"Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Do not be carried about with strange doctrines.  For it is good that the heart be established by grace..."  Hebrews 13:7-9 (NKJV)

What are you thankful for this year?  With Thanksgiving only two days away, I have been spending some time thinking about this age-old list.  I know the question will come up in conversation at some point during the holiday.  And of course, the typical things come to mind.  I'm thankful for my wonderful wife, my strong and healthy son, my loving family and my faithful and uplifting friends.  I'm thankful that I have a job, a reliable car and a place to live.  I'm thankful that I live in the United States of America, the land of freedom and opportunity.

I know all of these things are exceedingly cliche, to say the least, but they are all true.  I really am thankful for these things.  I am truly blessed beyond what I can imagine, and certainly more than I deserve.  But with the major world changes in 2015 and over the past few years, with all of the violence and hatred that is now on a global scale and hitting much closer to home than I ever thought was possible, I'm realizing that I have much more for which to be thankful.

I am thankful for good Biblical counsel and leadership; for all those who have spoken the Word of God to me.  I thank God for placing the resources in my life to learn from powerful teachers of the Word like Robert Morris, Chuck Missler, Rick Bizet, Max Lucado, Norman Geisler, Priscilla Shirer and countless others.  I thank Him for guiding me to Gateway Church, where I can learn more about Him, but also be encouraged to discover for myself the things He has for me and my purposes in His plan.

I am thankful that He will never leave or forsake me.  That despite the violence and hatred all around, He is still here, and He still moves with power and might.  And because of Jesus' sacrifice, I have direct access to an intimate relationship with Him.  Think about how incredible that is.  I can actually spend moments in my life drawing nearer to the Creator of the Universe.  With all the things to fear in this world, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear.  What can man do to me?" (Heb. 13:6)  

But most of all I'm thankful for grace.  Without it I am nothing.  It's His grace that saves me, His grace that leads me, His grace that comforts me and His grace that establishes me.  And it never changes.  It's alway there, when I know I need it and when I think I don't.  Within a world that is ever changing, God and His grace are the only real constants.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever, and in that consistency and faithfulness, I take comfort knowing that I will face nothing in this world that He can't handle.

God, thank You for all the things You give us.  We don't deserve any of it.  But in this time of thankfulness and remembrance, thank You most of all for who You are and for the grace You grant us always.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!  The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge."  Psalm 46:10-11 (NKJV)

What do you think is the most important aspect of a relational walk with Jesus Christ?  Is it prayer?  Or maybe fasting?  Is it reading the Word of God and meditating on it's meaning for our lives?  Is it radiating Jesus' light over all the darkness in the world?  I think the Bible is pretty clear that all of these things are important to maintaining the closeness that Jesus wants with us daily.  But sometimes, for me, the most important aspect is the part I skip over without even realizing it.

After last week's post, a trusted friend came to me and said "the post was good, but for people like me who don't like to read, it was a little wordy, and I got lost toward the end."  He was right.  I've since removed a paragraph that was simply me taking the opportunity to vent, since it was really just a filler anyway, and unnecessary to the point.  But I started thinking about how often I do that with God.  How often do my words get in the way of His work in me?  

One of the most difficult things for me in any part of my life is being silent and letting the plan unfold.  So why wouldn't that be an issue in my relationship with God?  I can always formulate the right words to say in prayer, and I know enough scripture to work my way through my "quiet time," but I rarely spend any time actually being quiet.  Time spent silently listening for God's still, small response.  God often has to yell at me for me to hear Him.  And usually in the storm that I could have avoided if I'd only listened for His voice.

When God revealed Himself to Elijah in I Kings 19, He didn't do so in the powerful noise that was all around the cave.  Not in the great, strong wind that tore into the mountains.  Not in the earthquake that followed.  Not even in the fire that followed the earthquake.  No.  He showed up in a still small voice after the storm.  God had the power to reveal Himself in all of the mighty around Elijah, yet is was the calmness that brought forth His voice.

This world is noisy.  We know from recent activity, there is chaos and destruction everywhere.  There will always be evil that will seek to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10), but we know that our God will be exalted above all of it, above the nations, above the earth.  We want Him to reveal Himself, but we don't take the time to just be still, and let Him move.  I take heart in all that has happened that my God still reigns supreme, and that He still has a plan for this world, but when is it time to be still and simply know that He is God (Psalm 46).  I, for one, need to spend more time listening for Him and less time making noise.

God in Heaven, thank You for never leaving or forsaking us.  Thank You that You still move on behalf of Your people.  Be with the families around the world who have lost loved ones over the past few weeks, and those who have been injured in the tragedies that have swept the globe.  Provide the miraculous comfort, strength and healing that can only come from You.  Help us to remember that it's often the calmness that brings Your voice, and help us to listen, that in that stillness we will know that You are God.  In Jesus' gracious name, Amen.

"But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.  For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God has passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."  Romans 3:21-26 (NKJV)

Why do you think sin is such a difficult topic for Christians today?  Why is it that every time sin comes up in a conversation, judgement and hatred shortly follow and lead to the typical "speck in your brother's eye before the plank in your own" argument? (Matt. 7:3-4  Even most non-believers know these verses.)  Why do we almost immediately become defensive about our sin, even in the counsel of Godly men and women?  Don't we all sin?  Doesn't God view all sin as equally bad?  Aren't all believers covered by the same amount of grace?  Then why do I have so much trouble addressing sin in the same way that Jesus did?

The Bible tells me that sin is bad, and the world says that because I sin, I am bad.  I don't want to be bad, so I cover up my badness by pointing out how much worse your sin is than mine (Matt. 7:3-4).  Jesus knew this is the way the Enemy would divide even the Church, so that we would focus so much on sin that we miss out on grace and forgiveness.  The unfortunate part is that in order to receive the freedom that comes with the grace of God, I have to, in fact, acknowledge my sin and repent (turn away and put my focus back on God).  

I'm called to make disciples of the nations (Matt. 28:19), but that has always seemed to lead me to discussing sin.  If that discussion were to come across as judgmental and crass, then I probably just built a wall between a soul and Jesus Christ.  Too often I've found myself lacking in this area.  

Then one afternoon, as I was reading the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4), I realized why I couldn't reveal sin without judgment.  To Jesus, it was never about a sinner, it was about a child of God.  Jesus began his conversations truly invested in a person, not his or her faults.  He presented His life through relationship.  When Jesus addressed this woman, He began by breaking down the boundaries the world had used to separate them.  (In this case, race.  Jews didn't associate with Samaritans.)  Despite the disciples disapproval, He treated her as equal, building a personal relationship, and she began to trust Him, even as they later discussed her sin.  He said exactly what she needed to hear to steer her toward salvation.  She began to see her own life and the changes that needed to be made for her to have real joy.  Even though Jesus was sinless and He could have judged her, He never condemned her.  He showed her the gift of grace with His truth, leading to healthy conviction.  Because of that, He was not only able to meet her where she was, but He used her to reach the city.

My job is not to point to sin, but to point to grace.  God hates sin but not sinners.  My battle is not with the sinner.  With him or her, I am an equal, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).  But through grace, freedom from sin is possible.  My job is to show them Jesus and plant a seed, and then teach them how to cultivate that seed with the Word and relationship.  The Holy Spirit will take care of the rest.

Father, help me to know what to say and when to say it to grow Your Kingdom.  Judgment is reserved for Your throne, so help me to show people Jesus and know when to stay out of the way and let You move.  Thank You for the forgiveness of sin.  I know that I do not deserve it, nor have I earned it, but it is by Your grace that I can be free.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

"And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.  But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."  Joshua 24:15 (NKJV)

What does it mean to you to say the words "I am a Christian?"  Somehow, I think we would all have a little different answer.  And if the question was asked to a non-believer, the answers would be even more diverse.  A few months ago, I discovered that I needed to answer that question for myself.  I wrote a post on Facebook about the luke-warm Church and making a decision between following after Jesus or the world.  (If you would like to read the post, just click on this sentence.)  The post was directed primarily at believers and standing up for what is Biblically principled.  I don't often choose Facebook as my medium for those things, but I felt like God was asking me to take a stance.  I felt like in that moment, He was asking me to make the same choice about which I had just written, and in that decision He started the foundations for what would become this page.

As the next few weeks unfolded, there were some significant political changes that started a new "battle" between the secular world and the church, and even some conflict within the church body.  It became increasingly more vital for me to understand what it meant to call myself a Christian.  I began to see posts all over social media about "I am a Christian, but I am not... (fill in your own clever adjective here)."  The adjectives used in these were typically based on judgement and hypocrisy, as you would expect with a battle such as this, about sins of the flesh versus repentance and redemption.  Then I saw a meme that simply stated, "If you are a Christian, but you don't believe in Christ's teachings, then you are not a Christian."  Even though I think the idea was a direct stab at the aforementioned posts defining personal Christianity, it did seem pretty profound as I thought about it.  But could it really all be that simple?

Yes, foundationally at least.  Let's break it down.  The word Christian comes from the Greek word Christianos, which means "follower of Christ."  I don't know about you, but it seems irrational to me to willingly give up everything to follow a teacher who I believe is a liar.  Even Charles Manson's followers believed what he taught them about the world.  Belief is necessary to willfully follow.  So for the control-freak in me, in order to truly follow Christ, to give up my life for His purpose, with a real desire to have a relationship with Him and align my will with His, I would have to first believe that EVERYTHING He said was truth.  This is how I believe Jesus defined to His disciples what it meant to live as a Christian.  I must deny myself (allow Him to cleanse me of my flesh), take up my cross (believe that His Words and Life are truth), and follow Him (carry those Words and merge them with every aspect of my life) (Matt. 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23).

Unfortunately, the simplicity of the words don't create the necessary action.  It is not easy to live like Christ.  He was sinless.  An unblemished sacrifice so that we could live in the fullness of joy in a relationship with God.  I, regardless of how I want to be, am not sinless.  In fact, the only righteousness that can exist in me is by the grace of God the Father through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  My feeble brain still tries to justify a blend of the secular world with the Holy.  But "no one can serve two masters; for he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other." (Matt. 6:24)  If I live according to the flesh I will die; but if by the Spirit I put to death the deeds of the body, I will live (Romans 8:13).  In my heart, I have made the decision to stand on Jesus' Words, and I continue to make the decision every day to follow Christ and not the world.  That is what it means to be a Christian.  I will not serve the gods of our land.  As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

God, thank You for sending Your Son so that I can even have the opportunity to be righteous in You.  I pray that I never lose sight of what it means to be Your child, and a follower of Christ.  That I will always choose Your will over the world, and I will stand firm in Your Word and not let it become convoluted by what culture dictates.  Protect the heart of every believer in this world that each one of us will choose You and Your principles, and show Yourself to every unbeliever so that they have the opportunity to choose You for themselves.  In Jesus' name, Amen.