What would you do?

Have you heard about Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani?  He is an Iranian Pastor who is facing execution.  If not you have not heard about him you can read his story here.

I heard about him yesterday morning when I read a tweet that Rick Warren posted.  later in the day I found and read some articles on what was happening with him.  Let me say his story got me praying for him and his family but it also really got me thinking about persecution and me and my faith. in Christ.

In the article above it shares this:

When asked to repent, Nadarkhani stated: “Repent means to return. What should I return to? To the blasphemy that I had before my faith in Christ?”

“To the religion of your ancestors, Islam,” the judge replied, according to the American Center for Law & Justice.

“I cannot,” Nadarkhani said.

You see a man who is full on for Jesus regardless and he is willing to say the truth and face the consequences.  He has been asked to recant his faith now on several occasions and he has refused knowing that staying true to his faith in Christ means that he could well be executed.  To him he obviously he know the consequences but he also knows the rewards.

In preparing for my Wednesday evening Bible study I came across some words of Christ which hit me hard in relation to what what Pastor Nadarkhani is facing.

Here are the words of Christ from Mark 13:9, 11-13

⁹ “But be on your guard; for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them.

¹¹ When they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit. ¹² Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. ¹³ You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.

These verses make me think and make me wonder about things and about my faith.

Here is what I wonder …..

• What would I do? 
• Do I have a faith strong enough to withstand what Pastor Nadarkhai has and is?
• Would I stand up for Christ?

I pray that I would stand strong for Christ but I can not say but what I can say is that Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani is a hero of the faith in my book.

Any thoughts on any of this?

More Forgiveness!

Here are three helpful thing to remember when looking at what forgiveness means. First, it means that we are not to bring up to the person whom we have forgiven the thing we forgave. That is to say we do not remind the person over and over of what they did and what we forgave. We are not to constantly harass them with reminders of the evil things they did in the past. Some marriages stumble greatly at this point because the partners not only get hysterical, they get historical during disagreements! They go back over the past, ready to trot it out and rehash it once more – even after forgiveness has been asked for and granted. That shows that it has never truly forgiven in the first place. Parents can do the very same thing with their kids when they continue to point out things that they have supposedly forgiven that the child has done. Know that God does not do that or treat us like that. How terrible it would be if he did, if we had to constantly faced reminders from him of the awful things of our past that He has forgiven! Forgive and more forward and do not bring it up again.

The second thing forgiveness means is that we do not tell anybody else about the matter that is forgiven. We do not gossip about it to others or say I will tell you but just do not tell anyone else. When it is forgiven it is gone. It is not that we actually erase it from memory because we may think of it from time to time but when we do, we are not to dwell on it and certainly not tell others all about it. Too often we tell people we have forgiven them and then talk to everyone about what the person did – if forgiveness was asked for and granted – it should never be a topic of conversation with others. Again, God does not treat us that way and we should not treat others that way. Treat others the way you want to be treated and that would be when it is forgiven it is gone!

Then the third thing forgiveness means is this: that you do not sit and think all about the offense or offender that has been forgiven! Even in your private thoughts, never allow the offense to come up and to color your attitude toward the one you that you have forgiven. If it does come up, you must put it away and remind yourself that you too need to be forgiven for many things in life. You do not want people mulling over your forgiven sins and dredging them up all the time – do you? Forgiveness means to put it aside even to yourself because that is what Christ has done for us.

Forgiveness is a powerful and freeing act and unforgiveness is bondage – put off the garment of bondage and put on the freedom of forgiveness. Live in the freedom of forgiveness – you will not regret it! Some of you here today need to find that freedom that comes from asking for forgiveness and some need to find the freedom in granting others forgiveness. God has freely forgiven us and now it is time for us to do it for others and ourselves.

The Power of Forgiveness

I have taken a good amount of time in that last few years to think long and hard about forgiveness. During this time I have looked to the Scriptures to see what they say about forgiveness.  When I come across verses that talk about forgiveness I look closely and really think about what it really means to forgive. I have come across a verse recently that has me really thinking.  The verse is Colossians 3:13 which is in a list of things we believer are to put on and it really hits hard on forgiveness. The verse is Colossians 3:13 and I want youto think about it.  The verse says:  bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

Let me share with you what I am learning and hopefully and prayerfully you will add to what I am learning. 

Forgiving is absolutely freeing and unforgiveness is absolute bondage. We are told to live forgiving one another, after the pattern of Jesus’ forgiveness towards us. Understanding the way Jesus forgave us will always make us more generous with forgiveness. The problem with most of us is we really do not understand forgiveness or if we do we really do not want to give it to people because we see it as a weakness – if that is the case then we see Christ as weak – which is not true. Forgiveness shows true strength – it has taken me a long time to really grasp this point.

Think about this: when we consider the staggering debt Jesus forgave for us, and the relative small debts we hold toward others, it is a lack of gratitude toward Christ for us to not forgive others. The more you think of how Christ forgave you; it should make you much more generous with your forgiveness for and toward others.

What are your forgiveness habits? Are they anything like Gods?

· God holds back His anger and tolerates us a long time when we sin against Him. Is it your habit to hold back your anger or do you lash out in your unforgiveness?

· God reaches out to what we would call bad people to bring forgiveness to them. Is it your habit to forgive someone you would consider to have a bad character? Should that make a difference?

· God makes the first move towards us in forgiveness. Is it your habit to forgive only if person comes to you first?

· God forgives knowing that we will sin again, sometimes in the exact same way. Is it your habit to forgive only if the offending person promises to never do wrong again.

· God’s forgiveness is so complete and glorious that to those former offenders He grants adoption in to his family and makes them His sons and daughters. Is it your habit, even when forgiveness is offered to not have anything to do with the offender again?

· God keeps reaching out to man for reconciliation even when man refuses Him again and again. Is it your habit to not continue to offer forgiveness to someone if they do not respond the way you want the first time?

· God’s forgiveness offers complete restoration and honor. Is it your habit to feel that you just need to merely tolerate those who sinned against you and not honor them even if they are due honor?

· Once having forgiven, God puts His trust in us and invites us back to work with Him as co-laborers. Is it your habit to not trust someone whom you have forgiven and not allow them in your life at all?

These are tough questions that I am dealing with in my own life. These are all questions to help us think about how freely God forgives and normally how stingy we are with our forgiveness even though we are called to forgive freely. I have so many areas that I am working in when it comes to forgiveness – what about you? Are there people in your life that you have not forgiven? Are there people you need to ask for forgiveness? Do it and free yourself from the bondage you are in.

What can you add to this about about forgiveness?

** I will add more to this subject tomorrow**

Colossians 3’s list of sins

During a period of study I came across these verses:  Colossians 3:5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.

Paul in this set of verses gives two lists of sins.  He give a list of sensual sins and then a list of sin that are seen in attitude, action, and word.  When some people read through those two list they dismiss the first list of sensual sins because they are not a problem for them.  You see some people think they are fine because they do not struggle with the sensual sins listed.  Truth be told though many more struggle with them than you will ever know because people are fearful to say that struggle in those sensual areas.  The sensual sins are inward ones and people do not act it out in a way that too many, if anyone see it or know about it.  The thing is that  they do know  and  they know because of the thoughts in their minds and in the things they look at and/or watch. In the second list that that Paul has here are sins that are seen clearly in people’s lives but the funny thing is we see them not as bad as that list of sensual sins by most people.

Here is the deal, we see sexual sins are being so very bad but this second list of sins that Paul gives – anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech, and lying well we regard these as the “little” sins that can really be overlooked if they are not too out of control. This comes down to an attitude that is prevalent and very dangerous and that is that some sins are worse than others.

Let me ask you some questions.  Which sin did Jesus die more for: the adultery that someone commits or the lie that some tells?  Did Jesus die more for the gossip you share or the evil sexual desire that some has?  Did Jesus die more for the slanderous words about others or the lustful thoughts people have? The truth of the matter is Jesus died for all of it just the same. In our humanness we want to make one sin worse than another but it is not the way it is in the heavenly realms. Jesus died just as much for the lie you tell as the adultery and murder that someone else does. It is all the same – there is no degree of sin.

Here is what I see.   We in our humanness dislike or are repulsed more by some sins than other but they are no worse than any other sin. Jesus died for it all and in truth it all sin is repulsive to Him. So do yourself a favor and never ever think yourself better than someone because of a sin they do or did and you never did, because if you do, you are discounting your own sinfulness and the sacrifice of Christ for it all.

Any thoughts on the idea of degree’s of sin?  Do you think so sins are worse than others?

A Leader Like Moses Or Aaron?

Been doing some leadership reading in Building Below the Waterline by Gordon MacDonald which I am really excited to be blogging about with Bill from Cycleguy’s Spin and Michael from Untitled and whomever else wants to join us in a few weeks . If you want to join us, pick up the book and let one of us know you would like to- it is an awesome book.  Anyway back to this post.  Something I read in the book about Moses got me thinking about Moses and Aaron.

I started thinking about leadership and Moses.  When you look at him, you see some mistakes, miscues, and so forth that he made along the way like any leader but you mostly see him as an excellent leader who made mostly  good choices.  Truth be told, no leader ever makes good choices every time but some make them a whole lot more than others. 

Moses was certainly a reluctant leader at first and I think that helped him to lead because he was not afraid to ask for help.  When you look at  the life and leadership of Moses you see that he sought God and His direction as he lead.  Moses for the most part did what God wanted him to do. Moses was a leader who took responsibility for his actions and also stood up for those he lead.  When you look at Moses though you also see that he leads with humility.  He did not wait for others to come to him but he went to them. Another aspect of Moses leadership was that he was one who lead because he saw the pain and burden placed on others and wanted to do something about it.  When it comes to leadership, Moses really lead well.

Now Moses older brother Aaron was his right hand man as he lead.  Moses had some sort of speech issue so Aaron was his mouthpiece or spoke what Moses said as seen during the plagues with Pharaoh.  Aaron was a really good right hand man and supported his brother wholeheartedly in the ministry.  Here is the problem – he was a great at being the second in command but as for being able to lead the people for himself, well…let’s just say it was not his thing. 

If you take some time and look at Exodus 32 and you will see some of the issues that Aaron had as a leader.  One of the issues that you see in Aaron is his desire to make everyone happy.  That is seen most clearly when Moses is away and Aaron just lets the people do what they want.  when you look at that you see that situation you he is being lead by them not leading them.  As a matter of fact, Aaron joined in and made the golden calf and he did so because he wanted their to be peace and no dissention among the people.  The thing an even decent leader knows is that you will never make everyone happen but that is what Aaron wanted to do.

What you do not see here is Aaron tying to get the people focused on the right things when they wanted to build the calf but he allows them to focus on the wrong things.  You do not see Aaron rebuke or even confront the people about this.  You do see him pushing them toward honoring God which is what a true leader would do but he along with them got lead astray.  Something else you see is that Aaron has no moral core that he could lead from – he was lacking in core leadership and apparently lacked a spiritual core as well.  Then what you see is Aaron does not take any responsibility for his poor choices and poor leadership in this circumstance.  Aaron here really messes up but you also see before and after this he is great as a right hand man.

When it comes to leadership, are you an Aaron or a Moses?  Are you an Aaron who is a good second hand man or a Moses who has the ability to lead people?

Some other things I would like your thoughts on:  Do you think that some people are more natural in leading than other?  Do you think Moses was a natural leader or supernaturally blessed?

Quitting and The Funeral

I took my daughter and her friend to the funeral of a friend this past weekend.  The young man, who was 17, died of a massive heart attack in his sleep a week ago.  I meet the young man once or twice but  really did not know him too well at all but went so that I could support my daughter.  The funeral service for him was very touching and gave me the same view of the young man as my daughter has shared with me about him. He was nice young man who was really funny and had a zest for life.

The funeral was really a touching tribute to him and God honoring as he was a solid believer in Christ.   He played for both rival football teams in the area because his mother moved from one place to the other.  With that both teams were there in their uniforms sitting by team one behind another right behind the family.  Really a powerful service from many perspectives and there were two powerful stories shared that I took away from this young man’s life and I want to share one of those with you.

The young man played football for the local football team as I said and toward the end of the service  the coach got up and was going to give the mother a football signed by both teams.  He was not going to say anything just give her the ball to her then said, “I need to say something”. 

He then told this story:  Brian really struggled the first day of practice this year.  He threw up twice and had a really hard time.  He did not give up.  He worked hard throughout practices and struggled to get in shape.  It was really hard for him but he did not give up.  The first game came and he did not play at all but stood on the sideline and cheered his team on and did not complain.  He did not give up on getting in and playing.  The coaches saw something in him that week in practice and so the second game came and he earned a spot on a special defensive alignment that happens about 10 times per game.  So the second game this season he played about 10 plays and the rest of the time he cheered and encouraged his team.  He worked hard and did not give up on getting more playing time.  The coaches all took note and notice he was playing even better in the practice between week 2 and 3.  Week 3 of this season he started and play very well and had some excellent defensive plays and tackles.  That night he died in his sleep and something I learned and saw in Brian this season was He worked hard and never gave up.  Then the coach kneeled down and said some private words to the mother and gave her the signed ball.

I love that this young man did not give up.  He worked hard and kept working hard and did not quit.   Never judge a man (or woman) by what they do but by what makes them quit.  One thing I do not allow my kids to do is quit.  If my kids start something,  a sport or an instrument or whatever,  they must finish it.  I want them to know that it is not about quitting but it is about working hard to the end, even if they do not like what they are doing.  The lesson I want them understand is that we need to not quit, but  work hard and finish strong what we start.

You might be going through a hard time right now but let me just encourage you to do not quit – keep pushing forward.  Keep moving forward in Christ!  Just be reminded that  in Philippians 1:6, Paul says, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”  Jesus has not and will not ever quit on us and we should never quit on what he is calling us too.  Keep on and do not give up!

Have you ever quit something that you regretted later?

Was it all for Nothing?

As I was preparing to preach from 2 Samuel 12 – I hit the following verses:

¹⁶ David therefore inquired of God for the child; and David fasted and went and lay all night on the ground. ¹⁷ The elders of his household stood beside him in order to raise him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat food with them.  ¹⁸ Then it happened on the seventh day that the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was still alive, we spoke to him and he did not listen to our voice. How then can we tell him that the child is dead, since he might  do himself harm!”  ¹⁹ But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; so David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.” 

Now the context of this is David has been confronted by Nathan on his sins (affair with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah) and then confesses and repents.  He finds out that he is forgiven and he will not die (because his sins were punishable by death according to the Law) but finds out part of his consequence for his sin is that his son will die.  He then takes his response to this news that his son will die to God which is where he should have gone with it.

We see that he pleads for his son to God to  be saved.   David we see not only cries out and pleads but also fasted and lay on the ground seeking God.  I came across this comment:  Extraordinary prayer and fasting are not tools to get whatever we want from God. They are demonstrations of radical submission and surrender to God’s power and will.  The picture is that of David crying out to God and fasting.  In the middle of it David is surrendering himself to God.  David because of his sin allowed his heart get out of line with God’s heart.  Because of his pleading, crying, and fasting God then is able to align David’s heart with His heart again.

Then we come across the fact that 0n the seventh day the child dies – David has spent these seven days on the ground crying out to God, pleading to God and fasting before God but the child still died.  He did all this and his child still died – so I wonder and I ask you:

Was it all for nothing?  

Here is my response to this question:  This shows that prayer and fasting does not change God’s mind all the time but what it did here was put David’s heart in the right place with God.  Prayer and fasting does not force God to do anything but it shows God our willingness to connect with Him over an issue or struggle or sin in our lives and allows Him to put our hearts where they need to be which is aligned with His.

What is your response to the question – the pleading, crying, and fasting before God – was it all for nothing?  Do you see a connection in your own life?

Negative Consequences – Part 1

Who likes to have negative consequences for their behavior? If we are being honest, that would be none of us. The truth is though that when we act in sinful ways there will be negative consequences to those behaviors even when we confess and repent for those sinful acts. That is what we see happening in the story of David as we continue it today.

The quick recap of David and Bathsheba since it has been a few weeks since I have been posting regularly: David sinned by his poor choices of having more than one wife and not going to battle with his troops, he did not look away when he saw Bathsheba bathing, and then he had the affair with her. He then tried to cover up the affair when he learned Bathsheba was pregnant. In his cover up he had Bathsheba’s husband Uriah killed to have his sin hidden. In nearly a year he never confessed and he seems to get away with it but then gets confronted by Nathan and then he confesses to his sin and repents. That gets us caught up. Let us now look at 2^nd Samuel 12:13 and continue on with the story: ¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has taken away your sin; you shall not die. ¹⁴ ”However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die.”¹⁵ So Nathan went to his house. Then the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s widow bore to David, so that he was very sick.

The first thing we see after David’s confession is Nathan’s response. Nathan responds for the Lord in two ways. The first the Lord has forgiven and the second is that David is not going to die as a result of his sins that were punishable by death according to the Law of God. David probably felt a bit of relief here but Nathan continued to share and now David hears of another painful consequence of his sin.

First Nathan explains that his sinful acts have caused the enemies of God to blaspheme and because of this David and Bathsheba’s son will die. Let us look at the first part of this before looking at the death of their son. Verse 14 says: because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme – what we see here is this is telling us that David in doing his sinful acts did just what those enemies of the LORD would do in the same situation. What David did was not unusual among the kings and rulers of the world, but it should be unusual among God’s people. David basically did what everyone else would do in the same situation and because he did he blasphemed God. When we act like everyone else and when we handle situations in and out of the church like the rest of the world does – we insult/blaspheme God. When we do business as the rest of the world does – we insult God. When we are not people of grace and mercy – we insult God. When we gossip and talk about people behind their backs – we insult God. When we are wrong and do not ask for forgiveness – we insult God. We are called to be different and not be like everyone else. So let me ask you, are you insulting God by acting like the rest of the world? Insulting God is one of the worst things we can do and we do it by the way we live our lives. We need to be living a life that honors God not insult Him. You see when we insult God by living like everyone else we are giving those who do not believe in Christ excuses and reasons not to believe. We should be living lives that point to Christ being alive in our lives not acting like everyone else. Again live a life that honors God and does not insult Him. Live so that others have a reason to believe not disbelieve in God.

Now look at the end of verse 14 – the child also that is born to you shall surely die. Talk about tough words to hear for David. There is a difference in judgment for sin and judgment by sin. God forgave David’s sin, but He would not guard him from every consequence of his sins. David must face the consequences of his sin, which include the death of this child. I read this and it struck me – What this does show is that God didn’t only want to heal David of the guilt of his sin; He also wanted to heal David of the presence of this sin. We never read of David committing adultery again because God used these chastisements to drive such impurities far from David. These are tough lessons to be learned and it appears that David learned them but he did learn them the hard way. A smart man learns from his own mistake but a wise man learns from the mistakes of others. I would rather be wise than smart.

What we need to learn, know, and understand here is that David paid a terrible price for his sin! His consequences were terrible and this death is the most immediate of the terrible consequences that David that is going to experience. When we sin – there are always consequences. We need to learn from David’s consequences here and stay away from sin – let us be wise in this way.

Then we read this: The Lord struck – that is a terrible phrase to read. Sadly, often the innocent are made to suffer because of the sin of the guilty. Since the sickness came immediately after the words of Nathan the prophet, it was received as from the hand of God. There is no denying here that Nathan said that God would take the child. With that we always need to keep in mind – our sins will always affect others – always! When you sin it will ripple through the lives of others and normally the closest to you will get hurt the worst! The writer gives us reminder of the sins by using this phrase – the child that Uriah’s widow bore to David. It does not say Bathsheba but Uriah’s widow. What a reminder to us of the sins and consequences of David even though he is forgiven. Even when we are forgiven there are consequences.