Ten Things God Won't Ask

1. God won't ask what kind of car you drove; He’ll ask how many people you drove who didn't have transportation.

2. God won't ask the square footage of your house, He'll ask how many people you welcomed into your home.

3. God won't ask about the clothes you had in your closet, He'll ask how many you helped to clothe.

4. God won't ask what your highest salary was, He'll ask if you compromised your character to obtain it.

5. God won't ask what your job title was, He'll ask if you performed your job to the best of our ability.

6. God won't ask how many friends you had, He'll ask how many people to whom you were a friend.

7. God won't ask in what neighborhood you lived, He'll ask how you treated your neighbors.

8. God won't ask about the color of your skin, He'll ask about the
content of your character.

9. God won't ask why it took you so long to seek Salvation, He'll
lovingly take you to your mansion in heaven, and not to the
gates of Hell.

10. God won’t ask you how popular and talented you were, He’ll ask you what did you do with your popularity and talent.

WHO CARES ABOUT A A SENILE PASTOR?!

It appears to me that American, mainstream media outlets are grossly focusing and babbling about Senator Obama’s demise over  his pastor’s vitriolic remarks. As a result, the senator’s spiritual life is now under the voracious media microscope.  Every news channel on cable provided the same drivel fodder to accommodate the ever-hungry masses, consumers, and viewers alike. Millions of viewers have been glued and  enthralled  by  what the political purveyors (along with the myriad of other lesser known talking heads and political radio pundits, bloggers, and many wannabes) think about this campaign damage. Even the latest Newsweek Magazine, March 23, 2008, features  Senator Obama in their front cover: “When ‘Barry' Became Barack.”

What many did NOT hear, however, were the names of Jose A. Rubio Hernandez, 24 , of Mission, Texas; Andres J. Habsieger, 22, of Festus, Missouri; and George Delgado, 21, of Palmdale, California; and Christopher M Hake, 26, Enid, Oklahoma.

Who are these men? Or as I should aptly ask, who were these men?  The media giants just brushed them off in their news reports as just "four more American killed today in Iraq." The ‘over voice’ announced grimly that George Delgado had the noble distinction of being the 4,000 American KIA in Iraq by one of that miserable and cowardly blast of a roadside IED (Improvised Explosive Device).

At Desert Christian High School, where Delgado graduated in 2004, Devin Thomas, the dean of discipline and incoming principal, gathered staff and students together during a lunch break to pray for Delgado and his family.

There are many Americans, not only veterans of wars, but non-veterans alike, that on this day, we don’t give a squat about Obama, Clinton, McCain, CNN, FOXnetwork, or any other giant, media talking, motor heads!  THEY MISSED IT!!! America missed it!

Today we salute these men and their families for their ultimate sacrifice. And we join forces in prayer with Devin Thomas, his staff and students, along with the devastating parents and wives and children of these men.  We love you and salute you!

God Bless America!  God Bless Our Troops!

Alejandro ‘Pancho’ Juarez 1969-1973 FMF 3^rd Marine Division, Amtracsm Bravo Co.

A Word from Joel Rosenberg

Joel Rosenberg's blog

THE BIG (UNTOLD) STORY IN THE MIDDLE EAST Easter 2008 Update (Washington, D.C., March 24, 2008) -- "I will build my church," Jesus said, "and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18) The lead story on Drudge over the weekend was the Pope baptizing a prominent Egyptian author who converted from Islam to Catholicism, and for good reason. It's a huge story in Italy and the Muslim world, especially coming as it did the week that Osama bin Laden accused the Pope of waging a "crusade" against Islam. But this particular baptism is just the tip of the iceberg. Despite unprecedented press coverage of Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Middle East since September 11, 2001, one big story is generally not being told by the mainstream media. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims are converting to evangelical Christianity and will be celebrating their first Easter this year, even amidst widespread persecution and the very real threat of death. I first began reporting this story in 2005 after interviewing some three dozen Arab and Iranian pastors and evangelical Christian leaders in the U.S. and the Middle East. Over the last three years, however, I have had the privilege of traveling to Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, the West Bank, Turkey, and Morocco. What's more, I have had the honor of meeting with and interviewing more than 200 Arab, Iranian, Kurdish, Sudanese and other pastors and Christian leaders. With more data, the trend lines are becoming even more clear and the story is even more exciting. The God of the Bible is moving powerfully in the Middle East to draw men, women and children to His heart and adopt them into His family in record numbers. More Muslims have come to faith in Jesus Christ over the last thirty years -- and specifically over the last seven to ten years -- than at any other time in human history. There is a revival going on among the ancient Catholic, Coptic, and Chaldean churches. Today, the Church is being truly resurrected in the lands of its birth. Consider the latest evidence: * AFGHANISTAN -- In Afghanistan, for example, there were only 17 known evangelical Christians in the country before al-Qaeda attacked the United States. Today, there are well over 10,000 Afghan followers of Christ and the number is growing steadily. Church leaders say Afghan Muslims are open to hearing the gospel message like never before. Dozens of baptisms occur every week. People are snatching up Bibles and other Christian books as fast as they can be printed or brought into the country. The Jesus film, a two hour docudrama on the life of Christ based on the Gospel of Luke, was even shown on television in one city before police shut down the entire TV station."God is moving so fast in Afghanistan, we're just trying to keep up," one Afghan Christian worker told me, requesting anonymity. "The greatest need now is leadership development. We need to train pastors to care for all these new believers." * UZBEKISTAN -- There were no known Muslim converts to Christ there in 1990. Now there are more than 30,000. * IRAQ -- As I shared on Fox & Friends on Easter morning, in Iraq, there were only a handful of Muslim converts to Christianity back in 1979 when Saddam Hussein took full control of that country. Yet today, there are more than 70,000 Iraqi Muslim background believers in Jesus (MBBs), approximately 50,000 who came to Christ as refugees in Jordan after the first Gulf War in 1990-91, and another 20,000 who have come to Christ since the fall of Saddam Hussein. John Moser, the executive director of The Joshua Fund, and I just returned from nine days traveling through five provinces in Iraq. We met with 19 Iraqi evangelical Christian leaders. I had the privilege of preaching in a church of more than 100 MBBs from Baghdad -- a church that didn't even exist in 2002 before liberation. We also had the privilege of meeting and interviewing numerous former Islamic jihadist terrorist who have come to Christ and are now pastors and church planters. * KAZAKHSTAN -- In Kazakhstan, there were only three known evangelical Christian believers before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Today there are more than 15,000 Kazakh Christians, and more than 100,000 Christians of all ethnicities. * EGYPT -- More than 1 million Egyptians have trusted Christ over the past decade or so, report Egyptian church leaders. The Egyptian Bible Society told me they used to sell about 3,000 copies of the Jesus film a year in the early 1990s. But in 2005 they sold 600,000 copies, plus 750,000 copies of the Bible on tape (in Arabic) and about a half million copies of the Arabic New Testament. "Egyptians are increasingly hungry for God's Word," an Egyptian Christian leader told me. Last Christmas, I had the privilege of visiting the largest Christian congregation in the Middle East, which meets in an enormous cave on the outskirts of Cairo. Some 10,000 believers worship there every weekend. A prayer conference the church held in May 2005 drew some 20,000 believers. * IRAN -- In 1979 when the Ayatollah Khomeini led the Islamic Revolution, there were only about 500 known Muslim converts to Christianity. Today, interviews with two dozen Iranian pastors and church leaders reveals that there are well over 1 million Shia Muslim converts to Christianity. * SUDAN -- Despite a ferocious civil war, genocide and widespread religious persecution, particularly in the Darfur region -- or perhaps because of such tragedies -- church leaders there tell me that more than 1 million Sudanese have made decisions to follow Jesus Christ just since 2001. Since the early 1990s, more than 5 million Sudanese have become followers of Jesus. Seminary classes to train desperately-needed new pastors are held mountain caves. Hundreds of churches have been planted, and thousands of small group Bible studies are being held in secret throughout the country. In December 2001, Sheikh Ahmad al Qataani, a leading Saudi cleric, appeared on a live interview on Aljazeera satellite television to confirm that, sure enough, Muslims were turning to Jesus in alarming numbers. "In every hour, 667 Muslims convert to Christianity," Al Qataani warned. "Every day, 16,000 Muslims convert to Christianity. Every year, 6 million Muslims convert to Christianity." Stunned, the interviewer interrupted the cleric. "Hold on! Let me clarify. Do we have six million converting from Islam to Christianity?" Al Qataani repeated his assertion. "Every year," the cleric confirmed, adding, "a tragedy has happened." One of the most dramatic developments is that many Muslims throughout the Middle East and even in the United States are seeing dreams and visions of Jesus. They are coming into churches explaining that they have already converted and now need a Bible and guidance on how to follow Jesus. This is in fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. The Hebrew Prophet Joel told us that "in the last days, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days....And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved." (Joel 2:28-32) In Epicenter: Why The Current Rumblings In the Middle East Will Change Your Future, I devoted an entire chapter to these dramatic trend lines and why Muslims are converting in record numbers. I am currently working on a new non-fiction book and documentary film called Inside The Revolution, to be release during Easter 2009, with much more detail on this subject, including first person accounts of former Muslim terrorists who have become the new Apostle Pauls of our time -- murderous religious zealots who had visions of Jesus Christ and are now pastors, evangelists, church planters and powerful Christian leaders. Other books I would highly recommend on this subject are Light Force: A Stirring Account of the Church Caught in the Middle East Crossfire by Brother Andrew and Al Janssen; and Secret Believers: What Happens When Muslims Believe In Christ. Is life easy for these Muslim converts? By no means. They face ostracism from their families. They face persecution from their communities. They face being fired by their employers. They face imprisonment by their governments. They face torture and even death at the hands of Muslim extremists. But they are coming to Christ anyway. They are becoming convinced that Jesus is, in fact, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no one comes to the Father in heaven except through faith in Jesus' death on the cross and powerful resurrection from the dead. One of the reasons my wife and I began The Joshua Fund was to educate the Church around the world at what God of the Bible is doing in the epicenter. We want to mobilize a global movement of Christians praying for these dear brothers and sisters. We want to find ways to encourage and strengthen them. We want to provide them with Bibles and Christian literature, and with humanitarian relief supplies so they can love their neighbors and their enemies, as Jesus tells us to do. Their stories are typically being told by the mainstream media, but they are important stories nonetheless. Theirs are testimonies of the greatness of our great God.

Strumming my pain with his fingers, Singing my life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song, Killing me softly with his song,
Telling my whole life with his words, Killing me softly with his song ...
I felt all flushed with fever, embarrassed by the crowd,
I felt he found my letters and read each one out loud.
I prayed that he would finish but he just kept right on (Roberta Flack)

I don’t know what came over me. Exhausted and wondrously spent after four Sunday morning services, I usually relegate myself to my usual modus operandi: going home and laying on the living room floor.   But last Sunday afternoon, I spontaneously barked out to Loren (our church administrator) to jump in my car and accompany me, "No questions asked, please."

This action is not unusual for our pastoral staff. Many a times we just have to scramble, get in our cars and take off on a minute’s notice to meet urgent spiritual needs and comfort to those from our congregation.

By the time we we’re rolling south on Interstate 5, passing the General Hospital, I blurted out to Loren that I was taking him to the very place where God began to do His work in my life.

REWIND to May, 1975. I had accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior on a Saturday night at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. Back then, the church used to have concert nights, a way to reach the young people through music (gospel rock).  It was my ex-girlfriend’s idea to take me, hoping and praying that I would encounter God and consider Him to be my personal savior. Yeah, right. Fat chance!

The message was so horrifically simple, yet potent and powerful enough to pierce my hard heart. The pastor was ‘killing me softly.’ Resistant and repellent, my heart, although still harsh and hard, was suddenly opened and I allowed the grace of God to gently creep into my life. After going forward and prayed the sinners prayer, I felt nothing, nil, nada! No jitter-bug sensation. No earthquake under my feet. No lighting. In contrast, the two girls next to me were weeping silently, seemed overjoyed and extremely excited by their decision to surrender to Christ’s beckoning salvation and redemption.

The following morning, Sunday, I was invited my ex-girlfriend, Millie (now my wife of over thirty years and the mother of my five children) to attend morning services. No way. I did my part already. And to be honest, I actually wanted to go to where I would always go on Sundays: Griffith Park. Every Sunday, religiously, for a number years, I was part of a group of wannabe-percussionists. Smoking lots of weed, drinking anything that was laced with alcohol, and ‘slappin’ skins’ all afternoon was the norm. Aaaah… what a wonderful life, I thought.

I was invited to attend mid-week bible study, and again I protested such notion. Come on, who in their right mind would go to church in the middle of the week! I was reminded by Millie that I was now a child of God, adopted into the Christian family. God was Light and in Him there was no darkness, and that I was a child of the Light. Yeah, yeah.

When Sunday rolled by, with much anticipation I was looking forward going to my place of worship. It had become my identity and pleasure; a world that I knew and appreciated me... or so I thought.

With the usual din and clamor of the vernacular of the winos and street people, I took my place among the cluster of congueros, allowing the deceptive fuel of euphoria flow through my veins and hopefully I would have an encounter with Chango (the most popular god “Orisha” of the Santeros and Macumba) as I and the others steeped and descended into the netherworld of hypnotic rhythms.

But this Sunday was to be an extraordinary day. In spite of the alcohol and street drug stupor, I felt a tangible sensation of dread and extreme agitation. My drug buddies, my fellow Sunday afternoon peers suddenly appeared for what they really were—a bunch of lost, necrotic souls, walking tombstones, trying desperately to fill a certain religious, vacuum right smack in the middle of their hearts.  I promptly picked my drums up and walked away. Not realizing that it would be my last Sunday. I walked away and walked towards a new life. A new everything! 

My decision back then was justified. I was able to recognize three, leather-skinned, fatigued, and drained men. Only one remembered me and offered his drums. Why not?  After slappin the skins for about twenty minutes, I winked to a fish-out-of-water-looking-Loren (‘let’s go’). Loren now has a better appreciation of the Lord’s work in my life. I’ve come a long way.  Oh, by the way…Chango ain’t got nothing over Jesus the Lord, the King!

A Weekend that Changed the World

It was a weekend that altered the world forever. It was the dawn of a new age and the central point in human history as we know it! God revealed His Master-plan for the universe.

But weird and bizarre things were happening with Jesus on Thursday evening of Passion Week. Here are a few things I noted from an investigation of the gospels. As a side note, this week at church has been amazing! I've seen so many freely worship the Lord, cast down burden at the cross, and leave transformed. If you have not joined us for Passion Week, I encourage you to do so. 

Here are some things that I've noticed:

1) Jesus frame of mind—He talked frequently of being arrested, suffering, and ultimately be killed!  The unique time of His killing: The Passover (Matthew 26:2)

2) In Jericho, the people thought and believed that that the long awaited kingdom of God would be established immediately (Luke 19:11).  However, Jesus predicted that things would turn out rather different once they got to Jerusalem. Jesus leaves Jericho with a determined mood and He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things (rejection by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, His death, and His resurrection). He spoke these words openly. Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him. But Jesus turned around and looked at His disciples and rebuked Peter saying, "Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."  (Mark 8:31-33)

3) Thursday night, things got a little more awkward and embarrassing. In an upperroom, Jesus knees down and begins to wash the feet of the disciples! The humility of our Lord and Savior needs to be remembered. This task was usually done by the lowest of lowest of slaves!

4.) Jesus spoke about “going away.”  When the disciples expressed loyalty to go wherever Jesus was going, He told them they could not do so. Jesus seemed strangely alone and distant.

5) Their Passover meal was very different from the usual, customary fare. Jesus even instituted a new Passover Meal.

6) Things go from bizarre to slightly sinister. Jesus commanded his apostles to drink His blood and to eat His flesh (a sacrilegious act for the Jews).  Jesus, after speaking about betrayal, then provides a new commandment: To love one another.

7) Although Jesus was leaving the disciples, He insisted that they would still be able to see Him and have fellowship with Him, as He would pray that the Father would send a helper, the Comforter… the Holy Spirit.

8) Jesus assures His followers that after His departure from the earth,  His peace, His joy, His power, and His love would never leave them!

9) A staggering warning: Because of Me the world will hate you and will persecute you. Don’t be afraid. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

10) Jesus and His disciples stop on the way to the garden of Gathsemane. The Lord begins to pray for Himself, His disciples, and for future Christians (John 17).

11) Jesus gets arrested. Everybody runs for their life. Only John and Peter, after Jesus pleading for their release, get to follow the arresting party.

12) The nine disciples would never see what would happen to Jesus… until Friday evening when they heard that Jesus was killed through crucifixion!

Four hundred years before the birth of Christ, Socrates, the renowned Greek Philosopher, drank the poison hemlock and lay down to die. His followers asked him, “Shall we live again?” The dying philosopher could only reply, “I hope so, but no man can know.” I'm no philosopher, but I know the answer. 

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Isaac Watts 1674-1748 

White as snow...

"... for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." Romans 3:23

If you’re normal, you can admit that you weren’t born a Christian.  Maybe you were from a Christian family, but you were not born a Christian.  At one point or another, you had to make a decision to accept Christ.  Before I became a Christian, I didn’t think I was a bad person.  In my estimation, I wasn’t as bad as those people!  Compared to those people, I was good.  I didn’t steal, but I would “borrow” with the intent of paying back. I would only sell weed to people I knew, but never to children. I wouldn’t beat someone up unless they were beating me up.  This was my lost boys morality.

 You could imagine when someone came up to me and said You’re a sinner that it was a total offense! My first reaction was, “Wait a minute, you can’t say that. I was baptized when I was a little boy.  I did my first communion AND my confirmation, so I’m not a sinner.”  I was basing my association with God on some meaningless rituals that I had forgotten.  You see, that was my own little world and my own little god. I was comfortable with this notion of God; it made sense to me.  So, when some Christian would come and tell me that I was wrong, I had reason to be upset because that person was rocking my world. They were messing with my personal world.  “What do you mean I’m a sinner?”  “Well the Bible says that you’re a sinner and you are in need of redemption.”  So I thought to myself, why, and what, do I have to be redeemed from?

Notice what Paul says in Romans 3:23, “… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” each and every one of us!  To those in their pajamas reading this blog all the way to the men in suits at a desk, we have all sinned. The Bible says that we are all born into sin; none of us are Godly.  Verse 24 says, “… 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 had 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 Christ.”  Here we find that Jesus justified us when He came to redeem us.  The word justification means not guilty!  So when Jesus came into our live He declared us not guilty. How? By redeeming us through the blood that was shed on Calvary. By the scars on Jesus’ back, by the wounds in his wrists, by the bruised and beaten body, I say THANK YOU JESUS for washing me white as snow (Isaiah 1:18).

 

This week is Passion Week at our church and I pray that you meditate upon the great sacrifice Christ made on our behalf.

Aging

“Mr. Juarez, your physical pain is part of getting old; the aging process. The bottom line is our bodies are deteriorating.” The orthopedic surgeon’s face seemed more personally perturbed than my own reaction about the thought of degenerating. For me, I’ve heard the same conclusion in the last seven years by many of my physicians, gastroenterologists, cardiologists, ENT, ophthalmologists, pharmacists, even by my own 85 year old mum!

Getting old I don’t freak out about getting and growing older. But I do know people personally that are among MANY Americans that suffer from gerascophobia—an abnormal and persistent fear of growing old.

    Gerascophobia is derived from the Greek "geras" (old age) and "phobos" (fear). Other English words derived from "geras" include “geriatrics” (the branch of medicine focusing on the elderly) and "gerontology" (the study of aging).

             Sufferers of this malady feel undue anxiety and stress about aging even though they may be in good health—physically, economically or otherwise. They may worry about the loss of their looks, the loss of independence, inactivity after retirement, impaired mobility, the onset of disease, and confinement in a nursing home. Modern society's preoccupation with youthful beauty does nothing to alleviate their fears. To be viscerally honest, I do not freak out about growing older. It’s not that I possess a disproportionate, unbalanced view of life. Nor am I under medication.  As a firm believer in my Christian faith, one of the many beneficial assurances is HOPE.  Hope is a cherished desire with expectation of fulfillment; to long for with expectation of obtainment (Expectation, faith, optimism, trust, confidence, assurance and comfort).

Dr. Jerome Groopman, M.D. Harvard Medical School Professor and leading researcher on the basic mechanisms of blood disease, cancer, and AIDS, staff writer in medicine and biology for The New Yorker Magazine and author of several books stated, “Hope can arrive only when you recognize that there real options and that you have genuine choices.  Hope can flourish only when you believe that what you do can make a difference, that your actions can bring a future different from the present. To have hope, then, is to acquire a belief in your ability to have some control over your circumstances. The idea to write a book came to me at the end of a long and trying week seeing people in the hospital with serious illness. Walking back to my lab from the wards, I asked myself what, beyond any treatment, could I offer my patients. The answer was hope.”

Biblical hope is the anticipation of a favorable outcome under God’s guidance, “… faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). More specifically, divine hope is the confidence that what God has done for us in the past guarantees our participation in what God will do in the future.  This is different to the world's definition of hope, as "a feeling that what is wanted will happen."

Understood in this way, hope can denote either a baseless optimism or a vague yearning after an unattainable good. If hope is to be genuine hope, however, it must be founded on something (or someone) which affords reasonable grounds for confidence in its fulfillment.  I base my hope in God and His saving acts.

    My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands; for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you. Proverbs 3:1-2

At least seven revealed assurances are eagerly expected by Christians.

1. The blessed hope of the personal return of Christ, Tit. 2:13

2. The resurrection of the body in a glorious new form, never again subject to sickness, weakness or death, Acts 23:6

3. The restoration of loved ones who have died in Christ, 1 Thess. 4:13–18

4. Fellowship with converts and other saints, 1 Thess. 2:19

5. Being presented spotless, 2 Pet. 3:14 and faultless, Jude 24 , in unimaginable glory, Col. 1:27

6. Entering into eternal life with all it means, such as reigning with Christ, Rev. 3:21 ; 22:5 , and knowing God, John 17:3

7. The receiving of an inheritance which is reserved in heaven until that moment, 1 Pet. 1:3, 4

   "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"  Jesus Christ

DON’T FREAK OUT, MY FRIEND! Ponce de Leon died at the age of 61, while feverishly searching for the Fountain of Youth. Look up.

 

  

Shameless...

Sorry for the delay in blogging. Right now I can focus on only two thing: 1. studying for Sunday, and 2. my neck pain.

I know I've blogged about this before, but I'm at a point of shamelessly asking for prayer. I went to the doctors (for the umpteenth time) and explained to them the drugs were not working, the two (2, dos, duex) cortisone shots are ineffective, and the stretching (yes, stretching) exercises are a waste of my time.

I'll blog tomorrow, but for today, please pray for instantaneous resolution (that's medical jargon for MIRACLE). 

Love you,

pj

Purposeful Sovereignty

       Before we start on our last post on sovereignty, I wanted to address the fact that these discussions/posts are mini (as in miniseries). There is SO much more that could be said for these topics, but I feel that a blog is not the place to expound theological issues. But I will stress again the need to go deeper into the understanding of spiritual doctrines. I hope that you were blessed in learning (or remembering) that God is God and in control.

 

Purposeful Sovereignty 

        God's sovereignty moves toward a particular end, a specific purpose (Philippians 2:13). God's purpose is to bring His creation—His whole creation—to fullness and completion, to fellowship with Him: “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Ephesians 1:4 tells us that our purpose is to be holy and without blame before Him in love. Why does He give us all these spiritual blessings?  To make us holy.  Why all these blessings?  To make you blameless before God. The the reason for these blessings is because God has a purpose. (Also see Philippians 2:1; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Ephesians 1:11)

        With sovereignty comes providence; we need to remember God guides, sustains, loves, and longs to have fellowship with His creation. He reveals himself as a parent in love and in relationship with humanity. He “has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4). God CHOSE to participate in human history to care for human beings in their strengths and their weaknesses. “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Those who belong to God will not be immune from suffering; they will not be spared the brokenness which life brings to all persons. The people of God may, however, find spiritual resources and strength to persevere in time of trouble. The sovereign God of the universe chose to identify with His creation in the cross of Christ. There is no greater example of his care for His creation.

Transcendent Sovereignty

Transcendent Sovereignty (This is the one that wigs everybody out, and wigs me out, too! ) 

           What exactly does this mean? God's sovereignty is transcendent, which is beyond our complete comprehension (Isaiah 6:1). God is separate from His creation and works in ways that we do not always understand. Transcendence is closely related to God's holiness, His surpassing moral purity, and essential otherness. 

           Basically, it’s one of those things where you say, “Man, I can’t figure God out! Why do good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people?”  This is what we can theologically attribute this to.  God’s sovereignty transcends beyond our complete comprehension. It doesn't mean He is sadistic and wants to remain hidden behind the proverbial curtain. It simply means that because He is sovereign (in control of all), His ways sometimes do not make sense to us. 

            Job asks some rhetorical questions, “Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty?”  Of course not!  They are higher then the heavens, what can you do?  They are deeper than hell, what can you know?  So I am left to admit that I don’t know anything… but God does.

            Solomon says that God has made everything beautiful in His time (Eccl. 3:11a).  Also, He has put eternity in their hearts, but here it is, except that no one can find out the work of God that He does from beginning to end (3:11b).  No one!  Why?  He is sovereign.  Paul the apostle says “Oh the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out [Romans 11:33].”  What is Paul saying?  "I cannot figure God out!  His ways are unsearchable.  His ways, the way He does things are deep man!  I don’t understand how God works."  

               What a great comfort for you and I, because things will happen in life.  The tendency for us is to blame a good God for bad things that happen to us. John the beloved recorded Jesus saying, “In this world, you will have tribulations, but I’m with you all the way, I will never leave you, I will never forsake you, but you are in this world it is not my world.”  This world belongs to Satan and is full of chaos and confusion.  It’s full of hurt, anger, backbiting, and malice.  But Jesus warns us, in this world you will suffer persecution and you are going to go through some wrath, but I’m with you always (I'm paraphrasing ELA style). 

         Paul says that His ways are past finding out (Romans 11:33)  and Isaiah the Prophet (55:8) speaks on behalf of God saying the the people, "... My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither your ways, my ways. For as the heavens are higher that the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  This is transcendent sovereignty! No matter what you are going through, no matter what trial you are faced with, God is in control. He has not forgotten about you... He loves you. 

God is God and He is in control.

Monday: Purposeful Sovereignty

Moral Sovereignty

And the heavens shall declare his righteousness; for God [is] judge himself. Selah Psalms 50:6

        Yesterday we briefly discussed sovereignty, which is the biblical teaching that God is the source of all creation and that all things come from and depend upon God (Psalms 24:1). Sovereignty means that God is in all and over all. Creative sovereignty discusses how God is the Lord of creation, the source of all things, who brought the world into being and who guides His creation toward a meaningful end. God's creativity is not the result of chance or randomness. It holds promise and purpose which God intends. Let's continue on to moral sovereignty. 

Moral Sovereignty

      Moral sovereignty means that God’s sovereignty, His authority over all creation is grounded in God’s essential nature, which is moral.  God is to be obeyed not simply because He’s El Shaddai (the Almighty), but because He is righteous according to Psalm 50:6.  God judges His creation based on His profound moral character.  He is both the source of all creation and the source of all our goodness.

Tomorrow: Transcendent Sovereignty (that's the trippy one!)

Sovereignty (mini-series)

What is the sovereignty of God?  

        Webster’s defines sovereignty as: a supreme excellence;a supreme power especially over a body politic; freedom from external control; autonomy; an all-controlling influence.  Powerful verbs for sovereignty are: supreme; excellent; unmitigated; paramount; absolute; independent; dominant. 

        But what does the Bible say?  Well the Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:15, ... [God] will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate (where we get the word “Pontiff” [Note: The Bible says only God is a pontiff, no man is a pontiff]), the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”  He’s bad man!  He controls all things, all the time. From the big to the small, from the things that are in-your-face to the things overlooked, He has absolute right to do all things according to His own good pleasure.  That’s what the sovereignty of God is!  You find that in Romans 9, Daniel 4:25 and 35, and Revelation 4:11.  God’s sovereignty: He has the power to do whatever He wants. In other words, He's the master blaster from Lancaster, the Big Kahuna, the Head Hancho... you get the point! 

       The Biblical teaching that God is the source of all creation, and that all things come from and depend upon God; God is all and over all.  Psalm 24:1, The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. It means supreme excellence, supreme power.  God chooses whom He will and whom He will not reject.  Man cannot present claims to Him.  God’s people are freely chosen by grace, through faith. 

       There are different kinds of sovereignty in the Bible.  For the next couple days I want to give brief descriptions of what sovereignty is and how different types of sovereignty relate to us. I've said this before and I will say it again, I am not a theologian. I am a mere man who loves the Lord, has been called to study His word, and want to dispense these Truths for our knowledge. My desire is that we will be prepared to give every man an answer for the questions that arise.

Creative Sovereignty: If you look in the Bible for creative sovereignty, you will not find it. However, you can find manifestations of it throughout the scriptures.  For example, in Ephesians 1:9, [God] made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself. Who let us know the mystery of His will?  God did.  Why?  He wanted to.  Why?  Because He found it pleasurable.  Why?  Because it was His will.  What can you say against that?  It was He who gave it to us; it is His sovereignty.  So God is the Lord of creation, He is the source of all things which brought the world into being and who guides His creation towards a meaningful end.  God’s creativity is not the result of chance or randomness.  It holds promise and purpose which God intends... this is what creative sovereignty is. 

       Tomorrow: Moral sovereignty.