Being Sure . . .

I know that there are times when we simply have to make choices and we just can't hear God's voice on which direction to go. In those times I trust in Psalm 37:23 which says: The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way. That was English Standard Version. The New King James Version translates it: The steps of a [good] man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way.

A lady in our church once pointed that out to me when I was struggling to make a decision and not hearing God's voice. Since then I have stood on it—I make my best decision and trust that as I have sought Him, and sought to honor Him with my life, and earnestly desired His will in my life and not my own, He promises to establish my steps. Trusting that, I just make my best decision.

With that said, I have been reminded in these last few days of the importance of seeking God's heart for decisions and hearing His voice when we are able to. It is so critical when the enemy casts doubt to be able to go back to the decision that took us where we are and say, "No! I know I am where God wants me, and I know that He is not going to leave me alone in it."

Last week I did a graveside service for a man who was part of a wonderful, long-established family in our area. As the hour approached, knowing that there would be a crowd there which would include many, many of our area's long-time natives and families, I began to feel nervous and start to doubt my notes and let all sorts of insecurities creep in. Last night I experienced the same thing when I spoke at a revival service at a church in Paso Robles and as the time to speak approached I saw five other area pastors in the crowd. Suddenly I was nervous, questioning my notes, etc.

In both cases I returned to the same place. I was able to say, "No. I will not be afraid. I sought God's heart about whether I should do this. I have sought His heart in preparing it. He is not a God that abandons His children, but an Immanuel God who is with me, colaboring with me, beside me, and in me." There was such tremendous peace in knowing I had sought His heart and will from the moment I was asked to do them all the way through the process. It gave me a place of assurance to go back to and take my anxieties captive to. My God does not sit back, arms crossed, judging me—when I seek His heart and seek His will He colabors with me as my biggest fan and friend and helper. He is, truly, a great God, and both of those services were anointed by His Holy Spirit.

Atheists Say It Better Than I Do . . .

(Note: If you haven't read my Tuesday, Oct. 20th post, "Where's the Fall?" then you should read that first as it is the context for this post. Also, I would value a few of you trying out the comment feature at the bottom of this post. If you have subscribed to email notifications of new posts and you are in the email viewing this you need to click on the post title, "Atheists Say It Better Than I Do," to get to the web page to be able to comment. Someone told me yesterday that they tried the comment feature and it didn't work. I value your comments and thoughts and insight and knowing you are out there. I need and grow from your thoughts and comments as well, so I would like to test the feature and make sure it works. Thanks bunches!)

I made my post on Tuesday evening about the critical difference between evolution and Creation (as recorded in the Bible). The thrust of that difference is that evolution (whether accident or God initiated) removes the Fall, hence the need for a Savior, and ultimately undermines the whole Gospel message.

Literally just a few hours after making that post I curled up in bed and started leafing through Dennis Petersen's book Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation. On page 75 he writes, "Can an atheist understand the battle better than most Christians? Note what one wrote:". He then goes on to quote from a 1978 American Atheist periodical which says the following (punctuation, spelling, and capitalization are exactly as quoted):

Christianity has fought, still fights, and will fight science to the desperate end over evolution, because evolution destroys utterly and finally the very reason Jesus' earthly life was supposedly made necessary. Destroy Adam and Eve and original sin, and in the rubble you will find the sorry remains of the son of god. Take away the meaning of his death. If Jesus was not the redeemer who died for our sins, and this is what evolution means, then Christianity is nothing.

Christianity, if it is to survive, must have Adam and the original sin and the fall from grace, or it cannot have Jesus the redeemer who restores to those who believe what Adam's disobedience took away.

What all this means is that Christianity cannot lose the Genesis account of creation like it could lose the doctrine of geocentricism and get along. The battle must be waged, for Christianity is fighting for its very life. (Note from Erick: Geocentricism is the belief that the sun orbits around the earth.)

This atheist said it better than I did! I found it fascinating to stumble on this just hours after sharing (far more clumsily) what I had about exactly that same point. We can't afford to doubt the Bible, nor can we afford to say, "What does it matter if it is a literal six days or figurative?"—and we don't need to say it. Literal, Biblical Creation is dependable, supported, and true.

A Good Week . . .

It has been a good week. I know that it hasn't for all of you, and I am sorry for that and I stand in my heart beside you, but I wanted to share a bit about our week.

Last Saturday I had the privilege of doing a wedding for a young couple who came up through our youth group and who are both moving out of their parent's homes and in to their first home together. They have been dating five years and have honored God with their values and choices and the way they have handled their relationship. We also, this week, got to spend a few hours talking and praying with another former youth grouper who is passionate about walking in God's purpose for his life and not straying from it. Days like those are truly a joy and encouragement to a youth leader!

We had a massive storm from Monday evening through Wednesday morning—8.8" in a little over 24 hours! It is the first time I have seen our ponds full while the grass is still brown! The storm (and subsequent wet hills) brought a peace with lighting our woodburning stove. To commmorate that favorite "first days of a fire" we broke it in by roasting Hebrew National beef franks in it on a stick (thanks, Andy, for introducing us to this tradition!). I have included a couple of pictures of our ponds/property as well as one of our wood stove tradition!

On Friday we were blessed to be able to take a family day and join Rich and Carolyn Lingor on Rich's boat at Lake Lopez for some relaxation and fishing. We went after Blue Gill and, under Rich's expertise and Carolyn's expert opening of the live well, we caught close to forty fish! It was a banner day and we plan to celebrate by frying them up tonight and eating well! I have included a few pictures of some proud girls with their individual catches and with Rich and the net of fish that reminds me of the net Jesus' disciples must have had (a lot bigger, of course) and of the time Jesus cooked fish for the disciples on the beach after His resurrection. I'd say we are following a good precedent!

I have been excited about some of the things God has been showing me this week and last about parallel, interwoven threads that run through history from Creation to Revelation. Four of these threads include:

1) Satan's attack strategy of first inserting doubt in to a believer's heart and mind about God's love, trustworthiness, goodness, Word, and power and then, after doubt works its way in, tempting the believer to think that he or she can find true pleasure, wisdom, or provision apart from God (on their own).

2) The thread of faith that stands in conviction of God's love, trustworthiness, goodness, Word, and power and commits to that conviction. This is the thread a few men and women choose to walk as God's friend.

3) The thread of the cross and resurrection of Jesus, and of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on God's people, that runs foreshadowed through the Old Testament (and gives us understanding of the Old Testament), and through the pages of history today that we live in (between Acts and Revelation), and on in to our hope of Heaven in the future.

4) The thread of God having a people set apart to be intimate with Him, to minister to Him, and to show His glory to the world. We are those people, heirs of Abraham and Israel and Jesus, set apart to minister to God, to be intimate with God, and to show God's glory and invitation to the same to the world.

I taught on these four threads last Sunday, and will teach more about it tomorrow, and it has stunned me how an understanding of them helps us understand history, current events, our walk, the attack against us, the role of faith, our amazing identity in Christ, and our purpose.

Additionally this week, I feel like God has given me a vision for our monthly family services to teach (and show some awesome videos on) why God's Word, the flood, Creation, the ressurection, etc. are believable and scientifically and historically supported. It is time for the rest of the world to be on the defensive and apologetic for their unsupported beliefs, not for Christians to be ashamed of, and unable to stand strong on, the truth!

It has been a good week. Thanks, all, for all your prayers and love and encouragement.

(These pictures are also on my Facebook page if you want to see them in better detail.)

In the Beginning . . .

God is really working in me through Genesis. I never expected the study of it to be so rich (I fell in to the "that is Old Testament" trap!). I am teaching in it at church (up to Abraham and Isaac), Mary Ann is teaching in it at Children's Church (her curriculum chose it, not her!), and I am teaching our history class to Bethany for homeschool and find myself starting in, surprise!, Genesis.

Two things have really struck me there which I wanted to share. I am teaching them both to Bethany as the "eyes" to weigh and see history through.

First: The value of our free choice in God's eyes.
God didn't have to put the forbidden tree in the Garden. If He hadn't, all things would have been permissible. There wouldn't have been a "choice" of disobedience. But, He chose to give us a choice. He so valued our free will choice that He gave it to us, knowing in advance it would cause Him to later have to lay His own Son on the altar for us. This free choice in man, which God valued so much, is one of the driving forces of history. Since God didn't make us love Him, history becomes driven by His pursuit of us wooing us back until we CHOOSE Him. Evil runs rampant in the world because we CHOOSE against Him.

Second: The temptation of Adam and Eve.
This event first reminds us that there is a real enemy and a real war and this, in itself, drives much of history. Then, it show us the enemy's tactics (and these haven't really changed!). First, before tempting Eve, he placed doubt in Eve about God. He caused her to doubt God's Word ("Did God really say..."), God's trustworthiness ("You won't die..."), and God's love for her—planting doubt in her about it by implying God was holding something back from her for selfish reasons ("He knows you will become like Him...").

Then, (and I believe ONLY then—I don't believe Eve would have entertained the temptation if she wasn't first doubting God), from a place of now doubting God, Satan tempted Eve. Because she now doubted God she entertained the idea that she could find provision ("When she saw it was good for food"), pleasure ("she saw it was a delight to the eyes"), and wisdom ("she saw it was desirable to make one wise") apart from God. Isn't that the core of our battles today? The temptation to believe that we can find either provision, pleasure, or wisdom apart from God. Unfortunately, it is only counterfeit provision, pleasure, and wisdom. So, maybe the way to battle that is also seen in this story. To not counter the temptation as much as going after the root of doubts about God that even allow us to entertain the temptation in the first place.

From the Fall comes the explanation for the history we see and the situation today. Man became afraid of God, hid from God, evil entered man's heart (just look at the first two children—Cain and Abel!), the ground became cursed and labor (work and childbearing) became hard, death came upon man, sickness entered, etc.

Just some thoughts to share. Love you all!

The Battle to Not Be Offended at God . . .

I am on our local volunteer fire department as both a firefighter and a chaplain. We fight structure fires, respond to vehicle accidents, fight wildland fires which are our largest threat in this area (the picture shows a fire we trained fighting at the Wildland Fire School in 2007), and respond to medical calls. Because I live on the edge of the response area I don't make nearly as many calls as most of the guys on the department, but between pastoring for 9 years, and being on our fire department for 12 years, I have seen and offered counsel for some really hard things.

Last night some guys from the volunteer fire department I am a member of were on a very hard call involving a young child. Things like this---which every human being inevitably comes face to face with---are a tragic, stark, and all to frequent reminder that in this fallen world we don't win all the battles, and I think it is in times like this that the rubber meets the road in our walk of faith, and in our attitude and expectancy toward God.

I know a man who is filled with joy at the love of God and, who, if he sees less than 15 miracles a week in his ministry, considers it a boring week. Yet, he has a daughter suffering from a horrible disease. What a temptation to become angry and bitter toward God, or to start down the road of not pressing in toward (and expecting) greater and greater victory.

I have met a lady who loves the Lord maybe more than anyone I know and who sees the impossible bow daily in her ministry in Mozambique with blind eyes opening and deaf ears hearing and even the dead rising, and yet has endured tremendous hardship both personally and in her ministry.

A pastor I have heard speak, and whose teachings and walk I admire tremendously, has seen cancer literally fall off of people before his eyes, and yet he lost his dad to an agonizing death from cancer. Another pastor I have heard speak and whose writings I have drawn on tremendously is filled with joy for the Lord despite having lost both a wife and a daughter way too young.

Times like these are such a challenge to our faith. We find ourselves challenged to not be angry or offended at God, or to not blame God for things that are so clearly not seen in Jesus, who was the express image of the Father. We find ourselves challenged to still consider God "good" in a way that simply is good as any child would see and define good. God tells us to pursue good, and avoid bad, so clearly He expects us to know the difference. I feel like sometimes we spend way too much time trying to find a way to call things good that are bad, and trying to pin things on God that are clearly of the devil and a result of a fallen world. God's heart and will have been revealed to us at both ends of the Bible---in the initial creation and the garden, and in the picture of heaven in Revelation. Both are good and free of pain and sickness and sorrow. Jesus even teaches us to pray that the Father's will would be done here, on earth, the way it is done in heaven. In the middle of the Bible, between Genesis and Revelations, comes Jesus who heals all who come to Him, who shows love, who, as Acts 10:38 says, goes about doing good and setting free and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. Then He says, "If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father."

In times like these we find ourselves challenged to maintain an expectancy in any given situation that there will be victory, and that what the world calls impossible will bow. We must remember that our God, our position in Christ, and the heart of the Father have not changed despite the pain we see and feel around us. Finally, in times like these we struggle to not become bitter. We must remember to guard our heart and tongue, to speak from a place of faith, to not dance with thoughts about life, ourselves, God, etc., that don't come from God, and to meditate upon those things lovely and pure and praiseworthy. We have, as our consolation, the model of so many heroes in the Bible who also struggled at times in their battle to stay strong in faith and expectancy. We can see in them that the battles to remain in expectant faith are real, we just can't afford to remain in them for too long. We must fix our eyes on the heart of the Father, and not on what is around us.