Cyle Clayton

Change Of Address

2008-08-19T15:15:00.000-07:00

At least temporarily I will be blogging at http://anunnaturallife.blogspot.com

Blogger would not let me access custom templates here. So, if you're interested, click on the link and check out my new blog, An Unnatural Life.

Veritas Vos Liberatit

2008-07-30T06:32:00.000-07:00

As a person who believes veritas vos liberatit (the truth shall set you free), I spend my life trying to live the truth and convince others to live it. I am convinced that the Bible is God's Word, that it is truth, and that we can know and follow God by following the teachings in the Bible. The world I live in does not believe that, so my life is lived like a tree trying to grow against the wind. That is what the trees in west Texas do. The prevailing southwest wind blows the trees so that they grow toward the northeast. They should not. They should grow more to the south, because there is more light to the south.

I find that some who believe that the truth will set you free are shaped, not by the prevailing winds of culture, but by the battle they fight with the truth. Archeological examination of the remains of English bowmen reveals that their bodies were misshapen. Their shoulders were crooked, the bones in their arms unequally thickened because they spent their lives bending the powerful bows that drove their arrows. They were bent by the fight, and bent by the enemy. Sometimes our love of the truth bends us so that we forget that we were made to grow toward the Light . . . not toward the battle.

Our first calling is not to be warriors, but children. While violent men take the kingdom by force, heaven is populated by children, not warriors. Those who are tossed by every wind of doctrine, who are more at ease with their culture than with God's truth have another problem. Those who believe that the truth will set you free must not be imprisoned by their battle for the truth. We must remember that the battle is the Lord's and that we are His children. While our culture seems determined to doubt the absolute truths of God, we who believe in them must remain in them by remaining in Christ. Abiding in the truth will shape us. Sometimes fighting for it will mishape us.

On Apologetics And Preaching

2008-07-28T05:43:00.000-07:00

Defending the gospel is not the first responsibility of the preacher; preaching it is. - D. A. Carson (see link below)

We live in a pluralistic society; one that questions the veracity of the Bible, and is becoming increasingly Biblically illiterate. We live in our own context, but if we are to live a Christian life we must live by truths that transcends context as Christ transcends context. Much of professing Christianity today is not enamored with the preaching of the gospel; the transcendent truths of God found in the Bible. Postmoderns say that we as finite beings do not have the ability to know transcendent or absolute truth and so we cannot proclaim it. They believe we can only consider truth, make our own judgments, and live by them, but we cannot preach anything as the absolute since it has been touched by fallible humans.

Yet, that is exactly what the apostles did. They lived in a society that more pluralistic than our own. They preached the gospel of Jesus Christ in a world that constantly accused, harassed, and mocked them. The gospel spread into and through the great skeptical learning centers of the day and, by the end of the third century, some estimate that one half of the world known to the apostles was Christian.

We shoud not be dogmatic legalists, thinking that we have this all figured out. But, we can and should be convinced in the power of the gospel. We can and should preach it and, when we do, we will experience the freedom of the gospel; whether anyone else believes or not.

http://preachingtoday.com/skills/gettinggospelright2008/offirstimportance2.html

Why I Don't Believe In Psychics

2008-07-20T13:56:00.000-07:00

I don't believe in psychics, palm readers, or fortune tellers because they never win the lotto.

Risking Revival

2008-07-19T09:19:00.000-07:00

If you want to program your church's growth, don't pray for, seek, or plan for revival. If you want normal, status quo, don't pray for or seek revival. If you want to grow like the early church grew, take a chance.

Revival messes up schedules. People stay late and want to meet together often. They can't go fishing because they are enflamed to fish for men. They cancel vacations to see another person walk down an isle.

Revival overwhelms the program of a church and the program of a Christian. One time a man in our church said, "We don't need to reach anyone else. We can't take care of the people we have." I asked him how he reconciled that with the day of Pentecost; if he thought the disciples were prepared with a program to disciple the thousands saved.

Revival is risky. When God moves, there are always those who do not. They will not tolerate messed up schedules, overwhelmed church programs, and the intrusion of revived and new Christians in their lives. God's presence has always attracted some and repelled others.

We are having a revival right now. I know that all the emergent, postmodern, postchristian, and Calvinistic people say this doesn't work. Of course I'm pretty excited about baptising about 20 new believers Sunday night. I'm excited about the dozens of others who have repented and returned to their first love.

So, while it is a risk, I am grateful for revival.

The Danger Of Missions

2008-07-15T06:29:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a mission trip to Honduras. I was part of a team of 70 who did medical clinics, handed out clothing, shoes, clothing, etc. We also preached the gospel. We served about 3,000 people in three days in the clinic, preached the gospel to about 4,000 people, and saw over 500 profess faith in Jesus Christ. In a word, it was awesome.

Then I returned home to America. Thank God our church was in a season of prayer for revival. God was moving in hearts, people were experiencing revival in their hearts as they prayed, and people are being born again regularly right now. There is, however, a temptation to return to Honduras. It was simple. I was not in charge of much except preaching and serving. Every time we preached, every time we shared the gospel, someone believed. How exciting would it be to do that all the time; to see people flock to Christ regularly, to escape so much of the consumerism and soul-numbing materialism of this country, to live "on the edge" all the time. Most who go on a mission trip have the same feelings, the same longing, and the same temptation.

That is the danger of missions. A temporary directive from God can be confused with a continuous calling. I am called here. To go there without clear guidance from God would be disastrous. It would be exciting, and the potential is incredible, and things seem to always be happening, and that is what makes it dangerous.

There are other dangers. The lure of a better school system in a larger town can be a dangerous temptation to pull us away from the place God has called us. A better job that pays more money in a place God has not called us is a danger to our fulfilling God's plan for us where we are.

Our decisions must include rational thought, but every follower of Christ must walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Mission, jobs, new schools, better doctors . . . they are all possibilities, but they must be filtered out in order to hear the clear direction and calling of God.

"As Is" Church

2008-07-14T15:17:00.000-07:00

When Jesus was asked which was the greatest commandment, He didn't compartmentalize his answer like religionists of His day did. He didn't give them one commandment. He gave them two. Loving God with all we are was the first, and then, without stopping, He said, "And the scond is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Mt.22:39) Then Paul said that the process of building up the Church and of Christian maturity is very simply "speaking the truth in love." (Eph.4:15) There is no compartmentalization; no separate process for loving God, loving God's truth, and loving people. It may sound heretical, but loving God is not enough according to Jesus. Too often those of us who profess faith in Christ hav loved God and His truth like the Pharisees loved their expanded legal code. Their supposed love for God made it impossible for them to truly love people. It is not possible to love God with all our hearts unless we love our neighbors as we love ourselves, since loving God also includes obeying His commands. And the only way we will ever love people is if we love them "as is." (Thanks John Ortberg for that insight.) Loving people "as is" is not a call to complacency. It's a call to Christlikeness, since He loved us "while we were yet sinners."

Disillusioned With Church

2008-07-09T06:45:00.000-07:00

So many are disillusioned with so much of society today; from government to marriage to church. So many look for the perfect friend, the perfect mate, and the perfect church in a world in which there is no perfection. These unrealistic expectations become the seed and soil of disappointment, bitterness, and resentment and as Dietrick Bonhoeffer wrote in Life Together, "Those who love their dream of a Christian community more than the Christian community itself become destroyers of that community even though their personal intentions may be ever so honest, earnest, and sacrificial."

Presidential Proclamation For Fasting And Prayer

2008-06-25T12:39:00.000-07:00

"And whereas, it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confes their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history; that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord;

"And insomuch as we know that by his divine law nations, like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins. We have been the recipients of the choicest bountines of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown; but we have forgotten God. We have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

"It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. . . I do hereby request all people to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite at their several places of public worship and their respective homes in keeping the day holy to the Lord. . . All this being done in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the divine teachings, that the united cry of the nations will be heard on high, and answered with blessings no less than the pardon of our national sins, and the restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace."

Proclaimed March 30, 1863 by the Senate and President of the United States

Out Of The Ministry

2008-06-22T04:15:00.000-07:00

An old friend of mine committed adultery and is now out of the ministry (OOTM). Another I know had a bad experience with some lost people who were rolls of leadership and authority in the church, and after a few years he decided it was time for him to be OOTM, too. An acquaintance of mine pastored two churches, decided he was not cut out for it and then went back to his non-church previous profession. Another pastored near here, became burned out, worked OOTM for a couple of years and is now back on staff at a larger church.

It's strange how "the ministry" has come to stand for those who pastor or work on staff. It's also strange how we feel about those men who do that, and then don't. One man I know realized he was never called to be a pastor, but he is certainly not OOTM. Ministry, to him, is not a position, but rather a lifestyle. He serves his church and preaches the gospel wherever he goes, but he no longer has the title of Brother or Pastor. He is not OOTM. He is just Out Of The Pastorate.

I know many more pastors and non-pastor Christians who are OOTM at 12 noon on Sunday. The moment the last prayer is prayed, the last hand shook, they are headed to the lake, the yard, the world. They fully intend on being "good Christians" the rest of the week, and their morality is in line with the teachings of Scripture. However, ministry is the furthest thing from their minds. And, I know others who change very little on Sunday morning. They are never OOTM. They are always on-call for Christ, and life is deeper, richer, and infinitely more satisfying for them.

Tom Sawyer Baptist Church

2008-06-19T06:38:00.000-07:00

One of the first thoughts I had today was how ineffective I and my church have been at reaching the lost and unchurched of this heavily religious, and mostly unchurched region of the world. I thought about a friend of mine who has recently left pastoral ministry, but who has found dozens of lost and unchurched people in the "secular" job he now works. He had been frustrated that his church had reached few lost and unchurched. That's when I thought about Tom Sawyer. I realize there's a whole generation that probably knows nothing about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, but that's who I thought about. Aunt Polly had assigned Tom the task of whitewashing the fence. As he looked down the thirty yards of nine foot tall boards, his soul sank. It would take him forever to do it. So, instead of doing the job himself, he began to recruit boys and girls to help. Granted, he was deceptive and dishonest in his recruiting techniques, but it worked and he got Aunt Polly's fence painted quickly by dozens of kids. The reason I thought of him is that the job of reaching the lost and unchurched is not only overwhelming for any pastor or church staff, it is impossible. Leaders have to encourage and equip every member of the church to reach their own world. It multiplies laborers like Tom Sawyer did. It really is great to know that my personal job is not to reach every lost and unchurched person in the parish. It's my calling to reach some, but it's a greater and even more exciting calling to equip ane encourage all the others in our church to reach all they can. Most pastors I know, self included, need to be alot more like Tom or many more of us will end up like my friend who is out of ministry.

Anatomy Of A Crash

2008-06-18T06:30:00.000-07:00

I crashed my favorite remote control airplane last week. I had wanted this plane for a long time. With the help of a veteran RC guy, I put it together, designed the paint scheme, and had learned to fly it well. I really loved this plane and I was really proud that I had several hours on it and had not crashed it. But, there are only two kinds of RC planes. Those that have not been crashed yet, and those that have already been crashed.

These planes work just like regular planes, with one exception. The pilot stands on the ground with a radio that broadcasts all his commands to the radio receiver in the plane. Every good pilot checks his plane on the ground to make sure the radios are communicating. I did that. They were. Everything looked good, so I cranked the motor and took off. The plane got off the runway and made a strange jerk to the side. I leveled it out, it spun upside down. I flipped it back over, it looped. I cut the throttle, it headed for the ground and made a sickening crack as it hit a tree limb.

This should not have happened. Everything had checked out. "What happened?" I asked. My friend said, "You forgot to pull your antenna up." I looked down and said, "Man, how stupid." My buddy agreed. You see, my radio has a telscoping antenna. Up close on the ground it worked perfectly, but far away the plane could not hear me. It became pilotless and was doomed.

Life is alot like that. Without constant piloting (communication) from Christ, we crash. The Bible says that the crash begins when "your heart turns away so that you do not hear" (Deut. 20:17). Most of us look really good when we're close to God, but God sends us out. He sends us out from the gatherings at church and from our home groups, out from our quiet times with Him in the Word, into the World to be His hands, feet, and mouth. That's when we need to hear Him the most. Make sure your antenna is all the way up.

Sweet

2008-06-11T07:06:00.000-07:00

Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished’ and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” The answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” (Daniel 3:24-25)

I had just been in the middle of a very difficult conversation with someone and I was headed to another difficult situation. On the way, my thoughts were on all the threats and stresses I was facing. They were many, and they were heavy, and it was hot: hot like it can only be in the deep South. The forest had soaked up the Sun’s heat all day and was now releasing it along with its own humidity like stones in a sauna. The oppression of the heat and humidity combined with the oppression of my worries, and my head hung low. That’s when I smelled something sweet. At first I couldn’t identify it. I looked for what was in bloom, but I didn’t see it until I looked up. A thirty foot tall and thirty foot wide Magnolia tree stands on the corner of our yard. It was in bloom. It was then that I remembered God. It was as if I could smell His presence. Nothing around me changed, nor did the weight that I carried, but I became aware of His presence and I thanked Him that I was not alone. The Magnolia only blooms in the heat. I had not prayed for the fire, but God wanted me in it. It was His tool and so He was already in it. I had nothing to fear, except fear itself. Fear and oppression kept my head down, giving no glory to God, and so He used another of His tools to make me aware that He was with me. And then I worshiped Him, and was strengthened to walk on through the fire.

GRANDfathers

2008-06-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

I had two very different grand fathers who both taught me some very important things. Daddy Roy was a Baptist preacher. I remember watching TV in his living room beside my grandmother's bedroom. When he and Gran went to bed, I remember hearing them talk for what seemed like hours before they went to bed. I needed that. It was a personal intimacy that was absent in my own home. Paw Paw was a small-town funeral director. He broke all the sterotypes about funeral directors. He was not cold and dispassionate. He loved the people he served. One time when I knew I had terribly disappointed him, he welcomed me into his presence and loved me. From him I learned how to love those who had failed me. I have needed both lessons again and again throughout my life. And now I have two children who have no grandfather. My dad was distant before he died, and my wife's father has been gone since she was a little girl. They have heard us talk. However, I think I need to do better at making sure that even when they fail, I love them.

Are You Really Pro-Life

2008-06-09T05:12:00.001-07:00

About fifteen years ago we stood beside about a thousand other Abilenians as we lined the main road that ran in front of the mall. We were not there to protest abortion, but to promote life. The signs we carried talked about God's love and our love for the unborn. Some promoted adoption. We were cheered and jeered, but we made it our purpose to demonstrate grace to all.

I have not always been pro-life, nor have I always been anti-abortion. I am now both, but I define them differently. For a long time being pro-life meant only being anti-abortion. I began to wonder if any of those people who held those signs regularly preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. While every child is given the right of birth by God, it seems almost cruel to fight for their right to be born and then fail to tell them how they can escape the fires of hell.

Being anti-abortion is great, but it's not really pro-life if you don't tell those who have been born how to know eternal life. So, I am now gratefully pro-life and anti-abortion. I do not merely stand against injustice, but also proclaim the gospel to those who have been born. Every child deserves the right to be born, but it also deserves to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.

Confused Seas

2008-06-04T07:45:00.000-07:00

I enjoy watching The Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel about the men who fish for crab in the Bering Sea. These guys are sailers, and they are salty, and I know that Discovery Channel is making this into entertainment, but there is enough "real" that comes through to make it interesting to me. These men struggle against the sea, against each other, against the crab, and against themselves.

On a recent episode, they were all heading out to fish for Ophelia crab. Those crab are caught during the nastiest part of the year. Seas are high, ice forms on deck, and it is incredibly dangerous. They were facing a huge storm with winds gusting to 70 knots, and waves as high as 40 feet. That was bad enough, but one captain got into a real mess. As he approached the continental divide, he encountered "confused seas." Currents rising from the depths collide with wind-driven seas and waves begin to come from every direction. So, a 30 foot wave may crash ove the bow and an instant later another may strike from the side, threatening to capsize the ship and dump her crew into the freezing waters and almost sure death.

The world is a confused sea. Spiritual and cultural currents rise and collide. Storms pelt us. It is dangerous, and some do not make it. If the captain leaves the wheelhouse, or the rudder breaks, the ship is doomed. Our captain will not abandon us, but we can abandon Him and His truth. If we do, we are headed for a shipwrecked life. If we hold tight to Him and we believe and obey His truth, we will endure the storm and land safely on the other shore.

40 Days

2008-06-03T08:17:00.000-07:00

Today is the first of forty days of prayer and fasting for revival at our church and spiritual awakening in our area. Why 40 days?

Some bad things have happened after some significant 40 days periods. God destroyed almost all life on earth during a 40 day flood. In spite of being saved from the flood, Noah’s family fell into the curse of sin. Noah grew vineyards and became drunk on his own wine. One of his sons went in to see his father passed out in his own tent. Noah cursed Ham’s descendants in his shame. In spite of God sustaining Moses for 40 days without food or water, giving him the Ten Commandments, and covering Moses’ face with His glory, the people still rebelled against God and many were killed. The spies who went into the promised land as an advance team were there for 40 days. The people chose to believe the faithless report of ten of those spies rather than the faith-filled report of Joshua and Caleb. That’s the reason they wandered in the desert for forty years; “According to the number of days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection.” (Num. 14:34)

Some powerful and good things have happened as well. God did sustain Noah and his family during that flood. God did give His Word to us through Moses during that 40 days on the mountain. God did deliver the Hebrew people into the promised land, and Joshua and Caleb were richly rewarded by God for believing in Him. Jesus overcame temptation during 40 days in the desert. After the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, He taught the believers for 40 days before He ascended into Heaven. We have almost none of those words recorded, but I believe that those 40 days prepared the Apostles to lead the church and deliver “the apostles’ doctrine” to us.

The difference between the bad and the good, the curse and the blessing, was not the 40 day period. It was the response to God at the end of that 40 days. For some reason, they needed 40 days to get where God wanted them to be. The place is called “belief.” “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Heb. 11:6)

When I scheduled our revival for July 13th this year, I did not know that date was 10 years to the date from the first revival meeting I scheduled here. That means that 10 years ago to the date, June 3rd, 1998, we began to fast and pray for revival. We did not know what God would do then, but we believed in God, and He transformed our church and our community. We do not know what God will do now, but we believe. That is the key. For 40 days, we will fast and pray. For 40 days we will believe that God can do what we cannot. And, if you cannot believe that today, then join us for these 40 days and I believe God will bring you to the point of faith.

A Sovereign Move Of God

2008-06-03T08:15:00.000-07:00

And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive. (Jer. 29:13-14)

The last great move of God had been more than 40 years before. Churches were in decline. There were more people in the pubs than in the churches in many towns. The police were overburdened by crime. Then God moved and within six months over 100,000 people were born again in the great spiritual awakening called the Welsh Revival. It all started with small groups of young people praying for God to move. Then a young preacher named Evan Roberts preached a simply sermon with four points: (1) you must put away any unconfessed sin; (2) you must put away any doubtful habit; (3) you must obey the Spirit promptly; and (4) you must confess Christ publicly. Men were converted standing in their fields working, coal miners in the mines, women in their homes as the Holy Spirit convicted them of their sin and their need for Christ. Taverns closed. Crime dropped. People paid old debts and made old wrongs right. The coal mines slowed down because the mules used to pull the coal cars could no longer understand the born again coal miners, since the miners were no longer cursing them. They just stood there.

God moved people to pray and they obeyed. He sent a simply message and they obeyed. They sought Him with their whole hearts and they found Him and He brought them back from captivity. He gathered them from all the nations and places where He had driven them, because they sought Him.

Do you want to find Him? Do you want to see a sovereign move of God? Do you want to be free . . . again?

Russian Roulette

2008-05-19T07:05:00.000-07:00

The game is simple and exciting. A single bullet is placed in the cylinder of a six shot revolver, the cylinder slammed home, and the hammer partially pulled back so that the cylinder will spin freely. The cylinder is spun, and the pistol cocked; ready to fire. The barrel is placed at the temple and, after an agonizing and thrilling moment, the trigger is pulled. The game is called Russian Roulette. Every time the trigger is pulled, there is a one in six chance that the hammer will strike and the powder will ignite. The young man sits in adult diapers, staring blankly into the room. He played the game only once, the hammer finding a cartridge in the cylinder after the first spin. The bullet entered his right temple and exited just forward of his left. Somehow he survived. You can decide if that is lucky or unlucky, while you reintroduce yourself to him every 15 seconds. That is the length of his memory span now. How many unclean thoughts can you entertain before your thoughts become actions? How many times can you explode at your children before they are provoked to wrath? How many times can you skip church before your love and works grow cold, and then how long will you live that way before you realize it? How many days can you go without the Word before your spiritual blood is anemic? How many times can you whisper before you are caught in a web of gossip? How many critical thoughts can you think about someone before you hate them? How many times can you cheat before you are caught, take before you are found out, or look before you touch? Jesus told his disciples “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.” Watch and pray; stay awake, be vigilant, remain faithful. How many times? Maybe only one. Maybe more, but eventually the hammer will find the cartridge.

Cowbird Spirituality

2008-05-14T15:17:00.000-07:00

Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn away from it and pass on. (Proverbs 4:14-15)

I don’t like cowbirds. They eat insects, so I should probably be happy to have them around. I haven’t been for about three years now. The reason is simple. They are parasitic birds. These black birds with brown heads lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. The other birds hatch the cowbird eggs and raise the chicks as their own. Cowbird chicks often push the mother bird’s real chicks out of the nest. There are all sorts of spiritual parallels here, but it all boils down to this. God didn't call us to walk as close to the world as possible. He called us out of the world, sot that we would live differently. If the mother birds realized they were raising a cowbird chick that would eventually kill their own chicks, they'd kick it out. They, however, are just ignorant birds. We are not. We have been given a book full of the description of sin and righteousness, and we have been given the Holy Spirit to teach, convict, and strengthen us. We are without excuse. You may be thinking that you can incubate the things of the world and handle it, but one day they will hatch. The consequences can often be as tragic as they are in the world of birds.

Ignoble

2008-05-11T08:49:00.000-07:00

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. (1 Timothy 1:15)

Ignoble means "of low birth or common origin; characterized by baseness, lowness, or meanness; of low character." I remembered Paul’s story, how in the eyes of Christ, all his noble religious background was ignoble. To put it simply, Paul learned that compared to the righteousness of Christ all his righteousness was worthless.

I thought about the woman with the issue of blood who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. There was a noble humility in her, that she did not presume upon Jesus. In faith, in brokenness, she touched him. I thought about the sinful woman who crashed the dinner party at Simon the Pharisee’s home; how she wept over her sin at the feet of Jesus. Then I thought about the way I had lived, and one particular night of sin that took place over two decades ago. On that night I ingested enough alcohol and chemicals to kill anyone. At least that’s what a physician friend of mine told me several years later. He made it clear that I wasn’t lucky to be alive today; I was a miracle. That seems so wrong, that God would work a miracle on my behalf when the miracle itself was to deliver me from willful, rebellious, depraved sin. I identify with the sinful woman, not with the humble woman. I identify with Paul’s sentiment that when it comes to sin, “I am foremost.” I am ashamed of that day so many years ago and so many other days, and I am amazed as well, that God would preserve my physical life so that a decade later He could manifest His saving grace in me.

Just like the sinful woman and the Pharisee, we sit as judge and jurors of ourselves. We carry on a conversation about who is better and who is worse, who is the greatest sinner. Sometimes we justify ourselves, thinking that we are not the worst, and other times we condemn ourselves thinking that we are worse than all others. We are all depraved, dead and lost in sin unless Jesus redeems us. There is nothing noble in us unless Christ is in us. That we draw another single breath, any of us, should make us wonder at the grace of God. We are all so base, so low, so lost, that salvation is always a miracle. I often wonder at the stars, at the ability of a bee to fly, and at the power that drives the winds and waves, but none of those things is anything compared to the wonder I experience when I consider the grace of God in light of my own depravity.

A Devlish Diversion

2008-05-08T06:54:00.000-07:00

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)

Most of us, when hinking about Spiritual warfare, think about a one-on-one confrontation with the Devil. Some rebuke him, some bind him, some speak against him. It's interesting that Satan cannot possibly hear everything spoken about him, since he is not omnipresent. As a created being, he can only be in one place at one time. He certainly has allies in the fight, and they may number in the millions or billions, but spiritual warfare is rarely about the demons out there. It is usually about our own thoughts.

Paul had been accused of weakness and cowardice. The false teachers in Corinth were mud-slinging politicians. They didn’t like the truth Paul taught, so they attacked him. Paul refused to respond as they had toward him. Instead he reminded the Corinthians that they were not to fight fire with fire. Instead they were to fight fire with the Word of God (Truth). The truth of God's Word would pull down the strongholds of false teachings that held many captive, casting down every argument that presumed to know better than God, and taking every thought captive to Christ.

Satan is real and demons are real and Scripture tells us to take them seriously. Yet, more often than we realize they are simply diversions to the real battle: the battle over what you believe. Don't get diverted. Let the Word of God infiltrate your mind. Apply it to your own mind. Don’t allow Satan and your own thoughts to divert you from the continuous ingestion and digestion of the Word of God. Fight the good fight of comparing your thoughts with His Truth. Bring every one of your thoughts captive to Christ and His Word. That is the battle every believer fights. That is the battle every believer can win, in Christ who strengthens us all.

Dead Batteries

2008-05-07T09:02:00.000-07:00

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)

I fly remote control airplanes. I use a radio with a rechargeable battery pack to give commands to a radio receiver in the aircraft. The plane itself is powered by an alcohol burning motor, but the servos that operate the throttle, rudder, and every other aspect of the plane are powered by another rechargeable battery. Recently a friend of mine who also flies these planes had an accident. His plane ran out of battery power before it ran out of engine power. The plane continued to fly for awhile. If you had seen it from a distance, you would have thought that all was well. However, it wasn’t long before the plane, without power to steer a course, crashed.

Sometimes we are like that. From a distance we appear to be doing well. We may be teachers or preachers or leaders of children or simply servants of God wherever we live, and we continue to do those things all the while knowing we are out of control inside. We know the crash is coming. We hope the damage will be minimal, but sometimes it is catastrophic. A couple of weeks ago I went to fly one of my planes. After my friend’s crash, I had installed a meter that would warn me of a low battery. Before I took off, the meter said I was charged. I needed to adjust the planes motor, so I landed it shortly after I took it off. It had only flown a minute or two. I adjusted the motor, and then looked at the battery meter. The meter said my battery was almost dead. If I had taken off again without stopping to recharge my batteries, my plane would have crashed like my friend’s.

It is not enough to teach the Word. It is not enough to worship the Lord. It is not enough to be thankful. All of that will be powerless if we have not first charged our souls by regularly, continually, abiding in the presence of the Lord by abiding in His Word. Greg Heisler, in “Spirit-Led Preaching,” wrote, “The Word becomes flesh in us and is indwelling. The Word will not pass with power through us until it has first dwelt with power in us.” The truth is this. You will crash personally and in ministry if the Word of God does not first dwell in you; doing its work on you before you use it to do its work on others.