Hell's Best Kept Secret

God is so good! I found this from Ray Comfort's "Atheist Central" blog after trying to respond to Neil's "Eternity Matters" most recent posting. It's a sermon titled "Hell's Best Kept Secret."  I highly recommend this, as it is well worth your time!

The Island [Looking for the Promised Land]

Remember back in the day, when the proposition of "If you were stranded on a desert island and had a choice of one companion, who would it be?" was playfully offered for mischievous revelations into a persons desires or perhaps glimpses into their own little picture of paradise? I do! Now, here I am older and having absolutely no doubt whom I would have on my Island, I am content to the point of sinful neglect of the horizontal aspect of God's second greatest command. I love the privacy of my Island. I go to work, behave like a pleasant sort of fellow that's quick to tend to any perceived need I can meet, and the concept of ministry-minded reaching out with the love of Christ is alive and well. But .... I'm finding it hard to yoke myself to a community of believers. I don't think I'm hard. I don't think myself inflexible. I just can't find the ballpark. For the sake of clarity, perhaps it's easier to understand by looking back to an earlier example of renewal and covenant as expressed in 1636 by the church in Boston. 
"We do give up our selves unto that God whose name is Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ... and unto our blessed Lord Jesus Christ ... promising [ by the help of His Spirit and grace] to cleave upon Him ... by faith in a way of Gospel obedience, as becometh His covenant people forever.   

We do also give up our offspring unto God in Jesus Christ, avouching the Lord to be our God, and the God of our children, and ourselves, with our children to be His people, humbly adoring this grace of God, that we and our offspring with us, may be looked upon as the Lord's. 

We do also give up our selves one unto another in the Lord, and according to the will of God, freely covenanting and binding our selves to walk together as a right ordered congregation and church of Christ, in all ways of His worship, according to the holy rules of the Word of God, promising in brotherly love, faithfully to watch over one another's souls." 

This is not a foreign language or a foreign land. I would have to say that this works if you’re faithful in your determination to honor your covenant. The obstacles that I see are basic. They're peppered all over what we just read ...Gospel obedience [you actually have to live what you say and the Gospel is found in the Bible not the message] ... give up ourselves [this involves dumping your 12-step self-help, self esteem, self indulgence for a one step move to the cross] ... avouching the Lord to be our God [this is not you, forget your inner divinity and be a tool God can use] ...give up our offspring unto God in Jesus Christ [this is not the guy with spiked hair leading the youth group espousing the freedom from the law by God's grace so you can get your tattoos and whatever else that may make you relevant to today's cesspool] ... our offspring with us [how un cool is that --- offspring connected to their family, we all know the offspring have their own pew in the back of the church --- family has to work before church works] ...binding ourselves to walk together as a right ordered congregation [probably unlikely until we get the family thing straight and Gospel obedience --- how lame is that, after all "casting crowns" said not to strap ourselves to the Gospel and they're famous and not narrow-minded] ...faithfully to watch over one another's souls [when was the last time you were corrected and happy about it?].

I guess I'm whining. I'm also looking for the Promised Land. The puritans and the pilgrims came here in hopes of starting anew. They were fleeing a corrupt and vile homeland. Where can you flee to now, when the heart is hopelessly flawed and so very inescapable? It follows me everywhere, even to my Island, even to the Promised Land. In spite of this, I will not despair, nor will I roll over and play dead. I've committed myself to the One that Was and Is, and Is to come. He is coming. 

Oh, by the way, If you were wondering who I would pick to be on my Island ...It's my wife Cherry. Now if that's not a God thing, I don't know what is. "We do give up our selves unto that God whose name is Jehovah, Father, Son and Holy Spirit."

I'm Still Here

I'm still here.

What a great day!

     This is the day that the Lord has made … that the Lord has made … that the Lord ordained? You better believe it. I was surprised. He wasn’t. He gave this day to all of us and as for me I will praise and thank the Lord for it. Every day is special and every day is His despite the view from here, from our particular perspective. This is a comfort to me, a reassurance, and a cause for the hope He has provided for me in my weakness. 

     So, What makes me so gleefully optimistic today? I spent the day freezing on a street corner, holding my protest sign against abortion, and basically spitting into the wind. Ah! But I got to do it with a bunch of the sweetest pit bulls on the planet, whacked out weirdo’s that do more than sit on pews. People I had met for the first time, and I might add, delighted by my presence, oh! … And might I mention, a man I also have desired to meet for a long time. This guy can preach! He certainly surprised me with his depth and passion, not to mention his intelligence and ability to articulate. He has to be one of the most unpopular, unrelenting bulldogs of our day. Of course, there was no media presence and it didn’t matter. There was little hostility except for an occasional “California wave.” Like I said, we were spitting in the wind. I didn’t want to stop, though, and now we’re home and for the first time in a long time, I’m motivated. I’m more than convinced that apathy is a disease that is curable, and maybe it will be cured in my day.

     So … with whom was I standing on the street corner with, freezing my basoombas, and loving it? Alan Keyes. Yeah! This guy is trouble, he’s radical and over the edge, but … after listening to him, watching him, researching him, dissecting him without apology, I’m convinced of his genuineness and his integrity. He places himself under God’s scrutiny, and ours. Contrary to the ways of popular politics, principle reigns supreme, along with its origin. He is the John Quincy Adams of the day, unpopular yes, but rooted in the resolve of his beliefs and gratifyingly unaffected with the overwhelming opposition he faces. He shared one of his despairing moments with us. He told us that he once said … “God, you’re all I have. Wait, what did I just say? God, You’re all I have?” He says he was stricken at that moment with the absurdity of what comes out of our mouths. What more could we possibly need?

     It occurred to me then just how corrupted and obstructed our vision can be. He also spoke of the audacity in thinking that we can actually “save” anyone. God saves. The truth lies more in where we stand. I want to stand in the truth of God’s righteousness and in the surety of His word. I can do all things through Him. Actually, He allows me, as His child to hold His guiding and reassuring hand thru the days of my life.

     Yes, this is the day the Lord has made. Take hold of His hand and take a walk with Him!

HEALTH "CARE"

This showed up at work not to long ago and I haven't a clue as to it's origin, but it does lend credence to the old saying that truth is stranger than fiction.

One Life

     One life; one life out of billions of others. Purpose and value swallowed and devoured by the sheer insignificance of being, of smallness, a voice robbed of existence by the roar of nothing less than the same. Seemingly endless in its persistence, masses, volume, and magnanimity, the onslaught prevails … almost! Our smallness would defeat us, if it could, by default. After all, life is just a vapor.

      This is the basis for my faith, or rather my faith in Jesus. It was just one life, but from the time I was first introduced to Jesus I knew his voice. I can’t offer a definitive explanation other than even as a young boy I knew there was no other like Him. It was His voice that I knew and trusted. Now, I was surrounded, like the rest of us, with the awakenings of the promise of newness, common with youthful discovery and the assumptions of ownership. I had not yet read Ecclesiastes. The philosophies of the time sounded so good, so new, and even compatible with those of Jesus. I prided myself on knowing of His engaging the evils of establishment. I did so also. I still heard His voice with the help of my ever so carefully and newly enlightened worldview. I did some stupid things. I discovered the age of accountability. I heard his voice again. He said, very clearly this time, after I had been doing something I knew was wrong [drugs], and I remember this like it was yesterday, “You will never be the same person you were yesterday. There’s no going back.” I remember feeling like the image on the other side of the mirror looking back at who I was the day before with no way of returning to where I belonged. I felt small and alone. I wish I could say at this point that I became wise to the lies. I didn’t. I dug myself an absolutely astonishing pit.  Yet still, I could hear His voice. Incredible!

     I’m not a great climber. It took years to climb out of that hole. Now I’m looking at the mountain I want to climb. With so much time spent and an account wanting for returns, I still look through the mirror with the anticipation of being reunited with the person Jesus intended and intends still in making me. There is a price for disobedience and it lasts a lifetime. So now I’m ready to be obedient but like I said the piper is still there waiting to be paid. I can hear an objection at this point, after all am I not a new creation? Yes, I am…one with a lifetime of consequences. I’m not whining though, I feel incredibly blessed. I believe in happy endings. I’ll be just a vapor but not just. I’ll be a vapor trail … Oh! Yeah! Whatever time is left for me I want to leave a trail that leads others home, back to reality, back to Jesus.

     This is the basis for my faith. I know now that I’m just “one life.” One life out of billions. Jesus was one life. He talks to me with a still small voice. Size doesn’t matter to Him; He created the universe above us and in us. He’s more than just the natural, more than supernatural…He created both.  He’s not misled with the philosophy of the day because He’s the truth. Jesus always was and is life. He came to give me purpose, show me value, give me His voice, and transform my littleness into more than I can fathom. I may not be able to prove Him to you, but just ask Him and He’ll prove Himself in your life. He breathed it into you and sustains you even in your rebellion, and patiently waits right up to that last breath. This is the basis for my faith in Christ and in life…one life.

Why

    Why do we look like them? I have no problem with the necessity of taking Osama's life but was sickened by the picture in the paper of a huge crowd celebrating. It was the same feeling I had watching film footage of Arab nations celebrating after the destruction of the twin towers. Justice ... can it be served without wallowing in the gutter? I'm as guilty of a vengeful heart as the next guy but this reminds me of children sticking their tongues out at each other after inflicting their childish insults and injury. Is it not possible to rise above? God help us ... is there anyone else out there that see's this as wrong? Why do we look like them?