The hope of a wharf rat.

Do you have hope in your life? How important is hope? Did you know that most marriages that fail are because a lack of hope, they have lost all hope of their problems being resolved so they file for divorce. It is also a major reason for suicide, people lose all hope in life so they will just end it. Scientists were doing some studies on the Norwegian wharf rats. They took the rats and placed them in a tub of water and continued to spray the tubs so that the rats could not roll over a float. The rats ended up dying after just seventeen minutes of swimming. The scientists again took another set of rats and repeated the experiment only this time after sixteen minutes as the rats were about to die they removed them and dried them off, placed them in there cage and fed them. They let the rats recover for a few days and allow them to live a normal life again. Then after some time had passed the rats are put back in the tubs of water only this time the rats swam for more that thirty seven hours before they died. The scientist concluded that the reason for this is that they had a salvation experience and they were hoping for a repeat salvation. The rats were able to swim thirty seven hours instead of seventeen minutes because they had hope. The hope of salvation. It is interesting how we as Christians have hope in Jesus Christ, and this hope gives us peace that surpasses all understanding. The question is why are so many of us afraid to give this hope to others. There are so many out there that need the hope that Jesus offers and yet no one is going out and sharing it. Hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. Hope implies a certain amount of despair, wanting, wishing, suffering or perseverance -i.e., believing that a better or positive outcome is possible even when there is some evidence to the contrary. The word hope appears 142 times in the Bible, Jesus gives us a true hope in that one day we will spend eternity with Him.

Colossians 1:27 says "To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

Romans 5:1-5 says "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

Titus 1:2 says "in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began,"

Romans 15:4 say "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope."

We have a spiritual hope that gives us a confident expectation in things beyond this world. Our salvation goes beyond the boundaries of this world and into a eternal kingdom and it is in that hope that I rest and take comfort in. How many of us feel like the first set of rats that are quickly approaching the seventeen minute mark and wondering how we will ever get out of this watery tub we call life. Allow Jesus to become your hope, let Him remove you from the tub and dry you off and feed you so that when you face life's difficulties you can place that hope in Him because He never fails. Jesus will never leave nor forsake you. Life is to short to live without hope and eternity is to long to live without Christ. Place your hope in Him.

Leaven or Leprosy

What do you have dwelling in you? When we look into the Old Testament we see that there are two words that often speak about evil and sin. These are leaven and leprosy. The interesting thing about both of these is that they are recognized in modern science today as micro-organisms. A microorganism is simply an organism that is microscopic and cannot be seen by the unaided eye. What is interesting is that these are pictured by the Bible as a type of sin. (Leviticus 14,Matthew 16:12) Leaven or Yeast is classified as a eukaryotic micro-organism which is the fastest known type of a micro-organism. Leprosy is classified as Mycobacterium leprae micro-organism which is said to be the slowest known type of a micro-organism. I know much of this is going over your head and it is mine too, just know that leaven is the fastest growing and leprosy is the slowest growing. It is fascinating to note that even today with advances in modern medicine that is is no known cure for leprosy or Hansen's disease, however there are medicines that can stop its effects. Even though it is incurable God still allowed opportunity for Him to move and work among His people. If you read in Leviticus chapter fourteen you will see the process the priest was to go through for the cleansing of a leper even though it was incurable. The priest was to take two birds and kill one of them and pour out its blood into an earthen vessel, the priest would then dip the live in the blood and sprinkle the blood seven times on the leper to cleans him and then the live bird would be let loose to then fly into the heavens. What a beautiful picture of our Lord Jesus as He was killed and His blood was sprinkled on us for our redemption and then He ascending into Heaven just as the living bird did. God made a window for Himself to do the impossible. We also see Jesus curing a leper in the gospels (Matt 8:1-4, Mark 1:40-45, Luke 5:12-16). Leprosy is a disease that infects from the inside out and can last for many years. Yeast or leaven on the other hand has an immediate effect and only needs a very small amount to take that effect. We see this clearly in Galatians 5:9 "A little leaven leavens the whole lump." As mentioned before both of these are typified as sin in the Bible. We know as well with sin that it is an infectious disease that is incurable and can have either a very fast or very slow effect in our lives and that effect only needs a very little amount to have an eternal affect. But the beautiful part about this is that God also made a way for Him to move inside what is incurable. We know that the result of sin is death and eternal separation from God (Romans 6:23). God sent His only Son to die on the cross to become sin for us and die in our place in order to make us clean and cure us of the sin that is in our lives if we would just call upon Jesus and declare Him as our Savior. Just as the bird in Leviticus 14 flies to the heavens alive, so too Jesus Christ rose from the dead and is alive today in heaven seated at the right hand of God the Father (Ephesians 1:20). Note He is seated because the work is "Finished" and need not be repeated (John 19:30). So the question remains, What is dwelling in you? Is it a type of leaven that is quickly and uncontrollably ruling your life in rebellion to God, or is it that leprosy that is inside you that no one will see until many years later as it begins to effect you outer being, that slow secret sin that leads into rebellion and you don't even realize it? I ask you today to purge the evil from your midst and trust in the only cure that is available, and that is Jesus Christ the true and living God!

Grapes

"God’s purpose is not simply to make us beautiful, plump grapes, but to make us grapes so that He may squeeze the sweetness out of us." My Utmost for His highest by Oswald Chambers.
The Question is when we are grapes being squeezed by the hand of God what is it that is coming out? Is it sweetness or is it whine. I look at my life and the difficulties that I have had though minor compared to some, my response is not usually a good one. I think of Daniel as he is taken captive by the Babylonians. Upon arriving in Babylon he is made a eunuch, forced to learn Chaldean, given a pagan name (Belshazzar), and told to change his eating habits, all for a king and nation that is not yours. Talk about being squeezed. Daniel is undergoing a great amount of pressure and the Bible tells us in Daniel 1:8 that he purposed in his heart not to defile himself. If anyone had the right to feel resentment it was Daniel and his response is purposing his heart toward his God in heaven. I cannot say I have ever been squeezed that hard, and when I am squeezed my response is not that of Daniel’s. God squeezes us so that the sweetness comes out and we can then be poured out as a drink offering. Too often instead of sweetness coming out I tend to let out whine. “But God I wanted to….” “Why me God?” Does this sound familiar? Oh how I pray for the faithfulness of Daniel. The amazing part about Daniel’s story is that because he purposed in his heart to follow after God, God granted him favor with the chief eunuch (Daniel 1:9) and was able to keep from eating the kings meat and drinking the kings wine. If we will just be obedient to God and purpose in our hearts as Daniel did, God will make a way for us to be obedient. Even in what looks like an impossible situation we must remember that God is bigger than our little problems and can work through them so that we can honor and glorify Him. We are grapes in the hand of the Almighty God, and every now and again He will begin to squeeze us and add pressure. When He squeezes He is attempting to release the sweetness that is inside of you. He desires to pour you out as a drink offering. Because of Daniel’s obedience he gains favor with king Nebuchadnezzar and is promoted to ruler of the Babylon province. So my question to you is what will you do when the Lord begins to squeeze your life? Will He get sweetness out of you or will it be whining.
“Lord will you make me like your servant Daniel. I pray that I can respond to pressure in a way that would honor and glorify You. Help me to purpose my heart after You and Your precepts. It is my desire to follow after You with my whole heart and live a life that brings You glory. I know and believe that You are a sovereign God that is in control of all things may I be Your servant that is able and willing to go no matter what the calling and no matter what the cost. Amen”

The church is Emerging!

What is the Emergent Church? This is a question that I had for quite some time. So what is it? 2 Peter 2: 1-3 says “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.” The Bible talks a lot about false teachers, this is something that we as the church should know about and be ready for, but unfortunately these things are going on today and we don’t even know it and if we do we and doing nothing about it.
The Emergent church by definition is "a label that has been used to refer to a particular subset of Christians who are rethinking Christianity against the backdrop of Postmodernism.” How do you rethink Christianity and what is Postmodernism? Well to understand Postmodernism one must understand Modernism first. Modernism in short is the belief that truth is absolute and knowable, and truth can be found by human reason and modern scientific study. Postmodernism is the exact opposite. Postmodernism is the belief that we cannot know truth and it only exists in relation to the individual, it is relative. Your truth is not necessarily my truth. We have all seen this in one way or another, for instance “well church works for you but I am not religious.” This is postmodern thinking and it is where our culture is today.
The troubling part is that there is a movement inside the Christian church that has adapted this train of thought and is reshaping Christianity to fit inside of this ideology. It is called the Emergent Church. The emergent church movement is seeking to deconstruct and reconstruct Christian beliefs, standards, and methods to accommodate our postmodern culture. They have adapted the beliefs of today’s postmodern culture as well relativism which says that there are no absolutes. Do you know what this means? The emergent church is saying that we cannot be absolutely sure the Bible is true. With the absence of absolutes and truth what are we left with?
The Christian faith is founded on these very principles. We believe that the Bible is absolutely God’s Word and that it is the truth. 2Timothy 3:16-17 says “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” If there is no sure thing as absolute truth then we might as well just throw the Bible out the window. Jesus said in John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” The word truth appears 223 times in the Bible, why would the Bible talk so much about something that didn’t exist? The fact is, this movement is a tool of the enemy. The enemy has crept in the back of the church and is spreading false doctrine and even omitting parts of the Bible like the virgin birth saying that it is more myth than actuality. The emergent church is only the next step in what Charles Spurgeon called “Christianity on the Down Grade.” It is pragmatism gone worse.
Christian brothers and sisters we need to be watchful and ready, the Bible tells us to be ready in season and out of season in 2Timothy 4:2. Do not be deceived by these false teachers who come as a wolf in sheep’s clothing Matthew 7:15. 'THESE PEOPLE DRAW NEAR TO ME WITH THEIR MOUTH, AND HONOR ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR FROM ME. AND IN VAIN THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN.' "Matthew 15:8-9.

Some of the characteristics of an emergent or emerging church.
• A highly creative approaches to worship and spiritual reflection. This can involve everything from the use of contemporary music and films through to liturgy or other more ancient customs. ...
• A flexible approach to theology whereby individual differences in belief and morality are accepted within reason.
• A more holistic approach to the role of the church in society. This can mean anything from greater emphasis on fellowship in the structure of the group to a higher degree of emphasis on social action, community building or Christian outreach.
• A desire to re-analyze the Bible against the context into which it was written...."


2Corinthians 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.

Galatians 1:9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.

1Timothy 4:1-2 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,

2Timothy 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.