What Next?!?

So many different things are happening in our Country right now. There is so much uncertainty it seems except that it is certain that our Nation as a whole is facing dire times. The economy has not recovered as quickly as many would like. Finances are tight for everyone as the cost of living has increased tremendously. Health care is still a huge issue as people are starting to realize that health care costs under Obamacare are increasing, not decreasing. Abortion-rights advocates in Texas are fighting with Gov. Perry over HB-2 which will decrease the number of abortions in our State. The liberal left is making grounds against marriage with the unconstitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act. Homosexuals are excited about the idea of being able to marry and have the same rights that heterosexuals have. Essentially, it seems that our world is collapsing in every way, shape and form.

But how should we respond to all of this? What should we as Christians do to help those in the hearing of our voices and in the presence of our helping hands? How should we then live?

First, I believe that we need to realize that we are not of this world even though we live in this world. Peter the apostle teaches us that we are merely passing through, sojourning, travelers in a strange and foreign land (1 Peter 1:17-21). We need to live like citizens of Heaven and not as citizens of this world. Our passports may say USA on them, but our homeland is where Jesus Christ is. We may have a President and governing authorities here on earth, but our King is King Jesus.

Second, I believe that we need to realize that the end of the world is not happening right now. King Jesus taught us that we neither know the day or the hour but that we are to be prepared for His return (Matthew 24-25). We can concern ourselves with what is going on around us or we can prepare ourselves for the victory that He will bring when He returns to gather us, to catch us away to be with Him for eternity. Folks, let’s realize that we are here today but our lives are but a vapor (James 4:14).

Next, I believe that we need to be about the business of telling others about King Jesus. We are a part of His Kingdom and they can be a part of His Kingdom as well. King Jesus is our Commander-in-Chief and He has given us the responsibility of making disciples and baptizing people (Matthew 28:18-20). This means that we are to train others to do the work of the ministry and that ministry is sharing the Gospel, seeing others come to know Him as Lord and Savior and to baptize them as a symbol of their belief in Him as King. Interestingly, King Jesus never gives us an age limit of when we are able to stop telling others about Him. His expectation is that all of us will tell as many people about our King as often as we are able no matter how old or how young we are.

Finally, I believe that even though it seems that everything is going to pot, we can be encouraged knowing that King Jesus said that everything would (Mark 13). We are going to be hated because of His name. We are going to face trials, tribulations and persecutions because of King Jesus. It is something that should be as no surprise to you and me. Rather, we ought to be encouraged by His words because it simply means that He told us the truth!

So, Church, be encouraged today. Live for King Jesus. Serve King Jesus. Have joy in King Jesus. Find peace in King Jesus, for He Himself is our peace (Ephesians 2:14). Love each other in the name of King Jesus. Serve one another in the name of King Jesus. Share the Gospel of King Jesus. Tell as many people about King Jesus. Encourage others to be a part of King Jesus’ Kingdom.

Cycling

"There's nothing like a Schwinn!"
“There’s nothing like a Schwinn!”

I have been so long since I have been on my bicycle. I used to ride my bike anywhere from 15-25 miles per day. For some that may seem like a long way to ride; for me, it was. But there’s this gentleman here in town that rides his bicycle anywhere from 50-60 miles per day. He is 65 years old and he is dealing with some cancer issues. But everyday he’s riding.

I started to consider riding again . . . about three years ago. I decided that it was time to start again. After all, exercise can help so many different things that go on in our bodies. So my seven-year-old and I rode bikes yesterday for an hour. It was a great time. He is just getting used to not having training wheels on his bike. He took a few spills, but all-in-all he did great. He can make wide turns and he can make pretty sharp turns now. He was excited and I was thrilled. I have to get up to speed to keep up with my two sons!

But even more importantly, I need to take care of myself because the body that I have is considered to be a place where the Holy Spirit lives. See how Paul the apostle said it:

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

Now don’t misunderstand me. I do not necessarily think that this verse is speaking specifically of keeping healthy or physically fit. I know that in the context of the passage Paul is saying that we ought not be giving ourselves to sexual immorality. But there is still a principle that can be applied to the way that we keep ourselves.

If you are to love God with all your heart, soul and mind, you need to be healthy enough to do so. It certainly stands to reason that if you want to love your neighbor you will love them according to the way that you love yourself (cf. Matthew 22:37-41). In order to love others you need to be healthy enough to do so.

Spiritually speaking, to glorify God in our body is not just keeping ourselves from sexual immorality–although this is extremely important–but also keeping ourselves from becoming unhealthy. Eating right, taking the right supplements, not ingesting certain foods or even some medications that are breaking our bodies down even more is part of it. Exercising on a regular basis is also important.

So, I want to glorify God in everything that I do and in everything that I am. This means that I need to be healthy. It means that I need to exercise. It means that I am going to start cycling again. I will build up my mileage to what I once rode. I will surpass it as well. That’s my goal. I will do it to serve the Lord.

The Sexual Revolution

The sexual revolution. When did it begin? How have we as a society come to the point that we have so many gender-related issues and issues of same-sex marriage? These questions have been rolling around in my head for quite sometime. The more that I hear the more disheartened I am. I am not disheartened at the fact that our culture and society are at this point. It stands to reason that when you excuse God from being a part of a society that this sort of thing will eventually come about.

“Yeah, yeah! We’ve heard it before!” you might exclaim.

But when was the last time that you really wondered where all of this began? Some say that the sexual revolution began in the 1960s here in the United States. Others will say that the paradigm shift in America has followed the way of Europe. The reality is that man is simply doing what man does. What I mean by this is that man will do what seems right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25) especially when there is no fear of God in man’s eyes (Romans 3:18). It should come as no surprise to us that this revolution has been raging not just since the 1960s, but since the beginning of mankind.

In Genesis 3, the first man and woman are caught in sin. It was not sexual sin, but nonetheless, it was sin. God had forbidden the man and woman from eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the day that they ate of it sin and death was ushered into this world and this sin spread to all (Romans 5:12).

After sin entered into the world, Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. They had two sons, Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1-8). Cain killed Abel and after the Lord had told him what his punishment was he moved from east of Eden to the land of Nod (Genesis 4:16).

Cain then has relations with his wife and she conceives and gives birth to their son Enoch (4:17).

Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad became the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael became the father of Methushael, and Methushael became the father of Lamech. Lamech took to himself two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was thef ather of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. As for Zillah, she also gave birth to Tubal-cain, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. (Genesis 4:18-22)

Did you see where the sexual revolution began? Free love? It was when Lamech, the son of Methushael took for himself two wives: Adah and Zillah. It was God who said that it was not good that man should be alone so He made him a helper–one who is the perfect complement to him. This he did in the Garden of Eden for Adam when He brought him Eve. This is how it is written:

Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. (Genesis 2:18-22)

The ideal situation is one man, one woman in relationship to each other and with God. Adam saw this created woman after the Lord woke him up and he realized that she was his complement. Now it is obvious to note that there was not another woman there at this time. It was just Adam and Eve. But the institution that God ordained from the very beginning was that the man would leave his father and mother behind and cleave to his wife (singular).

After Cain left Eden and settled in the land of Nod, his descendants filled their lives full of everything under the sun rather than filling their lives with the Lord. Of course this is the case simply because Cain did not lead his life nor his family to follow after the Lord. Rather, they began to fill up their emptiness with things such as music, arts and even sexual sin. This is the case with Lamech, the son of Methushael, who took for himself two wives. This is against the natural order that God has established in Genesis 2.

Throughout the Scriptures you will read other stories of men falling into sexual sins. David with Bathsheba, Solomon with 700 wives and 300 concubines, Samson with Delilah are some examples. In the New Testament you will find that there was a man in the Corinthian church that was proudly committing adultery with his father’s wife, his stepmother.

Moreover, you will find that Paul the apostle addresses these sexual sins and includes homosexuality as sin (read Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10). The sexual revolution, in other words, has been raging for thousands and thousands of years.

So how do we as Christians address these issues? Let me make a few suggestions. First, we need to approach people with love. Jesus made it clear in John 13:34-35 that if we do not have love for each other and for others that those who are not believers have the prerogative to judge us based on the lack of our love. We cannot win someone who is involved in sexual sin by simply bashing them with Bible verses and our views. Rather, we need to love them enough to speak the truth of the sin and let them know that there is still room for God to forgive them and save them from their sin.

Second, we need to be careful with what we do with these relationships with our family and friends who are involved in sexual sins. Relationships are important to the Lord Jesus. After all, His desire is that we be in relationship to Him and to be in right relationship with others as well. Relationship is everything and if we can bring one to the Lord to be their Savior then we have helped someone to be saved from their utter destruction.

Finally, we need to really consider ourselves. We need to speak the truth in love. Do we really love those who are living in sexual sin? What loving anyone else in any other kind of sin? Sin is sin. All of us have sinned in one way or another. Moreover, we need to realize that when we speak the truth in love it is not being judgmental. Rather, we are simply speaking the truth and we are to do it loving those with whom we come into contact.

The sexual revolution has been around for a long time. The issues we face today are nothing new. There is nothing new under the sun. Let’s bring people hope in our Lord Jesus Christ by letting them know that they can be freed from the bondage of sin–even those who are part of the sexual revolution of today.