Practice, Practice, Practice Courage

Christian Friend, do you Really love the LORD?

If a gun is put to your head by somebody telling you to denounce Christ Jesus, will you exercise courage to confess that you know and love Him?  How do you know you will?  

Have you been practicing courage even in the smaller things of life?

Did you ever raise your hand in school to openly challenge the atheistic evolutionist or philosopher?

Have you ever asked a co-worker to not profane the Lord's name?

Do you walk away from your friends as they enjoy a dirty joke?

Have you stood by yourself, holding a sign, on a public sidewalk in front of Planned Parenthood?

When was the last time you mentioned God within the first 10 minutes of a conversation with a complete stranger?

Do you know the feeling of your heart racing as you enter a store without wearing a mask?

Have you ever held the hand of an injured stranger and prayed aloud for them while waiting for the medical personnel to arrive?

When bullets are flying on the battlefield, we want soldiers there on our behalf who have previously practiced these scenarios.  We don't tell them to just take it easy at bootcamp and on the base. "You don't need to practice the live-fire drills;  we know you'll stand strong when it really matters," said no sergeant ever.

If you're going to be courageous when it really matters, you need to be practicing now.

Psalm 27:14 - "Wait on the LORD:  be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart:  wait, I say, on the LORD."

Repentance

To repent basically means to change your mind, to change your way of thinking, to completely change from doing things one way to start doing them another way. When it comes to good moral behavior, however, you and I cannot really fundamentally change our ways. Because Jesus Christ says that all of our behavior and our actions come from our heart (Matthew 15:16-20 of the Holy Bible); and we cannot change our hearts. Only God can do that.

So if you truly desire to change (to repent), then ask God to give you a new heart. He promises new life, forgiveness of sins, abundant life, mercy that endures forever, peace that passes understanding, eternal life – and more – to those who believe His promises. (To believe does not mean to simply think something in your head but to actually live it out in your actions.)

So if you truly believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He came to earth as God in the flesh, that He lived a sinless life, that He took your sins to the cross and to the grave (in His crucifixion and death), that He came back to life again 3 days later, and that He sits at God’s right hand as King of the world, then God will give you a brand new heart. God’s Spirit will move into your body to become one with your spirit. His Spirit will put to death your old way of living, thinking, desiring, behaving, and He will give you a brand new life, with brand new perspectives, brand new desires, and brand new behaviors. “Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Then what God has worked into you, you must work out. As He has done inwardly, you must do outwardly. When He puts a new (clean, pure, wholesome) heart within you, you must put out new (clean, pure, wholesome) actions and behaviors.

That is repentance.

How Free Is Our Will ... Really?

God did not consult me before founding the world. I made no decisions to affect the outcome of the first 5,000 years of history. I was not asked, “Into which era of history would you like to be born?” I was not asked, “Into which country, state, and city would you like to be born?” I was not given a choice of families into which to be born. Upon birth, I was not given options regarding my sex, my hair color, my eye color, my nose’s shape, my length, my weight, or even my name. Even for a number of years after my birth, I did not choose my clothing style, my meal items, the house rules, my church, or my school. I don’t tell the sun when to shine, the rain when to fall, lightning where to strike, tornadoes where to go, the snow when to come, earthquakes how big to be, or volcanoes when to erupt.

Any one of the above items can have – has had – a significant impact on my life (and the lives of others). All of them combined have had a VERY GREAT impact on my life. And yet I had no freedom to will any of these greatly-impacting events to happen or to not happen.
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Oh, permit me to add one other (rather personal) item to the above list: I was not even permitted to choose circumcision or no …, not too unlike a Jewish boy before the Incarnation, and yet a good deal different from a Jewish boy before the Incarnation, Because Jewish boys before the Incarnation were expected to carry in their flesh the sign of the covenant which God had made with Abraham (Genesis 17), a covenant that the LORD would be a God unto Abraham, and to his seed after him. “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep My covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations” (Genesis 17:8-9). – My parents are not Old Testament Jews, thus they were not motivated by such a requirement regarding my physical status. However, there is an important point here concerning something with the potential for a VERY GREAT impact on one’s life, eternal life at that.

A Jewish boy of 8 days old did not get to choose if he wanted to be included as a member of the people whose God was the LORD, the people who were to “keep God’s covenant therefore, them, and their seed after them in their generations;” thus, the boy did not get to choose whether or not to carry the sign of the covenant between God and His people. In short, this boy did not exercise free will in becoming, what some might call, an “Old Testament Christian.”

Now “if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious” (2 Corinthians 3:11). So if God in the flesh is much more glorious, – if His birth, life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and coronation are referred to as “the glory that excelleth” (2 Cor. 3:10), – then how do we explain the rejection of children from receiving the sign of this more glorious covenant (that sign now being water baptism)? In the days of a less glorious covenant, they received it aside from their personal will. (Indeed, what child would have asked for circumcision?) But now, in the time of a more glorious covenant with God, children must wait until they can show that they understand what is happening with baptism. – I’m 36 years old, I’ve read the Bible cover-to-cover numerous times, I’ve experienced baptism, and I’ve witnessed many others; and I still don’t have a full grasp of what baptism is all about. Thanks to God for His grace in accepting me anyway!

I’ve seen a boy ask for baptism from his father, who is also his pastor, and be temporarily put off. The boy thought he was a part of God’s people, but his pastor needs assurance of the boy’s being able to provide somewhat of an adult understanding. Yet “Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.’” – Matthew 18:2-6

You Are Like Your Father

Pop in the DVD. See a woman faced with a decision. ONE tells her, “Don’t do it. If you do, you will die.” The Other tells her, “Go ahead and do it. Don’t trust that ONE – he’s a liar. He’s just jealous of his position, because he knows that you’ll become his equal (rather than remaining his subordinate).” Pause the DVD. Let’s consider this: What should the woman do? To whom should she listen?

Is the ONE a liar, as the Other claims? Or is the Other really the liar? Let’s suppose for now that the Other is completely telling the truth. This means that the ONE is a liar. So if the woman listens to the Other, goes ahead and does it, and thus becomes equal to the ONE, then she becomes a liar … because that is what the ONE is, if the Other is telling the truth. Thus, the woman becomes a liar.

Now let’s suppose that the ONE is actually the truth-teller, and the Other is the liar. If the woman still listens to the Other and goes ahead and does what the ONE said to not do, she thus disobeys the truth-teller, follows the liar, and becomes like the Other whom she followed. I.e., she becomes a liar. – In either case, if she listens to the Other (whose logic is flawed), she becomes a liar. She should instead trust the ONE. – Now un-pause the DVD.

The woman eats the fruit and shares with her husband. They follow the liar and become like him. And we’ve had liars ever since.

John 8:44-45 – “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.”

God Gives the Increase

Deuteronomy 28:4-5 – “Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.”

Deuteronomy 28:38-42 – “Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit. Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity. All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume.”

So what makes the difference? How do we ensure the blessings and avoid the curses? Is it the amount of sweat put into the sowing, planting, and begetting? Is it the number of waking hours devoted to such tasks? Is it the magnitude of sacrifice or self-suffering that we offer? No. It’s obedience. It’s faith in God’s commandments. It’s faith in God’s promises. He promises blessings for obedience (to the commandments); He promises curses for disobedience.

It’s not the stone that kills the giant. It’s not the loud horns and shouting, the shattering pitchers, and the bright torches around the camp that cause the enemies to destroy themselves. It’s not the harmonic frequency of marching feet that makes thick walls fall down. It’s obedience. Faith-full obedience.

So do we then just lie back and refrain from idolatry, murder, adultery, theft, and dishonesty? Is that the only obedience required for the blessings to come rolling in? No. Because It also says, “Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work” (Deut. 5:13), and “If any would not work, neither should he eat” (2 Thes. 3:10).

But again, Men, Pastors, Elders, Deacons, & Ministers in training, successful ministry does not depend on your spending 14 out of 18 waking hours a day, 6 or 7 days a week, serving the church. It’s not your sweating, it’s not your planting, it’s not your watering, it’s not your fertilizing, it’s not even your “passion and heart” for those many sowing and harvesting ministries to which “so few others seem committed” that pulls the tree out of the acorn. God calls you to be obedient. Your wife, your children, your family need you to be obedient. Your church needs you to be obedient. Your community, your culture needs you to be obedient.

“So then neither is he that plants any thing, neither he that waters; but God that gives the increase.” – 1 Corinthians 3:7

My Absent Son

2005, May 7th, Saturday evening, around 8:24 pm: The heart that took my son's life also claimed a part of mine. For our family, it seemed that a part of the sun had become darkened; but it was only an eclipse – it soon shall pass! “What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” “... The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” – Job 2:10, 1:21

Such an event has drained me of many tears, but it has not erased my memories nor destroyed my affection. So please, ask me about my absent son. I love him.

If you were to ask me right now about my Dad, I might say, “Well, I suppose he’s doing well. You see, he’s not with us now.”

Then you might say, “Oh, … huh …. How long has he been gone?”

“Well, the last time I saw him alive was October 1st of last year.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” you say.

“Why are you sorry? I didn’t say he was dead. He lives somewhere in south-central Ohio. But what he’s doing right now, I don’t really know. He’s just absent from our presence right now. I certainly expect to see him again. I’m not sure when, but I plan to spend time with him again. I expect he will be doing well.”

And I expect the same of my son, Elisha Malachi Rauch. Actually, I expect it of the Lord, because I “judge Him faithful Who promised” (Heb. 11:11) that “to be absent from the body” is “to be present with the Lord” (II Corinthians 5:8).

So ask me about my son. I am very fond of him, and I like to talk about the people and things about which I am fond. Don’t you? He lives with the Lord. But what he’s doing right now, I don’t really know. He may be absent from our presence right now, but I certainly expect to see him again. I’m not sure when, but I plan to spend time with him again. I expect he will be doing well.

If it were up to you, he’d be “gone and forgotten.” But I do not want to forget him. In truth, he is not “gone and forgotten;” he is only gone and for-a-little-while. “But now he is dead,” as King David said, “wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me” (II Samuel 12:23).

The Psalmist also wrote, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15). So wherefore should I mourn? Wherefore should we avoid discussion about those who have “fallen asleep in Christ”?

“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. … The dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain …: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” – I Thessalonians 4:13-18

If You Won't Baptize Babies, Then Stop Having Church

Not too long ago, I heard a Bible teacher basically say that one of the arguments against baptizing babies (and thus, why the church where he serves does not teach or practice it as Biblical faithfulness) is that people have relied upon that one act as their ticket to Heaven; those same people, otherwise, are unfaithful to Christ and His Bride. – Granted: such a perspective of infant baptism is unacceptable within the church of God. But please, let’s be consistent!

What if a 50-year-old woman began relying upon that single act alone for her salvation? What if she trusted in the sign and not in the thing signified? What if some think that simple church attendance will save them? Will that teacher then discourage people from coming? … because “we don’t want you to mistake your attendance for an automatic transfer through the pearly gates.” What if some rely upon their financial giving? Should we then preach against any further giving and receiving of offerings? What if some weirdo thought that drinking water would get him into Heaven? Would all Christians be condemned for drinking water then? Of course, you can begin to see that this sort of thinking could not only put the preacher out of a job, but it could also become quite fatal, literally.

The problem is not with the baptism, just as it is not with the church attendance, the offering, or the drinking water. The problem is with the perspective. Does God only require you to be baptized as an infant but then expects nothing further by way of faithfulness to the covenant into which you’ve been baptized? Of course, this is not the case. But let’s not “throw the baby out with the [baptismal] water.” Perhaps we should not even throw out the baptismal water. – What is the right perspective on all this? Well, I’m glad I asked. Let’s discuss this further …. (to be continued ... maybe)

Foreknowledge of God

Have you ever heard this from a believing Christian? “I believe God has foreknowledge, but I think He may choose to not tap into it all the time.” What is that all about? What motivates such a statement? I think that it likely stems from the great difficulty in our minds to accept the fact that God has always known the depths to which evil would sink and still does not do anything to stop it within the timeframe that we think He should.

To help you understand this struggle, let me just ask you a few, potentially disturbing questions.
– Before He created the world and Adam, was God thinking about all the terrible abductions, physical abuses, torturous murders, cannibalistic mutilations, and ridiculous wars that would occur after the Fall?
– Before God said, “Let there be light,” did He realize all that His Son would have to experience at the time of His crucifixion?
– How far in advance did God know that I would have a son who would have a big hole in his heart, scores of needles poked in his body, a ventilator tube shoved down his throat several times, medicines and blood transfusions pumped into his body, a feeding tube inserted through his nostrils and then through his belly, and a surgeon’s knife across his chest, only to die 102 days after his birth?
He is supposed to be a God of love, right? What kind of love is it that allows all this, especially if He knows about it long before it ever occurs? So it seems that some have concluded that God apparently doesn’t think about it unless He wants to.

But have we not read the Holy Bible, the very Word of God? Or have we forgotten what God says of Himself in the writings of Isaiah? “I am the LORD, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things” (Isaiah 45:6-7). “I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure’” (Isaiah 46:9-10). “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9). Have we not read the first couple chapters of Job, where God initiates the discussion with Satan that would lead to Job’s great trials? Have we not read of the Holy Spirit’s prophecy concerning Judas hundreds of years before Christ (Psalms 69:25, 109:8; Acts 1:15-26), and that “Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him” (John 6:64)? Have we not noticed that the Lord says, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending” (Revelation 1:8)? Have we not read? Have we forgotten? Or do we just refuse to believe?

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” – Proverbs 3:5

Deeper Than Deep

Rich Mullins once recorded a song entitled “If I Stand” (on his album entitled Stuff of Earth), which included these words:
“There’s more that dances on the prairie than the wind
And more that pulses in the oceans than the tide.
There’s a love that is fiercer than the love between friends,
More gentle than a mother’s, when a baby’s at her side.
There’s a loyalty that’s deeper than mere sentiment
And a music higher than the songs that I can sing.
The stuff of earth competes for the allegiance
That I owe only to the Giver of all good things.”

We work and sweat to get lots of money; but what we really want is security. We pursue pleasures; but what we really want is joy. We become activists; but what we really want is purpose. We pop in a CD, sit cross-legged on the floor in a room surrounded by large windows, close our eyes, inhale deeply, and find ourselves in some enchanted sunny, flowery meadow where birds sing sweetly and butterflies smile at us; but what we really want is peace. We strategize and entice for intimacy; but what we really want is love.

Thus, we begin to understand the love and grace of the Holy Spirit when He teaches us in Philippians 4:6-7 to “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Notice that when you “let your requests be made known unto God,” He does not promise here to grant your every request; but He does promise a peace, “which passes all understanding.”

“Be not ye therefore like unto [the heathen]: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him” (Matthew 6:8); and “my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). So take comfort, because “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23).

Exercise Faith, & You Won't Believe Your Eyes!

The Holy Spirit tells us, in Hebrews 11:27, that “by faith, [Moses] … endured, as seeing Him Who is invisible.” Now how do you see Someone Who is invisible?

The preceding verses imply that Moses could have had “pleasures” and “treasures” – those things which appeal to the lust of the eyes and flesh – but instead he chose affliction and reproach. He chose rather to exercise faith in Someone Whom he could not see Who promised to lead him to a land he had not seen.

Could Abraham not see his wrinkled, gray-haired wife? Did Moses not understand the strength of Pharaoh’s horses and chariots? Did Joshua not see that big wall surrounding Jericho? Didn’t David hear King Saul say that that 9.5-foot tall giant out there, who’s carrying over 140 pounds of armor and weapons, has been “a man of war from his youth” (I Samuel 17:33)? Didn’t the 3 Hebrew boys realize that King Nebuchadnezzar could demand the fire be made much hotter? Did Daniel not know how big and hungry the lions were? Of course, they saw the challenge before them. But they also saw “Him Who is invisible,” with His mighty hand and outstretched arm (Deut. 26:8) poised to crush any who would dare to touch His anointed.

Yet the enemy, from the beginning, tempts us to trust our physical eyes. He wants us to put our faith in that which we can observe, handle, and experience. He showed Eve “that the tree [of the knowledge of good and evil] was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise” (Genesis 3:6). He showed Christ the stones which could “be made bread” and then showed “Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them” (Matthew 4:3, 8). Then Satan shows us the harlot (as mentioned in Revelation). – Our eyes see the “gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, … and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble;” our skin feels the “fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet;” our noses smell the “cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense;” our tongues taste the “wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep;” and our ears hear “the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, … and the sound of a millstone … and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride ….” – He tempts us through all of our senses toward “the fruits that [our] soul[s] lusted after …, and all things which were dainty and goodly …” (Revelation 18:12-14, 22-23).

But “faith is … the evidence of things not seen,” without which “it is impossible to please [God]” (Hebrews 11:1, 6). Therefore, exercise faith in God and His Word, and you will not believe your eyes!