Blog

by Logan Ames

I once read a wonderfully written story called “Life After Birth." You can find a version of it here. The gist of the story is that two babies are in the womb and are having a conversation about whether there is life after delivery. One baby is sure there is nothing else out there, while the other baby hangs on to a belief that there is something more where they will actually get to meet “Mother." The story ends with the unbelieving one essentially mocking the believing one.

Since we are all living and breathing outside of our mothers’ wombs, we can say we know with certainty that there is life after birth. But I want to talk to you here about something that not everyone believes and for which there is not yet any irrefutable proof. I’m talking about life after death. The question of what happens after we die is one of the 7 questions that all worldviews have to answer. Christians are often ridiculed for the belief that we will be resurrected into eternal life with Jesus, and we’re told that it’s just something we’ve made up to make ourselves feel better about what we don’t know. This view, of course, ignores the evidence from Scripture.

Many of us first learned about life everlasting from the most popular Bible verse of all time. As children, most of us heard the King James Version of John 3:16 at some point: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The issue for many believers is not IF everlasting life exists, but more so what that life will look like. Some of you are probably completely freaked out by the concept of eternity. When I was a child, I always thought about how long of a time eternity is and what we’d be doing with it. I remember my mom once saying that we’d be worshiping God all the time. I equated worship with church at that time, so needless to say I wondered who in the world would want to be in church ALL the time. At that age, I didn’t even want to be there once a week! vThe truth is that if heaven were based on what “I” want, it wouldn’t be heaven at all. Bishop T.D. Jakes said, “As a Christian, Christ died so that we will have eternal life with him in heaven. What it looks like doesn’t matter, what it smells like doesn’t matter, as long as Christ is there it will be heaven to me." I think he’s right. We all have our mental pictures of what heaven “might” be like, but no one knows for sure. Since we all picture different things, the most important thing to know is that Jesus is present there.

It’s interesting when we start talking about the physical characteristics of heaven that we have traditionally come to expect. Those characteristics include “streets of gold” and “pearly gates." It’s interesting because those descriptors actually apply to another place and not heaven. The word heaven is first seen at the very beginning of the Bible in Genesis 1:1, but the Hebrew word used there is shamayim and is the same word translated as “sky” in Genesis 1:8. That’s because the Hebrew word basically just means “the waters above." Therefore, heaven is not a proper name, or a place you find on a map. It’s just a reference to the skies above and that’s why when it pours down rain, we say “the heavens opened up."

So, the logical question to ask then is why do we call the place where God dwells “heaven”? Quite simply, it’s because Jesus did and we follow him! In Matthew 6:9, as he teaches his disciples how to pray, he says, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name." Later, he called the place by a different name. As he responded to the criminal on the cross next to him in Luke 23:42-43, he referred to the place as “paradise." The word for “paradise” there, when translated back to the Hebrew, is the same word used for the Garden of Eden, or God’s idea of a perfect place. We don’t know much about the rebel on the cross next to Jesus. Scholars believe he was either a murderer, a thief, or both. Either way, this is the essence of everlasting life. That man, who had lived a mess of a life, at least to some extent up until that point, was now told by Jesus that he was about to have eternal life. Jesus knew his heart was sincere and if we think about it, it’s amazing that Jesus was willing to say this to the criminal despite the agonizing suffering Jesus was in, which would’ve made it painful just to speak and breathe.

The best descriptors of the place we have been taught to believe is “heaven” can be found in Revelation 21. In verses 1-5, we see that Christ is making everything new and the new city is coming down “out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband." This tells us that the “city” we’re about to read about can’t be heaven because it’s clearly coming OUT OF heaven. Then in verses 9-27, the characteristics of this perfect “place” are mentioned. This is where we find references to the streets of gold and the pearly gates, among other descriptors. The crazy thing is that this section begins with an angel showing John “the bride, the wife of the Lamb… the Holy City, Jerusalem." Now, we know from Ephesians 5:32 that the bride of Christ is the Church, the universal body of believers.

The big question for many of us, then, is how does this impact our lives right now? Some people just want to be woken up when everlasting life gets here. But the reality of these passages is that they seem to indicate that the “city” made up of God’s people is actually what we often confuse for “heaven." Yet, the passage says the bride is “prepared." How do we prepare ourselves to meet the bridegroom, Jesus Christ? It just so happens that he does a good part of the preparing in us. Take a moment and read Mark 10:17-27. I was blown away when I read this passage with a renewed understanding. Jesus had just talked to his disciples about having faith like a child and in walks this man who does just the opposite. He has heard about everlasting life and wants Jesus to give him the bullet points of what he has to DO to inherit it. The truth is he had already done what is most necessary - he fell at Jesus’ feet. But as soon as he opened his mouth, it all went down hill for him. He called Jesus “good” and Jesus questioned this, not because he’s not good or not God, but because he wanted the man to understand that it doesn’t matter how many good things are done; no one is “good” except God. Therefore, to call Jesus “good” was to call him “God," and Jesus wanted to make sure there was no getting around it.

The problem for the man was that he was not asking Jesus to be his Savior. Rather, he was asking Jesus to tell him how he can be his own savior, which of course is impossible for any human being no matter how “good” they are. For us to be prepared to be part of the city that IS everlasting life with God, we have to be willing to admit our need for Jesus and get ourselves out of the way and let him do the preparing. This attitude is exemplified by Paul in Romans 7:24-25. The humility required to say I am wretched without Jesus but rescued with him is a prerequisite for getting prepared for everlasting life. Have you been trying to earn your way to everlasting life and getting frustrated because of your failures? Let Jesus change you. After that discussion with the rich young ruler, Jesus’ disciples were dumbfounded and wondered who the heck could possibly be saved. Jesus famously replied, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27). If you haven’t already, surrender your life to Christ and allow him to begin to do the impossible in preparing you for the gift of life everlasting. Amen and so be it!

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Charlie Wolcott

“Love is patient, love is kind…” (1 Corinthians 13:4, NIV)
“Love suffers long and is kind…” (1 Corinthians 13:4, NKJV)

Love is Patient

If we truly love someone, we will be patient with them despite their flaws, idiosyncrasies, and anything that makes them “not normal.” Patience is not merely talking about the ability to wait for something to happen. That is the basic, elementary understanding we tend to be given as children. However, the Bible’s definition of patience is “long suffering.” What does that mean?

Eric Ludy gave the clearest picture to me in his sermon Hold the Position in which he deals with how to handle crisis. He describes patience as tensile strength, the ability to revert back to ‘normal’ after being stretched or strained. In an application of this, love is the ability to continue working with someone no matter how strenuous the relationship or the situation is.

Patient love is able to teach the students or the children how to do something five, ten, thirty, or even hundreds of times, even if they never seem to get it without getting frustrated, annoyed, or going as far as saying, “You never will figure it out.” Patient love is working with someone through their struggles in life, not complaining about how slow they are to work out their salvation. It does not give up easily. Each time we see someone fall, patient love keeps us there to pick them back up.

I have a friend I have met online who has required patient love. Without going into details, he tends to be very slow to pick up on things. Even though I have repeatedly told him how to handle some of his problems, he often seems reluctant to do the uncomfortable thing in dealing with them. Yet, how I am able to show patient love towards this person is by looking at what he could become if he were to truly yield his life to God. Have I been perfect in showcasing love towards him? Of course not. But I bring up his case because he requires patient love.

I have friends at my church who have an extreme special needs daughter. She is wheelchair bound, cannot do even basic things to take care of herself like eat or use a bathroom by herself. It takes a special love that only God can give to constantly take care of such people and retain that love. In my substitute teaching job, a couple times this year I’ve been put in classrooms that deal with kids like this daughter, and I often don’t know what to do, in part because I have not had formal training. There still is part of me that had not yet experienced the true love of God, because sometimes it can be hard for me to truly love these extremely special needs kids with the patience required to work with them. The same can be said with the “normal” kids who have behavior issues. Love is patient, even when you really don’t want to be.

Love is Kind

Many people do not know what this means. They think they do, but often when someone talks about love and kindness, they usually mean, “Let me do what I want, and don’t dare tell me it’s wrong.” Love is kind, but it is not that. What am I talking about then? There are two major aspects I will deal with here.

First, kind love is the type of love that seeks out the lowly, the lonely, or the outcast and treats them with honor and respect. Kind love is the one who helps a bullied student pick up his books and comforts him (standing up to said bully is for later). Kind love does not speak a harsh word nor a coarse joke. It is gentle and always looking to build up and edify others. It is always outward seeking.

Kind love goes beyond the typical “love” we generally think of. It is very possible to love someone and not like them. As Mark Lowry puts it, “You’ll cry at their funeral but you don’t want to go on vacation with them.” Kind love doesn’t love out of duty but actually likes those it loves. Kind love likes the outcast and the vulnerable and the ignoble. Kind love wants to be with these people.

But often this love must speak up against destructive behavior. Kind love also warns against false teachings and against lifestyles and choices which may seem fun at the moment, but will lead to destruction in the end. This is usually what people call “tough love,” however, even tough love must be kind.

Let us not forget that God is love. So everything Paul describes here in 1 Corinthians 13 is a description of who God is. God will discipline those who are his and also bring justice upon the wicked. God being kind and gentle is true, but so is his demand for justice. Only God is able to carry out that justice while being kind at the same time. How does that apply to us?

We will allow someone to get into our face, slap us upside the head, and “wake us up” if said person has earned that right and respect from us. We reserve this right only for our deepest and truest friends or an authority figure we love. They want to see us genuinely care for them. Paul also describes us as carrying the fragrance of Christ. While many will hate us simply for bearing the scent of life (because they in their sin want to stay in their sin), for others that scent will draw them closer. When we correct someone, it cannot be from a basis of, “You are right, I am right.” It must be from, “Look, this is a dangerous path. I know where it leads. Please turn from it. I care about you too much to let you go that way without telling you.”

Now, if the person still rejects the warning, then you must listen to the Holy Spirit to know whether to pursue further or to walk away. Several incidents in the Gospels show Jesus commending persistence. A prime example is the Parable of the Persistent Widow who plead and plead and plead her case to an unrighteous judge and got her wish. How much more would a righteous God answer the constant pleading of his saints? But there are other times where Jesus did not pursue. When he gave a hard message, 20,000 left him and Jesus turned to his disciple and asked, “Do you want to go too?” When the rich young ruler walked away sad because he did not want to let go of his wealth, Jesus didn’t pursue him. Only God knows when to keep going and when not to. We must learn from him when to do which.

Love is patient and love is kind. It does not cave nor snap in times of pressure or inconvenience. It is able to be stretched and revert back to “normal” without distorting its shape. Love seeks after the lowly and is kind to all it encounters. It likes those it reaches, and does not merely love out of duty. It will correct with genuine care for the wayward and be kind in doing so. All this is to be taken holistically with the rest that follows. Next week, I’ll look at what love does NOT do: it does not envy nor boast.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Steve Risner

“Language – the uniquely human ability to build from a few sounds an infinite range of meaning so that the insight and imagination of each of us can be shared among all of us.” -Alan Alda on The Human Spark

“Right now I’m doing something pretty extraordinary. I’m breathing out slowly while at the same time moving my tongue, jaw, and lips in an incredibly fast ballet of movement. I can use this skill to take thoughts in my head and transfer it into yours.” -Professor Simon Kirby

After my delay in writing, I wanted to continue with the Table of Nations and Tower of Babel as a topic. When we think of the Tower of Babel, most often we immediately think of people being driven away from each other due to language barriers that God had created due to man's disobedience. I'd like to briefly look at language as a thing and then look at different languages from around the world. Both of these topics give strong credence to the historical accounts of both creation and the Flood followed by the Tower of Babel. Let's first look at language in general to see if it will give us anything that points to a Creator.

A huge division between man and all other forms of life on earth is language. This is a universal idea, whether we're talking about evolutionists or creationists or someone else for that matter. Mankind essentially owes all of his accomplishments—literally—to his ability to communicate. Birds chirp, whales sing, dogs bark, and bees buzz, but no organisms on earth that we are aware of can even remotely rival the communication skills of human beings. Dogs have no idea that man has landed on the moon and we can't tell them. They are ignorant of the fact that the Himalayas are the tallest mountains on earth. They wouldn't know how to bake a cake or how to play Euchre. All of these things require communication. I'm not just speaking of spoken language, of course, but of all forms of language man has employed over the centuries—written, spoken, artistic, coded, hand gestures, etc. But how did spoken language begin?

Undoubtedly, it was the original form of communication existing before written language and the like. So how did it start? The answer, from a scientific standpoint, is: we have no idea. The difficulty here lies in the fact that we can't dig up fossil evidence of prehistoric language, if such a thing existed. We can look at languages today and see how they've changed over time. We can look at ancient writings, but even these are not really that old in relation to how old secular thinking would place language and writing. All that can be done by scientists in this field is guess work, albeit educated guesses. I'm not suggesting there's no merit to looking into these things scientifically and there certainly are a great deal of theories out there on how man acquired language. There's also the fact that most scientists looking at these questions begin with an assumption that may very well be wrong (and likely is wrong). That assumption is that man is just an ape that's a little smarter than other apes and that language slowly evolved over time from grunts and the like to the complex systems we have today. We'll see in a moment why all of this is demonstrably false and is not supported at all by anything. But first we should look at what is going on physically for speech to take place. There's a lot to it.

There are both hardware and software requirements for speech. This is one of the issues with an evolutionist's musings on how language came to be. One without the other is useless, so which came first? In the brain there are at least 2 very distinct areas that do very different things but are essential for language. One of these areas turns our thoughts into words, and the other turns our words into thoughts. Without one, the other is useless. Let's look at the parts and processes required for speech to be a thing.

Language is a code. Specific sounds, which in and of themselves are meaningless, are assigned meanings. So a human being's thoughts need to be encoded into the agreed upon sound arrangements in the person's brain first. Broca's area, first discovered in 1850, is basically where our thoughts are put into words. I think it's helpful to realize that language is such a part of the human experience that we think in a language. Without that language, processing the most basic thoughts would be extremely difficult. Broca's area seems to be the planning area for speech. This area is activated prior to speaking. Then a very complex orchestration of muscular movements are coordinated in the jaw, throat, face/lips and tongue as well as the intercostal (between the ribs) muscles and diaphragm to produce the desired coded sounds. These sounds are vibrations that pulse through the air. They'll eventually bombard a listener's ear drums and the sounds will be transmitted from the ear to the brain for deciphering. This happens in Wernicke's area — the area responsible for interpreting language.

Wernicke's area actually filters out all other sounds, making it a remarkable bit of hardware. In fact, it's also powerful enough to hear and filter a distorted spoken utterance and ignore it, hear the same utterance intelligibly, and then make sense out of the distorted version upon hearing it again. This area works overtime if you're talking with a toddler or someone who's primary language is not what they're speaking. But, remarkably, it works so well that it's not very often you can't eventually make out what someone is saying even if they're not very clear in their speech.

We also use vision to understand and interpret language. Ever notice that you tend to look at a person's lips when they're speaking to you? There's also a great deal of other things that go into this type of communication. Voice inflection, tone, facial expression, and physical gestures all go into the mix, so a person must be able to decipher not only the sounds accurately and ascribe the correct meaning, but one also must interpret a variety of other things to figure out what thought is being transmitted. This is how a person can say, “Nice job” in such a way as to sound like a compliment or to be sarcastic—a jab at someone.

In short, human interaction via language is extremely complex. Does this make sense if evolution from a single common ancestor is true? Let's see about that next week. You all know I'm a Biblical creationist who believes the Bible and accepts the narrative found in it in Genesis concerning the origins of the universe and earth, life, and specifically man as well as the Flood and Tower of Babel. From there, so many questions about us as humans can be answered, but only if we're honest enough to accept the source. Science cannot tell us about origins. It's impossible. Whether it's the origins of the universe, the earth, mankind, life in general, love, faith, language, DNA, etc., science cannot tell us where these things came from. But God has told us. It's in His Word. Within His Word He has given us so many other things that are reliable and trustworthy, why not believe Him when He tells us about how He created the universe, life, man, language, etc.? God spoke with Adam. This would require both areas of the brain described above to be fully functional so he could understand God's statements and also respond to them with his own statements.

We'll take a look at the “evolution” of language next time and see if the stories told by secular linguists hold up to scrutiny or if they are actually contrary to what we know about language. Thanks for reading.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Jason DeZurik

“We can't have two sets of standards, one set for the dedicated young men who want to do
something ambitious and one set for those who don't.” -Bear Bryant



Years ago, I was blessed to be discipled by a man from northwest Ohio who taught me some very valuable lessons about life and how to become the man of God that God was calling me to be. I had heard many great things about this person and was told to get to know him for years but I just kept putting it off.



Years later, one day I decided to contact him and see if he would have time to teach and disciple me. After some time getting to know each other and meeting with each other, he said he could make the time. He told me to memorize all of 1 Corinthians 13 and then he would meet with me after I had accomplished that.

Once this was accomplished, he then told me to read a biography about General George S. Patton Jr. I must have had a puzzled look on my face because he asked me if I was confused. I said yes and he said, “Is it because I had you just learn about love and now I want you to learn about a man of war?” I said, “Well, yes.” He then asked me if I wanted him to disciple me or not. I told him I did and then he said, “You asked me to disciple you so you need to do what I am asking of you.”

That made sense to me, so I read the biography and also read about Germany’s General Erwin Rommel as well. The next time we met, this man who discipled me began asking me questions too because he had never read about Rommel and seemed genuinely interested in learning about the man. He then told me, “Now that you have learned about love and about Patton, you need to pick three people from the Bible that you think God wants you to emulate. Read all about them and learn to become like them in your decision making. Learn from their successes and their failures. Jesus Christ will not be one of your three but He needs to be the one you learn from the most. He is going to be the head of your Board of Directors for your life for your whole life.” So, I chose Nehemiah, Elijah, and the Apostle Paul. These are incredible men who not only did incredible things but made very difficult and sometimes not very popular decisions.



After I had read a bunch on these people, prayed for God’s direction, looked for wise counsel from Godly people, and learned from these men of the Bible and their successes and mistakes, my discipler directed me toward reading biographies of great men and women of history. He said, “You need to make your own Board of Directors for your life, choosing people that you want to influence you. You will always be expanding your Board the rest of your life.”



By doing this, he had seriously challenged me to grow up and mature and to become the man of God that He is calling me to be. In fact, I think it is something all of us can do.



My discipler even told me, “Sometimes you will have decisions to make in life that will require more from you than just a quick prayer or thinking about something. You’ll need to have a ‘board meeting.’” I asked, “What do you mean?”



He said, “There will be times in your life that you will need to sit down at a conference table or maybe even your dinner table and you will need to place all of these books onto the table and imagine these men and women are sitting down with you to help you make a decision. Place the Bible on one end of the table, you sit on the other end of the table, and place all of the biographies on each side of you in between the both of you. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide and direct you. Ask Jesus what would He do in this situation. Ask yourself what the three people you chose from the Bible might do if they were you in this situation. Then do the very same thing with everyone else represented at the table. When you come to Patton’s biography ask yourself, ‘What might Patton do if he were in my shoes?’ And so on and so forth. Have a ‘Board Meeting.’ After your meeting, make a decision and be confident in your decision. And it must all be saturated with love. If we get the love part wrong, what’s the point?”



I have needed to do this a couple times in my life, and I can tell you it has certainly changed my life for the better. I am also pleased to tell you my Board of Directors for Life always keeps expanding.



My Board of Directors for Life currently includes:


• Board President, Jesus Christ

• Nehemiah

• Elijah

• Apostle Paul

• General George S. Patton Jr
.
• Corrie Ten Boom

• Mother Teresa

• Lee Iacocca

• Calvin Coolidge



These are just a few of them. It has been a blessing to get to know these people through these biographies, and I challenge you to consider making your own Board of Directors for Life.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Katie Erickson

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:8-11)

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” This is the third commandment in my series on the Ten Commandments. The meaning of this commandment according to Luther’s Small Catechism is, “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.”

First of all, what is the Sabbath day? We need to know what it is before we can remember (or honor) it. Fortunately, the text from Exodus 20 above gives us a good explanation of it. The Sabbath day is the 7th day of the week; we work 6 days, and then we rest for 1 day (verses 9-10). The Jewish people generally consider Saturday to be the Sabbath, but most Christians consider the Sabbath to be Sunday, to honor the day that Jesus rose from the dead. The specific day that is the Sabbath is much less important than the meaning of this commandment, so don’t get too hung up on exactly when it is.

Also in the text, we see the reason for this commandment: because God did it (verse 11). Genesis 1 tells us of all the work God did during the six days of Creation, and Genesis 2:1-3 tells us how He rested after it was all completed: “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”

When we observe this commandment, we are honoring God by imitating what He did. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery after all, right? We show God how much we love Him by setting aside a day for Him, so that we can rest from the labor of this world and honor Him for a day. The commandment is very specific too, in that it instructs all people to rest from their labors, not just the head of the household. Even the animals who work should take a Sabbath day!

But how do we observe the Sabbath in today’s culture? It’s definitely difficult, especially when our culture seems to be against this concept. Part of observing the Sabbath is what Luther referred to above: hearing the preaching of God’s Word and learning from it. Attending a church service is one way to honor God on our Sabbath day each week.

For many people in our culture, we have a 5-day work week instead of 6 days, so we get 2 days off from our paid labors. But what do we often do with those weekend days? We fill them with all the things we didn’t get done during the week, going to sporting events, running errands, cleaning the house, etc. While these things are not inherently bad, are we really focusing on God when we do them? Probably not. Are we resting from our labors and holding God as sacred in those times? Again, probably not.

What does a Sabbath day look like? It doesn’t mean you spend the entire day sitting around twiddling your thumbs and thinking about God, but perhaps it’s a time of fellowship with other believers. Perhaps it’s spending more time than usual in prayer, reading the Bible, or worshipping God through music. Perhaps it’s a day to just take things at a slower pace and do what energizes and relaxes you, so you’re less focused on the things of this world and more focused on God and what He created you to enjoy. Perhaps it means preparing extra meals or doing extra housework the day before so you don’t have to do those tasks on your Sabbath.

What would need to change in your life if you were to observe a true Sabbath day? Just as with all the commandments, we should desire to keep this one to show how we honor God with our whole lives, every day of the week.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Logan Ames

In the classic movie The Princess Bride, Billy Crystal plays a “miracle man” by the name of Miracle Max. There’s a scene where the main character, Westley, is thought to have died and his friends bring him to Miracle Max. They need him to bring Westley back to life. As Max is taking his time and going through his process, the men begin to get very impatient. Max reminds them, “If you rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles." The comical scene is nevertheless a reminder to us that we must not expect God to operate and give us what we need in OUR timing. He is truly a God of miracles, but he will not be rushed. What miracles are you desperate for in your life, and how are you doing waiting on God for them?

When I preached a sermon on this topic some time ago, it got me thinking, which of God’s miracles in the Bible was the greatest miracle ever done? Was it creating the world in six days? How about parting the Red Sea or the Jordan River so millions of Israelites could cross? Maybe it was knocking down the walls of Jericho, keeping Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego safe in the fiery furnace., or Daniel being unharmed in the lion’s den. All of these were moments over the course of history were examples of God’s supernatural power. Yet, I submit to you that none of these are the greatest miracle that God ever did. Not even close. Each of these things has to do with creating life or maintaining what has already been created. But I think there is something that is a step above that. In my humble opinion, the greatest miracle ever done is taking someone or something that is dead and bringing them back to life!

There are examples from the Old Testament of people who had stopped breathing being brought back to life, but Jesus himself not only stopped breathing, but was confirmed to be dead by a spear into his side, was buried in a tomb for at least 40 hours, and then rose from the grave by the power of God. And when he rose from the grave, he didn’t become a ghost. His actual PHYSICAL body was raised and life was restored. This is one reason why Christians can universally say that we believe in the resurrection of the body.

However, it’s not the only reason. You see, this idea of the resurrection of the body is not actually about Jesus, but about you and I. In order to understand this belief more clearly and why it matters, we have to talk about both death and the hope we have in spite of it. The first time death is even mentioned in the Bible is Genesis 2:16-17, when God tells Adam the rules regarding eating from trees in the Garden of Eden. The one tree that is forbidden is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and God states that the consequence of eating from said tree would be death. Adam had to be wondering what “death” is.

Then, we know what happens in Genesis 3:1-5. The serpent comes and deceives the woman and helps her question God’s word which was initially spoken to her husband, who should’ve accurately passed it on to her. Satan tells her that they’re not going to die if they eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and Eve likes the sound of that so she goes ahead and eats the fruit. Adam does the same. By the way, Satan doesn’t even believe his own lies. He knows they are lies and that’s why Jesus referred to him as “the father of lies” in John 8:44. Then in Genesis 3:6-10, we see the consequences of sin that begin to take form. After they thought, “What’s the worst that could happen?" they ate the fruit and discovered the reality of the consequences. They experienced fear, began to blame one another, and felt shame. Each of those things add stress to any human being’s life, which ultimately leads to shorter lives and death.

What would you do if you knew or believed you could get away with it? How far would your sinful desires take you? Many Christians still engage in sinful activities like porn, drunkenness, or abuse simply because they don’t believe or think about the fact that God knows. Adam and Eve would’ve never eaten the fruit if they truly believed it would lead to their death. You might think your sin isn’t hurting anyone because you haven’t yet seen the drastic consequences, but all sin breeds death. For example, if you’re engaging in pornography, you are directly hurting your marriage and family, or your future marriage and family if you’re not yet married. Such activities desensitize you to the problem of sin. We have to remember that our time on this earth is not guaranteed, and that death is the destiny of everyone (Ecclesiastes 7:2).

While death is something we all deserve because it is the “wages of sin," we have been given the gift of God, which is eternal life (Romans 6:23). So, death is an end, but it is not THE end. You’ve probably heard people talk about the afterlife at funerals, but maybe you’ve never thought about what it might be like. Paul talks about it in 1 Corinthians 15:12-19. Evidently, some people were saying that there is no resurrection of the dead even while claiming to be believers in Jesus and his resurrection. Paul says they don't realize the ramifications of such a faulty belief. He's basically saying that changes everything. Paul viewed his life as something he couldn’t wait to get done with so he could go hang out with Jesus forever. He always had an eye on the afterlife, so it’s not surprise that he wrote, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (v. 19).

Paul was driven by his belief in not just the resurrection of Jesus, but the resurrection of all his followers into another life. I've seen those things on Facebook that say that if you live your life as if there is heaven and you turn out to be wrong, you've lost nothing. Paul says that's a bunch of malarkey! He's saying if he found out there was no resurrection, it'd be the biggest disappointment of all time. In 1 Corinthians 15:32, he writes, “If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die”! Paul basically says that if our bodies will not be resurrected for a new life, we might as well get everything we can out of this body right now.

The knowledge of the resurrection can motivate us to keep going in the midst of terrible circumstances. Paul was constantly persecuted, yet he got to a point where it didn’t matter to him what happened to his body because he knew he’d be getting an upgrade. In the Old Testament, Job, who suffered as much as anyone, had a surprising revelation in the midst of his complaining to God. He says in Job 19:25-27 that even though his flesh is failing now, he knows his redeemer lives and that he will one day see him in his own FLESH! Like Paul, Job had an upgrade in mind, like going from a Kia to a Chevy Corvette!

Here’s the thing though: spiritually, the resurrection has already happened if you have received Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. Paul says in Ephesians 2:1-7 that we were dead in or transgressions but have been “made alive with Christ” and are seated with him in the heavenly realms. Yet, Paul also says that God is going to reveal the “incomparable riches of his grace” to others through us. So, what does that mean for us? It means we live in this dual reality of having already been spiritually made alive from our spiritual death, while also knowing that our physical bodies are wasting away every day and someday, we’ll be given a new and better one. It means that our bodies are tools for the Lord to use to accomplish his work here, and we ought not focus on saving what will fade away anyway. Of course, we take care of our bodies so that we are more available to do God’s good work, but we don’t worry about self-preservation. Will you surrender your body to God today, allowing him to use it in whatever he wills? Romans 12:1 tells us this is true and reasonable worship. It makes the most sense. Christ gave his body up for us then received a new one. We can follow his lead by giving of ourselves and putting our faith in the promise of an eventual resurrection of the body.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Charlie Wolcott

“If we get the love part wrong, what’s the point?” ~Worldview Warriors President Jason DeZurik

If I had one great weakness in how I share my faith and defend it, it may be this. A couple months ago, we had a guest speaker at church and he preached on 1 Corinthians 13, the famous “love” chapter. I had never heard a sermon on this chapter until then and he broke down each component to what love is. That sermon caught my attention and I realized this was something I need to work on. So to end my blog posts for 2018, starting today I am going to go over this fabled chapter. And I pray that you would pray for me, because when I deal with people who virulently fight against the truth, it is not easy to love them in truth.

Rob Bell, in his book Velvet Elvis, makes the claim that the Bible leaves more questions than it gives answers. To illustrate his claim, he cites the second greatest commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself” and says, “This is not clear. What does it mean to ‘love’? Who is my neighbor?” I was baffled by this. Did he not read the Parable of the Good Samaritan, where the teacher of the law asked the exact same question in trying to justify himself? Did he not read 1 Corinthians 13? A few weeks ago, I wrote about Perfect Doctrine and how some people try to make God’s standards ‘unclear’ so they do not have to be responsible for it. This is what Bell is trying to do. What about us? Do we know what it means to love? Let us dig into this famous chapter.

Paul opens up 1 Corinthians 13 with three verses about doing everything you can do for God’s kingdom, but if we do it without love, it is all worthless and we are nothing. This is a truth I have known intellectually, but not a truth always realized in how I talk, especially online. If I speak with perfect eloquence and flawless interpretation of what I say, but I do not love, it is ultimately little else than noise. If I can properly and correctly interpret every passage of Scripture and have such great faith it can move mountains, but I don’t love, then what am I really? I can give to charity, preach the Gospel to the poor, and sacrifice myself as a martyr, but I do so without love, it does me no good. That is 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, somewhat paraphrased.

It is important to note that Paul had just finished talking about the different ministerial gifts in chapter 12, describing how we all have different gifts and different talents which need to work together as a whole. He was telling Corinth not to fight over their different talents, not to be jealous over another’s skills and abilities, but that every person has a place and a role. Paul wrapped up by saying to earnestly desire the best gifts, but even in that he would show a better way. This better way is chapter 13. In these first three verses, he says it does not matter what spiritual gifts you have; if you do not love, you’ve missed the point. Hear me when I say I am preaching to myself on this one.

Some of you may not agree with his doctrine or evangelistic style, but I have utmost respect and honor for Ray Comfort. He has this issue mastered. I don’t always agree with Comfort on his apologetic answers in the heat of the moment (and I understand that pressure too where I don’t always say what I wanted to say in addressing a question and often think of a better answer after the fact), however I have not seen anyone else share their faith to the heathen and sometimes angry crowds and just pour out God’s love. He just recently released another video called “Crazy Bible.” In it, he had a video chat with a very vocal atheist who had hounded him and harassed him and thought he hated her. Instead, he gave her a $100 gift card with a note saying, “I don’t hate you.” He then had a good discussion with her and she could not believe how genuine he was, though she didn’t seem very receptive to the message at that time. He shared a true genuine love for her that can only come from Jesus Christ.

I cannot say I have that, at the very least not to that level. I know exactly from whom that love comes from: Jesus Christ; but my “dark side” which loves to refute anything someone says that is wrong usually beats me to the punch. When I get ‘squeezed’ like a lemon, I don’t always spew out Jesus. I am a work in progress, but since I heard the sermon I referenced at the beginning of this post, God has kept his finger on that issue with me. I want to learn how to love like Ray Comfort does. I want to learn how to love the unlovable. I can do it with the poor; I can do it with the elderly; but do I do it with the militant atheist? It’s not easy to showcase that love in an online discussion, where in person I can see the person and who they are: lost, blind, ignorant, and lovers of self.

Many Christians today have such a poor Scriptural knowledge that when these atheists come to them, they can’t give answers to their questions. Many of the questions are legitimate questions, but not all of them have intentions of getting the answers. It is critical when we engage these skeptics that we do so out of love. I am extremely fact-oriented and too easily, I fall into the “win the debate” mode, instead of the much more pressing issue: “This false teaching could lead them or someone else around them to hell unless they hear the truth.”

When we defend our faith, we are to be ready to give an answer for what we believe and why we believe it. But we are to do so with meekness and love. Our answers may not convince the skeptic, but that is not our job. Our job is to speak the truth and to love them. Let God do the convicting.

We must be genuine in our love. We can’t merely claim it. We can’t merely say we love them or care for their souls. We have to show it, and do so without compromising on the truth. For the next seven weeks, I am going to go through 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, taking two of Paul’s descriptors of love at a time. Then I will cover how love never fails before ending the year with how love is the greatest between faith, hope, and love. May this series not be merely informational but life changing.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.