history and family heirlooms. Lots of people have come to dig and rescue homes and possessions from mud and mold. Still, I think God, who is sovereign, omnipotent, and omniscient, is doing something different than many realize. I think He is asking questions that expose the true condition of our hearts. What really matters? Where is our treasure truly laid up? Are we dependent upon Him or the contemporary Golden Calf known as materialism?
To whom do we assign the most power in our minds? Do we believe that “if God is with us, then who can be against us”? Rom 8:31-39 Or do we believe the devil is so powerful that he can override the will of God? Do we believe the word of God? Or do we think that God thinks, feels, and acts like us? Isaiah 55:8-9
We are doing what the Lord calls us to do amid the current earthly crisis. Hopefully, those reading this are doing the same. Those called to dig in the mud should dig in the mud. Those called to clean mud from memorabilia should clean. Those called sit with victims and listen should listen. Those managing and transporting donations should continue until the Lord says otherwise. Just don’t assume that you know why He has called you to do it. Consider the possibility that He might be highlighting our proverbial golden calves – the fragility, vanity, and utter futility of all that is carnal.
It’s been ten years since we produced the video above. As time went on we found ways to get people out of the dump. We had opportunities for jobs, housing and school for thier children. Not one ever accepted the offer. They were too attached to thier recyclable bottles and metal and whatever else they thought they had and could not part with. That’s when the Lord said,
“that’s you son!”
At some point in eternity even the wealthiest believer among us will see thier money, mansions and jewelry and cars for what they were.
It’s just my opinion and maybe my interpretation of scripture, but I think there are going to be a lot more opportunities to reflect on what I have written here. A lot of circumstances will require a paradigm shift, especially in areas where we have taken things for granted. I think a lot of us are going to realize that much of what we once considered indispensable amounted to junk in the dump. Sometimes the greatest blessings are only found in brokenness.
That being said, this is an Ezekiel 33:1-6 alarm. This storm is but a trailer of what is to come. Roll your eyes if you will. Ten years ago we would have rolled our eyes as well. Our perspective has changed with experience. We have found so many of the things that we once prayed against were in fact, the testing of our faith that we finally learned to count as joy. James 1:2-4 Consider this as a seed – a call to prepare our hearts and minds. As for these tents of flesh in which we currently reside, understand the difference between wants and needs. The stripping must come with our eternal preservation. Be sure you know that through it all Jesus is still on the throne. He has already won.
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, speak to your people and say to them…Ezekiel 33:1-6
As it turns out, September is National Preparedness Month. I thought now might be a good time to post a Watchman on the Wall blog. I hope that it sparks a discussion, not a freakout.
Suffering’s Source
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.Rom 8:16-17
I posted the video above about a year ago in another blog. It’s a conglomeration of clips from our time on the mission field. Far more people in the world live like this than in the material comfort and prosperity that we enjoy in the West. These people were more open to genuine surrender to Jesus. One reason is that they have no hope for a material or political remedy to their situation.
The people whom we served overseas needed to be rescued from suffering imposed upon them by external circumstances. The people we serve today need to be rescued from the suffering they insist on imposing upon themselves. Does God view these two groups differently?
For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure?
So many of the prayers I hear today are pleas for God to heal, fix, or change crises according to individual desires. “My will be done in Jesus’s name.” I have observed that people tend to become wiser or more prophetic in their own eyes in defiance of Prov 3:5-8 anytime a crisis is averted or delayed. We ignore or rationalize negative outcomes to prayer. We Glorify postive outcomes always assuming that our continued comfort testifies that God is pleased with us. We ignore that the first act of worship wasn’t David on his harp but Abraham prepared to slay Issac on Mount Moriah. Gen 22 We proclaim ourselves to be friends of God and heirs with Christ all the while ignoring His recurring mandate.
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
How easy it is to cherry-pick feel-good verses and ignore the hard ones in their midst. The Spirit does help us in our weaknesses. God does cause all things to work together for good... But the idolatry of prosperity leads us to redact verses that declare God’s use of suffering, affliction, and tribulation (pressure) to conform us to the image of His son. We allow platforms to define maturity, anointing, and Holiness, all the while forgetting Jesus’s definition of greatness. Mat 18:4 It seems that we have become so idolatrous, so narcissistic over the generations that we have nothing to compare it to. God tested Abraham. He also tests us. Count it all joy when you face various trials because the testing of our faith produces endurance… When was the last time you heard anyone pray for the wisdom, courage, and strength to endure testing? Even more, when was the last time you saw anyone rejoice in the testing of their faith? James1:2-4 Most people equate discomfort with an attack from the enemy – never of the fruit of disobedience. Gal 6:7-8
It seems like almost every day, another character-deficient golden calf, pop star prophet, preacher, or worship leader is exposed and their celebrity pulpits implode. The church cries out for their restoration before they have even confessed, let alone shown any fruit of repentance.
Are we now so narcissistic that we can not fathom God’s judgment? 1 Peter 4:17, Heb 12:28-29 I challenge anyone to refute that as a nation, we have far more in common with the Biblical Mystery Babylon than a repentant Israel reaping God’s Jeremiah 29:11 promises. I am baffled when I hear prophetic declarations that God is about to bestow healing, comfort, and prosperity upon the United States as ifDeuteronomy 28, upon which our pilgrim ancestors made a covenant with God, no longer applies. It all sounds like cognitive dissonance perpetrated by
“Cognitive Dissidents”.
Where exactly did we get the idea that the God who does not change Mal 3:6, the God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever Heb 13:8 no longer judges nations that refuse to repent? We are not appointed to wrath. 1 Thess 5:9 Yet I suspect that many have confused God’s Judgment- Krisis (Greek) from which the English word Crisis is derived with His wrath. Like Him, God’s judgment and discipline are always good. Hebrews 12 We don’t see it that way because we abhor and redact any hint of “Deny Self.” Mat 16:24. Even our service to God is full of self. One thing seems certain. God disciplines and shakes us until we surrender and let go. Shaking causes what is errant and fake to fall off. Meanwhile, everything that is true will remain. Those who pursue truth will find blessing amid the brokenness. The fake and false will fall away into a consuming fire.
I know…
Talk to the wall Brian
I usually listen politely to prophetic Seven Mountain Mandate-type declarations / rants. Other times I echo a paraphrased version of Jeremiah’s response to Hananiah.
“Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord make the words that you have prophesied come true… Jer 28:6-9
After all, I would prefer healing, comfort, and prosperity as much as anyone else. Sometimes I stand amazed at the tension between my own normalcy bias that wants to drive my head into the sand in conformity to the crowd and the still small voice crying,
Typologically speaking, Hananiah proclaimed that Israel would be made great again in two years. Meanwhile, Habakkuk cried out,
Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted. Hab 1:3-4
Both Hananiah and Habakkuk were amazed at God’s reply.
Israel was judged by God.
Given that so many people love to cite and claim Jeremiah 29:11 as their own, especially with tattoos, I invite you read Jeremiah 28-29 and Habakkuk 1 in context. Consider why Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet. Then decide which period in Israel’s history is most reflective of Western Society today.
I am also baffled by the loyal followings of contemporary soothsayers and self-labeled prophets despite their being so blatantly wrong and all too frequently morally corrupt. Entire movements founded upon extra-biblical prophetic words are imploding. One hundred-fifty prophets proclaimed Donald Trump the winner in the last Presidential election. Only a handful refused to gaslight their followers and repented. Several opened online schools of the prophets. Believers everywhere are rejoicing. I want to shave my head and clothe myself with sackcloth and ashes. Meanwhile, messages from men like Dumitru Duduman and Henry Gruver remain unknown or dismissed out of hand by modern renditions of Jeremiah 14:13-22 and 23:9-40. Yes, you should read those too. “But the church is creating on earth as it is in heaven,” you say.
“Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord make the words that you have prophesied come true…
The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2023 uses the term, (polycrisis) to explain how, “present and future risks can also interact with each other to form a ‘polycrisis’ – a cluster of related global risks with compounding effects, such that the overall impact exceeds the sum of each part”.
For the record, I am not sanctioning the decidedly Marxist WEF. Crisis is the soil in which their agenda thrives most. Still, before I list reasons why we might want to prepare for the coming crises,
I’d like to preface it with reasons for hope.
Very few people alive today have endured polycrisis as did my grandparents’ generation. Two world wars, a great depression, natural disasters, famines, and a Holocaust followed by the Korean and Vietnam wars remain unmatched today. Many of those addicted to comfort and prosperity committed suicide when the unthinkable happened, in 1929. Others, like my grandparents, remained relatively untouched.
While the comfort-addicted Phil 3:19 jumped off buildings as the stock market crashed, my grandmother graduated from college and went off to be a missionary in China. My grandfather courted her by letter from home. She wasn’t interested. But he knew she was going to be his wife before she did and built her a house in faith while she was away. He sledgehammered the foundation out of Berkshire granite ledge. Then cut and hewed timbers for the house and barn by hand. Even in their 80s, my grandparents produced and preserved everything they needed to live. They only went to the store for incidentals like sugar and salt or medicine for their livestock. As my 90+-year-old uncle Lester said, “We never knew we were poor because we had everything we needed.” “Everyone in the community lived the same way.” That is what dependence on God looked like. COVID is the closest comparison available to most of us today.
It was marked by panic buying of toilet paper.
A Few Reasons For Sobriety
calm, dispassionate, and circumspect.
Currently, we are adding one trillion dollars to the US Debt every quarter. To give you some perspective, one trillion seconds is just over thirty-six thousand years.
Meanwhile, there is an ongoing global repudiation of the US Dollar in favor of BRICS. Most recently Turkey applied to join BRICS. Perhaps you also noticed that our current debt-to-GDP ratio is nearly 125%. Hence every US dollar you hold is effectively worth less than nothing and the entire Western economy amounts to a gigantic Ponzi scheme. Historically speaking this is the root cause of World War.
Prophetically speaking, Gaza is looking a whole lot like Zephaniah 2. Countries surrounding Israel are steadily aligning with the picture presented in Ezekiel 38. If we aren’t facing God’s simple discipline and shaking, we might be facing the approaching wrath of the dragon. Mat 24:21
Ukraine recently attacked inside Russia just 200 Miles outside Moscow using NATO weapons. The USA is currently at DEFCON 2 not seen since before the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Russian resolve and eschatology that I wrote about in Always Faithful remains unchanged. The Russians are saying WWIII is guaranteed if Donald Trump isn’t elected. At no point in my lifetime have we been at such risk for global nuclear war. Meanwhile, the utterly insane rhetoric regarding civil war in the USA is not diminishing.
MPox
The World Health Organization is trying hard to pump out a new global pandemic narrative. It’s not working- yet. Earlier this year they attempted a treaty that would suspend our national sovereignty in the event of another pandemic. So far, regular Mpox is a giant nothing burger. Still, COVID gave them alot of power. They like power.
There have been multiple FBI warnings in 2024 regarding severe risks to the electrical grid. The WEF is also warning of cyber threats. Meanwhile, these same global players who war-gamed a pandemic in Event 201 just before COVID hit are doing the same regarding a cyber pandemic in Cyber Polygon 2024, due to begin within five days of this writing. The main player is the WEF.
I’m sure it’s a coincidence…
Former Green Beret turned Combat Correspondent Michael Yon has spent a lot of time in the Darrien Gap investigating USA, Open Society Foundation, and UN-sponsored illegal immigration to the US. He claims that a large majority are military-age men with a military gait. While the normalcy bias of many will produce an automatic eye-roll, Yon claims the USA has already been invaded and that these men are prepositioned for future action, e.g. the destruction of infrastructure like the electrical grid. Given recent events in Aurora, CO., and Chicago, it is not unreasonable to consider the possibility of groups like Tren de Aragua being the face of pre or maybe post-election neo-Marxist violence worse than Antifa and BLM riots of 2020. This seems especially likely if Donald Trump is re-elected and makes good on his vow to deport illegals. Am I saying that these groups will be at your door? No. But consider what could happen to supply lines.
We just had the most absurd assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Like Habakkuk, many are screaming. Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted. I can’t help but wonder if Michael Yon has discovered God’s contemporary reply. Again, please read Habakkuk 1 if this sounds confusing.
You won’t hear it in the legacy media, but Dr. Jerome Corsi, of God’sFiveStones.com recently exposed what seems to be irrefutable evidence of what many already suspected. Namely, ongoing election rigging. Meanwhile, AG Merrick Garland just claimed they have evidence that Russia is planning to interfere in US Elections.
Here we go again.
I don’t know about you, but the evidence seems to show that we should, at the very least, be considering how we might respond if one or all of the above scenarios emerge.
Some call it fear-mongering.
I call it wisdom.
Having lived in Hawaii, where the threats of Hurricanes, Tsunamis, and floods are a simple fact of life, circumstances rarely produce anxiety in Cathy and me. Here in the continental United States, disaster preparedness almost seems to be a taboo subject. Maybe they are prepping and are afraid of being labeled a “tin foil hat-wearing conspiracy theorist”. I suppose it makes sense if we consider how many are so fearful that they cannot even bear to watch the evening news. Having survived hurricanes, typhoons, tsunamis, fires, landslides, car crashes, Amazonian headhunters, being held at gunpoint, and the threat of civil war, it is never a question of “if?” but “when?” a crisis will emerge. This is how the majority of the world lives.
Why shouldn’t we think and live accordingly?
Of course, some will undoubtedly equate my thinking with some clinical buzzword like “trauma response” or “trauma lens”. Fair enough. A healthy response to trauma should cause one to review their errors and weaknesses in the context of potential future risks. Trauma should also cause one to differentiate between faith and magical thinking. The patent refusal to use one’s miraculously created, God-given brain and apply the God-authored laws of truth and logic isn’t faith.
Having lived on the foreign mission field, we always knew that safety and survival could never be taken for granted. On any given day, we could be driving down the road, happily discussing the day’s events. Then, the next minute, we could be staring down the barrel of a rifle, wondering if the guy in the baklava was going to pull the trigger. Preparing for potential crises was always a consideration. Not merely for the sake of selfishly saving our own skins. But rather for the sake of sustaining the mission to which we were called. Again, I’m not talking about operating in a frantic spirit of anxiety and fear. But a rather a 1 Peter 5:8 sobriety –
calm, dispassionate, and circumspect.
How the Lord Provides
To paraphrase Mat 6:25-33, Where God guides, He provides. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.Take no thought, for tomorrow, is not an invitation for entitled cognitive dissidents to depend on fast food like manna from heaven. Obedience to God is what activates Mat 6:25-33. The question that follows is, what does God expect of us in the course of His provision?
Provision and Testing
During our missionary school, God put it on my heart to follow the example of the founders. They never fundraised for themselves. So neither did we. That is how we lived for nearly six years. Suffice it to say, trusting the Lord became easier as time went on. Still, there is always a test before the next lesson ensues.
It was during COVID and we were locked down in our village in the mountains of Honduras. People who followed us closely and supported us became consumed with their own crises at home. At one point, we were down to two handfuls of beans. I experienced a nearly overwhelming temptation to step out of trusting God. I was perfectly capable of raising money for ourselves. After all, I’d helped to raise money for other ministries. Just a few months prior we raised five thousand dollars in four hours for a Honduran friend whose legs had been run over by a tractor-trailer truck. “Lord, can’t I do it for us just this one time?” Man did I ever want to. But I didn’t.
At midnight we received a five thousand dollar donation.
I have come to believe that irony is God’s favorite form of humor.
On the mission field, we became well acquainted with the Lord’s miraculous provision amidst regularly occurring crises like frequent total public utility shutdowns. We embraced Jesus’s command to take no thought for tomorrow. Yet it was always in the context of first gathering our proverbial five loaves and two fish. John 6:1-14 Having food and water stored for inevitable interruptions is just wise when you live in the third world. Still, I remember the anxiety of young short-term missionaries when they lost cell service. I just listened to a conversation between boys at the children’s home where I work. They were discussing how crazy people would get if all the phones stopped working.
Our preparation on the mission field helped us to remain focused on the mission instead of our own provision when a crisis hit. That, we think, is worthy of your consideration. At the end of the day, there is a profound difference between depending on God for miracles amid your radical obedience to God versus depending on miracles from a place of complacency and entitlement.
Prepping for the unprepped
While Mat 6:25-33, and John 6:1-14 were our daily norm, there have been times when the Lord led us in the example of Joseph. Gen 41 and in the context of Acts Chapter 2.
And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.Acts 2:44-45
When the landslide hit in Honduras, Cathy had time to grab her Bible and a few other things while the neighbors helped carry out the remaining four hundred pounds of beans and rice that we’d stored to feed victims of the first Hurricane. We’d already distributed 7000 pounds in the previous ten days. That last four hundred pounds helped a fair number of families in our little village when the second storm hit.
The blessing is in the brokenness.
Our being able to remain focused on our mission and not on ourselves caused us to count it all joy amid the loss of everything but our lives. The recognition that we had endured the test of our faith only amplified it. As we’ve said, that particular time brought us closer to the Lord and afforded us more intimacy with God, both individually and as a couple, than any other event since or before.
Sometimes the abundant life is only apprehended in the context of suffering and loss.
The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools is deceiving.
Again, we are almost certain that hard days are ahead, maybe very hard days. Who wins the election will only determine the flavor of the crisis. At the very least I think we should begin a conversation. What is the Lord saying to you about the days ahead? Are you reticent to speak up amidst contemporary Hananiah voices and competing agendas? Should we continue in the spirit of spiritual entitlement and a twisted understanding of Mat 6:26-34? Or is He calling us to be ready like Joseph in Gen 41?
What would you do if supply lines shut down for months or years? Experts from multiple government agencies have stated that 90% of the US population could die in a year if there were a catastrophic failure of the electrical grid alone. Lack of preparedness would be the primary cause.
Is God so pleased with us that He is going to further facilitate our prosperity and comfort ad infinitum? Or do we indeed meet the criteria for His judgment? Are the current risks I highlighted the product of my trauma lens such that I have become pessimistic, hypervigilant, and fear-mongering? Or should we be gathering our proverbial loaves and fish in preparation to feed the multitudes if and when the lights go out? Perhaps we should ask ourselves where we see ourselves in the context of John 6:1-14. Are we numbered among the thousands of hungry desperate hordes who barely know Jesus? Or are we numbered among His disciples who have all they need when they are summoned by Him to bring fish and bread for Him to multiply?
In the words of Oswald Chambers, We have to go the “second mile” with God. Some of us get played out in the first ten yards, because God compels us to go where we cannot see the way, and we say — “I will wait till I get nearer the big crisis.” If we do not do the running steadily in the little ways, we shall do nothing in the crisis...To talk in this way is like trying to produce the munitions of war in the trenches — you will be killed while you are doing it.
Maybe you are unconvinced that God’s shaking, discipline, and judgment are good and, therefore not of Him. Perhaps you haven’t grasped the purpose of tribulation (pressure), including the coming great tribulation. Rom 5:3-5, Dan 12:10, 1 Pet 1:3-8, Eph 5:27 Consider the conditions that always precede revival and the words Martin Luther King Jr. spoke in Memphis, TN, in 1968.
“Only when it’s dark enough can you see the stars.”
These are the kinds of things that I ponder when I consider the deeper meaning and application of verses like Romans 8:16-17.
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh, I serve the law of sin.
Wait a minute! After six confusing chapters that at times seem like Paul is beating a dead horse. Paul the Apostle is declaring that he can’t stop sinning. Confusion over the relationship between flesh and spirit has resulted in all manner of heresies from Gnosticism to Atheism.
Flesh is sárx – mere human nature, the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God. Today we call sárx the old unregenerate man in comparison with the new born again new creation.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
I can do what I want in the flesh as long as I serve the law of God with my mind?
Ummmm…NO!
The answer is found in the next chapter.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
Praise God! But then why do I continue to fail? Why do I continue to sin? The answer is found in verse 5.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
I can only put one hundred percent of my attention on one thing at a time. If my focus is entirely on Jesus, I am in the spirit, and I do not sin. The moment my attention drifts I am in the flesh and immediately prone to sin. At the end of the day, the enemy is warring against my transformation. He doesn’t care if I am indulging in sin, striving to not sin by sheer willpower, or sitting in guilt, shame, and condemnation. All three keep me in the flesh and focused on sin. God wants me to focus on Him. We focus on Him by meditating on His word which is what Paul means when he says he serves the law with his mind.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
The law in the life of a believer is everything in God’s word.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
It becomes easier to focus on God (walk in the spirit) when we clearly hear God. We develop our ability to hear God by reading and meditating on His word.
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Those who are of the flesh (unbelievers) are in permanent bondage to sin. They cannot choose to do otherwise because they do not want to choose otherwise.
For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
The mere fact that we desire to obey God and feel convicted when we fail is proof positive that we are not of the flesh.
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
The more we focus on Him (walk in the spirit) the more we are transformed and conformed to the image of His son.
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Paul just explained how what he spoke about in the previous chapters is accomplished.
Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
We charismatics tend to emphasize an emotional experience of the presence of God. We talk about loving God in the context of loving Him with all our hearts. As we will see Paul continues to emphasize the mind as the gateway to walking in the spirit.
That said, the biggest impediment to walking in the spirit for contemporary man is our inherent obsession with self. We are so self-consumed that we can not even comprehend being any other way. We speak of our identity in Christ as if it were the root and foundation of our faith. Hence the first command Jesus gives to His disciples is
Deny self counters the first fruit of the fall when Adam and Eve’s focus went from God to themselves and self-centeredness was born.
And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
When we first arrived in Greeneville a person much older than myself complained in a rather exasperated tone,
“they don’t want to listen to elders!”
He was speaking about our community. I didn’t reply, but I remember thinking,
“Well…Neither did we.”
Recently, a millennial friend explained an argument he’d heard used to refute Job 12:12. Job was younger than Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. In the end, it was Job who brought correction to his four older friends. Hence, wisdom is with the youth, and understanding is with the smartest.
Another argument is Paul told Timothy
Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.1 Tim 4:12
The argument from Job violates the Law of Noncontradiction. Scripture does not contradict Scripture. Job also had a relationship with the Lord. His friends did not. The second argument from Timothy is a false dichotomy. The context of 1 Timothy 4 is a quintessential model of discipleship modeled between Paul the Elder and Timothy his disciple. Paul exhorts Timothy to be a faithful servant and not to depart from what he taught him. He exhorts Timothy to lead by example.
…Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
The false dichotomy is the belief that because Timothy was young he was wiser than his elders. Timothy had the ability and authority to transmit knowledge he had received from Paul. Still, wisdom and knowledge are not the same. Knowledge can be taught. Wisdom can be heeded, but understanding only comes through experience.
I was about ten when I took my grandfather’s steel fly rod to go trout fishing in the stream that ran through the cow pasture. “I wouldn’t go running around with that steel rod out in front of you,” he commented as I passed. “Don’t worry, Grandpa!” I’d been fishing alone for at least two years. I knew what I was doing. Later at lunch, my grandmother commented that she’d been worried when she heard my blood-curdling scream from half a mile away. “What happened?” She asked. I sheepishly explained my encounter with an electric fence.
My grandfather quietly chuckled.
For years I wondered why my grandfather said so little. It is one of the inspirations for starting this blog. The older I get, the more I equate my grandfather’s silence with the Hawaiian Pidgeon English adage,
“Bum bye you learn…”
So often – maybe too often, we watch and listen and ask ourselves, “Should we tell them it’s not going to end well?” My generation heard, “I told you so”. Today we are usually limited to saying, “I could have told you so”.
The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools is deceiving.
Occasionally someone heeds our unsolicited “been there, done that” recommendations. Most listen politely or scroll on their phone then ignore everything we’ve said. Sometimes I’m tempted to take offense.
Then I remember the electric fence.
That Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days is because wisdom is, in part, an aspect of character. Character is a fruit of experience. Sometimes that experience necessarily involves a proverbial electric fence.
Character is dokimḗtrustiness:–experience, proof, trial, approved, tried character, a proof, a specimen of tried worth.
Marriage
So why the long introduction Brian? And what does wisdom have to do with marriage?
Alas, For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.Ecc 1:8
Honestly, I began this post in the context of wisdom amidst emerging crises. Then the Lord reiterated what he showed us when we first arrived in East Tennessee. Marriage is the foundation of the church and as well as any community. Marriages have been under attack for years. If the enemy can destroy marriages he can destroy families. Destroy families, and he can destroy communities and, eventually nations. The church has tried to reignite family values for decades. We think we need to start with Godly marriage values.
Some know that Cathy and I function as marriage counselors at our church. We are not licensed so maybe “marriage mentors” is a better term. Some of the couples with whom we work are just a few years older than our grandchildren. Most of what we have to offer is wisdom and understanding gleaned from the length of our days on earth and our electric fence encounters. Part of our understanding is rooted in having failed miserably at marriage before Christ. We know how to fail. Just short of twenty years in a very healthy and thriving marriage in Christ, affords us some wisdom and understanding regarding how to succeed. Please don’t misunderstand. We are not super Christians who have achieved some illusory spiritual level to which so many seem to aspire. Our marriage is rock solid because we follow some very basic and foundational biblical principles. Couples who are willing to do the same experience the same benefits. Most of the time, we feel like we are just along for the ride and are blessed just to see God’s miraculous response to obedience. It doesn’t matter how grievous the offense committed by one or both spouses. God heals, reconciles, and transforms marriages according to a couple’s obedience. Unfortunately, not everyone is willing to obey God. This eventually results in divorce. It takes three to create a marriage, Mat 19:5-6 two to destroy one, and three to heal one. Unfortunately, when one or both parties refuse to accept personal responsibility and continue to blame the other, the situation only gets worse. Sometimes they blame the marriage counselors for failing to fix it. Let me be clear. We don’t fix anything.
God alone is the fixer.
Another potential misunderstanding is that if the marriage begins to heal, everything is healed by extension. There may be individual issues like trauma, chemical and porn addiction, etc., that need to be addressed first.
That being said, here are seven nonnegotiable must-dos for a healthy, happy, thriving marriage.
1. Your marriage is ultimately not about you. Deny self. Mat 16:24 This is the first requirement if we are to be Jesus’s disciples. This is also required to be a spouse. Both must deny themselves. If only one spouse obeys this command, it results in some form of abuse. “Deny yourself” in marriage means your spouse is your priority after God. Many people have other priorities like careers, hobbies, ministry, and even children. Some simply endure marriage in a sort of white-knuckle obedience to God. When marriage is the priority for both spouses it is a joy. Everything pleasing to God, from parenting to ministry, flows from it.
2. The proper alignment in marriage is God, Husband, Wife, Children, Job, and Ministry. Sometimes, a job and Ministry are the same. If the alignment is off, the marriage will be off and everything else will follow.
3. Your marriage is about Christ and His Church. Eph 5:22-33 Wives submit to their husbands. Husbands give themselves up for their wives. Viewed from the outside, it can be likened to a waltz so artfully performed that it is impossible to know who is leading who. What God imparts in the process of growing together as one flesh is a mystery that must be experienced, not taught. Only then will understanding come. Hence, wisdom is with age and understanding in the length of days.
4. The woman is the weaker vessel. 1 Pet 3:7 Weaker does not mean inferior. Think of the husband as a cast iron frying pan and the wife as fine China. Hence, Paul instructs husbands to honor their wives as the weaker vessels. As I tell all the husbands, “As a husband, you take the hits.” The principle applies if a prowler comes through the door trying to attack your wife. Or your wife angrily confronts you about problems in your marriage. In either case, if saving your skin, your pride, and self-esteem or just the need to be right is your first priority, you will eventually forfeit your marriage. Giving yourself up includes but is not limited to trading your significance, pride, self-esteem, and your right to be right for your wife. If you lead this way, a Godly wife will gladly submit and the Waltz will ensue. Given that wives must choose to submit, it begs the question of who submits the most.
5. The temptation to be offended will come. See that you are not offended. Luke 17 Offenceis skándalon a trap. We can only be offended if we have first given ourselves permission to be offended. Remove all permission to be offended.
6. Forgiveness is never an option. It is a command. Forgive or you won’t be forgiven by God. Mat 6:15 Do it before the sun goes down, Eph 4:26-27 or you may awaken offended. Unresolved offenses will always grow and eventually end in divorce. Unless, of course, you white knuckle it.
Should we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
It’s been eighteen months since we began the Acts 17:11 Bereans Bible Study at the Rock Church in Greeneville TN. We began with the question; What is Truth?
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. John 17:17
When we first met we discussed how bible exegesis has changed over time. The last Apostle John the Revelator, discipled Polycarp at Antioch. Polycarp taught Irenaeus who wrote “Against Heresies” in the 2nd Century AD. The emphasis was on the literal interpretation of scripture. Scripture means what it says and is to be understood in its original historical, grammatical, and literary context. Hence as Acts 17:11 Bereans, we begin by asking who is the author? To whom is it addressed? What is the cultural setting? We compare English translations and dig into the deeper meaning of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek words. We do so with the understanding that while the Bible was written for us,
it was not written to us.
In contrast, the allegorization of scripture began with Origen in the early 3rd century in Alexandria and continued under Augustin. Allegorization is very common today, especially in the charismatic stream. It is the search for a deeper, often personalized, and hidden meaning in the text that may or may not be there. Allegorization is one root of the gnostic heresy. Not all allegorization results in heresy. The problem arises when allegorization is the only approach to scripture.
“Why?” you ask.
Consider that all scripture is God-breathed. 2 Tim 3:16 Truth is by definition absolute. Any allegorical revelation we receive cannot contradict the literal interpretation of scripture and be true. Also, scripture never contradicts itself. Any apparent contradiction points to a problem with the readers’ understanding, not the scripture. For example, regular readers will be familiar with differences in the English word Judge. Judge not lest you be judged Mat 7:1 seems contrary to 1 Cor 2:15 A righteous person judges all things. When we delve into the Greek we find that Judge in Mat 7 isKrino to sentence or condemn based on opinion. Judge in 1 Cor 2 is Anakrínō to discern as in discerning good from evil. In addition to word definitions, we need to consider the context. In Mat 7 Jesus is addressing the issue of hypocrisy. In 1 Cor 5 Paul commands us to Krino in the context of church discipline.
I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people-not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Is a popular quote (actually a misquote) possibly from which Steve Furtick derived ‘God broke the Law for love’. This is bad theology known as Antinomianism. Antinomianism otherwise known as “Greasy Grace” is the idea that Christians don’t need to uphold God’s laws because we are saved by faith and His grace covers past, present, and future sin. I recently heard a local believer say that ethics do not apply to Christians because they prevent God from moving. In essence, we should sin more so grace may abound. That might make sense if the Bible ended with Romans 5. It does not.
In any case, Paul clarifies the conclusion of Romans 5 in Romans 6.
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
The emphasis that is missed and or misinterpreted by contemporary Antinomianists is How can we who died to sin still live in it? One popular evangelist claims that he never sins. Yes, he does. His statement is a lie. What Paul is saying is that if indeed We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, we can not sin and live in denial of the unbearable discomfort that conviction brings.
Before I was baptized into His death I was filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness a gossip. I was a slanderer, hater of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, an inventor of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though I’d heard God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, I not only did them but gave approval to those who practice them. Rom 1:29-32 Today even a hint of bitterness or unforgiveness in my heart is unbearable and drives me to the throne of grace Heb 4:16 where I confess 1 John 1:9 and repent.
God’s promise is that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life, the fullness of which will be received in eternity. In the meantime, we have Holy Spirit in us as a down payment. Eph 1:13-14
While it is true that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Cor 5:17 New creation does not mean finished creation. We are works in progress being conformed to the image of His Son. Rom 8:29For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor 5:21
While some argue that the becoming is completed at baptism, the argument is not coherent in the context of scripture or experience. The process of becoming will not be complete until we see Him face to face. 1 Cor 13:12 Hence Paul exhorts us
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.Phil 2:12-13
The subject of sin can be a challenging topic to explain especially to unbelievers who view the idea of original sin as an absurdity. We can not explain our need for salvation unless we first explain sin.
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned. For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.Rom 5:12-13
Sin is hamartíato be without a share in, to miss the mark, to err, be mistaken, to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour, to do or go wrong. I emphasize “miss the mark” because the English word “sin” is an archery term that means “to miss the mark”.
The mark is the bullseye.
How could a loving God allow man to sin? If God is omnipotent why didn’t he just fix the problem as soon as it happened? If He is all-knowing then He knew Adam and Eve would eat the forbidden fruit. Why would He set Adam and Eve up to fail? After all a loving father doesn’t tempt his children, he protects them. If indeed sin is the cause of all suffering then God is a sadist. Otherwise, He is not omnipotent. If He isn’t omnipotent then is he God? The Bible says sin is not imputed when there is no law. Wouldn’t a loving God simply dispense with the law?
How do you answer these?
Many simply defer to, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him… John 6:44 as a loophole for the apologetic mandate.
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,1 Pet 3:15
Still, we are commanded to explain our faith.
Consider the following analogy regarding the nature of sin. It takes 23,000 engineers to write three billion lines of computer code to run Google. In contrast, it takes 2 billion lines of code comprised of just four amino acids to run a cell weighing one billionth of a gram. There are at least 200 different types of cells in the human body. That is 400 billion lines of genetic code per person. It takes approximately thirty-seven trillion cells to make one human body. There are about 8 billion people on Earth today all with a unique genetic code (program). 37 trillion x 400 billion x 8 billion is 1.184 x 10 to the 35th power. The point here is that the numbers describing the complexity of life’s design are beyond comprehension. The hard drive (DNA) and program (Genetic Code) that form and drive life are far more complex than any computer hard drive or computer program ever created by man. And while man is still trying to mimic God’s computing system no one has pulled it off. Still, the overarching principles involved in computing remain the same for man-made computers and God’s creation. While the complexity points to intelligent design and the existence of God, it also points to the severity and nature of sin.
The analogy is that sin coming into the world can be likened to a computer virus that corrupts a computer operating system and spreads and infects every other computer operating system on the same network. Computer viruses are like biological viruses in that they are pieces of information that left unchecked destroy the host.
There are two possible solutions. You can eradicate the host(s). Or create an anti-virus program that fixes the problem and protects from further infection.
God had the same choice at the time of the fall. He could have wiped out all of creation and gone back to the proverbial drawing board. Instead, thanks to His mercy, He chose an antivirus.
For God so loved the world,that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.John 3:16
Consider that there can be no computer virus without a computer program. There is no biological virus without a host cell and DNA program. Similarly, there is no sin apart from the law. My analogy is not perfect but I hope most people will understand. Creation is the operating system. God’s law, is the program the enemy seeks to corrupt. Corrupt God’s law and corrupt His creation.
It’s not perfect but this is one way we might frame sin so that unbelievers understand.
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.Rom 5:14
The proverbial virus that corrupted God’s program came through Adam. Hence we are dead in our trespasses and sinsEph 2:1 the moment we were born.
But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.Rom 5:15
Just as a computer antivirus program cleans and repairs a computer and then protects it from further infection, so does the free gift of grace reconcile and reset all creation to its original state of perfection. When a person truly surrenders to Jesus they are “sozoed”.
Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantlythe woman was made well.Mat 9:22
Well is Sṓzō – to save, deliver, protect, heal, preserve, save, do well, to be or to make whole. Sozo occurs 103 times in the New Testament.
For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Paul is explaining a principle that was foreshadowed in the story of Joseph.
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.Gen 50:20
Our omnipotent, omniscient Father
chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
As we continue to study God’s word, all He did and does remains a mystery that we see in a glass darkly. Analogy is a dark glass that reveals just enough to inspire awe that drives us to worship our omnipotent, omniscient, all-loving God. Even what the enemy intends for harm is incorporated into God’s plan and assists Him in accomplishing His will.
…even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
