Love is The Answer

"He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." (1 John 4:8)

What is the meaning of Life?

Why are we here? What is our purpose? What will make the world a better place?

Most people will probably say "Love." Yes. Love is the answer.

On that we can all agree.

So if love is the answer, and most people will tell you they are loving and they try to love others, why is the world in such a mess? Why is there so much division, hate, war, violence, and strife among people?

Because most do not truly know love.

God is love.

And if God is love, then knowing and loving God is the answer to the world's problems.

But many people today either refuse to believe in God, or they really don't want anything to do with Him personally, even if they say they believe there is a God. 

Many say, "god is simply an 'energy' in the universe, so we can't know God personally."

But that is untrue.

God said:

"Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:12-13)

If you really want to know God, all you need to do is pray to Him and He will listen. And if you seek Him with all of your heart, He promises you will find Him.

The almighty, invisible Spirit; the immortal God, made a way for you to know Him personally, as Father. And He did this by sending His own Son, Jesus, to come to earth, and become "flesh." To become a man—the perfect Man; who came to restore relationship with God and mankind.

What caused the separation between God and man in the first place?

We did.

By breaking God's law, by sinning in the very beginning. The first man and woman (Adam and Eve) disobeyed God and ate that which was forbidden. (Read Genesis chapters 2-3).

Man caused the separation; a bottomless chasm, a breach, that man on his own cannot ever repair. 

So God Himself made a way by sending His Son Jesus to repair the breach. He is the bridge between God and man - the only bridge.

This is why Jesus said:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6)

All men are sinners in God's eyes. We have all broken God's laws (see the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20:1-17, and Romans 3:23).

You may say you're a "good person." But God Judges man according to His standards of perfection, not according to ours.

This is why we all need Jesus as our Savior. He is the bridge between God and man. And there is no other way to reach God. We cannot climb our way up to Him by doing good.

That is why He came down to us as Jesus Christ—God the Son.

God is Love.

And Love is the answer.

Pray to Him and seek Him with all of your heart and you will find Him.

—God is Love, and Love Never Fails.

Powerful or Powerless

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

When you pick up your Bible, do you ever stop and think, this book is literally alive?

The word of God is living and powerful.

Stop for a moment now, and read and really meditate on all the words in Hebrews 4:12.

The words of the Bible are literally God-breathed. All of them. (See 2 Timothy 3:16).

Knowing this, why do so many Christians, churches, and ministries try to reach people through worldly wisdom and philosophy?

We seem to strive so hard to be hip and culturally relevant, hoping to attract people using virtually the same methods the world does. It seems like we're trying to make Jesus "cool" to people using hip bands playing the latest modern "Christian" music. But how regenerative and spiritually transforming has worldly philosophy and hip music proven to be?

We're known by our fruit.

Over the last twenty years of my walk with Christ, I have witnessed first-hand, churches or believers who claim; "preaching the gospel the same old way will not work on this current generation; we have to say and do things differently now."

And I have seen one such "culturally relevant" church close its doors forever. Fruitless, powerless.

This particular former church was situated in the middle of the downtown in their city. They played hip, cool music. Served great coffee. Tried to love people. And they made sure the name on the door sounded nothing like a church or a ministry. They said, "We don't want anyone to know we're a church. Our part is to play music and serve coffee. God's part is to do the rest."

And God shut them down. Closed their doors.

Preaching the gospel and making it a priority to pray we're not part of their game plan.

Since then, I have seen worldly wisdom and philosophy slowly creep back into the Church in subtle, diabolically camouflaged ways. "We have to do things differently now" they say.

2,000 years ago, Jesus' Disciples never tried to reach people through philosophy. Even in his day, the Apostle Paul did not use philosophy as a means of connecting with the philosophers in Athens.

“Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.

Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:18-31)

It says that Paul "preached to them Jesus and the resurrection." And he preached repentance, and God's judgement of the world, by Jesus Christ. 

Paul was a well read, extremely intelligent man, who could have easily debated with these wise philosophers on their level. 

But instead, he preached Jesus. 

In another letter to the Church at Corinth, Paul said:

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18-24)

Here's the bottom line: 

"It pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe."

Paul said:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.” (Romans 1:16)

While it may seem old fashioned or un-hip to preach the "foolish" message of the Gospel, that alone is where the power of God to salvation is.

Only the word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart—which is where we will truly connect with people. Everybody hurts. Everyone has experienced loneliness, pain and rejection. Everyone wants to be loved.

Sow to the spirit, not to the flesh.

Worldly philosophy and man's wisdom is absolutely powerless, and will fall flat at their feet. Fruitless.

—God is Love and Love Never Fails.

Living Godly in Jesus Christ

“All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” (2 Timothy 3:12)

Persecution?

That doesn't seem to be something that Christians in comfortable, prosperous America, are experiencing much of, here at home.

Have you been jailed, beaten, or tortured lately for sharing your faith in your U.S. city?

I searched throughout the book of Acts this morning to see what the main focus was by Paul and the other Disciples, and what they were persecuted for. 

Any guesses what the answer is?

Preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Here's what Paul preached:

”Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

In that short passage, Paul twice said, "According to the Scriptures."

Jesus was crucified on a cross and died there for our sins, He was buried, and then rose from the dead on the third day—according to the Scriptures.

If you are trying to "share your faith" with unsaved people, but it doesn't include the truth that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, was buried and then rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures, then it's not the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Over the last twenty or so years of being a Christian, I have heard many religious people say the following, or something close to it:

"All I know is we're just supposed to love people."

And in context, what every one of these people meant by this, is we're to never offend people by preaching God's Word to them, we're just supposed to be loving and nice to them.

But let's be honest. The message of the Gospel is offensive to the unsaved.

It proclaims that we are sinners. That's offensive when most people will tell you, "I'm a good person. I don't kill people or rob banks." Tell someone they are a sinner and they will probably be offended.

It proclaims that our sins are so great that Jesus—the Son of God—had to die on a cross for our sins to be forgiven. That's really offensive. It tells me that my sins are so bad I deserve to go to Hell, and that I can't work my way into Heaven by doing good deeds, or according to my own merit. It tells me that I am absolutely not a "good person."

It proclaims that we all are accountable to God and that He will judge us. That is very offensive to someone who either doesn't believe in a God, or to someone who won't admit that he has broken God's laws.

It proclaims that we all are hopelessly lost and desperately in need of Christ The Savior.

If you share the Gospel Truth with people... no matter how nice and lovingly you try to do it, the chances are that they will be offended by it. 

You, as one who shares God's Truth in love, will be offensive to them.

Look at the Apostles and disciples in the Bible who were jailed, beaten, or killed. They were not persecuted in this way because they "just loved people."

No one is ever persecuted, beaten, or killed for simply being nice.

Please don't misunderstand me.

We are supposed to be loving and nice to people. And in sharing our faith, we should testify of all the good things that God has done in our lives, and how He has blessed us. Never stop doing that, and always give God the glory in the process.

But no matter how impressed someone might be with how God-blessed your life is, and may even say, "I want what you have"—make no mistake about it; unless they hear and believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and repent of their sin, and turn to the living God; they will not be saved and born again by the Spirit of God.

When the Apostle Peter gave the fist sermon after the Church was birthed in the Spirit, on the Day of Pentecost, all those men being convicted and cut to the heart, when Peter told them that they had crucified and killed Jesus, who was both Lord and Christ, said, "What must we do?"

Peter said:

“Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)

Paul said:

"If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Romans 10:9-10)

Even to the ultra-hip, intellectual philosophers in Athens, Paul preached repentance from sin, God's judgement, and Christ's resurrection from the dead:

“Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,  because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31)

Study the entire book of Acts and see how many times Peter, John and Paul were imprisoned or persecuted for preaching the Gospel, or preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 

Paul said:

“And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.  For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:1-2)

Had these faithful disciples of Jesus Christ not courageously loved God and people enough to boldly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their day, we might not be where we are today; saved and free in Jesus Christ to boldly and courageously speak the same Truth in love to people in our day. 

"Freely you have received—now freely give."  —Jesus

—God is Love and Love Never Fails.

The Cry of the Martyrs

“Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God” (Revelation 20:4)

Turn on the news today, pick up any newspaper, and you'll likely hear about innocent Christians, young and old, being beheaded in the Middle East by an Is-lam-ic radical group of hateful, blood thirsty murderers. Evil, wicked, and satanic are nowhere near strong enough worlds to describe these devilish killers.

But the cries of these faithful martyrs of Jesus Christ have not gone unheard.

“I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held” (Revelation 6:9)

God has a special place reserved in Heaven for all faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ, who have the testimony of the Gospel of salvation in Christ, who have been killed—martyred for their Christian faith.

And His faithful witnesses today, who are being martyred in much the same way they were 2,000 years ago, are precious to Him, and God will readily receive them up into Heaven with open arms.

Please join me in praying for the faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ all over the world, who are being persecuted daily, some even martyred and tortured to death.

Pray for strength, faith and courage for God's faithful, and for His favor and wisdom for all of us, in these perilous last days of earth as we know it.

God is seated on His throne, and He is in control. 

“After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.  And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.” (Revelation 4:1-3)

Satan is not in control of God's people. We will overcome the devil and all his radical killers, such as those operating in the Middle East today, by our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” (Revelation 12:11)

For those who have gone on to be with the Lord before us, and for those of us who still anxiously await His imminent return, Jesus made this incredible promise:

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1-3)

Jesus Christ is faithful and His Word is sure.

—God is Love and Love Never Fails.