Navigating These Dark Times

“They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths; their soul melts because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.” (Psalm 107:26-27)

Does the world right now feel like the dark, stormy sea pictured above?

And do you sometimes feel like you're in that small boat, hanging on for dear life? 

Do things in this rapidly decaying, wicked culture feel like they are spinning out of control?

I heard a pastor-type recently say that things are this bad in  America because, "We allowed it to happen!"

Well sir, I didn't allow it happen!

I didn't vote for the corrupt, liberal politicians who have all but kicked God out of our government, schools and nation.  I didn't give a small majority of five unelected lawyers in black robes my okay to rule the way they did on perhaps the most controversial and important issue of our day.  I didn't give public schools my permission to allow confused children to use opposite sex bathrooms just because little Billy believes he is really a girl.

Today even the word "love" has been perverted.

No sir, I didn't allow any of these things to happen.

But God, in His infinite wisdom, has allowed these things to happen.

Why?

Because God—who is the only Judge—has, for now, given this world of men, the moral agency of free will. And one day, probably sooner than you think, He will come down here and judge the world in His righteousness, according to His standards of perfection.

One day, all men and women will have to stand before God, and give an account of themselves to Him. The "books will be opened."

"And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books." (Revelation 20:12)

One day God will come down and set all things right. 

He will put all wickedness, perversion, corruption, and injustice under His feet. And He will not be asking the Supreme Court justices for their ruling on His judgments. He will not ask the ACLU for their opinion on anything. He will not allow the wicked culture of this planet to sway His views. He will not be "politically correct."

The other day I read this quote:

"The question is not Why would a loving God send people to Hell. The question is Why would people choose Hell over a loving God?"

People will surely scoff at this, but the reality is, God doesn't send people to Hell, they send themselves there. And they do so by rejecting Christ and what He did for all people, by going to the Cross to die for our sins. 

Jesus said:

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Mark 2:17)

The laws will no doubt eventually be changing, and faithful Christian people who do as Jesus did, preaching the Gospel and repentance from sin, will be accused, tried and convicted of "hate crimes." Violent persecution, never before experienced in America, will likely become common place.

Mega churches of five to twenty thousand people, complete with luxurious coffee shops and jumbo TV screens, may become empty shells in the near future.  We here in America may soon be meeting 'illegally' in small house churches, the way our Christian brothers and sisters currently do in Communist China.

Don't think it can't happen here.

I don't think anyone can argue that the Last Days "perilous times" that the apostle Paul wrote of, are fast upon us.

"But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." (2 Timothy 3:3-5)

Most people in today's twisted culture seem to despise what is right, pure and good. They call evil good, and good, evil. 

So how do we navigate these dark times?

By remaining steadfast in Christ. Steadfast in the Truth of His Word. And steadfast in His Love.

But we must change from being people who merely talk the right Christian talk, and then forsake Christ in our walk.

My heart's desire is that my life, walk, thoughts, speech, and actions will align with God's Word. With His will. Not in a legalistic way... But as an expression of my thankfulness and love to Jesus.

Friends, we can't talk about the wonders of God's grace, and then knowingly use it as a cloak to hide behind with the intent of justifying our sin. If you are practicing and living in any kind of ongoing sexual immorality, thinking you will escape God's judgment...please, think again. 

Jesus said He came to call sinners to repentance. And if you haven't confessed and turned from your sexual immorality, (or any other sin), you are not under His grace. Without repentance, there is no salvation.

This is the solemn warning Jesus gives to all who refuse to turn from their sinful ways:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" (Matthew 7:21-23)

You can't be salt and light to a lost world if you're living like a lost soul yourself. You have absolutely nothing to offer them.

If you are struggling, having doubts, or are troubled and at your wits end, there is only one thing you can do: 

“Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storm, so that its waves are still. Then they are glad because they are quiet; so He guides them to their desired haven.” (Psalm 107:28-30)

The early church in the days following Jesus' death and resurrection, gathered in homes, praying for one another, and that the Word of God and the Gospel would have free course in their land. That souls would be saved. That God would be glorified in and through simple men and women; peasants, tent makers, farmers and fishermen. That He would empower them by His Spirit and use them for His purpose wherever they lived and worked. That His love would touch every lost heart and soul. And that all people would come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Wherever God has placed you, He wants to use you.

Will you let Him?


For more on sharing the Gospel, please see:
http://marriage-miracles.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-bridge.html

—God is Love and Love Never Fails.

What Should We Do?

"Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." (Psalm 44:22)

Recently, President Obama was quoted as saying:

"There’s a sense....that the world is spinning so fast and nobody is able to control it."

I doubt he knows just how true that statement was..

There is only One who is able to control it...Who holds the whole world in His hands.

So many today are living in fear of a satanic group of terrorists who are wreaking havoc in the middle east; killing, raping, beheading, even crucifying anyone who does not adhere to their radical, Islamic extremist beliefs. I will not mention that evil organization by name as they deserve no mention or publicizing here, or anywhere else.

Those considered to be prognosticators are saying that something big and bad is going to happen to our nation soon. But few offer any specifics on what we should do about it.

So what should we do?

Think about what true followers of Christ did 1900 years ago, when they were being burned alive as human candles. Sawn in two. And fed to lions. What did they do?

They kept preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world.

They suffered for Christ's namesake.

A man we know has been in a horrific Iranian prison now for more than 1,000 days. Many petitions have been signed, and leaders of nations spoken to. Many have called the White House demanding this man's release. What more can we do? 

What did the disciples of Jesus do 1900 years ago?

"And when Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people.”

So, when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. But they said to her, “You are beside yourself!” Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, “It is his angel.”

Now Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. But motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Go, tell these things to James and to the brethren.” And he departed and went to another place." (Acts 12:11-17)

How many followers of Christ are gathered together today praying?

Praying for our nation?  Praying for the lost?  Praying for our friend who is stuck in the Iranian prison?

The Apostle Paul wrote that the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, or physical. But are mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds...spiritual strongholds. We do not war against flesh and blood—against human beings. But against demonic principalities and powers. 

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:12)

Prayer is the weapon—the key—that opens doors; that pulls down strongholds. 

And we need to look to—cry out to—pray to—Jesus Christ, the author and the finisher of our faith.

In these perilous times...these dark days... that is what we should do.

—God is Love and Love Never Fails.

The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved

"Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved." 

(John 13:23)

Besides Jesus, if you had to pick one favorite hero from the pages of scripture, who would it be?

Over the years, I've consistently heard the apostle Paul singled out and glorified as if he were superman.  "He's an animal!"  "He's a man's man!" "He's intense!"  "He was a maniac for Christ!" "He did more than any of the other apostles ever did!" They say.

And I suppose that's all true. 

But even though God used him to write much of the New Testament, I doubt Paul would say the same of himself were he here today to answer to such glorification.

But is that really why God sent His Son to die on the Cross? and save and call us..."To be maniacs and do more for Him than anyone else ever did?"

Somehow I doubt it.

I don't know about you, but I am not an "intense, maniac, " as some have labeled Paul.

So who is your favorite bible hero, and why?

Mine is the apostle John..."The disciple whom Jesus loved."

I know... Jesus loves all His disciples equally. He doesn't play favorites. 

But just like King David is the only man specifically called, "The man after God's own heart" in scripture, so, too, is John the only one given the title "The disciple whom Jesus loved." (See John chapters 13, 19, 20, 21).

Looking at the passage quoted at the beginning of this post, John was the only one said to have been leaning against the bosom of Jesus.  Apparently, John  so loved his Lord, Savior, and Friend, he didn't care what the rest of the group thought of him as he leaned upon his Savior.  

Intimacy with God was obviously more important to John than maintaining a macho image.

Men, can that be said for the rest of us?

Out of the original twelve disciples, John was the only man standing at the foot of the Cross when Jesus was being crucified. His only other followers there were His mother Mary and her sister, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the wife of Clopas. (See John 19:25-26)

Make a close study of the gospel of John and you will find it's not about rules, it's about relationship.

Jesus sums it up by saying, 

"He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me." (John 14:21)

It's about love, not legalism.

I also find it fascinating that John was the one given the Revelation by Jesus. Paul was a great apostle, and without question, much wisdom and truth was revealed to him.  

But the "Revelation of Jesus Christ" was given to John;  "the disciple whom Jesus loved."

The book of Revelation is not primarily about knowing the nuances of the details of the end times. It's about the unveiling (revelation) of Jesus Christ to us; His servants. (See Revelation 1:1)

In Revelation chapter four we see John taken up in the Spirit into the presence of the glorified Lord Himself, on His throne in Heaven. In chapter five we see John in the presence of the risen Lamb of God—the Lion of the Tribe of Judah—who is the only one found worthy in heaven or earth, to open the scroll and its seals, and read the scroll.

For whatever reasons, I just don't relate to the "maniac, intense" A-type personality often attributed to Paul.

But I do relate to the relational disciple whom Jesus loved, who is all about intimacy with God and relationship with Him.

And though I am always blessed by reading through Paul's letters in the New Testament, I am always most drawn to the intimate, relational, loving Savior I see John tell me about, whom he loved and knew personally, in the gospel of John.

Jesus said in John's gospel:

“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 is revealed from Genesis to Revelation.

But it becomes most profoundly real and personal to me when reading John's gospel, that I am the disciple whom Jesus loved.

You... are the disciple whom Jesus loved.

—God Is Love and Love Never Fails.

Faith in the Deepest Waters

"Hope itself is like a star; not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, but only to be discovered in the night of adversity." (C.H. Spurgeon)

Have you ever, or are you now experiencing a time of real trial and adversity in your life?

By "real" trial and adversity, I don't mean discontinuing your satellite dish service because the economy stinks. I'm  not talking about the 'sacrifice' of giving up the Range Rover, or your summer house on the lake, because times are tough.

No, I mean real adversity. Crushing trials.

Crushing adversity; such as, your spouse, child, or best friend just passed away. 

Real trials; such as your husband has been in prison for his Christian faith in a hostile Islamic country for years and you don't know when you will see him again. 

Real adversity; such as your wife just dumped you like yesterday's garbage and ran off with another man, leaving you alone with your children.  

Crushing trials; such as your child or grandchild just committed suicide.

We can't even begin to understand what someone else is going through until we have walked in their shoes.

Faith.

It's easy to have faith when things are going well. 

When you're young and strong, it's no problem to take that hill. When your marriage is rocking, you feel invincible. When your health is perfect—can't touch this! When you have a great job and plenty of money in the bank, you can kick back in the hammock with your iced tea and relax. 

Having faith is easy when life is easy.

But when you are really tested—when your life, marriage, family, or health is in serious jeopardy, you really have to trust in God. When things get so bad that you can't possibly fix it by yourself—when all you have is your faith.

Hence the old saying:  "You'll never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have."

Having faith means to trust in, believe in, to have reliance upon. As followers of Christ, it isn't about "our great faith"... since faith itself is a gift from God.  It's all about Who we place our trust in. My faith is not in my faith. My faith, trust, reliance upon—is wholly in Jesus.

Here's an account from Paul, a fellow brother in Christ, who was no stranger to trials and adversity:

“Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness.”  (2 Corinthians 11:25-27)

How did Paul endure these perilous times of intense trials and suffering? When he asked God three times that a painful "thorn in the flesh" might be removed from him, God's response to Paul was:

“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” 

 Paul went on to say:

"Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) 

When we have no strength; when we can't fix it any longer; when Jesus is all we have; then we are strong: because Christ is strong in us.

"Take pleasure in my infirmities?! How can I possibly do that?! Can't you see how much I'm hurting?!"

Jesus said:  

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit—for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

The longer I live—the longer I walk the narrow and difficult path of following Christ—the more I'm painfully aware of just how desperately I need Jesus; every minute, of every day. Truly, without Him—I can do nothing good. 

For years, throughout my life-struggles, I sought comfort and solace in men's bible study groups. And there were some good moments and friendships in those groups. We are told in scripture to study the Word.

“Study to show yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

However, if we're not careful, we can get so caught up in the intellectual 'study' of the word of God, that we miss the God of the Word altogether.

Jesus said:

“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me—But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” (John 5:39-40)

The whole purpose of Jesus coming to earth and dying on the Cross was to restore intimacy between God and man. He wants us to come to Him. It's personal. He wants a relationship with you, with me. He gave His life on the Cross for that intimacy of personal relationship with us.

Don't drive yourself crazy trying to understand why she left you. Stop trying to figure out why God would let him die. You won't understand it. It won't make sense now. It may later. It may never.

God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts. His ways, higher than our ways. Only God knows why He allows things to happen in our lives. He has a purpose for allowing them to happen. Just trust Him in it.

All you can do, should do, by far the best thing to do; is call out to Him. Come to Him—that you may have life.

As a friend once put it;

"Sometimes the best place to be is flat on your back, looking up, crying out to God—"Help!"

Sometimes we can help each other. We should always try.

But while we may mean well, we are still imperfect human beings. The Word does tell us though, that part of the beauty of the Body of Christ is that we can comfort others who are going through the same kind of troubles that we've been through:,

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

But only Jesus can truly fill the empty places in our hearts. Those dark places of pain, loneliness, rejection, sadness, grief, depression, and hopelessness.

God has always been with me through every trial I've faced. He doesn't always take away the pain and suffering. Sometimes He does. But not often. I used to really struggle to try and understand why.

One day I cried out to Him in my desperation and said, "Lord, You can do all things! You could change us in an instant, and we would no longer sin and struggle any more. Why do You leave us in this condition?!!"

He said:  "So you'll stay close to Me."




—God is Love, and Love Never Fails.

Unmet Expectations

"Nor is there salvation in any other..." (Acts 4:12)

Have you ever used the expression, "soul mate?"  Or, "love of my life?"

Looking closely at the picture of the divided couple above, do either of those expressions seem to accurately describe the current reality of their relationship?

I believe the majority of (not all, but many) people fall into one of two categories;

1).   You have great expectations that you will one day find that "perfect person for you" who will "complete you." One who will be "your soul mate." The "love of your life."

2).   You have unmet expectations in your relationship that have left you bewildered, wondering, "why haven't things turned out the way I thought they would? Why am I sometimes still so lonely, unhappy, and unfulfilled?"

Blaise Pascal, a famous French philosopher correctly said:

"There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ."

The reality is, we human beings try to fill up the hurting, lonely and empty spaces in our hearts with other things... with other people. With everything but God.

In my own family tree, there is a long history of medicating to numb the pain, pressures and reality of this life. Many also seek peace and tranquility in escaping to the wilderness. But I've tried that for years, and no lasting peace or tranquility is to be found out there.

Since the dawn of civilization people have sought out love and fulfillment in jumping from one sexual relationship to the next. But our hearts and still left empty, aching, and alone.

Even for those who publicly tell others they have been happily married for years, if we're being completely honest, will privately wonder why things really haven't fully turned out as we'd once hoped they would.

Over the many years and seasons of singleness, separation and marriage, through countless hours of reading and studying endless books about relationships, feelings and emotions, and from talking to many people about this topic, the truth I've learned is, we can never find true, lasting peace, joy, and fulfillment, in seeking our validation in and from other people.

And yet, I'd dare say that we all do this, every day of our lives. Oh, maybe not knowingly or intentionally. But in one way or another, we tend to put another person—either a person present in our life, or someone hoped for in our future—on a pedestal, placing all our hopes upon them, to make us feel happy, fulfilled and validated.

However, in so doing, we have set them up for certain failure. Because no one, not any other human being, can fill that God-shaped vacuum in our hearts, that only God in the Person of Jesus Christ can fill.

What we don't realize, is that when we put another human being on that pedestal—on the throne of our heart that only God rightfully deserves to inhabit—we have made him or her an idol. We will never be at peace or fulfilled without having first placed our entire heart fully in God's hands.

And after living a life of one unmet expectation after another, we become bitter, resentful and cynical.

Earlier in my life, my cynical mantra was, "Don't expect too much, you'll just be disappointed!"

And that was from a life of placing all my expectations on other people for what they should be, for me. It was all about me.

In marriage, we should always place the needs of our spouse above our own needs. And if both husband and wife are doing this unselfishly out of unconditional love, you have the makings of a pretty good marriage.

However, some have hardened their hearts and say, "Well, since I can't fully meet all of his/her needs anyway, then why should I even try! It's not my responsibility! They should just look to God to meet their needs!" And in so doing, many a heartless man or woman have neglected their spouse, causing a lot of pain, heartache and lonliness.

God made the purpose for marriage very clear when He created Eve as a wife for Adam. Do you know what that purpose was?

Companionship. 

He said,

"It is not good for the man to be alone." (See Genesis 2:18)

But God created us first and foremost for Himself; for His good pleasure. And we are not to put any other human being, not even our own spouse of children before God. He says to do so is idolatry.

The first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength. (See Mark 12:30) Then, the second commandment is to love others as yourself.

The Lord Jesus is God, and God is Love. He is the only Way, the Truth and the Life. Peace and rest for our weary and thirsty souls can only be found in Him.

Jesus said:

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)

He is the only source of true peace, joy, happiness, validation and fulfillment.

—God is Love and Love Never Fails.

Breakfast by the Sea

"Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast." (John 21:12)

This intimate scene—both of the family gathered together by a warm campfire on the Oregon coast at beautiful Cannon Beach, and even more so, of the picture painted in scripture of Jesus inviting His own disciples, to "come and eat breakfast", warms my heart through and through.

Some background to Jesus' breakfast invitation to His friends... (John 21:1-14)

“After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He showed Himself:  Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.”

They said to him, “We are going with you also.” They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.  But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.  Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?”

They answered Him, “No.”

And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.

Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea. But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from land, but about two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish.  Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread.  Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.”

Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken.  Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast.”Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are You?”—knowing that it was the Lord.  Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish.

This is now the third time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was raised from the dead.”

So much is going on in this poignant scene.

When Jesus first met Peter three and a half years earlier, He told him to launch out into the deep water and let down his nets for a catch. But Peter argued, saying, "Master, we have toiled all night and have caught nothing. Nevertheless, at your word I will let down the net." (Luke 5:4-5)

And the next verse tells us that there were so many fish in the nets that they were breaking! Seeing that the boats were all filled to overflowing, brought Peter to his knees before Jesus, crying out,

"Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O' Lord!"

"Jesus then said to Peter, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him."

I can almost see Peter's expression now three and a half years later, after Jesus had died on a cross, and had risen from the grave on the third day, when an unrecognizable figure calls out to them from shore, after they had fished all night and had caught nothing, to cast their nets on the right side of the boat and they would find fish, and then when they had done so, the catch was so great they could barely even drag in the net, it was so full of big fish.

And so when John said, "It is the Lord!" Peter did not hesitate to plunge into the sea and swim to shore to see his beloved Lord and Master.

Peter and his fellow disciples had seen many miracles performed by Jesus Christ their Lord.

They had witnessed Jesus miraculously feed thousands of people when there wasn't enough on hand to feed even two or three people. They saw Him walk on water and speak to raging winds and waves to be still, and the wind and waves obeyed Him. They saw Him heal sick people and command a dead man to come forth out of the grave, and he did so. They knew by experience and by relationship that Jesus was both Lord and God.

And now the Lord and God of Heaven invites them to "come and eat breakfast."

Their God and Creator had prepared a fire of coals and had fresh, hot bread and grilled fish waiting for them. And God Himself served His own lowly creation breakfast by the sea.

Can you picture this? Can you imagine yourself being there? What it must have felt like?

The bible says that we love God, because He first loved us.

And if this beautiful picture of the God of Heaven, the Almighty, Everlasting Father, Wonderful, Counselor, Prince of Peace, clothed in human form, humbling Himself out of love, to serve and feed His own servants, doesn't melt your heart to tears, and make you love Him, I don't know what will.

I can't possibly add anything to this story today but two love verses from God's own Word, spoken by Jesus Himself...


"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends." (John 15:13)

—God is Love and Love Never Fails.

The Whole Truth

“And go, get to the captives, to the children of your people, and speak to them and tell them, “Thus says the Lord God,” whether they hear, or whether they refuse.” (Ezekiel 3:11)

Does it ever seem that no matter how much you try to love people and share the Gospel of Christ with them that they refuse to listen to you?

You’re not alone.

It seems not many out there are open to hearing God’s Word these days.

So what are we to do?

Keep speaking the Truth in love.

Just as He did by sending the Prophet Ezekiel to the rebellious, hard-hearted people of Israel, so too, has God sent you to hard-hearted and rebellious people—most of whom will refuse to hear you.

And God clearly told him, whether they will hear you, or whether they refuse; say to them, “Thus says the Lord God.”

Many will refuse to hear you. But some will listen, and turn their hearts to the Lord.

I had a conversation with someone last week who seems very reluctant to speak God’s Word to a relative who is in blatant, open rebellion against God. She said, “I don’t want to judge.”

However, speaking God’s Word to someone is not "judging" them. Warning them that God is the Judge and He will judge all men one day is not judging them. You’re simply telling them the truth. And you’re loving them by doing so.

God told Ezekiel, “For they are hard-hearted and stubborn children.” But He said, “I am sending you to them.”

The Lord doesn’t send us to a people who are going to love much of what He has to say. Telling someone that they are dead in their sins and God will judge them is not a popular message. Telling someone that they must repent of their sins and turn to God is often met with much resistance. And yes, we must tell them that God is love. But He is also the Judge. And Hell is a very real place reserved for all those who reject God and what Jesus did on the cross. You can’t leave out the hard to hear parts. He told Ezekiel to tell his people, “Thus says the Lord God.” You have to tell people the whole truth.

If you have a friend or family member who once professed Christ as their Savior, but now has rebelled and totally walked away from God, let these words from the Apostle James both comfort and convict you:

“Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19-20)

“Will save his soul from death.” That could not be clearer.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, you have been sent with a message that will save a soul from death. And you have to share the entire message of God. You can’t sugar-coat it, leaving out any parts that you think might offend someone. If you leave out the part that says God will judge all sinners because you don’t want people to think you’re judging them, you have left out part of the truth of God’s own Word.

The Psalmist wrote:

“The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” (Psalm 19:7)

The Word is perfect, and complete. We can’t leave out the parts that we think people won’t like.

The Psalmist also wrote:

“Forever O’ Lord, Your word stands firm in heaven.” (Psalm 119:89)

There are warnings in the Old Testament and the New Testament about not adding to or taking away from God’s Word. You can’t cherry-pick the Scriptures.

Paul said he has declared the whole counsel of God’s Word with people. He left nothing out.

You can quote John 3:16 to people…”For God so loved the world.” But Jesus says in verse 18 that he who does not believe in Him is condemned already. You have to give people the entire truth.

Jesus said,

“And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)

Jesus is the Word and He is God. (See John 1:1) God is Love. (See 1 John 4:8) And He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. (John 14:6)

So give people the entire Truth and you are giving them Jesus.


But remember... Jesus said,

"For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:37-38)



—God is Love and Love Never Fails.