A Christian Response to Terrorism

My prayers go out to those who suffered injuries and lost loved ones in the cowardly attack by ISIS upon women and children in a park in Pakistan. The temptation is for me to hate and were I still in my youth I would probably be in a recruiting station tomorrow morning enlisting into whichever branch of service that would guarantee the quickest path to fight against these evil people.

But the truth is this; I am a Christian. I already am in an army but it is an army that does not get to extract revenge. My mission is to pray and to take the Gospel out to the far ends of the world.

These are the very words of Jesus.

Matthew 5:43-45
"You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

My flesh wants revenge. My spirit wants conversion of the very souls who want not only me dead, but my grandchildren as well.

The Christian walk is about faith. We must have faith that God knows what He is doing. We must believe in His Word and that it is true. One of two things will happen to those who perpetuate violence against God's people. They will either come to a saving faith (our part is to pray for and to attempt to bring this about) or they will face His judgment when their day comes.

Both the OT and the NT teach us that vengeance is God's and God's alone. I leave you with the Word of God from the Book of Romans and I ask you join with me in tonight and in the days to come in praying for not only the victims of these terrorist attacks but to pray also for those who commit them. This is not my word. It is God's. It must be honored and obeyed as much as any other scripture.

Romans 12:14-21
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

4 Lessons From the Life of a Simple Man Named Ananias

There is often a temptation in the life of the average Christian to think of their self as unimportant in the grand scheme of God’s plan. Most of us are not preachers who get the opportunity to preach in front of thousands. Few of us will go off to foreign lands to take the Gospel to the literal ends of the earth. It is easy to think we do not have much impact in our ministry because we compare ourselves to others. This is simply another lie of Satan. In Acts chapter nine we encounter a simple man named Ananias. (Though some may think this is the Ananias we saw in Acts chapter five, who, along with his wife Sapphira, died for lying to the Holy Spirit, it is not the same man.) Ananias was an unknown person whose life is an encouragement to those who minister in obscurity.

Unlike Ananias the Apostle Paul is one of the most well known New Testament characters, having authored a large portion of the New Testament under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  But guess who it was that God sent to Saul (soon to become Paul) to minister to him after his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus? That’s right, Ananias, a man of relative obscurity in scripture. Let’s pick up the narrative from Acts chapter nine.

Acts 9:10-17
 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord."  And the Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight."  But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name."  But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name's sake."  So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."

Warren Wiersbe calls attention to four lessons we can take from this passage in his commentary on the New Testament.

First of all, as I have already alluded to, we see that God can and does use even the simplest and obscure Christian in bringing forth His sovereign plan. Ananias is a virtual nobody in scripture except for his part in the conversion of Saul. He is only found here in Acts chapter nine and in chapter twenty-two where Paul recounts his own conversion. Saul, later called Paul, goes on to be one of the most influential of all men in taking the gospel out and in the growth of the church.

Second in the lessons of this reading is the importance of obedience to God. When He tells us to do something we need to do it. Ananias argued with God before doing what He said and gave a pretty good analysis of why it didn’t seem like a good idea to go and restore the sight of a man who was persecuting God’s own people. The problem is though that we see things from a logical and worldly perspective. God sees things from a sovereign perspective that we are not capable of understanding. Thus what we need to do is simply obey what He calls us to do even if it doesn’t line up with our human thoughts.

The third lesson we see here is that God balances out the spectacular with the ordinary. We see a dramatic event occurring in the bright light and the voice from heaven speaking to Saul in His conversion but this is followed up with the quiet laying of hands upon Saul, which brought His sight back in the private house of Judas where Ananias was sent. Not every important movement of God is done in the bright lights of a stage. Sometimes His work is accomplished where no one sees it. This does not make it any less important.

The fourth and final lesson we see here is that not every one of us is sent to the multitude but sometimes the one person we reach will change the world. Ananias was sent only to Paul. Then Paul was sent to the multitude. Paul isn’t more important than Ananias because without Ananias, Paul is still blind. God used one man to bring sight to another man and that man would then be used by God to bring sight to the whole world.

The overall point we see here is that we must respond to whatever it is God calls us to do and act in obedience without regard to our own fleshly thoughts or desires. God has a plan and it will go through with or without us. But we will find great blessings in Him when we humble ourselves and let God be God. We will see that we are important to God no matter how big or small we think we are.

4 Things We See in the Faith of the Early Church Believers

As my studies moved from the Gospels into the Book of Acts I learned this morning that we find four important things the early Church believed in. First of all they believed in the risen Christ. As we move this week closer to our celebration of the resurrection on what most call Easter Sunday it is important to consider what this means to our faith. Paul speaks to the importance of this in 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 saying, “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?  But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.  We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.  For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.  Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.  If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”

The resurrection is a crucial doctrine along with the deity of Christ.  It is the sign of Jonah that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 12:38-41 and we join the early disciples who witnessed the risen Christ in putting our hope in it.

The second attribute of the early Church people was that they believed in each other and the importance of unity in the church. A key phrase of the Book of Acts is the phrase “with one accord” and is found six times throughout its pages. If there is one sad fault of the modern church it is the lack of unity and cooperation. Jesus said this Himself in Mark 3:24-25, “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” Oh how much more effective our ministries would be if we were all of one accord. “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” - Psalm 133:1

The third important attribute of the early church was their belief in prayer. They prayed for courage to witness, guidance in all decisions, and prayed in every circumstance as seen throughout the Book of Acts. It has been said that prayer is the thermometer and the thermostat of the church, for the spiritual temperature of goes up or down depending on how the people pray.

The fourth thing the early church did was to believe in God’s leading. Jesus had left them to ascend back into Heaven and thus they had lost their earthly leader. However they did not fall apart, they turned to God’s Word and prayer as we read in Acts 6:4 where the leaders said they would “…give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the Word."

The early church was lead by men who had personally been taught by Jesus and they needed these four things to carry on the work Jesus gave them to do. If they needed these things, how much more do we need them today?

As we approach our celebration of the resurrection of Christ let us return to the methods of the early church. Believe in the risen Christ, believe in each other as believers, believe in prayer, and believe in God’s leading. The power of the Holy Spirit came upon the early church at Pentecost and He is still here today living in the hearts of believers. Let us be like Paul who desired to live in His power as he declares in Philippians 3:10 wanting to “know him and the power of his resurrection.”

7 Indicators of True Salvation

Prayer is the lifeline of the Christian to God and alongside Bible reading is vital to our lives. Recently a great movie was released called War Room and is a wonderful viewing experience that portrays the power of prayer in the Christian life. I highly suggest everyone see the movie. In conjunction with the release of the movie the two Kendrick brothers, who made the movie, also wrote a book on prayer called simply, The Battle Plan For Prayer. In the book they write a very important chapter, which is vital to us if we want to have a prayer life that actually reaches God. In the chapter they address the most important question one will ever ask of his self; Am I truly saved? The authority to suggest we should ask this question derives directly from the Word of God as spoken by Jesus in what I think may be the scariest scripture of all. Jesus in the seventh chapter of Matthew is speaking about how to recognize false prophets. Having said that we can tell them by their fruits, He then goes on to expand this test of a true prophet to a test of true salvation in all of us. Listen to His warning.

Matthew 7:21-23
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'  Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'”

It is a terrifying thing to think someone could spend their whole life thinking they are serving God and are good to go when eternity arrives only to find out they were fooling themselves and will be cast out from heaven by Christ Himself. The Apostle Paul instructed us to make sure of our salvation and said this in 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” So the question then comes; how do I test myself?” In the book the Kendrick brothers give us a scriptural list of seven indicators of true salvation. I include them here in the hopes that all of us who claim Christ will pass the test and if not we will humble ourselves before God today and ask Him to fill us with His Holy Spirit and save us by the power of God.

Here is the test.

1. Is my life characterized by obedience to God? This does not mean we have achieved perfection but means we read His Word and we seek to obey it. We must pray daily to be filled with the Holy Spirit who empowers us to obey.

1 John 2:3-6
 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.  Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:  whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

2. Have I accepted Jesus as the Christ and the Son of the Living God? This is where the cults such as the Jehovah Witnesses and the Mormons fail terribly as they do not believe Jesus is God. They portray Jesus as a good teacher or prophet but by denying His deity they eliminate Him as able to save us. To be our savior Jesus had to more than a man, He had to be sinless and perfect, which the Bible is clear is only evident in God Himself. A good teacher cannot save you.

1 John 2:22-23
Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.  No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.

3. Have I a lifestyle that reflects I have repented of my sin? To repent means to turn away from sin and turn towards holiness. We must recognize our sins and agree with God they are sins and that we are sinners.

Luke 13:3
No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Again this does not mean we won’t stumble and fall down but that we recognize it as sin.

1 John 3:9-10
No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.  By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

4. Do I have a genuine love for other believers? A saved person is a changed person and love, especially for our brothers and sisters in Christ, must be evident.

1 John 3:14-15
We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.  Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

5. Does God discipline me? Becoming a Christian does not mean we become instantly perfect. But as we continue on in life and we fall back into old sins do we feel the hand of our Father upon us through various things that bring discomfort to us?

Hebrews 12:4-8
In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.  And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.  For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”  It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?  If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

6. Do I have the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life? Things such as conviction over sin and new desires to do things in serving God are evidence for His presence. The Holy Spirit will also bring new understanding to God’s Word and bring the fruits of the Spirit out in you as further proof of His presence.

Romans 8:9
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

7. Is your faith in Christ alone or are you trying to earn your salvation through your own efforts? Good deeds, going to church, donating money, and even being baptized will not save you but are examples of obedience to the commands of Jesus. It is only faith in Christ that saves.

Ephesians 2:8-9
 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

So how did you do? The truth is that we cannot pass this test unless the power of God, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, empowers us. This comes through faith in Christ. And how does faith come?

Romans 10:17
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

Preach the Gospel to others. But first preach it to yourself.