Worship God!

Anyone or anything that takes center stage where God belongs and becomes the object of worship is robbing God of His rightful place of worship…Too often assemblies gather to observe what the created can do instead of assembling to express praise for what the Creator has done…Man is not to be the center of worship. Worship is not to be a performance for the benefit of other human beings. God is the audience instead of man (Owen Olbricht. God Is the Audience, p. 117)

God is the object of our worship (Revelation 4:8, 11; 5:12-13; Romans 1:25; Acts 12:22-23), and He is the audience (Psalm 139:7-12; Genesis 28:16; Hebrews 4:13).

We should regularly examine our motive and disposition when we approach our Creator in worship.

1.  Am I coming before God to worship Him with a sincere heart (John 4:24)?

2.  Am I allowing my relationship with others to serve as a stumbling block in keeping me from the proper worship of God (Matthew 5:23-24)?

3.  Am I drawing near to God in purity and holiness, or am I allowing sin to be a barrier between God and me (1 John 1:6-10)?

4.  Am I really trying to focus my full attention on God (Exodus 20:4-6; Revelation 5:9-14)?

5.  Am I fixing my vision on the Lord of glory to such an extent that my hungering desire is to draw near to Him (Matthew 5:6; James 4:8)?

6.  Am I singing enthusiastically, praying fervently, giving cheerfully, and lovingly remembering Jesus during the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians14:15; 11:23-28; 2 Corinthians 9:7)?

7.  Am I coming to God in worship with the full knowledge that the only reason I have such precious access to God is because of what Jesus did for me at Calvary (Matthew 27:51)?

8.  Am I worshipping solely to “see what I can get out of it,” or is my heart’s desire to offer praise, thanksgiving, and glory to my Lord and King (Revelation 4:8-11)?

9.  Am I willing to let God break me, mold me, and make me a vessel of honor for His service as a result of having been in His presence for worship (2 Timothy 2:21)?

SM

Why I Am A Christian

When someone asks you, “Why are you a Christian? What do you say? Do you have answers to give? Are they Biblical reasons? Peter wrote, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (I Peter 3:15). We should, as Christians, be ready to give an answer (a reasoned defense) to any and every one who asks, “Why are you a Christian?”

I am a Christian because:

I. I Believe in God. I believe that God exists (Genesis 1:1; Psalm 19:1). A fool believes there is no God (Psalm 14:1). Even when men attempt to reject the knowledge of God, the evidence remains and is clear (Romans 1:10-20). The evidence from the Bible and nature prove beyond doubt, that God is the creator of man and the universe.

II. I Believe the Bible is the Word of God. The scriptures are God breathed (II Timothy 3:16-17). The Bible is made up of sixty-six books, written by about 40 writers, over a period of 1,600 years. The Bible is man’s divine guide (Psalm 119:105); and has been once for all delivered (Jude 3-4).

III. I Believe that Jesus is the Christ. When Jesus was born, the angels announced to the shepherds, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). At His crucifixion, the Roman centurion declared, “Truly this was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54). If Jesus is the Christ, (and He is), then I must reach the conclusion the apostles reached: “thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

IV. I Want to go to Heaven. Heaven can only be attained by being obedient to the will and ways of Christ (Matthew 7:21). I don’t want to go to hell. Heaven is where I want to spend eternity. Abraham “looked for a city which hath foundations” (Hebrews 11:10-16). Paul is a false teacher if heaven does not exist (II Corinthians 12:1-2). The world passes away, but he that is obedient to God’s word endures forever (I John 2:15-17).

V. I Look Forward to a Reunion with Loved Ones. God’s Word gives us evidence of recognition in the heavenly realm. The rich man recognized Lazarus and Abraham (Luke 16:19-31). Paul had the expectation of being united with his converts in the afterlife (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20; 2 Corinthians 4:14). “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11-12). After the death of his son, David said, “But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.” (2 Samuel 12:23). What a reunion it will be in the presence of God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and those in Christ who we are temporarily separated from.

30 Ways to Honor God This Summer

1. Sit outside in the cool of the morning and meditate and pray.

2. Give $20, $50 or $100 anonymously to someone in your congregation who is struggling financially.

3. Read through the book of Psalms aloud with the entire family.

4. If it has been a while since you had a child in your house and you are missing the stomp, stomp, crash of little feet … borrow some kids for a day from their harried parents. Take them outside and show them how to have fun unplugged from electronic devices.

5. Write a letter of encouragement to a missionary or a member serving in the military overseas.

6. Mow the grass for a widow or elderly person.

7. Buy a DVD and, after watching it, send it to a missionary family with your “review” of the movie.

8. Ask each of your children to invite a friend from a less fortunate family to go with you on vacation.

9. Stay home, save gas and skip eating out one night, and donate the money to a soup kitchen or another
ministry that helps the homeless.

10. Put together a family prayer list.

11. Send a thank-you card and a gift certificate to that older member who greets you with a warm smile and handshake each Sunday.

12. Make it a point to think about others. Overcome your self-focus.

13. Vacation close to home so that you will have money with which to be generous.

14. Don’t just take a good book to the beach — take the Good Book.

15. Visit someone who shaped your life spiritually and thank them.

16. Bake cookies for Vacation Bible School.

17. Make a list of 10 ways God has blessed your life this year. Pick two or three and make them a blessing in somebody else’s life.

18. Stop what you are doing in the afternoon and just think about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

19. Pay the toll or the lunch bill for the car behind you in line.

20. Give your preacher an unexpected Sunday off and pay for him and his family to enjoy a special weekend doing something fun.

21. Read that book with a spiritual message that a friend recommended.

22. Plan a service project for your community and get teenagers involved in it.

23. Write or call a favorite childhood teacher to let that person know how your life turned out and how much you owe him or her.

24. Go on a mission trip instead of a vacation.

25. Make a list of New Year’s resolutions that you didn’t have time for in December. Complete them over the next six months.

26. Pretend one day this summer is Thanksgiving and volunteer at the homeless shelter downtown.

27. Pick up the phone and call a couple of people just to tell them you are thinking of them.

28. Go to a Little League baseball game and buy the losing team something from the snack bar.

29. Treat each day as a special gift from God and thank him for your many blessings.

30. Make a list like this of your own, only better.

(Borrowed from the Christian Chronicle editorial council, June 19, 2008)

Pattern of Sound Words, 2 Timothy 1:13

“Hold fast the form of sound words”… No man was left to invent a religion for his own use, and after his own mind. God alone knows that with which God can be pleased. If God did not give a revelation of himself, the inventions of man, in religious things, would be endless error, involving itself in contortions of unlimited confusion. God gives, in his mercy to man, a form of sound words or doctrines; a perfect plan and sketch of the original building; fair and well defined outlines of every thing which concerns the present and eternal welfare of man, and his own glory” (Clarke’s Commentary Volume 6, p. 627).

Quotes

“The phrase “God said it, I believe it, and that settles it” is partially true.  My friend, if God said it, that settles it, whether you believe it or not” (Zig Ziglar, Confessions Of A Happy Christian, p. 151).

“Man may go to Heaven without Health, Wealth, Fame, A Great Name, Learning, Big Earnings, Culture, Beauty, Friends, 10,000 other things; But he can never go to Heaven without Christ!” (Confessions Of A Happy Christian, p. 152).

“It has been an observation of mine, over the years, to note that many Christians desire to know God academically, but not experientially.  In other words, we want to know God’s will for the intellectual satisfaction that it brings, but we have failed to live in accordance with a holy life (1 Pet. 1:15-17) (Ron Thomas, Carolina Christian, Feb. 2008, p. 6).

“The past never equals the future.”

America, Christianity and the Culture War

A “must read” series by Dave Miller at Apologetics Press.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Sounds Like Socialism…

A study of Communism reveals that it is a spectacle of vice and depravity, seething in the more of materialism, and literally crawling like a snake in the dust of agitation, ever ready to strike and release its venom. It is an atheistic philosophy, villainous in nature, corrupt in principle, and immoral in practice. It is the very essence of hypocrisy and falls under the condemning words of Jesus: “They say, and do not.” It is a contradictory philosophy which glories in zigzags, inconsistencies, and broke promises; a degraded system which has elevated vagrant politicians to despotic lords who have bombarded the world with their infidel attacks upon God, the Bible, and a free society which respects the dignity of man; an assemblage of bombastic and conceited claptraps which exploits man; a system of wayward vanity and selfish ambition which foments struggles and squabbles, revolutions and wars, from the lowest level to the highest plane in every organized democratic society; a system that feeds on human carion and then vomits the mass of corruption upon a helpless people that survives; an ideology which has raised up madmen, selfish, brutal, and horrendous, in their quest for world enslavement, which they gleefully and blasphemously seek by defying God and defiling man. At no other time in the history of man has an ideology so notoriously prostituted the talents, the labors, and the freedoms of so many people. The culminating point in their infamy is to throw the nonsense of all their ill-spent lives into the creation of a one-world government, controlled by the Party dictators. If this seems hard, remember there are no soft words that will describe a hard system.

—- Bible vs. Communism by Leroy Brownlow (1961), p. 9.

The Authority of the Bible

Christianity is the religion of Divine authority. To be pleasing to God, man must be submissive to God’s will for him. The New Testament designates a specific type of authority.

First, all authority rests with God (Genesis 1:1; John 17:1-2). Second, God delegated His power/authority to His Son, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-2). Third, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to guide the apostles into all truth (John 16:13). Fourth, the New Testament writers recorded God’s will for man in these “last days” (Christian era) by inspiration (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Bible authority is essential to a right relationship with God. The road taken without a “thus saith the Lord” will lead to eternal destruction (Colossians 3:17; Revelation 22:18-19). Carl F.H. Henry said “Evasion of the authority of Scripture can only lead eventually to an apostate church.” (God, Revelation and Authority, VI, p. 63 ). William Woodson penned “The combination of the authority of God, Christ, and the apostles as recipients of the Holy Spirit by whom they were empowered to know, speak, and write the word of God, the Scripture, is of utmost significance as to the authority of the New Testament for the attainment of unity. What is read in Scripture is what God revealed and confirmed, and what he has preserved. When we receive this word, we receive it “not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God” (2 Thess. 2:13). The source, therefore, of the authority of Scripture is God Himself who through Jesus Christ revealed his will to man in the New Testament. We are to accept this written word as it is in truth the very word of God, submitting to it in reverence as we would if God were speaking directly from heaven in making his will known. Behind every truth in/of Scripture, whether statement, command, or plea, there is the power, wisdom, and reality of God. The submission of man to this authority of the written word manifests his concurrent and simultaneous submission to God Himself; to refuse to obey his written word is to refuse to submit to God as Lord and Judge. On this vital thought of prompt and reverent submission to the written word of God there is to be no hesitation or doubt for the people of God” (Sixth Annual Inman Bible Forum. The Authority of Scripture: The Basis of Christian Unity (Parkersburg, WV: Ohio Valley College, 1988) pp. 15-16).

The New Testament is the final, complete, authoritative, objective body of truth for mankind today (2 Peter 1:3; Galatians 1:6-12; John 12:48). Since the Bible is God’s will for mankind; we must open it, read it, search it, meditate upon it, memorize it, and practice it, to receive all the benefits.

The United States of America: A Republic or Democracy?

Read Republic v. Democracy by David Barton for background and insight from historical documents to remind us of the founders vision for our great country.

God is the Audience

Anyone or anything that takes center stage where God belongs and becomes the object of worship is robbing God of His rightful place of worship…Too often assemblies gather to observe what the created can do instead of assembling to express praise for what the Creator has done…Man is not to be the center of worship. Worship is not to be a performance for the benefit of other human beings. God is the audience instead of man (Owen Olbricht. God Is The Audience, p. 117)

God is the object of our worship (Revelation 4:8, 11; 5:12-13; Romans 1:25; Acts 12:22-23), and He is the audience (Psalm 139:7-12; Genesis 28:16; Hebrews 4:13).