Sunday, March 31, 2013

Easter; What Is It?

“And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” 1 Corinthians 15:4 You know I grew up celebrating all of the religious holidays just as most of the world does and out of ignorance had no idea what I was doing. Christmas was always about gifts and Santa Claus and Easter was always about the Easter Bunny, hiding and finding Easter eggs, and candy. But today I find that neither one represent nor honor God. As a Sovereign Grace Pastor I have found that God is a jealous God and has no desire to share His glory or honor except with those He chooses to share it with. If we use Christ’s birth and resurrection with mythical creatures such as Santa and the Bunny then could Christ also be thought of as mythical. According to the Religionist and Arminian’s world of worship, Easter is all about the resurrection of Jesus Christ but that simply is not true; because every Sunday morning is about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus rose from the grave early on Sunday morning just before the sun rose. Matthew 28:1 “ In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.” And the stone had been moved and the Lord had risen. This is the very reason we have the Christian Sabbath on Sunday morning instead of Saturday as the Jews did. We as Christians are not under Jewish customs therefore the Passover has nothing to do with our celebration of the Lords resurrection. Colossians 2:14 “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;” Every Sunday morning is a celebration of the Lords resurrection and not just one time a year. Good Friday is nothing! This one has me totally confused. I guess if you have the weekend off then every Friday must be a good Friday. But just as Easter make no sense, Good Friday make even less. Now I’m not stupid; I understand what they (the Religionist and Arminian’s) think; but what confuses me is the math of it. The scripture conclude that “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12:40 Now if Christ was in the grave for three days and nights then how did He die on Friday. Their calculators need an adjustment. In order for Christ to have been in the grave three days and nights then He must have died on Wednesday instead of Friday. Folks, church services are about worshiping Jesus Christ and nothing else. We are not to worship to satisfy the worshiper but to serve the Lord God. A proper service includes prayer, song, preaching, and more prayer and anything else is unacceptable. Worship is not about Christmas, Easter, cowboys, strong men, comedians, or etc., etc., etc. I am afraid that more places of worship are more interested in creature satisfaction than in God satisfaction. So while those that have their Easter egg hunts today, think about this and ask yourself this question, “is God satisfied”? Something looks very wrong when I think about the Apostle Paul hiding Easter eggs. I believe Paul would have been insulted to walk into a place of worship and see what most of these places are doing and calling it worship. If I ever get to the point where I need an Easter bunny to remind me of my Saviour’s resurrection, I will consider myself to have great spiritual problems. Matthew 4:10 "Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (9.) But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. (7.) Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. (7.) If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine."

Saturday, March 23, 2013

What is “Everlasting Love”?

"The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." Jeremiah 31:3 This question (if looked at in a proper way) will simply cause fuses to blow in your brain. What is everlasting? Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words says it means – perpetuity - which means – without an end – however when we look at it from Gods point it means without beginning or without end. When we truly look at it from a secular or from a natural standpoint we will never understand this word exactly as it is meant from a Deity stand point. Sometimes I hear two young people in love say “our love is eternal or forever” but is it really? Well the answer is most certainly “no” because our love for one another could never be forever or even eternal in this flesh, because everything with man is temporal. The only thing that is truly eternal is the love we share with God and the love He has given to us. Just as God is the giver of life (because life does not exist outside of God) He is also the giver of love. Two people may marry and live together in marriage for 75 or more years but their love is not eternal because there is no evidence that our earthly relationships exist in eternity. Besides most eternal relationships only last a few months or maybe a few years and then the love has been exhausted. But in our text we see God tell the nation of Israel that He “…loved thee with an everlasting love…”, however this is God talking and not man. When God says something He means it because God never lies or even stretches the truth. Now when we look at Deity everything comes from a different view, for example God only says what He means and everything with God is eternal. Therefore if God told Israel that He loved them with an eternal love then that is exactly what He meant. However looking at this love from Deity’s standpoint it tells us that God eternally loved, does love, and will eternality love Israel. God is immutable or He never changes: that’s right God has never changed in even one tiny way. So when God said “For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect..." Isaiah 45:4 does it mean that God actually sit down and chose from the entire people one the earth Jacob and from all the nations of the earth Israel? No! While the word means chosen God never simply made a decision because that would violate who God truly is. God is immutable which means He cannot change; God is Omniscient which means He has all knowledge, so if both of these are truly attributes of God then He never actually chose anything. Now don’t misunderstood, I believe in election but not as we know it to be election. Gods love for Israel did not, ever not exists, or there was never a second in eternity past when God did not love Israel. God did not actually choose them He has always loved them. It is just like the love God has for His chosen Gentile believers; as John puts it “We love him, because he first loved us." 1 John 4:19 He had to because He could have never come to love us because God does not change. Paul went on to ask this question "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ..." Romans 8:35 well we cannot be separated because his love is the same as the Fathers, "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you..."John 15:9 Christ loves us exactly as the Father did, He did not come to love us He eternally loves us, therefore this explains why nothing created can separate us from the love of Christ. In conclusion think about this, if you are saved it is because God loved you and chose you to be His beloved in eternity past, but there was really no choosing just as there was never a time in all eternity that He did not love you nor want you to be His. How wonderful is that!

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Wonder Not!

1 John 3:13 "Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you." We that are believers in Jesus Christ should not wonder or be surprised if the world hates us; because they hated our Saviour and Father first and more than they hate us. Sometime believers in Christ concern themselves with the hate of the world, when we should be rejoicing. God said to “Marvel not” that is to wonder not or don’t worry or wonder about it. God had just spoken about Cain slaying his brother Abel because Cain was unjust and Abel was a just man in Gods sight. This was the only reason for Cain’s evil act, and folk this is the reason they hate you as a believer in Christ. "These things I command you, that ye love one another. (18.) If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you." John 15:17 – 18 The Lord required believers and church members to love one another because as a Christian we are all we have in this world. We sometimes find many ways to fall out of friendship with one another; when what we should be doing is searching for many ways to love one another more and more. I and an old Pastor friend made up this week and my heart jumps with great joy in rejoicing because my love for him is great. We had a biblical issue or two we did not exactly see eye to eye on, so what? I have never found another person on earth I agree 100% with neither biblically nor worldly. We just laid to rest my mentor and teacher former Pastor Harace Hammond a man I held in the greatest respect for his being my Pastor, teacher, father-in-law, and dear friend, and we had a couple of biblical disagreements and we never allowed them to separate our friendship. We suffered more over worldly things than scriptural things, and at the same time valued our biblical doctrine more. The reason is we knew we were alone in this world, we knew that the world truly hated us and each other is all we had. We were brothers in Christ and that was more important than every thing else. God never told believers to wonder; in fact He commanded that we do not wonder. He commanded that we love one another and never to hate one another. "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death."1 John 3:14 one cannot be saved and hate his brother! Folks we live in a world that hates us; they hate who we are and Whom we worship. Let’s not wonder why but rather simply put it aside and move on. We need to concern ourselves with the love of one another and not the world because if you are loved more by this world than you are at church, then you have a major problem. I love my brethren even those that may differ with me because I know no man is 100% right especially not myself. If we have major issues then there may reach a point where fellowship in worship together may suffer but my love for other believers will always be real. I know that I am hated in this world and while they may seem to like or even love me they deep in their hearts hate me for being a believer in Christ and for that I do not have to sit around and wonder why nor does it upset me. Jesus said "The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil." John 7:7 Folks they hate us because God has condemned them. "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." John 3:18 We as Christians remind them what they are; without Christ. They will spend eternity in hell, hating God because they are in hell fire instead of being with Him. Don’t ever wonder why they hate you but rejoice that you are a child of the Living God. The lost often remind me that we are the same and there is no difference in us; that I am a hypocrite, except my sins are forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ and they will pay for theirs in eternal damnation, I am loved of God and there is no proof that God will ever love them. Psalms 5:5 "The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity." So see, we are not the same, I am a sinner saved by grace!