Jonah-Jacked

Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.' But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. Jonah 1:1-3

Our country is falling to pieces, isn't it? It is going to Hell in a hand basket.

Hollywood produces nothing but filth. The music industry is filled with indecency and R-rated lyrics, and the music videos are even worse. On top of all that, the economy is tanking, Wall Street is corrupt, and Washington's dragging the country the wrong way while collapsing in upon itself.

I guess it's just time to hole-up and wait for Heaven, right?

Wrong. God wants to hijack our country. He wants to transform Hollywood, Nashville, Broadway, Wall Street, and Washington. In fact, He wants to save them, just like He wanted to save Nineveh. But when He wanted to save Nineveh, what did He do?

He sent Jonah.

But Jonah didn't want to go. He wanted Nineveh to be destroyed, so he ran from God's presence and tried to hide. He wanted the Jews to have God's salvation, but he wanted Nineveh to die.

And why not? After all, Nineveh was a huge city full of wicked people. When Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, went to war, they would even cut open pregnant women with their swords and throw the babies from city walls. I mean, this was a wicked people!

But God loved them. He was not willing to just let them perish, but desired that they should come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9). Therefore, He sent Jonah, because how could Nineveh have heard about God's mercy unless someone went to tell them?

Romans 10:14 asks, How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? The answer, of course, is that they can't.

If we don't go, then we doom the world to hell. If we don't speak, then no one will be saved. And if we abandon our country in all of its sinful parts, thinking we can just hang on to our private salvation, then we should not be surprised when depravity grows around us.

God is calling us today. It is our job to go.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for having mercy on me! I realize that You want to give mercy to the rest of the world, but that You've chosen me to tell them about You. Please give me courage and wisdom to speak however I can so that this country may be saved.

Amen

Return of the King

And the LORD shall be King over all the earth. Zechariah 14:9

Are you tired of politics and international drama? Then just wait, because God's promise is that He is coming to be King over all the earth.

When Jesus came the first time, He made it clear that His Kingdom was not of this earth. All the people around Him, even His disciples, waited and waited for Him to call them to action and overthrow the oppressive Roman government. They said, Come be our King!

It wasn't that all the Jews were wrong; they just had the wrong timing. The purpose of Jesus' first coming was to restore the relationship mankind had with God before Adam sinned. We are now in a season of grace during which everyone on earth has the option to bend their knee willingly to King Jesus. This season, however, will not last forever.

A day is coming when Jesus will return, and on that day all decisions will be final. Those who bowed willingly will rule with the King. Those who hardened their hearts against Him will be destroyed. And Jesus, the LORD, shall be King over all the earth.

He will physically dwell on the earth and all peoples and nations will be under His rule. It will be the ultimate fulfillment of the Lord's Prayer, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

That day will come to the whole earth one day soon, but it can come in your life right now. Is the LORD King over your life?

Prayer King Jesus,

Thank You that You are King! Come fully be the King of my life!

Amen

Can You Believe This?

For when one says, I am of Paul,' and another, I am of Apollos,' are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 1 Corinthians 3:4-5

Everyone likes a good debate, right? We especially love it right now with all the political candidates hammering out their various issues for all of us to see. The crazy thing is that all these candidates divide up one party into separate camps, hoping that they can somehow call them back together again when they're done arguing.

Maybe this works in that arena, but let me tell you one place where this doesn't fly: The church.

In the world you can say, I follow this person, or, I follow that person, or, This one is my favorite. We have our Twitter accounts and we all follow all these different people. But in the church, we only follow one person. We follow Christ.

This is a problem Paul had to address with the Corinthian church, calling them on the carpet for allowing divisions to split their body into sects that aligned themselves with a specific teacher. So Paul wrote to them to say, Listen, these aren't guys in whom you believe, but through whom you believed. The point is still about Christ Jesus and always will be.

Paul wanted them to know that it is good for different teachers to be involved in our lives. Each one plays a different role that we need, but that doesn't make one more important than the other, and it shouldn't draw us into divisions based on whom we think is best.

It doesn't come down to the teachers in our lives, but the message those teachers bring. It comes down to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do they proclaim Christ crucified? Do they preach the power of the cross and the resurrection? Do they teach that our hope is in Jesus Christ alone, that we can be saved by no other name but His?

The gospel is what matters. Don't get distracted by the person who preaches the name of Jesus. Instead, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus Himself.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You that You are the truth by which I live my life! You are the focus and goal of my life! I look to You alone and ask for Your help to follow You more no matter which teacher speaks into my life.

Amen

The Sucking Sound of Greed

But this I say: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 2 Corinthians 9:6

What do you talk about the most? Chances are good that it's something very important to you.

Well, quite interestingly, what Jesus talked about more than anything else was money. Money! The reason Jesus talked so much about money is because it's a good measurement of how fully our hearts are given to Him.

Our attitude toward money and giving is a lot like baseball-there's a blessing that we can win, a scoring of points for the glory of God, but we've got to get all the way around the bases. So, to do this, we need to know what the bases are.

First base is a willing heart. This means more than the minimum. Just doing the minimum looks like giving based on the need instead of on God's Word. Listen, Bill Gates' tithe could pay the entire budget for a whole bunch of churches, but that's not the point. If giving goes beyond budget, praise God! We don't give based on need, grudgingly or out of obligation, but generously out of whatever we have.

You can't score from first base, so we go to second base, which is a readiness. What you need to know is that there is no age limit to readiness. It's not like, Well, I'm still in high school, so I'm don't tithe yet, or, Well, I'm in college, so I have debt, so I don't tithe. Whether you have an allowance, debt, or high-paying executive job, God's Word still applies to you. Readiness means that you understand this and give generously no matter where you are in life.

Third base is an eagerness to give. Eagerness goes beyond readiness. Readiness means you're ready to give, but eagerness means that you want to. Why would you want to? Aside from simply pleasing God, you'd want to because you know God's promise to bless you and give back to you when you do.

Finally, home base is earnestness in your giving. This means you don't quit or give up. You don't let distraction come in and get you off your game, forgetting to give or losing your discipline in generosity.

When we put all four of these together, it brings home the blessings of God and glorifies Him in our hearts.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for caring so much about my heart! Thank You also for showing me how I can demonstrate the all my heart belongs to You-by giving as Your Word says to give!

Amen

Look For Him

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.' Luke 2:8-10

As the great theologian Linus declared to my generation in A Charlie Brown Christmas, The shepherds were watching over their flock by night.

Have you ever wondered about that night? What was so special about those shepherds? Was that just some ordinary flock of sheep? As you can imagine, there was much more to the story than Linus, Lucy, and Charlie Brown were able to convey. You see, this flock of sheep had been hand-chosen.

The Bible tells us that these particular sheep just outside of Jerusalem, just down the road from the Temple, would have been found to be worthy for sacrifice and without blemish. As a result, they were special sheep that were about to be put up for sale. These were the sheep that were to be sacrificed, offered on behalf of the sin of the person and the person's family bringing the sheep.

It makes sense that the announcement of the arrival of the Presence of God would first appear to this particular occupation, because this occupation represents all of us who have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

All of us need forgiveness-an atoning forgiveness that the sheep represented, but only temporarily. God's plan all along was to provide something permanent, not temporary. God's plan was to provide a lasting Gift that would remove from us our sin, as far as the East is from the West, by the precious blood of the Lamb of God.

That's what Christmas is all about: the gift of His priceless Presence in the form of a baby. With the assistance of the angels, the song of His arrival rang out. For these particular shepherds, what a sight it must have been. Those shepherds, who all day every day watched over lambs for God, now beheld the Lamb of God.

We, too, can behold the Lamb of God this Christmas, if we will just look for Him.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

I don't want to be too caught up in the traditions and religion of Christmas that I forget to really see You. Please open my eyes and my heart to know Your Presence this Christmas season!

Amen

Fender Mender

Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. 1 Corinthians 9:14

Have you ever wondered what would make someone become a pastor? Well, I can tell you that for most of us, it's because we don't feel like we have a choice. We're compelled to preach the gospel.

But there's an interesting twist in this being-a-pastor thing-we're supposed to earn our living from the gospel.

This could be some really major conundrum, here, where pastors are compelled to preach the gospel and to earn their living from it. I mean, what if people don't give to help finance his ministry?

Well, the only way this works out well is if the people recognize the gift they have been given, the service that has been done for them, and they give out of willing hearts. As a pastor at Horizon, I am privileged to be part a congregation that does this, and we must make sure we keep this generous heart among us.

Paul says there is a reward for preachers who willingly submit to this system God has set up for them, and that reward is that when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the Gospel (1 Cor. 9:18).

I think of all the opportunities that the Lord has provided for us. You know, I once was invited to Germany to speak to all the Calvary Chapel pastors across Europe and Russia. Can you imagine charging for that? No. Please no.

I think it's important to write about this because, listen, in no way am I trying to make myself look good. I'm a sinner saved by grace. I'm like Paul, chief among the worst in the lot. But neither am I living on the ocean bluffs in La Jolla or flying private on these trips. And my church picks up the tab when I go speak in other countries so we don't charge the pastors in India, Germany, Africa, or wherever.

I am blessed to do this. Paul is blessed to do this.

But maybe you're reading this today and you're like, Well, where's my blessing? You're so blessed. Paul's so blessed. Where's my blessing?

My blessing is in what I give, and you will find your blessing in the same place-in what you give. Where's your heart of sacrifice for your church? Where's your support? Where's your involvement? Where are you giving your gift?

Answer those questions, and you will write the map to where you will find your blessing.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for being our example in giving everything, and being blessed because You gave! Please give me the courage to give generously, trusting You that You will bless me as I give.

Amen

In Search of Aletheia

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deed. 2 John 10-11

Speak the truth in love. You've heard that one before, right? It doesn't take much trying to live it out, though, before you realize that it sometimes is harder than it seems.

When we think of loving someone, we rightly think of things like forbearance, patience,

and forgiveness-things that help us put up with knuckleheaded people and overlook the flaws in their lives.

But when we think of truth, we think of a hard-edged, unmoving, black and white reality that leaves little room for the grace we associate with love. So how do we reconcile love and truth, two things that seem to conflict with each other.

Jesus is our perfect example of this, as John 1:14 testifies, saying, And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Jesus came as the living answer to the truth of our predicament. He did not gloss over the sinful condition of the world or deny that we would spend eternity in Hell without Him. However, He also did not bash this reality over our heads or shove our own sinfulness in our faces.

Rather, He came as the answer to the problem. And whoever will acknowledge both the truth of the problem and the truth of the answer will receive the fullness of His grace in their life and be saved.

When the woman caught in adultery was thrown at Jesus' feet, His mercy delivered her from the truth of her sin into the truth of a new life in Him. Our job is to do the same. When we see sinfulness and the effects of sinful living around us, what do we do? We intercede, we rescue, we save, and whenever we can, we heal and deliver.

Romans 3:23 tells us that All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, yet Jesus showed us this glory in grace and truth. The truth recognized our sinful reality, yet the grace exchanged our reality for His.

As we testify of the full truth-both the truth of our sinful past and the truth of our transformed present and future-then others will hear the truth in love. We cannot only speak of people's sin, or they justly feel condemned and hopeless. However, if we will tell them the truth of how Jesus could change their lives, then we are speaking the truth in love.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for being the picture of grace and truth! Please fill me with Your love and truth, and help me to be the same picture to others that You are to me!

Amen