Desire is a very powerful force in our lives, and I am convinced it’s the root of why it’s so difficult for us to live intentionally. The reason we get into trouble is because our desires are not aligned with what God has for us. James 1:14-15 says, “Each one is tempted when, by this own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.” There are four things James notes about the word, desire , that can help us be more intentional in our lives. 1. James says desire is personal. We are drawn away are tempted by our own evil desires. Satan is a deceiver and a liar, but ultimately, his biggest trick is to build desires within you that will draw you the wrong direction. But ultimately you choose to follow your own desires. 2. Desire is powerful. James describes it like you are being dragged away. Have you ever experienced a desire for something, and it felt like someone grabbed you by the collar and pulled you into it? Let’s just get real for a minute. In psychology, we talk about food filling a hole of some unmet need in your life, which is true. We could analyze these things, but the fact is food can develop as a desire center. How about the desire for power? We see power in politics, and how it corrupts. People go through great loss when they lose power. How about the desire for sex, which is God-given? As Christians, in marriage, should have the best sex lives. 1 Corinthians 7 is pretty clear about that, but we take things that should be normal desires that God has placed in a box, and they become distorted. The desire for control for some people is a big issue. I wrestle with that one. You’ve always got to know where the boundaries are in having that sense of control. Intellectually I don’t control much, but I have this desire to make sure there are things I can control. 3. Desire is progressive after it is conceived. It is like a seed is put into the ground, growing and developing into whatever that seed is. Desire demands more to be satisfied, but it is never satisfied. Some of us have family with an addiction – it’s a very powerful force. There’s draw that pulls people into needing more and more, even though intellectually they know the desire for that ultimately will kill them, it overtakes their life. 4. Desire is perilous. Ultimately, according to our verses in James, left unchecked, it will lead to sin and death. God’s intention for us to be led by His desires. His desires drive us to live. How do you know when you are driven by your desires? Our biggest enemy is ourselves. I’m the one that gets in my own way. Have you ever noticed that you get up and you realize that our greatest enemy isn’t our spouse, our neighbors or our culture? Some days it’s not even Satan, it’s you! For example, we: · Procrastinate on important things. · Eat what’s unhealthy for us. · Say things that are unkind. · Buy what is unaffordable. · Trust those who are unreliable. · Support rules that are unjust · Think what is untrue. That is how many of us live our lives. In fact, we even have a vocabulary to identify this thing of the problem of self. We use phrases like, “I’m my own worst enemy,” or “I’m going to shoot myself in the foot.” We set ourselves up for failure. The problems we face in life have roots that go into yesterday’s desires and into yesterday’s actions. We become a product of the things that we desire in our lives. The desires of our heart get us into trouble. Even the Apostle Paul had this challenge in Romans 7. He said, “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I can’t carry it out.” He admits that of all the things that he knew in his relationship with Christ, and all that he went through, the biggest problem he had was himself. He got in his own way. We live in a world of good intentions. Living intentionally in Christ is hard because the desires we have can be the problem. If you change your desires, that changes your actions, and ultimately changes your life. What is desire? From a biblical perspective, the word desire means something I long for. It’s a deep, abiding thing that grabs hold of me, and I desire it. The world tells us we should desire – a new car, a new way of living, or a new experience. The world constantly places things in front of us to distract us. If we pick those things up, they become the desires of our heart, and unfortunately create problems. God’s intention for us to be led by His desires. His desires drive us to live. Think about your desires. Where did they come from? How did your desires from yesterday impact your life today? What one thing can you do during these next 30 days that will help you align your desires to God’s desires to bring Him glory? The Psalmist in Psalm 37:4 says: Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart . In the Hebrew, the word delight means total dependence upon, and pleasure in. When you have total dependence, and pleasure in God, then he will give you the desires of your heart. Take a challenge for the next 30 days. Every day, get up and say, Lord, give me the right desires in my heart that are in alignment with your intentions for my life. Whatever the desire I have may it be in accordance with your will because I am totally dependent upon you. www.theintentionallife.com . Used by permission of the author.

These are interesting times for communicators and preachers. Never have we had access to so many other people’s messages. And never have we felt more pressure in delivering our own. Almost monthly I hear of pastors (most of whom will never make the headlines) who are losing their job because of plagiarism—using someone else’s content but passing it off as their own. That’s just sad on about 100 levels. First, it’s sad for their church, who lost a leader and saw some trust fractured. Second, it’s sad for the pastor who obviously got into some kind of content trap he or she didn’t know how to get out of. I’m sure a few of the people who got fired intended to steal other people’s work and didn’t care about the consequences. But my guess is that’s a small group. I’ll bet the majority actually just got caught in a trap of overwhelm and shame: they felt too busy/inadequate/desperate to write their own content, downloaded someone else’s, and were too ashamed/insecure/embarrassed to admit that. Rinse, lather and repeat and you have a fireable offense. A third factor may be that vicious cycle of jealousy and inadequacy. Because we can access messages by world-class communicators every day for free (as can our congregations too), it’s not that hard to get lulled into thinking we can never measure up, so we beg, borrow and steal other people’s ideas without giving credit. A RIP OFF EPIDEMIC If you don’t think this is an epidemic, please know I’m not even close to being the most well-known preacher on the planet, nor the best-known writer. But my team has found other preachers preaching our local series verbatim, with no permission and zero attribution. Even the jokes were re-used. Ditto with my blog. My team has found other bloggers who have taken my content, pasted it word for word into their blog, and written their name above the post as the author. (We’ve asked them to take it down.) So what’s the problem with idea-theft, sermon-theft or writing-theft? It’s an integrity issue. It’s a character issue. And at the heart of it is giving credit where credit is due. There is nothing wrong with using other people’s ideas. Only fools think they are truly original thinkers. There really isn’t much new under the sun, so to quote, share and borrow ideas is fine. You just need to give credit. And that’s the crux of it. If you mostly do other people’s content, then you’ll end up saying, “today’s message is based on a message written by Mark Batterson/Beth Moore/Andy Stanley/Tim Keller/Steven Furtick/Sheryl Brady/John Ortberg.” There is nothing wrong with that occasionally. A few times a year I’ll open a message saying “What’ I’m sharing with you today aren’t my ideas—they’re based on the work of X, or come from a message/book by Y.” But do that week after week after week, and people will begin to realize you aren’t writing your own stuff. Which is exactly why most pastors who plagiarize resist giving credit. So what should preachers do? I suggest a simple guideline for preachers: Write your own stuff. And if you didn’t, tell people. That’s it. So why do we want to rip off other communicators? There are at least 5 reasons that get pretty ugly if we’re honest. 1. YOU WANT PEOPLE TO THINK YOU’RE SMARTER THAN YOU ACTUALLY ARE Let’s be honest…one reason we borrow other people’s ideas and make them appear to be ours is so it makes us look smarter than we are. Don’t think you can give credit and still seem smart? Just listen to Tim Keller. In virtually every message, Keller references a book he’s read or a thinker he’s borrowing from. He does this regularly and generously. And guess what? Keller’s one of the sharpest thinkers alive today. Also one of the smartest. Quoting other leaders doesn’t make you seem dumb. It actually makes you look smart. It’s evidence you’ve read more than a few tweets, and that you’ve dug deep into the heart of history or current events. It’s a sign you’re not lazy. Ripping people off is lazy. Learning from other authors and thinkers isn’t. 2. YOU LIE Lying is an integrity issue. People rightly assume when a speaker, artist or writer shares something without citing a source, it’s their take on an issue. Far too many preachers today are literally downloading another pastor’s messages every week and preaching them verbatim. If you steal money, you get fired. If you steal ideas, maybe you should be fired too. 3. YOU STOP GROWING Of all the leaders and communicators who have their ideas ripped off, Andy Stanley is likely at top of the list. He’s one of the most quoted leaders alive today in the Western church, and for good reason. He’s brilliant. I had a chance to talk with Andy on my Leadership Podcast and I asked him about how he felt about others ‘stealing’ his material and ideas. I loved his answer (you can listen to the episode here or on Apple Podcasts—Episode 1). Andy said—so accurately—that preachers who preach other people’s messages forfeit the growth that comes with preparing a message from scratch. They miss the angst, the frustration and the tremendous reward that comes from wrestling down ideas until they come out in a powerful and helpful way. Andy’s so right. Preachers, when you start stealing, you stop growing. You also lose your own voice. If you’re like me, you may not be the biggest fan of your own voice, but it’s a voice God gave you and that God loves. Further, if you’re simply a copycat, my suspicion is a younger audience will eventually tune you out. Why? Because Millennials can smell a lack of authenticity a mile away. You may not be quite as clever or articulate as your favourite preacher, but you’re real. And real resonates. But wait, you say, can’t you buy Andy’s sermons so you can reteach them at your church? Can’t you download Craig Groeschel’s messages and reteach them at your church? Both legally? Yes, you can. There can be strategic purposes for doing so. And when you do, give credit. But on all those other weeks of the year, don’t lose the edge you gain by wrestling through your own ideas, your own reading of God’s word, and finding your own voice on a regular basis. 4. YOU LOSE TOUCH WITH GOD When you plagiarize, you lose touch with God in at least two significant ways. First, the sins of lying and stealing are themselves a barrier. Confession stands between you and God. Second, stealing ideas required zero reliance on the Holy Spirit for inspiration, direction, courage or insights. Ironically, in trying to make your content better, you’ve made it worse. You’ve robbed it of its true power. The real power in preaching comes not from our words, but from what God does with our words. Do the hard work. You and everyone around you will be better for it. 5. IT CREEPS INTO OTHER AREAS OF YOUR LIFE I don’t know for sure, but I think it’s generally true that when you compromise in one area of your life, it doesn’t take much to start compromising in other areas. Sin is like a weed: It grows fast and you never have to water it. The best way to tackle sin is to pull it out by its root before it creeps into other areas of your life. SO WHAT DO I DO? What should you do in a hyper-connected era when you and I are exposed to more ideas in a day than our grandparents were in a month or year? First, use other peoples ideas generously. Just give credit where credit is due. Quote. Attribute. Link back. That covers most of us. But what about those preachers who realize they’re guilty of knowingly stealing entire messages or lines of thinking and passing it off as theirs..and no one has confronted them on it (yet)? I would strongly encourage anyone in this category to come clean. Talk to your board. Explain what’s been happening, and tell them you want to stop. www.careynieuwhof.com . Used by permission.

Michael Sherrard shares his powerful insights into worldview, Christians, and politics. Here are his valuable insights: IS JUDGEMENT UPON US? I’ve heard it said that God judges a nation by giving them the leadership they deserve. Is that what is happening to America? Is God judging America, pouring out His wrath upon us, by giving us the political leadership we wanted? This is a fair question to ask. God gave rebellious Israel the king they wanted, a king that would essentially make them slaves (1 Sam 8:17). Moreover, Romans chapter one shows us that God’s wrath comes in the form of giving mankind what they want. Because of mankind’s idolatry: God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity (Rom 1:24) God gave them up to dishonorable passions (Rom 1:26) God gave them up to a debased mind (Rom 1:28) In other words, God judged mankind and poured out His wrath by giving us exactly what we wanted. Inevitably, our self-indulgence becomes self-destruction. There is no need for fire and brimstone when our rebellious hands produce our own calamity. So is God judging America through its political leaders? Who knows. First, there is much uncertainty. Some change could be good. It’s at least possible. Let us pray that it is. Second, God has made no covenant with America. I’m not entirely sure how He deals with us. Regardless, there is something we can learn from Israel. We are never to trade a Divine King for an earthly one. In 1 Samuel chapter eight, we see Israel rejecting God in favor of an earthly king. They wanted to be like other nations by having a man to judge them and lead them into battle (1 Sam 8:19-20). And this highlights a great sin of many today. We would rather trust in political leadership than our heavenly father. So how do we know if we have traded in a Divine King for an earthly one? Ask yourself the following three questions. You will know your true king based on your answers. 1. ARE YOU SPEAKING PROPHETICALLY INTO CULTURE? God told Samuel to obey the people and give them a king but also to warn them of what would come of it (1 Sam. 8:9). We are to do the same. We are to honor our government, to be good citizens, and to warn them of what will come of their ideologies and behavior. Regardless of who is in government, whether it is a form of judgment or not, the followers of Jesus Christ must declare His Word to this world. When we are silent, it is a good sign that we do not trust in God, and that we fear man more than Him. Speaking prophetically into culture is a good indication of allegiance to God. 2. ARE YOU RESISTING THE TEMPTATION TO BE LIKE THE WORLD? The Israelites were done living as God would have them. They wanted to be like other nations and be judged by their standards. Is that true of you? Are you tired of resisting the moral pressures of our culture? Do you just want to fit in? It is understandable. Living as an outsider is not easy. But when you give in and begin to live like the world, you have traded in one King for another. Regardless of the moral pressures stemming from government, the followers of Jesus Christ must be seen living an alternate vision of life. We must be a community bearing witness to the power of the Gospel and the fruit of Christian living. Along with hearing the Gospel, the world must see it in action. The world must be shown a better way. 3. ARE YOU ALLOWING GOD TO LEAD YOU INTO BATTLE? Your king will determine which battles you fight and how you fight them. The Israelites wanted an earthly king to pick the battles and lead them in war. Many today want to follow an earthly king because his battles match our selfish, idolatrous inclinations, and his tactics gratify our sinful indulgences. Regardless of the schemes and ambitions of government, the Lord is our God and we must follow Him where He goes. We must resist what He resists and promote what He promotes. We must call holy what He calls holy and call sin what He calls sins. And we must be willing to engage with love and the tactics that are in line with being a citizen of Heaven. BE IT JUDGMENT OR NOT Whatever the current political chaos means, let us remain faithful to our true King as we pray for our political leaders. Let us recognize that we are citizens of heaven and our battles are not the normal battles of this world. Let us seek peace whenever possible, speak truth in love, and may we live well. If this is judgement, so be it. We belong to a good God that uses all things for the good of those who love Him. And if it is not judgement, we know there awaits judgment for those who reject God. Therefore, let us all use this current season to examine our hearts and see where we have placed our hope. May it rest solely in the sovereign King of all creation. www.michaelsherrard.com .

I believe there is a Satan precisely because I believe in Jesus. If Satan is our mythological holdover from a pre-scientific age, then the life-long struggle of our Lord Jesus was mere shadow-boxing. Take Satan and his forces out of the Gospels, and Jesus is left like a fool punching the air. From the beginning of his ministry (Matthew 4:1-11) to the end (Luke 22:3), Jesus was in conflict with the powers of darkness. And it is the clear teaching of the apostles, Peter (1 Peter 5:8), James (James 4:7), John (1 John 2:13; 3:8; 5:18), and Paul (1 Thessalonians 3:5) that Satan is against the church and must be resisted by faith and the Word of God. We do well to know his tactics. For example, I have been struck recently at how well Satan knows the Bible and how he loves to quote Scripture in order to destroy faith. Remember how he tried to persuade Jesus to throw himself down from the temple roof? He argued from Scripture! “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written: He will give his angels charge of you.” Note well! Satan does not always try to ruin faith by saying, “The Bible isn’t true;” he often tries to destroy our faith by affirming some passage and using it to lead us into disobedience. As Christians, God’s Word is the key to our survival. We die without it. We will not let it be taken from us. We will go to jail rather than stop reading it. So what does Satan do? His one aim is to destroy our faith. The Word of God alone keeps faith alive. But we cleave to it and Satan cannot tear it away. So he studies it. How else could he quote Psalm 91:11, 12 to Jesus? He studies it. And he studies how to distort it and pervert it by plausible misinterpretations. Yes, they must be plausible. He is not so happy when his sub-demons put absurd misinterpretations into our head because they are far too easily corrected. What makes Satan happy is when he can get Christians to believe that Proverbs 15:6 justifies the accumulation of wealth in a world of hunger; that 2 Thessalonians 3:10 abolishes charity; that Romans 9:16 makes evangelism superfluous; that 1 Timothy 2:4 means God is not sovereign in conversion; that John 10:28 means a “Christian” can do whatever he wants and still be saved; that Hebrews 6:4-6 means there is no security and assurance for God’s elect. Is it a sobering thought that the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17)? Yes! And indeed it is. What did Jesus say when Satan quoted Scripture? He said: “Again it is written, you shall not test the Lord your God.” He quoted Scripture against Satan’s use of Scripture. He knew the Bible better than Satan. What is the upshot for us? 1) Do not believe everyone who can quote you a text. History is strewn with cults who twisted the Scriptures to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16). 2) Read widely in the Bible and ask yourself continually how this part fits with that part and that with this. It is when the pieces start to fit together that we are most secure from distortion. 3) Read theological books that the decades and centuries have proved to be deep, solid, and lasting. 4) Fast and pray that God will open your eyes to see true and wonderful things in His Word. 5) Obey what you do understand and you will understand more. Desiring God Foundation. www.desiringGod.org. Used by permission.

The other day I had someone ask me about a funeral that she was going to. She said “This is a funeral for an unbeliever, and I’m trying to think through what to say.” I think that’s a really good question, and an important question for all of us, because we’ve been in this situation. Almost everybody has been in this situation, if you haven’t then you will be in the situation. So when she says “what I should say,” really that could be a number of things. It could be the question of what should you say when you’re just there and you’re going through the the line talking to family members, in which case I think the response to that is simply to grieve with the family members and say “I’m really sorry about the loss of your mother/dad/brother” or whomever it is and grieve with them. I mean the Scripture tells us to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. Jesus gives us the example of being grieved to the core at the death of Lazarus, and this was someone who obviously was a believer. But death itself is something Jesus sees as an enemy, and something that ought to provoke tears and grief. And so a simple “I’m here for you and with you,” “I grieve with you,” “I’ll be praying for you,” — all of those things are appropriate at a funeral. The question becomes more complex when you’re dealing with someone who has to give a eulogy or someone who is a minister who’s actually preaching the funeral. I have a great deal of sympathy here, because the very first funeral that I ever did was for someone that I didn’t know who was a complete unbeliever. Not just an unbeliever, but someone who apparently had lived a pretty awful life, because the family members were standing in the background, and the pallbearers were standing in the back as we’re about to go in for the funeral. And one of them looked over at the grieving family and said “Well bless their hearts, they’re better off because he was the meanest man I ever knew.” I thought “You know what, if at the end of your life, your pallbearers say that you’re the meanest guy they ever knew, you have lived a rough life.” And so here I had to preach this funeral. There was another time where the daughter of a woman who had died said to me “You know, I’m trying to think through what to say in the eulogy and I really can’t think of anything kind to say about my mother except the fact that she kept the bird feeder stocked in her backyard. She cared for the birds.” I said “There’s nothing?” “No.” She could find nothing. So I understand a little bit of the tension that happens there. On the other hand, I’ve been to many funerals where someone that I knew to have been an unbeliever is there, and the the pastor will stand up and talk about how aunt Flossie is in the presence of Jesus now and has graduated on up into glory. And obviously what the pastor is intending to do is to comfort the family with the idea of Heaven for the loved one. The problem though is it becomes really clear to people that what you’re doing is simply using Heaven as a means to an end. So you don’t really believe what it is that you’ve been saying about “No one comes to the Father except through Jesus Christ,” about the necessity of faith in Jesus Christ, and repentance for sin. Because once someone’s dead, that’s all over with. That sort of pious lying about the life of a person, really does–in my view–great damage to the gospel. That doesn’t mean though that we go in the exact opposite direction. I was at a funeral one time where the person had died and they had multiple pastors. The first pastor stood up and said, “This is someone who’s in heaven right now and rejoicing with Jesus.” The second guy was an Independent Fundamentalist sort of pastor who said, “You know, I keep hearing all of this about how this guy is in heaven right now. But this guy never had time for the church, never had time for Christ, and never was willing to repent of his sins and put his faith in Jesus Christ. And I just want you all to know that at 3:45 AM last Tuesday, he busted hell wide open.” That’s not an appropriate word either at a funeral. Instead, I think what we need to do at a funeral is a number of things. The first thing – whether you’re giving the eulogy or whether you’re officiating or whether you’re in some way leading this funeral – the first thing is to recognize and honor the dignity of that life. Whether it’s a believer or an unbeliever, this is somebody who is created in the image of God. This is somebody who in some way was “imaging” God. This is someone who operated within the common grace that God gives to all of humanity. So when we find something that’s praiseworthy in the life of the person who has died, what we’re saying is that this life really mattered. God displayed Himself in some way in this person’s life, and so I’m affirming that this person is created in the image of God, and I’m affirming all the good things that God did through this person. In many cases, even someone who has made a total wreck of his or her life has had those times where God has used that person in some way or another in order to bless other people. Finding those things as an aspect of gratitude to God. “Thank you for the fact that you gave us this person. Thank you that you used this person in the following ways.” is completely appropriate to do at a funeral. Now having said that, be honest and don’t make up attributes about this person who has died. If you do, all that you’re going to communicate to the people who are hearing you is not comfort. You’re just going to communicate the fact that you’re a liar. And they’re not going to believe anything else that you’ve said. So if you have somebody who was a very miserly person, you don’t want to get up and say “What a generous person this is.” If this is somebody who harbored bitterness, you don’t want to get up and say “This is somebody who was so forgiving.” You want to be truthful in the things that you say. That doesn’t mean that you have to get up and say “You know, this was a really bitter woman,” or “This was a really unforgiving man.” You don’t need to say that. You leave those things in in silence. They don’t need to be said. There are some cases where I think it’s appropriate to raise the sort of issue that everyone’s thinking of. I was at a funeral one time for someone who had been a really, really short-tempered guy. The Lord had used this guy in all sorts of ways, but everybody had had a run in with him, and every one of those run ins were really scorching. And so his son simply said, “Hey, my dad was not the easiest person to deal with. He was kind of a prickly guy.” And there was laughter, a kind of relieved laughter that took place in the room. Because the point of the eulogy was not to settle a score with his dad, it was to say “Hey, I know you all are thinking about some difficult times that you had with my dad, but let’s also remember the ways that God used him.” I think that’s entirely appropriate in that case. When it comes to the eternal destiny of the person who has died. When you’re dealing with a believer, of course, what you’re going to do is to draw on all of those Scriptures of hope. So you’re going to say “We grieve, but we don’t grieve as those who have no hope.” You’re going to talk about Resurrection in Christ and Resurrection from the dead. When you’re dealing with an unbeliever though, you don’t have all of those things. So what do you do? Well, I would want to say don’t presume that person is eternally lost. Don’t presume that the person is eternally saved. But don’t presume the person is eternally lost. And the reason I say this is that salvation is through faith. Abraham believed God and God credited it to him as righteousness. We receive salvation as beggars, and Jesus has told us that it doesn’t matter whether we received salvation very early in our lives and lived our life for Christ, or if we cried out for mercy and Christ in those last seconds or nanoseconds before we go out into eternity. He’s given us the parable of the workers in the field, and the ones that came on early in the day and in the ones who came on at the end of the day being paid the same wage. So we ought to recognize that. We also ought to recognize the example that our Lord gave us of the thief on the cross. And what stays in my mind constantly any time that an unbeliever I know dies or any time that I go to an unbeliever’s funeral is hearing a message in Southern Seminary Chapel probably 20 years ago where the preacher from Wales is preaching on the thief on the cross. He gave the illustration of a man who had been horseback riding and he was an unbeliever, all of his family had just given up on him as a hopeless unbeliever. He was thrown from the horse, believed the gospel mid-air, hit the ground, and went into a coma for some weeks. And when he woke up out of the coma as a Christian, his family was really shocked about this. And they all said, “If you had died, we would have assumed that you were in hell.” This preacher said “You know, if the thief on the cross had any God-fearing relatives, they probably assumed that he was under the Judgment of God. They probably were the most surprised people imaginable when in Paradise they find themselves in communion with this murderous thief that they had given up on a long time ago. Well, that’s always a possibility. Don’t count on it, if you’re an unbeliever right now listening to this, it’s a very, very dangerous thing to say, “Well, I’ll just come to faith in Christ in those last seconds on my deathbed.” That’s a very dangerous thing. First of all, you don’t know how much time you have. You don’t know whether or not your death is going to be lingering or sudden. And you also need the grace of God in order to even recognize the truth of the gospel and the presence of Christ. So don’t presume upon that grace. Repent and believe. But, as we’re thinking about other people, there’s always the possibility that in those last few seconds or moments that the message that has been given, that the seed that has been planted, may have come to fruition. So let’s hold that at least as a possibility when we’re thinking about unbelievers. Which means we weep, we grieve, we don’t pronounce though definitively that this person is in Hell. And I think what that also means though is that we proclaim the gospel. Now you don’t have to get up and say, “Uncle Ronnie’s in heaven” or “Aunt Flossie’s in hell.” You don’t have to do that. What you have to do is to stand up and say, “We’ve gathered here today because of death. The death of this person that we knew, this person that many of us loved. We’re all going to face death. Death is an enemy that’s coming for us all, and you can’t outlast death. You can’t fight death with money, or with health, or with anything else. You’re going to ultimately face death. How do you face death? You face death as a sinner who’s in need of forgiveness and you face death as someone who receives the life that comes through the shed blood, broken body and resurrected life of Jesus Christ. So preach the gospel. You don’t have to narrate and adjudicate every aspect of this unbeliever’s life in order to say to people, “There is hope for you no matter what it is that you’ve done. You can find salvation and today is the day of salvation.” I think that’s the way to handle an unbeliever’s funeral. https://www.russellmoore.com/2017/07/03/independence-day-empty-tomb/ www.russellmoore.org . Used by permission.

Saul was a bad king. He was impatient when he should have waited, and he hesitated when he should have advanced. Chapter 15 of 1st Samuel is a dark moment for Saul. He was at war with Israel’s arch-enemy, the Philistines. He was outgunned and outnumbered. He’d had a few fantastic victories, but no one expected his winning streak to continue and everyone knew this war would not be quick. Additionally, Saul was fighting with God’s representative, the prophet Samuel. Samuel didn’t want a king in the first place. He believed the nation was just fine when he was serving as the voice of God, speaking directly to the people. And then, in chapter 13, Samuel was running late, and the soldiers were getting restless, and they were talking about bailing on this whole war thing. So Saul did Samuel’s job for him; and, of course, right as Saul was finishing, Samuel came walking up. It was a mess. In chapter 15, Samuel comes to Saul with an order from God. Then Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel; now, therefore, listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’” It’s a difficult command to read. God is asking Saul to commit genocide. Man and women, children and infants – all dead. My son, Jackson, brought this passage to me with a question. He asked, “Dad, I don’t understand. I thought Jesus (God) was loving. How could he do this?” What makes this passage especially difficult is that I can’t do with it what I like to do with things like natural disasters or wars. I can’t explain it away with “sinful people do bad things to each other” or “the world is a broken place where bad things happen” because this time, the genocide comes directly from God’s mouth; and he is clear. Kill them all. Even the ox and sheep. Even the camels and donkeys. Even the children and infants. Everything. So Jackson and I begin working through the options together. Option #1: The Old Testament God is different than Jesus. This solution provides an easy answer. The Old Testament God is all about power. The New Testament God is all about love. My problem with this fix is that, if we accept it, we will have to discount most of the New Testament. Paul (the author of most of the letters in the New Testament) absolutely did not see it this way. For him, Jesus was the God of the Old Testament and his work was a continuation of what was happening in the Old Testament. Additionally, in the Gospels, Jesus and everyone around him connect his work directly to what is going on in the Old Testament. Accepting this option, therefore, leaves us with a bigger problem – selecting which New Testament texts we like and which we don’t – a dangerous path that will leave God looking a lot like you. Option #2: Sometimes God loves. Sometimes God kills people. He’s God. He can do what he wants. While it isn’t often expressed so simply, this is a historically popular option. This option would define the primary quality of God, the aspect of his personality that trumps all others, as sovereignty – above all else, he is all powerful. This option would then lead us to believe that we should treasure his love even more because he doesn’t have to give it to us. Our primary response to God must be fear and obedience because it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of a living God who is all powerful. While I have great respect for this option, it rings inconsistent with me. Jesus, the clearest representation of God we have in the scripture, never asserts power. He is, in fact, defined as the God who dies in a sacrifice of power in order to save others – which is the definition of love. In essence, the crucifixion is a sign that God’s love will trump his power; and that, he does not wish humanity to fear and obey him. Rather, his desire is to see his creation achieve its full potential, to become what he intended it to be, to live in perfect harmony with him and one another as gardeners to the world. Option #3: Genocide was the most loving option. The third option before me demands a choice, a world view defining choice, an “everything must be defined by this” choice. That choice is to view everything through the lens of “God is love.” Even this passage. This means that, when faced with all possible outcomes, the most loving thing was total destruction. If we read on in chapter 15, we find that Saul did not follow orders. He kept spoils for himself and his men. He left the king alive as a trophy. Saul and his men treated this battle like any other battle. Let’s not forget that this passage happened in a different age, an age in which no one cared about civilian causalities. In battle, the women were raped and taken as slaves, babies and children were killed or left to starve, and the livestock was taken as a prize. This is, in fact, was why people of this age went to war. They wanted the spoils. God’s response to Saul’s action is terrifying. Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned his back from following Me and has not carried out My commands.” And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the Lord all night. I can’t find another passage in the Bible where God regrets something. (If you will read the comments below you will see a brilliant friend provided me with several examples.) What does that even mean, that the all powerful, creator of the universe is sorry that he did something? I think what brings such a powerful emotion from God is that this moment in the story of the Bible was painful and difficult for him. He was ordering the total destruction of people he knew and loved. It was a great sacrifice. One Saul disgraced by making the battle about personal gain. Saul was unmoved by the destruction of a people because he was a bad king. You might ask, “Does this mean, Jeff, that you believe God might order a genocide today and it would be completely justified as the most loving option?” No. It’s a different age. In our present age, the action of Saul is not common place. It is completely inexcusable. Conclusion My problem is, I want more. I want to know why God would do such a thing, but the scripture does not give it to me. In the absence of that information, I am forced to ask myself what I know about God. And what I know is that God is love. And I chose to translate all things through that lens. I don’t think passages like this one should be ignored. I think there are in the Bible for us to wrestle with. I hope that in wrestling, like Jacob, I will come out broken and changed, carrying the name Israel, “the one who wrestles with God.”

Every week you host services at your church hoping to reach more people, which is admirable and appropriate. The problem is that the culture is changing and never bothered to ask you permission. In many ways, preachers are using a method that’s been around for centuries…if not millennia…which on the one hand is wonderful. The challenge is that culture is changing so rapidly, fewer and fewer people are hearing the message every year. At least that’s the case in many, if not most churches. If you think that the cultural change is over, fasten your seat belts. It’s not showing any sign of decelerating any time soon. Here are 7 things that are changing right now. Wise leaders will see the change and respond. As we’ve said before, leaders who see the future can seize the future. 1. PEOPLE AREN’T AUTOMATICALLY COMING TO THE MESSAGE ANYMORE It’s almost singularly true that throughout human history to date, the only way to get the message was for people to assemble to hear it. Just think about Jesus’ day: the crowds assembled to hear him. And in every century since then, that’s how it worked. But technology has changed things so much that our culture doesn’t operate that way any more. In the past, people brought themselves to the message. Today, you bring the message to people. Think about how profoundly things have changed in the last decade. Amazon and other online options means you can get anything delivered to you overnight…and you rarely if ever have to leave the house. The shift in how humans (here in the West) behave is profound. In addition, people are far more mobile. This idea that you’ll be in one community every weekend to visit a set church at a set time is growing increasingly archaic by the day. People just don’t behave that way anymore. (See 7 Disruptive Church Trends That Will Rule 2018 for more on this.) And whether you think they should behave that way is irrelevant, especially if you want to be effective. I think it’s very possible to see in-person attendance growth AND online attendance growth (we’re seeing both where I serve at Connexus). The two ideas are not mutually exclusive. But to do that, you have to take both in-person ministry and online outreach seriously. Preachers, everyone you want to reach is online. So act like it. Surprisingly, few churches invest anything more than pennies on the dollar on their online presence. And very few preachers take online seriously because they’re not even sure it counts. In 2018, a preacher asking if online counts is like a taxi driver asking if Uber counts. 2. EASY ANSWERS ARE HISTORY Decades ago, the local preacher was essentially the source for everything about the scriptures, Christianity and faith. Sure, an avid Christian might read a few books, listen to other talks or attend a conference. But information was scarce and cost money. That meant that what a preacher said carried a lot of weight, and people by default accepted it. Sure, often faith crumbled when a teenager went to college and was exposed to new information, but not every kid went to college. For too long, preachers got away with easy answers. Fast forward today, and it could hardly be more different. Just assume everyone hearing your message, especially non-Christians investigating faith, know as much or more about a subject as you do. And even though they may not, they can easily Google anything you say. And they will. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a ton of misinformation and bad information online. But that doesn’t stop people from researching. Add to that the reality that we live in an age of strong opinions weakly formed, and the easy assumption that what you say as a preacher will carry to the day is gone. Which means a little more homework on your part. Not only should you do a little research into the text (which is so important), you should do a little more research into the culture. The future belongs to preachers who exegete the culture as well as they exegete the text. It’s the only way you can understand what your audience is thinking. 3. PEOPLE AREN’T STARVED FOR INFORMATION; THEY’RE STARVED FOR MEANING I realize the first two points come across as a bit bleak, but they lead somewhere great. The internet provides a sea of information, but a sea in which far too many people are drifting nowhere. The current shortage in our culture isn’t a shortage of information; it’s a shortage of meaning. And that’s where no one should do better than preachers of the Gospel. The challenge is to wade deep into the text and deep into the culture AND come out with meaning that resonates. In an age that has no scarcity of information but a deep scarcity of meaning, the church is uniquely positioned to answer ‘why’ in a world that is fascinated with ‘what’ and ‘how.’ The church can answer why in world that’s starved for meaning. And the church can answer ‘who’ in a world that’s starving for relationship. 4. YOUR PERSONAL INTEGRITY MAKES OR BREAKS EVERYTHING No one needs to make a list of names of highly known, loved and formerly respected preachers and church leaders that are no longer in ministry today because they lacked personal integrity. Sadly, far too many names are emblazoned on our minds. Our culture also now prizes authenticity as a chief cultural value…but only in a strange kind of way. The moral compass of our culture points in a hundred different directions on any given day, and often tolerates blatant contradictions in some leaders while zeroing in on the tiniest little defect in others. Here’s what it universally means for preachers though: as important as your talk is (see above), your walk is far more important than your talk. In fact, an inconsistent walk will invalidate your talk, no matter how good your talk is. In many ways, that should be no surprise and a relief to most preachers. We have always been held to a high standard of accountability, as we should be. And when you mess up, admit it. I don’t just mean on the big things, I mean on the little things. Own your junk. Get help. Apologize as often as you need to. Push others into the spotlight. Admit your weaknesses. If you don’t, you’ll eventually be humiliated when others spot the truth you’re unwilling to admit. Humiliation, after all, is involuntary humility. That’s what a public fall is: involuntary humility. Far better to humble yourself than to have others do it for you. See a gap between your private walk and your public talk? Decelerate your talk and accelerate your walk. 5. IMITATION WILL KILL YOU Because integrity and authenticity are so critical in our current culture (and yes, the culture is hypocritical on that…but we never should be), imitating other leaders is a terrible strategy. Imitating leaders you admire can seem like a wonderful strategy to accelerate your development as a preacher. But there are two problems. First, anyone who knows you knows that’s not really you. I watched a young preacher recently trying to preach with just a crazy amount of passion and all I could think the whole time is “Why is this guy trying to imitate Rich Wilkerson?” It came off as inauthentic, fake and honestly, surreal. I love Rich. Rich is an amazing preacher with a great church, and having been on a trip with him a few years ago, I can assure you he’s got a unique, God-given personality. But God gave that to Rich, not to the guy who’s trying to imitate him. Preachers, here’s the question you need to ask yourself: do you want to be a cover band for the rest of your life, or do you want to be a real artist? Go ahead and play the bar circuit for 40 people a night if you want to be a cover band, but if you want to develop the gift God has given you, be yourself. At least you’ll die with your dignity. I have tons of things I wish were better and different about my communication style, but at least I’m me. The best part of being true to who God made you to be? You can roll out of bed for the rest of your life and do it. Work hard. Get better. But be you. As Craig Groeschel says, people would rather follow a leader who’s always real than a leader who’s always right. 6. THE INTELLECT ALONE ISN’T ENOUGH When it comes to the style of preaching that’s going to really reach out culture, I’m not sure the intellectual approach is going to fully win the day. For sure, you need substance, research and a deeper level of thinking than you had before. And if you’re able to carry a discussion far and deep, that’s a great thing. But speaking to the head alone rarely reaches the heart. So don’t just speak to the head. 7. THE EMOTIONAL ALONE ISN’T ENOUGH There’s a real resurgence these days in what you might call ’emotional’ preaching…preachers with a lot of passion, fascinating imagery, word-craft and emotion. In many ways, that’s amazing. But just like the intellect alone isn’t enough, emotionalism alone isn’t enough. To reach and keep the next generation is going to take both the head and the heart. If you only reach the head, it’s easy to walk away when a new idea comes along. If you only reach the heart, it’s easy to walk away when the feeling dies. But if you preach to both the head and heart, the head will carry the heart in the tough seasons and the heart will sometimes carry the head. Preach intelligently and preach emotionally and you’ll reach the whole person. Which is exactly who God redeemed.

From time to time there are people who become so frustrated by the difficulties of life that they surrender themselves to hopelessness, believing there is nothing good for them in the future. Some who have given up the precious gift of life have reasoned that since God has already forgiven them of their sins and provided them with eternal life, and since Heaven is a better place than Earth—suicide is the alternative they want to choose. What does God think about the idea of choosing death over life? What does such a choice say about our faith, and God’s plan for us individually? Is there ever a good reason to choose suicide? At all times, under all conditions, no matter how life might seem to be, God always provides us a chance to embrace life, and have a hope for the future. Sometimes we get so caught up in our own hopes and dreams, or so focused on our difficulties, that we lose sight of what God has already done for us, and what He will do for us in the future. God has provided that there is always a reason to hope. He also provided an example of someone who faced the greatest difficulties of life, and faced them with hope for the future: Jesus Christ. Reasons People Choose Death “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God” (Psalm 42:11). Some lose hope for a better future Some people regard their lives as little value because they are not wealthy, or comfortable. Stuck in dead-end jobs, or perhaps wondering if there is more to life than what they experience now. But is life alwaysbad? Can you think of a time in the last year when you enjoyed the company of another, or felt better than now? Is life alwaysbad, allof the time? Some are overwhelmed by failure, shame, or guilt “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise” (Psalm 51:17). Guilt and shame for wrongdoing is part of the human experience. Sadly, all have sinned and share in these emotions. Sometimes, when we realize we have sinned greatly, or feel ashamed by our actions, the despair becomes too great. Especially when our guilt is exposed to others. Yet this Psalm tells us that God can wash our guilt, shame, and failure away. Have you approached God openly and honestly, asking for His forgiveness? Some feel unwanted, unloved “Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands” (Isaiah 49:15-16). “We also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:3-5). Rejection is never permanent. There will always be someone who does not like us or love us. But God has declared His permanent and unfailing love for you—and expressed that love in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus: An Example for Choosing Life Jesus life was a guarantee for our future “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Though God could have decided not to provide us with a way out of our sin and hopelessness, he decided, in His love, that He would. He did this by becoming a man, in the person of Jesus Christ, living life as a man, dying as a man, and rising from the dead as a man—that we might have hope that God would do the same, and more, for us. Jesus death provided a way to overcome failure, erase our shame, and become free from our guilt “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Romans 8:33-34) “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7). Forgiveness is a powerful thing. It is even more powerful when demonstrated in a practical way, such as when God demonstrated His love and forgiveness by sending Jesus do die on our behalf. If God loved you so much to send Jesus to take the punishment for your sin, then why should you hold onto guilt and shame? Jesus lived, died, and rose from the dead for this very reason: He loves us “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8) “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). Feeling unloved is a deception of the Enemy, or our own despair. The reality is that God loves us more than we can imagine. Jesus was poorer than most of us: He had no home, no employment, no money of His own, and His family thought He was insane. Yet Jesus embraced life. At times, Jesus only had God to rely on when everyone and everything else failed Him. God is also available to us in the same way He was for Jesus. This can give you hope! The Case for Always Choosing Life You do not know what the future holds; only that God promises a future with hope. Don’t sacrifice your future. “Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day. Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off” (Proverbs 23:17-18). For those who embrace Jesus Christ in this life, and obey His word, there is a bright future. We do not know what the future will be like. We do not know if there will be ease or difficulty, but we do know that God has promised to help us in all areas of life an enable us to have joy. If you choose suicide over life, you could sacrifice a great future. Do you want to trust God’s loving intentions for your future? Failure, shame, and guilt are temporary, God’s forgiveness and approval lasts forever. You can experience that forgiveness daily. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:27-28). God has gone to great lengths to guarantee our forgiveness. Even before we have committed an act of sin, God was aware of it, and was preparing our redemption. If God went to such lengths to pardon us, then we can depend upon His forgiveness, embrace it, and take joy in it. God loves your life so much, He gave up His own so you can live a full and rewarding life in His love “Look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2). What does this passage mean by the “joy set before Him?” It refers to us, that we are His joy. It is possible to live a full life in God’s love where despair can be put away in the light of God’s love and promise for the future. A.C.T. A – Action Point What will I do in light of what I have learned? C – Commune (prayer) What will I commit to God and ask Him for to help me put what I have learned into action? T – Tell Others What kinds of things can I say or do to others to demonstrate the biblical truth I have learned?

John the Apostle gives us a glimpse of God’s Throne Room in Heaven and the throng around the throne. Who are the beasts and the elders? What can we learn from this seldom-understood apocalyptic vision in Revelation? This powerful sermon will take you there and give you a window into God’s comprehensive plan to redeem Man and His creation. www.dentonbible.org. Used by permission.

Share 0 What does John the Apostle mean when he penned these words? Revelation 1:9 I, John, your brother and the one who shares with you in the persecution, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus. Once God Almighty spoke his very brief words, John identified himself as the next speaker. In a similar way to Rev. 22:6-15, the speaker switches between the Almighty God and Jesus as we see in the following verse (Rev. 22:16). Here John also identifies the historic circumstances during which he saw the vision and authored the letter in obedience to the Lord’s command. While we would have liked to know the exact year John wrote the Revelation, he thought it sufficient to only write of his exile. His exile was on the island of Patmos, where the Roman government was known to send political prisoners. Scholars hypothesize that the time that John was on Patmos fits best to either approximately 95 CE during the reign of Emperor Domitian or to 68-69 CE during the reign of Emperor Nero, when persecutions of the Christ-followers were frequent and intense. 1:10a I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day… There are three interpretive options here. First, the Lord’s Day could be the Sabbath. It would make sense to speak of God’s day, the Sabbath (Shabbat), in this way. What works against this interpretation is that we never see this term used to signify the Sabbath. In addition, if indeed the day of the week was the Sabbath as opposed to other days, it is not clear why this would be important. Second, this option is the traditional option, identifying the Lord’s Day as the day of his Resurrection – the first day of the Israelite week – Sunday. This theory suffers similar problems. Never is the first of the week referred to as the Lord’s Day prior to this alleged instance. If this is in fact the case (that this does refer to the first day of the Israelite week) it is not at all clear why John felt compelled to tell his readers/hearers about it. Third, in our view, this option is far more likely. The day of the Lord is the End Times day of reckoning and judgment that the Hebrew Prophets often spoke about. The phrase “the Day of the Lord/Lord’s Day” is used many times in the Hebrew Bible (Is. 2:12; 13:6-9; Ezek. 13:5, 30:3; Joel 1:15; 2:1-31; 3:14; Amos 5:18-20; Obadiah 15; Zephaniah 1:7-14; Zechariah 14:1; Malachi 4:5). As we read in Malachi 4:5-6: “Look, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrives. He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me, so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.” Thus, John’s reference notifies the reader that while he is writing from a particular historic location during a particular time in history, the perspective he seeks to communicate to his hearers is rooted in the eschatological reality of the future Day of the Lord. Just as in the case of the Hebrew prophets of the Bible, John was able to speak to the present from the dual perspective of the past (the covenant) and the future (the consummation of the covenant and restoration of all things).

God is a Triune Being. He is one God existing in three persons, the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:21-22). In the passage in Luke we see all three persons of the Trinity present. The Father speaks, the Son receives, and the Holy Spirit empowers. Throughout the New Testament the Holy Spirit is spoken of as God. Since the Holy Spirit is equally God along with the Father and Son, what do you think your response to him should be? The Holy Spirit is equally God along with the Father and the Son. As such, he deserves our obedience and our worship. “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” (Matthew 28:19). Only God is worthy of worship. As Christians we are to act in his name. In Matthew 28:19 we are taught that the authority God gives us is the authority that all three persons possess equally. Take a moment right now and pray to the Holy Spirit, that you will follow his lead and that you recognize his authority in your life. The Holy Spirit carries out God’s plan. He was present at creation. He was present in Jesus’ ministry. He was present at our new birth. “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spiritof God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2). “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17). “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:7-15). Without the Holy Spirit we can do nothing to please God. We need the Holy Spirit’s presence and filling in order to live the Christian life. That is part of his role—he empowers us to follow Jesus. Because he is present at all times we can always turn to him for guidance and trust that he will lead us and use us according to God’s plan. What kind of relationship would you like to have with the Holy Spirit? As he prompts you from deep within your heart what do you think your response to him should be? What Is My Relationship To The Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit dwells inside every believer. He is the down payment on our salvation. “It is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee” (II Corinthians 1:21-22). “He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee (II Corinthians 5:5). A down payment means that God has given us a pledge of his promise to be fulfilled. Right now we have the Holy Spirit within us to lead, guide, and convict. But he is also present as the beginning of God fulfilling his promise to us for eternal life. Take a moment to pray and thank the Holy Spirit that he is present in your life. Ask him to help you discern when he is working in your life to guide you. The Holy Spirit convicts, teaches, and empowers us to live the Christian life. Jesus said the Holy Spirit is our helper and counselor. “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:7-15). The concept of the Holy Spirit as our helper and counselor is a very humbling one. Imagine the God who created the whole universe declaring that he will be a partner with you and allow him to know you through his Spirit. What a privilege we have! Think about your salvation experience. At what points in your life do you recognize the Holy Spirit as having worked to lead you to faith in Jesus? We should have a love and obedience relationship with the Holy Spirit. “We are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him” (Acts 5:32). “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart” (I Peter 1:22). Because the Holy Spirit is God he deserves the same worship, devotion, affection, and obedience we give to the Father and the Son. He is no less God! Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal more of himself to you. Pay attention to you life and see if you can discern when the Spirit is working in you. Being Filled With The Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit expresses himself through us. Living the Christian life is the practice of living in the Spirit. “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. 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.” (Romans 8:9-11). “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own” (I Corinthians 6:19). “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). Your life is not your own! Because you have been purchased with the price of Jesus’ blood, you belong to God. God longs to express his love through you just as he did through Jesus. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to live his life through you, to guide you and give you his wisdom. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is a way of saying that he empowers us. “The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:17). “Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). The power of the Christian life is in the Holy Spirit. Imagine! You have the eternal, living God dwelling inside of you through his Spirit. He wants to express himself and live his life through you. When we live in submission to him we experience his power for living. For what areas in your life would you like the Holy Spirit to give you strength of character and power? We can be filled with the Spirit right now. When we ask the Holy Spirit to guide us, teach us, convict us, and live through us, we are seeking his empowerment. As long as we do not have any unconfessed sin in our lives we can experience his power, through the expression of his character in our lives. Would you like to be filled with the Holy Spirit right now? Pray this prayer: Lord Jesus, I want to be filled with your Spirit and empowered to live the Christian life. If there is sin I need to confess to you, please reveal that to me. I want to be a clean vessel used by you for your glory. Thank you for giving me your Holy Spirit. guywithabible.com

Why didn’t God send Jesus to the earth to die right after Adam and Eve sinned? Why did God wait all that time between Adam and Eve and the cross? This is a good question. I don’t mean to be dismissive, but after having considered who God is, the first answer to this question is “because God didn’t want to.” Though we’ll talk about the possible whys, that’s the place to start. Just trying to understand what God has revealed is difficult enough. It would be presumptive to try to understand what He has not revealed. So I admit I really don’t know why He designed His plan the way He did. But I doknow it is perfect. Having said this, I can suggest some possible reasons that make sense to me as to why God didn’t immediately send Christ. They’re all related to the fact that we learn within time, not simply as individuals, but as a human community. As creatures we are bound to time and space, process is important, and developing events in human history is important. What God immediately did after Adam and Eve sinned was promise He would save fallen mankind. Genesis 3:15 is the beginning of the gospel announcing that someone (we now know it was Jesus) born of a woman would ultimately triumph over Satan: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” Satan thought he crippled (bruised heel) Jesus on the cross, but the resurrection fatally wounded (bruised head) Satan’s power. This is the first of many promises that God made, and every one He has faithfully kept. “So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). By God waiting to bring both redemption and judgment, we learn more about His faithfulness. Since He always does what He promises, we learn more about His truthfulness. “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19). We learn to exercise faith and perseverance and believe in God’s praiseworthy attributes: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23). Jesus was the Lamb, a sacrifice, the Passover, Priest, Prophet, King, the fulfillment of the law, the Bread of Life, the Word. Without time to develop these ideas throughout history and through the writings of the Scriptures, we would never have understood the depths of the Godhead. Of course, God always knew the exact moment He intended to send Christ to the earth. Galatians 4:4-5 is a beautiful statement of this: “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” When the Gospel was manifested in Christ, after thousands of years, God made sure the world had experienced enough of life without the Messiah to appreciate Him and see their desperate need for “the good news of happiness” (Isaiah 52:7). God designed the world in such a way that He knew to send Messiah in just the right time. God tells Abraham, “In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure” (Genesis 15:16). God had a plan to deliver His people from Egypt at just the right time to position them for conquering the inhabitants of the land that they would occupy as the Promised Land. In order that we might learn faith, Christ didn’t come earlier than He did. “But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:23-24). In the same manner, we learn about longsuffering, glory, and mercy because God chose to wait: “What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory” (Romans 9:22-23). An equally valid corollary to the question, “Why didn’t God send Christ to Adam and Eve?” is “Why didn’t God send His wrath immediately on sin?” Peter answers this saying that God’s love will not allow one person, who will believe, to be denied the necessary time: “But the present heavens and earth by His word are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:7-9). It’s an amazing and wonderful thing to realize that God devised His plan, created us, and is perfectly executing the plan, so that we could enjoy Him. He was infinitely satisfied within Himself, the Godhead, before creation. He didn’t create for Himself; rather, at His pleasure He created for us. Just to have lived is a gift beyond measure. That God would allow some of His creatures to live for eternity in a relationship with Him is beyond comprehension. I can’t understand everything about God’s plan and His timing, either in human history or my own life. But that doesn’t keep me from believing it. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-7). www.epm.org . Used by permission.