Month: October 2018

Testimony: Be Intentional

On By TimIn 1 Corinthians 13, LoveLeave a comment

It’s an odd feeling when you’re whole life you’ve relished “alone time.”

But then God steps in and starts changing things. Now “alone time” becomes an opportunity for loneliness. Not in a bad way, just oddness that is hard to explain in other words… That I really do miss being around other people.

In the world of introvert/extrovert… I found myself at once relishing introversion. Oftentimes that memory seems distant now. Something happened.

I’m not a people person, really. But somewhere in that, I know that idea is now fluid, too. Because I want to be around others intentionally. I even want to be purposeful toward them.

Like… Wut is THAT?

I can recall asking God to let me see people like He does. I asked to love them like He does. I deeply understood the flippancy in uttering these words to God. I even asked Him to not let that request be lip service. The memory is that vivid.

John teaches us in his second epistle that we ought to love each other. He says this is a command of God. I would tell you, a command given by God to us is both intentional and purposeful. It is He demonstrating that same intention and purpose toward us.

Additionally, we know that love is purposeful and intentional. (It would make sense because God is love.) Love isn’t something that just happens to us. It’s not something we fall into. It is not something that just goes away. Love is so much more than just an emotional feeling or ethereal concept. Love is action. Love is an act of will.

Love suffers long and is kind; love envies not; love flaunts not itself and is not puffed up, does not behave itself improperly, seeks not its own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil; rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

The words that follow that are “Love never fails.” God’s love toward us is all of those things. He never fails us.

We ought to have that same love toward others, even if they fail us. The love we have for them is not about us.

If what we had toward them fails, is it really love?

If John says that we ought to love each other (2 John 5,) then wouldn’t it follow this is the character of a mature believer?

If that is the character of a mature believer, then intentionality and purposefulness are also the character traits of a mature believer. It then follows that a mature believer is going to be to some extent… Extroverted. So being alone now is different for me. It’s energy-depleting. (I did italicize that. Some will know why.)

You cannot out-give God. Ask Him to do things, He’ll do more than you can comprehend. Be intentional. Find someone new and introduce yourself. Be purposeful, learn their name, and something about them.

I am still learning. And I fail often. But…

To live for Jesus is the greatest adventure!

Some Old Testament Evidence for a Multi-person Godhead

On By TimIn Triune God, Zechariah 02Leave a comment

Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for I am coming and will dwell in your midst, says the Lord. And many nations will join themselves with the Lord in that day, and they will be My people. And I will reside in your midst, and you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me to you.

Zechariah 2:10–11 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

Consider this passage from Zechariah. When reading it, pay close attention to Who is speaking, and Who they are talking about. The Person speaking promises to come and dwell in the midst of the Israelis. He calls Himself “the Lord.”

Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: The virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah 7:14 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

Emmanuel, that is literally God with us. He is the promised Anointed One. He is the One Who would dwell in the midst of the people. He is the one to Whom many nations.

Look closely… The One Who comes and dwells in the midst of the people is sent by “the Lord of Hosts.” We have at least two Persons, here, One speaking Who is sent and One Who sends. It’s there for a reason.

The word translated into the English Lord in this selection is the Tetragrammaton. It is that Holy name of God. That’s kind of near, isn’t it?

There’s more. God back and count how many times the word YHWH (Lord) is used. Two of them we know refer to One Person. Perhaps it is to acknowledge a double honor. The other is to the Lord of Hosts, the Father. Of course, the third Person is also present, but by inference. He does the drawing. (It is my conjecture.)

It is Jesus Who is sent by God, and the Holy Spirit draws people to Him.

Atheism is a Temporary Condition

On By TimIn Apologetics, Revelation 06Leave a comment

When Jesus returns to this Earth, atheism will be proven to be a temporary condition.

Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the commanding officers and the strong and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. They said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of His wrath has come. Who is able to withstand it?”

Revelation 6:15–17 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

However, given the hardness of the heart… That temporary condition has eternal consequences. When even knowing that return of Jesus before He is even seen they run and hide. Great plagues follow. There is a holocaust brought upon the earth by men. And what happens to all of those “believers” that hid underground and survived these?

The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not cease to worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which cannot see nor hear nor walk. Nor did they repent of their murders or their magical arts or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Revelation 9:20–21 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

He Knows Those Who Take Refuge in Him

On By TimIn Daily Walk, Nahum 01, SalvationLeave a comment

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of distress; and He knows those who take refuge in Him. As a flood running forth, He will bring to an end the distress, and He will pursue His adversaries into darkness.

Nahum 1:7–8 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

He knows those who take refuge in Him. If you’re worried that He might not know you, it is an easy thing to change. Take refugee in God right now. You can talk to Him. He’ll listen.

But… If you don’t take refuge in Him, then He doesn’t know you.

But then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice evil.’

Matthew 7:23 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

It’s really interesting that the practiced evil being done and counted here is rejecting Jesus!

If you’ve ever taken refuge in God, He couldn’t know you. Do note the words Jesus uses. They are a comfort for those Who love Him and a terror to those who offer lip service.

You can change your relationship with God. In fact, only you can do that.

The Second Chance

On By TimIn Jonah 3, Second ChanceLeave a comment

The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.”

Jonah 3:1–2 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

Our friend Jonah, after reckoning himself as good as dead—ran away from God’s call. He chose to go his own way. The end of that caused Jonah to submit himself to death.

But then God intervened. Jonah was given a reprieve. God again called on him. How did Jonah respond this time?

So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three-day journey across. Jonah began to enter the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “In forty days’ time, Nineveh will be overthrown!” So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast. And everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.

Jonah 3:3–5— Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

Jonah got up and went. The words even seem to indicate a purposeful sense of haste. Perhaps it’s my imagination.

Even though the task seemed insurmountable, even futile before, The size of the task hadn’t changed. Jonah’s faith did.

But then God had gone before him. People received Jonah’s stark warning. They changed, repenting from and mourning their sin.

Think of those around you every day. I am certain you know someone hell-bent. How is it people are going to know that the path they’re on leads to certain destruction if someone doesn’t warn them?

Better yet, how are they to know that Salvation is of the Lord if that truth isn’t shared?

We, as servants of God, aren’t responsible for how those who hear respond. We are responsible for sharing the truth timely and accurately.

Jonah got a second chance to honor the call God gave him.

Do you have a call from God and need a mulligan?

Why not take the time to ask Him now. Jonah did. Look what happened. Many folks were saved!

Forsaking your True Loyalty

On By TimIn Jonah 2Leave a comment

Those who follow vain idols forsake their true loyalty.

Jonah 2:8 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

That’s a no-brainer.

There is only One Giver of life. If you are alive it is because of Him… God. That is, the Most High God.

Fame and fortune cannot give life. Buddha cannot give life. Neither can Allah, Krishna, or Vishnu.

The One Who gives you life is due to your true loyalty. To give that to another is to forsake Him.

Run Away

On By TimIn Faithfulness, Jonah 1Leave a comment

But Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found there a ship going to Tarshish. He paid its fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

Jonah 1:3 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

God had called Jonah to go to Nineveh, the great city. He was to warn them of their wickedness, and impending judgment. The wickedness of the Assyrians was renowned, they were a formidable people. I am almost certain that Jonah considered this service to God a sentence to his own demise.

Jonah instead chose to flee, in the exact opposite direction from Nineveh. As he writes it, to escape from the presence of the Lord.

Great calamity fell upon the boat Jonah booked passage upon. He tried to rest, but the sailors awoke him to help and to seek favor from his God. If they only knew the grace of God, and there was a man present who could tell them of it.

Jonah admitted his heritage to the sailors, and the real reason he was in their company. He implored them to throw him overboard… After their situation became direr they eventually did.

Before they did, they pleaded for grace from Jonah’s God.

Then they cried to the Lord and said, “Please, Lord, do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not make us guilty for innocent blood, for You, Lord, have done as it pleased You.”

Jonah 1:14 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

Jonah was tossed into the sea. The sailors sought reconciliation to God. The waves calmed for the sailors. And the ship continued to Tarshish without Jonah.

In the meanwhile, Jonah was swallowed by a fish sent by God.

Run!

In Jonah’s mind… Going to Nineveh would be a fatal danger for him. Who could really escape the presence of God?

The fatalism we encounter is stark. It weaves its way through the entire book. That is probably why he resigned himself to the watery grave. He was better off dead. (He attests to this later.)

Jonah is often called the reluctant prophet. In my opinion, he ought to be called the fatalistic prophet. Still, Jonah knew of the grace of God and sought it.

“When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered the Lord;
and my prayer came to You,
into Your holy temple.

“Those who follow vain idols
forsake their true loyalty.
But I will sacrifice to You
with the voice of thanksgiving;
I will pay what I have vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord!”

Jonah 2:7–9— Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

Jonah learned a valuable lesson. One that is for us. We can trust God, even when He calls us to do something daunting. Something that makes us so fearful we run the other way, and may even reckon ourselves as good as dead if we follow God.

What’s wrong with that?

Perhaps… a lot if done the wrong way.

Jonah instructs us that we ought not to live for ourselves, but for God. Seeking to relieve himself of selfishly perceived calamity, he brought himself right into it! He didn’t believe God. I mean, he didn’t trust God. Believe, put your faith to action and trust God. Trust that He has a plan.

Reckoning our lives as not our own is the very essence of Christianity. We have a reasonable service to worship… Doing what God asks us to do. We are not our own.

I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service of worship.

Romans 12:1 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

Jonah learned the hard way. If God has a call on us, He means it. Jonah’s exploits are recorded for us.–they’re a quick read. Jonah couldn’t check out of this life without God’s permission. He was preserved by God explicitly for that mission of service assigned to him by God.

Instead… Jonah ran. He even tried to end his life on his own terms. God still had a purpose for him and sent a fish to intervene.

What are you afraid of that keeps you from serving God… Fear of dying?

Come on! Stop it. Stop thinking of yourself. Set your mind on serving God and others, it’s reasonable service.