To Believe or Not to Believe... The Defining Question

Shamelessly using a bit from Shakespeare: To Believe or Not to Believe; that is a defining question. Most people derive what they believe from those that influence them the most, or life circumstances, or even cultural norms. But when I ask the question, “What do you believe and why do you believe it?”, most people give a half hearted answer about their beliefs and really don’t have an answer as to why they believe that way; they simply answer, “I just believe it”.

Looking back over my life and asking this same question of myself, I realize that I had various directions I could have gone in my belief system. Both sides of my family believed in good morals, yet one side’s definition of morality was different than the other side of my family. So who was right, which side should I follow, and do I follow their words or their actions? These were perplexing questions. Then there were outside influencers: friends, peers, teachers, ministers, other adults, etc. They each had different ideas, thoughts, and persuasions as to what was truth and what was not. So, which one was right, who should I follow, and do I follow their words or their actions?

As a young child, I had another influencer. When I was 7 years old I had an experience with God that destroyed any question in my mind whether or not God existed. So believing that there was a God became a no brainer for me, and I was pretty confident that Jesus from the Bible was the one with whom I had the encounter. Now where Jesus was concerned, each one of the influencers in my life had different opinions as to what believing in Jesus meant. Each one with a variation of knowledge that they believed to be truth, yet their variations were so different, I asked how could they all be right? Could they all be right, and if not, which one or ones were right, and who do I follow, and do I follow their words or their actions?

35 years later, I find myself a father who is now one of those influencers in the lives of three great children, and a pastor for a great congregation of adults and children, all with the same questions I had as a child, “Who is right, who do I follow, and do I follow their words or actions. As a father, I have tried to live an exemplary life before my children. I wanted them to see me live out what I believed before them. I made terrible mistakes along the way, and I am sure one time or another I have let them down, and will probably do so again, at some point in the future. As a pastor, I try to live out what I believe before the people in my congregation and try to be the best role model I can, but as with my children, I will eventually fail them. So, even as hard as I try, the question remains, “who is right, who do we follow, and do we follow their words or their actions?

After years on this journey looking for an answer, I have come to some conclusions. First, there is a God and he loves each of us. He exists in the form of three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Second, he is a sovereign God and he wouldn’t expect something from us that he hasn’t communicated to us. He has communicated his will for us in the Bible and all it takes is a little study to determine that, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” ~ 2 Timothy 3:16. What he requires is our willful obedience to him, which opposes our own will and desires. Lastly, although you can have good preachers, ministers, or influencers of many kinds, it’s up to us to study and work out our own salvation, with fear and trembling, for God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

To believe or not to believe, that is a defining question that only you can answer, but can’t be answered on a whim, or by the influence of others, or even just because you think it should be that way. This question can only be answered with study of truth for the sake of truth. “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:7-9

Are You 40% or 60%?

I have been a born again believer in Christ for 26 years and preaching the good news for about 12 of those years. As the years go by, I notice that there is a great decline in the number of people attending churches, and increase in moral depravity, and a general apathy amongst “born again believers”. Trying to understand this trend, I thought back through my walk as a Christ Follower, and discovered that it was during these times that I wasn’t reading my Bible on a regular basis or spending regular time in prayer. The times I was most spiritually healthy were the times I spending ample time in regular prayer and Bible reading.

A few days ago, the Barna Group released a study examining trends in 14 religious factors over the last 20 years. In this recent Barna Group Pole they discovered that only 38% of adults strongly affirmed that “the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches.” To me, and I hope to many of you, this is an alarming statistic, especially when 86% claim to be Christians. A society that does not have a basis for their standard of morality will eventually fall to depravity. This lack of trust or belief in the Bible may be attributed to only 40% of adults engaging in weekly Bible reading.

Joshua 1:7-8 says, "...Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." Among the Israelites it was custom that they taught their children the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible which we now call The Pentateuch. They would read it daily. They would study and memorize it so their children would grow up knowing what it said.

If only 40% of people, during a weeks time, are picking up their Bibles and reading, then the majority of people don’t even know what is in the Bible. How can you believe in something that you have never read; that you don’t know anything about; that you have not put to the test. As believers in Christ, if we want to see true Revival, then we must have an awakening among believers. We must get back to the grass roots of following Jesus and that begins with reading his Word, the Bible. Proverbs 1:7 says, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”

In discussions about the morality of America, most Christians say, “we need to stand up against … We need to fight against…”, but I believe the solution is much simpler, just get back to regular reading. As we gain knowledge we will share knowledge and isn’t this what Jesus told the disciples to do, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…” Matthew 28:19. I challenge you, if you are not part of the 40% that set aside time each week to read your Bible (not just on Sunday mornings during the sermon) then join the 40% and get back into the Word of God. It will change your life forever!

Do You Love People

I think every pastor, at some point in their ministry, has wondered why they are having trouble growing their individual churches or the ministry God has charged them with. I am currently faced with this dilemma. I look around and think, we are doing all the right things. Our worship is modern; there is anointing; we are bringing a strong and uncompromised word; we have the coffee at the door; our media isn’t the most cutting edge, yet better than most; our people are friendly; we send out letters to all of our first time guests; etc., etc., etc.. So what is the problem, why aren’t we growing?

Our mission statement says, “Fountain of Life Assembly of God exists as a house of worship, equipping God's people for works of service, specifically in evangelism, discipleship and serving our community.” And our vision is to be a relevant church for our time and community. We want to reach the community around Central Hardin High School, Elizabethtown Community College, South Elizabethtown, Cecilia, and Glendale and to grow an "Ephesians 4:11-13" church.

I believe we are working to accomplishing this, yet we still are not having much growth. We preach good news to the poor, we proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, and release the oppressed, following the example of Jesus, and we have seen a few people saved at The Fountain, but certainly not what we had envisioned. So where is the problem? I believe it can be found in 1 Corinthian 13.

I know what you are thinking, “I’ve read that a thousand times. I love people.” Well, let’s start in Matthew 22:36-40, “36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Summary: Love God and love those that are around you. Notice, it didn’t say love everyone, or the whole world, it said, “your neighbor” and not only love your neighbor, but love your neighbor as yourself.

In this scripture Jesus was telling the listeners that loving God was key. Look at how he said to love God, “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”. Wow, that’s massive. The first question we must ask is, “am I accomplishing this?” If not, then we will never accomplish loving our neighbor. Loving God in this manner begins with denying yourself (Matthew 16:24 ~ essentially putting God and his will above yourself). Once we begin to identify with Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ…”, then we can begin to look at loving our neighbor.

So, in context, who is our neighbor. Neighbors are ones that live around us. People we know. People we talk to on a daily basis. People we have personal and sometimes intimate relationships with. It reminds me of a song from Sesame Street, “These are the people in your neighborhood, in your neighborhood, in your neigh-bor-ho-od. These are the people in your neighborhood, the people that you meet each day.” Your neighbors are the people you encounter every day.

Then we have to ask how they are to be loved. Jesus wasn’t saying a general type of love, he uses the word, “agapaó”, when literally translated means to love by doing the will of God to them. It is an action word. When was the last time you asked God what he wanted you to do for “your neighbor”? I don’t imagine this is a question that we are willing to ask very often, because we are afraid of what He might answer with. But Jesus said to agapaó them as yourself. Love them, as if they were you. How often do we do that? So what is love? This brings us to our key verses, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, “4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails.”

The problem with most churches and the body of Christ as a whole is that we do not love. I mean truly love, agapaó love. When we don’t even see this kind of love in the relationships among Christian couples, how can we be demonstrating this kind of love to the person that we play golf with, or ride to work with, or sit in the pew next to? When we treat our spouses and families with contempt, or are rude, impatient, manipulative, exploding in anger, holding grudges (of which I am guilty of all) how will anyone see love in us? If we don’t begin to agapaó at home, then at church, then how will a lost and dying world ever see that love.

When you think, “I love people”, I challenge you to ask yourself, “Do I agapaó people?” This is the challenge that the Holy Spirit has given me, now I ask it of you. Fountain of Life and Fountain Friends, do you love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and do you agapaó your neighbor as yourself? If not, what will you do about it? Time to Repent!

Lesson's from Habakkuk

 I want to take a moment to talk to you about Faith. We talk about having faith: faith as a mustard seed, faith to move mountains, the shield of faith to quench fiery darts, etc. But sometimes I wonder if we truly understand faith and what it is suppose to look like in our lives.

The book of Habakkuk is one that gets overlooked by most Christian although Habakkuk 2:4 is one of the most quoted verses in the New Testament. Most Christians don't even know where it is in the Bible or who Habakkuk was. Allow me to introduce Habakkuk to you.

Habakkuk is 8th in the minor prophets and is believed, in Rabbinical tradition, to possibly be the Shunammite woman's son, who was restored to life by Elisha in 2 Kings 4:16. It is also believed that he was a temple prophet, which means he was a worshiper in the temple. Habakkuk is unique among the prophets in that he openly questions the wisdom of God.

To summarize the book, Habakkuk sees the injustice among his people and questions God as to why He doesn't take action. God told Habakkuk His plan and Habakkuk didn't like God's plan. God basically told Habakkuk, "I am a just God and what ever I decide to do is up to me, but the real issue is, do you trust Me?" God told Habakkuk that the real issue was his faith in God, his trust in that what ever God chooses to do, or however God decides to intervene on behalf of man.

As Christians today, we are faced with the same dilemma Habakkuk had, do we trust God to do what is best in our situation? We have an idea of how we want the outcome to look, and if God doesn't operate the way we think he should, we get upset with him. We need to remember Isaiah 55:8-9, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." God has a plan and that plan is perfect for what needs to happen in our individual situation as well as how it affects the big picture of our lives and the lives around us. We have to remember that God is sovereign and just and "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

For Habakkuk the story ends with him trusting God completely. The question is, how will your story end. I don't know your situation, but God knows the smallest detail. Ask yourself, "What can I do to affect real changes here?" If you are honest you will find the answer is.... Nothing! Putting your situation in God's hands and allowing him to work is not only the best answer, but the only answer. Learn this lesson of Faith from a minor Prophet, we must grow from a faith of perplexity and doubt to the height of absolute trust in God.