Monthly Archives: June 2016

God, the Benevolent Dictator

Posted on by
Reply

I cringe when I hear an older, experienced pastor naively say, “God is a Gentleman…hee, hee, hee. He would never force…nor impose His will upon you…” I then wonder what his name is, for the God of Scripture is revealed as a Benevolent Dictator who always acts according to His predetermined plan in the lives of the wicked and saints alike to bring glory unto Himself and redemption unto His elect. (What Bible have they been reading? And we won’t even get started on the young whippersnapper preachers rolling into pulpits today from liberal Bible colleges and seminaries.)

Do you think it an accident the Lord of glory was crucified? And do you think it anything other than grace that you today happen to love Christ and despise the sin that you once loved?

Or… Do you think you can escape sin you now love and are intimately married to…apart from God overthrowing your rebellion, changing your heart, and commanding you to life from death into the freedom of knowing the Son? If God does not act to impose grace and His sovereign will upon you, you perish in sin. It’s that simple. He makes you willing to do His will. You can’t do that in your natural flesh.

Acts 2:23 (NASB)

“…this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”

God has a plan. It will not and cannot fail. Ours is to discover this plan and ensure we become worshippers of the One who can reveal or conceal the Father. 

If your God is not as I have described… then just what idol of your own creation are you worshipping? Repent and bow to Creator God, Sovereign Lord of Heaven and Earth. It matters Who you worship. You have absolutely no right and no authority to ignorantly attempt to remake God; He has revealed Himself to be, I AM that I AM. He will have no other gods before Him. He is a jealous God. And He is good.

Matthew 11:25-27 (NASB)

At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. “Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

Are You Eating Mush or Real Meat?

Posted on by
Reply

“But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”Hebrews 5:14

For some as we physically age certain ailments and afflictions may require solid foods to be puréed so we might safely ingest them. (It’s not Yum Yum, but Yuck Yuck!) This baby food consistency does not aesthetically allure the taste buds nor stir the heart but is required by the body.

I fear the spiritual ignorance of the Today Church age has produced a contemporary loss of appetite “to hunger and thirst” for the richness of heaven-born righteousness,” and has landed our society at an historical place of spiritual darkness and Biblical dysfunction. Consider how culture no longer collectively discerns evil and good; yes, we rather call blatant ungodliness good, and the timeless truth of moral principles emanating from the throne of God evil. Look at the poor quality of pseudo-preaching rampant across the land, and God constrain me not to open up the apostasy of much of the “worshiptainment” in many churches. Theology of hymnology is out. I, the big I, is in as I am needy and must “feel” better.

We witness a daily erosion of the foundational Creational principles of worship, work, and marriage/family. “If the foundations are destroyed what shall the righteous do?” (Psalms)

I know for certain, God is not mocked. He will establish His rule and dominion. We live in an age whereby we must respond, and thus cling to and fully declare the whole counsel of the wisdom of God, without apology: “Christ died for the ungodly” thus the Gospel is relevant and active today, though He stands at the door of judgment for His imminent reentry into our existence to set in order what remains. 

“O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel.”

“I will build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Jesus

Are you distinctive in your discipleship unto the Lord Jesus? Are you committed to the spiritual disciplines? Are you going to die this day that Jesus might be manifest in your life? How shall you “Take Time to be Holy”?