Waxing on Getting There

Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord,and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,over the man who carries out evil devices! (Psalm 37:1-7)

I listened to 3 messages from one of my favorite speakers today...Ravi Zacherias.
I am always challenged and encouraged by listening to Ravi and today was no exception. In one message Ravi spoke of Habbakuk's complaint to the Lord as the prophet saw the increase of wickedness and violence in his day:
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,and you will not hear? Or cry to you "Violence!"and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity,and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed,and justice never goes forth.For the wicked surround the righteous;so justice goes forth perverted. (Habbakuk 1:2-4)
A question that would be understandable today. If you read the book of Habbakuk you will see how the Lord pronounced woe upon the bloodthirsty, the greedy and spoke of the foolishness of idolatry and then He speaks a word that alone gives the believer hope in the darkest day:
But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him. (Habbakuk 2:20)
The prophet takes hope and rejoices in God. I rejoice in God!
Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines,the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord;I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength;he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places. (Habakkuk 3:17-19)
Ravi finished his message by reminding the listener that the same God who delivered us into this world will bring us safely home, if we are trusting in Christ Jesus. The One who suffered the violence and evil, punishment and death for us all. If we will repent of our evil ways and put our faith in Him, we can know that we will get there no matter how dark the road may look.

Waxing on Beautiful Feet

Our youth group has been taking an evangelism course and last night went out to practice what they had been learning. Not everyone was glad to see them as they handed out tracts in the mall but that didn't seem to bother them. They arrived back at the school where we were finishing prayer meeting obviously excited. They had no great dramatic stories to tell but they had just finished delivering the greatest news ever known to mankind!

Scripture says in Romans 10 that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"
Wonder where I would be if noone ever preached the good news to me? I know where I would be headed...keep them feet looking good and keep preaching that good news of Jesus Christ! Never know who you might be rescuing from being lost for all eternity!

Waxing on Praise to the King

As He was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples." He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out." (Luke 19:37-40)


I would have never guessed that I would be talking about American Idol in consecutive blogs but...wow! The opening song that the final 8 contestants sang was "Shout to the Lord." Yeah, last week we heard the Clark Brothers do "This Little Light of Mine" and this week the final eight do "Shout to the Lord!"
This is American Idol? Apparently the "Idol Gives Back" show ended last night with "Shout to the Lord" but replaced "My Jesus" with "My Shepherd." Tonight they sang the song with no changing of the words.

My Jesus, My Savior Lord there is none like You All of my days, I want to praise The wonders of Your mighty love My Comfort, My Shelter Tower of refuge and strength Let every breath, all that I am Never cease to worship You Shout to the Lord, all the earth Let us sing. Power and majesty, praise to the King. Mountains bow down and the seas will roar At the sound of Your name I sing for joy at the work of Your hands Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand Nothing compares to the promise I have in YOU! -Darlene Zschech

Did I mention that this was on American Idol?

Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name;give to him glorious praise! Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you. All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name." (Psalms 66:1-4)

Waxing on God and TV

Some irony is just too much to ignore...this week on American Idol, The Clark Brothers sang "This Little Light of Mine," yeah, the same one you might remember from Bible School. It also included the chorus of "Jesus on the Mainline." In the same show, Dolly Parton sang "Jesus and Gravity." It wasn't great but conveyed a message of simple faith in Jesus as well as the need to stay humble...on American Idol! Also on Americal Idol, the show continued to talk about its upcoming "Idol Gives Back" and showed viewers some of the work that has been done from last year's show where 76 million dollars was given to help the needy in Africa and the United States. Pretty cool stuff, and I know I am not telling you something you probably don't already know but what made this so ironic to me was the same night (after American Idol) I was in the mood to hear some preaching and I flicked to one of the "Christian" networks...what I saw was disturbing and embarrassing.
After watching some of this, if I didn't know better I would think that God lived in Costa Mesa and unless I sent some money to Costa Mesa, He couldn't bless me. I heard all kinds of scripture, taken out of context, in an arrogant attempt to justify this incessant plea to send money to them, so that the blessing could be "released in my life." According to these people a "wealth transfer" was on the way and it was pretty easy to see where the wealth was being transferred to. It was enough to make me sick. All I heard was give us money, money, money and you will get all you want from God...I just don't see it in the scriptures.
Jesus said give but He said to give to the poor and the needy. I saw more real concern for the needy on American Idol than I saw on this "Christian" network. All I heard was send us money so you can get rich! Have the house you want, drive the car you want! "Your financial breakthrough is coming!" Jesus was pretty clear that these things are what the UNBELIEVERS spend their time thinking about...Jesus didn't say give to get! Not on this earth anyway. He said our treasure is in heaven. Wake up before it is too late!!

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)
Jesus also said that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks...pretty easy to see what the hearts of these speakers were full of...the love of money. That is all they talked about!!
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24)

So if earthly prosperity is what God is all about....what about the people of faith who live on the street (by the way, Jesus was homeless)? What about the Christians who have had their homes foreclosed on in the housing crunch?
What about the Christian war veterans, who have lost legs and eyesight and their families have spent everything they have just to make their life tolerable?
What about Christian parents of special needs children who have 6 digit medical bills?
And what about those Christians who have been believing these lies for 20 years and have sent so many "seeds" that they have NO MORE SEEDS LEFT?
Repent you who devour widow's homes and confuse the weak-minded! You who live on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence, in the name of Jesus! You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. Repent! Give your riches away to those in need! Open your eyes and give to the poor! Honor Christ with your riches!
Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. (James 5:3)
Our God does not live in Costa Mesa and you don't have to send a dime there to receive His grace! His glory fills the whole earth and He gives liberally to all who asks! He gave His own Son to ransom your soul from eternal damnation! He loves you with an everlasting love and His love does not cost you a penny! The price for our sins has been paid by the precious blood of the Lamb Who alone is worthy to be praised!
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:7-11)