Messages From Heaven: When God Gives Tests!

Messages From Heaven: When God Gives Tests!: I don't know about you, but I have never liked the word "test." When I was in school, I was the guy who didn't study...

When God Gives Tests!

I don't know about you, but I have never liked the word "test." When I was in school, I was the guy who didn't study for the test. I somehow thought I suddenly would know the material. I think I failed my driving test three times. I certainly failed many a test in school. I didn't like tests.
Did you know that God gives tests too? He wants to see if we have learned what He has been teaching us. He rarely, if ever, announces them ahead of time. They just come. It might be a set of circumstances or a situation you will face to see if you are really learning the material. God will test us to see if we are actually learning, growing, and advancing. He wants us to grow up.
During their time with Jesus, the disciples had reached a point in their spiritual lives when it was time to grow up. They had been following the Lord for awhile. They had seen the miracles He performed. They had heard His teachings. Now it was time to see if their faith had grown.
By now, the crowds that followed Jesus were getting big. They were being dazzled by miracles. One day, as they listened to Him and watched His miracles, their stomachs began to growl. Although Jesus knew these people were basically fickle and were following Him for the wrong reasons, He felt compassion for them (Matthew 14:14). If I knew what Jesus had known about this crowd, I probably wouldn't have fed them. This same group would turn away from Him in a short period of time. But the Lord cared. He loved them.
So He took five barley loaves and two fish, multiplied them, and fed the people. They were stuffed. They decided to follow Jesus wherever He went. After all, He was the walking bread truck. But when Jesus saw that the people wanted to take Him by force and make Him their king, He wanted nothing to do with it. He slipped away by Himself to a mountain to pray.
Meanwhile, the disciples waited for Jesus at the Sea of Galilee. It was getting dark, and there was still no sign of Him. So they got into a boat and headed toward Capernaum. While they may have lost sight of Jesus, He never lost sight of them. It simply was test time for the disciples.
The wind started blowing. The sea was getting rough. As they rowed against the storm, they spotted Jesus. He came walking on the water, headed toward them. They freaked out. They didn't know what to make of it.
Matthew's Gospel gives us a very important detail. It says that Jesus came to them in the fourth watch of the night, which is the last part of the evening, just before dawn (Matthew 14:25). This means they probably had been rowing for nine long hours. Maybe they thought Jesus had forgotten about them. But He had not forgotten. He was going to come in His time.
It is a reminder to us that God's delays are not necessarily His denials. Just because God doesn't answer our prayers as quickly as we want Him to does not mean that He will never answer them. As surely as God has His will, He has His timing. The Bible says, "He makes all things beautiful in His time" (Ecclesiastes 4:11). And He does. As soon as Jesus stepped into the disciples' boat, they found themselves at their destination. He saw them through the storm.
Sometimes we go through storms in life. Sometimes God will allow certain situations in our lives to test our faith. It is really easy to say that you trust God, until you get a call from your doctor with some bad news, or until that person you are in love with breaks up with you, or until your job comes to an end. These are tests.
When you are going through hardship or difficulty, sometimes it seems as though God has forgotten about you, that He is too busy. But God always has time for you. He loves you. God is fully aware of what you are experiencing. Will you still trust Him even when things don't go your way — even when life doesn't unfold the way that you hoped it would? Will you trust God to see you through the storm? Will you pass the test?

Messages From Heaven: The Courage to Stand!

Messages From Heaven: The Courage to Stand!: Not too long ago, I read that violence on television is at an all-time high. Then, of course, there is all the sexual perversion that is...

The Courage to Stand!

Not too long ago, I read that violence on television is at an all-time high. Then, of course, there is all the sexual perversion that is depicted.
In addition to all that, it seems like people are going out of their way to get God out of our culture. Not only do they want to elevate perversion, but they want to demote God. They want Him out of the picture — out of everything, for that matter.
This can be very discouraging to us as Christians. We can be tempted to think, Well, really there is no hope. There is nothing the church can do and there is certainly nothing that I can do.
But I want you to know that is simply not true. In 1 Kings 17, we find the story of one man who lived at a time in Israel’s history that closely parallels our world today.
Elijah lived during one of the darkest and most evil times in the history of Israel. It reminds us that when God is abandoned, moral breakdown will always follow. That is because you cannot have morality without spirituality. And you can’t have real morality without a relationship with the living God.
That is what happened to Israel. They had pushed God out of their culture. It is not that they didn’t believe in God any more. But they elevated other gods to an equal level as they engaged in open idolatry.
For more than 100 years, Israel had lived under the reign of three kings: Saul, David, and Solomon. Each had their flaws, some more than others.
At the end of Solomon’s reign, a civil war broke out, and Israel was divided into northern and southern kingdoms. Israel had become progressively more and more wicked when King Ahab emerged, who was the most sinful of all.
His wife Jezebel was even more wicked than him in many ways. She was effectively the power behind the throne. She was also a full-tilt idol worshipper, and soon the nation was turning to idolatry too. Of the thousands who were under Ahab’s reign, there were only 7,000 who had not bowed their knee to the false god of Baal.
It was into this wicked moral climate that God’s man, Elijah, burst on the scene: “Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, ‘As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives — the God I serve — there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!’ ” (1 Kings 17:1 NLT).
Elijah threw down a gauntlet that challenged the very nerve center of the country and the people: he declared a drought.
How was he able to take such a bold step? Because he knew God. Elijah, in contrast to Ahab and Jezebel and most of Israel at this point, served a living God — not a dead one. Elijah recognized that wherever he was, he was in the presence of God.
Second, Elijah was a man of prayer. James 5:17 tells us, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months” (NKJV). It was Elijah’s prayer in private that was the source of his power in public.
Third, Elijah faithfully delivered the message. And it was not an easy message God had given him to deliver. He wasn’t even able to offer any hope. But Elijah delivered God’s message, and he delivered it in its entirety.
Lastly, Elijah was a man of faith and obedience. He faithfully delivered the message to Ahab and Jezebel, but then God told him to go disappear. So for three years, Elijah disappeared into obscurity. God would eventually use him to challenge the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, but the Lord had to first do some work on the prophet’s heart. He wasn’t ready yet.
Maybe you are in a place right now where the Lord is telling you to step forward, or maybe He is telling you to step back. Perhaps He is telling you to speak up, or He might be telling you to be quiet and just obey.
May God help us to be like Elijah — not a perfect person or a flawless person, but a godly person. And may God use us to be people who will affect our generation — people who will make a difference.

Messages From Heaven: The Problem with "The New Morality"

Messages From Heaven: The Problem with "The New Morality": In the aftermath of 9/11, I was interviewed by a number of reporters who asked how something so horrible, so unthinkable, could take pl...

The Problem with "The New Morality"

In the aftermath of 9/11, I was interviewed by a number of reporters who asked how something so horrible, so unthinkable, could take place in the United States. They couldn't comprehend the capacity of someone who would kill thousands of people and lose their own lives in the process. I reminded them that not only was there a God, but there was also a devil. I told them that humanity was not basically good, as we often hear, but it is basically bad. I said the Bible teaches we are sinful to the very core. Many of them seemed shocked to hear this.
In the weeks following that horrific September day, our churches were packed as never before. Services at Harvest Christian Fellowship on the Sunday following 9/11 had the largest attendance in the history of our church. It was also the greatest response on the part of those making decisions for Christ. It was my hope and prayer that this renewed interest in God would ultimately lead to a nationwide revival. But that has not happened. In fact, something quite the opposite has occurred: a resurgence of moral relativism.
Moral relativism can be defined as a lack of moral absolutes. It is the belief that just because something is true to you doesn't necessarily mean that it is true to me. Moral relativism teaches that we are all products of the evolutionary process. There is no evil, there is no devil, and there is no God. Moral relativism teaches that we are all basically good, and if we do something bad, it is because we are victims, the result of our upbringing or environment. Moral relativism teaches freedom from all restraint. But the irony is that if you disagree with these things, then you are insensitive. If you have the audacity to say you believe there is right and wrong and good and evil, then you are classified as insensitive, intolerant, bigoted, and narrow-minded. If you dare to quote the Bible and say it is the source of truth, then you will be accused of pushing your puritanical belief system on others.
Yet biblical Christianity teaches that Jesus Christ is the only way to God. When someone says he or she believes in God, but that Jesus isn't necessarily the only way, I can assure you, on the authority of Scripture, that such a person cannot be a Christian and believe this. If you truly are a Christian, then you must believe what the Bible says. You cannot make up the rules as you go. I cannot get into my car today and say, "I have made up a new rule. I think it is OK for me to drive 120 miles per hour." I cannot walk into a store and say, "I believe it is OK for me to take whatever I want. It is mine for the taking." Of course, I can choose to believe these things, but I will have a new prison ministry very soon. There are rules. There are absolutes. Whether I believe in them or not, those absolutes are still true.
Therefore, when it comes to the Bible, we cannot pick and choose what we will believe and what we will not. It's a package deal. We take it the way God gave it. Yet we have removed God's absolutes from our culture. We have done our best to take God out of the classroom, out of the courtroom, and out of everything we can. Then we are amazed to see chaos breaking out as a result.
But this should not surprise us, because the basis of morality is belief. The basis of belief is the Bible, which gives us the absolute truth on which we can base our faith. When we say there is no right and wrong, when we do not have this belief, then the result will be chaos.
We have to get back to what God says. Solomon, after sampling everything this world had to offer, said, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all" (Ecclesiastes 12:13 NKJV). If anyone could ever say they had been there, done that, and bought the T-shirt, it would be Solomon. He had violated many of God's commandments. Yet after all was said and done, Solomon concluded, "Fear God and keep His commandments." God has given us His commandments for our own good: to show us how to live our lives.

Messages From Heaven: God Knows Your Ways!

Messages From Heaven: God Knows Your Ways!: “God has the whole world in His hands.”  Remember the old gospel song? He’s got the wind, the rain, the tiny little baby, yes, even you...

God Knows Your Ways!

“God has the whole world in His hands.” Remember the old gospel song? He’s got the wind, the rain, the tiny little baby, yes, even you and me in His hands. How easy it is to forget that! And it isn’t limited to our geography or our culture, you know. He’s got the Middle East in His hands (that’s a relief, isn’t it?), not to mention North Korea and Iran, Cuba and India, Indonesia and Russia—all right there in the palms of His sovereign hands. And while we’re at it, He’s got our future, our children, our circumstances, our friends, and our foes in His hands . . . within His grasp . . . under His control. Even when imaginary fears slip in like the morning frost to blight our faith. He’s there—in charge.
But there are times when we find it really hard to believe that our circumstance is truly in His hands. Not only are the wind and the rain and the tiny little baby in His hands, but so are life’s minor interruptions as well as major calamities. In fact, would you believe they never leave His attention?
There will be times we will need the reminder of the wise prophet named Isaiah.

“Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.” (Isaiah 49:16)

In other words, God sees us exactly as we are . . . warts and all, needs and all. He sees everything. And how close does He view it? It’s in the palms of His hands.
God knows your ways . . . and He knows them continually. That includes your responses, your experiences, your reactions, what you call your calamities, your dead ends, your so-called impossible situations.
Not only does He have you and me, the wind and the rain, and the tiny little baby in His hands, He has yesterday’s failures. He has today’s challenges, He has tomorrow’s surprises right there in His hands. And not one of them causes God to gasp. Not one causes Him to react with surprise, “Ah! I never knew that.” Not one. He is unshockable, He is immutable. He’s got the whole world in His hands. What’s more, He has inscribed you and me on His palms. Things aren’t out of control.

Messages From Heaven: Saved? From What?

Messages From Heaven: Saved? From What?: Whenever I have preached through the story of Jesus' birth, I am struck with the simplicity and profundity of the Christian gospel. ...

Saved? From What?

Whenever I have preached through the story of Jesus' birth, I am struck with the simplicity and profundity of the Christian gospel. You can see it from the very beginning. It's right there in what the angel said to Joseph, "You shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21).
When the Father gave the incarnate Son a name, He proclaimed His rescue mission in no uncertain terms. Jesus, the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name Joshua, means "Savior." Now, "there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Jesus is the Savior — that's been the joyful news from the start.
But you might ask: "A Savior? To save me from what?" That's certainly a fair question. The word savior implies that we need to be saved from something. Saved is a synonym for rescued or delivered. It implies there's some kind of threatening condition, a dangerous, desperate, or deadly condition from which we need to be rescued. The question is, from what?
If you listen to the way some preachers speak about the gospel, quite frankly, the condition of unbelief doesn't sound so grave. You get the idea that humanity mainly needs to be rescued from its lack of fulfillment. Maybe your marriage hasn't worked out according to plan; or your child isn't turning out to be tomorrow's Copernicus or Einstein; or your dream career has turned out to be a dead end. You understand. You look at the travel brochures; you really want a month in Europe, but you end up with a three-day trip to see the in-laws. Life just doesn't deliver.
According to the gospel some are preaching, Jesus will take care of all that. Jesus will fix your marriage; He'll help you raise confident kids, brimming with self-esteem; He'll help you climb that corporate ladder or breathe new life into your business. The only danger from which you need salvation is the shattering of all your dreams. Everything you've longed for has turned out to be a nightmare, and that's the way it's going to end. But Jesus will take care of it — He'll rescue you from your unfulfilled life.
I've also heard people presenting the gospel as if the great hope of salvation is relief from debilitating habits. Jesus has come to enable you to get control of your life. He's the step stool, the boost you need to get out of the hole you've fallen into. That salvation is especially attractive to a society like ours that is overcome by lust and passion. Many are enslaved by sinful habits: drinking, smoking, pornography, even overeating. Obesity is on the rise in many countries — in America it's almost epidemic. Angry outbursts and uncontrolled tempers destroy homes and relationships. Sexual sin, both homosexual and heterosexual, plagues the entire world — AIDS ravishes entire continents. But Jesus will come along and fix all that. He'll pluck you out of the flood of dissipation by saving you from your drives and desires so you won't destroy your life.
Will the gospel deliver you from an unfulfilled life? From enslavement to debilitating habits? Absolutely, but that needs to be qualified. There is a sense in which the gospel secondarily makes an application to those things. When you are genuinely converted, you belong to God and the Holy Spirit takes up residence in your heart. You do have a new reason to live; you have the hope of eternal life and the promise of heaven. That has a dramatic effect on the lack of fulfillment in life. And when you experience the power of the Holy Spirit to change you, you'll see victory over the debilitating habits and passions that your sinful nature generates. That's all true. But those are not the primary issues in salvation.
Finding fulfillment and overcoming bad habits cannot be the most important concerns of the gospel. Why not? Because not everybody in the world is unfulfilled. In fact, I think this idea of lacking fulfillment is a byproduct of our western culture. Throughout the world, there are many who live expecting very little out of life. They don't experience a lack of fulfillment — there's nothing to fulfill. On the other hand, many people are very content with their present condition. They've got all the wine, women, and song money can buy. And not everyone is driven to a point of desperation and disaster by their passions either. There are people who have a certain measure of self-control. So those things cannot be the universal problem.
The real problem is sin and guilt. That's the issue. God sent Jesus Christ to rescue us from the consequence of our sin, and everybody falls into the category of sinner. It doesn't matter whether you're among the haves or the have-nots, whether you have great expectations or none at all, whether you're consumed by your passions or exhibit a degree of self-control and discipline — you are still a sinner. You have broken the law of God and He's angry about it. Unless something happens to change your condition, you're on your way to eternal hell. You need to be rescued from the consequences of your sin. Those are the principal issues the gospel solves.
The truth is, even when you are delivered from the ultimate danger of God's wrath against sin, you might never realize your dreams. When you come to Christ, the Lord realigns your thinking so that all you ever wanted, all you used to strive for, you count as loss, waste, garbage (cf. Paul in Phil. 3:4-8). Coming to Christ means the end of you. Also, though you'll experience the power of the Holy Spirit to gain victory over sin, you may never attain total dominance over your drives and passions this side of heaven. Like Paul, you will strive with sin to your dying day (cf. Rom. 7:13-25). Issues of fulfillment and sinful passions will be dealt with, in the Lord's time and in the Lord's way. So if you've come to Christ primarily to find fulfillment or to escape from bad habits, Jesus may not be what you're looking for.
The church needs to get back to remembering that God sent His Son into the world to save His people from their sins. A proper presentation of the gospel should focus on that. The angel told Joseph: "He is the one who will save His people from their sins. That is why you must name Him Jesus." Humanity's real destroyer is sin, and the guilt for sin is a real guilt, a God-imposed guilt that damns to eternal hell. That is why people need to be saved, rescued, and delivered. That is what people must understand in the gospel, and that is what we must proclaim.