Christ, Reason, and Salvation

A few thoughts on salvation...

We are saved by faith, but our faith is based on reason and truth...it is not a blind faith, to the contrary, it is a reasonable faith...it is one substantiated in the reality of truth...

There is much to say about this that can be combined from the fields of apologetics, philosophy, history, science, mathematics, cosmology, etc, but here are a few verses that speak to Faith, Reason, and Truth

Faith
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8

Reason
“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. ~Isaiah 1:18

Truth
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. ~John 17:17

Unfolding Patterns Of God's Plans

Good thought I heard from Wayne Grudem the other day...he was talking about the way that God unfolds His purposes and reveals His Glory gradually over time, for instance:

Creation Of The World - Whether you hold a "Day-Age" view or a "Literal" view, etc, God gradually created and sculpted the world over time.

The Calling Of The Jews - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Twelve tribes...

The Sending Of The Messiah - centuries passed before Jesus was incarnated.

Spreading Of The Gospel - gradually over centuries, we are seeing God's Purposes unfolding.

The more I think about it, the more all of life is like this. There is a development process to all things that have life, meaning, value, and purpose. The only things that are really made in an instance are material and expendable.

So this gradual revealing of God's purpose certainly has personal application to us as well. He wants our lives to have meaning, value, and purpose, and the only way to do that is through a gradual development via a daily relationship with Christ.

In fact, Charles Spurgeon, in his sermon delivered on the Sabbath Morning, January 7th, 1855, stated the following: "Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity."

I think that God unfolds His purposes gradually, so that we can "continually investigate" His greatness...Allow me to draw a parallel from the outstanding Christian philosopher and theologian of the eleventh century, Saint Anselm, who coined the phrase, fides quaerens intellectum...translated to mean, “faith seeking understanding”...Perhaps God has so arranged life that our faith seeks an understanding, and then our understanding leads to a revealing...then purpose...

Faith --> Understanding --> Revealing --> Purpose

For Anselm, "faith seeking understanding" was “an active love of God seeking a deeper knowledge of God.” He believed that true faith is a love for God and a drive to act as God wills...Ultimately, our purpose is to become Christ-like...Jesus was everything God is, and He was everything that we were meant to be...so what happened was that sin entered the world, we became separated from God, and our image became distorted...man has been on a search for purpose ever since...a search for God through Christ...a desire beyond all desires in which C.S. Lewis beautifully summarized in the following quote:

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy,
the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."

...God, through His gradual unfolding of meaning, value, and purpose, wants us to first have a "deeper knowledge" of Him...and a deeper understanding of Him...a desire to become Sanctified and Christ-like...so that when God unfolds our meaning, value, and purpose in life, we see Him as the architect, the composer, and the designer of it all.

Love Wins? No, Jesus Saves!

I just watched the promo video for Rob Bell's new book, Love Wins, a title he chose because he states that the Good News is that "Love Wins." It's a hidden message that takes Scripture out of context and leads certain people down a road to destruction...

...The Good News of The Bible is not that "Love Wins," but rather, "Jesus Saves." What does Jesus save us from? He saves us from the "disease" of humanity known as sin. Bell has it all wrong...another blasphemous statement he makes in the video is that Jesus is saving us from a wrathful God, as though it is God versus Jesus instead of God versus satan.

Jesus is not saving us from God...Jesus is bringing us to God...Jesus is the path to God, and the only path at that! Jesus brings us to God by saving us from sin and death and a life of eternal torment. We are on a sailboat to hell and Jesus thankfully was sent on a rescue mission by God The Father to reverse our direction and redeem humanity back to Himself, restoring the image that sin tarnished...this is the core message of Christianity...one look at John 3.16 shows this to be true, and you don't have to have a Ph.D. in Theology to understand it!

Bell's message is basically saying to do whatever the hell you want because everyone ends up in Heaven...

That would be like a doctor who knows his patient is sick, yet tells them to go ahead and live on without worry, because in the end everything works out...

Let me conclude with one final thought. If a diabetic needs insulin to live yet chooses not to take it, they would not die just because they refused insulin. They would die because they refused to receive what insulin and only insulin can do. To an even stronger extent, people do not go to hell simply because of a refusal to believe in Jesus, as though He was some pride and joy trophy that satisfies God's ego...no, they end up in hell because Jesus not only sustains life, He restores the life God desires for us to live...Jesus is Salvation...He is THE cure to the disease...Jesus gives us victory over sin and death...

Love wins because Jesus Saves. Jesus diagnoses the problem and offers the solution. I pray for Rob Bell and his followers to come to this understanding...

No Chance For Chance

I was curious this morning, as I am most mornings, and I was hoping someone, specifically a naturalist, or perhaps a group of evolutionary biologists, could help me understand the pictures above.

How is it that the architecture of the PowerMac computer MUST have a designer responsible for it's creation, and that anyone with a sound mind knows that there is NO way, that it could have been put together by random events...but when some people see images from the human anatomy and think about life as we know it, they actually come to a conclusion that we are nothing more than the products of time and chance?

...there is no chance for chance...

The sooner everyone realizes this, the sooner our world will improve. Belief in evolution and naturalism does not simply stop at the discussion of origins, it bleeds into the outcomes of our decisions. The way we view and understand God shapes every fabric of life...

...it's time to stop believing in science fiction.

...Jesus is Truth. Jesus is reality.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made;
without him nothing was made that has been made.
~ John 1.1-3 ~

Loving God With All Your Mind

Wanted to follow up the last blog post with a few thoughts on Luke 10.27 and the emphasis on loving God with all our mind...

• Loving God with all of our mind would facilitate Followers of Jesus Christ in the re-shaping of culture from secular to sacred...

This is so important because understanding and loving God with our mind leads to an understanding of Christian truth...and Christian truth is the truth of reality...therefore, if there is a lack of mental discipline, then our understanding of truth goes from objective to subjective (the famous cry of "what is true for you may not be true for me.")...and a subjective truth is the foundational issue to most political, social, and cultural problems we face today...i.e. political correctness...so we need to get back to the objective truth and away from postmodern relativism...

• Knowing and Loving God with our mind is a benefit, not a detractor...when it comes to the mind and knowledge of God, some will go as far to say that knowledge takes away our need for faith...this is not true, because faith and knowledge are not enemies of each other...they complement each other...one strengthens the other...

...if knowledge is harmful to our faith, then that would mean any evidence whatsoever for Jesus Christ would actually be a bad thing...even General and Special Revelation...why would anyone believe or have faith in something in which they have no reason for believing it?...the anti-intellectualism has to stop...as important as experience and feelings are, we must base them off of truth...what happens when your friend or family member does not "feel" the need for God? Does that mean that they don't need Him? Of course not...our feelings should not be our spiritual compass...

...the Buddhist, the Hindu, Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, atheist, etc, all have a faith in something, they all have fuzzy feelings, and feel good experiences, but that does not mean what they believe is true...The Christian on the other hand has a world view that lines up with reality...

• I am not saying we have to be sold out on Evidentialism, because I am a firm believer in The Holy Spirit and how He reveals truth...I also believe that most of what we believe as true is not something that has to proven with empirical evidence. (i.e. Love, Aesthetics and beauty, morality, thoughts, etc)

• I do want to stress what another Biola professor has stated, when he says, "our picture of God in written revelation should harmonize with what we already know about God from natural revelation." And that is precisely what The Christian, Biblical, Trinitarian God does!

• people may quote 1 Corinthians 8.1, and state that "knowledge puffs up," but I love the rebuttal J.P. Moreland gives, "If knowledge “puffs up”, the solution is not IGNORANCE. The solution is HUMILITY."

[Jesus] answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and,
'Love your neighbor as yourself."' ~ Luke 10.27~

Free Will Or Determined?

When it comes to decision making, are you a believer in free-will or determinism? Do you think our choices matter or is our fate already set in stone?

Why am I asking this question? The reason is because we live in a world of irony. We all want God to tell us what to do, but if we lived in this kind of reality, we would all be complaining to God that we never get to choose. So what gives? Take a look at how the Book of Proverbs sheds insight to this subject:

Proverbs 16.1 says, "We can make our own plans, but the LORD gives the right answer."
Proverbs 16.9 says, "A person may plan his own journey, but the LORD directs his steps."

This creates an intellectual dilemma for the human mind. To our thinking, it must be one way or the other, or at least a 50/50 partnership with God...a type of supply and demand relationship, "God I demand this, so you supply it." But Timothy Keller in Your Plans:God's Plans, comments on how The Proverbs teach us that we actually have 100% free will with 100% of the results being under God's Sovereign outcomes.

Despite the intellectual perplexity of such a situation, it actually makes perfect sense. And the reason is that God, in order to know His Will, wants us to know Him...not the other way around. Therefore, He grants us the freedom and the gift of choice, but at the same time, governs the results. Our wisdom to choose is built on The Foundation of our relationship with God. So we now have the solution to the aforementioned question because when all is said and done, would we really want to live in the extremes of an either/or situation. All free will or all determined?

Think of it like this...given the state of the human condition, would we really want 100% free will to shape our outcomes? NO! And at the same time, do we really think 100% of our life is already determined? Of course not...what would be the point of getting out of bed in the morning?

I like how Steven Furtick puts it, "I still believe God gives us enough ink to write our story in His Story."

This is why I love The Holy Scriptures. Even if one denies the existence of God, they have one problem. They live in God's World. Only the writings from God, such as Proverbs 16.1 and 16.9 can give us such insight to our thinking and our actions.

So here is my final point and why I am convicted of it. If Hebrews 11.6 says that it is impossible to please God without faith, then we are living in sin with indecision. Why? Because indecision is a lack of trust and trust is the action form of faith. Don't let indecision force your hand. Forget the fear involved from making a wrong decision from free-will and let go of the depression of believing that everything is already determined. Praise God for our freedom and trust God for His Sovereignty.

Pray Like Jesus

"Preaching a pagan-style gospel teaches that as long as we
have enough faith in Jesus, then we don't have to be like Jesus."
...a paraphrase from Mark Driscoll,
~ Pray Like Jesus:The Gethsemane Prayer ~

Tired of hearing the pagan practice of the prosperity gospel?...the prosperity gospel is when we use Prayer, Scripture, and experience to try and align God to our will. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, on the other hand, is when God utilizes Prayer, Scripture, and experience to align us to His Will.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is perfect,
the prosperity gospel is pagan...

...Mark Driscoll, in his sermon called, Pray Like Jesus: The Gethsemane Prayer, explains (and I paraphrase) that "so much of what we hear today is a brand of theology that will not be strong enough for us when we need it the most."

Christianity is a belief in a person (Jesus Christ)...it is not a coping mechanism or some magic trick for material wealth and prosperous gain...it is a relationship based on a theology that will be everything for us when we need it the most...Driscoll goes on to say, "being a follower of Jesus Christ may not get us around the obstacles of life, but it will get us through the obstacles of life."

At the end of the sermon, Driscoll outlines and speaks briefly on eleven questions about prayer... questions that challenge us to see if our prayer life is in line with God's plan...Below, I have included the eleven questions...but along with those questions, I highly encourage you to either watch Driscoll's sermon or listen to it on the Mars Hill App or via podcast.

01. Do you pray to get from God or to get God?
02. Do you pray to move God or for God to move you?
03. Do you pray to get around pain or through pain?
04. Do you courageously punctuate your prayers with "Your - Will - Be - Done...?"
• We do present our requests to God, but we should always end with, "Your Will Be Done..."
05. Do you pray out of Holy or unholy depression?
• Holy despair/depression = due to sin and its effects
• unholy despair/depression = not getting our way
06. Do you pray in faith knowing that God is not the author of sin, but is the author over sin?
07. Do you ask your friends to pray for you even if you know they will fail to do so?
08. Do you pray to both hear and accept God's will for your life?
09. Do you accept that God will answer your prayers with a "yes, no, or later?"
10. Do you know that knowing God's Will is far easier than walking in it? (Hebrews 5.7-8)
11. Do you know a godly wife who lived like Jesus Prayed? (1 Corinthians 11.3)
• You have to listen to his explanation to understand this question...

"God’s main purpose for you is not what you do. It's who you become."
~ John Ortberg ~

Improv

If you are a fan of comedy, then you know how amazing actors are when it comes to Improv. Now I am all for being proactive and planning, but when it comes to life in Christ and following the leading of our Counselor, The Holy Spirit, then we must be ready to do a little Improv ourselves, which actually brings excitement into life.

Mark Batterson, in his book, In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day, says it like this:

"I know that part of us wants God to take us to a three act play with a clearly defined plot that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. But Jesus takes us to the Improv instead. We want the entire script up front, but that would undermine our dependence upon the Holy Spirit."

The whole point of following Christ is Trust...The peak at the mountain top of our Faith is Trust. Living life in Christ as though it's an Improv forces us to lean on Christ...if we had a script, would we really develop a relationship with Him?

Batterson goes on to say, "Following Jesus and keeping in step with the Spirit requires the art of improvisation. We've got to develop an affinity for uncertainty and learn to enjoy the journey."

The Scriptures reveal many things that increase our certainty. For instance a spiritual certainty. We know we are saved, forgiven, and redeemed. But for circumstantial uncertainty, that is something we must embrace and that is what Faith in Christ is all about!

Evil via Subtraction, God via Sanctification

I was listening to John MacArthur this morning, in his sermon about The Origin of Evil, and he said something that really grips what evil is and how it exists...MacArthur states,

"Evil is not the presence of something, evil is the absence of righteousness."

Very interesting...evil is a negative...it results due to a subtraction. MacArthur goes on to say, "God created absolute perfection. Wherever a lack of that exists, sin exists. And that cannot exist in the nature of God or in anything that God makes.

This confirms what my Preacher Bro informed me of the other day...we need a Jesus Culture...A Culture of Christ...if we object to that, it is probably because our idol is standing in the way...you see, if our culture, our lives, our homes, our families, our computers, our iPhones, our video games, our social outings, our thoughts, our actions, our words, etc, were saturated in Jesus, in Prayer, in Praise, then evil would have no place. But what do we do...we push God out of every area of our lives and then we wonder why people are addicted, lost, and messed up.

Joshua 3.5 gives us a great look at ridding ourselves of evil, becoming Sanctified so that God can work miracles into our lives:

Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you."

And then in The New Testament, James 1:21 tells us, “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”

...sin can not exist in The Presence of God...Fill yourselves with Christ and evil will flee.

The Responsibility of The Revelation

Albert Einstein was once asked what he would do if he had sixty minutes to save the world...I love his response, "I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution."

One of the problems I seek a solution for is the origin of sin. I desperately want to know everything in the realms of origin, purpose, morality, and destiny, but I especially want to know the nature of satan and the origin of sin. The reason is because life does not have to be as hard as we make it out to be, and if we would simply become aware of satan's strategy of deception and doubt, we can get on with God's purpose and plans...

I understand Genesis 3 and the fall of man, but I want to go farther back...satan was created before the creation of man, he was cast out of heaven because he desired to be God. We can read accounts of who he was and how this happened in certain areas of Scripture, and even Jesus stated in Luke 10.18, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." But we don't know exactly why satan was so unsatisfied despite his perfection, and if satisfied, why would he rebel? Why would satan desire to be the king of hell instead of a servant in Heaven? One reason is due to the sin of pride, but I still wonder why satan has this internal pride?

So in my "fifty-five" minute search, God thankfully cuts to the chase and leads me to the "five minute" finding of the solution:

“The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions." ~ Deuteronomy 29:29 ~

...so what it boils down to is this: We have questions and we want answers, but our responsibility relies in God's Revelation. Forget about the secret things...leave those to God...

...God wants us to take care of the business we do know, and trust Him with the business only He knows..."Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD." ~Jeremiah 17.7~

So what do we do? We Trust God and we take initiative to do something with our lives. I like how Erwin McManus puts it:

"We must do something to seize divine moments
as opposed to sitting back and watching life happen."

"We have defined holiness through what we separate ourselves from rather than what we give ourselves to. I am convinced the great tragedy is not the sins we commit, but the life that we fail to live...this requires initiative...

...those who change the world, who make a difference in history, who live life rather than simply watch it, have at least one common characteristic among them:

...they do something."

This is so rich because it points straight to the life of Jesus...look at what Jesus says in John 10:37-38 about the importance of what we do...

"Don’t believe me unless I carry out my Father’s work. But if I do his work, believe in the evidence of the miraculous works I have done, even if you don’t believe me. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father” (emphasis added).

Let's not focus on what we don't know to interfere with what we do know. Jesus said we will do "greater things" as we follow Him and believe. Plus, doing, as opposed to not doing, not only brings glory to God, but it makes satan cringe...

• satan does not necessarily care if we don't drink alcohol, but he hates it if we feed the hungry
• satan could care less if we don't cuss, but he hates if we Praise God
• satan yawns at the fact that we don't smoke or if we don't lie, etc,
but he hates it when we serve the poor and minister to the lost.
• satan could even care less if we read The Bible just as long as we don't live it...

So let's stop worrying about being perfect and knowing all the answers. Let's stop "defining holiness through what we separate ourselves from rather than what we give ourselves to." Let's stop tucking in our shirts, brushing our hair and putting on an image of being Mr. or Ms. Nice who do not offend...

Let's start doing "greater things" and take responsibility for what God has revealed to us!

For a great read on doing "greater things" and taking responsibility from God's Revelations, take a look at the awesome post,
Does Jesus know you?

Opportunities Of Faith

Hebrews 11.6, which states the following three things, has given me a framework for living...I know that God is always with us, but at times, it will feel like He is not. Why? Because He wants us to trust Him. Note the following three points of Hebrews 11.6:

1. Without faith it is impossible to please God
2. Anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists
3. We must believe that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Falling Backwards Leads You Forwards = Knowing and Trusting
You see, even though God is always present and active in our lives, we still must come to embrace the fact that it is impossible to please God without faith...so there is a dynamic juxtaposition of living a life of adventure and opportunity when it comes to following God...a "knowing" and a "trusting."

It's kind of like the "Trust" drill that you play in team building exercises...you fall backwards into your teammates arms...you know they are there to catch you, but it is still scary to fall backwards where you can not see...all you can do is trust they will catch you...sometimes we must fall backwards to move forwards...

God's Control, Our Opportunity
What this means is that while God is in control, He still gives us the opportunity to take responsibility in being major players in His game plan for life. We can't sit around wanting God to do everything...He wants our involvement...I see this as an honor and a blessing.

The drawback is that it can be scary and daunting and fear will creep in...but this is what I love about following God... He is going to lead us to Opportunities of Faith...we will be scared, but at the same time, we will be excited...I like how Mark Batterson puts it:

"Don’t let mental lions keep you from experiencing everything God has to offer. The greatest experiences will often double as the scariest experiences. The defining moments will often double as the scariest decisions."

Batterson also says a great thing about how blessings come to be: "The genealogy of blessing always traces back to God-Ordained Risks."

God Creates So That We Will Conquer
You see, when it comes to God-Ordained opportunity, God will create them, but He then wants us to conquer them...God was with David, Joshua and Caleb, and Jesus, but at the same time, David had to sling the stone, Joshua and Caleb had to conquer the land, and Jesus had to embrace The Cross...

Your Stone, Your Land, Your Cross
What is it for you? Where do you need to Trust God...where do you need to offer up a faith that pleases The Lord?...Just like David, Joshua, Caleb, and Jesus, and a host of other Biblical heroes, It's the same for us...God has a plan and a will for our lives. We can achieve our best for His Glory if we simply stay on task...Here is a good statement from Rick Warren about God's Will in your life...

"God gives you enough time to do His Will. If you can't get it all done, you are doing stuff out of His Will or doing it a wrong way."

Do the impossible and you will find God. If you crave comfort you will miss out. If things are not working, then re-evaluate. It's Time to Trust and Conquer! Soli Deo Glori!

Science Will Win?

Just watched an interview on ABC news where Diane Sawyer interviewed astrophysicist and one of the greatest scientist of all-time, Stephen Hawking...

...in the interview, when Sawyer asked if there was a way to reconcile religion and science, Hawking said, "There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works."

Just before this statement, Hawking says that human life is an accident...here is his quote:

"They made a human-like being with whom one can have a personal relationship. When you look at the vast size of the universe and how insignificant an accidental human life is in it, that seems most impossible." (emphasis added).

...and then to conclude the interview, Sawyer asked what three pieces of advice Hawking gives his children...Hawking says the following:

"One, remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Two, never give up work. Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it," he said. "Three, if you are lucky enough to find love, remember it is there and don't throw it away."

Do you see the contradictions?

> One, how can science win if it can not explain with certainty the origins of the universe based on observation and reason?

> Two, if human life is an accident, why would someone tell their kids that work gives 'meaning' and 'purpose?'...and why would love matter?...if human life is insignificant and accidental, then nothing has purpose and love is just an illusion...

> Third, In his new Discovery series, "Into the Universe," Hawking said intelligent alien life almost certainly exists, even speculating on the shape of creatures that could exist on other planets and moons.

Wait, I thought science wins because it is based off of observation and reason? Has anyone observed an alien...and why is it that it's always intelligent alien life? If aliens exist, who says they are intelligent?

Look, Stephen Hawking is freaking brilliant, and I can understand that he may wonder why he was diagnosed with ALS...he was diagnosed with ALS at 21...he is now 68...once diagnosed, he was told that he would not live more than a few years...

...you know what I think? I don't think Stephen Hawking is an accident and I don't think it is a coincidence that he has defied all odds by living well into his 60's...I believe he has purpose and his contributions to life are significant...

In terms of family Hawking has fathered 3 children and has one grandchild...do you think they would say he is an accident or insignificant? Nope. And I don't believe he would say his children and grandchild are insignificant either...

In terms of work, as physicist Kip Thorn at last week's World Science Festival event honoring Hawking, said, "Stephen has had a tremendous impact on our understanding of the universe, particularly of warp space and warp time in the universe, black holes, the origin of the universe..."

...so could it be that God has used Stephen Hawking to show that despite circumstances, a human life is capable of doing incredible things...Life is not insignificant nor accidental...We know love because God is love...we have purpose because God created us for His Glory...I pray that Stephen will come to see that God loves him and has used him for specific purposes...

Miracles:The Battle Of Jericho

Great Sermon on Miracles: The Battle Of Jericho (Mark Batterson, NCC)

 
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The Fourth Dimension

In mathematics the fourth dimension, or a four-dimensional space, is an abstract concept, obtained by taking the rules of our three-dimensional space and generalizing them to a space with one more dimension. It has been studied by mathematicians and philosophers for almost two hundred years, both for its own interest and for the insights it offered into mathematics and related fields.*

But for me, 1 Corinthians 2.9-10 gives a better definition of the fourth dimension, a more applicable definition:

But, as it is written,"What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him"—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God (emphasis added).

You see, there are believers and there are skeptics in almost all areas of life, specifically when it comes to belief in God and belief in Jesus Christ. The problem most skeptics and at times, even immature Christians (myself included) have, is that they are only using "three dimensions," that is, only using the aforementioned "eye," "ear," or "heart." In other words, we try to reason everything out or want some sort of physical proof of seeing, hearing, or feeling. But God takes us to the next level, He gives us the "X" factor...the Fourth Dimension. God gives all believers of Jesus Christ The Gift of The Holy Spirit, and it is when we have The Spirit living with in us, this amazing gift of "the fourth dimension," that we can know "even the depths of God"

...I am all for questioning, all for seeking and research, all for a lifetime of studying, because this is what brings us closer to truth...closer to God...

...and in all reality, the mere fact that we have questions, that we need to seek, actually proves the point that God does exist and that He cares...our inability to know everything from a human perspective proves that we are not God and that we desperately need God...that we desperately need The Holy Spirit teaching us...and the fact that we are finite points to God being infinite...(what is created has a cause, we are created with a cause and need a creator = God...God is infinite and therefore does not need a creator, He is The Creator...but this is for another topic for another day!)

So how do we tap into this fourth dimension and take our life to the next level? It's all about having "The Mind Of Christ." It's what will take us from milk to solid food, (see 1 Cor 3) or as I like to say, from "milk to meat"...can't wait to cover this next topic!

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it (1 Cor 3.1-2)....

For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.(1 Cor 3.9)

*Sources
wikipedia.org (The Fourth Dimension)
http://acm.pku.edu.cn/JudgeOnline/problem?id=1022 (Graphic)

Privileged To Trust

Our faith is to be placed in God himself, not in our understanding of him. We are invited to reason. And privileged to trust.
~ Taser ~

We all have questions in life, especially when it comes to questions about God. God invites our questions and loves our searching. Our faith is to be placed in him and through that foundation, we can and will come to understand more. We simply need to trust Him.

Just because we don't understand all things at all times does not mean we should reject, deny, or ignore the fact that God exist and that God cares. We need to use our God-given intelligence to reason things out and search for meaning, but this does not mean that we can not have faith like a child...

In fact, we have faith in other areas of life that we may or may not understand, yet it does not stop us from trusting that they work. We don't stop and ponder how gravity or cell phones work, or why ice floats, we just trust they do...And even when we do 'understand' how things SHOULD work, we find that sometimes they don't. For instance, a Yale physics professor has "proven" that it is impossible to hit a fastball, yet we see it happen over and over again.

Here's the deal. For us to become followers of Jesus Christ, it's not going to be through something we can explain...something that fits into a categorical "God Box" that makes us say, "Oh I get it now..." Rather, it is going be through something personal.

Andy Stanley, in his series called It's Personal, explains it like this, "To become a believer in Jesus Christ, it's not going to be categorical (explainable), it's going to be personal (undeniable)."

Let's keep seeking and searching, but even more importantly, let's keep trusting and believing, because as we do, we will realize that even if unexplainable, The life of Christ is undeniable.

Blessed is the person who trusts the LORD. The LORD will be his confidence. Jeremiah 17.7

Complete Faith

There are many references to Faith throughout Scripture and I love studying them all. My Prayer has always been to have BIG Faith...a huge size faith...perhaps my answer to the infamous "superhero" question on "What would your power be if you were a superhero?" would be to have the power of Faith...

But as I was reading through 1 Peter 4 the other night, I came across verse 19 which states:

If you suffer for obeying God, you must have complete faith
in your faithful Creator and keep on doing right.

I love this verse because it has shifted my thinking...maybe Faith is not a matter of having more versus less or BIG versus small...maybe our Faith should be viewed as COMPLETE versus incomplete...

Jesus Rose from the tomb to complete our salvation...I look forward to walking closer to Him as I strive to complete my faith and live the life He has called me to live.

Keep on doing right. Persevere. Stay Strong. Obey God.
Complete your Faith.

• • •

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect,
but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Philippians 3.12

Fresh Start On Faith

Awesome message by Erwin McManus about having a "Fresh Start On Faith." It's a Focused sermon about taking your Faith to new levels, especially during times of transition in your life! God wants us to rise to new levels of Faith and Trust, and when we do, He will do Amazing Things in our lives! click on the below link, and then choose the "Fresh Start" icon, subtitled, A Fresh Start On Faith.

http://mosaic.org/podcast/

Then Joshua told the people, "Make yourselves holy, because tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you."

~ Joshua 3.5-6 ~

God Will Bless You...If...

...we all want God's Blessings, but sometimes we must be in the proper context in order to receive them. We must remember what Galatians 6.7 tells us:

~ Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.
A man reaps what he sows. ~

So here are two points James gives us in order to receive God's Blessings and to reap what we sow...

God will bless you, if you don't give up when your faith is being tested. He will reward you with a glorious life, just as he rewards everyone who loves him. James 1.12 CEV

But you must never stop looking at the perfect law that sets you free. God will bless you in everything you do, if you listen and obey, and don't just hear and forget. James 1.25 CEV

Context For Miracles

Cool thought I heard from Erwin McManus in his "Beyond Us" Message titled Poverty/Generosity...He said:

"The Context for Miracles is Sacrifice."

When you ponder that thought, it is very true. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice and it turned into the ultimate miracle. From the miracle of birth to the miracle of breath, most if not all miracles, come via sacrifice. Usually a sacrifice is linked to faith, and the faith leads to a miracle.

The hard part is that we tend to view a sacrifice as a difficulty...we simply need a paradigm shift...

...Look at it like an ROI, a Return On Investment...specifically a gain from an ROI...When our sacrifices lead to miracles, then what we receive always outweighs what we give, and the great thing is, according to Ephesians 2.10, God has already planned in advance for us to make some great investments!

Look forward to making some sacrifices (investments) for 2010! Soli Deo Gloria!

God's Revelation, Our Perseverance

¹⁸ praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— Ephesians 6:18 (New King James Version) (emphasis added).

In his book, When The Enemy Strikes, Charles F. Stanley gives a different spin on what it means to persevere in Prayer. He does mention the typical things we think of with perseverance, but later he talks about how perseverance equates to availability...being available for God to speak to us. We all want God to speak to us, but Stanley gives a good explanation, that sometimes, God will wait for us to have three things before He will reveal to us His desires and His plans:

1. Quiet Heart
2. Calm Spirit
3. An Expectant Attitude

Quiet Heart
These three things may sound familiar, but if we really hold ourselves accountable, I imagine the majority of us don't really have a quiet heart when we pray. We probably are thinking about our to-do lists, the game on tonight, or perhaps how good the organic wheat grass cake is going to taste this weekend. When was the last time you really went to your "Whispering Chamber," prayed and said, "God what do you want to tell me?"

Calm Spirit
In the martial arts circles, the Japanese have a saying that reads, "Miso No Koro." It translates as "A mind like still water." The meaning is that in battle or combat, you can not be frantic and worried. We see this in sports all the time, Joe Montana was the king of 4th quarter comebacks in his time with the San Francisco 49ers. Joe's adrenal glands were pumping at full force, but his mind was always still, his spirit was always calm. We must have a calm spirit in our Prayer with The Holy God and realize He will reveal and that He is in control.

An Expectant Attitude
Human Optimism + Biblical Realism = An Expectant Attitude. God responds and rewards faith (Hebrews 11.6), but faith is different from optimism. For example, there are enough self-help books on the market to line along The Great Wall of China, and each one tells us how to think positively, but if our positive thinking is not lined up with God's Biblical Realism, then we are headed in the wrong direction. So what does an expectant attitude mean? It means being ready for God anywhere at anytime. Do we really believe that God exist, that He cares, and that He is Sovereign? If so, we must approach Him with an expectant attitude.

Quiet The Heart, Calm The Spirit, Expect The Unexpected, and you will Persevere in Prayer. I look forward to what God has to say to us all as we listen to Him like never before!